cruelty they used unto their other Prisoners they cry'd out They were Citizens of Rome at which the Pyrates pretended to start as awed by that formidable Name and commanded presently Gowns to be brought and put upon their Backs and Shoes on their Feet and then with a seeming lowly observance besought them To walk over the sides of the Ship and be free telling them by way of excuse for their Violation of such Venerable Persons When they met them next in that Attire they should not be ignorant of their Quality and with this derision threw them into the Sea when the unfortunate men refus'd to cast themselves And the Enemies of David were such as God thought fit not only to destroy but also to mock and vex as 't is said Verse the 4 th and 5 th The Lord had them in derision And vext them in his sore displeasure But How and after What manner did he mock and vex them By letting them a long time plot and strengthen themselves make a profuse expence of labour money and bloud by letting them perswade themselves they had prevailed that David was utterly excluded and then after all to shew them the despised and Rejected Son of Jesse set Gloriously on the Throne their Machine of Usurped Government made a Pageant for his Triumph all their endeavours all their glorying serve but for this Occasion of God's glorying over them Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion I have done with the Words which have been twice already eminently fulfilled Once as I have shewed in the Person of David And a Second time in the Exaltation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ into the Kingdom of Heaven after his Resurrection and setting up his Spiritual Throne in the hearts of men So that I may seem to essay an Impious thing to make a Third Application to any Mortal King whatsoever But while I shall not parallel or compare the Sufferings and Exaltation of the Divine and Mystical King but adore his Foot-steps there will be no danger to shew the Tracts and Lineaments that are between the Deliverance and Establishment of David and of our Gracious Sovereign for the awaking our Gratitude and magnifying God's mercies shewed to this Nation this Day And to observe the Method I began with For the same Reasons and Respects that David is called Gods King in my Text our King may pretend to the Title before all the present Kings of the Earth First He was a King of God's particular and singular Advancing and placing on the Throne though not call'd like David from being a poor Shepherd-Boy to Rule a Kingdom but descended of a long and glorious Race of Kings yet recall'd from a forlorn exil'd State and a deposd Condition to hold the Scepter of his Royal Ancestors by a no less Divine Favour So that whatever his Title to the Crown was we may truly say Had he not been God's King he had not been King of this Land Secondly David was not only call'd God's King as we have shew'd for his Eminent Deliverance of him but His Son And whoever considers the many Risques of our Sovereign's Life the Prodigies both of his Dangers and Escapes how God snatcht him out of the Battel led him safe through the midst of his Enemies conceal'd him many days by a Divine Providence after the manner the Ancients feign'd their Heroes were wrapt in a Cloud and then without the assistance of Armies by the same Invisible and Unresistable Hand fixt him in his Throne must confess we have not only reason to celebrate this Day for his coming into the World and his coming to the Crown for the Birth I say of his Person or the Birth of his Royal Dignity but for his being Born God's King and God's Son i. e. The King of his Preservation and the Son of his Promotion Thirdly As David was call'd God's King because he was more pleased with him than with others was the King of his liking as well as of his Preserving and Advancing So the Wonderful Testimonies of God's Love to our Sovereign warrants nay obliges us to believe and revere him as God's King also in this sense as the King of his liking and after his own heart And whom God has approv'd let no man judge whom he has Seal'd let no man dare to Censure no not in his thoughts Princes then for the most part want Goodness when the People want Candour and their defect of Vertue is their Subjects defect of Love and Loyalty But if those were God's Kings Kings of his liking Kings after his own heart that set up the True Worship and discountenanc'd the False that executed Justice and Judgment in the Land then Malice it self must confess our King is God's King David was renown'd for that one Merciful Speech upon his Return to his Kingdom Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel As if it had been a thing to be abominated to shew Severity when God had shew'd him such singular Grace But how many Shimei's how many Railers how many Cursers 't is but a small thing which I have said how many Capital Enemies how many Betrayers how many Covenanters against him and lyers in wait for his Blood did our David pardon upon his Return 'T was an Observation of Old regnabit sanguine multo Ad regnum quisquis venit ab exilio The King that returns after Exile will Reign for the Future in Blood and Revenge But our King contrariwise after his Exile regnabat Sanguine parco Reigns at this day as one Elected to a Kingdom that had a Crown bestow'd on him and not as one that had recover'd his own So that as the Virgins gave David the preheminence to Saul in the Songs of Victory and Triumph saying Saul has slain his thousands and David his Ten thousands We in the Songs of Mercy and Clemency may give our King the preheminence to David and say As David pardon'd one single Detractor our Gracious Sovereign gave life and opportunity of Repentance to thousands of Traitors and Murtherers and was truly in this Gods King and not only a King of his liking but a King that is like him resembling him in one of his Noblest Attributes that of his Mercy Those to whom Princes intrust the care of their Souls ought to be faithful to them and not only speak pleasing things but true to imitate good Surgeons who not always use Oyls and Lenitives but if need be Lancets and Corrosives But then let no man at a distance surmise Evil of his Prince lest while he denies him to be Gods King he sets to his hand to make him no King at all and while he strips him of his Righteousness strips him also of his Royal Dignity I speak not to the Kings Enemies but to his severer Friends if he have any The Sinister Thoughts and Censures of the Subject are often Ominous and Fatal to a Prince whereas their good Opinions are
SERMONS PREACHED Partly Before His MAJESTY AT WHITE-HALL And Partly Before ANNE Dutchess of York AT THE CHAPPEL at S t JAMES By HENRY KILLIGREW D. D. Master of the Savoy and Almoner to his Royal Highness LONDON Printed by J. M. for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXXV THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER THERE are so many Sermons upon all sorts of Subjects already extant that the Author of these had he been perfectly left to his own liberty would not have increased the Number But there were some Reasons which made it in a manner necessary for him to add unto the Heap though as the common complaint goes it be grown too big And none were more forcible to extort them from him than the kindness he hath for some persons Which every one that feels any touch of that passion knows to have a power to constrain us unto those things which merely for our own satisfaction alone we should not chuse to do Some near Relations that is were desirous to converse with him by the help of these Discourses when he is dead and were perswaded withal that others might now reap some profit by them in the reading whom the lowness of his Voice could not reach when they came to hear them No man I can bear him witness is more sensible than he that there are more elaborate and more universally useful Sermons and Tracts already in the peoples hands but Mankind having several tastes as well as faces and very different relishes it is possible these Discourses may be better fitted to some palates and touch some hearts more smartly than those which in themselves may be more excellent This I can say of them That there are many seasonable Truths delivered in them and expressed in words so apt so pure and clean that while they display the Object which they represent they strengthen and cherish the sight In short they both instruct and delight satisfie the appetite and excite it present solid nourishment and give it a grateful taste Nothing here I am sure is insipid much less nauseous nothing feeble and flagging much less dead but there is quickness and life every where both in the sense and in the Style Which may please even this delicate not to say fastidious Age wherein things very commendable are wont to be disrelished But whether the nice and curious be pleased or no the Author is not concerned if the pious and vertuous reap any profit by these Sermons and be the better for them And then we grow better when as the Apostle speaks we approve the things that are excellent or things that differ not entertaining falshood under the appearance of truth nor evil under the shew of Good but having a right judgment in all things and making the same difference between good and bad in our lives that we do in our minds preserve our selves sincere and without offence unto the Great Day of Judgment Ian. 26. 1684 5 S. Patrick The CONTENTS SERMON I. On Christmas-Day 1 John iii. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin SERMON II. On January the 30 th 1 Sam. xii 25 But if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King SERMON III. John ii 4 Woman what have I to do with thee mine hour is not yet come SERMON IV. On Wednesday before Easter Dan. ix 26 And after threescore and two Weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself SERMON V. On Good Friday Zech. xiii 6 And one shall say unto him What are these wounds in thine hands Then shall he answer Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends SERMON VI. On Easter-Day Rom. viii 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you SERMON VII On the 29 th of May. Psal. ii 6 Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion SERMON VIII On Whitsunday John xvi 8 And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment SERMON IX and X. Mark vii 37 He hath done all things well he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak SERMON XI Amos iii. 2 You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities SERMON XII Psal. cv 44 45. And he gave them the lands of the heathen and they inherited the labour of the people That they might observe his statutes and keep his laws SERMON XIII Mark viii 2 3. I have compassion on the multitude because they have now been with me three days and have nothing to eat And if I send them away fasting to their own houses they will faint by the way for divers of them came from far SERMON XIV Luke xvi 9 Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive ye into everlasting habitations SERMON XV. On the Fifth of November Psal. xi 3 If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do SERMON XVI John xvi 23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my nome he will give it you SERMON XVII Luke xvii 37 And they said unto him Where Lord And he said unto them Wheresoever the Body is thither will the Eagles be gathered together SERMON XVIII and XIX 1 Pet. iv 8 And above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity covereth the multitude of Sins SERMON XX. and XXI Matth. xxii 46 On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets SERMON XXII Lam. iii. 39 40. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. The First Sermon 1 JOHN iii. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sin and in him is no sin THE main Drift and Scope of Saint John throughout this whole Epistle is to perswade the Christians to whom he writes Not to sin These things says he in the former Chapter I write unto ye that ye sin not For such Christians it seems there were then as well as now who believed that the Faith and a wicked Life were not inconsistent together that men might profess the Gospel and not forsake their Vices They acknowledged Christ to be the promised Messiah and Saviour that was to come into the World but they understood not rightly wherein Salvation consisted viz. that 't was not only in the remission of sins but in the reclaiming men from the commission of them not only in taking away their guilt but in reforming their evil lives The Apostle therefore to set them right in a matter of so high concernment alledges in the foregoing Chapter many Reasons against their indulging themselves in any vicious course As the
himself was styled The Son of Man by way of Excellence because she was something Above a Woman But our Church which has no other Interest in this matter but the Truth which honours the Blessed Virgin but does not idolize her which celebrates her Sanctity but makes no Markets of her Shrines speaks as the Gospel gives her light viz. That Christ by the Compellation of Woman in this place checks and rebukes her that his Words are a Diminution and no Accession of Glory to her The term Woman I confess in it self carries no Reproof or Asperity neither did our Lord use it at other times to signifie his Displeasure When he said to the Woman of Canaan that besought him to heal her Daughter O Woman great is thy Faith He call'd her not Woman because he was angry with her but because she was a Stranger known only to him by her Faith But then though to call a Stranger Woman has no Asperity yet to call a Mother so has much Asperity We find but one time only more besides this that our Lord took up this Compellation to the Blessed Virgin and that was when he hung upon the Cross a time I confess when he had no displeasure at all to her but contrariwise the most tender Resentment of her desolate Condition When he bequeath'd her to the Care of his Beloved Disciple he said to her Woman behold thy Son But though the Expression there imply'd no Anger it imply'd something of the like nature with what it does in my Text for as his calling of her Woman upon his entering on his Prophetick Office imported the Expiration of her Maternal Authority So his calling of her Woman at the hour of his Death imported the Expiration of hers and all other humane Relations to him and that for the future she was to look upon him as her Saviour not as her Son depend upon his Divine Providence not his Filial Care of her It is not possible for a Son with the preservation of his Duty and Reverence to use a Term of Diminution or but of Strangeness to a Parent without some very important Reason to justifie it But the Case and Condition of Christ as I say was at this time much alter'd for when the Relation of Redeemer commenc'd Carnal Relations began to cease and when he was in a more evident manner declar'd to be the Son of God his being the Son of Mary surceas'd and expir'd He put this Question concerning his Divine Nature and Humane Alliance afterwards to the Pharisees The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my Right hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool Seeing Christ was the Son of David says he why does he call him Lord viz. for this only reason because the Greater and more Important Relation on some Occasions swallows up the Less As we see in the Case of a Father and a Son in a Commonwealth when the Son comes to bear Office the Father that was Superiour Oeconomically and commanded in the Family becomes Inferiour to his Son Politically and is commanded by him in the State and thus though Fabius Maximus might approach his Son being a Private Person on Horseback or which way he pleas'd yet when his Son was Consul he might approach the Supreme Magistrate only on foot and when the Lictors commanded him from his Son to alight he not only obey'd but rejoic'd that he so rightly understood the Dignity he bore But I might have brought an Example from Scripture When Joseph was in his Father's house he paid humble Submission and Subjection to his Parents but when he was advanc'd to be a Prince in Egypt 't was God's will that not only the Elder Sheaves should do Obeysance to the Younger but even that the Sun and Moon themselves i. e. his Father and Mother by their Representatives his Brethren should bow their Heads in Homage to him And by the same Rule Christ who express'd Obedience to his Parents while he appear'd nothing but their Son had Obedience belonging to him when it appear'd he was their Lord and Saviour But now though these things are true and that omnis Christi actio nostra est instructio every Action of Christ is our Instruction Yet it will concern us to take heed that we rightly understand his Actions and that we make not a wrong Construction of that which was given to be our Instruction We must not wrest or extend this Carriage of Christ to his Mother to the Prejudice of our Parents Authority for it does not warrant any one that is a Son or Daughter among us so soon as they are out of their Minority to cry Aetatem habeo I am of Age and owe no more Observance Or as soon as they are promoted to any Dignity presently to change their Behaviour and to take up a new Compellation to them No in respect of a dutiful Regard to be paid to those that Bore and Educated us Christ would have all men for ever to be Pupils for ever to continue in a Voluntary Reverential Wardship as I may say to them and we read that he prefer'd Duty to Parents even before the Corban the Maintenance of them before the giving Oblations for the Reparations of the Temple Again no Spiritual Change in our Condition absolves us from the Duty of Children though we are called to a Divine Office and holy Ministry we are not exempted from Filial Obedience and Natural Affection And therefore the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in this particular is to be abominated ubi pietatis genus ducitur esse crudelem among whom it is held a Sublime and abstracted Piece of Piety for those that are once enter'd into a Covent to forget their Parents and Kindred according to the Flesh as soon as their Persons are thus sequester'd from them to sequester also their Natural Affections and to espouse the Interest of their Spiritual Cognation though it be never so Prejudicial to their Natural In some Cases indeed religiosior est mentium copula the Union of the Mind upon long experience of mutual Vertue may deservedly be counted a faster Tye than that of Consanguinity accompanied with less Vertue As our Lord on this account preferr'd his Cognation to his Disciples before that with his Kinsmen esteem'd those to be nearer Allied to him in whom he found Faith than those that had the same Bloud running in their Veins And looking upon his Disciples he said Behold my Brethren my Sisters and my Mother But then in such Changes of Condition as are the mere Inventions of Men as the Orders of Friars and their Rules of Worship are to add Barbarity to Superstition under the pretence of Greater Sanctity to shake off the Duties of Humanity no Church can justifie but that which justifies yet greater Impieties I proceed to the second Circumstance I observed in Christ's reproving his Mother the Terms in which he reproved her What have I to do with thee This was a Phrase used
should be the Reception of the Messiah the Entertainment that the Prince of Peace should find in the World when he came to offer Peace to the World And that he may set it off the more lively he does it by way of Dialogue shews it in a kind of Drama or Acted Representation introduces a Nameless Person to be astonish'd at the Strange Spectacle of an Ambassadour wounded a publick Minister invaded like a publick Enemy and the Person so used giving as strange an account of his Usage viz. that 't was not on the Road but in the City not in the Camp but in the House again not in the House of his Enemies but in the House of his Allies and Friends And one shall say unto him What are these Wounds in thy hands Then shall be answer Those with which I was wounded in the House of my Friends I am not ignorant that the Generality of Interpreters a few only excepted as well ancient as modern apply these Words to the False Prophet mentioned ver 5. and not to Christ but though I affect not to follow the Few rather than the Many yet I find it hard to resign a Picture so perfectly resembling our Lord as my Text does and allow it to be drawn for a False Prophet I shall therefore shew upon what Considerations I have been induced to understand the Words as I do and if they are not convincing content my self to handle them by way of Accommodation to the Business of the Day though not by way of Interpretation In the first Verse of the Chapter the Times of the Messiah are confessedly spoken of In that Day there shall be a Fountain opened to the house of David and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for Sin and for Vncleanness In the five following Verses the things transacted preparatory to the Coming of the Messiah are set down viz. the rooting Idolatry out of the Land of Israel and the destroying of the False Prophets as at ver 2. For God having for a time determined to silence all Prophecies and to restrain all Miracles that greater Notice might be taken of his Son when he came in the Power of both with that lumine prophetico which Justin Martyr says Christ first kindled again after 't was Extinguish'd False Prophets from hence took occasion to arise and having nothing Divine to countenance their pretended Mission from Heaven they apishly imitated the Outward Garb and Austerity of the true Prophets as 't is ver 4. wore rough Garments and used boldness of Speech But God not suffering these Impostors to frustrate his Divine Counsels sent a Discerning Spirit into his People and stir'd them up to bring them to condign Punishment as at v. 3. The very Father and Mother of the False Prophet shall thrust him through and force him to confess that he spoke Lies and that he was not sent by God but was a Herdsman that had kept Cattel from his Youth And Christ at this Season entering on the Stage of Judaea in a Mean and Poor Condition far Unlike that Glorious and Warlike Prince that carnal Nation had fansy'd him the Priests and Rulers set him at nought and out of a pretence of Zeal to God's Glory as the faithful Jews had a little before laid hands upon the False Prophets did the like on the Messiah and crucifi'd him for an Impostor as these things are imply'd partly in the Words of my Text What are these Wounds in thy hands c. and partly in the Verse immediately following Awake O Sword against my Shepherd against the Man which is my Fellow says the Lord of Hosts smite the Shepherd and the Sheep shall be scattered Which last Words our Lord also applies to himself Matth. 26.31 The Prophet Zechary recounting so close together the semblable Treating of these two most Unresembling Persons the Messiah and the False Prophets and shifting his Narration from the one to the other without any transition has made it hard to distinguish which he speaks of But in Prophetick Writings this Abruptness is common as the Rabbins say lumen propheticum est lumen abruptum and S t Hierom Non curae fuit Spiritui prophetali Historiae ordinem sequi the Spirit of Prophecy is not sollicitous to observe Method but despising all Historical and Logical Contextures makes the Exits and Intrats of Persons in an unaccountable Manner And such a Freedom it uses in this Chapter that 't is impossible rightly to apply the Particulars related to the Persons they belong but by considering what was truly and indeed done to each of them And by this Rule Piercing the Hands plainly alludes to Crucifying and must belong to the Messiah this being a Punishment never practised among the Jews till they fell under the Roman Yoke Stoning being the Penalty of a False Prophet by the Law and then if we consider Wounding the Hands is not only a punishment differing from that prescribed but also an Odd one that no way comports with the Crime it being more sutable to the Offence to have bored the Tongue of the False Prophet than his Hands But the truth is the Prophet had exprest the Punishment of the False Prophet before at the third Verse namely by Thrusting him through which might be done jure Zelotarum by the Right of Zealots God exciting his own Relations against him Or else the Punishment may refer to Exod. 19.12 where God commands That if Man or Beast came within the forbidden Precincts of the holy Mount they should be Thrust through with a Dart Our Prophet threatning here the same Death to those that Uncall'd invaded the Prophetick Office which was threatned there to such as presumptuously intruded to pry into God's Mysterious and Dreadful Appearance Which things being premis'd I shall proceed to handle the Words as they are applicable to our Saviour and so they contain in them two Great Mysteries of our Faith which I shall explain by enquiring I. For what Reason the Divine Goodness so order'd it That Christ our Saviour should be a Wounded Saviour in satisfaction to this Question What are these Wounds in thy Hands II. For what Reason the Divine Goodness so order'd it That he should be wounded by those he deserved Best from in exposition of these Words Those with which I was wounded in the House of my Friends I begin with the First of these Why Christ was to be A Wounded Saviour What are these Wounds in thy Hands The Wounds in Christ's Hands do more particularly relate to the Wounds made by the Nails of the Cross but by the Figure of a Part for the Whole they may stand for the Wounds he received all his Body over and not only so but for all his Sufferings whether in Body or in Spirit from his Cradle to his Grave from the Manger at Bethlehem to his Crucifixion at Mount Calvary and the Summ Total of this Question What are these Wounds in thy Hands imports no less Than what is the meaning
last Day for where the Spirit it self is not its Operations cannot be expected 'T is true indeed that Sinners and Infidels shall rise again as S t Paul says Acts 24.15 There shall be a Resurrection of the Dead both of the Just and Vnjust Those that crucified Christ in the days of his Flesh and those that crucifie him by their Wicked Lives now in his Glory shall rise no less than True Believers than his holy Apostles and Martyrs But how and to what Resurrection shall they rise Even to such a Resurrection as is no other than a Second and Worse Death a Death not of Extinction or annihilation but a Death of Eternal Duration in Torment Non-Existence being not the State of the Second Death but Endless and Insupportable Misery insomuch that they shall wish that the Grave had for ever swallowed them up that as they liv'd like the Beasts that perish so they had also dyed like them without the Expectation of any After-Being So that the Resurrection of the Wicked is but an Aequivocal Resurrection as the lifting up of the Head of Pharaoh's Baker on the Gallows and the hanging Haman fifty Cubits high were but Aequivocal Advancements The Bodies of the Saints that rose after the Passion dy'd again the same Death but those that shall rise at the Last Day not having the Spirit shall dye again not the same Death that would be a Happiness but a Death that shall have no End and the Miseries of which we can no more describe than we can the Joys of Eternal Life but we must suffer a Change and be endued with new Powers and Faculties before we can support the Bliss of the one or the Torments of the other The second Property of an Inhabitant or Dweller in a House is to Command and Rule 'T is the Saying of every man to those that withstand the Exercise of their just Authority or but their Civility Give me leave to Command in my own House The Spirit of God must Rule and Command where it dwells we must not only give it House-room but Dominion look upon him as a Tenant but revere as our Land-Lord resign our Actions Wills Affections the Whole Man to his Dispose and Guidance Faith invites the Holy Ghost but Obedience and Submission to his Gracious Motions perfumes his Habitation and makes him delight to stay in it The Spirit of Love Meekness Purity and Holiness will not reside but where these and the like Vertues bear the Sway. Let the Word of Christ says S t Paul dwell in you Richly in all Wisdom So let the Spirit of God dwell in you Richly in all Wisdom it will not Cohabit with the Sons of Men unless it be Richly i. e. in the Abundance of its own Divine Graces and Operations If we will have the Spirit of God quicken our Mortal Bodies hereafter we must suffer him to quicken our Souls in this Life if we hope to reign by his Power in the World to come we must submit to his Dominion in this present World The third Property is Residence and Mansion our Houses are called our Manours and Places i. e. the Places where we ordinarily abide and where the Law presumes we are to be found so that if a Writ be delivered to any of the Houshold or but fastned to the Ring of the Door 't is counted the same thing as if given into our hands Thus our Hearts must be the Holy Spirit 's Manour or Place for what David says of God's constant Abode in his Temple on Mount Sion This is the Hill which God delights to dwell in yea the Lord will dwell in it for ever the like must be said of the constant Abode of the Holy Spirit in our Hearts This is the Habitation of the Holy Spirit and if we grieve him not nor drive him away by our Sins he will delight to dwell in us for ever When we were devoted to God in Baptism we devolved and made-over to his Holy Spirit an Estate in our Hearts even the Whole Term we had to live in this World and if we make good this Grant or Demise he will never abandon his Tenements till he has raised them up to Eternal Glory The Reason that a Great Schole-Man gives Why God punishes the Sins of Men which were but Temporal with an Eternity of Torments is Quia peccaverunt in suo aeterno because they sinn'd out all the Eternity they had i. e. all the Time God allowed them in this World and had he continued their Lives to the End of all Ages they would have continued still the same Wicked Persons The like Reason may be given for God's rewarding the Temporal Obedience of the Righteous with Eternal Glory Quia obedientes fuerunt in suo aeterno because they were Obedient all that little Eternity he allowed them in this World and would have persever'd in their Obedience if he had drawn out their Lives to the last Period of Time Abiding and Persevering in Righteousness is that which will give us Immortality if we give up the Possession of our Souls to the Dispose and Conduct of the Blessed Spirit the Whole Little Aeternum we have in this World we shall certainly obtain an Eternity that shall have no end in the next And thus I have shew'd the Manner of the Spirit 's Dwelling in every Christian and they that pretend to his In-dwelling without these Properties boast of an In-mate which they have not and as they want this Divine Guest so they will want the Blessed Effects and Consequence of his inhabiting in them the quickning of their Mortal Bodies at the last Day to Glory Which is the second thing I propos'd to explain The Effect or Consequence of the Spirit 's dwelling in us If the Spirit dwell in you He that raised up Jesus from the Dead shall quicken your Mortal Bodies The Words suggest two things to our Consideration 1. What shall be done to such Persons in whom the Spirit dwells He shall quicken their Mortal Bodies 2. Who shall be the Author to effect or bring this to pass He that raised up Jesus from the Dead 1. What shall be done to such Persons in whom the Spirit dwells 'T is said He shall quicken their Mortal Bodies Our Bodies are Mortal three Ways by Natural Death the Dissolution of the Substance of them by Eternal Death which succeeds the Natural that Riddle of a Death which by its Existence is in truth a Life but by the Torments belonging to it may deservedly be called a Death and by Spiritual Death which is the Cause of the other two Now our Mortal Bodies may be quicken'd or reviv'd again to three Lives To a Life of Eternal Duration to a Life of Eternal Joy and to a Spiritual Life or a Life of Grace which is the Cause in us of the other two Lives Some understand these Words shall quicken our mortal bodies only of Spiritual Proselytism of the raising us from the Death of Sin and
Prospera in plebem ac vilia ingenia deveniunt a constant even Prosperity is the Lot of mean Persons and Spirits the Noble and Magnanimous are oppos'd to the Storms and Outrages of Fortune nor are they otherwise to be distinguisht from the Vulgar than by these Encounters That Great Person says Seneca that never prov'd Adversity is like a Champion that enters the Lists without an Antagonist Coronam habet Victoriam non habet He may gain a Crown but he never got a Victory In a still Calm of Affairs God himself gets less Glory he has no Field to shew his Power his Wisdom and his Goodness in the Opportunity is not afforded him to frustrate the Counsels of the wicked and to bring the Preparations of the Mighty to nought 'T is true He governs all things at all times but every Act of his Providence is not a Victory over his Enemies and though he disposes Crowns and Scepters as he pleases 't is when the wicked resists that he says Yet have I set my King And so I pass to my Third Part God's Glorying in his Establishment of David The Holy Ghost in this Second Psalm sets down the Method which the Enemies of David used to prevent his succeeding in the Throne which is also the Scheme ordinarily of all Sedition and Rebellion First The Heathen did rage i. e. The Neighbour Princes were jealous and angry out of apprehension of their own Estates and this is commonly the ground of Defection and Rebellion For a King 's own Subjects though they be malecontent and bear him ill-will in their hearts yet they often want Courage or Opportunity to execute it till they are backt by a Foreign Power But then Secondly The People i. e. the Prince's own People begin to imagine vain things which may either mean false things which shall not take Effect or Wicked which shall for in both sences Vain is taken in the Hebrew In the Third place The Kings of the Earth and the Rulers take counsel together i. e. The Neighbour Kings and the Magistrates and Great Ones of the Realm fall into Combinations and Associations And then Fourthly Nothing remains but open defection the breach of all Covenants and Contracts and Sedition is heard in every mans mouth as Verse 3. Let us break their Bonds asunder and cast away their Cords from us Their Bonds and their Cords i. e. both of the Lord and of his Anointed all Obligations both Humane and Divine are Cancell'd By Bonds may be understood the softer and gentler Tyes of Natural Love and Loyalty which every Subject owes unto his Sovereign by Cords the stronger Obligations of Oaths those Sacramental Chains that bind men like Iron Shackles and Fetters But both these are broken and for fear they should be again united cast quite from them And why was all this as the Question is deservedly ask'd at Verse 1. with wonder and indignation Why did the Heathen rage Why did the prople imagine a vain thing Why did they take Counsel together David was just to his Allies abroad and gracious to his Subjects at home God prosper'd him and made him Victorious in all his Enterprizes Why Lord To answer in the Words of another in a like Case Odiorum causae acriores quia iniquiores their hatred was the sharper and more implacable because it was the â—â—juster Innocence is abhorr'd by the Wicked more than Injury and Violence The Religion and Piety of David was more insupportable to his Enemies than the Yoke of Tyranny and Oppression and they chose rather to bear the Iron Scepter of the Nations or of a base Usurper than his holy and righteous Scepter And this it was which made the Establishment of David so difficult because there was no Why no Just Cause for the Aversion of his Enemies had there been a Reason it might have been remov'd had there been a Wrong there might have been a Reparation but Perverseness and Impiety only govern'd and God utters himself as if he had broke through some great Obstruction in setting David on the Throne Like one that for a long time roll'd a Stone against a Hill which often return'd upon him or Row'd against a strong Tide which forc'd his Boat back and when at last by many a weary stretch and Strain of his Arms has got the better sits down and reflects on what has past congratulates his labour and tells himself what himself has done Yet I have planted my Stone upon the Top of the Hill or yet I have stemm'd this Churlish Stream and got my Boat a-head of it So God is pleas'd to speak in the Restoring of David as if he had been hard put to it and groan'd under the performance and Glory'd in having at last carry'd it through Yet have I set my King But perhaps some will say Is there any thing difficult to the Almighty Could not he have crusht the Cockatrice in the Shell Dasht the yet Infant-Plot against the Stones Scatter'd his Enemies in their first Imaginations Why did he suffer them to Combine before he confounded them Confederate and grow to strength before he cast them down and had them in derision as 't is said ver 4. Even for this very reason That he might not spoil such his Scene of Laughter prevent the Glory of his Triumph obscure the wise Dispensations of his Providence that David might see the whole Wonder of his Deliverance and his wicked Adversaries the whole Folly of their Enterprize A wise General will not presently give on the Charge upon an Enemy passing a Ford till a considerable Party have gain'd the Bank that he may not only shew his Courage but his Conduct and cut off the adverse Power as well as repulse it Thus though God had it in his hands to dissipate and discourage the first Attempts of his own and David's Opposers he chose rather to let them proceed and prosper to a degree that he might not only obstruct their wickedness but defeat it disturb the Conspiracy but confound the Conspirators And our Blessed Lord practis'd this piece of Policy when he suffer'd the Devil by his wicked Instruments the Jews to take away his Innocent Life and lay him in the Grave For after Satan flatter'd himself that he had surpriz'd his strong Foe he let him see he was surpriz'd by him that instead of receiving a Captive he had receiv'd a Conquerour within his Gates one that sack'd and despoil'd his Kingdom dismantled his Forts and raz'd his Strong-holds And this was a performance worthy of that Triumphant Speech O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory A down-right Defeat is not so renowned to the Conquerour or so grievous to the Conquered as to turn his Stratagems upon himself and to overthrow him by his own Subtilty and Treachery Again to Mock and Vex an Enemy is a further degree of Revenge than to destroy him When the Pyrates of Cilicia began to treat some Passengers of Italy with the
in the most General and Universal comprehension both of Prince and People not of the Prince alone as some are willing to reckon the Benefits his Majesty has receiv'd not to revere him the more for being so much in God's Favour but to make him more indebted to God than themselves as if because this is call'd the King's Day all the Mercies of it and all the Thanks for them were to be put upon his account Undoubtedly the Kings Obligations to Heaven are infinite but was he only restor'd this Day to his Crown and Country Or were not all we likewise re-call'd from the same Banishment or from Prisons and Sequestrations Dungeons and Gibbets at home to enjoy our Lives and Liberties our Religion and Estates Has all the delicious Fare of the Land been serv'd to the Kings Table All the Gold Lace been worn upon his Back Nay but I behold many at this instant standing like Kings in the presence of the King and 't is to be complain'd of that the Enjoyments of many Out vie his in their proportion Is there then no Thanks of our Own due to God We have this Obligation even more than the King has that we have him that we enjoy this Principle of Union this Bond of Peace this Foundation of Security and Prosperity O let us not forget in the loud Joys and Gaiety and Festivity of this Day the days of Sadness and Silence of Scarcity and Doubtfulness of Soul when we had no King when a Villain sat on the Throne when our Hatred and Aversion rul'd over us the Scourge of Loyalty and the Oppressor of Religion and Justice Let us not forget the Time when to be Noble was to be Guilty and to be Loyal an Enemy to the State Again when to be a Mechanick made room for the Person in the Places of Honour and a Fanatick qualify'd him for the highest Charges and Honours and our Great Ones bow'd down to these or bow'd under the saddest Misery The remembrance of these things will make us readily acknowledge the Mercies of this Day to have been General to us all and not only heighten but sanctifie our Joy make the Feast resound with Thanksgiving and Praises of God and not wholly to be spent in loose and confus'd Mirth Riot and Excess it will preserve us from falling into that Fatal Ingratitude which accompanies Prosperity and which God in the People of Israel warns all Nations of and yet which all more or less fall into The forgetfulness of the Arm that deliver'd them and the Goodness that made them Great And in the midst of our Felicity we shall remember our Duty and our Ease shall not corrupt our Manners nor our Prosperity and Affluence be snares to us And God will repeat and iterate his glorying we have heard this Day not only in the Person of our King but of his Posterity to all Ages even till all Kingdoms are swallow'd up in the Kingdom of Heaven Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion Which God of the riches of his Mercy grant to whom be ascribed all Honour Glory and Thanksgiving this day forth and for evermore Amen The Eighth Sermon JOHN xvi 8 And when he is come he will reprove the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment GOD who at sundry times and in divers manners says the Apostle spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son c. as if this were his ultimus conatus the last and utmost Effort or Endeavour of his Power and Goodness to reduce the Sinful and Unbelieving World But by miserable Event it appear'd that this Means prov'd as uneffectual as the former that the World did unto Christ as they had done unto the Prophets before him slew the Son as they had slain the Servants Yet notwithstanding the unfathomable Depths and Riches of the Divine Goodness gave not over here where Reason would have given over but shew'd it self still Infinite where Humane Imagination was Finite bow'd the Heavens again and sent down the third Person in the Trinity the Holy Ghost Pertinacia nostra exhausit Coelum the Obstinacy of Men even drain'd and exhausted Heaven Verbum Caro the Word made Flesh was not sufficient to master this Obstinacy but it must be Verbum Spiritus too the Spirit must become a Word i. e. be sent from Heaven to be a Word in the Mouth of the Apostles to reprove or as the Margent has it to convince the World of Sin And when he is come he will reprove or convince the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment To convince is to force the Understanding of the Opposer by strength of Argument to acknowledge the Truth that is contended for And to reprove or rebuke is again but a Moral Conviction of Sin in a person In the Words I shall consider these two things I. The Matter of the Conviction which the Spirit shall bring the World to an Acknowledgment of namely of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment II. The Manner how he shall bring the World to this Acknowledgment viz. by convincing it by irrefragable Arguments I begin with the Matter of the Conviction Sin Râ—ghteousness and Judgment And First He shall convince the World of Sin What Sin it is which is meant here that the Spirit shall convince the World of is doubtful It may well be thought to be the Sin of Cruelty the perverse and barbarous Inhumanity the Jews shew'd when they demanded a Murderer to be releas'd unto them and kill'd the Just One. And we read in Effect Acts 2.36 that it was one of the first Works of the Spirit after his coming to bring three thousand Souls to confess this Sin and shew their Compunction for it for after S t Peter had laid before them how by wicked hands they had crucified and slain the Lord of Life they were prick'd to the heart and said Men and Brethren what shall we do i. e. to be deliver'd from the Sin of Murder or Cruelty But though this Interpretation be plausible it agrees not with the Reason Christ himself gives in the Verse immediately following my Text why the Holy Ghost should convince the World of Sin Of Sin says he because they believe not on me It should seem then it was the Sin of Unbelief that he came to reprove or convince the World of And this is the Opinion of many on the place The truth is Infidelity is a Sin highly injurious to the Deity it makes God a Lyar as S t John says He that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar. It makes him impotent and ignorant How should God perceive says the Wicked Psal. 73.11 is there knowledge in the most High And the faithless Israelites Can God prepare a Table in the Wilderness He smote the stony Rock indeed that the Water gushed out but can he give Bread also and provide Flesh for his People Nay it
And this last Way did God Know Israel above all the Families of the Earth for he knew them not only with a Perceptive Knowledge so as he Knows equally all the Nations of the World but Owned favoured and was beneficial to them As the Sun beholds some Countries with a more bounteous Aspect than others not only shedding on them Light and common Influences but enriching them with the Noblest Plants Minerals and Precious Stones Or as he is feign'd by the Poets to have beheld Thessaly when he was in love with Daphne terrâ figit in unâ Quos mundo debet oculos he fixt his Eyes on one particular Soil which ought to have cheered the Universe So God as if he had been Enamoured on Israel of all the Nations of the Earth set his Heart on them alone to the seeming Contempt of all beside he revealed himself to them in a more Especial Manner made a Covenant with them gave them Laws and heaped Blessings upon them vouchsafed to be their King and Governour in his own Person conducted fed protected them by by Wonderful and Supernatural Means and whereas he governed the other Nations by his Ordinary Invisible Power as if he had erected a New Providence in the World for them he brought all things to pass in their behalf by Miracles And thus though by Nature Israel was no better than other Nations by his Grace and Favour God made them Excel them But then though it be the highest Advantage To be Known by God after a particular and Extraordinary Manner yet if a People shew themselves not worthy of it it ceases to be an Advantage nay it turns to their greater Evil. 'T is not enough therefore that men are known by God to make them happy but God must also be known by them they must understand his Will what is pleasing and displeasing to him and hold a reciprocal Correspondence with him by Faith Love and Obedience For as S t Peter says of Apostates It had been better for them not to have known the Way of Righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment So it had been better for Israel if they had not been the Favourites of God than after their being so by their Sins to lose that Grace for Sins against Favour are greater than Sins against a Commandment Men in this Case being not only Disobedient but Ungrateful and whereas God would possibly have past by the Offences of less Obliged Persons he will call such as these to a strict account what he would have pardoned in the Heathen that were Strangers to him he will punish in his own People whom he has known by so many Great and Distinguishing Benefits You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore will I punish you for all your Iniquities The Words afford us this Proposition or Observation That whatever People God blesses above others if they shew themselves Ungrateful by sinning against him he will punish them above others Which Proposition I shall handle after this manner I. Prove and confirm the Truth of it that it is indeed so And II. Shew the Reason and Equity of it why it should be so I. To clear and confirm the Proposition Sin as soon as it is committed is followed by Punishment except prevented by Repentance Punishment follows it I say sometimes with Slow but always with Sure Paces till it over-takes it Vengeance attends it as the Gaoler in some Countries does Malefactors who is bound in the same Chain with them Or is coupled to it as the After-Birth is to the Birth For as in Natural Productions after the Birth of the Creature there is a second Birth or Protrusion so there is in the bringing-forth of Sin it is no sooner produced in the World but there succeeds a Title to Punishment so close upon it as if it came from the same Womb. If thou dost Evil says God to Cain Sin lyeth at the Door i. e. the Punishment of Sin is at hand to seize thee and says our Lord in regard of mens proneness to Wickedness It is necessary that Offences should come but then also that 't was as necessary That upon them Woes should come and the Scripture makes it a piece of Injustice to detain them no less than a Sin to spare Sin The Wages of Sin is Death says S t Paul and as when the Wages of a Labourer or the Pay of a Souldier is detained a Mutiny or Clamour is raised so when Punishment the Wages of Sin is with-held a Cry is sent up to Heaven and God's Justice is continually sollicited till Guilt receive its due Reward This indeed to the Men of this World is the primum incredibile one of the most Incredible Doctrines that is taught they see not the Link which by God's appointment couples Sin and Punishment and because the Act of Sin is transient and Vengeance deferred they conceive the Guilt and the Bitterness of Death contracted by it are also transient and that they can confute the whole Hypothesis from their own Experience they having not only run on in Disobedience for many Years together but encreased their Wickedness as well as continued in it proceeded from sinning with fear to sin with presumption from offending God to the affronting him from breaking his Laws to the deriding of his Worship and the denying of his Deity and yet say they we have found none of that Vengeance that is spoken of no not the least Disturbance in our Evil Ways But is it then no Vengeance to let a Sinner run on in the Ways of Perdition without any Check Is the Blindness and Darkness of the Soul and Hardness of the Heart no Judgment Is the falling from the Condition of a Man to that of a Beast the despising all things Spiritual and Noble and finding no relish but in things sensual and Brutish no Judgment Is God's giving them up thus to a Reprobate Mind and Vile Affections condemning them to love Necessarily and Finally what they have so long loved Perversely and Wilfully no Judgment Is the visible trailing after them in this manner the Chain of Damnation and going on singing and dancing to Hell without apprehending the least Evil no Judgment What Sadder Arrest can there be of God's Wrath than such an Exemption from it What Plague or Punishment sent upon Less Offending Sinners half so dreadful as the Calm and Peace which these boast of But let it be as these Men imagine that all these things we speak of are Dreams that Obdurateness and Insensibility in Sinning is no Punishment and that nothing deserves the Name of Vengeance but what is Corporal Loss of Life or Liberty deprivation of Health Estate and the like How do these know they shall escape these Evils Those of this Way are for the most part Young or in the Strength of their Days and perhaps God has determined before they depart hence to make them as Eminent Examples
Custom of the World is to place its Contempt to teach by his Own Example what he afterwards taught his Apostle S t Peter by the Sheet of all Sorts of Creatures let down from Heaven To hold none Refuse or Common no not to esteem the People themselves Vulgar I pass to the Motives of our Lord's Compassion which I said were two The present Want of the Multitude They have nothing to eat And their fear'd future Danger in case they were so dismiss'd They will faint by the Way 1. Their present Want They have nothing to eat Our Lord not only exercised his Compassion towards the Meanest of Men but even in the Meanest things which concerned such men the catering or providing Food for them His Disciples after him thought it a Disparagement to their higher Calling of Preaching to stoop to such Low Employments It is not reason say they that we should leave the Word of God to serve Tables but He despised not to serve Tables too Meat is not the Reward or Aim of a Follower of Christ but Grace and the Holy Ghost Heaven and Eternal Life Food raiment houses land and the rest of things Temporal are indeed but Impedimenta Religionis the Baggage or Luggage of our Christian Warfare cumbersome to a Believer as well as useful yet because they are useful in our present Condition Christ indulges them to us and is troubled if we want a Sufficiency of them and however there is but Vnum Necessarium One Great Requisite Faith yet the other things of this Life which are necessary in their kind to that One Necessary he wills and commands should be given to his Servants and if they be he imputes it to the Givers of them for Righteousness and if they be not to the With-holders of them for Unrighteousness The second Motive of Christ's Compassion was The fear'd future Danger of the People lest they might faint by the way He shew'd himself not only troubled at present and incumbent Distresses but solicitous for those that were future and possible for all Emergences of Evils which might happen Thus he wept for the Destruction of Jerusalem forty Years before it was destroyed bewail'd the Desolation of Capernaum while it yet flourisht and was exalted to heaven Compassion or Fellow-feeling of anothers Misery expresses not the Commiseration that was in Christ his was an Ante-passion or Fore-feeling he felt not only what his Servants felt but what they felt not but might possibly feel If I send them away fasting says he they will faint by the way We are sensible of one anothers Calamities when they fall out Christ even when they are contingent He well deserves the Title of a Merciful High-Priest who shew'd himself not only touch'd with the Evils that oppress men but with those also that threaten them These were the two Motives of our Lord's Compassion The present Distress And the future Danger of the People But the Distresses and Dangers of all Sorts of Men do not equally affect him but only those of the Worthy It was the Singular Faith and Devotion of the Multitude which brought them into the Inconvenience they were in and our Lord's words do not only express a Disposition or Inclination to relieve them but an Indignation that they should suffer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that men should do Well and yet suffer Evil his Gracious Nature could not endure The Circumstances of the Peoples Worthiness and Goodness which may be collected from the Words of my Text are these four 1. The End for which they follow'd Christ It was purely for Instruction and Conviction they had no other Design no other Interest in attending him but to hear his Words and to see his Works and such deserved not to be starved away The Lions do lack and suffer hunger says the Psalmist but they which seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good Those that sit assiduously at Christ's feet deserve to be fed by his hand who neglect all for him to be cared for by him and till he had here relieved the Multitude he himself suffered for they appeared to him not only to be his Disciples but his Martyrs The second Circumstance of their Worthiness was The Pains they took in following Christ Divers of them says he came from far To follow Christ only from Street to Street and Synagogue to Synagogue within the City merited Regard but to attend him from Town to Town from City to Country from Mountain to Desart call'd for a greater measure of our Affection To receive the Gospel when 't is brought Home to us is commendable but to go on Pilgrimage to hear Wisdom like the Queen of Sheba deserves as she did to find more Satisfaction than was expected those that submit to hear the Word of God shall find Comfort and Refreshment to their Souls but they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness inebriabuntur ubertate domûs tuae they shall be even gorged and sated with the Plenty of his House The Church of Rome among other vain and false Glories reckons that of Pilgrimages but who looks nearly into the Mystery of them will find that when they are undertaken by Great Men 't is with a Perswasion that the most heinous Offences may be expiated by Bodily Pains and profuse Offerings without Reformation of Life and when by those of the Meaner Sort 't is but under a Colour of Religion a plain running-away from their Wives and Children or the Burden of their Calling and as they went out Idle and Profligate Persons they return commonly Thieves and Murderers The third Circumstance of their Worthiness was The Generosity and Spiritual-Mindedness they shew'd Though they had continued with our Lord three days and had made no Provision for the Body yet they felt no Hunger or despised it they were so transported with his Conversation that what Christ said of his own doing the Will of his Father That it was Meat and Drink to him appear'd true in the Multitudes hearing his Gracious Words That it was Meat and Drink to them they practis'd this Precept before it was taught them Anima est plusquam esca the Concerns of the Soul are to take place before those of the Body 'T was said of the ancient common People of Rome duas tantum res anxias optat Panem Circenses that they passionately set their heart but upon two things Bread and Plays their Belly and their Pastime But the People here of a Nobler Strain despised their belly pleasure profit ease Life it self for Religion and Instruction sake And therefore though our Lord many other times sent away the People Empty or slipt away himself from their importunity he treated and feasted these and dismist them with Respect and Complement The fourth Circumstance of their Worthiness was their Constancy and Perseverance they forsook not Christ in three days Those that are not discouraged at the first Onset on Religion yet many times length and hardness of Duties
severe Discipline Danger and Persecutions will make them stagger and recoil The Seed that fell upon Stony Ground sprung up faster for a season than that which fell on the Good Ground but when the Sun arose and smote it it presently withered wanting root The Children of Israel went cheerfully and lustily with Moses out of Egypt but when their Food grew scarce and they saw the Host of Pharaoh pursue them they boggled in their Enterprize and in their hearts returned again into Egypt preferring Bondage with Safety and Plenty before Freedom with Hardship and Danger But their Posterity voluntarily follow'd Christ three days without Sustenance and never lookt back to their houses or yet to their beloved City If I forget thee O Jerusalem says the Psalmist let my right Hand forget its Cunning. But these Israelites when they heard Tidings of the Heavenly Jerusalem the Jerusalem above they cast behind them all thoughts of Jerusalem below it appeared to them no better than a second Babylon or house of Bondage As our Lord therefore made others of the People his Scholars he made these of his Family as he taught them he fed these revealed not only the Word but the Power and Glory of God to them To conclude I shall raise from all that I have said but this One acceptable and comfortable Doctrine Whosoever follows Christ faithfully affectionately and constantly in these days will find him as Compassionate in their Wants and Distresses as the Multitude here did For he has the same Bowels and Tenderness now at the Right Hand of God which he had when he conversed with men on Earth he is ascended Intire into the Heavens he did not carry up his Body thither and leave his Affections in the Grave If we therefore seek the Kingdom of Heaven in the first place and its Righteousness we may rest assured of our Lord's Promise That all the Necessaries of this Life shall be added to us that if we perform the Principal he will take care to make good the Accessory What is said of the Productions of Nature That she brings forth nothing but what she provides for is much more true of the Productions or Children of Grace For when the Earth with-holds its Fatness and the Clouds their Dew when the Creatures that should nourish Men starve themselves for want of Nourishment when the Breasts of Nature seem wholly dryed up venit Coelum in partes Heaven it self will come in to succour and take Part with the Faithful and if Sterility abounds Grace on this occasion also will much more abound if the Soil afford no Corn Bread shall be rained from the Sky if the Springs fail the Stony Rock shall send forth Water and Rivers shall run in dry places the Ravens shall feed the Righteous or their little Stock shall encrease as fast as 't is spent the Courses of Nature shall be inverted rather than Christ's Truth fail Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not one Tittle of his Word shall fall to the ground And if any say How comes it then to pass that the Servants of God do suffer Want Nay that commonly they are more destitute and persecuted than other Men I answer to this as our Lord did to his Disciples urging him on a time to eat I have Meat to eat says he which you know not of So the Faithful have Meat to eat which the World knows not of they have Peace Plenty and Prosperity though not seen by every Eye They have the Grace of God which is as a hidden Manna in their Hearts and as a Well of Living Water which suffers them neither to hunger nor thirst And is it not much more Eligible and Glorious to fast with Moses and Elias forty days than to feast even at the Table of Princes To be in the State of Angels who need neither Food nor Raiment than to be clothed and served with all the Sumptuousness and Magnificence of Solomon The Righteous have Content in Poverty which is more than Riches Joy in Bonds which is better than Freedom Satiety in a little which is not always found in Abundance And what is this but to receive Bread from Heaven when the Earth affords none Water from the Rock when the Springs are dryed up To be fed even by a more Wonderful Way than by the Ministry of Ravens Neither is the Favour of God this Way shew'd to the Followers of Christ less than that which he shew'd to his Own Servants of old but much greater for it speaks yet a higher Grace to be content to perish under Hunger Poverty and Bonds than to be snatch'd out of these Evils after a Miraculous Manner Saint Peter rejoiced more when he was scourged for bearing Testimony to Christ than when he was delivered by an Angel from the Death design'd him by Herod And Saint Paul gloried more in his Persecutions and Sufferings than he did even in his Charismata his Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost And thus our Gracious Lord relieves the Necessities of his Servants from the Store-houses of the World or from the Riches of his Grace rescues them out of their Afflictions or makes them delight in them supplies their Wants or sets them above the Wants of other Men takes away their Wants or takes them up to that Place where no Wants are and where all Tears shall be wip'd from their Eyes To which blessed Place God of his infinite Mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ bring us all And To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Worship and Thanksgiving this Day forth and for evermore Amen The Fourteenth Sermon LUKE xvi 9 Make to your selves Friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations THESE Words may be call'd a Lecture of holy Usury they teaching us the highest Advantages that are to be made of Riches beyond what is to be learned from the Books of Eastern Merchants or the Trade to both the Indies from the Mysterious Rules of the antient Publicans or our modern Bankers 1. They teach men by a Divine Alchymy how to convert Earthly Treasure into Heavenly to make Money the ordinary Salary and hire of Sin to be the Price of Salvation and the Purchace of the Holy Ghost without the Danger of Simony 2. Men are instructed by them how to cure the Vanity and Instability of Riches call'd for their inconstant and short Abode mendacium phantasmata praestigiae scenica persona c. a Lye a Dream a Delusion the quick shifting of a Scene or Vizor in the Theatre and notwithstanding that 't is said We can carry nothing out of this World with us we are shew'd which way to confer them to Heaven and to erect Banks in those Eternal Mansions 3. Whereas Folly is ordinarily imputed to Rich men insanus dives stultus dives the Mad man and the Rich the Fool and the Rich being seldom in Scripture out of conjunction
shew'd them not the Father now in the Person of another but in their Own in his Divine and Omnipotent Power displayed in themselves And this was not only a Plain and Evident but a Gracious Revelation of the Father which as it improv'd their Knowledge of him so it gave them also Demonstrations of his Love and Favour The Father was both gracious to them and present with them before under the Law he was their God and they were his People but after they had embrac'd the Gospel he sent his Son into the World to preach they were admitted into a Nearer Relation and were not only call'd the People and Servants but the Children of God the adopted Brethren of Christ and the Father of Heaven and Earth was appropriated by our Lord no less to them than to himself I go says he to my Father and to your Father to my God and to your God And this being the blessed Condition not only of the first Disciples but of all true Believers since I cannot chuse but take Occasion from hence to say That those Christians are not sensible of their own Priviledge and Dignity that go a Compass to God when they are allowed the Directest and Shortest Way to him who keep a Distance when they are invited and encouraged to make a Near and familiar Address out of an affected Humility move them that they may move her that she may move Christ that Christ may move the Father What a trifling Ambages is this after our Lord has promised an Immediate Access and upon no better ground but because forsooth the like is practised in the Courts of Earthly Princes where Strangers and Unknown Persons are not allow'd to make their Approach to the King without the Introduction of some in Place Alas to the Court of Heaven there comes no Strangers or Unknown Persons all the Suters there are Sons and these use not to implore the help of Servants but being first in Power and Place themselves go directly and boldly to the Throne of the King their Father as S t Paul Heb. 4.16 encourages the Faithful to do Let us come boldly says he to the Throne of Grace and our Lord at the 16 th Verse of this Chapter speaks as if his own Mediation were not always necessary At that day says he ye shall ask in my Name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God Those that believe that Jesus is the Christ as the Apostle says are born of God and begotten of his Spirit and they need no other Advocate to speak for them but the Spirit and such their Propinquity by Faith and to distrust their Interest were to distrust God's Love and Christ's Truth and we may say of such a Diffidence what one says of the like in humane Alliance peccat Qui commendandum se putat esse suis he sins against the Right of Kindred that thinks he needs to be recommended to his own Relations Therefore though we decline not with the ranker Socinians the Intercession of Christ who say He is mere Man and not God and consequently that all Prayers made to him are idolatrous Nor yet comply with the more allay'd and qualify'd Poyson of others of them who allow it lawful to pray to Christ but not necessary yet we may vindicate the Prerogative given to a Disciple in my Text against the Shew of Wisdom in Will-Worship and Humility practis'd in the Church of Rome For we who are rightly instructed in the Close Conjunction of the Father and the Son that teach he is both God and Man know it is indifferent whether we supplicate the Father or the Son whether with our Lord himself we say Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit or whether with S t Stephen Lord Jesu receive my Spirit who praying after this manner is said also to have call'd upon God And in truth when our Lord sends his Disciples in my Text to his Father he neither extinguishes his own Adoration nor Mediation but sends them from his Humane Nature as I may say to meet them again in his Divine And this is the true Importance of his sending them to the Father but they were not capable at this time of receiving the Doctrine of his Divinity for a little before in plain terms without a Figure he had discoursed to them of his Death and Passion and those to whom it was a hard Saying That they should eat his Flesh and drink his Bloud would have thought it a much harder to have heard That he was the Eternal God and could yet be Crucify'd by Wicked men Not willing therefore to force their Reason either by his Argumentation or Authority he let this Mystery alone to be revealed in due time by the Holy Ghost and establisht their Comfort on a Foundation more easie to be conceived by them the Goodness and All-Sufficiency of the Father For however they did believe their Master to be an Extraordinary and Divine Person they could not chuse but believe their God was Greater and if it were a happiness to follow the Son it must be yet a higher Felicity to be Favourites to the Father of whom the whole Family of Heaven and Earth is named Now this being the Condition which a Disciple was left in at his Lord's Departure he had no reason to mourn and languish for his Absence with S t Augustine to desire to see Christum in ore Christ's natural face again while he enjoyed Christum in Patre Christ in the power and presence of the Father When a less Person at his Departure gives us the Favour of a Greater we may say He does not Desert us but bestows his Absence on us But Christ's Care of his Disciples and kindness to them will be seen yet more in the Unlimited Measure in which they were promised God's Favour exprest in these Words Whatsoever ye shall ask he will give it you Which is the next thing I am to explain Whatsoever ye shall ask he will give it you This was a large Promise and yet as largely and stupendiously made good For 1. Such was the Power of a Disciple by Prayer upon Earth that he could cast out Devils chase away all Diseases heal all Infirmities call the Dead out of their Grave and send the Living into it 2. Such was his Power in the Sea that when the Ship was become a Prey to the merciless Element and nothing but Death and Desperation appear'd to all others a S t Paul could say Not one of the Company shall perish And why so Because he had pray'd and God had given him the Lives of them that sail'd with him 3. Such was his Power in Heaven that the Holy Ghost stood press'd and ready as I may say upon the laying-on of the Apostles hands as upon a Sign given to descend in all his various and wonderful
to tempt God in this kind when they are not mov'd to it by a Divine Spirit And if Miracles were to be perform'd at the asking of every Follower of Christ if every Prophet or Preacher of the Gospel in these days might divide the Sea and call down Fire from Heaven every faithful Commander cause Hail-Stones to be cast from the Clouds upon his Enemies and the like not only the Harmony of the Creation the Laws of Agents and Patients would be confounded but the Harmony of Religion For if such a present certain Impetration of all things of this Life did attend every true Christian Professor that their Prayers were answered with a Miracle who would not be a Professor or Believer on these Terms and what Praise were it to be a Believer The Congregation of the Faithful would be encreased on this account but the Vertue of Faith would be wholly destroyed 2. If that which is pray'd for be not foreseen by God to be hurtful to him that prays as 't is said dando irascitur non dando miseretur if he gives he 's angry and if he denies he 's merciful If a Child aks of his Father a Fish says our Lord will he give him a Serpent Or if he asks a Serpent instead of a Fish will he give him a Serpent The Gentiles indeed complained that their Gods which were Devils easily granted them Evil things but were inexorable when they sought Good things at their hands Evertere Vrbes totas optantibus ipsis Dii faciles But the Father of Heaven and Earth gives only Good things to his Children 3. If there be not something that is Better for the Petitioner than that which he prays for though Good and which undoubtedly he would have desired before it if he had understood it and thus 't is said again Non tribuit quod vellem ut tribuat quod mallem God gave me not what I ask'd that he might give me what I aim'd at he denied the Form of my Request that he might grant what was more Advantageous for me And 't was with this purpose of conferring a Greater Benefit than was ask'd that God denied S t Paul praying thrice that the Thorn in his Flesh might be taken away for he gave him his Grace to support him in that Temptation or Affliction whichsoever it was which was better for the Apostle than to have removed the Evil for that would have deprived him both of the Tryal and reward of his Vertue And on this account 't is said Heb. 5.7 of our Lord 's praying that the Cup of his Passion might pass from him That he was heard in that he fear'd though God made him drink up the very Dregs of that bitter Potion And thus we see though the Promise made in my Text extends not to the Exorbitant Desires of fond Men nor yet to the Mistakes or Weaknesses of those that are Pious and Righteous yet it reaches to all their great and important Concerns to all that is behoof ful and best for them that 't is commensurate to God's Goodness and Wisdom and 't is not to be imagin'd that when he promises his Creatures to be merciful to them he obliges himself to do any thing unworthy of his Majesty that when he says he will hear their Prayers he divests himself of his Soveraignty renounces his Wisdom or any other of his Attributes We must not therefore liken God to Antigonus King of Macedon that was Sir-named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Giver for giving much in Words and little in Deeds because upon every trifling Petition he does not unframe the World or break the Course of Providence The Words of our Lord Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you as they are not to be swallow'd crudely as if a Fortunatus's Cap were promised so neither on the other side are they to be received with Doubting and Suspicion as if they were fallacious and deceiveable For in case their Petitions are retarded or not answered in kind it becomes not Christians presently to entertain thoughts like the Heathen who were perswaded that the Winds had power to scatter their Prayers before they reach'd Heaven Terribilisque Notus jactat mea verba precesque nor yet should it be so that their righteous Requests succeeded not to their Expectation are they to stagger in their Faith like Cato who because his honest Vows for Pompey and the Commonwealth were not heard against the Usurpation of Caesar doubted of a Providence Both this melancholy Mis-giving that God often regards not our Prayers though they are Just and the other Sanguine Folly and Credulity that it is fit for him to grant whatever is desired spring from one and the same Root viz. the Immoderate Love of Earthly things For the truly Faithful who set their Affection on things above feel neither such Flashes of fond Hopes nor Damps of black Despair but being Indifferent to Worldly things and wholly resign'd to God's good Will and Pleasure they can think it reasonable that the Ends of his Providence and the Interests of his Glory should be serv'd in the first place And then for those that depend and hang on Christ in hopes only of Preferment in his Imagin'd Temporal Kingdom if his Followers for the Loaves his Disciples as I may call them of the Basket be disappointed 't is no great marvel nor matter for 't is not said Whatever ye shall ambitiously wantonly or any other way inordinately covet ye shall receive but Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you i. e. Whatever ye that are my Disciples shall duly pray for if you request it in my Name as nothing is difficult to my Father so you will find there is nothing so precious that for Love of me he will not grant you Which brings me to my last Part The Means by which we are to obtain our Requests By asking in Christ's Name Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name Though all the Favour Men receive from God is in the Name or for the Sake or Merits of Christ yet even that Meritorious and prevailing Name will benefit them nothing unless they be Faithful Persons or such as are dispos'd to be so such as those to whom the Promise in my Text is made and no small Emphasis or Stress is to be put in this Particle Ye whatsover Ye shall ask Ye that are my Disciples Ye that have received me as coming from the Father believed my Miracles and my Doctrine rely'd upon my Promises continu'd with me from the beginning to the end notwithstanding the Scandal that so many others took at the Meanness of my Condition and the Severity of my Precepts The Promise I say is not Universal to all Men no nor yet to the mere titular Professors of Christianity who as the Jews of old cry'd The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord even when they were Idolaters and Apostates so cry
Agreeable to him for his own sake And this Rule of Love to Men may teach us what Love we ought to pay to God for we ought to wish Well to God and to procure things Good and Agreeable to him And if any ask Wherein we can do this to God I need look no further for an Answer than the second Petition in the Lord's Prayer Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as 't is in Heaven It consists in the Execution of God's Will and the Extension of his Glory For all other things besides these are nothing to God as the Psalmist says My goods are nothing unto thee The Riches of this World and the most precious things in its account are contemptible in his Sight but these two which I have named he esteems and in some measure wants and desires possesses not perfectly and absolutely as he would All his Creatures do not acknowledge him honour him worship him delight in his Dominion pay a ready cheerful Obedience to his Commands as the Angels in Heaven do notwithstanding that they are reasonable honourable beneficial have more of Profit than of the Yoke in them But so it is there is another God of this World that blinds most men and leads them away captive with divers Lusts and they chuse rather to be Vassals and Drudges to this Usurper and Tyrant than to be Nobles and Princes even adopted Children to the King of Heaven and Earth And with good reason holy Men in every Age have pray'd for God's Kingdom i. e. the Encrease of Righteousness and of the Number of the Faithful for God is yet in a manner like those Princes which are outed of part of their Dominions and deny'd the Obedience of whole Nations of their People and his Loyal Subjects can no way shew their affection so much to him as by espousing his Interest abetting his Title employing their best Endeavours to reduce the Rebellious to Allegiance by wishing with the Psalmist That Kings and all People young men and maidens old men and children would praise and glorifie his holy Name 'T is the business of Great Ministers of State to understand the Strength and weakness of Foreign Princes the Commodities and Defects of their Countries that they make the most advantageous Alliances for their own Masters and they are held the best Politicians that do this best But if both those of the highest Condition and also of the lowest and meanest even all People would set to their Power to serve the Great Monarch of Heaven and Earth they would find no Policy comparable to this that the promoting of his Designs would be the most certain way of promoting their own whether publick or private they would find that they would thrive like Jacob that all things would prosper under their hands like Joseph that they would return with constant Victory like David and heap up Gold and Silver like Solomon Numa though a Heathen rely'd so confidently on this Policy that when he was told on a time That the Enemy was drawing up against him he answer'd And I am praying against them And when 't was said They were charging he reply'd and he was Sacrificing assuring himself the Gods would not neglect his Safety while he was solicitous for their Worship But you will say Is it needful that we should wish for the Encrease of God's Kingdom does he want the help of his Creatures No. Is he not Omnipotent and can bring to pass whatever seems good to him Yes Who has resisted his Will As the Question is ask'd None and yet it may be as truly said Who is there that has not resisted his Will What was spoken of Israel may be affirmed of all Mankind that they are a rebellious and gain-saying People God 't is true is Omnipotent and his Power never fails he brought the World out of nothing by his Word and by his bare Word can reduce it again to nothing if he had pleas'd he could have created a Generation of Men that should have served him regularly and constantly fatally and necessarily as the Fire burns and the Sun and the Moon move in their Courses But this is not the Service that God wants and which we are to pray for in his behalf 't is the Free and Voluntary not the Constrain'd Service of his Rational Creatures that Men would obey him out of Love and Choice as his Dominion is gracious that they would desire it as it is beneficial and honourable that they would delight in it Compell'd Righteousness is no Righteousness 't is in Obedience as in Charity he that gives grudgingly and of necessity does not give but is tax'd and he that obeys of Compulsion is a Slave and not a Votary 'T is reported of the famous Painter Apelles that when he had finish'd any rare Piece his custom was latere post tabulam to hide himself behind it that he might hear what Passengers said of it and that he car'd for no Approbation but what came in this free way After the like manner God exposes to the View and Consideration of Men his Works of Power and of Wisdom of Mercy and of Goodness and then delights latere post tabulam to conceal himself in his inaccessible Glory and to observe what free and unextorted Returns of Honour and Love they will bring him in all forc'd or feign'd Superstitious and Hypocritical Acknowledgments being odious to him And now after all that has been said in strict speaking God stands no more in need of our Obedience and Worship than he does of our Riches as 't is said Acts 17.24 He dwelleth not in Temples made by hands neither is he worshipp'd by mens hands The meaning of his being outed of part of his Kingdom and denied his full Dominion in truth signifies no more But that he has not yet extended the Salvation of Men to the Bounds his Goodness designed But to proceed We said Love did not only Wish but Procure things good and acceptable to the Person belov'd and we ought not only to wish the Execution of God's Will and the Extension of his Glory but to set-to our hands to Effect what we pray for as it is not sufficient in Point of Charity to give good Words only to the Poor to say Be thou warm be thou fill'd God assist thee and the like when we can supply what they want our selves so 't is not sufficient in our Love to God to say only Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven but we must zealously and industriously do his Will and endeavour all we can to promote his Kingdom Says our Lord to S t Peter Simon Peter lovest thou me Lord reply'd he thou knowest that I love thee And yet notwithstanding that he knew the Sincerity of his heart he ask'd him the same Question three times Why to grieve Peter or that he delighted in the repetition of the Profession of his Love No but to excite him to a more
diligent Execution of his Apostleship Feed my Sheep And the Method which our Lord here prescribes to Peter must be observed also by us in advancing the Kingdom of God When thou art converted says he strengthen thy Brethren We must first set up the Kingdom of God in our own hearts before we attempt to erect it in others As he is unfit to be a Teacher that is not first well instructed himself So he is not fit to be a Reformer that is not first reform'd himself for his Evil Manners will certainly defeat his Sermon and instead of making others righteous by his preaching he will render himself ridiculous 'T is a Noble Undertaking to bring others to the fear of God but 't is an indispensable Duty to serve God our selves says S t James He that converteth a Sinner from the Error of his ways shall save a Soul from death that 's an Heroick Action and shall hide a multitude of Sins that 's a necessary Concern Self-reformation is the most Effectual Step we can make to promote God's Glory 't is such a Giantly Step as I may say as reaches from the Setting out of the Course to the End of it 't is like the first Step of the Sun above the Horizon which darts Rays to the furthest Circumference of it and fills the whole Hemisphere with Light and Vigour which these Words of our Lord seem to allude to Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Nothing so illustrates the Gospel nothing so powerfully converts Sinners and brings them to glorifie God as the Holy Lives of the Faithful But I urge not this to exclude other Endeavours to propagate Righteousness but to shew the great Force and Prevalence that Righteousness has to produce Righteousness I proceed to the Objects of our Love which are two God and our Neighbour 1. God Saint John speaks as if there were some difficulty in this Part of our Duty Our loving God says he He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Implying though the Ear be Janua Scientiae the Gate of Knowledge the Eye is Janua Amoris the Gate of Love and that to excite this Passion 't is requisite some Visible Beauty be display'd But we may say to this Though we do not see God yet we may love him by what we see and hear of him nay with good reason we may be the more enamour'd on him because his Perfections transcend not only our mortal Senses but even all humane Conception and thus we may fall in love as Blind Men often passionately do by report and hear-say But more particularly there are three Motives why we should love God comprehended in the very Object The Lord thy God 1. Because he is God For that 's the Name of the highest Excellence and Perfection and they are only Glorious and Illustrious things that stir Love and Admiration in us we run not out to gaze upon Common Persons but upon those that are famous for Greatness Learning Beauty Prowess and the like Now there is nothing Rare or Admirable of any kind but 't is in God in its Fullness and Perfection and for this reason Epicurus though he believed no Providence or that Men received any Good or Evil from the Gods yet he adored them and sacrificed to them merely because they were Glorious Beings Had we no other Cause to love God but for the Stupendous Perfections that are in him it were sufficient But we have greater reason to love him from the Second Motive Because we have the Honour of Relation to him he is The Lord Our God The Psalmist thought it a high Obligation to praise him because he was created by him I will praise thee because I am fearfully and wonderfully made But we have not only the Obligation upon us of Creation and Conversation which is a kind of continual Creation in common with all Creatures to love God but other Extraordinary and Distinguishing Favours viz. his calling us to the Knowledge of the Faith and the Blessed Consequences attending it and this ought to tune our Harps yet higher and to be the Subject of many Hymns and Psalms more But then Thirdly Our greatest Motive of all to love him is Because he Redeem'd us after we were lost restor'd us when by our Sins we were in a manner uncreated again when we had defac'd the Image of God in us our Innocence and Righteousness forfeited all our Felicity and were become the Bond-slaves of Satan then he rescued us from Eternal Damnation and made us again the Children of God So that as he is Deus or God to all Mankind to Christians he is also over and above Dominus a Lord i. e. a Redeemer and Saviour There is nothing so much obliges as Love and Benefits Celsus the Physician speaking of Philtres or Love-potions says Amor est naturale Philtrum Love is a Natural Love-potion and more powerful than those that are compounded of Drugs and by Incantations The most stupid of Creatures the dull Oxe and Ass the wildest and fiercest the Lion and Tyger are brought to love by good Usage though they know not the Nature of a Man they know if they receive Meat at his hands and be well treated by him and will love him and be obsequious to him And men were more insensible than the Brutes if when they have received of the Riches of God's Bounty and Goodness they refuse to love him because they have not seen his Person and cannot comprehend his Essence And God Isai. 1.3 complains of this stupid Insensibility in Israel The Oxe says he knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib but Israel doth not know my people do not consider We love God as S t John says because he loved us first he began with us and our Love to him is at best a Gratitude or Retaliation if therefore the innumerable and inestimable Benefits of God work no return of Love in us to him we deserve not only to have our Names rased out of the Number of Men but to be allowed no place among the better natur'd Beasts but to be rang'd with Devils who are the only Enemies of God for his Goodness and Haters of him for that which is Excellent and Amiable in him The next thing I am to shew is In what Measure or Degree we are to love God The Words of the Commandment are Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Soul with all thy heart and with all thy mind On which three Expressions Commentators have many Observations and Criticisms but more nice than profitable for as Saint John says of the three that bear witness on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Bloud these three are one so I may say of these three Expressions in the Commandment however diversify'd that in importance they are but One and may be summ'd up
so well known that I shall not need to insist longer on it The Measure of the Love we are to shew him requires more Explanation We are to love him as our self And the Rule is so Excellent that I may say of it That if the like Freedom had been allow'd to Men to chuse a Standard of their Love to those of their own Kind as was allowed Isai. 7.11 to Ahaz to ask a Sign Ask thee a Sign either in the Depth or in the Height above i. e. in the whole Circuit of Heaven and Earth they could not have found a more apt and congruous than that which is here prescribed them The Love of their own selves Which I shall shew in four Regards or Respects 1. In regard of the Universality of it 't is a great Universality where there is no Exception S t Paul says of our Love to Our Selves No man ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it God implanted this Love in every man by Nature and that with singular Wisdom and Goodness that his Creatures loving themselves might conserve themselves in their Being and we see when this Love in any afterwards fails through Miseries which befal them and that they find no Amability in themselves they ordinarily make themselves away God therefore made choice of this Passion implanted in all men in general for Self-Preservation for the Preservation of our Neighbour that as our Love never fails to our Selves so it should never be wanting to others 2. In regard that this Rule is ever ready and at hand as present and officious as he in the Gospel that said to our Lord Master I will follow thee wheresoever thou goest Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self is a Sociable and Concomitant Rule that is never absent an inherent Direction that prompts us from within when any Opportunity of doing Good is offered us Or we may liken it to the Foot of the Compass that stands fixt at home and guides and carries on the other that romes and circuits about so this quiescent resident Love we bear our Selves ought to be the Guide of that Love we extend or carry out to others 3. In regard that this Rule takes from us all Excuse of Ignorance in performing the Duties of Charity Men are often Churlish to one another too apt to say How must I love my Neighbour What must I do to him to be said to love him Nescio quid sit Amor as the Young Novice is made to speak I know not what this Enjoined Love is No why the Pattern of it is within thy self how dost thou love thine own Person dost thou not clothe it when 't is naked feed it when 't is hungry cure it when 't is hurt consult for it when 't is in Trouble or Danger c. Do the same for thy Neighbour There is no need here to turn over Books or to ask how the Learned have determin'd but to ask thy self what thou wouldst do to thy self in the like Cases What desirest thou Not What readest thou What God says of mens knowing his Laws under the Gospel I will put my Law into their Inward Parts and write them in their Hearts and they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour saying Know the Lord for all shall know me may be affirmed of the Rule that is given us for the Love of our Neighbour It needs not be learned or copied out from any other for the Original of the Duty is a multiply'd Original in the Breasts of all Mankind 4. In regard of the Truth and Sincerity of the Rule No man loves himself with a False or Counterfeit Love but is truly Dear to himself will not hurt will not deceive himself David in the 22 th Psalm calls his Soul or Life his Darling Deliver my Soul says he from the Sword my Darling from the power of the dog How tender is David to David how David careth for himself Why every man does this as well as he and lo here is the Rule of our Love to other Men With the same Fidelity with the same Sincerity with the Same Tenderness we treat Our Selves we ought to treat our Other-Selves our Neighbours What David calls in this place his Darling is styl'd in the Margin his Only-One unicam meam Men are allow'd in a sense of Propriety to esteem their Own Souls their own Lives their own Interests to be their Only Ones yet in a sense of Charity they are obliged to make this Onlyness or Singularity become Plural and so to look upon themselves as their Only-Selves as to reckon all Men else their Multiply'd and Several-Selves Since this Commandment was given Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self all men are made in a manner One Man again as at the first Creation and I can no more count my self and my Neighbour to be two in regard of Charity than I can separate my self from my self seclude him from my Love than I can seclude my self from it I shall make but one General Reflection on all that has been said for Application and conclude my first General Part. Although these two Precepts Of loving our Neighbour As our selves and God Above our selves are founded in Nature re-inforc'd and bound straiter on us by express Commandments press'd further in the Gospel and declar'd to be the Summ and General Design of the whole Law yet there is one Rival one Opposite Vicious Principle which is able to with-hold us from paying Obedience to them I say One because whatever with-holds us beside may be reduc'd to this One and that is our Over-much Love of our selves Saint Paul 2 Tim. 3. reckoning many Vices which are causes of perillous Times brings them all out of the Belly of this Monster makes them all the Daughters and Spawn of Self-Love says he This know also That in the last days perillous times shall come for men shall be Lovers of themselves covetous boasters proud blasphemers without natural affection c. All the cursed Genealogy of Ungodliness and Uncharitableness draw their Extraction from this Stock The Immoderate Love of Our Selves From hence it is that we think it more reasonable to satisfie our vainest Desires and to gratifie our most Sinful Affections than to relieve the most weighty and pressing Distresses of our Brethren from hence it is that we set more by our own Opinions and Estimation than by the Truth it self or God's Glory by our Ambition or Revenge than by the Peace and Tranquillity of the Land The Rule that Divines give men when they seek Justification from God viz. That they go out of themselves and look upon nothing in themselves with a very small change will direct us in the Duty of Love that is commanded us We must go out of our Selves and look less upon what concerns our Selves if we will love God and our Neighbour as we ought to do Some men are praised and perhaps not undeservedly for being good Fathers they have laid up
when they clash or come in competition with these two Great Commandments The Love of God And the Love of our Neighbour We see what is become of the Purifications Vows Sabbaths Sacrifices Feasts New-Moons c. they are all since the bringing in of a better Covenant de facto done away all that Forest of Laws was cut down by this Novum Mandatum this New Commandment of our Lord's Behold a New Commandment I give unto you That ye love one another And not only Shadows and Figures gave way to this Divine Law but many real and Substantial Vertues vail to this Eternal and never-to-be-out-dated Vertue of Love or Charity Whether there be Prophecies they shall cease whether there be Knowledge it shall vanish away Nay when Faith and Hope are no more Charity abideth for ever The Noblest Vertues I may say are without Vertue the most heroick Acts of Religion are without Religion if performed without Love or Charity for where this Grace is wanting they are but Acts of Ostentation Hypocrisie or Compliance with mens own humours That which is therefore the chief Scope of the Law ought to be the chief Scope of our Lives and what we see to be the main Drift of God's Precepts ought to be likewise the main Aim of our Actions To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Worship and Thanksgiving this Day forth and for evermore Amen THE Twenty Second Sermon LAMENT iii. 39 40. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord. THIS Book is styl'd the Lamentations of Jeremiah representing of and grieving for the Miseries of Judah under the Captivity of Babylon and so far 't is justifiable For who can deny to them that are in Affliction the only Consolation of Affliction which is to ease themselves by complaining to evaporate their Sufferings by the breathings-out of a Sorrowful Spirit This is natural to all men and it would shew an affected Piece of Stoicism to quarrel at it the Prophet's Temper had been of Iron and his Bowels of Brass if he could have look'd upon the Calamity of his Country with dry Eyes and an unwounded heart if I say he could have beheld the People of God fallen into the Displeasure of God the City that was call'd by his Name and the Glory of all Cities sunk to be the By-word and Scorn of the Heathen the Land that so abounded with Inhabitants to be solitary and desolate that was the Stage of Miracles and Divine Favours to be ruined and accursed His breaking-out in the first Chapter upon contemplation of so Sad a Change in this admiring Commiseration How is she become a Widow She that was great among the Nations a Princess among the Provinces how is She become tributary was but a just Passion But the Prophet in the prosecution of his Complaints teaches us a better Remedy of our Evils than empty and idle Complaining viz. to consider them as Punishments as well as Evils as the Effects of God's wrath for our Sins as well as Miseries to join Repentance to our Lamentations and amendment of Life to our Uneasiness under God's correcting hand for the sense of Sufferings without Contrition for Sin shews only a love of our Selves and Earthly things but nothing that is praise-worthy Our Prophet therefore like a good Physician that amuses not himself with the Groans or Exclamations of his Patient but sets himself to find out the Cause of his Distemper as the readiest way to give him Ease passes by or reproves the Unseasonable Wailings and Lamentations of those that are in Misery and lets them know that the Root of all their Mischiefs and Misfortunes are their Trangressions against God's Laws and to wring their hands and fill the Air with Cries was Womanish and Childish when their business was to try and search their Ways and turn to the Lord whom they had forsaken by their Iniquities Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. What one says of a good Author he was expounding Whereas in the obscure places of many Writers 't is hard to make out any tolerable Sense the difficulty I find is in the multiplicity of excellent Senses to know which to chuse may more deservedly be affirmed of doubtful places in Scripture That 't is more difficult to resolve which Sense to prefer than to find a good one Many are the Interpretations of my Text and all tending to Edification Some Expositors because the Hebrew has no more than Why doth a living man complain a man of his Sins and makes no mention of the Punishment of them interpret the Words after this manner Why do men pretendingly or really sorrow excessively for their Sins and rest there why do they not rather proceed from Confession to Dereliction and from Dereliction to Amendment But though this be a good Admonition there is no reason here to decline the Translation of our Bible and to leave out Punishment it being common in the Hebrew to put Sin for the Punishment of Sin If thou doest well says God to Cain Gen. 4.7 shalt thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well Sin lieth at the door i. e. the Punishment of Sin is at hand to seize thee Others there are who observing the Prophet to vary his terms in the first Clause to say Why does a living man complain and in the second only Why does a Man complain put a weight and Emphasis in living as if his meaning were Why does he that has yet Life and Time complain and not rather hope But a living man in this place imports no more than a man or any man this form of Speech being not only usual in Scripture but among our selves who say No living man can endure this when we mean no more than no man can endure it Others understand the words thus Why does any Mortal Man complain i. e. murmur as if God were cruel and dealt harder measure to him than he deserved when none ever yet bore the full Burden of his Sins but God always in judgment remembers mercy applying justly to such Repiners what Solomon says Prov. 19.3 The foolish man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord. And not much unlike unto this is their Interpretation who say Why does a living man complain i. e. afflict himself for his Afflictions annoy himself for his Annoyances when Troubles and Molestations are the common Lot of Mankind When as Job says Man is born to trouble as the Sparks fly upwards Such Wailing and bemoaning speaks only an over-fondness and tenderness of our selves as if we thought we were fit to be exempted from what our whole Race is obnoxious to or else a mutinous discontented Spirit against the Sovereign of the World and his Providence The wiser Heathen may reproach