inclinations and appetites without any consideration of the future consequences of things and without fear of any thing but of a present and sensible danger like Brute creatures who fear no evils but what are in view and just ready to fall upon them Whereas to a prudent and considerate man a good or evil in reversion is capable of as true an estimation proportionably to the greatness and distance of it as if it were really present And what do we think has God given us our reason and understandings for but to foresee evils at a distance and to prevent them to provide for our future security and happiness to look up to God our Maker who hath taught us more than the Beasts of the earth and made us wiser than the Fowls of heaven but to consider what we do and what we ought to do and what makes most for our future and lasting interest and what against it What can a Beast do worse than to act without any consideration and design than to pursue his present inclination without any apprehension of true danger The most dull and stupid of all the brute creatures can hardly exercise less reason than this comes to So that for a man not to consider his ways is to the very best intents and purposes to be without understanding and like the beasts that perish 2. This is the end of Gods patience and long-suffering towards us to bring us to consideration The great design of Gods goodness is to lead men to repentance He winks at the sins of men that they may repent He bears long with us and delays the punishment of our sins and doth not execute judgment speedily because he is loth to surprize men into destruction because he would give them the liberty of second thoughts time to reflect upon themselves and to consider what they have done and to reason themselves into repentance Consider this all ye that forget God lest his patience turn into fury and he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver 3. Consideration is that which we must all come to one time or other Time will come when we shall consider and cannot help it when we shall not be able to divert our thoughts from those things which we are now so loth to think upon Our consciences will take their opportunity to bring our ways to remembrance when some great calamity or affliction is upon us Thus it was with the Prodigal when he was brought to the very last extremity and was ready to perish for hunger then he came to himself When we come to die then we shall think of our ways with trouble and vexation enough And how glad would we then be that we had time to consider them And perhaps while we are wishing for more time Eternity will swallow us up To be sure in the other world a great part of the misery of wicked men will consist in furious reflections upon themselves and the evil actions of their lives 'T is said of the Rich voluptuous man in the Parable that in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments as if he had never considered and bethought himself till that time But alas it will then be too late to consider For then consideration will do us no good it will serve to no other purpose but to aggravate our misery and to multiply our stings and to give new life and rage to those Vultures which will perpetually prey upon our hearts But how much a wiser course would it be to consider these things in time in order to our eternal peace and comfort to think of them while we may redress them and avoid the dismal consequences of them than when our case is desperate and past remedy And now what can I say more to perswade every one of us to a consideration of our own ways We are generally apt to busie our selves in observing the errors and miscarriages of our neighbours and are forward to mark and censure the faults and follies of other men but how few descend into themselves and turn their eyes inward and say What have I done 'T is an excellent saying of Antoninus the great Emperour and Philosopher No man was ever unhappy for not prying into the actions and condition of other men but that man is necessarily unhappy who doth not observe himself and consider the state of his own soul This is our proper work and now is a proper season for it when we pretend to God and men to set apart a solemn time for the examination of our selves and for a serious review of our lives in order to humiliation and repentance to the reforming and amendment of what is amiss And though we would venture to dissemble with men yet let us not dissemble with God also For shall not he that pondereth the heart consider it and he that keepeth thy soul shall not he know it and shall not he render to every man according to his ways I know it is a very unpleasant work which I am now putting you upon and therefore no wonder that men are generally so backward to it because it will of necessity give some present disturbance to their minds They whose lives have been very vicious are so odious a sight so horrid a spectacle to themselves that they cannot endure to reflect upon their own ways of all things in the world they hate Consideration and are ready to say to it as the evil Spirit did in the Gospel to our Saviour What have I to do with thee Art thou come to torment me before the time But let not this affright us from it for whatever trouble it may cause at present it is the only way to prevent the anguish and the torments of Eternity The things which I have offered to your consideration are of huge moment and importance They do not concern your bodies and estates but that which is more truly your selves your immortal souls the dearest and most durable part of your selves and they do not concern us for a little while but forever Let me therefore bespeak your most serious regard to them in the words of Moses to the people of Israel after he had set the law of God before them togeher with the blessings promised to obedience and the terrible curses threatned to the transgression of it Deut. 32.46 Set your hearts to the words which I testifie to you this day for it is not a vain thing because it is your life Your life your eternal life and happiness depends upon it And besides a tender regard to your selves and your own interests which methinks every man out of a natural desire of being happy and dread of being miserable should be forward enough to consider Be pleased likewise to lay to heart the influence of your example upon others I speak now to a great many persons the eminence of whose rank and quality renders their examples so powerful as to be able almost to give authority either to
iniquities testifie against thee to thy very face How can there be peace when thy lusts and debaucheries thy impieties to God and thy injuries to men have been so many How can there be peace when thy whole life hath been a continued contempt and provocation of Almighty God and a perpetual violence and affront to the light and reason of thy own mind Therefore whatever temptation there may be in sin at a distance whatever pleasure in the act and commission of it yet remember that it always goes off with trouble and will be bitterness in the end Those words of Solomon have a terrible sting in the conclusion of them Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment This one thought which will very often unavoidably break into our minds that God will bring us into judgment is enough to dash all our contentment and to spoil all the pleasure of a sinful life Never expect to be quiet in thine own mind and to have the true enjoyment of thy self till thou livest a virtuous and religious life And if this discourse be true as I am confident I have every mans conscience on my side I say if this be true let us venture to be wise and happy that is to be Religious Let us resolve to break off our sins by repentance to fear God and keep his Commandments as ever we desire to avoid the unspeakable torments of a guilty mind and would not be perpetually uneasie to our selves Grant we beseech thee Almighty God that we may every one of us know and do in this our day the things that belong to our peace before they be hid from our eyes And the God of peace which brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us always that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preached before the KING Febr. 26 th 1674 5. A SERMON Preached before the KING Febr. 26 th 1674 5. PSAL. CXIX 59 I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies THE two great causes of the ruin of men are Infidelity and want of consideration Some do not believe the principles of Religion or at least have by arguing against them rendered them so doubtful to themselves as to take away the force and efficacy of them But these are but a ve-very small part of mankind in comparison of those who perish for want of considering these things For most men take the principles of Religion for granted That there is a God and a Providence and a State of Rewards and Punishments after this life and never entertained any considerable doubt in their minds to the contrary But for all this they never attended to the proper and natural consequences of these principles nor applyed them to their own case They never seriously considered the notorious inconsistency of their lives with this belief and what manner of persons they ought to be who are verily perswaded of the truth of these things For no man that is convinced that there is a God and considers the necessary and immediate consequences of such a perswasion can think it safe to affront Him by a wicked life No man that believes the infinite happiness and misery of another world and considers withall that one of these shall certainly be his portion according as he demeans himself in this present life can think it indifferent what course he takes Men may thrust away these thoughts and keep them out of their minds for a long time but no man that enters into the serious consideration of these matters can possibly think it a thing indifferent to him whether he be happy or miserable for ever So that a great part of the evils of mens lives would be cured if they would but once lay them to heart would they but seriously consider the consequences of a wicked life they would see so plain reason and so urgent a necessity for the reforming of it that they would not venture to continue any longer in it This course David took here in the Text and he found the happy success of it I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies In which Words there are these two things considerable I. The course which David here took for the reforming of his life I thought on my ways II. The success of this course It produced actual and speedy reformation I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments These are the two heads of my following discourse which when I have spoken to I shall endeavour to perswade my self and you to take the same course which David here did and God grant that it may have the same effect I. We will consider the course which David here took for the reforming of his life I thought on my ways or as the words are rendered in our old Translation I called mine own ways to remembrance And this may either signifie a general survey and examination of his life respecting indifferently the good or bad actions of it Or else which is more probable it may specially refer to the sins and miscarriages of his life I thought on my ways that is I called my sins to remembrance Neither of these senses can be much amiss in order to the effect mentioned in the Text viz. the reformation and amendment of our lives and therefore neither of them can reasonably be excluded though I shall principally insist upon the later 1. This thinking of our ways may signifie a general survey and examination of our lives respecting indifferently our good and bad actions For Way is a Metaphorical word denoting the course of a mans life and actions I thought on my ways that is I examined my life and called my self to a strict account for the actions of it I compared them with the Law of God the rule and measure of my duty and considered how far I had obeyed that Law or offended against it how much evil I had been guilty of and how little good I had done in comparison of what I might and ought to have done That by this means I might come to understand the true state and condition of my soul and discerning how many and great my faults and defects were I might amend whatever was amiss and be more careful of my duty for the future And it must needs be a thing of excellent use for men to set apart some particular times for the examination of themselves that they may know how accounts stand between God and them Pythagoras or
coming upon them like a whirlwind heaven above threatning them and hell beneath moving her self to meet them at their coming can we possiby do less than to warn such persons to flee from the wrath which is to come and out of a sad apprehension of the danger that hangs over them to caution them against it and endeavour with all our might to rescue them from the misery which is ready to swallow them up Indeed one would be apt to think it a very vain thing to disswade men from being miserable to use great vehemency of argument to hinder a man from leaping into a pit or from running into the fire to take great pains to argue a sick man into a desire of health and to make a prisoner contented to have his shackles knocked off and to be set at liberty one would think all this were perfectly needless But yet we see in experience sin is a thing of so stupifying a nature as to make men insensible of their danger although it be so near and so terrible It is not so with men in other cases When we labour of any bodily distemper it is much to find a man that is patient of his disease but when our souls are mortally sick that we should be contented with our condition and fond of our disease that we should fight with our Physitian and spurn at our remedy this surely is the height of distraction for men to be thus absolutely bent upon their own ruin and to resolve to make away themselves forever And we who are the Messengers of God to men must be born of the rocks and have hearts harder than the nether milstone if we can patiently look on and endure to see men perish without using our utmost endeavour to save them Therefore I shall in the III. Third and last place apply my self to this work of Exhortation the duty commanded here in the Text. And here I shall address my self to two sorts of persons 1. To perswade those who are yet innocent of great crimes to resist the beginnings of sin lest it gain upon them by degrees 2. To press and urge those that are already entered upon a wicked course that they would make haste out of this dangerous state lest at last they be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin 1. To perswade those who are yet in some measure innocent to resist the beginnings of sin lest it gain upon them by degrees Vice may easily be discouraged at first 'T is like a slight disease which is easie to be cured but dangerous to be neglected The first approaches of sin and temptation are usually very modest but if they be not discountenanced they will soon grow upon us and make bolder attempts Every inclination to sin every compliance with temptation is a going down the hill While we keep our standing we may command our selves but if we once put our selves into violent motion downward we cannot stop when we please Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit All Vice stands upon a Precipice and to engage in any sinful course is to run down the hill And if we once let loose the propensions of our nature we cannot gather in the reins and govern them as we please If we give way to presumptuous sins they will quickly get dominion over us It is much easier not to begin a bad course than to put a stop to our selves after we have begun it Stulta res est nequitiae modus 'T is a fond thing for a man to think to set bounds to himself in any thing that is bad to resolve to sin in number weight and measure with great temperance and discretion and government of himself That he will commit this sin and then give over entertain but this one temptation and after that he will shut the door and admit of no more Our corrupt hearts when they are once in motion they are like the raging sea to which we set no bounds nor say to it hitherto thou shalt go and no further Sin is very cunning and deceitful and does strangely gain upon men when they once give way to it It is of a very bewitching nature and hath strange arts of address and insinuation The giving way to a small sin does marvellously prepare and dispose a man for a greater By giving way to one little vice after another the strongest resolution may be broken For though it be not to be snapt in sunder at once yet by this means it is untwisted by degrees and then 't is easie to break it one thread after another 'T is scarce imaginable of what force one sinful action is to produce more For sin is very teeming and fruitful and though there be no blessing annext to it yet it does strangely encrease and multiply As there is a connexion of one virtue with another so vices are linkt together and one sin draws many after it When the Devil tempts a man to commit any wickedness he does as it were lay a long train of sins and if the first temptation take they give fire to one another Let us then resist the beginnings of sin because then we have most power and sin hath least This is the first 2. To perswade those who are already engaged in a wicked course to make haste out of this dangerous state And there is no other way to get out of it but by repentance that is by a real change and reformation of our lives for herein the nature of true repentance does consist And without this all the devices which men use to get rid of the guilt of their sins are vain and to no purpose 'T is not to be done by a formal confession and absolution nor by a long pilgrimage nor by one of those little Tickets from Rome which they call Indulgences A wise man would much sooner perswade himself that God would not at all punish the sins of men than that he would forgive them so easily and receive great offenders to favour upon such slight terms Let us not deceive our selves there is one plain way to Heaven viz. sincere repentance and a holy life and there is no getting thither by tricks And without this change of our lives all our sorrow and fasting and humiliation for sin which at this season we make profession of will signifie nothing There is an excellent passage of the Son of Syrach to this purpose Eccles 34.25 26 He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what availeth his washing so is it with a man that fasteth for his sins and goeth again and doth the same things who will hear his prayer or what doth his humbling profit him There is this plain difference between trouble for sin and repentance sorrow only respects sins past but repentance is chiefly preventive of sins for the future And God therefore requires that we should be troubled for our sins that we may resolve to leave them And to oblige
Virtue or Vice People take their fashions from you as to the habits of their minds as well as their bodies So that upon you chiefly depends the ruine or reformation of manners our hopes or despair of a better world What way soever you go you are followed by troops If you run any sinful or dangerous course you cannot perish alone in your iniquity but thousands will fall by your side and ten thousands at your right hands And on the contrary 't is very much in your power and I hope in your wills and designs to be the sovereign restorers of piety and virtue to a degenerate Age. It is our part indeed to exhort men to their duty but 't is you that would be the powerful and effectual preachers of righteousness We may endeavour to make men proselytes to vertue but you would infallibly draw disciples after you We may try to perswade but you could certainly prevail either to make men good or to restrain them from being so bad Therefore consider your ways for the sake of others as well as your selves Consider what you have done and then consider what is fit for you to do and if you do it not what will be the end of these things And to help you forward in this work it is not necessary that I should rip up the vices of the Age and set mens sins in order before them It is much better that you your selves should call your own ways to remembrance We have every one a faithful Monitor and Witness in our own breasts who if we will but hearken to him will deal impartially with us and privately tell us the errors of our lives To this Monitor I refer you and to the grace of God to make these admonitions effectual Let us then every one of us in the fear of God search and try our ways and turn unto the Lord. Let us take to our selves words and say to God with those true Penitents in Scripture I have sinned what shall be done unto thee O thou preserver of men Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth I will abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes For surely it is meet to be said unto God I will not offend any more that which I know not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will do no more O that there were such an heart in us O that we were wise that we understood this that we would consider our latter end And God of his infinite mercy inspire into every one of our hearts this holy and happy resolution for the sake of our blessed Saviour and Redeemer to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen A SERMON Preached before the KING Apr. 18 th 1675. Psal CXIX 60 I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments IN the words immediately going before you have the course which David took for the reforming of his life and the success of that course I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies A serious reflection upon the past errors and miscarriages of his life produced the reformation of it And you have a considerable circumstance added in the words that I have now read to you viz. that this reformation was speedy and without delay I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments Upon due consideration of his former life and a full conviction of the necessity of a change he came to a resolution of a better life and immediately put this resolution in execution and to declare how presently and quickly he did it he expresses it both affirmatively and negatively after the manner of the Hebrews who when they would say a thing with great certainty and emphasis are wont to express it both ways I made haste and delayed not that is I did with all imaginable speed betake my self to a better course And this is the natural effect of Consideration and the true cause why men delay so necessary a work is because they stifle their reason and suffer themselves to be hurried into the embraces of present objects and do not consider their latter end and what will be the sad issue and event of a wicked life For if men would take an impartial view of their lives and but now and then reflect upon themselves and lay to heart the miserable and fatal consequences of a sinful course and think whither it will bring them at last and that the end of these things will be death and misery If the carnal and sensual person would but look about him and consider how many have been ruin'd in the way that he is in how many lye slain and wounded in it that it is the way to hell and leads down to the chambers of death this would certainly give a check to him and stop him in his course For it is not to be imagined but that that man who hath duly considered what sin is the shortness of its pleasures and the eternity of its punishment should resolve immediately to break off his sins and to live another kind of life Would any man be intemperate and walk after the flesh would any man be unjust and defraud or oppress his neighbour be prophane and live in the contempt of God and Religion or allow himself in any wicked course whatsoever that considers and believes a Judgment to come and that because of these things the terrible vengeance of God will one day fall upon the children of disobedience It is not credible that men who apply themselves seriously to the meditation of these matters should venture to continue in so imprudent and dangerous a course or could by any temptation whatsoever be trained on one step farther in a Way that does so certainly and visibly lead to ruin and destruction So that my work at this time shall be to endeavour to convince men of the monstrous folly and unreasonableness of delaying the reformation and amendment of their lives and to perswade us to resolve upon it and having resolved to set about it immediately and without delay in imitation of the good man here in the Text I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments And to this end I shall First Consider the reasons and excuses which men pretend for delaying this necessary work and shew the unreasonableness of them Secondly I shall add some farther Considerations to engage us effectually to set about this work speedily and without delay I. We will consider a little the reasons and excuses which men pretend for delaying this necessary work and not only shew the unreasonableness of them but that they are each of them a strong reason and powerful argument to the contrary 1. Many pretend that they are abundantly convinced of the great necessity of leaving their sins and betaking themselves to a better course and they fully intend to do so only they cannot at present bring themselves
estate and condition By this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil Thirdly I shall enquire whence it comes to pass that notwithstanding this so many persons are at so great uncertainty concerning their condition I. We will consider the character and mark of difference between a good and bad man which is here in the Text Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God which implies likewise on the contrary that whosoever doth righteousness is of God Now in the strictest sense of this phrase he only who lives in all the commandments of God blameless can be said to do righteousness But in this sense there is none that doth righteousness no not one and consequently none could be the Children of God but the Text supposes some to be so and therefore by doing righteousness the Apostle must necessarily be understood to mean something that is short of perfect and unsinning obedience So that the question is What doing of righteousness is sufficient to denominate a man a Child of God and to put him into a state of grace and favour with Him And I do not intend nicely to state this matter 'T is not perhaps possible to be done nothing being more difficult than to determine the very utmost bounds and limits of things and to tell exactly and just to a point where the line of difference between Virtue and Vice between the state of a good and bad man is to be placed And if it could be done it would be of no great use for I take it to be no part of my business to tell men how many faults they may have and how little goodness and yet be the children of God but rather to acquaint them what degrees of holiness and goodness are necessary to give men a clear and comfortable evidence of their good estate towards God and then to perswade them in order to their peace and assurance to endeavour after such degrees Wherefore to state the business so far as is necessary to give men a sufficient knowledg of their condition I shall briefly consider who they are that in the Apostles sense may be said to be doers of righteousness or not doers of it And because the Apostle lays down the Rule negatively I shall therefore In the first place enquire who they are that in the Apostles sense may be said not to do righteousness 1. They that live in the general course of a wicked life in the practise of great and known sins as injustice intemperance filthy and sensual lusts profane neglect and contempt of God and Religion so that by the whole course and tenour of their actions it is plain beyond all denial that there is no fear of God before their eyes Concerning these the case is so very evident that it seems too mild and gentle an expression to call them not doers of righteousness 2. They who live in the habitual practice of any one known sin or in the neglect of any considerable part of their known duty For any vicious habit denominates a man and puts him into an evil state 3. They who are guilty of the single act of a very heinous and notorious crime as a deliberate act of blasphemy of murther perjury fraud or oppression or of any other crime of the like enormity For though ordinarily one single act of sin doth not denominate one a bad man when the general course of the mans life is contrary yet the single acts of some sorts of sins are so crying and heinous and do so stare every mans conscience in the face that they are justly esteemed to be of equal malignity with vicious habits of an inferiour kind because they do almost necessarily suppose a great depravation of mind and a monstrous alienation from God and goodness in the person that deliberately commits them And they who are guilty in any of these three degrees now mentioned are most certainly not doers of righteousness and consequently it is manifest that they are not the children of God In the second place I shall enquire who they are that in the Apostles sense may be said to do righteousness In short they who in the general course of their lives do keep the Commandments of God And thus the Scripture generally expresseth this matter by keeping the commandments of God and by having respect to all his commandments by obedience to the Gospel of Christ by being holy in all manner of conversation by abstaining from all kind of evil by cleansing our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and by practising holiness in the fear of God To which I shall add the description which St. Luke gives us of the righteousness of Zacharias and Elizabeth Luk. 1.6 They were both righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless All which expressions do plainly signifie the actual conformity of our lives and actions in the general course and tenour of them to the Laws and commands of God And this implies these two things That the tenour of our lives and actions be agreeable to the Laws of God And that these actions be done with a sincere and upright mind out of regard to God and another World and not for low and temporal ends And I chuse rather to describe a righteous man by the actual conformity of the general course of his actions to the Law of God than as some have done by a sincere Desire or resolution of obedience For a desire may be sincere for the time it lasts and yet vanish before it come to any real effect And how innocently soever it was intended it is certainly a great mistake in Divinity and of very dangerous consequence to the souls of men to affirm that a Desire of grace is grace and consequently by the same reason that a desire of obedience is obedience A sincere desire and resolution to be good is indeed a good beginning and ought by all means to be cherished and encouraged but yet it is far enough from being the thing desired or from being accepted for it in the esteem of God For God never accepts the Desire for the deed but where there is no possibility no opportunity of doing the thing desired but if there be and the thing be not done there is no reason to imagine that the desire in that case should be accepted as if the thing were done For instance If a man give alms according to his ability and would give more if he were able in this case the desire is accepted for the deed And of this case it is and no other that the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not That is God interprets and accepts the charity of men according to the largeness of their hearts and not according to the straitness of their fortunes But it is a great mistake to draw a general
to go on and fortifie their good resolutions to be more vigilant and watchful over themselves to strive against sin and to resist it with all their might And according to the success of their endeavours in this conflict the evidence of their good condition will every day clear up and become more manifest The more we grow in grace and the seldomer we fall into sin and the more even and constant our obedience to God is so much the greater and fuller satisfaction we shall have of our good estate towards God For the path of the just is as the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day And the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever I shall only make two or three Inferences from what hath been discoursed upon this Argument and so conclude 1. From hence we learn the great danger of sins of Omission as well as Commission Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God The mere neglect of any of the great duties of Religion of piety towards God and of kindness and charity to men though we be free from the commission of great sins is enough to cast us out of the favour of God and to shut us for ever out of his kingdom I was hungry and ye gave me no meat thirsty and ye gave me no drink sick and in prison and ye visited me not therefore depart ye cursed 2. It is evident from what hath been said That nothing can be vainer than for men to live in any course of sin and impiety and yet to pretend to be the Children of God and to hope for eternal life The Children of God will do the works of God and whoever hopes to enjoy him hereafter will endeavour to be like him here Every man that hath this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure 3. You see what is the great mark and character of a mans good or bad condition whosoever doth righteousness is of God and whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God Here is a plain and sensible evidence by which every man that will deal honestly with hâ—mself may certainly know his own condition and then according as he finds it to be may take comfort in it or make haste out of it And we need not ascend into heaven nor go down into the deep to search out the secret counsels and decrees of God there needs no anxious enquiry whether we be of the number of Gods elect If we daily mortifie our lusts and grow in goodness and take care to add to our faith and knowledg temperance and patience and charity and all other Christian graces and vertues we certainly take the best course in the world to make our calling and election sure And without this it is impossible that we should have any comfortable and well grounded assurance of our good condition This one mark of doing righteousness is that into which all other signs and characters which are in Scripture given of a good man are finally resolved And this answers all those various phrases which some men would make to be so many several and distinct marks of a child of God As whether we have the true knowledg of God and divine illumination for hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments Whether we sincerely love God for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments And whether God loves us for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance will behold the upright Whether we be regenerate and born of God for whosoever is born of God sinneth not Whether we have the Spirit of God witnessing with our Spirits that we are the children of God for as many as have the Spirit of God are led by the Spirit and by the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the flesh Whether we belong to Christ and have an interest in him or not for they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof In a word Whether the promise of heaven and eternal life belong to us for without holiness no man shall see the Lord but if we have our fruit unto holiness the end will be everlasting life So that you see at last the Scripture brings all to this one mark viz. holiness and obedience to the Laws of God or a vicious and wicked life In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God Let us then deal impartially with our selves and bring our lives and actions to this tryal and never be at rest till the matter be brought to some issue and we have made a deliberate judgment of our condition whether we be the children of God or not And if upon a full and fair examination our consciences give us this testimony that by the grace of God we have denyed ungodliness and worldly lusts and have lived soberly and righteously and godly in this present world we may take joy and comfort in it for if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God But if upon the search and tryal of our ways our case appear clearly to be otherwise or if we have just cause to doubt of it let us not venture to continue one moment longer in so uncertain and dangerous a condition And if we desire to know the way of Peace the Scripture hath set it plainly before us Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Though our case be very bad yet it is not desperate This is a faithful saying and worthy of all men to be embraced that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And he is still willing to save us if we be but willing to leave our sins and to serve him in holiness and righteousness the remaining part of our lives We may yet be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God We who have ventured so long upon the brink of ruin may yet by the infinite mercies of God and by the power of his grace be rescu'd from the base and miserable slavery of the Devil and our lusts into the glorious liberty of the sons of God And thus I have endeavoured with all the plainness I could to represent every man to himself and to let him clearly see what his condition is towards God and how the case of his soul and of his eternal happiness stands And I do verily believe that what I have said in this matter is the truth of God
The most pleasant and delightful the most happy and glorious work in the world It is a work of a large extent and of an universal influence and comprehends in it all those ways whereby we may be useful and beneficial to one another And indeed it were pity that so good a thing should be confined within narrow bounds and limits It reacheth to the Souls of men and to their Bodies and is conversant in all those ways and kinds whereby we may serve the Temporal or Spiritual good of our neighbour and promote his present and his future happiness What our Blessed Saviour did in this kind and we in imitation of him ought to do I shall reduce to these two Heads First Doing good to the Souls of men and endeavouring to promote their spiritual and eternal happiness Secondly The procuring of their Temporal good and contributing as much as may be to their happiness in this present life 1. Doing good to the Souls of men and endeavouring to promote their spiritual and eternal happiness by good Instruction and by good Example First By good Instruction And under Instruction I comprehend all the means of bringing men to the knowledg of their duty and exciting them to the practice of it by instructing their Ignorance and removing their Prejudices and rectifying their Mistakes by Persuasion and by Reproof and by making lasting provision for the promoting of these Ends. By instructing mens Ignorance And this is a duty which every man owes to another as he hath opportunity but especially to those who are under our care and charge our Children and Servants and near Relations those over whom we have a special authority and a more immediate influence This our Blessed Saviour made his great work in the world to instruct all sorts of persons in the things which concerned the Kingdom of God and to direct them in the way to eternal happiness by publick teaching and by private conversation and by taking occasion from the common occurrences of humane life and every object that presented it self to him to instil good counsel into men and to raise their minds to the consideration of divine and heavenly things And though this was our Saviour's great Employment and is theirs more particularly whose office it is to teach others yet every man hath private opportunities of instructing others by admonishing them of their duty and by directing them to the best means and helps of knowledg such as are Books of Piety and Religion with which they that are rich may furnish those who are unable to provide them for themselves And then by removing mens Prejudices against the Truth and rectifying their Mistakes This our Saviour found very difficult the generality of those with whom he had to do being strongly prejudiced against Him and his Doctrine by false Principles which they had taken in by education and been trained up to by their Teachers And therefore he used a great deal of meekness in instructing those that opposed themselves and exercised abundance of patience in bearing with the infirmities of men and their dulness and flowness of capacity to receive the Truth And this is great Charity to consider the inveterate Prejudices of men especially those which are rooted in education and which men are confirmed in by the reverence they bear to those that have been their Teachers And great allowance is to be given to men in this case and time to bethink themselves and to consider better For no man that is in an Errour think he is so and therefore if we go violently to rend their Opinions from them they will but hold them so much the faster but if we have patience to unrip them by degrees they will at last fall in pieces of themselves And when this is done the way is open for Counsel and Perswasion And this our Saviour administred in a most powerful and effectual manner by encouraging men to Repentance and by representing to them the infinite advantages of obeying his Laws and the dreadful and dangerous consequences of breaking of them And these are arguments fit to work upon mankind because there is something within us that consents to the equity and reasonableness of God's Laws So that whenever we perswade men to their duty how backward soever they may be to the practice of it being strongly addicted to a contrary course yet we have this certain advantage that we have their Consciences and the most inward sense of their minds on our side bearing witness that what we counsel and perswade them to is for their good And if need be we must add Reproof to Counsel This our Saviour did with great freedom and sometimes with sharpness and severity according to the condition of the persons he had to deal withal But because of his great Authority being a Teacher immediately sent from God and of his intimate knowledg of the hearts of men he is not a pattern to us in all the circumstances of discharging this duty which if any other requires great prudence and discretion if we intend to do good the only end to be aimed at in it For many are fit to be reproved whom yet every man is not fit to reprove and in that case we must get it done by those that are fit and great regard must be had to the time and other circumstances of doing it so as it may most probably have its effect I will mention but one way of Instruction more and that is by making lasting provision for that purpose as by founding Schools of learning especially to teach the poor to read which is the Key of knowledg by building of Churches and endowing them by buying or giving in Impropriations or the like These are large and lasting ways of teaching and instructing others which will continue when we are dead and gone as it is said of Abel that being dead he yet speaks And this our Saviour virtually did by appointing his Apostles after he had left the World to go and teach all Nations and ordering a constant Succession of Teachers in his Church to instruct men in the Christian Religion together with an honourable Maintenance for them This we cannot do in the way that he did who had all power in heaven and earth but we may be subservient to this Design in the ways that I have mentioned Which I humbly commend to the consideration of those whom God hath blessed with great Estates and made capable of effecting such great works of Charity Secondly Another way of doing good to the Souls of men is by good Example And this our Blessed Saviour was in the utmost perfection For he fulfilled all righteousness had no sin neither was guile found in his mouth And this we should endeavour to be as far as the frailty of our nature and imperfection of our present state will suffer For good Example is an unspeakable benefit to mankind and hath a secret power and influence upon those with whom we