shewed to S. Peter when he turned and looked upon him after his fall and by that look infused new Grace into his Heart which immediately burst out at his Eyes in tears of repentance Let us not therefore be high minded but let us fear for happy is the Man that feareth alway but he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischief Proverbs 28.14 Secondly if we will take heed that we fall not from Grace let us take heed that we fall not into Sin especially into presumptuous and willful Sin against the light of our conscience All Sin whatsoever though it be but a Sin of Ignorance or Infirmity tends more or less if it be not speedily repented of to the impairing and diminishing of the Grace of God in our Hearts which is bestowed upon us on purpose to preserve and defend us from the power of Sin that it may not Reign in our mortal Bodies that we should obey it in the lusts thereof But Sins of Presumption and Wilfulness against our knowledge and the checks of our conscience do not only much impair Grace but they totally exstinguish it and bring us into great danger of final Apostacy For there can be no fellowship betwixt Righteousness and Unrighteousness no Communion betwixt Light and Darkness no Concord betwixt Christ and Belial no Agreement nor Cohabitation of the Spirit of God and Satan And therefore David prays most earnestly against such Sins as these Psal 19.13 Keep back thy Servant from presumptuous Sins let them not have domminion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great Transgression And how deadly a wound such Sins make in the conscience God for our instruction that his example might be a warning to us to beware of the like Sins suffered him to find by a sad Experience That premeditated wilful Murder of one of his innocent subjects changed the Man after God's own Heart into one after the Heart of him who was a murderer from the beginning and made him such an one as Satan would have all Men to be if he could prevail It is impossible while he was in this Condition that he should find any comfort in the performance of his Devotions if he did then perform any at all His Hand his Tongue his Heart were all out of tune all unfit for the Celebration of God's Praises in which they were wo … continually to be imployed Even his own sacred Hymns and Anthems were nauseous to him and the sweet Psalmist of Israel was become a stranger to the songs of Sion Grace was then lost and Sin reigned in him the Spirit of God had for that Time forsaken him and Satan had taken Possession of his Soul Let us take heed then of presumptuous and wilful Sins and every habitual Sin is a step towards them they wrought a sad change in David but they may work a worse in us God was pleased to raise him again but if we fall after the same manner he may perhaps deny the same Favour to us and then our Case is irrecoverable Thirdly If we will take heed that we fall not from Grace let us endeavour daily to grow in it and improve it So S. Peter exhorts us in the end of his Second Epistle Ye therefore beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness But grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ He that thinks he hath Grace enough already hath indeed very little or none at all but blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled The path of the just saith Solomon is as the shining Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect Day Prov. 4.18 And our blessed Saviour compares the Kingdom of Heaven by which is meant the Grace of God in our Hearts unto a grain of mustard seed which though it be less than all the seeds that be in the earth yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes a tree So likewise should the Grace of God grow and increase in our Hearts and so it will do if it be not purely by our own fault hindered and stifled That we may not therefore fall from Grace let us be careful to improve that Grace which God hath already bestowed upon us by waiting upon him duly and constantly in all those Ordinances which he hath appointed for the begetting preserving and increasing it in our Souls such as are diligent Reading and Meditating in his Word at home hearing it preached and expounded in his House frequent receiving the Holy Sacrament and praying unto God continually both in private and publick as our Church teaches us that his Grace may always prevent and follow us and make us continually to be given to all good Works He that doth these things in Truth and sincerity shall never fall God will never leave nor forsake such a Man but will be sure to guide him with his Counsel here and afterward receive him to Glory FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by John Hartley over-against Grays-Inn in Holborn A Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris with an Answer to the Objections of the Honourable Charles Boyle Esq By Richard Bentley D. 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themselves in the Worship of God may justly expect such an answer from him as he gives to the Priests that offered polluted bread upon his Altar Mal. 1.8 Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts In the Oriental Countries therefore where men never use this Ceremony of uncovering their Heads to their Superiours but stand covered even in the Presence of their Emperour neither is it practicable in their Temples since amongst them the uncovering of the Head is so far from being acknowledged to be a Demonstration of Honour and Respect that it is indeed lookt upon to be an absurd and ridiculous thing and therefore instead thereof they use to put their Shooes off their feet whensoever they enter'd into their Churches which is a Custom in those parts of greater Antiquity perhaps than Moses himself it being not at all improbable that that command which God gave to him in the Bush Exod. 3.5 was no institution of a new Ceremony but only an information that that place was hallowed by the extraordinary Presence of God and therefore he ought to behave himself with the same fear and reverence and to use the same manner of Worship and Adoration which in those Countries was usual and customary in the Temples and holy Places dedicated to the Service of God Put off thy shooes saith he from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground And had the Ceremony of uncovering the Head been in use in those Countries as it is here we may rationally conjecture that God would have altered his Command accordingly But to leave these remote Countries with which we are not much concerned and to return to our own from what hath been said it is plain that the outward Gestures and Ceremonies which we are obliged to use in the publick Worship of God are chiefly these three kneeling at Prayers Standing up at other times when it is appointed by the Church and having our Heads uncovered at all times As for sitting though the general practice of all men hath made it to be connived at in the time of the Sermon or the like yet it is a posture that is never very commendable in the Church it is certainly in the time of Prayer most intolerable and he that uses it least at other times deserves most commendation and comes nearest to the practice of the first and purest Ages of Christianity It was therefore a pious resolution of Biship Hall to this purpose in one of his Meditations God saith he is the Lord of my Body also and therefore challenges as well reverent Gesture as inward Devotion I will ever in my Prayers either stand as a servant before my Master or kneel as a Subject to my Prince I might instance in more particulars but that I may hasten to a conclusion I shall name only this one which will comprehend all the rest and that is That our Bodily Worship may be compleat we must take care that our Tongue be duly employed in bearing its part in the publick Service of God as the Church hath appointed which if we would do we should avoid that scandalous Behaviour which is too commonly seen in our Churches of whispering and laughing and playing idle Tricks which is a thing to be abominated by all pious and devout Christians Thus I have shewed you according to my ability the Summ and Substance of this duty of glorifying God in our Body and in our Spirit which that we may evermore perform effectually God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe to direct sanctifie amd govern both our hearts and Bodies in the ways of his Laws and in the Works of his Commandments that through his most mighty protection both here and ever we may be preserved in Body and Soul through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ SERMON VI. HEB. IV. 14. Seeing then that we have a great High-priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our Profession THERE are four several Steps or Degrees of our Saviour's Exaltation Three of which are already past and the other is yet to come The first is his Resurrection from the Dead The second is his Ascension into Heaven The third is his Session at the Right Hand of God The fourth is his coming again with Glory to judge both the Quick and the Dead The first of these his Resurrection from the Dead we Commemorated at Easter and the present time invites us now to Exercise our Meditations upon the second his Ascension into Heaven and any Text furnishes us with a very excellent Method for the doing of it to the Glory of God and the Good and Comfort of our own Souls For first the Apostle lays down the Truth of this Doctrine that our Saviour is ascended into Heaven and secondly he shews us what influence the consideration of his Ascension should have upon us So that the Text it self is an Epitome of a Sermon containing both Doctrine and Application The Doctrine that our Saviour is ascended into Heaven the Apostle takes for granted in the former part of the Verse Seeing then that we have a great High-priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God And this Doctrine he confirms chap. 9. ver 24. For Christ is not entred into the Holy Places made with Hands which are the Figures of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us and chap. 7. ver 26. Such an High-priest became us who is Holy Harmless Vndefiled separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens The Application which the Apostle makes of this Doctrine is in the latter part of my Text and it is this that since Christ is ascended into Heaven we ought stoutly and resolutely to maintain the Profession of our Christian Religion and to contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Seeing then c. In speaking to which Text I shall do these three Things First I shall shew that Jesus Christ our Redeemer the Eternal Son of God is truly ascended into Heaven Secondly That he ascended thither as our High-priest And Thirdly I shall conclude with the Apostles Application and shew you how strongly this should oblige us to hold fast our Profession First I shall shew you That Jesus Christ our Redeemer the Eternal Son of God he who we own and believe to be the true Messias whom all the Prophets pointed at is truly ascended into Heaven And here it will be necessary to clear two Things by the way First What is meant by that Heaven into which Christ is ascended And secondly how and in what manner he is said to have ascended thither For the first of these not to trouble you with an account of all the several Significations of the word Heaven in Scripture we are to understand by that Heaven into which our Saviour is ascended the Heaven of
Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven OF all other Sects among the Jews the Scribes and Pharisees were the Chief and by their Learning and the outward shew that they made of Religion had gained an extraordinary Respect and Veneration from the common People who looked upon them as infallible Doctors of the Chair and received all their Tenets and Traditions as Oracles And as they were highly esteemed of by the People so they had also a very good opinion of themselves they loved the uppermost Rooms at feasts and the chief Seats in the Synagogues and greetings in the Markets and to be called of Men Rabbi they despised all other Persons in comparison of themselves and as they sat in Moses his Seat so no doubt but they expected as honourable a place in the Bosom of Abraham But tho' this fair outside of theirs appeared very lovely and took much with the People yet our Saviour saw through it and discerned that there was nothing but Rottenness and Hypocrisie in their Hearts that though they made clean the outside of the Cup and of the Platter yet within they were full of Extortion and Excess that though they fasted often and made long Prayers yet it was only for a pretence to devour Widows houses that though they paid Tithe of Mint and Anise and Cummin yet they omitted the weightier Matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith and that the Gate of Heaven would prove too streight to give any Entrance to their broad Phylacteries and large Borders of their Garments and therefore he often charges his Disciples to beware of treading in their steps not to acquiesce in such a vain and Hypocritical Ostentation of Religion which however it may gain the Applause of Men who can see no further than the outside will be nothing worth when it comes to be examined before his Tribunal but to labour for Sincerity and Pureness of Heart without which no Man shall see God For I say c. In the handling of which words I shall endeavour 1. to shew you what the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was which will not be thought worthy to be admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven 2. What manner of Righteousness ours must be that will procure us an entrance thither 1. For the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees if we examine it by the Character which the Holy Evangelists give us of it we shall find it extreamly faulty and indeed it is impossible to suppose it to be otherwise when we consider how many sharp Reproofs and dreadfull Woes are denounced against it by our Saviour The chief Particulars which render it faulty and deficient are these 1. Their Righteousness could not be acceptable in the sight of God for as much as in general they had a very false Notion of the Obligation of the Law of God which they interpreted only in the literal Sence of the words and thought that it extended only to outward actions but reached not to the inward Thoughts and Intentions of the mind So long as they washed their Hands they regarded not the foulness of their Heart and so long as they kept themselves free from any open and external Breach of the Commandments they thought themselves innocent though their mind was never so much set upon wickedness So long as they abstained from open Adultery they thought they might lust after a Woman and still be chast So long as they kept their Hands from shedding any Blood they thought it no sin or at least a small and venial one such as God would take no notice of to hate their Brother in their Heart So long as they did not bear false witness against their Neighbour before a Judge in open Court they thought it no Crime to backbite and slander him and that they might securely blast his Reputation and wound his good Name without any prejudice to their own Souls So long as they abstained from plain Theft and kept their Hands from picking and stealing they thought that like the Priest and the Levite in the Parable they might innocently pass by their Neighbour whom they saw wounded by Thieves and that no Obligation lay upon them to relieve him in his Distress Thus they grosly erred in their Interpretation of the Law which reaches not only our Actions but our words and our thoughts and confines our Tongues and our Hearts as well as our Hands Such Commandments as these they taught to be the least Commandments that the Breach of them was a very light and trivial sin and that for an idle Word or for a lustful or malitious thought or Intention provided that it broke not out into Action there was no fear of Damnation But our Saviour passes a very severe sentence upon them for teaching this Doctrine in the verse immediately before my Text Whosoever saith he shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven that is he shall not be accounted worthy to enter into that Kingdom And then he confutes this false Doctrine of theirs in the several branches of it in the following part of the Chapter Ye have heard saith he that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgment but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not commit Adultery but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time Thou shalt not forswear they self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths but I say unto you Swear not at all but let your Commuunicatian be Yea yea Nay nay for whosoever is more than these cometh of Evil. Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy but I say unto you Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you This then was the first thing wherein the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was deficient They misunderstood the sense and meaning of the Law which our Saviour in this Sermon of his Restores to it self and interprets in its full and proper Latitude And secondly as it must needs be that Uno absurdo dato mille sequuntur upon this first false principle they built a second and having confined the Sense of the Law to so narrow a Compass they thereupon concluded that they were able to keep and perform it to a Title without any Supernatural Grace and Assistance from Heaven And indeed if this Construction of the Law had been true it is possible that this Conclusion which
in no case obtain an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven let us in the next place consider what manner of Righteousness ours must be which will bring us to those Mansions of Glory And 1. it must not have any of these Faults with which the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was tainted and rendred odious and abominable in the sight of God Their Righteousness as ye have heard was such as consisted only in the performance of external Actions according to the literal Sense of the Law but ours must proceed further even to the cleansing and purifying our Hearts from all manner of evil thoughts Blessed are the pure in Heart saith our Saviour for they shall see God They and they only shall enjoy that beatifical Vision whose Heart is undefiled for it is that which God chiefly respects and so long as that is right and sincere as to the Main though we do sometimes through the Frailty of our Nature and the strength of some Temptation that hath overcome us fall into any sin yet we shall certainly obtain Pardon at the Hand of God upon our true Repentance They thought themselves well enough if they did no evil nay more than so if evil was done them by another Person they thought they might with a safe Conscience revenge themselves but our Master hath commanded us not to resist Evil but if any man smite us upon the Right cheek to turn to him the other also and not only not to hurt our Neighbour but to love our Enemies to bless them that curse us to do good to them that hate us and to pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us It is not sufficient for us that our outward Actions are not Evil but we must take heed to our Words and our Thoughts we must make a Covenant with our Eyes keep our Mouth with a bridle that we offend not in our Tongue and bring into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ for for every idle Word and every misguided Thought we shall give an account at the Day of Judgment 2. Our Righteousness must not be such as makes us presume that we can of our selves and by our own strength keep all the Commandments and fulfill the whole Law Alass we are not able of our selves to keep any one Commandment and S. James tells us that if we offend in one point we are guilty of all The Scripture hath most plainly and fully discovered to us our weakness in this case that we are so far from being able to perform any good Work that we cannot of our selves so much as think a good Thought without the Holy Spirit of God inspires it into our Hearts who work in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure that there is not a just man upon Earth that doth good and sins not but that in many things we offend all and that if we say that we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us These and the like expressions in Scripture if we consider them are sufficient to satisfie us that we are so far from being able to keep the whole Law that we cannot perform any one Title of it as we ought and therefore we must not as the Scribes and Pharisees did place our Righteousness in this that we are able and do perform an intire Obedience to the Law And if so much less must we in the third place as they did and the Church of Rome who follows their Example doth at this day boast of and Glory in our own works as if they were meritorious in the sight of God The Scripture every where condemns this as the most dangerous and damnable Pride with which our Hearts can possibly be infected and nothing will more certainly bar the Gate of Heaven against us than our supposing that we can deserve that it should flie open unto us How can a Man be just with God saith Job and In thy sight saith the Psalmist no man living shall be justified And if no Man living can pretend to be just in the sight of God so as to escape his Condemnation surely much less can any Man pretend to have done him so great service as to merit a Reward from him No all boasting and glorying on our part is utterly excluded except it be glorying in our infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon us We are taught a quite contrary Lesson a Lesson of Meekness and Humility when we have done our best to say that we are unprofitable Servants and to desire that the iniquity even of our most Holy things and the shamefull Nakedness of our Righteousness may be covered and hid from the pure Eyes of God by the white and spotless Robe of the Righteousness of Christ Fourthly we must not as the Pharisees did and as too many that tread in their steps do at this day place our Righteousness in our forwardness to censure the Lives and Conversations of other Persons and in our backwardness to enquire into our own Censoriousness in some men's Opinion passes for a Gospel-virtue and he that is most forward to speak evil of others and especially of his betters of his Superiours and Governours is for so doing lookt upon to be the greatest Saint But surely these are Saints of a new stamp and I know no reason why they arrogate that Title to themselves except it be by an Antiphrasis because they walk directly contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel which hath expresly commanded us not to judge lest we be judged our selves and to speak evil of no Man especially not to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities except we have an ambition to be of the number of those mockers which S Jude prophesied should come in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly Lusts Separating themselves sensual having not the Spirit all incomparable qualifications for Saint-ship Fifthly we must not as the Pharisees did put on a shew of Religion purposely to gain the Applause of Men and to carry on our worldly Designs I am sure this unhappy Nation hath swarmed with Pharisees enough of this sort Men that with a specious shew of Piety led captive silly Women beguiled unstable Souls and gained Admiration of the credulous and easy Vulgar that with sanctified Pretentions Holy Looks frequent Fastings long Prayers and canting and treasonable Sermons carried on the most villainous and accursed Designs that ever publickly disgraced Christianity And God grant that there be not too many such Pharisees among us still but I pass them by their Names are odious and their Religion scandalous Lastly we must not as the Pharisees did and we know who doth Still preferr unwritten Traditions before the holy Scriptures God hath caused that sacred Book to be written on purpose for our Instruction and hath therein fully revealed so much of his Will to us as is sufficient for us to know in order to our obtaining everlasting
Life and we must not add to it nor diminish from it but acquiesce in it and make it the sole Rule and Measure of our Faith imposing nothing upon our own or other men's Consciences but what is manifestly consentaneous and agreeable to the Doctrine contained therein Thus ye see that our Righteousness must be thoroughly purged and cleansed from all those Defects with which the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was defiled But still all this is not sufficient if our Righteousness doth not exceed theirs infinitely more than thus it will be nothing worth we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That Righteousness which must bring us thither must be absolutely compleat and perfect without Spot or Blemish such as the All seeing Eye of God can discern no Defect in and that it is impossible for us ever to find such a Righteousness as this in our selves I have already shewed you and yet such a Righteousness we must all of us have or else never expect Salvation for without Holiness ay and perfect Holiness too no man shall see the Lord. Since therefore we our selves are not able to perform such a Righteousness as this and yet such an one is absolutely necessary to bring us unto Heaven we must seek it from some other person and to whom should we have recourse for it but to Christ our Saviour who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption Let us therefore if we desire to be saved not trust in our own Merits as the Pharisees did for by the Works of the Law shall no flesh be justified but with the Hand of a true and lively Faith let us put on the Robe of Christs Righteousness which will be sure to hide our faults and to present us holy blameless and undefiled in the Presence of God But let us not deceive our selves neither and pretend to have this Faith and consequently that we have an interest in the Righteousness of Christ when there is no such Matter but let us try and examine our Faith whether it be a true and lively Faith or no. If it be not a Faith that Works by love if it be not fruitful and productive of good Works it is dead and insignificant it will stand us in no stead at all but if we pretend so to lay hold on Christ we shall only grasp a shadow No though we must not relie upon our own performances yet we must work ay and work as heartily as if our Works were Meritorious too but when we have done all we must utterly disclaim our own Righteousness trusting only in the Merits of Christ and desiring with S. Paul that we may be found in him not having our own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith This is such a Righteousness as will never fail us but whereas the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and of all other Hypocrites and Dissemblers with God shall sink them into the bottomless Pit this Righteousness of Faith will refresh our Souls and chear our Hearts with the sweet Hopes and comfortable Expectation here and bless them hereafter eternally with the joyfull Fruition of that Glory which God hath prepared for all them that love him SERMON X. 1 PET. IV. 18. And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear THAT there shall be another Life after this in which all Mankind shall reap the Fruit of their Actions done in the Flesh and be adjudged to an unalterable State either of Happiness or Misery to all Eternity is not only an Article of Faith amongst Christians but a Truth of which the wiser sort of the Heathens were generally convinced This I say is a Truth which all Christians profess firmly to believe but yet alas how small is the Number of those that demonstrate the Truth and Sincerity of their Faith by their Holy Lives and Conversations We all of us know and are assured that there is a just God who will render to every man according to his deeds Rom. 2.6 and will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34.7 We believe that there is an Heaven prepared for Saints and an Hell for Sinners and yet notwithstanding this belief how many thousands that are called by the Name of Christ run on head-long boldly and impudently in Wickedness and pursue with all imaginable Eagerness and Delight those fatal Paths that lead to Destruction as if the Joys of Heaven were a Trifle not worth our Acceptance or the Torments of Hell the object rather of our Desires than Fears But notwithstanding all this Obstinacy and Hardness of our Hearts the Lord God who is ever merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth leaves us not to our selves but is continually calling and inviting us to Repentance by the preaching of his Word and by the secret and powerful Operations of his Holy Spirit Sometimes Heaven is pleased to smile upon us and as it were kindly to desire and intreat us to come and be its Inhabitants to accept of the glorious Liberty of the Children of God to be made Citizens of Sion and free Denizens of the New Jerusalem and at other times it frowns and awakens us with Thunder out of our sinful Lethargy God tries all ways imaginable to reclaim us and deliver us from the Jaws of Death Sometimes he pours down his Judgments upon our Heads that in our Affliction we may seek him early and sometimes he stretches forth the Arms of his Mercy to embrace us and draws us to him with the Cords of a Man with the Bands of Love Hos 11.4 Sometimes he holds forth the golden Scepter to us and graciously invites us to come and kiss the Son lest he be angry and sometimes he shakes his Rod of Iron over our Backs and threatens to dash us in pieces if we will not hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Hence are those many and gracious Invitations to Repentance which God hath made to us in his Word and those terrible Threatnings which he hath therein denounced to affright us from Sin amongst all which there is scarce one to be found that is more emphatical and piercing than this of my Text which must needs fill the Hearts of all obstinate and impenitent Sinners with Horrour yea and it strikes a Terrour even into the Godly themselves and makes them work out their Salvation with fear and trembling It thunders Hell certain and inevitable Damnation to the Wicked and hardly admits the Righteous into Heaven And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Vngodly and the Sinner appear The words are propounded by way of interrogation a thing very frequent in Scripture and generally used for the more powerful enforcing of some weighty and material Argument What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it