and severely threatens him and therefore amidst all worldly distractions and confusions he is not dismayed his innocence doth inspirit him with boldness and courage he is not afraid to trust God with his life and honour and estate or any thing else that is dear to him and can with an humble confidence and assurance as it were challenge the favour of Heaven saying with good Hezekiah Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight though the earth should be removed and the mountains carried into the midst of the Sea though the waters thereof should roar and be troubled and the mountains shake and tremble with the swelling thereof nay though the world should crack and break in pieces about his ears yet intrepidum ferient ruinae he would still be unmoved and unshaken Knowing that his father his friend his patron and benefactour whom he hath always served in the honesty and simplicity of his heart is Pilot of the Ship in all the storms and tempests of this lower world he can put his trust in God and with an unshaken confidence commit himself and all he hath to him who is engaged to protect and defend the innocent who encourage and support themselves in him alone The Lord is his strength his fortress his refuge in the day of affliction and under the shadow of his wings as in an impregnable castle he can securely hide and shelter himself till these calamities be overpast But now on the other side the worldly projectour who will not trust himself or his concerns with Almighty wisedom and power but endeavours to secure himself and to raise his fortunes and make himself great and considerable in the world by ways of his own devising such as God doth not allow nay doth strictly forbid who as it were renounces God Almighty's care and protection and places all his hope and confidence in his own craft and sagacity hath nothing to support and bear up his spirit under any misfortunes In a time of publick danger and calamity he is the most disconsolate forsaken wretch in the world his guilt arms every thing against him and makes him afraid even of his own shadow like that wicked Emperour Caligula who every time it thundred ran under his bed as if he had been aimed at in every crack at such a time he is at his wits end and knows not where to turn himself and his hope is as a spider's web nay as the giving up of the ghost 2. An honest and upright man is most likely to find the best treatment from other men even from the most wicked and ungodly Who is he that will harm you saith St. Peter if ye be followers of that which is good 1 Pet. 3.13 a good man is armed with innocence and harmlesness which will guard and defend him from the injuries of wicked and lawless men his unaffected piety and unbyassed honesty and undissembled charity the excellency of his temper and disposition and the unblameableness of his life and conversation will speak in his behalf and plead his cause and procure him so much love and esteem in the world that there will be but few that can find the heart to doe him any mischief as the harmless innocence and simplicity of little children do secure and protect them from all harm and violence and engage every one almost in their defence Whence this observation hath been made and is justified by experience that one who is unstable and wavering is loved by no man because he is not fit to be trusted but a man who is constant to worthy and generous principles commands the like constancy of esteem and veneration from all men and is commonly safe and secure in all times his very enemies reverencing such invincible vertue and honesty He that desires and designs nothing but what is fair and reasonable may promise himself the good-will of all round about him whereas he that is deeply engaged in worldly intrigues and is resolved per fas nefas to enrich himself and is always climing higher trampling upon all that stand in his way must necessarily be engaged in many quarrels and make many enemies and draw on himself the envy and ill-will of the proud and ambitious and live in perpetual emulation and contention for as he striveth to exceed and overtop others so others endeavour as much to get before him and though for a-while he getteth the better yet his enemies are at work to undermine him and blow him up and he must expect that in a little time some sudden change of affairs some unlucky hit or other will tumble him down and put an end to all his fine designs and projects 3. Whatever misfortunes and disappointments an honest upright man may meet with in the world yet he incurs no real disgrace he shall not be ashamed in an evil day no man can reproach him or justly insult over his fall Whereas when the designs of ambitious and covetous oppressours are frustrated and defeated when the crafty Politicians of this world are ensnared in their own devices the city rejoiceth it is matter of sport and triumph to their neighbours and every one acknowledges the justice of it But I hasten 4. An upright man how miserable and forlorn soever his outward condition be yet is pleased and satisfied with himself his mind is at quiet and though the weather abroad be never so blustering and tempestuous yet there is a calm within and he is then most sensible of the joy and contentment which flows from innocence and a rightly ordered conversation when there is the most trouble and confusion without him When all the plagues of God are poured upon Egypt a good man is a Goshen to himself hath light in darkness and under the most cloudy appearance of the Heavens finds nothing but clearness and serenity in his own breast and a good conscience can make a man rich and great and happy even in the midst of the greatest worldly miseries and distractions Whereas when wicked men are in any danger or distress they have a secret enemy in their own bosoms and their guilty consciences will fly in their faces and fill them with amazing fears and terrours and wrack and torture their souls with unexpressible grief and anguish And oh how sad and disconsolate must their condition needs be when the arrows of the Almighty stick fast in them and the poison thereof drinks up their spirits and the terrours of God set themselves in array against them when there is nothing but dismaying dangers and distractions abroad and all outward hopes fail them and at the same time their own minds write bitter things against them this will double every evil that befalls them the sense of guilt being the very sting and venom of all outward troubles and distresses But 2. He that exactly observes the rules and dictates of
by St. Paul 1. Charity suffereth long is not hasty to return any evil or injury we may have received from others it makes a man patient forgetfull of wrongs and slow to demand satisfaction He that is possessed with this excellent grace of charity will defer righting himself when injured and seem for a great while as if he did not at all observe or take notice of those affronts and treâ—â—asses which the furious and wrathfull would be sure streight to revenge He doth not lie at catch and presently take all advantages against his neighbour and trouble him for every little offence and require strict reparation for every petty damage he may unjustly sustain he doth not take all forfeitures that the rigour of the law would give him or stand with his debtours for a day or streight break off friendship for the first unkindness but he will for a long time bear with the failures and miscarriages of other men as all of us do easily overlook and readily forgive the mistakes or misdemeanours of those whom we entirely love with great patience he waiteth their amendment and silently tarries till of their own accord they make him satisfaction and is always willing to hearken to any fair terms of accommodation and to accept of the least submission and acknowledgment Contrary to all this is the temper of those whom the Apostle calls fierce and Solomon hasty of spirit who when once offended breath forth nothing but utter ruine and slaughter and are for the present destruction of all who stand in their way Thus David in that great fit of impatience 1 Sam. 25. when displeased at Nabal's surly answer resolved streight to murther him and all his houshold and so the Servant in the Parable of our Saviour St. Matthew 18. who though his Lord had forgiven him a vast debt of ten thousand talents yet after this when he met with one of his Fellow-servants who owed him but an hundred pence laid violent hands on him took him by the throat would not tarry one hour for his money notwithstanding the poor man humbly besought him to have patience with him but for a-while and promised him he would honestly pay him all But a truly charitable man suffereth long and forgiveth much and dealeth with others as he hath experienced and yet hopes God will deal with him he giveth them time to recollect and bethink themselves doth not soon despair of their growing better but tries all the arts and methods of patience and kindness and is unwilling to be brought to extremities or to doe any thing that may seem harsh or rigid and in a word had rather suffer an hundred than doe one evil 2. Charity is kind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gentle and courteous easie to be treated with is gratious and benign and as far as may be usefull to all Christian charity doth sweeten mens minds and spirits smooths the ruggedness and unevenness of their natures makes them tractable affable and as far as is consistent with their innocency complaisant Contrary to which is that roughness and sourness of disposition and manners which is distastfull to and grates upon every one that falls in its way as it was said of Nabal before-mentioned that he was such a son of Belial that a man could not speak unto him Such were the Pharisees of old grave formal and morose troublesome and uneasie to all who conversed with them sullen and froward And too many such there are in the world who pretend to great and high attainments in Religion and yet are of such techy and fiery dispositions that there is no living quietly by them nothing can please them a man is afraid of having any thing to doe with them they are of such waspish quarrelsome and churlish natures Whereas he in whom Christian charity dwells endeavours to oblige every one and carries himself fairly towards all so as to gain every man's good word and opinion he is calm and mild and friendly in his deportment receiveth every one that addresseth himself to him with civility and respect his demeanour is full of compliance and condescention his carriage and behaviour free candid and ingenuous and indeed there is no greater pleasure in the world than what is to be found in the conversation of those in whom the true Christian temper and spirit rules and prevails No one complains of such an one he is not grievous or offensive to any and if he cannot doe you all that courtesie you desire yet he so civily denies you that you are almost as much pleased as if he had granted your request Charity is kind 3. Charity envieth not the charitable man grudgeth not at another's good doth not mutter and repine because his neighbour thrives better hath a greater trade is of better repute hath got a larger estate or hath arrived to greater dignity and preferment than himself Charity rather rejoyceth and pleaseth it self in other mens doing well it addeth to a charitable man's contentment to see other men satisfied and doth really minister unto and encrease his own happiness to see the happiness of his neighbours and acquaintance He findeth almost as much delight and complacence in their good fortune and success as they themselves do thus making the happiness of every man to become really and truly his own it maketh him better to see other men in health and refresheth his spirits to see others chearfull and pleased No real benefit or advantage happens to any round about him but he comes in for his share and largely partakes of it and the pleasure of it becomes as truly his as it is the persons who is possessed of it Nay as it hath been observed by some here love hath the advantage I enjoy greater pleasure in my neighbour's good success and prosperity than he himself can possibly do for all the content and joy that his prosperity ministers to him I have pure and unmixt without bearing part in those cares and troubles with which it is usually attended Love makes us not apt to take disgust and pet though God should bestow the good things of this life more liberally upon some others than our selves whereas the envious man would not have God doe any good turn for any person without his leave and approbation He would alone engross and monopolize all the blessings of heaven and benefits of the earth or at least if he could have his will none should partake of them but some private friends of his and those he hath a good opinion of He would have God mind no one else in the world nor hear any other prayers besides his own nay he reckons himself ill dealt with and mutinies against heaven if any thing goes beside him or any one enjoys something he is without There is many a man in the world who thinks himself beyond all expression miserable for no other reason but onely because another man is happy the good things his neighbour enjoys eat up his flesh
I dare not Do I say he shall be saved I cannot What say I then will you free your self from all uncertainty in this matter Repent now whilst you are in health forsake your sins whilst you are able to commit them and then you are sure of pardon There is indeed another Church in the world that can teach men how to be saved on a death-bed even without repentance which hath found out ways to make it not onely possible but very easie for any ungodly wretch to secure himself from Hell at length when he comes to die by less than half an hours work but we have not so learned Christ nor dare we be so false to our trust or to the souls of men as to give them certain assurance of everlasting life on any other terms than a constant habitual obedience to the laws of the Gospel The onely certain way to die well is to live well Nor shall I go about to determine how much of our life must be spent in the practice of righteousness and goodness before we can be said to have lived well since this varies according to the circumstances of men which are infinite this is as if a man should ask how long it will be before a fool can become wise or an unlearned man a scholar which differs according to the capacity of the man his industry and opportunity and God's blessing but onely thus much I think may safely be said that so much time of our life is necessary to be spent in the practice of goodness as that we may from the temper of our minds and the course of our actions be truly denominated holy humble pure meek patient just temperate lovers of God and men for the Gospel promiseth not eternal life and glory to any but to persons so and so qualified and it is undoubted that a few pious wishes prayers and purposes or a good will made at our death will not suffice to denominate us such God doth not just watch how men die but he will judge every man according to his works and the deeds he hath done in the flesh and those dispositions we have nourished loved and delighted in all our life will follow and attend us to another world and an evil nature however loth we are to it or sorry for it will sink us down into the deepest Hell To conclude all the use we are to make of all I have now said is not to judge or censure others whose lives we may have been acquainted with and whose condition according to this doctrine may seem sad and deplorable such we are to pity and pray for and exercise our charity upon and leave to God's mercy but that we should all now resolve not to defer the doing of the least thing that we could wish done in order to the salvation of our souls to a sick or death-bed but that to day even whilst it is called to day we depart from iniquity and not be always beginning to live we ought not to lose so much time as it would take to deliberate about this matter for there is no room for consultation here he would be next to mad that should seriously advise whether he should be for ever happy or for ever miserable Let us all endeavour therefore so to live now as we shall wish we had done when we come to lie upon our death-beds or as we shall then resolve to live in case God should continue our life to us let us pursue those things now which we shall be able to think of and reflect upon with pleasure when we come to die and presently forsake all those things the remembrance of which at that time will be bitter to us let us now whilst we are well and in health cherish the same thoughts and apprehensions of things that we shall have when we are sick and dying let us now despise this world as much and think as ill of sin and as seriously of God and eternity as we shall then do for this is the great commendation of the righteous man that every one desires to die his death that at last all men are of his mind and persuasion and would chuse his condition Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his I end all with those words of the wise Son of Sirach Learn before thou speak and use physick or ever thou be sick before judgment examine thy self and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy Humble thy self before thou be sick and in the time of sins shew repentance Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy vows in due time and defer not untill death to be justified Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord and put it not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed and perish in the day of vengeance A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL The Eighth Sermon St. MATTH V. 34. But I say unto you Swear not at all FOR our more clearly understanding the sense and extent of this prohibition of our blessed Saviour's Swear not at all these two things must be observed I. That it was a common practice amongst the Jews to swear by some of God's creatures which custome prevailed amongst them from a pretended reverence of God's holy name whenever they would affirm any thing with more than ordinary vehemence and earnestness or beget an assurance of what they said in another they thought it not fit or decent presently to invoke the sovereign God of Heaven and earth and on every slight and trivial occasion to run to the great maker and father of all things but in smaller matters and in ordinary talk they would swear by their Parents by the Heavens by the Earth by Jerusalem the Altar Temple their Head or the like nor did they count such forms of swearing equally obliging with those oaths wherein the name of God was solemnly and expresly called upon to this our Saviour in probability refers in the verse foregoing my Text Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths they thought such onely incurr'd the guilt and penalty of perjury who stood not to those promises they had confirmed by explicit calling the Lord himself to witness but that there was but little evil or danger either in the common use of swearing by creatures or in breaking such oaths Now our Saviour here absolutely forbids not onely swearing by the sacred name of God but also by any of his creatures Swear not at all no not so much as by the Heavens by the Earth or by Jerusalem and the reason he gives is because in all such forms of swearing by creatures though God is not expresly named yet he himself is really referred to and tacitly invoked who is the supreme Lord and maker of all when you swear by the Heavens you
for us to stand between us and God's justice and by his dismal sufferings and cursed death to expiate our offences so that we have not onely the infinite goodness of the divine nature to trust to but the vertue and efficacy of that sacrifice which the Son of God made of himself to plead for our forgiveness upon our repentance and amendment Nor was our blessed Saviour onely our propitiation to die for us and procure our attonement but he is still our Advocate continually interceding with his Father in the behalf of all true penitents and suing out their pardon for them in the Court of Heaven If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who deprecates anger mitigates wrath and not onely barely intercedes for us but with authority demands the release of his captives redeemed by his bloud by virtue of God's promise and covenant And in order to the sufficient promulgation of this his gratious willingness to forgive us upon our repentance God hath provided and appointed an order of men to last as long as the world doth to propound to men this blessed overture and in God's name to beseech men to be reconciled to him Nay God condescends to prevent the worst of men by manifold blessings and favours daily obliging them by his grace and spirit and several providences towards them moving affecting and awakening the most grievous offenders to a timely consideration of their ways Though highly provoked he yet begins first with us so desirous is he of our welfare He hath not onely outwardly proclaimed pardon to all that will submit and sent his own Son on this message of peace but inwardly by his spirit and grace he solicites men to comply with it even where it is resisted and despised he forsaketh not men at their first denial he giveth them time to bethink and recollect themselves he doth not lie at the catch nor take present advantage against us but with infinite patience waits to be gratious to us hoping at last we shall be of a better mind he doth not soon despair of mens conversion and reformation he yet extends his grace towards those who abuse it and offers his pardon to those who slight it nothing is more highly pleasing and acceptable to him than for a sinner to return from the evil of his ways nay which is more yet he is not onely upon our repentance ready to overlook all that is past but he hath promised to reward our future obedience with eternal life so that we shall not onely upon our repentance be freed from those dismal punishments which we had rendred our selves liable to but likewise receive from God such a glorious recompence as is beyond all our conception or imagination Now if such love and kindness of Heaven towards us will not beget some relentings and remorse in us if such powerfull arguments will not prevail with us to grow wise and considerate it is impossible any should Let us all therefore smite upon our breasts and say O Lord we are highly sensible of our folly of our unworthiness and foul ingratitude for we have sinned against thee and done evil in thy sight and are no more worthy to be called thy children but we have heard that the great King of the World is a most mercifull King that he delights not in the death of sinners but had rather they should repent and live we cannot longer withstand or oppose such unspeakable goodness we are overcome by such wonderfull kindness and condescention we resign up our selves wholly to the conduct of his good spirit and will never withdraw or alienate our selves from him any more we will now become God's true and loyal subjects and continue such as long as we breathe nor shall any thing in the world be able to shake or corrupt our faith and allegiance to him What punishment can be too sore what state black and dismal enough for those who contemn all these offers and kindnesses of Heaven who will not by any means be won to look after and have mercy upon themselves to consult their own interest and welfare what pity can they expect who obstinately chuse to be miserable in despite of all the goodness of God and grace of the Gospel The Lord grant that we may all in this our day know and mind the things that belong to our everlasting peace before they are hid from our eyes The Eleventh Sermon 1 COR. XV. 35. But some man will say how are the dead raised up And with what body do they come THE Apostle having in the beginning of this Chapter most firmly established the truth and reality of our Saviour's resurrection from the dead proceeds to infer from thence the certainty of our own resurrection v. 12 13. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead But if there be no resurrection of the dead then is not Christ risen It cannot now any longer seem an impossible or incredible thing to you that God should raise the dead since you have so plain and undoubted an example of it in the person of our blessed Lord who having been truly dead and buried is now alive and hath appeared unto many with the visible marks of his crucifixion still remaining in his body And to shew of what general concernment his resurrection was the graves were opened as St. Matthew tells us and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and appeared unto many the same power which raised Jesus from the dead is able also to quicken our mortal bodies Now in my Text the Apostle brings in some sceptical person objecting against this doctrine of the resurrection of the dead But some man will say how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come Two questions that every one almost is ready to start especially those who love to cavil at Religion and it hath not a little puzled such as have undertaken to give a rational account of our faith to give a full and satisfactory answer to them How can these things be How is it possible that those bodies should be raised again and joined to the souls which formerly inhabited them which many thousand years ago were either buried in the Earth or swallowed up in the Sea or devoured by fire which have been dissolved into the smallest atoms and those scattered over the face of the earth and dispersed as far asunder as the Heaven is wide nay which have undergone ten thousand several changes and transmutations have fructified the earth become the nourishment of other animals and those the food again of other men and so have been adopted into several other bodies How is it possible that all those little particles which made up suppose the body of Abraham should at the end of the world be again ranged and marshalled together and
feet says he that it is I my self Handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have from whence it seems to follow that we in our resurrection shall be conformable to our Saviour and resume the very same bodies that were laid in the Sepulchre 5. And Lastly It is farther urged by some of the Ancients for a proof of the resurrection of the same body that the exact justice and righteousness of God doth require it that God's justice I mean that which consists in the equal dispensation of rewards and punishments will seem to be much obscured at least will not be so illustriously manifested and displayed to the world unless the same body of flesh be raised again that so that which was here the constant partner with the soul in all her actions whether good or evil may also hereafter share with her in her rewards or punishments It seems but equal that we should be punished in the same body in which we sinned and that that very flesh in which we pleased God should be exalted and glorified at the last day and receive a just recompence of reward for all the trouble and hardship it underwent in this life Thus I have given you a brief account of this strictest sense of the Article of the Resurrection namely that the very self-same lesh and bloud which make up our bodies here on earth shall be raised again at the last day and after it hath been changed and glorified by the power and spirit of Christ I speak onely of the bodies of good men shall ascend up into Heaven and there live and dwell for ever in the presence of God I come now to shew that there is nothing in all this impossible or incredible which I shall do by proving these three things 1. That it is possible for God to observe and distinguish and preserve unmixt from all other bodies the particular dust and atoms into which the several bodies of men are dissolved and to recollect and unite them together how far soever dispersed asunder 2. That God can form that dust so recollected together of which the body did formerly consist into the same body it was before And 3. That when he hath made this body he can enliven it and make it the same living man by uniting it to the same soul and spirit that used formerly to inhabit there It cannot be denied but that these three things do express the whole of the resurrection of our flesh in the strictest sense and none of these are impossible 1. God can observe and distinguish and preserve unmixt from all other bodies the particular dust and atoms into which the several bodies of men are dissolved and recollect and unite them together how far soever dispersed asunder God is infinite in wisedom power and knowledge he knoweth the number of the stars and calleth them all by their names he measures the waters in the hollow of his hand and metes out the heavens with a span and comprehends the dust of the earth in a measure he numbers the hairs of our head and not so much as a sparrow falls to the ground without his knowledge he can tell the number of the sands of the Seashore as the Heathens used to express the immensity of his knowledge and is it at all incredible that such an infinite understanding should distinctly know the several particles of dust into which the bodies of men are mouldred and plainly discern to whom they belong and observe the various changes they undergo in their passage through several bodies Why should it be thought strange that he who at first formed us whose eyes did see our substance yet being imperfect and in whose book all our members were written from whom our substance was not hid when we were made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth should know every part of our bodies and every atome whereof they are composed The curious artist knows every pin and part of the Watch or Machine which he frames and if the little Engine should fall in pieces and all the parts of it lie in the greatest disorder and confusion yet he can soon rally them together and as easily distinguish one from another as if every one had its particular mark he knows the use of every part can readily assign to each its proper place and exactly dispose them into the same figure and order they were in before and can we think that the Almighty Architect of the world whose workmanship we are doth not know whereof we are made or is not acquainted with the several parts and materials of which this earthly tabernacle of ours is framed and composed The several corporeal beings that now constitute this Universe at the first creation of the world lay all confused in a vast heap of rude and indigested Chaos till by the voice of the Omnipotent they were separated one from the other and framed into those distinct bodies whereof this beautifull and orderly world doth consist and why may not the same power at the consummation of all things out of the ruines and rubbish of the world collect the several reliques of our corrupted bodies reduce them each to their proper places and restore them to their primitive shapes and figures and frame them into the same individual bodies they were parts of before All the atoms and particles into which mens bodies are at last dissolved however they may seem to us to lie carelesly scattered over the face of the earth yet are safely lodged by God's wise disposal in several receptacles and repositories till the day of restitution of all things in aquis in ignibus in alitibus in bestiis saith Tertullian they are preserved in the waters in birds and beasts till the sound of the last trumpet shall summon them and recall them all to their former habitations But the chiefest and most usual objection against what I am now pleading for is this That it may sometimes happen that several mens bodies may consist of the very self-same matter for the bodies of men are oftentimes devoured by beasts and fishes and other animals and the flesh of these is afterwards eaten by other men and becomes part of their nourishment till at last the same particles of matter come to belong to several bodies and it is impossible that at the resurrection they should be united to them all Or to express it shorter it is reported of some whole Nations that they devour the bodies of other men and feed upon humane flesh so that these must necessarily borrow great part of their bodies of other men and if that which was part of one man's body comes afterwards to be part of another man's how can both rise at the last day with the very self-same bodies they had here But to this it may be easily replied that but a very small and inconsiderable part of that which is eaten and descends into the
be persuaded that it was rude and clownish not to pledge one who drank to me in rank poyson as that it is any sign of want of good breeding and gentile accomplishments to be wiser and more sober than the rest of the World 3. Lastly Men are tempted to comply with bad examples and follow the multitude that they may avoid scoffs and reproaches and not expose themselves to the laughter and drollery of those who think every thing wit that is impudent or prophane But this surely is so little and inconsiderable that it deserves not to be named with the least of those inconveniences which attend a wicked life for what hurt can it be to us to have those speak ill of us whose very commendation and good word would be our greatest scandal and reproach and shall we to escape their irreligious scoffs and foolish jests justly merit the reproof of all wise men and make our selves liable to the censure of those whose opinion and judgment alone ought to be regarded Were we but once throughly convinced of the truth and excellency of that Religion we are baptized into how happy it would make us in this life and what great things it assures us of in the future no flouts nor railleries would any more be able to shake our purposes of good living than they are to persuade a rich man out of his estate and large possessions But farther the best way to preserve our reputation even amongst wicked men is to be true to those principles which we have first espoused for let men say what they will they have a secret respect and veneration for all those whose goodness is exemplary and conspicuous which appears sufficiently by their envying and snarling at them and they inwardly scorn none more than those whom they know to be guilty of those vices which yet they themselves tempted them to and he that will be drunk himself will yet be sure to laugh at another whom he sees in that condition But let us suppose the worst what is it that they can say of us onely that we are nice and squeamish and curious that we have not yet learned to live at random nor perfectly subdued our Consciences that we weigh and consider our actions and use our reasons and understandings and believe we were born into the World for some higher ends than pleasing our senses and gratifying our appetites that we are not indifferent to health and sickness peace and disquiet life and death that we think there is somewhat in the World besides what we daily see that we provide for a State which we may very soon enter upon and trouble our selves with thoughts of what will become of us after we are dead and the like but if this be all we ought to pray to God that we may constantly live under such ignominy and die under the disgrace To what I have already said on this subject I shall onely add that if bad examples even against our reason and interest do so far prevail with Men to their utter undoing what mighty power and influence would good examples have enforced with all the arguments for and advantages of Religion what an age of vertue and quiet and happiness should we enjoy if Men of dignity and renown of parts and understanding of birth and fortune would freely and conspicuously offer themselves to the World for patterns of life and conversation thus they might entice others to be good and soon retrieve the honour of our Religion and bring it again into credit and repute Were such Mens lives as good and holy as their profession is sinners would soon be put out of Countenance and be ashamed to appear in the World their party would be made inconsiderable and they would have but little power to draw others over to their side for there is not a more winning and taking sight in the World than the life of a Christian led exactly according to the prescripts of his Religion And were there not in all ages some such persons of authority and fame whose zeal for Religion inspires them with so much courage as that they are neither ashamed nor afraid of being honest and innocent whatever the mad World may say or think of them for it I say were it not for such we should soon lose not onely the power but even the form of Godliness too And God onely knows how many daily make shipwrack of their Consciences onely because they have not spirit enough to endure to be out of the mode and fashion II. But I hasten to the second thing propounded which was to shew how unreasonable it is to be enticed to sin by such as argue for it and would endeavour to excuse it for there are many that are not altogether thus easie and complaisant as to follow merely for company nor so lazy as to take up every thing on trust but they are men of prudence and discretion who desire first to be satisfied whether what they are inticed to be prudent and safe they like a wicked life well enough could they be but furnished with some small reasons and arguments for it by which they might justify their choice and stop the mouths of their Consciences I shall just mention these four ways whereby sinners ordinarily entice such as these to join with them either 1. by representing the pleasures or 2. by propounding the temporal advantages which attend sin or else 3. by speaking slightly of the evil of it or lastly by persuading them that there is no danger in it 1. Men entice others to sin by propounding to them the pleasures that are to be found in a loose and wicked life They tell them that the laws of Religion are fitted onely for the dull and Phlegmatick unactive and Hypocondriack who grudge at others enjoying those delights which themselves are not capable of that Nature designed we should freely use whatever she hath provided for our entertainment here and was not so unkind as perpetually to torment us with the sight and presence of such things as we are not permitted to taste nor touch that heaven indeed is the Lord's and he dwells there and doeth what pleaseth him best but that the earth by his grant and permission is ours and who shall interrupt or disturb us that God hath left this lower World to us to take our pastime therein and that that man makes the best use of it who improves it most to serve his own pleasures that to live honestly scrupulously and vertuously is to be buried whilst we are alive and that to order all our actions according to stinted rules and precepts belongs onely to slaves and those who are of a servile disposition but what greater pleasure say they than to be ungovernable and uncontrollable to satisfy every appetite with its proper object to deny our selves nothing that our lusts or passions crave in every thing to gratifie our own humour and fancy and to trouble our heads with nothing
as that all his Providences must needs serve onely to vindicate and countenance our side and disparage those that are contrary to us This is busily to pry into God's secrets and it is the greatest affront we can put upon him thus unwarrantably to pronounce concerning his Actions as if we were of his Cabinet-council and had particular revelations of all the designs he carrieth on in the world This is to exercise our selves in great matters and such as are too high for us for what man is he that can know the counsel of God or who can think what the will of the Lord is for the thoughts of mortal men are miserable and our devices are but uncertain And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out and God's counsel who hath known 3. Another instance of this sort of self-conceit may be in private and illiterate persons pretending to expound the most difficult and obscure places of Scripture and to unfold and determine the most nice and curious questions in Theology There is enough in holy Scripture plain and easie to employ the thoughts and lives of private Christians and yet it is too true that these parts of it though they alone contain our necessary duty are quite overlooked at least not near so much studied or regarded as those that are most mysterious and dark and thus even amongst common people you will find not a few that are more positive and dogmatical in their interpretations of Prophecies mystical Speeches and the Book of Revelations than any sober Divine that hath made the Bible his study for many years Whether this ariseth from the encrease or decay of knowledge amongst us I shall not stand now to enquire but so it is that many a zealous Mechanick amongst us sets up for a judge of Orthodoxy and having learnt a great deal of Scripture by rote and a few terms of art shall dictate as magisterially concerning the difficultest points in Divinity as if he had sate all his life long in the infallible Chair And indeed I am apt to think this is peculiar to us in England at least that we are more notorious for it than those who live in other Countries and that not onely now in our days but that we have been so in former times for I find it amongst the observations made by an Italian in Queen Elizabeth's days of glorious memory that the common people of England were wiser or at least thought themselves so than the wisest of other Nations for that here the very women and shopkeepers were able to judge of predestination free-will perseverance and to demonstrate the divine right of a Lay-elder and were better able to raise and answer perplexed cases of conscience than the most learned Colleges in other parts of Europe and he concludes with this serious remark that those persons who were most busie in disputations and controversies and finding out the mistakes of their governours and teachers had always the least of humility mortification or the power of godliness Of all the several kinds of fops that are there is none more impertinent troublesome and justly ridiculous than a gifted brother full of his visions and illuminations who can split an hair and smell out an heresie I know not how far off who thinking that he knoweth all things knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know It is good advice therefore of the wise son of Sirach Be not curious in unnecessary matters for more things are shewed unto thee than men understand 4. This sort of self-conceit which consists in medling with things we do not understand or do not belong to us appeareth in nothing more than in opposing our own prudence and discretion to the constitutions of our governours and the determinations of our superiours in matters relating to publick peace and order and a great many such there are who are never satisfied unless every thing be decreed and appointed just as they themselves think best and most fit Hence they spend most of their time and discourse in canvassing and descanting upon the actions of their superiours of which they are yet most incompetent judges in taxing and inveighing against their proceeding though never so far out of their sphere and capacity in finding fault with their conduct and picking quarrels with their orders and commands What an happy world would there soon be thinks such a grave politician if all things were settled according to that model which he hath framed in his own conceit how well would the State be secured how quietly would the Church be governed how decently would Divine Service be performed how would all interests and parties be pleased how soon would all fears and jealousies vanish if he had but the management of affairs or his counsel might be heard how soon would there be a thorow reformation of all that is amiss would the King but please to think him worthy of such a place of power and authority In short let things be well or ill administred still if his hand be not in it he finds matter of dislike and complaint or if it do chance that he hath nothing at all to object yet he will give you a grave shrug or nodd and shake his empty head as if all were not well and he knew some great matter which he durst not utter Alas what an unhappy thing is it that such a prodigious wise man should be so little taken notice of or regarded Thus every one almost conceited of his own politicks invades the office of a Counsellour of State and acteth a Prince or Bishop and positively determineth what laws are fit to be repealed what new ones to be made what ceremonies in God's worship ought to be retained what to be abrogated and thus we confound and disturb that order and subordination which God hath placed in the world and render the Magistrate's office altogether useless and as it were dethrone and depose those whom God hath set over us It is the office of our governours to take care of the publick peace and safety and to make such laws as shall seem to them most conducing thereto which we are bound to submit to whether we judge them expedient or not for if no laws or constitutions of our governours were to take place but onely such as every one should approve of the authority of the Magistrate would signifie nothing but every man would be his own lord and master which would necessarily introduce the greatest disorder and confusion 5. And lastly Hence it is men are so busie and pragmatical in intermedling and interposing in the concerns and private affairs of their neighbours or any others they have the least knowledge of putting their sickle into every man's corn peeping into every man's house listening at every ones window to furnish themselves with matter for censure and observation and by
call upon him whose throne is there placed when by the earth you appeal to him whose footstool it is when by Jerusalem you implicitly and by just interpretation swear by him that is the great King thereof This our Saviour as plainly delivers on another occasion Matth. 23.20 Whoso shall swear by the altar sweareth by it and all things thereon and whose shall swear by the Temple sweareth by it and by him that dwelleth therein and he that shall swear by Heaven sweareth by the throne of God and by him that sitteth thereon So that in this case the truth is if in such kind of oaths when men swear by the Heavens the Earth or the like they mean onely the material sensible Heavens and Earth besides the irreligion of vain swearing they are guilty of plain idolatry in giving to the creatures that worship that is due onely to God as supposing those inanimate beings able to hear them and judge their thoughts and witness to the sincerity of their purposes or to punish them for their falseness and hypocrisie but if they do not believe any such thing of those creatures they swear by then must such oaths if they have any sense at all refer to God and his name must be understood to be invoked even though he be not expresly mentioned So that this prohibition of our Saviour may be accounted to extend to all such forms of speech amongst us as are used as oaths and so understood to beget credit to what we say though God be not named in short all manner of oaths whether by the Majesty of God or any of his creatures or any words signs or gestures which by common custome and interpretation are accounted swearing may be understood to be hereby forbidden as well as direct express swearing for a man may swear without ever saying a word if by received usage such a gesture doth signifie our calling God to witness and so the forms and outward modes of swearing are different in several Nations though the reason and sense of them be the same in all places whatever words or signs are used If therefore such phrases as these faith troth and many others which I might name are in ordinary esteem and practice thought to contain something more than an affirmation and are used and understood amongst us as oaths they are here forbidden to Christians under this rule of swearing not at all though such words in themselves have not the force of oaths nor is God immediately appealed to by them II. It is farther here to be observed that though all manner of swearing whether by the name of God or any of his creatures be thus prohibited Swear not at all yet this must be understood onely of arbitrary voluntary swearing in ordinary talk and discourse when there is no great reason no justifiable occasion for it It is to be acknowledged that some of the ancient Fathers from these words did conclude it utterly unlawfull for a Christian at any time to swear some of their sayings to this purpose are quoted by Grotius in his comment upon these words but then it is to be considered 1. That there were but some few of them of this opinion and that against the current doctrine of the greatest part of the primitive Christians and 2. Against the known allowed practice amongst them for we all along find there were many Christians in the armies of the heathen Emperours and they could not have served under them without taking the military oath which they did not use to scruple so they were not put to swear by any of their Genii or Heathen Deities or Fortune or the like 3. Their great argument against taking of oaths was drawn from the invincible faith and truth of Christians who upon no consideration whatever could either be forc'd or won to affirm what they knew to be false or promise what they never intended to perform and this they were so remarkable for that they thought it a diminution or scandalous affront offered to them to be put to their oaths they always had such a regard to their words and it was so sacred a thing at all times to speak truth that they would not be so much distrusted or disparaged as to have the security of an oath required of them the constant tenour of their lives they thought did bear a greater testimony to what the Christians affirmed and render it more credible than the oaths of any other men could what they witnessed But now because in latter days some Sectaries both here and elsewhere have from these words Swear not at all pleaded against the lawfulness of taking of any oaths though thereto required by the Magistrate though it be an oath of Allegiance to their Prince or when they give testimony in a publick cause I shall briefly and plainly make out to you that this prohibition of our Saviour's must admit of some exceptions and must be restrained onely to vain and rash oaths in our ordinary discourse which I shall doe by desiring you to consider 1. That in other general prohibitions it is acknowledged by all that we must make the same or like exceptions Thus though our Saviour hath said a little before these words in this Sermon on the Mount v. 21. Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment yet we all grant that this must be confined to private persons that this forbids not the Magistrate's inflicting capital punishments and then that as to private persons it is meant onely of killing innocent men but that still it is lawfull for us in the preservation of our own lives to kill those who unjustly assault us these cases must be reserved so here Swear not at all that is not of your own motion without any necessary or sufficient cause but this doth not infringe the right which Magistrates have to impose oaths on their subjects and to require the utmost and greatest security for their fidelity and obedience this doth not forbid swearing when it is requisite for the determining of important controversies or distribution of justice when it is for the publick good that our testimony should be credited and made more valid by the solemnity of an oath And that such exceptions as these must be allowed from this general rule will appear 2. If we consider the positive command that is opposed to this prohibition Swear not at all but let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil Let your communication i. e. your speech your ordinary familiar discourse be yea yea nay nay which was a proverbial way of expressing an honest man whom you may believe and trust Justorum etiam est etiam non eorum est non His aye was aye and his no was no. His promises and performances did exactly and constantly agree without any more adoe you may give credit to and relie upon whatever he says Whatever is more than these
be affected with it it is impossible that we should enjoy much ease or rest or happiness in this life when it is in the power of so many thousand contingencies to rob us of it But our hope and comfort is that the time will shortly come when we shall be delivered from this burthen of flesh When God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away When we shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the sun light on us nor any heat for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed us and shall lead us into living fountains of waters Oh when shall we arrive to those happy regions where no complaints were ever heard where we shall all enjoy a constant and uninterrupted health and vigour both of body and mind and never more be exposed to pinching frosts or scorching heats or any of those inconveniences which incommode this present pilgrimage When we have once passed from death to life we shall be perfectly eased of all that troublesome care of our bodies which now takes up so much of our time and thoughts we shall be set free from all those tiresome labours and servile drudgeries which here we are forced to undergo for the maintenance and support of our lives and shall enjoy a perfect health without being vexed with any nauseous medicines or tedious courses of physick for the preservation of it Those robes of light and glory which we shall be cloathed with at the resurrection of the just will not stand in need of those carefull provisions or crave those satisfactions which it is so grievous to us here either to procure or be without But they as our Saviour tells us St. Luke 20. verse 35 36. which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to Angels they shall live such a life as the holy Angels do Whence Tertullian calls the body we shall have at the resurrection carnem Angelificatam Angelified flesh which shall neither be subject to those weaknesses and decays nor want that daily sustenance and continual recruit which these mortal bodies cannot subsist without Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them This is that perfect and complete happiness which all good men shall enjoy in the other world which according to an Heathen Poet may be thus briefly summed up Mens sana in corpore sano a mind free from all trouble and guilt in a body free from all pains and diseases Thus our mortal bodies shall be raised immortal they shall not onely by the power of God be always preserved from death for so the bodies we have now if God pleases may become immortal but the nature of them shall be so wholly changed and altered that they shall not retain the same seeds or principles of mortality and corruption so that they who are once cloathed with them as our Saviour tells us cannot die any more 2. Our bodies shall be raised in glory Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father Matt. 13.43 Our heavenly bodies in brightness and glory shall contend with the splendour of the Sun it self A resemblance of this we have in the lustre of Moses's face which after he had conversed with God in the Mount did shine so gloriously that the children of Israel were afraid to come near him and therefore when he spake to them he was forced to cast a veil over his face to cloud and eclipse the glory of it And that extraordinary and miraculous majesty of St. Stephen's countenance seems to be a presage of that future glory which our heavenly bodies shall be cloathed with Acts 6.15 And all that sate in the Council looking stedfastly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel That is they saw a great light and splendour about him and if the bodies of Saints do sometimes appear so glorious here on earth how will they shine and glitter in the other world when they shall be made like unto Christ's own glorious body for so St. Paul tells us that Christ will fashion our vile bodies like unto his glorious body Now how glorious and splendid the body of Christ is we may ghess by the visions of the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul The former of them when he saw the transfiguration of our Saviour when his face did shine as the sun and his raiment became shining and white as snow was at the sight of it so transported and overcharged with joy and admiration that he was in a manner besides himself for he knew not what he said When our Saviour discovered but a little of that glory which he now possesses and will in due time communicate to his followers yet that little of it made the place seem a paradise and the Disciples were so taken with the sight of it that they thought they could wish for nothing better than always to live in such pure light and enjoy so beautifull a sight It is good for us to be here let us make three tabernacles here let us fix and abide for ever And if they thought this so great a happiness onely to be where such heavenly bodies were present and to behold them with their eyes how much greater happiness must they enjoy who are admitted to dwell in such glorious mansions and are themselves cloathed with so much brightness and splendour The other appearance of our blessed Saviour after his ascension into Heaven to St. Paul as he was travelling to Damascus was so glorious that it put out his eyes his senses were not able to bear a light so refulgent such glorious creatures will our Lord make us all if we continue his faithfull servants and followers and we shall be so wonderfully changed by the word of his power from what we are in this vile state that the bodies we now have will not be able so much as to bear the sight and presence of those bodies which shall be given us at the resurrection Now this excellency of our heavenly bodies the Schoolmen fansie will arise in a great measure from the happiness of our souls The unspeakable joy and happiness which our souls shall then enjoy will break through our bodies and be conspicuous and shine forth in the brightness of our countenances and illustrate them with beauty and splendour as the joy of the soul even in this life hath some influence upon the body and makes an imperfect impression upon the countenance by rendring it more serene and chearfull than otherwise it would be as Solomon tells us Eccles. 8.1 That a man's wisedom maketh his face to shine