carentur r. irascarentur p. 29. l. 24. for content r. concent p. 34. l. 19. for last 1. worst p. 84. in the Margent dele audeo dicere Aug. p. 103. l. 〈◊〉 dele as p. 135. l. 7. for a 〈◊〉 in p. 164 in the Margent for aequanimitur imperitas r. aequanimiter imperitus for insolentur r. insolenter p. 181. l. 21. for never r. ever 2 COR. VII 1. Having therefore these Promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God CHAP. 1. The Coherence opened The inconsistency and danger of the Communion of Christians with Infidels The dignity of Believers prohibits it The Promise of Divine Communion obliges them to separate from contagious Converse with Unbelievers The Inference from those Motives The cleansing from all Pollutions and perfecting Holiness Purifying themselves is the Duty of Christians A Principle of Holiness actuated by the supplies of the Spirit is requite to enable Christians to purifie the 〈◊〉 The Pollutions of the Flesh 〈◊〉 the desiring and the angry Appetiâ—â—â—ey defile and debase Humane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 difficulâ—… makes an easie entrance into the Soul He seems to devest himself of his Apostolical Commission and in the mildest and most tender manner mixes intreaties with his Authority as in a parallel place I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ c. 1 Cor. 1. 10. 2. The matter of the Address The cleansing us from all pollution of Flesh and Spirit and the changing us into the unspotted Image of God's Holiness These are the comprehensive sum of renewing Grace and are inseparable The Holy Spirit works both together in the Saints as the Sun by the same emanation of Light dispels the darkness of the Air and irradiates it But they are not merely different notions but different parts of Sanctification For the corruption of Nature is not a mere privation of Holiness as Darkness is of Light but a contrary inherent quality the Principle of all sinful Evils We are commanded to put off the old man and to put on the new To cease to do evil and to learn to do well We must purifie our selves from the pollutions of Flesh and Spirit The Soul and Body in the state of depraved Nature are like two Malefactors fastened with one Chain and by their strict union infect one another The pollution is intimate and radical diffusive through all the Powers of the Soul and Members of the Body The Spirit of the Mind the supreme Faculty with the Will and Affections want renewing We are commanded to perfect Holiness to aspire and endeavour after our original Holiness and to be always advancing till we arrive at the final consummate state of Holiness in Heaven In the fear of God That Grace has an eminent causality and influence in this Sanctification of Christians It is a powerful restraint from Sins in thoughts and acts in solitude and society to consider God's pure and flaming Eye that sees Sin wherever it is in order to Judgment Holy Fear excites us to exercise every Grace and perform every Duty in that manner that we may be approv'd and accepted of God 3. The Motive arises from the excellency of the Promises and the qualifications requisite for the obtaining them 'T is promised that God will dwell in us and walk in us whose gracious presence is Heaven upon Earth Strange Condescension that the God of Glory should dwell in Tabernacles of Clay far greater than if a King should dwell in a Cottage with one of his poor Subjects He will adopt us into the Line of Heaven I will be your Father and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters The qualifications are the purifying our selves from all defilements and striving to be entirely holy By the order of God every Leper was to be excluded from the Camp of Israel and will he have Communion with the Souls of Men over-spread with the Leprosie and covered with the Ulcers of Sin There is a special emphasis in the words saith the Lord Almighty Without the cleansing and renewing of Sinners Omnipotence cannot receive them into his Favour and Family There are fatal bars fix'd which the unholy cannot break through The Proposition that arises from the words is this The Promises of the Gospel lay the most powerful obligations on Christians to strive for the attainment of pure and perfect Holiness In the management of this Subject I will first consider the Duty as acted upon our selves 2. The parts of it The cleansing from Sin and perfecting Holiness 3. The force of the Motives the precious and unvaluable Promises of the Gospel And make Application of them 1. We are commanded to cleanse our selves which is our Duty and implies an ability deriv'd from Christ to perform it It may seem strange that Men in their depraved state should be excited to renew themselves Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one yet this Duty is frequently inculcated upon us Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes O Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickedness how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee Cleanse your hearts ye sinners purifie your hearts ye double-minded A clear answer may be given to this 1. There is no productive Principle of Holiness in Man's corrupt Nature but strong aversions from it and inclinations to what is contrary to it There is a miserable impotency to all spiritual Good better express'd with tears than words 'T is natural and hereditary more difficultly cur'd than what is accidental God is the sole efficient in the regeneration of the Soul and the first infusion of Grace and the principal in the growth and improvement of it The Holy Spirit does not work Grace in us as the Sun forms Gold in the Earth without any sense in our selves of his operations but we feel them in all our Faculties congruously to their Nature inlightning the Mind exciting the Conscience turning the Will and purifying the Affections 2. After a Principle of Life and Holiness is planted in us we are by a continual supply of strength from Christ assisted to exercise it in all the acts that are proper to the Divine Life There is a resemblance between the Fruits of the Earth and the Graces of a Christian Seed must be first sowed in the Earth before it springs out of it and when 't is sowed the natural qualities of the Earth Coldness and Driness are so contrary to fructifying that without the Influences of the Heavens the heat of the Sun and showers of Rain the Seed would be lost in it Grace is drawn forth into flourishing and fruitfulness by the irradiating and warm influx of the Spirit But we are subordinate agents in carrying on the work of Grace to Perfection The Apostle exhorts us to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling for 't is God works in us to will and to do
Persons He is stil'd Love and Light Love signifies his communicative Goodness the inclination of his Nature and Will to make his people happy and his complacency in their Happiness He will give grace and glory he will rejoyce over them with singing Now God being an Infinite Good and of Infinite Goodness we are sure his Will and Power are correspondent in making them happy God is stil'd Light which implies his most clear and perfect Knowledge for Light discovers all things His unspotted Holiness for Light can never be stain'd or sullied by shining on a Dunghil His Sovereign Joy for Light joyn'd with Vital Heat inspires universal Nature with Joy In Heaven God inlightens the Understandings of the Saints with the knowledge of his Glorious Nature of his Wise Counsels that are now seal'd in his Eternal Mind and of his admirable Works wherein the clear impressions of his Perfections appear He draws his Image upon them in all the Coelestial Colours that give final Perfection to it And from hence results that Joy that is unspeakable and glorious and is eternally exuberant in high and solemn praises of God Blessed are those who are in thy House they are always praising thee Now can an unholy Soul delight in these Emanations of the divine Presence and the exercise of the Saints above Can those who feed without fear and revel without restraint of their brutish Lusts Taste how good the Lord is Suppose the Soveraignty of God should dispense with Obedience to his Law and by an Act of Power an un-renewed Person were translated to Heaven can the place make him happy You may as reasonably imagine that a Swine whose inseparable quality is to love wallowing in the Mire can delight in a clean Room adorn'd with beautiful Pictures If the Tongue be depraved with a foul humour and the Disease is the Taster the most relishing Food is insipid till the Palate be cleansed and recover its true Temper it cannot judge aright 'T is equally impossible that an unholy Creature can enjoy Communion with the Holy God Till we are purified in our Minds and Affections the Divine Presence cannot be Heaven to us The Truth is Carnal Men do not love and desire the Heaven reveal'd in the Gospel but fear the Hell threaten'd because Fire and Brimstone are Terrible to Sense 2. The hope of Heaven purifies us from the Condition of the Promises that are clear and explicit in requiring Holiness in all that shall possess it Blessed are the pure in heart they shall see God follow holiness without which no man can see God The Promise is infallible to those who are qualified and the Exclusion is peremptory and universal of those who are unprepar'd These are not Conditions prescrib'd by Ministers of a preciser strain but by the Saviour of the World who with great Solemnity declares Verily verily I say unto you unless a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God The Soveraign dispenser of his own Favours may by his un-accountable Will appoint what terms he pleases in bestowing them to which 't is our Duty to Consent with humble Thankfulness but the Vital Qualifications requir'd in order to our admission into the Glory of Heaven are not a meer arbitrary Constitution but founded in the unchangable Nature of God If there were any defect and irregularity in the Architecture of the visible World in the Frame and order of its Parts it were less dishonourable than if there were no Connexion between a Holy Life and Blessedness for the first would only reflect upon his Wisdom and Power but the other would asperse his Holiness and Justice the most Divine Perfections of the Deity 3. Christian Hope purifies by the frequent and serious thoughts of the heavenly Glory The Object of Hope fills the Mind and Memory and gives Order and Vigor to our Endeavours If Riches or Honour be the Object of our Expectation the Soul will entertain it self with the pleasant thoughts of them and contriving how to obtain them Love and Hope are fix'd upon the same Objects and have the same Efficacy they transport the Soul to their distant Objects and transform them into their likeness The Object is Spiritual and Divine and the frequent Contemplation of it has a warm Influence into the Affections purifies and raises them from the Earth When our Thoughts are often Conversant upon the State of future Glory we feel its attractive force more strongly working in us as in a Chase if there be a cold Scent 't is but coldly pursued but when the Game is in view 't is eagerly prosecuted When Heaven is seldom thought of our desires and endeavours are cool'd towards it but when 't is in the view of our Understandings and near us our inclinations and endeavours are more fervent and zealous The Apostle saith Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Lord Jesus 4. The hope of Heaven purifies us from a Principle of Thankfulness to God who is Donor of it St. John breaks into an extasie of wonder Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be call'd the Sons of God! The Angels those comprehensive Spirits are astonish'd that worthless Rebels should be taken into a Relation so high and near to God who deserveto be irrevocably banish'd from his Kingdom The Apostle observes the various degrees of this Happiness Now we are the Sons of God but it does not appear what we shall be Now we are adopted but the heigth of our Felicity when we shall be crown'd is a secret but we are assured we shall be like the Son of God the glorious Original of all Perfection Now the confirm'd Hope of this transcendent Happiness inflames a Believer with sincere and supream Love to God that will make us zealous to please him by entire Obedience to his Precepts and a likeness to his Nature 3. The Purity of a Christian consists in a conformity to Christ. The Son of God incarnate is both the Author of our Holiness and the Pattern of it As the Sun is the first Fountain of Light and a Christal Globe fill'd with Light may be a secondary Fountain transmitting the Beams unto us So the Deity is the original cause of all created Holiness but 't is transmitted through the Mediator In his Life on Earth there was a Globe of Precepts a perfect Model of Holiness All the active and suffering Graces appear'd in their exaltation in his practice Our Relation to him inferrs our likeness For whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many Brethren The Image in Nebuchadnezzar's Dream had the Head of fine Gold the Breast and the Arms of Silver the Belly and Thighs of Brass the Legs of Iron the Feet part of Iron part of Clay But Christ united to his Church are not such an irregular composition As the Head is holy so are all
from his habitation Thus the Carnal part incens'd by the Tempter is often clamorous to obtain as a Benefit that which would be hurtful to the Soul and God is merciful in the denyal We know not what to ask but our Heavenly Father knows what to give Sometimes God bestows equivalent or better Blessings than what his Children pray for If God gives Contentment with Poverty 't is equivalent to Riches if Patience with Sickness 't is better than Health if eternal Life in Heaven 't is infinitely better than a long Life on Earth He did not preserve the Martyrs from the Flames nor forsake them in the Flames but in those fiery Chariots convey'd them to Heaven Briefly God never denies or delays to grant the Petitions of his Children but for a greater Good to them He always hears their main Desires that is bestows such Blessings as are most conducive for his Glory and their Good This is the principal Petition of the Saints in conformity to Christ in his exigency he prayed to be saved from the approaching hour of his terrible sufferings but subordinately to a higher request Father glorify thy name Lastly The Relation of Children to God is not an Empty Title but includes an Interest in the Eternal Inheritance The Apostle infers If sons then heirs heirs of God co-heirs with Christ. The Sons of Earthly Parents cannot all inherit the Eldest is the Heir to maintain the Splendour and State of the Family and the Younger have often but thin Provision If a Kingdom be the Inheritance 't is appropriated to one the Throne is incommunicable When Pharaoh made Joseph Viceroy of Egypt he reserv'd the Throne to himself In the throne I will be greater than thou But all the Saints are Kings Our Saviour comforts his Disciples fear not little flock 't is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom and his Power is equal to his Pleasure They are the Children of the King and Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom with a Note of Excellency in Comparison of it all the Kingdoms of this World in their blazing Glory are but a faint Figure and a Foil Transcendent Priviledge Infinite Bounty All the Conceptions we can form of Happiness are eminently in God He is the Glory the Joy the Perfection the Satisfaction of Intelligent Creatures He alone can fill the Capacity of Comprehensive Immortal Spirits He is their Eternal and Entire Inheritance possess'd equally by all without diminution to any As the Light of the World is enjoyed by all without prejudice to any according to the Apostles Expression The Inheritance of the Saints in Light The Eternal Enjoyment of God excludes all Fears of losing it there is a perpetual security from all change and separation and excludes all possible desires of a better State Without Divine Revelation we could never have had any discovery of this Super-natural Blessedness The Apostle prays for the Ephesians that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of their understanding being inlightned that they may know what is the hope of his calling and what is the riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints God is infinitely Rich in his Perfections in Mercy in Wisdom and Power and as the Father said to his Son in the Gospel Son all that I have is thine so all his Attributes are exercis'd for the happiness of his Children The difference is observable between an Earthly Inheritance and the Heavenly For Estates and Honours conveyed by Descent are not possess'd till the death of the Fathers but we partake of the heavenly Inheritance because our Father lives and we must dye that we may enjoy it for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven What manner of love is it that we should be the Sons of God When Pharaoh's Daughter compassionately preserved Moses an expos'd Infant and adopted him to be her Son 't was rare and wonderful Goodness The Priviledge was so high that the Self-denial of Moses is Recorded with this Illustrious proof of it that he refus'd to be call'd the son of Pharaohs daughter But she had no Son of her own Adoption is a Legal Supply for the want of Natural Progeny But God had an Eternal Son the Heir of his Love and Glory the adequate Object of his Complacency yet he raised us to so near an Alliance Men adopt Sons for their Support and Comfort and usually those in whom some praise-worthy qualities appear God did not want a Son but we wanted a Father in thee the fatherless find mercy There was nothing in us but Sin and Misery an occasion of his Mercy 'T is added by the Apostle we are coheirs with Christ. This may seem to be a Usurpation upon his Prerogative who is invested with the Supremacy of Heaven But this is easily clear'd by considering that Christ has a double Title to the Inheritance 1. A Natural Title as the Son of God in a transcendent and peculiar manner From Eternity there was a mutual Possession of the Father and the Son wherein their Blessedness consists This Title is singular and incommunicable 2. An acquir'd Title by his Meritorious Obedience and Sufferings Therefore God has exalted him above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is nam'd not only in this world but in that to come And such is his astonishing Love he associates us with him in this Title he communicates a right to us in his Kingdom by the Merits of his Death and introduces us into Possession by his Mediation His Glory is consistent with ours and inseparable from ours for when the Head is Crown'd the Members Reign The Saints sit down with him in his throne as he is set down on his Fathers Throne 2. Let us now consider how influential this Priviledge is to make us intirely Holy 1. 'T is most worthy of observation that God who might by meer Empire and Authority command us to do our Duty is pleased by gracious inducements to endear our Duty to us He might by Dominion and Power Constrain us but he is pleased by the sweetest Affections to allure us A wise Prince according to the Rules of true Policy will rather govern by Love than Fear for his Safety and Tranquility is more preserv'd by it Fear may secure him from open Rebellions and Assaults but Love from secret Underminings from Treachery and Poison 'T is true there is no such Motive inclines God to allure our Love but his design is to gain our hearts to Obey him that he may Crown our Obedience Fear restrains us from provoking him but Love makes us Active and Chearful to please him Now what can be a more powerful Obligation to Love him than the receiving us into the high and dear Relation of his Children If we look up to God and down upon our selves we shall be struck with
most sensible Relishes of his Love in Communion with him We read of the Lame Man from his Birth that upon his Miraculous Healing when he felt a new current of Spirits in his Nerves and his Feet and Arms were strengthen'd that he entred with the Apostles into the Temple Walking and Leaping and Praising of God This is a resemblance of the Zealous Affections of new Converts when they feel such an admirable Change in them they run in the wayes of God's Commandments with enlarged hearts they have such flashes of Illumination and Raptures of Joy that engage them in a Course of Obedience The Holy Spirit inspires them with new Desires and affords new Pleasures to endear Religion to them 'T is not only their Work but Recreation and Reward But aâ—as how often are the first Heats allayed and stronger Resolutions decline to Remisness Our Saviour tells the Church of Ephesus I have somewhat against thee bâ—cause thou hast left thy first love Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works 'T is said of Jehosaphat that he walk'd in the first ways of his father David intimating there was a visible declension in his Zeal He was not so accurate in his Conversation afterward The Converted are many times not so frequent and fervent in God's Service and though by the constraining Judgment of Conscience Duties are not totally omitted yet they are not perform'd with that Reverence and Delight as at first They are more venturous to engage themselves in Temptations and more ready to comply with them They are tir'd with the length of their Travel and the difficulties of their Way and drive on heavily We should with Tears of Confusion remember the disparity between our Zealous Beginnings and slack Prosecution in Religion we should blush with Shame and tremble with Fear at the strange decay of Grace and recollect our selves and re-inforce our Will to proceed with Vigorous Constancy And when the Saints are ready to enter into the Unchangeable State when the Spirit is to return to God that gave it how intire and intent are they to finish the Work of their Salvation How Spiritual and Heavenly are their Dispositions With what Solemnity do they prepare for the Divine Presence How exactly do they dress their Souls for Eternity and 〈◊〉 their Lamps that they may be admitted into the Joys of the Bridegroom How is the World vilified in their Esteem and unsavoury to their Desires The Lord is exalted in that day The nearer they approach to Heaven the more its Attractive Force is 〈◊〉 When the Crown of Glory is in their view and they hear the Musick of Heaven and are refresh'd with the fragancy of Paradise what a blaze of Holy Affection breaks forth When Jacob was Blessing his Sons upon his Death-bed he in a sudden Rapture Addresses himself to God O Lord I have waited for thy salvation As if his Soul had Ascended to Heaven before it lest the Body O when shall I appear before God! was the fainting desire of the Psalmist If Communion with God in the Earthly Tabernacle was so precious how much more is the immediate Fruition of him in the Coelestial Temple If one day in the Courts below be worth a thousand an hour in the Courts above is worth ten thousand Let us therefore by our serious Thoughts often represent to our selves the approaches of Death and Judgment This will make us Contrive and Contend for Perfection in Holiness The Apostle Exhorts the Romans to Shew forth the Power of Godliness from the Consideration of the Day of Grace they Enjoy and the Day of Glory they Expect for now is Salvation nearer than when you believed Let us do those things now which when we come to dye we shall wish we had done Thus doing we shall be Transmitted from the Militant Church to the Triumphant with a Solemn Testimony of our having adorned the Gospel in our Lives with the Victorious Testimony of Conscience that we have fought the good fight kept the Faith and have finished our Course and received with the glorious Testimony of our Blessed Rewarder Well done good and faithful Servant Enter into the Joy of thy Lord. FINIS BOOKS Writ by William Bates D. D. THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed Work Considerations of the Existence of God and of the Immortality of the Soul with the Recompences of the Future State To which is now added the Divinity of the Christian Religion c. The Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell practically considered and applied in Octavo The same is also Printed in Twelves and proper to be given at Funerals Ten Sermons Preach'd upon Several Occasions in Octavo Sermons upon Psalm CXXX verse 4. But there is Forgivness with thee that thou mayest be feared in Octavo The Danger of Prosperity discovered in several Sermons The great Duty of Resignation in Times of Affliction c. A Funeral-Sermon on Dr. Thomas Manson who deceased October 18 1677. With the last publick Sermon Dr. Manton preached The sure Trial of Uprightness opened in several Sermons upon Psal. 18. v. 23. A Description of the blessed Place and State of the Saints above on John 14. 2. Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Clarkson The way to the highest Honour on John 12. 26. Preached at the Funeral of Dr. Jacomb The speedy Coming of Christ to Judgment on Rev. 22. 12. Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Benj. Asbhurst A Sermon on the Death of the Late Queen Mary In regno nati sumus parere Deo est regnare In virtute posita est vera felicitas Sen. de Vita Beata Col. 3. Isa. 1. Job 14. 4. Isa. 1. Jer. 2. Jam. 4. Jam. 4. 8. Gal. 5. 19 20 21. Col. 3. 5 8. Psal. 4â— Sen. de brevit vit Eccl. 7. 26 27 28. Prov. 1. Nox amor vinumque nihil moderabile suadent Illa pudore caret liber amorque metu Ovid. Ezek. 36. â—1 Repugnante Natura nihil Medicina proficiet Cels. Mark 10. 2â— 2 Pet. 1. 4. Nesciâ— utrum magis detestabile vitium sit ac deforme Sen. de Ir. Idem esse sibi Consilium adversus hostem quod plerisque medicis contra vitia corporum â—amâ— potius quam ferro superandi Quare fert agri rabiem phenetici verba Nempe quia nescire videntur quid faciant Sâ—n. l. 3. de Ira. Ne iras careâ—tur Ira enim perturbat artem Et qua noceat tantum non qua careat aspicit Sen. de Ir. Nec est quisquam cui tam valde innocentiae sua placeat ut non stare in conspectu Clementiam paratam Humanis erroribus gaudeat Sen. de Clem. Job 31. 25 Avaro tam deest quod habet quam quod non habet Mat. 6. Luke
to what a Man has and not according to what he has not A covetous Man though rich will pretend the smallness of his Estate to excuse and palliate his illiberal giving and makes himself doubly guilty of feigned Poverty and real Avarice in God's sight But a liberal Man deviseth liberal things He duely considers the Circumstances of Persons in want and esteems a just Occasion of Charity to be a golden Opportunity and will be noble and magnificent 2. I will consider the difficulty of the Cure This will be evident from the causes of the Disease and the frequent unsuccessfulness of the means in order to it There is no kind of Sinners more inconvincible and incureable than the Worldly-minded 'T is a Rule without exception those Sins which have the greatest appearance of Reason and the least of Sensuality are the most plausible and prevailing So long as there are remains of Reason in Mankind there will be Modesty and brutish Lusts will expose to Shame The high birth and honourable rank of the unclean cannot varnish and disguise their Impurities but renders them more infamous and odious Besides unless Men are not prodigiously bad if they are not free from Fault they will not defend their Intemperance and Incontinency If there be any spark of Conscience alive it discovers and condemns those Sins and assists a faithful counsellor in their Cure But the Covetous by many fair pretences justifie themselves The Apostle expresses them by the cloke of Covetousness to hide its filthiness They pretend to be frugal but not covetous They alledge the example of those who are reputed wise who prosecute the gains of the World as the main scope of their actions They will tell you 't is necessary Prudence to improve all Opportunities to increase their Estates to secure them from Evils that may happen and to neglect providing for our Families is worse than Infidelity Thus Reason is ingaged to joyn with the Affection From hence the Covetous are not only inamour'd with the unworthy Object but averse from the Cure of the vicious Affection The love of Money smothers the Mind with Ignorance and darkens its serenity that the filthiness of the Sin is indiscernible The Covetous are like Persons sick beyond the sense of their Disease and near Death without feeling the presages of it Besides those corrupt Affections which in their rise and degrees depend upon the humours of the Body that are mutable are sometimes with force and violence carried to their Objects but when the disposition of the Body is altered they flag and distasts succeed But the root and principle of Covetousness is in the Will and when that is depraved 't is diabolical in obstinacy The most fierce and greedy Beasts when they have glutted their ravenous Appetites do not presently seek after new prey but Covetousness like a Dropsie-thirst is inflam'd by drinking and inrag'd by increasing Riches And whereas other vicious desires are weakened and broke by tract of time Covetousness derives new life and vigour from age The thoughts and affections of the Covetous are never more deeply tainted with the Earth than when they draw near to their fatal period and their Bodies must be resolved into their original Elements 2. The difficulty of the Cure is evident from the inefficacy of the means used to effect it The Divine Authority of the Scripture the clearest Reason the plainest Experience are often used in vain to reform the Covetous Of a thousand Persons in whom Covetousness is the regent Lust scarce ten are cleansed and changed from covetous to be liberal 1. The Word of God has no commanding perswasive power upon them The Word declares that Covetousness is Idolatry for it deposes God and places the World the Idol of Mens Heads and Hearts in his Throne It deprives him of his Regalia his Royal Prerogatives which he has reserved to himself in the Empire of the World He is infinitely jealous of our transferring them to the Creature Our highest Adoration and Esteem our Confidence and Trust our Love and Complacency our Dependance and Observance are entirely and essentially due to him Who in the Heaven can be compared to the Lord Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to him Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I desire in comparison of thee The Lord is my portion saith my Soul The name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous fly to it and are safe Behold as the eyes of Servants look to the hands of their Masters so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have Mercy upon us These Scriptures are declarative of those eternal respects that are due to God from reasonable Creatures and he is highly dishonoured and displeased when they are alienated from him Now the Covetous deifie the World The rich Man's Riches are his strong City and as an high Wall in his imagination He will trust God no farther than according to visible supplies and means He takes not God for his strength but trusts in the abundance of his Riches His Heart is possessed and polluted with the love of the World and God is excluded Therefore we are commanded not to love the VVorld nor the things of it If any Man love the VVorld the love of the Father is not in him He is provok'd to Jealousie the most severe and sensible Attribute by the coldness of Mens Love From hence it appears how this comprehensive Sin is injurious to God The Psalmist tells us that the Covetous are not only the objects of God's Anger but abhorrence Thus he brands them The covetous whom the Lord abhors The words are of the most heavy signification If his Loving-kindness be better than Life his Hatred is worse than Death 'T is the root of all Evil in Persons of all conditions civil and sacred This bribes those that are in the Seat of Judgment to clear the guilty and which is a bolder Crime to condemn the innocent Of this there is recorded a cruel and bloody Instance in the death of Naboth occasioned by Ahab's Covetousness This corrupts the Preachers of the Word to speak to the Lusts not the Consciences of Men upon whom they have a servile dependance And as the Spirit of Delusion is never more the Spirit of Delusion than under the appearance of an Angel of Light so his Ministers are never more his Ministers than when they pervert the Word of God to support sinful Practices by corrupt Principles Covetousness makes Men faint and false in the time of tryal They will save the World with the loss of their Souls In short it was the impulsive cause of a Sin of the greatest Guilt that ever was committed in betraying the Son of God and his suffering the most cruel and ignominious Death A Sin never to be expiated but by the Flames that shall consume this World the place wherein he suffered Covetousness excludes all in whom
't is predominant from the Kingdom of Heaven Lazarus may as soon be expelled from Abraham's Bosom as a covetous Man may be received into it Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Effeminate nor abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God A covetous Wretch is in as direct a progress to Damnation as the most notorious Sinners guilty of the most filthy Lusts natural and unnatural Did Men believe and prize Heaven how would this terrible denuntiation strike them through But what Tongue has so keen an edge as to cut a passage through Rocks the hardned Hearts of the Covetous The Word cannot enter into the Conscience and Conversation of the Earthly-minded If you discourse to them of Righteousness and Judgment to come they are not at leisure to hear or will not attend Tell them of another World when they are ready to be expell'd from this present World We have a most convincing Instance of inefficacy of Divine Instruction upon the Covetous Our Saviour directed his Auditory to the best use of Riches in doing Good to the Saints in their Wants that after death they might be introduced into everlasting habitations And 't is said that the Pharisees who were covetous heard all these things and derided him They were fix'd in their Principles and resolutions to increase and secure their Wealth They had their Religion in numerato Gain was their Godliness and were so strongly conceited of their own Wisdom that they despised the Authority Counsel and Love of the Son of God 2. The love of Money discovered in the heaping up Riches and the tenacious humour in keeping them is directly contrary to the clearest Reason and perfectly vain The notion of Vanity consists either in the change and inconstancy of things or when they have not reasonable and worthy ends In both respects Covetousness is Vanity For the Object of that Passion is the present World the sphere of mutability and the immoderate Care and Labour to obtain and preserve it is not for a solid substantial but a mere imaginary Good In this sense the most beautiful Colours were there no Eyes to see them and the sweetest Sounds were there no Ears to hear them are Vanities According to this Rule the greedy desire of Riches for Riches sake which is the most proper notion of Avarice is the most unreasonable and vain Affection for it has no end The Apostle tells us that an Idol is nothing in the World the matter of it may be Gold or Silver but it has nothing of a Deity in it He that worships it worships an Object not only most unworthy of Adoration but which has no Existence but in the fancy of the Idolater So he that loves Money for it self sets his Affection upon an end that has no Goodness but in his foolish imagination and consequently is no true and valuable end This will be evident by considering there is a double end to which Humane Actions should be directed the particular immediate end and the universal last end The particular end to which Reason directs iâ— acquiring Money is to supply us with Necessaries and Conveniencies in the present state and this is lawful when our Care and Labour to obtain it are not inordinate nor immoderate Fruition gives Life and Sweetness to Possession Solomon observes with a severe Reflection There is one of whose Labour there is no end who is not satisfied with Riches neither saith he for whom do I labour and bereave my Soul of good this is also vanity and sore travel If one has a Cabinet full of Pearls and has not a Heart to make use of them 't is all one as if it were full of Cherry-stones For there is no true value in the possession but in order to the true and noble use of them This draws so deep of Folly that 't is amazing that reasonable Men should love Money for it self but the Covetous have reprobate Minds without Judgment and discerning Faculties without using them 2. The universal and last end of our Actions consists in the eternal enjoyment of God Now the possession of the whole World is of no advantage toward the obtaining future Happiness Nay it deprives Men of Heaven both as the love of the World-binds their Hands from the exercise of Charity and as it alienates their Hearts from the love of God The present World cannot afford Perfection or Satisfaction to an immortal Spirit 1. Not Perfection The Understanding is the highest Faculty in Man and raises him above the order of sensible Creatures and this is exceedingly debased by over-valuing Earthly things Indeed Sense and Fancy that cannot judge aright of Objects and Actions if they usurp the Judgment-seat the Riches of this World appear very goodly and inestimable There is no Lust more degrades the eternal Soul of Man from the nobility of its Nature than Covetousness For the Mind is denominated and qualified from the Objects upon which it is conversant Now when Mens thoughts are groveling on the Earth as if there were no spark of Heaven in them when their main designs and contrivances are to amass Riches they become Earthly and infinitely fall short of their original and end 2. Riches cannot give Satisfaction to the Soul upon the account of their vast disproportion to its Spiritual Nature and Capacity and Eternal Duration You may as reasonably seek for Paradise under the Icy Poles as for full Contentment in Riches The Kingdoms of the World with all their Treasures if actually possess'd cannot satisfie the Eye much less the Heart There is no suitableness between a spiritual substance and earthly things The Capacity of the Soul is as vast is its Desires which can only be satisfied with Good truly infinite But carnal Men in a delusive Dream mistake shadows for substance and thin appearances for realities Besides the fashion of this World passes away Riches take wings and like the Eagle fly to Heaven or the Possessors of them fall to the Earth The Soul can only be satisfied in the fruition of a Good as everlasting as its own duration In short the Favour of God the renewed Image of God in the Soul and Communion with him are the Felicity of reasonable Creatures 3. The plainest Experience does not convince the Covetous of their Folly and correct them 'T is universally visible that Riches cannot secure Men from Miseries and Mortality They are like a Reed that has not strength to support but sharpness to wound any one that rests on it Earthly Treasures cannot secure us from the Anger of God nor the Violence and Fraud of Men. How often are fair Estates ravishd from the Owners But suppose they are continued here to the Possessor they are not Antidotes against the malignity of a Disease they cannot purchase a priviledge to exempt the Rich from Death And is he truly rich that must be deprived of his Treasures
Majesty I have laid the Foundations thereof on the centre of the Earth and raised its Towers to the Heavens This Pride is attended with relyance and confidence in their own direction to contrive and ability to accomplish their designs and with assuming the glory of all their success intirely to themselves The proud manage their affairs independently upon the Providence of God who is the Author of all our Faculties and the efficacy of them and totally neglect the two essential parts of Natural Religion Prayer and Praise or very slightly perform the external part without those inward Affections that are the Spirit and Life of them 'T was the wise Prayer of Agar Give me not Riches lest I be full and deny thee God strictly cautions his People against this dangerous Sin Beware thou forget not the Lord and say in thy Heart my power and the might of my Hand hath gotten me this Wealth Remember 't is he that gives the power to get Riches And 't is equally dangerous lest Men should attribute Victories or Prosperity in any kind to their own Counsel and Resolution their Prudence and Power without humble and thankful observing and acknowledging the Divine Providence the fountain and original of all our Blessings 2. Whatever the kinds of Sin be when committed against knowledge with design and deliberation they proceed from Insolence and Obstinacy The Israelites are charged with this aggravation in their sinning They dealt proudly and harden'd their necks and harken'd not to the Commandments and refused to obey Proud Sinners are introduced boasting Our Tongues are our own who is Lord over us They will endure no restraints but are lawless and loose as if they were above fear and danger 'T is true there are few so prodigiously wicked as to speak thus but Mens Actions have a language as declarative as their Words And sinning presumptuously with a high hand is constructively a denyal and despising of the Dominion and Power of the Law-giver as if he had no right to command nor strength to vindicate the Honour of his despised Deity In the last Judgment the Punishment of rebellious Sinners will be according to the Glory of God's Majesty and the extent of his Power that was contemned and vilified by them 3. When Divine Judgments are sent to correct the dissolute disorders of the World and Sinners should with tenderness and trembling hear the Voice of the Rod and who has appointed it yet they proceed in their Wickedness as if God were not always Present to see their Sins nor Pure to hate them nor Righteous to exact a severe Judgment for them nor Powerful to inflict it this argues intolerable Pride and Obstinacy God and Sinners are very unequal Enemies The effects of his Displeasure should be received with obsequiousness not with obduration Therefore the Apostle puts that confounding Question Do you provoke the Lord to jealousie are you stronger than he Can you encounter with offended Omnipotence To despise his Anger is as provoking as to despise his Love 'T is astonishing that Dust and Ashes should rise to such an incorrigible heighth of Pride as to fly in the Face of God Who ever hardned himself against him and prospered All that are careless of God's design to reform them by Afflictions that seek for relief in diverting Business or Pleasures provoke God to more severe inflictions of his Anger But those surly proud Natures that are exasperated by Sufferings and wrestle with the strongest Storms are in combination with the stubborn Spirits of Hell and shall have their portion with them Lastly When Men have a vain presumption of the goodness of their spiritual state of the degrees of their Goodness and their stability in Goodness not sensible of their continual want of renewed supplies from Heaven they are guilty of spiritual Pride Of this there are two Instances in Scripture the one in the Church of lukewarm Laodicea the other in the Pharisee mentioned by our Saviour The first said I am rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and poor and miserable and blind and naked The Pharisee to raise the esteem of his own Goodness stands upon comparison with others whose Vices may be a foil to his seeming Graces He said I am not as other Men are Extortioners Adulterers or even as this Publican 'T is true he superficially thanks God but the air of Pride transpires through his Devotion by valuing himself above others worse than himself as if his own Vertues were the productive cause of his distinguishing Goodness If Humility be not mix'd in the exercise of every Grace 't is of no value in God's esteem The humble unjust Publican was rather justified than the proud Pharisee This spiritual Pride is very observable in the superstitious who measuring Divine Things with Humane from that mixture of imaginations introduce carnal Rites into the Worship of God and value themselves upon their opinionative Goodness They mistake the swelling of a Dropsie for substantial growth and presume themselves to be more holy than others for their proud singularity Superstition is like Ivy that twines about the Tree and is its seeming ornament but drains its vital Sap and under its verdant Leaves covers a Carcass Thus carnal Ceremonies seem to adorn Religion but really dispirit and weaken its efficacy Pharisaical Pride is fomented by a zealous observance of things uncommanded in Religion neither pleasing to God nor profitable to Men. On the contrary some Visionaries pretend to such a sublimity of Grace and eminent Sanctity that they are above the use of Divine Ordinances They pretend to live in immediate Communion with God as the Angels and dazled with specious Spiritualities they neglect Prayer hearing the Word and receiving the Sacrament the means of growing in Grace as if they were arrived at Perfection This is the effect of spiritual Pride and Delusion For the mortifying this vicious Disposition consider that Pride is in a high degree injurious and provoking to God An ordinary Malefactor breaks the King's Laws but a Rebel strikes at his Person and Crown The first and great Commandment is to honour God with the highest Esteem and Love with the most humble Adoration consequently the greatest Sin is the despising his Majesty and obscuring his Glory There is no Sin more clearly opposite to Reason and Religion For the most essential duty and character of an understanding Creature is dependance and observance of God as the first cause and last end of all things receiving with thankfulness his Benefits and referring them all to his Glory Pride contradicts natural Justice by intercepâ—ing the grateful affectionate ascent of the Soul to God in celebrating his Greatness and Goodness A proud Man constructively puts himself out of the number of God's Creatures and deserves to be excluded from his tender Providence The Jealousie of God his most severe and sensible Attribute is kindled for this revolture of the
Creature from its Duty and the depriving him of his proper Glory 'T is true Gods declarative Glory is not profitable to him But he will not give his glory to another nor permit another to usurp it his Concession and Consent would be directly contrary to the Eternal Rule of Righteousness and therefore impossible without the denial of himself Pride is in the Front of those Sins which God hates and are an Abomination to him A proud look that is seldom disjoin'd from a proud Heart God looks upon the proud afar off with a holy Disdain He resists the Proud Pride is the most pernicious of all Vices for whereas any single Vice is opposite to its contrary Vertue Uncleanness expels Chastity Covetousness Liberality Pride like an infectious Disease taints the sound parts Corrupts the Actions of every Vertue and deprives them of their true Grace and Glory Pride is so offensive to God that he sometimes permits his Children to fall into sins of another kind to Correct Pride And he is an unskilful Physician that Cures one Disease by a worse When the Apostle was liable to the temptation of Pride for his Coelestial Visions Satan was permitted to buffet him A strange Dispensation that the Prince of Pride was let loose to instruct him in Humility The fearful Examples of God's Wrath upon the Proud most convincingly prove how odious they are in his sight The Angels fell by Pride and are the most cursed creatures of the Creation and bound with Chains of Darkness to the Judgment of the Great Day Adam was sick of the same Disease which involv'd him and his Progeny under the Sentence of the first and second Death How many great Kings for the insolent forgetfulness of their frail Condition were by Divine Vengeance cast down from the heighth of their Glory and made spectacles of ignominious Misery The proud and stubborn Pharaoh that defy'd the Almighty and said Who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go that threatned I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoil Like the raging Sea that roars and foams and swells threatning to drown the Land but when 't is come to its appointed Limits the weak Sand as if its Fury were turn'd into Fear retires into its own Channel that proud King was tam'd by Frogs and Flies and at last drown'd with his Army in the Red Sea Senacherib so high flown with the Conceit of his Irresistible Strength that he Challeng'd Heaven Who is your God that he should be able to deliver you out of my hands found there was a just power above that in one Night destroy'd his mighty Army and afterward cut him off in his Idolatry Nebuchadnezzar the Head of Gold in the Figure representing the Empires of the World was for his Pride turn'd a grazing among the Beasts and by his Fall was the Argument of the Insultation Thou saidst in thy heart I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God I will ascend above the heighth of the Clouds I will be like the most high How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer Son of the morning how art thou cut down to the ground that didst weaken nations Herod for usurping Divine Honour was devour'd by Worms In every Age there are instances of God's terrible Wrath upon the Proud 2. Pride is very odious in the sight of Men therefore it often borrows the mask of Humility to obtain its ends but 't is always odious to God who sees the most intimate workings of it in the heart A proud Man is an Enemy to the more Excellent and Worthy he is pleas'd with the Vices and Infelicities of others as they afford an advantage to exalt himself above them and grieved at their Vertues and Happiness which render them more valuable than himself Pride is the Parent of Contention it exasperates the Sense of a small Offence puts an edge upon Anger and has often afforded tragical Subjects that have fill'd the Scenes with Tears and Blood Humility produces Patience for it makes a Man lower in his own Eyes than he is in the opinion of others Pride treats others with Contempt and Censure and thereby provokes them to turn Reverence into Despising and Love into Hatred When a proud Man falls into Misery he is the least lamented That the Cure of this Lust is very difficult will be evident by a Complexion of Considerations 1. Pride is the Sin to which Angels and Men in their best state were peculiarly liable The Angels intermitting the vision of the Divine Glory and reflecting upon their Excellencies were intoxicated with Self-admiration 'T is strange to Amazement that they should so suddenly unlearn their Natures and disclaim their Maker who had prevented them with his excellent Benefits and rais'd them to that Bright Eminence above other Creatures Man in the state of unstain'd Innocence when all Perfections of Body and Mind enter'd into his Composition with all his Luminaries and Graces was Corrupted by Pride You shall be like Gods was the Temptation that corrupted him Prodigious disorder His Pride begins when his true Glory Ends and his Humility ends when his Shame begins In the depraved Nature of Man Pride is the Radical Reigning Sin that first Lives and last Dies 'T is call'd the Pride of Life Pride springs up in the Heart of a Child and continues to extreme Age. Other Vices have their Seasons which being expir'd they wither and decay Carnal pleasures change their Natures and become distastful but Pride flourishes and grows in every Age. Now 't is usually in vain to give Counsels of Wisdom to those who are sunk into Holly the proper Season is to Instruct and Caution when it may be preventive of Folly The difficulty of the Cure is increas'd in that like a Hectic Feaver 't is not easily discerned till 't is almost incurable Some Vices are odious from the visible matter of them Intemperance Uncleanness and Injustice by defrauding and oppressing others but Pride is often excited and drawn forth by the same things wherein Vertues are exercised and distinguished only by the end which is often concealed from our own sight The Pharisee is a signal Instance of this A Man may visibly despise the Pomp and Vanities of the World and this may raise his osteem in the minds of real Saints and the outward practice of Goodness will be productive of the praise of Goodness in others This will afford a strong temptation of Pride All the operations of Vertues even the exercise of Humility that are the matter and argument of Praise may be incentives of Pride and those Diseases are extreamly dangerous which are nourish'd by that Food that is necessary to support Life The old Serpent when he cannot seduce Men by carnal Temptations which are easily discovered inspires with so soft a breath the opinion of their own Vertues that they are insensibly tainted The desire of external Honour and Power beyond
of the other This is pernicious Hypocrisie The subtilty and strength of Satan are imployed to deceive Men by an airy Religion by an opinionative Goodness to prevent their being awakened from their drowsie and deadly state 'T is worthy of notice The Tempter has a double operation in the Minds of Men He deceives the hypocritical with false hopes by concealing or extenuating their Sins to induce them to presume of the Favour of God and to secure his quiet possession of them He troubles the sincere with vain Terrors by concealing their Graces to discourage their progress in the way to Heaven He is an envious Explorator and searches to find out their defects to accuse them to God and he defames God to them as if he would not spare his Sons that serve him He is triumphant in the unsanctified and militant in the Saints 3. Some hide their crying Sins under the colourable appearance of Vertues and pretend to Holiness that they may sin with less suspicion and more security He will speak of those Sins in others with severity which he freely indulges in himself The Characters of Religion are drawn in his Countenance but his Lusts are deeply ingraven in his Heart These our Saviour compares to painted Sepulchres that within contain sordid dust and rottenness This is perfect Hypocrisie a deadly pollution that wounds the Vitals sears the Conscience quenches all Goodness in the Will for this Hypocrite is voluntarily so Hypocrisie in the Heart is like Poyson in a Spring that spreads it self through all the veins of the Conversation This Sin our Saviour never speaks of but with detestation For this he denounc'd such a heavy Woe against the Pharisees that used Religion as a masking habit to appear glorious in the Eyes of Men and disguised their Worldly Aims in Devotions and made long Prayers to be esteem'd of Men. This is so odious to God that he forbids all the emblems and resemblances of it to the Jews Linsy-wolsey Garments and miscelain Corn. Our Defects acknowledged with ingenuity excite his Compassion but counterfeit Vertues excite his Indignation For what can be more provoking than to appear to be like God in Holiness the Glory of the Deity for this end to be secretly wicked and to affront his Omniscience as if he could not discern them through all their close and dark concealments A Hypocrite is fearful of Men but faces God Pride mix'd with Hypocrisie was the Devil's original Sin he abode not in the Truth and Religious Hypocrites are his Natural Children The hottest climate in Hell will be their habitation For our Saviour threatens some Sinners their portion with Hypocrites that is aggravated Damnation This Sin is difficultly cured in that 't is not easily discovered by Men and does not expose to shame but is subservient to many carnal ends Men cannot dive into the Hearts of others and cannot discern between the Paint of Hypocrisie and the Life of Holiness The mixture of beautiful Colours in the Countenance may be so artificial that at distance it may be thought to be natural Besides Hypocrisie turns the Remedy into Poyson For the frequent exercise of Religious Duty which is the means to sanctifie us confirms and hardens Hypocrites The effectual means to cure it is a stedfast belief of the pure and flaming Eye of God who sees Sin where-ever it is and will bring it into Judgment A Hypocrite may hide his Sin from the Eyes of others and sometimes from his own Conscience but can never impose upon God And as nothing so confounds Men with shame as to be found false and perfidious in their dealings how much more will the Hypocrites be cover'd with confusion at the great day when they shall appear naked with their loathsome Ulcers before innumerable Angels and Saints They will desire the Rocks to hide them from that glorious Assembly The stedfast belief of this great Truth will cause frequent and solemn thoughts of God as our Inspector and Judge I have set the Lord always before me he is at my right-hand I shall not be moved This was the effect of David's Faith This will produce Sincerity in Religion unrespective to the Eyes of Men and preserve us from secret Sins 'T is the prescription of our Saviour Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisie For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed neither hid that shall not be known Whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light and that which ye have spoken in the Ear in closets shall be proclaimed on the house tops 3. Envy at the Good of others and Malice wishing them Evil is a deep pollution of the Spirit This absolutely alienates Men from the Nature and Life of God For the clearest conception we have of the Deity is that he is Good and does Good This is contrary not only to supernatural Grace but to natural Conscience and turns a Man into a Fiend This Vice is immediately attended with itâ— Punishment The envious Man is his own tormentor and has the Vipers â—ate in the Fable that in biting the File wounded it self Besides this stops the descent of Divine Blessings and turns the Petitions of the Envious into Imprecations against themselves To finish this Head 't is observable nothing more discovers the necessity of Renovation than the defilements of the Spirit As Birds by incubation hatch their brood so from sinful Thoughts and Desires actual Sins proceed Our Saviour tells us Out of the Heart proceed Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False-witness Blasphemies which defile a Man 'T is above all things necessary to keep the Heart for the issues of Death â—low from it The design contrivance and consent to sin are in the Heart the Body is only the Instrument of Sin To enforce this Counsel there are many Motives 1. God is infinitely dishonour'd and displeas'd by the Sins of our Spirits For the Soul is of near alliance with God and of incomparable more value than the vile Body Therefore the defiling it is highly provoking The Soul is the place of his special residence and the entertaining Sin in it is as a fouler Indignity than the bringing Dung into the Chamber of Presence of a King We should be more careful to approve our Thoughts and Desires to God than our Words and Actions to Men. 2. They are more easily contracted than those which are acted by the sensitive Faculties They secretly insinuate into the Soul External Sins require â—it time and place and means for their commission and are often hinder'd by the moral restraints of Fear and Shame But speculative Sins may be committed without convenient circumstances In whatever place or company Men are they may retire into their Hearts and please themselves with vicious thoughts and desires of future Sins and devices how to make provision for the Flesh with carnal representations and complacency of the Sins they have committed They may personate the Pleasures of Sin
Face of God himself I do well to be angry even unto death We read of Moses that he was the meekest man upon the face of the earth Of this there is recorded a very Eminent Effect and Evidence When Aaron and Miriam had contumeliously and seditiously spoke against him as if he had Usurp'd undue Authority Hath the Lord onely spoken by Moses hath he not also spoken by us He might by a sharp reply have confounded them but he was silent Several Circumstances concur to heighten the value of his Victory over himself There was a double offence and violation of the respects due to the dignity of his Person and the nearness of the Relation This Accusation was publick before the Congregation of Israel in the heat of the Contention when there is a great disposition to be fir'd by Anger when the silent and patient bearing the Indignity might be interpreted as a Conviction of his Guilt yet he calmly endur'd their false Charge How great is the disparity between Moses and Jonah 3. In comparing some raised acts of Grace with lower in the same kind there is a perfection attributed to them As 't is in Diamonds many small ones are not of equal value with one great one though of equal weight with it so one act of Piety of Faith of Charity of Self-denial may for its rareness exemplariness and efficacy have such a Divine degree of worth in it that it far excells many less illustrious effects of those Graces As a single act of Wickedness may be so extremely evil so enormously vicious as to exceed many Crimes in its pollution and guilt of the same kind There are some instances of this in Scripture Ahaz in the time of his distress did yet trespass more against the Lord. Judgments in their nature and Gods design are fit means to soften the obdurate as Iron is made malleable by the Fire but to kick against the pricks to be more stubborn by the infliction of Wrath that should Correct Men into their Duty is a wickedness so unnatural and prodigious that it has left a brand of Infamy on him for ever This is that King Ahaz that desperate Rebel against God The Idolatry of Manasses was aggravated with such open Contempt of God that made it infinitely more provoking than the secret Idolatry of others 'T is related he set a carved image that he had made in the house of God of which God had said to David and to Solomon his Son in this house will I put my name for ever He deposed God and with the boldest Defiance set an Idol in his Throne before his Face I will produce some Instances of the Exercise of Grace in its Radiancy and Power both in Doing and Suffering Abraham received a Command Take now thy Son thy only Son Isaac whom thou lovest and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offering How many Circumstances with respect to Nature and Grace increass'd the difficulty of his Obedience The Command was so hard God would not permit the fulfilling it Isaac was the Object of his most ardent desires in whom he lived more dearly than in himself When his own Life was almost expir'd and was Miraculously renewed in his Son the Heir of the Promise in whose seed all the nations of the world were to be blessed how grievous to Humane Affections not only to be a Spectator but Actor the Priest to offer the Sacrifice Yet he rose early and went to the place of which God had told him He applied himself without relenting or delay that would have argu'd unwillingness in such a severe Tryal He built an Altar bound Isaac and laid him on the Altar and stretcht out his hand to slay him if he had not been countermanded by a Call from Heaven In this Work was his Faith made perfect and appears in its exaltation This was an Act so pleasing to God that he declar'd his approving and accepting it by a Voice from Heaven His Obedience to the Divine Command to leave his Countrey and go into a strange Land was the excellent effect of his Faith in the Promise of God but less Illustrious than the Offering of his Son The Self-denial of Moses was as perfect and admirable in its kind When he was come to years he refused to be call'd the son of Pharoahs daughter When he understood the value of a Crown with the Honours and Riches annext to iâ— in the Age of Youth and strength whâ—n the Carnal Appetites are vehemently inclin'd to Pleasures and there was an opportunity of the freest fruition then he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season 'T is prudent advice not to choose when the Passions are in a ferment and disorder 't is like eating Meat in a Fever that increases the feverish heat and destroys the Vital A terrible Temptation hinders deliberation and a free judgment of what is our Duty to choose a pleasant Temptation Corrupts the Mind that we do not discern the true from the false Good Yet Moses in that time of his Life when the sensual Passions are most inflam'd and urgent had his Mind so clear and calm that he deliberately and with a full choice preferr'd Disgrace Poverty and Persecution before the variety of attractive Delights that ravish the Carnal Senses Such was the Soveraignty of his Faith that it Compos'd the unruly passions and kept them in Obedience The Patience of Job is as rare an Instance who was expos'd to all the Cruelty and Arts of the Tempter to overcome him If we consider the nature of his Afflictions and their immediate succession like Waves of the Sea that he was suddenly and unexpectedly strip't of his Estate depriv'd of his Children and his Body was cover'd with loathsom and painful Ulcers that Satan was Confident his Misery would so exasperate his Spirit that he would blaspheme God to his Face yet he blest him with the most humble Reverence and resign'd Submission to his Soveraign Will Add another Consideration when his Wife that should have been a Comforter insulted over him and became a Tempter he repell'd her with a Holy Zeal and Constancy The Tempter neither by Assaults on his Body nor by Treachery in his Wise could prevail In him Patience had its perfect work 'T is recorded as the most celebrated Instance in that kind you have heard of the patience of Job and seen the end of the Lord. I shall only add the Example of the three Hebrew Martyrs who when the proud and cruel King commanded them to bow to the Golden Idol or threatned to cast them into the burning Furnace with unshaken Courage expos'd themselves to his Fury to preserve their Integrity In them perfect Love cast out Fear 4. There is a relative Perfection of Holiness according to the several Conditions of the Saints in this Life As in a Garden there are Trees that produce different Fruits
temptations from the prevalency of these motives upon Men in all places and times If these Methods are unsuccessful to turn Men from God he tryes to make terrible Impressions upon the Minds of Men by afflicting Evils by the rage of the perverse World Now Faith is the victorious Principle that defeats all his designs and overcomes all his strength In Mechanical Operations we judge by the force of the Mover how easily a weight will be moved Thus when Eternal Realities are by Faith put into the Scales against Temporal Vanities they infinitely outweigh them The Apostle makes a judicious comparison Our light Afflictions that are but for a moment work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory He extreamly vilifies things present and magnifies things future All that is pleasant or painful here is but for a moment and in true value is infinitely inferiour to the good things and the evil to come I count saith the Apostle the Afflictions of the present time are not to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed And since the impressions of Pain are incomparably stronger and more affecting Humane Nature than impressions of Pleasure one sharp Pain deads the sensitive Faculties to the most vehement Pleasures We are assured by irresistible evidence that the Happiness of this World is in true value infinitely inferiour to the Happiness of the next The most pleasant things here cannot satisfie the narrow Faculties of Sense The Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing but the Favour of God and the blessed effects of it pass all Understanding our most comprehensive Faculty There is more Shadow than Light in our brightest Condition more Gall than Honey in our sweetest Fruitions But suppose the appearance of Worldly Happiness gilded with specious tinctures were truly great and goodly joyful and satisfying according to the Fancies of Carnal Men yet the Price would extreamly fall by considering they are of no longer continuance than the flight and expiring Breath of our present Life The Glory of this World is like a flash of Lightning in its appearing and vanishing The longest Line of Time from its first rise to its last period is but a point to Eternity Now that Happiness which is fading is not true Happiness in its own Nature nor correspondent to our reasonable Desires For the apprehension of its approaching end will imbitter the relish of the present enjoyment But the Happiness of the next Life is doubly infinite in the degrees and duration The least part of that Happiness is a perfect freedom from any touch or shadow of Evil. Humane Language has not words worthy or fully significant to describe it God who is an infinite Good and Goodness communicates himself to the immortal Soul according to its utmost Capacity and Desires It seems impossible for Men to offer such violence to their Understandings as calmly considering and in cold blood to prefer the Fashion of this World that passes away before the perfect and unchangeable Happiness in the next World 2. According to the degrees of our assent to future eternal things such is their victorious power in our Souls The objective efficacy of things is not from their existence but from their evidence to our Minds Now according as our Apprehensions are more clear and our Belief more stedfast of things future such impressions are made either of terrour or desire in our Breasts The Apostle defines Faith to be The substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen It represents things future and distant as present and in our actual possession A superficial fluctuating belief of the good or evil things in the next state is of no force to encounter present Temptations and vanquish the Carnal Affections The report of the Senses concerning things present will preponderate the Authority of God's Word that declares things future infinitely to exceed them All Fire has Heat but not strong enough to melt down Gold and Silver There is an assent in every degree of Faith but not able to overcome the World A radicated firm belief of the infallible Truth the transcendent Goodness and our sure right in Heavenly things will cause all the false colours of this World the shadows in masquerade to disappear The evidence and importance of things fixes our Resolutions to adhere to them The Son of a King and Heir of a Kingdom will invincibly assert the truth of his Relation and Title A sincere Believer of the Heavenly Glory and his Eternal Interest in it will live in that Faith and dye in it and dye for it if necessity require The belief of it has a vital taste a Joy sincere and sweet that makes the pleasant temptations of the World nauseous As Faith is the foundation and basis of Hope 't is the substance of things hoped for so Hope is reciprocally as a strong Pillar that establishes the basis upon which 't is fix'd For one voluntarily and stedfastly believes that which is for his advantage and comfort The serious belief of the prepared Plagues for those who are unfaithful to God and their Souls hereafter will make all the Evils threatened and inflicted upon the godly here to be contemptible If we are surrounded with an army of Evils let Faith draw forth the Powers of the World to come we shall be more than Conquerors There are many Temptations we cannot avoid there are none but we may vanquish by the Power of Faith The Fear of God like Aaron's Rod turned into a Serpent that swallowed up the Rods of the Magicians will over-rule the Fear of Men and make those Evils that to naked Nature are invincible easily endur'd This is evident from the Courage and Constancy of the Martyrs who despised the proudest Tyrants upon their Thrones and the most cruel Executioners upon the Scaffold The effects of Faith in the time of its triumph If the same Objects have not the same efficacy in the Minds of Men 't is for want of Faith If Faith declines we shall faint and dye away Peter walk'd on the Sea while he relyed on the Word of Christ but when a blast of Wind shook his Faith he presently sunk The Apostles doubted of Christ's Power when a Storm fell upon the Ship Our Saviour first rebuk'd their Fear before he laid the Storm Why are ye afraid O ye of little Faith as a danger more near and of worse Consequence Let us try the singular efficacy of Faith by exercising of it upon eternal Objects Let our Faith represent to us in as lively a manner the eternal Judgment as Enoch had a prospect of it Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of his Saints to judge all the ungodly Let Faith direct its view to him rending the Heavens and coming in his own Glory as the Son of God and in his Father's Glory as constituted by him to be Judge of the World and in the Glory of the mighty Angels his Attendants Let
Peace with God And by this we may understand from whence the purifying Vertue of Faith as it justifies proceeds for it necessarily supposes us to be under the guilt of Sin and in desperate Misery that we are obnoxious to God's Tribunal who is a righteous and holy Judge angry and incens'd for our Sins and will be a revenging Judge to all that continue in their guilty state and that our Pardon and Right to Eternal Life are to be intirely ascrib'd to the soveraign Mercy of God the Original Cause and the Blood of Christ the Meritorious Cause of it Now Faith works by Love the Love of God to us apprehended by Faith and our Love to him which is the reflexion of his Beams shining in our Hearts and is the powerful Principle of Obedience to him The well-grounded Belief that God will save us and bring us to Eternal Glory does naturally and necessarily inspire the Breast of a Christian with a holy Fear of Sin that provokes him and a constant Care to please him in all things Besides God in dispensing his pardoning Mercy requires our perseverance in a holy Conversation What our Saviour said to the Man miraculously cur'd of his inveterate Disease Behold thou art made whole Sin no more least a worse thing befall thee is virtually said to every pardon'd Believer when God speaks peace to his people 't is with this Caution let them not return any more to folly I shall under another Head speak of Faith as the Effectual Means of our Sanctification and now will proceed 3. Faith in the disposal of all things by the Infallible Providence of God is one of those universal Principles those prime and great Truths rich in practical Consequences that are powerful to compose and calm our Minds and Hearts in the midst of the visible disorders and confusion of things in the present World The Heathens measur'd the Divine Perfections by the compass of their narrow Understandings They could not conceive that one God was able to order all things and form'd a vast number of Subordinate Gods to whom the care of particular things was Committed They blasphem'd him in their Imaginations thinking him to be like Mortal Kings insufficient to govern immediately several Kingdoms and Nations divers in their Customs and Languages who are constrain'd to manage their Affairs by the number variety and order of Officers Vice-Roys to divide the Government Counsellors to advise about occurrences of Moment Secretaries to give Commissions and make dispatches Judges to dispense the Laws Military Officers to prevent Tumults Others confin'd his Presence and Agency to the Heavens and sequester'd him from the lower World the mutable Sphere of the Elements and of Men and their Actions leaving them under the dominion of Fortune Others thought that he was so content with his own Felicity that all things without him were distant from his Thoughts and Care and that to regard and regulate the multitude of Emergencies in this lower World would disturb his Felicity Thus the Professors of Wisdom like the Foolish Harpaste that Seneca speaks of who insensible of her own blindness alwayes complain'd the Sun was down and the house dark thought all things were left at random in loose disorder and confusion here below Nay some of the clearest spirits and most Vertuous among the Heathen could not reconcile the Oppressions and Infelicities of Good Men and the Prosperity of the Wicked with the Rectitude and Equity of the Divine Providence and express'd their Discontents in the Stile and Accent of their Passions Of this we have two Eminent Instances Brutus who with inviolable Integrity had as a Senator managed the Publick Affairs and with undeclining Courage endeavour'd to recover his Countrey from Ignominious Bondage when Vanquisht by the Usurpers broke out into a Tragical Complaint O Virtue I worship thee as a substantial Good a Deity but thou art an empty Name an Idol The Emperor Titus who was the delight of Mankind for his goodness and benignity surpriz'd with Death in his flourishing Age accus'd Heaven that his Life was unjustly snatcht from him The ways and thoughts of God in the Government of the World are above the wayes and thoughts of men as the heavens are higher than the earth And if his Wisdom had not descended from Heaven and discover'd it self in the Sanctuary We should be foolish and like the beasts that perish But the Word of God assures us that nothing happens in this tumultuous and tempestuous World without the Knowledge the Will either approving or permissive and Efficiency of God so far as to dispose the worst Evils by his powerful Providence subordinately to his main End that is alway good Nothing is so high as to be exempted from the Dominion nor so low as to be excluded from the Care of his Providence 1. We are assur'd that all things and persons are under the Eye and Inspection of his Providence No silence no solitude nor darkness can hide the Designs and Actions of the Wicked nor the Sufferings of his People from his perfect Knowledge How many Millions of Inhabitants are in the World how different their Conditions and Circumstances ebbing or flowing but they are all actually and distinctly known to God Without his Universal and Infallible Knowledge it were impossible that God should Govern the World and Judge it Torquatus Manlius a Noble Roman though blind through Age was chosen Consul and General to Rule the State and the Army But no Arguments no Intreaties could perswade him to Consent to it he answer'd That it was absolutely absurd that the Lives and Estates of others should be Committed to his Providence and Protection who must manage all things by the Eyes of others The Perfection of God's Knowledge qualifies him to Govern the World and is the Foundation of Trust in him He tells the number of the Stars that seem innumerable Psal. 147. 41. and from hence the Psalmist encourages the Church that was then disperss'd in Captivity that he could gather the out-casts of Israel though scatter'd in strange Countries and build up Jerusalem He not onely numbers the Stars but the hairs of our Heads that are of so small Consideration All Creatures are supported in their Beings and Operations by his Power therefore 't is impossible they should be without his Knowledge and that any thing should be done by them or befall them without his disposing VVill. 2. The Providence of God is not merely Theoretical but Active and orders all things He rides upon the heavens that is regulates their Motions as easily as a skilful Rider manages a Horse The Stars that in the Language of Scripture are the Armies of Heaven for their Number Order and Actions he calls by their names that is absolutely Commands them For his Call is always effectual and exactly accomplish'd As in the Creation He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast So in the Conservation and
his actual concurrence For every Creature is maintain'd by a successive continual production To affect us consider the preserver of Men brought us safely into the World through the dark Valley of Death where thousands are strangled in the birth We are born by him from the belly and carried from the womb How compassionate was his Goodness to us in our Infancy the state of wants and weakness when we were absolutely incapable of procuring supplies or securing our selves from many dangers surrounding us The preparing the Milk for our Nourishment is the work of the God of Nature The Blood of the Mother by the secret channels of the Veins is transfused into the Breasts and is a living Spring there They are but two because 't is the ordinary Law of Nature to have but two Children at a Birth They are planted near the Heart which is the Forge of Natural Heat and transforms the Blood collected in the Breasts into Milk And there is a mystery of Love in it for the Mother in the same time nourishes her Child with delight regards and embraces it From Infancy his Mercy grows up with us and never forsakes us He is the God of our Lives He draws a Curtain of Protection and Rest about us in the Night and repairs our faint Faculties otherwise our Bodies would soon decay into a dissolution He spreads our Table and fills our Cup. He is the length of our days There is such a composition of Contrarieties in the Humours of the Body so many Veins and Arteries and Nerves that derive the vital and animal Spirits from the Heart and Head to all the parts we are exposed to so many destructive accidents that were not the tender Providence of our true Father always watchful over us we should presently fail and dye The Lord is a Sun and a Shield As the Sun is a universal Principle of Life and Motion and pours forth his treasures of Light and Heat without any loss and impoverishing Thus God communicates his Blessings to all the progeny of Men. He is a Shield protecting us from innumerable Evils unforeseen and inevitable without his preventing Goodness Were we only kept alive and sighed out our days in Grief and Pain were our passage to the next State through a barren Wilderness without any refreshing Springs and Showers this were infinite Mercy For if we duely consider his Greatness and our Meanness his Holiness and Justice and our Sinfulness it would cause us to look up to God with admiration and down to our selves with confusion that our Lives so frail and so often forfeited are preserved The Church in a desolate state acknowledges 'T is the Lord's Mercy that we are not consumed because his Mercies are renewed every morning 'T is Mercy upon Mercy all is Mercy Our Saviour with respect to his humble state says I am a Worm and no Man but we are Serpents and no Worms And as 't is usual to destroy venomous Creatures in the egg before they have done actual mischief we that are Children of Wrath by Nature whose Constitution is Poyson might have been justly destroyed in the Conception This ravish'd the Psalmist into an extasie of Wonder whilst he contemplated the glorious Lights of Heaven What is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou shouldst regard and relieve him He bestows innumerable and inestimable Benefits upon a race of Rebels that boldly break his Laws and abuse his Favours He not only suspends his Judgments but dispenses his Blessings to those that infinitely provoke him Now can we be unaffected with his indulgent Clemency his immense Bounty his condescending and compassionate Goodness Why does he load us with his Benefits every day but for his Goodness sake and to endear himself to us For he is always ready to open his bountiful Hand if we do not shut our Breasts and harden our Hearts not to receive his Gifts His Mercy is like the Widows miraculous Oyl that never ceas'd in pouring out while there was any Vessel to receive it Then the flowing Vein was stop'd How is it possible such rich and continued Goodness should not insinuate it self into our Souls and engage our Love to our blessed Benefactor Can we degenerate so far from Humane Nature nay below the Sensitive for the dull Ox and stupid Ass serve those that feed them as to be Enemies to God How prodigious and astonishing is this degeneracy 3. The Love of God appears in its full Force and Glory in our Redemption The Eloquence of an Angel would be very dis-proportion'd to the dignity and greatness of this Argument much more the weak Expressions of Men. That we may the more distinctly conceive it I will briefly consider the greatness of the benefit and the means of obtaining it Man in his state of unstain'd Innocence was furnisht with power to persevere but left in the hand of his own Counsel He was drawn by a soft Seducer to eat of the forbidden Tree and in that single Instance was guilty of universal Dis-obedience He was ingaged in a deep Revolture with the Apostate Spirits and incurr'd the Sentence of a double Death both of the Body and of the Soul Now where was the Miraculous Physician to be found that could save us from Eternal Death Who could Appease God and Abolish Sin God was affected with tender pity at the sight of our Misery and though the morning Stars that fell from heaven are now wandring Stars for whom the blackness of darkness is reserv'd for ever yet he was pleased to recover Man from that desperate state in a way becoming his Perfections This was the Product of his most free Love God's Will and Christ's Willingness were the Springs of our Redemption for he might have pari jure with the same just Severity have dealt with us as with the Rebellious Angels There was no legal constraint upon our Saviour to dye for us for he was holy harmless undefiled and separate from Sinners There was no violent Constraint for he could with one Word have destroy'd his Enemies The depth of his Wisdom the strength of his Power the Glory of his Holiness and Justice were illustriously reveal'd in this great work but Love was the Regent Attribute that call'd forth the other into their distinct Exercise and acts Most Wise Omnipotent and Holy Love saved us What the Psalmist speaks of the Divine Perfections in making us I am fearfully and wonderfully made is in a nobler Sense verified in our Salvation we are fearfully and wonderfully Redeem'd by the Concord of those seeming irreconcileable Attributes Vindictive Justice and Saving Mercy Our Rebellion was to be expiated by the highest perfection of Obedience and thereby the honour of God's Moral Government to be repair'd For this end the Son of God dis-rob'd himself of his Glory and put on the Livery of our frail Flesh and in the form of a Servant became obedient to the Death of the Cross to rescue us
from the Curse of the Law he intercepted the heavy stroke of Vengeance that had sunk us into the Centre of Sorrows and restor'd us to the Favour and Fruition of God Our Misery was extreme and without End if Misery though intolerable has a determin'd issue the passing of every day lessens it but if it be above all Patience to endure and without Hope of Remission or Release this thought strikes deadly inward A Brute has some Memory of past pains and a feeling of present but no apprehension of future pains 't is the woful Prerogative of the Reasonable Nature to exasperate the sense of Misery by the foresight of its continuance and to feel the weight of Eternity every Moment Lost Souls are dead to all the vital sweetness of Being to all sense of Happiness and live to the quickest feeling of Misery for ever Our Rescue from this Misery is more affecting if we consider that without our Saviour's interposing our state was desperate to pass from death to life is a double life We are translated from the guilty wretched state of Rebels into the blessed state of the Children of God and are Heirs of Eternal Glory The duration is as valuable as the Felicity and doubles the Gift Immortality and Immutability are inseparable in Heaven God has made all his Goodness to pass before us in our Salvation Goodness how amiable how attractive and endearing To dye for another is the most noble kind of Love but there are degrees in that kind to die for an Enemy for a Rebel is the highest degree of that Love Now the Son of God assum'd to the Supreme Excellencies of the Divine Nature the tender Infirmities of the Humane Nature that he might be a propitiatory Sacrifice for our Sins In this God commended his love to us that when we were Sinners he gave his Son to die for us Astonishing Love it passes all understanding The Jews askt our Saviour with wonder how is it that thou being a Man makest thy self God We may imagine with equal wonder how being the Son of God he descended from the Throne of Majesty in heaven and stoop'd so low as to become Man St. Peter illuminated by divine Revelation Confest Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God But presently after when our Saviour foretold that he must go to Jerusalem and be kill'd there Peter began to rebuke him saying Be it far from thee this shall not come unto thee He could not conceive how such distant and discordant extremes as the Son of the Living God and Death could meet in Christ but his love to us united them A Love above all comparison but with the love of his Father to us In the Sacrifice of Isaac there was a faint resemblance of this Abraham carried the Knife and the Fire and Isaac carried the Wood and himself the Sacrifice and with equal steps they ascended the Mount A Type of the concurrent Love of the Divine Persons to us in the process of Christ's Sufferings The Father laid upon him the iniquity of us all surely he has born our griefs and endur'd our sorrows Admirable Excess of Love The Father gave up his innocent and only Son the bright Image of his Glory to Cruel Sufferings This Immaculate Lilly was pierced with Thorns The Son gave such Life for us as no Creature can give and suffer'd such a Death for us as no Creature can suffer He descended to our lowest Misery to raise us to the highest degrees of Happiness Who can resist the force of these Reflections It may seem that only the Reprobates in Hell that have sinn'd beyond the intended vertue and application of his Sufferings can be unaffected with them From hence this Corollary regularly follows that 't is our Duty to consecrate our highest Esteem and Love to our Redeemer Supreme Love is due to Supreme Excellencies and for the greatest Benefits In our Saviour all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge are hid and all the Treasures of Grace and Mercy are open'd to inrich us What Indignity what Ingratitude is it to be coldly affected to him who by the dearest Titles infinitely deserves our love How unreasonable and unnatural is it to look upon him with an indifferent Eye who died for us and whom the Angels continually behold in a double extasie of Admiration and Joy 'T is most just that our Love should ascend to him in thankfulness as his descended to us in benefits But our Poverty must excuse the not entire payment of our Immense Debt and our fervent desires to love him better If we content our selves with luke-warm Affections 't is most dishonourable to him the coldness of Love as well as the heat of Enmity is very provoking to our Saviour It should be our constant practise by discursive and reflexive Meditation to increase the holy heat of our Affections to Christ. He requires a love of Judgment and Choice The love of Natural Inclination is indeliberate without Counsel and needs no Excitations the stream runs downward freely But love to Christ is Supernatural both with respect to the Object and the quality of the Affection The Love of God is the principal obligation of the Law and the principal Duty of the reasonable and renewed Creature the most just and amiable Duty yet so monstrous is the depravation of the humane Nature that Divine Grace is requisite to recover its Life and Liberty The preventing pleasures of Sin possess the Soul We must therefore earnestly Pray that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our Minds and direct us in the Love of God that he will purifie our Affections and raise them to Heaven The Exercise of our Thoughts is too weak and faint to make indelible impression of Love in our Hearts Love is an eminent Fruit of the Spirit The love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the holy Spirit given to us There is a strong tide of Sensual Desires that carries us downward which we cannot stem without the gales of the Spirit to make our way to Christ. But 't is inconsistent with the Wisdom and Will of God for Men to expect an Inspiration from Heaven and neglect the proper means the considering the powerful Incentives of Love to our Redeemer his alluring Excellency and unvaluable Benefits St. Paul declares The Love of Christ constrains us for we thus judge if one dyed for all then wereall dead and that he died for all that they might live to him If all be not cold and dead within this will increase the sacred Fire and inflame the Affections But as the light of the Sun diffus'd in the Air fires nothing but the Beams contracted in a Glass kindle proper Matter so the considering of the common Salvation will not be so affecting nor so warm and soften the Heart as the serious applicative Thoughts of it to our selves the Apostle expresses it Who loved me and gave himself for me The appropriating by a clear Faith
the dear Memorial of his purchasing blessedness for us His precious Blood appeas'd the just Anger of God and shall it not Cool and Calm our Inflam'd Passions In imitation of God and Christ we must abstain from all Revenge of the greatest Evils suffered by us We must extinguish any inclination to Revenge Sin begins in the Desire and ends in the Action We must not take the least pleasure that Evil befalls one that has been injurious to us for the root of it is Devilish Though the reparation of an Injury may in some cases be necessary yet Revenge is absolutely forbidden To retaliate an Evil without any reparation of our Losses is to do Mischief for Mischiefs sake which is the property of Satan As on the contrary to do Good for Evil is such a Divine Perfection that the Devil does not assume the resemblance of it 't is so contrary to his cursed Disposition Some will conceal their Anger for a time waiting for an Opportunity to take Revenge without the appearance of Passion Their Malice like slow Poyson does not cause violent Symptoms but destroys Life insensibly Some have such fierce Passions that strike Fire out of the least Provocation their Breasts are changed into a Tophet Some inflame their Resentments by considering every Circumstance that will exasperate their Spirits But the Command is Be not overcome with evil but overcome evil with good The Duty is so pleasant in its exercise and attended with such comfortable Consequences that 't is recommended to our Reason and our Affections Love suffers long Love bears all things endures all things And what is more ingaging than the delightful disposition of Love The doing Good for Evil often gains the Heart of an Enemy If there be any vital spark of Humanity it cannot be resisted There is an Instance of it recorded in Scripture Saul the unrighteous and implacable Enemy of David yet being spar'd when he was entirely at his Mercy was moved and melted into tenderness Is this thy voice my Son David Before he in Contempt called him the Son of Jesse Thou art more righteous than I I will do thee no more evil How will some of the Heathens condemn Christians both as to the Rule and Practice of this Duty for whereas 't is esteem'd to be the Character of Pusillanimity or Stupidity to bear frequent and great Injuries unrevenged One of their Poets mixed this Counsel among other excellent Rules of Morality That Man is arrived at an heroick degree of Goodness who is instructed in a dispassionate manner to bear great Injuries And when Phocion who had deserved so highly of the Athenians was condemned unjustly to dye his Son attending him to receive his last Commands immediately before his Death he charged him never to revenge it on the Athenians CHAP. IX Divine Hope has an eminent Causality in the Life of a Christian. The nature of Christian Hope 'T is the Character of a Saint 'T is natural congruous and necessary to a Saint in the present state 'T is distinguish'd from carnal Presumption by its purifying Vertue Fear considered in its nature and cleansing Vertue The Attributes of God the motives of holy Fear There is a Fear of Reverence and of Caution 'T is consistent with Faith and the affections of Love Hope and Joy 'T is the fountain of Fortitude 3. DIvine Hope has an eminent Causality and Influence in the Life of a Christian. St. John speaking of the glorious likeness of the Saints to Christ in the Divine World inferrs from it Every Man that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure Three things are observable in the words 1. The Character of a Christian by his Hope Every Man that has this hope in him 2. The distinction of this Hope from its counterfeit by its inseparable effect Purifies himself 3. The regulating of the effect by its Pattern Even as he is pure 1. Christian Hope is a firm expectation of future Happiness 'T is distinguish'd from Worldly Hopes by the excellency of the Object and the stability of its Foundation The Object is an eternal state of Glory and Joy wherein we shall be conform'd to the Son of God Worldly Hopes are terminated on empty vanishing things gilded over with the thin appearance of Good The foundation of Divine Hope are the unchangable Truth of God and his Almighty Power that always seconds his Word God cannot lye and consequently neither deceive our Faith nor disappoint our Hopes and he can do all things The Apostle declares the ground of his Confidence I know in whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day All the Persons in the Deity are ingaged for our assurance and comfort Sometimes 't is said That our hope may be in God and Our Lord Jesus Christ our hope and That we may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost Worldly Hopes are always uncertain in this sphere of mutability There is so much of impotence or deceit in all the means used to obtain Humane Desires that the success is doubtful Fear mixes with the Desires and often Despair with Fear Young Men are flush with Hopes and of bolder Expectations than ancient Men who from Experience of many unforeseen and inevitable Difficulties that have travers'd their Hopes are inclin'd to Fear But Experience incourages and fortifies the Hopes of Christians which are attended with Patience and Joy If we hope we with patience wait for it Notwithstanding the distance of time and intervening difficulties before the accomplishment of what we expected no undiscernable Accidents can blast their assurance The interval of a thousand Years did not weaken Abraham's Hope of the promised Messiah Comfort is mix'd with the patience of Hope The Apostle saith That we through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope The final security of the Blessedness promised is very joyful in an afflicted Condition This Hope is the Character by which a sincere Christian is denominated and distinguish'd from Heathens who are without God without Christ and without hope For God is the Object of it as our soveraign Good and Christ is the Means whereby we obtain and enjoy him This Grace is most natural congruous and necessary to a Christian in the present state 1. Natural Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fades not away reserved in heaven for you The supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance if Sons then heirs and the hope of Heaven is a consequent Affection As in the Natural Life the most early exercise of Reason excites desires and hopes to obtain what may supply the wants of it So in the Spiritual Life when Faith discovers to us Coelestial Blessendness revealed in
Flesh is like the flower of the Grass so despicably mean and fading A Family that is distinguish'd by an illustrious Lineage if not qualified with internal vertuous Dispositions becoming their Extraction is of no value but in the vain fancies of Men But the Relation to God as our Father confers an Honour substantial and durable in comparison whereof all the magnificent Titles in this World are but Shadows and Smoak and Dreams We are in a state of Union with the incarnate Son of God and in that respect dignified above the Angles for their Lord is our Brother We are made partakers of the Life and Likeness of God and Heirs of his Kingdom This Dignity is truly divine and of more value than Soveraignty over the Principalities and Powers of Darkness Our Saviour speaks to his Disciples In this rejoice not that Spirits are subject to you but rather rejoice that your names are written in Heaven 2. The Happiness of this Relation will appear in the Priviledges that are consequent and comprehensive of all Blessings 1. The title of a Son has annex'd to it the promise of the Pardon of Sin This is declar'd by God himself I will spare them as a Father spares his Son that serves him There are spots in the best of God's Children 'T is equally impossible there should be absolutely pure Vertues in the state of Grace as unmixed Elements in the state of Nature But our Frailties lamented and striven against rather move his Compassion than severe Displeasure Sins of a heinous Nature presumptuously committed retracted by Repentance are not excepted from his pardoning Mercy Of this there is the most comfortable assurance in David's case For after his complicated Sin when he was melted in Tears of Contrition God sealed his Pardon and sent the notice of it by Nathan the Prophet God was so entirely reconcil'd to him that after his Death he gave this Testimony of him That David did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and turned not from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his Life except in the matter of Uriah He would not name that Sin of so high a Provocation The Pardon of Sin is attended with all the most excellent Blessings the testimonies of his Favour Guilt seals the fountain and stops the current of Mercies it exposes us to the Terrors of the Lord. If Sin be pardon'd Peace of Conscience is a Rain-bow of Tranquility in the storms of outward Evils If Guilt be not abolish'd a Sinner in the most shining Prosperity has fearful darkness within 2. This Relation gives us an adoptive freedom and joyful access to God in Prayer God upon his Throne of Glory or his Throne of Judgment strikes us with Terror but upon the Throne of Grace as our Father invites our Addresses The Apostle incourages us to come with boldness to the Throne of Grace or Grace upon the Throne dispensing Grace and Mercy in time of need We stand in need of Mercy to pardon and Grace to preserve us from Sin of Counsel and Comfort in our various Exigencies and our Heavenly Father is able and ready to grant our Requests 'T is the Law of Heaven that Blessings are to be obtained by Prayer for that is the homage due to God's eternal Greatness 't is the acknowledgment of his All-sufficiency that he can supply all our Wants satisfie our Desires allay our Sorrows subdue our Fears 't is the glorifying his Mercy that inclines him to relieve the miserable and unworthy of his Benefits The whole Trinity affords incouragement to our Faith in humble Prayer The Mercy of the Father who receives them the Merits of the Son who presents them and the assistance of the Holy Spirit who indites them If we come jealous as Strangers or fearful as Slaves and not with a Filial freedom and relyance we disparage his Love and Power A regular trust of Benignity in the giver and distant from all presumption of Merits in the receiver is very honourable to God and beneficial to us Our Saviour confirms our Hope by a powerful Argument If you that are evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him The deduction is with convincing force and evidence If the Natural Love of a Father be so deeply planted in his Heart that 't is prodigious if any deny necessary support to their Children can you suspect that God will not supply the wants of his Children An Earthly Parent may be unnatural or unable to relieve a Child but in our Heavenly Father Love and Power are truly infinite The stedfast belief of this is the soveraign Cure of piercing Cares the great Composer of our distracted Passions 'T is the Apostle's Counsel Be in nothing careful but let your requests be made known with thanksgiving and the Peace of God that passes understanding shall keep your hearts There is no Blessing so great no Evil so small but we may pray in Faith to God to bestow the one and remove the other Unvaluable Priviledge He protects them from Dangers relieves them in their Troubles and releases them out of Troubles His Eye is intent upon the Righteous his Ear is open and inclined to hear their cry his Hand is as ready as powerful to deliver them from Death David saith I have set the Lord always before me He is at my right-hand I shall not be moved In all his Combats God appear'd as his second When his Dangers were extream the sorrows of Death incompassed him he dispatches a Prayer to Heaven for speedy relief and God appear'd in Arms for his defence I shall add for our Direction and Comfort that the Love and Providence of God is often as visible to the inlightned Mind in denying some Petitions of his Children as in granting others Sometimes they play for temporal things unbecoming their alliance with God and their interest in his special Favour 'T is recorded of that Wise Theban Epaminondas that when a Friend greatly in his Esteem requested his Favour to release a mean Fellow imprisoned for a Crime he denyed him and afterward released him at the desire of a despicable Person and gave this Reason That was not a Favour in proportion to the Dignity of Pelopidas but suitable to the Quality of the other Petitioner Thus the Children of this World who believe no other Happiness but the enjoyment of temporal things sometimes obtain their Desires but the Children of Light are not heard in their Prayers for them they being unsuitable to their Heavenly Dignity and not the sure signs of God's Favour Sometimes by mistakes they pray for things prejudicial to their Salvation and it would be a severe Judgment if God should bestow them We read of the possess'd Person in the Gospel that the evil Spirit made use of his Tongue to request our Saviour that he would not torment him that is not expel him
an argument of excellent Grace There are many whose Vertue had never appear'd so bright in publick view and gone so far had not Vanity attended it For the relish of Praise they will do praise-worthy things Their Goodness is defective in the principle and when the spring is down their Religion is at an end Their Works appear in their true colours to the inlightened Conscience for no Man can deliberately deceive himself Now in many Instances it is evident that the Judgment of God and of the World are opposite That which is highly esteemed among Men is abominable in God's sight and what is pleasing to God is despised by Men. Now when a person with Religious Constancy proceeds in the way of Holiness and of his universal Duty though he is exposed to the imputation of Folly and consequently the scorn of the World and will not neglect his Duty to preserve his Fame but fully and finally perseveres in his Obedience to God he is a confirm'd Saint For 't is evident he loves Goodness for its own sake without mercenary mixtures and despises all temporal respects that are inconsistent with it The Apostle declares 'T is a small thing with me to be judged by Man's judgment His ambitious labour was to be accepted of the Lord whose favourable testimony of his fidelity would be his eternal honour before the glorious and immense Theatre of Angels and Men at the great day He chose to be among God's treasures though despis'd as the off-scouring of the World The inward testimony of Conscience which is the sweetest Friend or sorest Enemy is incomparably more valuable and to be preferr'd before all the painted air the vain applause of this World 'T was Job's resolution when his undiscerning and severe Friends tax'd him for Hypocrisie My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live There is such a convincing evidence of this Rule to judge Men by that the Roman Philosopher says Whoever despises the Fame and Reputation of a good Man to preserve his Conscience inviolate has attain'd to an heroick degree of Goodness 6. The serious constant and delightful performance of Religious Duties in secret is a sure testimony of a holy and heavenly Spirit The Duties of Prayer and Praise in society are perform'd many times from custom and false respects to the eyes of Men and are fashional without the exercise of holy Affections the life of those Duties Our Saviour tells us That the light of the Body is the Eye if thine Eye be evil thy whole Body is full of darkness Without purity of Intention our Religion tho' varnish'd with a specious appearance is vain But the exercise of Religion conceal'd from publick view is not lyable to the temptations of Vanity Our Saviour commands us to pray in secret and â—e that sees in secret shall reward us openly The secrecy contributes to the free exercise of holy Affections in that Duty The Prophet Jeremy tells the obstinate Jews If ye will not hear my Soul shall weep in secret places for your Pride and mine Eye shall weep sore and run down with tears because the Lord's flock is carried away into captivity His Sorrow was not counterfeit or shallow but Eyes and Heart were engaged the privacy contributed to the measure 'T is true there may be formality in secret Duties a Prayer may be repeated in the Closet without reverence and solemnity without a holy heat of desires as if the bodily service were accepted But such Worship instead of propitiating God provokes his displeasure Heaven is brass to all cold Petitioners their Prayers cannot pierce through it 'T is observable that secrecy is a counsellor and incentive to a vicious person to do Evil He chooses the silent and dark night as the fittest season When he is secure no ray of Light can discover what is done he is effectually tempted to satisfie his Lusts. On the contrary a real Saint chooses to serve God in secret for then he glorifies him as God the Inspector and Judge of the Heart and the privacy of his Worship is to Conscience an evidence of his Sincerity and of an excellent degree of Grace Constancy is requisite in the performance of Religious Duties in secret Many when they feel present Pain or fear imminent Dangers will address their Requests to God in secret but when freed from Trouble they neglect their Duty But Prayer is a Duty of daily revolution the Natural Life may be as well preserved without Breathing as the Spiritual without Prayer And since we have always peculiar Wants and are often surprised with new Necessities which are not fit to be discover'd to others we should esteem the Precept to be our Priviledge to present our selves to our Heavenly Father and to pour forth our Souls into his Bosom with an Assurance of his gracious hearing our Request Some by the Constraint of Natural Conscience dare not omit secret Devotion but they are brought to it as a troublesome task and are glad when 't is done These are in the state of Carnal Nature But when there is a Sympathy between the Heart and the Duty and the sweetness of Paradise is tasted in Communion with God 't is an evidence the Divine Nature is prevalent Those happy Souls are in Heaven already for in Heaven there is an Everlasting tenor of serving and praising God In short Internal Religion is the immediate and unfeigned issue of the Soul whose praise is not of men that cannot by their most searching Sight dive into the Heart but of God who is the maker and searcher of the Heart Briefly as between Friends Conversation increases Love and Love increases Conversation so between God and a Saint Communion increases Love and Love Communion 7. To forgive Injuries and overcome Evil with Good discovers a Christian to be divinely Excellent Love is the brightest Beam of the divine Beauty wherein God doth most delight and excel The returning good for evil is the noblest effect of Love wherein our nearest resemblance of God consists We have the Example of it in the highest degree of Perfection in our Suffering Saviour If ever any one had a right to Revenge Injuries our Saviour had His Innocence was entire nay his beneficent Goodness to his Enemy was infinitely obliging the Miseries he suffer'd were Extreme a Death equally Ignominious and Cruel the Dignity of his Person was truly Infinite Yet in the extremity of his Sufferings when the sense of Injuries is most quick and exasperating in the midst of their scornful Insultings he earnestly prayed for their Pardon Father forgive them they know not what they do He might have call'd upon the righteous Judge of the World the Revenger of opprest Innocence to have destroyed them by Fire from Heaven but he Addresses his request by that Title that was most endearing him to God Father forgive them 't is the desire of thy Son dying in Obedience to thy Will they know not the greatness of their
Instance is this Folly more visible than in neglecting the working out their own Salvation till Time and Grace are past when no person can assure himself of the next Minute They presume upon such a remote possibility that after the best of their days are spent in the Vanities and Business of the World there will be time to do the one thing necessary How many are dispatch'd to the Grave and Hell in the midst of their hopes of long Life and their resolutions of future Repentance Death often steals upon Men unobserv'd and sometimes unfelt Now since Time is so short and slippery and Life is dying every day it is astonishing that so many are careless of securing future Blessedness But suppose their Time is lengthened out how is the difficulty increas'd of their being renewed and reformed in their Hearts and Conversations The natural vicious Inclinations by custom in Sin are confirm'd Habits their Passions are more violent the power and liberty of the Mind is broken and cannot reduce them under the empire of Reason Men think there will be an ebbing and retiring of their Carnal Affections in Age when the sensitive Faculties are disabled from the gross acts of Sin but vicious desires are not cur'd by Impotence The love to Sin increases by the repeated pleasure of it Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye that are accustomed to do evil do well By Custom Mens Lusts are more rebellious to Reason more untractable to Discipline more a verse from holy Counsel The good or the evil Habits of one Age are with their Vertues and Vices transfus'd to the next 'T is extraordinary when an evil Child becomes a sober modest Youth or a dissolute Youth becomes a religious Man Childhood is as the Seed in whose Vertue the Tree of Life is contain'd The Characters that are cut in the Bark when the Tree grows deeply and visibly remain 'T is as painful as Death to change a sinful Life of many Years and begin a contrary course of Actions There are two branches of Folly visible in the World Men will not do when they can and afterwards cannot do when they would Besides the Holy Spirit is griev'd and quench'd by their resisting his pure motions and if he be withdrawn 't is impossible they should be renewed by a serious Repentance 'T is as reasonable to expect that the Sun should cross the order of Nature and rise in the West as that the Sun of Righteousness should arise with healing in his wings upon an habitual obstinate Sinner in the hour of Death They are usually left to hardness and stupidity to presumption or to despair Some are as insensible some presume to obtain an easie entrance into the Kingdom of Life and their disappointment exceedingly exasperates their sad exclusion others who were fearless of the last Enemy when afar of in his approaches they remember what they have been and apprehend what they must be without a miraculous change and Conscience like a Pulse beats quick and faint the prognostick of Eternal Death The Consideration they are come to the end of their days and shall lose the end of their desires and hopes Eternal Happiness cuts them more terribly than the pangs of Death The reflection on their wasting the treasure of Time without any improvement for their Souls is a pricking thorn in their Eyes and forces out just but unprofitable tears How doleful is the separation of Soul and Body here and how woful will their union be at the last day O that Men were wise to consider their latter end that they would call Death to counsel with what evidence and efficacy would it convince them of the necessity of a timely preparation for Eternity 'T is too late to go to buy Oyl when the Bridegroom is coming 2. Let us follow Holiness zealously Desires without consequent Endeavours are pretences ineffectual Resolutions contradict themselves What fire vigour and activity does the Apostle express If by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead I follow after it that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ. Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before I press forward to the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ. I follow as the Huntsman pursues the Game with full speed It should excite Compassion and Indignation to see the Love of this vain perishing World to be more active and zealous than the Love of the blessed eternal World That the Tempter with such wretched wages the trifles of Time should induce Men to be his Slaves and God with the glorious Reward of an everlasting Kingdom should not perswade them to be his Sons to be like him in Holiness That Men should so violently run down the Hill to the Earth and be so remiss and slow in their motion upward to Heaven The vain-glorious excited by the edge of Ambition will venture on present Death with fond hopes of future Fame Strange purchase The covetous with the most eager application of means strive to heap up uncertain Riches The voluptuous with vehement Affections follow Pleasures But to obtain the highest Honour Coelestial Treasure to enjoy the purest Delights Men think lazy formality and slack endeavours sufficient Whereas the most serious Thoughts flagrant Desires steddy Resolutions and all possible Industry are requisite in our holy Calling that we may have an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God 3. Let us follow Holiness with alacrity and chearfulness Our Saviour tells us 'T is his meat and drink to do his Father's will The practise of Holiness is vital and nourishing and pleasant to the taste There is a high relish in Victory of any kind but especially over our most dangerous Enemies it replenishes with cordial Contentment what Joy arises from subduing unruly Passions Suppose Anger has often foil'd me and like an unmanaged and unbridled Horse has hurried me into dangers if by Divine Grace by Circumspection and Care by Resolution and Striving I finally overcome it and all its former Victories what a spring of Joy rushes into the Soul If the Graces of the Spirit are more radiant and vigorous in their exercise the Reward is such a clear serenity of Mind as is the reflection of Paradise a Heaven upon Earth Prosperity in a Calling makes Men diligent and delightful in it But when the practise of Religion is constrain'd and tedious God receives no Honour and Man receives no Praise nor Joy as the Reward of it 4. Let us with unfainting perseverance strive after perfect Holiness There are tinctures of Original Sin cleaving to the best Saints defects in their Graces and best Duties There are many degrees of ascent before we come to the highest point of Perfection Let us strive with our utmost possibility to anticipate Heaven We must not be satisfied
his Sufferings He suffered for us leaving an Example that we may follow his steps He levels the way and makes it like a Carpet by going before us Those Duties which are very harsh to sensible Nature he instructs us in by his Preaching and by his Passion How can we decline them when perform'd by him in whom the glorious Deity was personally united to the tender Humanity His Life was a continual Lecture of Mortification 'T is the Observation of the Natural Historian that the tender Providence of Nature is admirable in preparing Medicines for us in beautiful fragrant Flowers that we might not refuse the Remedy as more distastful than our Diseases But how astonishing is the Love of God who sent his Son for our Redemption from Eternal Death and in his Example has sweeten'd those Remedies that are requisite for the Cure of our distemper'd Passions the taking up the Cross submitting to Poverty and Persecution are made tolerable by considering that in enduring them we follow our Redeemer Can any Motive more ingage and incourage our Obedience than the perswasive Paâ—tern and commandingly Exemplary of our Soveraign and Saviour Can we be averse from our Duty when our Law-giver teaches us Obedience by his own practice Can any Invitation be more attractive than to do that for Love to him which he did for Love to us and our Salvation We are his Subjects by the dearest Titles and our own Consenâ— we are dedicated to his Honour and as the Apostle tells the Galathians If you are circumcised you are debtors to keep the whole Law by the same Reason if we are baptized we are obliged to obey the Law of Faith to order our Lives according to the Doctrine and Example of Christ. An unholy Christian is a Contradiction so direct and palpable that one word destroys another as if one should say a living Carcass or a cold Calenture We must adorn the Gospel of Christ by the sacred splendour of our Actions An innocent Life from gross notorious Sins is a poor Perfection we must shew forth the Vertues of him who has called us to his Kingdom and Glory Men usually observe what is â—minently better or extreamly worse in any kind The excellent Goodness of Christians recommends the Goodness of the Gospel and convinces Infidels that it came from the Fountain of Goodness The Primitive Christians endur'd the Fiery Tryal with insuperable Constancy and the most powerful Argument that inspir'd their Courage despising Life and Death was that Christ was their Leader in those terrible Conflicts he was their Spectator when they incounter'd fierce Beasts and fiercer Tyrants for the defence of his Truth and Glory of his Name and while they were suffering for him he was preparing Immortal Crowns for them This St. Cyprian in his Pastoral Letters to the Christians in Africa represents with such powerful Eloquence that kindled in their Breasts a Love to Christ stronger than Death 3. The Angels are propounded to us as a Pattern for our Imitation Our Saviour directs our desires that the Will of God may be done in Earth as 't is done in Heaven The Will of God is either Decretive or Preceptive The Decretive extends to all Events nothing falls out at Random nothing by rash Chance and Casualty but all things come to pass according to the Counsel of his Will by his Efficiency or Pormission The Preceptive Will of God is the Rule of our Duty This is the Will of God even yoâ—r Sanctification This is intended here for 't is to be performed in conformity to the Obedience of the Angels But â—â—s comprehensive of our resign'd submission to the Will and Wisdom of God in the disposals of Providence as well as to our active subjection to his Commands We are equally obliged to acknowledge and honour his Sovereignty and Doâ—inion in ordering all things as to yiâ—â—d Obedience to his Sovereignty declar'd in his Laws The Psalmist addresses himself to the Angels as our Pattern Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandments hearkening to the voice of his Wordâ— The Angels are the eldest off-spring of God's Power Glorious Heavenly and Immortal Spirits The Title of Angels signifies their Office their Nature we do not fully know We can tell what they are not not Flâ—sh nor Blood but negatives do not afford Knowledge 'T is not Knowledge to declare what things are not but what they are Their excellency is discovered in Scripture in that the highest degree of our Perfection is express'd by likeness to the Angels The Perfection of Beauty in Stephen is set forth They saw his Face as the Face of an Angel Excellent Wisdom in David My Lord the King is wise as an Angel of God Perfect Eloquence Tho' I speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels And the Apostle in asserting the infinite dignity of the Mediator proves it by this Argument that he is above the Angels To whiâ—h of the Angels did he sâ—y thou â—â—t my Son that is in a high and peculiar manner Now if they had not been in the highest order of Creatures the Argument had not been conclusive yet they are infinite descents below God The Heavens are not clean in his sight the Stars are not pure beforâ— him The Seraphims vâ—il their Faces and their Feet in his glorious presence and cry one to another Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts the whole Earth is full of thy Glory His separate and transcendent Attributes are the Foundation of their Humility and Subjection 2. They received their Being from his meer Pleasure This most free Favour infinitely binds them to his Service A derived Being has dependant operations 3. They are confirm'd in their state of ever-flourishing Feâ—â—city by pecullar Grace In the morning of the Creation Heaven shin'd with innumerable Staâ—â— the Angels of Light of whom a vast number are by their Rebellion become wandering Stars to whom is reserv'd the blackness of darkness for ever How dreadful was their Fall From what Felicity into what Woe Now the good Angels are in a supernatural state without the least danger of Change and Separation from the blessed Presence of God The Grace of Confirmation renews their obligation to the Divine Goodness they are not safe in themselves but their fidelity is secur'd by the continual influence of the Holy Spirit In them is perfect Light and perfect Love the fountains of their Obedience The matter wherein their Obedience is exercis'd is secret to us the Laws and admirable Order in Heaven are not fully discovered But we are assur'd they continually magnifie and celebrate the Perfections of God In this lower World they are ministring Spirits to the Heirs of Salvation the adopted Children of God The highest Angels are not exempted from this Service nor the lowest Saints excluded from the Benefit of it How many unforeseen and inevitable dangers as to Humane prevention do they prevent The evil Angels would
few have a Natural Generosity or Christian Mercy and Means to express and exercise it The Necessities of others do not affect Men with so quick a sense as the parting with their Money to relieve them As the Balsam Tree does not drop its healing Liquor till the Bark is Cut. Sometimes the great number of Suiters is a pretence to excuse from the exercise of Bounty None of these can be Conceived of God There is nothing more Divine in the Deity and becoming his Nature than his Inclination to do good As the Mother with equal Pleasure nourishes the Child with her Milk as the Child draws it For the breast is uneasie till emptied God much more rejoices in doing Good than we in receiving it We are also assur'd of obtaining Spiritual Blessings by the Intercession of the Mediator The dignity of his Person who is higher than the Heavens the Son of his Love the Merits of his Obedience and Sufferings assure us of his Power with God He takes us by the hand and brings as to the Father perfumes and presents our Requests to obtain a favourable Reception When we are under impressions of Fear that God will deny our Prayers for Spiritual Blessings 't is as if there were no Love in the Mediator nor prevalency in his Mediation Besides the Spirit of Holiness is plenteously Conveyed under the Dispensation of the Gospel The gift of the Spirit in the richest degrees was reserved as an Honour to Christ in his Ascension 'T is said The Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified The Blood of Christ was liberally shed that the Spirit might be liberally poured forth But the bestowing of the Spirit was at the Triumphant Ascension of Christ. Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive and received gifts for men that is from the Father as the Reward of his Victory that he might dispense them to Men. The Principal Gift is the Holy Ghost comprehensive of all good things The Promise is perform'd under the Gospel I will pour forth of my Spirit the Spirit of grace and supplication upon all flesh There were some Sprinklings of it under the Law and confin'd to a separate Nation but now showers are poured down upon all Nations to purifie them and make them fruitful in Good Works The Apostle declares the admirable Efficacy of the Gospel The Law of the Spirit of Life has freed me from the Law of Sin and Death The Spirit of the Fiery Law so call'd with respect to its Original and Operations convinc'd of Sin and constrain'd Conscience to inflict tormenting impressions on the Soul the Presages of Future Judgment but afforded no Spiritual Grace to obey it Therefore 't is said to be weak and unprofitable But the Gospel conveys Supernatural Strength to obtain Supernatural Happiness 'T is foretold concerning the state of the Church in the times of the Gospel He that is feeble among them shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God as the Angel of the Lord before them Add farther the Holy Spirit directs our desires and God knows the mind of the Spirit who makes intercession for us according to the will of God Christ is our Advocate in Heaven and the Spirit in our Hearts by inflaming our Affections and exciting in us filial Trust in the Divine Mercy They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength If we are impotent in resisting Temptations and in doing the Will of God when Divine Assistance is ready upon our desires to confirm us our Impotence is voluntary and does not excuse us from Consequent Sin but is an antecedent Sin The sharpest Reproof we read from our Saviour to his Disciples was for their guilty Impotence Jesus answer'd and said O faithless and perverse generation How long shall I be with you How long shall I suffer you He had given them Power to heal Diseases and expel Evil Spirits but they had not used the means of Prayer and Fasting that was requisite for the exercise of that Power How justly do we deserve that stinging Reproach who notwithstanding the Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit do not by continual fervent Prayer apply our selves to God to partake of a rich abundance of Grace from the Holy Spirit I shall only add that as Prayer is a means to obtain more Grace by impatration so by the exercise of Grace in Prayer 't is increas'd Frequent Prayer has a cleansing Vertue in that as those who often come into the King's Presence to speak to him are careful to be in decent Habits that they may not be disparag'd in his sight so those who draw near to God will cleanse themselves from Sin that they may be prepar'd to appear before his Holy Majesty Humility Faith Reverence Love Zeal Resignation to the Divine Will Compassion to the Afflicted and other excellent Graces are exercised in Prayer as the sphere of their activity and as acquir'd Habits so infused are improved by exercise Frequent shooting not only makes persons more skilful in directing the Arrow to the Mark but more able to draw a stronger Bow None are more holy in Conversation than those that give themselves to Prayer Our Saviour prayed himself into Heaven and a Divine Lustre appear'd in his Countenance By our drawing near to God the beauty of Holiness will be impress'd upon us and brighten our Conversations Briefly according to the raised operations of Grace in Prayer we shall obtain more excellent degrees of it from Heaven for in bestowing the first Grace God is a pure Giver but in dispensing new degrees of Grace he is a Rewarder according to the Promise To him that hath shall be given 3. Frequent and attentive Hearing and Reading the Word and serious Meditation of it is a means appointed by the Divine Wisdom and Goodness for our growth in Grace The conception and propagation the sustaining and increasing the Spiritual Life is by the Word of Truth 'T is therefore compar'd to those things that are the productive and preserving Causes of the Natural Life 'T is the incorruptible Seed and Food to beget and nourish the Spiritual Life 'T is Milk for Babes Wine for the faint and strong Meat to confirm those of maturer Age. There is an objective Vertue in it whereby 't is apt and sufficient to regenerate us and to increase the vigour and activity of the new Life The Apostle calls it The Power of God to our Salvation The word of Grace is able to build us up to an inheritance among them that are sanctified 'T is a kind of Miracle in Nature that a Sience of a good Tree grafted into a sowre Stock draws the vital Moisture from the Root and converts it for the producing generous and pleasant Fruit The ingrafted Word being a Divine Doctrine over-rules the Carnal Nature and makes the Mind Will Affections and Actions holy and heavenly answerable to its quality The Commands of