out-cry of all is p. 57 77. that I abuse his first Demonstration by vertue of a direct falsification both of his words and sense by cogging in the word all making his principle run thus that the greatest hopes and fears are applied to the minds of all Christians This indeed I make to be his Principle grounded upon his words which I had cited a little before and they are these First That Christian Doctrine was at first unanimously settled by the Apostles in the hearts of the faithfull dispers'd in great multitudes over several parts of the world 2ly That this Doctrine was firmly believed by all those faithfull to be the way to Heaven and the contradicting or deserting of it to be the way to damnation so that the greatest hopes and fears imaginable were by engaging the divine Authority strongly apply'd to the minds of the first Believers c. Now if these first believers to whom he says these hopes and fears were strongly apply'd be all those faithfull he spoke of before which were dispers'd over several parts of the world as the tenor of his words plainly shews what are these less than all the Christians of that Age and he himself a little after tells us there is the same reason of the following Ages So that I made his Principle run no otherwise than he himself had laid it And if it contradict what he says elsewhere it is no new or strange thing I wonder more at his confidence in charging such falsifications upon me as every man's eyes will presently confute him in Methinks though a man had all Science and all Principles yet it might not be amiss to have some Conscience I shall only speak a few words to the two solid Points as I may call them of his Letter and I have done I had charg'd him that he makes Traditions certainty a first and self-evident Principle and yet that he goes about to demonstrate it which I said was impossible to be done and if it could be done was needless To avoid this inconvenience which he found himself sorely press'd with all he distinguishes between Speculative and Practical self-evidence and says that things which are practically self-evident may be demonstrated but those that are speculatively so cannot But he must not think to shelter himself from so palpable an absurdity by this impertinent distinction For let things be evident how they will speculatively or practically 't is plain that if they be Principles evident of themselves they need nothing to evidence them and if they be first Principles there can be nothing to make them more evident because there is nothing before them to demonstrate them by Now if Mr. S. had in truth believed that the certainty of Tradition was a first and self-evident Principle he should by all means have let it alone for it was in a very good condition to shift for it self but his blind way of Demonstration is enough to cast a mist about the clearest Truth in the world But perhaps by the self-evident certainty of Tradition Mr. S. onely means that it is evident to himself for I dare say it is so to no body else And if that be his meaning he did well enough to endeavour to demonstrate it it was no more than needed The other Point is about his First Principles such as these a Rule is a Rule Faith is Faith c. which he says †P. 11. must principle all that can be solidly concluded either about Rule or Faith Of these he hath mighty store and blesseth himself in it as the Rich man in the Gospel did in his full Barns Soul take thine ease thou hast Principles laid up for many years and out of an excess of good nature pities my case who did undertake to write a Discourse about the Ground of Faith P. 74. without so much as one Principle to bless my self with But the mischief is that after all this stir about them they are good for nothing and of the very same stamp with that frivolous one Aristotle speaks of if a thing be it is Analyt Poster l. 1 which he rejects as a vain and ridiculous Proposition Such are Mr. S's first Principles surfeited of too much truth as an ingenious Writer of his own Church says of them and ready to burst with self-evidence and yet by ten thousand of them a man shall not be able to advance one step in knowledge because they produce no conclusion but themselves whereas it is of the nature of Principles to yeild a Conclusion different from themselves And to convince Mr. S. fully of the foolery of these Principles I will try what can be done with them either in a Categorical or Hypothetical Syllogism e. g. A Rule is a Rule Tradition is a Rule Ergo Tradition is a Rule Again If a Rule be a Rule then a Rule is a Rule But a Rule is a Rule Ergo. How is any man the wiser for all this But it may be Mr. S. can make better work with them and manage them more dextrously so as to principle any thing that can be solidly concluded in any Controversie And now I hope at last to have given Mr. S. full satisfaction since he has brought me to the very point he desir'd to acknowledge that I have no Principles And indeed if there be no other to be had but such as these I do declare to all the world that I neither have any Principles nor will have any The Texts of each Sermon JOB 28.28 And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisedom and to depart from evil is understanding page 1 2 Pet. 3.3 Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own lusts p. 101 Prov. 14.34 Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is the reproach of any people p. 129 Psalm 19.11 And in keeping of them there is great reward p. 151 Phil. 3.8 Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. p. 179 1 Joh. 5.3 And his Commandments are not grievous p. 213 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity p. 243 Phil. 3.20 For our conversation is in Heaven p. 273 JOB XXVIII 28. And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding IN this Chapter Job discourseth of the secrets of nature and the unsearchable perfections of the works of God And the result of his discourse is this That a perfect knowledge of Nature is no where to be found but in the Author of it no less wisdom and understanding than that which made the world and contrived this vast and regular frame of Nature can throughly understand the Philosophy of it and comprehend so vast a design But yet there is a knowledge which is very proper to man and lies level to humane understanding and that is
brought upon the publick stage and expos'd to the view of men and Angels There is nothing now hidden which shall not then be reveal'd nor secret which shall not be made known 5. To arm us against the fears of death Death is terrible to nature and the terrour of it is infinitely encreas'd by the fearfull apprehensions of what may follow it But the comfortable hopes of a blessed immortality do strangely relieve the fainting spirits of dying men and are able to reconcile us to death and in a great measure to take away the terrour of it I know that the thoughts of death are dismal even to good men and we have never more need of comfort and encouragement than when we are conflicting with this last Enemy and there is no such comfortable consideration to a dying man as the hopes of a happy eternity He that looks upon death onely as a passage to glory may welcome the messengers of it as bringing him the best and most joyfull news that ever came to him in his whole life and no man can stay behind in this world with half the comfort that this man leaves it And now I have done with the two things implyed in this phrase of having our conversation in heaven viz. the serious thoughts and considerations of heaven and the effect of these thoughts and considerations upon our hearts and lives I crave your patience but a little longer till I make some reflection upon what hath been deliver'd concerning the happiness of good men after this life I have told you that it is incomparably beyond any happiness of this world that it is great in it self and eternal in its duration and far above any thing that we can now conceive or imagine And now after all this I am very sensible how much all that I have said comes short of the greatness and dignity of the thing So that I could almost begin again and make a new attempt upon this subject And indeed who would not be loth to be taken off from so delightfull an argument Methinks 't is good for us to be here and to let our minds dwell upon these considerations We are unworthy of heaven and unfit to partake of so great a glory if we cannot take pleasure in the contemplation of those things now the possession whereof shall be our happiness for ever With what joy then should we think of those great and glorious things which God hath prepar'd for them that love him of that inheritance incorruptible undefil'd which fadeth not away reserv'd for us in the heavens How should we welcome the thoughts of that happy hour when we shall make our escape out of these prisons when we shall pass out of this howling wilderness into the promis'd Land when we shall be remov'd from all the troubles and temptations of a wicked and ill-natured world when we shall be past all storms and secur'd from all further danger of shipwreck and shall be safely landed in the regions of bliss and immortality O blessed time When all tears shall be wip'd from our eyes and death and sorrow shall be no more When mortality shall be swallow'd up of life and we shall enter upon the possession of all that happiness and glory which God hath promis'd and our faith hath believ'd and our hopes have rais'd us to the expectation of when we shall be eas'd of all our pains and resolv'd of all our doubts and be purg'd from all our sins and be free'd from all our fears and be happy beyond all our hopes and have all the happiness secur'd to us beyond the power of time and change When we shall know God and other things without study and love him and one another without measure and serve and praise him without weariness and obey his will without the least reluctancy and shall still be more and more delighted in the knowing and loving and praising and obeying of God to all eternity How should these thoughts affect our hearts and what a mighty influence ought they to have upon our lives The great disadvantage of the arguments fetch'd from another world is this that those things are at a great distance from us and not sensible to us and therefore are not apt to affect us so strongly and to work so powerfully upon us Now to make amends for this disadvantage we should often revive these considerations upon our mind and inculcate upon our selves the reality and certainty of these things together with the infinite weight and importance of them We should reason thus with our selves If good men shall be so unspeakably happy and consequently wicked men so extreamly miserable in another world If these things be true and will one day be found to be so why should they not be to me as if they were already present why should not I be as much afraid to commit any sin as if hell were naked before me and I saw the astonishing miseries of the damned and why should I not be as carefull to serve God and keep his commandments as if heaven were open to my view and I saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God with crowns of glory in his hand ready to be set upon the heads of all those who continue faithfull to him The lively apprehensions of the nearness of death and eternity are apt to make mens thoughts more quick and piercing and according as we think our selves prepar'd for our future state to transport us with joy or to amaze us with horrour For the soul that is fully satisfi'd of his future bliss is already entred into heaven has begun to take possession of glory and has as it were his blessed Saviour in his arms and may say with old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation But the thoughts of death must needs be very terrible to that man who is doubtfull or despairing of his future condition It would daunt the stoutest man that ever breathed to look upon death when he can see nothing but hell beyond it When the Apparition at Endor told Saul to morrow thou and thy Sons shall be with me these words struck him to the heart so that he fell down to the ground and there was no more strength left in him It is as certain that we shall die as if an express messenger should come to every one of us from the other world and tell us so Why should we not then always live as those that must die and as those that hope to be happy after death To have these apprehensions vigorous and lively upon our minds this is to have our conversation in heaven from whence also we look for a Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working of that mighty power whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself FINIS
in the practice of Religion and Vertue Because the publick happiness and prosperity depends upon it It is most apparent that of late years Religion is very sensibly declin'd among us The manners of men have almost been universally corrupted by a Civil War We should therefore all jointly endeavour to retrieve the ancient vertue of the Nation and to bring into fashion again that solid and substantial that plain and unaffected piety free from the extreams both of superstition and enthusiasm which flourished in the age of our immediate Forefathers Which did not consist in idle talk but in real effects in a sincere love of God and of our neighbour in a pious devotion and reverence towards the Divine Majesty and in the vertuous actions of a good life in the denial of ungodliness and worldly lusts and in living soberly and righteously and godly in this present world This were the true way to reconcile God to us to stop the course of his judgments and to bring down the blessings of Heaven upon us God hath now been pleased to settle us again in peace both at home and abroad and he hath put us once more into the hands of our own counsel Life and Death blessing and cursing prosperity and destruction are before us We may chuse our own fortune and if we be not wanting to our selves we may under the influences of God's grace and assistance which is never wanting to our sincere endeavours become a happy and a prosperous People The good God make us all wise to know and to do the things that belong to the temporal peace and prosperity of the Nation and to the eternal happiness and salvation of every one of our souls which we humbly beg for the sake of Jesus Christ to whom c. PSALM xix II. And in keeping of them there is great reward IN this Psalm David celebrates the glory of God from the consideration of the greatness of his Works and the perfection of his Laws From the greatness of his Works verse 1. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-work c. From the perfection of his Laws verse 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul c. And among many other excellencies of the Divine Laws he mentions in the last place the benefits and advantages which come from the observance of them verse 11. and in keeping of them there is great reward I have already shown how much Religion tends to the publick welfare of mankind to the support of Government and to the peace and happiness of humane Societies My work at this time shall be to shew that Religion and obedience to the Laws of God do likewise conduce to the happiness of particular persons both in respect of this world and the other For though there be but little express mention made in the Old Testament of the immortality of the Soul and the rewards of another life yet all Religion does suppose these principles and is built upon them I. And First I shall endeavour to shew how Religion conduceth to the happiness of this life and that both in respect of the inward and outward man First As to the mind to be pious and religious brings a double advantage to the mind of man 1. It tends to the improvement of our understandings 2. It brings peace and pleasure to our minds 1. It tends to the improvement of our understandings I do not mean onely that it instructs us in the knowledge of divine and spiritual things and makes us to understand the great interest of our souls and the concernments of eternity better but that in general it does raise and enlarge the minds of men and make them more capable of true knowledge And in this sense I understand the following Texts Psal 19.8 The commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Psal 111.10 a good understanding have all they that keep his commandments Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies Psal 119.98 which plainly refers to political prudence I have more understanding than all my teachers ver 99. for thy Testimonies are my meditation I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts ver 104. ver 130. Through thy precepts I get understanding The enterance of thy word giveth light it giveth understanding to the simple Now Religion doth improve the understandings of men by subduing their lusts and moderating their passions The lusts and passions of men do sully and darken their minds even by a natural influence Intemperance and sensuality and fleshly lusts do debase mens minds and clog their spirits make them gross and foul listless and unactive they sink us down into sense and glew us to these low and inferiour things like birdlime they hamper and entangle our souls and hinder their flight upwards they indispose and unfit our minds for the most noble and intellectual considerations So likewise the exorbitant passions of wrath and malice envy and revenge do darken and distort the understandings of men do tincture the mind with false colours and fill it with prejudice and undue apprehensions of things There is no man that is intemperate or lustful or passionate but besides the guilt he contracts which is continually fretting and disquieting his mind besides the inconveniences he brings upon himself as to his health he does likewise stain and obscure the brightness of his Soul and the clearness of his discerning faculty Such persons have not that free use of their reason that they might have their understandings are not bright enough nor their spirits pure and fine enough for the exercise of the highest and noblest acts of reason What clearness is to the eye that purity is to our mind and understanding and as the clearness of the bodily eye doth dispose it for a quicker sight of material objects so doth the purity of our minds that is freedom from lust and passion dispose us for the clearest and most perfect acts of reason and understanding Now Religion doth purifie our minds and refine our spirits by quenching the fire of lust and suppressing the fumes and vapours of it and by scattering the clouds and mists of passion And the more any man's soul is cleansed from the filth and dregs of sensual lusts the more nimble and expedite it will be in its operations The more any man conquers his passions the more calm and sedate his spirit is and the greater equality he maintains in his temper his apprehensions of things will be the more clear and unprejudic'd and his judgment more firm and steddy And this is the meaning of that saying of Solomon He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly Ira furor brevis est Anger is a short fit of madness and he that is passionate and furious deprives himself of his
of the greatest part of Christians How grosly and openly do many of us contradict the plain precepts of the Gospel by our ungodliness and worldly lusts by living intemperately or unjustly or prophanely in this present world As if the grace of God which brings salvation had never appear'd to us as if we had never hear'd of Heaven or Hell or believ'd not one word that the Scripture says concerning them as if we were in no expectation of the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ whom God hath appointed to judge the world in righteousness and who will bestow mighty rewards upon those who faithfully serve him but will come in flaming sire to take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Let us not then deceive our selves by pretending to this excellent knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord if we do not frame our lives according to it For though we know these things never so well yet we are not happy unless we do them Nay we are but the more miserable for knowing them if we do them not Therefore it concerns every one of us to consider seriously what we believe and whether our belief of the Christian Religion have its due effect upon our lives If not all the Precepts and Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel will rise up in judgment against us and the Articles of our Faith will be so many Articles of Accusation and the great weight of our charge will be this that we did not obey that Gospel which we profess'd to believe that we made confession of the Christian Faith but liv'd like Heathens Not to believe the Christian Religion after so great evidence and confirmation as God hath given to it is very unreasonable but to believe it to be true and yet to live as if it were false is the greatest repugnancy and contradiction that can be He that does not believe Christianity either hath or thinks he hath some reason for with-holding his assent from it But he that believes it and yet lives contrary to it knows that he hath no reason for what he does and is convinc'd that he ought to do otherwise And he is a miserable man indeed that does those things for the doing of which he continually stands condemn'd by his own mind and accordingly God will deal more severely with such persons He will pardon a thousand defects in our understandings if they do not proceed from gross carelesness and neglect of our selves but the faults of our wills have no excuse because we knew to do better and were convinc'd in our minds that we ought not to have done so Dost thou believe that the wrath of God is reveal'd from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and dost thou still allow thy self in ungodliness and worldly lusts Art thou convinc'd that without holiness no man shall see the Lord and dost thou still persist in a wicked course Art thou fully perswaded that no whoremonger nor adulterer nor covetous nor unrighteous person shall have any inheritance in the Kingdom of God and Christ and dost thou for all that continue to practise these vices What canst thou say man why it should not be to thee according to thy faith If it so fall out that thou art miserable and undone for ever thou hast no reason to be surpriz'd as if some unexpected thing had happen'd to thee It is but with thee just as thou believ'dst it would be when thou didst these things For how couldst thou expect that God should accept of thy good belief when thou didst so notoriously contradict it by a bad life How couldst thou look for other but that God should condemn thee for the doing of those things for which thine own Conscience did condemn thee all the while thou wast doing of them When we come into the other world there is no consideration that will sting our consciences more cruelly than this that we did wickedly when we knew to have done better and chose to make our selves miserable when we understood the way to have been happy To conclude we Christians have certainly the best and the holiest the wisest and most reasonable Religion in the world but then we are in the worst condition of all mankind if the best Religion in the world do not make us good 1 JOHN 5.3 And his commandments are not grievous ONE of the great prejudices which men have entertain'd against the Christian Religion is this that it lays upon men heavy burdens and grievous to be born that the Laws of it are very strict and severe difficult to be kept and yet dangerous to be broken That it requires us to govern and keep under our passions and to contradict many times our strongest inclinations and desires to cut off our right hand and to pluck out our right eye to love cur enemies to bless them that curse us to do good to them that hate us and to pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us to forgive the greatest injuries that are done to us and to make reparation for the least that we do to others to be contented with our condition patient under sufferings and ready to sacrifice our dearest interests in this world and even our very lives in the cause of God and Religion All these seem to be hard sayings and grievous commandments For the removal of this prejudice I have chosen these words of the Apostle which expresly tells us the contrary that the commandments of God are not grievous And though this be a great truth if it be impartially consider'd yet it is also a great paradox to men of corrupt minds and vicious practices who are prejudic'd against Religion and the holy Laws of God by their interest and their lusts This seems a strange proposition to those who look upon Religion at a distance and never try'd the experiment of a holy life who measure the Laws of God not by the intrinsecal goodness and equity of them but by the reluctancy and opposition which they find in their own hearts against them Upon this account it will be requisite to take some pains to satisfie the reason of men concerning this truth and if it be possible to make it so evident that those who are unwilling to own it may yet be asham'd to deny it And methinks I have this peculiar advantage in the argument I have now undertaken that every reasonable man cannot chuse but wish me success in this attempt because I undertake the proof of that which it is every man's interest that it should be true And if I can make it out this pretence against Religion will not onely be baffled but we shall gain a new and forcible argument to perswade men over to it Now the easiness or difficulty of the observation of any Laws or commands depends chiefly upon these three things First Upon the Nature of
perfectos Philosophos turpiter vivere that some great Philosophers led very filthy lives Celsus and Porphyry Hierocles and Julian among all their witty invectives against Christian Religion have nothing against it that reflects so much upon it as do the wicked lives of so many Christians The greatest enmity to Religion is to profess it and to live unanswerably to it This consideration ought greatly to affect us I am sure the Apostle speaks of it with great passion and vehemency For many walk of whom I have told you often Phil. 3.18 and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things A Jew or a Turk is not so great an enemy to Christianity as a lewd and vitious Christian Therefore let me beseech Christians as they tender the honour of their Saviour and the credit of their Religion that they would conform their lives to the holy precepts of Christianity And if there be any who are resolved to continue in a vitious course to the injury and disparagement of Christianity I could almost entreat of them that they would quit their profession and renounce their Baptism that they would lay aside their title of Christians and initiate themselves in Heathenish rites and superstitions or be circumcised for Jews or Turks For it were really better upon some accounts that such men should abandon their Profession than keep on a vizard which serves to no other purpose but to scare others from Religion 3. And Lastly let us consider the danger we expose our selves to by not living answerably to our Religion And this I hope may prevail upon such as are not moved by the former considerations Hypocrites are instanc'd in Scripture as a sort of sinners that shall have the sharpest torments and the fiercest damnation When our Saviour would set forth the great severity of the Lord towards the evil servant he expresseth it thus Mat. 24.51 he shall cut him in sudden and appoint him his portion with Hypocrites So that the punishment of Hypocrites seems to be made in the measure and standard of the highest punishment Thou professest to believe in Christ and to hope in him for salvation but in the mean time thou livest a wicked and unholy life thou dost not believe but presume on him and wilt find at the great day that this thy confidence will be thy confusion and he whom thou hopest will be thy Advocate and Saviour will prove thy Accuser and thy Judge What our Saviour says to the Jews There is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom ye trust may very well be applied to false Christians Joh. 5.45 there is one that accuseth you and will condemn you even Jesus in whom ye trust The profession of Christianity and mens having the name of Christ named upon them will be so far from securing them from Hell that it will sink them the deeper into it Many are apt to pity the poor Heathens who never heard of the name of Christ and sadly to condole their case but as our Saviour said upon another occasion Weep not for them weep for your selves There 's no such miserable person in the world as a degenerate Christian because he falls into the greatest misery from the greatest advantages and opportunities of being happy Dost thou lament the condition of Socrates and Cato and Aristides and doubt what shall become of them at the day of Judgment and canst thou who art an impious and prophane Christian think that thou shalt escape the damnation of Hell Dost thou believe that the moral Heathen shall be cast out and canst thou who hast led a wicked life under the profession of Christianity have the impudence to hope that thou shalt sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God No those sins which are committed by Christians under the enjoyment of the Gospel are of deeper dye and clothed with blacker aggravations than the sins of Heathens are capable of A Pagan may live without God in the world and be unjust towards men at a cheaper rate and upon easier terms than thou who art a Christian Better had it been thou hadst never known one syllable of the Gospel never heard of the name of Christ than that having taken it upon thee thou shouldst not depart from iniquity Happy had it been for thee that thou hadst been born a Jew or a Turk or a poor Indian rather than that being bred among Christians and professing thy self of that number thou shouldst lead a vitious and unholy life I have insisted the longer upon these arguments that I might if possible awaken men to a serious consideration of their lives and perswade them to a real reformation of them that I may oblige all those who call themselves Christians to live up to the essential and fundamental Laws of our Religion to love God and to love our neighbour to do to every man as we would have him to do to us to mortifie our lusts and subdue our passions and sincerely to endeavour to grow in every grace and vertue and to abound in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God This indeed would become our profession and be honourable to our Religion and would remove one of the greatest obstacles to the progress of the Gospel For how can we expect that the doctrine of God our Saviour should gain any considerable ground in the world so long as by the unworthy lives of so many Christians 't is represented to the world at so great disadvantage If ever we would have Christian Religion effectually recommended it must be by the holy and unblameable lives of those who make profession of it Then indeed it would look with so amiable a countenance as to invite many to it and carry so much majesty and authority in it as to command reverence from its greatest enemies and make men to acknowledge that God is in us of a truth and to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven The good God grant that as we have taken upon us the profession of Christianity so we may be carefull so to live that we may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things that the grace of God which bringeth salvation may teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost c. PHIL. III. 20. For our Conversation is in Heaven FOR the understanding of which words we need to look back no further than the 18th verse of this Chapter where the Apostle with great vehemency and passion speaks of some among the Philippians who indeed profess'd Christianity but yet would do any thing to