here given but the sight of the eye and the way of the heart i. e. outward Appearance and inward Inclination and these are the beloved Rules of the most sensual and voluptuous Persons and they judge of Happiness only by the pursuit of them Here is nothing mention'd of Reason or Conscience or a regard to Vertue in the Restraint of Natural Inclinations Nay here is nothing of that Severity which Epicurus himself thought necessary towards the maintaining of a pleasant State of Life which he granted could never be done without some Restraint of Men's Appetites and Inclinations to the Pleasures of Sense and it is not to be imagined that Solomon should give young Men greater Liberty than the corruptest Moralists did Therefore I cannot look upon these words as a Permission for them to do what is here expressed but as a full Description of that Method of Living which the jolly and voluptuous Corrupters of Youth would instruct them in Rejoyce O young Man in thy Youth and let thine heart chear thee c. II. We have here the most powerfull Check and Restraint laid upon all these sensual Inclinations of Youth But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment Which words are the wise Man's Correction of the foregoing Liberty or the Curb which Reason and Religion give to the pursuit of Natural Inclinations wherein every Word hath its force and ought to make a deep Impression upon us For 1. Know thou Thine is not then the same cafe with Creatures that have no understanding they are not capable of any Check from themselves having no Law of Reason or Conscience within them to controul or govern theâ— sensual Desires but God hath given thee not meerly a brutal Appetite but a rational Soul capable of understanding the differences of Good and Evil and the Reasons why some things which appear pleasant are very difagreeing to the Principles of humane Nature i. e. to that Order Decency Modesty and Regularity which the more elevated Frame and Capacity of Mankind do require 2. For all these things as light and vain as you esteem them as soon as they are over and forgotten by you as secretly and closely as they are committed as much as you endeavour to palliate and excuse them yet but for all these things God will certainly bring thee into Judgment Therefore you have all the Reason in the world to consider what you do since every thing will be brought to Judgment whether it be good or evil as Solomon concludes this Book Which shews the great regard God hath to the Good or Evil of ouâ— Actions and if the great Judge of the World hath so certainly we ought to have it and never think our selves at liberty to do what we please in gratifying our Lusts and pursuing our Natural Inclinations to Evil. 3 God will do it If there were no God to call thee to an Account yet there are some Actions of Vertue so agreeable to Mankind and some Vices â—o loathsome and deformed that there would be sufficient cause for them to love the one and to abhorr the other If we could suppose such a Frame of things things and such sorts of Beings as we now see and no God to make them which is most absurd and unreasonable yet we must suppose these Beings to have Natures and Properties distinct from each other so that we could not imagine Men to become Beasts and therefore they must not act like them but preserve that Decorum or Agreeableness in their Actions which is suitable to the peculiar Excellencies of humane Nature And there are some Sins so much below the Dignity thereof that no Circumstances no Suppositions can make them fitting for Mankind to commit them which shews that the Nature of Good and Evil is no Arbitrary thing but is founded in the very Frame of our Beings and in the Respects we owe to our selves and to one another And since there is an Infinite and Supreme Being which hath absolute Power and Command over us and gives us both our Beings and the Comforts of our Lives it is most absurd to suppose it not to be a fault to hate his Goodness or to despise his Mercy or to slight his Power and to contemn his Authority For in all these there is something repugnant to the common Sense of Mankind and to all Principles of true Honour and Justice And there are such common Principles of Morality arising from our necessary Relation to God and each other which are of so clear and convincing Evidence that every one that considers them will grant that wicked Men may as well go about to dispute their Beings as their Sins and may as easily prove that they are not but only appear to be as that no Actions are really evil but only by false Glasses appear so to be But however vain Men may deceive themselves God will not be mocked for he not only sees and knows all our Actions but he will bring us to an Account for them 4. God will bring thee into Judgment It is a dreadfull Consideration to a Sinner that God knows all his false Steps all his secret Sins all his Falshood and Dissimulation with God and Men And there is nothing which Men of Art and Design hate more than to be discover'd and found out in all their double and deceitfull Dealings but to have these not only privately discover'd but exposed and laid open to the view of the World and not only so but to have every Circumstance examin'd and every Action scanned and that by the great Judge of all the World whom nothing can escape nothing can deceive nothing can withstand whose Justice is inflexible whose Knowledge is incomprehensible whose Power is irresistible and whose Vengeance is insuppoâ—table This we cannot but imagine must strike an awe and terrour into the Minds of Men when they are pursuing the Pleasures of Sin that for all these things God will bring them into Judgment But notwithstanding these and many other Expressions to the same purpose in Scripture wherein God hath declared that he will certainly Judge the World in Righteousness at the Great Day that the Secrets of all hearts shall then be disclosed that we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ and that God will render to every Man according to his Deeds And notwithstanding it is a thing in it self very reasonable from the Consideration of God's Justice and Providence and the Nature and Consequences of good and evil Actions yet the generality of Mankind go on as secure and careless as if there were no such thing or that they ought not to be concerned about it Therefore I shall not spend time in the Proof of that which I take for granted you all believe and I am sure have Reason so to do but I shall enquire into these things which are most practical and therefore proper for our Consideration at this Time 1. How a
the least Reflection or Consideration would make them see how bad their condition is For they have no true Sense of God or Religion at all they have no serious thoughts or apprehensions of Divine and Spiritual things this World they pretend to know something of and have too great an Esteem of the Vanities and Pleasures of it for these wholly take up their Hearts and Time and they have a savour and relish for any thing that tends to their Greatness or Honour or Entertainment of their Appetites or Fancies here buâ— if we speak to them of another World of God and Heaven and a Spiritual Disposition of Soul either they look on us with Amazement as if they were insensible of such things or else with Scorn and Contempt as if we went about to deceive them Alas They are too wise to be imposed upon by us and they have other things to mind I am sure not greater or weightier which take up all their Time and so what through the Business and the Impertinencies of this World their Time passeth away as a Table that is told and as though it were a pleasant Tale they are troubled only to think it will be so soon at an End But these are not the Persons who require any such Care to pass a right Judgment upon them for they can pretend to nothing that is spiritual as to the Tempers and Dispositions of their Minds and therefore such as these must be set aside for it is too apparent that they are only sensual and carnally minded But as the Papists distinguish of the Body of Christ so may we of the carnal Mind there is a gross and Capernaitical Sense and there is a more refined and if I may use the Expression a more Spiritual Sense of it For altho' it be a great Absurdity in them to suppose that a meer Body can be after the Manner of a Spirit yet it is not so to suppose a Carnal Mind to have a Mixture of some Spiritual Qualities and Dispositions in it And this makes the difference so much harder to be perceived between the carnally and spiritually minded since there are the same Faculties of Perception Reasoning and Application in both and the same common Principles of Religion may be owned by both which may in Reason be supposed to make some Impression on the Minds of the more ingenuous Part of Mankind who are not given over to such a Reprobate Sense as the former were Now how to distinguish between frequent good Impressions on the Mind and an habitual Temper and Disposition is not so easie to all who are concerned to distinguish them And yet a Person may be throughly convinced of his Sins and tremble at the Apprehension of the Justice and Severity of God against them he may have many Checks and Reluctancies of Conscience while he goes on to commit them he may sigh and groan and lament under the wretchedness of his Condition by his Love of Sin and yet may love his Sins all the while more than God or Heaven or any thing in Competition with them The difference doth not lie in the Nature or Number of the Impressions from without but in the inward Principle of Action A Cistern may be full of Water falling down from Heaven which may run as long as that holds which fell into it but a Spring hath it rising up within and so continues running when the other is spent A carnal Mind may have many Spiritual Convictions and good Motions and Inclinations but after a time they wear off and leave no lasting Effect behind them but where there is a Spring in the Soul there is a fresh and continual Supply of such Inclinations as keep up a constant Course of a Spiritual Life which our Saviour calls Rivers of living Water I confess it is hard to determine what a Habit or Principle abiding in our Minds is yet the Scripture doth evidently suppose such a thing when it speaks of the New Birth and the New Life and the New Creature and the Children of God all which are very insignificant Terms if there be not under them something answerable to the First Principles of Life and if there be not a Divine Spirit dwelling and acting in the Souls of good Men and raising them up above carnal and sensual Objects to things Divine and Spiritual and carrying them through the Passage of this World so as to prepare them for a better But yet there may be many things which carry some Resemblance to this Principle within which come not up to it There may be such Principles of Education and good Manners such Awakenings of Conscience such a Strength of Natural Reason and common Ingenuity as may carry one on to do some very good things and yet he may fall short of having a true Principle of Spiritual Life in him But then there must be another Principle within which contradicts this and prevails over it and carries him on to the Love of Sin which proves too strong for the Love of God and the due Regard to Spiritual things The Result of this Discourse is since the Carnal Mind is not to be taken meerly for such a one which stands out in opposition to the Gospel nor for such a one which is insensible of Spiritual things but such as may consist with a common Profession of Religion and have the same Convictions and good Impressions which others have it doth require a more than ordinary Acquaintance with our selves to be able to judge aright whether the Temper of our Minds be Carnal or Spiritual 2. But this is not all for since there is so great a Mixture of Good and Evil in the better sort of Mankind there is required not barely Knowledge of our selves but a good Judgment too to adjust the Proportions of Good and Evil in particular Persons so as to be able to judge whether we are carnally or spiritually minded For as those who are Carnal while they follow their carnal Inclinations may have many inward Strugglings by spiritual Convictions so those who are spiritually minded may meet with many Combats from the Flesh which may be troublesome where it cannot prevail But there is a great difference between the Spirit struggling against the Flesh in the carnally minded and the Flesh struggling against the Spirit in those who are spiritually minded For where there is no perfect Victory there will be some Opposition and the best have so many Failings to complain of in this World so many Infirmities and Defects in their good Actions so many Passions not brought into their due Order so many Omissions of Personal and Relative Duties such Variety of Tempers and Weakness of Resolution such Coldness in Devotion and unreasonable Dejections of Mind so many unaccountable Fears and such dreadfull Apprehensions of Death and the Consequences of it that these things must make great Abatements as to such as are truly spiritually minded But by all these things the
enjoying themselves and being full of Noise and Confidence and appear to be all Miâ—th and good Humour But there is another Account to be taken of these things If Men could look within and see all the secret Misgivings the inward Horrours of Conscience the Impatience and Dissatisfaction they have when they seriously reflect on their evil Courses it would quite alter their Apprehensions of these things and make them conclude with the Roman Orator That one Day spent according to the Rules of Vertue were to be preferr'd before everlasting Debaucheries And he was no Fooâ— no Pedant no mean and contemptible Person who said this but a Man of Wit and Sense of Quality and Experience who had Opportunities and Means enough to have pursued the most sensual and voluptuous Course of Liâ—e which yet we see out of Judgment and Choice he despised and preferr'd a far shorter Life according to the Rules of Vertue before a vicious Immortality And yet how short were the Incouragements to a good Life and the Dissuasives from Sin among the best of them in Comparison of what we all â—now now by the Gospel of Christ They went no farther than meer Natural Reason and the common Sense of Mankind carried them but we profess to believe the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of Men and that there will be a great and terrible Day wherein Men must receive according to their Works whether they be Good or Evil. And will not this dreadfull Consideration awaken the drowsie and secure Sinner and make him look about him betimes while there is yet any hopes of Mercy Will he not become so wise at least as to enter into the Consideration of his Ways and to look back on the former Course of his Life to examine and compare that with the Law of God by which he must be judged And if we have but Patience to do this he will have no farther Patience with himself for being guilty of such unspeakable Folly He will abhorr himself for all his sensual and sinfull Delights which will turn into the greatest Bitterness and Anguish to his Soul He will lament his Folly and Wickedness with the deepest Sorrow and take up sincere and firm Resolutions to return no more to the Practise of them And if this be the Result as it ought to be of all the distinguishing sinfull Pleasures of a carnal Mind I leave it to the most impartial Mind to resolve whether there will be the least Advantage by pursuing them 2. But we have too great Reason to suppose that Men may harden themselves to such a Degree of Wickedness as to be insensible of the Folly of it and to mock at those who go about to reprove them for it Such as these are at ease because they have no Sense of their Condition but so are those in a Lethargy Is their Case therefore to be envied or compared with those in Health altho' more sensible of Pain and Danger Who seem to be better pleased at sometimes and transported with their own Imaginations than Men in a Frenzy And yet no Man thinks their Condition happier for it There is a sort of Moral Frenzy which possesses some part of Mankind who are not only extravagant in their Actions but assume such a Degree of Confidence in committing them as though the wise Men of all Ages had been the only remarkable Fools in it But it is no such easie Matter to run down the Principles of Vertue and Religion they have stood the Shock of all the Sarcasms and Reproaches of former Times and there is still nothing at the Bottom of all the Scorn and Contempt that is cast upon them but a carnal and profane Temper of Mind which may bear them up for a while but it will be sure to end in everlasting Confusion and then they will find what they were so unwilling to believe That to be carnally minded is Death Not a meer State of Insensibility but the worst kind of Death A Death of perpetual Horrour and Torment A Death without the Power of Dying and yet with a perpetual Desire of it A Death whose Sting can never be taken out and whose Terror is said to be as everlasting as the Joys of Heaven And shall not the Apprehension of such a Death as this so dreadfull so unavoidable so insupportable make the greatest Sinners to tremble and be confounded at the Apprehension of it And if once such Thoughts break into their Minds farewell then to all the imaginary Pleasure and Satisfaction of a carnal Mind for it must sink it into the Confusion if not the Despair of Hell 2. But I have hitherto represented the Disadvantages of one side but are there not such on the other too Some are too apt to think a spiritual Mind to be nothing but a disorder'd Fancy and melancholy Imaginations of invisible things If this were all it were so far from being Life and Peace that there could be no real Satisfaction about it But a spiritual Mind is truly the most desirable thing we aâ—e capable of in this World For it is the best Improvement of our Minds which are Spiritual It is the purging and refining them from the Dross and Corruption which debased them It is the advancing them towards the Divine Nature by a gradual Participation of it It is the raising them above the carnal Delights and the sollicitous Cares and perplexing Fears of this World and fitting them for a perpetual Conversation with Divine and Spiritual Objects And what then can be more agreeable to the best Part of our selves here than to have a Mind so disengaged from this World and so fit for a better So that we may be content to take a view of the Worst which can be supposed as to Disadvantage here which is that good Men may be under uneequal Circumstances as to their Condition in this Life that is when the regarding another World more than this may make their outward Condition moâ—e uneasie here than it might have been if they had follow'd only the Dictates of a carnal Mind There are two sorts of Troubles we are to expect in this World 1. Such as we bring upon our selves by our own Acts 2. Such as are common to all Mankind In both these the spiritual Mind hath the Advantage 1. As to such which Men bring upon themselves Let this be supposed as it ought to be when God pleases among Christians who are to follow Christ in taking up his Cross Is there any thing in this which overthrows the Advantage of a spiritual Mind above a carnal Can a carnal Mind secure Men from Pains and Diseases from Losses and Disappointments Nay doth not the Pursuit of carnal Pleasures bring more Troubles upon Men in this Life than the Case of Persecution doth upon the best Christians If the loathsome Diseases the reproachfull and untimely Deaths which of all things ought to be most avoided by such who
Power that they shall become as Spiritual as Bodies can be i. e. without corruption and decay without Weariness and Pain without any of those Infirmities which make Life so uneasie here Sometimes here the Mind hath such a load upon it that makes the Body sink under its weight but there the perfect Ease and Tranquility of the Mind will give a new Life and Vigour to the Body Here the most refined Pleasures of Life are such which arise from a brisk and uniform Motion of the Animal Spirits but then the Spirit and Joy of another World will afford such Delights as infinitely exceed our present Imagination Such Delights which shall be pure and constant without Interruption and without End For in that glorious Presence of God there is fulness of Joy and at his right hand are Pleasures for evermore SERMON XIII Preached at WORCESTER August the 17th 1690. Eccles. VII 16. Be not Righteous overmuch neither make thy self â—over wise Why shouldst thou destroy thy self BE not Righteous overmuch Can there be the least Danger of that in such a corrupt and degenerate Age as we live in And if our Preaching ought to be about the most seasonable Duties and the most dangerous Sins one would think this should be one of the last Texts in Scripture we should have occasion to Preach upon But such an Imagination arises from not understanding the Scope and Design of these words For if Righteousness were to be taken here for that which Solomon calls so viz. The true fear of God it would be hard to reconcile him to himself and these Expressions with the main Design of this Book For after all the Representations he hath made of the Good and Evil of this Life he concludes thus Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole Matter fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole Duty of Man And he gives a most weighty Reason for it for God shall bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil But then how can any Man fear God and keep his Commandments too much And the wise Man saith The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding But how can any be over wise in the knowledge of God and doing his Will And the righteous Man is generally taken by Solomon for a truly good Man so Ver. 15. There is a just Man that perisheth in his Righteousness and there is a wicked Man that prolongeth his Life in his Wickedness where the Opposition is plain between a righteous and a wicked Man How then can any one be righteous overmuch And if not what is the meaning of these words Some think that they are spoken in the Person of an Epicurean who despised all Religion and thought it useful for nothing but to make Mens Lives uncomfortable to them and so to shorten their days and that the next Verses are an answer to them by shewing that Wickedness doth much rather do it There is a Truth and that very considerable in this Sense viz. that Wickedness doth Men more mischief as to this World than the most strict and severe Piety which altho' it seems uneasie to the Body yet it is far from being so destructive to it as Wickedness is and rather tends to support it by taking off all such Extravagancies which are so apt to shorten and destroy Mens Lives by their procuring Peace and Satisfaction But I cannot see how this comes in as spoken by another Person and the only Reason of it is the Supposition that taking them otherwise they are not capable of a true and proper Sense But there may be several Accounts given of them if we take them as spoken by Solomon in his own Name 1. With respect to Providence 2. To Religion 3. To moral Righteousness and Wisdom 1. They must seem to refer to the Method of God's dealing with good and bad Men in this World of which he spake Verse 15. Be not too strict and severe in passing Judgment on God's Providence be not more righteous and wise than God is do not think you could govern the World better than he doth pry not too far into those Mysteries which are too deep for you why shouldst thou confound thy self So some interpret the latter words 2. They may refer to Religion but then they are not to be understood of what is truly and really so but of what passes in the World for it and Men may esteem themselves very much for the sake of it For although Men cannot exceed in the main and fundamental Duties of Religion in the Belief and Fear and Love of God yet they may and often do mistake in the Nature and Measures and Bounds of what they account Duties of Religion 3. They may be taken in a moral Sence for that Righteousness which Men are to shew towards each other both in Judgment and Practise and for that Wisdom which Mankind is capable of as a moral Vertue and in both these there are extremes to be avoided and so they are not to be righteous overmuch nor to make themselves over wise There are Three things therefore to be spoken to for clearing the Sense of these words 1. How we may exceed our Bounds concerning the Righteousness and Wisdom of Providence 2. How with respect to Religion 3. How with respect to moral Righteousness and Wisdom 1. With respect to Providence The great Difficulty lies in what the wise Man saith afterwards That the righteous and the wise and their Works are in the hand of God no Man knoweth Love or Hatred by all that is before him All things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked c. Now this seems hard to reconcile to the Justice and Wisdom of Providence But we have sufficient Reason to forbear censuring and prying too far into these Matters from these Considerations 1. God is not accountable to us for what he doth The Psalmist tells us God's Judgments are a great deep and therefore it is a vain thing for us to pretend to go to the bottom of them St. Paul who had great Advantages above others Crys out How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out We ought rather to admire than to search into what he declares unsearchable and to sit down patient under our Ignorance when he saith his Ways are pastâ— finding out The wise and righteous God hath Reasons and Methods of Acting far above our reach and we do but shew our own Folly when we pretend to give an account of them 2. We have reason to be satisfied that his Providence is Righteous and Wise although we cannot comprehend it For as Abraham said in this Case Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right He who is the great and wise God who loveth Righteousness and hateth Iniquity cannot Act
think that God is pleased meerly with the torment we put our selves to What Conceptions must we have of God then I do not deny but reason teaches us to moderate our Appetites and not to indanger our sensual Inclinations to Rest and Ease too much because of ill Consequences But there is a great deal of difference between a moral Government of our selves and making those things a part of Religion and imagining that God is pleased with our meer doing them Which was the Principle which carried the Idolaters of old to Sacrifice their Children to Molochi because God would be best pleased with that which was the most against their natural Inclination to do 3. That God is more pleased with Duties of Worship than with moral Duties From hence they think to make amends for the Miscarriages of their Lives by diligence in Religious Duties This was the Foundation of Pharisaism i. e. of Hypocrisie among the Jews Their Principle was That God valued nothing so much as his own immediate Service and therefore they took great Care about that and what related to it but for Justice and Mercy and Charity they seemed to have very little regard to them and thought God was so pleased with their Zeal for his Service that he would easily pass by other Faults And no doubt one of their great Quarrels against our Saviour was delivering the contrary Doctrine that God preferr'd Mercy before Sacrifice and that Men ought to be reconciled to their Brother before they offer'd their Gift at the Altar But still Men are prone to go on in the same way and to hope that some more than ordinary Devotion will make amends for their Sins and then it is no wonder to see such over devout at some times who are very loose and careless at others 4. That God takes more notice of the Duties we perform than of our manner of doing them As though he rather number'd than weighed them And no wonder if such be more frequent and diligent than others in them they think they can never exceed therein though they neglect some necessary Duties as to themselves or Families the mean time The Service of God ought not to be neglected for that argues a contempt of Religion but neither ought we to neglect the Duties of our Calling for that argues a mis-understanding Religion as though we did not Serve God when we did our Duties therein It is no hard Matter to allot the several proportions of time to both if Men consider their several Obligations For as the Pretence of worldly Business ought not to excuse Men in their neglect of God's Worship so neither ought the Pretence of God's Service to justifie Men in the neglect of their Callings God did not require of the Jews to be constant in his Temple from all parts for then they could never have subsisted but at the solemn Feasts he strictly required it and every Week where-ever they were they were to keep Holy the Sabbath day Persons that were more at leisure and had greater Conveniences spent more time in their Devotion than others Thus Anna departed not from the Temple but served God therein night and day But this was not a Matter of strict Obligation to others although it shewed an excellent Temper of Mind in her But in Case of such frequent returns of Devotion there must be great Care least that abate the Fervency and what was first taken up for Devotion come to be a meer Custom and we flatter our selves that God will accept the bare Duties without the Life and Spirit of them 3. These words may be taken in a Moral Sense for that Righteousness which respects other Men and that is twofold 1. Of Judgment 2. Of Practice 1. Of Judgment concerning the Actions and Designs of others i. e. be not too ready to censure and condemn them why shouldst thou destroy thy self i. e. Why shouldst thou bring the same Severity upon thy self which thou usest towards others according to that of our Saviour Judge not that ye be not judged c. Two things to be spoken to for clearing this Point 1. How Men are too Righteous in this Matter 2. What Mischief this brings upon them 1. How Men are Righteous overmuch in this Matter 1. Not in passing a true Judgment upon the Actions of others For to do otherwise proceeds from want of Judgment and Righteousness Of Judgment if we do not see the difference of Good and Evil Of Righteousness if we will not As far as we are concerned we are not to suffer our Passions to blind our Judgments not to think that to be a Vertue in one which we should account a Vice in another nor to call that an Infirmity in one which we should judge to be Wilfulness and Presumption in another 2. Not in keeping our selves from being deceived by the false Pretences of others It is possible for Men to make use of this very Saying to abuse the Credulity of well meaning Persons and to account the discerning of Spirits as far as it lies within our reach to be assuming too great a Power of Judging But our Saviour thought it not inconsistent with his Precept of not Judging to expose the Hypocrisie of the Scribes and Pharisees but then he certainly knew it to be Hypocrisie in them And as far as we are certain by the Rules which he hath given us we may do the same thing But wherein then lies being Righteous overmuch 1. In not making allowance for the common Infirmities of Mankind which do not only consist in the Imperfections of good Actions but in such Failings which human Nature is subject to in this State notwithstanding our greatest Care to avoid them If Persons will be severe upon others for such things as these are and condemn all Religion as meer Shew and Hypocrisie in them on that account this is being Righteous overmuch For they do not make the same allowance which God doth and without which it were a vain thing to hope for Salvation For if God should be so exact to mark what is done amiss by us who can stand before him And if we expect such an allowance to be made to our selves what reason have we not to make it to others At least so far as not to condemn them for want of Sincerity in the main because of some such Infirmities How can we righteously judge them whom God will not judge We must in judging others make allowance for the Weakness of Judgment and Strength of Passion which we find often accompanied with a real Tenderness of Conscience I confess it is very hard to believe where we see a great appearance of Spiritual Pride a neglect of moral Duties Censoriousness towards others Impatience of Contradiction c. that there is a real Tenderness of Conscience joyned with them But yet some have stronger Convictions of some Duties than they have of others and if they did Act against their Consciences in those Matters they
should resist that which they account the clearest light they have and in so doing they must cast off the immediate Guidance of their Consciences which might have very bad Effects as to the Force and Power of Concience in other things I am afraid many do not impartially weigh and consider things as they ought but when or where did the Generality of Mankind do so he thinks such Scruples are weak and ought to be laid aside but they say they cannot overcome them and they have prayed and searched and used the best means and cannot be satisfied and what can they now do Conscience is really a nice and tender thing and ought not to be handled roughly and severely considering how unaccountable sometimes to others the real Scruples of some Consciences are Although Conscience be a Man's Judgment in order to Practice yet there may be a great strictness of Conscience where there is no strictness of Judgment and Conscience in some Cases is more nice for want of Judgment But what then must we condemn all those who labour under that Distemper And that you count want of Judgment in him he may look on as want of Sincerity in you We have been so long censuring and condemning each other for such things that God seems by his wife Providence to bring the Plea of Scruples of Conscience round that we may learn more Tenderness to each other By which we see that some may really scruple that which others wonder at and that Mens Consciences are not to be measur'd by the same Light for that is a Matter of Admiration to one which is of Scruple to another The best use we can make of this is to pity the Infirmities of Mankind and of those most who are under the Conduct of a mis-guided Conscience because whatever the Action be their Design and Intention is honest and good 2. In putting the worst Construction upon Mens Actions which is directly contrary to that Charity St. Paul so much commends for that not only bears the worst and hopes for the best but where a thing is capable of being made better by a favourable Sense it is ready to give it Now there are many things Men do which are accounted good or evil according to the Intention of the doer of them I do not say That alters the Nature of the Action in it self for what God commands is Good and what he forbids is Evil whatever Mens Intentions be but although a good Intention cannot make a bad Action good yet a bad Intention may make a good Action evil not in it self but to him that doth it And so there are two ways Men may exceed in judging 1. In making no Abatement in an evil Action as to the Person for the goodness of his Intention For altho ' the Action be not good by it yet it is so much less evil and in doubtful Cases it takes much from the Guilt although not where the Command is plain as in the Case of Saul 2. In charging Persons with a bad Intention in a good Action where there is no plain Evidence for then it is but Suspicion and an uncharitable Judgment Our Saviour might justly charge the Pharisees with this as to their Alms and Prayers because he knew their Hearts They laid them open enough to others by their Asfectation and where that is gross and notorious it were weakness and not charity to judge otherwise But where we have no ground for it to judge Men to Act upon bad Principles is being Righteous overmuch or rather being unrighteous and uncharitable 3. In judging Mens Condition towards God from some particular Actions although contrary to the general Course of them Think with your selves what strange and mistaken Judgments you should have past upon David and Ahab if you had been privy to the Adultery and Murder of the one and had seen the Humiliation of the other If you had seen Ahab in his Mortification when he fasted and put on Sackcloth and humbled himself you would have thought him a Saint for he seemed to have been in good earnest for the time And if you had judged of David by those particular Actions you must have concluded him a very bad Man but both these Conclusions had been false because taken up upon too slight and narrow an Inspection The same Case had been as to St. Peter's denial and the Repentance of Judas We must not form our Judgments of others by single and sudden Actions which Persons may fall into by Surprize or sudden Accidents and conclude all the rest to be like but we are to suspend our thoughts for the present and to weigh and compare the Course of a Man's Actions together For so God will judge Mankind and so ought we to judge of one another 4. In judging of Mens spiritual Estate from outward Afflictions which befall them Thus Job's Friends were righteous overmuch when they charged him so deep with Hypocrisie because his Calamities were extraordinary It is natural for such who believe Providence to interpret God's Actions towards Men are either as Marks of his Approbation or Displeasure But God hath no where declared so much and we have no Reason to pass such a Judgment on Men since the wise Man saith No Man can know Love or Hatred by the things which are before him And there is a just Man who perisheth in his Righteousness and a wicked Man that prolongeth his Life in his Wickedness If such had seen a just Man suffering to such a Degree they must have inferr'd that he was Guilty of some secret Wickedness which made God deal so hardly with him but the wise Man saith this was to be Righteous overmuch for God is not to Act according to our Measures He knows what is best and fittest for Men to undergo and he never Acts so as they shall have Cause to complain at last There is a just Man to whom it happeneth according to the work of the Wicked and there is a wicked Man unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the Righteous Therefore it is very unrighteous for us to pronounce any wicked meerly because they undergo greater Sufferings and more pinching Calamities than others There is no judging a Child to be out of his Fathers Love because he corrects him for his Faults as long as there is hopes of Amendment he will do it and when there is none he lets him alone to take his Course but he is then more displeased than ever 5. In judging too easily concerning the Faults and Mis-carriages of others Men shew their severity to others and partiality to themselves this way they think themselves hardly dealt with to be censur'd upon vain and idle Reports and yet they are too apt to do the same thing by others There is a Justice we ought to shew to the Reputation of others which lies here in doing as we think reasonable as others should do by us Some cannot think so
me for my Sins and yet I had no heart to repent of them When I could not but see my danger and yet was unwilling to come out of it I can never be sufficiently thankfull for so great a Mercy as his bringing me to my self hath been I had gone on in the same secure stupid senseless Condition that others lie in if he had not throughly awaken'd me and roused me out of my impenitent State How dreadfull had my Condition for ever been if my first awakening had been in the Flames of Hell Nothing but infinite Goodness and Patience would have waited so long for the Repentance of such an Offender as I have been I have sinned so often that I am ashamed to think of the Number of my Transgressions so deeply that I am confounded at the thoughts of them so foolishly that I am unworthy to be called thy Son who have acted so unlike thy Children so the prodigal Son here speaks to his Father And if thou wouldst admit me but to the meanest Condition of thy Servants I shall ever esteem it as the greatest Privilege of my Life and endeavour to serve Thee for the future tho' in the lowest Capacity Thus the repenting Prodigal goes on v 19. And in a suitable Manner every true Penitent behaves himself towards God with great Humility and a deep Sense of his own Unworthiness and is thereby rendred more capable of Divine Favour For God reâ—steth the proud but giveth grace to the humble And therefore it is very agreeable to infinite Wisdom and Goodness to shew pity towards a truly humble and penitent Sinner For a broken and contrite heart he will not despise 3. If God were not so full of Compassion to penitent Sinners there would have been no incouragement for Sinners to repent but they must have sunk into everlasting Despair For if God should forgive none that Sin then all Mankind must be condemned to Eternal Misery for all have sinned and there is not a just Man upon Earth who sinneth not and so the best and worst and all forts of Sinners must here suffer together which would have taken away all the Notion of any such thing as Mercy and Clemency in God towards Mankind But if we set bounds to it as to some particular kinds and degrees of sinning we limit that which is infinite we determine what we know not viz. how far God's Mercy doth extend we destroy the Power of Divine Grace in changing and reforming the worst of Men. But the Scriture hath recorded some remarkable Instances of great Sinners who have been great Penitents and upon that have been pardon'd such as Manasses and some others that no penitent Sinner might be discouraged in the Work of Repentance For a true Penitent searching to the bottom and setting all his Sins before him with their several Aggravations can be kept from Despair by nothing less than the Infinite Mercy of God to those who truly repent 4. Because there is nothing so provoking in Sin as obstinate Impenitency and Continuance in it It is true God hates all Sin for its own sake but not all equally some Sins being of a higher Nature than others are being against plainer Light stronger Convictions more easie Commands stricter Obligations than others are but yet it is the Temper of a Sinner's Mind which is most provoking when Sins are committed not through Infirmity or sudden Surprize or a violent Temptation but habitually knowingly wilfully especially when they are done in Contempt of God and his Laws and with an obstinate Resolution to continue in the Practice of them This is so provoking to God that the chief Reason of the severe Punishments of Sinners in another World is taken from thence because God hates obstinate and impenitent Sinners And thus he will by no means acquit the Guilty There is a Sin unto death saith St. John and there is a Sin not unto death There is a Sin unto death which Christ hath said he will never pardon and that is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost a Sin which none who do truly own Christianity are capable of committing But is there then no Sin unto death to them Yes it is possible for Men who have clear Convictions in their minds of the Truth of the Gospel to act so plainly and wilfully and directly against it as either to provoke God to take them away by an extraordinary Judgment and so it is properly a Sin unto death or to withdraw his Grace from them and leave them to the hardness of their own Hearts and so it becomes a Sin unto a Spiritual death But besides these Cases every wilfull Sinner who adds Impenitency to his Sin commits the Sin unto death because there is no other Condition of Pardon allow'd by the Gospel without true Repentance How infinite is the Goodness of God that excludes no Sinners from the hopes of Pardon who have a heart to repent sinâ—erely of their Sins And how just is God in the final Punishment of those Sinners who still go on in their Sins and refuse to repent after all the Invitations and Incouragements which are given them to that End Can we in Reason suppose that God should stoop lower towards Sinners than to offer them pardon of former Sins if they do repent and to tell them they must expect no Mercy in another World if they do not repent But suppose we are come thus far that we are convinced we must repent what Course and Method must we take in order to it Of this briefly and so to conclude Secondly I know no better than to follow the Example of the prodigal Son here And in the first place to form a present sincere fixed and peremptory Resolution of doâ—ng it I will arise and go to my Father c. If we suffer Convictions to cool upon our Minds the force and spirit of them will soon be gone It hath been of late observed by the strictest Enquirers into Nature that the beginnings of Life are very small and hardly discernible It is but as a spark that appears and may easily be exstinguished but if it be incouraged by a continual heat a wonderfull Alteration soon follows and the distinct parts begin to be formed the first which is discerned is the Eye but the Fountain of Life is in the Heart and when the Course of the Bloud is there setled the other parts come to their due formation with greater quickness This may be a Representation of the first Beginnings of Spiritual Life that which answers to the Eye is the Conviction of the Mind where the inward Change first appears that which answers to the Heart is Resolution and when that is fixed a mighty Reformation will soon follow But Spiritual Life as well as Natural is in its first Beginnings a very nice and tender thing it may be easily stopt and very hardly recovered It is therefore of very great Concernment to keep up the Warmth of our
Apostle calls it an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you Such is the Condition of the World without us here and of the Passions and Infirmities within us that it is a vain thing to expect a true Happiness to be enjoyed in this Life the utmost we can hope for is to be prepared for a better and God knows there is difficulty enough in that We have Hearts so vain and sensual so addicted to the Pleasures and Impertinencies of this World so prepossessed with the Objects of Sense that it is no easie Matter to bring them so much as in earnest to consider of another World But it is yet harder to fix the Thoughts of it upon our Mindâ— so as to make a deep Impression upon them as they must do if we make the Happiness of Heaven our chief End and Design Supposing that Paradise were still upon Earth in its first Glory and to be found by the Description which Moses gives of it a Man may think often concerning it where it lies what the Rivers are by which it is to be discovered but all this amounts but to a mere Speculation But suppose that he takes up a Resolution to go thither what other kind of thoughts hath he then about it as to the Truth and Certainty of the Place and the Way that leads thither and the Difficulties he is like to meet with Which make another kind of Impression than the former dry Speculation did If a Man doth not think Heaven worth all the Pains and Difficulties which lie in our way to it he never yet had one serious and becoming thought concerning it For the Happiness proposed is really so great and invaluable that the more we think of it the more we shall esteem it and the more we shall despise and triumph over the greatest Difficulties in order to it it being no less than the perfect Enjoyment of the most perfect Good in a most perfect State of Life and nothing can be desired by humane Nature greater than this 2. The Difficulties in our Way to Salvation are not such but we may reasonably hope to overcome them i. e. if we set our selves about it otherwise a very mean Difficulty will appear too great for us Therefore we must suppose not only a willing Mind but a firm Resolution to do what lies in us And there are two things to shew that we may hope to overcome them 1. That the most difficult Duties are in themselves reasonable to be performed by us 2. That God offers his gracious Assistance for the performance of them 1. That the most difficult Duties are in themselves reasonable I mean such whose Difficulty doth not arise from accidental outward Circumstances but from a Respect to the present State and Condition of humane Nature Such as 1. True Repentance which is one of the hardest Works of a Man's life when he hath been long engaged in a Course of sinning against Conscience It is not hard for such a one to be made sensible that he hath done amiss for he that acts against his Judgment is as Aristotle observes apt to repent i. e. to find fault with himself for his own Actions and to resolve to amend There is a sort of Displeasure against Sin which is consistent with the Practice of it which is called by the Casuists Attritio Impoenitentium but they say it is without a Purpose of forsaking it if there be such a Purpose that they say is Attritio Poenitentium but if it be an ineffectual Purpose the Scripture no where calls it Repentance For as long as the habitual Practice continues it is certain that Man's love to his Sin exceeds his Hatred of it and what Repentance can that be which is consistent with a prevailing Love of Sin When Persons were first made Christians their Repentance was easily discerned whether true or false because it was a publick and solemn Renunciation of all their former Sins but when Men have accustomed themselves to sin under a Profession to renounce their Sins it is a harder Matter to find out the Sincerity of their Repentance as to those Sins And here a difference must be made as to the Nature and Kind of Sins For there are some Sins which all agree to be Sins yet it is a hard Matter to convince Persons that they are guilty of them such as Hypocrisie Schism and Idolatry which Men will find something to excuse themselves from notwithstanding the clearest Evidence against them Some are such Strangers to themselves that they do not suspect themselves for those Sins which others easily discern in them as is common in the Case of Pride and Envy and Covetousness and Superstition It cannot be supposed that Persons should so particularly repent of such Sins which they are not sensible of but where Self-love blinds it cannot excuse And where such evil Habits prevail Persons must repent and search and examine themselves in order to a particular Repentance There are other Sins which are really perpetual Burthens to a good Mind but it knows not how to get rid of them with the utmost Care such as inward Motions to Sin sudden Heats and Surprises mixt Infirmities Coldness in Devotion Distractions in Prayer and many Omissions of Personal Duties in such Cases as these if we do not allow Sincerity of Repentance without through Amendment we make a general Repentance insignificant and make the Condition of many good Men desperate for none can be saved without true Repentance And if there can be no true Repentance without actual forsaking all such Kinds of Sins there is no such thing as true Repentance to be found But there are other Sins of a more dangerous and malignant Nature which argue a very bad Mind such as Malice and Hatred a rooted Aversion to what is Good and a strong Inclination to Evil. There are some Sins that are gross and notorious of which St. Paul saith The lusts of the Flesh are manifest i. e. such Sins are easily known to be Sins and Men's Consciences condemn them even while they commit them such as Murther Adultery Intemperance Injustice Perjury and such like Of which the Apostle after declares That they who do such things shall never come to Heaven Therefore as to them such a Repentance is necessary as implies not merely a dislike and sorrow for them but a thorough Change of a Man's Mind and the Course of his Life with respect to them And surely it is no easie Matter to new mold the Temper of ones Mind and to turn the Tide of our Actions to break off our beloved Sins and to bring forth Fruits worthy of Repentance This is indeed a hard Work but yet it is a most reasonable Work It is hard but it is like the taking violent Physick in some Diseases where the Humour must be purged out or the Party must die the Uneasiness iâ— not to be considered but the Necessity and in
they have not the Heart and Courage to examine them whether they be reasonable or not but rather choose to return to their former Opiates than undergo the trouble of an effectual Cure by a hearty Repentance and coming to themselves as the prodigal Son in the Parable did when his Hardship had brought him to Consideration We do not know what had become of him if he had been wise and frugal in his Pleasures if he had taken care of a good Stock and a plentifull Subsistence but he first came to be pinched with want before he was awakened to repent But we have in Scripture a more remarkable Instance of the stupifying Nature of sensual Pleasures and that was in David after his Sins of Adultery and Murther It is a wonder how a Man of such a tender Conscience in other things should continue so long under the Guilt of these Enormities without being awakened to Repentance Did he not know these to be great Sins And did not his Conscience charge him with the Guilt of them How came he then to need a Prophet to be sent to him and to deal so plainly with him as to tell him Thou art the Man But this is a plain Evidence how much the Pleasures of Sin are apt to stupifie Men's Consciences so far that unless God by his Grace be pleased to awaken them thoroughly they never come to a sincere and hearty Repentance David saw nothing more as to the Guilt of his Sins when he penn'd his 51st Psalm than his own Reason and Natural Conscience might inform him before but he had quite another Sense of his Sins then his Heart was broken and his Soul wounded under the Apprehension of God's Displeasure and this makes him pray so earnestly and so importunately to God for the Pardon of his Sins And if it were thus in the case of a Man otherwise after God's own heart i. e. afraid of offending him and carefull to please him what may we imagine it to be in those who in the time of Youth walk in the way of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes i. e. allowing themselves in all sensual Inclinations and pursuing carnal Delights so far till they have lost all Sense of God and another World and such as these nothing but the powerfull Influences of Divine Grace can awaken and recover 3. The third Reason is A General Presumption upon God's Mercy The first thing which Sinners in the Heat of their Youth and Pursuit of their Lusts aim at is to think as little as may be of what they are doing or what will be the Consequence of their Actions For every thought of themselves is very uneasie to them and every thought of God is much more so therefore they drive away all such Thoughts by one Means or other by Sleep Diversion Company and such publick Entertainments as rather heighten and inflame their Vices than correct them If all this will not do but there will be some melancholy Hours wherein Conscience begins to rouze it self and to awaken the Sinner to some Sense of his Folly then he is ready to hearken with Pleasure to any Raileries against Religion and Morality and admires the Wit of any one who dares say a bold and sharp thing against the Wisdom of all Ages and of the best Men in them And one or two such Sayings without Proof are cried up as far beyond the best Rules of Morality or the Evidence of natural and revealed Religion Any Sceptical Disputes are sufficient Demonstrations to them and the most unreasonable Cavils against Religion are embraced because against the thing they hate and even a Jest against the Day of Judgment shall signifie more with them than the strongest Arguments in the World to prove it The true Reason is they love their Vices and hate every thing which makes them uneasie to them and nothing doth more so than the thoughts of a Judgment to come But suppose after all the terrible and frequent Expressions of Scripture concerning the Day of Judgment joyned with the Reasonableness of the thing do make such Impression on their Minds that they cannot wholly shake off the Fears and Apprehensions of it then their last Endeavour is to mitigate and lessen them from a General Presumption of God's Mercifull Nature and therefore they are willing to suppose that however God to keep the World in awe hath threatned them with the dreadfull Severities of the Great Day yet as a tender Father who threatens his disobedient Son in order to reclaim him with no less than disinheriting him for ever yet when it comes to Execution he may relent not from his Son's Deserts but his own Compassion so they hope or believe or are willing to do so that God at the Great Day will not proceed according to the Rigour which he hath threatned to use And to comfort themselves in these hopes they find out all possible Extenuations of their Sins If we say they had been created purely intellectual Beings free from this load of Flesh and the Inclinations which are natural to it then it had been more reasonable to have called us to a strict Account for every Action of our Lives for then every Inclination to Evil must have come from our Minds but now our Bodies corrupt and draw them aside and the Inclinations to Evil grow faster than our Reason which should check and restrain them And when those Inclinations are strongest Men have not that Judgment which is necessary to the Government of unruly Passions So that the very Frame of humane Nature seems to plead for Sins committed in the Heat and Violence of Youth Besides such is the Strictness and Purity of the Law of God and so great the Weakness and Disability the Ignorance and Inadvertency of Mankind that if God will make no Allowance for humane Frailty who can stand before his Tribunal And if any Allowance be made for Sins of Infirmity there are so many Abatements to be made for Sins committed through sudden Passion through Mistake through the unavoidable Impotency of humane Nature in this degenerate Condition that the Severity of that Day is not much to be feared This is the utmost of the Sinner's Plea against the Severity of the Day of Judgment But to shew how faulty it is I shall offer these Considerations 1. That God will certainly Judge the World in Righteousness and therefore none shall have Cause to complain of the Harshness or Severity of his Proceedings For this Righteousness is not the Rigour of Justice but that Equity which hath a Regard to the Circumstances of Actions and the Abatement and Extenuation of Faults which arise from them 2. None shall suffer at that Day but for their wilfull Impenitency and obstinate Continuance in Sin For this is not only agreeable to the Mercifull Nature of God to forgive repenting Sinners but it is one of the great Designs of the Gospel to assure Mankind of it by the
made And what Proof can be given of the Truth of a Body greater than this If they had pretended that after his Resurrection his Body was presâ—nt but after the manner of a Spirit i. e. after an invisible impalpable unintelligible manner the World would have despised their Testimony and there had been no need to have said more for rejecting it than that if Body and Spirit be to be known asunder it must be by the different Properties and therefore to confound them is to confound our knowledge of them 2. It was necessary that there should be such Witnesses who would attest what they saw which his Enemies and Murderers would not have done if he had appeared to them Can we imagine that the High Priests and Elders and his other implacable Enemies who had Blasphemously attributed his other Miracles to the Power of the Devil would immediately have been convinced upon the sight of his Body after the Resurrection No doubt by the same Reason they would have concluded it to have been an Apparition of the Devil 3. There must be some Proof of the Honesty and Sincerity of Mankind allow'd and the Apostles gave the greatest that ever Men did by their Self-denial Unanimity Courage Patience Constancy and Perseverance They almost all laid down their Laws to attest this Truth and all underwent great Persecutions for it when the Discovery of the least Fraud would not only have set them at ease but gained them a plentiful Reward And therefore Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise his Son from the Dead 2. We must consider this with Respect to the general Resurrection of the Dead What Reason can we have to think that incredible when God hath already given such an Evidence of the Possibility of the thing by the Resurrection of Christ He that can raise up one Body can raise the rest since the difficulty lies not in the number of Bodies but in the Nature of the thing Some have ridiculously question'd whether the Surface of the Earth would be large enough to hold all the Bodies of Mankind upon it at the Day of Resurrection But an ingenious Person hath demonstrated the Folly of such an Imagination And it cannot be thought a needless Exercise of Divine Power when it is in order to the general Judgment and the Resurrection of Christ was intended as a Pledge and Assurance to the World not only of that day to come but that Christ is appointed to be the Judge Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the Dead What remains then but for us to think it our greatest Concernment to live as becomes those that believe we must not only die but be raised from the Dead by the mighty Power of God and that in order to our appearing before the Judgment Seat of Christ that we may receive according to to things done in the Body whether good or bad What manner of Persons ought we then to be in all boly Conversation and Godliness What fruit had ye then saith St. Paul in those things whereof ye are now ashamed As though the bare Reflection of a Man 's own Conscience were enough to make him sensible of the Folly of Sin But what then is it to consider That those things which will not bear a severe Reflection at home shall be laid open before the Judgment Seat of Christ We are now to palliate and disguise and conceal our Follies and Weaknesses here as much as we can from our selves as well as others we would fain keep upon good Terms with our selves and use too many Arts to blind and deceive our own Consciences But alas How vain and foolish a thing is it for us to deceive our selves to our own Destruction If the Judge at the great Day would judge just as we do it would be the best Argument in the World â—or deceiving our selves But he will judge the World in Righteousness Not according to the vain Opinions Men have of themselves not according to the rash Censures or indiscreet Flatteries of others who cannot be able to judge of us as we may do of our selves And this is a Matter of the greatest Importance to us since God is pleased to leave it so much to our own Judgment That if we judge our selves we shall not be judged Let us not therefore do it carelessly partially and ineffectually but deal faitâ—fully and sincerely with our selves searching for our most secret and beloved Sins and proceed against them in such a manner as we shall wish we had done when we appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Think with your selves then how shall we then abhor those Sins of the Body which will expose both Soul and Body to the eternal Vengeance of God How shall we be ashamed to have yielded so much and so easily to the Inclinations of it against the Convictions of Reason the Checks of Conscience and the plain Commands of Scripture And therefore the thoughts of that day should have the most powerful Influence on us to keep our Bodies in subjection to our Minds and to subdue the irregular Appetites that come from them For these Bodies of ours now are not so much Companions as Traitors to our Souls holding a Correspondence with their greatest Enemies suggesting Counsels which tend to their Destruction and the Temptations which arise from them are so many and so bewitching that without a constant Care our Bodies may prove the ruin of our Souls And those who have the greatest Command over them have enough to do to keep under the Passions that arise from them which may grow troublesome when they cannot Govern and like discontented Persons be very uneasie when they are not gratified to their own Desire It is therefore a great satisfaction to the Minds of good Men to think there is a Day of Resurrection coming when their Bodies shall no longer be an â—ncumbrance or a Temptation to their Minds they shall neither hinder their Happiness nor draw them from it Thus all the dark Temptations and cloudy Vapours and disturbing Passions which arise from our Bodies now shall be scattered and dispersed and there shall be nothing but Purity Serenity and Clearness in that State For Then the righteous shall shine forth like the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father when the glorious Light within shall break through the Passages of the Body and cause as great a Splendour in it as the Sun it self would have within so narrow a Compass Thus it is said of our Saviour upon his Transfiguration That his â—ace did shine as the Sâ—â— and yet his Body then had the same Qualities that our's have now But after the Resurrection the glorified Bodies shall be so purified and refined by a Divine Spirit and
well of themselves unless they think amiss of others and such are very prying into the Faults of other Men and are pleased with hearing them because hereby they bring them on the same Level with themselves What a Satisfaction doth it seem to profane Men to find out the Miscarriages of such who pretend to Religion But are they the better or Religion the worse for them To be a Scandal to Religion is a great Aggravation of a Fault but still Religion is not to blame for it was the want of it which made them commit those Faults but where there is a desire to hear the Miscarriages of other Men and a Pleasure in relating them no doubt there is an ill Temper of Mind from whence this proceeds 6. In not using the same Measures in judging the good and the evil of other Men. The one they presently and easily believe but the other they make many Difficulties about If any evil Action be reported of a Neighbour that is presently entertained and spread abroad to his mighty disadvantage although it be at first taken up from a malicious or ill grounded Report But if a good Action be told they find out all possible ways either to lessen the Credit of the Reporter or the Nature of the Action or to find out Circumstances to exasperate it So much Malice and ill Will doth appear in the ordinary Considerations of Mankind and the Judgments they pass upon one another 7. In pronouncing concerning Mens final State in another World Which is wholly out of our reach and Capacity For that depends upon such things which it is impossible for us to know as 1. The Nature and Aggravation of Mens Sins which depend upon Circumstances we cannot know but God doth What measure of Knowledge they had what Temptations they were under what means of Resistance what Degrees of Wilfulness and Presumption there were in them 2. The Sincerity of their Repentance for those Sins We know it may be the Sins they have committed but we cannot know how much they have smarted for those Sins in secret what Agonies of Mind they have undergone for them how earnestly they have pray'd for Forgiveness and Strength against them what an inward Abhorrence and Detestation they have of them what a real Change hath been made in their Souls as to what they have loved and delighted in 3. What Failings are consistent with a general Sincerity We know a perfect Obedience is impossible therefore we must allow some or else we must send all to Hell But then how to fix the nature and number of such Failings so as to say So far he may fail and yet be sincere is impossible for us to do since we must take in those Circumstances which it is impossible for us to know 4. What things are absolutely necessary to Salvation of particular Persons Bold and presumptuous Men are very positive and daring in such Cases but such as are modest and humble dare not go farther than God hath declared Some unreasonably restrain the Possibility of Salvation to the Bounds of their own Communion but I should sooner question the Possibility of their Salvation who thus censure and condemn the rest of Mankind Which is not consistent with that Charity which the Scripture makes more necessary to Salvation than any one Communion 5. The Bounds of God's Mercy The usual Terms of it are expressed in Scripture But even that hath acquainted us that God hath not tied up himself from some extraordinary Instances of it As in the Case of the Thief on the Cross. This is no ground for Incouragement to any to put off their Repentance but it is a sufficient ground to keep us from censuring any as to their final Condition in another World 2. The Mischief they bring upon themselves by being thus severe towards others 1. This provokes the Malice of others against them who are sure to be revenged if possible on such who are so ready to condemn others and to lay open their Faults thereby to expose their Weakness or Hypocrisie Whereas Candour and Fairness makes Men willing to use the same towards those who use it to others 2. It provokes God to be severe to such as shew no Mercy towards others And so our Saviour understands it Matth. 7. 1 2. Nothing we have so much Cause to dread as the Severity of God's Judgment upon us and nothing should make us more willing to shew Kindness and Good-Will to others than to consider that God will have a regard to it in his dealing with us Especially if it appear in our Actions as well as our Words Which is the next thing to be considered 2. We may be Righteous overmuch in the moral Practice of Righteousness towards others 1. That Men may exceed herein 2. That this proves mischievous to themselves 1. That Men may exceed in Righteousness in their dealings with other Men. In the Matter of right and wrong between Party and Party Men may be Righteous overmuch viz. When Men take all the advantages which the Law gives them against others without Consideration of their Condition and Circumstances It hath been long since observed That Summum jus summa injuria the Reason whereof is That the Law being made for a whole Community cannot be so framed but it may pinch hard upon some particular Persons if it be severely pursued whose Circumstanâ—es are such as the Law never intended The Foundations of Justice saith Cicero are that no innocent Person suffer and that the common Good be maintained Where the Circumstances of Persons deserve Pity it is not Justice but Inhumanity to pursue their own Right to the ruin of others No certain Rules can be set down because Circumstances vary so much but it doth not become a good Man to insist upon a bare Right to the utter ruin of another if they are such as deserve Commiseration i. e. Poor helpless and willing to do what they are able for Satisfaction Aristotle saith That a good Man doth not pursue the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the exactness of Law but abates of his Right although he is sure he hath the Law of his side Is it then unbecoming a good Man to pursue his Right No. But he ought so to manage it as to shew he hath a regard to Equity as well as Justice But there are several ways of Mens being Righteous overmuch 1. When they mind Justice without Mercy The truth is such Persons are not so much as moral Heathens so far are they from being good Christians Which so earnestly recommends Charity and Kindness to our greatest Enemies So that even our Justice ought to have a mixture of Mercy in it 2. When they make the Law the Instrument of their Revenge when they are glad they have taken their Enemies at such an advantage We may here apply St. Paul's words We know the Law is good if a Man use it lawfully But there may be a very unlawful use of it when