but that thou approvest of it And supposing thou approvest of it if the Grace of God restrains him not he soon begins to think that what is lawful for thee may be lawful for him and thus he learns of thee though thou doest not open thy Lips to him There are few Men so bold as in their Words and Speeches to defend and justify things directly contrary to the Will of God in the Gospel but you do mischief enough to the Souls of Men by your evil Practices The Mutes among the Turks teach by their Gestures much more may Men be taught by Actions especially where there is already a Disposition to embrace that which is Evil. Physicians and Naturalists talk of transplanting Diseases from Men into Beasts nay some go so far as to prescribe ways to transfer Distempers from Men into Herbs and Plants Whether it be so I enquire not but sure I am that the Diseases of the Soul are and may be transplanted and conveyed from one Man to another even by evil Practices and this is teaching and making Proselytes to Hell and to the Kingdom of Darkness the readiest way to be excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven which will give me occasion IV. To represent to you what it is to be the least or to be excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven Fancy you saw a poor miserable Man starving with hunger and so placed that directly over against him he could see the richest Banquet the most delicate Dishes huge plenty of Victuals of all sorts the Company eating their fill and satiating themselves with all the Variety that Earth and Sea and Air can yield and the poor Wretch that is over against this Company but a few paces removed from them unable to get the least Morsel of Bread ready to tear his own Flesh from off his Shoulders and yet in an utter impossibility to get so much as the Crums that fall from those Rich Mens Tables Do not you think this would be as great a Torment as can well be imagined Why this is the Emblem of being the least or excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven The Soul that is so unhappy as to miss of it will see Abraham a far off and Lazarus in his Bosom be ready to perish ready to burst see all the Glory and Joy of blessed Creatures before his Eyes the Delicates the Dainties the Pleasures the Festivals the rich Entertainments they enjoy and swim in passing before him and yet not able to touch not able to reach the least Extremity of all though his Soul be big with ten thousand desires after them What a Torment what a Plague what a Vexation must this be What Grief what Sorrow what Anguish must this cause And if this must continue to Eternal Ages what Tongue is able to express the Torment And can you after all this call any of the Commandments of the Gospel little ones and break them and pass by them as if they did not belong to you and tempt others to do so too when this is the high way to be excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven But V. Are there no Ambitious Men here Are there none among you that desire to be Great Have none of you a mind to be prefer'd and exalted to eminent Places You must be either very mortified or very dull if Greatness can make no Impression upon you Preferment What is there that is more hunted after How do many break their Sleep and fall into Discontent and Vexation because they cannot be advanced What waiting at Court What cringing what bowing to Great Men What running to this Friend and to th' other Friend What Flattery what Dissembling what Compliances are used and all to be Great Behold We can tell you a way to be Great greater than Caesar or Pompey or Alexander greater than all the Kings or Rulers of the Earth Great Where Not at Court not in the Camp or Army Not in Church-Dignities or Preferments but great in the Kingdom of Heaven And is not the Kingdom of Heaven a more lofty and more spacious Empire than the whole Roman Monarchy in all its greatest Extent and Glory It 's true we cannot shew you this Kingdom we cannot make it visible to your Eyes but we can tell you that St. Paul saw it and Christ did enter into it and he that hath power to dispose of all the Glories of it hath sent us to tell you That you may be great and he 'll make you so great as Angels great as the Worthies of God greater than Kings greater than all the Princes of the Earth greater than all the proud things which make so great a noise in the World now and all this if you will close with his Desires and both do and teach the Commandments Christ recommends to in his famous Sermon Little they may seem and contemptible they may appear in the Eyes of the Men that have their portion in this Life But as little as they may seem to be your Conscientious and Impartial Respect to them all to the least as well as to the greatest shall exalt you exalt you far above all the Glory and Splendor of this World raise you from the Dunghil take you out of the Dust and set you with Princes even with the Princes of God's People If you are great already this shall make you greater Lay up therefore these Commandments in your Hearts and in your Souls bind them for a Sign upon your Hands let them be as Frontlets between your Eyes teach them your Children speak of them when you sit in your Houses and when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up Assure all those you Converse with that these Commandments are Life and Peace and Rational and Equitable and Just and Necessary and Health to the Soul Foretasts of Happiness and Prefaces to an endless Glory Thus do and thus teach Teach by your Discourses teach by your Actions teach by your Example So Noah taught the unbelieving World by building an Ark to the saving of his House to save themselves from the Wrath to come So do you and build upon the Word of the Son of God That you shall be great in the Kingdom of Heaven SERMON XXI St. Matt. Ch. v. Ver. 20. For I say unto you That except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven A Preface or Introduction will be needless It 's enough that these Words are part of Christ's Famous Sermon on the Mount The Method I shall observe in handling them shall be this following to Enquire and Consider I. Who these Scribes and Pharisees were II. What their Righteousness was and wherein it consisted III. How and in what our Righteousness is to exceed their Righteousness IV. The danger if we do not ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven I. Who these Scribes and Pharisees were 1. The Pharisees You
SEVERAL SERMONS UPON THE Fifth of St. Matthew Being Part of CHRIST's SERMON On the Mount. By ANTHONY HORNECK D.D. Late Preacher at the Savoy The SECOND Volume Compleating the Chapter LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1698. THE Texts of the Sermons IN THIS SECOND VOLUME SERMON XVI ST Matthew the Fifth Verse 15. Neither do Men light a Candle and put it under a bushel but on a Candlestick and it giveth Ligth to all that are in the House Page 1. SERMON XVII Verse 16. Let your Light so shine before Men that others may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven p. 16. SERMON XVIII Verse 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil p. 35. SERMON XIX Verse 18. For verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled p. 53. SERMON XX. Verse 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom p. 73. SERMON XXI Verse 20. For I say unto you that except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven p. 91. SERMON XXII Verse 21 22. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgment But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his Brother without a Cause shall be in danger of the Judgment and whosoever shall say to his Brother Racha shall be in danger of the Council but whosoever shall say thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell Fire p. 119. SERMON XXIII Verse 23 24. Therefore if thou bring thy Gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift p. 139. SERMON XXIV Verse 25 26. Agree with thine Adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him lest at any time the Adversary deliver thee to the Judge and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer and thou be cast into Prison Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing p. 161. SERMON XXV Verse 27 28. Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not commit Adultery but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart p. 179. SERMON XXVI Verse 29 30. And if thy right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole Body should be cast into Hell And if thy right Hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole Body should be cast into Hell p. 195. SERMON XXVII Verse 31 32. It hath been said Whosoever shall put away his Wife let him give her a Writing of Divorcement But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his Wife saving for the cause of Fornication causes her to commit Adultery and whosoever Marries her that is Divorced commits Adultery p. 213. SERMON XXVIII Verse 33. Again ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths p. 273. SERMON XXIX Verse 34 35 36. But I say unto you swear not at all neither by Heaven for it is Gods Throne nor by the Earth for it is his Foot-stool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the Great King neither shalt thou swear by thine Head because thou can'st not make one Hair white or black p. 309. SERMON XXX Verse 37. But let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these comes of Evil. p. 329. SERMON XXXI Verse 38 39. Ye have heard that it hath been said an Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth But I say unto you that ye resist not Evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right Cheek turn him the other also p. 349. SERMON XXXII Verse 40 41. And if any Man will sue thee at the Law and take away thy Coat let him have thy Cloak also And whosoever shall compel thee to go a Mile go with him twain p. 385. SERMON XXXIII Verse 42. Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn thou not away p. 401. SERMON XXXIV Verse 43. Ye have heard that it hath been said thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy p. 417. SERMON XXXV Verse 44. But I say unto you Love your Enemies Bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you p. 434. SERMON XXXVI Verse 45. That you may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven for he makes the Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth Rain on the Just and Vnjust p. 459. SERMON XXXVII Verse 46 47. For if you love them which love you what Reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brother only what do you more than others Do not even the Publicans so p. 479. SERMON XXXVIII Verse 46 47. For if ye love them which love you c. p. 501. SERMON XXXIX Verse 48. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect p. 527. ADVERTISEMENT THIS Worthy Author hath likewise left Sermons of the Sixth and Seventh Chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel Compleating our Blessed Saviour's Sermon on the Mount making an excellent Body of Divinity Which will be suddenly Printed Uniform to this Volume SERMON XVI ON THE Fifth of St. Matthew VOL. II. St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 15. Neither do Men light a Candle and put it under a Bushel but on a Candlestick and it giveth Light to all that are in the House HAD I consulted Brevity I might have handled the 13 14 15 and 16 th verses together because they all speak of the same Subject viz. The Exemplary Lives of Christians But being willing to examine the Emphasis of every Expression I have resolved to treat of these distinctly As our Saviour hath compared his true Followers to the Salt of the Earth with respect to their Reforming others To the Sun or Light of the World with respect to their Enlightning and Enlivening others To a City set on an Hill with
fully ver 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the Night in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein will be burnt up The same he repeats ver 12. which is conformable to what the Stoicks either from the light of Nature or from Tradition gather'd would be and to what Josephus saith of Adam That he prophecied the World should be destroy'd first by Water and afterward by Fire But then as it is ver 11. of the aforesaid Chapter seeing that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought you to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness Whether the Christians in St. Peter's time believed that the day of Judgment was at hand and that it should be upon them in that Age is not my business to enquire Now. That which makes the Exhortation seasonable at all times even at this day is the uncertainty of the time of Christ's coming to Judgment and whether this day of Judgment may come in this Age or in the next as it is probable it is not far off especially if the old saying of R. Hillel be true That the World shall continue two Thousand Years before the Law two Thousand under the Law and two thousand under the Messiah but as I said whether it will be this year or next is not material but this I am sure of that the day of our death is the most uncertain thing in the World and as Death finds us so will the Great day And since the day of our death is so uncertain the Inference drawn from the uncertainty of the day of Judgment will also fit the uncertainty of the day of our death It 's a marvelous thing how Men delay their Holy Conversation and Godliness even till Death comes and surprizes them I know this is a very common Theme but how can we forbear to speak of it when we see that Men instead of mending run deeper and deeper into the Gulf young and old Death comes Lord How unprepared doth it find most Men How few can welcome it How few can with Simeon rejoyce at its coming I know Pain and extremity of Misery makes many Men long for it but that alone is no rational ground while that Holy Conversation and Godliness is wanting We all dread an unprepared death and we pray against it We think sometimes in a serious fit how sad it would be with us if it should be our case And yet how few arm themselves against its Terrors and dreadful Consequences The Day the Hour is very uncertain and we see Men are catch'd and snatch'd away before they are aware yet we take no warning still we wait for a convenient Season for a fair Opportunity and when we have got in the World what we would have when we have setled our Affairs on such a Basis or Foundation once and when our Condition is better and our Circumstances more favourable then we 'll set about that seriousness which becomes Candidates of Eternity God sees our Folly and pities us for he sees how we fool our selves He calls and intreats us to redeem the time O that we were wise and would consider our latter End Heaven and Earth must pass away and we must pass away therefore this I say Brethren nay the Apostle says so 1 Cor. vii 19 It remains that they that have Wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and those that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this World as not abusing it for the fashion of this World passes away Indeed that which ought to make us reflect very seriously on all this is that the Word of God is unchangable which calls me to the last Proposition V. Sooner shall Heaven and Earth perish than the least tittle of Gods Word shall fail In this Sense the Words and Expressions used in the Text are sometimes taken so that here is a double Asseveration which makes the Truth Christ delivers here the weightier 1. Verily I say unto you In the Original it is Amen which the Jewish Interpreters of the Old Testament affirm to be an Oath and that 's a very immutable thing 2. Till Heaven and Earth pass i. e. Sooner shall these be hurl'd into their former Chaos and Confusion than the least tittle of his word shall prove false And if so then the Threatnings and Promises of the Gospel and of the Law of God will undoubtedly be fulfilled And I beseech you Beloved Hearers Consider what the Veracity of Gods Threatnings and Promises doth import If the Promises of the Gospel will certainly be fulfilled why cannot the wonderful Rewards promised prevail with you to fulfil the Conditions upon which those Rewards are promised God promises Eternal Life upon patient continuance in Well-doing the Kingdom of Heaven upon striving against Sin and conquering Temptations and a Crown of Glory to those who keep under their Bodies and bring their sensual Desires into Subjection Upon these Terms and no other the great Felicity is promised Will any of you after all these Protestations of God promise himself this Happiness upon other Terms and Conditions What then becomes of Gods Veracity If God be true to his Word then those who come not up to these Terms cannot enjoy the Bliss spoken of If God saves Men upon other Terms he cannot be true to his Word and then how can he be God To these Absurdities Men reduce themselves when they promise themselves Heaven without any regard to the Conditions upon which God doth promise it It 's God that must bestow it the same God that hath promised it and since he will bestow it only upon these Terms Why Christians why will ye feed your hopes with Air and Wind and Vanities Is it possible that God will prove false Is it possible that he will depart from his Word I am sure you cannot think so if you will consider it in cool Blood And shall the World and your present Gain and Profit blind you into Ruin The same must be said of the Threatnings of the Gospel Take but a serious View of them God protests for you believe the Scripture to be the Word of God That no unrighteous Person shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Neither Fornicators nor Adulterers nor Covetous nor Extortioners nor Drunkards nor Lascivious nor Quarrelsom nor Envious nor Malicious Persons nor Men that mind Earthly Things altogether shall enter into that Glory The Scripture is full of these Protestations Is there any of you here that 's guilty of any of these Sins and yet do ye hope to be happy 'T is true you 'll say none can be so that continues in these Sins but I hope I shall leave them all before I die But why Man Dost thou know when thou
shalt die Have not Thousands and Thousands hoped so and yet been mistaken Away with these deluding hopes There is Death in the Pot. There is Ruin and Destruction and Plague and Hell and Misery in these Fancies and Imaginations God must be true to his Word and it is not all your Crys at last Lord Lord open to us that will help you or reverse your doom Heaven and Earth shall sooner Perish the Sun shall sooner fall from his Orb and all the Stars of Heaven drop out of their Sockets sooner than God will prove a Lyar. Let the Truth of the living God prevail with you and be persuaded to act like reasonable Creatures Nothing proclaims your unreasonableness more than to think God will save you whether you act according to his Word or no. Therefore whatever the World or your Flesh and Appetite may suggest that God will not be so severe as he hath said he will remember that he who hath conquered Death and Hell hath protested Verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled Amen SERMON XX. St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven THere is nothing more agreeable to Christianity than Liberty and yet there is nothing more contrary to it If by Liberty be meant a freedom from all sinful Courses from the Power of Corruption from the Bondage of the Devil and after all from those tedious external Washings Purifications Sacrifices and distinctions of Meats and Drinks c. so usual so famous so strictly required of the Jews under the Mosaick Law to this Liberty Christianity is a Friend a Patron and Defender and this is of the very Essence of our Religion But if by Liberty be understood Licentiousness and that which should be a modest Virgin is drawn and represented in the looser habit of a Strumpet and Men fancy they are and cannot be free except they have Elbow-room in Sin and may gratifie their Senses and carnal Desires as they please If this be the notion of Liberty Christianity is a professed Enemy to it and declares an Eternal War against it It is a very wilful and notorious mistake to think Christ came to free us from Obedience or that he descended from Heaven to loose us from the Bonds of our Duty so far from it that he came to require it upon greater Motives and enjoined it with greater Sanctions pressed Observance not only of the greater but lesser Commands and in case of failure declared that we shall find we have a God to deal with who will not be mocked for so it is in the Text Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least c. To give you the sense of these words 1. By the Commandements here spoken of are meant the Commands and Precepts delivered and laid down by Christ in this Sermon on the Mount both those that go before the Text and those that follow after it and therefore it is emphatically said these Commandements i. e. These I am now delivering to you and which lie so much out of the common road of Practice that few believe they are concerned in them 2. They are called little Commandements and the least not that any Command of God in Scripture is so in it self or in the nature of a Trifle but because they were so in the Opinion of the Scribes and Pharisees and the People of that Age who either called the Commandements of the Ceremonial Law the greatest and those of the Moral the least or if they allowed the Title of great Commands to any part of the Moral Law it was to such Commands as forbid the more scandalous and barbarous Sins i. e. Thou shalt do no Murther This they called a great Commandement but thou shalt not be angry with thy Brother without Cause nor revile him nor abuse him nor give him ill Names and opprobrious Language c. These they called little and the least Commands Counsels rather than Commands the Omission of which they thought would be no way prejudicial to the Eternal Welfare of their Souls 3. To break these little or least Commandements and to teach Men so was the Sin of the Pharisees who not only neglected these Commands of God themselves but taught others too not to discompose themselves about the neglect of them as long as they kept close to the bigger Commands such as Sacrificing Circumcision frequenting the Passover putting on their Phylacteries c. or such as enjoined forbearance of the Overt Acts of some notorious Sins Adultery Fornication Perjury Stealing c. And to break these Commandements is to slight them to disregard them to act contrary to them and wilfully to do what they forbid or wilfully to omit what they do enjoin 4. To be called or to be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven though this Phrase Matth. xi 11 is used to describe a Person that is an Infant a Babe a Novice a young beginner in Christ's Religion who is sensible and knows indeed that Christ's Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom but knows it in a very low degree and is therefore said to be greater in some respect than St. John the Baptist who from the vulgar Error of his Country seem'd to cherish some relicks of that Opinion that the Messiah was to appear with External Pomp and marks of Authority But though this be the meaning of that Phrase there yet what is a Comparison in that Place is a Threatning here and therefore requires another Sense And it being spoken with Allusion to breaking these least Commandements and by way of Retaliation that as they sinn'd in that which was the least so they should be rewarded with being the least in the last day it must necessarily be as much as being excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven Whether by the Kingdom of Heaven we understand the Kingdom of Grace or the Kingdom of Glory And though the Church be sometimes called the Kingdom of Heaven as Matth. xiii Yet even in this Sense the Threatning will appear to be dismal enough for the meaning will be that such a one as breaks these least Commandements will be can be no true no living Member of the Church of Christ and if so he can be no Heir of the Kingdom of Glory And hence it is that St. Chrysostom renders the word least by no body or nothing i. e. He shall be nothing in the Kingdom of Heaven and will be a very despicable contemptible Creature when Christ shall come in Glory 5. And from hence it will be easie to guess what must be the import of the Promise that 's added here But whosoever shall do and teach
them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. He that shall make Conscience of these least Commandements and though the World count them little and inconsiderable and looks upon them as things of no moment shall have and bear an equal respect to these the same he doth to those Commands which are acknowledged to be greatest and shall teach Men to do so not only in his Discourses and Colloquies but in his Practice and Example he shall be truly great greater than this World can make him greater than the greatest here on Earth even great and high and honourable in the Kingdom of Heaven Having thus acquainted you with the Sense I must do what I can to enforce this great and weighty Truth and this I cannot do better than by making the following Addresses to your Souls 1. This Text overthrows and breaks the neck of that loose Principle that in order to Salvation it is sufficient to avoid only gross notorious scandalous Sins How can it be sufficient when Christ protests here Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven It 's a marvellous thing to see what Schemes of Divinity Men erect to themselves that they may with greater Security and Satisfaction wallow in the Mire and please the World and the Flesh. I know not whether the Popish distinction of Sins into Mortal and Venial hath contributed to this Error but sure I am that in abundance of things which are not very agreeable to the Rule of the Gospel which yet Custom and Education and the humour of the Age hath made either necessary or convenient the Expedient Men find out is this that they are trivial little inconsiderable Faults whereby the dreadfulness of them soon disappears and this done they practise and commit them without Terror or Regret or Concernment and their Consciences do not at all boggle at them especially while the fair Weather of their Health and Pleasure and Ease and Strength and Liberty and Plenty lasts And of this Nature are most of the things Christ takes notice of in the Discourse succeeding the Text and whereof we shall have occasion to treat more largely in the sequel Such as secret Envy Hatred Grudges Malice in our Heart against our Neighbour abusive Language calling him by ill Names mincing of Oaths needless Asseverations lascivious Thoughts Desires Words Expressions Passions Affections Touches Kisses Looks Glances keeping ill Company and complying with their Follies neglect of several Acts of Charity and self-denials sinister Ends and Intentions in religious Actions mistrust of Gods Providence Discontentedness loving the World better than God c. That these are Sins is evident because they are forbid yet you cannot but know how they are overlook'd as inconsiderable Failings nor do the generality think they lose their Reputation and Character of good Men by not watching against them or by suffering them to go and come as there is occasion While they commit no Sins that send them to Goals and Prisons or bring them to the Gallows or while they keep free from Sins which the Hectors and Deboshees of the Age do wallow in they take themselves to be tolerable Saints and look upon the other Deformities of their Souls as things of no moment and while they are guilty of no Crimes that make them Infamous and can charge themselves with nothing that 's very bloody they have no melancholy Thoughts about the Garment spotted by the Flesh and may be make matter of Sport and Laughter of that which hath cost considerate Men many Tears and mournful Accents There is no doubt but there are greater and lesser Sins and some have greater Malice in them and are attended with greater bruitishness and stupidity with higher degrees of boldness and insolence and are more immediately level'd against the Nature of God than others But though in this respect some are greater some lesser yet if we consider the tremendous God who is offended by that which we call a little Sin it will appear in other Colours for either it is forbid or it is not if it be not forbid it must be either lawful or indifferent if it be forbid it is forbid as much as Adultery or Blasphemy And can any Sin be little that is an Affront to a Great and Infinite Majesty Can that be little which is injurious to Gods Power makes War with his Mercy and Goodness abuses his Patience diminishes his Glory and wrongs his Perfection and Holiness Can that be little which disfigures the noblest Workmanship of God our immortal Souls fills them as it were with Scabs and fullies their Beauty and Splendor Can that be little which manifestly hinders our progress in a spiritual Life stops the Stream and Current of the Divine Grace and Influence and disposes to Damnation Could we play the fool as they do in the Church of Rome and tell you that these lesser Sins may be purged away by a little Holy Water by the Bishops Blessing by smiting the Breast and the bare saying of a Pater noster by a general Confession c. You might think then there is no great matter in them but if they require a serious Repentance and Reformation as well as other Sins who can make light of them Were there nothing in them but that they dispose the Soul to greater Sins and to a loose careless sort of Religion this would be discouragement enough for all the World knows that no Man grows perfectly wicked on a sudden but by degrees they go on to more dareing Impieties Know ye not that a little Leaven leavens the whole lump Saith the Apostle 1 Cor. v. 6 And Behold how great a matter a little Fire kindles saith St. James Chap. III. 5 And doth not Experience tell us to use the words of a certain Divine how an unchast Thought assented to soon welcomes Delight Delight Consent Consent Action Action Custom Custom Habit Habit Perseverance Perseverance an obduracy of Heart which without God's miraculous Providence interposes leads to final Impenitence A Man may avoid scandalous great and clamorous Sins such as Murther Adultery Cursing Blasphemy Theft Extortion Prophaneness c. and yet all this while have not one grain of true Love to God for all this he may do meerly out of regard to his Ease and temporal Interest and if you consider what St. Paul protests that if any Man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema Maranatha Cursed and for ever Cursed 1 Cor. xvi 22 What satisfaction can that Man enjoy within that notwithstanding his shunning some scandalous Sins hath not any tolerable assurance that he loves God and the Lord Jesus Christ If you love him you must keep his Commandments and if Love obliges you to keep one why not another Do not they all come from the same Law-giver Are not they all deliver'd with the same Seriousness and by the same Authority Who makes
them to differ Who told you you may observe one and not another Where are the distinguishing Marks to discern which is to be practised and which is not Doth not the same Spirit run through all In a word if you love God to any purpose you will not only dread crying Sins but even those which looser Men make no great matter of and it 's certain that Soul is not yet truly converted that doth not seriously watch against evil Thoughts Desires Passions Affections c. for these are usually counted lesser Sins as well as against greater Abominations And therefore You may easily perceive that we are not to break a Command of our dear Lord and Master because it seems little or because the World esteems it so What hath the World to do with my Religion Doth God govern himself by the Verdict of the World and sensual Men What if Men who have no right Apprehensions of God make nothing of corrupt Communications must I be guided by their Example Can any Commandment that proceeds out of the Mouth of God be termed little Might not we as well say that God spoke in jest If God commands me to follow Righteousness Faith Charity and Peace with all them that call on him out of a pure Heart and to flee youthful Lusts shall I neglect this Command because the World makes a pish of it Hath the Great God of Heaven and Earth thought fit to send his Son into the World to tell me that private Revenge is unlawful and conforming to the World in their Vanities and Fooleries and Revellings and Extravagancies is displeasing to him and my covetous Thoughts and Desires are offensive to his Holiness and have not I all the reason in the World to stand in awe of his Command though a thousand wicked Men say it 's either needless or impracticable How can a Divine Command be little that concerns Mens Immortal Souls Is there any thing greater in this World than the good and welfare of their precious Souls Doth God tell me such a Sin though it seems never so small in the Eyes of the World will help to kill my Soul and is Ingratitude to him in whom I live and move and have my Being and shall I venture upon it God forbid Yea let God be True but every Man a Lyar as it is written that thou mightest be justified in thy saying and be clear when thou judgest Rom. iii. 4 II. Let none of you wonder at Christ's peremptory Determination here Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven You 'll say What! break but one of these Commandments and one of the least and be damn'd Where then is the Grace of the Gospel What becomes then of the vast Treasures of Mercy which came in with Jesus Christ At this rate our Yoak is heavier than that of the Jews Marvel not my Brethren the greater the Grace is the greater will be the Account the greater the Mercy the greater will be the Reckoning And yet this ought to be no discouragement to any of us for the meaning is not that every surprize or accidental Failing or breaking one of these Commands against our Will or before we are aware or after we have used all possible Watchfulness excludes from the Kingdom of Heaven for then no Flesh could be saved But he that wilfully breaks one and makes a Trade of it knows or hears God's Will in that particular and yet will not be perswaded to do it and teaches others too either by his Discourse or Example neglects such a Command and feels no Remorse knows the Judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of Death and not only doth the same but hath pleasure in them that do them as it is said Rom. i. 32 That 's the Man who shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven And do not you think there is a great deal of Justice in all this What! For a Man first to disregard an express Command of Christ and then that he may not think himself obliged to it to call it little and inconsiderable and so to neglect it and after all prompt others to do so too Is not this a manifest contempt of God's Sovereignty and Mercy and Love and Charity in Christ Jesus Doth not this look like Enmity against God Is not this a sign of a secret Hatred and Indignation against the ways of God Is not this an Argument of Obstinacy and Stubbornness Doth not this infer want of Sense and want of Fear And would you have God save a Man that doth not fear him Would you have him receive Men into the Kingdom of Heaven that do not only not think it worth while to obey him in so small a matter small in their own account and therefore surely the easier but encourage others to do the like Doth not this argue a delight in a sinful sensual Life And what Do you think God will let a Man or Woman in at the Gates of Glory that looks upon the Prophet as mad because he bid him do so small a thing Wash in the River Jordan seven times that he may be clean God measures our Actions by our Hearts and if the Heart be averse from him or from the ways of Righteousness Is such a Person fit to sing with Angels to triumph with Martyrs and to sit and rejoice with Souls that loved God with all their Hearts and with all their Minds Ay but to break one of these least Commandments and to teach another to do so What great Matter is there in that My Friends He that breaks one will break another and is in a Disposition to offend against more He will never stop there one Sin engages him into the Practice of another and if he propagates the Evil too and like a rotten Sheep infects others doth not that one Folly discover a Heart that hath no Desire no Inclination to take Christ's Yoak upon him and loath unwilling backward to entertain Christ upon his own Terms and is this following him in the Regeneration And he that doth not follow him in the Regeneration How shall he be able to sit with him in his Throne And this puts me in mind of another Observation III. That he that lives ill teaches another to live ill too He that shall break one of these least Commandments and teach Men so c. In order to be excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven it is not necessary a Man should get into a Pulpit and there proclaim that it is lawful to lie to cheat to defraud to sing filthy Songs to break obscene Jests to hate our Neighbour or to return Evil for Evil this needs not Thy Actions Christian spread the Poison and teach the next Man thou meetest withal to do as thou doest for in breaking such a known Command of the Gospel and being unconcerned What can thy fellow Christian think
almost all they did and they did not would not know what a contrite and humble Heart meant and what it was to lie low before God with a deep Sense of their Unworthiness and of the great Imperfection of their Services and though they Fasted often yet that was not so much to arrive to an humble Sense of their Corruptions and Infirmities as to increase their Merits and to do Things which might Challenge Gods kinder Inclinations and this was the Rock against which these Men stumbled And as they were unacquainted with true Humility toward God so they understood not what it was to condescend to Men of low Estate In Humility therefore we are to exceed them in Humility toward God and Man for as there is nothing that separates more betwixt the Creator and the Creature than Pride and Self-Conceitedness for which Reason God is said to behold the Proud afar off so nothing unites Heaven and Earth God and the Soul more than Humility for thus saith the High and Lofty One who inhabiteth Eternity I dwell in the High and Holy Place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit Es. lvii 15 4. In Charity or a compassionate Temper toward all sorts of distressed Persons I say all sorts for that of the Pharisees was narrow and sneaking and confined to People of their own Sect. I need not tell you that Charity consists not only in giving Alms that 's but one part of it nay it may happen so that it may not be so much as a part of it according to the case St. Paul puts 1 Cor. xiii 3 where he makes it possible for a Man to bestow all his Goods to Feed the Poor and yet to have no Charity Had Almsgiving been all the Charity that was necessary to Salvation the Scribes and Pharisees had been considerable Men for they were free and liberal enough of their Purses toward Men of their own Party but Charity is a larger and nobler Virtue if it be of the true Eagle kind an unfeigned Love of God is the cause of it and the effect is ever answerable to the Beauty which produces it St. Paul hath given so genuine a Character of it 1 Cor. xiii that it 's impossible to mistake the Nature of it except Men be wilfully Blind It extends its Arms not only to all sorts of Objects whether Friends or Foes whether Relations or Strangers but as far as it's Ability reaches and opportunity offers it self to all sorts of Distresses It doth not only Feed and give Drink and Cloth and Visit but Admonish too and Reprove and Teach and Entreat and Counsel and Advise and help and assist and sometimes Correct and Punish It embraces Enemies and like the wounded Earth receives even those that cut and digg'd it into its Bosom and like the kind Balsom Tree heals those that made Incisions upon it It Judges favourably of Pious Heathens much more of Pious Christians tho differing from it in Opinion it Damns none whom God hath not Damned in a Word it works no Evil to its Neighbour but is ready unto every good Word and Work And in this Charity we are to exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees 5. In Vniversality of Obedience or in making Conscience of the several Commands of the Gospel of one as well as of another Joh. xv 14 Then we exceed them without any danger of being over-much Righteous when at the same time that we are fervent for Circumstances in God's Worship we are not forgetful of the substantial part of Religion when we do not let our Publick Devotion justle out our private nor the private the publick when we do not make the Practice of one Precept an argument to justify our neglect of another nor excuse our not doing Good by our not committing of Evil but are impartial in our Obedience and cheerfully submit not only to the gentler but harder Injunctions of the Gospel not only to such as are agreeable but to those also which are contrary to our natural Temper and Inclination The Pious Christian will not easily get the better of the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees except his Obedience becomes larger and spreads more than theirs Had these Men carried on their Obedience to that Extent I speak of as St. Paul a Pharisee and the Son of a Pharisee afterwards did there would not have been greater Men in the World than they and the Proverb which was unjustly made concerning them would not have been altogether False viz. If there were but two Men to be Saved the one would be a Scribe the other a Pharisee And these are the particulars in which our Righteousness is to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees If it doth not we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Danger and the Last Part which will deserve our Examination IV. The Danger Except Your Righteousness shall exceed the Rigteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees Ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This Word one would think should rouze every Soul here present and put us all upon a serious Inquiry Whether our Righteousness doth actually exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees If it doth not we hear our Doom And can any Man think Christ was very serious in saying so without being concerned how to prevent and escape that fatal Exit All Ye that have any Care of your Salvation and believe another World and know what the Terrors of the Lord mean and what it is not to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Awake awake why should you not when Your Great Redeemer calls and take this Threatning into serious Consideration Either it will be fulfilled or not If it will not be fulfilled where is Christ's Veracity If it be where is Your Security I say unto You Thus the Commination begins which shews the Thing is firm and like the Laws of Medes and Persians unalterable Our Master even He whom we believe to be God as well as Man hath spoke the Word He that is Truth it self hath said it and thus it must be nor will all the Intreaties of Men and Angels oblige him to depart from his peremptory Declaration You that hear and now read all this cannot pretend Ignorance that you did not know the dreadful Consequence of this Neglect We suggest we intimate so much to you we pull you by the Sleeve we proclaim these Words in your Ears as poor as mean as inconsiderable Creatures as we are I would to God they might sink into your Hearts We beg of You to lay aside your Divertisements and your Businesses for a while and allow this Threatning some Attention of Mind If you go no farther in your Righteousness than these unhappy Men did not all your Cries at last Lord Lord open to us Not all your Tears and Calls Lord have Mercy upon us Not all your Arguings and Pleadings with God Not all your dying Groans not
Cleanse your Righteousness and to take care that none of the Leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees stick to it Here on Earth Men Fight for a great Estate and venture Fortune Friends Interest Honesty Life and all Strange The Kingdom of Heaven should lie under that Misfortune that Men must be entreated to enter into it and yet will not be prevailed with after all to enter Yes you 'll say we all are very ready to enter into it were it not for the hard Conditions that are required and do you really think the Conditions so hard Would you think them so if you lay Howling in Eternal Flames Certainly nothing would seem hard then and why should it seem so now when it is evident and apparent you are in danger of those Flames Behold God is ready and willing to succour to assist to support and to strengthen you that your Righteousness may Triumph over the Righteousness of these Hypocrites The same Spirit the same Grace the same Influences the same Assistances he hath afforded to St. Paul to St. Peter to Lydia to Martha to Mary to Magdalene to the Jaylour to the Penitent Publican to Zachaeus to others the same he offers to you all But then if these kind Offers be slighted and rejected and a Farm a Yoak of Oxen or some thing worse be preferr'd before it it is not God so much that deprives you of the Kingdom of Heaven as you your selves Were you actually possess'd of this Kingdom of Heaven you would wonder at the Folly and Madness of Men who can complain that the Conditions are hard when such a Glory such a Bliss such a Kingdom is to be had a Kingdom for which the Apostles and the Primitive Believers whose Faith and Constancy we Admire forsook Father and Mother and Lands and Houses and all that was dear to them in this World I could give you such a Description of that Kingdom as should make all the Glories of this World look pale and dim and dark in Comparison of it But I forbear Were such Considerations as these made use of in the cool of the Day I mean when your Thoughts are cool and composed and the Grace of God upon your Endeavours earnestly implored they would inspire you with Courage Invincible to go not only beyond Heathens and Philosophers but beyond Scribes and Pharisees in Righteousness and in the serious Exercises of Virtue and Self-Denial It 's possible you may not remember all the Motives I have given you but one thing you will be able to Remember which contains all that I have said and that 's the Text and therefore I repeat it once more Except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven SERMON XXII St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 21 22. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his Brother Raca shall be in danger of the Council but whosoever shall say thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell fire FAlse Teachers without doubt are very dangerous Men. The Murtherer kills the Body these the Soul and by the false Doctrines they Sow in Mens Heads and Minds they not only obstruct their Salvation but lead them into Perdition Indeed if the Errors be light and trivial the hurt that 's done is not great and while the erroneous Doctrine reaches no farther than Speculation it can deserve no very severe Censure but when it spoils and sullies the Worship of God or proves an impediment to the faithful discharge of our Duty to God and Man Poison is not so prejudicial to the outward as such Opinions are to the inward Man and the better part And such were the erroneous Doctrines of the Scribes and Pharisees Blending the Traditions of their Fathers with the Law of God and entertaining both with an equal Faith and Veneration they made an odd kind of Divinity and quite perverted the design of Religion which was to make Men universally good This was particularly visible in the notion they had of the sixth Commandment which they interpreted to the carnal advantage and worldly Interest of their People teaching them that if they did but use that Care and Circumspection as not to kill a Man they did not only answer the design of the Lawgiver but would prevent the Penalty annex'd and their being taken notice of by the Magistrate and punished accordingly but as for Wrath and Malice and reproachful Language whereby Murder and such bloody Practices are too often occasion'd and promoted these they told them were things not forbid in the primary Intention of the Law of God and consequently they need fear no Punishment To which preposterous Exposition our Saviour opposes his Divine Authority proves the gloss of their Elders upon the sixth Commandment to be false and shews That what they thought did not deserve so much as a temporal Judgment God would punish with eternal Vengeance if not forsaken or repented of betimes Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be c. This is a Text upon which Criticks and Learned Men have bestow'd many excellent Observations because the words relate to some antient Customs of the Jews in their Judicial Proceedings against Malefactors and others But as I do not think it proper to entertain you with Curiosities so if there be need of making use of any of those Observations I shall do it no farther than they serve to elucidate some of the obscurer Passages of the Text and make way for the practical Points I shall insist upon for your Edification As to the Sense of the Words it 's briefly this 1. Whether we render the Expression in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It hath been said by them of old time or to them of old time as some Translations read it the difference is not very material for as by those of old time are meant either the antient Masters of Tradition who lived some hundred years before that time or the Ancestors of the Jews to whom those Masters of Tradition pretended to deliver an oral Exposition of the Law of Moses so if we read by them of old time the meaning is You have heard that it hath been deliver'd and said by the antient Masters of Tradition And if we render it to them of old time the sense is You have heard it delivered to your Ancestors and Fore-fathers by those antient Masters of Tradition I restrain you see this Passage to Tradition for though the Sense of it is to be found in the Law of Moses yet the Maxim as it is related by our Saviour here is not expressed there neither with that
ensue upon the perpetuity of the Obligation But they that know what the Popes have done in these Cases especially here in England with respect to our Kings and Queens must needs conclude they intend something more by this Absolving than a bare Declaration for the Stile of their Bulls is Magisterial and Authoritative and they attribute the Fact to the plenitude of their Power and as if the sole Power were lodged by God in them a Pride so great and intolerable that one would wonder Princes of a Refin'd Understanding as some are nay of common Sagacity do not see the Cheat and lash their Arrogancy into better manners I do not doubt but an Oath of Allegiance may in some Cases cease to oblige if either there be an impossibility to perform it or if the Prince dies or resigns his Crown or runs away and puts himself into an incapacity to Govern and to protect the Subject or leaves the Subjects in a State of Anarchy and Confusion or to the Mercy of a Conqueror because in these Cases the state of Things is new and far different from that Men were in at their Swearing this Oath of Allegiance but set aside these extraordinary Occurrences which alter the Obligation to think that any Man can absolve from the Obligation of an Oath of Allegiance is to suppose a visible God here on Earth which Title though given to the Pope sometimes by the Canonists yet every one may see what fulsome Flattery it is and if not downright yet next to Blasphemy II. An Oath being so Solemn so Sacred so Serious so Religious an Obligation we may justly wonder how so Holy a Thing comes to be Profaned as it is in common Discourse and ordinary Communications Indeed this Swearing in common Discourse is a Sin that would puzzle a wise Man to give any thing like a reason for how a Sin so unreasonable so unprofitable and so horrid withal should yet be so much espoused by Men and Christians and become so very familiar that Men play with Oaths as Boys do with Cherry-stones or Marbles We can give some account of Covetousness and guess at the reason of Leachery and declare the Motives to Ambition but why Men should delight in so great a Profanation and make so light of Oaths whereby the greatest wrong is done to God and no good no Advantage accrues to themselves nay which themselves seem to have some veneration for in a Court of Judicature this I say is a Mystery and one of the Depths of Satan as the Phrase is Rev. 11.24 Whether Men think that an Oath sets off their Passion better and makes it more terrible and impressive or whether they fancy that their Words and Sentences have not their due Accents and Cadences without an Oath or whether they believe that their Mirth and Jollity is not modish enough except it be accompanied with some Oath or other or something like it or whether it be meerly Custom and a Sin they play with for Companies sake as they will drink a Glass more than ordinary to satisfie the Importunities of Friends No Sin hath been or is more common or more frequently committed than this it hath been so heretofore St. Chrysostom complains of it among the People of Antioch and we have reason to take up the same Complaint other Sins have had their Ebbings and have sometimes abated of their violent Motion but this hath been and is still kept up to the Grief of all Men who are concern'd for the Affliction of Joseph This shews what a mighty Power the Devil hath yet among the Children of Men and how strangely his Kingdom lasts Indeed this is the only satisfactory Reason why Men dare venture upon Oaths in common Discourse The Devil reigns in them and the Evil Spirit possesses their Souls else they durst not they could not be guilty of so great a Profanation The Guilt would stare into their Faces and fright them like a Ghost or Spectre its shape is so monstrous were it not that the God of this World blinds their Eyes and darkens their Understanding they durst not make God thus subservient to the Devil Do not they do so when in their sinful Anger or Mirth or Jollity they bring in the Oath of God and the Wounds and Death of Jesus to make their Sin more dreadful There cannot be the least Dram of Grace where this Custom prevails nothing of the Spirit of God no sense of God no Regeneration no Conversion no Repentance no Change of Life can be supposed in such a Man Here Darkness hath its Empire and Egyptian Night dwells here In vain do such Men plead Custom An ill Custom may and if you will be happy must be changed There is no Impossibility whatever difficulty may be in it if you will but observe the same Method you do in your Trades and Professions A Man cannot naturally Dance upon a Rope yet by use and taking Pains and forcing his Body and trying often he learns to walk upon 't as steddily as other Men do in their Chambers Men are not born Carpenters and Painters and Joiners and Carvers yet what is difficult at first becomes easie by use and why should it not be as easie to alter the Custom of Swearing and to change it into a facility of forbearing an Oath if you who are guilty of this Crime were resolute and shew'd your selves Men and Christians and would but do that in Religion which you do in your ordinary Apprenticeships Do but resolve to forbear a Meals-Meat or two do but tye your selves to give a Shilling or Half a Crown to the Poor every time an Oath slips from you Do but bind your selves in a solemn Vow to go five or six Miles on Foot Do but speak to your Friends and beg of them to reprove you as often as you Swear Do any thing that 's irksome to the Flesh and punish your selves whenever you take the Name of God in vain and sollicit the Grace of God and pray earnestly for its assistance and the Conquest will be easie But if you will do nothing toward the abolishing of this Instance or fancy it will leave you of its own accord you refuse to be healed and your Damnation is just As ye loved Cursing and Swearing so shall it come unto you as you delighted not in Blessing so shall it be far from you As you cloathed your selves with Cursing and Swearing like as with a Garment so shall it come into your Bowels like Water and like Oyl into your Bones Psal. cix 17 18. And the time will come when God will swear in his wrath if he hath not done it already that ye shall not enter into his rest III. A Sacrament is as much as an Oath and we have two standing Sacraments in the Church Baptism and the Lord's-Supper in which we take a Military Oath to our General to our God to our Saviour to fight his Battels to War against Sin to wrestle with Temptations
Sware by Heaven by the Earth by Jerusalem and by their Heads and other things of this Nature a Custom which Christ doth here peremptorily declare against shewing that whatever Palliations Excuses and Apologies they might make for it it was as bad as Swearing by God himself But I say unto you Swear not at all neither by Heaven for it is Gods Throne c. So that 1. When Christ saith Swear not at all the Words are not to be extended to the utmost Latitude they will bear but the Universality must be Restrained to the Subject Matter and measured by our Saviour's Hope and Design and by the Sins he intends to reprove When Christ John x. 8 tells us All that came before me were Thieves and Robbers it 's evident this general Expression must be restrained to those who gave out that they were the Messiah else St. John the Baptist and all the Prophets of old must be comprehended under the Notion of Thieves and Robbers So when St. Paul saith All things are lawful for me 1 Cor. vi 12 It must necessarily be restrained to things not forbid else an Inference might be drawn from the Words that St. Paul thought Lying and Stealing and Fornication was lawful for him After the same manner the expression I became all things to all Men 1 Cor. ix 22 must be understood of things indifferent else it might be interpreted of his becoming an Idolater to please Idolaters and so here Swear not at all must necessarily be Restrain'd to the Sins Christ intended to reprove which were the lesser Oaths as they call ' them used in common Discourse and in ordinary Transactions and Negotiations so that Christ denies not but that upon extraordinary occasions before Superiours and at their Command in a serious and weighty Matter a Difference may be ended and a doubtful Truth confirm'd by an Oath the lawfullness of which we proved in the last Discourse But these extraordinary occasions excepted the Prohibition is Universal Swear not at all 2. The Oaths Christ chiefly alludes to and doth so strictly forbid were the Oaths which most of the Jews had used themselves to in their Discourses Dealings and Communications and had been Taught by the Pharisees to make nothing of or to look upon as Harmless and such as inferr'd no Obligation of performance And there are two things that Christ reproves here 1. Their using any thing like an Oath in their ordinary Communications 2. The particular Oaths by any Creature such as Heaven and Earth and Jerusalem c. That in this Prohibition Christ did not mean taking an Oath in a judicial Court when the nature of the Thing and Superiors require it is evident from hence because such Oaths by Heaven or Earth or Jerusalem c. were never used among the Jews upon those publick Occasions for then they Sware by the Great Creator of Heaven and Earth as the Lord lives God do so unto me and more c. and consequently this Prohibition must be understood of ordinary Communications as appears also from v. 37. 3. That which Christ intends to prove is this that their excuses and pretences of not taking the Name of God in vain when they Sware by Heaven and Earth and Jerusalem c. were impertinent and frivolous for in Swearing by the Creatures they did in effect Swear by the Maker of them and when they Swore by Heaven they Swore by the God whose Throne is in Heaven when by the Earth their Oath was as injurious and offensive to God as if they had Sworn by him whose Foot-stool the Earth is when by Jerusalem it was as bad as Swearing by the Great King God blessed for evermore who had taken that City into his peculiar Care and Protection and when by their Heads it was less than Swearing by that God whose Power and Goodness appeared in the smallest things about them such as the hairs of their Heads which they had so little command of that they could not in the Root of it turn a white one black or a black one white This is the thing Christ declares to the Sinners of his time and the ground of his Assertion is plainly this because in an Oath not Pretences but the Nature and Import of the thing are considered by Almighty God Men always Swear by a greater viz. a Supream being This is an Eternal Rule and whatever Trivial things may be brought or put into an Oath that doth not alter the Nature of it which hath still Relation to God who is the Creator of all the lesser Things Men Swear by and is as much profaned by such Oaths as if they had particularly named him From the words thus explained arise the following Observations which I shall run over with as much brevity as the respective Subjects will bear Observations I. Here we see that changing a Sin or making some Alterations of it is not leaving or repenting of it The Sinners Christ had to deal with in this place thought they were safe enough if they did but alter the Name of God in their common Oaths and changed it into that of a Creature either Heaven or Earth or Jerusalem or their Heads yet that did not excuse them from the guilt of a false or profane Oath such are the Oaths we find used among the Papists by St. Mary or by St. Paul or by St. Peter or by St. James and of this Nature are the wicked Oaths of Men among our selves when they Swear by their Souls or by some thing that is not God The Crime is the same whatever Alterations may be made in Names and Words and Phrases and therefore he that should be so silly as to think he repents of Swearing in common Discourse because he doth not mention God in his Oaths or Swears only by his Faith or by his Troth or by his Soul or by something meaner and more frivolous talks like a Changling and is as far from Repentance as he is from the Kingdom of God for Swearing by any thing that is not God is made so great a Crime in Scripture that God seems to be in doubt whether he shall pardon it Jerem. v. 7 How shall I pardon thee for this thy Children have forsaken me and Sworn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that which is not God nay it 's called a forsaking of God and then are these Oaths by the Creatures such light things as Men make of them away with this folly The smaller the thing is by which you Swear the greater is the Crime the rather because ye ascribe that to a Creature which is proper only and due to God such as knowing the Heart being a Discerner of Secrets and an Avenger of Falshood This being in the intention of an Oath ascribed to that being by whom the Oath is taken all these are in effect attributed to the Creature by which Men Swear and then besides the Prophanation of the most sacred Thing the Swearer commits Idolatry and is not this a
because it is not customary to do so it is not usual or other Men do not mind it And are these the mighty Reasons that satisfie your Conscience Will you dare to plead them in the last Day Will not you blush to alledge them before the Searcher of all Hearts I shall be counted a Coward saith the Man of Honour if I put up an Affront or do not return Evil for Evil. A wonderful Argument an Argument which a Philosopher would laugh at and a Christian ought to scorn Was there ever greater Cowardice than this returning Evil for Evil What not dare to obey your God whom you confess to be greater than the greatest Monarchs of the World What Not dare to consult the interest and welfare of your Souls above that of Flesh and Blood What Not dare to maintain a good Conscience in despight of all Opposition What afraid of transgressing a Punctilio of Honour when you run the hazard of Eternal Damnation Is this your Courage to be Slaves to a silly Lust and to crouch to a base Temptation of the Devil to tremble at the Censures of Dust and Ashes and to throw your selves headlong into the gulph of Perdition you 'll reply Who saith it is so dangerous Why Christ says so that Saviour whom you pretend to Worship and Adore for he hath prefix'd this general Item to all the Commands in this Sermon Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so i.e. make a practice of it and delight in it he shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. he shall be nothing at all in that Kingdom And is this your Courage not to stand by your greatest Friend Is not Christ your greatest Friend Hath not he bought you with his Blood Hath not he laid down his Life for you to deliver you from the Wrath to come When you return Evil for Evil you forsake this Friend you dishonour him you abuse him and is it Courage not to dare to maintain the Cause of your dearest Friend Is it not far greater Courage to subdue a Passion than to fall under the Power and Tyranny of it Is it not greater Courage to overcome the Evil with Good than to be overcome with Evil Is it not more Heroick to assert the Honour and Glory of your Immortal Souls than to make them Drudges and Slaves to a brutish Inclination Who so fit to judge of Courage and Cowardice as God infinitely Wise and Knowing and if he calls returning Evil for Evil Cowardice will you call it Courage and put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness Doth not he call it Cowardice when he looks upon it as a debasing of Reason dishonouring your Religion wronging your Conscience wounding your Souls disgracing your Profession and Disobedience to him who hath the greatest Right and Power to command you A Bull or a Boar can kick him again that kicks him And what Is there not greater Spirit in you than there is in such pitiful Animals Socrates a Heathen when one gave him a Box on the Ear replied merrily What a strange thing is it that a Man cannot go abroad without putting a Helmet on Can we read this of Barbarians and look upon our selves as civiliz'd who dare not come up to their Vertue Had you rather be no Christians than he counted Cowards Hath God exalted your Natures above that of irrational Creatures and is imitating Bears and Tygers the highest Dispensation you arrive to Another pleads My Neighbours will count me a Fool if I should not return Evil for Evil or rather than return an Injury suffer a greater This is much such a Plea as the former and it must be confess'd that this is the Wisdom of the Flesh and see here how contrary this Wisdom is to the Wisdom of God or to the Wisdom of the Spirit What is Wisdom Is it not to chuse proper Means to attain the end And will you take the way to Hell that you may get to Heaven Is it not Wisdom to foresee the Evil and to hide our selves from it Hath not God declar'd his Wrath and Indignation against this returning Evil for Evil and is it your Wisdom to run into the danger What if Men should count you Fools for minding the business of your Calling or providing for your Families Would you therefore neglect doing so because of that Censure And how come ye to despise the Censures of Men in one Duty and are afraid of doing it in another Is not forbearing to return Evil for Evil Railing for Railing ill Language for ill Language a Duty as much as providing for your Families Is it not commanded as much as labouring for a Livelihood And if to Obey God more than Men be Wisdom where lies the Folly in being obedient to the Will of God in this particular Which is better that God should count ye Fools or that Men should do it If it be better Men should have such Thoughts of you than God why cannot the determination of God make you resolute to undervalue these nick-names of malicious Persons God will certainly look upon you as wise Men if you are tender of the welfare of your Souls And since forbearing to return Evil for Evil is a certain sign that you have a tender regard to the happiness of your Souls what hurt do ye receive by Mens calling you a thousand Fools Men may be mistaken but God cannot and if Men call ye Fools for obeying the Gospel most certainly they are mistaken and will you be guided more by the inconsiderate Talk of loose rash and carnal Men than by the serious Resolution of that God who is to be the Judge of quick and dead Ay but if I do not return Evil for Evil wicked Men will trespass upon my Goodness And what if they do Is our Goodness the worse because it meets with frequent Trials Is not this the way to strengthen to confirm and to establish and to perfect it Let Patience have its perfect work saith St. James i. 4 If Mens trespassing upon our Goodness is subservient to the perfection of Grace how can we be losers by it Nay doth not the wicked Man lose more by his repeated Injuries than we by our repeated Patience Doth not his Soul gather greater Guilt and Blackness by it while our lasting and continu'd Patience makes our own brighter and more splendid And how do we know but our Patience under the first Injury may work upon the ill Man and oblige him to become Good by our Example and fright him from attempting any more However if it doth not it 's I that gather the Roses and the Bryars and Pricks fall to his share Once more Is there not a Promise made to the Patient Soul that God will stop the rage of her Enemies Do we believe this Promise and shall not we trust God for the peâ—formance of it And when he is ready to perform it to our Satisfaction shall we stop
in some Cases by quitting our Right we prejudice the right of others but this cannot be said of so small a thing as a Coat which is a Man 's own to a Proverb or a Cloak or something like it 2. This is to shew a good Example to others and to teach them what they should do Our Actions are the best School-Masters and as we see Men learn from ill Example so they may I am sure ought to learn from good ones By not hearkening to a Temptation of Injustice by not defrauding a Child or ignorant Person by not speaking Evil of him that speaks ill of me by being Conscientious in my Duty I teach another and direct him how he is to govern himself This was the Method our great Master took He taught nothing but what he practis'd himself And indeed all the Oratory which a Man uses to another to persuade him to a Virtue is insignificant except his own Conscientiousness in the thing leads the way He that would sue us at Law for our Coat if rather than fall into a Passion with him we let him have our Cloak too we instruct him how he is to behave himself to others if the like should happen to him It 's true he may not be so considerate as to learn his Duty from our Example yet still our Intention in the Self-denial was good and commendable and shall not go without a Recompence and the Person who would not learn his Duty from what he saw in us shall give an Account to God for his Untractableness and Indocility 3. This is an excellent way to prevent great Vexation both in our selves and others The Rage of the Enemy will not only be restrain'd by it but hereby our own quiet and ease will be promoted To fill our Souls with Rage and Disorder upon such a force offer'd to us is to punish our selves for another Man's Weakness and Folly and to increase the Trouble and Affliction which befalls us The loss of the Cloak or Coat was outward only but if together with that loss I join the loss of quietness and calmness of Mind I increase it and become my own Tormentor and to the Injury that another doth me I add doing Injury to my self which is highly Irrational 4. Hereby we do certainly glorifie God who is ever best glorified by our Obedience and conforming to his Will Whatever the loss or inconvenience may be that may happen to us upon the account of that Obedience This is to glorify him in our Souls and Bodies according to the Rule 1 Cor. vi 20 i. e. in our Thoughts and Actions For this is a manifest sign that my Spirit stands in awe of the Supream Being that his Law is in my Heart and that my Mind is govern'd by his Will By resigning actually my Cloak to him that would take away my Coat here is an Action that brings Glory to God and declares that God is in me and gives me Strength and Power to overcome the Flesh and the sinful Motions of it And from hence arise not only Thanksgivings in my self but all good Men who see it will glorifie God for my professed Subjection to the Gospel of Christ 2 Cor. ix 12 13. 5. And this must needs endear God to us and move him to have kind Thoughts of us Not that we deserve his Love by such an Act but so gracious and condescending he is that upon decessions from our right for his Honour and Glory he is willing to look upon us with a very favourable Aspect This is Goodness that hath some Substance in it This looks like imitation of his Goodness who in his Dispensations decedes infinitely from his own right for our good What was the giving of his Son but a miraculous deceding from his own right of punishing us according to our Deserts And indeed there is not an act of Mercy to poor Sinners but God decedes from his Right even from the right of his Justice And when he who parts with his Cloak to him that would by force of Law deprive him of his Coat doth express the goodness of God in so lively a manner that God so great in Goodness cannot but say as he did to his People under Nebuchadnezzar Jer. xxix 11 I know the thoughts that I think towards you thoughts of Peace and not of Evil. But you will say may not a Man go to Law for his own and may not a Man justly defend himself by Law when he is wrong'd by another which leads me to the II. Query Whether it be in no case lawful for a Christian to go to Law with his Brother or defend his Right by Law when wrong'd by another Man 1. It is certain that Humane Laws permit a great many things which a Pious Christian cannot in Conscience make use of and which do not become him as he is a profess'd Disciple of such an humble self-denying Master as Christ Jesus Humane Laws to prevent greater Evils in a Common-wealth permit several things which a Christian who is chiefly to be guided by the Law of Christ doth wave as having a greater Law in his Heart And therefore though Humane Laws or the Laws of the Land permit you to go to Law with a Man that wrongs you yet that 's not the strict measure of your Actions Not that a Christian can safely disobey the Laws of the Land he inhabits when they do not clash with the Law of God But there is a great difference betwixt disobeying the Law of the Land and not making use of it upon all occasions 2. Our Saviour consider'd and all reasonable Men must grant it what Wrath what Malice what Abusing Slandering Disparaging of our Neighbours what Partiality what base Arts what Tricks are made use of by Persons who implead one another How Law-Suits are prolong'd to the loss of our Time and Quiet and better Employments What needless Charges Men involve themselves in to their own Vexation and Discontent And what a lasting Hatred is settled in the Hearts of Antagonists by such Doings And therefore to prevent the occasions of Evil he forbids going to Law And that Person that takes no care to shun the occasions of Evil can never be fit for the Kingdom of God So that 3. In lesser Injuries such as Mens taking or offering to take from us by force a Cloak or upper Garment a thing which we can spare without any great damage to our selves he doth absolutely forbid this Remedy which is indeed more than the Disease Insomuch that he who delights in going to Law upon every trifling occasion a small Summ of Money or a thing amounting to the Value of a Cloak or Coat most certainly knows not understands not the Principles of that Religion he professes but acts against them and hath no sense of the Love Christ Jesus bore to him and which ought to constrain him to forbear any thing he hath forbid 4. Going to Law in any case is forbid and
kindness O Lord toward them that fear thee and put their trust in thee before the Sons of Men They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy House and thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy pleasure for with thee is the Fountain of Life and in thy Light we shall see Light This must needs be a very comfortable Consideration to all that by patient continuance in Well-doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Rain and Sun-shine and the common Blessings of this Life are not the proper Rewards God intends you These are Mercies design'd chiefly for his Slaves and meaner Servants They are greater richer and nobler Blessings that are appointed for his Friends and Children Eye hath not seen and Ear hath not heard and Heart cannot conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him Grieve not ye in whom the fruits of the Spirit do appear that God doth not give you the Blessings of his Left-hand the Blessings of Men who have their portion in this Life If he should put you off with these you would be miserable The Joys above the triumphs of Paradise the felicity of Angels the festivals of Heaven the eternal Enjoyments of God the everlasting rest the endless beatitude in your Father's House These are the Portions of his Children This World indeed is inhabited by his Friends but the greater part of those who dwell in the Earth are his Enemies Among these good Men live as Strangers and Pilgrims but they are higher larger and loftier Mansions that are prepared for them and when their Earthly House of this Tabernacle shall be dissolv'd there will fall to their share a building of God a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens SERMON XXXVII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 46 47. For if you love them which love you what Reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brethren only what do you more than others Do not even the Publicans so LAws are best understood by the Preamble because that gives an account of the occasion to these Words by the preceding Among the Rules of Holy Living prescrib'd by our Saviour to his Disciples in this Chapter that of loving our Enemies blessing them that curse us and doing good to them that hate us and praying for them which despitefully use us is most remarkable He was sensible Flesh and Blood would raise Objections against this Duty and therefore he backs it with Arguments great and powerful to let us see how equitable and reasonable it is In the preceding Verse he sets before us the Example of God who receives greater Affronts and Injuries and Abuses from sinful Men than one Man can possible receive from another And yet as ill as that Supream Being is used he lets his Sun rise upon the Evil and the Good and sends Rain upon the Just and Unjust The next Motive is taken from the nature of the Christian Discipline which transcends all other Religions in the World and whose very design it is to raise Men above the common level of Nature and Education and consequently requires greater degrees of Love and Goodness to Men than natural Men Heathens and Sinners and Publicans usually pay for if ye love them which love you what Reward have ye do not even the Publicans the same and if ye salute your Brethren only what do ye more than others do not even the Publicans so The Publicans here mention'd were Persons that sate at the receipt of Custom or receiv'd the Customs due to the Roman Emperors in Palestinae from Commodities Imported or Exported Such a one was Matthew the Writer of this Gospel Matth. ix 9 and Zachaeus Luk. xix 2 i. e. before they were Converted for though Tertullian will not allow that any Jews were Custom-House Men or would suffer themselves to be employ'd in the receipt of Customs yet that in this Point he is under a very great Mistake is evident from the Examples of Matthew and Zacchaeus who were both Jews and of the Stock of Abraham Mar. ii 14 Luk. xix 9 It 's possible there might not be so many Jews of that Profession as there were Greeks or Romans yet that even the Jews did sometimes court and accept of these Employments and personally discharg'd them what has been alledg'd is as good as Demonstration These Publicans were properly Gatherers or Receivers of the Customs or a kind of Under-farmers For the Roman Government under which the Jews at this Time were used to let the Customs of the several Countries under their Dominion to Farm or to be farmed by the Noblemen Knights and Gentlemen of Rome These undertook to pay the Government a certain Summ for the Customs of such a Country And these Farmers had Officers under them who either farmed the Customs of them again or were at the trouble of Gathering and Receiving them whereby they had great Opportunities and were under very great Temptations to Cheat and Exact upon the Merchants and others they had to deal with and such were the Publicans in the Text. And therefore they were commonly look'd upon as Extortioners Unjust Unrighteous and Oppressors and among the Jews particularly they had so ill a name that they were called Sinners by way of eminency and a Heathen and a Publican were with them convertible Terms Nay the Pharisees seem'd to exclude them from all hopes of Salvation which was one great reason I suppose why many of them I mean of these Publicans did so readily close and join with Christ when he preach'd to them Repentance and offer'd them the Kingdom of Heaven But though they were guilty of great Oppression and Extortion and false Accusation and lived by it and by that means lay expos'd to other Vices as one Sin seldom goes alone yet they were not so bad those who were Jews especially as to neglect the common Duties of Religion or the ordinary Offices of Civility and Humanity which makes our Saviour say and affirm that they loved those who were loving and friendly to them and saluted those who were their Brethren and Acquaintance and were civil to Men of their own Religion This being premised the Observations the Text affords may be reduc'd to these three Propositions I. Even wicked Men do and may perform the common Duties of Religion and Morality II. Those who would be Christians indeed must do more than Carnal Men in Matters of Religion and Morality III. If they do not they have no Reward I begin with the first which imports that even wicked Men do and may perform the common Duties of Religion and Morality a truth plainly intimated in the Text for the Publicans were Men wicked and scandalous who got their Livelihood by Cheating Lying Defrauding False-accusation c. It 's true there lay no necessity upon them to do so for St. John the Baptist told some of them who came to him for Advice that they might continue in their Calling provided they
dictate of the Law of Nature were strangely averse from all Oaths whatsoever insomuch that Clinias the Pythagorean when he might have escaped the Mulct or Penalty of three Talents which is about 8000 Pounds Sterling if he would but have Sworn though there was no Temptation to a false Oath in the Case yet would not and chose rather to submit to the Penalty than wrong as he thought his Conscience But it were to be wish'd that all Mankind were so honest that every Man's Word were as good and as firm as the most solemn Oath yet considering the Corruption that hath overspread the World the Rules of Justice and Righteousness and the good of Mankind make an Oath sometimes absolutely necessary because Justice and Equity and the good of Societies cannot be compassed without it As to Christ's saying But I say unto you swear not at all I shall tell you the sense and design of it when I come to explain it in Order and whatever Strictness not only many of the primitive Believers but some Pious Heathens have professed in this kind It is certain St. Paul who could not but know his Master's Mind did upon extrâ—ordinary occasions make use of these Religious Asseverations for what are those Expressions of his we meet with Rom. i. 9 2 Cor. i. 23 2 Cor. xi 31 Gal. i. 20 I call God for a Record upon my Soul God is my witness Behold before God I lye not I say what are all these but solemn Oaths and therefore it cannot be altogether unlawful for a Christian to use them upon some Occasions not to mention that the Gospel doth not reverse the Law of Nature and I have shew'd before that the Law of Nature hath taught most civiliz'd Nations to have recourse to them in things doubtful and since it was lawful under the Law of Moses I see no reason why it should not be so under the Gospel not only because Controversies and doubtful Cases will arise as much now as formerly but because an Oath was no part of the Ceremonial Law and consequently cannot be said to be abolish'd There is no doubt things so solemn so sacred so serious as Oaths ought to be us'd but seldom to make a Trade of it is the readiest way to Perjury The familiarity takes off from the solemnity of the thing and then there is an easy slip into Perjury And therefore it may not be amiss here to prescribe certain Rules and Limits and to shew when and where and upon what occasions an Oath the taking of an Oath may be lawful 1. When the Magistrate or the Powers which are set over us by Providence do command it This is the import of Exod. xxii 11 and this is part of that Obedience we owe to our Superiors who are Ministers to us for good and do not bear the Sword in vain Among the Jews the Magistrate might command an Oath to be taken Numb v. 19 21 and why not among Christians 2. It must be in things doubtful and where there is no other way to come to any Certainty but by an Oath which even Men of a loose Life if they have not thrown off all Religion will stand in awe of according to what the Apostle intimates Heb. vi 16 3. In a Thing of great Moment They that make Men Swear about Trifles as they have no great sence of Religion so they consider not the Nature and End of an Oath In Matters trivial where the gain or loss of either side is inconsiderable all wise and good Men have ever look'd upon pressing or taking an Oath as unlawful it being too sacred a thing to be used in Things mean and contemptible St. Paul made use of it as we said before but it was in Things relating to God and the Souls of Men and the good of Christian Societies 2 Cor. i. 23 The wiser Heathen thought it lawful in three Cases only 1. If it were to avoid Infamy and Disgrace and consequently rendring ones self incapable of serving the Publick 2. If it were to save a Man's Life or to free him from some considerable Danger 3. If the good of the Community or the common good of the Country Men are Members of did require it But in Money-businesses between Man and Man they thought it more Conscientious to be a loser than bring the Soul under the Obligation of an Oath and let it be consider'd whether such Men who exceed many Christians in strictness will not be their Judges in the last Day 4. In taking an Oath great simplicity must be used both in our Words and Intentions He that Swears to a thing which he either knows to be false or concerning which he is uncertain whether it be true or not deviates from this Simplicity and runs himself into the danger of Perjury and so doth he who by an Oath promises to do a Thing which he either doth not intend or endeavour to perform what he hath sworn to perform And of this Nature are all Mental Reservations and Equivocations in Oaths which is the reason why the Prophet requires us to Swear in Truth Jer. iv 2 The Temporal Inconveniencies that attend the performance of a lawful Oath do not make the Obligation less and therefore when David asks Who shall ascend unto the Hill of the Lord Psal. xv 1 he answers ver 4. He that swears to his own Hurt and changes not i. e. He that after he hath given his Oath finds the performance will be prejudicial to his Interest and yet will not alter the Word that is gone out of his Lips And this is agreeable to the simplicity we speak of 5. If an Oath be taken it must be in Things lawful not forbidden either by the Law of Nature or by Revelation i. e. the Reveal'd Will of God in the Scripture for this were to offer Things abominable to God more abominable than cutting off a Dog's-Neck or sacrificing Swines-flesh to make use of the most Holy Thing in things contrary to his Holiness This would be to set God against himself to make him witness to our Impieties and to get him to Patronize what his purer eyes abhor And therefore the Command is that we are to Swear in Righteousness Jer. iv 2 6. The Thing we Swear to do must be Possible and in our own Power either natural or adventitious and coming from the Spirit of God Impossibilities are no part of the matter of an Oath whether they be natural Impossibilities such as it is to turn a Blackamoor White or to make an Oxe speak or actual as that a Man who is at London to Day should be the same Day at York or in Law as for a Mayor of a Town to make an itinerant Judge or a Baron or Chancellor of the Kingdom the Law giving him no right There needs no store of Arguments to prove That such Impossibilities are no Ingredients of an Oath for they would make an Oath ridiculous and discover the Swearer to
be a Fool. 7. An Oath must be taken with great Deliberation being a thing of the greatest Consequence where the safety and welfare and interest of our Immortal Souls are in a special manner concern'd We use this Deliberation in lesser things and therefore must not be omitted in a thing of that Weight and Moment which shews That Children and Madmen and Persons very like them Men in Drink or in a Passion are no fit Persons to take an Oath because they are not capable of mature Deliberation while under these Circumstances and therefore we are injoyn'd and directed to Swear with Judgment Jer. iv 2 8. An Oath taken to Hereticks and Infidels to Enemies to Turks Jews and Heathens even to the worst of Men must inviolably be kept as we see in the Example of the Oath the Israelites took to the Gibeonites Josh. ix 18 I will not charge every Member of the Church of Rome with the contrary Doctrine and Practice especially as it relates to Hereticks and Infidels but certain it is that it was both the Doctrine and Practice of the Council of Constance and the Advice of Martin V. to Alexander Duke of Lithuania whom he exhorted to break his Faith and Oath given to the Bohemian Protestants and of Urban VI. to Wenceslaus to do the like to Persons who differ'd from the Church of Rome If such a Principle were part of Christ's Religion it would not only contradict the Law of natural Justice which Christ came to establish but were enough to render Christianity odious to the sober sort of Mankind who in this Case might justly say as he in the Case of Transubstantiation Let my Soul be with the Philosophers These are some of the principal Rules to be observ'd in taking of an Oath if there be any more they shall be discoursed of in the Prosecution of the Subject Let us go on and enquire III. Why Perjury or Forswearing our selves or not performing unto the Lord our Oath is so strictly forbid and wherein the virulency or heinousness of the Sin consists 1. It is Dishonesty in the highest degree a most base Treachery and Perfidiousness not only to Man but to God He that either Swears falsly or doth not perform unto the Lord his Oath deceives not only Man but doth as much as in him lies to Cheat God if it were possible at least he discovers his good Will to do it tho' he is not able He that Cozens another with counterfeit Wares or gives him a Stone for Bread a Serpent for a Fish is not so great a Cheat as the Perjur'd Creature because the Person he Affronts and seeks to impose upon in this Case is infinitely greater He attempts at the same time to rob Heaven and Earth God and Man of their due which is the performance of his Oath a performance due to the Creator and the Creature by all the Laws of Property and a most solemn Contract He gives both God and his Neighbour Shells for Kernels Husks for Dates and Words for Deeds and Lyes for Truths and deceives his Neighbour particularly in that which all Mankind looks upon as Rational to put the greatest Trust and Confidence in and there cannot be greater Dishonesty 2. It 's playing with God and deriding his Justice and Omniscience for it is as much as granting and denying these Attributes The Swearer in taking an Oath grants that God is the searcher of Hearts and a discerner of his Thoughts and Words and Actions and that he takes notice of them and remembers them and yet by his non-performance acts as if all this were but Fable and Romance Who can read the Passage of the Soldiers without trembling who Crown'd our Saviour with Thorns put a Reed in his Hand bow'd the Knee before him and cryed Hail King of the Jews Such a mocking of God is Perjury the Oath shews that the Perjur'd Man acknowledges all his great Attributes and yet his Behaviour discovers that he was in Jest when he made that Confession and Dionysius when he robb'd Jupiter of his Golden Beard did not mock that fictitious Deity more than such a Man doth the living God He deals with him as if he were some Idiot or Heathen Idol which hath Eyes and sees not Ears and hears not and how great must be this Impiety 3. It 's profanation of the most sacred and the most serious Thing in the World An Oath is one of the highest Acts of Religion It is a most solemn Invocation of his Name a most solemn declaration of his Excellencies and Perfections above all Created Beings and a most solemn Appeal to him from all Creatures whatsoever This Opinion the very Heathens had of it so that Perjury is profaning the most solemn Worship of God and Belshazzar was not guilty of so great Prophaneness in Drinking out of the Hallow'd Vessels of the Temple as the Man who doth not perform unto the Lord his Oath for he profanes not Vessels dedicated to his Service but his glorious Name and prostitutes it to the contempt of Men and Devils 4. It is a Sin next to Atheism for there is very little difference betwixt believing there is no God and believing there is one whose Omnisciencee and revenging Eye deserves no regard at all It is a Sin Man cannot well attain to till he hath stupified his Conscience and saith at least in his Heart or Wishes There is no God And what shall I say more It is a Sin which kills at one stroke It doth not waste the Soul by degrees as other Sins but makes the Sinner a Child of Death presently so that if Death should arrest him immediately upon his Perjury the Man is miserable as Dives unhappy as Judas undone as Corah Dathan and Abiram and must drink the Potion of the Sinners Cup. It is a crying Sin brings a Curse upon the Perjur'd Man and his Family It calls aloud for Vengeance awakens the Divine Justice and will not let it be quiet till it brandishes its Sword against the daring Sinner It makes a Man infamous and odious among Men when it comes to be known It defiles the Land where it goes unpunish'd and helps to hasten the intended Judgment upon a City or Nation It leads to other dreadful and clamorous Sins for God withdraws his Spirit from the Man who Affronts him thus and he tumbles down lower and lower and becomes every Day more and more a Child of Hell and of the Devil It causes mighty Terrors of Conscience even on this side Eternity and God is so concern'd to Revenge the Profanation that very often he stays not till the Sinner drops into the burning Lake but even here the Profane Creature must feel his Vengeance Zedekiah for his Perjury to King Nebuchadnezzar is taken Captive by his Army and hath his Eyes pull'd out Saul for his Perjury to the Gibeonites is the ruine of seven of his nearest Relations Uladislaus for the same Crime loses the Battel at a time when Victory
you do not heartily believe an eternal Reward What! Believe it and do nothing for it Yes something ye do as much as some of your indifferent Neighbours do but that 's the very thing Christ finds fault with because you stop there where Men of no great sence of Religion stop It 's true all the doing in the World cannot deserve this everlasting Reward but since doing more than Publicans and Sinners is the Condition to which God hath annex'd this eternal Reward will you neglect the Condition without which you cannot be sure of that Reward 4. When in the last Day ye shall see those excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven who were loath to step farther than their Friends and Acquaintance in the way to Happiness those particularly who thought it sufficient to be kind only to those who were kind to them Will not you wish that you had done more than they But what will Wishes signifie in that Day when the time of Sowing and Planting and Working is past Now you have an opportunity of shewing your extraordinary Zeal and Love and Fervour and Charity and endeavours to do more than others Lay hold and remember we entreat you in Christ's stead to lay hold on the present opportunity and let the eternal Reward tempt you the Reward invisible indeed but as sure as certain as infallible as the Great God who hath promised it Say not this doing more than others is an endless thing for at this rate we must do more than every Man we see or hear of or converse withal a thing enough to make a Man distracted with Religion No my Friends there is no danger of that the Persons beyond whom you are to go are chiefly carnal careless indifferent Men who have a low Opinion of Religion and do no more in these Matters than is consistent with their Interest and Honour and Reputation and Ease and Temper and Profit and Sensual Pleasures Cross your selves in all these and do more than Flesh and Blood and Nature and Custom and Education would prompt you to and as you excel others in Temporal and Spiritual Advantages labour still to do more than they especially where you see they are defective and let all be done according to the Directions of the Text and this Chapter not ceasing to implore God's powerful Arm and the Time will come when you shall Sing and Triumph and Rejoyce more than others and when others shall be Judged Disgraced Despised and Rejected you will sit on Thrones judging the Tribes of Israel Amen SERMON XXXVIII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 46 47. For if ye love them which love you what Reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brethren only what do you more than others Do not even the Publicans so I Thought I had done with these Words but upon a review of the Text there appear several Things which will require our farther Disquisition and Examination Our Saviour's principal Design in these Words I think I have sufficiently explain'd in the last Discourse his principal Design I say which is to shew that in Matters of Love Charity Kindness and Civility we are to do more than others more than Heathens and Infidels more than Carnal Men and according to the Rules and Measures of Analogy I extended the Command to other Collateral Duties of Religion and Morality But I find that while I have pressed doing more than others I have forgot to urge some of you at least to do so much as others and while I have taught you to go beyond Publicans and Carnal Men I have overlook'd the Duties and good things suppos'd in the Text to be in Publicans and Carnal Men which are loving those that love them and being kind and civil and courteous to those who are so to them and doing good to those who do good to them Indeed to recommend to you such Duties as these seems to be a thing altogether needless and superfluous as needless as to teach People to Trade one with another or to Eat when they are Hungry or to Drink when they are Dry. But if we look abroad and consider the Christian World as it appears to us now we shall find that even these lesser Duties are trampled upon as well as the greater and as impossible as it may seem to be not to love those who love us it will appear from the sequel that there are not a few even among our selves Christians such as they are who break through the Obligation of this Duty and may be justly charged with wilful Omission and Neglect even of these common Offices which Nature Custom and Education teaches Indeed it is a great disparagement to our Religion at least to the Professors of it that they who for the time they have lived in the Church should be able to digest the strongest Meat should stand in need of Milk the those who should be able to teach others should have occasion or lie under a necessity to be taught the common Principles of Heathen Divinity But so it is and to that pass are things come that we are forced to teach People the first Rudiments of natural Theology so incapable or so unfit are many to be instructed in the higher Lessons of Christianity To love and do good to those who love and do good to us is a pure natural Principle and it looks a little impertinent to prove the necessity of it because it is a Point all Men take for granted yet that I may not seem to leave out any thing that should have been said and for your fuller Conviction and Satisfaction I shall I. Consider the reasonableness of this Principle II. Enquire what Persons they are who act against this natural Principle III. Examine what it is that makes Men sink so low beneath Publicans and Heathens and act against this Principle of Nature 1. The Reasonableness of this Principle of loving and doing good to those who love and do good to us And it will appear from the following Particulars 1. Not to love those that love us or not to be civil kind and courteous to those who are so to us tends to the Ruine and Destruction of Humane Society Mutual and reciprocal Kindnesses are the Solder of Humane Life and without these the World would soon become a Habitation of Savages Trade and Commerce would quickly cease and the Condition of Mankind like the Leviathan's state of Nature become a state of perpetual War This would encrease Animosities and set at variance Father and Son and the Daughter against her Mother and the Daughter-in-law against her Mother-in-law and open a gap to infinite Quarrels and Dissentions for as nothing sowres our Spirits more than Unkindnesses from those whom we have been kind to so if this proceeded to an universal Custom Love and Charity would be destroy'd aud with that the Peace and Order of Common-wealths or Kingdoms This would alienate Mens Affections one from another and this would
proceed to Hatred that Hatred to Revenge that Revenge to Destruction In a word this would breed the greatest Confusion in Families Cities and Provinces and nothing would be more miserable than the Children of Men. In the worst of Times when Vice and Impiety abounds and triumphs and Religion is scorned and lies neglected This Principle of loving those who love us doth yet uphold Humane Societies but were this Cement abolish'd or abandon'd the whole Frame must fall into Disorder and break into a shapeless Chaos 2. To love those who love us is a dictate not only of Reason but of instinct too and therefore Instances of it are to be found even in Beasts and Brutes and irrational Creatures I am not very apt to believe all Passages in History concerning Beasts and their wonderful Kindnesses to those who have been kind to them yet some are so well attested that I cannot forbear giving credit to them Andronicus his Lyon is Famous and what Wolves and Tygers and Serpents have done to the Holy Hermites of old are things not to be slighted However let 's cast our Eyes upon what our own Experience doth furnish us with we all know how wonderfully kind Dogs are to those who feed them and make much of them and there are such Examples of Fidelity and Love to their Masters in these Animals that many a Man may blush to see himself outdone by those despicable Creatures Nay Wild-Beasts are serviceable and obliging to those of their own kind that are so to them so that not to love those who love us is to be worse than Beasts and Brutes whom instinct and the weight of sence forces into this Duty Nay 3. The Devils themselves are kind to those who are so to them And therefore one of them sent word to Croesus who complain'd of his Unkindness after he had fill'd his Altar with frequent Incence that he had no reason to find fault with him for being unkind for when he i. e. Croesus was to be burnt by the order of Cyrus he i. e. the Devil raised a Storm of Wind and Rain and put out the Fire and it 's probable he did so if God gave him leave being the Prince of the Air and therefore in a Capacity of making Alterations and Changes in Wind and Weather However his Kindness is very evident to those who do ordinarily serve him by their Vices for to require their faithful Service he frights them not molests them not perhaps not all the Days of their Lives but feeds them with pleasant Fancies gives them opportunity to fulfil their wicked Desires and to accomplish their Lusts and sometimes as we read of Pope Silvester II. helps them to considerable Preferment It 's true these are dangerous Kindnesses yet they are taken for such by vitious Men and it serves to prove that the Principle of the Text is observ'd by the Devils themselves and then what a strange Creature must he be who is defective in this Practice seeing he is worse than Beasts and Devils And the thing being so very bad one would think none should be found at least among Christians who can be charged with this Guilt but whether there be such Persons will appear from the second Particular II. What Persons they are who act against this natural Principle And here 1. What do ye think of refractary unnatural and untowardly Children who reward the tender Care of their Parents their Love and Tenderness and Indulgence with contempt of their Advice and Admonitions and running into Rioting and Drunkenness into Chambering and Wantonness into Strife and Envy and taking Courses which tend to the undoing of their Souls and Bodies Are there no such Children If there are none what 's the reason of the many daily Complaints of this Nature Whether there be any such among us at this present I know not but if there were I would shew them their Faces in this Glass and let them see how ugly and deform'd they look I would call to them in the Language of St. John the Baptist O Generation of Vipers why will not ye be warned to flee from the Wrath to come A Generation of Vipers indeed that tear out the Bowels of those who gave you Life Do not your Parents love you Do not they Maintain and Feed and Educate you in the fear of God Do not they entreat you to mind your everlasting Interest Do not they encourage you to Goodness dissuade you from Vice invite you to the House of God to Prayer and to other Exercises which will give you Peace in the End Do not they plead and reason and argue with you and warn you not to undo your selves And is not this Love and Tenderness and Affection But if you reject their Holy Counsels despise their Exhortations and scorn their warmest Expostulations will run into Company which is your bane rush into destruction and venture into the Chambers of Death is not this requiring their Love with Hatred their Kindness with Baseness and their Charity with the greatest Ingratitude And is not this sinking below Publicans and Heathens for they love those that love them Tell me not that you love their Persons though you hate their Instructions for what doth Love to their Persons signifie while you hate that wherein they do most of all express their Love and declare their Tenderness and Affection 2. The same may be said of Hearers with respect to their faithful Pastors and Teachers we admonish we entreat we reprove we tell our People of their Vices and spare them not we represent to them their Errors in their Native Colours and all that they may amend their Ways and become Favourites of Heaven And is not this Tenderness and Love and Affection What else can be the reason of it It is true our Calling and Profession obliges us to say something but this we might do in general Terms without rubbing their Sores or Lancing their Wounds or breaking their Imposthumes It 's Kindness therefore that makes us tell them the Truth and lay open their Defects and assure them of the Terrors of the Lord and all that their Souls may live and be blessed and glorious and enjoy the future Glory But yet we find that some there are who hate us for our Pains call us Rash and Inconsiderate and worse Names and bear a secret Spleen to us because we are so plain and downright and so free in our Censures and is not this hating those who love you St. Chrysostom had large Experience of these unkind Returns and therefore in several of his Homilies he warns his Auditors and exhorts them not to suffer their faithful Teachers to be slander'd or abus'd Some of the Corinthians 1 Cor. ix 11 thought much of contributing to the maintenance of their Pastors the Apostle is surpriz'd at it What saith he if we have sown unto you Spiritual things is it a great Matter if we reap your Carnal Things And he had reason to find fault with