Laws The general Consent of all Nations who had no Communication with each other in this Distinction between Vertue and Vice intimates no other Compact but that of a common Nature And not only the wisest Philosophers but the universal Voice of Mankind attribute these Laws to Nature not to Human Institutions And it must appear strange if these Laws had no higher Original than Human Compacts that Mankind for so many Ages should not know any thing of it but should mistake them for the Laws of Nature as after all the Information these Men can give the World the generality of Mankind do to this day But suppose this Distinction between Vertue and Vice and those Laws which command the Exercise of Vertue and forbid Vice were originally framed and enacted by Men was there no Reason in the nature of things why they agreed upon such Laws Yes they will grant that they were necessary for the Peace and good Order and Government of Human Societies to secure private Men from Injuries and Violence and to make them helpful and beneficial to each other and therefore they agreed to make them Laws But why should we think that God and Nature has not made those Laws which have natural and necessary Reasons to make them Laws Can meer Human Compacts and Governments either make or change the Reasons and Necessities of things Can they if they so pleased make Vertue Vice or Vice Vertue and as well consult the Happiness of Mankind and the good Government of the World by doing so If not then meer Human Compacts can neither make nor unmake these Laws God has made these Laws for us by making us such Creatures and giving us such Natures as require such Laws if we will live by Nature and attain our natural Happiness and who then can think that God will not as much exact from us the Observance of these Laws as Men do that he will not punish the Breach of these Laws when Human Governments find it necessary to do so And has God made the Restraints and Punishment of Mens Lusts and Vices necessary and will he not punish them himself especially when the Authority of Human Laws and Human Government is very precarious without the Awe of Religion as those Law-givers were very sensible who to give the greater Veneration to their Laws pretended to receive them from their Gods It is manifest that this very Hypothesis which allows no other Difference between Vertue and Vice but what Human Laws and Human Contracts make leaves every Man at liberty to break these Laws when he can do it safely or will venture the Punishment which is the reason that makes these Men so fond of it and shews how necessary a divine Authority is to enforce the Obligation of these Laws and to secure the very being of Human Societies So that those who reason according to the common Principles of Humane Nature can never get rid of the Notitions of moral Good and Evil nor attribute these Laws to any other Author but that God who made us and fitted our Natures to these Laws and no Man who believes that God hath given us these Laws can doubt whether he will punish the Breach of them But then if to this we add the more certain Revelation of the Gospel wherein the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Unrighteousness and Ungodliness of Men this confirms all the Fears of Nature and leaves no possible Hopes for Sinners but Repentance from dead works and Faith in our Lord Iesus Christ that it is impossible for Men who know any thing of the Gospel of Christ to sin securely with their Eyes open and therefore 2dly The next step they take is to put out their Eyes or to put out the Light to put darkness for light and light for darkness to reject all the common Principles of Reason and all Divine Revelation as Ignorance Folly and Imposture But what a Task is this to perswade our selves that Darkness is Light and Light Darkness For the common Principles of Reason which Atheists and Infidels must reject before they can deny the Being of God or a Divine Revelation shine as clear and bright in the Mind as the Light of the Sun does in the Heavens and the admired Principles of Atheism and Infidelity put out our Eyes leave no Distinction between things nor any certain Rules of judging as to give some few Instances of this There is nothing lies more easie and obvious in our Minds than the Notion of a first Cause which gave Being to all things else I will not dispute this Point now but alledge it as a first Principle which Mankind naturally assent to as the most reasonable Account of the Origin of all things Now this the Atheist rejects for if they should allow a First Cause they must own a God for the first Cause of all things is a God And this is the wisest Reason they have against it though in truth it is a great Confirmation of the natural Notion of a First Cause because the Belief of a God is as natural and universal as of a First Cause And these two Notions which are both so natural to Mankind do mutually confirm each other But what Account do these Men give of the Origin of all things They either say the World is Eternal and always was what it now is or that Atoms were Eternal and that the World that now is was made by chance But is this the natural Perswasion of Mankind that the World had no Beginning and no Cause or that it was made-by chance Is any thing in the World harder to be believed than this which we can form no possible Notion of Nature teaches nothing of all this and how then should they come to know it when they neither saw the World from Eternity nor saw it made by the fortuitous Jumble of Atoms It is certain these Principles differ as Light and Darkness do To ascribe all things to a First Cause gives a sensible Account how all things were made and how they came to be so wisely made which is Knowledge and Light But to say that the VVorld was Eternal without a Cause or that it was made by chance when we see all things in it so wisely made only confounds and amazes us and leaves us in Darkness Indeed all the Principles of Atheism and Infidelity have nothing natural or enlightning in them but are a Force upon our Understandings and destroy all the true Principles of Knowledge It is very easie and natural to our Minds to believe that something is Eternal for if there ever had been nothing there never could have been any thing But the Question is which is most easie and natural to Human Understandings to say that all things are Eternal without a Cause or to assert one Eternal Being who is the Cause of all things and every Man may feel the difference between these two in his own Mind for the Notion of a First Cause
is vain and fruitless for there is no Medium to unite in The only way to Peace is to silence all these Disputes as matters which Mankind will never agree about and wherein Religion is no more concerned than the Government of Kingdoms or States and on which the Salvation of our Souls no more depends than the conduct of our Secular Affairs or the preservation of this Mortal Life For the dispute about Decrees Predestination God's Power over our Wills how God and Creatures produce the same Effect what belongs to God and what belongs to the Creature in every Action since in him we live and move concerns every thing else as well as Religion and yet in all other cases men let Philosophers dispute these Points and quietly go about their Business and do what is fit to be done as if there were no Controversy about these matters and I cannot imagine why they should not do so in Religion too Believe what is plainly taught and do what is commanded use the greatest Wisdom and our utmost diligence in doing good and depend upon the succours of the Divine Grace and leave these Disputes to be decided at the day of Judgment and that will decide them all By this means I am sure most of the Disputes among Protestants which have given the greatest Disturbance to the Church would be for ever silenced and Christian Religion would not be clogged nor reproached with such Philosophical Controversies 2ly The Unity of Communion and that consists in our worshipping God together when we resort to the same Church to offer up our united Prayers and Thanksgivings to God and to partake of that holy Supper which is the Sacrament and Symbol of our Union to Christ and to each other and this indeed is true Church-Unity and it is greatly to be lamented that men who profess the same Faith and agree in all the Essentials of Worship should divide Communion and refuse to Pray together and to Feast at the same holy Table of our Lord. We cannot indeed Communicate with the Church of Rome because they have corrupted the very Essentials of Christian Worship Most men do not understand their Prayers and therefore cannot joyn in Prayer with them they worship Images and Pictures which is expresly forbidden by the second Commandment Instead of praying to God in the Name of our only Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ they have joyned other Intercessors with him pray to Saints and Angels and the Virgin Mary to pray for them and help them They worship the Host which we believe to be nothing but Bread and Wine as to the substance and therefore no Object of Worship and turn the Sacramental Feast of Christ's Body and Blood into a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead Such a Worship as this we dare not joyn in because it is Sinful and Idolatrous But the case is quite different among Protestants they pray to the same God in the only Name of the same Lord Jesus Christ put up the same Petitions offer the same Thanksgivings and Praises observe the same Divine Institutions without any essential change and alteration and yet cannot worship God together as if it were an impious thing to put up the same Prayers and to offer the same Praises to God in a pious and grave and well-composed Form of Words which others do it may be not so well and decently in their conceived Prayers as if the Devotion of the Communicant in receiving so inestimable a Blessing as the Sacramental Body and Blood of Christ upon his knees were a prophanation of that Holy Feast as if a white Linnen-Garment which never underwent any Religious Conjurations and is used only as a decent Habit without any opinion of its Virtue or Sanctity were a just reason to drive men out of the Church from the Christian Communion of Prayers and Sacraments These would be surprizing stories to any Christians in the World who had never heard before of such Disputes among us Pray give me leave to speak my mind freely upon this occasion Upon the best and most impartial Inquiries and Observations I can make I do in my Conscience believe the Church of England to be the most Apostolical and best Reformed Church in the World I see no reason from the nature of things to make any material Alterations in her Doctrine or Worship and therefore I confess it has given me very just Resentments to hear our Church charged with such unjust Imputations of Popery Superstition Idolatry Will-worship and what not and to see a blind and furious Zeal ready to raze up the very Foundations of it It has often grieved me to see such a Church as this rent and torn by Schisms which a man of ordinary prudence might easily foresee would give great advantage to the common Enemy of the Protestant Faith This and the care of mens Souls and of their temporal Fortunes too moved several Divines of this Church when the Government thought fit to re-enforce the Laws of Uniformity to examine and answer all the Arguments of our Dissenting Brethren which they performed with that good Temper with that perswasiveness and strength of Argument as will be a Vindication of our Church to future Ages and I wish it may upon second thoughts have yet a better effect upon those who were not then perswaded and this I suppose will not be called Persecution much less can the many kind Offices they did in keeping off Ecclesiastical Censures be called a Persecution And yet after all when it is so apparent that Prejudices are grown as obstinate as they are unreasonable when not the reason of the thing but the weakness of some and the ill designs of others require some compliance and condescension we have reason to hope that the CHURCH of ENGLAND which at the beginning of the Reformation took such prudent are not to offend the Papist by going farther from them than was necessary will whenever it is likely to do good condescend a great deal farther than it is necessary to Reform to meet the Dissenter for while the external Decency Gravity and Solemnity of Worship is secured no wise and good Man will think much to change a changeable Ceremony when it will heal the Breaches and Divisions of the Church and let us all heartily Pray to GOD that there may be this good and peaceable Disposition of Mind in all Conformists and Non-conformists towards a happy Re-union and all considering Men will think it time to lay aside such little Disputes when it is not merely the Church of England nor any particular Sect of Protestants whose Ruin is aimed at but the whole Protestant FAITH 3ly Another kind of Unity is Love and Charity and a mutual forbearance This I confess is a very difficult thing when the Dispute runs so high as to divide Christian Communion for it seems in effect to declare Men to be Heathens and Publicans when we refuse to Worship GOD with them and few Men can
bear this when so dear an Interest is concerned as the Salvation of their Souls And the truth is that Forbearance St. Paul so often mentions was to preserve Men of different attainments and different apprehensions in the Unity of the Church not to countenance their Schisms and Separations But yet since we are fallen into such unhappy Circumstances that a great many Men whom we have reason to hope are in other respects very good Christians and such as our common Saviour will receive with all their Infirmities are involved in a Schism let us still treat them as Christian Brethren pay all that Kindness and Respect to them which is due to the Members of Christ to the Children of the same Father and the Heirs of the same Promises The good Order and Government and the wholesome Laws and Constitutions of a Church must not be presently Sacrificed to the Scruples of every good but it may be ignorant and indiscreet Christian but yet in our Treatment of them we must consider whether we have not reason to think that Christ will own them with all their Faults and if we have reason to believe that Christ will own them we ought also to own them and pay such Kindness to them as is due to all sincere Christians tho under some Mistakes Now I am very confident after all the Heats that have been between the Church of England and Dissenters neither of them will Damn each other upon account of such Differences as are between them no Church of England-man will say that to Pray Extempore to Baptize without the Sign of the Cross to Officiate without a Surplice to Receive the Sacrament Sitting are damning Sins and I believe there are very few if any of our Dissenters that will say That the contrary Practise is Damning and then there may be good Christians on both sides and those who are so ought to love one another as Members of the same Body of CHRIST though divided in their external Communion by some unhappy Differences Schism indeed we do say is a damning Sin but there may be Divisions where there is not always the guilt and formality of Schism and we hope this is the Case of all good Men who separate from the Church through some invincible Prejudices and Prepossessions This shews what great reason we have to love one another notwithstanding such dividing Disputes but if we would practise this true Christian Charity we must take care that these Differences do not grow up into personal Hatreds and Animosities Mens Opinions and Practices may differ and while they dispute fairly they may be Friends still but when Self-love Honour Reputation and Interest is engaged in the Quarrel this makes the Enmity mortal and they must Ruin one another though they both fall together This I am sure is not the Zeal which descends from above which is pure and peaceable gentle and easy to been treated 2. The Peace of the Church signifies its Preservation from the Oppression and Persecution of its Enemies For the Church never wants Enemies though their Power be not always equal and this I presume I need not perswade you to Pray for for you are all sensible what an advantage this is There is none of you would choose Racks and Tortures a Gibbet or a Stake these are grievous things to Flesh and Blood the very thoughts of which make us tremble though immortal Life and the Joys and Pleasures of GOD's Presence are an abundant Recompence for the loss of this present Life and all the Sufferings of this World yet it is a very difficult Tryal even to the best Men who when they see it a coming cannot but Pray with the Importunity of an Agony as our SAVIOUR did Lord let this Cup pass from me Though good Men prefer their future Hopes before all present Things yet their Life their Ease their Liberties their Estates are valuable things too and all Men would be glad to get to Heaven without meeting with such a Storm by the way Especially if it be such a Storm as threatens the very Ruin of the Church and of the true Religion to subvert the Faith of many professed Christians to entail Ignorance Infidelity or monstrous Errors on our Posterity in such a case the love of our Religion of our Country of our Posterity will make us raise our Hearts and our Voices to Heaven in our fervent and passionate Prayers for the peace of Ierusalem And if we do heartily Pray for the peace of Ierusalem methinks we should not Sacrifice our Religion to private Animosities GOD forbid were it in my power and had I never so little kindness for Dissenters that I should ever embrace any Proposals which would Ruin all the Dissenters in England and the Protestant Religion into the bargain and I doubt they are no Protestant Dissenters who would be contented to Ruin the CHURCH of ENGLAND though they introduce Popery and set up the Church of Rome in its stead Thus I have shewn you what that Peace is which we must Pray for and I need not add many words in the second place to shew you how necessary Prayer is to obtain these Blessings for not to insist now on those common Topicks of the necessity of Prayer in general and its Power and Efficacy to obtain our Requests of GOD I shall desire you only to consider that this Peace is such a Blessing as none but GOD can bestow and therefore we ought to pray for it 1. As for Unity and Peace among our selves this Saint Paul expresly prays for 15 Rom. 5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ for it is God that maketh men to be of a mind Whoever considers the unruly passions of men their different capacities and understandings and different interests will not wonder that the best Arguments and the most obliging Arts do not always prevail but God can still our passions enlighten our minds over-rule our interests remove our prejudices and unite and reconcile the most distant persons and not to take notice now of that power he has over our Wills and his immediate applications to our Minds and Spirits he many times effects this by some external and visible Providences The Gaol and the Stake presently reconciled the Differences between those two excellent Bishops and Martyrs RIDLEY and HOOPER who before disputed fiercely about some Ceremonies as we have done and I pray God grant us so much Christian prudence and temper that we may not need such means to reconcile us and we have great reason to hope this since the Divine Providence has in a great measure already removed the Prejudices on both sides and convinc'd us that we are not at such a distance from each other as our Enemies would have us and as it may be we thought
and to which he has promised to advance us This then is my proper work at this time to exhort you to Charity proper both to the nature of this Holy Feast and to the original Institution of this Solemnity and it may reasonably be hoped that the Annual Returns of it wherein all the Arguments to Charity are so earnestly pressed on you should keep this Divine Fire always burning and glowing in your Breasts You have so often heard all the Arguments to Charity that it is impossible you should forget them and there is one that is worth all the rest which no Christian can forget who remembers that there is a Heaven and a Hell and which no Christian can resist without despising â—…is Soul and Eternal Life and Death â—…nd that is That Heaven is the Reâ—…ard of Charity that Hell is the Puâ—…ishment of Uncharitableness which is â—…o plainly and expresly taught and so 〈◊〉 repeated by our Saviour â—…hat it is as certain and unavoidable as that there is a Heaven and a Hell and if Heaven be not a sufficient Encouragement to Charity nor Hell sufficient to deter us from Uncharitableness it is to no purpose to use any other Arguments which can never persuade if these can't or if they could would neither carry us to Heaven nor keep us out of Hell for to be charitable only for temporal reasons is to give our goods to feed the poor without a true Divine Charity which St. Paul tells us will profit nothing 1 Cor. 13. For such a Charity as does not raise us above this world can neither carry us to Heaven nor keep us out of Hell And therefore instead of drawing together all the Arguments for Charity which you have so often heard and shewing them in a new dress my design at present is to recommend to you a very excellent but a very neglected part of Charity which our Saviour presses on us in my Text viz. The Charity of Lending Do good and lend hoping for nothing again In speaking to which Words I shall 1. Shew you what this Duty is 2. What an excellent Charity it is to lend And how this may be improved to the most excellent purposes 1. What this Duty is or what our Saviour means by lending hoping for nothing again And it can signify but two things and I see no reason to think but that our Saviour might mean both 1. To Lend without hoping for any encrease or to lend freely without Usury 2. To lend where the very Principal may be in danger when we have little reason to hope that we shall ever see our own again 1. To lend freely without Usury for our Saviour commands this as an Act of Charity Do good and lend And though to lend even upon Usury may in many cases prove a great kindness to the Borrower yet Charity is not the motive of the Lender it is â—…ot Charity but Traffick and Merâ—…handize of Money and though the Iews were expresly forbid to lend their Brethren upon Usury yet our Saviour â—…ntimates there was something like this and equivalent to it which spoilâ—…ed the Charity of lending even without Usury that they would not lend â—…o the poor who though they should repay them what they borrowed yet were never likely to be in a condition to lend to them again but they would lend to the Rich from whom they expected the like returns of kindness as you may see in the Verses before my Text 33 34. And if ye do good to them that do good to you what thank have ye for sinners also do even the same And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive not only your own but the like kindness of lending to you when your occasions require it what thank have ye for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal returns of kindness which if it be not Usury of Money is Usury of Kindnesses but is not Charity like inviting our Rich Friends and Neighbours to a Feast who can invite us again which though it be no fault is no Charity for that consists in entertaining the poor who can make us no return 14. Luke 12 13 14. And thus our Saviour exhorts us here but do you do good and lend hoping for nothing again neither for Usury nor for such returns and exchanges of kindness It was for the sake of this Duty that Usury was so strictly forbidden by the Iewish Law that men might the more freely lend their Money to those who wanted when they had no present use for it themselves and had no way to encrease it and as far as the Reason and Charity of this Law extends so far it still obliges and so far Usury is still forbid to Christians This is not well considered by those who so universally condemn all Usury and because the right understanding of this will be of great use to settle some men's minds and to explain and enforce this duty of Lending which I now recommend to you it cannot be thought a digression from my present Design to give you the true but short state of this matter It is confessed on all hands That Usury is forbid by the Law of Moses but the great mistake is concerning the Nature of Usury or what that is which the Law forbids and condemns by the name of Usury Some think that all Increase of Money when men lend a Sum of Money to receive the Principal again with Interest is the Usury which the Law forbids and therefore that this is absolutely unlawful in all cases and in all degrees though we all know That Trade to which we owe all the Riches and Greatness of our Nation and so many excellent Charities too cannot be maintained without it That some men who now live comfortably in the world maintain their Families with Credit and Reputation and do many acts of Charity themselves could not Trade at all others could not drive such flourishing and spreading Trades without borrowed Money nor borrow without Interest That many Widows and Orphans are maintained by Interest who must in a few years be Beggars had they no other way to live but to spend the Principal This is so contrary to the sense and reason of Mankind and to all the rules of Justice and Charity and so impracticable in the present state of the world that while it is possible to put any other sense upon the Law I would never think of this And the comfort is that the Law expounds it self otherwise and gives no colour for such an Interpretation as this That all Increase of Money is forbid by it For 1. The Law it self allowed the Iews to take Usury of Strangers of other Countries though not of their Brethren or natural Iews 23. Deut. 20. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury And therefore God did not absolutely forbid the Iews to encrease their Money for they
might lend to strangers upon Usury which proves that this was not an universal Law to them much less is it so to all mankind And that proves that there is no moral and intrinsick evil in Usury for if all Usury had in its own nature been unlawful God could not have allowed the Iews to take Usury of strangers for he cannot allow the least moral evil The truth is I never could yet see the least shadow of an Argument to prove that Usury is evil in its nature unless that Money can't beget Money be thought an Arâ—…ument but that is as good an Arguâ—…ent against buying Corn or Wine or â—…y thing else with Money for it is â—…nnatural for Money to beget Corn or Wine But if the barren nature of Money that it cannot naturally proâ—…agate it self be a reason against Usuâ—…y of Money this is no reason against â—…sury of Corn which is equally forâ—…id for it is natural for Corn to proâ—…agate its kind and multiply it self â—…nd yet the Usury of all Victuals is â—…s much forbid as the Usury of Moâ—…ey 23. Deut. 19. Now if Usury be â—…ot morally evil it can be unlawful 〈◊〉 none but those to whom God has â—…rbid it and there being no prohibiâ—…on of it in the New Testament which 〈◊〉 the Law of the Christian Church it â—…annot be unlawful to Christians â—…hatever it was to the Iews 2. And yet the Iews themselves were â—…ot expresly forbid however they â—…ight understand it to lend their Money upon Usury to all their own â—…rethren but only to the Poor So â—…hat had any Rich Iew come to borâ—…ow Money of them for any thing â—…hat appears by the Law they might have lent Money to him upon Usury This Observation will clear this whole matter and therefore I shall turn you to all the Texts of the Law which forbid Usury and the reading of them will convince you That Usury was forbid only in favour of the Poor The first Text is 22. Exod. 25. If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee thou shalt not be to him as an Usurer neither shalt thou lay upon him Usury Where no Usury is forbid but only lending to the Poor upon Usury Thus 25. Lev. 35 36 37. And if thy brother be waxen poor and fallen to decay with thee then thou shalt relieve him Take thou no usury of him nor increase but fear God that thy brother may live well with thee Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury nor lend him thy victuals for increase It is true in the Repetition of this Law 23. Deut. 19 20. it is only said Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother usury of money usury of victuals usury of any thing that is lent upon usury Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand unto in the land whither thou goest to possess This seems to forbid lending upon Usury to any Iew whether Rich or Poor but this being only a repetition of those Laws in Exodus and Leviticus in all reason must be expounded by them and though the Poor are not expressed the Circumstances of the place prove that they only are meant for though Rich Men may sometimes have occasion to borrow Money yet none but the Poor who have no Money to buy can ever have occasion to borrow Victuals upon Usury and the difference the Law makes between a Brother and a Stranger shews that it is intended as an Act of Charity which they owe to their Brethren though not to strangers For which Reason also they were forbid to make any of their Brethren Bond-men though they might buy the Children of the Heathen and Strangers for Bond-men and Bond-maids 25. Levit. 39 c. and the Blessing God promises shews that it is the Reward of Charity In other places where Usury is mentioned some Circumstance or other determines it to the Poor This was the case when Nehemiah reproved the Nobles and the Rulers for exacting Usury 5. Nehem. When the Prophet Isaiah threatens great Desolations against the Land he thus describes it And it shall be as with the people so with the priest as with the lender so with the borrower as with the taker of usury so with the giver of usury to him 24. Isa. 2. That is the Lender and the Usurer shall be reduced to the same Distress and Poverty as those suffer who borrow upon Usury which shews that none but Poor Men used to borrow upon Usury in those days Thus when the Prophet Ieremiah complains Woe is me my Mother that thou hast born me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth I have neither lent on usury nor men have lent to me on usury yet every one of them doth curse me 15. Jer. 10. it plainly intimates that Usury is such an Oppression of the Poor as both deserves and very often procures Curses And therefore the Prophet Ezekiel joyns Usury with the Oppression of the Poor and other Acts of Violence 18. Ezek. 7 8 10 11 16 17. He who hath oppressed the poor and needy hath spoiled by violence hath not restored the pledge hath given forth upon usury and hath taken Increase he shall die But he that hath neither oppressed the poor nor hath with-holden the pledge neither hath spoiled by violence but hath given his bread to the hungry and cloathed the naked with a garment that hath taken off his hand from the poor that hath not received usury nor increase he shall live Which makes it very plain what is meant by Usury when to take Usury is joyned with Violence and Oppression of the Poor and to lend without Usury is reckoned among Acts of great Charity and Goodness There is but one place more as I remember that mentions Usury 15. Psalm 5. and there putting forth Money to Usury is joyned with taking a Reward against the Innocent which shews that it was an Act of Violence and Oppression For indeed among the Iews who were no Merchants nor maintained any Foreign Trade with other Nations no men had occasion to borrow Money much less Victuals but to supply their present wants and to take advantage of the Necessities of the Poor to increase their own Fortunes by encreasing their Poverty was against all the Laws of Goodness and Charity and therefore this Usury which was the only Usury known in those days is strictly forbid as all other Acts of Oppression are All other kinds of Usury are introduced by Trade and Commerce and though it is against Charity to lend upon Usury to men who borrow to supply their wants yet if men borrow to increase their Trade and Fortunes there is Justice and Equity in it that the Lender shall make some Increase of his Money as well as the Borrower This is not properly Usury but Traffick and Commerce and I
spell out from the visible Creation And on the other hand though we must not urge the Authority of Revelation to prove a God which would â—…e to beg the Question yet the being of a Revelation we may for whatever proves a Divine Revelation proves a God The wisest and acutest Philosophers among the Heathens thought this the best and most sensible Proof of a God Balbus the Stoick having begun his Cicero de natura Deorum Proof of the Being of a God from â—…his visible Creation and the univerâ—…al Consent of Mankind in this Belief â—…e resolves the Firmness and Stability of this Perswasion into those visible Signs which their Gods oftentimes gave of their own Power and Presence Quòd presentiam soepe Divi suam declarant And the Argument is certainly a very good one though the Particular Instances he gives of it may be vain and fictitious and want sufficient attestation to gain belief But had Balbus instead of the Apparitions of Castor and Pollux and their ridiculous Rites of Divination seen the Miracles of Moses and of Christ the familiar Conversation of God with Abraham and Moses the terrible Appearance of Mount Sinai when God delivered the Law in an audible Voice and the infallible Accomplishment of Prophesies that is had his Proofs of a Divine Power and Presence been as undeniable as his reasoning from such Divine Appearances to the Being of a God is unanswerable all the Wit and Sophistry in the World could never have evaded this Argument for it would be impossible to perswade Men there is no God when they do little less than see him in such present and sensible Effects as can have no other Cause but a God However thus much we learn from this dispute that according to the Sense of the wisest Men such visible Effects of a Divine Power and Presence are the most irresistible Argument for the Being of God that the wisest Men did believe that if there is a God he would give some undeniable Proofs of his own Being in the Acts of Government and Providence as well as of Creation And that if there never had been any such sensible Appearances of such a Divine Power and Presence it would at least have rendred the Being of God very doubtfull This should make all those who heartily believe a God to think and speak more honourably of Revelation for the Belief of a God and of Revelation will stand and fall together that a Deist who ridicules all Revelation takes a very ill Course to perswade the World that he believes a God Secondly The unreasonableness of Deism will further appear if we consider that to acknowledge the Being of a God makes it highly reasonable to believe a Revelation I do not say that to believe a God obliges us to believe every pretended Revelation for the truth of any particular Revelation depends on those peculiar Marks of Divinity and Credibility which it bears on it but whoever beleives that there is a God cannot think it incredible that God should reveal himself and his Will to Mankind nay will see great reason to believe that he has done so as the State of the World in the different Ages and Dispensations of it did require and would admit For First No Man who believes that there is a God can question whether God can if he so pleases make a more perfect manifestation of himself and his Will to Mankind than he has done by the Works of Nature for what can't he do who made the World and is infinite in Wisdom and Power as to consider particularly some of those ways whereby God is supposed to reveal himself to Mankind God is a pure and infinite Mind who cannot be seen by Mortal Eyes and yet will any Man say that God cannot by some visible Appearances convince Men of his immediate Presence beyond all possibility of Doubt that he cannot either with or without such visible Appearances speak to them and talk as familiarly with them as one Man converses with another And then whatever Truth there be in the Story which is another Enquiry there is nothing in its own Nature incredible in those Relations we have of God's appearing to Adam and conversing with him in Paradise of his appearing to Abraham and Iacob who saw God face to face Gen. 32. 30. Of his speaking to Moses face to face as a Man talketh with his Friend Exod. 33. 11. Cannot God who formed our Minds and knows all the Springs of Thoughts draw such clear and bright Scenes and Pictures of things on our Fancy and Imagination whether sleeping or waking as shall need no other proof of their Divinity but themselves As Light is known by it self and the first Principles and Maxims of Reason by their own Evidence Cannot the Son of God who made the World and made Man if he so pleases cloath himself with Humane Nature and appear and converse in the World as a Man and familiarly instruct Mankind in the Will of God and the Way to Heaven There is no question then but God can if he pleases inspire Men with the Knowledge of his Will either by Dreams and Visions or by an audible Voice and a familiar Conversation oâ—… by an immediate Impression upon the higher Faculties of Reason and Understanding so that if there be a God there may be Prophets inspired by God to reveal his Will to Men And therefore the Pretences to Prophesie must not be laugh'd out of the World but examined The thing is not incredible because it is what God can do but the Prophet must be tried because there may be Cheats and Impostures Now the trial of a Prophet whether he come from God is by such Works as no Man can do except God be with him that is in short by what we call Miracles and foretelling things to come And here again he who believes that there is a God cannot think either Miracles or a Prediction of future Events impossible For what cannot that God do and know whose Power and Knowledge are infinite What cannot that God do who made the World Is it such a Difficulty to him who framed our Bodies out of the â—…ust to give Health to the Sick or Sight to the Blind to make the Deaf to Hear and the Lame to Walk and to â—…aise the Dead We all know this is above Humane Power and therefore if â—…uch things be done they must be done by the Power of God and we know â—…hat God can do them and therefore Miracles are not impossible or incredible to him who believes a God Thus far the Deist must agree with me unless he have a very mean Opinion of his God For a God who cannot reveal his Will to Mankind who cannot inspire Prophets nor work Miracles nor foretel things to come is no God has not the Wisdom and the Power of a God Now this is a great Point gained for if God can do all this then there is no Objection against the Nature of
Vocal and Instrumental Musick was not only used in the Worship of God but this was the Chief if not the only Use of it This is acknowledged by all but some will not allow it to be a Pattern for Christian Worship They reckon Musick among the Ceremonies of the Iewish Law fitted to the carnal State of that People and abrogated with the other Legal Ceremonies by the more perfect Dispensation of the Gospel which requires a more Spiritual Worship But a few words will shew how unreasonable this Pretence is The Song of Moses and Miriam was before the giving of the Law and therefore no part of it and though this is the first time we read of Singing there is no Reason to think that this was the first beginning of it We read of no Institution of Singing though we do of Singers that Singing seems as Ancient and Natural as publick Worship But suppose Singing had been part of the Mosaical Law the Gospel of oâ—…r Saviour abrogates nothing of that Law but such Types as receive their accomplishment in Christ or such Appendant Ceremonies as were meer Signs and Figures of an Evangelical Righteousness But what is Singing a Type of any more than speaking For it is only a more Harmonious and Emphatical way of speaking and I see no Reason why Men may not reject Vocal Prayer as well as Vocal Musick because they were both used by the Iews Whatever Objections are now made against Church-Musick which I have not now time particularly to examine were as good Objections in David's time as they are now and yet then Prophets composed Hymns and Prophets set the Tunes for so the chief Musitians to whom David directs his Psalms as the Titles of some of them express were Prophets as well as Musitians and methinks Men should speak more favourably of such Practices as were under the Direction and Government of Inspired Men. In the Vision of the Prophet Isaiah 6 Ch. 1 2 3. v. The Seraphims are represented crying one to another Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of his Glory This is acknowledged to be a great Example oâ—… Antiphonal singing in which one answers another But then they say this plainly refers to the Ancient Temple-Worship and must not be admitted a Precedent for Christian Practice But if the Temple-Worship be a fit Precedent for the Worship of Angels Why may it not be a Precedent for the Worship of Christians whose Worship as pure and Spiritual as it is falls vastly short of Angelical Worship But do not the Angels then thus Worship God in Heaven this would be a new Objection against our Liturgy never thought of before which in the Te Deum teaches us to Sing To Thee all Angels cry aloud the Heavens and all the Powers therein To Thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabboath Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory And if the Angels thus sing in Heaven surely the Precedent is not unworthy of the Christian Church on Earth The like Representation we meet with of the four Beasts and twenty four Elders Rev. 4. And the same Answer is given to it That the Images in the Apoâ—…lyptick Visions are fetched from the Law â—…d not from the Gospel But whensoever these Images were originally taken this Book was directed to the Christian Churches and therefore was a Rule and Precedent for them It all along describes the State of the Christian not of the Iewish Church and therefore their Worship too And if we look into the fifth Chapter we shall find these four Beasts and twenty four Elders were Christians who were redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb and sung the Song of the Lamb Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast Redeemed us to God out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation and hast made us into our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign upon the Earth Ver. 9 10. This I take to be a Christian Hymn and therefore a Pattern for Christian Worship And as much as some smile at the Conceit I can't but think that the general Exhortations in the new Testament to sing to God To admonish one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Singing and making Melody in our Hearts to the Lord though theâ—… are not an Apostolical Institution of Quire nor do prescribe the particulaâ—… Forms of Cathedral Worship yet theâ—… justifie it all as far as it is fitted to thâ—… true Ends of Devotion for the Apostleâ—… knew after what manner they sung iâ—… the Iewish Church and had this beeâ—… so unfit as is pretended for Christian Worship they would not have exhorted Christians to sing without giving them a Caution against Iewish Singing And now it does not seem to me much to the purpose to enquire whether this Practice was for any time intermitted in the Christian Church and When and upon what Occasion iâ—… was Restored For if what I have now discoursed hold good it justifies the Use of Musick in Religious Worship whenever it can be had though there may be some Times and Circumstances which will not allow it Though it could be certainly proved that this was disused for the first three Centuries in the Christian Church while they were under a state of Persecution This would be no greater Argument to me against Cathedral-Worship than it is against Cathedral Churches The Poverty and afflicted State of the Church at that time would allow neither but Prosperity by degrees restored them to both We may as well argue against the Use of Musick in the Iewish Church because under the Babylonish Captivity they hung their Harps upon the Willows and refused to sing the Songs of Sion in a strange Land to those who carried them away Captives The Primitive Christians in those days never declared their dislike of this way of Worship but their Condition would not bear it No Christian will deny that singing the Praises of God and their Saviour was always a principal part of Christian Worship and therefore was the worship of the Primitive Christians unless they were defective in a Principal part of Worship so that the only Dispute can be about the manner of Singing and the chief thing objected is the Antiphonal way of singing which is acknowledged to have been used in the Iewish Church and therefore has the same Authority that Singing has But yet I will yield the Cause if any Man can give me a good Reason why it should be very Lawful and an excellent part of Religion for a hundred Men suppose to sing a whole Psalm together but very Unlawful and a Corruption of Religion to sing it Alternately Fifty to sing One Verse and Fifty the Next when by their Answering each other they mutually excite each other's Devotion and signifie the Consent and Union of their Prayers and Praises in the Whole But setting
but the means whereby Mankind are now corrupted That the very Notions of Moral Good and Evil are almost lost among us that Men call evil good and good evil darkness light and light darkness bitter sweet and sweet bitter and shew their good will to change the Natures as well as Names of things were that in their Power This may seem new and surprizing to Men unaquainted with the State of former Ages but even upon this Account there is no new thing under the Sun Men have been as wicked in former Ages as they are now and have taken the same ways to justifie their wickedness and to harden themselves in Sin that they do now As great a Degeneracy as this is of Human Nature the Prophet assures us in my Text that there were such Men in his days who called evil good and good evil and thus it is likely to be to the end of the World and yet there will always be a Succession of good Men and the Eternal Differences of Good and Evil will never be lost But then good Men must endeavour by all wise Arts to preserve a Sense of Piety and Vertue to vindicate Religion from the Attempts of Atheists and Infidels and to put a stop to the growing evil For this reason God by his Prophet denounceth a Woe against such Men which it shall be my Business at present to explain to you 1. I shall explain the several Terms in my Text what it is to call Evil Good and Good Evil to put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness to put Bitter for Sweet and Sweet for Bitter and who those are that are Wise in their own Eyes and Prudent in their own Sight 2. I shall enquire how Men come to judge thus perversly of Things which is intimated in the Order here observed That they first call Evil Good and then Good Evil first put Darkness for Light and then Light for Darkness first Bitter for Sweet and then Sweet for Bitter 3dly I shall consider the Woe denounced against these Men and how unavoidable it is 1. To explain the Terms And 1. What is meant by calling Evil Good and Good Evil. For are there any Men in the World so senseless or impudent as to affirm That what Mankind call Sins are Vertues or what they call Vertues are Sins I never heard of such Men and I believe there are no such Men to be found For there is no Fault which Atheists themselves can find with those which we call Moral Vertues such as Justice and Charity Meekness Humility Patience Temperance Chastity and the like but that they do not agree with their Inclinations and Interests and they desire to be at liberty from such Restraints to live as they like best they are not pleas'd that the one should be thought essentially Good and the other Evil or that the one should be thought commanded and the other forbidden by a Divine Law which makes them accountable to a Superiour Lord and Judge for what they do But if you will not call them Sins or Vertues nor pretend a Divine Law for it they will allow what we call Moral Vertues to be good Rules of Life and very necessary for the prudent Government of Humane Societies and such as Mankind ought to agree in for their own Sakes and for the Common Good and that the contrary Vices are great and publick Mischiefs which ought to be restrained and punished by Civil Laws They are very well contented and think it necessary that Men should make them Laws but not God For this still leaves them at liberty to transgress these Laws when they can do it safely and when their Interest and Inclinations tempt them to it This indeed is to reject the very Notion of Moral Good and Evil but not in a strict Sense to call Evil Good or Good Evil for they allow of no such Distinction between Good and Evil in a Moral Sense Tho' by the way I could never understand what they mean by this for if the Matter of these Vertues or Vices be such things as are naturally good or evil then the doing such things must be morally good or evil For I know no other Notion of Moral Good and Evil but doing or chusing such things as have a natural Good and Evil If to rob our Neighbour of his Estate to desame him to abuse his Wife or Daughter be a great Injury to him it is a great Wickedness in us If to defend the Injur'd and Oppress'd to relieve the Poor and Fatherless and Widows be a great Good to them it is a great Vertue in us And I know not what other Sanction Men would have for natural Laws but the natural Good or Evil of things and if there be an essential and eternal difference between natural Good and Evil Nature has made an essential difference between doing Good and Evil that is between Vertue and Vice But to let this pass since these Men discard all the Moral Differences of Good and Evil and yet own that what we call Vertues do a great deal of good and what we call Vices do great hurt and mischief the difficulty remains in what Sense any Man can be charged with calling Evil Good and Good Evil and I can think but of two Accounts of this Matter 1. That they make their own Appetites Interests and Inclinations the only Rule and Measure of Good and Evil as they must necessarily do when they allow of no common Rule and Standard for all Mankind For if as these Men perswade themselves there be no Law either of God or Nature to distinguish between Good and Evil there can be no other distinction but what every Man 's own Appetite and Inclination makes for him that is his Good which he best likes and that is Evil which he does not like Good and Evil signifie nothing more but what pleases or displeases him and therefore when he feels himself highly pleased and gratified with what the rest of Mankind think a great Evil and really is so he laughs at their Ignorance and Folly and calls and chuses it as his Good and when that which is really Good crosses his Interests and Inclinations he rejects it as a great Evil When such Men think it their Interest to be Unjust or their Inclinations tempt them to be Unchaste they don't think such Actions Vertues for they disown that Name but they think them good that is profitable and pleasing nor do they think Justice Temperance and Chastity to be Vices but great Evils as contrary to their Gain or Pleasure which is to call that which is morally Good Evil and that which is morally Evil Good 2dly Besides this the better to excuse themselves from the Shame and Reproach of such Actions which will be always infamous when they have done and said all they can though they dare not call Vice Vertue nor Vertue Vice yet they give good Names which are the Appendages and Properties of some Vertues to
Bitter what gratifies their bodily Senses that is their Pleasure and Happiness without any regard to Vertue Modesty or Honour what lays Restraints upon their sensual Inclinations that is bitter uneasy and grievous and no wonder that there is a Woe denounced against these Men. 4ly Woe be to them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight Where the Prophâ—…t speaks of the same Men still those who call evil good and good evil who put darkness for light and light for darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter and yet think themselves the only wise Men in the World though they contradict the Sense of all Mankind the natural uncorrupted Sense of their own Minds the Light of Nature and the Word of God This is the just Character of Atheists and Infidels who think themselves the only Wits the only Philosophers and laugh at all the rest of the World as easy credulous unthinking Fools who are under the Tyranny of Custom and popular Opinions which exposes them to all other Cheats They think it an Argument of Wit and profound Thought to contradict all Mankind for there are but few wise Men they say in the World and the most are usually in the wrong which may be allowed as to improved Knowledge which is gained by laborious study and observation but the Folly lies on the other side when Men advance Paradoxes which contradict the universal Sense of Nature for in such Cases the most are likely to be in the right because Natural Productions are more common than Monsters that a wise Man will rather think and judge with the Multitude when they think on Natures side than with the most famed Philosophers against Nature But those who affect to contradict the rest of the World must think themselves the only wise Men if they think at all that we have no more reason to wonder at their Pride and Insolence than at their Atheism and Infidelity 2dly Let us now inquire how these Men come to sink into so degenerate a State as one would think impossible to a reasonable Nature and that is intimated in that order which is observed in my Text that they first call Evil Good and then Good Evil first put Darkness for Light and then Light for Darkness c. As to consider this particularly 1st They begin with calling Evil Good for no Man can begin with calling Good Evil Nature will have the first word and pass the first Judgment on Things and Nature as corrupt as it is till it be depraved and vitiated by evil Customs will call Good good and Evil evil Atheists and Infidels must confess that as wise as they think themselves now there was a time when they were as very fools as the rest of the World that is when they had the same Opinions about Good and Evil which the rest of Mankind still have when they did own a moral difference between Good and Evil and called Good and Evil by their right Names and it is as certain that the only Reason for altering their Opinions and changing the Names of Good and Evil was changing their Manners that they grew very fond of what they themselves as well as the foolish Multitude thought and called Evil and then they began to think and to call it Good and the necessary Consequence of this is to call Good Evil and as unwilling as they are to own this it is demonstrable there can be no other Reason for it Though these Men could prove which they will never be able to do that there is no moral essential immutable difference between Good and Evil between Vertue and Vice yet this is no reason to call Evil Good or Good Evil for though they were neither Sins nor Vertues neither forbid nor commanded by a Divine Law yet they themselves confess as I observed before that what we call Vertues have so much Good in them that they are the best and wisest Rules of Society and Conversation necessary to secure every Mans private Interest and the Peace and good Government of the World and therefore fit to be encouraged and to be made Laws in all civiliz'd Nations and that what we call Sins have so much Evil in them that they are very destructive to Human Societies and deserve to be restrained and punished and then it is certain there never can be any reason to call Evil Good and Good Evil which by their own Confession is a direct contradiction to the Nature of Things it is to call that Evil which they themselves own to be a great and publick Good and that Good which they own to be a publick Mischief which there never can be any reason for So that the Case is plain it is not Reason but Lust which calls Evil Good and Good Evil till Lust prevails above Reason Vertue and Vice Good and Evil keep those Names which God and Nature has given them and such Men offer as much Force and Violence to their Natural Understanding when they call Evil Good and Good Evil as they do to Natural Conscience when they chuse the Evil and refuse the Good This is Answer enough to such Men who would reason or laugh away the distinction between Good and Evil and ought to be a Warning to us all how we engage in a Course of Wickedness for how much soever we despise and abhor these wicked Principles we shall soon think as these Men do if we grow as wicked as they are 2dly These Men first put Darkness for Light and then Light for Darkness Men are not born stark blind but have the Light of Reason to discern the natural differences of Things and to direct their Lives and as weak and defective as meer natural Reason is especially in Matters of Religion and another World it directs us to a safer Guide For Reason it self teaches us to believe God who cannot deceive us and can it self judge of the external and visible Marks of a Revelation that is can judge when God speaks and what we must receive as taught by God This is the Light of Mankind the Light of Reason or Revelation what Nature teaches or what God reveals And all Mankind at first both see and own this Light for no Man is born an Atheist or an Infidel But bad Men who have corrupted their Manners and cannot justifie their Vices nor quiet their Consciences if they attend either to the Light of Nature or Revelation must seek for other Remedies and this makes them espouse the Principles of Atheism and Infidelity and these they call Light which in Truth is a meer Aegyptian Darkness and then they must call Light Darkness reject and scorn both the natural Dictates of Reason and the supernatural Revelation of the Divine Will as Ignorance and Darkness Now whatever Opinion Men have of their Philosophy yet how they should learn what neither Nature nor God teaches them or how they should discover that what all the rest of the