all worldly respects when I once came to the knowledge of the Christian Religion I dispised them all For in truth I found that they were so far from being real Advantages to me that they were rather hindrances in the way of Vertue and Piety Yea doubtless as he goes on in the 8th verse I account all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ That is to say Not only the above-named priviledges but all other things whatsoever Wealth Greatness Fame Friends and Life it self I account them all very pitiful things if they be compared with the inestimable advantages of being a Christian As I have once so I will again readily forsake all part with all things that the World holds most dear and valuable nay I will trample them under my feet like dirt and dung provided I may obtain the Favour of Christ And as he goes on in the 9th verse that I might be found in him not having my own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is by the Faith of Jesus Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith This passage hath been frequently misunderstood and interpreted to a sense that I believe St. Paul did not think of St. Paul doth not here oppose an inherent Righteousness to an imputed one but an outward natural legal Righteousness to that which is inward and spiritual and wrought in a Man by the Spirit of God The Righteousness which the Apostle here desires to be found in is not the Righteousness of Christ made his or imputed to him but a real Righteousness produced in his Soul by the Faith of Jesus Christ The plain Sense of the Verse seems to be this That which above all things I desire is to be found in Christ i. e. to be found a Disciple of his ingrafted into him by being a Member of his Church not having my own Righteousness which is of the Law i. e. not being content with those outward Priviledges and that outward Obedience which by my own natural Strength I am able to yield to the Precepts of the Law which is that Righteousness in which the Jews place their Confidence and by which they expect to be justified before God But that which is by the Faith of Jesus Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith i. e. that Righteousness which I desire and in which only I shall have the Confidence to appear before God is an inward Principle of Holiness that Spiritual renewed Obedience to God's I aws which he doth require as the condition of his Favour and Acceptance and which I can never attain to but by the Faith of Christ by becoming a Christian This is none of my own Righteousness but God's it being wrought in me by his Spirit accompanying the preaching of the Gospel and as it is his Gift so he will own it and reward it at the last â—ay This is the full importance of that Verse and then it follows by way of Explication of what he now said That I may know him and 〈…〉 Resurrection c. This is the 〈…〉 that I aspire after that I may know Christ nor only by a nâ—â—ional belief of his Doctrines 〈…〉 of his Religion but by a spirituâ—â— experimental Knowledge of him such a Knowledge as â—â—ansformâ—â—â— Spirit and Temper and that 〈…〉 the power of his 〈◊〉 i. e. then 〈◊〉 experience in my self all the good 〈…〉 that his Resurrection 〈◊〉 a power to work in me that I may see the Vertue and Efficacy of it in my daily dying to Sin and rising again to a 〈◊〉 holy and heavenly Life This is that Righteousness I long for and in comparison of which I account all things in the World but as less and as duâ—â— Thus have I given you a full account of the Text and all the Apostle's Discourse that it depends upon I now come to treat more particularly of it with reserence to the solemnity of this Day We all here present do profess to believe the Article of our Saviour's Resurrection and our business at this time is to celebrate the memory of it But we must not rest here We are not to look upon our Lord's Resurrection meerly as a thing to be believed or professed or commemorated or as a matter of Fact that only concerned himself But there is a great deal in it which doth nearly concern us The Apostle tells us there is a great Power in it even a Power of raising us from Sin to a Holy and Vertuous Life It is so ordered as to be capable of being and it ought to be a Principle of now Life in us as it was the beginning of a now Life in our Saviour Now this Vertue this Power this Efficacy of it as it is that which with the Apostle we ought all most earnestly to endeavour the experiencing in our selves so it is that which will be fittest for us at this time to apply our Meditations to My Work therefore at this time shall be to give some Account of the Power of Christ's Resurrection in order to the making Men good which the Apostle here speaks of to shew how or in what respects it doth instuence upon the Lives of Christians Now if we look into the Holy Scriptures we shall find that there is a four-fold Power attributed to it or that it hath an insluence upon our Lives in these four respects That is to say I. As it lays an Obligation upon Christians to Holiness and Vertue II. As it is the Principal Evidence of the Truth of our Religion the Design of which is to make Men Holy and Vertuous III. As it is the great Support of our future Hopes or our Hopes of another Life which indeed is the main Encouragement we have to apply our selves seriously to the business of Holiness and Vertue IV. And Fourthly as to it we do principally owe all that supernatural Grace and Strength by which we are inabled to live Holily and Vertuously Of these four Points I shall Discourse very briesly I. And First of all our Saviour's Resurrection hath an influence upon our Practice as it lays an Obligation upon Christians to lead Holy and Vertuous Lives As it is in it self an incitement to Piety and heavenly-Mindedness This is indeed the lowest instance of its Power but yet we ought not to pass it by because the Writers of the New Testament do frequently insist on it For thus they argue If Christ was crucified for our Sins then ought we to crucifie them in our members And if Christ rose again the third day then are we ingaged in conformity to him to rise again to newness of Life to lead a Spiritual Divine Heavenly Life such a lise as he now lives with God And this in the ancient times was taught every Christian in and by his Baptism Whenever a person was baptized
of the covetous that God abhorreth them Psal 10.3 which implies the utmost aversion that the Divine nature is capable of to any sort of Men or things The uncharitable and hard hearted Men God hath declared he will have no mercy on Jam. 2.13 but they shall have judgment without mercy that have shewed no mercy Fourthly and lastly a necessity there is that those that are rich in this World should do good and be rich in good works c. upon their own account Though there were no other tye upon them yet self-love and self-preservation would oblige them to it I meddle not here how far in point of worldly interest they are concerned to be charitable though even the motives drawn from hence are very considerable For certainly Charity is a means not only to preserve and secure to them what they have and to make them enjoy it more comfortably but also to increase their store No Man is ever poorer for what he gives away in useful Charity but on the contrary he thrives better for it God seldom fails in this World amply to repay what is thus lent to him besides the other Blessings that accompany his store and go along with it to hs Children after him This I am sure is solemnly promised and in the ordinary dispensations of Providence we see it generally made good whereas to the greedy and penurious Man all things fall out quite contrary he may have Wealth but he hath little comfort in it for a curse generally attends it of which he feels the sad effects in a variously miserable and vexatious life and often in either having none or an unfortunate Posterity But this is not the thing that I mean to insist on This World lasts but for a while and it is no great matter how we fare in it but we have Souls that must live for ever If therefore Men have any kindness for them if they mean not to be undone to all eternity it is absolutely necessary they should do good with what they have O that uncharitable rich Men would think upon that woe that our Saviour pronounceth against them Luke 6.24 Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation O that they would seriously consider and often remember those words of Abraham to the rich Man in Hell Luk. 16.25 Son saith he remember that thou in thy life receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Not that it is a crime to be rich or to have good things in our life no it is the inordinate love of their Wealth to which those that have it are too frequently prone and their not imploying it to those purposes of doing good for which it was given it is these things that bring these curses upon them and really make it easier without an Hyporbole for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Luke 18.25 Certain it is there is no one sin that can be named doth more fatally exclude from Salvation than this we are speaking of We never find the Prophets or the Apostles giving a list of those black crimes that will involve all that are guilty of them in inevitable destruction but we are sure to meet with Covetousness and all the attendants of it among them as many instances might be given Nay so great is this sin of Uncharitableness and not doing good with our Wealth that God in the final sentence that he shall pass upon wicked Men to their condemnation at the last day seems to take no notice of the other sins and crimes of their life but only to censure them for this Matth. 25.31 c. Thus we find that when the King having gathared all Nations before him comes to pronounce the sentence upon those on his left hand who are those that are doomed to everlasting fire there is no mention made of their criminal actions they are not condemned for fraud and oppression for unbelief and irreligion for lewdness and debauchery though any of these be enough to damn a Man but merely for their not doing good for their not relieving the necessitous and excercising other acts of Charity when it was in their power Since now from these Considerations it doth appear how necessary how indispensable a Duty it is to do good with what we have to be rich in good works to be ready to distribute and willing to communicate let me at this time charge all of you that are rich in this world as you would not be unthankful to your great Benefactor nor unjust to your Neighbours as you have any piety towards God or any care of your own Souls that you put it in practice And two instances of this great Duty the present occasion and the exigence of things doth oblige me more particularly to recommend to you The first is the business of the Hospitals the encouraging and promoting that Charity which the piety of our Ancestors begun and whose examples their Successors have hitherto worthily followed and of which we see excellent effects at this day for this we need no better proof than the Report given in of the great number of poor Children and other poor people maintained in the several Hospitals under the pious care of the Lord Mayor Commonalty and Citizens of London the year last past For these so great instances of Charity what have we to do but with all Gratitude to commemorate those noble and publick Spirits that first began them and with all devotion to put up our prayers to God for all those now alive that have been promoters and encouragers of such good works and lastly with all chearfulness and diligence to follow these Patterns by liberally contributing to their Maintenance and Advancement These are th Publick Banks and Treasuries in which we may safely lodge that Money which we lend out to God and may from him expect the Interest O what comfort will it be to us when we come to die to be able to say to our selves That portion of goods that God hath in his Providence dispensed to me I have neither kept unprofitably in a Napkin nor squander'd it away upon my lusts but part of it I have put out towards the restoring my miserable Brethren to to the right use of their reason and understanding part of it to the amending Mens manners and from idle and dissolute persons redeeming them to vertue and sobriety and making them some way profitable to the Publick part of it for the healing the sick and curing the wounded and relieving the miserable and necessitous and lastly another part of it towards the Educating poor helpless Children in useful Arts for their Bodies and in the Principles of True Religion for their Souls that so both in their Bodies and Spirits they may be in a capacity to glorifie God and to serve their Country These are all
yet even in this case still there will To the Vpright arise Light in the Darkness that is Light in the third sense we have given of the word viz. taking Light for Peace and Joy and Comfort And this is that which the Psalmist tells us in another place Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the Vpright in heart Psal 97.11 Whatever Afflictions come upon the Upright Man yet he hath this advantage of other Men that he bears them infinitely more lightly than they do They are really no great disturbance to him for he enjoys the same calmness and serenity of Mind the same peace and quiet and contentment that ever he did His present sufferings are rather matter of rejoycing and triumph to him than of discontent and repining for he knows that they come upon him by the Counsel and Disposal of the great Governour of the World And he knows that he hath so sincerely approved himself to God and is so well beloved by him that he should not have been ordered into these Circumstances had it not been really for his good And this Consideration doth so effectually support him under all the Difficulties that he hath to conflict with that he not only sits down casily and quietly but is very well pleased with the dispensations of the Divine Providence towards him how ingrateful soever they may be to Flesh and Blood Let what will happen to him he is full of Peace and Joy For he hath met with no disappointment of his designs His great aim was to please God and his Conscience from God's word assures him that he has done it and he hath nothing to do farther but to wait for the happy time when the secrets of all Hearts shall be revealed and every Man's Counsels and Actions shall be made manifest and then he doubts not to receive approbation and praise and a great Reward in that Day of the Lord Jesus And so much the rather 2 Cor. 4.17 because this light affliction wherewith he is now exercised he is assured will work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory To conclude Whatever his sufferings be he will live and die in a profound Peace perfectly satisfied with all God's dealings towards him And his Life and Death will verify to all that know him that advice and observation of the Psalmist Psal 37.37 Mark the Perfect Man and behold the Vpright for the end of that Man is Peace SERMON VI. PREACHED AT WHITE-HALL On the 20th of March 1684 5. Luke xvi 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead THE Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in the Gospel is so well known that it is needless to relate the Particulars of it These Words are the Conclusion of that Parable and they are made the Words of Abraham who being in Paradise is brought in as speaking them to the Rich Man in Hell The Occasion was this This now Poor Man not being able to obtain the least Comfort or Refreshment for himself under that unsupportable anguish he endured bethinks himself of his Friends and Relations in the World and casts about how to prevent their coming to that sad condition And for this purpose he begs of Abraham that he would be pleased to send the happy Lazarus into the World again to testifie to his Brethren what he knew and had seen concerning the State of the other Life and to exhort them to a timely Repentance lest they should come into that place of Torment in which he was To this Request Abraham thus answers They had Moses and the Prophets which did plainly enough testifie against their Sins and offered sufficient Motives to them to repent and therefore there was no need of such extraordinary Means as he desired But this Answer did not satisfie the miserable Man Still he pursues his former Request Nay Father Abraham saith he but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent There was no resisting such an Argument as that If Lazarus whom they all had known living and now knew to be dead should rise again and personally come to them and tell them in what a sad condition he had seen their Friend and that they must all expect to run the same Fortune if they did not change their Course of Living This would come close to them and be more convincing than a hundred Arguments drawn from the Books of Moses and the Prophets which were written many Ages before their time and so consequently could not be presumed to have so great a force as an Argument drawn from their own Sense and Experience To this Reply of the Rich Man Abraham peremptorily rejoyns in the Words of the Text. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead To omit lesser Matters that may be observed from these Words the Point which primarily and most naturally seems to be offered to our Consideration from them is this That those who give no credit to a setted standing Revelation of God once well attested or are not thereby prevailed upon to reform their Evil manners neither in all probability would they be prevailed upon though a particular Miracle was wrought by God in order to their Conversion as for instance though one should rise from the dead and appear to them Now to satisfie every one of the Truth of this Proposition it will be abundantly sufficient to make out these two things First That there is really more force and weight in a Publick standing Revelation of God such as that was by Moses and the Prophets here mentioned to convince Men or to reclaim them than there can be in a Private Miracle though I see it with my Eyes And Secondly Though God should be pleased to work a Miracle or to send an Apparition for the Conviction of an obstinate Unbeliever or vicious Person yet such a one would as easily find out shifts and ways to evade the force of such an Argument and to hinder the Effect it ought have upon him as he formerly did to put off the ordinary standing Motives and Arguments of Religion And consequently there is little probability that he who is not gained by the former will be wrought upon by the latter I begin with the first of these things That there is really more force and weight in a Publick standing Revelation of God to convince Men or to reclaim them than there can be supposed to be in a Private single Miracle though a Man sees it with his Eyes Or than there can be in an Apparition from the dead if God should think fit to vouchsafe such a thing In speaking to this I mean not to concern my self or you with the Revelation of Moses and the Prophets though that be the Revelation which the Text here speaks of I think it will be more suitable and useful to us to consider
God should let loose our Enemies upon us the Enemies of our Nation and of our Religion and should give us over as a Prey unto them what have we to reply Truly nothing that I know of except that of the Psalmist Righteous art thou O Lord and Just are thy Judgments But we trust God's Lenity and Forbearance and Mercy is as great to Publick Societies and Kingdoms as it is to Private Persons And that we may apply those expressions to our Nation which David uttered with reference to himself O Lord if thou shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it But there is Mercy with thee that thou mayest be feared When the Iniquities of a People are at the full God will not fail to punish them But whether ours be so or no He only knows We hope though they be very grievous and crying they have not yet exceeded the measure of God's Patience and that there is yet left a place for Repentance This is indeed the only Plank we have to trust to that can save us from Shipwrack and therefore we ought to lay hold upon it Let us therefore this day every one of us if we have any kindness for our Native Country If we have any respect to that dear Place where we and our Ancestors and all our Relations and Kindred for many Generations have lived so happily If we have any Zeal for or regard to that excellent Church and that Holy Religion that God did in so extraordinary a manner plant among us and for the preserving of which in our Land His Care and Providence hath so often and so wonderfully appeared If we have any Concernment for many thousands of innocent Souls who without their own fault may deeply suffer for the Nations Sins Lastly If we have any Bowels of Compassion to those dear Children of ours that God hath given us that we may transmit to them and their Children after them that Birth-Right and those Privileges and that excellent Religion we received from our Fathers I say if we have any sense of these things let every one of us this day most sincerely apply our selves to the Service of God in all the ways of a serious Virtue and Piety Or if we have been careless of this matter heretofore or which is worse have been lewd or wicked in our lives yet let us now at last heartily repent of it And with Prayers and Tears and the most solemn Resolutions of Amendment prostrate our selves before the Throne of Grace imploring and beseeching God's Pardon and Forgiveness and if it be possible a lengthning of our Tranquillity O let us not refuse this opportunity of doing the greatest Kindness and the best service to our Country that we possibly can And therefore let us not only heartily bewail our own Sins but the reigning Impieties and Wickedness that our Nation stands accountable for Now is the time if ever that we are all concerned to be importunate with God for our selves and our Country And a fitter Prayer for this purpose cannot be composed for us than that which Daniel put up to God for his Nation and that at such a solemn time as this when as he tells us he had set himself to seek God for his People by Prayer and Supplication with Fasting and Sackcloth and Ashes The Prayer is in the 9th Chapter of his Prophecy and I shall conclude with it and I earnestly beg of you all to join with me in it O Lord the great and dreadful God that keepest the Covenant and shewest mercy to them that love thee and to them that keep thy Commandments We have sinned and done wickedly and have committed Iniquity and have rebelled even by departing from thy Precepts and from thy Judgments O Lord Righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as at this Day to the Men of Judah and to the Inhabitant of Jerusalem because we have sâ—â—â—red against thee But unto the Lord our God belongeth Mercy and Forgiveness though we have rebelled against him â—â—ither have we 〈…〉 of the Lord our God to walk in his Laws which he set before us O Lord according to all thy Rightâ—â—â—sness we beseech thee let thy anger and thy fury be turned away from thy City Jerusalem thy holy Mountain Because for our sins and the iniquities of our Fathers Jerusalem and thy People are become a reproach to all that are about us Now therefore O God hear the Prayer of thy Servants and cause thy Face to shine upon thy Sanctuary O God incline thine ear and hear Open thine Eyes and behold the City which is called by thy Name O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do Defer not for thy own sake O our God For thy City and thy People are called by thy Name And whilst Daniel was thus praying and confessing his sins and the sins of his People unto the Lord and supplicating for his City Jerusalem Behold the Angel Gabriel was sent unto him from the Lord with the glad tidings that God had heard his Prayer for Jerusalem and that it should be built and the Lord would dwell in it O may we all thus Fast and Pray as Daniel did and may God Almighty give us such a return of our Prayers Amen O God for Jesus Christ his sake to whom c. SERMON X. PREACHED AT St. GILES in the Fields On the 28th of June 1691. Philip. iv 8. Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things I Have the two last Lord's Days made it my business to treat of this Text in a way that I thought did most tend to the informing your Judgments And to that purpose I have raised several Observations and drawn several inferences from it I mean now to treat of it in another way and apply my self wholly to the pressing you to the practice of it And indeed the Nature of the Sermon I am to make doth call for this from me For I am now to take my leave of you this being the last time in all probability that I shall Preach among you as your Minister And therefore I suppose good Advice and Exhortation will more become me at this time than a close Discourse upon a Text. And yet my Text doth afford matter enough without straining it for such a purpose Nor indeed do I know a Text in the Bible that I could more willingly pitch upon to leave with you as the last Advice I would give you and as the Sum and Conclusion of my Preaching among you than these Words of St. Paul I have now read to you Let me therefore at this time address my self to you all as the Apostle here did at the conclusion of his Epistle to the Philippians Finally Brethren whatsoever things
the substance of his Father begotten before all Worlds and Man of the substance of his Mother born in the World Perfect God and Perfect Man and yet but one Person For as the Reasonable Soul and the Body make one Man so here God and Man make one Christ. As our Creed expresses it And this leads me to his Office This Divine Person God-Man that the Text here saith appeared was by his Office the Christ the Messias that is that great Minister of God that Anointed King and Priest and Prophet which from the beginning of the World he promised to send down upon Earth for the salvation of Mankind Who was believed in by the Patriarchs Typified by the Law Foretold by all the Prophets Shadowed out in all the Oeconomy of the Jewish Nation Expected by all the Israelites And wished for by the best of the Heathen World This Person invested with this Office at last appeared and in what manner you all know from his Story in the Gospel He was by the Holy Spirit of God conceived in the Womb of a Virgin as was foretold of him by the Prophets of which an Angel of the highest order in Heaven first brought the happy Tidings to the Virgin her self This Virgin by as strange a Providence when the time of her Delivery drew near was brought from her own City and Habitation in Galilee to Bethlehem a City of Judah where she brought forth this Illustrious Babe And thereby fulfilled another Prophecy concerning him namely That he should be born in Bethlehem which also the Scribes at that time acknowledged The circumstances indeed of his Birth were far from any outward Pomp and Magnificence The Virgin his Mother was poor and a stranger and so ill befriended that in the Confluence of People with which the City was then crowded she was able to procure no better a lodging than the Stable of an Inn So that a Manger was the place that first received the Lord of Glory This Slur this Affront God then thought fit to put upon all that external Splendour and Grandeur which usually doth so much dazle the Eyes of Mortal Men. But God failed not to make abundant amends for the meanness of his Birth by giving sundry other demonstrable Evidences of the Dignity of the Person that was then born For the Magi from the East Princes shall I call them or Philosophers being conducted by a new Star came and pay'd their Homage and brought their Offerings to this King of the World in a Manger And the Shepherds that were watching their Flocks in the Fields by night were surprized with the Glory of the Lord shining round about them and an Angel that thus spoke to them Fear not for behold I bring you Tidings of great Joy which shall be to all People for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swadling Cloths lying in a Manger And suddenly there was with the Angel a Multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory to God in the Highest on Earth Peace Good Will towards Men. After this manner was the Appearance of our Saviour and much after the same manner was his following Life It was a life of much Poverty and Meanness as to outward circumstances but it was a life in every Period of it fraught with Wonders Whether we consider the admirable Goodness and Charmingness of his Temper or the exemplary Vertue and Piety that did shine out in all his Conversation Or the Divinity of his Sermons and Doctrines Or his prodigious inimitable Miracles Or the Attestations which were given to him from Heaven Or the usage he received from Men Or the Events which followed upon all these things in the World But it is his first Appearance in the Flesh that we are this day met together to Commemorate And never had Mankind so Noble an Argument given them to exercise their Thoughts and Meditations upon If we consider the Quality of the Person appearing that he was no other than the Eternal Son of God How ought we to be wrapt with Wonder and Astonishment at the Infiniteness of the Divine Condescension How ought we to be affected with Love and Thankfulness at such a never-to-be-parallelled instance of God's kindness to us that he should so love us as to send his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him If we consider that this Son of God resolving to appear in the World of all other ways chose to do it in our Flesh and so united both the Deity and Humanity in one Person O what a sense ought this to impress upon us of the Honour that is here done to our Nature and the Dignity it is advanced to And how ought that sense either to fright us or to shame us from prostituting this our Nature to any vile unworthy Mixtures and Communications which God did not disdain to take into so near a Relation to himself If we consider that this God in humane Flesh came as the Messiah the Saviour of the World so long before promised and so long expected How ought this to fill our hearts with Joy and Thankfulness How should it move us to pour out our Souls in Benedictions to God for having thus Visited and Redeemed his People And putting us into that dispensation which so many Holy Men for so many Ages wished to see but did not see it nay and which the Angels themselves desired to look into and which the Jews for rejecting at the time it was published are to this day a standing Monument of God's Displeasure and Vengeance If we consider the many Evidences that this our Saviour gave at his Appearance of his being the true Christ How exactly in all the Circumstances of his Nativity and all the Passages of his Life he fulfilled the Prophecies which went before of him and how convincing the Testimonies were which God gave to the Truth of his Mission How ought this Consideration to strengthen our Faith in this Christ To make us constant to the death in owning him for our Saviour our Messiah in Opposition to all the Pretences of the Jews and Infidels and Atheists and Scepticks to the contrary Lastly If we consider the mean Circumstances that this our Christ chose to appear in so far below the Dignity of so great a Prince that there is not the poorest Beggar 's Child among us but generally finds better Accommodation when it comes into the World O what a Check what a Rebuke ought this to be to that Spirit of Ambition and Pride and Vain-glory that too often possesses us poor Mortals How ought it to take off our admiration and lessen the too great esteem we are apt to have of all outward Pomp and Greatness Nay and to make us despise all the glittering Shews and and Bravery of the World Since God has given us so visible a
demonstration by the sending his own Son into it how little a Value he sets upon these Things But II. I proceed to the Second Point which my Text leads me to speak to and that is the Time of our Saviour's Appearance here mentioned Once hath he Appeared in the end of the World You see here that the time of his Appearance is said to be the end of the World But how is that to be understood If we take the expression in the literal sense and as we commonly use it the thing is not true For there have already passed near seventeen Hundred Years since our Saviour's Appearance and yet the end of the World is not come nor do we know when it will But there will be no difficulty in this matter if we carefully attend to the Phrase the Apostle here useth and interpret it according to the Propriety of the Language in which it is delivered The word in my Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which every body that is versed in the style of the New Testament knows may be better and more naturally rendred the Consummation or Conclusion of the Ages than the End of the World Fot the understanding this Phrase we must have recourse to the known Idiom of the Jews who used to speak of the several Oeconomies and Dispensations under which the World successively had been or was to be as of so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ages The last of which Ages and the Accomplishment and Completion of all of them they held to be the Age of the Messiah beyond which they knew there was to be no other Age or Oeconomy With reference to this way of speaking the times of the Gospel-dispensation are frequently called in Scripture the Last Times the Last Days the Fulness of the Times and in the Text the Consummation or Shutting up of the Ages The meaning of all which Phrases is no more than this That the Times of the Gospel that is the Appearance and Revelation of our Saviour though God intended them from the beginning yet should they be the last of all Times There should be several Dispensations set on foot in the World before they came and when those times were fulfilled when the Ends of those Dispensations were accomplished then should our Saviour appear and begin his Kingdom which should never be succeeded by any other This is the true meaning of Christ's appearing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Text expresseth it that is not as we translate it in the end of the World but in the last of the Ages or at the time when the Ages were fulfilled and accomplished Now what use are we to make of this Consideration the Apostle himself doth fairly intimate to us in the beginning of this Epistle God saith he who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath made heir of all things and by whom he made the Worlds And so he goes on to set forth the incomparable Dignity and Preheminence of this last Messenger of God above that of either Angels or Men by whom he had spoken to Mankind before But what is the inference he draws from all this Why That you may see in the beginning of the second Chapter We ought therefore saith he to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard that is to say the Doctrine of the Gospel lest at any time we let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation as was spoken to us by the Lord Jesus The Apostle's Argument here proceeds on this manner God's Revelation of his Will to Mankind and the discovery of his Grace and Goodness was not all at once but gradual and by parts He first spake to Mankind by the Patriarchs who were burning and shining Lights in their Generations He afterwards singles out the Nation of the Jews to be his peculiar People and to them he gives a written Law which was delivered to them by Angels in the hand of Moses their Mediator as the Apostle speaks in the third of the Galatians which Law was a shadow or dark representation of the Good things which were afterwards to be revealed After this he sends Prophets in a continual Succession for several Ages who do more clearly discover God's will to them who call upon them to Holiness and Virtue and who speak in very plain Terms of that Great Salvation which God should one day manifest to the World And last of all as the Lord of the Vineyard in the Parable dealt with his Husbandmen who after he had sent Servants one after another of different Qualities and Degrees at last sent his own Son So at last I say did the great Lord of the World when the fulness of the time was come send his own Son to be his Embassador to Mankind his own Son who was the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person If now as the Apostle here argues If under the former Dispensations when God only declared his Will by Angels or by Prophets he was yet so severe that no Transgression or Disobedience escaped without a just recompence of Vengeance How can we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation as that was which in these last days was preached by Jesus Christ How can we escape if these last and greatest Methods of God for our good and in which all the Treasures of his Goodness are displayed I say if these have no effect upon us in order to the making us both Holy and Happy What Teachers what Instructers can we further expect What new Lights or Assistances do we yet wait for Can any one think that God should set on foot some other new Dispensation for the bringing off those wretched People upon whom this last could prevail nothing Do we dream of another Covenant or another Mediator between God and Man besides Christ Jesus Do we fancy that God will send some other Embassador or Saviour into the World after he hath sent his own Son Or that the Son of God will come a second time in Humane Flesh and again be crucified for us No certainly God hath afforded the last and greatest means for Man's Salvation and no other is ever to be expected Christ hath once appeared in the end of the World to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself and to those that believe in him and love him and obey him will he appear the second time to their alvation But never will he appear again to make a new Reconciliation for those Men that are not reconciled to God by his first Appearance To such as our Apostle speaks in the Tenth Chapter There remains no more Sacrifice for Sin but a fearful expectation of Judgment and fiery Indignation
You cannot as I said but see in the first place how very much such Doctrines do disparage the Love of our Saviour and lessen his Undertaking For whilst he is here supposed to have Redeemed us only from his Fathers Wrath and the Punishment consequent thereupon leaving us in the mean time to the wickedness and impurity of our own Nature which alone without the accession of any other external Evil is a misery great enough He is hereby rendred but half a Saviour One that freed us indeed froman External Evil but left us irremediably exposed to an Internal one as grievous as the other One that delivered us from the apprehensions of a Gibbet or an Executioner but could not or would not cure us of the inward Sicknesses and Maladies under which we languished But this is not all In the second place it ought to be taken notice of what an absurd inconsistent Notion this kind of Doctrine gives us of the Happiness of Mankind For whilst they suppose that a Man under the Power and Dominion of Sin is capable of that Happiness which Christ purchased for us in the other World which Happiness as both Scripture and Reason testifie doth chiefly consist in the enjoyment of God and of his Excellencies and Perfections They must at the same time suppose that a Man may berendred happy by the enjoyment of that of which he has no Sense no Perception or rather to speak properly that he is the happiest Creature alive in the enjoyment of an Object to which he has the greatest aversion and antipathy in the World Which if it be not an absurdity I know not what is When Light can have Communion with Darkness when God can have Fellowship with Belial Then and not till then can a wicked Man a Man that lives in Sin and loves it be capable of that Happiness which Jesus Christ hath purchased for us IV. The Fourth thing I should speak to from this Text is the Means by which our Saviour brought to pass the great End of his Appearance viz. The putting away of sin Which means are said to be the Sacrifice of himself Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Two things should be done in order to a just Discourse upon this point First To give an account how the Death of Christ was a Means for the putting away of sin in the first Sense I gave that is the procuring the Pardon of it Secondly How it was a Means of putting it away in the other Sense that is the destroying or mortifying it in us But these things being Foreign to our present Business and more proper for the Argument of a Good-Friday Sermon I shall say no more of them but proceed to my last point V. The Fifth and last thing observable from the Text is the difference of Christ's sacrifice whereby he put away sin from the Mosaical ones Which difference so far as it is here taken notice of consists in this That the Legal Sacrifices for the Expiation of Sin were daily offered But Christ offered the Sacrifice of himself but once Once in the end of the World c. The Apostle in this Chapter is discoursing of the Difference between the Law and the Gospel And as to that Point he insists much on the Difference of their Sacrifices The Christians that owned the Gospel had but one Sacrifice the Sacrifice of Christ once offered whereas those that were under the Law were forced to have many Nay even the most solemn Sacrifice that God had appointed for the Expiation of their Sins was repeated once a Year as the Apostle tells us in the Verse before my Text. But now the Sacrifice of Christ which he puts by way of opposition to theirs That was but once offered and was never to be repeated This is the point with which he concludes this Chapter two Verses after my Text Christ saith he was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time unto salvation This is the Apostle's Doctrine and I insist on it now because all those that design on this day to receive the Holy Sacrament are concerned in it Let us from hence take notice that in this Service of the Holy Communion we are not to pretend to offer Christ as a Sacrifice to his Father His Sacrifice was but once to be offered and that was done 1600 Years ago and in the Virtue of that Sacrifice once offered all faithful Christians and sincere Penitents shall receive Remission of Sins and all other Benefits of his Passion But for us to think of offering Christ again as a Sacrifice is in effect to put our selves into the same rank and condition with the unbelieving Jews that is to need the repetition of the same Sacrifices every Year nay every Day which is the very reason for which the Apostle denys the Efficacie of them We do not indeed deny but that every time we approach to the Lord's Table for the receiving of the Holy Communion we offer Sacrifices to God For we offer our Alms which we beg of God to accept as our Oblations and these in the Language of Scripture are Sacrifices with which God is well pleased We likewise offer our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving to God for the Death of our Saviour And all our Prayers and Supplications we put up in his Name and in the Virtue and for the Merits of that Sacrifice he offered to God in our behalf And in so doing we commemorate that Sacrifice both to God and before Men. And this is all we are confident that the Ancient Church meant by the great Christian Sacrifice or the Sacrifice of the Altar But if we go further if we will in the Communion pretend to offer up the Body and Blood of Christ in Sacrifice to God that was once sacrificed upon the Cross It is intolerable It is a thing that was never dreamed of in the first Ages of the Church It is directly contradictory to the Foundation of all the Apostle's Argument and Discourse here in the Text and the very supposal of it brings along with it many grievous Absurdities in the Theory and something that looks like impious in the Practice And yet this is the constant and avowed Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome in every Sacrament they have and that is in every Mass that is said among them The main business of that Mystery they make to consist in the Priest's offering up to God the very Body and Blood of Christ the same Body and Blood that was once offered up at Jerusalem this they pretend to offer up as a Sacrifice every day And they attribute to this their Offering the same Virtue and Efficacy that the Apostles and all Christians have always attributed to the one Sacrisice of Christ upon the Cross that is that it is a true propitiatory Sacrifice for the
visible that whosoever hath either read History or hath made Observations must needs have taken notice of them If ever there were any extraordinary Deliverances vouchsafed to Kingdoms or Cities or particular Persons or ever any remarkable Judgments inflicted upon any of these which so carried the Marks and Signatures of God's Hand in them that the One could not in reason but be attributed to the Care that he had that Religion or Innocence should not be oppressed and the Other must in reason be interpreted as a Divine Vengeance that pursued the Guilty for their Crimes If ever there were any Prophecies that did punctually foretell a Particular Event that came not to pass till many Years after and such an Event as was perfectly contingent and depended upon the Wills of Men If ever there were any Notices given of Approaching Calamities by Voices from Heaven by strange Appearances in the Air and such other like Presages not naturally to be accounted for If ever there were any Apparitions any Witchcraft any effects of a Diabolical Power by which it may appear that there are a sort of Invisible Beings in the World which do bear ill will to Mankind but yet are so curbed that they cannot do all the Mischief they would If ever there were any Miracles wrought either by Moses and the Prophets or by Jesus Christ and his Apostles for the confirmation of the Jewish or the Christian Religion Lastly If ever any Good Man did ever receive any Blessing or avoid any Misfortune which he might rationally look upon as an Answer to the Fervent Prayers that he had put up to God or others had put up for him I say If any of these things that I have now named be true as all Histories give us a World of Instances of the truth of all of them and as for some of them I do not doubt but they fall within the compass of our own Observation and Experience I say if any of these things be true then have we a convincing Proof that there is a Power that doth interpose in the Affairs of the World superiour both to that of Nature and to that of Mankind and which moderates all things according as it seems good unto him But in truth we need not go to supernatural Events or to particular Providences for the Truth of this For in my Opinion the daily effects that every one of us sees and feels the very Subsistence of the World for so many Ages in that regular frame that it was at first and the fair Treatment and Encouragement how unequally soever things seem to be distributed which vertuous and religious men have always found in it and do yet find notwithstanding that far the greatest number of men are of another stamp I say these very things seem an Argument beyond exception That there is a God that presides over us and takes care of us But Fourthly and lastly God has yet given us a further Proof of this by his own many Authentick Declarations in the Holy Scriptures which we call his Word One of the main businesses of which is Dan. 4.17 to assure us That He rules in the kingdoms of men and disposeth of all their Affairs There He is set forth as the Author of all Events Amos. 3.6 both good and bad so that no evil happens in a City but the Lord doth it There He is represented as the searcher of all hearts the Judge of all mens Designs and Actions the Avenger of all Evil Practices and the Refuge of all Good Men. There we are told that He is the God of of Battles Psal 33.16 and that no King is saved by the multitude of his Armies nor any mighty Man delivered by his own strength but Salvation is from the Lord. And so are Disappointments also There we are assured Psal 33. â—4 that He from his Habitation looketh down upon all that dwell on the earth He fashioneth the hearts of them he understandeth all their ways Pror 19.21 And though many are the devices that are in their Hearts yet it is his counsel only that shall stand In a word Eph. 1. â—â— it is God as the Apostle tells us that worketh all things and he worketh them all according to the counsel of his own will So that nothing comes by chance nothing is done in vain but all Events are in pursuance of a Design Nay not so much as the Event of casting a Lot which seems the most fortuitous contingent thing in the whole World is left at random For even in that Case the disposal of the Lot as Solomon tells us Prov. 16.33 is from the Lord. All this is not only the Doctrine but in a great measure the very Language and Expression of those Holy Books And what can we desire more Or what words can we invent that shall declare more fully the thing we are speaking of None can that I know of except perhaps those of our Saviour with which I shall shut up this point Matt. 10.29 Fear not saith he to his Disciples Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing yet not one of them falls to the ground without the will of your Father Nay I say unto you the very hairs of your head are all numbered O wonderful this what God Almighty number the very Hairs of our Heads Lord what is man that thou shouldst have such respect unto him and do that for him which even the nicest and most delicate of Men never yet did for themselves But thus art thou pleased to express thy particular regard to the Sons of Men. Thus art thou pleased to let us see that none of us are so inconsiderable but that we are within the Verge of thy Providence and Objects of thy Care And therefore much more are Cities and States and Kingdoms so wherein the Fortunes of so many Individuals are wrapt up O blessed be God for his Love to Mankind O for ever adored be his Name for thus humbling himself to take notice of us and our Affairs and likewise for giving us such abundant Assurance that he doth so Since therefore we have such mighty Evidence of all sorts that the Lord is King let the Earth be glad yea let the multitudes of the isles be glad thereof And we shall still see greater reason thus to be glad if we consider a little more particularly the Rules and Measures by which God administers the Affairs of his Kingdom Which are not as too often happens in Human Governments Arbitrary Will or Humour but perfect Wisdom and Justice and Goodness Tho' it be true what the Psalmist saith Psal 135.6 That Whatsoever the Lord pleaseth that doth he in Heaven and in Earth and in the Sea and all deep places Yet it is as true that the Lord will never be pleased to do any thing either in Heaven or in Earth but what is suggested by infinite Goodness and in such ways as are the Result of Infinite Wisdom
any of our Betters without saluting them or some way or other testifying our Respect to them tho' they had no way particularly obliged us But if we were beholding to them for our daily Bread to come into their Presence without taking notice of them or their Bounty to us would be intolerable How much more intolerable therefore must it be to pass by God Almighty day after day nay to be in his Presence continually as indeed we always are and yet neither to pay any Homage or Reverence to him as He is our Supreme Lord nor to make any Acknowledgments as He is our daily Preserver and Benefactor If we had any sense of Ingenuity we should blush to think of passing a Day without several times lifting up our Minds and doing our Respects to Almighty God tho' there was no other ill in the Neglect than only the horrible Rudeness and ill Manners that it discovers in us But Secondly The constant Exercise of Prayer is not only recommended to us under the notion of a very decent and reasonable thing but as an indispensable Duty God Almighty hath most strictly charged it upon us and we are Transgressors of his Laws if we do not practise it Nature it self speaks sufficiently plain in this matter And where-ever God hath to the Law of Nature super-added any Revelation of his Will this Duty we are speaking of fails not to make up a considerable part of it It would be endless to mention all that is said upon this Head by our Lord and his Apostles in the new Testament I have told you already that they oblige us to no less than Praying always Praying without ceasing They use likewise abundance of other Expressions to the like purpose They bid us every where to lift up holy hands In every thing to make our Supplications known unto God To pray in the Spirit with all Prayer and Supplication and and to watch thereunto with all perseverance If it be said there is no such express command for Prayer in that Revelation which was made to the Jews I answer It is a great Mistake The Prophets do over and over again injoin it as the Principal Part of the Worship of God And those that live without Praying are by those Inspired Writers rank'd among the Atheists Psalm 53.1.4 And as for the Law of Moses it self it is obvious to observe that the greatest part of it is concerning Sacrifices Now Sacrifices if we will understand them right were nothing else but that Form or Method of putting up Prayers to God that was in those times used in the World So that in truth so far was Prayer from being left as a Matter of Indifferency to the Jews that most of their Religion consisted in it And accordingly all the Devout Men of that Church spent much of their Time in this Exercise David's manner was to pray seven times a Day And Daniel took himself to be so much obliged to the frequent Practice of this Duty that rather than break his Custom of performing his Solemn Devotions three times a day he would expose himself to the Den of Lyons Nay Thirdly So great is our obligation to frequent Prayer that he acts against his Nature whosoever doth not practise it For in truth Prayer is the proper and peculiar Duty of Man as he is a Man That which constitutes the nature of Man and doth formally difference and distinguish him from all other Animals is not so much the power of Reason as the capacity of being Religious There are some Foot-steps of an obscure Reason to be observed in many Creatures besides Man But in none except Him is there found any sense of a Deity or Disposition towards Religion or any thing that looks like it That seems to be the Prerogative of Mankind God endowed them and them only with Spirits capable of Reflecting upon the Author of their Beings and of making acknowledgments and performing Religious Worship to him So that to Worship God to converse with him in the exercise of Devotion to Pray and give Thanks for his Benefits may be truly said to be the proper Office of a Man as Man The natural exercise of those Faculties that distinguish him from brute Creatures And consequently those that live in a continual neglect of this what must be said of them but that they act unsuitably to their Natures and are degenerated into a sort of Brutishness It appears then that our Obligations to this Duty are many and great and such as there is no possibility of evading But here is our unhappiness that those Duties which we are most strictly obliged to are not those that we are always most inclined to practise There may be something in the most indispensable Duties so harsh and unpleasant so disagreeing with our other Appetites or Interests They may be so hard to be performed so Laborious or so Expensive or upon some other account so ungratefull that we shall naturally put our selves upon the finding out Excuses for the ridding our hands of them and easily satisfy our minds for so doing But now which I desire in the Fourth place to be considered There are none of these pretences to be made against this Duty of Prayer none of these Inconveniencies do attend it But it is so naturally so easily performed and so inoffensively to all our other Appetites and Interests That one would think nothing but mere laziness or stupidity could hinder a Man from the daily Exercise of it It requires no great Parts or Learning or Study for the discharging it The meanest Capacity the most un-improved Vnderstanding if there be but an honest Heart may perform it as well as the learnedest Man in the World It requires no Labour or Toil. The feeblest and most dis-spirited Body that can but lift up eyes to Heaven and direct wishes thither doth it as effectually as the most vigorous Constitution It doth not go against the grain of any natural Inclination nor put the body to any pain or hardship Nor doth it contradict any appetite or affection that Nature hath implanted in us No Humour but either the Sottish or the Malicious the Brutish or the Devilish is distasted by it It puts us to no Charge or Expence in the World save that of our Thoughts yet that is the noblest way of spending them And if they be not employed thus it is ten to one but they will be employed much worse It is not at all consumptive of our Time For we may attend this work when we are a doing other business and there is no man so full of business but he hath abundance of vacant spaces which he will not know how to fill up to any good purpose unless he hath learned this Art of saving Time In a word there is no Objection against it it is one of the Easiest Naturalest Inoffensivest Duties in the World Nay so easie it is that the most Selfish Man if he was to make his own Terms with
FIFTEEN SERMONS Preach'd on Several Occasions The Last of which was never before Printed BY The Most Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Arch-Bishop of York Primate of England and Metropolitan LONDON Printed by Will. Bowyer for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1700. MVNIFICENTIA REGIA 1715. GEORGIVS D.G. MAG BR FR. ET HIB REX F.D. THE CONTENTS SERMON I. Page 1. THE Things that make for Peace Or The Obligation of Christians to Church-Communion and mutual Charity Rom. xiv 19. Let us therefore follow after the things that make for Peace Preach'd before the Lord Mayor c. 1674. SERMON II. Page 41. The Profitableness of Godliness Or The Advantages of Piety for the promoting all a Man's Interests in this World 1 Tim. iv 8. Godliness is profitable unto all things having a Promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come Preach'd before the Lord Mayor 1675. SERMON III. Page 88. Of doing Good in our Lives shewing that it is every one's great Concernment and is in every one's Power Eccles iii. 10. I know that there is no good in them but for a man to rejoyce and to do good in his Life Preach'd at the Yorkshire Feast 1680. SERMON IV. Page 127. The Rich-Man's Duty and the Encouragement he hath to Practise it 1 Tim. vi 17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this World that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain Riches but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal Life Preach'd at the Spittal 1680. SERMON V. Page 169. A Description of the Vpright Man and his Security in evil Times Psal cxij. 4. To the upright there ariseth Light in the Darkness Preach'd at the Election of the Lord Mayor 1680. SERMON VI. Page 205. A standing Revelation of more force to persuade Men than one rising from the Dead With the Evidence we have at this day for the Truth of the Christian Religion Luke xvj 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Preach'd at White-Hall 1684. SERMON VII Page 243. Rules for the Conduct of our selves where we are at a loss to distinguish the Bounds of Duty and Sin Lawful and Vnlawful in any Action Galat. v. 13. Vse not Liberty for an occasion to the Flesh Preach'd before the Queen 1690. SERMON VIII Page 173. Vertue and Religion the only means to make a Nation prosperous Deut. v. 29. O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my Commandments always that it might be well with them and with their Children for ever Preach'd before the House of Commons 1690. SERMON IX Page 209. General Directions for a Holy Life Phil. iv 8. Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any Vertue if there be any Praise think on these things A Farewel-Sermon preach'd at St. Giles 's 1691. SERMON X. Page 241. Zeal for Religion how to be govern'd Rox. x. 2. For I bear them Record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge Preach'd before the House of Lords Novemb. 5. 1691. SERMON XI Page 369. Of our Saviour's Appearance Heb. ix 26. Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Preach'd before the King and Queen on Christmass-day 1691. SERMON XII Page 401. The Power of Christ's Resurrection Philip. iij. 10. That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection Preach'd before the Queen on easter-Easter-day 1692. SERMON XIII Page 429. God's Government of the World matter of Rejoycing to Mankind Psal xcvij. 1. The Lord is King the Earth may be glad thereof yea the multitude of the Isles may be glad thereof Preach'd before the King and Queen on the Day of Thanksgiving 1693. SERMON XIV Page 459. Of the Government of the Thoughts Prov. iv 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Preach'd before the King and Queen 1693. SERMON XV. Page 487. A Persuasive to Prayer Luke xviii 1. And he spake a Parable unto them to this end That Men ought always to Pray and not to faint Preach'd before the King 1697. Note That by Mistake the Eighth Sermon which begins Page 173 hath on the Top of the Page the Title of the Ninth Sermon throughout As also the Ninth Sermon which begins Page 209. has for several Pages together the Title of the Tenth Sermon SERMON I. PREACHED AT GVILD-HALL CHAPEL On the 23d of August 1674. Rom. xiv 19. Let us therefore follow after the things that make for Peace WHOSOEVER understandeth any thing of the State of Christianity as it hath now been for some Ages in the World will be easily convinced that there is no one Point of our Religion more necessary to be daily Preached to be earnestly pressed and insisted on than that of Peace and Love and Vnity here recommended by the Apostle It hath fared as the Learned Mr. Hales observed with the Christian Religion in this matter as it did with the Jewish of old The great and principal Commandment which God gave the Jews and which as they themselves teach was the Foundation of all their Law was to worship the God of Israel and Him only to serve yet such was the Perversness of that People that This was the Commandment that of all others they could never be brought to Keep but they were continually running into Idolatry notwithstanding all the Methods that God made use of to reclaim them from that Sin What the Worship of one God was to the Jews that Peace and Love and Vnity is to the Christians even the Great distinguishing Law and Character of their Profession And yet to the shame of Christians it may be spoken there is no one Commandment in all Christ's Religion that has been so generally and so scandalously violated among his Followers as this Witness the many bitter Fewds and Contentions that have so long Embroiled Christendom and the numerous Sects and Parties and Communions into which at this day it stands divided And God knows this is a thing that cannot be sufficiently lamented among our selves For though in many Respects we are the Happiest Nation in the World and particularly in this that we have the Advantage of all others both as to the Constitution of our Church and the Purity of Christ's Doctrine professed therein Yet in this point of Schisms and Divisions and Religious Quarrels we are as unhappy if not more than any Whether ever we shall see that blessed Day when these our Breaches will
for the finding it And this is that which Solomon hath told us The Integrity of the Vpright shall guide him For Prov. 11.3 cap. 4.18 the path of the just is a shining light But 2dly If it be his Lot to fall into such circumstances where his way is not so plain but that there is need of great advice and deliberation what course to steer as it often happens especially in such times as the Text speaks of Yet here the Upright Man hath the advantage of all those that walk by different principles for all other things equal he has more Light to direct him in the finding of his way than they have There is this difference between a Man that walks Uprightly in all his conversation and a Man that hath sinister ends of his own to pursue The former hath always the free use of his Intellectual Powers and can exert his Reason in its highest perfection and to the best advantage Whereas the latter is horribly clouded in his discerning Faculties He hath constantly a mist before his Eyes which hinders him from rightly distinguishing the objects he looks upon and consequently occasions many blunders and mistakes in the choice of his way My meaning is this Whoever frames his Life by other Measures than those of Honesty and Conscience whoever intemperately pursueth his private ends or is a slave to inordinate Passions let them be of what kind they will These things do clap such a Byas upon his Soul as renders him utterly uncapable of making a right judgment of things before him and consequently must unavoidably expose him to a great many dangerous errours in the management of his affairs and this oftentimes in Matters that have no great difficulty in them Take any one of the Passions that usually govern the Man that hath no principles of Conscience let it be either Fear or Envy or Revenge or Vain-glory or Avarice or Ambition it is a wonderful thing to see how monstrously they distort his Reason and what odd extravagant courses they put him upon and this even in plain easy cases Nay though the Man in other things where his affections have no influence be a very wise Man One could scarce imagine the power that these things have over a Man's Judgment but that we every day see such strange instances of it But now the Upright Man is not in the least obnoxious to any of these inconveniences For having no turns to serve but those that are honest and good having no private Affections or Passions to be gratified he looks upon things in a pure and simple Light and not through a coloured Glass And consequently his conceptions of them as far as humane endeavours can secure are according to their Nature and his determinations and resolutions are suitable to his conceptions that is to say are reasonable and fit and such as become the occasion As his main design is to do in all instances that which is best so that design preserves him from mistaking in his Notions of what is best His Reason and Understanding are free and at liberty and if there do arise any knot or difficulty he of all others is likely to untie it with the greatest ease And this is that which the Psalmist hath told us The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdome a good Vnderstanding have all they that do thereafter Psal 111. â—â— But Secondly If we take Light for Safety and Security for Defence and Protection as it is sometimes used in the Holy Scripture In this sense also Light ariseth to the Vpright in times of Darkness For such a Man may in the worst of times above all other Men promise these things to himself And this is that which Solomon tells us He that walketh Vprightly walketh surely Prov. 10.9 And indeed this seems to be the thing principally intended in the Text The Light which is here said to arise to the Vpright in Darkness seemeth chiefly to respect his Security from Danger in the times of a Common Calamity as appears by what immediately followeth viz. He shall not be moved for ever he shall not be afraid of evil tidings his heart shall not shrink untill he see his desire upon his Enemies Now this Security in times of Danger the Upright Man may expect upon these two accounts First his Uprightness in its own Nature as things are contrived and carried on in the World doth above all other things conduce to it And Secondly He is upon account thereof intituled to God's more particular Protection First The Paths of Uprightness are in themselves such as naturally tend to secure a Man in Evil and Dangerous times For first They do really contribute to the Good and Happiness of the Publick in the which every Man 's private safety is in a manner bound up Prov. 11.11 As by wickedness they are the words of Solomon a City is overthrown so by the blessing of the Vpright it is exalted Every Upright Man is really a benefactor to the Publick For by him and such as he Cities and Kingdoms are supported which would otherwise fall into confusion The whole Body Politick owes its preservation to the vertuous Care and honest endeavours of Upright Men. And every such Man in particular reaps the benefit of such his Endeavours for he shares in his own Person that protection and security he procures to the Community And if he had not been Upright as the Publick would have fared something the worse for it So it is certain he in his private Capacity would in the same proportion have fared the worse also But this consideration of the conduciveness of Honesty and Uprightness to the Good of the Publick I direct chiefly to those that are in Office and Authority for really their carriage and conduct hath a more than ordinary stroak in the good or bad success of the common affairs And therefore it concerns them especially to look to themselves that they be Men of Integrity and keep a Good Conscience in the discharge of their Trust Upon their Upright walking the safety and preservation of the Publick doth more depend than upon the Endeavours of a thousand private Men. Though they are but particular Persons yet being vested with Authority their Conduct and Management hath as great an influence upon the common Good or the common Ruin as if they were a Multitude and single as they are they do in a great Measure carry the Balance of the publick Fortune in their Hands But Secondly The conduciveness of every Man's Uprightness to the publick good is not the only consideration upon which it is recommendable as a means for obtaining safety and security in evil times For let the Publick go as it will In the worst of times if any Man can in probability be thought able to shift for himself if any Man can in reason hope to escape the Violence and Iniquity of the times the Upright Man the Man of Honesty and Integrity is
likelyest to be the Man I say in reason he is likelyest and as things commonly go For he of all others takes the surest course to preserve himself and is least obnoxious either to the malice or the envy the undermining or the rapine of open Enemies or pretended Friends All Knavery and dishonest Dealings set a Man up for a Mark to be shot at but Uprightness and Integrity is a Shield and a Protection The Upright Man doth so order the course of his Life that he usually avoids all those Rocks that other Men split upon and which usually prove their ruin The undoing of most Men even in evil times lies commonly at their own door and they may thank themselves for it If they had been sufficiently careful of themselves the malignity of the times would scarce have touch'd them It is generally either very great carelesness and gross neglect of their own affairs or the lavishness or intemperance of their Tongues or an ill gotten Estate or private Injuries they have done and private Grudges they have contracted or pragmaticalness in other Mens Matters or factious adherence to a Party or breach of Trust or treachery to the Publick or the like I say it is these things that do most commonly draw Mischief upon Mens Heads and lay the Foundations of all those straits and difficulties in which they are intangled even in the worst of times But now the Upright Man doth in a great Mesure avoid all these occasions for his principles do oblige him to walk in a way that is diametrically opposite to the things I have mentioned The Upright Man treads upon such sure Foundations and his Ways are so universally approved by Mankind that as things usually go no Man will easily offer him injury but it will be to his own detriment The Rule he walks by is such as doth effectually procure him the most Friends and the fewest Enemies for he takes the course to oblige all sorts of Men and consequently he cannot easily fail of finding those who will use their utmost endeavour to assist and rescue him when he lights into any difficult circumstances His righteous conversation is so unexceptionable and so prudent he is in the management of his affairs that those that love him not will not easily find an occasion to do him much mischief Even those that have no acquaintance with him yet have so much concernment for Honesty and Uprightness in general that they will study to give him what assistance and defence they can out of a natural sense that it is fit a good Man should be protected and that for any thing they know his Case and Circumstances may come to be theirs And those that have lost all sense of good and evil yet out of care to preserve their credit amongst Men amongst the generality of whom to be an honest Man will always signifie a great deal for when all is done it is impossible to extirpate the notions of Vertue and Honesty out of the Minds of the Multitude I say in point of their own credit and interest they are concern'd to be careful how they oppress such a Man But whatever become of these things how ineffectual soever all humane means may be for the securing and preserving an Upright Man in evil times Yet in the second place he has another Auchor to stay himself upon which is more firm and stable and which will not fail him and that is the protection of God Almighty The care of his particular Providence to which he is intituled Men may plot and design may model and contrive may order and manage things as they please But when all is done it is God that governeth the World and either blasts their most fair and hopeful Projects or if he suffers them to succeed turns them to what use and purposes he pleases Now this God that Rules and disposeth all things even the most particular For not a sparrow doth fall to the ground without his will and by him the very hairs of our head are numbred This God hath engaged himself to take care in an especial manner of those that fear him and walk Uprightly before him He hath passed his Promise over and over again Psal 37. v. 6 19 24 4â— 41. that he will make their Righteousness as clear as the Light and their just dealing as the noon day They shall not be confounded in the perilous time and in the days of dearth they shall have enough Though they fall they shall not be cast down for the Lord upholdeth them with his hand In a word that he will be their strength in the time of Trouble he will stand by them and save them he will deliver them from the ungodly he will save them because they put their trust in him It would be endless to quote all the passages in the Book of God that speak to this purpose And therefore I shall dismiss this point with that remarkable one which we find in the Prophecy of Isaiah Cap. 15. v. 10. wherein we may see both the Upright Man and his Security in evil times described in very lively colours He that walketh Righteously and speaketh Vprightly He that despiseth the gain of oppressions that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of Rocks his bread shall be given him his water shall be sure The sense of which in short is this That whoever walks Uprightly and makes a Conscience of his ways such a Man shall be always under the watchful care and protection of the Divine Providence And never will God suffer him to fall into any grievous distress but he shall always have such a portion of the good things of this World afforded to him as will be sufficient not only to make his life supportable but easy And in truth the experience of the World generally makes this good Honest and Upright Men for the most part in the most publick Calamities fare well at least much better than those that are not so In their greatest extremities when they have no prospect of deliverance from any humane means strange extraordinary unexpected succour and relief doth arrive to them In a word that care of the special Providence of God attends them that they are never miserable however they may be now and then cut short in their outward Fortunes But it must be acknowledged that though Piety and Uprightness hath the promise of security in this Life and that promise for the most part and in general speaking is made good Yet there are a great many exempt cases God may see it fit now and then to suffer an Upright Man to be opprest and to perish in a common ruin and this without any violation of his promises of this kind which do indeed respect no more than the ordinary common events and successes of things But
careless unchristian Livers that ever they were I appeal to the Consciences of Men whether this be not true and why should we think it would fare otherwise with us if God should send one from the Dead to reclaim us That very Miracle would not convince our Understandings more then they have been convinced already and therefore why should we think it would work more upon our Wills The Sum of all this Discourse is this That how prevaling soever we may imagine such an experiment as the Rich Man here offers to Abraham for the Conversion of his Brethren would be upon us yet a sensual Man that was unwilling to give up himself to the Conduct of Religion might easily find out ways to avoid the Force that it ought to have upon his Mind Nay more easily perhaps than he hath hitherto resisted the Motives of the Gospel And therefore we may certainly conclude with Abraham in the Text that they that hear not Moses and the Prophets or to put it into our own Language they that hear not Christ and his Apostles neither in all probability would they be persuaded though one rose from the Dead Nothing now remains but that I draw two or three Inferences from what hath been said and so conclude In the first place From what I have discoursed upon this Argument we may discover the Infinite Wisdom of God in the pitching upon that Method he hath done for the bringing Men to Vertue and Happiness namely by the standing Revelations of Moses and the Prophets and of Christ and his Apostles For we may perceive this Method is every way more accommodated for that End than if God should be every day working Miracles for the reclaiming particular Persons As it is more suitable to the other Methods of God's Providence to the way that he hath chosen for the Government of the World which is by the setled standing Laws of Motion leaving Natural Causes to produce their Natural Effects and not interposing his Omnipotency but upon especial extraordinary Occasions So also as we have seen is it much more effectual for the covincing Mens Understandings and the working upon their Wills than the other Method of Private Miracles and Revelations would be We have seen how many ways the Force of an Argument drawn from ones appearance from the Dead may be evaded But now none of these Pretences can be made against the Evidence of a Publick Revelation so attested and confirmed and conveyed down to us as that of Christianity is And besides there are many Arguments to be drawn from such a Revelation to shew the Credebility of it which are altogether wanting to such a Private Miracle as we speak of Secondly We may learn from hence what little need there is of any new modern Miracles for the confirming to us any Doctrine of Christianity which was long ago in all the Articles of it so well attested by the Illustrious Miracles of Christ and his Apostles And more especially we may learn from hence what little Credit is to be given to those Miracles that are wrought or pretended to be wrought for the proof of such Doctrines as are really contrary to that Revelation of our Lord as it is delivered in the Holy Scriptures We are sure that Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles taught nothing but the Truth of God he having so publickly and so convincingly set his Seal to all their Doctrines And we are sure likewise that the Scripture contains nothing in it but what was taught by them and consequently must be the Truth of God also And therefore if any Doctrine or Article of Religion be at any time recommended to our Belief that doth not agree with these Holy Writings or doth contradict them either directly or by plain unavoidable consequence we may be equally sure that that Doctrine cannot be true nor is to be received by us though we are told of never so many private Miracles that have been wrought for the confirmation of it Our Rule in these Cases is To the Law and to the Testimony To the Publick and undoubted Oracles of God in the Old and New Testament Whatever Doctrine can be proved out of them we are bound to embrace it without a new Miracle On the other side Whatever Doctrine is inconsistent with them we must reject it though an Angel from Heaven or one from the Dead should come and Preach it to us Thirdly From hence we see the Vanity and Unreasonableness of thos Men that not content with the Ordinary Means of Grace are always wishing for Extraordinaries There are a great many of us that will be saved by Methods of our own chusing otherwise we will not be saved at all As it was in St. Paul's time the Jews they required a Sign the Greeks they were for Wisdom and Philosophy and perhaps a third sort of Men were for another kind of means of Conviction So it is among us Here is one Man would have a particular Miracle wrought for his Conversion If he could see a Spirit or a Ghost he would believe there was another World If God would send an Angel from Heaven to preach to him he thinks he should become a New Man Here is another would believe the Gospel if every Point of it could be demonstrated by Reason and a clear and plain account be given of all the Mysteries of it but till that be done he is of the Religion of the Philosophers Here is another Man waits for Immediate Impulses and Inspirations The ordinary Assistances of the Spirit that acccompany the Word and Sacraments will not do his business But let us not deceive our selves All these Imaginations are vain and foolish If God should grant us our several desires and give one of us a Sign another of us a Demonstration another of us a powerful Conviction upon our Minds from his Holy Spirit and that in an extraordinary way Yet it is still very doubtful whether for all this the Business of our Conversion would be effected None was more confident than the Rich Man in the Parable that if to the Testimony of Moses and the Prophets was superadded a new Miracle his Brethren would certainly be persuaded But yet you see our Saviour affirms the direct contrary Oh let us all close with the standing Publick Methods which God hath established in the Church for the bringing us to Vertue and eternal Happiness and not be hankering after new and fanciful ways of our own chusing Most certainly the Ordinary Means of Grace are sufficient for the Salvation of all our Souls and will be effectual to that End if we be not wanting to our selves And if any Extraordinaries be at any time needful God without doubt will supply us with them also Fourthly and lastly From what hath been said we see the horrible Guilt and the utter Inexcusableness of those Men that notwithstanding the Gospel means of Salvation that have been so long afforded them do still continue Infidels in
What a dreadful one was this of the Gunpowder Treason in the Reign of her Successor How many Dangers have threatned us since that time from that quarter What a horrible storm but of late did we apprehend and justly enough too was impending over us And yet blessed be God who hath never sailed to raise up Deliverers to his People in the day of their Distress that storm is blown over And we are here not only in Peace and Quietness in the full possession of our Native Rights and Liberties and in the Enjoyment of the Free Exercise of our Religion which is one of the most desirable things in the World But such is the deliverance that God hath wrought for us that we also seem to have a fair prospect of the Continuance of these Blessings among us and according to Humane Estimate to be in a good measure out of the danger of our old Inveterate Enemy Popery I mean which one would think had now made its last effort among us Is not this now a great Blessing And must not all sincere Protestants of what perswasions soever they be in other respects necessarily believe so Certainly they must if they think it a Blessing to be delivered out of the hands of our Enemies and to be in a Condition to serve God without fear Let us all therefore own it as such to God Almighty let us thankfully remember all his past Deliverances from Popery and especially let us never forget those of this Day neither the former nor this late one We have reason to believe that God hath a tender Care of his Church and Religion in these Kingdoms not only because he hath so many times so signally and wonderfully appeared for the preservation it But more especially because we know and are convinced that our Religion is according to his Mind and Will being no other than that which his Son Jesus Christ taught unto the World that is to say no other than that which is in the Bible which is our only Rule of Faith It infinitely concerns us all therefore so to behave our selves as to shew that we are neither unthankful for Gods past Mercies nor unqualified for his future Protection And in order to that I know no other way but this that we all firmly adhere to to the Principles of our Religion and that in our Practices we conform our selves to those Principles That is to say In the first place That we sincerely love and fear God and have a hearty sense of his Presence and Goodness and Providence continually abiding in our Minds That we trust in him depend upon him and acknowledge him in all our ways That we be careful of his Worship and Service paying him the constant Tribute of our Prayers and Praises and Thanksgiving both in Publick and Private And then secondly that we be pure and unblameable in our Lives avoiding the Pollutions that are in the World through Lust and exercising Chastity and Modesty Meekness and Humility Temperance and Sobriety amidst the sundry Temptations we have to conflict with And thirdly that we have always a fervent Charity to one another that we Love as Brethren endeavouring to do all the good we can but doing harm to none Using Truth and Justice and a good Conscience in all our dealings with Mankind Living peaceably if it be possible with all Men. And not only so but in our several Places and Stations promoting Peace and Unity and Concord among Christians and contributing what we can to the healing the sad Breaches and Divisions of our Nation And then lastly that we pay all Submission and Duty and Obedience to the King and Queen whom God hath set over us endeavouring in all the ways that are in our Power to render their Government both as easie to themselves and as acceptable to their Subjects and as formidable to their Enemies as is possible If all of us that call our selves Protestants would charge our selves with the Practice of these things how assured might we reâ—… that God would bless us that he would continue his Protection of our Nation our Church our Religion against all Enemies whatsoever and that we might see our Jerusalem still more and more to flourish and Peace to be in all her Borders May God Almighty pour upon us all the Spirit of his Grace and work all these great things in us and for us And in order hereunto may he send down his Blessings upon the King and Queen and so influence and direct all their Councils both Publick and Private that all their Subjects may be happy in their Government and 〈◊〉 peaceably and quiet lives under them in all Godiness and and Honesty And after such a Happy and Peaceable Life here may we all at last arrive to God's Eternal Kingdom and Glory through the Merits of his dear Son To whom c. SERMON XI Preached before the King and Queen AT WHITE-HALL On CHRISTMAS-DAY 1691. Heb. ix 26. Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself THis Text doth naturally suggest Five things to be insisted on most of them proper for our Meditations on this Day which therefore I shall make the Heads of my following Discourse I. In general the Appearance of our Lord. Now hath he appeared II. The Time of that Appearance In the end of the World III. The End and Design for which he appeared To put away Sin IV. The Means by which he accomplished that End By the Sacrifice of himself V. The Difference of His Sacrifice from the Jewish ones His was but once performed Theirs were every day repeated If his Sacrifice had been like theirs then as you have it in the former part of the verse must he often have suffered since the Foundation of the World But now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself This is the just Resolution of the Text into its several particulars of each of which I shall discourse as briefly and practically as I can I. I begin with the first The Appearance of our Lord in general Now hath he appeared Let us here consider first Who it was that appeared And then How he did appear The Person appearing we will consider both as to his Nature and as to his Office He that appeared as to his Nature was God and Man both these Natures were united in him and made one Person He was God with us So the Angel stiles him in the first of St. Matthew He was the Word that was with God and was God and by whom all things were made He was I say that Word made Flesh and dwelling among us So St. John stiles him in the first of his Gospel Lastly He was God manifest in the Flesh so St. Paul stiles him in the first Epistle to Timothy This was the Person that the Text saith Now appeared that is the Son of God in Humane Nature God of
For as the same Psalmist tells us Psal 33.5 He loveth righteousness and judgment the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. He is holy in all his ways Psal 145.17 9. and righteous in all his doings and his tender mercies are over all his works To say That God deals arbitrarily with any of his Creatures or that He dispenseth Good or Evil to them meerly because He will without any other Reason is in truth to disparage His Nature and gives us such a notion of Him as we have perhaps of some of the Great Monarchs of the World but whom we are far from esteeming the Best Men. No certainly if we Mankind find in our selves that the wiser and better we grow the less are we led by Humour and Will and the more do we shake off our Indifferency to Good and Evil and the more steadily do we cleave to the eternal Laws of Reason and Righteousness in all our Actions We may be sure that God who is Wisdom and Justice and Goodness it self can never in any of his Actions or Dealings with his Creatures depart from these Principles The true Scheme of God Almighty's Government is plainly this His Infinite Mind clearly understood all the Possibilities of things long before they were in actual being He knew what things were possible to be and how they would act if they were put into being and what the Events of all their Actings would be His Infinite Goodness moved him to put into actual being every thing that he saw was Good to Be and to give them all those powers of Action that they have and withal to look after them so as that both they and all their Motions and Actions should at last be to the Praise and Glory of the same Goodness that first enclined him to create them His Infinite Wisdom contrived the Methods in which all this should be brought to pass and so laid the Scheme and Platform of things that nothing could happen in the whole Creation from the beginning of the World to the end thereof tho' it was in it self never so bad never so mischievous but what both might and should be so ordered as to be subservient to that end And lastly The Scheme of Things being thus laid His Infinite Power first produced All things and still upholds All things and from time to time in their several seasons actually brings to pass every thing according to the Determinations of his eternal Wisdom And tho' it doth it in ways secret to us yet it doth it certainly and surely and withal most easily and gently with the least violence to the establish'd Laws of Nature and without any force at all upon the Free Wills of Intelligent Beings This I say is the Account that both Reason and Scripture give us of God's Making and Governing the World Infinite Knowledge is the Foundation of All. Infinite Goodness is the Author and Mover of All. Infinite Wisdom is the Contriver and Director of All. And Infinite Power executes All. Admit now these Principles and see what will follow from them It will follow from hence in the first place that every Event that happens in the World is beautiful in its season as Solomon expresses it That is to say How unaccountable soever it may appear to us yet there is a good Reason to be given both why it happens at all and likewise why it happens at that time and with those circumstances that it doth It helps to adorn the Great Drama and Contrivance of God's Providence and ministers to excellent Ends tho' we poor Creatures do little apprehend how it makes for them As indeed it is impossible we should unless we had the whole Comprehension of Things in our Minds and saw the entire Scheme of God's Government from the beginning to the end This must needs be so if we be Govern'd by Infinite Wisdom Secondly It follows from hence that both Good and Evil are measured to Mankind according to their respective Capacities If we be fit for Good Good will come If we deserve Punishment we must expect that likewise For All God's ways are equal tho' Ours be unequal And therefore it is the most unreasonable thing in the World to impute our Successes whether they be Good or Bad so wholly to the immediate Hands that managed our Affairs as not in the first place to take notice of the Hand of God in them There is a Divine Power that governs all these matters And tho' it be true that no Misfortune no ill Success ever happens but there is a Human Reason to be given for it and it may be found out upon what occasion or by what neglect or thro' what ill management that Misfortune happened Yet it is as true that if those that managed for us had the Wisdom and the Conduct and the Strength of the very Angels of God yet their Endeavours would not be effectual for the making us happy unless we our selves were in a Capacity of being so by being proper Objects of God's Mercy and Favour This must likewise be true if perfect Justice govern the World Thirdly It follows from hence that even the severer Dispensations of God's Providence toward us the things we complain of and are uneasie under our very Calamities and Misfortunes and Disappointments even these are the effects of God's Kindness tho' at the same time they may be likewise Instances of His Justice That is to say they are meant really for our Good and will prove so if we make that use of them we should do The very Nature of God is to do all Good at all Times to all his Creatures For He had no other End in making them nor has he any other End in looking after them But God cannot do good to All in the same way Correction and Chastisement and Punishment is in some cases more expedient for the bringing People to Rights and promoting their true Interests than the giving them all that their own Hearts can wish In such cases therefore God must deal with his Creatures as every wise Parent deals with his Children And tho' these Chastisements as the Apostle tells us are not joyous but grievous yet are they design'd for the bringing forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness in all them that are exercised thereby The truth is we do not know what is good for our selves We often wish for things that perhaps if our wishes were granted would undo us But our Happiness is that God knows all and so tempers all that all Events even those that we are apt to look upon as the greatest Judgments shall at last appear more visibly to have been the wisest methods that could possibly have been contrived for the doing the Greatest Good to us And if they do not succeed accordingly it will be our own fault This must likewise needs be true if perfect Goodness govern All For even Justice it self is but a different way of expressing Goodness And all that which
our Spiritual Life consists as Meat and Drink is to preserve the Union between our Souls and Bodies in which our natural Life consists And we may every whit as reasonably expect to keep our Bodies alive without the constant and daily use of Eating and Drinking As we can expect to keep our Souls alive to God without the constant and daily Exercise of Devotion This may to some appear strange Doctrine But I do believe I may appeal to experience for the Truth of it Nay I dare put the Question to any one that ever took any serious Care of his Soul and sincerely endeavoured to live vertuously and to please God whether he hath not found the Matter to be so as I have represented Have not such always found that so long as they kept up the Fervour and Vigour of their Devotion so long as they were constant and diligent in their Prayers and other Holy Exercises So long nothing could hurt them So long they have always maintained their Post and rather grown better than worse And though they have sometimes been foully overtaken by some Sin that they resolved against yet that Relapse hath done them no Mischief Their Continuance in their Prayers hath been an Antidote against the Malignity of the Sin And they have presently weather'd it out and suffered no ill Consequence by it But it has rather made them more watchful over themselves and more careful of their Actions afterward But on the other side have they not always found that when once they began to abate of the Fervour of their Devotions when once they began to pray seldomer or with more Coldness and Indifference They then began to live more loosely and carelesly to be more dull and sluggish towards every good Work Till perhaps by degrees the true Sense of God and Religion hath been in a great measure worn off from their Spirits and they in a manner have returned to a Worldly and Sensual Life Nay have they not often found that when it has been their Misfortune to break loose from their Duty and sink for some time into a State of Carelesness and Forgetfulness of God and of their own Vows and Resolutions as it hath sometimes hap'ned to very good Men I say Have they not often found that this their going backwards in Goodness was occasioned purely and solely by the Intermission of their Devotions That there was no visible Reason or Account to be given of this their Fall but only that through Sluggishness or some other Cause they have neglected to pray to God so earnestly and so frequently as they used to do I am confident a great many can say this out of their own Experience So that it concerns every Man that is at present in a good Disposition of Mind and hath good Hopes towards God It concerns him as he loves his Soul As he would not lose all the Fruits of his past Labours and Endeavours in the Service of God By all means possible to keep his Heart in a devout Frame And whatever comes of it not to grow cold or languid in his Prayers Or to omit or disuse them either in publick or private upon any pretence whatsoever But Thirdly and Lastly to conclude all there is this farther to be said for the Encouragement of all sorts of Persons to persevere in the Practice of this Duty namely That whoever makes Conscience of Saying his Prayers frequently and heartily and continues so to do tho' he be not good at the present yet it is impossible for him long to continue bad He will at last certainly get the Victory over all his Lusts and evil Habits and attain to the Favour of God and the Salvation of his own Soul This necessarily follows from what hath been said A Course of Prayer and a Course of Sin cannot consist together One will necessarily destroy the other Praying will either make a Man leave Sinning as a pious Man of our own used to say or Sinning will make a Man leave Praying But this is to be understood of Prayer that is put up to God with great Seriousness and Heartiness and out of a Sense of Duty and Conscience For as for those formal Prayers that are made out of Custom or upon the account of Education or for the serving some Worldly Ends of Interest or Reputation or the like God respects them no more than the impertinent Tattle of Fools All those of us therefore that mean and design to be good though we are not so already Let us above all things take care to mind our Prayers Let us pray to God in Private Let us pray to God with our Families And let us join as oft as we can with the Prayers of the Publick Assemblies This I am sure is the best Method we can take for the reforming our Lives and for the gowing in all Vertue and Goodness And the more we practise it the better we shall like it And if we persevere therein we shall find the Comfort of it both in the Grace and Assistance we shall receive from the Holy Spirit for the vanquishing all our Lusts and Corruptions And in the Blessings we shall procure from God both to our Selves and our Families and all our Affairs and Concernments And lastly in the Everlasting Salvation of our Souls in the Day of the Lord Jesus To whom c. FINIS