Holiness are Agents indued with Understanding and Liberty They and They only can be the Subjects of Real Holiness Of such Agents there are but Three sorts in the whole World to wit God himself Angels and the Spirits of Men. Holiness being attributed to God doth denote God's Peerless Majesty together with infinite Power and Wisdom as it is in Conjunction with Righteousness and Goodness For if you cou'd divide Almightiness from Goodness you would destroy Holiness For the other are Perfections only as they are in Conjunction with Goodness There is no true Excellence if Goodness be not in Conjunction with it This is Holiness in God Now Holiness in Angels and Men doth import their Deiformity that is their Conformity to God according to their Capacity their being in their Measure Degree and Proportion what God is in his Height Excellence and Fulness And by this Holiness we bear the Image of God Now for RELATIVE Holiness That lies in a Separation a Distinction or an appropriated Use. For Relative Holiness doth not at all alter the Nature and Quality of Things but of the Relation and Use. Whereas Real Holiness mends the Subject and puts it into a sound Constitution It gives an inward Tincture and Colour to the Mind It gives a right Temper Complexion and Constitution to the Soul Things that are altogether uncapable of Real Holiness may be relatively Holy But only Persons indued with Understanding and Reason and priviledged with Liberty and Freedom these only can be the Subjects of Real Holiness To tell you in short that that we call Grace or Vertue for to mâ— they are all one Goodness and Righteousness these are that that we call Real Holiness They sanctifie the Subject by their Presence And wheresoever they are the Person is made good On the other side Vice and Sin which are in themselves impure and unholy Things these do defile the Soul where-ever they are Now Things that are relatively Holy are either by God's own Institution or Assuming or by Man's voluntary Dedication But Real holy Things are by an intrinsick and inward Rectitude and Goodness Relative Holiness doth not depend upon the Quality of the Thing but upon some Arbitrary Act of him that hath Power It wholly depends upon the Will and Pleasure of the Agent And so is mutable and of a dispensible Nature and at the Pleasure of the Superior For God may assume into Relation to himself either Persons or Things God may assume a Thing to signifie something from him it may be God's Instrument and afterwards he may lay it aside and make it common again And Things relatively Holy have been abated and omitted * even where the Things have been under the Command of God and of his Institution and have return'd to their ordinary Use again As for instance The brazen Serpent in the Wilderness It was God's Instrument and by God's Appointment Holy And it was good for the People for a time and of great Use After a while it is deserted of God and returns to be common as it was before It was Brass before and it was a Piece of Brass again Therefore those Things that are relatively Holy that is separate from common and ordinary use their Holiness may be taken off and they return to their ordinary and common use again But real Holiness of Persons their Principles and their Actions that can never be released is never to be dispensed with in no Case to be avoided or discharged Never any Abatement or Relaxation never any Failure to be in this Another Instance In Circumcision that great Ceremony among the Jews It was a holy Rite because it was appointed of God and had its Use and Signification Yet it slept for Forty Years together while the Children of Israel were in the Wilderness It was suspended out of Respect of the Conveniency of their Travel For this had no internal Holiness neither did it make the Persons Pure Only it did make the Persons separate for God Another Instance The Shew-bread was Holy And it was not allowed to the Use of any but to the Priests Yet it is said David and his Men when in Necessity made bold with the Shew-bread And our Saviour justifies it Our Saviour gives another Instance Mat. 12. 5. Have ye not read in the Law how that on the Sabbath-day the Priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless The Nation of the Jews they were a holy Nation and a particular People They were appropriate unto God But they are now in an absolute Parity as to God and as to eternal Life And now all Nations are holy as they And Peter is taught this by a Revelation from Heaven He was in the Narrowness of Spirit He wou'd have nothing to do with the Gentiles But he is reproved and when he comes to understand the Vision he is made to break out into the best Words that ever Man spake a place of Scripture fit to be written with Letters of Gold And thus he expresseth himself Of a Truth I perceive that GOD is no Respector of Persons But in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him Such a Person is holy And none but such a Person is holy neither by pretended Descent from Abraham nor by any other Circumstance whatsoever Our Saviour hath expresly told us Mat. 15. 11. Not that which goeth into the Mouth defileth the Man But that which cometh out of the Mouth All Immorality For out of the Heart proceedeth evil Thoughts Murder Adultery Fornications Thefts c. And these are the Things which defile the Man Further The Priestly Office so far as it was Typical ceased It gave way to the everlasting Gospel when the true High Priest the Lord Jesus appeared We have indeed now rational Instruments that are Workers with God Helpers of Mens Faith Preachers of Righteousness to edifie the Church to admonish Men to help Mens Understandings to help Mens Memories to satisfie disturbed Minds to help Men to compare Scripture with Scripture to administer Ordinances c. And by these is the Faith of Men greatly advantaged Now these Persons because of their Employment Office State Function are in order to God and belonging to him and may be said to be Holy with this relative Holiness For we have Things that are also relatively holy now in the Christian Church as this Ministerial Office the Lord's Day the Sacramental Elements these are holy because of their Ends For these are set apart for Purposes Supernatural and therefore are not for common use These are several Instances that shew that Things that are relatively Holy have been dispensed with abated and omited in the Times of the greatest Severity But real Holiness never Wherefore Things relatively Holy have never been equalized with Things really Holy but have always been in order to real Holiness and were intended as subservient to it and for its Security And in Competition have been undervalued
Reason may say I did expect it I did believe such a thing from the first and chiefest Good Now I am told it is so Man in the true Use of sober and impartial Reason knowing that he hath not perform'd his Duty to God is put upon laying out for God's Pardon in the Way of the Grace of the Gospel Man knows he is of limited Perfection he is not good enough to his own Satisfaction And therefore knowing that he hath fail'd his Reason leads him to look abroad to look out for every good Word that comes from the Mouth of God And when he reads in the Bible that God will pardon Sin that which he expected in the Use of Reason he may be satisfied is true Thus Scripture represents the State of Man's Creation that it is the proper Imployment of Mind and Understanding to seek after God to act our Faculties to feel God Therefore it is the Depth of Degeneracy to be without God in the World to have God far from our Remembrance There is a natural and indelible Sence of Deity and consequently of Religion in the Mind of Man Neither is there any Plea or Apology * for the want of this For there is no invinsible Difficulty no Ignorance We are not taught but made to know There is no Impotency For every one can use the Parts of Nature at least when at Age. * There is no Impediment For it is transacted within ones self Not subject to the Controul of any Usurper For an internal Elicit Act is exempt from all the World And may be done by the Mind which is at liberty when the Person is under restraint For unless you can keep him perpetually from himself you cannot keep him from Reflection upon God or from other internal Acts. God's Communications awaken to this Now all we have are such * viz. Communications from God What have we that we receive not Man's Principles incline For all Understanding tends to God God is the Center of reasonable Souls and Spirits Things about us contribute objectively The Heavens declare the Glory of God Man cannot look abroad but something of God offers it self something sounds in his Ear. No Voice in Nature so loud No Language so easie to be understood To the Christian World there is God's superadded Instrument the Scripture which contains Matters of Revelation from God whereby also the natural Notices of God are awaken'd and inliven'd To Sum up all The Language of our Souls within the Impressions of the Divine Wisdom throughout the Creation the objective Acclamations of all Creatures carry us on strongly to Application to God All thy Works praise thee O Lord. Holy Scripture comes in pursuance of these to repeat and reinforce them So that He must of Necessity be very dissolute and profligate in respect of his Manners of a havock'd Conscience and confounded Understanding who being Partaker of intelectual Nature intelligent by Vertue of his Faculties living in the midst of Speaking Arguments for Things speak doth not spell God out in the Variety or Curiosity of his Creatures nor understand the Language of Heaven and Earth I must needs tell the loose prophane World * those who being harden'd by Custom and Practice do controul Grounds and Principles of sober Reason and Judgment thinking all to be lawful that others do and the Guise of the World an account of Action pretending the Doubtfulness and Uncertainty of Reason from the several Opinions of incompetent Persons which is the only Defence and Apology for exorbitant living such credulous Persons have willing to believe what their Lusts lead them to and what they would fain have to be true * I must tell them that if ever they come to be awaken'd to have serious Thoughts to reflect upon themselves comparing what they have done with Principles of severe and impartial Reason not born to gratifie Sence or to comply with Humour they will prove burthensome to their Conscience and to the Sence of Nature so that they will be confounded in themselves ready to call on Mountains and Hills to fall upon them and cover them from the Face of their Judge and will be found Speechless Man cannot be at ease till all he hath sinfully done be undone till right Judgment which hath been violently forc'd be renew'd and regular Life and Conversation restor'd All this must be done by mental Illumination Conviction and Satisfaction The Scripture-way of Dealing with Men in Matters of Religion is always by Evidence of Reason and Argument In Conversion there must be a Transformation of the whole inward Man The Sence of the Soul must incline to God The Reason of the Mind * must be the same with the Reason of Things Religion indeed is openly contradicted by the licentious Practices of such who take to themselves Power and Priviledge to do as they list But it is mis-represented scandalized made ridiculous and contemptible by the fond Imaginations nauseous fulsome Principles of the Superstitious And I reckon that what hath not Reason in it or for it if held out for Religion is Man's Superstition Some things of this Nature may be well meant by those who are weak But it is not Religion of God's making But we make our selves Slaves to be under the Power of it It is the Excellency of Religion that it is highly reasonable gives an account of it self to Man's Mind and satisfies Truth clears it self and discloses its contrary Error SERMON IV. ROMANS I. 21 22. Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish Heart was darkned Professing themselves to be wise they became Fools I Have formerly spoken to that which is fundamental to all Religion and Conscience that God in the moment of his Creation did make Man capable of knowing Him * so as to know what he is and what are his essential Perfections his Goodness Wisdom and Power Upon which it follows Men do grievously miscarry are very short do not answer the Principles of God's Creation nor do that which is agreeable to their Make if they do not glorifie God as God and be not thankful to him 1 st They glorifie him not as God that take no notice of him in the World that grosly neglect him making no Acknowledgment of him not liking to retain God in the World which imports Aversation That which is the Excellency of Mind and Understanding is a peculiar Faculty appropriated to God It is that which is its natural Vertue to make search and inquiry after God to be employ'd about him to tender Homage and Observance to him To live without God in the World therefore is not to glorifie God as God 2 dly They glorifie him not as God that entertain base and unworthy Apprehensions of him attributing that to him which is truer of the contrary and most Degenerate Nature not becoming the first and chiefest Goodness thinking of him as an Enemy whereas
STILL VOICE And as we are not fit to attend upon God nor to enjoy Him so likewise not to enjoy our selves In such a Temper we have not the free Use of our Reason nor any true Content For what is all the World to a troubled and discomposed Mind Therefore give me Serenity of Mind Calmness of Thought For these are better Enjoyments than any thing without us Therefore for these Things will I daily praise God For upholding the Foundation of Reason and Understanding which are so much in Danger by the Distemper of the Mind For continuing me in the Priviledge of Liberty and Freedom for hereby I can present God with a Free-will-Offering and bring unto him the Consent of my Mind * And for giving me Power of Self-enjoyment and of taking Content in my self One may have much in the World as to Right and Title and yet have nothing as to Power of Self-enjoyment * For in the Case of Misgovernment by Lust Passion and Self-will we dispossess our selves of our selves and all that we may call OURS 'T is a sinful Temper to be hard to Please and ready to take Offence It is grievous to those about us And we shall soon suffer for it For Men will soon withdraw from unquiet and turbulent Spirits Solomon hath observed that he that would have a Friend must behave himself Friendly But these Men are unacceptable every-where especially to those that are under them for as for Equals and Superiors they will soon withdraw But every good Man will take Care of those that are under him And upon this Head I shall observe Three or Four Things First That we ought to make the Lives of all those that live with us as happy and comfortable as we can and their Burthens as easie as may be Let our Advantages be never so much above theirs and our Power over them never so great yet we should equally consider Things and do as we would be done unto if in their Circumstances Consider * also that Things may as well be done with Gentleness and by fair Means as otherwise And that Things that are so done are done with Pleasure and Satisfaction and will better hold For Things that are done by Force and with Offence will no longer last than that Force continues There is more Care to please when Men are not Captious Peevish Froward or easie to take Offence Men that are often Angry and for every Triffle in a little time will be little regarded and so loose the Advantage of giving grave Reproof They will say 'T is the Manner of the Person and no one can help it And so these Persons will be less considered when they reprove with Reason Displeasure when there is weighty Reason for it may prove to the Offender a Principle of Reformation and Amendment But hasty and passionate Men are not considered Their Fury is looked upon as a Clap of Thunder And no one will much regard it Take notice what Care God hath taken for the Welfare and Happiness of those that are Inferiors and under the Power of others The Parent must not provoke his Children to wrath Parents that have all Authority over their Children must take Care how they use it The Husband must not be bitter against his Wife He must give her no harsh Language but give Honour to her as the weaker Vessel Masters must render to their Servants that which is Just and Equal Forbearing Threatnings Knowing that they have a Master in Heaven Then for those that labour for us that are but for a Day and are gone again God hath required that their Wages be payed them Otherwise their Cry will come up into the Ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth Then for Strangers that are without Friends Relations or Acquaintance What Care doth God take for them Be not forgetful to entertain Strangers Then for the Widow and the Fatherless Persons that are most helpless What Care hath God taken for them So great that He will be revenged on those that wrong them and on the contrary will reckon those to have pure Religion and undefiled that shall visit the Widows and Fatherless in their Affliction This is the RULE The lower any ones Condition is in the World by so much the more he his pitiable and so much the greater Care should we take to ease him He having Burthen enough upon him without any other Addition to his Misery I will conclude this Discourse with Three Rules Whosoever will do his Work with fair Words I would not have him chid into it I would never blame any one for common Incidencies such as might befal my self or any one else * Nor ever blame any one for not doing that wherein he had not particular Direction You will say these are LOW Things to be spoken in a Pulpit But let them be as Low as they will the Disorder of our Minds many times is occasioned for want of them And great Disquietness is occasioned in many Families for want of that peaceable Temper which my Text speaks of SERMON VI. PSALM XVIII 21 22 23. For I have kept the Ways of the Lord And have not wickedly departed from my God For all his Judgments were before me And I did not put away his Statutes from me I was also upright before him And I kept my self from mine Iniquity I Am now to give you an Account of the Effect and Demonstration of RELIGION in the Subject If we would not be imposed upon let us take just Measures The Text tells us what Judgment we are to make of Religion and Religious Persons * And by it we may learn how to guide our selves with Judgment in a Matter of the highest Nature * viz. if we proceed by the Rule which in the Schools we call a Demonstration by the Effect which I take to be the best As for instance if you come to prove there is a God the best Account is from the Effect Prove the Cause from the Effect Prove the Being of a GOD from the World that he hath made and is his Work so prove RELIGION from its Operation a Religious Person from what he does And this is the Way which our Saviour hath taught us A good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit c. For we are in great Danger of making false Judgment both concerning Persons and Things This we often find that the World esteems a Person of a pleasant Humour and that hath a good * Assurance a good Put-off and value for himself especially if he be a Man of a ready Wit * and that such a Man shall meet with Respect and Reputation much above what there is Ground for and more a great deal than those that are of far greater Worth of higher Improvements and better Spirits Thus are Men esteemed not so much from Integrity and Simplicity not from Pureness of Mind and exact Walking according to the Difference of Good and Evil but as they comply
with several Mens Fancies and Opinions Now I will make use of my Text to describe and lay out a truely GOOD Man one that is real in his Religion one that keeps the ways of the Lord c. and that keeps himself from his Iniquity And the better to explain my self I must observe * to you in the first place a Different State of Men a State of Wickedness and Sin when Evil prevails And a State of Religion when Goodness and Vertue take place And these two differ in degree as Heaven and Hell For it is a great Mistake for us to think that all of Heaven or Hell is hereafter for both the one and the other is in measure and degree begun here For Heaven and Hell are not so much a Place as a State They that are reconciled to God in the Frame and Temper of their Minds and that live according to the Law of Heaven the everlasting and immutable Rules of Goodness Righteousness and Truth may truly be said to have begun Heaven while they are upon Earth But they who confound the Difference of Good and Evil and who care not to approve themselves to God but do without difference or distinction These are Partakers of the Devilish Nature and are in the Hellish State There may be Weaknesses Failings Mistakes Misapprehensions some Errors in Judgment and Opinion there may be false Conceits in some things about Religion and all these within the STATE OF RELIGION where Men are substantially honest and mean GOD Goodness and Truth and live in all good Conscience towards God We read Genesis 20. how God did apologize for Abimelech tho' he was not altogether without fault for he ought to have taken more care But yet he was innocent as to the great Transgression and therefore God saith I know thou didst it in the Integrity of thy Heart So St. Paul doth alleviate his Persecution of the Saints Acts 26. 9. I thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth And 1 Tim. 1. 13. he saith he obtain'd Mercy because he did it ignorantly and in Unbelief Therefore we must conclude that none of those things that I have named come within the compass of wickedly departing from God But all those that are sincere in their Religion may yet say I have kept the ways of the Lord c. And thus it is reported of those good Men and Women that are upon Record in Holy Scripture Zechariah and Elizabeth are both said to walk in all the Statutes and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Neither is this particular to them but unto all good Men. This is the Testimony of all the Worthies in the Old Testament that they walked before the Lord in Integrity And this is RELIGION not in the Notion only and in Speculation but in POWER and in TRUTH Wherever it is less or otherwise it is with a double Heart not with a whole Heart as you read Psalm 12. 2. So in St. James we read of a double-minded Man Religion is not satisfied with a bare Profession and partial Reformation This may be for other Ends and Purposes and not out of Love to God and Righteousness But we must harmonize with the Nature Mind and Will of God and find a Displacency and Animosity in our Souls against Evil and this from the Love of Righteousness and Goodness And therefore to bring this home being a matter of the greatest consequence even that by which we must stand or fall I will tell you that this Text is not verified in any of these Cases First In the Case of Fundamental Ignorance Secondly In the Case of great Negligence and Carelesness Thirdly In the Case of voluntary Consent to known Iniquity First It cannot be verified in the Case of Fundamental Ignorance I call it Fundamental IGNORANCE in answer to Fundamental KNOWLEDGE For there is a Knowledge necessary to make a Man good I will not take upon me to determine the least that may be But this is certain there is some degree of Knowledge necessary to make a Man GOOD Therefore to instance in two things that are Fundamentally necessary to Religion and Conscience 1 st To know that there is a GOD and that we all ought to reverence adore and worship Him God hath made Men to know that He is and if they know that He is they must know that they ought to reverence adore and worship Him 2 dly They must have Knowledge of those great Crimes which are against God's Honour which are against the State of a Creature and unworthy in respect of God And this Knowledge I hold Fundamental and indispensable and must be where-ever there is a Capacity And from this I can excuse none but Infants and Idiots that are not come to the Use of Reason or are deprived of it All else may know that there is a God and * may know the great Instances of Evil such as Murder Adultery Blasphemy Perjury and the like I might add a third Instance which yet I do not mention with the like Evidence as the former to wit that there will be Rewards and Punishments in the next World That God will sooner or later judge the World and controul the Wickedness of it and reward eminent Vertue and Goodness Such a Belief as this tho' it be not equally knowable to the other two yet it is knowable and is necessary for the encouraging of Vertue and Discouragement of Vice and Wickedness This is the first thing Those that are ignorant of the things that are Fundamentally necessary to RELIGION cannot say that they have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from God For these have wickedly departed from Him altho' they have no more than Natural Knowledge and those Principles with which at first God created Man For these things are manifest to all Men And all Men are A LAW unto themselves in these Matters And therefore the Apostle saith that God is not far from every one of us And that the invisible things of God are clearly seen from the Creation of the World and those things that he hath made So that they who deny his Eternal Power and Godhead are without excuse Secondly They who are greatly careless and neglective of God cannot say that they have kept the ways of the Lord c. For two things are absolutely necessary to the State of Religion and wherein we ought to take great care to wit Judgment of Right and Conscience to do accordingly The Judgment of what is Right and Wrong True and False Good and Evil do require great Care Diligence and Pains Nay let me ask you what there is in the whole Life of Man that is valuable or worthy but doth require Care Pains Industry and Diligence Go over the several Employments of the World The Husbandman plows and sows and doth every thing necessary to his Land before he expects a Crop Take the Merchant in