he hath given greater knowledge and greater abilities to obey him who can deny either of these and if these cannot be denyed certain it is that there is now since the Revelation of the Gospel a greater degree of natural duties required from men where that Gospel is revealed than was accepted or required before the Revelation of it 3. To all this add in the third place that there are now some certain duties enjoyned unto us which the light of nature can in no wise discover to us such are the Sacraments of the Gospel Baptism and the Supper of our Lord such is the worship of Jesus Christ as Mediator and such no doubt is the invocation of the Holy and ever blessed Trinity all which duties purely depend upon Revelation and are not in any wise suggested by natural light howsoever improved If it be said that these duties are not required where the Gospel is not revealed and published this is no answer no excuse for those persons who live where the Gospel is revealed They are required to practise these as well as any natural duties and sure the wilful neglect of them is wilful disobedience to God and therefore renders the guilty person liable to death eternal from all which instances it appears that a belief in Jesus Christ a full belief of his Gospel is absolutely and indispensably necessary for the full and perfect understanding of the duties which God requires from us 2. And secondly it is equally necessary for the clear and full and perfect knowledge of the great motives to those duties namely 1. that of eternal life and 2. the admirable love of God to men declared and evidenced in Jesus Christ and 3. the express and clear promises of the assistance of his Spirit to enable us to perform our duties 1. Certainly the promise of life eternal upon condition of Faith and Holiness is the highest motive to obedience but such a motive as is so far from being clear to the light of nature that there was a sect amongst the Jews who had not only the light of nature but the Law and Prophets to inform them that is to say the sect of the Sadducees who denyed the being of Angels or Spirits and the immortality of mens Souls Nor was there any one sect amongst the Philosophers but either flatly denyed this as the Epicureans and some others or else spake doubtfully in the point as the Academicks or those of Plato's School or had infinitely false as well as useless conceptions of it as the Pythagoreans had of old who held the transmigration of mens Souls out of one body into another yea into the bodies of brute Creatures so that this chief and principal motive to obedience the very immortality of mens Souls much more that of their bodies also was either doubted or disbelieved or else believed in such a manner as rendered it useless to that end amongst the wisest of the Heathen And as for the common sort of people who were led by the fictions of the Poets those did at best no more than fansie a sensual Paradise after death which could no more purge and cleanse them from sensual appetites than the hope and desire of a carnal happiness can make men holy pure and Spiritual 2. But then further what shall we say of the incomparable love and kindness that God hath declared to mankind in the Gospel of our blessed Lord which all the skill of humane wisdom the most improved natural light could never have discovered or imagined That God should send his beloved Son into the world to take our nature upon himself and reveal eternal life to men and shew them the way to attain unto it by the example of his life that he should give him to dye for us to make expiation for our sins that he should raise him from the dead and give him power to raise us and make our very Redeemer himself to become our Head and give him authority to be our Judg who knows our frailties by his own experience and sense of them are demonstrations of such an incomparable love to us such a concern for our salvation as would never have entred into the thoughts of mortal men had it not been thus revealed unto us These were mysteries hid from Ages discoveries of a greater love than natural light could have imagined Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Herein is love saith St John 1 Ep. 4.10 not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins And so St Paul Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us Now the Gospel having clearly revealed infinitely more of the love of God to mankind than the light of nature could discover hath likewise given us infinitely greater and stronger motives to love God and trust in him and consequently to obey him than the light of nature could afford 3. Add hereunto the express promise which God made us in the Gospel of giving his Holy Spirit to us to strengthen our faith to confirm our hope to inflame our love to enable us to perform the Duties which we cannot perform by the strength of nature So our Saviour Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Could all the skill of humane wisdom or the best improved natural light give us such assurance of God's assistance in order to a holy life as this express Promise gives us Did the Philosophers ever speak at this rate Did they dream of Divine assistance to make them wise and just and holy What saith Tully in the name of Cotta on this Point lib. 3. de natura Deor. Virtutem nemo unquam acceptam Deo retulit No man ever judged he had Vertue from God And afterwards Nunquis quòd bonus vir esset gratias Diis egit unquam At quòd dives quòd honoratus quòd incolumis Did ever any man thank the Gods because he was a good man No but because he was rich and honourable and safe These were the things they ascribed to God but they never dreamed of his assistance to give them Vertue that they ascribed unto themselves Now how could men that never expected God's assistance in the purifying of their hearts and lives ever attempt to arrive at equal degrees of piety with those that expect and verily hope for that assistance How could they hope to overcome their inordinate lusts and inclinations or whatsoever they might hope how could they really overcome them without the assistance of God's Spirit which was a thing they did not only not expect but flatly rejected and denied judged it absurd to look for it Whereas now on the other hand
God for he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life 1 John 5.12 The Twelfth Sermon Philip. 1.10 That ye may approve things that are excellent ALthough God in his infinite wisdom never enjoined any thing to men but what considering all circumstances of times and places and persons likewise was useful and convenient for them though indifferent in its own nature such were the numerous Rites and Ceremonies of Moses's Law yet are there other instances of Duty which are immutably good in themselves and therefore proper for all Ages So are these two general Duties to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as our selves So are the particular Branches of them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in the world And so with very little exception are all the Duties of the Gospel Which impartially tryed and weighed cannot but be approved as good even by them that do not practise them But a general assent of the understanding not applied to particular instances of life and action is far short of the approbation which the Apostle here designs For although the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in the Greek sometimes signifie something less than a bare assent of the understanding that is to try and examine only as where it is required that we prove all things 1 Thess 5.21 yet here it signifies much more Here as also in other places it imports such a clear and setled judgment of what is good as is accompanied with resolution to practise what we judge to be so This appears from what the Apostle joins in the same period with it sincerity and a blameless life and these retain unto the end For so is the tenour of his words That ye may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ The same appears from the Style wherein the Apostle speaks For the words of my Text are part of a Prayer wherein after his usual custom of saluting the persons to whom he writes ver 1. and praying grace and peace for them from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ ver 2. after his thanks rendred to God for their fellowship in the Gospel in the following verses of the eighteenth Chapter he further prays that their love might abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment and that they might approve things that are excellent Being then the Apostle prays this for them as a thing of singular concernment to them and being a cold assent of mind an ineffectual approbation of what is excellent is a thing of no concern at all this cannot possibly be the thing which he so heartily prays for them but what is far more than this such an approbation of the mind as upon a full and clear survey of all the differences of good and evil in their natures issues and effects both in this and the other world ends in a certain determination never to deviate from what is good So then taking this for granted which the Apostle here supposes that the things prescribed to us in the Gospel are things excellent and good for us worthy thy to be commanded by God and reasonable to be practised by us especially upon the powerful motives whereupon the Gospel recommends them the proper subject which these words offer unto our consideration is the approbation of these things that is a clear and stable judgment in the Duties prescribed to us in the Gospel In the handling of which Subject it is most fit that we consider 1. The singular use and advantage of such a judgment in those Duties 2. How it may be gained 3. And lastly How it must be exercised by them that have attained unto it 1. And for the first let it be considered That the judgment which I have now described is of such singular use to us that it is 1. Both an effectual cure of all the Diseases of our minds considered absolutely in themselves and 2. Also a constant Guide and Monitor in every instance of our lives First A Guide to discover our Duties to us and Secondly A Monitor to press the practice of them and steady perseverance in that practice whatsoeever may tempt us to the contrary 1. If we survey the several maladies of our minds the diseases of humane understanding there are First Ignorance Secondly Doubt and Thirdly Vanity Ignorance of what is true and useful or Scepticism and doubt in what is so or Vanity in applying our minds to things impertinent and useless to us though we may have certain knowledge of them First The first Disease of the understanding is ignorance of that which is truly good For as the knowledge of what is so is the proper perfection of the mind because it was made to know this and every thing is perfect in its end so the ignorance of what it was made to know is its greatest malady and imperfection Ignorance is that Disease in the mind which utter blindness is in the eye that imperfection in the understanding which darkness would be in the Sun and Stars 'T is that which Death is unto Life its proper ruine and destruction It hides the face of truth from us it eclipses all the lustre of goodness it puts us under the power of errour which vitiates and perverts our choice and doth not only lead to danger but also reconcile us to it Now just contrary to these effects are those of clear and stable judgment in things pertaining to life and happiness or as the Apostle's expression is of the approbation of things excellent Truth is to the mind as light to the Sun its proper lustre and perfection Besides it powerfully recommends and sets off every thing that 's good it shews it in its native colours and gives it the advantages due unto it so that to use the Apostles words Philip. 4.8 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 whatsoever there is that deserves our love it is so represented in the mind when the mind is duly informed by truth that it commends itself to choice and gains the possession of our hearts for as we naturally desire and love what our minds recommend unto us as good in itself and for us likewise so the hearty love of what is good is the gaining the very thing we love for there is this remarkable difference between the love of good or evil and that of all other things in the world that we may love these other things and yet fall short of the things themselves but he that loves good or evil is good or evil by so doing The consequence of which discourse is this that the approbation of things excellent a clear and stable
contradictions to it 4. To which I shall add some considerations to produce this reverence towards God both in it self and in its essects and to restrain us from all contradictions to it 1. And for the first The degrees of reverence which God requires can be no lest than the very greatest that the Soul of man is capable of For whereas the reverence we owe to God conlists as I said of love and fear 1. Both these are expresly required by God in the very highest and greatest measures Such are the measures of love to God commanded by our Lord himself Matt. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind to which he adds that we may see how indispensably that is required This is the first and great commandment And such are the measures of fear also which Christ commands towards God Luk. 12.4 5. Be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him Where both the motive which he propounds pounds to excite and awake this fear in us which is no less than the very danger of Hell it self and the reduplication of the command fear him whom I shall mention to you yea I say unto you fear him evidently shew that God requires the highest measures of fear from us 2. Now God hath demanded the grratest measures of filial reverence of love and fear 1. In conformity to his infinite goodness both in it self and towards us and to the Sovereignty and Dominion which he hath over us and all his creatures which is most absolute and entire He is so good as that he merits our highest love He is so great that he demands the highest fear He is such a Father as that his admirable bounty to us ought to inflame all within us with the greatest love and affection to him He is such a Master whole infinite greatness in himself and absolute Soveraignty over us ought to create the greatest fear 2. Especially seeing that lower measures of love and fear than those we have for any thing else will not secure our duty to him For suppose we love any thing or person in all the World more than we love God himself then when that thing or that person comes in competition with him the love we have for either of these will overcome our love to God and cause the neglect or the violation of our duty to him And thus in truth it comes to pals that the pleasures and interests the delights and advantages of this World resist and baffle and overcome mens obligations to God Almighty They love these things more than they love God himself and so that love commands their wills rules their affections governs their thoughts forms their designs in contradiction to Gods commands and the great concernments of their Souls They are in bondage to the world to the wealth and honour and pleasures of it being enslaved and overcome by their inordinate love to them for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage 2 Pet. 2.19 And then again on the other hand suppose we fear any person or thing more than God and his displeasures and the severe effects thereof it cannot be but that the greater fear must conquer and overcome the less whensoever there falls a contest between them it will so infatuate and blind the man possessed and over-aw'd by it as to throw him into a greater danger namely that of future misery that he may at present escape a lesser that is the loss of wealth or power or reputation any pleasures and satisfactions the loss whereof he more resents than that of the favour of God himself and the rewards that he hath promised And this is the reason why our Lord as you heard before allows no fear of the very loss of life it self in compare with the fear of Gods displeasure Luk. 12.4 5. This is the reason why he allows no love neither to the nearest relations and concernments which may not duly be styled hatred and is so styled by him himself in comparison with that we owe to him Luk. 14.26 namely because the greatest love and the greatest fear that is to say the highest reverence is due to God A less reverence than this is will not answer Gods express command less than this will not comport with his infinite goodness in it self with his admirable bounty towards us or with his entire Dominion over us less than this will not secure our duty to him 2. Having thus dispatched the first general where I have shewed the degrees of reverence we owe to God proceed we now unto the second namely the proper effects of it And this I the rather insist upon because there are few but will at least profess an awe pretend a reverence to God Almighty But how shall we know that this profession is true and real no other way but by a singular care and diligence to do whatsoever he commands and avoid whatsoever he hath forbidden So true is this that the very pretence of love or fear to God Almighty without the study of obedience is a demonstration of irreverence as being an evidence of Hypocrisie and this a contempt of God himself as supposing him capable to be deceived by meer profession and pretence or to be charm'd and pleas'd by flattery where he knows there is nothing of sincerity Fear it self where it is serious being joyned as it is in every person with a love and kindness to himself cannot fail to command a care to serve and please the person feared Fear carries danger in its eye and danger lays a severe restraint upon every appetite and inclination that leads unto it danger excites us to endeavour to secure and deliver our selves from it when it is duly apprehended insomuch that the clear and firm belief join'd with the serious consideration of the miseries threatned to disobedience cannot but check and restrain us from it The serious belief of what 's to come cannot consist with wilful sin and disobedience for such belief will either subdue and overcome the pleasures and satisfactions of sin or else these pleasures and satisfactions eclipse and extinguish that belief They cannot possibly dwell together men cannot indulge themselves in evil while they enjoy no pleasure in it they can enjoy no pleasure in it while they so believe as to dread the punishment threatned to it Their lusts will be so uneasie to them being under the awe of fear and dread that they will be forced to cast them off for their own ease and satisfaction And this is the reason why those ages wherein the Gospel is clearliest taught and understood produce the best and the worst men too for where the Gospel is proposed in the simplicity and
very nature of things themselves that peace and war strength and weakness health and sickness are as consistent each with other as quiet times with restless lusts peace with wickedness and irreligion The wicked are like a troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isaiah 57.20 21. Sin is uneasie to it self a constant disease a daily vexation to the sinner and it is so to a Nation likewise when it is national and universal And sure it is one of the greatest vanities to hope that God should preserve by miracle where people wilfully serve those lusts which naturally work their own destruction Whensover providence works a miracle to preserve a person or a Nation it is to preserve those that cannot not those that will not preserve themselves but wilfully rush upon their ruine But is there any man in the world that wilfully studies his own destruction do we not all wish and long for such stability in the times as may give us easie and quiet minds secure our Affairs succeed our labours confirm our strength and deliver us from all those fears and dreads that have given us so much pain and sorrow I make no doubt but that we do desire such days with all our hearts I make no question but there are many of such a Spirit that they would willingly undertake the greatest labours to procure them I do not question but that the generality of the Nation if they were assaulted by an Enemy would hazard their fortunes expose their lives adventure what was dearest to them to maintain their ancient rights and liberties And would it not be as easie for us and more efficacious to these ends to reform our lives to forsake our sins and turn from the evil of our ways Why should a man be willing to spill his very blood and unwilling to reform his sins for the security of his Country Why are we willing to use those means that are more grievous and less effectual for our welfare namely to hazard life and fortune for securing these very things themselves and neglect the easie and efficacious the reformation of our lives Would it be a burden to love God with all our hearts to place our hope and trust in him to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all our days Would it be troublesome and uneasie to love our neighbours with sincerity and to be so beloved by them to be freed from mutual fears and jealosies from all animosities each to other O how blind are the minds of men not to see the things that concern their peace not to observe that Christs commands are a light an easie a gentle yoke but rather to study their own security by those very things that overthrow it by fraud or violence or worldly craft than by the practice of those vertues which would ease their minds secure their fortunes succeed their labours and make them happy as well in the life that now is as in that to come How blessed and happy might we be if we would follow Gods directions how easily might we spend our days even in this frail and mortal life how firmly might we settle the times which are now so wavering and uncertain if we would spend but half that time in the subduing of our lusts that we do in the gratification of them if we would but take half that pains to possess our hearts with love to God and mutual Charity each to other and in fervent Prayers in humble thanksgivings in Holiness Righteousness and Sobriety that we do in the service of our lusts This would undoubtedly amend the days settle our Interests and bless us with quiet and stable times This would be a fair return to God Almighty for the favour which we now commemorate for restoring our Prince our Laws and Religion after we were deprived of them by former Ruines and Confusion Thus God of his mercy open our eyes that we may timely understand and practise the things that concern our peace then should there be no breaking in nor going out no. complaining in our streets and happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. Psal 144.14 15. God of his mercy grant c. The Second Sermon PSALM 68.28 Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us The whole verse is thus Thy God hath commanded thy strength Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us THIS Psalm as judicious men conceive was written by David when he removed the Ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to Sion Which may be the reason why it begins with these words which Moses used on the like occasions namely when he removed the same Ark which are recorded Numb 10.35 Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee So David here in the first verse Let God arise and let his Enemies be scattered and let them that hate him flee before him And having lived to see the day wherein the holy Ark of God the Symbol of his especial presence was to be fixed in its own place which God himself had chosen for it he thought it meet to recollect the many other favours and mercies which God had granted the Jewish Nation and to render him hearty thanks for them namely for his singular Providence in conducting the People thorough the Wilderness after their deliverance out of Egypt 6 7 8. verses for his planting them in the promised land a land flowing with Milk and Hony and fruitful even to a miracle so at the ninth and tenth verses for the powerful Aids of his gracious Providence in dispossessing the former Inhabitants in scattering the Armies of their Kings that his people might possess their Countries 12 13 14. And having then in the following verses largely returned his thanks to God for all the great and admirable things which he had wrought for the Jewish Nation in order to their strength and settlement he prays for the continuance of his favour and of their present peace and welfare Strengthen O God what thou hast wrought for us In which words you may observe these two generals 1. An acknowledgement made to God that it was he and he alone who had planted and settled them in the land and wrought those great and mighty works whereby they were planted and settled in it Whath hath been done saith he hast wrought for us 2. An ardent Prayer to God to strengthen that is to continue what he had pleased to work for them Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us 1. I begin with the first which is the acknowledgement made to God that it was he who had planted and settled them in the land and wrought those great and mighty works whereby they were planted and settled in it where I must not omit to take some notice that divine
this he accepts also This is really prayer in Faith in belief of the promises God hath made and certainly God accepts such prayer This is a prayer put up to God with devour and humble and holy affections for so I state the nature of it and such was that the Apostle required Eph. 6.18 and therefore supposed to be grateful to God and so will every one believe who knows that the heart is in such prayer and that it is the heart which God requires And to say no more such prayer as this although it doth not proceed from an immediate Inspiration a present dictate of the holy Spirit yet is it the mediate effect of the Spirit as being the effect of that Faith that Hope that Love and Charity and Humility which is the fruit of the Spirit of God It is the fruit of these Graces and. whatsoever else is of the same nature and these are the fruits of the Spirit of God Gol. 5.22 23. 2. The second thing which I must observe concerning this way of praying by the Spirit is that it is applicable to a form of prayer The words of Scripture are a form of words and will any men say that he cannot read or hear those words read unto him and heartily believe what he hears or reads and be as heartily affected with it If he cannot do this let him confess that he doth not believe the Word of God when he hears it read and that he is nothing affected with is but if he will not confess this let him confess that faith and zeal faith and pious and holy affections may be applied to a form of words and consequently to a form of prayer 2. Most of those persons who disallow a form of Prayer and thanksgiving to God allow and practise a certain form in singing Psalms and what are such Psalms but certain forms of Praying and rendering thanks to God and if men can heartily pray to God in verse or meeter why not in prose as well as in verse 3. All the Protestant Churches of other Nations all the Christians Churches in the World have set forms for their publick Offices and so hath the whole Church had for fourteen hundred Years at least and therefore certainly it was and is the sense of the universal Church not only that it was very lawful but most expedient and useful also that the publick Offices of the Church should be performed in a set form and that men might pray in a set form and pray by the spirit at the same time that is to say in Faith and Hope and with holy and devout affections 4. Add hereunto that there are divers forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture a form of benediction whereby the Priest was to bless the People Numb 6.23 24 25 26. a form for the offering of the First-fruits Deut. 26.5 6. c. That David composed many of the psalms as the titles of them expresly shew to be used as publick forms of Prayer in the solemn worship of God in the Temple That our Saviour himself gave that which is called the Lords Prayer as a form of Prayer to his Disciples according to the custome of the Jewish Doctors and John the Baptist who did the like for their Disciples Now had it not been a possible thing for men to use a form of Prayer with faith and zeal and holy affections as every man always ought to pray we should have had no forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture 5. And to conclude the present point were not faith and zeal and devout affections applicable to a form of Prayer no man could heartily joyn in a Prayer which he hears uttered by another person for all such prayers whatsoever they be to him that speaks are certain forms to them that hear them to them they as are limited forms when they are spoken as if they had been printed and read for the words are still the very same and all the sense contained in them And so I conclude the second observation that is that a man may pray by the spirit that is in Faith and holy Zeal and pray by a Form at the same time 3 I must further observe unto you that as the way of Praying by the Spirit is applicable to a form of Prayer so that it ought in very truth to be applied to every Prayer we make to God whether it be with or without a form God hears no Prayers accepts no service offered to him where there is no attention of mind no Zeal and Affection in the heart It is a great neglect of God a dangerous irreverence to our Maker not to attend to what we speak or what is spoken in our name when we make our addresses to him by Prayer doth any man speak unto a Prince not minding what he speaks unto him doth any man make an address to a King without giving heed to his own address and if we judge it a great irreverence to speak to a Prince without attending to what we speak what shall we judge of that affront men do to God when they atend not to those Prayers which they themselves offer to God or are offered by others in their names in their presence and behalf And then for Faith and Zeal and Fervour these are the very life of Prayer Prayer is but sound and noise without them Men may pray and pray acceptably where they do not utter express words Rom. 8.26 but the most excellent words in the World are not true and real Prayer where there is nothing of desire nothing of affection added to them Confess your faults one to another faith S. James cap. 5.16 and pray one for another that ye may be healed The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man avai leth much 'T is the fervent Prayer that is effectual the effectual Prayer that is useful to us and who can wonder that God should not hear those Petitions which are void of affection and desire if we our selves neglect our Prayers those very Prayers we seem to make how much more will God neglect them why should he grant what we our selves do not desire especially since it is an affront a mocking of God to ask of him what in truth we do not really desire what we have no mind to receive from him which is indeed the very case when our Prayers have nothing of attention nothing of zeal and affection in them What then shall we say to all that coldness all that remisness which appears in our publick and solemn worship of God By this we lose those spiritual joys those sensible warmths and feeling comforts which always attend fervent Prayer and tend to the strengthning of Faith and Hope and all other Virtues and Christian Graces By this we fail of Gods acceptance and of gaining the things we ask of him By this we give scandal to other persons who take occasion from our remissness and want of zeal in our
addresses unto God either to refuse to joyn with us or despise the worship of God in General See then how highly we are concerned to awake into a sense of God to stir up our selves to a greater exercise of Faith and Zeal and holy affections in all our addresses unto God Think who it is in whom you live in whom you move and have your beings think who it is who is the donor of all good things relating to this or a better life think of your own dayly wants and of the numerous harms and dangers the many temptations and seductions you are every day exposed unto and think how justly God may expose and give you up either to those dangers or temptations unless you constantly apply unto him by fervent Prayers and Supplications for his protection and assistance for his good Spirit to guide and help you to enlighten your minds to cleanse your hearts to purge your affections to order your ways and so to conduct you to Life Eternal The Seventh Sermon 1 Joh. 3.3 And every man that hath his hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure THE Apostles speaking to such persons as laboured under many trials and great indignities in the world are always wont to put them in mind of two things first of love of God to them under their sufferings and persecutions and then that these very persecutions are a signification of this love So this Apostle begins this Chapter Behold saith he what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not And lest he should seem to impose upon them by meer words to court them with an empty title while he saith they were called the sons of God he further adds that they were really and truly so for so he proceeds in the second verse Beloved now are we the sons of God And that they might further understand the great advantage of this relation he adds to this as it there follows and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear or as some others read the words when it shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is we shall enjoy him in that Glory wherein he appears in Heaven it self to those that are admitted thither We shall see him not through a glass darkly but we shall see him face to face From whence it follows that we shall be like him both in purity and immortality seeing that none that are not so can possibly so enjoy or see him And then that the promise of this Glory might prove effectual for its end by moving every man to imitate him in this world whom he hopes to enjoy in that to come to purifie himself as God is pure he lets them know the mighty power of the very hope of enjoying God in immortal Glory in order to a holy life And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure Where I shall not need to put you in mind that these words purifieth himself as he is pure design and express an imitation not an equality of Gods holiness and perfection the latter of these is wholly impossible to every creature the former necessary for every person that seriously aims at immortality Nor shall I stand to divide the Words into any small minute parts lest by insisting upon them I should as it happens in such cases lose or obscure the sense of the whole and trifle away the design of them And therefore omitting useless care and curiosity I shall consider 1. The nature of this Hope which is said to purifie them that have it 2. And then secondly the several ways whereby it hath this effect upon them 3. To which I shall add some considerations as consequences of the words before us and the discourse I shall make upon them 1. And first of all it will be requisite to observe the nature of this Hope which purifies men as God is pure seeing there are some kinds of hope and those of future bliss and happiness that have no such influence upon men as to purge and cleanse them from their lusts but rather to move them to indulge them We plainly find there are great numbers who profess the hope of future Glory we have no reason to imagine but that they really hope for it according to their own profession and yet experience clearly shews that it hath not this effect upon them which the Apostle here describes they still continue in their sins From whence it appears this hope of theirs is not that which is here designed it wants the efficacy and success and therefore also the nature of it What then is the hope which our Apostle here designs A firm expectation of gaining that happiness which God hath promised consisting in Purity and Immortality upon the terms whereupon 't is promised and by the assistance of his Grace which he will not deny them that ask it This is stiled a hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the words in him respect not the person possessed with but God upon whom it is fixed and setled a hope deficient in any of these will not purifie them that have it A hope that is not so deficient must of necessity be thus qualified 1. It must be an expectation of that happiness which God hath promised 2. It must be an expectation of it upon the terms whereupon 't is promised 3. It must be a firm and not a wavering expectation 4. It must be a firm expectation of it that is to say of attaining to it by the assistance of Gods Grace and not by the power or strength of Nature This is the nature these the conditions of that hope that purges the hearts and reforms the lives and consequently saves the souls of men no other kind of hope will do it 1. It must be an expectation of that very happiness God hath promised consisting in the enjoyment of God in perfect purity and immortality The hope of a carnal sensual Paradise would never purge and cleanse the spirit but on the contrary defile and stain it For although it be very true indeed that a man may possibly deny himself one sensual pleasure in the expectation of another greater than that he foregoes at present yet is it a thing wholly impossible that the hope of any sensual happiness should any way mortifie sensuality He that makes any sensual pleasure the very end and design of life and hopes for this as for his happiness can never by virtue of this hope study to mortifie and subdue sensual appetites and inclinations from whence it appears that that hope which shall deliver and purge the soul from sensual and corrupt desires must be a hope of such a happiness as God hath promised namely the fruition of God himself in purity as well as immortality 2. Nor is it sufficient for
this end that it be a hope of the very happiness God hath promised unless it expect that happiness upon those terms and no other whereupon 't is promised in tha Gospel and those are faith working by love those are as God himself declares to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in the world Whence that of the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 12. vers 14. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. he that hopes for happiness without these terms cannot by virtue of that hope be any way moved to practise these so far is such a hope as that from moving men unto their duties that it gives them the very greatest encouragement to live in the perfect neglect of them What need they to deny themselves and their vicious appetite and desires What need they to offer any violence to their sinful lusts and inclinations Why should they part with a right hand why should they pluck out a right eye forego the pleasure lose the profit of any lust if they can hope for eternal Glory in the fruition of their lusts and reconcile the hopes of Heaven with all the desires of flesh and blood and soft indulgence to those desires From whence I conclude that that hope which purges the hearts and lives of men must be a hope of that happiness that God hath promised upon those terms and those only whereupon 't is promised in the Gospel 3. And yet further we must observe that it is only a firm assurance of arriving at that eternal happinefs upon the performance of those terms that shall enable us to perform them Conjecture is too weak a thing to overcome those strong temptations that dare men into sin and folly No man will deny himself what he feels to gratifie his sensual appetites at the present upon meer guess of what may possibly be hereafter Strong desires are not subdued by weak hopes Men will not deny their present ease their present pleasures their present joys though never so contrary to the Gospel upon meer probabilities and peradventures they will be sure of something future before they part with what they have they will be sure of something better before they forsake what they feel or apprehend to be good and useful at the present And it was want of this assurance in the Philosophy of former days that made its Precepts and Institutions so ineffectual in the World and so Lactantius then observed Omnia ibi conjecturis aguntur ideo nemo paret quia nemo vult in incertum laborare Philosophy affords but meer conjecture in the point of suture life and happiness and therefore no man observes its precepts because no man will labour at all adventures From whence I conclude that that hope which shall effectually perswade with men to obey the Precepts of our Lord to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit must be a firm and strong assurance of gaining the happiness God hath promised upon the terms that he requires sincere obedience to his Precepts 4. But now because it is impossible for flesh and blood in this degenerate state of man and in the midst of these temptations which daily assault him in this state sincerely to obey those Precepts without the assistance of Gods Spirit there is yet a further qualification that is required in that hope which shall enable us so to do which is that it wholly grounds it self upon the promise of Gods grace and moves a man to apply to God for the assistance and help thereof in the purifying of his heart and life Nature will never raise it self to a supernatural state of life or to a supernatural end Man is of the earth earthy and in no capacity so to elevate his own thoughts so to advance his own desires as to prepare and fit himself for that happiness which lies in likeness to God himself in perfect purity and incorruption without the assistance of Gods grace And therefore that hope must of necessity be successless must fail to cleanse and purge our hearts to purifie us as God is pure which shall not be so far instructed as to teach us to apply to God for the assistance of his Spirit in a work above the power of Nature But now to recollect the summ of what I have said upon this point that hope which fixes on that happiness which God hath promised in the Gospel consisting in purity and immortality which is a hope of this happiness upon those terms and those only whereupon it is there promised to us which is a firm and full assurance of that happiness upon the performance of those terms which grounds it self upon the assistance of Gods Spirit in that performance and therefore moves to apply to God by fervent prayer for the attaining of that assistance which is never denied when so desired that is the hope the Apostle intends in these words that is the hope that purifies us as God is pure Which leads me to the second general 2. Where I am to shew the several ways whereby it hath these effects upon us and these I refer to two particulars 1. This hope moves and excites to strong endeavours in order unto this end namely the purifying of our selves 2. It is of such a nature as cannot but render those endeavours truly effectual unto that end 1. It moves to strong endeavours in order unto this great design which is the purifying of our selves from all our inordinate lusts and passions and the reason is because it hath firmly fixed the soul upon future glory and immortality as its only happiness and perfection the only thing that is fit or worthy to be made the end and design of life and also fixt and setled this as a most sure and certain truth that the purifying of a mans heart and life according to the Laws of Christ is the only and certain way of attaining to that bliss and happiness God hath made us all of such a nature that we cannot forbear to love our selves nor can that creature forbear to desire his own happiness that cannot forbear to love himself nor can the desires of that enjoyment wherein a man hath placed his happiness cease to urge and press endeavours in order to the attainment of it Suppose we then that a man believe that true happiness lies in the purity and immortality that God hath promised in his Kingdom suppose he believe that a holy life is the only means to attain this happiness suppose these things fixed and setled upon his heart by the operation of Gods Spirit can we imagine but that the hope of such an end should most effectually excite and move him to purifie himself as God is pure Will he not be content to resist his sinful lusts and appetites subdue his inordinate inclinations in consideration of such a happiness Will he not be content to deny himself all the unlawful joys
and pleasures all the poor and mean advantages that any sin can offer to him in the stedfast view and hope of it Will he think any loss or disadvantage that a holy life can bring upon him to be compared with the loss of it Will he think it much to suffer the loss of wealth or honour or life it self rather than that of eternal glory if he cannot retain the possession of one without plain forfeiture of all his title to the other If he must abandon one of these can he doubt whether he shall reject and that under full and clear conviction wrought by the very grace of God which we suppose in this hope that he cannot retain them both together I may boldly say supposing the things I have supposed in this hope he can no more refuse to do or yet suffer whatsoever can be proposed unto him in this life rather than forfeit that to come than he can put off humane nature than he can cease to be a man and forbear to desire his own happiness The stable hopes of Eternal Glory of the fruition of Gods presence in perfect purity and immortality will recommend that purity to him as an essential part of happiness and felicity it will also teach him to do and suffer whatsoever is requisite to obtain so great a happiness and felicity Thus Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward Heb. 11.26 So Christ himself for that joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame Heb. 12.2 So did S. Stephen part with his life in view of the glory which he saw Acts 7.6 and that with such content and charity that he prayed for the very men that stoned him Lord lay not this sin to their charge So did the rest of Christs followers in the Primitive Ages of Christianity rather chuse to part with their very lives as well as their other advantages in the World than with their title to future Glory They all judged as S. Paul did the suffering of this present time were not worthy to be compared with the Glory that should be revealed in them Rom. 8.18 which is a sufficient demonstration what strong endeavours to do and suffer the will of God and that in very greatest tryals flow from the firm and stable hopes of future bliss and immortality 2. Add hereunto in the second place that the nature of that hope is such as that it doth not only move to such endeavours but likewise carries that in it which cannot but render them efficacious in the subduing every lust in the producing of every grace in the accomplishing every thing requisite unto Life Eternal For besides that the hope I have described is always quickned and encouraged by the operation of Gods Spirit which makes it powerful for the purifying of mens hearts and lives it takes the very force and sting out of all the temptations of this World whether they lye in the good or evil in the hopes or fears of things below 1. It destroys the force of those temptations that arise from wealth and power and honour from sensual pleasures and satisfactions by raising the thoughts and desires of men and transferring them to the things above So it subdues those Capital Lusts the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and pride of life Sensuality Avarice and Ambition and all the spawn of these Vices Fraud Oppression and Revenge Envy Malice and Animosity So it begets the Graces contrary to all these Vices Charity Purity and Humility For no man that hath placed his hope upon Eternal Life and Glory as his only happiness and felicity as his supreme and sovereign good can so esteem the perishing pleasures the fading profits of this World as to envy those that abound in them or despise those that have them not much less to deceive or to oppress to lie or flatter or dissemble to defame or reproach his Neighbour to do an injury or deny a favour to attain them And hence it is that this hope makes men plain and simple hearted makes them merciful kind and gentle makes them pure and heavenly minded It elevates the mind raises the thoughts inlarges the heart alters the frame of mans nature and makes him imitate that God in whom he hath setled all his trust and in conformity to whose likeness with the enjoyment of his presence he hath placed all his joy and happiness And thus doth the hope of this happiness raise him above the force and power of those temptations that the profits or pleasures of this world can offer or suggest unto him 2. Nor is it any thing less effectual in securing him from the loss of innocence by those that arise from the evils of it reproach or poverty or death it self or any of those many calamities which may assault him in the world He knows these things cannot deprive him of that glory wherein he hath placed all his happiness he knows they will shortly have an end in the mean time he is content rather to suffer all the evils that the present world can bring upon him than the loss of the hope of life eternal This hope gives him strength and courage it gives him patience and resignation to his will from whom he expects eternal glory and an increase of that glory as a reward for all his patience and perseverance in well doing under all his sufferings in the world Besides that God never fails to bless and strengâ—â—â—n those persons that patiently suffer his will with the joys and comforts of his Spirit as the Apostle himself assures us Rom. 5.2 3 and following verses We rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God and not so only but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us The summ is this the stable hope of eternal glory in the fruition of God himself in perfect purity and immortality renders the man possessed with it so indifferent to this world as to pursue and to enjoy the good of it with great sobriety and moderation without sensuality fraud or injury without animosity pride or envy with purity gentleness and Christian charity It renders him so indifferent to it as to endure the evil of it with constancy patience and perseverance in all simplicity and integrity By these he is so endeared to God that as he before gave him the assistance of his Spirit so he gives him now the joys thereof in the testimony of his love to him which love still further excites a mutual have to God and also to men for his salâ—â—â— and by these means further improves all his graces and purifies him as God is pure which is the second of those generals which I propounded to consider
he is made ye make him two-fold more the Child of Hell than your selves And so in truth it came to pass for the Proselytes made by these Pharisees became much worse than they themselves the Scholars much outdid their Masters in their iniquities and wicked lives the imitation outdid the original being encouraged by the example and this was observed by Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Presbyters saith he that are made by you do not only not believe but do blaspheme the name of Christ twice as much as you your selves So efficacious are your examples and your Doctrines to make the Disciple exceed the Master to make the Gentile exceed the Jew in his Impiety and unbelief 2. Having thus the shewed the special instances of the Hypocrisie of the Pharisees which was the former of the two generals before propounded proceed we now to give an account of the latter also that is of the precept which bids beware of it Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie which words suggest these things 1. The greatness of the evil which we are commanded to avoid 2. The diligence that must be used if we will duly obey the precept 1. I begin with the first namely the greatness of the evil which we are commanded to avoid 1. And here first of all observe that Hypocrisie falls exceedingly short of the very thing it pretends unto namely of being true Religion for it is no more than the shadow of it Hypocrisie pretends to the very height of all Piety but is no more than a poor mean appearance of it 1. It wholly consists in outward actions and omissions performs the acts that seem most plausible unto men avoids those that are most scandalous and expensive but all this while neglects the purifying of the heart It doth disguise but not reform the lust within it gilds and paints the outward man but doth not produce a new life or a better nature in the heart it doth not mortifie any lust it doth not quicken with any grace it is no more a true Religion than a picture is a living man nor doth it reach the design and end of Christianity which is to reform and change our nature and form the Image of Christ in us which is in righteousness and true holiness 2. Charity Sincerity and Integrity are the very life of Christianity if we have not those we have nothing of it we cannot pretend unto perfection we cannot say we have attain'd to the utmost degrees the highest measures of obedience so that if we can lay no claim to Charity if we cannot truly profess Sincerity and Integrity although attended with imperfection we have nothing to say for our being Christians nothing of the truth of Christianity Now so it is Sincerity Charity and Integrity are the very things the Hypocrite wants it is the nature of Hypocrisie to be void and destitute of these Graces if it be not so it is not Hypocrisie it is not the vice we now mention if it be so it wants these virtues and therefore the very life and spirit of true and real Christianity and so falls short of the very end of true Religion that 's the first 2. Add hereunto in the second place that it doth not only fall far short of true Religion but that it is a great abuse a mock a scorn a derision of it and in very truth of God himself 1. Hypocrisie is insolence against God but fear and meekness towards men it is an irreverence towards him that searches and knows the hearts of men and awe and reverence toward men who can but observe our overt actions that is contempt and slight of God who clearly discerns the thoughts of the heart and an honour and homage unto men who have no further knowledge of them than as they appear in overt actions which is a great affront to God and an equal abuse of true Religion 2. But then farther there is another great abuse that Hypocrisie offers to Religion which lies in the use of the name and title and shew of it in order to base and unworthy ends which is to pervert the very nature and order of things and of Gods designs and institutions to turn the end into a mean and a mean into the principal end Religion according to Gods appointment is to be prefer'd before any secular ends and profits to be the chief in all our aims and so be propagated and promoted by all the talents that God hath given us But what is the nature what is the custom of Hypocrisie it is to debase and depress Religion to the service of secular gain and honour it is to use the appearance of it in prejudice to the thing itself and to make a shew and fair appearance of Piety Virtue and Integrity to supplant these very things themselves this is the nature of Hypocrisie If he would effectually cheat his neighbour if he would put a deceit upon him he pretends to Piety and Religion he censures the lives and manners of others he complains he harangues against the iniquity of the times that he may better impose upon him gain his credit and then deceive him If he would prefer and advance himself intrude into places of power and profit and thrust out those possessed of them he presently inveighs against those persons he pretends Religion in so doing pretends reformation of abuses makes the very highest profession of Truth and Justice and Integrity If he would gratifie animosity and revenge himself upon his neighbour here he pretends Religion again here his Conscience is engaged he is concerned for the publick good a thing he will never forsake or quit whatever it cost him to pursue it If he would disturb the publick peace create Sedition and Confusion if he would overthrow the Government and change its Laws and Constitutions if he would destroy Religion itself Religion must be pretended for it This he prostitutes to every base and unworthy end this he prostitutes to every lust he makes it serve his Pride and Ambition he makes it serve his Spite and Malice he makes it minister to filthy Avarice just as the Pharisees under a pretence of long Prayers devoured and ate up Widows houses Mark 12.40 3. And then thirdly lest you should think it a thing impossible that any man should pretend Religion nay great and extraordinary measures of it and yet retain these foul lusts of Pride and Scorn and love of the World of Envy Malice and Animosity you are to know that these lusts are not only not inconsistent with such pretences but allow the very sins themselves which the Pharisees were chiefly guilty of and objected to them by our Lord. Their pride and haughtiness is reproved Matt 23.5 6 7. They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments and love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the Synagogues and greetings in the markets and to be called of men Rabbi
and awe upon him whereas the mutual love and kindness that Christ hath commanded amongst men and also recommended to us by the highest and most effectual motives would not only restrain the outward actions of fraud and injury and oppression but kill the very lust within wither the very root of biterness and render every man easie and helpful to his neighbour instead of being injurious to him and this is suggested by St Paul Rom. 13.8 9.10 He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law For this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self love worketh no ill to his Neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law Love throughly accomplishes all those ends which were indeed designed by the Law whence it is said That the Law is not made for a righteous man a man animated and inspired by a living Law of love within but for the lawless and disobedient 1 Tim. 1.9 And thus hath our Lord fulfilled the judicial Law of Moses as well as the moral and ceremonial by the most efficacious ways and methods of setling such a Law within us as would most effectually work and propagate the great design of the Law of Moses which was added as the Apostle speaks because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made Having thus cleared both the parts of the words before us it now remains that we reflect upon what hath been said and draw some Observations from it First And first of all since our Lord came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets hence we learn That Christianity that the righteousness and holiness of the Gospel was the thing that God had in his eye the thing that he purposed and intended and that lay at the bottom of his counsels in the whole Mosaical Dispensation as well in all the external Rites as the other parts of Moses's Law God never had any delight or pleasure in the flesh or blood of Bulls and Goats or any Sacrifices of the Law he was never pleased with ritual washings or expiations as things excellent in themselves nor did he institute these Rites for any complacence he took in them but partly as the Ancients observe to typifie things that were to come namely the mysteries of the Gospel and partly to retain the Jews accustomed to such like Rites in Egypt in the worship and service of himself the only true and living God lest being denied their former Rites in the worship of the true God they should have used them unto Idols and to have continued in that apostasie whereinto themselves and the world were fallen at the delivery of the Law Had there been no such Reasons as these for the Rites enjoined in Moses's Law they had never been instituted or commanded nor had God any respect for them any regard to the most zealous performance of them when divided from the essential parts the great Fundamentals of Religion judgment and mercy and the love of God Hence those words of the Prophet Jeremy chap. 6.20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba and the sweet Cane from a far Country Your burnt offerings are not acceptable nor your Sacrifices sweet unto me And those of Isaiah chap. 1.11 12. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats Adde hereunto those excellent words of the Prophet Micah chap. 6. verf. 6 7 8. Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord and how my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oil shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul No He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God These were the things which he accepted nay these were the things which he designed in the very Ceremonies of the Law and in all its symbolical Types and Figures And these are the things which Christ our Lord came to propagate and promote in all he did and suffered for us So constant hath God been to himself and to the advancement of real goodness amongst men in all the Ages of the World before and under and after the Law He still designed the same thing he had still the same end in his eye namely that we should love him with all our hearts and love our Neighbour as our selves on these as our Saviour himself tells us hanged all the Law and the Prophets And the end for which our Lord himself came into the World was more effectually to promote what the Law of Moses had designed and so the Apostle himself assures us Rom. 8.3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Secondly What then remains in the last place but that since our Lord came into the World not to destroy but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets since he â—ath fulfilled them by introducing that Religion which God always had in his eye in all the Shadows of the Law a Religion suitable unto reason a Religion that perfects humane nature a Religion free and disentangled from the load of Mosaical Rites and Ceremonies a Religion aiming at nothing more than hearty love to God and our Neighbour and peace and happiness both in this and the other world what now remains but that we freely embrace and practise a Religion thus recommended to us neither reproaching it by our lusts by foul and sensual inclinations nor yet abusing and obscuring it by vain and useless superstitions It is a reasonable and manly service that God is pleased to require from us it is the cure of all our maladies it is medicine unto all our distempers it is health and soundness to all our powers It is not sacrifice and oblations it is not circumcision nor uncircumcision it is not what is hard and burthensom but what is useful and good for us 't is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost So that had we no other demonstration of the infinite love of God to us this were sufficient proof of it that he hath made our Religion our happiness Foâ— in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor
clear evidence that they have the Grace of God in them and therefore are in favour with him But then the latter namely the breach of their resolutions and the continuance in their sins they look upon as a humane frailty common to the Saints with other persons common both to the good and evil But whatsoever men may judge in favour of their own corruptions I am obliged to put you in mind of that which I hope you know already That it is not the mere intent and purpose of the reformation of wilful sins of an habitual course in evil but the true and real reformation of it that recommends us to Gods favour So St Paul himself assures us who having mentioned the several sins that are common in the lives of men concludes his Discourse with these words Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Ephes 5.6 4. To make one step further Others there are who do indeed practise some real parts of Religion but then wholly neglect others They hear they pray they seem to be zealous in these things and possibly in some others too but yet still live in such sins as are inconsistent with Christianity and the solid hopes of life eternal They still live some in impurity and sensuality others in injustice and iniquity others in envy and ambition others in pride and scorn and malice so that no mans good name and reputation no mans life how blameless and innocent soever is safe from their unrighteous censures yet all this while they are so far from thinking this to be any sin that they make a piece of Religion of it and believe themselves to be so much better by how much they censure others 5. Lastly There are some other persons who make a commutation with God in doing the things he hath not required instead of those which he hath commanded They impose some penances upon themselves or practise those imposed by others instead of repentance and reformation they live by Laws of their own making instead of those which God hath made or else they are most extremely diligent in the constant practice of one Duty to make some recompence and satisfaction for the total omission of another their temperance shall excuse their injustice or their justice their sensuality their zeal shalf excuse their animosity their very profession of Religion shall excuse the neglect of the practice of it yet all this while they judge themselves in the favour of God and confidently hope for eternal happiness From all which instances it appears how apt men are to imagine themselves to be righteous in the eyes of God to be grateful and acceptable to him although they live in wilful and habitual neglect of the Laws and Precepts of the Gospel 2. Having thus dispatched the first general proceed we now unto the second where I shall endeavour to give an account of the rise and occasion of this errour 3. And first of all there is no doubt but that the inordinate love of the World and the sinful gains and pleasures of it is an eminent and great cause why men abuse and flatter themselves with the vain hopes of Gods favour and of the salvation promised by him although they live and die in their sins This love it was which did at first hinder the faith of Christianity obstruct the belief and reception of it and so our Saviour himself suggests John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Where he insinuates that those persons Who were willing to obey the Gospel provided they knew it be of God to live by the rules arid precepts of it would easily yeild belief unto it when it was duly propounded to them add consequently that the great reason why men would not yield their belief to it was because they would not yield obedience to the Laws therein prescribed unto them because they would not forsake those lusts which the Gospel commands us to forsake the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life And as it was these inordinate lusts that hindered the progress of Christian Faith when it was first revealed and published so did the very same lusts first bring corruption and delusion into the Faith of those persons that made profession of Christianity and still continues to lead them into misbelief They will not part with their beloved lusts and pleasures they will not forget their sinful gains or what is easie what is pleasing to flesh and blood the forgoing these is by our Lord expressed by the plucking out of an eye and by cutting of a right hand Matt. 5.29 30. whereby he declares the great unwillingness that is in men to deny their natural inclinations though never so sinful and inordinate On the other hand as they are unwilling to deny their natural inclinations to forgo their inordinate lusts and appetites so are they likewise very unwilling to despair of eternal happiness under them or of the favour of God to them that 's a black and stabbing thought as the other is troublesome and ungrateful Now what is the issue what is the effect of these two things put together the issue is this men presently study to find out arts how to reconcile the hopes of happiness with the enjoyment of their lusts and alas there needs no great art for a man to deceive and cheat himself where he is willing to be deceived he easily steps into this hope that his sins though wilful and habitual are nothing more than humane frailties common to the good as well as evil that God will never impute them to him that he may firmly hope to be saved though he never abandon and forsake them 2. But then secondly that which gives something of advantage to this errour in some persons is the comparing of the difficulty of subduing of their lusts with the vast greatness of that loss which they suffer who lose that glory and immortality which is promised to us in the Gospel They will not imagine that such a loss should attend the neglect or non-performance of a thing so extremely hard and difficult which errour differing from the rest which I have before mentioned to you seems to deserve some more notice than what I have taken of the rest 1. And first of all those who make use of this argument to promise themselves eternal happiness although they continue in their sins ought to consider that that happiness which God hath promised being unspeakably great and glorious deserves our labour merits our study to attain it upon any terms whatsoever they be howsoever difficult to flesh and blood and to our natural inclinations The greater it is the greater the care the greater diligence the more of labour doth the attainment of it merit and so our Saviour himself suggests when he compares the
and opportunity to abuse himself or injure others if it yield a very fair advantage for secret fraud or open violence to revenge himself or oppress his neighbour he will always have this to say against it This is just contrary to my end this is directly against my self whatever advantage it seems to offer it contradicts my main design it will not consist with my former choice If I chuse this I must unravel all I have wrought I must undo all I have done I must refuse what I have chosen heretofore and that by direction from God himself and this I am resolved I will not do He that believes that that is his happiness which God hath expresly declared to be so and that because he hath declared it will never believe that he can attain it if he wilfully venture on those evils which the same God threatens with death eternal Nor doth the choice of future glory as a mans supreme and chief good secure him only from all the wilful acts of sin but effectually move and press him on to all diligence in his duty for he that believes that that alone is true happiness which God hath promised will also believe that that diligence which God hath prescribed is necessary to the attainment of it And therefore although it be something difficult to raise his natural inclinations to pursue a supernatural end to awaken his mind out of these flattering dreams and slumbers which the charms of sense have brought upon it to keep his thoughts constantly bent upon his end and excite himself to the greatest labours to attain it yet he considers that it is his happiness he hath in view that it is no less than eternal glory which he pursues that to forsake the pursuit of it is to forsake his own bliss and to surrender himself to misery that it will requite him for all his labours and cannot be bought at too dear a rate Thus he makes good our Saviours words Matt. 13.46 The Kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant-man seeking goodly pearls who when he had found one pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it Add hereunto the great support which the faith and hope of future glory continually offers unto his mind in all the troubles and oppositions which may beset the way unto it We are troubled saith the Apostle on every side yet not distressed we are perplext but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed 2 Cor. 4.7 8. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory This saith he it worketh for us while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal And may the serious consideration of that eternal weight of glory which God hath promised us in the Gospel teach us to fix our hearts upon it as the only thing that can ease our labours quiet our minds cure our maladies and remove the burdens of mortality This is the thing which God himself who best knows what is good for us and hath the sincerest love to us always intended for our happiness this is the thing which Christ our Lord came down from Heaven to reveal unto us this is the thing which he chose for himself and sure he knows what is the best for humane nature being God and man in the same person He lived in the constant view of it he died to purchase it for his followers he rose again he ascended to Heaven and there abides not only to enjoy it himself but to open a way for us unto it and to prepare a place for us This is the thing which will supply all our wants which will remove all imperfections which will fully satisfie all our desires It is the fruition of God himself and will transform us into his image as well in point of immortality as of wisdom righteousness and perfect holiness for now are we the sons of God saith St John and it doth not yet appear what we shall be But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 John 3.2 Which blessed vision he of his mercy grant unto us FINIS PAg. 21. lin 4. dele to p. 27. l. 19. read us such p. 35. l. 12. r. thou hast p. 41. l. 5. r. is concerned p. 58. l. 10. for want r. war p. 67. l. 5. for others r. they p. 71. l. ult r. discharge p. 72. l. 21. r. abused p. 73. l. 5. r. was p. 84. l. 20 21. r. followers p. 96. l. 12. for pine by r. let slip p. 100. l. 3. r. undertaken p. 125. l. 21. r. keep unity p. 133. l. 19. r. known p. 144. l. 26. r. are as p. 149. l. 3. r. this l. 9. r. the love p. 161. l. 20. r. 60. l. 22. r. prayed p. 176. l. 12. r. posts p. 204. l. 26. r. proselytes p. 206. l. 10. d. with p. 207. l. 22. for that r. it p. 217. l. 13. r. their p. 218. l. 20. r. were so notoriously and grosly so that p. 241. l. 18. r. motives p. 245. l. 22. r. their great p. 263. l. 7. d. eighteenth p. 301. l. 27. r. discover p. 308. l. 17. r. 2 Thes 2. p. 340. l. 12. r. in the fall of the. p. 368. l. 24. r. in p. 381. l. 3. r. unrighteous p. 410. l. 9. r. imprudence p. 417. l. 15. r. he be p. 424. l. 7. r. be fit p. 452. l. 3 4. r. Mind this one p. 459. l. 7. r. indignation and wrath tribulation p. 476. l. 2 3 4. r. themselves as means to get it if he make it his end to promote and propagate a false if Books Printed for and sold by Richard Chiswel FOLIO SPeed's Maps and Geography of Great Britain and Ireland and of Foreign Parts Dr Cave's Lives of the Primitive Fathers Dr Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient time Wanley's Wonders of the little World or History of Man Sir Tho. Herbert's Travels into Persia c. Holyoak's large Dictionary Latin and English Sir Rich. Baker's Chronicle of England Causin's Holy Court. Wilson's Compleat Christian Dictionary Bishop Wilkin's Real Character or Philosophical Language Pharmacopoeia Regalis Collegii Medicorum Londinensis Judge Jones's Reports in Common Law Judge Vaughan's Reports in Common Law Cave Tabulae Ecclesiasticorum Scriptorum Hobbes's Leviathan Lord Bacon's Advancement of Learning Sir W. Dugdale's Baronage of Engl. in 2 Vol. QUARTO DR Littleton's Dictionary Latin Engl. Bish Nicholson on the Church Catechism The Compleat Clerk Precedents of all sorts History or the late Wars of New England Dr Outram de Sacrificiis Bishop Taylor 's Disswasive from Popery Garissolius de Chr. Mediatore Spanhemii Dubia Evangclica 2 Vol. Dr Gibb's Sermons Parkeri Disputationes de Deo History
by adding higher rules of holiness for as he established the New Covenant upon better promises than those the Old was built upon so he gave sublimer and higher precepts than those that were given in the Old If the Law and the Prophets forbad murder murder committed by the hand our Saviour stifled it in the heart for he hath forbiden causeless anger I say unto you whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment Matt. 5.22 If Moses condemned adultery in the body our Lord condemns the very impurity of the mind and styles it the adultery of the heart ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old thou shalt not commit adultery but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart v. 27 28. If the Law of Moses allowed divorce upon small disgusts and animosities our blessed Lord doth not allow it save only in the case of Adultery which is the peculiar and proper breach of matrimonial obligation v. 32. of the same Chapter If the Law allowed a retaliation of evil for evil an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth our Lord hath forbidden us to resist evil v. 39. that is to say to revenge it for not to resist the evil done us is to give place to the wrath of our Enemy and this is the same as not to avenge it and so we learn from St Paul's words Rom. 12.19 Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. If the Law and the Prophets forbad perjury our Lord hath forbidden all swearing in our common and ordinary conversation let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil v. 37. If the Law allowed to hate an Enemy that is to say any person of the seven Nations whom God had devoted to destruction our blessed Lord hath commanded us to love our Enemies I say unto you love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you v. 44. of the same Chapter Thus hath he fulfilled the moral Law by filling up several vacuities that Moses was forced to leave in it in condescension unto the Jews and to the hardness of their hearts and by adding higher rules of holiness than the Law or the Prophets had delivered 2. Now to proceed in the second place to the ceremonial part of the Law this did our Lord fulfil likewise and that also two several ways 1. By personal obedience to it and all the rights therein enjoyned whereunto he freely became subject He was circumcised the eighth day according as that Law enjoyned he was redeemed by a certain price being a Son and a First-born he observed the feasts prescribed in the Law yea and that of the dedication also although but of humane institution as appears in the history of the Gospel he did and permitted to be done in and upon his own Person whatsoever it was that Law required whence he is said to have been made of a woman made under the Law that is to say subject to all its Rites and Ceremonies Gal. 4.4 2. But secondly there is another way wherein our Lord fulfilled the ritual part of the Law which was by accomplishing all those things and introduceing all those graces which were typically figured and shadowed in it That had a shadow of good things to come and not the very Image of the things that is to say not the things themselves Heb. 10.1 and so is the word effigies taken by no worse an Author than Tully himself nos solidam et expressan effigiem virtutis nullam tenemus but Christ introduced the very things which were foreshadowed in that Law His Priesthood was antitype to that of Aaron his Sacrifice to the Sacrifices of the Law his entrance into heaven it self to appear in the presence of God for us to the High Priests entrance into the Holy of Holies on the solemn day of expiation the expiation made by his Sacrifice to that which was made by those of the Law the spiritual purity of the Gospel to the legal washings and purification and abstinences from things then impure the eternal rest that he hath prepared for the people of God to the Jewish Sabbaths and new moons all which things were only shadows of things to come and so the Apostle himself assures us Col. 2.16 17. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ that is to say Christ introduced the things themselves which were but shadowed in the Law by typical figures and similitudes which is likewise the meaning of these words John 1.17 The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ he brought in the very life and substance of what was but pictured in the Law and thus he fulfilled the ritual part of Moses his Law as well as personal obedience to it 3. Now for the judicial part of the Law whereby the Jewish State was governed I need not say how our Lord fulfilled it by submitting himself both to the Roman and Jewish Magistrate He was contented to pay tribute he suffered himself to be apprehended by the Officers sent to this purpose he suffered himself to be tried and sentenced and yielded himself to the Execution of the sentence unjustly passed upon him and though he could not owne the guilt yet did he quietly receive the punishment for he was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so opened he not his mouth Isa 53.7 But the way whereby he did more especially fulfil the judicial Law of Moses was by introducing the royal Law of universal love and kindness which if observed would more effectually attain the end of humane Laws than all the wisdom force or power which can accompany and attend them The end of all political Laws is only the safety and the prosperity of the Common-wealth that men may live in mutual peace that every man may possess and enjoy his life and estate and reputation and whatsoever belongs unto him without the trouble of fraud or violence from other persons all which ends would more sucessfully be attained by the Law of universal love peculiarly setled by our Lord than by the wisest of humane Laws and the strictest execution of them those can but bind the outward man they cannot change the hearts of men those can but tie the hands of violence and muzzle the mouth of the wild beast they cannot alter and mend his nature nor make him further abstain from injury than the fear of punishment and revenge may put a restraint