Phrase may justly be understood of the Publick Worship of God nay any sort of Divine Worship whereby we intend to express our respect to God whether Publick or Private and that want of Reconciliation in case we have offered a signal Injury to our fellow Christians either in Word or Deed renders the Gift or Devotion we offer unpleasing or unacceptable will appear from the following Considerations 1. Because the Devotion is offered from an impure Heart want of Reconciliation I mean a wilful want or neglect of it supposes a Heart full of Rancour and Malice and secret Grudges against the Person whom we are at Variance with or whom we have offended and in this case David's saying holds true If I regard Iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not leave me Psal. lxvi 18 Shall God whose Purity is great and astonishing and infinite accept of an Oblation which hath so impure a Foundation Can we imagine God is so fond of Services as not to regard the Heart which is and ought to be the principal Agent in the Service He that scorned the Blind and the Lame offered to him in Sacrifice will he be pleased with such blind and lame Devotion It is not the bare Flower as beautiful as it's Colours may seem to be that God is delighted with if the Soil on which it grows be a Dung-hill No Let 's not flatter our selves that the Building we erect will be taking in the Eyes of the great Architect while the Foundation is rotten A Heart that cherishes Malice is the impure Root that sheds poyson on the Plant it produces and that can cause no odoriferous Scent in Heaven He that hath protested that an evil Heart is abomination to him will he relish the Water which comes from that bitter Spring He that hath told us that the pure in heart shall see him and none but they will he admit that Devotion into his gracious Presence which comes from a bottom where Toads and Serpents crawl He that delights in nothing so much as in a Heart sincere and upright will he be fond of Hypocrisy What is Hypocrisy Is it not seeming to be good when we are not And is not Devotion coming from a Heart unwilling to be reconciled to our fellow Christian an appearance of Goodness while love to our Brethren the principal Ingredient which must make it so is wanting 2. Such Devotion is a perfect Contradiction The Soul that is a Stranger or an Enemy to Reconciliation and yet offers Services of Devotion to God pretends to obey him by those Services and yet at the same time disobeys him by being unwilling to be reconciled Doth a Fountain at the same place send forth bitter water and sweet saith St. James ch iii. 11 Of the Samaritans we read 1 Kings xvii 33 That they feared the Lord and served their own Gods They sacrificed to the Great Jehovah and to Devils and their Worship was divided betwixt God and Belial betwixt Dagon and the Ark betwixt the Temple of God and Idols And is not Devotion from a Heart unwilling to be reconciled a Worship much like theirs At once to obey God and to disobey him at once to honour and to affront him at once to worship and to blaspheme him To build with one hand and to pull down with another At the same time to please God and to offend him to please him with Devotion and to offend him with neglect of Charity Is God a God of Order and will he be pleased with Contradictions May it not justly be said to such among you as Elijah to the Israelites 1 Kings xviii 21 How long halt you between two Opinions If the Lord be God then follow him but if Baal then follow him But to think to oblige both is to reconcile Fire and Water Light and Darkness Heaven and Hell and things that have the greatest Antipathy one to another 3. God is the God of Love and will he accept of a Devotion coming from a Heart that hath no Love Can there be Love there where there is no Reconciliation Can Charity be there where the Man will not be Friends with his offended Brother It was indeed said in Commendation of that Roman that having lived so many years with his Mother he was never reconciled to her but the meaning was that they had never quarrelled never fallen out so there was no need of any Reconciliation But here we speak of Offences given and taken and a wilful neglect of Reconciliation must necessarily argue want of Love and can God love that Service in which there is nothing agreeable to his Nature Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity saith David Psal. cxxxiii 1 It is pleasant to Men and pleasant to God He loves to see it there is harmony in it and can that Devotion make Musick in Heaven which runs upon jarring and Discord and Animosities and Dissentions God is Love and where should Love dwell but in a Heart that loves A Heart that doth not is no Seat no Place no Mansion no Habitation no Tabernacle for the God of Love to rest in The Spirit of love flees from such a House There must be a similitude of Tempers For God to dwell in a Heart where Hatred lodges would be as unseemly a thing as for a King to chuse a Dungeon for his Habitation I love them that love me saith the Eternal Wisdom Prov. viii 17 He that is unwilling to be reconciled to his offended Neighbour cannot love God and God cannot love him nor his Service for if the Man doth not love his Brother whom he hath seen how shall be love God whom he hath not seen 1 John iv 20 4. Such Devotion coming from a Heart loath to be reconciled is a plain attempt to put a cheat upon the great God of Heaven for such a Man hopes God will be so dazled with his Devotion that he will over-look the Malice that 's glowing in his Heart He hopes that God will be so taken with the external Service he lays at his feet as not to take notice of the abomination that lurks within Will you put out the Eyes of these Men said Corah and Dathan Numb xvi 14 And may it not be said to such Will you put out the Eyes of Almighty God Do you think to blind him that sees by Night as well as by Day Do you hope to deceive him that searches the Hearts and the Reins Is it a small thing to you to affront him and would you cheat him too Do you think to lull him asleep with your Devotion that he may not mind the Leprosy which infects your Souls Is he a Man that you think to impose upon him Or a Being so weak that it 's possible to gull him into approbation of your Services See what Absurdities Men run into when they hope that some external Acts of their Piety will cover the multitude of their Sins Strange
is guilty of that Adultery and therefore causes her that is put away to commit Adultery VIII How he that Marries her that is put away commits Adultery 1. In saying so our Great Master confirms the antient Law of God Deut. xxiv 3 where the Wife put away by her Husband is peremptorily forbid to return to the Husband that did give her a Bill of Divorce and put her away She had Liberty indeed to Marry another but if after his Death or during his Life her former Husband should be desirous to Marry her again this God saith there is Abomination and Christ calls it Adultery So that the words of the Text whosoever shall Marry her that 's put away commits Adultery do establish and ratifie what God said of old to the Jewish People He that puts away his Wife may not afterward when another Man hath known her Marry her again if he doth he commits Adultery 2. He that puts away his Wife for a less or meaner cause than Adultery doth not by that means or voluntary Divorce cancel the Marriage Bond and the legal Contract betwixt him and her That Bond continues firm and indissoluble notwithstanding that Dismission and therefore he that Marries such a Person that is unjustly put away Marries another Man's Wife and consequently commits Adultery Under the Law he that Married the Woman put away by her Husband for Causes God then allow'd of did not Sin except the High Priest who was forbid to Marry any Woman that was Divorced And under the Gospel he that Marries her that 's put away legally for Causes the Gospel allows of cannot be said to commit an Offence especially if the Rules we mentioned before be observed But he that Marries her that's justly put away or divorced for Causes frivolous or not allowed of by the Gospel and so Marries her he hath no power no right to Marry even a Person who notwithstanding the Divorce is still the Wife of him that put her away he certainly commits Adultery INFERENCES Having thus resolved the Queries suggested by the Text it 's time I should after all add some wholesom Directions whereby such Divorces and all Desires after them may be prevented I. There is no better Antidote against such Mischiefs than Love mutual Love a true Conjugal Love a Love grounded not upon a bare satisfying the desires of the Flesh for that will be of no long continuance but establish'd upon the lasting Principles of Duty and fed by Pious Considerations And they who think that no less Authority hath joined them together than God himself and intended that this Union should be great and withstand all Temptations of Dissolution except that of Death and thought fit to represent by it the Love of Christ to his Church They who make these Considerations the Foundation of their Love will not be easily moved to the desire of Separation Love in a married State being grounded only upon Beauty and Riches and other external things when these fade Love will fade Vertue and the Fear of God and the Oath that is betwixt them these must tye their Hearts together and where they do so their Love like a treble Cord is not easily broken Love is the great Preservative of Happiness in a Married State where that reigns no desires of Divorcement can find Entertainment But then it must be such Love as the Apostle describes 1 Cor. xiii 4 5 6 7. that suffers long and is kind that envies not that vaunts not it self that is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeks not her own is not easily provoked thinks no Evil rejoices not in Iniquity but rejoices in the Truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things and endureth all things This Charity we owe to all that are of the Houshold of Faith more or less much more to Persons of so near a Relation who besides the general Obligations as Christians have bound themselves Vowed and Promised before God and the Elect Angels and the Congregation to love one another with a pure Heart fervently Love is an Universal Medicine If the Infirmities of one Party be invincible Love will bear with them if vincible Love will endeavour to reform them If Crosses happen Love will administer Comfort if Prosperity comes flowing in Love will exhort to Thankfulness if Disputes arise Love will appease them if Quarrels are broacht Love will quench that Fire If Misconstructions be made Love will rectify them if Suspicions disturb the Mind Love will reject them if Failings appear Love will cover them and whatever things are amiss in a Family Love will endeavour to cure them Where this Love decays there the Good Angel that should guard the House prepares for his departure Where this Love is not maintain'd Temptations prevail and Quarrels come and Differences arise and Persons are let loose and ill Thoughts do enter and reproachful Language flies about and the Parties become uneasy and Divorces are thought of and being difficult to compose according to Law they are wished for and desired and if they cannot be had there Adulteries and Fornications and a thousand Evils are entertain'd as woful Experience shews and thus the married State becomes bitter as Wormwood which if Love had had the Management of it might have been sweet as the Morning Rose fragrant as the Balm of Gilead refreshing as Evening Showers II. As unequal Yoakings are very often the causes of great Contentions so where they may be they ought to be carefully shun'd and prevented By being unequally Yoaked I do not mean only Inequality of Age of Temper of Rank and Fortune but marrying Persons of a different Persuasion in Matters of Religion for if one of the Parties be Zealous for the Religion he professes he will think himself bound in Conscience to draw the Partner of his Bed into a Partnership of his Religion and if the other will not yield there arise such Flames of Discord sometimes that Divorces and Separations are not only desired but unjustly Endeavour'd and Practised and one party contrary to Law and Reason and Conscience and Modesty leaves the other Of this we have too many Examples not only where Protestants have married Papists but where Protestants have joined themselves to Protestants of different Sentiments not that the Differences among Protestants are of any great Consequence but where Pride Passion Ignorance or Prejudice turns disputable Questions into Articles of Faith and makes them Balls of Contention they shed a bad influence even upon a married State Indeed where both Parties are of a gentle and charitable Temper there is no great danger of falling out about Religion but as such Tempers are somewhat rare so where they are found they may be Influenced by external Causes and Motives which may alter them and though Promises are often made before Marriage not to molest one another in point of Religion yet false Persuasion afterward that it is their Duty to convert them who are so nearly related to them
the Accomplishment by our uneasiness under the Injury Ay but still experience shews that this Patience under Injuries hardens the insolent Man in his Sins We grant it but whose fault is it not ours but of his own impenitent Heart which indeed deserves our Pity and our Prayers but heaps no Guilt upon our Heads Surely we shall not be answerable for other Mens boldness in their Sins nor is our Patience a compliance with their Folly which is not intended to harden but to melt them and if like vitious Stomachs they turn that into Corruption which was intended for their Nourishment they feed indeed but not like Bees that gather Honey from the Flowers they suck but like Toads and Vipers that convert the Juice of wholsome Herbs into Poyson But is this an Argument that I must therefore inflame my Soul with Wrath and Revenge because the other swells with Venom So that all these Objections vanish and that which seem'd impossible appears if view'd without these false Glasses very practicable No doubt it is so and may be made very easie too and if you ask me how the following Rules will give you satisfaction 1. By admiring the praise of God above the praise of Men. It is recorded to the eternal Shame and Disgrace of those chief Men and Rulers among the Jews who believed in Christ yet durst not confess him Cowards as they were that they loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God Joh. xii 48 Men in great Places and Dignities this is their Temper this is the Rule they go by let God praise and commend a Vertue never so much if it meet not with the same Applause among Men. If Men do count it disagreeable to the Punctilio's of Honour and the Aire of the Court and the Humour of the Age or if it be not good Manners they carefully shun it and to be sure such Men will never come up to the Rule of the Text. But he that comes to a fixt and steady Resolution of esteeming the praise of God above the praise of Men that 's the Person who is like to triumph over all the Desires of Revenge And O God! why should not we esteem thy Praise thy Commendations and Approbations beyond the Applauses of Mortal Men Are not thy Commendations most rational most weighty most unbyass'd most true and most durable whereas those of poor Mortals how partial are they how subject to Mistakes how uncertain how weak how transitory how short and how unprofitable in that Day when God shall judge the World in Righteousness He that esteems the praise of God more than the praise of Men doth not only act like a true Philosopher but hath this satisfaction in himself that he lives by Faith and not by sight and will be able to Laugh when others shall Howl in outward Darkness so true is that Saying of the Apostle 2 Cor. x. 18 Not he who commends himself and we may add Not he whom Men commend is approv'd but whom the Lord commends 2. By a firm perswasion that without this Patience under Evil or Injuries or Affronts or reviling Language we cannot be and are no Christians I say by a firm Perswasion for most Men have general slight and imperfect Idea's and Notions of the thing but that will do no good A firm Perswasion is convincing our selves thoroughly by suitable powerful Arguments that we bear the name of Christians in vain and play with it and make a meer formality of it except we heartily comply with our Master's Will in this particular And if the Soul be impregnated with this principle and hath a brisk and lusty Sense of it the Danger or rather the Thoughts of it will work through all Obstacles and Impediments and we shall make a shift to resist the importunate desires of Flesh and Blood which tempt us to return Evil for Evil. 3. By fixing the Eyes of our Understandings upon the future Reward and Recompence This is the great Engine whereby our base slavish and worldly Fears must be removed and till we have lively apprehensions of that Reward and are concern'd about it like Men in danger of losing the greatest Blessing the Opinions and Censures of the World will prevail more with us than all that Christ or any Apostle can say Till a Man doth more vehemently desire to be happy in the other World than in this the Vertues which go against the Interest of Flesh and Blood will move very heavily and so will Patience under Affronts and Injuries But the Soul being chafed and heated with brisk and lively thoughts of that Heavenly Country and walking through that Holy City which is above and viewing the Towers and Bullwarks of it will break out into Holy Flames which will consume and burn up the Hay and Straw and Stubble of Carnal Reasons and false Suggestions of the Flesh and the Devil and frown the motions of Revenge into Exile 4. By quickning and raising our Love to God into more than ordinary fervours Love dares do any thing I mean Love that hath Fire in 't and burns clear upon the Altar of the Heart The great Reason why you dare not venture upon these harder Lessons is because your Love to God is weak and faint and like that of green Wood apt to expire The Soul that sets God before her in all his Beauty and Glory and Mercy and Rewards and Promises till she loves him beyond what the Eye doth see and the Hands can handle gets the Victory and this very Command will not seem grievous to her Love made the Lord Jesus give his back to the Smiter and Love will make you give the other Cheek to the striker Love will make you even rejoyce that you have something to lose for God and that you can do something that inclines his Favour to you Love will carry you above all the little Lime-twigs which are apt to catch and intangle your Souls Love will charm your Passions tye up your Tongues and hold your hands that you will not dare to return Evil for Evil. 5. Examples are incouraging things And have not we very illustrious Examples of this Patience under Affronts and Injuries in Moses David St. Paul and of other Apostles and Believers Why should not we do as they did Why should not we free and extricate our selves from the Snares of the World and press toward the Mark as well as they Was the way they walk'd in good and safe and shall we be afraid to tread in their Steps Did they understand the Will of God and can we follow better Patterns We all conclude they were saved by doing as Christ directs in the Text and shall we be fond of finding out a new way to Salvation It 's true they were derided by the World for so doing but have they lost any thing by the Bargain If they have been Gainers why should not we venture upon the reproach of Christ as well as they Did they thrive and
Gain if they lead us to secure the everlasting Inheritance The Precepts of our great Master are so order'd and so laid that the Love of this World may be rooted out of our Hearts and if this Love be truly mortify'd we are greater Gainers than if we gained the whole World and lost our own Souls It is true we would fain keep this present World and all the enjoyments of it and enjoy the bliss of the next too but he that goes by that principle reckons without his Host and will find himself miserably mistaken when he comes to set his Accounts even with the Sovereign Judge of the World To meet with ungrateful and unreasonable Men is no more than what our Master and his Disciples have met withal and to think we must fare better in this World than they is to mistake the end of our Vocation Let us do good and rejoyce in the doing of it and be confident we shall be no losers in the end He is faithful who hath promised and he will perform it too It is but a little while that we are to continue here and the great Question in the last Day will be not how Rich or how great we have been here but whether we have made Conscience of the Rules our Master hath left us Blessed are those Servants whom their Master when he comes shall find so doing Prosperity is so far from being a sign of God's Children or of our Reconciliation to God that a Christian who enjoys much of it hath very great reason to question his Spiritual Condition and Interest in Christ Jesus Not but that it 's possible to be prosperous and a true Servant of God but where there is one that is so there are multitudes that drown themselves in Destruction and Perdition I shall conclude with St. Paul's Saying 1 Tim. vi 17 18. Charge them that are Rich in this World that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain Riches but in the Living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good Works ready to Distribute willing to Communicate SERMON XXXIV St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 43. Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy FOR the right understanding of this Passage these following things will deserve Consideration I. By whom it was said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy II. How agreeable this principle is to corrupt Nature III. How contrary to the Principles of Reason and the design of Christianity IV. What is the true import of love to our Neighbour V. Whether in some sense it may not be a Duty to love our Neighbour and hate our Enemy I. By whom it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy And most certainly 1. It hath not been said so by Almighty God in the Old Law we have indeed a Command Levit. xix 18 Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self but we read no where Thou shalt hate thine Enemy so far from it that there are express Precepts against it as Exod. xxiii 4 5. When thou seest thine Enemies Oxe or Ass going astray thou shalt freely bring him back to him again and if thou shalt see the Ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burthen and wouldst forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him Besides the Law God gave the Jews was never intended as a contradiction to the Law of Nature it was to be a help to the better Observance of it but never design'd to reverse it or any part of it and we are certain the Law of Nature enjoyns no such thing but Mercy rather than Hatred to an Enemy and this is evident from hence not only because the Law of Nature bids us imitate God who is kind to the Unthankful and to the Evil but because we find that the very Heathens from the dictates of this Law of Nature have shewn Mercy even to their greatest Foes not only by giving them decent Burial after Death as Hannibal and others but also by exercising acts of Charity toward them while they were alive and therefore God it could not be that said so Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy And therefore 2. If God did not say so then the Men that said and taught so must be the same Men who had corrupted several other Laws of God mention'd in this Chapter and detorted them from their original Intent and Design to accommodate them to the sinful Humours of Men and to the interest of the Flesh even the Scribes and Pharisees and their Ancestors the ancient Masters of the Oral Law who by their Traditions rendred the Law of God of none effect I have observ'd often in the preceding Discourses what false Glosses and Interpretations these Men did put upon the Sixth and Seventh Commandment and the Law of Divorces and Retaliation In like manner this Precept of loving their Neighbour could not escape their Sacrilegious Hands for as their business was to make the Moral Law of God as easie to the Flesh as they could and as they had made several Experiments of that Nature in others so they dealt with this excellent Precept Indeed many of them in Christ's Days made no great Account of this Duty for when they spoke of the summ of the Law of God they repeated part of the sixth Chapter of Deut. Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is one God and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Might This they said taking no notice of the Precept of loving their Neighbour was the summ of the Law of God and this they inscrib'd and writ upon their Philacteries or Parchments they tyed to their Wrists and Foreheads Which shews that the Lawyer who came to Christ to enquire of him What he must do to inherit eternal Life Luke x. 27 was more rational than the rest for when Christ asked him how readest thou he answered Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength and thy Neighbour as thy self Upon which our Saviour tells him That he had answer'd right or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Mark hath it Mark xii 34 So that set aside some few judicious thinking Persons the Scribes and Pharisees in general pretending warrant from Tradition had very slight and slender Notions of loving their Neighbour and though they granted it was a Command of God and confessed their Obligation to obey it yet they had made so many restrictions of it that in effect they had render'd it very insignificant For 1. By the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Neighbour they understood a Friend or a Person that was kind to them or had obliged them the largest signification they would allow of was that of a Jew or a Person of the same Tribe and Kindred and
not take the Expression in that Lax signification here but in a stricter sence for Children which God not only creates but loves whom he delights in as well as give Reason and Understanding to whose Names he writes in Heaven and for whom he designs the Everlasting Inheritance whom he adopts in Christ Jesus and treats as his Friends and Favourites and who are dear as well as related to him and to be sure Men are not born such Children no more than a curious Picture is the Product of the Garden or the Field Man is born like a wild Asses Colt saith Job xi 12 and according to the Doctrine of our Church we are born in Sin as David professes of himself Psal. li. 5 and are by Nature Children of Wrath Eph. ii 2 and if either a new Principle be not put into us or that Principle be not improv'd we become Children of Disobedience Eph. v. 9 and Children of the Devil 1 John iii. 10 Cursed Children 2 Pet. ii 14 Strange Children Hos. v. 7 Foolish disobedient deceived serving divers Lusts and Pleasures living in Envy and Malice hateful and hating one another But after that the kindness of God our Saviour appears not by preceding Works of Righteousness which we have done or which deserve it but according to his Mercy he saves us by the washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he sheds on us through our Lord Jesus Christ saith the Apostle Tit. iii. 3 4 5. And thus we become the Children of God Baptism prepares us the Word of God convinces us the Holy Ghost changes us the Merits of Christ Jesus recommend us our good Works testifie of us the Grace of God accepts of us and at last Heaven receives us and this is to be born of God 1 John iii. 9 or to be born from above John iii. 3 or rather to be born again and that not of corruptible but of incorruptible Seed 1 Pet. i. 23 So that there is a great deal more requir'd to make a Person a Child of God than bare Nature or natural Gifts Here Grace is the chief Ingredient even Grace scowring the Heart with supernatural Motions or with motions of Love Grace manifested not only in Discourses and Speeches and Answers but Works and Actions Divine and Spiritual and Edifying and in the Eye of the World unreasonable and contrary to the Rules of good Manners From all which it clearly appears that the Nature and Honour of a Child of God doth not depend upon the Ranks and Qualities of Men or outward Respects and Privileges No the poorest Man is capable of it as much as he that doth cloath himself with Purple and he that feeds upon the Crums that fall from Dives's Table may be a Child of God as well as the greatest Prince for God is no respecter of Persons And whoever believes in him as he hath reveal'd himself in Christ Jesus Honours Respects and Loves Obeys and Trusts and delights in him as a good-natur'd Child is his Child though with the Infant Saviour he should be forc'd to lie in a Manger though his Bed were Straw and his Attendants Mules and Horses and Cows and Oxen and such homely Animals If ever any thing deserv'd our Care and Industry and seeking and looking after this being a Child or Children of God deserves it Indeed an ordinary diligence will yet procure this Privilege There is the same earnestness requisite here which Solomon requires in getting Spiritual Wisdom Prov. ii 3 If thou cryest after it and liftest up thy voice for it if thou seekest it as Silver and searchest after it as for hid Treasures the Gate of Mercy will fly open and God will admit you into the glorious Liberty of his Children and if Children then Heirs Heirs of Heaven and Coheirs with Christ and all things must work together for your good The right to Honour and Privilege and title of a Child of God is the foundation of the greatest Joy and a true sence of it doth a Man more good upon a Death-bed than all the Drugs and Medicines which either India or Arabia yield It comforts and supports in Tribulation in Anguish in Persecutions in Crosses outward and inward in Poverty in Reproaches in Contempt It is an Argument of God's infinite condescention and gives the Soul a prospect of the future Glory and of her share in it that let come what will she can stand like a Rock at Sea undaunted undisturbed unshaken firm and joyful and taking a view of the Port and Harbour of Life and Immortality For behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestow'd upon us that we should be call'd the Sons of God therefore the World knows us not because it knew him not Beloved now we are the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him saith St. John 1 John iii. 12 But then it is impossible to be like him hereafter except we endeavour to be like him here and to make us so is the great design of our Religion which brings in the II. Proposition That the great design of our Religion is to make us like God or like our Father which is in Heaven That you may be the Children of your Father or like your Father as some old Copies read it I know there have been various vain Pretences of Men of the Stoicks of old particularly who boasted of their Philosophy that it was able to make Men like the Deity in Perfection nay their Vanity went so high that they gloried not only of their Wise Man's likeness but equality with the Supream Being and they were of Opinion that their Wise Man might be as perfect as God Almighty and was not beholding to him that sits in Heaven for his Vertue In a word Jupiter and their Wise Man were Fellows and he enjoy'd an equal right with him who is over all But what the Apostle saith of the Heathen Sages in general Rom. i. 21 may be applied to the Stoicks in particular Because when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful they became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish Heart was darkned professing themselves to be wise they became Fools So far were their Principles from making Men equal with God that they were not able to make them tolerably like him and all their Boastings and phantastick Conceits were meer Bubbles which broke and vanish'd with their own emptiness We have known Tyrannical Princes affect a likeness too I mean a likeness to God Almighty particularly Nebuchadnezzar of whom we read Es. xiv 13 14. that He said in his Heart I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God I will sit also upon the Mount of the Congregation in the sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds I will be like the most High And to this purpose
that hated them and attended those when sick who a little before had plotted against their Lives Acts free from Interest and Design Acts which shew nothing could put us upon them but Religion and Conscience Acts frequent too and continued without weariness of well-doing These even fix the Eyes of the most stupid Creatures upon the Person that performs them and indeed nothing is sooner taken notice of than such Acts as these because there is Divinity in them and such stroaks of the Goodness of Heaven appear in them that Men behold them almost whether they will or not 3. Great Temperance in Cloathing Eating Drinking and Recreations In these most People who are Rich and Great or abound in worldly Goods are very apt to exceed even those who seem to be no ill Christians And therefore where self-denyal appears in all these and a Person who hath both Ability and Opportunity and Temptations to go beyond the Rules of Modesty and Gravity and Sobriety in all or any of these gives Demonstration that something unseen bears the sway within and that he commands his Appetite and keeps under his Body and brings it into Subjection This as it is an Argument of self-Conquest so Men will certainly take notice of it 4. Great Modesty and Sobriety in Discourse when our Speech is always with Grace season'd with Salt when none hears us speak ill of others when no corrupt Communication proceeds out of our Mouths but that which is Good to the use of edifying that it may minister Grace unto the Hearers When nothing drops from our Lips that looks like filthy Talking or foolish and obscene Jesting but on the contrary we take care to let something fall whereby others who are present may be built up in their most Holy Faith this is so remarkable a thing that Men will be sure to take notice of it 5. An unshaken steady and even Piety which changes not with the changes of Conditions and is the same at Sea and on the Shore abroad and at home in the Camp and in the City in a fair and in a cloudy Day in a word which neither the Humour of the Age nor the Example of our Friends nor all the Revolutions of publick Affairs can alter or destroy As all things unusual attract the Eyes of Spectators to the Piety we speak of being a thing out of the common Road there is no question to be made of it but Men will take notice of it 6. Joy in Tribulation To see Men with the Apostles depart from the Council rejoycing because they were counted worthy to suffer Shame for the Name of the Lord Jesus to see them rejoyce when they fall into divers Temptations to see that neither a miserable Life nor a dreadful Death approaching can make them forbear rejoycing in their God and in the hopes of Eternal Life to see them flourish like Palm-trees and that all the weight which Providence lays upon them cannot crush their Hope and Confidence and Rejoycing in him who is altogether lovely This is too bright too shining a Vertue not to be taken notice of by understanding Men. And these are the Noble the Great the Generous Heroick Acts which will make Men take notice of you and say that God is among you indeed Let others be known by their Liveries and Coaches and Pages and Lacquies you who are Christians must be known by such Acts as these I do not deny but most of you do some outward overt Acts of Religion such as coming to Church and kneeling and hearing and joyning with the Congregation but let me tell you that one Act of self-denial will go farther than all these external Services which God knows are too often no more than Formalities Little sprinklings of Devotion mingled with much Rubbish of Sin and Vanity are lost in that Croud and will make no great Impressions on the Eyes and Hearts of those who behold you But such Acts as these shine bright and spread abroad their Lustre and will even force men to confess That the Love of God is shed abroad in your Hearts Indeed this must be the great end in letting the Light of your good Works shine before Men that others may glorifie God which puts us in mind of the fourth Proposition IV. The great end we must propose to our selves in letting the Light of our good Works shine before Men must be this to endear Religion to others and to make those that see them glorifie God That others may see your good Works and glorifie your Father Men glorifie God by seeing our good Works when 1. They are converted by that sight when those good Works work upon them and work their Hearts into consideration of their ways and work so powerfully upon them that they can resist the motives to Repentance and a serious change of Life no longer So it was with those who beheld the good Works of our Saviour John x. 42 John xi 41 And so it was with those Husbands who were won by the chast and meek and quiet Behaviour and Conversation of the female Sex 1 Pet. iii. 2 In this not only appears the wonderful power of God who makes our good Works subservient to the subduing of the Fortresses of Iniquity in others but when those who before dishonoured abused despised and undervalued the Author of their Being and well-being now come to esteem and love and admire him and esteem his Precepts above thousands of Gold and Silver What is this but glorifying God 2. When by our good Works which shine before Men others take occasion to praise and bless God for the Grace they beheld shining in us as the Disciples did when they heard that the Gentiles had receiv'd the Gift of Repentance unto Life Acts xi 18 And as those Strangers did St. Paul speaks of 2 Cor. ix 13 who glorified God for the professed Subjection unto the Gospel of Christ which they beheld in the Corinthian Christians For as it is by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that we do bring forth fruits meet for Repentance so when that Grace which works so powerfully in us produces Praise of Gods Glory in those who behold it it cannot be otherwise but God is glorified by our good Works 3. When others are by what they see in us encouraged to praise God for their own Mercies The good Works which shine in us are not only Treasures which enrich our own Souls but Remembrancers too to put others in mind of what God hath done for them and of the Mercies they enjoy and of the Graces of Gods Spirit which are bestowed on them and animate them to a holy fruitfulness Other Mens Defects and Blemishes such as Blindness Lameness Crookedness Poverty Misery c. are to put us in mind of our Mercies much more the Mercies which others enjoy as well as we And when the spiritual Blessings we enjoy prove a Glass in which others behold the same Blessings Gods bountiful hand hath bestowed on
them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. He that shall make Conscience of these least Commandements and though the World count them little and inconsiderable and looks upon them as things of no moment shall have and bear an equal respect to these the same he doth to those Commands which are acknowledged to be greatest and shall teach Men to do so not only in his Discourses and Colloquies but in his Practice and Example he shall be truly great greater than this World can make him greater than the greatest here on Earth even great and high and honourable in the Kingdom of Heaven Having thus acquainted you with the Sense I must do what I can to enforce this great and weighty Truth and this I cannot do better than by making the following Addresses to your Souls 1. This Text overthrows and breaks the neck of that loose Principle that in order to Salvation it is sufficient to avoid only gross notorious scandalous Sins How can it be sufficient when Christ protests here Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven It 's a marvellous thing to see what Schemes of Divinity Men erect to themselves that they may with greater Security and Satisfaction wallow in the Mire and please the World and the Flesh. I know not whether the Popish distinction of Sins into Mortal and Venial hath contributed to this Error but sure I am that in abundance of things which are not very agreeable to the Rule of the Gospel which yet Custom and Education and the humour of the Age hath made either necessary or convenient the Expedient Men find out is this that they are trivial little inconsiderable Faults whereby the dreadfulness of them soon disappears and this done they practise and commit them without Terror or Regret or Concernment and their Consciences do not at all boggle at them especially while the fair Weather of their Health and Pleasure and Ease and Strength and Liberty and Plenty lasts And of this Nature are most of the things Christ takes notice of in the Discourse succeeding the Text and whereof we shall have occasion to treat more largely in the sequel Such as secret Envy Hatred Grudges Malice in our Heart against our Neighbour abusive Language calling him by ill Names mincing of Oaths needless Asseverations lascivious Thoughts Desires Words Expressions Passions Affections Touches Kisses Looks Glances keeping ill Company and complying with their Follies neglect of several Acts of Charity and self-denials sinister Ends and Intentions in religious Actions mistrust of Gods Providence Discontentedness loving the World better than God c. That these are Sins is evident because they are forbid yet you cannot but know how they are overlook'd as inconsiderable Failings nor do the generality think they lose their Reputation and Character of good Men by not watching against them or by suffering them to go and come as there is occasion While they commit no Sins that send them to Goals and Prisons or bring them to the Gallows or while they keep free from Sins which the Hectors and Deboshees of the Age do wallow in they take themselves to be tolerable Saints and look upon the other Deformities of their Souls as things of no moment and while they are guilty of no Crimes that make them Infamous and can charge themselves with nothing that 's very bloody they have no melancholy Thoughts about the Garment spotted by the Flesh and may be make matter of Sport and Laughter of that which hath cost considerate Men many Tears and mournful Accents There is no doubt but there are greater and lesser Sins and some have greater Malice in them and are attended with greater bruitishness and stupidity with higher degrees of boldness and insolence and are more immediately level'd against the Nature of God than others But though in this respect some are greater some lesser yet if we consider the tremendous God who is offended by that which we call a little Sin it will appear in other Colours for either it is forbid or it is not if it be not forbid it must be either lawful or indifferent if it be forbid it is forbid as much as Adultery or Blasphemy And can any Sin be little that is an Affront to a Great and Infinite Majesty Can that be little which is injurious to Gods Power makes War with his Mercy and Goodness abuses his Patience diminishes his Glory and wrongs his Perfection and Holiness Can that be little which disfigures the noblest Workmanship of God our immortal Souls fills them as it were with Scabs and fullies their Beauty and Splendor Can that be little which manifestly hinders our progress in a spiritual Life stops the Stream and Current of the Divine Grace and Influence and disposes to Damnation Could we play the fool as they do in the Church of Rome and tell you that these lesser Sins may be purged away by a little Holy Water by the Bishops Blessing by smiting the Breast and the bare saying of a Pater noster by a general Confession c. You might think then there is no great matter in them but if they require a serious Repentance and Reformation as well as other Sins who can make light of them Were there nothing in them but that they dispose the Soul to greater Sins and to a loose careless sort of Religion this would be discouragement enough for all the World knows that no Man grows perfectly wicked on a sudden but by degrees they go on to more dareing Impieties Know ye not that a little Leaven leavens the whole lump Saith the Apostle 1 Cor. v. 6 And Behold how great a matter a little Fire kindles saith St. James Chap. III. 5 And doth not Experience tell us to use the words of a certain Divine how an unchast Thought assented to soon welcomes Delight Delight Consent Consent Action Action Custom Custom Habit Habit Perseverance Perseverance an obduracy of Heart which without God's miraculous Providence interposes leads to final Impenitence A Man may avoid scandalous great and clamorous Sins such as Murther Adultery Cursing Blasphemy Theft Extortion Prophaneness c. and yet all this while have not one grain of true Love to God for all this he may do meerly out of regard to his Ease and temporal Interest and if you consider what St. Paul protests that if any Man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema Maranatha Cursed and for ever Cursed 1 Cor. xvi 22 What satisfaction can that Man enjoy within that notwithstanding his shunning some scandalous Sins hath not any tolerable assurance that he loves God and the Lord Jesus Christ If you love him you must keep his Commandments and if Love obliges you to keep one why not another Do not they all come from the same Law-giver Are not they all deliver'd with the same Seriousness and by the same Authority Who makes
to make Proselytes and Converts to their Religion for they compassed Sea and Land to do it Matth. xxiii 15 They were so strict or so nice rather that they were afraid of touching a Person who was counted an open and scandalous Sinner would not only not Eat with him but not so much as Touch him which was the reason why the Pharisee in whose House Christ dined found fault with our Saviour for suffering himself to be touch'd by a Woman who had been a notorious Sinner Luc. vii 39 And this is the account the Scripture gives of them St. Epiphanius adds that many of them would Vow very strict Chastity and Abstinence from the Partners of their Beds some for Four years some for Eight and some for Ten. They were very watchful against all Nocturnal Accidents and partly to prevent them and partly to awake the sooner to Prayer they would Sleep upon Boards not above nine Inches broad that falling or rolling off from those Boards on the Ground they might go to their Devotion some would stuff their Pillows with Stones and Pebles and some would venture even upon Thorns for that purpose Besides their Tythes they separated their First-Fruits and the Thirtieth and Fiftieth part of their Incomes to Pious Uses and as to all Vows and Sacrifices no Persons were more punctual to pay or discharge them than they This was the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees All this looks well and hath a very good Gloss. And one would wonder at first sight how Christ could find fault with these Performances One would think that in stead of blaming he should have commended them for so doing How many Thousands are there in the World that do not do half so much in Matters of Religion and some would look upon themselves as extraordinary Saints if they came up to what the Scribes and Pharisees did so far are they from dreaming of going beyond them But have not You seen some counterfeit Pearls so Artificiously contrived that the ignorant Spectator hath taken them for truly Oriental Have not you seen some curious Limner draw Infects and Butterflies with that Life that one would take them for living Animals The same may be said of the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees As specious as glorious as it look'd it was perfectly or the Nature of the Glow-Worm and shined bright in that dark Night of Ignorance but view'd by Day-light was nothing but a squallid Worm a mere Skeleton of Devotion which leads me II. To shew You the Defects of their Righteousness and they will appear from the following Particulars 1. They laid the Stress of their Devotion upon the Opus Operatum the bare Outward Task and Peformance without any regard to the Inward Frame very indifferent whether their Minds at the same time were season'd with a due sense of God's Greatness and their own Imperfections Just as the People of the Church of Rome at this Day will say so many Credo's so many Pater Noster's so many Ave Maria's and fancy they have done admirably well when they have absolved their Task though their Minds or Thoughts all the while like the Evil Spirit in Job have been wandring to and fro in the Earth And I wish too many who profess themselves Members of the best Church in the World I mean the Church of England did not split their Vessel against this Rock I am sure the Scribes and Pharisees did They made no account of the inward Frame but rested in the Shell and thought God would be pleased with the slaying of a Bullock or Lamb or He-Goat and they measured the Goodness of their Prayers by their Length and Number more than by the great Sense they had of the Shekinah or Divine Presence whereas an humble and devout Mind in the Religious Service was the thing God required at their Hands Mat. xv 8 2. They were very Zealous for the Ceremonial part of Religion but very reguardless of the Moral and more Substantial part of it hot as Fire for the one cold as Ice with respect to the other The neglect of a Ceremony anger'd them more than the omission of a sober and pious Conversation much as the Greeks at this Day look upon breaking a Fast of the Church as a more heinous Crime than Killing or Murthering a Man and to this purpose Christ tells the Pharisees Mat. xxiii 22 23. Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites who strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel Ye pay Tithe of Mint and Cummin and Anise and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith 3. They were abominably selfish in all their Religious Undertakings for all their Works they do to be seen of Men saith our Saviour Matth. xxiii 5 This was the Worm that corrupted their Alms their Prayers their Fasts their Self-Denials their Mortifications and all they did even a design to advance and promote their Profit Interest and Credit and to gain the Applauses and Admirations of Men and though they made long Prayers yet it seems it was to devour Widows Houses Matth. xxiii 14 Their very Doctrins were suited to their Profit and Interest As Transubstantiation Purgatory Private Masses Indulgences Auricular Confession c. in the Church of Rome are invented to aggrandize the Honour and Profit of the Priest so the Tenents they held were accommodated to their Gain and Lucre for they taught the People that there was greater Holiness in the Gold of the Temple than in the Temple and greater Sanctity in the Gift upon the Altar than in the Altar it self thereby to oblige the People to bring Gold and Gifts into the Temple whereby the Priests who were of the Order of the Pharisees suckt no small advantage Matth. xxiii 16 17. 4. They took care to purifie the outward Man but took none to cleanse the Heart and the Soul Such Acts of Piety and Devotion as were stately and favour'd of Pomp and served to attack the Eyes of Spectators they were for and of this Nature were all their External Severities and Rigors and Revenges they used upon themselves But as to Mortifying their inward Pride and Rancour and Hatred and Malice and Covetousness and love of the World they were so great Strangers to it that they did not think it part of their Religion which makes Christ tell them Thou blind Pharisee cleanse first that which is within the Cup and Platter that the outside of them may be clean also Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees for ye are like unto whited Sepulchres which appear fair unto Men but within are full of Rotten Bones even so ye appear outwardly Righteous unto Men but within are full of Covetousness Matth. xxiii 26 27. 5. Though they own'd professed and taught the Law of Moses yet in effect they preferr'd their wild and phantastick Traditions before it Not to mention their common Proverb That the Words of the Scribes i. e. of their Traditionary Divines were more Lovely
all your mournful Accents will open the Kingdom of Heaven to you If you go no farther than these Men by this Rule of Christ you must inevitably be Miserable and all your Wealth and Grandeur and Estates and Relatives cannot help you If you go no farther you sink into a State of Hypocrisie and I need not tell you that the Portion of Hypocrites is a very sad Portion for it is to be cast into outward Darkness where there is Howling and Gnashing of Teeth so saith your Master and mine Matth. xxiv 51 In speaking to You I speak to Christians even to Men who believe that to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is beyond all the Bliss that this or Ten Thousand Worlds do afford and that not to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is to be Wretched and Miserable Odious and Contemptible beyond Expression and to Groan in Torments to Eternal Ages This is the Notion You have of these Things as You own Your selves Christians Men Fathers and Brethren do you believe the Prophets Do you believe the Apostles Do you believe the Son of God that came into the World to save Sinners I know you believe and surely this is Motive sufficient to suffer the Word of Exhortation If therefore any of you have hitherto laid the stress of your Devotion upon the External Task and been Strangers to the inward frame of Mind which is in the sight of God of great Price If you have been Zealous for small little inconsiderable Things in Matters of Religion and have wilfully neglected the more Substantial and Self-Denying part of it If you have been Selfish in your Acts of Piety and Righteousness and been Devout and Good for Worldly Ends more than from a Sense of your Duty If you have taken some care to Purifie your outward Man from Clamorous and Scandalous Sins and have been careless of rectifying what is amiss within you even of subduing that immoderate Love of the World and Pride and Revengeful Thoughts and Desires and Anger and wrathful Temper and other secret Sins which do so easily beset you If you have thought it your Duty to observe some of the greater Commandments of the Gospel and made no Conscience of the lesser All this Fabrick must be pulled down undone and unravell'd and you must turn over a new Leaf and apply your selves to a true Gospel Life and Temper else there is no entring into the Kingdom of Heaven Flatter not your selves with the Merits and Sufferings and Death of Christ Jesus for poor Sinners I grant I own this is a very Glorious and comfortable Truth and there is no sincere Believer but confesses to thy Praise and Glory O Blessed Jesu That there is no Name under Heaven given whereby Men may be Saved but thine alone But still it is this exceeding the Scribes and Pharisees in their Righteousness that must give you a Title to the benefits of the Death of Jesus Christ By this the Pardon of your Sins which was purchased by that Death must be sued out and applied and rendred comfortable to your Souls and if the Death of Christ doth not kill in you that Hypocrisie and Partiality which made the Righteousness of the Pharisees defective that Death cannot will not profit you All the Christian World knows that the design of Christ's dying for Sinners was That they which Live should not henceforth Live unto themselves but unto him that Died for them and rose again They are the express Words of the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. v. 15 and it is as certain that you cannot Live unto him that Died for you except your Righteousness be a Righteousness without Guile and therefore beyond that of the Scribes and Pharisees I suppose you are sensible that Christ cannot contradict himself when he spake these Words He knew he was to Die for Sinners yet to these Sinners for whom he was to Die he protests Except your Righteousness shall exceed c. And therefore certainly the Mercies of his Death cannot clash with our Duty and whosoever means to enjoy the Benefits of that Death must Die to the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and a Righteousness more Rational an Evangelical Righteousness must Live in him even that which St. Paul speaks of Phil. iii. 9 And that 's the Life of God as it is called Ephes. iv 18 If we are to exceed these Men in their Righteousness we must do more than they did and if we do more can we do less than what hath been hinted in the preceding Particulars of Sincerity Simplicity Humility Charity and Vniversality of Obedience For these Qualifications rectifie what was amiss in the Righteousness of these Men and set us in the right way from which those Self-Conceited Men deviated and wandred in a Wilderness of Vulgar Errours Should any of you be so Unfortunate what I say here is nothing but a plain and easie Comment upon the Commination of the Text I say should any of you be so unfortunate as to come before the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven and be denied entrance there how like a Thunder-bolt would this strike you And yet I see not how it is possible to prevent it if these Words of Christ make no impression upon you or do not oblige you to go beyond these Men in their Acts of Devotion and Piety Their Righteousness was an External Mechanical starcht kind of Righteousness it was not Free not Natural and they took no care to reform their Thoughts Desires Lusts Affections and such Things as Human Laws take no notice of and it 's to be feared that this is the Disease of too great a number of Christians Nay Thousands there are which do not come up to so much as the Negative Virtues of the Scribes and Pharisees They were no Drunkards no Swearers no Whoremongers no Adulterers and yet how many that profess themselves Illuminated by the Gospel of Christ are so and worse than so And if even those who do not exceed the Righteousness of these Men shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven how shall those that are not so good as they And but that Unbelief and Stupidity reigns so much in the Hearts of Men certainly here is enough to fright them from the Carnal Life they lead There stands before the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven an Angel with a Flaming Sword as much as there did before the Gate of Paradise to keep out all those who voluntarily chuse Death before Life and do not you chuse Death before Life when you had rather forfeit your share in the Kingdom of Heaven than exceed the Scribes and Pharisees in their Righteousness Surely it must be a dismal and deplorable Condition when Men have flattered themselves all their Life time with hopes of entring into the Kingdom of Heaven to find themselves at last thrust out and may not this be the condition of some of you And is not the very possibility of it enough to oblige you to Purifie and
Men Do not you own that God sees the very Secrets of your Hearts and do you hope to hide your secret Malice from his All-seeing Eye Do you hope to make the Sepulchre so white that he shall not spy the rotten Bones that lie concealed there Do you think to make the Grass so thick that the Snake which lies underneath shall escape the piercing Eye of his Omniscience Vnderstand this ye bruitish among the People and ye Fools when will ye be wise He that planted the Ear shall not he hear He that formed the Eye shall not he see Psal. xciv 8 9. INFERENCES To draw some Inferences from the Premises I. What I have said is no discouragement to external Duties No! Your Gifts must be brought to the Altar and God must be worshiped and honoured and adored God your Relation to him and your Interest requires it God the Author of your Being Hath he made you Creatures and rational Creatures Creatures capable of understanding Glory and Excellency above all created Beings and shall not he have your Homage even the Homage of Prayer and Praises and acknowledgment of his Authority He that spoke you into Being hath not he power to command you Hath not he power to prescribe Rules how you are to worship him And dare you deny him that service which your entire dependance upon his Charity doth challenge at your Hands Do not you acknowledge him as the All-seeing the All-knowing the Almighty the All-wise the most Perfect the most Holy the most Blessed the most Happy Potentate the King Immortal Invisible and who inhabits Eternity and doth not his Incomprehensible Excellency deserve Love and Delight and Admiration and Adoration and suitable Expressions of Duty and Respect Do you own him for your greatest Benefactor and the rich Fountain from which all things come that make you Rich and Healthy and Easy and Blessed and Glorious both in this World and in that which is to come and can you do less than apply your selves to Prayers and Supplications and devout Humiliations before the Throne of his Glory Do you look upon him as the inexhausted Spring of Bounty and Mercy and Compassion Do you own all this and shall you think much of bowing the Knee before him and breaking forth into Celebrations of his wonderful Works Nay have not you found it very Comfortable to do so to tread his Courts and to worship him in the Beauty of Holiness If you have not ask those who feel and find that one day in his Courts is better than a Thousand in the Tents of Wickedness where Plenty flows and Sensuality abounds and that they had rather be Door-keepers in the House of their God than to divide the Spoil with the Rich and with the Great Do you take all this to be Fancy only or do you think that these are only Symptoms of brain-sick and melancholy Men If so whence is it that such Men find comfort when the profane Herd can find none Whence is it that such Persons can rejoice in Tribulations under which the careless Sinner faints and sinks and casts away his Hope Look abroad and see who hath greater Comforts greater Peace and greater Consolation Consolation I mean that 's solid and lasting and can resist Storms and weather the greatest Brunts than those who Love and Admire and Adore and Worship him who lives forever and ever This therefore is certain that God must be Worship'd and Devotion and external Service must be paid him whether it be Fasting or Alms or Prayer or Praise or a thankful remembrance of the Death of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament But then I add that our taking notice of the Faults and Errors which some of you commit in these Religious Services is no just Discouragement to the faithful performance of these Services Are we therefore your Enemies because we tell you the Truth Is it not Kindness in us to shew you the Rocks you are to shun Is it not Charity in us to acquaint you in what manner these Services are to be performed Do not you find fault with your Servants and Children if they do not things according to your Mind And do not you tell them of it that they may amend and do better And is not our Intent and Design the same Would ye offer Devotions to God which vanish in the Air Would not you have your Adorations of him useful and profitable to you and if so then we tell you by the Word of the Lord that without Charity they are nothing worth and did ye speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels nay could ye pray like Angels and have no Charity ye would be no better than sounding Brass or atinkling Cymbal and though ye had all Faith so that you could remove Mountains and have no Charity ye are nothing and if ye bestow'd all your Goods to feed the Poor and gave your Bodies to be Burnt and have no Charity it would profit ye nothing 1 Cor. xiii 1 2 3. That 's the first II. Let none of you entertain high and lofty Conceits of your Religious Services because they are called Gifts when thou bringest thy gift to the Altar If they are called Gifts it 's not their intrinsick Worth or Merit that is the cause but it 's God's infinite Goodness and Mercy that is pleased to call that a Gift which is our bounden Duty and they are called Gifts not as if we might chuse whether we will offer them or not but to let us see with what Freedom Alacrity and Chearfulness they ought to be performed That which makes a Gift very pleasing to the Person who receives it is the Candour the Ingenuity the Chearfulness the Alacrity the readiness of the Giver I will freely Sacrifice unto thee saith the Royal Prophet Psal. liv 6 Dragg'd Services he doth not care for and Devotions offered to him with an unwilling Mind are a Smoak in his Nostrils But the Votary that comes chearfully to his Altar that with a good Will worships him that runs to his Duty that goes to it as if he were going to a Banquet with Joy and secret Exultation and like him Psal. cxxii 1 is glad when they say unto him let us go into the House of the Lord that 's the Person upon whom his Eyes are open for Good that 's the Man whom he sees coming as he did the Penitent Prodigal when he was yet afar off the good Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his Neck and Kissed him Such Services have Love at the Root Love that constrains that forces that compels the Soul to advance toward the Throne of Grace and Mercy Such Services God meets with Euges with Applauses with Approbations such Services he calls Gifts such he Honours with that glorious Title not to make us Proud but to encourage us to our Duty But the Man who values his Religious Services as if he did God a greater Kindness by them than he doth to himself
not in the usual Style it is written but with this Circumscription ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time i. e. Your Ancestors who lived when Religion was low and Corruptions and Abuses crept into their Worship and Devotion have taught you that the outward Act of Adultery is the great thing you are to dread and to be afraid of and with this partial Sense they have handed down to you this Command of God Thou shalt not commit Adultery But I say unto you that whosoever looks on a Woman to Lust after her hath already committed Adultery with her in his Heart For the understanding of which words I shall enquire I. In what sense Christ speaks here of Adultery II. I shall consider the Justice of this Verdict or the reasonableness of this Censure That whosoever looketh on a Woman hath already committed with her Adultery in his Heart III. Whether notwithstanding all this there is not some difference betwixt Adultery in the Heart and the outward Act as to the heinousness of it 1. In what sense Christ doth speak here of Adultery Adultery properly is a violation of the Marriage Bed when either one or both of the married Parties commit Folly in Israel either with a Person married to another or with one that is not married But as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek which we render Adultery is of a larger Extent and Signification and imports not only Adultery in the strictest sense but Fornication too which is either a single Persons being joined to a common Harlot or violating the Chastity of a Person of civil Education and indeed any Carnal Conjunction or mixture to fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh out of the compass and Bond of Matrimony So in all probability Christ aims farther and means more by this word than a bare Violation of the Marriage Bed not only because he intends in this Sermon to give us a perfect Rule to walk by but because the Jews in that Age restrain'd not only the Law against Adultery but even that against Fornication and other Mixtures and Carnal Conjunctions not Matrimonial whether Incestuous or otherwise to the outward Act only as if in matters of Uncleanness that only was chiefly forbid and deserved God's Anger and Indignation and the consequent of it Damnation And therefore the reason why Christ makes mention of Adultery only is not because the Jews in those times look'd upon single Fornication as a trifling Sin or Peccadillo No! The Pharisees though bad enough yet were not so bad as to allow of or connive at Fornication for the Law of Moses had made express Proviso's against it There shall not be a Whore of the Daughters of the Children of Israel saith God Deut. xxiii 17 Thou shalt not prostitute thy Daughter to cause her to be a Whore Levit. xix 20 And when particularly the Daughter of a Priest had committed Whoredom she was to be burnt with Fire Levit. xxi 9 Moreover whoever had defloured a Virgin no Slave no Foreigner but one of the Stock of Abraham whether Servant or other he was obliged to marry her Exod. xxii 16 a Law so reasonable that even the Heathens the Athenians transcribed it into their Pandects or Statute Book And when the Father of the Maiden thus vitiated would not consent to her being married to the Person who had abused her the Person who had humbled her was to give the Maiden whom he had defloured a Dowry as if he had been actually married to her And when in one day three and twenty thousand fell i. e. were slain by an Angel the Apostle saith it was for Fornication 1 Cor. x. 8 Nay if a Virgin had suffered her self to be defloured before Marriage and the Crime was found out after she was Married she was to be stoned to Death Deut. xxii 21 So that I say the reason why Christ doth make mention only of Adultery in the Text is not because the Jews then look'd upon Fornication as a trivial and inconsiderable Fault but he finds fault with their sinister Interpretation of the Law of God even because they confined the Prohibition of Adultery Fornication Incest and other practical Lewdness and carnal Pollutions to the outward Act only and look'd upon adulterous and lewd Desires Lusts Passions Affections c. as things of no Moment and which might easily be expiated by Sacrifices and other cheap Devotions such as Lustrations Purifications c. And here comes in Christ's Censure that the very Desires in the Heart after this forbidden Fruit were as bad as the outward Act it self The II d. Part I am to speak to Whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath already committed Adultery with her in his Heart To understand the reasonableness of this Censure we are to note 1. That the bare looking on a Woman is not sinful for as Tertullian observes a Christian may look safely on a Woman whose Heart is blinded or hardened against Lasciviousness The bare Looks cannot well be avoided it 's one end for which our Sight was given that we might look one upon another But it 's the abuse of the Eyes and Looks that is forbid It 's true through the Eyes the Poison is conveyed to the Heart according to the old saying Oculi sunt in amore Duces the Eyes are the Guides in Love but still this depends upon a Mans choice whether he will make his Eyes Windows to let in wholsom or infectious Air. St. Peter speaks of Eyes full of Adultery 2 Pet. ii 14 but it 's meant of Eyes that are first corrupted by the Will Where a Christian doth Oculum metu temperare temper and moderate and curb and restrain his Eye with a holy Fear and Watchfulness he may look upon the greatest Beauty without danger saith Tertul. And therefore 2. It is added Whosoever looketh after a Woman to lust after her c. So that if the Looks cause secret lewd Purposes Desires and Lusts and Affections in the Mind and Will the Adultery or Fornication is actually committed in the Heart though the outward Act is and may be impeded or hindred by Circumstances and occasional Causes which fall out cross I need not tell you that what is said here of looking on a Woman to lust after her is not to be understood of the chast Desires of Persons lawfully married one after another for Marriage is Honourable and the Bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will Judge Heb. xiii 4 And to avoid Fornication let every Man have his own Wife and every Woman her own Husband saith St. Paul 1 Cor. vii 2 And drink Water out of thine own Cistern and running Waters out of thine own Well Let thy Fountain be always blessed and rejoice with the Wife of thy Youth and let her be unto thee as the loving Hind and as the pleasant Roe and be thou always ravished with her Love Prov. v.
the first Insinuations of it and the dangerous Spark as soon as thrown in must be shaken out of their Bosom Lust in some Persons is naturally stronger than it is in others and its Motions more violent in one Man than in another where it is so greater care must be used but still the chief Remedy is to beat off the first Images and Representations of it My Text gives me occasion to speak here of the proper Remedies whereby this Sin may be cured but because the two next Verses treat of these Receipts I shall reserve the Discourse of such Medicines till that Occasion 2. If impure Thoughts are so dangerous what then must be obscene Expressions and filthy Jesting and amorous Songs and talking of things which a modest Person must blush at And yet how fashionable are such Discourses grown And stiled Wit and Salt and ingenious Repartees A true Christian is a very chast Creature and he counts it but a pitiful Piece of Self-Denial to forbear the outward Acts of Adultery or Fornication or Sins of that Nature His Chastity appears in his Words and Expressions too Nay he goes farther than that and will not suffer a Lustful Thought to lodge in his Breast and then how should he allow himself Liberty in Discourses and Speeches which intrench upon the Rules of Gravity and Modesty He that is a stranger to this Watchfulness over his Words may call himself a Christian so we call a Picture a Man but he had need go to School again and learn which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God and among these he 'll find these two necessary Rules Ephes. iv 29 Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouths but that which is good to the use of Edifying that it may minister Grace unto the hearers and Ephes. v. 3 But Fornication and all Vncleanness and Covetousness let it not be once named among you as becomes Saints neither Filthiness nor foolish Talking nor Jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of Thanks 3. Give me leave to Suggest to you that there is a Spiritual Adultery which many of us who perhaps detest Carnal Adultery as they do Toads and Serpents may be very guilty of And this as well as the Sin of the Flesh excludes from the Kingdom of Heaven and it is no other than inordinate Love of the World or such a Love of the World which makes us neglect our Duty to God and to our own Souls To this purpose St. James Jam. iv 4 Ye Adulterers and Adultresses know ye not that the Friendship of the World is emnity with God and whosoever will be a Friend of the World is an Enemy of God We are Married to Christ Jesus He is our Bridegroom and our Husband who bought us with his Blood and made us his own by the dearest thing imaginable by laying down his Life for us And there is none that knows how Love Affection and Fidelity and seeking one anothers Happiness are the indispensable Duties of married Persons but must grant that these Qualifications must necessarily be required of us with respect to our Lord and Master and Husband Christ who hath not failed to do his Part but hath loved us discovered his Faithfulness to us and sought our Happiness even to Astonishment If we make not the same returns or pay that Love and Fidelity to the World to the Riches and Pleasures of this Life which are due to him as our Husband we become Adulterers and Adulteresses and the love of the Father is not in us 1 Joh. xi 16 Carnal Adultery is a crying Sin one of the blacker sort A Sin so heinous that the Primitive Church especially the African would give no Pardon for it no though the Offendour were never so Penitent nor admit him to their Publick Prayers and Communion Such dreadful Apprehensions had they of this Sin if a Person fell into it after Baptism Indeed it is a Violation of the most sacred Institution of God and making a Separation there where God hath commanded the greatest Union It is a manifest Violation of that Faith which was given to each other before God and the elect Angels and the whole Congregation It is an Injustice attended with Profanation of God in whose Name the Parties were joined together there is Theft there is Robbery in it for one of the Parties is not only Robbed of his or her right but of the greatest Jewel which is Peace and content of Mind It is a Profanation of the greatest Mystery of our Religion even the Union of Christ and his Church which is represented by Marriage And if the Conscience in the guilty Person awakes on this side the Grave it will fill the Soul with very great Horrour kindle Hell fire in her Bosom as a presage of the Flames that will shortly if God's Mercy doth not interpose be her Portion in the other World So heinous a Sin is Carnal Adultery And shall we make nothing of Spiritual Adultery Which must necessarily be as dreadful as the Person whom we are tied to is more excellent the Wrong that 's done to him greater and his Arm more powerful to revenge our Treachery In the two standing Sacraments of the Church we own this Marriage and profess we are united to God in a Matrimonial Bond that we are joined to Christ Jesus and that we will be Faithful to him beyond all Persons whatsoever Love nothing like him Honour and Reverence him as our Head and suffer our selves to be guided by him If we neglect all this care not for so great a Person are taken with Trifles more than with his Love and espouse those Sins which his Soul doth hate if we leave him in Adversity forsake him in the time of Danger comply with the World and had rather part with a good Conscience than with our Ease and Profit and Advantages in the World Is this Matrimonial Love Is this being faithful to the Husband of our Souls Is not this breaking the Bond and dissolving the Tie and divorcing our selves from him who loved us and wash'd us with his own Blood And will not this Perfidiousness make him break out in the Language of a disconsolate Husband I am broken with their whorish Heart which hath departed from me Ezech. vi 9 Well a Christian that 's sensible of the Unreasonableness of such Perfidiousness I am sure will take another Course and submit himself heartily and willingly to the Saviour of the Body Christ Jesus and like a loving dutiful Wife be subject to him in the fear of God and that 's the way to share in all his Benefits even in the Benefits mention'd Ephes. v. 25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church SERMON XXVI St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 29 30. And if thy right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole Body should
consider what it means which is the reason why they are frighted with it less than with a Fire in a Chimney but that must be ascribed altogether to the want of thinking which we see makes Men even so brutish here that they venture upon Actions which lead them to the Gallows If Hell be really such a Fire as the Gospel describes it as undoubtedly it is a thinking or considerate Man will dread it infinitely more than cutting off a Limb or pulling out an of Eye the loss of these is Sport to that Fire When Nahash the Ammonite 1 Sam. xi 2 proposed to the Men of Jabesh Gilead that he would take them under his Protection if he might thrust out their right Eyes and lay the Punishment as a Reproach upon Israel the distressed Men if no help had come from above were content to suffer that Pain and Misery to avoid his greater Barbarities and therefore that Man must have no Sense no Reason I am sure no Faith that being in danger of being cast into Hell for want of this Watchfulness should not chuse a lesser Evil before a greater and prefer a momentary Pain before one Endless and Eternal But blessed be God this Watchfulness against Sin is attainable without plucking out the right Eye and cutting off the right Hand in a literal Sense even by great Industry and Courage and striving and taking pains with our selves And yet even this will not take with some of you If this Watchfulness against Sin might be had without Labour without Trouble without searching and trying your ways without Examination without Circumspection without fervent Prayer without meditating on the Love of God and the Charity of our Lord Jesus Christ it s like many of you would be contented to embrace it but these are perfect Impossibilities and Contradictions and when you can hope for a good Crop of Corn from a Field which you never Sowed and look for Fire out of a Flint when you never strike it and expect a rich Return from the Indies when you never ventured any thing In a Word when you can hope for Grapes of Thorns and Figs of Thistles then you may also hope to arrive to this holy Watchfulness without Industry All this I mention to let you see what a Value you are to set upon this Watchfulness against Sin if you do not you will never go about it like Persons concerned for what we do not value we mind not What 's the Reason that so many Thousands rush into Sin as the Horse rushes into the Battle They watch not they have not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers call it that advertency of Mind which is requisite and they have it not because they do not value it Did you value it you would leave no Stone unturn'd to be Masters of it and that which ought to make you value it is this that God in the Text saith it is of that Consequence that its worth plucking out your right Eye and cutting off your right Hand rather than to continue destitute of it But I hasten to consider the II. Proposition viz. That to attain to a truly Spiritual Life or to root up Habits of Sin if gentler Means will not do a Christian must apply himself to a more painful Discipline This is also very plainly intimated in the Text which though it requires not a real plucking out of the Eyes and cutting off the right Hand yet the Expressions here used do import some painful Labour which is to be done in order to arrive to those excellent Vertues and Qualifications which Christ requires in the preceding Verses This was very wholsome Doctrin in the Primitive Ages when Men entertain'd very high Thoughts of a Spiritual Life and the strange Self-Denials they practised the Mortifications they used and their acting contrary to the Humours Customs and Fashions of the World shews their Belief that such a Life was not to be had without such a Discipline In the Age we live in Men have found another way of Mortifying themselves an easier and softer Way and they hope to mortify their Luxury in the midst of all the variety of Dishes which can tempt a lawless Appetite and they hope to mortify their Pride by allowing themselves in all the vain Dresses the World doth invent and to mortify their Anger by resenting the least Affront or Injury that 's offer'd them and to mortify their Wantonness by pampering their Bodies and giving themselves all manner of Liberty in Talking Jesting Fooling and to mortify their Covetousness by grasping as much as they can and their Love to the World by making the vainest Persons their Patterns and they hope after all to arrive to purity of Heart by sitting in Ale-houses and Taverns an admirable way to a truly Spiritual Life St. Paul took a quite different Method for he arrived to it by Weariness by Painfulness by Watchings often by Fasting often by Hunger and Thirst by Cold and Nakedness 2 Cor. xi 27 By keeping under his Body and bringing it into subjection 1 Cor. ix 27 By much Patience in Afflictions in Distresses in Tumults in Imprisonments by Knowledge by Long-suffering by Kindness by the Holy Ghost by going through good Report and evil Report by Honour and Dishonour c. 2 Cor. vi 4 5 6 7. And though all this seems a painful Way yet Love made it easy Love to the Lord Jesus a mighty Love a fervent Love a Love which made him count all things Dross and Dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. To root up a Habit of Sin whether of Anger or Pride or Covetousness or Love of the World or Intemperance c. is not to be done by cold Wishes or a spiritless customary Devotion and to get the Soul refined into the Life of God a Life of Meekness and Patience and Zeal and Courage and rellishing things Spiritual and delighting in them there is required great curbing of Affections and Self-Denials in things which Custom Fashion and a sickly Age counts Harmless and Innocent In Persons who are come up to a Habit of a Spiritual Life the gentler Means such as Prayer Resolution a conscientious use of the means of Grace Meditation Consideration c. may serve to maintain and preserve what with some Labour they have attained to And some excellent Tempers there are which by a secret influence of Gods Spirit are naturally inclin'd to Goodness and in such the gentler Means may do much But such happy Tempers are not very common Some there are so fickle so inconstant and so unsteddy that whatever good Desires they may have the next Temptation carries them off again makes them relapse and their Goodness proves a Morning Dew And such certainly stand in need of stronger Corroboratives And Experience teaches us how Habits of Sin the Effects of Custom and the Practice of many years mock all tender touches and therefore certainly here some more painful Discipline must be used
Sin black and to be abhorr'd by all that have any sense of another Life For an Oath relates to God whatever the thing be that 's named in it The change of the Name doth not alter the Nature of it and if it be unlawful to Swear so much as by the Hairs of our Heads how can it be lawful to Swear by something of greater worth than these Excrements As it is in common Swearing so it is with other Sins Because such a Man doth not invent downright lies concerning his Neighbour and so spreads them abroad it doth not follow that he doth not hate him The change of the outward Act doth not make a change in the nature of the Sin and therefore if with delight you speak evil of your Brethren though it be no more than what you have heard and designedly report it to render them Ridiculous or Contemptible or do them no good when their necessities require it or it lies in the power of your hand to do it it is Hatred and Malice and Baseness and Unkindness still whatever alteration there may be in the manner of venting it So you may be guilty of Intemperance by eating and drinking more than Nature requires or becomes a modest Person though you are not Drunk and be notoriously guilty of Luxury by a constant indulging your Fancy Appetite and Love to the World to the tickling and satisfaction of the Flesh though with Dives you are not every day cloath'd in Purple and fare Deliciously every day and guilty of Revenge by Word and Thought though you do not break down your Neighbours Hedge nor Assault him when you meet him with a Sword and guilty of unworthy receiving of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist by continuance in known Sins though with some of the Corinthians you do not come disguised and disordered to this Feast and guilty of Covetousness by being greedy and anxious after the Riches of this World though you are not quite so sordid as some old Usurers and of Fornication by your Lustful Desires and Concupiscences though you do not commit the outward Act where a Sin hath several Branches shooting out of it's Trunk there a Man repents not till all those dangerous Boughs be lopt of nay the Axe be laid to the very Root of the evil Tree and to the sinful inclination II. We see here how want of Consideration is the cause that Men see not or are not sensible of the heinousness of their Sins It was want of thinking that made the Men against whom my Text is level'd fansie there was no harm in their Swearing by Heaven and Earth or by Jerusalem c. whereas a little serious pondering of the thing would have made them know that all the while they Swore by and consequently abused that God in their common Discourses to whom Heaven and Earth had peculiar Relation There are abundance of Sins swallow'd without chewing which were they laid open in their Native Colours would appear big enough to choak the Conscience and be found Morsels which have Death and Eternal Misery in them more dangerous than the wild Herbs in the Pot in the time of Elisha Going to Stage-plays as they are ordered and managed in this corrupt Age seems to be a harmless Recreation at the worst but a tolerable Infirmity but if it be considered that it is making our selves partakers of other Mens Sins that by our presence we encourage an unlawful calling that by going we expose our selves to very dangerous Temptations which in stead of running into we should flee and shun and are apt to laugh at that Profaneness which should make us weep that hereby we harden others in their Impiety and give scandal to weaker Christians that these Theatrical shews are inconsistent with the very design of Christianity which commands us not to conform to the World and requires that filthiness and foolish talking and jesting should not be so much as named among us Eph. v. 3 4. and bids us to be grave and modest and serious and shun the very appearances of Evil that they are contrary to our Vow in Baptism and the Doctrine of the Cross which enjoyns us to mortifie lightness of Behaviour and to abstain from frothy and unsavoury Discourses and allows no delight in sinful sights c. If this were seriously considered in stead of alluring these plays would fright instead of enticing they would discourage us from ever beholding such shews where God is so often affronted and Religion derided and Vertue Ridiculed and Gravity laught at and modesty look'd upon to be a beggarly qualification and Vice represented in amiable colours Neglect of daily Self-examination in the Eye of the World is an inconsiderable fault but if it were considered that by this Neglect our Sins and Defects remain unknown to us our Vertues thrive not our Graces grow not and Blindness seizes upon our Understandings and the greater and weightier matters of the Law are omitted and the Soul sinks into a form of Godliness and contents her self with Shews and Shadows of Devotion I say if this were considered the neglect would appear more heinous I Instance only in these particulars but I would advise you to carry on the Notion to other particular Sins and Neglects you find your selves prone to and in doing so you 'll see an absolute necessity of shuning many things which now you pass by without taking notice of and of restraining your selves in that in which now you allow your selves very great Liberty In a Word most Sins appear little till they come to be examined and viewed by the Word of God and by the concomitant and consequent dangers which attend them not that I would have any one think himself into despair or make every Molehill a Mountain but I would intreat you so to consider your suspicious Words and Actions and Desires that you may get just Apprehensions of your Faults and become more conformable to the Canons of Repentance and the Rule of Righteousness III. We see here since Heaven is said to be the Throne of God with what Reverence we ought to look up to Heaven where God is seated as it were in his Chair of State The Phrase Christ makes use of is borrow'd from Es. lxvi 1 Thus saith the Lord Heaven is my Throne the Earth is my Footstool which imports no confinement of God to a certain place but is only a Metaphorical Expression taken from great and mighty Princes and Potentates who appear in Majesty when sitting on their Thrones with a Footstool under them So that all these Sayings express only God's infinite Greatness and Excellency above all his Creatures In Heaven God gives the most visible and most conspicuous Signs and Marks of his glorious Presence and Love and therefore it is call'd his Throne and because there is a lesser manifestation of his Glory here on Earth it is call'd his Footstool because there is less Art bestow'd on that than on the Throne With what
Injury no doubt will be able to endure a less This is that policy a Christian is to make use of to Dissipate the Stratagems of the Devil and he that applies himself to this Method of resisting Revengeful Desires hath something to bear witness that he is become wise unto Salvation 2. This is an excellent sign that we have a huge command of our Passions and Affections Were I to shew a Christian in his Beauty I would shew him in this dress for he that is slow to Anger is better than the Mighty and he that rules his Spirit than he that takes a City Prov. xvi 32 The mighty Men whose Names sound big who have filled the World with Slaughters and made themselves masters of Kingdoms Cities Towns Countries have still been Strangers to this command of their Passions This command makes a Man a Christian for they that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with it's Affections and Lusts and no doubt he shews that he hath Crucified all these that rather than return Evil for Evil endures a greater Evil. 3. This is the most likely Method to make People admire and fall in love with Religion which gives Men such power and enables them to do what Nature Art and Philosophy are not able to effect We have a great instance of this in a case not very unlike that I speak of in a pious Man in India who Preaching the Gospel to those Barbarians as he stood in the Street discoursing of Christ Crucified an Indian full of Spight and Spleen having gathered what filth and nastiness he could came up to him and spit full in his Face The good Man not at all concerned at the Affront gently wiped away the Spittle and went on in his Discourse not moved in the least with the injury an Act so Astonishing to that barbarous People that abundance came in and professed themselves Proselytes of Christianity There are so few Men in this Age that practice these stricter Precepts of our Religion that that 's one Reason why so few are Converted or become Obedient to the Faith Such extraordinary acts of Patience under Injuries would make Sensual Men stand amaz'd at the mighty Power of God in our Souls and oblige them to yield their Members Servants of Righteousness unto Holiness 4. From hence flows the sweetest Peace and Satisfaction even from hence when rather than return Evil for Evil we are ready to suffer a greater Evil. Self-denial is the Key that unlocks the hidden Treasures of Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Hence came that mighty Peace we find in the Holy Apostles and their Followers St. Paul tells us a very strange thing of himself 2 Cor. vii 4 I am exceeding joyful in all our Tribulation This looks like the greatest Paradox What rejoyce in Chains in Hunger in Thirst and Nakedness What rejoyce in Dungeons in Prisons in Distresses by Land and by Water Is it possible to rejoyce in Persecutions in being made the filth and off-scouring of the World It had been something if he had said with Solomon Eccles. ii 4 I am exceeding joyful because I have made me great Works built me Houses planted Vineyards made me Gardens and Orchards planted me Trees of all kind of Fruits made me Pools of Water to water therewith the Wood that brings forth Fruit and gotten me Servants and Maidens and had Servants born in my House and because I have great Possessions of great and small Cattle and have gather'd Silver and Gold and the peculiar Treasure of Kings and have gotten me Singers and Women-Singers c. These are the gaudy things that make the Children of Men merry and joyful but to talk of being exceeding joyful under a very sorrowful scene of Misery this sounds as if the Apostle were besides himself But no the good Man was in his Wits his Reason strong and lively within him and he felt what he said and what could be the Reason of this Joy Why It was Self-denial and the greater the Self-denial is the greater is the Joy and what greater Self-denial could there be than what he mentions 1 Cor. iv 12.13 Being reviled we bless being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat as if he had said Rather than return Evil for Evil we are ready to suffer a greater Evil Men in whom sense and love of the World reigns must needs be unacquainted with this Joy But thus it is not with Persons who live by Faith in the Son of God These both taste it and feel it and the reason is because they tread in the Steps of Christ Jesus who when he was reviled reviled not again and when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judges righteously 1 Pet. ii 23 Inferences 1. From these words it doth not follow that therefore the Office of the Magistrate is needless or that a Christian cannot lawfully and conscientiously be a Magistrate These words of our Saviour are indeed alledged to prove it and the Objection runs thus If we Christians are to endure Injuries patiently are not to demand Retaliation from the Magistrate and rather than Revenge our selves are to suffer a greater Injury the Office of a Magistrate which consists chiefly in revenging Wrongs and Injuries and in returning Evil for Evil is needless nay dangerous nor can a Christian conscientiously engage in an Office which obliges him to act contrary to the rule of Christ for what doth the Magistrate but resist the Evil Man and if he be not to be resisted how can a Christian safely execute or discharge that Office I answer That this Precept of our Saviour is given to private Christians or to Christians in a private Capacity and not to Magistrates will appear from the following Particulars 1. As Christ hath no occasion here to talk of Magistrates Christian Magistrates I mean so it cannot be rationally suppos'd that he prescribes any Law to them The Persons he speaks to were Disciples invested with no secular Authority and though he speaks to all his Disciples both those that were then and who were to succeed them yet he considers them still in the capacity of Christians not as they are or may be entrusted with Power and Authority for the Publick Good which respects must necessarily require other Measures 2. Christ did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil it but if he had abolished the Office of Magistrates or made it unlawful he had destroy'd a considerable part of the Law of Moses which doth not only relate to Magristrates but makes the Office indispensibly necessary 3. Christ came to explain and revive the Law of Nature which Law requires Peace and Order in a Common-wealth and this not being to be had without Magistrates which may encourage those that do well and punish the Evil-Doers it must follow that Magistrates as Magistrates are not concern'd in this Precept 4. How can this Text be levell'd against the Power of Magistrates when Magistrates are the
modestly We are not by this Precept bound to satisfie the unreasonable Desires of Men. It 's true a Pound may be too little for an Alexander to give but a Talent on the other side may be too much for a needy Person to ask Our Saviour here doth not determine the quantity how much we are to give nor oblige us to give whatsoever another asks but leaves the quantity to our Prudence and Direction In giving to him that asketh we are to consider our Ability as well as the Merit and Need of him that doth ask and so to Give as not to be unjust to others nor to wrong those whom by Nature we are bound to do good to in the first place the neglect or omission of which makes us Infidels 1 Tim. v. 8 And so much of Giving II. The second Branch of our Saviour's Counsel is Lending From him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away The general Drift of which Counsel is for the most part or ordinarily to lend our Neighbour such things as he stands in need of Most Commands of this Nature have respect to what ought to be the ordinary practice supposing still there may be extraordinary Cases wherein the thing may lawfully be superseded or suspended A loose debauch'd Person or a Person who I know will pervert the thing I lend him or he would borrow of me to very ill use This Law doth not oblige me to lend him But for the most part between Neighbour and Neighbour this ought to be the Rule And the same may be said of a Person apparently dishonest whose Actions make us justly suspect or give us just occasion to believe that he intends not to repay us again I cannot think that such Persons come into the number of the Borrowers Christ aims at For no doubt our Saviour ties the Borrower to Honesty as well as the Lender to Charity So that the import of this Command may be comprehended in these Particulars 1. Do not think there lies no Obligation on you to lend to your Fellow Christians who are in Streights and Necessities and may by your Lending raise themselves into a condition to live comfortably and honestly in the World This is an act of Christian Love and Charity and such as we our selves may stand in need of and whatsoever you would have others do to you do you the same to them according to the Rule Mat. vii 12 2. Do not tell them that would borrow of you that you have nothing to Lend when you have it for that would be to add Lying to your Uncharitableness which is both against the Nature of Christian Simplicity and Sincerity and against the express Law Eph. iv 25 3. Be willing to gratifie your honest Neighbours in this request when they would borrow of you and overcome that Uncharitableness and mistrust of God's Providence or fear that you shall not receive your own again For Flesh and Blood is apt to raise such Objections which must be subdu'd by that Spirit which God hath given you If ye walk after the Flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live 4. From him that would borrow of thee do not turn away Yet so as to consider the Circumstances of the Person that would borrow of you It is a wicked Man's Character to borrow and not to pay Psal. xxxvii 21 And when a Man is known to be so we may lawfully use Christian Prudence and Wisdom When Men have the reputation of Honesty Sincerity and Diligence their Industry deserves to be encouraged and since Lending is an encouragement to them they ought not to be sent away with a refusal of their Request 5. Lend not only to a Person of the same Religion but to others also God gave a Law to the Jews Deut. xv 8 Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy Brother and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth This the Jews restrain'd to their own Sect and to their Friends but Christianity being a Profession of a larger Charity if even a Person who is not of the same Profession with you would borrow of you do not you turn away from him nay if the Person were an Enemy this is evident from what follows in this Chapter But I say unto you Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despightfully use you and persecute you 6. Lend sometimes even to Persons from whom you have no hopes of receiving any thing again Express your Self-denial your conquest of the Flesh your Love to God and your dependance upon his Providence This is agreeable to the Command given Luke vi 35 Lend hoping for nothing again Not that this is to be done at all times and upon all occasions but sometimes in order to overcome our love of this present World especially when Persons are by Providence or by some extraordinary accident fallen into decay and particularly upon the account of a good Conscience To this purpose Luke vi 34 See how ready God is to give to you and to lend you what ye stand in need of and why so Surely that you should be ready to help others These are the particulars to which this Command hath particular Relation and were Men truly conscientious no doubt this Law would be sufficient to guide a Christian in his Temporal Concerns but the wickedness and persidiousness of Men is grown great and extravagant which hath obliged Magistrates to enact Laws to regulate this Lending Borrowing and Demanding what hath been Lent and to permit Bonds and Obligations to secure the Lender of what he Lends to another which though a Christian may in some Cases make use of yet let us remember that we are not to make use of all the Ways and Means the Law of the Land permits to prevent greater Evils To keep on this side the Law and as near as we can to conform to the Law of our Master Christ Jesus is the safest way And whereas the Law of the Land admits to Arrest and Imprison Borrowers that do not repay all that can be said in this Case is He that shows most Mercy is the better Christian. Inferences All the Application I shall make of this Command is to exhort you to real and actual Charity one towards another God gives you that you may give to others and vouchsafes you means that you may be able to assist and succour others in their Needs Labour earnestly to eradicate that root of bitterness even selfishness which hinders you from doing many excellent Acts which must adorn your Profession It 's true you are liable to be Cheated but who is not if your Charity and Christian kindness be abused you are not the first nor will be the last that are like to suffer in this kind We must look higher than this World the Losses we meet with here will be perfect
to prove what I intend that we are not to hate an Enemy because the Kindnesses we owe him relate only to this present Life And to this may be added that the injurious acts of an Enemy bear no proportion to the acts of Enmity we are guilty of against God and we would not have God hate us notwithstanding those Acts it follows that there is no reason for our hating an Enemy upon the account of the Injuries he doth or hath done us But this we shall have occasion to discuss more largely in the following Verses Let 's go on and IV. Enquire What is the true import of loving our Neighbour And 1. As by a Neighbour in Scripture is meant every Man that stands in need of our Help and Assistance and of whose Help and Assistance we may stand in need as appears from the Parable of the wounded Man Luk. x. 30 so Love to our Neighbour imports a faithful discharge of all the Duties of the second Table which is the reason that St. Paul affirms of this Love that it is the fulfilling of the Law because love works no ill to his Neighbour no ill to Princes no ill to Magistrates no ill to Parents or Relations no ill to High or Low Rich or Poor no not to the meanest or poorest Creature Rom. xiii 8 9 10. 2. The measure of this Love is set down by God himself Lev. xix 18 Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self which properly denotes not the same degree of Love but the same Sincerity and that we are to make our Love to our selves the Rule and Standard whereby we are to Love others according to the several degrees of their Relations and the several degrees of Goodness which appear in them for no doubt we are to be kinder to a Father than to a Stranger and more officious to a good Man than to a bad one yet so that neither the greatest Strangers nor the worst of Men be altogether excluded from our Kindness or such acts of Kindness which we might rationally expect under the same Circumstances 3. This Love to our Neighbour implies not only abstinence from Wrongs and Injuries from dishonouring our Parents from Murther from Adultery from Stealing Lying bearing False-witness and from Coveting our Neighbour's Goods but all those positive acts of Charity mention'd in 1 Cor. xiii 4 5 6 7. and 1 Pet. xi 8 9 10. and Matth. xxv 35 36. And these acts must flow from inward Compassion For as the Spirit of Man is the principle of all Moral and Spiritual Acts so whatever acts of Love we exercise toward our Neighbour they must come from the Heart and from a sence of our Duty and of the Love of God and these acts must be so managed that they become not accessary to other Mens Sins for it 's no Love to Love another into Sin or sinful Compliances which is the reason that the Apostle pressing this Peace and Love to our Neighbour makes Holiness its inseparable Companion Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord Heb. xii 14 And this Love is called the Royal Law Jam. ii 8 not because the King of Kings gave it but because this Love to our Neighbour is the Queen of all Graces and he that excels in it Reigns and Rules over a Thousand Lusts and Temptations But V. May it not be in some sence a Duty to love our Neighbour and to hate an Enemy That which makes me take notice of this Point is an Observation of Origen who saith This is very good Divinity if by the Enemy we understand the Devil Though its certain that our Saviour in these words doth not directly aim at this yet it must be confessed that in this sence that loose Principle of the Pharisees may bear a very good construction Indeed the Devil is the greatest Enemy we are to hate We have renounc'd him in our Baptism and we are sworn to that Hatred Against him let 's boldly vent our Hatred even against all his Works and all his evil Suggestions which way soever they are presented to us whether by the Flesh or by the World or by Evil Men. Here we need move no Scruples no Cases of Conscience how far we may lawfully hate the Devil We are to hate him with a perfect Hatred and express it by Trembling and by abhorrency of all that 's pleasing to him or offensive to God It 's true we see not the Devil but we feel him and whatever Evil Thought or Desire or Motion appears in our Minds let 's firmly conclude it comes either directly or indirectly from that Enemy To this Enemy no kindness is to be shewn No League no Peace no Confederacy no not so much as a Truce is to be made with him with him we are to wage War continually He is no Subject capable of making Peace with for Peace with him is Enmity against God wounding our own Soul destroying the peace of our Consciences and descending into the Chambers of Hell Inferences 1. If we take a view of the Manners of Men in the Age we live in one would think that the Pharisees are still alive and instill the same Principle into them that they did into their Disciples in Christ's Days viz. Love your Friends and hate your Enemies For the Actions of Men are so exactly conformable to this Rule that if a Man were to measure Christ's Religion by the Practices of his Followers he might go near to inferr that Christ taught this Doctrine as well as the Pharisees To hate an Enemy we look upon to be a very just and reasonable thing and do him all the ill Offices as we have occasion to speak Evil of him to Reproach him to Calumniate him to invent Lyes of him and to Report them too we generally make so light of that we wonder at the Man that offers to exhort us to better Principles Among Heathens and Infidels this would not look very strange among Men who never heard of a Jesus or of the Gospel this might pass though there is something even in the voice of Nature which might teach them better things but among Christians who talk and sing and speak every Day of God's loving them when they were his Enemies this is a huge Paradox Christ exercised the greatest acts of Love toward us in dying for us when we were Enemies we confess it and our Churches ring of these glad Tidings How easie would be the Inference Hath God loved me when I was his Enemy and shall I hate my Fellow-Christian because I look upon him as mine Enemy Is this my acknowledgement of God's Love Is this to express my gratitude for his Goodness Had God Compassion on me when I was his Enemy and shall I have none on mine Was God's Love to me intended as a Pattern for me to follow and shall I overlook the Design and please my self in my Hatred and Ill-nature I am moved by the Examples of
great Men by the Examples of good Men by the Examples of my ordinary Neighbours and shall the greatest Example the Example of God the Example of Christ Jesus make no impression upon me How easie a matter were it to draw such Inferences from what we believe and what a damp would this be to our Hatred And yet to see how careless how regardless we are of it and in despight of this great Example which we commend and magnifie justifie our Animosities against those whom we look upon to be our Enemies would make a Rational Man conclude and very justly too that whatever we pretend or talk of we do not believe that Christ died for us when we were God's Enemies What believe it and have no sence of it or if we have a sence of it not to gather our Duty from it Would any Man think that we are of the number of those Believers we read of Heb. xi Their Belief affected and wrought upon their Hearts and put them upon Heroick Actions and as God had done by them so they did by others This puts me in mind of the Justice of that Expostulation and the Proceedings we read of Matth. xviii 32 33 34. Then his Lord after he had called him said unto him O thou wicked Servant I forgave thee all that Debt because thou desiredst me Shouldst not thou also have had Compassion on thy Fellow-Servant even as I had pity on thee And his Lord was wroth and deliver'd him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him Do you make the Application II. Though the Law of Moses enjoyn'd this Precept To love our Neighbour as our selves yet the Gospel presses it much more and in greater Instances too As by our Neighbours in the Gospel are meant not only our nearest Friends and Relatives not only those who dwell near us and about us not only those of the same Church and Religion with us but all our Fellow Christians and all Persons who were redeemed with the Blood of Jesus so our Love is to extend to all these and especially to them of the Houshold of Faith To this purpose St. Peter Honour all Men Love the Brotherhood Indeed this Love to our Fellow Christians the Apostles press with more than ordinary Fervour They lay the stress of Religion upon it and when they would describe Christians who thrive under the Showers and Irrigations of the Gospel they say That their Faith grows exceedingly and the Charity of every one toward each other abounds 2 Thess. i. 3 This was the distinguishing Character of the Primitive Believers and their Love one to another their dear their tender their affectionate Love one to another was taken notice of beyond any other Vertue whatsoever They called themselves Brethren and Sisters and by the Brotherhood or Fraternity they meant the Christian Church as appears from Clemens Romanus Their Hospitality their Candour their Veracity their Beneficence were the wonder of all Spectators Their tenderness to the Afflicted to Prisoners to Captives to the Sick and the Lame to the Ignorant and to their very Enemies was unspeakable insomuch that Julian the Apostate saw there was no way to propagate Heathenism like that of imitating Christians in their Works and Labours of Love and Charity Hereby shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another and so it was in those purer Ages and they were known more by their mutual Love than by their talking of Christ Jesus How is this Character inverted at this Day and one may say Hereby do all Men know who are Christians even by their hating one another I know not which is the harder Task whether Love to God or to our Neighbour Sure I am that many who pretend great love to God are strangely defective in their love to their Neighbours What a stir do many Men make about Religion and yet make nothing of Slandering Abusing Deriding Undervaluing their Neighbours My Brethren Doth a Fountain at the same place send forth bitter Water and sweet Indeed none is so fit to love God dearly as he that doth exercise himself very much in Love to his Neighbour It 's true one must help the other and Love to God must Influence that to our Neighbours but still great acts of Love to our Neighbours are the best Preparatives for high degrees of Love to God The Branches of this Love to our Neighbours are many and various and he who abounds in these acts of Love gets a Holy assurance that he is neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord How do we confine our Love to little Sects and Parties and from hence comes that bitterness of Spirit of one Party against another and how hard is it to find a Christian of a truly Catholick Love and Charity When shall we be wiser When shall that pristine Unity and Purity return When shall that admirable Spirit which shined so bright in the primitive Believers revive again Lord When shall thy Kingdom come that the whole Multitude which Believe shall be of one Heart and of one Soul The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that hears say Come Come thou God of Love thou Prince of Peace thou lover of Concord and Unity Come Amen even so come Lord Jesu SERMON XXXV St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 44. But I say unto you Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you MArcellinus writing to St. Austin tells him That the great Stumbling-Blocks which lay in the way of the Heathens of his Time especially of the wittier sort and hindred them from embracing Christianity were chiefly these three the Incarnation of our Lord the meanness of his Miracles which they thought those of Apollonius Tyanaeus did equal and the Prescriptions of the Text Love your Enemies bless them that curse you c. Not to meddle with their first and second Head this last particularly they could not digest they look'd upon 't as obliging Men to work Miracles and thought it in a manner as easie to snatch a Man from the Embraces of the Grave as to receive an Enemy into their own What! Love an Enemy He might as well have bid us swallow Poyson and take Toads and Vipers into our Bosoms What! Love a Man that hath sought my Life Caress a Wretch that hath attempted to ravish the pledges of my Love Take him into my Arms that hath endeavour'd to snatch from me the dearest Blessings I enjoy He might as well have bid us pull up Mountains by the Roots transplant Islands touch the Sun with our Fingers and empty the Waters of the Ocean Indeed this seems to be the highest step of Christianity and he that is arrived to an habitual observance of this Rule may not unfitly be said to be come to the top of the Mount of God But still whatever noise be
Office of a Magistrate is not superseded by this Command Nor 3. Doth this Law of loving our Enemies forbid us reproving an Enemy for the Sins he involves himself in by hating us much less doth it import that we are to love his Sins and Follies or flatter him in his Undecencies and Insolencies There is no doubt we may lawfully tell him of his Faults in a meek and rational way and seek to reduce him to a better Temper and in doing so we do nothing against that Love we owe him so far from it that it is an Argument of Hatred not to Rebuke him Lev. xix 17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Nor 5. Doth this Command import that we are to make an Enemy our Bosom Friend to whom we are to unburden our selves and make him acquainted with the Secrets of our Souls Friendship in this strict sence is Master of Discretion more than Duty nor is our Love to our Enemies prejudic'd by not making them Friends in this sence Indeed if by the Coals of Fire we heap upon their Heads if by the warmer kindnesses we shew them we melt them into a tractable and docible Temper and then prove occasions of their becoming new Men we may if we see it convenient raise our Love Unto a higher degree even to that of Friendship and make him that was an Enemy as our own Soul but while he is an Enemy he is not a Subject capable of entring into the Bond of Friendship with him except by Friendship we mean the acts of Love hereafter mention'd 6. As an Enemy is a Person who cherisheth a secret Spleen and Malice against us in his Heart and as occasion serves vents and expresses it either in his Words or Actions either by Reviling or Abusing us or doing Unkindnesses or attempting to Betray or Bespatter or to Ruine and Undoe us in which sence even a Husband a Wife and the nearest Relatives may be Enemies so this Love we owe them imports an inward Affection to them even Bowels of Mercy and Compassion and a certain tenderness within The acts whereby our Love to them is to be expressed must have some Root and that Root must be the Heart the true seat of Love and let no Man plead here that Love arising from the agreeableness of the Object it 's impossible there should be any real Love in the Heart toward an Enemy because of the disagreeableness of the Object to our Temper and Contrariety to our Humour and Interest for though there may be no agreeableness with respect to the Wrong he doth or hath done us yet there are other Respects and those more weighty and of greater Concernment in which a likeness and similitude appear and consequently a suitable Foundation for this Love For 1. He is God's Creature and so are we 2. He is a Man and so are we 3. He is a Neighbour still nor doth the Wrong he doth us deprive him of that Relation 4. May be he is a Christian too and professes the same Faith the same God the same Jesus and the same Religion all which Respects make even an Enemy an agreeable Object of our Love Nay his very Enmity doth formally dispose and qualifie him for our Love for the nature of Love is That it is not easily provoked 1 Cor. xiii 5 And I need not tell you that Men are not provoked by Kindnesses but by Injurious Acts and these being the acts of an Enemy Love not being easily provoked by such acts the Enemy must be a very proper object of our Love But let 's go on and consider II. The particular acts of this Love or whereby this Love is to be expressed And the first is 1. Bless them that curse you This is to give good Language for bad kind Answers for Revilings praising the good that is in the Enemy for his denying that there is any in our selves and gracious Wishes for his base and horrid Imprecations The Apostles did so for being reviled we bless being defamed we entreat saith St. Paul 1 Cor. iv 13 This look'd great What a lovely excellent sight was this How pleasing to God how pleasing to Angels how pleasing to all rational and understanding Men Do but take a serious view of it you your selves cannot but like it approve of it and commend it What harmony what beauty what sweetness what evenness what perfection must there be in such a Soul What a command over his Passions must we suppose in such a Person and can any thing look more stately and magnificent And if there be such beauty in it why are not we enamour'd with it Why should we think much of it to cry God bless you when the Enemy cries God damn you Is not the one as easily said as the other and is there not far greater satisfaction in the one than in the other What if the brutish Man do curse us what hurt can his Cursing do us while we do not answer him according to his Folly The Curse may fall on his own Head but cannot singe a Hair of ours His ill Language doth it not look very odious in him and doth it change its Face or Nature if we use it by way of Retaliation Can that be lovely in us which all Men take to be deformity in him Doth not the Enemy sin grievously against God when he doth Revile or Curse us And shall not we be concern'd at his Sin How are we concern'd if we do not mourn for it How do we mourn for it if we do not pity him How do we pity him if we do not endeavour to reform him How shall we reform him except we shew him a good Example How can we shew him a good Example if we do not let him see that there is a better Spirit in us And how shall he be convinc'd of that if we do not return soft Answers for his rough and insolent ones even Blessings for Curses Such Christian returns God blesses sometimes with Conversion of the Enemy and thinks himself concern'd to reward the Self-denial with an extraordinary Providence To this purpose Moschus tells us That three Religious Men Travelling and losing their way and thereupon belated were forc'd to lie down on the Ground the Night coming on and the Sky growing very dark But so it happen'd that ignorantly they laid themselves down at the edge or corner of a Corn-field whereby they pressed a portion of Corn on the Ground Early in the Morning the Owner of the Field coming by and seeing what was done began to be in a Passion and cursed them bitterly saying You Religious Men if you had had the fear of God before you you would not have done so The innocent Men let him run on and then with all gentleness imaginable told him Truly you say right if we had had the fear of God before us we should never have done so
Good and sending his Rain upon the Just and Unjust A Bounty infinite like himself and not to be lookt upon but with admiration and that 1. Upon the account of the Insolencies of the Wicked and Bad and Unjust To see how God is affronted daily by Oaths by Curses by Blasphemies by Lewdness by Perjuries by Profaneness Atheism Hypocrisie and by Sins which a good Man can scarce name without trembling yet on these Wretches whom by right Hell-fire should devour his Sun doth shine and his Rain drops down His Sun warms them and revives them His Rain enriches their Pastures Instead of Sunshine he might bury them in Darkness and instead of Rain to water their Grounds he might rain on them Fire and Brimstone and a burning Tempest even the portion of the Sinners Cup. It 's true he will do all this at last when the measure of their Impenitence is fulfilled but for the present his Light smiles upon them and his Heaven distils gentle Showers to make their Land fruitful and doth not this shew the vastness of his Bounty 2. Upon the account of his Power it were as easie Without all peradventure it were as easie to him to with-hold his Sun and Rain from the wicked as it was to enlighten the Land of Goshen while the Egyptians were frighted with thick Darkness or as it was to dry up the Read-Sea for the Israelites while Pharaoh and his Host were drowned in the Waters or as it was to keep the Flames of the Furnace from burning the three Young-Men in Daniel those very Flames which consumed the other Men who were thrown into the Oven But his Mercy prevails above his Power and that shews the greatness of it We must suppose God hath some farther design in these Providences than meerly to discover the profuseness of his Bounty 1. One reason is to engage them to love him who is so kind to them Love is so natural so rational a return for kindnesses that all who are Munificent to others do expect it And how easie a matter were it even for a wicked Man who is not irrecoverably stupid to reflect when he lies basking in the Sun or lets in the splendor of that glorious Planet into his Rooms or Sees how it makes his Trees and Plants and Flowers grow and how it gilds his Gardens and his Fields how easie I say were it for him to reflect Whence comes this Sun-shine do not these Rays descend from the Father of Lights whose ways I have derided whose Words and Ordinances I have despised and whose Precepts I have laugh'd at What Ingratitude is this Would I use a Friend so And what put these Indignities upon my best and greatest Friend See how his love to me shines in that glorious Sun and shall I return hatred for his Love The like Reflections might easily be made upon the Blessing of the Rain But I proceed 2. It is to lead them to Repentance The Sun which comforts the Evil Man his Body and his Grounds is to put him in mind of his Duty to warm his Soul with serious Considerations till they melt his Heart into Remorse and Compunction And the Rain even the former and the latter Rain is a Remembrancer and points at the shower of Tears he is to weep for his Sins and Offences So that the Sun and Rain are School-masters to lead him to Love and Repentance and that these are the Ends God hath in these Dispensations is evident from Hos. ii 8 Acts xiv 15 16 17. Acts xvii 27 And oh that such of you as have hitherto been careless Observers of these Ends would be perswaded to make this Rain and Sun-shine the Ladder for your Thoughts to rise and your Meditations to ascend and contemplate the infinite Goodness of God who vouchsafes this Sun and Rain and in doing so presents you with a powerful Motive to offer him your reasonable Service that the Sun of Righteousness may shine upon you with healing under his Wings and his warmer Mercies may come down upon you as Showers upon the mown Grass As common as these Blessings are they do not come by chance but are Gifts of the great Soveraign of the World and if they be Gifts the least they deserve is acknowledgement and how do we acknowledge them if we dishonour God by our Sins But this is not all besides these God hath other Ends in vouchsafing his Rain and Sun-shine even to the worst of Men Ends in which the Pious the Serious the Religious are particularly concern'd And 1. It concerns us to admire the infinite Patience of God his Patience to the Stubborn and Obstinate and his Kindness and Charity to them Not only to see and take notice of God in the Providence but to extol his Munificence to praise to adore to magnifie his universal Compassion and to speak of his wonderful Works to sing of his Mercy and to use this very Instance of Sun and Rain as an argument to unconverted Sinners to perswade them to a conscientious walking with God Indeed here is a large Field for our thoughts to expatiate in and to make useful Remarks on his Power Wisdom and Goodness 2. It concerns us to imitate the Patience and Kindness and Charity of that God who makes his Sun rise upon the Good and Bad and sends Rain upon the Just and Unjust This is the principal drift and design of our Saviour in giving these Instances and it is to furnish us with Antidotes against Passion and Revenge and Hatred and Malice and Uncharitableness when we apprehend our selves Wrong'd or Injur'd or unkindly dealt with I say it is to furnish us with Antidotes against Passion and Revenge from the most obvious and familiar Objects and Occurrences So that whenever you are provok'd to uncharitable Thoughts and to a strange Behaviour to those who have wrong'd you you need go no farther than the Sun that shines upon your Heads and the Rain you see distil from the Clouds Think this Sun shines upon the greatest of God's Enemies and does good to their Fields and Persons and shall I feel no Warmth no Fire no Flames of Compassion to my Adversary The Rain that falls here is God's Rain and the Man that Curses him to his Face participates of the Benefits of it and shall I be in a Rage against the Man who hath affronted me and withdraw my Charity from him God doth not and why should I 3. It concerns us seriously to reflect on what God designs to do for his dear Children hereafter and from the Blessings he bestows on the wicked here to argue what Treasures are laid up for Men of a better Temper If God be so kind to his very Enemies what will he be to his Friends If those that hate him enjoy so much of his Bounty what may those look for who love him If his Goodness be so great to his Foes how great must be his kindness to his Favourites Great indeed How excellent is thy loving
for blending and joining God and Belial but we have not so Learned Christ And if he that wilfully offends in one is guilty of all it cannot be that God will pass by that Sin we allow our selves in for and in consideration of the acts of Morality and Religion we perform It 's true of Charity it 's said that it shall cover a multitude of Sins Jam. v. 19 20. but the meaning is not that the Charity or Alms of a wicked Man shall blot out the multitude of Sins he cherishes but that the Charity which a good Christian exercises in the Conversion of a Sinner is a means whereby the Sinner is brought to a true Repentance and entitled to the Grace and Love of God in Christ Jesus which pardons all his Transgressions and covers the multitude of his Sins All which shews that a Christian must do more which leads me to the second Proposition II. Those who would be Christians indeed must do more than carnal Men in Matters of Religion and Morality For if you salute your Brethren only what do you more than others saith our Saviour here Were the former Proposition duly consider'd this would be practised better It is a vulgar Error That a little Religion goes a great way And were it believ'd that Men escape not the brand of wicked Men by the Formalities of Religion they practice while they espouse some forbidden Lust or other they would certainly do more than others I am very sensible of the great Mistakes that arise from comparing our selves with others but the reason of it is because the Comparisons are not rightly made There are degrees of Wickedness and Impiety and I know abundance think because they are not quite so bad as others they do more than others and because they do not run with others into the same excess of Riot they take themselves to be tolerable Saints But such Comparisons are false as well as odious and there is nothing hinders Men more from a vigorous progress in Goodness than these preposterous Comparisons All that can be inferr'd from another Man's being more Wicked than we is only this that there are degrees of Sin but not that I am therefore safe because I am not come up to his Excess and Extravagance in offending God When our Saviour therefore obliges us to do more than Heathens more than Carnal and Natural Men in matters of Religion and Morality his meaning is not that all we are to study is to be less vitious than they for though this in some sence may be true yet considering the nature of the Gospel we must needs conclude Christ in saying so had respect to the following Particulars 1. Since departing from Iniquity is made the Character of a Christian indeed 2 Tim. ii 19 no doubt this is the Character too which doth distinguish him from a Carnal Man and he doth more than they if he actually departs from every Sin forbidden by the Gospel for then he ceases to be Carnal and walks after the Spirit and as every Christian ought to be becomes a new Creature and departing in his Affections from all Iniquity forbidden he doth more than those who depart may be only from some Sins that would make them scandalous and securely allow themselves in others 2. A Carnal Man in Matters of Religion and Morality acts for the most part according to his natural Temper Interest Passion and Appetite in all which Particulars we must do more than they i. e. act contrary to all these A Carnal Man is naturally may be Envious or Malicious he continues so there being no Principle in him to turn the Byass we must do more than he and if our Temper be so it must be subdu'd and overcome with Rejoycings at the Good and Parts and Gifts and Abilities and Blessings of our Neighbours It is a Carnal Man's Interest to comply with his Potent Neighbours when they Curse or Swear or Talk lewdly As much as it may be our Interest to comply we must shew our Dislike and Abhorrency A Carnal Man his Passion provokes him to bitter and reviling Language whatever Inclinations to Passion we may have no such corrupt Communication must come out of our Mouths A Carnal Man's Appetite inclines him to Eat and Drink immoderately and to crave every thing which is pleasing to the Flesh and which he hath means to reach or come by We must prescribe Laws and Bounds to those Desires and study Moderation and Temperance and Modesty and Decency and then we do more than others 3. In matters of Religion what external Services a Carnal Man performs our Care must be that our Hearts and inward Man be affected with them that the inside be Devout as well as the outside and that the Mind perform it's part as well as the Lips and Hands and that an inward sence go along with the Devotion we express without A Carnal Man's Lips only pray our Care must be to cry with our whole Heart Psal. cxix 145. and then we do more than others 4. In matters of Religion what a Carnal Man does out of sinister Ends we must do for ends great and laudable and acceptable to God ver 9. A Carnal Man receives the Holy Sacrament may be to satisfie the Law and to secure his Employ or Office that 's the principal motive of his Coming and if it had not been for such an occasion he had not come our care must be to receive it with an intent to inrich our Hearts and Lives with Faith and Love and Good Works and Courage against Temptations and then we do more than others 5. In matters of Religion what a Carnal Man doth partially and by halves we must do with Integrity and Impartiality This may justly be said of the Religious Services and Moralities of a Carnal Man all is done by halves He either doth one Duty and neglects another or shuns one Sin and wallows in another and even the Vertue he makes a shew of wants the better half viz. a true Principle of the Love of God An equal and uniform Piety is that which is most rational and consequently most pleasing to God and in this we are to do more than others 6. Particularly in Love and acts of Charity and Kindness A Carnal Man loves those who love him and is civil to those who are civil to him and he very rarely goes farther Our care must be to do good to those that do not love us and to be civil even to those that are not so to us and all this because our Light our Motives our Rewards our Revelations and Encouragements exceed and go beyond what Publicans and natural Men have or ever had And this is to do more than others However if this account be not satisfactory I am sure the Inquisitive Christian may easily see and understand wherein he is to do more than others if he will but impartially read and take a view of this Chapter For as the Precepts here given are
but reproves them either for their Oaths or other Sensualities But that Clownishness if it must be call'd so is a Duty Notwithstanding this we may preserve the respect due to their Places and Elevations in the World as we see in St. Paul who though he did not comply with the Sins of Ananias the High-Priest and of Festus the Governour yet paid them the respect their Stations and the Figure they made in the World requir'd II. The Text teaches us how we are to aggravate our Sins in our confessions to God To commit Sins which the very Heathens and Publicans condemn and abhor must needs be very dreadful in a Christian because he Sins against the very Principles of Nature In the same manner to neglect that which Heathens and Publicans by the light of Nature do find and affirm and observe as necessary must make the omission exceeding black in a Christian because he is without excuse And therefore if any of us have been unkind disobliging ill-nanatur'd cross and surly and morose to those who are kind and loving and tender and charitable to us let 's not make light of the Sin which is so much the greater by how much it is condemn'd by Heathens and Publicans Christians the Gospel obliges you to love your Enemies and will not ye love your Friends Not to love your Enemies will bring the Wrath of God upon you how much more your not loving those who love you The neglect of the more difficult Task will make you miserable and will not neglect of the easier cover your Faces with Confusion Intemperance Drunkenness Cheating Defrauding Lying Extortion Profaneness c. are condemn'd by the very Heathens and will you from whom greater Vertues are expected defile your selves with such Sins as these The brighter the Light is the greater is the Sin and therefore a Christian who lives under a higher Dispensation if he neglects that which the lesser was sufficient to instruct him in Sins with a witness for he Sins in the midst of Sun-shine In our Confessions therefore such Sins must be particularly deplor'd as exceeding others in heinousness And O! let the greatness of the Sin fright us for ever from venturing upon the like again and let 's bless God that there is yet hopes of Mercy and Vertue the Efficacy in the Blood of Jesus to wash away Sins which bring more than ordinary Guilt upon the Soul III. Since it is so unnatural and irrational a thing not to love those who love us behold how irrational and unnatural a thing it must be not to love God who loves us and hath loved us into Miracles and Prodigies Hath not he loved us Dares any say he hath not If he hath not loved us what do our Praises signifie Why do we praise him as it is in our Liturgy for our Creation Preservation and all the Blessings of this Life Why do we publickly and privately praise him above all things for the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of Grace and for the hope of Glory Are not these signs of Love Can there be greater Characters of his Love Do not we own and confess and acknowledge that these are certain marks of Love But why Christian why art thou so unkind to that God who hath loved thee thus He keeps thee he watches over thee he is thy Sun and thy Shield thy Shade on thy right Hand daily and hourly he showers down Blessings upon thee and all the Evils that befall other Men and which thou art preserved from it 's he that preserves thee from them But why so disrespectful to that God who incircles and crowns thee with loving kindnesses and tender Mercies Art not thou unkind to him when thou sin'st against him Art not thou disrespectful to him when thou wilfully do'st that which he protests in his Word is abomination in his Eyes What Iniquity do'st thou find in him that a God so tender and so kind cannot attract or charm thy Heart into reciprocal Love Why wilt thou suffer that Tongue of thine to vent it self in frothy and corrupt Communications which was given thee to sing his Praises Why wilt thou dishonour him with those Creatures which were intended for thy use and refreshment Why wilt thou make those Members of thy Body Instruments of Unrighteousness which were intended to be Instruments of Holiness Why wilt thou make thy Soul a sink and sty of impure and noisome Lusts which was intended to be a Temple of the Holy Ghost Why wilt thou make those Mercies thou enjoyest Weapons to fight against him which were intended as silken Strings to lead thee to his Banqueting-House the Banner whereof is Love He draws thee with Cords of Love was ever greater gentleness used toward a Child and canst thou find in thy Heart to grieve such Bowels of Compassion Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewn to us that we should be called the Children of God and is this your gratitude to make your selves Children of Hell and Heirs of Damnation There is that in the Love of God which would be an Antidote against all Sins whatsoever had'st thou but Courage to remember that Love and to set it before thee in lively Characters Joseph remembred God lov'd him and he resolutely resists the Charms of his Mistress How can I saith he commit this Wickedness and Sin against God Christian were the Love of God seriously remembred and thought of thou could'st not Sin To offend him would go as much against thee as drinking Poyson or a draught of Gall and Wormwood We talk a thousand great Things of Love what Power it hath to charm rational Souls Sirs God hath given you rational Souls and you are sensible there is no Love so great so amazing so wonderful as the Love of God to your Souls and Bodies I beseech you therefore Brethren by the Mercies of God by the Love of God by the Charity of our Lord Jesus Christ that you present your Souls and Bodies living Sacrifices Holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service Amen SERMON XXXIX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 48. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect THat no Man may be offended at this Command of Perfection which some think utterly impossible on this side Heaven and others do as vainly boast of as if they were arrived to it Give me leave to tell you that it 's no unusual thing in Scripture to meet with Exhortations of that Nature It was God's Order to Abraham Gen. xvii 1 Walk before me and be thou perfect and it seems it is the design of the Gospel and of the preaching of it that we may present every one perfect in Christ Jesus Coloss. i. 28 And to this purpose was the Prayer of Euphrates for the same Colossians That they might stand perfect and compleat in all the Will of God Col. iv 12 And accordingly St. Paul entreats treats the
Let 's earnestly labour after Perfection and that none may ask what Perfection is It is no other no less no meaner Perfection that what is pressed in the Text Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect This Perfection to give a fuller account of it relates 1. To the kinds of Graces 2. To the degrees of Grace 1. To the kinds of Graces Endeavour after Perfection appears in nothing so visibly as in our serious endeavours after the several Graces which make up the Wedding-Garment spoken of in the Gospel and the charming Ornament of Christ's Spouse Not only one but all must appear very lovely in our Eyes If one seems amiable and the rest are nauseated the Heart is not right with God We must not content our selves with being liberal to the Poor and Needy but Meekness and Humility and love of Enemies and overcoming the Evil with Good must be as heartily espoused as the other To this purpose is that Command of St. Peter 2 Pet. i. 5 Add to your Faith Vertue unto Vertue Knowledge unto Knowledge Temperance unto Temperance Patience unto Patience Godliness unto Godliness Brotherly-kindness and unto Brotherly-kindness Charity c. There is indeed a great stress on some particular Vertues and particularly on Almsgiving and there are such lofty things said of it that the unwary Reader will be apt to think he need do no more in order to Salvation But though God's special favour and esteem of such a Vertue is set down by way of Motive and Encouragement yet it 's certain it 's no where said that such a Vertue alone will suffice in order to eternal Happiness and when the rest are injoyn'd with as great severity as this it must necessarily follow that the rest are equally necessary The Pharisees indeed had an Opinion that if a Man did exercise himself in any one Command though he neglected the rest he would not fail of a blessed Portion in the Life to come But this plainly contradicts the Christians Rule which is Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John xv 14 and it 's to be fear'd that where the Obedience is partial the Plant cannot be or is not of our Heavenly Father's Planting The Stoicks which held that he who had one Vertue had all the rest were so far in the right that he who upon a good Principle out of love to Goodness applies himself to one Vertue is in a disposition to be Master of the rest if he pursues that Principle but to think that all the rest will fall in in course to him who by frequent acts shews he is pleased with one is what Experience confutes and Reason tells us cannot be except the same Industry be used to attain to the rest that was used in the pusuit of that we have made a considerable progress in 2. This Perfection must be seen in the degree of those Graces we are possessed of A lower degree must be raised into a higher Faith which is like a Grain of Mustard-see must be advanced into a spreading Shrub so must Hope so must Love so must Charity so must other Graces The Acts must be improv'd into Habits and the tender Plant must become Robust till it can bear the Injuries of Wind and Weather The beginnings of a Vertue are Incouragements to proceed in it he that doth not doth not grow strong in the Lord and consequently doth not endeavour after Perfection 3. This Perfection reaches farther yet even to doing of such things as are more perfect There are divers Actions which seem to have no great hurt in them and yet it is certainly a more perfect act to abstain from them This is to be observed particularly in Eating and Drinking in Dressing and Cloathing in Speeches and Discourses and Visits in Conversation and Company in Sports and Recreations c. Such a Jest eating of the other Dish drinking the third Glass playing for Company 's sake such a gaudy Dress c. may seem harmless but it is greater Perfection to forbear them so in doing good it is many times greater Perfection to do such an act of Charity than to forbear it In all which Cases a Christian who follows our Saviour's Rule in the Text will have a special regard to what is more perfect and therefore more pleasing to God In such Particulars as these consists the Christian Perfection which here we are exhorted to labour after but I can have but little hopes that you will exercise your selves toward this Perfection except you were very resolute to make use of the proper means which are these following 1. A mighty ambition after Spiritual things as great an ambition to be truly Good and Holy as others have to be rich and great in the World 2. A vigorous consideration of the future degrees of Glory according to the progress you make here He that meditates much of these degrees will find in himself a vehement desire after such degrees of Sanctity as the most perfect Persons have attain'd to 3. A fervent Love of the Lord Jesus such a Love as we find in St. Paul in St. John in Mary the Sister of Martha c. a love which must rise from the strong Impresses made upon the Soul by the Sufferings of Christ and his Love in descending from Heaven and dying for us 4. A lively representation of what God hath done for us both in Spirituals and Temporals for this will mightily inflame the Soul and put her upon doing any thing which he delights in 5. An attentive Consideration of the Title in the Text where God is called Our Father which is in Heaven an Epithet often repeated and therefore often to be thought of If we are his Children what should we do but imitate him that being the nature and duty of Children that do not bear that name in vain He is in Heaven this speaks his Greatness We see how Great Men prevail with us to do things even contrary to our Inclination And shall not he who is the greatest of all Influence our Resolution to be Perfect as he himself is Perfect Moreover he is in Heaven and from thence looks down upon us It is his condescension that he doth so and that condescention ought to be a Motive to this Perfection He looks down upon us to see how we improve our Talents if we do not he notes our Guilt in his Book where it will stand as a Witness against us And he is said to be in Heaven to let us see the place which we are to be receiv'd into if we be Perfect and truly endeavour after it Thither he intends to draw us to the same Kingdom where himself Reigns and where Christ our Head Reigns And is this no Argument to stir us up to this Perfection I do not mention Prayer as a means because we still suppose that what-ever helps we offer all are insignificant without fervent Prayer And thus we have chalk'd out