see him as he is add this Every man that hath this hope purifieth himself as he is pure doth righteousness in the words following and so is righteous even as he is righteous But that we may know what King David means by beholding Gods face in Righteousness we must know that first by Righteousness is meant uprightness and sincerity of a religious holy virtuous life and as for the beholding of Gods face we may take notice that altho God saith he spoke to Moses face to face yet he tells the same Moses that he cannot see his face and live Exod. 33. 11 10. so that Davids beholding of his face is not seeing him as he did hope to do when he did awake up after Gods likeness but 1. As for God to lift up the light of his countenance Psalm 4. 6. and to make his face to shine upon a man Psalm 31. 16. is to be favorable to him and to hide Psalm 30. 7. or turn away his face 2 Chron. 30. 9. is to withdraw his favor and to be displeased so also to seek his face 1 Chron. 16. 11. is to endeavor to obtain his kindness and accordingly to see or behold his face is to be in his favor to be in a state of enjoying it But besides this also 2. As those that are said to behold the face of Kings are those that minister about them do them service of the nearest admission and that stand in their presence and are ready still to execute whatever they command So 2 King 25. 19. and he took five men of those that saw the King's face of those that serv'd him in ordinary and so very often Ester 1. 14. c. And as secondly the Angels that are ministring Spirits sent forth by God to minister perpetually are said to see the face of God always Matt. 18. 10. so when David says of God thou settest me before thy face Psalm 41. 12. the Jews expound set me that he might serve minister unto him for that is to stand before the face of one 1 Kings 1. 2 4. and c. 10. 8. and c. 17. 1. c. as he had said dost appoint me for thy service and by consequence to see his face or to behold his presence is to wait upon him in all duty and obedience to his commands whom they attend accordingly to walk before him or walk with him in his presence is to serve him constantly with all uprightness Gen. 17. 1. and to please him Heb. 11. 5. cum Gen. 5. 24. But particularly in the acts of Worship and Religion his House the place that 's dedicated to his Worship being call'd his Court his presence Psalm 95. 2. and 100. 2 4. because he sate upon and spoke from the Mercy-seat Exod. 25. 22. Numb 7. 89. and the Ark is therefore his presence and his face those that serve there are said to minister before him in his presence those that come there to appear before him Psalm 42. 2. those that pray to seek his face 2 Chron. 7. 14. and to intreat the face of the Lord 1 Kings 13. 6. and our King David did desire one thing of the Lord which says he I will require even that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord Psalm 27. 4. So that to behold God's face in righteousness here does signify all this I will serve thee truly faithfully attend thy commands and wait upon thee in a constant diligent performance of my duty live as always in thy presence holily and righteously especially in attendance on thy Worship when I come to seek thy face to put my self before thee in thy presence and so doing I make no doubt but that thou wilt lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and I shall behold thy face to shine upon thy servant And indeed that this is the means and that there is no other way to arrive at this state is not difficult to prove for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness saith the same David Psalm 11. 7. his countenance will behold the thing that is just whereas without this no man shall see the Lord and thereupon the Prophet Micah after strict inquiry in the peoples name what they were to do that they might find God's face look pleasingly upon them and see his favorable countenance wherewithall shall I come before the Lord and how myself before the most High God Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams If his favor be to be bought tho at the greatest price 't will be abvisable to give it and the dearest purchase would be a reasonable one Or shall I give ten thousand rivers of oyl thereby to make his face to shine and look upon me with a chearfull countenance This sure were to be don Or farther yet shall I give my first-born for my transgression or the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul Time was indeed when men would do that offer up their tender infants in the fire to Moloch to preserve themselves from those sins of the other Tophet as if the burnt child were to expiate the foul heats that begat it I know not whether men believe now such transgressions can deserve so severe atonements that a sin of theirs is valuable at the life of their own first-born tho they take upon them to profess the faith that they were valued at the life of the first-born of God however there our Prophet shapes this answer to that question wherewithall shall I come before the Lord He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And truly if we come before the Lord to behold his presence in the duties of Religion we must see his face in Righteousness otherwise he will either turn away his Face or else our praiers will but call his frowns upon us and indanger us to perish at the rebuke of his countenance The Prophet Isaiah speaking as from God to that vainglorious nation of the Jews saith c. 1. v. 12 c. When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts Bring no more vain oblations incense is an abomination to me it is iniquity even your solemn meetings Sabboths and your appointed feasts my soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many praiers I will not hear Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment right the oppressed c. And surely if men do not put away the evil of their doings from them when they come before his face how lowd
also must preserve Religion to us The certain and the onely way to keep Religion is to practise it it is impossible that they can take it from us while we live it and without that no Religion however current can be useful to us But this must secure our Faith here and secure us of the end of our Faith the Salvation of our Souls SERMON XVI OF THE EVIDENCE of Faith 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed THE words do need no other explication than the reading the whole verse it runs thus For which cause for the Gospel's sake I also suffer these things nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Let those that suffer for ill doing be abashed and troubled at it I am neither asham'd of the Gospel nor the least discourag'd by my sufferings how great and ignominious soever for its sake and for doing my duty in relation and obedience to it for I trust and depend on one that will secure me and will bless and crown my labors That he wills and intends it I am sure for he hath promis'd and in what he hath promis'd I know he is faithful and he is also able above all that I can ask or think and consequently whatever in pursuance of his promise is entrusted to him must be safe in his hands I am sure for I know whom I have believed So that the words direct us how to quiet and secure our selves in what estate soever affairs whether publick or our own are namely in a close dependance upon God and in the handling them I have but these three things to speak to 1. Who this I is I know and in what respect qualified for such secure dependance 2. What those cases are wherein dependance do's admit such confident assurance as is here express'd by the word know I know 3. Who this is on whom the person that is qualified thus does so depend and upon what account especially in relation to him hath the man that does depend upon him such assurance that he can profess I know whom I believe to all which I shall make plain answers and shall onely give you God's word for them 1. Who this I here is I know and in what respect and how qualified This I here is St Paul whom I do not mean to speak of in that narrow notion as an Apostle but as one in such circumstances as do make him fit to represent the state of any one that is qualified to commit all his concerns into God's hands with a perfect resignation and with full assurance Now as to this first it is certain every person is not qualified for such dependance cannot trust on God rely upon his promise as not having any right that it should be fulfilled to him No not where the promise being general for example made to the whole present body of a Nation by consequence concerns most of the individual persons of that Nation even there it may not be sure to them and of this we have a pregnant instance Num. 14. 30. Doubtless ye shall not come into the Land concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein and ye shall know my breach of promise v. 34. And that very justly they first having broke with him for there being some at least tacit condition still implied in all such promises as well as threatnings therefore as to one and the other God sets this down as a general rule in his proceedings and not onely with particular persons but with Nations Jer. 18. 7 8 9 10. as at what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation or concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them so whenever I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them that is will not do it And accordingly the Prophet Daniel tho it be said c. 9. 2. He understood by books the number of years that God would after seventy years restore Jerusalem yet saith Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did not stand still and expect the fulfilling of God's promise of it but v. 3. sets his face to the Lord God to seek by praiers and supplications with fasting and sackloth and ashes as knowing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho he had promis'd it a thousand times if we render our selves unworthy of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we put a bar against God's performance do not suffer him to make it good and in those solemn supplications and addresses to Almighty God thus he bespeaks him v. 4. O Lord the great and dreadful God keeping covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments whereupon St Jerom saith non ergo quod pollicetur Deus statim futurum est sed in eos sua promissa implet qui custodiunt mandata illius what God does promise any is not therefore sure to be fulfilled those are they whom he performs with who keep his Commandments With the rest that do not but transgress the Prophet Zachary in an emblem shews God's way of dealing c. 11. 10. And I took my staff even beauty and cut it asunder that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people and we see the real practice with that Nation for their wickednesses Neh. 9. from the 30th verse Now this being thus in general declar'd that all men cannot trust God we are therefore as to this particular person this I here to find out how he was qualified for this dependance It is certain first that St Paul had bin a great Sinner a Blasphemer Persecutor and injurious person 't is true he says 1 Tim. 1. 13. he was so ignorantly out of unbelief he knew not nor believ'd that he did ill in doing what he did yea more he said that he liv'd in all good Conscience before God all that time also had don nothing which he was not perswaded in his conscience that he ought to do But altho this good conscience might prepare him for a readier and more sound conversion than profane presumtuous habitual Sinners are dispos'd for for the will of such a one is true to God and right already and you have but to remove the ignorance of his Understanding a little better information must reform him and will turn his persecuting and whatever other factious or injurious heats into true zeal holy devout warmths as it did in him yet while he was mistaken that his good but erring conscience could not possibly excuse much less could it sanctify his actions 't was injury 't was
in these instances See pride and passions swoln up to an height which Christ's Mount cannot reach and which he must not level by his precepts For since he was not pleas'd to consider how inconsistent in this last age of the World his rules would be with those of honour and in making his Laws took no care of the reputation of a Gentleman 't is fit his Laws should give way to the constitutions ' of some Hectors and he must bear the violation of them And all this must be reasonable too Good God! what prodigy of age is this when Christ the Lord cannot be competent to judge either of right of honour or of realon When to be like God and to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect is to be most fordid and unworthy of a Gentleman and in the name of God these men that are too great for virtue that brave out Religion and will needs give rules to God what rank do they intend up stand in at Gods Judgment seat on the last day Lord God! grant us to stand among the week on that hand with the sheep and those that are too poor in spirit to defy their enemies and thy commands for however the â—eek maketh himself a prey and is so far from enjoying the promise of inheriting the Earth that the virtue is sacrce allow'd to sojourn in the Earth as if it had breath'd it's last in this our Martyrs prayer took it's flight with his spirit and those stones that flew him were the Monument of loving enemies of praying for those that persecute and murder and such Charity were not to be found among us any more yet sure I am these Charitable persons shall enjoy the friendship and the glories of that Lover that did Bless do good to Pray and Dye for Enemies and these meek men shall reign with the Lord who was stain and is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing all which be ascribed to him and to the Father of all mercies the God of Consolation and to the Spirit of Love now and for evermore FINIS * John 20. 30 31. a Hil. l. 1. de Trinâ—t p. 53 54. Clemens Al. Strom. 6. p. 675. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Justin. Mart. ad Diognetum p. 499. Athanas ad Serapionem tom 1. p. 191. 194 edit Par. 1672. c Justin. ex Trogo l. 36. Diod. Sicul. l. 1. Stâ—abo l. 16. Plin. 30. Tac. Hist. 5. Joseph contra Apionem mentions many others d Exod. 7 8 9 10. Chapters e Exod. 14. 21. f Exod. 16. 15. Deut. 8. 24. g Exod. 16. 20. h Exod. 16. 24. i Num. 11. 16. 20. 31 32. k Num. 20. 8. 11. l Exod. 20. m Jossh 6. 20. n Josh. 6. 20. o Num. 2. 32. Num. 11. 21. p Jer. 25. 11 12. q Isa. 44. 26. 21. 28. 45. 1. r Dan. 9. 24. c. s Tac. An. l. 15. t Vid. Raim Martin pugfid p. 2. c. 8. u Celsus apud Orig. l. 2. Julian Cyril contra ipsum 6. Origâ—n contra Cels. l. 2. c. 69. x Mat. 8. Mar. 1. Luc. 4. y Mat. 8. Mar. 5. Luc. 8. z Mat. 9. Mar. 2. Luc. 5. a Mar 5. Luc 8. b John 5. c Luc. 7. d Maâ— 14. Mar. 6. Luc. 9. John 6. e Mat. 15. Mar. 8. f Mat. 17. Mar. 9. Luc. 9. g John 11. h Mat. 24. Mar. 13. Luc. 21. i Mar. 26. Mar. 14. John 12. k Mat. 27. Mar. 15. Luc. 23. John 19. l â—hlegen apud Origen conâ—ra Cels. l. 2. p. 8â— Euseb. ad Olyn 20â— ann 4 〈◊〉 lop Georg. Syncd Thallâ—s apud African vid. Scal. ammad ad Euseb. Chron. p. 186 ad ann 2044. Etiam vide Just. Mart. p. 76. p. 84. Tertull. Aâ—pol c. 21. de isto terrae motu agere Tacitum Plin. l. 2. c. 84. scribit Oros. m Mat. â—8 Mar. 16. Luc. 29. John 24. n Mar. 16. 9. o Luc. 24. 5. p V. 33. q V. 13. r V. 36 37 41. s John 20. 24 t John 21. u Mat. 28. 16. Mar. 15. 6 x 1 Cor. 15. 7. y Luc. 24. 49. Acts 1. 4. 5. z Acts 1. 9. Luc. 24. 5â— a Acts 2. 6 7 8. b Luc. 1. 14. c 1 Cor. 4. 9. d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e Whence Eusebius says l. 2. Eccl. hist. c. 14. they at Rome not thinking it enough to have heard the Gospel once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not being contented with the preaching of the heavenly doctrine while it was but an unwritten doctrine earnestly entreat St Mark that he would leave in writing with them a monument of that doctrine which had bin delivered to them by preaching Nor did they give over till they had prevail'd which when St Peter knew by revelation of the H. G. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being extremly pleas'd with that desire and their earnestness in it He approv'd it and appointed it to be read in their assembly f Euseb. l. 3. c. 37. g l. 10. epist. 97. h Just. Mart. dial cum Tryph. Judaeo p. 247 302 311. Iren. l. 2. c. 56 57. i Excerpt ex Quadrat Apolog. ad Hadrianum apud Euseb. l. 4. c. 3. k Just. Mart. Apol. 2. p. 98. l Iren. l. 3. c. 1. m Just. Mart. Apol. 2. Eccl. Smyrnens apud Euseb. l. 4. c. 15. Ecclesiarum Viennen Lugdun comment de passiene Martyr suorum apud Euseb. l. 5. c. 1. Niceph. l. 3. 4. n Orig. contra Cels. l. 2. p. 62. p. 80. Tertul Apol. c. 23. o Niceph. l. 5. c. 29. p V. Euseb. l. 6. 7. fere integros de Sev. Spartian Tertul. de Decio S. Cypr. q Euseb. l. 8. c. 2. â— 6. Niceph. l. 7. c. 6. Euseb. l. 8. â— 11. c. 9. Sulp. Sev. l. 2. Oros. l. 7. c. 25. Ignatii Patr. Antioch literas apud Scalig. de emend temp l. 5. p. 496. Spond ad annum 302. n. 4. Luke 1. 4. r Ego quidem etiamsi non semel sed saepe id in sacris moniment is scriptum extaret non id circo tamen ita rem prorsus se habere crederem Socin de Jesu Chr. Servatore parte 3. c. 6. operum tom 2. p. 204. s John 10. 30. t 1. John 5. 7. The Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one 8. The Spirit and the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one u Heb. 1. 10 11 12. x Psal. 102. 25 26 27. y The reasonableness of this supposition might be demonstrated if there were any need of it z L. 1. de Sanct. Beatit c. 17. a Psal. 27. 8. b Psal. 4. 6. c Psal. 45. 12. d Concil tom 18. p. 295. e Sigon de regno Ital. ad annum 712. l. 3. p. 94. f Sigon de regno Ital. ad annum 726. l. 3. p. 103. g Leonis imperium respuerunt ac
them with them to that Sacrament set them at Christs table as it were to feed on that body which they crucified make them imbrue their hands in that blood which they shed And this is the return they make to that blood shed for them They bring them and their vows against them both together to the Altar and they leave their vows there but they take their Sins back with them and serve them still Now does eternal ruin look so lovely to us as that we will break thro all oaths to get at it Is 't worth the while to be at once false to God and our own blessedness Do vows so straiten us that we cannot endure the obligations to be happy In Gods name be at last more true to your own Souls consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding A SERMON OF THE PREROGATIVE OF MERCY in being the best SACRIFICE Matth. 9. 13. Go yee and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice THE words are part of a reply of our Saviors to a cavilling question of the Scribes and Pharisees who seeing him converse familiarly accept the friendship of an invitation sit and eat with open noted Sinners and which was as bad a name amongst them Publicans ask his Disciples why they and their Master do what they know was forbidden and unlawful To whom having answer'd that he did converse with them only in order to their cure now a Physitian that goes to visit his sick Patients is not therefore blam'd for going to them because they are sick he further justifies himself by an account of Gods own mind and dealing set down in the Scripture of whose meaning if they had not taken notice hitherto he bids them now go learn it For God tells them by his Prophet Hosea that he prefers acts of mercy doing good to others before any Ceremonies of his Worship tho himself ordain'd them whether Sacrifices or whatever others For I will says he have mercy and not sacrifice Therefore Christ did but comply with Gods own will when he accepted of an invitation from such sinners merely to have the better opportunity to invite them to repentance and to heaven and in doing so did but preferr the acts of highest mercy in the world the doing everlasting blessed good to souls before obedience to such ritual precepts as forbad converse with the unclean and sinful I need not here observe that the negation is but comparative and means I will not have Sacrifice but Mercy rather yea I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice where I cannot have both or that by Sacrifice also is meant all Ceremonies of Gods Worship altho instituted by himself and those not taken by themselves and merely external Acts and void of the inward zeal and devotion that should spirit them but taken in their best states yet God will have works of Mercy rather And that doctrine is it seems worth learning and attending to for so in the text there is besides the proposition it self I will have mercy and not sacrifice also the insinuation of its usefulness in those words go and learn what that means I shall not break these into other parts but raise some Propositions for the subjects of my discourse And First since God compares two sorts of things here in the text and says he will have or is pleas'd with one and not the other which other yet 't is plain that he was pleas'd with and would have for he commanded them 't is evident he does imply that as these call'd here Sacrifices were grateful to him as they were obedience to his precepts so the other therefore which he does prefer to those they must be good and acceptable to him in themselves not only as they are commanded Some actions therefore have an intrinsic honesty are of themselves in their own nature morally good and well-pleasing to God as some also are the contrary 2dly Of all that are so in that manner good those of Mercy are in an especial manner such I will have mercy 3dly Of all acts of mercy those are best and most well-pleasing in Gods sight which are employ'd in reducing Sinners from their evil ways those were such our Savior is here pleading for And 4thly 'T is onely the opportunity and the design and hope of doing good to Sinners by reforming them that can make familiar converse with them excusable and lawful I mean where no duty of a relation do's oblige to it Christ himself had no other plea to justify his eating with them but that he intended it as a mercy to them as his opportunity to call them to repentance All these we see flow naturally from the words First some actions have an intrinsic honesty are of themselves in their own nature morally good and well-pleasing to God as some are the contrary When I say they have an intrinsic honesty and are in nature good I mean the rule of them is intrinsic and essential to the agent is indeed his nature and by consequence their goodness is as universal and eternal as that nature Now it is a doctrine that hath had Advocates as ancient as the great Carneades and the Sect of the Pyrrhonians that in nature antecedent to all laws and constitutions there is no rule of unjust or just good or evil honest or dishonest and that nothing of it self is one or other but as our concerns or interests do make it to our selves to prosecute which is the only inclination and the only rule that nature gives us or else as the public interests incline superior powers to prescribe them whom it is our interest also to obey Accordingly we find â—this saying in Thucydides that to them that are in power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing is unreasonable that is useful And the Athenians being stronger tell the Melii that by rules of human reason things are just in that degree that they are necessary And then as necessities and interests do chance to vary good and just must change into their contrary and as different countries and persons cannot but have opposite rules and mesures of necessity and usefulness so they must of just and honest thus the laws of Vertue serve like Almanacks but for such a latitude and a different elevation of the Pole quite alters them and makes them good for nothing A pleasant sort of good and honest this which any wall or dike that divides Provinces or Countries can give boundaries lines and rules to so as that it shall be vertue and right on one side vice and error on the other as if those principles of good and evil which seem planted in us and the world calls natural were nothing else but prejudices taken in from early conversation as dogs learn they say the skill of chase And it were great pity if this age which so much needs the patronage of such a principle to give countenance to their licentious practices had not also found out some that
the world or any cheif ingredient of its making should have chang'd its operations and by consequence not be it self but the disorder and the pest of all the other We seem indeed astonisht seeing heavy bodies to put off their nature and ascend and we rack principles to find out causes when the vicious man that acts daily against his reason is the same constant prodigy the man that pours down streams of intemperance until they mount into the throne of reason and quench the little spark that 's seated there is as unnatural a thing as a stream climbing up a wall and every Sinner is as much a monster as a stone falling upwards do's as much against his nature reason is indeed a greater monster For when those other things do leave their nature 't is either from some violence in the efficient if water mount 't is by the force of engine or some other pressure or as some say from violent impulses of a final cause 't is for the preservation of the whole community of natures for if it be to avoid vacuities it is so and it do's against its own inclination onely for the strong concern there is for the benefit of the Universe but the wicked man that lives against the dictates of right reason his own nature is urg'd to it by no violences but those of wilfulness is pusht on by no engine but a naughty heart nor hath he any higher ends that make impulse upon him but he is onely passionate for unworthy ruine violent for an unreasonable destruction The Heathens were so sensible of Natures obligation in man to live virtuously according to reason that they call'd the doing so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if there had bin an engagement to it in his very constitution and being and his principles and frame did promise for him he should live so and therefore Arrian upon Epict tells a man that did a thing injuriously or with passion and impetuosity or but without consideration or to gratify his lower appetites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast destroy'd the man in thee in having not kept nature's word but broke the promise which thy very being made for thee As if mans nature undertook as solemnly he would be virtuous as the fire's nature does assure that it will burn But we who profess also to believe that God made man in his own image consequently must needs grant that so far as he imprest on him the likeness of that nature whose perfections as they are most infinite and immutable so they are a necessary and unchangeable rule of goodness to those beings that are transcripts of his being so far therefore he hath planted in us rules of good which since they are deriv'd from our supreme Lord and Creator must have the force of law to us and are that which the Scripture calls the Law written in our hearts whose dictates howsoever slightly vain men think of vertue that it is but an emty name or at the best but politic contrivance without any real grounds in nature have yet their causes as eternal are themselves as immutable not onely as mans nature but as Gods of which mans is the draught and image and are justly call'd participations of those forme of goodness that are in God of which they are the prints and amongst them none more lively then the rule of Mercy the thing that God do's prefer here when he sais I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice Whence we observ'd that amongst all those actions which have an intrinsic honesty and are of their own nature in themselves morally good and well-pleasing to God those of Mercy are in an especial manner such the second thing I was to speak to for I will saith he have Mercy The word here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies benignity and by it is meant all love and kindness the exercise of the habit of mind that disposeth a man to do all the good he can to every man in what condition soever Now to prove that human nature hath implanted in it principles of universal kindness and propensions to have friendship to have pity on do good to one another I shall not urge what St Paul saith that God made of one blood all the nations of the earth tho certainly in that one kindred there be an obligation to the dear affections of near relatives But if all would grant that one blood it would I fear prevail not much for now adaies nearness of kindred is not apt to make close friendships and concernes for one another if an interest chance to interpose however one blood when it is divided so and scatter'd hath not force to warm and spirit strong affections or to cement much But this I will take confidence to urge that in the latitude of creatures none is born with so much need of mercy as a man none wants so many helps to be brought forth none leaves the parent that did bear it and should nourish it in so weak and helpless a condition I speak as to the generality 't is merely others pity and assistance that they live and then if mercy others help be the most pressing and the first necessity of humane nature the return of mercy pitying and helping others is the first and the most pressing obligation on that nature To go forward as this state of infancy demonstrates nature did intend him for society since without that 't is not onely most impossible that he can be that rational creature ever can exert the faculties of speech and the discourse of reason which yet 't is plain nature hath fitted him for but also most impossible that he can be brought up to be so when he is so 't is society alone that still preserves him and 't is onely mutual good offices that preserve society Nam quo alio tuti sumus quam quod mutuis juvamur officiis saith Seneca l. 4. de Benef. c. 18. and mans life subsists is furnisht and rose onely by commerce of kindnesses by helping one another take him single and what is he but the prey of any beast almost vilissimus facillimus sanguis the cheapest blood and easiest to be spilt Those creatures that are born in deserts and born for them are all arm'd but nature gave no strength to man besides the kindness and assistances of other men take away them by which alone it do's subsist and the whole kind must perish But so far you labor to take them away as you believe not to be good kind merciful and assisting is not a thing of it self ill and unnatural which it must needs be and the contrary most natural when as nature hath provided onely that as instrument of its security and preservation So far is the accursed principle of self interest and of mans just right to do what e're he lists to others howsoever mischeivous it be if he conceive the doing of it useful to himself from being any principle of nature that
give me leave to run into the snare who bids me cut my foot off rather then be taken sure he suppos'd we would be willing of our selves to divorce and tear our selves from the allurements and occasions who thought it unnecessary to prescribe such easy remedies as to avoid them and requires of us that when the allurements shall surprize or force themselves upon our senses we tear out the organ rather then yeild and be overcome Or he thought at least that altho the companions of my vices are grown dearer to me then mine own eies their converse more useful and more necessary to my satisfaction then my hand or foot is to me yet to pluck out cut off and cast all from me But were I proof against temtation and perfectly secure from the contagion of such conversation yet 't is Fourthly less excusable in respect to Gods concern then any other To sit and see vertue not onely violated and deflour'd with loose unclean discourses but like Thamar then thrust out of doors despis'd Religion scoft and turn'd in ridicule all that is Holy laugh'd at and profan'd and Gods Lawes vilifi'd his Word burlesqu'd and droll'd upon his Name blasphem'd and himself raill'd curst renounc't yea and deni'd a being and hearing this I do not say to find delight and entertainment in this sort of company for none but those that are of reprobate minds can do that possibly take pleasure in that which hath nothing in the world to recommend it but the boldness of the villany but to sit patient without any least sense of resentment as one that had not any least concern for God Almighty's honor or his being is ingratitude to such a bulk and brutishness of guilt as is beyond the power and art of aggravation or indeed expression It was not onely death by Gods Law to dishonor or blaspheme his Name but at the hearing it tho but in repetition by a Witness all the Jews that were in hearing were oblig'd to rent their garments as their Laws assure us in their Talmud Yea we find the Courtiers in Isaiah 36. 22. coming with their cloths rent to King Hezekiah to report the words of Rabshakeh an Alien who but in a message from his own King had spoken sleightly of their God and the High Preist whom it was forbid to in most cases in such did it And one would think that it should rent our hearts of which the other was but a Symbolic Ceremony and implied that duty To hear one slight tho but by inadvertency a person whom some one or other of the company hath the least relation or but any little obligation to requires that person by the laws of honor indispensably to call for reparation To touch the reputation of a Mistress or what 's worse and own'd to be so ought they say to be no otherwise then fatally resented and these are accounted such just causes of mens indignation that a man that 's unconcern'd will take it for a glory to be second in them and he that never had the honor to be drunk in the man's company will venture to be kill'd and to be damn'd for him in such a quarrel Therefore every man unless he do design to quarrel purposely does think himself bound to forbear offences of such kind in company where any one 's oblig'd in honor or by rules that men have set it to take notice of it Now tho it were prodigious insolence to urge in parallel to this that it should seem that God Almighty is not thought so much a friend to any none have such relation to him nor on any account have reason to be so concern'd for him or for his honor that men should forbear him in their company yet it seems dreadful after such plenties of his blessings Miracles of kindness in stupendous rescues and deliverances where to pass by all those Mercies that concern Eternity his temporal preservations have contested with our provocations and overcom them and so often that they have out numbred all our hours and all other numbers but our sins that these endearments should not yet be able to oblige us so far as to move us when we hear his Laws or his Religion or his Word and Name or himself dishonor'd to desire them to forbear that God that hath bin so kind to us or if that be judg'd unmannerly by the Sword-men yet at leastwise by uneasiness and by withdrawing to assure them that we cannot bear the hearing it God did once say in a severe threatning determination Those that honor me I will honor and they that despise me shall be lightly esteem'd Go ye and learn what that means consider I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things SERMON IV. Of Gods method in giving Deliverance Psalm 102. 13 14. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favor her yea the set time is come For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust thereof According to the version us'd in the Liturgy Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for it is time that thou have mercy upon her yea the time is come And why thy servants think upon her stones and it pitieth them to see her in the dust THE address of this text is not ordinary they use to be directed to men for their instruction and practice but this do's treat with God seems to prescribe to and appoint him and now not to excuse this by a plea that since men have bin deaf to all addresses from this place that have bin made unto them 't is time to change the method and seeing we cannot persuade men try if we can in that sense of St Paul's words persuade God but to say for our selves when human wisdom cannot find expedients for us and our distresses are beyond the succors of their power or their counsel 't is fit then to betake our selves to God to plead with the Lord and never let him rest and when the help of man is vain to to cry out O be thou our help and with holy confidence thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion Indeed addresses to God use to be made otherwise in a petitionary form at least and it would seem much more to become us if we humbly beg'd Arise O God have mercy upon Sion yet this here in the Text is such a form as does need nothing else but faith in the Petitioner to make it acceptable There is some difference in the reading of the latter verse the one version rendring for why thy servants think upon her stones and it pitieth them to see her in the dust the other thus for thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust thereof yet this is easily reconcil'd they think upon her stones indeed with sorrow for acknowledgments of their demerits which did call down this calamitous condition and being passionately thus affected with the sense of it they willingly receive contentedly
of their faith and communion in Gods public worship among Christians as there is unity and communion between the several parts of one same person that their union in it should be so strict that all their assemblies for it should make but one body with one spirit so another end is to assure that as in one same body there are several parts for several uses without which it could not be an organiz'd complete animal body so in the one body of Christ the Church too there are several ministeries offices and powers some more noble others more inferior and the whole body may as well be all eie as each member in the Church a Seer every part be tongue as every man a Teacher St Paul from that Analogy deducing a necessity of several parts and their subordination also in that 1 Cor. 12. v. 28. and accordingly saith he God hath set several orders first Apostles after Prophets Teachers helps or ministerial offices and governments without which governments and which diversity 't is as impossible it can subsist as for a body to see without an eie or speak without a tongue consult direct and call it self without a brain or understanding Yet this same is exprest all in the other body of a building which my text relates to for Eph. 4. 11. Christ gave also some Apostles and some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and some Teachers for the perfecting the Saints compacting holding Christians together in assemblies for Gods public worship for the work of the ministry for the edifying or building up of the body of Christ. Now this embleme to the body of a building as the other is a type of Unity but yet of several and subordinate stations in the Churches unity For stones however excellently squar'd fitted are yet no parts of the structure till they be cemented to the rest that lean on the foundation the number possibly may make a heap but not a frame until they be dispos'd and order'd in their several stations for there are such in this body also every hewn stone cannot be a pinnacle nor corner stone so in the Church all are not capable of the same ministeries offices or powers And yet we may remember when it was so all assum'd all seiz'd the offices usurpt the powers executed all the ministeries all subordination was demolisht order broken Governments under foot the stones of the Sanctuary pour'd out in the top of every street as Jeremy laments the Vrim and the Thummim stones that gave the heavenly Oracles lost in ruins Now then God to make good the promis'd method of his Providential mercies when it was thus when these stones of Sion were in the dust the Ephod and the Priests thrown into it and the Priesthood and the Fathers of it the the whole life with all its offices and powers dying almost all that could continue it being laid in the dust and Sions Enimies expecting the expiring of the Order then the appointed time was come and God not onely did himself arise but made a resurrection of the Church too and from the dust these stones were again most miraculously built into a Spiritual House I cannot but acknowledg that the breaches which this desolation made were not wholly made up nor were well cemented and as uncemented breaches use to do decai'd more and more daily what arts were us'd to keep them open yea to widen them by whom for what ends too is so evident I shall not touch it But 't is sure we had not much face had no great appearance of the bodies that the Scripture represents the Church by for in those that were before broke off from her there was no subordination nor no order nor no unity every broken divided piece of ruin took upon it self to be the entire building the whole body every Faction was Christs Church each Assembly was his flock his Congregation when indeed it was onely a Spiritual riot And when things were dispos'd thus then at once to break down all the poor remainders he that takes his place to whom Christ said Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build my Church who yet as not content to thrust Christ out from being the alone foundation then which none can lay another true one 1 Cor. 3. 11. would be the chief head stone in the corner also on which whosoever should fall shall be broken but on whosoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder Matth. 21. 44. He I say in confifidence of that success attemts this on the Reformation and particularly on this as they thought tottering Church to lay her stones all in the dust And truly such the instruments emploi'd are that humanely speaking it must seem impossible to be avoided For in Gods name under the Autority of Religion with the greatest Sacredness that can be they contrive the bloudiest most irreligious most inhumane murders treasons assassinations imaginable make the holy Eucharist the bond of their confederacy in those so tremendous villanies Christ's bloud becomes the very obligation both to commit not confess them for which end they say and swear even at the point of death and upon their Salvation prov'd and confest falshoods Now what security or guard can mankind have against such whom no ties of Religion or humanity have any force on Whether these be the doctrines of their Church tho that be true in most part yet it matters not to them who are to be massacred if they be the constant practices and if they have such guides of conscience as can satisfy and thereupon engage the instruments that must effect them to those practices How they do that I must confess seems strange for they yet look upon those actions as for which they would have absolution therefore sins For tho there have bin dispensations sent from Rome permitting them to promise swear subscribe and do what else should be requir'd of them so as in mind they did continue firm and us'd their diligence to advance the Roman faith in secret yet such dispensations might be intercepted as those were in 1580. and brought to King James in Scotland and so might discover plots if they were us'd to give them in all such occasions besides that they would stare the head of that Church in the face betray his being privy to and abetting those designs of bloud which now if they miscarry they can cast at first upon some private Desperado's and then after lye laugh them out of mens belief Such dispensations therefore being not to be expected still they took other ways For seven years after Sextus V. offering by the Bishop of Dunblain to that King a marriage with the Infanta of Spaine if he would become a Catholic as he call'd it and join with them against the English and this being mightily resisted by the then Lord Chancellor which made that ineffectual and who was their constant adversary Father William Chrichton who had
and if God himself knew the best way to keep off his Indignation from us then here it is for he prescribes Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast Before I do divide the Text I shall tell you in what sense I interpret those words Enter thou into thy chamber and shut the doors about thee which if it be not according to the immediat and literal importance of them is yet such as is justified by a parallel place of Scripture dictated by our Savior himself and will afford us most wholesom observations I take them in the sense they have Matt. 6. 6. But thou when thou praiest enter into thy chamber and shut thy door so that here they will be the form of prescribing praier in dangerous and sad times when if thou look unto the earth thou shalt behold nothing but trouble and darkness and dimness of anguish why then lift up thine eyes to Heaven go to thy Praiers in times of change when thou knowest not which way to betake thy self go to the Closet of thy devotions take off thy thoughts from these sad objects here below and fix them on the comforts of Religion divert thy thoughts from the occasions of discontent and employ them in meditations upon God in converses with him in contemplations of his Promises and joys in one word spend thy time in Praiers and Devotions That 's the sense the parts are 1. A perswading invitation come my people wherein are the persons invited my people secondly the invitation come 2. Here is that they are invited to set down by way of counsel and that hath several branches 1. Enter thou into thy chambers 2. Shut thy doors about thee 3. Hide thy self with the duration of it as it were for a little moment and secondly the end of this and all the rest that the Indignation may pass over them until the Indignation be overpast In the handling of them I shall take this course first from the first general I shall speak somwhat of the persons invited that have this compellation my people and giving you some reasons of it From the second I shall observe that in times of storm or any sadness the onely way to withdraw our selves from the violences of discontents and troubles is to retire to praiers and the onely comfort then is in the Closet-exercises of Devotion 3. From the next part hide thy self that Praiers are in sad daies the onely great security and the devotion-chamber a sure hiding place from Indignation 4. From the duration that the sorrows of the afflictions which God does suffer to fall upon his own devout People they last but for a little moment 5. From the last there is none of Gods Indignation in them all that overpasses them First of the compellation my People come my People Now God may speak to those here for two reasons first to shew us that in the times of storm and of the breakings out of indignation God invites none to courses of security puts none upon ways of safety do's not take care of any but those that are his People and those in whom his People are concern'd as Kings who are the nursing Fathers of his Church as for others let them take their own courses look to themselves but come ye come my People My People is a word that includes relation and wherein it do's consist you will find from the correlative set together with it in the very making of the Covenant I will be their God and they shall be my People they who take God to be their Lord and assume to become his obedient liege People such have indeed a right and title to his Protections to provide for and take care of them it is his office he undertook it in his Covenant and not to do it were to renounce his compact which he bound himself to with an Oath which 't is impossible for him to do But as for others they have no plea to these Can Rebels claim protection and such who renounce relations that put themselves off from being his People expect that he should look after and take care of them be their Guardian and Security The different condition of these two sorts of People in relation to Gods caring for them in time of judgment you will find Mal 3. 16 17 18. In the times of undisturb'd abundance and of full prosperity when the God of this World is good to them that serve him when the Lord lets men alone and the ungodly thrive then indeed his protections are not much regarded but wickedness wealth seem the strongest security but when God sends his Indignation abroad and when his Judgments sweep away those confidences then this will be a comfortable consideration come what will come I have one that hath writ me in his note-book in his Book of Remembrance to put him in mind that he is to provide for me and when the most florishing ungodly shall be stript of all his hopes and trusts no least relief from them nor can he look for any from the Lord God hath not so much as directions for him here he hath no part not in his perswasions is not invited to his Counâ—els then have I one that will make me up amongst his Jewels have the same cares of me as of his peculiar precious treasures and calls me to security Come my People Or secondly my People to let us see what arts of invitation God does use to perswade us to take good counsel he gives us all the compellations of kindness and speaks us as fair as possibly not to do him a courtesy but to be kind to our selves In other places when he hath no design upon them then he cries to Moses thou and thy People Exod. 32. 7. but when he would do good unto us when he would entice us to be safe then come my People So he does elsewhere use all the titles of love and cloths his invitations with the wordings of our most known Courtships that that which useth to prevail with us may do his work upon us So in the Canticles 5. 2. Open to me my love my dove my spouse my undefiled and the whole book is but the Arts of Divine wooing Strange that the heavenly Bridegroom must court so much to be receiv'd by his Spouse Good God! that thou must be forc'd to give us good words to prevail with us to be good unto our selves that we must be sooth'd temted and flatter'd into preservations and mercies that we should refuse remedy and Antidote unless it be guilded that to lie hid in times of Judgment and to escape Indignation is not motive enough to us but we must be woo'd to do so safety it self must speak us fair or we will none of it and God must flatter us into the places of security Come my People enter into thy chambers the
judgment the soul shall be rewarded with the blessing of its intentions As it did often do its part in piety without the body so it shall have a crown before the body shall forestal happiness and for a while it shall alone be blessed as oftentimes it hath been vertuous alone in good intentions when it could not act 4. But all this is not strange that the great mercy of our God should so interpret to our advantage our designs of piety as to impute good meanings to our glory as if they were good doings and consequently where the intentions are holy the actions must be holy and where this eye is clear the body must have light but 't will be very strange if a clear eye make the whole body full of light illustrate those performances which have no relation to the soul. Most of the actions of our life are common and indifferent serve only the necessities or recreations of nature and how can these be holy Why yes by pure Religious intentions a man may sanctify all the actions of his life and if thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 10. 31. Every therefore the most common action may be intended to Gods glory and then 't is sanctified That the Lord should look for honor from the devout performances of our strictest Religion 't is no wonder for therefore he requires them but that when in the meanest instance I do serve my self in doing so I should be able to give glory to my God is sure by vertue of some strange stratagem some Divine elixar that will so transmute things why a good meaning will do this To shew thee how when thou goest about the employments of thy lawful calling have but good thoughts about thee good intentions in them and the actions of thy calling are for the uses of grace and thy necessities do prove thy vertue As for instance when thou labourest do but consider to what pains sin hath put thee sells thee thy bread for sweat for if man had not sin'd Eden had furnish't him with all the delicacies of Paradise without his care or contribution and he had had the fruits of the tree of life without the pains of planting any thing 't is sin that gives thee all this toil and then do but resolve to use this as an argument to thy self to make thee hate the cause of so much trouble I will sure labour most against that which hath so chang'd and debas'd my condition and which do's aim to make me far more miserable to eternity If I am weary of my work e're night what shall I be of everlastingness of torment If little thirsty heats and drops of sweat offend me what will unquenchable feavors and what a lake of brimstone And think again upon the mercies of thy God who offers thee at the rate of easier endeavors the food that lasteth to eternal life the calling of a Christian being the least painful and yet it brings the greatest fruits the price of that high calling being blessedness if thou but labor in it If thou be sustaining the necessities of nature in meat and drink look up to him that do's provide for them and resolve only not to use his blessings to his dishonor by excesses not to spew his mercies out into his face again but use them as assistances of nature to enable thee for such emploiments as his providence hath assign'd to thee And in thy recreations also do but take notice thankfully how God hath provided for delights too how he hath not only brought forth bread to strengthen man but wine to make his heart glad and oyl to make him a cheerful countenance and instruments of sport to delight him and but acknowledg all these things to God and intend with thy self to use them only to his ends Thy calling either to provide for thy subsistence here that thou may'st serve him or to do good to others Thy meals for preservation of that life which he hath lent thee for his uses and recreations for refreshment and for health and make no doubt if nothing do interpose to spoil these instances that thou art serving God in all of these that thy most secular actions are thus make spiritual imploiments by being dedicated so to God undertaken in his fear and intended for the uses of his providence so that if whensoever thou art going about any thing thou do but ask thy self why thou do'st set upon it and can'st but make a good intention look towards it and resolve only to let it serve such ends resolve not to transgress in it the bounds that God hath set thee either of time or measure and to make all subordinate and to assist towards piety some way or other and then sometimes with eyes lift up call for and look for a blessing down upon thee in it and by this means the action is sanctified so thou dost consecrate thy deeds to God and he accepts thy meaning in it as an offering to him the action is adopted into the stock of Religion meant to God and so thy whole life may be made pious by such good intentions and thus thy single eye makes thy whole body full of light And this consideration alone might apply it self with pressingness upon us Shall I think God not easy to be serv'd when I may teach my recreations to serve him Shall I think Heaven placed out of my possibilities when I can learn my sports to wing me towards it Religion sure is not so very difficult when a good honest meaning can transmute every action of my life into Religion and then who would not at such easy rates change his imployments which he must do and his sports which he will do into pieties when it is don by putting good intentions into them by good thoughts and ejaculations engaging God along in them But the last words do urge an application which I promised in one word But if thine eye be evil thy whole body is full of darkness My brethren if ill intentions have so destructive an influence upon our actions that when the end is foolish tho the action I practise be a vertue yet that aim do's defeat it of its vertuosness it loseth all its tast of piety and an ill enddo's debauch it into vice as I have prov'd and so for want of a good meaning I either lose my Religion or my Religion becomes sin unto me Unhappy I that when with such intentions I practise duty I lose the pleasures or the profits of the sins I might have practis'd every jot as innocently and much more usefully as to those ends and I lose the duty and by the very duty I purchase condemnation enjoy neither the vice I do omit nor yet the piety I practise nor any thing but the sad sentence of they have their reward And on the
to this rencounter of the object of its strong affections no rest but in the labors that work towards it no calm but in those violences And much of this there must be in Religion where the heart is set upon the hopes of it on heaven He must be eager in it as the covetous is on his gains the proud man on his pomps the pleasurist on his sports the Epicure on his excesses It is not possible a man should have no heart to that on which his heart is set He therefore that hath set his heart on heaven must be religious and holy and so it is concluded that the liberal-minded must needs be so The progress of which proof is this he whose heart is in heaven his conversation will be there his life will be Christian and holy he whose treasure is in heaven his heart is in heaven he that hath taken off his heart from the world and out of liberality of heart gives alms he laies his treasure up in heaven and then it is concluded that he is religious And this now may apply it self without my help to press it to you Ah my Brethren chuse and strive towards a vertue that will help you to all the rest that will calm and moderate your affections to this world and the dying follies of it and that will draw your hearts to heaven and set them on the world to come Who would not labor for one disposition of mind that comes with such a train of pieties that hath all Christianity in its attendance and brings all into the soul with it Who would not give alms if by doing so he give himself a shole of vertue to whom is this man bountiful but to himself indeed Here is a ground for men to beg after the fashion of Lombardy Be good to your self Sir and bestow an alms upon me for he indeed is good unto himself who what he gives laies up in heaven as a treasure for eternity and at the same time entertains the disposition to all piety in his heart receives all vertue into him I sahll not need to call in accessory proofs fetch in auxiliary motives tell you that works of charity are called good works in Scripture and the liberal man good So Rom. 5. 7. the good man signifies and Tit. 2. 5. where the women are commanded to be good it is merciful so works of mercy are call'd good works Acts. 9. 36. doing good Matt. 12. 12. Heb. 13. 16. good fruits James 3. 17. So to work good signifies Gal. 6. 9. and every good work 2 Cor. 9. 8. is works of mercy as if he did engross all goodness and that same vertue did fulfil the title Nay I tell you more that the merciful man and the perfect man are but two words for the same person Matt. 5. 48. Luke 6. 36. all Christianity is so sure appendant to this disposition of the heart when it is in the soul I tell you not when it is now and then in the actions that this alone is perfectness 't is entire lacking nothing And then here is a clear account why at the last great trial nothing should come upon account but charity that is the only thing the Judg takes cognizance of at the day of final doom When I was hungry ye gave me meat the words of everlasting Judgment pass only in relation to this nothing but charity do's come into that sentence for all the rest is implied in this and where the heart is liberal the whole life will be Christian this is an evidence will pass at God's Assise stand before the Searcher of the heart and reins And therefore it may well be a sign to us and make proof that this grace in the heart bounty of mind is a great evidence of a truly Christian heart the second Proposition Blessed Savior thou that wert all bounty to us that didst emty thy self to enrich us and didst chuse rather to die thy self than not relieve us when we were sick to everlasting death give us grace to be like-minded shed into our hearts this disposition of soul that will make us so remember thee a disposition that will make our affections even and moderate to things of this earth which by teaching us to part with wealth contentedly will work us out of the world and teach us not to be enamoured on the advantages of wealth not to be passionate for pomps or pleasures or for any superfluities which wealth procures which will set our hearts in heaven and lay up treasures for us there which if it rob us of the pomps and the magnificences of this world will give us for them pomps of piety the whole train of vertues a long attendance of graces if it deprives us of some heights or some excess of pleasures it will recompence with the satisfactions of relieving Christ in his members here and reigning with him hereafter in Kingdom SERMON XXII THE LIGHT OF THE BODY is the Eye Matt. 6. 22 23. The light of the body is the eye if therefore thy eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light But if thine eye be evill thy whole body shall be full of darkness If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness PHILOSOPHY do's say that all vertues are so annext and tied together that it is not possible for any man to have any one truly and compleat but he must needs have all they are like pearls upon the necklace from which if any violence pull one the string is broke and all are shatter'd and disorder'd And S. James saith c. 2. 10. Whosoever shall offend in one point is guilty of all and sure the vertue of the Text makes good both these Positions if liberality of heart be that one point he that excludes it from his Soul shuts out the rest at once All the graces are as train to that leading vertue are its such close attendants that they must needs have the same fate and either dwell together in the heart or all together be thrust thence for if thine eie be single thy whole body shall be full of light but if thine eie be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness An envious discontent uncharitable mind makes the whole life un-Christian and he that do's offend in that one point must needs be guilty of all and if Charity that bond of perfectness in S. Paul that tie of graces that do's unite them to it self and with each other if that be there all graces must be there and liberality of heart makes the life Christian for if thine eie be single thy whole body shall be full of light But I am now to shew you that bounty in the heart is a great Sign of a true Christian heart that that person who not out of easiness or modesty of constitution not knowing how to deny when he is askt nor out of inconsideration or vanity bestows an alms or else when importunities
8. which if after all the Husbandmans methods of Care and Art it brings forth only thorns and briars it is rejected by him he will bestow no more labour on it but can hardly forbear cursing such an ill piece of ground and its end is to be burnt So we after Gods Husbandry of Afflictions when the Plowers plowed upon our backs and made long furrows and the Iron teeth of Oppressors as it were harrowed us if we bring forth only the fruits of the Flesh we are rejected reprobated God will bestow no more Arts on us we are not far from his curse and there remains only a fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation If any did continue refractory to the Rod sinn'd under and against Judgment and did commit with an high hand even while the Lords hand was stretch'd out against them what shall reform what can express their guilt To have beheld that tragical iniquity we read of Lyons where when the City was so visited with the Pestilence that scarce any were free that the Dead without a figure buried their dead falling down one upon another each being at once a Carcass and a grave the Soldiers of the Cittadel would daily issue forth and deflour Virgins now giving up the ghost defile Matrons even already dead committing with the dust warming the grave with sinful heats and coupling with the Plague and Death would not this have seemed the Landskip of Hell to us when they suffer and sin together Yet when a Church and State were on their death-beds Gods Tokens on them visited with the treasures of his Plagues and our selves sinking in that our Ruin if any went a whoring after their own flesh still fulfilling the lusts thereof and in the midst of Deaths searching for sins what was this but to do the same things whose story does affright us while the actions please and in this case what method will be useful do we think our selves of that generous kind that will do nothing by compulsion but will for kindness and though we would not be chained yet we will be drawn to Vertue by the cords of Love and now God hath shewn mercy on us we will return him service out of gratitude Truly I make no question but most of us have promised some such things to God how if he would but save us from our Enemies that we might serve him without fear that we would do it in holiness and Righteousness before him And if he would restore his opportunities of Worship how we would use them Thus we did labour to tempt God and draw him in to have compassion and this was Ephraims Imagination just I heard Ephraim bemoaning himself saith the Prophet as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned turn my Captivity and I will turn my life But this was as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke that did not like the straitness and pressure of it and would promise any thing to get it off thought it more easie to reform than bear Affliction But is this hopeful think you The Soldiers of Lyons that would ravish Death and break into the Grave for Lust it may be would have been modest and retired from the fair Palaces that are prepared to tempt and entertain that Vice Cold and insensible of all those heats that Health and Beauty kindle but remember it was the taking off Gods hand that hardened Pharaohs heart and a release from punishment was his Reprobation And as for those that were humbled under the Rod and when God had retrench'd from their enjoyments did put restraints upon themselves gave over sinning I have a word of Caution for them that they examine well and take a care it be a ceasing from sin like that in the Text a dying to it that they no longer live the rest of their time in the flesh to the lusts of men For if this Old Man be only cold and stiff not mortified by the calm and sunshine of Peace likely to be warm'd into a recovery if thou owe all thy Innocence to thy Pressure wert only plunder'd of thy sins and thy Vertue and Poverty hand in hand as they were born so they will die together thy Vices and Revenues come in at once What is this but to invite new Desolations which God in kindness must send to take away the opportunities and foments of our ruining sins 'T is true when God has wrought such most astonishing miracles of mercy for us when he did make Calamity contribute to our Happiness when we were Shipwrackt to the Haven and the Shore when Ruins did advance us and we fell upwards it is an hopeful argument God would not do such mighty works on purpose to undo them we have good ground of confidence that he will preserve his own mercies and will not throw away the issues of his goodness in which his bounty hath so great an interest and share But yet if we debauch Salvation and make it serve our undoing if we order these opportunities of mercy so that they only help us to fill up the measure of our sins if we teach Gods long-suffering only to work out our eternal sufferings these Mercies will prove very cruel to us and far from giving any colour for our hopes When the Prodigal was received into his Fathers house and arms had a Ring put on him and the fatted Calf killed for him if he should strait have invited the companions of his former Riot to that fatted Calf and joyn'd his Harlot to him with that Ring he had deserved then to be disinherited both from his Fathers house and pitty who would have had no farther entertainment nor no bowels for him To prevent such a fate let us make no relapses but quite cease from sin which if we do not a little Logick will draw an unhappy inference from this Text if he that hath suffered hath ceast from sin then he that hath not ceast from sinning hath not suffered and then what is all this that we have felt and so lain under What is it if it be not suffering If this be but preparative then what is the full Potion the Cup of Indignation when all his Vials shall be poured into it If such have been the beginnings of sufferings what shall the issues be If the morning dew of the day of punishment have been so full of blood what shall the Storm and Tempest be the deluge and inundation of Fury Take heed of making God relapse 't is in your power to prevent it your Reformation will be his preservative and Antidote That is the way to keep all whole to settle Government and Religion both at once to establish the Kings Throne and Christs For notwithstanding mens pretensions these Thrones are not at all inconsistent For that there must be no King but Christ that there cannot be a Kingdom here of this World because there is a Kingdom that is not of this World is such
another Argument as that there cannot be an Earth because there is an Heaven Indeed if we fulfill my Text then we shall reconcile these Kingdoms and bring down Heaven into us for that 's a state where there is neither sin nor suffering where there shall be no tears because no guilt to merit them and no calamity to â—â—ke them Now Reformation does work this here in some degree and afterwards our comforts that are checker'd with some sufferings and our Piety which is soiled with spots shall change into Immortal and unsullied Glories he prepare us all Who washt us from our sins in his own Blood and by his sufferings hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father to whom be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen The Second SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL October 20. 1661. PSALM LXXIII 1. Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a Clean Heart ' T WAS a false Confidence the Jews did nourish That they should dwell securely in their Land notwithstanding their provocations because the Worship and the House of God was in it They did but trust on lying words the Prophet says when they did trust upon The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord As if the Temple were a Sanctuary for those that did profane it and the horns of the Altar would secure them when 't was the blood upon the Altar call'd for Vengeance Nor was that after-plea of theirs valid We are the chosen Israel of God We have Abraham to our Father As if when by their works they had adopted to themselves another Parent were of their Father the Devil they could claim any but their present Fathers interest or have the blessings of forsaken Abraham Now if it be no otherwise with us but because in our Judah God is known his Name great in our Israel with us in Salem that is in peace he hath his Tabernacle now and his dweling in Sion And so much knowledg such pretences to the Name of God and to his Worship are not with other Nations nor have they such advantages to know his Law If as each party of us does assume these Priviledges to it self so each do also rest in them although their Lives answer not these advantages If while they judg themselves Christs chosen Flock boast Covenants and Alliances with God although they violate all those Relations they yet trust those will secure them For why the being of such a Party and Persuasion is the signature and Amulet that will preserve them in Gods favour the charm through which he will not see Iniquity in Jacob nor perversness in Israel Lastly If we that were the distinctive Character of Israel that of a Ransom'd Purchas'd People for sure our Rescues rise unto the number and the rate of those which brought the Sons of Jacob from the House of Bondage if we as they presume and furfeit upon goodness and think these gifts of God too are without Repentance beliâ—â—â— our being his Redeemed his Church conceit our Orthodox Profession as once we thought our righteous Cause should do will shield us from the danger of our Enemies and of our Vices too and neither let our Foes nor our selves ruin us with such my Text and my intentions prepare to meet lest we should fill the Parallel and as we equal Israel in our Deliverances and imitate their practices we do transcribe the fatal Pattern too in the most full resemblance and repletion of an entire excision for although God be truly loving to his Church yet the ungodly does his soul abhor however in a signal manner he be good to Israel yet this his kindness does confine it self to such as are of a clean heart The words need not much explication By Israel is meant the Church of God and by his goodness to it all his external mercies also and protections as the Psalm evinces and by such as are of a clean heart those that to the profession of Religion and Holiness of outward conversation do add internal purity and sincerity for some trnaslate it such as are of a clean heart some such as are trueâ—hearted and sincere And it signifies both The words thus explicated give me these Subjects of Discourse First a general Proposition Truly God is good to Israel to his Church Secondly an assignation of Conditions under which that general Proposition holds All are not Israel that are of Israel it holds only in such as are of a clean heart And in this we have first a quality appropriate to the Church Cleanness Secondly with its subject the Heart and there I shall enquire why that alone is mention'd whether the cleanness of the Heart suffice and having answered that shall proceed Thirdly to consider them together in both the given senses as they mean a sincere heart and a pure undefiled heart In each of which Considerations because the latter part of my Text is a limitation of the former shewing where that general Proposition is of force where it is not I shall as I proceed view all the several guilts opposed to either notion of Cleanness and see how far each of them does remoye from any interest in the Lords goodness to his Church which is the natural Application of each part and shall be mine 1. Truly God is good to Israel his Church And sure this Proposition is evident to us by its own light to whom God proved his goodness to astonishment by exercising it to Miracle while he at once wrought Prodigies of kindness and Conviction to which we have only this proof to add That God hath been so plentiful in Bounties that we are weary of every mention of them and have so furfeited on Goodness that we do nauseate the acknowledgment So that his kindness in sustaining his Compassions does vie with that which did effect them who as he will not be provok'd not to be good by such prodigious unthankfulness so neither will he by the most exasperating use of his Favours God did complain of Israel Thou hast taken thy fair Jewels of my Gold and my Silver which I had given thee and madest to thy self Images My meat also which I gave thee my fine Flour mine Oyl and Honey wherewith I fed thee and hast even set it before them for a sweet savour And if men now do offer things in which God hath the same propriety to baser Idols to their Vices if they do sauce his meat which he hath given them to sacrifice to Luxury take his silver and gold to serve in the Idolatry of Covetousness and use his Jewels to dress Images also for foulest adorations If Atheism grow against Miracle and Goodness too and men do most deny God now when he hath given greatest evidences of his kind Providence I know not by what argument encouraged unless his in the Poet Factum quod se dum negat hoc videt beatum because they see they fare best now though
that day appear against their Friends and Masters and prove their Adversaries to eternal Death Let others joy in Friends that Wine does get them such as have no qualification to endear them but this that they will not refuse to sin and to be sick with their Companions Men that do onely drink in their affections as full of friendship as of liquor and probably they do unload themselves of both at once part with their dearness and their drink together and alike I know not whether in be heats of mutual kindness that inflame these draughts and the desires of them so as if they did drink thirst but sure I am that these hot draughts begin the Lake of fire Let others please themselves in an affection that Carnality cements These are warm friendships I confess but Solomon will tell us whence they have their heat Her house saith he doth open into Hell and Brimstone kindles those libidinous flames There are strait bands fetters in those affections indeed for the same Wiseman says The Closets of that sinner are the Chambers of Death That none that go unto her return again or take hold of the paths of life it seems she is a friend that takes most irreversible dead hold she is not onely as insatiate but as inexotable as the Grave and the Eternal Chains of Fate are in those her Embraces But God keep us from making such strict Covenants with Death from being at friendship with Hell or in a word that I say all at once with any that are good Companions onely in sinâ—ing Such men having no virtue in themselves must needs hate it in others as being a reproach to them and therefore they are still besieging it using all arts and stratagems to undermine it and having nothing else to recommend them in mens affections but their managery of Vice no way to Merit but by serving iniquity they not onely comply with our own evil Inclinations that so they may be grateful and insinuate into us but they provoke too and inflame those tendencies that they may be more useful to us having no other means to work their ends And then such friends by the same reason must be false and treacherous and all that we declaim at and abhor in Enemies when that shall be the way to serve their ends because they have no Virtue to engage them to be otherwise And to be such is to be constant to their own designs their dispositions and usances These are the Pests of all Societies they speak and live infection and friendship with them is to couple with the Plague These do compleat and perfect what the Devil but began in Eden Nurse up Original sin chase inclination into appetite and habit suggest and raise desires and then feed them into Constitution and Nature In a word are a brood of those Serpents one of which was enough to destroy Paradise and Innocence 'T is true a man would think these were our Friends indeed that venture to Gehenna for us Alas they are but more familiar Devils work under Sathan to bring us to Torments and differ nothing from him but that they draw us into them and he inflicts them And when sinful contents come home in Ruine and pleasures die into Damnation then men will understand these treacherous loves and find such Friends are but projectours for the Devil then they will hate them as they do their own Damnation discerning these are but the kindnesses of Hell Nay it is possible I may slander that place in speaking so ill of it Dives will let us see there are affections of a kinder and more blessed strain in Hell Luke xvi from the twenty seventh Verse you find he did make truce with Torments that he might contrive and beg onely a message of Repentance for his Brethren he did not mind at all his own dire Agonies he minded so the reformation of his Friends Good God! when I reflect upon these pieties of the Damn'd together with the practices of those who have given their names in to Religion when I see Fiends in Hell do study how to make Men virtuous and Christians upon Earth with all their art debauch them into vice and ruine I cannot choose but pray Grant me such Friends as are in Hell Rather grant us all the Friendship in the Text. But then we must have none with any Vice Friendship with that engageth into Enmity with God and Christ I shew'd you And to pass over all those after-retributions of Vengeance Christ hath studied for his Enemies when he that now courts us to be our Friend and we will make our Adversary must be our Judg For were there none of this and should we look no further than this life yet sure we of this Nation know what it is to have God our Enemy who for so many years lay under such inflictions as had much of the character of his last execution they had the Blasphemies and the Confusion the dire Guilts and the black Calamities and almost the Despair and Irrecoverableness of those in Hell And though He be at Peace with us at present at least there is a Truce yet I beseech you in the presence and the fear of God to think in earnest whether the present provocations of this Nation do not equal those that twenty years ago engaged him into Arms against us and made him dash us so in pieces Whether those Actions of the Clergy be reformed that made the People to abhor their Function and their Service the Offerings and Ministers of the Lord and made God himself spew them out 'T were endless to go on the prophaneness to the loose impieties and the bold Atheisms of the Laity especially of the better sort in short what one degree or state or Sex is better Sure I am if we are not better we are worse beyond expression or recovery who have resisted every method and conquer'd all God's Arts of doing good upon us been too hard for his Judgments and his Mercies both 'T is true when we lay gasping under his severe Revenges we then pretended to be humbled begg'd to be reconciled and be at peace with him and vow'd to his Conditions promising obedience and aliened our selves from our old sins his Foes But then when Christ came to confirm this Amity came drest with all his Courtship brought all the invitations of Love along our Prince and our Religion our Church and State Righteousness and Peace and the Beauty of Holiness every thing that might make us be an Happy and a Pious Nation thus he did tempt and labour to engage that Friendship which we offered him and vowed to him And we no sooner seiz'd all this but we break resolutions as well as duty to get loose from him and laden with the spoyls of our defeated Saviour's goodness we joyn hands with his Enemies resume our old acquaintant-sins enrich and serve them with his Bounties make appear that we onely drew him in to work such
Royal. My LORD WHEN I consider with what reluctancies I appear thus in publick I have all reason to suspect and fear lest this offering which like an unwilling Sacrifice was dragg'd to the Altar and which hath great defects too will be far from propitiating either for its self or for the votary But I must crave leave to add that how averse soever I was to the publishing this rude Discourse I make the Dedication with all possible zeal and ready cheerfulness For I expect your Lordship to be a Patron not only to my Sermon but to my Subject Such a separate eminence of virtue and of sweetness mixt together may hope to ingratiate Your Function to a Generation of men that will not yet know their own good but resist mercy and are not content to be happy And for my self Your Lordships great goodness and obligingness hath encourag'd me not 〈◊〉 to hope that you will pardon all the miscarriages of what I now present but also to presume to shelter it and my self under your Lordships Name and Command and to honour my self before the World by this address and by assuming the relation of My Lord Your Lordships most humbly devoted and most faithful Servant RICH. ALâ—â—STRY SERMON XVI IN St PETERS WESTMINSTER January 6. 1660. ACTS XIII 2. The Holy Ghost said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them AND as they ministred to the Lord and fasted the holy Ghost said Although that ministring to God by prayer and fasting be the indicted and appropriate acts to preface such Solemnities as this and that not Sermons but Litanies and intercessions are the peculiar adherents of Embers and of Consecrations and those vigorous strivings with Almighty God by Prayer are the birth-pangs in which Fathers are born unto the Church Yet since that now this Sacred Office is it self oppos'd and even the Mission of Preachers preach'd against and the Authority that sends despis'd as Antichristian whilst separation and pretence unto the Holy Ghost set up themselves against the strict injunction of the Holy Ghost to separate the Pulpit that otherwhiles hath fought against it must now attone its errours by attending on the Altar and the bold ungrounded claims of Inspiration that false Teachers have usurp'd be superseded by the voice of the Holy Ghost himself who in this case becomes the Preacher and says Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have call'd them My Text is a Commission parole from Heaven in it you have First the Person that sends it out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost said Secondly the Persons to whom it is directed imply'd in the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate more particularly exprest in the foregoing words Thirdly the thing to which they were impowr'd by the Commission or which was requir'd of them set down in the remaining words of the Text wherein you have 1. The Act injoyn'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate 2. The Object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate me Barnabas and Saul 3. The end for what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a work 4. The determination of that work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the work whereunto I have called them Of these in their Order and first I The Holy Ghost said Of those five things for want of which the second Jewish Temple sunk below the first and its Glory seem'd faint in the comparison the Chiefest was the Holy Ghost who became silent his Oracles ceast then and he spake no more by the Prophets A thing not only confest by the Thalmudists who say our Rabbins have deliver'd to us that from the time of Haggai Zechary and Malachy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost was taken away from Israel but so notorious in experience that when St. Paul meets Disciples at Ephesus Acts 19. 1. and asks them if they have received the Holy Ghost whether at their Baptism the Spirit came down upon them as he did then on others they answer ver 2. We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost any extraordinary effusions of the Spirit whether he do come down in Gifts and Afflations such as we know were usual in the first Jewish Temple but have not been for a long time and we have not yet heard they are restored for of this pouring out of the Holy Ghost they must needs mean it not of himself of whom they could not doubt nothing was more known in the Jewish Church But as our Saviour did supply the other four with all advantage and so fulfilled the Prophecy and made the glory of that Temple greater so for the fifth the spirit he was restored in kind with infinate improvement that of Joel fulfill'd I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh for they were all baptized with the Holy Ghost baptized in rivers of living waters which did flow out of the belly of themselves for this he spake of the Spirit which all that believed on him should receiue Joh. 7. 39. so that Joel did scarce feel or fore see enough to prophesie of this abundance but the inundations were almost like Christ's receivings without measure Nor were his Inspirations as of old dark and mysterious Oracles direction in rapture where the Message it self was to have another revelation and it must be prophecy to understand as well as utter But in the Gospel his effusions run clear and transparent as the Water that expresseth them revealing even all the unknown languages that were the conduits and conveighances all plain express direction such as that of the Text. Now amongst all the several uses of the Holy Ghost for which he was pour'd out in this abundance amongst all the designs he did engage himself in and advance he does not seem to have a greater agency nor to interess himself more in any than in qualifying for and separating to Church-Offices This seems to be his great work And indeed how can he choose but be particularly concern'd in those Officer which are his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his gifts Timothy's is expresly call'd so in each of his Epistles 1 Tim. 4. 14. 2 Tim. 1. 6. And when our Saviour Ephes. 4 8. is said to give the gifts of the Holy Ghost to men it is added how ver 11. He gave some Apostles some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry namely because those gifts enabled for those Offices and all the reason in the World that he should have a special hand in giving where himself is to be receiv'd Receive the Holy Ghost that was from the beginning and is yet the installation to them And if we take them from their divine original from that great Pastor and Bishop of our souls who was the maker of them too Thus he was consecrated the spirit of the Lord is upon me therefore he hath anointed me to preach
understood this so and writing to the Governour of Carthage who threatned all the Christians of that Province with Excision that he might persuade him from his purpose thus began his Proposals We do not write as fearing for our selves or dreading any thing that we are like to suffer for we did enter our Religion on the condition of suffering we covenanted to endure and staked our lives when we began our profession but 't is for you we fear for you our enemies whom our Religion does command us to love and to do good to And though we must hate Vice and do our best to root out Infidelity and Atheism destroy Profaneness Irreligion and Heresie and Schism These are fit objects for the zeals of Hate and for the feavers of our Passion and if our enemies be such we may meetly endeavour they may have appropriate restraints yet not to exercise the Acts of Charity and kindness to them we have no allowance No sins can make it lawful for us to ruine or not to do good to the Sinners In fine the onely persons that the Jews pretended to have ground to hate were Enemies and Enemies indeed to their Religion the Idolatrous Gentile-world therefore that being now forbid to us there is not sort of men nor any man whom it is lawful for a Christian not to love and all the reasons urg'd here by our Saviour do prove that all mankind whether good or bad is the object of a Christians love Because God does good to all his methods of Mercies are universal he makes his Clouds drop fatness even upon them that consume the encrease on their Lusts and sacrifice it to their Riots making their belly be their God He gives abundance of his good things unto those that love them onely as they advantage Vanity and Sin and that turn Gods-store into provision for Vice and for Destruction He gives gold to them that make gold their Idol and bestows large portions of Earth on them that are Children of Hell and them who for the pleasures of that Earth despise his Heaven Yea the whole order of things does teach us this the Creatures do service to the whole kind they acknowledge the man and not the Countrey-man and Friend but alike the rich and poor the good and grateful the wicked and ungrateful too The Sun does not Collect his Rays and shed more day to gild the gaudy and gay person whose Cloaths and Jewels will reflect his light return him as much almost as he sends and vie brightness with him than he does to the poor dark sordid rags that even damp his beams He sheds the same unpall'd day even on those men that draw such streams of bloud as with their mists endeavour to put out or stain his shine The Ayr gives breath to them that putrifie it as well as those that send it out a Perfume Yea the Cretures of sense and perception do not yet discriminate their Lords but with that same indifference serve all The Oxe knows his Owner and the Ass his Master not his Religion not his Vertues and then as there is something in man as man which God is kind to somthing in man as man for which the Creatures serve so there is somthing in man as he is man which we must love and consequently we must love every man And 'till thou hast found one so much a Monster that no creature will fear or obey and such a one as God will shew no kindness to at all will not let his Sun shine or his Rain rain upon but while as others are in Goshen sets him in the storm and dark of Egypt 'till then I say thou hast not found a person whom thou mayst not love no though he be thine enemy in mind and thought indeed for if he Curse thee thou must bless and must do good to him which hates thee which are the particular expresses to the love in the Text the first of which is Bless them that Curse you BLess being here oppos'd to Curse must signifie wish well to them that wish you evil Though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also do import speak well of as that is oppos'd to railing 1. Pet. 3. 9. not rendring railing for railing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but contrariwise Blessing And both are the duty of this place which does intend that all sorts of loving words should be the Christians returns to the offences of the tongue whether by Curse or contumely And truly when I do consider how the other way the rendring like for like and giving him that does wish or speak evil as good language as he brings is so far from all shadow of compensation that there is really a loss of honour in those dismal imprecating words the anger that does belch them out does swell and stretch and rack the passion blushes at it self the malice drinks those spirits up which it lurks in and the envy that Snake sucks all the blood away leaves nothing but its own pale venom in the stead In a word the very Essence of impatience is vexation and fret and then that men should call that recompence for suffering which is it self a present agony and hath no prospect of any after good that they should satisfie themselves in that does make that bold assertion of the Romanist who says that those in Hell do will and love their being there not strange at all for indeed there is one and the same reason of both that in the paroxysm of a passion whensoever a man is seiz'd by an affection with violence as they in Hell are always and those that speak evil are for the present He does for that time love cherish and pursue the affection and in good earnest if so be that men can please themselves in the extreme impatience of a fruitless choler it looks like demonstration that the damn'd may please themselves in their damnation as to that part of it that which tears the Soul the rage of its own passions when they are loose and unmuzzel'd and the more because we have good reason to believe theirs are the very passions we are now upon Envy and Hate and Shame and they do vent themselves in the same manner too in Blasphemy and Curses and differ nothing but that their's are endless and then let such men please themselves in the returns of calumny and imprecations we will allow them the delights of Hell in doing so and they do tast those very onely satisfactions that the fiends do in their torments and much good may they do them 'T is true then what the Psalmist says that he who thus delights in Cursing it shall enter into his bowels like water and like Oyl into his bones like pleasure and refreshment like water to allay his passionate heats and Oyl to make him chearful after his vexation For so indeed the venting of his Curses seems to do but alas if to powre them out do make them enter into