the Glory of God the Peace of the Church our Faith and a good life All which in some of their main branches I shall endeavour faithfully to discover and though I foresee my discourse will light on things which are very sacred with some who will be angry with every one that is not fond of their darling devices yet I shall not keep the Devils Counsel because I know they are not so much theirs as his And the more men are taken with the pretence in the greater danger are they of the mischief To begin then with the first Head proposed Satan deviseth against the Glory of God and that in these instances viz. against his Goodness his Grace his Spirit and his Worship 1. Satan designs against the Glory of Gods goodness The goodness of God is his nature and the fountain of his actions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Philosopher and God is love saith the Apostle And the most suitable apprehension we can form of God is to look on him as an Infinite Eternal and Almighty Love as that benign fountain that is continually overflowing and that glorious Sun that is always shedding abroad its beams and brightness Indeed the dry essence of God we cannot know 't is hid from our sight and our approaches in dazling glory and light inaccessible But his nature that is the Principle of his actions is his goodness and his attributes are but the several modes and variegations of Almighty Love from which they differ but as the colours of the Rain-bow do from the light of the Sun This then is the dearest and most God-like Attribute and the Divine glory is most concern'd in the honour of his goodness and against this Satan hath in these latter days especially been most subtilly and unhappily designing For perceiving that the notion of a God was so deeply prest upon the Souls of men that there was no erasing no plucking it thence He endeavours to corrupt and undermine what he could not otherwise destroy And if he cannot obtain of the world to say with the Fool There is no God he 'l attempt to perswade them to believe that God is like him or themselves and so is worse than none which he doth by instilling notions into the minds of men vastly prejudicial to the honour of his goodness and representing him as cruel merciless and tyrannical as one that hath made Myriads of excellent creatures to make them miserable for ever and who delights in triumphing over the wretched and calamitous whom meer unaccountable Will hath made so As one that hath involv'd the greatest part of his best Creation in black and dismal fates before they sin'd or had a being that do what they can will dragg them into the Regions of endless woe and pain Thus representing the God of Love under the character of the most detestable Cruelty and Injustice and making him who is a Lover of men an Almighty Cannibal and an Idol more black than the God of the barbarous Americans Which sowre and injurious apprehensions of God had never enter'd upon the minds of men by profest and open ways of opposing that goodness which shines with so clear a beam into our Souls and is writ upon every leaf of the sacred volume and external nature and therefore the cunning agent hath insinuated them by a Device pretending himself a mighty Zelot for the glory of God's absolute will power and prerogative over his Creatures which he hath strain'd and forc'd beyond all the bounds of Right Just and Good And by such representations he knows he doth no real honour to these Attributes but reflects a certain disparagement upon the divine goodness For a Will that is arbitrary and not govern'd by goodness and wisdome is meer unaccountable humour and womanish impotence and not becoming him who acts by the Council of his own will according to the Apostle yea and the Heathen Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that power and prerogative that is a perfection of the divine nature is always in conjunction with the milder and sweeter attributes he cannot lye he cannot destroy him saith the Apostle He cannot act contrarily to the rules of his infinitely perfect essence And indeed to act inconsistently with the eternal laws of Right and Good is not only cruelty and injustice but impotency and weakness So that this mighty noise of the glory of Gods absolute power and prerogative in contriving and resolving the ruine of his creatures is no exaltation of any perfection in God but a sad and particular execution upon his goodness and consequently upon Religion the foundation of which is laid in Love to God which is fatally overthrown by such sowre and surly notions of him as represent him as the hater of his creatures And when such apprehensions as one hath well observ'd meet with stout and resolute tempers they do but canker them against such a Being so that first they wish he were not and then easily perswade themselves he is not Or if such opinions of God light on the more timorous and passive spirits they do but fright them into some poor sneaking forc'd and feminine devotions which are devoid of all heart and life And thus the success of the first device against the glory of the divine goodness is either Atheism or a Superstition that is near it But 2. Satan deviseth against the glory of God by disparaging his Grace which he doth by detracting from the fulness under pretence of exalting the freeness of it The Enemy of Mankind is envious at that Grace the Divine goodness affords us and denies him and because he cannot confine the bounty of Heaven or hinder the beams from descending from above he 'l endeavour to raise clouds below that shall intercept them and deprive us of their influence which he doth by suggesting narrow and diminishing apprehensions of the grace of God and representing it as an arbitrary contracted desultory thing bestowed only here and there by humoursome measures and directed by no rule but that of meer unaccountable will by which abusive representation the glory of the divine Grace which consists in its universal diffusion is clouded and eclipst and the minds of men hindred from apprehending what they enjoy and from enjoying what without such an abuse they could not but apprehend This is the design and the mischievous issue which to cover and to propagate the cunning Machinator pretends the exaltation of the freeness of that grace which he designs to dishonour and defeat He raiseth a mighty cry of Free Grace and intitles the Libellings of divine goodness by the specious name of Vindiciae gratiae He fills mens heads and mouths with Grace Grace O the freeness of Gods grace Nothing will be admitted but what comes in the Livery of grace men are pleased with the very word and tickled with that dear and agreeable sound all discourses are insipid that are not full of free grace and he will not be allow'd to know
require strong Faith and many Prayers and much Time and great Watchfulness and invincible Resolution Imploy these heartily and though thou now and then mayst receive a foyl yet give not off so but rise again in the strength of God implore new aid and fortifie thy self with more considerations and deeper resolves and then renew the Combat upon the encouragement of Divine Assistance and Christ's Merits and Intercession and the promise that sin shall not have dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. Remember that this is the great work and the biggest difficulty if this be not overcome all our other labour hath been in vain and will be lost If this root remain it will still bear poysonous fruit which will be matter for Temptation and occasion of continual falling and we shall be in danger of being reconciled again to our old sins and to undo all and so our latter end will be worse than our beginning 2 Pet. 2. 20. Or at least though we stand at a stay and satisfie our selves with that yet though we are contented our condition is not safe If we will endeavour to any purpose of duty or security we must proceed still after our lesser conquests till the sins of Complexion are laid dead at our feet He that is born of God sinneth not and he cannot sin 1 Joh. 3. 9. Till we come to this we are but strugling in the Birth Such a perfection as is mortifying of vitious temper is I hope attainable and 't is no doubt that which Religion aims at and though it be a difficult height yet we must not sit down this side At least we must be always pressing on to this Mark if Providence cut off our days before we have arrived to it we may expect acceptance of the sincerity of our endeavours upon the account of the merits of our Saviour For he hath procured favour for those sincere Believers and Endeavourers whose Day is done before their work is compleated this I mean of subduing the darling sins of their particular Natures But then if we rest and please our selves with the little Victories and Attainments and let these our great Enemies quietly alone 't is an argument our endeavours are not sincere but much short of that striving which will procure an entrance into the strait Gate The next thing and 't is the last I shall mention which is implyed in striving is 4. To furnish our selves through Divine Grace with the Habits and Inclinations of Holiness and Vertue For Goodness to become a kind of Nature to the Soul is an height indeed but such a one as may be reacht the new Nature and New Creature Gal. 6. 15. are not meer names We have observ'd that some men are of a Natural Generosity Veracity and Sweetness and they cannot act contrary to these Native Vertues without a mighty Violence why now should not the New Nature be as powerful as the Old And why may not the Spirit of God working by an active Faith and Endeavour fix Habits and Inclinations on the Soul as prevalent as those No doubt it may and doth upon the Diviner Souls For whom to do a wicked or unworthy Action 't would be as violent and unnatural as for the meek and compassionate temper to butcher the innocent or for him that is naturally just to oppress and make a prey of the Fatherless and the Widow I say such a degree of perfection as this should be aim'd at Heb. 6. 1. and we should not slacken or intermit our endeavours till it be attain'd In order to it we are to use frequent meditation on the excellency and pleasure of Vertue and Religion and earnest Prayer for the Grace of God and diligent attendance upon the publick worship and pious Company and Converses For this great design these helps are requisite and if we exercise our selves in them as we ought they will fire our Souls with the love of God and Goodness and so at last all Christian Vertues will become as natural to us as sin was before And to one that is so prepared the Gate of Happiness will be open and of easie entrance the difficulties are overcome and from henceforth the way is pleasant and plain before him Prov. 3. 17. Thus I have shewn that the formidable difficulties may be overcome and How 't is a plain course I have directed that will not puzzle mens understandings with needless niceties nor distract their memories with multitudes Let us walk in this way and do it constantly with vigour and alacrity and there is no fear but in the Strength of God through the merits and mediation of his Son we shall overcome and at last enter I had now done with this general Head but that 't is necessary to note three things more 1. Those Instruments of our Happiness which we must use in striving viz. Faith Prayer and active Endeavour must all of them be imployed Not any one singly will do the great work nor can the others if any one be wanting If we believe and do not pray or pray and do not endeavour or endeavour without those the Difficulties will remain and 't will be impossible for us to enter 2. We must be diligent in our course If we do not exercise Faith vigorously and pray heartily and endeavour with our whole might the means will not succeed and 't is as good not at all as not to purpose The Difficulties will not be overcome by cold Faith or sleepy Prayers or remiss Endeavours A very intense degree of these is necessary 3. Our striving must be constant we must not begin and look back Heb. 10. 38. or run a while and stop in midd course 1 Cor. 9. 24. and content our selves with some attainments and think we have arrived Phil. 3. 14. If we do so we shall find our selves dangerously mistaken The Crown is at the end of the Warfare and the Prize at the end of the Race If we will succeed we must hold on The life of one that strives as he ought must be a continual motion forwards always proceeding always growing If we strive thus we cannot fail if any of these qualifications be wanting we cannot but miscarry And hence no doubt it is that many that seek to enter shall not be able and the presumed sons of the Kingdom are shut out Mat. 8. 12. They seek and are very desirous to be admitted They do some thing and strive but their striving is partial or careless or short by reason of which defects they do not overcome and shall not enter This is a dangerous Rock and perhaps there are as many undone by cold and half striving as by not striving at all He that hath done some thing presumes he is secure He goes the round of ordinary Duties but advanceth nothing in his way He overcometh none of the great Difficulties none of the Habits or depraved Inclinations He is contented with other things that make a more glorious shew though they signifie less
and perhaps despiseth these under the notion of Morality and so presuming that he is a Saint too soon he never comes to be one at all such are the Seekers that shall not be able to enter Their seeking imports some striving but 't is such as though it be specious yet it is imperfect and will not succeed And hence the Third Proposition ariseth that I proposed to discourse III. THat there is a sort of Striving that will not procure an entrance implyed in these words For many will seek to enter in and shall not be able 'T is a dangerous thing to be flattered into a false peace and to take up with imperfect Godliness to reconcile the hopes of Heaven to our beloved sins and to judge our condition safe upon insufficient grounds This multitudes do and 't is the great danger of our days Men cannot be contented without doing something in Religion but they are contented with a little And then they reckon themselves godly before they are vertuous and take themselves to be Saints upon such things as will not distinguish a good man from a bad We seek after Marks of Godliness and would be glad to know how we might try our state The thing is of great importance and if the Signs we judge by are either false or imperfect we are deceived to our undoing Meer Speculative mistakes about Opinions do no great hurt but errour in the Marks and Measures of Religion is deadly Now there are sundry things commonly taken for signs of Godliness which though they are something yet they are not enough They are hopeful for beginnings but nothing worth when they are our end and rest They are a kind of seeking and imperfect striving but not such as overcometh the difficulties of the way or will procure us an entrance at the Gate Therefore to disable the flattering insufficient Marks of Godliness I shall discover in pursuance of the Third Proposition How far a man may strive in the exercises of Religion and yet be found at last among those seekers that shall not be able to enter And though I have intimated something of this in the general before yet I shall now more particularly shew it in the instances that follow And in these I shall discover a Religion that may be called Animal to which the natural man may attain 1. A Man may believe the Truths of the Gospel and assent heartily to all the Articles of the Creed and if he proceeds not he is no further by this than the faith of Devils Jam. 2. 19. 2. He may go on and have a great thirst to be more acquainted with Truth he may seek it diligently in Scripture and Sermons and good Books and knowing Company And yet do this by the motion of no higher Principle than an inbred Curiosity and desire of Knowledge and many times this earnestness after Truth proceeds from a proud affectation to be wiser than our Neighbours that we may pity their darkness or the itch of a disputing humour that we may out-talk them or a design to carry on or make a party that we may be called Rabbi or serve an Interest and the zeal for Truth that is set on work by such motives is a spark of that fire that is from beneath 'T is dangerous to a mans self and to the publick Weal of the Church and mankind but the man proceeds and is 3. Very much concern'd to defend and propagate his Faith and the Pharisees were so in relation to theirs Mat. 23. 15. and so have been many Professors of all the Religions that are or ever were Men naturally love their own Tenents and are ambitious to mould others judgements according to theirs There is glory in being an Instructor of other men and turning them to our ways and opinions So that here is nothing yet above Nature nothing but what may be found in many that seek and are shut out 4. Faith works greater effects than these and Men offer themselves to Martyrdom for it This one would think should be the greatest height and an argument that all the difficulties of the way are overcome by one that is so resolved and that the Gate cannot but be opened to him And so no doubt it is when all things else are sutable But otherwise these consequences by no means follow S. Paul supposeth that a man may give his Body to be burned and not have Charity without which his Martyrdom will not profit 1 Cor. 13. For one to deny his Religion or what he believes to be certain and of greatest consequence is dishonourable and base and some out of principles of meer natural bravery will die rather than they will do it and yet upon other accounts be far enough from being heroically vertuous Besides the desire of the glory of Martyrdom and Saintship after it may in some be stronger than the terrours of Death and we see frequently that men will sacrifice their lives to their Honour and Reputation yea to the most contemptible shadows of it And there is no passion in us so weak no lust so impotent but hath in many instances prevail'd over the fear of dying Every Appetite hath had its Martyrs and all Religions theirs and though a man give his Body to be burnt for the best and have not Charity viz. Prevalent love to God and Men it will not signifie So that Martyrdom is no infallible mark nor will it avail any thing except sincere endeavour to overcome the greater difficulties have gone before it Thus far Faith may go without effect and yet one step further 5. Men may confidently rely upon Christ for Salvation and be firmly perswaded that he hath justified and will make them happy They may appropriate him to themselves and be pleased mightily in the opinion of his being theirs And yet notwithstanding this confidence may be in the number of those seekers that shall not enter For Christ is the Author of Eternal life only to those that obey him Heb. 5. 9. and to obey him is to strive vigorously and constantly to overcome all our sinful Inclinations and Habits And those that trust he will save them though they have never seriously set about this work deceive themselves by vain presumption and in effect say that he will dissolve or dispense with his Laws in their favour For he requires us to deny our selves Mar. 8. 34. To mortifie the body Rom. 8. 13. To love enemies Mat. 5. 44. To be meek Mat. 11. 29. and patient Jam. 5. 8. and humble 1 Pet. 5. 7. and just Mat. 7. 12. and charitable Heb. 13. 16. and holy as he that called us is holy 1 Pet. 1. 15. And he hath promised to save upon no other terms For all these are included in Faith when 't is taken in the justifying sense and this is the Way of Happiness and Salvation If we walk not in this but in the paths of our own choosing our relying upon Christ is a mockery and will deceive
the Formality and Superstition of Separatists that keeps on the Separation They contend for fancies and arbitrary trifles We for order and obedience The people are abused by names and being frighted by the shadows of Superstition and Formality they run into the worst Formality and silliest Superstition in the World The Kingdom of Heaven consists not in meats and drinks Rom. 14. 17. neither in Circumcision nor Uncircumcision 1 Cor. 7. 19. not in zeal for little things nor in zeal against them both the one and the other are equally formal The power of Religion lies in using Divine aids heartily and constantly in order to the overcoming the Difficulties of our way This Godliness is not exercised so much in reforming others as our selves The chief design is to govern within and not to make Laws for the World without us This is that Wisdom that is from above which is pure and peaceable Jam. 3. 17. It makes no noise and bluster abroad but quietly minds its own business at home So that certainly the best men have not always had the greatest fame for Godliness as the wisest have very seldom been the most popular They are the effects of the Animal Religion that make the biggest shew The voice of true Religion is heard in quiet it sounds not in the corners of the street The power of Godliness is seen in Justice Meekness Humility and Charity things that look not so splendidly as the Spiritual Forms And thus of the Inferences and Corollaries that may be drawn from my Discourse which though they cannot all be inferred from any of its minute and separated parts yet they lie in the design and contexture of the whole I Come now to the Advice for Practice The way of Happiness is difficult but the difficulties may be overcome by striving A little will not do many seekers are shut out what remains then but that we perswade our selves to strive and that diligently with constant resolution and endeavour We were made for Happiness and Happiness all the World seeks who will shew us any good Psal 4. 6. is the voice of all the Creatures We have sought it long in emptiness and shadows and that search hath still ended in shame and disappointment Where true substantial Felicity is we know and the Way we know Joh. 14. 4. It is not hid from us in Clouds and thick Darkness or if it were 't were worth our pains to search after it It is not at so great a distance but it may be seen yea it may be brought so near as to be felt Though the way is strait yet 't is certain or if it were otherwise who would not venture his pains upon the possibility of such an issue Many difficulties are in it but our Encouragements and Assistances are infinite The love of God and the gift of his son the blood of Christ and his intercession the aids of the Spirit and the directions of the Gospel the Invitations and Promises the rare Precepts and incomparable Examples of those holy men that have gone before us These are mighty helps and great motives to assist us in striving and to quicken us to it Let us then arise in the strength of Faith and in the encouragement of those aids and attempt with courage upon the Difficulties of our way Let us ingage our deepest Resolutions and most diligent endeavours Here is no need to deliberate the things are necessary the benefits unspeakable and the event will be glorious It is no Question I hope whether God or the Creature is to be first chosen whether Heaven or Hell be better and therefore there is no cause that we should stay and consider we cannot be rash here we cannot hurt our selves by a too sudden ingagement we have delayed too long already and every moment we sit still is one loss to our Duty and our Happiness Let us resolve then and begin with courage and proceed with diligence 't is our End and Felicity for which we are to strive and every thing is active for its End and Perfection All Creatures are diligent in serving the Designs of Providence the Heavens are in restless motion and the Clouds are still carrying about their fruitful Waters the sluggish Earth it self is always putting forth in variety of Trees and Grass and Flowers the Rivers run towards the Sea the Brooks move towards them and the Sea within it self Thus all things even in inanimate Nature may mind us of acting towards our end And if we look a little higher the Beasts of the Field the Fowls and Cattel and creeping things are diligent in striving after the good and perfection of their Natures and Solomon sends the Sluggard to those little Insects the Ant and Bee to teach him activity and diligence Prov. 6. 6. And shall the Beasts act more reasonably than the professed Sons of Reason May it not shame us that we need Instruction from the Creatures that have no understanding With what face can we carry our heads so high and look down with contempt upon inferiour Animals when they live more wisely and more regularly than we The Sum is All things are incessantly moving towards an End and Happiness is ours which therefore should ingage our most careful Thoughts and most active Endeavours We are sollicitous and diligent about things of infinitely less moment and in effect of none viz. uncertain Riches sensual Pleasures and worldly Honours though the way to these is sufficiently difficult and uneasie yet we are not discouraged we attempt all those Difficulties with an obstinate Courage though without promise of any equal assistance or assurance of success We are often defeated in our pursuits and yet we go on We are overmaster'd by cross events and yet we try again We miss our happiness when we have attain'd our end and yet we are as active in courting disappointment another time either we attain not the things we seek or find no true satisfaction in them or they die in our hands presently and yet we strive And doth not this activity about uncertain unsatisfying Trifles shamefully reprove our Negligence in reference to our great End Happiness and Perfection In striving for which we have all the powers of Heaven to aid us and the Word of God and the Blood of his Son and the experience of all that ever try'd to assure us that we shall neither fail of the things we seek nor of the pleasure that we expect from them And why then do we lazily sit down and with the Sluggard say There is a Lion in the way while we despise greater discouragements when vain things are to be sought The Merchant doth not give off because there are Storms and the numerous Dangers of the Deep to be met with in his way to the Indies nor the Souldier lay by his Arms because of the hazards and toils of War And do we act courageously for petty purchases and faint and despond when we are to strive for Crowns and
are United and the Soul by which the common body lives that whereby the League between the members is preserved and health with it When this decays sad symptoms and mortal evils follow We see in Nature the great Fabrick of the World is maintained by the mutual Friendship and conspiracy of its parts which should they universally fall out and break the bond of Amity that is between them should they act their Antipathies upon each other yea should they but cease to serve one another for the general good the whole frame would be dissolved and all things shuffled into their old Chaos and Abyss And the greatest evils that have or can happen to the Church have been the effects of the Decay of Charity and those intestine Divisions that have grown up in it From these she hath always suffered more than from external persecutions The flames within have consumed her when those from without have only sindg'd her garments V. LOVE is the most Catholick grace and upon that account the most excellent since that which promotes the good of the whole is better than any private perfection for which reason things in nature will quit their particular interests when the common good so requireth as heavy bodies will ascend and light bodies descend to prevent a chasm and breach in Nature Now of all the divine vertues there is none of so large an influence as Love 't is a grace designed for the good of the community as the principle of self-Love is for the preservation of particular beings This stirs up our endeavours for the good of others and especially for the general good The Church receives no wound but Love feels the smart of it nor is any member of it afflicted but Love is grieved This is the very Spirit of our dear Lord who was touched with a feeling of our Infirmities And to these I add this last VI. LOVE commends Christianity to those without and cleanseth the Profession of it from many Spots it hath contracted within The generality of men are not able to judge of Religions themselves but usually reckon of them as they do of their Professors Whatever is excellent or else unworthy in a Votary of Religion redounds to the credit or disparagement of the Religion he hath adopted So that were the charity and goodness of Christianity transcribed into the lives of Christians it would ravish the eyes of all Beholders and out-shine all other Professions Men would more easily be perswaded to believe that Religion to be from God whose Professors they saw to be so God-like Love and goodness prevail where nothing else will these win and captivate the Soul And such conquests are better and more noble than either those of Arts or Arms which only bring the body under 'T is but small credit to any Religion to cut its way by the Sword or gain upon the world by Power or Policy That which opens it self a passage by its native loveliness and beauty is the most Illustrious and makes the surest and most generous Conquests And were Christendom but Christian in this regard and the Professors of the true Religion truly Religious that is abounding in that charity and goodness which Christianity enjoyns our Religion would spread its wings through the World and all contrary Professions would lie in the dust before it Whereas the Divisions and fatal feuds of Paganized degenerated Christendom are now the great partition-Wall between Us and the Heathen-World yea they are more particularly the great scandal of the Reformation and make us the scorn of Those of Rome And O that They that speak and pray much against the Beast would not prove instrumental to uphold his Throne We expect and hope for glorious times when the Man of Sin is faln and doubtless there shall be such But then the glory of those times consists not in external rule or dominion of the Church but in the Universal Restauration of it to its primitive Simplicity and Purity Then will the Church be Glorious indeed when all Christians shall unite upon the Foundation of an Holy Life and the joynt Profession of the few plain Fundamentals of Faith When they shall make real Goodness the Object of their affections towards each other and all Differences in Opinions and dispensable Practices the Objects of their mutual Forbearance When such times as these shall come then doth the Reign of Christ begin And this is the true and wish't Millennium Now we cannot expect those glorious days which are to Commence upon the Fall of Anti-christ till we see all Christians sincerely set upon Destroying what is Anti-christian in themselves Anti-christ will not be overthrown by our declaiming against Him and spitting the fire of Rage at the Infallible Chair It will be to better purpose for us to examine what of Anti-christianism remains in our selves And while Rancour and Bitterness Rage and Animosities upon the Account of Difference in smaller Opinions are in our Borders Anti-christ hath a Throne among us and there is nothing could be so Effectual a Blow at the Root of Anti-christianism as the exercise of Charity and Catholick Goodness And when we see these take place then may we Triumphantly sing forth BABYLON IS FALN I Come now Fourthly to the Means of attaining this excellent and Catholick Temper And I propose them by way of DIRECTION CONSIDERATION and CAUTION The DIRECTIONS are these I. Acknowledge worth in any man Whatever is good is from God and He is to be lov'd and owned in all things as well in the Paint upon the Butter-flies wing as in the glorious uniform lustre of the Sun as well in the composure of the little Ant as in the vast Bodies of the Whale or Elephant In the least Herb under our feet as well as in the Stupendous Fabrick of the Heavens over us And moral Perfections are to be acknowledg'd as well as these natural ones We are to love Vertue in an Heathen and whatever is Well or Worthy in those whose Apprehensions are most distant from our own And we must take care that we make not our Relish the Measure of Worth and Goodness Say not this is excellent because 't is agreeable to your particular Palates and that on the other hand is Vile and Loathsom because 't is distastful to your Gust and Genius There are various kinds and degrees of Excellency which differently affect the diversity of Tempers and Constitutions And at the best we are Imperfectly good and therefore cannot be the Measure of it Let us then be so Ingenuous as to own the vertue and the goodness that is in all parties and Opinions Let us commend and love it This will be a means to sweeten our Spirits and to remove the Animosities we are apt to conceive against the Persons of Dissenters and 't will ingage them on the other hand to a greater kindness for us and so Lessen our Distance and Disagreements There is a kind of Spirit among some which is so
the Purity and Spirituality of Worship it never left canting on the Subject till mens Tongues and Minds were fired against every matter of decency and order as formal and Antichristian And so far had it prevailed as to drive those of warm affections and weak heads from all external Reverence to God and Holy things And the well meaning people being frighted with the terrible noise of Popery Superstition and Antichristianism words they had learnt to hate though not to understand boggled and flew off from every thing their furious Guides had marked with these abhorred Characters though it were never so innocent and becoming And thus a rude and slovenly Religion had made its way into the World and such a sordid carelessness in matters of divine Worship that should a Stranger have come into the Assemblies that were acted by this Spirit he would not have imagined what they had been doing and that they were about Holy Offices would perhaps have been one of the last things in his Conjecture Thus bold and sawcy talk had crept into mens Prayers under pretence of Holy Familiarity with God nauseous impertinent Gibberish under the notion of Praying by the Spirit and all kind of irreverences in external demeanour under the shelter of a pretended spiritual Worship Men had subtilized Religion till they had destroyed it made it first invisible and then Nothing AND now it being thus multiplied corrupted and debaucht being made the Game of the Tongue and the Frolick of Imagination phantastick in its principles sordid in its practices separated from the foundation of a vertuous life and made to serve the ends of Pride and Avarice what was like to follow according to the nature and order of things but Atheism and contempt of all Religion And when one says here 's Religion and another says there 's Religion a third will scornfully ask where 's Religion and what 's Religion When the Heathen Deities were so multiplied that every thing was made a God Protagoras Diagoras and others first began to question and next to affirm that there was NONE Religions have been multiplied in our days as much as Gods in theirs and we have seen much of the same fatal event and issue They made their Gods contemptible and vile by deifying things that were so and we had no less detracted from the credit of Religion by bringing it down to things of the lowest and vilest rank and nature Our Idolized Opinions were no better than their Garlick and Onyons The diseases of the Mind Phrensie and Enthusiasm which our days have worshipped were no better than those of the Body which they adored And they never raised Altars to worse Vices than REBELLION FRAUD and VIOLENCE which our Age hath hallowed and made sacred So that notwithstanding all the glorious pretensions of those Times Religion was among many taken off all its Foundations and the World prepared for Atheism The Follies and Divisions of one Age make way for Atheism in the next Thus also briefly of the Condition of our RELIGION AND thus I have shewn how much RESISTANCE of the Authority that is over us is against our DUTY and our INTEREST The former God hath plainly told us and the latter we have sadly felt It remains that we humble our selves under the sense of the publick guilt as well as complain of the consequent miseries That we may not draw down new judgements by repeating old provocations and adding our particular sins to the common score And I think we shall do well to consider what we who abhor Rebellion have contributed to the fatal evils that followed it We can perhaps be well enough content that the visible actors of those mischiefs should be lasht and exposed and it may be are well pleased and tickled with our reprehensions in which we think our selves not concerned But if we will be just if we will have this Fast to signifie we must turn our reproofs upon our selves also and with grief and shame acknowledge that our sins and Debauches our contempt of God and scorn of Religion have helpt towards the plucking down that sad judgement upon the Nation which we lament this Day And it must be confest that there were those that fought against the KING who yet spent their blood in his service and many by their vices endeavoured to engage Heaven against that Cause which themselves strove in another way to less purpose to promote And therefore we ought not to think that this Fast is appointed to inveigh against the faults of others and to make them and their actions odious but to humble our selves under the apprehension of our own and to teach us to shew our love to the King and readiness to obey him by subjecting our selves first unto God whose Vice-gerent HE is And we may be assured that they that are not Loyal to the UNIVERSAL LORD of all the World can scarce possibly be so to their particular SOVEREIGN And 't will need a great deal of Charity to help us to believe that those who make no scruple to blaspheme the Name of God and to break the plainest most earnest and most express of his Laws will be withheld by considerations of Duty or Conscience from rebelling against their King or affronting His when there is any powerful interest to oblige them to it If therefore we would give any evidence of a serious humiliation at present or any security of a future loyalty let us do so by confessing our particular sins and forsaking them and then there will be hope that the Authority of God may oblige us quietly and peaceably to submit to his MINISTER and in doing so we shall be blest with his influence and deserve his protection And thus demeaning our selves like Professors of the Gospel of Peace and Subjects of the Prince of Peace the Peace He left with his Disciples will be with us here and everlasting Peace will encircle our heads with rays of glory in the Kingdom of Peace And so the Peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus To whom with God the Father and God the Holy Ghost be ascribed all Glory Honour and adoration henceforth and for ever Amen and Amen SERMON IV. THE SIN and DANGER OF SCOFFING AT RELIGION The Second Edition SERMON IV. AGAINST SCOFFING AT RELIGION 2 PET. III. 3. There shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own Lusts IT is a question that hath much exercised the wits of the Curious whether there be any decay in nature or whether all things are not still as they were from the beginning in all their kinds and in all the degrees of their vigour and perfection I shall not undertake to determine ought in this Theory Be the matter how it will as to the natural world we have cause to believe that there are degeneracies in the moral This our Saviour supposeth in the Question Luke 18. 8. When the Son of man cometh shall he find
to consider whether its pretended friends have not been and are not still great occasions of it The greatest part of Christians are incapable of judging concerning the truth or goodness of any Church or Constitution of Religion but are inclin'd in their opinion and affection by the general temper and practice of its professors and adherents Now 't is an almost universal principle among men that Religion and the Worship of God require the greatest seriousness and zeal where these are observ'd in peoples carriage to their particular Church the most are usually inclin'd to have respect for that on the other side when the members of any Church are cold and unconcern'd or wanton and irreverent in their Religion such a temper when it comes to be general draws popular contempt upon that Church and way This at present is the sad case of ours and I doubt it may be too truly said that there are no retainers to any Church in the world who are so little concern'd for it and the worship of God in it as the pretenders to the Church of England If we survey our several Congregations and consider our people we shall find but very few that carry themselves as if they had any conscientious affection to the Religion they profess If the Estimate be taken from those that are constant or frequent at the publick Prayers in Cathedrals or other Churches certainly the number must be acknowledg'd to be very small and if we reckon only such that carry but the appearance of serious Devotion it will be yet less so that the Church may almost be tempted to say with him There is not one godly man left the righteous are minished from among the children of men There are indeed multitudes who will tell us they are of this Church when they give us no ground but their bare word to believe they are of any While they talk of owning and adhering to the Church they will not afford the solemn worship of it as much as their bodily presence as long as the Devil and their Lusts have employment for them elsewhere They carry themselves to it as to a matter of the greatest indifference will go to Church now and then when time lies upon their hands and they are in the humour for it and then again never think of Religion or Worship till another accident excites them And when they come to such Sacred places as this with what rude boldness do they enter Gods house and how much carelesness and irreverence do they express in their very looks and garb Confident negligence seems at present to be a fashion and the whole carriage after is sutable to this ill beginning What toying talking gazing laughing and other rude follies may we observe in the midst of the most solemn parts of worship and how much slightness and playsomness in speaking of serving God being devout saying prayers and such like serious things after it Now when these carriages are observ'd not to mention worse in those that say they are of the Church of England how readily doth it dispose the generality of men who judge by bare appearance to think amiss of the Church that is ordinarily thus treated by its members and to suppose most others that profess it to be of the same sort or not very different and so to despise the Church and all that adhere unto it This certainly is a very great occasion of her present contempt and if you would not be accessary to its increase and growth if it be capable of any more beware of this carelesness and irreverence to the Religion you profess If Religion be a real thing and not a meer imagination as nothing is more certain it then requires our greatest zeal and venerations and the most serious exercise of our faculties and endeavours no prostrations can be too low in the adoration of the God of Heaven no ingagement of soul too intense in praying for his blessing and praising him for his bounty no attention too serious in hearing of His Word no deportment too awful in His eye and special presence Let us all consider this and demean our selves in our worship as those that are in earnest Let the light of our zeal and devotion so shine before men that they seeing our works may glorifie God reverence the Church and vindicate it and us from the scorning of those that are at ease and the contempt of the proud Let us endeavour so to worship that the fervour of our piety may equal the truth of our profession and our actions in Religion may have some sutableness to our expectations from it And then though the Church and we are filled with contempt yet we shall be clear from any imputation of the guilt and our souls may be at ease though we are scorn'd by the Proud Preach'd at a Visitation SERMON VI. MORAL EVIDENCE OF A Life to Come The Second Edition SERMON VI. MATTH XXII 32. God is not the God of the dead but of the living NOtwithstanding the manifold and immediate Transactions of God with the people of the Jews yet were they a dull and stupid generation addicted very much to the matters of sense and indisposed to things of spiritual and invisible nature Yea there was a great and famous Sect among them that denied a Life to come and the Existence of immaterial beings For the Sadducees say there is no Resurrection neither Angels nor Spirit Acts 23. 8. These put the Question here to our Saviour in a case of a woman who successively had seven Husbands whose Wife she should be at the Resurrection from ver 22. to the 28. which captious Query they intended for an Argument against the Doctrine of another Life Christ answers directly to the objection by telling them their mistake of the state and condition of that Life since they neither marry nor are given in marriage that have attain'd unto it but are like the Angels of God ver 30. and then takes occasion to prove the Resurrection or Living again of the dead out of the writings of Moses the only Scripture the Sadducees allow'd ver 31 32. But as touching the Resurrection of the dead have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living The former clause of the verse cites the Scripture which is the ground of the Argument the latter is a principle of Reason and both together infer That there is a Resurrection Now the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Resurrection of the dead undertaken to be shewn was not the Resurrection of the body though that be a great truth also since the argument doth not reach this For one who believes that the soul lives after death may say That God is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob though the body doth not rise for they are living in their souls which
made nothing to be miserable he hath no pleasure in the vexations and destruction of the Living but made all things that they might enjoy their Being There can be no envy imperfection or shadow of evil or defect in the fountain of Benignity and fulness Now He that is so absolutely perfect and so infinitely good hath plac'd us under these circumstances of present infelicity and therefore from that goodness and that perfection we may argue that he hath made other provision for us and that there is a Life besides this mortal miserable condition Otherwise with how much reason might we expostulate as Job did Job 3. 20. Why was light given unto man why was the Sun suffer'd to see a thing so miserable why did we not go from the darkness of the Womb to that of the Grave and cease to be assoon as we had a Being Is our Maker pleas'd with our sighs or is there any Musick or sweetness to Him in our groans and tears Every thing else that he hath made is perfect in its kind and enjoyes an happiness sutable to its nature And must ours be the single excepted case and man be the only instance of wretchedness and misery These suppositions are not consistent with the perfections of the Divine nature and yet would be sad realities if this Life were all and there were nothing else to succeed it 2. I prove there is another Life from the unequal distribution of good and evil in this The passages of the present world are a very Chaos there must be a world of light and order All things here come alike unto all Eccles 9. 2. Yea there is very often a worse event of things to the righteous than to the wicked Treasons and Villanies are crown'd with successful issues Triumphs and Victories attend the Ensigns of Tyrants and Usurpers the Just is made a prey to the Sons of Violence and persecuted in his friends and name even beyond the Grave while the injurious are Courted by smiling successes and born to the Stars by flatteries and applauses They lay down their heads upon peaceful pillows and take farewell of the world in solemn and pompous obsequies When the persecuted Vertue swims in a Sea of blood to the Tomb without other ceremony than the tears and groans of a ruin'd Family there is no answer here to the cries of the Fatherless and the Widow the Oppressed go down complaining into darkness and providence seems as silent as the Grave Wickedness hath Vertue 's Livery and reward and the Patrimony of Innocence is beggery and unhappiness Providence seems now by glorious successes to countenance the Alchoran and the Tyrant Ottoman spreads his victorious Arms and is flesh'd in Triumphs The race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong nor bread to men of understanding Eccl. 9. 11. But the things of Earth seem to be distributed by a kind of blind Lottery and to justifie the conclusion of the Atheist that the moral world as he supposeth of the natural is rul'd by a fortuitous range of undesign'd events Thus things are in the present world and yet Almighty Wisdom and Justice governs and presides over it And thence we may conclude that all things shall at last be clear'd and order'd according to the Rules of exactest Justice and Decorum And since it is not done in this life we with much reason expect and believe another We see all things in the world of Nature are carried on in a beautiful well disposed order There is harmony and elegance in the motion of the Sun and Stars and inferiour creatures are managed by apparent wisdom and contrivance the Universe is a great beauty made up of regular variety there is no monstrousness or unbecoming disharmony in nature Now can we think that the divine wisdom would be so curious in ordering the world of things below us and give up his nobler workmanship to eternal confusions and disorders No certainly He that gives the hungry Beasts their meat in due season and sends his showers at the appointed time to refresh the dry and parched ground He that waters the Spring with his seasonable dews and ripens the Fruit with his benign beams He that teacheth the Rivers when they shall overflow and hath made the swelling Ocean know its bounds and limits will doubtless take care that Vertue shall at last be happy and that the wicked shall receive the due reward of their impieties The present disorders are but preparations for that state of order and like the rude dashes and rudiments of a Picture Thus of the arguments I propos'd from the First General the Phaenomena or Observables of the World I descend to the SECOND the Frame and Constitution of our own natures And under this shall consider our Reasons Passions Appetites and Instincts from each of which I shall infer something for the proof of a future Being I begin I. with our Faculty of Reason This is a noble power and exercis'd not only about the matters of the body but upon the highest and noblest objects in a way that is rais'd and spiritual and shews a capacity of far greater heights and improvements Which exercises and perfections prove that it is design'd for more than this poor mortal condition For if this be all the Life of man his end and happiness would then be only to provide for the body and the gratification of its Senses And if we were made for no more than this our Reasons are a superfluous provision in nature For what need of the Notions of a God Universals and Abstracted Theories in order to the filling of our bellies and the pleasing of our Senses What need of a power of drawing one thing from another in a chain of long dependances if we had nothing to do but to eat and drink and laugh and die The eye cannot be entertain'd upon abstracted notions nor the palate feasted upon Geometrick subtilties there is no Musick to the ear in any demonstration of Euclid nor any recreation to the Senses in spiritual contemplations Yea high and intense exercise of our reasons is so far from being serviceable in such low offices and pleasures that 't is prejudicial to them for it spends the Spirits mortifies the body and flats the pleasure of the Senses So that if this were our only state and the advantages of the body our end and happiness our reasons then are not only needless but hurtful especially when they are employ'd upon the highest and noblest objects Besides 'T is not agreeing with the divine wisdom as 't is discover'd in the whole Analogy of things to make such noble faculties for so low and mean services All things have their proportion in the oeconomy of God and are in number weight and measure every thing is suited to its design and end And hence we may conclude that our Reasons were intended for more than the little business of this inferiour life and that there is another in which it