the Son the Father nor the Holy Ghost Father or Son the Father alius à filio the Son alius à Patre the Holy Ghost alius a Patre Filio each to be consider'd under his proper Character and in himself as a distinct Person tho' all three united in one indivisible nature In the same age we meet with Paul of Samosata advanced by Zenobia to the Chair of Antioch he is properly styl'd the Father of our modern Socinians for he asserted that Christ was a meer Man and had no existence before his Conception in the Womb of the Holy Virgin and was the Author of that foolish contradictory Notion of a Deus factus and the Socinians have only reviv'd his Heresie which was condemned in the Council of Antioch and in a second himself depos'd In the beginning of the next age Arrius a Presbyter of the Church of Alexandria sets up to be Patron of a new Heresie differing both from Sabellius and Paulus but agreeing with them in opposing the Divinity of our Blessed Lord he maintain'd another Essence of the Son and denied his Coeternity and Equality with the Father and many falling in with him the whole cause was publickly heard the controverted Texts of Scripture and the constant Tradition of the Church about the sence of them carefully examin'd and the Worship of the whole Christian Church appeal'd to and by these was the Christian Faith explain'd and asserted The fourth age being the time fix'd on and the Eastern Church the Stage on which these things were done our Author who had a mind to look thorough this Controversie set upon examining the Records and Writings of that time that are extant particularly he carefully perused the Confessions and Decrees of the great Councils of Nice and the first of Constantinople wherein were no new Articles of Faith fram'd but the old ones declared and explain'd which the Church has both Authority and Obligation to do as the rise and growth of Heresies make this necessary and the works of those two great Men St. Athanasius and St. Basil and he found full satisfaction and met with a Compleat recompense for all the pains his search had cost him Being to Preach in his course at Westminster on Trinity Sunday he pitch'd upon those words of the Apostle 1. Cor. 8.5 but to us there is but one God as the Theme of his discourse this he did not only with respect to the day which was sufficient to justifie him in undertaking such an Argument in so Learned an Auditory but with regard to the boldness of our Socinian Adversaries who have been very free in charging the Doctrine of the Trinity with Absurdities Contradictions and Impossibilities What he propos'd was to defend our Common Faith of the Divine Trinity and Vnity which is the peculiar Scheme and Constitution and Character of Christianity and to resolve that obvious difficulty of believing those Divine Persons of Father Son and Holy Ghost to be each of them God which is the Christian Faith and yet to maintain with the Apostle that to us Christians there is but one God It so fell out that some passages or rather words as is very common in the transient hearing a discourse were not rightly apprehended which had like to have been the occasion of a dispute betwixt him and some of his Brethren very eminent for their Learning and of known zeal for the Common Faith This occasion'd his Letter in defence of his Sermons to the Right Reverend Bishop of R. who as he was by his place a proper Judge to be appeal'd to is upon all other accounts so qualified that no Man who knows him would refuse his Vmpirage in any thing wherein Learning and Judgment joyn'd with Integrity and Candor are required but it went not so far for he was soon better understood and both sides satisfi'd 'T is not necessary for me to say why that discourse has not been yet published the reason is not that any thing new is advanced in it or what is not exactly agreeable with the Notion Language and Terms of the Church in constant use at the time when this Question was discuss'd some of the Authorities produced by him the World has already judg'd of I say some for he has collected a great many more to the same purpose but he thought these sufficient The last Winter of his life he spent in reviewing his thoughts on this Argument and examining them with all possible strictness by the Scriptures and the Church Records and it was great satisfaction to him that he had clear'd his own thoughts about this Adorable Mystery and found nothing to lie uneasie to them in believing with the whole Christian Church upon the Authority of Revelation that there is but one Essence which we call God and yet that in the Godhead there are three Persons of the same Essence and Power and Coeternal taking the name Person in the sence of the Church not for a meer different mode or manner of subsisting or in a metaphorical sence but for what properly subsists and he hop'd he had done something for the clearing other Mens thoughts however the honour of our Saviour and of the Christian Faith and Religion were the things he had in his Eye and were sincerely intended by him in all that he had either Preach'd or Wrote on that subject The World seems at present to stand very much in need of such Men who want neither Learning nor Courage to stop the insults of the Enemies not to this or that particular Church but to Christianity it self and tho' God whose counsels are unsearchable takes away some at a time when they were likely to have been most usefull yet he will always leave a sufficient number thus qualified to defend his own cause I dare not now undertake to give a full and just Character of our Author I will venture to say something but what I am ready to own falls short of him he was a Man of great natural endowments and what is more to his commendation of indefatigable industry he never left a subject till he had search'd it to the bottom and perfectly cleared his own thoughts about it In his younger years he was much taken with Experimental Philosophy having from his first enquiry into Books and Things always set the highest value upon that knowledge he thought most usefull and by a Collection of observations left under his hand it appears that he had spent some time and pains that way In the year 1681. Novem. 23. I find him admitted Fellow of the Royal Society but upon his settling in London he laid aside those studies and wholly apply'd himself to that which was his proper Profession his chief aim being now to do the utmost good he could among those over whom he had a pastoral care in that renowned City The effects of his Labours remain to my own knowledge among some of his Parishioners who have own'd to me the great benefit they have
unseen state which above all things it concerns us to take care about and wisely to provide for This Life is a continu'd round and circle of bodily Actions and Business but in death these cease and have an end that let 's down the Curtain and the Drama of Life is over and whatever parts we Acted on this Stage we lay them all aside and what we enjoy'd in this Body and this World is to be no more and as if it had never been and we only had dream'd of it for a while He taketh away their breath they die and turn again to their dust That said he is my present Case and in that very day all their Thoughts perish i. e. all their apprehensions of Worldly Happiness and Enjoyments with all their mighty projects and designs they had here how reasonable then is it for us frequently to meditate upon dying and how properly was it plac'd of old among the first rules and principles of Wisdom And upon my saying to him that as he seemed to be got almost to the end of the race of Life his Friends were running hard after him and would in a short space overtake him he replied True but prithee remember that I have got the start of thee Here he took occasion to discourse of the Christian Revelation which has discovered the most amazing but the most important and momentous Truths for Man to know 'T is this said he that gives me the greatest ease and satisfaction in my present Circumstances and fills my mind with the most serene hopes when I can find pleasure in nothing else and without it all my thoughts when I stretch them as far as ever they will go are either dark or troublesome That God should send his only begotten Son into the World in our likeness to redeem and save Mankind that he should propose by him the advancing us who are very inconsiderable yea sinfull Creatures to such a height of Glory as to be equal to Angels to see God as he is and to have eternally communicated to us of his own Excellencies and Perfections cannot but affect every one who believes and exercises his thoughts about these matters with Wonder and Admiration with all possible Love and Gratitude and a most sollicitous study and endeavour to obey God universally in hopes of that eternal Life which God who cannot lie as the Apostle speaks has promised He added That the design of Christianity and the Terms of Life therein propos'd did appear to him so very plain that it was just matter of amazement how any Men who had look'd into those records and consider'd their own nature and had any notion of the happiness of reasonable Creatures could miss of understanding them aright The Antinomian Scheme he look'd upon as directly Antichristian and the very worst that the most malicious Enemies of the Christian name could possibly have invented and he gave me a very sad instance of a Person who liv'd many years in the habit of a very gross sin and yet had a quiet Conscience and thought himself very safe upon those principles 'till being startled by a publick Discourse of his God made him an Instrument of setting the poor Man right in his Notions and engaging him to reform his Life for which his new Convert was very thankfull and assur'd him That he would not for all the World have liv'd so long in the habit of that sin if he had believed as he thoroughly did now that it would have hazarded his Salvation Here he took occasion to say that he was much confirm'd in his notion of the nullity of a Death-bed Repentance by considering his present Circumstances What could I do said he Were I now to begin to Repent of a long Wicked life I profess I could not have the least hopes of my Salvation but blessed be God this is not my own Case I am sensible of a vast number of Weaknesses and Imperfections but they are such as I am well assur'd the Covenant of Grace will make an allowance for I can say I have been Sincere in the main designs of my Life and I thank God I make no question of being happy when I can once get loose from this Prison of an Earthly infirm body and shall be set above those Imperfections which cannot be wholly remedied in this state and to be freed from which is the reward of the next He gave me his thoughts at large about the Doctrine of the ever blessed Trinity which are not needfull to be here set down especially since I have already taken some notice of that Matter All that I shall add is That he never intended any Controversie with those who believed this Doctrine his business was to defend it against those who opposed it and he was fully satisfied that what he had Preach'd and Wrote on this subject was agreeable to the Scriptures and the sense of the Church and he was fully confirmed in his Thoughts by the judgment of the most Learned and unexceptionable Divines of our Church The Right Reverend Bishop Pearson explains the Divine Vnity as he has done and asserts the necessity of it for avoiding that old and so often urg'd objection Tritheism It is most necessary says he To assert that there is but one Person who is from none for if there were more than one which were from none it could not be deny'd but that there were more Gods than one This Origination of the Divine Paternity hath anciently been look'd upon as the assertion of the Unity and therefore the Son and the Holy Ghost are but one God with the Father because both from the Father who is one and so the Union of them He perfectly concurred with this excellent Person who without any question is allow'd to speak the sense of the Catholick Church and with the Fathers of the Nicene Council as their sense is exprest in their Creed which is a part of our Liturgy He believed the Father Son and Holy Ghost were one God and yet three real distinct Persons as evidently distinguish'd in their Persons as united in their Nature The Father is not the Son nor the Holy Ghost the Son is not the Father nor the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost is neither the Father nor the Son the true and living God can be but one the Father is originally the one God the Son is the same God but not originally of himself but has his Divine Essence by Communication from the Father the Holy Spirit is the same God not originally subsisting of himself but having the same Divine Nature and Essence common both to the Father and the Son communicated by them both to him So that Father Son and Holy Ghost are one God The Father originally that one Essence of infinite Wisdom Power and Majesty The one Person originally of himself subsisting in that infinite Being The Son is God of God by being of the Father the Holy Ghost is God of God by being of the
Happiness Riches and Honours and Pleasures which we so fondly admire and esteem and pursue after as the happiest things that are to be enjoyed and think those are not in earnest or only envious and ill-natur'd because they cannot attain them who speak otherwise of them Our Saviour proposes no Worldly advantages to his followers but rather the quite contrary and yet he Preaches happiness to them even at present and joyns the Beatitudes and the Christian Vertues together in his Sermon as inseparable Companions and tho' he left his Apostles in a World full of afflictions and seeming miseries yet he tells them he leaves his Peace with them John 14.27 Such a Peace as was proper for him to give and them to receive not as the World giveth but such an one as should have this effect upon them as that their hearts should not be troubled nor be afraid that no evils should disturb or take away this Peace of mind that in him they might have Peace tho' in the World they had tribulation John 16.33 and that they might always be of good cheer because he had overcome the World 'T is a great thing which he here offers to Mankind be they never so weary and oppress'd with cares and troubles labour under never so many seeming evils and afflictions here have never such great loads and oppressions upon their Minds and Spirits that make them uneasie to themselves and very miserable within that if they come to his Religion and take his Yoke upon them follow the Rules and precepts of his Doctrine and become of such a temper and spirit as he was that they shall certainly meet with ease and comfort relief and refreshment And ye shall sind rest to your Souls This Rest and Tranquility of Mind is the greatest Happiness in the World what Philosophy aimed and pursued after what we should endeavour to attain above every thing and what if we once perfectly reach nothing could ever make us the least miserable what alone is worth seeking after by all the Rules of Philosophy and Religion and without which nothing is worth aiming or seeking after and lastly what Christ and Christianity propose and can bring us to How and by what ways they do it or what is the best means to attain it shall be my chief business to shew as to what it is or wherein it consists that we know better by inward sensation or preception than by any description or Ideas of it we feel what ease is both in Mind and Body and we have a quick Sense of pain and uneasiness in both Indolency of Body and Tranquility of Mind are known by all to be great and desirable things The pleasures of our compounded nature and such as have a near Analogy and Resemblance with one another however we are forced to express and describe one by the other they are not meer Negatives such as suppose only no Sense of pain or evil which may belong to one that is asleep or stupified or to a Stock or a Stone but a positive Sense of what is agreeble to its Nature and the right use of its powers and faculties and an Enjoyment or Perception of a good or Pleasure suitable to them with an intire freedom at the same time from what is contrary and unagreeable painfull and troublesome and uneasie The very absence of what is painfull and uneasie brings a great pleasure because Nature then enjoys it self and has its own suitable perceptions without any disturbance What Diseases and Pains and Tortures are to the Body the same are disorders and troubles to the mind from tormenting passions and uneasie Thoughts from Fear and Guilt and Sorrow the apprehension of evil as present or coming upon it we want words to express what we know and conceive of this and Peace of mind is opposed to all things that weary and disease and disquiet and disturb it whatever they are whether the Evils and Troubles and Afflictions of this World or Passions and Disorders from within inordinate and irregular Desires and inward Commotions contrary to right Reason or the more dreadfull terrors and horrors of some greater evil than any in this World The mind it is certain has a quicker and more smart and cutting sense oâ— Pain by these than the Body from any Disease The Diseases and Maladies Disorders and Pains of the mind are greater and harder to be cured than those of the Body Wisdom and Philosophy Virtue and Religion are the proper Physick the true Cure and Remedy of them the only things that can bring the mind to that Good Sound and Healthfull State that it shall be well and rightly disposed in it due Frame and Crasis sitted to perform its proper Operations and enjoy its agreeable Pleasures the Pleasure and Enjoyment of its self and its own Wife and Vertuous and good Thoughts the pleasant Hopes and Expectations of Religion and all the superadded Enjoyments from thence that Revelation assures us of besides what are natural to it from the right Exercise of its own Powers such as Peace of Conscience upon Pardon of Sin inward Sense of God's Favour or his lifting up the light of his Countenance upon us Joy in the Holy Ghost and rejoycing in hope of the Glory that shall be revealed These are such Pleasures and Enjoyments of Mind as are beyond Nature but within Christianity which raise and exalt the Soul to something beyond that Tranquility and Calmness and Serenity of Mind which Philosophy so talkt of This improves it higher and raises a more noble structure of Happiness to our Souls but upon the same Foundation having the same Bottom to build upon the inward Ease and Peace and rest of the Mind which is the greatest thing we can desire or is worth our attaining To be very easy always within to have Peace and Quiet in our own Breasts to be disturbed with no uneasie Thoughts no tumultuous Passions no Fear Grief or Sorrow no carking Care or corroding Trouble to be rufled with no discomposure have no dark Clouds hanging over our Thoughts no Storms or Tempests raging within our Breasts this is Tranquility of Mind an inward Calm and Serenity of Thoughts contrary to that Temper of mind Which is like the troubled Sea which cannot rest to which the Scripture compares it Isa 57.20 neither apt to be much raised or too much depressed Nec attollens se unquam nec deprimens as Seneca speaks Sed semper aequali placido statu always even and in a placid state propitius sibi sua laetus aspiciens pleased with its self and its own thoughts and having nothing to sowre and disorder it self or infuse a poysonous bitterness into it This is that good state of Soul that rest which is a greater Happiness than all the World can afford which he that has will be Happy in whatever Circumstances or Condition he is and which we might certainly find by Religion and Christianity if we lived up to the Principles
mind which way the wind sits or the Weather-cock turns on which side the Birds fly or which is as uncertain what is the opinion of unthinking Men to judge of himself by Indeed the opinion of good and wise Men who are able to judge is very much to be minded and is truly credit which is to be preserved next to Conscience but he that is not above the little noise and the ignorant censures and the brutish Clamours and the petty injuries of others is a very weak and will be often a very unhappy Man 2. It 's one of the greatest and most pleasant Virtues to gain a Victory over our own passions and to overcome the brutish inclinations of Anger and Revenge which are apt to rise in us at first upon the sense of an injury He that can calm and quiet those and by wise thoughts subdue the boysterous rage and furiousness of an angry spirit is a greater Man and a greater Conqueror than he that Conquers whole Countries and Cities and fenced Places and overcomes many thousands of Enemies by the Sword as the Wise man observes He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a City Prov. 16.32 This is the true Virtue of a Man that masters the beast the brutish Appetites and Inclinations that are in him which if he let loose they will rage and tear and devour him and hurry him to revenge and madness and all the dismal effects of them Nothing is so rash and inconsiderate and shows so much impotency and weakness of mind as those passions which are apt to rise up in us and nothing shows greater Wisdom and more true greatness of mind than to Command and Conquer them and bear a provocation and forgive it instead of being set on fire and overcome by it nor can any thing be more pleasant than to gain this Victory over our passions for they are very troublesome and uneasie and all find them so who are under them but it 's the greatest ease and pleasure of mind and body too to be free from them and to be in a calm and gentle and meek and undisturbed state Anger and revenge are the most uneasie and vexatious and tormenting passions that belong to human nature that fire and inflame the spirits put the blood into an Unnatural and Venemous Ferment and the whole Man under the gall of bitterness and the greatest uneasiness so that his mind can enjoy nothing but is restless and tumultuous and under a thousand fearfull and vexatious thoughts how to contrive and how to accomplish it's Mischievous and Revengfull designs upon others But to lay all these aside and to pass by and forgive an injury and let our passions be quiet without any great resentment of it is to be at ease within our selves and has more sweetness and comfort in it than all the revenge in the World 3. As this is overcoming our selves so it 's overcoming our Enemies too and the best and the least troublesom and the most generous way of Conquering them for first it disappoints all their malice and avoids the blow they intended to give us for this puts by the injury which was thrust at us or at least takes off the smart and the sense of it which is the greatest evil that they designed by it and they have lost their design if they see us not concerned at it But further if we can bring our selves to return kindness for injury and overcome evil with good this if any thing will overcome an Enemy by making him become a Friend which is the greatest and perfectest Victory in the World and subdue him with such powerfull force and conduct that he cannot but yield to it A soft answer will turn away his wrath as the wise man speaks Prov. 15.1 and showing the kind offices of love and kindness and civility to him will not only heap coals of fire upon his head if he still continue to injure us but in all probability melt him into kindness and goodness for he must be a very barbarous wretch and void of all sense of humanity beyond the rate of most Men who will not be obliged by a generous kindness from an Enemy and he must be a mere Savage who is not to be wrought upon by civility and good will Revenging an injury is the way to double and encrease it and to keep up the War and Hostility with vast trouble and expence but the other presently procures a Fair and a Comfortable and an Honourable Peace and Reconciliation Many think it will draw more injuries upon them if they do not revenge themselves for those past and make it cost others dear to hurt them so that it 's their Motto nemo me impune lacesset but this for the most part fails and is the worst and longest and most troublesome way to get rid of them every Man may indeed preserve his right if it be valuable and not better to part with it than to lose it and yet keep up fully to this temper of doing any good in his power to those who would do this evil to him but to return evil for evil injury for injury is no more the best way to overcome it than it 's to heal a wound by cutting it deeper and lancing it wider when otherwise it would quickly close of it self and love would be like oyl poured in to supple and heal it 4. The overcoming evil with good is so like to God who does good every day to us and all mankind tho' we injure and provoke him that our having such usage from him should teach and learn us it and incline us to practise it to our Brethren If God should be presently enraged and resolve to revenge himself upon us for every injury we offer to Heaven i. e. for every sin we commit how sad and lamentable a case must we be in we therefore that live by virtue of this good principle that owe our lives and all the mercies we enjoy to this virtue in God whereby he spares us tho' we provoke him and is slow to anger tho' we sin against him and revenges not himself upon us weak and impotent and yet bold and daring Enemies How should we feel the good of it to our selves and not practise it to others Did not God deal otherwise with us than revenge and anger inclines us to deal with others how might he consume us every moment and never wait to be gracious nor let his goodness lead us to repentance nor never let us enjoy the blessings of his common providence but shut up the Heavens that they should not rain and put out the Sun that it should not shine upon such evil and unjust such sinfull and rebellious Creatures as we are Nay had he not been disposed to this Vittue which is the very perfection and excellence of the Divine Nature he had not shown so much love and done so much
good for sinners as to send his own Son Christ into the World to die for us even when we were Enemies to him and to God that made us We then that had perished for ever had it not been for this Vertue how should we love and value it and endeavour to imitate it and deal with our Brethren as God dealt with us What an example of this our Savlour has left appears by his whole life which was a perpetual suffering of injuries and doing of good and especially at his death when he pray'd for his Enemies and being reviled he reviled not again but as a sheep led to the slaughter he was dumb and opened not his mouth unless to pray for those who barbarously used and murdered him and in this he left us an example that we should follow his steps But Fifthly and Lastly This is not a mere Christian perfection and a Noble Heroical degree of Virtue which it's matter of advice to attain but it 's a necessary Christian duty without which we shall not go to Heaven nor be capable of Pardon and Salvation at the hands of God If we revenge the injuries that are done to us God will not forgive us the sins we commit against him he has expresly told us so Matth. 6.15 Mark 11.26 Luke 6.37 and that with the same measure we mete to others it shall be measured to us again even by God in another World who will show himself mercifull to those that are mercifull and froward to those who are froward and to those who are revengefull and inexorable to their Brethren he will be so too when they stand in more need of mercy and forgiveness than any of their Brethren can at any time do of them What are the degrees and measures of exercising this Virtue I cannot now exactly show you but in general to forgive an injury and not return it by another to overcome it not with evil but with good is so much a duty to every Christian that he shall not come to Heaven who does not in some measure perform it and who notoriously and plainly acts contrary to it Let us therefore for the present Peace of our Lives for the quiet of our Minds and for the everlasting Peace and Happiness of our Souls endeavour to learn this Virtue and not be overcome of evil but overcome evil with good The Ninth Sermon LUKE XVI 31. And he said unto him If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead AMongst all the many Arguments that there are for Religion and to perswade men to a good life there are none so strong and so forcible if well consider'd as those which are drawn from another World and from a future state of rewards and punishments There are indeed a great many that lie near and arise from several other considerations from the tendency of Religion to make us happy in this World from the miserable effects that most Vices have upon Men's Fortunes and Enjoyments from the natural and intrinsick Goodness and Amiableness that is in Virtue and Religion whereby it recommends it self to our minds and the abominable filthiness and ugliness that is in Vice and it's contrariety to right reason as well as our true interest by these and many other considerations Religion is strengthened on every side and planted round with such Arguments as are enough to defend it from most of the assaults that Vice and Wickedness can make upon it But its strongest Hold its main Fort wherein lies its greatest and impregnable strength is the thoughts of another World of a Heaven and a Hell hereafter this will hold out if all the other should fail and if Vice should be never so Fortunate and Happy as it sometimes is in this World if Wickedness should have as many Prizes as Virtue in this Lottery of things that is here below yet there it would be sure to be the loser and could have no pretences to vye and contend with Religion there the account between 'em appears manifestly and notoriously different without adjusting it by particulars and making such abatements as we must often in this World This is a plain and obvious an universal and undoubted and one would think an irresistible Argument for Religion that depends not upon long reasonings and many observations as some others do but may be easily understood and will strongly work upon all mankind and therefore the Scripture does chiefly make use of it and every where presses and suggests it to us as the strongest sanction of the Divine Law and that which is the likeliest to prevail upon us when 't is fully believed and considered The Rich Man here in the Parable thought there was so much strength in it now that he selt it that he question'd not but it would prevail even upon his wicked Brethren if it were offered with all its advantage to 'em if one went from the dead and told 'em what he suffered and what they would certainly do if they took not care in time not to come into that place of torment and therefore he seems to have picht upon the likeliest way for this when he requested Abraham that a Messenger might be sent from the dead to 'em if that might be granted by the Laws and Polity of the other World there was no doubt sure but it would attain the effect and bring 'em to Repentance such a Message as he would send 'em such an account of things in the other World as he would give them should surely work strangely upon 'em and make 'em amend their lives This he made no question of for had it been his own case were he to have lived again after he knew so much as he did now he would have been quite another man and so should his Brethren one would think by such a way as this was but Abraham tells him the quite contrary If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded tho' one rise from the dead This seems very strange and will do much more so when we consider particularly what Arguments a Messenger from the dead would bring along with him to perswade a man to Repentarce such as it is impossible sure not to be overcome by them such as if they will not do nothing else will I shall offer some of them to you and then endeavour to give you an account of what Abraham here says If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead And First let us consider what strong and powerfull Arguments a Messenger from the dead would bring along with him to perswade a wicked man to Repentance and in the 1. First place he would satisfie him of the truth and certainty of such a place that there is really a future state that there is not an end of us when we go off from this Worldly Stage and Theatre but that there is