R. White Sculp â—ELMUS OUTRAMUS S.T.P. S ti Petri apud Westmonasterienses Canonicus TWENTY SERMONS PREACHED upon Several Occasions BY WILLIAM OWTRAM D.D. Prebendary of Westminster and one of his MAJESTIES Chaplains in Ordinary Printed after the Authors own Copies LONDON Printed by J. M. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St Paul's Church-Yard 1682. TO THE READER Reader IT is well known that the Author of these following Sermons could never he prevailed upon either by the Intreaty of his Friends or the Authority of his Superiours though very much urged by both to publish any of his Sermons in Print and his nearest Relations would have paid that respect to him in this as in all other things to have denyed them to the Publick for the sake of his own Judgment in this matter had not a forward Bookseller only to serve the ends of his own profit thrust out into the World Six Sermons under his name not many Months after his Death To promote the Sale of which he indeavours in an Epistle before them to make the Reader believe that although as he confesses they were taken from the Author by a Short-hand-man many years since yet they were allowed and corrected by himself That they were agreeable to his sense And that there was no other more perfect Copy to be procured If all this had been true What right had the Bookseller and his Short-hand Friend by this to publish them in the name of this Author Did the Author Correct them for the Press Or is it sufficient to justifie the publishing of such Discourses under a Mans name because they are agreeable to his sense Or if no other Copy could be procured was it therefore necessary to publish this But this pretence was so far from being true that whosoever has been abused by this Publisher so much as to buy and look into those Sermons will find that they are so far from being Corrected by the Hand of this Author that they were never Corrected by any That they are so far from being agreeable to his sense that in very many places they are no sense at all And the Publisher knows very well that he never inquired of any of the Authors Relations for any Copies or Papers remaining in their hands If he had he might have been shewed Three Sermons upon the first Text Heb. 10.38 whereas he has published but Two of them and those two put together as one and that so imperfect so incoherent and so ungrammatical that the Reader must be very kind if he would excuse the Author in many places as well as the Printer One might point to mistakes in almost every Page some of which are very absurd and intolerable But in regard some Friends of the Authors have thought fit to collect a Volume of his Sermons upon Theological Subjects amongst which it will be most proper to insert these upon the 10th of the Hebrews concerning the Life of Faith in connection with other Discourses of Faith it is sufficient to acquaint the Reader that these shall be reprinted after the Authors own Copy In like manner the Publisher if he had consulted the Authors Friends might have seen that the Second and Third Sermons of Providence upon St. Matt. 10.29 are but a part of his Discourses upon that Subject which it will be most proper to put together and publish if at all in a Volume of the Attributes of God upon which the Author has several Sermons But besides that these are but apart of his Meditations upon Providence they are also very broken and imperfect in many places though the Short-hand-man has endeavoured according to his skill in Divinity to supply and fill them up Of the three following two of them cannot yet be found amongst the Authors Papers so that it is very doubtful whether they be his or no and therefore the Publisher besides the wrong he has done the Author and the World too in exposing his labours imperfectly has also very probably fathered upon him those that are none of his The just indignation which the Authors Friends have taken to this injurious dealing of the Publisher together with Reports brought frequently to their ears of a design of other persons to publish other of his Sermons inclined them though they are sensible against the Authors own opinion to set forth a Volume at present according to his own Copies And these Twenty being lately preached upon particular occasions and some of them in the most august and solemn Audience and all of them designed to obviate the evils of the Age and to secure Men in the belief and practice of the true Religion are thought not improper to be first offered to the publick view The Author was sensible by what Artifices what degrees and what parties of Men this most excellent constitution of the Church of England is endeavoured to be undermined and denying to no Man the liberty of Disquisition and Discourse he understood the strength both of their Arguments and their Interest And the Reader may discern by these Sermons that he apprehended our danger to arise of late from a confederacy it may be one cannot say but a complication of enemies Papists Libertines and Dissenters but chiefly from the first who imploy the two latter to work under them and to weaken the Church of England one by Prophaneness and the other by Separation that so they may argue against the sufficiency of our constitution to maintain good Life and preserve Unity and dispose those who are of no Religion and no Church to become Proselytes to theirs Amongst the Libertines may be reckoned that sort of Men who though indeed they have natural conviction of a supreme Being pretend to more wit than to be satisfied with the Authority of our Blessed Saviour and so because they have no good opinion of the Truth of his Religion they neglect Religion in general for what Theist was ever known to live according to the Principles of natural Religion to which notwithstanding he owns himself obliged For the Dissenters they have many different Opinions amongst themselves some of which are here taken notice of either ex proposito in some Sermons or by the by in others So that the whole Collection is an Antidote Very seasonable for the malignity of the Age and by the blessing of God may have some profitable effect from the Press as by the testimony of the Hearers they had from the Pulpit and they are offered to the world for that end not as a Character of the great abilities of the Author and his great Accomplishments in almost all kinds of Science but as an instance of his Zeal for the Truth and goodness of the Christian Religion in general and the Church of England in particular especially in this juncture His extraordinary skill in Rabbinical Learning and the use and service of it to the Confirmation and Illustration of the Christian Theology he has made appear to the learned World some
men the happiest opportunities of injoying the fruits of their own endeavours and Gods blessings in peace and quiet and tranquillity without which nothing is enjoyed but often become the greatest burdens Honour it self becomes contemptible and merit exposes to reproach in popular tumults and seditions So the Prophet suggests to us Isaiah 3.5 The people shall be oppressed every one by another and every one by his neighbour the child shall behave himself proudly again the antient and the base against the honourable What advantages are large fortunes when they are so far from giving security to the owners that they expose them to spoyl and rapine when the fear of losing them gives more trouble than the possession gives content which is the case in unsetled times And lastly what satisfaction is it to have a numerous and hopeful issue when a mans children are in danger to have their minds abused by errour by Popery Atheism or Infidelity and their bodies enslaved by a cruel tyranny So far are any of these things from being comforts in such an age that they then create the greatest troubles Now therefore happy are those days those fixed and certain and stable times when every man may enjoy himself enjoy his friends possess his estate in peace and quiet without the dread of domestick troubles or foreign enemies when there is no fear of plots at home or of a Sennacherib from abroad to interrupt the enjoyment of them 3. Quiet and setled times discourage ill designing men from attempting seditions and commotions They leave no ground for the lusts of men to hope to prosper in ill designs no expectation of success and therefore either remove the lusts or put a restraint and check upon them Whereas unstable and unsettled times are an open Theatre for mens lusts to appear and act their designs upon Then is every mans Pride encouraged to endeavour advancement by any means good or evil it makes no matter every mans avarice put in hope of making spoils upon his neighbour and every mans private animositie of taking revenge upon his enemy Here is a door set wide open to all inordinate lusts and passions which presently hatch and produce confusions and in these confusions he that speaks loudest is best heard and most believed though neither the best nor wisest man from whence it generally comes to pass that the ill designs which were conceived in unsetled times break out at last in wars and tumults and end in ruine and desolation And therefore happy are those assured and setled times wherein there is no occasion given for the lusts of men for Pride and Avarice and Ambition whether in domestick or foreign enemies so much as to hope to make a change to shake the foundations of peace and righteousness and therefore consequently no encouragement to attempt it For plain it is that such times are of mighty moment and importance to all the advantages of this World 2. Add hereunto in the second place that they are of great importance also in order to those that are far greater that is to say to those that concern the life to come 'T is true indeed the greatest stability of the times the firmest settlement of affairs is not of it self a certain cause of faith and piety truth and righteousness and of the flourishing of Religion But yet it is such a cause hereof that religion cannot flourish without it It gives the happiest opportunities for the free and quiet practice of it And this is the ground of the exhortations of St. Paul 1 Tim. 2.1 2. I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty He takes for granted that Gods blessing upon Kings and those that are in Authority is the great cause of peace and quiet and then again that peace and quiet are the most happy opportunities for the exercise both of Godliness and Honesty that is to say of all our duties to God and Men. Unquiet times are apt to distract and disturb our minds to create many confusions in them whereas all the duties of religion are then performed with the greatest pleasure to our selves and best acceptance unto God also when he is served without distraction Unsetled days divert the minds and thoughts of men from the consideration on of things to come in a better World to secure their affairs to preserve their concernments here on earth which seem to be in present danger In such days is every man apt to think with himself how he may provide against that storm which seems just ready to fall upon him how he may secure his life and fortune preserve his Family help his Friends or escape his Enemies and this generally in great distraction and trouble of mind and in the midst of these confusions his thoughts are scattered his mind disordered and loses those divine affections which give our prayers the best success both upon God and upon our selves To this I might add that unsetled times being as was before discoursed the most encouraging opportunities to excite the inordinate lusts of men Pride and Avarice and Animosity are apt to destroy mutual Charity mutual confidence amongst men to leave them jealous one of another and so to extinguish the true Spirit of Christianity How blessed therefore are those days those fixed and stable and setled times which nourish Charity produce peace and make men easie each to other When every vertuous and pious person may make his addresses unto God with fixed attention with stedfast thoughts and with pure affections when he may pray for what he wants and render his thanks for what he enjoys without interruption and distraction either by his own fears and sorrows or from the lusts of other men When God to speak in the words of Zachary grants unto us that we being delivered from the hands of our enemies may serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life 2. Having thus given you a short account what a singular blessing it is to men to live in stable and setled times let us now proceed to the second general where we are to consider the proper methods whereby this blessing may be procured that is to say the times established Those says the Prophet are wisdom and knowledge and these in the language of the Scriptures are due obedience to Gods will in the whole extent of those duties which every man owes to God and his Neighbour Perhaps you may think that this is a poor and mean expedient to give establishment to the times You rather judge that secular Wisdom humane Policy the projects of subtile and crafty men are the only way to settle a Nation and to give security to the times And true it is these may shist and patch up things for a little while they
may serve a turn and put off a danger for the present But sure I am that no Policies no Devices of humane Wisdom can ever lay any firm foundations of peace and settlement without the establishment of true Religion both as it relates to God and men All other methods whatsoever leave the foundation weak and ruinous though the superstructure may be specious and carry a face of strength and beauty He that made the World and now governs it by his Providence hath so contrived the nature of things that they can never be firmly settled without the practice of truth and righteousness but may by these be strongly setled As will appear if we consider that these things are 1. First of all the natural causes of Peace and Settlement 2. And then secondly that they prucure the especial aids of divine Providence to give a greater success to them to strengthen and render them more effectual 1. I shall begin with the former of these and shew that the practice of true Religion as it respects both God and men is a natural cause of peace and settlement For so it is in two respects 1. As it renders every person secure and easie in his station so it prevents intestine Troubles and Seditions 2. As it produces strength so it secures from foreign Enemies 1. It renders every person secure and easie in his station and so it prevents intestine Troubles These arise from mutual injuries and these injuries from mens unreasonable lusts and passions which Christianity would destroy From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even from your lusts that war in your members ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and war yet ye have not because you ask not ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that you way consume it upon your lusts He speaks of the Jews in the lesser Asia and it may be of some Judaizing Christians mingled with them who destroyed and ruined one another by mutual slaughters amongst themselves arising from their inordinate lusts They were full of Avarice and Sensuality swell'd with Ambition and Animosity and these created mutual injuries and oppressions and these oppressions wars and tumults amongst themselves But blessed and happy are that people who unanimously live in the fear of God and practise justice and mutual charity amongst themselves They enjoy themselves and God's blessings in peace and quiet neither designing nor fearing evil amongst themselves and this gives settlement to the whole by the ease it gives to every private and single person When no man is himself oppressed nor hath any desire to oppress another when every man is just to every other when charity is added unto justice and supplies the wants of such persons as are not able to help themselves when every man finds his life secure his fortunes safe his name unblemished when he finds that every man is his friend and himself is so to every other then is his condition easie to him and who will attempt to make a change to promote confusions and seditions when he finds every man easie to him and himself easie unto himself Nor would these errours and mistakes that will attend humane frailty while we continue here on earth considerably alter the case before us For the mutual mistakes and inconveniences which arise meerly from infirmity are neither wilful nor pernicious nor of long continuance and would readily be repair'd on one hand and easily pardoned on the other if there were Sincerity of Religion although attended with imperfection that is to say if Christianity were so practised as every man may and ought to practise it even with the alloy of humane frailty and the disadvantages that attend it Now if what I have said be so clear and evident that it cannot reasonably be contradicted the consequence necessarily must be this That the fear of God and love of Righteousness the general practice of Christianity would naturally render every person easie both to himself and others and give establishment to the times so far as this could be effected by preventing all intestine troubles 2. Let us add to this in the second place that it would also produce strength encrease the power of any people and by so doing greatly contribute to their security from foreign Enemies Strength most certainly it would produce for it would unite men amongst themselves in the bands of mutual love and charity It would give them confidence in one another it would animate them with the same mind diffuse the same spirit into them possess them all with a publick spirit and join their counsels and endeavours for the defence of publick welfare And would not this be a great security against all Enemies from abroad Nor would Religion unite them only among themselves but it would also encrease their treasure and make preparation of all those aids that publick occasions might require for their defence against foreign Enemies What hath consumed the wealth and treasure of this Nation but Pride and Luxury and Sensuality and what can encrease the same again but the Reformation of those vices by sobriety temperance and frugality which are as truly Christain vertues and as real parts of true Religion when practised in the fear of God as any other Vertues whatsoever Nor must I omit to put you in mind what courage it would produce amongst us to find our selves firmly united amongst our selves to find our Virtues increase our wealth and to give a sufficient stable fund to make preparation against an Enemy and how would this courage be heightened if we were conscious to our selves that we were a people fearing God and loving righteousness For then we should easily be perswaded to believe that God would give us assistance in all our straits that he would defend us against our Enemies that he who is just and true and righteous would defend a just and a righteous people 2. Which leads me to the second method whereby the practice of Religion in its whole extent to God and men would give stability to the times and that is by procuring the aids of Divine Providence and by engageing the Power of God to give security to that people by whom he is faithfully served and honoured The whole History of the Jewish Nation is little else but an account how God Almighty raised or depressed blessed or punished that people according to the various instances of their obedience or disobedience When they provoked him to displeasure by the iniquities of their lives he forsook and abandon'd them to themselves when they repented of their sins and humbly returned unto him again he then delivered them from their Enemies and that many times when their deliverance was beyond the power of second causes This was the case in the very days of Hezekiah which the prophet Isaiah had in his eye when he delivered the words before us Salmanasar had not long before invaded and conquered
the ten Tribes and carried them away into Captivity Sennacherib had now made an attempt on the other two he had besieg'd assaulted and taken several of their fenced Cities He had so straitned Hezekiah that he was forced to buy his peace or rather a false appearance of it by surrendering all his treasures to him For afterwards his Army marches toward Jerusalem the approach whereof was so dreadful that it fill'd the City with great amazements and consternations Yet in the midst of these confusions in these unsettled and shaken times did God assure that pious King that he would establish him in his Throne and give him stable and settled times Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and he made good what he promised to him by the slaughter of Sennacherib's Army by an invisible Power from Heaven Isaiah 37.36 So great is the faithfulness of Gods Providence over righteous and holy Princes and Nations so great his care to give encouragement to Piety Righteousness and Sobriety when they are faithfully and duly practised I do not say but that unrighteous Nations also may thrive and flourish for a time for I know that God uses the power of one unrighteous and wicked people to punish and to destroy another But this is done when both are wicked and ill-deserving to which I add that when the one hath done Gods work upon the other when the strong hath eaten up the weak the strong it self either becomes a spoil and prey to another stronger than it self as the Assyrians did to the Persians and as the Persians to the Greeks and the Greeks themselves unto the Romans and the Romans to the Goths and Vandals or else is crumbled and broke to pieces by intestine factions and seditions as the Christian Empire in the East which made it a prey to the Turks and Saracens In the mean time allowing the fall and desolation of one unrighteous and sinful Nation by the unrighteousness of another yet will not this afford any argument to conclude that a faithful righteous and holy people shall find no aids from Divine Providence to secure them from a wicked Enemy although more powerful than themselves Having thus shewed that Piety and Vertue Truth and Righteousness compose the disorders settle the affairs confirm the peace and strength of Nations and gain stability to the times let us now reflect upon this discourse and so apply it to our selves 1. And first of all hence we learn what hath disquieted what hath unsettled our own times and made them troublesome and uneasie We have not studied what the Prophet stiles wisdom and knowledge we have not lived in the fear of God and Christian Charity each to other and the want of these hath hindered the settlement of our days and the vices quite contrary to them made them troublesome and unstable I need not say that our Vanity Luxury and Prodigality have impoverished us to a great degree and poverty created discontents and made us uneasie and unquiet I need not take any pains to prove that our Pride and Avarice and Ambition have caused and fomented mutual enmities amongst our selves and that these have disordered and unsettled us But that which I cannot forbear to mention and something largelier to consider is the monstrous Atheism and Infidelity that have secretly taken root amongst us and fill'd the land with strange prophaneness with contempt of Piety and Religion nay scorn of the very profession of it and that to such prodigious measures as were never known in former ages of Christianity And can we wonder that our condition is so unsettled that our affairs are so uncertain while the very foundations of all true peace are so much shaken and undermin'd Perhaps you may think it very strange that Popery should ever have adventured to lift up its head in this Nation that a Religion expresly contrary to the holy Scriptures contrary to all Christian Antiquity contrary to natural light and reason disagreeable to our very senses in the strange fiction of transubstantiation a Religion contrary to our Interests that would enslave our minds and bodies both at once and was upon all these accounts justly abandoned by our Ancestors should ever attempt to return upon us But this will not appear so strange if we consider how much Atheism and Infidelity how much profaneness and scorn of piety how many divisions among our selves how many dangerous Schisms and Heresies have infected and overflowed the Nation for how could it be but that these evils mult give a very great encouragement to Popish Emissaries and Seducers to conspire the destruction of Religion They know that they who have no Religion and many such there be amongst us by being such are prepared for any that all Religions are alike to them that are of none at all Upon this account I make no doubt but that they themselves have greatly laboured to open a door to all vices all profaneness and immorality that so Popery might creep in with that profane and wicked Spirit which themselves had spread and diffused amongst us Moreover is it not most apparent that they have put on all shapes and dressed up themselves in all the disguises of the several parties in the Nation the more to divide us amongst our selves and to make us odious one to another as well as ridiculous to our neighbours that so being weary of these confusions among our selves and despicable by our rents and factions we might at length consent to settlement on their foundations and rather chuse to be at rest by being reconciled to them than still divided and rent in pieces by infinite fractions amongst our selves If things be thus as I fear they are I need not say what that is which hath given us unstable times We have undermined our own foundations by our profaneness and irreligion we have not studied that wisdom that would have given us stable times 2. Seeing wisdom and knowledge seeing the true fear of God and hearty obedience to his Laws are the expedients the Prophet offers to give stability to the times hence we learn what is the true and proper method to gain that blessing amongst our selves The practice of these two plain commands which enjoin us To love the Lord our God with all our hearts and to love our neighbours as our selves would give us stable and quiet times give us peaceable and easie days procure us rest and peace and order after all our labours and confusions These would certainly do the thing that no wisdom power or policy can ever possibly effect without them Can a Nation be wasted and exhausted by its own riot and prodigality and not be exposed to a foreign Enemy or can a Nation be so exposed and enjoy a secure and settled Peace Can the members of the same Society live in mutual hatred and animosity arising from Avarice and Ambition and yet enjoy quiet and certain and easie days The wisdom of God hath so contrived the
darkest Plots he can defeat the greatest craft he can disarm the greatest Powers and scatter them all into confusion And we are not without very good hopes that he will concern himself for us and imploy his Providence for our help We have a Cause that God hath favoured wonderfully favoured in former times How many Plots against this Cause did he discover confound and punish during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth How did he do the like again when her Successor began his Reign How hath he still preserved and blessed it in many confusions many divisions amongst our selves since that time How hath he now at the present time wonderfully discovered the works of darkness brought hidden and secret evils to light Made those discoveries done those things that we could never have done for our selves God will never be wanting to us or to the Religion we profess if we our selves be not wanting to it Let us therefore awaken all our powers to diligence in our own defence and then commit our cause to God making our daily prayers to him that he would defend his own Truth that he would protect his own Inheritance and water the Vine that himself hath planted Yea let us make our appeals to him whether we or cur enemies be in the right And then O God who art a just and righteous God take the matter into thine own hand do thou judge between them and us Pardon our sins forgive those evils which may provoke thine indignation against us but for our cause for that Faith that we do profess against our enemies that we freely leave to thee we do appeal unto thy judgment and are willing to stand or fall by it Let us therefore adorn it in our lives this is the first and principal way of procuring the blessing of God upon it Let us seek and improve all occasions to gain it credit and reputation And seeing that it hath pleased the King to recommend the rebuilding of St Pauls unto our Charity at this time and himself to set us a great Example let us not be wanting to this Work according unto our proportion It is certainly a Work of Christian piety to build up places for Gods Worship No sooner were the Christians freed from the Persecutions of the Heathen but they did zealously apply themselves to this work and raised magnificent and noble Structures for the publick places of Gods Worship This Church which is now to be rebuilt may be stiled the chief of all the Nation It hath formerly been its greatest glory in its kind and we hope it may be so again What pity were it that such a Work should fail or flag at such a time when we are to give especial evidence of a publick Spirit of free and noble and generous minds The time is an extraordinary time the work an extraordinary work Let us open our hands to a more than ordinary bounty towards it And as for us in this place we have singular reason so to do seeing it pleased Almighty God to preserve our Churches and Habitations from those flames that devoured our Neighbours Now therefore let us at this time honour the Religion we do profess by this particular work of piety as well as in all other instances making our prayers to Almighty God that he would defend his own Truth that he would protect his own Inheritance and preserve the Religion himself planted And thou O God c. The Fourth Sermon Matth. 6.23 If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness THE great security of mans life as well from the cheats of his own as from the temptations of the world depends upon true and stable Principles of Faith and Piety And the ground of all these Principles is a true judgment of what is happiness what is the great end of life and what are the ways that lead unto it and a choice suitable thereunto This is the thing which our Lord suggests 19 20 21 verses Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal hut lay up for your selves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal for says he when your treasure is there will your heart be also that is to say that which you chuse to be your happiness that will you place your hearts upon and pursue in all your deliberate actions Having thus exhorted us to take care to chuse that for our chief good which is indeed really so to conduct our lives by true Principles he speaks a Parable wherein he shews the great advantage of so doing and the danger of doing otherwise The former of these in those words vers 22. The light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body is full of light The application of which words is this The judgment of the mind is the guide of life Wherefore if the judgment be true and good the life hath a true guide to rule it And then the danger of a false judgment is declared in the words that immediately follow But if thine eye be evil thy whole body is full of darkness And so he comes to the words of the Text If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness that is if thy judgment be corrupt if thy mind and conscience be erroneous how great and dangerous are those mistakes which thou art then exposed unto Now that which the words thus explained offer unto our consideration is the mighty danger that they are in to lose their souls who are led and governed by false Principles Which will appear if we consider that such Principles 1. Leave them dangerously exposed to sin 2. And not only so exposed unto it but that they also encourage to it I say 1. They leave them dangerously exposed to evil which will be very clear and manifest if we consider 1. First of all that our present condition and state is such that we are under many temptations thereunto 2. That the nature of man is apt of it self to close and comply with those temptations 3. That we have nothing else save only true and right Principles assisted by the Grace of God to prevent and hinder complying with them 4. From whence it most inevitably follows that where those Principles are not found we are most dangerously exposed to evil 1. I shall begin with the first of these which is that our present condition is such that we are under many temptations unto evil The world is full of deceits and snares where-ever we tread we are in danger to fall into them There is no business no imployment no condition or state of life but lies exposed unto temptation Sometimes we are courted by sensual charms by the hopes of favour or wealth or honour to part with our innocence and integrity sometimes we are in great
have nothing but good Principles to prevent and hinder such complyance From whence it most inevitably follows that where such principles are not found where men are under the power and guidance of evil Principles they are most dangerously exposed to evil This is the least of the ill effects that we can possibly expect from them 2. But then secondly we must consider That as all ill principles in Religion leave us at least exposed to evil so are there many do very highly encourage to it There are such principles to be found as turn the greatest crimes to merit and make men hope for a reward hope to gain eternal glory by the foulest practices in the world by those that tend to eternal misery Our blessed Lord foretold his followers that the time would come wherein they would put them out of the Synagogues and not so only but also that whosoever killed them should think he did God service by it John 16.2 So did the Jews use his Disciples They first accused them of Schism and Heresie and then persecuted them unto death And just so doth the Roman Church to all Christians dissenting from them They pronounce them guilty of Schism and Heresie they excommunicate them out of the Church they flatly deny that they can be saved they doom them all unto damnation they pronounce it lawful to destroy them to destroy the very greatest Princes when they have once judged them Hereticks They make it a meritorious act in those that adventure so to do and lest men should not venture upon it some of them teach that they are obliged and bound to do it extremo animarum suarum perieule si vires habeant ad hoc idoneas Philopator under the pain of the loss of their Souls if they have sufficient strength to do it Could a man have thought that such practices as these are should ever have been undertaking by any making profession of Christianity could he have thought that although these should be undertaken they should be justified and defended nay urged and pressed with great severity under no less a tie and penalty than that of the loss of a mans Soul But this it is to have the mind and conscience defiled as the Apostle himself expresses it Tit. 1.15 This it is as he speaks elswhere 1. Tim. 4.2 to have the Conscience seared with a hot iron If a mans Principles be corrupt his conscience perverted and depraved what will not such a conscience admit and such Principles urge upon him If the very light that is in him be darkness how great then is that darkness And now to apply what I have said upon this point 1. Seeing the danger of false Principles in Religion is so prodigiously and strangely great let this be a mighty caution to us to avoid communion with such persons as govern themselves by such Principles and more especially the Church of Rome It is not imaginable how this Church hath perverted the Doctrine of Christianity and quite overthrown the practice of it in many considerable parts of it There is scarce any one command of God which they have not clouded and perverted by some perverse interpretations And besides all this they have formed and stated general Principles which effectually lead to the overthrowing of all the precepts of Christianity And some of these I shall instance in 1. The first of these is the Doctrine received in the Roman Church of acting according to probable opinions received not only among the Jesuits but by many others as well as them 1. They teach that although an opinion seems to be false to any man considering the reasons that make against it yet that it is a probable opinion if it be maintained by two or three nay by one Doctor of note amongst them 2. And then secondly that any person may lawfully act and govern himself by such an opinion in point of practice by an opinion maintained by others although it seem to be false to himself just contrary to the Apostles Doctrine Rom. 14.23 Whatsoever is not of faith is sin The very words they use are these Ex anthoritate unius tantùm posse quem illam in praxi amplecti licèt à principiis intrinsecis falsam improbahilem existimet that is That a man may lawfully follow an opinion in practice upon the authority of one Doctor though he himself considering the reasons of that opinion judge it to be false and improbable Guimen pag. 55 My Author adds an example to this and that is although a Confessor shall himself believe it to be unlawful to absolve a man in a certain case yet that notwithstanding he may absolve him if others judge it to be lawful Now here I observe in the first place that this is directly against the Scripture which pronounces that to be unlawful which a man acts against his own mind and conscience although agreeably to other mens And then secondly that this opinion gives all men liberty to do whatsoever a few Doctors nay any one of the Roman Church have judged lawful And what is it that some of them have not judged lawful especially against all those persons upon whom they fix the name of Hereticks And if you inquire what is the design of those persons that do maintain this opinion it is most evident that it is this That the spiritual Guides of the Roman Church may have a pretence to lead the people boldly to act what they require although against the minds and judgments of them they lead That is in case a private person judge it unlawful to break his faith to falsifie promise to a Heretick or to deprive him of life or fortunes or reputation yet that he may still lawfully do it if two or three of their Guides and Teachers nay if any one of them judge it lawful 3. But then thirdly they further teach That where there are any two opinions one less probable than another that a man may lawfully guide his practice by that which appears to be less probable So Martial de Prado concludes and abundance of others as well as he as Guimen p. 64. Saepe in praxi licitum est sequi opinionem minùs probabilem relictâ probabiliori It is often lawful in matter of practice to follow a less probable opinion forsaking that which is more probable Which is as much as if they said that a man is not bound to govern his life according to the best of his judgment but may very lawfully do what is worse where he knows and believes he might do better And is this for a man to guide his life according to the rules of Charity or that integrity that sincerity which true Christianity requires from us 4. And yet I must add what is still worse for it is added upon this point in the Church of Rome That it is lawful for any person to follow a less probable opinion rather than one that is more probable and that although the more probable
he is made ye make him two-fold more the Child of Hell than your selves And so in truth it came to pass for the Proselytes made by these Pharisees became much worse than they themselves the Scholars much outdid their Masters in their iniquities and wicked lives the imitation outdid the original being encouraged by the example and this was observed by Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Presbyters saith he that are made by you do not only not believe but do blaspheme the name of Christ twice as much as you your selves So efficacious are your examples and your Doctrines to make the Disciple exceed the Master to make the Gentile exceed the Jew in his Impiety and unbelief 2. Having thus the shewed the special instances of the Hypocrisie of the Pharisees which was the former of the two generals before propounded proceed we now to give an account of the latter also that is of the precept which bids beware of it Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie which words suggest these things 1. The greatness of the evil which we are commanded to avoid 2. The diligence that must be used if we will duly obey the precept 1. I begin with the first namely the greatness of the evil which we are commanded to avoid 1. And here first of all observe that Hypocrisie falls exceedingly short of the very thing it pretends unto namely of being true Religion for it is no more than the shadow of it Hypocrisie pretends to the very height of all Piety but is no more than a poor mean appearance of it 1. It wholly consists in outward actions and omissions performs the acts that seem most plausible unto men avoids those that are most scandalous and expensive but all this while neglects the purifying of the heart It doth disguise but not reform the lust within it gilds and paints the outward man but doth not produce a new life or a better nature in the heart it doth not mortifie any lust it doth not quicken with any grace it is no more a true Religion than a picture is a living man nor doth it reach the design and end of Christianity which is to reform and change our nature and form the Image of Christ in us which is in righteousness and true holiness 2. Charity Sincerity and Integrity are the very life of Christianity if we have not those we have nothing of it we cannot pretend unto perfection we cannot say we have attain'd to the utmost degrees the highest measures of obedience so that if we can lay no claim to Charity if we cannot truly profess Sincerity and Integrity although attended with imperfection we have nothing to say for our being Christians nothing of the truth of Christianity Now so it is Sincerity Charity and Integrity are the very things the Hypocrite wants it is the nature of Hypocrisie to be void and destitute of these Graces if it be not so it is not Hypocrisie it is not the vice we now mention if it be so it wants these virtues and therefore the very life and spirit of true and real Christianity and so falls short of the very end of true Religion that 's the first 2. Add hereunto in the second place that it doth not only fall far short of true Religion but that it is a great abuse a mock a scorn a derision of it and in very truth of God himself 1. Hypocrisie is insolence against God but fear and meekness towards men it is an irreverence towards him that searches and knows the hearts of men and awe and reverence toward men who can but observe our overt actions that is contempt and slight of God who clearly discerns the thoughts of the heart and an honour and homage unto men who have no further knowledge of them than as they appear in overt actions which is a great affront to God and an equal abuse of true Religion 2. But then farther there is another great abuse that Hypocrisie offers to Religion which lies in the use of the name and title and shew of it in order to base and unworthy ends which is to pervert the very nature and order of things and of Gods designs and institutions to turn the end into a mean and a mean into the principal end Religion according to Gods appointment is to be prefer'd before any secular ends and profits to be the chief in all our aims and so be propagated and promoted by all the talents that God hath given us But what is the nature what is the custom of Hypocrisie it is to debase and depress Religion to the service of secular gain and honour it is to use the appearance of it in prejudice to the thing itself and to make a shew and fair appearance of Piety Virtue and Integrity to supplant these very things themselves this is the nature of Hypocrisie If he would effectually cheat his neighbour if he would put a deceit upon him he pretends to Piety and Religion he censures the lives and manners of others he complains he harangues against the iniquity of the times that he may better impose upon him gain his credit and then deceive him If he would prefer and advance himself intrude into places of power and profit and thrust out those possessed of them he presently inveighs against those persons he pretends Religion in so doing pretends reformation of abuses makes the very highest profession of Truth and Justice and Integrity If he would gratifie animosity and revenge himself upon his neighbour here he pretends Religion again here his Conscience is engaged he is concerned for the publick good a thing he will never forsake or quit whatever it cost him to pursue it If he would disturb the publick peace create Sedition and Confusion if he would overthrow the Government and change its Laws and Constitutions if he would destroy Religion itself Religion must be pretended for it This he prostitutes to every base and unworthy end this he prostitutes to every lust he makes it serve his Pride and Ambition he makes it serve his Spite and Malice he makes it minister to filthy Avarice just as the Pharisees under a pretence of long Prayers devoured and ate up Widows houses Mark 12.40 3. And then thirdly lest you should think it a thing impossible that any man should pretend Religion nay great and extraordinary measures of it and yet retain these foul lusts of Pride and Scorn and love of the World of Envy Malice and Animosity you are to know that these lusts are not only not inconsistent with such pretences but allow the very sins themselves which the Pharisees were chiefly guilty of and objected to them by our Lord. Their pride and haughtiness is reproved Matt 23.5 6 7. They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments and love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the Synagogues and greetings in the markets and to be called of men Rabbi
Rabbi here is their haughtiness and ambition their presumption and self conceit reproved And then there censure and scorn of others is also detected and chastised Matt. 7.3 4 5. Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy Brothers eye but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye or how wilt thou say to thy Brother let me pull out the mote out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye And although the Pharisee in his prayer thanked God that he was not as other men particularly that he was no Extortioner Luc. 18.11 yet one that knew them much better than they themselves knew them our Lord himself gives us another account of them he tells us that they were full of Extortion greatly infected with it within Matt. 23.25 And as for malicious craft and subtilty these are not obscurely charged upon them by him that could not be mistaken Matt. 23.33 Ye serpents ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of Hell ye says he build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous and say if we had been in the days of our Fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets and yet they were of the same spirit their Fathers were insomuch that they who here profess that they would never have shed the blood of the Holy Prophets shed that of the very Son of God and of his followers and Disciples and this our Saviour well foresaw and therefore adds v. 32. fill ye up the measure of your Fathers from whence I conclude that as hypocrisie is a mock-religion and so an abuse of true Piety so likewise that it leaves the hypocrite under the power of Pride Covetousness and Animosity under the dominion of those lusts that are most flat contradictions to it 4. Having said so much of the nature and quality of this vice in the three particulars last mentioned you will not wonder at what I shall add in the last place which is that hypocrisie mightily tends to the utter destruction of true Religion not in the hypocrite for in him it hath no place at all but in the very world it self that is to say in all other persons and this it doth two several ways 1. By debauching the nature of it 2. By bringing a Scandal upon it 1. For first its the nature of hypocrisie to debauch the nature of true Religion by turning it into meer formality into nice and scrupulous Superstitions in the avoiding or in the practising of things indifferent in themselves and endless disputes about these things which do not only imploy mens minds in things that are not of any moment and take them off from the study and practice of true Religion but wholly destroy Christian Charity fill men with mutual Animosities and by their means eat out the very heart of Piety It is the temper of hypocrisie to accomodate itself to the opinion and judgement of men The generality of mankind look no farther than to the shew and surface of things and therefore hypocrisie concerns itself in nothing further than to obtain the applause of men either in the observing or the avoiding of things indifferent in themselves things that may be done or omitted unless commanded by superiours in the mean time while it is thought sufficient on one hand to recommend a man to God if he abound in rite and ceremony in an infinite number of outward actions such as are used in the Church of Rome and on the other while all Religion is placed in avoiding all that 's decent in appearance every thing that is called a Ceremony and a man must certainly be a Saint that shall defie and rail at this true Religion is almost lost almost forgotten and laid aside in the noise of these disputes and quarrels 2. But lastly ther 's yet another way wherein hypocrisie dangerously tends to the destruction of true Religion which is by the scandal which it brings upon the name of all Religion For although it be very true indeed that men are generally very strangely charm'd by the shews and pretences of Religion yet when it appears as it doth at last where it is not real that all these shews are void of truth that they are but shews and nothing more this makes the very name of Religion despicable odious and abhorr'd it brings profaneness and infidelity and makes the very profession of Piety vile and contemptible in the world a dangerous and a destructive issue as we our selves have plainly found by our own experience in this Nation Hypocrisie being but a counterfeit coin never long retains its Credit and so indeed it happened at last amongst the Pharisees for although they were in great reputation amongst the Jews in our Saviours time yet I find that they lost it afterwards and became so despicable in the Nation that they were branded with scurrilous names some they called Sechemitical Pharisees such as were so for their own profit others they styled the stumbling Pharisees who for an appearance of humility would scarce lift up their feet in the streets others they called the wounded Pharisees who shut their eyes as they went in the streets lest they should perhaps behold a temptation but by so doing often fell and hurt themselves others they styled the boasting Pharisees because they pretended not only to do whatsoever the Law of God required but also a great deal more than so other approbrious names and titles they put upon some other sorts from whence it appears that they did at last lose all their credit amongst people nor need we question that even true Religion it self became contemptible on that account The life is derided for the deformity of the picture the truth is prejudiced by the counterfeit the faults and basenesses of hypocrisie ascribed to true Religion itself and this I take to be one reason of the infidelity and profaneness that reign at present in this Nation God of his mercy remove the Scandals and heal the distempers that are amongst us The Tenth Sermon Luk. 12.1 Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie IN these words as I have observed there are these two things suggested to us 1. The greatness of the Evil which we are commanded to avoid this I have already finished 2. The diligence that must be used if we will duly observe the precept intimated in the word beware which shews it is no such easie thing to avoid all Pharisaism and hypocrisie as we may perhaps imagine it is And for the clearing of this point I shall desire you to observe that an appearance of Religion or a Religion in outward show void of the true spirit of it is apt to recommend it self and strangely to impose on men as such a Religion which is
to flesh and bloud and to the animosity which they have against the persons of other men to brand them with opprobrious names to pour contempt and scorn upon them and to believe that it is Religion so to do I think we have reason to beware of such a dangerous vice as this which turns a sin into Religion and so in truth makes Religion a contradiction unto it self 3. One thing more I must further add to what I have said of this Point which is the delight that a man may take either in the opposing or deriding of the Religion of other persons and the great opinion which he may have of himself for this which yet can give him no assurance that he is not a hypocrite in so doing I need not say how sharp and eager strifes are raised about Religion in the World I need not shew what fierce debates what hot contentions there are about it and have been in all former Ages These are known and evident things but that which is here to be considered is that the zeal that many men have in these disputes is rather to destroy the Religion that is professed by other persons than set up another instead thereof it is to subvert and not to reform it is to overthrow and not amend In the mean time being it is concern'd about Religion and being it hath a mighty passion in this concern it passes for Religion itself so apt are men to mistake them to embrace a shadow instead of truth and to judge themselves to be Religious for a negative not a positive thing for being against the Religion of others rather than for any of their own wherein they gratifie their own passions please their own corrupt affections and so easily suffer themselves to be deceived and imposed upon 3. But then thirdly we must consider that as hypocrisie is not only an easie Religion but also pleasant to flesh and blood in many instances and effects so that it also powerfully tends to serve those ends which men are apt to propound and follow that is to say 1. The reputation of being judg'd to be truly pious 2. And the obtaining of wealth and power and all the advantages of this World 1. The appearance of Religion destitute of the power of it doth for a time gain the reputation of true Religion nay more reputation for the most part than true Religion itself obtains Our Saviour relating how the Pharisees gave Alms to gain the glory of men presently adds verily I say unto you they have their reward Matt. 6.2 relating how they prayed in the streets to the same end adds the very same words again verily I say unto you they have their reward v. 5. relating how they disfigured their faces when they fasted that they might appear to men to fast adds the very same words again verily I say unto you they have their reward v. 16. of the same Chapter that is to say they gain that glory which they seek they are esteemed as they desire the best and strictest sort of men and so the Apostle St Paul suggests when he calls this very sect of the Pharisees the strictest sect of their Religion Acts 26.5 when he reports that they taught according to the perfect manner of the Law Acts 22.3 for here he designs not to let us know that the thing itself was so indeed but that it was commonly judged to be so so great was their credit among the people that when six thousand of them refused to do what the rest of the Nation did swear allegiance unto Caesar and were fined for refusing so to do The wife of Pherotas a rich man out of the great opinion she had of their singular Piety and devotion was ready to pay the Fine for them she paid it and was applauded for it nay flattered with hope of the very Kingdom they told her God himself had decreed that she and her husband and their issue should have the Government of the Nation and that he himself had assured them of it in the communion they had with him and this their Prophecie was believed upon account of the great reputation of their Piety Joseph amiqu lib. 10. cap. 3. Nor must you think it a strange thing that hypocrisie should gain the reputation of true Religion for I must fay something stranger still namely that it often gains a greater credit and reputation at least for a time than true Religion itself obtains the reasons whereof are plain and evident For The Hypocrite makes it his very business to appear in the visible show of Piety takes care that every Religious action appear to the eyes or come to the knowledge of the World so did the Pharisees give their Alms so did they order their prayers and fasts that the World might observe and understand them whereas the sincere and true Christian thinks it enough to approve himself to God in private and takes no thought how to commend himself to men further than by avoiding scandal and by a true and unaffected discharge of duty to God and men without the circumstance of pomp and shew of much appearance in so doing The Hypocrite again pretends to the very height of Piety to the greatest measures of perfection the upright person pretends no more than he hath really attain'd unto The Hypocrite makes it his great business to be always speaking of Religion in every place in every company at all times upon all occasions though they be never so unseasonable the upright person contents himself to give Religion its due place to take convenient opportunities to mention propagate and promote it The Hypocrite makes it his design to shew a singular zeal and fervour for the smallest things that relate to Religion nay things of no concernment in it the upright person is more modest lays no more of stress on things than the Laws of God or men require By all which means it comes to pass that the reputation of the hypocrite sometimes far exceeds that of true and wise and sober Christians which as it may press a strong temptation to bewitch and draw men to that sin so should it move to the greater watchfulness the greater diligence to avoid it 2. But then secondly as hypocrisie often gains the credit of true Religion nay more than that itself can gain in the general blindness of mankind so doth it most effectually serve for the advancement of other ends which men are apt to entertain namely the gaining of wealth and power and all the advantages of this World And here I shall not make any stay upon meaner persons who yet generally find it useful for their advantages in the world to make a shew of greater Piety than they are really possessors of But I shall observe to what degrees of power and honour the Pharisees did advance themselves by their pretences to greater exactness in Religion than other factions amongst the Jews Josephus tells us that there were three sects
of Religion amongst the Jews in his time the Pharisees Sadducees and the Essenes of these the Essenes as he tells us lived the best but the Pharisees were of greatest credit insomuch that the very Sadducees themselves if they arrived to any Authority in the Nation were forced to accommodate and yield themselves to all the dictates of the Pharisees Antiqu. lib. 10. cap. 2. He tells us that these were so esteem'd that they govern'd all in matters of State that they had such Interest in the people that they were not afraid to resist and oppose the lawful Magistrates to oppose their very Kings and Princes and to raise Arms and war against them He tells us a very remarkable story relating to our present purpose Alexander Jannaeus during his Reign over the Jews had done many cruel and odious things and some that highly displeas'd the Pharisees and was therefore greatly hated by them as well as by the rest of the people In this condition he falls sick his sickness at last prevailed so far that there was no hope of recovery left This being observed by his wife Alexandra who knew very well how odious he was to all the people and to the Pharisees amongst the rest and the infinite troubles and vexations that threatned his family after his death she is presently overflowed with sorrows as in the prospect of what she fear'd might happen Alas says she to her dying Husband what a condition do you leave us in to whom do you leave your wretched Widow to whom do you leave your miserable Orphans what shall we do when you are gone Peace says the King take my advice and I will put you into a way wherein you shall not only live but reign in peace and great security you know the mighty power and credit that the Pharisees have among the people for their seeming Piety and Religion you know the hatred I labour under hath chiefly and principally been occasioned because I have disobliged them When I am dead speak them fair give them the praises they desire expose my body unto them let them use it at their pleasure either bury it if they please or abuse and insult and trample upon it and drag it through the mire of the Streets Let them govern all your affairs let them but govern and rule you and you shall easily rule the people Well this she did and doing this the Pharisees were quieted and appeased and they did not only not abuse but very honourably interr his Body they made Orations in the commendation of his Person they setled his Widow in the Kingdom by their Authority among the people they governed her and she the Kingdom Antiq. lib. 13. c. 23 24. Such power and interest among the people did they obtain by the reputation of their Religion From whence I observe How powerful a thing the appearance of Religion is to serve a mans secular ends and interests even beyond real piety Now that which gives it this advantage for these ends at least for a certain space of time till it be discovered and detected is because it gives a man the licence of using such methods for his end which no man truly conscientious can possibly allow himself to use It gives him leave to say or do whatsoever it be that may serve his end It gives him leave to promise fair to every person although he never design performance to fill men with infinite expectations of publick good or their own preferment and advantage though nothing of these things be intended It gives him leave to apply himself to every mans humour and desire to flatter the proud to praise the ambitious to bribe the covetous to serve and caress every mans lusts and to accommodate such a Bate for every person as is most pleasing to his Appetite By all which means it often effectually serves its end before it can be well discovered and then discovery doth not hurt it It hath gained the advantages it designed and it may be the reputation of wisdom though it hath lost that of piety Now being hypocrisie is an easie and a pleasant Religion grateful in several Parts and Instances to the sinful passions of Mankind being apt to serve the several ends of gaining applause and wealth and power it will require a singular care a great watchfulness over our selves to avoid it in all degrees and measures to be infected with nothing of it It will require the more of this because a man may be an Hypocrite and yet not be aware he is so he may be infected with this Disease and that in a very high degree and not be sensible of his Malady not feel and observe it in himself 'T is clear that the very Pharisees themselves were not aware of their own hypocrisies Had they been so they could not have trusted in themselves that they were righteous and have despised others which Christ expresly saith they did Luke 18.9 Had they been conscious of their hypocrisies though they might have boasted this their righteousness before men who did not understand their hearts they could not have done it before God who as they knew did understand them and yet our Saviour brings in the Pharisee boasting of his righteousness before God Luke 18.11 12. But they were not conscious to themselves of their own hypocrisies And this is the reason why our Lord so often upbraided them with their blindness Interest is a subtle thing it easily insinuates into mens counsels easily slides into their designs and moulds them into a Form of Godliness begets an appearance of Religion when they are little aware of it The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Jerem. 17.9 This being so if we will avoid so sly a vice if we would exclude so subtle and so deceitful a sin it will concern us 1. First of all to avoid the several causes of it Pride and Avarice and Ambition For lay this down for a certain Rule Hypocrisie is no solitary vice it is never found alone in any man it always serves some other lust it always ministers to some superior vice within that is to say either to the love of the praise of men or that of secular wealth and power If a man design not to serve these lusts if these do not bear any sway in him he 's in no danger of hypocrisie For that 's a vice that always ministers to some other and these are the vices which it serves 2. And then further it will secure us from hypocrisie if we will fully content our selves with those advantages of Religion which God hath certainly promised to it peace with him peace of Conscience in this World and eternal happiness in the other I know very well that true Religion doth often contribute to further ends namely both to welfare and reputation in this very world as well as the other But because there are certain times and circumstances wherein it will not serve those
ends wherein the best and wisest men shall be esteemed the very worst superstitious cold and formal men by those that are zealous in some Faction and know no Religion but that zeal because such times as these may be it is safest to content our selves in gaining those rewards and blessings that are peculiar to Religion the testimony of a good Conscience and life eternal in the World to come 3. And then lastly Because hypocrisie is so deceitful and sly a sin as always serving worldly interest which is apt insensibly to blind the eyes and infatuate the minds of the wisest men and yet hide it self from them themselves it will concern us to be very frequent and impartial in the examination of our selves to weigh our counsels to try our ends to prove our designs in every action relating any way to Religion It will be needful to consider whether we indeed design it really intend to promote and practise it whereever we make a profession of it And then because that God alone knows the heart and because his Grace is most needful to discover our selves unto our selves in the midst of the many sins and passions that may infatuate and beguile us let us earnestly pray for his Holy Spirit to deliver us from all the infatuations and all the seductions of our lusts Let us make the Address which David did Psal 139.22 24. with whose words I shall conclude Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting The Eleventh Sermon John 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me The whole verse is thus Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me THESE words are a preface to a very large and kind discourse made by our Lord unto his followers wherein he delivers the main foundations of Christianity as well in matter of Faith as Practice which is the reason why he begins it with such words as might effectually stir them up to give both attention and belief to all that he should deliver in it Ye believe in God believe also in me In which words we have two parts 1. A concession or supposition Ye believe in God that is ye believe that there is a God and what is consequent hereupon that he is to be trusted and obeyed although some others read the words not as a Declaration Ye believe in God but as a Command Believe in God but there is no reason to depart from our own Translation in this matter 2. Here is a Precept also Believe in me that is to say believe that I am the Son of God sent by him into the world to reveal the Gospel of life eternal and therefore judge your selves obliged to believe whatsoever I reveal and obey whatsoever I command you Now being that belief in Christ in the sence I have now explained unto you is here required as an addition or further accession to the mere belief in God only as he may be known by the light of nature The Subject which the Words before us offer to our consideration is That the belief of Christian Doctrine as it is revealed to us in the Gospel over and above that knowledge of God which the light of Nature affords unto us is necessary to our eternal happiness In the prosecution of which Point 1. I must first consider That the firm belief of the Gospel of Christ is most expresly required by God and the denial of such belief forbidden under no less a penalty than the utter loss of life eternal Salvation is always promised to them who believe in him who hath revealed it and become his Followers and Disciples to other persons it is not promised As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.14 15. Nor is it only promised to those and those only that so believe but denied to them that believe not to them that refuse to yield their belief to him whom God hath sent and sanctified to be the Saviour of the World He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God And so again omitting several other places of the same sense and signification in the first Epistle of St John chap. 5. ver 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son Thrice did God bear this Record and owne our Lord to be sent by him by an express voice from Heaven once at his Baptism in these words Matt. 3.17 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased A second time at his transfiguration upon the mount with some addition to those words Matt. 15.5 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him And yet again a third time a little before our Saviours passion when praying to God in these words Father glorifie thy name he was answered by a voice from Heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again John 12.28 To all which clear and express testimonies given by the Father to his Son I might first add the glorious miracles wrought by Christ during his life then his resurrection from the dead and the effusion of his Spirit upon the Apostles sent by him and all the miracles wrought by them and all his other followers also which being evident demonstrations that he was the very son of God and sent by him to save the World highly aggravate the great sin of infidelity and unbelief and teach us to forbear to wonder that it should be punished with death eternal and that Christ himself should thus pronounce Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned 2. But then secondly lest you should think that God will have us believe the Gospel meerly because he will have it so and that he had no further end in the truth therein revealed unto us than that we should believe them only I further add that the belief of those truths is greatly necessary to several ends of infinite moment and importance 1. For the full and perfect knowledge of the duties which he requires from us 2. For the like knowledge of the great motions to those duties 3. For our better support under all our tryals fears and dangers 1. The belief of the great truths revealed unto us in the Gospel is necessary for the perfect knowledge of the duties which God requires from us and that upon several considerations namely 1. because that though the light of nature well improved may in some measure direct us to very many of them yet
truth thereof those that believe and entertain it are highly improved and bettered by it but those that resolve not to reform upon any motives any incitements whatsoever are forced for their own ease and quiet to abandon the very belief of it and having rejected this belief become exposed to the greatest evils without the restraint and contradiction of any remorses and regrets They have lost that very fear and dread which wheresoever it is retained cannot but put a restraint and awe upon all those sinful inclinations that lead to future death and misery And now if the very fear of God where it is serious and considerate that is to say where it is the thing it pretends to be carry so great a power in it to command and press obedience to him how much greater must that power grow when love being added unto fear turns it into a filial reverence and puts another nature into it Love freely offers what fear constrains Love makes that easie and delightful which was a burden unto fear nay Love itself constrains likewise but without reluctancy and opposition for it removes these very things and this is the meaning of St Paul 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of Christ saith he constrains us we cannot resist its Sovereign Power we cannot oppose its mighty influence but freely surrender all within us all our powers and inclinations into obedience to our Lord who dyed for us and rose again And to refufe him this obedience would be an eclipse of our own joys would be to resist our own desires would be a violence to our selves such an other violence and contradiction as it would be to our Lord himself And this is the reason why our Lord hath represented our love to him as a certain principle of obedience John 14.23 If a man love me he will keep my words He can no more love and offend love and displease me both together than he can chuse to vex himself and willingly practise and embrace a contradiction to his will and although my precepts may engage him to take up his cross for ray sake and his own Salvation yet will not 〈◊〉 grievous to him seeing the 〈◊〉 had for him moved me to do the some thing yea infinitely greater for his sake Now then to conclude this second general seeing that reverence to God Almighty carries both fear and love in it seeing love and fear cannot fail to produce obedience to him hence I conclude that this obedience is such an effect of that reverence as cannot be rent and divided from it 3. Proceed we now to the third general where I am to shew the contradictions to that reverence and those are not only those very acts which are usually styled contempt and scorn and are in themselves expresly so but all such actions and omissions as evidently flow from gross neglect and want of reverence towards God that is to say all deliberate and wilful sins And this appears from the very words of God himself A son faith he honoureth his Father and a servant his Master If then I he a Father where is mine honour And if I be a Master where is my fear saith the Lord of Host unto you O Priests that despise my name and ye say wherein have we despised thy name They wondered it seems and were much surprised that they should be charged with so high a crime as that of despising the name of God that is indeed God himself they were so secure they were so confident that they were not guilty of this crime that they are willing to come to trial they plead not guilty to the indictment they debate and expostulate with God himself and demand the proof of the charge against them wherein have we despised thy name But what 's the answer which God returns how doth he justifie the charge against them ye offer polluted bread upon mine Altar and yet ye say wherein have we polluted thee Is there not a Law which forbids you to offer any unclean or polluted thing upon mine Altar do ye not know that there is such a Law and do you not then despise my name while you wilfully violate that Law which you your selves know to be mine Thus doth God make good his charge against these persons who wifully sinned against his Laws and seeing the very same charge lies against every wilful sinner therefore is every wilful sin a flat contradiction to that reverence which every man owes unto his Maker But now although it be true indeed that every deliberate and wilful sin be a contradiction to that reverence which every man ows to the Lord of all yet are there some particular kinds of wilful sin that are more expresly so than others Some there are that carry the very contempt of God clearly written upon the brow some there are that carry the marks of irreverence to him in more express and legible characters although not all in the same degree 1. The first and greatest of these sins is the derision of all Religion not only neglect but explicite scorn even of the very worship of God in Prayers and Praises and thanksgivings as well as of all other parts and instances of the duties he hath required from us A thing St Peter himself foretold 2 Ep. 3.3 4. Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming Where he describes such persons as deny the coming of Christ to judgment and then in consequence of this errour scoff and despise all Religion now what is Religion but the homage we owe to our Sovereign Lord the great Creator of Heaven and Earth and what is it then to despise Religion but to despise that homage and what is that but a despight to God himself the thing is evident beyond denial and so is another besides that which is that it is not matter of wit to deride and to despise Religion for if it be frenzy it is not wit and if it be not a real frenzy to despise the homage a man owes to God and so to destroy and ruine himself there is no frenzy in all the World 2. But to proceed another sin that carries a signal mark upon it of great irreverence towards God is drolling upon the holy Scriptures irreverent use of the words and expressions therein used the application of those expressions to trivial purposes and occasions prophane allusions made unto them and to be short the using of any thing therein said for mirth and sport and entertainment This is to play with Gods oracles this is to jest upon Gods word and so a reproach to God himself and visibly betrays a very great irreverence to him No man trifles no man jests upon the words of a mortal man turning them into sport and laughter but in derision and flight of him no man doubts but that he that scoffs 〈◊〉 â—â—rides his words brings a contempt upon his person
and awe upon him whereas the mutual love and kindness that Christ hath commanded amongst men and also recommended to us by the highest and most effectual motives would not only restrain the outward actions of fraud and injury and oppression but kill the very lust within wither the very root of biterness and render every man easie and helpful to his neighbour instead of being injurious to him and this is suggested by St Paul Rom. 13.8 9.10 He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law For this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self love worketh no ill to his Neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law Love throughly accomplishes all those ends which were indeed designed by the Law whence it is said That the Law is not made for a righteous man a man animated and inspired by a living Law of love within but for the lawless and disobedient 1 Tim. 1.9 And thus hath our Lord fulfilled the judicial Law of Moses as well as the moral and ceremonial by the most efficacious ways and methods of setling such a Law within us as would most effectually work and propagate the great design of the Law of Moses which was added as the Apostle speaks because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made Having thus cleared both the parts of the words before us it now remains that we reflect upon what hath been said and draw some Observations from it First And first of all since our Lord came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets hence we learn That Christianity that the righteousness and holiness of the Gospel was the thing that God had in his eye the thing that he purposed and intended and that lay at the bottom of his counsels in the whole Mosaical Dispensation as well in all the external Rites as the other parts of Moses's Law God never had any delight or pleasure in the flesh or blood of Bulls and Goats or any Sacrifices of the Law he was never pleased with ritual washings or expiations as things excellent in themselves nor did he institute these Rites for any complacence he took in them but partly as the Ancients observe to typifie things that were to come namely the mysteries of the Gospel and partly to retain the Jews accustomed to such like Rites in Egypt in the worship and service of himself the only true and living God lest being denied their former Rites in the worship of the true God they should have used them unto Idols and to have continued in that apostasie whereinto themselves and the world were fallen at the delivery of the Law Had there been no such Reasons as these for the Rites enjoined in Moses's Law they had never been instituted or commanded nor had God any respect for them any regard to the most zealous performance of them when divided from the essential parts the great Fundamentals of Religion judgment and mercy and the love of God Hence those words of the Prophet Jeremy chap. 6.20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba and the sweet Cane from a far Country Your burnt offerings are not acceptable nor your Sacrifices sweet unto me And those of Isaiah chap. 1.11 12. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats Adde hereunto those excellent words of the Prophet Micah chap. 6. verf. 6 7 8. Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord and how my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oil shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul No He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God These were the things which he accepted nay these were the things which he designed in the very Ceremonies of the Law and in all its symbolical Types and Figures And these are the things which Christ our Lord came to propagate and promote in all he did and suffered for us So constant hath God been to himself and to the advancement of real goodness amongst men in all the Ages of the World before and under and after the Law He still designed the same thing he had still the same end in his eye namely that we should love him with all our hearts and love our Neighbour as our selves on these as our Saviour himself tells us hanged all the Law and the Prophets And the end for which our Lord himself came into the World was more effectually to promote what the Law of Moses had designed and so the Apostle himself assures us Rom. 8.3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Secondly What then remains in the last place but that since our Lord came into the World not to destroy but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets since he â—ath fulfilled them by introducing that Religion which God always had in his eye in all the Shadows of the Law a Religion suitable unto reason a Religion that perfects humane nature a Religion free and disentangled from the load of Mosaical Rites and Ceremonies a Religion aiming at nothing more than hearty love to God and our Neighbour and peace and happiness both in this and the other world what now remains but that we freely embrace and practise a Religion thus recommended to us neither reproaching it by our lusts by foul and sensual inclinations nor yet abusing and obscuring it by vain and useless superstitions It is a reasonable and manly service that God is pleased to require from us it is the cure of all our maladies it is medicine unto all our distempers it is health and soundness to all our powers It is not sacrifice and oblations it is not circumcision nor uncircumcision it is not what is hard and burthensom but what is useful and good for us 't is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost So that had we no other demonstration of the infinite love of God to us this were sufficient proof of it that he hath made our Religion our happiness Foâ— in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor
uncircumcision but a new creature that is the renovation of our minds by a sincere faith and love And as many as walk according to this Rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God The Sixteenth Sermon Psalm 119.59 60. I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments THE ways of a man being in the language of holy Scripture all those actions and omissions those words and thoughts and inclinations which ought to be governed by Gods Laws here styled his testimonies and commandments there is no doubt but that these are the things which David here styles his ways Nor need we question what kind of thoughts he employed upon them for the event it self declares that they were serious considerations how far they accorded or disagreed with Gods Commands together with quick and strong resolutions to amend what he found amiss in them wherein he discharged a great Duty but such as is very much neglected yea such as even he himself as these very words themselves suggest had for some time at least omitted Some men are afraid to make a review of their own lives as being sensible in the general that they cannot account even to themselves for their irregularities and neglects This is the reason why they dare not reflect upon themselves but decline the test of their own Consciences like men unwilling to come to Tryal in that Court where Sentence is like to pass against them Others involve and intangle themselves in such a continual throng of business and are so perplexed and overwhelmed with the cares and concernments of this life that they allow themselves no time for recollection of themselves and examination of their lives And some there are who spend their days in nothing but pleasures and diversions in constant entertainments of fancy which so possess their imaginations that they leave no room for serious thoughts of the very concernments of this life much less of that which is to come Thus it comes to pass that few â—eform their evil habits namely for want of recollection But did we call our selves to account and make inquisition into our ways did we impartially reflect upon them and allow our Consciences to examine them and judge by calm and sober reason excluding the briberies of our lusts and the fallacies which they put upon us these thoughts by the Grace of God assisting might have the same success on us that those of David had on him And what that was we understand from these words I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments In which words he represents these two things I. The effect which the thoughts of his ways had upon him which was the reformation of them I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies II. The shortness of the time wherein they wrought this effect as it is expressed in the following Verse I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments For the better improvement of which example in order to our own advantage I shall follow the method of the words and shew what it is that the thoughts of our ways may suggest to us as apt and proper 1. To work the reformation of them and 2. To work it without delay 1. And to the former of these Generals I refer the serious consideration of the vast number of our sins with the many and great aggravations of them the sad effects which these sins have had or yet may have upon us the vanity and emptiness of all those pleasures or advantages which we have yet found in them or can reasonably hope to find hereafter to weigh against those evil effects and the solid happiness of that state whereupon we enter when we cast off and forsake our sins and turn our feet to Gods testimonies These are the things which the thoughts of our ways may suggest to us in order to the reformation of them First The first whereof that I may speak distinctly on them is the vast number of our sins with the many and great aggravations of them which we can never understand much less reform without impartial examination Sometimes we forget those very sins which we have committed against knowledge Tract of time decay of memory multitude of business or diversion wear out the thoughts of those very sins which we our selves took notice of in former times though now they be vanished from our remembrance Sometimes we take no notice at all of our sins and follies while we actually engage in them We think vainly desire inordinately speak rashly censure unjustly act indecently in the eyes of men and sinfully in the eyes of God not considering what we do while we thus entertain and employ our selves And this no doubt was David's reason why herepresents the sins of men as passing the reach of their understandings Who can understand his errours Cleanse thou me from secret faults Psal 19.12 And if we be often so far surprized as not to observe the motions of our own minds which we may feel within our selves nor what we speak what we act before the ears and eyes of others we may easily judge we are much more faulty in our omissions and neglects which are less sensible and observed both by our selves and other persons For sinful actions cry aloud in the scandals they bring upon Religion and sensible injuries to our Neighbour while mere omissions are dumb and silent and make no noise or stir in the World And yet there are some other things which we observe as little as our omissions namely the circumstances and aggravations of our sins which are sometimes wilful and deliberate sometimes against our former vows and resolutions of reformation sometimes against severe corrections or kind and fatherly castigations sometimes pernicious to other persons as well as hurtful to our selves often habitual and long continued and always against the mercies of God in whom we live and move and have our beings even while we continue to sin against him Which aggravations of our sins make little impression upon our minds much less urge us to reformation till we seriously recollect our selves and impartially reflect upon our ways But did we so reflect upon them did we consider how oft we have wilfully done amiss and that both against God and men and how much oftner done the like through ignorance errour and infirmity did we consider our many neglects in the Duties immediately respecting God while we have omitted or ill performed them adding hereto our great omissions towards our Neighbour while we have neglected to feed the hungry to clothe the naked to support the weak to assist the injured and oppressed might not these thoughts by the Grace of God so represent our sins to us as that we should judge it most unreasonable still to persist and proceed in them Could we think it tolerable
Christs Laws pass with God for righteous persons These things explained I shall observe these two things from the words before us 1. That men may imagine themselves to be righteous persons in Gods eyes to be in grace and favour with him though they live impure and unrighteous lives although they do not do righteousness else this caution had been useless So it had been had it been a caution against an errour that no man could have fallen into 2. That this Imagination is a very great and dangerous errour so do the words themselves suggest He that doth righteousness that is he and be only that is righteous even as Christ is righteous not that any man can be so in the same degree with Christ himself nor by his own desert and merit gain the favour and grace of God but that there is no way to gain it without being really just and righteous as Christ was perfectly and fully so First I begin with the first which is that men imagine themselves to be righteous persons in Gods account to be in grace and favour with him though they live in habitual disobedience to the Laws and precepts of the Gospel In the prosecution of which point 1. I shall first prove that this may be so 2. And then secondly give some account of the rise or occasions of this errour 3. And lastly reflect upon the whole by way of inference or application And for the first that there may be such an errour as this which I have now mentioned to you plainly appears from matter of fact and matter of fact plainly appears 1. From the open profession of some 2. And secondly from the lives of others 1. There are some who openly profess that there is nothing required from us to recommend us to Gods favour no condition on our parts to gain acceptance and grace with him They own no Covenant between God and us but only one between God and Christ This say they Christ hath performed and so reconciled us unto God without the performance of any condition on our parts see Saltm Flowings c. p. 152. wherein they palpably contradict the whole strain and tenour of the Gospel all its commands threats and promises as well as the vow made in Baptism whereby we enter into a Covenant with God himself and promise sincere obedience to him These are they who are commonly styled the Antinomians which was a Sect once very numerous in this Nation but is now become either less numerous or more silent and therefore I shall not at this time make any longer stay upon them 2. But proceed to those who though they do not in words profess that men may be in favour with God and duly hope for life eternal though they live in habitual contradiction to the Laws and precepts of Christianity yet live as men who so believe and consequently may be duly judged to cherish such a belief as this and of these there are divers and several sorts 1. Those who profess or not deny the Christian faith but have no care no concernment for Religion in any instance of their lives live as though there was no such thing in all contradiction to its Laws Such there were in St Paul's days as you may see Phil. 3.18 Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies to the croft of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things Yet these very persons professed themselves to be Christs Disciples and to believe the Christian Faith As they did so do many in our days They profess to believe in Jesus Christ they profess the hope of life eternal declared and promised in the Gospel and yet they live in habitual and wilful disobedience to the holy precepts and institutions which the same Gospel hath prescribed Now how can these things consist together how can they possibly be reconciled unless these persons judge themselves in Gods favour though they live in such disobedience to him could men neglect all the Laws all the precepts of the Gospel could they promise themselves the remission of fin and eternal life while they continue in this neglect did they not judge that they might gain remission of fin and the favour of God notwithstanding the wickedness of their lives or else at least not judge the contrary They do profess as I said before the hope of Salvation Salvation promis'd in the Gospel they give no signs of doubt or fear of falling short of so great a happiness they pass their days in ease and pleasure they enjoy the world they enjoy themselves in the midst of prophaneness and impiety which shews they have in their own thoughts reconciled the hopes of future happiness with the present enjoyment of their sins 2. Another fort there is who though they seem to have some concernment for Religion yet wholly neglect the practice of it They spend their time either in speculation of things remote from life and practice or in meer dispute about the things that relate to practice in the mean time their own lives are little better than theirs who neglect all Religion They are not more careful of truth and justice of mercy and charity in their lives than other persons the same temptations that sway the affections and vitiate the lives of other men do also sway and vitiate theirs they love the wealth and power and honour all the pleasures all the advantages of the World as much as they who love them most nor do they forbear to use any of the same methods the same forbidden arts and ways to attain their ends that are used by the common sort of persons They please themselves in the speculation of useless notions or spend their zeal in meer disputes or the censure of the lives of others but take no care to reform themselves yet all this while believe extremely well of themselves assure themselves of Gods favour and of his singular love to them which shews they presume upon his favour though they continue in their sins 3. There are some other persons who proceed indeed a step further but not so far as a Christian life who yet fully allure themselves of being righteous in Gods account and of eternal life and happiness These are they who confess their fins and possibly with bitter lamentations and with great accusations of themselves as in truth we have ail reasons to do but when they have done take no care to amend and reform those very sins which they confess with so much passion and such invectives against themselves Or if they proceed a little further it is but to some ineffectual purposes faint resolutions of reformation which never come to effect or issue They take the design for the thing it self the resolution of reformation for the very repentance God requires The former of these namely the resolution of reformation they look upon as a
what are the motives what the arguments to that diligence 1. That which is mentioned in the Text where we find that this is the very thing that recommends us to Gods acceptance He that doth righteousness is righteous that is he is so in Gods account as well as really so in himself for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry Psal 34.15 They are as the apple of his eye he hath a tender kindness for them he bears a singular regard unto them and takes an especial care of them Righteousness is the Image of God true goodness wheresoever it is is a beam derived from the fountain of light which God doth always love and cherish always bless with especial favour whatever regard or disregard whatever favour or disfavour it finds with men it never wants the favour of God it is a participation of his Image and he loves it wheresoever it is as he loved it in his only Son so the Apostle himself adds He that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous And is not this a singular motive to live in the constant practice of it what is that that supports the minds what is that that cheers the hearts and spirits of wise and good and holy men under all the troubles all the calamities of the World but the hope and sense of Gods favour where can we find a sure refuge an assured shelter and security under thousands of fears and disappointments that attend us in the present World but under the shadow of Gods wings the grace and favour of God Almighty which Grace is Almighty like himself and will preserve to life eternal if we labour faithfully to retain it by true and diligent obedience to him let this therefore move us to obedience 2. And lastly because we have taken upon us the name and profession of Jesus Christ and because that Christ hath strictly commanded that every one that names his name depart from iniquity left he bring a scandal on that profession Let the honour of so dear a Master the credit and service of his Church which he hath purchased with his blood perswade the obedience of the Gospel If these with other considerations tending unto the same purpose have not this effect upon us we shall bring a scandal upon the Gospel we shall open the mouth of scorn and clamour against the Religion we profess we shall give occasion for men to think that we are under the great delusion which the Apostle here corrects of thinking our selves righteous persons although we do not do righteousness But in the diligent and careful practice of the holy Laws that Christ hath given us we shall honour our Lord adorn his Religion edifie others edifie our selves grow to an excellent habit of mind What shall I say more In so doing we shall obtain all the blessings of the Gospel and at last arrive at eternal happiness The Nineteenth Sermon Luk. 16.8 For the Children of this world are in their generation wiser than the Children of light THESE words are a short reflection made upon the behaviour of a certain Steward as it is represented in a Parable who having imbezeld his Masters goods is called to account for his miscariage and thereupon to be displaced How is it saith his Lord to him that I hear this of thee give an account of thy Stewardship for thou mayst be no longer Steward v. 2. of this Chapter The Steward surprized with the suddain notice of his removal from his place presently begins to bethink himself how he shall now provide for himself He said with himself v. 3. what shall I do for my Lord taketh away from me the Stewardship I cannot dig to beg I am ashamed But long it was not before he comes to a resolution which was to gratifie his Masters debtors in the abatement of their debts that so when his Master had removed him they might receive and entertain him so it follows v. 4. I am resolved what to do that when I am put out of the Stewardship they may receive me into their houses accordingly calling them to reckon with him he makes some abatement to every debtor of what was owing to his Lord To him that owed him an hundred measures of Oyl he makes abatement of one half saying unto him take thy bill and sit down quickly and write fifty v. 6. To him that owed an hundred measures of wheat he abated a fifth part of the debt Take thy bill and write fourscore v. 7. So he obliged his Masters debtors to entertain him in their houses when he had lost his Stewards place so he provided for himself His Lord in the mean time knowing this as well as his other misbehaviours though he could not approve the fraud and injustice of his Steward yet commends the care he had of himself commends the wisdom of his Servant in making provision for the future so it follows v. 8. And the Lord commended the unjust Steward because he had done wisely whereupon our Saviour adds this following observation For the Children of this world are in their generation wiser than the Children of light 1. The Children of this world are those that mind and study the present World that is the concerns and profits of it as the great and only valuable things and have no other end at all but to attain to wealth and power and what may be useful in this life for wheresoever the World is put for one particular sort of men it always signifies the worser sort so in those words John 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the world and afterwards at the 16. v. they are not of the world even as I am not of the world From whence as from divers other places it hath been truly and well observed that although the World do often signifie all mankind the good and evil both together yet where it is put for one part only it always designs the worser part 2. Now to go on the Children of light are those that profess the faith and hope of future Glory and to make the attainment of that glory their chief endeavour in the World so is the same expression taken John 6.36 While ye have the light believe in the light that ye may be the Children of the light and so the Apostle 1 Thess 5.5 ye are all the Children of the light and the Children of the day that is to say ye all profess the faith of the Gospel which hath brought us out of darkness into light ye all profess the stedfast hope of that Glory which is promised in the Gospel to us and to make the pursuit of that Glory the chief design and end of life These are the persons whom the Scriptures style the Children of light and this is the reason why they are so styled 3. And then further whereas it is said that the Children of this World are in their Generation wiser then the
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