is planted wherever the Word is preach'd he expects the Fruit of Righteousness The Seed is good and most of all agreeable to the Soil wherein 't is sown for Religion is the best Reason and therefore most natural to a reasonable Soul and 't is sown in great Plenty there is no Scarcity of God's Word among us and 't is water'd sufficiently with the Dew of Heaven the Grace of God which is not wanting to any Man that will receive it and therefore at our Peril we must all be fruitful none of us must appear before our great Lord empty lest the Punishment of Barrenness be our Portion and we be burnt up with unquenchable Fire This Seed then or the Word of God being thus actually sown the Christian Religion planted in the World and all things done on God's Part in order to its being fruitful and which accordingly he expects it should be it highly concerns us in the next Place to take care that it be so and that nothing make it otherwise That is that in the First Place it be not like Seed sown or scatter'd by the Way Side which is trodden down by the Feet of Men and Beasts or devoured by the Fowls of the Air. We must not be thought less and inconsiderate after we have heard the Word and suffer our Souls to be like a High-way laid open and exposed to all Comers to all Sorts of wandring useless and wicked Thoughts which thronging in Abundance will trample down the Good Seed that was sown that it shall never more appear be no more thought of or remembred by us Nor must we leave it to the Mercy of the Fowls of the Air the Devil and his Legions who like Birds of Prey hover over us continually and are always ready to catch away immediately those good Instructions instill'd into our Minds lest they should grow into Faith and Salvation and which they see lye scattered and unregarded by us and unobserved throw in their Places the Seeds of Sin and Misery which like ill Weeds will flourish any where and grow apace Thus heedless of so great a Treasure must we by no means be but by Recollection of Thought advert closely to the great Truths of the Gospel and exclude all wandring and vain Imaginations and carefully gather up those Notions of Religion which lie scattered in our Minds and reduce them to some Order and Connexion and infix them by Meditation still deeper in our Souls and instead of a dry barren and common Way for all Temptations and Injections of the Devil for numerous and vain and incoherent Phancies we should by serious Attention to those concerning Truths that we have read or heard make our Souls as Solomon expresses it a Garden enclosed a Spring shut up Cant. 4.12 and a Fountain sealed And then no Fear of the Seeds being trodden down or devour'd by the Fowls of the Air but 't will remain rooted and grounded in our Hearts and will bring forth its Fruit in its Season Secondly We must take care that the Word be not like Seed sown in stony and rocky Places where there is no Deepness of Earth lest it spring up too hastily and when the Sun is hot it be scorch'd and wither away because it hath no Root That is as our Lord interprets it we must be carefull not only to receive the Word with Joy and have an extempore superficial Religion and believe and obey only for a while but likewise to endure and not be offended or discouraged though Tribulation or Persecution arise because of the Word nor to fall away in Time of Temptation I doubt there are too many of these Rocky Hearers that perhaps are well enough pleas'd to be handsomsely told of their Duty to hear a well-pen'd Sermon and for the present readily assent to the Truth and Reasonableness of what is discours'd to them and believe it their Interest to live as becomes Christians and rejoyce at the News of being freeed from the Tyranny of the Devil and their own unruly Lusts and Passions of being made Children and Heirs of God and Coheirs with Christ of an Eternal Inheritance and that there are never-fading Crowns of Glory reserv'd for them in the highest Heavens and are resolved to set about the Performance of that Duty immediately which is so excellent in it self and shall be so infinitely rewarded And indeed the Christian Religion is so highly reasonable in its own Nature so conducive to the Comfort and Happiness even of this Life and the sure Way to such endless Bliss hereafter that it can't but be very pleasing in the Theory to any Man of Sense and Reason But after all this I fear there are too many Hearers that like Rocky Places have only a Surface of good Earth and retain this good Affection to Religion but for a while and at the Bottom are impenetrable as a Rock and will not suffer the good Seed to shoot so deep into their Hearts and take so firm a Rooting as is necessary to its Fruitfulness and Increase Their Spring is quickly over a Blade or a Stalk is the farthest Progress their Religion makes and never arrives to the full Corn in the Ear but when they meet with any Difficulty in the Practice of it in it self or any Opposition to it either without from Men or from the Devils Temptations within For want of Deepness of Earth and Moisture they fall and wither away If there were nothing else for 'em to do but to receive the Promises they would with Joy indeed give ear to the glorious Descriptions of the Happiness of a Christian Nay that Happiness is so exceeding great that at present they may very well be glad to hear of the Way to attain it and for a spurt set chearfully about it and a shallow Crust of Earth will be sufficient to make some Shew and Appearance of Fruitfulness and Increase But unless the Heart be throughly plyable and there be Deepness of Earth an humble Sense of the great Need we have that this Divine Seed should take Root and grow up in our Souls and likewise the Moisture of a sincere Repentance for our former Barrenness and stony Hardness of Heart the Word will take but shallow Rooting for all our suddain Raptures and upon upon every Difficulty and Temptation be ready to languish and wither especially when the Heats of Persecution strike upon it and then too often the latter End is worse than the Beginning and the Men grow more hardned and insensible than ever Those therefore that find themselves of this rocky Temper so difficult to be perswaded to be Christians indeed so ready to look upon the smooth Side of Religion only and please themselves in the Theory of it admire the Promises of Christianity but find great Resistance in their Breasts when the Word would take deeper Root and they are exhorted to a still more and more excellent and fruitful Piety These Persons are by all means to endeavour still
yet be so taken up with minding other things as not to attend to the Danger and heedlessly fall into it And so a Man may habitually believe that there is a Pit of Bottomless Destruction which will at length swallow up the incorrigibly wicked and yet be so deeply engag'd in the Pleasures and Follies of the World as not to attend to it till 't is too late But suppose some that call themselves Christians do not at all believe any thing of the Christian Religion there are innumerable more that do believe and live accordingly and the Harmony of their Belief and Practice methinks should be a better Argument in the Affirmative than the Infidelity and Debauchery of a few titular Christians should be in the Negative And though to a Man that stiles himself a Christian and yet believes not a Word of the Matter to him the Whole of Religion 〈◊〉 is as nothing yet certainly it cannot be from thence concluded that therefore 't is really and indeed a Fiction For that may be assuredly true and that to their Cost which some Men don't care to believe Thus we see 't is no strange thing that there should be both good and bad that go under the general Name of Christians in this World and that though some are much scandaliz'd at it and raise an Objection from it against the Truth of the Religion yet there is no Reason so to do for 't is not the Name that makes a Christian he only is a Christian indeed that to a right Belief adjoins good Works The first Planters of the good Seed or the Tares the bad or good Professors of Christianity respectively are Christ and the Devil Christ by teaching a holy Reliligion to the World such as shall conduct Men to Glory and Immortality and by the good Motions and Inspirations of his holy Spirit inclining 'em to imbrace it does endeavour to make all Men happy to deliver 'em from the Miseries of this World for if Sin were weeded out of it there would be no Misery in it and to prepare 'em for the eternal and ineffable Felicities of the Kingdom of Glory in which after a persevering Righteousness here they shall be actually instated The Devil on the contrary that great Enemy both to God and Man makes it his great Endeavour by all Sorts of Wiles â—nd Stratagems to obliterate the divine Impressions of this holy Religion upon Mens Souls to divert 'em from attending to its great Beauty and Excellency and the Nature and Duration of its Rewards and Punishments to perswade 'em that here lies the only Scene of Happiness and that a future Felicity or Misery is only fit to amuse and frighten Children withall that the Desires of the Body are given us that we might gratify them to the full and that to deny and mortify our selves is the most unnatural Cruelty in the World that we must make our selves happy while we have Opportunity and not trust too much to uncertain Reversions And when he can't wholly blot out the Belief of another World then he endeavours to corrupt it by perswading us that a very little Religion will serve turn seeing we have to do with so merciful a God And if by these Means or the like of which he has great Variety he can incline Men if not intirely to apostatize from Christianity yet like Tares to rest satisfyed with the Name and Appearance of Christians and live at loose and random and follow the Stream of their own Passions and Desires and his sly Insinuations and tempting Delusions then he has his End and will at length cheat 'em of the Happiness that Christ design'd 'em and decoy 'em into his own Possession and so bring them to the Portion of Tares and noxious Weeds that Furnace of Fire prepar'd for himself and his Angels And therefore as we tender our eternal Welfare we must be very watchful and observant that we may discover the sly Insinuations of this our great Enemy Whatever would disparage Religion or lessen the Obligation to a good Life comes certainly from that infernal Tempter The Temptations to an excessive Gratification of our bodily Appetites assuredly come from him the Opportunities of Vice are of his disposing and 't is he that ingages us in so great a Love and earnest Persuit of the World And therefore every thing of this Nature must be rejected with the greatest Abomination as the Endeavours of our great Enemy to deprive us of our Happiness and involve us in his own Ruin And on the contrary those blessed Motions that we all of us often feel to a more pious and holy Conversation must be thankfully embrac'd and chearfully follow'd as the Directions and Excitations of our dear Saviour to what is conducive to our eternal Happiness They are those heavenly Dews which will refresh our Souls and improve their Growth and Increase in Holiness and if sincerely cooperated with will at length bring the Fruits of our holy Religion to Perfection And thus much for the first thing this Parable informs us of namely That the State of the Gospel in this World is such that there will be both bad and good under the general Name of Christians as good Corn and Weeds together go under the Name of one Field of Corn and that the first Planters of this Good and Evil respectively are Christ and the Devil together with the Improvement of each Consideration to the Interest of Religion But before I quite leave this Particular I shall from what has been said of the promiscuous Mixture of bad and good Men in the Christian Church and God's suffering it to be so without any extraordinary Discrimination From this I shall observe how unreasonable 't is for some to object as too many do against the Reception of the Lord's Supper in our Church because as they say we admit any that will come even those that have been scandalous Livers and by that Means the Solemnity is prophan'd and made less beneficial to the good But now supposing though not granting that we admit any that will come though Men of ill Lives I say not granting this for the thing is evidently false as appears from the Exhortations to the Communicants before and at the Solemnity and from the Rubric of that Office And from the 26 27 and 28th Cannons of our Church in which Ministers are expresly forbidden to admit notorious Offenders Schismaticks and Strangers to the Communion But supposing this which is so evidently false as to the Church to be true as to some particular Ministers why must communicating with such Ministers and as we think in such prophane Company be unchristianly abstain'd from and the Ministers declaim'd against with so much Bitterness At this rate they may as well desert the Communion of the whole Church of Christ and refuse to join in any part of divine Worship for no Doubt but ill Men are intermxi'd in all though they may not be discover'd and if their Company
may I always so attend to the Dignity of my Nature and the constant Inspection of thy holy Angels and glorious Self in all my Ways as not to dare to play the Hypocrite in thy Presence who seest the very Secrets of my Heart and be asham'd to expose my Vileness to those excellent Spirits and reflect upon the Confusion I shall be in at the Day of Judgment when the Goat and the Swine shall be discover'd under the Profession of a Christian And O that the Zeal and Alacrity of these ministring Spirits in thy Service and for thy Glory may put me upon a holy Emulation to do thy Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven That so when the great Harvest shall come and thou shalt say to the angelick Reapers Gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather my Wheat into my Barn I may find Mercy at that terrible Day and be receiv'd to a Participation of the Glories of thy heavenly Kingdom Which grant O blessed Jesus I most earnestly beseech thee Amen PARABLE III. Of the Pearl of great Price Matth. xiii 45 46 The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant-man seeking goodly Pearls Who when he had found one Pearl of great Price he went and sold all that he had and bought it BY this and the Parable immediately before it of a Treasure hid in a Field which when a Man hath found he hideth and for Joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that Field The transcendent Excellency of the Christian Religion above all things in the World is represented And that 't is the greatest Wisdom to part with every thing that this World can afford all the Pleasures Honours and Riches of it rather than be without the inward Power and Life of this holy Religion which is a Pearl of so great Price so immense a Trasure that nothing here below can stand in Competition with it 'T is as David expresses it more to be desir'd than Gold yea Psal 19.10 than much find Gold and he professes that himself had more Delight in God's Commandments than in all Manner of Riches And Solomon says almost in the Words of these Parables Happy is the Man that findeth Wisdom or Religion for the Merchandise of it is better than the Merchandise of Silver and the Gain thereof than of find Gold Prov. 3.13 c. She is more precious than Rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compar'd unto her Length of Days is in her right Hand and in her left Hand Riches and Honour her Ways are Ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace Such great things as these being spoken of Religion by those that best knew its Excellency and the World being so very backward in the Belief of their Testimony and so foolish as to prefer every little worldly Good before this inestimable Treasure to which all that the whole Creation can afford is not comparable and the Consequence of this Delusion being so fatal no less than the eternal Ruin of both Body and Soul It highly concerns us by due Consideration to rectify our Apprehensions in this Matter and no longer childishly doat upon empty Gayes and Trifles and neglect what is of infinite Excellency and the most substantial Good It is therefore the Design of this Discourse upon the Parable above recited to weigh the Excellency of Religion against all that the World can afford in the Ballance of Reason that upon a fair Experiment we may see which does preponderate and accordingly be convinc'd which of the Two is most worthy our Choice And then if we still retain our Affection for the World against the Judgment of our Reason in behalf of Religion we shall likewise be convinc'd that we act more like Brutes than Men and that we deserve to feel the Consequences of our unreasonable and wicked Choice and taste no other Happiness than what this unsatisfying empty World can afford and in the next World be for ever miserable because we would not be for ever happy when we might First then let us see what the Whole that this World can afford will amount to All that is in the World St. John tells us is the Lust of the Flesh 1 Eph. 2.16 the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life i. e. to these Three may be reduc'd the Whole of what is valuable in the World And by the Lust of the Flesh is meant Pleasure of all Sorts by the Lust of the Eye Riches great Plenty and Abundance and by the Pride of Life Honour Power and Dominion This is that Trinity which the generality of Men adore and impatiently desire and place their greatest Happiness in the Enjoyment of and of each of these Particulars we will now enquire what they amount to and consequently what is the Sum total of the World And first to observe the Apostles Method we will begin with the Lusts of the Flesh or the Pleasures of the World and which are generally first in Men's Esteem and for which they are often content to part with the other Two Now these may be rank'd in this Order viz. the Pleasures of Lust and Uncleanness of luxurious Eating and Drinking and of great Jollity and Mirth all agreeing in the Character of the Lusts of the Flesh that is all highly gratefull to the Desires and Appetites of the Body And in the first Place I observe this in general of all worldly Pleasures that the longer a Man lives to enjoy them the more insipid still they grow to him and that not only upon Account of their own empty Nature but by Reason of the Decays of our own Faculties and consequent Disability to enjoy them As old Barzillai said to David 2 Sam. 19.35 Can I discern between Good and Evil c. when he invited him to the Pleasures of his Court. And what Happiness can be expected from that which is very unsatisfying in its own Nature and which were it not after a few Years we shall be incapable of enjoying But to be more particular As for the Pleasures of Lust and Uncleanness whatever Men's Expectations may be of receiving great Satisfaction from them they can't but find by their Experience that there is much of Disappointment in 'em and the Pleasure much greater in Imagination than Reality They are indeed deceitful Lusts and often make Men miserable even here but never happy And for the Truth of this that it may not be look'd upon as a thing only said not prov'd and the cinical Conclusion of a frozen dispirited Student whose narrow Course of Life has made him a Stranger to such Sort of Enjoyments and caus'd him to give a worse Character of them than they deserve I shall vouch the Testimony of Solomon who fill'd the Throne of a rich and flourishing Kingdom and was accountable to none but God for Actions of this Nature and his Desires perfectly
sows these Tares because he is the busy Prompter to Vice and Hypocrisy and the great Encourager of it by his sly and wheedling Insinuations and wicked Injections He is that great Enemy of God and all things heavenly and good and whose constant Endeavour it is to oppose and weaken the Kingdom of Righteousness and upon the Ruins of it to establish his infernal Dominion The End of the World is compared to the Harvest because then is the Time of Gods gathering all Men from off the Face of the Earth and disposing them according to their Deservings into a new State of endless Happiness or Misery as good Corn at Harvest is taken from off the Ground and carryed-away and laid up in Repositories of Safety but the Tares and other noxious Weeds sever'd from the rest and bound up in Bundles to be burnt And the Angels are said to be the Reapers at this great Harvest because 't is by their Ministry that God will execute his most equal Sentence whether of Absolution or Condemnation the Righteous shall by them be caught up into the Clouds to meet their Lord in the Air and like good Corn be laid up and that for ever in God's heavenly Garner for they shall ever be with the Lord And the wicked and hypocritical shall by them be separated from the good and like vile Tares be thrown into a Furnace of Fire unquenchable And thus much in short for the Aptness of this Parable to express the Sense that our Lord conceal'd under it I shall now proceed to consider its several Parts And it will inform us of six things First it will inform us of the State of the Christian Church in this World that there will be both good and bad under the general Name of Christians as Tares and Wheat together go under the Name of one Field of Corn and that the Two first Planters of this Good and Evil respectively are Christ and the Devil That there will be both good and bad in this World under the general Name of Christians will be no wonder to any Man that considers how many there are that are Christians by Custom and Education only because their Fathers were so before 'em and in their tender Years procur'd their Reception into that Communion but seldom look any further into the Reasons and Inducements to such Belief and trouble themselves but very little to be inform'd in much less to practise the Duties that are bound upon them by that holy Profession And for the same Reason would have been Mahometans or Jews had their Parents been so and educated them in that Way and therefore are Christians by Chance not Choice And this those would do well to consider who spend the whole Six Days of the Week in drudging for the World from Morning until Night and then like tir'd Beasts when they have fill'd their Bellies without any further Thoughts lay them down to rest and when the Lord's Day comes which is design'd for the Nourishment and Improvement of their Souls in Piety and Goodness and their Instruction in the Religion they profess to be of make little better Use of it than their Horses do in the Stable rest from bodily Labour and saunter and prate and drink away the Day but seldom come at the Places of divine Worship and Instruction and if they do are as little the better for it as if they were absent Let such consider before it be too late whether this Sort of Christianity will bring 'em to Heaven or no Whether their being baptized in their Infancy will save 'em without any more to do Whether their telling our Lord at the Day of Judgment that they happen'd to be born in a Country where his holy Religion was profess'd and of such as call'd themselves Christians and were by them presented to a Minister of Christ who receiv'd them into the Pale of the Catholick Church and that they continued to call themselves Christians all their Lives and now and then came to Church as other Christians did Let them consider whether at that great Day such an empty Plea will be accepted when the Judg comes to enquire into what Obedience they have paid to his Commandments If it will be accepted Mat. 7.21 why does our Lord say not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.14 And why is the Way said to be narrow and the Gate strait that leads to Life and that few there be that find it but if it will not be accepted as most certainly it will not Doubtless it highly concerns such Men to consider more seriously of Religion than they have done hitherto unless they think their Souls not worth taking care of or that the everlasting Pains of Hell are not so great as those of Repentance and living a new Life And tho' for the Reason assign'd above it is no Wonder that many ill Men here go under the common Name of Christians and that Title be all the Christianity they can boast of yet 't would be a very great Wonder indeed if such empty Tares as these should be laid up with the good Wheat and get to Heaven as much by Chance as they became Christians Further 't is no strange thing to find ill Men amongst a Society of Christians because Men are free Agents and Religion does not force but only by proper Methods incline and perswade And those who in their Infancy were devoted to the Service of God and educated in his Discipline in their tender Years may yet through the Predominancy of their Lusts and vile Affections and the Temptations of the wicked one together with their own careless Inadvertency be when grown up inclined to live at quite another Rate than Christianity allows And though for Fashion's sake they may retain the Name of Christians yet choose to be indeed the Servants of their own Passions and of the Prince of Darkness And therefore 't is very unreasonable for the Enemies of Religion to conclude as they do that because many that profess Christianity live in direct Contradiction to it therefore the whole is a Cheat Because did they believe what that Religion teaches to be true they would not dare to live in such continual Opposition to it Indeed this should make all Christians very careful and circumspect in their Conversation lest they bring so great a Scandal as this upon their holy Religion remembring our Lord's Words Woe be to him by whom the Offence or Scandal cometh But it will not at all follow that because some of a Profession live contrary to its Precepts and Doctrin that therefore the whole is a Forgery For believing and doing are Two very different things and a Man may habitually assent to the Truth of a thing and yet not actually attend to it As a Man may be very well assured that there is a dangerous Pit in his Way and
to the Owners thereof saving the beholding of them with their Eyes A Pleasure very empty and unsatisfying for the Eye is not satisfyed with seeing and which their meanest Servant may have as well as they Content is least of all in the Breasts of Persons of the highest Rank he that has much would still have more and is in frequent Fears of losing what he has for Riches are known to be very uncertain and unaccountably take to themselves Wings and fly away and to be in fear of losing Riches and yet dissatisfi'd in the Possession of them carries much more of Uneasiness with it than the beholding of them with ones Eyes does of Pleasure and a Stranger or a Servant may take not only as much but more Pleasure in the Sight that has none of the inward Discontent than the Proprietor and Master that hath So true is that of the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.9 10. They that will be rich fall into Temptation and a Snare and pierce themselves through with divers Sorrows and Contentment with only Food and Raiment is a much greater Happiness To so very little in reality does arise the Second thing in which consists the Happiness of the World the Gratification of the Lust of the Eyes even to nothing but Dissatisfaction and Disquiet Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Come we now to examin the third Part of this World's Treasure the Pride of Life or Honour Power and Dominion And very fitly is this stil'd the Pride of Life it being the Aim of most men to be great to command and govern and to have much of Honour and Respect paid to them and in this they pride themselves more than in any other worldly Good that they possess But what is there in all this that a Man can justly value at so high a Rate Suppose a Man to be Monarch of the whole World to be without Controul from any one on Earth and to give Laws to every Man besides suppose many inferiour Princes tributary to him and that he is honoured like a mortal God suppose all this yet however glorious it may appear at a Distance we shall find upon a closer Inspection that this likewise is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit For as for even an universal Dominion unless the Subjects were as willing to obey as the Monarch is desirous to govern a Catholic Crown would sit as uneasie nay more so than that of lesser Princes The further a Man's Dominion extends the more Difficulties in Government will occur the more ambitious and discontented Spirits will there be to tame and keep in order the more secret Conspiracies and Underminings of Men aggriev'd and disoblig'd and that are as desirous of Government as he that sits in the Throne can be And which will often break out to shake and discompose if not to overturn the present Establishment And the more extensive a Princes Dominions are the more must there be employ'd in the Government of them and those Men of different Interests and Inclinations jealous of one another and envious at the Supreme and more ready to carve for themselves and advance their own Families than sincerely to endeavour the Prosperity of their Master This is found very true and the Occasion of much Trouble and Disquiet to Princes that have Affairs more in their own View than this universal Monarch can be supposed to have and therefore much more dangerously must he sit than they and receive much more Disquietude and Trouble if he takes Notice of the Motion of his great Orb and if he does not where is the Pleasure of governing So that the most ample Dominion is thickest set with Thorns and Briars while enjoyed and in continual Danger of a Ruin which must perplex him that is sensible of it with numberless Fears and Jealousies and anxious Thoughts how to secure his Throne And he that is careless and unsensible and leaves the Fatigues of Government to Others and spends his Days in nothing but Ease and Luxury is an Emperour in Title only and may soon for any thing he knows be not so much as that The one leads a Life of Vanity the other of Vexation of Spirit That 't is easier to obey than to govern is an usual and very true Saying and would be so were Thrones not near so slippery as they are and I am sure 't is very much happier for a Man never to have had such Height of Power and Dominion than ever to see himself thrown down and laid in the Dust The very Danger of so great a Fall is enough to fill ones Breast with great Disorder so great as that all the Gauderies of Grandeur shall lose their Taste and become insipid to him and actually to fall as many glorious Princes have already done is the greatest Misery that can be experienc'd upon earth The short is Empire and Dominion fancy it how great soever is at best very troublesome and disquieting and so uncertain as that it not seldom ends in the very Depth of Ruin And as for the Honour that goes along with it glorious Titles low Obeisance and the like all of this Nature is so perfectly empty and utterly ineffective of any thing that 's truly good and Profitable to a Man that 't is of all things the most despicable and of least Regard And though 't is fit Inferiours should pay it where 't is due yet unless an inward Veneration of the Mind attends that outward Respect of the Body a great Man is so far from being honoured by it that 't is the greatest Mockery and Abuse that can be And because no great Man can tell whether he is inwardly reverenced or no neither can force any Man so to honour him against his Will 't is a very great Weakness for him to set any great Value upon outward Respect which for ought he knows nay in all likelyhood may be an Affront rather than an Honour to him And this is what Honour Power and Dominion amount to Having thus given in an impartial Account and that confirmed by the Experience of Solomon who enjoy'd it all to the Full of the Sum Total of what this World can afford that can pretend to be of any Worth and Esteem by examining the Three Particulars in which is contained all that is valuable in it namely the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life Let us now weigh Religion against it and see which does preponderate which is the most weighty and substantial Good and consequently whether the Merchant in the Parable did wisely or no in selling all that he had that he might purchase this Pearl and be Master of this Treasure And we shall consider Religion in a twofold Respect with Relation to this World as well as the other And first as for the Value of Religion with Relation to this World what is of greater Esteem than Peace and Quietness Contentment and Satisfaction of Mind a Long and Healthy Life here
either wholly deprives the Soul of or turns it into Poison and instead of disarming a Misfortune by humble Submission to the infinitely wise and just and good Disposals of the great Governour of all things adds a thousand sharper things to it and makes that become intolerable which Religion would have made to sit light and easy Again Content is destroyed by Irreligion because it perswades Men that their whole Interest lies here below either by making them believe there is no such thing as another World or else by engaging them so fast to this as to hinder their attending to any thing beyond this Life And the Effect of this is great eagerness in acquiring these lower Goods impatient Desires of still more and more of the World as that in which is concentred their whole Happiness And what else can be the Consequence of this amidst the great uncertainties that attend these sublunary things but a World of Trouble and Discontent answerable to those numerous cross Accidents and Disappointments which every Condition is full of from the highest to the lowest Every unlucky Hit to such Men is like a Dagger stabbing to the very Heart for that which a Man looks upon as his chief Good he can by no means endure to have lessened and impaired And the World being so full of such vexatious Mishaps how full of Wounds must be the Spirit of an ungodly Worldling And as Content so Satisfaction of Mind which is much more than a submissive Acquiescence in our present Condition and supposes a Happiness that is compleat and full This is a Blessing which nothing but sincere Religion can ever make the Soul experience And he only that has learned to make God the chief Object of his Affections and Desires can indeed know what Satisfaction is For every thing besides God is unsatisfying because flitting and momentary and very imperfect and empty of that infinite Good which is the only adequate Object of that infinite Desire of Happiness which is in the Soul of Man This is the Reason that Men are so constantly disappointed in their Expectation of Happiness from the Enjoyment of this World 's Good let them continually have what they desire which yet is too much to be rationally supposed of any Man and enjoy it fully and without Controul yet still there will be something wanting to compleat their Happiness something that they desire still further and so the Soul is continually baulk'd of her Expectation and still at a Loss for Happiness and continual Longings and Desires and as continual Disappointments are her Portion in this World And what 's more uneasie and vexatious than such a Condition as this What more deplorable than even by Fruition it self to be made unhappy What other Refuge has the miserable Soul in this Case than to take off her Affections from these empty Nothings here below and as Religion directs fix them upon him who is the supreme Good and will abide the Test of an eternal Fruition In the Enjoyment of him must needs be infinite Satisfaction because there is no real Good that we can possibly desire but is in the divine Nature in the highest Degree of Excellency and Perfection and that not only for a Time but to all Eternity All the Capacities of the Soul must needs be fill'd with an infinite Good and intirely rest in it as in the very Center of Happiness Thirdly Religion is of very great Value with Respect to this World because 't is so greatly conducive to a long and healthy Life in it Long Life and Health is that which all People naturally covet and is indeed a very great Blessing and that not only because the longer Men live and the more vigorous they are the longer and more fully they enjoy or at least hope to enjoy the good things of this World which yet with too many is the main Consideration but likewise and chiefly because they have more Time and greater Opportunities to provide for the Happiness of the eternal Life to come and heap up still greater Treasures of Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven Now this great Blessing nothing is more likely to help a Man to than Religion For First it engages Men to live regularly and temperately moderates the Appetites of eating and drinking and curbs the exorbitant Desires of the flesh and by allowing no more than is necessary to the Comfortable Support of Nature makes no Provision for those many destructive Diseases which are always the Attendants of Excess How many of the meaner Sort by Labour and course Fare protract their Days than of the Rich who live in Ease and Luxury And the Reason is plain because the poor Man's scanty Fortune will not allow him to exceed but keeps him within the Bounds of Moderation and Temperance and forces him to be content with a little whereas the rich have many and great Temptations to Luxury and Excess and seldom are so religious as to resist them and so too frequently feel the sad Effects of Intemperance and live out but half their Days But now Religion is a kind of voluntary Poverty and helps Men to all the Blessings of a mean Condition though rich and out of Danger of the Sting of it and by introducing Temperance and Moderation into the Families of the wealthy brings with it Health and long Life which otherwise would seldom be found but in the Cottages of the Poor Again Religion is greatly conducive to a long and healthy Life because it regulates the Passions keeps the Soul quiet and in a Calm which has no little Influence upon the Health and Welfare of the Body That the Passions of the Mind do very much affect the Body is undeniable and when they are excessive nothing more shakes and discomposes the whole Man Even Joy which one would think should be innocent enough has sometimes been so violent as to overcharge Persons and leave them dead and Grief has been often fatal and Envy is the worst Sort of Consumption and leaves visible Tokens of it upon the Countenance and Love has had many Martyrs and Anger is a great Impoverisher of the Animal Spirits and oftentimes makes a Man his own Executioner and engages in such Scuffles and hot Inconsiderate Actions as not seldom end in Wounds and Death Every Excess of Passion of what kind soever is naturally a great Impairer of Health at least and the often Repetitions of it the ready Way to destroy it Nature not being able to bear such violent Concussions long without being much weaken'd and shatter'd by them Like the Walls of a Castle which how strong soever will receive Damage by every furious Battery and unless reliev'd must at length fall before the Cannons Irresistible Force But now Religion prevents all this Mischief and by regulating and reducing to Moderation these Passions of the Soul makes the Mind calm and quiet and keeps the Spirits in an Aequipoise and the Body consequently is undisturb'd feels no Violence nor
the World And which is the wisest Man he that ruins his Soul for the Gain of even the whole World or he that counts all these sublunary things as Dung in Comparison with Religion and is ready to part with all that this Earth can afford him for the Joys of a good Conscience here and the Glories of Heaven hereafter He that prefers the World in his Choice deprives himself of the greatest Comfort of this present Life and parts with the certain Reversion of eternal Happiness in Heaven for Pleasures that don't deserve that Name they are so empty and unsatisfying he brings most exquisite and everlasting Misery upon his whole self Soul and Body for a very short liv'd imperfect Gratification of his brutal Part only and purchases the Torments of the other World by making himself unhappy in this In a Word therefore as much as to be like God in Holiness and Happiness is to be preferr'd before being like the Devil in Sin and Misery as much as Satisfaction is better than Disappointment Peace and Quietness and Content than Vexation and continual Disturbance and Perplexity of Mind a confirm'd Health and long Life than the Diseases and hasty Death that follows Debauchery and the comfortable Expectation of being for ever happy with Saints and Angels and the blessed God in the Coelestial Paradise than the confounding Dread of the Judgment of the great Day As much as Immortality is more to be prized than a Life of a Span long and the Enjoyment of the chief Good than the Pleasures of a Swine of so much gerater Value is Religion than all that this World can afford and indeed the only desirable Treasure and a Pearl of inestimable Price And now if what has been hitherto discours'd be true the Application is easy If Religion be of all things the most precious let us make it more and more our Endeavour to inrich our Souls with this Treasure to adorn our rational Nature with this Pearl of great Price and with the Merchant in the Parable think nothing too much to part with that we may purchase that Heavenly Wisdom which will make us wise to Salvation For sound Wisdom as the wise King expresses it Prov. 3.18 is a Tree of Life to those that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her She shall give to thine Head an Oranment of Grace Prov. 4.9 and a Crown of Glory shall she deliver to thee But he that would have this Wisdom and find this Pearl must not only wish and desire but with the Merchant in the Parable diligently seek it seek and ye shall find says our Lord Pro. 2.4 5. and Solomon assures us That if we seek Wisdom as Silver and search for her as for hid Treasure then shall we understand the Fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God Religion is not acquired without Diligence for though it be the Gift of God yet the Soul must be prepared to receive it all evil Habits must be broke and rooted up and pious Dispositions planted in their Room and the Temper of the Mind changed by Repentance and all the Powers of the whole Man become pliable to the Motions of the Spirit of Holiness before the divine Likeness can be formed in the Soul And though 't is the Grace of God that enables us to go thus far for without it we can do nothing yet our own Concurrence and Co-operation with his Grace is necessary to bring the blessed Work of Regeneration to Perfection An obstinate Resistance of preventing Grace will grieve and quench that Life-giving Spirit and such a Soul shall know no more of Religion than that it was invited to it but rejected the Offer and might have been happy in the Enjoyment of so great a Treasure but it would not But when a Soul with Joy embraces the Motions of the holy Spirit to a new Life and makes it her great Endeavour to remove all Obstacles out of the Way that they may make a due Impression and hungers and thirsts after new Degrees of Righteousness This Soul shall be fill'd with the Treasures of the divine Grace and the Power of Godliness will be visible in all Manner of holy Conversation But this can't be perform'd without a watchful persevering Diligence there is so much Opposition from within and without to this great Business that like Nehemiah's Labourers Neh. 5.17 we must work with our Swords in our Hands and fight and strive that we may carry on the Building of a living Temple for our God and make our Souls Houses of Prayer adorn'd with religious Affections and sit to receive him that hates Iniquity He that is thus diligent shall grow rich towards God and daily increase in the Knowledge and Love of him 'till Mortality shall be swallow'd up of Life and then all the Labours of Religion shall for ever be at an End and nothing remain for the happy Soul to do but to enjoy to all Eternity the glorious Rewards of it Let us all therefore be stedfast unmoveable and always abound in this Work of the Lord for as much as we know our Labour shall not be in vain and to our diligent Pursuit of this inestimable Treasure of Religion let us add frequent and earnest Prayer to God who is the only Giver of every good and perfect Gift that he would send down Wisdom from his holy Heaven that being present she may labour with us that we may know what is pleasing in his Sight and set our selves to do it with all Alacrity running with Diligence and Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endur'd the Cross despising the Shame Heb. 12.1 2. and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God remembring that we also shall reap in due Season if we faint not And if we part with all the vile Affections for the Sake of Religion in this World and are ready in Preparation of Mind to suffer any worldly Loss even to that of Life it self for the Sake of Jesus and his Truth we shall find such a Recompence of Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven as will abundantly compensate all our Sufferings here for our light Affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Happy is the Exchange of all that this World can afford for a Jewel of so great Price as Religion and for such inexhaustible Treasures of Bliss as are reserved to Reward it in the Presence of God What is our greatest Interest therefore let us before all things persue and where our Treasure is there let our Hearts be also The PRAYER I. O Mercifull Jesu Who hast prepared for us a Treasure in Heaven and taught us the Way to attain it and warn'd us of the Emptiness of this World 's Good that we may not be
Christ and his Apostles and how sad the Consequence of it would be both in this World and the next And withall to declare God's Purpose of receiving the Gentiles into the Fold of Christ upon their despising and rejecting that inestimable Favour and moreover that whoever makes Profession of Christianity must live agreeably and be conformable to all its holy Laws or else their Condition will be more deplorable than ever This I think was the first Intention of this Parable But besides this it has another Aspect which is intirely Christian and is full of Reproof and Instruction to us that have already embrac'd the Discipline of Christ and is very aptly expressive of these Four things which I shall make the Subject of the following Discourse First It is lively expressive of the Nature of the Gospel or Christian Religion as representing it by the Marriage of a King's Son and the poor and the maim'd the halt and the blind being call'd in to partake of the Wedding Supper Secondly of God's great Care in having this Religion publish'd and made known to all Men and his repeated Invitations to all Men to embrace it represented by that King 's sending forth his Servants to call them that were bidden to the Wedding and again sending forth other Servants and commanding them to tell those that were bidden that he had prepar'd and made all things ready and therefore to urge them to come unto the Marriage Thirdly It very aptly expresses what kind of Reception this holy Religion and the Teachers of it are like to meet with in the World represented here by Men's making light of the Invitation to the Marriage of the King's Son and offering Excuses such as of having bought a Piece of Ground and a Yoke of Oxen and of having married a Wife and that these things would engage their Time and therefore they could not come And accordingly going their own Way one to his Farm and another to his Merchandise and the rest taking those Servants that came to invite them and intreating them spitefully and slaying them Fourthly It expresses how sad their Condition will be that either when they are invited to yet reject this holy Religion and abuse the Preachers of it or else though they do profess it yet live not agreeably to it The latter of which is represented by the King 's finding a Man at the Marriage Supper that had not on a Wedding Garment and saying unto him Friend how camest thou in hither not having on a Wedding Garment And the Man's being speechless upon it and the King 's commanding his Servants to bind him Hand and Foot and take him away and cast him into outer Darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth And the former is express'd by the King 's being wroth with those that stighted his Invitation and pronouncing them not worthy of it and resolving that they should not taste of his Supper and sending his Servants to invite others to the Wedding and commanding his Armies to go forth and destroy those Murderers that had spitefully entreated and slain his Servants and to burn up their City And then after all there is a general Observation drawn from hence namely That many are called but few are chosen Of each of these I shall discourse in their Order First this Parable does very lively express the Nature of the Gospel or Christian Religion represented here by the Marriage of a King's Son and the poor and the maim'd the halt and the blind being call'd in as Guests to partake of the Wedding Supper St. Paul in his Epistle to Titus Chap. 2. Vers 14 says that Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar or purchas'd People as 't is in the Original zealous of good Works and Ephes 1.14 Christians are called the purchas'd Possession In Allusion I suppose both to the Jewish Custom of the Man giving a Dowry to her whom he made his Wife thereby purchasing her to himself as his own Peculiar and likewise to a Custom of the Graecians who had an Officer on purpose to educate and form and refine Women design'd for Marriage and then to present them to those that were to be their Husbands Agreeable to which is that of St. Paul 2 Cor. 11.2 I have espous'd you to one Husband that I may present you as a pure and chast Virgin unto Christ And accordingly our Lord often compares himself to a Bridegroom and his Church to the Bride and his Disciples to the Children of the Bride-Chamber or the Friends and special Attendants of the Bride and Bridegroom And Ephes 5.35 Christ lov'd the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the washing of Water by the Word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without Blemish And then Vers 30. we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones according to what is said of Man and Wife Gen. 2.24 They two shall be one Flesh and Vers 32. This is a great Mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church The Gospel then or Christian Religion being likened to a Marriage made by God the glorious King of Heaven for his eternal Son and Christ the Promulger of this Gospel the first Teacher of this Religion being that Son of God and that divine Bridegroom and the Church or those that believe this Gospel and embrace this Religion being the Bride it informs us in general that the Nature of the Gospel or Christian Religion is like that of Marriage and makes the same Relation between Christ and Believers as Marriage does between a Man and his Wife and intitles to like Privileges and obliges to like Duties and is productive of like Effects First the Gospel or Christian Religion makes the same Relation between Christ and Believers as Marriage does between Man and Wife i. e. the nearest the dearest and likewise an inseparable Relation For that Marriage is the nearest Relation is evident from what is said Gen. 2.24 that a Man shall leave Father and Mother and cleave to his Wife 't is the dearest Relation because a Man's Wife is as himself Bone of his Bone and Flesh of his Flesh as Eve was of Adam and no Man ever yet hated his own Flesh as St. Paul has it but nourisheth and cherisheth it and Men ought to love their Wives as their own Bodies and he that loveth his Wife still loveth himself And 't is an inseparable Relation likewise for though God permitted Divorce to the Jews for the Hardness of their Hearts and Christ in some Cases and for the same Reason permits it to us Christians yet from the Beginning it was not so and those whom God had so nearly joyn'd together were not at first intended ever to be put a sunder but by Death In like manner the Gospel
Lamp and make the Way of the Just like a shining Light shining more and more unto the perfect Day and which when they fail spiritual Darkness will follow as in a Lamp gone out And if the Light that is in you be Darkness says our Lord how great is that Darkness But the Christian Vertues were very aptly represented by Oyl upon these further Accounts First Because Oyl was generally reckonen in the eastern Countries as a great Part of a Man's Riches and when they would express great Wealth they do it by magnifying the Plenty of Oyl Thus Job when he reflected in his Affliction upon his former opulent Condition the Rock or the stone Jar that was made use of to preserve Oyl in says he pour'd me out Rivers of Oyl Job 29.6 And the Prophet Micah when he represented the Impossibility of appeasing his offended God even by the most rich and costly Offering will the Lord be pleas'd says he with ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl Micah 6.7 and in Abundance of Places of Scripture the Increase of Oyl signifies the Increase of Riches And therefore to have a Soul plentifully stored with divine Graces and Vertues whereby we lay up a Treasure in Heaven and become rich towards God being the greatest and only true and durable Riches is very aptly represented by having Oyl in our Vessels and our Lamps Secondly Oyl was likewise among the Easterns a Symbol of the greatest Honours as is evident from the whole Story of the Bible where we read that at the solemn Consecration and Inauguration of Kings and Priests Oyl was always us'd and that among the Jews by the Appointment of God himself and is still in Use with us at the Coronation of our Kings And therefore very fit to represent those Christian Vertues which so highly enoble the Soul as to render it like to God holy as he is holy pure as he is pure perfect as he is perfect and whereby through the Merits of Christ we become Kings and Priests to God Rev. 1.6 and shall reign with him for ever Thirdly Oyl was an Emblem of Joy and Pleasure and much us'd therefore in Feasts and Entertainments as is evident not only from heathen Writers but from holy Scripture There we read of the Oyl of Joy and Gladness and our Lord in his Directions concerning fasting bids his Disciples not make a vain glorious Shew of it by an affected Sullenness and Down Look disfiguring their Faces as the Hypocrites did But thou when thou fastest says he anoint thy Head that thou appear not unto Men to fast i. e. make Semblance rather by this means as if thou wert going to a Feast And David when he recounts God's Goodness to him says amongst other things thou hast prepar'd a Table for me thou hast anointed my Head with Oyl and my Cup runneth over Psal 23.5 which signifies the Happiness of his Condition in general as well as his being advanc'd to the Throne of Israel Many other Places there are of this Nature but these are sufficient to shew how fitly those Christian Graces are express'd by Oyl which cause the greatest Joy and Satisfaction to a holy Soul and the Practice of which is full of Pleasure and unspeakable Delight Sincere Religion is the most chearing thing in the World and a good Conscience a continual Feast Indeed to rejoyce is only proper for a good Christian whose Mind is clear and undisturb'd and in constant Hope and Expectation of the Happiness of Heaven But he whose Mind is rack'd with a Sense of his deep Guilt and feels the Lashes of an enraged Conscience and is terrified with the unexpressible Fears of Damnation has little Reason to have Joy or Comfort in any thing Oyl therefore or the Emblem of Joy and Chearfulness is of nothing more aptly expressive than of the Graces of our holy Religion whose Ways alone are indeed Ways of Pleasantness and Joy By the Virgins all slumbering and sleeping while the Bridegroom tarry'd is signified the Inadvertency and Frailty of even the best of Men. Because this divine Bridegroom delayeth his Coming we are all of us too apt to lay aside the Thoughts of it to think but little upon Death and Judgment as things a great Way off and for which there will be Time enough to provide hereafter And for want of due Advertency to these rousing Subjects we are apt to grow heavy in our Religious Performances and suffer spiritual Drouziness to creep too much upon us This made holy David call upon God so often to quicken him in his Righteousness and St Paul to exhort his Corinthians to awake to Righteousness and thus to rouze the Ephesians awake thou that sleepest Eph. 5.14 And in this spiritual Slumber though the unavoidable Frailty of humane Nature will in Part be accepted as our Excuse by our merciful Saviour who knows and pities our Infirmities yet even the best of us indulge our selves too much and enter into the Number of the foolish Virgins and endanger the Extinction of our Lamp through the Decay of our Virtues and expose our selves to many Dangers and Temptations and frequent Falls For this Inadvertency to that great Truth that the End of all things is at hand is one great Reason why even the righteous fall seven times a Day whereas would we oftner set our Lord before us as coming to judge the quick and the dead and reflect that perhaps the next Hour our Soul may be required of us by him that gave it and so an End put for ever to our State of Probation and an irreversible Sentence soon after be pass'd upon us according to our Deservings we should not dare to be so often mov'd from our Duty but be careful and circumspect and always upon our Guard lest that Day surprize us unawares and while we drouze away our Opportunity our Lamps go out and the Bridegroom call before we are ready to enter with him into the Marriage Chamber and so the Door be shut It therefore highly concerns even the best of us not to sleep as do others but to watch and be sober having our Loins girded about and our Lights burning as our Lord expresses it and our selves like unto Men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the Wedding that when he cometh and knocketh we may open to him immediately Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find thus watching I verily I say unto you Luke 12.35 c. that he shall gird himself and make them sit down to Meat and after the Manner of Bridegrooms will come forth and serve them i. e. will impart to them the Joys and Felicities of his heavenly Kingdom And if he shall come in the second or third Watch that is in the Time most addicted to Vanity and Inadvertency as is Youth and Manhood Blessed in a more especial Manner are those Servants And what the Angel said to the Church of Sardis Rev. 3.2 is very
is the Devil the Harvest is the End of the World and the Reapers are the Angels As therefore the Tares are gather'd and burnt in the Fire so shall it be in the End of the World The Son of Man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them that do Iniquity and shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father From this Interpretation of this Parable it appears that the Design of it is to shew for the Encouragement of the sincerely good and Terrour of the Hypocritical that though there may be many wicked Professors of Christianity that are Christians only in Name and Out-side and who in this World may be confusedly intermix'd among the good and go undiscover'd of Men and unpunish'd of God nay thrive and prosper here more than the good and to all outward Appearance be the Favorites of Heaven whilst the sincerely good undergo many Afflictions and appear to Men to be under God's Displeasure Yet in the great Harvest that shall be at the End of the World there shall be a Distinction made between the one and the other the hypocritical shall be separated from the sincere and the former consign'd to ever lasting Burnings and the latter received into the Heavenly Regions the Place prepared for them from the Beginning of the World This is the Design of the Parable We shall now briefly consider how aptly expressive it is of this Sense and then discourse upon the several Parts of it The planting of the Gospel in the World in order to the converting Men to Christianity is compared to the sowing of Seed because as was said upon the former Parable the Gospel like Seed is that Principle of a future great Increase of Piety and Holiness in this World and of Glory and Happiness in the next 'T is that which if sincerely embrac'd and its Growth and Progress not hindred will spring up to Glory Honour and Immortality And 't is said to be like Seed sown or committed to the Furrows and then left to its own seminal Powers and the favourable Influences of Heaven because the Gospel being actually planted in the World is as to particular Persons left to make its Way by its own Power and Efficacy the Excellency of its Precepts and its transcendent Rewards and Punishments together with the constant Dews of the Divine Grace that attend it without any more extraordinary Means unless upon some extraordinary Occasion to make it take Root and fructify 'T is generally propos'd to all in its whole Latitude which is the sowing of it and then Men are left to their own free Choice whether they will embrace it with its Promises or turn their Backs upon it and run the Hazard of its Threats without any irresistible Force to the one or the other only the small still Voice of God's Spirit in Men's Hearts and Grace descending like the gentle Dew to soften and incline them to cherish this good Seed which is the leaving the Gospel to its own seminal Powers with only the benign Waterings of the Divine Grace and Blessing Our Lord is call'd the Sower of the good Seed because he is the Author and first Teacher of this holy Religion and its Validity to the great Purposes to which it is design'd depends upon the Merit of his bitter Death and Passion and the invigorating Vertue of his precious Blood For 't was upon his satisfying the Divine Justice by his Death that he receiv'd Authority to mark out to us this Way to Life and Reconciliation as the only Principle and Seed of Immortality The World is call'd the Field where this Seed is sown because this blessed Religion is catholick and universal not confined to any particular Place or People as the Jewish Religion was but whosoever of what Nation or People soever shall believe in Jesus and repent shall be saved And agreeably in another Parable which for its great Analogy to this I shall not particularly discourse of the Gospel or Kingdom of Christ is represented by a Net cast into the Sea Mat. 13.47 not any particular Lake or River And this World is stiled the Field because this is the only Place of receiving this Seed and bringing forth the genuine and expected Fruits of it and he that shall refuse to receive this divine Seed now while he continues here or not suffer it to grow and increase and bring forth Fruit shall never have the like Opportunity again but suffer for ever the Punishment threatned to obstinate Infidelity or barren Unfruitfulness This World is the only Field this Life the only Seed-time and at the End of it comes that one great Harvest which shall consign Men to an eternal Condition either happy or miserable according to their Barrenness or Fruitfulness during this Time and in this Place of Growth and Increase The Children of the Kingdom or those that are sincere Christians intirely devoted to the Service of their great Master and have receiv'd the good Seed of the Gospel into honest and good Hearts as 't is express'd in the preceeding Parable These are themselves likewise compared to good Seed because they have a substantial Piety the Power as well as the Form and Appearance of Godliness and bring forth the genuine Fruits of their holy Religion That divine Seed that was sown in their Hearts has produced not only the Blade in the Ear but the full Grain in the Ear the same Kind of Seed that was sown appears in their Lives and Conversations the Seed of the Spirit brings forth the Fruits of the Spirit and the Seed of Holiness produces real and substantial Holiness so that the Gospel is called good Seed as 't is the first Principle of Holiness and truly pious Men are likewise call'd good Seed as the genuine Product and Increase of that first Principle The Gospel is the good Seed sown and the sincerely religious are the good Seed as springing from it and being produc'd by it The Children of the wicked one or the hypocritical Professors of Christianity are compared to Tares or Gockle because they have only a Shew and Appearance of Religion as Tares and Cockle have of Corn but like them no Substance of good Corn none of the real Excellencies of Religion nothing but hurtful and vicious Qualities as Tares are said to have hurtful to themselves in the final Consequence as bringing them to so miserable an End and hurtful to others by their ill Neighbourhood and Converse as Tares to Wheat and likewise injurious to the holy Religion they profess as reflecting Dishonour upon it by their scandalous Conversation Upon all Accounts 't is infoelix Lolium as the Poet calls it unhappy Tares they are that bring Dishonour upon God and Destruction upon themselves and others The Devil is very fitly stiled the Enemy that
will unhallow and make ineffecutal one Duty of Christianity I can't see why it should not do the like to all the rest And if a Separation were admitted upon such Accounts as as these there would be no such thing as an external Communion of Saints because such is the State of the Gospel in this World that the bad will be intermix'd with the Good as Tares are in a Field of Wheat And as to the Practice of particular Ministers I charitably hope none do admit of notorious Offenders to the Communion without receiving satisfactory Marks of their Repentance or at least by previous Discourse or writing When they know of their Intention to communicate let 'em know the great Danger of receiving unworthily and urge them to an immediate sincere Repentance or else forbid 'em at their Peril to approach the holy Table And if after all this they will come we are to suppose in Charity that they have repented except we are sure to the contrary And if a Minister sees one at the Table whose Life has in many Instances to his Knowledg been very faulty unless the Crimes have been very great and very notorious to reject such an one I think with Submission would be arrogant and uncharitable and might exasperate the Man to so high a Degree as to make him throw off all Regard to Religion for the future and in such a Case the Exhortation appointed to be read at the Time of celebrating those Holy Mysteries should one would think be Warning sufficient for such an one if unrepentant to withdraw and if he stays Charity would incline one to believe that he was penitent And if a Person kneeling by who perhaps knows much more of the Man's Course of Life than the Minister shall be offended at his communicating one that receives so unworthily and speak hard things of him and abstain from that blessed Ordinance upon this Account for the future as prophan'd by such mix'd Company at it this is highly unreasonable uncharitable and unnatural 'T is unreasonable with Relation to their hard Thoughts and Censures of the Minister because Charity obliges him to think well of such as present themselves at the holy Table unless there be great and undeniable Evidence of their obstinate and continu'd Wickedness and in such a Case I dare say no pious Minister would prostitute those holy Symbols to such Swine And where there is not such Evidence Ministers can search Mens Hearts no more than other Men and therefore must hope the best and judge according to the outward Appearance and should they communicate some that receive unworthily by this Means as 't is to be fear'd they too often do why should they be blam'd for that which 't is impossible for 'em to help and aspers'd and all further Communion with them deserted for suffering that ignorantly which God though the Searcher of all Hearts permits in his Church without any open Discrimination namely the bad to join in all holy Offices with the good And this Practice is as uncharitable as 't is unreasonable because 't is judging and condemning those as Reprobates obstinate unrepenting Sinners whose Hearts we cannot see and who though formerly egregiously wicked yet now through the mighty Efficacy of God's converting Grace may for ought we know to the contrary be better than our selves And 't is an unnatural Practice too because 't is the depriving our selves of the Comforts that attend the Reception of that holy Sacrament and those of Vnion and brotherly Love meerly upon a groundless Nicety Let us all rather learn not to judge others before the Time but leave every Man to stand or fall by the unerring Judgment of our great Master at the last Day lest by judging others we condemn our selves who do the same things and it may be worse And instead of abstaining from the Sacrament because some come and are admitted to it whom we think and it may be not without Reason are not so well prepar'd as they should be endeavour to make our selves still more and more fit for so holy an Ordinance by a dayly Amendment of Life and then our Fleece like that of Gideon shall be moistned tho' other Men's be dry The Apostles were never the less dear to our Saviour for Judas his being amongst 'em but the more so rather and though through the Wickedness that was in his Heart Satan enter'd into him after he had receiv'd the Sop our Lord gave him at the Celebration of the Passover and in all Probability did partake of what he consecrated in Memory of his succeeding Death and Sufferings yet the rest receiv'd miraculous Assistances of the holy Ghost and were faithful to the Death and for certain have receiv'd the Crown of Life And I hope this will satissy for the future such as upon this Account have abstain'd from the blessed Sacrament and censur'd the Ministers of our Church and though without all Reason our Church it self And as what has been said upon this Matter has been no impertinent Digression so I hope it may be a beneficial one Let us now proceed to the second thing this Parable informs us of namely The Time when God's and our great Enemy the Devil sowes his Tares among the Wheat and that is while Men sleep For so the Parable while Men slept the Enemy came and sow'd Tares among the Wheat and went his Way Then is the Time of his injecting his wicked Insinuations into Men's Hearts whereby to make 'em become like empty Tares Christians in Name and Appearance only but devoid of the substantial Graces and Vertues of that holy Profession By Men's sleeping is here meant a careless Inadvertency and Neglect of the things of Religion a stupid Security in a thoughtless Way of Life And this is a Metaphor which the sacred Writers have often made use of to this Purpose and 't is so expressive of what they would represent by it that 't will be worth our while briefly to consider wherein the Likeness of such thoughtless Inadvertency in religious Matters to sleep does consist It is like it in the first Place in its Cause For as Toil and Labour and any thing that brings Weariness and consumes the Spirits disposes the Body to Sleep and makes it desire Rest and Ease that it may have a Recruit so this moral Drowsiness or Hebetude of the Soul generally begins to creep upon Men when they find difficulty in Religion a little striving soon puts 'em out of Heart their Hands fall their Knees grow feeble their Soul faints within 'em all Hope of Victory is then laid aside and they sit them down as Men quite spent and then steals that deep Sleep upon them which too often ends in Death Thus we often see Men set very briskly upon the Practice of Religion at First and seem wondrously pleas'd with their new Choice and admire at their Stupidity that they did not sooner discover the transcendent Beauties of Holiness and are resolv'd
to redeem their mis-spent Time and talk of nothing but Raptures and of reaching great Hights and Eminencies of Piety when all on the suddain they are at a Stand there 's a Lyon in the Way a right Hand must be cut off or a right Eye put out i. e. some Favourite Vice must be cashier'd if they move any further and that 's a hard Saying and the Men begin to cool a Stifness seizes their over-heated Limbs and a senseless Torpor invades every Part of 'em Mark 10.21 and like the young Man in the Gospel whom our Lord began to love for his discreet Answers and towardly Disposition when they must part with their Riches to the Poor and deny themselves their corrupt Desires and Inclinations and take up their Cross and follow their Saviour Then they become sad and with Grief and Dissatisfaction leave him and fold their Hands and return again to their Dream of Vanity Just like those in the former Parable compar'd to stony Ground who receiv'd the Word at first with Joy but having not sufficient Deepness of Earth i.e. for want of through Consideration and beholding the smooth Side of Religion only endure but for a while and in Time of Temptation and Difficulty fall away and their forward Piety becomes dry and wither'd Or like those mention'd in another Parable Luke 14.28 which was spoken upon this very Account and which for its great Affinity with this Part of the Parable we are now upon I shall not particularly discourse of who begin to build and sit not down first and count the Cost whether they be able to finish and so proceeding no further than Foundation become the Scorn of all Men. But Secondly as a State of careless Inadvertency to the things of Religion is like Sleep in its Cause and Beginning so likewise is it in its Progress and Effects For like Sleep it locks up all the Powers and Faculties of the Soul and suspends their Action it dulls its Apprehension and makes it take Evil for Good and Good for Evil it vitiates its Reasoning and makes it draw false and fantastick Consequences and Conclusions and therefore corrupts its Will and Affections and makes its Choices strangely foolish and ridiculous such as preferring Earth before Heaven a little Ease and imperfect Pleasure here before Rivers of ineffable Pleasures that are at God's right Hand for evermore and the like The lower Life is in this Case predomimant and wild Dreams and incoherent Fancies make up such Men's Divinity and their Rule of Life and Manners In short the Life of such Men is but a Dream their Notions like those of Men in a Slumber dark hovering and uncertain their Discourse about religious Marters broken disjointed unconcluding full of Fallacies and dangerous Sophistry to cheat themselves of all Expectation here and Enjoyment hereafter of what is their greatest nay their only Happiness Their Actions are like those done in a Dream too extravagant brutish and unaccountable startled at Chimaera's and the Shadows of Danger and insensible of the Approaches of real and substantial Misery though just ready to overtake them fond of a Bundle of Feathers in love with an aery Nothing whilst their true Interest is not in all their Thoughts And to compleat the Parallel they are as deaf to all Reproofs as Men asleep as little affected with good Instruction and Advice and so bewitch'd with the Fanci'd Sweetness of their Slumber that they are as loath to be awaken'd And when by rudeer Applications they are like Men that have taken too large a Dose of Opium they are presently o'ercome with Heaviness and shut their Eyes against all Conviction and fall asleep again And the final Event is this that as natural Drowsiness cloaths a Man with Raggs so the moral will cloath him with Shame and utter Confusion And now from this short Parallel which I have drawn between the Sleep of the Soul and the Body as we may see the Fitness of the Expression in the Parable so we may learn what Guard to keep upon our selves to prevent our infernal Enemies sowing his Tares or making us become as such by his wicked Insinuations and Suggestions 'T is while Men thus sleep are thus thoughtless and inadvertent to Religion and taken up with the Gaieties and Pleasures of this World which like pleasant Dreams entertain the Fancy and Imagination with much Delight but soon vanish and become utterly unprofitable then it is that this subtle Enemy makes use of his Opportunity and unobserv'd steals in his wicked Injections which divert the Soul still more and more from attending to her main Interest and promote this spiritual Slumber so long 'till too often it becomes chronical and habitual and an utter Oblivion of all religious Obligations an incurable Numness and Stupidity of Soul God knows too often follows and Men become like Tares empty of all substantial Goodness and at best but Christians in Name and Shew and fit for nothing but when God shall see fit to be gathered up from among the Wheat and burnt Wherefore it highly concerns all those that hope to be sav'd not to sleep as do others but to watch and be sober to awake to Righteousness and walk circumspectly not as Fools diverted by every Feather and gay Appearance but as Men that are wise to Salvation always in a Posture of Watchfulness and Defence Fixing our Attention upon our Duty and the exceeding great Reward of it and often reflecting upon that intolerable Misery which will certainly be the Consequence of such fatal Slumberings and still pressing on with greater Courage as the Difficulties of Religion increase upon us and daily endeavouring still more and more to shake off dead Stupidity to Religion which so easily besets us and to rouze up the Faculties and employ 'em upon those noblest of Objects patiently receiving Instruction and Reproof rejecting every Notion and Opinion that would destroy the Necessity of a good Life and studiously avoiding Idleness and Sloth and according to our Lord 's most excellent Advice adding Prayer to Watchfulness that we enter not into Temptation This Course if we take we shall defeat this generally prevailing Stratagem of the subtle Tempter and being always in a Readiness to resist him make him fly from us with Shame and Disappointment And our Souls will then grow more and more substantial in Piety and abound in it as the good Corn and at length being grown ripe for the Glories and Felicities of Heaven be gather'd in Peace and laid up in Repositories of eternal Rest and Safety as in the blessed Garner of our Lord. Thirdly this Parable informs us of the Time of Discovery of the Tares the hypocritical Religionists namely the Time of bringing forth Fruit When the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit or when the Grain appear'd in the Ear then appear'd the Tares also Then appear'd the Difference between the good Corn and the Cockle which at first coming up look'd as flourishing
and promis'd as fair as the good Corn but when the Time drew nigh that the Corn should appear and come to Ripeness and Perfection then there was a manifest Disparity and what appear'd so well at first was then found to be an empty noxious Weed And thus it is too often in Religion Many Men make a fair Shew and Semblance of Piety attend the Place of divine Worship with much seeming Seriousness and Devotion and to all outward Appearance listen to the Sermons of the Gospel and beg the divine Aid as that Dew of Heaven which alone can make 'em fruitful as earnestly as others do And this looks very well and is as far as Men or Angels can discern for the present as hopeful a Beginning as need be desir'd The really good Seed can send forth nothing more promising at first and hitherto the Tares grow undiscover'd among the Wheat by any Eye but that of God But after this first Blade has appear'd and that for some considerable Time after they have begun to make this Shew of Religion instead of advancing further and further to Perfection as the good Seed does and abounding in every good Work like the full Grain in the Ear these have nothing but a Blade and Stalk of Religion no Fruit appears there is no no real substantial Vertue attends this Shew of Piety but rather the Works of the Flesh are discernable in their Lives and Conversations And this is a plain Discovery to themselves and others that they are but formal not sincere Christians vile unhappy Tares but not good Seed for every Tree is known by its Fruits Wherefore let no Man flatter himself with vain Hopes from a formal customary Religion when there are no real Fruits of Righteousness but on the contrary much Wickedness and Folly and Vanity for unless his Religion makes him grow in Grace and Vertue and is seen in all his Conversation 't will be to no purpose to make an hypocritical Shew of it at Church and is no better than the most provoking Mockery of God and an unnatural starving of the Soul with such fantastick Food and will consign to the lowest Hell which is the Portion of Hypocrites And as a hypocritical Religion will have a very sad Consequence in the other World so it exposes Men to much Shame and Contempt in this For every Man that sees such great Shews of Religion such Pretences to Christian Vertue will naturally expect to find the Man all of a Piece and that to his Devotion and Shew of Godliness at Church be added Sobriety and Righteousness in his Conversation and Intercourse with Men. As when Men see the first Sproutings and Flourishing of a Field that was sown with good Grain they expect to find Increase of the same good Fruits But when after all this fair and florid Shew of Piety and Goodness there appears nothing but Tares and the Man is over run with wicked Habits and vile Affections little or no Sign of a real Sense of Religion upon his Mind but rather the hidden Works of Dishonesty in his Dealings Lying and Collusion instead of Sincerity and Truth Lewdness and Intemperance Pride and Malice instead of Purity both of Flesh and Spirit When such Vileness as this treads upon the Heels of a Mans Shew of Religion any Man may discern that he is a christian Pharisee like a whited Sepulchre beautiful without but within full of Rottenness and all Uncleanness that his Religion is confin'd to the Church whither he goes sometimes for Fashion's Sake to visit it but always leaves it there behind him and will not be troubl'd with its Company abroad Now such Hypocrisy as this is certainly one of the most hateful things in the World and instead of gaining Reputation to a Man is the ready Way to make him a common Scorn Men can't but discover the abominable Cheat and they can't but hate and detest it Tares will at length appear to be Tares and the sooner for being among the good Corn. 'T is therefore certainly the greatest Folly in the World to pretend to conceal under a fair Appearance what will in a very short Time discover it self and will bring a Man to nothing but Shame and Hatred in this World and the Flames of Hell in the next And it concerns every Man that desires to be happy either here or hereafter to lay aside all Guile and Hypocrisy in Religion and sincerely endeavour after the Power of Godliness as well as put on the Form and Appearance of it And thus much for the third Part of this Parable viz. when the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit then appear'd the Tares also The next thing it informs us of is the holy Angels Observation of the Actions of Men especially of Christians and their Diligence and Watchfulness in doing God Service and Zeal for his Glory For thus 't is said the Servants of the Housholder that is the Angels as 't is in the Interpretation came and said unto him Sir didst thou not sow good Seed in thy Field From whence then hath it Tares He said an Enemy hath done this They answer'd wilt thou then that we go and gather them up They observ'd by the loose Lives of some Professors that there were very ill Men that went under the Notion of Christians which they knew would reflect Dishonour upon Christ the great Planter of that holy Religion and would be injurious to the Progress of the Gospel and therefore they haste to tell him that they may have his further Commands and with Zeal for his Glory and Intentions of great Charity to us poor Mortals they offer their best Endeavours to rid the Church of those scandalous hypocritical Members That the blessed Angels are by God's Appointment Observers and that for excellent Purposes of the Lives and Actions of Mankind especially of Christians is evident not only from this Part of this Parable but from many other Places of Scripture as an attentive Reader of the holy Writings must often have observ'd Of which some few of the new Testament only that give most Light to this Matter I shall at present mention St. Paul in 1 Cor. 11.10 giving Directions for the more decent Service of God in the Church for this Reason says he according to the Custom of that Time ought Women to be veil'd or cover'd as the true Sense of the Place is in their publick religious Assemblies because of the Angels That is lest any thing indecent should be observ'd by those pure Spirits who are present as God's Spies upon the Actions of Men. The last Verse of the 1st Chapter to the Hebrews is likewise very plain to this Purpose where the Apostle speaking of the Angels Are they not all says he as assur'd of the Truth of what he said Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be Heirs of Salvation That is to take notice of their Behaviour in the World in order to
say to his angelical Reapers gather ye first together the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather the Wheat into my Barn And accordingly they shall gather out of his Kingdom all that have been a Scandal to it and under the Disguise of Christianity have done Iniquity and shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire where shall be wailing and gnashing of Teeth And then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father That is when the Close of the World shall come and the whole intelligent Creation be met together at the Summons of the Trump of God Men to receive their several Sentences whether of Absolution or Condemnation according to their several Deserts and Angels to execute these Sentences Then shall the sincerely good Christians indeed and in Truth be plac'd by the blessed Angels of God on the right Hand of the glorious and just Judg and after a Display of their excellent Piety and Charity to all the World hear this joyful Sound Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you from the Foundation of the World and then be immediately caught up into the Clouds to meet their dear Lord in the Air and from thenceforth be for ever with him and shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father having Crowns of eternal Glory plac'd upon their Heads and loud and rapturous Halleluja's in their Mouths Whilst those miserable Wretches that knew no more of Christianity than the Name in whom Religion was only Shew and Formality having no real Influence upon thir Lives and bringing forth no Fruits of Piety whilst these shall find to their Confusion that God is not to be mock'd and be plac'd on the left Hand as Vessels of Wrath and be doom'd to depart for ever from the Fountain of Happiness into eternal Burnings prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels Then will the good find by a happy Experience that there is indeed a Reward for the Righteous and that however they were laugh'd at and discourag'd here their Labour is not in vain in the Lord. And then will the Mock Hypocritical Christians be sadly assur'd notwithstanding all their Plea of having eaten and drank in the Presence of the Judge and at his Table and of his having taught in their Streets that without real and substantial Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. And instead of being receiv'd into their Master's Joy for cringing and fawning upon him and giving him magnificent Titles Lord Lord Jesus Saviour but heeding little his Commandments they shall be rejected with I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And then will God be justifyed in the Face of the whole World and found to be not an unconcern'd Spectator of the Affairs of Man-kind but a wise all-knowing and just Governour of the Universe And though Clouds and Darkness seem here to be round about him yet Righteousness and Judgment are the Establishment of his Throne Then will there be eternal Joy and Exultation of the blissful beatify'd Souls of the righteous and weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth in the wretched Companies of the Damn'd for ever Mal. 4.1 Behold the Day cometh saith the Prophet Malachi that shall burn like an Oven and all the proud and all they that do wickedly shall be as Stubble and the Day that cometh saith the Lord of Hosts shall burn them up that it shall leave them neither Root nor Branch Rev. 9.6 And in that Day shall Men seek Death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and Death shall flee from them And now for a Conclusion of the whole Matter Since from this Parable of our Lord's it appears that though an empty Shew of Religion may pass well enough in this World and meet with no open Discrimination or Punishment from God here yet there shall most certainly be an after Reckoning when all the Thoughts and Intentions of Men's Hearts shall be reveal'd and their vile Hypocrisy and secret Impiety laid open before Men and Angels and an irreversible Doom of greatest Severity pay'd upon them according to their Deservings Since this is true it nearly concerns us all to be Christians in Reality as well as in Name and Appearance to obey the Commands of Christ as well as call him Lord and to approve our selves true Disciples of this holy Institution by leading our Lives in all holy Conversation and Godliness diligently endeavouring to be found of this great Judg in Peace without Spot and blameless Remembring that God shall bring every Work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or evil and that the wicked shall go into everlasting Punishment but the righteous into Life eternal The PRAYER I. O Holy Saviour Jesus from whom are deriv'd all our Possibilities of Salvation the Means of Grace and the Hopes of Glory but who expectest our Concurrence with thy gracious Endeavours for our Hapiness and for the Tryal of our Sincerity permittest thine and our great Enemy to scatter his hellish Injections where thou sowest thy heavenly Doctrin I earnestly intreat thee so to assist me with thy Life-giving Spirit that my Faith and Obedience which thou hast made the Condition of my Happiness may be so vigorous and active as to manifest that I am thine not only in Word and in Shew but in Deed and in Truth Grant that I may ever esteem those inward Motions which I feel to a progressive Holiness to be what indeed they are thy gracious Endeavours to promote my eternal Welfare and may I always thankfully and chearfully embrace and follow them And whatever Thoughts and Inclinations tend to discourage sincere Religion and perswade to rest in the Formality of it for thy Mercies Sake help me to reject them with the greatest Abhorrence and Indignation as the Endeavours of Satan to involve me in his own Ruin And since 't is while we sleep that our great Adversary sowes these his Tares Give me Grace O blessed Jesus to awake to Righteousness and rouze from my thoughtless Inadvertency and shake off my Dreams of Vanity lest this spiritual Slumber at length prove fatal and betray me into eternal Death II. Thou hast assur'd us O Lord to whom the Father hath committed all Judgment that this Life is the only Time of our Probation O therefore grant that now in this our Day all we that name the Name of Christ may depart from Iniquity and embrace the things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes That by serious Consideration we may make Religion our Choice and adhere to it firmly with all our Powers and Faculties and be in Reality thy peculiar People zealous of good Works remembring thy blessed Words why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I command And that though here the wicked go unpunish'd it will not be always so and at last Hypocrisy shall meet with its Deserts And
and a comfortable expectation of a much better endless Life in the Regions of Glory And all this Religion is the only sure Way to attain What the World it self affords we have seen cannot make us happy in it its Riches and Pleasures and Honours and Power and Dominion are empty and unsatisfying and indeed the Parent of nothing but Vexation of Spirit And therefore I shall wave the Enquiry how far Religion is conducive to these things though it might be made apparent that this is the surest Way even to become rich to live Pleasantly and with Honour and Respect and as for Dominion to govern a Mans self which Religion only teaches is more than to govern the World Now as to Peace and Quietness which are Blessings of the first Magnitude and indeed give a Relish to every thing else for without them neither Riches nor Honour nor even Health and Life it self sits easie That Religion is the only sure Way to procure these great Blessings and that both in Private and in Publick Abroad with others and at Home in a Man 's own Breast will soon be evident As for Peace and Quietness in our Intercourse with others Religion does manifestly tend to procure that upon these two Accounts 1. Because it forbids the offering any Injuries 2 Because it forbids returning any Now that which embroils the World and is the Occasion of all Contention being the doing and Retaliating Harms and ill Turns and Religion so strictly commanding us to love our Neighbours as our selves to do to others nothing but what in like Circumstances we would be willing to receive from others and to forgive if any have done injuriously by us as we hope to be forgiven by God at the Day of Judgment 'T is plain that were our holy Religion sincerely embrac'd and had its due Influence upon the Minds of Men the World might in the Literal Sense of the Words beat their Swords into Plough-Shares and their Spears into Pruning-Hooks and need not learn War any more nothing would then hurt in God's holy Mountain And the World would be what God at first design'd it a Paradise of Happiness and Mankind a Family of Love And as for Peace and Quiet at Home in a Man 's own Breast and without which all other Peace would lose its Relish Religion is the only Way to attain that Blessing For as long as there is such a thing as Conscience which there will be as long as a Man is in any Possibility of Salvation it will do its Office freely and impartially and lash the Soul that sins as often as it sins and fill it full of Horror and Confusion and dreadful Apprehensions of the just Vengeance of God at the Day of Retribution There is no Peace saith my God to the wicked but their Souls are like the troubled Sea which cannot rest and whose Waters cast up Mire and Dirt. But a good Mans Breast is quiet and serene full of the Joys of Innocence and the Applauses of a Conscience void of Offence both towards God and Man And as Peace and Quietness so Contentment and Satisfaction of Mind is the natural Product of Religion and of that only Without Contentment of Mind no Condition how good soever in its self is pleasing and with it every Condition is For Happiness consists in the Proportion of the Object to the Desire and he that has the whole of what this World can afford if he desires still more and thinks his present Condition not good enough is by many Degrees less happy than he that must drudge for his living but yet is contented with his Lot Happiness consists not in Abundance he only is indeed a happy Man that is so wise as to enjoy his present Portion and knows how patiently to endure a worse Condition and dreads a base and wicked Action however gainful and advantagious it may be even worse than Death And he 'll for ever be a Slave that can't be satisfied with a little But the contented Man is always easy under his present Lot and if his Fortune will not rise to what he could desire he will bring his Desires down to his Fortune and so be sure of Happiness because by this means his Desires and his Fortune bear a due Proportion to one another And truly so various are the Turns of Fortune here so many unexpected Accidents that make great Changes for the worse in Mens Circumstances of Life and which 't is utterly out of their Power to have any Influence upon so as to amend that were there not this Remedy of making our Minds comply with the Event and taking out the Sting and Venom of it by Acquiescence and Contentment and Contraction of our Desires Man would be the most miserable Creature upon the Face of the Earth But he that has learned and can apply this Remedy whatever he may suffer from without has a Power still ready of turning it into Good and though he can't prevent the Accident yet he can prevent its doing him a Mischief Now this excellent Remedy for the Calamities of Life Religion best of all teaches us For in the first place it teaches us that God is the great Governour of the World and with the exactest Wisdom and Justice and Goodness disposes all things and consequently that all Events are as they should be and upon the whole Account ordered for the Best For there is no Possibility of amending what is done with infinite Wisdom and Justice and Goodness And secondly it teaches us that our Interest does least of all lie in this World where we are but Strangers and Foreigners and are to continue but for a little while and that our Treasure and Inheritance is in Heaven which is our native Country and to which e're long we shall be recall'd and our Glory and Happiness there be the more increas'd as we have more patiently and contentedly submitted to God's Pleasure here upon Earth And a hearty thorough Perswasion of these two things will certainly teach a Man to know with St. Paul How to abound and how to want and in every Condition to be content And for this Christianity gives the clearest Evidence even the Word of God himself who cannot lye as no Man can be to learn that has read the Scriptures But Irreligion on the contrary is the great Destroyer of Content and fills the Soul with continual Vexations and makes every cross Accident doubly evil by Impatience For first the ungodly have not God in all their Thoughts are wholly taken up with second Causes and look upon things as the Effect of Chance and Fortune and so when Crosses come upon them or ill Fortune as they call it they grow querulous and out of all Patience and as for divine Providence that 's wholly unregarded unless it be to revile it and impiously to call in question the Goodness and Justice of its Disposals And so that which in Affliction is the greatest Cordial of all Irreligion
is hurried on to dangerous and destructive Actions but Nature goes on evenly in making Provision for its Health and Support and it enjoys its Strength and Beauty as in the Times of Quietness and Peace In the last Place a comfortable Expectation of a much better and endless Life in the Regions of Glory can spring from nothing but sincere Religion and therefore Religion is of very great Value with Respect to this world For what can be of greater value and more to be desired in this Valley of Tears this World of Sin and Sorrow and Ignorance Vexation and Disappointment than to have a well grounded Hope that 't will not be always so with us That there will be a Time when all Tears shall be wip'd from our Eyes and Sin and Misery be at an End for ever That we shall one Day be disentangled from the Clog of Flesh the Prison Doors set open and our captiv'd Souls set free and with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory return to the great Father of Spirits and with the full Vigour of all their Faculties contemplate and enjoy the only satisfying Good That instead of Floods of Years there shall then be Rivers of Pleasures flowing in upon us to all Eternity Halleluia's instead of Groans and mournfull Accents the triumphant Rejoycings of eternal beatified Spirits instead of the bitter Complaints of miserable Mortals and in a word Love in its Perfection instead of Quarrels and Discontents Envy and Hatred and Malice and Revenge and all the dire Attendants of them That instead of spiritual Blindness and Ignorance of the most concerning Truths for here we know but in Part and see through a Glass darkly we shall e're long be admitted to contemplate Truth it self and know as we are known and shall see God as he is and in him all things For God is Light What can be more valuable than such a chearing Expectation as this How will it sweeten all the Troubles of this Mortal Life and be a sensible Foretaste of the Glory that shall hereafter be revealed But now nothing can create such a Hope as this but sincere Religion for God is infinitely pure and holy and into his Presence no unclean thing can enter And 't is expresly said in the Revelations of his Will That without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. A wicked Mans Breast that is not seared can be full of nothing but the dire Reflections of an enrag'd Conscience and dreadful forebodings of the Wrath to come The Miseries he feels in this World are but as the Beginnings of his eternal Sorrows and while he continues in his Rebellion against God he can expect nothing but new Expresses of his Indignation here and to be doom'd to the Portion of the Devil and his Angels at the Day of Judgment He only that has liv'd piously in this World can with any Comfort think upon a future State But to him that has led this First Life by the Rule of Religion and serv'd his Maker in Sincerity of Heart no Joy comparable to that which he experiences when he thinks of being dissolv'd and conducted to the Embraces of his Saviour in the Kingdom of Heaven where he shall be for ever with him and unspeakably happy in the Joy of his dear Lord. And thus much for the Value of Religion with Relation to this World It is the Parent of the most perfect Peace and Quietness Content and Satisfaction of Mind of a long and healthy Life here and of a comfortable Expectation of a glorious Immortality in the Regions of Blessedness And were this all that could be said of it I question not but to any considering Man it would appear to be a Jewel of inestimable Price that nothing the whole World can afford is comparable to it and that he is the wisest Man who with the Merchant in the Parable immediately parts with all that stands in Competition with Religion and would hinder him in the Performance of the Duties of it But this is far from all Godliness has not only a Promise of the Life that now is but also and chiefly of that which is to come And if it appears to be so inestimable a Treasure when we look no further than this Life what shall we think of it when we contemplate that exceeding Weight of Glory which shall be its Reward in Heaven The Happiness that will crown Religion in the other World springing from the same Fountain from whence do flow the Felicities of God himself i. e. it consisting in an intimate View and full Enjoyment of the Beauties and Perfections of the Divine Nature for so St. John 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall see God as he is It must needs be inexpressible Nay the very Contemplation of it is too bright for Minds darkned with Flesh the Splendors of it flash too strongly upon our feeble Sense now we are in the Body and too long and closely gaz'd on will rather dazle than enlighten our Understandings No Mortal Man can see God's Face and live and therefore most true is that of the Apostle Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard 1 Cor. 2.9 neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive the things that God hath reserv'd for those that love him Indeed this includes all that can possibly be imagin'd of Excellence and much more than we poor ignorant benighted Creatures can imagin For God is the Fountain of Being and consequently of Perfection All that is charming and truly desirable in Nature to our Senses or to our Understandings in the visible or invisible Creation is but a Stream from this divine Fountain and is in him ininfinitely greater Excellency For he is Beauty and Goodness and Harmony it self And therefore since Religion will bring us to such a Happiness as the Vision and Enjoyment of this chief Good what can compare with it for Value The Depth says 't is not in me and the Sea says 't is not with me Man knoweth not the Price thereof neither is it found in the Land of the Living It cannot be valued with the Gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx or the Saphire no mention shall be made of Coral or Pearls for the Price of Wisdom is above Rubies Job 28.13 c. Such then being the Excellency of Religion that it is above all things conducive to the Happiness of Man in this World and will bring him to the Enjoyment of God himself to eternal Ages when this short Life is ended and the whole that the World can afford amounting to no more by the Confession of one that enjoy'd it all to the Full than Emptiness and Disappointment Vanity and Vexation of Spirit here and if the Word of God be true an eternal Banishment from the supreme Good shall at last be their Punishment who love this worthless World more than Religion and their Maker These things being duly weighed and considered let any Man in his Wits say which is of greatest Value Religion or
or Christian Religion does 1. create the nearest Relation between Christ and Believers it makes us Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones and as was before quoted from St. Paul Ephes 5.30 i. e. it makes us as near to him as the Members are to the Head the Flesh and Bones to the Body or as our Church expresses it it makes us one with Christ and Christ with us 't is so near a Relation that nothing can sufficiently express it but what expresses an Union It creates likewise 2. the dearest Relation for thus our Lord John 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him and Vers 23. We will come unto him and make our Abode with him and Chap. 15.14 Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you And Rev. 3.20 Behold says our Lord I stand at the Door and knock if any Man hear my Voice and open the Door i. e. by Faith and Obedience I will come in unto him and sup with him and he with me he will shew the greatest Expressions of Dearness and Affection to him And as the Gospel makes the nearest and dearest Relation between Christ and Believers so that Relation is 3. inseparable i. e. unless we willfully divorce our selves from him by Apostacy or Disobedience Thus a little before his Ascension he tells his Apostles and in them all faithful Believers that observe whatsoever he hath commanded that he will be with them always even to the End of the World And because he was to ascend to his Father and their Father to his God and their God therefore says he I will not leave you comfortless but will pray to the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever John 14.16 and in the 2. and 3. Verses of that Chapter I go to prepare a Place for you and if I go and prepare a Place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also And John 10.27 28. My Sheep hear my Voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my Hand And St. Paul with great Assurance asks this Question Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ and after enumerating what in the Esteem of the World was most likely to do it he concludes Vers the last that nothing shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And he is likewise in a spiritual Manner always with us in the Reception of those Mysteries which he instituted in Remembrance of him The Gospel then effecting so near so dear and so inseparable a Relation between Christ and Believers that nothing can so fitly resemble it as the State of Marriage we may from hence collect in the next place what Privileges the Gospel intitles Believers to by reason of this their so intimate Relation to Christ As first it intitles to the peculiar Love and Tenderness of Christ such a Love as will incline him to promote the Happiness of Believers and to pity and compassionate their Infirmities Failures and Imperfections for Love covereth a Multitude of Faults Thus the Apostle Col. 3.19 Husbands love your Wives and be not bitter against them be not extreme to observe every little Defect and Failing in them but consider 'em as the weaker Vessel and bear with their Infirmities And accordingly the Author to the Hebrews says of our Lord he is not one that cannot be touch'd with a Sense of our Infirmities but knows and pities them having been in all Points tempted as we are though without Sin Heb. 4.15 And as for his Tenderness and Care of our Happiness 't is miraculously evident in that he gave himself for us sacrific'd his very Life for our reconciliation to his offended Father that he might sanctifie and cleanse us and present us to himself a glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that we should be holy and without Blemish as the Apostle expresses it in the before cited Eph. 5.26 c. And he does continually nourish and cherish us by the Communications of his Grace in the blessed Sacrament that spiritual Body of his which whoso eateth of shall live for ever and by the Comforts and Assistances of his holy Spirit And to lye thus in the Bosome of the Son of God to have such great Degrees of his Love and Tenderness to us express'd in such amazing Instances to be thus pitied and commiserated and our Failures excus'd and past by by him that is to be our Judge and our Happiness in all Respects so carefully endeavoured by him who is the Fountain of it This is such a Privilege as can never be enough valu'd and is infinitely above the Reach of any Comparison Another Privilege the Gospel intitles Believers to upon their so near Relation to Christ is Christ's Protection of them from Dangers and Defence against Assaults of Enemies For as in Marriage the Husband is the Shield and Guardian of his Wife so Christ is the Protector and Defender of the faithful he covers them from the Rage and Malice of unreasonable Men and arms them against the Attacks of the Spirits of Darkness by the Supplies and Aids of his blessed Spirit who helps our Infirmities and strengthens us mightily in the inner Man so that the Gates of Hell all the infernal Powers shall not be able to prevail against us And accordingly says St. Paul I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me Phil. 4.13 Rom. 8.37 In all these things Tribulation Distress Persecution Famine Nakedness Perilor Sword in all these things we are more than Conquerers By what means Why through Christ that loveth us And our Lord says expresly in the forecited John 10.27 my Sheep that hear my Voice shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my Hand And if the Almighty Son of God be for us and takes us into his own Protection and shields and guards us as a Husband does the Wise of his Bosome who then can be against us We shall be hid under his Wings and safe under his Feathers his Faithfulness and Truth shall be our Shield and Buckler And to dwell thus under the Defence of the most High and abide under the Shadow of the Allmighty is no doubt an inestimable Privilege Again as the Husband confers Honour upon his Wife intitles her to have a Share in that Honour that is due to him so Believers by their intimate Union with Christ are advanc'd to the highest Step of Honour that Mortals can arrive at For what more honourable than to be in so near a Relation to the most glorious Son of God! Accordingly the
passively obedient but likewise actively so and ready chearfully to obey his Commands so ought every Believer to be to Christ Indeed this is the main Tryal of true conjugal Affection and is the best Demonstration of the Sincerity of all other Shews of Love and Fidelity and Reverence and Submission For where true Love Reverence and Submission is a chearful Obedience will surely follow and on the contrary where there is no willing chearful Obedience there is but very little if any sincere Affection And therefore says our dear Lord if ye love me keep my Commandments And why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say And of Sarah 't is said she obey'd Abraham as well as call'd him Lord. And St. John agreeably 1 John 2.5 whoso keepeth his Word in him verily is the Love of God perfected and hereby know we that we are in him And therefore Obedience to the Commands of this our glorious Husband is above all things necessary to continue that our near Relation to him and his Commandments are not grievous but his Yoke is easie and his Burthen light And 't would be strange if we should not obey him who commands us nothing but what is in its own Nature necessary in order to our Happiness in both Worlds In the last place the Gospel is productive of like Effects to those of Marriage and from this so near Relation of Believers to Christ proceeds the Increase of such as shall be the Children of God a numerous Progeny to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and fill up the Vacancies left by the Fall of the rebellious Angels Thus our Lord calls the becoming Christian 's a being born again John 3.3 and teaches us when we pray to God to say Our Father And St. Paul agreeably in a Quotation from the Prophet Jeremiah says as in the Person of God I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Allmighty 2 Cor. 6.18 And the Jerusalem which is from above or the Christian Church is said to be the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 and Chap. 3.26 we are all the Children of God by Christ Jesus And if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joynt Heirs with Christ of that glorious Kingdom of his which is not of this World but eternal in the Heavens Well therefore may we cry out with Admiration as St. John does 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestow'd upon us that we should be call'd the Sons of God! And every Man that hath this Hope in him of being receiv'd into the Bosom of his heavenly Father and seeing him as he is must purifie himself even as he is pure And having such glorious Expectations cleanse himself from all Filthyness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holyness in the Fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 This then is the Nature of the Gospel 't is as a Marriage between Christ and Believers There is one thing more to be consider'd under this first General namely who they are that are admitted to the Joys and Happiness of this blessed Condition They are describ'd in the Parable by the poor and the maim'd the halt and the blind And truly just such was Man's Condition before God was pleased to call him to this happy Marriage Despicably poor we were and destitute of any real Excellency that could recommend us to the Favour of God our Souls were like a parch'd and barren Wilderness burnt up with vile Lusts and Passions no Fruits of Holiness appearing but drawing still nearer and nearer to everlasting Perdition Maim'd we were in all our Faculties by our frequent desperate Falls from our Obedience to God and full of Wounds and Bruises and putrifying Sores and our best Performances very lame and imperfect like the Haltings of a Cripple and our Understandings withall blinded by the Deceitfulness of Sin which put out that Candle of the Lord and made it uncapable of directing us in the right Way that leads to Happiness so that we lay groping in the Dark surrounded with Terrors rack'd by Uncertainties miserably poor and indigent and utterly unable to help our selves When lo There arose up a Light in this Darkness and through the infinite Mercy of our God the Day-spring from on high did visit us we were pitied and commiserated by the Father of Mercies and in this forlorn Condition call'd to partake of the ineffable Joys and Felicities that attend the nearest and dearest Relation to the Son of God The Lord anointed him to preach the Gospel to the poor he sent him to heal the broken-hearted to preach Deliverance to the captives and Recovery of Sight to the blind and to set at Liberty them that are bruised Luke 4.18 And accordingly he inrich'd our Poverty restor'd our Sight heal'd our Bruises and confirm'd our Strength and of his Fulness have we all receiv'd and nothing for the Future can ever make us miserable but our selves Wherefore as we should adore and magnifie with all our Souls the wondrous Goodness and Compassion of God and our Saviour in receiving such wretched polluted Creatures as we were by Nature into so intimate a Relation to himself and making us Partakers of the Comforts of his blessed Spirit in this World and providing Crowns of Glory for us in the next So above all things should we dread to fall back into the same Condition again and work out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling For otherwise 't would have been better for us never to have tasted of the divine Compassion in so extraordinary a Manner as we have done and our latter End will be worse than our Beginning And thus much for the first thing to be consider'd in this Parable namely the Nature of the Gospel or Christian Religion represented by the Marriage of a King's Son and the poor and the maim'd the halt and the blind being call'd in to partake of the Joys and Festivities of that great Solemnity I proceed now to the Second thing to be consider'd namely God's great Care in having this Gospel preach'd this Religion publish'd and made known to all Men and his repeated Invitations to all Men to embrace it represented by that King 's sending forth his Servants to call those that were bidden to the Wedding and again sending other Servants and commanding them to tell those that were bidden that he had prepar'd and made all things ready and therefore to urge them to come unto the Marriage How great God's Care has been that this Gospel should be publish'd and how repeated his Invitations to Men have been that they would embrace it is evident from the whole Story of the first planting of the Gospel and from the Course that by God's Appointment has been taken ever since At first many were endow'd with very extraordinary Abilities for this Purpose such as the Gift of Tongues whereby they were enabled wherever they should go to preach the Gospel to Men
together and they both amount to thus much that they preferr'd the minding their own petty Affairs and which might have been as well let alone till another Time before that great Honour the King did them in inviting them to the Marriage of his Son And they might well believe such Excuses would serve to no other Purpose but to provoke the King to Anger when he should see his Favour made thus light of and Men's common Business preferr'd before it In like manner too many now-adays are so weak as to plead Business and the Affairs of the World in excuse of their great Neglect of the things of Religion Our Callings must be follow'd Business must be done our Families must be maintain'd and therefore it cannot be expected that we can be much at Leisure for Religion at the present when the Fatigues of this World begin to be over and we draw near the other then we 'll give our selves up to the making Provision for it And this though few Men will speak it out is the Sense of too many as is evident from their Practice and truly some make no Scruple to declare this openly Now though it be very true that Business must be minded and our Families maintain'd and Industry is as much a Christian Duty as any other and is it self a Part of Piety yet it is but a Part and will not commute for a Neglect of all the rest nay this Sort of Industry we are speaking of is one of the least Parts of Piety and provided the Necessaries of Life are secur'd 't is not only lawful but very commendable to abate of our Industry in the Persuit of this World 's Good and lay it out upon the greater Concerns of the next Thus when Jesus came to the House of Martha and Mary and Martha out of a commendable Zeal to entertain him well was busied in making ready Provisions for him while Mary set at his Feet listning to his divine Instructions when Martha complain'd to him that her Sister had left all the Trouble to her and desir'd him to order that she should help her Jesus answer'd and said unto her Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things but one thing is above all needful and Mary hath chosen that good Part which shall not be taken from her Luk. 10.40 c. And accordingly in his divine Sermon on the Mount Mat. 6.24 25. ye cannot serve God and Mammon says our Lord therefore take no Thought i.e. no anxious over eager Concern for your Life what ye shall eat or drink or wherewith be cloathed but Vers 33. seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness let it be your principle Care and Endeavour to be rich towards God and abound in good Works and then a moderate Care for the things of this Life will with God's Blessing which alone can give Prosperity be sufficient And therefore to do as is too commonly done in the World and first provide with great Care and Industry for Abundance here and then at last think a little of the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness is such an ungodly and unreasonable Course as can never end in any thing but bitter Remorse at last and utter Confusion so vain and frivolous is this first Excuse Men offer for their not entertaining Religion so affectionately as they should do namely that they have bought Farms and Oxen and must look after them i. e. are deeply engag'd in the Affairs and Business of this Life The other Excuse offer'd in the Parable for absenting from the Marriage of the King's Son was the having married a Wife the Man was so taken up with the Pleasures of his own new Condition that he had no Appetite for those at the King's Son's Wedding And this as little of Validity as it has in it is in Effect very often pleaded by Men against their medling with Religion at least at present They are young they say and in the Age of Pleasure and Jollity the Enjoyments of the World are very sweet to 'em and Religion is too austere for them as yet what Pleasures are said to be in it are of a Nature contrary to their Propensions and Inclinations and therefore they desire to be excus'd if they don't leave these present Satisfactions but enjoy them while they can and afterwards 't is likely they may advert to the Pleasures of Religion which though they have heard so much Talk of they can't frame any so lovely Idea of them as to incline them to leave what by Experience they find so grateful to them And this not only the Practice of most younger Persons expresses but many are so forsaken of Reason as to own it plainly But since they talk of Experience I dare appeal even to themselves whether they have not met with more Disappointment than Satisfaction from the greatest sensual Pleasures they have enjoy'd The thing is too notorious to be deny'd and they tacitly confess it by shifting Pleasures so often as they do for where there is Satisfaction what need of Change And I may likewise boldly assert this from the Experience of very many that have tasted both Sorts of Pleasures those of the World as well as of Religion that there is no Comparison between the one and the other and that the Satisfaction that flowes from a sincere Religion is infinitely to be preferr'd before the most studied Gratifications of Sense nay even those Pleasures of Sense relish much better for being season'd with Religion So that to neglect Religion out of a Fondness for Pleasure is as if a Man should run from a Fountain because he is parch'd with Thirst No Pleasures certainly like those of Religion and he that once drinks of those Rivers of Delight that flow from her will never thirst again after the tainted Puddles of brutal Enjoyments for her Ways only are Ways of sincere and unmix'd Pleasure and all her Paths are Peace But supposing the Pleasures of this World to be indeed as great as some Men after all their Baulks and Disappointments will still fancy them to be and that Religion is an austere and rugged thing and but little or no Delight and Satisfaction to be met with in the Practice of it yet since the Pleasures of the World how great soever are very short and momentary and must certainly die with us and generally leave us long before we die and since Religion how unpleasant soever here will secure to us the Enjoyment of unconceivable Pleasures that are for ever in the Presence of God No rational Man but will think it a very childish Excuse for the Neglect of Religion to plead our Fondness of the Gaieties and Enjoyments of this World 'T is like a Child's slighting a Wedge of Gold and rather persuing an empty
what Instruction he hath met with in the School of Righteousness what plenty of Religious Discourses and Exhortations he has enjoy'd and how frequently he has felt Motions from within to a still more and more holy and exemplary Life He that hath experienc'd all this in a great degree that hath had his pregnant natural Capacity well cultivated by an early and excellent Instruction and had the whole of Religion plainly laid before him in all the Doctrines Duties Rewards and Punishments of it and been often and affectionately exhorted to live accordingly in all holy Conversation and Godliness and has frequently felt secret internal Motions and Perswasions to it this Man has received much more than One Talent at the hands of God and God will expect from him a proportionable Improvement and he must abound in every good Word and Work For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much requir'd and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more But because all Men are not of equal Abilities naturally neither have the same Opportunities of Instruction and Improvement nor the same immediate Impulses of the Blessed Spirit where there is any defect in these Respects God will abate proportionably in his Expectations and he that received the One Talent had he gained but One other with it would have been call'd a good and faithful Servant and been receiv'd into the Joy of his Lord. Let us all therefore endeavour to grow in Grace according to the measure of this unspeakable Gift to perform our Duties each in his Station and according to his Ability faithfully and industriously that when our Lord comes to make Enquiry into each ones Improvement of his Talent and call for every ones particular Account we may all from the least to the greatest chearfully give it up and receive the immense Reward of a sincere Diligence For In the third Place There will most certainly be a Time when our Great Lord will come to take Account of every Man's Improvement of the Grace that was given him and reward every Man according to his Deserving That there will certainly be a Day of Judgment both of Quick and Dead when every Man shall be rewarded according to that he hath done in the Body whether it be good or evil is a Truth so evident from Scripture that those who have read and do believe those Writings can make no doubt of it And the Proof of this from Reason has been so convincingly manag'd by several Learned Pens particularly of late by Dr. Sherlock in his Excellent Discourse upon Judgment that I think nothing can be added to it I shall only therefore Collect such a Description of that Great Day and the Proceedings in it out of the Revelations where it is the most movingly represented as may incline us all with the greatest Diligence and immediately by self-Examination and Amendment of every evil Way to prepare for that great Audit that we may give up our Accounts with joy and not with grief In the 20th Chapter of the Revelations ver 12. after the divine Apostle had given a Description of the Appearing of the great Judge upon his Throne I saw a great White Throne says he and him that sat on it from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them He proceeds I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened And another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the dead were judged out of those Things that were written in the Books according to their Works and the Sea gave up the dead that were in it and Death and the Grave deliver'd up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their Works And whosoever was not written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire That is The Records shall then be laid open wherein every Man's Receipt of Grace is enter'd and those whose Works shall be found proportionably good according to the Assistance they have receiv'd from Above or in the Stile of the Parable that have made an answerable Improvement to the Number of Talents committed to them their Names shall be written in the Book of Life and they received into the eternal Joy of their Lord. But those who can then give no good Account of their Talents shew no suitable Improvement in Holiness according to the measure of Grace they have received shall never see Life but be cast into the Lake of Fire which is the second Death And because so very few will be so wise as to make due Preparation for this great Day of Account by improving the Grace God has given them to the great Ends for which it was design'd therefore as 't is describ'd Rev. 3.15 The Kings of the Earth and the great Men and the rich Men and the chief Captains and the mighty Men and every Bond-man and every Freeman many of all Qualities and Conditions from the highest to the lowest shall hide themselves in Dens in Rocks and Mountains and say to the Rocks and Mountains fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb for the great Day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand May these Terrors of the Lord perswade us to provide in this our day for the Things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our eyes looking for by frequent Meditation and hastning unto by a diligent Improvement of our Talents the coming of this dreadful day of God and being above all things careful That we be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless for God will bring every secret Thing into Judgment whether it be good or evil and exactly adapt every Man's Recompense to his Work Which brings me to the next Thing I am to consider in this Parable namely Fourthly That at that great Day of Account when every Man's Work is fully known and his Improvement compar'd with what he has receiv'd the Diligent shall not only in general be receiv'd into the Joy of their Lord and the unprofitable cast into outer Darkness but the most Diligent those that have made the greatest Improvement shall receive the greatest share of Happiness And those that have been most careless and Unprofitable shall be doom'd to the greatest misery That is in short there will be degrees of Happiness or Misery respectively awarded to Men according to the degrees of their Holiness or Impiety I know this has been much question'd by some and wholly deny'd by others and their main Reason against it I conceive to be this That since the Happiness of the Just in Heaven consists in the Vision of God or the Excellencies and Beauties of the Divine Nature which will fill a holy Soul with eternal and inexpressible Delight for so St. John expresses the Bliss of Heaven by seeing God as
Affections and cannot afford to take any pains to be Religious are frequently heard to say They serve God as well as they can and they can do no more and that such a Religion as we urge Men to is much too hard for Flesh and Blood 'T is a Law fitter for Angels than Men and tho they wish they could observe and do it and can't but consent to the Excellency of it in the Inner Man yet they find a Law in their Members warring against the Law of their Minds and bringing them into Captivity to the Law of Sin and so the good that they would they do not and the evil that they would not that they do And they take up with this as a sufficient Excuse and because God is infinitely merciful and good they think he will accept the Plea of the great Hardship of his Commands and their Inability to perform them instead of Obedience to them But as the Lord in the Parable said to his slothful Unprofitable Servant Out of their own Mouths will I judge those wretched Persons that thus mock and abuse God and deceive their own Souls into Ruin For if God be infinitely good and merciful then certainly he will not expect any Thing from Men beyond their Ability nor command their Service and Obedience any farther than they are able to pay it And consequently what this merciful and good God commands by All Men to be done without any Exception or Dispensation and threatens Eternal Misery to such as shall dare wilfully to disobey him this Every Man no question is able to perform through the Divine Grace and Assistance which as I have before prov'd is in sufficient measure given to every Man And to deny this is in effect to charge God with the greatest Cruelty Oppression and Injustice that is possible For what less is the giving Men such Commands as they are not able to perform and withal threatning and actually inflicting unconceivable Torments for such are those of Hell upon all that shall be found disobedient to the impracticable Law This would be indeed to require Brick without Straw as the Egyptian Task-masters did and then to lay on Stripes for a Failure in the Work nay 't would be infinitely worse because the Punishment for Irreligion and not improving our Talents is infinitely greater and shall be inflicted to all Eternity Since therefore God knows whereof we are made and remembers that we are but Dust and can tell how difficult his Commands will be to us and how proportionable our Ability is to keep and do them better than we our selves for 't is he that hath made us and gave us our natural Powers and Faculties and the Superadditions of Grace and Aid from Above since he is infinitely good and will not overload his Creatures nor exact impossible Tasks or such as are extremely difficult and but one degree below impossible since he is likewise infinitely just and will not damn Myriads of poor Wretches to all Eternity for not making an impossible Improvement of their Talents and expects only that they should give a reasonable Account according to what they have received from him From all this it will follow Not that therefore a Man shall be excus'd for pleading Inability but that every Man is Able through the never deficient Grace of that good God to such as heedfully attend to it to keep his holy just and good Commands and make Improvement suitable to the Talents he hath receiv'd and if for all this he perish his Blood will be upon his own Head Wherefore let no Man for the future be so Impious as to charge God with expecting impossible Services from his Creatures or think to palliate his Irreligion by crying out of the extreme Hardship of living like a Christian but let every Man set heartily and sincerely about his Duty and he will find that God's Grace will be sufficient for him to his daily Improvement and that the Ways of Religion are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace I come now to the last Thing to be consider'd in this Parable which is That the Condition of the diligent Improvers of their Talents will be unspeakably happy but the Condition of the Unprofitable beyond Expression miserable and that both in this World and in the next First The Condition of the diligent Improvers of their Talent will be unspeakably happy both in this World and that above In this World a quiet and serene Conscience will be to them a continual Feast the Sense of having perform'd their Duty according to their Ability of having been good Stewards of the Grace of God bestow'd upon them and that they can give a sincere Account though not a perfect one to their great Master when he shall come to look into their Behaviour in their Stewardship this will fill their Breasts with unspeakable Satisfaction their Soul will be calm and their Thoughts at Rest in Conscience of their Fidelity their Life not imbitter'd with anxious Fear and Dread of a sad After Reckoning but like that of a faithful Servant who is in his Master's Favour steady and easie and moving cheerfully in the Circle of his Duty and in joyful Expectation of the Reward of his Diligence when his great Lord shall advance him from the State of a Servant to that of a Friend and Bosom Favourite nay of a Coheir with himself of the Joys and Felicities of the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven And besides this Serenity and Satisfaction of Mind and comfortable Prospect of so glorious a Recompense of Reward which are Blessings of the first Magnitude and to which nothing in this World is comparable the improving Christian shall have more Talents given him more Grace shower'd down upon his Soul what the Slothful have forfeited shall be conferr'd upon him and he shall abound still more and more in every good Word and Work And what Condition can approach nearer to the state of Heavenly Glory than that of a holy Soul thus plentifully stor'd with the divine Grace And if Grace and Glory differ only in degree and the One be but the Completion and Perfection of the other a Soul so filled with Grace as the improving Soul will be must needs live a Heaven upon Earth and have frequent Antepasts of Glory And in that other World when the Glory shall be reveal'd that is prepared for them that love and serve our Lord Jesus in Sincerity then will their Happiness be as ineffable as endless It is express'd in this Parable by entring into the Joy of our Lord that is partaking of his Glories and Felicities in the Presence of the Immortal God They shall be conducted after having given a good Account of their Stewardship by the Blessed Angels into the Presence of the great King of Heaven where they shall see him face to face and with wondring Eyes and enravish'd Hearts behold his Glory gaze upon his Splendors and nearly view his Beauty who is the Fountain of
Riches or Abundance of Gold and Silver in which now-a-days we esteem Riches chiefly to consist they are really no better than Heaps of Earth of different Colours impress'd with different Stamps and made of different Sizes and to which Men have given a different Value and Esteem according to their different Colour Size and Impression and which in themselves are good for little but to be look'd on and which he that would live must part with when he has them in Exchange for other Things that are necessary for his Subsistence Now what can be more vile and base than for so Noble and Excellent a Creature as Man so far to degrade himself as to employ his greatest Love and Admiration and Desire upon a Piece of Earth which was originally made for him to tread upon and produce Things for his Food and Pleasure To make that his Master nay his God which was made to be his Servant For a Rational Soul to doat upon a sensless Clod to neglect the Contemplation of the Excellencies of his infinitely perfect Maker and admire one of the lowest of his Creatures to desire a Piece of Earth with the greatest Application and have no Value for the Immortal Glories of Heaven to place his Happiness in what is so very much inferiour to him and upon that which is indeed his Happiness to bestow no Thoughts what can be more vile and abject than this what more unbecoming the Dignity of the Rational Nature and of a Creature that has such glorious Hopes Where is the Reason of a Man that lays out all his Endeavours to acquire a Trifle and in the mean time disregards that which is his chief good and where is the Religion of a Christian that has been redeem'd not by Corruptible Things such as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot where is his Religion that notwithstanding this makes Silver and Gold the chief Object of his Affections and treads under foot the Son of God and counts the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy or common Thing and does despight to the Spirit of Grace and loves and admires Mammon more than his Saviour What more vile and brutish than this what more stupidly ungrateful This is to come down to a Level with the Beasts that perish nay 't is to sink much lower for They act according to their Natural Instincts and choose as they are directed by their Great Creator and serve him obediently in that Rank of Being in which he has plac'd them But that Man much more that Christian that makes perishing Riches the main Object of his Desires and Endeavours acts directly contrary to the Reason that God has given him degenerates many degrees below the Dignity of his Nature disobeys the Orders of his Creator slights the Heavenly Counsel of his Saviour despises the Glories and Felicities of the Kingdom of Heaven and of a Man and a Christian makes himself a vile Muckworm delighted in nothing Noble and Excellent but groveling upon the Earth as if that were the Centre of his Happiness And what can more vilifie and degrade a Reasonable Soul made after the Image of God than such base Affections as these 'T is certainly a most vile Degeneracy and renders a Man the most contemptible Creature in the Universe both to God and Angels and all wise and good Men. And thus much may suffice to expose the Folly and Vileness of an immoderate Desire of Riches as in them placing the Happiness of Life I shall now shew The ill Consequences that attend it which besides that great Perplexity of Mind they cause mention'd before are chiefly these two 1 It mightily hinders a Man's Progress in Religion which is the one Thing necessary 2. It exposes a Man more than any thing to the Danger of Apostacy or falling from the Truth First An immoderate Love of Riches does mightily hinder a Man's Progress in Religion which is the one Thing necessary We may remember our Lord in his Interpretation of a Parable before discours'd of Matt. 13.22 says that the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches like Thorns that spring up with Seed choke the Word of God and render it unfruitful and in another Parable of a great Supper made at the Marriage of a King's Son Matt. 22. Luk. 14.18 by which as was discours'd upon that Parable is represented the glad Tidings and Invitations of the Gospel he tells us That that which detain'd Men from it was likewise the Cares of the World and the Love of Riches they had Ground to look after and Oxen to prove and therefore they could not come to the Wedding Supper And accordingly says our Saviour in as express Words as can be Matt. 6.24 No man can serve two Masters ye cannot serve God and Mammon Now the Reason of this is twofold For first Nothing so much distracts a Man's Thoughts as an eager Desire and Pursuit of Wealth for Riches are so difficult to be acquir'd as has been said and so very slippery when gain'd that as to get them will exercise all a Man's Contrivance employ all his Thoughts and Attention and consume his whole Time so to keep them when once gotten will to a Man that knows the Hardship of getting them and how soon they are lost again engage him in constant Care and Solicitude to watch his Idol lest he be depriv'd of it and so his Mind becomes distracted with continual Apprehensions of Danger and at leisure for no other Thoughts than how to secure his Riches And this those that are acquainted with Men much wedded to the World may soon perceive by their careful anxious Looks and distrustful Timorous Discourse Now the immoderate Love of Riches thus engrossing a Man's Soul and the great Business of Religion or making Provision for Another World and laying up a Treasure of good Works in Heaven being a Thing that likewise requires Time and Diligence and a close Application of all our Faculties to the Performance of it and it being impossible for a Man to attend closely to two Things at once and the Love of this World and of the next being not only different but contrary the one to the other How can it be but that he that eagerly loves Riches and has his Soul prepossess'd with a strong Desire of them and all his Faculties before engag'd in their Pursuit must move very slowly in the Way of Religion if he moves at all nay indeed rather move backward than forward and the more he loves the World grow colder still in his Affections to God Another Reason of this is Because an Immoderate Love of Money is a kind of Fascination and Enchantment it casts a Mist before a Man's Understanding and makes him less sensible and apprehensive of the great Obligation to a Religious Life and so dulls and stupifies the Soul that it becomes very little moved with the Sermons of
still longer Reprieve Hoping that at length the Sinner may be awaken'd by the Sermons of the Gospel and the inward Motions and Excitations of the Spirit of Life and Holiness and see and fear his Danger and return by Repentance and do no more wickedly For so in the next Place 't is said in the Parable that when the Lord of the Vineyard gave Order that the Barren Fig-Tree should be cut down the Dresser of the Vineyard by whom our Saviour is represented answering said unto him let it alone this Year also till I shall dig about it and dung it Christ is our merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 2.17 18. to make Reconciliation for the Sins of the People for he knows our Infirmities and in that he himself hath suffer'd being tempted he is able also to succour those that are tempted and ever liveth to make Intercession for us Heb. 7.25 He moves for a still longer Respite and promises to use new Methods that we may become fruitful of such good Works as will be well pleasing in his Father's Sight and accordingly cultivates and manures our Souls with repeated Exhortations to Repentance presses the Discourses of his Ministers still more home upon Men's Consciences and gives new Aids and Assistances of his Blessed Spirit provides new Happy Circumstances by his Providence for our Good such as a Faithful Instructer Good Conversation and Example Pious Books and Discourses which may warm and enliven a Sense of Religion in the Soul and awaken Attention and soften the Heart of Stone and render it penetrable by the Arguments of the Gospel and receptive of the Blessed Impressions of the Spirit of God That as loosening the Mould about the Roots of a Tree and cherishing it with the kindly Warmth of Dung is very conducive to the spreading of its Fibres and making it flourish and grow fruitful so these gracious Methods of the great Dresser of God's spiritual Vinevard Christ Jesus may so influence the Souls of Christians as to make them bear much Fruit to the Glory of God and their own everlasting Salvation This is the last Course that can be taken for a Sinner's Safety and if this will not prevail with him to take care of his Happiness there is no longer Hope 'T is like the Intercession of a Favourite for a Condemn'd Criminal upon Condition of his better Conversation for the future but if he again returns to his old vile Courses his Friends then abandon him as one that deserves to perish And so here in the Parable Christ the Beloved Son of God intercedes for a miserable Sinner ready for Destruction and begs a Reprieve for him to see if Time and farther Care will cure his Wickedness but if this proves ineffectual there remains nothing but a fearful Expectation of Judgment and fiery Indignation His Intercessor will then give him over for Desperate and suffer Justice to take its Course for so said the Dresser of the Vineyard to his Lord If after I have digg'd about it and dung'd it it bear fruit well but if not then after that thou shalt cut it down And this in the last Place represents to us the deplorable Condition of such as after all the Methods of Grace for their Reformation are still hardned in their Wickedness Christ will no more appear in their Behalf no more Thought shall be taken for their Safety but their Compassionate Intercessor shall then become their stern and inexorable Judge And when the dreadful Day of Doom shall come and the miserable Wretches appear before his Throne to receive the just Recompense of their obstinate Impieties then shall That Jesus who once so earnestly pleaded with God in their Behalf pronounce the Dreadful Sentence Depart from me ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire Depart from me your Saviour and once compassionate Mediator between God and You Be from henceforch and for ever depriv'd of all Hope of Redemption and Reinstatement into the Favour of my Father Be banish'd for ever from all Intercourse with Heaven without any Intercessor any propitiatory Sacrifice any Advocate to plead their Cause and without any Place for Repentance to Eternal Ages Depart to the Regions of Endless Horror and Despair in the Society of the Devil and his Angels And this is but the just Demerit of your Obstinate Wickedness who despis'd the Goodness of God that should have led you to Repentance This is the sad End of Irreclaimable Sinners this is the Punishment of an unfruitful Profession of Christianity Wherefore let those consider this that forget God before it be too late lest he pluck them away and there be none to deliver them Let them no longer turn the Grace and Forbearance of God into Lasciviousness but work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling For God is just as well as merciful and though slow to Wrath and of great Goodness repenting him of the Evil yet he will by no means clear the obstinately guilty but to such is a Consuming Fire The PRAYER I. O Merciful God who hast planted me in the Vineyard of thy dear Son the Christian Church and by the Culture of thy Ministers and the enlivening Influences of thy Blessed Spirit hast taken tender Care of my Growth and that I thrive and flourish in all spiritual Excellencies till I be fit to be transplanted to thy Heavenly Paradise I bless thy infinite Goodness for the Enlargement of this thy Vineyard so as to extend even to us though so remote from thy first Plantation and for those extraordinary Helps we of this Church have in order to our Increase in all the Fruits of the Spirit And earnestly beg that we may not produce Leaves only the mock Appearances of Christian Vertue but the Fruit of a sincere Religion in all the Instances of Holy Conversation II. I acknowledge with Admiration at thy infinite Love to Mankind that 't is Our Happiness thou respectest in thus indispensibly requiring Fruit of us not any Acquisition to thy self who art infinitely full already and the overflowing Fountain of all possible Good Thou commandest that our Fruit should be unto Holiness because we shall otherwise be incapable of the blessed End of Everlasting Life and spend our Days in Misery in this Lower World O Lord as is thy Majesty so is thy Mercy O make me duely sensible of thy tender Care of my Happiness and may it never through my wretched Obstinacy be in vain And in vain it would be were not thy long-suffering wonderful With what amazing Patience dost thou wait to see if at length I shall be Fruitful How often have I disappointed thy just Expectations and yet thou hast still forborn me through thine own Compassions and the Intercession of my dear Redeemer the Dresser of thy Vineyard who hath ply'd me with new Methods of Conversion fresh Applications to invigorate my Piety that at the last I may return thee acceptable Fruits and escape the sad Punishment of Barrenness
that of St. James If any Man lack Wisdom let him ask of God but let him ask in Faith nothing wavering for such a Man shall not receive any thing of the Lord James 1. 5 6. The meaning of all which I suppose to be this That as the Apostles upon their firm Belief of the Truth of our Lord's Promise of enabling them to work Miracles for the Advancement of the Christian Religion and of his Power to do accordingly should when they pray'd for his Help be enabl'd to do as they desired so all other Believers if their Prayers are accompanied with a strong Belief of his Veracity in promising to hear the Prayers of the Faithful of his Ability to relieve and help them and of his infinite Goodness and Willingness to grant them their Desires if it be expedient for them they shall certainly speed well and receive a Blessing at the Hand of God The very Petitions they offer up if for their Good shall be granted them and if not for their Good God in his infinite Wisdom will bestow something else upon them that shall be more for their Advantage And they may depend upon it they shall not be sent away empty But he that wavereth and is of doubtful Mind in these Particulars and prays with great Diffidency and distrust of prevailing as his Prayers must needs be very cool and without that Life and Fervour and Importunacy which we shall see presently is likewise necessary to our Success so his Mind must be in strange Agitation and toss'd between the Waves of two contrary and very perplexing Passions Hope and Fear and the latter having manifestly the Advantage with such a Man for if his Hope were stronger than his Fear he would be more fix'd and steady than he is 't is a Thousand to one but at length after intollerable Disquietudes and Anxiety of Mind he will split upon Despair or down-right Atheism So true is that of St. James Chap. 1. Vers 6 8. He that wavereth is like a Wave of the Sea driven about and tossed a double minded Man is unstable in all his Ways and so necessary is it that we should firmly believe and be actually perswaded when we pray that our Petitions if for our Good shall be granted us by our Heavenly Father There is yet one thing more requir'd if we would succeed in our Devotions and which is of very great Avail in this Matter and that is a Holy Earnestness and Importunity And 't is a thing so much to be observ'd that our Lord deliver'd two Parables cited at the Beginning of this Discourse to this very Purpose That Men ought always to pray and not to faint In both there is a Delay and Denial for a Time but at length the Importunate prevail Now though the Reason why our Saviour directs to this Importunity cannot be the same with that mention'd in the Parables God's Quietness and Happiness being not to be disturb'd nor he teas'd and weari'd into Compliance as those in the Parables were yet there may be several other Reasons given for it 'T is a Manifestation of our earnest Desire of prevailing and that we indeed highly value what we thus importunately beg for 't is a means to make us prize a Blessing the more which we so hardly come by and to be the more thankful for it when we receive it and the more careful not to lose or forfeit it 'T is a Tryal of our Patience an Exercise of our Faith and Hope and Dependence upon God it teacheth Humility and Self-Denial and Amendment of our Faults lest our Continuance in them render us unworthy of God's Favour it makes Devotion burn bright and vigorously and is of great Advantage to all the Purposes of Religion For these and such like Reasons it is that our good God who giveth to all Men freely and upbraideth not has made Importunity a Condition in order to the obtaining our Requests and indeed the Blessings God encourages us to ask and bestows upon us are so great that the utmost Earnestness and most importunate Addresses and the longest Attendance will be abundantly repaid with a Grant at last Having thus done what I at first propos'd to do upon the Parable of the importunate Widow and prov'd that Prayer is not only the Privilege but the Duty of every Christian and shewn how far the Obligation to this Duty does extend and what those Requisites are which are necessary to the effectual Performance of this Duty viz Purity of Life and Manners Sincerity of Intention Just and Upright Dealing with one another express'd by St. Paul by lifting up Holy Hands and likewise a quiet peaceable Temper of Mind not given to Strife and Wrath but apt to be reconcil'd and to forgive together with a full Assurance of Faith in the Veracity and Power and Goodness of God accompanied with a Holy Earnestness and Importunity It remains only that we all of us be exhorted diligently and heartily according to the Measures before describ'd to put in Practice this so beneficial a Duty There is no Place no Time but we have need of God's Favour and Protection and we may always and in every Place beseech it of him and he has promis'd to hear and accept us whenever we address to him as we ought 'T is Prayer that sanctifies Prosperity and makes light the Burthens of Adversity and brings a Blessing upon our Business and Callings and is the greatest Cordial upon the Bed of Sickness wherefore Let us pray every where lifting up Holy Hands without Wrath and doubting and by an Importunity not to be denied do a pleasing Violence to Heaven For every one that thus asketh Matth. 11.10 c. receiveth If a Son shall ask any of us that is a Father Bread or a Fish or an Egg will we give him a Stone or a Serpent or a Scorpion If we then being evil know how to give good Gifts to our Children how much more shall our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit and all other needful Blessings to them that ask him The PRAYER MOst Gracious God who not only permittest but dost encourage nay command us to make our Requests known unto thee and hast promised by thy Blessed Son that whatever we ask in his Name if it be expedient for us we shall receive assist me with thy Grace so to advert to the All-sufficiency and Almighty Goodness of thy Divine Nature and the miserable Indigency of my own that I may have a due Value for this inestimable Favour and be so much my own Friend as often to bend my Knees before the Throne of thy Grace and lay my Supplications before thee I humbly confess O Lord and deplore my hitherto great and stupid Backwardness in this Heavenly and most beneficial Duty and earnestly beseech thee that for the time to come thou would'st prepare my Soul by the Inspirations of thy Blessed Spirit that it may become a House of Prayer and a fit Habitation for
of our selves but our Sufficiency is of God and Phil. 2.13 't is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good Pleasure and accordingly says John the Baptist speaking of our Lord of his Fulness have we all receiv'd and Grace for Grace John 1.16 and Ephes 4.7 To every one of us is given Grace according to the Measure of the Gift of Christ Which Scriptures put together make this Argument God is desirous of the Happiness and Salvation of every Man 2 Pet. 3.9 1 Tim. 2.4 2 Cor. 3.5 Phil. 2.13 but without his Assistance and the Aids of his Grace and Holy Spirit no Man can arrive at that Happiness Therefore Joh. 1.16 Ephes 4.7 he gives sufficient Grace and Assistance to every Man wherewith if he be not Idle and Wanting to himself he may work out his Salvation For we can't but allow that what God desires for every Man and which no Man can attain without his Aid and Assistance he will give every Man sufficient Assistance with his own Industrious Concurrence to compass Otherwise he would desire that for some i. e. those to whom he should deny his Divine Assistance which he knows 't is impossible for them to attain to which I think can't be consistent with his Infinite Wisdom This seems to me to be sufficient Scripture Proof for this Position And to this I shall add this one Plain Reason For because the Commands of Religion in order to the attaining the Rewards of it are given in General to every Man and there is no Exception made but every one that names the Name of Christ must depart from all Iniquity therefore every Man must be suppos'd able to keep and observe those Commands unless we will be so Blasphemous as to say with the Unprofitable Servant in the Parable that God is so unreasonable as to reap where he did not sow to command Impossibilities and then so unjust and cruel as to punish Men Eternally for not obeying them But now that no Man is of himself able to keep the Commandments is evident from the whole Tenor of Scripture and from the sad Experience of even the Best of Men and consequently this Ability must be allow'd to proceed from the Aid of some other namely from him who is the only Giver of every good and perfect Gift and who giveth to every Man liberally and upbraideth not Indeed he giveth to every Man severally as he pleases to some more to some less to some five Talents to some two and to others but one according to Men's Ability to improve them and as in his Infinite Wisdom he sees most conducive to his own Glory and the Edification of the Church but he is wholly wanting in this Divine Gift to no Man that is capable of improving it but bestows upon every sensible Christian Grace sufficient wherewith if he makes good Use of it to work out his Salvation And this should have this fourfold good Effect upon us It should make us unfeignedly thankful to the Infinite Goodness of God for this his unspeakable Gift looking upon the Grace he hath bestow'd on us as an Earnest of our Salvation It should put us upon begging devoutly and earnestly and frequently at the Throne of Grace for still greater Degrees of this Heavenly Aid in order to his greater Glory and our more perfect Happiness remembring that this is of all the greatest Treasure and what a Frail Sinful Creature should above all things hunger and thirst after For though every Man at first receives as much Grace as he is able to improve yet he that has improv'd what he at first receiv'd is by that his Diligence grown capable of more and able to make a suitable Improvement As he in the Parable that had improv'd his Five Talents to Ten was capable of Receiving and Improving still more and accordingly had his Talent given to him who buried it in the Ground and brought it without any Improvement to his Lord. Five Talents was at first proportionable to his Ability but by duely improving them his Ability was much enlarg'd and he became capable of and received more And to God should all the Praise be given of all the good Things we perform by means of this his Divine Assistance reflecting upon the Words of St. Paul 1 Cor. 4.7 Who maketh thee to differ and what hast thou that thou didst not receive And finally because to all of us is given Grace sufficient to our Happiness therefore to work out our Salvation with it in fear and trembling lest by our Negligence and Sloth we fail of this Grace of God and it be withdrawn and taken from us For in the second Place God expects that every Man should improve the Grace he hath receiv'd and that proportionably to the measure in which he has receiv'd it and make use of it to the Ends for which it was bestow'd upon him For thus we see in the Parable how angry the Lord was when his Servant brought him the Talent he committed to him unimprov'd he calls him slothful and wicked Servant and deprives him of his Talent and gives it for an Encouragement to him that had made the greatest Improvement and sentences the Unprofitable Servant to outer Darkness where is weeping and gnashing of Teeth And agreeably says St. Paul 1 Cor. 12.7 The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal Christianity is not an idle lazy Profession does not consist in fine Words and specious Pretences but in an active lively Piety suitable to every Man 's several Ability He that has received much Grace must be eminent for much Holiness his Piety must arise proportionably to the Communications of the Holy Spirit which he enjoys and his Diligence be commensurate to his Strength He that has received five Talents must gain other five with them and he that has receiv'd two other two and no Man must be without some Increase though he has receiv'd but One. The End for which God bestows his Grace upon us is threefold 1 For the Advancement of his own Glory 2 For the Good and Edification of the Church 3 For our own Happiness and Salvation And therefore the more Grace and Assistances from Above a Man has receiv'd the more should he endeavour to glorifie God with it to edifie the Church and by a holy Life to secure his own Salvation And he that either makes no use of the Grace that God hath given him like him in the Parable who instead of trading with his Talent hid it in the Earth or else abuses it to vile and wicked Purposes is a wicked and unprofitable Servant and shall be cast into outer Darkness To know when a Man has receiv'd plenty of this Divine Grace and to what Improvement he is consequently oblig'd is for him in the first place to reflect upon his natural Parts and Abilities upon his Capacity for understanding and considering the great Truths of Religion and then