Great Mens Advantages AND Obligations to RELIGION Represented in a SERMON Preached before the KING IN The Chapel at St. JAMES's JULY the 17 th 1698. By HENRY HESKETH Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Printed by the King 's Special Command LONDON Printed by J. L. for Walter Kettleby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1699. JER v. 5. I will get me to the great men and will speak unto them for they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God IT was at a time of the greatest Degeneracy of the Jewish Church and Nation and a little before the Babylonish Captivity that these words were spoken by our Prophet And the Occasion was this The most merciful and good God to shew how willing and even desirous he was to spare that wretched and rebellious People condescends to such a Condition to do it upon as I am persuaded the most compassionate Man living could hardly have had the face to propose to him Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof if ye can find one man if there be any that executeth judgment and seeketh the truth and I will pardon it ver 1. It was and will be for ever celebrated and adored as a mighty Instance of God's Mercy and readiness to spare Sinners that he offered to spare Sodom and Gomorrha if Ten righteous Persons could be found therein and it was as much as even Abraham when so much encouraged in his Applications for Mercy had the confidence to beg of him But surely it was much more to offer to spare a whole Nation if but One such could be found in it And it is not easie perhaps to say whether the Mercy of God in the Offer were more surprising or the Demerits of that People that could not come up to so easie a Condition the more astonishing However it were God's Mercy is highly exalted in the one and his Justice sufficiently vindicated even in his sharpest Inflictions upon the reason of the other We may reasonably suppose the good Prophet thought this a most gracious Offer in God and conceived some good Hopes upon the reason of it that his People might be saved and the impendent Judgment averted and therefore he undertakes the Inquest in hopes that he might find some One Person to stand in the gap and whose Righteousness might save his Nation from Destruction and Ruine To that end he begins his Search in the Streets and in the Broad places in the places of common concourse and in the crowds of the populace and what the success of his search was there he tells us ver 2 3. Falshood and Perjury Injustice and Fraud and an obstinate course of Wickedness without fear remorse or any hopes of amendment This no doubt was a great mortification and grief to the good Man but yet he comforts himself under it by considering that these were poor and so wholly immersed in worldly Business that they had little regard to Religion little knowledge of God and much could not be expected from them But he seems to have greater hopes of succeeding in his search among the Honourable and the Noble I will get me to the Great Men and speak unto them for surely they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God This is the Connexion of these words and this the Occasion upon which they were spoken And I have chosen to speak to them at this time not to frighten any Man by telling stories of our present Danger and parallelling our case with that of the Jews at this time nor take occasion to make any Tragical Out-cryes against the Degeneracy of all sorts of Men among us at this day much less of Those to whom I have now presumed to speak This perhaps would be deemed too rustick an Address for a Court and as it was said to Amos that which a King's Chapel would hardly bear I would much rather chuse to imitate though I can ne'er hope to equal the Rhetorick of St. Paul to King Agrippa who counted it the most becoming way to persuade him to believe the Prophets to seem confident that he did and with the Prophet in this place to presume upon the Religion of those that hear me rather than seem so much as to think there is any reason to reproach them with want of it Thus far I hope I may be allowed to go without offence and enquire what probable Reasons the Prophet had for his hope to find one good Man at least among the Jewish Nobility and what better reason I have to hope to find not only one but many even all such among those to whom I have the Honour now to speak The Probability of this I shall found upon these Two General Reasons I. The Advantages that Great Men enjoy to the Purposes of Religion II. The Obligations that they lie under to regard it above those that plod in the streets and crowd the broad places And if I may beg the Patience of this Great Audience while I instance Three Particulars of each of these I shall not presume to put it to any greater stress at this time First I begin with the First The Advantages to Religion that Great Men enjoy above others I shall only instance as I said Three of these among many others 1. That of Natural Temper and Constitution 2. That of Generous Timely Education 3. That of Time and Leisure from the necessary Incumbrances and Cares of other Men. 1. The First Advantage to Religion that I have named is that of Natural Temper and Constitution Which though it may seem a little mean thing to some yet is perhaps as worthy of consideration in this case as any other Every Man is wonderfully and curiously made as the holy Psalmist hath observed long since but perhaps Great Men may be said to be so in some respects above others their Blood being generally said to be more refined and their Bodies of a finer Mould than those of meaner Men. There is more sense in that common Adage nasci à principibus c. than is commonly taken notice of and it may be happiness of Natural Temper may be one reason upon which it hath been spoken as well as some others The Issues as well as Flights of Eagles and Jays saith the Greek Proverb are very different And we see it true all Creatures naturally instance the Seminal Vertues and Properties of their Progenitors and it is commonly seen to be so in the present case of Persons honourably extracted their very Natural Tempers and Humours are more tender soft and ductile than those of a courser grain Now sweet and good Nature is a mighty apt Disposition to Religion and in truth one is but the Perfection of the other The great purpose of Religion is to refine and sublimate Humane Nature and to reduce it to its primitive Standard in which the
innocency of his Nature And still the more generous and careful that the Education hath been the stronger will these good Dispositions be and but that we sometimes see the contrary such as might well be thought morally impossible to be suppressed And this is thought so generally true that whenever a Youth miscarries it is commonly imputed to some fault in the Parent and to some defect in his Education But when there is the miscarriage of one whom all Men know to have had all due Care bestowed upon him by the other the Strangeness of it as much surpriseth with Wonder as the Misery of it extorts the Compassion and Tears of the sad Spectators 3. Another great Advantage that Great Men have of knowing the way of the Lord c. above other Men is Time and Leisure to inform themselves in it Time is one of the most valuable Treasures that God hath entrusted Mankind with though like other of his Blessings Men seldom know how to esteem it till they come to want it And though it be certainly true that all Men enjoy so much of this as is absolutely necessary to all the great Purposes of Life and the discharge of all the necessary Affairs of their respective Callings yet it is evident that like other Gifts of Providence it is differently dispensed so that some enjoy more and some less The Generality and Common Sort of Men that the Prophet was to search among in the broad places lie under the burthen of Adam's Curse and in the sweat of their faces must eat bread and most of them are forced to tug hard some in one way and some in another before they can get it to eat So that the common Excuse that is made for Mens neglect of Religion because of the Hurries and necessary Avocations of Worldly Business sounds better in their mouths and is more reasonably admitted from them But Great Men are in a great measure exempted from this common tribute of Humanity Their Bread is got to their hands and that Time which others are forced to spend in getting of it lies upon their hands and is as a Ready-Stock to be employed to Nobler Purposes They are manumitted from the Labour of the Field or the Attendances of the Shop so that that Time which others do and must expend in these is to them a surplusage for the Study or the Closet and for improving their Minds by Reading and Meditation in the one and by Devotion in the other The truth of this is notorious to all and I should but be impertinent and waste Time my self in insisting further on it Time is a Treasure that Great Men enjoy in measures above the Populace as eminently as any others Now it is little less notorious what an Advantage it is to all the great Purposes of Religion to have such vast portions of Time which they can easily spare to the Exercises of it or which they will spare to worser purposes And it would be a woful thing and that which must one day be sadly accounted for if this precious Treasure should be wholly mis-spent and squander'd away if the Comb and the Glass in the Morning or the Stage and empty Visits in the Evening should ingross that Time which God hath allotted to one Sex for Devotion in the Closet and the Church or Sports and vain Recreations or much worser Entertainments should ravish away all that spare Time which the other Sex hath allotted them to the same purposes A wise Man that hath never so much Business incumbent on his hands yet may so adjust the portions of his Time as to reserve enough for the Exercise of Religion And he that hath learned in any measure how to redeem his time can easily spare enough for the Service of his God without intrenching at all upon his secular Necessities But Great Men need not study this Art nor be put to any difficulty in accommodating those Interests between which there is no competition at all It is but a little Time that surveying their Estates and taking the necessary Accompts of them or serving their King and Country doth necessarily employ and he that is mostly confined to these yet hath great portions of Time which he not only may reserve from them but which do indeed lie upon his hands and therefore not only may be employed to the purposes of Religion but great part of which must be so or else the mis-spending of them must be answer'd for another day And as for others that are not yet called to these high Stations they have commonly so much Time as seems to lie as a burthen upon them so that they are rather put to study how to pass it off than have any cause to complain of being straitned in it These and many other great Advantages to Religion which might easily be instanced Great Men enjoy above others and the Prophet might reasonably hope that Men thus advantaged might know the way of the Lord though the Populace were scandalously ignorant and neglective of it Secondly And yet this was not the only Consideration that ministred to that Hope For their Obligations to Religion are in proportion to their Advantages and the guilt of failing to answer these would be as great as the indecency of defeating the purpose of the other This is the Second thing that I have undertaken to give some Account of i. e. the Obligations to Religion that lie on Great Men above others For it is a wild Conceit to think that Religion is only proper for Cottages and Cells or that Great Men that are exempt from the Cares of this World are priviledg'd from all regards to the Interest of the next The Reverse to this is the great Truth Religion is as becoming Courts as Colleges and Virtue as needful for Great Men as any below them and if there be any difference it lies really on this side there lying stronger Obligations to Religion upon them than upon others I shall reduce what I intend to consider on this part of my Argument to three Heads only as I did on the former 1. Their Obligations to Almighty God 2. Their Obligations to Men below them 3. Their Obligations to themselves Great Men's Obligations to Almighty God are above other Men's It is certain all Ranks and Orders of Men yea every particular Person in any of these owe so much to God as the acknowledgment and utmost Service of their whole Life can never answer How unequally soever the Gifts of Providence are dispenss'd to Men yet he that receives least receives more than he can be answerable for for that there is no cause for any one to complain but rather to be thankful But yet it is plain there is a sensible difference and if he that receives least owes the utmost Service of his Life for what he receives and yet can never discharge the Obligation sure they that receive much more must owe proportionably more if it were possible to pay it
First Adam was as Eminent for all the Sweetnesses of Nature as for Innocence and therefore one because he was the other And it is worth observing That the Second Adam who came to restore us to the true state of our Nature as well as to reconcile that Nature to God was himself the brightest and most matchless Instance of Good-nature that ever shined in the World So sweet and obliging in his Deportment so kind and courteous in his Conversation so affable and easie of Address so exorable and ready to do good when sollicited to it so obliging to all and so sharp to none unless it were to those Fanatick Zealots the Pharisees a Sect of the most peevish morose proud supercilious Persons that ever pretended to Religion in the World all whose Religion consisted only in a starch'd Formality in extolling themselves and censuring and condemning all others who indeed were the shame of Religion and their Lives the sharpest Satyr against it and who together with all of their rude boisterous uncharitable Temper are the unfittest of all Men to pretend to Heaven where nothing but Love and Peace dwells that is to say where Good-nature shines in its Perfection and is advanced indeed to the Image and Likeness of God that Universal Source of Sweetness and Love who is kind to all and whose tender mercies are over all his works whose Catholick Bounty like his own Sun shines upon all and embraceth in its arms of love the whole Creation This is that happiness of Nature that is not only so aptly and nearly disposed to Religion but is indeed the very anticipation of it That soft mellow and well-prepared Ground in which those tender Seeds of Religion and Vertue easily grow and happily flourish that would be lost and die in the rugged and the churlish 2. Another Advantage to Religion that Great Men enjoy above others is that of a Timely Generous Education which when it is joined with the former is such an Advantage to Religion as can hardly be defeated The care of Educating Children in some becoming measure can hardly be supposed to be neglected in such a Place as this where the Obligations of Nature are so strengthned by the Sanctions of Religion and where to fail is counted such a scandalous Degeneracy from both But yet it must be confess'd that some Parents lie under such narrow and pinching Circumstances that their Care cannot extend far And it is not to be thought that those who are so hard put to it to provide Necessaries for their Bodies should do very much towards cultivating and adorning their Minds But where the Inclinations of Nature are advantaged with all the supplemental Aids of Fortune so that Parents are every way able to do that for their Children which they feel themselves so strongly prompted by Natural Affection to do yea and where giving a Man Generous Education is even an instance of Gentility it self and one thing by which a Gentleman is distinguished as much from as he is exalted above others of a meaner Character there to be wanting in this would be as great a blemish to Himself as an injury to his Children And how far soever the Age may be thought to be degenerated yet God be praised it is not so wholly sunk into Brutality but that there is so strong a sense of the Excellency of Vertue as well as meanness of Vice upon the worst Mens Minds that he that is the lewdest Prostitute to Wickedness himself yet would willingly have his Children better principled than to follow his loose Example It is a very common thing to see those that have but very little regard to Religion themselves yet to be as careful to give their Children good and generous Education as those that are the strictest Votaries to it How much soever Men indulge Lewdness and Debauchery in themselves yet they love not to see it in others much less in such dear and near Relations Now under a Generous Education I comprehend a Care of their Souls as well as of their Bodies a cultivating the inward part as well as adorning the outward a framing them to act becomingly in their Moral as well as to be accomplished in all the Modes of Civil Conversation For this is that principal part of Education which respects them in their principal Interest and to which our Respects to our Children to do most indispensibly oblige us This we know is done by informing their Understandings with all useful Knowledge by instilling into their Minds the excellent Precepts and Rules of Good-living and by backing these with all those charming Arguments and Motives that may affect their Wills and influence their Affections and set that noble Machine into that regular and harmonious way of Acting which was intended by that God that so curiously framed it Now this is so mighty an Advantage to Religion and Vertue that there wants nothing but that Grace of God which is extended to all to fasten and make it effectual This is indeed the forestalling Vice and prepossessing as well as fortifying Nature against the Insinuations of it It is making Vertue even connatural to the Soul and laying such powerful Obligations to it upon the Mind that a Man must offer force and violence to himself before he can break through them And certainly were there not some strange Magick and even plain Fascination in Lewdness and Vice it were hardly to be thought that a Gentleman of Generous and Vertuous Education could so unravel the whole contexture of his Nature act so contrary to his own imbibed Principles stifle the Sentiments and clear Light of his own Mind break through the Checks and Restraints of his own Conscience and offer a plain Rape to his own Virgin-Modesty as to turn Prostitute to Vice for he must do all these things before he can allow himself to become the other The wise Men of all Ages have thought good Education the surest way to fix young Persons in the prepossessions of Vertue and prescribed it as that which would hardly miscarry And Solomon not only the Wisest of Men but that was guided by a Divine Spirit too recommends it upon this Reason Prov. 22.6 Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it The truth is he hardly can depart from it and he must offer great violence to himself before he can Humane Nature notwithstanding all the crys of its Degeneracy is not so depraved God be praised but that it is capable of good impressions as well as bad and at first to be sure it is as a fair Paper upon which Good may be written as well as Evil And when vertuous Inclinations are fixed by prudent Institution it will not be easie to act contrary to them However let what violence will or can be laid upon them they will ever and anon be felt and still be strugling to regain their freedom and reduce the Man to the first sweetness and
duly executed it would have effect upon some but I say now if the Virtues recommended by Laws were recommended too by the Lives of the Lawgivers it would certainly have effect upon all Moses and his Successors had the Holy Unction upon the Head as well as Aaron and those that Succeeded to him and if that Oyntment did not only stay there but reach the next adjoyning Parts and thence descend even to the Skirts of his Cloathing it would be found Sanative indeed and soon Imprint a Divine Character upon all And to go on with the Allusion in the same Psalm if that prolifick Dew which falls upon the top of Hermon did both Water the Hills of Zion and the next adjoyning Exaltations and thence descend even to the lowest Vallies beneath them the Prospect would shew lovely indeed the Top would look beautiful and verdent the Declensions would be adorned with Trees and Fruit the Vallies would even laugh and sing under their Burthens of Corn and the whole be happy as a Hill or as a Field which the Lord had blessed When the Sun shines clear and enlivens the World by its warm Rays and when the Stars regularly impart those Balsamick Influences which they receive from him to the lower World we see how comfortable and happy the Effects are But when black Clouds obscure that Sun Storms and Showers soon follow and when shaggy Comets climb up into the Region of the Stars and by their preternatural Corruscations or noxious Contagions infect the Air then all Men dread the Omen and Plagues and Blasting Scarcity and Droughts usually follow and justifie their Fears It is thus in the moral World my Brethren as well as Natural when the superior Orbs move regularly all things below act Harmoniously to their Motions When Kings become nursing Fathers to the Church and by their own Conscience and regard to Virtue and Devotion bring it into Credit and Fashion When the great Mountains having brought Peace the little Hills shall teach Righteousness to the People then we may begin to hope well then there may be some likelyhood of the Kingdoms of the World becoming the Kingdoms of God and his Christ and then we may talk more reasonably of a Millennium Happy are they that live under such Divine and Heavenly Influences but thrice happy are they that transmit them The blessed Effects will be visible upon Earth but their Reward is with their God And that opens the way to 3. The third and last great Obligation upon Great Men to Religion which I shall mention at this time and that is the Obligation to themselves and the respect they ought to have to their own Interest It is certain Religion and Virtue is a thing of universal Advantage and all Ranks of Men would find their Accounts in it whatever is really the Interest of any Man with respect either to the present or future state of things would certainly be found by a due regard to it So that in truth every Man is so far regardless of his own true Happiness or so far consults for it by improper means as he is regardless of Religion or acts contrary to it But perhaps there may be reason to say that Great Men's Obligation to Religion even upon this Reason may be more pressing than that upon other Men. In this World it is plainly seen to be thus for they have Honour and Grandeur to consult for more than others which to them ought to be as dear as their Lives it being the only Firmament upon which their Distinction from others is Founded And truly I see not why their Interest as to another World may not be thought so too I mean their Happiness and Glory if they be Religious or their Punishment and Misery if they be not greater than that of others Let me crave leave to represent these two distinctly in a few words 1. Their Obligation to themselves with respect to this World and all their valuable Interests in it 't is certain Religion and Virtue is the only Telesme to secure all these Godliness hath the Promise of this World as well as that to come saith St. Paul and it can be demonstrated upon true Reason that it is the surest Expedient to whatever is any true part of Man's present Happiness I will Instance but in one of these because it is peculiar to Great Men and that is true Honour This as I said but now is the great darling Interest of Great Men and ought to be dear to them above all things next to their God So that a Protestation upon Honour from a Nobleman is counted as Sacred and Obligatory as an Oath immediately to God from other Men. Now it is certain the only true Foundation and Support of this is Religion and moral Goodness this makes a Man really what he should be yea and causeth him to be Esteemed Valued and Honoured as such by all others Great Men's high Titles Offices and Stations may justly challenge external Respect from others below them but it is Enamelling those Characters and Titles by real Virtue that engageth their inward Respect and Reverence and we need but consult common Observation to justifie this A Great Man may be star'd at and Conju'd to by some for his glittering Garb his Retinue or his high Character but a Great good Man is Loved Adored and Honoured by all Let me have leave without Offence to shew the difference in a single Instance or two What a vast difference is there in the Esteem and Honour Men have for those Noblemen at whose Gates Troops of the Poor and Needy are daily Relieved from what they have for those at whose Gates as great Crowds of poor Creditors are daily waiting and crying What Complaints and Curses are the one persued with while the others are followed with Blessings and Prayers The difference is as visible in all other particulars of Virtue and Vice as well as these One dead Fly causeth the Oyntment to stink saith King Solomon and we see it true What a Stain doth our known Vice bring upon their Names and what a Rebatement is it of their Glory what a Lessening is it of Great Men what a Debasement of the Noble to see them compassed about with the Wickedness of their Heels and Sullied with the Vices of Grooms and Porters We may conclude how it is at present while they live by considering how it is with those that are dead how have the Great the Valiant the Virtuous and brave Men Embalmed their Names and with what Honour are they remembred in the Records of Time Their Monuments are beheld with Reverence and passers by Salute them with a Peace be upon him as the Jews did and all Eastern Nations do to this day while the Name of the Wicked shall rot saith the Wise King their Ermins are stain'd and their Memories often detested they fix a Blemish even upon their Posterity and if their Names be found Written in the Annals of their Nation
there is almost always some Note of Infamy sticks upon them 2. And yet there is a greater Interest that this Obligation results from and that is the Happiness or Misery of another World for even those that are called Gods must dye like Men and Princes must fall as well as the People and then they must enter upon an everlasting State and be happy and blessed or miserable and punished as truly as other Men. Now the great God hath assur'd us that Religion only makes the distinction entitling Men to one and securing from the other and every Man finds something in himself that attests to this Truth the highest of Men feel Presages and Boadings of this in their own Breasts as sensibly as those below them Greatness is so far from securing Men from a Sense of Guilt that it sets it on more sharply and even those are haunted with Fears of a future Punishment that are set above all Fear or Danger of any now And the Holy Scriptures represent this most fully according to those Jealousies or Hopes of Mens own Minds assuring us that the Holy and Good the Charitable and Just shall see God while the Wicked shall be turned into Hell with all that forget God And it is worth observing that it makes no difference or shews any Respect of Persons it doth not tell us that God hath appointed different Terms of Salvation or made it possible for Great Men to be saved upon easier Conditions than others it seems rather to determine the Case the other way and as I said before to require more from them who have received more rather than to be content with less Now this surely is a Consideration of great Weight indeed and that which ought to have Effect accordingly supposing their Case but equal with others for it will be a woful thing when those that have received their good things in this Life shall receive none but Evil in the next and those that have been Exalted almost above Men in the one shall be depressed as low as Devils in the other But if the Cases be really different then it should strengthen the Consideration and make it more affecting for then the greater Blessing and Reward on one hand or the greater Damnation and Punishment on the other is to be expected or fear'd For as it may reasonably be supposed that the Religion and Virtue of Princes and Great Men that after all that hath been said it must be confessed doth break through many Temptations and some Difficulties and Benefits so many beside themselves is more acceptable to God and shall accordingly be rewarded above that of others So it may upon the same Reasons be concluded that their Irreligion and Profaness is more detested and shall proportionably be more severely Punished And then it will be a woful Case indeed when the good Things shall not only be Converted into Evil but even into worse because they have been good and the Suffering and Damnation be intended and heightened hereafter in proportion to the Blessings that were enjoyed here when those that were so much raised above other Men in this World shall be sunk as much below them in the next when the Poor and Mean the Despised and Contemned shall enter into the Kingdom of God while the Noble and the Great shall not only be shut out but cast into eternal Horror and Darkness This is a Condition that it highly concerns all that can consider things to beware of and much more those who are so much Advantaged with Abilities and Parts to consider if the Mean and Grosser sort of Mankind who are thought to be but one Degree above Bruits if the Poor and Needy that are broken with Thoughts and Cares of providing Bread if the Laborious and Bustling who are Condemned to perpetual Labour and Drudgery for a Subsistence If any of these I say lived regardless of another World and the Interests of it the Wonder were less But if those whose Minds are Refined and Polished both by Nature and Art and are under none of those pressing Necessities which hinder the Operations of the Mind should be as Regardless and Stupid as they If they that have every thing needful for the Conveniencies and Comforts of this Life provided to their Hand so that they have nothing in comparison to take care of but that to come should yet live insensible of it and so as to forfeit for ever the Happiness thereof it would be strange indeed and such a Reflection upon their Reason and Prudence as we want a Name to set forth the Greatness of And to conclude this sad Reflection if the poor Prophet should miscarry in his Search for a good Man among these no Tears were sufficient to bewail the Disappointment But I am resolved this Discourse shall not set in a Cloud nor proceed to tell any Stories of such a Disappointment I hope better things of those that hear me and this solemn Religious Appearance Ministers to that Hope Those that shew so much regard to Religion as thus becomingly to attend these solemn Services of it I hope retain a suitable Respect to it in their Minds and are sensible how much it concerns them to Govern their Lives in some competent Degree by the Holy and Divine Measures of it Those that know the way of the Lord I hope walk in it And those that have learned the Judgments of their God I still hope will live according to them Which may the Grace of God ever incline and enable them to do in this World and may the same Grace everlastingly reward them in that to come Amen FINIS