shall have of things at the conclusion of our Lives when Death and Judgment approach and let us view things now in the same Light as we know certainly we shall be forced to do then We know we shall then lament the loss of every opportunity of doing good which we have omitted and shall grutch every minute of Folly and Vanity which might have been employ'd to the increase of the Portion of our future Happiness We know we shall then look upon all the past pleasures of Life as emptiness and nothing and be convinced that there is no Pleasure but in true Virtue and no Fruit in any thing but in having done much Good And if we do indeed know this what can be more miserably and more inexcusably foolish than not to make the same Judgment of things now as we know assuredly we shall do afterwards The reason why Men die full of Fears and Uncertainties full of dark Suspitions and confused Doubts is because they are conscious to themselves that they have lived carelesly and indifferently without having taken any Pains either for the Service of God or for the Good of Men and without having used any zealous Endeavours to overcome the present World or to obtain the future But if Men would consider things in time if they would pass true Judgments of things and act accordingly with Resolution and Constancy they might then know certainly their own State and might live with Comfort and die with Assurance CHAP. XII Of our Obligation to be particularly careful to avoid those Sins to which we are most in danger to be tempted 1. FIfthly Be particularly careful to resist and avoid those Sins to which either your Constitution Company or Employment make you most in danger to be tempted This is the great Trial of every Man's Sincerity and of his Growth in Virtue He that for the Love of God and the Hopes of Heaven can mortifie and deny his most darling Lusts can quell and keep under his most natural Passions can resist and constantly overcome those Temptations by which he is most in danger to be seduced into Sin such a one has an infallible Assurance of his own Sincerity and is very near to the Perfection of Virtue But if there be any one Instance wherein a Man habitually falls short of his Duty or indulges a Lust a Passion a sinful Desire 't is certain whatever other Virtues he may be indued with that he either acts upon wrong Principles and is not sincere or that his Resolutions are hitherto too weak and ineffectual to intitle him to the Comfort of Religion here or to the Assurance of Happiness hereafter 2. There is no Man whom either the Constitution of his Body or the Temper of his Mind the Nature of his Employment or the Humour of his Company does not make obnoxious to some particular sort of Temptations more than to any other And in this thing it is that those who have something of Sincerity and will not with others run into all excess of Riot do yet make shift to deceive and impose upon themselves They think they are indued with many good and virtuous Qualities they hate Profaneness and professed enormous Impiety they know themselves innocent of many great Sins which they see others continually commit But something to which they are particularly tempted they indulge themselves in and the fatal Mischief is that those Sins which they see others commit and to which themselves are not violently tempted seem most absurd and unreasonable and easie to be avoided but that to which they are themselves addicted they think to be either so small as not to be of any very evil Consequence or so difficult to be resisted as to be allowed for among the unavoidable Infirmities of Nature Thus to many who have little or no Dealings in the World the Sins of Fraud Injustice Deceit Over reaching and the like seem very heinous base and unreasonable while at the same time they allow themselves in habitual Intemperances and Impurities as either harmless Vices or almost insuperable Weaknesses On the other hand there is no less a Number of those who applaud themselves in their own Minds that they are not as other Men Intemperate Debauched Drunkards Revellers and the like while at the same time they look upon Fraud and Deceit Tricking and Over-reaching as the necessary Art and Mystery of Business 3. But this is a very great and a very fatal Cheat. No Man can have any true and solid Peace in himself no Man can have any just Confidence in his Addresses to God no Man can have any Title to the Promises and Comforts of Religion here much less to the Glory and Reward of it hereafter before his Obedience be if not Perfect yet at least Universal God will not share with any Impiety nor ever accept of any Man's Obedience so long as 't is mixed with the accursed thing If there be any Sin that we can hardly part with if there be any Lust that is like a right Hand or a right Eye this is the thing that God hath proposed to us to Conquer this is the good Fight which we must fight through Faith this is the Victory to which Heaven is proposed For this we must gather together all the Forces of Reason and Religion for this we must strengthen our selves by Prayer and Consideration In this Warfare we must resolve strongly persevere obstinately and though we be conquered yet resolve to overcome always remembring that this is the Stake for Life or Death Happiness or Misery Heaven or Hell 4. Here therefore let every Man consider with himself and let him well observe his own Temptations and his own Strength Let him consider not how many Sins he can easily avoid but by what Temptations he may most easily be seduced and let him make it his Business to guard himself there Let those who are young and not yet entred into the hurry and business of the World not value themselves upon their being innocent from the Sins of Fraud and Injustice of Covetousness and Extortion or the like for that perhaps they may be without any Pains and without overcoming any powerful Temptation but let them try themselves whether they be firm against the Temptations of Vanity and Lightness of Heat and Passion of Intemperance and Impurity and let them judge of themselves by their behaviour in these Instances wherein they are most obnoxious Let them consider that their peculiar Task is to overcome the wicked one 1 John 2. 13. to subdue the Flesh to the Spirit to conquer and get above those Pleasures which sensualize the Soul and inslave the Mind to the Body and thereby bring it under the Power of Death and Destruction And in fine to strive continually to cleanse themselves from all Impurity not only of Body but even of Mind and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God Let them consider that they are by Baptism dedicated to the
Man's Condition in Opposition to that of the rich Man without taking any notice at all of their Behaviour one to another Though therefore it may justly be supposed that our Saviour designed to hint to us that the poor Man did not meet with that Comfort and Relief which might reasonably be expected in a Place where there was such plenty and abundance of all things and that this did mightily increase the rich Man's Condemnation yet this is not the thing that is now laid to his Charge and therefore is not the main Design of the Parable Parables are certain familiar ways of representing things to the Capacity of the Vulgar by easie and continued Similitudes and the close of the Similitude always shows the principal Scope of the Parable as is evident in most of our Saviour's Discourses to the Jews Had our Saviour therefore in this Parable chiefly designed to shew the evil of Uncharitableness and the Condemnation that attends uncharitable Men he would when he had represented the rich Man crying out to Abraham to have Mercy upon him and begging that he would send Lazarus that he might dip the tip of his Finger in Water and cool his Tongue he would here I say have introduced the Patriarch charging him with his Uncharitableness as the cause of his being cast into that place of torment It would have been told him that since when he lived in Ease and Plenty and in the abundant enjoyment of all the good things of this Life he had had no regard to the then miserable Estate of this poor Man he had no reason to expect now that the Scale was turned and himself fallen into a state of Misery that the poor Man should leave that place of Happiness which is figured to us by Abraham's Bosom to come and quench the violence of the Flame that tormented him He would have been told that 't was but just that since he had shewed no Mercy none should be shewn to him and that he should receive no Relief from the poor Man after Death to whom he had given none when he was alive But instead of all this we find only that short Reply Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things therefore now thou art tormented 12. It remains therefore that the reason for which this rich Man is represented as condemned to that place of torment is because he had in his life time received his Portion of good things that is not because he had received the Blessings of this World but because he had received and used them as his Portion and his Happiness He had a large and plentiful Estate and he spent it in Jollity and Splendour He was clothed in Purple and fine Linnen and he fared sumptuously every day He denied himself nothing that tended to the Ease and Pleasure of his own Life or that could make him look splendid in the Eyes of others Hereupon he accounted himself a happy Man and blessed himself in the multitude of his Riches He look'd on them not as Talents committed to him by God to be employed for the doing good in his Generation but as his own Portion that he might live in Ease and Plenty and that his Heart might chear him in the days of his Life His Treasure therefore was upon Earth and his Heart and Affections were there also He set up his Rest here and was so wholly taken up with the splendour and gaiety of this World that he had no time to think upon another till he found by woful Experience that he 〈◊〉 settled his Affections upon a wrong Object and chosen those things for his Portion and his Happiness which were not to be of equal duration with himself Thus the Design of this Parable seems plainly to be this to condemn a soft and easie a delicate and voluptuous Life And to show that for those who have a plentiful share of earthly Blessings to make it their main Design to live in Ease and Pleasure in Gaiety and Splendour with them to set their Hearts and Affections upon them to esteem them as their good things and to place their Happiness in them is inconsistent with that temper and disposition of Mind which the Christian Religion requires in those who expect their Portion in the Spiritual Happiness of the World to come And to this Sense we must understand those Sayings of our Saviour Luke 6. 25. Wo unto you that are full for ye shall hunger wo unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep And ver 24. Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your Consolation that is ye have received those things which ye accounted your Portion and wherein ye placed your Happiness 13. In like manner the Parable of that other rich Man Luke 12. whose Ground brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself saying What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my Fruits and he said This will I do I will pull down my Barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my Fruits and my Goods And I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much Goods laid up for many Years take thine ease eat drink and be merry This Parable I say seems also plainly designed against the same softness and voluptuousness of Life Our Saviour does not describe this Man to be Covetous and that he would store up all his Goods to no use but that he would take the good of them himself he would eat drink and be merry 'T is the same word that we render elsewhere to fare sumptuously But God said unto him Thou Fool this night shall thy Soul be required of thee and 〈◊〉 whose shall those things be which thou hast provided His Case seems to be the very same with that of the rich Man Luke 16. The one resolved that in his Life time he would eat drink and be merry and in the midst of his Jollity his Soul was required of him The other was clothed in Purple and fine Linnen and fared sumptuously every day and when after Death he complained that he was in a place of torment he was by Abraham reminded that he had in his life time received his good things 14. Lastly the History of the young Man Mark 10. who came running and kneeled to our Saviour and asked him Good Master what shall I do that I may inherit eternal Life is an eminent Instance of the deceitfulness of the Love of the World He had kept all the Commandments from his youth and therefore one would think was well prepared to receive our Saviour's Doctrine Yet when he bad him Go thy way sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the Poor and thou shalt have Treasure in Heaven and come take up thy Cross and follow me 't is said he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions 'T is not said either that he was covetous on the one hand or prodigal on the
of the Apostles and from the general Sense of the Primitive Church 2. God is a Being as of infinite Purity and Holiness so also of infinite Goodness and Mercy and as he cannot possibly be reconciled to Men so long as they continue wicked so when ever they cease to be so and return again to the Obedience of Gods Commands and to the imitation of his Nature we cannot suppose but that he will again admit them to his Pardon and Favour Goodness and Mercy are our most natural Notions of God and the Discoveries which he hath made of himself by Revelation are most exactly agreeable thereto At the passing by of his Glory before Moses he proclaimed himself The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth forgiving Iniquities Transgressions and Sins Exod. 34. 6. By the Prophets he declares and swears by himself As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezek. 33. 1â— And above all by that stupendous Instance of Mercy the sending his only Son out of his Bosom to give himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of Men he has discovered such an earnest desire of our Reconciliation and Salvation as will be the everlasting subject of the Praises of Men and the Admiration of Angels If therefore God when he had made a Covenant of perfect Obedience and had not promised Pardon at all to great and presumptuous Sins did yet give Pardon and declare also to the Jews by his Prophets that he would do so And if when Men were yet Enemies to him he was so willing that not any should perish but all should come to Repentance yea so desirous to have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth that he not only spared not his own Son to deliver him up for us all but tells us even of Joy in Heaven at a Sinners accepting the gracious Terms of the Gospel and represents himself as a tender Father running to meet his returning Prodigal and falling up-his Neck and kissing him If this I say was the Compassion which God shewed to Man in his first sinful and miserable State 't is very reasonable to conclude and hope that his Mercy is not so entirely exhausted at once but that the same Pity may be yet further extended even to those also who after the knowledge of the Truth having been seduced by the Temptations of the World and the Devil to depart from God and to forsake their Duty shall again return unto him with Sincerity and Perseverance 3. The Design of the Gospel is to teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And certainly whensoever it comes to have this effect upon a Man it gives him a Title to the blessed Hope and a well-grounded Assurance of Mercy at the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Foundation of the Christian Dispensation upon which the whole Summ of Affairs is now established is Faith and Repentance and whensoever a Man so truly repents as to purifie himself effectually from every evil Work and by the Spirit mortifies the deeds of the Body he shall certainly live Our Saviour himself gives express Directions when a Man's Christian Brother trespasses against him to use all possible means to reclaim him both by private and publick Reproof before he rejects him utterly as a Heathen Man and a Publican He commands us though our Brother sins never so often against us yet if he turns again and repents to forgive him and has promised upon this Condition that we also shall in like manner find forgiveness at the Hands of God And in the Epistles sent by the Apostle St. John to the Bishops of the Seven Churches of Asia he exhorts them earnestly to remember from whence they were fallen and to repent and be zealous and do their first works and promises that if upon this Invitation any Man would hear his Voice and open the Door that is would be moved by these Exhortations to repent and amend he would come in to him and sup with him that is would again receive him to his Mercy and Favour 4. Accordingly the Writings of the Apostles though directed to Christians are yet full of earnest Exhortations to Repentance and their History contains many Instances of those who after great falls were thereby restored to their first state St Peter exhorts Simon Magus who thought the Gift of God could be bought with Money to repent of this his wickedness and gives him encouragement to hope that he should thereupon obtain forgiveness Acts 8. 22. St. John tells us That if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins 1 John 2. 2. St. James tells us That if any one err from the Truth and one convert him he that converteth the Sinner from the Error of his way shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a multitude of Sins Jam. 5. 20. St. Jude advises us to have compassion of some making a difference and to save others with fear pulling them out of the fire ver 23. St. Paul exhorts Timothy to instruct in meekness those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken Captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2. 25. He advises the Galatians that if any Man be overtaken in a fault they which are spiritual should restore such a one in the Spirit of meekness considering themselves lest they also be tempted Gal. 6. 1. He threatens the Corinthians to excommunicate those who had sinned and had not repented of their uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12. 21. And even the Incestuous Person who had been guilty of such a Sin as was not so much as named among the Heathens themselves he delivers indeed to Satan for the destruction of the Flesh but it was that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5. 5. For when the punishment which was inflicted of many had been sufficient to reduce him to Repentance he writes to the Church to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow 2 Cor. 2. 7. 5. And this excepting as I have said one Sect of Men was the constant Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church To those who were yet Innocent they thought indeed no Promises too great and no Threatnings too severe whereby they might make them infinitely careful to preserve their Innocence But those who had already sinned they incouraged to repent and upon their Repentance admitted them again to the Peace of the Church and