then one would think he should have but little heart to be Covetous and yet then is the time when Men are most of all so for Covetousness is the proper Vice or rather Disease of Old Age and is almost as constant an Attendant of it as Grey Hairs or a Trembling Hand When all other Vices leave the Man as no longer fit for their Service when even Lust it self the last of the black Train has bid him adieu then Covetousness seizes him as if it designed to have him wholly to itself without Partner or Competitor to domineer over him with an absolute Tyranny Strange that a Man should be most solicitous for Provision by the way when he is almost at his Journeys end within view of Home Thou Fool If thou must be Covetous take a proper Condition and a right Time for it and be so either when thou art Poor or when thou art Young when thou hast a Temptation to it and a Pretence for it But it seems Absurdity and Nonsense is so far of the very Essence of this Mysterious Vice that then Men are most addicted to it when in all Reason and Expectation they should be Proof against it nay one would think even naturally uncapable of it when they are Rich and when they are Old And now I think there is sufficient ground for the Charge wherewith God taxes the Rich Man he might well be called Fool as a Sinner as an Earthly-minded Person and particularly as being Covetous But let us now consider the particular Circumstances of his Covetousness and we shall find that his Folly was of a nature very Extraordinary the Text says that the Ground of a certain Rich Man brought forth plentifully now 't would be expected that upon this his very next Thought should be to return God Thanks for the Fruitfulness of his Ground if it were for no other Reason but that he might have the like Success again the next Season No but instead of that he immediately thought within himself what he should do because he had no room where to bestow his Fruits there was the first Instance of his Folly Well but in case this unseasonable and too early thoughtfulness of his had but put him upon doing some good thing with his Abundance 't would have been pretty tolerable yet and there would have been some amends for the ill-timing it before he had returned his Thanks to God No but he thought thus within himself I will pull down my Barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my Fruits and my Goods All my Fruits and my Goods he designs you see to ingross all to himself and to remember neither God nor the Poor to let no part of it go to any Pious or Charitable use and there 's another instance of his Folly But after all perhaps he does not mean to place his End and chief Happiness in his full Granary but only to use it as a lesser good and as relating to the Conveniences of the Body and the gratification of the Animal Life No but his Folly proceeds further than so I will say to my Soul says he Soul thou hast much Goods laid up for many Years take thine Ease Eat Drink and be Merry A very noble Soliloquy indeed That ever a Man should be so much a Brute and a Sot as to make a full Barn the good of his Soul of his Soul who must seek her Happiness from the same Hand whence she had her Being and can be satisfied only by him who is Absolute Perfection This certainly was a strange extravagance of Folly and yet even this has a further Aggravation yet for had this Provision of his been indeed for many Years as he fancied there would have been more Cause and Pretence for the great Complacency and Satisfaction he took in it But little did the poor Fool think upon what Contingencies this Project of his depended and how precarious and uncertain the Lease of his Life was much less that that very Night his Soul should be required of him and yet this was a very obvious Consideration though in the heat and hurry of his Contrivances he was not at leisure to take it in his way And this is the lamentable Fate of all Covetous Men they are so busie in making hast to be Rich that they overlook the Grave notwithstanding that they are continually poring upon the Earth But not to consider a thing so obvious is a great piece of dotishness and stupidity and yet to consider it and go on in heaping up Riches without Reason and without End is much worse And thus have we seen the whole procedure of the Rich Man if he may now be allowed that Name and the incomparable Folly of it and in him the Folly of all Covetous Persons who yet in one respect do generally exceed their Original in the Parable for he though he had resign'd up his Heart and Soul to his Wealth yet he was so wise as to know when he had enough and when 't was time to give over retreat and take his Ease But our Misers never know when they have sufficient but drudge on to the very last Minute and Dye in their Slavery and are therefore the greater Fools What therefore remains but that we take other Measures of Wisdom and other Objects of Content that we place not our Happiness in the things of this World nor labour for that which is not Bread that we lay not up Treasures for our selves upon Earth but rather endeavour to be Rich towards God that we do not plunge our selves so deep into the World and the Pleasures of this Life this short Life as to forget the days of Darkness which shall be many Above all let us take care that we do not take any thing of the World to be the good of our Souls much less so far as for the sake of any Honour Profit or Preferment to be false to the infinitely dearer Interest of our Religion and the Cause of God and his Church lest when we begin to Pride and Applaud our Selves in our Wisdom and withal fancy that even Posterity shall praise our Saying God in the mean time should say to any of us as he did to the Rich Man in our Parable Thou Fool. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Consideration of God and of the Divine Presence Psal. 16. 9. I have set the Lord always before me AND 't were Happy we could all do so we should then certainly be more Pure and Uncorrupt in our Thoughts and Intentions more Spiritual and Elevated in our Affections and more Orderly and Regular in our Actions whether in our Retirements or upon the open Stage we should demean our selves with more care and exactness both towards God our Neighbour and our Selves we should lead our Lives with more Innocence and leave them with more Courage and Chearfulness than we generally do The Words as indeed the whole Psalm seem immediately to concern the Person and the Condition
Quiver I will rest heartily satisfied with his severest dispensations and though he kill me yet will I trust in him Let us then at all times and on all occasions with all Patience Meekness Contentedness and Resignation of Spirit be Passively as well as Actively Conformable to the Divine Will and demean our selves as becomes Children under the Chastisement of so wife and so good a Father let us not only with calmness endure but with content and satisfaction approve and justify all his Dispensations so will he justify and acquit us hereafter and to the present benefit of our Affliction superadd a Reward of our Patience and reveal to us such an excellent Glory with which the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared To which God of his Infinite Mercy conduct us all Amen A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Folly of Covetousness Luke 12. 20. But God said unto him Thou Fool 'T IS somewhat strange to consider that Wisdom should be a thing desired by all and highly pretended to by the most and yet that Men should betray their Folly in nothing more than in their Judgments concerning Wisdom and yet this is the frequent as well as unhappy fate of the many Pretenders to Wisdom that are in the World who in nothing take such absurd measures as in this We shew indeed enough of our Weakness and Ignorance in the search of Nature and in what we call our Philosophy We live among Mysteries and Riddles and there is not one thing that comes in at our Senses but what baffles our Understandings but though as the Wise Man complains hardly do we guess aright at the things that are upon Earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us yet find them out we do in some measure and are seldom so very much out in our Judgments as to mistake in Extremities and take one contrary for another 'T is very rare that we take the vertue of a Plant to be Hot when 't is extreamly Cold and he must be a very mean Botanic now that shall gather Poison instead of Pot-herbs and yet this we often do in the conduct of Life and in the great Ends and Measures of it Here we often mistake one contrary for another Evil for Good Darkness for Light and Folly for Wisdom We do not only act foolishly for that were something tolerable would we but acknowledge and be ashamed of our weakness but we back this Folly with another applaud and justify our absurd measures and think our selves Wise not only while we are Fools but for that very thing wherein we are so The generality of Men place their Wisdom in that which is directly their Folly and their greatest Wisdom in their greatest Folly they lay deep Plots for shallow Interests and are very slight and superficial in their Contrivances about things of real Moment and Consequence they work out a frame of little Designs with as much industry art and wariness as the laborious Spider weaves her fine-wrought Web and to as much purpose to catch a Fly to bring about a Trifle when the same perhaps half the labour and thoughtfulness would have served for the securing a weighty and substantial Interest And yet when they have done this they think they have been very Shrewd and Politick and compassed a very notable Point and are Proud of their little Atchievement and fancy the Title of Wise as much their due as if pronounced so by the Oracle and as sure and well established as if their Wisdom as well as that of Solomon had built her House upon Seven Pillars little thinking all the while that he that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh them to Scorn that the Lord shall have them in Derision That God whose Ways are not as our Ways nor his Thoughts like our Thoughts has already weighed them in a truer Ballance than that wherein they weigh themselves and finds them wanting wanting in what they chiefly pretended to and charges them with downright Folly and Madness For this was the case of the Rich Man in the Parable the Fruitfulness of his Ground had put him upon a new Expedient and he was very busie and thoughtful within himself how to find room to dispose of his Goods What shall I do says he because I have no room where to bestow my Fruits The Poor Man it seems was as much straitened in his Plenty as other Men use to be in the extreamest Poverty What shall I do the very Language of those who are reduced to Straits Do why give the overplus to the Poor and that thou mayst not be so overstock'd again another Year part with a good piece of thy Land and build an Hospital No says he I understand better things than so this will I do I will pull down my Barns and build greater and there will I bestow not on the Poor 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 was his Resolution and a Wise one too as he thought applauding himself as much in the Wisdom of his Contrivance as in the Fruitfulness of his Ground But God said unto him Thou Fool It is here supposed that the Rich Man thought he had done wisely and proceeded by the best Measures of Prudence and Discretion in that the Judgment of God is here by way of Opposition set against his he it seems and God were of two different Apprehensious But God said unto him From the Words therefore I shall in the First place observe how vastly the Judgment of God differs from that of Men and particularly that what we count Wisdom here is Folly with him And since the Judgment of God is always insallible and according to the truth and reality of things I shall therefore in the Second place consider the great Folly of what God here condemns as such First Of Sin in general Secondly Of placing our Happiness and Content in the good things of this World And here I shall consider the great Folly of Covetousness and particularly of the Covetous Rich Man in the Text. And First I observe how vastly different the Judgment of God is from that of Men and particularly that what we count Wisdom here is Folly with him My Thoughts says God by the Prophet are not your Thoughts neither are your Ways my Ways for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my Ways higher than your Ways and my Thoughts than your Thoughts Indeed the disproportion is very great between Earth and Heaven between the Point and the Circumference of so vast a Circle and yet this cloes but faintly shadow out the mighty disproportion that is between the Measures of Men and the Ways of God for the difference is as great as between Truth and Falshood which are removed from each other by an unmeasurable distance There 's more Truth than we are easily
born away before us We have indeed in our Eye a much Nobler Mark but we want a Steddy Hand Our End is better than theirs but our Management is not so good And what a shame is it for us that have proposed a Greater and a Better End and are also more Instructed in the Choice of Means which are pointed out and described to us by God himself to be yet so far out-witted by those of Lower Aims and who are fain to Study and Contrive their own Means and whose Wisdom after all is Foolishness with God! And yet thus it is the Devil's Scholars are better Proficients than Christ's Disciples the Ark falls before Dagon and Light is outshone by Darkness What therefore remains but that since we will not Learn in Christ's we should be sent to the Devil's School and imitate the Politicks of the Dark Kingdom and of the Children of this World Imitate them I say not in the Choice of the End which indeed is very Poor and Low but in that Wisdom Diligence and Care wherewith they prosecute it and be as Wise at least unto Salvation as they are to Destruction Go to the Aunt thou Sluggard says Solomon consider her Ways and be Wise. And may I not in like manner bespeak the greatest part even of Piously disposed Christians Go to the Men of the World and learn Wisdom Let us then be as Wise as these Serpents and since we have Chosen the Better Part and are so nigh to the Kingdom of God let us not for the want of One thing miss of being compleatly Wise and Happy But as we have made a good Choice let us prosecute it with equal Prudence So will our Wisdom be Whole and Intire Uniform and Consistent Blameless and Irreprehensible in a Word that Wisdom which shall be Justified of all her Children A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Righteous and Vnrighteous Judgment John 7. 24. Judge not according to the Appearance but judge Righteous Judgment THAT which the great Descartes makes necessary to a Philosopher is indeed no less so to a Christian to strip and devest himself of all Prejudices and Partialities to unravel all his former Sentiments to unthink all his Pre-conceived Opinions and so reduce his Soul to the natural Simplicity of a Blank Table and to the Indifferency of an even and well-poised Ballance For as it matters much in reference to our Actions what our Sentiments and Judgments of things are because we always act as at that present instant we think so does it to the Regularity and Uprightness of our Judgments what the Temper and Disposition of our Mind is The Wise Ben-Sirach has long since observed that Wisdom will not enter into a Polluted Spirit and St. Paul that the Animal Man perceives not the things of God There are it seems some Moral as well as Natural Dispositions of the Man that make the Soul unfit for Knowledge and till these Scales fall off from her Eyes she cannot see But the Pythagoreans went higher and taught their Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they must separate and unwind themselves even from their very Bodies if they would be good Philosophers This in a Qualified and Corrected Sense is true for the Body is the great Impediment and Disadvantage of the Soul and therefore all Bodily Passions and Inclinations as well as Intellectual Habits and Appetites must be put to Silence in the still and Attentive Search and Inquiry after Truth But to the present purpose it will be enough to remark that Prejudices and Prepossessions as well as vitious Habits a cross Constitution and a gross Texture of Blood and Spirits do Cloud and Pervert the Understanding and take away the Key of Knowledge This is that Veil which as the Apostle complains remain'd untaken away upon the Jews in the Reading of the Old Testament and which hindered them from understanding it and made them stand out in defiance against all the Divine Precepts and Convincing Works of the Son of God whose Divinity through this Veil of Prejudice they could not discern It was a greater hindrance to them in distinguishing the Character of his Person than the Veil of his own Flesh was or the Mystery of the Incarnation This therefore must be removed by the Christian as well as by the Philosopher and the Soul must be Purged before it can be Enlightened Freed from Prejudices and false Appearances before it can be from Errors and Misapprehensions Without this Purity of Heart there will be so little Clearness of Head that let our Parts stand upon never so great Advantages either of Art or of Nature we shall neither be right in our Determinations of things nor just in our Censure of Persons neither Wise in our Discourses nor Righteous in our Sentences we shall neither maintain Truth nor Charity All which is briefly Intimated and summarily Contained in this Admonition of our Saviour to the prejudiced and partially affected Jews Judge not according to the Appearance but judge Righteous Judgment In Discoursing upon which Words I shall First of all Inquire what it is in general to judge according to Appearance Secondly Whether all judging according to Appearance be opposed to judging Righteous Judgment and consequently here forbidden Thirdly If all be not which it is that is so Lastly I shall shew the great Reasonableness and Necessity of the Precept and Conclude I begin with the first Inquiry what it is in general to Judge according to Appearance Now this will be best known by Considering the import of the Terms severally By Judging therefore is properly understood that action of the Mind which either joins the Attribute with the Subject or separates it from it Or to speak less Artificially and more to Common Apprehension which either Affirms or Denies one thing of another By Appearance I understand the Representation of the Object to the Mind with its Motives and Arguments true or false in order either to Assent or Dissent So that to Judge according to Appearance is in other Words to Affirm or Deny one thing of another upon the representation of certain Arguments or Motives to Believe Think or to be Assured that a thing is so or so uppon such and such Grounds and so it takes in the Three-fold kind of Assent and that in all the variety of Degree Faith Opinion and Science with this only difference between them that whereas Faith and Opinion do not necessarily suppose a Firm Foundation but are indifferent to due and undue Appearances for a Man may believe and think upon false as well as upon good Grounds Science does always suppose a due and regular Appearance of the Object and cannot proceed but upon sufficient Grounds And this I think sufficient in Answer to the First Question I proceed therefore to inquire Secondly whether all Judging according to Appearance be opposed to judging Righteous Judgment and consequently here forbidden But we need not inquire long about it for 't is most certain
and if we will follow Christ we must forsake the Multitudes and ascend up to the Mount of Solitude and Holy Separation And that we may be the better incouraged to undertake this Religious Singularity let us to the Reason of the thing add two very remarkable Scripture Examples The First that invites our Consideration is that of Lot who happened to live in a City so prodigiously wicked and beyond all Measure or Example Debauched that though a very Populous Place it could not afford so much as Ten good Men they were so universally seiz'd with the Pest and Contagion of Vice And yet this good Man though he breath'd in so corrupt an Air was not at all infected with it the health and cleanness of his Soul like that of Socrates's Body was too strong for the Contagion and preserved him from the Malignity of a Plague that was more infectuous and more mortal too than that of Athens Indeed the filthy Conversation of that wicked Place disturb'd his quiet but it could not sully his Innocence it vex'd his Righteous Soul as the Text says but it could not Debauch it He dwelt like the Church of Pergamos where Satan's Seat was in the very Metropolis the Imperial City of the Devil's Kingdom but he Convers'd there like an Angel of Light among Fiends and evil Spirits He was surrounded with the works of Darkness but he had no Fellowship with them his Company was Devilish but his Conversation was Angelical though he could not make them better yet they could not make him worse he lived with them but he lived against them This indeed was great and extraordinary but there is an Example of Religious Singularity beyond this and that is in Noah who lived in a World that was as corrupt and more than the other's City the whole World then was but one Greater Sodom nay it was much worse than that Seat of Wickedness Sodom indeed was so given up to Debauchery that it could not yield Ten Righteous Persons but the whole World in Noah's time could not afford so much as Two he himself was the only good Man then in the World as may reasonably be concluded from that Reason expressed by God why he excepted him from the general Deluge For thee have I seen Righteous before me in this Generation Now 't is impossible to imagin that Vice should ever be more in mode and fashion than it was then when as the Text says all Flesh had Corrupted his way upon the Earth and the whole Earth it self was fill'd with Violence And yet in this allover-wicked World Noah maintained his Innocence and his Integrity shin'd forth as a Light in the midst of this Crooked and Perverse Generation and was not only a Doer but a Preacher of Righteousness In other Ages of the World though never so Corrupt Religion and Vertue has had some Party and the Singularity of Living well is shared and divided among several and one is a Countenance and Incouragement to another but here poor single Noah was sain to Live as Athanasius was to Dispute against the World and the whole Singularity lodged and center'd in his single Person which puts it beyond all Example or Parallel And thus have I gone through the several Stages of my Undertaking I shall now make one or two brief Reflections upon the whole and conclude In relation therefore to the First Supposition it may be inferr'd That the Multitude is no safe Guide and that the Measures of Right and Wrong are not always to be concluded from the consent of Majority for you see here that Vice has by much the Majority of its side and yet 't is Vice still From the Second it may be inferr'd That those who have already a Majority for their way ought not to think their Cause any whit the better for having new Proselytes every day brought over to them and because Men flock to their Standard from every Quarter For as it has been discoursed this is no more than what is to be expected from the ordinary course of things Men are naturally apt to imitate that which is most prevailing and to conform to the course and way of the World Those therefore that value themselves or their Cause the better for this seem not to understand the World but to be meer Strangers to the Inclinations of Human Nature for did they consider that they would quickly perceive that this does not reflect any Credit upon their Cause but rather upbraids the levity and weakness of Mankind and is no argument that they themselves are Wise but only that other Men are Fools Lastly from the Caution it self we may justly infer that the Censure of Preciseness and Singularity which the Men of this World commonly charge upon good Men and the Hatred and Spite wherewith they prosecute them upon that very account are both of them utterly senseless and extreamly absurd This has been an old Grudge Thus the Sinners in the Book of Wisdom Let us lie in wait for the Righteous because he is not for our turn and he is clean contrary to our doings He upbraideth us with our offending the Law and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our Education And again He was made to reprove our Thoughts He is grievous to us even to behold for his Life is not like other Mens his Ways are of another Fashion A very high Charge indeed and as notable an Inference he lives otherwise and better than we do and therefore we must hate and persecute him But this I say is a very absurd and unreasonable way of Proceeding for the ground of the business if sifted to the bottom comes to no more than this They are angry with a Man for not loving their Company so well as to be content to be Damned for the sake on 't But I think we may with great Civility beg their excuse in this matter if they will have us do as they do then let them take care to do as they should do But for a Man to make himself a Beast utterly unfit to be convers'd with and then to call me Singular and Unsociable because I won't keep him Company is hard measure And as these Men are guilty of an unreasonable Charge so shall we be guilty of an inexcusable Folly and Weakness if we depart from our Duty and our greatest Interest upon such a trifling inconsiderable Discouragement For then 't is plain that we are of the number of those low and unconsidering Spirits that love the Praise of Men more than the Praise of God Let us not therefore be led away with Noise and Popularity nor be frighted from our Duty by those empty Anathema's of the Multitude the Censure of Unsociableness Preciseness and Singularity Let us be sure by doing our Duty to satisfy our own Consciences whatever others do or think Let us not be carried away in the Polluted torrent of the Age nor be Fools for Company Let us for once
for a Man in his last Hour when he is taking leave of his Body and shaking Hands with the whole World when all are sad about him and concerned for him then to consider that there is a better state and that he has a Title to it that when his Earthly Tabernacle shall be dissolved he has a Building with God an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens That when he shall cease to live with Men he shall dwell with God and converse with Angels in a word that he is to leave nothing but Vanities and Shadows behind him and that he has the solid and real Happiness of a whole Eternity before him What a mild and unterrifying thing is Death to such a Man as this and with what Serenity and Chearfulness does he entertain its Summons He can smile in the Physicians Face when he hears him pronounce his Sickness desperate can receive the Sentence of Death without Trembling and if his Senses hold out so long can hear even his Passing-Bell without disturbance The Warnings of Death are no more to him than was the Voice of God to Moses when he said to him Get thee up to Mount Nebo and dye there no more but get thee up and dye For now he feels the approaches of that Salvation with Joy which he had before wrought out with Fear and Trembling and can lay down his Body with an holy Hope having possessed it in Sanctification and Honour And what a happy state of Mind is this How far exceeding all the common objects of Desire and Envy and all those Pleasures of Sin for whose sake 't is yet frequently put to the Hazard and too often foolishly exchanged To Live with Peace of Conscience is a singular Happiness but much more to Dye with it then if ever 't is a Peace that passes all Understanding So great reason had Balaam for that passionate Wish of his Let me dye the Death of the Righteous and let my last End be like his But this we shall be further convinc'd of by considering Secondly the miserable condition of those who want this Peace at the Hour of Death This may be conceived in a double degree either by way of Doubt or Distrust or by way of down-right Despair Suppose we then in the First place a Man placed upon his Death-bed who has led his Life so indifferently or Repented so lately or so imperfectly that 't is a matter of reasonable question whether he has an interest in the Mercies of the New Covenant or no what a strange Kind of Suspense must such a Man be in and what a strange concern must he have upon him What a disconsolate what a damping Thought must it be for such a Man to consider that he is now going out of the World but does not know whither That there are Two States of Eternity but he does not know which shall fall to his lot nor when his Soul is dislodged from his Body who shall give her the first greeting whether an Angel or the Devil And how must such an uncertain Soul tremble and be confounded in this her dark Passage 'T is a sad thing even to be Doubtful and Unresolved in a business of such vast moment But if the Man by reason of the notorious enormity of his Life is so far a Stranger to this Peace as to be in utter Despair of his Salvation I want words to express how miserable then his Condition is with what amazement then will he look both backward and forward upon his Sins and upon his approaching Account and how full of Indignation will he be against himself for neglecting when he had so many Opportunities to consider the things that belonged to his Peace and which now he perceives to be for ever hid from his Eyes The Memory of a Sinful Life is always tormenting whatever Pleasure there may be in the acts of it and the expectation of Judgement is always terrible but never do either of them appear in their true Colours till a Man comes to Dye Then he begins to have a sense and apprehension of them somewhat like that which our Saviour had in the Garden which put him into an Agony and a Sweat of Blood When the Man comes within view of Eternity then will he be most concerned for his misuse of Time The Scripture compares a Wicked Man to a Troubled Sea always working and uneasy but about the time of Death he is all over Storm and Tempest Who can then express the hundredth part of the Disturbance and Consusion he then feels For a Man to think he is just going to give an account before God of such a Life as he can't so much as reflect upon privately by himself without Shame and Amazement and to be sentenced to a place of Torment from whence there is no Redemption to think that he has lived insignificantly and wickedly idly and unaccountably and neglected that only time of Probation that only Opportunity of Happiness allowed him an Opportunity which was procured him at no less a rate than the Death of his Saviour and which was denyed to the Angels that Sinned To think that he has neglected so great Salvation and that he must now be miserable and undone for ever when with ease he might have been happy and all this for the sake of some little trifling Interests or Pleasures for Dreams and Shadows for that which never was considerable and now is not at all What can be more afflicting more astonishing than this for my part I think the Misery on 't so great that I can't see how any Man could support himself under the Agony of such a Consideration no not though an Angel should appear to him from Heaven strengthening him For 't is a state of Mind full of the very Blackness of Darkness and but one Remove from the Misery of Damnation And now I think from this Description of Horrour it may with ease be gathered what an invaluable Blessing and Happiness it is to have Peace at the last I mean at our last Hour If there be any one that is not yet enough satisfied of it let him but ask a Dying Man the Question and then remain an Insidel if he can I should now consider Peace at the last as it signifies Everlasting Peace or the Peace of the last and unchangable state of Man in the other World and shew how far this is to be valued beyond all the Temporary Pleasures of Sin But this is that Peace of God which passes all Understanding all Conception and all Expression and between which and any thing of this World there is no manner of Proportion What the Apostle says of the Sufferings is as true of the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this present time they are neither of them worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed Not worthy to be compared for their Greatness and less for their Duration I may therefore well omit any further
inlarging upon this 't would be almost as ridiculous to go about to give Light to a thing that is of it so clear as 't is to disbelieve it and he that offers to make the least Question of so evident a Truth is much too absurd to be seriously argued with I shall therefore pass on to the Second Consideration that a good Life which the Psalmist here expresses by keeping Innocency and taking heed to the thing that is Right will certainly bring a Man this Peace at the last And First 't will bring him Everlasting Peace this is plain from the whole tenour of the new Covenant which establishes a standing and never failing connexion between Repentance and Pardon 'T is the very Purchase of Christ's Death that now Repentance may be unto Life and accordingly 't is not only matter of Hope and probable Expectation but 't is made one of the Articles of our Creed that we may obtain Forgiveness of Sins Indeed Repentance is now no where in vain but among Devils and Damned Spirits it would have been so with us too had not Christ died and satisfied the Curse of the Law and the Justice of the Lawgiver and upon that satisfaction erected a new Covenant For the Law knows no such thing as Repentance but the Soul that sinneth must Dye Penitent or Impenitent But 't is the benefit we have by the satisfaction of Christ that now if we repent we shall be forgiven and accepted with God to Salvation and Happiness We shall certainly be saved with it and not without it for Christ did not as some fancy so far undertake for us that we might not Repent and live well but that we might Repent to Purpose He did not design to make our Repentance unnecessary but only to render it useful and efficacious to the ends of Pardon and Reconciliation So that a good Life is not only the means but the only possible means to everlasting Peace and Happiness As it is Secondly to bring us Peace at the Hour of Death nothing else can do it but this and this can and most certainly will as a good life gives us a firm Title to Salvation and Happiness so will it give us a good comfortable Assurance of that Title which is always an unspeakable Peace and Satisfaction but especially at the approach of Death And this is the natural Consequence and Reward of a Life well spent a good Man does his Duty with great Pleasure and Satisfaction but he reflects upon it with greater his Present Joys are very savoury and refreshing but his After-Comforts are much more so But of all the Reviews of his Life none yields him so much Comfort and Satisfaction as that last general Review which he takes of it when he comes to Dye then he has most need of Comfort then he is most fit to relish it and then he has most of it With what strange Delight and Satisfaction does he then reflect upon his past Life and call to mind the good he has done in it those Joys and Consolations which before maintained a gentle course within their own Chanels now begin to swell above their Banks and overflow the Man A kind of Heavenly Light springs up in his Mind and shines forth into his Face and his Hopes and his Desires his Thoughts and his Affections his Presages and his Expectations his Body and his Soul yea the whole Man is full of Glory and Immortality he is conscious to himself of his Sincerity and Integrity that he has not been wilfully and deliberately wanting in any part of his Duty but has rather made this his Exercise and constant concern to keep a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Man And as he recollects this with Pleasure so he builds upon it with Confidence and accordingly resigns up his Soul into his Maker's Hands chearfully and couragiously nothing doubting but that that good God whom he has so faithfully served in his Life will take care of him and reward him after Death And for such an Assurance as this there is sufficient ground in Scripture Great is the Peace that they have who love thy Law says the Psalmist And the Righteous hath Hope in his Death says Solomon And says the Prophet The work of Righteousness shall be Peace and the effect of Righteousness Quietness and Assurance for ever And says the great Apostle Our Rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation in the World And we know that we have passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren says Saint John And again If our Hearts condemn us not then have we Confidence towards God There is indeed some Controversy between the Reformed and the Romish Doctors concerning this Matter the latter generally denying that a Man may be Assured or Certain of his Salvation now though it may and perhaps must be granted that he cannot have an Assurance of Divine Faith nothing being the Object of such an Assurance but for which we have an immediate Revelation from God which cannot ordinarily be said of any Man's Salvation in particular but only of the general and conditional Proposition of the Covenant upon which we build yet I think there is sufficient reason to conclude from the forementioned places of Scripture with many others too numerous and obvious to alledge that a Man upon the consideration of his past life may be so Morally assured of his Salvation as to be out of all reasonable Doubt or Irresolution about it and he that will deny this must oblige himself to maintain one of these Two Propositions either that a Man cannot understand what conditions are required of him in order to a Salvable State or that he can't with any measure of Certainty judge of himself whether he be qualified according to those Conditions The former of which would reflect upon the Sufficiency and Clearness of Scripture which must be allowed to be full and plain in necessary things and the latter would redound too much to the dishonour and disparagement of Human Reason and Understanding since according to this Proposition a Man must be supposed to be so great a Stranger to himself as not to know what passes within his own Breast contrary to which the Scripture supposes in that Question Who knows the things of a Man save the Spirit of Man which is in him It must be acknowledged that this is not a strict Certainty neither of Science nor of Divine Faith but only a Moral and Human Assurance for 't is certain that the Conclusion can be no stronger than the Premises and therefore since one of the Propositions that which contains my own Qualifications is matter only of Experimental Knowledge which is a Human and therefore fallible Testimony 't is certain that the Assurance that rises from the whole can be no more than an Human or Moral Assurance But that is enough
he does not confess that there are no Joys like Spiritual Joys and that one Day spent in these Ante-Courts of Heaven is better than a Thousand And now since it appears to be a thing of so much reason and becomingness and of so great use and advantage to have our Conversation in Heaven methinks we should easily be perswaded to enter upon this Heavenly Dispensation of Life The Region we now Converse in is very incommodiously seated and of an unwholsom Complexion such as does not at all agree with the Constitution of the Soul where she is always sickly and out of order full of weaknesses and indispositions why then do we not change our Abode and remove our dwelling into our Native Country where there is a purer Air and a more healthy Climate When we hear or read a Description of a very pleasant Country such as the Bermuda Islands where the Sky is Serene and Clear the Air Temperate and Healthy the Earth Fruitful and Entertaining where there are Walks of Oranges and Woods of Cedar Trees though we have no probable prospect of ever going to dwell there yet we can't chuse but often think and sometimes dream of it and wish our selves the happiness of so pleasant an Abode Why then do not our Thoughts dwell more in Heaven where besides the far greater delightsomness of the Place we have a particular Interest and Concern to invite us thither 'T is the hope of arriving at Heaven at last that supports our Life upon Earth it is not able to support it self One or two turns here gives a Considering Man a full compass of its Enjoyments and he no sooner comes to understand them but he despises them And what shall a Wise Man do what refuge has he after this Discovery but to Converse in Heaven What Expedient is there left but to anticipate those Joys when he can no longer tast these So that there is a necessity of Conversing in Heaven if 't were only to relieve the Vanity of Earth and happy is the Man who has so much of Heaven while he is upon Earth Yea Blessed is the Man whom thou choosest O Lord and receivest unto thee he shall dwell in thy Court and shall be satisfied with the Pleasures of thy House even of thy Holy Temple A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Submission to Divine Providence John 18. 11. The Cup which my Father has given me shall I not Drink it THIS is a Question which our Lord puts to himself and 't is well he did so for had he put it to any body else 't is great odds but that it had been answered in the Negative for the great and general Center of Human Nature whither all the Lines of Appetite tend and where they all meet is Happiness The desire of Happiness is the First and Master-Spring of the Soul as the Pulse of the Heart is in the Body that which sets all the Wheels on work and governs all the under-motions of the Man 'T is that original Weight and Bias which the Soul first received from the Hands of her Creator and which she can never lose so long as she her self is 'T is indeed the strongest and most radical Appetite that we have an Appetite to which God has not set any bounds and to which Man cannot an Appetite that is ungovernable and unconfined it self and that gives Measures and Laws to all the rest and consequently there is nothing which so ill comports with our Nature which so directly crosses the grain of our Constitution as that which threatens or offers the least contradiction to this ruling Inclination of it Hence it is that Evil is the great Antipathy of Human Nature which though it has many particular Aversions yet this is her great and general Abhorrence From this at its first approach the whole Man shrinks in and stands averse and would be removed from it if possible an infinite distance the Animal part of Man is against it and the Reason of Man wonders and disputes how such an uncooth thing came into the World and several Hypotheses have been advanced to account for that strange Appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the great knot of antient Morality and the most gravelling Problem of all the Heathen Philosophy and I question whether Reason without the assistance of Revelation can conquer the Difficulty So that considering the Opposition that it carries to the whole Man both to our Appetites and to our Understandings there seems nothing more difficult than to be reconciled to it though it be in order to a greater advantage and we see an excellent glory behind the Cloud 'T is said by Plato that Pleasure and Pain are the two Nails that fasten both the Wings of the Soul down to the Earth and hinder its Ascent upward And the Wise Stoick has most excellently summ'd up the whole difficulty of Vertue into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Abstain and Sustain Indeed Abstinence and Patience are the Two most rough and uneasy Places in all the Stage of Vertue the rest of her ways are ways of Pleasantness and all her other Paths are Peace But here the Traveller meets with Trouble and Discouragement is ingaged in a point of Labour and Contention and though in the Event he perform his Duty and bear forth good Seed yet 't is always with the reluctancy of his lower faculties and as the Psalmist expresses it he goes on his way sorrowing But the chiefest and noblest Scene of Vertue lies in Patience 't is hard to abstain from Pleasure but 't is much harder to indure Misery which is the Reason by the way that the Sanctions of Laws are generally taken rather from Punishments than from Rewards and of all Obedience that which is Passive is most difficult for we hate Pain to an higher degree than we love Pleasure And of this the Infernal Spirit was so sensible one who dwelling with everlasting Burnings is best able to judge of the difficulty of submitting to Misery that he presumed to say concerning that excellent Person whom God had commended for his Integrity in all the instances of Active Obedience and whom he himself knew to be a Miracle of Patience in particular that if God would but put forth his Hand and touch him with some near and cleaving Affliction he would curse him to his Face And to this purpose 't is yet further observable that even the Disciples of the Blessed Jesus whom he had picked and chosen out of the promiseuous Herd of Mankind and who followed this Lamb whithersoever he went and traced him through all the narrow paths of a Vertuous and Religious Life yet when he came to Mount Calvary within view of the Cross they all forsook him and fled stopt short at the foot of the dreadful Hill and left him to tread the Wine-press alone And even he that had most courage and presence of Mind and dared furthest he whom St. Chrysostom calls
Heaven that they do it after a very perfect and excellent manner far exceeding the highest Measures of Mortality is here implied in that they are proposed and commended to us as Patterns and might be further concluded from the Perfection of their Natures and Faculties which we cannot but suppose to be very extraordinary since the excellency of our future Condition is summ'd up in this short Description that we shall be like unto the Angels But waving this Consideration taken from the Powers and Faculties of Angels as somewhat too Nice and Metaphysical for a Practical Discourse I shall chuse rather to represent the great Excellency wherewith they perform the Will of God from Two Collateral Considerations First The Impediments they are free from Secondly The positive Advantages they enjoy And First as to the Impediments they are free from 'T is the great disadvantage of all Human Spirits in this Station as well as the complaint of some that they are united with Bodies that are not proportioned to the Native Excellency and Activity of their Natures for indeed the Soul has made an ill Match Marryed very much beneath her self and has met with a Clog instead of a Companion one that is too weak to obey her Dictates and Motions and too strong to be governed that cannot follow and that will not be led that sticks too close to her to be shaken off and yet is too loose from her to be well managed Such an untractable ill suited Consort as this must needs be a constant incumbrance to the Soul even in her Natural but much more in her Moral and Spiritual Operations because here the Consort has contrary Inclinations so that the Soul is put to incounter not only with her ordinary weight but with an Opposite Law even that Law of the Members which wars against the Law of the Mind and brings us into Captivity to the Law of Sin Neither is this all for we are not only cumbered with a weight of Flesh and depressed by its low tendencies and propensions but our Body which at best is but in an ill disposition for the Operations of the Rational and Divine Life is often discomposed and made worse by Sickness and then the Soul is forced to sympathize and condole with her ill-suited Companion and either not to act at all or to perform her Part upon an ill-tuned Instrument And he that is blessed with the strongest and most tunable Constitution and enjoys the most vigorous Health has yet a great many necessities of Nature to serve that will take up much of his Thoughts and much of his Time so that he can't chuse but be troubled about many things things below the concernment of a Rational Being and that though he has chosen the Better Part and is so well convinced of his true interest as to acknowledge only one thing to be needful Add to all this that we breath in an infected Air live in an ill World where every Object almost is a Temptation and have a Devil to tempt and seduce us one who makes it his proper and profest business to cross the Ends of God to disturb the Moral Harmony of the Universe and to hinder the symphony and agreement of the Two Worlds that so God's Will may not be done in Earth as it is in Heaven And with these disadvantages no wonder that it is not But now the Holy Angels have none of these Impediments they have either no Bodies or such as no way incommode or retard but rather help and further their Faculties for they are in the full height and last perfection of their Natures and consequently must not be supposed to have the least degree of any of their Natural Perfections detained or held back from exerting it self by any clog or impediment there being no reason imaginable why they should be invested with any degree of Power which must never be brought into Act as it never must be if not at present they being now supposed to be in the last Perfection of their Natures They must be therefore conceived in this respect to act like necessary Agents to the full and to the utmost of their natural Strength and to have nothing in them that is not put forth as far as possibly can be And besides the Scripture always speaks of them under the denomination of Spirits without making 〈◊〉 of any Bodies belonging to them which must needs imply that either they are all Pure Minds as the Platonists say of the highest Order or if they have Bodies they are of so refined and clarified a Mould so nigh to an Immaterial Substance that Spirit might serve as a common word for both They have therefore no weight or load upon their Faculties nothing to dead or slacken the Spring of their Nature no Concupiscence to darken their Understandings or to pervert their Wills no Indisposition Languor or Weariness occasioned through crazy and sickly Vehicles but are always Fresh Vigorous and Bright like the life and quickness of the Morning and rejoyce like the Sun to run their Course They have no Necessities to relieve or provide for no impertinent Avocations to call them off from their noble Exercises no ill Company to debauch them no Devil to tempt and insnare them and therefore must needs act with a full display of their Faculties and be carried out uncessantly and intirely toward the Supream Good with their whole bent and energy as a Stone would tend toward the Center through an unresisting Medium But this will further appear by considering Secondly the positive advantages which they enjoy Their great advantageis that they have a constant and clear Vision of the Essence of the great God Now I consider that the Essence of God is the very Essence of Goodness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Divine Philosopher fitly calls him whereupon I conceive that an Angel seeing God after this Essential manner must have the same Habitude and Disposition to him as one that does not thus see God has to the common nature of Good But now 't is impossible that a Man should either will or act any thing without attending to good in common and without proposing that as his aim And accordingly 't is as impossible that the Blessed Angels should will or act any thing without attending to God and making him their End as long as they have this Essential Vision of him and of this they are never deprived for our Lord says of them that they always behold the Face of his Father which is in Heaven This he speaks of the Missionary Angels that have the Charge and Office of Guardians here upon Earth that even they notwithstanding their imployment here have a constant view of the Divine Essence and are never interrupted in their Beatisick Vision much more then is this true of the Stationary Angels that wait upon the Throne of God the Residentiaries of Heaven Whence it further follows that 't is impossible they should