securing our main Interest the Happiness of Eternity and when Time shall be at an End that is to every particular Person when Death shall put a Period to this Life then comes that Night in which no Man can work then the Opportunity shall be for ever at an End and according as Men have improv'd or wasted their Time in this World so shall their Eternity be happy or miserable in the next And therefore he is indeed very foolishly prodigal who without any Thought of hereafter wastes this precious Treasure this only Opportunity of making himself for ever happy in Vanity and Folly in pleasing and humouring his Body and neglects the Improvement of his Soul and instead of working out his Salvation with Fear and trembling secures to himself Eternal Misery And this does every wilful Sinner when with the Prodigal in the Parable he wastes this his Substance in Luxurious and Riotous Living and studies nothing but how to gratifie the lower Life looking no further than this present World for Happiness 'till his Opportunity be quite lost and he is surpriz'd into an unchangeably Miserable Condition because when 't was put into his Hand to make himself happy if he would he neglected it and chose the Track to Ruine Thirdly The Glorious Reversion of our Heavenly Inheritance is a Treasure likewise that can never be sufficiently valu'd for Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive the Felicities and Glories of it Now this we are assur'd by him that cannot lie and whose it is to bestow shall be the Reward of Vertue and sincere Religion all this is laid up for them that love God and keep his Commandments And therefore for a Man that knows all this to be so prodigally to throw away all Expectation of and Title to such a Reversion as this upon such low and profligate Accounts as the wallowing in the filthy Pleasures of a Goat or a Swine or the heaping up Treasures of Gold and Silver which are as unsatisfying as they are uncertain and perishing or for the Sake of a little empty Honour or the like This is the very Highth of profligate Extravagancy and such as one would think no sensible Man should ever be guilty of Upon these and many other nay indeed all Accounts 't is very true that a wicked Man is the greatest Prodigal in the World for he wastes and throws away what is of highest Value to a Man and that for what is no better than Vanity and Vexation of Spirit And thus much for the first thing expressed in this Parable viz. the great Extravagancy of ungodly Men when they give themselves up to the Guidance of their own Wills and Affections and grow weary of the Government of God their Heavenly Father Like the Prodigal Son they waste their most precious Substance in riotous and profligate living The second thing express'd in this Parable is the sad Condition such Men soon reduce themselves to by that their Extravagancy and loose self-will'd Course of Life or in other Words the Miserable Consequences of Debauchery and Riot and of following so Blind a Guide as Mens unruly Passions and Lusts For so in the Parable when the prodigal Young Man had spent all there arose a mighty Famine in that Land and he began to be in Want and went and joyn'd himself to a Citizen of that Country who sent him into his Fields to feed Swine And he would fain have fill'd his Belly with the Husks that the Swine did eat but no Man gave unto him The first ill Consequence then of this Prodigality or Lawless Extravagant Living is Spiritual Want or a Scarcity and Famine of the Divine Grace in the Soul which is by so much more to be dreaded than a Famine of Provisions for the Body as Eternal Misery and Death is more terrible than Temporal The Grace of God is questionless the Nourishment of the Divine Life and which if once withdrawn will leave the Soul dead in Trespasses and Sins Now an obstinate Course of Disobedience to the Divine Will drives out that Life-giving Power and makes the Soul uncapable of Vital Union with so pure a Spirit and as a Humane Soul is forc'd to leave a Body rotten and wasted and unapt any longer to entertain it so this Divine Spirit is thrust out from a corrupted sinful Soul And consequently there must be a famine in that Soul of that Heavenly Bread which is absolutely necessary to eternal Life and the Consequence of that is Eternal Death And certainly no Man that considers what a Dismal Condition that Soul is in which is reduced to such Extremity of Spiritual Want as this how full of Horrour and Despair as doom'd to endless Misery and seal'd up to Destruction which he sees dayly nearer and nearer approaching and no way to escape but like a Wretch immur'd between two Walls there to be starv'd to Death in continual Expectation of her sad End No Man that considers this with that Seriousness he ought but will be very careful not to waste what is so necessary to his Spiritual Subsistence i. e. by no means grieve or resist or quench that Life-giving Spirit by whom all true Religion lives and moves and hath its Being and which if neglected and oppos'd will be withdrawn and that perhaps for ever If like Esau we sell this inestimable Blessing for a Mess of Pottage forfeit the Food of our Souls that we may indulge our Sensual Appetites we may fear that a Spiritual Famine will be our Punishment and no Place left for Repentance no Blessing remaining for us though we seek it earnestly with Tears As the Prodigal in the Parable when after he had wasted his Substance in riotous Living and then wanted and was ready to perish with Hunger so that he would have been glad of the meanest and coarsest Fare would fain have sill'd his Belly with the Husks that the Swine did eat even that he could not obtain for no Man says the Parable gave unto him Another ill Consequence of this Spiritual Prodigality and loose wicked Course of Life and to name no more amongst a numerous Train of them is that it extreamly degrades and debases a Man and engages him in the vilest Drudgery imaginable the serving Bestial Lusts and Devilish Passions This is express'd in the Parable by the Prodigal's being sent into the Feilds to feed Swine a thing the most abject in it self and the most detestable to the Jews to whom our Lord spake the Parable who were taught by their Law to esteem that Creature among the most unclean And as low or lower than this does he debase his Nature who neglecting the Noble Precepts of Religion makes his Sensual Appetite the Rule and Measure of his Actions For what more Beastly and Detestable than ungovern'd Lust The wretch himself that is guilty of it is asham'd publickly to commit it and takes Advantage of Holes and Corners and
may I always so attend to the Dignity of my Nature and the constant Inspection of thy holy Angels and glorious Self in all my Ways as not to dare to play the Hypocrite in thy Presence who seest the very Secrets of my Heart and be asham'd to expose my Vileness to those excellent Spirits and reflect upon the Confusion I shall be in at the Day of Judgment when the Goat and the Swine shall be discover'd under the Profession of a Christian And O that the Zeal and Alacrity of these ministring Spirits in thy Service and for thy Glory may put me upon a holy Emulation to do thy Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven That so when the great Harvest shall come and thou shalt say to the angelick Reapers Gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather my Wheat into my Barn I may find Mercy at that terrible Day and be receiv'd to a Participation of the Glories of thy heavenly Kingdom Which grant O blessed Jesus I most earnestly beseech thee Amen PARABLE III. Of the Pearl of great Price Matth. xiii 45 46 The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant-man seeking goodly Pearls Who when he had found one Pearl of great Price he went and sold all that he had and bought it BY this and the Parable immediately before it of a Treasure hid in a Field which when a Man hath found he hideth and for Joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that Field The transcendent Excellency of the Christian Religion above all things in the World is represented And that 't is the greatest Wisdom to part with every thing that this World can afford all the Pleasures Honours and Riches of it rather than be without the inward Power and Life of this holy Religion which is a Pearl of so great Price so immense a Trasure that nothing here below can stand in Competition with it 'T is as David expresses it more to be desir'd than Gold yea Psal 19.10 than much find Gold and he professes that himself had more Delight in God's Commandments than in all Manner of Riches And Solomon says almost in the Words of these Parables Happy is the Man that findeth Wisdom or Religion for the Merchandise of it is better than the Merchandise of Silver and the Gain thereof than of find Gold Prov. 3.13 c. She is more precious than Rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compar'd unto her Length of Days is in her right Hand and in her left Hand Riches and Honour her Ways are Ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace Such great things as these being spoken of Religion by those that best knew its Excellency and the World being so very backward in the Belief of their Testimony and so foolish as to prefer every little worldly Good before this inestimable Treasure to which all that the whole Creation can afford is not comparable and the Consequence of this Delusion being so fatal no less than the eternal Ruin of both Body and Soul It highly concerns us by due Consideration to rectify our Apprehensions in this Matter and no longer childishly doat upon empty Gayes and Trifles and neglect what is of infinite Excellency and the most substantial Good It is therefore the Design of this Discourse upon the Parable above recited to weigh the Excellency of Religion against all that the World can afford in the Ballance of Reason that upon a fair Experiment we may see which does preponderate and accordingly be convinc'd which of the Two is most worthy our Choice And then if we still retain our Affection for the World against the Judgment of our Reason in behalf of Religion we shall likewise be convinc'd that we act more like Brutes than Men and that we deserve to feel the Consequences of our unreasonable and wicked Choice and taste no other Happiness than what this unsatisfying empty World can afford and in the next World be for ever miserable because we would not be for ever happy when we might First then let us see what the Whole that this World can afford will amount to All that is in the World St. John tells us is the Lust of the Flesh 1 Eph. 2.16 the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life i. e. to these Three may be reduc'd the Whole of what is valuable in the World And by the Lust of the Flesh is meant Pleasure of all Sorts by the Lust of the Eye Riches great Plenty and Abundance and by the Pride of Life Honour Power and Dominion This is that Trinity which the generality of Men adore and impatiently desire and place their greatest Happiness in the Enjoyment of and of each of these Particulars we will now enquire what they amount to and consequently what is the Sum total of the World And first to observe the Apostles Method we will begin with the Lusts of the Flesh or the Pleasures of the World and which are generally first in Men's Esteem and for which they are often content to part with the other Two Now these may be rank'd in this Order viz. the Pleasures of Lust and Uncleanness of luxurious Eating and Drinking and of great Jollity and Mirth all agreeing in the Character of the Lusts of the Flesh that is all highly gratefull to the Desires and Appetites of the Body And in the first Place I observe this in general of all worldly Pleasures that the longer a Man lives to enjoy them the more insipid still they grow to him and that not only upon Account of their own empty Nature but by Reason of the Decays of our own Faculties and consequent Disability to enjoy them As old Barzillai said to David 2 Sam. 19.35 Can I discern between Good and Evil c. when he invited him to the Pleasures of his Court. And what Happiness can be expected from that which is very unsatisfying in its own Nature and which were it not after a few Years we shall be incapable of enjoying But to be more particular As for the Pleasures of Lust and Uncleanness whatever Men's Expectations may be of receiving great Satisfaction from them they can't but find by their Experience that there is much of Disappointment in 'em and the Pleasure much greater in Imagination than Reality They are indeed deceitful Lusts and often make Men miserable even here but never happy And for the Truth of this that it may not be look'd upon as a thing only said not prov'd and the cinical Conclusion of a frozen dispirited Student whose narrow Course of Life has made him a Stranger to such Sort of Enjoyments and caus'd him to give a worse Character of them than they deserve I shall vouch the Testimony of Solomon who fill'd the Throne of a rich and flourishing Kingdom and was accountable to none but God for Actions of this Nature and his Desires perfectly
where shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth And thus much may suffice to be spoken to the second Enquiry How we are to express our Charity to the proper Objects of it in what Manner and in what Measure But before I proceed to what remains to be done according to the propos'd Method I think it will not be amiss to enquire whether in the Expresses of our Charity to the sick Danger of infection will not excuse from visiting them To this I answer first in general that Danger of Infection will not excuse all from visiting the sick For 't would be strangely inhumane and contrary to this Christian Pity and Compassion which we are now discoursing of to desert a poor helpless Creature in his greatest Necessity only because there is a Probability of falling into the like Calamity And would any Man be willing to be serv'd so himself Some then ought even in Case of Contagion to visit and attend the sick but who are they for every one will be ready to shift it from himself In the first place I think the nearest Relations of the Party ought to do it for they have a double Tye upon them that of Nature as well as of Religion and among these Relations those that are the most disengag'd from Business and the Affairs of this World and have therefore the least Obligation to come into other Company where there may be Danger of spreading the Infection further and likewise such as have the fewest Dependents upon them That is Private and single Persons are oblig'd to this Duty before those that are of more publick Callings and have Families and among these he that is most free and disengag'd and capable withal is the most oblig'd If there be no Relations of the infected Person whether he be Poor or Rich Friend or Enemy Good or Bad the Case is the same or none that will venture upon such hazardous Attendance I think the nearest Neighbours are oblig'd to do it i.e. the single and disengag'd from a Necessity of publick Converse For those that have Wife and Children and Families their Charity must begin at home to take care of their own Relatives is the prime Obligation and the Safety of a whole Family is in most Cases to be preferr'd to that of a single Person And those whose necessary Employments call them into much Company are bound to avoid what would endanger their bringing Infection to that Company and that for the same Reason as before because the Safety of many is generally to be preferr'd to that of one And those upon whose Life depends under God the Maintenance and Support of divers Persons for the sake of those Persons should be very careful to preserve themselves Only this ought to be observ'd by such as upon these and the like Accounts cannot personally visit and attend the infected Person viz. That they take great care to procure others that may do it and according to their Ability and the Wants of the Person to send Supplies of all things necessary And there are very many who though they will not venture their Lives for Conscience sake and to gain the Reward of being merciful in the other World yet for Mony they will do it and therefore such Encouragements must not be wanting from those that are of Ability As for Physicians and Clergy-Men whose Professions engage them to converse with great Numbers of People how far they are oblig'd in this Matter I think may be resolv'd thus If only one Person in a Parish or Neighbourhood or but a few in comparison with the whole Body of Men be contagiously sick to me it seems that neither Physician nor Divine are in such case oblig'd personally to visit them but rather to forbear and only to convey to them by other Hands what is needful for their Bodily and Ghostly Health respectively The Reason is because the Physicians and Divines being often sent for to divers Families must either not go after they have visited an infected Person and so neglect their Duty and many suffer and some perish for want of their Assistance or if they should go would very probably endanger the whole Neighbourhood And therefore the Safety of great Numbers of People being to be preferr'd before that of one or but a few they ought I think in this Case to keep at distance But when a Contagion spreads so that it becomes epidemical and the greater Number of Persons are seiz'd with it then the Case is alter'd and then I think both Physicians and Divines are bound to visit personally For in such Case to send Relief by other Hands whether Medicines or ghostly Comfort and Advice would by reason of the Numbers of the sick become impracticable and 't would be unreasonable for the sake of a few that were well to deprive a greater Number that are sick of the great Benefit of personal Visits of Physicians which for many Reasons prove more effectual than prescribing at a Distance and of the Comfort of the Prayers and more close and particular Discourses of Divines which no doubt are much more beneficial and make a deeper Impression upon the Soul than several Advices and Exhortations sent in Writing And Divines in this Case seem to be more oblig'd than Physicians though the Obligation is very strong upon Physicians too and that because the Safety of the Soul is infinitely to be preferr'd before that of the Body And if it perishes it perishes for ever and will at length involve the Body too in the same eternal Ruin And for a Shepherd to desert his Flock in their greatest Necessity to leave the Care of their Souls when there is the greatest Need of his Help and the infernal Lyon roaring about seeking whom he may devour This I think is the greatest Barbarity and most base betraying that great Trust that is possible The good Shepherd says our Lord giveth his Life for his Sheep And he the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls set the Example but the Hireling fleeth because he is a Hireling and careth not for the Sheep and the Wolf catcheth and scatters and devours them John 10.12 13. We should remember that God is infinitely powerful and can protect even from the noisom Pestilence if he thinks fit and nothing more intitles a Man to the peculiar Protection of the Allmighty than a faithful Discharge of his Duty And however it may fare with us here there is a glorious Recompence reserved for so great a Charity in a better World Proceed we now to the third and last thing to be done upon this Subject which is to shew what great Encouragement we have to this excellent Duty of Charity or what a Blessedness it is to be able thus to give rather than to Receive and that both with Respect to this World and that to come For in the first place with Relation to this World What can be a greater Pleasure to a Generous Spirit than to be the Happy
better and if a Man be as poor and despicable in the Eye of the World as Lazarus yet if he is of a contented resign'd Soul and make it his Endeavour to be rich towards God he at length shall be fill'd with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory while many rich that have their Portion in this Life shall be sent empty away And thus much for the first thing this Parable informs us of namely that from a Man's prosperous or adverse Condition in this World there is no Judgment to be made concerning his final Condition in the next The second thing it informs us of is that whatever Change is made in the Condition of the Soul after its Departure from this World its State shall be from thenceforth for ever unalterable For so in the Parable when the Rich Man being in Torments lifted up his Eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his Bosom and cry'd and said Father Abraham have Mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the Tip of his Finger in Water and cool my Tongue for I am tormented in this Flame Abraham after he had told him that he had in his Life-Time receiv'd his good things and Lazarus his evil things and that then there was a great and unexpected Change and Lazarus was comforted and he tormented he adds moreover that between him and them there was a great Gulf fix'd so that those which would pass from thence to him could not neither could any pass from him to them What is meant by this Gulf fixed between Heaven and Hell which hinders any Comfort or Relief coming from thence to that miserable Place or any Trouble or Annoyance from that Place to Heaven so that the Condition both of the Wicked and the Righteous remains unchangeably happy or miserable respectively Has been much controverted especially amongst the School-men But it tending to very little Edification to relate their Opinions most of which are very frivolous I shall only say what is the most receiv'd Opinion in our Church By the Gulf fixed we suppose is only meant God's irreversible Decree that those whose Wickednesses made them incapable of the Vision and Enjoyment of God and sunk them down to Hell shall for ever remain there without any Hopes of Comfort or Relief and that the Righteous likewise shall be receiv'd into Life and Happiness everlasting and such as all the Powers of Hell shall never be able to lessen or disturb And this methinks to any sensible Man should appear to be an Opinion the most reasonable and most agreeable to the Holy Writings Now here 't will be worth our while since the rich Man's Punishment is express'd by his being tormented in Flame and doom'd to be for ever so to satisfie two Queries usually put in this Case as first Why the Torments of Hell are express'd by Flames and Burning And secondly How it can be consistent with the Divine Justice to punish the transient Acts of Sin with such an endless Misery To the first I return this Answer as to me the most satisfactory Though I believe that at the general Conflagration when the Heavens shall be shrunk up as a scorch'd Parchment and the Elements melt with fervent Heat and the World and all that 's in it be burn'd up though I believe that God will then take Vengeance of his Enemies in real Flames of Fire which shall for ever encircle and prey upon their Bodies yet I think that will be the least Part of their Torment and that the Extremity of it will consist in the inward Trouble of their Minds arising from an impatient Appetite and continual Thirst after that Felicity which they know through their own Default they shall never come to enjoy And that such vehement Desires and the Passions consequent upon the disappointment of them should be call'd Flames and Burning is no more than what is usual in our common Manner of speaking and the Expression of fervent and ardent Desires is often met with in the holy writings too particularly where David says My Soul breaketh out with the very fervent desire it hath always to thy Commandments And Rage and Fury and Impatience and the like which attend unsatisfied Desires are likewise frequently attended with the Epithet of Fire as every one must needs have observ'd Now Man having an innate uncontrolable Thirst after Happiness and which is always equally intense and that to the highest Degree when as the Punishment of his Rebellion against God his foolish and wicked Choices here his Pursuit after lower Good and Neglect of the supreme he shall be for ever banish'd to an infinite Distance not only from the Fountain of Happiness but from every Stream and Participation of it which here below cool'd his Heat a litle and for the present gratified that his Desire and yet the Appetite and Thirst after it continuing as great as ever and the Wretch withal sensible of the utter Impossibility of attaining it and that not so much as one Drop from that Fountain of Bliss shall ever be given to allay his Thirst and cool his parch'd and inflam'd Tongue His Desire must for ever be to the highest Degree craving and importunate in vain and being continually thus disappointed his Impatience will still grow hotter and hotter and his Remorse for bringing this upon himself turning to eternal Rage and Fury and boyling up like Rivers of enflam'd Brimstone the Fire will be everlasting And what a Calenture think we will the whole Man be in when without the fiercest material Flames shall prey upon the Body and hotter Fires within torment the Soul And this Notion of the Flames of Hell seems to me not obscurely hinted in the Rich Man's lifting up his Eyes in his Torment and when he saw the happy State of Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom begging him to impart though but one Drop of that Bliss he enjoy'd to cool his parched Tongue His Desire of that Happiness was in the greatest Degree of Ardency and when he saw Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom then he cry'd out Father Abraham have Mercy on me for I am tormented in this Flame Thus much for the first Query To the second I return this in Brief That since Sin is the greatest Possible Evil it being a Violation of the strongest Tyes and Obligations an Opposition and Contrariety to the Supreme Good and in no Case eligible as every considering Man must needs confess it can't be too rigorously dealt with even by the Infliction of the greatest possible Punishment for there is the same Proportion between the greatest Evil and the greatest Punishment as between a lesser Evil and a lesser Punishment And therefore unless we 'll say there can never be any Proportion between a Fault and its Punishment I think we must own there is Proportion here Now the Use we may make of this second Part of the Parable is this That since the Consequence of a Life of Wickedness is so dreadful and remediless a
more and more to soften their Hearts and make them pliable to the Impressions of the Word of Life that it may sink deep into their Souls and be fix'd there beyond the Danger of yeilding to every Temptation and withering when Adversity shall come They must not boggle at any thing that appears to be their Duty but be diligent and industrious in ridding their Minds of their former Evil Habits and Inclinations and inure themselves to the Obedience of Christ not pretending Hardship or Impossibility when He commands not endeavouring to lessen the Obligation of any of his Precepts or shifting it from themselves nor expecting Heaven upon easier Terms But knowing their Lord's Will endeavour to do it in Sincerity upon such Obedience only through the Merits of Christ hoping for the Promises And this Course like good Tillage and Manuring of our Ground will soon mollify the Heart and make it not only superficially but intirely Plyable to the Word of God receptive of its Impressions to the very Bottom so that it shall dwell in us richly and bring forth Fruit not only in Times of Security and Peace but even then when Tribulation shall arise because of the Word and take still deeper Root and bring forth greater Abundance notwithstanding all the Storms and Scorchings of Persecution or even a fiery Tryal Thirdly in order to the Fruitfulness of the Word we must be very careful that it be not like Seed that falleth among Thorns lest the Thorns spring up and choak it so that it yield no Fruit. That is that after the hearing of the Word we go not forth and suffer the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Lusts and Pleasures of this Life to enter in and choak the Word and it become utterly unfruitful or at least bring no Fruit to Perfection 'T is by a lamentable Experience too true that the Love of this World very much hinders our Provision for the next and 't is as true that this is the greatest Folly and Madness in Nature because the World to come is upon all Accounts so infinitely to be preferr'd before the present that there cannot be the least Competition between them For how can a World of Cares and Vexations of Misery and Affliction of all Sorts of Hazards and Uncertainties of Sickness Pain and Death as this is compare with a World of eternal unmix'd and uninterrupted Happiness as is the other And therefore one would think Men should be so wise and so much their own Friends as to bestow their greatest Endeavours in Pursuit of their main Interest and not on the contrary such egregious Fools as for the Gain of an empty Bubble to forfeit an happy Eternity So far as is consistent with the Care of the Soul 't is very allowable to mind the Affairs of this Life Nay 't is a Duty of our Holy Religion for every man to be industrious in his Calling and to enjoy with Thanksgiving the Portion that God hath given him here below But to invert God's Order and place that First in our Esteem which should be Last when he says seek ye First the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and then all needful things of this World shall be added unto you to run quite counter and First provide for Abundance here and then and that but very coldly God knows think a little of the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness this is such a preposterous Course as can never end in any thing but Shame and Confusion If it be true that the Gain of even the whole World would be a very unprofitable Exchange when compared with the Loss of the Soul and if it be true that the Loss of the Soul will follow upon the Unfruitfulness of the Word of God for Faith alone will not save but must bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit And finally if it be true that a too great Love and eager Prosecution of the things of this World will choak the Word of God and make it unfruitful as our Lord in this Part of the Parable affirms it will If all this be true I see not how it can be avoided but that such as have a Desire that the Word of God should be fruitful in their Souls in order to the eternal Salvation of them must love the World less and their Souls more must be careful in the First place to grow in Grace and be rich towards God and clear their Minds of these worldly Thorns and Briars lest the Divine Life be stifled and that Seed choak'd which alone can fructify to a happy Immortality We must use this World yet so as not to abuse it but certainly he abuses it and all the Blessings that God affords him in it who so immoderately Doats upon it as to prefer it before the Service of his great Benefactor and spends most of his Thoughts and Endeavours about the encreasing Wealth and the Enjoyment of these sublunary Pleasures and can spare but very little if any of his Time and Pains to prepare himself for the Enjoyment of God in Glory And yet as plain as this is Men are generally so little affected with it as not only to neglect Religion as much as ever and love the World still more and more but even to plead the Cares of the World as an Excuse for their Coolness in Religion and the Unfruitfulness of the Word of God in their Souls We would be oftner at the Sacrament and more constant in at the Prayers of the Church and in reading and meditating upon the Holy Scriptures but that the Cares of the World and the Hurry of Business takes up most of our Time and Thoughts But for God's Sake let such consider is that an Excuse which is it self as great a Fault as any Will God accept such an Excuse at the Day of Judgment Has he not plainly forewarn'd us of the Danger of too much worldly Mindedness Has not St. John said plainly 1 Joh. 2.15 love not the World nor the things of the World for whoso loveth the World the Love of the Father is not in him And our Lord as plainly ye cannot serve God and Mammon How strange a Plea then is it for the Neglect of Religion to say we are deeply engag'd in the Persuit of this World 's Good If we believe we have Souls to be saved methinks we should take care of them in the First place and as for this World a moderate Industry such as does by no means intrench upon Religion is all that can be justifyed And what our Lord said to the Scribes and Pharisees about their taking care of lesser Matters and neglecting the weighty things of the Law should be our Rule in providing for our Families and providing for our Souls These things ought ye to have done and not to have left the other undone He that provides not for his own House according to the Measures of Necessity and Moderation is worse than an Infidel
deceiving his own Soul From him shall be taken away even that which he hath he shall be deprived of it to inrich his industrious Brother and add to his Abundance What Grace he had before shall be withdrawn and he naked and defenseless left to the Fury of his Spiritual Enemies the Dews of Heaven shall no longer drop upon his barren Soul but parch'd and sapless it shall be reserv'd to eternal Burnings Consider this all ye that forget God and are unfruitful under all his Care and fatherly Nurture and Admonition lest at length he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you And remember the Words of Solomon Prov. 29.1 He that being often reprov'd still hardeneth his Neck shall suddainly be destroyed and that without Remedy And thus have I done with the first of our Saviours Parables in which is set before us a Blessing and a Curse a Blessing if when the good Seed is sown and we have heard the Word we receive it into honest and good Hearts and according to our several Abilities bring forth Fruit to Perfection that is obey and Practise it with Constancy and Perseverance And a Curse if we remain still barren and unfruitful not Doers of the Word but Hearers only deceiving our selves into eternal Perdition It becomes us all therefore to take heed how we hear and not be like the High-way-side suffering our Thoughts to wander from the Instructions we have heard and leaving the good Seed unregarded to the Mercy of the great Enemy of Souls and exposing our Minds as a common Tract to vain and wicked Fancies and Imaginations and diabolical Suggestions nor like the stony Ground impenetrable to any deep and lasting Impressions of the Word of Life nor like that over-run with Thorns and Briars and noxious Weeds such as are the Cares and deceitful Riches and Pleasures of this Life which will choak the Word and render it unfruitful But that we treasure up this Divine Word in our Memories ponder and consider it and set our Love and Affections upon it So shall it grow and prosper and bring forth Fruit in some Thirty in some Sixty in some an Hundred-Fold to the Honour and Glory of God and the eternal Salvation of our immortal Souls Which God of his infinite Mercy grant for Jesus Christ his Sake Now 2 Cor. 9.10 He that ministreth Seed to the Sower both give us this Heavenly Bread for our Food and multiply the Seed that is sown and encrease the Fruits of our Righteousness that being inrich'd in every good thing to all Bountifulness there may be given through us Thanksgiving unto God Amen Amen The PRAYER I. MOST Holy Jesus thou blessed Author of the best Religion who hast in great Plenty sown among us the Seed of a happy Immortality even thy holy Word and watered it with the Dew of thy heavenly Grace and art wanting in nothing on thy Part to cause it to flourish and bring forth abundantly the Fruits of Righteousness I thy unworthy Servant unfeignedly bless this thy infinite Goodness and tender Care for the Children of Men but must with Shame confess that hitherto thy Care has been in too great Measure defeated by my Inconsiderateness and Obstinacy my Soul still remains barren as the High-way-side impenetrable to the Sermons of the Gospel or at best flitting and unconstant in religious Purposes which have been short-liv'd as the Grass that grows upon the Top of the Rocks or else choak'd with the Briars of worldly Cares and Distractions with covetous and sensual Desires Thus have I courted Death in the Error of my Life But now being awaken'd by thy Mercy and become sensible of the Danger I am in and the sad Consequence if my Barrenness continues I humbly beg and earnestly at the Throne of Grace that Thou from whom is all our Sufficiency wouldst aid me with thy blessed Spirit and help my Infirmities and strengthen me mightily in the inner Man that thy Word may ever hereafter take so deep a Rooting in my Soul as to produce the genuine Fruits of Christianity II. I am sadly sensible O Lord that the Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Do thou therefore who art the Searcher of our Spirits purge my Soul of all lurking Hypocrisy and Pride and Self-conceit and every thing that will hinder the Growth and Increase of this heavenly Seed and make me apt to receive and cherish it by creating in me an honest and good Heart and renewing a sincere and right Spirit within me Grant that I may so seriously attend to and consider the great Truths thy Goodness hath revealed to us in the Gospel as intirely to assent to them and heartily endeavour to conform my Practice to my Belief and may I always heedfully preserve those divine Instructions and moving Arguments to a persevering Piety which I have learned from thy Word lest the infernal Bird of Prey deprive me of the good Seed and in its room plant devillish Affections And O that Patience and Hope and an humble Dependance upon thee for Direction and Defence may be my Support in this my Pilgrimage That so chearfully running the Race that is set before me and thankfully acknowledging the early Influences of thy blessed Spirit in my tender Years and waiting for the later Distillations of thy Grace which will bring my Fruit to Perfection and always endeavouring o proportion my Increase to the Means and Opportunities of it thy Goodness hath vouchsafed me I may at last escape the Intolerable Punishment of Unfruitfulness and having my Fruit unto Holiness the End may be everlasting Life through thy Merits and Mercies O blessed Saviour Jesus Amen PARABLE II. Of the Tares Matth. xiii 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. Another Parable put Jesus forth unto them saying The Kingdom of Heaven is likned unto a Man that sowed good Seed in his Field But while Men slept his Enemy came and sowed Tares among the Wheat and went his way But when the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit then appeared the Tares also So the Servants of the Housholder came and said unto him Sir didst not thou sow good Seed in thy Field From whence then hath it Tares He said unto them an Enemy hath done this The Servants said unto him wilt thou then that we go and gather them up But he said nay lest while ye gather up the Tares ye root up also the Wheat with them Let both grow together until the Harvest and in the time of Harvest I will say to the Reapers gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them But gather the Wheat into my Barn THE Interpretation of this Parable is thus set down Vers 37. of this Chapter He that soweth the good Seed is the Son of Man the Field is the World the good Seeds are the Children of the Kingdom but the Tares are the Children of the wicked one the Enemy that sowed them
will unhallow and make ineffecutal one Duty of Christianity I can't see why it should not do the like to all the rest And if a Separation were admitted upon such Accounts as as these there would be no such thing as an external Communion of Saints because such is the State of the Gospel in this World that the bad will be intermix'd with the Good as Tares are in a Field of Wheat And as to the Practice of particular Ministers I charitably hope none do admit of notorious Offenders to the Communion without receiving satisfactory Marks of their Repentance or at least by previous Discourse or writing When they know of their Intention to communicate let 'em know the great Danger of receiving unworthily and urge them to an immediate sincere Repentance or else forbid 'em at their Peril to approach the holy Table And if after all this they will come we are to suppose in Charity that they have repented except we are sure to the contrary And if a Minister sees one at the Table whose Life has in many Instances to his Knowledg been very faulty unless the Crimes have been very great and very notorious to reject such an one I think with Submission would be arrogant and uncharitable and might exasperate the Man to so high a Degree as to make him throw off all Regard to Religion for the future and in such a Case the Exhortation appointed to be read at the Time of celebrating those Holy Mysteries should one would think be Warning sufficient for such an one if unrepentant to withdraw and if he stays Charity would incline one to believe that he was penitent And if a Person kneeling by who perhaps knows much more of the Man's Course of Life than the Minister shall be offended at his communicating one that receives so unworthily and speak hard things of him and abstain from that blessed Ordinance upon this Account for the future as prophan'd by such mix'd Company at it this is highly unreasonable uncharitable and unnatural 'T is unreasonable with Relation to their hard Thoughts and Censures of the Minister because Charity obliges him to think well of such as present themselves at the holy Table unless there be great and undeniable Evidence of their obstinate and continu'd Wickedness and in such a Case I dare say no pious Minister would prostitute those holy Symbols to such Swine And where there is not such Evidence Ministers can search Mens Hearts no more than other Men and therefore must hope the best and judge according to the outward Appearance and should they communicate some that receive unworthily by this Means as 't is to be fear'd they too often do why should they be blam'd for that which 't is impossible for 'em to help and aspers'd and all further Communion with them deserted for suffering that ignorantly which God though the Searcher of all Hearts permits in his Church without any open Discrimination namely the bad to join in all holy Offices with the good And this Practice is as uncharitable as 't is unreasonable because 't is judging and condemning those as Reprobates obstinate unrepenting Sinners whose Hearts we cannot see and who though formerly egregiously wicked yet now through the mighty Efficacy of God's converting Grace may for ought we know to the contrary be better than our selves And 't is an unnatural Practice too because 't is the depriving our selves of the Comforts that attend the Reception of that holy Sacrament and those of Vnion and brotherly Love meerly upon a groundless Nicety Let us all rather learn not to judge others before the Time but leave every Man to stand or fall by the unerring Judgment of our great Master at the last Day lest by judging others we condemn our selves who do the same things and it may be worse And instead of abstaining from the Sacrament because some come and are admitted to it whom we think and it may be not without Reason are not so well prepar'd as they should be endeavour to make our selves still more and more fit for so holy an Ordinance by a dayly Amendment of Life and then our Fleece like that of Gideon shall be moistned tho' other Men's be dry The Apostles were never the less dear to our Saviour for Judas his being amongst 'em but the more so rather and though through the Wickedness that was in his Heart Satan enter'd into him after he had receiv'd the Sop our Lord gave him at the Celebration of the Passover and in all Probability did partake of what he consecrated in Memory of his succeeding Death and Sufferings yet the rest receiv'd miraculous Assistances of the holy Ghost and were faithful to the Death and for certain have receiv'd the Crown of Life And I hope this will satissy for the future such as upon this Account have abstain'd from the blessed Sacrament and censur'd the Ministers of our Church and though without all Reason our Church it self And as what has been said upon this Matter has been no impertinent Digression so I hope it may be a beneficial one Let us now proceed to the second thing this Parable informs us of namely The Time when God's and our great Enemy the Devil sowes his Tares among the Wheat and that is while Men sleep For so the Parable while Men slept the Enemy came and sow'd Tares among the Wheat and went his Way Then is the Time of his injecting his wicked Insinuations into Men's Hearts whereby to make 'em become like empty Tares Christians in Name and Appearance only but devoid of the substantial Graces and Vertues of that holy Profession By Men's sleeping is here meant a careless Inadvertency and Neglect of the things of Religion a stupid Security in a thoughtless Way of Life And this is a Metaphor which the sacred Writers have often made use of to this Purpose and 't is so expressive of what they would represent by it that 't will be worth our while briefly to consider wherein the Likeness of such thoughtless Inadvertency in religious Matters to sleep does consist It is like it in the first Place in its Cause For as Toil and Labour and any thing that brings Weariness and consumes the Spirits disposes the Body to Sleep and makes it desire Rest and Ease that it may have a Recruit so this moral Drowsiness or Hebetude of the Soul generally begins to creep upon Men when they find difficulty in Religion a little striving soon puts 'em out of Heart their Hands fall their Knees grow feeble their Soul faints within 'em all Hope of Victory is then laid aside and they sit them down as Men quite spent and then steals that deep Sleep upon them which too often ends in Death Thus we often see Men set very briskly upon the Practice of Religion at First and seem wondrously pleas'd with their new Choice and admire at their Stupidity that they did not sooner discover the transcendent Beauties of Holiness and are resolv'd
either wholly deprives the Soul of or turns it into Poison and instead of disarming a Misfortune by humble Submission to the infinitely wise and just and good Disposals of the great Governour of all things adds a thousand sharper things to it and makes that become intolerable which Religion would have made to sit light and easy Again Content is destroyed by Irreligion because it perswades Men that their whole Interest lies here below either by making them believe there is no such thing as another World or else by engaging them so fast to this as to hinder their attending to any thing beyond this Life And the Effect of this is great eagerness in acquiring these lower Goods impatient Desires of still more and more of the World as that in which is concentred their whole Happiness And what else can be the Consequence of this amidst the great uncertainties that attend these sublunary things but a World of Trouble and Discontent answerable to those numerous cross Accidents and Disappointments which every Condition is full of from the highest to the lowest Every unlucky Hit to such Men is like a Dagger stabbing to the very Heart for that which a Man looks upon as his chief Good he can by no means endure to have lessened and impaired And the World being so full of such vexatious Mishaps how full of Wounds must be the Spirit of an ungodly Worldling And as Content so Satisfaction of Mind which is much more than a submissive Acquiescence in our present Condition and supposes a Happiness that is compleat and full This is a Blessing which nothing but sincere Religion can ever make the Soul experience And he only that has learned to make God the chief Object of his Affections and Desires can indeed know what Satisfaction is For every thing besides God is unsatisfying because flitting and momentary and very imperfect and empty of that infinite Good which is the only adequate Object of that infinite Desire of Happiness which is in the Soul of Man This is the Reason that Men are so constantly disappointed in their Expectation of Happiness from the Enjoyment of this World 's Good let them continually have what they desire which yet is too much to be rationally supposed of any Man and enjoy it fully and without Controul yet still there will be something wanting to compleat their Happiness something that they desire still further and so the Soul is continually baulk'd of her Expectation and still at a Loss for Happiness and continual Longings and Desires and as continual Disappointments are her Portion in this World And what 's more uneasie and vexatious than such a Condition as this What more deplorable than even by Fruition it self to be made unhappy What other Refuge has the miserable Soul in this Case than to take off her Affections from these empty Nothings here below and as Religion directs fix them upon him who is the supreme Good and will abide the Test of an eternal Fruition In the Enjoyment of him must needs be infinite Satisfaction because there is no real Good that we can possibly desire but is in the divine Nature in the highest Degree of Excellency and Perfection and that not only for a Time but to all Eternity All the Capacities of the Soul must needs be fill'd with an infinite Good and intirely rest in it as in the very Center of Happiness Thirdly Religion is of very great Value with Respect to this World because 't is so greatly conducive to a long and healthy Life in it Long Life and Health is that which all People naturally covet and is indeed a very great Blessing and that not only because the longer Men live and the more vigorous they are the longer and more fully they enjoy or at least hope to enjoy the good things of this World which yet with too many is the main Consideration but likewise and chiefly because they have more Time and greater Opportunities to provide for the Happiness of the eternal Life to come and heap up still greater Treasures of Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven Now this great Blessing nothing is more likely to help a Man to than Religion For First it engages Men to live regularly and temperately moderates the Appetites of eating and drinking and curbs the exorbitant Desires of the flesh and by allowing no more than is necessary to the Comfortable Support of Nature makes no Provision for those many destructive Diseases which are always the Attendants of Excess How many of the meaner Sort by Labour and course Fare protract their Days than of the Rich who live in Ease and Luxury And the Reason is plain because the poor Man's scanty Fortune will not allow him to exceed but keeps him within the Bounds of Moderation and Temperance and forces him to be content with a little whereas the rich have many and great Temptations to Luxury and Excess and seldom are so religious as to resist them and so too frequently feel the sad Effects of Intemperance and live out but half their Days But now Religion is a kind of voluntary Poverty and helps Men to all the Blessings of a mean Condition though rich and out of Danger of the Sting of it and by introducing Temperance and Moderation into the Families of the wealthy brings with it Health and long Life which otherwise would seldom be found but in the Cottages of the Poor Again Religion is greatly conducive to a long and healthy Life because it regulates the Passions keeps the Soul quiet and in a Calm which has no little Influence upon the Health and Welfare of the Body That the Passions of the Mind do very much affect the Body is undeniable and when they are excessive nothing more shakes and discomposes the whole Man Even Joy which one would think should be innocent enough has sometimes been so violent as to overcharge Persons and leave them dead and Grief has been often fatal and Envy is the worst Sort of Consumption and leaves visible Tokens of it upon the Countenance and Love has had many Martyrs and Anger is a great Impoverisher of the Animal Spirits and oftentimes makes a Man his own Executioner and engages in such Scuffles and hot Inconsiderate Actions as not seldom end in Wounds and Death Every Excess of Passion of what kind soever is naturally a great Impairer of Health at least and the often Repetitions of it the ready Way to destroy it Nature not being able to bear such violent Concussions long without being much weaken'd and shatter'd by them Like the Walls of a Castle which how strong soever will receive Damage by every furious Battery and unless reliev'd must at length fall before the Cannons Irresistible Force But now Religion prevents all this Mischief and by regulating and reducing to Moderation these Passions of the Soul makes the Mind calm and quiet and keeps the Spirits in an Aequipoise and the Body consequently is undisturb'd feels no Violence nor
is hurried on to dangerous and destructive Actions but Nature goes on evenly in making Provision for its Health and Support and it enjoys its Strength and Beauty as in the Times of Quietness and Peace In the last Place a comfortable Expectation of a much better and endless Life in the Regions of Glory can spring from nothing but sincere Religion and therefore Religion is of very great Value with Respect to this world For what can be of greater value and more to be desired in this Valley of Tears this World of Sin and Sorrow and Ignorance Vexation and Disappointment than to have a well grounded Hope that 't will not be always so with us That there will be a Time when all Tears shall be wip'd from our Eyes and Sin and Misery be at an End for ever That we shall one Day be disentangled from the Clog of Flesh the Prison Doors set open and our captiv'd Souls set free and with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory return to the great Father of Spirits and with the full Vigour of all their Faculties contemplate and enjoy the only satisfying Good That instead of Floods of Years there shall then be Rivers of Pleasures flowing in upon us to all Eternity Halleluia's instead of Groans and mournfull Accents the triumphant Rejoycings of eternal beatified Spirits instead of the bitter Complaints of miserable Mortals and in a word Love in its Perfection instead of Quarrels and Discontents Envy and Hatred and Malice and Revenge and all the dire Attendants of them That instead of spiritual Blindness and Ignorance of the most concerning Truths for here we know but in Part and see through a Glass darkly we shall e're long be admitted to contemplate Truth it self and know as we are known and shall see God as he is and in him all things For God is Light What can be more valuable than such a chearing Expectation as this How will it sweeten all the Troubles of this Mortal Life and be a sensible Foretaste of the Glory that shall hereafter be revealed But now nothing can create such a Hope as this but sincere Religion for God is infinitely pure and holy and into his Presence no unclean thing can enter And 't is expresly said in the Revelations of his Will That without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. A wicked Mans Breast that is not seared can be full of nothing but the dire Reflections of an enrag'd Conscience and dreadful forebodings of the Wrath to come The Miseries he feels in this World are but as the Beginnings of his eternal Sorrows and while he continues in his Rebellion against God he can expect nothing but new Expresses of his Indignation here and to be doom'd to the Portion of the Devil and his Angels at the Day of Judgment He only that has liv'd piously in this World can with any Comfort think upon a future State But to him that has led this First Life by the Rule of Religion and serv'd his Maker in Sincerity of Heart no Joy comparable to that which he experiences when he thinks of being dissolv'd and conducted to the Embraces of his Saviour in the Kingdom of Heaven where he shall be for ever with him and unspeakably happy in the Joy of his dear Lord. And thus much for the Value of Religion with Relation to this World It is the Parent of the most perfect Peace and Quietness Content and Satisfaction of Mind of a long and healthy Life here and of a comfortable Expectation of a glorious Immortality in the Regions of Blessedness And were this all that could be said of it I question not but to any considering Man it would appear to be a Jewel of inestimable Price that nothing the whole World can afford is comparable to it and that he is the wisest Man who with the Merchant in the Parable immediately parts with all that stands in Competition with Religion and would hinder him in the Performance of the Duties of it But this is far from all Godliness has not only a Promise of the Life that now is but also and chiefly of that which is to come And if it appears to be so inestimable a Treasure when we look no further than this Life what shall we think of it when we contemplate that exceeding Weight of Glory which shall be its Reward in Heaven The Happiness that will crown Religion in the other World springing from the same Fountain from whence do flow the Felicities of God himself i. e. it consisting in an intimate View and full Enjoyment of the Beauties and Perfections of the Divine Nature for so St. John 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall see God as he is It must needs be inexpressible Nay the very Contemplation of it is too bright for Minds darkned with Flesh the Splendors of it flash too strongly upon our feeble Sense now we are in the Body and too long and closely gaz'd on will rather dazle than enlighten our Understandings No Mortal Man can see God's Face and live and therefore most true is that of the Apostle Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard 1 Cor. 2.9 neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive the things that God hath reserv'd for those that love him Indeed this includes all that can possibly be imagin'd of Excellence and much more than we poor ignorant benighted Creatures can imagin For God is the Fountain of Being and consequently of Perfection All that is charming and truly desirable in Nature to our Senses or to our Understandings in the visible or invisible Creation is but a Stream from this divine Fountain and is in him ininfinitely greater Excellency For he is Beauty and Goodness and Harmony it self And therefore since Religion will bring us to such a Happiness as the Vision and Enjoyment of this chief Good what can compare with it for Value The Depth says 't is not in me and the Sea says 't is not with me Man knoweth not the Price thereof neither is it found in the Land of the Living It cannot be valued with the Gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx or the Saphire no mention shall be made of Coral or Pearls for the Price of Wisdom is above Rubies Job 28.13 c. Such then being the Excellency of Religion that it is above all things conducive to the Happiness of Man in this World and will bring him to the Enjoyment of God himself to eternal Ages when this short Life is ended and the whole that the World can afford amounting to no more by the Confession of one that enjoy'd it all to the Full than Emptiness and Disappointment Vanity and Vexation of Spirit here and if the Word of God be true an eternal Banishment from the supreme Good shall at last be their Punishment who love this worthless World more than Religion and their Maker These things being duly weighed and considered let any Man in his Wits say which is of greatest Value Religion or
the World And which is the wisest Man he that ruins his Soul for the Gain of even the whole World or he that counts all these sublunary things as Dung in Comparison with Religion and is ready to part with all that this Earth can afford him for the Joys of a good Conscience here and the Glories of Heaven hereafter He that prefers the World in his Choice deprives himself of the greatest Comfort of this present Life and parts with the certain Reversion of eternal Happiness in Heaven for Pleasures that don't deserve that Name they are so empty and unsatisfying he brings most exquisite and everlasting Misery upon his whole self Soul and Body for a very short liv'd imperfect Gratification of his brutal Part only and purchases the Torments of the other World by making himself unhappy in this In a Word therefore as much as to be like God in Holiness and Happiness is to be preferr'd before being like the Devil in Sin and Misery as much as Satisfaction is better than Disappointment Peace and Quietness and Content than Vexation and continual Disturbance and Perplexity of Mind a confirm'd Health and long Life than the Diseases and hasty Death that follows Debauchery and the comfortable Expectation of being for ever happy with Saints and Angels and the blessed God in the Coelestial Paradise than the confounding Dread of the Judgment of the great Day As much as Immortality is more to be prized than a Life of a Span long and the Enjoyment of the chief Good than the Pleasures of a Swine of so much gerater Value is Religion than all that this World can afford and indeed the only desirable Treasure and a Pearl of inestimable Price And now if what has been hitherto discours'd be true the Application is easy If Religion be of all things the most precious let us make it more and more our Endeavour to inrich our Souls with this Treasure to adorn our rational Nature with this Pearl of great Price and with the Merchant in the Parable think nothing too much to part with that we may purchase that Heavenly Wisdom which will make us wise to Salvation For sound Wisdom as the wise King expresses it Prov. 3.18 is a Tree of Life to those that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her She shall give to thine Head an Oranment of Grace Prov. 4.9 and a Crown of Glory shall she deliver to thee But he that would have this Wisdom and find this Pearl must not only wish and desire but with the Merchant in the Parable diligently seek it seek and ye shall find says our Lord Pro. 2.4 5. and Solomon assures us That if we seek Wisdom as Silver and search for her as for hid Treasure then shall we understand the Fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God Religion is not acquired without Diligence for though it be the Gift of God yet the Soul must be prepared to receive it all evil Habits must be broke and rooted up and pious Dispositions planted in their Room and the Temper of the Mind changed by Repentance and all the Powers of the whole Man become pliable to the Motions of the Spirit of Holiness before the divine Likeness can be formed in the Soul And though 't is the Grace of God that enables us to go thus far for without it we can do nothing yet our own Concurrence and Co-operation with his Grace is necessary to bring the blessed Work of Regeneration to Perfection An obstinate Resistance of preventing Grace will grieve and quench that Life-giving Spirit and such a Soul shall know no more of Religion than that it was invited to it but rejected the Offer and might have been happy in the Enjoyment of so great a Treasure but it would not But when a Soul with Joy embraces the Motions of the holy Spirit to a new Life and makes it her great Endeavour to remove all Obstacles out of the Way that they may make a due Impression and hungers and thirsts after new Degrees of Righteousness This Soul shall be fill'd with the Treasures of the divine Grace and the Power of Godliness will be visible in all Manner of holy Conversation But this can't be perform'd without a watchful persevering Diligence there is so much Opposition from within and without to this great Business that like Nehemiah's Labourers Neh. 5.17 we must work with our Swords in our Hands and fight and strive that we may carry on the Building of a living Temple for our God and make our Souls Houses of Prayer adorn'd with religious Affections and sit to receive him that hates Iniquity He that is thus diligent shall grow rich towards God and daily increase in the Knowledge and Love of him 'till Mortality shall be swallow'd up of Life and then all the Labours of Religion shall for ever be at an End and nothing remain for the happy Soul to do but to enjoy to all Eternity the glorious Rewards of it Let us all therefore be stedfast unmoveable and always abound in this Work of the Lord for as much as we know our Labour shall not be in vain and to our diligent Pursuit of this inestimable Treasure of Religion let us add frequent and earnest Prayer to God who is the only Giver of every good and perfect Gift that he would send down Wisdom from his holy Heaven that being present she may labour with us that we may know what is pleasing in his Sight and set our selves to do it with all Alacrity running with Diligence and Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endur'd the Cross despising the Shame Heb. 12.1 2. and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God remembring that we also shall reap in due Season if we faint not And if we part with all the vile Affections for the Sake of Religion in this World and are ready in Preparation of Mind to suffer any worldly Loss even to that of Life it self for the Sake of Jesus and his Truth we shall find such a Recompence of Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven as will abundantly compensate all our Sufferings here for our light Affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Happy is the Exchange of all that this World can afford for a Jewel of so great Price as Religion and for such inexhaustible Treasures of Bliss as are reserved to Reward it in the Presence of God What is our greatest Interest therefore let us before all things persue and where our Treasure is there let our Hearts be also The PRAYER I. O Mercifull Jesu Who hast prepared for us a Treasure in Heaven and taught us the Way to attain it and warn'd us of the Emptiness of this World 's Good that we may not be
satisfie his Justice some other Way As a convict Criminal we say has not satisfyed or is indebted to the Law till he has suffered the Punishment for his Crime which the Law thinks fit to inflict or else finds Favour and has it remitted him As for the Greatness of the Debt which Mankind by his Sin has thus contracted to the divine Justice 't is express'd in this Parable by ten thousand Talents which according to our Way of Reckoning is above a Million of Pounds A vast Sum this but yet far short of what we owe to the Justice of God by Reason of our Iniquities which are not only Millions but Innumerable even as the Stars in Heaven and the Sand upon the Sea-Shore Nor are they only numberless but very great not only many Thousands but many Thousands of Talents Every Sin as 't is a wilfull Violation of the Laws of God has Weight enough if God should be extreme to mark what is done amiss to sink a Soul into eternal Ruin And the Reason is because God's is the highest Authority and his Laws most just and equal and we have an infinite Obligation to obey him both as his Creatures and Dependents who live by his Favour and Bounty and have received numberless and inestimable Blessings from him and likewise as rational Creatures that we may perfect our own Nature by the Practice of those Virtues which will conform us to the Image and Likeness of God himself And therefore Sin being an Opposition to the highest Authority a Violation of the best Laws a Breaking through the strictest Bonds those of Submission to the Author of our Being and of Gratitude to the Giver of all the Blessings we enjoy and likewise of Self-Love and Preservation in rejecting the Means of advancing our own Nature to the Similitude and Enjoyment of God which is our chief Happiness Sin being all this must needs be exceeding sinful and indeed the greatest Evil and in no case eligible And therefore the oftner 'tis repeated and the more of Choice there is in the Commission of it and the more heinous the Instances of it are and the greater Obligations Men are under by Reason of God's Bounty and Goodness to them whether as to natural or spiritual Endowments to serve and obey him the higher proportionably rises the Guilt of Sin And he that often and wilfully commits great Impieties notwithstanding infinite Obligations to the contrary which was and is the Case of every Sinner is indebted to God's Justice not only Ten Thousand Talents but Ten Thousand Millions of Talents i. e. his Debt is infinite and unless some Miracle of Mercy intervene the divine Justice cannot be satisfyed but by his undergoing an infinite Punishment And all the World must acknowledge it just that Sin being the greatest possible Evil should be repay'd with the greatest Possible that is eternal Punishment So vast a Debt then lying upon all Mankind by reason of their Sins it is most true in the Second Place That 't was utterly impossible for them of themselves ever to clear this Debt and make Satisfaction to the divine Justice and the sad Consequence should it have still remain'd upon Account would have been no less than eternal Misery Which is represented very lively in the Parable by the King's Debtor having nothing to pay and the King thereupon commanding that he should be sold and his Wife and Children and all that he had and Payment made According to the Custom of the Jews in so using Debtors that were not able to pay 2 Kin. 4.1 'T is utterly impossible for Mankind of themselves ever to have paid this vast Debt because every individual meer Man is deeply engaged and always will be so in the same Account so deeply that he can never clear himself much less make Satisfaction for others Nor is there any thing valuable enough in all the Treasures of Nature to buy off this Sentence just though sad The Soul that sinneth it shall die Wherewith shall I come before the Lord Mic. 6.6 says the Prophet Micah when he had a Controversy with the People for their Sins and wherewith shall I bow my self before the high God Shall I come before him with Burnt Offerings with Calves of a Year old will the Lord be pleased with Thousands of Rams or Ten Thousands of Rivers of Oil Shall I give my First-born for my Transgression the Fruit of my Body for the Sin of my Soul As if he had said what 's all this to him that is the Creator of every thing the Lord and great Proprietor of all already and whose Glory and Happiness is infinitely above even our most exalted Thoughts and Conceptions He is an Ideot that does not confess that all the Riches of the Universe are utterly insufficient as the Psalmist expresses it to redeem the forfeited Souls of Mankind so that that must be let alone for ever All therefore that is in Man to give being far from sufficient to commute for the Punishment his Sins has deserv'd God's Justice must be satisfyed by his undergoing that Punishment that is eternal Death for ever dying yet never dead extremely miserable and for ever so A Punishment so inexpressibly great that Annihilation is much to be preferr'd before it for who can dwell with everlasting Burnings Who can bear an eternal Banishment from the supreme Good and Confinement to the dire Abodes of the Devil and his Angels those merciless Executioners of the divine Justice who will exact the Pains we are to suffer with the utmost Cruelty Who can bear the Gnawings of that never dying Worm Remorse of Conscience for forfeiting such infinite Happiness and plunging our selves headlong in such a bottomless Misery and that for the Sake of what was always empty and unsatisfying even when we did enjoy it And who can bear the Horrors of Despair of ever seeing an End of such Torments as these which yet might have been intirely avoided if we would This is indeed an unconceivably miserable Condition and all Men that ever lived must have been involv'd in it had not the Wisdom and the Goodness of God found out a Means both to satisfie his Justice and at the same Time to be merciful to his miserable Creatures To forgive the Debt to those that had nothing to pay and yet to have full Satisfaction made him for it 'T is what could never have enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive 't is the great Mystery of divine Love which even the Angels desire to look into and 't is that which is and shall be the Subject of eternal Hallelujah's in Heaven Thirdly therefore let us consider the wondrous Compassion of our good God in pitying our sadly deplorable Condition and forgiving us all that Debt which we could never have paid though we had suffer'd the Pains of Hell for those shall never have an End and this is express'd in the Parable by the King 's being mov'd with Compassion at the miserable
divine Love and Philanthropy upon the Souls of his Creatures to see 'em love and compassionate one another according to his glorious Example we are infinitely obliged to imitate his Pity and Forgiveness towards us in passing by the Offences of our Fellow-Servants Further those to whom God has forgiven so vast a Debt as that which miserable Sinners ow'd to the divine Justice are questionless bound and that with the strictest Ties to love him infinitely again but now St. John says plainly 1 Joh. 4.20 21. that he that loves God must love his Brother also and if a Man say I love God and yet hateth his Brother he is a Lyar and the Truth is not in him For as he says Chap. 3.17 He that shutteth up his Bowels of Compassion from his Brother how dwelleth the Love of God in him And therefore as much as we are bound to love our good God who has forgiven us our numberless Iniquities so much are we bound to manifest that our Love to him by being pitiful and gentle to our brethren that have injur'd us and ready to forgive them For so says our Lord shall ye be my Disciples and so shall ye be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven And doubtless that wicked Servant in the Parable had not so due an Apprehension of his Lord 's great Compassion to him nor so grateful a Sense of it as he ought to have had who could immediately forget the miserable Condition he was so lately in himself and how much he dreaded lest his Lord should rigidly exact his great Debt of him and how importunately he begg'd that he would have Patience with him and yet use so much Cruelty to his Fellow-Servant for a Debt very inconsiderable He could not but know that such Barbarity would be very contrary to the compassionate Temper of his Lord and therefore was bound in Gratitude if upon no other Account to imitate his Lord's Example and not immediately act what would be so displeasing to him And so it is in our Case God is Love and has wondrously manifested his Love in forgiving us miserable Sinners and therefore we are bound in Gratitude and because 't will be pleasing to him were that all to imitate that his Charity and mutually to love and forgive one another But when besides we have our Saviour's express Command for it Mat. 5.44 and Luk. 6.37 and that not until seven times only but until seventy times seven as in the Verse before this Parable As much as Men are obliged obliged to obey the Commands of God their Saviour so strong is their Obligation to forgive Injuries with Respect to God Secondly Our Obligation is very great to imitate God's compassionate Example with respect to our selves For 't is the best Way to secure Quiet and Peace and Happiness and as much as every Man is bound to provide for his own Quiet and the Peace and Happiness of Society and of his own Soul too in the other World so much is every Man bound not to be malicious and revengeful but of a Temper ready to forgive For however sweet Revenge may seem to be to malicious Spirits in the Execution it must needs make the Mind very uneasie before 't is executed and bring great Calamities along with it afterward and is the most base devillish Temper in the World and makes a Man a Fiend incarnate Whereas an Aptness to forgive is a Godlike Disposition for God is Love the Spring of Kindness and Compassion of Mercy and Forgiveness and as his Happiness is the Result of the Excellencies and Perfections of his Nature so those who resemble him in the most glorious of those Perfections must needs likewise enjoy a great Share of Tranquillity and inward Bliss But if God be the great Exemplar of Forgiveness how groundless is the usual Objection against this excellent Vertue of Christianity that it betrays a mean servile Spirit and is a thing much below a Gentleman Can any Man of common Sense think it a Disgrace to be like God and that in his most glorious Perfection too If God be the Fountain of Honour we must allow it to be rather the most noble generous Action in the World It is the best Way likewise of ending Strifes and overcoming our Adversaries by rendring Good for Evil. It eases the Mind of those great Disquietudes that constantly attend Desires of Revenge it prevents all the Mischiefs that follow it such as fresh Injuries from the Party we revenge our selves upon if we leave him his Life and the Stroke of Justice if we persue him to the Death But besides these evil Consequences of Revenge and many others which Forgiveness prevents there is more true Pleasure and Sweetness in the Act of Forgiveness and Reconciliation as was hinted above than in that of Revenge For however the Devil may hurry Men on in an eager Persuit of Revenge and flatter 'em with the Hopes of great Satisfaction when 't is perfected yet there is a secret Horrour and Aversion to it from within which as 't were pulls back the Hand when going to strike or what other way soever it be expressed endeavours to hinder it and makes the Heart recoil and repent of the Undertaking and execute it with trembling and misgivings of Soul and immediately after come dire Forebodings of the Venge ance of him to whom Vengeance belongeth and a Kind of Hell upon Earth But Forgiveness is attended with Applauses of Conscience and the Approbation of Reason and Chearfulness of Spirit There is an inward Pleasure and Satisfaction of Mind quite throughout the Action and when 't is compleated no Man can express the silent Joy that runs through the whole Soul and it seems a Foretaste of the Joys of the Blessed in Heaven Even that Part of Forgiveness which seems most of all impracticable and contrary to Flesh and Blood that of suing to a Man to be reconciled that has done the Injury and still continues to be one's Enemy this does of all yeild the greatest Pleasure to the Soul And that not only because 't is the nearest Resemblance to the Mercy of God who sent his Son to mediate between him and us and by his Death to reconcile us to himself when 't was we miserable Wretches that had offended and were then in actual Rebellion against him but from the Nature of the thing it self For 't is a kind of surprizing a Man into Charity before he is aware When Men do Injuries they generally stand upon their Defence and expect to receive Injuries again but when a Man finds instead of this Acts of Friendship and Good will and Readiness to forgive and Peace and Quietness offer'd so freely and upon such easie Terms without the Shame and natural Regret in seeking it and asking Pardon and making Satisfaction and the like How pleas'd must the Man needs be to find a Friend when he fear'd and expected an Enemy Few Men love Strife for Strife's Sake and
passively obedient but likewise actively so and ready chearfully to obey his Commands so ought every Believer to be to Christ Indeed this is the main Tryal of true conjugal Affection and is the best Demonstration of the Sincerity of all other Shews of Love and Fidelity and Reverence and Submission For where true Love Reverence and Submission is a chearful Obedience will surely follow and on the contrary where there is no willing chearful Obedience there is but very little if any sincere Affection And therefore says our dear Lord if ye love me keep my Commandments And why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say And of Sarah 't is said she obey'd Abraham as well as call'd him Lord. And St. John agreeably 1 John 2.5 whoso keepeth his Word in him verily is the Love of God perfected and hereby know we that we are in him And therefore Obedience to the Commands of this our glorious Husband is above all things necessary to continue that our near Relation to him and his Commandments are not grievous but his Yoke is easie and his Burthen light And 't would be strange if we should not obey him who commands us nothing but what is in its own Nature necessary in order to our Happiness in both Worlds In the last place the Gospel is productive of like Effects to those of Marriage and from this so near Relation of Believers to Christ proceeds the Increase of such as shall be the Children of God a numerous Progeny to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and fill up the Vacancies left by the Fall of the rebellious Angels Thus our Lord calls the becoming Christian 's a being born again John 3.3 and teaches us when we pray to God to say Our Father And St. Paul agreeably in a Quotation from the Prophet Jeremiah says as in the Person of God I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Allmighty 2 Cor. 6.18 And the Jerusalem which is from above or the Christian Church is said to be the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 and Chap. 3.26 we are all the Children of God by Christ Jesus And if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joynt Heirs with Christ of that glorious Kingdom of his which is not of this World but eternal in the Heavens Well therefore may we cry out with Admiration as St. John does 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestow'd upon us that we should be call'd the Sons of God! And every Man that hath this Hope in him of being receiv'd into the Bosom of his heavenly Father and seeing him as he is must purifie himself even as he is pure And having such glorious Expectations cleanse himself from all Filthyness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holyness in the Fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 This then is the Nature of the Gospel 't is as a Marriage between Christ and Believers There is one thing more to be consider'd under this first General namely who they are that are admitted to the Joys and Happiness of this blessed Condition They are describ'd in the Parable by the poor and the maim'd the halt and the blind And truly just such was Man's Condition before God was pleased to call him to this happy Marriage Despicably poor we were and destitute of any real Excellency that could recommend us to the Favour of God our Souls were like a parch'd and barren Wilderness burnt up with vile Lusts and Passions no Fruits of Holiness appearing but drawing still nearer and nearer to everlasting Perdition Maim'd we were in all our Faculties by our frequent desperate Falls from our Obedience to God and full of Wounds and Bruises and putrifying Sores and our best Performances very lame and imperfect like the Haltings of a Cripple and our Understandings withall blinded by the Deceitfulness of Sin which put out that Candle of the Lord and made it uncapable of directing us in the right Way that leads to Happiness so that we lay groping in the Dark surrounded with Terrors rack'd by Uncertainties miserably poor and indigent and utterly unable to help our selves When lo There arose up a Light in this Darkness and through the infinite Mercy of our God the Day-spring from on high did visit us we were pitied and commiserated by the Father of Mercies and in this forlorn Condition call'd to partake of the ineffable Joys and Felicities that attend the nearest and dearest Relation to the Son of God The Lord anointed him to preach the Gospel to the poor he sent him to heal the broken-hearted to preach Deliverance to the captives and Recovery of Sight to the blind and to set at Liberty them that are bruised Luke 4.18 And accordingly he inrich'd our Poverty restor'd our Sight heal'd our Bruises and confirm'd our Strength and of his Fulness have we all receiv'd and nothing for the Future can ever make us miserable but our selves Wherefore as we should adore and magnifie with all our Souls the wondrous Goodness and Compassion of God and our Saviour in receiving such wretched polluted Creatures as we were by Nature into so intimate a Relation to himself and making us Partakers of the Comforts of his blessed Spirit in this World and providing Crowns of Glory for us in the next So above all things should we dread to fall back into the same Condition again and work out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling For otherwise 't would have been better for us never to have tasted of the divine Compassion in so extraordinary a Manner as we have done and our latter End will be worse than our Beginning And thus much for the first thing to be consider'd in this Parable namely the Nature of the Gospel or Christian Religion represented by the Marriage of a King's Son and the poor and the maim'd the halt and the blind being call'd in to partake of the Joys and Festivities of that great Solemnity I proceed now to the Second thing to be consider'd namely God's great Care in having this Gospel preach'd this Religion publish'd and made known to all Men and his repeated Invitations to all Men to embrace it represented by that King 's sending forth his Servants to call those that were bidden to the Wedding and again sending other Servants and commanding them to tell those that were bidden that he had prepar'd and made all things ready and therefore to urge them to come unto the Marriage How great God's Care has been that this Gospel should be publish'd and how repeated his Invitations to Men have been that they would embrace it is evident from the whole Story of the first planting of the Gospel and from the Course that by God's Appointment has been taken ever since At first many were endow'd with very extraordinary Abilities for this Purpose such as the Gift of Tongues whereby they were enabled wherever they should go to preach the Gospel to Men
alone could save them and took no Care of good Works How came you in hither How came you into this Society of Christians not having on the Wedding Garment What will they be able to say in their Excuse Will they not be like him in the Parable confounded and ashamed and utterly speechless What will they have to plead in Bar of that dire Sentence which will then be past upon them bind them Hand and Foot and take them away c. certainly nothing but with inexpressible Horror and Despair and Self-Condemnation must submit to their sad Punishment From all this there is in the last Place this general Observation drawn that many are call'd but few chosen The plain Meaning of which I suppose to be this That though the Gospel is preach'd to Myriads of People and all that hear of it are invited alike to embrace it and 't is God's good Pleasure that all should be sav'd and come to the Knowledg of the Truth Yet the most will make a very ill Use of their Liberty of Choice and many utterly reject this Invitation and more though they do embrace it yet become never the better for it by not leading their Lives agreeably to their holy Profession And by this means among the many that are call'd there will be but few that will approve themselves to God as elect or choice and right good Christians and but few consequently that will enter into the eternal Joy of their Lord according to what our Lord said in another Place strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way that leadeth unto Life and few there be that find it Wherefore to conclude this Parable As we have all of us been call'd and invited to a sincere Faith in and intire Obedience to the holy Jesus and do make open Profession of such Faith and Shew of such Obedience it concerns us as much as our Souls are worth and as we would avoid that outer Darkness where is eternal weeping and gnashing of Teeth to take all possible Care that our Faith be so sincere and lively as to produce good Works such as may make our Calling and Election sure Not to rest contented with the Form of Godliness or outward Profession of Christianity but to endeavour after the Power of it and lead our Lives according to our Belief to imitate our Lord's most blessed Example and obey all his holy Precepts and submit to the Disposals of his Providence chearfully and bear unspotted Love and Fidelity to him through the whole Course of our Lives And by this means shall we be reckon'd among his choice Jewels elect and precious and be receiv'd into the nearest and dearest and even an inseparable Relation to him and when this Life 's at an End be conducted by his Angels into his glorious Presence there to share in his Happiness to eternal Ages The PRAYER MOST blessed God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who in infinite Mercy and amazing Condescension hast invited me miserable Creature though poor and maim'd halt and blind and destitute of every thing that may recommend me to thee except it be my Wretchedness to the most intimate Union with thy glorious Son and as the Bride of that divine Bridegroom to enjoy his Love and be blessed with his tenderest Regard his Protection and Desence and to partake of his Honour and Glory and Happiness How can I enough praise and magnifie this thy wondrous Goodness And with what Transports of Joy should I embrace so inestimable a Favour But I alas stupid as I am and bewitch'd with the Cares and Business and Gain and Pleasures of this World have hitherto stood in the Way of my own Happiness and disregarded this gracious Offer and preferr'd every thing before this spiritual Marriage with the Son of God or at best have deferr'd it still till another Time provoking thereby most justly thy Wrath and Indignation against me and deserving to be for ever excluded thy blessed Presence as infinitely unworthy But now O Lord I do earnestly repent and am heartily sorry for so ungratefully sliting such infinite Mercy The Remembrance of this Vileness is grievous unto me the Burden of it is intollerable and with the utmost Earnestness of a troubled Spirit I beg thy heavenly Aid that now without the least Delay I may chearfully embrace the blessed Invitations of the Gospel and love and honour the Messengers which bring me those glad Tidings and since my Maker is my Husband be always mindful of my Duty to him and bear him unspotted Fidelity and Love be his intirely and for ever submit without Reserve to his heavenly Government reverence his Authority and glorifie him with my Body and my Spirit which are his And grant O merciful God I humbly intreat thee that the Spirit of Infidelity may never possess my Soul lest I totally reject this blessed Invitation or having embrac'd it and enter'd into so near a Relation to my Saviour again divorce my self from him by entertaining strange and forbidden Loves And since I am so highly honour'd by the Son of God O may I always be careful to preserve the Dignity of so high a Calling and not debase my self by low sunk brutish Actions but as befits the spiritual Spouse of Christ be cloath'd with the wedding Garment of sincere Purity and Holiness that so I may never be separated from my dearest Lord but ever enjoy the unconceivable Happiness of his heavenly Kingdom Which grant O merciful Father for the Sake of that blessed Jesus Amen Amen PARABLE VI. Of the Ten Virgins Matth. xxv 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom And five of them were wise and five were foolish They that were foolish took their Lamps and took no Oil with them But the wise took Oil in their Vessels with their Lamps While the Bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept And at Midnight there was a Cry made Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him Then all those Virgins arose and trimmed their Lamps And the foolish said unto the wise Give us of your Oil for our Lamps are gone out But the wise answer'd saying not so lest there be not enough for us and you but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for your selves And while they went to buy the Bridegroom came and they that were ready went in with him to the Marriage and the Door was shut Afterwards came also the other Virgins saying Lord Lord open to us But he answer'd and said verily I say unto you I know you not Watch therefore for ye know neither the Day nor the Hour wherein the Son of Man cometh THough the first Intention of this Parable as may be probably collected from the foregoing Chapter which is a Description of the sad State that was e'er long to overtake Jerusalem for the Jews
obstinate Infidelity and their murdering their Saviour was to urge the Jewish Christians to a Preparation and watchful Care against that Time of Sorrows and that they would be so wise as to make Provision for their Safety by being very careful that that Time surprize them not in wicked Courses but that living like faithful Disciples of Christ in all Obedience to his holy Commands his Providence might watch over them and secure them from perishing in that dreadful Destruction Though this might be the first Intention of this Parable yet I suppose it designed likewise to represent the Necessity of Men's constant Preparation for Death and Judgment by a sedulous Care and Watchfulness over themselves and diligent Practice of all religious Duties and Obligations Because 't is very uncertain when God will summon any of us to leave this World and appear before his just Tribunal and his Call may be very suddain and unexpected and because the Consequence of being unready and not fit to obey it will be inexpressibly miserable Watch therefore says our Lord in the Conclusion of this Parable for ye know neither the Day nor the Hour when the Son of Man cometh In my Discourse upon this Parable thus understood I shall do two things First I shall give a particular Interpretation of the Parable and shew how aptly expressive it is of the Sense our Lord couch'd under it And Secondly I shall urge that upon the Practice of Christians which is express'd by it namely that they would watch and be ready because they know not the Day nor the Hour First I shall give a particular Interpretation of this Parable and shew how aptly expressive it is of the Sense our Lord couched under it The Parable is an Allusion to a Custom among the Jews of the Friends and Neighbours of the Bridegroom when there was a Wedding conducting him to the Bride-Chamber with Songs and burning Lamps and partaking of an Entertainment that was prepar'd for them and shutting the Door when the Bridegroom was enter'd to keep out the intruding Rabble and afterwards admitting none that were not ready to attend him at the Hour he came which was uncertain And the Sense which our Lord couch'd under this Representation is this That 't is highly necessary every Christian should be always ready and prepar'd by a holy Life to attend the Call of Christ whenever he shall summon him out of this World by Death in order to his final Judgment because the Time of that great Summons is so very uncertain and eternal Happiness or Misery respectively depends upon Men's being prepar'd or not prepar'd for it Now how aptly and movingly expressive this Parable is of this Sense will appear from the following Interpretation of it By the Virgins in the Parable is represented the Society of Christians those that profess to believe in and to be Disciples of the holy Jesus who like Virgins ought to be pure and spotless innocent and modest and humble solâ— and temperate in all things pious and devout and the like And as the Want of these or any of these good Qualifications is to a Virgin the greatest Blackening and Disparagement so the Want of them in Christians is likewise the greatest Dishonour to them exposes them to the Scorn and Contempt of God and all good Men renders them unworthy of that holy Name by which they are call'd and defiles and stains those Souls which Christ purified with his precious Blood that they might be his own Peculiar zealous of good Works By half of those Virgins being wise and half foolish is represented the great Difference there is among those that go under the same general Character of Christians some vain and idle careless and unthoughtful taken up with the Gaieties and Follies of the World lavish of their Reputation and loose in their Conversation and Behaviour while others are so wise as to consider the Character they bear and live as those that make Profession of Holiness that is with Care and Circamspection Watchfulness and a diligent and attentive Piety That so they may preserve their Honour and the Dignity of their Profession inviolate and unstain'd and be presented as chaste Virgins unto Christ that divine Bridegroom whenever he shall come By the Lamps of those Virgins is expressed the Souls of Christians which are to burn with holy Fires of Love and Devotion to God and their Saviour and make them as so many Lights in this dark and benighted World for ye are the Light of the World says our Lord to his Disciples therefore let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Mat. 5.14 16. That is as the Souls of Christians are illuminated by the Spirit of him who is the Father of Lights and in whom is no Darkness at all as they are warm'd by his Influences who descended upon the Apostles in the Likeness of Fire and have divine Affections by his holy Breathings inkindled in them so they should influence the whole Man and make those that name the Name of Christ like so many burning and shining Lights in the Midst of a crooked and perverse Generation so many eminent Examples of Piety and real Goodness such as by theis own Practice should recommend their most hloy Religion and set before Men's Eyes the Beauty of Holiness by their own Conversation By the Bridegroom whom these Virgins with their Lamps went forth to meet is represented our dear Saviour that heavenly King 's divine Son for whom he made so glorious a Marriage in the Parable I last discours'd of where the Reasons why the Gospel is compar'd to a Marriage and our Lord to a Bridegroom are particularly insisted on And by going forth to meet this divine Bridegroom is signifyed our preparing against his calling us from this World by Death and providing against his Advent to Judgment that is by frequently contemplating our Mortality reflecting on the Shortness and Uncertainty of Life and therefore making the best Use of our Time while we have it as not knowing how soon our Breath may be required of us and because after Death comes Judgment therefore endeavouring to make ready our Accounts by frequent Self-Examination and from the serious Consideration of the Terrors of that great Day and the severe Scrutiny into our Thoughts as well as Words and Actions that we must then undergo collecting with S. Peter 2 Pet. 3.11 what manner of Persons we ought to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness that we may be found of the great Judg in Peace and as Virgins without Spot and blameless By the Oyl in the Virgins Lamps and which they took with them in their Vessels when they went to meet the Bridegroom is represented the Graces and Vertues of Christianity which are the proper Nourishment of the Soul that Lamp of the Lord as Solomon calls it and will brighten and enliven it as Plenty of Oyl does a
them that hate you Mat. 5.44 and Rom. 12.20 If thy Enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him Drink and in this Parable our Lord proposes to our Imitation the Example of a Samaritan taking great Care of an unfortunate Jew though there could be no greater Enmity than between the Jews and the Samaritans and that grounded upon what of all things makes Ill Will the most inveterate Diversity of Opinion in Religion And indeed 't would be a barbarous Piece of Cruelty and Inhumanity if I should let a Man perish without any Commiseration or Help from me when I am able to give it him because he has formerly it may be been unkind or injurious to me or is of a different Religion and of a Nation that is in Hostility with that to which I belong This certainly is not doing as I would be done to nor loving my Neighbour as my self for every Man in a religious Sense is my Neighbour 't is more like the Rage of a Tiger than the Bowels of a Man or the Malice of a Devil than the Charity of a Christian As for Charity to Strangers and Foreigners that is expresly commanded in several Places of Scripture particularly 1 Pet. 4.9 where what we translate use Hospitality one to another is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be kind to Strangers Hob. 13.2 and by the Author to the Hebrews the Probability of receiving Angels unawares in that Disguise as Abraham and Lot did Gen. 18.3 and 19.2 is made the Motive to it And how excellent a Piece of Charity this is and how conducive to the Prevention of much Sin and Misery I need not spend much Time to prove There are few that have liv'd any considerable Time in the World and have seen more Parts of it than one but have some Time or other either tasted the Comfort of an hospitable Disposition or smarted for the Want of it and such Men are the fittest to tell their Thoughts of either That is how inhumane 't is to be without Bowels to an indigent Stranger and how happy Mankind would be in every Place were the Orders of the great Governour of the World duly observ'd in this Matter And as for wicked-Persons who deserve the least Compassion of any if they are in other Respects real Objects of Charity their Wickedness must not put a Bar to it for we are to imitate the Example of the merciful God who is kind and Beneficent to the unthankful and to the evil But all this is to be understood with Respect only to the really necessitous and helpless whose Wants and Calamities are not feign'd and who are unable to help themselves to better Circumstances For there are a very vile Sort of People who make a Trade of going about from House to House and with doleful Accents and a forlorn Appearance and formal Complaints endeavour to melt People into Compassion towards them who yet are far from being Objects of this Sort of Charity their Necessities being counterfeit or at least they being very well able to supply them by their own Labour if they would 'T is well known how gainful they make this lazy Course of Life how unwilling they are to work when any would employ them how much abominable Debauchery there is in those vagrant Societies and how great a Pest they are to the Publick they being no better than a Band of Villains and Robbers and unprofitable idle Drones that live upon the Labour and Spoil of others and are no Way useful or serviceable themselves And therefore to relieve their pretended Necessities is to encourage the worst Men living in a Course of Life highly dishonourable to God injurious to the State and ruinous to their own Souls Nay further 't is to deprive those that indeed deserve our Charity of considerable Supplies which are though insensibly bestow'd upon those vile Wretches and were it computed what some charitable Persons give in a Year in Mony to common Beggars at their Doors or otherwise 't would amount to a Sum big enough to cheer the Hearts of many Fatherless and Widows and decay'd Houskeepers that are in greater Want than those Vagrants though not so whining and so affectedly nasty and ragged And 't would be worth while for a Person that has us'd hitherto to scatter his Charity among those counterfeit Objects of it to try the Experiment what such Gifts would amount to in a Twelve Month's Time by laying aside what he would otherwise have bestow'd that Way whenever he is importun'd by such Wretches for an Alms and then see whether he can't dispose of it to better Purpose Indeed Labour and Correction is the best Sort of Charity to such Kind of Beggars And would Men in Authority resolve to do their Duty in this Matter and other Persons resolve to send such Vagabonds away empty and with Reproof and Shame the Case would soon be altered and they would find it better to work than starve and look upon honest Industry more eligible than the Lash Much Wickedness would by this Means be prevented and it would be a double and treble Charity 't would provide for the Happiness of both Body and Soul of such as should be reformed by it from such a hellish Course of Life 't would be a great Benefit to the Publick and Men would find themselves more able to support such as are really oppress'd with Want and utterly unable to help themselves And such Behaviours as this to sturdy Vagrants however harsh and severe it may seem to some indiscreetly compassionate Persons is plainly commanded by the great Apostle 2 Thes 3.10 He that will not work neither let him eat He that Will not work that is that appears to be able to labour but rather chuses an idle wandring Life and there is not One in Twenty of our common Beggars but are of this Sort hail and lusty and strong and in more Heart and better fed than many honest and industrious People And they that can travel as they do around the Kingdom we can't suppose whatever they may pretend to be incapable of Labour Indeed sometimes a real Object of Charity may present it self at ones Door or Abroad such as the blind and aged and maimed and the like and these no Question ought to be reliev'd but there being so many Counterfeits and the ill Consequence of misplacing ones charity upon them being so very great He is very indiscreet in bestowing his Alms that will not be first very well satisfied whether they are what they pretend to be and deserve his Charity or no. But this Severity must be used with Prudence and he that does deserve Correction as a Vagrant may yet by some calamitous Accident in following his lew'd Trade be at present in urgent Necessity of Relief and here the Way is first to supply the Necessity and afterwards in due Time to superadd the Correction For I must let no Man how wicked soever perish if I can prevent
would they have Men forcibly with-held from being guilty of such Vices as ruin Thousands such as Pride and Luxury and Wantonness and Excess Or if as well they may they think this too unreasonable to be desir'd would they have God when Men are thus reduc'd to Poverty immediately work Miracles for their Relief Would they have Ravens bring Food to the Hungry as they did to Elijah 1 Kings 17.6 or would they have every Poor Widows Cruise of Oyl and Barrel of Meal be as lasting as the Widow 's of Sarepta was 16. or would they have Water spring from Rocks and be immediately turn'd into Wine to chear and refresh such as are parch'd with Thirst Would they have our Lord come down a second Time from Heaven to heal Diseases or an Angel always set open the Prison Doors when good Men are confined and macerated or the like That such extraordinary things have been sometimes done is sufficient to evince that God is not an idle Spectator of Humane Affairs but to expect it should be always so is foolishly presumptuous But it may be those that are asham'd of this would yet by all means have God take a severer Course with his unfaithful Stewards than he does and at least displace them and give their Riches to others that Men might see and fear and do no more wickedly Thus Man will be replying against God and the Clay saying to the Potter Why hast thou made me thus But I would fain know whether these Counsellours of the All-wise God would have all that are unfaithful in their Stewardship us'd in this Manner or only some for a Terrour to the rest If all the World would quickly be in Confusion by such frequent Changes in States and Governments and Private Families as would then be made if some only in Terrorem and to affright the rest into a more Conscientious Discharge of their Duty why that is often done nothing is more common than the Rise and Fall of Men and Families and sometimes their Decay is made very remarkable by some extraordinary Accidents Which if Men would observe it is warning enough to them to be faithful in their Stewardship but if they will be thoughtless and regard it not the Blame ought to be their's not God's and their's will be the Punishment too at the long Run when he shall call every Man before him to make up his Accounts Wherefore let no Man any more for the future pass Impious and Rash Censures upon the All-wise and Good Governour of the Universe because his Servants neglect their Duty in this Matter but rather humbly and earnestly intreat him to incline their Hearts to a better Observance of his Holy and Just and Merciful Commands And if the Poor shall still go unpitied and unreliev'd let us commit their Cause unto him who if with Patience they persevere in well-doing will at length abundantly recompence their Sufferings here with Glory Honour and Immortality in the Kingdom of Heaven Secondly From what has been said I infer the great Baseness and Ingratitude of those who thus wickedly betray their Trust and thereby bring such Odious Aspersions upon their great Benefactor and so much Sin and Misery upon Mankind Good God! That ever Men should be so low sunk so vilely brutish and degenerate as to prefer a Shining Coach and Gay Livery 's and Vanity and profuse Folly in many other Instances before the Honour of their God and the Comfort and Reward of a Poor Afflicted Christian That they should be contented to hear the Groans of the Distressed and the Blasphemies of Atheists against that God who gave them all they have rather than by retrenching any thing from their Excessive Way of Living to silence either 'T is a Monstrous Complicated Impiety this and will at last pull down a Heavy Vengeance Wherefore from the whole I infer in the last place how highly it concerns us all to imitate the Example of the discreetly and thoroughly charitabe Samaritan in the Parable and be more careful of this our Duty for the future For if we prove ill Stewards of the Talents God has committed to our Trust for the Relief of the Calamities of our Brethren we shall not only have the Sins of Unfaithfulness and base Ingratitude to answer for but the Prophane Flouts and Cavils of the Atheistical the Curses and Imprecations of the desperately Miserable the Thefts and Murthers and other Villanies of such whose Unrelieved Poverty forced to be thus wicked and the Blood of such as dy'd for want of Succour All this will be charg'd upon us and overwhelm us with Eternal Horrour and Confusion Wherefore to conclude while we have Time let us do good unto all Men but especially to those of the Houshold of Faith let us make Friends with the Mammon of Unrighteousness that when all this World 's Good shall fail us we may be receiv'd into Everlasting Habitations Let us lay up for our selves a good Foundation against the Time to come and be Faithful Stewards of the manifold Grace of God committed to us lest our great Lord should come in a Time when we think not of him and place us on the Left Hand and pass this Dismal and Irreversible Sentence upon us Depart from me ye cursed into Everlasting Fire prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels For I was Hungry and ye gave me no Meat Thirsty and ye gave me no Drink a Stranger and ye took me not in Naked and ye cloathed me not Sick and in Prison and ye visited me not From which terrible Condemnation and that hardned Disposition that deserves it and will inevitably bring it down upon us if not speedily amended the Merciful and Good Lord deliver us all for the Sake of his Compassion in Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen Amen The PRAYER O Most Compassionate Jesus The great Pattern of Charity who in the Days of thy Flesh wentest about doing Good to Mankind relieving the Necessities both of Body and Soul and hast commanded thy Disciples to go and do likewise give me the Grace I beseech thee according to my Ability to be charitable to all that are really Necessitous without excepting any but always to guide these good Works with Discretion Lest by my ill-plac'd Alms I encourage Debauchery and Sloth and have the less to give to those that truly want And since the Poverty and Sickness of the Soul is of all the most dangerous and deplorable O that I may be so happy as by Fraternal Correption and Seasonable wholsom Counsel and Advice according to my Opportunities and Capacity to relieve the Spiritual Necessities of my Brethren and convert a Sinner from the Errour of his Way and save a Soul from Death And may I always chearfully perform this Godlike Duty and take Delight in being Instrumental in the Blessed Work of chearing the Hearts of the Distressed and making light the Burthens of the Afflicted and thereby vindicating thy Providence from the Vile Aspersions of
amends for If abundance of Gold and Silver would certainly make a Man wiser and better if 't would clear his Apprehension or strengthen his Memory or improve his Reasoning if 't would make him more prudent and discreet and of a riper Judgment if 't would increase Piety and Religion and promote a Godlike Frame of Spirit nay if 't would but so much as refine a Man's Temper and make him of more sweet and obliging Behaviour or regulate the Passions and Affections of the Soul and help him to Tranquility of Mind and cure Anger and Pride and Envy and Lust and Revenge or the like if abundance of Riches would work any of these good Effects 't would be worth while earnestly to desire them and industriously to endeavour to procure them But when 't is so far from this that the direct contrary is general observable in those that have greatest Riches in Possession it must I think be allow'd to be a very great Piece of Folly for a Man to endure so much for what when he has it will not countervail But though greedy Worldlings may own that great Riches have little or no Influence upon the Happiness and Improvement of the Inner Man yet because a Man has a Body as well as a Soul to take care of they are thus greatly desirous of much Wealth because 't will help them to the Enjoyment of much of this World's Happiness and acquire what will highly please and gratifie the Body as the Rich Man in the Parable said they may take their ease eat drink and be merry when they have much Goods laid up for many Years I shall therefore in the Second Place shew the folly of expecting even this World's Happiness from Abundance of Riches For besides that the Appetites of the Body are generally observed to be more sickly and deprav'd in rich than poorer Persons their Sleep worse rather than better than other Mens Eccl. 5.12 the Abundance of the Rich will not suffer him to sleep says Solomon but the Sleep of the Labouring Man is sweet eat he little or eat he much and that Health is much more a Stranger to the Rich than to the Meaner sort and the Pleasures of having a Body Vigorous and Active without the Encumbrance of Weakness and Diseases almost engross'd by the Labouring Poor Besides this which yet alone is enough to prove that 't is a folly to expect even this World's Happiness from Abundance of Riches for without Health which Luxury destroys the most of any thing there is no Taste or Relish in any other of its Enjoyments there is this One Reason more among others that will farther and I think evidently prove that 't is a very great Folly to expect to be happier even in this World by growing Richer and it is this That Riches are of all Things the most unsatisfying and the most perplexing Other Good Things of this World do in some sort satisfie and Men are often cloy'd with Pleasures have enough of Mirth and Jollity of Recreations and Diversions and the like and the Mind is for a while eas'd and refresh'd by them But as for Riches as they increase the Desire of still more increases proportionably nay rather disproportionably with them and 't was never yet known that a worldly-minded Man ever thought he had enough but that his Appetite grew keener after Wealth the more 't was fed with it And 't is not unusual to hear the greatest Complaints Murmurings and Repinings from the richest Men. And as for the Perplexity that attends Abundance of Wealth that likewise is as evident to common Observation The more a Man hath the more Care he must take to preserve it the more Quarrels and Law-Suits will he be embroil'd in and when there are Troubles and Commotions in the State and Times grow dangerous and uncertain then are the greatest Worldlings fullest of Fears and dreadful Apprehensions and not only real but imaginary Dangers terrifie their Unman'd Souls Things always appearing with the worst Aspect to their troubled Fancies who have made Gold their Deity and ty'd up their Happiness in their Bags And nothing certainly can be more perplexing to a Man's Mind than such great Fears of losing That in the possession of which his whole Happiness is concentred And accordingly Solomon who had great Possessions above All that were before him and gather'd him Silver and Gold in such Abundance that Silver was in Jerusalem common as the Stones in the Street 1 Kings 10.27 after all says he Eccles 5.10 11. He that loveth Silver shall not be satisfied with Silver nor he that loveth Abundance with Increase And what Good is there to the Owners thereof saving the beholding of it with their Eyes And even the Eye is not satisfied with seeing neither And St. Paul says very plainly That the Love of Money is the Root of all Evil and they that will be Rich fall into Temptation and a Snare 1 Tim. 6.9 10. and pierce themselves through with divers Sorrows and that Contentment with only Food and Raiment is a far greater Happiness And therefore good Reason had the Wisest King to say after all his Increase and the Abundance he had amass'd together that it was not only Vanity but Vexation of Spirit Eccles 2.11 Now that which can never satifie and as it increases increases a Man's Trouble and Perplexity which is true we see of Riches is no doubt far from conducing to a Man's Happiness in this World and therefore 't is a very great Folly for any Man to depend upon Abundance of Wealth for Happiness for 't is rather the Cause of much Trouble and Disquietude Or however God may suddenly deprive a rich Worldling of all he has by Death and say as in the Parable Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee then whose shall those Things be which thou hast provided For As we brought nothing into the World so 't is certain we can carry nothing out And thus much for the Folly of Immoderate Desire of Riches in Expectation of a Happy Life from Abundance I proceed now to shew The Vileness of this sort of Covetousness and of placing the Happiness of Life in great store of Wealth That 't is a very vile Thing for a Man immoderately to covet Riches and place the Happiness of his Life in Abundance of them will be very evident if we briefly consider what a Man is and what Abundance of Wealth is and what little or no proportion the one bears to the Dignity of the other A Man is a Creature endow'd with a Rational and Immortal Soul capable of Knowing Admiring Loving and Enjoying God who is the Supreme Good and the Centre of Felicity As a Christian he is an adopted Son of God Coheir with Christ of a Crown of Glory in the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven and design'd to participate of those Rivers of divine Pleasures that are at God's Right-hand for ever and ever As for
before we proceed to consider the Parable learn this short but excellent Lesson namely That when sudden ill Accidents befall our Neighbours we do not presently make Conclusion as is too often done especially where there has been any Enmity or Difference between the Parties that God has met with them by his Judgments for some Extraordinary Wickedness of theirs and pronounce them worse Men than our selves or others that escape because they suffer such things for this is a very rash and uncharitable Sentence and may be far from Truth But rather by God's Severity upon others be inclined to reflect upon our selves and humble our selves before him for our own Iniquities and entirely resolve to forsake every Evil Way lest we likewise fall under the like Expresses of his Vengeance in this World or of infinitely worse in that which is to come In the Parable it self is represented God's Method of Proceeding with Sinners now under the Gospel from first to last and it is this First He plants them in his Vineyard the Church of Christ that there by the good Cultivating of the Ministers of his Kingdom and the refreshing Influences of his Blessed Spirit upon their Souls they may become Fruitful of such good Works as may fit and prepare them for the Enjoyments of his Heavenly Kingdom to which in due season they are to be transplanted After they are thus plac'd in his Vineyard and Cultivated by the Sermons of the Gospel he looks for a proportionable Fruitfulness from them and that after all his Care and Goodness to them they would for their Part make him a due Return of the Fruits of Evangelical Righteousness As when a Tree is remov'd from a Poorer to a Richer Soil and much Care and Husbandry used about it 't is expected it should grow and flourish accordingly and bring forth more and better Fruit. After God has with much Patience and Forbearance yearly sought for Fruit from them and is as often disappointed his Wisdom and his Justice prompt him to rid his Vineyard of the Incumbrance of those Unprofitable Trees to remove from the Society of his Faithful Disciples those that are a Trouble and a Scandal to them and as Barren Trees are laid aside to be burnt so to consign them to those everlasting Burnings prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels But though in Justice he purposes the Destruction of the Unfruitful yet his infinite Mercy through the Intercession of the Compassionate Jesus the Dresser of this his Vineyard the Head and Governor of the Christian Church inclines him to a still farther Forbearance till they shall be cultivated and manur'd afresh by the again repeated Instructions and Exhortations of his Servants the Ministers of the Gospel and the reiterated Motions of the Blessed Spirit of Life and Holiness And then if they bear Fruit well Happy will it be for them but if not after that he will cut them down and utterly destroy them Of each of these Particulars we shall now discourse in their Order The first is God's wondrous Care and Tenderness of Sinners in Planting them in his Vineyard as the Parable expresses it that is receiving them into the Church of Christ where they are cultivated by the Ministers of his Kingdom and their Souls water'd with gentle Showers from Above the blessed Influences of the Holy Spirit that they may Flourish and become Fruitful of such good Works as may prepare them for the Felicities of Heaven to which in due time they shall be Transplanted Before the Coming of our Saviour the Jewish Church was God's Vineyard his peculiar Inclosure and the Subject of his more immediate Care and Government and all but the Seed of Jacob were excluded as wild uncultivated Trees and left to Themselves in the Wilderness of the World For so in a spiritual Sense was all but the Land of Jewry the Lot of their Inheritance Afterwards when the Fullness of Time was come that God would take Pity upon the whole Race of Adam and receive all Mankind to his Favour he then enlarg'd that his Vineyard and gave a Free Admittance to all that would submit to the Culture and Government of his Eternal Son whom he sent to break down the former Inclosure and make it more capacious even as large as the World it self and committed it to his Management made him the great Dresser of this Vineyard the Head and Governour of this Universal Church that through his excellent Directions and the Care and Industry of his Servants and the Decrees from Above of his Divine Grace and Assistance And above all through the wondrous Efficacy of his Precious Blood with which he plentifully enrich'd this his new Plantation it might thrive and flourish and bring forth Fruit meet for him by whom it was dress'd even the Fruits of the Spirit and such as are meet for Repentance such as may advance the Glory of God by the Salvation of innumerable Souls that none made after his Image might perish but all come to Everlasting Life God's Vineyard then being thus enlarg'd and his Church now no longer confin'd to a Corner of the World but by the Coming of Christ made Universal that all men might come to the Knowledge of the Truth Man is again as 't were seated in Paradise and reconciled to God 'T is again put into his Power to continue in his Makers Favour and after a Happy Life in this World to be transplanted into that Heavenly Country where is the Residence of the Divine Majesty and Rivers of ineffable Pleasures which flow for evermore As through the Disobedience of the first Adam Mankind was driven out of Paradise and doom'd to Live and Labour amongst Briars and Thorns as under the Displeasure of his Creator and then to Dye and Return to his Dust so through the Obedience of the second Adam even to the Death of the Cross through the Merits of his Blood and the Atonement of his Sacrifice all that sad Sentence and Condemnation is in a spiritual Sense revers'd and we are again planted in the Vineyard and Garden of God recall'd from the Portion of Thorns and Briars and restor'd to the Favour of our Creator and at length to change this Corruptible for Incorruptible this Dishonour and Weakness for Glory and Power this Natural for a Spiritual Body this Mortal Life for Immortality and by this means is brought to pass the Saying that is written 1 Cor. 15. Death is swallowed up in Victory O Blessed Alteration O happy Change of Misery and Shame for Happiness and Glory O the Miraculous Love and Goodness of God to Mankind in thus commiserating our deplorable Condition and delivering us from the Power of Darkness and translating us into the Kingdom of his Dear Son and making us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Happy are they who have heard of these Glad Tidings and are planted in this Spiritual Vineyard and under the Care and Cultivation of the great
still longer Reprieve Hoping that at length the Sinner may be awaken'd by the Sermons of the Gospel and the inward Motions and Excitations of the Spirit of Life and Holiness and see and fear his Danger and return by Repentance and do no more wickedly For so in the next Place 't is said in the Parable that when the Lord of the Vineyard gave Order that the Barren Fig-Tree should be cut down the Dresser of the Vineyard by whom our Saviour is represented answering said unto him let it alone this Year also till I shall dig about it and dung it Christ is our merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 2.17 18. to make Reconciliation for the Sins of the People for he knows our Infirmities and in that he himself hath suffer'd being tempted he is able also to succour those that are tempted and ever liveth to make Intercession for us Heb. 7.25 He moves for a still longer Respite and promises to use new Methods that we may become fruitful of such good Works as will be well pleasing in his Father's Sight and accordingly cultivates and manures our Souls with repeated Exhortations to Repentance presses the Discourses of his Ministers still more home upon Men's Consciences and gives new Aids and Assistances of his Blessed Spirit provides new Happy Circumstances by his Providence for our Good such as a Faithful Instructer Good Conversation and Example Pious Books and Discourses which may warm and enliven a Sense of Religion in the Soul and awaken Attention and soften the Heart of Stone and render it penetrable by the Arguments of the Gospel and receptive of the Blessed Impressions of the Spirit of God That as loosening the Mould about the Roots of a Tree and cherishing it with the kindly Warmth of Dung is very conducive to the spreading of its Fibres and making it flourish and grow fruitful so these gracious Methods of the great Dresser of God's spiritual Vinevard Christ Jesus may so influence the Souls of Christians as to make them bear much Fruit to the Glory of God and their own everlasting Salvation This is the last Course that can be taken for a Sinner's Safety and if this will not prevail with him to take care of his Happiness there is no longer Hope 'T is like the Intercession of a Favourite for a Condemn'd Criminal upon Condition of his better Conversation for the future but if he again returns to his old vile Courses his Friends then abandon him as one that deserves to perish And so here in the Parable Christ the Beloved Son of God intercedes for a miserable Sinner ready for Destruction and begs a Reprieve for him to see if Time and farther Care will cure his Wickedness but if this proves ineffectual there remains nothing but a fearful Expectation of Judgment and fiery Indignation His Intercessor will then give him over for Desperate and suffer Justice to take its Course for so said the Dresser of the Vineyard to his Lord If after I have digg'd about it and dung'd it it bear fruit well but if not then after that thou shalt cut it down And this in the last Place represents to us the deplorable Condition of such as after all the Methods of Grace for their Reformation are still hardned in their Wickedness Christ will no more appear in their Behalf no more Thought shall be taken for their Safety but their Compassionate Intercessor shall then become their stern and inexorable Judge And when the dreadful Day of Doom shall come and the miserable Wretches appear before his Throne to receive the just Recompense of their obstinate Impieties then shall That Jesus who once so earnestly pleaded with God in their Behalf pronounce the Dreadful Sentence Depart from me ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire Depart from me your Saviour and once compassionate Mediator between God and You Be from henceforch and for ever depriv'd of all Hope of Redemption and Reinstatement into the Favour of my Father Be banish'd for ever from all Intercourse with Heaven without any Intercessor any propitiatory Sacrifice any Advocate to plead their Cause and without any Place for Repentance to Eternal Ages Depart to the Regions of Endless Horror and Despair in the Society of the Devil and his Angels And this is but the just Demerit of your Obstinate Wickedness who despis'd the Goodness of God that should have led you to Repentance This is the sad End of Irreclaimable Sinners this is the Punishment of an unfruitful Profession of Christianity Wherefore let those consider this that forget God before it be too late lest he pluck them away and there be none to deliver them Let them no longer turn the Grace and Forbearance of God into Lasciviousness but work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling For God is just as well as merciful and though slow to Wrath and of great Goodness repenting him of the Evil yet he will by no means clear the obstinately guilty but to such is a Consuming Fire The PRAYER I. O Merciful God who hast planted me in the Vineyard of thy dear Son the Christian Church and by the Culture of thy Ministers and the enlivening Influences of thy Blessed Spirit hast taken tender Care of my Growth and that I thrive and flourish in all spiritual Excellencies till I be fit to be transplanted to thy Heavenly Paradise I bless thy infinite Goodness for the Enlargement of this thy Vineyard so as to extend even to us though so remote from thy first Plantation and for those extraordinary Helps we of this Church have in order to our Increase in all the Fruits of the Spirit And earnestly beg that we may not produce Leaves only the mock Appearances of Christian Vertue but the Fruit of a sincere Religion in all the Instances of Holy Conversation II. I acknowledge with Admiration at thy infinite Love to Mankind that 't is Our Happiness thou respectest in thus indispensibly requiring Fruit of us not any Acquisition to thy self who art infinitely full already and the overflowing Fountain of all possible Good Thou commandest that our Fruit should be unto Holiness because we shall otherwise be incapable of the blessed End of Everlasting Life and spend our Days in Misery in this Lower World O Lord as is thy Majesty so is thy Mercy O make me duely sensible of thy tender Care of my Happiness and may it never through my wretched Obstinacy be in vain And in vain it would be were not thy long-suffering wonderful With what amazing Patience dost thou wait to see if at length I shall be Fruitful How often have I disappointed thy just Expectations and yet thou hast still forborn me through thine own Compassions and the Intercession of my dear Redeemer the Dresser of thy Vineyard who hath ply'd me with new Methods of Conversion fresh Applications to invigorate my Piety that at the last I may return thee acceptable Fruits and escape the sad Punishment of Barrenness
Thou hast done all O blessed God that can be done to secure the Happiness of Rational and Free Agents I therefore beg with all the Earnestness of an awaken'd Soul that thy Goodness Long-suffering and Forbearance may soften my Spirit and lead me to Repentance and melt me into Shame and Tears of Penitential Sorrow for having so long abused the tender Kindness of so good a God O let not thy Lenity ever extinguish the Dread of thy Vengeance which though slow is sure and may I seriously consider that if this thy Mercy is not effectual to my Reformation 't will but add weight to the Eternal Ruine I deserve May these Considerations most gracious God never depart from my Mind till Fruit be added to my Leaves and I experience the Power of True Godliness which Thing if thou wilt grant me then will I praise thee without ceasing and magnifie thy Goodness for ever and ever Amen Amen PARABLE XI Of the Prodigal Son Luke xv 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24. And Jesus said a certain Man had two Sons And the younger of them said to his Father Father give me the portion of Goods that falleth to me And he divided unto them his Living And not many days after the younger Son gather'd all together and took his Journey into a far Country and there wasted his Substance in riotous living And when he had spent all there arose a mighty Famine in that Land and he began to be in want And he went and joyned himself to a Citizen of that Country and he sent him into his Fields to feed Swine And he would fain have filled his Belly with the Husks that the Swine did eat and no man gave unto him And when he came to himself he said How many hired Servants of my Fathers have Bread enough and to spare and I perish with Hunger I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee And am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants And he arose and came to his Father But when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had Compassion and ran and fell on his Neck and kissed him And the Son said unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son But the Father said to his Servants bring forth the best Robe and put it on him and put a Ring on his Hand and Shooes on his Feet And bring hither the fatted Calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry For this my Son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found THIS whole Chapter from the Third Verse to the End is intended to represent the great Tenderness and Compassion of God towards Sinners his great Desire that they should Repent and turn from their wicked Courses and how highly pleasing to him it is when they sincerely do so And this is express'd in Three Parables The First of a Man's seeking diligently a Sheep that he had lost and leaving the rest of his Flock till he had found it and then rejoycing greatly and telling his Neighbours the good News and inviting them to partake of his Joy The Second is of a Woman's having lost a Piece of Silver and seeking very carefully till she had found it and then in like manner rejoycing with her Friends for her good Success And the Third Parable is that of the Prodigal Son And because they are All to the same purpose 't will be sufficient to discourse of One of them only and the Last being the most full and comprehensive I shall consider That The Occasion of Our Lord 's speaking these Parables was The Scribes and Pharisees finding fault with him for Instructing and Conversing with Publicans and Sinners for they look'd upon it as very scandalous and a kind of Pollution to have any Familiarity with those worst of Men as they thought them and murmur'd against our Saviour saying This Man receiveth Sinners and eateth with them ver 2. To this Objection of theirs against him he answers in the Parables before mention'd and shews how unreasonably uncharitable they were to think much of his Teaching and Conversing with those who because the vilest of Men had therefore the most Need of his holy Instructions and excellent Example that they might be Reform'd and Reclaim'd from their wicked Practices For as he said elsewhere the Whole have no need of a Physician but those that are Sick and therefore he came to Seek and to Save those that were lost and Not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Nay more he tells them in the 7th and 10th Verses of this Chapter that There shall be more Joy in Heaven in the Presence of the Angels of God over One Sinner that Repenteth than over Ninety and Nine Just Persons that need no Repentance or such a total Change of Mind as is in a Sinner that breaks off his vile Courses by Repentance And farther to explain and enforce this great and most comfortable Truth and represent it more lively to their Apprehensions he spake the Parable of the Prodigal Son and therein very naturally and movingly expresses these Four Things First The great Extravagancy of Wicked Men when they give themselves up to the Conduct of their own Wills and Affections and are weary of the Government of God their Heavenly Father Secondly The sad Condition such Men quickly reduce themselves to by that their Extravagancy and loose self-will'd Course of Life or in other Words the miserable Consequences of Debauchery and Riot Thirdly The sharp Remorse of Conscience that attends such Courses the Shame and Sorrow for them and the Resolutions of an awaken'd Sinner to return again to his Obedience to God And Fourthly The great Tenderness and Compassion of the Father of Spirits to such as Repent in earnest and keep their Resolutions His Readiness to receive them again to his Favour and great Joy for their Return Because they were dead but are alive again were lost but are found Which last Particular is the Reason of the greater Joy that is in Heaven over one Sinner that Repenteth than over Ninety and Nine Just persons that need no Repentance and is a very satisfactory Account of our Lord 's so often Conversing with and Instructing Publicans and Sinners For they had the most need of that great Physician of Souls and consequently their Salvation would cause the greatest Joy in Heaven and therefore our Compassionate Saviour so industriously endeavour'd their Conversion And had the Pharisees had any of that Goodness in them they so much pretended to they would have rejoyced at our Lord's Charity and admir'd and lov'd him for it rather than have murmur'd at it as they did and used it as an Objection against him The first Thing express'd in this Parable is the great Extravagancy
that of St. James If any Man lack Wisdom let him ask of God but let him ask in Faith nothing wavering for such a Man shall not receive any thing of the Lord James 1. 5 6. The meaning of all which I suppose to be this That as the Apostles upon their firm Belief of the Truth of our Lord's Promise of enabling them to work Miracles for the Advancement of the Christian Religion and of his Power to do accordingly should when they pray'd for his Help be enabl'd to do as they desired so all other Believers if their Prayers are accompanied with a strong Belief of his Veracity in promising to hear the Prayers of the Faithful of his Ability to relieve and help them and of his infinite Goodness and Willingness to grant them their Desires if it be expedient for them they shall certainly speed well and receive a Blessing at the Hand of God The very Petitions they offer up if for their Good shall be granted them and if not for their Good God in his infinite Wisdom will bestow something else upon them that shall be more for their Advantage And they may depend upon it they shall not be sent away empty But he that wavereth and is of doubtful Mind in these Particulars and prays with great Diffidency and distrust of prevailing as his Prayers must needs be very cool and without that Life and Fervour and Importunacy which we shall see presently is likewise necessary to our Success so his Mind must be in strange Agitation and toss'd between the Waves of two contrary and very perplexing Passions Hope and Fear and the latter having manifestly the Advantage with such a Man for if his Hope were stronger than his Fear he would be more fix'd and steady than he is 't is a Thousand to one but at length after intollerable Disquietudes and Anxiety of Mind he will split upon Despair or down-right Atheism So true is that of St. James Chap. 1. Vers 6 8. He that wavereth is like a Wave of the Sea driven about and tossed a double minded Man is unstable in all his Ways and so necessary is it that we should firmly believe and be actually perswaded when we pray that our Petitions if for our Good shall be granted us by our Heavenly Father There is yet one thing more requir'd if we would succeed in our Devotions and which is of very great Avail in this Matter and that is a Holy Earnestness and Importunity And 't is a thing so much to be observ'd that our Lord deliver'd two Parables cited at the Beginning of this Discourse to this very Purpose That Men ought always to pray and not to faint In both there is a Delay and Denial for a Time but at length the Importunate prevail Now though the Reason why our Saviour directs to this Importunity cannot be the same with that mention'd in the Parables God's Quietness and Happiness being not to be disturb'd nor he teas'd and weari'd into Compliance as those in the Parables were yet there may be several other Reasons given for it 'T is a Manifestation of our earnest Desire of prevailing and that we indeed highly value what we thus importunately beg for 't is a means to make us prize a Blessing the more which we so hardly come by and to be the more thankful for it when we receive it and the more careful not to lose or forfeit it 'T is a Tryal of our Patience an Exercise of our Faith and Hope and Dependence upon God it teacheth Humility and Self-Denial and Amendment of our Faults lest our Continuance in them render us unworthy of God's Favour it makes Devotion burn bright and vigorously and is of great Advantage to all the Purposes of Religion For these and such like Reasons it is that our good God who giveth to all Men freely and upbraideth not has made Importunity a Condition in order to the obtaining our Requests and indeed the Blessings God encourages us to ask and bestows upon us are so great that the utmost Earnestness and most importunate Addresses and the longest Attendance will be abundantly repaid with a Grant at last Having thus done what I at first propos'd to do upon the Parable of the importunate Widow and prov'd that Prayer is not only the Privilege but the Duty of every Christian and shewn how far the Obligation to this Duty does extend and what those Requisites are which are necessary to the effectual Performance of this Duty viz Purity of Life and Manners Sincerity of Intention Just and Upright Dealing with one another express'd by St. Paul by lifting up Holy Hands and likewise a quiet peaceable Temper of Mind not given to Strife and Wrath but apt to be reconcil'd and to forgive together with a full Assurance of Faith in the Veracity and Power and Goodness of God accompanied with a Holy Earnestness and Importunity It remains only that we all of us be exhorted diligently and heartily according to the Measures before describ'd to put in Practice this so beneficial a Duty There is no Place no Time but we have need of God's Favour and Protection and we may always and in every Place beseech it of him and he has promis'd to hear and accept us whenever we address to him as we ought 'T is Prayer that sanctifies Prosperity and makes light the Burthens of Adversity and brings a Blessing upon our Business and Callings and is the greatest Cordial upon the Bed of Sickness wherefore Let us pray every where lifting up Holy Hands without Wrath and doubting and by an Importunity not to be denied do a pleasing Violence to Heaven For every one that thus asketh Matth. 11.10 c. receiveth If a Son shall ask any of us that is a Father Bread or a Fish or an Egg will we give him a Stone or a Serpent or a Scorpion If we then being evil know how to give good Gifts to our Children how much more shall our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit and all other needful Blessings to them that ask him The PRAYER MOst Gracious God who not only permittest but dost encourage nay command us to make our Requests known unto thee and hast promised by thy Blessed Son that whatever we ask in his Name if it be expedient for us we shall receive assist me with thy Grace so to advert to the All-sufficiency and Almighty Goodness of thy Divine Nature and the miserable Indigency of my own that I may have a due Value for this inestimable Favour and be so much my own Friend as often to bend my Knees before the Throne of thy Grace and lay my Supplications before thee I humbly confess O Lord and deplore my hitherto great and stupid Backwardness in this Heavenly and most beneficial Duty and earnestly beseech thee that for the time to come thou would'st prepare my Soul by the Inspirations of thy Blessed Spirit that it may become a House of Prayer and a fit Habitation for
that he would turn away that fierce Anger from him which he is very sensible he has but too much deserv'd Thus David fram'd a Psalm on purpose to confess and bewail his great Transgressions in the Matter of Uriah He then forgot all that was good in him and did not expect that his former excellent Piety should cover and make Amends for those foul Sins He did not search for Excuses and endeavour to extenuate his Guilt but like a truly humble Penitent chang'd his usual Strain of Praise and Thansgiving for the Accents of Grief and Shame and better Remorse acknowledging his Transgressions and having his Sins ever before him and with the most pathetick Earnestness of a broken and contrite Heart begging God's Forgiveness and that he would again Greate in him a clean Heart and renew a right Spirit within him As if those his great Wickednesses had not only polluted all that before was good in him but quite destroy'd the Rectitude and Integrity of his Soul And as David so S. Peter when he reflected upon the great Baseness of Denying his divine Master and Saviour his Spirit was so truly humbled that without endeavouring in the least to conceal or palliate his Fault he went out and wept bitterly And so the Publican in the Parable would not so much as lift up his Eyes to Heaven but stood afar off in the Court of the Gentiles which was the lowest of all and with great Compunction of Spirit smote upon his Breast and said God be merciful to me a Sinner And thus much for the First Thing to be done upon this Parable which was to shew what the Grace of Spiritual Humility is viz. a not Over-valuing our spiritual Excellencies nor our Selves by reason of them nor despising others as less Holy but returning all the Glory to God who made us to differ nor undervaluing or endeavouring to excuse and extenuate our Wickednesses but an impartial considering the Vileness and great Aggravations of them and sincere humbling our Selves for them at the Throne of God The Second Thing to be done is to shew how excellent and beneficial this Vertue is in our Christian Course and how vile and mischievous the contrary Vice is 'T is a sufficient Argument that this Vertue is very excellent and of great Benefit to Christians that our Lord has plac'd it in the Front of his Beatitudes which he begins thus Blessed are the poor in Spirit Like a wise Master-Builder he lays the Foundation low of a Building that was to reach so very high and Humbleness of Mind must be the Ground-work of that Religion which will advance a Man to Heaven Piety without Humility is very apt to make Men top-heavy and over-set like a Ship without her Ballast 't is this that preserves the Soul unshaken amidst the Temptations of the World as that makes a Ship sail sure and steady amidst the mighty Billows The House in the Gospel that was founded upon a sandy Surface of the Earth soon yielded to the Fury of the Tempest and great was the Fall of it our Lord therefore begins with poverty of Spirit as the Basis and great security of all his other Building which he foresaw and foretold was to undergo the Shock of many a furious Storm and contend with all the Powers of the Prince of Darkness But more particularly this Grace of Spiritual Humility is so excellent and highly beneficial that nothing more conduces to a Man's Spiritual growth and Encrease in Vertue nor renders him more dear both to God and Man First Nothing more conduces to a Man's spiritual growth and Encrease in Vertue For 't is very true in Religion as well as in Worldly Affairs That nothing makes Men more industrious than a due sense of their Wants and the poorness of their Stock whereas when a Man thinks he has Abundance he is generally Slothful and Careless and Impoverishment becomes his Lot rather than a farther Improvement An humble Sense of a Man's Imperfections and Sins will make him doubly diligent and consequently to improve greatly in the School of Righteousness but haughty Conceitedness will certainly make him grow worse and worse Nay there will be no End of the humble minded Man's Improvement for 't is always found in the pursuit of Vertue as well as of Knowledge that the more real Vertue increases in the Soul of a Good Man the more and greater the Defects of his Vertue appear to be and consequently the more will his Diligence be quickned and spurr'd on as St. Paul the farther he advanced in the Christian Race the more conscious he grew that he had not yet apprehended what he endeavoured after and was not yet perfect and that made him forget what was behind his former Attainments and reach out to what was still before what he had not yet attain'd to and eagerly press forward to the Mark the Prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus Now the Consequence of this extraordinary Diligence must needs be an extraordinary growth and increase and so still onward in a quick and vigorous Motion till he finishes his Vertuous Race and is perfect as his Father which is in Heaven is perfect And as this spiritual Humility makes a Man move swiftly in the Christian Course so it makes him tread surely too it ballances him and keeps him upon his Centre and secures him from those dangerous Falls which too often are the Fate of the high-minded and proud for 't was Pride and Haughtiness of Spirit we know that ruin'd the Prince of the Fallen Angels and his Accomplices But poverty of Spirit is the great Security of a Christian against the subtle Arts of the Tempter 't is the proper Mark and Character of a Disciple of the meek lowly Jesus and is a disposition of Mind the most of all apt for Repentance which is a Grace of infinite Value as being absolutely necessary to Salvation and entitles a Man in a peculiar manner to the Divine Aid and Assistance for God giveth Grace to the Humble Secondly As this spiritual Humility is of the greatest Benefit to a Christian so does it render him highly dear both to God and Man All Men love an humble Man and look upon him as a Wise and Extraordinary Person and he that is pious and circumspect in his Conversation and yet is not proud of it nor despises or haughtily reflects upon others that live more at large than he does but advises them better seasonably and with Meekness and Humility such a Man is esteem'd as a Person sent from God to do Good to Mankind that seeing his Good Works mix'd with poverty of Spirit they may be inclined to imitate so lovely an Example and glorifie their Father which is in Heaven by treading in his Steps And as for God S. Peter and S. James and the Wisest of Men all agree that he resisteth the proud but giveth Grace to the humble And our Lord himself at the end of the Parable we
are now considering says expresly He that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted and the humble Publican went down to his House justified rather than the haughty Pharisee so beneficial and highly valuable both with God and Man is Humility of Spirit But on the contrary to be opinionated and proud of ones Vertue is a great Misfortune as well as Fault and brings a great deal of a peculiar sort of Trouble and Uneasiness along with it 'T is a Thing hated both by God and Men and is despis'd and disgrac'd by every Body To what would otherwise be really praise-worthy it brings the greatest Disparagement in the World and if a Man's Conversation be but indifferent and like other Mens then nothing makes him more ridiculous than much to value himself upon what is of so little or no Excellency And what a Pain 't is for Men that look upon themselves as extraordinary Persons to see others so far from that Opinion as rather to slight and deprecate them may easily be imagin'd And indeed 't is the Mishap of this sort of People always to meet with such kind of Entertainment as this Men setting themselves on purpose to tease and worry 'em that if possible they may make them ashamed and weary of a thing so generally hated But besides this peculiar sort of Vexation and Uneasiness that attends spiritual Pride there is something much worse to be said of it viz. that 't is almost impossible for Men infected with this Vice ever to improve in Religion and grow better For in the Nature of the Thing nothing slackens Diligence and Industry more than this without which no progress can be made in any thing or at best a very slow one especially where there are such Difficulties to be struggled with as in Religion and what signifies Instruction or Reproof unless it be to gall and enrage him to a Man that thinks his Vertue very extraordinary if not compleat already And besides God from whom we derive all our Sufficiency resists the proud and therefore as Solomon says no wonder if when pride cometh then cometh destruction and a haughty Spirit be the forerunner of a fall Besides as the Condition of Mankind is now to be proud of Vertue is to be proud of Imperfection for such is the Vertue even of the best Men upon Earth nay 't is to be proud of that which is not for no Man that is proud of his Vertue is indeed Vertuous that poverty of Spirit being wanting which gives the Value to all Religious Actions and renders them acceptable in the Sight of God And it not only pollutes and unhallows what might otherwise deserve the Name of Vertue but as was hinted before it keeps a Man from growing better it blinds him that he cannot discern his Faults and he is so taken up with admiring his Excellencies and with the Pharisee thanking God that he is not as other men are Extortioners Unjust Adulterers or the like that his great Defects pass unobserv'd by him And with the Man in the Fable he is so busie in gazing upon things above himself that he perceives not the Dangers under his feet till he falls into them Having thus endeavour'd to shew what is the Grace of spiritual Humility and how excellent and highly beneficial a Grace it is and how vile and mischievous the contrary Vice is destructive of all Religion and hateful both to God and Man I proceed now in the Last Place to shew how highly this Vertue shall be rewarded which is exprest thus in the Close of this Parable He that humbleth himself shall be exalted That is in short Mens Humbleness of Mind in point of Vertue their Self-Annihilation and returning all the Glory of their Good Actions to God as the Author of whatever is commendable in them and without priding themselves in their present Attainments pressing on still to greater Degrees of Perfection and Heavenly Life This shall in the World of Eternal Felicity and Glory be rewarded with the Impression of a near Resemblance to that Divine Fountain of Holiness and Perfection whom here they acknowledg'd to be the Giver of every good and perfect gift They shall then see him as he is and they shall be like him No Failures no Slips or Imperfections no Avocations from the happy Employment of Admiring and Loving God shall be There which in this Life are the perpetual Clogs and Vexations of a Holy Soul but with their Faculties free and vigorous they shall fully enjoy this supreme Good without Interruption to all Eternity This is that which makes a Heaven this is to enjoy the Happiness of God himself and this Heaven and this Happiness shall be the Portion of the poor in Spirit who here ascribe to God the Praise and Glory of their vertuous Actions And their Humbling themselves before his Majesty in a deep Sense of the Vileness and Ingratitude of their Sins which the best Man living is not wholly without shall be rewarded with the Pardon of them they shall be lifted up from their Prostration at the Feet of their God and Saviour and be received into his Bosom and Joy extraordinary Joy shall be in Heaven in the Presence of the Holy Angels for their Repentance They shall be exalted from the State of Penitents to that of Friends nay Sons of God and all Tears for the Future shall be for ever wip'd from their Eyes and they shall participate of the Joy of their Lord from Everlasting to Everlasting And such an Exaltation as this is no doubt an abundant Recompense for all the Pains of spiritual Mortification and a Repentance so rewarded will never be repented of To conclude therefore If we hope to have a share in that ineffable Felicity which shall be the Reward of this Humility of Spirit we have been discoursing of we must make it our Endeavour to tread the Path that leads to it We must humble our selves before God according to the Measures above described that he may exalt us in due time And as without whom we can do no good Thing we must with all Earnestness and Importunity beg his gracious Assistance who was meek and lowly in Heart that we may follow his Steps and return him all the Glory of our pious Advances who worketh in us to will and to do of his good Pleasure and be so duly affected with Shame and Sorrow for our Wickednesses as with the Publican in bitter Remorse and with sincere Purposes of Amendment to smite upon our Breasts and say God be merciful to us miserable Sinners The PRAYER O Meek and Lowly Jesus who resistest the Proud and givest Grace to the Humble and hast plac'd Poverty of Spirit in the Front of thy Beatitudes as the Foundation and Ground-work of thy Holy Religion Teach me this excellent Grace I humbly beseech thee and grant that I may hate and shun Pride above all Things as the most dangerous and destructive Vice which defiles every thing however otherwise commendable and excellent and naturally tends to the Pit of Destruction And to allay all vain Tumors that shall arise give me O Blessed Saviour a true Sense of the Corruption of my Nature my many heinous Violations of my Duty my vile Ungratitude to thee my greatest Benefactor and the great Imperfections of ev'n my best Services and that whatever I have done that is praise-worthy is owing to thy gracious Assistance and that of my self I can do nothing that is good O may I therefore never arrogate to my self what should be wholly thine nor despise any Man like the haughty Pharisee who have nothing my self but what I have receiv'd from thee but in sincere Humility of Spirit return thee all the Glory saying after I have done all that I can I am still an Unprofitable Servant and have done but what was my Duty to do And grant that in an humble Sense of my still great Defects considering what vast Assistances I have had I may smite upon my Breast and say with the Publican God be merciful to me a miserable Sinner Grant this thou meek and humble Lamb of God for the sake of thine own Tender Mercies Amen and Amen FINIS
it and as I am in Charity bound by Severity when the Man is able to bear it to provide for the Safety of his Soul so by a timely Relief likewise when there is urgent Need of it to support his Body So that upon the Whole all that want are to be releiv'd but 't is after a different Manner and the Charity must be adapted to the Necessity to the Widow and the Fatherless the Naked the Hungry the Sick and the Helpless must be ministred Comfort and Support but to sturdy lazy Travellers as they call themselves the Lash and Labour and rough Treatment and this however harshly it may sound is the greater Charity of the Two And thus much in general for the first Enquiry occasion'd by this Parable viz. who are the proper Objects of this Kind of Charity according to the Intent of our holy Religion or in the Words of the Lawyer to our Saviour who is our Neighbour in this Respect I proceed to the Second Enquiry How we are oblig'd to express this Charity to the proper Objects of it in what Manner and in what Measure And in general as to the Manner of relieving it must be adapted to the Necessity to be relieved and as to the Measure it must likewise be suitable to the Degree of the Necessity and to the Ability of the Person that relieves it But to do Justice to this Enquiry we must be more particular and shall therefore reduce the Necessities of the Objects of our Charity to these three Heads Poverty Sickness and Loss of Liberty and shew the Manner and Measure of relieving each As for Poverty it may be of several Kinds and may consist either in Want of Meat and Drink or of Cloaths or of a Habitation or in a forlorn Widow-hood and Loss of Parents i. e. in such an urgent Want of Necessaries for Life as the Persons are utterly unable at least for the present to supply themselves withal and such a Loss of Husband or Parent as leaves destitute of such Necessaries and of Means to procure them Now in case of such Poverty the Relief must be suited to the most urgent Necessity he that is hungry must be supplied with Meat and the thirsty with Drink the naked with Cloathing sufficient to keep out the Injuries of the Weather Strangers and distress'd Travellers with Lodging and Widows and such as have been House keepers but are fall'n to Decay with convenient Habitations and a competent Subsistence and the Fatherless with good Education and a Paternal Care in disposing of them to Trades and Employments whereby they shall be enabled to provide for themselves And if any should be so destitute of all Comfort as to want most or all of these Necessaries they must be supply'd with all beginning with that of which there is the most need or else with a competent Piece of Mony Eccles 10.19 which as the wise Man says answers all things But this last must be understood only with respect to a poor Man that is in such Circumstances as that he can without any great Inconvenience shift for himself and with the Mony given him provide what is necessary But when a Man is in such present urgent necessity whether of Food or Drink or Rayment or Lodging or the like that he will be in great Danger of perishing if his Wants be not quickly supply'd and the Distance from publick Places of Entertainment great and the Season extreme in these and the like Circumstances 't would be but a mock piece of Charity to give Mony and take no farther Care of him there must be particular Provision made for such a Man 's particular Wants and that immediately and without Delays Thus for Instance suppose a poor Man should come to any one's House in a sharp Winter and dark Night approaching cold and faint and hungry and weary and beg for Admittance and that Pity might be had of his sad Condition and some Releif afforded him and suppose the Master of the House should refuse to take him in or let him refresh himself with him but withal give him a Piece of Mony and tell him that two or three Miles off there is a Town where for that Mony he may have Supply of his Wants and so send him away and suppose this poor Wretch should either faint by the Way or miss of it and in the weak Condition he is in be forced to lie abroad and by the Morning be found quite overcome by the rigorous Season and starv'd to Death In this Case what will the Man's dry Charity avail him Or rather shall he not answer for the Death of that distress'd Creature when he could have prevented it but would not The Manner of the good Samaritan's relieving and succouring the unfortunate Jew in the Parable though by his different Way of Religion quite estrang'd from the Jews is a remarkable Example of a thorough Charity When he came near and saw what a sad Condition the Thieves had lest the poor Man in despoil'd of his Mony and his Cloaths and wounded and left half-dead he first applies himself to the Relief of the greatest Necessity and binds up his Wounds pouring in Oyl and Wine And then not thinking that a sufficient Charity to a Man in his Condition he set him on his own Beast and brought him to an Inn and took farther Care of his Refreshment and stay'd there with him till the morrow to see that he had what was convenient for him and because his perfect Recovery would be a thing of Time he leaves Mony with the Host and a Charge to look well after him and promises that whatever was spent more upon that poor Man's Account when he came again he would repay This was indeed a compleat Relief and manag'd with as much Discretion as Compassion and our Lord's Application is Go and do thou likewise In all Cases of this Nature the Circumstances of the poor must be consider'd and the Relief suited accordingly 2. As to the Manner of expressing our Charity to the sick 't is in short to make frequent Visits of Comfort to them to refresh their Spirits by Pious Discourses of the Power and Goodness and Wisdom of that God who sends the Affliction who can remove it if he thinks fit and whose chastning is an Argument of his Love and that if he still continues it his Wisdom sees it will be for the best at last that so they may be inclin'd to hope and trust in God and patiently submit to his good Pleasure And 't is to supply likewise what is necessary for their Attendance and Recovery The poorer sort should express their Charity in this Instance by personal Attendance and Service and the more wealthy by providing things necessary and overlooking and directing to what is convenient And this is a most noble Piece of Charity and provides for the Health of the Soul as well as the Body and nothing can be more seasonable and well-tim'd For
in Time of Sickness the whole Man is dejected and the Spirit which should bear up his Infirmity is then it self for the most part wounded through the near Prospect of the other World and the bold Accusations of Conscience which then unless quite sear'd is loud and clamorous Then the Man is least of all able to help himself and the Charge of Sickness is great and he that was poor in Health when sick is doubly poor and indeed there is no greater Object of Pity and Compassion than a poor sick Man And as all Charity must be universal without excepting even Enemies so in this case our Enemies should be the Objects of our Charity to choose For upon a sick-Bed 't is most likely that they will be reconcil'd and 't is highly necessary than then they should be for Sickness often ends in Death and no Man can tell but that Sickness which his Enemy then lies under may be his last And 't is a miserable thing to die in Enmity And therefore before it be too late whoever is at variance with a sick Man should go to him and endeavour a Reconcilement if he hath injur'd the sick in any respect he should ask his Pardon and make him Satisfaction and Restitution and if the sick Man has injur'd him he should go to him to let him know that he freely forgives him and desires that all Ill-Will may be at at End for the future And at that Time when the Spirit is usually more softned and compliant than in Health and the Soul more awaken'd and sensible of her Duty 't is very probable he will hearken and the Man will gain his Brother And 't is a great Charity indeed to ease a sick Man's Mind of the devilish and tormenting Passions of Malice and Revenge it provides for Peace and Amity for the future should he recover and should he dye it makes his Account much easier at the Day of Judgment 3. As for Charity to such as are depriv'd of their Liberty the Manner of it consists in visiting and discoursing comfortably to them and in endeavouring by the best Methods we can to procure their Enlargement and in the mean time in helping them to Necessaries and perswading their Keepers to be kind to them and use them tenderly And if they are imprison'd for Grimes 't is to endeavour to make them sensible of the Guilt of them before God and that unless they sincerely repent of them an eternal Bondage in Chains of Darkness and in the lowest Hell shall come in the Place of the Dungeon their Iron Shackles and temporary Confinement And the Objects of this Piece of Charity are as before all Enemies as well as Friends Strangers and Foreigners as well as Neighbours and Acquaintance Under this Head of the Manner of expressing our Charity to the Necessitous it is proper to enquire what Preference may be made of one Object of Charity before another if more should offer themselves than one Man can relieve at least at the same time For our Direction in this matter St. Paul has left us two general Rules the one Gal. 6.10 where he says as we have Opportunity let us do good unto all Men but especially to those that are of the Houshold of Faith in which we are taught to prefer Christians before Heathens and Infidels when there is no Help but one must be preferr'd and among Christians to prefer in like Circumstances the pious and sincerely good before such as live not agreeably to their holy Profession for such only as have the Power of Godliness are properly of the Houshold of Faith The other Rule is in 1 Tim. 5.8 in these Words If any provide not for his own especially those of his own House or Kindred he has denyed the Faith c. and here we are directed if a Preference must be made to make it in Favour of our Friends and Relatives before such as are Strangers to us But these Rules must be thus explained As first where 't is impossible for us to comply with all Opportunities of doing good there this Preference is to be made but when we can we must do good to all And secondly When the Necessities of pious Christians and our Friends and Relations are equally great and urgent with those of the impious and Strangers to us there likewise our Charity should begin at Home But thirdly when the Distress of an Ill Man or a Stranger is greater and more urgent than that of a good Man or my Friend and Relative so that the former will be in danger of perishing unless immediately reliev'd and the latter will not but may safely tarry longer Then there must be no Respect of Persons but the greatest Necessity where-ever it be found must be first reliev'd I shall add but one thing more relating to the Manner of expressing our Charity and that is what St. Peter advises 1 Pet. 4.9 that it be done without grudging The Word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies murmuring or an unwillingness in doing any thing as if 't were torn and forc'd from one rather than proceeded from a free Inclination And this hateful churlish way of Alms-giving St. Paul likewise expresly forbids and says our Charity must not be shewn grudgingly 2 Cor. 9.7 or as of Necessity and Rom. 12.8 He that sheweth Mercy let him do it with Chearfulness according to the Example which God himself hath set us Who giveth to every Man liberally Jam. 1.5 and upbraideth not And here I can't but admire and adore the infinite Goodness of God who has not only oblig'd us to the Substance of this Duty but has so order'd the very Circumstantials of it that the necessitous may be reliev'd with as much Decency and Ease to themselves as can be and the Alms of others look rather like their own Propriety as the Payment of a Debt or restoring of a Pledge or bestowing a Reward and that their Souls might not be griev'd by Frowns and Taunts and unkind Language when they receive Supply for the Needs of their Body For Man as well as God loves a chearful Giver and a Benefit that comes hardly and with Shews of Unwillingness is much lessened in its Value and a Man of a generous Spirit would prefer a Mite given with a free Heart and Words of Kindness before the Largess of an Emperour if he must suffer Upbraidings for it and opprobrious Treatment Super Omnia Vultus accessere Boni says Horace All the Delicates at his Friends Entertainment would have relish'd but very indifferently had not a chearful Countenance assur'd him of his Welcome And if a free Charity be given in secret too Mat. 6.4 as our Lord himself directs the poor Man will not be so much as put to the Blush for what he receives and will come short of the rich in nothing that is necessary and be free from the Vexations that attend an opulent Condition and the Advantage