SERMONS PREACH'D UPON Several Occasions By JOHN Lord Archbishop of Canterbury The Fourth Volume LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal-Exchange in Cornhill and W. Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCIV His Grace John Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The Texts of each Sermon SERMON I. MAtth. XXV 1 2 c. Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bride-groom And five of them were wise and five were foolish c. Page 3. SERMON II. Ezra IX 13 14. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our Iniquities deserve and hast given us such a deliverance as this Should we again break thy Commandments and join in affinity with the people of these Abominations wouldst not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping 43 SERMON III. Matth. V. 44 But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you Page 83 SERMON IV. Luke X. 42 But one thing is needful 123 SERMON V. Matth. 25.46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal 153 SERMON VI. Ecclesiastes IX 11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong nor yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all 185 SERMON VII Jeremiah VI. 8 Be thou instructed O Jerusalem lest my soul depart from thee lest I make thee desolate a land not inhabited Page 221 SERMON VIII Acts XXIV 16 And herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards men 259 SERMON IX Zech. VII 5 Speak unto all the People of the Land and to the Priests saying When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month even those seventy years DID YE AT ALL FAST UNTO ME EVEN UNTO ME 297 SERMON X. Psalm LXXIII 25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee 339 SERMON XI Jer. IX 23 24. Thus saith the Lord Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his riches But let him that glorieth glory in this That he understandeth and knoweth Me that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness and judgment and righteousness in the earth For in these things I delight saith the Lord. 379 SERMON XII Tit. III. 2 To speak evil of no man 419 The Parable of the ten Virgins IN A SERMON Preached before Her ROYAL HIGHNESS THE Princess ANN of Denmark AT Tunbridge-Wells September 2 d. 1688. The Parable of the ten Virgins MATTH XXV 1 2. c. 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 c. MY design at present is to explain this Parable and to make such Observations upon it as seem most naturally and without squeezing the Parable to spring from it And then to make some Application of it to our selves Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten Virgins By the Kingdom of Heaven is meant the state and condition of things under the Gospel By the ten Virgins those who embraced the Profession of it which is here represented by their taking their Lamps and going forth to meet the Bridegroom in allusion to the ancient Custom of Marriages in which the Bridegroom was wont to lead home his Bride in the Night by the light of Lamps or Torches But this Profession was not in all equally firm and fruitful and therefore those who persever'd and continued stedfast in this Profession notwithstanding all the temptations and allurements of the World and all the fierce storms and assaults of persecution to which this Profession was exposed and being thus firmly rooted in it did bring forth the fruits of the Spirit and abound in the Graces and Virtues of a good life These are the wise Virgins But those who either deserted this Profession or did not bring forth fruits answerable to it are the foolish Virgins And that this is the true difference between them will appear if we consider how the Parable represents them vers 3 4. They that were foolish took their Lamps and took no Oyl with them But the wise took Oyl in their Vessels with their Lamps So that they both took their Lamps and both lighted them and therefore must both be suppos'd to have some oyl in their Lamps at first as appears from verse 8. where the foolish Virgins said unto the wise give us of your oyl for our Lamps are gone out They had it seems some Oyl in their Lamps at first which kept them lighted for a little while but had taken no care for a future supply And therefore the difference between the wise and foolish Virgins did not as some have imagin'd consist in this that the wise Virgins had Oyl but the foolish had none but in this that the foolish had taken no care for a further supply after the Oyl which was at first put into their Lamps was spent as the wise had done who besides the Oyl that was in their Lamps carried likewise a Reserve in some other Vessel for a continual supply of the Lamp as there should be occasion the wise took Oyl in their Vessels with their Lamps Now the meaning of all this is That they who are represented by the wise Virgins had not only embraced the Profession of the Christian Religion as the foolish Virgins also had done for they both had their Lamps lighted but they likewise persever'd in that Profession and brought forth fruits answerable to it For by Oyl in their Lamps and the first lighting of them which was common to them both is meant that solemn Profession of Faith and Repentance which all Christians make in Baptism By that farther supply of Oyl which the wise Virgins only took care to provide is signified our constancy and perseverance in this Profession together with the fruits of the Spirit and the improvement of the Grace received in Baptism by the practice and exercise of all the Graces and Virtues of a good life whereby men are fitted and prepar'd for Death and Judgment which are here represented to us by the coming of the Bridegroom This being plainly the main scope and intention of the Parable I shall explain the rest of it as there shall be occasion under the several Observations which I shall raise from the several parts of it And they shall be these
Christian Religion will permit us to believe and hope well of them and rather be contented to err a little on the favourable and charitable part than to be mistaken on the censorious and damning side And for this reason perhaps it is that our B. Saviour thought fit to frame his Parables with so remarkable a Byass to the charitable side Partly to instruct us to extend our charity towards all Christian Churches and Professors of the Christian Religion and our good hopes concerning them as far as with reason we can And partly to reprove the uncharitableness of the Jews who positively excluded all the rest of Mankind besides themselves from all hopes of Salvation An odious temper which to the infinite Scandal of the Christian Name and Profession hath prevail'd upon some Christians to that notorious degree as not only to shut out all the Reform'd Part of the Western Church almost equal in number to themselves from all hopes of Salvation under the notion of Hereticks but likewise to un-church all the other Churches of the Christian World which are of much greater extent and number than themselves that do not own subjection to the Bishop of Rome And this they do by declaring it to be of necessity to Salvation for every Creature to be subject to the Roman Bishop And this Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome over all Christian Churches Bellarmin calls the Sum of the Christian Religion So that the Roman Communion is plainly founded in Schism that is in the most unchristian and uncharitable Principle that can be namely that they are the only true Church of Christ out of which none can be saved which was the very Schism of the Donatists And in this they are so positive that the Learned men of that Church in their Disputes and Writings are much more inclinable to believe the Salvation of Heathens to be possible than of any of those Christians whom they are pleas'd to call Hereticks The Faith of the Church of Rome is certainly none of the best but of one of the greatest and most essential Vertues of the Christian Religion I mean Charity I doubt they have the least share of any Christian Church this day in the World Secondly I observe not from any particular circumstance but from the main Scope and design of this Parable How very apt a great part of Christians are to neglect this great concernment of their Souls viz a careful and due preparation for another World and how willing they are to deceive themselves in this matter and to depend upon any thing else how groundless and unreasonable soever rather than to take the pains to be really good and fit for Heaven And this is in a very lively manner represented to us in the description of the foolish Virgins who had provided no supply of Oyl in their Vessels and when the Bridegroom was coming would have furnish'd themselves by borrowing or buying of others vers 8 9 10. They contented themselves with having their Lamps lighted at their first setting out to meet the Bridegroom that is with their being admitted into the Profession of Christianity by Baptism but either were not stedfast in this Profession or were not careful to adorn it with the Graces and Vertues of a good life And the true Reason why men are so very apt to deceive themselves in this matter and are so hardly brought to those things wherein Religion mainly consists I mean the fruits of the Spirit and the practice of real Goodness I say the true reason of this is because they are extremely desirous to reconcile if it were possible the hopes of eternal happiness in another World with a liberty to live as they list in this present World They are loth to be at the trouble and drudgery of mortifying their lusts and governing their passions and bridling their tongues and practising all those duties which are comprehended in those two great Commandments of the Love of God and of our Neighbour They would fain gain the favour of God and make their calling and election sure by some easier way than by giving all diligence to add to their Faith and Knowledge the Graces and Vertues of a good life For the plain truth of the matter is men had rather that Religion should be any thing than what indeed it is viz the thwarting and crossing of their vicious inclinations the curing of their evil and corrupt affections the due care and government of their unruly appetites and passions the sincere endeavour and the constant practice of all holiness and virtue in their lives And therefore they had much rather have something that might handsomely palliate and excuse their evil inclinations and practices than to be obliged to retrench and renounce them and rather than amend and reform their wicked lives they would be contented to make an honourable amends and compensation to Almighty God in some other way This hath been the way and folly of Mankind in all ages to defeat the great end and design of Religion and to thrust it by by substituting something else in the place of it which as they think may serve the turn as well having the appearance of as much devotion and respect towards God and really costing them more money and pains than that which God requires of them Men have ever been apt thus to impose upon themselves and to please themselves with a conceit of pleasing God full as well or better by some other way than that which he hath prescribed and appointed for them By this means and upon this false Principle Religion hath ever been apt to degenerate both among Jews and Christians into external and little observances and into a great zeal for lesser things with a total neglect of the greater and weightier matters of Religion and in a word into infinite Superstitions of one kind or other and an arrogant conceit of the extraordinary righteousness and merit of these things In which some have proceeded to that height as if they could drive a strict bargain with God for eternal life and happiness and have treated Him in so insolent a manner by their Doctrine of the Merit of their Devotions and good Works as if God were as much beholden to them for their service and obedience as they are to Him for the reward of them which they are not afraid to say they may challenge at God's hands as of right and justice belonging to them Nay so far have they carried this Doctrine in the Church of Rome as not only to pretend to merit eternal life for themselves but likewise to do a great deal more for the benefit and advantage of others who have not righteousness and goodness enough of their own Which was the silly conceit of the foolish Virgins here in the Parable as I shall have occasion to shew more fully by and by And it is no great wonder that such easy ways of Religion and pleasing God are very grateful to the corrupt nature of Man
hath given us such a Deliverance as this from our Enemies and from the Hand of all that hate us not by using Them as they would have done Us had we fallen under their Power with great Insolence and Rage and Cruelty but with great Moderation and Clemency making as few Examples of Severity as will be consistent with our future security from the like Attempts upon our Religion and Laws And even in the Execution of Justice upon the greatest Offenders let us not give so much countenance to the ill Examples which have been set of Extravagant Fines and Punishments as to imitate those Patterns which with so much reason we abhor no not in the Punishment of the Authors of them And let us endeavour for once to be so wise as not to forfeit the fruits of this Deliverance and to hinder our selves of the benefit and advantage of it by Breaches and Divisions among our selves As we have no reason to desire it so I think we can hardly ever hope to understand Popery better and the Cruel Designs of it than we do already both from the long Trial and Experience which we have had of it in this Nation and likewise from that dismal and horrid View which hath of late been given us of the true Spirit and Temper of it in One of our Neighbour Nations which hath long pretended to the Profession of the most refin'd and moderate Popery in the World but hath now at last shewed it self in its true Colours and in the perfection of a persecuting Spirit and have therein given us a most sad and deplorable Instance of a Religion corrupted and degenerated into that which if it be possible is worse than None And since by the undeserved Mercy of God to us we have upon such easy terms in comparison escap'd their Rage and Fury let us now at length resolve never to join in affinity with the People of these Abominations since our Alliances with them by Marriage have had so fatal an Influence both upon the publick Peace and Tranquility of the Nation and upon the Welfare also of private Families I have known Many Instances of this kind but hardly ever yet saw One that prov'd happy but a great many that have been pernicious and ruinous to those Protestant Families in which such unequal and as I think unlawful Matches have been made Not that such Marriages are void in themselves but yet for all that sinful because of the apparent Danger and Temptation to which those of our Church and Religion that enter into them do evidently expose themselves of being seduc'd from their Religion not by the good Arguments which the other can offer to that purpose but by the ill Arts which they have the Confidence and the Conscience to make use of in the making of Proselytes And let us pay our most hearty and thankful Acknowledgments chiefly and in the first place to Almighty God the Blessed Author of this Deliverance and under Him to that happy Instrument whom God hath been pleased in great pity to this sinful and unworthy Nation to raise up on purpose for it his Highness the Prince of Orange and to that end did in his All-wise Providence lay the Foundation of our then future Deliverance in that auspicious Match which was concluded here in England about eleven years ago between this Renowned Prince and our Excellent Princess This is that most Illustrious House of Nassau and Orange which God hath so highly honoured above all the Families of the Earth to give a Check to the Two Great aspiring Monarchies of the West and bold Attempters upon the Liberties of Europe To the One in the last Age and to the Other in the present As if the Princes of this Valiant and Victorious Line had been of the Race of Hercules born to rescue Mankind from Oppression and to quell Monsters And lastly let us beseech Almighty God all whose Ways and Works are perfect That he would establish that which he hath wrought and still carry it on to further and greater Perfection Which after such an Earnest of his Favour and Good Will to us we have no reason to doubt but that he is ready to do for us if by our own fickleness and inconstancy disgusting the Deliverance now it is come which we so earnestly desir'd before it came if by our ingrateful Murmurings and Discontents by our own foolish Heats and Animosities kindled and carried on by the ill designs of some working upon the tenderness and scruples of others under the specious pretences of Conscience and Loyalty I say if by some or all these ways we do not refuse the Blessing which God now offers and defeat and frustrate the merciful Design of this wonderful Revolution God will still rejoice over us to do us good and think thoughts of Peace towards us thoughts of good and not of evil to give us an expected end of our long Troubles and Confusions But if we will not know in this our day the things which belong to our Peace our Destruction will then be of our selves and there will be no need that God should be angry with us for we shall be undone by our own Differences and Quarrels about the Way and Means of our being saved and so be angry with one another till we be consumed Which God of his infinite Goodness give us all the Grace and Wisdom to prevent for his Mercies sake in Jesus Christ to whom with Thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Thanksgiving and Praise both now and ever Amen Of Forgiveness of Injuries and against Revenge A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE HALL March 8. 1688 9. Of Forgiveness of Injuries and against Revenge MATTH V. 44 But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you THE Gospel hath promised forgiveness of Sins to us upon two Conditions That we sincerely repent of the Sins which we have committed against God and That we heartily forgive to men the injuries and offences which they have been guilty of towards us I shall at this time by God's Assistance treat of the latter of these from the Words which I have recited to you which are part of our Saviour's excellent Sermon upon the Mount In which he doth not only explain but enlarge and perfect the Moral and Natural Law by adding to it Precepts and Prohibitions of greater perfection than either the Law of Moses or the Natural Law in their largest extent did contain He forbids Polygamy and Divorce except only in case of Adultery and likewise Revenge none of which were forbidden either by the Law of Nature or by the Law which was given by Moses And to these Prohibitions our Blessed Saviour adds several new Precepts of greater perfection than any Laws that were extant before But I say unto you love your enemies The Jewish Law commanded them
Soul and so long as that remains unwounded the spirit of a man can bear his infirmities God is intimate to our Souls and hath secret ways whereby to convey the joys and comforts of his Holy Spirit into our Hearts under the bitterest afflictions and sharpest sufferings He can enable us by his Grace to possess our souls in patience when all other things are taken from us When there is nothing but trouble about us He can give us peace and joy in believing When we are persecuted afflicted and tormented He can give us that ravishing sight of the Glories of another World that stedfast assurance of a future Blessedness as shall quite extinguish all sense of present sufferings How did many of the primitive Christian Martyrs in the midst of their torments and under the very pangs of death rejoice in the hope of the glory of God There are none of us but may happen to fall into those circumstances of danger and of bodily pains and sufferings as to have no hopes of relief and comfort but from God none in all the World to trust to but Him only And in the greatest Evils that can befall us in this life He is a sure refuge and sanctuary and to repeat the words of the Psalmist after the Text When our heart fails and our strength fails God is the strength of our hearts and our portion for ever Now what would any of us do in such a Case if it were not for God Humane nature is liable to desperate straits and exigencies And he is not happy who is not provided against the worst that may happen It is sad to be reduced to such a condition as to be destitute of all comfort and hope And yet men may be brought to that extremity that if it were not for God they would not know which way to turn themselves or how to entertain their thoughts with any comfortable considerations under their present anguish All men naturally resort to God in extremity and cry out to him for help Even the most profane and Atheistical when they are destitute of all other comfort will run to God and take hold of him and cling about him But God hath no pleasure in fools in those who neglect and despise him in their prosperity though they owe that also entirely to him but when the evil day comes then they lay hold of him as their only refuge When all things go well with them God is not in all their thoughts but in their affliction they will seek him early Then they will cry Lord Lord but he will say to them in that day Depart from me ye workers of iniquity for I know you not Here will be the great unhappiness of such persons that God will then appear terrible to them so as they shall not be able when they look up to him to abide his frowns And at the same time that they are forc'd to acknowledge him and to supplicate to him for mercy and forgiveness they shall be ready to despair of it Then those terrible threatnings of God's Word will come to their minds Because I called and ye refused I stretched out my hand and no man regarded But ye set at nought all my counsel and would have none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me For that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord They would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof Therefore shall they eat the fruit of their own ways and be filled with their own devices The ease of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them To which I will add that terrible Passage in the Prophet concerning the perverse and obstinate Jews They are a People of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour And men are miserable Creatures indeed when God their Maker doth abandon them and hath so far hardened his heart against them that he can have no pity and compassion for them Seventhly and Lastly Which is consequent upon all the rest God is such a Good as can give perfect rest and tranquillity to our minds And that which cannot do this though it had all the Properties before mentioned cannot make us happy For he is not happy who does not think himself so what-ever cause he may have to think so Now what in reason can give us disquiet if we do firmly believe that there is a God and that his Providence rules and governs all things for the best and that God is all that to good Men which hath now been said of Him Why should not our minds be in perfect repose when we are secure of the chief Good and have found out that which can make us happy and is willing to make us so if we be not wanting to our selves and by our wilful obstinacy and rebellion against him do not oppose and frustrate this design If a considerate Man were permitted to his own choice to wish the greatest good to himself that he could possibly devise after he had searched Heaven and Earth the result of all his wishes would be that there were just such a Being as we must necessarily conceive God to be Nor would he chuse any other Friend or Benefactor any other Protector for himself or Governor for the whole World than infinite Power conducted and managed by infinite Wisdom and Goodness which is the true Notion of a God After all his enquiry he would come to the Psalmist's conclusion here in the Text Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Vain Man is apt to seek for happiness elsewhere but this proceeds from want of due consideration For when all things are well weigh'd and all accounts rightly cast up and adjusted we shall at last settle in David's resolution of that great Question What is the chief Good of man There be many says he that say Who will shew us any good That is Men are generally inquisitive after happiness but greatly divided in their Opinions about it Most men place it in the present enjoyments of this World but David for his part pitches upon God in whom he was fully convinc'd that the happiness of Man does consist There be many that say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their Corn and Wine increased The great joy of the men of this World is in a plentiful Harvest and the abundance of the good things of this life But David had
an instant and with the greatest ease and no created Power can put any difficulty in his way much less make any effectual resistance because Omnipotency can check and countermand and bear down before it all other Powers So that if God be on our side who can be against us We may safely commit our Souls into his hands for he is able to keep that which is committed to him He can give us all good things and deliver us from all evil for his is the Kingdom and the glorious Power Though all Creatures should fail us we may rely upon God and live upon his All-sufficiency for our supply and may say with the Prophet Though the Fig-tree should not blossom neither Fruit be in the Vine though the labour of the Olive should fail and the Fields should yield no meat though the Flock should be cut off from the Fold and there should be no Herd in the Stalls yet would I rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of my Salvation Secondly As God is an All-sufficient Good so He is perfect Goodness He is willing to communicate happiness to us and to employ his Power and Wisdom for our good He made us that he might make us happy and nothing can hinder us from being so but our selves Such is his goodness that he would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth And when we have provoked him by our sins he is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance For he delighteth not in the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live So that if any of us be miserable it is our own choice if we perish our destruction is of our selves For as the Wiseman in one of the Apocryphal Books says excellently God made not death neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living But men seek death in the error of their life and pull destruction upon themselves with the works of their own hands So great is the goodness of God to mankind that he hath omitted nothing that is necessary to our happiness He design'd it for us at first and to that end he hath endowed us with Powers and Faculties whereby we are capable of knowing and loving and obeying and enjoying Him the chief Good And when we had forfeited all this by the wilful transgression and disobedience of the first Parents of mankind and were miserably bruised and maimed by their fall God of his infinite mercy was pleas'd to restore us to a new capacity of happiness by sending his only Son to suffer in our nature and in our stead and thereby to become a Propitiation for the sins of the whole World and the Author of eternal Salvation to them that believe and obey him And he hath likewise promised to give us his Holy Spirit to enable us to that Faith and Obedience which the Gospel requires of us as the necessary conditions of our eternal Salvation Thirdly God is also a firm and unchangeable Good Notwithstanding his infinite Wisdom and Power and Goodness we might be miserable if God were mutable For that cannot be a happiness which depends upon uncertainties and perhaps one of the greatest aggravations of misery is to fall from happiness to have been once happy and afterwards to cease to be so And that would unavoidably happen to us if the cause of our happiness could change and the foundation of it be removed If God could be otherwise than powerful and wise and good all our hopes of happiness would be shaken and would fall to the ground But the Divine nature is not subject to any change As he is the Father of lights and the Author of every good and perfect gift so with him is no variableness neither shadow of turning All the things of this World are mutable and for that reason had they no other imperfection belonging to them cannot make us happy Fourthly God is such a good as none can deprive us of and take away from us If the things of this World were unchangeable in their nature and not liable to any decay yet they cannot make us happy because we may be cheated of them by fraud or robb'd of them by violence But God cannot be taken from us Nothing but our Sins can part God and us Who shall separate us saith the Apostle from the love of God shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword We may be stripp'd of all our worldly Comforts and Enjoyments by the violence of men but none of all these can separate us from God I am persuaded as the Apostle goes on with great triumph that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor heighth nor depth nor things present nor things to come nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nor any other Creature Here is a sufficient induction of particulars and nothing left out of this Catalogue but one and that is Sin which is none of God's Creatures but our own This indeed deliberately consented to and wilfully continued in will finally part God and us and for ever hinder us from being happy But if we be careful to avoid this which only can separate between God and us nothing can deprive us of Him The aids and influences of his Grace none can intercept and hinder the joys and comforts of his Holy Spirit none can take from us All other things may leave us and forsake us We may be debarr'd of our best friends and banish'd from all our acquaintance but men can send us no whither from the presence of God Our Communication with Heaven cannot be prevented or interrupted Our Prayers and our Souls will always find the way thither from the uttermost parts of the Earth Fifthly God is an eternal God And nothing but what is so can make us happy Man having an immortal Spirit and being design'd for an endless duration must have a happiness proportionable For which reason nothing in this World can make us happy because we shall abide and remain after it When a very few years are past and gone and much sooner for any thing we know all the things of this World will leave us or else we shall be taken away from them But God is from everlasting to everlasting He is the same and his years fail not Therefore well might David fix his happiness upon God alone and say Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee When my heart faileth and my strength faileth God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Sixthly God is able to support and comfort us in every condition and under all the accidents and adversities of humane Life Outward afflictions may hurt our Body but they cannot reach our