should be the instruments of unrighteousness To this purpose the Apostle exhorts Rom. 10 v. 1. I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service And again 1 Cor. 6. v. 15. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ How clear and solid is the Consquence v. 20. You are bought with a price wherefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods It was on this Consideration again that he exhorts the Thessalonians 1 Epist 4. v. 4. That every one should know how to possess his vessel the Tabernacle where the Soul dwells in sanctification and honour THE Nimbleness and strength of the body is not to be prostituted to Sloath Idleness and Luxury those Vices thwart the design of God cross the purposes of our Creator baffle and affront the kindness of our great Benefactor Therefore we are taught by the curious Fabrick of our Bodies to remember that God takes special notice how we employ them Psal 494.9 Vnderstand O ye brutish among the people and ye fools when will ye be wise he that planted the ear shall he not hear and he that formed the eye shall he not see LET me add to this that God is to be worshipped with the Body as with the Mind For he made both redeemed both and will glorifie both I need not prove this it were a reflection on the Gravity of my Hearers to offer at any proof of that nature But there are amongst us who have banished the Worship of the Body out of our Churches to bow their knees or to stand upright at some of the more solemn pieces of Worship is thought Superstition and they measure the Purity of Religion by its Rusticities and Undecencies and think that they are never got far enough from Rome unless they oppose all the decent Customs of the civilized World As if the Eternal Majesty of Heaven were to be approached contrary to the Custom of all Nations the Devotion of all Churches and the common Sense of all Mankind THE Devotion of such resembles the Superstition of those Pagans that Strabo mentions that offered none of the Flesh of their sacrifices unto their Gods but affirmed that the Gods were contented with the Blood only as if they had no regard to the Externals of their Worship The behaviour of some of us in the time of God's worship would not become us in the presence of our Governours But customary and universal Faults are not so easily reformed and some of them the more they are reproved the more incurable they become Secondly IS the Body so curiously framed Is this brittle and mortal Edifice so artificially reared Are there such prints of the Finger of God on this Tabernacle even whilst we are here then judge what it will be when it is raised from the dust when it shakes of the dishonours of the grave and appears with its Robes of Light when this unwieldy clog of Flesh and Blood is made pure and aerial nimble enough to vie with the swiftest Angels and fly with ease in the regions of Glory when we shall be all Life Light Spirit and Wing fellow sharers of Angelical Pleasure Now the earthly Tabernacle drags and pulls down the Soul to low and despicable Enjoyments then the Body is made strong and refined to comply with the highest Capacities and Inclinations of the Mind WE shall mount aloft from the Earth unto the Air where his imperial Throne is erected We shall shine ass the brightness of the firmament and as the stars for ever and ever when we are got loose from the Prisons of the Grave and the Fetters of Corruption knockt off but now in our present state how hard is it for us to raise our thoughts to the Liberties of the Sons of God! WHEN we have our feet upon the top of Mount Zion when we see the Glories and Empires of this little Globe below us and we our selves beyond Danger and Temptation far above its frowns and flatteries How will our Souls be transported to find their Garments lighter and our selves encircled in the arms of Divine Love and instead of this lumpish Clay this load that damps and depresses our Spirits the weight that holds them in fetters and captivity we shall then be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven when mortality shall be swallowed up of life and the shackles of our bondage broken to pieces THE very thoughts of this pure and Angelick state if they dwelt seriously upon our spirits might crack the strings that tie our Souls to our Bodies to think that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is WE cannot express the glory of the Body after the Resurrection better than in the language of the Scriptures There is one glory of the sun another of the moon and another glory of the stars so also is the Resurrection of the dead it is sown in corruption raised in incorruption 't is sown in dishonour raised in glory 't is sown in weakness raised in power 't is sown a natural body raised a spiritual body Thus we are told by the same Apostle to the Philippians that he shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like his glorious body by the power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself With what confidence then may we lay them down in their grave since we are sure to receive them again pure and incorruptible beyond the Weaknesses and Indispositions of their former Captivity The hour is coming when all that are in their graves shall hear his voice we may triumphantly apply to our selves that place in the book of Job 19.25 I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Thirdly ARE our Bodies such curious Representations of his Wisdom and Skill then we should treat them honourably and decently after the Soul is departed The first Christians had a great care that the poorest of their number should be handsomly interr'd and many times did they dress the bodies of the meanest Christians with costly Ointments and odoriferous Spices that they might do honour to the human Nature and testifie their hope of the Resurrection that the dear Companions of the Soul might be decently treated and laid in their graves as in their safe repositories until the general summons of the Arch-Angel awakened them WHEN their Enemies observed their great care of the Bodies of the Martyrs to do the Christians despite they burnt the Bodies of their dead and scatter'd their Ashes in the Sea lest the Christians might have the satisfaction of doing the common offices of humanity to their deceas'd Relations Certainly the Bodies of the dead should be preserved from all rude Affronts and
its rules and directions if the grosser acts of impiety and wickedness were only forbidden and our Souls were left at liberty to entertain mischievous designs within then we should want the most effectual mean to heal the distemper of our Nature But he that perfectly knows what is in Man the whole frame of his Soul the contrivance first risings manifold circumstances and design of all his actions hath encircled him with such a perfect Law a Law that divides between the Soul and the Spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts of the heart THIS Rule is so exact and authoritative that it reaches all the windings and the turnings of the Soul the most artificial excuses cannot hide our inventions from that piercing Light that shines in it it enters into the closest retirements and sees into the secret imaginations It s authority sits so close to the mind of Man that it can no more shake its force than divest it self of its own Nature AND this effectually proveth a Supreme Dominion of our Law-giver this invisible Authority of him who sees our hearts and hath armed our Consciences with light and power sufficient to accuse us and to chastise us with its sharp reproofs for our inward failings as well as for our outward miscarriages AND if the Divine Law that is folded up in the very constitution of the Soul be so powerful and piercing God cannot but abhor those services and complemental submissions of such as approach him with their lips but leave their hearts behind them especially when we consider under the New Testament how clearly the Law of Nature was explain'd and improv'd beyond the Standard of Moses by our Lord and Saviour its high and generous Principles by which we are acted beyond the common level of Mankind and rais'd to a participation of the Divine Nature This is it that enters the Soul with its divine power and efficacy and strikes down its pride under the Authority of God and Christ It leads every thought captive to its obedience we are more than Conquerours through Jesus Christ that loved us So far from being captive to the Law of Sin that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us The Disciples of Moses Law did vindicate themselves to the people that they had not taken either Ox or Ass by violence or oppression but S. Paul protests he did not so much as covet any mans silver or gold WHEN we then sufficiently digest this Meditation of the Perfection of his Law we must remember he is not to be served in a trifling indifferent manner but we must meditate in his Law night and day So the Psalmist O how love I thy Law it is my meditation night and day sweeter than the honey and the honey comb Those testimonies were more delicious unto him than all the pleasures of Gold and Silver In the glass of this Law he saw all the blemishes of his Soul and then he was transported with the beauty and purity of it The Law of the Lord is perfect 3. I URGE this Truth from the Nature and consideration of our own Souls their force and activity How curious is it in its enquiries how fond of its contemplations Its pleasures are refin'd pure and Angelical how swift in its thoughts from East to West it flies through the Earth it makes to it self Ladders of the visible Creatures to climb to Heaven that it may see the face of God Now if it dwell with so much vigour and complacency on lesser objects how vigorously should it adore God himself the first and original beauty DID God furnish our Minds with such noble Powers only to till the ground or make provision for the Flesh and bestow some transient thoughts on his service and obedience No certainly This Soul of ours that can grasp so many Truths and lodge them together without confusion that is all Life and Motion must bestow its noblest and strongest desires on God there needed not such intellectual furniture to feed our bellies and feast our senses The Beast enjoys those objects more feelingly and with greater satisfaction they want the uneasie alarms of Conscience to awaken them to higher things therefore they enjoy them without disturbance and interruption But Poor Man when he forgets himself and hearkens to the enchantments and flatteries of Sense cannot so far unite with those despicable things but that still the regrets and uneasie reflections of his mind call him higher and reproach him when he forgets his parentage and original IF we then in some measure understand our selves know but the frame and constitution of our own Soul observe its motions and activity if we feel the manner of its operations and reflections its aspiring strength and vivacity we must conclude that God did not give us this Soul to serve him negligently and carelesly but to bestow upon him our highest adorations our most profound submissions our deepest acknowledgments our most joyful thanksgivings Nay never to rest satisfied with our selves until we attain to that habitual delight in his Worship that the Angels have in Heaven who wait with their Wings stretch'd ready to fly when he commands OUR Souls are so near a kin to those bright favourites of Heaven that though we cannot run so nimbly yet ought we to come as near to them as may be Though their present posture hath set them incomparably beyond us yet we feel that our Souls claim their kindred and acquaintance 'T is true our incumbrances are many but frequently may we gain ground and let our Souls know their heavenly nature and activity that they needed not be oppress'd with the weight of the Body nor confin'd to those Walls of Flesh but that at some time or other nay frequently we may converse with God himself DID we feel the honour and satisfaction of those flights to Heaven how they fortifie the mind how much they lessen the World how much they establish the Soul in its choice how they advance our Victory and confirm our hopes We would grow more bold in repelling temptations more ardent in our prayers more watchful upon our guard nay more than Conquerours through Jesus Christ that loved us Let us remember then that whether we consider God or his Law or our own Souls We must serve him with zeal and devotion with our strength and affection No man can serve two Masters 4. LET me urge this from the Practice of the best of Men. The zeal of thy house saith the Psalmist hath eaten me up Thy Testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoicing of my heart I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments I love thy commandments above gold yea above fine gold Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy Law O how love I thy Law It is my meditation all the day at midnight will I rise to give thanks unto thee
in the same Epistle That which is born of God overcometh the World The Soul once touched with the Spirit and Love of God becomes nimble and active in his service and able to break through the blackest Clouds of opposition what is it can damp the Soul once fired with the Love of God Did not the Courage of the first Christians amaze the Heathen World when they saw them part with every thing for Immortality BUT when we call to mind that the Divine Nature is the Seed of God we must remember that this Seed must grow up to perfection that it cannot be choaked nor oppressed IT is by Faith that we are made the Sons of God and the ancient Poets seem to have a Notion of this when they made their Heroes and such as were famous for difficult enterprizes the off spring of the Gods the fancy may be thus far allowed That every good gift and perfect donation is from above and whatever is great and generous is brought to perfection in the strength of God Christianity makes a thorough Change in the Souls of Men we are partakers of such a Nature as looses us from the fetters of our former prejudices and errors and makes us run contrary to our most hereditary and prevailing lusts this Change is a mighty Argument for the Divinity of our Religion ORIGEN against CELSUS glories in this Argument That by the Doctrine of Faith the fierce and barbarous Scythians became mild peaceable and calm That the soft and delicate Persians became chast sober and religious That the Proud and Imperious Romans made their Eagles sit down under the Cross of Christ That the Grecians famous for their Eloquence and Philosophy despis'd all their Curiosities and embraced the humble Doctrine of the crucified Jesus This Change had been impossible unless it had been begun and advanced by the Infinite Power of God SUCH is the Strength of Faith that so powerfully disarms us of our Lusts and Passions and makes us vye with the Angels themselves in the swiftness and alacrity of our obedience by this it is we snap assunder the Cords and Bands that held us fast in the Embraces of the World But 2. BY Faith we are not only endued with the Divine Nature but also we have the true Notions of God and of our selves the strength of the World did much consist in our ignorance One great reason why the Heathen World was sunk in folly wickedness was this they had lost the true knowledge of God and the Fables of the Poets were the System of their Divinity and those Poets did represent their Deities as Actors of all the Follies and Villanies that Human Nature is capable of then there was no proper restraint in their Religion to divert them from Vice since the very Gods they adored loved and practis'd it Might not they infer reasonably that the greatest sinners might dwell with those Gods and that there was not such distance and hatred betwixt Sin and the Divine Nature BUT our Religion teacheth us that he is of purer eyes than that he can behold iniquity that nothing unclean shall enter the New Jerusalem that without holiness it is impossible to see God that the pure in heart are only capable of that Vision that holiness is not only our duty but a main ingredient of our happiness THAT which I design by this is That we could not overcome the World unless we had clear Notions of the Divinity and therefore we are frequently told that the only begotten Son did reveal the Father unto us and the illuminations of the Prophets themselves came from him who is the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the World THE Gospel manifests the eternal distance betwixt God and Sin he is Life Power and Wisdom Greatness and Omniscience and Sin in its very nature is darkness misery confusion and imperfection then our Faith teacheth us to reason against the World from the Divine Nature as well as from the Divine Authority and having by it got a clear prospect of God our selves and the immortality of our Spirits what is it that the World can offer to our choice but what we despise in our esteem 3. FAITH gives us a perfect account of the vanity of the World its emptiness and weakness it teaches us to come near it and feel it You see the things that the World most admires have not their value from their own intrinsick worth and solidity but from the fancy and opinion of men Is it not then sad that we should be so easily deceived with shadows and images of happiness Those Nations that have great store of Silver and Gold admire our Glasses and Toyes more than their own Treasures It is not real worth but fancy that makes us idolize the World BUT as I have hinted before how useless is the World to a Man that begins to feel the weight of Gods indignation and the flames of his wrath already kindled in his Conscience Let the Man thus tortured consult the skilful Physicians let him call about him his great and potent friends his numerous and splendid family his servants and attendants and withal suppose him in the esteem and love of all his acquaintance and let the World smile on him with all its flatteries and caresses yet nothing can give him the least case HE groans under the smart of his invisible wounds his Soul is inflamed with bitter reflections and all the art and skill of the Apothecary cannot give him one quiet and calm thought how thin and coarse are all the Medicaments that the World offers us when we most need relief how powerful are the enchantments of the World that we should lean upon it when our Faith hath discovered unto us how vain a thing it is What can it do at the hour of death when we go to a Country where all its friendship is rejected In our greatest stresses we ordinarily fly to those strong-holds that we judge the securest places now a man cannot be in harder Circumstances than when he is tossed between time and eternity ready to take his flight into another World how vain doth the World then appear to him when his Conscience begins to waken and its accusations can no longer be shifted This I think sufficiently proves the Vanity of the World and the knowledge of this we have by Faith and therefore Faith is our victory by which we overcome the World But 4. WE overcome the World by Faith because it gives a fair prospect of another Kingdom It is this that lifts our affections above this present World we begin to despise all its offers when we know we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ Jesus If we were surpriz'd with being chosen into the Roman Empire how little would we value our former designs and projects The Christians look down upon the World with a heavenly Magnanimity as a thing below them for they fix their
to despair and damnation on the contrary the way of virtue is smooth regular even and pleasant Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Vice is rugged and intricate full of labyrinths and turnings and the wicked weary themselves to commit iniquity I THINK any one of those Considerations may startle us out of our security and awaken us to lay hold upon eternal life to go forward without weariness in the race that is set before us No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one obtaineth the prize BUT I hasten to the second Particular and that is the regular Method of his Zeal and Devotion He press'd toward the mark in the way marked out by the Master of the Game There are very many zealous enough but their zeal is blind turbulent and factious the Christian zeal acts strongly but prudently discreetly and humbly and in subordination to them whom God hath set over us In the fire of Hell there is heat without light and the fury of zealots resembles it much or rather is the beginning of it We are not only to be active in our Christian course but we are to order our Motion by the Rules of our Institution IT is not enough to run strongly and swiftly for carrying the prize but one must also run within his Circle and Sphere else by the Laws of the Game he falls short MY meaning is when we run toward the Mark in the Christian course we must act in all our performances like the Disciples of that Institution and like the Spirit of Christianity and though we come short of perfection yet our habitual byass being the Love of Jesus we move toward the Mark and in our way though clogged with many infirmities NOW this Genius and Spirit of Christianity discovers it self 1. By the simplicity of our intentions Matth. 6.22 The light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light By the single eye in the judgment of most is meant the single and habitual design and resolution of advancing the glory of God when this runs through all our actions suppose the matter of them good and allowable though they be depress'd by many imperfect adherences yet we are sure of acceptance for God loves to take up his residence with men of single and sincere intentions 2. THIS is known by our disengagement from the World the Genius of our Religion is stated against it and all its most ordinary practices fraud dissimulation vain glory the satisfaction of any of our appetites against the Rules of Jesus Christ is of the World and contradicts the Spirit of Jesus for by it we are inspired to contemn it and despise all its trifling enjoyments and to square all our actions with an eye to immortality and eternity Love not the World neither the things that are in the World 3. THIS Spirit is known by the Dominion over our Passions and the victory we have over tentations The passions in the Soul have their true use grief fear joy and anger when they come and go at the command of Reason They are not to be extirpated as the Stoicks vainly pretended but they are to be kept in awe and within their bounds as the passions in the blessed Jesus were Now if we move thus in our Christian Race we move streight toward the Mark and in the way that our Lord Jesus marked for us and this will undoubtedly carry us to the prize propos'd by our Saviour which is the third Particular I was to speak to Thirdly THE Prize of the High Calling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dum in sublimi sederunt Brabeutai as the Learned Grotius hath it those publick Judges of the Game gave the signal from on high to alarm the Competitors to make themselves ready And the Son of God came down from Heaven and reveal'd Immortality as the Prize and he alarms the World by the Gospel to despise the present Scene of things and to carry their thoughts beyond this little Globe to that life that is pure durable and in the presence of God for ever this is so strong that nothing but Inconsideration makes men neglect it O Eternity O Eternity who can comprehend it who can without madness forget it and remembring it who can but despise all things in comparison with it To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Power and Glory for ever Amen A SERMON ON 2 PET. 1. ch 1. v. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust IT is not my present design to amuse you with any Enquiry about the Author of this Epistle whether he was S. Peter the Apostle or S. Simeon the immediate Successor of S. James Bishop of Jerusalem as is most probable My business is rather to invite your attention to the important Truths that are contain'd in this Verse which need but little explication when we look back into the former For the Glory and Power of God appear'd so conspicuous in the Ministry of our Saviour that Infidelity becomes inexcusable and it is by that Glory and Power that the great and precious Promises of the Gospel are given unto us WHEN the Gospel was to be establish'd and the Kingdom of Darkness to be pull'd down there was a necessity that the arm of God should appear bare in the defence of the first that he might confound the arts and delusions of the other The Author puts the believing Jews in mind of this demonstration in the Verse preceeding the Text for the Gospel appear'd in its beginnings full of glory and power And afterwards he argues that the testimony of the Apostles could not be rejected for they were eye-witnesses of his Majesty They did not follow cunningly devis'd fables they were most unlikely of all men to impose upon the World being destitute of that artifice and subtilty that recommend secular interests and contrivances And therefore the Christians might without any scruple or fear receive the Gospel as the undoubted Truth of God the infallible Method of his Wisdom for the recovery of Mankind THE Text is the abstract of the whole Gospel having couch'd in it the History of our Misery and Recovery and the method whereby this wonderful contrivance was accomplish'd In speaking to it I sum up all I have to say in these four Particulars 1. THAT there is a Corruption in the World 2. THAT this Corruption may be escaped 3. THAT we escape this Corruption by the great and precious Promises of the Gospel 4. THAT the Design and Tendency of the Promises is to make us partakers of the Divine Nature 1. THERE is a Corruption in the World We
have no relish to the Soul illuminated with the knowledge of Christ The eye of Faith discovers their emptiness they are but shadows and appearances of things attended in their most flattering dress with vanity and vexation of Spirit Let us awake then and see what is it that thus inchants us into folly and sin What are those pleasures that we doat so much upon if once compar'd to the pure rivers of pleasure that are at his right hand 4. SOME plead the severity of Christianity to excuse them from the practice of it The Precepts of humility meekness and self-denyal are intolerable to such but I must tell them that such Precepts appear only terrible to strangers and such as have no mind to come under any yoke or discipline at all The experience of the best men puts it beyond all debate that there is no rest or tranquillity of Spirit but in the practice of such Commandments Nay the pleasures that attend a pious life are pure and unmixt they are sweeter than the honey or the honey-comb With what transports and exstatic elevations did the Psalmist long to appear in the place of God's presence O when shall I come and appear before God! We are not acquainted with the ravishing satisfactions of Religion because we keep at a distance and therefore we are terrified by our first conflicts but if we struggled vigorously until the noisome rubbish of our corruptions were remov'd then our Souls might become a clean habitation for the Spirit of God and where the Spirit of God dwells there is also peace light and tranquillity joy unspeakable and full of glory What an impregnable Garrison against calumny and disaster is a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man How vain is it to endeavour the painting of it by rhetorical colours Words cannot reach it the bold Metaphors of Poets are faint in comparison of it It receives comforts immediately from the hand of God and such as cannot be taken away from us so strong are the pleasures that do attend the practice of true Religion WHY then are we frighted with Mormo's and apparitions of our own invention Let us believe our Saviour who hath expresly told us that his yoke is easie and his burden is light The more we plead in favour of our bondage the more entangled we are by our corruption and the more miserable is our condition This Corruption may be escaped and reform'd and whatever is usually pleaded in its defence is vain and unreasonable Let me ask then how this Contagion that has so universally over-run Mankind may be cured And the Text makes answer to this that this Corruption is escaped by the great and the precious promises AND this leads me to the third Particular that I am oblig'd to speak to The Gospel in it self is the great and last Engine of God's Goodness and Wisdom for the recovery of the World and the Promises of the Gospel are the Wheels upon which it moves So much Spirit and Life did go alongst with the first preaching of the Gospel that it shook the Pillars of the Kingdom of Darkness threw open the Prisons of Satan and loos'd whole Societies of Men from their bondage The Apostles did open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God The Promises of the Gospel are the counterpoise that God hath laid in the other Scale against sin He principally designs to deliver from sin and from the Love of the World because it leads unto sin and the Promises of the Gospel have a peculiar energy to save us from the one and to deter us from the other If we believ'd the Promises of the Gospel without fear and hypocrisie we would immediately turn our backs upon our sins especially when we remember that these very Promises are environ'd about with the most terrible denunciations of the wrath of God against the disobedient The Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Can there be any thing so powerful to alienate our affections from the World as the Promises of the Gospel How far was the glory of the Court of Egypt below the Spirit of Moses when he saw him that is invisible and had respect unto the recompence of reward We are expresly told by S. John that if any man love this world the love of the Father is not in him And again that the friendship of this world is enmity with God And S. Paul tells us that the Christians must not set their affections on the things on Earth for their life is hid with God in Christ THE brightness of our Inheritance obscures the glory of the World This is the promise that he hath promised us eternal life And now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but this we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Did we weigh the Gospel Promises as they deserve and think of them with love and application how powerful are they to disengage us from the entanglements of this present life and to promote the reformation that the Gospel enjoins 1. LET us heartily believe the Promises Eternity seriously and frequently pondered exhausts all our strength and all our thoughts It fortifies our Souls against the flatteries of the World and alienates our affections from the Earth The Patriarchs saw the promises afar off and embraced them and confessed that they were but strangers and pilgrims upon the earth And if the dark view that the Patriarchs had was so mighty to support their Spirits under the old Oeconomy what may not we do who are animated by the clear and glorious Promises of the Gospel 2. LET us lean on these Promises in our most difficult circumstances For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a-far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal We rejoyce says the same Apostle in our tribulations Patience under sufferings is the peculiar ornament of our Saviour's Disciples for they only have the surest Antidote against despondency The Devil that can transform himself into an Angel of Light cannot counterfeit Christian Meekness and Patience It is no stupidity but a rational submission to the Will of our Father they that are Martyrs for the World or their own Pride may for a while put on a resolute sullenness but true Christian calmness and magnanimity springs from the hope of glory and
the Spirit of Jesus 3. Having these promises saith the Apostle let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of the Flesh and of the Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 'T is certain that every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure If we are Candidates for eternal life our Souls must be purified from Vice for the pure in heart only shall see God 4. Let us therefore fear lest the promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it The Israelites in the Wilderness came short of the Promises made to them by their sickleness and inconstancy Their goodness was like the early dew as the Prophet speaks and by their cowardice they were afraid of the Children of Anak partly by their unbelief they would not believe Moses nor the faithful Spies And this is easily applicable to our case for there is no way to be saved but to believe the Promises to break through all obstacles to fight the good fight of Faith and to lay hold of eternal life 5. LET us ponder and consider the excellencies of these Promises I shall name but the two Epithets bestow'd upon them in the Text. 1. They are Great 2. They are Precious I say 1. They are Great and that in three regards 1. With regard to their Author the only begotten Son of God whom all the Angels worship and adore He is the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image of his person and upholds all things by the word of his power This one consideration is enough to overawe the boldest sinner and it is frequently taken notice of to magnifie the Gospel and to recommend to us the Precepts of our Saviour that he was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation c. Shall we contemn the Promises made by the Son of God God sent his Son to give the Jews the last and most undenyable proof of his Love and Wisdom Certainly they will reverence my Son Thus reasons the Author to the Hebrews How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him And again He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three Witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace Against whom does the incorrigible sinner sport himself against the Son of God and the clearest proofs of his love For herein is love not that we loved him but that he loved us and gave his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 2. THE Promises are Great in their intrinsic value I mean not only the Promise of eternal life but all the other Promises that are of a relative and subordinate Nature the Graces of the Spirit the remission of our sins the peace of our Consciences these are things to be valued above Gold and Silver Wisdom is preferred above the choicest Rubies the Gold of Ophir is not to be compar'd unto her Therefore the Graces of the Spirit are compar'd unto the most costly things I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white rayment that thou mayest be cloathed and the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see 3. The Promises are Great in their tendency and design to recover the World sunk into Corruption to overthrow the Worship of Devils to enlighten the World to take down the Kingdom of Darkness and to advance the Image of God upon the Souls of Men were designs becoming the Goodness and Majesty of the Son of God But of this I shall have occasion to speak under the fourth Particular And therefore I consider the second Epithet bestowed upon the Promises They are not only Great but 2. PRECIOUS And that in regard of their 1. Price 2. Certainty 3. Durableness 1. In regard of their Price S. Peter informs us that we are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot or blemish There is no Religion wants its Sacrifice and this is the Mysterious Sacrifice of our Religion the blood that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel that powerful Atonement that so successfully pleads for pity and compassion in the ears of God the Sacrifice under whose intercession we come with boldness to the Throne of Grace the Sacrifice that laid aside all the Mosaick Oblations the Sacrifice that was typified by all the former and was more acceptable unto God than the Cattel upon a thousand bills This is the Sacrifice that the Prophets foretold and the Apostles preach'd and upon which we must lean at the hour of death Nature teacheth us to fly to the strongest refuge when we are reduc'd to the saddest extremities And therefore do we grasp the Merit of his Sacrifice in our last conflicts and agonies for he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world This is the Sacrifice that bears the weight of all their sins who are penitent So reasons the Divine Author to the Hebrews for if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God THEY that allow him no more than to be a resolute Martyr for the Truth who rob us of the comforts of his Sacrifice and Propitiation take away the great pillar of our hope at the hour of death they would reform us unto a gentile kind of Paganism though there be no error more plainly opposite to the Scriptures than theirs For the Notion of a piacular Sacrifice and the penal substitution of it in the room of the criminal was receiv'd amongst all Nations and the Scripture makes use of the same words that are used by other Authors to express a proper atonement when they speak of the Sacrifice of our blessed Saviour WHEN we consider this it may confirm our hope and withal put us in mind how fearful a thing it is to trample upon the blood of the Son of God for being redeem'd by his blood we are no more our own 2. THE Promises are precious because of their certainty The frame of Nature may sooner be dissolv'd the pillars of the Creation may shake and crumble into their first disorder rather than that his Word should
hands of the Apostles against Infidelity and Atheism by such plentiful effusions of the Holy Ghost the Cataracts of Heaven seem'd to be opened and the Apostles were made to speak with irresistible Wisdom and the same Spirit is given unto the Church in proportionable measures as her necessities require to the end of the World especially to the immediate Servants of the Sanctuary if they do not wickedly shut their Eyes against its light and beauty The garments of the Church are of Needlework variegated with the manifold Excellencies of the Spirit the interchangeable appearances of those gifts that in different Figures make up the decorum of the whole were not so entirely confin'd to the Primitive Ages but that his more immediate Servants are furnished in all periods of the Church according to the nature and difficulty of their undertaking He doth not give all gifts to every one but parcels them out with that heavenly discretion that no man may say to his Brtoher I have no need of thee therefore the Spirit of Love scattereth his Donatives so as at once to supply our Necessities and advance our Charity that all of us might hang upon one another in the closest Relations and dependencies the mystical Body of the Church being knit together by Joints and Bands as is the Natural NOW when we add unto the former considerations that the gifts of the Spirit did not only seal our Religion by all possible external evidence in the Apostolical Ages but that now the very same Spirit by its sanctifying power and Vertues unites us to Christ What reason have we to rejoice in God our Saviour It is the Spirit that breaks our bonds and fetters and makes us run the Race that is set before us with joy and alacrity it is by this that we crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof by this we become the Temples of the living God resolute against Temptations humble chast sober heavenly minded in a word it is the earnest of our inheritance the Spirit by which we cry Abba Father the Spirit that helpeth our infirmities and makes us more than Conquerors through Jesus Christ that loved us Can there be any more ample matter of Praise What is it can loose our Tongues unto the most joyful acknowledgments if this does not Let us say with the Psalmist when we view the whole Oeconomy of our Redemption I will extol thee my God O King and I will bless thy Name for ever and ever And let us conclude that we cannot escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto others by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own Will To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory Dominion and Power for ever and ever Amen A SERMON ON PSALM xxvi v. 6. I will wash mine hands in innocence so will I compass thine Altar O Lord. THIS Psalm is David's Appeal to the Omniscience of God as to his own Innocence and Integrity and it seems tacitly to refer to the Calumnies and Slanders propagated against him during the Reign of Saul and therefore he puts his trust in the strength of the Almighty that he should never be shaken by the fury and malice of his Enemies THE Verse that I have read is but a part of that Appeal and though our English Version reads it in the future yet the scope of the Context the Analogy and coherence of the whole allow the reading of it in the preterit as may appear easily to the attentive Reader but whether the one or the other is not so much my business to enquire This is certain that the custom of Washing before Sacrifices both amongst the Jews and the Gentiles had this Moral in its bosom that all our approaches to the Divine Majesty especially our most solemn and extraordinary ought to be performed with the most accurate Preparation purity of Mind and recollection of Spirit therefore the Psalmist as a part of hiâ— Appeal made use of this Argument in his Defence that he walked in his Integrity constantly and when he brought his Sacrifices to the Altar he viewed his Soul with the most accurate search and enquiry to see if there was any thing that might indispose him to come so near the divine Presence THESE words have in them no remarkable difficulty they are a plain allusion to that known Custom of Washing before Sacrificing both amongst the Jews and the Gentiles All the Eastern Nations were very frequent in their Washings especially before they approached their most solemn and sacred Mysteries and therefore I may the more safely apply this Text to the highest Mystery amongst the Christians which is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which now requires in a peculiar manner our Attention and Meditation IT is in it self by the confession of all Christians the highest Mystery of our Religion nay all the Mysteries of it gathered together in one and therefore all the Graces of the Spirit ought to adorn our Souls when we come so near unto God they meet together at this Solemnity all of them in their highest slight and Exaltation I shall confine my Discourse at present to two Particulars 1. OUR Duty and Obligation of coming to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper 2. I will direct the manner of our coming and how we must attempt it 1. LET us consider our Obligations to attend this Solemn and Magnificent Entertainment and there is nothing more clear if we consider the Authority of him who enjoins it God upbraided his People of old that the Nazarites were more careful and observant of the original Rules and directions of their founder than his People were of his Laws who was the Creator of Heaven and Earth All the Sects of Philosophers up and down the World thought it their honour and their interest to propagate the Opinions of the first of their Order AND will our dearest Lord and Master give us a Command of the highest consequence and dare we refuse to obey it This is an indignity to his Authority an immediate affront to his Sovereignty and Power How highly would an earthly Prince resent an injury of this nature Here is a Feast prepared noble and plentiful and design'd to express the highest kindness and respect This Metaphor is used by Solomon and by a greater than Solomon mystically to set off the ingratitude of such as refuse and trample upon the inestimable offers of his Love and Favour WHEN we remember who invites us to this Feast the Author and finisher of our Faith whose dominion is from everlasting to everlasting who came from the bosom of the Father to rescue us from the bottomless Abyss of our miseries is it not the highest impudence the rudest affront to the Majesty of Heaven the most daring violation of
the true Philosophy that animates against the pale fears and gloomy apprehensions of the Grave The merry Atheist that braved Death at a distance begins to tremble when it makes its approaches nearer then his Jests and his wanton Efforts of Fancy vanish into fearful expectations He flies to his desperate Complaints uneffectual Wishes and fruitless Prayers for the time of Prayer is over but the Christian gathers his Forces and strengthens himself in the Victory and Sacrifice and Power of our Lord Jesus Christ O how sad is it to delay the examination of our Consciences the confession of our Sins the amendment of our Lives until we have no more time than the few moments that just enter us into the Grave 6. WHEN we think of the Resurrection it should spiritualize our Souls and teach us in our desires and designs to fly above this terrestrial feculent Globe How come we to be so unwilling to leave those Habitations of sin and misery How come we to admire nothing and vanity when we are Candidates for a heavenly Kingdom If ye be risen with Christ set your affections on the things that are above c. Let the belief of the Resurrection put us in mind of the future Judgment For he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Can we think of that solemn Appearance without fear And if we call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth every man according to his works Let us pass the time of our sojourning here in fear Let our zeal appear more and more in trimming and preparing our Souls for Eternity That we may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means we may attain unto the resurrection of the dead THE third thing I proposed to speak to is the Interest that our faith gives us in a happy Resurrection I mean such a lively faith as is recommended to us in the Gospel Not every one that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven I mean the faith that purifies the heart and overcomes the World and assimilates us to the temper and Spirit of the blessed Inhabitants above and makes us more than Conquerors through Jesus Christ that loved us MY Lords and Gentlemen so far have I discours'd of this Consolatory Argument to ease our mind upon this sorrowful occasion But you see another Text viz. the earthly remains of the noble Viscount of Strathallan When I remember his true Vertues I despair to say any thing proportionable to his worth the naming of him once suggests greater thoughts than ordinarily occur When we form to our selves the most perfect Idea's of Valour and honour and generosity then we have the best Notion of that great Soul that once lodged in that Tabernacle All the Projects of his Mind were beyond the common Level The generous Inclinations he derived from his Ancestors began to appear very early A Family too well known in Britain for every thing that is great ancient loyal and generous to need any particular descants of mine I am not to act the part of a Herauld from this place there is none capable to be my Hearer but knows already how needless it is to tell Scotchmen of the noble Atchievments and many Illustrious branches of that Cedar of which our deceased General is descended He began to bear Arms when as yet he had not strength enough to manage them the vigour and alacrity of his Spirit out running the growth of his body He then when but a Child lodged no thought in his Breast but such as were daring great and difficult When he was a Boy at St. Leonard's College he gave all the proof of a docile and capacious Spirit far above any of his School-fellows but his Mind that always entertain'd extraordinary Enterprises began to be weary of an unactive life Then it was that he was made Captain in that Regiment that went to Ireland against the Rebels under the Command of an old and experienced Officer In that expedition he behaved with so much life and resolution as drew upon him the eyes of all men and every body concluded the young Captain was calculated for the greatest actions There are no words so proper for this period of his life as those we meet with in the life of Agricola Nec Agricola licenter more juvenum qui militiam in lasciviam vertunt neque segniter ad voluptates Commeatus titulum tribunatus inscitiam retulit Sed noscere provinciam nosci exercitui discere à peritis sequi optimos nihil appetere jactatione nihil ob formidinem recusare simulque anxius intentus agere And this without the change of one word was his deserved Character when first he appeared in the Fields HE came over from Ireland some years after and assisted those Forces that beat the Rebels once at Stirling and all those Loyal Gentlemen engaged in that Expedition upon all occasions bestow'd upon him the most ample Applause and unforced Commendations that were truly due to his skill conduct and fidelity AFTER this General Drummond and all his Associates became so odious to the prevailing Faction of the Covenanters that until the Mock-repentance after Dunbar fight he was not suffered to engage in his Majesties Service Mean while he went to London and the Forces commanded by his Friend were disbanded And there he was a Spectator of that Tragedy that pierced his Soul with the most exquisit grief I mean the Martyrdom of King Charles the First The Scene he saw and the preparations to the fatal blow but more he could not endure He himself could not afterwards give an account of that consternation that seized his Spirits All that 's black and terrible invaded his Soul at once the most dismal Passions struggled within his Breast confusion and indignation possest his Heart and nothing but the force of Christian Religion and the belief of Providence could have preserved his Mind from sinking How can his great Soul but burst forth into all expressions of Sadness to see prosperous Villany lift up its head withy so much rage and insolence and defie the Justice of the Almighty and pull down his Image upon earth and sacrifice the best of Men the best of Kings to the fury and hypocrisie of the Rabble O Heavens Let not the Plagues due to the Cry of that sacred Blood fall upon Britain Next day after with all speed he went to Holland to the Prince and there he was the first that saluted him King He came over with his late Majesty and commanded a Brigade of that Army that went to Worcester where his Courage and Magnanimity appear'd to the highest
Dishonours and Churchyards that are the Seminaries of the Resurrection should not be places of pasturage for all kind of Animals And would to God that the Laity only were to be blam'd for this impious Prophanation BUT Fourthly Are our Bodies so curiously built Judge what the Soul must be that Lamp of Light that Candle of the Lord the invisible Jewel that 's laid up in that Casement 't is no less than the Breath of God it bears the Image of the Deity in legible Characters How active and indefatigable is it in the the search of Truth How much above the Enjoyments of Sense and feculent Pleasures of the Body With what transport doth it embrace Conclusions drawn from their Principles How fond is it of its own Contemplations that are raised on the immoveable Pillars of Reason How swifts in its Thoughts How easily does it fly round the Earth climb the Heavens and view the Creation 'T is a divine Spark of Light from the Father of Spirits that glances in those prisons of flesh for a while it 's true Pleasures are pure and Angelical it grasps Truth for the sake of Truth with Order and Complacency and makes to it self Ladders of true Consequences from the visible Creatures to ascend to Heaven BUT let us dwell a while longer on this Meditation Did God furnish our Minds with such noble Powers only to till the Ground and make provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof No certainly This vast and capacious Spirit that than lodge so many Truths together without Confusion or Disorder was design'd to enjoy God any thing else falls short of its Height and Grandeur WHENCE is this Appetite of Immortality that we feel within our selves Is it altogether in vain Did God place it within our Souls purely to vex us Was there nothing design'd to satisfie it Yes certainly else Mankind had been a phantastick Impertinence the vainest and the silliest nothing in the Creation For if in this life only we had hope we were of all men the most miserable confined to the Earth when our Souls fly far beyond it and immured in the Walls of Flesh when their Capacities dispose them for the Life and Enjoyment of Angels ALL the rest of the Creatures have Objects proper for their Appetites shall Man alone have Inclinations beyond the Earth and yet die like the Beasts that perish Let no such thought enter our Souls for we shall see him as he is LET me add to this If the Soul be so vivacious in its Walls of Flesh when 't is chained in this dark Tabernacle that as Quintilian observes it flies in a trace from one Object to another nothing can engross its power and strength how large and comprehensive must it be when we come to our Countrey above when we are united to the original Wisdom Light and Truth What a foolish violence doe we offer to our Souls when we bend and bow them to earthly Enjoyments Why did we not rather let them fly to the place of their rest and tranquility Their natural motion is towards Heaven and Christian Religion designs no more than their Primitive Liberty WHEN we would persuade Men to be religious we need not borrow our Arguments from foreign Topicks let them only look inwards let them view the frame of their own Souls their Knowledge Will and Memory the uneasie Reflections of their Consciences when they do amiss it makes them taste whether they will or not the fears of an impartial Tribunal that drags them in the midst of their Jollities before that Judge that can neither be deceived nor be imposed upon HEAR then the calm Reasonings of your own Spirits you may shift the force of our Arguments when we have urged them with all Zeal and Sincerity but you cannot hide your selves from that invisible Judge your own Souls IT were Folly in the highest degree to feed a hungry Stomach with wise Sayings excellent Diagrams or if such things were offered for the cure of a Man in a raging Fever this is the Folly we transcribe when we endeavour to satisfie our Souls with any thing short of God himself the Satisfaction and Happiness that we look after is higher than the Earth The Earth says it is not in me and the Sea says it 's not in me and the Treasures of both the Indies have nothing in them to feed the strong Desires of Immortality or to fill the Appetite of Reason BUT Fifthly Are our Souls and Bodies such Monuments of the Divine Wisdom should we not then frequently view and consider our own Frame and Composition Why are we such Strangers to our selves When the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the great deep the rest of the Creatures were formed in their order as they were commanded to appear by his word that commanded things which are not as if they were they were inded the more negligent strokes of Omnipotence but MAN appears by his deliberate Method and set off with the Characters of his Image in Wisdom Purity Liberty Immortality What Majesty in these Words Come let us make Man in our own Image And if the very rubbish of this Edifice the ruines of him in his lapsed Condition be so magnificent what was he when but a little lower than the Angels crowned with glory and dignity Especially when we remember that still he is capable of such Improvements Recover him by Education from his childish Vanities from his untamed Lust and Passions furnish him with Health Strength all Wisdom divine and humane invest him with publick Honour and Attendance and then he is but some degrees below the Angels of God And yet all this is but a shadow and a dream in compare with what Improvements he is capable of when regenerate to the Image of God and the hope of Glory ARE not we our selves then worthy of our most serious thoughts True Religion teaches a Man to converse with himself in the noblest manner to covet the highest Improvements of his own Nature to observe his own Failings Seneca tells us in one of his Epistles that it was his custom every Night when the candle was out calmly to examine himself and look narrowly into the Retirements of his own Conscience this often and seriously performed begat Calmness and Serenity in his Bosom which he compares to the Regions above the Moon where there are no Clouds no Vapours no Exhalations BUT a wicked Man is afraid to look within himself the violent Earthquakes and shakings of his Spirit make those Reflections intolerable Did we thus take our selves more accurately to task we would not have so much spare time to descant on the Actions of others we should be more merciful in our Censures less severe in our Reflections more equitable and just in all our Proceedings When Pausanias the Lacedemonian desired Simonides the Poet to bestow some memorable Saying upon him he gave him this Remember that you are a man AND indeed this contained a Compend
my Discourse against fleshly lusts in the strictest sense as they signifie all manner of uncleanness contrary to chastity General Discourses against vice are seldom successful towards the recovery of men from under their dominion and therefore when we assault the body of death we must level our strokes against particular limbs and members as the surest and the speediest way to our victory BUT that I may discourse with the better success let us consider First the Exhortation it self Abstain from fleshly lusts and this Exhortation is strengthen'd with a twofold Argument one is taken from the opposition of such lusts to the Soul and the other taken from our present state condition and relation We are but pilgrims and strangers NOW that I may make those fleshly lusts as odious to the Christian eye as is possible I will in the first place lay before you some considerations to represent them in their true and proper colors And Secondly I will offer those Remedies from Reason and the holy Scriptures by which we may be defended against their assaults First Do but consider that those fleshly lusts are directly opposite unto the Nature Spirit and Tendency of Christianity It was our Saviour's great design when he took upon him our Nature to fortifie our Spirits beyond the reach of bodily impressions to establish them in an absolute Empire and just Sovereignty over the Senses to exalt that part of us that is divine and heavenly to its true elevation that it might no more truckle under the body that the senses and all the motions that we feel by them might be kept at their true distance and not meddle with that command and authority that belongs to the mind In a word that our Souls might be adorn'd with their true Glory and Majesty When we are thus set at liberty then and not till then are we free indeed when we remember the value strength and excellency of the Soul which though it be united to the Body and therefore must mind the concerns of the Body with great care and tenderness yet it more vigorously desires to be united unto God It may subsist without its Union to the Body but it cannot be happy unless it be united unto God so that this Union of the Soul with God is in a manner folded up in its very nature and essence WE are in the strictest sense the off-spring of God and it was reasonable for us to expect that when the Son of God did appear to reform Mankind he should level his Directions and Precepts against those vices and sins most vigorously that did sink the Soul below its true glory and dignity the sins that took down its Plumes by which it mounted the heavens but now was become soft trifling and degenerate And because no lusts did break the vigour of our mind and blunt the edge of our Spirits and weaken our union with God more than fleshly lusts in the strictest sense therefore do we find the cautions against those sins so frequent in the New Testament with this assurance that he that is in Christ Jesus hath crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof THE Arguments that S. Paul makes use of against those sins are heavenly and sublime 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and you are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods Answerably to this we find that the first Christians notwithstanding of the blackest Calumnies of their Pagan adversaries lived the life of Angels in earthly Bodies their Chastity was so great a Jewel in their eyes that many of their Christian Women most cheerfully resign'd their life rather than part with their honour And Tertullian towards the close of his Apology resolutely defies the impudence of the Pagans for they themselves did acknowledg the purity and innocence of the Christians in this matter because they judg'd it a more intolerable punishment for their Women to be condemned to the Stewes than to suffer Martyrdom How many of the Christian Women among the Romans when the Goths and Vandals made their Irruption into Italy threw themselves into Tyber rather than be expos'd to the savage Embraces of lust and dishonour The Story of the young man recorded by S. Jerom is very memorable who feeling himself entangled in the embraces of a wanton Strumpet did bite off his own Tongue and spit it in her face lest the strength of his temptation and the weakness of humane nature might betray him into Indecencies unbecoming his holy Profession We see then it is most certain and clear that fleshly lusts are in their nature and tendency contrary to that Religion which our Saviour planted and the first Christians embrac'd But Secondly LET us remember that these fleshly lusts are severely punish'd both here and hereafter We are told by Solomon Prov. 6.26 that by means of a whorish woman a man is brought unto a piece of bread And the Parable of the Prodigal in the fifteenth of S. Luke represents the miserable estate of such with great advantage the sufferings that those lusts expose men to are not confin'd to one single capacity but they spread their Poison not only through the body reaching sometimes even beyond the bones into the marrow but also through all the suffering capacities of human nature health fortune life and reputation are the ordinary Sacrifices that are brought to the Altars of this unclean Devil Solomon again tells us Prov. 66.33 That a wound and dishonour is his reward and his reproach shall not be wiped away Have you sometimes observed the macerated Skeletons of Lust worn in the Devils warfare bearing the dishonourable marks of their Masters service sometimes in their foreheads to such a degree of infamy that hardly one would think that Mankind could be made so miserable And though those Trophies of Misery have frequently been displayed to the scandal of Religion disgrace of human nature and the terrour of all Spectators yet so inconsiderate are the most part of Mankind and so stupifying is the Enchantment that it requires a heavenly frame and a bold Resolution to subdue those imperious and stubborn lusts How many did God remarkably punish for this sin Numb 25. Zimri and Cozbie were slain in the very act and four and twenty thousand of the Children of Israel fell for their unlawful mixture with strange Women And though God had left those filthy Creatures without Punishment yet the sin carries corruption in its Nature for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption in the most literal sense Add to all this the flames of unquenchable fire that are prepared for the Sons of Lust and Wantonness in the other World They may possibly escape the notice and observation of earthly Judges but when the hidden things of dishonesty are brought to light then Heb. 13.4 God will judge whoremongers and adulterers Thirdly CONSIDER that
those who give way to this kind of sensuality are become stupid and irrecoverable Prov. 23.27 A whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit Such as are immerst in and deluded with this enchantment may be compar'd unto the Companions of Vlysses who could not be brought back to their Ships but by Whips and Rods when once intoxicated with the juice of that Herb amongst the Lotophagi We are told by Solomon Prov. 27.22 That though you should bray a fool in a Morter yet will not his folly depart from him So apposite is the similitude that he makes use of to express the folly and sottishness of the Man that is entangled by the artifice and insinuations of a Whore Prov. 7.22 He goeth after her as an Ox goeth to the slaughter the one sees not his danger no more than the other and as a fool to the correction of the stocks Such is his stupidity he marches fast forward unto the fatal period of irrecoverable Impenitence whence there is no returning Matth. 12.43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a Man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding none c. The Devil hath the character of the unclean Spirit fastned upon him by special propriety I might add to this that though by our Nature we are a little lower than the Angels set over the inferiour Creatures yet those fleshly lusts do sink us below the beasts that perish BUT in the second place I promised from the Holy Scriptures to offer those Remedies that are most effectual to restrain and cure those vicious Inclinations And 1. LET us maintain a lively sense of Gods universal presence to whose eyes all things are naked and open for the night and the light are both alike to him Did we dwell on the thoughts of his Nature with stedfastness and reverence how easily would these Meditations quench and dissipate the fiery darts of the Devil Did we keep the eye of our Soul fixt on his Purity those impure Spirits durst not lodg within our bosoms 'T was this that kept the modest and generous Soul of Joseph free and untainted Gen. 39.9 amidst the caresses and solicitations of an imperious whorish Woman This sense of his presence is like the Angel that with a flaming sword guarded Paradise Our hearts thereby become what Solomon says of the Church Cant. 4.12 A garden inclosed and a fountain sealed This is it that banishes vain thoughts idle musings and lustful fancies from the mind Prov. 4.23 Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life And Matth. 23.26 Cleanse first that which is within the Cup and Platter that the outside of them may be clean also If this fire be not smother'd and quench'd within it will break out upon all occasions unto unhandsom significations of that distemper that the Soul is sick of Therefore that we may attain a masculine and a solid habit of Spirit proof against those temptations that shake and disturb silly Souls Let us maintain a constant Conversation in heaven Let us dwell with God until we feel him and the beams of his Majesty and Power suppressing all inordinate motions within us By this our Souls are taught to fly aloft above those feculent Exhalations that blindfold the more unwary and vagrant Spirits AND next to this let me 2. advise the keeping a strict guard over our senses It was the resolution of Job He made a Covenant with his eyes and the Prayer of David Psal 119.37 Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity And our Saviour insinuates how soon the Soul is fired by those windows Add to this that we should be careful of our company Can a man saith Solomon carry fire in his bosom and not be burnt We are to shun the Discourses and filthy Communications of men of corrupt minds It was generously done of Alexander the Great to reject the overture made to him by some of his Flatterers of visiting the Wife and Daughters of Darius when taken Captive in the War because so much commended for their exquisite Beauty He said it was very unbecoming and disgraceful that he so famous a Conqueror who had overcome so many men should expose himself to the hazard of being overcome by Women In this he was truly more triumphant than in all his Victories besides and Solomon proves that he that overcomes himself is more generously victorious than he that taketh a City the Conquest of the one lies much in the Valour of Souldiers Conduct of Captains Strength of Armies and all these things may be in the possession of one remarkable for Vice and Folly but the Victory over a Man himself proceeds certainly from his more divine half gaining ground of his earthly and sensual part Here then lies the true Excellency of our Nature that we are recovered from under the Dominion of Sensuality to that Soveraignty over the Senses which is the Birth-right of the Soul 3. THE most apposite Remedy that we can advise men to for the restraint of fleshly Lusts is Fasting and Prayer And to tell freely what I think in this matter most of all the carnal Vices ow their beginning and growth to the neglect of this Duty of Fasting which I cannot so properly call a particular Duty as a safe and sure Antidote against all Vice especially when it is attended with fervent Prayer and Devotion Our Saviour seems to join them both together in S. Matthew 26.41 Watch and Pray that ye enter not into temptation And 't is most certain that a full Belly is not proper for Watching and as improper for fervent Prayer This is acknowledged by the light of Nature the Pagans at all times when any thing extraordinary threatened their Peace and Happiness betook them to Fasting and Prayer so severe was the Fast enjoin'd by the King of Nineve And therefore our Saviour made Fasting no new Precept of his Religion but only gives Directions about it that the performance of it may be kept safe from Hypocrisie Ostentation and Superstition All Philosophers that endeavoured to advance Morality to any degree of Reputation judg'd it very worthy of their Practice not only for the Sobriety of the Mind but also for the Health of the Body even Epicurus himself had his fasting days Tho we had not immortal Souls to save tho we had not the View of so glorious a Crown and Prize yet when we remember how many are the Errors of our daily Conversation how apt we are to miscarry in the conduct of our ordinary business and how fond we are of our Mirth Friends and our ordinary Delights and how readily our most accurate Reasonings may deceive us how quickly our Tongues pour out those things that are dishonourable to God hurtful to our Neighbours nauseous to our Friends and disgraceful to the Christian Religion I should think that we have more than ordinary Inducements to oblige us to set apart some Portions of our time to
converse with God and with our own Souls That we who see Motes in our Neighbours eyes may at last pull out the beam out of our own WHEN we read of the strict Diet of the Apostles to which they were tied by the common Law of Christianity and withal remember their ordinary Entertainment from the World a Catalogue whereof we have in 2 Cor. 6. v. 4 5 6 7. In all things approving your selves as the ministers of God in much patience afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings I say when we call to mind that this was their entertainment one would think there needed no more to keep their flesh within bounds and under the perfect command of Religion And yet we find that the same Apostle last cited did use voluntary chastisements and restraints towards himself that he might be wholly disengaged from all fleshly solicitations 1 Cor. 9.26 27. I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the air but I keep under my body and bring it unto subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast away AND it is most certain the reason why we are not so successful in our resolutions against vice and folly is that we are not so particular in our choice of particular means and methods against particular sins When we beat the air in the language of the Apostle and never aim our strokes at particular sins we hover and are bewilder'd in the midst of many indefinite projects and fancies if we resolutely fight against the body of death we must wound it in some particular limb before the strength of the whole be taken down And therefore I would heartily advise all serious men in their retirements to single out some particular sin to which they find themselves more inclin'd for the object of their special resistance And this method hath this advantage also that not one sin falls without the ruin of many others to which it is nearly related And to close this advice in one word young and robust people that are healthful and vigorous where there is no danger of sickness infirmity or old age should frequently fast and pray that they may be strengthened against temptations that their Spirits being recollected they may with greater security venture abroad in the midst and hurry of secular incumbrances So far have I discours'd against Fleshly Lusts in their restrain'd signification as they proceed from wantonness and lasciviousness But I see no necessity why we may not understand the Fleshly Lusts in this place in their full extent as they signifie all those unruly passions and desires that act the unregenerate part of Mankind and drive them forward upon innumerable Precipices of error folly and mischief all of them reduc'd by S. John to three heads the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life All those gilded nothings and hurtful Idols that Mankind gaze upon with so much dotage and fondness all of them whether singly considered or in the bulk are contrary to the Nature and Genius of Christianity inconsistent with true peace and tranquility of mind and wholly set against the welfare of our Souls We have a Catalogue of them in the Epistle to the Galatians Chap. 5. v. 19. In which Catalogue the Lusts of the Flesh strictly so called are placed in the front Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies V. 21. Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God THE Apostle then bids us abstain from those Lusts that are so directly opposite in their nature and tendencies to the beauty and just interest of our Souls AND this leads me to the second Particular that I design to speak to and that is the Apostle's first argument against those Fleshly Lusts taken from their opposition to the Soul They are drawn up in battel array against the natural life as well as the mind And that I may make this apparent in a few words 'T is easie to observe that they war against the Soul in its purest and highest excellencies and though they cannot commit a direct rape and violence upon its Spiritual Nature yet do they combine all their force and strength to entice and allure it unto unworthy compliances And this is so much likely to succeed in that we are plac'd in the confines of Heaven and Earth Our Souls hang between the pleasures of the Body and its own Speculations and these objects that our Bodies feel make such impressions upon us by their neighbourhood that it is with great difficulty that the Soul is victorious over their importunity and frequent assaults Now all the prejudice that the Soul can suffer may be reduc'd to these three Heads 1. IT may be sullied in its natural perfections and operations 2. IN its moral endowments and accomplishments 3. IT may be depriv'd of its supernatural rewards and carnal Lusts do war against the Soul in all these regards 1. I SAY they war against it in its natural perfections and excellencies Now the true perfection of the Soul is to be united unto God This is its natural element the contemplation of truth is its true and proper employment and if by the enchantment of our Senses we have forgot our selves yet the accusations of our Consciences the pricking reproofs and regrets of our mind amidst the noise and hurry of external avocations sufficiently inform us that our Souls are violated against their original tendency when they are made to worship the Creature instead of the Creator We were originally design'd to view the Creation but not to rest upon it not to dwell in its embraces but so far to consider it that by those Ladders we might climb unto the Author of our Being HEAR then the reasonings of our own mind How have we enslaved them to those mean and abject drudgeries that are unworthy of their Nature and Original Now those Spirits that are Sisters to Cherubims and Seraphims by complying too much with their Senses are become feeble flat and unweildy for their more genuine and spiritual operations Had we nothing else to do but to make provision for the Flesh and fulfil the Lusts thereof we needed not such Souls as now we are furnished with Souls that can grasp so many truths together and lodge them without confusion or disorder that search into the Secrets of Nature and feel pleasures wherein the Body can have no share Why ought we to have such intellectual furniture if we had nothing else to do but to move above the surface of the ground for some few Months or Years and then lye down in eternal silence in
the cold embraces of the Grave 'T is inconsistent with the Goodness and Wisdom of God to make so noble a Creature and assign him no higher end than what may be attain'd with greater advantages by the Beasts that perish But those carnal lusts do not only weaken and blunt the edge and vigor of our Spirits in their natural perfections BUT 2. They do sully darken and defile them in their moral endowments See with what solemnity and magnificence the History of our Creation is introduc'd Gen. 1. Let us make man in our Image 'T was a design truly becoming the Majesty of God to repair the breaches made in this Image We are fallen from our Original Life and Purity that beauty and light that adorn'd our Nature is become almost deformity and darkness and so incurable is this bruise and wound that all the Rules of human Philosophy cannot remove the distemper God was manifested in our flesh that he might heal our Nature and restore his own Image upon our Souls he awakens us to fix our eye on this as our highest honour to be renewed again to the Image of him that created us And when he disparages the things that chiefly take up the thoughts of Mankind and endeavours to remove our mistakes concerning them he does it by this ponderous motive that ye may be like your Father which is in heaven To be like God is the highest beauty and the most glorious ornament of rational Souls The Image of God consists in light power love universal benevolence unconfin'd Goodness Charity Patience Greatness of Spirit Now where those Graces are there heaven is begun and the Soul is made strong and impregnated with divine force is more than Conqueror through Jesus Christ that loved us WE have heard the Catalogue of the Works of the Flesh out of the Epistle to the Galatians Let us view next the Fruits of the Spirit that are reckoned v. 22. Love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no Law When we confront the one with the other the Fruits of the Spirit with the Lusts of the Flesh there is no doubt to be made but that by the last our Souls are much sullied and defiled in their moral endowments 3. THOSE Fleshly Lusts rob us of our supernatural rewards not only by their merit but by their natural causality they indispose us for that place and employment where nothing enters that is impure Let us then awake and ask our selves if no consideration no argument be strong enough or great enough to startle us out of our sleep and lethargy Must those Souls of ours that have been made to serve God and to converse with him in the noblest manner be suffered to grovel in the dust to look no higher than the entertainments of Goats and Swine and Worms O! what an indignity is this to our Nature what a reproach to our Manhood what a dishonour to the Author of our Being how disgraceful is it to be accus'd of such follies as tne most part of Mankind are engaged in before the Throne of God! THERE is a second Argument to alienate our affections from fleshly lusts and that is taken from the consideration of our state and condition We are Pilgrims and Strangers Men cut off by their Religion from the Earth whose aims and designs are for another Kingdom and a life more pure and immovable more fixt and serene We are told by the Author to the Hebrews that here we have no continuing City THAT I may make this a little more clear let us enquire in what sense Christians are said to be Strangers upon Earth and Secondly What improvement we are to make of it 1. THEY are strangers in their language It is the most infallible character of a stranger so the Maid that accus'd S. Peter she thought she was very sure he was a Gallilean The Christian breaths in a heavenly air his heart and consequently his tongue is perfum'd with the odors of heaven S. James exhorts us Chap. 2. v. 12. So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the Law of Liberty And the same S. James in Chap. 1. v. 26. assures us That if any man seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue he deceiveth his own heart his Religion is vain And again He that offendeth not in word is a perfect Man THE faults of the tongue are innumerable that glibe slippery and nimble Member that is certainly the glory of our Nature is frequently abus'd to the dishonour of God S. James Chap. 3. excellently paints its unruliness and extravagance v. 6. And the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity so is the tongue amongst our members that it setteth the course of nature on fire and it is set on fire of hell We are exhorted by the Apostle to have our speech seasoned with salt that we may know how to answer every man with Christian discretion modesty and charity free of all filthiness error levity slander detraction or evil surmisings Let us by our tongues discover the language of our Country of that heavenly Jerusalem that is above where the tongues of the Inhabitants are wholly taken up in the praises and acknowledgments of the Divine Goodness 2. THEY are strangers with regard to their Laws Matth. 5. v. ult Love your enemies do good to them that hate you pray for them that despitefully use you bless them that curse you Can there be any thing devis'd or thought of that runs more directly opposite to the Spirit and Genius that prevails in the World the treachery rapine revenge fraud and ambition that fill all places with noise and tumult They that fight under the Worlds standard look upon those pure Laws of Christian innocence humility and patience as the Romantic follies of imagination Their lust revenge and passion give them Laws they disdain to stoop to those Laws that are so different from the Statutes of the Kingdom of darkness and therefore the serious Christian is judg'd a fool by the World when this undefil'd Religion becomes the rule of his actions Our Saviour in the forming of his Laws had an eye to lessen and disparage all those things that the World most admires present and sharp revenge satisfies the carnal man to the highest degree and nothing so precious and gallant in his eyes But the Christian Religion restrains the very first motions towards anger it stifles those flames before they break out into malice passion and revenge In a word it was the design of our Saviour to strip the World bare of that painted glory which it had from our deluded imaginations He came to rectifie our judgments and inform us that to make us meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light we must be rul'd by other Laws than the Laws and Threatnings of this World When such as were left of the Race of David relations of our Saviour were brought before Domitian
one earthly the other heavenly Secondly THIS opposition appears if we will consider the things that the World most admires loves and preserves We are exhorted by S. John 1 Ep. ch 2. v. 15. Love not the world nor the things that are in the world for all that is in the world the Lust of the Eyes the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life THE Lust of the Eyes tempts out Covetousness the Lusts of the Flesh set on fire those appetites that deserve that name in the strictest notion of the phrase The Pride of Life are honors preferments and glories that men pursue with so much concern and eagerness But How poor and despicable are these things to the enlightned eye of a Christian that sees by the eye of Faith How thin are they how unworthy of our choice how disproportionate to the Soul of Man how feculent and paultry are the pleasures of Sense attended with so much toil in the purchase vanity in their enjoyment uncertainty in their continuance And if the World had nothing else to make it vain beyond all expression but this one thing that those who have admired it most and sought those satisfactions from it have been forced at length to acknowledge that there was nothing in it but vexation of Spirit This I say might convince us that the things the World most admires are very unsuitable to the Soul of Man BUT instead of such things the Christian Religion offers to our view and choice the pure and masculine pleasures of Devotion the savour of God the peace and tranquillity of our Consciences the victory and dominion over our lusts and passions and those riches that are at Gods right hand in the Heavens The chast and solid satisfaction of having overcome our vices brings more true honour than the atchievments that are proclaimed by the loudest fame 'T is more glorious to overcome evil habits and inveterate diseases of the mind than to surprize or take by open force a City IN a word let us but remember what are the conquests glories and triumphs that are exposed to our view by the Christian Religion and we shall find that they move in a far higher Sphere than the little things that take up the time talk business and thoughts of worldly men THE voluptuous Man sacrifices his Soul to the appetites of the flesh as if it had been given him to make provision for the lust thereof The rich Miser pierces himself through with so many cares and fears lest his Angels should take wings to themselves and fly The Ambitious is filled with a Phantom of honour which he hath painted in his own fancy that he forgets his sleep and all things else to place himself where he would be BUT the Christian Religion teacheth us not only to neglect but despise such fantastic apparitions such dreams such nothings that the blind World adores with so much pageantry and folly We are taught by it to recollect our selves from this hurry and madness to strip those things naked of their borrowed lustre to pierce into their very essence and feel that we are not made for such mean things as human fancy and opinion hath magnified beyond their true size when we come up close to them and consider them then their paint falls off and we must acknowledge that we were fools to the greatest degree So intangled are the Labyrinths of the World which made Augustus Cesar wish so frequently for his retreat and ended many of his Discourses to the Senate with the pleasant hope of his retirement that now bore up his Spirit under the load of so many affairs He had so many Armies at his command the Roman Empire to maintain them he enjoyed the applause of the Wisest Senate yet how did he sigh after the advantages of enjoying himself WE are in the truest sense the off-spring of God why then should our affections be mean Why should we so much admire what is despicable for the world passeth away and the fashion thereof but our Spirits and thoughts run parallel with eternity nothing less can satisfie the immortal Spirit of Man THEREFORE are we exhorted so frequently in the New Testament to place our affections on things alove and not on the things of the Earth to remember that here we have no continuing City that here we are Pilgrims and Strangers that when this tabernacle is broken down we have a house with God not made with hands eternal in the heavens These and such treasures are the things that we are taught to admire by our Religion these are the things we are commanded to pursue since we are Heirs and Co-heirs with Christ HE holds forth to us a Crown of immortal happiness that the sight of it might provoke us to the most heroick efforts of virtue piety self-denyal mortification patience and humility Now it is most evident that the World and the Spirit of Christianity pursue and admire things of a different nature But this opposition will more fully appear if we consider Thirdly THE rewards by which the World allures to its friendship and those proposed by our Saviour what do men expect from the World when they have sold themselves to serve it when they have sacrificed their time and strength to court its honours and follow its genius Such as have prostituted their very Souls to comply with its folly and wickedness how miserable is their gain or rather how infinite is their loss how emphatick is the Interrogation of our Saviour What hath a man gained when he hath lost his own Soul We find the World cannot relieve a Man when he hath most need of help and consolation LET him but put the friendship of the World to the Test when he groans under the terror of Conscience or when his Soul is ready to leave his body and then let him sincerely declare what weak and brittle reeds these things are that he most admired to support him against his own fears WERE we so wise as in our fancy to go down into the Grave before we are carried thither to converse with the dead that are gone before us to live a while under ground to wrap our selves in our Winding sheets and then from that place of silence and darkness to view the things that keep the Men of the World so much in agitation WOULD not we be astonished to see Men made after the Image of God so much enslaved to those Idols of fancy to those shadows that vanish so quickly to such trifles that are the object of childish appetites Did we but call to mind the present regrets and tortures of the damned Were we allowed to see Dives turned down from his sumptuous Table his stately Palace his numerous attendants and fine linnen into the scorching flames of Hell And on the other side could we see the Martyrs that have gone through the flames of persecutions and disasters now seated above malice and misery in the Regions of peace
have the Testimony of S. John to this great Truth that the whole world lyes in wickedness and this is very evident if we consider 1. The opposition and strugglings that we feel within our selves before we are illuminated by the Gospel 2. The slow progress of Grace after we are illuminated And 3. The Relapses of the best of Men into their former faults and failings 1. I SAY Do but consider the struglings of our Reason against our Corruptions before we are acquainted with the Gospel And this proves sufficiently that we have an unhappy byass in our Nature to oppose the Dictates of Reason as well as Revelation We are made up of Body and Spirit there is a Law in the Members bringing into Captivity the Law of the Mind crossing its counsels and designs bowing and bending its most heroick resolutions what a load do we feel when we would fly towards Heaven Our sensual inclinations and propensions baffle and affront the Sovereignty of the Mind And the Schools of all the Pagan Philosophers seem to reason from this Truth as from the universal experience of Mankind We feel such intestine commotions between our Reason and our lower Appetites that the one is run down against its natural tendencies oppressed and buried under the drudgeries of the Body So that we cannot but see and feel the decayes of our first Beauty the lamentable ruins of our original frame And this needs neither proof nor illustration to any that is so far acquainted with himself as to reflect on his own acts and inward motions How frequently is he hurried to follow the importunity of his Senses against the clearest light of his Soul How often baffled in his best thoughts by their unreasonable clamour and noise In one word when we would prove that there is a corruption in the World we need no more than bid men of ingenuity and consideration look within themselves and they must acknowledge the great disorder that attends on most of their actions and that it proceeds from some unhappy principle of Corruption that maintains a constant War against the Spirit What God made was beautiful and harmonious the Soul of Man as well as his Countenance looked towards Heaven his lower faculties were then calm and obedient But when we view him in his present condition we feel that he is miserable and his greatest infelicity is that he knows not of himself where to find his remedy 2. THIS is clear if we consider the slow progress of Grace after we are acquainted with the Gospel This corruption is so inveterate and so deeply rooted that even when we are rescu'd from its tyranny it yet molests our peace and disturbs our quiet We must fight after we are in possession of Canaan as well as when we struggled with our enemies in the Wilderness My meaning is that the Canaanite is still in the Land and the most signal Victory leaves some remains of the Enemy though scatter'd and broken yet they are very troublesome and uneasie SUCH is the strength and enchantment of tentations such the subtilty of our enemies the infirmity of our Nature and the soft insinuations of Sense that unless we keep the strictest watch we lose more ground in a moment than we are able to recover in a considerable time And though we feel our selves sometimes full of life and alacrity to run the race that 's set before us yet in an instant such weariness creeps over all our faculties that we grow lumpish and heavy cold and unactive as the Earth So difficult a thing it is to climb up the Hill to row against the stream to change the old customs of our Nature to pull up inveterate habits and to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof So backward are we to receive the impressions of the Gospel that when our Souls are form'd into the Image of Jesus Christ we again look back unto Egypt God is provoked every moment to desert us his Graces are not improved his Spirit is resisted his love despised so slowly goes our Victory forward after full and plain Convictions the most solemn Vows and deliberate Resolutions If the Light of the Gospel in conjunction with and superadded to our Reason conquers our Corruption so slowly we must conclude that it is very deeply rooted in our Nature especially when we consider 3. THE relapses of the best of Men into their former follies Nothing proves more the weakness of Humane Nature than the remarkable failings of Wise and Religious Men. And it is observable that the Divine Providence hath sometimes permitted the most eminent Saints to fall into the very sins that they most abhorr'd and were most opposite unto their habitual resolutions What more inconsistent with the generous and warlike Spirit of David than by treachery and baseness to expose his faithful Servant Vriah to unavoidable ruine and destruction What more unagreeable to the Wisdom of Solomon than to prostitute his Royal Authority to the humors and fancies of so many Women Was there any thing more unlike the zeal and courage of S. Peter than to be so soon frighted at the Challenge of a poor Maid If we are kept from the most notorious Crimes we should wholly impute it to the Grace and Favour of God THE danger and prevailing force the universality and pertinacious obstinacy of this Corruption cannot be better express'd than in the Language of the Holy Scriptures We are transgressors from the womb shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin Branches of the Wild Olive Naturally dead in trespasses and sins Born only of the Flesh Sin is present with us and doth so easily beset us We are become servants unto sin and in the Apostle's phrase brought into bondage And this is the reason why most men are past all feeling their Consciences being seared with a hot iron they are deaf unto the suggestions of the Spirit secure against all the Threats of the Law they are not wrought upon either by hopes or fears and in a word they stand out against the variety of Gods methods WHEN we reflect upon the former Truth with attention It teaches us humility For if this Corruption be so infectious so pertinacious and so difficultly cur'd may not we infer with Eliphaz the Temanite What is man that he should be clean and he which is born of a Woman that he should be righteous Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints yea the heavens are not clean in his sight how much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water WHEN we remember that we have been made a little lower than the Angels crowned with glory and dignity yet now fall'n in a manner below the Beasts that perish that our understandings are darkned with ignorance and error and our Souls become the habitations of many passions ought not this consideration alone to take down our pride and vanity There is not a more compendious method to attain
fail for he is everlasting truth and he cannot lye Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sun for a light by day and the Ordinances of the Moon and of the Stars for a light by night which divideth the Sea when the waves thereof roar the Lord of Hosts is his Name If those Ordinances depart from before me saith the Lord then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a Nation before me for ever These Promises are made to the Spiritual seed of the true Israelites as is proved by S. Paul And therefore to remove all our doubts and diffidence all our distrust and hesitation they are confirm'd by his Oath Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us 3. THE Promises are precious in regard of their durableness I mean that the things promised are eternal There is nothing liable to decay that can give true repose to the Spirit of a Man the Christian Religion settles the frame and satisfies the enquiries of our Souls by bringing life and immortality to light Nothing else can satisfie the vast capacities of the mind of Man The endless duration of our happiness is express'd in the Scriptures by full and plain phrases And this is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life And again in the Gospel of S. John He that keepeth my sayings shall never see death And S. Peter assures us that we are begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead To an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you And can there be any thing that so adequately satisfies the boundless desires and intellectual appetites of a reasonable Creature as an eternal weight of glory O Eternity who can forget Thee that remembers himself and the frame of his Nature Who can contemn eternal things that thinks that he himself is any thing more excellent than the Beasts that perish Have we naturally such strong inclinations to immortality and can we despise the Gospel that prepares and trims our Souls for life eternal Who can reflect on the variety and Spirituality of his own thoughts and yet conclude that he was made to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Let no such thoughts dwell within thee but rather look at the things which are not seen For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens And now when we look upon whole Gospel its entire frame and design we may safely say of it as the Apostle says of its Promises that it is Great and Precious in all its lineaments and features Especially when we consider the great design that is carried on by the Gospel and that is nothing less than to make us partakers of the Divine Nature And this leads me to the fourth Particular that I promis'd to speak to viz. 4. THE Scope of the Gospel and its Promises to restore the Image of God on the Souls of men to repair the breaches and decays of Humane Nature to make him look up again to Heaven with briskness and innocence as he did when he was newly form'd by the finger of God to restore life unto the degenerate World not that animal and feculent life that oppresses the Divine Nature but a life of true Reason united to God and fitted for the Society of Angels to make Man as near unto God as Humane Nature could allow and all Mankind who allow themselves the exercise of their Reason must acknowledge at first view that this is the top of Humane Glory the heighth of true felicity the elevation of Reason to its noblest exercise and object to be made like unto God THE Eternal Son of God became Man that he might heal the bruises and wounds that we received by the first A-Adam To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Which were born not of blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the Sons of God We must be new moulded into the Image of our Maker we must live no more unto sin but unto God we must be acted by higher Motives and Principles than the Life of Nature We must steer our course towards Heaven by other Engines than such as set the World in motion And so much is imply'd in that saying of our Saviour He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me And he that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me To make this a little more clear I shall enquire into two things 1. Why there must be such a thorough change of our Nature 2. Wherein do the Characters of the Divine Nature plainly appear 1. There must be such a thorough change of our Nature Whether we consider 1. The plain account of Scripture Or 2. The Notions we have of the Deity Or 3. The Corruption of our Nature and its distance from Heaven 1. Do but consider the plain account of Scripture Without Holiness it is impossible to see God He that is in Christ hath crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof He that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure God hath declared in innumerable places of Scripture that there is no access to his favour but by an entire reformation his eyes penetrate to the Center of our Spirits all things are naked and open before him Though the Gospel hath the Nature of a Covenant it is no less the transcript of his Nature than his Royal Edict Holiness is as much our happiness as our duty and no arts no shifts can preserve the favour of God and our sins together How strangely presumptuous must they be who think to compound with the Almighty and venture to bring instead of a true heart sincere love and filial simplicity Sacrifices Oblations and Perfumes To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-Goats Learn to do well seek judgement relieve the oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widow The New and the Old Testament the Patriarchal as well as the Mosaic Dispensation the Pagan as well as the
discreetly distributes the Waters of Life to the necessities of all the contrite and humble she raises from the dust by consolations and the precious Promises the incorrigible and stubborn She casts down by Thunder and Lightning by words of terror and indignation She comforts the fearful warns the slothful and applies her self to the spiritual necessities of all For her weapons are not carnal but mighty through God for pulling down strong holds and lofty imaginations and leading our thoughts captive to the obedience of Jesus I WOULD not pass over this first Metaphor transiently but let us examine its design and we shall find it may naturally imply either First The Beauty of its Situation or Secondly The abundance of its Furniture or Thirdly The Strength of its Inclosure or Fourthly The Propriety of its Owner 'T is Fons signatus a Fountain sealed the chast Spouse of Jesus Christ married and sealed by his Spirit First I SAY this Metaphor implies the Beauty of its Situation so plac'd that it might water the neighbouring Gardens and Inclosures that the Rivulets derived thence might moisten and fructifie all quarters of its dependance Our Saviour says to his Apostles you are the Light of the World and a City set upon an hill cannot be hid Isa 5.1 The Church is said to be a Vineyard on a very fruitful Hill and this is the Hill saith the Psalmist Psal 68.16 which God desireth to dwell in yea the Lord will dwell in it for ever They then that are set on the Towers of Sion must look on all hands to defend the place from the assaults of the enemy The Church to the Earth is like the Sun in the Firmament though sometimes darkned with Vapours Clouds and Exhalations yet its Beams break through the thick darkness and illuminates South and North East and West Our Religion is light and nothing more evident and plain than the light and though we cannot give perhaps a Metaphysical account of its nature yet we all know what it is we feel the Warmth and Beauty of it we are not then to make this Doctrine obscure or abstruse with human inventions or Comments and Glosses superinduced by Fancy Vanities or worldly Designs nor are we to keep it up from People but to let the Streams of those Waters run so seasonably and plentifully for the edification of all our Masters houshold The Doctrine is in it self plain We need not say Who shall ascend into the Heavens to bring it down or descend into the Depth to bring it from thence for it is near thee and in thy mouth BY the Fountain then I understand the Organic Church plac'd as it were in the midst of the World and set upon a Hill And since we are advanc'd to this height we must breath in a purer Air than the feculent Vapours of the lower Regions Our Souls must fly higher and mount nearer the Sun than the Birds of darkness and Sensuality We are obliged to converse with the rest of Mankind as the Messengers of God who design to gain them from their sin and danger that when the great Shepherd comes we may be found having our loins girt each at his own Post moving in his own Sphere and then shall we appear as Workmen that need not be ashamed as neither having violated nor betrayed that Sacred Depositum committed to our care Secondly THIS Metaphor implies the abundance of its furniture there is in this Fountain of the Holy Scriptures Scaturigo perennis aquarum Mat. 13.52 The Scribe instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old When our Saviour design'd to propagate his Church among the Gentiles he opened the Store-houses of Heaven upon the day of Pentecost by which the Apostles were inflamed with Divine Eloquence and Zeal to assert and defend the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 12.7 8 9 10 11. To one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit to another Faith by the same Spirit to another the Gifts of healing by the same Spirit WHEN we consider the Necessities of the Church those Gifts must needs be multiplied in proportion to the spiritual Diseases and Exigencies of Mens Souls the first Ages of the Church required the miraculous Gift of Languages Miracles and Healings and the latter Ages no less Devotion Care and Humility the Gifts that are proper for edification and establishment of the People in their most holy Faith WHEN to this we add the Nature of our heavenly employment It is not a little trifling Skill that qualifies Men for this undertaking Our Function is conversant in the highest Mysteries and such as are of the highest consequence does it not require the best of Moral Preparations the strongest intellectual Furniture all the Accomplishments of Nature Grace and Education WE must form the Minds of Men unto a higher Discipline than Humane Arts and Sciences we must leave no Stone unturned to reform the World we must dig hard in the Spiritual Mines of the Holy Scriptures for knowledge as for Silver and search for her as for hid treasures HOW delicate and curious a piece of work it is to frame the Souls of Men into right Principles solid and clear Notions to recover them from darkness to light to be imployed in watching over the Church that God bought with his own blood how noble an employment is this The Son of God incarnate was the first of our Order the Founder of our Society When we consider how various are the Spiritual necessities of the Chucch the ignorances mistakes and negligences of the People the Arts Sophistry and Wiles of the Devil nothing but an inexhaustible Fountain can supply its wants AND therefore the People should consider our Character as the most difficult and most Sacred it requires the closest application of Mind the most accurate Meditation the most indefatigable Attendance to instruct the ignorant to convert the sinner to settle the doubtful to confirm the wavering to rouse up the negligent to awaken the impenitent to open to all men the Doctrine of Christianity and in a word to lead our People by Vertue Patience and Piety through the intricate Stages of this troublesome life till they are put beyond danger and tentation ONE thus engaged had need to be furnished with a grave serious and steady temper of mind Who can think himself sufficient for these things Would not he need to have the illumination of an Angel the compassion of a Father Would not he need the Wisdom Constancy Resolution and Courage of the greatest Soul whom no Storm no Tempest must drive from the Helm OUR Saviour foreseeing what Combinations would muster against the Church what Legions of darkness would endeavour to shake its Faith and disturb its Unity did furnish his peculiar Servants that wore his Livery with such Gifts and Graces as might defend the Church propagate the Faith and repel the
positae quoniam suaves miscetis odores And this is prophesied of the Messias that his Garments should smell of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia And from him the Church hath all those excellent Smells mentioned Verse 14. Saffron Calamus and Cinnamon to teach us that though the Gifts of the Spirit are and have all their several excellencies yet they are all useful to the Church whose garments are made of needle work and different colours and therefore it is an unpardonable vanity in the People to make saucy comparisons between the Gifts of Ecclesiasticks for stabit unus quisque sorte sua and the Philosophy of S. Paul to the Corinthians should teach them more modesty If the foot shall say because I am not the Eye I am not of the Body is it therefore not of the Body If we look up to our Superiours for assistance conduct and direction they must look down to us for obedience deference and submission THE third Thing that I promised was the rise of those Waters they come from Mount Libanus by an impetuous force and vigour Nothing can more lively represent the first rise and beginning of those heavenly Oracles The Gospel is the day star from on high and the Doctrine that our Saviour hath revealed is from Heaven We are told by Historians that at the foot of Mount Libanus there arises a pleasant Fountain aquas habens limpidissimas that run down from it through subterraneous passages most impetuously and there burst forth in great plenty and by several Conduits waters all the Gardens of the Plain And this leads us naturally to the Divinity of our Religion but here I stop being afraid that I have transgress'd already the time that was allowed me To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory for ever Amen A SERMON ON ROM xii 1. I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service THE Apostle in the former part of this Epistle asserted the Doctrine of Evangelical Justification against the unbelieving Jews who stuck so tenaciously to the System of Moses's Laws And now he sums up in one pathetic Exhortation the strength and design of the Gospel and of all Religion Christianity was not a Collection of dry and airy Notions calculated to amuse the World but a Discipline the highest and the purest that ever was received amongst men the immediate Revelation of Infinite Wisdom which brought along with it true and everlasting righteousness And therefore they ought not to let their thoughts dwell so much and so long on the glory of their Temple and the variety of their Sacrifices under the Levitical Oeconomy They were now invited to offer unto God more valuable Oblations than any of their former They were to bring themselves to the Altar of God and resign their Will to his Will And this was more agreeable to the nature of true Religion the design of the Gospel and the highest exercise of Reason When we bring unto God only things that are without us we mistake his Nature and despise his Goodness Reason taught us that the best things are to be offered unto God and therefore the Heart and Soul and Mind of Man are the only Sacrifices that are truly valuable And this is the reason why the Apostle addresses to the Christians at Rome with so much zeal and affection I will shortly consider 1. His Preface 2. His Exhortation And 3. The Motive to enforce it And 1. For the Preface By the mercies of God We easily infer from the fervour and solemnity of the Apostles Introduction the weight and importance of his Exhortation i. e. I do beseech you with all the earnest passion and true tenderness that I am capable of I exhort you by the Mercies of God i. e. by what is uppermost in his Nature his boundless Compassions that are in the front of all his glorious Perfections and in the Language of the Psalmist from everlasting to everlasting by all that is great sacred and venerable that which takes up the wonder of Angels the praises of men and the adorations of the Saints in glory that you no longer resist the Light of the Gospel but since you are redeem'd from the pompous drudgery of an external Religion that you would think no Sacrifices worthy of God but such as are attended with your life strength zeal and devotion for this is the true Worship of the New Testament when our Will is united to the Will of God 'T IS easie to observe the holy Violence and Fire of S. Paul's Spirit when he endeavours to plant-true and solid Religion Here he speaks as if his Soul was ready to crack the strings that ty'd it to his Body He is all flame all love all endeavour all charity He wishes himself an Anathema i. e. a publick Sacrifice for the unbelieving Jews if this could recover them from their Infidelity to the acknowledgement of the Truth as it is in Jesus HE made use of this weighty Argument in this place because there is none of greater force If the Angels were to preach to us and gain us to the belief of the Gospel they could not fly higher in their Perswasives than the Mercies of God It is by them that he chuses to proclaim all his Titles of Honour to the World The Lord the Lord God slow to anger and of great goodness So when the Apostle exhorts by the Mercies of God he exhorts by God himself and all those ineffable appearances of his Goodness that are felt by the intelligent World and every moment proclaim'd with wonder and acknowledgement HOW merciful must he be who suffers without present revenge the many horrid Crimes that are daily committed the provocations that fly in the face of Heaven their multitude their variety and their circumstances as if men would pull down the Almighty from his Throne and reverse the foundations of good and evil And yet such is the love of God to mankind that after many unkind denyals and rude affronts he besieges the Consciences of men by the force of his Convictions he makes the Light of his Word to pierce to the bottom of the Soul and powerfully overcome the stubborness of our Will How wisely does he conduct us through the labyrinth of tentations How sweetly does he engage us by the motions of his Spirit How kindly does he receive the Prodigal when as yet he had but some small beginnings of wisdom sobriety and calmness He saw him afar off he ran to him fell upon his neck and kissed him WHEN we remember that the Mercies of God are our surest Refuge and Sanctuary in all our fears straits and difficulties we need say no more to amplifie them This is the strong Hold that we flee to when we are assaulted by fear despair or the terrour of the Law WHEN Nathan the Prophet by a
no other Business or Employment can exhaust the strength and activity of our Spirits The Soul ranges thorow the Creation like the Bee that tasts every Flower but quickly goes off to another Thus our Spirits after their most diligent enquiries into all things that the World hath sit down meagre and discontented they feel something within them still thirsty and unsatisfied there is no fixed peace to our Spirits until we fix the eye of our Soul upon that Original Beauty and Light that dwells in Light inaccessible This is Employment proper for our Spirits here they rest as in their true Center and Element To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Praise Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preached on Good-Friday ON JOHN xviii V. 11. Then said Jesus unto Peter Put up thy Sword into the sheath the Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it I NEED not the help of a Preface to reconcile this Text to this Day it being a part of that Gospel which the Church appoints to be read on this Solemn Fast when the Vniversal Church puts on Mourning and beholds her Redeemer dying in the Arms of Love THE Verse that I have now read contains our Saviour's fixt resolution to act the last part himself with true Magnanimity so he stood like an impregnable Rock not only against the treachery tumult and rage of his Enemies but also the timorous and faint Counsels and insinuations of his dearest Companions I suppose the Church appointed the Gospel for this day to be taken out of St. John because he was an Eye-witness of the whole Tragedy from first to last THE beginning of this Verse is a Command to St. Peter to forbear these Methods and Weapons of humane Violence that his ill-plac'd but well meant zeal did suggest unto him The Kingdom Scepter and Laws of the Messias needed not those Weapons of Iron and Steel but they were to be advanc'd to their height by Patience by Humility by Sufferings and by the Cross And this Philosophy the Sophies of the World did despise THE latter part of the Verse to which I invite your Meditation more closely is our Saviour's resolution to go through his most formidable sufferings with a chearful and undaunted Spirit inflam'd with Love Fortitude and invincible Zeal Here we have not his sufferings divided in several parcels but a full view of them in gross and in their solemn Circumstances and all of them made bitter and terrible by the most exquisite aggravations THUS the Captain of our Salvation considered his Enemies drawn up against him in battel array He saw all the Powers of Hell combin'd and all their Malice skrew'd up to the highest Pin and this Malice vented against himself with all the marks of affront and indignity All the suffering Capacities of his human Nature were at once assaulted and the terrour of the Roman Power the sullen hypocrisie of the Pharisees and the Clamours of the Rabble were all in their united force muster'd against him Yet he stood like a Rock of Brass to receive their blows and he tells S. Peter with design to cool his fervour That the Son of God must suffer THE Cup which my Father giveth me c. It was usual amongst the Jews to express the happy or adverse Lot of a Mans Condition under the notion and phrase of a Cup. Psalm 11. v. 6. Vpon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their Cup. Psalm 16. v. 5. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my Cup thou mantainest my lot The meaning then is this That Cup which is mixt by human Malice and filled with Gall and Vinegar is nevertheless ordered by my Father He superintends all things and not a hair of our head falls to the ground without his watchful providence This is a Cup indeed that hath in it all degrees of terrour and poison and such as may fright and daunt the courage of the whole Creation Yet I will drink it to the bottom for it is prepared by my Father nay I will drink it chearfully even when my flesh shrinks at it and by its innocent reluctances testifies its fear THUS we see what is folded up in those words but because our Eyes are not strong enough to view them all at once let us fix our attention on them in this Method 1. His bloody sufferings and more particularly the last Scene of them 2. Let us consider by whom this Cup was ordered and prepared It was the Cup that his Father gave him 3. With what courage and resolution he drank it 1. WE have his sufferings under the notion of a Cup especially the last and most Tragical Scene of them by the nature of his glorious Office and the determinate Counsel of God He was a Man of sorrow and acquainted with grief He endured the contradiction of sinners and the Cross was the very Character of his Kingdom Let us but view the preparations to this Tagedy and secondly the last act of it First I SAY the preparations towards it And here we may stop and go no further for we are not able to fathom the very beginnings of his sorrow they are too deep at the entry Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow He was plowed upon and they made long furrows upon his back Take but a view of him in his Agony in Gethsemany when the arrows of God stuck fast in his Soul when the warm and celestial influences of Heaven seem'd to be suspended when he was left alone to contend with the malice of Earth and the fury of Hell Who can conceive the weight of this pressure How astonishing is it in the very beginning of those Agonies to consider the very outward posture of his Body He went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying O my Father If it be possible let this Cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt AND must his face kiss the ground who supports the whole Creation Are his arms become feeble that is the strength of Men and Angels Shall fear and darkness take hold of Him that is the Light of the World Shall the Sun of Righteousness be thus eclips'd and the Fountain of Innocence and Purity thus grapple with misery and disaster What Consternation is this What Complication of Mysteries Yet we see but little when we view no more than the outward posture of his Body Dare we enter at a distance into his Soul Is that undefil'd Temple of the Divinity become the habitation of grief and fear Is Light it self become Darkness And are the original Notions of Things confounded Is the Wisdom of the Father put to this What shall I say Are all the Laws of the Creation broken at once and innocence it self made the only Theatre of Calamity WE are not
that they were wrought by the power of Magick we need no other answer than that of our Saviour himself who told them that the Devil was not such a fool as to employ his power against himself since it was undeniably manifest that no discipline did so visibly and irreconcileably oppose all Magical Arts and Charms as did the Religion of Jesus So a great number of them that had followed those curious Arts brought their costly Books to the Apostles and burnt them And when they endeavour'd to alledge that equal Miracles have been done by others amongst the Pagans 'T is so idle a story that they are far form believing it who first invented it The story of Vespasian's restoring a blind man to his sight did proceed from the artifice of Egyptian flattery and is reported by his own Historians with so much diffidence and reserve that it is scarce worth the naming As for the prodigious seats of Apollonius Tianeus we can look upon them as no other than fictitious and Romantick Fooleries vouched by no competent Authority Whereas the Miracles done by our Saviour and his Apostles were not only of a different Nature from those little Tricks of Magick but were wrought amongst great crowds of People to the view of the World and acknowledg'd by the most bitter and implacable of his Enemies And this Power he had not only in himself but bestowed it on his Apostles Besides the full discovery of those Objections depends on so much History that they cannot be contracted within such narrow bounds as I am confind'd to THE Result of all is this Such as despise the Gospel do it upon the most unreasonable grounds For whereas they alledge that our Ministry was not attended with Wisdom and Proofs borrowed from Philosophy they betray their Ignorance For the Doctrine that we propagate and assert being of its own Nature wholly Divine and beyond the reach of all human enquiries it must needs have its Proofs and Demonstrations from Heaven Without this it could not prevail and when it is attended with this it is impossible that it can miss of its effect So we come not with the enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power Now we find that those Miracles were necessary at the first establishment of Christianity to point out the Person of the Messias to baffle the Devil and to satisfie the expectations of all Men and that thus rationally we can give an account of the speedy and universal propagation of the Christian Religion Thirdly WE consider the design and scope of this Oeconomy That their Faith might be built on the surest Foundations i. e. on the Power of God And here I might reckon up the motives of Credibility that obliged us to assent to the Christian Religion if they can be numbered But I chuse to improve what is said in one Word of Application Blessed be God who hath so fully provided for our Illumination and Confirmation that we might rest in his Word and Testimony with full assurance of mind For the Apostles did not follow cunningly devised fables when they made known unto us the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Let us give up our selves to it without wavering and hesitation of Spirit resolutely maintaining it even unto Death And above all endeavouring to adorn it by a Holy Conversation adding to our faith vertue to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance c. Let us esteem and love it for its genuine Grandure and Majesty even when it is not attended with the Ornaments of human Art For how shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation that was first confirm'd by Miracles and Wonders LET us not desire that supernatural Truths be recommended to us chiefly and only by human Art So weak are we that we relish not Heavenly things unless they smell of the Earth When we hear the Word of God the corruption of our Nature leads us to notice more the air accent and gesture of the Preacher than the great Truths that he recommends and all these be they never so plain innocent and unexceptionable they have their fate and censure not from our unbyassed reason but from that part of us that is carnal I am not of the opinion that the Mysteries of the Gospel are to be handled confusedly and negligently in a slovenly dress such garments become not the Majesty of that Religion whose Ministers we are The Oracles of God deserve that we should Meditate in them night and day But we are so to study them that we preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Christs sake that we may not think that the success of our Labours depends on the skill and contrivance of our Composures but on God that giveth the Increase To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory and Dominion for ever Amen A SERMON Preached at the ABBEY of Holy-Rood-House MAY 1686. ON MATT. V. V. 20. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven MY design from these words of our Saviour is to hint shortly at the Scope and Drift of Christian Religion and then to state the comparison between it and the Pharisaical Religion And in the next place to direct you in the Practice of true and sincere Godliness WHEN our Saviour appeared the Church was sadly over-run with the grossest Immoralities and the most absurd Superstitions and Delusions The Law of God which was in it self pure and just and holy was perverted by their Commentaries and made to truckle under such designs as were hateful to God and subversive of all true Morality Their plausible glosses and corrupt maxims destroy'd the natural force of Religion and withal they deceiv'd the poor People into an Opinion that they themselves were the peculiar favourites of God even then when our Saviour told them that the publicans and the sinners should enter into the kingdom of heaven before them WHEN we read the Sermon on the Mount we find that it was our Saviour's great design to plant and establish amongst his Disciples a manly rational and heroick temper of mind a higher kind of Philosophy than the Pharisees understood or the Pagans pretended to The rule of Life that he gave us was so accurate and so suitable to our Nature in its first and original constitution that nothing can equal it for purity and holiness The wisest sayings and the best thoughts of Jews and Pagans scattered here and there in all their books are very far outdone in one Page of the New Testament He removes our errors prejudices and mistakes concerning God our selves and the rewards of another Life He opens our eyes to see thorow the little tricks hypocritical designs and superstitious follies of the Pharisees And by the most cogent proofs he forces us to acknowledge that there is no
Religion so worthy of God to reveal so proper for us to be taught in as that system of true Piety and unaffected Morality that he has brought to Light WHEN I say Morality I do not understand Morality in the usual lame and defective signification of it as it regards our outward behaviour towards Man But rather the whole of our profound submission and obedience to the first and second Table of the Law And in this true and comprehensive notion I affirm that it was our Saviour's design to advance it unto practice and reputation amongst Mankind THE Jewish Religion take it all together was rather Gods indulgence and toleration than his law and commandment And tho it had the Seal of his Authority yet it was not in it self the best Religion but the best that they could bear When they returned from Aegypt the impressions of their servitude were not so soon worn off but that their proneness to Idolatry and former slavish dispositions remain'd And ever and anon upon all occasions for a long time after they relapse into their superstitions and Aegyptian Ceremonies IF we view them in the best periods of the Jewish Oeconomy their Religion was defective Many things were plainly permitted or tacitely conniv'd at as Polygamy and Divorce and some degrees of uncharitableness and revenge which natural and uncorrupted reason dislikes and condemns But when Our Saviour appear'd it was then high time to recover the World from their beggarly elements and to give us the true notions of Almighty God the spirituallity of his Worship and the extent of his universal Empire over Jew and Gentile and to form our manners by that accurate rule of his Doctrine and Example By which we were not only assured of Eternal Life but partly in a manner put in the possession of it A scheme of Christian Morals is given us in the Sermon on the Mount so pure and angelical that at first view we are forc'd to acknowledge that it came down from the Father of lights We are exhorted to whatsoever things are true honest just pure lovely and of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise to think on these things TO advance and facilitate the practice of this Morality was the design of our Saviour's undertaking when we consider the Gospel in its uniform strength and vigour as also to calm the consciences of men to remove our fears and to teach us to approach the Throne of God with a generous assurance of mind to bind us in the strongest bonds of Society amongst our selves and to liberate us from the yoke of Moses Law This was our Saviour 's business when he took upon him our Nature when we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth 1. I SAY one great part of his design was to form us into true Morals This is the comprehensive character by which good men are distinguished in the Holy Scriptures In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother Thus runs the description of Job that he was a man perfect and upright one that feared God and eschewed evil AND David's religious man walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart The great character of Moses was that he was very meek above all the men upon the face of the Earth And Cornelius the Centurion is said to be a devout man and one that feared God with all his house which gave much alms to the People and prayed to God alway BUT all along the New Testament the Pharisees are stigmatiz'd that they were cold and indifferent in the great Morals of Religion while they were very zealous and pragmatick to advance the rituals of it They were blind guides who strain'd at a Gnat and swallowed a Camel They tithed Mint Annise and Cummin and neglected the weightier matters of the Law WHEN the whole of Religion is summ'd up in the most compendious manner there is nothing else nam'd but the love of God and our neighbour Or the most ingenuous expressions of both What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And our Saviour tells us that on the Love of God and our neighbour hangs all the Law and Prophets And this is the same Doctrine that is preached by S. Paul for Love is the fullfiling of the Law And therefore we find that the Prophets upon all occasions did endeavour to withdraw the thoughts of the Jews from the External drudgery of their Religion to that Immortal Deity that was Worshiped and to convince them that if their Sacrifices were not attended with the Love of God and their Neighbour they could not be acceptable The blood of Bulls and of Goats was no entertainment for him that made Heaven and Earth A Soul disengaged from the corruptions of Life and animated in all its actions with true zeal and sincerity was the only acceptable Sacrifice AND the Rituals of Christianity if they are destitute of their true Spirit and Life are of no greater value Our Faith without works is dead in the language of S. James And S. Peter compares our Baptism if separated from Purity of Manners to the washing of Swine And our Communicating without Devotion is by S. Paul said to be our coming together to condemnation It is the pure heart and clean hands the modest and ingenuous temper of Spirit that perfume our Faith our Prayers and our Assemblies When we look into the New Testament this Doctrine runs through all its parts and breaths almost in every Line the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And for this very purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil IN all ages men have endeavoured to cross and oppose this part of our Saviour's design and to reconcile by little distinctions plausible and artificial tricks their Religion to their Lusts Some Religion they must have and that which renders them truly acceptable unto God penetrates too deep into the Soul searches the Hearts and Reins and teaches them to live in opposition to the corrupt Spirit of the World and to lead captive secret thoughts and imaginations unto the obedience of Christ The impressions of the Divinity are folded up in the Soul of Man the apprehensions and fears of an after reckoning haunt us whether we will or not
that kind of Religion to which they were most addicted And therefore our Religion must needs be of another stamp entirely pure gentle easie to be intreated full of good works without partiality and without hypocrisie 2. They thought that they might compensate for moral Miscarriages by long prayers and bodily severities And they would gladly submit to any thing rather than reform what ought to be truly amended 3. They believ'd they might merit eternal Life by the observation of one Precept though they liv'd in the habitual contempt and violation of all the rest Such a Precept they took their Sabbath to be WHEN we view the pure and unaffected complexion of our Religion how great an Enemy it is to all unworthy shifts and disguises how generous and refin'd above that Spirit that prevails in the World how amiable in the Eyes of God and Men then I say we may easily perceive that there is nothing more opposite unto it than that peevish superstition and hypocrisie that prevail'd in the Jewish Church when our Saviour appear'd And to the end that we may feel the force of our Religion to the best advantages Let us observe the following Directions 1. WE must understand our Religion thorowly and fix it in our Souls by the most accurate and serious consideration For though the motives of Christianity be of that moment that they may easily conquer our Souls yet unless they are duly applyed by Thought Reason and Meditation they loose their force and efficacy and they never impart to us the least degree of spiritual courage and activity God assaults our Reason in the first place and when we are overcome by Argument we are then a willing People we are Subjects by our choice and not by constraint Therefore are we frequently to view and consider the motives and arguments of our Religion and weigh them in the balance against the difficulties that oppose us That when we have examin'd and seriously debated whatsoever makes for or against our being Christians we may go forth to meet our Enemy with spiritual furniture and strength Shall the World and its triffling Interests notwithstanding that we are convinc'd of its emptiness and vanity take up so many of our Thoughts And shall we forget our immortal Souls and the Judgment to come Religion enters the Soul by Meditation and no Man can be Religious but by the acts of his Mind It is a reasonable service that we are call'd to and to make us continue in it with delight our Reason must be first engag'd How necessary this consideration is our Saviour represents in the Gospel of S. Luke What King goeth out to war doth not first sit down and consider if with his ten thousand he be able to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand Or if a man resolve to build a Tower he first computes the expence and then he builds SUCH as are hastily engag'd in the service of Religion are frequently forc'd to retire with shame and dishonour And this is the usual result of rash and unsettled purposes which men make in the heat of their passion and under the power of some transient conviction 2. WE are always to perfer the Morals of Religion to its lesser Appendages and Ceremonies and to remember that the last are only subservient to advance the first True Christian Life is the Transcript of the Divine Nature Be ye holy as I am holy And again Be ye merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful There are such legible impressions of the Divine Nature felt in the Souls of the Regenerate that they attract his presence they are his peculiar habitations where he fixes his residence Nothing so enlarges the Spirit of a Man as to fix his eyes on the Life of Jesus to view with attention and delight how much he was above the World when environ'd with its terrors and flatteries He spoke of the invisible things as one does of his own Country He reason'd men out of their folly by all the force and weight of Heaven and Eternity And if we allow him to speak to our Consciences it is not possible to resist his reasonings He went about doing good He made himself accessible to us by the interposal of his humanity that we might see as well as hear the beauties of Christian Religion He taught us a Doctrine that is exactly calculated to refine our Nature to make us better in all relations And by this rule we are to examine the different pretences of all divided Parties If they advance by the plainest and nearest methods true Piety Innocency and Simplicity and propagate them in the Spirit of Love Unity and Subordination this is the surest mark to know that they belong to the Household of Faith 3. WE are here but Pilgrims and Strangers we are so to demean our selves as Candidates for Eternity Our Christian Life is but a flight from the World and the more we are alienated from the Spirit that prevails in it the more ripe we are for that incorruptible inheritance that is reserv'd for us Let us make the things of another World present to our selves by Faith For the fashion of this World passeth away And we are shortly to appear before Gods Tribunal stript naked of all the thin cobwebs and excuses whereby we endeavour'd to hide our deformities upon Earth 4. And lastly WHEN you have deliberately resolv'd consider the evil of back-sliding and its dreadful consequences There are but few who plainly and openly deny the Faith unto which they are Baptized yet many hundreds deny the Lord that bought them by their wicked Lives and unchristian Practices Now the just shall live by Faith but if any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him But we are not of them who draw back into perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the Soul To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Glory Praise and Dominion for ever Amen A SERMON Preached on Whitsunday 1688. ON ACTS ii v. 1 2 3 4. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance THE Christian Church from the Ascension of our Blessed Saviour into Heaven until the Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles was full of great expectations and great fears they had not yet quite broke off from the Communion of the Jewish Church yet they continued in their solitude and retirements and in the true exercise of Charity and Patience until our Saviour should scatter his Royal Donatives upon his solemn and magnificent entrance into the
Heavens By which Gifts and Graces the Apostles were enabled to assert the Truth of our Religion boldly and proclaim the glad tidings of Salvation to all Nations and the Literal Judaism was to give place to the Mystical and the Messias was not only to be the Glory of his people Israel but a Light to lighten the Gentiles OUR Saviour after his Resurrection gave all assurance to the Apostles that he would send them another Comforter when He was gone unto the Father an Advocate to plead his Cause successfully one who should inspire them with strength and skill to defie and resist all the Calumnies and Slanders of Infidelity and therefore they ought not to give way either to grief sorrow or despondency For all Power in Heaven and in Earth was given to their Lord and Master He was highest in the Glory of the Father He was not only declared to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead but God did highly exalt him and gave him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth He instructed them formerly in the Spiritual Oeconomy of his Kingdom that they needed not be ashamed of the Doctrine of the Cross that it behov'd Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day to the end that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his Name throughout all Nations beginning at Jerusalem and withal that He was not unmindful of his Promise that He made before He was crucified now that he was risen from the dead but He assured them He would send the Promise of the Father upon them so much to their comfort success and satisfaction that the whole World should take notice of it In the mean time they were to remain quiet and knit together at Jerusalem until this Promise was fulfilled HE had before at their Ordination and formal Admission into the highest Order of the Church breathed on them and bad them receive the Holy Ghost By the which they were invested with a Legal and Authoritative Title to act as the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ to proclaim his Laws to require the Obedience of all Nations to convey this Power unto others to erect a new Society distinct from all Secular Incorporations to bind and loose by the Censures of the Church but still notwithstanding of their Authority they remain'd without strength until the solemn and magnificent Effusion of the Holy Ghost by which their Tongues being fired from Heaven their opposers were not able to resist the Wisdom by which they spake Now was the Prophecy of Joel fulfilled in the highest sense and so S. Peter applies it to this astonishing and heavenly manifestation And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will poure out of my Spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesie and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams THERE are who distinguish in the Writings of the New Testament between the Holy Ghost and the Spirit and that the Spirit signifies the Power of Miracles healing the Sick casting out of Devils restoring sight to the Blind raising the Dead by all which our Saviour proved himself to be the true Messias And by the Holy Ghost they think we ought to understand the wonderful Gifts of Utterance of Languages of Interpretation of Mysteries by which the Apostles were enabled in a moment to confound all the arts and oppositions of their enemies to run down with evidence all the calumnies and reproaches invented either by Jew or Gentile against the Person Life Doctrine or Miracles of our blessed Saviour BUT we shall have a better view of this when we fix our Meditations on that part of Scripture that I have read and consider it in all its mutual aspects and relations then I will endeavour to gather the several Branches of it together again in the Application WE find that the Apostles did exactly obey the Command of our Saviour they tarried at Jerusalem waiting for the promise of the Father The Text hath in it the accomplishment of this Promise and because it is so peculiar to this day to commemorate the Effusion of the Holy Ghost with the highest Joy and Gratitude I will invite your attention to these three Particulars in the words that I have read 1. THE disposition that the Apostles were in to receive the Holy Ghost they were all with one accord in one place 2. THE sensible Emblem of it manifested 1. To their Ears in the second Verse and to their Eyes in the third Verse And 3. HERE is the Accomplishment of the Promise the success and the appearance of it they were all filled with the Holy Ghost they began to speak with other Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance 1. Consider the Disposition that they were in to receive it They were all with one accord in one place The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in those Breasts that are gangreen'd with discords jars and animosities All our wild passions and unfriendly humours must be hush'd into silence at the approach of this heavenly Guest he chuses for his residence habitation those pure and innocent Souls that breath nothing but love candor simplicity and meekness the secret retirements of the Mind where he dwells must be made smooth even and regular the rugged and intricate circuits of Hypocrisie Hatred and Envy are inconsistent with his Presence He loves to fix his residence where there are some beautiful Lineaments of himself The peaceableness the charity the mutual love and zeal of promoting the welfare of one another was so remarkable in the first Christians that we must needs confess they were acted by a Spirit beyond the World this peace and love and unanimity is so essential to the Christian Religion that our Saviour made it the badge and Character of his Disciples hereby shall all men know that you are my disciples if ye love one another It is the fulfilling of the Law without it there is no access for our Prayers We are commanded when we bring our gift to the Altar to leave it there unoffered until we are reconciled to our brother And we are directed by the Apostle St. Paul to lift up holy hands without wrath or doubting In a word the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie And a little before he telleth us that bitter envyings and strife are the Companions of that wisdom that is earthly sensual and devilish Nay this Hatred and Enmity makes up the very nature of the Devil and if you could divide him and his Malice he were no more a Devil nor opposite to God for God is Love and they that dwell in God dwell in Love and the frequent repetitions of
Love in the first Epistle of St. John give us to understand that the Love of God and his Neighbour did actuate and enliven his Soul to the highest warmth and Charity WHEN we look upon the Apostles in this interval between Christs Ascension and the effusion of the Holy Ghost before they proclaim'd boldly and openly the wonderful things of God in the name of Jesus before they came forth with displayed Banners against the Kingdom of darkness then it was that their Unity did miraculously support ' them and what degrees of chearfulness and courage were found in any of them came seasonably to the relief of every one upon all occasions Their Unity first strengthened their Prayers they went up to Heaven as the Evening Sacrifice and with united force prevailed The Prayers of those Souls that are knit in Charity soon fly to the Ears of God they are raised above the Skies on the wings of servent Love the Devotions that are harmoniously poured forth on Earth resound with an Eccho in the Heavens as if the Inhabitants of the upper and the lower World had begun already the most intimate friendship and familiar Converse 2. THEIR Unity among themselves filled their Souls with great Tranquillity and though they were not yet actually inspired as afterwards they were with the gifts of the Holy Ghost yet by their unanimity they were so prepared for them and thirsted after them as the parched and gasping Earth thirsts for the showers of the latter Rain 3. THIS Unity had with it also some foretasts of the joys of Heaven Those triumphant Spirits that are above are twisted together in the mutual Embraces of Love it is their Element where they move it is the life of their Soul they cannot live without it either here or hereafter 4. THIS Unity dispos'd the Apostles and the Disciples to a clearer understanding of the truths of the Kingdom of Heaven Truth is the true nourishment of the Mind and this Truth enters not in its force and influence unless the Soul is first alienated from all harsh rugged and ill-natured Passions Proud and unmortified Men may make a great ostentation of Wisdom and Knowledge but the truth all this time is not successfully united to the essence of the Mind and the retirements of the Conscience though the words that convey it to our Ears may be lodg'd in the memory and imagination when we come to know the Truth in its divine energy and strength then are we made free from sin and hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments Now the Apostles locked themselves up from the noise of the World and felt those invisible supports of Faith and Love when as yet they had not courage enough to venture abroad but Unity cannot long be preserved without uniformity and therefore they are said not only to be of one accord but also in one place THE Order and Discipline of the Catholick Church into which we are received by Baptism oblige not only to inward peace but also to an outward Decorum and visible Uniformity The Church in the language of Solomon is beautiful as Tirzah comely as Jerusalem terrible as an Army with banners The comprehensive Apostolick Canon is that all things be done with decency and in order and therefore are we exhorted by the Author to the Hebrews not to forsake the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is i. e. We are not to erect Altar against Altar but to continue in the Communion of the Christian Church observing those Laws and Rules by which the spiritual Society of Christs Family has been best preserved in the times of greatest danger and persecution If we cut our selves off from Christs mystical Body the consequences are fatal and dreadful THE publick Worship of the Sanctuary is Christs Trophy over his Enemies his Standard erected and set up in those very places where the Devil had his Altars are not his Oracles now silenced and his Sacrifices deserted where our Saviour is acknowledged King and Sovereign Is not the publick Worship the very joy of our hearts as the Prophet foretold Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths See with what fervour the best of Gods Servants pray for it and with what satisfaction they speak of it Pity saith Daniel thy Sanctuary that is desolate for the Lords sake And the Psalmist Thy servants take pleasure in her very stones and favour the dust thereof And again I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord our feet shall stand within thy gate O Jerusalem HOW hateful then are they to God and how contrary to the Spirit and design of the Gospel who destroy the publick Worship and the uniform Meetings of Christs Family upon Earth by Faction Mutiny Tumult Schism or Disobedience Is it not sad to consider how implacably Schismaticks are set to destroy the peace and order of the Sanctuary 'T is true as we shall have occasion to consider within a little the Holy Ghost came upon the Apostles in cloven tongues of fire but all fiery Tongues are not from the Holy Ghost A Sect there is of unquiet and restless Spirits who have no Principles but what tend to destruction and though it be no part of my design or inclination to rake into that Puddle of little Cavils and Exceptions that have been boisterously vented against the beauty and order of our National Church yet I would offer to the consideration of the meanest Hearer these four Particulars and then let them declare their thoughts of the present Schism and Wall of Partition that the Presbyterians have rais'd between themselves and the Catholick Church 1. CONSIDER that they and their Practices are disclaim'd by all Protestant Churches With what face do they alledge that they themselves are the strictest Patrons of the Reformation who have deserted all other Churches and by their Principles now think it unlawful to keep the Communion of any setled Church in Europe 2. ARE they not Nonconformists to themselves Their former Confessions of Faith and their Ringleaders as well as to the present Church the windings and turnings of Errour are infinite it leads them to a thousand absurdities it hath no solid Basis to rest upon but the present crasis of the Imagination and as that changes its Figure the Errour shifts its appearance and comes forth with further improvements And yet such is the unlucky fate of all Schismaticks that after all their refinings and Reformations they still retain some one thing or other that baffles and confounds all their childish and whiffling Objections against the Church I will instance but in one Particular which to this day is practised by the Presbyterians and that is they appoint Adulterers and such as are most eminently scandalous to wear
desirable event WE are to meet with God in the most comfortable and sublime Ordinance and to dress our Souls in their best Robes and Wedding-garments We are to come to this Feast with pure intentions and to arm our selves with the whole armour of God and against every Limb of the body of Death We are to set the pure Law of God before our Eyes and faithfully to compare our actions with it and do you think that this can be done by a superficial glance or can we renverse so easily what is so deeply rooted in our Nature and frame can we by the slightest attempt overturn the works of Satan When we remember that we are to be judged for every secret thought and every idle word and every evil deed how impartial and accurate ought we to be in this Examination when we compare our lives with the Law of God what a formidable Army of our sins do we at first view perceive Our omissions our careless performance of what we do our injuries towards others our foolish impertinent and uncharitable Censures of many our breach of former Promises and Resolutions the hardness of our Hearts against the various Methods of Gods Goodness Patience and Providence against the light reproofs and directions of our own Consciences and the honour of our most holy Profession now when we have gotten such a sight of our sins the Prayer of the Publican in the Temple becomes us Lord be merciful to me a sinner 2. WHEN you have made an impartial discovery of your Condition judge thy self with all severity for if we judge our selves we shall not be judged of the Lord. We are not to judge our selves blindly and with precipitation but upon a full and clear evidence of our Condition nor is it enough to pass sentence against our selves in general forms to acknowledge that we are sinners but we must confess our particular sins such as are our sins in a special manner either by habitual custom temperament of Body ordinary Society or by any other accident or teâ—â—ation for without this particular and ingenuous confession we are not ashamed of what we have done and consequently not truly penitent Let us therefore neither hide nor extenuate our sins before God to whose Eyes all things are naked and open and whose word divides between the soul and the spirit who knows our thoughts afar off and the very first tendencies of our Soul towards evil Apply the confession of the prodigal Son to thy particular state and say with true contrition and humility I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son THE Grace of God cannot grow to any ripeness and perfection but in the Soul that is truly humble and that sensibly feels it self in the most destitute condition unless our Saviour speedily interpose for our recovery and there is no Method so proper to make us truly humble as to see our selves without disguise naked as in the sight of God When we are stript of our Excuses and artificial coverings by which we endeavour to hide our selves from our Neighbours then we see the vast distance that is between the pure Laws of our Religion and our loose careless and disordered lives God is present with us at all times and his Eyes pierce to the Center of our Spirits Let us therefore go to the bottom of the Sore and examine our actions by that infallible Rule of his Word and then we must condemn our selves in the most serious and afflictive strain of true remorse and contrition and therefore we find that the most eminent Saints have been most accurate and impartial in censuring their own sins and transgressions they were more ingenuous than their most watchful Enemies to aggravate their own follies Thus my heart was griev'd saith the Psalmist and I was pricked in my reins so foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee 3. WE are to approach this Sacrament with strong resolutions at last to be revenged on our sins Let us reason our selves out of our former idleness and sloth if we are truly griev'd for our sins we must break thorough the ordinary Obstacles that formerly kept us in bondage Is there no strength in this Sacrament to break those Iron bars by which we are shut up under the power of our sins Are our bonds so strong that they cannot be shaken off Are our Appetites so violent and unruly that they cannot be resisted Were not others encompassed with the same flesh and infirmities and yet happily made free And shall we miserably groan under the load of our sins even though we feel that they make us hateful to God Nay let us cast our selves under the compassionate Eye of our blessed Lord and Master and beseech him that he would let us feel the power of his Resurrection and break our Captivity that he would let us know that He that is in us is stronger than He that is in the World that his Wisdom and Strength may interpose to help our weakness and folly that He would gird his victorious Sword upon his thigh and eradicate our evil Habits Let God arise and let his Enemies be scattered and fly before his presence Our resolutions must not only be vigorous and fervent but fixt against particular sins to which our inclinations are more violent and forward 4. COME unto the Holy Table with full trust in the mercy of God He will not quench the smoaking flax nor will he break the bruised reed He blows upon the first sparks of Sincerity until they are flam'd into perfect zeal and Devotion The Waters that He gives are a Well of water springing up unto life eternal He will perfect that which he hath begun The goodness of God and the incomprehensible Love of Jesus are immovable Pillars of our Faith and therefore we are to fill our Eyes with a prospect of Mercy He will not deal rigidly with us neither will he upbraid us with our former guiltiness when we are prostrate at his feet when we plead with him by his boundless Compassion and the Abyss of our miseries The Blood of Jesus is the true Atonement and propitiation for the sins of the World So reasons the Author to the Hebrews that the blood of Jesus must be of infinitely greater force than that of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heiser for he offered himself without spot unto God and that through the eternal Spirit and therefore he lives for ever to make intercession for us and if we believe the sufficiency and merit of his Sacrifice we must also be persuaded of the real efficacy of this Sacrament to convey the Merits of Christs blood to every penitent Communicant This may be easily discern'd by its contrary influence on the prophane and impenitent If he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation then certainly it it must convey life strength light
believe in him Thirdly The Interest that we have in his purchase by our adherence to him and dependence on him He that believes on me though he were dead yet shall he live First THAT our Saviour did raise himself from the dead is certain else our Religion is but a fable and a lying vanity It is S. Paul's own Inference to the Corinthians If Christ be not risen then our faith is in vain and we are yet in our sins And so our Saviour tells the Disciples that Christ must needs suffer and rise from the dead the third day The Spirit of Prophecy did enlighten the Jewish Church and foretold the success glories and triumphs of the Messias He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift his head And Isa 53.10 That when he made his Soul an offering for sin he should prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand That because he had poured out his Soul unto death God would divide him a portion with the Great and he should divide the Spoils with the strong All those Predictions have the Resurrection of our Saviour in their bosom and without it they are nothing When he was declared to be the Son of God by the Resurrection from the dead the suspicions concerning his Person were remov'd he appear'd then to be the Christ of God the Lord of all things the Judge of the world And his mean equipage bitter pains and shameful disgraces did but heighten and inflame the Zeal and Devotion of Jew and Gentile How mysterious was the stratagem of his Love to hide the Glories of his Divinity to obscure the brightness of his Majesty by the interposal of human Nature to cloath himself with our flesh that he might die that through death he might overcome him that had the power of death and by his omnipotence raise himself from death and the grave For though he was Crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of God He was put to death as a notorious Malefactor exposed to the reproach and contempt of all Nations treated as an Enemy to God and to true Religion his adversaries insulted over him as one stricken smitten of God But when it appear'd that he was the mighty Favorite of Heaven by his Resurrection from the Dead how did this confute their Reasoning How did it baffle their Accusations How did it upbraid their Ignorance and scatter their vain Surmises and aggravate their incurable Malice Since he must needs be acknowledged to be the Messias in defiance of all spite and contradiction The stone which the builders refus'd became the head-corner-stone of the building Being found in fashion as a man be humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Now the human Nature is rais'd above the Angelical in the Person of our Saviour And the hosts of heaven fall down before him that was dead and is alive and dies no more and every creature which is in heaven and in earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea say with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessings The very thought of it delivers us from all our fears as the value and merit from our offences This is the Triumphant Song of the Christian Church the strong Tower we flie to in all our straits and difficulties the immovable Author of our Faith Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us The meditation of it is the strongest inducement to a holy life for he was rais'd to bless us in turning every one of us from our iniquities For as he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father Even so we also should walk in newness of life And if you be present with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Do we worship him that is risen from the dead and brake thorow the Iron barrs of death and yet remain captive our selves under the tyranny and bondage of our sins Let it appear by our heavenly Conversation that we are acted by a Spirit superior to the World that we are born of God that he that is in us is stronger than he that is in the world for in this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother Do we believe that our Saviour is victorious over Death and the Grave and yet shall we remain slaves to our Lusts and Passions Let the contrary appear that we are united to him in the closest manner encouraged by his Promises and enliven'd by his Spirit Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things And this is the most proper method to prove to the World the Resurrection of our Saviour and the divinity of our Religion and this was the Argument that the first Christians made frequently use of to confound their Adversaries For how can we be made partakers of the Divine Nature but by the Divine Power Shall we live a Life more pure and heavenly than the rest of Mankind if we are not inspir'd with a Spirit not only opposite to but above the maxims principles and genius of the World Shall the Scythians Persians and Romans forsake their fierceness lasciviousness and pride and become calm and chast and humble if they have no other rule to direct them than the glimmerings of Nature and weak essays of Philosophy Is it possible that we can overcome the Inclinations of Nature Lust Passion and Revenge but by a Spirit higher than Nature Can evil Habits be so soon removed Or can the Ethiopian change his Skin If we are then changed from what we were to the true use of our Reason and the acknowledgments of the Deity and the practice of all Vertue To what cause can this change be imputed but to the Divine Spirit of Jesus whose powerful intercecession prevails to Redeem us from under the dominion of all Error Darkness and Prejudice Do we then believe in Christ risen from the dead Let us live no more to sin but unto him that died for us and
thee We may say of this Conflict with the World as the Royal Psalmist said of his frequent Combats with his enemies 't is he that teacheth my fingers to fight and without doubt the Divine Wisdom is apparent in our Conquest over the World else how could poor Creatures all made up of error darkness and precipitance venture on Tentations of all sorts without his special Conduct and Presence How quietly doth the Psalmist rejoice in the Meditation of his fatherly Care and Assistance He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the quiet waters he restoreth my Soul he guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake thy rod and thy staff they comfort me 'T is through God alone we shall do valiantly The weapons of our warfare are mighty through him he not only treads Satan under our feet but the World also which is the Devils great Confederate against the Saints 2. WE are assured of the Victory through the Triumph and Victory and Jesus Christ He hath bidden us himself be of good cheer for he hath overcome the World He is the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah he marcheth upon the Head of his Disciples with displayed Banners against the Legions of Darkness the World Hell and the Grave are hauled at the Wheels of his triumphant Chariot Therefore the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews bids us consider the cloud of witnesses but most of all Jesus Christ himself the Author and Finisher of our Faith When we are like to faint when our fears grow thick and dark then consider the Captain of our Salvation who hath already broke the force of our enemies and is set down on the right hand of the Throne of God and there employes his Power in Heaven and Earth for the conduct safety and success of his followers Let us believe with the Apostle S. Paul that we shall be able to do all things through Christ that strengthens us 3. WE are assured of the Victory by the Strength and Energy of the Divine Nature So we are told in the Text that that which is born of God overcometh the World and in Chap. 4. He that is in us is stronger than he that is in the World If we were to grapple with the World by equal strength we could not promise to our selves the Victory but we are partakers of the Divine Nature we are carried above our selves God is in us in a truer and higher sense than the Poet meant it THE Divine Nature is full of Life and Power it grows unto perfection unto the stature of a perfect Man in Christ Jesus until it lodge us at last in the bosom of God 'T is a Coal from the Altar that inflames the Soul and consumes the Body of Death to nothing What is not the Christian Religion able to do in conjunction with Omnipotence THIS is it that wrought such incredible Changes in the World and if others have been so successful and victorious in their Conflicts with the World why ought we to despair Had not the Luminaries of the Church the same flesh to mortifie the same passions to overcome the same World to contend with and if they overcame the World why may not we be victorious also BUT let us improve this Meditation for our practice If we are thus assured of the Victory if we do not wilfully desert our Stations then let us not be discouraged with the Terrors of the World nor with those imaginary difficulties by which Men frequently fright themselves from their duty But in the midst of our fears and objections let us strengthen our selves in God and debate the matter with our own Consciences in the Language of the Psalmist Why art thou cast down O my Soul hope in God remember and call to mind the Victory that Men of like Passions have attained why do you thus sit down hanging your head as if the World were invincible WHY do we suffer our selves so tamely to be carried down the Stream Let us bear up against it and remember that we have to do with a broken and conquered Enemy and if we do not shamefully yield God will stand by us at our right hand and make Vs more than Conquerors through Jesus Christ It is unbecoming the Goodness of God to leave us when we are engaged with such formidable Enemies If he be for Vs who can be against Vs Here we are but Pilgrims and Strangers and since we have renounced the World so solemnly why do we look back upon it with so much fondness and delight why are we diffident of the Victory For the Captain of our Salvation looks on and suffers us to be surrounded with Tentations that he may make proof of our Courage Constancy Fidelity Loyalty and Patience God looks on the Conflicts of his people with delight and by their tryals and hard encounters he fortifies their Souls for Immortality which is the prize IT was the glimmering of this Meditation made so many of the antient Philosophers think that a Man without suffering was without reputation for honour by the esteem and vote of all Mankind belongs to them that have suffered and striven resolutely in the midst of all disasters against Vice and its insinuations To this purpose Seneca in his Book de Providentia says That a Man bearing up resolutely against disadvantages and disasters was a spectacle worthy Jupiter himself to look on SINCE then we are furnished with better Principles and a clearer Light let us under the Conduct of our High Priest face all Tentations and keep our consciences void of offence towards God and towards Men for the things that are terrible to Mans eyes are but Scare-Crows and Apparitions to the eyes of Faith AND this leads me to the third and last Particular that is The Mean by which this Victory is obtained the Apostle saith Faith is our Victory THE Figure is obvious enough this is the Mean and Weapon by which we trample under foot the World and all its glittering vanities and soar above it We are by our Laws Citizens of another Kingdom we are neither intangled with its snares nor blinded with its foolish hopes nor govern'd by its pernicious Maxims nor dazled with its false lights while we keep our eyes open to the light of Faith and the Glories that our Jesus hath manifested to us in the Gospel then we grow too big for this World and the sight of that Inheritance enlarges our Souls and the Earth becomes contemptible in our eyes BUT that I may make this the more clear I shall endeavour to give light unto it by the Nature and Excellency of Faith it self which when we have considered this Conquest will appear to be the most necessary result of Faith AND 1. Consider that by Faith we are furnished with new Principles we have a Spirit giv'n us stronger than the World opposite to it far above it this is frequently asserted by S. John
were irrecoverably chain'd up under the power of his sins and evil habits God pleads with him and his own Conscience expostulates and the experience of all sober men baffle his pretences for no man is so fatally ty'd to misery and corruption but that he may break his bonds and escape the corruption that is in the World through lust To day then let me exhort you if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts break up the Prison doors the Grace of the Gospel is mighty and powerful you cannot be captive against your wills this corruption that prevails in the World may be escaped and overcome Do not fright your selves out of your duty by vain apparitions scare-crows and counterfeit apologies such as the slothful man in the Proverbs is said to use There is a Lyon without I shall be slain in the streets All such excuses are vain and impertinent whether they are taken 1. From the difficulty of removing old habits or 2. From the variety of our worldly incumbrances or 3. From the multitude and strength of temptations or 4. From the severities of Christian Religion 1. THE excuses taken from the difficulty of old habits The incorrigible sinner will plead that the Ethiopian cannot change his skin nor the Leopard his spots nor they that are accustomed to do evil ever learn to do well THUS Celsus against Origen seems to deny the possibility of any such reformation as the Christian Religion requires because customary sins become a second Nature that no punishments can reform or change yet saith Origen herein Celsus not only contradicts the Christians but all others who own any genenerous principles of Philosophy And there Origen gives instances in their own Heroes and such as were admir'd for Vertue among the Heathens that our recovery from Vice was very practicable and though it be difficult in the beginning to eradicate old habits yet when the first assaults are over if we vigorously prosecute so excellent a design it becomes pleasant and delightful Herein appeared the power of the Gospel that it made men exemplary in these very Graces that were most opposite to their former biass Thus the first Apologists plead in behalf of Christian Religion Let us see saith Lactantius the most proud and he will become humble the most covetous liberal the most fierce and cruel tame and meek like a Lamb. And is it possible that such a change can be wrought but by a supernatural Cause by light and motives far beyond our former principles If we act by worldly Maxims we must be confin'd in our thoughts to the lower Regions but when the day-spring from on high visits us the Soul feels within her self new powers and faculties which earthly motives could not put in motion Therefore though evil habits could not be throughly reform'd by the faint and pusillanimous attempts of the Pagan Philosophers yet the most inveterate customs and wicked practices could not resist the light of the Gospel When we plead that we cannot do otherwise than we do it is not our Reason that speaks but our laziness our idleness and sensuality for all wise men and the starkest fools in their lucid intervals thought otherwise else there is no distinction between choice and blind fate between Men and Beasts between Reason and Mechanism between Intellect and Matter If you then persist in this obstinate foolery that you cannot be reform'd from your vicious conversation your reasonings design to prove no more than that you have no excellency above the Beasts that perish and by such arguings you take the nearest methods to resemble them in the strictest sense 2. SOME plead the incumbrances of the World And it is certain that most men endeavour to excuse themselves by such Arguments The vanity and emptiness of this excuse is represented by our Saviour One went to his Farm another to his Merchandise and alledg'd they could not come But this is the highest contempt of the Wisdom of God as if there could be any business of so great importance as the saving of our Souls And besides to prove the impertinence of this excuse I can instance Men of Royal Quality and vast incumbrances who amidst all their divertisements and avocations found leisure for their devotion and the Worship of God Moses was a great Captain a great Prince and a great Politician yet his hands were lifted up to Heaven in Prayer when others must needs support him Job was very illustrious among the Arabians and yet under a deluge of Calamities and the continual repinings of his Wife he preach'd resignation David was a Warlike Prince yet the melodious Strains of his Harp were as Devout as Poetical Solomon a King the greatest and wisest that ever sat upon the Throne of Judah when he enter'd upon the Government in the first place fell down before God and begged Wisdom to order and conduct so numerous a People Daniel is entrusted with the affairs of so many Provinces yet he prayed thrice a day towards Jerusalem The Eunuch whom Philip baptiz'd read the Prophecies of Isaiah in his Chariot when he was upon his Journey LET us not then plead the incumbrances of the World for they that most converse with God are taught even to dispatch their worldly affairs with greater discretion than their neighbours because no part of their time is spent impertinently 3. SOME plead the strength and impetuous violence of temptations It must be confess'd that the objects of Sense do strongly allure and flatter the mind to unworthy compliances and that they entice us constantly to bodily pleasures yet if it be uneasie to overcome such insinuations let the very difficulty provoke our courage for the most glorious enterprises are atcheiv'd by patience and fortitude And if the prize of honour were not encompass'd with Thorns and Briars it might fall to the share of every despicable Wretch whereas indeed honour crowns the Heroes and such as resolutely face the enemy Was it sleep softness ease and luxury that first distinguish'd the Nobles from their inferiours No. It was magnanimity valour courage fidelity and patience that rais'd them above their neighbours And if such a transient thing as the favour of a King and the Hosanna's of the Croud cannot be justly obtain'd but by toil and labour how is it possible that we can think to gain immortal honours without wrestling and struggling God hath placed us on this Theatre to act our part to try our patience and our fidelity and with a design to trample upon the World by his Grace in us that we may be more than Conquerours through Christ that loved us The tentations from the World are indeed very terrible the Lusts of the Flesh the Lusts of the Eye and the Pride of Life But may not all these be conquered by Faith and the Spirit of Christianity their strength if we approach them closely is not so formidable 'T is true they appear invincible to the soft and delicate but they