Imprimatur, C. Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. a Sacris Domesticis. October 17. 1685. THE LAW and EQUITY OF THE GOSPEL. OR THE Goodness of our Lord AS A LEGISLATOR. Delivered first from the Pulpit in Two plain Sermons. And now Repeated from the Press, with others tending to the same End. To which is added, The Grand Inquiry to be made in These Inquisitive Times; together with The Resolution of Paul and Silas. AS ALSO An Improvement of That Inquiry, Containing, in its Parts, A Resolution unto Itself. AND A Scriptural Prognostic of Jesus Christ's Second Advent to Judge the World. LASTLY A Proeservative against Ambition. By THOMAS PIERCE D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his MAJESTY, and Dean of Sarum. London, Printed by S. Roycroft for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1686. A PREFACE TO THE READER. Christian Reader, Tho' some Disputes are made Needful by needless Questions which are raised by a 2 Tim. 2. 14. strife of Words; and though when Malice, or Curiosity, Carnal Interest, or Ambition, have brewed and broached such Doctrines, as are dishonourable to God, and his holy Gospel, or have a Tendency to the Ruin of Church and State, The greatest Lovers of Peace and Silence must so dispute against the Former, as by their Arguments to assert and secure the Later; Tho' the most peaceable Dr. Hammond, * johannes Oxon in vitâ H. H. p. 45. et 53. the Best of Men, and † Humfredus Sarum in Operum Hammondi Vol. 4. p. 853. The Divinest, (as two eminent Prelates have publicly styled him from the Press,) thought it his Duty to be the Author of more Disputes and Defensatives, than I and my Betters have ever yet been, (as his Controversial Writings do make apparent, his second Volume being spent like the Eighth Volume of Erasmus) yet 'twere heartily to be w●sh'd such powerful Courses could be taken, as might prevent the every Cause and Occasion of them. Experience tells us 'tis often easier, by Obstinate Silence to prevent, than by Reason to confute, or to shame an Error. And next to such a Resolved Silence, I know not any better Preventive of needless Controversies and Questions, than our Meditating on Questions which are not needless; But of great Consequence to be asked, and of greater Necessity to be Answered. And such as to which we ought to give ourselves b 1 Tim. 4. 15. wholly. As c Acts 16. 30. what we must do that we may be saved? What is the certain d Matth. 7. 16, 19, 20, 21. Mark 16. 16. Diagnostic whereby to judge without Sin of ourselves, and others? and as well of our present, as future state? What is that we call The Gospel? and wherein especially does It consist? What is it to be able to e Eph. 3. 18, 19 comprehend with all Saints, the Breadth, and Length, and Depth, and Height, and so to know the Love of Christ which passeth Knowledge? to know the Immensity of his Love, expressed to us (as by an Emblem,) by all the Dimensions of the Cross he was fastened to; Extended upwards, and downwards, and on Both the sides of it; a Type of the Fathomless love of Christ, whereof the Knowledge is supereminent, surpassing and transcending All other knowledges in the World. In so much that we may fitly espouse our Apostles Resolution, f 1 Cor. 2. 2. Not to know any thing in comparison of Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified; whereby is pithily represented The Law and Equity of The Gospel, which is the Sum of All the Theology a Faithful Steward needs Preach, towards g 1 Tim. 4. 16. the Saving of himself, and of Them that hear him. And as in the Days of our Forefathers, when Christian Simplicity was at its purest, A vicious Life was justly reckoned, not only the greatest, but the worst Heresy in the World; So of Convictions, and Confutations, Religious Practices were the most Cogent. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (as St. Chrysostom somewhere calls them,) Convincing Syllogisms and Arguments, not to be answered by the Acutest, nor ever heartily gainsaid by the worst of men. And therefore as Controverted Doctrines have taken up much of my Time passed, so These (I am sure) are the Grand Requisites, which 'twill be better to advance for the Time to come. I easily guests what will happen, to me and others of the Old Stamp, (the envied Friends and Disciples of Dr. Hammond,) whilst we engage in This Course of Preaching up Christ as a Legislator; and of celebrating The Law, as well as the Equity of The Gospel; of walking evenly in our Doctrines 'twixt two Extremes; to wit Socinians on the one side, and Solifidians on the other. Even the same that befell the Ancient Fathers of the Church; who for distinguishing the Persons or Subsistences of the Deity, were called Tritheites and Arians by the Followers of Sabellius; and yet were called Sabellians too, both by the Tritheites and the Arians, for not dividing the very Substance, or the Deity itself. So for teaching that our Saviour did consist of two Natures, they were branded as Nestorians by the whole Sect of the Eutychians; and yet were styled Eutychians too by all the Gang of the Nestorians, for asserting that our Saviour was no more than one Person. After the very same manner; We, for holding the Necessity of impartial Obedience to Christ's Commands, and (by consequence unavoidable) a Necessity of Good Works, as Part of the means of our being saved, do commonly pass for Socinians in the Rash Censure of Solifidians; and yet are accounted Solifidians by the like Rashness of the Socinians, for our disclaiming All Merit in our Obedience and Good Works, as to the making Satisfaction to the Justice of God for our Transgressions; and for desiring with St. Paul, To be found only in Christ, Philip. 3. 9 not having our own Righteousness, But That which is of God by Faith. But we must not be afraid to assert and propagate The Truth, because there are who infer it from divers Falsehoods; Nor may we dishonestly let it go, for other men's holding it in unrighteousness. For for us to Rom. 1. 18. deny our Obligation to Good Works, because there are who do contend for the Merit of them; or for us not to own the perfect Necessity of Obedience, which does naturally tend to the Glory of God, because Socinians own the same to his great Dishonour; or for us not to infer it from the Divinity of our Saviour, (as well as from the Perfection both of his Covenant and his Commands,) because such Heretics do infer it from their Denial of His Divinity, and of his Plenary Satisfaction for the Sins of the World; is just as bad as if the Christians should now begin to dogmatise, That there are Three distinct Gods, (the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,) because The Jews and The Mahomedans do constantly hold there is but ONE. I shall therefore so order the following Parts of my Design, betwixt the Enemies of Truth upon either side, as to hazard the displeasure of both Extremes. But yet because I am convinced by the best Searches I can make, That the preaching up of Faith in its vulgar Notions, hath been generally the Cause of such a Carnal Security, as hath shrunk up those Sinews of Virtuous Living, wherein the strength of Religion doth chiefly stand; and that Men are made Infidels (not to say Atheists) in their practice, by no means more, than by their Errors about the Nature and the great Privilege of the Gospel, and so of their Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ; I shall give such a Bias to my ensuing Meditations, as may incline them most strongly to the Advantages of Obedience, and strict Converse. Whether by solving such Objections, as still remain to be Considered; or by the clearing of such Scriptures, as men have Appetites to obscure; or by showing the Agreement, of such as may seem to contradict, or else by pointing at such Instructions, as all the Premises put together shall chance to yield us. And this I shall do, if God permit upon some future Opportunities; if This I presently lay hold on shall prove as worthy of Acceptation, as by Me it is well-intended. That it may, I think fit to premise beforehand This Declaration: That if in any Thing I have spoken, I seem to have spoken somewhat Austerely; I have not done it with any particular Reflections, upon any man's Person, alive, or dead. My Propositions are Universal, as well as True; and my Severities to the Guilty lie All in common. As many as find themselves concerned, may make their personal and their private Applications of my Reproofs; so as they carry it in their Memories, that I have made None at all. For the longer I live, the more I am of this Opinion, that Truth itself may be asserted, and Questions about it decided also, without reflecting upon the Persons (though we must intimate the Parties) from whom we differ. And here I am tempted to take Occasion (where None is offered) to tell my Reader for his Service, (if I can rightly apprehend it,) that when I am now and then consulted by a young Student in Divinity, and a Candidate for the Priesthood, what kind of Cynosure he shall steer by, when he is newly launching forth in the vast Ocean of Theology; I do not presently direct him, (as Dr. Steward at St. Germane directed Me,) to begin with Vincentius Lirinensis; to proceed with Baronius and The Magdeburgenses; Then with the Fathers of the Church for the first Three hundred years; Nor do I presently engage him in the Learned and Elaborate and laudable Method of Mr. Dodwell, whose Parts, and Piety, his Patience, and his Painstaking, many Theologues may imitate, but few can equal; But first I tell him, that the shortest and surest way, whereby to make himself a sufficient and sound Divine, is (next to his reading and revolving the Word of God,) to study the Works of Dr. Hammond; beginning with his Annotations, at least with his Paraphrase on the New Testament, His Practical Catechism, and His Book of Fundamentals. For I have been long of this Opinion; that He whose important Office it is, to be a Leader of other men in the Way of Truth, and either not at all to err, or else to err as inoffensively, as 'tis possible for him to do in a state of Frailty, will find it Safest to be a Follower of the most Excellent Dr. Hammond, who (if any man ever was) was a Circumspect Follower of Jesus Christ. To whom be Glory for ever and ever. ERRATA. PAge 13. line 17. read dear. and l. 18. r. dearer. p. 14. l. 12. after of r. That. p. 27. l. 3. in marg. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 31. l. 5. from the bottom, r. Receive. p. 53. l. 2. from the bottom, r. Good. p. 103. l. 10. in marg. r. c. 47. p. 106. l. 9 r. straight. and l. 18. after Them r. in. p. 110. l. 17. after option r. to be. p. 119. l. 18. r. Six and twentieth. p. 126. l. 5. in marg. r. troth. p. 216. l. 11. for at r. of. p. 253. l. 3. from the bottom, r. art. p. 277. l. 9 r. most Congregations do consist. p. 280. l. 10. after elegantly r. calls it. p. 313. l. 4. after Spouse) r. we are. p. 331. l. 19 after or, blot out to. p. 423. l. 7. after near add to. p. 431. l. 17. r. Modrevius. p. 433. l. 14. deal The. p. 434. l. 18. after and deal The. p. 485. l. 12. r. promised. p. 571. l. 18. r. especially. p. 704. l. 1. after is r. many thousand. THE NECESSITY OF WEARING THE Yoke of Christ. JOHN XIII. 13. Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am. am 1. THat we may see how well the Text may be made suitable to the Time, both to the Day of the Month, and to the Buis'ness of the Day, we shall do well do bear in mind, throughout the Tenor of my Discourse, that our Saviour's last Supper did consist of two parts. There was a Coena, and a Post-Coenium: which we may fitly enough express, by calling them the first, and the second Course. Our Saviour rose from the first, to wash and wipe his Disciples Feet, (v. 5.) which as soon as he had done, he sat him down unto the second, (v. 12.) And then designing to institute the tremendous Sacrament of his Body, he prepared his Communicants with these words following, (v. 13.) Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am. The word Lord, and the word Master do so agree in the Translation, and yet in the Original do so much differ, that we must bring in the Greek to explain the English, or else we shall miss of its full Importance. § 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word which refers to Power. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word which relates to Knowledge. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which properly signifies Authority; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which properly signifies to Teach. Our blessed Saviour is the first in his Kingly Office, and the second in his Prophetical. He is [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] a Lord, to protect and govern; He is [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] a Master, to direct and teach us; And Both he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in such a degree of supereminence, as is not common to him with others; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, THE Lord, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, THE Master. In as much as he is the Lord, we are to serve in his House; And in as much as he is the Master, we are to learn in his School. He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord, to stretch his Sceptre over our Hearts; And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Master, to light his Candle within our Heads. As a Master, he instructs us to know our Duties; but as a Lord, he commands us to do them also. He is proposed to us as Both, for our Observance and Imitation. That looking on him as our Lord, we may be humble; and taking after him as our Master, we may be wise. § 3. And this which helps us to Understand, may help us also to divide, and apply the Text. For First of all, If he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which properly signifies a Lord, whose Prerogative it is to Command and Rule us; then must we pay him a strict obedience, in as much as we are his Subjects, or as being his Soldiers, and Servants too. (Such as promised in our Baptism to fight manfully under his Banner.) Secondly, If he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which properly signifies a Master, whose property it is to instruct and teach us; then do we owe him obedience too, as being his Followers and Disciples, placed under his Discipline, and trained up in his School. Thirdly, It follows by way of Inference from two expressions in the Text, (towit the first, and the last,) that he is not only to be called our Lord and Master, but to be seriously received and owned as such. For mark the manner in which he speaks. Ye call me Lord, and ye call me Master; and in that ye say well, because what ye call me, I truly am. But to say well, is one thing; and to do well, another. And therefore because I truly am what ye call me, be you as truly what you pretend. If I your Lord and your Master have washed your feet, remember then to do as ye have me for an Example, and see that ye wash oneanothers feet. If they have called me Belzebub, who am the Master of the House; how much more should such as You (who are but some of my Household) be content to be called as bad, or worse? In the two first of these Particulars we have the Doctrine of the Text; and in the last we see the Use. Not an Use of my framing, but such as the Author of the Text was pleased himself to draw from it for our Instruction. § 4. The Result of the Doctrine is briefly this. That we must not expect to live as Libertines under Christ, who is not only our Elder Brother, to make us partakers of his Inheritance; but our Lord and our Master, to make us obedient to his Commands. Not our Lord only to Save us, but especially our Lord to be served by us. Nor our Master only to teach us by the Veracity of his Doctrine, but more especially to reform us by the convincingness of his Life. Our Lord and Master in the Text hath such a twofold Importance, as comes to one and the same end in the Application. We may distinguish the Notions, but must not separate or divide them. They must be coupled in my Discourse, as here they are in the Subject of it. For as Scholars of Christ, we ought to imitate his Example; which how can we do, unless as Servants of Christ, we obey his Will? When * Acts 1. 1. jesus began both to do, and to teach, he taught according to what he did. As were his Precepts, and his Doctrine, such exactly was his Life, and his Conversation. He led his Life by the Rule of the Moral Law; by his perfect obedience unto which, he was pleased to blunt the edge, and to abate the Rigour of it. So that 'tis absolutely Impossible for us to follow his Example, unless by yielding our Obedience to his Commands. We cannot embrace him as a Master, unless we receive him as a Lord too. § 5. And with this I am desirous to fill my Readers so much the rather, because I take it to be a point, concerning which as it is dangerous, so it is easy for us to err. And so much the easier, because it is acceptable and pleasant to the natural Appetites of the flesh, to look on Christ as a Redeemer, but nothing else. To entertain him as a Lamb, fit to be fed upon at his Table, whereby we may be nourished to Life Eternal; But not at all as a Shepherd to guide and govern us, and by the strictness of his Discipline, to keep us from straying out of his Pastures. For let us look a little within us, and examine our own hearts by our own experience. Do we not naturally esteem it an happy Thing, to have as much of this World as we know what to do with? as much as we can sacrifice to all our Senses? to live in as great a superfluity of Sports and Pleasures, as a Tiberius can in joy, or a Petronius think of? And (when we are deeply run in debt by our expenseful Sensualities) to have all our Debts paid out of Another man's purse, all our reckon made even, Acquittances put into our hands, and nothing more required to be done on our parts, than to believe we owe nothing, and that if by continuing in our Exorbitant expenses we plunge ourselves in new Debts, they shall all be discharged out of the very same Treasure? Nay, is it not yet a more pleasing Error, a more delicious kind of mistake and madness, to think our Debts were all remitted before we were able to contract them? And then with a greater force of Reason, Are we not apt to look on Them (I do not say as the most rational, but) as the most comfortable Preachers, who bring us Tidings even from Heaven, that all our Duties are done already by Another man's obedience in our behalf? that all our Sins are discounted by Another man's Sufferings? all our Punishments inflicted upon Another man's Shoulders? And that 'tis safe for us to Sin, upon condition we despair not of being pardoned, but believe without doubting that we were justified from Eternity, and that our Sins were all forgiven before they could possibly be committed? not only all the Sins that are, but all that shall be? § 6. I need not say who they are, by whom this Carnal Christianity is preached and printed; Nor can we choose but confess, that to the men who have embraced this present world, as did Demas, (the men who are afraid there is a Heaven, because it infers there is a Hell too, the men who live after the flesh, and most pretend unto the Spirit, the men who pray and despise dominion, the men who praise God and defraud their Neighbour,) it is an admirably pleasant and gladsome Doctrine. And this I take to be the Reason, why so much of the Libertine doth show itself with bare face in the Christian world. For what the Sons of Disobedience do think most pleasant, they do passionately desire to have most true. All their Wits are set on work to find our Arguments and Reasons, whereby to evince it, and make it good. What soever they feed upon is so exceedingly fermented by this four Leven, that the wholsomest of meats is made to nourish their Disease; and none so much, as the Bread of Life. Even Sermons and Sacraments are most perverted to their destruction. And therefore the Tendency of Opinions ought to be diligently Weighed. For when men's Opinions in Religion are gratifications to the Flesh, and when they are Servants to those Opinions, and transported with the pleasure of being Such, there is hardly any passage in all the Scriptures, which they will not prevail with to sound that way. But seeing the joy and Contentment which is wont to arise from a pleasing Falsehood, is but like the joy of Hypocrites, exceeding * Job 20. 5. short, and cannot last any longer than a Natural man's life, (which, if it continue till he is old, is much too young to be but the childhood of Eternity,) we ought to look upon Them as our surest Friends, who are so courteously severe, as to awaken us out of our Reveree; not permitting us to go on in our merry Dream, for fear it prove a dead sleep by long continuance, whose danger will not be discerned, until we awake in Another world. § 7. They indeed do say truth, who say that Christ is our Saviour, our Sacrifice, our Elder Brother, and our Advocate, and that by him we are redeemed from the Curse of the Law; (Gal. 3. 13.) But nothing hurts more than Truth itself, when 'tis not solidly and wholly, but only partially delivered. And they say not the whole Truth, until they add this unto all the rest, that Christ is our a Joh. 13. 13, 14. Master, our b Joh. 13. 34. Gal. 6. 2. Lawgiver, our c Rev. 19 16. King, and our d Mic. 5. 1. judge; and that he came not to abrogate, but to perfect the Law. To fulfil it, saith the English; To fill it up, saith the Greek; for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word, Matth. 5. 17. Hence therefore I shall argue the obligation lying upon us, that we exceed the jews as much, by our obeying the moral Law, as They did us, by their obeying the Ceremonial. And this I shall do by three such steps or Degrees, as may serve for three Rounds of a Iacob's Ladder; whose Bottom, although it touch the Earth, yet it reacheth at the Top within the Heavens. § 8. First, If Christ were nothing more than our Lord and Master, we must be concluded to be his Servants; because they are Relative and Correlative, which do mutually infer the one the other. And were we nothing more to him than hired Servants, we could not sure but be obliged to do his work: which is not only to believe he is true, and righteous, and will pay us the wages which he hath promised; But (over and above) it is to come when he calls, to go when he sends, and to do what he bids us, without exception, or delay. For was it ever yet the work of an hired Servant, to believe that his Master is an honest meek man, who first will suffer himself with patience to be abused by his Servant, and then besides his forgiveness, will give him also a great Reward? No. 'Tis the keeping of his Commandments which is the Doing of his work; And that is strictly recommended by Christ himself, as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or touchstone whereby to judge what we are; whether loving, or faithful, or knowing Servants. If loving Servants, we will keep his Commandments, john 14. 15. If faithful Servants, we will be sure to do whatsoever he commands us, john 15. 14. If knowing Servants, and such as know that we know him, his best beloved Servant tells us, we will keep his Commandments, 1 john 2. 3. Still the keeping his Commandments is as 'twere the great Vein, carrying spirits and life throughout the Body of the Gospel, that is, Health and Salvation to them that read it. Let men write never so much; let them Dispute never so well for the cause of Christ; or let them preach never so often; this at last will be the product and Sum of All, Fear God, and keep his Commandments. And therefore Eccles. 12. 13. the keeping of his Commandments, which is the doing of his work, is every where set before us as the only-sufficient Proof, or Demonstration, that we do not only call him our Lord and Master, but that we practically receive him as truly such. But this is not all. § 9 For he is such a Lord and Master, as deserves more of us than bare obedience; in as much as he hath not only hired us, but hath bought us outright. So said St. Paul to his Corinthians, We are not our own, for we are 1 Cor. 6. 19, 20. bought with a Price. And therefore if he had been pleased, he might justly of Servants have made us Slaves. Lord! how exactly should we be dutiful to this our Master, if we would only do for him, as we would that our Servants should do for us? we look for absolute, impartial, universal obedience, from a Servant only hired from year to year. And sure much more from such a Servant, as is bound in an Apprenticeship for six or seven. Much more yet from such a Servant, as we have bought out of the Galleys, and dearly paid for, and made as much our Peculium, as either our Sheep, or our Oxen, or as the Furniture of our House. But now the blessed Lord and Master speaking to us in my Text, hath bought us all from what is worse than the Turkish Galleys; even as much as a Lake of Fire and Brimstone is worse than a Sea of Salt and Water. Nor must we serve him the less (with the Antinomians,) but rather the more for our being bought: because being bought, we cannot possibly be our own; And sure the less we are our own, the more we must needs be his that bought us; He having bought and delivered us out of the hands of our Enemies, as well to the end that we might * Luke 2. 74. serve him, as to the end that we might be safe. He bought us for his own sake, as well as ours. We indeed were deer to him, but he was dearer unto himself. The very Disgraces which he suffered as having a Tendency to our Good, were first and chiefly suffered by him as having a Tendency to his Glory. And however he intends our present Good, in order to our Future Glory; yet he intends our Glory too, so far forth as 'tis in order, and subordination unto his own. So that if when he bought us, and made us His, he aimed sooner at his own Glory, than our Salvation, it cannot but follow from that supposal, he aimed sooner at our Salvation from the Tyranny of Sin, than from the Torments of Hell as the wages of it. And this he did as for his own sake, so very particularly for ours. I say for ours; because the Torments of Hell could not possibly come near us, were it not for the Tyranny and Filth of Sin. When men do sin as with a * Isa. 5. 18. Cartrope, (to use the Phrase of the Prophet Esa,) with the strength of the Cartrope, they draw Hell to them. But especially for his own; because the Tyranny of Sin is an impudent Rebellion against his Will, and immediately tendeth to his Dishonour; whereas the Torments of Hell are great Discouragements from Sin, and executions of vengeance on them that do it. Hell is God's Bridewell, or House of Correction; but Sin is that Tyrant which drags us thither. Hell is God's Creature, but Sin is Satan's. The Torments of Hell are extremely useful, as well to satisfy the justice, as to set forth the Glory of our Creator; whereas the Tyranny of Sin doth oppose itself against Both. In so much that the Reasons are great, and many, why we are bought with a Price by our Lord and Master, that we might live in obedience to Him that bought us. Sin was the object of his Hatred, for being the subject of his Dishonour; And therefore the Scope of our Saviour's Purchase, was rather to purify, than to forgive us, although it was to forgive us too. To forgive in the second place, though to purify in the first. According to the Method St. Peter used in his Preaching; Repent and be converted, that your Sins may be blotted out, (Acts 3. 19) Without Repentance and Conversion, no such Blessing as Forgiveness can ever be. § 10. But neither is This the greatest Title, our Saviour hath to his being our Lord and Master. For as he hath not only hired, but bought us outright, so neither hath he bought us with any Corruptible things, as Silver, or Gold, or precious Stones, but with his own most precious Blood, 1 Pet. 1. 18, 19 Now had we been People never so lovely, or been worth never so much, he could not have bought us with more expense; He could not have paid at a Dearer Rate; even Almightiness itself could not have given more for Us. For he that bought us was the Word, the Word that was in the Beginning, the Word that was with God, the Word that was God, the Word by whom all things were made, (John 1. 3.) And sure the Word that was God, was Almightiness itself; Add He it was who gave himself for us, (Tit. 2. 14) And more than Himself he could not give. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, Rom. 11. 36. & Heb. 2. 10. § 11. Lord! by how many Rights and Titles, may He pretend to our obedience when he commands us? All the Relations of sub and supra are made use of in Scripture for our Conviction. Not only here in This Text, is he said to be our Lord, and we his Servants; He our Master, and we his Scholars; But he is every thing to us (in other passages of Scripture) which may oblige us to the Love, and the Service of him. He (for Example) is our Head, and we his Members. He our Bridegroom, and we his Spouse. He is our Shepherd, and we the Sheep of his Pasture. He our Everlasting Father, and we his Children. He our King, and we his Subjects. He is our God, and we his People. He our Potter, and we his Clay. He our Creator, and we the work of his hands. And as if all this together were hardly enough to endear him to us, He is also our Redeemer, and we the Price of his Blood. Now to what purpose, or for what reason, should our Saviour be said to be All this to us throughout the Scriptures, unless it were to afford us this general Lesson, That whatsoever can be due, in any measure, from any Inferior to a Superior, of any Quality or Degree, the same is due in perfection, and out of all measure, from Us to Christ. In one Capacity our Love, our Fear in another, our veneration in a third, our meek submission in a fourth, our delectation in a fifth, our admiration in a sixth, our perfect dependence in a seventh, and our absolute obedience in every one. 'Twould be a profitable Impertinence (if an Impertinence) to insist on this Last, from every one of our Saviour's Relations to us. But not to run out beyond the time which is allowed for this Service, I shall press it no farther, than the Text and the Context will give me warrant. § 12. First then let us consider, that seeing our Saviour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Master to Teach, and to Instruct us; nor only so, but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Lord, to Command, and Govern us; It is not only our Duty, to learn the knowledge of his Doctrine, as his Disciples; but withal as his Servants, we must yield obedience to his Commands. For if we follow him as a Master sent to principle, and teach us, and nothing else; so that as Scholars of his School we hold his sentiments or tenets, and entertain his Propositions as sure and certain, but go no farther; what then do we more by way of Reverence to Christ, than the several Sectaries of the world to the several Authors of their Opinions, whether their opinions are true, or false? shall we be followers only of Christ, as they of Geneva are of Calvin, or as they of Helvetia do follow Zuinglius, or as they of Saxony follow Luther, or as the brethren of Scotland do follow Knox? shall we be factious only for Christ, as the Franciscans are for Scotus, and the Dominicans for Aquinas? Nay shall we follow Christ no otherwise, than as the Stoics did Zeno, or the Academics, Plato? or as julian did jamblicus, and the old Magis, Zoroastres? shall we think we are Christians good enough to serve turn, for having been baptised in the name of Christ, and for historically believing his holy Gospel? the very Scholars of Pythagoras were most exactly of his Creed, and great Admirers of his Philosophy, and perfectly led by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. His Mouth was their Oracle; his words their Text; what he said, they were sworn to, because He said it. And shall we who are Christians give no more Reverence unto Christ, than the old Pythagoreans were wont to give unto Pythagoras? or than the Turks at this day do give to Mahomed? shall we live as if we believed, that Christianity is but a Sect, if not a Faction? And that nothing is to be done, but to be orthodox Professors, embracing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (as the Heathen called it,) that is, the Doctrine, or Tenet, or Faith of Christ? whilst at the very same time we do abjure him by our neglects, revile him by our Oaths, spit upon him by our uncleanness, buffet him by our Blasphemies, strip him by our Sacrilege, and even Murder him by our Rage? methinks the Blindness of the Heathen may be of some virtue to clear our Eyes. For the Disciples of Pythagoras did not only give assent to their Master's Dictates, but also did imitate his Example, and were obedient to his Commands. Just as Alexander's Soldiers did so ambitiously affect to be like their General; that they were loath to speak plainly, because He stuttered. Or as the Scholars of Plato were so exceedingly concerned to have a similitude with their Master, that they espoused his Deformities, and prided themselves in his Imperfections. They would have Cushions under their Doublets, because he was Gibbous, or too thick Backed. So devoted they were to their Master Plato, that because he was not straight, they would reckon none handsome who were not Crooked. § 13. Lord! what a shame it is for Christians, to be less conformable to a Master, who is infinitely fairer than the Children of Psal. 45. 2. men, most accomplished and perfect in every kind? And yet we know without Obedience we cannot possibly be conformable, either to his Precepts, or his Example. For notwithstanding he was a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, (Heb. 5. 8.) And being made perfect through sufferings, he thereupon became the Author of Eternal Salvation, (not to them that believe him only, but) to them that obey him also, (v. 9) not to any Believing Rebels, not to Treacherous Believers, of which the world is too full; but to them who have Faithfulness, as well as Faith; who so believe, as to serve him, and do his Will. He is not the Author of Salvation to them that know it, but do it not; or to them who do promise, but not perform it. (For almost All do know his Will, and all do promise to perform it, not only in their Baptism, but over and above on their Bed of Sickness.) No to Them, and Them only, is he the Author of Salvation, who live according to what they know; and justify their Promise, by their Performance. Our Saviour intimates by a parable (Matth. 21. 28, 29, 30, 31.) that the obedient Churl is much better, than the mealymouthed Rebel. It is a vain thing to say, we are Sons of God, and Servants of Christ, unless we practically Show, as well as Say it. A Son honoureth his Father, and a Servant his Master (said God heretofore by the Prophet Malachi;) If I then be a Mal. 1. 6. Father, where is mine honour? if I be a Master, where is my Fear? Now what was thus said to others, by God the Father under the Law, is as effectually said to us, by God the Son under the Gospel. * Luke 6. 46. Why call ye me Lord Lord, and do not the things that I say? To say, Sir your Servant, is either a Compliment, or a jeer, when we say it with our Lips, but without our Actions. And this doth seem to be intended by the words of my Text, if we compare it with the Inference deduced from it. Ye call me Lord and Master, and ye say well. But to say very well, is not sufficient; For the * Mat. 8. 29. Mar. 5. 6, 7▪ Luk. 8. 28, 30. Devils said well, in saying that Christ was the Son of God. And the Worldling † Mat. 19 20. said well, in that he said unto our Saviour of the Commandments of the Law, All these things have I kept from my Youth. But not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord, Mat 7. 21. shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; for the Life of Christianity consists in Practice. And therefore the Inferences are These, which ☞ are drawn from the Text by Him that spoke it. If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also aught to wash oneanother's feet, (v. 14.) If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them, (v. 16.) And by the same Logic he argues in the very next Chapter, which is another part of his Farewell-Sermon: If any man love me, he will keep my words, (v. 23.) and He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words, (v. 24.) which is as if he should have said, [He that loves me will obey me, and do the Things that I appoint him; which if any man does not, let him say what he will, he does not Love me.] For no good Tree can bear ill Fruit, (that's an Aphorism of Christ, Matth. 7. 18.) there is not any thing more impossible, than that sincere Love, and a solid Faith, should ever bring forth Rebellion, and Disobedience. (Or so much as consist with that which does.) No, no more Luk. 6. 43, 44, 45, 46. Jam. 3. 12. than a Vine can bring forth Thorns, or no more than a Fig Tree can bring forth Thistles. From whence the Sequel is Unavoidable, That if we do not justly Obey our Master, we neither heartily Love him, nor do we cordially believe him. For let our Faith and our Love be what they can be, they are no more than a Couple of Trees, which must be known by their Fruit. That's the great Diagnostic commended to us by our Saviour, whereby to judge of ourselves and others, Matth. 7. 20. If the Fruit is Disobedience to the Commandments of our Lord; then the Love that is pretended is but a Thorn, and the Faith so much talked of, an arrant Thistle. Let the Lover or the Believer be commonly called what he will, either a Vine, or a Fig Tree, A Godly man, or a Saint; And let the Leaves or the Branches be never so specious to the Eye, (I mean Professions, and Shows, and Forms of Godliness,) Yet Matth. 3. 10. our Master's Affirmation is still as true, as it is Terrible, Every Tree [without exception] which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the Fire, (Matth. 7. 19) Lord! what a change of men's manners ☞ would this one word produce, were it but throughly Understood, or but sufficiently considered? had it the happiness to be taken, as well into the Hearts, as the Ears of men? behold the only sure way whereby to judge without Sin of ourselves or others. If we are fraudulent persons, or Drunkards, if we are Schismatics, or Rebels, if we are Slanderers, or Railers, or falls Accusers, or any otherways abounding in the fruits of the Flesh, (Gal. 5. 19) 'tis plain that God, when he cuts us down, will also cast us into the Fire. I say he will and must do it, because of his justice and Veracity, unless Repentance step in timely 'twixt Us, and Death. And still, by Repentance, I mean Amendment. Not an empty confession that we have sinned, nor yet a cheap wishing we had not sinned; no nor expressions of Attrition for having sinned; but a bringing forth fruits meet for Repentance; A Renovation of the outward and inward man; such a thorough Reformation as does make a * 2 Cor. 5. 17. New Creature; A Change of mind, and of manners, even the fruits of the spirit, Gal. 5. 22. In a word; If we are not our own, but are bought with a Price, and bought out right by our Lord and Master, and that as to the whole of us, both Soul and Body; Then (as St. Paul does well infer) let us glorify him that bought us both in our Bodies and in our Souls, because they are not truly ours, but his that bought them, 1 Cor. 6. 20. § 14. But there is yet another Lesson to be derived from this Doctrine, and such as our Master in the Text has taught us how to draw from it by his Example. For it being to be praemised, that the Disciple is not above his Matth. 10. 24. John 13. 16. Master, nor the Servant above his Lord; we must not only do as our Master did, But (when God shall call us to it,) it is our Duty also to suffer, as he hath suffered. First we must do as our Master did; For 'tis his own way of arguing in the next verse after my Text; If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash oneanother's feet; for I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done. Here he argues from his being our Lord and Master, the obligation lying upon us to give an active obedience to his example, and (by way of consecution) to his Command. And this being so, what manner of men ought we to be in the 2 Pet. 3. 11. course of our Lives and conversations? we aught to Love oneanother, as He did Us; not only unto the Death, but to the fulfilling of the Law too. And how far are they from that, who are (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is) Inventors of evil things? of Lies, and Slanders, and most malicious Accusations, against a People more Innocent, and better Reputed than themselves? This is not to do as we would be done by. Much less is it to love our Neighbour as ourselves. Much less yet to love our friends, as our Lord loved us when we were his Enemies. To be Imitators of Christ, (which men must be, if they will be Christians,) we ought to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Chrysost. serve one-another, as he did us; yea to serve our Inferiors, as he did His; and that with such a kind of Service, as is the washing of their feet. And his reason to enforce it is chiefly this, [the Disciple is not above his Master, the Servant is not above his Lord, and I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done.] But now besides that this Argument does evince the moral Necessity of our Active obedience and conformity to his Example and Command; it also shows us our obligation of having a fellowship with his Philip. 3. 10. sufferings, and a conformity to his Death, which connotates our Passive obedience also; and is the main thing intended in this second Lesson the Context yields us. § 15. For when he had said to his Disciples, that he would shortly send them out as so many Sheep amongst Wolves, from whom their usual entertainment should be to be persecuted, and hated, and to be scourged in their Synagogues, and all for the sake of him that sent them, (Matth. 10. 17. etc.) he laboured to give them an acquiescence in all their Sufferings, from this one single Consideration, that 'tis enough, for the Disciple, if he be as his Master, and the Servant as his Lord, (v. 24.) If they have called the Master of the House Belzebub, how much more shall they call them of his Household? (v. 25.) There he argues from his being our Lord and Master, the obligation lying upon us, to suffer the evils which he hath suffered. Then if at any time we shall fall into the Enmity of the World, into a Cross or Disgrace which is undeserved; we may relieve ourselves enough with this one Remembrance, That 'tis the friendship of the world which is enmity with God, (James 4. 4▪) and that 'tis well for the Servant, if he be as his Lord; we must not be ambitious to be above him▪ It will be useful to expostulate and reason the matter within ourselves. Shall we be such mad Disciples, as to expect, or but desire, to far any better than our Master? shall we be such overnice, or such delicate Servants, as to repine at those hardships, which were the Portion of our Lord? shall we expect to be applauded, and well reported by all the world, not only by the Best, but by the worst of men also, when our Blessed Lord and Master is called a winebibber, a Glutton, an Hypocrite and a Deceiver, a Blasphemer, and a Boutefeux, a Conjurer, and a Demoniac? or shall we shamelessly be seeking great things for ourselves, whilst our Master is the outcast and Scorn of men? (when he who is at once the King, and also the Bishop of our Souls, is trodden down into the Dust, It may seem a thing improper, an Absurdity, and a Soloecism for us to prosper.) Shall we who are not our own, but are bought out right by our Master Christ, be either so arrogant, or so stately, as to be stretching ourselves on Couches, and Beds of Ivory, whilst he our Lord, and our Lawgiver, our King, and our Head, our Advocate and our judge too, is either grov'ling upon the Earth in a bloody sweat, or stretched out upon the Cross in Tears of blood, as well as Brine? shall we be drinking wine in Bowls, (like the Amos. 6. 6. Wantoness of whom we read in the Prophet Amos,) whilst our Master cries out, he is a thirst, and has nothing wherewith to quench it, but the Cup of Trembling and Astonishment, not only sharp as vinegar, but bitter as Gall too? shall we be crowning ourselves with Wisd. 2. 8. Rosebuds, (like the Atheists of whom we read in the Book of Wisdom,) whilst our Lord and Master's Diadem is made of Thorns? shall we be dancing to the sound of the Viol, whilst His Ears are bored through with the most sharppointed Sarcasms, that the Wit of Insultation can well invent? Let us look upon the Case in another colour, and admit it were our own. Would we not wonder at such a Servant, and think him mad, who should affect to eat finer, and take less pains, to be much better clad, and to lie softer than his Master? It is enough then for us, that we fare at least as well as our Master Christ; that we suffer no more, than to be spit upon, and buffeted, and scourged, and Crucified. If a Christian is but beggared, or if but railed at, and slandered for conscience sake, he fares a great deal better than his Master Christ did; if he is Crucified, or hanged, he fares no worse. The Thought of which will be sufficient, (if we are qualified with Faith,) to make us smile upon our sufferings when they are wrongfully cast upon us, and to furnish us with Patience (if not with Pleasure) in all our Pains. I say with Pleasure, because our Master taught his Disciples, to Rejoice in that Case, and to leap for joy; for that is the English of our Saviour's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Matth. 5. 12. Rejoice (saith he to his Disciples) and leap for joy, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all manner of evil against you falsely, for my Sake. § 16. Thus having seen the obligation, laid upon us by jesus Christ as our Lord and Master, both to imitate his Example, and to yield obedience to his Commands, as well by doing him Passive, as Active Service; I shall conclude with the Necessity, the Indispensable Necessity we all are under, either of rising to life eternal, if we accomplish this Condition; or of incurring (if we do not) by so much the greater Condemnation. For let our Professions be what they will, of Faith in Christ as a Redeemer; we cannot own him as a Master, Unless we are Followers of his Life; nor without sincere obedience, can we Receive him as a Lord. And yet unless we so receive him, He will not then receive us, in the great day of Discrimination, when he shall solemnly put a Difference betwixt the Wheat, and the Chaff, taking the one into his Garner, and burning up the other with Fire unquentchable. For not to him, who hides his Talon in the Earth; much less to him, who vainly throws it into the Air; But to him who does employ and improve his Talon, the righteous Judge of all the world will use that Sentence of Approbation, (Matth. 25. 21.) Well done thou good and faithful Servant, Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. From whence it follows as unavoidably, as that God cannot lie, That we must All without exception be first well Doers, we must first of all be good and Faithful Servants, before the judge can say to us, well done good and faithful Servants. And yet again he must be able to say That to us, before he can possibly bid us Enter into the joy of our Lord. He cannot say well done, to an Evil Doer; He cannot call him a Faithful, who is an unfaithful Servant; He cannot say Come ye blessed, and Enter ye into the joy of your Lord, to whom the Sentence of Go ye Cursed into everlasting Fire does of right belong. § 17. And if these things are so; then as we tender the greatest Interest both of our Bodies and of our Souls. Let no man cozen us to Hell, by making us believe we are sure of Heaven. Beware of Comfortable Preachers (as they that love to be flattered do falsely call them,) who either write or speak much in the Praise of Faith, But in Disparagement of obedience to the Commandments of our Lord. And often quarrel at the necessity of being rich in good works, as if Salvation were to be had at a cheaper Rate. Let me put the case home, as well to others as to myself, in the fewest words. Have we an earnestness of Desire to live for ever in Bliss and Glory? or are we careless and indifferent what shall become of us hereafter? Do we seriously believe an Immortality of our Souls, a Life after Death, and a Day of judgement? Or do we but talk of these things in civility to the men amongst whom we live? if we are in good earnest in the Rehearsal of the Creed, of the two last Articles in particular, the Resurrection of the Body, and the Life everlasting; Then let the Condition of the New Covenant abide forever in our Remembrance. And seeing this is the Condition on which the promise of Salvation is given unto us, that we receive and own Christ as our Lord and Master, as our Saviour, and our Prince, as our Advocate, and our judge too; And that we so own him in our Lives, as well as in our Beliefs, as well in our practice, as speculation; Let us not flatter ourselves for shame (as so many Traitors to our own Souls,) that Salvation will be found upon easier Terms. For to such as cannot pretend to be Babes, or Idiots, or never to have lived within the sound of Christ's Gospel, the words of the Apostle are very positive and Express, That without Holiness and Peace, (that is to say, without our Duties both to God, and to our Neighbour,) No man living shall see the Lord, Hebr. 12. 14. And this I think may suffice us to have learned at this time from the Text in hand. For though I say not that these are All, yet these Especially are the Lessons we are concerned to draw from it, and such as willingly flow to us from its most rational Importance. Now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think, according to Ephes. 3. 20, 21. the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all Ages, world without end. THE Yoke of Christ Easier than That of MOSES: AND HIS Burden a Refreshment to such as Labour. MATTH. XI. 30. For my Yoke is Easy, and my Burden is light. (A Text not unsuitable to all the Severities of the Lent, which is (if St. Jerome may be believed, and other Father's more ancient,) of Apostolical Institution. A Time sequestered by That Authority, for the Exercise and Practice of Christian Strictness, expressed pithily in my Text, by our bearing both the Burden and Yoke of Christ) § 1. The Affinity and Connexion is as obvious, as it is close, betwixt my present, and former Text. For it was the last Service which I performed in this Place, to show how Christ is our Lord and Master. Such as he was pleased to assert himself, in the thirteenth of St. john, at the thirteenth verse. It now remains that we Contemplate the Moderation of the Laws, whereby our Lord is exceeding Gracious, and our Master extremely Good. For it seems not sufficient that he is known to be a Lord, in Exacting obedience to his Commandments, unless he be as well known to be good and gracious, in that his Commandments are not grievous. (Nothing near so insupportable as they were thought by those Gnostics St. john alludes to, 1 john 5. 3. who fell away from Christianity, and disowned Christ himself, for fear their Loyalty and obedience should cost them dear; living then, as they did, in Times of Trial, and Persecution;) He is our Lord, and our Master, in respect of the Yoke with which he binds, and in regard of the Burden wherewith he loads us. But this our Master is Good, and our Lord Gracious, in respect of the Easiness which he gives unto the one, and in regard of the Lightness wherewith he qualify's the other. But § 2. Our Translation, however True, is so far short of the Original, that (as before, so now also,) the Greek must come in to assist the English, or else we shall miss of its whole Importance. For 'tis not only my Yoke is Easy, But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, my Yoke is Good. My Yoke is profitable and useful. My Yoke is an indearing and delectable Yoke. For all this and more is imported by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Lexicographers and Glossaries do make apparent. That is, (to express it without a Metaphor) The Service of Christ is a most gracious, and Desirable Service. What he commands us to perform, is not only very possible, but facile and easy to be performed. Nor only so, but sweet and pleasant in the performance. It is not only our Bounden Duty, but 'tis our Interest, our Delight, our Reward to serve him. § 3. And such as the Yoke is with which he binds, such is also the burden wherewith he loads us. Whatsoever his Burden may here import. If the Burden of his Precepts, then 'tis absolutely light. For then the Burden and the Yoke are Terms equivalent. The lightness of the one explains the Easiness of the other; and the later clause of the Text is but an Exegesis of the former. Or admit that by his Burden is meant the Burden of his Cross; yet even then we must confess it is comparatively light. And so indeed it is in two considerable respects. First in respect of the endless punishment, which will fall upon Them that refuse the Burden; and again in respect of that unspeakable Reward, which will be given unto them that shall take it up. The Cross of Christ at its heaviest is but a Burden of Afflictions, which St. Paul accounts light for these two reasons. First because it is but for a moment; next because it works for us a far more exceeding and 2 Cor. 4. 17. eternal weight of glory. For as the same Apostle saith to the same Corinthians, (what seems at first hearing a contradiction,) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that That which was glorious was not glorious at all, in respect of the 2 Cor. 3. 10. glory which excelleth. So 'tis as true That our Afflictions are no Afflictions, in comparison with the Beatitudes which they work for us as our Reward. § 4. This is the meaning of the Text considered simply in itself. Wherein are two Things especially which offer themselves to our Consideration. First the Greatness of Christ in the Extent of his Authority; and Secondly his Goodness, in the merciful use or employment of it. First his Greatness is very evident, in that he has the power to impose a Yoke, and a Burden. A Yoke of Injunctions upon our Necks, and a Burden of Sufferings upon our Backs. Next his Goodness is as apparent, from the easiness of the one, and from the lightness of the other. For besides That Eternal and exceeding weight of Glory, which gives an easiness to the Yoke, however hard; and a lightness to the Burden, however heavy; The one is so easy in itself, and the other in itself is so truly light, (considering that dolour, si gravis, brevis, is just as much, as si longus, levis,) that even the Yoke of his Injunctions does give us Freedom, and the Burden of his Sufferings affords us strength. If we put them both together, they make a Text without length extremely copious; for it exhibits to us at once the Law and Equity of the Gospel. The Yoke and the Burden do prove the first, as the easiness and the lightness infer the second. It serves to keep us in the Fear, and the Faith of Christ. For first the nature of a Yoke implies a Bridle to our Presumption; and then the easiness of this Yoke does also forbid us to despair. Christ is here both in his Kingly, and Priestly Office; at once to rule, and to bless us too. He is an Absolute Sovereign, because to Him it does belong to put a Yoke upon our Necks, But yet withal he is a good and a Gracious Sovereign, because It is not only easy, but gives us ease too. And though it may sometimes vex the Body, yet it brings * Vers. 29. Rest unto the Soul. The Reason of which is wrapped up in the causal For, being considered in its Retrospect on the Verse going before. Where no sooner had he said, Take my Yoke, and ye shall find rest; but immediately it follows, For, or Because my Yoke is easy. And this again affords us a double Reason, for which we should come at his Invitation, (v. 28.) First because my Yoke is easy, Therefore come unto me; Next because it is so gracious as to give Rest unto your Souls, Therefore come unto me all ye that labour. And this is the meaning of the Text in its relation to the Context. § 5. To Contract my meditations within the compass of the time, and withal to go forwards with the design I have in hand, (which is not only to show the Law, but also the Equity of the Gospel,) I must not now consider Christ in the extent of his Authority, as he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (that is to say) an Absolute unaccomptable Master, to whom of right it does belong to impose a Yoke, and a Burden; (for That was properly the Subject of the last Service which I performed;) But only in the exercise and usage of it, as he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (that is to say) a Mild, and a Gracious Master; whose Commands are so far from being burdensome and grievous, that even his Yoke makes us able to bear his Burden, and his Burden does enable us to wear his Yoke. At which Paradox to Nature if any Natural man stumble, he may illustrate it to himself by the Wings of an Eagle, which are indeed a Real Burden, and of Considerable Weight to the Eagles' Body, but such a Burden as by which she soars up loftily towards Heaven, which for want of That Burden would be a Groveler on the Earth. Or he may clear it by the weights of a Vulgar Clock, which, the heavier they are, do make it go so much the faster. § 6. A Subject upon which I do the rather indulge my Thoughts, (though better handled I doubt not by other men, and somewhat often by myself upon † Ezek. 18. 31. Ch. 3. § 9 Mar. 10. 17. Serm. 3. Joh. 14. 15. Ch. 2. & 4. § 10. and 1 Cor. 16. 22. Ch. 3. other Texts,) because we have Libertines in our days, as there were Gnostics in St. John's, who make the Law by which we live (I mean * Rom. 3, 27. Jam. 2. 8. 12. 1 Cor. 9 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law of Christ's Gospel) to need our Apologies and Defensatives, by bringing up an ill Report of the Christian Yoke, as if it were as hard as the Yoke of Moses, which neither we, nor our Fathers, neither the Prophets, nor the Apostles, were ever able well to bear, (Acts 15. 10.) Just as They who went to spy out the Land of Canaan, giving it out to be a Land which did eat up its Inhabitants; Num. 13. 16, 27, 30, 32, 33. a Land full of Giants, the Sons of Anak, in comparison with whom Themselves were Grasshoppers. Yet they confessed it was a Land which even flowed with milk and honey, excellent Figs, and Pomegranates, and such Gygantaean Grapes too, (in full proportion to the Inhabitants) that one single Cluster was fain to be carried on two men's shoulders. And Caleb thought it not impossible to take Possession of the Land, in order whereunto he pressed earnestly for an Essay; implying that All the Explorators, excepting josua and Num. 14. 6, 7, 8, 9 Himself, deceived the People with their own Fears; thereby tempting them to murmur against the means of their Redemption, and to think hardly of their Redeemer, as if he had put them upon the doing of things impossible to be done. So there are Multitudes even in Christendom, (and at this very day) Antinomians and Solifidians, who having not courage enough as Christians to make a Trial of their Ability, how far forth they are empowered to wear the Yoke of Christ's Commands, or bear the Burden of his Cross; And being unwilling that other Christians should be less cowardly than Themselves, have given it out among the People, that Christ commands Impossibilities. Which is as much as to say, that His Yoke is too hard, and his Burden too heavy, and that by consequence their Rebellions are but the Infirmities of their Nature, which might have been possibly in their Wishes, but not at all in their Abilities to be avoided. Whereas the Truth is, they are resolved to sit still, to be at peace with their Temptations, and not to make the best use of the Powers within them; So that the Devil becomes strong, in that they make themselves weak; and 'tis in stead of Wisdom to him, that he finds men foolish. If at any time He conquers, it is because they do not fight; yea if he does not fly from them, it is because they do not resist him; for so saith St. james expressly, Jam. 4. 7. Resist the Devil and he will fly from you. But Cowards call their mean Submissions, their Inabilities to resist, that so they may Sin without Scruple, or at least stop the Mouth of a clamorous Conscience. For building (as they do) upon a very great Falsehood, that Christ commands Impossibilities; They make their Error the more Incurable, by adding to it as great a Truth, [that having done all we can, in our submission to the Burden and Yoke of Christ, we shall never be accountable for All we cannot; because where our utmost obedience Ends, our Saviour's begins to be reckoned to us.] Thus Truth and Falsehood are tied together by the Necks, (as jupiter in Plato served joy and Sorrow,) that if they will not be friends, they may be made to be Companions; and even forced to conspire against their Wills, to make us tamely submit our Necks to the Yoke of Satan, in Pretence that our Saviour's is too rugged for us to bear. And Truth itself becomes hurtful, by being dishonestly tacked on to as great a Falsehood. § 7. But God be thanked there are others of Caleb's brave Judgement and Disposition; who think of Christ with more Reverence, than to believe that His Yoke is insupportable, or that he looks for harder Services than he enables us to perform. They judge that Christ commands nothing but what is reasonable, and congruous, and therefore Possible to be done; at least in That sincere measure wherein he mercifully exacts it, and with all those Assistances which He continually affords▪ and with those Equitable Grains, which as a Saviour he allows for human Frailty. And therefore they strive so much the harder to put his Commands in Execution; to wear the Yoke of his Precepts in all parts equally. They think the Difficulties are such as by the strength of his Grace they are empowered to overcome; more Invited by the Pomegranates and Grapes of Canaan, than discouraged with the Giants, which are to be grappled with in the way. And thence it is that they neglect not the Visible means of being happy to all Eternity, for fear of a temporary unhappiness 'twixt Them and It. § 8. Indeed the Sons of Disobedience, who court the Friendship of the World, and thence are said by St. james to be The Enemies Jam. 4. 4. Phil. 3. 18. of God, may make an Objection of their Experience against the Saying of our Saviour touching the Easiness of his Yoke, and against St. John's Exposition of it, when he 1 Joh. 5. 3. saith of Christ's Commandments, they are not grievous. For hath not Christ commanded all men to love their Enemies? and is not That a Grievous Precept unto Them who forsake and detest their Friends? Hath not Christ commanded all men to be content with their Own, nor so much as to covet their Neighbour's Goods? and is not That a Grievous Precept, to such as live upon Plunder, or Defraudation? Hath not Christ commanded all men the rigid Duty of Self-denial? and is not That a Grievous Precept to our Proverbial Apolausticks, who deny themselves nothing that Heart can wish, but indulge themselves in all that either their Appetites can crave, or their Fancies call for? Nay hath not Christ commanded all men to take up his Cross, and to bear That after him? and is not That a Grievous Precept, to such as love to lay it heavily upon other men's Shoulders? How then are his Yoke and his Burden easy, when the greatest part of men do slip their Necks out of the former, and cast the later (not upon, but) behind their Backs? § 9 Thus in the person of a Demas, who hath embraced this present world for want of a 2 Tim. 4. 10. Confidence in the next, I have objected against my Text as strongly at least as I am able, and against the Exposition St. john made of it against the Gnostics: And I think I have done it with very great Reason. For as an Objection is never stronger, than when it is borrowed from Experience; So Truth is never more Glorious, than Oppositions and Objections (by being well answered) are apt to make it. Nor can an Objection be better answered, or more to the Snarler's satisfaction, than when Experience as well as Reason, even in the Greatest and Best of men, is opposed to the Experience and Wants of Reason in the Worst. The Answer cannot be Categorical, but must be adequate to the Objection, and so proceed by several Steps; First in general, and then in some of the choicest or the most difficult of the Particulars. First I answer in general, That when 'tis said by our Lord, his yoke is easy, and burden light, it is not meant in relation to That inveterate rank of Sinners, in whom the God of this World (as St. Paul 2 Cor. 4. 4. 2 Tim. 4. 2. calls the Devil) hath blinded the Minds; whose Consciences are callous, and cauterised, Acts 7. 51. who (like Them in the Acts) do always resist the Holy Ghost, and have not only 1 Thess. 5. 19 grieved, but even quenched the Spirit of Grace. It is not meant of Those Profligates, who shake Christ's Yoke from off their Necks, Heb. 10. 29. and tread his Burden under their Feet. But as 'tis meant that his Yoke is smooth and easy in itself, or easy to Them who are wont to wear it, (whereby they have fitted it for their Necks, and their Necks for It,) so 'tis meant that his Burden is not absolutely and simply, but comparatively light; in respect of That Glory, whereof it works for us a weight unspeakable; and in respect of That Burden, of God's heavy Vengeance, from which it frees us. In like manner when St. john affirms of Christ as a Legislator, that his Commandments are not grievous, it is not meant with respect to the * Rom. 8. 7. Carnal minded, who are said by St. Paul to be at Enmity with God; (for to men of sore Eyes the glorious Bounty of the Sun is the greatest Nuisance, and so to men of sick Palates the very best meat is the most unsavoury;) But 'tis meant that his Commandments are not grievous in Themselves, nor to such as have the Patience to try them throughly, nor have forfeited or lost the moral honesty of their Nature, which The God of good Nature implanted in them. Shall sore Eyes object against the soundest, that of All noxious things, Light itself is the most hurtful? or shall a Blind man infer, (and that from the Topick of Experience,) that the Sun in his Meridian is in reality but a Shadow? Or shall a man of the most depraved and paved Palate, be allowed to argue well from his own Experience, that Salt itself has no Savour? nor any thing else that is seasoned with it? and is therefore Luk. 14. 35. fit for nothing but to be cast unto the Dunghill? No, the Objection lies clearly against the Soreness of the man's Eyes, and the Sickness of his Palate, Not at all against the Sun, and as little against the Salt, which are evinced by the Experience as well of the Most as the most judicious, (indeed of All mortals who are not mad,) to be as good and useful Creatures, as any are in the upper, and lower world. This is the Monogram of the Answer I purpose in general to the Objection, (before I descend to the most difficult of the Particulars,) And I am now to fill it up with as good a Zographesis as I am able. § 10. First then to strengthen our Resolutions of accustoming ourselves to Law and Discipline, And not to wear the Yoke of Christ, just as the Ox wears his Master's, merely for fear of being goaded, but from a principle of Love to the Yoke itself; let us consider how those Commandments, which do make up the Law or the Yoke of Christ, do but exact the things of us which are agreeable to our Reason, and therefore suitable to our Nature, and therefore consonant to our Desires. I mean our Rational Desires, which we Enjoy, as we are Men; though not our brutish ones, which we suffer, as we are Animals, and which (without any difference) are common unto us with the Beasts that perish. Psal. 49. 12, 20. It should be natural for us (as Men, endued with Reason,) to Love the Beauty of our Lord, and to fear his Power. Because we naturally incline to the Means of Safety, at least as far as we do know them, or believe them to be such. Now all that tends unto our Safety may be reduced to two Heads, Seeking God, and Eschewing Evil. And Rational Job 1. 1, 8. 1 Pet. 3. 11. Nature does incline, as well to the first, as to the Second. Nay as Things which are good, and have a Tendency to our Safety, are more or less excellent, and useful to us; so Nature, whilst it is Rational, must needs incline to That of the Higher, more strongly than to That of the Lower Value. And that which saves a man for ever, being of much an higher value, than that which saves him but for a Time, 'Tis plain that Nature, being Rational, does most incline towards the former: And all the Commandments of our Lord having a Tendency unto That, are by consequence agreeable to human Nature. Especially when our Nature is also rectified by Grace, which does not fail to work with any, who do not fail to work with It; And however insufficient to make us Sinless, is yet abundantly sufficient to make us single and sincere. Less than which in our Service our Master's justice cannot exact, And the Equity of his Gospel exacts no more. § 11. The Truth of which may be evinced, from the Absurdity which would follow its being supposed to be False. For the Moral Commands of Christ, like the Moral commands of Moses, must be acknowledged to be * Rom. 7. 12. Holy, Just, and Good. Which yet I know not how they could be, were they not adequate to the Faculties of Grace and Reason. For what Goodness can there be, in an Impossibility of doing the Good that is required? or what holiness can there be, in unavoidable transgressions for want of strength? Or what justice can it be, that any Rational Agent should be accountable for the Things he could never help? To command Impossibilities is not agreeable to Reason, in Him who threatens an Endless Punishment for not performing what is commanded. And therefore no such hard Yoke can be imposed by our Lord on the Neck of Any. No such heavy and grievous Burden can be laid by a Saviour on any Shoulder. For though 'tis true that the Reprobates, (both men, and Devils,) being left, and forsaken, and finally given over by the judge of all the world, are Gen. 18. 25. Rev. 22. 11. Ezek. 24. 13. under a sad Impossibility of doing Good; yet it is as true too, that they drew upon themselves such a deplorable Necessity of doing evil, They were not created in That Condition. For God created them upright, and made them capable of Duty; But they found out and followed their own Inventions, whereby to lose the Capability which God had given them, Eccles. 7. 29. If men are so wilful in using the Liberty of their Wills, as to make an absolute Covenant with Death, and with Hell to be at Agreement; if they Isa. 28. 15. will Sin with both hands, (as one † Micah 7. 3. Prophet words it) and draw Iniquity as with a Cart-rope, (as it is in * Isa. 5. 18. Another) No wonder if in the words of the Book of Wisdom, they ‖ Wisd. 1. 12. pull Destruction upon Themselves with the work of their hands. And in These considerations, All who are Lovers of Christ indeed, and think ingenuously of him, and are not grossly injurious to him, nor have an evident pique at him, must either say that he commands us in proportion to our Talents of Grace and Reason, or will not punish us for the Not doing what is impossible to be done. Thus as the Antinomian Error may be sufficiently confuted by Arguments leading ad Absurdum, so the Truth of Christ's Doctrine is as sufficiently confirmed, by the Absurdity which would follow its being supposed to be false. § 12. Again if we are not out of our Wits, nor have cast off the Gentleness and Humanity of our Nature, we are not able to give an Instance in any one of Christ's Commands which is truly grievous; we cannot pitch on That precept which is not agreeable to our Nature. For what other is the Sum of all his Commandments put together, than that we do to all others, as we would that Quod Tibi non vis fieri, Alteri ne feceris. Quam Sententiam usque adeo dilexit, ut in Palatio & in publicis operibus praescribi juberet. Aelius Lampridius in Alex▪ Severi Vitâ. all others should do to us? And what is That, but the Law of Nature? not only written by Severus (a merely Heathen Emperor) in all his Plates, and public works, But by the invisible finger of God, in the natural Heart and Conscience of man as man, till Tract of Time and Evil Custom (in some depraved persons) have razed it out? Let us keep but This precept, and break the rest, if we are able. For what does our Lord require of us in any one or more parts of his Royal Law, which is not easily reducible to this one Head? Deal we as righteously with men, as by men we would be dealt with; And let us do the Will of God, with as much singleness and Zeal, as we desire that God himself will be pleased to do ours; And then we have at once fulfilled the Law of Nature, and of Matth. 7. 12. Christ too. § 13. Now if the Yoke of Christ's Precepts is thus easy in itself, how smooth and easy is it to Them, who have inur'd themselves to it by their Obedience? an Argument taken from Experience will be as cogent as any can be. David found, after a great and a long Experience, that the Commandments of God were sweeter to him, than the Honey, and Hony-comb, Psal. 19 10. where the word Hony being used, by a kind of a Proverb among the Hebrews, for all imaginable objects of Sensual Pleasure, 'tis plain the meaning of the Prophet must needs be This; that the Pleasure arising to him from the Rectitude of his Actions, and an uniform obedience to God's Commands, was as much greater than any pleasure which he had ever yet enjoyed in the Breaches of them, as the Pleasure which smites the Soul, is greater than That which affects the Body. Betwixt which two there is so signal and wide a Difference, that (by an obvious Antimetabole) the Pleasure of the Soul is the Soul of Pleasure; to which the pleasure of the Body is in comparison nothing more than a putrid Carcase. And as the Pleasures of the Soul are by much the greatest, so 'tis the Soul's greatest Pleasure, to arrive at an Ability to despise That of the Body. Such was the Savour and the Gust which David had of God's Precepts, and such was his Account of the Delight he took in them. And surely All People of Virtue in all the Ages of the World, have ever said the same thing from the same Experience. So that if any body is not of David's Mind, 'tis merely for want of his Experience. For the Proof of sweet things lies in the Trial, and the Taste. As the Psalmist cried out in one place, Lord how sweet Psal. 119. 103. are thy words unto my Taste! yea sweeter than Honey unto my Mouth! So he prayed in another, Lord open thou my lips. For he knew he could not Taste that Food from Heaven, whilst carnal prejudice and perverseness had shut his Mouth. First therefore having prayed that God will open our lips, (as the Psalmist did) we must endeavour (as He did too) to taste, and see, how gracious the Lord is, and not only in his Promises, but Precepts also. Which the oftener we taste, with the more Appetite shall we desire them. But we know not how they taste, before we taste them. As he who covets, knows not the sweetness of Contentment. Nor he the Delights of living chastely, who has Eyes full of Adultery. Nor he the deliciousness of Temperance, who hath made himself a Slave to Debauch and Surfeit. Fraudulent Persons could not be Fraudulent, if they experimented the Pleasure of upright Dealing; But they must actually be upright in all their Dealing, before they can find out the Pleasure of it. The Royal Prophet therefore said well, That WHEN Psal. 119. 167. he had KEPT the Commandments, he loved them exceedingly; Not that he loved them exceedingly before he kept them. What else was it which induced him to speak so kindly of his Afflictions, to say that God of very Faithfulness had caused him to be troubled, but that he was thereby much * Ps. 119. 72, 75. assisted in the keeping of the Commandments, which, he knew by much experience, are naturally apt to rejoice the Heart, Psal. 19 8. and that in the very keeping of them is great Reward, Psal. 19 11. But where a Cloud of Vicious Habits doth incessantly interpose betwixt the Eye and the Object, how can the Beauty of the Commandments be rightly seen, or apprehended? The Prophet David was said to pray, not only that God would open his lips that he might taste, But also his Eyes, that he might SEE the wondrous things of his law, Psal. 119. 18. And by the help of his Grace, (which we must pray for, as well as David,) we are to cast out the mote, (perhaps the Beam) out of our Eyes, before our Eyes can be ravished with the Charming Beauty of Christ's Commands. And the way to do That, is ipso facto to obey them. For they are Pure (saith the Psalmist) and enlightening the Eyes, (Psal. 19 8.) they give wisdom unto the Simple, are altogether undefiled, and converting the Soul; moreover by Them is thy Servant Taught, (v. 7, 11.) From which expressions of the Psalmist it plainly follows, that the Commands of the Law Moral (which are common to Moses with Christ and Nature,) do make an excellent Collyrium, a Sovereign Ointment or Eyesalve, to clear our Sight of those Mists, which the Devil and the World have cast before them. § 14. Say then Thou Demas, Thou Crude, and unexperienced Christian, or whoever thou art who hast a share in the Objection. Dost thou find within thyself nothing of Appetite or Love to the Yoke of Christ? It is because thou dost not know, how pleasant a thing it is to wear it. And wilt thou know the true Reason why thou dost not know That? It is because thou art not used to the wearing of it. For how can any man find the Pleasure of keeping close to Christ's Precepts, before he keeps them? Do but live a strict life, (and begin now in Lent) till thou hast got into an Habit of living strictly, and my life for thine thou wilt find it Pleasant. But He who will not live exactly, till he arrives at those Pleasures, which nothing less than Experience can bless him with, is neither more nor less foolish, than the mere Scholar in Hierocles his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, who would not adventure into the Water, until he was certain that he could swim; or one who utterly refuseth the putting of meat into his Mouth, until he shall have tasted the Goodness of it. For as thou canst not taste meat, till thou hast put it into thy Mouth, nor find its goodness, till thou hast chewed it, and (by digesting it into Blood) hast made it a parcel of thyself too; so thou canst never discern the sweetness of the Commandments of Christ, until for some time they have been thy Diet. Do but feed upon them enough, and digest them into thy Soul by obedience to them, and Then how soon wilt thou resemble the men in Homer? who having eaten a while of * Lotum gustâsse non inconcinnè dicantur Illi, qui simul atque voluptatem rectè vivendi degustârunt, ad pristina studia revocari non possunt. Lotos, were as much captivated in Love with the Place it grew in, as our Ecstatical St. Peter with the Delights of Mount Tabor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Odyss. 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Were't thou but wont, and inur'd, as much to the keeping of Christ's Commands, as now thou art to the breaking of them, Thou wouldst find as great a change, as from Hell to Heaven. And if from this Instant wherein I speak, Thou wilt but serve The Lord Christ with as much Zeal and Assiduity, and as long as thou hast served thy Master Satan; (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,) I dare lay a Wager of Gold to Brass, Thou wilt not change Masters for all the World. § 15. But here perhaps it may be said, that the main Aching Tooth is not drawn out of the Obection. For though the Yoke of Christ's Precepts is thus evinced to be easy, yet the burden of his Cross is not hence proved to be light. Nor does it follow his Yoke is easy in That ruggidest part of it, wherein both his Yoke and his Burden meet. For so we know they Both do in his Precept of Self-denial, and of bearing his Cross after him, whether laid upon us by others, or freely taken upon ourselves. § 16. To which I answer by these following Degrees, (beginning with the least and lowest.) First when laid upon us by others, there is matter of Comfort in it, from the Consideration of its bare Nature For we know 'twas the Prerogative of Goodly men heretofore above other Mortals, that they were able out of choice to be bravely Miserable, (if such a Latinism as That may be used in English.) Fortiter Ille facit qui miser esse potest. Many Examples of which we have, not only in the Christian, but Heathen World. It was for no other reason, that Hierocles flung his Blood in his Lictor's face; that Zeno spit out his Tongue into the Teeth of his Tormentor; that the Indians in Valerius did chose to suffer the Extremities of Heat and Cold; that the brahmin's and the Gymnosophists maintained their Paradox even to Victory, Nihil jucundius esse quam pati; I say for no other reason, than to demonstrate that their Souls were above the Infirmities of their Bodies. Somewhat like the Brave Martyrs in the Eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews, (though not from the same religious Ileb. 11. 35. Principle,) who having been tortured, would not accept of a Deliverance. In the midst of all their Agonies, they would not admit of a Relaxation. And we know that an Army of Frogs and Lice (as in Egypt) may have the power to do Mischief, But are utterly incapable of being Injured. They are the Great and the Good, who are most of all subject to suffer wrong. Regium est & Magnificum, bene facere, & male pati. We may explain it out of St. Peter; If ye do 1 Pet. 2. 19, 20, 21. & Matth. 5. 12. well, and suffer for it, Happy are ye. For this is thankworthy, This is acceptable with God. And hereunto are ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving an Example that we should follow His steps. God himself is most capable of insolent Usages and Affronts, by the Transcendency of his Being, and the Prerogative of his Omnipotence; most obnoxious to Indignities, by his being All Goodness; and the most liable to Dishonours, by his being All Glory. So next and immediately under God, the most susceptive of Abuses are His Vicegerents? Whose highest privilege it is, and that which makes them most like their Maker, (whose Lieutenants they are on Earth,) that All the Subjects put together are not obnoxious to the wrongs which their Sovereigns suffer. In so much that we should scorn to need a more Effectual Motive, to make us an Obedient and Loyal People, than our resentment of the hardships they suffer for us. Besides that All Crowns are so lined with Crosses, and All Crowned Heads so apt to ache, (even abstracting from all the injuries which they are ever subject to as the Butts of Envy,) that they deserve the Ease and Comfort of their Best Subjects good Affections, if but to make them some Amends for All the Malignities of the Worst; and in Requital of their Cares for the Common Safety. And here I am tempted to a Digression I cannot easily forbear: For if it is profitable and short too, it will be pertinent enough. It is but This; that if the People of these Realms will either All travel abroad into Foreign Parts, or at least take the pains to be taught at home, how much like Princes rather than Subjects, they live in the Land of their Nativity, (being compared with other Subjects throughout the habitable World,) they will say of our British Sovereign, what No other People can say of Theirs, that his Yoke is very easy, and his Burden exceeding light. § 17. Another Comfort the Cross affords, when laid by the Guilty upon the Innocent, does lie in This; that the judge upon the Bench can but condemn a Malefactor; The King himself can but reprieve him; 'Tis GOD only who can forgive him. So that Mischievous men have This common to them with the Devil, that they are able to wrong the Innocent; whereas the Innocent man hath This derived to him from God alone, that he is able (as to himself) to acquit the Guilty. Here than we may demand with Psal. 52. 1. the Royal Psalmist, Why boastest Thou thyself, o Tyrant, that thou canst do mischief? so can a Toad, so can a Spider, so can a Pest, or an Imposthume. Why dost thou glory in thy ability of blasting thine Enemy with a Lie, or of bearing False witness against thy Neighbour? so can the Father of Lies the Devil, who thence is called by way of Eminence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Detractor, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Accuser of the Brethren. Nay why dost thou pride it in thy power of being skilful to destroy, either the Livelyhoods or the Lives of a world of men? so can the Palmer-worm, or Mildew, so can a Deluge, or a Drought. Which if seriously considered by him who suffers, as well as by him who does an Injury; 'twill yield the First matter of Comfort, and the Second matter of Terror. For Qui tulit injuriam ignoscere potest; Qui fecit, nunquam: whilst he who suffers Injury has a divine Opportunity of giving Pardon, He who does it has nothing left as the Issue of it, but Bitter Repentance, or Condemnation. Hence therefore we must learn to discriminate two Things, which most commonly are confounded, and apprehended to be the same. For 'tis one thing, to Insult, or to domineer; And quite another, to gain a Victory. Just as 'tis one thing, to be wronged; And quite another, to be worsted. The Devil and Pilate (for example) did Domineer over our Saviour, who yet (we know) had the best of Both. Dives insulted over Lazarus, (as 'tis expressed by way of Parable,) though Lazarus in the end had the better of him. Anytus and Melitus could not hurt Socrates, though they could kill him. And though St. Paul could be beheaded by the Emperor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Epict, Nero, yet he could not be conquered or worsted by him. The Mode or Fashion of a Victory does not detract from the Essence of it. It does not cease to be a Victory because 'tis got by not fight; as That against Cade by King Henry the Sixth. Nor does it cease to be a Victory, in case 'tis purchased by Delays; as that against Hannibal by Fabius Maximus. Nay 'tis a Victory, though it be won even by flying out of the Field; which was the way by which the Parthians were wont to Conquer. And so 'tis Victory nevertheless, though obtained by suffering; as by the noble Army of Martyrs against the whole Heathen world. It being impossible that a thing should cease to be what it is, through the Nature of the means, by which it is so. It is so far from being necessary, that Conquest should consist in making Havoc of an Enemy by wounds and slaughter, That 'tis but one sort of Conquest, and that the Meanest. Let us therefore set it down as a Truth unmoveable, upon which we may adventure to lean with safety; That to be mightily overborne, whilst by Impiety, must needs be either none at all, or a glorious Overthrow. Because 'tis clear that God's Mercy is overborne by men's Impenitence; And even his greatest Longanimity may be quite beaten out by our Provocations. § 18. Thirdly the Burden of the Cross, when 'tis laid upon us by others, is made exceedingly lighter to us than I have hitherto showed it to be, by our looking up to Him, who hath born it for us, and before us; and by our reflecting on the Reward, towards which it does lead us, and lift us up. Eusebius tells us of some in Egypt, who, however Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. 7. c. 17. groaning at once under Three sorts of Tyranny, that of Poverty, and Pestilence, and Persecution, did yet express so great a joy at the Return of Good Friday, upon which they were to celebrate their Master's Sufferings on the Cross, as that the sense of Their sufferings seemed to be wholly swallowed up, by the far greater sense which they had of His. Though they were scattered and dispersed as far asunder, as the Ingeny of Malice could well contrive, (some imprisoned upon the Land, some under Hatches upon the Sea, some in Caves of the Wilderness, and some condemned upon the Scaffold,) Yet, as the Angles of a Pyramid, however distant at the Basis, do still come nearer as they Ascend, and at last Concentre in the Conus; so how distant soever the one from the other those Christians were, in respect of their Bodies here below, They met together in their Affections at the same Throne of Grace. And though Our Church, like Theirs, in the late ill Times, was truly Militant, when with the Burden she laboured under she sadly hung down her Head, yet Sursum Corda, she lifted up her Heart to the Lord of Glory, And by an union of Affections kept all her Holy Days and Feasts with the Church Triumphant. It would be certainly a voluminous, if not an Endless Undertaking, (though otherwise easy enough) to prove by way of Induction, or by a Catalogue of the Particulars, how many Myriads have been enabled to run with Patience the Race that was set before them, by merely looking unto jesus the Author and Finisher of their Faith, so far forth as for the joy that was set before him, he endured the Cross, and despised the shame, Heb. 12. 1, 2. and so sat him down at the right hand of God. Nor indeed can it be otherwise, with such as Love and believe in the Lord Jesus in sincerity, And give an Evidence of Both by their new obedience. For so long as we are such, the Spirit itself (saith St. Paul) beareth witness with our Spirits, that we are children of God. And if Children, than Heirs; Heirs of Rom. 8. 16, 17. God, and joint Heirs with Christ; if so be we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together with him. And suffer with him we shall with the greater ease, (if not Ambition,) because we shall reckon with St. Paul, That the Vers. 18. Sufferings of this present Time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us; and because the whole Trinity is clearly engaged in our behalf: (For so St. Paul tells us in the following Parts of the same Chapter.) God the Father gave us his Vers. 32. Son, and all good things together with him. God the Son gave us Himself, not only that he might die, but also rise from the Dead, and be an Advocate for us incessantly at the right hand of God. Thirdly God the Holy Ghost engageth Vers. 34. for us as much as either; both by helping our Infirmities, through which we know not what we should pray for as we ought, And by making Intercession for us with Groans Vers. 26. not to be uttered. And whilst so great a Care is taken both of us, and our Interest, by God Himself, It cannot but follow that all the Crosses which shall be laid upon us by others, will work together for our Comfort in this life present, as well as for our Glory in that to come. § 19 Lastly the Burden of Christ is light, when freely taken upon ourselves; as (in particular) when he Commands us (somewhat like what the Ammonites commanded the men of jabesh Gilead) to pluck out an Eye, (a right Eye too,) and to cast it from us. For First it is not an Absolute, but a Conditional Command. We are to pluck out an Eye, upon a supposal that it offends us; that is to say, If it is scandalous, and makes us stumble into Sin; and into such wasting Sin, as makes us fall headlong into Hell; for so our Saviour does infer in his very next words. In such a formidable Case, and for the preventing of such a Mischief, It is not only not grievous, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (saith our Saviour) It is profitable for thee, that one Matt. 5. 29, 30. & Matt. 18. 8. of thy Members perish, and not that thy whole Body be cast into Hell. So that Secondly 'tis not a Positive, but a Comparative Command. And 'tis the Dictate of Common Sense, That of two evils of Punishment, we are in Prudence to choose the least. As rather to lose one Eye than Both, and rather Both than the whole Body; and rather the Body than the Soul. To suffer any thing, rather than Death; and Death itself, rather than Hell. A man having a Gangraene in any Limb of his Body, will not only permit, but hire the Artist to cut it off. And by consequence will confess it very much better and more desirable, to Pluck out his Eye, and to cast it from him, than, by keeping it in his Head, to be Cast into Hell. Better suffer under Them who can destroy the Body only, than under Him who can destroy both Body and Soul. Yea Matth▪ 10. 28. Thirdly 'tis the Dictate of Sanctified Reason, That of any two evils, whereof the one is of Sin, the other of Affliction, we must choose to Suffer the greatest, rather than wilfully Do the least. Our first Care must be, to make a Covenant with our Eyes, not to look Ecclus. 9 7. upon a Maid. Next in order to That Design, we should not look round about us in the Streets of the City, for fear our Eyes become our Enemies. Or if our Eyes chance to wander beyond the Bounds of That Counsel, our third degree of Care must be, not to gaze upon a Woman, lest we fall by those things that are precious in her, (v. 5. & 8.) Or if This cannot be done, 'tis better to out them whilst they are innocent, (as Virginius did his Daughter,) than continue them as Inlets to Sin and Hell. Nor should we be grieved at our Advantage, though it be bought with great Pain, whilst it is for the Prevention of a very much greater. Last of all, this Commandment which is so grievous to us in Sound, is very far from being such in its intrinsic signification. For, in our Saviour's gracious sense, 'Tis but the Vanity of the Eye which we are bound to pluck out; 'Tis but the Violence of the Hand which we are bound to cut off; And the obliquity of the Foot which we are bid to cast from us, (as is shown more at large in an * See the third Sermon on Mar. 10. 17. Part 2. § 5, 6, 7. other Place.) Several vices of the Soul being fitly enough expressed by so many Members of the Body. And That severest of our Lord's Precepts, If thy Right Eye offend thee, pluck it out; if thy Right hand offend thee, cut it off; if thy Right Foot offend thee, cast it from thee; may very well admit of this Serene Signification: That we must pluck out a Lust, though as dear to us as a right Eye. And we must cut off an Avarice, though as dear to us as a right Hand. And we must cast away an Ambition of greater things than are good for us, though perhaps as dear to us as both our Feet. § 20. Thus we see this very Precept, which seems a very rough Part of our Saviour's Yoke, and a very heavy part of his Burden too, does upon serious Consideration appear as Easy, and as Light, as any Servant can expect from so kind a Lord. For this Maxim being praemis'd as most unquestionable, and cogent, That without the pursuing Heb. 12. 14. of Peace and Holiness, no man living shall see the Lord; And that no unclean Thing can ever enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but does inevitably belong to the Commonwealth of Hell, how could our Master have obliged us with better expressions of his love, than by Commanding us to flee from the wrath to come? and to forbear the least evil which may possibly lead unto the greatest? rather to crucify the Flesh, than permit it to defile and destroy the Spirit? even to pluck out our right Eye, rather than suffer it to pollute us? to lose any thing, rather than Heaven? to endure any thing, rather than Hell? And rather to smart for some Time, than to all Eternity? § 21. Say then again thou Habitual Sinner, or who ever else thou art who hast a Share in the Objection. Since 'tis thy Duty and thy Interest to bear the Yoke of Christ's Precepts and the Burden of his Cross with Faith and Patience, by whomsoever 'tis laid upon thee, whether spitefully by others, or piously by thyself; what pretence canst thou invent for thy unkindness to those Commandments, which are not only not grievous, but very agreeable to thy Nature, if at least thou retainest and hast not rooted out that Nature, which the God of Good nature implanted in thee? or what Apology canst thou make for thy starting aside from the Cross of Christ, which alone can exalt thee to wear a Crown? nor that a mere Earthly and Perishing Crown, but one which fadeth not away, eternal in the Heavens. So that admitting the Cross of Christ were heavy or grievous in itself, yet in respect of thy Reward it should cease to be so. Shall any Thing be called grievous, which does evidently tend to thy greatest Good? All the Apology Thou canst make, and all the Reason thou canst give, is, that thou art not yet arrived at a True Christian Faith, nor by consequence at a Love of the Lord Jesus in Sincerity. For do but imagine (honest Friend) thou wert just falling from a Precipice, or from the Pinnacle of a Temple; And a Neighbour standing by should thrust his hand to thy Rescue, and catching hold of thine Arm should snatch thee back with such a vehement and sudden Twinge, as either to dislocate or break a Bone; wouldst thou be angry with thy Neighbour for so much rudeness? And in stead of being thankful for springing in to thy Deliverance, wouldst thou accuse him of being hasty, and quarrel the roughness of his motion, ask why he did not use thee with greater softness, and would not deliberate before he acted? wouldst thou not rather kneel down before him, and make an offer of obedience, as well as thanks, and look upon him thenceforwards as dearer to thee than thy life? And in case thou art a rich man, as He a poor one, wouldst thou not give him an yearly Pension for such an obliging act of Friendship, as that ransoming of Thy life with the utmost hazard of his own? Apply this now to the Case in hand. Imagine as strongly as thou art able, that thou art even now falling into the Bottomless Pit of Hell, (a Lake eternally burning with Fire and Brimstone,) And suppose in this Case that God the Son shall spring forth from the Bosom of God the Father; ascend the Cross with set purpose, to fetch thee down; and descend into the Grave, for no other end than to raise thee up; And go purposely into Hell, to fetch thee back from thence to Heaven. Wilt thou repine at That Deliverance, in case the violence of the Twitch shall happen to cost thee a little pain? or be displeased with thy Deliverer, in case he should not set thee Free at a cheaper rate, than that of taking off the Weights that kept thee down, (that is) by mortifying the Flesh, with the Affections and Lusts; by Commanding thee to be clean, and pure, and holy; And that for this obliging reason, because thy happiness does depend on thy being Such? Wilt thou grumble at thy Physician, for being severely Faithful to thee, in using the means of thy Recovery? Or wilt thou not rather bethink thyself, with the Royal Psal mist, Quid Retribuam? What shall I render unto the Lord for all his Benefits and Blessings bestowed upon me? If this Redeemer of thine is poor, (as in his Members indeed he is,) wilt thou not give him an yearly Pension, (devote a Part of thy Revenue to Pious uses,) as a small Token that thou resentest his Goodness to thee? or admit that He is Great, (as in Himself he is immensly and unspeakably such,) wilt thou not Sacrifice unto him the constant Tribute of thy obedience, though he should rigidly command thee to fight with Anakims and Lions, to fetch him Water from Bethleem, or Grapes from Canaan? Suppose he order thee, (as he does,) to pluck out an Eye of Lust or Vanity; To cut off an Hand of Fraud or Violence; To cast away a Foot which is swift to shed blood; rather than keep them to thy undoing; wilt thou not execute those orders for the Love of thy Saviour, and of thy self too, rather than thine Eye shall find the right Road to Hell, Thine Hand work out thine own damnation, Thy Foot carry thee in the Broad way which leadeth to Destruction? Imagine strongly that thy Saviour does long as much for thy obedience as King David did to drink of the Well of Bethlem; 2 Sam. 23. 15. Christ as Perfectly out of kindness, as David out of Curiosity. Wilt thou not do as much for Christ, as David's Soldiers did for Him? what They did to please David, was at the Peril of their Lives. But what thou dost to please Christ, is for the Safety of thine own. And 'tis so natural for a man to pursue his own Interest, that there is no better way to make a Rebel become Obedient, than by convincing him of This, That 'tis his interest to be so, as well as Duty. Although a man be such a passionate Idolizer of his Wealth, that he will part with his Blood, a great deal sooner than with his Money, yet a desperate fit of Sickness will make him send for the Physician, And He conceiving it for his Interest, will give him very large Fees too. The tenderest Person and the most delicate, who values his Body above his Soul, if he esteems it for his Interest to have a Member sawed off, being infested with a Gangraene, will (as I said a little before) even hire the Chirurgeon to use his Tool. And (after the very same manner, as well as on the same ground,) He who is now the greatest Enemy, both to the Counsels, and Commandments, and Cross of Christ, If he be but once brought to an inviolable Belief, (without all Scruples, or Peradventures,) That every man shall live eternally either in Heaven, or in Hell, And that 'tis clearly for his Interest to do or suffer as Christ commands him, because in order to his Escape from all the miseries of the one, and in order to his Attainment of all the Beatitudes in the other; He will presently break off his Sins by Righteousness, as Daniel charged Nabuchadnezzar. He Dan. 5. 27. will be ready for Restitution to every one whom he hath injured, as Zachee the Publican when He repent. He will bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance, as the Jews were admonished by john the Baptist. He will be glad to be thought worthy to suffer shame for Christ's sake, as the Apostles at jerusalem, Acts 5. 41. The Consideration of his Interest will give an high Relish to all his sufferings, making his Torments and his Tormentors to become his great Instruments and means of pleasure. § 22. Thus we see in all cases, both Temporal, and Spiritual, every man is for himself, and intends his own Interest, in whatsoever it is which he undertakes; either the Interest of his Profit, or of his Pleasure, and Reputation; The Interest of his Flesh, or of his Spirit; his present Interest, or his future; still 'tis one Interest, or other, which leads him on unto the best, or the worst Performances in the World. Is any man Covetous and extremely close fisted? He thinks it is for his Interest, as being the way to be Rich in money, which is the only Grand Project that he is driving. Or is he Free, and openhanded? He thinks it for his Interest, because it is the ready way to make him Rich in good Works, which is the highest and noblest end at which he aims in this World. Is there any man running headlong into a Customary Contempt of his Saviour's Yoke? He thinks it is for his Interest, as being the way to live merrily, and in Prosperity here on Earth, which is the Sovereign Allective of his Desires. Or does any man take pleasure in supporting both the Burden and Yoke of Christ? He thinks it is for his Interest, as being the way to die safely, and to live after Death a life of Bliss and Immortality; which is the utmost Achievement his heart is set on. Lastly would ye know the Reason, why I have meditated so much upon this kind of Subject? why I have struck so many Blows upon this great Anvil? made so many long Discourses (though on occasion of divers Texts) touching the Equity and the Law of our Saviour's Gospel? and indispensable Necessity of our obedience unto the end? The Reason of it is truly This, Because I have thought it most mine own, and other men's Interest so to do. And till we are able to be so happy, as to convince ourselves and others, that 'tis most for our Interest to bear the Yoke of Christ's Law, and the Burden of his Cross when 'tis laid upon us; 'Tis very sure that neither of us shall bear the one, or the other, as is required. Whereas 'tis as sure, on the other side, That as we never neglect our Interest in what is Secular, or Carnal, (as touching our Credits, or our Estates, or our Temporal Preservation;) so as little shall we endure, to start aside from the Burden or Yoke of Christ, if indeed we do believe it our greatest Interest to bear them as He requires. For can the very same man who is solicitously careful to get a Trifle, be as perfectly careless to gain a Talon? or stand in very great Dread of a lesser Punishment? But of an infinitely greater, in none at all? If we are strict in our conforming to the Commandments of men, with whom the Penalties are but Temporal, and the Recompenses but finite.; we cannot sure be Non-Conformists to the Commandments of Christ, on a Supposal that we believe it as great a Truth as any is, That his Punishments and Rewards, are both Immortal, and Immense. Nor can I think of a more rational or a more satisfactory Account, why the Commandments of men should be so commonly heeded by us, with more circumspection than those of Christ, but that we fear Them more, and believe Him less; or value the Interest of our Bodies above the Interest of our Souls; or prefer the seeming certainty of what is Present, before the Hope and Expectance of what is future; And had rather become the owners of Earthly Contentments in Possession, than to be dealing for Reversions in Heaven itself. § 23. And therefore to the end we may be able even to feel, and by consequence to arrive at the Conviction of Experience, That the Yoke of Christ's Law is really Easy in it self; and the Burden of his Cross is in comparison very light; And that they have Both a secret virtue of giving Rest unto the Souls of Them that labour, and of Refreshing the heavy laden; (for so our Saviour tells us expressly in the two next Verses before the Text,) let us be Conversant incessantly in all the means of attaining to a True Christian Faith, That so by cordially believing, we may passionately love the Lord Jesus Christ. And that loving him as we ought, we may by consequence delight in doing that which he requires, and by consequence may attain to that Reward which he hath Promised. For as our Faith and our Love, do what we can, will beget obedience, (if the first is unfeigned, and the second without Dissimulation,) So 'tis sure that our obedience will end in bliss. Not in bliss whilst we are Passengers, but when we shall arrive at our journeys end. For here we are Dead (saith our Apostle,) and Coloss. 3. 3, 4. our life is yet hid with Christ in God. But when the Lord jesus Christ who is our life shall appear, Then shall We also appear with Him in Glory. Which God the Father of his mercy prepare us for, through the working of his Spirit, and for the worthiness of his Son; To whom be Glory for ever and ever. THE INDISPENSABLE NECESSITY OF Strict Obedience Under the GOSPEL. THE INDISPENSABLE NECESSITY OF Strict Obedience Under The GOSPEL. HEB. XII. 28, 29. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have Grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with Reverence and godly Fear. For our God is a Consuming Fire. THere is something Difficult in the Text, which will (I think) be best explained by way of Answer to an Objection. For why is it said here, Let us have Grace? It may seem at first hearing a strange expression, whether we have it, or have it not. For if we have it, it seems superfluous; and if we have it not, it seems as vain. We need not say Let us have, what 'tis plain we have already before we say it: And we say to no purpose, Let us have this or that, which whilst we have not, it is not in our power to have. For, Is the Grace of God Almighty at our Disposal? Can we confer it upon ourselves, that it should hear be said to us, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Let us have grace? we cannot have grace till we receive it, nor can we possibly receive it, till God most freely bestows it on us. What is this that he saith then, let us have grace? To answer this it must be known, that in many places of Scripture Grace doth signify the Gospel. Whether as being the chief Instrument or Means of Grace; or as containing and exhibiting the Covenant of Grace, which does often stand opposed unto the Covenant of Works; or else as being the great Message of Grace and Favour from Heaven to Earth. Whether for these, or for other Reasons, so it is that the word Grace doth often signify the Gospel; especially then, when 'tis opposed unto the Law. A clear Example of which we have, john 1. 17. The Law came by Moses, but Grace and Truth from jesus Christ: that is, The Gospel of Grace and Truth. For there was truth in the Law, as well as in the Gospel; and grace was given unto the jews, as well as to the Gentiles, of whom we are. And therefore the meaning of it must be, That as the Law came by Moses, so the Gospel of grace came down from Heaven by jesus Christ; and so it is called by St. Paul, Acts 20. 24. Another Instance of it we have Rom. 6. 14. We are not under the Law, but under Grace: that is, the Gospel of Christ which is the Word of his Grace; and so St. Paul calls it again, Acts 20. 32. For it cannot be meant concerning the grace of Sanctification; because even They were under that, who were under the Law that was given by Moses; else would Caleb and joshua, and Moses himself have been void of Grace. Which being eminently Impossible, 'tis plain the Gospel must be the thing which is there opposed unto the Law. And as in other places of Scripture, so particularly in This which now is under consideration, the Grace of God is so set, as to signify nothing but the Gospel. And (the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very often being put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) to Have it in this place, is nothing else but to hold it fast. So that the Scope of the Exhortation, is, that we hold fast the Gospel or Law of Christ, described to be the Instrument, whereby we may perform a Service acceptable to God. But acceptable Service it cannot be, unless attended with Fear and Reverence. To wit with a reverence of his Mercy in the beginning of the Text, and with a fear of his Wrath in the later end. The Duty therefore is here enforced both before and behind; and that with such Reasons, as 'tis not easy to resist. For first the Reason going before is drawn from the richness of our Reward, in case we serve God as he here requires. And then the Reason coming behind is from the Grievousness of the Punishment, in case we serve him not at all, or not at all with due Reverence and godly Fear. Our reward, if we do, is no less than a Kingdom, and a Kingdom not to be moved. But our punishment (if we do not) is to perish by the hand that should make us whole; to feel the God of our life a consuming fire. The one affords us an Allective, whereby to draw us to the Duty; the other an Impellent, to drive us on. It is the Wisdom and the Care of the holy Penman, to place our Duty in the midst of a double motive, that if the one cannot engage us, the other may. He begins with a Promise, to feed our Hope; and concludes with a Threat, to excite our Fear. The first as a Spur does provoke to Virtue; the second, as a Bridle, withholds from Vice. And he is sure a dull Beast, whom such a Spur cannot excite, or at least a very wild one; whom such a Bridle cannot restrain. The whole circuit of the Text being thus explained, there are five things especially to be inferred. First that the Liberty of a Christian doth carry its Yoke along with it. It being a liberty from Moses, but not from Christ; the Condition of whose Gospel is our obedience unto the Law. I do not mean the Mosaical, whether judicial or Ceremonial, which were but positive Laws at best, but the Natural, or Moral, which is withal the Aeternal Law; The Law, of which our Saviour saith, that he came not to abrogate, but to fulfil it: Not to evacuate, but fill it up. Rather to strengthen, than to destroy it. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, let us have Grace, that is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, let us hold fast the Gospel or Law of Christ. And let us hold it as an Instrument whereby to serve him. And let us serve him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so as our Persons and our Service may be accepted. But yet Secondly, we cannot Serve him so, as to be accepted; (we cannot do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so as to satisfy and please him in what we do,) unless we serve him with Reverence and godly Fear With a reverence of his Mercy, whereby we are capable of a Kingdom; and with a fear of his Wrath, whereby he becomes a consuming fire. So that the Reverence has a Retrospect on the beginning of the Text; and the fear has a Prospect upon the End. And therefore Thirdly, here is a reason for each of these Qualifications, by which our Service is to be such, as to be accepted. A reason why it must be with reverence, and a reason why it must be with fear. Let us serve God with reverence, because thereby we receive a Kingdom, (a Kingdom of Grace and Glory too; the first being as 'twere an Inchoation of the second; and Both as I conceive, alluded to in this Text;) Again let us Serve him with godly fear; Because he is else a consuming fire. And then Fourthly, it is obvious to infer even from hence, that the Fear of God, as a Destroyer, may nevertheless be a godly fear; because it is coupled here with Reverence, and by consequence with love. For Reverence is a Compound, which hath love as well as fear for a chief Ingredient. And the Fear here expressed by godly Fear, is not only a fear of God's Power and Majesty, in respect of which he is a Severaign, who hath an absolute Do minion over the work of his hands; nor only a fear of his love and mercy, in respect of which he is a Father, who by his Children must be revered: but especially a Fear of his Wrath and justice, in respect of which he is a judge, and so an Executor of Vengeance. It is a fear indeed of God, but under the notion of a Consumer. A fear enforced with a Reason all armed with terror; (for nothing strikes terror so much as Fire.) Lastly a fear whereof the Terror is ushered in with the Causal For, which shows the Tendency of the Terror towards the Godliness of the fear: for thus lies the order and the coherence of the words. Let us serve him with Reverence and Godly fear, For our God is a Consuming Fire. Last of all we may infer from the Pronoun Rom. 2. 6. to v. 11. our, That God is no such Accepter of Persons, as to connive at Sin in us, whilst he does punish it in others. No, the times of their ignorance God winked at, (saith the Apostle,) But now commandeth all men every where to repent. To us indeed, if we repent, he is a God ready to pardon; swift to show mercy, and slow to wrath. But to us being Impenitent he is a Terrible, * See Deut. 4. 24. where a consuming Fire is explained by a jealous God. Which compare with Exod. 24. 17. where the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire upon the top of the Mount. a jealous, and an avenging God. From whence 'tis inferred by the holy Writer, That we, as well as the People Israel are bound to serve God with Fear and Reverence; Because Our God as well as Theirs is a consuming Fire. That is, the same God is such, as well to Us, as to Them. For here 'tis worthy to be observed, That as Moses exhorting his people Israel to take heed unto themselves, that they forget not the Covenant of the Lord their God, gave his reason in these words, For the Lord Thy God is a Consuming Fire; So our Apostle in this Chapter, having first of all compared the Law with the Gospel, Moses with Christ, and a Contemner of the one with a Despiser of the other; and having exhorted us to the Duty incumbent on us as we are Christians; gives the very same reason in the very same words, (with no more than the change of a Monosyllable,) for OUR God is a consuming Fire. Such he is, as the God of All; but above all, as he is OURS; because we sin, when we sin, against greater light; and against greater obligations to cease from sinning. Having now done with the explication and with the division of the Text, 'twill be most useful as well as natural to begin with the first of the five Illations, Because the greatest numbers of men do stand in need of a conviction, That Christianity is a Service requiring our Industry and Care. A Service consisting of Obedience, as well as Faith; in as much as the Promises of the Gospel are clogged with Precepts. Tho' the Yoke of Christ is easy, yet 'tis a Yoke; and though his Burden is light, yet 'tis a Burden To stand fast in that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, is to hold fast the Gospel or Law of Christ, and to hold it as an Instrument whereby to serve him: and to serve him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so as our Persons and our Service may be accepted. A Doctrine the rather to be Imprinted in all our memories and our minds, (as either a method for prevention, or means of cure,) because throughout the whole catalogue of damning Heresies, whether as that Catalogue was begun by Irenaeus, or as continued by Epiphanius, or as perfected by St. Austin, (and other Writers of the Church,) none hath shed a more kill Influence upon the minds and manners of Christian People, (so far at least as I am able to conjecture,) than the mistaken, but pleasant notions, of justification, and Faith, the imputed Righteousness of Christ, and Christian Liberty. Hardly any four things are more needful to be believed; or more subject to be mistaken. Never was Poison more pernicious, or more to be antidoted than that, to which I oppose the main drift of the well intended project I have in hand. There were Gnostics, and Nicolaitans, Carpocratians, and Valentinians, whilst yet the day of the Gospel began to dawn; whom the Tempter had betrayed into such a Lust, That Lust had blinded with such an Ignorance, That Ignorance was the Mother of so many and great Errors, and those Errors broke forth into such execrable Sins, that 'twere perhaps another * Euseb. Hist. l. 2. c. 12. p. 57 Sin to make men acquainted with their nature, or but to tell them their very names. For there are Sins (saith St. Paul) which 'tis a shame even to speak of. So as Tertullian passed them by with a † Refer erubescimus, etc. Tertul. de praescrip. advers. Haeret. cap. 46. profession of his Bashfulness; he wanted the confidence and the courage, to name those things which were done in secret. To such as these we can award no fitter punishment, than that to which the Ephesians condemned Herostratus; when, having burnt Diana's Temple (just as Pausanias killed King Philip,) for no other end than to be talked of, He was decreed by that Senate to be forgotten. (And forgotten he had been, if one single Theopompus had not put him into his Story.) And therefore there was need of Epiphanius his * Epiphan. Haeret. l. 1. Tom. 2. p. 11, 82. Apology, for having given us a Narrative of those Tacenda, although he did it in detestation. Now as often as I consider within myself, how the oldest and the worst of all those Heresies do walk about in new names through our English Streets; that though the Scenes are somewhat different, yet still the Actors do all agree; That the † Irenae. p. 58. Gnostics, and * Clem. Alex. l. 1. Paedag. p. 107. Nicolaitans, and Carpocratians of the First times are repeated as 'twere by a Metempsychosis, in the Antinomians, and Solifidians, and sanguine Fiduciaries of Ours; that we have had, if not as false Christ's as * Euseb. l. 4. c. 6. quem locum confer cum l. 2. c. 10. Barch●●hebas, yet as false Prophets as Barjesus; who have so preached up the Gospel, and so cried down the Law, (I only mean the Evangelical or Christian Law,) And made obedience so cheap a thing by enhancing the price of Faith, as to have turned Christian Liberty into Libertinism, and the Grace of God into wantonness; I am tempted to wish the Gospel were sometimes preached, as the Law of God was first published, in thundering and lightning. That God were sometimes represented, as well by us unto the English, as by St Paul to the Hebrew Christians, not only, as in his nature, a quickening light; but as he is also in his Effects, a consuming Fire. If not in hope to raise some who seem to be dead in their Security, yet at least to awaken others, who (it is to be hoped) are yet but drowsy. For as 'tis the custom and the craft of some cunning Pleaders, by citing the Authority of Laws and Statutes, to patronise the Breach of them; or as Ausonius could compile the most loathsome Fescenine, out of Virgil Himself, the Parthenian Poet; or as a Spider sucks poison from the very same flower, from which a Bee doth extract the most sovereign honey; so I know not which hath drawn the more deadly Venom from the wholesome † Omnia adversus veritatem de ipsa veritate constructa sunt: operantibus operationem spiritibus erroris. Tertul. Apol. c. 41. p. 78. In veriverbium abiit apud Italos. Con l'Evangelio si diventa Haeretico. Letter of the Gospel, the Gnostics heretofore, or the Libertines now; whether the former were worse corrupters of the Third * Vid. Epiph. l. 1. Tom. 2. p. 89. Chapter of St. john, or the later of the Fourth of St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. For as the Gnostics in those times, so the Libertines in These, are wont to cocker up themselves (with the she Tempter in Epiphanius) that they are all the chosen Vessels; not vessels of a Respective, but of an absolute election. They think it much below Them, to look upon God as a consuming Fire. It is for men of their Perfection, not to serve him with fear, but with Familiarity. Thence they commonly do so startle at the legal obedience of the jews, the more ral honesty of the Gentiles, and the pretendedly meritorious good works of the Romanists, as to fortify themselves against these, with the naked Faith of the Antinomians. And so like him in Spartianus, who poisoned himself with too much antidote, (not considering that there is poison, as well in the Quantity of the best meats, as in the Quality of the worst,) they prevent a less Disease with a greater, and kill themselves with their Preservative. For men to sweeten their malady, and make their sickness pleasant to them, they think it better than to cure it; and so the Humour be not painful, it is no matter how peccant ' 'tis. They think they have met with the great Purchase Timotheus bragged of in Athenaeus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: All the Fortunate I stands are caught forsooth in their Net. They dream they have found the new skill of the old Athletae, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to conquer the Devil without a Combat. And though St. Paul (poor man) was fain to work out his Salvation with fear and trembling; to beat down his Body, and bring his Flesh into subjection; to crucify the world unto himself, and himself unto the world, always bearing about in his Body the dying of the Lord Jesus; lest whilst he preached unto others, He himself might become a Castaway; yet the Professors I allude to are so much happier than St. Paul in their own opinion, that their Victories cost Them neither Dust, nor Sweat. They imagine they have got a peculiar knack of being saved; and without any more ado can so believe themselves to Heaven, that it seems to Them as easy to Die like the Thief on our Saviour's Cross, as it is to Live like him. For they have set up a New Faith upon Mount Zion, as Manasses and Sanballet did erect a New Temple upon Mount jerezim; that the most Scandalous Malefactors, who have been any way obnoxious for breach of Law, may Fly for Refuge to That Asylum, and so become of their Party. Their Vices many times do so border upon Virtue, (or appear at least in that Wizard,) that conceiving they are Sanctified with that Unclean Spirit, with which indeed they are possessed; mistaking the corruptions of Common Nature, for the secret suggestions of Special Grace; an hypocritical Sigh, for a sincere Repentance; a sturdy Presumption for an unshaken Faith; and a carnal Security, for an assurance of Salvation; they make no doubt but to enter at the very striat Gate, merely by walking in the very broad way; supposing that the chiefest reason why so very few do find it, is their seeking to acquire it with too much Pains. And therefore for their own parts, That they may not be in danger to put their Trust in good works, they live as if they took care to have them bad enough. Hence they swallow the greatest Camels, and never feel them going down; Sacrilege, and Schism, and the Sin that is as bad as the Sin of Witchcraft, Deposing of Kings, and Subversion of Kingdoms. For if (say They) they are once Regenerate, none of these things can ever hurt them. Humbly supposing it the privilege of Freeborn Christians, not to need the common honesty of Moral men. These especially are the Persons who stand in need of a conviction, that to be such, as they would be thought, they must be some of God's Servants, as well as Sons. And withal, they must be showed wherein The Service is to consist. For most agree upon the word, but many differ about the thing. Our Saviour tells us of certain Jews, who took the kill of his Apostles to be doing God Service. And Saul did seek to serve God, by madly blaspheming against his Son. How many Professors of Christianity, within our knowledge, and observation, have thought it a Service to the Bridegroom, to offer violence to the Bride? most inhumanly to deprive her of all her Ornaments and Jewels? and to expose her stark naked, to the derision of her Enemies on every side? How many Refiners upon Religion have verily thought to serve God, by shedding the Blood of his Vicegerent? just as certain old Heathens did worship Hermes, by throwing Stones at the Image of him. It is not therefore so much my business, to prove that God is to be served, As to show what we must do whereby to serve him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so far forth as to please him by it, and so as our Service may be accepted. The single word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of Invaluable Importance; It seems to be one of the main Hinges, on which the Door of our Hope and Salvation turns. It concerns us more than the World is worth, to know exactly how much it means; And so to be able to demonstrate (at least to ourselves, if not to others) what kind of Service it is to be, which God will reckon to be sufficient. For considering those words of our blessed Saviour, Seek to enter in at the straight Gate, for many shall seek and shall not enter; how can we quiet our Understandings, or safely set our Hearts at rest, before we know what it is, which will please our Master? and when our Service will be accepted? Now a Service only consisting of naked Orthodoxy and Faith, (as it is an Assent of the Understanding,) is not the acceptable Service commended to us in the Text. But (as appears by the Context) The chiefest requisite is obedience to the Commandments of our Master, whereof our Faith is a special Instance. 'Tis an Employing of ourselves in our Master's business; a careful observance of his Will, in whatsoever he commands us to do, or suffer. Our Saviour tells us the way to life is * Matth. 7. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not only narrow, but craggy too; (for that's imported by the Original, though not expressed in our English Bibles;) A way so encumbered with Christian Precepts, and so blocked up with strict Commands, that as nothing but Faith can open the Door, so nothing but Obedience can clear the way. So that Faith and Obedience are to a Christian, (as the two Comets to a Mariner, whereof the one is called Castor, the other Pollux,) never auspicious but in conjunction. By Faith indeed we may have the Gospel; but we hold it not fast, without Obedience. Without them both in conjunction, we cannot have Grace, as the Text enjoins. For naked faith without obedience (like either of those Comets without the other,) is apt to raise up a Tempest of God's displeasure, enough to shipwreck the Soul of man. I cannot set them both off with a better colour, than if I compare them to Iacob's * Gen. 29. 17. etc. two Wives; whereof the One was very beautiful, but barren too; the other was fruitful, but yet deformed. For as Faith (like Rachel) is wholly barren without obedience, so Obedience (like Leah) is but deformed without Faith. Again, as that without this is void of Eyes, so this without that is utterly destitute of Feet. And though I take it to be impossible, for any follower of Christ to arrive at Heaven, until obedience take up Faith upon her shoulders, that the one may traverse the way thither, and the other direct it; yet because I conceive it less impossible of the two, for an Honest blind Heathen to show me his Faith by his virtuous works, than for a knavish and knowing Christian to show me his works by his naked Faith, (a thing esteemed by St. james the greatest Absurdity in the World,) were Iacob's option mine, I should rather choose Leah with her blear Eyes, than Rachel with her barrenness, that is, obedience without faith, rather than faith without obedience. And do think it by so much a safer thing, to be a very strict Moralist, than a very loose Christian, by how a likelier thing it is, for a Traveller to arrive at his Journey's End, by being a Baiard that can go, than a Cripple that can but see. They who know not, must be instructed; and they who know, but are wilful, must be convinced; and we who acknowledge as well as know, must be for ever put in mind, That when we are said in any Scripture to be saved, or justified by Faith, it can be meant of no other Faith, than what is the Mother of Obedience, and evermore attended with it. Which may appear as by other Arguments, so particularly by this; That as faith and disobedience are set as Terms of opposition, (I Pet. 2. 7, 8.) so faith and obedience are set as Terms aequipollent, (Rev. 14. 12.) From whence 'tis obvious to infer, that our Lord is not an absolute, but a conditional Redeemer. How else can That God who is a comfortable Light, be said to be in This Text a consuming Fire? It is the property of Satan, to be an Abaddon, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. And how can an Attribute of Hell, be in any sense applied to the God of Heaven, but that it is spoken by a Metonymy of the effect for the efficient, and implies God Almighty his deportment towards us, after the measure of ours to Him? A fire to purify and preserve, if we are Gold; but a fire to consume, if we are stubble: A case to be easily illustrated by the waters of jealousy; which if a woman were chaste, would make her fruitful; but if adulterous, they made her thigh to rot, and her belly to swell. Just so said Simeon of the holy Child jesus, that he is set for the fall, and for the rising again of many in Israel. For the fall of the rebellious, and for the rising again of his loyal Subjects; for the fall of such Persons as will not serve him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but for the rising again of such, as will serve him with Reverence and Godly fear. Which proves by a consequence unavoidable, That as he is not an absolute, but a conditional Saviour; so the Condition on which he saves us, is our being true Subjects and Servants to him. 'Tis our repentance from dead works, and our bringing forth fruits meet for Repentance. It is an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men. It is our having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, and the keeping of ourselves unspotted from the World. Lastly the condition on which he saves us, is the Denying of ourselves, and the taking up of his Cross; not to put it out of the way, but to follow Him with it whithersoever he shall lead us; nor to lay it upon other men's shoulders, but meekly to bear it upon our own. This is the acceptable Service pointed at in my Text. Lesle than this is too little, because it is less than will be accepted. And if we come short of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text will be nothing worth. Of this I must labour so much the rather to convince myself, and such as hear me, because the best of us all is apt to have something of the fiduciary, and (without a continual watch) will have a smack of the Antinomian. For let us examine ourselves throughly, and sift ourselves unto the Bran; and then speak freely as honest men unto ourselves. Do we not flatter ourselves often, that we are good enough to serve turn? and that we must not be Righteous overmuch? that 'tis improper for us to live as in the Commonwealth of Plato, whilst we are in the Dregs of Romulus? and that we need not be better than other men, of whose Salvation we suppose it is not Charity for us to doubt? Have we not often sinned the more, if not that Grace may abound, yet because it hath already so much abounded? and the rather adventured to be evil, because of our knowledge that God is good? Do we not generally conceive, (like Him in Zosimus) that we may sin the more safely for being Christians? And have a privilege to be wicked above the rest of mankind, because we are Worshippers of a God who is a God ready to pardon? Are we not much the more careless of falling headlong into Sin, and much the less careful of getting out, because we read, that if we sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, who is the propitiation for all our Sins? Compare the lives of most Christians, (I mean Professors of Christianity,) with what we read of Unbelievers, (whether ignorant Gentiles, or stubborn jews,) And you will say they have need to be all instructed, or atleast to be put in mind, that Believers being the men with whom the best of God's Talents have been entrusted, are by consequence the men too, of whom the best Service will be required. This I shall briefly make appear from two general Topics, or Heads of Arguing. From the principal end or final cause of our Saviour's coming hither, and from his Principal business which took him up when he was here. First for the end of his coming hither, it was rather to redeem us from Sin, than Hell. Rather to sanctify our Nature, than merely to justify our Persons; rather to make us truly Righteous, than only to reckon or count us Iust. And this may appear, as by other Reasons, so more especially by These. First that Sin is by nature far worse than Hell, Because our sins can serve for nothing, but to Injure and Incense the Righteous judge of all the World; whereas Hell is good for something; even to satisfy the justice which Sin hath Injured, and to glorify the judge whom it hath Incensed. From whence it follows, that 'tis much more conformable to the Holiness of God, and more advanceth his Glory too, To have sent his Son into the world, rather to purify, than to forgive it. To forgive it indeed by a secondary intention, but to purify it by the first; (for purity by nature being better than Pardon, by a very good sequel was sooner meant,) To reduce us to our obedience as the chief purpose of his coming, and to give us Heaven as the Accession. For real happiness consisting in being holy as God is holy, 'Tis plain that Heaven can be no more, than a good Appendix of our felicity. For can we imagine, that God himself can be any whit the happier for being in Heaven? No; 'Tis Heaven which is the happier for being God's Throne: which should he fix upon the Earth, Heaven would presently be his Footstool. As it is not the Court which gives Majesty to the King; But wheresoever the King is, there's the Court. To be in Heaven without holiness, (like the lost Regiment of Angels) would be to make it a second Hell. And therefore They, at the Day of Judgement, who shall entreat the Hills to cover them, and the Mountains to fall upon them, will have no other reason for that Entreaty, than to be hid from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne. From whence it is obvious to infer, that to a man of impure Eyes, nothing smarts more than the Sight of Bliss. And therefore our Saviour's coming hither was first to fortify our eyes, or to make them pure, and then to procure us the Blessed Vision. Besides, Secondly, Had he been sent into the world, only to amplify our Charter, but not our Statutes; to free us as really from the Moral, as from the Ceremonial Law; or from the observance of the Law moral, as well as from the curse, and the rigour of it; And so to make us no whit holier, but only happier than before; (if yet a man can be happy who is not holy, which rather implys a contradiction,) he might have been buried before he was born; (buried, I mean, in his Mother's womb;) or he might have been born, only to be buried; He might have been murdered as commodiously by Herod in the Cradle, as by Pilate upon the Cross; and with as great a convenience, have died a Saviour at a year old, as in living till three and thirty. For what better reason can we imagine, why he should live so long a Saint, before he died a public Sacrifice, but that as 'twere by the Aequator, or standing Rule of his life, we might reform and regulate all the obliquities of our own? that he might free us from Sin's Dominion, by his Precepts and Example, his Life and Doctrine, as well as from the wages of it by his Death and Resurrection? For 3dly, let us expostulate and reason a little within ourselves. Can there be any thing more irrational, more dishonourable to God, or more disgraceful to our Religion, than to think that our Saviour came down from Heaven, only to open, and so to shut up the Gates of Hell? To be a Friend of Publicans and Sinners in the same ill Sense, in which his * Matth. 11. 19 Enemies spoke him to be so? 'Tis true indeed in one sense, there can be nothing more Orthodox, than was the malice of those Blasphemers. Christ indeed was the friend of Publicans and Sinners, the greatest Friend to be imagined. But 'twas by Saving them from their Sins, as he did Matthew, and Zachaeus, Mary Magdalen, and the like; not by Saving them for all their Sins however indulgently lived in. Not by making it safe for them to be Sinners without Amendment. Could he come for nothing else but to proclaim a jubilee for Malefactors, and so to make them more voluptuous, not more virtuous than before? Can we imagine that the Law was so a Schoolmaster to Christ, as that the end of his coming should be to turn us from our Books? to beg us a kind of an endless Playday, and so to send us out as Truants into a Mahomet's Paradise? Can it be possibly consistent (I say not with Scripture only and Reason, but indeed) with common Sense, that he should purify to himself a peculiar people, not by bridling Sin, but by letting it ride? That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Zosimus should be (as Zosim. l. 2. p. 61. the Spaniard there calls it) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; (that is to say in plain English) that the mere Christianity of our Opinions should abundantly expiate for all the Atheism of our Lives? and so that the Gospel should be intended, not for a Rule, but a Dispensation? 'Tis true this Fallacy of the Tempter is too too commonly swallowed down; although not only the Stream of Reason, but all the Current of the Scripture runs quite against it. For in the third of the Acts, at the twentieth Verse, God having raised up his Son jesus sent him to bless us, (saith St. Peter;) but how? even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. That blessing altogether consisted in his turning us away every one from our Iniquities. So in the second to Titus, at the eleventh Verse, The Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared indeed to all men. But to what end? 'Twas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we may live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Again in the fourteenth Verse of the same Chapter, Christ is said indeed to have given himself for us; But immediately it follows, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. The gist consisteth in his Redeeming us from all Iniquity. To which at least we may accommodate what is said of our Saviour, Matth. 8. 17. where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which is in Beza's Translation he bore their Sicknesses (or their Sins,) is in Tertullian's he took them away. And let the Translation be what it will, sure I am that the reason is very good. It being the noblest benefaction, and much most worthy of a Saviour who came from Heaven, rather to cure the lame, than to give them crutches; rather to rid us of our sins by reducing us to obedience, than by acquitting us only of punishment, to make our sins the more supportable. And as the prime end of his coming hither, was to correct and reform our practice, so his prime business when he was here was (as our Lord) to prescribe us Precepts, and to press for a due obedience to all the Precepts which he prescribed. Though 'tis the custom of the world, to look upon him as a Saviour, and nothing else, in his Priestly Office only, which is to bless us, and to insist upon his being our Elder Brother; yet * Rev. 19 16 the name written upon his Garment, and on his Thigh, is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. His name is Christ as well as jesus. Moses was his Type, as well as joshua. And observe in what order. He is our Moses in the first place, to make us fit for a blessed Canaan; and then our joshua to give us possession. The general Title of the Gospel [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] which we love to call the New Testament (and nothing else) would (by a more genuine Translation of the word) be expressed by The new Covenant, that is to say, the new † Compare Rom. 3. 27. with Rom. 8. 2. Law. For so it is called by St. Paul, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Law of Faith, (Rom. 3. 27.) And as the whole Moral Law was published by Christ, as well as Moses, (which any man may see who will not wink, in the fifth, sixth, and seventh Chapters of St. Matthew,) so Christ, as well as Moses, thought fit to give it upon a * Matth. 5. 1. Mountain. Nor is it unworthy our observation, That throughout the New Testament, though there is many times a Precept without a Promise annexed to it; yet there is not one Promise which is not clogged with some Precept. As if our Saviour had esteemed it an easier thing, to make us believing and orthodox Christians, than obedient and sincere ones. According to which he elsewhere tells us, that they only shall enter into the Kingdom of his Father † Matth. 7. 21. , not that call upon his Name, but that do his Will. Nay (as there he goes on in the following Verses,) Though a man may have Faith to the working of Miracles, yet if it be built upon the Sand, (as most certainly it is, when 'tis not seconded with obedience,) he foretells what he will say unto men of that sort at the Day of Judgement, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I never knew you. (Not that Vers. 26. 23. Christ can be ignorant of their persons, or their works, to whom he will say, I never knew you. For even that very saying imports he knew them well enough, that is, he knew them to be such, as did deserve that such words should be spoken to them. And therefore the meaning must needs be this, I never knew you to be members of my Body, or to be sheep of my Fold; that is, I know you to be Persons I cannot own. For as to know in the holy Dialect does often signify to approve; so not to know does very often import no more than to disown.) I must confess we might think it exceeding strange, but that our Oracle does assure us 'tis very true, That as Believers we may be able to cast out Devils, and yet as Disobedient may be ourselves possess't with them▪ We may preach to save others, and yet be Castaways ourselves. For be we never so zealous Preachers, or Professors of the Gospel; and at the very same time Indulgent Transgressor's of the Law; our very Advocate will say, when he shall come to be our judge, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity. And therefore our blessed Saviour being about to leave the world, and to teach his Disciples (before he left them) how to serve him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in such a manner as he would like; did not speak in this stile, If ye love me, cast all your Care upon my Promises; or If you love me, stoutly rely upon my merits; (althô there is a place for each of these too,) But, as preparatory to Both, If ye love me, keep my Commandments, John 14. 15. which was as if he should have said, show me your Faith by your works, and your Love by your obedience. Plainly implying to Them and Us, that our Sonship does not give us any Exemption from our Service; our Service being the only thing by which we are able to prove our Sonship. As Christ hath a Priestly, and a Prophetical, so hath he also a Kingly Office. Nor may we kick at the Sceptre and Throne of Christ, and think it sufficient to declare we are his Majesty's most humble and loyal Subjects. Some Earthly Potentates have been thus mocked, but the King of Kings will never be so. We cannot honour our Lord by disobeying him; or show ourselves kind, by being undutiful; For we see that our obedience is both the Argument and the Badge of a True Affection. Our Saviour saith, Matth. 10. 38. He that follows me not, is unworthy of me. Where to follow him, is to be like him; To conform ourselves to him more than a Parasite to his Patron; not to walk in his Path only, but to tread in his very Footsteps. According to that of the Pythagoreans (which deserves for its worth to be Christianized, however writ by that Hierocles who writ a Book against Christ,) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Thou shalt honour God the better, the more thou studiest to be like him. For him we love most, whom we most imitate; and he honours God best, who doth best resemble him; And what kind of Resemblance he most requires, St. john hath told us twice together in his first Epistle and third Chapter; to wit, our being pure as he is pure, (v. 3.) and our being Righteous as he is Righteous, (v. 7.) And our Saviour to the same purpose, having mustered up his Precepts with the several Promises annexed, makes a kind of a Corollary or rather Abridgement of the whole, not at all with a command, that we be happy as God is happy, but with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, be ye perfect as he is perfect. Matth. 5. ult. Thus as briefly, and yet as fully as I could possibly contrive, I have showed the chiefest end of our blessed Saviour's coming hither, and his principal Business when he was here. It was not only as a Saviour, to propose Promises to our Faith; nor only as a Teacher, to fiill our heads with new knowledge, but as a Sovereign, and a Prince, (as St. Peter calls him) to exact obedience to his Commands. And to place it without dispute, He made it part of his business, when he was here, to let us know, why he came hither. For as he tells us in one place (enough to keep us from despair) that he came not to destroy men's lives, Luke 9 56. but to save them; so he tells us in another, (enough to keep us from presumption,) that Matth. 5. 17. he came not to destroy the Law, but to save and preserve That also: and that in each sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not by fulfilling it only, but by * Ita Meletius Monachus, concra Isphacanem Persam Musulmanum. Et Tertullianus c. 3. de poenit. Christus, inquit, susterstruit Adjectionem Legis. Idem de Patient. c. 6. p. 131. filling it up too. For though nothing could be completer than the Law Moral in itself, yet did he fill up those vacuities which Moses left in his Delivery. From all which it follows (do what we can) that Unless our Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the jews, we shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. For can there be any thing more agreeable to the judgement of common Sense, (I had almost said of Carnality itself) than that where God hath afforded a greater Stock, he should expect a greater Increase; that where he hath strengthened the Shoulders, he should in proportion increase the Burden? And that as he hath shrunk up the Mosaical Law, so he should also extend the Moral? Of Moses we know, that he had a Veil upon his Promises, as well as upon his Face; and was as obscure upon Mount Nebo, as before he had been upon Mount Sinai. Whereas our Antitype of Moses hath been graciously pleased to * Vetus dicitur Testamentum quia promissiones terrenas habet. August. de Civ. Dei. l. 18. uncover Both. The jews beheld Christ as in a Glass, but we (in comparison) face to face. They walked by Twilight, but we by the Sun in his Meridian. They were used like little Children, but we like Men. They had a Sensible Vid. Grot. Discus. Apol. Rivet. p. 30, 31. good proposed, but we an Intellectual. They as 'twere an Apple, but we an Inheritance. They a transitory Kingdom, but we a Kingdom not to be moved. They were promised a Redemption indeed from Egypt, but we from Hell. They to be fed with milk and honey, but we never to hunger or thirst. They a long life, but we an Eternal one. They a Canaan, but we a Heaven. And that God will exact the * Luke 10. 13, 14, 15. with which compare Matth. 10. 15. most strict account of our wander, to whom he hath held the greatest light for the better clearing of our ways, we may infer from our Saviour's words in the eleventh Chapter of St. Matthew, where Tyre and Sidon are more excusable than Corazin and Bethsaida, because the later had been obliged with greater Means of Conviction, but all in vain. This affords a Lesson for our Humiliation, That however our Reward is extremely Great, even a Kingdom which cannot be moved, (a Kingdom of Grace and of Glory too,) yet God hath placed it very high, and the way to it is very steep. We must not flatter ourselves therefore, that we are able to fall upwards; that with a yawning Reliance we can ever climb up the Hill of Zion, and drop as 'twere into Heaven with a drowsy Confidence. We have no encouragement from our Apostle, to believe we shall go thither, by merely believing we are Regenerate, and cannot fail of our being there. He does not here press on his Hebrew Christians, to receive their Salvation with Faith; but to serve for it with Reverence. Not to expect it only with confidence, but strictly to endeavour it with godly Fear. For our God is a Consuming Fire. To Him be Glory for ever and ever. HOW A Man is to work out HIS OWN SALVATION. PHILIP. II. 12. Work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling. THe words (in general) are a Command, delivered by St. Paul, in the Name of God the Great Master, to the Servants of God, in the Church at Philippi. In which there are chiefly four things to be considered. First the quality of the Servants. Next the wages which they expected. Thirdly the work, with which the wages was to be earned. And lastly the manner, or qualification, with which the working was to be clothed. First for the Quality of the Servants, They were such as had been diligent in the performance of their Duty. They had not only been sometimes dutiful; they had not only been good by fits; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they had always obeyed; They had evermore lived in the fear of God. Next for the Wages which they expected, That is expressed by [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] to be Salvation; both as it signifies a deliverance from the tremendous Pains of Hell, and as importing an Advancement to the ravishing joys of Heaven Then Thirdly for the Work, with which the Wages was to be earned, That is evidently obedience to the Lord jesus Christ Very significantly employed in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as that looks back upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. As ye have always obeyed, so now much more obey the Gospel. Continue the Course of your obedience. Go on to finish the work which ye have begun; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, work, and work out your own Salvation. Last of all, for the Manner or Qualification of the working, whereby to make it become effectual for the receiving of the Reward, There must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our Salvation is to be wrought for, with Fear and Trembling; And that according to the threefold Signification of this expression. First with Meekness and Humility. We must not put the least Trust in the greatest Performances of our own; nor must we be puffed or lifted up with the Gifts and Graces which God hath given us. Next with Diligence and Solicitude. That we may not for want of Perseverance, finally miss of the Prize that is set before us, and for which we have hitherto as it were contended by our obedience. Thirdly with Awefulness, and Horror, or holy Dread; Because as God is (in one Case) a quickening Light, so he is (in another) a consuming Fire. He who purposely created us to do him service, is He who will turn us to Destruction, unless we serve him as he Requires. And now to anticipate an Inquiry, how Humility, and Solicitude, (as well as Awefulness and Dread, are comprehended under the notion of Fear, and Trembling, I think it is easy to make it clear from the consideration of the Context; without recourse to those other Scriptures, wherein we meet with the same expression. For First in vain should we endeavour the working out of our Salvation, but that it is God who worketh in us both to will, and to do. And therefore we must do it with all Humility of Mind, because in our selves (as of ourselves) there dwelleth no good thing; no not so much as Inclination to any thing that is good, no not so much as Aversation from any thing that is evil. But every good and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights. If we can triumph over the Law, as the strength of Sin, by treading Sin under our Feet, as the sting of Death, All the Thanks must be to God, who hath given us the Victory through our Lord jesus Christ. And yet Secondly; Although it is God that worketh in us both to will, and to do; yet the Apostle makes it a Reason, why we ourselves are to work out our own Salvation. And therefore we must do it with Care and Diligence, lest whilst God by his Grace is not wanting unto us, we finally miss of his Glory, by having been wanting unto ourselves. Thus we see there is pregnant Reason, for the Double Importance of the Phrase as 'tis merely rational. And of the literal Signification I suppose there cannot be any Doubt. For We must work out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling, (in as much as that signifies the greatest Awefulness and Dread,) because of the Dreadfulness of our Doom, in case we work not at all, or not at all to that purpose that God requires. And thus I hope I have so divided, as withal to have explained, and cleared the Text. The first three Parts of the whole Division may well be thrust up together into this Doctrinal Proposition. [That our Salvation is not attainable by a mere Orthodoxy of judgement in point of Faith, or a bare Rectitude of Opinions concerning God; But by obedience to the Gospel or Law of Christ] For what is expressed by obedience, in the former part of this Verse; is also expressed in the later, by the working out of our own Salvation. And as Salvation is a Thing which requires our working; So 'tis not any kind of working will serve our Turn. For The last Particular of the four affords us a second Proposition, which is as apt to defend us from Carnal Security, as the First. To wit, [That however Unavoidable our State of Bliss may seem to us, by our having (with the Philippians) obeyed Always, yet our obedience unto the Gospel or Law of Christ, by which alone we are to work out our own Salvation, is to be qualified and seasoned with Fear and Trembling.] The first of these I have considered in a former Subject of Meditation, when I enlarged upon the Matter of which our working is to consist. I now am come to that Part of my General Method and Design, which obligeth me strictly to the consideration of the Second; as touching the Manner or Qualification wherewith our working is to be clothed, whereby to make it become effectual for the receiving of our Reward. To wit, with Meekness and Humility, with Diligence and Solicitude, with Awefulness and Horror, or holy Dread; the threefold Importance of Fear and Trembling; which must first be considered in the Gross, and after that, in the Retail. First considered in the Gross, it shows us a ready and easy way of reconciling and understanding those parts of Scripture, which being taken but in the letter, do seem to differ, and contradict. For there is not any One Passion or Affection of the Mind, either more rigidly forbidden, or more earnestly commanded, than that of Fear. It is so rigidly forbidden, that the fearful and unbelieving have their part in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, (Rev. 21. 8.) where St. john making a Muster of such as are listed under the Devil, and bound for Hell, sets the Fearful and Unbelieving (as it were) in the Front of the whole Battalia, with which the desperate Prince of Darkness is wont to wage War against the Father of Lights. As for The Murderers, and Whoremongers, The Sorcerers and Idolaters, They all march after in Rank and File; Implying the Fearful and Unbelieving to be the Ringleaders in Hell, and as it were in the Van of the Devil's Army. Unbelief is so commonly the Cause of Fear, and Fear is commonly such a Tempter to Unbelief, that we find them often yoked together, if not so as to signify, one, the other. Woe be to fearful Hearts, and faint Hands, and the Sinner that goeth two ways; woe be to him that is faint-hearted, for he believeth not, therefore shall he not be defended, (Ecclus. 2. 12, 13.) It seems that Fear is a Thing, of which we ought to be sore afraid; Because it is apt to make us sinners going two ways at once. One in our Principles, and quite another in our Practice. Very fit to be compared unto wandering Stars, which are carried towards the West by the Primum Mobile, whilst They are stealing towards the East by their proper motion. When Peter was frighted upon the Sea, and cried [Lord save me] as he was just ready to sink; although it was a good Prayer, yet because it proceeded from Carnal Fear, rather than Faith, our Saviour presently took him up with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, O Thou of little Faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And so it was fitly said by Zachary in his Divine Benedictus, That God did Therefore deliver us out of the hands of our Enemies, that we might serve him without Fear, (Luke 1. 74.) With which agrees That of St. Paul to Timothy; He hath not given us the spirit of Fear, but of Love, (2 Tim. 1. 7.) To which it is added by St. john, That there is no Fear in Love, for perfect Love casteth out Fear, (1 John 4. 18.) Thus we see how this Passion is very rigidly forbidden throughout the Scriptures. And yet for all that it is so earnestly commanded, that we cannot serve God acceptably, unless we serve him with Fear, as well as Reverence, (Heb. 12. penult) Nor can there be any such thing as the working out of our Salvation, unless we do it with Fear and Trembling. For the fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom, (Prov. 1. 7.) Nay (as Solomon goes on in the fourteenth Chapter, v. 27.) The fear of the Lord is a Fountain of Life; the attainment of which is the end of Wisdom. And thence 'tis set by our Apostle as the highest accomplishment of a Christian, To perfect holiness in the Fear of God, (2 Cor. 7. 1.) What then may be the meaning of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, these so seeming Contradictions, that we must serve God with Fear, and that we must serve him without Fear? that there is no fear in love, yet no true love without some fear? The Reconcilement of These is extremely obvious. It is no more but to distinguish betwixt that which is Carnal, and that which is Spiritual; betwixt the spirit of Bondage, and the spirit of Adoption; betwixt a servile, and filial Fear. As 'tis true in one sense, that perfect Love doth cast out Fear, so 'tis true in another, that perfect Love doth carry fear along with it. When I say with St. john, It casteth out Fear; I mean that childish unmanlike Fear, which betrayeth those Succours that Reason offereth; especially that heathenish and carnal fear, the fear of Poverty, and Pain, and other effects of Persecution; the fear that made so many Sinners going two ways at once. And so it casteth out one fear with another; the fear of them that can kill the Body, but are not able to hurt the Soul, with the fear of Him who is able to cast them both into Hell. In this sense 'tis said, we must serve God without Fear. But when I say the same Love doth carry fear along with it, I mean the fear of offending God, the fear of quenching or grieving his holy Spirit; the fear of never doing enough whereby to please him; the fear of falling into Temptation; the fear of a treacherous deceitful heart; that is, the fear of Unsincerity in the performance of our Service; the fear of falling from our own steadfastness, and so of receiving the Grace of God in vain. In this sense 2 Cor. 6. 1. 'tis said by the Royal Prophet, Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto him with Reverence. And thus 'tis said by the Royal Preacher, Happy is the man that feareth always. As a mere carnal fear is a fear of that which is carnal, so a godly fear is the fear of God. First a fear of his Majesty, in respect of which he is a Sovereign; next a fear of his Mercy, in respect of which he is a Father; (for so 'tis said by the Prophet David, There is Mercy with thee, o Lord, therefore shalt thou be Feared.) Lastly a fear of his Wrath and justice, in respect of which he is a judge, and also an Executor of Vengeance. This Fear of God is so necessary for the Qualification of our obedience, that all without it is nothing worth; and even this, of itself, is wont to supply the place of all. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; (that is) men fearing God, is an expression made use of by God himself, whereby to signify conscientious and pious men; men who live in obedience to all his Precepts. job was said to be an upright, and Job 1. 1. perfect man, because he was one that feared God. And the words of Moses to Israel have a remarkable Importance; What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but only to fear the Lord thy God? (Deut. 10. 12.) And what is it to fear him, but (as it follows in the next words) to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve him, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul? Without this Fear, we shall easily fall into presumption, or into carnal security. We shall not strive to enter in at the straight Gate; Nor give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure. We shall not give an earnest heed unto the things which we have heard, (Heb. 2. 1.) If we do not fear, lest a promise being left of entering into his Rest, any of us should seem to come short of it, (Heb. 4. 1.) we shall not labour to enter into that Rest, (v. 11.) For who will labour to get a thing, which he verily thinks he hath as good as in possession? Or who will labour to keep a thing, which he verily thinks he can never lose? I will not here stand to show the manifold danger of their Opinion, who say they were justified from Eternity, and their Sins so forgiven, before committed, That they cannot fall totally, much less finally from Grace; although my Text would bear me out in such a profitable Severity. Nor dare I otherwise be severe to any difference in opinion, than as I find it corruptive of Christian Practice. The case is clear, that our Apostle having commended his Philippians, for having always obeyed the Gospel, does not there make a stop, as if they had done enough already, or needed no more of his Admonitions; but immediately adds, that they must work for their Salvation; and work so far, as to work it out; and work it out in such a manner, as to do it with Fear and Trembling; and that according to the threefold Importance of this Expression; which having thus considered in the Gross, I shall now consider in the Retail too. First we must work it out with meekness, and humility of mind, because it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. All we have is but little, and all that little is but received. All the good we have received, we have received as entrusted, or lent unto us; And whatsoever God lends us, he lends us purposely to Employ. Of all that is lent us to be employed, we are every one to render a strict Account. And this alone may serve to keep us in all humility of mind, that the more we have, the more we owe, and for so much the more we are accountable. And for the more we are unable to render a satisfactory Account, by so much the more we shall be appalled at the Day of Reckoning. 'Tis true indeed (what St. john saith) that by keeping the Commandments we may come to have a * Rev. 22. 14. right to the Tree of Life; And by suffering for God, may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God. Affliction suffered in such a Case is said to ‖ 2 Cor. 4. work for us a weight of Glory. 'Tis true indeed we may be profitable Servants in God's Account; because the unprofitable was commanded to be cast into utter Darkness, Matth. 25. 30. And the Joys of Heaven are expressed by a † Col. 1. 10. 2 Thess. 1. 5. Rev. 3. 4. Crown of Righteousness; as if Eternity of Life were become our due. But all this only by the force of God's Promise who cannot lie; or by the Tenor of the Covenant which God was pleased to make with us; Not by virtue of our Obedience, as that that is equal to our Reward. Which, when it is in its Apogaeo, at the utmost Top of its Exaltation, is not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be Rom. 8. 18. revealed in us. For however St. Paul had preached the Gospel, and preached it too without 1 Cor. 9 16. Vers. 15. 18. charge, not living of the Gospel, (which yet by right he might have done,) but making Vers. 14. his own hands to serve and minister to his Necessities, that he might not be burdensome unto any; yet he professed he had nothing to glory of, for so gratuitous a preaching the Word of God; because a moral Necessity was laid upon him, and woe had been to him if he had not preached it, (1 Cor. 9 16.) Our blessed Saviour so puts the Case, as to illustrate it with a Colour, Luke 17. 7, 8, 9, 10. Admit a Servant is very diligent in the performance of his Duty; ever going when he is sent; ever coming when he is called; and ever doing as he is bid. Does the Master give Thanks to that diligent Servant, for doing the things that were commanded him? I trow not (saith our Saviour.) Even so ye, (as our Lord goes on to Application,) when ye shall have done all those things that are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable Servants, we have done but our Duty; and had been liable to wrath, if we had not done it. Away then with those Philosophers St. August. Epist. 52. Austin speaks of, qui sibi vitam beatam fabricare vellent, who designed themselves a Heaven of their own skill and industry. And away with those Pharisees, not only of our Saviour's, but of these our own Times; whose custom 'tis to thank God, for that they are not like other men. And confining Sanctity to the men of their Sect, do separate from the rest of the Christian World, as from Publicans and Sinners; Sinners not to be approached by men of their Purity. Stand farther off (is their language) for we are holier than you, (Isa. 65. 5.) Conform we rather to St. Paul, the special Badge of whose Saintship was the profoundness of his Humility. For as the chiefest of Sinners do call themselves (by an impious Antiphrasis and Hyperbole) the chief of Saints; so That Apostle on the contrary, although Chieftain among the Saints, doth call Himself (by an holy M 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 osis) The chief of Sinners. When therefore our obedience hath led us to Christ, and Christ is leading us to Heaven, Let us remember the New jerusalem, though a vastly great City, yet (contrary to Myndus) hath a very low Gate. And seeing the lowness of the Gate, stoop we down to enter in. Let us love Good works, but let us not lean too hard upon them. Let us love them as things, without which we cannot be saved; but let us not hope to be saved by them. Let us not labour with an ambition of being more meritorious, but less unworthy than heretofore. Claim we Heaven by a Right, not of Purchase, but of Donation. Having added Obedience to our Faith, add we Meekness to our Obedience. Having done justice, and loved Mercy, let us walk humbly with our God. And so expect our Salvation with Faith, and Hope, as withal to work it out, with Fear and Trembling. And that according to the first Importance of this Expression. Again we must do it with fear and trembling, in as much as that signifies the greatest anxiety and solicitude, that we do not run in vain, nor labour in vain, (Philip. 2. 16.) that we do not faint as we are running, and possibly miss of the Prize within a stride of the Goal. For though we work for Salvation whole years together, and work for it never so hard, yet whilst we are in the Body, and compassed about with a Tempting world, we cannot say we have worked it out. So that That is a Thing to be still in doing, and to be done with Fear and Trembling. For as there are a sort of Labourers who do not come into the Vineyard, until the ninth or tenth hour; so there are that fall off in the very Evening, and lose the benefit of their Labour during the heat of the Day. (For when they cease from being Righteous, all their passed Righteousness shall not be mentioned, (Ezek. 18.) Had not judas been worthy, Christ had not made him an Apostle; and had he not been a good Apostle, he had hardly been trusted with the Bag, much less had he been sent to dispense the Gospel. 'Tis very late ere we read the Devil entered into judas, hardly sooner than a day or two before his Death. And though our Saviour said, he chose twelve, whereof one was a Devil; yet did he not say, He chose a Devil. For judas was not a Devil, that is, a Traitor, till some time after he had been chosen. Which fitly serves to put us in mind, that if we know what we are, we are not sure of what we shall be. What our last days will be, we cannot tell till we have lived them. We may speak out of Hope, but out of Certainty we cannot. I know who they are, who breathe nothing but Assurance of Life eternal, as if That were the english of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as if their Rebellions were meritorious, mistake the sturdiness of their Presumption, for the stability of their Faith. So little or nothing are they concerned in St. Paul's Exhortation to Fear and Trembling, that supposing they are sure, they think it below them to be solicitous. I would to God that such Professors had but the patience to consider, that St. Peter doth not exhort us to make our selves sure of our Election; but to make our Election 2 Pet. 1. 10. sure. The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not meant in an Active, but Passive sense; nor of the Person, but of the Thing. St. Paul had sure as much reason, not to doubt of his Election to life Eternal, as any mere mortal, before, or after. And yet with what a deal of fear and trembling, did he run the Race that was set before him? how did he strive for the 1 Cor. 9 4. Mastery? And in order thereunto, how very temperate was he in all things? How did he keep under his body? how did he bring it into Subjection? and all for fear, left whilst he was preaching unto others, He himself might be a * Vers. ult. Castaway? How did he † Philip. 3. 8, 11, 12, 13, 14. suffer the loss of all things, and count them but Dung for the winning of Christ, who was at once his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, at once his Rewarder, and his Reward; the setter out of the Prize, and the Goal itself? 'Tis true indeed, He wins that loses, who loses All to win Christ. But, in order unto this end, with what fear and trembling did he press towards the Mark, and reach forth to those things that were before him, embracing a fellowship with the Sufferings of Christ, and being conformable unto his Death; if by any means he might attain to the Resurrection of the Dead; if by any means he might apprehend That, for which he was also apprehended of Christ jesus? And here to anticipate an Objection which very easily may be made by a sort of men, I think it of use to be observed, That He first had fought the good Fight, and finished his Course, before he durst presume to say (in the following words,) Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness. It was not till after his Perseverance with Faith and Patience unto the end, that is, but a little before his Death, when the Axe and the Headsman stood ready for him, (at least when both were within his Prospect,) that he was able to speak with so great Assurance. For before that Season, whilst he was yet but in his Course, and had not fought to a perfect Victory; he flatly told his Philippians, He did not speak of his Proficiency in the School of Christ, as if he counted himself to have apprehended, or as if he thought he were already made perfect; But on the contrary, He did so work out his Salvation with Fear and Trembling, as that he macerated himself, and (what with fasting, and watching, and other Austerities of Life,) he did bear in his body the Dying of the Lord jesus; lest whilst he preached to save others, he himself might not be saved. He had not yet endured unto the end, and so he was not yet free from Fear. For he that endureth unto the end, the same is he (saith our Saviour) who shall be saved; (Matth. 24. 13.) It was the voice of God himself, (revealed from Heaven five several Times) He that overcometh shall inherit all things, Rev. 21. 7. He that overcometh is He that shall eat of the Tree of Life, (Rev. 2. 7.) He that overcometh is He that shall not be hurt with the second Death, (v. 11.) He that overcometh is He that shall eat of the hidden Manna, (v. 17.) And who is he that overcometh, but he that keepeth God's works unto the end, (v. 26.) To Apply this now unto ourselves; If we can say with St. Paul, that our Battle is quite fought, (against the World, the Flesh, and the Devil,) And that our Course is quite finished, (in so much that we are able to lay our hands upon the Goal,) we then may say with him too, Henceforth is laid up for us a Crown of Righteousness. We may say, we have a Right to the Tree of Life; That God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a righteous judge, who will not be so Unfaithful (having given us a Promise,) as to forget our work and labour of love, (Heb. 6. 10.) And so being sure to be with Christ, we may desire to be dissolved too. But whilst we are upon the way, and we cannot tell how far from our journeys end; Nor what may happen 'twixt This and That; sure the use we are to make of our present standing, is to take great heed that we do not fall. We must beware, if we are righteous, that we do not return from righteousness to sin. The higher we stand in God's Favour, we must beware so much the more, that we be not highminded, but rather fear; lest for having (like Capernaum) been lifted up to Heaven, we be the rather (like Capernaum) cast down to Hell. There was a Proverb among the jews, The Sow is turned being washed to her wallowing in the Mire. And St. Peter applies it to certain Christians, who have made it good in the Application; even by growing Unrighteous after Regeneration, (2 Pet. 2. ult.) For having been washed from the Mire of Sin Original by the Laver of Baptism, and from the Mire of Sins Actual by the blood of jesus Christ, in the other Sacrament of Eucharist, they have committed the very Sins, of which they had solemnly repent, and so their latter end hath been worse than their beginning. Now▪ putting the Case unto ourselves, we know not what may arrive betwixt the Cup and the Lip, much less betwixt This and the Day of judgement; especially if we meet with a Time of Trial. We cannot be confident of our strength upon any better Ground than St. Peter stood on. And having not Grace at our own Disposal, we must not boast (as he did) what we will do above others, when Christ is under a Condemnation. If we have followed him to Golgotha, we must religiously fear to forsake him there. For let our Enduring be what it will, it will be found to no purpose, unless we endure unto the end. And thence it follows, that till we have Happiness in Possession, we are to live by such a Faith, as doth admit an holy mixture of fear and trembling. This Mode or Manner of our obedience being as rigidly required by God Almighty, as the Matter, and Measure, and Method of it. Not only Faith, and Repentance, and Amendment of Life, but also Perseverance in each of These, is the Condition of the Promises which God in Christ hath made to us. Whose House we are (saith the Epistle to the Hebrews) if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end, (Heb. 3. 6.) Take heed therefore Brethren (as it follows a little after) lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God, (v. 12.) But exhort one another daily, whilst it is called, To Day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of Sin, (v. 13.) For we are made partakers of Christ, (not absolutely, but with an If,) If we hold the beginning of our Confidence steadfast unto the end, (v. 14.) Now what needed the holy Penman to have crowded and thronged so many Caveats so thick together in that one Chapter, (and in other Chapters of that Epistle,) if the People of God are so sure of Heaven, that there is not place left for a fear of Hell? If some at lest who were enlightened, and by true Grace sanctified, do turn Mammelucks and Apostates, as Lycerus hath observed, and as Lycerus in Harm. Evang. p. 1562. the Apostle doth take for granted, (Heb. 6. 6.) we ought to fear, and take heed, that We be none of their Number. For God's promises to us of a Spiritual Canaan, are no more absolute than those of a Temporal Canaan, which he made heretofore to his People Israel. And since he swore to the * Heb. 3. 15, 16. Provokers which came with Moses out of Egypt, that notwithstanding his promise, (which appears by that to have been conditional,) they should not enter into his Rest, (Heb. 3. 18.) the Apostle tells us we ought to fear, lest (if we do as they did) we come short (as they did) of the conditional promise proposed to us, (Heb 4. 1.) And conformably to this, St. john doth earnestly exhort us, to look to ourselves, that we lose not the things which we have wrought, but that we may receive a full Reward, (2 Joh. 8.) And he that saith here for our Consolation, [It is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure,] doth also say for our greater Caution, that we ourselves are to work out our own Salvation. Plainly intimating unto us, (for he is not guilty of Contradictions,) That God's working in us to will and to do, is not after an irresistible, but congruous manner; not as with natural, but as with voluntary Agents; not by physically enforcing, but by morally persuading our peevish Wills. He doth so work with us, as to require that we also do work with Him. It is evinced even from hence, that as God hath his part, so we have ours, in the great Business of our Salvation, Because we are many times threatened with falling short of the promise, in Case we depart from the living God. For God cannot threaten to be revenged upon his Creatures, for what Himself doth either do, or not do, but for what is either performed, or not performed, by his Creatures. It being not possibly imputable to the Creature, that God hath made it Thus, or Thus; any more than God himself can be accountable to his Creature, why he made it Thus, or Thus. God indeed doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, most divinely work in us both to will, and to do, the work required to our Salvation. But 'tis that we may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, work out that work which he is pleased to work in us. And by consequence we must do it with fear and trembling, lest when God hath done his part, we finally miss of Salvation, for having been wanting in doing ours. And this doth lead us to consider the third Importance of the expression, the very great Awefulness or Dread, with which we are to work out our own Salvation. The two first were rational, this third is Literal. And indeed the third may be deduced out of the second. For if we may fall as well as others, we may be liable to vengeance, as well as others. That which calls for our solicitude, deserves our Fear. And that which was St. Paul's reason, may well be ours, even because our God is a Consuming Fire. I may say in some sense, that God made Hell for the use of all; as well of the best, as the worst of men. For a Torment only to These, who have hated knowledge, and will Prov. 1. not choose the fear of the Lord; But for a Terror also to Them, whom he would therefore have to fear, that they may not feel it. That working out their Salvation with fear and trembling, they never may come to the place of Torment. The same Spirit that saith, Fear not them that can kill the Body only, (which is a fear proceeding from the spirit of Bondage,) doth also say at the same Time, But rather fear Him who can cast both Body and Soul into Hell. Implying This to be such a Fear, as doth very well consist with the spirit of Adoption. It's true indeed, we may be brutishly valiant, and over-daringly encounter the wrath of Heaven, without the least fear of the pains of Hell. But this (I say) is a beastly courage; an arrant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say, A fool-hardiness rather than valour. True Valour being That, that is built on Reason. Nor can we Reasonably be free from the fear of Hell, until we come to be sure of Heaven. And sure of Heaven we cannot be, until we have fought the good fight to a final victory, and perfectly finished our Christian Course. We must not suffer the novel Fancy of unconditional Election to flatter us out of all fear of the wrath of God, and make us sure to miss of Heaven, by making us dream it is unavoidable. For as God in his judgement is no Respecter of Persons, so neither was Rom. 2. he in his Decrees. As his Rule is in Time, to judge us according to our works; so he decreed from all Eternity, to proceed in Time by that Rule. He did determine the end of men, with a special respect to their Qualifications, (from whence his Decree is called respective,) But he did absolutely determine that men who are thus or thus qualified, should come to this or that end. And I could wish that this Distinction (since 'tis sufficient of itself) might find so much favour in all men's Eyes, as to appease and reconcile dissenting Brethren. That as the Decrees of the Almighty are said to be Absolute in one sense, so they may candidly be granted to be Respective in Another. This methinks should be the Judgement of all Mankind, (being so visible in itself, and of so necessary Importance to the well-ordering of our Lives,) That God did absolutely decree a most indissoluble Connexion betwixt Repentance and Salvation, as betwixt Impenitence and Condemnation. Which proves the end to have been decreed with a special respect unto the means. Let this one thing be granted, (as well for the Comfort of the good, as for a Terror to evil Doers,) And I, for my part, shall ask no more. For the Decree which is respective in sensu diviso, may so be proved to be Absolute in sensu composito, as to afford a Demonstration, That God's Decree of the several Ends was in respect to the several Means. For if in sensu composito, He did absolutely decree, that all who are faithful and repent should belong to Heaven, and that all who are faithless and impenitent should in like manner belong to Hell; Then his Decree was respective (in sensu diviso) of that Repentance, or Impenitence, by which Professors do belong to Heaven, or Hell. From whence it follows avoidable, that if we are faithless and impenitent, (be it in a greater, or lesser measure,) we ought to be affected with fear and trembling, (in the literal sense of this expression,) and never to give ourselves Rest, until we be faithful, and do repent. But faithful and penitent we cannot be, till by the power of God's Grace, (after our Prayers and Tears shall have given him no Rest) he shall be pleased to work in us, and with us too, not only to will, but to do his work. That by the power of his Grace we may all endeavour, and by the power of his Grace on our Endeavours, we ourselves may have a Power too, whereby to work out our own Salvation. And work for it we must with a sacred horror, because of the Dreadfulness of our Doom, if we work remissly. For as (on one side) God himself cannot condemn us, (although our sins past have been very great,) if we immediately repent and amend our lives, because he is faithful who hath promised, and he hath promised forgiveness to all that repent and turn unto him; so withal (on the other side) Let our Righteousness passed have been what it will, yet if we return from Righteousness to Sin, God himself cannot save us, without our Repentance and Reformation, because he hath sworn that the Impenitent shall not enter into his Rest. Not that God can be overpowered by any Quality in the Creature, whether Repentance in the first Case, or Impenitence in the second; But because his Power (in the first) is suspended by his Mercy, as it stands in conjunction with his Truth. For in his Mercy he made a Promise to give us pardon if we repent, and in his Truth he must perform it. Just so his Power (in the second) is suspended by his justice, as it stands in conjunction with his Truth too. For in his justice he made an Oath to be revenged on the Impenitent, and in his Truth he must make it good. Now since each of these Cases concerns us All, (be we never so good, or be we never so evil,) I need not show by another Medium how the love of God's Mercy doth consist with a fear of his Indignation, and how whilst we love him as a Father, we ought to fear him as a Judge. But (to conclude with such a Caveat, as may best of all become an Ingenuous People) Take we heed that our Fear do not swallow up our Love; for fear it swallow up us too in the Bottomless Pit of Desperation. We must serve God with Fear, but so as to fear him also for Love. Ever saying with the Psalmist, There is mercy with thee o Lord, therefore▪ shalt thou be feared. The Psalmist did not thus argue, There is Mercy with Thee o Lord, Therefore shalt thou be relied upon, Therefore we shall make the bolder with thee; we shall break thy Commandments without the fear of being damned, because we know thou art slow to anger, and being angry art quickly pleased; But because of thy mercy thou shalt be feared. And there is good reason for it. For by how much the kinder a Father is, a well-natured Son will fear to offend him so much the more. And the more our Father which is in Heaven does even delight to please us, (by heaping his Mercies and Favours on us,) by so much the more shall we be afraid, (if we are well-natured Children) to exasperate our Father which is in Heaven. What then remains, but that we ponder these things, and lay them up in our hearts, and draw them forth into our Actions, and daily repeat them in our Lives, And reap the comfort of so doing, in the hour of Death, and the Day of judgement. Which God of his Mercy prepare us for, even for the glory of his Name, and for the worthiness of his Son; To whom, with the Father, in the Unity of the Spirit, be ascribed by us, and by all the World, Blessing, and Glory, and Honour, and Power, and Wisdom, and Thanksgiving, from this time forward for evermore. THE GRAND INQUIRY To be made In these Inquisitive Times, Taken from the Mouth of The Frighted jailor OF PHILIPPIS. THE GRAND INQUIRY To be made in These Inquisitive Times. ACTS XVI. 30. What must I do, that I may be saved? THus the jailor at Philippi sought to his Prisoners for a Deliverance. Not his ordinary Prisoners, who at once were in Bondage to Him and Satan; And were bound up in Misery as well as Iron; who had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, spirits so gross, and so incrassat, and so manacled to the Flesh, that together with their Bodies, their Souls were put into the Stocks, as knowing no better Liberty than what consisted in the Freedom of Hands and Feet. But the Prisoners in the Text were Prisoners only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Men whose Liberty did consist in the ubiquity of their Thoughts, and in being made free of the New jerusalem. Men, who by living the Life of Faith, maintained an Intercourse with God and his glorious Angels. And though their Carcases or Outsides were contiguous to the Earth, yet their Commerce and Conversation was still in Heaven. They were at once such a Free and such a Dreadful sort of Prisoners, as by their Liberty to pray, and to sing praises unto God, (v. 25.) may be said to have taken their Prison Captive. For their Midnight Devotions were suddenly followed with an Earthquake; in so much that the Foundations of the Prison were shaken, the Doors flew open of themselves, and the Bands of the Prisoners were all unloosed, (v. 26.) Nor indeed is it a wonder, that such a Miracle should be seen in so blind a Dungeon, whilst the Prisoners that were in it were Paul and Silas. For These were two of that little number, by whom the world had been turned upside down, Acts 17. 6. not in that malicious sense, in which the words were there used, by the certain lewd fellows of the base sort, who had assaulted the House of Jason, and set the City in an uproar, (v. 5.) They having turned it upside down, not for the worse, but for the better. The Confusion which they made did tend to Harmony, and Order. They made men Antipodes to themselves, by their contrary walking to what they hitherto had done. And so in effect, They turned a Chaos upside down, more properly than a World. Or if it must needs be called a world, it was the world lying in wickedness, 1 Joh. 5. 19 The world composed of three Ingredients, which made it fit to be cleansed by another Deluge. For all that is in the world (as the same St. john saith) is the Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eye, and the Pride of Life. And this alone was That world, which by Precept, and Example, by Life, and Doctrine, these first Preachers of Christ were to turn upside down. And this accordingly they did in a great many respects. As in opening the Eyes of the Ignorant Gentiles, and in mollifying the Hearts of the stubborn jews, and in breaking down the Partition-wall, which God himself had built up betwixt the jew and the Gentile. They turned the world upside down, by beating Swords into Ploughshares, and warlike Spears into peaceful Pruning-hooks. By making the Lamb to lie down with the Wolf, and the Kid with the Hyaena. By making Friendship and Peace between the Greek and the jew, as between the jew and the Samaritan. By turning Infidels into Believers; Idolaters into Christians; and the rebellious Sons of Darkness into Children of the Light. Thus without Archimedes his Postulatum or Hypothesis, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or (as it is in the Doric Dialect) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an easy way was found out, to turn the world upside down. Sure I am that in my Text there was somewhat like it. For Paul and Silas who were yesterday as the off-scowring of the Earth, are now on a sudden entertained as two Inhabitants of Heaven. They who yesterday had been dragged, both in their Persons, and in their Names, through the public Marketplace of Philippi, (v. 19) who had had their clothes rend, and been beaten with Rods, (v. 22.) who had been thrown into a Dungeon as a Couple of pernicious and insufferable men, (v. 24.) are now revered and sought unto, as the very Oracles of God. That very jailor who was yesterday putting their Feet into the Stocks, and thrusting them into the inner Prison, (v. 24.) is now awaked by their Music, and stands affrighted at their Liberty, and is ready to kill himself with his Sword, for fear of dying by their Escape; when, being hindered by his Prisoners from offering violence to Himself, he even springs into their Presence with fear and trembling, and (by Faith coupled with Fear) falls down prostrate at their Feet with this short Inquiry, (an Inquiry very plain, but yet sufficiently mysterious, and as copious in the sense, as it is short in the letter,) What must I do, that I may be saved? Which is as if he should have said, (that I may paraphrase his words,) Seeing I cannot but acknowledge, that the Doctrine you Teach is the Truth of God, and the Truth of That God who now hath testified it by Miracle, in shaking my Prison by its Foundations, in compelling its Doors to do you Reverence, and in making your Fetters afraid to hold you; And seeing I cannot but acknowledge, That such a God is to be served by every one who will be saved; I beseech you Sirs inform me wherein his Service is to consist, and how I may attain to so great Salvation. It is not Silver, or Gold, or Security for your Persons, that I demand▪ I do not earnestly entreat you to confine your Heads within the Dungeon, or to return your Feet into the Stocks, (though That is as much as my Life is worth;) But if there is any Thing in the World which you will do for my sake, Tell me what I must do, that I may be saved. And here I am sorry that I must say, (what yet I must, if I deal uprightly,) That we who pass for very prudent and sober Christians, may very well be sent to School to this frighted Heathen. We may learn from this jailor in his time of exigence and distress, how our Souls should be employed at our Times of leisure. Not in progging for Riches, or worldly Greatness, ask what we must do to get a fortune when we have none, or to increase it when it is gotten, or to keep it when 'tis increased, or to recover it when it is lost, or to secure it if recovered from running the risk of a Relapse; Nor yet in progging (with Eudoxus) for Ease and Pleasure, without either End, or Interruption, ask what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or wherewithal we shall be clothed. We must not be carefully contriving with the unjust Steward, (Luke 16. 3.) in his What shall I do to put a cheat upon my Lord, and to oblige his Debtors to me, that when I am put out of my Stewardship, they may receive me into their Houses. Nor may we ask with the wealthy Miser, (Luke 12. 17.) What shall I do for sufficient Treasuries and Barns, wherein to bestow all my Fruit and my Goods; (as if his Life had consisted in the Abundance of the Things which he possessed, v. 15.) But our Inquiry must be rather like that of the Multitude to our Saviour, What shall we do that we may work the work of God? (that is to say in plainer Terms,) what course shall we take, that we may do what thou bidst us? that John 6. 27. we may labour for the meat which will never perish, but endure unto Life everlasting? or as the Publicans and Soldiers, and other Proselytes to the Baptist, who had warned them to flee from the wrath to come, (Luke 3. 7, 10.) What shall we do whereby to anticipate our Destruction, and to avert the sad effects of the fatal Axe, which now is laid to the Root of the Tree? what shall we do, as to the bearing good fruit, to prevent hewing down, and being cast into the Fire? or as the jailor of Philippi Vers. 9 to Paul and Silas, (in the words which are now before us,) what must we do that we may be saved? In which Inquiry of the jailor there are Four Things observable. First the End of the Inquiry; Next the Means conducing to it; Then the necessary Connexion between the one and the other; And lastly the Person here Enquiring, together with the Persons inquired of. First the End of the Inquiry is here expressed to be Salvation. 'Tis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That I may be saved. Next the Means of its Attainment (which make the Object of his Inquiry) are here employed to consist in Practice. For it is not thus asked, what must I outwardly Profess? or what must I inwardly believe? But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; what must I Do, that I may be saved? Thirdly the necessary Connexion between the Means and the End, is very significantly employed in the little word Must. For 'tis not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; what shall I do? (though That is also comprehended,) but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; what Must I do that I may be saved? Lastly The Person here Enquiring, together with the Persons inquired of, are The jailor and his two Prisoners, Paul and Silas. These He earnestly consulted about the Business of his Salvation. Yet not as Prisoners, or Private men, but as attested by the Miracle to be Ambassadors from God. For as God the Son had His mission from God the Father, so had They Theirs from God the Son. As my Father sent me, so send I you, was the saying of Christ to his Twelve Apostles. And He that receiveth you, receiveth me, As he that receiveth me, receiveth also him that sent me. They were not only The Nuntios, but Representatives of Christ. He alone was the Oracle, at which Salvation was to be asked; But Paul and Silas were two of those sacred Mystae, by whom the Responses were to be given. And so of Them in That Notion our Neophyte jailor did fitly ask, What must I do, that I may be saved? This indeed is the Division, But it is not nice enough to be the measure of my Intent in the Tractation of the Text. Wherein I purpose to consider, not so much the Matter, as the Condition of the Question. No nor That, in a Dogmatical, but in an Applicatory way. Nor so, in general, or at large, but as particularly relating unto the Terrors in the Context, whereby the jailor of Philippi was happily frighted into Devotion. It being chiefly my present Aim, (not to touch on those Notions which I have used on a Text of some Affinity with This in another Place, but) to fill up the Vacuities of my former Design, by supplying That Here, which was there omitted. For the accomplishing of which, As in all Moral Subjects of Meditation and Discourse, The Method is still to be Analytical; so in This (above All) which now does call for our Attention, I must begin with the End of the Iailor's Quaere. For He who is so great a Sluggard, as not to open his Lips for the way to Heaven, will hardly be so industrious, as to labour with his Hands, or so much as pluck them out of his Bosom, whereby to lay * 1 Tim. 6. 12, 19 hold on Eternal Life. How very far are They from striving to enter in at the straight Gate, who are not anxious enough to ask, whereabout the Gate lies, or which is the way to get it open? How little can we expect they should give all diligence, to make their Calling and Election sure, who have not the Courage or Curiosity to learn of what sort it is? who are too Lazy to contemplate, or too delicate to inquire, either into the End, or the Nature of it? Can they be heartily employed in working out their Salvation with fear and trembling, who will not trouble themselves to ask, (no not so much as this Heathen-Iailour) what it is they must do that they may be saved? 'Tis very strange that so it should be, but very clear that so it is: That of the All which concerns us as Men or Christians, though nothing makes a greater Noise than the Salvation of the Soul, yet there is nothing in the World of any considerable account, (whether for Profit, or Pleasure, or Reputation,) which is so little looked after, or laboured for. For This is sure the sole reason, (or at least one of the chief) why a far * Matth. 7. 13, 14. lesser number of men belongs to Heaven than to Hell; And why the Harvest of Satan will be very Matth. 3. 12. much greater than That of Christ; because Men commonly are industriously and expensively wicked, They sin as with a Cart-rope, and drink iniquity like water, they think they can never bid enough, whilst they are purchasing a Mansion in the Territories of Darkness; And therefore in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, (though spoken by Him in * Mortem vocat Hostem mortiferum. Ut sensus sit, sperabant se, blandiendo, salutem reperturos apud Sennacharibum. Grot. in locum. Micah 7. 3. Wisd. 1. 12, 16. another sense,) They make a Covenant with Death, and with Hell are at Agreement, (Isa. 28. 15.) or, (as the excellent Book of Wisdom does more designedly express it,) They even call Death to them, and pull Destruction upon themselves with the works of their Hands. They are as studious of variety, and as wittily inventive of evil things, as if the Burden of their Inquiry were none but. This, What must we do that we may be damned? But now so far are most men from being either as expencefully or as elaborately virtuous, that they rather are afraid of being righteous overmuch; (as they love to misinterpret the words of Solomon;) Their strictest Care is, not be taken for Praecisians; And they are really ashamed to be holy indeed, for fear it should make them look like Hypocrites. They are so far from taking pains, and making a Business of Religion, that they do not so much as say, with the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Pythag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Pythagoreans, (who summoned the Actions of every Day before the Tribunal of every Night,) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; What evil have I done since I rose this morning? or what Good Deed have I omitted? whither goes the way that I am now walking in? goes it to Egypt? or to Canaan? leads it to Heaven? or to Hell? Much less do they ask with this frighted jailor in the Text; What must we do that we may be saved? Now the reason of this Reason doth seem to be chiefly A want of That, which was required of the jailor as a chief means of his being saved; even a cordial believing in the Lord jesus Christ, and a Belief of That Salvation which in the Text is inquired after. Of which I doubt there are but few that are True Believers, even of Them who do not doubt of their own Belief. So that there is not a greater Instance of the Deceitfulness of a man's Heart, than his Treacherous Belief that he does Believe; when yet he proves by all his Practice that he is either no Believer, or else no better than a Gamester when he believes that he shall win. How many Professors of Christianity who daily assent unto the Creed, do still confute their own Belief of the two last Articles, The Resurrection of the Body, and the Life Everlasting? For is it possible that a man should very seriously believe he shall last for ever, and not be vehemently solicitous, whether in Heaven, or in Hell? or that he really should believe there is a Heaven, and a Hell, without a minutely concernment, to which of the two he must needs belong? If a man's Neck be but obnoxious to the Gallows or the Block, or his Goods but in danger of Confiscation, sleep itself will not be strong enough to give him rest, until he has used his whole strength to purchase a Pardon, or a Reprieve. And did he as really believe, that he shall rise after Death to a Day of judgement, when evil Doers shall be cast into a Bottomless Asphaltites, a Lake which evermore is burning with Fire and Brimstone, o with what Horror and Indignation would he look back upon his Sins? with what Remorse and Self-Revenge would he afflict himself for them in Soul and Body? with what a vehement desire would he demonstrate his Repentance by Change of Life? o with what Carefulness and Concernment would he endeavour to make his Peace with abused justice? with what strong crying and Tears would he sue for Mercy? Not in the language of St. Peter, when transported out of his wits by his great Amazement, Depart Luke 5. 8. from me o Lord, for I am a sinful man; But rather with Christ upon the Cross where he recited in Syriac those words of David, My Matth. 27. 46. Psal. 22. 1. God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me! How much rather would he choose, to do it now to some purpose, and that but once, than at last to no purpose, and that for ever? Say then, good Reader, and say without Partiality; Can a man in good earnest believe his own Immortality, whilst he so seldom or never minds the future condition of his Soul? and is not solicitous what to do, that he may be saved? There can be nothing more incredible, than that a man of such a Faith should be so destitute of Fear. For what account can be given, why a man should shrink at Death, a great deal more than at Damnation, and more provide against the pains of a dying Life, than the Torments of a Death which will live for ever, (that is, more against the first, than the second Death,) but that he steadily believes the first may easily come to pass, whilst he hopes that the second is but a Fable? They who hitherto have thought they were True Believers, whilst yet their Infidel Lives have strongly proved that they were none, will confess what I say, if they ever shall have Patience enough to meditate; and shall meditate long enough, to comprehend the whole force of my present reason. Now in order to my purpose, which is to rouse up some or other out of the Lethargy they are in, and to set them on work in this Grand Inquiry, I shall reason a little farther with the Paganish Professors of Christianity. And first of all let it be granted, (what ought not yet to be supposed,) That what they have not in Themselves an active Power to demonstrate, cannot have a passive Power of being demonstrated by others; that so they may not be offended at the uncivil possibility, of other men's being deeper or quicker sighted than Themselves. For some are so strongly of opinion, that their particular Comprehension is the Adequate measure of all Existence, that they are apt to deny, and to disbelieve, that there is any thing in the World beyond the Horizon of their Conceit, than to suspect, or confess, that their Souls are unbiased. Not vouchsafing to consider, how great a number of Things there are about the Body of a Flea, which are invisible to their Eyes, whilst unassisted, and yet are evident unto any, who shall behold them through a Microscope. And if to the natural Eye of Reason, we add the Telescope of Faith, which is the Evidence of Things not seen, we shall have an easy Prospect of that Salvation, which the jailor of Philippi enquired after. And discern the true reason, why the Sciolists of the Age (who are called the Wits) do first contend there are no Spirits, and thence infer there is no Hell, and so conclude they need not ask, what it is they must do that they may be saved; even because they have too much, and too little wit. For if they had less, they would not raise their Objections; and if they had more, they would be able to refute them. But be it so that they themselves are not able to demonstrate, there is a Hell to be saved from; Dare they say they are better able to demonstrate that there is none? Can they say that they have died, to make a Decision of the Question? And been restored again to life, to declare the Negative by Experience? Do they suspect the Galilaean whom we commonly call jesus, in what he saith of an outer Darkness, and therein of a Worm which never dies, and of a Fire which is not quenched? And do they so far suspect him, that they resolve to make an Essay of his Veracity, and therefore trust not his Doctrine, till they have tried it? will they admit of no Philosophy, but what they call Experimental? and therefore stay till they are dead for a Determination of their Doubt, because (forsooth) until the time that they have tasted the first Death, they know not if they can feel a second? I say admit they do not know, that there are Torments after Death to endure for ever. Should not this suffice to Awe them, that such there are for aught they know? Or are their Souls so wholly drowned and swallowed up in Sensualities, as that they have not any leisure wherein to consider their latter End? Have they not Melancholy enough in their Constitutions, to fix their volatile spirits (no not so much as for an hour) upon that which concerns them the most that may be, even the Subject of a joyful or sad Eternity? Or have they the leisure to consider their latter end, but only want sufficient Courage and Resolution to endure it▪ as being a pungent, and a dismal, and not only a sad, but an insupportable Consideration? This methinks is as absurd, as whatsoever it is that hath been alleged. For if they have not the patience to think or meditate upon Hell for a little season; How much less will they be able to undergo it with Patience to all Eternity? If the wages of Sin is such, whilst it is yet but in the earning; Lord! how terrible will it be at the Time of Payment? And what a strange Contradiction does this imply in some men's humours, That they should dare incur the danger of enduring those Torments of Hell itself, whereof they dare not endure so much as a deep consideration? no not long enough to inquire, what they must do to be saved from them? But all this is no more than an empty Mormo, to Them whose Faculties are possess't with a spirit of slumber, being benumned Rom. 11. 8. by those foolish and hurtful Lusts, which 1 Tim. 6. 9 drown the Soul in Misery and Perdition. Some are either so entangled with worldly Cares, or else so transported with carnal Pleasures, they do so hunger after some sins, and so thirst after others, and are so satisfied in the misery of enjoying God's Anger, (by being at a full agreement with Sin and Hell,) that they are Isa. 28. 15. still too much diverted by offering Sacrifice to their Senses, to be able to reflect, or to look before them. Either they do not at all remember, in the midst of their Enjoyments, that for all these things God will bring them to Eccles. 11. 9 judgement; or if some times they do, they strait contrive how to forget it. And if nothing else will, either Wine, or Women, or Sleep, or Music, or all these together, will put it out of their Remembrance. Prosperity is a weapon, which hardly one in Ten Thousand hath ever known how to wield. No not Solomon the wise, in a state of Grace; no nor Adam the uncorrupt, in a state of Innocence; no nor Lucifer the beautified, in a state of Glory. They that have so much Peace without, as to beget a stupefaction, called Peace within, who live at ease in their Possessions, and have a great Friendship with the World, will be rather lifted up, like the men Host 13. 6. of Ephraim, or fall a kicking, like jesurun, or Deut. 23. 15. stretch themselves upon their Couches and drink Wine in Bowls, like the wantoness in Zion of Amos 6. 4, 6. whom we read in the Prophet Amos, than let it enter into their Thoughts, That the Feet of those Darlings do lead to Death, and that their Hands take hold of Hell. They will be otherways employed, than in contriving how to stand in the Day of wrath, or in studying what to do, that they may be saved? It concerns us therefore to pray, with the Penitent Emperor Mauritius, That God will use us as he did here the frighted jailor of Philippi, even terrify and scare us out of our carnal Security, (into which our successes are apt to cast us,) and awaken us into a sense of the great Concernment of our Souls. That he will fetch us unto Himself, although it be by the sharpest and dreadfullest Methods. That he will use us as severely, as once he did Nabuchadnezzar; even drive Dan. 4. 25, 32, 33. us from the Comforts of Human Society and Converse, And give us our Dwelling with the Beasts of the Field: That he will make us eat Grass as an Herd of Oxen, and let our Bodies be wet with the Dew of Heaven; until we come to consider, as well as know, That the most high God ruleth in the Kingdoms of men, And that the great year of Recompense will shortly come, when he will put a vast difference between the Wheat and the Chaff, taking the one into his Garner, and burning up the other with Fire unquenchable. If after all his fair warnings both by his Prophets and by his Rod, after his shaking the very Foundations both of a Kingdom and of a Church, (as here he shook Those of the Jailour's Prison,) And now if after his shooting at us, not only with his venomed, but invisible Arrow, the Plague of Pestilence, we are not quickened into a sense of our Sin and Misery, It is but high time to pray for what we most of all deprecate; That to the end we ourselves may be some way bettered, He will make a much worse thing happen to us. That He will make us as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Dung, and Refuse of the Earth. That he will load us at once with Disgrace and Torment, whilst from the Pleasures, and the Plenty, he reduces us to the Beggary and Byles of job. That he will do to us in Mercy, what St. Paul decreed in justice to his Incestuous Corinthian; 1 Cor. 4. 5. even deliver us up to Satan for the Destruction of the Flesh, that our Spirits may be saved in the Day of the Lord jesus. That finding This to be a cruel, and an inhospitable World, we may live in it as Pilgrims and Sojourners on the Earth. That our weariness of This, may make us long and look out for a better Country. That being brought to the Extremity of lying with Lazarus and the Dogs at the Rich man's Door, we may be thereby instructed, if not compelled to cast about, how we may lodge also with Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom. This, I say, is our Interest, and so it should be our option, Therefore our wish and our Contrivance, and by Consequence our Prayer, That if we cannot be brought to God but by the Buffet of Satan, nor be made in love with Heaven without a Foretaste of Hell, (which hath been to most Patients the wholsom'st medicine,) that then he will make our very Torments a means of Bliss; that he will make our very Destroyer become an Instrument of our Safety, and even give us up to Satan, to deliver us from him. That he will bless us with the Miseries of a sinful World; and wean us utterly from the Flesh, by making it loathsome to our Remembrance. For That God who at the first commanded Light out of Darkness, and an Harmony of Creatures out of an indigested Chaos, can by the same creative Power, so overrule and dispose of our three Grand Enemies, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, as to make them three Antidotes against the Venom of Themselves. To give an Instance in each of These; The terrible Buffet and Roar of the Lion or the Dragon, (that is the Devil,) are made an excellent kind of Antidote against the serpentine Wiles and Allurements of him. The many Deceiptfulnesses and Frauds and cruel Usages of the World, do make the fittest Prophylactick against its Vanities and its Pomp's. The natural rottenness and stench, and noisome Diseases of the Flesh, become the best 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against its Lusts. Just as the Bitings of the Scorpion are said to be cured by the skin; or as the Fire of the Chemist in Spirits of Wine, is most anodynous, and assuaging, to whosoever hath been burned, or scalded with it. Or as the Root * Piso in medicinâ Brasiliensi, l. 3. Mandihoca, though of itself a rank Poison, does (with no greater praeparation than that of its being well pressed,) afford a Meal to make Bread for many great Nations in America. And shall we not pray that by any means, (be they never so pungent) by any Method, (be it never so sharp) we may be made to perform our Vow in Baptism, by forsaking the Devil and all his works, the Pomp's and Vanities of the World, with the sinful Lusts of the Flesh? If hardly any thing but Shipwrecks will make us pray, we are deeply concerned to pray for Shipwrecks. If we are grown so Atheistical, as not to cry out to God and the Lord jesus Christ, but in a Fit of the Strangury, or the Stone; well may we pray for such Fits, as St. Basil once did for a Relapse into his Fever, as soon as he found his Soul the worse for the Recovery of his Body. If nothing but Dangers can keep us safe, (as indeed all Dangers contribute to it, unless the Danger of Security be of the number) we have most reason to fear, what we commonly most affect, such a full flowing Tide of Good Things here, as made our Saviour's Description of Dives his Heaven upon Luke 16. 25. Earth. If we find in ourselves that * Heb. 11. 8. Scriptural Character of a Bastard, a being suffered to live in Sin without the chastisement of † Vers. 7. Sons, we well may wish for those Terrors which take so much from our Felicities, as to give us good hope that we may be Sons. We can never better discern the great Advantages coming to us by Frights and Terrors, (such as These in my Text,) than by reflecting upon them in some Examples. When God himself would gain Reverence both to his Majesty and his Law, and beget in his People a fear to break it, it pleased his Wisdom to deliver it with many Circumstances of Terror; even with Thundering and Lightning, with Fire and Tempest, with the sound of a Trumpet, and the voice of words, Heb. 12. which voice was so terrible, that they who heard it entreated they might not hear it any more. And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake, (Heb. 12. 18, 19, 20.) And St. Paul having premised a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, we must all appear before the judgment-seat of God, does presently 2 Cor. 4. 10. add thereupon an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Knowing therefore the Terrors of the Lord we persuade men. Which is as if he should have said, That the Due Consideration of a judgement to come should be the strongest of all Incitements to the Amendment of our Lives. This in reason should prevail, when all things else are ineffectual. Nor does any thing more dispose us for such a sad consideration, than the happy Interruptions of our Prosperity. David boasted in his Prosperity, He should Psal. 30. never be removed, Psal. 30. 6. But when God hid his Face, it presently follows, that he was troubled, v. 7. Then he cried unto the Lord, and piously made his Supplication, v. 8. Just so it was with the whole People Israel. The more they were compassed about with Blessings, they presently sinned so much the more, (Psal. 78. 17.) But when he slew them, Psal. 78. they sought him, and inquired early after God, (v. 34.) Nor was it otherwise in the Times of the Prophet jeremy, and Amos; Woe be to them that are at ease in Zion, (Amos 6. 1.) For they put far off the evil Day, (v. 3.) But in the Time of their Trouble, men are ready to say, Arise, and save us, Jer. 2. 27. Exactly thus it was with the very Disciples of our Lord. For whilst all was well with them, and that their Ship enjoyed a Calm, Their Blessed Master was asleep, and They as perfectly secure, as if his Eye had been watching over them. But behold a great Tempest, which made the Sea cover the Ship, made them also cry out, and awake their Master out of his sleep, with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Lord save us, Matth. 8. 25. we perish. 'Tis true indeed they so spoke of a mere Temporal Destruction; And of That they spoke too from a Panic Fear. But how many in the World do hardly come to [Lord save us, or what must we do that we may be saved,] until they are like the poor Syrian, just ready to perish? Yet even This becomes an Argument to prove the Danger of our Felicities, and the benefit growing to us from seeing the Terrors of the Lord, That They who are Scoffers at Religion during the Time of their Health and Plenty, are universally on their Deathbeds of the Religion of the Clinics; and being brought down to the Brink of Hell, will commonly lift up their Hands and their Eyes to Heaven; crying out in the language, though not in the Spirit of Christ's Disciples, Lord save us we perish. And sometimes too, (although very seldom) not only in the language, but in the sense and sincerity of the poor Seeker in my Text, what must we do that we may be saved? Belshazzar had not in all his Life so much as a Fit of true Devotion, until the fingers of a man's Hand coming forth out of a Dan. 5. 5▪ 6. 25. 29. wall of their own accord, (or invisibly helped by an hand from Heaven,) and setting his Judgement before his Eyes in Mene Tekel upharsin, had even loosed the joints of his Loins and Knees, and together with his Countenance had changed his Heart too. And (to conclude with That Instance which is afforded out of the Text, as being That that gave Occasion to all the rest) we see the jailor of Philippi was never truly in his wits, until thus frighted. Until the Miracle of the Earthquake had struck his Prison into a Palsy, and Himself into a Trembling, it never entered into his Thoughts, what should become of him hereafter. But when he saw by signs and wonders which filled him with Ecstasy and Astonishment, That there was Punishment for the Wicked, Reward for the Righteous, and a God that judgeth the Earth, and Quite another kind of God than what He had hitherto adored; A God that could bow down the Heavens, and make the Earth become Quaker; A God that gave Light to the blackest Dungeon, shook the Prison by its Foundations, conveyed Liberty to the Captives, and filled the Hearts of the Despised with unspeakable joy in the Holy Ghost; He very easily inferred, that they had hitherto been but Idols, which he had paid Devotion to; and That in requital of his Idolatries, he was liable to the wrath of the only True God: That Paul and Silas were apparently two of his Emissaries or Heralds, as might be gathered from the Miracles which had been wrought for their sakes: That They by consequence could inform him, touching the means of his Escape: And therefore instantly he resolved to lay himself at their Feet, (though They were Prisoners of the Dungeon, and He the Master of the House,) saying, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Sirs, (so the English) or rather Masters and Lords, (so the Greek,) What must I do that I may be saved? And this does lead me from the End, to the proper Object of his Inquiry, or the Means inquired after for its Attainment. The second Part of my Division, and now in order to be considered. The End of the Inquiry being Future, and Invisible, is only the object of our Thoughts, or at the most of our Desires. But the Means of its Attainment, are (as I noted) here employed to consist in Practice. And therefore This is That part, whereof the most of Mankind can least endure the Consideration. Of the few who are concerned to wish and supplicate for the End, fewer yet are contented to trouble themselves about the Means. They will readily ask, that they may be saved; But not so readily inquire, what they must do that they may be saved. For should they ask what they must do, they are afraid it would be answered, That they must cease to do evil, and learn to do good; That they must seek judgement, relieve the Oppressed, Isa. 1. 16, 17. help the Fatherless, and plead for the Widow. That they must mortify the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts. That they must crucify the world unto themselves, and themselves unto the world. That if an Eye, or a Hand, or a Foot offend them, they must pluck out the one, and cut off the other. That they must not take any thought for the morrow, but sell all they have, and give it to the Poor; deny themselves, take up Christ's Cross, and follow him. They will be saved with all their hearts, provided it may be gratis, either upon none, or on easy Terms: But dare not ask what they must do, with a serious purpose to be doing whatsoever shall be answered to be a Requisite to Salvation, for fear the answer should be harder, than they are able to endure. As That they must hate their own Lives, and Love their Enemies. That they must fast as well as pray, but feed their Enemies when they hunger. That they must turn the right Cheek to him that strikes them on the left. That when they are persecuted and railed at, they must not only rejoice, but * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 5. 12. leap for joy.. † 1 Thess. 5. 16, 17, 18. That they must pray without ceasing, rejoice evermore, and in every thing give Thanks. Make a † Job. Covenant with their Eyes, not to look upon a Maid; and * 1 Thess. 5. 22. abstain from all appearance of Evil. But now the jailor in my Text, although he had hardly yet the knowledge, had the true Courage of a Christian. Upon Condition he might be saved, he did not care on what Terms. 'Tis true Salvation was the End, but the Means of its Attainment did make the Object of his Inquiry. For he did not simply beg that he might be saved, as if he thought he might be saved▪ without the least cooperation or any endeavour of his own; But as if he had concluded within himself, (as St. Augustin did some Ages after,) Qui creavit te sine te, non salvabit▪ te sine te. That God who made us without ourselves, will never save us without ourselves, He asked how much he was to contribute towards the Means of his Salvation. And This he asked in such a manner, as to imply his being ready, to contribute whatsoever could be exacted. For he did not thus ask, What must I say? or what must I believe? what Opinions must I hold? or what Sect must I be of? what must I give? or whither must I go? but (in a manner which employed all This, and more,) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, what must I Do, that I may be saved? But though this is praiseworthy, 'tis very far from being enough. For 'tis one thing to ask, what things are to be done that we may be saved; and effectually to do them, is quite another. The wealthy Quaerist in the Gospel could easily ask what he should do, that he might inherit eternal Life; and as easily learn the Things asked after: But when he was answered, that he must sell all he had, and give it to the poor, he could not so easily fall to practise what he had learned, by putting the Precept in execution. So the Multitude of Jews could easily ask our Blessed Saviour, what they must do that they might work the work of God, Joh. 6. 28. But being told they must believe, that He was the Bread that came down from Heaven, Then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they murmured, v. 41. nay they despised him for his Parentage, v. 42. It was an hard saying, v. 60. Nay so far they were from doing the work of God, who had so lately and so readily asked him what they must do that they might work it; that from thence they drew back, and would no longer walk with him, v. 66. Such a peevishness there is in the minds of men, that though they love to be ask the Will of God, they cannot endure to be told it, much less to be employed in the Doing of it; no not though they are also told, that This alone is the Price at which Salvation is to be had. Men may come to be baptised, as the Multitude did to john the Baptist, And yet may be at That Instant a generation of Vipers, Luke 3. 7. A Generation of Vipers, and yet have Abraham for their Father, v. 8. that is, their Father after the Flesh; In which respect God is able out of arrant Stocks and Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham. But when 'tis asked what we must do, to be his Children after the Spirit; The Answer is, we must inherit at once the Faith and the Works of Abraham. And accordingly the Baptist did proportion his Directions to such as asked them. He did not tell them what they must Teach, whereby to be Orthodox Professors; or what they must hold, whereby to be Orthodox Believers; But as they asked what they must do, so he told them those Things that were of necessity to be done. Begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our Father, (for so have They who are Sons of Belial,) But bring forth fruits worthy of Repentance, v. 8. If ye are Publicans, exact no more than is appointed you, v. 13. If ye are Soldiers, do violence to no man, neither accuse any one falsely, and be content with your wages, v. 14. If ye are Christians of any Calling, Let him that hath two Coats impart to Him that hath none; And He that hath Meat, let Him do likewise, v. 11. Still 'tis our Doing the things asked after, not our Ask what we must do, which is effectually the way to our being saved. And accordingly when 'tis said by the Apostle St. james, That Faith without Works is dead, and nothing worth, It is intimated to us by that expression, That a Rectitude of judgement is nothing worth, but as it stands in conjunction with a like Rectitude of Life. As if our Faith, and our Knowledge, and good Professions, could amount unto no more than the mere Body of Religion, whilst the Soul that enlivens it is still the sanctity of our Actions. Thence a Good man is called, not an Hearer, or a Believer, But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Doer of the Word, Jam. 1. 22, 23. And when it pleased our blessed Saviour to give a general Description (in the fifth Chapter of St. john,) as well of the Few that belong to Heaven, as of the Many that go to Hell, He did not give them their Characters from their being of this or that Country, of this or that Calling, of this or that Church, or Congregation, of this or that Faith (not to say Faction) in Religion; But only from their being qualified with such and such Practice, with such and such Works, with such and such Habits of Conversation. Our Saviour's words are very plain, but (in my apprehension) of great Remark, And such as being well considered would teach us how to pass a judgement (without any prejudice to our Charity) touching the Safety, or the Danger, the unworthiness, or the worth, of ourselves, or others. For when All that are in the Graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shall come forth, our Saviour adds both their Qualities, and the Ends of their coming forth, They that have done good shall infallibly come forth unto the Resurrection of Life, And They that have done evil, unto the Resurrection of Damnation, John 5. 29. Now certainly He who is the Saviour, can best of all tell us what belongs to Salvation, and to whom it does belong; who they are that must be saved, and what we must do that we may be saved. It is not merely the privilege of being received into the Church, and of being admitted to all her Public Dispensations, but especially the Abstaining from so much evil, as would denominate Evil-Doers, and the Doing so much Good, as does denominate a Good and a Faithful Servant, by which a man hath just Ground to think himself in God's Favour, and that he is doing what he must do, that he may be saved. And if this is the Exegesis of what is said by Paul and Silas, (and that by way of Answer to the Inquiry of the jailor) Believe in the Lord jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, so as it cannot be understood concerning Faith without Works, but of such a Faith only as worketh by Love, and so fulfilleth the Law of Christ, (The proof and evidence of which we have in part seen already, and shall see more at large upon the next opportunity,) Then let us not so mistake the words in the next Verse after my Text, or take them so by the wrong handle, as to imply that Paul and Silas were but a Couple of Antinomians; Or that nothing is to be done as of necessity to Salvation, but barely to believe in the Lord jesus Christ, (which being abstracted from obedience, is nothing better than Presumption; But rather let us work out our own Salvation, and let us do it with fear and trembling. Let us give all diligence, by adding to Faith Virtue, and one Virtue unto another, to make our Calling and Election sure. Let us not look upon ourselves as having already apprehended, or as being already made perfect, but forgetting those things that are behind, let us reach forth to those things that are before; ever pressing towards the Mark, for the Prize of the high Calling of God in Christ jesus. And leading a life of Self-denials, by frequent watchings, and fastings, and other warrantable Austerities, which are found in holy Scripture to be fit Instances of Attrition, let us beat down our Bodies, and bring our Flesh into Subjection; if by any means we may attain to the Resurrection of the Dead, if by any means we may apprehend That, for which we are also apprehended of Christ jesus. That so when Time itself shall be lost into Eternity, and all days shall be ended in that one great Sabbath which never Ends, we may also lose our hopes, and our endeavours of being saved, into the ravishing experience and presence of it: There with Angels and Arch-Angels, and with all the Company of Heaven, singing hosannah's, and Hallelujahs, to Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb for ever more. A SHORT and EASY RESOLUTION Of the forementioned ENQUIRY Borrowed from the Mouths of the Two Free-Pris'ners, Paul and Silas. A RESOLUTION OF THE INQUIRY FROM A Practical Belief. etc. ACTS XVI. 31. Believe in the Lord jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. § 1. THere are such shallownesses and depths too in this little short passage of the * Isa. 55. 1. Heb. 2. 1. Rev. 21. 6. Rev. 22. 1, 17. Waters of Life, (as I am prompted out of Scripture to call the Gospel,) that I may say of this Rivulet, what St. Austin once spoke of the whole Ocean of holy Writ, The tenderest Lamb may here wade, and the tallest Elephant may swim. It is a small Current of words, But such as opens and will engage us in a full Sea of matter. A Sea as hospitable and easy, as That which is now called The Euxine, But yet as hazardous, and as difficult, if not as proverbial as The Aegaean; and so as famous for danger, as 'tis for safety. A Sea we all are to sail in, if bound for Heaven; And yet for want of good steerage, How many Adventurers unaware have been embarked in it for Hell? and been even split upon the Rock of their own Salvation? The Antinomians, Fiduciaries, and Solifidians, (betwixt whom there is a nice, but a real Difference,) do not more differ in the ground, and the occasion of their Error, than they agree in the danger, and issue of it. For making use of the literal against the rational Importance of many Scriptures, and blending many great Truths with the greatest Falsehoods, (so as the latter do pass for currant by their vicinity with the former,) they commonly reason within themselves in this following manner. § 2. Sure we need not live so rigidly by The Objection of several Heretics. Rules and Precepts, as some Arminian and Legal Divines would have us. For * Rom. 6. 14. we are not under the Law, but under Grace. And † Rom. 3. 28. we are justified by Faith) without the Deeds of the Law. Nor are we justified from some things, whilst we are answerable for others; but (as St. Paul taught at Antioch, where he is written to have preached Forgiveness of Sins,) ‖ Acts 13. 39 All that believe are justified from all Things, from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses. Then why should we busy ourselves with Martha about many Things of little moment, when 'tis so easy for us with Mary to choose the One that is needful? for can any Thing be easier, than to believe without doubting that jesus is the Christ? yet * 1 John 5. 1. whosoever so believeth is born of God. And † Verse 4. whosoever is born of God, overcometh the world. Nor indeed is it a wonder, considering the Virtue of such Belief▪ For our Saviour tells us expressly, ‖ Mark 9 23. That all Things are possible to Him that believeth. From whence it follows that to believe, is The unum Necessarium, which a Christian is to provide in his way to Heaven. And accordingly said our Saviour unto the Ruler of the Synagogue, not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, believe, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, * Mark 5. 36. Luke 8. 50. Only believe. Nor can this be thought the Privilege of but here and there one; for 'tis indefinitely extended to all in general; † John 6. 47. He that believeth in me hath eternal life. Where the word He, being indefinite, is tantamount to whosoever, and every one. And so indeed it is expressed in other passages of Scripture; As when 'tis said to Cornelius, and others with him, ‖ Acts 10. 43. whosoever believeth in Him, shall receive remission of sins. And in the Epistle to the Romans we find it said of the Gospel, * Rom. 1. 16. That ' 'tis the Power of God unto Salvation to every One that believeth. Where the Gospel cannot be meant as being inclusive of the Law, because 'tis said of our Lord in the same Epistle, † Rom. 10. 4. He is the End of the Law to every one that believeth. Besides, need we care to be Better, or better advised than St. Paul, That great Apostle of the Gentiles, and precious Vessel of Election? Do we not find him confessing, and that in the time of his Apostleship, That ‖ Rom. 7. 14, 18, 19 He was carnal, and sold under sin? That the Good he would, he did not; But the evil which he would not, That he did, whereby he sinned against God and his Conscience too? That no good Thing did inhabit in him, and that he was brought into Captivity to the Vers. 23. Law of Sin which was in his Members? Well therefore did he desire, in his Epistle to the Philippians, * Philip. 3. 9 to be found only in Christ, not having his own righteousness which is of the Law, but That which is through the Faith of Christ, The righteousness which is of God by Faith. Why then should we be going such a long way about, whilst behold in the Scriptures so much a nearer way home? what need we shut up ourselves from a thousand Pleasures and Contentments, by our endeavour of living up to the Moral Law, by a Contempt of this World, by mortifications of the Flesh, by daily contendings against the Devil, by bearing both the Yoke and the Cross of Christ, by frequent watchings and fastings, and other Denials of ourselves, by making Prayers, and hearing Sermons, and by a world of good works, (which are commonly very chargeable, or at least troublesome in the performance,) I say what need of all This, whilst Salvation may be had upon easier Terms? We cannot certainly be wiser, nor need we probably be warier, than Paul and Silas in the Text. Who being asked as Ghostly Fathers, and that by a newly-converted Heathen, what he was to do that he might be saved, gave him no other Answer of Direction or Advice, than That He must believe in the Lord jesus Christ. § 3. Which, in the sense of the Solifidians, The Objection laid open as to the Venom contained in it. Antinomians, and Fiduciaries, (for whom I have hitherto been objecting, if not as well as they can wish, at least as strongly as I am able,) is just as if they had answered Thus. Jailor, be of good Comfort. For we were lately in as much jeopardy, as Thou canst possibly be in. And though thy Danger is great, thy Escape is easy. For do not think that Christianity is such a Difficult Religion as some would make it. It is rather the easiest and most indulgent, as well as the safest in all the World. It hath indeed many Precepts, but by virtue of One alone (which we shall presently tell thee of) all the rest will be waved, or dispensed with. So that although it is a Law, 'tis a Law of Liberty. A Law of Liberty from the Rigours and Austerities of the Law. A special part of Christ's Purchase, and the great Privilege of a Christian. Nor is it only his Privilege, but Duty too: He being commanded, and so obliged, (not only suffered, or allowed,) to stand fast in that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made him free. What Sins soever thou hast committed which cannot be expiated for amongst jews or Gentiles, by thy Conversion unto Christ will be blotted out. Be it so that thou hast lived in perfect Enmity to God; yet to Us hath He committed the word of Reconciliation. We are Ambassadors for Christ, in whom alone we preach pardon, and forgiveness of Sins; not an absolute necessity of moral obedience and good works, which assist not our Faith, but declare it only. He hath satisfied by his Death for all the Debt we owed to it, and is the Propitiation for all our Sins. He is our Wisdom, and our Redemption, and all besides that, which we are able to want or pray for. Nor stand we in need of an Inhaerent, as being safe by a transferred and imputed Righteousness. For as Abraham believed and 'twas imputed to him for Righteousness, (Rom. 4. 22.) So also to Us shall it be imputed, if we Believe on him that raised up jesus from the dead, (v. 24.) We have been scourged on his Back, and born a Cross on his Shoulders; we have been cleansed by His blood, and still are healed by His stripes; we are beheld in His Face, and shall be judged in His Person, Just we are by His Righteousness, and for ever reprieved by His Condemnation. It is for Christians to distinguish betwixt external and internal Grace, and so betwixt an outward and inward Holiness. For our Holiness without us (that is, in Christ) does supersede the necessity of one within us. And is extremely more effectual to the saving of the Soul than any Holiness within us could ever possibly have been. We shall not therefore need to load thee with heavy Burdens, which neither we nor our Fathers have been able to bear. Nor shall we trouble thee at once about many Things. For though thy Quaestion is very Copious, and of ineffable Importance, as to the End inquired after, Thy being saved; yet 'tis so easy to be resolved, as to the means of its Attainment, that all The Answer we shall give thee is only This, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Believe in the Lord jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. § 4. And now it would be high time to The Objection objected against from the Absurdities couched in it. divide the Text, (after such a pleasant and easy Paraphrase, as the wit of Flesh and Blood is too too▪ apt to make of it, especially when assisted by learned Patrons,) but that I think the way to it is not sufficiently praepar'd. For should so weighty a Quaestion be so very lightly answered, as with a bare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Believe, and be saved? This is short work indeed, and such as would make Paul and Silas to be the comfortablest Preachers in all the World. I mean the pleasantest, and the most popular, I say not the faithfullest, and most sincere. For if This Answer is sound and Orthodox, That nothing more needs be done towards any man's being saved, than to believe in the Lord jesus Christ; Why then saith our Saviour, Narrow is the way, and straight is the Gate that enters into Life, And few there be that go in thereat? or to what purpose are we commanded, That we strive to enter in, and also told at the same time, That many shall seek who shall not enter? Or why does St. Paul in other places press so earnestly for Obedience to the Commandments of Christ, which are at least comprehensive of the whole Moral Law? or why do we read in the New Testament, That every man is to work out his own Salvation, to fight, and to labour, and to use all diligence for the making of his Calling and Election sure? Are These things necessary for others▪ but not for the jailor of Philippi? was He alone to be saved at so cheap a Rate, as a single Belief on the Lord jesus Christ? or was he not one of those Philippians of whom St. Paul required more? Or did he require at other men a great deal more than there was need? Or does He now join with Silas in soothing up the poor jailor, and sowing Pillows under his Elbows, which is no better than to dawb with untempered Mortar, to lead their Convert into a Paradise, wherein there lurks both an old and a cunning Serpent? A Serpent apt to persuade him (and by the help of this Text) That though there are in the Gospel, which is the Garden of God, a great many sorts of forbidden fruit, yet 'tis so far from being deadly, that 'tis not dangerous to taste it, (as the best of God's Children have ever done,) so long as he can eat of the Tree of Faith too; which is not only better tasted, but also wholesomer by far than the Tree of Knowledge, by being grafted on the stock of the Tree of Life. What (I say) might be the Motive which induced Paul and Silas to give this Answer, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Believe and be saved? Is there more than This needful, or is there not? If any thing more than this is needful for the attainment of Salvation, why then did They conceal it, and that from one who even thirsted after a full Draught of Knowledge, What was the All he was to do, that he might be saved? Or if This is so sufficient, that nothing more than this is needful, what Necessity is there of preaching, or of learning any thing else? For, as when it was said by our Blessed Saviour, [It is easier for a Camel to pass the Eye of a Needle, than for a Rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven,] his Disciples asked presently, [Who then can be saved;] so when to One that had inquired, [what he must do that he might be saved,] no other Answer was given by Paul and Silas, than that he must believe in the Lord jesus Christ; It may be asked with as good reason, who then can be damned? For thus (we see) the way to Heaven is not only made Broader, but less encumbered than That to Hell. The Flock of Christ is made a great and a numerous Flock. So as The Kingdom of Heaven is but improperly compared unto a Pearl of great Price, which a Merchant sold all that he had to purchase, since one may have it for a Believing in the Lord jesus Christ. All which being Absurdities, and very profanely inconsistent with the Veracity of our Saviour, may seem to speak Paul and Silas to be a Couple of gross Casuists, for having given the Jailour's Quaere so lame and partial a Resolution. But This again is an Absurdity as little allowable as the former. For besides that * 2 Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is of Divine Inspiration, and Paul and Silas in particular had been acknowledged by The Daemoniack (in the 17th Verse of this Chapter) to be The Servants of the most high God, who show unto us the way of Salvation; The Text which now lies before us may be justified by a Parallel out of our Saviour's own Mouth. For having been asked by the People who flocked about him at Capernaum, what they should do that they might work the work of God, (John 6. 28.) This (replied our blessed Lord) is the work of God, That ye BELIEVE on Him whom He hath sent, (v. 29.) In so much that to obviate, and to satisfy all Objections, we must not quarrel, or suspect, but meekly study to understand, and explain the Text. Which I shall first attempt to do by a full Division, and after That (not by a curious, but) by a pertinent, and useful Tractation of it. § 5. First to Divide the Text aright, (and so as that it may contain an Explication of its Importance,) we must view and review it in its double relation to the Context. I mean in its Dependence on the words going before, and its Cohaerence with the two Verses which do immediately follow after. The words before are an Inquiry, touching The Objection more directly and fully answered. the Thing of all the World which is to every man living of greatest moment, even the Necessary Means of his being saved. This is the Ground, and the Occasion, and Introduction to the Text. The Text itself is an obscure, because a short Resolution of That Inquiry. And the two Verses coming after, do very happily, though briefly, (and so indeed the less plainly) expound it to us. The Inquiry was made by the frighted jailor of Philippi. The Resolution is given by Paul and Silas. The Exposition is St. Luke's, to whom we also owe the Narrative and the Contexture of the whole. The Text abstractively considered, does afford at first view, but a single Act, and a single Object. Yet in relation to the Context, each of these is twofold; one whereof is expressed, and the other employed. First the Object here expressed is (in sensu composito) The Lord jesus Christ. And this is Objectum formale Quod. It is not Christ without jesus, nor is it jesus without The Lord. For That were the gross and common Fallacy, A benè conjunctis ad malè divisa, which yet the Flesh of most Professors is apt to impose upon their spirits. He is in all his Three Offices to be the Object of our Belief. And in his Three * v. Acts 2. 36. special Titles his Threefold Office is here included. His Prophetical in the first, his Priestly in the second, and his Kingly in the third. If Salvation is the end, and if we aspire to have it also the event of our Belief, we must impartially believe in the whole Messias. Not as jesus only, a Saviour; no nor only as Christ, a King; but undividedly, and at once, as the Lord jesus Christ. This is the Object of our Faith which is here expressed. Next the Word of God preached is the object of our Faith, which is here employed. And (as the men of the Schools do love to word it) This is Fidei objectum formale Quo. For as Faith cometh by Hearing, and Hearing by the Rom. 10. 17. Word of God, which Word cannot be heard without a Preacher; so no sooner was it said by Paul and Silas, that the Jailor must believe in the Lord jesus Christ, but in the next breath it follows, They spoke unto him the WORD of God, (v. 32.) They had in vain told him he must, had they not taught him how he might. And therefore they did not only possess him with the necessity of his believing, But in tenderness to his Soul they strait afforded him the means too. They did not train up their Convert (like the Catechists of Rome) only to believe as the Church believes, that is to say, by a blind and implicit Faith, making Ignorance and Credulity the only Parents of Devotion; But they built up his Faith on the Foundation of the Scriptures; That by the knowledge of some Praemisses which he might easily comprehend, he might attain to a Belief of what was yet Incomprehensible. To beget in him a solid and a well-grounded Faith, such as whereof he might be able to give a rational Account, they both exhorted him to believe in, and also preached to him the WORD of the Lord Jesus Christ; the object of our Faith which is here employed. Come we now, from the double Object, to observe in the Text a double Act too. Whereof the first is Internal, and that expressed; the second External, and that employed. The Act Internal, which is expressed, is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to believe. The Act External, which is employed, is to confess what is believed in spite of Temptations to conceal it. (And this did the jailor of Philippi in the next Verses after my Text.) For as inwardly with the Heart a man believeth unto righteousness, so outwardly with the Mouth * Rom. 10. 10. Confession is made unto Salvation. Indeed the Gnostics were all for the Inward Act only, for the better avoiding of Persecution. But the Outward is by God as indispensably required; And the Inward Act without it is not sincere. Thence it is that they are coupled as the condition of Salvation, Rom. 10. 9 If thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord jesus, and believe in thine Heart that God hath raised him from the Dead, thou shalt be saved. Believing and speaking are from the same spirit of Faith, 2 Cor. 4. 13. It is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken. We also believe, and therefore speak. A double Act then there must be, if the end be to be saved. A True Believer must be a Confessor in time of Trial, And when duly called to it, a Martyr too. Again, As the Object, and the Act, so too the Subject of it is double. For though begun in the Intellect, yet 'tis consummated in the Will, (as * Aq. 22●. q. 4. art. 2. Aquinas and his Followers do rightly state it,) or else it would be merely an human Faith, Fides cui potest subesse Dubium, a Faith whose very formal Reason is a radical Fear, (I do not mean an ingenuous, but carnal Fear,) a Faith without Love, and without Activity, and so without the effect of Obedience too. And therefore Cajetan argues well, That an habit of Salvific or saving Faith must be at once both a Speculative, and a Practical habit. And truly such is That Faith which is required in the Text, as may appear by the Effects and Products of it in the Context. For first the jailor did assent unto the Things that were preached by Paul and Silas; which infers the Christian Faith to have got already into his Head. And then immediately after, we find it sunk into his Heart too; witness the Sacrament of his Baptism which he received from Paul and Silas; witness also his tender Charity in his washing of their stripes, his entertaining them at his Table, and his rejoicing even in That that might be temporally his Ruin, (v. 34) which are a proof of his abounding in those fruits of the Spirit, Acts of justice, and Gratitude, and works of Mercy, and spiritual joy in the Holy Ghost; All Effects and Diagnosticks of saving Faith; The overflowings of That Love, which (to use St. Paul's phrase) is shed abroad in the Heart of a true Believer. And thus we have the twofold * Credere est actus Intellectus secundum quod movetur à voluntate ad assentientium; procedit autem hujusmodi Actus à voluntate & ab Intellectu, quorum utrumque natum est perfici secundum praedicta. Et ideo oportet ut tam in voluntate sit aliquis Habitus quam in Intellectu, si debeat Actus fidei esse perfectus. Sicut etiam ad hoc quod actus concupiscibilis sit perfectus, oportet ut sit habitus prudentiae in ratione, & habitus Temperantiae in Concupiscibili. Ibid. in resp. ad obj. p. 11. Subject, of Believing (as we ought) in the Lord jesus Christ: to wit the Intellect, and the Will too. Our full Assent must be seconded by our Love of the Truth, and Obedience to it; and that by a natural Production of the one out of the other. For what at first is no more than The light of Knowledge in the Brain, does, by enkindling in the Bowels the Fire of Love, (of Love to God in the first place, and to our Neighbour in the second,) produce Obedience to the first and the second Table of the Law. After the Object, and the Act, and the Subject of this Belief, (each of which is twofold,) we are in order to reflect on the Nature of it. Which is indeed very closely, but significantly couched in the Preposition. For 'tis not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, believe the Essence or Existence of Jesus Christ; nor is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, believe his Truth or Veracity; But 'tis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, believe and trust IN, or UPON the Lord Jesus. Believe at once his Propensity and Power to save thee. Believe his Power, for he is Dominus, The Lord. And believe his Propensity, for he is jesus, the Saviour. Well therefore said the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Whosoever cometh Heb. 11. 6. to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Now what is thus said of God, is exactly true of the Lord jesus Christ. For God was in Christ 2 Cor. 5. 19 reconciling the World unto himself. And whosoever cometh to Christ, must believe, as that he is, so withal that he is a Rewarder too. A Rewarder, but of whom? and on what Condition? for he is not a Rewarder of all in general, no nor of All that do believe him to have the Office of a Rewarder, But of all such as seek him, and that with diligence, And of all who thus believe in Him as in the Lord Jesus Christ. Such an important monosyllable is the Preposition in, (as 'tis the English of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and in conjunction with an Accusative,) that the Life of the Text would be lost without it. For standing here, as it does, betwixt the Act, and the Object, it does imply the true nature of saving Faith. Pass we on from the Nature to the Necessity of Believing. Which here is visibly employed by the Retrospect of the Text, as 'tis an Answer to the Question, [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, what must I do that I may be saved?] for sure the sense of the Answer, if it be adequate to the Question, must needs be This, Thou must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is of absolute Necessity, and indispensably required. For, as without our pleasing God, it is impossible to be saved, so (we know) without Faith, it is impossible to please him, Heb. 11. 6. Last of all we have here the Issue, or the Conclusion of the whole Matter, at once employed in the Reflection of the Answer upon the Question, and expressed in the words of the Answer too. Salvation is not the Effect, but yet the necessary event of our Faith in Christ. Nor is it properly the wages, but most certainly the Reward of a true Believer. It comes to pass as unavoidably upon the Praemisses supposed, as an Effect on a supposal of all things requisite to its Production. For the Question having been This, [What must I do that I may be saved,] to which the Answer is, Believe, and thou shalt be saved, (An Answer given by Paul and Silas who spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance,) here does arise a mutual Inference, as of the Precept and the Promise, so of the Duty and the Reward. Here is a necessary Tendency of the first towards the second, and a necessary Dependence of the second upon the first. For as Salvation cannot be had (by such as live under the Gospel, without a praevious Belief in the Lord jesus Christ, so wheresoever such Believing does go before, 'tis very plain that Salvation must follow after. Both afford us matter of Caution, and Comfort too. The former serving to humble, and the latter to support us. That defends us from Presumption, and This secures us from Despair. Thus have I done with the Division, and (in the ordering of That) with the Explication of the Text. Wherein if I have trespassed by too much length, it will in justice be imputed to my Desire of Perspicuity, and of making it one Arrest unto the Plausible Objection that lies against it. § 6. In the ensuing Tractation of it, I A further and final Amulet against the Antinomian Poison. must begin with the Act which is here expressed, and consider it as relating to the first and chief Object. And this I must do in such a manner, as to make it a farther Antidote against the venom of the Objection. Which to the end that I may do with the more success, I must explore by such ways as are not able to misled us, what of necessity must be meant by such an Act of Believing, as does arise from an Habit of saving Faith. For as every one that paints is not presently a Painter, nor every Painter an Apelles; so 'tis not every Belief which can denominate a Believer, nor is it every Believer who can be saved. It will not therefore be sufficient to preach up the Faith of Christ in general, (which yet too many are wont to do, because 'tis easiest to be done,) nor to depredicate in particular the several rare Fruits and Effects of Faith, without distinguishing all along betwixt the Roots and the Causes from whence they grow; But we must first have the Patience to learn ourselves, and then the Care as well as Skill to make it visible unto others, how much The Habit of salvific or saving Faith is meant to grasp and comprehend in its whole Importance; and so (by a consequence unavoidable) how much short of Salvation, every Faith, without This, will be sure to land us. Now in the bringing of this about (wherein 'tis certainly as needful, as it is difficult to be Orthodox, and yet wherein Learned men have seldom hitherto agreed,) we are all apt to err with the greater ease, the less we are able to determine, how many Acceptions of the word Faith may be found in Scripture. For (not to speak of its Import in human Authors) we may observe it in holy Writ to have been used in so Many and Different senses, that School-Divines have strangely varied touching its various significations. For first a Michael Medina De rectâ in Deum fide lib. 1. cap. 1. Medina will acknowledge but two Acceptions of the word Faith. b Albertus Magnus in 3. d. 23. art. ad 3. Albertus Magnus allows of five. c Alfonsus à Castro in summâ de haeresibus, verbo Fides, Haeresi 2. Alphonsus à Castro admits of seven. d Vega in Tractatu de Justificatione, q. 1. Vega goes higher, as far as Nine. e Bonaventura in 3. d. 23. in explicatione Textûs, literâ B. Bonaventure and f Greg. de Valent. in 2. 2ae. Disp. 1. Q. 1. Punct. 1. Valentia arise to ten. g Alexander Hallensis p. 3. qu. 77. membro 1. Alexander Hallensis will have eleven. Nay h Sotus de Naturâ & Gratiâ l. 2. c. 6. Sotus tells us of some who are for fifteen significations, whereas Himself (with Medina) will own but two. I will not presume to be an Umpire between so many and subtle Schoolmen, though I confess I am not able to give an absolute Assent unto either of them. I can evince that the word Faith hath very various significations, and easily instance in the chief, whereof 'tis dangerous to be ignorant, or which at least it will be useful very particularly to know. But when I shall have given pregnant Instances of Many, and those the Most that at present I can discern, I shall not be so Dogmatical as to deny that there are more. First 'tis clear that the word Faith does Eight Acceptions of Faith, whereof the Last only is Saving. signify Faithfulness and Truth. As Rom. 3. 3, 4. What if some did not believe? shall their Unbelief make the Faith of God of none effect? no, (1) let God be true, and every man a liar. Next it signifies The Promise, which is in faithfulness (2) and Truth to be performed. And of this we have an instance 1 Tim. 5. 12. where the wanton young Widows are said to be liable to Damnation, because they have cast off their first Faith. That is, their Promise of constant widowhood which they had made unto the Church, whose single Interest and Service they had thereby wedded and espoused. Thence it (3) signifies a Confidence, as that is opposed to Distrust; A full Dependence on the Power, and a firm adhaerence unto the Promises of our Lord. Thus it was used by our Saviour, when Peter cried as he was sinking, [Lord save me,] O thou of little Faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Matth. 14. 31. In the same sense he said to the two blind men, Do ye believe that I can do this? according to your Faith be it unto you, Matth. 9 29. And thus 'tis used by St. james, by whom we are exhorted to ask in Faith, nothing wavering, James 1. 6. (4) Again we find the word Faith set to signify Conscience, or knowledge compared with the Rule of Action, as 'tis observed by Theophylact, and the Interlineary Gloss upon Rom. 14. 23. whatsoever is not of Faith, is Sin. Nay Faith, (5) by a Synecdoche, is made to signify the Gospel. Whereof we meet with an Example Gal. 3. 25. where when 'tis said, After Faith is come, we are no longer under a Schoolmaster: The plain meaning of it is only This, That after the coming of the Gospel we are no longer under the Law. It is sometimes used to signify a bare Assent; And such is that Faith which (6) is called historical, and is common to men with believing Devils, James 2. 19 But as sometimes an Assent, so at other times the (7) Object assented to. And of this we have an Instance in the Epistle of St. jude, where to contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints, is nothing else but to contend for the Creed itself, the Christian Doctrine, which is the Ground, and the Rule of Faith. § 7. Thus we find the word Faith in seven distinct significations; But none of These will amount to a saving Faith, however some of These are Ingredients in it. For saving Faith is not only an * Habitus seu facultas quaedam Intellectus, quâ inevidentèr quidem, sed firmitèr assentimur iis omnibus quae tanquam à Deo revelata proponuntur credenda in Ecclesiâ. Greg. de Valent. Tom. 3. Q. 1. Punct. 1. p. 6. Habit or Faculty of the Intellect, whereby we firmly and without fear, but yet withal without evidence, assent to all things proposed to be believed in the Church as revealed by God, (which is the Schoolman's Definition of a justifying Faith, or (as they rather love to speak) of the Faith which is infused in justification,) For This is but part of that Description, which the same men afford to the † Haec ipsa est Fides quae dicitur Fides Miraculorum, adjunctâ firmâ quâdam fiduciâ circa eventum miraculosum. Id. ib. p. 7. Faith of Miracles, whereby a man may move Mountains, and yet be damned; may cast out Devils, and be himself possessed with them; as is evident from the preaching both of our Saviour and St. Paul, Matth. 7. 22, 23. 1 Cor. 13. 2. Nor is it only such a Reliance on the mercy of God, and the merits of a Saviour, as carries with it a full Persuasion of the Remission of our Sins; (as some who are Enemies to the Schoolmen are wont to teach;) for This may possibly be alone, unattended with Repentance and change of Life; And being not the Mother of such an offspring, it must by consequence be inferred to be but the Daughter of Presumption. § 8. No, the saving Faith is That, which comprehends Both the former, and more than Both. It is indeed the very Pandect of all that is requisite to Salvation, by being the Substance and the Epitome even of all other Duties required of us. In so much that we must learn how to expound it when alone, by what we find spoken of it when it stands in conjunction with other Duties. For when our Saviour gave Commission for the preaching of the Gospel to every Creature, he did not only say, He that believeth shall be saved; But he that believeth and is Baptèzed, He's the man that shall be saved, Mark 16. 16. And so when He preached first in Galilee, He did not only say, Believe; But, Repent, and Believe the Gospel, (Mark 1. 15.) And still by Repentance is meant amendment, as St. Peter hath explained it by his Preaching at jerusalem in Solomon's Porch. Where he did not only say, Repent and Believe; Nor only Repent, and be Baptised, (as he had said a while * Acts 2. 38. before,) but Repent and be Converted, that your sins may be blotted out, (Acts 3. 19) Again in other places of Scripture we find it coupled with Confession, without the company of which it is * Matth. 10. 32, 33. Luke 12. 8, 9 nothing worth. And of this I gave examples in the Division of the Text. Nay we read in other Scriptures, touching the a 1 Thess. 1. 3. work, and the b Rom. 3. 27. Law, and the c Rom. 16. 26. Obedience of Faith. Nay in one place especially, I observe the two phrases [To Believe, and To Obey,] are clearly used as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the very same breath importing both the same Thing, and promiscuously expressing the one the other. The Place I speak of is Rom. 10. 16. But they have not obeyed the Gospel: For Esaias saith, who hath Believed our Report? now if obeying in the first clause did not signify Believing, it must have been in the second, [who hath obeyed our report?] because it is in the first, [But they have not obeyed the Gospel] And if Believing in the second clause did not signify obeying, it must have been in the first, [But they have not Believed the Gospel,] because it is in the second, [who hath Believed our report?] else what means the Causal For, by which the second Clause is proved to give a reason of the first? for this is evidently the Logic which our Apostle there useth. To Believe the report of the Evangelical Prophet Isaiah, is to Obey the holy Gospel which he prophetically preached. But they have not Believed the former; Therefore they have not obeyed the latter. But neither have we yet the utmost of saving Faith. For as it signifies an obedience to all the Commandments of the Law, in that it * Gal. 5. 6. worketh by Love, which is indeed the † Rom. 13. 10. fulfilling of it, so it does many times imply a Perseverance (in Love, and in Obedience,) unto the end. As when 'tis said by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, We are not of Them that draw back unto Perdition, Heb. 10. 39 But of Them that Believe to the saving of the Soul. We read of some who had a Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but such as was utterly overthrown by Hymenaeus and Philetus, 2 Tim. 2. 17, 18. (whose words did eat into their Faith as doth a Canker,) and so however for a time it might have justified, yet for want of perseverance it could not save them. For let the Nature of our Faith be what it can, still 'tis a Requisite to Salvation, That we endure unto the End, Matth. 24. 13. § 9 Now when the Faith of a Believer is arrived at such a pitch as hath been described, by Repentance, and Conversion, and Perseverance unto the end, or (to use St. Paul's words, 1. Thess. 1. 3.) by his work of Faith, his labour of Love, and his Patience of Hope, (that is to say in terms yet plainer,) by the obedience which his Faith, and by the Industry which his Love, and by the Constancy which his Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ hath effected in him, so that the Righteousness of God hath been successfully revealed from Faith to Faith, (as St. Paul expresseth a Perseverance in Faith, Rom. 1. 17.) It is then indeed Heb. 11. 1. the Substance of things hoped for, and the Evidence of things not seen, and virtually the presence of things yet future. A steady Dependence upon God for the Performance of his Promise, and a confident expectation of the Glory to be revealed. A being convinced that That is true by a mental Demonstration, which does not fall under an ocular. And as, in other respects, Faith is said to be the Hand, so in This is it the Eye of a pious Soul, wherewith looking up to jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, we may easily see our way through any Night of Tribulation that can befall us. Thus we see how saving Faith does carry Hope in its Importance, as well as Charity; as may appear by the Duplicity of the Apostle's Definition, which seems to have a twofold Genus, and a twofold Differentia. For first he saith it is the Substance, and then the Evidence. In as much as 'tis an evidence, it is objected on Things invisible; But in as much as 'tis a Substance, so it is of Things which are hoped for. A Definition very fitly against the Method and the Rules of Art and Nature, because it is of such a Quality as is exceedingly above them. And yet it is a Definition, whereof I think it will be easy to give a rational Account. For this Faith being (an Act, or rather) an Habit of the Intellect, And yet determined to its object by the Empire of the Will which is at last its Subject too, (That as expressed by the word Fides, and This as well by the word Fiducia,) 'tis plain its object must be considered both as True, and as Good. As the object of the Intellect, the Enjoyments of Heaven are still considered by us as True, and so are properly contemplated as Things not seen whereof there is yet no other Evidence, than that of Faith. But as the object of the Will, they are considered by us as Good, and so are properly here expressed by Things hoped for, and Faith of such may be called the * Substantia solet dici Prima Inchoatio cujuscunque rei, & maximè quando tota res sequens continetur virtute in primo principio. Aquinas 22 ae. q. 4. Art. 1. p. 27. col. 2. Substance. Though not in a logical, or physical, or metaphysical Sense, yet in a moral, and metaphorical; as that which is first in every kind, and either radically or virtually contains the rest in it, is said to be the Substance of all the rest; as the Contents are the substance of the following Chapter; or as Adam was the Substance of all Mankind; or as there is said to be a Substance and Body of Sin, which very Body is also said to have a strength, and a sting. And then with a greater force of reason may Faith be said to be the Substance of things hoped for, because it hath an amazing power of presentiating the things which are wrapped up in Futurity, and represents them all at once, as well to the Will, as the Understanding. It gives us (as I may say) a kind of Livery and Seisin of all we hope and pray for, and even long to be united to, though by the Help of a Dissolution. In so much that the Plenitude of this One Grace in the sense I mentioned (which Plenitude is expressed by a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Heb. 6. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Coloss. 2. 2. threefold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and boldly rendered a full Assurance,) I say the Plenitude or fullness of this one Grace, which is attainable by Christians whilst here below, is worthily reckoned by St. Paul, The Inchoation of our Glory. This very Grace is once affirmed to be a kind of beatific (although an antedated) Vision of the Glory of God. And for a man to leave This for a better world, with such a cordial Believing in the Lord jesus Christ as was here recommended by Paul and Silas, (which I have hitherto explained by several passages of Scripture,) is nothing else but to pass from a Paradise to a Heaven, or (to use St. Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) from one Glory to another. For we all with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the same Image, from Glory to Glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, 2 Cor. 3. 18. § 10. But some may tacitly now object An Objection. against Paul and Silas in the Text, (or at least against St. Luke, the Relator of it, That if by Faith we must be justified, and also sanctified in part, before we can expect it should ever save us, they should have told the Jailor of it in Terms at large, and have showed in the Retail, how many Duties of a Christian are succinctly comprehended in that expression; not have told him only in Gross, (as Dutchmen make their dishonest Reckonings,) He must believe in the Lord jesus Christ. For how knew the Jailor he was to do any thing but to Believe? or to believe in any other, than the second Person in the Trinity, God manifest in the Flesh? for they seem to have made no mention to him of his being to believe in God the Father, or in God the Holy Ghost, much less did they add the other Articles of the Creed, which are Ingredients in the object of Saving Faith. § 11. To which I answer by two Degrees. Answered two ways. And first of all by a concession, That if indeed Paul and Silas had said no more to their Catechumenist, than that He must believe in the Lord jesus Christ, not explaining what was meant by that Habit of Faith from which the Act of his Believing was to proceed, nor yet explaining what was meant by the Lord jesus Christ, who is often put by a Synecdoche for the whole object of our Belief, (Faith in Christ being the Pandect of Christian Duties, which are all shut up in Faith, as Homer's Iliads in a Nutshell,) Then indeed they might have made him a Solifidian, or a Fiduciary, which had not been the way to his being saved. But secondly I answer, That the objection is made of a false Hypothesis; For Paul and Silas dealt honestly and discreetly with the Jailor; when having told him he must believe in the Lord jesus Christ for his being saved, (it presently follows after the Text,) they spoke unto him the Word of God; that is, they expounded the Scriptures to him. And in the doing of That, they proved the object of his Faith to be the Trinity in Unity; not solely and exclusively the Lord Jesus Christ, but in conjunction with God the Father, and with God the Holy Ghost too. Again in expounding the Scriptures to him, they could not but tell him what was meant, by an effectual Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ; importing such a kind of Faith, as is ever working; and such a kind of working, as is by Love; and by such a kind of Love, as is the fulfilling of the Law; and of such a Law too, as does consist of somewhat higher and more illustrious Injunctions than those of Moses; and of such an obedience to those Injunctions, as is attended and waited on by Perseverance unto the End. There is no doubt but they acquainted him, (in their expounding of the Scriptures, and speaking to him the Word of God,) how very highly it did concern him, not only to escape the Corruption that is in the world through lust, and also to believe in the 2 Pet. 1. 4, 5, 6, 7. Lord jesus Christ, but besides This, (as St. Peter speaks,) to give all diligence, for the adding to his Faith, Virtue; to Virtue, Knowledge; to Knowledge, Temperance; to Temperance, Patience; to Patience, Godliness; to Godliness, Brotherly kindness; to Brotherly kindness, Charity. For that these were all needful, and no redundant superadditions, is very clear from St. Verse 9 Peter in the next verse but one. He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see a far off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. But if these Things be in you, and abound, Then indeed (as St. Peter Verse 8. adds) ye shall not be barren in the knowledge of our Lord jesus Christ. If ye do these things, ye shall never fall, 2 Pet. 1. 10. Now can we think that St. Peter did not teach the same Doctrine with Paul and Silas? or can we think that Paul and Silas would withhold from the Jailor that Train of Duties, for want of which he had been Blind, and not in Case to see God? no, whatever might have been wanting in their succinct and pithy Answer, whereby to give him a right Understanding of it, was abundantly supplied by their following Sermon. And though the Heads of their Sermon are not put upon Record, (but only the Text upon which they made it;) yet St. Luke records This, That such a Sermon there was preached, in that he saith, They spoke to him the Word of God. § 12. And truly This is such a Method, as I could wish were well observed by all that are of their Function. I mean the Stewards of the Mysteries of the Living God, Unto whom is committed the Word of Reconciliation, whose lips are made to be the Treasuries and Conservatories of Knowledge, and which the People are appointed to seek at their Mouths. For the Text we have in hand is often turned to advance either Truth, or Falsehood, even according to the handle by which 'tis held forth to the giddy People; And is made to be eventually either venomous, or wholesome, just in proportion to the sense in which 'tis taken and digested by them that hear it. If to Believe is only taken for an Assent unto the Truth, or a Reliance on the Merits of Jesus Christ, or a confident Application of all his Promises to ourselves, And this in a kind of opposition to the Necessity of Good works, (which ought to be in conjunction with it;) Then 'tis apt to cause a wreck in the waters of Life; and through the Malignity of a Digestion, a man may be killed by the Bread of Heaven. But if 'tis taken for obedience to the Commandments of Christ, with Perseverance unto the End in conjunction with it; Then the Answer of Paul and Silas is the short Summary of the Gospel, and they might well promise Salvation to whosoever should accomplish the purpose of it. That this indeed is the Importance, may appear by the words of our blessed Saviour; who having been asked by a jew, as Paul and Silas by a Gentile, [what Course was to be taken whereby to inherit Eternal Life,] gave him an Answer which some may censure, as too much savouring of the Law, but yet it seems not unsuitable to the oeconomy of the Gospel, [If thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments.] Now in as much as Paul and Silas did not teach another Doctrine, but the same in other words with their Master Christ, they must needs be understood to have given This Answer, That if the Jailor should so believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, as to imitate his Example, and yield obedience to his Commands, and continue so to do all the days of his life, he should not fail (in that Case) of his being saved. And though the Rule is very true, That nothing is wanting in Nihil deest quod necessariò subintelligitur. any Sentence which is of necessity understood, which well might justify Paul and Silas in the conciseness of their expression: Yet not contented with this excuse, they rather chose not to want it, by speaking largely to the Jailor the Word of God. After the very same manner, § 13. That the People may not wrest the outward Letter of the Scripture to their Damnation, we must carefully explain and disentangle it to their Safety. If any of Us shall be consulted by either Believers or Unbelievers, about the means of their being saved, we have two ways of Answer, and both exact; but both are to be taken cum grano salis, and with a due Interpretation. We may answer with our Saviour, They are to keep the Commandments; or else with Paul and Silas, that they are to believe in the Lord jesus Christ. But if the former, we must add, This is the chief of the Commandments, that we believe on the Name of the Lord jesus Christ, 1 Joh. 3. 23. And although we must have an inherent righteousness in part, yet there is need that That of Christ be imputed to us, if but to make up all the wants and the vacuities of our own. For our own is no better than filthy Rags, if impartially compared with our double Rule, to wit The Doctrine, and Life of Christ. We must negotiate indeed with the Talents of Grace, that we may not be cast into outer Darkness; yet so as to judge ourselves at best to be unprofitable Servants, weighed with the Greatness of our Redeemer, and with the Richness of our Reward. Or if we give them the second Answer, we must also speak to them the Word of God. We must explain what it is, to believe in Christ; and by the help of some Distinctions (duly considered, and applied,) teach them to see through all the Fallacies, and flatten the edge of all objections, which are opposed to the Necessity of strict obedience and good works. When any justifying Virtue is given to Faith, we must tell them it is meant of Faith a 1 Tim. 1. 5. unfeigned. When we speak of the Sufficiency of Faith unfeigned, we must show them how b Gal. 5. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passive sonat Syro, & Tertulliano adversus Mertion. l. 5. Et eò redit, quò. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jac. 2. 22. Love is the Spirit of Faith. Whether because (in the Active) it works by Love, or else because (in the Passive, in which the Syriac and Tertullian translate the word) by works of Charity and Obedience Faith is wrought and made perfect. When we celebrate the force of a c 1 Pet. 1. 3. lively Faith, we must season it with a Note, that Faith is d Jam. 2. 17. dead being alone. When 'tis said out of St. Paul, that we are justified by e Rom. 3. 28. Faith, without the Deeds of the Law, 'tis fit we add out of St james, that we are justified by f Jam. 2. 24. Works, and not by Faith only. For (to show that St. james does not either contradict or confute St. Paul,) The Works excluded by St. Paul, are no other than the Deeds of the Ceremonial Law; And those included by St. james, are no other than the Works of the Moral Law. So we are justified by Faith as the Root of Works; and we are justified by Works, as the Fruit of Faith. Not by Faith without Works, for then St. james would not be Orthodox; nor yet by Works without Faith, for than we could not defend St. Paul; but by such a Faith as worketh, and by such Works as are of Faith. By Both indeed improperly, as being but necessary Conditions; But very properly by Christ, as being the sole meritorious Cause. Again because 'tis very natural for Carnal Professors of Christianity, so to enhance the Price of Faith, as to depretiate good Works, and make obedience to pass at the cheaper Rate, They must be told that when our Saviour ascribes the moving of Mountains, and other Miracles to Faith, He does not speak of That Faith, which is a Sanctifying Grace, Gal. 5. 22. but of that Faith alone which is an Edifying Gift, 1 Cor. 12. 9 by which a man may do wonders, and yet be damned, Matth ●. 22, 23. So when he said unto the Ruler, who had besought him to heal his bedrid Daughter, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Only Believe, He only meant it was sufficient for the healing of her ●ody, without alluding in any measure unto the saving of her Soul. So far he was, in that place, from giving any ground of hope to a Solifidian. And therefore briefly let it suffice me to say once for all; That when we find men Believers without good Life, we must show them how many ways a man may be a Believer without true Faith, may be justified in the Praemisses, yet not saved in the Conclusion; may get no more by his Knowledge, than to be beaten with many stripes; and have no more of a Saviour, than to be damned by. We must instruct them to distinguish betwixt the Act, and the Habit of their Believing. But above all, betwixt a Speculative, and a Practical Belief. A Belief in the Heads, and the Hearts of men. A Belief which does consist with a drawing back unto Perdition, and That by which a man believes unto the saving of the Soul. § 14. Stand forth therefore Thou Antinomian, or Thou Fiduciary, or whosoever else Thou art who art a sturdy Believer without true Faith, and ever namest the Name of Christ without departing from Iniquity; Try thyself by this Touchstone which lies before thee; and examine whether thy Heart be not as apt to be deceitful, as 'twas once said to be by the Prophet jeremy. Let the Tempter that is without, make thee as credulous as he can; And let the Traitor that is within, make thee as confident as he will of thy Faith in Christ; yet Thou wilt find, when all is done, there is exceeding great Truth in the Spanish Proverb, That 'tis a very hard Thing to believe in God. And so very few there are who attain unto it, that it may rationally be doubted, whether when the Son of Man shall come a second time from Heaven, he will come with such success, as to find Faith upon the Earth. Examine therefore whether Thyself may'st well be reckoned to be one of that little Number. Examine whether thy Belief is really such as Thou believest it; and try whether thy Confidence is not the Thing to be disinherited the most of any. For § 15. Of this I can convince thee by a mental Demonstration, which is more cogent than an ocular, That if thou hast not such respect unto the Recompense of Reward, as to choose rather (with Moses) to spend thy short and dying life in Mortisications and Self-denials, and to suffer Tribulation with the People Heb. 11. 25, 26. of God, than with the brutish Sons of Belial, to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a season; If thou dost not esteem the Reproach of Christ to be much greater Riches than all the Treasures of Egypt; Or if thou canst basely fear Them that can kill the Body only, (but are not able to hurt the Soul,) more than Him that can cast both Soul and Body into Hell; And hast often done more to escape the former, than ever thou wilt do to eschew the latter; Thou hast not yet the first Degree of a Saving Faith. Thou dost not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not so much as believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou dost not assent to his veracity, or look upon him as a True Speaker. Thou dost not so far confide in the Truth of his Promises and his Threats, as to adventure any great matter upon the mere Reputation and Credit of them. For most undoubtedly, if thou didst, Thou wouldst prefer that which leads to all the Pleasures that he hath promised, before the Things that will betray thee to all the pains that he hath Threatened. Thou wouldst pursue with more vehemence what will end in an eternal and exceeding weight of Glory, than what will terminate in a worm which never dies, and in a Fire which is not quenched. That thou dost now affect to walk, rather in the broad than the narrow way, is not so much that thou espousest a way which leads thee to Destruction, or hast Averseness unto That by which thou mayst enter into Life; as that thou dost not quite believe the Lord Jesus Christ, when he would fright thee from the one, and allure thee to the other. That thou dost now take the Course to dwell with everlasting Burnings, rather than That which hath a tending to joys unspeakable, cannot possibly be from hence, that thou preferrest a very short to an endless Pleasure, but rather from hence that thou preferrest thy present experience of the first, to the uncertainty and the doubtfulness which thou retainest of the second. Not at all that thou preferrest the Miseries of Hell to the joys of Heaven, But that thou dost not believe what is said of either. § 16. Again admit thou dost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, believe the Truth and the Veracity of the Lord Jesus Christ; Yet if thou are destitute of the Faith which is consummated by Love, and by such a Love too as doth cast out Fear; nor only the fear of all that may be inflicted, but so far also the Feeling of all that is, as to be able to rejoice, and to leap for joy, Matth. 5. 12. when thou art persecuted and railed at for righteousness sake; If thou canst not say heartily, in the language of St. Paul, I take pleasure 1 Cor. 12. 10. in Infirmities, in Reproaches, in Necessities, in Persecutions, and in Distresses for Christ his sake; If (in a word) Thou art not able to conquer all thine own weakness by Ghostly strength, so as to hold fast thy Union and good Intelligence with Christ, in spite of Nakedness, Rom. 8. 35, 37, 38, 39 or Famine, or Peril, or Sword, or Life, or Death, or Angels, or Devils, or Principalities, or Powers, or things present, or things to come, And all by virtue of that Faith which overcometh the World; (which is not only the 1 Joh. 5. 4, 5. means of Conquest, but the Victory itself;) Thou dost not heartily believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (that is) In, or Upon the Lord Jesus Christ. 'Tis very evident that thou doubtest either his Power, or his Propensity. Thou dost not so depend, and rely upon him, as that I can assure thee thou shalt be saved. § 17. Again if thou hast not such a Faith, as does denominate thee a good and a faithful servant, such a justifying Faith, as in the literal sense of it does make thee Just, (Just I mean in that notion, in which 'twas said of holy job, that he was a just and an Job 1. upright Man,) If thou hast not such a Faith as by which thou art qualified in part, both with Holiness and Righteousness, with Godliness and Honesty, with the Duties of the first and the second Table, whereby the Righteousness of Christ may be so wholly imputed to thee, as to instate thee in the Pardon of all thy Sins; (it being impossible that thy Saviour should ever justify thy Person, and not sanctify thy Nature in some proportionable degree;) If besides thy Assent to the veracity of his Doctrine, and besides thy Dependence on the Almightiness of his Power, Thou dost not pay so great a Reverence unto the justice of his Will too, as to serve and obey him with godly fear; Thou dost not practically believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou dost not own him in his Authority, dost not receive him in his Commands, dost not embrace and entertain him as he comes to thee a Legislator, as one who hath a Name written both on his Vesture and on his Thigh, King of Rev. 19 16. Kings, and Lord of Lords. And by consequence though thy Head may be as full as it can hold of the Christian Science, or however thou mayst have Faith whereby thou 1 Cor. 13. 2. canst remove Mountains; Yet thou dost not so Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, as that I can assure thee thou shalt be saved. § 18. Again if thou hast not such a Telescope, as by which thou art enabled to look on the other side the Veil, such a Faith as, is the Evidence of things not seen, and the substance of things that are hoped for; hast not any praepossession of things invisible, and future, nor any glimmerings and foretastes of the Glory to be revealed; hast no ground for an Assurance, (whether of Faith, Hope, or Understanding,) that thy Pardon is sealed, and thy Peace ratified; Art not inwardly sustained, in all thy Agonies and Conflicts, with spiritual joy in the Holy Ghost; hast not any the least Intelligence, (through the secret whispers of the Spirit) of a Ravishing Mansion praepared for thee in the Land of the Living. And art not placed by that Intelligence above the Level of Temptations, exempted from the Fear of what Men or Devils can do unto thee; If thou canst not reflect with comfort upon the Day of Discrimination, when the Lord jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels, in flaming 2 Thess. 1. 7. Fire, taking Vengeance on Them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of jesus Christ; Or if thou canst not think undauntedly Rev. 20. 12. upon the opening of the Books out of which thou must be judged, and that from this consideration, that the Father judgeth no Man, but hath committed all judgement unto the Son; I John 5. 22. say, if thou hast not attained to This, Thou dost not perfectly believe in the Lord jesus Christ: Dost not fully lay hold on his golden Sceptre: Dost not receive him as a Saviour, by whose Blood thou art cleansed from all thy sins: Dost not look upon Christ as an Elder Brother, or behave thyself as one having the spirit of Adoption: Dost not behold him in his High-Priesthood after the Order of Melchisedech; and all for want of that Eye of Faith, by help of which (with St. Stephen) Thou Acts 7. 55. Rom. 8. 31. mightst see the Heavens opened, and jesus sitting at the right hand of God, ever making Intercession with groan not to be uttered, and Rom. 8. 26. rendering his Father propitious to thee. § 19 I will not say, Thou shalt be damned, if thou arrivest not exactly at this Perfection, because I know there are Degrees of Salvisick Grace, in proportion to the Degrees of the Beatisick Glory. And though thou art not of Their Magnitude, who shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father, (Matth. 13. 43.) yet Thou mayst possibly be of Theirs, who are to shine as the stars for ever and ever; (Dan. 12. 3.) But when I consider how great a stress is laid by God in the New Testament, upon the Habit of Believing in the Lord jesus Christ, And weigh the stress of those things that are laid upon it, with all the Requisites in Scripture that hold it up; I cannot in faithfulness to my Text, or in justice and Charity to my Readers, say less than This, That whosoever they are amongst us, who are solicitous (with the jailor) to know the Minimum quod sic of a Christian's Duty, and how much they must do that they may be saved; If they do not so assent to the veracity of a Saviour, so depend upon his Power and his Propensity to save them, so submit unto his Pleasure, and so conform unto his Precepts, and (on the Grounds before mentioned) so apply unto Themselves their Saviour's Merits and Mediation, as that in lieu of forsaking Christ to serve The Flesh, and the Devil, They do forsake them both at once, for the Service of Christ, And reckon their Happiness even on Earth to consist in those Pleasures, which Minds the most uncorrupted do most approve of, (such as are The Love of Christ, The Satisfaction of an unblameable and a well-ordered life, The Testimonial of a Pure and so a Peaceable Conscience, The finding out of God's Will revealed to them in his Word, The generous Pleasure of abstaining from all sorts of false and forbidden Pleasures, A real Carelessness and Contempt of all the Vanities of this World, and A well-grounded Expectation of all the Glories in the next, so as no kind of outward or temporal Sufferings can deprive them of their inward and spiritual joys; but still they hold fast their Confidence and the Rejoicing of the Heb. 3. 6. hope firm unto the End,) I say, if Christians rest satisfied with less than This, I cannot say that their Election is yet so sure in itself, as the Apostle St. Peter shows how to make it. Nor 2 Pet. 1. 5▪ 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. can I say They do believe in the Lord jesus Christ, so as to answer the whole Design of Paul and Silas in the Text, or so as that I can assure them they shall be saved. § 20. Why then should we suffer our Eyes Psal. 132. 4. to sleep, or the Temples of our Heads to take any rest, till we are owners of such a Faith, as will infallibly serve our turn? That is, such a Faith as a man may * Habak. 2. 4. Rom. 1. 17. Gal. 3. 11. Heb. 10. 38. live by? such a Faith as by which we may be sure to please God, or at least without which it is † Heb. 11. 6. impossible to please him? For however it is the free and the sole Gift of God, yet 'tis for us not to resist it, but rather to give it a good Reception, and to retain it when it is given, not to squander it away, or to keep it useless, which is expressed by our receiving the Grace of God in vain, 2 Cor. 6. 1. Nay farther yet it is for us, (by diligent search into the Scriptures, and constant practice of Self-denials, and Importunity added to Prayer, and by watching thereunto with all Perseverance,) not only to receive, and to retain the Grace of God; but over and above to abound more and more, (1 Thess 4. 1.) That is to say, we must employ, and improve our Talon, not hide it under a Bushel of worldly Cares, or smother it in a Bed of unlawful Pleasures. And seeing 'tis God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure, we (as * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3. 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 16. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 John 8. Labourers with God) are bound to work out our Faith, in the very same sense, in which we are to work out our own Salvation, (Philip. 2. 12.) never ceasing to make a Progress from Faith to Faith, till we attain unto The Evidence of Things not seen, and the Substance of Things hoped for, even a Practical, and a Cordial, and an Habitual Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ: Not as a Prophet only, to teach us; Nor as a Prince only, to rule us; But as an Advocate and a Priest too, who is incessantly procuring, and pouring his Benefits upon us. To whom accordingly, with the Father, in the Unity of the Spirit, let us evermore ascribe, as is ever due, Blessing, Glory, Honour, and Power, from this Time forwards for evermore. AN IMPROVEMENT OF THE INQUIRY Taken from the Mouth of A jewish Convert. AND Containing, in its Parts, A Resolution unto itself. AN IMPROVEMENT OF THE INQUIRY, etc. MARK X. 17. And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do, that I may inherit Eternal Life? BEHOLD the only great Scruple to be discussed and resolved; the only Necessary Quaestion to be proposed and laid to heart, by all that live in these Sceptical and Disputative Times. Wherein there is hardly perhaps a Family, much less a Parish, much less a City, or a Town, in which the shape of men's judgements (and by consequence of their Souls) is not almost as various as that of Faces. For though the most of men are travelling to the same journeys End, yet it is (saith Boêthius) diverso tramite, they love to walk towards it in several Paths. Happiness is a Thing which the worst men aim at; But they discover by their Inquiries, what variety of ways they take to miss it; with how much Industry, and Expense, with how much Carelessness, and Care too, they do not only arrive at this, to have their Labour for their Pains; but also purchase to themselves a most costly Ruin; at once a most pudendous, and most Unprofitable Repentance. Were we at leisure to survey the several Orders and Ranks of men, from Him that whistles at the Plough, to Him that treads upon Crowns and Sceptres, we should find them all Biased by Secular Interesses and Aims; most incessantly pursuing their Carnal Projects and Designs. Poor Boôtes will needs be ask, (so low and humble is his Ambition,) what He shall do to maintain a Teem? The same Boôtes growing Rich, will as willingly be able to keep a Coach. Here a man is ambitious of some great Office in the Court; whilst perhaps the great Courtier is at least as ambitious of being Greatest. The only Subject of His Inquiry, is what he shall do to wear a Crown. But having waded as far as That, (through Blood and Rapine,) he thinks his Crown is too light, and his Territory too narrow; and therefore makes it his next Inquiry, what he shall do for the enlarging the straitened Borders of his Dominion. His next Project is, how to be Monarch of the West. And if perhaps he climbs thither, his enlarged Ambition does want more Room; from whence ariseth another Quaestion, What he shall do to Subdue the World, that Kings and Princes may bow down to him, and that whole Nations may do him service. Nay if he arrives at That too, his Unlimited Desires are more imprisoned than before; And so his last▪ Quaestion is (like That of the Great * Unus Pellaeo juveni non sufficit Orbis. Juven. Sat. 13. Macedonian Robber,) what he shall do for more Worlds wherewith to satisfy his Hunger, and (not to quench, but) to exercise his cruel Thirst. Thus is every man a scambler for some kind of Happiness here on Earth, (at least for the shadow and picture of it;) But there is not the like solicitude for the getting of a Kingdom and Crown in Heaven. Where shall we meet with a man of Youth, who joins his Heart unto his Head; and asks about the great Business for which he came into the World? where shall we meet with a man of Riches, who makes it the great Contrivance and Design of his Life, to be advised in what manner he ought to live? where shall we meet with a man of Power, who will endure to be looking so far before him, as to consider and contemplate his latter end? or who will look so far within him, as to examine the state of things, betwixt his Saviour and his Soul? as whether he hath made his Election sure? or whether he hath not rather received the Grace of God in vain? where is He that cries out with the frighted jailor at Philippi, Acts 16. 30. What must I do that I may be saved? that makes a strict and impartial search after the Requisites of his Salvation? that sends as 'twere an Hue and Cry after things future and invisible? and makes it the Burden of his Inquiry, (with this young man, this Rich man, this Ruler in the Text,) Good Master, what shall I do, that I may Inherit Eternal Life? A Text as worthy to be considered, by every one who does believe an Immortality of his Soul, and prepares for an Arrest at the hour of Death, and expects to be tried at a Day of judgement, perhaps as any one Text in all the Scriptures. A Text so fruitful of Particulars, and of Particulars so pregnant for Meditation, that 'tis not easy to resolve, with which of the many we should begin. They do not come in such order, as the Creatures once did into Noah's Ark, two by two; but they press in upon us all together in a Crowd, as it were striving with one another, which shall have the first Place in our consideration. Here is a Servant, a Master, work, and wages; Here is an excellent Inquiry made by the Servant to the Master. And here are both their Qualifications to make them pleasing to one another. For the Servant is diligent, the Master good. Here is the manner also, and matter, and final cause of the Enquiry. And here are divers other particulars growing out of the Body of these particulars, as the lesser Branches of a Tree are wont to grow out of the greater. But dismissing all the rest until we meet them in the Division, I here shall fasten upon the Servant as fit to direct and assist us in it. There being nothing more proper to entertain us till we come thither, than the several loser Circumstances both of his Person, and his Approach. As for his Person; we may observe him so qualified in three respects, as one would think should ill dispose him for such an Inquiry Matth. 19 20. as here he makes. For in St. Matthew He is a Young man; A Rich man in St. Mark; Mark 10. 22. Luke 18. 18. In St. Luke, a Ruler. And it may seem a thing strange (as the World now goes) that being a young man, he should inquire after life; or that being a Rich man, he should inquire after Heaven; that being also a Ruler, he should inquire after Subjection. It is not easy to be believed, (so far it is from being usual,) that he who lately began to live, should be solicitous for Eternity; that he who had purchased the present world, should pursue an Inheritance in the next too; And that a Person of Command, should readily set himself to Service. Yet thus he did, and did with vehemence. For whether we look upon his motion, whilst he was hastening towards Christ; or on his Posture, when he was at him; his Salutation, in the Entrance; or his Inquiry, in the end; we may by his Running, guess his Readiness; by his Kneeling, his Humility; by his Compellation, his Zeal; and by the manner of his ask, the great Resignedness of Spirit wherewith he asked. For when jesus (saith the Text) was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do, that I may inherit Eternal Life? Words which are partly The Evangelists, and partly The Quaerist's of whom He speaks. The Evangelist's own words have three Particulars of Remark; First, The Person who here inquires, Next, The Nature of his Inquiry, Thirdly, The Oracle inquired of. The Quaerist's words at first View consist of Three general Parts, which again at the second View do afford us Six more. Here is first a Compellation, Secondly a Question, Thirdly the End, or the Motive, or Cause of Both. In the first we have to consider Not only the Subject of the Quaerist's Compellation, [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Master,] But also the Adjunct or Qualification, [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Good.] Again in the second, we have two Things observable; to wit, The Matter of the Inquiry, in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, And the Manner, in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; 'Tis [what] and [what shall I do?] In the third, we have also two; First the Object to be obtained; [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Eternal Life;] And then the Manner of obtaining it; [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'tis by Inheriting] But this is not all. For I observe the Compellation hath a twofold Aspect upon the Question; and seems to give us a pregnant Reason at once for the Matter and Manner of it. First here is something to be done by every Follower of Christ, and that because He is a Master. It is not, Master, what shall I say, or Master, what shall I believe, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Master, what shall I Do? Here is Secondly observable in this Candidate of Heaven, a meek Resignedness of mind to any Command of Christ imaginable, and that because he is a Good, or a Gracious Master. The Servant presumes not to choose his work, He does not bargain for Life Aeternal at such a Rate as he thinks fit, with a [Master, I will do this, or that,] but indefinitely asks (with an humble kind of Indifference,) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; what shall I do? These are Particulars more than enough, not only to exercise and entertain our Attentions, but (perhaps) to distract them too. And therefore it cannot be taken ill, if I shall gather their whole Result into Four Doctrinal Propositions. First that the Son of God Incarnate, who at present is our Advocate, and will hereafter be our judge, and who purposely came to save us from the Tyranny of our Sins, is not only A Saviour, to propose Promises to our Faith; But also A Master, to challenge obedience to his Commands. We must not only believe him, which is but to have him in our Brains; nor must we only confess him, which is but to have him in our Mouths; no nor must we only love him, though That is to have him in our Hearts; but farther yet we must obey him, and do him Service, which is to have him in our Hands and our Actions too. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Master, what shall I do? And yet Secondly; Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is not any way a Severe or Aegyptian-like Master, who looks to reap where he never sowed, and exacts store of work without allowing any Materials; but a Master full of Mercy and Lovingkindness. And this he is in two respects. To wit of the work which he requires, which is not foesible only, but pleasant; and of the wages which he promiseth, Aeternal Life. For each of these reasons, which do arise out of the Text, he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, A good Master. And therefore Thirdly, We must in gratitude unto so Good a Master as This, behold ourselves as obliged to two Returns; to wit a Readiness of Obedience, and a Resignedness of Wills. First a Readiness of obedience, even because he is our Master; next a Resignedness of wills, because he is our Good Master. Our Christian Tribute to both together, [to wit his Authority, and his Goodness,] must not only be Universal, but Unconstrained. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; what shall I do? that is to say, I will do any thing. I am ready to perform whatever Service thou shalt appoint, be it never so harsh, or be it never so difficult. Eternal Life is such a Prize, as for which I can never do enough. I say not therefore what I will do, but humbly ask what I shall. Yet Fourthly and lastly; When we have done the most we can we are * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Luk. 17. 10. Unprofitable Servants. Our Obedience is not the Cause, but the aequitable Condition of our Reward. And we finally arrive at Eternal Life, not by way of Purchase, as we are Servants; but of Vide Melanch. loc. come. p. 173. Inheritance, as we are Sons. It is not here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we seek not to merit or to deserve, (as some gross Christians pretend to do,) but merely to Inherit Eternal Life. I now have done with the Introduction, wherein is included the Explication and Division of the Text. But as 'tis easy for an Artist to design more work in a little Time, than he is able to accomplish a long time after; so however I have already drawn the Monogram or Scheme of my well-meant Project, yet to fill it with the Zographesis, by making it practical, and easy, not only useful to the most knowing, but also familiar to the most Ignorant of those that read me, will be the Business not of one, but of several Essays. And this the rather, because Before I find Access to the four Doctrinal Propositions, I must direct to several Lessons from Those three Preliminary Subjects the Text affords us. To wit the Quality of the Person who here inquires, The excellent Nature of his Inquiry, and The Condition of the Oracle inquired of. First the Person here enquiring had three remarkable Qualifications; Youth, Wealth, and Honour. And yet for all that, he did not ask as a young man, How shall I purchase the sweetest Pleasures? nor yet as a Rich man, How shall I compass the greatest wealth? no nor yet as a Ruler, How shall I climb to the highest Pinnacle of Preferment: But notwithstanding his three Impediments pulling him down towards the Earth, he seemed wholly to be solicitous, How he might come by a place in Heaven. And therefore hence we are to take out a threefold Lesson; one for Young men, another for Rich men, a third for Rulers. (And I suppose of these three, this particular Congregation does now consist). First our Young men must learn, from the example of this Inquirer, to remember their Creator in the days of their youth, whilst the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when they shall say, We have no pleasure in them, (Prov. 12. 1.) And that especially for these three Reasons. First the younger any one is, he came the more lately out of the Hands of his Creator; and has had the less time, to grow forgetful of the Rock out of which he was hewn. It is with men's Souls as with their Bodies, and with their Bodies as with their clothes; The newer, commonly the better; and the older, so much the worse. A little evil Communication is enough to ferment the greatest Mass of good manners. And if the whole World does lie in wickedness, (as St. john affirms it does,) how can we look to be the purer, by growing old and decrepit in so much Dirt? no, the longer we converse with Pitch or Birdlime, (to which the wickedness of the World may very happily be compared) It is by so much the harder to make us clean. Besides, we ought to run after Christ, (like this Inquirer in the Text,) not go to him like a Torpedo, as if we did not affect, but fear him; or tanquam Bos ad Cer●ma, as if we were afraid to be baited by him. But now the younger any man is, he can run so much the faster; whereas grown old he will hardly go. It was therefore the Blessing of God to Enoch, that he took him away speedily, and even hastened to cut him off, to the end that wickedness might not alter his Understanding, nor deceit beguile his Soul, (Wisd. 4. 11, 14.) This was That that gave occasion to the young man's Inquiry which lies before us. For having heard our Saviour say, Suffer little Children to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of God, (v. 14.) And that no man shall enter into the Kingdom of God, unless he receive it as a little Child, (v. 15.) He immediately considered within himself, That notwithstanding he was hitherto a young man, he had yet outlived his harmless Childhood; and that the longer he should live, the farther off he should grow from a little Child; and so it concerned him very nearly (even before he grew older, and heaped up sins as well as years,) to address himself to Christ with this Petition. For God's sake, Master, resolve me one Question. If 'tis true, what thou sayest, That little Children are the Inhabitants of which the Kingdom of God is more especially made up; what then shall I do, who am no little Child, that I also may inherit Eternal Life? The consideration of which Example ought to provoke us to emulation, and to be prevalent also with Us, to remember our Redeemer in the days of our youth, whilst we have had but a little Time, to be infected with a sick and contagious World. Again the younger any one is, the more capable he is of a deep Impression. As when a new Vessel is seasoned with this or that Liquor, it will savour of it the longer for being New. And a very young Tree, be it never so crooked, will yet be made to grow strait; but if an old Tree is crooked, it is incorrigible; neither Industry nor Artifice can then reform it. So if a man is well principled and well disposed from his youth, or suck in good manners almost as soon as he does his Milk, Virtue will cleave to him as close, as his two Essentials; 'twill be his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (as Galen elegantly) that is, a kind of acquired Nature. But he who is an old Sinner, or a Sinner in Grain, will find it as difficult not to be so, as for a Leopard to change his spots, or a Blackmore his skin, Jer. 13. 23. Aegrius ejicitur▪ And it is by much an easier thing, at first to put on the Armour of Light, than at last to cast off the Works of Darkness. As to preserve one's health is easier, than to recover it when it is lost. Remember therefore thy Redeemer in the days of thy youth, whilst yet thou hast a Remembrance to hold him in; lest if thou wickedly put it off to thy days of Dotage, thou forget (like fat jesurun) the God that made thee. Lastly the younger any one is, he is a Sacrify the fitter for God's Acceptance. Of all the fruits of the Earth, before the Times of the Law, He did require for his Portion, the first and choicest. Nor would he have any thing under the Law, but what was clean and without Blemish. So he expects under the Gospel, that we should give him still the best, of whatsoever we have, or are. And to answer his expectation, of all the days in the week, we give him Sunday, which is the First. Of all the Hours in the Day, we ought to give him the very Morning; to converse with him betimes, before our spirits are taken up with his two Grand Rivals, The choking Cares, and bewitching Pleasures of the World. Thus we must consecrate our Youth and our Childhood to him; which we may call the very Morning and Dawning of our Days. That is to say, we must serve him with the Excellence of our strength; whilst we are fresh and florid, and so an Oblation the worthier of him. What! spend the Flower of our Age on that base Triumvirate, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil? and at last when we are Withered, obtrude ourselves upon our Maker? Shall we spend on God's Enemies the Spring and April of our Lives, when our Memories and our Wits are fresh as Rosebuds? And put off God with our December, when we have nothing to entertain him, but Frost, and Snow? Nothing but Doatage and Forgetfulness, wherewith to make an Oblation to him? will God accept of That putrid Carcase, whose Life and Beauty hath been bestowed upon the Devil? or when the World and the Flesh have enjoyed our Kernel, How can we think that our Creator will be contented with the Shell? Admit the Case were our own, and that the wife of a man's Bosom should spend her youth and her verdure in the Love of strange men; would he be willing to receive her when at last she comes to him both halt and blind? or what would we think of that man, who having invited us to his Table, should take the Marrow to himself, and humbly present us with the Bone? or give the Victuals to his Dogs, and leave us to dine upon the Platters? If ye offer the blind for Sacrifice, is it not evil (saith God to Israel?) Or if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy Governor, will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy Person, saith the Lord of Hosts? 'Tis an important expostulation, in the First of Malachi, at the Eighth Verse. Now if one man refuseth such an offering from another, as the Offerer knows not what to do with; why should not God refuse Us, when we refuse coming to him till old and ugly? that is to say, till we ourselves are grown such Burdens unto ourselves, as we know not what to do with? It is not likely He will have Us, if we will not have Him, until we are not worth having. If we will not both love him, and obey him whilst we are young, He has certainly no inducement to be Amorous of us when we are old; when we are wormeaten with years, and have nothing to treat him with, but Catarrhs, and Tissicks; nothing but Rottenness and Stench for his Entertainment. O let it never once depart out of our Memories and our Minds, that * Consul Epistolam Mariae Cassobelitae ad Ignatium, ex edit. Usserianâ, p. 76. post Append. Ignatianam. Samuel was but a little Child, when yet he wore a Linen Ephod, and spent his Time in the Temple; as being to his God such a perfect Votary, that even his actual Living in, was a real forsaking of the World. Remember that † Vide Basilium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ubi proponit Danielem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Daniel was but a Youth, and yet a Prophet of the most High. That David was but a Stripling, when yet he had a mighty Zeal for the Lord of Hosts. That john the Baptist, from his Cradle, was a most absolute Recluse. That john the Evangelist and Divine was but a very young man, when Grave enough for an Apostleship, and for the privilege to lean on his Saviour's Bosom. That King josias was but a Child, (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith the Cassobelite in her Epistle to Ignatius,) when yet he sought after the God of his Father David, 2 Chron. 34. 3. That Timothy was but a Youth, and yet a Bishop; of whom St. Paul (his Ghostly Father) gave this witness to the World, That he had known 2 Tim. 3. 15. the Scriptures even from a Child. Inquire we therefore with the Psalmist, Wherewithal shall Psal. 119▪ 11. a young man cleanse his way. And as the Votary in my Text went running to Christ whilst he was young, so let us also go running to him, whilst we are able to run apace. And let us kneel (as He did) before our Knees are grown stiff. And having kneeled down to Christ, let us call him Good Master, with our Inquirer. And let the Subject of our Inquiry be only This; What shall we do that we may be saved? If no man can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, unless it be as a little Child; what then shall We do, who are stricken in years, and have long since outlived our littlechildhood, that We also may Inherit Aeternal Life? This is the use we are to make of the first Qualification of our Inquirer, and These are the Reasons on which it stands. Next our Rich men must learn, from the example of this Inquirer, that the greater their Riches are, the greater Necessity lies upon them to fly for Sanctuary to Christ. It being as difficult for a Rich man to enter Heaven, as for a Camel to find a passage through the Eye of a Needle. And so there is need that they run to Christ, that Christ may show them the Danger of being Rich, and by his Counsel defend them from it. That he may teach them the Christian Method, whereby they may safely attain to Riches, or how they may honestly possess them, or how they may usefully put them away. How they may profitably be rid of those pleasant Enemies; unlade themselves of such heavy thick Clay, (as the Prophet calls it;) and run to Christ so much the nimbler, for being light; for being emptied and disburdened of so much white and red Earth. How they may reap the greater Harvest, by * Eccles. 11. 1. casting their Bread upon the waters; How they may make themselves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness, and help to save themselves by That, which helps to damn so many others. How they may lay up a Treasure in Heaven, and provide themselves Bags which wax not old, where the Worm of Time doth not corrupt, nor the Thief of Sequestration break through and steal. If there are any amongst ourselves, who have Riches in possession, either dishonestly acquired, or uncharitably kept; we ought to start away from them, like a man who unaware hath chanced to tread upon a Serpent; and to fling them far enough from us, like the Emperor Sigismond; and to go running after Christ (like the Rich Votary in my Text,) saying, What shall we do who are men of great Plenty, and so are tempted more strongly than others are, and therefore every day walk in greater jeopardy of our Lives); We for whom it is so hard to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, even as hard as for a Camel to enter through a Needle's Eye,) what shall such as We do, that We also may Inherit Aeternal Life? This is the use we are to make of the second Qualification of our Inquirer, and This is chiefly the reason on which 'tis built. Lastly our Great men must learn, from the Example of This Inquirer, to lay their Greatness at Christ's Feet, and to tread it under their own. Or (to express it in the words of the Son of Sirach) the greater he is, to humble himself so much the more, Ecclus. 3. 18. And the Reason There is, (though other reasons are to be given,) because the Mysteries of God are only revealed unto the Meek, (v. 19) The humble Soul is God's Temple, if not his Heaven too. For what was said heretofore by the Heathen Oracle in Hierocles, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, [that God delights himself as much in a pious Soul, as to dwell between The Cherubin in Heaven itself,] may be evinced to be True from out the Oracles of jehovah; who saith by the Mouth of his Prophet Esa, that the man upon whom he delights to look, and in whom he is pleased to dwell, is the man of a poor and a contrite Spirit, who even trembles Isa. 66. 1, 2. at his word. And what said St. Paul to his Corinthians? Ye see your Calling, Brethren, how that not many Wise men after the Flesh, not many Mighty, not many Noble men are called; But the foolish, and base, and despised 1 Cor. 1. 26, 27, 29. things of the World, and the things which are not, are made choice of by God, to bring to naught things that are: and that as for other, so for This reason also, that no flesh may glory in His presence. This is That Nobleness indeed, wherewith the Nobleness of the World cannot be worthy to be compared, unless as the Child, or the Parent of it. For Secular Nobleness or Nobility, (considered simply, and in itself,) has ever been reckoned to arise, from one or more of These Three Grounds. 'Tis either merited by Prudence, (Secular Wisdom, and Erudition,) or purchased by Wealth, or earned by Courage. I mean the Courage which is exerted in a generous defence of ones King and Country▪ But He is a man of the Noblest Courage, who is afraid of the fewest Things. Only afraid of an impious Act; or indeed afraid of Nothing, unless of not fearing God. The vicious Warrior or Dueller, who seems to breathe nothing but Courage, (such Courage as is common to the stout Horsman with his Horse, when carrying Thunder in his Throat, he madly rusheth into the Battle,) I say a man of such an Animal, or Brutal Courage, who will rather be Damned than be thought a Coward, is yet, for all his brave Pretences, most cowardly afraid of Reproach, and Obloquy, and of Twenty other objects of carnal Fear. Whereas a man that fears God, fears nothing else: fears not what man can do unto him, (Psal. 56. 11.) And He who does not fear God, is not a Valiant, but stupid Sinner. To meet with Nobleness indeed, we must not consult the Herald's Book, unless we take along with it the Book of The Acts of the Apostles, (Chap. 17. vers. 11.) where the People of Beroea are said to be Nobler than those of Thessalonica, Not because they were descended from greater Parents, nor because they were advanced to greater Places, But because with greater readiness they heard the Word of God preached; that is, because they were meeker, and of more Teachable Dispositions. That alone is true Nobleness, which is sometimes The Daughter, and still the Mother of Humility. That 'tis sometimes the Daughter, is very evident: for 'Twas the Lowliness of Mary which made her the Mother of our Lord. And so when Abigail made David That winning Compliment from the heart, of her being The humble Handmaid to wash the feet of the Servants of her Lord, Her Humility did so advance her in David's Mind, that he made her his Queen, if not his Mistress. The King was so captivated and charmed by the powerful Magic of so much meekness, as he could not have been more by any Philtrum to be imagined. Thence St. Peter thought fit to call it, The Ornament of a meek and a quiet spirit; as being That that does dress and set off a Beauty, more than any Recommendations of Art, or Nature. Nor is True Nobleness more the Daughter, than 'tis the Mother of Humility. For as the Lowliness of Mary made her the Mother of our Lord, so she was much the more lowly for That Advancement. And so The Ruler in the Gospel, (who is ennobled by Three Evangelists, though named by neither,) the fuller he was of worldly Greatness, the more he saw it did concern him to make himself little before The Majesty of Christ, from whom he was to seek for an higher Birth and Extraction; such as by which he might have claim to an Inheritance of Eternity, which is not competent to any who is not of an immortal Race; nor can he be of such a Race, unless by being first Regenerate, and Born of God: and to be qualified for That, he must humble himself as a little Child, apt to learn, and to obey, meekly submitting unto the Rod, and even kissing the Hand that holds it. Look of what temper an earthly Father is wont to find his little Child, a Child that trembles at every Threat, and is easily kept in awe by an angry Look, of the very same Temper aught Himself also to be, in respect of His Father who is in Heaven. But now, besides the single Reason which has been given by Siracides; There are other Reasons assignable, why the greater any man is, he is to humble himself the more. He must be humbler, being a Master, than whilst he was yet but his Master's Man. Still the lower, for being High. And because to some Persons This may seem an harsh Paradox, or at least an hard Saying; I shall attempt to make it easy by Three Degrees. First 'tis observable in Historians and Moral Writers, that such as are raised out of the Dust are apt to prove the most ingrateful and cruel Tyrants. They commonly take down the stairs by which Themselves were taken up; and, like a man climbing upon a Ladder, love to be treading under their feet the chiefest means of their Advancement▪ Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit ad altum. The Fire out of the Bramble affects to devour the lofty Cedar. Thence it was that Pausanias' murdered King Philip, to be talked of. And 'twas Phocas his Sensuality, of a pitiful common Soldier, to set his foot upon the Neck of the Great Emperor Mauritius. So Charles the First of These Realms (of whom the World was not worthy) was not only sent to Heaven by some of the vilest of all his Subjects, But particularly by some Himself had raised out of the Mire. And if these things are so, that They are aptest to be debauched by their worldly Greatness, whose Greatness steams out of a Dunghill; (as every man's does if he be traced far enough back,) it follows then that they have need of the greater Care, and must be plied with the stricter Caveats, the Greater they are, to humble themselves so much the more, because they are Then in the greatest Danger. For the greater any one is, by so much the greater are his Temptations: and to be safe from That Artillery, he stands in need of being armed with greater Meekness. The more St. Paul was advanced by his Abundance of Revelations, the more he was buffeted by Satan, and by Himself too. For he did Therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, beat his Body black and blue, (as the word imports,) that, by Those profitable Severities, 1 Cor. 9 27. He might bring it into Subjection. Again, the Greater any man is, the more Humility does become him. It sits upon him so much the better, with the more loveliness, and congruity. It is not only the more his Duty, but Honour and Ornament to be humble. 'Tis a Virtue which should flow from a Man of Grandeur, with such a kind of Peculiarity, as Munificence ought to do from a man of Wealth. For He who is flat upon the Ground can no more prove that he is humble, than He who lives upon Alms, that he is liberally-minded. We know the Taller any man is, by so much the lower he has to stoop: whereas the Lowliness of a Dwarf, is not his Virtue, but Stature only. We need not go far to find an Instance; for go we whither we will, it will find out us. How many are there who do not scorn to beg their Bread from door to door, not because they are humble, but shameless Creatures? who, were they honourable, and potent, would quickly show themselves proud, and oppressive too. Vices made almost invisible in the necessitous sort of men, not for want of a Being, but of competent Materials, to set them forth. The weaponless Serpent Epidaurus, though much more harmless, may yet be as malicious as any other; nor is't a commendable Innocence, which only proceeds from a want of Teeth. How many are there within our knowledge whose Backs are clothed in course Russet, whilst yet their Bloody-minded Insides are lined with Scarlet? And when a person of such a Frame shall be reduced by some Extremity, to beg an Halfpenny through a Grate, (which is wont to be said of the Great General Bellizarius,) That is only his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, his lowness of Fortune, not his lowliness of Mind. It's true indeed, an humiliation may help dispose him for an Humility, (just as any Sinners Attrition may lead the way to Contrition;) but sure I am that the Gymnosophists, who were tormented by Antiochus, were no whit the meeker for being humbled. They who think themselves humble, because they see themselves low, (and not for any other more solid reason,) do not know their own Hearts; which are commonly so hidden from human Eyes, as hardly ever to be discerned, till they are placed upon a Mountain: Let that Mountain be what it will, whether of Riches, or Renown, or of worldly Greatness. Almost all that were sick came to Christ for a Cure; And (as They at least thought) with good devotion. But in that they did not all return to thank him, they showed the Principle of their coming to have been nothing but their Convenience. Had the Votary in my Text been very poor and contemptible, had he been every body's Servant by being in every body's Debt, or miserably haunted with some Disease, he had not done a strange Thing in seeking Christ upon his Knees; But that being extremely Rich, and a Ruler too, and in the Bravery of his Youth, he should consider Christ so much, and himself so little, This was an evidence of his generous and noble Meekness. And Therefore the greater thou art, my son, lessen thyself so much the more. And do it for a Third Reason, which ought at least to be as prevalent as Both the former. For the Greater any man is, the greater Account he is to give to his one Great Master which is in Heaven; that is, to a Master, with whom there is not Respect of Persons. In the Day when God shall judge the Secrets of men by jesus Christ, He who now sits in State and Jurisdiction upon the Bench, shall stand at God's just and impartial Bar. He shall be called to a Reckoning, a dreadful Reckoning, how his Talon of Authority has been employed, and what Good he has done with his Jurisdiction. What poor Orphans he has righted; what Widows Causes he has pleaded; what injured Innocence he has protected; what Virtuous Persons he has encouraged with Rewards; what vile Offenders he has discountenanced and punished; what Great men's oppressions he has resisted; what Rising Mutinies and Rebellions He has endeavoured to repress. For a man's Honour, and Authority, his Power, and Greatness, as well as Wealth, are things of which he must give Account. Tho' for a King to be accountable to any Tribunal upon Earth, implies indeed a Contradiction, yet Kings Themselves do stand accountable to God, even for their high Privilege of unaccomptableness to Men. And therefore the Greater any man is, he is to humble himself the more, and then (as it follows in the Text) he will find favour of the Lord. This is the use we are to make of the Third Qualification of our Inquirer; and These especially are the Reasons inducing to it. But now the Case in my Text is one of the strangest we ever heard of. For would we not think it exceeding strange, if the chief Magistrate of a City (forgetting the Mace that is born before him) should run to meet the poorest Cottager, and throw himself down upon his Knees too, and lifting up his trembling Hands, should entreat him so humbly as to call him Master, and so earnestly entreat him as to call him Good Master? 'Tis true that Christ was no Cottager, because according to his Manhood He was very much poorer, as having not where to lay his Head. Matth. 8. 20. Yet the Man in my Text who had Great Possessions, and was a Ruler, in the pride and glory of his Youth too, did thus come running after Christ; and kneeled down to him, though in the Form of a Servant; and called him Master, though born of Mary, Spouse to joseph the Carpenter. As if through That Veil of the Carpenter's Son, he had had an Eye of Faith to see The Wisdom of the Father, The Son of That Almighty Architect, who indeed was The Builder of All the World, Heb. 11. 10. This Jewish Convert without a Name hath somewhat more strange and more remarkable in his Conversion, than The jailor of Philippi who was but frighted into his wits, and sought for Salvation in that Fright only; and rather in the negative, than positive sense of that word. For That which He sought directly, was a Deliverance out of his Dangers; Not an Inheritance of Eternity, but only an Escape from the Wrath to come. So that the Quaerist we are upon, is more Didactical than the former; as affording us many more, and more Noble Lessons. Three whereof we have had already. And Three, if well minded, are enough for One Lecture; as, if slighted, they are too many. And therefore the Prospect of Life Aeternal, which is a very great Deep, (enough to exercise the freshest and the most vigorous of our Thoughts,) is the fitter to be reserved for another Opportunity. THE Excellent Nature OF THE INQUIRY. MARK X. 17. And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one Running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do, that I may Inherit Aeternal Life? § 1. HAving done with the Person who here Inquires, and dismissed the Three Lessons arising thence, together with the Reasons on which those Lessons were chiefly Grounded; I am in order to proceed to the second General observation, The excellent Nature of his Inquiry; which was not carnal and temporal, but wholly spiritual and eternal. He did not ask as an ordinary Youth, what he should do that he might compass the greatest measure of Sensuality? nor as an ordinary Worldling or man of Wealth, what he should do that he might purchase the greatest Treasure of Gold and Silver? nor as an ordinary Ruler, what he should do that he might climb to the highest Honour upon Earth? But casting These Things as it were behind his Back, or treading them down under his Feet, he was intent upon Enquiring, as no ordinary Christian, (even before Christianity had got its Name,) what he should do to get an interest and share in Heaven? How much soever he did abound in the things that are seen, which are temporal; He wholly directed his Ambition to the things that are not seen, which are Eternal. As the faster he ran to salute his Master, by so much the better he was in Breath; so the Lower he kneeled down, he lifted his Thoughts so much the Higher. Being mounted on the wings of an holy Zeal, His Soul had now taken a nobler Flight, than to Perch upon any thing on this side Heaven. As if he had lost the consideration of all his Secular Concernments, such as Houses and Lands, Goods and good Name, Wife and Children, if he had any, and other things here below, All the subject of his Inquiry was, what he should do that he might be saved? not only saved in the negative, but in the positive sense of that word. Not only so as to be rescued from a Bottomless Lake of Fire and Brimstone; But also so as to be drowned or swallowed up, in a Boundless Ocean of Bliss and Glory. Nothing would satisfy him but Life; and no other Life than one Eternal. [Good Master, what shall I do, that I may Inherit Eternal Life?] § 2. From him therefore let us learn, how to regulate our Ambitions, and where to fasten our wild Desires. We ought to tread upon the Glories of such a World as This is, (which besides that 'tis a perishing and fading World, is also the Instrument of Satan whereby to betray us to our Destruction,) and levelly the Gasping of our Souls at Things Invisible and Future, Things expressed to us in Scripture, by a City having Foundations, Heb. 11. 10. and by a Kingdom which cannot be moved, Heb. 12. 28. and here in this Text, by Aeternal Life. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was St. Paul's Precept to his Colossians, Set and settle your affections Coloss. 3. 1▪ 2. on things above; And that for this Reason, because your Christ is there sitting at the right hand of God. Set them not upon the Earth, For jesus Christ is not here, but is long since Risen, (as the Angel once said to his weak Disciples.) And if we are risen together with Christ, let's make it appear that we are Risen, by our seeking those things that are above. Since we were born out of due time to enjoy the wish of St. Austin, by seeing our Saviour in the Flesh; let us look for him where he is, and at least behold him in the Spirit. Since (I say) we were not living when Christ was Conversant upon Earth, Let us redeem the whole Time by a Ghostly Conversation with Christ in Heaven. He who desires in Curiosity to see the Pope, or the King of Spain, and all the Rarities to be met with throughout their Countries, will inquire (as he is going) which is the ready way thither; and (Information being given) will be sure to take the way which leads to Italy, or Castille; not that which will carry him either to Muscovy, or Poland. After the very same manner, but with a greater force of reason, if we desire either in kindness, or in a Religious Curiosity, to have a sight of the New jerusalem, praepared Rev. 21. 2. as a Bride adorned for her Husband, of which we hear such strange things from the Trance and Rapture of St. Paul, as well as quam gloriosa dicta sunt de te Civitas Dei! Psal. 87. 3. De Quâ quid dixerit S. Bernardus, videre est in ipsius libro de Animâ, c. 4. p. 1053. Rev. 21. 18, 19, 20, etc. from St. john in his Revelations, where for want of a better and a more lively way of Comparison, he is contented to express that holy City by things so cheap and so homely, as Gold, and Crystal, and Pearl, and Saphir, and Emerald, Chalcedony and jaspar, Sardonyx and Chrysolite, Sardius and Topaz, Amethyst Rev. 22. 1, 2, 17. and jacinth, A River of Life and Immortality, planted round and beset with Trees of Health as well as Pleasure, and shined upon by the Lustre (not of such obscure things as Sun and Moon, but) of God and the Lamb, (in comparison with whom the Sun and Moon are nothing more, than as a Couple of Black Spots in the Face of Heaven,) which though the Richest hypotyposis St. john could make of his Vision, and exceedingly beyond the goodliest Things that are visible in the beautifullest parts of the nether world, are yet incomparably short of that New jerusalem which is above; If we long to be fulfilling our double Heat and Curiosity, the one proceeding from our Youthfulness, and the other from our Devotion, by an immediate conversation with Adam and Eve, and righteous Abel, in a pleasanter Paradise than that of Eden; by keeping Company with Noah, in a safer Ark; with Caleb and joshua, in a better Canaan; with David and Samuel, in a diviner Zion, than that wherein they delighted whilst they were sojourning here below; If we desire to see Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom, or in what kind of Robes of Bliss and Glory that noble Army of Martyrs is now apparelled, of whom the world was not worthy, when they wandered about in Sheepskins and Goatskins, in Dens and Deserts, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, not because they could not reach, but would not accept of a Deliverance, to the end they might obtain by so much a better Resurrection: Or if we desire to be recovering what we so many years have lost, our dear deceased Friends and Parents, or would converse with those Children, and Child's Children, which (by a Succession of Generations) will descend from our Bodies when we shall be gathered to our Fathers; If we do long to be acquainted with those obliging and friendly Spirits, whom we deservedly revere as our Guardian Angels, (to whom the Custody and Conduct of our particular Persons is peculiarly committed by God Almighty;) and would receive their meanings whilst we communicate our own; not by Language, but Intuition, without the deceitful and poor Assistance of such articulate and successive Discourse as Ours; Or if we would be able to read all Hearts without the detecting of any Secrets, because in a place not to be habited by Shame, or Envy, or private Interest; If we think it a fine thing to have the wings of a Cherub (not only of a Dove, which was the subject of David's wish) and to be mounted by those wings to such an exalted kind of Zenith, or height of Bliss, as shall lift up our Souls above our glorified Bodies; whence looking down upon the Sun, as a thing exceedingly below us, we shall discern the very Epicycle, by which he moves slowly from West to East, even whilst he moves swiftly from East to West, and comprehend all Truths, without the Motherhood, and Pregnancy of such a dull thing as Time, (which yet is the swiftest-winged Flyer on this side Heaven,) by grasping all things at once, not one thing first, and then another: In De Animarum Inebriatione, vid. S. Bernard. de Deo Dilig. p. 953. 958. & supper Cant. Serm. 54. p. 728. & Gillebertum super Cant. Serm. 41. p. 1897. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 36. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. LXX Interpretes. Inebriabuntur ab ubertate Domus tuae. Vulg. Lat.— è pinguedine Domus tuae. Versio Interlin. Inebriabuntur quasi— pinguedine Benedictionis Domus tuae. Chald. Paraph. a word (not to be endless in this beginning of my Discourse) if we inwardly do pant and even gasp after a Day, when fulfilling at once the Appetites of Grace and good Nature, we shall be able to conceive, and hear, and see, what neither Eye hath seen, nor Ear heard, nor hath ever entered into the Heart of man to conceive; when we shall not only see, but taste of Bliss; nor only taste, but be filled with it; nor only filled, but overflown; nor only overflown, but swallowed up too; when we shall drink, and drink deep of the Waters of Joy, and of such pure joy, as shall not be mingled with any Drop either of Sorrow, or Interruption; when we shall be as 'twere inebriated with the plenteousness of God's house (as the Psalmist in his Rapture was bold to speak) by drinking of it as out of a River; Or (to express it in plainer Terms) when our Glory shall be greater than the greatest Ambition of our Desires, and our joys far more than our hearts can hold; when we shall be giddy (as 'twere) with happiness, and drowned in pleasures; shall have Raptures, and Transports, and Exiliencies of Spirit, more than David himself in his sacred Ecstasy, by which was drawn from him that strange expression; And very much greater than that of Esa, when being cast into a Trance, he did presentiate to himself the last and general Resurrection, with an [Awake and sing ye that dwell Isa. 26. 19 in the Dust;] when we whose Heads do now ache in comprehending and grasping the shallowest things, shall happily lose all our Doubtings into the clearest Demonstration, our Conjectures into Assurance, our Expectations into Enjoyment, and Faith itself into Experience; when the three Triads of holy Orders which make up the Hierarchy of Heaven, of which it is said by the Prophet Daniel, A fiery stream issued out, and came forth from before him, Thousand Thousands ministered unto him, ten Thousand times ten Thousand stood before him, (Dan. 7. 10.) shall open those Books whereout the Dead are to be judged (Rev. 20. 12.) And when with them the holy Elders, casting their Crowns before the Throne of him that liveth for ever and ever, (Rev. 4. 10.) shall all salute us, and bid us welcome into the Ravishing Converse of those Glorious Courtiers; when that Life, and that Eternity, which in my Text are inquired after, shall not only present themselves with their Retinue and Attendants unto the Faculties of our Souls, but shall withal take up their Lodgings in our glorified Bodies: If, I say, we are desirous to enjoy a great deal more than we are here ever able to ask or think, even all that we can, and that we cannot imagine; And would meet with all That in the very Life, whereof the Word of God hath given us but a very faint Picture: Then whilst others, like Martha, are busying themselves about many things, let us apply ourselves (with Mary) to the one thing that is needful: Let us make it the very Centre of all our Projects and Designs: Let our Studies and Disputes, our Aims and Ambitions, our Controversies and Questions end all in This, [Which is the way to the New jerusalem? And what shall we do to be walking in it? Which is the way to escape a Hell? And what must we do to obtain a Heaven?] For this is certainly the Scope of the young man's Inquiry we have in hand, What shall I do, that I may Inherit Aeternal Life? §. 3. All the Kingdoms of the Earth can neither satisfy, nor justify all our Appetites and Desires. But the Kingdom of Heaven (expressed here by eternal life) will be sure to do Both. For if we are Covetous, Here are Riches to make it lawful. If we are Amorous, Here is Beauty to make it Virtuous. If we are Ambitious, Here is Glory to make it Good. For we must know that our Affections receive their Gild, or Vitiosity, not from their strength, but from their blindness, when they are either double-sighted, and look asquint; or else are unbiased, and cannot see a far off; they embrace those things for fair or pleasant, which (like Ixion's watery juno) do only mock them with their Enjoyment. Whereas were our Affections so Eagle-sighted, as to see through the Creatures, discerning Happiness in its Hypostasis, and flying at it where it is, our only fault would then be This, That our Ambition is too low, and our Avarice too little, and that we are not Amorous enough. For they are poor-spirited persons, of thick Heads and narrow Hearts, whose thoughts are grovelling upon the Creature, and aspiring to nothing but what is Finite. It is an impotent Ambition, a feeble Avarice, and a very flat Love, which makes a stoop at such low Trifles, as Crowns and Kingdoms here on Earth. He alone is of a Noble and erected mind, who can say, and say heartily, (with Christ to Pilate,) his Kingdom is not of this World. Alas the Kingdoms here Below are less than Grass-Hoppers, to the very lest Mansion in the Kingdom of Heaven. Nor are they genuine, but degenerate and bastard Eagles, which will greedily catch at such little Flies. The Soul of man was created for the highest Purposes and Ends. And therefore we may not only be lawfully, but even dutifully ambitious, provided our Ambitions are great enough, and every whit as high as our Soul's Extraction: we are not only permitted, but even obliged to be Covetous, upon condition that it be but of solid Riches, which are not liable to Plunder, or to impairment. We ought in Conscience to be enamoured, if it be of real Beauty, and not of that which depends upon human Fancy; not of handsome Dirt, or well-complexioned Clay; not of Beauty so called, whose Foundation is in the Dirt, which saith to Corruption, Thou art my Father, and to the Worm, Thou art my Mother. But if we choose a right object, like the Spouse in the Canticles, we shall never be so well, as when (with that Spouse) sick of Love. For our Bowels ought to yern after the Bridegroom of our Souls; we ought to pant after Goodness, and (in the phrase of Espensaeus) to * Inter Amoris divini Fructus, liquefactio, & languor enumerantur. Vide Claud. Espensaeum de triplici languore. c. 1. p. 976. Etiam Franco. Abbot. Affligeniensem Tom. 2. de Gratiâ Dei. De Amore quo piae Animae Deum prosequuntur, vide Plotin. Enn. 1. l. 6. p. 56. languish after him who is the Fountain of that Goodness, and so to thirst after that Fountain, as never to be satisfied till swallowed up. In this one sense the Italian Proverb is to be verified, Bello fin fà chi ben amando muore. He makes a good end that dies a Lover; to wit a Lover of Him, who is the great Lover of Souls. We should not vouchsafe to love ourselves, unless because we love Him, or because he loves us, the only measure of loving whom is to love him without measure. § 4. Seeing therefore we have met with an easy way, whereby to bridle a Passion, and at the same time to let it lose; how at once we may abjure, and yet enjoy our Sensuality; or (to speak more exactly,) how 'tis the Duty of a Christian, not to evacuate, not to invalidate, not to extenuate his Affections, but only to regulate and to direct them, to place them there where true Enjoyment is to be found; let no man say within himself, what shall I do to get a Fortune, to raise a Family, to erect a Temple unto Fame? what shall I do to be a man of this World of some Authority and Power, able to mischief or to oblige, to beat down mine Enemies, and raise my Friends? what shall I do to be a man of great Knowledge, a famous Chemist, an exact Mathematician, a remarkable Lawyer, or an eminent Divine? (for the best of These Inquiries has something in it of Carnality;) But let every man say within Himself, [what shall I do to get an Interest in Jesus Christ? and to be sure I am a Member, not only of his Visible, but of his Mystical Body? what shall I do for a Demonstration, that my Faith is truly such as does work by Love? and that it does work by such a Love, as does bring forth obedience to the Commandments of Christ? And such a kind of obedience, as Christ will graciously accept? what shall I do that I may repent? and repent in such a manner, as to bring forth fruits meet for Repentance? what shall I do to see the secrets of my Heart? and to know by some Token which will not fail me, whether the Good which I do is well enough done? (I mean well enough to deserve Acceptance.) What shall I do whereby to work out mine own Salvation, and yet for all that to serve my God without fear all the days of my life? what shall I do whereby to make my Election sure, and to make myself sure of my Election, so as to be able to say in Truth with St. Paul, Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness? what shall I do, or what shall I not do, or what shall I suffer either for doing or not doing, that by distress, or persecution, by nakedness, or famine, by peril, or sword, by banishment, or bonds, by sickness, or death, by any means whatsoever, (however troublesome, or costly, or any way terrible to the Flesh,) I may but finally inherit eternal Life? § 5. But now how little there is to be found of real and solid Christianity, even in that part of Christendom where Christ and his Gospel are always preached, (lest of all amongst Them who are the great Monopolizers of Life Aeternal,) 'twill not be difficult to guests by the solemn Theme of their Inquiries, what shall we eat? and what shall we drink? and wherewithal shall we be clothed? which shows the Zeal and the Devotion wherewith they Sacrifice to the Flesh. And therefore well said our Saviour (to show the Religion such men are of) After all these things do the Gentiles seek, (Matth. 6. 25) Thereby intimating unto us, That Christians must seek for diviner things, than such as perish in the using; for in the seeking of such as these, they do not differ from the Gentiles who know not God. And yet if we look upon those Professors who do pretend to an Enclosure of all the good things in Heaven, we may observe them still enclosing as many good things as they can on Earth too. It is enough for poor Lazarus, to have his Good things hereafter; And enough for Rich Dives, to have his proportion of Good things here; But the good men I speak of will needs be happier than Lazarus, and yet much richer than Dives too. They will have their good things, as well in this, as another World. All the subject of their Inquiry, is not how to be better than other men, in Acts of justice, and Works of Mercy, But how to be greater and more regarded, which is called a being better in point of Quality, and Degree. And after these very things do the Gentiles seek; They of java and the Molucco's, They of Tartary, and China; whether as greedily as Christians, I cannot tell. But our Saviour spoke only of Food and Raiment, as of things which the Gentiles are wont to seek. And well it were for Real Christians, if Nominal Christians would seek no more. If Food and Raiment would serve the turn, Christians then (like other Creatures) might quietly live by one another. But it seems they have no more than the Name of Christians, who chiefly seek (with the Gentiles) the low concernments of the Flesh. For as many as are Christians in very good earnest, will bestow themselves in seeking the Kingdom of God, and the Righteousness thereof, supposing such things as These will be added to the rest as a good Appendix. Man not living by Bread alone, as our Saviour said to Satan, but by bread as it is blessed by the good Word of God. Nor indeed is he worthy to live by Bread, who is not able to live without it; who is not able to subsist upon better things. When we reckon Food and Raiment among the Necessaries of Life, (which we do with good reason) we only speak of such a painful and dying life, as is not worthy our caring for, unless in order to life Aeternal. And for the nourishing of That, the very famishing of the Body may pass for * jejunium animae Alimentum est, leves ei Pennas producens. Bernard. food unto the Soul. From all which together it seems to follow, That they who arrogate to themselves, not only the greatest both Faith and Hope, but the perfectest Assurance of life Aeternal, do prove themselves (unaware) the greatest Infidels in the World; whilst neglecting the grand Inquiry they ought to make after Heaven, they let the Tide of their Affections run out wholly upon the Earth. For did they really look for a Day of judgement, as much as they do for an Hour of Death, they would as certainly provide against the one, as commonly they do against the other. They would take as much Care to be just, and honest, as universally they do to be rich or healthful. And make as much of their Souls by Mortification and Self-denial, as now they do of their Bodies by a plentiful Enjoyment of Creature-Comforts. 'Tis true indeed; Life Aeternal is a thing which is quickly talked of; nor are there any so uncivil, as not to afford it a friendly mention. It is no hard thing to be another man's flatterer, much less is it difficult to be ones own. To be secure and praesumptuous, is cheap, and easy. Yea, 'tis pleasant to flesh and blood, to be carnally set free from that fear and trembling, wherewith a man is to work out his own Salvation. Thence it is that we abound with such an Herd of Fiduciaries and Solifidians; who having persuaded themselves to fancy, that Life Eternal is a thing which cannot possibly escape them, and that all the next world is irresistibly their own; They think they have nothing to do in This, but to make a Trial, whether it hath not been decreed, that all shall be theirs that they can get; and whether it hath not been decreed, that they shall get all they try for; and whether it hath not been decreed, that they shall try to get All. When men are seasoned with such a Principle, they cannot think it concerns them to give all Diligence, for the making of their Calling and Election sure, by ceasing to do evil, and by learning to 2 Pet. 1. 5, 6, 7. do well; or by adding to Faith, Virtue, and one Virtue unto another. But supposing their Election so sure already, as to be passed the possibility of being miss; It is natural for them to give all diligence, to make themselves sure of somewhat else. For (let them say what they will, and let them think what they please, and let them do what they can,) they cannot possibly give diligence to seek a thing in their possession, or to secure what they believe it is impossible for them to lose. No man living will light a Candle, to look about for those Eyes which he believes are in his Head; nor will he search after his head, which is (he doubts not) upon his shoulders. Our Saviour's two Parables of the lost Sheep and the lost Groat, cannot but seem an arrant jargon unto a man of such Principles as now I speak of. For will He send about the Country, to find a Sheep which is in his Fold? or sweep the House for a Groat which he praesumes is in his Pocket? No, being poisoned with an opinion, that he was justified from Eternity, and hath Grace irresistible, and therefore cannot fall totally, much less finally from Grace; he will esteem it a thing impertinent for a man of his Talents, to be so anxious as to Inquire, what Good things he ought to do, that he may inherit Eternal Life. § 6. The great unhappiness of it is, (what I am sorry I have reason to believe I say truly,) That there are few Congregations, wherein there are not such Professors as now I speak of; who as long as fermented with such a Leven, cannot possibly be profited by all our Preaching. And therefore They (above others) must be informed, That by the Nature of our Inquiries, we ought to try (as by a Touchstone) of what sort we are; whether Silver, or Alchemy; whether true and solid Gold, or but polished Iron with double Gilt. By this we may explore, from whence we came, and whither 'tis that we are going; of whom we are, and whom we are for. For that Saying of our Saviour, Matth. 24. 28. which historically refers to the Roman Army, Wheresoever the Carcase is, there the Eagles will be gathered together; must needs be applicable and true in This sense also, which is our Saviour's own Sense, Luke 12. 34. Where your Treasure is, there your Heart will be also. From whence it follows avoidable, That if we are men of another world, and have our Treasure laid up in Heaven; we shall behave ourselves as Pilgrims and perfect Sojourners here on Earth. We shall be commonly looking Upwards, with our Backs upon Egypt, and our Faces towards Canaan. Our Souls will be athirst for God, (Psal. 42. 1, 2, 3.) our Hearts will pant after Eternity, as the Hart panteth after the Water-Brooks; crying out with holy David in an Exiliency of Spirit, O when shall we appear before the Presence of God? How low soever both our Bodies and Fortunes are, our Conversation will be above. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Phil. 3. 20. we shall behave ourselves as men who are free of God's City. Our Hearts will evermore be There, unless our Treasure is somewhere else. If the Kingdom of Heaven is that Pearl of great Price, to which our Lord in his Parable thought fit to liken it, And if we are those Merchants that traffic for it, we cannot choose but be busy in our Inquiries after the Price; still resolving upon the Purchase at any Rate that can be asked; and ever ask what we shall give, or (as here) what we shall do, that we may any ways inherit Eternal Life. So it follows again on the other side, That if we are commonly looking downwards, and behave ourselves here as men at home, as if we did not intend any farther journey; If the Burden of our Inquiries is such as This, [What shall we do to live long upon the Earth, and not see the Grave? or what shall we do to escape going to Heaven, till such time as we are passed the pleasant Enjoyments of the Earth? how shall we put the evil Day afar off? how shall we be saved without Repentance, or repent without Amendment, or amend no more than will serve our turn? what shall we do to be good enough, and yet no better than needs we must? what shall we do to serve two Masters, and reconcile the two Kingdoms of God and Mammon? and so confute what is said by our blessed Saviour in the Sixteenth of St. Luke? what for a Religion wherein to live with most pleasure, and one to die in with greatest safety? what shall we do to live the Life of the sensual'st Epicure, and yet at last die the Death of the strictest Saint?] If, I say, our Affections are clinging thus unto the Earth, It is an absolute Demonstration that all our Treasure is here below, and that we are men of the present world, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds; For our Saviour's famous Rule is at once of universal and endless Truth, Wheresoever the Carcase is, there the Eagles will be gathered together; wheresoever our Treasure is, there our Hearts will be also. And whither our Hearts are gone before, (the Case is evident and clear) our Tongues and our Actions will follow after. § 7. Now since these are the Inquiries of several Seekers; to wit of Them who do affect to dwell here, and of them that look out for a better Country, that is an heavenly; And since we may judge by their Inquiries, to which kind of Master they do belong, to God, or Mammon; 'Tis plain the Lesson or the Use we are to take from it is This, that when we find ourselves beset with a twofold evil, the one of Sin, and the other of Affliction, (in so much as we know not which way to turn, there being on the right hand a fear of Beggary or Disgrace, and on the left hand a fear of Hell,) when (I say) we are reduced to such an hard pinch of our Affairs, we must not carnally cast about, and tacitly say within ourselves, [what shall we do to keep our Livelyhoods? or what shall we do to hold fast our Lives?] But what shall we do to keep a good Conscience, and to hold fast our Integrity? And since 'tis nobler to be led by the hope of a Reward, than to be frighted into our Duties, by the fear of being punished if we neglect them; let us not ask, like the Children of Hagar, (in the spirit of Bondage which is unto fear,) what shall we do, that we may not inherit a Death Aeternal; But as the Children of Sarah, (in the spirit of Adoption which is unto hope,) what shall we do, that we may inherit Aeternal Life? Which Life being hid with Christ in God, (as St. Paul speaks to the Colossians,) for God's Coloss. 3. 3. sake whither should we go, either to seek it when it is absent, or to find it when it is hid, or to secure it when it is found, unless to Him who hath the words of Eternal Life? that John 6. 68 is, the words which are the means by which alone we may attain to Eternal Life. The words which teach us how to know it, the words which tell us where to seek it, the words which show us how to find it, the words which afford us those Rules and Precepts, by our conformity unto which we cannot but take it into possession? There is no other Name to make us Inheritors of Eternity, but only the Name of our Lord jesus Christ, Acts 4. 12. And considering what is said by our blessed Saviour, That This (and this only) is Life Eternal, to know the only true God, [with a practical knowledge] and jesus Christ whom he hath sent, (John 17. 2.) we should religiously resolve, not to know any thing else. Not (I mean) in comparison of jesus Christ and him crucified; nor yet to any other end, than to serve and assist us in that one knowledge. Look what carking and caring any Covetous man useth to get his wealth; look what industry and labour an Ambitious man useth to get his Honour; look what vigilance and solicitude any Amorous man useth to get his Idol; the same solicitude and diligence is each Religious man to use, for the getting of an Interest in jesus Christ. Which gives me a passage from the second to the third Observable I proposed; from the Nature and Quality of the young man's Inquiry, to the condition of the Oracle inquired of. As he sought for nothing less than Eternal Life, so did he seek it from Him alone, who is the way to that Life, and the Life itself. He did not go to take Advice from the Witch of Endor; (for the madness of Saul had made him wiser, or more at least in his wits, than to knock at Hell-door for the way to Heaven;) Nor did he ask of Apollo Pythius, or go to jupiter Ammon to be informed about the way to Eternal Life; (for all the Oracles of the Heathen were put to silence by our Messias, (as Plutarch and others of their own great Writers have well observed) and should they speak never so loudly, he very well knew they could not teach him;) Nor did he go to Aaron's Ephod, to ask the Urim and Thummim about the means of his Salvation; (for he knew that That Oracle was now grown Dimm, and that in case it had been legible, it could not help him;) Nor did he betake himself to Moses, the jewish Lawgiver, much less to the Scribes, the learned Interpreters of the Law; (for he found Mysterious Moses had still a Veil upon his Face, which the Scribes and Pharisees were not able to Remove;) much less durst he go to the Law itself for a Relief; there being nothing more plain, than that the Law worketh wrath: Rom. 4. 15. Those Tables of Stone are as the Hones or the Grindstones, at which the Sting of Death is whetted, and made more sharp. For as the sting of Death is Sin, so the strength of Sin is the Law, (1 Cor. 15. 56.) The Law does thunder out a Curse, as well as a Rigid Obligation, (the one from Mount Ebal, as well as the other from Mount Sinai,) upon every Soul of man who shall but fail in the least jota. For it is written (saith St. Paul, who Deut. 27. 26. Gal. 3. 10. only saith it out of the Law,) Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them. Or (to consider it yet more distinctly) admit Aeternal Life had been expected from the Law by this Inquirer, yet sure it may sooner be asked than answered, To which of the Laws he should have had recourse for it? Certainly not to the Ceremonial; for That was but a shadow of things to come, whereof the Body is Christ, (Coloss. 2. 17.) The very Sacrifice of the Law was not able to expiate, but only to commemorate the People's Sins, (Heb. 10. 3.) Therefore in vain would he have sought to the Ceremonial Law: And as vainly to the judicial; For that was a Politic Constitution peculiar only to the jews, and reaching no farther than to a Civil jurisdiction. Much less yet could he seek to the Moral Law of Moses for Life Eternal; For the Moral Law exacted so Universal an obedience, and also denounced so great a Curse (as I said before) on the least omission, that he could look for nothing thence but the justest matter of Despair. For first our Nature is so corrupt, and our Persons so much corrupter, since our having found out many Inventions, that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the Truth is not in us, (1 John 1. 8.) And secondly if Righteousness come by the Law, then is Christ dead in vain, (Gal. 2. 21.) What then remained to this inquisitive jew, but that the Law should be his Schoolmaster to bring him unto Christ? (Gal. 3. 24.) The Law being adapted by the infinite Wisdom of God's oeconomy, either to lead or to drive him thither. For requiring more from him than he was able to perform, and yet denouncing a Curse on his Non-Performance, it could not but make him stand affrighted at the ugly Condition he was in; I mean his desperate Impossibility of ever attaining to Life Eternal, by the mere perfection of his obedience. Hence he saw it concerned him to seek somewhere else. He found it clear by Demonstration, (and by the woeful Demonstration of sad Experience,) he stood in need of a Saviour, and of such a Saviour too, as might deliver him from the Curse and from the Rigour of the Law, by being made both a Curse and a Ransom for him. Again he saw both by the Doctrines, and by the Miracles of Christ, that He was most likely to be That Saviour; to wit a Saviour from whom he was to look for such a Clue, as might be able to conduct him out of the Labyrinth he was in. And therefore just as this Saviour was gone forth into the way, This kind of Neophyte in my Text came running to him, and asked him, (meekly kneeling upon his Knees,) Good Master, what shall I do, that I may inherit Eternal Life? Now if Christ was His Oracle who only lived under the Law, How much more must he be ours, who were born and bred under the Gospel? Shall men of our Dignity and Profession, of our Proficiency and Growth in the School of Christ, (an holy Generation, a Royal Priesthood, a Peculiar People,) shall such as We go in Inquest of Life Eternal, to such deceivable Oracles, as either Zuinglius, or Calvin, Piscator, or Erastus, or john of Leyden? to the Sepulchers of Martyrs, to the Discipline of Monasteries, to daily Ave mary's and Masses, to Papal Indulgences or Bulls, or to the outward Scarrifications and Buffet of the Flesh? shall we lean upon such Reeds as will but run through our Elbows? or shall we enlighten ourselves by Candles, when behold the Sun of Righteousness is long since Risen in our Horizon? or to fly for Refuge to the Saints, when behold a Saviour? Christ is called very fitly the Sun of Righteousness, (Mal. 4. 2.) to whom the Apostles are but as Stars in the Firmament of the Gospel, which only shine forth with a borrowed light, and have no other brightness than what He lends them. Now all the Stars in the Firmament cannot make up one Sun, or afford us one Day without his Presence. Just so All the learned and the good men on Earth, All the Angels & Saints in Heaven cannot make up one Saviour, (or but light us the way to Eternal Life) without the Influence and Lustre of Jesus Christ. jairus, a Ruler of the Synagogue, a man that wanted no worldly means whereby to Cure his only Daughter, did yet despair of her Recovery, until he fell down at the Feet of Christ, (Luke 8. 41.) And so the Woman who had been sick of a bloody Flux no less than twelve years together, and had spent all she had in Physicians Fees, was not the better but the worse, until she crowded towards Christ, and touched the Hemm of his Garment, (Luke 8. 43.) That we are every one sick of a bloody Flux too, appears by our scarlet and crimson Sins. Which Flux and Fountain of our Sins can never possibly be cured, unless by Him who is the Fountain for Sin and for Uncleanness, (Zach. 13. 1.) For as Red wine is good for a bloody Flux in the Body, so is That which gushed out of our Saviour's Body, who called himself The True Vine, the only Good thing for this Disease in the Soul. And of this Wine we drink in the Cup of Blessing which we Bless, in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. To him alone must we fly as to the Physician of our Souls; who saith to us under the Gospel, as once to Israel under the Law, I am the Lord God that healeth thee, Exod. 15. 26. He alone (saith St. Peter) is the Headstone of the Corner, nor is there Salvation in any other, (Acts 4. 11, 12.) It pleased the Father, that in him should all Fullness dwell, (Coloss. 1. 19) And of his Fullness have all we received Grace for Grace, (John 1. 16.) All things necessary to life, and to life Eternal, are delivered to him of the Father, (Matth. 11. 27.) And this 'twill be easy out of Scripture, (for I am speaking to Believers, I should not else produce a Text,) to make apparent by an Induction. For first if we are hungry, He alone is the Bread of Life, which whoso eateth shall live for ever, (John 6. 58.) Next if we are thirsty, He alone is the living Water, which whoso drinketh shall never thirst, (John 4. 13.) Thirdly if we are foul, He alone has that Blood by which we may be cleansed from all our Sins, (1 John 1. 7.) Fourthly if we are foolish, He is the Wisdom of the Father, who hath laid up in Him all the Treasures of Knowledge, (Coloss. 2. 3.) He is Doctor Catholicus, and only Herald For when he was transfigured upon Mount Tabor, a bright Cloud overshadowed him, and behold a voice out of the Cloud, This is my beloved Son, Hunc Audite, Hear Him, (Matth. 17. 15.) It is the Top of that Wisdom which we are capable of on Earth, to sit with Mary at his Feet, and to hear his Word, (Luke 10. 39, 42.) Fifthly if we inquire for the only true way, which leadeth unto life, and to life Eternal, He alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, (John 14. 6.) Are we affrighted at the Law? He alone hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law, being made a Curse for us, (Gal. 3. 13.) In a word: He is the true Noah's Ark, whereby to escape the Inundations of Sin and Hell. He hath broken the Ice, and made way for us, that we may enter into the Gate, (Micah 2. 13.) He is our jonathan after the Spirit, who first hath scaled in his Person the heavenly Mountain, that we the Bearers of his Armour may follow after, (1 Sam. 14. 1.) The Ministration of his Word is the Spiritual Chariot, by which he carries us with himself into the outward Court of the Temple, and thence at last within the Veil into the Sanctum Sanctorum. He alone is the Gate both of Grace and Salvation; None can go unto the Father, unless by Him, (John 14. 6.) He alone is the Iacob's Ladder, whose Top reacheth into the Heavens; that is to say the True 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by which as by a Bridge, or Isthmus, Heaven and Earth are tied together; Angels and Men pass to and fro; Angels to Men, and Men to Angels. By Him hath the Father reconciled all things unto Himself, (Coloss. 1. 20.) He it is that invites us, when we are weary and heavy laden, to come unto him for a Refreshment, (Matth. 11 28.) From Him the Spirit and the Bride say, Come: And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, Come. And whosoever will, let him come and take freely of the water of life, (Rev. 22. 17.) All which being considered, we thus may Argue within ourselves. If the great Queen of Shebah did choose to take so long a journey as from Shebah to jerusalem, and all to hear a wise man speak, (Matth. 12. 42.) Or if Socrates, though an Heathen, was such a Lover of Wisdom, as to travel for his Improvement through several Countries, and put himself to learn of every great Master that he could hear of; with how much a greater force of reason should we travel far and near to find out the Wisdom of the Father? to learn of that Good, as well as Great Master, who alone hath the words of Eternal Life? But some perhaps may here object, That the Man in the Text met with Christ in the way, whilst here on Earth. How shall we find him out since his Ascension into Heaven? The Psalmist tells us He is in Heaven, and in Hell too. If we go up into Heaven, he is there; And if we go down into Hell, he is there also. But to Heaven we cannot, and to Hell we dare not go. To which the Answer is very obvious. That if Christ is in Hell, because he is every where, by the necessity of his Godhead; he is by consequence here on Earth too, for the very same reason. And that we may not say with Seneca, [Qui ubique, nusquam,] that he who is every where is no where, for that he is every where invisible, and so as difficultly found as if he were not; The Righteousness which is of Faith speaketh on this wise, Say Rom. 10. 6, 7, 8. not in thine heart, who shall ascend into Heaven? (that is to bring Christ down from above) Or who shall descend into the Deep? (that is to bring up Christ again from the Dead,) For Christ in his word, is very nigh thee, even in thy Mouth, and in thine Heart, that is, the word of Faith which we preach. We need not go to Compostella, or travel in Pilgrimage to other places, where they pretend at least to show us his Seamless Coat, and his Cross, and his Crown of Thorns. We need go no farther than to his Word, and his Sacraments, his Ministers, and his Members. And having thus found him out, we must not content ourselves, with Herod, to gaze upon him in Curiosity; but, with Zachaeus, out of Devotion. Nor must we grow old in our setting out, but rather hasten to him betimes, and as fast as we can run too, And as humbly as it is possible we must go kneeling to him, and ask him, Good Master, what shall we do? or with the Disciples upon the Sea, Master, Master, we perish. That is, we Luke 8. 24. perish of ourselves, without thy stretched out Hand to support and save us. And therefore lift we up our voices, with those Ten Lepers in the way, jesus Master, have Mercy on us. For Luke 17. 13. indeed he will never have Mercy on us, unless we have mercy upon ourselves, that is to say, unless we take him upon his own most righteous Terms; not only as a jesus who came to save us, but withal as a Master, who does expect to be served by us. And this does lead me to consider the Compellation of our Inquirer, concerning which I shall discourse upon the next Opportunity. Now to the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, 1 Tim. 1. 17. the only wise God, be Honour and Glory for ever and ever. THE Goodness of Christ AS A LEGISLATOR. MARK X. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Good Master, what shall I do, that I may Inherit Aeternal Life? § 1. HAving done with the Person who here inquires, and with the excellent Nature of his Inquiry, and with the only true Oracle inquired of; It now remains that I proceed to the significant Compellation, wherewith the Person who here inquires, praepares the way to his Inquiry. The Compellation (as hath been said) does consist of two Parts; first the Subject, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Master; next the Adjunct or Qualification, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Good. § 2. From the first being compared with the matter of the Question, (that is to say, with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) 'tis very obvious to draw forth this Doctrinal Proposition. That the Son of God Incarnate, who at present is our Advocate, and will hereafter be our judge, and who purposely came to save us from the Tyranny of our Sins, is not only a Saviour to offer Promises to our Faith, but also a Master to exact Obedience to his Commands. We must not only believe him, which is but to have him in our Brains; nor must we only confess him, which is but to have him in our Mouths; no nor must we only love him, which (were it possible to be done) were only to have him in our hearts; But farther yet we must Obey him and do him Service, which is to have him in our Hands and our Actions too. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Master, what shall I do? § 3. A Proposition of such Importance to all that are Candidates for Heaven, and solicitous for the way which will lead us thither; that truly a Sermon on such a Subject should be as long as a man's life. We cannot touch on that string either too often, or too much, by which we are taught to bear a part in the Choir of Heaven. And therefore if at present I only touch upon it in short, I would be known so to do for these two Reasons. First because I must consider it in the second Doctrinal Proposition, (it being impossible to consider that Christ is a Good Master, and not to consider at the same time that he is a Master;) Next because I shall resume it upon a sitter passage of Scripture, which I shall handle either in this, or in a Neighbouring Congregation. § 4. It shall therefore suffice me to say at present, That almost All the Appellatives which are any where given to Christ in Scripture, do either express or imply his Empire. He is A Prince in the Prophet Esa, and has Isa. 9 6. a Government on his shoulders; A Ruler in Micah; A Sun of Righteousness in Malachi. Mic. 5. 2. In as much as we are Soldiers, he is the Captain of our Salvation; As the Sheep of his Pasture, he is our Shepherd; As fellow Members of a Body, he is our Head. He is a King and a Lord in the Revelations. Nor is he only as Rev. 19 16. other Kings, The Lord's Anointed, or The Lord's Christ; But by way of Supereminence, Christ the Lord. * Acts 3. 15. The Lord of Life he is in one place; and The † 1 Cor. 2. 8. Lord of Glory in another. Every Tongue must confess that jesus Christ is THE Lord, (Phil. 2. 11.) § 5. Farther yet, he is a Lawgiver, as well as a Lord. For so we read in two Prophets, (who plainly speak it of our Messias,) Out of Isa. 42. 21. Zion shall go forth a Law, (Isa. 2. 3. Mic. 4. 2.) and our Apostle tells us expressly, That however we are free from the Law of Moses, yet still we are under the Law to Christ, (1 Cor. 9 21.) To understand which the better, we must know the Moral Law imports a threefold Obligation. One, as being the Law of Nature; And so 'tis obliging to all Mankind. Another, as being the Law of Moses; And so 'tis obliging in special manner unto the jews. A third, as being the Law of Christ; And so 'tis obliging unto as many, as do call upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who did not come to make the Law of none effect through Faith, (As many thought in St. Paul's Days, and more in Ours,) but by Faith to establish the Law, Rom. 3. 31. That 'tis indeed the Law of Christ, and the Law to be fulfilled, is very evident from the words of St. Paul to the Galatians, Bear ye one another's Burdens, and so fulfil the Law of Christ, (Gal. 6. 2.) § 6. Thus we see by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which here relates to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is meant a Master to Command, as well as Teach. For Moses himself was somewhat more than a Teaching Master, who yet did humbly submit and do obeisance unto Christ; As when a King enters a City, The Mayor of the Town yields up his Mace. Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a Servant; But Christ as a Son, and as a Son over his own house, whose house are we, (Heb. 3. 5, 6.) When I say that Master Moses did submittere Fasces, as it were yield up his Mace to Christ, I speak as prompted by Himself in the Eighteenth of Deuteronomy, at the Fifteenth Verse; where saith Moses to the People, (by a Divine and Prophetic Spirit,) The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto Me, unto Him shalt thou hearken; that is, to Him shalt thou be obedient. A Text so plainly understood touching the Mastership of Christ, or of his being a Legislator, that 'tis cited by St. Peter in the Third Chapter of the Acts; and by St. Stephen, Acts the Seventh; and by both to the purpose at which I drive. To which agreeth this Observation, That as at the close of our Saviour's Sermon which he delivered upon the Mount, he is said to have taught the astonished People, as one having authority, and not as the Scribes, (Matth. 7. ult.) so in the close of that Commission with which he shut up all his Sermons, and sent his Preachers into the world, he gave them charge to preach his Gospel, as that in which was contained his Royal Law. [All Power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth, go ye therefore, and teach all Nations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, (Matth. ult. ult.) In a due discharge of which Commission, we find St. Paul, (Rom. 13.) and St. james, (Chap. 2.) and St. Peter and St. john, in several parts of their Epistles, requiring absolute obedience to the Commandments of Christ, that is to Christ, as a Legislator. The words of St. Paul are most remarkable, (1 Cor. 7. 19) Circumcision is nothing, and Uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the Commandments. As if the Apostle should have said, Let us not please ourselves too much with our being of This or That Religion, embracing such or such a Sect. For no man living shall be saved for being of this or that Profession, a jew, or a Gentile, an Unbeliever, or a Believer, (a Papist or a Protestant, a Presbyterian, or a Prelatist.) But men are better, or worse, and in a more savable or unsavable Condition, as they are more or less obedient to the Commandments of Christ. This I take to be the meaning of that Expression in St. Paul, which is so far only difficult as it is spoken by an Ellipsis: Circumcision is nothing, and Uncircumcision is nothing, * Confer hunc locum cum Gal. 5. 6. but the keeping of the Commandments is all in all. That is it must do us good in the Day of Wrath, because 'tis That that Christ requires, as the Condition of the Covenant 'twixt Him and Us. And without which it is impossible that we receive him as a Lord. But there is nothing more pertinent to prove the Mastership of Christ, (as here we have it in the Text,) than his own resolution of the young man's question, as we find it set down in St. Matthew's Gospel; where no sooner was it asked by our Inquirer, [Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may inherit Eternal Life;] but strait the Master returned this answer, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments, (Matth. 19 17.) And being presently asked which, our Saviour passed by the first, and only instanced in those of the second Table. To show, that Faith will not avail us without Obedience; Nor Obedience to the first Table without Obedience unto the second. Whereby 'tis intimated unto us, That They are desperately Erroneous who think they are lovers of their God, whilst they are haters of their Neighbour; And that because they do not worship more Gods than One, have no Images in Churches, are no Swearers, or Sabbath-Breakers, they have therefore discharged their Duty towards God, notwithstanding their dishonouring of Public Parents, their Killing, their Cozening, and their bearing False-witness. Such as these must be taught by the Answer of this Master to this Inquiry, that their chiefest Duty towards God is their Duty towards their Neighbour; and that their Godliness is but Guile, whilst they acknowledge the true God, and yet disown his Vicegerent; Abhor Idols, and yet commit Sacrilege; Scruple at vain or common Swearing, but yet dissemble, and lie, and enter into Solemn Covenants against their many most sacred and praevious Oaths; whilst they are strict Sabbatizers, but disorderly walkers six days in the week; ever putting on the Form, but ever denying the Power of Godliness. The Good Master in the Text will not thus be served by us; for he expects good Servants too. And to our being good Servants, there is nothing more needful, than that we be honest and upright men. In this especially (saith our Saviour) consists the way to Eternal Life. So that the Liberty and Freedom so much spoken of in the Gospel is a Manumission from Satan, and not from Christ; who did not live our Example, that we might not imitate him; or prescribe us Precepts, that we might not obey them. No, the Liberty of the Gospel doth only make us the more his Servants. And though his Service is perfect Freedom, yet doth it not cease to be a Service. For as he that is called in the Lord, being a Servant, is the Lord's Freeman; so is He the Lord's Servant, who is called being free, 1 Cor. 7. 22. We are not said with greater Truth to be infranchized by the Gospel, than to have made an exchange of Masters. We were before Servants to Sin, But now to Righteousness. Before to Satan, but now to Christ. We did before serve an Hard Master, but now a Good one. And this I come to show at large upon My second Doctrinal Proposition. That our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is not any severe Egyptian Master, But a Master full of Mercy and Loving kindness. And this he is in two Respects, In respect of the Work which he requires, which is not foesible only, but pleasant; And of the Wages which he promiseth, Aeternal Life. He is, for each of these Reasons, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, A Good Master. § 1. That he is a good Master, and a good Master in perfection, we may discern by the particulars of which a perfect good Master must be composed. For He who exacts no more Duty than we are able to discharge, and yet affords a greater Recompense than we are able to deserve; He who sets us such a Task, as is not only always possible, but most times * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 293. easy; nor only easy to be performed, but also pleasant in the performance; He who treateth his Servants as Friends and Brethren, as if he were their Fellow-Servant, or indeed his Servants Servant; He who when he takes upon him the most of Mastership and Empire, commands his Servants no meaner things, than he Himself in his Person hath done before them; He who when he is affronted, is very easily reconciled, and even sues to his Servants for Reconcilement; He whose work is worth the doing because to do it is a Reward, and yet rewards it when it is done, above all that we are able to ask or think; He is sure a good Master, and a good Master in perfection; even as good as we are able to wish, or fancy. And just such a Master is jesus Christ. He is the Master that makes us Free, (Gal. 5. 1.) the Master whose Service is perfect Freedom. Rom. 6. 18, 22. The Master that frees us from all other Masters besides Himself. The Master that bids us call no man Master upon Earth, For one is our Master, and He in Heaven, Matth. 23. 10. § 2. Indeed if Moses were our Master, and none but He; Our Case were then very hard. For He requireth more Service than we are able to perform, and pronounceth a Lex moralis datur Duris in flagellum, Proficientibus in Paedagogiam, et perfectioribus in solatium. Curse in case we do not perform it, and yet affords not any strength whereby to adapt us for the performance. But yet however he is an hard Master, he is not a Cruel or an Unjust one, because he is an hard Master in order to a just and a gracious End. That is, he drives us from Himself, to make us look out for a better Master. He gives us a Law by which we cannot be justified, (Gal. 2. 16.) that we may seek to be justified by somewhat else. He pronounceth a Curse to as many as are of the works of the Law, that he may fright us into His Arms, who hath redeemed us from the Curse by being made a Curse for us, (Gal. 3. 13.) In a word, he is our Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that being under Christ we may be no longer under a Schoolmaster, (Gal. 3. 24, 25.) And thus having ascended from Moses to Christ, from the hard Master to the mild One, we are no longer under the Tyranny and Exactions of the Law, but under the Kingdom and State of Grace, (Rom. 6. 14.) no longer in bondage under the Elements of the World, (Gal. 4. 3.) but have received the Adoption of Sons, (v. 5.) We are no longer under a Master who can only forbid Sin, but we are now under a Master who can forgive it. No longer under a hard Master, who the longer we serve him, keeps us in bondage so much the more; But we are now under a Good one, who turns our Service into Sonship, translating us into Heirs and Coheirs with Himself, (v. 7.) § 3. But here it cannot be denied, That if we look upon Christ as nothing more than a Master, who came not to abrogate, but to fill up the Law, (Matth. 5. 17.) our Condition is not better, but rather worse than it was before. For Christ is stricter in his Precepts than Moses was; and seems to have set us an harder Task. He commands us to forgive and to love our Enemies; Not to look upon a Woman with the Adultery of the Eye; to rejoice in Persecutions; and to leap for joy when we are Mourners; He commands us to fight with all that is in the World; and not to give over fight until we conquer. I therefore say with all that is in the World, because as the Sublunary World was divided of old (before the Times of Columbus, and Americus Vesputius,) into these three parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa, to wit the parts of That World which was created by God alone; so St. john in his first Epistle hath divided the World of Sin and Wickedness, the World created by Men and Devils. For as he tells us in one place, That the whole World lieth in wickedness, (like a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Dionys. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Net cast into the Sea,) so he tells us in another, That All that is in the World 1 John 2. 16. is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. And methinks This Trichotomy hath such an Analogy with the former, as that the one may seem to have given occasion unto the other. Africa for its Heat, to the lust of the Flesh; Europe for its Avarice, to the lust of the Eye; Asia for its Bravery, to the pride of Life. Now to conquer a world of Temporal Enemies, is more than any one man could yet Attain to; How much less can any conquer a world of Sin? Such an Amorous man as Scipio might sooner conquer all Africa, than the lust of the Flesh. Such a Ravenous man as Caesar might sooner conquer all Europe, than the lust of the eye. Such an Ambitious man as Alexander might sooner conquer all Asia, than the pride of life. All these Admirable Victors were Slaves to Sin, which had subdued them from their Cradles, and led them Captive into their Graves. Admit that Alexander had conquered the World without him, (which yet we know he did not, and Livy tells us he could Vide Tit. Liv. l. 9 p. 332, 333, etc. not do,) sure we are he was enslaved to the world within him; to the lust of the flesh, by the Queen of the Amazons; to the lust of the eye, which nothing could fill but another's Empire; and to the pride of life too, because by That He affected an Apotheosis upon Earth. But now the Soldiers and Servants of jesus Christ are commanded to conquer this world of Sin. And that our Master should command us to overcome that Triumvirate, to which the universe of men hath so long been tributary, may seem as unreasonable to flesh and blood, as to flesh and blood it is impossible. So that it cannot be denied, but that if Christ were nothing more than a Master to us, we should not only be in a dangerous, but in a desperate condition. And the setting his Servants so hard a Task, would loudly speak him as hard a Master. § 4. But again we must confess on the other side, That if we look upon Christ as more and better than a Master, to wit a Sacrifice, and a Priest, an Elder Brother, and an Advocate, not only a Lawgiver, but a Propitiation, not only a * Acts 5. 31. Prince, but a * Acts 5. 31. Saviour too, who gives * Acts 5. 31. Repentance as well as Precepts, and * Acts 5. 31. forgiveness of Sins; who requires no more of us than he enables us to perform, and expects not to reap, but after the measure that he hath sown; Our case is infinitely better than under the pedagogy of Moses, and we must needs be concluded to serve a very good Master. For though he bids us have an Eye to the Perfection of his Commands, yet is he pleased to have an Eye to the Imperfection of our Nature, and looks not on the Imperfection, but on the mere sincerity of our Obedience. Though we must fasten an Eye of Fear on the exactness of his Injunctions, yet he does cast an Eye of favour upon our weakness to undergo them. This is a Rule which will never fail us. (And be it spoken to the comfort of whosoever has a wounded and broken Spirit;) Our Master Christ is so good, as to put a great value upon the willingness of our minds; Accepts the Tribute of our Obedience, even according to the Power and Ability which we have, not according to what we have not, (2 Cor. 8. 12.) He either enjoineth no harder things than he gives us Ability to accomplish, or else he satisfieth his justice with a great deal less than he enjoineth. In each of which Cases he is a very good Master. For what we cannot perform for want of strength, He himself hath performed in our behalf, and still doth take in good part our hearty Endeavours of Performance. Be it so that he leads us upon very hot Service; commands us to fight against all the world; and fight it out until we conquer; (or at least until we are beaten into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is to say, into more-than-Conquerours, by being manfully overcome, and valiantly trodden under foot;) yet if we equally consider, as well the proof of our Armour, as the prowess of our Enemies, comparing the Armoury of Grace with the Artillery of Temptations; and the strength of Him that fights for us, with the strength of Him that fights against us; we cannot choose but confess (if we have any Ingenuity abiding in us) That as there are lusts of the flesh, which war against the Soul, so there are weapons of the Spirit, which are abundantly sufficient to give them Battle. And though our Enemies are so urgent, that we cannot expect to enjoy a Peace; yet when Christ is our Captain, we may rationally hope to obtain a Victory. And sure a Victory over Sin, must needs be very much better, than to be at Peace with it. If indeed we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us, (as the Apostle tells us we can) How can we dare to be afraid, whilst our Commander is our strength too, who whilst he leads us by his Example, does also follow us by his Grace? 'Tis true indeed, Had he commanded us to fight, where he knew we must be conquered; and only promised an Eternity, upon the performance of things Impossible; It had not been to encourage, but jeer our weakness; to reproach our Endeavours, and not reward them. But (to speak in the phrase of the Royal Psalmist) The Lord is Righteous in all his ways, and perfectly holy in all his works. The Fortifications of every Soul are so proportioned to the Besiegers, that (excepting such as Pharaoh, who was finally given over,) God permits not a Temptation to make a Battery, where he provides not a Grace to prevent a Breach. — Nec enim bone Ductor Prudentius in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Magnarum virtutum inopes, nervisque carentes Christicolas vitiis populantibus exposuisti. As by the Tenor of his Precepts we must do any thing that we ought, so by the Power of his Grace we can do any thing that we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Pyth. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. must. For 'twas very truly said by the Pythagoreans, That Ability does dwell the next Door to Necessity. We can, if we will, shut out Adultery from the Eye, and keep out Murder from the Heart. But then the utmost of their Assaults requires the utmost of our Resistance. We cannot do it by sleeping, or sitting still. It is required that we stir up the Gift of God that is in us, and exert our very utmost of skill and strength. There is a Time when we must strive to such a Degree against Sin, as to resist it even to Blood. As God on his part is faithful, and will not suffer us to be tempted beyond our strength, so must we be faithful too, and persevere in our Resistance, although our Resistance may cost us dear. § 5. I cannot make this plainer than by Example, nor by a plainer Example than what our own Good Master was pleased to give us, Matth. 5. 28, 29, 30. where first having forbidden us even to look upon a Woman with such an Eye, as is the inlet of vanity, or the outlet of Lust, He immediately commands us, if our Eye offend us, to pluck it out; if our Hand offend us, to cut it off; if our feet offend us, to cast them from us. That if we cannot conquer one way, to wit by way of Prevention, we may yet do it another, by way of Cure. Or that if we cannot conquer our Ghostly Enemy, yet at least we may vex him by our Escape. If we can do either, Amoris remedia, secundum Cratem Cynicum sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Diogen. Laert. l. 6. it will suffice. For if we are able to keep our Eye from offending us, than we need not pluck it out; Or if we are able to pluck it out, than we can keep it from offending us. And this is most certain, That if we fail of the one, we may attain unto the other. If we cannot keep our Eye from offending or ensnaring us, or from making us to stumble and fall into Sin, (as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does Tertull. Apolog. c. 46. p. 76. there import) yet (like Democritus in Tertullian) we can pluck it out of our Head, and cast it from us. Or if we cannot keep in our Tongue, yet (like Zeno Eleates) we can chaw it between our Teeth, and so spit it out of our Mouths. If not our Heart from Projice quaecunque Cor tuum laniant. Quae si aliter extrahi nequeant, Cor ipsum cum illis evellendum. Seneca. scandalising us, yet (like Cato Vticensis,) we can tear it out of our Bosom. Or we can take a more gentle and legal Course. For we can block up its Avenues, and intercept its Provisions, and so compel it to a surrender for want of Victuals. There is not any kind of Devil, no not the Devil of Concupiscence, but may be cast our of the Heart, one way or other. Fervent Prayer peradventure will exorcise it of itself; especially if we continue and persevere in that Duty; if we pray without ceasing, and that in the sense of the Apostle. But if to the stratagem of Prayer, we add the Engine of Fasting too; and of fasting from the Occasion, as well as from the Food of that hungry Enemy; we shall famish and enfeeble the strongest Lust; and so by famishing the Monster, preserve the Man. § 6. But some perhaps may here object, and silently expostulate within themselves: Is the Case of us Christians so hard and tedious, as that we cannot be Saints but at the price of being Monsters? Are we not fit to see God, till we have plucked out our Eyes? or must we cut off our hands, for the working out of our Salvation? Or must we cut off our feet and cast them from us, that we may walk so much the better in the narrow way of the Commandments? Does not St. john tell us of Christ, (to prove he is a good Master,) that his Commandments are not grievous? But what more grievous, than to pluck out an Eye? And are we not told by Christ Himself, (to prove he is a Good Master,) that his yoke is easy, and his burden light? But what is more uneasy, than to cut off an hand? what more burdensome to our Shoulders, than what we cannot stand under, unless with the loss of our very feet? And how is Christ a good Master, whilst he placeth his Servants in such great Exigences and straits, that to preserve our Integrity, we must be forced to be dismembered? If That which opens into Life is such a very straight Gate, that to make ourselves slender, we must cut off our hands; and a Gate so very low, that to be short enough to enter, we must cut off our feet; where is the easiness of the Service so often talked of? This proves indeed he is a Master with a witness, But that he is a good one, it does not prove. This indeed shows his work is possible; But 'twas affirmed it should be easy, and pleasant too. § 7. 'Tis true I did, and still I do. For though to one who should literally pull his Eye out of his head, I might say with as good reason, as he in * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Antonius ad Didymum apud Cedrenum, p. 245. Cedrenus did to Didymus, [Be not troubled at the loss of those fleshly Eyes, which are obnoxious to the Attempts of every petulant Fly; But let it rather be thy comfort, that by being thus blinded, thou hast such Eyes left thee, as by which Angels themselves do see,] I say though this were an Answer which might satisfy the Objection, and which would not with ease be replied unto, yet the Answer I shall give will be far more welcome. For the words of our Master are spoken only by a figure, and do signify in substance no more than This; That we must rather part with any thing, than at once with the Purity and the Salvation of our Souls. Be it Friend, or Profit, be it Pleasure, or Reputation, whatsoever we love as we love our Eyes, or think as useful to our purpose as hands and feet; yet if it entice us to any wickedness by which we Shipwreck our Conscience, or fall from the favour of our God, we must rather cut it off, and cast it from us, than endure to be captived by its Allurements. If before we are aware we are surprised with a Temptation, so as Lust does conceive and is impregned in the heart, we must destroy it in that Instant, ere it hath time to bring forth. Or if perhaps it hath brought forth the Act of Sin, we then must rob it of the all that may feed and nourish it, that so it may be no more than an Act of Sin; and that, for want of Provision, it may not prosper into an habit. It being better to suffer any thing, in hindering Lust from conceiving, and from bringing forth Sin, than suffer Sin (by being finished,) to bring forth Death. This I conceive to be the upshot of those hard sayings, If thine Eye offend thee, pluck it out; If thine Hand offend thee, cut it off; if thy Foot offend thee, cast it from thee. Nay in the Judgement of St. Chrysostom, (upon the Place,) To pluck out our eyes, is but to turn them aside from their Tempting objects. To cut off our hands, is only to lay them upon our hearts. And to cast our feet from us, is no more than to direct them another way; to abstain from the occasions and opportunities of evil; to turn aside from all Incentives and Temptations unto Sin. And therefore hitherto there is nothing in this very hardest of Christ's Commands, but what consisteth with his being a very good Master. For since he commands what he commands us, both in order to our gaining the greatest Good, and in order to our escape from the greatest Evil; (a Lake which evermore burns with Fire and Brimstone;) The very hardest and sharpest of his Commands, must be comparatively easy, and pleasant too. Thus I have dwelled somewhat long upon this one Precept, [if thine Eye offend thee, pluck it out,] because it seems to be the hardest our Master Christ hath praescribed; And so by consequence to evince him a good Master here, is to evidence his Goodness in all the rest. § 8. If again it be objected, That our Master doth prescribe us an impossible Task, whilst he commands us to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect, although the * Mat. 5. ult. righteous man falleth seven times a day; † James 2. and in many things we offend all; and no ‖ Psal. 143. 2. flesh is righteous in the sight of God. § 9 The Answer to it is briefly This: That 'tis not said by our Master, [Be ye as perfect as your Father in Heaven,] Butler, Be ye perfect as he is perfect. Which is as if he should have said, Be ye perfect pro modulo, as He is perfect sine modo. You after your measure, as He without it. It is meant of a Likeness, and not at all of an Equality. Be ye perfect, as the word perfect is opposed to unsincere, and only signifies Integrity; not as opposed to Infirm, and signifies absolute perfection. Or to expound it more exactly, Our Master speaks in that place touching the latitude of our Charity, which he would not have confined within the limits of our Country, or our Acquaintance, our Friends, and Brethren; But he would have us extend our Love, as our Father in Heaven extendeth His, as well to our Enemies, as to our Friends. That this is the meaning of the Text, is very evident from the Context, and from the parallel place of Scripture, Luke 6. 36. where on the very same occasion of exhorting his Disciples to love their Enemies, he concludes in these words, Be ye merciful as your Father in Heaven is merciful. But now suppose that That Text were to be literally expounded, and that our Master had commanded us, not only an impartial, but an immaculate obedience; an obedience without Sin, as well as without Unsincerity; yet by Aristotle's Rule, which may be a Rule amongst Christians too, [That what is possible by our Friends, is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Aristot. Eth. possible to us,] our Obedience may be adequate to the very exactest of his Commands. For our Master is our Friend; (as he himself hath called himself, john 13. 15.) And he hath satisfied the Law, as well by his Active, as by his Passive Obedience; And this he hath done in our behalf too. And if by the Friendship of our Master (imputing to us his own Obedience) his Commands are foesible, and to be done; If we can do all things through Him that strengthens us by his Grace, through Him that directs us by his Example, through him that satisfies for our Rebellions by his perfection of Obedience in our Behalf; we can never sure complain of an Egyptian Taskmaster, But may modestly rather make him St. Austin's Augustin. l. 10. Confussionum, c. 28, 29, 30. Challenge, Da Domine quod jubes, & jube quod vis. Do thou command us, o Lord, even what thou wilt, whilst thou dost give us both to will, and also to do what thou commandest. Philip. 2. § 10. Come we now from the first unto the following Ingredients, of which a perfectly good Master must be composed. He sets his Servants such a Task, as is not only possible, but easy too; nor only easy to be done, but pleasant commonly in the doing. First so easy to be done, that Sincerity is imputed and reckoned to us in stead of Innocence; and a well-meant Endeavour doth pass with Christ for a Performance. Himself hath told us (Matth. 7. 7.) That as precious as Heaven is, we may have it for the ask. As inaccessibly as God is placed, we may find him for the seeking. And as fast as the Door is shut, we shall have it opened for but the knocking. 'Tis true indeed our good Master hath both a Yoke, and a Burden, (Matth. 11. 30.) But the one is so easy, and the other is so light, that even his Yoke gives us freedom, and his Burden strength. It is therefore a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or cold expression in St. john, to say His Commandments are not grievous; for (to use the Physician's Language) they are cordial and restaurative to such as faint, paregorical and anodynous to such as are in great pain. Witness the Recipe which is given by the great Physician of our Souls, Matth. 11. 29. where first having praemised, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you Rest; he presently adds this Receipt, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Take my Yoke upon you, [that is, my Precepts,] and ye shall find Rest unto your Souls. He binds us, we see, But with silken Fetters. He loads us indeed, But as the Poets loaded Atlas, when they placed that Heaven upon his shoulders, without the Influence of which he could not have stood upon his Feet. Thus our Lord (without a fiction) bids us bear our own Prop, and undergo such a Burden as holds us up; yea such a Burden as mounts us upwards. Nor could we soar as high as Heaven, if we were not thus laden. § 11. Such is the easiness of our Service; And then for the pleasantness, we have the Verdict of St. Chrysostom, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Virtue, without a Heaven, is so much pleasanter than Vice, that all the School of the Gloria est Gratia consummata. P. Ferius Specim. Scholar Orth. c. 13. Peripatetics thought sit to call it their Summum Bonum. Nor is there any thing more obvious in several parts of our Gospel, than for Grace to be expressed by the Kingdom of Heaven. As if our present state of Grace were the Inchoation of our Glory; and that by the newness of our Life, we did but antedate our Resurrection. The greatest Happiness under Heaven, being as Aristotle defines it, when * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Aristot. Eth. l. 1. c. 7. our Souls are ever working by the square and directions of the most exact and consummate virtue. For what but this was the design of our own good Master, in that Abridgement of all his Precepts, Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect? § 12. That other Master of men's Souls, Christ's Competitor for our Service, treats all his Vassals with greater Tyranny, than even the Malice of Zosimus could describe in Constantine, or Suetonius in Vespasian. Not only puts excize upon their offices of Nature, and makes them prostitute their Daughters to pay their Tribute; But even tortures them with the moral of what the Poets could but Invent. Uses the Proud man like Sisyphus, the Envious like Prometheus, the Avaricious like Tantalus, and the Lustful like Ixion. But now with This let us compare the most reasonable Service which Christ enjoins. He does not busy us at once about many things. For Quae unquam brevior et efficacior Doctrinâ tuâ jesu bone? non suades nisi credere, et non praecipis nisi amare. Quid facilius quam Deo credere? Quid dulcius quam ipsum amare? quam suave est jugum tuum, quam leve onus! Nicol. de Cusa de visione Dei. cap. 24. p. 207. his Commandments at the largest are but a Decalogue, and yet are shrunk to a dichotomy. The whole Duty of a Christian being only This, To love his God with all his heart, and his Neighbour as himself. Now is there any thing in the world, either more suitable to our Nature, or more agreeable to our desires, (I mean to our desires either of profit, or reputation,) than to love God and our Neighbour after the measure that he enjoins? Nothing sure is more noble, than by the loving of our God, to become his Favourites and Friends; nothing more profitable or gainful, than by the loving of our Neighbour, to lay up Treasure upon use in the Bank of Heaven. Yet into these two Bottoms the several Duties of a Christian are all wound up. Which if we unravel into Particulars, what a lovely Rank of Graces may we observe to march forth? such as are Faith, and Humility, Chastity, and Sobriety, Mercifulness, and justice, and other Couples of the like nature; Quae utique omnia non onerant nos, sed ornant, as somewhere Salvian is pleased to word it. That is, our Duty is so much our ornament, our Labour so much our ease, and our Burden so much our prop, That our good Master in effect requires no more of us than This, That at least for his sake, if not our own, we will do so much as be at Liberty; that we will gratify him so far, as to take our ease; and that in love to so good a Master, we will vouchsafe but to be happy. § 13. But, to pass a little farther to other Instances of a good Master; Our Master Christ doth command us no meaner things, than He Himself in his person hath done before us. He suffered a Birth, that he might be Gal. 4. 4. under the Law; and- endured a Life, that he might fulfil it. Like the Emperor Hadrian Hadrianus omnia ad Gregarij Militis modum fecit. Spartian. in Spartianus, (who underwent as much Service as the meanest Soldier in his Army,) our Master thought it not below him, to wash John 13. 5, 15. and wipe his Disciples Feet: Called judas Friend, in the same Instant that he betrayed him. He emptied himself of Glory; became of no reputation; not only prayed for his Persecutors, but laid down his Life even for them that took it away. In every Action of his converse he set us a Copy of Obedience, as well to facilitate our Transcript, as to commend it; that we might neither think it much, nor find it difficult. § 14. It is another great point of our Master's Goodness, That he does not break with us for every fault. Although we run away from him, (as, God knows, we do too often;) yet he does not in his displeasure presently turn us out of his Service; but desires that his Goodness may lead us back unto Repentance. And as he is not soon offended, so when he is, he is quickly pleased. We shall be sure to find mercy, at the price of showing it. For Luke 6. 37. we are promised an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a cheap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 'Tis but forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Nay so vehemently Good is our Master Christ, that he sends and sues to us for our consent to be forgiven. We are Ambassadors for Christ, (saith St. Paul by the Spirit in his Epistle to the Corinthians,) as if God himself did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God, (2 Cor. 5. 20.) Is not this a strange height of Condescension, That God in Christ should beseech us, and that Christ by his Ambassadors should pray unto us for a Pacification? That being neglected, He should court us? That being repulsed, He should covet us? That being buffeted, He should bless? and most unworthily affronted, he should entreat? Nay consider what it is, which he entreats to have granted. Not that He may be invited to be reconciled to us, but that we will be so gracious as to be reconciled to Him; implying God to be already reconciled unto us. And so his Entreaty is only This, That having done him a thousand wrongs, we will at last be friends with him. That how many Injuries soever we have offered him for the time passed, we will not aggravate them All, by our Contempt of that Pardon he offers to us. That having offended against his justice, we will not sin-away his Love, and his Mercy too. But that after the many Breaches which we alone have made wide betwixt Him and Us, we will finally admit of a Reconcilement. Thus it appears by the Ingredients of which a perfect Good Master may be composed, that Jesus Christ is a Good Master, and a Good Master in perfection. § 15. Last of all, if to the work which our Lord requires, to wit obedience unto his Precepts, we add the wages which he promiseth, Eternal Life, we must confess him as good a Master, as his Servants are able to wish, or fancy. Do but compare him with the Masters of greatest Note amongst the Heathen. * Diog. Laert. in vitâ Epic. Epicurus taught his Scholars, that the greatest Happiness they could aim at was the Pleasure of the Mind. Aristippus and Eudoxus were Aristot. Eth. l. 10. cap. 2. for that of the Body. Diodorus went no higher, than to the Absence only of Pain. Herillus thought rather the Perfection of knowledge. The Stoics gave the preference to an Unpassionateness of Life. The Peripatetics made it of three Ingredients. The first whereof was Virtue, which they call the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or great Essential; The second Ingredient was a Compound, comprehending all the Goods both of Body and Fortune, and those as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not as Parts, but Subservients to the Felicity of Man; The third was Pleasure, and that they were pleased to express by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not as a part, or a subservient, but a mere Consequent of Bliss. Thus the great Masters amongst the Heathen did direct their Disciples by the Dimm light of Nature. But Christ alone is the good Master, who has both taught us as his Disciples, and also promised us as his Servants, Eternal Life. § 16. And the least Measure of such Wages, as Life added to Eternity, and to Both the Fruition of God himself, is transcendently greater than the greatest measure of our Obedience. A Christian's Vails are more worth, than his Service comes to. The very Earnest our Master gives, (if we compare it with our work,) might very well suffice for our Wages too. But his final Reward (which is expressed by Life Eternal) does amount to so huge and unconceivable a value, that the Quantò diutiùs considero, tantò mihi Res videtur obscurior. Simonid. ad Hieron. Case stands with us, as heretofore with Simonides, when demanded by Hiero the Definition of God; the longer we study to sum it up, the more we shall find it unconceivable. And what we cannot conceive, we can much less utter. It is not only the greatest that we can have, nor only the greatest that can be had, but even the greatest we are able to ask or think, the greatest we are able to wish or fancy. The very Hope and Expectation of Life Eternal, although at many years' distance, and wrapped up in Futurity, does carry with it the greatest Pleasure of which we are capable whilst we are here; not to mention those Pleasures which it will ravish us with hereafter. For That is sure the greatest wages, and carries with it the greatest pleasure, whose very hope and expectation is apt to soften the hardest work, and able to alleviate the heaviest Burden. But the hope and expectation of Life Eternal, and the Glory to be revealed, is apt to soften the hardest work, and to lighten the heaviest Burden; therefore That is the greatest wages, and carries with it the greatest Pleasure. The Assumption is to be proved by an Induction of particulars: I mean the admirable Experiments which have been made in this life by Saints and Martyrs; whose very Torments have been sweetened and made delicious, by nothing else but the foretastes of Life Eternal. Were Life Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Callimachus in Hymn. ad Apoll. nothing better, than a kind of perpetual Youth, an unmovable station upon the point of One-and-twenty, we may guests how much admired, and how much coveted it would be, by the Care which People take of their Embonpoint. How many use their third of Life, as prudent Penelope did her Web? when being wound up to a Real Age, they unravel it again to a seeming Youth? So very willing they are to live, and yet so very unwilling to outlive Beauty, that they will needs court Eternity by a Nursery of Colours. So that when fifty or threescore years begin to be legible in their Faces, (characters there dug by the Plough of Time,) A Dash or two of their Pencil will strike off Twenty. And therefore the years which they have lived, though scarce the Childhood of Life Eternal, may yet assist them in its Discovery as far as a little imperfect Guests. They who fain would never die, can tell me best how sweet is life; And They who fain would ne'er be old, can best inform me of Eternity. § 17. But I must not here make a Panegyric of Life Eternal; as well because I insisted on it in considering the nature of the young man's Inquiry, as because I must hasten to make Advantage of what already hath been delivered. Since therefore Christ is so much a Master, as to beget our greatest Reverence; And yet a Master so full of goodness, as to merit our greatest Love; a Master, to challenge our obedience; and a Good Master, to invite it; A Master, to keep us from Contempt; and yet withal a good Master, whereby to give us Familiarity; A Master, to set us on work; and a good Master, to reward us; Since (I say) he is so good, as to be willing to Allure, what he is so much a Master, as to be able to compel; Since our Employment is not only very proportionable to our strength, but very conformable to our Nature; not only tending to our Interest, but even agreeable to our Desires; Since our Master is Goodness it self, our Service Freedom as well as Pleasure, and our Wages Eternal Life; Let us not serve him only for fear, but let us fear him only for love. Rather as a Good Master, who will Reward, than as a Master, who can punish. Let not our obedience be merely servile, and only paid to the Law of a Carnal Commandment, (Heb. 7. 16.) But filial rather and ingenuous, to the Law that is Spiritual, (Rom. 7. 14.) job was objected against by Satan, that he served God for something; and that the source of his obedience was but a mercenary Devotion. Now though we cannot but have something for serving God, yet (that Hell may not upbraid us) let us serve him for nothing more, than the honour and happiness to serve him. Shall we serve our Good Master from the same base Principle, from which the very worst Servants will serve an ill one? For shame let us not serve him, as vanquished People do serve their Tyrants, or as some poor Indians do serve the Devil, only to the end that he may not hurt us. Will he accept of our Service (think ye) when we do make him our shelter, but not our choice? a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or a mere Plank after a shipwreck? He is little beholding to such a Proselyte, whom only his Enemy hath made his Friend; and may rather thank Hell for our Obedience, when we come to him but in a Fright. I would not (with the Woman who was met in the way by Bishop Ivo, with a Firebrand in one hand, and a Bucket of Water in the other,) either burn up the Joys of Heaven, or extinguish the Fire of Hell; But so much I am of that Woman's mind, that (if I might have mine own wish,) I would have all Christian Servants to love This Master a great deal more than the joys of Heaven; And I would have them fear his Anger a great deal more than the Pains of Hell. If He did empty himself of Glory, and as it were go out of Himself to give us Grace; How should we empty ourselves of all that is dear unto us, and even go out of ourselves too, by Self-denials, to advance his Glory? O let us therefore be such generous and disinteressed Servants, as to vie Obedience with his Commands. In an humble kind of Contention, let us endeavour to outdo, and (if occasion ever serve) to out-suffer what he commands us. Since Heaven itself is the Merchandise, which (in the Matth. 13. 46. Parable of our Lord) must be sold for sweat; let us more outbid the Pharisees, than the Pharisees did the Law. And that our Master may say to us in his Kingdom of Glory, [Well done good Servants,] Say we to him in this of Grace, [Good Master what shall we do?] Let us not admit of Ignobler Motives for the present exciting us to our Duties, than the bare doing them in this world, and an Inheritance in the next. A good life here, and hereafter an Eternal. Now the Earnest of our Service, and then the Wages. The very Earnest of such an Estimate, but so inestimable the Wages, that 'tis not so fit to be described, as to be pressed and urged home on a Congregation. For the Knowledge of This (unlike That of other things) dwells in the * Matth. 13. 15. Heart, not in the Head. The way to understand the Joys of Heaven (with St. Paul,) is (with St. Paul) to be rapt up thither. Rapt up in zeal, and affection, not in fancy, and speculation. In the yerning of the Bowels, not in the working of the Brains. Let the Sceptics therefore dispute themselves to Heaven, whilst we in silence are walking thither. Let the Schoolmen take it in subtlety, and we in deed. Let the Pelagians or Socinians try to purchase Eternal Life, whilst we inherit it. Let the Sanguine Fiduciary possess himself of Bliss, whilst we contend for it. Let the Philosopher enjoy it as well as he can in his Contemplations; we shall best contemplate it in our Enjoyment. Which God of his Mercy vouchsafe unto us, even for the Glory of his Name, and for the worthiness of his Son, our great and good Master the Lord Jesus Christ. To whom with the Father in the Unity of the Spirit, be Honour and Glory both now and for ever. THE INHERITANCE OF ETERNITY IS God's Free Gift After all our WORKING. MARK X. 17. Good Master, what shall I do, that I may Inherit Aeternal Life? A Quaestion set forth in such happy Terms, that I conceive it will be easy to resolve it out of itself. For the way to inherit Eternal Life, is to receive and own Christ both as a Master, and as a Good Master; to obey him as the first, and to love him as the second, and to revere him as both together; and when All is done, still to ask what we shall do; to believe he will reward us according to our Doings, and not only so, but above them too. The Compellation having been handled in both its parts, I must proceed unto the matter and the manner of the Quaestion, together with the manner of attaining to the End, or the final Cause. The matter is employed in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and the manner in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. From both together there ariseth this Doctrinal Proposition. That in duty and gratitude to such a Good Master as This, we must account ourselves obliged to two Returns. To wit a Readiness of obedience, and a Resignedness of Wills. First a Readiness of Obedience, even because he is our Master: Next a Resignedness of Wills, because he is a Good Master. Our Christian Tribute to both together, [to wit his Authority, and his Goodness,] must be at once Universal and Unconstrained. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; what shall I do? that is to say, I will do any thing. I am ready to perform whatsoever thou shalt appoint, be it never so harsh, or be it never so difficult. For Life Eternal is such a prize, as for which I can never do enough. I say not therefore what I will do, but humbly ask what I shall. This I take to be the Scope of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; and by consequence the ground of my Proposition. When I contemplate on God Almighty as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (to use the phrase of the Pythagoreans,) both as a God, and as a Creator, In his Essence, and in his Attributes, in the Unity of his Nature, and in the Variety of his Works; I know not whether I should conclude him to be more simple in Himself, or else more different in his Dispensations. And though this Difference does appear in the whole oeconomy of the Creation; yet is it no where so conspicuous, as it is betwixt us, and our Fellow-Creatures. Which if we have leisure but to compare, we shall find in other Creatures so many Traces of God's Divinity, But withal in ourselves such great remarks of his special Favour, that though to Them he is a just and a gracious God, I may say that to us he is a Partial one. They acknowledge him a Sovereign; But we have the honour to call him Father. They are the objects of his Almightiness, But we of his Indulgence and tender Love. Them indeed he created, But us he created in a Similitude with Himself. Them he hath confined unto the Dictates of an Appetite; * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 234. But hath turned us lose unto the Liberty of a Will. Them he condemned to be infallible, for want of reason; To us he gives the use of reason, and so the privilege to be led into Truth or Error. As they are never unfaithful, so are they ever pressed Soldiers in God's great Host. But we have the honour to be capable either of Blame or Commendation, by our being either Rebels, or Volunteers. And according to this Diversity of Endowments in the Creature, 'Tis very just he should expect a like Diversity of Obedience. From Them a fatal obedience; from us a filial. They are to suffer their Maker's will; But we properly to do it. They to serve him out of necessity; But we from choice. They are to submit to his Good Pleasure; But we to love it. Or (to sum up the Difference with greater praeciseness as well as brevity,) The other Creatures may be said not to resist his Commands; But we only to obey them. Obedience properly being That, which proceeds from Option; And That the best of our obedience, which is the Production of our Love. But see how much the Scene is shifted, since first we entered upon the Theatre; and how oppositely we act to God's Great Design. For the Ox knoweth his owner, and the Ass his Master's Isa. 1. Crib; God's other Creatures will, but only his People will not obey him. The Sun was not too high, nor the * Matth. 8. 27. Sea too unruly; Hell was not too guilty, nor the Grave too strong. For we know the very Devils obeyed our Saviour in his Life; and Death itself at his Resurrection. But as if the partiality of God to man, by which he made him as the youngest, so the dearest Child of his Creation, had only given us that sad and accursed Privilege, of becoming more obliged, and by consequence more miserable, because more ingrateful than all the Rest; we, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Chrysostom, even the Pride of his Workmanship, and the prime Business of his Providence, are the sole Remnant of his Creation, who turn the Instances of his Goodness into Unnatural Instruments of his Dishonour. The only sublunary Creatures that Understand his will, And yet (the Devils alone excepted) the only Creatures that dispute it. Some there are who will obey him by all means possible, But with a tacit Proviso that he will first obey Them. So far forth as they are pleased with the condition of his Service, they are ready to serve him in what he pleaseth. If Christ but once say the word, they will quickly follow him to Mount Tabor, or Matth. 17: 4. (if need be) they will go before him. But when he goes to Mount Calvary, they will be sure to stay behind; or they will follow him then too, that is, they will not come near him. Move after him they will, but will think it good manners, to do it at a great and an humble Distance, like the Catharists of old, who of late are called Puritans, (the more Unclean in God's Eyes for being so righteous in their own,) on a presumption they shall die the Death of the righteous, they do not much scruple what life they lead. The Promises of their good Master they swallow down very glibly; But his Precepts they cannot digest. They had rather idly gape after Life Eternal, than by a rigid obedience take the pains to go towards it. Or if perhaps they are content with the working out of their Salvation, yet their Assurance of their Election will not suffer them to do it with fear and trembling. They so abominate the Popery of coming thither ex condigno, and so hate the Pelagianism of seeming worthy, as not to take any care of becoming fit. 'Tis most agreeable with the privilege which they pretend to, to be with Christ at his Ascension; from whence they leave him all his life to converse with Publicans; and look upon him at his Death as fit to be companied only by Thiefs. There are others of a less Sanguine, and so a less credulous constitution; who do not throw themselves so wholly, or rather so supinely, into the Arms of Christ Jesus, or so expect to be carried upon his shoulders, as not to make use of their Eyes and Feet too. Only the worst of it is this, that having cheerfully followed him through all the passages of his Life, they at last forsake him at his Cross; And if they betray him not, like judas, yet like Peter, they will not own him. Keep him company they will to the Brink of Happiness, But there affrightedly start back like their Brother Demas. Or else like Agrippa, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they are within a very little of being good Christians; as having made a fair shift to pass the narrowness of the way, but only sticking as 'twere at last at the straitness of the Gate. As if when after a tedious march they are advanced as far as the Door of Heaven, they would not be at the pains to enter in. I cannot exemplify what I say with so much pertinence to my Text, as by the young and wealthy Ruler concerned in it. It appears by the Question which here he makes, and by his Care of the Commandments, (v. 20.) and by our Saviour's Love to him, (v. 21.) that he was one of some growth in his Master's School. But withal it appears, (v. 22.) that he shrunk at the thought of an harder Lesson. He had observed the Commandments even from his youth. That was well, but not enough. For one thing he lacked, (as his own Good Master told him,) even the selling all he had, and giving it to the Poor. But as if he had forgotten the generosity of his Quaestion, [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; what shall I do?] whereby he evidently employed he would stick at nothing, which by this his Good Master should be enjoined; he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved. And the reason of it was, He had great Possessions, (v. 23.) It seems a Treasure here on Earth is so commonly inconsistent with one in Heaven, that we must part with the one, to enjoy the other. And agreably our Saviour Matth. 13. 46. compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a Pearl of great price, which a Merchant sold all he had to purchase. Great Possessions do so encumber a spiritual Traveller in his journey, that the Door of Heaven to a Dives, is (in the Judgement of our Master who cannot err) as the Eye of a Needle to a Camel, (v. 25.) which 'tis impossible he should enter, or be able to pass through, unless by crumbling his Possessions into as many small parts, as there are objects of his Charity to assist him in the Division. I do not say as many parts, as there are poor men and women who crave for Alms, (the parts would then be too little, and instead of entering the Needle's Eye, would fall beside it,) But I say as many parts, as there are objects of his Charity; which all are not, who are very poor, because their Poverty may be their Sin, (by an obvious Metonymy of the efficient for the effect,) unjustly gotten, for want of labour; and for the same want of labour, unjustly kept. Else our Laws had been unchristian in providing a Bridewell and a Beadle for such as beg; nay St. Paul had been cruel in condemning some of them to die by Famin. For he commanded his Thessalonians, that if any would not labour, they should not eat, (2 Thess. 3. 10.) But (to resume my Discourse, where this Parenthesis made me leave it;) we see the Camel, or the Rich man, may not only be enabled to pass the Eye of a Needle, (that is to say, the Door of Heaven,) by giving the Bunch upon his Back, that is, his Riches to the Poor; but he may do it and still be rich; nor can be rich in good works, until 'tis done. For though by having great Possessions he is in a capacity of being rich, yet truly His they cannot be, until he has mercifully employed them. Quas dederis solas semper habebis Opens. But however this is pertinent to as much of my Text as I am upon, if the wealthy man's Quaestion be duly compared with the following Answers; yet it seems 'tis so sublime and so untrodden a piece of our Lord's Philosophy, so very heterodox and strange to the conceptions of Carnality, that it either transcendeth our Capacities, or is too opposite to our Desires. Such incompatible Masters are God and Mammon, that as Conscience by a Proverb is the poor man's Virtue, so Life Eternal by a Promise is the poor man's Reward. For though to have life wedded to Eternity, is a Match we like well; yet unwilling we are often to pay the Dowry. We are commonly more inclinable to part with our Sweat, than with our Money; and are readier, of the two, to earn Heaven, than to buy it. And yet this Earning of it also, as it does too much exceed our strength, so it too much crosses our Inclinations. We are contented to serve our Master, but so as it may stand with our ease, and leisure. Like that Disciple in St. Matthew, who was willing and Matth. 8. 21. ready to follow Christ, but so as in the first place to bury his Father. Or like them that were bid to the wedding Feast, if we have nothing else to do, we are forsooth his humble Servants. But if we have either a Field to prove, a yoke of Oxen to try, or a Wife to marry, we receive and return his Invitation, with an [I pray you have me excused] If he invites us to the Miracle of Loaves and Fishes, than indeed the Case is altered, and we shall flock to him by thousands. But if we are bid to sup with him upon a Mess of sour Herbs, Matth. 14. 21. (as at the Passover,) or to partake of an Oleo made of Vinegar and Gall; (as at the time of his Crucifixion,) than we affect being abstemious, we lay our hand upon our mouth, and thank him as much as if we did. That is to say, in all such Cases, either we are not at leisure, or else we do not like our Fare. Whereas when the Master is so transcendently Good, that for the work of a few Minutes he gives an Eternity of Reward, we should prevent his Commands with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, what kind of Service wilt thou command us? we should afford him (for shame) as great a Resignedness of Wills, as that Heathen man Cleanthes gave to his jupiter, and his Fate. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Since on condition that he saves us, we care not how; we should invite him to command us, we care not what; and to lead us, we care not whither. We should give him up our Souls as so many Blanks, or unwritten Tables, equally susceptible of all, which our Master shall be pleased to imprint upon us. For in the Eighteenth Chapter of St. Luke, (v. 17.) Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God, (that is, the Precepts of the Gospel,) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as a little Child, (that is, as one who is passive, and of a teachable Disposition, impartially receptive of all impressions, which the Tenor of the Gospel shall stamp upon him;) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith our Saviour, Matth. 26. 42. he shall in no wise enter therein. And this, no doubt, is the meaning of that Petition in the Lord's Prayer, Thy will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven. Which notes a sufferance (saith Tertullian) to which, when we pray, Sufferentiam notat ad quam nos ipsos admonemus. Tertull. we excite ourselves. But certainly That cannot be all. For we pray in that Petition, as well for the doing of what he commands, as for the suffering of what he inflicts. Thy will be done, not only upon us, but by us too. Let it be done here on Earth, with the same Alacrity as in Heaven; Let it be done by thy Children, with as much Impartiality as by thy Servants; Let it be done by us Men, as unconstrainedly as by Angels. If thou wilt have us to buy Salvation, let us not choose our own Price. If thou wilt have us to work it out, let us not choose our own Task. If thou wilt have us to do it presently, let us not choose our own Time. Give us Resignedness of Spirits, and with That, what thou pleasest. Be thy Injunctions never so hard, or thy Cross never so heavy; be it the giving up our Livelyhoods, or be it the parting with our Lives, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Thy will be done. 'Tis true we may pray with our Blessed Saviour, Father if it be possible, let this Cup pass from us. But then we must pray with our Saviour too, Nevertheless not our will, but thy will be done. I remember Herodian reports of Alexander, Herodian. l. 6. p. 129. (the Cousin German to Pseud Antonine,) He was so perfectly at the Devotion of his Mother Mammaea, as to obey her in those things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in which he was most of all displeased. Not disobeying her even in those, in which Disobedience had been a Duty. And 'twas Pythagoras his Theology, not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in jamblicus, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hierocles; not only not to repine at God's oeconomy, but with all gentleness to embrace it. Nor only to observe, and to do his will, even then when it thwarted theirs; but to accommodate and conform their will to His. I am sorry I must say, (what yet I must,) that were Pythagoras his Metempsychosis now to be verified in Himself, and He again to teach Philosophy in these our days; I know not which were the more probable, either for us to be the better for his Christianlike Principles, or for Him to be the worse for our Heathen-Practice. And because Reason, by many Auditors, is more attended to than Scripture; let me bespeak you in the Person, not so much of a Christian, as of a Philsopher. Is there any thing in the World (I do not say more impious, but) more unpolitick, than for a Lump of Infirmities to enter the Lists with the Almighty? or for a thing of a Span long to resist Immensity? Our Disobedience to such a Master will be found equally ridiculous, whether we hope to thrive in it by Opposition, or Avoidance. For dare we stand against Him who is Omnipotent? Or can we fly from Him that's every where? Do we live in fear of Them that can hurt the Luke 12. 4, 5. Body? and are we undaunted only at Him who can kill the Soul? jacob could not wrestle with him, though he did it for a Blessing, without the Disjointing of his Thigh; and shall we struggle for a Curse, even at the price Non tutum est in illum scribere qui potest proscribere. Auson. of a Damnation? If Ausonius could say of the Roman Emperor, That 'twas not safe scribbling against a Man, who had the Power Non recte suadetis, Familiares, qui non patimini me illum doctiorem omnibus esse credere, qui 30. habet Legiones. Spartian. in vitâ Hadr. p. 14. to proscribe; And Phavorinus of Hadrian, That 'twas not good to dispute with such a Person, as had the command of thirty Legions; Then with a greater force of reason, Is it not Wisdom, as well as Duty, to yield obedience unto a Master, who is infinitely Great as well as Good, and has the power to compel, as well as the sweetness to invite, and that not only our Obedience, but our Assent too? We count it prudence in other things, to make a virtue of Necessity. And being convinced we are unable to prevail against our Master; why do we not strive to be unwilling, and at least make a virtue of so much weakness? If we duly contemplate Inferior Nature, we shall find but too much reason even to emulate and strive with the things below us. Which yet, in this respect at least, are so much higher than ourselves, by how much the more they are conformable to the Blessed Will and Pleasure of him that made them. Not only the Beasts, which have no Understanding, but the Elements, which have no Sense, do silently preach to the Christian World, at once Obedience, and Self-denial. For what more contrary to Nature, than for the Earth to give Rain? or what are the Clouds more unwilling to, than Liv. l. 28. p. 678. they are to rain Earth? And yet Obedience to their Maker is a thing so natural, as that they obey him against their Nature. What is the Sun more averse to, than either going back, or standing still? And yet in obedience to God's Command, He did not only stand still in Gibeon, but withal went back upon the Dial of Ahaz. Hereupon it will be useful thus to reason within ourselves. Are God's Drudges so inclinable to his Commands? and shall we his Darlings be so averse? They are only obliged to their Creator for being made; Our Obligation is far greater, by our being made men; and greater yet by our being remade. We are not only the Work, but Non modo Dei opus, sed Dei Flatus. Tertull. de Animâ, c. 19 the Breath of God, saith Tertullian. Nay farther yet, whereas he spoke only for Them, for Us he died. And if they are so thankful for being the work of his Hands, shall not we be much more, for being the price of his Blood? yes sure. As 'tis our privilege, above them, to have a Saviour, and a will, so our obedience must be more, and it must be more willing. It must not only be Universal, (for so is Theirs,) but also free, and unconstrained. As other Creatures are obedient, because they cannot resist, so ought we, because we will not. We must not obey him only in fear, because he is a great judge; but because he is a Saviour, we must take Pleasure in our Obedience. We ought to look upon his Precepts, with as kind eyes as on his Promises; and the employment of such a Master, should as much encourage us as our pay. We ought to think the Day lost which is not spent in his Service; and execute his Precepts with so much readiness, as wishing at least we could prevent them. We should not only be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: not only ready with the Prescriptions, but Freewill-Offerings of our Obedience. It being a Gallantry of Devotion, and most worthy of a Christian, to be most of all afraid of offending Him, (not whom we find a mere Master very inclinable to punish, But) whom we find a good Master, most apt to pardon. Let us hasten to him therefore preaching to us from the Mount, and let us give him our Attention in the spirit of the two Emblems of the Law and the Prophets, which had the honour to attend him upon Mount Tabor. Undergoing his meanest Offices in the humility of a Moses, and with the greatest earnestness performing them in the zeal of an Elias. Let us render him every Faculty both of our Souls and of our Bodies; our Mouths to confess him, our Heads to believe him, our Hands and Feet to serve him, our Wills to be ruled, and our Wits to be captivated by him, our Hearts to love him, and our Lives to die for him. All which, though it is All, is still too little, if we impartially consider the Disproportion of our Reward, that blessed Parallel drawn out for us by God's own Compass, Life, and Eternity. A man (you know) would do any thing whereby to find Life, though (in our Saviour's Oxymôron) it is by losing it, Matth. 10. 39 And as a man will part with any thing, to save his life; so with life too, to eternize it. If therefore our Saviour does bid us follow him, let us not venture to choose our way. And if we can but arrive at Heaven, it matters not much though we go by Hell. For comparing his Goodness with his Mastership, his Promises with his Precepts, and the Scantling of our Obedience with the Immenfity of our Reward; we shall find that our work hath no proportion with our wages; but that we may inquire, when all is done, Good Master what shall we do? And this does prompt me to proceed to my last Doctrinal Proposition. That when all is done that can be, we are unprofitable Servants; Our Obedience is not Luke 17. 10. the Cause, but the mere Condition of our Reward. And we arrive at Eternal Life, not by way of Purchase, as we are Servants; but of Inheritance, as we are Sons. It is not here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not to deserve, but to inherit Eternal Life. As Christianity, like Manhood, hath its several steps and degrees of growth; so the Soul, as well as the Body, doth stand in need of Food, and Raiment. And agreeable to the Complexion of immaterial Being's, she is not only bedecked, but sustained with Righteousness. Now as none can inherit Eternal Life, but He that is born of the Spirit; And as he that is born of the Spirit, must also be nourished with the Spirit, before he can possibly live an holy, and spiritual Life; so it is only God the Spirit that gives us Birth, God the Son that gives us Breeding, and God the Father that gives us the privilege of Adoption. The Spirit feedeth us as his Babes; the Son instructs us as his Disciples; the Father indows us as his Heirs. It is the Spirit that fits us for our Inheritance, the Son that gives us a Title to it, And 'tis especially the Father who doth invest us with the Possession. But now of all God's External and Temporal Blessings which have any Resemblance unto his Spiritual, methinks the Manna that fell from Heaven is the liveliest Emblem of his Grace. Of which though some did gather more, and some less; yet they that Exod. 16. 17, 18. gathered most, had nothing over, and they that gathered least, had no lack. Thus as Manna, like Grace, is the Bread of Heaven; John 6. 31. so Grace, like Manna, is also measured out by Omers. For even they that have least of the Grace of God, have enough (if well used) to inherit Heaven; and even they that have most, have not enough to deserve it. But still the Parallel goes on. For the reason why the Manna which God sent down to the People Israel, would not endure above a * Exod. 16. 21. Day, was (saith Philo upon the Place) lest considering the Care by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Philo. their Manna was preserved, more than the Bounty by which 'twas given, they might be tempted to applaud, not God's Providence, but their own. Thus if God had bestowed so full a measure of his Grace, as to have left us altogether without our Frailties, perhaps our very Innocence might have been our Temptation. We might have found it an Inconvenience to have been dangerously Good. Like those once happy, but ever-since unhappy Eadem est Causa nostri Infortunij, quae omnium, nimia foelicitas. Florus. Angels, whose very excellency of Nature did prove a kind of Snare to them; even the purity of their Essence did give occasion to their defilement; Their very Height and Eminence was that that helped to pull them down; and one reason of their falling was, that they stood so firmly. For though they were free from that Lust, which is the Pollution of the Flesh; yet they were liable to Ambition, which is the Filthiness of the Spirit. As if their Plethory of Goodness had made them Wantoness, or the Unweildiness of their Glory had made them Proud; 'twas from a likeness to their Creator, that they aspired to an Equality; and so they were the first of all the Creatures, as well in their Fall, as their Perfections. Now adding to this the consideration, that Ingratitude does gather Increase of Gild, from a greater abundance of Obligations, (so as the Angels falling from Heaven, could not fall less than as low as Hell,) we may perhaps find a reason, for which to congratulate to ourselves, that Dimensum or Pittance of God's free Grace, which hath left us our Infirmities as fit Remembrancers to Humility. That being placed in a condition, rather of Trembling, than of Security, every Instance of our defect may send us to God for a Supply. God hath given us our Proportion, that we may not grumble, or despair; but not such a Perfection, as once to Adam and the Angels before their Fall, that we may not (like Them) be either careless, or presume. So that making a due comparison, of that faint measure of Goodness which now we possibly may have by the Grace of God, with that full measure Indignum est ad futurae gloriae Comparationem omne opus humanum. Salvian. of Glory which now at least we hope for, we must be fain to acknowledge, when all is done, that the greatest measure of our obedience is far from deserving the least of Bliss. For as the Sun appears to us a most glorious Body, and yet is looked upon by God, as a spot of Ink; so though the Righteousness of men doth seem to men to be truly such, yet compared with our Reward, it is no more than as filthy Rags. That other promise of our Lord, Never to see or to taste of Death, had John 8. 52. been sufficiently above our merits; But to inherit Eternal Life too, though I cannot affirm it above our wishes, yet sure it is often above our Faith. Had we no more than we deserved, we should not have so great Blessings as Rain and Sunshine; and God had still been Just to us, had he made our best wages to be as negative as our work. For as the best of us all can boast no more, than of being less guilty than other men; so we can claim no other Reward, than to be somewhat less punished; (that is, to be beaten with fewer stripes.) As the Ox amongst the jews being unmuzzled upon the Mowe (by the special appointment of God himself,) at once did eat, and tread the Corn, whereby he received his Reward, at the very same Instant in which he earned it; so the Protection of such a Sovereign is Reward enough for our Allegiance; and the present Maintenance of a Servant is the usual Recompense of his labour. Whatsoever God affords us besides our Being, is to be reckoned supra Computum. Life at least is our stipend, and Eternity but our Donative. Nay if we seriously consider, that we are properly the Authors of all that is evil in ourselves, and nothing more than the Instruments of what is good; that when we pray very devoutly, 'tis God that sets our lips a going; and whensoever we give Alms, 'tis God that mollifies our hearts, and that stretcheth 1 Cor. 4. 7. out our hands too; He abundantly requites us for our obedience, by his enabling us to obey. For that the Goodness of a man's life is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Plato in Menone. neither infused by Nature, nor acquired by Industry, but a special Benefaction of God's free Grace, Plato himself, though an Heathen, had yet Discretion enough to say. † Si à Deo confertur Continentiae virtus, Quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis? Tertull. de Virginibus velandis, c. 13. Why then do the Hebrew or Roman Pharisees take a pride in the doing of this or that Duty, or boast the giving of this or that Alms, as if they had any thing to give, which they themselves had not received? ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Clemens Rom. in Ep. ad Cor. p. 50. Why do they glory in their Widowhood, or Single life, when 'tis only from God that they have their Continence? or why do they think to merit Heaven by being Rich in Good works, when even the Goodness of their works does but increase their obligation? Can they expect to be rewarded for their Acceptance? or think that aught is due to them, for their having been already so much obliged? If from the liberty of their Wills they argue the merit of their Obedience, they must know they do impose a double fallacy on themselves. For neither can the Wills of men incline to good without Grace, nor is the Liberty of their Wills any whit less of God's giving, than all the rest. 'Tis God that makes us, not only able, but willing too to be obedient; So that the privilege of our choice does not only not lessen, but greatly heighten our Obligation. And since to perform our whole Duty, is but to pay our whole Debt, our Lord might legally have awarded us, not a Recompense, but a Discharge. Nay let me say a little farther, That had our Master proposed to us neither an Heaven to encourage, nor an Hell to fright us to our Obedience, it had been yet Reward sufficient, to have but our Labour for our Pains; And Christ were still a Good Master, in crowning our Foreheads with their own Sweat; in making it the Reward of our Christian Race, to enjoy the Satisfaction of having run it. For the Commandments of God are so extremely for our Interest, and so conformable to our Reason, that even in keeping them (saith the Psalmist) there is great Reward, (Psal. 19 9, 10, 11.) This I endeavoured to make appear in the last days Subject of my Discourse, showing the Goodness of our Master from the Work about which he employs his Servants; (As I shall also make it appear upon some other opportunity.) And indeed 'tis so impossible, that any Arrears of Bliss and Glory should be due to us in Heaven, for our having been obedient (that is happy) here on Earth, that (in the Nineteenth Chapter of St. Matthew at the Nine and twentieth Verse,) Whosoever hath forsaken either Father, or Mother, or Brethren, or Sisters, or Wife, or Children, or Houses, or Lands, for the Name of Christ and his Gospel; although he shall receive an hundred fold, and that perhaps in this present World, yet 'tis only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He shall not purchase, but inherit Eternal Life. 'Tis true indeed that our Obedience is the Causa-sine-quâ-non, (that is) the Necessary Condition, which is required by God to our being there; But it follows not thence that 'tis the Causa Energetica, the effectual Cause of our coming thither. For we cannot duly say, A man does walk with his Hands, or eat with his Ears, because he neither eats nor walks without them. And 'tis as illogical to affirm that we can climb Heaven by our Good works, because without them we fall to Hell. They keep us company indeed, but they do not carry us. Thus if a Patron gives me a Manor, and only covenants for the payment of some small Quitrent; or else bestows upon me an ample Field, upon condition that once a year I shall present him with a Turf; I cannot say that that Turf is a Recompense for the Field, but an acknowledgement of the Favour: Not the paying him for a Bargain, but the thanking him for a Benevolence. And such is the infinite Disproportion betwixt the best of our Obedience, and our least Degree of Bliss, that 'tis but a Token of our Homage, not an earning of our Reward. And therefore 'tis aptly observed by Grotius, that the word in the Hebrew Text which answers to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 6. 1. in the Sixth Chapter of St. Matthew, (v. 1.) doth promiscuously signify both a Gift, and a Reward. Thus Life Eternal is a Reward, because 'tis given upon Condition; but withal it is a Gift, because 'tis given us. Say we therefore with holy job, If we are wicked, woe unto us; And if we are righteous, we will not lift up our Heads, Job 10. 15. Or let us say rather with St. Paul, 2 Cor. 3. 5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to think any thing as of ourselves, but that our sufficiency is of God. That though indeed we can work out our own Salvation; yet it is upon this account, that God Himself worketh in us, both to will and to do of his good Pleasure. That though perhaps we can do all things; yet it is only through Christ that strengthens us. That neither our Duty, nor our Happiness, are any way Necessary to God; who, as he needeth not the sinful, so neither hath he need of the righteous man. And therefore (to pass out of this Point, at the same Door where I came in,) let us confess, that at our best, we are but Unprofitable Servants; that our Obedience is not the Cause, but merely the Condition of our Reward; And that if ever we arrive at Eternal Life, it will not be by way of Purchase, as we are Servants; but by way of Inheritance, as we are Sons. Which God of his Mercy prepare us for, not for our Faith, or for our Works, but for the worthiness of his Son. To him be Glory for ever and ever. Amen. A SCRIPTURAL PROGNOSTIC OF JESUS CHRIST's Second Advent TO judge the World. A PROGNOSTIC OF THE Coming of Christ TO JUDGEMENT. LUKE XVIII. 8. But when The Son of Man cometh, shall he find Faith upon the Earth? That is to say, He shall not. (According to the Rule of all Grammarians and Rhetoricians, that an Affirmative Interrogation is the most forcible way of expressing a flat and positive Denial.) § 1. THE Cohaerence 'twixt These, and the words foregoing, is so hard to be discerned at first appearance, that some have thought there is none at all. For if God will come speedily to the Avenging of his Elect, (as our Saviour saith he will, in the two next Verses before my Text,) who were not Elected without a Prescience, as well of their Faithfulness, as of their Faith; How can it be that when He comes, He shall not find Faith upon the Earth? But if we attentively consider the Text before us, as it stands in relation to all the Verses going before, and more especially to the first, This Objection will quickly vanish, and we shall find a good Connexion, between the praecedent, and present words. For our Lord having exhorted The Neophyte-Disciples to whom he spoke, Not to faint in their Prayers, but to pray-on with Perseverance, (v. 1.) excites them to it with an Assurance, that their Prayers shall not be fruitless. And that their Prayers shall not be fruitless, He convinceth them by an Argument à minori ad majus. This appears by his whole Parable touching the Widow's Importunity, praevailing over the Heart of an hardened judge. From whence the Argument is as natural, as it is logical, and convincing. For if the Prayer of the distressed and importunate Widow returned at last into her Bosom with good Success, though from a most corrupt judge, who had no fear of God, nor regard of Man, (v. 2.) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with how much a greater force of reason shall all the Prayers of The Faithful receive an acceptable Return, from the Father of Mercies, and God of all Consolation, who is (not only no unjust or obdurate Judge, but) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Rewarder by way of Eminence of them that diligently seek Hebr. 11. 6. him, either sooner, or later, as he sees fit? Yes the time is now coming, when They shall be freed from their Afflictions, and when the Vengeance due from God shall speedily fall on the Authors of them. To which He adds by way of complaint, and by a Compassionate Erotésis, or Expostulation, (cohaering with what he said before, by a Conjunction Adversative,) that when He shall come in the later Days to be an Avenger of his Elect, The Apostasy will be so general, He will find but Few of them. Of the many who are Called, He will find but few Chosen. Amongst a Multitude of Flatterers, he will find but few Friends. In a world of Praetenders, He will find but Few Faithful; and with very much Profession, very little True Faith; They alone being Elect, who persevere unto the End in The Faith of Christ; and whose Faith is efficacious, as well as sufficient to make them Faithful. § 2. We see The Cohaerence of the Text, which will help us not to err in the Meaning of it. For in that our Lord asks, When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find Faith upon the Earth? It is as if he should have said in plain and peremptory Terms, That at his second Coming from Heaven to judge the Inhabitants of the Earth, He shall not find Many Christians, who will pray with that Faith, which alone can enable them to pray without ceasing, and not to faint. When He shall come to save Believers, He will find but few such in the Gospel-sense. Not none simpliciter, but none secundum quid. Comparatively none, or none to speak of. The greatest part of men will perish, even for want of That Faith, whereby men's Prayers become effectual. 'Tis not through any defect of Goodness, and longanimity in God, that so few will be safe in the Day of Judgement; But through a miserable defect of Christian Faithfulness, and Faith, The great Condition of the Covenant, which God in Christ (the only true Shechinah) was pleased to make with the Sons of Men. Historical Faith there is in many, such as is common to men with Devils, who are said by St. james, to believe, and tremble. A sturdy Presumption there is in Many, which they mistake for the perfection and strength of Faith. A Carnal Security is in Many, which they take to be the Product and Fruit of Faith. There is in many such a Carnal and Human Faith, concerning the Being of Heaven and Hell, a Life after Death, and a Day of Judgement, as that there is such a Place as Constantinople, or Utopia; whereof though This is as fictitious, as That is real, yet by Ignaroes in Geography they are believed Both alike. Thus in one sense or other, Faith is as common as Infidelity: a Weed which grows in most men's Gardens. But very few have That Faith, of which our Lord does here speak; to wit a Faith which is attended with Hope, and Charity; a Faith coupled with Fear to offend our Maker; a Faith productive of obedience unto That which is called The * Rom. 3. 27. Law of Faith; a Faith importing all faithfulness in the discharge of that Service we owe our Master; a Faith expressed by a submission, first to God rather than Man, and then to Man for God's sake; lastly a Faith joined with Patience, Rev. 13. 10. and Perseverance unto the End in the work of Prayer; to which our Saviour had exhorted in the first Verse of This Chapter, and which indeed is the Scope of this whole Paragraph. § 3. Thus we have clearly a Predication, that the last Times will be the worst; or that the World, towards its End, will be most dissolute, and debauched; that 'twill not be only an Iron-age, but that the Iron will be corrupted with Rust and Canker. This is the Doctrine of the Text, and this must be divided into two distinct Branches, as the word Faith may here be taken in two distinct Considerations. For in which sense soever we understand the word Faith in the Text before us, whether for a firm Adhaerence unto the Truth of Christ's Gospel in all its Doctrines; or for a faithful punctuality in All Commerce and Transaction 'twixt Man and Man; whether in That as the Cause of This, or in This as the Fruit of That; (for 'tis not pertinent now to mention all the other acceptions of Faith in Scripture,) we shall have reason to suspect, The World is drawing towards its End, in that the Predication of our Saviour is drawing so near its Completion. Before I come to prove or apply the Doctrine, it will perhaps be worth while, to take a view of the Description of the last and worst Days, as St. Peter and St. Paul have drawn it up for us in their Epistles: the one in Gross, and the other in the Retail. First St. Peter tells us in general, There shall come in 2 Pet. 3. 3. the last days Scoffers, walking after their own own Lusts. St. Paul acquaints us in particular, 2 Tim. 3. what the several Lusts are: This know also (saith he to Timothy,) that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be Lovers of their own selves; covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to Parents, unthankful, unholy; without natural affection, truce-breakers, make-bates, (otherwise called false Accusers,) incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good; Traitors, heady, highminded, Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God; having a form of Godliness, but denying the Power thereof. From These (saith He) turn away. And presently after he gives his Reason. For of this sort are they who creep into Houses, and lead captive silly women laden with Sins, and led away with divers lusts; Ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth. After this they are compared to jannes' and jambres withstanding Moses, men of corrupt minds, or men of no * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. judgement, and Reprobate concerning the Faith, (2 Tim. 3. from the first verse unto the ninth.) This is St. Paul's Exact Description of wicked Doers in the last Days, and that in the Bosom Non est credendum Ecclesiam aliquam in hoc Seculo incorruptam, sed fore potius magnum perditissimorum proventum, in ipso etiam Ecclesiae sinu, qui tamen summam pietatem prae se ferent. Beza in locum. of The Church too, as learned Beza expressly words it. Now whether the last Days refer to the Destruction of jerusalem, or to the End of the World, or have an Aspect upon Both, (which I conceive to be the Best of the Three Opinions,) we cannot but say it suits well (a great deal too well,) with the Days we live in. For § 4. If we consider the Faith of Christ in the first general sense I lately mentioned, How is it totally rejected, or most wretchedly depraved, by the Mahomedans in the Eastern, and by the Multitude of fanatics, in the Western parts of the World? what with Heathens, and jews, arrant Atheists, and empty Theists, modern Arrians or Socinians, what with Dogmatists, and Sceptics, and the more brutish Acatalepticks, and damnable Hypocrites in Religion, who (if it is possible) may be thought worse than the worst of These; How few in Christendom are Christians, or more than Professors of Christianity? And even of Professors how many are there, who in their words do own Christ, whilst in their works they quite deny him? like Those concerning whom St. Paul saith to Titus, Tit. 1. 16. They are Abominable, Disobedient, and to every good work Reprobate. Do not the Turks use our Saviour with much more reverence and respect, though they believe him but a mere Prophet, than many Thousands of Verbal Christians who do profess him to be a God? The Turks chastise their Christian Slaves, whensoever their Anger or Impatience moves them to swear, or to blaspheme. A Turkish Sultan could afford † Curopalates apud Baronium ad An. Ch. 1071. a good Admonition to a Pope, and a Christian Emperor, that jesus Christ had commanded them to put up Injuries and Affronts, but not to offer, or to revenge them. How like an Heathen did * Coelij August. Curionis Hist. Saracen. l. 1. p. 62, 63, 64. lib. 2. p. 136, 137. l. 2. p. 150. justinian break his Contract with the Mahomedans? and how sadly did they make an Example of him? How did Nicephorus do the like with the Turkish Aaron? and how was he made a like Example? A whole victorious Christian Army, dead in Drunkenness and Sleep, was so cut off by the Saracens during the Reign of Michael Ducas, that only a man was left alive to carry home Tidings of that Calamity. The Christian Emperor Diogenes found as much Faithfulness and Humanity from the most admirable Axan, (a Turkish Sultan and an L. 3. p. 202, 203 confer Spondanum ad A. D. 1071. Enemy,) who took him Prisoner, as he found Falseness, and Barbarity from his own Christian Subjects at his Enlargement. Lord! the wonderful difference between these Two! His Turkish Enemy saved his life, his Christian Subjects took it away. And the most Wolf. Dresches. de rebus Turcicis A. D. 1444. Scandalous * Violation of Christian Faith with the Mahomedans, to which the impious Pope Eugenius had most unchristianly exhorted the King of Poland, cost Ladislaus the signal loss of more than Thirty thousand Soldiers, whom their good Father of the Papacy may well be esteemed to have slain. To deal impartially with ourselves, as well as honestly with our Enemies, and religiously with our Saviour, (whose Predication in my Text I am now justifying and proving;) what Encouragement have the Turks to join themselves with the Christians, whilst they observe so many Christians wearing Religion as a Cloak? a Cloak to cover Irreligion? a Cloak of Maliciousness and Hypocrisy, to be put off and on as occasion serves? a Cloak for Knavery, and Sedition, and Violation of Oaths? What Invitations or Inducements have the Worshippers of Mahomed to be converted to Christianity, whilst for one Drunkard in Turkey, They see there are Multitudes in Christendom? or whilst they fear, by turning Christians, they shall be under the Persecution of Fellow Christians? whereas continuing to be Turk's, the Christians can do them but little Hurt? or whilst they find Christian Princes buying Peace of the Great Turk, that they may break it with one another; or whilst they hear that Prosperity is avowed by many Christians, to be a Mark of the True Religion? or whilst they read that a most gracious and religious Christian King, Charles' the First of Great Britain, was cruelly killed in cold Blood by his Christian Subjects, and by the best sort of Christians (as some esteem them, at least as They esteem Themselves,) Dissenting Protestants, and Reformers, Refiners of The Reformation, and even Menders of the Magnificat? Now what says The Mahomedan, within himself, and to others on this occasion? If such as These are the Characters whereby Christians are to be known, and Christians of the purer sort too, Christians tenderer in Conscience than others are, Christians scrupling at a Surplice, or Cross in Baptism, sit Anima mea cum paganis, (The Turkish Musulman will say,) Let my Soul be with Theirs, who never once heard of the Christian Creed. O my Soul, (says the Infidel,) come not Thou into their Secret; to their Assembly, mine Honour, be not Thou united. For in their Anger they slew a Man; and in their self-will they digged down a strong Wall; (Him who was to His People for Walls and Bulwarks.) Cursed be their Anger, Gen. 49. 6, 7. for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. Such is the Infidel's Indignation, though expressed in the words of a most Faithful dying jacob, concerning two of his own Gen. 49. 6, 7. Sons. Unto which may be added That other Prophecy of the same jacob, touching the same combining Sons, as Sons of Violence and Bloodshed, (that sooner, or later,) God will divide them in jacob, and scatter them in Israel. § 5. But let us consider whether The jews have greater encouragement than The Turks, to unite with Those Christians in point of Faith, who hold that None is to be kept with their Fellow-Christians, if (forsooth) they are not fully of their Persuasion, and for That reason only are called Heretics. The Italian jews at this day do hate Adultery to the Death; whilst they observe Italian Christians do hardly account it a greater Crime, than to eat Flesh upon a Friday. The jews are so much at unity within themselves, that (as covetous as they are, and how much soever scattered abroad,) they have a kind of Community of Goods and Fortunes, in that they leave not their Poor ones without Relief, nor their Captives without a Ransom. Whereas the Christians, (they observe,) and as well Protestants, as Papists, are full of Enmity, and Strife, and perhaps of somewhat more than Vatinian Hatreds, from whence arise their Departures and Separations from one another. They will not meet to serve God under one and the same Roof with their Christian Brethren, for fear they should obey Man, and the Laws in force. Now the jews cannot believe The Spirit of Truth is in our Dwellings, because He is also The Spirit of Unity; and They conceive we could not be liable to such Dissensions and Divisions as are amongst us, had we The unity of Truth in our Fundamentals. How many Fractions of Religion have been observed to be in Poland? How many in England, and in Holland, and in other Christian Countries, 'tis hard to say. I will say a strange thing, no whit stranger than it is true. There is not a Christian in all the World, who is not an Haeretick, or a Schismatic, in the account of other Christians, perhaps no better than Himself. How full are all Parties of hot Disputes, whereof the End commonly is rather Victory, than Truth? And what a Disgrace must it needs be to the Christian Name, that in all the bitter Contests between the Jesuits, and the jansenists, the Dominicans, and the Franciscans, the Gallican Church, and the Church of Rome, the Popish Churches, and the Reformed, the Regular Protestants, and the Irregular, the Prote stants by and for, and Those against the Law established, the Constant Protestants, and the Protestants given to change, the Remonstrants, and Antiremonstrants, the Sub, and Supralapsarians, and many other opposite Parties, (too many to be now reckoned,) a greater Care is commonly taken to keep up the Credit of a Syllogism, or Reputation of a Side, than the Unity and Peace of The Church of God? If an Erasmus, or a Modrerius, if a Melancthon, or a Wicelius, if a Cassander, or a Thuanus, a Spalatensis, or a Grotius, does but endeavour to make up Breaches, or persuade men to meet in the Middle way, (such as is the way of the Church of England, or That of the Augustan Confession,) how is he hanged, drawn, and quartered by the Implacable Professors of both Extremes? as if the Unity of Christians, and the Peace of The Church, were to be, of all Things, the most avoided; or, if not to be avoided, at least despaired of, as the most vain and the most fruitless, (if not the most odious) of any project in the World. So that if there was Truth, as well as sharpness, (which God forbid) in what was said by the Spanish Friar, that few Sovereign Princes shall go to Hell, because in All they are but few; it may perhaps be said as truly in This case also, that few True Christians shall go to Heaven, because True Christians (comparatively speaking) are very few. § 6. There are Multitudes indeed who are called Christians; and so are Those of The Marrani, Arabians and Moors in the South of Spain, a kind of Baptised jews, and circumcised Christians, Men as bad as the ancient Gnostics, of one Religion in their Mouths, and of another in their Hearts; or like that far more ancient People, the People of Sepharvaim, who feared the Lord, and served their own Gods. If not Both at once, yet at least Both by Turns. It being the common Custom and Policy of the very worst men, to be Professors of the Religion the most in fashion, the easiest, and cheapest, most for their Secular Ends and Interests, and where their wickednesses may pass with the greatest freedom. But our Saviour in the Text which is now before us, did only speak of a Divine, and a Saving Faith, which is peculiar to unfeigned and real Christians; not at all of That Human or Historical Faith, which is common to every titular or nominal Christian, or hypocritical Professor of Christ's Religion. So that the meaning of the Text does seem to be evidently This: [When the Son of Man cometh to be The Judge of the Quick and Dead, shall He find Faith, shall He find Charity, shall He find justice upon the Earth?] For Saving Faith infers Charity, and Charity Justice. Where Justice is wanting, there can be no Christian Charity; and where there is not such Charity, there can be no Christian Faith. Now what Corner is there in Christendom, which does not live out of Charity with one sort or other of Christian People? and commonly the most with their nearest Neighbours, whom Christians should love as they do Themselves? How universally do the Italians despise the Germans, if not abhor them? and again how do the Germans pay them back with Detestation? How do the Little States of Italy malign the four Great ones? and how do they all detest the Protestants who are of Piedmont, and Saluzzo? What Disaffections are there in Switzerland, between the Wealthy sort of Protestants, and Warlike Papists? Those for France against Spain, and These for Spain against France? and what Antipodes unto each other are these Next Neighbours? parted more by their Animosities, than by their Pyrenaean Hills? If we look but as far back, as the last Civil Wars of France, what mutual Hatreds may we observe betwixt the Hugonots, and the Leaguers? even as great as Those in Spain between the Castilians, and the Portugais; or as great as Those in Italy, 'twixt Guelphs, and Gibelines; or the Bianchi, and the Neri. How do the Lutherans hate the Papalins? and the Papalins Them? How do they Both hate the Calvinists? and the Calvinists B? and what a Pique have All Three, at the most sober and the most moderate of All the Protestants upon Earth in The Church of England? Even the Great House of Austria is hardly in charity with itself. For how often have the Spaniards diverted the Turks upon the Emperor? and to shift clear Themselves, how have they bribed the Bashaes', to put their Master upon Germany? How many Churches are there in Christendom, whereof each has its different Government, its different Ceremonies and Rites, its different Method or Manner of Public Worship, its different Opinions from all the rest? And though their Differences are innocent when about things Indifferent, yet what reciprocal Disaffections are wont to arise from That Variety? What wants of Charity there have been, between the principal Christians of Note, (the most considerable I mean, both for Power, and Number, if not for Name too,) we may judge but too easily, by Inquisitions upon one hand, and by Rebellions upon another, by the Massacres, and Libels, and Conspiracies upon Both. And that the stronger Parts of Christendom have not yet swallowed up the weaker, They are beholden to the Great Turk, (next and immediately under God) for having found them other Employment. § 7. Now such as is the Cause, a want of Faith in the first sense, such is also The Effect, a want of Faith in the second. For, besides the wants of Charity, whereby I have proved the wants of Faith, there are as notorious wants of justice, whereby to demonstrate the wants of Both. Men are so generally deceitful, in all their Promises, and Contracts, in their Alliances, and Leagues, in their Covenants, and Engagements, in Matters of Traffic, and Commerce, and as well between Public, as Private Parties; Obligations first meant as a Restraint unto the Guilty, are so turned into a Gin to ensnare the Innocent; and They who have dispensed with other men's Oaths, have so taught them by That Example to dispense easily with their own, that if the jews are asked the Reason why the Mahomedans are permitted by God Almighty to prevail against Christendom, for more than a Thousand years together without Control, and to boast of their Prosperity as a notable mark of the True Religion (an Argument ad homines, I mean to the Romanists and the fanatics, not easily to be Answered) They will ascribe it to the Blasphemies, Execrations, and Violations of Oaths, (Those of Allegiance more especially,) which have abounded, and do abound, more amongst Christians than amongst Them. For the End of Temporal Blessings, are Spiritual. If God gave the Lands of the Heathen to the Israelites, to this end he gave them, that they might observe his Statutes, Psal. 105. 44. And therefore when we forfeit our Spiritual Blessings, we cannot rationally expect to enjoy our Temporal. Should we pass through all Orders and Ranks of men, (which might be done with ease enough, but that the Time will not permit it,) Lord! for how little Christian Faith, how much faithlesness, and falseness, and prevarication should we discover? Excepting only These Nations wherein we live, Sovereign's mind nothing more, than the exhausting of their Subjects; and (not excepting These Nations wherein we live,) Subjects mind little less than the enfeebling of their Sovereigns. If the People here in England would either All travel a broad, or at least take the pains to be taught at home, how like Princes, rather than Subjects, (in point of Liberty, and Propriety,) they live at home, (being compared with other Subjects throughout the habitable World,) They would be certainly more contented, than now they are, with their Condition. They would be certainly so far from being given to change, and such passionate Abhorrers of All Sedition, as not to suffer themselves for ever, to be undone by their Foelicities. Men of all Ranks and Qualities would acquiesce in their great happiness, and learn to know when they are well. Men of Trade would be contented to part with the paring of their Nails, to secure their Fingers. Men of Land would be contented to pay little Taxes; and Men of Money would not grumble to pay None at all. Dissenting Clergymen would not study to please the People for their own profit, more than to profit them for their own pleasure. Nor would the People on the other side be so addicted as they are commonly, both to envy, and defraud, and defame the Clergy. Men of Law would be contented to raise up great Fortunes to Them and Theirs, out of the Ruins of other men's; and to enjoy in full Peace, All the Profits and Effects of Dire Contention. Physicians would be contented to dispose of men's Lives, not only at a safe, but at a profitable rate; and with Ten-times greater Fees, than were ever yet heard of in Foreign Parts. All sorts of People (in a word) would most thankfully acquiesce in their several Stations. Whereas for want of due knowledge, or of an ingenuous Consideration, how much better even Artificers and common Mechanics do live in England, than men of the noblest blood and breeding under All foreign Governments without Exception, (I say for want of due Reflection on This great Truth,) All the Foundations of our Earth do seem to be utterly out of Course. Men are so drunk with their Prosperities, so tired out with Tranquillity, grown so restive with sitting still in the Scorner's Chair; In contradiction to The * 1 Thess. 4. 11. Apostle, and His Advice, They do so study to be unquiet, and not to do their own business, (but the business of other men;) they are so sharp and quicksighted in ordering other men's Affairs, though most commonly blind as Beetles in all the Managements of their own; are so perplexed and dissatisfied with they-cannot-tell-what; are so restless in their Endeavours to prevent things unavoidable, to bring about things impossible, and to provide against things which never are likely to ensue; they do so mutiny and repine at the good Providences of God, and are so unwilling to permit him to rule the World his own way; (being bewitched with an Opinion that They are able to do it better by acquaint Contrivances of their own;) are so unwilling that their Governors may be enabled to Protect, for fear they should be tempted by such an Ability to oppress them; I say by All these Infelicities which too much Felicity hath occasioned, The World is now grown to so ill a pass, that we may take up the words of the Prophet jeremy, and apply them to the Places and Times we live in. Run to and fro through the Streets, and seek into all the broad Places thereof, if ye can find Jer. 5. 1. a man, if there be any that executeth judgement, that seeketh the Truth, and I will pardon it. § 8. I know it may easily be objected An Objection Answered. against the Argument I have used, That no wants of Faith in the second Notion of the word can prove 'tis wanted in the first. For let the Practice of men amongst us be what it will, yet their Principles (they will say) may be as Orthodox as their Professions; and they have still a firm Assent unto the Truth of Christ's Gospel in All its Doctrines. But to This Objection it may as easily be Answered, that as a Practical Infidel or Atheist is a worse Monster than a Speculative, so there is no better way to prove the first, than by the second. Men may believe the Word of God with an Human Faith, when yet 'tis easy to demonstrate, They do not believe it with a Divine one. Nor is there any greater Instance of the Deceitfulness of a man's Heart, than is his Treacherous Belief that he does Believe, and that with a truly-Christian Faith; when yet he proves by All his Practice, that he is either no Believer, or such a Believer of the Gospel, as he is of julius Caesar's, or Cicero's Works, and no whit better. For why should men be more forcibly, and more effectually restrained, (as we see they are,) from committing a lesser Evil, which is forbidden under the Poenalty of a merely human Law, and where the Poenalty is no greater, than the loss of a man's Ears, or the forfeiture of his Estate, than from committing a greater Evil, which is forbidden by God himself, under the Poenalty of their missing the joys of Heaven, and also of abiding the Pains of Hell, but that they do more believe the one, than they do the other? It cannot be for This reason, that men do think it a greater Misery, to suffer a little for a short Time, than all imaginable Torments to all Eternity. It cannot be, that they had rather fry in Hell without ceasing, than endure the short loss of Life and Fortune. But the true Reason must needs be This, that men are as Confident of the one, as they are Diffident of the other. They have a manifold Experience of Temporal Punishments, But the Tempter makes them hope there are none Eternal. They are strong in the faith of what concerns the present world, but they stagger in the faith of a world to come. They have an ordinary relish of sensual Pleasure, But ghostly Pleasure is a jargon they know not how to make sense of: They think it merely a piece of gibberish of Ecclesiastical Investigation. They make no doubt but they shall die, and that their Bodies being buried, shall all be mouldered into Dust. But they secretly suspect they shall never Rise; they are Infidels in the point of a Resurrection. They either doubt, and make a Quaestion, or else they utterly disbelieve, both a Life after Death, and a Day of Judgement. This is the only reason assignable, why men are more afraid of Them who can kill the Body only, (but are not able to hurt the Soul,) than of Him who can cast both Soul and Body into Hell. No other reason can I imagine, why men do commonly run counter to that known Maxim, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why when 'tis every man's wisdom to choose the least of two Evils, men (in avoidance of the least) do choose the greatest, even to dwell with Eternal Burnings. And therefore well may it be said, as here it is in my Text, that when the Son of Man cometh, he shall not find Faith upon the Earth: He shall not find Evangelical and Saving Faith; He shall not find it at least in many; nay he shall find it in few or none; in comparatively None, or None to speak of. Let men pretend what they will, and let them will what they please, ye shall know them by their Fruits, saith our Blessed Saviour. And the Fruits of True Faith, whereof the Professors are True Believers, are no where better to be seen, than in the Eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews: wherein we have Faith commended to us in four principal Respects; and all within the narrow compass of the Six first Verses. First in respect of its Definition, which is to be the Substance of Things hoped for, and the Evidence of Things not seen. Secondly in respect of its great and wonderful Effects, whereof we have there Two choice Examples; the one in Abel, the other in Enoch. Thirdly in respect of its greatest Benefit, as being That Qualification by which we please God. Lastly in respect of its indispensable Necessity, as being That without which, it is impossible to please him. How could so many in the old Testament (of whom we have an account in the later parts of That Chapter,) have chosen Poverty rather than Wealth, and Disgrace rather than Glory, and Pain itself rather than Pleasure, if they had not had * Heb. 11. 26. Respect (and that a strange respect too,) unto the Recompense of Reward? if by the Telescope of Faith, (as 'tis the Evidence of Things not seen,) they had not * Verse 27. seen Him who is Invisible? if they had not been enabled to spy Reward † Verse 13. afar off? and to look clearly through the Veil, which interposed as a Screen 'twixt It and Them? if they had not had a Prospect of the several blessed Mansions prepared for them, in the City of God whereof they had been made Denizens, and in the House of That Father of whom they were the adopted Sons? if they had not had an Eye upon their particular Resurrections? and such an Eye too, (so full, so clear, so more than Lyncean or Eagle-sighted,) that even Then when they were tortured, they would not accept of a Deliverance, to the end Verse 35. they might enjoy by so much a better Resurrection? § 9 This is a truly Salvisick Faith, and such as necessarily signifies (amongst other Virtues) a firmer Adhaerence and Assent unto the Truth of Christ's Gospel in all its Doctrines, than any man can ever have, by any human means possible, either to Seneca's, or Cicero's, or Caesar's Works. This is That for want of which, men will do and suffer more, to save their Bodies, or Estates, and that for a little space of Time; than they will either do or suffer, to save their more precious Souls, and that for ever. It was for want of This Faith, that the jews were broken off; Rom. 11. 20. and by This only we Gentiles stand. This is That Faith the Justice shall live by. This is That Hebr. 10. 38. on which depends our Bliss, or Misery for ever; according to the words of our Blessed Saviour, whereof it is an Explication, Mark 16. 16. He that believeth, shall be saved; but He that believeth not, shall be damned. Here is short work indeed; and such as might have saved the labour of many Controversial Volumes, which have been written, and made public, between the Molinists and the jansenians; the Franciscans and the Dominicans, or the Scotists and the Thomists, between the Lutherans and the Calvinists, the Arminians and the Gomarists, the Remonstrants and Antiremonstrants, concerning the Nature of God's Decrees, and Quaestions depending thereupon. Our Saviour tells us very succinctly, in words most plain, and most univocal, who are Vessels of Election, and who of Wrath: Who were decreed from All Eternity to Heaven, and Hell; even Believers, and Unbelievers. No more but so: He that believeth, shall be saved, and He that believeth not, shall be damned. Which cannot possibly be meant concerning every human Faith, whereof the World is too full. It cannot be meant of such a Faith, as makes a man abhor Idols, but not abstain from committing Sacrilege. Nor can it be meant of such a Faith, as is strong enough to remove Mountains, (to wit The Laws and the Landmarks of Church and State,) to pull down Kings, and unsettle Kingdoms; But not strong enough to bring forth Obedience to Christ's Commands, and (by a consequence unavoidable) to God's Vicegerents upon Earth. It cannot be meant of the Antinomian, or the Fiduciarie's Faith, which sets itself into a kind of opposition unto Good works; and so by consequence is the Parent of nothing but practical Infidelity. But 'tis meant of That sanctifying and saving Faith, which whosoever hath, overcometh the world, 1 John 5. 5. 'Tis meant of justifying Faith, not only in the mystical, but literal notion of the word; a Faith which so justifies, that (in a competent degree) It does evermore make its Possessor Iust. It makes him an upright and honest man. Saving Faith being a Grace, which, as it is the most commonly talked of, so it is (I am afraid) the least commonly understood, of any one thing in the Christian Code. We could not else so much abound with Knaves and Hypocrites as we do in the Christian World. That which we call Divine Faith, which is a justifying and sanctifying and saving Faith, and upon which The Word of God does every where lay so great a stress, must be an Habit of the Will, as well as of the Understanding; not only flourishing in the Head, but deeply rooted in the Heart. It must be such as does contain a full and generous Belief he dares to die for; a full and Practical Belief that jesus Christ is the Messias; a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a full and absolute Heb. 10. 22. Belief, both in his words, and in his works; both in his Counsels, and his Commands; both in his Promises, and his Threats. For He who Thus is believing, is ipso facto, and eo ipso, at once an Obedient and Loving Christian. A Christian so loving, that the longer he lives, the more he lives the Life of Faith; the more he is weaned and sequestered from the things here below; the more he is wedded and betrothed unto those things that are above. His Affections are taken off from the beggarly Elements of the World, and fixed entirely upon God, as his sovereign Good. I mean they are set upon God in Christ, reconciling the World unto Himself. And overcome The world he does, (as St. john must needs mean,) by overcoming its Temptations; its Pomp's, and Vanities; its Smiles, and Flatteries; nor only the Pleasures, but Terrors of it. He overcometh That world, which St. john has comprised under three general Heads, to wit the lust of the Flesh, the lust of the Eye, and the pride of Life. For a sincere Faith in Christ, in his Death, and Resurrection, and in the Consequences of Both, gives us a much greater Bias, a stronger Bent and Inclination to all good Things, than the whole World can to the contrary, by all its flatteries, or its frights. It possesseth us immediately with Inward joy in the Holy Ghost, and praepossesseth us with an Antepast of The Glory to be revealed. It praesentiates unto us such Joys to come, as do exceedingly over-weigh the frowns and favours of the world. It is expressed by St. john (in the place before-cited) not only as the means whereby we grow Victors, But as the Victory itself. This (saith he) is The Victory which overcometh the Verse 4. world, even our Faith: As if it were not only the Instrument, but Essence of it. § 10. It follows then that we must distinguish, with exceeding great Care, and every minute of our Lives, between two things which do extremely much differ, (like Heaven, and Hell,) and yet are commonly confounded to admiration. I say we must carefully distinguish, not only between an Idle, and an Operative Faith, a Faith which works, and a Faith which works not; But withal between a working, and working Faith; between a Faith which only works by the Love of a man's self, and a Faith which duly works by the Love of others. For when the Son of Man shall come with his holy Angels in flaming Fire, taking Vengeance of them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of jesus Christ, He will find enough idle, unactive Faith, which either works not at all, or not at all by Love, or else by none but Self-love, which is the worst and greatest Evil that can possibly come to pass in the last and worst Times. St. Paul sets it down, in his long Catalogue of Impieties which shall be in the last Days, as The Ringleader and Head of All the Villainies which ensue: as the first and greatest Link of that Chain of Darkness, which draws the other Links after it, and reacheth as far as from Hence to Hell. In the last days (says he to Timothy) perilous Times shall come; For men shall be Lovers of their own selves, and (in consequence of That,) All the Devilish Things that follow, from the First Verse unto the Ninth, of that Third Chapter of the Second Epistle to Timothy. A Chain of Darkness almost as long, as That the Devils themselves are held in, and reserved (saith St. jude) until the judgement of the Great Day. Nor is it my opinion only, But that of Estius, Hoc vitium primo loco ponit, quia caeterorum fons est. Simplicius, and Strigelius, that the Sin of Self-love is set down First in The Black List, as The Head-spring and Fountain of all the Rest. For I think I may challenge any man living (without immodesty) to Name any one Actual and Damning Sin, which has not the Sin of Self-love for its most execrable Original. It was merely Self-love, which turned Luciser into a Devil, and made the Son of the Morning The Prince of Darkness. It was the Sin of Self-love which turned those Protoplasts Adam and Eve out of their Innocence, and by consequence out of their Paradise, which they held and possessed by That one Tenure. It was at first the Love of Self, and of Self-preservation, which moved Peter to renounce and abjure his Master. And it was first a Self-love, which produced in judas a love of Money, wherewith he was tempted to betray, and to slay his Master. Thence it was that Self-denial, or Self-abnegation, was the very first Lesson our Saviour taught his first Disciples. And 'tis the first we are to learn, in the School of our Master jesus Christ. It being the Causa-sine-qua-non of all other Duties in a Christian. For whosoever has once attained a good Degree of Self-denial, or of Self-hatred for Sins committed, can fast from eating, when he is hungry; and even from drinking, when he is dry; from stealing, when he is Poor; and from coveting, when he is Rich; from repining, when he is low; and from oppressing, when he is lofty; and so from every thing else, which either is sinful in itself, or so much as a Temptation inducing to it. How did St. Peter, when he repented, revenge himself upon himself, for his having so basely (out of Self-love) not only disowned, but forsworn his Lord? He did not only deny Himself, in opposition to his Denial of Jesus Christ, But abhorred himself too, in opposition to his Self-love, which betrayed him to it. How triumphant was his Faith, and his Self-denial? how triumphant over Himself, and his former Cowardice? how did he preach up Christ Crucified, for which he was Crucified with his Head downwards? and in All he did, or suffered, how did he bear down all before him, (not only all the World, but the Flesh, and the Devil too,) as mighty Cataracts and Torrents do sticks and straws? So did Peter, as well as Paul, courageously sight the good sight of Faith. Such in Him was That Faith which overcometh the World. And when the Son of Man cometh to be the Judge of Quick and Dead, (Lord!) how much (or rather how little,) shall he find of such fight and conquering Faith upon the Earth? § 11. This is infinitely far from That Carnal Faith, which only works (by Self-love) All the Degrees of Disobedience to Christ's Commands. No, The Faith which He shall find in comparatively None (that is to say in very few) at his second Coming, is such a Faith as strongly works by a Love of others; which is said with great reason to be The fulfilling of the Law in Both the Tables of The Decalogue, (which our Blessed Lord came to fulfil and perfect, not to abrogate, or to destroy;) because 'tis hard, if not impossible, for us to name any one Duty, incumbent on us as Men, or Christians, which is not the Necessary Production of such a Love as Faith works by. For as immoderate Self-love, which consists with an human and worthless Faith, is the Root of All Evil without Exception; so a truly Christian Faith, which is operative, and works by a due love of others, (a love of God with all our hearts, and of our Neighbour as ourselves,) cannot choose but be the Root of all the Good fruits to be imagined. For how can any man endure to be rebelling against his God, whom he does love with all his Soul, and above Himself? And how can any man (knowingly) suffer himself to be induced to wrong his Neighbour, whom he does love without hypocrisy, and As Himself? that is, as sincerely, though not as well; or as well, (if you please,) though not as much. With a sicut similitudinis, though not aequalitatis. In which sense 'tis said by our Lord Himself, Be ye perfect, As your Father in Matth. 5. ult. Heaven is perfect. He does not there say, Be ye as perfect as he is perfect; But be ye perfect as sincerely, as he is perfect consummately. Be ye That in your measure, which He is without measure. Be ye perfect comparatively, as He is absolutely perfect. For as God is said in Scripture to have made Man in his own Likeness, so we may say by the same reason, that he makes a Man's perfection, (though at a vast and humble distance) in the Similitude of his own. Now if what I have said of a True Christian Faith as it works by Love, and as it is the Substance of Things hoped for, and as it is the Evidence of Things not seen, and as 'tis that whereby a Believer overcometh the world, be duly compared with all before it, touching the faithlesness, and malignity, the wants of love, and common honesty, wherewith the world is overcome; 'Twill not be difficult to conclude, That when the Son of Man cometh, (let his coming be when it will,) He will find his own Prophecy fulfilled amongst us. § 12. Perhaps 'tis too little a thing to mention either Cotterus, or Dabricius, or Christina Poniatovia, however their Predictions touching Christendom in general, and particularly touching the whole House of Austria, and That of Bourbon, (long * Revelationum Divinarum Christofero Kottero, Christinae Poniatoviae, Nicolao Dabricio factarum Epitome, Excusa A. D. 1663. and long ago printed,) are coming to pass in These our Days. Nor will I apply That of David touching Absolom's Rebellion, and the general Revolt occasioned by it, stigmatised in the Fourteenth and in the Three and fiftieth Psalm: The Fool hath said in his Heart There is no God. Where by the Fool he means a Multitude, as appears by his next words. The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the Children of Men, to see if there were any that would understand, and seek after God. But they are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become Abominable, There is none that doth good, no not one. Nor will I descant upon That of the Prophet Micah, The Good man is perished out of the Earth. There is none upright among men. They all lie in wait for Blood. They hunt every man his Brother with a Net. They do evil earnestly, and that with Both hands. The judge asketh for Reward. Micah 7. 2, 3, 4. The Great man uttereth his Mischievous Desire. The Best of them is a Briar: and the most Upright of them is sharper than any Thorn Hedge. (I do not speak of These things in this unlimited universality, unless it be by a Paralipsis.) But This I think I may say with every man's suffrage and consent, There is so eminent a Defection from God and Goodness throughout the World, that Most do seem to have renounced, and to have utterly cast off, All Fear, and Care, if not Acknowledgement of the most High. The Tongues of men are their own; their Thoughts are free; their Wills invisible; and the secrets of their Hearts are known to God only, The Searcher of them. But yet as far as men's Actions are the Interpreters of their Hearts, and as far as they discover an Epidemical Decay of Christian strictness, a Decay of That Seriousness in Reality and Substance, which some poor Quakers retain in Show, a Decay of all Duties to God and Man, a Decay of Moral Honesty, and Humanity itself, and (which is the Top of all Impiety) a devilish blending and confounding the very Natures of Right and Wrong, a turning Religion Topsy Turvy, calling Evil Good, and Good Evil, putting Bitter for Sweet, and Sweet for Bitter, Light for Darkness, and Darkness for Light, holding Perjury, and Parricide, Killing of Kings, and Subverting of Kingdoms, not only Innocent, but Pious, not only Laudable and Virtuous, but the most highly Meritorious, and Supererogating Works of the purest Christians, nor only of the purest, but of the only true Christians in all the World, the Only Members of the true Church, and Only Heirs of Salvation, whilst they who dare not break Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, dare not rail at and libel the Laws in force, dare not rebel against their Governors, dare not fall down and worship the Jesuits Idol, even for This very Reason are Damned for ever; I say as far as men's Actions are Thus the Indices of their Hearts, we may conclude there is a Principle of downright Atheism within them; at least an Heathenish Belief that their Souls are not Immortal; and that for what they do in This, they shall not be brought to give Account in Another World. § 13. I am far from undertaking (what yet some have done) to name the last Days of the Son of Man, or the Time of his coming to the avenging of His Elect, and to judge the World. But of This I am certain, (because I have it from his own Mouth, as well as from the Mouths of Three at least of his Apostles,) that we must not infer the Day of Doom is far off, because there are few prepare for it, and even the wisest do not expect it; No, It's seeming very far off, is rather a Sign of its Approach. For The Scriptures tell us 1 Thess. 5. 2, 4. 2 Pet. 3. 10. ● Rev. 3. 3. & 16. 15. expressly, That Christ at his Coming will surprise us as a Thief in the Night. His Coming, for Quickness, will be like * Luke 17. 24, 25, 26, 27, etc. lightning. It shall be as sudden (saith our Lord) as Noah's Deluge was to All, Noah himself being excepted. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, even until the very day of Noah's entering into the Ark, when behold the Flood came, and destroyed them All. It shall at least be as surprising, as was the shooting of Hell from Heaven in the Days of Lot. And how surprising That was, our Saviour tells us in the next words: They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded, (unto which it may be added, they played, they sported, they were indulging all their Lusts,) when behold the same day wherein Lot went out of Sodom, The Fire and Brimstone reigned down, and destroyed them All. So swift, so sudden, so surprising shall be The Day, of The Son of Man's Coming to judge the World. Watch therefore (says our Saviour) for ye Matth. 24. 36, 42, 44, etc. know not what hour your Lord will come. Heaven and Earth shall pass away; But of That day and hour knoweth no man (says he again,) no not the Angels of Heaven. Again (says he) be ye ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, The Son of Man cometh. All which that it is meant of the Day of Judgement, and the Consummation of all things, not only or chiefly of the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and the Destruction of jerusalem, seems to be evident from the Conclusion of That whole Prophecy of our Saviour: For if That Evil Servant Verse 48, 49, 50, 51. [That Man of Sin by way of Eminence, whether without Christendom, or within it, whether in Asia, or in Italy, in Germany, or in Spain, in France, or England,] shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his Coming, whereupon He shall praesume to smite his fellow Servants, and to riot it with the Drunken, The Lord of that Servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour he is not aware of; and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his Portion with the Hypocrites; There shall be weeping, and gnashing of Teeth. § 14. What now is to be done, by us who live in These Times, wherein I have shown there is so Common, so Universal, so Epidemical a state of Depravation, but that every one in his station do labour hard to mend one: That we all watch and pray, lest we enter into Temptation? or that if we cannot escape the Temptations of the World, yet by the powerful Grace of God, well cooperated with, we may be able to overcome them? In order whereunto, we must not only watch and pray for a Time, and * Gal. 1. 5. examine ourselves duly, whether we be in the Faith of Christ; But we must not faint in it. We must quit ourselves like Men. We must be strong in the Faith. 1 Cor. 16. 13, 14. We must stand fast in it. Our watching must be constant; our praying always. So expressly saith our Saviour in the first Verse of That Paragraph, whereof my Text is the Conclusion. For The Parable which he spoke, was (says St. Luke) to This End, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. We ought to pray without ceasing, as St. Paul bids his Thessalonians. 1 Thess. 5. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the first, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the second, we must be a kind of Euchites, (be it spoken cum grano Salis,) we must pray without End, or Intermission. And that for This reason, as well as for This end and purpose, that our Lord at his Coming may find us praying. A work of so very great importance, and so conducible to Salvation, that even Then when Simon Magus was in the Acts 8. 22, 23. Gall of Bitterness, and in the Bond of Iniquity, St. Peter bid him Pray to God, if perhaps the Thought of his heart might be forgiven him. Pray therefore we must, that we may not fall. And if at any time we are fallen, still we must pray, that we may rise. And still for fear of relapsing, we must * Eph. 6. 18. watch unto Prayer, and we must watch thereunto with all * Eph. 6. 18. perseverance. That so at what time soever The Master of the House shall come, whether at Evening, or at Midnight, or in the Morning, we may be Matth. 24. 45. found like wise Virgins with Oil in our Lamps, or in the Number of the few Faithful and blessed Servants, whom our Lord when he comes shall find so Doing: and that finding us so doing, He may receive us with an Euge, Well done good and faithful Servants, Enter ye Matth. 25. 21, 23. into the joy of your Lord. Which God The Father of his Mercy prepare and qualify us for, even for the Merits of God The Son, and by the powerful operation of God The Holy Ghost. To whom be Glory for ever and ever. AN ANTIDOTE OR PRESERVATIVE Against the Prurigo of Ambition. Satan's Masterpiece AS A TEMPTER TO WORLDLY GREATNESS. MATTH. IV. 9 All these Things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Or (as St. Luke sets down the words,) LUKE IU. 6, 7. All this Power will I give thee, and the Glory of them; for That is delivered unto me, And to whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, All shall be Thine. thine 1. THere is a Time when in Scripture God is said to tempt Man. And again there is a Time when Man is said to tempt God. Last of all there is a Time when the Devil is said to tempt Both; and Both at once in this Text, in which are met the two Natures of God and Man. Now though to Tempt in each Case is still a phrase of one sound, yet is it often found to be of very different significations. Indeed so different, that they may seem to contradict. For Moses saith, God tempted Abraham; And yet St. Paul saith, God tempteth no man. It is employed by our Saviour, that God is tempted at least by some; And yet 'tis said by St. james, He is not tempted of any. Now the way to reconcile them is briefly This. When God is said to tempt Man, it signifies nothing but a Trial, a kind of Search which God makes in the Heart of man. Not that God can be in doubt, or stand in need of an Inquiry, how any man's heart is affected towards him; But 'tis to admonish him of his weakness, or to convince him of his hypocrisy, or else to evidence his Faith, or to exercise his Patience, or to make his Integrity the more conspicuous, and rewardable, that God is pleased to explore and to search his Heart. Thus in Genesis, and Exodus, and in the Thirteenth of Deuteronomy, our Father Abraham and the Israelites are said to have been tempted by God himself. § 2. Man (in the second place) is said to tempt God, when without any Necessity, or Assurance of Success, he rashly goes out of his Calling to meet with Danger. Or when without any Warrant, whether from the Spirit, or Word of God, he gladly falls Historiam de falso Messiâ Eldavid, A. D. 1135. ex libro Schevet jehuda sumptam, apud Buxtorphum videre est in suo Linguae Sanctae Thesauro, p. 683. into Distress, (like Eldavid the false Messias, of whom we read in learned Buxtorf,) supposing God, by some Miracle, will help him out. For what is this but to explore, or to make a Trial, both of the Power, and Goodness, and Truth of God? not at all out of Faith in his Word and Promise, but out of a wanton Curiosity, or bold Presumption. § 3. But now the Devil is said to tempt either God, or Man, and Both together in the Text, when not only without, but against the Word, he does solicit and entice to something or other which is Evil. And thus our Lord is said in Scripture to have been tempted, even as We. Not by Hunger only and Thirst, by Cold and Nakedness, by Slander and Disgrace, by Pangs and Torments, and all Degrees of Affliction to which the Name of Temptations is justly fixed; But to the worst of Afflictions, that is, to Sin; and to the worst even of Sins, to wit Idolatry; And to the worst of Idolatries, even the worshipping of the Devil. Who being permitted to take him up to an exceeding high Mountain, did show him from thence, as in a Landscape, All the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them; And thereupon made him this glorious Offer, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me: Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, If, falling down, Thou wilt worship me. § 4. Which words do present us with Satan's Masterpiece; And the Motto on his Ensign, is [Now, or Never.] For as the Roman Triarij, when their two first Squadrons T. Liv. Dec. 1. l. 8. had fought in vain, were depended upon at last as their only Refuge; So when the Devil had been improsperous in his two first Onsets upon our Saviour, He comes at last to make use of All the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them; clearly looking upon This, as his most formidable Reserve; And even against the Fortifications, not only of the Innocence, but the Divinity of our Lord, (who was no less the Lord of Armies, than Prince of Peace,) his most ingenious, most powerful, most hopeful Stratagem. The Text, at first view, affords no more than two Generals. To wit the Devil's vast Offer, And the unreasonable Condition with which 'tis clogged. But out of these Generals put together, we may (by the help of a little Logic) draw four Particulars. Each of which will be a Doctrine, whereof it will be easy to make good Use. 1. The First particular Doctrine is, That the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them, being all met together (as here they are,) do amount to nothing more, than so many glittering Temptations. 2. The Second is, That all the Goods of this World, however lovely they may appear to Carnal Reason, or Common Sense, are yet by God's Patience, and wise Permission, in the Devil's Proffer, and Disposal. I say They are so by God's Permission, because the Devil can give nothing, till God gives leave; which, for wise and just Ends, it often pleaseth him to afford. 3. The Third Doctrine is, That the utmost Scope and Drift of all the Donatives of the Tempter, is to steal our Hearts from God, and to turn them wholly upon Himself. He never Proffers, but with a dangerous Proviso. He does it liberally indeed, [All these things will I give thee,] But with a covetous Supposition, [if, falling down, thou wilt worship me.] 4. From whence it follows in the fourth Place, That how incessantly soever some men do labour, whereby to purchase these Gifts of Satan, yet there is nothing in the World with greater easiness to be compassed; if the Devil may be tried by his own Confession. Who, though the things here spoken of are great, and goodly, (even the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them,) is yet most ready to part with All, in exchange for an Act of our Adoration. To attain the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The All that our Tempter can give, or offer, nothing more needs be done, than to fall down to him and worship him. § 1. To prove the First of these Four, [That the Kingdoms of the Earth, when they are All put together, make but a glittering Temptation, or handsome Snare,] we need not argue or dispute from a fitter Topick, than the very signal Method the Devil here useth. Who, when he could not corrupt our Saviour by all the Miseries of Want, did now at last attempt to do it by the bountiful Overtures of Plenty. Nor can we think he was so silly, as not to rise in his Temptations, from the less unto the greater. It being for nothing but his Subtlety, in conjunction with his Malice, that He is called The Old Serpent; And is said by St. john, to Rev. 12. 9 have deceived the whole World. And if the Children of this World are wiser in their kind Luke 16. 8. (as our Saviour says they are) than the Children of Light, How much more is their * John 8. 44. Father, who for the Power of his working, and Success of his Policy, is called sometimes The † John 14. 30. John 16. 11. Prince, and once ‖ 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this World? Nor is it certainly for Nothing, that The Devil has in Scripture such glorious Titles. For if we consider the world of men, who are divided in their Affections 'twixt Christ and Satan, we shall find by their Actions, (the best Interpreters of their Hearts) that the Territories of Satan are much the greater. Our Saviour tells us of a Broad way which leadeth to Destruction, and many there be that go in thereat; whereas (in comparison,) the way to Life is but Narrow, and They that go thither (he saith) are few. And therefore Those unclean Spirits which are expressed by St. Paul to be the Spirits now working Eph. 2. 2. in the Children of Disobedience, are but little after called by the same Apostle, The Principalities, and the Powers, and (which is more) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Rulers of this Eph. 6. 12. World. § 2. That thus it is, the Scripture tells us. But some may wonder that thus it should be. What may therefore be the reason, why so few should fight manfully under the Banner of our Saviour, who therefore said truly, His Kingdom is not of this World, And so many under Satan's, who thence is said to be the Ruler, and the God of this world? It cannot be because God is more unwilling to be obeyed, and beloved by his People, than Satan is. Nor can it be because God did make it necessary for Satan, to have a greater success in the World than Christ. Nor can it be because God is more delighted in the Damnation, than the Salvation of his Creatures. (He would not foe gratify the Prince of Darkness; nor could his Mercy have been then over all his Works.) Nor can it be because Satan is of more strength than the Almighty, or more powerful to corrupt, than God to purify. For could it consist with God's oeconomy, to work on our Wills by That Omnipotence, by which the Wind and the Fire and the Sea obey him, we should not be in a capacity to break his Precepts; we should act only as natural, spontaneous Agents; and do our Duties as the Stones do, in tending downwards. Whereas having made us an other Thing, to wit a rational sort of Creatures, and that in viâ; not yet arrived at our Journeys end, but in a Tendency from Earth, either to Heaven, or to Hell; not indefectibly good, like the Spirits in Heaven, nor consummately evil, like those in Hell, but as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the Skirts, or the Confines betwixt them Both; to wit inclinable to evil, and also capable of good; does therefore work upon our Wills in a congruous manner; in such a manner as is agreeable with the nature we are of, and with the condition we are in. Does not press us by any force to list ourselves in his Army; But freely leaves us our option, either to be Royalists, or Rebels to him. Nor can it derogate from his Goodness, that he leaves it in our power to be rebellious; because he gives us sufficient Grace, whereby he enables us to obey. It is not therefore by a Fatality that Satan has got so many Soldiers; but by the voluntary Defection of such as serve him. Who cannot say that the Tempter does irresistibly debauch them, though with the Vanities of the World he does assault them from without, and with the Treacheries of the Flesh he does surprise them from within. For the Devil's very utmost is but to tempt us. And let the matter of Temptation be what it will, whether Honour, or Disgrace, whether Pain, or Pleasure, whether Frights, or Flatteries, whether want, or superfluity, or even the same in the Text wherewith he tempted our Blessed Saviour, [All the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them;] Yet because by all These he can but solicit, and entice us, we cannot say he does ravish, but court our Wills. 'Tis true, the Devil is represented by many terrible Appellations throughout the Scriptures; as that of Abaddon, and Apollyon, a Murderer from the Beginning, a Lion, and a Red Dragon, a Roaring Lion, and a Serpent. And in one respect or other he is indeed each of These. But yet he carries away the Wills and Assents of men, not as a Lion, only by Strength; nor as a Roaring one, by Rapacity; but rather as a Serpent, by Circumvention. § 3. Now then let us return to see how the Argument will go on; (having seen enough already, upon what foot it stands, and put a Block out of the way too, at which too many are wont to stumble;) can we imagine it to be likely, that the old experienced Serpent, the subtlest Creature under Heaven, could be so stupid and obtuse in the Art of Mischief, as to employ his chief strength upon a Design of less importance, and to reserve his weakest force for his very last Onset, or Assault? At first he tempted our Blessed Saviour to nothing else but Distrust; and therefore only made use of his being hungry, (v. 3.) Next he tempted him to Presumption, which is the opposite Provocation; and thought it enough for that Effect, to put him in mind of his Prerogative, (v. 6.) But now at last he runs higher, and seeks to bribe the most righteous judge to the greatest unworthiness in the World, an Idolising the unworthiest of all his Creatures. He knew that Christ was the Son of God, because he heard him so declared by God the Father, (Chap. 3. v. 17.) He also knew the Son of God to be God the Son too. And he knew that God the Son was even the Wisdom of the Father. And when he would tempt Wisdom itself to Idolise the very Tempter, he could not but know he was to use the highest Allective to be imagined. Which by what other means should he hope to do, than by taking up our Lord to an exceeding high Mountain, showing him there, as in a Synopsis, All the Kingdoms of the World, with the Glory of them, and then by making this lusty Proffer, All These will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me? § 4. This then does lead us to see the reason, why 'tis said by St. Paul, That the 1 Tim. 6. 10. love of money is the Root of all Evil. And why by St. james, Go to now ye rich men, weep and James 5. 1. howl for the Miseries that shall come upon you. And why 'tis said by our Saviour (of whom we believe that he shall come to be our Judge,) Woe to you that are Rich, for ye have Luke 6. 24, 25. received your Consolation. woe to you that are full, for ye shall hunger. woe to you that laugh, for ye shall mourn and weep. And why 'twas said by the Spanish Friar, That Few Potentates go to Hell, because (comparatively speaking,) they All are but Few. And why we vowed in our Baptism to fight manfully under Christ's Banner, as well against the World, as the Flesh, and the Devil. And why we pray in our public Litany, not only In all Time of our Tribulation, of Lightning and Tempest, of Plague, Pestilence, and Famine, of Battle, and Murder, and sudden Death; But (as a Danger, if not a Mischief, as great as either,) In all Time of our WEALTH, Good Lord deliver us. Nor can we render a better reason, (as long as Charity sits as judge,) why so many who have been placed upon exceeding high Mountains, (a great deal higher even than That on which the Devil here placed our Blessed Saviour,) from whence they could not only see, but enjoy the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them, have gladly laid down those Kingdoms, and divorced themselves from those Glories, as having known them by sad experience, to be but exquisite Temptations, and pleasant Snares. § 5. But here I would not be so mistaken, as our Lord was by his Disciples, when he pronounced it impossible for a rich man to Matth. 19 24. enter into the Kingdom of God. For when I say that worldly Greatness is one of the Devil's most cogent Engines, whereby to batter down the Castle or Soul of Man, I am far from implying 'tis irresistible. Though I argue that the Devil is then the greatest Poliorxetick, (as Soldiers word it) when he lays Siege to a man's Soul with All the Kingdoms of the Earth; yet can it not therefore be denied, but that we may beat him out of his Trenches, through him that strengtheneth us; and that (as He did,) with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, get thee hence Satan. Honour and Riches are but Temptations; and Temptations in Themselves are but Things Indifferent; which, accordingly as they are used, do administer a Nourishment to Vice, or Virtue. Just as the very same Sword is of itself apt to serve to the most contrary Effects; as well to punish, as to protect the Guilty; and either to defend, or to kill the Innocent. And thus the same Meat and Drink, as it meets with an immoderate, or sober Appetite, serves for the Mischief of a Surfeit, or for a necessary Refection. The strength of a Temptation, as it does in part lessen the Sinner's Gild, when yielded to, and complied with; so does it heighten the virtue too, when victoriously resisted. And as the Angels who fell from a state of Innocence and Bliss, were the less capable of rising, in that they fell without a Tempter; so the Angels who never fell, are the less capable of the Coronets which Virgins and Martyrs shall wear in Heaven, because they are pure, and impassive, and so exempted by God Almighty from the Dignity and Privilege of suffering for him. This then (we must confess) is the great Benefit of Temptations, (to give our Enemies their Due,) that by resisting them to the end, we manfully fight under Christ's Banner, conform ourselves to his Example, and suffer for his sake, as He for ours. In which respect (no doubt) it was, (as before I noted) that St. james began his Epistle with this remarkable Exhortation, Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers Temptations. Some may wonder at the Expression, and think it impious, that at the instant in which we pray, lead us not into Temptation, we should be glad of those things we daily deprecate. But St. james does there speak touching proportionable Temptations, such as are not above our strength; and are not for the staggering, but for the trial of our Faith. Now the Trial of our Faith worketh James 1. 3. Patience, and Patience breeds Hope, and Hope maketh not ashamed. Again, The Trial of our Faith shall be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the blessed Appearance of jesus Christ. If Christ himself had not been tempted with all the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them, yea and afterwards too with Disgrace, and Torment, and Death itself, How then could he have led Captivity Captive? but for Injuries, and Pains, where were our Fortitude, and Patience? were it not for all sorts of forbidden Fruit, where were Continence, and Sobriety, and all other Abstinencies from Evil? were it not for Wealth and Plenty, where were Munificence, and Works of Mercy? where the Victories of Meekness, and Moderation, if there were no such thing as Glory, and worldly Greatness? Yea but for Danger, Destruction, and Death itself, how should we come by our Immortality? Our Saviour therefore, when he compared a rich man's Entrance into Heaven, with the Entrance of a Camel through Matth 19 24. the Eye of a Needle, did not speak of a natural, but of a moral Impossibility. For wealthy Abraham went to Heaven, as well as poor forsaken Lazarus. And therefore St. Mark does very fitly, (not only translate, but) explain St. Matthew; saying, How hard; not, how Impossible; Mark 10. 24. Nor for them that have Riches, but for them that trust in them, to enter into the Kingdom of God? And this may competently serve to keep the Richest out of Despair. § 6. Yet even This Alleviation may serve to keep them from Presumption, and make them humble; because 'tis hard to have Riches, and not to trust in them. Nor is there any one Thing (that I am able at least to think of) throughout the Gospel, against which we are admonished, praepar'd, and armed, with greater store either of explicit, or implicit warnings. When an ingenuous young Ruler, whom Jesus * Mark 10. 21. loved, came to inquire after Eternity, and after the Means of its Attainment, there was not any thing but his † Luke 18. 22. Possessions, which seemed to stand betwixt Him, and Heaven. For when his Oracle had told him, He must sell all he had, and distribute unto the Poor, he was sad at Ibid. Qui omnia se fecisse dicebat, in primo certamine divitias vincere non potest. Hieron. ad Julianum. l. 2. Epist. 21. that saying, and went away grieved. So great and real is the misery of too much Happiness upon Earth. Had he been worth but two Mites, he would (no doubt) have parted with them (as the poor Widow did) for a Treasure in Heaven. And That was promised by our Saviour, in the very same Breath, in which he was exhorted to sell all he had. But, however such a Precept could not be possibly so heavy, as not to be made exceeding light by such a Promise as was annexed; Yet such a dangerous thing it is to have the Friendship of this World, by enjoying all the Pleasures which Power and Plenty can purchase for us, that the Treasure in Heaven was but of cold signification, and he was sad at That Saying, that he must sell all he had. Eternal Happiness in Reversion was but a Melancholic thing, when only promised on condition of being merciful to the Poor. The Expression of St. Luke is short and pithy on that Occasion; He was very sorrowful, for Luke 18. 23. he was very Rich. And from That Single Instance our Lord took occasion to say in General, and of All, How hardly shall they Verse 24. that have Riches, enter into the Kingdom of God? Let the Persons be who they will, Great and Rich, or Rich only, Rich and Prodigal, or Covetous, yet in case they Have Riches, their Case is difficult. They may be saved, but very hardly. Possibly they may, but with much ado: With very much struggling and striving to enter in at the straight Gate. A man of great Bulk may possibly (though hardly) be able to pass at a little Door, by a great deal of squeezing, and compression, and coarctation of himself, perhaps by rubbing off his Flesh, and by bruising some of his Bones. And so a Camel may enter through the Eye of a Needle; But then the Beast must be burnt to Ashes, or cut at least into shreds and fitters, that one shred may enter before another, and all may pass in the Conclusion. A very cold degree of Comfort, not to be in any likelihood, but in a bare Possibility of being saved. § 8. It is enough to deter us from being grieved at the loss, or overglad in the Enjoyment of worldly Goods, That the good things of this World are apt to be Enemies to all that's Good. They are often Enemies to Preaching; for the Deceitfulness of Riches chokes the Word, and makes the Hearer become unfruitful, (Matth. 13. 22.) They are usual Enemies to Praying; for you ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your Lusts, (James 4. 2.) They are common Enemies to Loyalty, and upright dealing; for judas being Christ's Cashkeeper did quickly find his very Office became his Tempter. He did not stab, but sell his Master. Nor that out of malice, but love of money. And when the Husbandmen of the Vineyard conspired to murder their Landlord's Heir, It was to this end alone, That the Inheritance might be Theirs, (Mark 12. 7.) Again the things of this World are general Enemies to Religion; to Religion in its practical and chiefest part; whose Truth and Purity does stand in This, That we keep ourselves unspotted from the World; that is to say, from the Wealth, and Friendship, from the Luxuries, and the Lusts, and the Glories of it, (james 1. 27.) Briefly, they are Enemies to the Eternal Salvation of Soul and Body. For they that will be rich, fall into Temptation, and a Snare; into very many foolish and hurtful Lusts, which drown the Soul in Destruction and Perdition, (1 Tim. 6. 9) Nor was it sure without Cause, that our Saviour made Dives the Repraesentative of the Damned. A man of Quality, and Fortune, highly befriended by the World, clothed in Purple and fine Luke 16. 19 Linen, and faring sumptuously every day. Which was so far from being a Narrative of any Particular man's Case, that I could never read of any whose name was Dives, much less that there was such in the time of Lazarus. Nor was Lazarus there meant of any Beggar in particular, who lay full of Sores at the Rich man's Gate. But all was spoken in a Parable, And that as 'twere on purpose to let us know, what kind of Voiagers more especially are bound for Heaven, and for Hell; and with what sorts of People they Both are aptest to be stocked: to wit with poor Lazars, and wealthy Gluttons. Those Inhabitants of Heaven, as These of Difficile, immò impossibile est, ut et praesentibus quis et futuris fruatur Bonis: ut et hic ventrem, et ibi mentem impleat; ut de deliciis transeat ad delicias; ut in utroque seculo primus sit; ut et in Coelo, et in Terrâ appareat gloriosus. Hieron ad Julianum, l. 2. Epist. 21. p. 266. col. 2. Hell. Again it teaches us how frequent and usual 'tis, for every man to have his Portion of Pain, and Pleasure; either in This, or another Life. His good things here, and his evil things hereafter; or his evil things now, and his good things then. For so said Abraham out of Heaven to the Rich man in Hell; † Verse 25. Son, remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; But now he is comforted, and Thou art tormented. And when (agreably to this) our Blessed Lord denounced a Woe unto Them that were Rich, He gave this Reason, Because they had received their Luke 6. 24. Consolation. They had already been possessed of their Lot and Portion of Felicity. The Scales hereafter would be turned, and the Scene quite changed, when They should have their full Share of Afflictions too. And in this respect at lest 'twas fitly said by those Voluptuaries, the Hectors of their Times in the Book of Wisdom; Let none of us go Wisd. 2. 6, 9 without his Part of Voluptuousness. Let us leave Tokens of our joyfulness in every Place: For this is our Portion, our Lot is This. § 9 Now the Reasons of this unhappiness, That the good things of this World are the goodliest Snares and Temptations, and such as our Adversary the Devil does put his chiefest Trust in, are these that follow. First 'tis hard, in the use of Riches, to steer a safe and equal Course betwixt the Rock, and the Whirl-pool; Avarice on the one side, and Prodigality on the other. Very hard not to offend, either in laying up Riches, or at least in laying them out. § 10. As for the former, He whose Treasure is not his Slave, is clearly made a Slave by it; and is extremely more stupid than the Beast on which he rides, because he is ridden by a Beast, (that is to say,) by The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Fourfooted Beast which reigns within him. He does not more possess his Riches, than he is possessed by them; and may be called not improperly his Mammon's Mule. Our Lord ingeminated his Caveat against the Daughters of the Horseleech, as if 'twere That against which a Man could never be too much warned. Take heed (saith He) and beware of Covetousness: Luke 12. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, See, and be kept safe. Take heed, and take heed. A thing which looks like a Battology, But is indeed nothing less; a Caution purposely redoubled, for the securing us from an Affection which is the Root of all Evil. So very far is a man's life from consisting in the Abundance of the Verse 15. things which he possesseth, so very far from being able to add a Cubit to his Stature, Verse 25. a Minute to his Duration, or a Grain to his Contentment, that they give him a Poverty to be pitied, in that they make him not rich, towards God, or Himself. Rich towards God he cannot be, who layeth up Treasure for himself. Verse 23. No nor Rich towards Himself, who layeth it up for he-knows-net-whom; whether his Son, or his Son's Guardian, or for One who will be able to squeeze them Both. There being commonly one or other to whom the rest are but Sponges; nor can they tell either how soon, or by what kind of Hand they may all be squeezed. Now 'tis a very great Punishment, as well as Sin, for a man to bereave himself of Good, that no-body-knowswho may far the better, and as likely his Enemies, as his Friends. It was the Character of a Fool, which David gave of the Niggard, He heapeth up Riches, and cannot tell who Psal. 39 6. shall gather them. And the Niggard (as I think) is the only man, on whom our Lord fastens the name of * Luke 12. 20. Fool. Dost thou talk of pulling down, and of building up, and of making provision for time to come? Thou fool! this Night thy Soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? Not thy children's perhaps, but thy Child's Tyrants. Thy Riches are not in Their power, who are Themselves in the Power of somewhat else, either without them, or within them. They have lost their Propriety in all their Legacies and Estates, if a Vespasian or a Copronymus shall chance to Rule them; much more, if they shall live under the Tyranny of their Lusts. For if they pay Tribute to their Ambition, and Contributions to their Gluttony, and large Excise to their other Vices, such as is their childish dotage upon the Vanities and the Pomps and chargeable Customs of the World, (alas!) the main of their Revenue goes out in Taxes. For a man's own Lusts are the greatest Oppressors to be imagined. Besides, A man's * Enemy's commonly are they of his own House. Micah 7. 6. Even the Fruit of his Body is the fullest of bitterness to his Soul. The more he heapeth up Treasure, in Intuition of his Children, the more he tempts them to be his Enemies, if They at least may be thought Enemies, who do not only wish his Death, but many times contrive it too. A poor man's Child will love the life of his Parents, because he lives by their labour; whilst the wealthier sort of Parents are apt to be troublesome to their Children, because they stand betwixt them and Plenty; 'twixt them and their Liberty to live as deliciously as they list. But because a Man is ignorant, who or what shall be after him, his heaping up is nothing else but being prodigal to his Purse; all his carking and caring is, that his Purse may never be in want. He is content for his own part to far very hardly, and to eat the Bread of Scarceness, so that his dearly beloved Purse may be but plentifully fed. So great a friendship there is betwixt Him and It. And thus it was with the wealthy Niggard in the Gospel; who wanting Room enough wherein to lay up his Crop in a plenteous Harvest, did not rationally say, I will sell away my Overplus, and bestow it upon my Friends, in Hospitality; upon my Beadsmen, in Alms; upon my Self, or my Family, in Food and Raiment; but I will pull down my Barns, and build greater, and There will I bestow all my Luke 12. 18. fruits and my goods. The English word in the Translation proves very emphatical, and seems to import the Niggard's Largess. It is not translated, I will gather my Goods together, or lay them up, (as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might well have been,) but I will bestow them, or lay them out. Although he was sordid to himself, and as close-fisted to his Family, and to all other Persons an arrant Churl, yet to his Storehouses and Barns he was very freehearted; he gladly bestowed upon Them, even as much as they could hold. To those his Favourites and Darlings he could not be liberal enough; and therefore widened their Vacuities, that he might fill them. The Reason of which is very obvious. For as where a man's Treasure is, there Luke 12. 34. is his Heart; so wherever his Heart is, there he loves to lay his Treasure. Had the Rich man's heart been either in Heaven, or upon Christ, he had bestowed all his Goods upon Heavenly things; had fed Christ in his hungry Members, or clothed him in his naked ones, or redeemed him in his Captive imprisoned Members. He had erected, or endowed, either a College, or a Church, an Hospital, or an Alms-house. But his Heart ('tis plain enough) was wholly set upon his Barns; They had drawn out his Bowels; Thither went his Affections. Though a little was too much to be bestowed upon Himself, yet All was little enough for Them; He was so passionately kind, and partial to them. One spends all upon his Back; another upon his Belly; a third upon his Titles, and Styles of Honour; a fourth upon his Sports and Recreations; And there are (as That Parable does plainly show,) who spend and lavish out all they have, on their Barns or Purses. § 11. Thus 'tis difficult not to offend in the laying up Riches; And 'tis as difficult to be innocent in the laying of them out too. For we may borrow from our Avarice, for the maintaining of our Pride; and what we spend on our Ambition, is at least as ill laid out, as what we bestow on our Barns or Baggs. To keep an open Cellar, and a very large Table, is not the Virtue opposed to Avarice. For we may lavish out our All, in dishonour of God's Name, as well as treasure all up, in distrust of his Providence. Our hearts will be (as I said before) in what place soever our Treasure is; and as good in our Coffers, as in our Kitchens. A Talon wrapped in a Napkin will be no more imputed to us, than one consumed upon our Lusts. We know a man of great Fortune has wherewithal to entertain and to cherish Vice. Has abundance of Fuel to feed his Fire. Is able to purchase (at any rate) whatever is acceptable and pleasing to the greedy Appetite of the Flesh. Whereas a man that is poor, cannot go to the price of many chargeable Sins. His Lamp burns faintly, for want of Oil. * Ezek. 16. 49. Fullness of Bread is such a thing, as was reckoned for one of the Sins of Sodom, and commonly follows a Great Estate. So that That which the rich man esteems his blessing, may prove the subject of a very great Curse. For thus we read in the Psalmist, Let their Table be made a Snare to take them withal. And that which should have been for their welfare, let it be to them an occasion of falling, Psal. 69. 22. Thus we have the two Branches of the first and chief Reason, why the World's Good things are the goodliest Snares and Temptations; and such as our Adversary the Devil does most rely on. § 12. Again the Goods of this World are apt to breed and nourish Pride; which was another great Sin in the men of Sodom. Plenty makes men contemptuous, and superciliously looking down on such as are poorer than Themselves. Thence is the Latin word Superbia, à superhabendo. Pride does take its Derivation from having Wealth above others. Does not breed that Respect which is due to others, But that undue Respect of Persons which is expressed by Partiality, and declared against as an heinous Sin, James 2. 1, 9 It is a Custom whose Tyranny has invaded most parts of the World we live in, to have respect unto Him who weareth gay Clothing, and to make him sit down in the upper place; whilst 'tis said to the poor man, stand Thou there, or sit here under my Footstool, (James 2. 3.) Not at all laying to heart, (as St. james goes on,) That God hath chosen the Poor of this World, rich in Faith, and Heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him, (V. 5.) This is one of the main Branches of That most fatal and fruitful Tree, whereof the Love of this World's Goods must needs be granted to be the Root. § 13. Again the Goods of this World are very apt to breed Sloth; And this was the Third great Sin of Sodom. Not only Pride, and Fullness of Bread, but Abundance of Idleness was in her. A man who lives by his labour has not Time and Opportunity to commit many Sins, to which abundance of leisure would have betrayed him. He whose Ambition leads him no higher than to the foddering of his Cattle, or the Government of his Plough, will have the least Cause of Scruple, (in all probability,) as well in his Conscience, as in his Stomach. Whereas a Man of great Plenty is not so apt to have Employment to keep him▪ safe; and so much the less, by how much the less he has need of working. He is not only able to buy the various Nourishments of Vice, but is at leisure to be hurt, and debauched by them. He is not fortified with Labour; is not fenced and barricadoed with store of Business; the Avenues of his Soul lie always open; so as the Tempter needs not besiege him, But may take him by a Surprise. Whilst David lived at Bethleem with his poor Father, Goodman jesse, where his Thoughts were taken up with his Attendance upon the Cattle, his following the Ewes great with young, in the Spring, his washing and shearing them, in the Summer, his giving them Fodder, in the Winter, and his keeping them from the Wolf, at every season of the year; whilst he was thus keeping Sheep, He was able to keep Himself too, as chaste, and Harmless. But when he was placed as a King, upon a very high Mountain of worldly Greatness, although he was placed there by God, he was so tempted there by Satan, (and that like Christ, the Son of David, with the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them,) as to have fallen into divers most deadly Sins. When 2 Sam. 11. 1. he lived at his Ease, and tarried still at jerusalem, stretched himself upon his Bed, and that at Noon too, and had nothing else to do, (when he rose from it in the Evening,) but to walk up and down upon the Roof of his Palace, where his Employment was nothing greater, than the feasting of his Eyes with all the Varieties of the City; none is Verse 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. so ignorant of his History, as not to know what did ensue. Had he been with his Army, as by right he should have been, (for the Text tells us 'twas at the Time when Kings go forth to Battle,) He had been probably too busy, to have been tempted, as he was, whilst he lay at Ease. In the Time of his Hardship and Afflictions, we know he had somewhat else to do, than to admit of what he did at a Time of Idleness and Plenty, when he wallowed in the Mire of the Good Things of This World. Thus the Earth, which lies Idle, is presently overrun with Weeds; whilst the Heavens, which ever move, still keep their Purity. Just as Waters, standing still, are very easily corrupted; whilst Those that run, and run swiftly, keep themselves pure and unpolluted. § 14. Again the Goods of this World, the more they labour to fill the Appetite, the more they dilate it, and make it empty. They are apt to make a thirsty, hydropic Soul. As the Poor man does labour, to grow less poor; so the Rich does lay up, to grow more rich. And though 'tis hard to make a Rule which will not admit of some Exceptions, yet 'tis generally observable, that a poor man's care is how to keep out of want; whereas the care of the Rich is how to get into Superfluity. A man of mediocrity, who is but well enough to live, is aptest to think himself well enough; nor aims so much at the Increase, as at the mere Preservation of his Possessions. Whereas Abundance of Riches makes a Plethory in the Heart, which breaks out into an Itch, without due Purge, and Evacuations. By how much the fuller he is of Wealth, by so much the more his Heart is set upon the raising of his Family, and the leaving to his Children a great deal more than he was left. He loves to be joining House to House, and to be laying Isa. 5. 8. Field to Field, and to be placed alone in the midst of the Earth; supposing that his dwelling place shall endure for ever, and his Land be called by his Name from Generation to Generation: Psal. 49. 12. Thus do the Riches of men conduce to many Diseases in the Soul; a Plethory, an Itch, a Lientery, a Dropsy, a Boulimia. These are the Maladies of the mind, which abundance of Riches do breed and cherish. The reason of it is chiefly This; That what appears very Great to them who want and desire it, does, to them who do embrace it, almost totally disappear. What Hope and Hunger present as big, Possession makes to seem little, even because it does not stand at a due Distance from the Appetite. For an Object may be too near (as well as too far) to be truly seen; witness the Letters of any Book, which if we place too near our Eyes, we are as little able to read, as if they stood a mile off. For which reason it is, we overlook what we possess, and even want what we have, whilst we covet more. § 15. Other Reasons may be given, but these I take to be the chief. And as I think they are enough, so I am not at leisure to point at more. For now 'tis time that I apply, and so improve what I have said, by adding several Considerations, whereof the one will very fitly become a step unto the other. And until we grasp All, the Application will not be perfect. § 16. First then let us consider; That if the World's Good things are commonly made the Devil's Lime-twigs, laid before us as our Food, but only intended for our Fetters; It concerns us that our Souls be night and day kept on wing, and incessantly flying over these Snares of Satan. Which to accomplish the more effectually, we must be careful not to stand upon exceeding high Mountains, nor take too much of this World within our Prospect. The Bowels of St. Paul Philip. 3. were so turned within him, when he consider'd the Earthy-mindedness of many Professors in his time, as that he could not hold from weeping, in reflecting on the Miseries he saw them in. Whilst he was writing to his Philippians, in a very cheerful stile, touching the Glory to be revealed, and of his pressing towards the Mark, for the price of the Verse 14. high Calling of God in Christ jesus, his Soul was suddenly overcast with a gloomy Cloud, and his cheerfulness in a moment was done away with a fit of mourning. For towards the midst of his Epistle, his thoughts were occasionally diverted by such a melancholy remembrance, as put a sudden stop to his Meditations, and made him break out into a Parenthesis of Tears. Many walk (saith the Apostle) of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are Enemies to the Cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their Belly, and whose Glory Verse 18. 19 is their Shame, who mind Earthly things. They lived in Plenty and Prosperity, complied with the Persecuting Jews, were very indulgent to their Appetites, and even boasted of their Lusts; that is, their Happiness was as great as this World could make it, and for this, which is the object of most men's Envy, or Ambition, they were exceedingly bemoaned by that compassionate Apostle. That their Souls, like silly Birds, should be so caught and entangled with Satan's Lime-twigs, as to be grovelling on the Earth, and rendered utterly unable to give a Spring towards Heaven, This was his Corrosive and Cordolium. 'Twas this that turned his Head into a Fountain of Tears, and made him to mingle his Ink with weeping. This was That that made him write with an Ellipsis in a Parenthesis, and one Parenthesis in another; No sooner had he said [for many walk] but there he presently broke off; as if the rest of his words had been suddenly swallowed up with his Commiseration. The Royal Prophet had been caught, but had been happily disintangl'd, and was so very much afraid to be caught again, that he earnestly fell a wishing for the wings of a Dove, whereby to be able to fly away, not only from the Injuries, but from the Vanities of the World. One would have thought that such a Potentate might have been satisfied with the World, who had its Glories at his Devotion; yet even Those were some of the things which made King David so weary of it; And drew upon him That Envy, with those malicious Calumniators, which made his Life to seem long, and his Kingdom tedious: Woe is me (saith he in pity to himself) that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech, and to have mine habitation in the Tents of Kedar. So when Moses was but a youth, he towered up like an Eagle above the stratagems of the Fowler, and could securely look down with an holy derision upon his Nets. He was so far from desiring, that he refused to be a Prince. So far from courting the Top of Honour, as to have turned his back upon it, when strongly courted to its Acceptance: Choosing rather to suffer Affliction Heb. 11. 24, 25. with the People of God, than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season. Such Eagles, now a days, are grown a rare sort of Creatures; there being few who (like Moses) do so value and revere the reproach of Christ, as to esteem it greater Riches than all the Treasures Verse 26. of Egypt. It is ordinarily counted a spice of Madness, for men to suffer any great Hardships in point of Conscience. So long as thou dost well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee, Psal. 49. 18. But He who will not be caught in the Devil's Net, and flies the Favours of the World which cannot honestly be enjoyed, However the greatness of his Soul does speak him no less than a lofty Eagle, yet he shall commonly be contemned as an arrant Goose. But this should teach us to loathe the World so much the more, and the wisdom of the World, which is not Earthy only, and Sensual, but Devilish too, James▪ 3. 15. james 3. 15. Alas the Wisdom of the Serpent is a very foolish thing, wheresoever there is the Sting, and the Poison too. And to have the Dove's Innocence, we need the Wings also. For as whilst we are glued in our Affections to the things here below, we think the World to be a Great, and a Glorious thing, so the higher we fly above it, the more contemptibly Little 'tis natural for it to appear. And therefore § 17. Secondly let us consider, That as the way whereby to escape the glorious Dangers of which I speak, is to sequester our Affections from the Things of this World, and to take wing towards a Better; so, that our Flight may be the higher, we are to take some ready Course whereby to make ourselves light. For however it is natural for Birds to fly, yet the most they can do is but to flutter, if they are laden with thick Clay; a Phrase by which the Prophet Habakkuk describeth Money, and denounceth a Woe to them that Habak. 2. 6. load themselves with it. The reason of which is very obvious. For notwithstanding it is natural for the spirit of man to fly upwards, yet what in one Case is natural, may be impossible in an other. A man may fly just as soon with a weight of Lead at his Feet, as with a Burden of Silver upon his Back. The lightest Birds commonly do fly the highest. And considering 'tis a Duty, for a man so to buy, as if he were never to possess; To deny his dear self, and to take up Christ's Cross, 1 Cor. 7. 30, 31. and to follow Him; it seems to follow thereupon, that He who hath least of this World, and the least to do in it, is probably the fittest for That great Duty. Though 'twas not merely for being poor, that Lazarus was carried to Abraham's Bosom, yet 'twas That that his Poverty disposed him for. And St. Peter said fitly (touching Himself and his Condisciples,) Lo we have left All, and followed Luke 18. 28. Thee. Because they could not follow Christ, and carry all they had with them. For every Follower of Christ has a very narrow way wherein to walk, and a very straight Gate whereat to enter. So that the Body of a Christian is Load enough unto the Soul; and therefore many more Impediments may well be spared. Our Bodies (saith St. Paul) are but Earthen Vessels; but 1 Cor. 4. 7. Dust and Ashes, (saith Abraham) Gen. 20. 27. And sure the way to keep ourselves unspotted from the World, is not to bury ourselves alive, even by adding Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust. That being the way of our being buried, not in sure and certain Hope, but in sure and certain Fear of a Resurrection. For when the Minions of this World who are dead whilst they live, shall (by the just Judgement of God) live again when they are dead too, and shall be summoned out of their Graves, as Malefactors out of a Dungeon; they will say to the Mountains fall on us, and to the Hills, cover us; that is, they will desire to be once more buried. Now to prevent so sad a Rising, we are to Rise whilst we are here; from the Death (I mean) of Sin, and from the Grave of Carnality. And that we may rise the more nimbly, we must be Levis Armaturae; must not lay upon ourselves too great a load of thick Clay, which commonly brings with it another load, whether it be of worldly Cares, or of Carnal Pleasures. Whatsoever most Christians may think of This, 'twas sadly considered by many Heathens, of which I shall but instance in four or five. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Maxim. Tyr. Dissert. 20. p. 197. Diogenes was a poor, but yet a very great Man, because his Poverty was his choice; and he was one who did not want, but contemn the Gaieties of the World. How did he fly above the Vices and Follies of it, by stripping himself of its Impediments, and by imping the wings of his brave Ambition? 'Twas his Ambition to be at Liberty, not to give Hostages to Fortune, to live a life disengaged from things below him. He found that one Tub was enough to lie in, and one wooden. Dish enough to drink in, and was resolved that his Householdstuff should hold proportion with his House. Yea even That he thought too much, for its being somewhat more than was strictly needful. And therefore — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Id. ibid. p. 201. he broke his wooden Dish, upon his first consideration, That the Hollow of his Hand had made it needless. Now I the rather choose to instance in this remarkable Philosopher, because I know him very much censured, and think him as little *— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Arrian. Epict. l. 3. c. 22. understood. For that which is taken by a Proverb to be the Cynicalness and sowrness, was thought by divers ancient Authors the lovely Nobleness of his Temper. His choice of Poverty was the result of his very deep Knowledge, and Contemplation. Nature and Industry had both conspired to his Perfections; of which it was not the least, that he knew the whole World, and always had it under his Feet too; as having weighed it in a Balance, and found its lightness. He Qualis fuerit Diogenes, Quantusque, quantò homine major, quam Dei similis, constat apud Ariani Epictetum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, à capite ad calcem istius Dissertationis. Etiam apud Senec. de Tranquil. animi c. 7. had been sued to, and courted, by the Great Potentates of the Earth, whose Prosperities stooped down to receive the Honour of his Acceptance. But what Solomon, out of his Wisdom, both infused, and acquired, (acquired both by joious and sad experience,) the same Diogenes concluded, (I shall not dare to say how,) That All is vanity under the Sun. Now we all know that Vanity is of extremely little weight, if put in the Balance of Diseretion; and in the Balance of the Sanctuary, of Psal. 39 11. none at all. Nay the Psalmist concludes, that Man himself is but Vanity, who yet is very much the noblest of any Creature under the Sun. And sure if every man is Vanity, and the greater he is, the greater Vanity, and Eccles. 1. 14. not only Vanity, but Vexation of Spirit; how could Godfrey Duke of Bulloin have done more prudently for himself, than in refusing to accept a Crown of Gold, where Christ Himself wore one of Thorns? or why should any of Christ's Followers buy the Friendship of a Prince, when Xenocrates an Heathen would Rex Philosophi Amicitiam emere voluit; Philosophus Regi fuam vendere noluit. Val. Max. l. 4. c. 3. not deign to sell His, no not to Alexander Himself who would fain have bought it? Why should a Christian affect Dominion, when * Rubori non fuit, eburneo scipione deposito, agrestem stivam aratri repetere. Id. ib. c. 4. Cic. Offic. l. 3. Atilius an Heathen made choice to leave it? why should one of Christ's Disciples court and covet That Plenty, which was despised by Fabricius, an arrant Heathen? Why should a Christian set his Heart upon the getting and leaving a vast Revenue to his Posterity, when the Heathen man Socrates thought it a Charity to his Children, to leave them none? Not that he thought it a Breach of Charity, to make Provision for his Family; but that he durst not betray them to great Temptations. As He himself had refused half the Kingdom of Samos when offered to him, so was he willing that his Children should inherit his Temper, and Frame of Mind. He knew the Providence of God was the surest Patrimony; And had been taught by his experience, that Friends well got were the next great Treasure. 'Twas his Duty, as a Father, to leave his Children very well, and by consequence in a condition (not the richest, but) the most suitable, and safest for them; and therefore under a Necessity of taking pains. Conceiving it infinitely difficult for any man to live a strict and a virtuous life, who is not blessed with some Calling wherein to labour. Asked he was indeed by Xenophon, and other Friends, why of so many great Offers he would not accept at least of some; if not in his own, yet in his children's consideration. But still He answered, [ * Objicienti, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, respondet Socrates, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Socrat. Epist. 2. ex Edit. Leon. Allat. p. 15, 16, 17, etc. Confer Arrian. Epict. l. 3. c. ult. p. 433. If they live as they ought, they cannot want Blessings; and if they live otherwise, I cannot wish that they may have them. If they are dutiful to their God, they will find him an indulgent and loving Father. And if they rebel against their Maker, what have I to do with them?] Now consider how these Heathens who lived before Christ, had more of Christian Self-denial, than most of Them that come after. They were many of them placed upon exceeding high Mountains; showed the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the glory of them; Yea though they were proffered those Enjoyments, and strongly tempted to accept them; yet so great was their courage, they did not yield. Men, who if they are not fit for our imitation, are fit to shame us at least for our imitating no more of the Life of Christ. Who, as it were in opposition to this Temptation of the Devil, drawn from the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them, made choice of * Matth. 8. 20. Poverty and Despisedness for his external Qualifications. For though, by reason of his Divinity, he could not possibly be obnoxious to the unworthiness of Sin, yet by reason of his Humanity, he was capable of suffering the most unworthy Solicitations. And even those Solicitations disturbed his Ease, although they had not the power to hurt his Safety. Something therefore there was in it for our Edification, That when it pleased the God of Heaven to take upon him our Nature, who had it in his own choice, both of whom he would be born, and in what Quality he would live, He did not choose the greatest, but rather the meanest and the most abject of all Conditions. Now whoever he is that chooseth, (be he wise, or foolish,) ever chooseth what is Best, either really, or in show; either best in itself, or best to his imagination. From whence it follows that our Saviour, being the Wisdom of the Father, (as God the Son,) could not choose but choose wisely, and what was really the best, when he made choice to be so meanly both born, and bred. As for his Birth, sure a Carpenter's Spouse was a very mean Parent; The Stable of an Inn was an exceeding mean Place; wherein an Ox and an Ass were as mean Attendants. And then for his Breeding, It was in Galilee, yea in Nazareth, the meanest part of all Palestine; In the House of Goodman joseph, one of the meanest men of Nazareth; And in the way of a Carpenter, as mean a Trade as could well be chosen. Our Saviour shall not choose for us, if he chooses no better for Himself, (will the men of this World be apt to say.) We would choose (had we our choice) to be born of Princes; to be bred in stately Palaces, and brought up at Court. None should be greater, if we could help it, nor any richer than ourselves. We would choose the very Things, wherewith the Devil here tempted Christ, All the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them. Would not be so poorly spirited, as to refuse a frank offer for want of a little Complaisance, an act of Worship, and Veneration. A Beast indeed will rest contented, when his Belly is full; and looks no higher, when he is Empty, than to That which grows up from the Ground he treads on. But Man is made of another Metal, and He is scarce fit to live who has no Ambition, but sits him down (like a Beast) completely satisfied with a sufficience. Conscience and Contentment are fit for persecuted Churchmen, (or well-bred Quakers,) or else for men whose Wits are lost in their Studies, and whose overmuch Learning has made them as mad as any Paul; a Man who talks of Contentment in All Conditions; and would have us look no farther (as to the Goods of this World) than Food and Raiment. Is it not Pity that such as These should be the Reasonings of the Followers and Friends of Christ, who followed the things which They eschew, and eschewed those things which They contend for? His choice (I say) was to be poorer, and more despised than other men. And because, being a Man, he was to be of some Calling, he pitched on That that was liable to least Temptations; and so was registered at Nazareth, not in the Quality of a Freeholder, but of an Handicraft-Man. He was but Faber Lignarius, a Wooden Smith. Had he been a Freeholder, he had had (though not a Kingdom, yet) a small Pittance of this World. He might have trod his own Ground, and have breathed his own Air, and have eaten his own Bread, without depending upon the Charity of any other man's hands, or on the Labour of his own. But he was on the contrary so poor and destitute, that he had neither Food, nor Raiment, but what he earned, or had given him, or got by Miracle. As long as from his Twelfth to his Thirtieth year of Age, divers Fathers are of opinion, that he wrought for his Living in his Father in Law's Shop. Nor is there any Church-Writer who gives another Account of him. And from thence until his Death he obtained his Bread, either by Teaching, as a Prophet, or doing good, as a Physician; Both gratuitously, and freely, Luke 8. 3. although by some he was rewarded. Now that our Saviour's way of choosing may have some Influence upon ours, and this our second Consideration may be as useful, as it is long, § 18. Let us consider, in the Third place, how God and Satan are two Competitors for our choice. Satan tempts us to join with Him, in his Attempts against God; God solicits us on the contrary, to side with Him against Satan. Satan tempts us to Rebellion, with the Things that are seen, which are but Temporal; God solicits us to Obedience, with the Things that are not seen, which are Eternal. Satan's Proposals are to the Flesh; God's especially to the Spirit. Satan takes us up to an exceeding high Mountain, and discovers to us from thence, all the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them; God, on the other side, takes us up to Mount Zion, or at least takes us down to the Valley of Anchor, and discovers to us from thence, the Kingdom of Heaven, and Glory of it, and saith to us in effect, (as the Devil to Christ,) All This will I give you, if falling down ye will worship me. Now it remains that we consider, to which Proposal of the two our Affections and Appetites have the most reason to incline. Let's put them Both into the Scales, and then choose That that shall weigh the heaviest. As for the Things of this present World, the best we can say of them is This, They all are to perish in the using. The World itself is but a Thing, whose Fashion passeth away. But 'tis the saddest consideration, that the World's Good things are much more dangerous than they are frail. It being a Duty extremely difficult, to use this World as not abusing it; And yet if we omit to perform this Duty, The richest Possessions upon Earth will but serve to purchase for us the largest Interest in Hell. So that the Devil's Liberality amounts to This only, That if we will but Idolise him, he will give us whatsoever may do us Harm. He will supply us with the means of being damned so much the deeper. Was it (think we) for nothing, or a thing by mere chance, that as our Saviour chose Poverty (rather than Plenty) for himself, so he chose such as were poor, (as well in Fortune, as in Spirit,) to be enriched by his Grace, and made Inheritors of his Kingdom? Was there not (think we) something in it, that the Primitive Excellency consisted in selling all that they had, and laying it down at the Apostles Feet? The lest we can gather from it is This, (And be it spoken as impartially to the due comfort of the Poor, as to the needful Humiliation of such amongst us as are Rich,) That Poverty, though it is not exempt from All, is yet obnoxious unto fewer, and lesser Dangers. For Riches commonly do enable us to do things to be repent; whereas Poverty helps to fit us to repent of things done. Indeed 'tis best of the two, to have Food convenient, (as Agur words it;) to be in such a mediocrity 'twixt Poverty, and Plenty, as not to be pinched with the former, nor too much loaded with the later. Agur prayed against Both; but for different reasons. He prayed against Poverty, as apt to make him turn Thief; But he prayed against Riches, as apt to make him turn Atheist. Now by how much it is worse to be an Atheist, than a Thief, by so much Riches should make a sadder, and a more formidable Condition. And 'twas perhaps for this reason, (amongst some others,) that the most Learned of all our Kings thought Him the happiest man in England, who by his Quality and Estate had a middle Station, betwixt an High Constable, and a justice of Peace. For such a man is neither held to be Poor nor Rich. He has not the Indigence of the one, nor the Vexation of the other. Is freer from Contempt, and from Envy too. Has weaker Temptations, and fewer Troubles. This is to be fed with Food convenient. And This is the Condition which Agur prayed for. But that Scarceness in itself is safer for us (of the two) than Superfluity, we may infer from That Method which the Devil here used against our Saviour: who, according as his Prosperities did fall, or rise, did ever find his Temptations to ebb, or flow. And we know the lowest ebb can but leave us dry, whereas the Tide of Prosperity is apt to drown us. So frail, and so worthless, yea and so dangerous are the Things, by which the Rival of our Maker most strongly tempts us. Weigh we next the Good Things, not only of This, but a better World, wherewith the God who may despise, vouchsafes to court us. He does not only court us with the Promise of a Deliverance, from a Bottomless Lake of Fire and Brimstone, where the Worm dyeth not, and where the Fire is not quenched; Nor seek to win us only by Promises of a Crown immarcescible, of joys unspeakable, and endless, such as our Hearts cannot hold, nor our Tongues utter, nor our Reasons comprehend, nor our Fancies reach; But farther obliges and indears us with a world of Bounties whilst we are Here. For Every man in the World has all the World in Epitome; and that not only as to the sight, but enjoyment also, until he forfeits his Birthright by the High Treason of his Debauches. Till then (I say) he has a world, both to possess, and to enjoy, not only within, but without him also. The world within him is so evident, and so very much resembling the world without him, (far beyond what the Romans had made its Hieroglyphic, or Emblem,) that there is hardly any thing namable, either in Heaven, or in Earth, to which there is not something analogous, either in the Body, or Soul of Man. The Truth of which saying will soon appear, to whosoever will take the pains (as Augustine Mascardus has somewhere done) to draw a Parallel of Particulars. And then for the world without his Person, 'tis plain that That is within his Power. For all the Earth is his walk, if he please to use it. He has Regions of Air wherein to Brach: Many Rivers of Water to quench his Thirst: And an Element of Fire to keep him warm. So that if he has an House which will but hold him, and Meat as much as he can hold, and as much Raiment as he can carry, he has certainly as much as a man undebauched knows what to do with; and what a madness is it for him to covet more? For how much worse than a Brutality must we needs have exchanged our human Nature, when nothing can please us but what's forbidden? and when nothing is forbidden, but what 'twill mischief us to enjoy? How many Pleasures and Recreations has God been bountifully pleased to make lawful for us? freely giving us the Liberty, to choose as much as will do us good? Music is allowed us to please our Ears; Perfumes to gratify our Smelling; the beautiful Structure of the Universe to feed our Eyes with Admiration. Rich Variety of Meats to treat our Palates with, when we are hungry; the most desirable Felicity of quenching our Thirst, when we are dry; the great and innocent Sensuality of warming ourselves when we are cold. And seeing the old Rule in Logic is indisputably True, That the whole Nature of every Species is in each single Individual: God has made it both a needless and senseless Thing, for any man to covet his Neighbour's Wife, by having graciously allowed him the happy Society of his own. Now since Every man in particular does as really enjoy the whole Influence of the Heavens, as if It were shed upon Him alone, in so much that his enjoyment of Heat and Light would be no greater, in case he were Monarch of all the world; Can it be other than an irrational and an absurd kind of wickedness, if, whilst we lawfully enjoy the whole benefit of the Sun, we shall esteem it a want of Happiness, that another man enjoys it as well as we? if, whilst our own Cisterns are running over, we shall not be able to be satisfied, unless with stolen Waters? Is there nothing will stay our Stomaches, but the Bread of Dishonesty? Will nothing content us throughout our journey, (for which God has given us so plain an Highway wherein to walk,) but the removing of signal Landmarks, and the breaking up of Hedges, and leaping over God's Mounds? and this at a time whilst we are told, that as our journey is long, so our Time is little, and yet Eternity depends on the usage of it? Must we needs be still coveting another's House, another's Land, another's Servant, another's Wife, or somewhat else which is another's, and that at the Instant of our abounding in two whole worlds which are our own? No, let us rather bespeak our Tempter, as joseph did his kind Mistress, How can we do so great a wickedness? which way shall Gen. 39 8, 9 we be able to set about it? Had Potiphar been a jealous man, or a cruel Master, joseph might have done much, at the frequent Entreaties of a Mistress. But He, considering how his Master had withheld nothing from him, besides his Wife, and entrusted him too with Her, as well as with his whole Substance, could not in Gratitude to his Master accept the Favour of his Mistress. He could not sin against so manifold and great a Trust. So, if God had been a Wilderness to any of us, tied us up from All Comforts, or left but few things lawful for us, we might then have sinned against him with more excuse. But considering his Bounty, and Goodness towards us, his leaving it in our power to pick and choose our Contentments in great Variety, and his withholding nothing from us, but what will hurt us in the Possession; we ought to stir up his Grace, as well as our own good Nature in us, to an effectual Resistance of the most powerful Temptations, which shall at any time endeavour to debauch us into Rebellion; and say with joseph, How can we do so great a wickedness against a Deity so obliging? How can we possibly be so ingrateful? § 19 Having therefore briefly weighed the Rival-objects of our choice; and seen the very vast Difference between the Things of this present, and future world; yea between the same Things of this present world, as they are differently offered, by God, and Satan; by God on the one side, as they are sanctified into Blessings; and on the other side by Satan, as they are turned into a Curse; by God, as of Right, and by Satan, as of Sufferance; by God in such a Measure, as has a Tendency to our Good, and by Satan in such an extravagance, as is in order to our undoing; by God, to satisfy our Appetites, and by Satan, to enlarge them; by God, as obligations to Love and Gratitude, and by Satan, as excitements to Pride and Luxury; By God, as Directives to the great End of our Creation, and by Satan, as Amusements to keep us from it; we cannot take a better course, when Satan tempts us (as he did Christ) with the Greatness of the World, and the Glory of it, than to reflect upon our Solemn Baptismal Vow, and by consequence to fight against the Prince of this World, and utterly to forsake its Pomps and Vanities; Not to walk according to the Course of this world; to fear its Friendship; to hate its Wisdom; to suspect its Power, and to scorn its Glory; to crucify the world unto ourselves, and ourselves unto the world; to keep ourselves unspotted and undefiled from the world; And, whilst our vile Bodies are here on Earth, to have our Conversations at least in Heaven. § 20. These are the Lessons we are to learn, from the First observable in the Text, and such as prompt me to proceed to the consideration of the Second. For of the many and cogent Arguments whereby to make ourselves think meanly of the Things which we admire, This is none of the least, That they are not only in God's Gift, (by a natural Right,) But many times (by His leave) in the Devil's also. For thus rnn the words of The next Particular in the Division, That all the Goods of This world, however The second Proposition. lovely they may appear to the misty Eye of Carnality, are yet by God's Patience, and wise Permission, (at least successively, though not at once,) in the Devil's Proffer, and Disposal. First I must evidence that so it Isabella Next I must guests at the Reasons why. And last of all I must proceed, to show the manifold Advantage and Use of Both. § 1. That so it is may be evinced more It's Truth proved. ways than one; From Scripture, from Reason, and from Experience. It is so evident from Scripture, (wherein our Saviour calls Satan * John 12. 31. & Ch. 16. V. 11. Eph. 6. 12. 2 Cor. 4. 4. The Prince of this World, St. Paul the Ruler, and the God too,) that the Devil in one sense said not amiss unto our Saviour, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the power of this world is delivered Luke 4. 6. to me, as That does signify by an Hebraism, that God does suffer or permit him to rob the Innocent, and to heap Riches upon the Guilty, and so to dispose of whole Kingdoms to the Sons of Violence and Oppression, who call their strength the Law of justice.. Wisd. 1. 11. 'Tis true, the words of the Devil, (as St. Luke sets them down) are clearly spoken as by a Sophister; who, (according to his Custom) being aequivocal or homonymous in what he says, does cunningly mix a little Truth with the greatest falsehood to be imagined. For if he means that God Almighty has put the world into his hands, and entrusted him, (as a Deputy) to pass a Right of Possession on whom He pleaseth, there is nothing more false than his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; (which will be made to appear in its proper place.) But if his meaning is only This, That God is pleased to let him alone in his Course of wickedness for a Time, and permits him to be mischievous as far as his Fetters and Chain will reach, nothing is truer than That Assertion from the Father of Lies. And nothing can show its Truth better, than such a Scriptural Example as That of job. § 2. He (we know) was a perfect, and upright Job 1. 1. man: A man fearing God, and eschewing Evil. As to the purity of his Life, he had not his Equal in all the Earth. In so much Verse 8. that God upbraided and vexed Satan with his Integrity. Yet even All that job had (and we know he had a world) was left by God in the Devil's Power. For no sooner had Satan said, Put forth thine Hand now, and Verse 11. touch all he hath, And he will curse thee to thy face; but God returned him this Answer, All that he hath is in thy Power: only upon Verse 12. Himself do not put thine Hand forth. 'Tis plain the Devil is God's Prisoner; for there we have the length of the Chain that holds him. It did not reach to Iob's Person, but only to his Possessions. And to Them so universally, that the Devil disposed of All to his prime Instruments upon Earth; The Sabaeans, the Chaldaeans, the Fire, and the Whirlwind. He sent his Journeymen, the Sabaeans, to plunder job of his Oxen, to take his Vers. 14, 15. Asses into Possession, and slay his Servants with the edge of the Sword. Employed the Verse 16. Fire to kill his Sheep and his Shepherds. To the Chaldaeans he bequeathed Iob's stock of Verse 17. Camels, together with the Lives of those that kept them. And then for his Children, both Sons and Daughters, the Devil gave Verse 19 them all up unto the Wind out of the Wilderness, which blew down the House (wherein they were met) upon their Heads. After This the bassled Tempter was thus insulted over by God; Hast thou considered my Servant Job, Chap. 2. v. 3. who holdeth fast his Integrity, although thou movedst me against him to swallow him up without a Cause? Satan therefore asked Sufferance 5. to tempt him farther; to smite the Body of job with Byles; and to smite him 6. Cap a Pe too, from Head to Foot. His chain, Verse 7. Before, was very long; It reached as far as Jobs All, besides his Person. In so much that of the Richest, he became the very Poorest of all the People: For 'tis a Proverb, and an Hyperbole, to say a man is as poor as job. But now the Chain is made longer by one considerable Link. For having nothing left to him, except a Body and a Soul, and (what was much worse than nothing) a vexing Wife, (a Wife whom the Devil had leave enough to take from him, but would not use it,) now at last his Body too is in the power of the Destroyer, who disposed of his Flesh to the very Bone; Nor is there any thing exempted, besides his Soul. § 3. Thus we see by Example, how great a stroke the Devil carries, (by God's long Sufferance, and Permission,) in the outward management of the World. That is to say, in the Disposal of all Those Things, which do pass amongst men for great and glorious. How was Satan permitted to harden Pharaoh, to enrage Sennacherib, to excite Nabuchadnezzar, against the Israel of God? and to dispose of all they had, according to his own Lust? Should I produce as many Examples as are producible out of Scripture, and dwell on each as I have done in the Case of job, I should be in some danger of being Endless. It shall therefore suffice me to say in brief, That whensoever one man invades another man's Right, or whensoever one Nation usurps Dominion over another, against that Precept of God and Nature writ in every man's Heart, [What thou▪ wouldst that no man should do to thee, do Thou to no man,] or against those other Precepts, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's House, (much less his House with all his Land too,) nay Thou shalt not covet any thing (much less All) that is thy Neighbours; 'tis not God, but the Devil, who is the Author of That Injustice. God does patiently permit, and invisibly overrule, and wisely order such Perpetrations, to many most worthy and righteous Ends, which in part we well know, and in part we know not, (touching which I shall speak in their proper place;) But still the Robberies and Invasions are the Contrivances of the Devil. Now in every such Invasion there are two Parties tempted; one with loss, and another with Acquisition. They that suffer the Injustice are strongly tempted with Affliction; And They that do it are tempted worse, because with the Bait of a Prosperity which in such case is irresistible. The Devil tries with one Action to murder two Souls at once. Two at once, in case the Robbery does only lie betwixt Man and Man. But many Thousands of them at once, when betwixt the two Parts of an Armed Nation. For then the Devil at the same time provokes the stronger Party to Pride, as well as the weaker to Impatience; The Injurious side to Insolence, and the oppressed to Despair. This I take to be the Reason, why when the Devil will do a Mischief of most considerable Importance, he does not content himself with Brutish or Inanimate Instruments; but rather prefers the use of such, as aught to be rational, and religious, and so are to render a sad Account of what is done in the Body; That by dashing many Thousands (as when whole Armies meet) against each other, and getting Victory for the Oppressors, he may (in one kind or other) destroy them All. To wit the Bodies of some, and the Souls of others. Had the Devil (for Example) infested job with nothing worse than the Fire, and Whirlwind, or only tormented his Flesh with Byles, he had in vain spread his Net to catch no more than one Bird, (for though job was a * Job 2. 3. Phoenix, he was but one;) Had fought to plunder job alone of his Faith and Patience. Whereas by stirring up the Sabaeans and the Chaldaeans to do him Mischief, he cunningly caught at one Draught as great a Multitude of Souls, as he had prosperously employed in so foul a Riot. § 4. Now 'tis plain by this Instance of Satan's Power to take away, He has a power to bestow too, by God's permission; and that in order to an end, not as bad only, but worse, proposed by Satan unto Himself. For when he takes from the Innocent, how liberal is he to the Guilty? It may be said of his Instruments, They do not always serve him for naught. He often caresses them whilst they are here, that so hereafter he may have liberty to glut his Malice on them the more. What he snatches (as 'twere with one hand) from the Innocent Party, he commonly gives (as with the other) to the Kennel of Robbers whom He employs. Look what Camels and other Cattle he deprived job of, he did confer at the same Instant on Such as drove them out of his Fields. And thus I hope my Proposition is clear from Scripture. § 5. Secondly from Reason 'twill be as easy to evince it. For if the Goods of this world were not suffered by God to be disposed of by the Devil, our Leviathan would have had reason for his Denial of any Difference 'twixt Right and Wrong. If God alone does still dispose of all Possessions under the Sun, (as prosperous Rebels and Usurpers are wont to urge,) and the Devil of none at all by God's permission, All things than must needs be right, except the Laws and the Statutes which forbid men to steal upon pain of Death. They would not only be irrational, but cruel things. For why should any man be censured, (much less certainly should he be punished,) for taking That which God gives him? Shall not God, without offence, dispose of things as He pleaseth? why then are we so wicked, so void of all Ingenuity, as to prosecute a Man who is called a Thief, in case he breaks up our Houses, takes our Cash out of our Coffers, drives our Cattle out of our Grounds, or carries our Corn out of our Barns, if God has made him His Messenger, and (by his absolute Decree, or by his All-working Providence,) disposed of our Substance to That man's use? Or why did God himself say, Thou shalt not steal, if a man can have nothing, but what God gives him? For whatsoever God gives him, becomes his own. No propriety of man can exclude that of God, or be equal to it. And in Conveyances of Title amongst ourselves, still (we know) a Deed of Gift, confers as absolute a Right, as a Deed of Purchase. If then we may have any thing which by right is not ours, we have it certainly from Satan, and not from God. For one of These Members following (that I may make my work short) must needs be granted. Either that Robbery, and Theft, Extorsion, and Oppression, and all sorts of Cozenage, are names, and words, and nothing else; (invented only by Politicians, Ecclesiastical and Civil,) or that if they are Things, they are very Good, as being derived from God the Author; or that God is the Author of what is morally evil; or that at least they are the works, not of God, but of the Devil. The First of these cannot be; for than it would follow, That Theft is no Sin. Much less the Second; for than it would follow, that Sin is Good. Much less the Third; for than it would follow, that God is Evil. Each of which being false, and blasphemous too; 'Tis plain the Fourth, by way of Refuge, must needs be granted, (seeing no fifth Member can either be, or be imagined,) That All our Robberies and Frauds are not of God, but of the Devil. § 6. Now this becomes a sure Medium to prove the Point we have in hand; because the Things of this world (I mean the Wealth and Glory of it) are wont to be bandied up and down, from one Possessor to another, by secret Fraud, or by open Force. How very few (in comparison) are contented with the Portion which God has given them? and have no more in their Possession than can be properly called Theirs? How much is gotten by daily cozenage, in Fairs, or Markets? How much by filching, and purloining, in private Families, and Common Fields? How much by Bribery, and Corruption, in Courts of Justice, (as we call them,) and Jurisdiction? (I do not mean so much in This, as in foreign Kingdoms and Commonwealths.) How much by Cutpurses and Cutthroats, in public Meetings, and Highways? How much by Preaching, and length of Praying, when Pharisaical Negotiators do pray and preach for a Pretence, that they may swallow down Orphans and Widows Houses? How much by Riots and Depredations of undisciplined Armies, through the Spirit which Eph. 2. 2. is still working in the Children of Disobedience? In a word, I am not qualified to name the several ways and methods, by which Injustice is promoted, and Equity trodden into the Dust. Now whatsoever is ill-acquired cannot possibly be our own, however called by our Names. For Right and Possession are many times at such Distance, that they can never once meet, or be reconciled. Yea by how much the nearer Possession is, Right may stand the farther off. Ill got Possession gives right to nothing, unless to Hell, and the Gibbet; or to Repentance, and Restitution. Ahab got a full Possession of Naboth's Vineyard; But 'twas by Murder, and Perjury, and Suborning Sons of Belial to bear false witness, And so by doing That to Satan which Satan tempted our Saviour to. Things so far from giving him Right unto another man's Goods, that they betrayed him into a Forfeiture of what had otherwise been his own. For by a complicated Treason against the Majesty of God, his very Soul (as well as Body) became confiscate to the Devil. Indeed it implys a Contradiction, that a man should get Right, by doing Wrong. There is a Man in the world (says the inspired Prophet Habakkuk) Habak. 2. 6, 7, etc. who does enlarge his Desire as Hell, and is as greedy as the Grave, and cannot be satisfied; But gathereth together all Nations, and heapeth to himself all People. But mark what follows. Woe to him who increaseth what is not Verse 7. His. Woe to him who coveteth an evil Covetousness Verse 9 to his House, that he may set his Nest on high, that he may be delivered from the Power of Evil. For the Stone shall cry out of the Wall, Verse 11. and the Beam out of the Timber shall answer it. Woe to him that buildeth a Town with Blood, and Verse 12. stablisheth a City by Iniquity. Now what is the Reason of all These Woes, but that he increaseth what is not His? If 'tis His, let him show how. Did he buy it? or was it given him? Or did he inherit it by Nature? Or was it so made over to him, as Canaan by God to the People Israel? If this later, Let us hear it made good by a Voice from Heaven; and that attested too by Miracle. So as Moses and Aaron did prove the Principle and Power by which They acted. If he cannot do This, it is not His. Therefore he hadit not from God; Therefore he had it from the Devil. And thus we have the Proposition made good by Reason. Nor by solitary Reason, but in conjunction with Scripture, and grounded on it. § 7. Thirdly we may prove it by known Experience. By other men's Experience, and by our own. First by other men's Experience, and that attested as well by Sacred, as by Secular Story. David was taught by his Experience, that Prosperity was Then the usual Portion of the ungodly. For so he tells us at large in the Seventy third Psalms; I was grieved Psal. 73. from v. 3. to v. 14. at the wicked, I saw the ungodly in such Prosperity. They are in no peril of Death, but are lusty and strong. Their Eyes swell with Fatness, and they do even what they list. They come in no misfortune like other folk, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore fall the People unto them, and thereout suck they no small advantage. Tush, say they, how shall God see? Is there knowledge in the most High? Lo these are the ungodly, these prosper in the Land, these have Riches in Possession. But I, on the contrary, Who have cleansed my heart, Verse 12. and have washed mine hands in Innocence; I who have lived in the fear of God, and made a conscience of my ways, All the day long have I been punished, and been chastened 13. every Morning. The Prophet jeremy tells us Jer. 12. 1, 2, 3. too, from his own Experience, That the way of the wicked was wont to prosper; and that they who dealt treacherously were happy men. They were planted, took root, they grew, they multiplied; yet God was not near in their Mouth, and far from their Reins. The Prophet Malachi, after Him, had the like Experience, That the Proud were happy, and the Workers of Mal. 3. 15. wickedness were set up; yea they who tempted God were even delivered. So as it seemed (to the Eye of Flesh) a very vain thing to serve the Lord. And the same was observed by the Prophet Habakkuk. That the wicked (in Habak. 1. 4, 15, 16. his Time) did even compass about the Righteous; they gathered them in their Net; their Portion was fat, and their Meat plenteous. § 8. If we pass out of Sacred into Secular Story, we may discover the same Experience running through every Age of Man, from the one end unto the other. (Although my little time allowed will not permit me to exemplify, unless in here and there one.) That will certify how Ninus first founded Empire in Iniquity. How the Assyrians and Chaldaeans continued That. How the Medes and the Persians invaded These. How Philip of Macedon usurped All Greece; And his insatiable Son the Eastern Empire. How the Romans made All bow down to Italy. How the Goths and the Vandals subdued the Romans; and ravaged the greatest part of Christendom, as far as from Poland to Mauritania. How Mahomed the First subdued the Saracens, And Profaneness became possess't of the Holy Land. How the Ottoman Empire prospers against the Purity of the Gospel, and the Profession of Christianity, and so has done from Age to Age, and that by the Practice of all Impiety. How very clear a thing is it, (a thing of which the world is witness,) that the Great Sultan (as they call him) is the greatest Monarch under Heaven? the greatest Enemy to Christ, the most abandoned and given up to work Iniquity even with Greediness, the most incapable of Mercy, either to Men in his Rage, or to Women in his Lust, and yet the fullest of Prosperity of any Potentate upon Earth. How many Millions of Christian Souls are there now groaning under his Tyranny? How many Princes within our Christendom are fain to buy their Peace of him, or pay him Tribute? How many Centuries of years have those Mahomedans still prospered, more than any sort of Christians that can be named? Shall we now join in consort with all those Infidels, and aver, that though Christ was a great Prophet indeed, yet Mahomed was a Greater? Shall we infer that Those Turks are the special Favourites of Heaven? That God, in love to their Koran, has signally favoured them with the greatest and fairest Quarters of the World? has made a Decision of the Controversy betwixt the Worshippers of Mahomed, and Those of Christ, even by yielding to the former his Approbation? There are who talk at this rate, and know not how to talk otherwise, whilst they reason from the Principles which They are led by. But God be thanked we are led by a clearer light. As having learned from St. Paul to say of such Thrivers in their Impiety, (not that God has endowed, with much delight, but) That God has endured, with much long-suffering, the Rom. 9 22. Vessels of Wrath fitted for Destruction. And again with St. Paul we have learned to say, That God did SUFFER those Nations to walk Acts 14. 18. in their own ways. Had they walked in God's ways, God had been said to have made them do it. But as they walked in their own, God only suffered them. We say (as Abraham Luke 16. to Dives) God permits them to have their Good things, Here. And Here the Devil is permitted to have a very wide Scope; to use a large kind of Freedom. For however he is held in Chains of Darkness, yet his Chains Judas. are so long, and many times so much enlarged, as that he goes to and fro upon the face of Job 2. 2. the Earth. And not only so; but, by the Patience of which I spoke, and the long-suffering of the Almighty, bestows the Kingdoms of the World on such as serve him. (All the Kingdoms, I do not say, but as many as God permits, who yet at one time or other, though not at once, may be said with great Truth to permit them All.) The Ottoman Emperors in their Successions have been placed by the Devil upon exceeding high Mountains; have seen the Kingdoms of the world, and the Glory of them; And the Devil in effect has said to Them, as here to Christ, All these things will I give you, if ye will fall down and worship me. Those Emperors have been suffered to do the one, And the Devil has been permitted to give the other. I shall but name the wicked Phocas, who (of a very mean Soldier) did by his complicated Impieties usurp the Empire of Mauritius, a pious Prince. And then for Him nearer Home, who by his Practice and his Success drew That Phocas to the Life, I think I need not so much as name him. Nor is there any thing more acknowledged, (at least by the sober Rank of Men, who are not yet ashamed to believe the Scriptures,) than that Witches, and Wizards, Magicians, and Sorcerers, have made their Contracts with the Devil, as with a Bountiful Disposer of worldly Goods. § 9 So that if we consult our own Experience, if we ask our own Eyes, and call our Memories to Account, how very frequent a thing it is for the hand of wickedness to prevail, for the stool of wickedness to prosper, in devouring the man that is more righteous than Habak. 1. 13. He; And if we consider at the same time, That (excepting some few, and extraordinary Examples, such as the Israelites of old who were commanded by God himself to spoil Exod. 12. 35. the Egyptians of their jewels, and take the Canaanites Land for their own Possession,) Chap. 13. 5. It has been merely the Sin of Robbery, in all the Ages of the World, for any one or more men to seize upon That which is another's, by private Fraud, or by public Violence; we cannot choose but subscribe to the Sense of our Saviour and St. Paul, That the Devil (under God, and by God's permission,) is One Dispenser of Preferment, if not the Chiefest. And therefore not without Reason is said by our Lord, and his Apostle, to be the Ruler, and the Prince, and even the God of this World. Experience has made it a kind of Proverb, That He who cannot dissemble, can hardly live. And Conscience is so commonly the Beggar's Virtue, that That is grown too to a kind of Proverb. As if the high way to Wealth, were to serve Mammon, rather than God, Pluto was made the proper Name for the God of Wealth. And 'twas an Aphorism of State in the late ill Times, He who will have something, must do any thing to acquire it. Like that of the Poet in Time of Yore, Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris, & Carcere dignum, Sivis esse aliquid— He who will rise to high Promotion, and purchase the Friendship of the World, must bravely dare to do something, worthy the Gibbet, or the jayl. But if a man will serve God, he is to do it at his Peril, of being a Confessor perhaps, perhaps a Martyr. 'Twas from the Topick of this Experience, that the Devil here argued against our Saviour. (And my Text, as I conceive, does well admit of This Paraphrase.) If thou wilt violate God ' s Law, in an adhaerence unto mine; If thou wilt lay aside thy Conscience, and stick at nothing which I command thee; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. I will give thee whatsoever thine Eye can see, or thine Heart desire. Thou may'st arrive a great deal sooner at Wealth and Greatness, by taking those Courses which I suggest, than by relying upon the Providence, or on the Promises of God. For do but look round about thee, and trust thine Eyes. Thou seest it goes best with the worst of men; and that the men of nice Conscience are quite undone by their Integrity. Weigh the Successes of Evil doers with the Calamities of the Righteous, and thou wilt find Them the wisest who worship Me. This does seem to be the Scope of the Devil's reasoning to our Saviour. And my Discourse added to His may serve to evince the Proposition which lies before us, That all the Goods of this World (at least successively, though not at once,) are, by the Sufferance of the Almighty, in the Devil's Proffer and Disposal. § 10. I have but one Topick left from whence to make it yet clearer, or past Dispute; And that must needs be by way of Answer to an Objection. For if These Things are so, (some may say within Themselves, Men will be in great danger of becoming Epicuraeans; An Objection. looking on God as without regard of what is done upon the Earth, and as consigning his Providence to things transacted within the Heavens. And if they once come to That, they will Sin securely, and tumble down with great merriment into the Bottomless Asphaltites which gapes to have them. So far from Scruple or Regret in their words or actions, that they will rather use the language of those Contemners in the Psalmist; Tush, how shall God see? Is there knowledge Psal. 73. 10. in the most high? Or say with Eliphaz unjustly accusing job, How doth God know? can Job 22. 13. he judge through the dark Cloud? Or else with the Braves in the Book of Wisdom; Let us lie Wisd. 2: 12. & 18. in wait for the righteous man. If he is the Son of God, He will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his Enemies. Besides, the Doctrine we have in hand does seem to clash with those Scriptures, wherein God is said to Rule in the Kingdoms of men. He giveth it (saith Daniel) to whomsoever he pleaseth, and Dan. 4. 17. setteth up over it the basest of men. And Christ is said to be the Prince of the Kings of the Earth, Rev. 1. 5. How then comes the Devil to have the very same Titles bestowed upon him? § 11. To this Objection I answer, and Answered. to the later part first, as being That that admitteth of most Dispatch. What God and Christ are called properly, in regard of their Natural and Sovereign Right, The Devil is tropically Entitled, and by an usual Catachresis, in regard of That Possession which God permitteth him to usurp. The Vineyard which was Ahab's, was Naboths too; de facto That, and de jure This. (That is,) the one was possess't of what the other had a right to. So when we speak of Laban's Teraphims, we mean the Teraphims belonging of right to Laban. But when we call them Rebecca's Teraphims, we mean the Teraphims which she hid, and had stolen from Laban. The Kings of Spain are called by Thousands, Kings of Portugal; The Kings of France, of Navarr●; the Kings of England, of France; All pretending to have a Right, where others have gotten the whole Possession. But now with a greater force of reason may the Devil be called the Ruler, and the God of this world; not only because the world does (for the greatest part) adore him, and do him service, but because they do it too by His forbearance and permission, whose Creatures they are, and whose right It is; and who, in respect of his Omnipotence, cannot possibly be resisted. For (that I may pass from the later to the former part of the Objection:) § 12. So far is God from forsaking or slighting the Government of the World, that (as I said once before, but did not so prove it as now I must,) Satan himself is but his Prisoner, however his Prison is somewhat wide. Not at all his Vicegerent, to rule the World in his stead, or with any degree of his Approbation. In the Twentieth Chapter of the Apocalypse, we find the Devil laid Rev. 20. 2, 3. hold on, and bound in a Chain, and cast into a Pit, shut up and sealed for a thousand years, and again let loose for a little season. And what is all This, but the Hypotyposis of a Prisoner? And though his Chain, for a time, is left by God very long (as I said before) yet all the while 'tis but a Chain, yea and such a Chain too, as is not loose, any more than endless. We know the Sea is God's Prisoner, though not a very close Prisoner, as others are. The Wind itself is not at Liberty, however we cannot discern its Bounds. It seems indeed to be the freest of all God's Prisoners; And therefore God is said to ride upon the wings of the Wind, by the high flown Psal. 18. 10. & 104. 3. Wit of the Royal Poet. Yet, as He said unto the Sea, Thus far, and no farther, shall Job 38. 10. thy proud Waves go; so he checks the very Wind too, as with a Bridle, and saith unto it, Peace, Mark 4. 39 be still. Now we find that when our Saviour was but pleased to say the word, not the Wind, and Sea only, but the Devils also obeyed him. When he bid them come out of the poor Daemoniack, They durst not stay (or they could not) one minute longer. Yea they were forced to petition him, and ask his leave, before they could enter an Herd of Swine. It was indeed a great power which Satan had over job, as I showed before; but I showed too how it was limited. First to his Goods, with an exemption of his Body; and then at last to his Body, with an exemption of his Soul. It was indeed a great power which Satan had over the Christians in the purest Ages of Christianity, for no less than Three hundred and thirty years, inflicting Ten Persecutions, from Christ to Constantine the Great. And another great power during the Arian Persecution, under the Tyranny of Constantius. Another great power, although a short one, in Iulians Time. Another in the Time of the Emperor Valens. Another more universal, in the fifth Century after Christ, when (at the very same Instant) Anastasius the Emperor was an Eutychian; the Kings of Italy, Spain, and Africa, Arians; The Kings of England, France, and Germany, Heathens. A greater power than all these the Devil seemeth to have had in the Tenth Century after Christ, when Hell is said to have broken loose, and the Prosperity of the Church did much more threaten her utter Ruin, than all her Persecutions, when put together. Yet all this while it was a limited, and stinted power. Christianity thrived under its Sufferings, and had a Being (though a poor one) in the Excesses of its Enjoyments. The Gates of Hell did not Then so fully prevail against the Church, as not to confess it to be a Truth, That she was founded upon a Rock. What our Lord said to Pilate, Thou couldst have no power against me, were it not given thee from above, John 19 11. we (with a little alteration) may say as properly to the Devil, and religiously defy him to do his worst. Or we may say in some sense upon this occasion, (as St. Paul to the Romans upon another,) There is no power but Rom. 13. 1. of God. God ordaining it, if it is right; or God permitting it, if it is wrong. Here then lies our Comfort, as Men, and Christians, that the Devil can no longer continue powerful, than God is pleased to be patient of him. The roaring Lion can no more hurt us, without God's leave, than the hungry Lions could hurt Daniel, or than hunger itself could hurt Elias, or than the burning fiery Furnace could Dan. 3. 27. hurt the Three Loyal jews who were cast into it. Nay upon such as serve God, the second Rev. 20. 6. Death has no power; which yet is known to be so strong, as to have power over the Devil. For the time will one day come, when God will tie him up close in his Chains of Darkness, and will not suffer him any longer to dispose of any thing in the World, (much less of the Kingdoms, and Glories of it,) But will sink him into the Depth (for I cannot say the Bottom) of the Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone. Nay though the Devil was so impudent, as to tempt our blessed Lord to the committing of Idolatry, yet in saying [All things are delivered to me] he was seemingly Luke 4. 16. so modest, (or else so weak,) as to confess that he has nothing; which he has not received; And that as great as he is, he has one above him; one to whom he is a Prisoner; one who, as he can freely give, so he can easily take away too; one who does suffer but for a time, what he will certainly revenge unto all Eternity. In a word he does confess, that all he has to dispose of is but derivative, and precarious. 'Tis at the most but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (if his own word were to be taken,) delivered to him by his judge, the proper Owner of all the World, to whom at last he is to render a sad and terrible Account. § 13. Thus we see the Devil's words (Luke 4. 6.) have but a little Truth mixed with a world of Falsehood. Nothing is True in them but This, That God does suffer or permit him to be many times liberal to such as serve him. But now with This little Truth which is but sufficiently employed, we have Three or Four Falsehoods which are sufficiently expressed. For first 'tis false what he saith, (if it be literally taken,) That the Things of this World are Delivered to him. For not to hinder or to permit, or to suffer him to take and dispose of Things, is very much less than to deliver, or put them to him to dispose of; even as much as to be passive, must needs be less than to be active, in whatsoever thing it is which is brought to pass. 'Tis true, the Devil was permitted to * Matth. 4. 5, 8. take our Saviour, not only once, but again; and to carry him whither he pleased too; as first into The City, and after That unto The Mountain. But 'tis false to say, our Saviour was delivered up to Satan by God the Father. Next 'tis but figuratively true, and therefore literally false, That he gives the World's Kingdoms to such as serve him. For being no more than an Usurper, and therefore void of all right, he is not properly said to Give, but rather to procure them to all Usurpers. Thirdly 'tis false that he procures them to whomsoever he pleaseth, (which yet he confidently adds,) for he procures them no farther, than God sees good to permit, or suffer. Last of all he saith falsely, That ALL the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them are so much as permitted to his Disposal, (if he means all at once.) For God disposeth of many Kingdoms, wherein he suffers not the Devil to have the least thing to do. 'Twas God alone who gave his People the Land of Canaan, although the Devil took it from Them, and helped to procure it for the Assyrians. 'Twas God alone who gave job his store of Cattle, although the Devil prompted his Labourers, (the Chaldaeans and Sabaeans,) to take them from him. 'Twas God alone who gave Naboth a pleasant Vineyard, although the Devil (by God's permission) helped Ahab to it. 'Twas God alone who gave a Kingdom, (or rather Three Kingdoms which made a World,) together with all the Glory of it, to our late Martyred Sovereign of Glorious Memory, although the Devil was permitted (by the help of his Tools) to bereave him of it. In a word, if it is true, what is proverbially asserted, (and upon very good Grounds,) That half the World, at the least, does live by cheating all the rest, and by imposing on one another; Then is it easy to discern and to state the Difference, betwixt the Right, and the Possession of things on Earth; betwixt the Blessings, and the Curses conveyed to men by their Prosperities; betwixt the Instruments, or Bounties, of God, and Satan. § 14. Having hitherto showed the Truth Some Reasons offered. of my Proposition, and withal cleared it from the Objection; I am next to give the Reasons, (at least as many as I can think of, or can fairly conjecture at,) why God is pleased, in this World, to endure with so much patience so great a confusion upon the Earth, and leaves to the Devil so great a power in the perverting and debauching the ways of men. For whilst we look at nothing else but what is present, and before us, we seem to see nothing but Disorder, in most Events under the Sun. If none but good men did prosper, and none but evil men miscarry, A method than would be acknowledged, and men would probably be better than now they are. Of if all that are good were in Affliction, and all that are evil in Prosperity, still there would be some method, however men in probability would be very much the worse for the knowledge of it. But as now the world goes, There seems to be no method at all. Things fall out in such a blended promiscuous manner. For though the wicked are found to prosper a great deal more than the righteous, (as has been showed,) yet 'tis as clear that many righteous do also prosper with the wicked, and many wicked ones, even here, are as much afflicted as the righteous. In which respect it was said by the Royal Preacher, That all things come alike Eccles. 9 2, 3, 11. to all. There is one event to the wicked, and to the righteous; to the clean, and to the unclean, to him that sacrificeth, and him that sacrificeth not. As is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an Oath. The Race is not to the swift, nor the Battle to the strong, neither Bread to the Wise, nor Riches to men of Understanding, nor yet Favour to men of Skill, but Time and Chance happeneth to them all. In so much that some are tempted by the seeming Confusion of Events, the Prosperities of the worst men, and the Calamities of the Best, to distrust the very Providence, yea to suspect the very justice, yea to deny the very Being of God Himself. They think they, are born at all adventure, and that they shall die as they are born. That their spirits shall vanish into the Air, and be as if they Wisd. 2. 23. had never been. § 15. Now to preserve ourselves from falling into the very same Snare, let us reflect upon the Reasons of this Confusion, at which so many are falling headlong into the bottomless Abyss of Eternal Misery. Not insisting upon the Reasons in such a measure as they deserve, But rather pointing at the chief Topics from which the Reasons are to be fetch't. One chief Reason is to be taken from the natural Freedom of the Will, in every rational Agent which is subjected to a Law, and by consequence made worthy either of Punishment or Reward. God's way of working upon the Will is exactly suitable to its Nature, and therefore agreeable to its Freedom; tending to rectify, but not destroy it; and by consequence to incline, but not compel it. Were All the workings of the Almighty in full proportion to his Almightiness, and therefore always, on all occasions, as irresistible, as they are Good, I cannot see how it were possible for any Creature to do amiss; or how an Action could be otherwise, than God would have it. Nor can I see how 'twould be possible to give a tolerable reason, why several men at the same time, and the same men at several times, are either better, or worse, than Themselves, or others. Why john was better than judas, or Paul better than Himself. Better (I mean) when he asserted, than when he persecuted the Church. It follows therefore that the manner of God's Impression upon the Will cannot be cogent, and irresistible, but so congruous rather and suitable, as still to let it remain a Will. And therefore he works upon it otherwise, than he works upon irrational and senseless Creatures; to wit by Promises, and Threats, by Exhortations, and Precepts, and these in conjunction with a competent measure of his Grace; which Agents natural, and involuntary (such as Vegetables, and Brutes,) are not susceptible of. Now God determined from all Eternity not to hinder from being done, what he eternally foreknew the congruous means I now mentioned would not prevail with wilful Creatures, so as to hinder them from doing. For why should He by his Omnipotence control the Wills of those Creatures, whom both his Promises, and his Threats, his Miracles, and his Laws, and a competent measure of his Grace, have been so thanklesly and vainly bestowed upon? When he cannot restrain our Wills by means agreeable to our Natures, or by any lesser means than what are destructive to our Wills, and by consequence to our Natures, (which he eternally determined he would not violate,) How very justly must he needs suffer the worst of Actions, which withal he does direct to the best of Ends? § 16. Another Reason is to be taken from the corrigible Condition of some Evil Doers, whom God is pleased to bless and prosper with many Temporal Enjoyments, thereby to mollify, and endear, and as it were overcome them with so much kindness. A great deal of Love and Longanimity will be enough to melt the Heart of the hardest Enemy, if there is any Wax left in his Composition; if there is any good nature abiding in him. And such was the Method touching which St. Paul speaks in his Epistle to the Romans; Despisest thou the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering, not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance? When God is pleased to plant Isa. 5. 2, 4. his Vineyard upon a very fruitful Hill, to make a strong fence about it, to gather out the stones, to build a Tower in the midst, and to make a Wine-press, what can he mean but to engage it, to yield him Grapes in proportion to all his Culture? And he appeals to the Inhabitants of jerusalem and judah, whether more could be done than he had done unto his Vineyard, what could he signify but his Endeavours, to overcome evil with doing good? Thus God draws near to us in Mercies, that we may also draw near to Him, in the Amendment of our Lives and our Conversations. § 17. A Third Reason is to be taken from the Incorrigible Condition of another sort of Evil Doers, whom God is pleased to give over, as Physicians use to do their desperate Patients. They being a sort of People, who are in love with their Diseases, and cannot endure to be reformed, and therefore kick at the means of Cure. God leaves such as these to their own Heart's Lust, and lets them wallow (like so many Swine) in the Mire of Temporal Felicities. For as Those very Swine are ever suffered to far the best, that is, to enjoy the richest feeding, which are most of all designed for Sale and Slaughter; so God endures with much long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath, to wax fat with all their Contentments and Sensualities, because by such their Enjoyments they fit themselves for Destruction. To allow them the benefit of his Rod, were to deal with them as Sons; which why should he do, whilst they only deal with him as rebellious Servants? Suppose our Sheep and our Oxen were able to reason amongst themselves, and understood the real End for which they are turned into their Pastures, would they not macerate their Bodies, and bring their Flesh into Subjection, by a great deal of Fasting and Self-denial, and be afraid of faring well, at least in this consideration, that the fatter they grow, they grow the fitter for the Shambles, and that the leaner they are, they are suffered to live so much the longer? Much the same is Their Case, who defile themselves as brute Beasts, (to use the Comparison of St. jude.) A Comparison not odious, because 'tis made by the Holy Ghost: who saith of Them that are permitted to live and prosper in their Impieties, That they are * Rom. 9 22. fitted for Destruction; and prepared, like † Jer. 12. 3. Sheep, for the day of slaughter. Like Sheep the rather, because as void of understanding, (in respect of those things which must be spiritually discerned,) as little moved as any Sheep with the Sense of Duty, and as far from considering their later end. The terriblest Speeches in all the Scriptures are such as These; Let him that Rev. 22. 11. will be filthy be filthy still. Ye shall not be Ezek. 24. 13. purged from your filthiness any more. Make the Heart of this People fat, and their Ears heavy, Isa. 6. 10. and shut up their Eyes, left they convert and be healed. Why should ye be smitten any more? Chap. 1. vers. 5. ye will revolt more and more. Why should I cast away my kindness in Chastising you any longer, when ye still grow the worse by all that is done to make you better? In vain have I smitten your Children; they have received Jer. 2. 30. no Correction. From all which Scriptures we may infer, That God is never so angry, as when he leaves the Reins lose upon the Neck of a Brutish People. When he lets them grow wealthy to their undoing, and ruin themselves with their Enjoyments. When he permits them to be as happy as the Devil himself would have them; to have as much of this World, as the Serpent is able to tempt them with. What Solomon saith of a Temporal Father, [He that spareth his Rod, hateth his Child,] is often true of the Eternal; who intends to disinherit those Incorrigible Children, whom he does not in mercy vouchsafe to strike. And in consequence of This, § 18. A Fourth Reason is to be taken from the obligingness of the Severity of the Heavenly Father towards his Children, whom he disciplines in This World, that he may not condemn them in the Next. For whom he Heb. 12. 6, 7, 8. loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth. We have had Fathers of our Flesh who corrected us, and we gave them Reverence, (saith the same Holy Author of Verse 9, & 10. the Epistle to the Hebrews,) though they chastised us for their pleasure. Whereas the Father of Spirits does only chastise us for our profit: And for our profit many ways; To wit for the exercise of our Faith; for the proof of our Patience; for the Improvement of our Humility; for the begetting in all our Hearts both a Contempt of This World, and a Desire of That to come; for the convincing us of his justice, which is so far from partiality, that he does hate and punish Sin where e'er he finds it, as well in his Friends, as in his Enemies. As he causeth the Sun to shine, so he lays his Rod too, both on the just and the unjust. For even they that are penitent do feel its smart for a Time And They that abide in their Impoenitence, shall feel it infinitely more to all Eternity Again▪ He chastiseth us for our Profit, because for the hight'ning of our Reward; perhaps in This present life; perhaps in That which is to come; perhaps in This and That too. And of This we have job for a new Example. For had not He been more Afflicted, as well as more Righteous than other men, He had not been so Proverbial, as now he is, as well for his Patience, as his Integrity. In the first Chapter of job, God permitted the Devil to take all from him. But in the last Chapter of job, God gave him twice as Job 42. 10. much as he had before. Nay the Almighty had so mollified the Marble-hearts of his Acquaintance, that every man gave him a piece of money, and every one an ear-ring of Gold. His later end (saith the Text) was more blessed Vers. 11. 12. 13. 15. than his beginning. He regained his seven Sons, and his Daughters were the fairest amongst the Children of men. Yea that nothing might be wanting to make him amends for his Adversity, He lived and prospered after This, no less than an hundred and forty years; Vers. 16. seeing his Sons, and Son's Sons, even to four Generations. Such was his Reward in the present life. But infinitely more in the life to come. Such as none can conceive, much less describe, but He who is himself as Infinite, as That Reward is Inexpressible. To sum up all in a word, (and in the word of the same Apostle,) God corrects us for our profit, to make us partakers with him in Holiness, and that to no lesser end, than to make us also sharers with Him in Heaven. § 19 The very mention of which does prompt me to give a fifth and last Reason. A Reason to be fetch't from the Life after Death, and the Day of judgement: Without which Topick, all the rest are worth nothing; and were there no other than This, it would be equal to a Thousand. If in this life only we had hope, we should be (saith St. Paul) of all men the most miserable. From whence I gather, That having an Hope in the life to come, we are of All sorts of men by much the happiest. The Psalmist sweetened all his Sorrows with this single Consideration, That the Rod of the wicked shall not evermore rest upon the Back of the Righteous. For verily (saith He) there is a Reward for the Righteous, doubtless there is a God that judgeth the Earth. The Devils may very well be said to believe and tremble. For they do tacitly acknowledge, by that their Question put to Christ, [Art thou come to torment us before the Time?] That however they are permitted their time of Pleasure, yet they tremblingly expect their time of pain too. Whatsoever things are taken from Good men here, St. Peter tells us, There is a Time of Restitution. Acts 3. 21. Whatsoever Good men do suffer here in the Body, the Prophet Hosea puts our thoughts Host 9 7. upon Days of Recompense. Isaiah calls it The Isa. 34. 8. year of Recompense, and the Day of the Lord's Vengeance. How could Moses have preferred the Reproach of Christ, as much greater Riches than the Treasures in Egypt, if he had not had respect unto the Recompense of Reward? How Heb. 11. 26. could David himself have been kept from Psal. fainting, if he had not thus expected to see the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living? Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, Heb. 12. 12, 13. and the feeble knees. In every shock of Temptation from suffering wrongs, let us take up the words of the Prophet jeremy for our support; Jer. 51. 56. The Lord God of Recompenses shall surely requite. Words most worthy of our daily, if not of hourly Consideration, that we may not faint in well-doing, or in suffering: for doing well. It is indeed a great Temptation, and apt to make one's feet slip▪ to see the Possessions of the World in the Devil's Power and Disposal. But our Remedy is at hand, if we shall constantly bear in mind the other part of my Proposition, That 'tis All by God's Patience and wise Permission; And that there will a Day come, when God will make up his jewels, putting a very signal Mal. 3. 17, 18. difference between the wicked and the righteous; between the men that serve God, and Them that persecute their Brethren for having served him. Here the Tares and the Wheat grow up together till the Harvest: yea the Tares do overgrow and bear down the Wheat; and many times do choke it up too. That grand Leviathan, the Devil, is suffered here even to swim in the Tears of the Righteous; to bathe himself in That Brine; and many times in their very Blood too. But 'tis a Corrosive to the former, no less than a Cordial to the later, That God is said to have a Book of Remembrance; Mal. 3. 16. That the Devourers of the Righteous Habak. 1. 13. are established for judgement. And that they who wax fat with the Spoils of Innocence, Jer. 12. 4. are prepared like Sheep for the day of slaughter. And that He who at present goeth on Psal. 126. 7. his way weeping, whilst he beareth forth good Seed, shall doubtless come again with joy, and bring his Sheafs with him. And that in due Gal. 6. 9 time we shall reap, if we faint not. Add we to this our due Reflections, on the Patience of job, and the Afflictions of joseph. Take we the Prophets for an Example; and Him James 5. 11. expecially who endured such Contradictions of Heb. 12. 3. Sinners against himself, lest we be wearied and faint in our minds. I say, let us but read such parts of Scripture, and but remember what we read, and but believe what we remember, And then we shall not be in danger to fret ourselves at the ungodly, or to be envious against the Evil doers. § 20. But now, besides these several Reasons of the seeming Disorder and Confusion in the promiscuous Distribution of all Possessions under the Sun, There may be other Reasons given by considering men, and there are doubtless many others which are known to God only: and which cannot be better collected than from the Example of our Saviour, on whom the Devil and his Instruments were permitted to have so great a Power. We know they put him to a painful and shameful Death. And why were they suffered by God to do it? Even for quite other reasons than They were able to conceive, and for contrary ends to what They were led by: To wit, the Satisfying his justice; the Exhibition of his Mercy; the Declaration of his Wisdom; the Manifestation of his Holiness; the Illustration of his Power; the Exaltation of his Glory; And (as worthily subordinate to each of These,) the Reformation and the Safety of all our Souls. All which if we compare with the five Reasons going before, we shall not wonder at the Truth of This Proposition, That all the Kingdoms of the World, and the Glory of them, (at least successively, though not at once,) are by God's Patience, and wise Permission, in the Devil's Power and Disposal. § 21. After the Truth, and the Reason, The Application. let us observe the special Uses which may be made of his Doctrine. First it teacheth us how to value the beggarly Greatness of this World. Over-value it we may, and very commonly we do too; but undervalue it we cannot, do what we can. For what more despicable than That, which the Devil can both procure, and deprive us of? What more worthy of our Contempt, than what is so undervalved by Him that made it, as by Him to be often left in the Devil's Power and Disposal? The Devil can give us great Possessions, just as he gave them to the Chaldaeans; And can take them away, as he did from job. For both which reasons we ought to scorn them, and to behave ourselves towards them as things below us; fit for nothing but to be matter, whereby to exercise a Bounty to such as want them. First (I say) 'tis a disparagement to the Wealth and Glory of the World, that they are left so much by God in the Devil's Power, that Satan is suffered to bestow them on such as serve him. For the Gifts of the Devil are never Good, nor consistent with Goodness in such as have them. They are dishonourable, and dangerous, and Hostages given to Destruction. The Devil can give Riches, (in the sense before mentioned,) but not Contentment, and a right use, which are the ends for which we crave them. And for want of which ends, they increase our Poverty. For as, when the Body of man is Aguish, no Addition of Clothes can make him warm; So when the Soul of man is vicious, no Addition of Treasure can make him rich. The reason of which Paradox may thus be illustrated, and cleared. We know that though the Clothes defend the Body from outward Cold, yet 'tis the Body's inward Heat which does warm the Clothes: For else a Coffin and a Coverlid would warm a man when he is dead. Which being evidently impossible, 'Tis plain that the Body must warm the Clothes, before the Clothes can warm the Body. And thence a Child is much warmer in a very thin Suit, than his old decrepit Father when wrapped about with a Wardrobe. In like manner 'tis the Soul which makes the Possession become sufficient, not at all the Possession which gives contentment unto the Soul. And as the way whereby to cure the cold Access of an Ague, is to cleanse the Body from peccant humours, not to bring it to a great Fire; so the way to be happy as well as full, is to purge an over passionate and sickly Soul, not to rake up a great Estate. There are indeed who have Abundance in conjunction with Satisfaction; But 'tis clear their Satisfaction does not arise from That Abundance. For if Contentment could grow from Plenty, The Man of Macedon had been satisfied in his Acquist of all Asia; and had not wept for another World. Nor would They who at first do take up Arms for mere Liberty▪ continue the keeping of them up for mere Dominion, (when they have got their own Liberty, they would not take it from other men.) From whence it follows, That no man living is contented, merely because he has enough, But that many men have enough, merely because they are contented. And as a man in a Boat, when he would pull the Bank to him, finds it impossible for him to do it, but by pulling Himself upon the Bank; so the only way possible to fit our Condition to our minds, is by bringing our minds to our Condition. For if a man shall enlarge his Desires as Hell, and is as greedy as the Grave, All the Possessions in the World will not fill one of his Eyes. 'Twas very shrewdly said by Socrates to Archelaus, Socrat. Epist. 1. p. 6. That the Cities of Greece were found to prosper, which asked Counsel of the Devil (in his Oracle at Delphi,) whilst Those that did not, were still afflicted. But though mad men and fools inferred the Devil (from That Success) to be the only true God, yet wise men knew him to be no better, than the most bountiful kind of Cheat, and that he made men to prosper to their undoing. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Id. Epist. 6. p. 19 Socrates' challenged all Historians from the beginning of the World to the day he writ in, to name a man who had been the better for any Possessions of Satan's giving. Meaning that none had profited by them in the Day of their Prosperity; And so little can they profit in the Great Day of Wrath, (as the Wise man calls it) that then they disprofit in extremity, because they purchase for their Owners a place in Hell. So little reason have we to boast, that we abound in those things, which the Devil (by God's Sufferance) can help us to, who neither can nor will help us, to use them wisely to our Advantage. Much less reason have we to boast, in what the Devil can take away too; in being Tenants at Will to so vile a Landlord. There is nothing more usual with the Prince of this World, than to set Pilate against Herod, as well as Both against Christ. He employs one Robber in offering violence to another. And who would care for those Riches which only make him the Devil's Sumpter? Can we think it a noble thing, to be laden with thick Clay at the Devil's Pleasure, and again unladen at his Command? To have Wealth bestowed on us by our Compliance with the Tempter, and taken from us by other men's? 'Twas wisely done of Aristippus, the learned Socrat. Epist. 27. p. 58. Stoic, when he commanded his Daughter Areta, to give her Son Wisdom for his Patrimony, in stead of Wealth; because the Tyrants of Cyrene could never plunder him of his Philosophy, That Inaccessible Treasure which was within him; who yet would be the sole Masters of all his Wealth, those obnoxious Possessions which were without him▪ Which Advice of Aristippus was much like That of our Lord himself, Lay not up for yourselves Treasure on Earth, where Plunderers and Thiefs break through and steal. From whence 'tis obvious to collect, that we are not so much obliged to Them who give us our Estates, as to Them who do teach us to use them safely. The Devil and his Agents, are often permitted to do the former; But God alone, and his Ambassadors, will oblige us so far as to do the later. § 22. Secondly let us consider, That since we find God Himself bestowing Riches upon some, as upon Abraham, and job, or whosoever has a right to the several things which he possesseth; whilst the Devil gives to others, (by God's Permission) as to the Sabaeans, and the Chaldaeans, who plundered job of his Substance; to Achan, and Ahab, or whosoever has Possession without a right; It concerns us to examine the exact Derivation of our Estates; and to have it well stated, whether we receive them from God, or Satan. For if honestly acquired, and so from God, (by his Appointment, and Approbation,) Then we may honestly enjoy them, to the Glory of God, and our private Comfort. Always bearing This in mind, That we are but God's Almoners, or Usufructuaries; and must dispense to His Members who is Proprietary in chief. But if dishonestly attained to, and so from Satan, (by God's permission only, and sufferance,) we cannot honestly possess, much less enjoy them, and therefore aught to do neither to God's Dishonour, and our Damnation. But as our Saviour hath said of the Eye, and Hand, That if at any time they offend us, we must pluck out the one, and cut off the other; so must we say of our Possessions, That if they offend us in the like sense, by making us stumble into Sin, we must pluck them out of our Treasury, (like the Emperor Sigismond,) and (like Him too) cast them from us; because 'tis better for us to enter as Poor as Lazarus into Heaven, than remaining Rich as Dives, to be cast into Hell. Always keeping This in memory, That Illgotten Goods may purchase matter for Repentance, But Repentance itself they can never purchase. § 23. Thirdly let us consider, That if the Devil himself is suffered to have more of This world at his Devotion and Disposal, than The Great Cham, or the Great Mogul, or whosoever of earthly Potentates is worthily thought to be the Greatest; Then are our Shares of this world the things the most to be suspected, and of which we should least be proud. Nor should we rashly take it for granted, that they are evermore the Blessings and Gifts of God, because we learn by sad Experience, that they are many times the Curses and Snares of Satan. If to have Riches in Possession were still a sign of God's Favour; This great Absurdity would follow, That the Devil himself would be God's chief Favourite. The Apostle's Rule is, That whom Heb. 12. he loveth he chasteneth; not that whom he loveth, he maketh Rich. That He scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth; not that every one whom he receiveth, he makes to wallow in Prosperity. And 'twas a thing so very rare, when Times were better than now they are, to see the same man both Good and Prosperous, That men did scandalously complain in the Days of Malachi, It is vain to serve God; Mal. 3. 14, 15. And what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinances? and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts? when the Proud are happy, and the Workers of wickedness are set up? Nor was it otherwise in the Days of the Prophet jeremy; They are waxen fat, Jer. 5. 28. they shine, They overpass the Deeds of the wicked; They judge not the Cause of the Fatherless, yet They prosper. See and consider how the Devil enriched and prospered those Idolaters, whom he made to burn Incense unto the Moon, Jer. 44. 17, 18, 19 which they commonly then called The Queen of Heaven, in the Four and fourtieth Chapter of jeremy. Whilst they committed That Idol-worship, [Their women lying with strange men in their Husband's Presence, v. 19] All was well with them, they saw no evil. But when they ceased from that Idolatry, they were consumed with Sword and Famine, (v. 18.) Whence we see the great Folly of those men's reasonings, who reckon Prosperity as a mark of the best Religion, and Adversity of the worst. Inferring Herod and Pontius Pilate to be more the Favourites of God, than the Innocent jesus whom they slew, and hanged on a Tree. For the former still lived in Peace, and Plenty, in Ease, and Honour; whereas the later was Virro Dolorum, a Man whose life was full of Sorrows. Let not any man therefore say, (in pretence of Gratitude,) when he hath gotten an Estate by Fraud or Violence, [I thank God for it, I have a competent Fortune; These are the Blessings of the Lord upon my Labours; or God hath given these things unto me;] for what is this but a fairspoken Blasphemy, intitling God to the Injustice, by which a man is made Rich? Whereas to ascribe it to the Devil, and his own heart's Lust, is to lay the ugly Brat at its Father's Door; And to justify God, whilst he dishonours and disobeys him. We must accordingly distinguish between the things that we possess, by distinguishing the Means whereby we have them, and proportionably resolve on our usage of them. What is honestly come by, and we can prove so to be, we must not fail to be thankful for, and may enjoy them as well with Gladness, as with Singleness of Heart. But for our illgotten Goods, (the Gifts of Satan, and not of God,) we must part with them as greedily into their true Master's Hands, as ever we got them into our own. § 24. Last of all let us consider, That if the Things of this world (commonly called the Goods of Fortune,) are often suffered by God to be in the power of the Devil, and often given by the Devil to such as serve him; And if Both must give account at the Day of Judgement, for whatsoever is so given, and so received; we learn from hence not to repine at the Prosperities of the wicked, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Plotin. Enn. 1. l. 4. p. 38. but together with their ways, to have respect unto their End. For why should any man be envied for being the Favourite of Hell? for accepting that Proffer which here the Devil made our Saviour, (upon condition of Idolatry,) and which, for that very reason, our Saviour rejected with great Disdain? Again we learn not to be sorry as men without hope, when we find it goes worst with the best of men. It being enough to reconcile the greatest Prosperity of the Unjust, and the greatest Adversity of the Righteous, both with the Mercy and the justice of God Almighty, That the Lord of the Harvest, when the Harvest-Time is come, will gather the Wheat into his Garner, and burn up the Chaff with Fire unquenchable. If the Flesh asks the Quaestion, Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they happy who deal treacherously? Why has the Devil so great a Power upon Earth? Why does the wicked devour the man who is more righteous than He? Let the Spirit make Answer in the 2 Cor. 4. 17. words of the Apostle, That this light Affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us (afterwards) a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory. Whensoever we are tempted by either effect of the Devil's Power, (be it Prosperity, or Affliction,) let us look up unto our Saviour upon the Top of two Mountains; to wit the Mountain we are upon, where he was tempted by the Devil, with all the Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them; And the famous Mount Calvary, whereon he was tempted by the Devil, with all the Torments in the Earth, and Disgraces of them. Thence we may see the perfect Purity of that Immaculate Lamb, who rather would suffer Those Torments, than accept That Offer. He had refused so many Kingdoms, but would not refuse to receive a Cross: Refused the Glory of the world, but not The Shame too. He had refused long before to be made a King, But would not afterwards refuse to be vexed and disgraced with a Crown of Thorns. The meanest things in this world he would by no means despise, But he despised the Pomp's and Vanities, which ordinarily pass for the Greatness of it. And therefore as often as the Devil shall use his Power against us, as here he did against Christ, let us relieve ourselves with the memory of This one Thing, That the Servant is not above his Lord. And that we are foolishly unreasonable, if we expect to far better than an Innocent jesus, in the midst of our manifold and heinous Guilts. And that as He, so we too, may easily suffer many things, by duly weighing how they dispose us for an Entrance into his Glory. § 25. Now having evidenced the Truth of my second Doctrine, (with greater care of Perspicuity, than of not being tedious,) both from Scripture, from Reason, and from Experience; from Aphorisms of Scripture, and from Scriptural Examples; from Solitary Reason, and Reason grounded upon Scripture; from other men's Experience, and from our own; and all attested as well by Sacred, as by Secular Story; And having cleared it yet farther by way of Answer to an Objection; offered also at the Causes of this seemingly-strange oeconomy in God's disposal of Affairs; and directed to the Lessons it ought to teach us; I think it Time to pass forwards to the Third Observable I proposed; To wit, That the whole Scope and Drift of all the Donatives The third Proposition. of the Tempter, is to turn our Adoration out of its true and proper Channel; to steal it from God, and to divert it upon Himself. He seldom or never Proffers, but with a Treacherous Proviso. He does it liberally indeed, [All these things will I give thee,] But with this covetous Reserve, [If thou wilt fall down and worship me.]. § 1. To demonstrate the Proposition with the greater Force and Perspicuity, I am to imitate those men, who go a step or two back that they may leap so much the farther. And premise two or three words concerning the Bounty of God and Man, before I come to That of Satan. It was a very smart saying of Learned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. etc. p. 99 Philo, (and as true, as it was smart,) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. God alone does give freely to all his Creatures, whilst all his Creatures to one another are no better at the best than Ingenuous Hucksters. The best of his Creatures under Heaven, which are confessedly Men and Women, yea the best of those best, which are the liberal and the munificent, when they do most seem to give, they do but seem so. For if they sell not their courtesies for Land, or Money, yet commonly they sell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Idem ubi supra. them for praise, and honour, or at least for acknowledgements, and humble thanks; or if for nothing in the Earth, yet at least for the hope of being rewarded for them in Heaven. It is but a generous way of Trading, for one rich man to send Presents unto another, because there is commonly on the one side some expectation of Requital, arising from the knowledge of Wealth and Gratitude on the other. And this I take to be the reason, why the most Covetous even of Worldlings will be liberal to a Person of Power, and Plenty; because they hope He will do them as good a Turn. Nor can it truly and properly be called a Gift, which is meant for a Decoy to some great Advantage, whether a step to Preferment in Times of Safety, or else a Bribe for Protection in Times of Danger. The very clearest of our Gifts are those we give to Men in want, and who for that very reason are the least able to requite us; And yet even Those are a kind of Bargains. For whilst we make a fair show of giving any thing to the Poor, the Scripture tells us that (in Reality) we are but* lending to the Lord. And farther Prov. 19 17. adds (for our Encouragement,) that whatsoever we thus impart, shall be repaid to us again. So true is that which I noted from learned Philo, That God alone is a perfect Giver, whilst the freest of Men are but liberal Hucksters. Our profusest favours to one another are but a Mercenary Munificence, as our largest Offertories to God are but a Mercenary Devotion. § 2. Hereupon we are to argue à minori ad majus. If the best men's Gifts are so Imperfect, what then are Satan's, who (besides that He has not a right to give,) does sell his Gifts for men's Souls? Things so infinitely precious, that Christ Himself could not buy them, but with his Blood. When our Souls were to be purchas't from Sin and Hell, the Son of God being Incarnate could not have given enough for them, if He had not vouchsafed to give Himself. Now 'tis the Avarice of Satan, (and his Ambition at the same instant,) to buy our Souls back unto Sin and Misery, although he bids no more for them, than the pitiful Allectives of Wealth, and Greatness; The Kingdoms of the Earth, and the Glory of them. And well it were, if it were no worse. For, besides that he offers a great deal more than he can give, (he being ever God's Prisoner, as hath been shown,) the saddest part of it is, that however his bid are on the Earth, his general Payments are still in Hell. All his Gifts do still flow from his Desire of such Gain. He reacheth his offers to us with one hand, that he may plunder us with the other. His liberality to us, is like the Fisherman's to the River; who in Case he does cast in a worthless Fly, 'tis that the River may requite Him with some good Fish. When Satan offers us any favours, we must immediately consider he is but Angling after our Souls. He baits his Hook with worldly Greatness, that whilst we catch at the one, we may be caught with the other; and, like silly Fishes indeed, may greedily swallow our own Destruction. § 3. Thus the Things which we call the Gifts of Satan, we find by experience we do but call so. They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Gifts and no Gifts. Munera inescata, Baits of Bounty. Such a Condition is interposed betwixt the Proffer, and the Performance, as makes the Donative far worse than Nothing. His Condition does evacuate and null his Offer. For what he said unto our Saviour, (without a Proxy,) he saith (by his Instruments) to each of us, All these things will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt worship me. Which is as much as to say, all shall be thine with this Proviso, that thou wilt take a sure Course to be no whit the better, but much the worse for their Enjoyment. Thou shalt be Rich at this present, if for the future thou wilt be ruined. Thou shalt have all the World at will, but thou shalt have it upon Condition, that thou turn Idolater, and be damned. And what is this better than to say, I will give Thee very freely a great Estate, upon Condition thou wilt pay me a thousand times more than it is worth, and also make thyself incapable of its Enjoyment. I will show thee the ready way, not to Liberty only, but Empire, upon Condition thou wilt serve me, and be a Slave. I will lift thee up, if thou wilt cast thyself down. Thus does the Devil speak Contradictions; And the Proviso with which he proffers does make the proffer of none effect. Like those Beasts in the Apologue, which offered the Lion to be their King, if he would but permit them to cut his Claws. They would admit Him to Reign, and to triumph over them, if he would do them the favour to disable himself for the Preferment. Thus the Devil either presents us with empty Proffers rather than Gifts, with flattering Hopes, not true Possessions; or if He really indows us, he does it only to our undoing. If he helps us to Wit, 'tis that we may wickedly lay it out in speaking jestingly Matth. 4. 9 of Scripture, and merrily drolling upon Religion to make Men laugh. If he helps us to Beauty, it is to raise up Self-love; that we may use it, like wanton jezebel, for a Snare, and a Temptation, and that to divers most foolish and hurtful Lusts, which drown the Soul in Misery and Perdition. If to Secular Greatness, it is to betray us to Self-Relyance; and break our Necks from that Ladder by which we mounted▪ If he helps us with Money by any means, it is but just as old Gamesters do lend their cash to young Heirs, that they may lose it with them at play. Or as Harlots lend Money unto their prodigal Gallants, that when they have spent it upon their Lusts, They with whom they have spent it, may Sue the Bond. Or as some supply Madmen with Knives and Halters, that either they may strangle, or stab themselves. How sweet soever the Gifts of Satan may seem to be at the beginning, yet their end and designment is still as bitter as Destruction. When he carried up our Saviour unto a Pinnacle of the Temple, (an high Preferment,) v. 5. it was to this end, that he might cast himself headlong, (v. 6.) When he took him up again unto a very high Mountain, (v. 8.) it was to this end, that he might presently fall down, (v. 9) Just as when an Eagle has found an Oyster, he takes it up into the Clouds, that he may give it by so much the greater fall, and that by breaking the Shell, he may eat the Fish. In a word, we may resemble the Gifts of Satan, to the monstrous Locusts from out the bottomless Pit; which though Rev. 9 2, 7, 8, 18. they had on their Heads (as it were) Crowns of Gold, and Faces like those of Men, and goodly Hair like that of Women, yet their Teeth all the while were as the Teeth of Lions, and the Stings in their Tails like those of Scorpions. § 4. Mark now the Lessons which This The Application. does teach us. First it teacheth us to beware of the treacherous Bounty of all our Tempter's, whether those Tempter's are Men, or Devils. Whose very profusest Liberality is an effect of base Avarice; and who do therefore only give, because they covet. If the Men of the Sanedrim do offer judas a Matth. 26. 15. Sum of Money, it is not out of any goodwill to judas, (for they that most love the Treason, do hate the Traitor,) but because they do covet the Blood of Christ. They were not true and real Givers of their Thirty pieces of Silver, but only parted with them to judas to buy his Loyalty; that having once sold That, he might sell his Lord too. Again, after this, they gave large Matth. 28. 12. money unto the Soldiers, whom they had set on full purpose to watch the Sepulchre of Christ. Yet did they not do it in generosity, or with any design of the Soldiers good, but only bribed them to tell a Lie: To wit that Verse 18. whilst they were sleeping, Christ was stolen out of his Grave. Queen jezebel (no doubt) did send a Present very considerable to the two Sons of Belial; but it does not thence follow that she was liberally-minded; for she only meant to hire them to bear false witness, and thereby to requite her with Naboth's 1 Kings 21. 18. Vineyard. So we know that Simon Magus was very free of his Money, but 'twas to buy the famous Gift of the Holy Ghost; and this Acts 8. 18, 19, 20. to the end that he might sell it to whomsoever he should please. We must be therefore very wary, when any offers are made us by any Emissaries of Satan, both what is offered, and by whom, and to what Intent it is directed. We must beware of their offers, who shall offer us That which is none of Theirs, (as the Devil here did,) and we must mark the Condition on which the offer is made. As whether it is not to engage us in Schism, or Sacrilege; whether it is not to make us Partners in any Conspiracy, or Faction, that we may worship and fall down to something else besides God. Suppose a Man shall take thee up (whosoever thou art who now dost read what I am writing) unto some Pinnacle of the Temple, or some exceeding high Mountain, and shall discover to thee (from thence) some very excellent Seat which is none of his, to wit a noble Pile of Building, with a great deal of Land round about it, beautiful Gardens, and Fishponds, and as well wooded as thou canst wish, and shall say unto thee, as Satan here unto our Saviour, All this will I give thee; or thou shalt have it for a Song; (thou shalt not pay above half the value,) if thou wilt promise me to keep out the proper Owner. What wilt thou do in such a Case? If thou acceptest of the proffer, thou dost rebel against God, and worship Satan. For if thou dost but covet thy Neighbour's Goods, (which is less than to seize upon them,) thou transgressest God's Law; and in transgressing God's Law, thou keepest Satan's; And to keep Satan's Law, is to fall down to him, and worship him. And if thou wilt not do This, thou must refuse the man's Proffer, as Christ did Satan's; and that with the like indignation, expressed by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Get thee behind me. Get thee behind me, as for other, so for this great Reason, because thou offerest to me That, which is none of Thine. We must carefully distinguish 'twixt Power, and Right. It may be much in thy Power, though more in Satan's. But neither Satan nor thyself can have a colour of Right to it. Were't thou as liberal of thine own, as of another man's Goods, thou wouldst have offered me the one at as cheap a Rate as the other. Something therefore there must be in it, that being a Great Lover of Wealth, thou yet canst part with it so easily. It plainly shows that thou tak'st it for none of Thine; for else thou hadst stood upon other Terms. And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Get thee behind me. Which, as it ends the first Lesson we are to take from This Doctrine, so at the very same instant it prompts us also to a second. And therefore § 5. Secondly let us consider, what kind of Recompense, or Return, we are to make unto the Devil for all his offers. What David said in another case, to the end he might not be unthankful, [Quid retribuam, What Psal. 116. 12. shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits bestowed upon me,] we are as well to say here, to the end we may not be unrevenged; Quid retribuemus, What shall we render unto the Devil for all his mischievous Bounties bestowed upon us? The fittest Requital we can make him, is to fling back his Favours into his Face; and to bespeak him in such a stile, as was used by St. Peter to Simon Magus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Thy money perish with thee. Acts 8. 20. When any Tempter shall make us dishonest Proffers, as Potiphar's Wife did once to joseph, And shall press us to an Acceptance, as She did Him; we must repel such a Tempter, as He did Her; who knew she did but offer, what she had no right to give. And certainly all of that Nature we ought to look upon, as forbidden Fruit. For such God made it by the last Precept in the Decalogue, Non concupisces, Thou shalt not covet. And therefore as often as the Devil (by what Instrument soever,) shall frankly offer us a Portion of Wealth, or Greatness, which he may easily have a power, but not a right to bestow upon us, Let us rebuke him with such an Answer, as joseph made unto his Mistress. Or let us expostulate with ourselves, as Moses Deut. 32. 6. did with the People Israel, Do we thus requite the Lord, O foolish People, and unwise? Is not He our Father which bought us? Hath not he made us, and established us? Shall we kick at him like jesurun, and quite forget the Vers. 15. & 18. Rock out of which we were hewn? Or let us say with our Saviour, (whose words are writ for our learning,) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Get thee hence Satan. For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Again it is written, Thou shalt not covet or desire thy Neighbour's Goods, much less, by Violence, or by Fraud, shalt thou take them into Possession. § 6. Again we learn from this Doctrine, to suspect our own Treasures, as well as to be spotless from other men's. For Satan tempts us to Idolise him, as well by making us abusive of what we have, as by making us covetous of what we have not. Agur prayed against Prov. 30. 8. Riches of God's own giving, not against such alone as are given by Satan. For he did not say thus, Suffer not the Devil to give me Riches; But Give me not Riches, lest I be full and deny thee. Thereby intimating unto us, That Riches are Temptations, though never so honestly acquired. And however they are Blessings, as given by God; yet, considered even as such, they are dangerous Blessings; for by the artifice of Satan, and the suggestions of the Flesh, they may be easily perverted to God's Dishonour, and so prove matter of Execration. Indeed it is not our Fault, to be as rich as God made us. But to sacrifice our Thoughts, and to devote our Affections to what we have, is flatly and plainly to Idolise it. To bestow the very Riches which God hath given us, upon our Coffers, by Avarice, or on our Pride, by Prodigality, (which is another kind of Avarice, to wit a coveting of Fame,) is neither better, nor worse, than to fall down to them, and worship them. All the wickedness in the World does seem to have entered at these Three Doors, Beauty, Riches, and Reputation. The first of which does give Fodder to the Lust of the Flesh, as does the second to the Lust of the Eye, and the third to the Pride of Life. Now what Danger soever there is in Beauty▪ will be found to be in Riches, and Reputation. They are Idols all Three, very eminently great; But Riches, if either, are much the greatest. Te facimus Fortuna Deam, was said by the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Greatest Fortunes have more Adorers, than the greatest Beauties in all the World. Besides that Those are the most constant, as well as the fondest, and the most passionate. And 'tis a rational Conjecture, that there is more sleep broken for love of Riches, in a year, than there is in many Ages, for love of Beauty. We may judge by one Sigismond how it fares with all worldlings. When the worldly man should sleep, he will be thinking upon his Treasure; But when he should pray, he will fall asleep. And which is likeliest to be his Deity? That God of Heaven, on whom he cannot think for sleeping, or That white and red Earth, for his thinking upon which he can seldom sleep? We see how Avarice is Idolatry, and so a spiritual Fornication, and so an absolute Divorce of our Souls from God. Nor can the Sin of Prodigality be one whit less, as being a Sacrifice to the Lust of the Flesh, perhaps to many of those Lusts, perhaps to all. And look how many Lusts he tries to satisfy, so many Idols he does adore. Admit the Prodigal spends nothing but what is properly his own, and does some Good with it by accident; yet it is but by accident that good is done; for which not He himself, but his Ambition is to be thanked. Let the man be what he will who abounds in Riches, whether a Prodigal, or a Niggard, or hardly Either, they are apt to engender a flat forgetfulness of God, (as before I noted,) which in jesurun, and Nabal, and in David himself may be clearly seen. The first, waxing fat, did even kick against his Maker. When the second was drunk, he valued not God, any more than David. The third has humbly recorded his own Experience, Psal. 30. 6, 7. And also That of the Generality of God's own People: Psal. 78. from v. 24. to v. 35. When God reigned Manna, and sent them meat to the full, and gave them all that they desired, Then (saith he) they were not estranged from their Lusts. But when he slew them, they sought him, and inquired early after God. Then they remembered that God was their strength, and that the high God was their Redeemer. So that Prosperity was the thing which made them forgetful of their God, and heavy Affliction was the Instrument which brought him back to their Remembrance. When Riches do interpose between God and the Soul, they are apt to intercept the Attractive Virtue, whereby God is wont to draw the Soul unto Himself; As an Adamant intervening between the Iron and the Loadstone, does intercept the magnetic force, wherewith the Loadstone allures the Iron. But as, if we take away the Adamant, the Iron will leap unto the Loadstone; so take away Riches (as in the abovenamed Experiment;) and the Soul will be the apt to fly towards God. It is so natural for Mortals to be transported with Prosperity, that it extorted from Moses an extraordinary Caveat, before he Deut. 8. 10. to v. 18. thought he could with safety admit the Israelites to taste of the Sweets of Canaan. Now if Prosperity is so dangerous, even when God Himself gives it, how great a Curse must it be, when the Gift of Satan? If Riches honestly gotten are such a Clog unto the Soul, as does oftentimes hinder her flight to Heaven; How shall she hope to mount thither, when both her Wings and her Vide Plotin. Enn. 5. l. 9 Talons are full of Prey? Prosperity sure is such a Weapon, as none but They who can contemn it, can safely use. And too much Ease to which it tempts us is wont to prove a sadder Curse, than what at first was denounced by God to Adam, That in the sweat of his Brows he should eat his Bread. § 7. Again we learn from this Doctrine, as to suspect our own Treasures when present with us, so not to seek them being absent with too much fervour. For the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 3. 26. tells us, that He who seeketh Danger shall perish in it. And that Riches are Dangers, has not only already been made apparent, but may be farther made clear by our common Experience of its Effects. For notwithstanding there are some who do make themselves Friends with the unrighteous Mammon, (that is, by giving it to the Poor, do truly lend it unto the Lord, and lay it out upon Life Eternal,) yet we find it too general, that the greater men's Qualities and Fortunes are, by so much the greater are their Vanities, and Vices too. And That War of their Lusts, which is a very great Plague, they are so strongly wedded to, as to call it Peace, Wisd. 14. 22. And I suppose it was Experience which taught the Italians to use those Proverbs, Alta Fortuna alto travaglio apporta. That a great deal of Wealth brings a great deal of Woe, And the greater the Happiness, A maggior felicita, minor fede. 'tis to be trusted so much the less. Proverbs so wholesome, as well as True, (were they as diligently considered, as they are easily understood,) that they deserve the next place to those of Solomon. For if our Riches are from God, we are by so much the more obliged; And if from Satan, the more endangered. If from God, they are entrusted with us as Talents, of which we must give an exact account. And he that sits at the highest Rent, has by so much an higher Account to render. If from Satan, they are but well-baited Hooks, wherewith to catch our Hearts from us; and, with Them, our Adoration. How apt they are to prove mischievous, the Devil himself discovers to us by his parting with them so easily. We may have them for no more than an Act of Worship; And, that Condition being premised, they go a begging for our Acceptance. Thus at once they are the cheapest and dearest things to be imagined: The cheapest, in regard they are so easily come by, (for a man may be damned with a wet finger;) and the dearest, in regard we part with our Innocence to acquire them. Adam did not eat gratis of the fruit that was forbidden, though the Serpent asked nothing, but let him have it for taking up. 'Tis easy to steal, and to be caught, And as easy to be hanged, as it is to turn round, and to make Grimaces. But sure the man would not be thanked, who should commend the thing to us for its Facility. This I know to be the subject of the last Observable in the Text, of which I shall take no further notice, than by showing how it is useful to poor, and rich. 'Tis matter of comfort to the Poor, (such I mean as God himself has made such,) that they want not the Riches they are without; and that their Poverty is their Option, as well as Lot. For 'tis evident, if they would, they might be easily as rich as the Devil can make them. 'Tis matter of sorrow to the Rich, and of great reproach too, that they should take so vast pains for things so easily to be compassed: Or think they get by those things, which are purchased at the price of so rich a jewel as a man's Soul: Or put their Trust in those things, to which the Title of uncertain is fixed in Scripture: (As when St. Paul exhorts Timothy to charge the Rich, not to trust 1 Tim. 6. 17. in uncertain Riches) Or make their Boast of those things, which 'tis in every Fool's power, to get, or part with; But not in the power of one in a Thousand, rightly to use, or to enjoy. To find Darius dying with Thirst, whilst he was owner of many Rivers; and Alexander frozen up with cold, even then when he had mastered the Eastern Sun; and Midas beggared by his Wealth, when every finger of his was turned to a Philosopher's Stone; is of itself enough to teach us, that none have ever been more in want, than They into whose Bosoms the Tempter has emptied his Cormicopiae. § 8. But now besides these several Lessons which the Devil's large offer is apt to teach us, there is a Lesson to be drawn out of all these Lessons; and such as the whole Discourse premised has an aptness in itself to dispose us for. This is a Season not more proper for private Austerities to the Rich, than for a bountiful Contribution to the Necessities of the Poor. These should Enjoy our Self-denials, and be filled by our Fast in Time of Lent. Nor can we better be exhorted, (seeing the Tenor of the Text does suggest it to us,) than to beat the Devil with his own Weapon. To make ourselves Friends Luke 16. 9 of the Mammon of Unrighteousness. To worship God with those things, for which we are tempted to worship Satan. Not to be honest only and just, but also merciful and munificent, even in spite to That Devil, who is so earnestly desirous to make us Worldlings. If the Devil shall say to us, [All this will I give you, if falling down ye will worship me,] lay we back again to the Devil, [This we give unto the Poor, because we fall down to, and worship God.] We do not sanctify the Day, though we do never so much observe it, if to all our Acts of Sacrifice (in Prayer and Sermon,) we add not Works of Mercy too. As we hope that our Prayers shall fly to Heaven, we must lend them our Charity to imp their Wings. For what said the Angel to Cornelius, though but a Proselyte of the Gates, (half a Gentile, and half a Jew,) Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a memorial before Acts 10. 4. the Lord. Mark the Copulative [And] betwixt Prayers and Alms, implying the Energy of the former, by help and virtue of the later. Not his Prayers without his Alms. For God heareth not Sinners, who draw near with their Lips, when their Hearts are far from him. And such are their Hearts which break not out into their Hands. There are but Three Courses imaginable to be taken with our Riches, in case we have them. Our being liberal to our Coffers, in the laying up Riches, and this for no-body-knowswhom; or very bountiful to our Lusts, in laying them out upon our Vanities, and costly Vices, which we solemnly have vowed the forsaking of; or being merciful to our Saviour, who takes our Charity to his Members, as freely bestowed upon Himself. In Matth. 25. 40. so much that the Question is now but This, Whether we choose to be the Children of God, or Belial. I make no doubt but I am speaking to an intelligent sort of People, and that rightly understanding our greatest Interest, we need the less to be persuaded that we will do ourselves Good, by making others to partake of the good we do. Should any here be full as sinful as was Nabuchadnezzar, I might adventure That to Them, which Daniel said unto the King, [Let my Counsel be acceptable to you; Break off Dan. 4. 27. your sins by righteousness, and your Iniquities by showing mercy to the Poor. If we desire a good Provision against the Winter of Adversity, and to find out our Bread after many days, Let us cast it (with Solomon) upon the Waters. If we will settle our Estates, either in whole, or in part, so as to free them from Plunder, or Sequestration, Let us put them into Bags which wax not old, into the Treasury of Heaven which faileth not, where neither Moths can corrupt, nor any Thiefs break through and steal. The poor righteous man must needs be one of God's Treasuries; wherein whatsoever is laid up by us, shall be repaid to us again with immense advantage. Especially when the Worms which feed on the Body after Death, shall give it all up at the Day of judgement. This is a pious Frand indeed, without either Irony, or Oxymoron. For 'tis honestly to beguile the Grand Deceiver of Mankind; and to make the Devil's Malice propitious to us. 'Tis to extract the greatest Good out of the Evil of his Temptations; (to wit a Sovereign Preservative from the great Instrument of Death;) as skilful Chemists are wont to draw the most healthful Medicines, out of those which in themselves are the hurtfull'st Minerals. Thus the skin of a Scorpion becomes an Antidote to his Teeth. And thus the Block at which we stumble, may be used as a step for our Rise to Heaven.. Thus the Ocean may be as modest, in the keeping of its Bounds, as the smallest Rivulet. And the man of greatest Wealth, as poor in Spirit as any Lazar. Thus a joseph and a Moses may be Favourites of God in the Court of Pharaoh. And thus, if the more we have of lading to press our Vessel into the Sea, the more we also have of Sails to give it motion; or if the larger our Revenues and Fortunes are, we have the larger Elevation of Heart and Soul to Liberality, and pay the larger Taxes of Charity, laid upon us by a Law from the King of Kings; we convert our poorest Beadsmen into our richest Benefactors, and reap by far the greater good from the good we do them. Yea we make ourselves such Friends of our greatest Enemies, (which our Saviour expresses fitly by the Mammon of Unrighteousness,) Luke 16. 9 as will receive us, when we fail, into eternal Habitations. Whither God of his Mercy conduct us All, for the Glory of his Name, and for the Worthiness of his Son, to whom be Glory, both now, and for ever. AN AMULET OR PRESERVATIVE Against the Prurigo of Ambition. THE DANGER Of Seeking Great Things FOR ONES SELF. JER. XLV. 5. And seekest Thou Great Things for thyself? Seek them not. § 1. BEtween the Prophecies of jeremy in all the Chapters going before, (All belonging to the jews,) And other Prophecies coming after, (concerning Nine other Nations,) from hence-forwards unto the end, This before us appertains unto Baruch only. Baruch the Scribe of jeremiah, and a Servant of the most High, one who had faithfully served Both at the utmost peril of his Life, and yet at last became liable to great Exception. Therefore God by jeremiah rebukes the man for his Anxiety, for the disquietness of his Spirit, and discontentedness in his Condition; for his distrust of God's Providence, and his dissatisfaction in God's oeconomy; for being querulous and complaining, that Grief was added to his Verse 3. Sorrow, and Tears to Sighing, and that after all his labour, (when he thought to be rewarded,) he found no Rest; for being afflicted, and perplexed, he could not reach to those Talents his Master had, as joshua did to those of Moses, and Elisha to those of the Great Elijah; last of all God rebukes him, for not sufficiently resenting the most deplorable Estate of the King and Kingdom, with the Calamities then impendent on God's own House, and the Public Worship; and for having no prospect beyond Himself, his private Liberty and Safety, his Ability like jonas to sleep securely in a Tempest, and senseless of Danger in a Shipwreck; his getting a quiet Habitation in Peace, and Plenty, when he saw All round about him, as it were upon the Borders and Brink of Ruin. § 2. Now to Baruch thus flinching in Times of Trial and Temptation, reserving an Angle in his Heart for secret Avarice, and Ambition, and a particular design on his private Interest, (as if he thought it not sufficient, to have his Life for a Prey in all Verse 5. places whither he went, or not an Happiness great enough, to serve and suffer for his Creator, to far no worse than his Sovereign, to live in Loyalty and Honour, and die in Innocence;) God sends his Prophet jeremiah with a most vehement Dehortation, or (to speak more exactly) with a most forcible Prohibition, sitting close upon the Neck of a sharp Reproof; And seekest Thou (Baruch) Great Things for thyself? Seek them not. An Exprobration, and a Reproof, enough to stab him into the Heart, as being very sharply pointed in four respects. In respect of the Person, vexed and disquieted with his Condition; In respect of the Things, he seeks to mend his Condition by; In respect of the Selfishness, wherewith the Things are sought after by such a Person; and in respect of the Times, wherein to be Selfish, is most absurd; yea wherein to be Selfish, is little less than Sacrilegious. I shall but touch on these four, and dwell on that which I take to be most material. § 3. Who should the Seeker be but Baruch? a man professing the true Religion, yes and a zealous Assertor of it; The Prophet Ieremy's own Disciple, and his exact Amanuensis; his individual Companion, his faithful Friend and Fellow-labourer, who writ and read the Roll of Prophecies against jerusalem Jer. 36. 10, 15. and judah, in the Ears of all the People, and all the Great men at Court, and that with the most apparent hazard both of his Liberty and his Life. And yet, as good a man as he was, (or had been once in his Time,) the Things he now did seek after were not spiritual, but carnal; not belonging to the future, but present life; not Great in themselves, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Great in the Speakers Phraseology, or the rude Vulgar's Estimation; or only Great by way of comparison with things much less; or Great in reference to the Season, wherein it was a Great thing, for any Servant of God to have Food and Raiment; for a jeremy, or a Baruch, not to be cast into the * Jer. 38. 6, 7, 26. Dungeon; not to be cut with the same † Jer. 36. 23. Penknife, or not to perish in the same Fire, together with the dreadful Roll, or Book of Prophecies which They had written. Nor was it a little aggravation of Baruch's Gild, that he became a Self-seeker; when being a man of a public Character, he should have been of a public Mind; he should have sacrificed his Private to Public Interesses and Ends. When he foresaw that King jehoiakim (the Son of Good King josiah) was not only to be killed, but cruelly cast into the Streets, exposed Verse 30. there as a Prey to Birds and Beasts without Burial; when he foresaw that Zedekiah (another Son of Good josiah) should shortly after become the last King of judah; That the Conquering King of Babylon should butcher his Sons before his Eyes, and Jer. 39 pluck his Eyes out of his Head, and lastly binding him in Chains, should carry him captive out of jerusalem, as an Hissing to his Enemies, and an Astonishment to his Friends; Then for Baruch to be seeking, and to be seeking Great Things, and to be seeking them for Himself too; not for his Countrymen, or Country, not for the Worship and House of God, but for his despicable diminutive inconsiderable Self, (a little Drop of the Bucket) a single Atom of the great Heap of Dust and Ashes in judaea, (for Men we know are no better,) This was the Acme and the Top of the Prophet Ieremy's Exprobration. The Heathen Cato in Lucan was much more generous, in his Sidera quis Mundúmq, velit spectare cadentem, Expers Ipse Metûs?— The Turkish Caab of Arabia, who rather chose to die of Thirst, than to drink of That Water which his Compatriots all wanted, was of much a more brave, and a more noble Disposition. Such were the gallant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in Alexander ab Alexandro, who would never once endure to far any better than their King. Had the King lost a Limb by any accident whatsoever? They would resolvedly lose the same. Did the King happen to want an Eye? They would pluck out one of their own. And when the King came to die, They scorned to live; but at the time of his Funeral, threw themselves into the Fire. Baruch in reason should have argued, like brave Uriah, and Eleazar, who did abhor being at rest, when better men than themselves were exposed to Hardships; They hated Self-praeservation in a kind of universal and general Deluge of Afflictions. Shall such a man as I Baruch, and in such a Season as This, be seeking any thing for myself? Shall I be guilty of being safe, when 'tis disloyalty to prosper? Shall I be seeking Great Things, when to be Great, is a Dishonour? a shameful thing, to live at Ease? and little less than a Sin, to live? Thus he ought to have reasoned, though thus he did not. And see how God (by way of Sarcasm) does as good as bid Baruch put Himself into one Scale, and all the public Concerns of King and Kingdom into the other, as it were ask if he looks to outweigh them All; if his Life is more precious, than Church and State; if he expects as great a Privilege as was granted only by Miracle to Gideon's Fleece; to be blessed and enriched with the Dew of Heaven, when all round about lies dry, and barren. If he alone will be exempt from a complete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from a National, a Public, a Common Destruction and Desolation. Behold (says God to Baruch) I will bring evil upon all Flesh, even upon this whole Land. And seekest Thou Great Things for thyself? Seek them not. § 4. Thus we see how the Reproof or the Exprobration (being whetted into a Sharpness by four Respects) does give a Vehemence and Force to the Prohibition. I shall not add any thing more to what I have said touching the First; but apply myself wholly to the Consideration of the Second; which of itself will be sufficient to take up more Time than is now allowed. And in the Prosecuting of This, 'tis not my purpose to reflect upon any men's Persons of either Sort. Not on Them who seek Greatness they cannot find; much less on Them, who have been raised up to Greatness they never sought; lest of all upon Them, who do inherit that Greatness they cannot help; (such as They never could have prevented, nor can easily escape.) All I intent is a Dissuasive from That which I take to be the Ground of all our Seditions, and Separations, and Fermentations of Blood in the Body Politic; from that Malignity and Envy, wherewith the Men of low degree are wont to prosecute those above them: from the Selfseeking, and the Self-love, attended commonly with the love of Revenge on others, which makes a world of men careless of Public Safety: Careless of perishing Themselves, (like Nero with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) if all the Objects of their Envy may perish with them: from that Avarice and Ambition, and Malecontentedness in their Stations, wherein Divine Providence is pleased to fix them. From every one of These Plagues my present Dehortative or Dissuasive (suggested to me by the Text) is now intended; though most especially from the last, as from the Root of those Factions, and Schisms, and Heresies, which do at any time endanger the Common Peace; yes and occasion the greatest Miseries which can possibly ever fall upon Church or State. In order to the framing of This Dissuasive, and for the making it effectual to such as need it, I must consider those things which the World calls Great (and are in one word expressed by Worldly Greatness) in their genuine, or native, and proper Colours; stripped of that Vizard and Disguise, which the Fantasies of People (by a too vulgar Error) have put upon them. For hence will arise as many Reasons, why in every State or Station, it is every man's Advantage, as well as Duty, to study and con St. Paul's Lesson, How to want and to abound. How to Phil. 4. 11, 12. want without Envy, and how to abound without Arrogance; how to want without Stealth, and how to abound without Oppression; how to want with Submission, and how to abound with Self-denial; how to want with real Comfort, and how to abound with Moderation; how to want with Thanksgiving, as it is an Act of Sacrifice; and how to abound with Liberality, as it is a Work of Mercy. In a word, how 'tis his Interest, to rest contented with his Condition of either sort; and not to disquiet himself in vain, by solicitously seeking Greater Things for himself than his God allows him. A point of Doctrine so momentous, of such Necessity to be taught, and as well of such Public, as Private Consequence to be learned; that 'tis not easy to be imagined, how such a monstrous Sin as Schism, Contempt of Government and Order, and the Voluptuousness of heading or leading Parties, should continue one day in the Christian World, if every man were convinced of This Great Truth, (a Truth as legible, and as bright, as if 'twere written with a Sunbeam,) that God allows not of his Ambition, but disapproves of his Avarice, strictly prohibits and forbids the Carnality of his seeking Great Things for himself; has made Obedience to Authority to be of the Essence of Christianity; one of the Two special Vitals of all Religion; The Blood and Life of the Second Table, clearly running in a Great Vein throughout the Body of the Gospel. Nor only so, But that (in reference to the present, as well as to the future, and better life,) it is every man's Interest, and special Advantage, not to be Great; that He is the happiest Man on Earth, whom Horace has seated in the middle, betwixt his Maenius, and Nomentanus: that 'tis easier to be satisfied with what is but competent and enough, than with any thing beyond it, whether inherited, or acquired: and that 'tis better to have a little with God's Allowance and Approbation, than the Greatest Things on Earth by his bare Permission. The World is now at such a pass, (and 'tis a Duty not to forget it on This Occasion,) that we do sometimes stand in need to make Apologies for God; to assert and justify his Methods; to allege sufficient Reasons for some of his Precepts and Prohibitions; especially for such as now we have under Consideration. Nor can we expect to be believed in such a Paradox as This, [That ' 'tis a man's Interest not to be Great in this loathsome World,] any farther than our Reasons shall force Assent. I shall but urge four or five, whereof the one will rise in order above the other: That if the former cannot affect us, the later may. § 5. The first of the Reasons I pretend to, for the Dissuasive I am upon, from any man's seeking Great Things for Himself, and for God's Prohibition, Seek them not, may be derived from the Fickleness of all Great Things on This side Heaven. Their having nothing in them of Permanence, nothing of Certainty, or Firmness, which a man of any Prudence knows how to trust. From whence it follows ex abundanti, that they have nothing in them of lovely, for which they should be coveted or courted by us. And This is a Reason suggested to me from the very next words before my Text. Behold (says God to Baruch by the Mouth of jeremiah) That which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even This whole Land. He does not Thus argue, There is a Flaw in the Building, which I will Therefore break down; or a Barrenness in the Plant, which I will Therefore pluck up. But I will do it pro Imperio, because I will. For I have built, and I have planted. The whole Land is mine, and I will order it as I please. He needs not argue from its Inhabitants whereby to justify its Destruction, because He is not only the Owner, but the Author of it. His having once built, is reason enough for his breaking down. And his having once planted, is reason enough for his plucking up. Nor may the * Isa. 45. 9 Clay say to the Potter, Why hast Thou made, or unmade me? why hast Thou used me Thus, or Thus? 'Tis true in God's distribution of endless Punishments and Rewards to the Sons of Men, He declares Himself to act as a Righteous judge, a Judge with whom there is not Respect of Persons, a Judge who renders unto every man according to his Deeds, and according to the Law He is bound to live by. But the Case is quite Another, (and stands upon quite another Ground,) in his dealing out the Things of This dying life, the Things which perish in the using, the Things whose Fashion passeth away, such as All the things are which the World calls Great. In things of Temporary Concernment, (such as those I now speak of,) it pleaseth God to act and argue as an Absolute Sovereign; to make his peremptory Will his sufficient Reason; to prove the Rectitude of his Actions from his right of Dominion, and his Omnipotence. Not only Mary in her Magnificat observes and celebrates God's Pleasure, in his putting down the Mighty, and in his raising up the Meek, But even Hesiod does the same as an Heathen Poet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.— We may English it out of our Bibles from Daniel's words to Nabuchadnezzar; 'Tis the Dan. 2. 21. & Chap. 4. v. 17. most High alone that ruleth in the Kingdom of Men: 'Tis he that giveth it at his pleasure to whomsoever he will; and that setteth up over It (either the Best, or) the Basest of Men. There can be nothing more pleasant to a man of low Station, or more profitable and useful to men of Grandeur, than to contemplate as well as read the wise oeconomy of God in the words of David; and the Truth of those words in their own Experience: To wit, that Promotion cometh neither from the East, Psal. 75. 6, 7. nor from the West, not from the North, nor from the South; But God is the judge, who putteth down one, and setteth up Another; or permits the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Prince of This World, The Devil to do it. For so we needs must distinguish, if we intent to speak Sense touching the Providence of God in the present Case. The taking away what he has given, the breaking in pieces what he has built, the rooting up what he has planted, is That which happens many times by his blessed Order; but many times too by his bare Permission. To mention joseph, and job, the good King jofiah, the glorious Emperor Mauritius, and the more glorious Martyr Charles the First of these Realms, and to parallel in our minds the Events of those Best with the Worst of men, is the shortest way imaginable (the shortest at least I can imagine,) to give a satisfactory Reason for That Distinction; and to discourage men from seeking Great Things for Themselves. For thus I argue: If it happens so ill to Them who are born to Greatness, and are Above it, who have a Right to great Things by God's Appointment, and yet are deprived of them All by God's Permission; (yet one step farther,) If it happens so ill to Them who are as Good as they are Great, and whose Greatness coupled with Grace is the least thing in them, far surpassed by their Humility, and generous Meekness, by their Compassion towards others, and by their Empire over Themselves; what then shall we say of those wretched Great ones, who owe their Greatness to the Great Dragon? who owe it (next under Satan) to their own Avarice, and Ambition, their Oppression, and Extortion, their Fraud, and Rapine? who possess their Great Things by God's mere Sufferance, and at last are stripped of them by his Appointment? Such Usurpers of Greatness, as do at their best but enjoy God's Anger, who only sacrifice to their Net, (as the Prophet speaks,) and wholly rely upon Themselves, upon their Industry, or their Wit, their Strength, or Prowess, or their any thing besides which they are wont to call Theirs, God does oftentimes crush by the chief means of their support; whilst he makes their very Anchor become their Rock, and turns their Harbour into a Quicksand; sometimes splits them upon their Pollcy, and sometimes upon their Power. And This the Royal Psalmist does seem to mean, when he speaks of Gods laughing such men to scorn, and of his having them in derision, (Psal. 2. 4.) Much what Solomon saith of Wisdom, That she will laugh at their Calamity, and will mock when their fear cometh, (Prov. 1. 26.) Thus my First Reason ariseth from the Fickleness of the Things which the World calls Great, whether as righteously attained by God's Appointment, or as injuriously invaded by God's mere Sufferance. § 6. A Second Reason for my Dissuasive from any man's seeking Great Things for Himself, and for God's Prohibition, Seek them not, is to be taken from the yet sadder and more important Consideration, That the World's Great Things are not fickle only, but treacherous; not only transitory, but false, and fallacious things. Such arrant Snares to their Possessors, as are not more courted by men of Folly and Unadvisedness, than they are feared and suspected by men of mature Deliberation. For the more like a Meteor a Man is raised out of the Earth, the apt he is to return in Tears. The higher any one is exalted, his Head becomes so much the giddier, and the sooner his Feet will fail him, and the lower his Fall will be. 'Twas Apuleius his Conceit, that an over-large Fortune is like an overlong Coat, ever tripping up the Heels of him that wears It. Briefly, The greater any Man is, the more he is exposed as the Butt of Envy; he is by so much the fairer Mark, to be singled out and shot at, with Darts of Mischievousness, and Malice, as well as Envy. A Truth so experimented and known throughout the Annals of all the World, that the Great Emperors of the East were almost All murdered; nor were there many of the West, who were not cut off by Fraud, or Fury. A flail, against which it is so almost impossible to get a Fence, that though Henry the Great of France had as fair warning from the young Merchant, as ever any Prince had to secure himself, yet it was not long after, when Ravilliac did convince him by plain Experience, that the basest Creature living who can despise his own life, can make himself Master of other men's. In This and other Considerations, How many born to Great Things have not been able to endure them? How many have rejected the offers of them? How many have been courted, and even compelled to an Acceptance? How many have cast away their Crowns, for sitting too heavy upon their Heads, and for the overplus of Cares they were lined with? 'Twere easy to prove by an Induction, (were This a Time, or Place for it,) that Worldly Greatness has something in it extremely dreadful to a wise and considering man. That there are great Diseases in it, and the greatest of all in the greatest Governments, (even there where the Governors are the most Absolute and Successful,) is clearly seen by the Complaints of the greatest men living when most Arrian. Epict. l. 3 c. 22. p. 342. Sen. de Brevit. vitae c. 4. & 5. at ease. It is not only Arrian's, but also Seneca's Observation, and best expressed in his own words. Potentissimis & in altum sublatis hominibus excidere voces videbis, quibus otium optant, laudant, omnibus bonis suis praeferunt. Cupiunt interim ex illo fastigio suo, si tutò liceat, descendere. Nam ut nihil lacessat autquatiat, in se ipsa fortuna ruet. It was a thing Augustus Caesar did often wish, but could never reach, that he might one day be so happy, as to be freed from his Cares and his Crown of Thorns; that he might put off his Greatness, and live at last unto himself, which in the Top of all his Glories he had never yet done. Certainly His, if ever any, was a prosperous Reign; and yet his very Conquests were bitter to him. For when from all parts abroad he had perfect Peace, he had none at home. In his own City, in his own Court, and if not in his own Bosom, yet at least in his own Sueton. l. 2. c. 19 Bedchamber, there were Plots, and Conspiracies, and Designs upon his Life, carried on by some of the basest, and the most profligate of his Subjects. Not the Swords only of Caepio, Murena, of Lepidus, and Egnatius, and Plautius Rufus were whet against him; But even Telephus, and Audasius, and a vile Scullion out of his Kitchen, with Knives and Daggers conspired his Ruin. And he would many times have left his Imperial Dignity, had not his Enemies been such, and of such a frame, as that he could not descend, but by falling headlong. Yet he descended in his Desires, (says Lucius * Ubi supra p. 563. Hoc votum erat ejus, qui voti compotes facere poterat. Seneca,) and was a private Person in wish, employing still his chief Labours and Thoughts about it; though still his Circumstances were such, as to confine him to the Majesty, and by consequence to the Thraldom, in which he died. But This is certain, That as if Greatness had oppressed him, and cast him down, He would never once admit of the least Increase. So far was he Sueton. in vit. Octau. c. 52, 53. p. 87, 88 from suffering Temples, that he would not have Statues erected to him. To call him Master, was as the breaking of his Head. And how did he deprecate A Dictatorship, the highest Honour upon Earth, (when his People by force would have cast it on him,) as one would deprecate a shameful and painful Death, with a naked Breast, and a bended Knee? If ever any crowned Head exceeded Augustus in Prosperity, Polycrates of Horodot. in Thalia. c. 39, 40, etc. p. 177. Samos was sure the man. Who yet was so far from being the happier for his felicities, that his felicities did afflict him, more than any thing else could. It did not trouble him a little, That he had nothing to vex him; and that the Goods he would part with, he could not lose. Nor was it strange, or without reason, that his Felicities were so irksome and grievous to him; For his Friend Amasis' King of Egypt had told him the danger of his Successes, and that he took them for the Prognostics of he-knew-not-what- Miseries in time to come. He told Polycrates in Effect, the same that Solon told Croesus, (and what is now a Byword in our Ethick Systemes,) Ante obitum nemo, supremáque funera felix, None can be certain of his Happiness, before his Death. He said, he never knew any so over-fortunate in his life, who did not come to some dismal End. And as he chose for himself an wholesome Mixture of Adversity with good Success, so he durst not continue Friendship with one condemned to have his Portion of Good things Here; with one who was doomed to a praeproperous, untimely Bliss. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ib. p. 178. He having a dread, and an abhorrence of too much Happiness upon Earth, as that which he thought provoked the Anger, and the jealousy of Heaven, if not the Envy. Now 'tis observable in Herodotus (who gives us the History of it at large,) That what was prophesied by Amasis, was by Oraetes made good. For all the Felicities of Polycrates did justly end in his † Cap. 125. p. 210. Crucifixion. So true is That of the Philosopher (however most persons may think it strange,) Res inquieta felicitas est, ipsa se exagitat, movet Cerebrum non uno genere, alios in Cultum irritat, alios in potentiam, alios inflat, alios mollit. If English can express it, perhaps it may be thus rendered. Worldly Greatness is a restless, unquiet thing; a Plague and Affliction unto itself, and to all that own it; It exagitates the Heads and Hearts of men several ways; some it intoxicate with Cruelty, and some with Pride; some it stirs up to Luxury, and some to Lust; some it swells up, and some it softens. As the Sun at the same time does harden Clay, and melt Wax, some it makes so obdurate as to turn them into a Rock, and some it dissolves into arrant looseness. § 7. Which by the way suggests to us a Third Reason for the Dissuasive from any man's seeking Great Things for himself, and for God's Prohibition, Seek them not. They being treacherous, and deceitful, not only to the outward, but inward man; not only in a Secular, but moral Sense; not only to the Bodies, but Souls of men. They are corruptive even of Principles; as making their owners to imagine, that Honour Entitles them to Ambition; that Pride belongs to men of Power; that Greatness gives them a Right to Arrogance. From which Corruption of Judgement it comes to pass, that many others, as well as Baldwin, (That most famously▪ devout Cistercian Monk,) have been observed by Historians to lose their Sanctity with their Obscureness, and after the measure of growing Greater, to grow in all kinds the worse. In so much that Pope Urban directed his Letters very fitly to Baldwin Thus: Monacho ferventissimo, Abbati calido, Episcopo tepido, Archiepiscopo remisso, Salutem plurimam impertimus. It is so common for men to change from good to bad, or from bad to worse, with the change of their Conditions from bad to good, or from good to better, and when they are lifted up in Honour, to be elevated in Mind too, that Titus Vespasian is the one Emperor (at least within my present memory) who was moulded by his Empire from bad to better; from having been both a proud and a cruel Subject, to his being both a mild and an humble Sovereign. Of most other Emperors it may be said, (as 'twas by Tacitus but of one,) Imperio digni, nisi imperâssent. They might have been worthy of their Empires, if they never had been Emperors. Temporal Happiness having This of malignant in it, (in the Judgement of Agur the Son of jakeh, that it makes men forgetful of Him that made them, (Deut. 32. 15, 18.) It breeds ingratitude, disaffection, and at last a disbelief of their Sovereign Good, (Prov. 30. 8, 9) 'Twas the Opinion of St. Chrysostom, (upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Chrys. in c. 4. ad Ephes. Hom. 11. p. 960. St. Paul to the Ephesians,) that as nothing can so highly provoke the Wrath of the Almighty, as the Sin of breeding Factions in Church and State, So there is nothing that can so easily beget such Factions in either of them, as the Seeking of Preferments and Greatness in it. For where the most of men are seeking Great Things for Themselves, there are Few to take care of the Common Good, either in relation to Church, or State. And the way to Advancement, through such an excess of Selfseeking, becomes too Narrow, which 'tis the Interest of the Public to make as Broad as it is possible; that so the Candidates going towards it may not tread on one another, for want of Room to go by; or at least for want of Room to go by quietly, and without jostling. Lord, what Armies have been defeated, if not destroyed too, by the chief Officers great Envy and malignant Aemulations of one another? We need not go far abroad for Examples of it, if we are not utter Strangers to things which have happened here at Home. And Christians (one would think) should All take warning by Christ's Disciples, who were impertinently disputing which of Them should be the greatest, when nothing but Pains, and Persecutions and Death itself did await them All. There was a Time when great Numbers did take fair warning by That Example. But not to spend time in the Enumeration of Particulars, (for the enumerating of which my time would fail me,) it shall suffice me to say in general, and by the Authority of St. Austin, that most of the better sort of men Aug. Ep. 204. who had the Happiness to live in those better Times, did suffer violence and force in S. Ambros. Ep. 82. their vast Promotions. For being exceedingly afraid of the great Dignities they were offered, and much more ready to quit their Country, than to run the great risk of Sozom. Hist. Eccl. l. 6. c. 30. Advancement in it, they were fain to be pressed and kept in Prison, till they could Socrat. Hist. Eccl. l. 4. c. 18. bring their Wills down to admit of Greatness. Thus the most Modern of our Great Greg. Presb. in vitâ Nazianzeni. Doctors, of the most Primitive Simplicity, a man as wise, as he was learned, and as good as good Nature by Grace could make him, was truly afraid to live so long, as to see the happy Day he had daily prayed for; partly for his own sake, lest the bettering of the Times should possibly make him grow worse than he was before; and lest Advancement should corrupt him, whom the contrary Condition had kept Entire; partly for the sake of the Public also, lest a Deluge of Prosperity, overflowing all the Borders of Church and State, might beget as great a Deluge of Epidemical Provocations; to wit of downright Irreligion, and Immoralities of Life. Thence came his Censure of the bold Hermit's in the Time of the Emperor Theodosius the younger, who left their Privacies and Retirements, to study Perfection in the King's Palace, because (forsooth) there were stronger and more Temptations to be subdued. For what was This but to presume (as St. Peter once did) on their Ghostly strength? and so to tempt God himself to withdraw his Grace from them, (as he did for a time from St. Peter also,) to make them know their own Weakness without his Succours? The greatest Luminaries on Earth being fitly by him compared to those famous Lamps, of which 'tis said by Licetus, that they continued under Ground no less than Sixteen Hundred years, but went out, and were extinguished, as soon as brought into the Air. And truly considering what Examples we have in History of men, who by the Tenure of their Privacy did hold their Innocence, but becoming Public Persons were strait undone by their Advancements, and had their former light of Conscience extinguished in them; we have as little reason as Baruch, to be anxiously seeking Great Things for ourselves, but as great reason as Dr. Hammond, to be religiously afraid of being taken out of our Privacies, and drawn too far into Public Air, lest (like the Lamps before mentioned) our present Light should be darkened with too much Lustre. § 8. There is yet a fourth Reason for the Dissuasive I am upon, from any man's seeking Great Things for himself, and for God's Prohibition, Seek them not, which is to be taken from a less obvious, and more surprising Consideration; to wit that the greater any man is, the greater is his obligation to the discharge of one duty, which, though it is not quite impossible, is yet extremely difficult, and most uneasy to be performed. For still the more a man abounds in the World's Great Things, (such as Riches, and Honour, and Reputation,) the more he is bound upon all Accounts, to lay Himself and Them too at the Feet of Christ. Still the more Talents he has received, the more he has to reckon for, at the General Audit; and 'tis still the harder for him, to make up a satisfactory Account; and still the Sense of This Burden both of Difficulty and Danger, should cast him down under That Greatness, which is the aptest to puff him up. And why should any man be seeking Those things for Himself, which do but aggrandise his Duty, and lessen his Faculty to discharge it? 'Tis (I suppose) from a Conjunction of These two things, that The Friendship of the World is said to be Enmity with God. That 'tis hard (if not impossible) for a Rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. That 'tis a thing extremely difficult, for a man to have his portion of Good Things Twice; Here, with Dives; and with Lazarus, hereafter. Nor can I imagine a better reason, why The Rich (rather than others) should be forewarned by St. james, to weep and howl, James 5. 1. for the miseries that shall come upon them, than that the same Talents of Greatness which are but lent and entrusted by God to men, to make them more and more affectionate and thankful to him, are wont to make them most forgetful and careless of him. That which obliges them to Humility, is made to extimulate their Pride. Why then should we be seeking Greater Things for ourselves than will do us Good? Great enough to make it necessary to do a very important Duty, which at the very same Time (speaking in a Moral sense) they make impossible to be done? There can be no sadder Case for any poor Creature to be in, than when he is loaded with Obligations which serve but to aggravate his Gild. Yet This is commonly the upshot of as many Great Things as are got by Seeking. Lord, what Comfort should This administer to men of mean and low Stations, to men of slender and small Estates? How should they learn from These Reasons for this Reproof and Prohibition of God to Baruch, not to Envy any man's Greatness, and not to covet it for Themselves? Not to wish it were their own, much less to seek it, much less yet to seize upon it? Is there any man here present at what has hitherto been delivered, as Poor as job upon the Dunghill, or as miserable as Lazarus at Dives his Door, as ambitious of the Crumbs which happen to fall under his Table, (and perhaps as full of Sores too?) Let him lift up the Hands that hang down, and the feeble Knees. Let him cheer himself up with this most rational, most useful, and most obvious Consideration, That the less it pleaseth God to let him have his Proportion of Good Things Luke 16. 20, 21, 25. here, the likelier he is to have his Good Things hereafter. The less a man is overflowing with Wealth and Honour, or with any thing else which the World calls Great, by so much the less he is exposed as the Butt of Envy; by so much the less he has to lose; the less he has to leave behind him, the less he is in danger to stand amazed and confounded, and to tremble for fear in the Day of Wrath. The fewer Talents he has received of Worldly Greatness, the fewer he has to answer for, in the Day when God shall judge the Secrets of men by jesus Christ. Besides that for the present, by so much the fewer are his Temptations to Pride and Arrogance, to Cruelty and Oppression, to Lust and Luxury. Or (to express it with St. Paul,) by so much the fewer are his Temptations unto Rioting, and Drunkenness, to Chambering, and Wantonness, to Strife, and Envy. To sum up all in a word, the more a Christian is obnoxious to the Ridiculousness of Poverty, and the Contempt of Great men, the more conformable he is to the Life of Christ, in whom the LInes of human Misery did All concentre. We see how many and great Comforts a man may raise out of his Misery, if he can make a truly Christian and Philosophical use of it. And if These Considerations cannot induce a Poor man even to pity and compassionate any Great man's Condition, yet at least they should be sufficient to make him contented with his own. Which is all I aim at in my present Reasoning. But before I am aware, (for want of due heed to my General Method, though not for want of good will to the most Destitute and Dissatisfied of Those that hear me,) I anticipate one of The Uses I am to make of that Doctrine this Text affords, althô I have not quite done with the Reasons of it. And yet I cannot well proceed, without occurring to an objection; first by owning its Force, (so far forth as it has reason,) and then by showing its Insufficience. 'Tis true I cannot but acknowledge, (nor am I willing to stretch a Doctrine, how True soever, beyond the just Line of its due Extension, which yet we all are apt to do, through the hatred we use to have of any Error which we oppose, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as St. Basil calls it; I therefore say I must acknowledge,) and I do it without Regret, that what an old Author has said of Phidias, Seneca Epist. 85. sub finem. may be truly enough applied to every wise and good man in a Moral sense. If Phidias wanted Ivory out of which to make a Statue, he could make one of Brass. If Marble were wanting, he could make one of Wood If the best Wood were wanting, he could make one of the worst. And still how course soever his Materials happened to be, the Statue should be as good, as the Stuff would bear. Just so a wise and good man will make the best use he can of any Condition he can be in. All his wants will be with Comfort; All his Advancements with Humility; All his Enjoyments with Moderation. He will equally stand affected to Death, and Honour; neither of which is to be courted, though they are Both to be endured (when laid upon him unsought) without impatience. But yet, as Phidias could work the better, the fitter Materials were allowed him, and some were fitter for his purpose than others were; so a wise and good man is able to make a better use, of one Condition, than of another; and therefore aught to choose That, which he can manage with the most ease, to the best Advantage. Now what Condition That is, hath been sufficiently employed in the four Reasons going before, [of God's severe Prohibition, Seek them not;] and may yet more expressly be made out to us in That which follows. For § 9 If all Secular Greatness is less conducible to a man's Happiness, or his Contentment here on Earth, and carries with it more Impediments in the Narrow way to Heaven, (which our Lord and his Apostles affirm expressly,) than That other State of life which is low, and little; It cannot but follow on the contrary, (for Contrariorum contraria est ratio,) that the inferior State of life is much the Best, and the most Retired the most desirable Condition. Indeed 'tis pity that Superfluities should enlarge a man's Appetite, yet so they do. Pity 'tis that a man's Avarice should ever be widened by his Possessions, yet so it is. And therefore the Scythians did very fitly thus expostulate with the Great Emperor, who conquered all he ever fought with, except Himself; Quid tibi divitiis opus est, quae Te cogunt esurire? What hast Thou to do with Meat, which does but serve to increase thy hunger? or what need hast Thou of Riches, which make thee still the more needy? for they observed the more he had, the more he wanted what he had not. And the degrees of a man's Want do (by very sound Ethics) define his Poverty. We know 'tis customary for Parents, to make and leave (if they can) a great Provision for their Children, (or for their Nephews, if they have none.) And still the greater Estate they leave them, the better they think they have done their Duty; because they take it for a thing granted, that men are as Happy, as they are Rich. But when we reflect upon the Character and the Choice of those men, who either were sick of great Plenty, and therefore left it as a Disease; or were afraid of its Infection, and therefore refused the Offers of it, 'tis plain Experience, and Practice, and the Best men's Examples, as well as Reason, yes and abundance of Scripture too, will make us quite of another mind. For though Contentment cannot arise from any Proportion of Estate, be it great, or little, (because it grows to us from within, and not from any thing without us;) yet I conceive a mean Estate does most contribute to its Attainment; and with the men who have but Little, the Greatest Contentments are seen to dwell. The reason of which is very evident; For 'tis easy to have a little, and to be below Envy; whilst 'tis absolutely impossible to be above it. And therefore That of Claudian has apparent Truth in it, Est ubi despectus nimius juvat: There is a Time when a man prospers by being slighted. When a man's Poverty is his Protection: when too much contempt secures his liberty and his life. 'Tis ever best, because safest, because least troublesome, least perilous, least invidious, Not to be Great. Again, Ad manum est quod satis est; As 'tis easy to have a little, so a little is sufficient for Food and Raiment: and St. Paul infers strongly, that Food and Raiment are enough: (the upshot of all we can want or pray for:) and 'tis enough that breeds Happiness, because Contentment, meeting with a Mind that is fitted for it: And a man's Mind is sooner fitted to find enough in a Little, than to meet with it in great Abundance. For, Sudatur ad Supervacua, (says the Roman Philosopher,) what is more than just enough, begins to have somewhat of Excess; and All excess is superfluous, which for that very reason will cost us sweat; if not the Sweat of the Brow, yet the Anxiety of the Brain; not only in the Solicitude how to get, or to improve, but in that easier Concernment, How to manage, and to praeserve it. In each of which Cases, Sudatur ad Supervacua. The meaner man even in This is so much happier than the greater, by how much 'tis better not to have, than to lose Abundance: which, sooner or later, the Great man must, and the Mean man cannot. * Angustanda certè sunt Patrimonia, ut minus ad injurias Fortunae simus expositi. Sen. Still the Greater any one is, the more he is obnoxious to Chance, and Fortune, by which 'tis better not to be favoured, than forsaken at last. And therefore the Baleares (of whom we read in Diodorus) did so reflect upon the Diod. Sic. l. 5. Misery which Geryon's great Treasures betrayed him to, (for he had never else been visited and killed by Hercules,) that they durst not have Plenty, for fear of Thiefs; for fear of providing for their Enemies, as Geryon did. Which comparing with That of David, [He heapeth up Riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them,] and with the Counsel of Christ himself, Take no thought for the Morrow, and lay not up Treasure upon Earth, (Matth. 6.) I do the less think it strange, though strange enough, that Maximus Tyrius and other Ancients admired the Wisdom of Diogenes, in that he made it his choice, to Max. Tyr. Dissert. 20. p. 192. ad finem. be as unfurnished as an Angel; as free from all Earthly Goods, as the Spirits of Heaven. Arrian. Epict. l. 3. c. 22. p. 346. etc. Sen. de Tranquil. animi c. 8. Res cogendae sunt in arctum; ut tela Invidiae in vanum cadunt. For they considered within Themselves, that to have Riches, and Honours, as well as Children, is to give Hostages to Fortune. And that 'tis here, as in an Army; the greater the Bulk, the more it is exposed to Wounds and Slaughter. § 10. But though the Saying of Epicurus is most evidently true, Honesta res est Paupertas laeta, that he who does not only bear, but enjoy his Poverty, is not only an happy, but an honourable man, and in this respect a rich one, that what he has not, he does not want, whilst he regulates his Appetite, and makes it adequate to his Condition; yet because 'tis not so easy, for a man and his Poverty to be agreed, in case his Poverty is so importunate, as incessantly to pinch him with Cold and Hunger; I therefore put a wide difference between not seeking Great Things for ourselves, and not providing what is enough. 'Tis not absolute Poverty I recommend from This Text, (such as Discalceats and Mendicants pretend to love,) but only Poverty in comparison; That which either borders on, or dwells within some few Doors of It. I speak of Poverty as opposed to those Great Things, from the Seeking of which we are here dehorted. For This does seem a more safe, and more secure way to Happiness, than Great Abundance; because the less any one has above Food and Raiment, the less he roves beyond the limits of what is competent, and enough, (as I said before;) the less he has to care for, and to give account of at the general Audit; briefly the less he has to lose, and to leave behind him; not infallibly to his Friends, but peradventure to his worst Enemies; Not certainly to his Sons, but perhaps to his Sequestrators; nor for certain to his Daughters, but possibly to the Artificers, who shall make a Prey of them. I say 'tis a state of Mediocrity, A Competency of Fortune, attended still with a decent Thriftiness, and Frugality, (as being That without which no Riches can be Great, or if Great, not sufficient,) which I commend from this Text, as a Sovereign Medicine against the Itch. And that the worst kind of Itch to be imagined; to wit the Itch of a man's Seeking Great Things for himself; or very much Greater than are allotted him by the wise Providence of his Creator. Auream quisquis Mediocritatem Diligit tutus, caret obsoleti Hor. Carm. 2. 10. Sordibus Tecti, caret invidendâ Sobrius Aulâ. Of all the Secular Great Things from the Seeking of which we are here dehorted, the least desirable I am sure, if not the most tremendous, are the Great and Rich Offices of Public Government and Trust; because They are the greatest Obstacles to That which does the most import us, to wit The Government of ourselves. A Work so incumbent upon ourselves, (next and immediately under God,) as that it cannot be wholly managed by any other man's Prudence, how much soever it may be greater, and more to be trusted than our own. Besides that the Government of a man's Family, althô not Great, and the Government of his Estate, althô but Little, will take up more of his Time (on which his Eternity does depend) than he can very well part with from better Objects. And for the governing of a man's Self, All his Time is too little; whether we look upon the hardness or profit of it. To keep our Thoughts, and our Affections, our Appetites, and our Wills, within their due Bounds and Compass, and well employed on those Objects to which of right they do belong, is so difficult in the doing, and yet so pleasant when it is done, that I know not whether the Work, or the Reward it brings with It is more important. Hence an Overplus of Advancement is as distasteful and as surfeiting to a moderate Mind, as is an Excess of Meat and Drink, either to a well-satisfied, or tender Stomach. And therefore as a man of a sober Appetite will expect to be excused by abler Drinkers than himself, from taking in more than will do him good, or more than his Body can well abide; so we must pray to be excused, (or be contented if we are not) by men of larger Appetites and stronger Ambitions than our own, if we shall choose to be no greater, in Wealth, and Honour, than in Desires; to lessen our Burden (if already lying upon us) in proportion to the strength we have to bear it; to have our Meat and our Drink, as well as our Hunger, and our Thirst, exactly fitted to our Digestions. § 11. 'Tis true indeed there is a time, when the World's Great Things (such as Riches and Honour) come uninvited, and even grow upon their owners, who neither seek, nor care for them. In which case 'tis to be said, Non in rebus vitium est, sed in animis Possidentium. Riches are innocent in their Increase, if we set not our hearts upon them; if we look upon them as things which are false and flying; if we carry ourselves towards them with so much Carelessness and Contempt, as to be really poor in Spirit; reaping the Benefit and the Blessing which any Lazarus can enjoy, without the Sting, and the Disgrace, without the Leprosy, and the Ridiculousness, which an ugly French Proverb, and vicious men have found in it, and none but They. It was a very gross Error in the ancient Apostolici, (as they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Epipha. Haer. 60. 507. pleased to call Themselves) to think it utterly unlawful for men to have Estates peculiar to them, and that forsooth for this Reason, because the Apostles, and their first Followers had all things in common, except their Wives. 'Twas to put Virtue upon the Rack, and stretch her out (like Procrustes) beyond her just and full Stature, to wit, the Extremity of her Mean; and therefore 'twas with good reason, that Epiphanius and others esteemed Them Heretics. For as a man of great Age may receive the Kingdom of God, as a little Child; so may one of great Wealth, as a very poor one. It being the inward Disposition, not the want of outward Affluence, which makes a man poor enough to be regarded (like The Virgin) by God Himself. Our Self-denials, if we are Rich, will make us voluntarily Poor, and still the Richer for being such. Nor only the Richer, but Greater too. For Magnus Ille est qui in divitiis est pauper, says Lucius Seneca. He is generous, and great, who keeps the Modesty and the Meekness of a very poor man in the midst of Plenty. The like to which may be said on the other side. He is indeed a great man, who is as if he were Rich in the deepest Poverty: as Rich in Comforts and Contentments, and Serenities of Mind, as if he were Owner of Both the Indies. If our Riches decrease, and our Desires decrease too, still our Condition is the same, and we must needs be as well as ever. For Beatus est Ille qui vivit ut vult; He who has all that he desires, cannot be happier than he is, whatever else may be added to him. And This is that frame of Mind which the Text suggests to us; This we are all to pant after, and labour for, with a comparative Contempt of the World without us. And to This the smallest things are more conducible than the Greatest. A little with acquiescence, which was the Portion of Aglaus the poor Arcadian, will not only make us happier, but even Richer than * Umidius Hor. ●. 1. Serm. Sat. 1. with all his Plenty. For though 'tis a Postulate, or a Principle, not to be questioned in Geometry, That the Whole must needs be more than any Part of itself, yet in Morality 'tis to be questioned for several Reasons. For such may be the blessed Frame and Constitution of a man's mind, as may enable him to confute, or elude the Maxim. And That difficult Hemistichion which Hesiod sent his Brother Perses, (by whom it seems he had been cheated of the one half of his Estate,) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Half is more than the whole, may have its Proof and Exposition from the Experience of a moderate and prudent man. For the one half of his Possessions may be more to him than the whole, five or six several ways; in that it may (without a Miracle) be more conducing unto his Happiness, and more in order to his Designs, and even in reference unto the present, as well as to the future and better Life; and that by being (for Example) more consistent with his Privacy, and more conservative of his Time; more propitious to his Sobriety, and more agreeable to his Vocation; more in a tendency to his Contentment, and more by consequence to his Health. Many ways it may be more, both in a Moral, and Theological, (which is the best,) althô it cannot in a Physical, or Mathematical Acception, (which is the worst.) For sure the former signification of the word More, is as much better than the later, as Quality and Goodness is better than Quantity and Bulk; or as the Enjoyment of worldly things, than the bare Possession. For the happiest man living, and the most noble Apolaustick, cannot possibly be He who does own the most things, but evidently He who does want the fewest. And as the strengthening of a man's Back is of greater use to him, than the mere lessening of his Burden, so is the shortening of his Appetite of more advantage to his well-being, Quid mihi voluptatem nominas? Hominis Bonum quaero, non Ventris, qui pecudibus ac belluis laxior est. Seneca. than any lengthening of his Titles, or any enlarging of his Estate. Else a Cormorant, or a Gulon, (supposing them to have Food in full Proportion to their Appetites) would be much happier than a Man. And a man with such a Disease as Physicians call a Boulimis, or Boulimia, (supposing him also to have Food in full Proportion to his Appetite,) would be happier than a man of the soundest Health. A thing so void of all reason, and so impossible to be True, that the Belly-Gods of the Earth who still are satisfying their Appetites, and the Glorified Saints of Heaven who have the Happiness to have None, do so far differ, (as to the Comforts and Satisfactions which they enjoy,) that the Pleasures of the first are much the lesser, but the more gross; whilst the Pleasures of the second are vastly greater, but more refined. § 12. From All that has hitherto been delivered, that is from the Doctrine which has been laid, and from the Reasons which have been given, why men should not be Seekers of Great Things for themselves, (a Doctrine drawn from the Reproof, and from the strict Prohibition of God himself, and Reasons arising from as good Topics as I have been able to argue from,) some good Lessons are to be taken, some good Uses to be made, some good Means to be suggested, and some good Motives to be considered, as well by Private, as Public Persons; by Poor, and Rich; by the Least and by the Greatest, without Exception. § 13. First, Inferior men must learn from this whole Message of God to Baruch, Not to advance themselves by levelling; not to seek Greatness for Itself, nor yet to seek it for Themselves, much less for Themselves by lessening others; Not to be Troublers of the Waters wherein they are desirous to fish for Greatness; Not to aim at Great Things by heading Parties, and Factions, by nourishing Schisms and Separations, and (what of itself is a great thing,) by having the Managements of Sedition in Church and State; Not to promote a Fifth Monarchy, by pretending nothing more than a Commonwealth; Not to imagine that Dominion must needs be founded only in Grace; and that the use of the Creature belongs to none but The Elect; to many others indeed the facto, but de jure only to Them; They must learn not to be Selfish under colour of Self-denial, merely forsooth in Zeal to the Public Good, and that Right may take place; (not forsooth that they care for Wealth, or Honour, or have any true love to the Creature-Comforts, as they are such, but) that Goodness (as they call it) may be rewarded, and that Religion may have its due, and that the blessed Apostle Paul (whose words they take by the wrong handle) may be justified in his Saying, whilst Godliness is found to be profitable for All things, having Promise as well of 1 Tim. 4. 8. the Life that now is, as of that which is to come. This is the first and prime Lesson which every private Poor man, and every man under Authority, althô not poor, is to learn from the Dehortative, and from the bitter Exprobration of God to Baruch. He must not make himself the Moral of Aesop's Toad, which had an Ambition to swell itself into the Bigness of an Ox. He must not make himself obnoxious to the reproach of That Proverb, Scarabaeus contra Aquilam; being but a Beetle, or but a Butterfly, he must not emulate an Eagle, much less endeavour, either to lure her, or pluck her down. He must not make himself liable to the Woe, which God denounced heretofore by his Prophet Isaiah; must not say tacitly to his Isa. 45. 9, 10. Father, what begettest thou? or to the Woman, what hast Thou brought forth? He must not mutiny and grumble against God's Providence and his Will, or seek to aggrandise himself, whether his Maker will or no. Being (as He is) but an Earthern Pitcher, he must not contend with a Brass Pot, or strive to equal (much less to master) the Golden Cistern. But he must labour on the contrary to reckon himself (as he is) in his proper Element, and by consequence not to be capable of Gravitation or Levitation, from which the Elements are exempt in their native places. He must make it his whole Endeavour, his whole Ambition, and Delight, to acquiesce as Things do which attain their Centre. Not to turn Seeker how he may raise, or disturb himself; But to esteem it his private Interest, to contribute all he can to the Public Good; to prove he loves the public Peace, by his following after the things that do make for Peace; as by making his Reason to reign within him over his Passions; and his Will over his Appetite; by submitting his more deceivable and private Judgement, unto the less erring Judgement of Public Reason; by seeking one great thing for himself, which is the Glory of Obedience (as Tacitus calls it) to human Laws and Lawgivers, to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; and by esteeming it as glorious for a Subject to be loyal, and obedient unto his Sovereign, as for a Sovereign to command, and protect his Subject. It is every man's Duty, as well as Honour, and every man's Advantage, as well as Duty, to do in this case as he would be done by; to pay as much Reverence and Submission to such as are over him in Authority, as he expects from his own Servants, his Wife, and Children. It being pity that any Subject who is a Rebel to his Prince, should meet with any thing but Rebellion, from All that owe Service or Duty to him. For why should any man expect to have a dutiful Wife, an obedient Son, or a faithful Servant, who is neither of the Three to his Native Sovereign? but is undutiful and false to his Public Parent? not to the People's, but God's Vicegerent? There can be nothing more apposite, than that a Boutefeux, a Kindle-coal, a makebate in the City, should have his House full of Tumults: that He who is hissing at public Government, should carry a Serpent in his own Bosom: that as he Sows, so he should Reap: Gal. 6. 6. 7. that his own Wickedness should correct him: that he should suffer what he has done: and that with the measure he meats to others who are exceedingly above him, others exceedingly below him should duly measure to him again. Nor should it otherwise be of pleasant, but as 'tis of profitable Remark, that Women did never here in England so affect Mastery over their Husbands; Never were Children here in England so disaffected, so disobedient, so quite unnatural towards their Parents; Never were Servants here in England so false and treacherous towards their Masters, as since our English-mens Revolt from The God of Order; since their being too proud to be under God: or at lest no farther willing that God himself should reign over them, than upon This Condition only, that he will do it Their way: either without any Vicegerent, or with one of Their choosing. What I now have said last, I should have taken for a Digression, had not the Evils now mentioned been all the Fruit of the same Plant, which had taken some Root in the Heart of Baruch; I mean The Itch of a man's seeking Greater Things for himself, than God sees fit, or has been pleased to allow to such as seek them. § 14. Now in order to the learning so great and good a Lesson as This, which I have been hitherto describing, we must attend to those Things which are the Means of, and the Motives to it. In order to the former, we must not only addict ourselves to all the usual Means of Grace, such as Prayer, and Giving of Alms, Reading, and Hearing the Word of God, frequent Perceptions of the Lord's Supper, private Conferences with Casuists, or Ghostly Fathers, and the like; But we must use our best Wit, and our soundest Reason, and (as St. Paul exhorts Timothy) we must duly stir up the Gift of God which is in us, whereby to find out such Means as are perhaps the least thought of, though perhaps the most effectual to reach the End we aim at. We know an Archer, not to be short of the Mark before him, will use his endeavour to shoot beyond it. As Demosthenes, of a Stammerer, attained to an excellent Pronunciation, by speaking with Pebbles in his Mouth; and so He facilitated his Conquest of a Natural Impediment, by adding and subduing an Artificial one. Have we sincerely a Desire to be the better for being Rational? to make a right use of the Light within us? to free ourselves from a Disease the most tormenting in all the World? to be as happy as is possible in a Valley of Tears? we must not only not seek Great Things for ourselves, but must not suffer Great Things to grow upon us in Excess. We must never once endure to have as much of this World, as we are able; nor yet as much as is lawful for us; but only as much as is expedient. We must not dare to make Trials (as too many are wont to do, through a most sinful Curiosity,) what store of Riches may be attained to within the Compass of one Man's Life. There being nothing more inhuman, more unbecoming, or more unworthy of a Rational Agent, than for a man to be condemned, by his own Consent, to be digging all his days in the Mine, or Quarry; to be so much below a Bruit, as not to know when he has enough. Enough to make use of, enough to keep, enough to care for, enough to lose, enough to leave behind him, enough to give account of in the day of Judgement. There can be nothing more disgraceful to a man's Reason and Understanding, than not to know when he has enough in these six Points I now have mentioned. Not only Christ, and his Apostles, but Horace himself, and his Oppidius, and many other Heathen Writers, have taught us a Lesson of human Prudence, which men as men must needs confess 'tis a Shame and Misery not to learn. Tu cave, ne majus facias id quod satis esse putat Pater, & Natura coërcet. Servius Oppidius apud Horat. l. 2. Sat. 3. Denique sit finis quaerendi.— & finite Laborem Incipias, parto quod avebas.— We ought to fix on a Proportion of Worldly Goods, to which our Industry and Prudence (with due regard to our Quality, and the Necessities of our Family) may safely and innocently reach. And having once attained That, must say as resolvedly to our Appetites, and by consequence to our Endeavours, as God once said to the Swelling Waters of the Sea; Thus far shall ye go, and no farther: We are at an end of our Desires. We will not be troubled with any more. We will not be evermore adding to the dead weight of our Possessions, but only to the right use and enjoyment of Them. As for Surplasages of Fortune, if any happen, we will employ them in Christian Projects, and (not in Philosophical, but) Theological Experiments, (suggested to us by God himself in several parts of his holy Word, as) How we may draw Bills of Credit upon Him, who inhabits the New jerusalem. How we may * Prov. 19 7. lend unto The Lord, though The Proprietary of All; and be paid by Him again an † Matth. 19 29. hundred sold for the forbearance. How we may ‖ Matth. 25. 37, 38. feed and clothe our Saviour, though in his State of Glorification; How redeem our very Redeemer, by contributing what we can to the Redemption of Christian Captives from the Tyranny of the Turks; and lay up in store a good Foundation for ourselves, 1 Tim. 6. 17, 18, 19 upon a Project of attaining Eternal Life. Thus to stint all our Appetites, and to limit our Desires, is to antedate the Happiness we hope and pray for. 'Tis to create unto ourselves (by the help of God's Grace) an humble Degree of Self-sufficience on this side Heaven. It was the Saying of a wise Heathen, which no wise Christian will scorn to learn, Nihil Nos magis ab animi fluctibus vindicaverit, quam aliquem semper figere incrementis Terminum. There is nothing can more exempt us from all inquietudes of Mind, (from the Rack of Expectation, and the Strappado of Disappointments,) than our putting a certain period to our Increase; a certain Boundary or Butt to our Acquisitions. Our best Successes being so slippery, and our Appetites so strong, that for Both we need Bridles to hold them fast. § 15. It may perhaps be one Motive to moderation of Mind, and to a Christian's not seeking Great Things for himself, that jesus Christ, our great Exemplar, did for Himself seek the least; was pleased to empty himself of Glory, became of no Reputation; made it his choice to be so poor, as * Matth. 8. 20. not to have where to lay his head; and though he was born of the Blood Royal, the House of David, did choose to take upon him the Form of a very mean Subject, and to live on Their Charity who administered to him of their Substance, Luke 8. 3. Nor was This only the option of God Incarnate, the blessed Redeemer of the World, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose coming was to destroy the Works of the Devil, the Pomp's and Vanities of the World, with the sinful Lusts of the Flesh, as well by his Practice and Example, as by his Precepts; But All the Wisest and the Best even of mere moral men, though they had no Light to go by, but that of Nature and Education, had yet such a Mastery over themselves, such a right Apprehension of human Conditions and Affairs, had such an Insight into the Things which the World calls Great, and did so seriously depretiate the Pomp's and Vanities of the World, (coveting Poverty rather than Wealth, and courting obscurity rather than Honour,) that most Professors of Christianity may be provoked by them to jealousy, if not prevailed upon effectually unto a generous emulation. Such as the famous Abdolonymus, who, however he was Q. Curt. l. 4. Justin. l. 11. by Birth of Royal Family and Extraction, was yet by Breeding but a poor Gardener in the Suburbs of Sidon, where he worked out all his Bread at his finger's ends, and so accordingly did eat it in the Sweat of his Brows. A Condition so duly fitted to the Humility of his Desires, that when, created King of Sidon, by Alexander the Great, he was asked with what Patience he could endure his late Poverty; I would to God (answered He) I could as well endure a Kingdom. Hae manus suffecêre desiderio meo; nihil habui, nihil defuit. He said his Hands had been sufficient to administer to his Necessities; and that the Things which he had not, he did not want. The choice he made of his Employment, brings Democritus into my memory, who made the same. For having travelled through the World, whereby to gain a full Experience and Knowledge of it, he chose at last a deep Poverty, and a confinement to his Garden; wherein he satisfied his Body with the Productions of the Earth, and feasted his Soul with Contemplation. The Pomps and Vanities of the World (at the Miseries of which Heraclitus wept) He daily laughed at. And though the Vulgar thought him a Madman for his Recess from all Company, yet Hypocrates, who was sent to cure him of it as a Physician, was compelled by his Discourse to admire his Wisdom; and pronounced Them mad who had so esteemed him. And truly Crates of Thebes may with Somebody's profit be here remembered; who being both Rich, and a Philosopher, turned his Land into Money, and put his Money to the Banker on this Condition, That if his Sons did prove Fools, he should supply their Wants with it; but if Philosophers, he should deal out all his Treasure to the most indigent of the City. It having been really his opinion, that Fools want Money, however Rich; whilst Wisemen, though Poor, are in need of nothing. Now whether This is the true History, or That which is told us by Philostratus, [That Crates threw his whole Estate into the Sea, as having found it a great Impediment to the Prosperity of his Studies, and the Tranquillity of his Life,] it matters not much; because his Judgement does appear by Both Accounts of his Practice to have been This, that in very much of the World, there's very much Trouble, and Solicitude; and that the more any man has, the more he has of disturbance and interruption; the more he has to be carking and caring for; whether as to its Use, or its Conservation. The Emperor Sigismond (I am sure) did find it so to some purpose, when having brought him out of Hungary a Chest of Gold ready coined, he could never sleep well till he parted with it. For he could not (saith Cuspinian) but still be thinking, either where Ecce crudelissimi high hosts ac Carnifices, Tortores illi qui me miserè flagellaverunt. Accipite, ac inter vos dividite, ut mihi tranquillè dormire liceat. Cusp. in vitâ Sigism. p. 4●●. he might keep it with greatest safety, or how lay it out to the most Advantage. Therefore calling to him his Counsellors, with the chief Officers of his Army, and all his Lifeguard more especially, he caused his Chest to be laid open, and his Forty thousand Pieces (a great Treasure Then,) thrown out amongst them. Those he called his Tormentors, his Murderers, his cruelest Enemies, and his Lictors, which would not suffer him to rest, by reason of the lashes they laid upon him all Night, without remorse, or intermission. This ('tis plain) is not impertinent to the Discourse I am upon, though impertinent in comparison with all those Emperors and Kings, and other Persons more signal, whom I might reckon (if I had Time) upon This occasion. But desirous to comply with the Time allowed, I shall not Instance in as many, but in as few as I am able of most Remark. Such as are the Three Scipio's, in whom the Roman Historians (and the best of the Greek ones) do justly triumph. The chief of These was Africanus, the glorious Downfall of Carthage, and Staff of Rome, as his Paternal Name Scipio does well import. One who grew to such an Height of Worldly Happiness and Renown, that there was nothing now left to make him Higher, but his Humility. He did not only refuse the Offer, of having his Statue Val. Max. l. 4. c. ●. signalised in the highest Places, but that of Consulship during Life, and that of perpetual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Polyb. l. 10. p. 110, 111. Dictator also. Yea if Polybius may be credited, (who had most reason to know,) both in Asia, and Europe, as well as Africa, he did many times refuse to be made a King. And This Polybius calls often, not the Poverty, or the Lowness, (as the men of this Age would be apt to call it,) but, as it was in good earnest, the Height and Greatness of Scipio's Spirit. I am persuaded (says Lucius Sen. in Epist. 86. Seneca) that Scipio ' s Soul went up to Heaven, not because as a Commander he led so many and great Armies, but because of That Piety by which he triumphed over Himself. Not so much because he saved, as because having saved, he LEFT his Country. Nor because he left the Service, but the Honours, and the Wealth, and Enjoyments of it. It was the Littleness and Obscurity of his House at Linternum, which made that Philosopher admire his Greatness. It was his lying close hid in a little Corner, turning his Spear into a Ploughshare, and his Sword into a Pruning-hook, and labouring with his own hands in dressing and cultivating the Earth, which made this Great man who transcended All others, at the last to exceed and transcend Himself. 'Twas in his Cloud he shined brightest. 'Twas the Foil of a Retirement, by which This jewel was most set off. 'Twas his Contempt of This World, which made him able to command it; Et Rerum Dominus Nil cupiendo fuit. Such an Example of Self-denial, or (to speak more exactly) Moderation of Mind, (it being no Self-denial, for any Great man to enjoy his Wish, and to be as 'twere preferred to a private Life,) was the most excellent Cassiodorus; A man of so very great Authority with the Gothic Kings of Italy, (whom he had blessed a long time as their Principal Minister of State,) that he was reckoned the very Soul of their Public Business, and one who ever gave Life to their Great Affairs. Yet being humbled by all his Honours, and so quite tired out with his Secular Greatness, as to betake himself for Refuge unto a Contrary Franciscus Baconus in Hist. Vitae & Mortis, p. 267. condition, he spent the Residue of his Time in such Monastical Contentments and Contemplations, as drew out his Life to the Hundred year. § 16. These and very many others, as well in Ancient as Modern Story, may be Val. Max. l. 7. c. 3. n. 3. extern. sufficient to persuade us to be of Bias his opinion: That a man's Riches are to be carried, not on his Shoulders, but in his Breast; (and by consequence to be kept, not in his Coffers, but in his Brain;) They are to be such aswill attend him to what place soever he takes his Flight; and such as will stick to him at last in the day of Wrath. These men knew as well, as Apollo's Oracle could tell them; that Aglaus was happier in his Cottage, than King Gyges upon his Throne. Id. ib. n. 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Cic. Paradox. And were convinced with Anaxagoras, that public Honours and vast Revenues can very hardly and very seldom consist with Bliss: but that every man's Happiness is to be sought for in his Recess. § 17. If it shall now be imputed to me, that I have spent too much time in seconding Reason with Example, I have This to allege in my justification; That Example upon many works more than Reason. Sure I am that it did upon The Emperor Charles Strad. de Bell. Belgic. l. 1. p. 22. Nec deerant Exempla— quae in eâ deliberatione haerenti occurrebant. Thuan. l. 10 p. 506, 507. the Fifth, if either Strada, or Thuanus, or Both together may be believed. For their Account of him is This: That as one man's Example taught him to make his Resolution of laying all his Crowns down at the Feet of Christ, so the Examples of many more did His & aliis exemplis confirmatus Caesar, se Imperio ac omnibus Regnis abdicavit, tranquille & pacatè quod vitae supererat transacturiis. Idem. ibid. confirm him in it: But with this great and signal Difference, that the Example which suggested his Purpose to him, was taken from a Poor and a Private man; whereas the many more Examples which brought That Purpose to Execution, were of those Emperors and Monarches of equal Dignity with Himself: To wit the Emperor Dioclesian amongst the Heathen; and amongst our Christian Emperors, Anastasius the Second, Theodosius the Third, Isacius Comnenus, Michael Rangabe, Michael the Son of Ducas, Nicephorus Botoniates, Manuel Comnenus, johannes Cantacuzenus, and the no less Religious than Great Lotharius. Some of which Emperors (he observed) had beaten their Sceptres into Spades, wherewith they dug their own Graves in their several Gardens. Others thought it their safest course, to leave the Pleasures of the Court for the Severities of the Cloister. All preferring an obscure and a silent Life, before the splendid'st Enjoyments this World could yield them. Now All I pretend to in This first Lesson I am upon, and in arguing as I have argued à majori ad minus, is not immodestly to contend with any Great man, to seek his lessening; especially if his Case is such, as that he cannot descend at all, without his falling quite headlong; But I pretend unto a Prevalence with men of inferior and low Degree, to acquiesce in that Station which God does see is best for them; to acquiesce in His Will, whose Will is Wisdom; and not to be so excentrical in the Motions of their Souls, as to be crossing God's Providence with their Endeavours or Designs; Nor to oppose their Will to His, by the Carnality of their seeking Greater Things for themselves than their God allows. I aim at teaching inferior men who do not exceed mine own Size, to reason and argue within themselves à majori ad minus. For why should little men be seeking Great Things for themselves, when many Inheritors of Greatness have been exceedingly sick of it, and therefore have left it as a Disease; whilst others, afraid of its Infection, have perseveringly rejected the offers of it? § 18. But there is another Lesson for Great men also; who may learn (if they please) as well from the Reproof, as from the Prohibition of God to Baruch, if not to part with their Greatness, (as the best of the greatest have often done,) at least to know when they are well; or if they patiently accept, yet at least not to seek an Increase of Greatness; much less to seek it for themselves, their private Interest and Advantage, without a due respect to the Public Good; Not to be guilty of so much Levity, as still to soar higher and higher, (as all light things are wont to do,) but to prescribe unto themselves a Ne plus ultra; a certain Term beyond which they will never tend. The Emperor Pertinax, of a Grammarian, was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Herodian. l. 3. p. 34. well enough contented to become a Great man; and to endure as much Envy as he knew what to do with, or how to bear: But did not like to be the Object of All men's Envy: and therefore 'twas with great Reluctance that He accepted of the Empire; or rather he did not so much accept it, as 'twas by Force imposed upon him. Glabrio was not discontented with his being at the Top of the Roman Senate; But knowing That to be enough, he durst not rise a Step higher, and so refused the same Empire with the same earnestness and vehemence, wherewith Pertinax Id. ibid. Himself would have thrown it on him. Maximinus was not unwilling, from a very low Birth, and from the Breeding of a Shepherd, to be advanced by degrees to be the General of an Army: But yet he knew his full measure; and was really so afraid of being raised a step higher, that he did obstinately 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is Herodian's Expression of it. L. 6. p. 140, 141 refuse to accept the Empire, till being compelled by a Great Army with their Swords drawn about him, he was fain to take it up in his own Defence, and only as somewhat a lesser Evil, than to be murdered for his Humility. The like judicious apprehension had the incomparable Decius of Worldly Greatness. An * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Zosimus l. 1. p. 12. Emperor could no more persuade him to take the Government of the Army, than the Army could make him willing to take the Government of the Empire. And though at last he discharged Both, yet he did Both against his Will, and by mere Coaction. For Zosimus tells of him expressly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ib. p. 13. Such an Aversion to Advancement (above what was enough) had the Emperor Vopiscus in vitâ Taciti. p. 409. ad p. 412. Tacitus; who to escape the Danger of it, hid Himself for two Months from all Discovery. Out of which Hiding-hole when he was drawn, as out of a Dungeon into a Throne, how did he plead against Himself his Inability to ascend it? How many Infirmities did he pretend to, (which in truth and by right he could never own,) to excuse his rejection of so much Glory? Nor▪ was it any fault of His, that his Rejection was rejected. The Noble Perdiccas had an Ambition to be a Great man at Court, but not the Greatest. He extended it as far as was agreeable with his Subjection; But there it left him. For Curtius tells us, He refused the Q. Curt. l. 10. c. 6. absolute Empire of the World, when after Alexander's Death it was offered to him. So did Xenophon more than once the Honour of Xenoph. in Exped. Cyri. l. 6. p. 291, 292▪ being Generalissimo, when all the Army of the Greeks would have cast it on him. So did Quintus Fabius Maximus the highest Magistracy Liv. l. 10. c. 12. p. 368. in Rome, alleging his Age, and his Infirmities, till both the Senators and the People were fain to compel him to an Acceptance. So did Manlius Torquatus object Idem l. 26. c. 22. p. 603. the Illness of his Eyes against his being created Consul. And when That could not excuse him, his chiding did. Nec vestros mores Consul far potero, nec vos Imperium meum. Were I Consul (said He) I should no more endure your loser lives, than you my strict and severer Discipline. They were obstinate in their Choice, But so was He in his Refusal. Thus the Consulship of Rome was ambitious of him; That which other men Coveted, to Him went begging. And Honour itself had a Repulse in being the Candidate of Manlius; whom Greatness earnestly, and with Zeal, but vainly courted for his Consent. So Vipsanius Agrippa, to whom Augustus owed the most for the full Settlement of his Empire, refused a Triumph which was decreed him for his conquering and quieting the Asian Rebels. So Fabricius once refused to F lor. l. 1. c. 18. have his Partnership in a Kingdom, when by a King it was offered to him. Marcius Rutilus Censorinus, and Fabius Maximus, did Val. Max. l. 4. c. 1 n. 3, 4, etc. not only content themselves with a Refusal of the Honours conferred upon them, but chid the Romans very severely for the Excess of such Favours so misapplyed. So Marcus Marcellus, though the first who made it evident that Syracuse might be taken, and even Hannibal subdued, refused the Government of Sicily, and shifted it off on his Colleague. So the Seven Wise men of Greece were in nothing more thought to have shown their Wisdom, than in shifting off a Treasure from the one unto the other, as men are wont to do Burdens they hate to bear. Cn. Marcus Coriolanus, though of Princely Family and Descent, affected rather to fall, than rise; and rather Poverty, than Wealth. In so much that in reward of all his Services in the Wars, (which were vastly great,) he would not accept of Land, or Money, (when Land and Id. l. 4. c. 3. n. 4. etc. Money were offered to him,) as thinking it Happiness enough to have deserved them. Curius also, though a Commander who conquered Kings, and subdued Kingdoms, was yet so delighted to live a frugal and private Life, that neither the Samnites, nor the Senate could by any Offers shake, much less alter his Resolution. Exactly such another was Fabricius Luscinus, the Noblest Roman of his time in point of Honour, and Authority, and yet by choice one of the Poorest, in point of Fortune: His desiring very little, did pass with him for a Great Possession: His Contempt of all Riches He did esteem the Noblest Treasure: and found it more precious, than Gold, or Silver, that he would not be tempted by either of them to an Acceptance. Such another was Aelius Tubero, surnamed Catus, who rejected the Richest Plate that could be sent him out of Aetolia; and, though of Consulary Rank, made choice of being served in Earthen Vessels. Aemilius Paulus was a man, who having conquered K. Perses, and enriched all the Romans with the Spoils of Macedonia, did most magnanimously refuse to be the richer for them himself; as thinking it Recompense enough for his utmost Labours, that his Country had the Emolument, and Himself the satisfaction of doing well. Such was the generous Self-denial of Fabius Gurges, and Ogulnius, and of the Fabiuses Pictores, when sent Ambassadors into Egypt, they were opulently Presented by the Munificent King Ptolemy; and however all was meant for their private use only, yet they sent it Home entirely into the Treasury and Bank of the Commonwealth. Conceiving it dishonourable, if not unjust, that Public Ministers should admit of any other Compensation, than the Public Commendation of their Performance. Such were also Portius Cato, and Marcus Cato Uticensis, men so proverbial for the Blamelesness and Integrity of their Lives, for their Enmity to Pleasures, and Severity towards themselves, that I need no more than Name them. Xenocrates was as free from Lust, and Avarice, and Ambition, as if he had been in good earnest (what Phryne called him) L. 4. c. 3. an arrant Statue. Alexander the Great would have bought his Friendship, would he have sold it at any Rate. And the Talents which were sent him would have made him extremely Rich, but that he thought his Best Talon was his Ability to despise them. Alexander found it an easier Task to conquer Darius with his Army, than this Philosopher with his Wealth: So that Xenocrates, rather than He, might have been with some reason surnamed The Great. Omnia habet qui nihil concupiscit, was the Saying of Cornelia, the famous Mother of the Gracchis. And if That has truth in it, certainly Solon, rather than Croesus, might have passed into a Proverb for Riches too. Valerius Poplicola was L. 4. c. 4. four times Consul; But it was for his Wisdom, not at all for his Wealth. For contenting himself to have done Great Things for the Commonwealth, and esteeming it his Happiness to do them gratis, he had Estate enough only to live and die with, But far from enough to pay the Expenses of his Burial. Of all he had or was besides, he had been prodigally free; But his Poverty was a Treasure, he would never once part with for all the World. Agrippa Menenius made it his Choice, to be as deserving, and as poor too, if that can be a man's Poverty, which is his Choice. If'tis, 'tis such a Poverty as makes its Owner most truly Great. And if Agrippa had not been such, he had not sure been made a judge between the Senators of Rome and the Common People. But they who differed most fiercely in other Matters, could not choose but agree in This, that poor Agrippa Menenius was both the worthiest, and the fittest, and by much the most likely to reconcile them. Attilius Regulus with an Estate of no more than Seven Acres, was yet a Great and a Noble Roman; But delighting in a poor and a private Life, he was taken from his Husbandry, to sit at the Helm of the Roman Empire. And how unwillingly so advanced, did appear by This; That having subdued the Public Enemies, and settled full Peace in the Commonwealth, he very gladly hastened back to That his old way of living by Plough and Harrow, which he had left for some time with an heavy heart. A Consolation to the Poor, and an Instruction to the Rich, how unnecessary to great and glorious Actions mere Riches are. I speak of Riches unattended with Frugality and Prudence, with a Contempt of mean Pleasures, and Moderation, as well as with Conduct and Magnanimity. Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus was just as Rich, or as Poor, as Attilius Regulus: to wit a Lord of Seven Acres, and very busy at his Plough, when the Dictatorship of Rome was presented to him. A glorious Dignity he received, but not enriched himself by. For it appears that his Seven Acres were at last shrunk to Four; he having lost the other Three, by being a Surety for his Friend. Lord! the vastly wide difference 'twixt Those Times, and These! or 'twixt Their Grandees, and Ours! Ours are thought to live narrowly, if their Houses do not stand on as many Acres, as made up all This renowned Dictator's Means. Valerius tells us of a King he names not, L. 7. c. 2. n. 5. (but describes to have been of a subtle Judgement) who said of a Diadem delivered to him, that if a man did well consider, together with the outside, the inside of it, (meaning the Troubles, and the Dangers, and the Anxieties it is lined with,) he would not have it for taking up. And if Genusius L. 5. c. 6. n. 4. had not been of the same opinion, (by knowing the linings of a Crown at the Cost of others,) he would not sure have left Rome in a voluntary exchange for perpetual Banishment, merely to escape the Possession of it; merely to be free from a Coronation. And however Theopompus did not plainly run away from the Crown of Sparta, yet he instituted the Ephori, whereby to make it the less significant, and so as to sit upon his Head with less disease. § 19 These and multitudes of the like (whom to mention even with Brevity, were to be tedious,) though they were Persons in Themselves of very Great Honour, and Renown, were yet exceedingly much the Greater, for their having had such limited and stinted Appetites; for their knowing what was necessary, and what expedient; what was sufficient for their great Purposes, and when they had innocently enough. They did not only not seek Greater Things for themselves than they had already, But either unwillingly did admit them, and with Reluctance; or else did obstinately refuse them, and cast them off. Nay so far they were from seeking Great Things for themselves, that they sought their lessening. They thought there was nothing truly Great, or great enough to be sought, but the Public Good. And for This very reason They were the Glory of their Times; The Pride and Pleasure of their Historians; and (which is more to their advantage) they were the Blessings, and the Supports, and the great Ornaments of the Countries wherein they lived. But when a man, having arrived at Great Things already, is ever casting about for Greater, and has an Ambition like the Fire, which ever craves the more fuel, the more it has; when his Appetite after Honour is as inordinate and as endless, as was That of Albert Wallestein, whom nothing less would ever satisfy, than the being above his Maker; Then a man's Greatness is his Disease, and his Disease of the worst sort too. 'Tis his Hydrops, his Boulimis, his intolerable Prurigo, worse than the Furor Uterinus, which made the Great Empress Barbara the vilest Thing in the whole Empire. Even He, whose Abundance of Meat makes him hungry, and He whose Superfluity of Drink makes him dry, is not quite so sad a Creature, nor quite so much to be deplored, as He whose Honour makes him Ambitious, and whose overmuch Wealth excites Habak. 2. 5. his Avarice. That such there are in This World, who do enlarge their Desires as Hell, and are as greedy as the Grave, who like the two Daughters of Solomon's Horseleech, have still enough, and too much, yet still too little; are often full, and often weary, yet never satisfied, with seeking Great Things for Themselves, (I say that such Things there are,) I need not take pains to convince my Hearers. For All the Miseries we have read of, and all the Miseries we have seen in our own Civil Wars, (not now to mention all the Miseries we have felt,) have been especially the Effects of That Disease I now speak of; If I may not rather call it a Complication of Diseases, which is commonly made up of four Ingredients; to wit a boundless Ambition, an unstinted Avarice, a restless Envy, and an insatiable Concupiscence after the Pleasure of Revenge. § 20. Now in order to the Prevention, or to the Cure, (that is to say, to the kill) of such a complicated Disease, every Great man must choose so fit a Condition for Himself, and such an wholesome Proportion of this present World, as may be aptest in itself to secure his Interest in the Next. Woolsey wished he had done it, (and Wallestein too,) when 'twas too late. But Sir Thomas Moor did it, and that in Time. This incomparable Person, (whom * Lud. Vives in August. de Civ. Dei, l. 2. c. 7. Ludovicus Vives thought it dangerous to commend, for fear of doing him great wrong by falling short of his Perfections,) having been raised by his own Merits, and without his own seeking, from a very low Estate to the High Chancellorship of England, became so satiated and cloyed, as well with the Honour, as with the Cares of his glorious Office, Mortalium harum rerum satur, quam rem à puero penè semper optaveram, ut ultimos aliquot vitae meae annos obtinerem liberos, quibus hujus vitae negotiis paulatim me subducens, futurae possem immortalitatem meditari, eam rem tandem indulgentissimi Principis incomparabili beneficio, (resignatis Honoribus) impetravi. Tho. Morus de se in suo ipsius Epitaphio à se conscripto. that he gladly laid it down, (out of the love he had to Privacy and Tranquillity of Life,) as any other man's Avarice, helped on by his Ambition, could take it up. And this he did whilst yet a Favourite, far from being under the Cloud (which he afterwards was in) of his King's Displeasure. Yea he esteemed it an higher Favour to be permitted by his Prince to ease himself of such Grandeur, than That wherewith at first it was laid upon him. It being the Thing which from a Child he had wished and prayed for, That God would give him such a Vacation from the Affairs of This Life, as might suffice him to contemplate the Immortality of the Next, and fit himself for its Enjoyment. Which his Prayer having been granted, both by God, and the King, he was so exceedingly Thankful for, as to carry his Gratitude to his Grave, and so as to order its being written upon his Grave-stone. From whence being transferred to his Public Works, 'tis likely now to live as long as the Art of Printing. So when the famous William of Wainflet (as * Molestiarum pertaesus quas Cancellarij munus afferre solet, simulque rerum humanarum satur, quicquid vitae supererat totum Deo consecravit. Buddenus in Wainfleti vitâ, p. 61. Budden tells us) made it his choice to divest himself of the High Chancellorship of England, and gave the King immortal Thanks for giving him liberty so to do, He did it not only as being weary of the Cares which That Office had filled him with, (though That perhaps was one reason,) nor did he it only as being glutted with the Things of This World, to wit with the Riches and Honours of it; (though that was also another reason;) But it was chiefly that he might mind the greater things of the Next with the less Distraction; that he might not as before, serve God by Snatches, but that the Residue of his Time might be wholly God's. Many others might here be named (Seven at least I am sure,) who eased themselves (as being weary) of the Great Seal of England, in order to their advancement unto far greater things in a World to come. And though it cannot be denied, but that being Persons of most incorruptible Integrity, they might safely have continued in their Great judicatures on Earth, without the danger of being cast in the Court of Heaven, yet they resolved to take the Way which they thought the surest; as knowing it better to make it easy, than merely possible to be saved. For they considered what they well knew, as well by Scripture, as by Reason, as well by History, as by Experience, as well by other men's Experience, as by their own, that though it is not quite impossible, yet'tis a difficult thing on Earth, for the very same man to be Great, and Innocent; to be a Favourite both of This, and the other World; to far as deliciously as Dives all his Days here below, and yet at last to lie with Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom. I am sure Sir Thomas Randolph thought it a thing so rare and difficult, to Paulò ante Mortem literis quas vidi seriò admonuit, quam dignum quam necessarium, ut Ille Secretarii, Ipse Legati Technis jam tandem valediceret; uterque coelestem Patriam cogitâret, et poenitendo divinam implorarent Misericordiam. Cambdenus in Eliz. Annal. Tom. 2. seu parte quartâ, p. 26. be a man of much Public and Secular Business, and at the same Time to be fit to die, that by Letters he exhorted his intimate Friend Sir Francis Walsingham, to bid adieu to all the Wiles of a Principal Secretary of State, as He himself had newly done to all the Frauds or an Ambassador, (for the Number of his Embassies had been no less than Eighteen,) and to prepare himself by a penitent and private life, for the life to come. An Admonition very seasonable in regard of Both Persons concerned in it; Walsingham, to whom; and Randolph himself, by whom 'twas given. For they had long lived together as eminent Ministers of State; and neither of them lived long from after the time of This Advice; Nor did the one outlive the other above a Month or two at most. What induced Queen Mary (the Royal Sister of Charles the Fifth) to quit her Government of Belgium in Exchange for a private and quiet Life, 'tis very easy to conjecture, but hard to tell. Perhaps 'twas chiefly out of Reverence to the Example of her Brother, as 'twas done the same Day, wherein He laid down his Empire, and Crown of Spain; and even wept out of Compassion to his poor Brother, and his Son Philip, whose feeble Shoulders were now to sink under two such Loads, to wit the Kingdom of Spain, and the Germane Empire. I say, whatever was Her Inducement to do a thing above the Rate of her Sex and Breeding; sure we are, that Queen Etheldred was Godwin. de Praesulibus Anglicanis, p. 198. wholly induced by her Devotion to forsake the Pomps and Pleasures she might have lived in all her days, (as the Daughter of one King, the Widow of another, and the Wife of a Third,) had she not thought it an happier choice to live retiredly in an Abbey, which she had built, and endowed, and was the Abbess of till her Death. And not to mention Queen Christina of Sweden, or Bambas of Spain, (unless it be thus by a Paralipsis) no fewer than Nine of our own Saxon Kings, within the Space of Two hundred years, did freely relinquish their Crowns and Kingdoms. To which I add; That when jonadab imposed That strict Jer. 35. 6, 7. Command upon his Sons, to drink no Wine, to build no House, to sow no Seed, to plant no Vineyard, and all their days to dwell in Tents; (in little despicable Huts by the River jordan,) He did not only so command them to show his Dominion, and his Will, or only to exercise their Obedience, and Self-denial; But because he did esteem it the safest state and condition, to help enable them for an Innocent, and Pious Life. § 21. Another Use of This Text is with a Distinction to contradict it. We must not seek Great Things for ourselves, because we must. Not Great Things, because the Greatest. For what can be Greater than a Kingdom? and what so Great Kingdom, as the Kingdom of God, to the seeking of which our Lord excites us? (Matth. 6. 33.) So by St. Paul we are commanded, to seek those things that are above, (Col. 3. 1.) Not above us here on Earth, but above every thing that is Earthy. Nor are we only to seek God's Kingdom, though vastly Great, But (what is infinitely Greater) we are to seek God himself, who is The Great Rewarder of Them that diligently seek him, and The Rewarder of None besides, (Heb. 11. 6.) Thus the Dehortative, Seek not, is strongly enforced and urged on by a vehement Exhortation, Seek Those Things that are Above. Seek the Greatest Things imaginable, and Seek them for yourselves too. Ye have not here a continuing City, and therefore Seek one to come. For what says the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews? The life we have is Heb. 13. worth Nothing, compared with That we hope for. Which, being yet hid with Christ in God, we must seek, and seek on, till we find it out. Some things are Great which are not Good, and some are Good but not Great; But These are the Good and Great Things, which alone are worth seeking; and which we are not only allowed, but bid and bound to seek after. In comparison with These, [The Life which is hid with Christ in God, The Kingdom of God, and God Himself.] we ought to slight the arrant * Isa. 40. 17. Nothingness of the Things here below, which by a pitiful Catachresis the World calls Great; and as devoutly seeks after, as after an Heaven upon Earth. So every Hillock is a Great thing with a Community of Emmets wherewith 'tis Peopled, though 'tis not determined by Philosophers, whether (like Bees) they are a Kingdom, or (like some other Infects) a Commonwealth. But yet as Great as That Hillock does seem to Them, we know 'tis no bigger in respect of all the Earth, than All the Earth in respect of Heaven. And yet so it is, notwithstanding their littleness, and their contemptibility, we do no more excel Them in point of Quantity, and Strength, than they do us in the good Qualities of Peace, and Prudence. For all Communities of Emmets are still at Agreement among Themselves; are never endangered, much less destroyed, by any Intestine, or Homebred, either Divisions, or Insurrections. Whereas We have a Kingdom so sadly divided against Itself, that wicked men hope, and wise men fear,) (and there is ground for a suspicion,) it cannot long stand. § 22. Now to show the Real Littleness (the Prophet Esa calls it the Nothingness) of the Great Things below, being weighed in the Balance with Those Above, It will not probably be amiss, to put them Both into the Scales; that so we may see how much the later weigh down the former. First the Great Things below are but figuratively such, and secundum quid; somewhat Great in Appearance, but not indeed; or only Great in their relation to what is very much less; and so an Emmet-hill is as great in comparison with its Inhabitants, as the whole Globe of Earth in respect of us. Whereas the Great Things above are Great simpliciter, and in Themselves; They are absolutely Great, and without a figure. In comparison with Them, all the Great Things below do presently dwindle into a Point. The very Orb the Sun moves in is 100000 times bigger than all the Earth; But in relation to the Circumference of the Coelum Empyraeum, or but of That which is called the Primum Mobile, All the Dimensions of the Earth do immediately vanish, and lose themselves into a Centre. Next the Great Things Below will sooner or later be sure to fail us, and so with very great reason they have the Title of Uncertain affixed unto them in Holy Writ; whereas the Great Things Above will abide for ever; There the Crown is immarcescible; nor is there only an exceeding, but an eternal weight of Glory. Again, the Great Things Below are mixed with Troubles and Solicitudes; the Stream of their Enjoyment does never run clear; but what with Crosses, or Cares, is always muddy; whereas the Great Things Above do flow with such Rivers of Delight, as cannot be mingled with the least Drop either of Sorrow, or Interruption; in the Presence of God is Life, and most sincere pleasures for evermore. Again, the Great Things Below do only exercise our Thirst, if not increase it; Superfluity itself, does but enlarge a man's Appetite, and every man's Avarice is only wid'ned by his Possessions: whereas the Great Things Above will give us a plenary Satisfaction. There 'twill be one of our Enjoyments, not to be able to Desire; All our Longings and Ambitions will be wholly swallowed up into mere Fruition. Besides, the Great Things Below are very often by God's Permission, in the Disposal of the Devil; as is evident in the two Cases of Holy job, and the Sabaeans; of the Israelites, and Pharaoh; of jesus Christ, and Pontius Pilate; of the Greek Christians, and the Great Turk; of Innocent Travellers, and Highway Thiefs. By which and many other Cases there can be nothing more clear, than that the Great Things Below are by the Sufferance of God in the Devil's Disposal. Whereas the Great Things Above are above his Reach: His Chain of Darkness, which is his Tedder, falling short of That Region from whence He fell. Lastly, the Great Things Above do all legitimate our seeking, and make it gracious; whereas the Great Things Below do increase its Gild. And thence the Great Things Above are strictly commanded to be sought; whereas the Great Things Below are under as strict a Prohibition. Those we must seek, with Baruch; But These, with Baruch, we must forbear. These I think are All the Uses we are to make of This Message of God to Baruch; (besides the Use I made of it by way of Anticipation on this Day Seven-night;) and with These I dismiss its full and final Consideration. FINIS. THE TABLE. A ABstinence. A notable Instance of it, p. 620. Advantageous to a man's well-being, 662 Aeternal life the Prime object of our search, 265, 266, etc. how described in holy Writers, 305, 306, 307, etc. what meant by the words of Eternal life, 325, 326, 373, 374, etc. Afflictions. Extremely beneficial, and to be prayed for, 185, 186, etc. 191, 192. for them a Time of Recompense. 569, 570 Almsgiving necessary to life, 391, 392. a Necessary Concomitant of Prayer, 607, 608. encouragements thereto, 609, 610 Ambition. How to be regulated, 303, 304. wherein a Duty, 311, 312. etc. It's Itch antidoted, 467, 468, etc. unto the end. The danger of it, 615, 616, etc. Incident to Good men, 618 Antinomians. See Solifidianism. Apostates. Too general. p. 389, 390 Assurance of Salvation, how and when to be attained, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 202, 203, 259, 260 Atheists. Reasoned with, 180, 181, 182, etc. Avarice. How a Duty of the first magnitude, 311, 312, etc. how a Vice of the same, 490, 491, etc. Idolatry and Fornication, 600, 601. increased by possessions, 650 Authority. Obedience to it of the Essence of Christianity, 625 B. BElievers. Seldom truly Christian, yet seldom doubt of their being such, 177, 178, 179, etc. many ways Believers without true Faith, 250, 251, etc. Brutus'. How didactical to men, 399, 400 C. CAution. Needful to the Wisest and Best of men, 148 to 155, 161, 162 Christ. A Master, a Lord, a Legislator, a King, a Prince, a Judge, and whatsoever may oblige us to do him service, 10, 16, 17, 341, 342, etc. A stone of stumbling to Solifidians and Antinomians, 6, 7. His false and true Followers, 18, 19, 20, etc. 27, 28, etc. An easier Taskmaster than Moses, 37, etc. His Service profitable and pleasant, 39, 40, etc. 47, 48, etc. His End in coming hither, and Business when he was here, 115, 116, etc. 125, 126. our only Oracle to be consulted, 327, 328, etc. His Example to be followed, 584, 585 Christianity. Wherein it consists, 196, 197, 200, etc. 315, 316, etc. the hardest parts of it, 351, 352. how made easy, 354, 355, etc. to 366. How divided, 434, 435 Commandments. How to keep them is the whole duty of a Christian, 11, 12. In what Respects not grievous, 50, 51, 52, etc. 47, 48, 49, etc. 57, 58, etc. How made possible and pleasant, 356, 357, 358, 359, etc. to 380. Competition for our choice 'twixt God and Satan, 518, 519. to 527 Confession as necessary as Faith, 222, 223 Consideration. Of what Importance, 182, 183, etc. 191, 195, 196, 198 Contentment. It's true Rise, not from Abundance but the Mind, 575. the way to attain it, 576. Reasons for it, 624, 651. The Benefit of it, 660 Cross. Easy, whether laid on us by others, or freely taken upon ourselves, 64 to 77. Curiosity. How to be profitably objected, 304, 305, etc. D. DAmnation. The most elaborately sought, 176, 177 Decrees of God how both Absolute and Conditional 157, 158 Devil. How the God of this World, 50, 51. How hard a Taskmaster, 368, 369. wherein his chiefest strength lies, 448, 449. etc. to the end. How much of the World in his Disposal, and why, 528 to 569. How limited, 551, 552, etc. A Remedy against his Temptations, 570, 571. his Gifts improfitable, 576. and hurtful, 577. not to be boasted of, and why, ibid. His Scope and End in bestowing them, 586, 589, 590, 591, 592, 593. what Return we are to make him, 597, 598. How to beat him with his own Weapon, 607 Diogenes. Miserably misunderstood, 509, 510, etc. Disciples of Christ how to Catechise themselves, 28, 29, 30, 113, 114 Disputes. What the only safe end of them, 310. among Christians a stumbling-block to the Jews, 430, 431, etc. Divisions of Christians scandalous, 429, 430, 431, etc. Dives. Why the Representative of the Damned, 487, 488 E. ELection unconditional how dangerous to be believed, 157 England. How much happier than other Nations, 437, 438, etc. Englishmen the worse the more Ingrateful, 439, 440. their Degeneracy, 667 Example. More cogent with some men than Reason, 680, 681 Experience of the Worst and Best men compared, 50, 51, 52. A Proof of the Pleasure the Law of Christ yields us, 58, 59, 60, 61 F. FAith. Seldom Truly Christian, 85, 86. of the greatest Consequence that it be True, 86, 87, 102. a special Instance of Obedience, 108, 109. Never True but when the Mother of Obedience, 110, 111. how a Telescope, 181, 182, 256, 257. how and when Salvific, 223, 224, etc. It's several Sorts and Significations, 229, 230, etc. It's mysterious Definition, 239, 240. how the Pandect of Christian Duties, 241, 242, etc. to be found in very few, 418, etc. what Faith Salvific, 441 to 449 Fear. How required to true Faith, 96, 97. Fear and Trembling of a threefold Importance, 131, 132, 133, etc. Nothing more forbidden, or more commanded in Scripture, 135, 136, 137. the Reconcilement, 138, 139, etc. a Religious passion, 152, 154, 161, 162 Fiduciaries represented, 104, 105, 106, etc. 113, 114. Antidoted and humbled, 219, 220, etc. 250, 251, etc. 319, 320 G. GIfts. Of men Imperfect, 587, 588. of God only Complete, ibid. of the Devil, dangerous, 589, 590, etc. 592. described, 593. to be bewared, 594, 595, 596 God. How a comfortable Light, and consuming Fire, 111, 112. how his Omnipotence should oblige us to Obedience, 398, 399. his Permissions of Evil accounted for, 560, 561. etc. 583, 584. Other Reasons, 572. The Uses to be made of it, 573, 574, etc. The Difference 'twixt his Distribution of Endless Torments, and present Goods and Evils, unto men, 628, 629, 630. Evils happen to Good men, by his Order, or Permission, ibid. Goodness of Christ as a Legislator, 349, 350, etc. Gospel. A Rule, not a mere Dispensation, 119. It's Summary preached by Paul and Silas, 245, 246, etc. how a refuge from the Law, 329, 330. why to be called the New Law, 341, 342 Government. Of a man's self difficult, 657 Grace. In All is sufficient, 47, 48. How it signifies the Gospel, 92, 93, 94. Resembled by Manna, 404, 405. how it exceeds the state of Innocence, 406. The freeness of it, 407, 408, etc. H. HAppiness upon Earth wherein it lies, 259, 260, 305, 306, etc. 368, 369, 370, etc. Heaven. See Aeternal life. Hell made for the Use of All, 156. an Hell to think of, 183, 184. Humility. Necessary in the working out Salvation 131, 132, etc. 141, etc. the Proper virtue of the Greatest, 287, 288, 289, etc. The great Motive to it, 406, 407, etc. Hypocrisy. In what Professors most seen, 346, 347 I. IDleness. It's miserable Effects, 498, 499, etc. jews paralleled with Christians and less obliged, 127. less unexcusable, 429, 430 Impunity the severest punishment, 565, 566, etc. Infidelity. How to be proved, 441, 442, etc. Infirmities. How beneficial, 404, 405, 406 Injuries. How beneficial to the injured, 67, 68 Inquiries. How to be made, 302, 303, etc. to 315. what sort to be avoided, 316, 317. etc. a Touchstone to try of what sort we are, 321, 322, etc. Interest governs the World, 83, 84, 85 job. His case at large, 529 to 535. and 567, 568. justice.. Its wants in the World, 436, 437, etc. justification. From Eternity a dangerous Doctrine, 7, 8. to what kind of Faith it is ascribed, 233, 234, etc. K. KIngdoms. The littleness of them on Earth, 311, 312, etc. King's next to God, most capable of Injuries, 66, 67. most accountable to God, because not at all to man, 297. L. LAw of the Gospel, 42, 43, etc. of Faith, 121. of Moses, how it drives us to Christ, 328, 329, 330, 350. Christ a Legislator as well as Moses, 341, 342, etc. Liberality. In whom the Effect of Avarice, 593, 594. Libertines. How made, and why so many, 6. like the old Gnostics, 44, 45. described, 103, 104 Liberty of a Christian wherein it stands, 95, 96, 100, 166 Love. How it casteth out fear, and carries fear along with it, 138, 139, 161, 162. How the greatest of Virtues, 312, 313. how seldom True, 433, 434. How it fulfils the whole Law, 445, 446 M. MAhomedans. Better than many Christians, 425, 426 Man. How much more obliged than other Creatures, 385, 386. yet of All the most ingrateful, 387, 388. How to learn of the Brutes, 399, 400, etc. Martyrdom. The Reasonableness of it, 28, 29, etc. Moderation of mind how attained, 673. Motives to it, 673 to 700. Money. It's danger and Description, 507, 508. Moses. How he leads men to Christ, 328, 329, etc. as a lesser Pedagogue to a greater, 342, 343, etc. 350, 351. How he escaped the Devils Lime-twigs in his youth, 505 N. NIggard. His largess and folly equal, 490, 491. to 495 Nobility. Wherein it consists, 288, 289, etc. it's proper duties, 296, 297 O. OBedience, Its necessity to Salvation, 2 to 34. It must be Passive as well as Active, 27, 28, 29, 30. its own Reward, 60, 61, 62, etc. Indispensably necessary under the Gospel, 92, 93, etc. All one with Saving Faith, 235, 236. The All in All to a Christian, 344, 345, 346, etc. if not Servile, but ingenuous, 377, 378, etc. 395, 396, 400. the Condition, not the Cause of Salvation, 410, 411, etc. Opinions. Why to be well examined, 8, 9 Oracles many and deceitful, 331, 332 Orthodoxy not enough, 198, 199, etc. P. PErfection. Evangelical what, 364, 365 Persecution. Consisting with Pleasure, 71, 72, 73 Perseverance. Necessary to life, 146, 147, 149, 150, 152, 153, 390 Poverty. Preferred by many Heathens, 509, 510, etc. Sanctified by Christ, and recommended, 513, 514, etc. 519. a Comfort, 605, 645, 646, 647, 652, 653, 654. of what sort intended, 654, etc. Practice. The life of Christianity, 195, 196, etc. 200, etc. follows Principles, 441, 442, etc. Prayer. Worthless without Perseverance, 418, 419, etc. 462 Presumption. More dangerous than Despair, 144, 145, 147. oft mistaken for Faith, 421 Pride. In the poorest, 294, 295. the Sin of Sodom, 497 Principles. To be known by Practice, 442, 443, etc. Prodigality. Hardly avoidable even by Niggard's, 494, 495. no less Sin than Avarice, 601 Prognostic of the Coming of Christ to Judgement, 417 to 463. Promises of the Gospel still clogged with Precepts, 123, 124. yet confer a Right on All Performances of the Condition, 150, 151, 154, 159, 160 Prosperity. The hardest Weapon to wield, 184, 185, etc. No mark of Goodness, 436. tho, often its Reward, 437. the Common Portion of the worst, 539, 540, etc. Not to be envied, 583 accompanied with trouble, 676 Puritans. Modern Catharists, 388, 389 Pythagoreans. Their exact Conformity to their Master, 19, 20. wherein to be aemulated by Christians, 177 Poverty. Wherein it truly consists, 659. the Good Effect of it, ibid. & 660, 661. Consolation from it, 691 R. REconcilement 'twixt Calvinists and Remonstrants, 158, 159. 'twixt St. Paul and St. james, 248, 249 by whom endeavoured, 431. by whom abhorred, ib. & 432 Redemption. At what rate procured, and wherein it chiefly consists, 12, 13, 14, etc. Rather from Sin than Hell, 115, 116, etc. Religion. It's life lies in Action, 32, 33 Repentance. How much is meant by it, 25 Reverence. Compounded of Love and Fear, 94, 95, 96 Reward and Punishment the Enforcements of Duty, 94, 95 Rich men's Lesson, 285, 286. their Dangers most and greatest, 500, 501, etc. Riches. Impediments to Eternal life, 485. Enemies to all that's good, 486, 487. the Devil's Lime twigs, 502, 503, etc. Inquiry to be made how we come by them, 578. and accordingly to be enjoyed or acquitted, 579. Not always a sign of God's favour, and why, 580, 581, 582. always Temptations, 599, 600. The greatest Idol of the world, ibid. Separate us from God, 602 not to be sought by us, and why, 603, 604. though to be well employed when lawfully acquired, ib. The dearest and cheapest things in the world, 605. Matter of Sorrow to the owners, 606. to be accounted for, 644, 645. how to be enjoyed with Innocence, 658, 659, 671, 680 S. SAlvation. To whom alone it belongs, 21, 22, 23, etc. 32, 33, etc. what the Condition on which 'tis given, 112, 113, etc. to be worked out by us, 129, etc. hard to have an Assurance of, 147, 148 to 155. the only thing to be searched after, 169, 170, etc. yet the least laboured for, 175, 176 Satan. Why his Harvest more than Christ's, 176. his Masterpiece, 468, 469, etc. Scandal. To whom given by Christians, 434, 435, etc. Sedition. Dissuasives from it, 438, 439, etc. Self-denial and Self-revenge the Root of all Goodness, 453, 454, etc. Exemplified in the Heathens, 509, 510, etc. but in Christ above all, 513, 514, etc. Self-love. How the Root of All Evil, 450, 451, 452, etc. attended with Revenge, and Carelessness, of others, 623 Service of God how mistaken, 107, 108 Sins. Some not to be Named, 110 Sloath. A Sin of Sodom as great as any, 498, 499, etc. Socrates. How like a real Christian, 512, 513 Solifidianism. It's danger, 7, 31, 33, 45, 46. Confuted by Arguments ad Absurdum, 55, 56, 128. It's venom laid open, 212, 213, etc. 228, 229, 319, 320 Sufferings. Peculiar to Great and Good men, 65, 66 T. TEmptations. How to be encountered, 75, 76. what the greatest in All the world, 468, 469, etc. to the end. How to resist them, 524, 525, 597, 598. their Benefit, 481, 482, 483, why to be rejoiced in, and when, ibid. Terrors. Of the Lord of wholesome force, 156, 157, 169, 174, etc. 190, 191, etc. 193, 194. How Instrumental to Christianity, 350, 351, etc. Truth. Hurtful when but partially delivered, 9, 10. and when tacked on to as great a Falsehood, 47. Exemplified in Satan, 555, 556, etc. U. UNity, among the Jews, 429. a Mark of Truth, 430, etc. W. WAtchfulness. A necessary Duty, 459, 460, etc. Wickedness. At what doors it entered the world, 599, 600 World how turned upside down by the Apostles, 167, 168. How made an Antidote to its own Venom, 188, 189, etc. How universally depraved, 456, 457, etc. Worldlings. Their Misery, 600, 601 Worldly Greatness. Its dangers, 449, 450, etc. to the End. Why it is beggarly, and can't be undervalved, 573, 574, 575. the want of it our Advantage, 625, 626, etc. Reasons not to seek it, 630, 631, 632, etc. to 646, 650. which the least desirable, 656 to 663. wholesome Lessons to Poor and Rich concerning it, 663, 664, 665. the means and motives to the learning of them, 668, 669, etc. 682, 683, etc. from the Examples of Great men, 684, etc. Works. Good ones Absolutely Necessary to Salvation, 23, 24, 31, 32, etc. How Salvation to be worked out, 129, 130, etc. Y. YOung men's Lesson, 277, 278 Books lately printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Paul's Churchyard. A Perfect Copy of all the Summons of the Nobility to the Great Councils and Parliaments of this Realm, from the Forty ninth of King Henry the Third, until these present Times: With Catalogues of such Noblemen as have been summoned to Parliament in Right of their Wives; and of such other Noblemen as derive their Titles of Honour from the Heirs Female from whom they are descended, and of such Nobleman's Eldest Sons as have been summoned to Parliament by some of their Father's Titles. Extracted from Public Records, by Sir William Dugdate Knight, Garter, Principal King at Arms. The Order of the Installation of Henry Duke of Norfolk, Henry Earl of Peterborough, and Laurence Earl of Rochester, Knights and Companions of the most Noble Order of the Garter, in the Royal Chapel of St. George at Windsor, july 22. 1685. An Historical Vindication of the Divine Right of Tithes, from Scripture, Reason, and the Opinion and Practice of jews, Gentiles, and Christians in all Ages. Designed to supply the Omissions, answer the Objections, and rectify the Mistakes of Mr. Selden's History of Tithes. Part I. The second Edition corrected and amended. By Thomas Comber DD. Proecentor of York. An Historical Vindication of the Divine Right of Tithes; which is further proved by Scripture and Antiquity, and illustrated by the Solemn Consecration and great Convenience of them: With an Answer to the Objections of other Authors against them. Part II. To which is added, A Discourse concerning Excommunication. By Thomas Comber D. D. Proecentor of York. A Treatise of Spousals, and Matrimonial Contracts: Wherein all the Questions relating to that Subject are ingeniously Debated and Resolved. By Mr. Henry Swinburne, Author of the Treatise of Wills and Testaments. The Excellency of Monarchical Government, especially of the English Monarchy: Wherein is largely treated of the several Benefits of Kingly Government, and the Inconvenience of Commonwealths. Also of the several Badges of Sovereignty in general, and particularly according to the Constitution of our Laws. Likewise, of the Duty of Subjects, and the Mischiefs of Faction, Sedition, and Rebellion. In all which, the Principles and Practices of our late Commonwealths men are considered. By Nathaniel johnston Doctor in Physic. Dr. Stern Archbishop of York, his Book of Logic. In Octavo. Dean of Durham his Counsel and Directions, Moral and Divine, to a young Gent.