DISCOURSES Upon several Practical Subjects.  
By the late Reverend WILLIAM pain, D. D.  
WITH A PREFACE Giving some Account of his Life, Writings, and Death.  
LONDON, Printed by J. O. for R. Wilkin, at the Kings-Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, MDCXCVIII.   

THE PREFACE.  
THE Limits of a Preface will not allow the writing the Life of the Author of the following Discourses, neither have I materials by me for such a work. My first acquaintance with him was sometime after his settlement in London. I was the more inclined to a Correspondence with him, because he had his Education in Cambridge, under, and was much esteemed by Dr. H. P. a person never to be named by me, without paying a very particular honour and respect to his memory.  
Antoninus gins his admirable Instructions of life, with an account of his several Benefactors, from whom he had learned this and that piece of useful and practical knowledge: instead of many, I am obliged to instance in this excellent Man alone, to whom I am more indebted, than to all the Teachers I ever had; and I take this opportunity to give public Thanks to God for the happy opportunities I enjoyed of his wise Instructions and Counsels; from him I learned rightly to understand Religion, the Ideas of which had been so confounded by false Teachings, and the notion of it set forth in so frightful a manner, that there is reason to conclude, that it was the superstition of the former, which has laid the Foundation of the too visible Scepticism and Infidelity of the present Age. From him I learned that the Laws of Religion were intrinsically good, and infinitely for the benesit and advantage of reasonable Creatures, which is the only true notion of it, which can secure the Faith, and keep up the practice of it among Men, who must and ever will be swayed by what they are once thoroughly persuaded is their chief Interest and highest Benefit. He was a Man of clear thoughts which he always freely communicated, and of so universal a Benevolence, and took such delight in doing good, that he obtained the name of Pamphilus among his Friends. My acquaintance was never large, and I have stayed a little of the longest in the World, to outlive most of those few Friends I once had; but so far as my small experience has reached, I cannot but say, I never knew a better Man, a wiser Christian, or a truer Friend. The Reader, if he be good natured, will pardon me for stepping a little out of my way, to pay a debt of Gratitude. To return to our Author, of whom I have undertaken to give some account, from the time of my first acquaintance with him. He had not been long in Town, before he was taken notice of by some of the best Judges of Learning, who soon discerned his Abilities, and how fit he was for those undertake, in which the Service of the Church afterwards required him to engage; I mean in those perilous times, when both our Religion and our Civil Rights were so visibly endangered, that many despaired and gave them up for lost. The Members of the Church of England stood in this breach, which they maintained with that Courage, that the Enemy gave back, and a space was gained for our deliverance: The behaviour of the Divines of this Church, will be remembered by Posterity, and a Collection of their writings at a time when others were so silent and complying, will remain a standing Armoury against Popery, whenever it shall renew its attempts upon us. Then it was that he showed both his Courage and his Skill in defending our established Religion. The former in contemning those numerous threatening Letters, some sent him by the Penny-Post, and others thrown over his Garden-Wall; and one night a Divine, of about his bulk, and a Friend of his, coming late through Harrow-Alley into Goodman's- fields, which was his usual walk home, two Men with drawn Swords came up to him, and staring him in the face, said the one to the other, 'tis not he, and so went off; which had no other effect upon him, but to give him a caution not to stay out in the Evenings. His abilities I need not say any thing of, they are sufficiently seen in those Learned Treatises published by him, on this occasion, The Adoration of the Host, the Sacrifice of the Mass, and that extraordinary discourse in answer to the Bishop of Meauxes Book of Communion in one kind; not to mention his lesser pieces of the sixth Note of the Church, and his Examination of the Texts of Scripture produced by the Papists for the Celibacy of Priests: whoever carefully reads over those Treatises will find the subject exhausted, and that he needs not to search any further into those Arguments; and by those concessions, so Ingeniously made to his Adversaries, which showed that he sought Truth only, and not Victory, the possibility of a reply seems to me to be prevented; and the Learned French Prelate, who has showed himself to have dexterity enough for most undertake, would yet I believe be loath to be put upon the uneasy task of defending his Book against that answer to it. When the fear of Popery was over, it was the general expectation that our little disputes and controversies would be thrown up, and to prevent any future danger, we should be at perfect Peace and Union among ourselves. The behaviour of the Clergy in circumstances when they expected nothing but ruin to themselves and their Families, it was hoped had removed all the Jealousies of our Dissenting Brethren, and disposed them to such a temper, that there seemed nothing wanting to gain the wisest and best part of them to our Communion, but to let them be assured, that we would receive them kindly; nothing could so effectually secure us from the like dangers from Popery for the future, nor keep up the practice of Religion and good Morals, as putting a final end to the Schism, and uniting us in one Communion. Some were of Opinion, that this was not possible to be done, but by a Comprehension; they said that an opportunity for this had been slipped within their memories, and that now they had another very fair one, which it would be unpardonable to let pass: besides, they saw that without it, a general Toleration would pass in Parliament, the ill consequences of which were easily foreseen. Others apprehended, that no Condescension would unite us, that our Dissenting Brethren would not be satisfied unless they could carry all before them, and that were they takn into our Communion, they would make no other use of the Privilege than to over-turn our Constitution as soon as they had an opportunity for it; and therefore they thought it was better we should continue as we were, till we could have assurance that we should not be ridiculed for making alterations unrequested, and without any likelihood of answering the end thereby proposed. This was wholly a matter of Prudence, and who was in the right could not presently be determined and therefore 'tis not to be wondered at that there should be different sentiments about the means in those who all joined in the same end. Our Friend, with whom I have often canvassed the Question, was in his judgement, which he sincerely followed in all things, for a Comprehension, and tho' he had a just sense of the sin of Schism, and looked upon that among us as utterly unjustifiable, and that nothing of any moment could be urged in defence of it; yet his Opinion was, that this was the only Method, which the present follies and mistakes of Men would admit of, to establish the honour and interest of the Church, and to recover expiring Piety, Charity, and other Christian Virtues, which by our divisions had received a wound not to be cured, without the use of this balm. Upon these considerations, he was prevailed with so far to concern himself on this occasion, as to reply to a little piece, entitled Vox Cleri, published by a Learned and Eminent Divine, as in the name of the Clergy; which Circumstance, with the stile of the answer being a little too facetious, for so aged a Divine as his Adversary, raised him some Enemies: but had he lived never so long, I believe he would hardly have concerned himself any further in proposing expedients of Peace, the very mentioning of which, as his experience taught him, made Men ready to Battle. The design of the Comprehension being laid aside, the Toleration bill passed into a Law; with prudent Limitations for registering the places of Assembling, the names of Preachers, and for securing the Fidelity both of them, and their people (who were to be known to what Congregation they belonged) to the Government; but as it has been managed and used, without regard to the directions of the Statutes, 'tis a sanctuary for such as are, as well Enemies to the Government, as to Religion; 'tis an assumed liberty to avoid all civil Ties, and to be of any Religion, or none, to worship God in their own way, or not to worship him at all; 'tis a refuge for Atheism, Irreligion and Profaneness, and has produced such a neglect of public worship and corruption of Morals, as are very scandalous in a Christian Kingdom. Some little Writers about this time expounded this Law to discharge all persons from all obligation to Church-Communion in point of Conscience; but this tittle tattle was nothing to what has since followed, every one taking the liberty according to the Model of Spinosa's happy Commonwealth, to Speak and Writ as he lists.  
It was a little surprise to us, so soon almost as our Controversies with the Papists, and our fears from that party were over, to be encountered with a set of Men, who, with unusual confidence profess an enmity to all Religion, and bid defiance to the common faith of mankind; who talk wildly of a Religion, very improperly called so, which has no dependence upon Times, Places, or Persons, to Minister in holy things; a Religion without worship or any public Offices, whereby it is professed, a thing never heard of before in the World. No man ought tamely to bear an attempt to set aside that public Honour that is done to the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth; and no Christian can be silent when the Lord that bought them, is openly denied and his Mission ridiculed. Whither are we going, when Pamphlets are to be seen on every Stall, wrote directly against Christianity? when under the pretence of advancing Reason, Revelation is thrown up, and at best is allowed to be no more than a means of Information, but no necessitating motive of assent? Are these men of Cardan the Astrologer's mind, that the Law of Christ shall be changed? and shall it give way to that sect, which all the other Philosophers exposed, and Epicurus be set up as a Master and Teacher, instead of our Blessed Saviour? Do they think to be too hard for God? Are they stronger than he? It has been observed, that whoever breaks violently in upon the Laws of his Country, tho' he may for a time brave it; and presume himself beyond control, in the end the Laws are always too hard for him, and crush him to nothing: and shall men hope to be safe, who spit in the face of Heaven, and trample all the Laws of God under their feet? Lucretius was as great a Bravo, and no way inferior to any modern writer, in the Atheistical way either in Wit or Argument; and yet Religion has kept its ground and will do so, whatever vain imaginations some few fools may entertain of gaining a victory over it; however there are those who are resolved not to give over their attempts, and seem to be combined in a close Confederacy, and with united strength to try what they can do. The Age every one sees, is extremely addicted to lightness and vanity, and to turn every thing that is grave and serious into ridicule; to make the best advantage of this prevailing humour, they have a sort of Retainers to Atheism, who are as great Enemies to Reason as to Religion, and have neither enquired into what Religion has to say for itself, or the objections against it; their work is to break a Profane Jest or two upon it, and if they can but set down these in writing, they grow into a great Opinion of their Parts, and take it for an affront for any Man to speak a wise word in their Company. Others, for each seems to have his part assigned him according to his Genius, pretend to be men of deep thoughts, and to have searched into all the secret Arts of Priest-craft, and to have examined the juggle of Mysteries to the bottom; and withal, to have a great Charity for the long misguided World, oppressed under the Tyranny and slavish fear of Religion; and yet in all this their design seems to be merely to banter mankind. The Author of Christianity not Mysterious, has wrote a laboured Book to amuse the world, and prove nothing; he acknowledges there are Mysteries without number, and yet will allow nothing to be called so: he will not suffer Mysteries in Revelation, where reason can know nothing beyond what is revealed, to be argued from Mysteries in nature, where reason is a proper Judge; whereas one would think that if in things knowable by reason, we find difficulties we cannot solve, it should seem less strange when we meet with as great in matters of Revelation, which we can know nothing of, further than they are revealed. He will not have a thing said to be above reason, because it cannot be imagined or conceived; and yet makes above reason to signify something unconceivable or unimaginable, and to be the same with Mystery. He asserts that there is nothing in Religion, that is above reason, and yet confesses that there are things in it, of which we have not an Adequate and Complete Idea, which is, what is meant by being above reason: And because we need not understand what we cannot discover by our natural faculties, or infinite goodness has not been pleased to reveal to us; proposes it, as a Compendious method to all useful knowledge, not to trouble ourselves or others, with what God has revealed, because we do not understand all that belongs to its nature or manner of existence: and yet after all this concession of the imperfection of our knowledge, and that there are some things we cannot comprehend, affirms that God and Eternity, are no Mysteries, for want of an Adequate and complete Idea of them; and that Infinity and Eternity are as little Mysterious, as that two and three make five: these are certainly at present great difficulties, but he has promised to solve them all, only he refers this to a second Book; but he is so cautious as not to limit himself to any time for the publishing it, that depending upon health and leisure, which he very wisely says, are things in no Man's power to command at his pleasure; and yet are much more so, than what he has so very vainly made a show of undertaking. The Socinians may take it ill to be ranked with those who speak and write against Religion, but 'tis too apparent that they join with them in their attempts upon revealed Religion, and with them carry those on with such Arguments, as will at last bear very hard upon Natural, which is not wholly without its Mysteries; and God himself, the belief of whose existence is the foundation of all Religion, is as incomprehensible as any the objects of the Christian Faith. These men were once strenuous asserters of the Authority of the Scriptures, but being pressed hard with the unreasonableness of that Principle, not to believe any thing tho' confessed to be plainly and expressy revealed, unless they saw how the thing could be; they have bethought themselves rather to lessen the Authority of those Books than to insist longer on such a sense of 'em, as no other Man, and 'tis hard to think they themselves, can judge to be their meaning.  
Is that great principle of the Reformation, That the Scriptures are the sole rule of Faith, come to this? They deserve to be sent to the Island of Anticyra, if they have any thoughts of utterly running down revealed Religion; but they may prepare the way for that Church, which by so many Arts and Stratagems has attempted to overthrow the Reformation; and 'tis an excess of Charity, not to believe that some of 'em are employed to that purpose, and designedly write to serve that cause. Socinus himself did vigorously maintain the worship of Christ; how agreeably with his principles may be seen in his dispute with F. D. but his Followers have given it up, and take it ill that any should charge them with honouring the Son, as they honour the Father; will any man deny this to be a proper season to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered? and can a Christian not call to mind, on this occasion, those words of our Blessed Saviour, whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father, which is in Heaven? These considerations awakened the zeal of this excellent Man I am speaking of, to stand betwixt the living and the dead, and to try to stop the plague that was begun; to this purpose he first drew up a discourse of Mysteries in Religion, which, not publishing at that time, he afterwards contracted into two of those discourses that were in the Press at his death. After this, he applied himself to examine the Socinian Controversy, as it relates to the Doctrines of the ever Blessed and Adorable Trinity, about which, he spent much time, and many thoughts; he was fully persuaded that herein lay Christianity, as distinct from natural Religion, and that upon the Socinian principles, it was impossible to clear the Scriptures from being purposely wrote to lead mankind into the grossest Errors and plain Idolatry: and that take Christianity at the best it could amount to no more than an Institution of Morals, that Mysterious Method of the Redemption of mankind by the Incarnation, Obedience and Passion of the Son of God, and all the hopes of sinners from a Covenant of Grace, being hereby entirely given up. These thoughts were enough to startle any one, who had a concern for the honour, or being of Christianity. He first set himself carefully to examine the Sacred Records, which speak so plainly of the Son and the Holy Ghost, as distinct Persons from the Father; and so expressly assert their Divinity, that it was just matter of wonder to him, how this could be overlooked or mistaken: we are indeed amused with Eastern phrases and proper Idioms of speech, long ago out of use, which, if understood, we are told, would make that sense easy to us, which some are pleased to put upon the Sacred Oracles: but if the memory of these be perfectly lost, how comes it to be known that there were ever any such in use? and yet, unless they know what they were, how can they pronounce them serviceable to their cause? but if any remain, why are they not produced or some other Book instanced in, wherein any footsteps of 'em remain? The notion which the ancient Jews had of the Messiah, is, That he was God who should become incarnate. Of this there are sufficient intimations in the Prophets, and it was the received sense of the ancient Jewish Church; the Conception of him as a mere Man, was an error which sprung from that gross expectation they had of him, as a Prince and a mighty Conqueror, who should advance the Jewish Nation above all the Kingdoms of the Earth. And this ancient notion of the Messiah is doubtless a better rule to follow, in interpreting what is said of him in the writings of the new Testament, than to confound these by putting a sense upon them, contrary to what the words import, and referring us to phrases, that no body knows any thing of, to make it out. But whatever those Eastern Idioms of speech were, the Primitive Church could not be ignorant of them, and their Faith and Worship must be allowed to be a full evidence of the sense in which they understood these Sacred Writings; 'tis true, there were some whose Memory can be no credit to any Party, who in the very age of the Apostles, impugned our Saviour's Divinity: but against these, St. John wrote his Gospel, beginning it with as full and express assertions of our Saviour's Divinity, as can be imagined; and in his Epistles he calls these Heretics the Antichrist that were already come. Afterwards arose Praxeas, Noetus, and after both, about the middle of the third age, Sabellius; these pressed with the Authority of Scripture, which so expressly declares the Son and the Holy Ghost to be God, asserted only one Person trinominem, which was owning a Trinity only of names: against these the Church declared the Christian Faith as it was written and as it had received and kept it, that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, nor the Holy Ghost Father, or Son; the Father alius à filio, the Son alius à Patre, the Holy Ghost alius a Patre & Filio, each to be considered under his proper Character, and in himself as a distinct Person, tho' all three united in one indivisible nature. In the same age we meet with Paul of Samosata, advanced by Zenobia to the Chair of Antioch, he is properly styled the Father of our modern Socinians, for he asserted that Christ was a mere Man, and had no existence before his Conception in the Womb of the Holy Virgin, and was the Author of that foolish contradictory Notion of a Deus factus, and the Socinians have only revived his Heresy, which was condemned in the Council of Antioch, and in a second himself deposed. In the beginning of the next age, Arrius a Presbyter of the Church of Alexandria, sets up to be Patron of a new Heresy, differing both from Sabellius and Paulus, but agreeing with them in opposing the Divinity of our Blessed Lord; he maintained another Essence of the Son and denied his Coeternity and Equality with the Father; and many falling in with him, the whole cause was publicly heard, the controverted Texts of Scripture, and the constant Tradition of the Church about the sense of them carefully examined, and the Worship of the whole Christian Church appealed to, and by these was the Christian Faith explained and asserted. The fourth age being the time fixed on, and the Eastern Church, the Stage on which these things were done; our Author, who had a mind to look through this Controversy, set upon examining the Records and Writings of that time, that are extant, particularly he carefully perused the Confessions and Decrees of the great Councils of Nice, and the first of Constantinople, wherein were no new Articles of Faith framed, but the old ones declared and explained, which the Church has both Authority and Obligation to do, as the rise and growth of Heresies make this necessary; and the works of those two great Men, St. Athanasius and St. Basil, and he found full satisfaction, and met with a Complete recompense, for all the pains his search had cost him. Being to Preach in his course at Westminster on Trinity Sunday, he pitched upon those words of the Apostle, 1. Cor. 8.5. but to us there is but one God, as the Theme of his discourse; this he did not only with respect to the day, which was sufficient to justify him in undertaking such an Argument, in so Learned an Auditory; but with regard to the boldness of our Socinian Adversaries, who have been very free in charging the Doctrine of the Trinity with Absurdities, Contradictions, and Impossibilities. What he proposed was to defend our Common Faith of the Divine Trinity and Unity, which is the peculiar Scheme and Constitution, and Character of Christianity; and to resolve that obvious difficulty of believing those Divine Persons of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to be each of them God, which is the Christian Faith, and yet to maintain with the Apostle that to us Christians there is but one God. It so fell out that some passages, or rather words, (as is very common in the transient hearing a discourse) were not rightly apprehended, which had like to have been the occasion of a dispute betwixt him and some of his Brethren, very eminent for their Learning, and of known zeal for the Common Faith. This occasioned his Letter in defence of his Sermons, to the Right Reverend Bishop of R. who, as he was by his place a proper Judge to be appealed to; is upon all other accounts so qualified, that no Man who knows him, would refuse his umpirage in any thing, wherein Learning and Judgement joined with Integrity and Candour, are required: but it went not so far, for he was soon better understood, and both sides satisfied. 'Tis not necessary for me to say, why that discourse has not been yet published; the reason is not that any thing new is advanced in it, or what is not exactly agreeable with the Notion, Language and Terms of the Church, in constant use at the time when this Question was discussed: some of the Authorities produced by him, the World has already judged of; I say some, for he has collected a great many more to the same purpose, but he thought these sufficient. The last Winter of his life he spent in reviewing his thoughts on this Argument, and examining them with all possible strictness, by the Scriptures and the Church Records; and it was great satisfaction to him that he had cleared his own thoughts about this Adorable Mystery, and found nothing to lie uneasy to them, in believing with the whole Christian Church upon the Authority of Revelation, that there is but one Essence, which we call God, and yet that in the Godhead, there are three Persons of the same Essence and Power and Coeternal; taking the name Person in the sense of the Church, not for a mere different mode or manner of subsisting, or in a metaphorical sense, but for what properly subsists: and he hoped he had done something for the clearing other men's thoughts; however, the honour of our Saviour and of the Christian Faith and Religion, were the things he had in his Eye, and were sincerely intended by him, in all that he had either Preached or Wrote on that subject.  
The World seems at present to stand very much in need of such Men, who want neither Learning nor Courage to stop the insults of the Enemies, not to this or that particular Church, but to Christianity itself; and tho' God whose counsels are unsearchable takes away some at a time when they were likely to have been most useful, yet he will always leave a sufficient number thus qualified to defend his own cause. I dare not now undertake to give a full and just Character of our Author, I will venture to say something, but what, I am ready to own, falls short of him; he was a Man of great natural endowments, and what is more to his commendation, of indefatigable industry; he never left a subject till he had searched it to the bottom, and perfectly cleared his own thoughts about it: In his younger years he was much taken with Experimental Philosophy, having from his first enquiry into Books and Things, always set the highest value upon that knowledge he thought most useful, and by a Collection of observations left under his hand, it appears that he had spent some time and pains that way. In the year 1681. Novem. 23. I find him admitted Fellow of the Royal Society; but upon his settling in London, he laid aside those studies and wholly applied himself to that, which was his proper Profession: his chief aim being now to do the utmost good he could among those over whom he had a pastoral care, in that renowned City. The effects of his Labours remain to my own knowledge, among some of his Parishioners, who have owned to me the great benefit they have received by his constant Preaching, both in helping them rightly to understand and engaging them in a serious practice of Religion, and by his Writings they are more generally known. The visiting a whole Parish from House to House, I cannot say to be a necessary part of the Pastoral care, I rather lay it in faithfully and constantly discharging the public Offices. It would be a sad thing to be accountable for the neglect of what in great Parishes is confessed to be impracticable; this therefore can only be an occasional duty, in which, a Minister must be left to his own prudence, who is best able to judge what good is likely to be done in this way, and when. I have heard our Friend say more than once, that if he could see the necessity of it, or those wonderful ends it would serve, he would throw up all his own concerns, and apply himself wholly to it: however, he supplied the want of that, in the best manner he could, and by ways he thought much more useful to such as were disposed to mind the concerns of their Souls. For the use of his Parishioners he first composed, and afterwards by Printing it, offered to their closer consideration his admirable Practical Discourse of Repentance, wherein he has rectified many mistakes and lose notions about this Doctrine; such as have had a very fatal influence upon the lives of many, who all the while looked upon themselves in a safe state: they are chief owing, as I apprehend, to their not distinguishing betwixt baptismal Repentance, and the Repentance for wilful sins, many and long continued in, after Men have covenanted with God for a constant course of obedience. Two days before he died, he thanked God that he had lived to publish that Discourse; Not, said he, That it is Wrote with that care and exactness it might have been, for it was composed in parts, and at several distant times; but I think it may be serviceable, which is the only end I proposed in it, to teach the right knowledge and practice of that duty. I am sensible that some have taken exceptions at what he affirmed of the invalidity of a Deathbed Repentance, but 'tis no more than is said by many others, and as far as I see, must be owned by all, who throughly examine that subject. The Question is not what God may do, or sometimes does, by an extraordinary act of Grace, but what he has covenanted for, or what are the plain and indispensible conditions of Salvation required by the Gospel. A Malefactor, upon whom the Law has pronounced death, may be pardoned by special favour; and if a sinner, who never reputes till he comes to die, be saved, this is showing him more mercy, than is covenanted for in the Gospel-Law of Life: and in what instances God will abate of those Terms, no Man can tell, and 'tis the highest folly and madness to trust to it, without a particular Revelation. That God will make allowance for men's Circumstances in this World, and judge their several cases with the greatest equity, and proportion their rewards and punishments accordingly, come within the Terms of covenanted Grace and Mercy; but the Question is whethe a Minister of the Gospel, who visits an habitually wicked Man, in his last sickness, can assure him, he shall be saved on such a Repentance; if it comes up to the Terms of the Gospel, he may give him this assurance; and then this Doctrine may be Preached, yea, and aught to be for all the Gospel-condititions of life, and Salvation are to be published to all. Such Preaching would be very comfortable to those who would be glad to save their Souls, and yet are very loath to forego their sins; and are not like to be persuaded to this, as long as they have any hopes of securing them by repenting when they come to die; These seem to be very plain consequences of allowing the sufficiency of a deathbed Repentance, by the terms of the Gospel. For his Parishioners, he likewise drew up a Manual of Devotion, to be used daily in their families, and put a great number of them into the hands of the Collecter of his Tithes to be distributed among them: he apprehended the decay of Piety and corruption of manners to be in great measure owing to the neglect of family Religion, which be therefore took the opportunity after this to recommend in a Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor, and Court of Aldermen, whose example was like to give the best Encouragement to it: which they so well approved of as to desire him to publish it. His thoughts were that the true cause of the general neglect of Family Devotion, is the wrong notion Men have entertained of Forms of Prayer, which is a thing so past all dispute, that it must lie upon the Consciences of those who have denied 'em, if, now that the effects of that error are found so evidently ruinous to Piety and good Morals, they do not in some public way retract it, and advise to the use of Forms, without which the use of constant Family Prayer can never be retrieved. He was so intent upon doing good among his people, that he was often proposing to himself and ask his Friends to think of something wherein he might be most useful to them; he endeavoured to free the minds of other Men, as he has done his own from false and lose principles in Religion, the effects of which will in a short time appear in the Life and Practice. His Religion did not lie in shows and mere forms of Godliness, which we need not an Apostles Testimony to assure us, may be separated from the power of it; I take him to have been in that state described by St. John when he says, he that is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God; He would not, I dare say, for all the World have committed a known, wilful, and deliberate sin, and I am sure would have been horribly afraid of himself if he had fallen into one such sin. I could here give in evidence for what I say, if it were necessary, a signal instance of a vigorous sense of Religion, and a resolved and confirmed virtue, such an one as is not very common. I herein say no more of him, than what in Justice is due, and what by long experience and many proofs I know to be true of him; he did not indeed discover those signs of Grace, which some Men expect to find in the face; he had not that affected gravity and down-look and dull humour, which a Pharisee would perhaps have sought for, as a visible mark of it; He was always cheerful and gay himself, and would suffer none to be otherwise, wherever he came: This, I confess, if any thing was an excess in him, because it must be owned, that he would be sometimes merry at other men's cost, who could not bear up against the sharpness of his wit, which I therefore place among his imperfections. But though he gave way possibly too much to that facetiousness and pleasant air of Conversation, which was very natural to him, and as he thought in mixed Company most agreeable; yet in a closer Conversation, or when at any time the Argument required it, he knew how to be serious; and was pleased when any subject was started that required grave talk and strict reasoning: besides, he oft took the opportunity of conveying right notions of things and reproving some Vices in a jocular way, when he knew not how to do this in any other way; this design he often had of doing good, and found it successful where it was least perceived. His Character as a Friend concerns only particular Persons, who have drawn it at large on their own minds; it signifies not much to say any of this to others, but if any be curious to know it, I refer them to Plutarch's rules to distinguish a Flatterer from a Friend. His Friendship being grounded upon principles of virtue, his passion for his Friend was not Connterfeit, nor his Conversation with him forced, but natural and easy and all of a piece; he always used freedom and would neither fall in with, nor decline taking notice of what he thought was amiss in his Friend: he was ready to assist him to the uttermost of his power and would embark with him in whatever was fair and honest, and nothing else; and would always defend him in his absence.  
I have now brought him to the last Stage of his life, and you are to see him die. Now is the truest Judgement to be made of the Wisdom and Steadiness of a Man's principles, and the sincerity and regularity of his actions. Now all mere forms of Godliness are discovered, and the Masks of Hypocrisy fall off, and 'tis no longer a time to dissemble with God or Man; I am very well ware that some very pious Persons, who have no reason for it are under great fears at the approach of death; Natural temper or an habitual melancholy heightened by the present indisposition of body, with a sinal tincture of superstition, which is incident to very sincere Persons, may cause their hearts to misgive them; and put them into frights they know not why, and when there is no ground for them: on the other side, some Enthusiasts there are who have no manner of claim to happiness by the terms of the Gospel, but have the highest reason to be afraid of that Just Judgement that shall render to every Man according to his works; who yet meet death in a sort of Triumph and Ecstasy, and talk in the wildest manner of the certainty of their Salvation: this is the effect of the vilest of all principles; for such are those which cancel the obligations of the Gospel, and supersede the necessity of a holy life to salvation.  
But whatever wrong Judgement Men make of themselves, God will Judge righteous Judgement; and neither the causeless fears of good Men, not the vain presumptions of bad Men, shall have any influence on their future state. So soon as the vital union betwixt Soul and Body is dissolved, the one shall find themselves safe, notwithstanding their fears; and the other miserably disappointed under all their bold and groundless confidence: But generally speaking to departed not in Raptures, but in Peace, to die with an undisturbed yet thoughtful mind; with a sense of our own unworthiness, and yet, with a full trust in God's promises, (till the bodily distemper rises so high as to take away the free use of our faculties; after which, all that any Man says or does stands for nothing) I take to be the present and natural reward of a virtuous Life. He who has lived constantly under a vigorous sense of God and of another World, who has often had his thoughts in that invisible state, and in all his Actions has manifested his firm belief of, and earnest desire to reach the happiness proposed; should, one would think, not find it any great dissiculty to leave this World to enter upon one far better. Under this happy and most desirable composure of mind was this admirable Man, and sincere Christian at the approach of Death, which he had seen advancing towards him for some time, and sensibly felt it drawing nearer him by degrees. The 7th. of February 1696 was the last time of his appearing in the Pulpit; he then found himself very ill, and that the Sentence of Death was upon him: for that reason he chose to venture abroad to take his final leave of his people in the solemnest manner, and to close up his Ministry by Administering to them and partaking with them of the Blessed Sacrament of our Saviour's Body and Blood; which he ever looked upon as designed to be a part of public Christian worship, and in the first Ages not administered to dying Persons on their sick beds, unless they were in a state of Penance, and were hereby to be restored to the Peace and Communion of the Church. The notion of a Viaticum he looked upon as brought in with superstition, and that it tended to uphold it; upon which principle, many who neglect this duty all their life long, are very earnest for it at their deaths, upon the like reason that the Clinici deferred the other Sacrament till the last hour. His Discourse was upon these words, Luke 12.40. Be ye therefore ready, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not. He designed this as his own Funeral Sermon, as he told the Reverend Mr. M. the worthy Lecturer of that Parish, as he came out of the Church, and his good Friend Mr. S. with whom he dined that day. He was so far spent in preaching that he was forced to desire his assiststance to consecrate the Elements, and only gave the Cup himself. On the 17th. I providentially came to him, and had the happiness to attend him to his last moments. He had been that day riding abroad to try if he could find any relief from the air, and coming home, soon after I was got to his Lodgings, which were then at Islington, his first Salutation was after this manner. My Friend, I have been in expectation of seeing thee these two days, and glad I am that thou art now come, for 'tis to see me die, and assist me in dying, which is a very kind and friendly Office. Great part of that day we were shut up together, and he entertained me with such admirable Discourses, on the most important Subjects, and talked so clearly and with so lively a sense of them, that I forgot I was conversing with a dying Friend, and thought it one of the pleasantest days of my whole Life. He began with a Discourse of the empty projects and designs of this Life, and the intolerable folly of being entirely taken up with the Pleasures and Enjoyments, with the cares and thoughts, and business of this World, when we are every day liable to enter upon a new and unseen state, which above all things it concerns us to take care about, and wisely to provide for. This Life is a continued round and circle of bodily Actions and Business, but in death these cease, and have an end; that let's down the Curtain, and the Drama of Life is over, and whatever parts we Acted on this Stage, we lay them all aside; and what we enjoyed in this Body and this World, is to be no more, and as if it had never been, and we only had dreamed of it for a while. He taketh away their breath, they die and turn again to their dust, That, said he, is my present Case, and in that very day all their Thoughts perish, i. e. all their apprehensions of Worldly Happiness and Enjoyments with all their mighty projects and designs they had here: how reasonable then is it for us frequently to meditate upon dying, and how properly was it placed of old among the first rules and principles of Wisdom. And upon my saying to him, that as he seemed to be got almost to the end of the race of Life, his Friends were running hard after him, and would in a short space overtake him; he replied, True, but prithee remember that I have got the start of thee. Here he took occasion to discourse of the Christian Revelation, which has discovered the most amazing, but the most important and momentous Truths for Man to know: 'Tis this, said he, that gives me the greatest ease and satisfaction in my present Circumstances, and fills my mind with the most serene hopes, when I can find pleasure in nothing else; and without it all my thoughts, when I stretch them as far as ever they will go, are either dark or troublesome. That God should send his only begotten Son into the World in our likeness to redeem and save Mankind, that he should propose by him the advancing us, who are very inconsiderable, yea, sinful Creatures to such a height of Glory, as to be equal to Angels, to see God as he is, and to have eternally communicated to us of his own Excellencies and Perfections, cannot but affect every one who believes and exercises his thoughts about these matters, with Wonder and Admiration, with all possible Love and Gratitude, and a most solicitous study, and endeavour to obey God universally, in hopes of that eternal Life, which God, who cannot lie, as the Apostle speaks, has promised. He added, That the design of Christianity and the Terms of Life therein proposed, did appear to him so very plain, that it was just matter of amazement, how any Men who had looked into those records and considered their own nature, and had any notion of the happiness of reasonable Creatures, could miss of understanding them aright. The Antinomian Scheme he looked upon as directly Antichristian, and the very worst that the most malicious Enemies of the Christian name could possibly have invented; and he gave me a very sad instance of a Person who lived many years in the habit of a very gross sin, and yet had a quiet Conscience, and thought himself very safe upon those principles, till being startled by a public Discourse of his, God made him an Instrument of setting the poor Man right in his Notions, and engaging him to reform his Life; for which his new Convert was very thankful, and assured him, That he would not for all the World have lived so long in the habit of that sin, if he had believed, as he thoroughly did now, that it would have hazarded his Salvation. Here he took occasion to say that he was much confirmed in his notion of the nullity of a Deathbed Repentance, by considering his present Circumstances. What could I do, said he, Were I now to begin to Repent of a long Wicked life? I profess, I could not have the least hopes of my Salvation; but, blessed be God, this is not my own Case, I am sensible of a vast number of Weaknesses and Imperfections; but they are such, as I am well assured, the Covenant of Grace will make an allowance for: I can say I have been Sincere in the main designs of my Life; and, I thank God, I make no question of being happy, when I can once get lose from this Prison of an Earthly infirm body, and shall be set above those Imperfections, which cannot be wholly remedied in this state, and to be freed from which is the reward of the next. He gave me his thoughts at large, about the Doctrine of the ever blessed Trinity, which are not needful to be here set down, especially since I have already taken some notice of that Matter. All that I shall add, is, That he never intended any Controversy with those who believed this Doctrine; his business was to defend it against those who opposed it, and he was fully satisfied, that what he had Preached and Wrote on this subject, was agreeable to the Scriptures, and the sense of the Church; and he was fully confirmed in his Thoughts, by the judgement of the most Learned and unexceptionable Divines of our Church. The Right Reverend Bishop Pearson explains the Divine Unity as he has done, and asserts the necessity of it, for avoiding that old and so often urged objection Tritheism: It is most necessary, says he, To assert that there is but one Person, who is from none; for if there were more than one, which were from none, it could not be denied but that there were more Gods than one: This Origination of the Divine Paternity hath anciently been looked upon, as the assertion of the Unity, and therefore, the Son and the Holy Ghost are but one God with the Father, because both from the Father, who is one, and so the Union of them.  
He perfectly concurred with this excellent Person, who, without any question, is allowed to speak the sense of the Catholic Church; and with the Fathers of the Nicene Council, as their sense is expressed in their Creed, which is a part of our Liturgy. He believed the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, were one God, and yet three real distinct Persons, as evidently distinguished in their Persons, as united in their Nature: The Father is not the Son, nor the Holy Ghost; the Son is not the Father, nor the Holy Ghost; the Holy Ghost is neither the Father nor the Son: the true and living God can be but one, the Father is originally the one God; the Son is the same God, but not originally of himself, but has his Divine Essence by Communication from the Father; the Holy Spirit is the same God, not originally subsisting of himself, but having the same Divine Nature and Essence, common both to the Father and the Son, communicated by them both to him; So that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God. The Father originally that one Essence of infinite Wisdom, Power, and Majesty: The one Person originally of himself, subsisting in that infinite Being; The Son is God of God, by being of the Father; the Holy Ghost is God of God, by being of the Father, and the Son, as receiving that Infinite and Eternal Essence from them both: this is the explication of that adorable Mystery, as 'tis delivered by that excellent Prelate forementioned, in his Authentic Book upon the Apostles Creed. By this time his spirits and his breath failed him, and he could proceed no further; and now having entertained me as long as he could, he gave me to understand, That I must not expect much more from him, about one thing or other; but that he would look to be entertained by me, the little time I should have him with me: And immediately calling the Family to Prayers; so soon as they were ended, he went to Bed, and was willing I should leave him for that night. In the morning, which was Thursday, he desired me to accompany him in his Chariot, to London to consult Dr. M—, not that he expected any relief from his prescriptions, for he concluded himself too far gone to be recovered, but because he thought it not fit to omit any thing that could be done, for the sake of his Family chief, whose interest it was that he should have lived a little longer with them. I returned with him to his Lodgings, but he found himself so far spent, that he hastened to Bed, and desired me to come up to his Chamber, and in the Church form to commend his Soul to God. Not being willing to sink his Spirits too much, and presuming that his apprehensions of present Death were the effect of the disorder his Journey had thrown him into, I made use of some other Collects proper at that time, and purposely omitted the commendatory Prayer; upon which he called to me, and entreated me to use no other than that, and, if I pleased, the Lord's Prayer with it, For, said he, I am just going. So soon as I had done, Well, said he, I now thank thee, and take my leave of thee: I have nothing more to say to thee, nor needst thou say any thing to me, thou hast nothing further to do, but to bid me good night. And immediately turning himself on one side, lay still, and spoke no more all that night. On Friday morning he told me, he wondered to find himself alive; however, we persuaded him to bleed, according to the Dr.'s order the night before, he told us it was to no purpose, and had an opinion he should die whilst he was bleeding; but he added, that he gave up his body to our management, and we might do with it, as we pleased: by this time his Friend Dr. T— came in, to whom he talked sensibly of his case, and told him he was so well skilled in his Profession, that he knew very well he could not live out another night. The Dr. was no sooner gone, but he called me to him, and attempted a Discourse which he was not able to go through with; what he aimed at was something to this purpose: What a poor Creature is Man, if he had hopes only in this Life, he must go naked and alone, and without any Friend to accompany him to the dark Grave? All that thou wilt see of me presently will be a stiff and senseless carcase: I have already lost all my thought, I can scarce tell what I say to thee, I did not just now know where I was; now I do; I am in my Bedchamber; I have no power to command a thought; thou shalt in a few moments see that they are all perished and gone. This he repeated several times with some concern; and, in half an hour, they went quite away, and returned no more, for all that afternoon he lay still, only at ten at night he put forth one hand to me, and lifted up the other, and his eyes to Heaven, to signify to me, that he had yet some knowledge, tho' his speech was gone, and that he was praying for himself, and a little after midnight he breathed his last. I have seen many Persons die, but none like him in all my life: I heard not the least unbecoming word from him in all his illness, which was to me the more strange, because I knew the natural heat and eagerness of his temper; he showed not the least sign of uneasiness or dissatisfaction in his circumstances, nothing of fondness for this World, or any desire to stay longer in it; no manner of fear of death, or doubts about his future good state, but throughout his sickness, and to the last minutes that his understanding continued, a perfect contempt of all Earthly things, vigorous hopes of a Blessed Immortality, and an entire and absolute resignation of himself to the Will of God. The truth is, his behaviour was enough to make a Man in love with death, and to long for a dissolution, and at that time it made such an impression upon my spirits, that while it lasted, I thought I could with great ease have died with him. Having been longer than I intended in my account of the Author, I shall leave the following discourses to speak for themselves. There is evidently a spirit of true Piety that breathes in them, and one general aim proposed to promote a wise understanding and sincere practice of Religion: They are published as they were found in his ordinary Notes, and not designed by him for the Press, but if they may do any service to God and Religion, and the Souls of Men, Our Author himself would have ventured them Abroad into the World, without being any ways concerned for the defects and imperfections, which may be spied out in 'em; for, in the prosecution of such noble ends, he has declared himself sufficiently armed against all manner of censures whatsoever, and publicly professed, That it was more satisfaction to him to publish a few plain and useful Discourses, 
Pref. to Practical disc. of Rep.  than to have had the ability, or met with the applause of writing the Wittiest or Learnedest Book in the World.   


The First Sermon.  ROM. IX. 14. 
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbidden.  
THE Apostle in defence of Christianity, and the Gentiles being received into it, who were Strangers and Aliens, rather than the Jews, who were the Children of Abraham, and God's peculiar People, having to justify this, made use of an Instance of God's free disposing his Favours as he pleases, and such as to the Jews was an unanswerable Precedent, because upon it all their Privileges depended, above the rest of the World; the same Children, not of Abraham only, but of Israel, to whose line the promised Seed was confined, before they were either of them born, or were in a capacity to do Good or Evil, yet God declared that Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated, v. 13. and notwithstanding the rights of Primogeniture, yet transmitted this his Love and Hatred down even to their Posterities, the Israelites, and the Edomites; upon this he seems to be startled with an Objection, rising up from all this, and looking him fully in the Face; What shall we say then? is their unrighteousness with God? God forbidden. This is so shrewd an absurdity, that if we must be driven to it, 'tis a demonstration against not only Christianity, which he was defending, but against all Religion: For. if God be not a Being of Righteousness and Justice in what he does, who can expect rewards for serving him, or need sear punishment for any wickedness he commits; Virtue and Vice are but empty names, if he has not an impartial regard to them, and his own words are not to be trusted or credited, if we question his Righteousness and Integrity; if we are not well assured of that in the first place, we can never know but he may deceive us, in whatever he says, or promises to us, nay, all his Revelations may be but like the Heathens deceitful Oracles, to impose upon the credulous, and all his Miracles but tricks of Legerdemain, and slights of an Almighty hand to deceive us more artificially; but God forbidden, as the Apostle says, that any such thing should blasphemously be charged upon the great God, or any such Notions form of him, from whence it is unavoidable to infer them. Tho we can never get the thoughts of him out of our mind, nor wholly take out the Natural Characters of him, that he has imprinted upon us, yet if we so blur, and deface them, with lines drawn from our own ill Tempers or mistaken Apprehensions, as to represent him instead of his Essential Excellencies, and Moral Perfections, which are the brightest Glory that shines all around him, with the black and ugly features of Almighty Rage and Cruelty, Malignant Spite, or Ill Nature; or which may be the same, Imperious, and Arbitrary and Ungoverned Will, conducted by no Principles of Justice, or Goodness, nor acting by any Rules of Right, or Wrong, but as the unaccountable impulses of Fondness or Anger happen to incline him; if we set up such a monstrous Idol in our thoughts with ghastly looks, and terrible visage, instead of the most Perfect, and Righteous, and Blessed God, as we do the greatest dishonour to the Divine Nature, mere than if the Jews had really set up an Ass' head, as they were charged to adore, for the God of Israel, so we destroy that inward love and delight, that hearty esteem and veneration which the thoughts of so excellent and amiable, so great and good, and just a Being should excite in us, and do a great many other the saddest mischiefs to True Religion; as I shall show by and by: We make it a desirable thing even to the best of Men, that there were no such Being i'the World, under whose Tyranny, for such is Power without Justice, they may be made miserable, as well as others, and all must groan under his Iron Sceptre, and have reason to wish they could wrest it out of his Clutches, but none could kiss it, or be satisfied with it; they might tremble and crouch, and bow before it, offer Prayers, as the Manichees to their evil Principles, or build Temples, as the Romans to the Fever, or the Plague; they may dread him as an  evil, but never Worship, and Honour, and Esteem him as we ought to do an Infinite God, i. e. as an Almighty Goodness, or an Eternal Righteousness.  
But alas, who did ever deny that God was Righteous? who was ever so bold as to charge the great Lord and Creator of the World with the least shadow of Unrighteousness? or what pretence, or possibility indeed can there be of any such thing? Is not whatever he does therefore righteous, because he does it, let it be what it will? There have been many who have thought he made the greatest part both of Men and Angels to be eternally miserable, and doomed them, before they were created, to that wretched State, and that he might have dealt so with all the rest, if he had pleased, and yet allow him to have been very righteous; others have thought that he appointed that they should first sin, at least some one of them, and from thence he would take occasion to damn as many of them as he pleased, without any regard to their own actions; and this they thought was a better way of displaying his Righteousness to us: But who could ever be so foolish, as to charge God downright with unrighteousness? He that has none above him, to control or determine him, to give any Laws, or Rules to him, whatever he does according to the purpose and pleasure of his own Will is most certainly Righteous.  
This is the common and easy, but mistaken account of God's righteousness, which because the Apostle here does not make use of as he might, and so have given a shorter answer to the supposed Objection, but rather allows that there is some unrighteousness, which is so in its own nature, and which therefore could not be charged upon God; for else, to say with such abhorrence, God forbidden that there be unrighteousness with him, would be only to say, God forbidden that he should not do what he does, or that he should not will what he wills; when if you suppose that to be what you please, yet the supposing him to will and to do it, makes it to be righteous, and then there would be no need of such a phrase, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as is here used before hand. I shall endeavour therefore at this time,  
1. To lay down a better, and a firmer Notion, and account of God's Righteousness.  
2. To show you the usefulness of it, by the consequences of the other Opinion. And,  
3. To vindicate the Righteousness of God according to this true Notion of it, and clear it from what either in this Chapter, or any where else may seem to reflect upon it.  
1. I shall endeavour to lay down a better and a firmer Notion of God's Righteousness, and that in these Particulars.  
1. 'Tis not mere Will and Arbitrary Pleasure that makes God to be Righteous, for that is such a floating and uncertain thing, that it cannot be a fit and stable foundation for Righteousness; mere Power and Will like a violent Wind act always strongly and impetuously, but uncertainly too, sometimes one way, and sometimes the quite contrary, as the vapours happen to rise and move it; It will fall under no certain Rules or Calculation, nor can you tell where to have it the next moment, so variable will be ungoverned Will, and so impetuous, when 'tis assisted with Strength and Power, that only gives it weight and force, but determines it not one way or tother; and if all the effects, and efforts of this were to be called Right, than the doing quite contrary things may happen to be so; for what should hinder mere arbitrary Will from doing one thing at one time, and the quite contrary at another, unless it have something to regulate it? The destroying the Righteous with the Wicked, damning Innocents', and doing all imaginable mischief, shall be called righteousness, if done by the Manichean Evil, and Almighty Principle, for there can be no difference between him and the good one, if what both of them will, be therefore righteous. Whilst righteousness is thus founded in Power and Will, be it never so great, yet if it be not bounded by any certain rules of Right and Wrong, what shall keep it steady to its self, or prevent its doing at one time what it dislikes, and is therefore unrighteous at another? Like a mighty Torrent, it will rage's, and roll, and break down all before it, if it have no certain Banks, and Current to keep it in; if Justice and Righteousness be only blind Will, without any Scales in her hands to weigh things by, it will be but the same with blind Chance and Fortune, and never to be distinguished: Did the Divine Nature act by no certain and fixed Rules, it might be called Great and Powerful, but neither Just nor Righteous; there could be no such thing, if there were not some unalterable Standard of Right and Wrong, and some other fixed measure of those things, besides what Arbitrary Will made to itself, according to which the Judge of all the Earth shall do right, Gen. 18.25.  
2. 'Tis God's acting by the unalterable rules of Righteousness and Justice, that makes him to be righteous; and the absolute impossibility he should act otherwise from the Rectitude and Perfection of his own Nature, there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Justin Martyr calls them, things eternally just, which are not made, and fictitious things, but are natural and everlasting, as are the Eternal Truths and Verities of things which were not made so at such a time, by the command or will of another, but were fixed from Everlasting, and were so immutably in their own Nature; and these are the fixed and unalterable rules of Righteousness which arise from the mutual Relations and Respects that things have to one another, and are not to be altered even by God himself: As common Notions and Mathematical Axioms are founded in the Nature of things themselves, that the whole is greater than its part, that Equals added to Equals, make Equals, which are Everlasting Truths, and can never be made otherwise, no, not by God himself, but are so from the mere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Respects of things to one another; so there are also as Eternal and Immutable rules of Righteousness fixed and determined by the Nature of things, and their Relations to one another, as plain and unalterable, as any Mathematical Verities, and as necessary Foundations for Morality and Justice, as the others for Science and Demonstration; so that Right and Wrong is in its own Nature, as certain and unchangeable as the Nature of a Circle or a Triangle, and God can no more act contrary to these, than he can make the three Angles of a Triangle not equal to two right ones, or two and two not to be four, or one of the parts of a Contradiction not to be false.  
3. These Eternal, and Immutable Rules of Right and Wrong, by which God acts, and can no more violate, than the Intelligible Natures, or Truths of things, are such as we by our Reason can know, and understand, and make Judgement by, else we must never pretend to form a Notion of God by them, or ascribe any such thing as Righteousness to him, and when he so often calls himself the God Righteous, and Just, who is without any Iniquity Deut. 32.4. and David could say of him, Righteous art thou, O Lord, and thy Judgements are Upright, Ps. 119.137. a supposes that we have Ideas and conceptions of those things, and that they are true, and agreeable to the things themselves; Nay, when God appeals to us, Ezek. 18.25. to Judge betwixt him and others, whether his ways are equal, or no, 'tis not sure like making a blind man Arbitrator about colours, or a judge of Beauty; We must be supposed to have Power, and Faculties to make Judgement in the Case, and that the Principles of Right and Wrong that are in our minds are agreeable to the nature of things, and to those that God himself acts by: God indeed says in the Prophet Isa. 55.8. My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor my ways your ways, the meaning whereof is not, that what we think to be just, and right, and equal, and appears most plainly so to us, yet is quite otherwise in God, and of a different Nature, for this destroys all our Conceptions of any Perfection in God; but the plain sense of that place is, that God was not like the Jews, hard to be reconciled and unwilling to forgive injuries, that was spoken as an encouragement to the Command just before, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon, for my thoughts, are not your thoughts, nor my ways your ways. God indeed is infinitely more Wise, more Righteous, more Perfect in all things than the best of his Creatures, yet we must apply the same Ideas, and Apprehensions of those things which we have in our minds to him, that we do to those, as we demonstrate alike of a greater or a lesser Circle, or else we lose all notion of his Mercy, Truth, and Righteousness, and when we say, God cannot lie, or do what is evil, or unjust, we mean the very same thing that would be so in men, or else we must mean nothing.  
There be many Circumstances indeed, and different cases, and considerations in the Actions of God to his Creatures, and the Creatures to one another, but yet when they are allowed for, 'tis by the same Scales, as I may say, that God weighs out Right which we also use, only there must something on his side be put into them sometimes to make them even, for should they be others unknown to us, we should be wholly at a loss how to weigh, or measure his Actions, or how to account them to be Just and Righteous, or how to pronounce that truly of them: But I may say of Righteousness, as Tully says of Reason, that it is common both to Man and God, and the very same Signatures and Marks of things, which are Originally in the Divine Mind, are enstamped also upon all rational and understanding Being's.  
4. God's acting by those Eternal and Immutable Rules of Righteousness, is truly Righteousness in him, tho' he has no superior to give him any Laws and Rules; for Righteousness and all Virtue, the truest and the noblest, is what proceeds rather from a Vital Principle, and inward Energy of the mind, than a set and liveless course of Obedience to Laws and Rules prescribed by another; when a great and brave Mind acts by its own wise and generous Principles, follows the Notices and Dictates of its own Allseeing Understanding, and its Will is always regulated by its own Essential Perfections, and a Natural Rectitude that is in itself, so that it can no more do an ill or unjust thing, than change itself, and put off its own Nature; this is such a Righteousness that has root in itself, and lives, and grows from that innate radical Principle, and differs as much from the other, as a thing that grew into such a shape from a Plastic and Vital Power in itself, does from that which was cut and carved by the hand of another. This is that Original Righteousness springing up in the true Fountain, like light in the Sun, whilst Righteousness in us, tho' it be of the same Nature, is but like that in the Air derived from it, and mixed with a great deal of darkness and a mere observance of Precepts and Rules, as they are prescribed by another, and the acting from a Righteous and Inward Principle in ones own mind, are as different as the Clockwork Motion, and flying of Regiomontanus' Eagle, from some. Wheels and Wires, and the Natural Motion of a living one, from its own Spirits and Muscles, and the force and spring of inward life.  
Thus is Righteousness in God truly Righteousness, tho' he has no Superior to move or determine him: And thus I have laid down what I conceive the true Notion and Fountain of God's Righteousness, which tho' it may be too deep for some to see to the bottom, yet it stands upon the firmer ground, and is immovable.  
2. I shall now show you the usefulness of it, from the mischievous Consequences of the other opinion, That God's Righteousness consists only in Arbitrary and Ungoverned Will.  
1. That takes very much off from our Obligation to Right, if there be no such thing in the Divine Nature; by Righteousness may be meant a very large and comprehensive Virtue, that contains almost all others under it, and there must be the same Reason and Foundation of those as of this, and if we can conceive the God we worship to be without those, it will greatly abate our esteem of them and obligation to them; if we conceive that great mind is happy and perfect without those, we have reason to think our own may be so too, for whatever thoughts we have of God, they must be the Standard and Measure to us of all Perfection. It is a very natural Consequence which St. John makes, 1 Ep. 2.29. if ye know that he is Righteous, ye know that every one that doth Righteousness is born of him: if Righteousness be founded in the Divine Nature, than whoever is truly Righteous, is both like unto God and beloved by him as a Child of its Parent. God cannot but love and be pleased with what is so agreeble to himself, and bears his Divine Image and Resemblance upon it; for the same Reason that he loves himself, and takes infinite complacency and satisfaction in his own Perfections he will love also those who are partakers of the same Divine Life and Nature, and are Righteous as he is Righteous, that is, Righteous Men, as he is a Righteous God, for that the Righteous Lord should love Righteousness, as the Psalmist speaks, Ps. 11.7. is the result of his own Natural and Essential Perfections, but there is no reason why he should not love any thing, even the contrary, if he were not truly Righteous himself, and his love depended upon mere Arbitrary Will, without regard to any thing else.  
2. This has been therefore the ground of all Superstition and undue Worship of God, and of the great mistakes that are in Religion, the conceiving God to be a mere Great and Arbitrary Being, and only Absolute and Almighty Will, without the Perfection, and the line of Righteousness; from hence Men have hoped to please him, and procure his favour with outward Pomp and Solemnity, with multitude of Sacrifices, and great Presents and Oblations, with Bowings, and Cringes, and Prostrations before him, with bended Knees, and empty Words, and a course of External Performances, without any true and inward Righteousness; they have imagined a sort of Religious flattery would take with him, and that it was enough to soothe up his greatness with some officious addresses, and to make their court to him with a set of hollow and affected Compliments; by these they thought God was sufficiently obliged, and took great pleasure in them, like some vain and foolish and haughty Mortals: Indeed was God such an one as themselves, or as they imagine, he might be so, but if he be a Being Essentially Righteous, and Holy himself, 'tis then not to be hoped, that any thing will commend us to him, or procure his Favour but a Righteous Mind; without that, let Men dispute as long as they please, no Man can be Elected or Justified, or think to be saved by a Righteous God; nor can it be worth while to contrive any Tricks or Devices whatsoever, which has been the great business of false Religion, by which Men would fain please God, and be very Religious, without being truly Righteous; without this neither Penance nor Absolution; Whipping, or going Barefoot, Pardons, or Indulgences, Masses, or Pilgrimages will signify any thing, and whatever we trust or rely on, wherever we ground our Hopes, and make comfortable Reserves and Expectations to ourselves, will most certainly deceive us without Righteousness.  
Those who think God is only infinite Will, acting Arbitrarily, without observing any rules of Righteousness, if their Constitution such that they are apt to have gay and pleasing Ideas and Images of things Represented to their Minds; they are inclined to think that God will be easily pleased with them for very little Matters, and so fall into that sanguine Superstition which I mentioned before, or think perhaps that he has Chosen and Elected them from Eternity, and their names are written in the Book of Life; but if their blood be thick, and their fancy blacker, than they imagine God to be Severe and Revengeful, hard to be pleased, and easily provoked, and implacable when he is so: and with these sad and dreadful Apprehensions, his Mind is always haunted as with frightful Spectres, and he comes to the Temples, as Plutarch says, as if 'twere to the Dens of Wild Beasts, or the Nests of Dragons, for he conceives that God is as hurtful as any of those Creatures: so there with a scared Countenance and a perplexed Mind, the timorous Worshipper offers up his Child perhaps, or the reeking Bowels of some Humane Sacrifice, or sometimes his own Blood to the God he Worships, and thus hopes to appease the cruel Moloch and the fierce Cerberus with some Morsel or other, that may satisfy his Ravenous indignation; all which miserable Superstition, and mistakes in Religion, which were so Notorious in the Heathen World, and not quite got out of the Christian Church, are for ever prevented by this clear and firm Principle, That God is a Being truly Righteous himself, and that he neither loves nor hates others, but as they are, or are not so; for Righteousness excludes both partial fondness and unreasonable displeasure.  
3. It makes all Religion to be a positive Arbitrary thing, and takes off from its intrinsic Worth and Excellency, as having no Foundation in the real goodness of what is commanded, nor in the Nature of God, but only in his Arbitrary Will and Pleasure. Whereas this it is, that truly commends Religion to the Minds of considering Men, that it is the obliging us to such Laws as are Eternally and Unalterably Good, from the nature of things; which do naturally produce good Effects to ourselves and the World, and are the necessary causes of our happiness, and that therefore God has laid them upon us, not as a Yoke he would have us submit to, merely because we ought to be subject to him, but as they are good in themselves, and the necessary means of our. Happiness: that his Commands are but the Copies of his own Original and wise Reason, the Transcript of his own Eternal Righteousness and Perfections; and that the Righteousness he Commands us, is taken from God himself, and is a lively Pattern and Exemplar of his own Nature, and Essential Righteousness.  
This does extremely commend Religion and Righteousness to us, that 'tis not only founded in the Will, but the Nature of God too, and is not only interwoven with the very make of our Humane Nature, but derived from the Natural Perfections of God, as the Fountain of it; that 'tis not an imperious restraint upon us from humoursom and boundless Will, that had no antecedent Reason thus to limit and confine us; but that all the Laws of Righteousness, besides the Stamp and Impress that Heaven has fixed upon them, are of intrinsic Worth and Value, and that their own goodness is the firmest sanction and the truest reason of their obligation.  
4. The having such a Conception of God, is very dishonourable to God, and uncomfortable to ourselves, if we consider no other effects of it upon our lives; 'tis a robbing him of one of the Noblest Perfections of his Nature, of the richest Jewels of his Crown: and the most resplendent Justice and Righteousness are the greatest Excellencies of a Governor, of a great and powerful Being, and his power without those will be only a greater mischief. There is nothing that all Men do more admire and commend than impartial Justice in those who are above them, because 'tis a guard and protection of every Man, a fence set about him and all his Interests, and nothing is more manifest than the influence which Justice has upon the good of the World; so that every body when he thinks on a Cato or an Aristides blesses him in his heart, and speaks well of him with his Lips. And what we think such a Perfection in men and such an object of Esteem there, if we deny it to God, we stop one of the main streams of Honour, that should flow from him, and cut off the brightest Ray of the Divine Lustre: neither can we give that Honour that belongs to him, if we strip him of those Perfections, any more than we can see the Sun, if we disrobe it of its Light, or admire the face that we have mangled and deformed: There must be such a congruity in the Object, like Charms sitted to attract our Passions, and excite our Esteem, or else we can no more love and honour than we can taste with our Eyes, and see with our Palate: and mere Power is no more an object of Love and Honour, but as 'tis an Instrument to do 〈◊〉 good, than an Earthquake or a Clap of Thunder; it will amaze and affright us, and put us into a Consternation, but never bring us hearty to Honour and Esteem it. We shall dread such a Being as has us under, and can crush us as he pleases, just as a little Bird does the Eagle, when its Claws are upon it; and we shall live in as much terror and confusion, and uncertain distractions of mind from such thoughts of God, as a Slave does under his Merciless Patron, who knows not what hardship he shall suffer next, whether he shall be Sold, or Starved, or Murdered. If when we know that his Power is Absolute and , and have no security from the goodness of his Nature, that he shall not use it to rack and torture us, and do us mischief unless we do that which Justly deserves it; we may then be glad if we could with the Epicureans, free our minds from the melancholy thoughts of such a Cruel and overruling Nemesis, and must never hope to come to perfect Ease, and Tranquillity, and repose of Mind, till we had got rid of the sears of such an Invisible Mormo. But God forbidden that this should be the case of Mankind; no 'tis the most equal and impartial Justice that rules the World, that Administers all affairs with the greatest Justice and Righteousness, whom we have no reason to dread, unless we do base and wicked things, that disorder and do mischief: then indeed he will severely Chastise and Punish us, but else there is not the severity or injustice or hard usage that we need ever fear from him, no more than a Child from the most indulgent Parent, or a Subject from the best natured Prince and Governor. There was never in all his vast Kingdom and Empire of the World, in all his long and lasting Government, any the least Unrighteousness that could ever be charged upon it, nor has any, the meanest Person, reason to complain of any the least injustice done it, nor ever shall have; which is the third and last Particular.  
3. To Vindicate the Righteousness of God, according to this true account of it, and clear it from what either in this Chapter, or any where else, may seem to reflect upon it, which will be great ease to our minds, and confirm what has been asserted before: and this I shall do by laying down briefly two or three Principles, that will meet with almost all cases and all objections about this matter, for I must not descend now to Particulars.  
1. That Arbitrary and Unlimited goodness is no instance of Unrighteousness, as if a Prince think fit to show extraordinary Favours to some of his Subjects more than others, to raise them to higher Places and Preferments, or to give them some greater Privileges and Advantages under him, he is not to be called unjust or unrighteous if he do no wrong to his other Subjects, tho' they do not taste so largely of his Favour and Bounty: for a Power and Prerogative to do good, is Unlimited, only Justice, like the Angel to Abraham, stops its hand from doing mischief. And this was the case in this difficult Chapter, of God's bestowing the Privileges of the Gospel, and Christianity on the Gentiles, rather than the Jews; As the Gentiles, which followed not after Righteousness, have attained to Righteousness, even the Righteousness that is of Faith, but Israel, which followed after the Law of Righteousness, hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness, v. 30.31. though that was wholly by their own Fault: And this principle the Jews had no reason to disallow, who had before reaped so much benefit by it; it being the only ground why God was more gracious to them, than the rest of the World, and that he still allows some Persons and Countries much greater means of Grace than others, tho' there are none who want what is sufficient for them.  
2. That God, as absolute Lord, Proprietor and Creator of the World, has so vast a Right over his Creatures, as to put 'em into what condition he pleases, that is not worse than the having no Being, for that is but giving 'em a lesser good. But to put them into such a state as it were desirable rather to be annihilated, than to be so miserable; to do this without some fault of theirs that shall deserve this as a punishment, is against the plainest Axioms and Rules of Right and Justice, and is to take more from a Creature, than he gives it, and so make himself as it were a debtor to it. There cannot be any such thing as unlimited Right, no, not in God over his Creatures, for all Right supposes some Rules to bond and limit it, the transgressing of which may be supposed, and therefore may be wrong and injury, and here is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Predestinarians: but to dispose of Kingdoms in this World and tranfer 'em from the Canaanites to the Jews, to give others an express command to make the Jewels of the Egyptians their own, to command the life of a Child at the hand of its Parents, as a Sacrifice to him that gave it, and the like; this is a right belongs to the absolute Lord, Proprietor, and Creator of the whole World; and as such he may give Jacob a more fruitful Land and greater Kingdom, and show his love to him rather than to Esau that way.  
3. That punishment and severity upon sinners, which is necessary for public good, and for the Ends of Government, is not to be called Unrighteous, be it never so great: and I can never believe that God does ever inflict more, no, not in the Eternal torments of Hell, nor has any other end in that, or any other punishment and severity, than to give a sufficient sanction to his Laws; than wisely to Govern, and keep the world in order, and procure with the best Advantage, the Welfare and Happiness of all the Being's that are in it; and whatsoever punishments are necessary to that end are upon that account Just and Righteous; since that is the only true measure by which a Just proportion can be assigned between the fault and the punishment. I know not what they mean who talk of any sort of Vindictive Justice in God different from this, as if there were any revengeful Passion in him to be satisfied by the miseries of his Creatures, or he took any other pleasure in the punishment of them, but merely the pleasure of doing Justice; ' ris this is a further assurance to us of God's Righteousness, that a Being so great and powerful and self sufficient, can have no such passions as spring up in weak and impotent minds, nor be tempted to do any injustice because that proceeds always from weakness and imbecility.  
But I must enlarge no further on these particulars, I hope what has been said already will give some satisfaction to our minds, that there is no Unrighteousness in the great God. But he that is infinitely Great, is therefore infinitely Just and Righteous, because he can have no Mean and Unrighteous designs, either for himself, or against others, so that Justice and Righteousness is necessarily joined with Almighty Power, and it must be a thought full of dread and horror that can conceive it possible to have them parted and separated; but in Truth, where there is any one infinite Perfection there must be all, and therefore we have the same Evidence from reason of Gods being Righteous, as of his being Almighty, or of his being at all; and they who from some mistaken places of Scripture and Revelation endeavour to Represent God under another Notion and Character, destroy that true natural Notion and Conception of a God, upon which all Revelation is built, and which must be previous and antecedent to it; and make Religion, and the thoughts of a God, which is the most cheerful and comfortable thing in the World, to be an hideously black and melancholy Superstition; and as this may reasonably be the cause of a great many's becoming Atheists, who had rather believe there was no such Being as a God, than that he was such an Unrighteous being as some would represent him, so it would tempt any Man to wish to be so if he could, and if it were in his Power. But what shall we say then, is there unrighteousness with God? God forbidden.   

The Second Sermon.  MATTH. XI. 29. last Part. 
And ye shall find rest unto your Souls.  
OUR Blessed Saviour in the foregoing verses, was exhorting all Persons to embrace his Religion, who were under any load and Burden, Trouble, and uneasiness of Mind, and he promises to give them ease and refreshment. Come unto me ally that Labour and are heavy Laden, and I will give you rest.  
This is a great Undertaking and Proposal, and very desirable and inviting to Mankind. The Diseases and Disorders and Uneasinesses of the Mind, are a great many more than those of the Body, and it is a more Divine thing and more owing to the Gods as Tully speaks, to find out proper Physic and Remedies to Cure them than the other; Our Saviour proposes his Religion and his Example, as the means to do this, Take my Yoke upon you, and learn of me. There were a great many Sects of Philosophers of old, in which the wisest Men always aimed at this Tranquillity and ease of Mind, and proposed their Doctrine as the way to attain it, and gave admirable Rules of living up to such heights of Virtue, as should make Men easy and happy in all conditions, even the worst that could befall them; and a great many of them it must be confessed were as great Examples, as Teachers of these, such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Zeno, and others, who were the natural Prophets and Apostles of the Heathen World, and taught 'em the best Wisdom and Virtue, and the best Directions how to attain the truest and perfectest happiness, they knew humane Nature to be capable of. Revelation, and especially the Religion of Christ, has done the same with much greater advantage; hath shown us a right Notion of Happiness, and all that conduces to it, and has both enlarged the view and prospect of it in another World, and improved the Method of acquiring and obtaining it, and confirmed that good old Notion, that it lies only in Virtue, that nothing else can make a Man happy, and this alone can do it. Our Saviour as well as most of the Philosophers were to all appearance none of the happiest men in the World, they were poor and mean and despised and contemned, and had very little or none of those things, in which the World places Happiness, Riches and Honours, and Pleasures, which we so fond admire and esteem and pursue after, as the happiest things that are to be enjoyed, and think those are not in earnest or only envious and ill-natured because they cannot attain them, who speak otherwise of them. Our Saviour proposes no Worldly advantages to his followers, but rather the quite contrary, and yet he Preaches happiness to them even at present, and joins the Beatitudes and the Christian Virtues together in his Sermon, as inseparable Companions; and tho' he left his Apostles in a World full of afflictions and seeming miseries, yet he tells them, he leaves his Peace with them, John 14.27. Such a Peace as was proper for him to give and them to receive, not as the World giveth, but such an one as should have this effect upon them, as that their hearts should not be troubled nor be afraid, that no evil should disturb or take away this Peace of mind, that in him they might have Peace, tho' in the World they had tribulation, John 16.33. and that they might always be of good cheer because he had overcome the World. 'Tis a great thing which he here offers to Mankind, be they never so weary and oppressed with cares, and troubles, labour under never so many seeming evils and afflictions here, have never such great loads and oppressions upon their Minds and Spirits, that make them uneasy to themselves, and very miserable within; that if they come to his Religion, and take his Yoke upon them, follow the Rules and precepts of his Doctrine, and become of such a temper and spirit as he was, that they shall certainly meet with ease and comfort, relief, and refreshment, And ye shall sinned rest to your Souls. This Rest and Tranquillity of Mind is the greatest Happiness in the World; what Philosophy aimed and pursued after, what we should endeavour to attain above every thing, and what if we once perfectly reach, nothing could ever make us the least miserable; what alone is worth seeking after, by all the Rules of Philosophy and Religion, and without which, nothing is worth aiming or seeking after, and lastly what Christ and Christianity propose, and can bring us to.  
How and by what ways they do it, or what is the best means to attain it, shall be my chief business to show; as to what it is, or wherein it consists, that we know better by inward sensation or preception, than by any description or Ideas of it; we feel what ease is both in Mind and Body, and we have a quick Sense of pain and uneasiness in both; Indolency of Body, and Tranquillity of Mind, are known by all to be great and desirable things. The pleasures of our compounded nature, and such as have a near Analogy and Resemblance with one another, however we are forced to express and describe one by the other, they are not mere Negatives, such as suppose only no Sense of pain or evil, which may belong to one that is asleep or stupefied, or to a Stock or a Stone: but a positive Sense of what is agreeble to its Nature and the right use of its powers and faculties, and an Enjoyment or Perception of a good or Pleasure, suitable to them, with an entire freedom at the same time from what is contrary and unagreeable, painful and troublesome and uneasy. The very absence of what is painful and uneasy, brings a great pleasure, because Nature then enjoys itself, and has its own suitable perceptions without any disturbance. What Diseases and Pains and Tortures are to the Body, the same are disorders and troubles to the mind, from tormenting passions and uneasy Thoughts; from Fear, and Gild, and Sorrow, the apprehension of evil as present, or coming upon it; we want words to express what we know and conceive of this: and Peace of mind is opposed to all things that weary and disease, and disquiet and disturb it whatever they are, whether the Evils and Troubles and Afflictions of this World, or Passions and Disorders from within, inordinate and irregular Desires and inward Commotions contrary to right Reason, or the more dreadful terrors and horrors of some greater evil than any in this World. The mind, it is certain, has a quicker and more smart, and cutting sense o● Pain by these, than the Body from any Disease. The Diseases and Maladies, Disorders and Pains of the mind, are greater and harder to be cured, than those of the Body. Wisdom, and Philosophy, Virtue and Religion, are the proper Physic, the true Cure and Remedy of them, the only things that can bring the mind to that Good, Sound, and Healthful State, that it shall be well and rightly disposed in it; due Frame and Crasis, sitted to perform its proper Operations, and enjoy its agreeable Pleasures; the Pleasure and Enjoyment of its self, and its own Wife, and Virtuous, and good Thoughts, the pleasant Hopes and Expectations of Religion, and all the superadded Enjoyments from thence, that Revelation assures us of; besides what are natural to it from the right Exercise of its own Powers, such as Peace of Conscience upon Pardon of Sin, inward Sense of God's Favour, or his lifting up the light of his Countenance upon us, Joy in the Holy Ghost, and rejoicing in hope of the Glory that shall be revealed: These are such Pleasures and Enjoyments of Mind, as are beyond Nature, but within Christianity, which raise and exalt the Soul to something beyond that Tranquillity and Calmness, and Serenity of Mind which Philosophy so talked of. This improves it higher, and raises a more noble structure of Happiness to our Souls, but upon the same Foundation, having the same Bottom to build upon, the inward Ease and Peace and rest of the Mind, which is the greatest thing we can desire, or is worth our attaining.  
To be very easy always within, to have Peace and Quiet in our own Breasts, to be disturbed with no uneasy Thoughts, no tumultuous Passions, no Fear, Grief, or Sorrow, no carking Care, or corroding Trouble; to be ruffled with no discomposure, have no dark Clouds hanging over our Thoughts, no Storms or Tempests raging within our Breasts; this is Tranquillity of Mind an inward Calm, and Serenity of Thoughts, contrary to that Temper of mind, Which is like the troubled Sea, which cannot rest, to which the Scripture compares it, Isa. 57.20. neither apt to be much raised or too much depressed, Nec attollens se unquam, nec deprimens, as Seneca speaks, Sed semper aequali, & placido statu, always even and in a placid state, propitius sibi, & sua laetus aspiciens, pleased with its self and its own thoughts, and having nothing to sour and disorder itself, or infuse a poisonous bitterness into it. This is that good state of Soul, that rest which is a greater Happiness than all the World can afford, which he that has, will be Happy in whatever Circumstances or Condition he is, and which we might certainly find by Religion and Christianity, if we lived up to the Principles and Duties of it; Take my Yoke upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find rest to your Souls.  
I shall premise a few cautions to prevent any mistake in this matter, and the better to state and explain it.  
Then show how we may by the help and means of Religion, attain to this Rest, Peace, and Tranquillity of Mind.  
1. First then, I do not pretend that Religion and Virtue, will set Men free from all the evils of this World, and be a protection against any manner of outward Troubles or Calamities ever falling upon us; This cannot be, For Man is born to Trouble as the Sparks fly upwards, Job 5.7. They are a great many of them natural and necessary and unavoidable, and God must alter the nature of Things and the nature of the World, and work perpetual Miracles to free us always from them; to have our Bodies subject to no Diseases and Indispositions, our Estates subject to no Losses and Casualties, or Children or Friends not subject to Death, or to be taken away from us, this is impossible, and what no good Man must expect; that the Rain or Drought should not sometimes spoil his Corn, the Sea shipwreck his Goods or Vessel, the Fire burn his House as well as another's: these common misfortunes which happen alike to all, and a great many Losses from the fraud and injustice of others, as well as abundance of natural evils arising from the Mechanism of ourselves and the World; these the most Virtuous cannot expect to be exempted from, but like Travellers through this World, they must all pass through the common Road with others, and sometimes meet with bad and unpleasant way, and now and then with a shower that may fall upon 'em: but the Religious Man is however much better provided against those, against the common and unavoidable evils of life, than another who is but equally subject to them; his Mind is Armed against all the darts of Fortune, and they shall not enter so deep, nor smart so grievously as to the wicked; he has something within to support him under all the Calamities and Afflictions of this World, a good God, a good Conscience, and a good Prospect, and Hopes of Heaven, when a wicked Man has none of those to keep him up, but must wholly sink and fall under them. The one will have the Peace of his Mind, and a Comfort within, that shall pour Oil and Balsam into all the Wounds of Fortune and make Afflictions more easy and tolerable; but the other will increase the smart of them, by his wickedness, that will then lie heavier upon him, when his Spirit is oppressed with other troubles, the load of those and of his sins both will be insupportable to him, and when his mind is sore by its inward guilt, every hard thing from without, will more pinch and gall him. A good Man may keep this Peace of Mind under any Worldly afflictions, but a bad Man cannot.  
2. Neither will Religion make all things equal as to the outward Happiness of this life, arising from men's different States and Conditions and unequal Circumstances in this World. It may be allowed that there is a proper and real good, in the Plenty, Riches, and Conveniences of life, and that a good Man is not quite so happy that wants them, as if he had 'em; but they might be an accession, a small Addition to his more true and greater Happiness of Virtue, tho' that be infinitely more Great and Valuable and Desirable, yet I do not know that Religion takes away or disallows the other; we may therefore both Lawfully Desire and Endeavour to make our outward Circumstances in this World as good, and easy, and comfortable as we can, within the bounds of Virtue, and 'tis both Natural and Lawful to do it; and it borders, I doubt, upon Hypocrisy or Superstition to pretend the contrary, and is always confuted by a contrary Desire and Practice in those who have talked otherwise. But still a good Man can be contented and easy in a very mean and straight Condition, if Providence allots this to him; and he will not Disquiet or Disturb himself, for what he sees others enjoy, if God sees not sit for him to have them: and though he can allow a lesser good and a proper use and conveniency, and some small Happiness perhaps as to this life, to belong to those outward things in respect of the Wants and Necessities, and the State we are in here, which made Aristotle and the Peripatetics put the Externa Bona into the Ingredients of complete Happiness; yet he can be very Happy with a few of those as knowing that Man's Life consisteth not in abundance, as Christ says, Luk. 12.15. and that a few things will suffice nature; and having Food and Raiment, which is the Apostles, as well as Nature's competency, he can be content and make up a Happiness to himself out of the better and more essential Parts and Ingredients of it, to wit, Virtue and Wisdom, and a good Mind, without those Appendages and Ornaments, Trim, and Garnishing of it, which we call outward Happiness and Prosperity. I am not for maintaining that Stoical Paradox, That a virtuous Man was thereby Rich, and a King, and every thing that's Great: They might as well have said also, he is always Strong and Healthful, though 'tis plain, he may be both Sickly and Poor; and his greatest Virtues may take away neither of those evils, and their contraries may be allowed to be both goods in a lower Sense and so Desired by us: but he will be Happier a Thousand times without those, than without his Virtue; they can never make him truly Happy without that, but he may be Happy without those, by the Peace and Comfort, the Firmness and Goodness of his own Mind, altho' if he had them too, they might add something to his present Happiness and Good Condition, this I will not Cynically deny. Nor yet,  
3. That Religion will quite alter his bodily Temper, any more than his Worldly Circumstances, but a good Man may labour under an unhappy Temper, and ill Crasis, and Disposition of Blood and Humours: His Wise and Virtuous Soul may male habitare, be lodged not only in a Deformed, but a Sickly, and Unhealthful, or otherwise ill-framed Body; A natural Sulphur and Choler may lodge in his Blood, that may be too apt to Fire and heat him, or too much dull and heavy Phlegm, may clog his Spirits, and make them Listless and Unactive, and not rise to Warmth, and fervour in his Religious Duties; the Salts that keep the Humours from putrefying may make them too Sharp or Sour, and apt to make a Temper too Fretful and Peevish; or a black melancholy Humour may be thus produced and become Predominant that will disorder the Spirits, and fill the Head and other Parts with dark Vapours, and irregular Ferments, and draw a Cloud of Darkness and Disconsolateness over the Brain, and even the Soul itself. Now Religion will not, nor cannot cure this any more than any other Bodily Diseases, and he that is afflicted with them, must bear them, as he would the Gout or Stone, or any other Disease that is incident to us; but since these affect the Mind more, and the Mind also by its close Union and Re-action upon the Body, does in great measure raise and excite, or abate and allay those; therefore it is a great part of Human Virtue, and a proper Work of Religion, to take as much care as can be of those natural Passions, which are caused in 〈◊〉 those different Humours and Temperaments of Body; for all Anger and First, and the other Bodily Passions that are so troublesome both to ourselves and others, arise from them. The Soul is the same in all Men, not more inclined to any of those Passions by its Original make and nature, than the contrary; they all arise from our Body, and our lower Nature, and are the results of that, and therefore they are in Brutes, we often see, as well as Men: but the Soul by being Vitally united to the Body, has a Preception and Sensation of them, and such thoughts are necessarily caused in it by them. Now neither the first motions of the Body, nor first thoughts of the Soul upon them are sinful, because they are both necessary, but the Soul has a Power within itself, either to consent, or not consent to these Bodily Motions and Inclinations, which we call Passions; and this Principle of the Soul, we call the Will, I do not mean a power to consent to their first rising, or not rising in us, that is often necessary and unavoidable, and so not within the power of the Soul, but perfectly unvoluntary; but than whether it shall continue such a thought, that is excited upon such a Passion, at least continue it so far as to approve and like it, and consent to it, and put it into Act if it can, and actually execute it, and let it produce any outward and lasting Effects; this is in the power of the Soul, and herein lies the great Exercise of its Virtues, in governing and subduing the Passions, and mortifying the carnal Lusts and Bodily Inclinations; if it yields to those so as to commit any Unlawful Actions, or any sin in pursuance of them, than it fulfils the Lusts of the Flesh, and walks after the Flesh, and is carnal, and carnally minded, in St. Paul's phrase, Rom. 8.6. but if through the Spirit, and by help of Religion, it does mortify these deeds of the Body, it shall live, v. 13. If it suffer no sin to reign in its mortal Body, nor give way to those Passions and Lusts, so as to commit sin by them, but with the greatest care and pains keep them within the bounds of Reason and Religion, than it does crucify the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts, Galat. 5.24. not that they must become quite dead and extinct, so that we feel no motions of them: no; they may remain in the best and most regenerate Man, as to some inward motions of Concupiscence, but they are not sinful unless they conceive, i.e. are consented to in the heart and bring forth sin in the life, James 1.15. Now Religion is so to Govern, and keep under all these Passions and bodily inclinations, that they run not into Sin, but it cannot quite cut them up and extirpate them; it is to improve and perfect Nature by Grace, but not to destroy it: These Passions therefore, caused by those Bodily Humours and Tempers which we are naturally inclined to; these which are one of the greatest causes of the troubles and disorders of the mind, and which bring the greatest Uneasiness and Perturbation to it, and rob it of that Evenness and Calmness, and Tranquillity, which is the great Happiness of it: these Religion cannot so wholly remove and take away as that we should be perfectly free from them, and from all the motions and rise of them; but it will and must so far subdue and conquer them, as that they neither have Sinful and Unlawful Effects upon others, nor so far disorder ourselves, as to spoil and destroy the Peace, and Rest, and Quiet of our minds. I do not mean that they should never disturb us, for so they will a little, as often as we feel them; but not to that degree, as to take away the Peace and Tranquillity of our mind, and to destroy the habit and temper of it; if they do, we can never be Happy with them. How Religion cures them, and to what degree, it must overcome them, I shall consider afterwards; at present I shall only observe that Religion does not wholly destroy and root them up, nor alter our bodily Temper and Constitution; but a good Man still lies open to the first motions of Anger, Peevishness, Melancholy, and the like, and may never be quite otherwise, any more than altar his Complexion, or his Stature, and make his Hair White or black: but he may have Peace in his Mind, and Rest in his Soul, notwithstanding that in the rational Frame, and Habit, and Temper of it, founded upon the Hopes and Principles of Religion, these are troublesome and uneasy to him, and will also affect his Mind, as well as any other bodily Pain and Disease; but yet his Rest and Tranquillity, may be consistent with both those: for 'tis a rational intellectual Sense and Perception in the Soul, which depends upon Principles and Rules, and not upon mere Temper and Mechanism of body; for then ill Wether, as well as an ill body would alter and destroy it.  
I come now to show how we may attain it, which is the most considerable thing of all, and when we have if, we shall better understand it, than by any other account of it; like Health we know what it is, tho' we cannot so well describe it, and like ease and pleasure, we can best Judge of it by feeling it: 'Tis as Tully calls it, sanitas animi, the Health and Soundness and good Temper of the Soul, and when the Soul wants it, it is Sick and under a Disease, in Pain and Disorder. We all know how good and sweet a thing health and ease is both of Body and Mind, so that there need not many words to commend them; how to get it, and preserve it, and recover it when it is lost, is the greatest Question.  
Our Saviour here tells us we may find rest to our Souls, and obtain this Peace and Tranquillity of mind. I shall consider what the means are, and by what ways Religion does effect this in the following particulars.  
1. Religion teaches us that Happiness lies chief in our Mind, that that is the proper seat of it, and that it lies not in things without us, but is a Treasure in our own Breasts, something within ourselves, which belongs to our Souls, and consists in the Perfection, Improvement and Enjoyment of them; this is in other words called the Salvation of the Soul, restoring it to its lost Happiness, and freeing it from the Miseries and Evils that sin brought upon it. 'Tis the great and proper business of Religion, to save the Soul or make it Happy, which is done by making it Wise and Virtuous, by raising it to its truest Perfection, by improving it with Virtuous Habits and Dispositions, and bringing it to a Godlike, Heavenly Frame and Disposition, and so cultivating, and fitting it for the greatest Enjoyment of God and Eternal Happiness.  
Religion puts us upon this one thing needful, and its whole Scope and Design is to Cure and Mend, to Perfect and Improve the Soul, to Convert and Sanctify, and Regenerate and enlighten the Mind; which are words that import the making it wise and good, because in this lies our true and proper Happiness, in the Moral state and Gracious temper, and Disposition of the Mind, and in such a Perfection and Enjoyment of it, as is attained by Religion. They who think Happiness lies in bodily Pleasures, or outward Enjoyments, do at the same time, leave Religion, and mistake Happiness. Religion bids us moderate all Carnal and Worldly Enjoyments, and mortify all the Excesses and Immoderate desires and degrees of them, and takes off as far as may be our natural Love and Affections to them; and will by no means allow us to place our Happiness in them, as being poor and empty, short and transient things, in respect of the more true, and greater, and inward Happiness of our own Minds. Religion bids us mind that, and those things in which it consists, take care of our Souls and the means of improving them in Grace and Virtue, and the freeing them from those Vices and ill Tempers, and Habits, that will Destroy, and make them Miseiable.  
A Man's Happiness or Misery, even his Eternal one, is founded in his own Mind, and depends upon the good or bad Temper and Disposition of it: for the Happiness of the Soul is like the Health of the Body, something within itself, and consists in the Vigour and right Operations of all its Faculties and its own inward Powers, and, as Plutarch observes, a Gouty Foot is not cured by a rich Shoe, nor the Headache took off by a Crown or Diadem, nor an ill Mind made Happy, by any thing without it; while it is sick and uneasy within, it will be Miserable, tho' it hath every thing else; for Happiness lies in our Minds, and within ourselves; and Religion, by teaching us this, and being concerned wholly to better, and improve our Minds, and applying itself wholly to them, is very helpful to bring us to it; for it thereby directs us where it lies, and takes us off from all false scents and pursuits of it, and from all vain opinions and imaginations about it. To know the true seat of Happiness, and where it lies, in what it is placed, and wherein it consists, is one of the best means to attain it, and necessary to prevent all mistakes and wand'ring Quests and unprofitable Searches after it, which almost all Men are guilty of, by Imagining it lies in other things, and in things without 'em, and not, as it truly does, in their own Minds, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plutarch says; wherefore since the Fountain of this Rest and Tranquillity of Mind, is in ourselves, let us take care to keep clean and purify that.  
2. Religion teaches us the truest and best Wisdom, which is the Foundation of this Tranquillity of Mind; for 'tis some Folly or other, some weak Thought or Passion, vain Fancy or Opinion, and the want of a true Understanding, and the rightly using our Reason, or making true Judgement of things, that is always the cause of the Disorder and Disturbance, and Indisposition of Mind. Says Tully, The Fountain of all perturbations is a Defection from right Reason, something which does excite turbid motions, contrary and opposite to Reason; and therefore in his Excellent Discourse on this Subject he calls Wisdom, Sanitas animi, insipientia autem est quasi insanitas quaedam, quae est insania, eademque dementia: Wisdom is the Health and Sanity of Mind, and Folly is its Unsoundness, and what puts it out of order. And he calls this good state we are speaking of, sanitatem animorum positam in tranquillitate quadam, constantiaque. Now Religion teaches the Mind the truest Wisdom, and cures it of the greatest Follies that are incident to it; it directs it to have right Thoughts, and to make Judgement of things; proposes to it the best end, and the surest means to attain it; shows it what is its chief Happiness, and its Principal Interest, and puts a right value and estimate upon things according to their worth and desert, and thereby frees the Mind from all wrong Opinions and Imaginations, which are apt. to make it Vicious as well as Disorderly; for all Vice is founded upon false Reasonings and want of right Judging of the Nature of things, whereby they imagine such Actions to be good and agreeable; and that they shall be Happy in having such Pleasures and Enjoyments, and gratifying such Lusts and Desires, but they and themselves Mistaken and Deceived, and therefore vexed and troubled, and repent of their own Folly one time or other, and so plainly confess and accuse themselves of having done a weak and silly thing, what their wiser thoughts cannot but condemn; and what appears now to be contrary to right Reason, would Men live up to that, which should be the design of a Wise Man, and what his Reason was given him for, and what makes him live above Brutes and Animals of mere Sense, and lower Passions: we should never be uneasy or disturbed or unquiet in our Minds, we should always approve of what we do, and be satisfied from ourselves as the Wise Man speaks; we should live by Principles that would always support and bear us up, and let nothing sink or deject us; we should never do a Weak, a Rash or a Foolish thing, that we repent of and were sorry for afterwards; we should act steadily and constantly, by the certain Rules of Wisdom and Virtue, and not be so uncertain and mutable in our Thoughts and Actings, which causes great disquietude and unevenness, and disorder in our Minds. Were we but as wise as Religion would make us, we should have very little to disturb us; Religion is what teaches us the best Wisdom, and if rightly understood, preserves us from the greatest follies and weaknesses of humane nature; and true Wisdom is the Foundation of Peace and Tranquillity of Mind, which is always lost, and destroyed by some folly or other contrary to right Reason and true Wisdom.  
3. Religion teaches us not to place our Happiness in any outward things of this World, for if we do, we shall find Happiness is not in our power, and that we cannot always reach or attain it; for things here will often fall out cross and contrary to our desires and wishes, and there are a thousand Accidents to hinder and disappoint us of our Worldly aims; and we must be often very uneasy, and very miserable, if our mere missing of them makes us so: and if we could attain them, and become masters of them, we should yet find ourselves disappointed, and should not meet with that Happiness that we expected from them. Had we all we could wish for or desire in this World, yet we should not find that satisfaction, and complete Enjoyment we imagined beforehand in any condition; for thus Experience convinces us, and convinces all Mankind, that there is still something wanting to make us Happy, whatsoever we enjoy of this World; and how much soever we have of it, there is so much emptiness in all the things of it, so much mixture and allay of evil with good; it is so unagreeable to the larger capacities of our Souls, and so short of filling and satisfying them, that Solomon pronounced of all Worldly things that they were Vanity and Vexation of Spirit, Eccles. 1.14. and this is not a Philosophical rant or a discontented Reflection, or an Hyperbolical saying; but a strict and certain truth, founded upon the best Experience, and the wisest Observation of things; for no Man whoever set his Heart upon the things of this World, found that contentment and full satisfaction in them that he expected, but met with more cares and troubles in the pursuing them, than they were worth, and pierced himself through with a great many sorrows and anxieties, by being over desirous of them: and if he gained them with all his labour and toil, yet was as far from true Happiness as before; for as the Prophet elegantly expresses it, The Bed is shorter than that a Man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it, Isa. 28.20. Worldly things are too narrow, short, and imperfect, and are no way fitted to make us completely happy; something will still be wanting that we call good, and some evil will be present and mixed with what we enjoy, that will allay and embitter it. To seek for Happiness in this World is to seek for the living among the dead; It is not here, it is risen, it is above; it is only in Heaven and in God, and Religion, and to be enjoyed no where else. Religion raises our Minds to a nobler and truer Happiness than any in this World, and it helps us to as good degrees of it, as we are capable of at present; by taking off our hopes and desires, and expectations of it, as to Worldly things, and curing us of too much concern and anxiety about them, and making us indifferent and easy, and contented whatever our present Circumstances are in this World. Which is the  
4. Fourth thing by which it procures and affords this ease and tranquillity of Mind that we are speaking of. Most of the uneasinesses of life, are caused by a solicitude about Worldly things, proceeding from an immoderate love, and an over great Opinion of them, as if our Happiness lay in possessing a great abundance of them. This is the root of that Covetousness and Ambition, which make us inordinately desire Riches and Honours, which two are very restless and uneasy. Vices, and fill our lives with infinite Trouble and Disquietude, and make our Minds always Uneasy and Discontented. He is a very Happy Man, who is easy and satisfied in his present Circumstances, and has learned with St. Paul, in whatsoever state he is therewith to be content, Phil. 4.11. who hath made such true Judgement of Worldly things, that he has no great Opinion of them, nor does admire or think there is very much in them: but having the Conveniences, and Accommodations of life, can eat of his own little morsel, and drink out of his own Brook, with as much Pleasure and Satisfaction as if he were to take from the greatest Heap, or drink of the greatest River, or be Entertained with all the Luxurious Plenty, and Ambitious State of the Rich and Great ones, who with all their Enjoyments have a Thousand times more trouble and uneasinesses than the other in a more moderate condition. For 'tis certain, the way to Contentment and Happiness, is rather to abate our desires, than to fill 'em; and the more we raise and heighten these, the more uneasy we shall always be. Vain Opinion and weak Imagination set a false value and estimate upon the outward differences amongst Men; but I doubt not but they may be all equally Happy, and that Previdence has distributed good and evil with a more equal and impartial hand than we imagine, and that those of low condition enjoy as much Happiness in this World, as those of the highest: The difference is not made by Circumstances, but by temper of Mind, and by keeping our desires within moderate bounds, and not being anxious, or solicitous, or uneasy for what we do not enjoy; but in being contented and well pleased with whatever Providence allots to us: when we bring ourselves to this, we shall be easy and happy and free ourselves from those immoderate desires, carking cares and anxious sollicitudes about the things of this World, which pierce us through with a Thousand sorrows, and destroy the Ease and Tranquillity of our Minds. Now to do this we must be taught and convinced by Religion, that Happiness lies not in outward things, and be cured of the contrary weak Fancy and Opinion that makes us so immoderately desire 'em, and be so anxiously concerned about 'em, to the loss even of that Rest and Peace of Mind, that we might otherwise have without them.  
5. Religion teaches us to govern our Passions and lower Inclinations, and so to keep them from disturbing us, and breaking the Peace and Tranquillity of our Minds. One of the greatest causes of uneasiness to us, and what is most contrary to this Rest and Tranquillity we are seeking after, is the Disorder of our Passions, and the Disturbance and Disquiet they give us. Anger ruffles us, and puts us into a storm, and destroys that smooth, calm, and sedate Temper, that meekness puts us in: Envy preys upon itself, and is inwardly corroded with its own sharp and sour humours: Pride swells its self with its own inward poison, and is blown up with an inward Vapour that Pains and Distends it, and makes it very uneasy, even whilst 'tis very conceited of its self. Till these inward Diseases and Indispositions and Commotions of Mind are cured in great measure, by the Prescriptions and Directions of Religion, a Man can have no ease and quiet in his own Breast: for while he is under the power of any of these, or indeed of any lower, or bodily Inclination, such as Lust, Anger, brutal Rage, or brutal Concupiscence; and has not mastered those natural Corruptions, nor brought those Boisterous and Headstrong Passions under some Government and Subjection to the Laws of Wisdom and Decency, Virtue and Religion; they will run him into a Thousand Mischiefs, Follies, and Inconveniencies, and he will never have true Peace and Tranquillity in his own Mind. 'Tis the great business therefore of Religion, to mortify these bodily Passions and lower Inclinations, to Crucify the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts, to put away all Wrath, and Clamour, and Bitterness, and to take off the Corruptions and Weaknesses of Humane Nature, by the rules of Religion, and the assistances of the Holy Spirit, and to Guard us where sin doth so easily beset us, by the Considerations of Heaven and Eternity, and another World, which are only Arguments strong enough to make men conquer and deny those passions and Inclinations which are in great part natural to them. Religion has a Power in it, if duly applied and attended to, to make the most passionate Man Calm and Gentle, the most Lustful Man , to Sweeten the most Sour and illnatured Temper, and Tame the most Outrageous and Violent. This Christianity did of old, as Lactantius, and other Fathers assure us, and boast of its Virtue and Efficacy; and this it no doubt will, and must do, in order to our Eternal Happiness if we come under the full Sense and perfect Government of it: for no Man can go to Heaven with those irregular and unmortified Passions about him, any more than come to Peace and Tranquillity of Mind here; what is required and is necessary to the one, is necessary to the other also, and what promotes the one does at the same time promote the other; for the more approaches we make towards Heaven hereafter, the more we make at present, to this Peace and Tranquillity of Mind; and whatever tends to acquire the one, tends also to acquire the other: Religion by the same way leads to both, and the more we grow in one, the more we shall grow in the other; 'tis one of the greatest Perfections Religion is to bring us to, not to Destroy or Extirpate, but Govern and Master our natural Inclinations and bodily Passions, and make them always easy to ourselves, and subject to Reason, Wisdom and Virtue; and when they are so, than we shall be in this most Pleasant and Happy State, which we call Rest and Tranquillity, and Calmness of Mind.  
6. Religion, and especially Christianity, removes all Gild, and all Reason of inward Trouble of Mind, and Disquiet of Conscience; nothing is so contrary to this Peace, and Rest, and Tranquillity of Soul as an inward Consciousness of a Mans own Gild, and a dread of what he Deserves upon it; this will always disturb and make him uneasy in whatever outward Condition he be; it will be a Wound at his very Heart, and like a Dart struck through his Liver; he will feel it like a Prick upon a Nerve, a Pain in the Tenderest, and most Sensible part of his Mind, for such is a Sense of Gild, and the Fears and Horrors that go along with it. Now what shall Cure this if a Man has fallen into it, and what shall best preserve him from it but Religion? Christianity has provided a Remedy for the greatest Gild, which is the Blood of Christ, and thereby pours in Oil and Balsam into the most wounded Conscience; and by the Privilege of Repentance and New Obedience restores it to Peace and Comfort and a good State, and frees it from its Dreadful Fears and Apprehensions; it gives a Man firm Grounds of Hope and Comfort upon his return to his Duty, tho' he has not always observed it, and assures him that he shall be well treated by God upon it. This is a great thing which is owing to the Grace of God, in, and through Christ; and is the great Grace of the Gospel, and what natural Religion could not Discover or Ensure to us: Christ alone giveth this Rest to those who are weary and heavy Laden, with the Burden of their Sins; and Gild is a Load and Burden too heavy for us to bear; but what he has done takes it off from us upon our Repentance and Amendment, and becoming good Men, tho' after we have been otherwise.  
Religion will best Guard and Preserve us against all Sin, and keep us from doing any thing rashly and inconsiderately, that should afterwards trouble and vex us when we reflect upon it; and will therefore prevent, as well as cure, the painful Disorders and Disturbances of a Guilty Conscience and Uneasy Mind, and keep it always in the most Virtuous, and therefore most Comfortable state: for nothing is such a ground of Peace and inward Comfort, as to live always in a Habit of Virtue and Religion, in the practice of one, and by the principles of the other, and never to act contrary to them, or oppose them, in any thing we do; this will make a good Man always pleased and satisfied from himself as the Scripture speaks, Prov. 14.14. and give him the closest and the truest Happiness, which is the Peace of his own Mind. What a Comfort a good Conscience is, it is like Health or Pleasure, better felt than described; 'tis a continual Feast in all Conditions, a perpetual spring of Joy and Comfort, rising up in a Mans own Mind, and overflowing his Heart with unspeakable Pleasure and Delight: What will make a Man bear any Circumstances? Endure any evil? Suffer any Affliction? Go through any Cross or Reproach, and be tho' not without Sense, yet without any great Trouble? When his Innocent Mind speaks Cheerfully to him and Refreshes him from within.  
A Man can never have true Peace and Tranquillity of Mind, without Virtue, and Religion; for none but a good Man conscious to himself of his own Integrity and Sincerity, can have a good Conscience: and nothing is so contrary to this Ease and Rest, this Tranquillity of Soul, as an evil Conscience, which like the troubled Sea, is always Stormy and Boisterous, and casteth up Mire and Dirt, as the Prophet speaks, Isa. 57.20. the filth that is at the bottom of it, and is therefore the most directly opposite to the Calm and Serene State and Temper of Mind that we are seeking after. An evil Conscience is always full of Fears, and Horrors, of Dread and Disquietude; 'tis a Worm gnawing on a Man's Vitals, a Vulture preying on his Liver, a Snake stinging him to the Heart, a Fury Whipping him, a Devil tormenting him, a Hell kindled in his own Breast. Nothing can be too great and terrible to represent it by, and hardly any thing can come up to the misery of it, when it is in a high degree. Religion by delivering us from that, delivers us from the greatest trouble and uneasiness of Mind; and whoever is not stupid and senseless, will fall into that some time or other, unless he live Virtuously and Religiously.  
7. Religion gives us Cheerful Hopes as to another World, and so takes off the immoderate fear of Death, which must otherwise all our life make us Subject to Bondage, as the Apostle speaks, Heb. 2.15. and fill us with wretched and servile Fear whenever we think of dying; and we cannot but think of it sometimes when we see the common Fate of Mortality in all others, and have some Warnings and Monitors of it, in our own Bodies: then what a melancholy thing must it be for a Man to think of going down into the place of darkness and forgetfulness, to become a cold heavy lump, a stiff dead Corpse, to have all his brisk and vigorous Spirits put out and extinguished, and an end put to all his Pleasures and Enjoyments, if he have not some Hopes of an after Immortality and of a better Life after this: No Man could enjoy himself or be easy in his thoughts, if he thinks at all, who knows he must die in a little time, if he has not the fears of Death took off and moderated by the Hopes and Expectations of Religion. He that considers, says Plutarch, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  the nature of his Soul, and that Death Translates us into a better State, or at least one that is not at all evil, has made an excellent provision, both for the Happiness of life, and against the fear of death; and he make; this one of the great means of procuring this Tranquillity of Mind, thus to overcome the fears of Death; for otherwise that will embitter all our present Enjoyments, and spoil all our Mirth and Jollity, and draw a dark Cloud over all our cheerfulness and gaiety, to have the thoughts of Death steal in now and then upon us, as they unavoidably will, if we have nothing to make them less terrible and frightful, than they will be to a wicked Man; he must be sadly scared and amazed at any such thing, and cannot think, much less look on Death, without sad Misgivings, and Horrors of Mind; and therefore can never have any settled Peace and Tranquillity in himself, but it will be all broke by one thought of Mortality, by the hearing a Knell, or seeing a Coffin; for let him seem to put on never so much false Courage, and to laugh at these things in the midst of his Company and his Vices, yet he trembles at them when he is alone, and a cold and clammy sweat feizes upon him whenever he thinks of dying in earnest: nothing can prevent this Despondency and dying of Mind, and arm even against the natural fear of bodily Death, which will often come upon us, and scatter all our other Comfortable thoughts; but Religion, which takes out the sting of Death, which lessens and abates its terror, and fortifies us against it by the Christian Hopes of being free from all Gild and Punishment hereafter, and of having a better Life, and being in another World, when we are to part with this here.  
Death must be very terrible to the thoughts either of an Atheist, by Depriving him of all Being, and of all Enjoyment; or of a wicked Christian by consigning him to Judgement and Punishment, and Translating him to Eternal Death and Misery: only Religion can take off its Terror, and sweeten the bitter Cup with the Supports, and Comforts, the Aids and Assistances, the Hopes and Expectations it affords to a good Man in his last Agonies and Extremities, and at all other Times when he thinks of dying.  
Lastly, Religion infuses inward and unspeakable Comforts into our Minds from its present Privileges and future Hopes, from God and his Spirit, and their secret Communications, Operations, and Influences upon our Souls, which are the highest improvement and the highest degrees of Peace and Tranquillity of Mind. Nature and Philosophy knew nothing of this, but Revelation, and especially the Christian, give us the Knowledge and Assurance of it, and many a Pious and good Christian has felt the Effects and Comforts of it in his Soul, when he has had a Cheerful and well grounded Sense that his sins are pardoned in, and through Christ, upon his true Repentance; and that he is justified by the Grace of the Gospel upon the Terms and Conditions of it; and that he has a Title to Heaven by God's promise upon his own sincerity, and has reason to Hope that he shall partake of all the great and glorious things that belong to the Christian Salvation; these will raise and inspire him, as it did the Apostles and first Christians, with a more than ordinary Comfort, Peace, and cheerfulness of Soul, and make him very Happy, tho' in the greatest Sufferings and outward Afflictions. 'Twas this which made the Christians Rejoice always in the Lord, Rejoice in Tribulations, Sing, and be Cheerful in Prisons, and be more than Conquerors over all their Troubles, when they had these inward Comforts to support and raise, and invigorate their Minds: when, tho' their Enemies were implacable and irreconcilable, yet God they knew was reconciled to them, and tho' the World hated thom, yet he loved them; tho' they had Tribulation from without, yet they had Peace in themselves, and Peace in Christ, as he promised them, Mat. 16.32. and tho' all things were very dark and dismal about them, yet they had a clear prospect of Heaven, and, like St. Stephen, could see that opened thro' a shower of Stones, and Christ sitting at the right hand of God. One such view of Christ and Heaven, tho' but by the Eye of Faith would give a Man a Pleasure and Courage of Mind above not only the Pains and Torments he endured, but all other Pleasures he ever felt in his Life; A great, but ill Man could say, That the Pleasures and Comforts of Religion, even when they are Mistaken, and Enthusiastic, are greater than all the Pleasures of Sense and Carnality. What are they then when they are true and well grounded? how do they not only give Peace to a Man's Mind, but even Rapture? not only Calm and Quiet it, but Transport it? not only give it Rest and Tranquillity, but Ecstasy and Joy? This is called in Scripture the Joy of the Holy Ghost, Rom. 14.17. and the Peace of God, which passeth all Understanding, Philip. 4.7. for we do not know how God, who is a Spirit, can Communicate inward Joy and Peace to our Spirits, and convey a secret Sense of his Favour, and Relish of his Kindness, and make us taste, and see how Gracious he is, as the Psalmist speaks Psa. 34.8. and lift up the light of his Countenance upon us. There is more in all this, not only in the extraordinary supports, promised in particular Cases and Circumstances, but in the ordinary Hopes and Comforts of Religion to a good Man, than all the Pleasures of this World, all the Charms and Enjoyments of Flesh and Blood can ever amount to; and as we plainly feel Peace and Ease of Mind to be a greater good than any bodily Pleasure, and know this from Sense and Experience, as well as Religion; so when this is heightened by those unspeakable Joys, and that inconceiveable Peace, which is derived from God and Religion, and his Holy Spirit; these give such an improvement to this Peace and Tranquillity of Mind, as nothing can equal, but the Enjoyment of Heaven; and which the wife Heathens and Philosophers knew nothing of in their Discourses on this Subject. Religion and Christianity therefore outdo these, and Discover new Springs to feed and maintain this, and to raise it higher; and tho' they run into the same Channel, namely, the Happiness of the Mind, yet 'tis with a fuller Current and a stronger Stream: and they do more perfectly promote that Rest and Peace and Tranquillity of Mind, which tho' it be various in degrees, yet is the greatest Happiness, Perfection or Pleasure it is capable of in general, either in this or the other World.  
Whoever attains to this is the Happy Man, whatever his outward Condition be: for while he is easy within himself, and has an inward Rest, Peace, and Tranquillity in his own Soul, all outward things signify very little to him. Our Saviour did not Promise his Disciples or Followers any good Circumstances, or Happy outward Condition in this World; but he promised them Peace in him, and Peace in themselves: and that if they followed his Example, and learned his Temper, and lived up to his Religion, they should find Rest and Ease to their Souls, and be freed from those heavy Loads and Burdens that oppress our Minds, and are the causes of Misery to us. Religion and Christianity are the true cure for the Uneasiness, and Indispositions, and Diseases of the Mind; and if we could live up to its wise Rules, and bring ourselves to that Frame and Temper of Mind it would beget in us, we should be always Easy and always Happy; as Happy as we could be in this World, in spite of all the evils of it, and Eternally and Completely Happy in the next.   

The Third Sermon.  MAT. VII. 13, 14. 
Enter ye in at the straight Gate, for wide is the Gate and broad is the way that leadeth to Destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; Because straight is the Ga'e and narrow is the way which leadeth unto Life, and few there be that find it.  
OUR Saviour did not think fit to give the World a set Code of Laws, as Moses did the Jews, or a Methodical System of Ethics, as other Writers have done since; no more did the other wise Teachers of Virtue and Morality, Pythagoras, Socrates, Epictetus, Antoninus, and other Heathens: the Patriarches of old, who were Preachers of Righteousness, Solomon or the Prophets afterwards, but with greater simplicity and inartificial plainness, they dropped their excellent Precepts, and sage Directions without any formal Method; and thus Christ taught us the best and most perfect Rules of Virtue, in his occasional Discourses, and Particularly in this his excellent Sermon upon the Mount, which is such a Discourse that it carries an internal Evidence, and a Heavenly Authority along with it, enough to satisfy any Wise and Good Man that the Doctrine is true, and that it comes from God, tho' it had no Miracles, nor other Evidence to prove it; for the Soul, if it be not vitiated, Tastes and Relishes such Congenial truths, that are agreeable and natural to it, as the Palate does its food, and Judges of their inward truth and goodness, by an internal Sensation and Perception and an immediate Congruity to its Faculties.  
When our Saviour comes towards the Conclusion of this his Sermon upon the Mount, which was an Epitome of Christianity, and the Sum of all those Virtuous Precepts which were to make his Followers the best Men in the World, to make them exceed all the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, and outdo all the Examples, and all the Characters of Heathen Virtue; he tells 'em there would be great Difficulty to rise to these Attainments: that Religion and Virtue in such a pitch as he had set them, and as was necessary to make a good Christian, and to fit him for Heaven, were not such slight and easy things; but that they must use great Care and Pains, and Labour, in the Attaining and Performing of them; that it was very easy to be vicious and wicked, and therefore most Men were so: but that to be Virtuous as a Christian ought to be in all those Instances and Degrees he had taught them, was a more Hard and Difficult matter, and that few would come up to it; but yet this was a thing absolutely necessary to their Eternal Happiness, and they must either take the Pains to do this, to come up to these strict Terms, or else they must Perish and be undone for ever by falling short of them, Enter ye in at the straight Gate. From which words I shall consider,  
I. What are the Difficulties of Religion and Virtue, or upon what account they are a straight Gate and a narrow Way, and Vice a wide Gate and a broad Way.  
II. Press the Duty and propose the Motives for our entering in at this straight Gate and narrow way, notwithstanding that it is so.  
1. What are the Difficulties of Religion and Virtue, etc.  
1. Then our Saviour's words might perhaps have some regard to the hard Circumstances, Dangers, and Persecutions that Christianity was exposed to at that time, in those first ages of it, and is liable to afterwards; then indeed it was a straight Gate, when they who entered into it, were bound to leave all they had in this World, all their Temporal Interests and Possessions, for Christ's sake and the Gospel's, and all that would live Godly in Christ Jesus must suffer Persecution, 2 Tim. 3.12. than it was hard for a Rich Man who had great Possessions, and was loath to part with them, to follow Christ, though he had a great Desire and Inclination to do so, as in the Instance of the young Man, Mat. 19.21. so that our Saviour said thereupon, it was easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle, than for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, i. e. to become a Christian at that time.  
Then the way to Heaven was straight and narrow, when it was beset with so many Dangers, filled with Crosses and Gibbets, and a Man must venture his Life as well as Estate, whenever he entered into it; but this was but a particular and accidental case, though every good Christian ought to come to such a Perfection in Religion, as to be prepared and disposed for this, whenever God shall think fit to put this hard Trial and Difficulty upon him. But,  
2. Christianity is thus straight and narrow upon other accounts. viz. The standing Terms and Conditions of it, as it forbids every sin and every wilful wickedness upon the Pain of Damnation: This is very hard indeed to the generality of Men, and makes it a very straight and narrow way, when it leaves no room for any one darling Lust, undue Liberty or beloved Sin to go along with us: for according to the Gospel, he that will not part with every wilful sin, however Pleasant or Profitable it be to him, must part with Heaven for it; tho' the Temptation to it be never so Great, and the Charms of it never so powerful, yet if Religion do not conquer and overcome it, we must for the short Pleasures of Sin, be Miserable for ever; tho' it conduces never so much to our Interest or Advantage, so that we could gain the World by it, yet it will prove a dear Bargain at the last, and we must lose our Souls for it: for by the irreversible Terms, and unalterable Conditions of the Gospel every wilful and habitual sin, destroys our good State, and without a timely Repentance and Amendment excludes us out of Heaven. And however we may think fit to abate of those Terms by our lose Opinions and false Principles, and make other Judgements of ourselves, by the wrong measures of a Licentious Age, or as Mistaken and as Licentious Doctrines; yet Christianity has so plainly fixed these, that we have no reason to believe that God will, or can any way abate of them; and to be sure our Religion does not.  
3. There are some particular duties in Christianity that seem very hard and difficult as well as the general Terms of it; such as loving Enemies, not revenging Injuries, self-denial, Mortification, and the like; which tho' they are against the grain of our Nature as some Men think, and as impracticable as the Rants of Stoical Virtue, yet are made necessary to our Pardon and Salvation by the Gospel, Mat. 5.43.6.14, 15. Mark 8.34. Rom. 8.13. and they truly are so in their right Sense and Meaning, and aught to be as much performed by us, as any other parts of our Religion; we are bound as Christians to love our Enemies, with the general Acts of Charity, due to all mankind, not with the particular Offices of kindnesses due to our Friends; we must not revenge an injury to gratify a mere Private and Outrageous Passion, without regard to public good; we must deny ourselves any Worldly Interest, when it is Inconsistent with our duty; we must mortify every Natural Passion and Sensual Inclination, so as to keep it within the bounds of Virtue and Religion: these are all agreeable to Reason and Prudence, and to the Laws of Civil Government, as well as to the Principles of Religion.  
4. Religion puts a check and restraint not only upon our Actions, but upon our Words and our very Thoughts, and this is hard, some think, that their Tongues should not be their own, nor their Thoughts neither; but that of every idle Word they must give an account in the day of Judgement, and by our Words we shall be Condemned or Justified, as well as by our Actions, Mat. 12.36, 37. and that our secret Thoughts should be tied up, so that we must not harbour any wickedness even in our Hearts and Thoughts Mark 7.21. Now this, however severe it seems, yet if by idle Words be meant only evil Words, as I doubt not but 'tis, such as those of Slander and Desamation of which our Saviour there particularly spoke; or such Profane and Lewd Discourse, as tends to affront Heaven, or to Corrupt those who hear it, and proceeds from a Malicious, Irreligious, and Corrupt Mind. This gives such a vicious Tincture, even to our Words, that he who cannot better govern his Tongue, than thus to injure his Brother, or let fly at God and Religion, This Man's Religion is vain, as St. James says, Jam. 1.26. if he pretend to any: and he who by his Mouth thus vents the Exulcerated Malice, Pride, and Uncharitableness of his Heart, and from such an Unchristian Temper calls his Brother Fool or Racha, is in danger of God's Judgement and of Hell-fire, as our Saviour says, Mat. 5.22. 'Tis the Venom and Malignity of the Heart, and inward Disposition, that, like a Corrupt Fountain, Poisons and Vitiates those ill streams that flow from it; and this is the true Plastic Principle within us, that Forms and Denominates all our Actions, which are but the Fruits growing upon that Root, and, as our Saviour says, A good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit, and a Corrupt Tree, that which is evil, v. 17, 18. of this Chapter. All Moral Good and Evil, is conceived and produced from the Heart; and God who sees it there even before it comes into Act, whenever it has the full consent of the Will, does very justly Condemn it, and charge it upon us. For, as without this consent of the Will, no Action is Criminal before him, so with it the Crime is both Specified, Committed, and Perfected, tho' it go no further than the Thoughts and the Heart.  
5. Religion requires our lives to be useful, as well as Innocent, and enjoins us not only to do no ill thing, but to do all the good that we are able; else 'tis but a negative and a useless Virtue, the easiest and the softest side of it, like the old Principle of Privation, without the Matter and Form, that is to give it a Being and a Substance. We read in Scripture, not only of the wicked Servant, who was guilty of great Crimes, Misdemeanours, and Injuries against his Lord; but of the Unprofitable one, who did no manner of good, but was idle, and useless in his Service, and for this Reason alone was cast into outer darkness. God will call every one of us to a strict and severe account how we have used and improved all the Talents he committed to us; all the Powers, Abilities and Opportunities of doing good, he hath put into our hands: and if like Loiterers in his Vineyard, we have only Feasted ourselves with the Fruits and Delicacies of it, and wasted our idle time in Ease and Luxury, and spent a vain and useless Life in trifling and impertinent either Pleasure or Business; and not Laboured at all in the great Work and Business of Religion, for which we were sent into the World: we must not at the last expect any wages from him, but be punished for our useless idleness, and great omissions, by the Just Distributer of Rewards and Punishments, who will render to all Men according to their Works; and who expects we should do all the good we can, for the sake of Heaven, as well as abstain from all manner of Evil, for the sake of Hell.  
6. Religion requires the Uniform practice of all Virtues, and the entire Union and Conjunction of all Christian Graces to make and constitute a good Man; whereas any single Vice or wilful Habit of Sin will denominate and make a bad one, so as to make him incapable of Happiness and obnoxious to Misery. This is an undoubted truth in Religion, which requires though not the Perfection of Degrees, yet the Perfection of parts; so that no plain Virtue must be wanting, nor no voluntary sin be allowed without the certain danger of being excluded out of Heaven, as St. James says, he that shall keep the whole Law besides, and yet offend in one point, wilfully break any part of it, Commit one Act of wilful Treason and Disobedience against Heaven, is guilty of all, resists and opposes all that Divine Power and Authority, which gives Force and Sanction to every Law; and becomes liable to the same sort of Punishment, tho' not to the same equal degrees of it. The Virtue of the Mind, and Divine Life of the Soul, like the Life, Health, or Beauty of the Body must be made up of the regular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Disposition and Symmetry of all the parts; whereas one Fatal Wound, or Mortal Disease may kill us, as well as many; and one great and Notorious Deformity will Disfigure a whole Face. Virtue is like a strait line which must be every where even and regular, but a crooked and irregular one may be so in a hundred parts. Vice is infinite and knows no Bounds, but Wanders and Roves through all the vast unlimited extent of Evil, but Virtue confines us, and keeps us within the narrow compass of what is Good and Righteous, and made our Duty by a Divine Law. These are from Religion, its Terms, Conditions and Constitutions, there are two other Difficulties arising from ourselves.  
7. A great Reason why Religion and Virtue are so straight and narrow a way, is because our Natural Appetites and Inclinations, which are necessary to our present state, are so many, and so hard to be all governed and kept within the bounds of Virtue and Religion; these result from our Animal Nature, and are a true part of us, as Compounded of Flesh and Blood, and are so much God's Workmanship and Creation, that we neither can nor aught to destroy them; he allows us to gratify 'em within due bounds and did not put those strong Appetites in our Natures, merely to vex and torture and disatisfie us, but we must Govern them with great care, and not lay lose the Reins upon their Necks, nor let them grow too Masterless and unruly, at any time, for Reason and Religion; they are, I confess, the great Trial and Instance of Human Virtue, and they may become a snare to us, and the great inlets into sin without due care and watchfulness and managery; we must be therefore always upon our Guard, lest this Flesh and Sense which we carry about us, and are so fond of, become a Traitor to us, and Sin do not some way or other surprise us, and enter at some of those weak places of Humane Nature; we must stop and check the strongest Inclination when it would lead us into Sin, and so far as it is Vicious, Immoderate, and Excessive, destroy it, tho' with never so much Pains and Violence; we must pluck out a right Eye and cut off a right hand, and destroy every Sinful Inclination, be it never so Natural to us, and Crucify the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts, so that we may keep them always within the bounds of Wisdom and Virtue, and suffer no Sin to Reign in our Mortal Bodies, that we should obey it in the Lusts thereof. Romans 6.12.  
8. Lastly the Difficulties of Religion, and Virtue arise mainly from the Prejudices and ill Customs and Habits of Vice which get possession of most Men before they well Understand Religion and the true good and necessity of it; our first years are a life of Sense, before we grow up to Reason and Understanding, and then other things, make the first Impression upon our Minds, and fill them with weak Images and Fancies, and Foolish thoughts; and thus when our Passions are strong and our Reason is weak, Vice generally gets the start of Religion, and without a very Happy and Virtuous Education, we contract a great many Ill Habits and Vicious Customs, that increase and grow up with us, and 'tis very hard to break and alter those, when we grow Wiser by Time and Experience, and come afterwards to have a better Sense of Religion and better Apprehensions about it; tho' we are then convinced of the Folly and Danger of our Sins, yet we are become such Slaves to 'em by long use, that it is hard to break their Chains, and get lose from them, and here lies the great Difficulty of Religion, and this makes it to be a straight Gate, and a narrow way, especially at the first entrance into it, when old Customs and Habits must be changed and altered, former liberties retrenched and denied, old Companions must be forsaken and former Temptations must be overcome, and Repentance, which is the hardest part of Religion, must be the first duty of it, and must cure the old Prejudices and the long habits of Sin, and in the Scripture phrase bring in a New Nature, a New Soul, and make us New Creatures and New Men; this is a great Difficulty indeed, but it is brought upon ourselves by our own fault, and we cannot blame Religion for it any more than we can the Physician, or the Physic that is to cure us of a Disease, that we have let run so long upon us, that 'tis hard now to perform the cure, and it cannot be done without going through a long and tedious course, and using a strict Regimen, and very great abstinence from what may be hurtful to us. The great Argument to persuade us to all this, is that we must die if we do not; if notwithstanding all these Difficulties and hard Things in Religion, we will not comply with it, we must be Miserable for ever, we must lose all that life and happiness, those Glorious rewards it promises to us in another World, and we must suffer all the Dreadful, Amazing punishments it there threatens.  
There is no reserve against this, but either by perverting Religion, or by denying it, either corrupting its Principles, and by false and mistaken Notions giving ourselves hopes of happiness without living up to the Terms and Conditions of it, or else utterly denying it as a Cheat and a Falsehood, the latter is more impudent and daring, and what but few hardened wretches can come up to, the other is more common, and as Pernicious and Destructive. More Souls are lost by false Principles, and the horrid corrupting of the Doctrines of Religion, than by downright Atheism and infidelity, by trusting to a late and Deathbed Repentance, and thinking a little matter will do the business hereafter, as well as a very strict and a very good life, by relying upon the Mercies of God and the Merits of Christ for Salvation without Obedience to the Gospel, and performing such things upon which alone those are promised, by thinking to be saved, or justified by Faith alone, without Works or a good Life; and making Faith to lie in a presumptuous Confidence of God's Favour, or having an Interest in Christ, without regard to the plain Terms, and Conditions of Christianity; or by the other superstitious Doctrines of having sins pardoned by an Absolution or an Indulgence, and the like; such Doctrines as these, which turn the Grace of God into Wantonness, which make Religion an encouragement to Looseness and Licentiousness, and give Men hopes to escape Misery, tho' they live in their Sins, and come not up to the strict and severe Terms in Religion, but to go to Heaven by some other Imaginary and Unaccountable way, and to be saved upon some account or other, by Grace, or Christ, without entering this straight Gate, and going in this narrow way; these deceive Millions of Souls, who though they believe Religion, yet do not live up to it, but corrupt and pervert it, so as to take off its Force and Influence upon their Lives, and make them never the better by it.  
The other reserve, which is a most desperate one, is that of Atheism and Infidelity, or an utter dis-believing all Religion, or at least a comfortable Doubt and Suspicion, that it may not be true, and this I am afraid lies in too many Minds, but then all Mankind have been out of their Wits in believing it, for there have been very few, either in the most Wise or most Barbarous Parts and Ages of the World, but what have done so; unless then we have been all Cheated with Books of Revelation, and Histories of Miracles done by the Prophets of Old, and by Christ, and his Apostles afterwards, which are better attested than any Actions or any Books besides, that ever were in the World 1600 Years ago, so that we may as well call in Question all the Greek and the Roman story, as the Jewish and the Christian, and when we have run into such a Frenzy of Scepticism as to do that, and without having any positive proof against Religion, and the Being of God, and another World, for it is impossible to have that, and the greatest Atheist will not pretend to have any Evidence, Certainty, and Demonstration, but that they may be true notwithstanding all his doubts; after all this, the whole Frame of Nature and the Wise contrivance of the World, of the Heavens above, and the Earth, and Animals below, is a standing Evidence, as great as can be given of the truth of Religion in general; and a Man's Reason must be wretchedly blinded with his Vices, who doth not see it, or who winks so hard that he will not discern it; these wretched Reserves being therefore taken away, I shall proceed to press the duty of entering in at the straight Gate, and narrow way, and propose the motives to engage us to this, notwithstanding all the Difficulties I mentioned.  
1. Religion is a business of such importance, that whatever straits and hardships there be in it, we must not stick at those, but resolve however to go through with it, for our Life, our Happiness, our All, our Eternal state lies at stake, and depends upon it; Our Saviour only tells us straight is the Gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto Life, and wide is the Gate, and broad is the way which leadeth to Destruction: And this is sufficient, if Life and Death be set before us; whatever be the way to them, we should look at the great Ends, Issues, and Consequences of things, which are the mark a Wise Man always aims at, and whatever means are in our Power, to attain the one and avoid the other, we should make use of, without any long Counsel or Deliberation; for no Man demurs and considers whether he shall choose happiness and escape Misery, Nature, and Instinct prevent our Reason here, and we are made with an inward spring which runs of itself to the one, and flies from the other, whenever we truly apprehend them; and therefore did we consider what that Life is, that Eternal Life of Happiness which Virtue leads to, which is to live in the perfect Enjoyment of the greatest good, and the purest Pleasures free from all Alloys and all Approach of the least Evil and Trouble, to live for ever with God and Angels in rapturous Bliss, and Heavenly Delights, and Joy unspeakable, to be Possessed of a Crown, a Kingdom of substantial Glory, and all such Good and Desirable things, that this World affords but a faint Shadow, and imperfect Resemblance of; we should find this is a Life worth being fond of, and seeking after, compared to which, this our present short life mixed with so much real Care and Trouble, and so little imaginary Pleasure, is but a sort of Death, but walking in a vain Shadow, and Dreaming of Happiness, and hardly worth a Wise Man's choosing, were it not for a better Life, which is only worth the name of Living, where we are born into another World, and Virtue shall give us a Glorious Immortality; this is a Reward that will sufficiently Recompense our short Labours here, and were Religion never so Difficult, yet the worth, and greatness of that, were our Hopes and Desires of it proportionable to it, would inspire us with new Vigour and Resolution, and convey Strength and Power enough to carry us through them all; for what will not a great reward make Men do, whither will they not Travel, where will they not fight, what danger will they Flinch from, what Labour will they Refuse, when a certain and great reward is offered to 'em? And had we but as good thoughts of Heaven, as the Soldier has of Honour and Victory, the Merchant of Gold and Gain, and the Husbandman of a good Harvest, we should never think much of all the Pains and Difficulties that are in Religion, were they a great many more than they are; as on the other side, if Men had but a due sense of that Destruction, to which the wide Gate and the broad way of wickedness leads 'em, and the Sad and Dreadful Condition their Vices will bring 'em to in another World, did they consider what exquisite and amazing Misery, both of Soul and Body, is wrapped up in those Words of Hell and Damnation, no Vice, tho' never so Charming, would make 'em endure it for one day, no Pleasure of Sin for a Season, would make 'em bear it for so long a time as this Life is, and nothing would ever tempt 'em, not only not to suffer it for ever, but to run the hazard and venture of it, were there not a thousand times the reason to fear it that we have by Religion, and were it but merely probable, or but just possible, which Atheism itself can never deny, yet no Wise man would expose himself to such a Dreadful and Irretrievable danger for the Poor and Pitiful Temptations that are in the greatest Sin. But  
2. Besides the Consideration of another World, Religion with all its straitness and hardship, does not abridge us of any Comfortable Enjoyments of this World, nor Deprive us of any of the true Pleasures and good things here, which a Wise Man would Desire, or which our Nature was made for; for they may be all enjoyed within the compass of Virtue and allowances of Religion, and that with more Convenience and Advantage than in a Course of Vice and Wickedness; Religion does not Deprive us of any good proper to our State and Nature, nor tie us up from any of the Comforts or Pleasures of Life, with a peevish severity and moroseness, with a touch not, taste not, handle not, but only restrains us from what would be Evil, and Pernicious to us, if it were allowed us; keeps us from the forbidden Fruit, and from those excesses and extravagancies, that are Destructive to ourselves and Mischievous to the World; it does not destroy any of our Natural Pleasures, but refines and purifies them, and draws them off from the filth, and Sediments which lies always at the bottom of those that are sinful, and so it makes them clearer and sweeter, and frees them from all that Nauseousness and Bitterness that Vice generally mixes with them; Virtue does neither Decay nor Disease our Bodies, Trouble, or Torment our Minds, Consume or Squander away our Estates, nor Ruin and Shipwreck our Fortunes, nor bring any such Mischiefs upon us in this World, as men's Sins often do, but as keeping the bounds of it, will lead us to Eternal Life, so it will generally promote and improve the greatest happiness we are capable of in this.  
3. Religion is as easy as God could possibly make it, and none of its Straitnesses and Severities are Arbitrarily imposed upon us, but from the Reason and Necessity of things, and the absolute Fitness, Goodness and Wisdom of whatever it Commands, and its real Tendency to our greatest Perfection and Happiness; for Religion is not an Arbitrary and Positive thing, made so by the mere Will and Pleasure of God, which might have lessened our Burden and abated of our Duty in many Cases had he pleased, and not imposed such hard Tasks, and such straight and severe Virtues upon us, but have left us more lose and not tied us up so strictly as he has done; this is a great Mistake, and a wretched Misunderstanding of Religion, for that as to the moral part of it, is founded in the Nature and Perfections of God, which are Eternal and Unalterable, and in the as Eternal and Unalterable Reasons of things, and those Respects and Relations which they necessarily have to one another; so that as God cannot alter the Nature of a Circle or a Triangle, nor make two and two not to be four, so neither can he the Nature of Vice and Virtue, nor make Good to be Evil, or Evil Good. Moral Virtues are as much founded in the Nature of things, as Mathematical Truths, or Metaphysical Verities, and the Properties of them are as certain, and fixed as those of Lines or Numbers. Such Actions are as necessary to the good of the World, and the Happiness of Societies and particular Persons, as such Offices and Operations of the Body, are to maintain its Life and Health, so that breathing is not more necessary to the preservation of the one, than Justice, Fidelity, and other Virtues are to the other; and should God have let us lose from any of those Virtues, even the strictest of them, which the Libertines are most apt to complain against, such as those which restrain their Natural Passions of Lust and Anger, he would have let in a Thousand Mischiefs and Evils into the World, and have road us, as Brutish and Uncivilized, and as miserable as the very Beasts themselves, and as uncapable of Society, and the benefits of good Order and Government. But  
4. As all the Laws of God are good and as easy as he could make them, so they are made more easy by that Divine Grace, and Assistance, whereby he enables us to perform them, and whereby the Difficulties of Religion are much lightened and abated; for every thing is said to be light, or heavy in proportion to the strength and power of another, and according as our strength is increased by the Divine Grace and Holy Spirit, so is Religion and Virtue, made more easy to us; so much then of inward strength and power as is conveyed to our Minds by God's Grace, which is a Physical and Secret Energy like that of inward life, Strengthening us mightily, in the inward Man, regenerating, quickening, renewing, raising, enlivening us, as the Scripture speaks, so much lighter is the Burden of Religion that God lays upon us; for it is the same thing to take off so much from that or to add so much new strength to him that is to bear it; and therefore however hard and difficult Religion be to the weakness and imperfection of Human Nature, to our single power, which would of itself fall and sink under it, yet when we have the Assistance of Heaven, and the Aids and Supplies of God's Grace to help and cooperate with us, than we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us, and through his Grace, which is sufficient for us; and we cannot in reason complain for want of Power when we may have it, and God is ready to give us whatever power we want, even to Conquer the strongest Propensities, and most  Temptations; and this will take greatly off from the badness of the way which leads to Life, when we have the Spirit of God like a good Angel to lead us through it, always to Comfort, and Help, and Encourage us in it, so that it would be much more tolerable tho' it were through never so Dark and Unpleasant a Wilderness, when, like the Jews, we have the presence of God and his power to Conduct us all along to the Happy Land.  
5. Tho' we are apt to complain of the Difficulties in Religion, yet there is no great End whatever which we can attain without as much Pains and Labour, and going through as many Difficulties and Hardships as we do in Religion; No Man can arrive to Learning or to any Liberal Art or Science in any Perfection; no Man can rise to Honour and Preferment, can get an Estate, or the like, without using as much Diligence, as much Care and Watchfulness, as in the business of Religion, without denying himself as many Liberties, spending as much Time and keeping himself to as strict Rules and Measures, as are in Religion: Nay, I dare say, many a Man takes more Pains and meets with more Difficulties to get a sorry livelihood in this World, than would ordinarily carry a Man to Heaven, and make him live Happily for ever; what shall we then charge God so Foolishly, as if he had used us hardly in Religion, and make the way to Happiness straight and narrow and difficult, when we as ordinarily and more willingly, take as much Pains and go through as many Difficulties in all other things; 'tis because we have not such a value and Esteem of the Ends and Designs of Religion, as we have of other Worldly ones, that we complain of the Hardness and Difficulty of that above the other; did we think Heaven as Desirable as an Estate, and Virtue as great a Good as Honour, which is but the shadow of it, we should pursue it as vigorously and overlook and contemn all the Difficulties that lie in the way to it, and there is this advantage in seeking and pursuing the Ends and Designs of Religion above any of those in this World, not only as they are far greater, and infinitely more valuable and important, but that the one is certainly to be attained, if we use our utmost Care and Diligence, whereas we may sail and be Disappointed of the other, after using all means in order to it; we may not be able to gain an Estate, or compass such a Worldly Design let us do what we can in it, but no Man shall miss of Heaven, but through his own Fault, and by his own Negligence and Carelessness.  
6. Many Sinners take more pains and trouble, and run through more difficulties to compass their vicious Designs, and commit their Sins, than a good Man does in gaining Heaven, and practising the hardest Virtues and Duties of his Religion: For thus, how restless and unwearied, and indefatigable are the Covetous and Ambitious, the Revengeful and Maliticious, or the Lustful and Debauched, to attain their Ends, and gratify their extravagant Desires and Inclinations: How do their several Lusts put them upon the hardest Drudgery, and make them Toil and Labour, Watch and Attend, Project and Contrive, and be at more pains and trouble to undo themselves for ever, than would save their Souls, and make 'em Happy for ever. The Devil is much the harder Master of the two, and puts his Slaves to more vile and uneasy work in the Servitude of Sin, than God does his Children and Servants in the doing the hardest part of their Duty, and many have been greater Martyrs in the Devil's Service, and gone through more for the sake of their Lusts than other Martyrs have done for heir Religion, and for the sake of Heaven.  
Tho' Vice seems more Natural, as falling in with some Propensities and Inclinations that are within us, yet how must a man at first, offer great Violence to himself, and to the tender sense of his own Mind, before he can be brought to commit a great Sin? With what Reluctancy and Self-denial, as great as any that Virtue puts upon us, does he part with his first Innocence, and enter upon a Debauch, till by degrees he grows a less Modest, and more Courageous Sinner, and is led on at last to commit it with greediness, and it becomes Natural to him, and 'twould be no great difficulty for him to leave it, but 'tis only the Custom and Habit makes it so, and not any thing in Nature, or in the thing itself? For let the Customs be equal on both sides, and let a Man be as long used to Virtue as he was to Vice, and he shall find that as Natural and agreeable and as hard to be overcome as the other, so that as the Scripture represents it, it is as hard for him that has been accustomed to do evil, to learn to do good, as for the Aethiopian to change his Skin, or the Leopard his Spots, ‛ Jer. 13.23. So whosoever is born of God, i. e. a very good Man, doth not commit sin, and he cannot sin because he is born of God, 1 John 3.9. But  
Lastly, and to conclude, it ought to be no manner of Prejudice to Virtue, that there are but a few that enter the straight Gate, and find the way to Life, and many that go in at the wide Gate and the broad way, that leadeth to Destruction, as our Saviour says. This ought not to be regarded by us as a Discouragement to Virtue, or as any good reason to be wicked for Company, though I doubt it is a very common and prevailing one, and draws a great many into the broad way, because they see such great Numbers in it, and they do not care to be singular nor to be Reproached for being so, but are willing to do what they see so many others do, and hope to escape as well as the rest, and that they run but the same risk and hazard, that they see so many Thousands do besides, and so they resolve to venture as well as others, let the Preachers say what they please; Now this, however common and powerful it be, yet is the most unreasonable thing in the World; for is any man in another case willing to be sick or to die for Company, or for the sake of example? Would any be so Easy or so Complaisant, as to pledge another in a Cup of Poison, or would he not stop the mad frolic when he saw the rest of the Company drop down Dead before him? Is any Man unwilling to avoid the Plague if he can, because there is ageneral Infection, and because so many of his Neighbours or Acquaintance have died of it? Would any refuse the saving his life, and escaping, if he could, upon a Plank, because the rest of his Company are Sinking and Drowning? Did Men think it as much worth their while to save their Souls as their Lives, how many soever lost them, had they as Just and terrible Apprehensions of their own Damnation, as they have of their Dying the Temptation of Example and Company would be quickly taken off, and signify nothing? For alas; what Comfort will it be in the Flames of Hell to hear so many others Roaring and Howling in them, their hideous Cries and Tortures and Lamentations will rather increase, than lessen them, and make it only a more sad and dismal Scene of Terror, like that of a whole City or Country swallowed up by an Earthquake or overflowed with the Eruptions of a burning Mountain, and the liquid streams of Fire and Brimstone: No Man who knows what it is to be Happy but would wish to be so though he were alone, and no Man who knows that virtue alone is the way to life and happiness, but must choose to be Virtuous, tho' he saw never so many others wicked, let them Reproach and Laugh at him as long as they please for a Man singular and by himself, let them count his Life Folly, for being so strict and precise (if it be in the great matters of Virtue) for not drinking to the utmost pitch, nor daring to swear the least Oath, nor venturing upon a Debauch, or any Common, or any Modish, or Fashionable Vice (the Reproach and Scandal of which is took off by the great Party and Number it has of its side) but living up strictly to the Rules of the Gospel, and the Terms of Salvation there laid down without any such abatements, as the lose Opinions, or lose Practices of others, are willing to put upon them (since God will not alter his Methods or Judgements by any of those) let them I say Condemn on Deride him never so much for this, and call him Precise Fool, or Formal Saint, and the like, yet no Man that knows the good of Virtue, will be Laughed out of it by a Nickname, or be ashamed of being singular in that any more than in any other Excellency of Learning, Knowledge, or Wisdom above others; and I suppose none of those who are so much against singularity but would be willing to be Rich, or to be Well, and at Ease, though never so many others were Poor, or Sick, and in Pain, and why then not to be Virtuous and Happy, tho' never so many others are Vicious and Miserable.   

The Fourth Sermon.  MATTH. VI 19, 20. 
Lay not up for yourselves Treasures upon Earth where Moth and Rust doth corrupt, and where Thiefs break through and steal? But lay up for yourselves Treasures in Heaven, where neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt, and where Thiefs do not break through and steal.  
THis most Excellent Sermon of our Blessed Saviour, as in every thing it gives us the highest and the noblest precepts of Virtue, that are above all the Morals of the wisest Heathen, and far excel the best rules of the greatest Masters in Philosophy, which might have convinced Greece and Athens itself, that he must be, if not, the Son of God, yet some great and extraordinary Person sent from above, that without Travel abroad or Education at home, unless in a poor Trade, should outdo even Socrates, or the more admired Moralists amongst 'em, so he has all along adapted 'em to Humane Nature, and our present State and Circumstances in this World, which was a thing that they were deficient in; for as they often were too short in their precepts and much below the things, so at other times they were as much too high and gave precepts that were too big, and not at all fitted to the size and scantling of our present State or the make of Humane Nature; they were not only for wisely Moderating and Governing, but quite rooting all Passions and Affections whatever out of their wise man, which was to make him not a Man, or such a Creature, with such Faculties and Powers, as God thought for wise reasons fit to do, this was not to improve but destroy Human Nature and to set Virtue beyond its pitch and out of its reach, which our Saviour who knew our Frame and our outmost Capacities has never done; they went so far in their rants about the contempt of this World and despising riches as to commend him that foolishly threw them into the Sea, that they might be no hindrance to his deeper Philosophising. Now this as it betrayed a great weakness in him that could not otherwise better use 'em, so 'tis Calculating Virtue, not for this World, but for some other Eutopian Meridian, the making it not Useful and Comfortable, but Destructive of our present State and Condition in this World; and though our Blessed Saviour both by his Life, and his precepts, showed as great contempt of the things of this World, as ever any person did, and has given the best Arguments that can be, not to be solicitous for outward things, nor take any thought for the Morrow, in the latter part of this Chapter, by trusting in the Divine Providence, and being especially careful about better things, the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness, yet he has no where told us that these are inconsistent, and that a Man must throw away his Estate, and renounce all his worldly goods, as well as the Pomps and Vanities of this World, if he will become a Christian and go to Heaven; this indeed is said to be the Heresy of Pelagius, in which he was not likely to have very many Followers; and though several places of Scripture tell us how hardly they that have Riches shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, Mark 10.23. and that it is easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle, than for a Rich Man is enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, v. 25. which is all meant of them that trust in Riches, v. 24. that we cannot serve God and Mammon, bids us not love the World nor the things that are in the World, for if any Man love the World, the love of the Father is not in him, 1 John 2.15. yet they all import no more, and so will be fairly understood, by this excellent direction of our Saviour that I am now to discourse of, Lay not up for yourselves Trusures.  
Neither is that purely a Negative, an Universal forbidding us to lay up any Treasures upon Earth, for if we do not that in some measure, we are not guilty only of great Imprudence, but even of Infidelity too, If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own House, he hath denied the Faith, and is worse than an Insidel, 1 Tim. 5.8. not to make provision for ones own Offspring and Children is to be more Unnatural than the Heathens, nay, than the very Fowls, and the most Ravenous Beasts, and not to supply an Aged Helpless Parent, is to be guilty of that which the Heathens counted the most infamous Ingratitude; nay, if by an honest Industry and lawful Profession we do not some way or other, make ourselves serviceable to the public and able to procure some good, to the whole of which we are parts, we are like dead and useless Members, that serve neither for Life nor Motion, nor the conveyance of Blood and Spirits; and as in the Natural body, so also in the civil, 'tis impossible to maintain either its Life or Strength, unless some greater parts are Replenished with a larger abundance of Blood and Spirits, and there be a general. Circulation and lesser conveyance of 'em to every part. Neither Government nor the World could subsist so long as God intends it, if Men should lay aside all prudent care about the things of this World; all would be put into a dead Hand, and that would quickly make a dead Body, if it were not Lawful for some Men to Trade and grow Rich; the present state of this World makes this to be necessary and is utterly inconsistent with general Vows of Poverty, and as a Man may Lawfully work for his livelihood, (and according to the Apostles Rule, He that will not work neither should he eat, 2. Thes. 3.10.) without breaking our Saviour's command, John 6.27. Labour not for the Meat that perisheth, but for the Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life, so he may by prudent and honest ways take care of his Worldly Concerns, and add to his Estate, and grow Rich without any Violation of our Saviour's Rule, Ley not up for yourselves Treasures on Earth, for those Treasures on Earth are not of themselves Evil, and may be matter of very great Virtues, such as the rich Men are particularly charged with 1 I'im. 6.17, 18, 19 Charge them that are rich in this World that they do good, that they be Rich in good Works, ready to Distribute, willing to Communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life, which it seems they may be made the means of attaining; so that by these Negatives, is meant only a comparative command, that we rather lay up to ourselves Treasures in Heaven than in Earth, that we be more careful for the one than the other, not that one is forbidden by the other, but to be preferred before it, as we have the like manner of expression most frequently in Scripture, Prov. 8.10. Receive my Instruction and not Silver, and Knowledge rather than Gold, so Mat. 9.13. I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice, i. e. rather than Sacrifice God did so much value inward and real Righteousness before outward Rites and Performances, that he says to the Jews, Hosea 6.6. I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice, nay, more expressly, Jerem. 7.22. I spoke not unto your Fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the Land of Egypt, concerning burnt-Offerings or Sacrifices, but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, i. e. this was what in the first and chief place I commanded you, and very much preferred and Regarded before the other, so Joel 2.13. Rend your Hearts and not your Garments, i. e. have an inward Sorrow and Humiliation, rather than an outward; and a great many other Phrases, that seem expressly to forbid a thing, in respect to something else that may stand in Competition with it, when yet they do not so absolutely, but only diminish and lessen it, in respect of the other and prefer that before it, and so this precept as it lies in my Text, whole and entire, without breaking it into parts, is plainly to be understood and includes in it these several things.  
1. That we should much more Value and Esteem Heavenly Treasures in our Thoughts and Affections, than Earthly.  
2. That whenever there is a Competition between those, and we cannot secure both, we part with the Earthly rather than the Heavenly.  
3. That we use as much Care and Diligence to obtain the Heavenly as the Earthly.  
4. That we so seek the Earthly as to make 'em Means and Instruments towards the obtaining the Heavenly.  
1. That we should set a greater value upon Heavenly Treasures in our Thoughts and Affections than upon Earthly, that we should account them much more ercellent and desirable things and place our Happiness and chief good in those, but not in the other; We may allow these outward things such a due place in out Thoughts as they deserve, that they are Comfortable Conveniencies, and Necessary Accommodations to our present state, but not such things as are good in themselves, or that can afford us any true Happiness, but what we see Men as Miserable in their fullest Enjoyment of, as those who have the greatest want of 'em, by no means comparable to Wisdom or to Goodness and Virtue, or the least improvements of the Understanding and Mind; such as is in some measure proportionable to the wants of Nature and the Circumstances of this Life, a wise Man may count desirable, who is not bound with a Stoical fullenness to think it indifferent whether he be Clothed or Naked whether he Starve or have Food to eat, nor in a Cynical Bravado throw away his Earthen Dish because he can drink without it, and despise every thing but his Tub and Sunshine; no this is a selfdenying kind of Haughtiness, that despises every thing because it over-values itself, and contemus not only the World, but the maker of it too, who would never have placed us in such a well Furnished Habitation, if we might not have used the Conveniencies that belong to it, nor have been at all the better for all the rich stores he has laid in for the use of his Creatures; but then indeed we are to account them but as common utensils, that are convenient for our lower and smaller occasions, not as our Treasure, and what we account of any great Worth or Value, or make to be a prime ingredient into our true Happiness; tho' they may seem to give some outward Colour and Varnish, yet that must be something within, and if it be not sound underneath, 'twill quickly moulder away and consume for all they can do, that are no more to be thought parts of our Happiness, than our Hair or Nails are parts of a Man, such Excrementitious parts as may outwardly adorn, but be no manner of cause of the true Life, or strength of the Body, such Goods as we may value and desire and purchase too according to that low and moderate rate, which they bear in proportion to the real needs of this present Condition; out to overprize and esteem them as things equal to Virtue and Goodness or to place our summum bonum, or chief Happiness in 'em, and let 'em take up the chiefest place in our Hearts and Affections, this is to worship Mammon, to set up that for an object of my strongest Passion and Devotion, which ought to have the lowest place in 'em.  
Thus to set our Hearts upon Riches, if they do increase, which the Psalmist forbids, Ps. 62.10. to trust in 'em, as our Saviour speaks, Mark 10.24. and place our greatest confidence in those, as if we might surely expect Happiness from 'em; this is the Idolatry the Apostle Charges Covetousness with, Col. 3.5. setting up a Golden Calf, to help us in our Distress instead of the God of Israel, and making a Deity of that which would do very well in earrings and Bracelets; the making that which would be serviceable in the matters of this Life, to be so highly valued and even adored by us, is like the Folly of the Grecians, who bowed down and Worshipped that wooden Statue of Hercules, which Diagoras made a good Fire of, that helped to dress his Provision, that being a much better use of Wood, than to be made a God of. And he that has a due sense of the meanness, the Uncertainty and Transitoriness of these Earthly Treasures in respect of the Heavenly, their being subject to be corrupted by Rust, to be eaten by Moths, Secretly Wasted and Devoured, or violently seized upon by Thiefs, and subject to a thousand Casualties, will not be so apt to over-value them or prefer 'em to the other; if we compare and bring 'em together, we shall find a very great difference between 'em upon many accounts.  
1. These Earthly Treasures are subject to a great many Hazards and Uncertainties, which the others are not, Violence and Rapine may force 'em out of our hands, tho' we hold 'em never so fast, fraud may secretly beguile us of 'em, before we are ware, or a Pirate may Rob and a Storm sink all our Fortunes in an Instant, and if they come safe home, yet they may be lost there, a War may Plunder us of all we have, or a Fire may make a speedier Destruction, and Devour in a moment the fullest Barns, or the richest Warehouses, and we may sit like Job mourning upon their Allies, the only thing it has left us; so many various Casualties are they subject to, so little are we insured of them, that we hold 'em at the Mercy and Favour of a thousand Contingencies; but the Heavenly Treasures are quite out of harms way, and not subject to the Chance or Courtesy of Fortune; no Man can steal away our Virtue without our own consent; it's safe in our own Breast, and locked up securely in our Minds; the Oppressor that can strip us Naked of every thing else, cannot touch our Innocence, nor take that from us. The Sabaeans could rob Job of his Oxen and his Asses; a Fire could consume his Cattle, and the fall of a House bury all his Children in the same Grave, but nothing could remove his Patience and take away his Integrity, that still he retained and held fast, Job 2.3, 9 The Philosopher that lost all in a wreck, yet kept his Philosophy and Wisdom in spite of Fortune, and the Apostles, who left all they had, still preserved their Religion and a good Conscience, which by the decree of the Senate could not be Sequestered, nor Confiscate by the Emperor's Edicts; those inward Treasures of the Mind are safe, when things without are never so uncertain, and when they shall bring us to another World, than they secure beyond possibility of the least danger; whatever Storms and Shelves and Rocks we pass through here, when we once Land and set Foot upon the shore of Eternity, we are out of all danger and in a safe harbour, where we shall enjoy the rewards of all our Toil, and be vastly enriched with Treasures of that Happy and Secure place.  
2. These Earthly Treasures are fading and Transitory, but the Heavenly are durable and lasting; Riches certainly make themselves Wings and sly away as an Eagle towards Heaven, Prov. 23.5. of a sudden we know not how they are got out of sight, and we can never set Eyes on 'em again; they leave their possessor sometimes without much warning; like Tides, they roll from one Shore to another, from this Man or Family to the other, and leave him perhaps a Beggar to day, who was in the greatest Plenty but a little before, or if they be not so Fickle nor leave the owner on a sudden, yet in a little time he must leave them, Death will strip him naked as he came into the World, and then all his thoughts perish, Ps. 146.4. All his thoughts of being rich or great, or happy in this World, all the mighty Projects and deep Contrivances about worldly things are quite at an end, and a sudden stop is given to the building of bigger Barns or finer Houses, or making greater purchases and laying up more of these Earthly Treasures. The Soul is perhaps taken from him the night before he was resolved to do all this, and then how insignificant are they all, and what is he the better for 'em. Thus Foolish it is to carry on only such short designs, that we must break off very suddenly and abruptly, and not lay our Thoughts deeper than the Grave, or beyond this transitory Life, not to have our thoughts and aims upon greater things that must for ever employ our Minds, that are more lasting and durable, of a more sixth and solid Nature, and that will last as long as our immortal Souls, that we may sit down with, and bid our Souls be for ever at rest, for they have goods laid up, not only for many years, but for ever.  
3. These Earthly Treasures are such empty things, that they can never give us such inward Happiness, as the Heavenly will: We are apt indeed to admite at the brave outside, the appearing gaiety and finery of the Rich and Great, but all this without Virtue, is but show and pageantry; they have none of that real Happiness, nor enjoy any thing of that fatisfaction we imagine they do; they have a thousand Troubles and Multitudes of cares, caused even by their Riches and Greatness, that lie heavy upon 'em; vast loads of unseen miseries oppress 'em, and inward and secret guilt fills 'em with horror; and vast legions of evil Spirits haunt and disturb those Houses within, that look so stately and beautifully without. We make very false measures, and are mightily mistaken if we conclude him to be Happy, that we see has the visits and the Compliments, and the greatest Court made to him, alas, we see not into his Mind nor how uneasy he is there, and how little the better for our foolish Opinion of him; 'tis only his own thought; and his own virtue and good temper of Mind that make him a Happy Man for all this, and without this he may Cheat others, but he can never deceive himself; these are inward and close to his Mind, and indiscernible to any one but himself, the other are all external and lose, like Scenes and Pictures looking fine at a distance, but if we come near 'em, 'tis all gross daubing, they cannot yield us that Enjoyment and Happiness that we vainly fancy and expect in 'em; and whilst we imagine we embrace what we can wish, it proves but a thin Cloud and Air, and very often what the wise Man found it, who had made as many Experiments about worldly Happiness as any Man did, Vanity and Vexation of Sptrit, and therefore not worth so much passion and concern to attain 'em, nor fit that we should lay out our Money for that which is not Bread, and our labour for that which satissieth not, Isai. 55.2. for windy and empty trash, rather than for that solid food, which will nourish and feed and feast 'em to all Eternity.  
2. Whenever there is a Competition between those, and we cannot secure both, that we part with the Earthly rather than the Heavenly; when we do an ill thing in order to our worldly interest, when a Bargain will not go off unless it be vouched with a downright lie, nor an Estate be got without open Knavery, or some underhand slight and secret injustice, nor a great Place or Preferment be obtained unless we venture upon some thing that is mean, and shameful, and dishonest, then to scorn to do a base thing for any advantage, and to prefer Honesty and Conscience, before Gain or Greatness, this is to value the Heavenly more than the Earthly Treasures; this shows we love Virtue, for itself, when we choose that alone, not for its present dowry or portion, but for its own sake, and what we may expect hereafter, and will not forsake it for all the offers that the World can make: This indeed, is the true gage of our Affections, the true way to measure our love to these worldly things, and know whether it be too great and immoderate or no; if we will be guilty of the least Sin or Injustice, in order to the getting Money or growing Rich, if we will wrong the Orphan or cheat the Widow, whose Estate is entrusted to us, if we will break our promise and deny our word, when it would be some loss to us to perform it, and avoid a Just debt upon some little trick or legal nicety, or do any thing for our Interest that comports not with fair dealing, with equity and an honest mind; why, this shows that we have too great a love and value for these Earthly things, when we are taken so with the tempting Charms of 'em, that if we cannot fairly court 'em to our Embraces, we will commit a Rape upon 'em and force 'em some way or other into our possession. When Naboths Vineyard looks so pleasant and beautiful that Ahab will purchase it, tho' at the hard rate of Perjury and false-Witness; when we had rather part with our Virtue, and violate our Conscience, than let go a present interest, so that when these two are put together in the Balance of our cooler Judgement, Earthly Treasures do much outweigh the Heavenly in our Thoughts, and though they are much lighter in themselves, yet our affections always cast the Scales on that side; and so likewise in the possession as well as getting of Riches, when we use 'em basely or not at all, and be unwilling to part with 'em upon a good occasion, when a decent opportunity calls for 'em, when our poor Brother stands in need of 'em, when God or the public require 'em of us, when we can serve the ends of Piety or Charity, or public good by 'em, than not to be willing to part with 'em, this is a certain sign that we love 'em too well, that we think nothing so good as our Money, and that we count it much more eligible to be Rich, than to be either Good, or Charitable, or Pious, and that we had much rather be one than the other; nay, which is strange, be one than both, so little do we value every thing else, and think nothing is to be compared to a great heap, and a long inventory, and that what we have in our Chests and our Coffers is much more valuable than what we have in our Souls, or than the Soul itself.  
3. This comparative precept supposes that we must use as much care and diligence to obtain the Heavenly as the Earthly Treasures, and if Men would once do that, I am sure they would never miss of the former; if we would as hearty and diligently set about getting Heaven, and making ourselves Virtuous, as we do about getting a livelihood, and making ourselves Rich, we should never sail of the one, tho' we very often do of the other; a thousand Accicidents and Contingences hinder us of obtaining our worldly aims, and with all our thoughts and toil, and care, we can never compass our wishes, but when we have tired ourselves with a hot and eager pursuit of these worldly things, and followed 'em as close as we could through a hundred mazes and labyrinths, yet they fly away, and we can never catch or lay hold of them; But in the Heavenly Treasures 'tis far otherwise, no Man ever missed 'em that did all he could to obtain 'em, that after he had set himself seriously about 'em, used his utmost endeavour, and persevered in doing so, at last he would most certainly and infallibly get 'em, if he were no way wanting to himself; if he were hearty and resolved in the business, and did not by idleness, or something else, break off his designs too soon, he would never fail of success at the last, which should be a very great encouragement to make us more diligent about those Heavenly Treasures, which have many other considerations to excite our industry and our labour about 'em, their exceeding value and lasting duration, which are the constant motives that put us upon an unwearied care and labour after any thing here: What pains do we refuse, what labour do we count too much to get a plentiful Estate, that we may quickly leave, and be but a short time the better for, if it may descend to our Children and Family; how can men deny themselves their ease and their quiet, nay their meat and their sleep, and drudge and toil very willingly for that; nay, how does a poor man labour and sweat, strain his Nerves and his Muscles to get Bread, and a mean Livelihood: Why, if we think Heaven is worth our while, do we not use as much labour for that, as we are willing to undergo for a lesser matter? If the Heavenly Treasures were but of equal worth, were but at the same rate with the Earthly, yet why do we not put out our utmost strength and vigour, and strive, and run, and contend earnestly for that prize? If we believed it to be of such great worth and value, as we generally pretend, why cannot we deny ourselves in some little matters for the sake of Heaven, as we do for to carry on our worldly concerns? Why do we like Children run so long, and sweat and toil ourselves after a Painted fly, whilst we Truant and are Lazy, and Neglect our main business?  
4. This comparative duty enjoins 〈◊〉 to put the Earthly Treasures to such uses as to make 'em means and instruments toward the obtaining the Heavenly, so in the parallel place of St. Luke, where he gives an account of this same Sermon of our Saviour, by the very same precept as 'tis there expressed, we are bid sell that we have and give Alms, provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a Treasure in the Heavens that faileth not, where no Thief approacheth, neither Moth corrupteth, Luke, 12.33. So that since these Earthly Treasures are so liable to hazards and uncertainties here, so much in danger to be torn from us by the hands of violence, or subject to some other mischance or casualty, the best way to insure them, and to make the most of 'em, is to employ 'em to Charitable uses, and the relief of our poor Brethren; this is the secure way to make those corruptible things that are so ticklish and uncertain, so apt to slip away from us, to be our own for ever, this will make those transitory and perishing Riches to last for ever; and whereas by keeping 'em very close to ourselves, and being unwilling to part with any of 'em, we in a short time must be utterly deprived of 'em, by this way we return 'em to another World, and shall be sure there to enjoy the benefit of 'em, with double interest; by this means the Silver and Gold that was but a better sort of earth than we tread on, is turned into a Virtue and made matter of true Religion, and by this we show our greater value to Heavenly Treasures, than the Earthly, when we are willing to part with them to attain the other, when they are our prime scope and aim, that bear the chief place in our thoughts, the other but the means and instruments to attain it; when we do not account the Earthly Treasures goods in themselves, as the Covetous generally do, who think it their great Happiness to heap up vast Riches for no other end beyond the comfortable satisfaction of being Rich, whilst they are such Idolaters, as the Apostle calls 'em, Eph. 5.5. that terminate their worship upon the very Idols themselves, and look no further; but to make 'em serviceable to the ends of Charity and Beneficence to those who are in want and necessity, this is to value that in the first place, and those chief in order to it, and this is the true use that God the Donor of 'em expects of us, and this is not only consistent with laying up to ourselves Treasures in Heaven, but the most certain way to do it, as I shall briefly show by naming a few considerations to that purpose. As,  
1. Whatever we do this way we engage God to reward us either in this or another World. He that hath pity on the poor dareth to the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay again, Prov. 19.17. God becomes the poor Man's surety to us, and 'tis a very great piece of Infidelity not to trust his word, for the payment of a little sum hereafter, that we now part with to the poor; nay, it shall be no great while before he will take care to repay it us with great advantage; he very often does it presently in this World, by blessing the rest of our Estate the better, for Dedicating some part of it as a first fruits to his use; he has promised that he which giveth to the poor shall not lack; Prov. 28.27. That the liberal Soul shall be made fat, Prov. 11.25. Eccles. 11.1. Cast thy Bread upon the Waters, for thou shalt find it after many days. Ps. 41.1, 2. Blessed is he that considereth the poor, the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble, the Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the Earth. All which places assure us, even of a Temporal Retribution, which the Divine Providence will make to the Charitable Man, and this does for the most part, if not always happen, but to be sure God will greatly recompense him at the last day.  
2. By thus using our Earthly Treasures, we every our Minds with the most excellent Virtue, and the most Christian disposition, and nothing is more Valuable and more Heavenly than this kind, and bountiful, and good habit of Mind, by which we are disposed, as we have ability and opportunity, to do good to those who stand any way in need of it; this is the very temper of God, to communicate out of his rich store plentifully to others. Had he been niggardly and kept all to himself, where had we been, and all his Creatures that own being, and all things to his bounty? Therefore he has commanded no duty so frequently, nor so earnestly as this of Charity and Mercy, so that this often engrosses the sum of the whole Law, and is called Righteousness in general; it is never left out in the Character of good Men in Scripture, but is always made a principal Ingredient in the Composition of that Virtue and Goodness that will prepare and qualify the Mind for Heaven and Happiness.  
3. We cannot make our Earthly Treasures so Beneficial to us any other way, nor turn to so good account, if we would spend 'em to the best purpose; after we have supplied our own wants and just occasions, what is over and above serves only for Vice or Vanity; 'tis but food for our Lusts, nourishment for Pride, or Intemperance, or Sensuality; the best use we can make of the overplus, is to do good with it, to comfort our poor Brother who is ready to starve for want of what we profusely squander away, who would be mightily relieved and supplied by what we spend Vainly, or perhaps Viciously; thus we may both escape the temptations of Riches, and also make the most beneficial use of 'em another way, that which would be quite lost, if laid out upon any thing else, will by this means be more fully our own, than what we have under Lock and Key, the poor will keep it safer for us than Locks and Bars; what is given to him, is better put out, upon a greater Interest and surer Fund, than if we had all the Land upon Earth tied for it; God is bound, as I told you, and is become our debtor thereby; we have made over our Estate to him, and he is our Trustee for it, which 'twas very likely we should lose quickly, or be robbed, or sequestered of, if 'twere in our own name. This is the best Merchandise we can make of our stock, when we are in a Country where 'tis in danger to be seized on, to transmit it to our Country, and return it to him who is in Heaven, and will most certainly repay it us when we come thither; this is to make ourselves such friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness, that when we fall they may receive us into everlasting Habitations, as our Saviour says, Luke 16.9.  
4. I shall add but this consideration, and that I think a very strong one to Men that have thoughts of a reckoning hereafter, that when we shall appear before God's Tribunal to give an account of ourselves and actions, there will be a most special regard had to the discharge of this duty above all others, that we shall be Examined and Sentenced there, chief upon the account of our having relieved the poor Members of Christ. So Mat. 25.41. where our Saviour tells us, how the process shall be in that great day, the most dreadful Sentence of Goy cursed into everlasting fire, shall be pronounced upon those on the left hand, for this reason, for I was Hungry, and ye gave me no Meat; I was Thirsty, and ye gave me no Drink; I was a Stranger, and ye took me not in; Naked, and ye Clothed me not; Sick and in Prison, and ye visited me not. This is the particular Crime, the deepest Charge of that black Indictment, not so much for Injustice, for Adultery, for Murder, any of which shall yet condemn us at that day, as for Unmercifullness and Uncharitableness to the poor, which Christ takes the most unkindly and hardly from us, as done to himself; But the blessed Sentence shall be to the Bountiful and to the Merciful, who have been Charitable to Christ in his poor Members, to whom he will pronounce these joyful Words, v. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father, enter into the Kingdom prepared for you, from the beginning of the World, for I was an Hungered, and ye gave me Meat; I was Thirsty, and ye gave me Drink; I was a Stranger, and ye took me in; I was Naked, and ye Clothed me; I was Sick, and ye visited me; I was in Prison and ye came unto me. This is singled out rather than any thing else, as more regarded by God, than any other Virtue; and if we would ever hear that Sentence from the mouth of Christ, pronounced to ourselves, let us at all times, as we have opportunity, practice this Virtue, and so lay up to ourselves Treasures in Heaven, where neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt, and where Thiefs do not break through or steal.   

The Fifth Sermon.  LUKE XV. 31. 
And he said unto him, Son thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.  
THis is part of the Parable concerning the Prodigal Son, and the answer of the Father to the eldest Son, who had not been a Prodigal, but had served his Father many Years, neither transgressed at any time his Commandments, v. 29. Notwithstanding which, the Father seemed to treat his Prodigal and Riotous Son, who had left his House and run away from him, and devoured his living with Harlots, v. 30. and wasted his Time and Estate in Lewd and Vicious courses; to treat him, I say, upon his return, with more expressions of love and kindness and rejoicing than he ever did the other, who had never offended him.  
This seemed not a just and a fair usage to the elder Brother, as much failing in Justice to him as exceeding in kindness to the other, too little rewarding the constant duty of the one, and too much encouraging the Lewdness and Prodigality of the other; so that not without good reason, he seems to take it ill, and to be angry at this unreasonable dealing of his Father's.  
Parables are very good ways of Instruction, and very lively Representations of things, or truths by way of Picture or Scene, and Dramatical History; now tho' all the parts must be suitable and agreeable to one another, yet there is a main aim, plot, and design that runs through the whole, which was chief designed by it, and is the great scope of it, and other things are but as the Circumstances and Ornaments, the Dress and Habit, this is the air, the stroke that give life and likeness to the whole.  
The Parables of this Chapter concerning the lost Sheep, the lost piece of Silver, and the returning Prodigal, were designed to show how acceptable and well pleasing to God the Repentance of a Sinner is, and that he shall certainly be received very kindly upon it, and to represent this after the manner of men, in a way suitable and affecting to us, God who is said in Scripture to be angry and provoked at Sinners, is here said to Joy and Rejoice at their Return and Repentance; The joyful Father kissing and embracing his returning Son, putting the best robe on him, and killing the satted Calf for him, and receiving him with all the expressions of Mirth and Rejoicing, this is to represent the love and kindness of God to a Sinner upon his Repentance; but we must not apply Parables too far, for they touch not in all their parts, but only like Globes here and there in a point.  
These Parables seem at first sight to teach and denote, that the Repentance of a great Sinner in some part of his Life, is more pleasing to God than the constant obedience of a good Man all his Life, which undoubtedly can never be true, and therefore the Parable can never mean that, but only by comparative and condeseending representations to show, that God is very well pleased and will certainly accept a Sinner upon his true Repentance; that expression must not be understood strictly and rigorously, There is Joy in Heaven over one sinner that Repenteth, more than over ninety nine just Persons that need no repentant, v. 7. the Angels, those lovers of Virtue, cannot but rejoice as much and more at men's living always by the Laws of Heaven, as at their sometimes Repenting for breaking them; and God, like a wise and good Father, cannot but be better pleased, that his Children were always Dutiful and Virtuous and Obedient, than that they were any time otherwise. This is plain and undeniable at first sight; indeed upon a Vicious Son's being reclaimed, a Parent may have a quicker Passion and Resentment, as upon a Child's recovery after a hopeless Sickness, in which he was given over, his being restored to life, as it were, giveth a greater Joy to the Parent than if he had been never ill, but this is but the working of Different, Humane, Animal Passions in us, and the ebbing and flowing of our Spirits upon apprehension of some good or evil that greatly affects us; None of this is truly in God, but only the several acts of his Wisdom, and Wise resolves of his will, and meant and denoted by them. 'Tis all human and a condescension to the Passions and Humours of men, to rejoice more at the finding one lost Sheep or one lost piece of Silver, than at a great many that were always safe; so for a lost Chisess ●●●●●ing home, than for a great many that cover were in danger. This is not to be taken strictly, but only as 'tis to teac●● and represent this positive truth, that the Return and Repentance of a Sinner is very acceptable and well pleasing to God, and that he will certainly be received by him; thus in other Parables when Christ, to show the power of earnest and constant Prayer, represents it by a Widow's importuning an unjust Judge, Luke 18. Chap. and by a Friend's prevailing to make another rise, and give him what he wants, not because he is his Friend, but because of his importunity, Luke 11.8. this which is usual with Men, must not be strictly applied to God, as if his blessing flowed not so much from his own goodness as that they were extorted by importunity; so in the Parable of the unjust Steward, Luke 16. and in others, there is, not to be 〈◊〉 nice Application of every part, but only of the main scope and primary design, which is as it were thereslex image representing the thing intended, without those Collatoral rays, that are but adventitious and adhering to it.  
Among the many mistakes about Repentance, which are not a few, for we have made a shift to corrupt most of the positive parts of our Religion, and were it not for what is Moral and Natural nothing would secure it from being turned into mere Superstition to serve the Lusts and Looseness, and yet stupefy the fears, and delude the hopes of Men Sinfully inclined; one, I say, of the greatest mistakes is, to think a constant obedience is not to be preferred to the truest Repentance, or that God will not be more pleased with, and more highly reward the one than the other; The contrary to which is here plainly supposed and asserted, Son thou art always with me, and all that I have is thine. Where plainly the Father who Rejoiced so much at the returning Prodigal, yet allows a great difference between him and his Innocent Son, who had always served him, and never at any time transgressed his Commandments. To make out, and illustrate this, I shall offer the following Particulars,  
1. There are a great many I hope in the World, who, as our Saviour says, need no Repentance, Luke 15.7. i e. no such Repentance as is to alter their whole state and spiritual Condition, and to change the whole Habit and Temper of their Minds, and from bad men to make them good ones; for they who by means of a good Education have been always brought up Virtuously and Religiously and preserved from any great and wilful Sin, who never erred from the paths of Virtue nor stepped into those of Sin and Death, these have a Title to the Character of Zacharias and Elizabeth, Luke, 1.6. that they are Righteous before God, walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless, and these who never defiled themselves need not to be washed and cleansed as those who have made themselves filthy and impure; they deserve not the Character given to the vile and wretched sinners in Scripture, nor need such exhortations to Repentance as are given to them, and which some very indiscreetly apply to all alike, even in their Prayers and Confessions, without considering the plain difference of the case, such as those spoke to the wicked Jews, and whole Jewish Nation, The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint, from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores, Isai. 1.5, 6. and therefore those were Commanded to wash themselves, make themselves clean, put away the evil of their do, v. 16. and they were promised, tho' their sins were as Scarlet, they should be white as Snow, tho' they were red as Crimson, they should be as Wool, v. 18. which is great encouragement to the worst of Sinners to Repent, but God forbidden that the sins of all should be of so deep a die or deserve so black and sad a Character; No, many, I hope a great many, have kept their Innocence and Whiteness, and Purity, and not defiled themselves with any great Sin, since they came out of the Laver of Regeneration, and these are they who need no Repentance, i. e. not that great Repentance that a wilful sinner does.  
All stand in need, in daily need of Repentance in some sense, and are to pray God to forgive them their Trespasses every day, i. e. their lesser Sins of frailty and infirmity, which the best Men are not free from, but this is very different from such wilful great Sins as destroy a Man's good state, and put him into a state of Damnation and exclude him out of Heaven if he live in them; The exhortations and advices to Repentance in the New Testament as well as the Old, are given chief to very Vile and Lewd Sinners, and in this Sense Christ came not so much to call the Righteous as Sinners, to Repentance. The Jews, even the most Famous amongst them for Sanctity and Piety were guilty of wretched Hypocrisy and horrid Immorality, as our Saviour charges the Scribe; and Pharisees; and the Heathens before they turned Christians, lived in all manner of Impurity and Immorality, Walking according to the course of this World, according to the Prince of the power of the Air, the spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience, having their Conversation in the Lusts of the Flesh, fullfilling the desires of the Flesh and of the Mind, Ephes. 2.2, 3. who walked some time and lived in Fornication, Uncleanness, inordinate Affection, Concupiscence and Covetousness, which is Idolatry, Colos. 3.5. who were Adulterers, Idolaters, Effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, Thiefs, Covetous, Drunkards, Revilers, Extortioners, as the same Apostle tells them, some of them were 1 Cor. 6.9, 10. In the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, he gives still a worse and more abominable account of them, now even these were Washed, were Sanctified, were Justified, by becoming true Penitents and true Christians, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the spirit of our God, 1 Cor. 6.11. by putting off the old Man, i. e. the old Heathenish Sinful life, and putting on the new Man, i. e. a Christian Conversation, Col. 3.9, 10. they who were once the Servants of sin, being now made free from sin, and become Servants of Righteousness, Rom. 6.18. and they who yielded their members Servants to Uncleanness and to Iniquity unto Iniquity, now yielding their members Servants to Righteousness unto Holiness, v. 19  
Now all this is spoke to those who were vile sinners, and Heathens before they became Christians, and it must be a sad and lamentable case to apply it to any that have been bred up in Christianity, their condition must be much worse and more inexcusable, and not so easily remediable as the others, but none of this can or ought in any manner, to be applied to those who have lived Virtuously through the general course of their lives, and have, tho' with many failings, never been sinners in a high sense, for in a low one we have all been so; but many I doubt not, all their lives were not in an ill state, nor committed any sin to put 'em into it, but like Enoch, walked with God all their lives, and like Job were Perject and Upright that feared God and eschewed evil, Job 1.1. that were always Children of God and never Children of the Devil, that were never Prodigals, but always served their Father, neither transgressed at any time his Commandments. Now the condition of these is a great deal more Happy and Preferable to that of the most Penitent sinner, they are more in the savour of God, and shall be more highly rewarded by him; Son thou art always with me, and all that I have is thine.  
2. The difficulties and hazards and dangers are nothing so great to those, as to penitent Sinners and Prodigals; Nothing is so hard and difficult as to overcome old Vicious Customs and root out old Sinful Habits that have been a great while growing and prevailing upon us, this is plucking out a right Eye and cutting off a right Hand, for sins grow dear and natural to men by Custom, and very hard to be parted with; like Diseases that are grown Chronical, they are hard to be cured; and tho' with long Courses and many Remedies they may be cured and abated, yet there will be great danger of having some spices of them, now and then, and of their often returning, and the sinner's Relapsing again into them, for there will be a disposition and Inclination to them, and upon every little Temptation the Fancy and Imagination will be apt to be turned to them, and put a strong bias upon the Mind, to carry it that way; many a good Man finds it very hard to govern the Passions, the desires and inclinations he has given way to before he came to such a full sense of Religion, and how must a sinner deny all his old Lusts and Affections that he has indulged so long, and break off the old customs and ways he has been used to, and be always struggling with those Enemies that he has let in, so that they have made many strong holds to themselves, and 'tis now more hard to expel and drive them out, and tho' they are sometimes vanquished, yet they will often rally again, and a Man must keep a perpetual Watch and Guard against them; Vice, when it has once got possession of a Man, is not easily cast out, but the fancied good and the imagined pleasure sticks and remains in the Thoughts, Fancy, and Memory, and the Appetite is not easily weaned from what it has so long indulged, but the Lust and Inclination is apt to kindle upon every like Object and Temptation; so hard and so rare it is to recover an old sinner from a long habit of wickedness, that as Experience gives us but few Examples of this, and most of the good Men in the World are such as were never bad, so that the Prophet to show its great difficulty compares it to a natural impossibility, Can the Aethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots, then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil, Jer. 13.23. but with God all things are possible, and he is said to give a new Heart and a new Soul, and to make us new Creatures, when he brings us by his Grace to true Repentance, and 'tis a kind of creating us again to new works; a raising us from the dead, a quickening, a giving us a new life, in the Scripture phrase, when from bad he makes us good ones, which is something greater than creating us at first, because in the other there is no hindrance and obstacle in the subject, as there is in this.  
Many are the hardships and difficulties that a sincere Penitent finds in overcoming an unruly Appetite, an irregular Passion, a beloved Lust and Inclination, which were all made so by the strength of Custom and long Habit, and which would have been much easier mastered, had they not been so long indulged and grown upon him. Many a sinner when his reason is convinced, and he sees the evil of his sins, and would gladly leave, if a faint wish would do it, yet is such a slave to them by long Custom, that they lead him Captive at their pleasure, and he cannot break the Fetters, and shake off the Chains that he has made himself, and which are very uneasy to him, now all this a Man is free from by an early Religion and a constant Obedience, and being never engaged in the ways of wickedness, which are so hard to get out of.  
3. There cannot be that full comfort and security in the Return and Repentance of a sinner as in a constant and unbroken Obedience all a Man's life, for tho' there is certain Pardon promised and assured to such a Penitent, yet no Man can be so sure that he has fully repent of any sin, as that he has once committed it, but there will be some fears and doubts and misgivings still in his Mind, upon the remembrance of it, which he can never be so free from, as if he had never been guilty of it; and 'tis fit indeed this should always be, that a Penitent should be always humble and a little afraid, and should not be fully confident, as if he had been always Innocent; Fear is the necessary punishment and consequent of sin and guilt, and the sinner should tremble at the thoughts of God's Judgements, and the desert of his sin, tho' they are not inflicted upon him, and tho' he has his pardon sealed in the Blood of Christ, yet he ought to look upon it with tears in his Eyes, and a mixture both of Joy and Sorrow; The Gospel declares only a general pardon to those who Repent, but no Man can see his own name particularly expressed in it, nor is he sure of it any farther than he is of his Repentance, and a man of Fear and Caution, and not of Presumption, will have some doubts that his Repentance is not so full and so perfect as it ought to be; and being once a Malefactor condemned both by God and his own Conscience tho' he hath reasonable hopes of Pardon, yet will be more afraid to be Judged, than if his Conscience had wholly acquitted him, and he could never have charged himself with any great Crime; for that will strike him with more certain fear than he can have certain hopes of his particular pardon.  
4. Neither shall such a penitent be so much in God's favour, or so highly rewarded by him, as a Man of more constant and greater Virtues: This is a Rule I think of eternal Justice, and follows from God's rendering to all Men according to their works, as the Scripture speaks, which would not be if there were not a proportion of the reward to the work, as well as a reward in general. God indeed out of his great Grace, will accept a great sinner upon his Repentance, and receive him into his favour, and pass by and forgive his past offences. But 'tis his becoming a good Man qualifies and entitles him to this; for God can love no other; and the more any is a good Man, the more he will be beloved by him, and the more highly rewarded at the last day: 'tis great Mercy and Favour in God, and what Christ has purchased for us, to accept of an imperfect and after goodness, and broken obedience, instead of what is whole and entire, which is his due; and not punish us for our past Sins and Disobedience after we have left them, as he might do in strict Justice; but still 'tis only our Obedience and Goodness which (being after our Disobedience and Sin is called Repentance) is acceptable and pleasing to God, and it would be more so, had it been more constant, unbroken, and uninterrupted; and 'tis only for that as a Qualification and Condition in ourselves, for which he will reward us, and the more and greater that is, the greater shall be our reward.  
Indeed in case a Penitent is after his sins brought to love much and to obey much, and to be more abundantly Zealous in good works, and doing his duty, to make amends as much as he is able for his past failures, and repair the Divine Honour, and express his Gratitude for the Mercy shown him, and so takes care to rise to higher degrees of Virtue, and perform more signal acts of Obedience; so that his fall makes him rise higher, and he redeems his loss with greater gain and improving more in Grace and Goodness afterwards: this shall entitle him to greater rewards, and to God's special favour; not barely because he Repent, but because upon his Repentance, he became a better Man, and went faster, and made more progress in the ways of Virtue, after he had got into them; but he that never wandered out of them, nor never strayed into the ways of Sin, but always kept on in the path of Virtue, which he was early entered into, is a thousand times more likely to go farther, and make a greater progress in Virtue, and attain to higher degrees and improvements of it, than the other; and consequently to be more highly rewarded by God, the impartial Judge and distributer of rewards and punishments at the last day. There are several mansions in our Father's house, and several degrees of Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven: those who have been more constantly and more highly Virtuous and Obedient, or have done or suffered more for Christ and his Religion; these shall have Crowns of greater weight and brightness, and shall shine in a higher Orb, among those Stars of Heaven, who differ from one and another in Glory, according to their different Virtues and Attainments.  
5. This makes us more truly Christians and more the Children of God, and live more answerably to the Ends and Designs of our Religion; for tho' Christianity is to restore and recover lost and undone mankind, and does it chief by the benefit of Repentance, which is the great Duty and the great Privilege of the Gospel, which upon the account of Christ and his undertaking for us, puts sinners into a good state, a state of Favour and Reconciliation with God, who were Enemies to him before, and makes those the Children of God, who were the Children of the Devil; for all Men in a state of Sin are the Children of the Devil in the Scriptures account, He that committeth Sin is of the Devil, 1 John 3.8. and whosoever is born of God, as every good Christian is, doth not commit Sin, v. 9  
Repentance therefore, which is a passage from a state of Sin and Death, to a state of Virtue and Holiness, is truly and properly rather a duty antecedent and disposing to Christianity, than one under it; and therefore it was Preached both to the Jews and Gentiles, by Christ and his Apostles, as previous and preparatory to their becoming Christians, Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, Mat. 4.17. Repent and be Baptised, Acts 2.38. for before Men turned Christians they were supposed to Repent of their past Sins, and to resolve upon a new course of life, to renounce all their former evil ways, to put off the old Man, i. e. all their old acts and habits of Sin, and to put on the new Man, and to put on Christ, and not to walk henceforth as others, who were not Christians walked; for tho' they were accounted as sinners before, yet now they were to be Saints, devoted to a Holy life and wholly abandoning all Vice and Wickedness, according to their Baptismal vow. It was far therefore from the design of Christianity to suppose Men to fall into a state of Sin after their Christianity, and to be as bad and as wicked as they were before they were Christians; if they were, and fell into any great Sins, the Christian Church at first turned them out of its Communion as Apostates to their Religion, and Renegadoes to their Holy Profession; and would not without great difficulty admit them again to the benefits of Christianity and hopes of Pardon: so that they accounted not those for Christians who were Penitents and who stood in need of Repentance for any great Sin; and indeed, he is not a Christian who does so, he is fallen off from his Christianity, and has quitted his Baptismal vow, and has forfeited the right of it, and has put himself out of the Christian state, who is guilty of any mortal Sin, and is in a state of Penance for it; and the Christian Church at first would hardly have owned and received him again; no, not in Articulo Mortis: so great a disgrace, and so horrid a reflection they thought it upon Christianity, for a Christian to be guilty of any wilful and notorious Sin: I confess this early Discipline was too severe, never to admit such a Penitent again to Communion, and looked as if no Sins were pardonable after Baptism; which is a hard and untrue Doctrine, and therefore the Church altered its first Discipline, and condemned the Novatians who stuck too close to it, and who would allow the Church no power to grant the benefit of Repentance and Communion in that case, whatever God might do; but upon relaxing the Canons too far, and falling afterwards into another extreme, upon the looseness and corruption of Christians, and their degenerating from the Primitive strictness and genuine design of Christianity, Repentance when it came to be turned into a slight Penance, became a very common and perfunctory and easy matter; and Men began the round of Sinning and Repenting, Repenting and Sinning, and of taking it as a sort of standing Physic, to be repeated toties quoties, and took perhaps at some set times, or Spring and Fall; and that this was sufficient, tho' they lived in their Vices and Debaucheries, and unlawful Liberties, and never became such good Men and true Christians, as the Gospel was designed to make them. Now this is like a Man's always using Physic, but never to be well, and only to do it that he may keep his Disease, and it may not as he thinks, prove mortal to him (when he is loath to take away the cause of it) by virtue of a present and easy Remedy. Now this is horribly perverting and abusing the Notion and Design of Christian Repentance, which is not a Contrivance to let us be bad Men, and live in our Sins, and yet hope for Pardon and Salvation upon a little sudden Sorrow, miscalled Repentance, now and then for them; but to encourage us wholly to leave them upon the hopes and assurance of Pardon when we do so, and to engage us to the practice of Obedience and a Holy Life ever after, which is the only thing which makes us true Christians, and entitles to the Happiness and Salvation of another World. And let no man deceive himself, and think he shall have the benefit of Repentance, who is not made a good Man by it; or think Repenting and Sorrowing at the last will do the business, instead of a good life; or that without actual Holiness and Obedience, he can see God or enter into Heaven: and let none fall into that other mistake, as prejudicial to Religion, to think a man that lives Innocently and Virtuously, and Religiously all his days, and performs a constant unbroken Obedience to God all his life, shall not be more accepted by God, and more highly rewarded by him, than he that has lived wickedly and been a Prodigal, tho' he Returns and Reputes in time, and is pardoned and accepted by God; for tho' such an one shall be kindly and graciously received by his Heavenly Father, and with all Demonstrations of Love and Compassion, be Embraced and Treated by him, and owned to be his Son, and received again into his Family; yet he that never left his Father's house, but was always with him and served him, and never transgressed at any time his commands, he it is of whom it will be said, Son, thou art always with me, and all that I have is thine.  
I shall only draw a few inferences from what has been said, and so conclude.  
1. This allows all that is due to Repentance, and all the Encouragements and Motives to it: Repentance is the great Gospel Medicine, the Cure for our greatest Sins, and the most mortal Diseases of the Soul, if it be compounded as it ought and taken in time; if it be made up not only of sorrow for what is past, and good purposes and resolutions for the future, but of actual Amendment and Reformation, Turning away from our wickedness that we have committed, and doing that which is Lawful and Right afterwards, then 'tis such an effectual and never failing Remedy as by the merits of it, and the Grace of the Gospel will take off the greatest and vilest Sins, that the worst sinner ever fell into; but still, tho' the Medicine is Good and Infallible for every Disease, yet 'tis much better to be always well and have an entire and perfect health, than often to need it, or make use of it; for tho' the goodness of it be never so great, yet 'tis but in order to an end, which is to recover health that was lost, and to restore us to that soundness that we wanted.  
'Tis the great Mercy of God, and the great Grace and Favour of the Gospel, and the great Purchase of Christ's Blood, to have the Privilege of Repentance granted to Sinners, in so large and full a manner, so as to be restored to God's Favour and reconciled to him upon their return, as if they had never offended him; to have all the guilt and punishment of their past Sins wholly taken off, as if they had never committed them; to be recti in curia, pardoned, and in as good state as if they had been always Innocent: This should mightily encourage and prevail upon Sinners to Repent and leave their Sins when they are sure of this, as they are by the Gospel; When tho' their Sins be as Scarlet, they shall be white as Snow; though they were red like Crimson, they should be as Wool, as the Evangelical Prophet speaks, Isai. 1.18. i e. tho' they were sins of the deepest Die, or highest Nature, yet they should be wholly done away and forgiven upon true Repentance, from which no Person is excluded.  
How must this encourage the greatest Sinners if they have any sense of Religion or another World left upon 'em, to come off from their Sins? how comfortable must it be to a poor wretch, lying under the sense of his own guilt, and the fears and horrors of his own Conscience, and the dread of God's Judgements, and of Eternal Misery, to have these glad Tidings proclaimed to him? how will this revive his desponding Soul, and cheer his sunk Spirit, and like a pardon brought to a Condemned Malefactor, in the Cart, or upon the Gibbet, restore him to life and to unspeakable joy and gladness? Now this is offered to every Sinner by the Gospel, if he repent and turn from his Sins however great they have been, and lead a new life, and become a new Man, and a new Creature before he dies; What can be desired more by any reasonable Creature? or what more can God offer? Would any desire to live and go on in his Sins, and yet be forgiven? This is for God to give up his Laws, his Government, and to grant a Liberty to his Creatures to be Rebellious and Disobedient, and have no Check or Control upon them; 'tis the utmost a good God can grant, or a wicked man can desire, to be pardoned upon his Repentance and Amendment: but his Repenting and Amending is with sorrow for what is past, doing his duty for the future as he ought always to have done it, performing that Obedience which he ought always to have performed; and now this is the best thing next to the having done it and performed it always, but it can by no means be thought to be so good as that. Repenting is like a Man's setting up again, that was once broke, and compounding with his Creditors, and paying a part he owed them instead of the whole; God is pleased to accept of the broken, and after-obedience of a Sinner for some part of his Life, instead of that entire and unbroken one which is due from him all his life. 'Tis God's great Grace and Mercy to do this, and what he is no way obliged to, for he might have damned us for every wilful sin, and never have pardoned us tho' we had afterwards Repent of it; this is mere free Grace which we own to Christ and the Gospel, and God was no way obliged to it, either in Justice or by his natural Goodness, but he might have denied it to mankind as he has done to other of his Creatures, the Devils and the fallen Angels: but still the design of God in granting us this Favour and this mighty privilege by the Gospel is to encourage us to Obedience, to persuade us to leave our Sins and to bring us to true Holiness and Goodness of Life, when we have been faulty and defective in these before; 'tis not to encourage us in our Sins, or give us any Licence or Dispensation to commit 'em; because we may Repent of them; this is a horrid abuse and perverting the Grace of the Gospel and turning it into Wantonness and Looseness: but the End and Design of all this is to make those good men who have been Sinners, to make those Obedient who have been Disobedient, either in general or any instance. Now therefore 'tis much better to have been always thus, to have been always Good and always Obedient through the whole course of our lives; this is the best thing and the very same End more fully and perfectly attained; this is designed by Repentance: As Health is the design of taking Physic, and to be well, and sound, of using Remedies and Medicines; and those who are always healthful, and always sound, and always well, are in a much better condition than those who stand in need of a Cure, tho' it be never so certain and infallible.  
2. I speak this all the while of Repentance from great and wilful sins, from a habit of them in our lives, or at least a voluntary practice of them at some time or other; and this Repentance, I hope, there are many that need not, who were never ill persons all their lives, nor ever guilty of any such one great and mortal sin, as should put them into an ill and damnable state, and exclude them out of Heaven, had they died. I speak not now of the ill state of all mankind by the fall, or by our original Corruption and Depravation; for that is took off by Christ the second Adam, and we are put into a good state by the Gospel and by our Baptism, so that no Man is in any danger of Damnation, but upon his committing some wilful and known sins, such as the Scripture declares are damnable, and exclude from Heaven: He therefore that has been free from those, tho' not free from all sins, which no man is or can be all his life, no, not in his best state, but some Infirmity, some Imperfection, some sin of Frailty, or Ignorance, or Surprise will beset him; He, I say, that has lived free from all wilful known sins, and not allowed himself in any voluntary breach of God's Laws, tho' he has not kept them so perfectly and exactly as he ought to do; but has always had a regard to Religion and his Duty, and never violated them in any great instance; he was always a Child of God and never forfeited that Title, he was never a Prodigal and run away from his Father's house, nor wasted his Substance in Riotous living, but like the dutiful and elder Son always served his Father, neither at any time transgressed his Commandments: He never wandered out of the paths of Virtue, nor never let his steps take hold of death; he never defiled his Virgin Innocence, nor sullied and blemished his Baptismal Purity; nor fell into, nor wallowed in any great sin, and so needeth not to be washed and cleansed and purified as a sinner in a higher sense needeth; and this is the Happy the Blessed Person, whom I prefer to the best Penitent and the truest Convert, as the Parable here does.  
3. This shows the good of early Obedience and the great Happiness and Advantage of a Virtuous and Religious Education, and the great Obligation there is for Parents to take care of this, and the great thankfulness, which those own to God, and their Parents, who have had the benefit of it: for nothing makes Virtue and Religion so easy or so acceptable to us as to have them taught and instilled into us in our tender year● when like soft Wax, we are capable of any impressions, and yet grow hard and retain them afterwards. When the Seeds of Virtue are early Planted in our hearts, before Vicious Habits or Inclinations are grown up in them, and a sense of Religion takes the first possession of us, and anticipates and prevents the power of our own Lusts or of evil Examples; then Virtue becomes natural to us, and Custom makes it both very easy to be practised and hard to be overcome: for let the Habit and Custom be equal, and I doubt not but there is as much difficulty for a Virtuous Person to become Vicious, as for a Vicious Person to be made Virtuous: It must be with great violence and reluctancy that such an one is brought to commit a wilful Sin, as well as the other to forsake it; and therefore Scripture represents both the one and the other as if they were morally impossible: As they who are accustomed to do Evil, can as hardly learn to do Good, as the Aethiopian can change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots, so he that is born of God cannot Sin, 1 John 3.9. I doubt not therefore but most of the good men that are, or ever were in the World, are such as have been Virtuously and Religiously Educated and brought up; and but few of those in proportion who have been otherwise, have been reclaimed and brought off from the Lewdness and Debauchery they contracted when they were young. 'tis a very hard and difficult thing to make a bad Man a good one, the hardest thing in the World, what the powerful Operation of God's Grace is necessary to, and what it often cannot effect, through the stubbornness of the Will, and indisposition of the Subject; hence those complaints and expostulations, I would have healed them but they would not be healed, Jerem. 51.9. Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? Oh, that my people would have harkened unto me, and of Sinners resisting, grieving, and quenching the Holy Ghost, and that God's Spirit shall not always strive with them, and the like; which shows the strength and power of ill habits, and how hard 'tis even by all means to get rid of them; and how much happier it is to be engaged in an early Obedience and determined by a Virtuous Education, than to be afterwards struggling with them.  
4. This prevents the common and dangerous mistakes about Repentance, whereby Men make it a reserve to themselves to excuse them from a Religious and Virtuous, and Holy life; and think that by means of that they shall avoid all the mischief of their sins at last, and be as safe and as secure of Heaven and their eternal Salvation, tho' they live never so loosely and carelessly, as if their whole lives had been spent in a course of Virtue and Religion. 'Tis but Repenting before they die, and that as little before as they can, if they can neck it right, and are not cut off suddenly and unexpectedly, which is but an accident that happens only to few, and the great work and business is done, by a true Sorrow and some sincere Resolutions, and an Instantaneous change of mind, as well as by the most entire Virtue and constant Obedience of a Man's whole life. If so, most Men's Sins and Lusts will persuade 'em to indulge and gratify 'em the greatest part of their lives; if they cannot wholly bring 'em off from a sense and belief of Religion, they will thus corrupt Religion and make it thereby comply with them; and by these false notions of Repentance, raise hopes to themselves of escaping all the mischief of their Sins and their ill lives, and saving themselves by virtue of this Repentance at the last, without leading a good life, which they will therefore be glad to excuse themselves from, as not absolutely necessary; and so wholly trust and depend and venture upon the other way. Now this is putting a trick upon God and Religion, and being too hard for 'em upon their own Terms (as they think) tho' it is indeed putting a trick upon themselves and miserably deluding themselves into destruction; by thus abusing this privilege of Repentance, and making this Grant and Concession of the Gospel to destroy the Gospel itself, and all the design of it, which was to make men live well, and bring them off from their Sins, and not at all encourage them in 'em; whereas by thus perverting the Grace of the Gospel, and by wrong notions and wretched mistakes about Repentance, the Obligations to actual Holiness and Obedien●● are taken off, and a Man may secure Heaven, and his own Salvation without those by another and much shorter and easier way; which is by Repentance at the last, which shall be as safe to ourselves, and as acceptable to God, and as well rewarded by him as the other. Now I know but one way of saving a Man's Soul and going to Heaven, and that is by a good life and by actual Holiness and Obedience; Repentance is the bringing a sinner to these; and if he do not do this, tho' the Sorrow be never so great, it is not true Repentance nor will be effectual to his Salvation; 'tis the Obedience and Holiness that he performs after his Disobedience and Wickedness, which constitutes and completes his Repentance and entitles him to the Divine favour and acceptance, and to the rewards of Heaven and another World; and the greater and perfecter and more entire this Obedience hath been, the more it will be accepted, and the more rewarded by a Righteous and Just God, who will be Merciful to Sinners when they Repent and turn to their Duty and Obedience, and will accept and reward their broken and imperfect Obedience; but not in so high a degree as the constant and unbroken and early and entire Obedience of Virtuous and Good men all their lives.  
Lastly this Notion of an early Virtue and constant Obedience being prefertable to the truest Repentance, stands upon the plainest principles of Religion and secures those evident Doctrines, upon which all Practical Religion and the obligations of it are built; such as these, that God will reward every one at the last day according to their works, and therefore in proportion to them, and therefore those who have sowed plenteously shall reap plenteously, and that nothing but actual Holiness and Obedience can fit us to see God and enter into Heaven, and make us meet, and qualify us for the inheritance of the Saints in light. These are such plain and undeniable principles both from Reason and Scripture, that no Doctrine which orposes them and is inconsistent with them, can be true; and therefore a late and dying Repentance that brings forth no fruits of Obedience, cannot be sufficient for Salvation, as not coming up to those conditions which are absolutely required by the Gospel to make us capable of Heaven; since none but good Men, who either always were so, or at least, who become such after they were otherwise, can go to Heaven; and the more good and the more obedient and virtuous any Man hath been in his life, the greater and higher rewards he shall have in another World, for as one Star differeth from another Star in Glory, so also shall it be at the Resurrection of the dead, as the Apostle speaks, where some shall shine in a higher Orb, and with greater Lustre, and have Crowns of greater weight and brightness, who have either done or suffered more for Christ and God and Religion than others: and therefore they who have been more constantly and more highly Virtuous all their lives, shall be more highly rewarded by a Just and Righteous God in that Heavenly Kingdom, where Christ tells us are many Mansions, and where no doubt are several degrees of Happiness, according to men's several Actions and Virtues. Tho' the Penitent and the Prodigal shall upon their return be received into their Father's house, and be kindly embraced and entertained by him; yet their Portion shall not be equal to the Son that was always Dutiful and always Obedient, Son thou art always with me, and all that I have is thine. God grant that all good Men may so persevere in Holiness and Obedience, and all Sinners may so timely Repent and be brought off from their Sins, that we may all in due time be received into those Mansions of Joy, where all Sin shall be done away, and there shall be no more Repentance, and all Virtue and Obedience Crowned with Glory and Immortality, through Jesus Christ.   

The Sixth Sermon.  ACTS XVI. v. 30. latter part. 
Sirs. what must I do to be saved.  
THis great question is asked by one in great trouble and concern, when he was affrighted in the night by a sudden Earthquake, which shook the Foundations of the House or Prison where he was, v. 27. and so he was awakened into a sense of present danger, and this brought him to consider what was future and greater. God does often rouse up Men's sleepy and senseless and Lethargic Minds, by some present Terror, Judgement, or Affliction, which brings them to consider the concerns of their Souls and an another World, when nothing else will: This shakes off their thoughtless security, and alarms their stupid and unthinking Minds, to look about them, and see what a dangerous condition they are in; and fear is a very proper principle for beginning Religion; it's one of the greatest passions that belong to our Nature; and then there is a good ground for it, and it only opens our Eyes to let us see a real danger, that so we may avoid it, and keep out of it: It is very useful and a great branch of that self-preservation, which is a principle that lies at the root of our very beings; had we no sense of an Evil coming upon us, we should run into it blindfold, and leap down the precipice we did not see, which would be never the less hurtful to us; when fear indeed makes a danger where there is none, or represents it greater than it is, when it frights the mind with fancied Spectres and imaginary Mormo's, or makes it afraid of its own shadow, it's then a weak, a mean, an unmanly Passion: but when the danger is real and great and likely, it's stupid blindness not to see it, and rash madness for that reason to run upon it. The concerns of another World are both certain and important, and he whose Mind has no reasonable fear or just dread and apprehension of them, is like Damocles with a naked and pointed Sword hanging over his head by a single hair, but he sits securely, and does not see it. The evils and dangers of a future state are very terrible, and may be, as far as we know, very near us; and they are never the less near, nor never the less real for our not believing, or not having a sense of them. It's very happy therefore if our fear awakens us to consider of them, whilst we have means and opportunity to take care to prevent them; that before we feel them we think of them, and do not like Dives, then lift up our Eyes when we are in the midst of Torments: it's then too late to have a sense of them, when we cannot get out of them. A wise man would therefore so consider them beforehand, either out of a just fear or dread of them, or from a wise care and concern for his own Happiness, that whether any extraordinary providence startled his Mind, or it were more freely left to its own thoughts, yet it should frequently and seriously ask itself this question, what shall I do to be saved? To be saved is strictly to be delivered from a great danger we were likely to fall into, to be snatched like a firebrand out of the fire, and like one that was sinking to be catched hold on and preserved; but it also includes in it a positive Salvation as well as a negative, and so comprehends that Happiness which is contrary to the misery we are secured from; he who is saved from death gains life by that means, and he who is saved from Hell gains Heaven, and so both are meant and included in the word Salvation: I shall consider at present the great importance of this question, What shall I do to be saved; and secondly, the true answer and resolution to it. First, of the importance of it: and it is certainly the greatest question to us in the World, how we may be delivered from the dangers and evils of the next World, and how we may escape, as the Scripture speaks, the Wrath to come, and so secure to ourselves that eternal Good and Happiness, which we call Heaven. We can none of us expect to live always here; there must be a time, and we know not how soon, but we are sure it's not very long, when we must take leave of this World and all that is in it; and it concerns us to think what shall become of us when that fatal minute shall come, as it certainly will, that shall make this body of ours a cold lump, and put an end to all our present Enjoyments; When darkness and the shadow of death shall let down the Curtain, and put an end to all these lower Scenes, and to all the Actions of this life, we cannot think there is then an end of our being; hardly any of mankind ever thought so, our own thoughts tell us otherwise, and Revelation assures us to the contrary, and we have as much Evidence as we can have, till we come thither, as is consistent with Faith, and comes not up to Sense. We cannot then but be very solicitous, what shall become of our naked Souls when they are stripped of these fleshly Bodies, and what condition they shall be in in the other world: We know in general how different the state is there; there are Joys unspeakable on the one hand, and Torments intolerable on the other; and according as we believe the greatness and reality of both those, so must we be concerned about this question, How we shall be saved? That is, how we shall obtain the one and avoid the other. We are very careful here to make a short life that we know will quickly be at an end, as Comfortable and Happy as we can; We toil and drudge and contrive all we can to acquire the few good things that belong to it, and to keep off those evils that are uneasy to us; and yet when we have done all, we can never hope to be perfectly Happy here, and our utmost attainment can be only this that we be but less miserable; we rise early and go to bed late, and eat the bread of carefulness rather than suffer want and poverty; and we are at infinite pains and trouble to gain an Estate that we must quickly leave, and whilst we have it, we are not more happy, perhaps less content than we were before; we are very careful to keep up our crazy Bodies in good repair, tho' we know they must quickly decay and fall into the dust. A Disease alarms us, and we are concerned at the warning of death, and are willing to endure almost any thing to prevent it, that its a Suffering a greater Martyrdom for this life than ever Christian did for another: but how much greater reason have we to be concerned for our future state; that life is never to have any end and so we should be more careful about it; it's to continue to Eternity, and what it once is, it's to be ever the same; if it be happy, it's so unalterably without danger of changing; and if it be miserable, it's irreversibly so without any hopes of relief. Oh, wonderful state, how is this life a shadow, a dream, a vapour, a bubble, a vanishing Nothing in respect of the other! it deserves not a thought, nor is it worth a thousandth part of that care the other is; how foolish are we then to labour so much for a moment of our being, and not be more concerned for an endless duration of it? But the greatness of the thing is as considerable as the continuance; the things we are saved from are the greatest and terriblest evils we can possibly suffer, the utmost torments of Mind and Body, despair and horror and a dreadful sense of Divine Anger and Vengeance, and all the terrible apprehensions that guilt within and punishment without can bring upon a Soul that can have nothing else to fly to; and that must suffer greater torment day and night without intermission, than we can have now any conception of. Fire and Brimstone and Chains of darkness, and a never dying worm, are but lesser representations of the unspeakable misery in the other World; and who is it that dreads a night's pain under a tormenting despair, that knows the torments of a troubled mind, or has but tasted the gall and bitterness of a Melancholic humour, who would not be infinitely concerned, how he may be saved from what we mean by Hell and Damnation? and what would not the hopes of Heaven, when they are joined with those fears, make us farther do, when the one is to fright us from the greatest evil and the most perfect misery, and the other at the same time holds out and invites us to the greatest Happiness, to endless Pleasures, and Joy unspeakable? Who that does not either secretly , or never consider of this, would not think it the greatest Question in the World, what shall I do to be saved? And who would not do all he can, and use all means that are in his power to this purpose? Who would refuse any pains or labour to accomplish this great End? Who would stick at any difficulty that he was able to overcome and surmount to gain this point, this greatest point of his own Eternal Salvation? Had God required us to have toiled all our lives in the most wearisome drudgery, and to have spent all our days in the hardest slavery; had he made Religion the greatest burden and uneasiness in the World, in order to the attaining of this, yet what Wise man would not have thought it worth his while to have endured it, and gone through it? Had he commanded us to deny every Appetite, to have offered violence to every inclination, to have stifled every natural desires and renounced all the Gratifications and Enjoyments of the Animal life; had he obliged us to quit all the comforts of this World, and to have retired into a barren Wilderness, or a Melancholic Cloister, and there have worn out our lives in the severest Exercises of Fasting and Mortification, or to have made them one continued station, one constant course of Penance and Devotion; all this would have been much more tolerable than to have endured the far greater Evils and Miseries of another World, though but for a little time, and for much less than half so long as this life, and therefore a thousand times more so, than to suffer a miserable Eternity. What shall we think then of God's requiring no such hard things at our hands, nothing but what is far less than any of those, nothing that is extremely hard or mighty difficult, or very burdensome and uneasy to us, nothing but what is truly comfortable and delightful if we rightly understood it, and what tends to our present Good, Ease and Comfort, Interest and Advantage, even in this life as well as another? God puts no such hard conditions upon us as those I mentioned, but we may be saved hereafter, and yet enjoy at present all the comforts and good things of this World, that a Wise Man would desire; Religion debars us of none of them, so far as they are Innocent and Lawful, that is, so far as they are not Evil and Mischievous to us, and plainly Destructive both of our own good and the good of the World. There is no natural good forbidden to us, nor any inclination to be denied any farther than it is foolish and unreasonable and exceeds the bounds of Wisdom and Virtue; nor has God restrained us from any thing but what like the forbidden fruit is poisonous as well as pleasant, and it's not the pleasantness but the poison is the true reason why it is forbidden: so that our future Happiness is very consistent with our present, and true Godliness may inherit the promises of this life, as well as of another, as the Scriptures assure us, ● Tim. 4.8. It is not necessary to part with our present Happiness, in order to the purchasing the Reversion of that in Heaven, tho' if it were it would be great gain and advantage to us; there is but one instance in Religion wherein this is to be done, and that is in suffering persecution for Christ's sake and the Gospels, in quitting all our Worldly Interests for the sake of Conscience and Religion, and rather endure any evils here, than to renounce Christ or any true part of Christianity: this indeed is bearing the Cross, and is the only hard part of Religion, for which there shall be an abundant recompense hereafter; and the hopes and expectations of that with the present Comfort and Satisfaction of Mind, takes off from the burden and uneasiness of it; and tho' without hopes of another life, Christians might be of all Men most miserable in this, when they fall under those Circumstances, as the Apostle says, 1 Cor. 15.19. yet with those hopes they are far from being so, but with exception to that particular case which does not often happen. Religion at the same time secures to us the greatest Happiness of this life as well as another, and without losing any one Comfort or true Enjoyment of this World, we may make sure of the next. We may therefore put that question to ourselves, which is something like to that which Naaman's Servants put to him 2 Kings 5.13. Had God bid us do some great thing that we might be saved, would we not have done it? how much rather than when he bids us do nothing else in order to this, but what is very reasonable and what tends to our Good here, as well as our Salvation hereafter; We must be therefore very bad judges of our own interest, and very little understand that, and so be very regardless of ourselves, as well as very ungrateful to the great God, if we do not comply with whatever he has Wisely and Graciously appointed us in order to our Salvation. What that is, I shall now briefly consider, and so give the true resolution to this question, What shall I do to be saved? And it is not very hard to resolve it, God has not made it any difficult or abstruse thing to understand, but the meanest Christian may easily comprehend it; it's not a Secret reserved only for the Wife and Learned, but the poorest Soul if it be but sincere and honest, may come to the true knowledge of it, and there is hardly any without it, tho' it may lie less clear and distinct in their thoughts; Natural light teaches all men that such and such Actions are displeasing to God, and that those who commit them shall be punished hereafter. There is no Man who is guilty of any great wickedness but he finds some inward apprehensions of this in his own Mind, and his own Conscience directs him in great measure what he must do to be saved; but Revelation has made this so plain and evident, that a Man must use great Art to deceive himself, if he ever mistake it; to believe the Gospel and live according to it, is so plain a pathway to Heaven, that there is no Christian but must see it: and if he thinks of any other, he cannot but know that he cheats himself, and wilfully puts a trick upon his own Soul. St. Paul here told though Jailor, That he must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he should be saved, v. 31. but this belief which is made the condition and means of Salvation must include all that which is consequent and aught to follow from such a belief; all that Obedience to the Laws of Christ, and that Repentance for past Sins, and Newness and Holiness of life, which is made as plain and indispensible a condition of Salvation as Faith itself; and therefore St. Peter in answer to the same question to those who were greatly concerned and pricked in heart, and said, Men and Brethren what shall we do? Acts. 2.37. answered, Repent and be Baptised every one of you in the name of Christ for the remission of sins. Believing and embracing Christianity, was the only way for a Jew or a Heathen to be saved, and to have remission of Sins; and when St. Peter bids them Repent, and St. Paul bids them Believe, they mean the same thing: Faith is the first great Principle and Foundation of Repentance and all Christian Virtues; and therefore as including and containing all those it is made the condition of our being saved by a Metonymy, whereby the cause comprehends also the effect. Faith in Scripture is not taken only for an assent to another's Words, or a trust in them; but it denotes a principle that worketh by love, and is manifest by good works, without which the Scripture expressly says it is dead; and than it must be a strange mistake to make a bare faith the condition of our Justification and Salvation.  
It is to be observed, and I think it may be a little useful, to clear that matter; that when Faith and Believing is made the only condition of being saved, and nothing else is mentioned, this is always spoken to those who were not yet Christians or Believers, as when Christ says, John 3.15. Whosoever believeth on the Son of Man, shall not perish but have everlasting Life: This is spoken to Nicodemus, who then expressed his disbelief of Christ's words, and was not brought fully to believe in him, tho' he was disposed for it? So John 6.40. when Christ saith, This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seethe the Son and believeth on him, may have everlasting Life: This is spoken to the Jews, who murmured at Christ, and were far from believing in him: and so Christ bid the Apostles preach this to the unbelieving World, Whosoever believeth and is baptised shall be saved, Mark 16.16. i.e. Believing and Professing Christianity puts them into a salvable state, and if they live according to this faith, they shall certainly be saved; as if we should say to a person who desires to know how he may be a Scholar, Go to School or to the University; this would put him into a certain way to Learning: but he must not only be entered and enroled there, but he must study and read, and do such things as belong to a Scholar. When St. Peter bid the Jews, and St. Paul the Jailor to believe, and they should be saved, they were such as yet had not embraced Christianity; and Faith was the only means to bring them to that, and so put them into a salvable state, which ordinarily they could not be in without it: but then they must do all those other things which belong to Christians after they are brought to believe, or else they would lose and forfeit this their good state; and therefore when Christ speaks to his Disciples who already believed in him, and St. Paul writes to those who were already Christians or Believers, they then tell them not only of Faith which is the first Christian Virtue and the root of all the rest, but of Obedience and all good works, of living as becometh the Gospel, and of adorning their profession with all manner of Virtues, which they make as necessary to Salvation as Faith itself. Thus if ye keep my Commandments saith Christ, ye shall abide in my love, John 15.10. and Ye are my Friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you, v. 14. and Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, or that merely believeth in me, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that does the will of my Father which is in Heaven, Mat. 7.21. So said St. Paul to the Corinthians Circumcision is nothing, nor Uncircumcision, but the keeping the Commandments of God, 1 Cor. 7.19. and to the Galatians, in Christ Jesus, i. e. in the Christian Religion, neither Circumcision availeth any thing, nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature, chap. 6. v. 15. that is, a new temper of mind and habit of Life, for by the Gospel the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, Romans 1.19. and, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels, he will take Vengeance on all them that obey not his Gospel, who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord, 2. Thess. 1.8, 9 and those Christians who do any such works of the Flesh as are mentioned, Gal. 5.19, 21. shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, but for the sake of those the Wrath of God cometh on the Children of disobedience, Colos. 3.6. tho' they do believe in Christ and have made profession of his Religion. It is therefore as requisite for such to live according to all the Laws of the Gospel, as it was at first, to believe in Christ that they may be saved: What a Christian therefore who already believes in Christ and owns his Religion to be true, and what we who all do this, should further do to be saved, and to make sure of Heaven, I shall in one general Advice direct to, and that is this, That we never allow ourselves to live in any one known sin; that we never wilfully violate any Law of the Gospel, nor suffer ourselves in the Custom of any thing that we know is unlawful; he that does that is in a dangerous and desperate condition, and is uncapable of being saved by the Terms of the Gospel: for tho' that allows pardon for every sin we repent of, yet it allows none to any one of those we do not repent of, but live in; and therefore as we value our Salvation; let no darling Sin, nor beloved Lust, nor any the most profitable or pleasing Wickedness whatsoever, be indulged or continued in by us; it's as much as our Souls are worth if we do, for every wilful habit of sin does most certainly exclude and shut us out of the Kingdom of Heaven, without timely Repentance and Amendment; if we have therefore been ever guilty of any such, and so have forfeited Heaven and our own Souls, and made ourselves liable to Eternal Wrath and Damnation; let us endeavour with all speed to recover ourselves out of that sad state, and to snatch our Souls out of the Jaws of Hell, and from the very brink of perdition; and let us bless God that he affords us both time and means and power to do this; and when we have Emerged out of that wretched Condition, let us not throw ourselves into it again by any new Sins, but let us ever after avoid that rock where we were like to have split; and let us spend all the remainder of our lives in perfecting our Repentance, and in bringing forth fruits worthy of it, and in a constant and unbroken, and uninterrupted obedience to all the Laws of Christianity; so shall we approve ourselves to God and our own Consciences; so shall we have good grounds of Peace and Comfort while we live, and so shall we be certainly saved when we come to die; which God of his infinite mercy grant unto us.   

The Seventh Sermon.  JOB XXVIII. 28. 
And unto Man he said, Behold the fear of the Lord that is Wisdom, and to departed from evil is Understanding.  
THE Fear of the Lord is a phrase often used in Scripture, to express all Religion by, and 'tis indeed the true Principle and Foundation of it; for whoever has an awful sense and belief of a Being above him, and a just dread of his Almighty Power upon his Mind, will take care to avoid all those things, that he knows are displeasing to him, and to perform all those duties which shall procure his favour, and be acceptable to him; for all our Happiness depends upon his Pleasure, and he can make us miserable when we anger and provoke him.  
Every one, tho' he may have lost the sense of love, either of God or Religion, and the desire of Spiritual and Heavenly Happiness, and may be sunk into such a state as to have no great relish of those things; yet may have the sense of fear strong upon him, and may be greatly affected with what he thinks may destroy and ruin and make him miserable: and therefore fear is the strongest and most powerful passion, and the most deeply rooted in humane nature, for it arises from a Natural love of ourselves and a care and desire of our own self-preservation; and every Man has this in him, tho' he has no higher or nobler principles of Virtue and Religion; and therefore 'tis the Character of the most deplorably wretched and wicked Creatures, that they have no fear of God before their Eyes, Ps. 36.1.  
Sometimes the love of God, sometimes the fear of God, sometimes the knowledge of God, the belief of God is made to express the whole of Religion, and the sum of our duty; because where one of these is, there are all the rest in some degree or other, and they cannot be separated or divided: for he that believes a God, and knows him to be as he is, a Being of infinite Power and of infinite Goodness, must fear him and love him too; his power makes him an object of fear, and keeps us from offending him; and his Goodness makes him an object of love; and so both those do the same thing, and as different causes yet concur to the same effect; and all Virtue and Religion is produced by them, and owes its being and original to them: for without respect to God there can be no such thing as Virtue and Religion, and where there is a true fear of him, there they will always be as necessarily conjoined as effects are to their causes, and therefore by an usual Metonymy the one is put for the other. And this Virtue and Religion which is thus founded in the fear of God, is the greatest and truest Wisdom in the World; he is the Wisest man who is the most Virtuous and Religious; and he is the greatest Fool who lives Viciously and Irreligiously, and without the fear of God; the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom, or the first and chief Wisdom, and the Foundation of all other; a good understanding have all they that do his Commands, i. e. they are the truly wise Men who live Virtuously and Religiously, and they Fools who live Viciously and Wickedly; Behold the fear of the Lord, that is Wisdom, and to departed from evil is Understanding.  
There is no greater blemish, contempt, or imputation upon any Man, than that he is a Fool, and that he acts as such in whatever he does; for it supposes the utmost decay and depravation of his Nature, the loss of his Reason, and that he wants that which makes us to be Men, and is the proper perfection of our Being, which is Wisdom and Understanding. It will therefore greatly recommend, and be for the honour of Religion, if that appears to be the greatest and only Wisdom; and it will justly reproach and expose Vice and Wickedness, if that be made out to be nothing else but folly in the highest degree; which I shall therefore endeavour at this time.  
1. First then Religion proposes and attains and secures the greatest End, the chief Good and utmost Happiness that we can desire or are capable of; and this is the truest part of Wisdom, whereas Vice has but low and mean Ends, such as are below the excellency of our Nature, and are so far from promoting our Happiness, that they defeat and destroy it: all beings indeed aim at their own Happiness, and have a blind and general design to compass and attain it; self-preservation is a principle lies at the root of our Being's, and we cannot choose open and barefaced misery; but Vice and Wickedness takes down the poison that is a little Guilded over, and swallows the fatal hook that is baited with an appearing pleasure or profit, and Men are led away in the dark, and deluded with a shadow till they are brought into the deepest misery; Vice proposes either bodily and sensual pleasure, or worldly gain, or some such present End and Design to be its greatest Happiness; but alas, it often loses those, and Virtue and Religion picks up what the other drops, and let's go; and secures those by ends a thousand times better than Vice does, whilst it looks yet further, and still aims at greater ends, and a more true and complete Happiness than any of those can yield to it; for what is the most gustful and luscious sensuality of body to an unquiet and uneasy and disturbed Mind? Is not that worm of Conscience, that gnaws it within, and is bred from the filth and putrefaction of its own sins, a greater torment than all the pleasures of sense can make amends for? And what could a Man hope for if by his wickedness he could gain the whole world, which yet many have even lost by it, if thereby he loses his Soul, the peace and quiet of it here, and its Eternal felicity hereafter? All the ends we can aim at, and all the objects we can wish and desire, are very little and inconsiderable without Religion, and such are all the things and enjoyments of this World; but Religion has great and noble aims and designs, to make our Minds as well as our Bodies pleased and easy, and to give a pleasure and satisfaction infinitely above the highest bodily delights, which the Brutes are capable of as well as we; to perfect and improve and fit our Souls for the greatest pleasure and happiness here, and for that which is endless and unspeakable hereafter; and to see this more particularly, let's consider,  
2. Secondly, that all Ends and Designs but those of Religion, are consigned only to this World, whereas those of Religion reach beyond this to a never ending Eternity; how little and short and narrow are all the poor designs we can have here, when in the compass of a few years, they all cease and perish and come to an end; when but a small time hence they shall be as useless and insignificant as if we had never been, or ne'er had any of them. Death, which we all expect, and which will certainly come in a little time, whether we expect it of no, puts a speedy end and conclusion to all other projects and designs but those of Virtue and Religion; it covers all worldly Pomp and Grandeur with a cloud of night and darkness, and draws a sable mantle over all its glistering and shining vanity; its honours lie here buried in the dust, its riches take leave of it at the Grave, and all its bodily pleasures are exchanged for stench and noy fomness, and its greatest strength and beauty is turned into weakness and gastliness. This mortifying consideration should, one would think, make this World, and every thing in it be very contemptible, and all ends and designs but those of Virtue and Religion, which teach beyond this World, to be very poor and little, and inconfiderable; for like a Dream, they are all quickly passed and gone; and when we awake into another World, into a better and more substantial life, all these images and shadows and fancies of happiness will then vanish and disappear, and we shall be no more affected with them than with a last night's dream, or the past visions of slumber and imagination; but then Religion and Virtue will stand us in stead, than they, and a good Conscience will stick by us, and attend and bear us Company into the other World; and there we shall meet with those Ends and Designs which Religion has proposed to us, and our greatest hopes and wishes shall be turned into greater fruition and enjoyment; then a long Eternity shall reward and recompense our short Labours here, and we shall never lose or be deprived of that great End and complete Happiness which Religion recommended and directed us to. Vice with all its delights is but for a very little time, and the pleasures of sin are enjoyed but for a Season, Heb. 11.25. Men not only lose those, and be for ever deprived of the End it aimed at, but shall receive its sad and miserable portion laid up for it, and be eternally tormented with unexpressible misery; And what extreme Folly will it then be found to have pursued no other End, nor aimed at no other Happiness but that of this World, which is so soon gone and at an end, and for the sake of that to have exposed itself to a misery that shall never have end; to have preferred a present moment before an endless Eternity, and to gain some poor and little Ends here, which yet are often lost rather than attained by men's Vices, to lose Heaven and everlasting Happiness.  
3. Religion and Virtue secure the Comfort and Happiness of this life as well as of another, much better than Vice and Irreligion; so that here is the extreme folly of Wickedness, that whilst its dosigns are confined to this World and 〈◊〉 aims at the present pleasure 〈…〉, and good things of this life, it loses even those, and misses of that present Comfort and Happiness, which is a thousand times more likely to be met with in the ways of Virtue and Religion, than in a life of Vice and Wickedness: for as the one deprives us of no real pleasure or proper enjoyment fit for a wise Man, but rather sweetens them and enhances their relish by keeping them Pure and Innocent, and free from the filth and bitterness that Vice mixes with them; so wickedness brings a great many evils and mischiefs upon itself here, and most men's Vices make them miserable in this life, as well as in another. Godliness, says Saint Paul, is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, 1 Tim. 4.8. and it was the wise Man's observation long before, that the most desirable blessings of this life belong to Wisdom and Religion, Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour, Prov. 3.16. whereas nothing does more generally shorten Men's days than Vice and Debauchery, and though those Men value nothing so much as life, yet they prodigally squander it away, and spend it too fast and consume it upon their Lust and their Lewdness; and these make shipwreck of their Estates as well as of their Consciences, and bring Poverty and Beggary very often along with them, so that the ruined Fortunes of most Men are owing to their vicious and ill Courses, and they are undone by their Vices here, as well as hereafter; an indelible Character of shame and reproach is hereby fixed to their Name and Memory, which stains and blemishes their Repute and Credit among Men, and their mind reproaches and smites them from within, and they feel most of the outward and inward evils which are the most grievous and uneasy to us in this life. So that besides the misery in Reversion, which is due to them and unavoidable, there is a present one which they seldom escape, but generally befalls them; so foolish are they whose fondness to their Sins makes them hug and embrace them, though they at the same time Wound and Poison them; so infatuated are they, and almost fascinated by them, that they stick to them, though to their manifest ruin and against their plainest interest; and make themselves such Martyrs and Confessors to their Vices, that as they wear their scars always about them, so they will endure any thing for their sakes, and make their way to Hell, through the greatest sufferings and evils that their sins bring upon them here.  
4. Roligion is the truest Wisdom, as it best provides against all the Accidents and Contingencies of this uncertain world and against all the infirmities of our present state and nature. A good man may not be secure here that he shall not come into the same misfortune, and be plagued like other Men, either with some Affliction, or Sickness, or other common Calamity, which the greatest Virtue and Religion may be no protection against; but the same chance may happen both to the Sinner and to the Righteous, and without respect either to their Vice or to their Virtue: a Disease or a Misfortune, a Loss or a Trouble may come upon either of them, which nothing can keep off or prevent, in this uncertain state; but here Religion gives us the best relief, and stands us in the greatest stead, and is the most useful to us; it takes care, as we may say, of the main chance, and makes the best provision for whatever may or can befall us; it supports and revives our drooping Spirits, under any afflictions of this world with the cheering thoughts of a Heaven above us, and a Providence over us, and the gladsome reflections of a good Conscience within us, and a Comfortable trust in a good God without us; whereas when any of the troubles and misfortunes of life fall on a wicked Man, he has nothing to keep up his mind under them, but they sink and crush him into the utmost despair and disconsolateness, and he has no whither to fly for ease and comfort; sad and miserable must be his case, who, when his body is sick and uneasy, has his mind so too, and feels as much anguish and anxiety in the one, as he does pain in the other; when his body is under the struggle and agonies of death, has his Mind and Conscience under greater; and when he sees death come up behind him, sees Hell open before him, as ready to devour and swallow him up. Tho' nothing can secure us against one of these, yet Religion does against the other, which is ten times the greatest; and so in all other the unavoidable accidents and misfortunes of this worldly state, Religion does wisely prepare and provide against them, and make the best defence and security for us against all the dangers that may in this hazardous world come upon us; and without this a man lies always open to every uncertain accident, and shall be miserable at every turn of Fortune, and shall have no Happiness but what shall be at the will and pleasure of outward Contingencies; and shall have no soundation or root of Happiness within himself, which nothing but Religion and Virtue can ever give him.  
5. Religion makes us wise for ourselves and for things of the greatest importance and concern to us; makes us wise unto Salvation, which is the only true Wisdom, that deserves so to be called or accounted: for 'tis a Wisdom salsely so called, and no other than great folly to be wise about all other things, wise in our Notions and Apprehensions and Judgements of things, wise in the Managery and Conduct of all our outward Affairs, wise in searching the policies and fathoming the most cunning Intrigues, wise in the greatest Mysteries of Knowledge and researches of Learning, so that both ourselves and others applaud us for our great Wisdom; and yet be a Fool, in what is more valuable and more concerning to us a thousand times, which is the everlasting Salvation of our immortal Souls. He that is not so wise as to take care of that, is with all his other Wisdom the worst of Fools and Mad Men; and more void of common Prudence and Discretion, than he that while he pretends to understand the great secret of being Rich and turning all into Gold, yet is Poor and a Beggar; or like him in a Frenzy, who thought himself an Emperor, and to have the greatest Territories and Dominions, when he had only a Chain and a little Straw; or him who while he was viewing the Stars and observing the Heavens above him, did not mind his way, but fell into a Pit.  
6. I shall show the Wisdom of Religion from the two causes of sin and wickedness, which are only two sorts of folly and weakness of mind.  
The first is heedlessness, rashness, and inconsideration; the other is infidelity and ignorance, or inapprehensiveness of the truth of things. All Irreligion is owing to these two Causes; for either Men do not mind and consider as they ought to do, those principles of Religion, which they own and believe, as that there is a Heaven and a Hell, and an Eternal state of Bliss and Misery after this Life, so as to let these have that full, force and influence which they ought to have upon their minds; or else they do not really believe and apprehend those to be true: which are both high degrees of Folly and proceed from a great defect of Understanding and want of Wisdom.  
As to the first of these, what can be a grosser folly than to act contrary to those principles which we own and allow? to believe that there is a God, and that the Soul is immortal, and yet to live as if there were no God, and as if there were no other Life but this? This is certainly the most desperate folly and madness to run upon the greatest danger that we see evidently before us, and to leap into Hell with our eyes open; when Men do really believe they shall be damned for a wicked and ill life, and yet still continue in their sins. 'Tis folly one would think, even to the height of distraction to live thus contrary to their belief and let their principles and their actions thus disagree; and to condemn themselves in their acting contrary to their own knowledge, belief and understanding, in a matter which is of so great moment and concern as they must acknowledge this to be. Of the two, the other, one would think, were more excusable who do not believe these things, tho' that is great ignorance and folly; for 'tis dis-believing that which all mankind have in all Ages believed in some degree or other, and which we have as much reason to believe as we can have, if the thing were never so true and certain; and which it is impossible we should ever know, or have any reason to believe to be false; and which if it were only doubtful and but merely probable, or indeed possible, yet a wise Man would not run a great hazard or venture upon it, but would take care to save and secure himself against the worst and utmost possibilities that might happen: I shall not now consider the great weakness and folly of infidelity against the clearest reason and evidence, and the utmost demonstration the thing is capable of, and requiring more than a thing of that nature can have; nor how Religion is Wisdom as being established upon the greatest foundations of truth and certainty. 'Tis the other folly that of inconsideration by which most men perish, by not attending to the power and force of those truths, which they do believe; but rashly and inconsiderately following the career of their Lusts and violence of their Inclinations, against the reason and belief of their Minds, and the conviction of their Judgement and Understanding; for could any Man that seriously considered and believed an everlasting state of rewards and punishments, and let his mind duly attend and be affected with those considerations, which he really believes to be true; could he be wicked without the greatest folly and madness? and can it appear to be any other than the most foolish and unreasonable thing in the World to believe all those great and important things which Religion teaches us, and yet to live as if we believed none of them? This is such unaccountable folly as wants a name, and can have nothing to palliate or excuse it. Indeed a wicked life is the greatest folly in the World, and appears to all to be so upon reflection and a little serious consideration; no body but reputes of it afterwards, and is sorry for it one time or other, tho' perhaps it be too late, and when he cannot retrieve or amend it, unless he be stupefied and hardened and have lost the use of his Judgement and Understanding; which is a plain owning it to be Folly and Unadvisedness even upon Trial and Experience, and a wishing they had done better, and that they had been much wiser.  
No Man Reputes of his having done Virtuously and lived Religiously, but is pleased and satisfied in himself upon his reflecting upon it; which shows that he acted wisely and prudently: but the direful agonies and sad reflections, and horrors, and disquiets that a Man feels in his mind upon his having lived wickedly, shows the height of his folly, and how he is forced to condemn himself for it, and to bewail and lament his extreme weakness and madness, and this is truly Hell; when he must do so to all Eternity, than I am sure it will appear, whatever it does now, that Vice and Wickedness is the greatest folly, and that Virtue and Religion are the true and only Wisdom, and that what the Psalmist says, is true; The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.   

The Eighth Sermon.  ROM. XII. 21. 
Be not overcome of Evil, but overcome Evil with Good.  
IT is a question with some, whether Christ have added any thing to the law of nature, or required any higher and more perfect Virtues than are founded in that. As for the Law of Moses, he has taken away the Ritual and Ceremonial part of it; and as to the Moral, he has cleared it from the false glosses and corruptions and errors of the Scribes and Pharisees, who had expounded it into a meaning contrary to the true sense and intention of the Law: for that to be sure coming from God could have nothing immoral in it, and therefore whatever corrections were made by our Saviour were only of the perverse and corrupt interpretations of others, and not of the Law itself. But whether he has not added any new and more perfect Laws both to the Law of Moses and that of Nature, and required higher instances of Virtue of us Christians, than of the rest of mankind, is a great question. On the one side it seems more for the honour of Christ and his Religion, in which there are some nobler precepts that excel any that are to be met with in any other Moralist; as against Lust and Revenge, for loving Enemies, and not retaliating injuries, and the like. On the other side, if Christ has added any new Laws not founded in nature, they must be merely positive and alterable, and not have any natural or intrinsic good in them, but be owing to the mere Arbitrary will of God, and not to the original settlement and constitution of things; for if they have a foundation either in the nature of God, or the nature of things, they cannot be new, and so added to those of nature; but I think this Controversy may be thus compounded and resolved, that those Laws, though they were founded in nature and had a natural and intrinsic and eternal Goodness in them, as all moral Virtues have, yet could not be so well known and discovered by the dim-light of nature, nor were so fully promulged by the Law of Moses, as they are now by the Gospel or the Christian Revelation. One of the highest and noblest Virtues of Christianity is that advice, precept, or duty given here in my Text, Be not overcome. Concerning which, tho' there be no such thing hardly to be found in the Law of Moses, and the quite contrary to be often met with in the best Heathen Moralists, who reckoned Revenging an Injury as a part of Justice, and among the number of their Virtues; yet it's certain, if we consider of it, it is very reasonable, and has a natural and intrinsic Goodness in it, and tends very much to the peace of our minds and the comfort of our lives among the many Evils, Injuries, and ill usages from others we may probably meet with in this World; the best shelter and security against which, and the best and most perfect Virtue a Christian ought to learn, is that of the Text; which tho' it be so much against the practice, and therefore seems to be against the nature of mankind, yet it is not; but is a most excellent duty in itself and what we are always indispensibly bound to, both as wise Men and good Christians: Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good, from whence I shall first show you what it is to be overcome of evil: Secondly, the good and excellency of not being overcome of evil, but overcoming evil with good; First, what it is to be overcome of evil, i. e. the evil that is done to us by others, not that is done by ourselves, for that overcomes us whenever we fall into it but we may suffer a great deal of evil or injuries from others, without being overcome by it; for it may be said to overcome us only by these several ways, 1. When it so takes away the peace of a Man's mind as to make him sink under it: now no evil aught to do this, but the evil of sin and guilt, and the sad Consequences of those which are the wrath of God and Eternal Damnation; these are so dreadful that nothing can bear or stand up against them, and therefore they are not to be born but to be avoided, and wrought to take care to escape them by Repentance and a good Life, for there is no mastering and overcoming them; they are so great and intolerable that humane nature cannot grapple with them or endure them with any degree of courage or patience. But now all the evils of this World may be bravely withstood or overcome, and we can rally up power and resolution sufficient to contend with them and hold out pretty tolerably against them, so as to preserve an inward ease and comfort, peace and tranquillity of mind under all, or any of them; and that strength and vigour, and firmness, and constancy of a Man's mind, may not be broke or dissolved by them: and this is true Courage and Bravery, and Greatness of mind, which was most eminently in the first Martyrs and Christians under all their sufferings, wherein they were more than Conquerors through Christ, who strengthened them, Rom. 8.37. And many others have boar Sicknesses and Adversity, Reproach and Calumny, and other misfortunes of this World with great evenness and Equanimity and cheerfulness of mind, and have not been sunk or depressed by them; they have not lain down under the burden, but tho' it has been heavy and hard, and they have felt it so, and not been without the sense of it, yet they have born up under it, and with putting forth their strength and patience, made it less than it otherwise would have been, or if they had fallen down under it. Ill usage and Injustice from others are not the least of evils, nor the easiest to be born; but when we consider they are no more in our power to prevent than Diseases or any other Accidents that may befall us, the peace of our mind should not be much affected with them; since that ought always to depend upon what is in our own power, and upon our own voluntary choice and actions, or else we can never have any security of it, but it will be at the mercy wholly of every chance or accident without us. And secondly, the way not to be overcome by them, is, not to dwell too much upon them in our thoughts, not to chew or ruminate upon them, nor keep them in our thoughts too morosely, for that is to roll the bitterness of them, as it were up and down in our mouths and to taste them over again; whereas to spit them out, to pass them by, to neglect them, and not think of them, is the speediest way to have done with them: if they lie heating and boiling upon our stomaches and the Choleric and Revengeful humour be fermented and put in agitation by them, it will greatly trouble and annoy us; but when we check and suppress it at first, we are at ease presently, and have none of those tumultuous and disorderly disturbances that are in the breasts of Revengeful and Malicious Men, that can never forget or pass by an injury, but let it like a thorn in the flesh always pain them, and go in further and deeper, and cause an Ulcer that shall throb and burn within, and be very troublesome; whereas all might have been cured by plucking it out presently and throwing it away, and not letting it stick long or enter deep into our thoughts. 3. Not to have any thoughts of Revenging it is the best way to overcome it; for this lessens the trouble of it, and puts a quick and speedy end to it, whereas the other puts a Man upon a thousand uneasy thoughts and contrivances, sets his head upon working like the Devil how to do mischief, and like him is all the while tormented with his own mischievous designs, whether they succeed or not; and is always restless and uneasy lest they should sail and he should be disappointed: and if he is not, yet he procures no manner of good to himself, but only mischief to another, which is all the Diabolical pleasure of the most successful Revenge: and he is certainly overcome by an injury who is thus provoked to return and retaliate it, and will give himself a vast deal of trouble for no manner of good, but merely to do ill to another; much good may do these Men with the sweets of their Revenge, as they call it; the Devils themselves may be pleased and delighted in the midst of Hell if there be great and true pleasure in this. 4. We are overcome by evil when we are brought to commit the same evil, and do the same thing to others which they did to us; when we are brought to render railing for railing, cursing for cursing, evil speaking for evil speaking, and the like; i. e. when others treat us in this rude manner, and we return them the same again, and give them, as we say, as good as they bring. men's Tongues are the most ready Instruments of their malice, by which they who are otherwise never so weak and impotent, and like a Serpent, crawling upon their bellies, as malice often does, yet can dart out their stings, even bitter words, and with their forked and poisoned Tongues spit abundance of their venom at others which is in themselves; and so plentifully disgorge that filthy and corrupted matter of their own exulcerated minds. They consider not that for all these evil and idle words (for it was chief of those words of Calumny and Slander our Saviour spoke) they must give account in the day of Judgement, Mat. 12.36. and that they are as answerable for such words, though they pass away as the wind, as they say, as for the more lasting actions; For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned, v. 37. A Man may be damned as well for injurious words as injurious actions and they may often do as much mischief not only to the person himself, whose credit may probably be as dear to him as life, and as great an injustice to take it away: And it may do a much greater mischief to Religion, and hinder all the good, or a great part of it, which a Man might be otherwise capable of doing: And all this they are answerable for, who are the causes of it, and not the Innocent Person who is thus used. When the Jews slandered our Saviour, as a wine bibber and a drunkard, as a friend of publicans and sinners, as a deceiver and impostor, and so kept others from hearing his Sermons and receiving his Doctrine, they were answerable not only for themselves but for the Souls of others, who thus perished by their means; and our Saviour was no way blamable for not doing that good which others hindered, and which he, tho' unsuccessfully, yet hearty endeavoured. 5. We are overcome by evil when we are brought by it to neglect any necessary duty, or to do any unfit and unlawful act that otherwise we should not have done; as they who will neglect Prayer, or coming to Church, or attending upon God's word, because they are offended with some of their Brethren who come there, or with their Minister, upon which they will fall out it seems with God himself too: they who will give nothing in Charity, because they who collect or distribute it, agree not with them in all things; and so they will revenge the supposed injury of another upon those poor wretches who never could be supposed to do or think them any at all● they who will show spite to the public, and oppose the Government, because some are in it they do not like or care for; and so their hatred to them shall make them do all the mischief they can to the whole, and they will Sacrifice the Peace of the Kingdom to the private piques and animosities with some particular Men. If the little injuries of others drive us to this, we are sadly overcome by them; they overcome those greater indispensible obligations we stand in, which nothing can or aught to rescind; and they make us do that which otherwise the sense of our duty and conviction of our mind would persuade us not to do, if we were not thus blinded with passion and hurried with rage and anger, and had our understanding darkened and clouded with those storms of passion and resentment, which arise in us. The best way to allay those is to check them at first, and put out the first sparks of the glowing flame, and not suffer it to kindle to any height in our breasts, but to quench and stifle it immediately with wise thoughts and steady resolutions, and with a designed neglect and passing by of the supposed injury; if we would lessen that or wholly take it away and destroy it, if we would overcome the evil of it, the best way is by doing good for evil, by returning Offices of kindness for those of ill will, of Love for those of Hatred, Friendship and Civility for Rudeness and Unmannerliness, Blessing for Cursing, speaking well of others for their speaking evil of us, and not rendering railing for railing, nor injury for injury, but overcoming evil with good: How excellent a Virtue this is, what advantages and benefits belong to it, I come now to show; nay how necessary a Christian duty it is, without the performance of which, in such measures as are required of us, we forfeit Salvation and Pardon of our sins at the hands of God. For no particular Virtue is made so much, and so expressly the condition of our Pardon in the Holy Scripture as this; but how hard is it to persuade ourselves or others to it, for want of getting a power over the first rise of passion, and being able to check the Brutish inclinations that belong to us with thought and reason; and for want of considering the excellency and perfection, nay, the ease and pleasure of it, and the many obligations we have to perform it. As First, It must be owned that the quiet of our lives, and the peace of our minds very much depend upon it; for it cannot but be supposed that we shall sometimes meet with very ill usage and treatment from other people; the best of men have not been free from it, tho' they no way deserved it; as our Saviour, one of whose sufferings it is accounted, that he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, Hebrews 12.3. and the Apostles, who often complain of unreasonable and perverse and wicked Men, 2 Thess. 3.2. and the greatest examples of Virtue before and since them, such as Socrates, Cato, Seneca, and the like, have had the same measure; and it's often the Lot and Portion of the best of Men, and that which has made them so as much as any thing; and God has suffered it for a Trial and increase of their Virtue. Now if a Man must be always uneasy and unhappy, and have a great disturbance and disquiet in his mind, when he meets with this, it will not be in the power of God and Religion, nor of Virtue and a good Conscience to make a man happy, as it certainly is, and to give him ease and satisfaction in himself, however others shall use and wrong him; if every rude and ill natured Person, whose Tongues are their own, and who will use them as they please without any regard to Truth, Manners, or Religion, shall task away a Man's peace and quiet; or their unjust and undeserved usage shall make a breach upon the steadiness and firmness of a Man's mind, and he shall be disturbed and unhappy, because others are uncivil, humoursome and ignorant; there will be no such thing as inward peace and quiet, nor will our Saviour's words signify any thing, My peace I leave with you, John 14.27. In patience possess ye your Souls, Luke 21.19. Blessed are ye when men shall speak evil of you and hate and reproach you, Luke 6.22. But a Man must mind which way the wind sits or the Weathercock turns, on which side the Birds fly, or which is as uncertain, what is the opinion of unthinking Men to judge of himself by. Indeed the opinion of good and wise Men who are able to judge, is very much to be minded, and is truly credit, which is to be preserved next to Conscience; but he that is not above the little noise and the ignorant censures, and the brutish Clamours, and the petty injuries of others is a very weak, and will be often a very unhappy Man. 2. It's one of the greatest and most pleasant Virtues to gain a Victory over our own passions, and to overcome the brutish inclinations of Anger and Revenge, which are apt to rise in us at first upon the sense of an injury. He that can calm and quiet those, and by wise thoughts subdue the boisterous rage and furiousness of an angry spirit, is a greater Man and a greater Conqueror than he that Conquers whole Countries and Cities, and fenced Places, and overcomes many thousands of Enemies by the Sword, as the Wise man observes, He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a City, Prov. 16.32. This is the true Virtue of a Man that masters the beast, the brutish Appetites and Inclinations that are in him; which if he let lose, they will rage's and tear and devour him, and hurry him to revenge and madness, and all the dismal effects of them. Nothing is so rash and inconsiderate, and shows so much impotency and weakness of mind as those passions which are apt to rise up in us; and nothing shows greater Wisdom and more true greatness of mind, than to Command and Conquer them, and bear a provocation and forgive it, instead of being set on fire, and overcome by it; nor can any thing be more pleasant than to gain this Victory over our passions, for they are very troublesome and uneasy, and all find them so who are under them: but it's the greatest ease and pleasure of mind and body too, to be free from them, and to be in a calm, and gentle, and meek, and undisturbed state. Anger and revenge are the most uneasy, and vexatious, and tormenting passions that belong to human nature, that fire and inflame the spirits, put the blood into an Unnatural and Venomous Ferment, and the whole Man under the gall of bitterness and the greatest uneasiness; so that his mind can enjoy nothing, but is restless and tumultuous, and under a thousand fearful and vexatious thoughts how to contrive and how to accomplish its Mischievous and Revengeful designs upon others. But to lay all these aside, and to pass by, and forgive an injury, and let our passions be quiet without any great resentment of it, is to be at ease within ourselves, and has more sweetness and comfort in it than all the revenge in the World. 3. As this is overcoming ourselves, so it's overcoming our Enemies too, and the best and the least troublesome, and the most generous way of Conquering them; for first it disappoints all their malice and avoids the blow they intended to give us, for this puts by the injury which was thrust at us; or at least takes off the smart, and the sense of it, which is the greatest evil that they designed by it, and they have lost their design if they see us not concerned at it. But further, if we can bring ourselves to return kindness for injury, and overcome evil with good, this, if any thing, will overcome an Enemy, by making him become a Friend, which is the greatest and perfectest Victory in the World; and subdue him with such powerful force and conduct that he cannot but yield to it. A soft answer will turn away his wrath, as the wise man speaks, Prov. 15.1. and showing the kind offices of love and kindness and civility to him, will not only heap coals of fire upon his head, if he still continue to injure us, but in all probability melt him into kindness and goodness; for he must be a very barbarous wretch, and void of all sense of humanity, beyond the rate of most Men, who will not be obliged by a generous kindness from an Enemy; and he must be a mere Savage, who is not to be wrought upon by civility and good will. Revenging an injury is the way to double and increase it and to keep up the War and Hostility, with vast trouble and expense; but the other presently procures a Fair and a Comfortable and an Honourable Peace and Reconciliation. Many think it will draw more injuries upon them if they do not revenge themselves for those past, and make it cost others dear to hurt them, so that it's their Motto, nemo me impune lacesset: but this for the most part fails, and is the worst and longest, and most troublesome way to get rid of them; every Man may indeed preserve his right if it be valuable and not better to part with it than to lose it, and yet keep up fully to this temper of doing any good in his power, to those who would do this evil to him: but to return evil for evil, injury for injury is no more the best way to overcome it, than it's to heal a wound by cutting it deeper and lancing it wider, when otherwise it would quickly close of itself; and love would be like oil poured in to supple and heal it. 4. The overcoming evil with good is so like to God, who does good every day to us and all mankind, tho' we injure and provoke him; that our having such usage from him, should teach and learn us it, and incline us to practise it to our Brethren. If God should be presently enraged and resolve to revenge himself upon us for every injury we offer to Heaven, i. e. for every sin we commit, how sad and lamentable a case must we be in; we therefore that live by virtue of this good principle, that own our lives, and all the mercies we enjoy to this virtue in God, whereby he spares us, tho' we provoke him; and is slow to anger tho' we sin against him, and revenges not himself upon us weak and impotent, and yet bold and daring Enemies: How should we feel the good of it to ourselves and not practise it to others? Did not God deal otherwise with us, than revenge and anger inclines us to deal with others, how might he consume us every moment; and never wait to be gracious, nor let his goodness lead us to repentance, nor never let us enjoy the blessings of his common providence, but shut up the Heavens that they should not rain, and put out the Sun that it should not shine upon such evil and unjust, such sinful and rebellious Creatures as we are? Nay, had he not been disposed to this Vittue, which is the very perfection and excellence of the Divine Nature, he had not shown so much love and done so much good for sinners, as to send his own Son Christ into the World to die for us, even when we were Enemies to him, and to God that made us. We then that had perished for ever had it not been for this Virtue, how should we love and value it and endeavour to imitate it, and deal with our Brethren as God dealt with us! What an example of this our Saulour has left, appears by his whole life, which was a perpetual suffering of injuries and doing of good; and especially at his death, when he prayed for his Enemies, and being reviled he reviled not again, but as a sheep led to the slaughter he was dumb, and opened not his mouth, unless to pray for those who barbarously used and murdered him: and in this he left us an example that we should follow his steps. But Fifthly and Lastly, This is not a mere Christian perfection and a Noble Heroical degree of Virtue, which its matter of advice to attain; but it's a necessary Christian duty, without which we shall not go to Heaven, nor be capable of Pardon and Salvation at the hands of God. If we revenge the injuries that are done to us, God will not forgive us the sins we commit against him: he has expressly told us so, Matth. 6.15. Mark 11.26. Luke 6.37. and that with the same measure we meet to others it shall be measured to us again, even by God in another World, who will show himself merciful to those that are merciful and froward to those who are froward; and to those who are revengeful and inexorable to their Brethren, he will be so too, when they stand in more need of mercy and forgiveness than any of their Brethren can at any time do of them. What are the degrees and measures of exercising this Virtue, I cannot now exactly show you; but in general, to forgive an injury and not return it by another, to overcome it, not with evil but with good, is so much a duty to every Christian, that he shall not come to Heaven who does not in some measure perform it, and who notoriously and plainly acts contrary to it. Let us therefore, for the present Peace of our Lives, for the quiet of our Minds and for the everlasting Peace and Happiness of our Souls, endeavour to learn this Virtue, and not be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.   

The Ninth Sermon.  LUKE XVI. 31. 
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, tho' one risen from the dead.  
AMongst all the many Arguments that there are for Religion, and to persuade men to a good life, there are none so strong and so forcible if well considered, as those which are drawn from another World, and from a future state of rewards and punishments: There are indeed a great many that lie near and arise from several other considerations, from the tendency of Religion to make us happy in this World; from the miserable effects that most Vices have upon Men's Fortunes and Enjoyments; from the natural and intrinsic Goodness and Amiableness, that is in Virtue and Religion, whereby it recommends itself to our minds, and the abominable filthiness and ugliness that is in Vice, and its contrariety to right reason as well as our true interest: by these and many other considerations Religion is strengthened on every side and planted round with such Arguments as are enough to defend it from most of the assaults that Vice and Wickedness can make upon it. But its strongest Hold, its main Fort wherein lies its greatest and impregnable strength, is the thoughts of another World, of a Heaven and a Hell hereafter; this will hold out if all the other should fail, and if Vice should be never so Fortunate and Happy, as it sometimes is in this World; if Wickedness should have as many Prizes as Virtue in this Lottery of things that is here below: yet there it would be sure to be the loser, and could have no pretences to vie and contend with Religion; there the account between 'em appears manifestly and notoriously different, without adjusting it by particulars, and making such abatements as we must often in this World. This is a plain and obvious, an universal and undoubted, and one would think, an irresistible Argument for Religion, that depends not upon long reasonings and many observations, as some others do, but may be easily understood, and will strongly work upon all mankind; and therefore the Scripture does chief make use of it, and every where presses and suggests it to us, as the strongest sanction of the Divine Law, and that which is the likeliest to prevail upon us, when 'tis fully believed and considered. The Rich Man here in the Parable, thought there was so much strength in it, now that he felt it, that he questioned not, but it would prevail even upon his wicked Brethren, if it were offered with all its advantage to 'em; if one went from the dead and told 'em what he suffered, and what they would certainly do, if they took not care in time, not to come into that place of torment: and therefore he seems to have pitched upon the likeliest way for this, when he requested Abraham, that a Messenger might be sent from the dead to 'em; if that might be granted by the Laws and Polity of the other World, there was no doubt sure but it would attain the effect and bring 'em to Repentance; such a Message as he would send 'em, such an account of things in the other World as he would give them, should surely work strangely upon 'em, and make 'em amend their lives. This he made no question of, for had it been his own case, were he to have lived again, after he knew so much as he did now, he would have been quite another man, and so should his Brethren one would think by such a way as this was; but Abraham tells him the quite contrary, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, tho' one rise from the dead. This seems very strange, and will do much more so, when we consider particularly what Arguments a Messenger from the dead would bring along with him, to persuade a man to Repentarce; such as it is impossible sure not to be overcome by them; such as if they will not do, nothing else will: I shall offer some of them to you, and then endeavour to give you an account of what Abraham here says, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded tho' one risen from the dead. And,  
First, let us consider what strong and powerful Arguments a Messenger from the dead would bring along with him to persuade a wicked man to Repentance; and in the  
1. First place, he would satisfy him of the truth and certainty of such a place; that there is really a future state; that there is not an end of us when we go off from this Worldly Stage and Theatre, but that there is another life to succeed this, wherein we shall receive as we have behaved ourselves here. That the Soul when it is released from the Body, and puts on a thinner and a lighter Vehicle, passes to the vast Regions of Eternity, and there has a very different life from what it had here; when naked of all earthy matter, and not wanting any of the Conveniencies of its mortal state, its thoughts are more vigorous and sprightly, and it understands more clearly and wills more freely, and acts more nimbly and expeditely and unrestrainedly. He could tell us how it feels itself, when it is first loosed from the Body, and stripped naked of its fleshly Clothing; whither it will betake itself next, and to what place it is conveyed; what reception it has at its first coming into the other World, and how it is provided for, when like a stranger it arrives at that unknown place. He would acquaint us how it was brought before the bar of God, and a Divine Judgement immediately passed upon it, and so was Sentenced to its final state and irreversible doom, according to what it had done in the flesh whether it were good or evil; and therefore in the  
2. Second place he would acquaint us with the Happy and Blessed state of good Souls there: If he were Lazarus as was desired here by the rich man, one that lay in Abraham's Bosom, and tasted of the Joys and Pleasures that are at God's right hand, what a ravishing account would he give us of those things, which no Eye upon Earth hath seen, nor Ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of any Man who hath not enjoyed 'em to concieve what they are. He that had been an Inhabitant of the new Jerusalem, the Glorious City and Beautiful Palace of the great God; what a Description would he give of all the Glories of it, of all the Riches and Heavenly Treasures that are there laid up, of all the Crowns that are worn by every Citizen there, of all the mansions that are there for every Soul; of all that blessed Society of Angels and glorified Spirits, of all the Orders of Cherubims and Seraphims, and all the Armies of Martyrs; of the Glorious Throne of the Heavenly King, and of the Lamb that sits upon it; of the lustre and brightness that shines in every place, and the Joy and Gladness that dances in every heart, and sparkles in every eye, and appears in every face; of the great Complacency and Delight that they have in one another, and the most inflamed Love and Charity, with which they meet their fellow Saints; how they are infinitely Happy in themselves, and double all their Happiness by the sweet relish and taste they have of that of others as well as their own; how they live all in Raptures and Ecstasies of Joy, and have their Souls overflowed with those Rivers of Pleasure that are at God's right hand, and for ever stream from that Spring and Fountain of all good. In a word, that they enjoy such Pleasures and Delights, that he which felt 'em one moment, would be willing to endure all the Racks and the Tortures of the cruelest Persecutors that he might but once taste of 'em again: That those short afflictions are not worthy to be compared with them; that the greatest Pleasures and Delights in this World, are but saint and empty shadows and poor resemblances of 'em; and that he long, to be enjoying 'em again, and that he is impatient to be so long absent from 'em.  
3. A Messenger from the dead would testify also of the Misery and grievous Torments of Men wicked and sinful. Lazarus that had seen the slames of Hell, tho' asar off, or Dives that had felt and been in the midst of them, would give a Tragical description of that place of horrors; he would tell us what a Dismal and Disconsolate place is that dark Prison, where they are shut up with hellish Fiends and accursed Spirits, who affright and insult over the wretched Soul; how they are there bound hand and foot with chains of darkness, not able to move any way for the least ease, nor call to any Friend to pity or comfort 'em; how they are always sinking into a dark and bottomless Pit, and lie for ever scalding in a Furnace of fire, rolling and scorching in a Lake of burning Brimstone; where the raging flames with unexpressible pain enter the tender parts, and pierce through the Soul with their keenness and sharpness; how in the extremity of their Torments, the miserable wretches cry out and roar, and gnaw their tongues for pain, and blaspheme the God of Heaven because of their pains, Revel. 16.10, 11. How with Rage and Fury against themselves, cursing their own folly and madness, and swallowed up with bitter despair, the remembrance of their own Gild stings their enraged Conscience, and the never dying Worm gnaws and eats at their very hearts; and the anger of an Almighty and Incensed God lies always heavy upon 'em, and his wrath presses 'em fore, and fills their Souls with all the dreadful Ideas of sear and despondency: and in the midst of all this anguish there is one thing more terrible than all this, than all they feel, and that is the Apprehension, that it shall last for ever, that there shall be no end of those Torments that they are not able to bear for one day; This, this is the bitterest and most sad circumstance that confounds the wretched tormented Soul, and sharpens every pain it feels, and fills it with unexpressible Horror and Despair, that it must endure all this to infinite Ages, to a boundless and never ending Eternity; and that after it has lain many thousand years in that place of Torments, it will still have as many to go through as it had at first. Oh, sad and dreadful state! how grievous and intolerable does it appear to us, and how would one that had been in it represent it? How if he had but as much Charity as Dives, would he warn us not to come into that place of Torments? how unwilling would he be to go back to it, how loath to end his message, and how desirous to give us an Eternal account of them, rather than endure 'em?  
And now would a wicked Man be able to resist this message? could he stand out against such Arguments as these are? would not these cool the heat of his Lusts, and damp all the Jollity of his most tempting Vices? Would not this spoil all their Charms and sully all their enticing Peauty and Gaiety? Would not such a Ghostly Messenger appearing before him make his blood i'll, and his joints tremble, and the heart of the most hardy sinner be afraid at the sight of him, when he brought the terrible news to his brethren in wickedness, from one with whom they had often laughed at Religion, and the stories of Hell, and another World; with whom they had been often merry and that with those very things that they now hear the truth of, who thought them if not mere Bugbears and Fables, yet things a great way off and at a great distance, that they should not much trouble themselves withal; when now they find all these are true, and are put in mind of 'em by such a way as this is, and they so nearly concern them, and are like in a little while to be their own Case? Surely by all these they will be persuaded and brought to Repentance; I believe there is no sinner but thinks he himself should be persuaded by these means, and if God should use such an extraordinary way to convert him, this he questions not, but would do it; tho' now he is of another mind, and has no thoughts of leaving his sins, yet that he thinks would certainly work upon him. He I doubt may be as much mistaken of himself, as Dives was of his Brethren, of whom Abraham, assures him, that if they heard not Moses and the Prophets, neither would they be persuaded, tho' one risen from the dead. And that I may give you some account of the likelihood of this, and of the truth of what Abraham here says, I shall offer you these five considerations.  
1. All the Arguments which a Messenger from the dead would bring along with him, and which are indeed so strong that when one seriously considers them, one would think it impossible to resist them, these we have already, and they have been offered to us with their full strength and advantage; we have been made acquainted with the immortality of our Souls, and a future state, with the Joys of Heaven, and the torments of Hell, these can be no new discoveries to us, that we never heard of before.  
God in the Scripture had laid open the other World before us, and shown us the two vast and different parts of it; he had given a general notice of this to all Men by the light of Nature, by that they could discern that there was another Country that lay off from this; another state after this life, wherein good men would be happy and wicked men miserable. This was known to all the old unskilful World, before ever there was any Revelation, any pixis nautica, or any such Map or Chartley, as we have now of the other World: they had not only a kind of guess or probable conjecture of it, like Columbus of America, but something more that made it a received Article of the Heathen Religion; but this is made plainer to us by the Scriptures and Gospel Revelation, by which Life and Immortality is brought more clearly to light; so that all those Arguments are set before us, and that with the same strength and advantage that they could have been by a Messenger from the dead; He could bring us no more, nor any new ones, but only what we have already; God has informed us of what belongs to another World, so far as it is of any concern to us, and so much as is sufficient to make us take care about it; we cannot have better and fairer warning about those things, and we can have no stronger or more powerful Arguments than we have already.  
2. We have so much reason to believe the truth of those things, that they who will not be satisfied with that, neither would they be persuaded tho' they had a particular Messenger to certify 'em about them; we have a Divine Revelation added to natural light, and the universal suffrage of mankind; we have had a number of Miracles and extraordinary Effects of Divine power, to assure us of the truth of that Religion, that delivers us the belief of those things: We have had many Prophets sent from God, and with sufficient Credentials to satisfy us that they were so, to Preach these things to us: We have had one come from Heaven, and after he was dead, rise again, and so become even a Messenger from the dead to us, and testisied all these things to be true. And if we will be such Sceptics as still to entertain doubts and disbelieve all these, we should be the same I fear, tho' we had one come from the dead to us; we should be apt to think it but a Spectre, a mere Image of Air or of Fancy, a Melancholy Mormo, or a waking Dream, and be inclined to think that we were imposed upon by our own active Imaginations, and the many reports and stories we have heard of such things running in our minds; he that can disbelieve all the undoubted Arguments for the truth of Scripture, and revealed Religion may run so far into Scepticism, as to  his senses, and to think every thing that appears to him to be fantastic and imaginary.  
3. If he did believe it at that time, and were never so much startled and affrighted at the surprising apparition, yet in a little time the sense of it might wear off and he be never the better for it; it might put him into a sit of horror and consternation, as the hand on the Wall did Belshazzer, Dan. 5.6. so that his Countenance should change, and the joints of his loins be loosed and his knees smite one against another; but the sright might work upon his Body more than his Mind, and when that is over they might both return to their former and natural temper. Is it not usual for a great many, who by a dangerous sit of lickness, are brought so near the other World, that they can almost see into it, and have at that time as firm a belief and as strong a sense of it, as if not only a Messenger from the dead came to them, but they were there themselves; yet these when they rise as it were from the dead, and return from the borders of another World, when they have recovered their health and are come into their old Company, their former Circumstances and course of Life, how do they lose the sense of what they had in their sickness, tho' it were never so strong, and become the same Men they were before. Like persons in a shipwreck, when the next Wave is likely to be their Sepulchre, and they think themselves every moment sinking into the deep below; then they are greatly concerned, and make a great many Vows and Resolutions, which at that time they question not to keep: but when the storm and the fright is over, they forget all their good Intentions, and their Religious Temper goes off, and they return to their former Temper of Mind. It must be a calm and gentle, a sedate and composed method that generally works upon a Man's mind, and brings by degrees new Thoughts and Dispositions into it, rather than a sudden and hasty fright, that only startles and amazes it; and 'tis that is more agreeable to the nature of a free and reasonable Creature, which is to be dealt withal by such a suitable and kindly procedure, rather than that which has nothing in it but force and violence.  
4. As God does seldom humour Men by doing any thing that is Miraculous or Extraordinary, when they have sufficient ordinary means, so if he would do it, it would hardly cure their perverse obstinacy and infidelity; God is not willing to gratify the wantonness or infidelity of mankind, and prostitute his Almighty power to their Lusts and Follies by doing extraordinary things when there is no need of them: he will not work Miracles as fast and as often as the Atheist is pleased to call for 'em, when he has given him other sufficient demonstrations of a Divine power; he will not send an Angel to Preach his Laws over all the Earth, or to speak to men every day with a voice of Thunder, when he has otherwise sufficiently made known his will to them. Our Saviour would not come down from the Cross to satisfy the Cavils and unreasonable Request of an unbelieving Jew, when he had done sufficient Miracles before to convince him; he would not give such a sign as was desired by an Evil and Adulterous Generatition, Mat. 12.39. when they had other signs enough. As this would make his Almighty power Cheap and Contemptible, to let it be at the pleasure and call of every unreasonable and humoursome person; so if he should exert it never so often, it would not have that effect we imagine upon them: for he, who is so unreasonable an Infidel and so obstinately unsatissied as to shut his Eyes against full Evidence and just Conviction, will never be wrought upon in all likelihood by any thing that shall be done farther; though Heaven should be at a farther expense and tyre itself as it were to do Miracles without End or Number, yet it would be still the same. Of this we have a very great instance in the Old Testament; Pharaoh, who had so many Miracles wrought before him, and as many Plagues as Miracles to make him Obedient to one Command of God, when he saw the Rivers and all the Water in his Country, turned into Blood, Exod. 7.19. when all his Land was covered with Frogs, and they came into his presence Chamber; when the dust of the Earth was become Lice, and he could not but confess, that this was the singer of God; when a great many more Miracles, of which he could not but have a very great sense, were done before his Eyes, yet still his obstinacy was too hard for 'em, and a Miracle beyond all the rest. Indeed when he was under the present smart of a Judgement, it would awaken him for a moment, Exod. 8.28. but as soon as it was removed, and he had respite, he was immediately hardened. And thus probably would an obstinate and hardened sinner, when a Messenger from the dead was talking with him, he would melt and soften, and cry out as Pharaoh, did, I have sinned, Exod. 9.27. and resolve at that time to let his sins go; but yet in a little time he would harden again and resolve not to part with 'em. Of this there is an instance as great and strange also in the New Testament, and that is not in a single Person, but in a whole Nation. The Jews in our Saviour's time though they saw him do such works as never man did, such as outdid all that were recorded of any of their own Prophets; tho' they saw him raise the dead, and cure the sick, and were Eye-Witnesses of the daily Miracles he wrought amongst them, yet all this would not cure 'em of their obstinate Infidelity; nor could the Son of God use any remedy for their perverseness and wilful incredulity: which plainly shows that men may arrive at such Stubbornness and Infidelity, that even Miracles and the most extraordinary means will not work upon them. Where there is not such an obstinacy of the Will, but only a more innocent Ignorance caused by want of the same means that others have enjoyed; there those extraordinary Miracles would have another effect, as if the works which our Saviour did in Galilee had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they had long ago repent in sackcloth and ashes, as he tells 'em Mat. 11.21. and so if a Messenger had come from the dead to those that had never heard of Moses or the Prophets, or never had any Revelation or Means of knowing those things another way, they would probably have been persuaded by him; but when Men have once stood out against the ordinary means that God has afforded them, there extraordinary ones will seldom prevail upon them, if God should think fit to make use of 'em; and that  
5. As another reason why, if they heard not Moses and the Prophets, neither would they be persuaded tho' one risen from the dead; because the mind is so blinded by the love of its sins, and the Will so depraved and corrupted by them, especially by a long custom and habit continued in against all the ordinary means of Grace, and all the powerful considerations of Religion, that it becomes utterly incurable. The love of Vice darkens a Man's mind, and blinds his reason and judgement, it bars up his Understanding against the plainest Truths, and makes him resolve not to believe that to be true, which it is his interest should be false; and from hence it is that a great many who would be glad that there were no Heaven or Hell hereafter, are brought to question the truth of them, and pretend not to be satisfied with that Account and Evidence that the Scripture gives of them: and if they had more, and the same that they do now require, to see one from the dead; yet the love of wickedness would still make 'em very unwilling to believe it, and their corrupted Wills would be too hard for their understandings; it would be very hard to convince them that that was true, which they had so great an inclination and so great a desire should be false. And from hence it is, that Men's Infidelity springs in matters of Religion, not from want of sufficient Conviction to their understandings, but from a corruption, and pravity of their Wills, by which means their understanding has a cloud and a film drawn over it, so that it is quite darkened to the clearest and most evident light; they grow senseless and stupefied, and their intellectuals are besotted, and their reason depraved and the whole mind sunk into such a miserable state and condition, that they are become such of whom the Scripture speaks, John 12.40. He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted so that God should heal them, and that neither with all the ordinary nor the extraordinary methods which he can use towards them. Let us therefore take care not to fall into such a sad state and condition, by indulging ourselves in the love or the practice of any wilful sin; which may by degrees so strangely harden and deceive us, so fascinate and bewitch us, that when it has baffled and overcome all the ordinary remedies of the Divine Grace and Providence, it shall be passed all cure, and all possible recovery. We see how strangely some Men are enslaved to their sins, tho' they see the greatest mischiefs that will certainly follow from them, that if they should see Hell itself even open before them, yet it would hardly prevail upon them: but let us consider the great arguments of Religion, contained in Moses and the Prophets, Christ and the Apostles. God has given us a standing Canon and Revelation of his Will, which we may be sure contains all things in it that are necessary to persuade all Men to Repentance and carry 'em to Heaven; and 'tis this is the most proper and most perfect method that God has thought fit to make use of to that purpose, and much better than sending Messengers from the dead to do this, which would signify nothing, unless they were sent in every particular Age, and to every particular Person: and what that could do, this the Holy Scriptures may do now, if we consider and attend to them. The Papists indeed seem to be something of the rich Man's mind, that the Scriptures are not sufficient, nor the best way to convert Men; and therefore they have taken away those from the people, and instead of them, have put their fabulous Legends, their stories of Purgatory, and of Men coming from the dead into their hands: but a well attested and confirm'd Revelation has infinitely the advantage of all those, and therefore by those and by what is contained in them, let us be persuaded from a course of wickedness and impiety: Let those powerful considerations of another World, which are there laid before us, prevail upon our hearts; and let us not hope if we neglect those ordinary and sufficient means, which God has appointed for that purpose, that we shall be made good, or converted by any miraculous or extraordinary methods of Divine Grace; for if we hear not Moses and the Prophets, and much more Christ and his Apostles, neither should we be persivaded tho' one risen from the dead.   

The Tenth Sermon.  ACTS XVII. 22. latter part. 
I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.  
ST. Paul speaks these words to the Citizens of Athens, in their great Court of Judicature, whither he was brought by the Philosophers and Learned Men of that University, v. 19 the Epicureans and the Stoics, with whom he had been disputing about his Religion, and they were willing to bring him to that public place, and to those great men that used to be there; not to have him Judged or Accused before them, as Socrates was formerly, for that appears not, and St. Paul had free liberty and went away without any restraint, v. 33. but only to gratify their Curiosity, and to hear of the new Religion and the new God that they supposed he Preached, for the Athenians, as they were desirous of all other news, v. 21. so especially in Religion, being the most forward to admit all fort of Gods they heard of, into their Worship, and the most inclined to Religion, such as it was of all the Greeks, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Josephus and Pausanias speak of them. It is thought therefore by some, even Chrysostom and Oecumenius, that St. Paul means the same here by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and took occasion here to commend 'em, and so the better to insinuate himself, and like a skilful Orator persuade 'em to the true Religion, and that these words of his were designed as a Compliment to 'em, and may be taken in a good sense; but then he did not continue it, but spoke against the Idolatry that was amongst 'em, and their representing the Godhead by gold or silver, or stone graven by art and man's device, v. 29. From the Altar indeed that he saw among the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 23. or the Images they worshipped, with this inscription To the unknown God, he took a fair occasion of Preaching the true God to them, supposing at least that they meant him, and that they ignorantly worshipped him that was the Creator, and the Supreme, tho' it is hard to conceive how they meant, or knew him to be so, when he was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the unknown to them by their own Confession; However they acknowledged that there was a Deity, which they wanted among those of their City, and that they were at a loss for him; and therefore St. Paul made use of this, and thought it a seasonable opportunity to Preach the true God to them whether they meant him by their Altar or no.  
There have been disputes about this among Learned men, but I intent not to consider 'em or the particalar superstition of the Athenians, which consisted probably in a Religious and Ignorant forwardness of worshipping all manner of Daemons and Deities, that they could hear of; and all the Heathen Polytheism was such a superstition, and arose from that ground: but I intent to discourse to you of superstition in general, and that not of the signification of the word and its Etymology, but of the thing itself, and what is truly meant by it, what is the nature of it, and wherein it consists. Superstition is a word that has made a great noise in the world, and, like other words of ambiguous and uncertain meaning, it has been clapped upon whatever men pleased, and been made a phrase to denote whatever they dislike in a Religion, whether they have reason for it or no; it has stood for a mark of what is to be hated, tho' they cannot tell why; to beget an aversion to a thing and a suspicion of something ill in it, tho' they cannot clearly see or understand it. Indeed superstition has been the great Discase of Religion, it has like a Canker eat into the heart of it and consumed it, it has put it generally into a great heat, but often into a Frenzy too, and grows sometimes to a Religion's distraction. 'Tis that by which the Devil when he cannot destroy the natural sense of a God and Religion out of men's minds, yet so darkens and disorders it, that it may be of no great use to them, nor do much to destroy his interest or Kingdom in the World; it is too apt to grow up in weak, and not seldom in good and pious minds; it sadly overrun all the Heathen World, and too soon crept into the Christian Church; it sticks like a secret Leprosy to many, even holy things, and the Priests themselves do not discern it; and it is as common as any where among those who are the loudest and fiercest in exclaiming against it. But that we may understand what is the true nature of it, I shall endeavour to give you as clear an account of it as I can, in the following method.  
1. By giving a general Definition or Description of it, and explaining the parts of that.  
2. By considering some particular instances of Superstition, and examining others that are accounted so.  
3. By enquiring into the true Causes of it, and the right means to avoid it.  
I. By giving a general definition, etc. Now I would thus define superstition; 'Tis such a mistaken apprehension of God and Religion, as makes us worship him in an undue manner, and place Religion in those things in which it does not really consist.  
1. 'Tis an apprehension of God. The superstitious have a great sense upon their minds of a powerful being above 'em; that there is a God who is the invisible Lord of the World. This is the common belief of the religious and the superstitious. The Atheist, who thinks there is no such Being, no spiritual and invisible Powers above him, but that these are all the Spectres of fear and fancy, and the melancholy Images of our own scared Thoughts and Imaginations, he calls all Religion Superstition, and thinks it the best way to free men's minds from the slavish fears of a Being above them, to deny either him or his Providence, and clear his mind if he can from all the thoughts of Religion, that so horribly oppress it and keep it in bondage.  
This is a mad and an extravagant project, and what he was encouraged to from the folly and wildness of superstition, and the mischief that it had done in the World, and from laying all the scelerosa, atque impia facta, all the Villainies which that had committed, to the charge of Religion. This is very disingenuous and unjust, and the other is a very false extravagance to expel the thoughts of a God, in order to the quiet and ease of our minds. There is no such reason for fear and melancholy in the belief of a God, if we have true and right Conceptions of him; 'tis matter of the greatest Comfort to us, to think there is an Almighty Being to take care of us, and to do us good; to keep the World orderly, and to govern all things below. We have all reason to rejoice in our having such a common Father to provide for us, and such a Governor to protect us, who is wise and good as well as powerful, which is the Notion of a God: sad would be our Condition if there were not such a being, and I know no such melancholy consideration, as that which the Atheist supposes to be the remedy for all his fears and disquietudes, the believing there is no God; for than we take away all true hope and comfortable trust, and have nothing at all to support our sinking minds, nor to relieve the necessities of mankind; so that tho' superstition believe a God, yet the belief does not make Men superstitious; but,  
2. 'Tis a wrong and mistaken apprehension of this God, the believing him to be a severe and cruel Being, armed indeed with irresistible power, but arbitrary and wilful in the use of it, and that may probably do infinite mischief, and only ruin and destroy his innocent Creatures with it; that may make them only to be the pastime of his rage, and the sport and entertainment of his Almighty revenge, and may damn the greatest part of 'em to Eternal flames, only to show his Groatness and incontrolable Power over them: or if he be not thus Cruel and Tyrannical, yet that he is froward and pettish, hard to be pleased and easily provoked; that it is next to impossible to please him, and utterly so to be reconciled to him when be is angry: such thoughts as these of God, may very well produce a superstitious and uncomfortable dread of him, and fill the mind with nothing but terror and astonishment, and a dismal uncertainty and perplexity; and in these black colours superstition always draws him with ghastly look and terrible visage; with a brow always threatening, and a hand Armed with Thunder, and ready to strike without any regard to the merit or behaviour of those that are under him. And were God such a Being as this, without natural Justice or essential Righteousness, were not his goodness as infinite as his power, and were not one as much his nature as the other, then indeed we might live as miserably under the thoughts of him, as the most timorous Slave does under his merciless Patron, or the poorest Prisoner under his insolent Keeper; and what will not such fearful wretches do to appease the anger of such a God, as they think is over them? what is so mean and base, what so foolish and silly, what so cruel and barbarous, that they will not perform to satisfy this devouring Moloch? It is very strange that ever Men should think the burning their Children alive, should be an acceptable duty in Religion; or that cutting their own throats should please their Gods; but when they have had such dreadful apprehensions of them, no wonder that these cruel things were made the offices of their Religion, which were so suited to the conceptions of their Gods; For in the  
3. Third place, these mistaken apprehensions of God, will put Men upon worshipping him in an undue manner; the acts of worship and offices of Religion will be suitable to the conceptions we have of the Divine nature, if we think God is a severe and a cruel being, we shall think he delights in nothing so much as in bloody Sacrifices, and in having his Altars reek with Human gore, which was become a very general custom, and a common office of the Gentile Religion; and the Devil, without doubt, endeavoured to bring mankind into this abominable superstition, by representing God to be such an one as himself, and by making his own Diabolical temper, to be the Image and Character of the Divine nature, by thus setting up himself as the Idol of God; this horrid worship did terminate in him, and what the Gentiles thus offered they Sacrificed to Devils and not to God, 1 Cor. 10.20. But if we have other conceptions of God very unsuitable to his nature, if we think he is not a wise and righteous, but a vain being, that will be pleased with little and outward things, with affected Formalities and studied Compliments, with officious Addresses and appearing shows, with adorning Images and pompous Processions; then all our Religion quickly runs into those trifling things, and to be sure, it will some way be defective, if it have not a very right Foundation, a true conception of God and his Nature.  
4. This will necessarily bring Men to wrong apprehensions of Religion, and to place it in those things in which it does not consist; it will make them think God is pleased with what is no way agreeable to his nature, or else displeased with what is no way contrary to it: God's Love or Hatred to any thing, is founded in his Nature, and if we mistake in that, we shall do so in his Will too, which is always Regulated and Conducted by the essential rectitude and perfections of his Nature; and this, as 'tis the truest Original, so 'tis the best Interpreter of the Will of God: but superstition that knows not God aright, as it is afraid of him, as of a Friend in the dark, so in other things it fears where no fear is; and yet thinks to oblige by such pitiful things as would hardly please a wise Man, and much less a wise God; it will keep off from some very innocent things, as if all the bane of the seven deadly sins were in them, and yet will swallow down many a Camel, whilst it strains so hard at a single Gnat; it will be as punctual and zealous in some little performances as if they were the sum and substance of Christianity, tho' they are perhaps hardly the shell and outside of it: and what is the main and the substantial part of it, that it shall think of little worth, in Comparison to the other; it shall fall short of the plain and moral duties of Religion, and  it in the positive ones to make amends or commute for the other; it shall seem in some things to be an excess of Religion, as some have defined superstition; but 'tis but as the Rickets is an excess of Nourishment in some parts that want it not, whilst the others do consume and pine away; 'tis really the defect of Religion. It shall seem to court God and flatter him, but not love him; for superstition is often a sort of religious flattery that make; more than ordinary pretences, and gives greater shows of kindness to Heaven, but yet fails in performing that true and honest service which it ought; it is for offering something of its own, and thinks to please God with its little Inventions, whilst it denies him that which he requires of his; but these are but general Characters and Descriptions of superstition. I proceed in the  
2. Second place to consider some particular instances of it, and to examine a few of those that are accounted such and are not so. And  
1. I account all the Heathen Polytheism, and Worship of many Deities, Heroes and Daemons, and their Inferior Gods to be the first and truest part of superstition, this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the strictest sense of that word, and was such as the Athenians were greatly guilty of, and charged with it here by St. Paul; for all Idolatry, tho' it be a breach of the second command, yet is truly superstition, which is said to be a breach of the first; it arises from a very mistaken notion of the true God, and from an immoderate fear of all those other beings that it supposes under him; and next to him in power and other perfection; it thinks them worthy of Divine Honour and Veneration, and that they are the Authors of very great blessings and favours to mankind; and that they ought to have addresses made to them, to be prayed to in sickness and in danger, and under any affliction or extremity: and so makes itself a Pensioner to them, and lives not only under the fear and awe of those, but under expectations from, and dependencies upon those as well as the supreme and the great God. This was the true ground of the Heathen Polytheism and Idolatry: They took the inferior Deities to be the Ministers of State and Governors of the World under the Supreme, and they Worshipped them as their immediate and particular Patrons; and as is plain from Maximus Tyrius, they accounted them their Mediators, by whom they made their addresses to the greatest God; this was thought by them to be an humble deference to him, who was too great to have immediate worship or prayers offered to him, by persons so much below him, and therefore they made use of others; and so in time forgot the supreme, and paid no Religious offices to him at all, but gave away that honour and worship that was due only to him, to the meanest, and to the worst of his Creatures, and even to the wicked Angels and to the Devils themselves: and how sad was the superstition of the Heathen World, and how the knowledge of the true God was almost quite lost among 'em, before the coming of our Saviour, who came to destroy all false worship and superstition, both the Scriptures and the Heathens themselves sufficiently inform us.  
2. The next instance of superstition to the Heathen Polytheism and very near of kin to it, is that of worshipping Saints and Angels, Images and Relics, which is too notoriously practised in the Church of Rome: This is so rank and open a superstition, that it comes up to the truest Etymology of the Greek and Latin word, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which if good Being's are Angels, and the Souls that are departed, being the superstites that they suppose now living in Heaven, which agrees with the account that Tully and Lactantius give of it. This worship of Angels was a very ancient superstition of some Heretical Christians, which St. Paul cautions against, Colos. 2.18. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels. This it seems was supposed to be a point of humility upon some account, I suppose upon the principle of the Gentiles, that they thought it too great a thing to address to the Majesty of God, without the Angels as Mediators: but besides that, this is an Encroachment upon the Office of Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and Man, 1 Tim. 2.5. to choose other Mediators for ourselves: It is the putting the Angels upon an Office, they were never appointed to by God, and a superstitious trust and confidence placed in them, without any manner of ground, and intruding into those things which we have not seen, Col. 2.18. and a new sort of worship which the Scripture hath no where Commanded or Countenanced, but expressly forbidden, Rev. 19.10. And such is the superstitious reverence given to Images and Relics, as if there were any thing Sacred in them; or any Virtue to be expected by them, or the relation they had to the Person or Prototype were a sufficient ground of giving religious Honour and Worship to them; I know not whether the folly of this superstition, or the sin be greater, 'tis as low in many cases as any almost among the Heathens: and the Egyptians worshipping the spots upon the Apis, the Ibis and the Herbs of their Garden, as thinking a Divine Virtue resided in them, is very near as innocent and defensible.  
3. Another instance of superstition, is to think to please God with greater acts of severity and mortification than he has required, and to place a higher perfection in those things, than in all the other parts of Religion, which God himself has commanded.  
This was a very early superstition in the very beginning of Christianity, when some of the Heretics were not contented with the plain and excellent duties of Faith and Love, and Meekness, and the like; but they must be for something more singular and extraordinary, that made a greater show of more abstinence and severity and self-denial, and had, as the Apostle says, a show of wisdom in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body, Col. 2.23. and they would deny themselves all the Lawful and Innocent pleasures of Life, and would abstain from all manner of Wine and Flesh, and use greater Watch and Fast than the other Christians generally did, and forbidden all Meats and Marriages, with a touch not, taste not, handle not; so Epiphanius tells us the Gnostics did, and the Ebionitoes, who were every day baptised and carefully abstained from all Flesh, and were so afraid of Wine, that they celebrated the Eucharist only in Water, and so were called Aquarii: And thus did Martion and Montanus, and the Manichees pretend all to very great abstinencies and severities, and affect something very singular and selfdenying that Christianity never required of them; they thought that was too low in those things, and they were therefore for adding to it some purer and higher precepts of strictness, which neither Christ nor his Apostles ever required. 'Tis from these Schools of the Heretics, that our Roman Catholics have learned their rules of Perfection, and have set up their Monkish Societies, like those of the Essens and Pythagoreans, wherein they pretend to greater abstinencies and self-denials, and to a higher sort of Christianity than what the Gospel has any where commanded: but surely our Saviour knew as well as these Men wherein the perfection of Religion lay; and he has given us as perfect and sublime Laws and Directions of Virtue, as could be; and however these greater severities look more plausible and more selfdenying, yet they are forced and unnatural, a sort of Stoical or Cynical Institution, rather than Christian, a taking Men off from doing greater good and being more useful to the World, a Reflection, a Disparagement upon the Gospel as not giving us the best rules and the most perfect precepts, but that we can invent better and higher ourselves; and, in a word, a superstitious and ungrounded belief that there is any thing evil or unlawful in the Natural and Innocent Enjoyments that God has no where forbidden and restrained us from; and that the abstaining from those is a way better to please God and to recommend ourselves to him, than by living up to the plain and honest duties of the Gospel. This part of superstition which lies in a show of greater humility and severity, and abstinence, is mighty apt to cheat the World, and therefore it has been made use of generally by those who would draw people into their Communion and Party; and it has done no little service to the Papists on one side, who tell us of their vows of Poverty and Chastity, their hair shirts, and their other severities; and the Quakers on the other side, who affect a show of humility and singularity in their Garb and their Words, and think that 'tis Religion not to speak or be habited as other people, nor to use the common expressions of Civility and good Manners; but no where has Christ or his Religion Commanded us to be Cynics, nor did he give us any such example by any affected singularity in his own life; but has bid us live innocently and love one another, and told us that this is the perfection of Christianity, whereby we shall know that we are his Disciples, and not by any Monkish severities or superstitious abstinencies and self-denials of what is Lawful and Innocent; We may use those upon account of Prudence, or by reason of some particular Circumstances, but to place Religion in doing so, that is superstition.  
I might name a great many other instances of superstition in the Roman Church, in their Pilgrimages and visiting of Shrines, in their whipping themselves, and going barefoot, in their Penances, their Masses and Indulgencies; whereby they place Religion in very foolish and ridiculous things of no manner of worth or value, and think to please God and atone for their sins, and reconcile themselves to Heaven, by such performances as God has no where commanded, and are no way proper for it.  
4. A great part of superstition lies in ascribing a Divine Virtue and Power to such things as are merely natural and have no such Virtue in them; as the making every accident a sign of something, as the Heathens did the flight of Birds, (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Homer) and some now a Hare's crossing the way; as if these Natural Accidents were Divine Omens, and portended any evil, and that God made them notices of his mind to us, which we have no reason to believe; so the feeding of Chickens, croaking of Ravens, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 striking a staff against the ground, to which the Prophet is thought to refer Hosea 4.12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and the other auspicious signs, as Lightning on the right hand, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Homer, and with us the falling of the Salt, which Suidas calls, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be superstitious observers of signs, as if they were made such by a secret Divine signification, when they are not: So the observing Ominous and Auspicious days, as if there were any secret Virtue in them, is an old Heathenish superstition, as we may see in Hesiod his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the oldest Heathen Poems. And generally 'tis the same natural superstition, and ascribing Occult and Divine Virtues to such things as have no such thing in them, to which God has no way annexed any such Virtue or Power, as the using Spells, Charms, Magical knots, and Ligatures, and the like, which St. Austin calls, execranda superstitìo; and the observing dreams and such natural things, which proceed only from natural causes, as if there were something Divine in them; this is a great spice of the Heathen superstition.  
5. A great part of Superstition lies in placing the main substance of Religion, in some positive and external duties, that are only of lesser value, as the Jews did in their keeping Fasts and Sabbaths, and offering Sacrifices and observing Circumcision, and the other Rites of their Law; which tho' they were commanded by God, yet the placing Religion chief in them, and not in inward Goodness and Righteousness, was what the Prophets always condemned and reproved them for, as you may see, Isa. 1.11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, saith the Lord? I am full of the  offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts? bring no more vain oblations, incense is an abomination to me, your new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies I cannot away with, your new moons and appointed feasts my soul hateth; v. 16. Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your do from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.  
6. Superstition may lie in the opinion of indifferent things that are used for order and decency in religious worship, as if there were any true sanctity on one side, or any real sin on the other in the use of them. To say that no Indifferencies and Ceremonies must be used in the worship of God, but what he has commanded, is to condemn the Jewish and the Christian Church, and even all Parties in Religion, who can never worship God without some such; and therefore 'tis true superstition to think there is a sin in those, and that God will be displeased at what is no way sinful and unlawful in itself, and is confessed not to be so before it is imposed, when it is imposed for mere order and decency: so on the other side 'tis superstition to think there is any real sanctity in those, or that they are true parts, and not merely Circumstances of worship; that there is a real Goodness in the things themselves and that they are a means to please God and procure his favour; and that there is such a Virtue in them to do this merely for themselves, tho' there were no human authority required them of us; As the Jews thought of the Traditions of their Elders.  
But the charge of superstition is brought nearer to us, and laid to our own Church, and it concerns us rather to vindicate ourselves than to lay it upon others. We blame the Papists for placing Religion in such things as God has not commanded, and for a superstitious use of several Rites and Ceremonies no where prescribed in the Gospel; but do not we ourselves commit the same fault in using a great many Rites and Ceremonies in our worship, which are not where commanded of God, and are only human inventions and impositions, and therefore superstitious? This therefore I design to inquire into, which is a great stumbling block to many who do not well understand superstition, and are superstitiously afraid of it, where there is no such thing; nor are well acquainted with the nature and design of those Rites which are used in the Church of England, and what itself teaches concerning them.  
I shall therefore in this place examine whether to use any thing in the worship of God, which he himself has not commanded, be superstition; and to vindicate our Rites and Ceremonies from such an imputation, and particularly those bodily acts of worship, which are most suspected to be so, kneeling at the Sacrament, and the like; and that I may do this to the satisfaction of all persons who do not resolve that they will never be satisfied; I shall offer these several things about this matter.  
1. If it be superstition to use any thing in the worship of God, which he himself has not commanded, and which is not prescribed by a Divine Law, than the Dissenters themselves, be they of what Party or Denomination soever, are very guilty of superstition; for they all of them use a great many things in their worshipping of God, for which there is no Divine Law or Command; as for Example, where is it Commanded that they shall use a conceived prayer of their own and not pray by a form? Where is it Commanded that they should receive the Sacrament sitting and not kneeling? Where is it Commanded that the Minister shall be clothed in black, and shall not wear a Surplice when he Officiates? those things that are in use among them are no more Commanded by a Law of God, than those among us.  
2. If it be superstitious to use any thing in the worship of God, that God himself has not prescribed, then what shall we think of several things that the Jews used in their worship, which God had not Commanded, and yet, both our Saviour and his Apostles complied with them, in 'em; as for Example, in all their Synagogue-worship, whither our Saviour and his Apostles often resorted, and yet they had no Command for it in their Law, but only for their worship at the Temple or Tabernacle; They had no Command in their Law for Reading and Preaching Moses there every Sabbath day, as was accustomed, Acts 15.21. nor for that form of Prayer and Liturgy which they used there, and in which, no doubt, but our Saviour and his Apostles joined with them; Nay, there was no express Law for all their Temple worship, nor for building their Temple, nor for their Prayers and their Hymns there, which were a great many of them appointed by David and their other Governors; there was no precept for their hours of Prayer, which were observed by the Apostles, Acts 3.1. there was no Divine Command for the Feast of the Dedication, at which our Saviour was present, John 10.22. and yet he never in the least reproved those unappointed usages as having any thing of superstition in them; but complied with them and countenanced them by his own Example: So in the Passover which is a very considerable rite and part of Jewish worship, our Saviour used the posture of lying and discumbency in the eating of it, tho' that was not the posture Commanded in the Law, and at the first institution of it, Exodus 12.11. but taken up afterwards by the Jewish Church, when they were settled with ease and liberty in the Land of Canaan; and the Cup of Charity also, that was not of Divine institution, yet this our Saviour used also, after the manner of the Jews, Luke 22.17. and was pleased to conform to many innocent and inoffensive rites of the Jewish Church in their Divine worship, though they were not all of them expressly Commanded or Prescribed by God.  
3. The whole Christian Church did use some things in their worship, which were no way Commanded by Christ. The Holy kiss or the kiss of Charity, which is mentioned Romans 16.16. 1 Pet. 5.14. was an outward symbol of Love and Charity, which the Christians used at their meeting at Prayers and the Sacrament; and such were their Love Feasts or Feasts of Charity, which were Celebrated together with the Lords Supper, 1 Cor. 11. ●0. Judas 12. These were only such rites, as the Christians, without any Command of Christ, thought fit to join with the most solemn parts of the Christian worship; and yet they were of so indifferent and alterable a nature that the Christian Church has thought it matter of prudence to lay them aside; And whoever is acquainted with the state of the Christian Church in its purest times and immediately after the Apostles, knows there were several Ecclesiastical rites appointed by the Governors of it, and several Canons made in their Synods and Councils concerning indifferent things; as there was before by the Apostles in the Council of Jerusalem, Acts 15.29. prudential rules and orders concerning blood and things strangled, which they then imposed upon the Gentiles for that time, but yet the obligation of them does not continue: And he that will defend that Doctrine, that nothing is Lawful in the worship of God, that is not prescribed by himself, must not only condemn all the Reformed Churches abroad, who both practice and teach otherwise in all their Confessions; but the whole Catholic Church ever since Christ and his Apostles, which has found it necessary to appoint many external rites in their religious service.  
4. It is impossible in the nature of the thing to perform Divine worship without some rites and usages, that God has now here Commanded; nor is it possible to make Laws concerning these to reach all places, for they must alter according to the several Manners and Customs of different People and Countries. We must worship God with all signs of Honour and Reverence, with respect and decency becoming so great a Majesty; but the marks and outward signs of Honour alter and change according to Customs, and Places, and People, that 'tis impossible particularly to determine them. As for Example, pulling off the Shoe is a sign of Honour and Reverence in the Eastern Countries, as pulling off the Hat with us; and to this it is thought the precepts of the wise man alludes, Eccles. 5.1. Keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God, i. e. be careful to show all manner of Reverence in his presence, as the Jews did, who always went barefoot into God's house, as the Mahometans, I think, do still into their religious places; but this would be a very odd and irreverent thing with us. It was no irreverence among the Jews to have their heads covered in Divine worship, at their Prayers and Sacrifices, when the Priests constantly wore their Caps and Bonnets, and sometimes Veils and other cover; and so Plutarch says it was accounted comely among the Romans to be covered at their worship, but among the Grecians it was quite otherwise, and at Corinth, where St. Paul declares it to be an act of irreverence, for the Men to Pray or Prophesy, having the head covered, 1. Cor. 11.4. tho' it was otherwise for the Women. And therefore since matter of decency and order depends upon particular Customs and Places, and Circumstances, and is in itself variable and mutable; there cannot be a Law given to determine it in all places; nor is it possible to have all the little Rites and Circumstances of religious worship be comprehended in a Divine Law; and therefore in the  
5. Fifth place, God has left those to be determined by particular Churches and Governors, and has only commanded the substantials of his worship, and given general Rules for all things to be done decently and in order, 1 Cor. 14.40. and for mutual edification; and the lesser circumstances and adjuncts that belong to Divine worship, those he has lest undetermined and indifferent; and those to whom he has committed the Government of the Church, they are to settle those for prevention of confusion and disorder, according to the rules of Prudence and those general measures which God has given in the Gospel. It is plain he has no where Commanded them himself, nor can there be any particular directory for them produced out of the Scriptures; and as plain it is that there would be perpetual confusion and disorder in the Church if these were not appointed in several places, by those who are Governors of it: and when they are so they are to be obeyed and observed, when there is nothing in them that is contrary to a Law of God; they cannot be unlawful, when no Law forbids them, but they may become necessary in their use, when they were indifferent in their nature, by a Lawful Authority 's commanding them; and surely there can be no sin or superstition in them upon that account. Which that I may then clear the particular Ceremonies and Impositions of our Church from, I shall very freely and openly give you my thoughts in some farther particulars, about the lawful and the superstitious use of these things in the worship of God.  
1. I own that there ought to be no new parts of worship other than what God himself has appointed; there may be new circumstances and adjuncts appointed, but no real and substantial parts of Divine worship: As for Example no human Authority can institute new Sacraments, as the Church of Rome does, or more Sacramental parts of worship, than those two which Christ himself has appointed, to wit, Baptism and the Lord's Supper; but whether Baptism shall be performed by sprinkling or by dipping, that is but a circumstance which the Church may determine, according to the difference of the Climate or the strength of the Child, or the season of the year; and is left to every Minister's discretion in his own Church, and so also whether it shall be by single or a trine immersion; this, as not being an essential of Baptism, has been variously determined. So in the other Sacrament none can add or take away from an essential part of Christ's own Institution, as the Papists do in depriving the Laity of the Cup; but whether we shall take this in a posture of sitting or kneeling, or (which is very ancient) standing, is not essential to it, but what the Church may appoint, as it thinks most becoming so solemn a Duty, and most suiting the Prayers and Devotions that are joined with it, which no doubt kneeling is. So farther to use Adoration and Invocation to God alone, and not to Angels or Saints, is a necessary duty; but whether we should pray to God with a form or without it, this is not necessary, tho' the former be much more convenient in public, to prevent the many faults and undecencies of extemporary effusions: so whether we adore God by bowing, or by prostration, or by kneeling, or by standing, as the ancient Church did between Easter and Pentecost, is only a new manner or circumstance of adoration, not a new act or part of it. And this I have the more carefully illustrated, that we may see the difference between parts of worship, and only accidents and appendages and circumstances of worship; The Church of England appoints only the latter, not any substantial worship or any parts of it, but what God himself has appointed, as will appear farther.  
2. That which is in itself very Lawful and Innocent may become superstitious by the opinion which he that uses it, has of it; as if he thinks it is a means to please God, and procure his favour, and that it has such a virtue in itself to do this, as that God would be pleased with us for the doing this, and displeased with us if we should not do it, merely for itself, tho' there were no human Authority that required it of us; as the Jews thought that their washing of their hands would please God, and that it was a defilement of their Consciences to eat with unwashen hands, which was the mistake our Saviour reproves them for, Mat. 15.20. their superstitious opinion of that Ceremony, and the Tradition of their Elders to think that it was a piece of Sanctity and Religion to wash their hands, and that it was a sin and real defilement of their Consciences, not to do it; to ascribe a true spiritual Virtue to an outward Ceremony, as that it expiated inward guilt, and was not a mere indifferent matter of decency, which was the true fault of the Jews in that matter. And such a superstitious opinion the Papists have of their Holy Water, that it cleanses them from venial sins, and drives away the Devil; as they also say of the sign of the Cross, that it has a proper efficiency against the power of the Devil; and that their Ceremonies have a real efficacy, and produce spiritual effects upon those that use them; that they are operative of Grace, or that they have any proper and real goodness in them, antecedent to the Command of Authority, and their being subservient to meet order and decency, and to the external solemnity of Religion. This indeed makes them superstitious, and this the Pharisees thought of their Traditions, and therefore taught for Doctrines the Commandments of Men, Matthew 15.9. i e. their own commands and impositions, as if they had had a like Divine Authority and Institution, and had had an equal Authority if not superior to the Laws of God; for they sometimes made void the Law of God by their Traditions. But this the Church of England wholly disclaims, and therefore in the  
3. Third place, it's own declarations concerning the nature and use, and design of all its Rites and Ceremonies do sufficiently vindicate it, from the least shadow or semblance of superstition. It declares that it looks on the Rites and Ceremonies used in the Liturgy, as things in their own nature indifferent and alterable, and that changes and alterations may be made as seems necessary or expedient to those in Authority; and that every Country is at liberty to use their own Ceremonies, and that it neither condemns others nor prescribes to them. These are its own words in the Preface to the Common Prayer, and there is most excellent Temper and Wisdom in them; it declares that they are appointed only for order and decency, and not for any virtue or spiritual efficacy; it declares concerning kneeling at the Sacrament, that it is only a decent posture, and that it is not designed to give any Adoration to the Elements. Concerning the Cross in Baptism it makes it no part of the Sacrament, but owns the Child to be Baptised without it, and requires it not in private Baptism, and that 'tis only a sign that the Child is become the Disciple of the Crucifi'd Jesus, and is not ashamed to wear his Badge upon it; it attributes no peculiar holiness to its Ceremonies as the Papists do to theirs; it ascribes no spiritual virtue and efficacy, nor makes them operative of Grace, but declares that they are only for order and decency, and are indifferent in their own nature, even after they are determined, and that they are required only by virtue of that general obedience that we own to lawful Authority. And he that will think there is any superstition in these, may in time come to the Quakers principle, and think it superstition to pull off his hat; but so far is the Church of England from all the superstitions of the Roman Church, and so wise and moderate in its whole constitution, that as I believe it in my Conscience to be the best Church in the World, and the farthest from Superstition; so I do not at all doubt but the Papists themselves as well as others have raised and promoted this loud outcry of superstition against it, as knowing that it is the greatest Enemy to their superstitious worship, and that it is impossible to bring in their fopperies and superstitions, till the manly and decent worship of the Church of England be run down and destroyed; which God in his mercy prevent, and which, I hope, our Dissenting Brethren will endeavour to prevent also, if they are truly Enemies to superstition. But in the  
4. Fourth place I must plainly tell 'em that they are more guilty of superstition in avoiding the Communion of our Church for the sake of those indifferent Rites and Ceremonies, than that is for imposing 'em; for it is as truly superstition to think God will be offended at little things, and displeased with us for doing what is no way sinful or unlawful, as to think he will be pleased with us for what is indifferent, and no way good in its self. Superstition does as often proceed from an anxious and ungrounded fear as from a fond and vain hope; and as he is superstitious in the outward things of Religion, who lays a greater stress upon them than they deserve, who thinks Religion lies in them, and that God is pleased with them merely for themselves; so he is as truly so, who thinks there is a great evil or sin in them, and avoids them upon that account and thinks he should displease God, if he should observe 'em. This is not only disobedience to our Governors, and to lawful Authority which is a great sin, when they command nothing that is unlawful, that is contrary to any law of God; for if we must not obey them in such a case, we must obey them in nothing at all, if we must not obey them in thing; indifferent; and if it be a sin to obey them in such a case, it is a sin that neither God nor Man have made so, but the quite contrary. Besides this I say, and the breach of Christian Unity, and the horrid guilt of Schism and Separation which can never be justified but where things unlawful and not things indifferent are Commanded and made Terms of Communion; besides this, I say, it is truly superstition to think it unlawful to Communicate with us, for the sake of indifferent Ceremonies; to think God is offended or displeased at what is in itself very innocent, and is confessed by themselves to be so in its own nature before it was imposed.  
3. I come now to consider the last and third head of discourse; that is the Causes and the Cure of superstition. And as to the Causes they are as many and the same, as of false Religion or false Worship of God, for that is the notion of superstition; 'tis a religious sense of the mind mixed with great error and darkness; nay, 'tis not only Religion blind, but crazed and distempered too; in some 'tis come to a perfect rage and distraction; as in the bloody and barbarous superstitions of the Heathens, who offered up their Slaves and Children as Sacrifices to their Deities, and thought it Religion to murder themselves and sprinkle the Altars with human gore; in others the frenzy is not so high nor does it work so strongly, but puts 'em only upon foolish, and antic, and silly ways of worshipping and pleasing God, and discovers itself in lesser symptoms. It is the design of superstition to please the Deity, but it uses wrong ways, and does something that is very improper in order to its Design. It is very forward in Religion, and like the Clown that would be very mannerly and over officious, but knows not how, and so commits a thousand rudenesses and indecencies in his awkard deportment; so does the superstitious make shows and appearances of courtship to Heaven, but he is out in all of them, and does not what is proper, what is really obliging and acceptable to it.  
The Devil not being able to destroy the religious sense that is in our minds, not being able to root out that which Nature has planted in every man's breast, a sense of a God and a Divine Being above us; he endeavours to spoil and corrupt that as much as he can, and to sow such cockle and tares among the good and natural seed of religion as may quite choke it and make it unfruitful; as may alter its kind, and make it produce such fruit as is not true and genuine, but quite of another nature, as looks like religion, and like the Apples of Sodom seem more fair outwardly, but is another thing within; because he cannot hinder men from being Religious, but there is something within themselves will make them so in spite of all his attempts and designs to the contrary, therefore he will make 'em superstitious; because he cannot stop the religious instinct and inclination of their minds, he will determine and set it wrong; because he cannot dry up that natural spring of Religion that rises up in every one's breast, he will poison and corrupt it; and because Religion is so deeply and strongly rooted in human nature, that it can never be wholly plucked up by him, therefore he will graft upon it such false and superstitious principles as shall quite alter its nature; and tho' they are fed and nourished by a religious sense at the bottom, yet this vine shall bring forth Thorns, and this Figtree Thistles, and from this sweet Fountain shall come forth Salt and bitter Waters: by a superstitious mixture Religion shall be changed and perverted, both in its nature and its effects; This is the saddest mischief to true Religion, that it should be thus made to destroy itself, that its force and power should be turned upon its self, and it should be consumed like some Animals by what grows out of itself: 'Tis thus the Devil most successfully countermines God, and destroys Religion, by turning it into superstition, which how it is done, and by what means effected, I shall endeavour to show you in three prrticulars.  
1. By making Men vicious and wicked, for tho' superstition may often grow up in weak and silly minds that may be innocent and far from being guilty of very great and notorious vices; yet I believe the first and most general cause of superstition in the World is Vice and Wickedness; the Devil has first drawn Men to that, and then has led them into all manner of errors and falsehoods; he has first debauched their morals and then their understandings; he has first wrought upon their Wills and Affections by abominable Lusts and Vices, and then he has quickly corrupted their Judgements and led 'em into all manner of mistakes in Religion. The superstition of the Heathen World arose, I doubt not, from that horrible corruption of manners that was among them; they would never have set up such a Religion as they did, made up of nothing almost but obscenity and filthiness, cruelty and blood, apishness and folly, had not they been as the Apostle represents the Heathen World, Rom. 1. Vain in their imaginations and filled with all manner of unrighteousness, implacable and unmerciful in their own tempers, and given up to the most beastly Lusts and unnatural Lewdnesses; these Vices in themselves naturally lead them to such a false Religion and such superstitious abominations as they were guilty of. But as their manners decayed so did the true Religion and the right worship of God, and as vice got ground so did superstition, and they always grew up and increased, and like Hypocrates his Twins, lived and died together. What hidden cause thus linked them together, and how they came to be such inseparable Companions may seem strange when superstition owns and acknowledges a God, has a great sense of him upon the mind; but if we consider that this sense of a God, when it has not had such a due effect as it ought upon it, so as to preserve it virtuous and Innocent, but Lust and Wickedness and the Temptations of the Devil have overcome it; this sense of its own Wickedness joined with the sense of a God, does very naturally and easily bring it to superstition. If it had no sense of a God, nor no belief of such a being at all; if it could get rid of that, which it never can, then indeed there would be no ground of superstition, and this way the Atheist would free himself from all superstitious fears: or if it were not vicious and so not sensible of its own horrid guilt and wickedness and its obnoxiousness to this God above, neither then would it be superstitious; but when it is thus sensible of a great and just God, which is the avenger of such crimes as it knows it has been highly guilty of, this is the first thing that brings it to superstition, because in the  
2. Second place this causes a dreadful fear and terrible apprehension of God upon it; it's own guilt scares and affrights it and draws terrible Ideas and Images of God upon its mind, so that it looks upon him only as a Malefactor does upon his severe Judge, his Jailor, or his Executioner: it sees nothing but frowns in his face, and anger in his eyes, and Thunder and Lightning in his hand, and fancies all the Instrumenes of Torture and Punishment ready to be applied to it; And in such a case as this is, what would it not do to pacify and appease this Deity that it thus dreads? what a dreadful fright and passion must it be in, when it can think of nothing that will do it? how will it be trying every thing it can think of? Come before his altars and bring thousands of rams, and ten thousand rivers of oil, if it were rich enough, and give its first born for its transgression, and part with the fruit of its own body for the sin of its soul, Micah 6.7. and shed its own blood for to make some expiation for its guilt? Nothing is so mean and servile, nothing so cruel and bloody, so shameful and scandalous, but a Soul overwhelmed with a superstitious fear, will be attempting and trying, be it never so unagreeable to the Divine Nature, and never so unfit and unsuitable to please him: there is just ground of being afraid of God, when we are sensible of our guilt, and 'tis not this is superstition; but when this fear puts Men upon foolish and undue, and abominable ways to appease him, and gives us such a dreadful Idea and Apprehension of him as quite excludes all the thoughts of his Goodness and Mercy, and puts the mind only into an excessive fright and fit of horror, than it is so. I cannot think that ever mankind would have form such a conception of God, had not their guilt been the medium, through which they beheld him; there is nothing in the Divine Nature should cause this superstitious dread of him, nor draw him in such black and ghastly features as these are; but no wonder that God looks very terrible to a very wicked and a very guilty mind; especially in the  
3. Third place, when it is ignorant of any true and certain way to please or appease God, to procure his favour or avert his anger, which is the other cause of superstition; the superstitious are a sort of timorous persons that are always in the dark, where they have frightful Images always before them, and black and ghastly apparitions rise up in their fancies, and they know not which way to turn themselves, nor how to avoid the furies and spectres of their own thoughts; They cannot tell how to deliver themselves from this sad state, and thus anxious and perplexed, they apply themselves to any Saint or any Daemon, be it good or bad, that they are told can help them; they run to the altar, and throw on any thing that may free 'em from punishment: like persons in a Tempest, they'll part with their richest goods to save themselves; they'll perform every Rite and go through every Mystery, and undergo any kind of Penance; they'll whip themselves and walk barefoot, and run to the shrines of any Saint; and whatever superstitious ignorance shall advise 'em to, this they'll comply withal, and all out of great fear and silly ignorance, and not knowing what it is that will truly recommend 'em to Heaven and procure the Divine favour. And therefore as to the Cure of superstition, which is the last thing I am to speak to, I account a right knowledge of Religion, and a true conception of the Divine Nature to be the cure and remedy for superstition; and by this way our blessed Saviour, who came to destroy all superstition and false worship out of the World, has most effectually accomplished his design, by assuring us that God is a Being of infinite Goodness and Compassion to his Creatures, who is not apt to be angry nor provoked with little matters, and who is very placable and willing to be reconciled whenever we have done a great fault that truly offends him; who is not a peevish and angry Master whom it is impossible to please, but a kind and gentle Father whom nothing but wilful disobedience and impudent undutifulness will anger and displease; who tho' he is not a soft and easy Being, who is to be flattered with shows, and imposed upon by little tricks and sorry performances; yet we may be sure to oblige him by being honest and sincere and doing what lies in our power; who, tho' we have a great many imperfections and a great many frailties, yet will accept whatever we offer him in the integrity of our hearts; and will not be extreme or severe to mark what is done amiss; or take advantage of the unavoidable failures of Human Nature: who is so far from that, that he has provided a certain remedy for our most wilful miscarriages, and declared himself ready to pardon the most heinous offences of the greatest sinners upon the most equitable and gracious terms that can be desired. Such a representation of God and the Divine nature, as this is which Christianity has given us, is enough to banish all superstitious fear and unreasonable dread of him; this will remove all that anxious and perplexing astonishment, which we might otherwise be oppressed withal, when we looked up to an Almighty power above us, and were uncertain how he would deal with us, and would not tell by what ways we should either purchase his good will or avoid his displeasure. Now we know very certainly how we may do that, by living virtuously, and observing the eternal Laws of Goodness and Righteousness, by a hearty penitence for all our past faults, and a sincere obedience for the time to come; by living up to the excellent rules of the Gospel, and the excellent Example of our Blessed Master. By a true understanding and an honest practice of the Christian Religion, we shall be delivered from all the fears and uncertainties, from all the darkness and ignorance of superstition; and that we may be so, I shall add further two Rules or Advices to this purpose.  
1. Let us bring our minds truly to love God: This the superstitious person does not, he is afraid of God and trembles at the thoughts of him, as a Slave does at the sight of his merciless Patron; but he wishes there were no such being as he fansios God to be, and it would be the most joyful thing in the World if he could get out of his irresistible power. He finds indeed that is impossible; and so he crouches to him, as a Captive does to his Insolent Conqueror, that has him in Chains and leads him in Triumph tied to his Chariot Wheels; but he hates him in his heart even while he prays to him; and when he bows the most submissively before him, his heart within rises up against him, and there he curses him, whilst he flatters him with his lips. Such a black and dismal apprehension the superstitious person has of God, whom he fancies to be a cruel, severe, angry, touchy Being, an Almighty power without goodness; which is to make him an infinite evil, instead of a good, and an Almighty Tyrant, instead of a Righteous God. This makes it impossible for him to love him; he may worship him, but 'tis as Plutarch says, some saluted those Tyrants and built Statues to them whom they would have killed and dethroned, had it been in their power; he may come to the Temple, but as he says, 'tis as if it were to the nests of Dragons, or the Caves of wild Beasts, for he imagines the God that dwells there to be as hurtful and mischievous as any of those, only more powerful, and he has just such a conception of him, as the Indians of the Devil whom yet they worship. I know no greater blasphemy to the Divine Nature, than to conceive thus of it, as the superstitious person doth; nor no worse Idolatry than to set up such an Idol of fear and terror in our Souls, instead of the great and good God. I will not say as some do, that Atheism is better than this, to deny a God than to think thus ill of him; but this is certain that the superstitious would be an Atheist if he durst, and 'tis much against his Will, his Wishes, and his Inclinations, to believe there is a God; and therefore to prevent all superstitious and undue fear of God, let us avoid all such false notions and misapprehensions of him, as will make it impossible for us to love him.  
2. Let us love and practice Virtue and Goodness, and only by that means hope to commend ourselves to God, and fit ourselves for Heaven, and so we shall avoid most of the little tricks, the cheats and devices of superstition; the design of those is to supersede honest Virtue and inward Goodness, and by some other ways to think to purchase the Divine Favour and the Happiness of Heaven. 'Tis very hard and difficult to men to be inwardly good and exactly virtuous, to drive out every known sin, and live in the practice of every duty, which is the plain and the honest pathway to Heaven; and therefore superstition would find out other by-roads and easier passages, and would have Religion lie in more easy and outward performances; and would relieve itself against that straight and narrow way, which the Gospel directs us to, and would have it suffice to be sent to Heaven by an Absolution or an Indulgence. Thus by a Pass, as it were, by the Priest or Pope to the other World, by making a short Confession, and being a little contrite and absolved and anointed on the Deathbed, the work is quickly done, and as well he thinks as if the Man had lived a Saint, or died a Martyr; or if he had been so Religious in his life time, as to tell over his Beads every day, and carry a Crucifix always about him, and perform the Penance of his Confessor, and gone a few Pilgrimages to a few Saints, than he has done such works as are very meritorious, tho' his Saviour never Commanded one of them; and he must be thought to be very Religious, tho' 'tis such a Religion as the Gospel is a perfect stranger to. But Superstition is for placing Religion in some other things than the Gospel does, in some inventions of its own, in some little and easy and trifling performances, in some of the externals and shadows of Religion; in a strict observance of some lesser duties, and a zealous concern for inconsiderable matters, in being over forward for the little adjuncts and appendages of Religion, but very negligent of that, which is the true life and substance of it; and in vainly believing to please God by some other things than by a righteous and good mind, and the practice of universal Holiness. Thus did the Jews think that often washing their Hands would make their Souls clean; that to observe the lesser duties of the Law and the Rites and Traditions of their Elders, was the way to render them extraordinary Holy and Religious, though they foully neglected the weightier duties of Judgement, Mercy and Truth. Superstition will often overdo in some parts of Religion, and therefore puts on the face of greater sanctity, and is a kind of excess in Religion; but 'tis at the bottom a great defect, a want of true and inward goodness, and it would supply that defect by other shows and appearances, and a mighty zeal in little things; it would compound as it were with Heaven, and commute its sorry and worthless performances for actions of true and substantial goodness: It always lays too much value upon the little things of Religion, and does but little esteem and not hearty love Morality and inward Goodness; and therefore the truest principle to free us from all superstitious follies and mistakes in Religion, is this, That nothing will please God, but being truly and inwardly good; that nothing will commend us to his favour, but a Virtuous Mind and a Holy Life, and the sincere practice of all the moral substantial duties of Religion; and that without those all other little things in Religion will be vain and idle and insignificant, which is the truest principle in the World, and the best preservative against Superstition.   

The Eleventh Sermon.  ACTS XXVI. 8. 
Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?  
THe Resurrection of the dead is an Article of our Faith, of that weight and importance, that as it confirms and strengthens all natural Religion, (for if men's bodies rise, most undoubtedly there is a future State) so it is the very Basis and Foundation of Christianity, without which our Faith in Christ is, as the Apostle says, vain and ungrounded. It seems not so necessary indeed for the truth of Religion in general, to believe the Resurrection of the flesh or body, since the Soul without that may be capable of Happiness or Misery in another state; and the belief of this alone may be sufficient to the designs of Virtue and Religion: But Christianity lays a very great stress upon it, makes the Resurrection of the body as necessary and fundamental an Article upon some accounts, as the immortality of the soul; and this because of the Resurrection of our Blessed Saviour, which as 'tis the great demonstration of the truth of our Religion, so it is an Argument of the Resurrection of all other Humane Bodies; for if he be risen again with the same Body, with which he lived, and with that is gone into the Heavens, it's fit we should follow him thither with our bodies too, with our whole Humane Nature, which he was pleased not only to assume upon Earth, but to carry up to be an Inhabitant of the mansions above; if he our head be raised, we his Members must be raised with him; he the first fruits from the dead, has by his Resurrection Consecrated our Bodies to Life and Immortality. It would be very strange if he should carry his Humane Body into Heaven, were there no others of the same nature to follow him, so that as the Apostle argues, 1 Cor. 15.13. If there be no Resurrection of the dead than is Christ not risen. It does therefore highly concern us to maintain and defend this main post, and strongest hold of our Religion, by which our Christianity must either stand or fall; and that the more, because Infidelity and Irreligion is most apt to be making its attempts and assaults upon it in this place, the weakest as is supposed which belongs to it, and to represent this article above all others, as an impossible and incredible thing. There were found not only among the Athenians some of the Sect of Epicurus probably, who when they heard of the Resurrection mocked at it, Acts 17.32. and Pliny, I remember, reckons it among one of the things that exceed the power of God, revocare defunctos; but even amongst the Jews, there were some known to St. Paul, who thought it a thing unreasonable and unfit to be believed, to whom he directs himself in this his defence of Christianity; the Sadduces were a numerous and prevailing Sect among them, who say there is no Resurrection, neither Angel nor Spirit, Acts 23.8. There are too many of their mind in our days, who cannot believe or conceive any spiritual or immaterial substances; and who cannot think that a body after it has been dead, and lain rotting so many hundred or thousand years, and been dispersed into ten thousand atoms, and scattered into as many different places, and had a thousand other bodies made out of it, that this should be brought together again and rise the same body it was before. Against these modern Sadduces and Unbelievers, these pretenders to Reason and Philosophy, who expose the articles of revealed Religion, and especially this of the Resurrection, I shall endeavour to vindicate Christianity, and to make good St. Paul's question to them of old, Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead; or what that question plainly implys, The Resurrection is not in itself an incredible thing. And this I shall do by these following considerations.  
1. There are a great many other things which we see and know to be true and have no manner of doubt of, which if we consider and endeavour to give account of them, they seem as puzzling and difficult to our reason as the Resurrection.  
2. If we take in the almighty power and infinite Wisdom of God, this will remove all the difficulty and incredibility that seems to be in the Resurrection.  
3. We must take in this, the power and wisdom of God, or else we cannot be able to give account not only of the Resurrection, but not of any the most commonland ordinary appearance in nature.  
4. Our not knowing the particular uses and purposes that our bodies shall serve for after they are raised, should not make the Resurrection incredible to us.  
5. If we consider how far the body which is raised, is to be the same with that which is buried and corrupted, we shall not think it so incredible that God should raise the dead.  
1. There are a great many other things, etc.  
These unbelieving Sadduces and wary Philosophers, who dare not let their thoughts go beyond visible nature, nor step any thing farther into revelation than reason shall guide and go along with them, may yet find a great many things there as puzzling and unaccountable as the Resurrection, and which they would think as incredible too, were they not common and frequent; They cannot imagine how a body when it has been corrupted many years and turned into dust, and all its parts separated and divided, and mixed with a great many other things, should have all those again united and brought together into the same vital frame and lively Compages: and can they imagine how this body of theirs could be form at first, and have all its various and different parts made out of a principle as unlikely for an humane body to rise out of at first, as out of the dust afterwards? Can they comprehend how the Pullus or Chick should be hatched out of the Egg, how the Colliquamentum should be set on moving, and the Cicatricula begin the first race of life? and what should guide the unthinking matter to draw every vital part without any error? and besides, all other things how Bones, and Claws, and Feathers should grow out of a mere fluid? As well one would think might we conceive a Ship with its Keel, Sails and all its Tackling to be made out of the Water, in which it sloats; and the strongest Castles to be built, if not in the air, yet out of it, as all the strong and solid parts of an Animals Body, its Bones, and Muscles, and Cartilages to be form as they are. Thou who thinkest it incredible for a dead and corrupted body to arise again, thou wouldst think it as incredible to have any animals body form as it is, if there were not every day a thousand instances of it. Thou who knowest not how that can be done, knowest as little what is the way of the spirit, as the wise man speaks, Eccles. 11.5. or how life is first given to the Embryo, or how the Bone; do grow in the Womb: Nay thou as little knowest the manner how this body of ours can be nourished and repaired; how that which is in continual flux by perspiration, and has some of its parts dying as it were and departing every moment, so that we are not the same in a less time than every seven years; how this should be made new, and the Milky Chyle repair all the wasted parts of the Body, and consequently be turned into Bones and Sinews, it's not easy to account even for this daily Resurrection, as it were, and continual restoring of our decaying bodies. But I need send these doubters and unbelievers of the Resurrection, only to that Emblem of it which the Apostle has given, 1 Cor. 15. that of Corn sown or buried in the ground, which seems there first to die and corrupt, and then it passes through abundance of alterations, shoots into a stringy root and grassy top, grows into a stem, a stalk, an ear, and some of the least of Seeds waxes a great Tree, so that the Fowls of the air may lodge in the branches of it; and yet these after they are so altered and quite lost, one would think in the various Metamorphoses they have passed through; have every Seed it's own body given it again, as the Apostle expresses it, 1 Cor. 15.37. and rise as it were again the very same sort and species, tho' it be mixed with a thousand others. This seems almost as strange, if we reflect upon it, as the Resurrection of our bodies after all their corruptions and alterations; and it might be thought as incredible too, if it were not frequent and familiar to us: As there are a great many appearances in nature, which tho' common and unregarded; yet to those who are strangers to them, they seem impossible and no way to be believed. The works of God and Nature have so much of wonder in them beyond all humane Conception and Understanding, that if they were not daily before our Eyes, we should think them as incredible as those difficult matters which some complain of in Revelation. But I need offer but one Phaenomenon of Nature, to represent the Resurrection by.  
And that is that Revolution of Nature which we call the Spring, which is the general Resurrection as it were of terrestrial nature; in which after it has grown old and hoary in Winter, dead as it were and stiff with cold, and every part of it was shrunk, and crept into its grave, and been locked up there as in a cold Sepulchre, yet how in the spring does it recover life again? how is a vigorous warmth diffused into it? and how on a sudden is all the beauty and gaiety, all the strength and vigour, the health and fruitfulness of youth bestowed upon it? every Plant and Herb and Flower, revives and flourishes and puts on as it were a new and glorious body, and yet every one it's own body. And how this should be, and how every dry tree should bloom and blossom and have life and say conveyed to its withered branches, and the same juice turned into leaves and buds and fruit of so many kinds; This seems as strange as how dry Bones should live, and how flesh and sinews should again come upon a Skeleton, Ezek. 37.8. and all we, who daily see these wonderful things before our Eyes, these constant Miracles of Nature, which if we consider and endeavour to give account of, are as puzzling and difficult as the Resurrection; Why should it be thought a thing incredible with us and especially with any curious searcher of Nature, that God should raise the dead?  
2. If we take in the almighty Power and Wisdom of God, this will remove all the difficulty and incredibility that seems to be in the thing: So that the very first principle of Religion will make all the difficulty of the Resurrection vanish; the considering that there is an infinite Being who has power sufficient to do every thing that implies not a contradiction, and is not in the nature of the thing utterly impossible or contrary to some standing and fundamental principle of truth and certainty, nor does any way reflect upon his other perfections of Wisdom, Justice and Goodness; this will make the whole thing very easy to us: for how easy will it be to him who put every part of matter into that regular order that constitutes the Heavens above and earth below, and all Plants and Animals that are upon it, he who founded the Earth by his power and stretched out the Heavens by his understanding as the Scripture speaks: He who telleth the number of the Stars, and calleth them all by their names, as the Psalmist expresses it, Ps. 147.4. He who made and moved and knows, and permeates every part of matter that is in the vast Creation, and ranks and orders it in its due place; how cannot he put and bring together all the scattered parts of our dead bodies? He from whom our substance was not hid when we were made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth, Psam. 139.15. whose Eyes did see our substance, yet being unperfect, and in whose Book were all our members written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them, v. 16. how cannot he also as easily know and rejoin all the parts and members of our corrupted bodies; He by whom the very hairs of our heads are numbered, how easy will it be for him to know the body of every man, and every part and Member of that body; he who gives life to every little Creature, and to those innumerable Animals that are in the World; who preserves so many thousand Essences by a continual influx derived from himself, and has millions of Angels and other Souls, who live and move and have their several beings in him: In a word, he who made and preserves all things by a word of his mouth, and needs nothing but the mere willing of a thing to make it; how great is this our Lord and of great power; his understanding is infinite, Psal. 147.5. and he can do any thing that implies not a contradiction, nor is contrary to the reason and nature of things, nor contrary to his own other perfections of Wisdom, Justice and Goodness, as I shall show briefly the Resurrection is not. 1. Then there is no incapacity in the subject, nor no contradiction in the nature of the thing to make the Resurrection incredible: A dead body is no more uncapable of life than a body at rest is of motion, or than a torch put out is of being kindled again; and the soul may as well be united to it afterwards, as is was at first. It may be brought into it when raised from the Grave, by the same Laws of the Universe, or the same vital Congruity by which it came into it, when it was first form; and every soul may as well be directed to its own body then, as it was before: the greatest difficulty in the subject is this, That the parts of the body are so scattered and divided in several places, and made the parts perhaps of other bodies, that its hard to conceive how they should all come together and be united to their proper bodies; but tho' they are scattered they are not lost; every Atom, be it never so small, is still to be found in the vast mass of matter: and whatever alterations it may have passed through, yet has its being and subsistence some where in the World, and so may with Power and Wisdom be put together again; like the many little pins and small pieces of a great Machine, tho' they are all taken to pieces and misplaced, yet they may all be set together again by a skilful hand. Every part of matter is pervaded and filled with a spirit that governs all its motions and knows the minutest particles of it, and can range and order them as it pleaseth, and there is nothing hid from the power thereof: There is not the least appearance of a contradiction for a thing that was destroyed or dispersed to become the same it was before; it seems nothing so hard as for a thing to be that was not before. So that the Resurrection cannot be thought by any so incredible as the Creation, and he that is but a Theist and owns natural Religion, cannot with reason stick or boggle at this Article of Revelation, and he that believes an Almighty Power, could make all things out of nothing, need not doubt his power to make a thing what it was before.  
2. Neither is the Resurrection contrary to any certain principle of truth, which the God of truth has established in the nature and reason of things; if it were, it could be no object of Divine power, for God's power must not destroy the truth of things; there are certain principles of truth and knowledge which must be kept inviolable, or else we run into boundless Scepticism, and can never know any thing to be true or false: and therefore we must not call in the Almighty power to destroy those, as the Papists do in Transubstantiation, which must be as certainly false as we can know any thing to be certainly true; so that neither infallibility can uphold it, nor infinite power effect it, without destroying those certain principles by which we can know any thing to be true; by destroying the nature and properties of a body; by making the whole no greater than a part; by taking away all evidence of sense about its proper objects, and if we remove those we have no way left to know whether any thing be true or false. But the Resurrection is no way liable to any such absurdities, nor is it in the least contrary to any certain and natural principles of truth; for than it would be not only incredible but absolutely false, and impossible to be true: no Article of Christian Faith is or can be so, but as we say, tho' it be above our reason, yet is not against it. The blessed Trinity in Unity, tho' it be of another nature, of an infinite and incomprehensible being, which may communicate itself in such a manner as we know not; yet however it be too big for our Conception, is not contradictory to any thing we certainly know to be true; and tho' it be an Idea by itself it destroys none of those Ideas we have of other things.  
3. That the Resurrection is no way inconsistent with any of the Divine perfections (which are the bounds also which the Divine power can never violate) is so plain, that it rather seems to follow and be fairly inferred from them; for what more agreeable to God's goodness than as that he gave us our Souls at first, and put those Souls into curious and well framed bodies, which are the other part of Humane Nature, which makes us to be Men and Being's of such a rank and order in the Creation; so that he should continue the same entire nature to us, as long as he is pleased to continue us in being. It would be a charge methinks upon the Wisdom of God, that he should give Man so curious a body above any other Creatures, and yet suffer that to continue and last a much shorter time than the bodies of many other, not only Animals, but Plants and Trees do; if he did not design that this noble fabric should be rebuilt and repaired again after death; and that the Soul should have a longer term of abode in it afterwards and in reversion, than it enjoys in this present life. It would seem strange if these two Friends should be so closely and intimately united here, but for a few days if they were not to meet again and dwell together for ever; and that God should make us of such a compound nature in this life, and of a quite other nature in the next, this would not be to keep that wise order and regular course of thing, that he does in the whole System of the Creation. As to the Divine Justice, that seems to be more exactly answered by raising the same bodies, (without which, we are hardly the same persons) that every one may receive in his body according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad, as the Apostle speaks, 2 Cor. 5.10. that not only the same Souls, but the same Bodies, which have either glorified God by Suffering or any other Virtue, or have been the Instrument of any sin, should be glorified or tormented in another World; and that the whole of Humane Nature, and not only a part of it, which the Soul is, should be made capable of the everlasting rewards and punishments that are proper to it. The Resurrection than is every way consistent with the perfections of the Divine Nature, and is no way contrary to any natural principle of truth, nor implys any contradiction in it; and therefore is a proper object of God's Almighty Power, and, by the help of that, may be easily effected and accounted for.  
4. And without this power of God nothing else can be effected in nature; we must take in this, not only to give an account of the Resurrection, but of every thing else we see done before us, and of every effect and appearance in the visible World: how we were made at first and how our bodies were form, is as perfectly unaccountable without taking in the Divine Power and Wisdom, as how we shall rise again; and so is every other Mystery of nature, if we well consider it, and follow and trace it through all second causes, it will necessarily bring us to the first; and we must resolve all at last into the Power and Wisdom of that. How we move our bodies by the thought of our minds, we know no more than how God shall raise them; what directs the spirits into such Tracts and Muscles, and by what pulleys they draw up the heavy parts, is so admirable a Mechanism that it requires the same Divine Wisdom as to raise the dead; how we live, how we think, and how we speak, is to a Philosopher as curious and as secret as how we shall rise: every thing indeed is so in the Volume of Nature, which has the plainest Characters of Divine Power and Wisdom every where writ upon it, as being to teach every one that there is a God. To look upward we see the Sun shines, but can we tell what light is, or how it streams from the Sun to our Eye? how such a mass of sire should so long hold together without being quenched or lessened? do we know how the Stars are sixth to their Orbs? how those glistering gems are set and fastened to the fluid firmament? can we imagine what Pillars there are, upon which the Earth is founded, and what it is supports the heavy Globe, and keeps it from sinking? what it is that poizes, and makes it swim in the liquid Aether, and keeps it at so just and exact a distance from the heavenly Bodies, so as to be neither frozen nor burnt up? and can we be able to know what it is makes their motions so regular and harmonious, so useful and serviceable to the World? what guides their mighty bodies in such even Tracts? what draws the crooked Zodiac for the Sun or Earth to move in? and keeps the violent and rapid matter from going on in an infinite straight line, or some other way sallying and running out of order? Can any man, who justly considers these things, give any account of them without a wise God and Almighty Intelligence? not only a Sparrow cannot fall to the ground without our Heavenly Father, as our Saviour speaks, Matth. 10.29. but not a stone can shall thither, nor a spark fly upwards, however necessary and natural that be, without, such a frame and such laws of matter and motion as nothing but a wise Being can establish or cause to be observed. Why matter is thus figured and disposed, and why such effects come from it we cannot tell; as why grass is green, blood red, and not the quite contrary: as we cannot of ourselves make one hair white or black, as our Saviour saith, so neither can we tell why it is so; but every Phaenomenon must at last be resolved into the Will and Wisdom of the first cause, and thither all true Philosophy must bring us; and the same Divine Power is required in every the most common effect of Nature, as in the Resurrection. But,  
5. Our not fully knowing the uses and designs our bodies shall serve for after they are raised, should not make the Resurrection incredible to us: What use, some say will there be of the body in another World when the Soul alone is capable of the rewards of it? I answer who can tell but the body may be of extraordinary use to us in another World? perhaps it is a necessary part of Humane Nature, and we are not our whole selves without it; perhaps the Soul is never to be quite naked and wholly stripped of all matter and bodily endowment, and that it is clothed with a thinner Vehicle when it puts off the thicker and grosser flesh: perhaps no Being's in the World but God himself are to be pure spirits, which was a very ancient opinion of some wise Men; perhaps the Angels themselves have material vestures of a slaming fire, and a resplendent brightness as they used always to appear; and if the Human Souls are not to be unclothed but clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven, 2 Cor. 5.2. What more fit than that the materials of this house should be taken out of its former body, tho' greatly improved and advanced, as I shall show immediately? who can tell what proper pleasures God shall fit for our bodies, and make them such noble Organs for the Soul as shall be mighty useful to it? and who knows whether that can enjoy all that alone without the body as with it, and that there is not some new faculty or satisfaction resulting from its animating and being united to a body, the Scripture representing the happiness of the other state not to be complete till the general Resurrection? God alone can tell what faculties and powers are fit for his Creatures in any state; and while we are in this, we can know no more what is proper for us in the other, than an Embryo not yet born can conceive what it shall need when it comes into the world: were it not absolutely necessary, yet it seems very agreeable to Justice, to have both the body and soul that were partners in Sin or Virtue, to be sharers in the rewards of it. And if Christ the Captain of our Salvation is to be perfect Man as well as perfect God in Heaven, and his glorious body is probably to be the visible Shechinah of Heaven itself; the bodies of all good Christians ought to rise and attend him, and be partakers with him of the same Glory, that so human Nature even in its weakest and frailest part may eternally triumph over death and the grave, and over him who had the power of both.  
5. And Lastly, To take off the incredibility of the Resurrectionn, let us consider how far the body that is raised is to be the same with that which is buried and corrupted. We must not be too rigorous and exact in insisting upon the same body; if we be, we cannot be said to have the same body two days together: Our bodies are always in flow, and several parts of them are always going off by insensible Transpiration, and others come in the place of them; like a River, we call it the same, tho' its Water be always running and passing away, and scarce any drop of it be exactly the same the next Tide: or as we call that the same flame of a Candle all the while it is burning, which yet is wasted every moment and supplied with other new parts of oil, so we have the same body in our old Age that we had in our Youth. And this very body of ours that was some time animated by our Souls, that this shall rise again the Scripture is too plain to have it denied, as it is by the Socinians; the very word Resurrection, supposes it to be in some sense the same body; and they which rise again are said to be the same that were asleep, and lay in their graves: so that if we had quite another new body given us at the day of Judgement, this might be said to be new made or created, but not to rise again. But yet it is not necessary that every part of matter which made up this Body of ours at our Death, and was buried in the same Grave, should go to the making up of our raised bodies. It is sufficient if this Earthly body of ours which we had in this World, be the seed or seminal body as it were of the Resurrection body, out of some part of which it is as truly raised, as the new Corn or Fruit is out of the Corn or Kernel which was set or sowed; so the Apostle gives us an account of the Resurrection, 1 Cor. 15.36, 37, 38. in answer to that question, How are the dead raised up? or with what bodies do they come? i. e. how are those whose parts have been so variously mixed with other bodies, and turned into the substance perhaps of other men, whose very bodies are again to be raised, how shall every part of these men be raised up; when perhaps several men might have parts of the same body, and therefore in the Resurrection whose body shall it be, since many had some of it to be their body? and with what body shall every one come, if it must be exactly the same, and yet that is so very hard, if not some time impossible? To this the Apostle answers, Thou Fool, that which thou sowest, is not quickened except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body which shall be, but bare Grain, it may chance of Wheat or some other Grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body: God does give every Man his own body, but not so exactly the same, as not to be at all altered; but as a building is the same which is repaired, tho' with a great many other materials; and as an ear of Corn is the same with its seed, tho' it has taken in a good quantity of the moisture of the Earth, and turned it into its own body. Those who have curiously examined the Anatomy of Plants and Seeds, tell us, that in the little Gemm or Eye of the Seed is contained the whole draught and the perfect Stamina of the Plant, with its bark and leaves, and fruit, and all the lines of it exactly drawn in little, which are after to be filled up and extended by the heat of the Sun, and moisture of the Earth. And if so little a seed or kernel can contain all the parts of a large stalk or great tree, who knows how much of our present bodies may be sufficient to raise the same bodies out of again? and how small a part of this corruptible matter may be the Embryo, as it were, of our Heavenly bodies? It is certain these our bodies shall be so much altered, that that which is sown in corruption, shall be raised in incorruption; and that which is now a natural body shall be then a spiritual; not that it shall be turned into a spirit, and lose its corporeal nature; but that it shall be refined and made pliable to the Soul and Spirit, and to all its motions, and stand in no need of those things that belong to the animal life. And yet it may still be the same body for all those new modes and qualities, as a Jewel is the same substance of the Earth, which was once a common fluid, and is now turned into an Orient Pearl; and the most clear Crystal Glass is the same matter that was before Sand and Ashes. The best Philosophy tells us there is no specific difference in matter, but it is the same in substance, tho' its outward figure colour and other accidents be altered, which are but several modifications of the same matter; and I can conceive God as easily to change these our mortal corruptible bodies, into immortal and incorruptible ones, as he turns the substance that every Animal eats into blood and spirits; and the moisture and filth of the Earth that nourishes every flower and fruit into the most beauteous colour and most delicate taste. Cannot he give the Soul a shining and a glorious body even out of this corruptible one, as well as he made the Sun and Stars and all those luminous bodies out of the dark and gloomy Chaos? Cannot he make our bodies to shine as the Stars of glory, as well as the Stars themselves, which, tho' Heavenly bodies, yet are of the same substance with Earthly matter? Cannot he make our bodies which are now a clog and burden to the Soul, to be but like so many fiery Chariots to carry us up to Heaven? or like so many Wings to move us nimbly wherever we please, and fleet us through all the Heavenly Regions that are above? Cannot he do this, as well as he has given Wings to the flame, and made that which arises out of smoke and foot to cast forth rays and lustre, and mount upwards? The glorified bodies of Men or Angels are generally in Scripture compared to flame and light, their countenance is then like lightning, and their raiment white as snow, as the Angel is described, Mat. 28.3. and, as our Saviour, when his body was transfigured his face did shine as the Sun, and his raiment was white as the light, Mat. 17.2. and so shall the bodies of good Men after the Resurrection, be turned into such pure and glorious bodies, that they shall raise splendour and beauty all about them; which tho' it be a great transmutation, yet by many the like instances I have given, is neither impossible nor incredible to conceive. The bodies indeed of wicked Men will be very much altered and lose their animal and mortal nature, but they will be gross and heavy and sink their Souls into the regions of Hell and Darkness; they will be like so many dismal and filthy Dungeons to keep the Soul in chains of everlasting Darkness: or, like so many poisoned shirts, like that of Hercules, that will scorch and inflame and torture them beyond expression, and sticking close to them burn them with poisonous flames, and fill them with the perpetual stench of sire and brimstone. How the bodies of wicked men may be made the Instruments of torment to their Souls, is easy to imagine from the exquisite pains they often give them here; from whence we may conceive how they may be contrived to be the dreadful racks of eternal death, where the miserable wretches may be always suffering the pains of death without dying; and on which they may be made to lie for ever, raging and gnawing their Tongues for pain, and blaspheming the God of Heaven, because of their pains and their sores, to wit, of their bodies, as they are described, Revel. 16.10. And here I could stop, and offer one thought to those who are so fond and tender of their bodies here, who are for indulging them in every Lust and every Pleasure, and think Happiness lieth in the mere delights of the body; what they will think of having these precious parts, these dear bodies thus eternally and tightly tormented for the sake of a few paulcry sins which are but for a moment: but having defended and confirmed this article of our Christian Faith, the Resurrection of our bodies, I must name but one general use of it, and that is, Let us all of us so live as if we hearty believed it without making any the least doubt in our minds about it; let no mists of. Infidelity overcast this Faith of ours, which as it is certain by Revelation, so is far you see from being incredible by reason, which was the point I was to consider and make out. It is a great satisfaction to ease our thoughts from some difficulties about it, and have the understanding as the eye, see things clearly without a film over it. But these articles of faith are not only for Contemplation and the Entertainment of our reason, but like Principles and Theorems in other Sciences, they are to be made use of in practice, and to be drawn out and improved into use and action; no truth in Religion, no Article of Faith is worth making out or proving, or satisfying ourselves about, if it be not some way or other useful to the practice of Religion, and be not influential to the making us good and virtuous in our lives: but the Resurrection has such a direct and immediate tendency to do this, as it carries in it the assurance of a future state both of Soul and Body, that if we fully believe it and are undoubtedly persuaded of it, it will do its own work, and will necessarily promote Virtue and Religion; and be effectual upon all our lives, did not a secret Scepticism and infidelity, which is the Vice of our Age hinder and defeat the power of it: Let the belief of it therefore be firm and unshaken upon our minds, and let the efficacy of it be powerful upon our Lives and Conversations; there is nothing more incredible in the thing that our bodies should rise hereafter than that they were once form and born: there may be difficulties perhaps equal in the account of both, but as no Man doubts the one, so he that well considers will have no reason to  the other, or to think it incredible that God should raise the dead.  
Let it raise us to thoughts and to things above, whither Christ is raised and where he sits with his glorious body at God's right hand. Let us often ascend thither in our minds now, whither we hope to ascend hereafter with our bodies as well as our Souls: Let us consider that these Bodies of ours, as well as our Souls, were made for higher designs and better enjoyments than any here of this World, and that they ought to be the subjects of Purity and Virtue now, as they are to be of Happiness hereafter; The Resurrection will raise our minds to a great many noble thoughts, if we throughly consider it and really believe it, and I hope we may be satisfied by what has been said.   

The Twelfth Sermon.  HEB. III. 13. latter part. 
Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.  
THE Author of this Epistle advises in this Chapter, those Jewish Christians he wrote to, to take care that they fell not into that sad state and temper of mind, their forefathers were in in the time of Moses. Not to harden their heart: now as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, v. 8. when tho' they saw the mighty works of God forty years, and had daily Miracles before their Eyes, and were fed and maintained by them, and lived under a constant dispensation of them; yet still a spirit of infidelity and Obstinacy was amongst them, and their hearts were hardened and they would not hearken unto God, nor obey his voice; but were kept out of the good Land, by reason of their monstrous and unreasonable belief: so it was also in the times of our Saviour, when notwithstanding all his many Miracles done before their Eyes, they were yet so blinded and hardened by their sins, that they continued Insidels; so that the utmost, and one would think, irresistible evidence could not prevail upon them. Human Nature is still the same it was then, and liable to the same corruptions and depravations, and when it has suffered its Lusts and Vices, and unreasonable Inclinations to grow upon it, and have power over it, they will quickly bring Men to a wretched blindness of mind and hardness of heart; so that the best evidence for Religion, and the strongest arguments and demonstrations for the Truth, or the practice of it shall not prevail upon 'em; but whilst they indulge themselves and continue in their sins, this will corrupt their Minds and deprave their Faculties, darken their Understanding, and spoil their Judgement, bring them to hardness of heart and a reprobate mind, and to gross and unreasonable infidelity, and at last to a total defection and apostasy from all Religion: Take heed therefore, says the Apostle, Lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, v. 22. and the way to prevent that, was not to be drawn in by any sin, nor deceived by any Vice or Lust that should bring 'em to this; but to take a present and immediate care to free themselves from every such sin, and to persuade one another to keep close to Religion, and not to give way to any Vice or Wickedness deluding them at first, or growing afterwards more upon them; Wherefore exhort one another daily while it is called to day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. From these words I shall consider these two things.  

1. How sin deceives at the beginning.  
2. How it hardens the mind afterwards.   
How it first cheats and horribly imposes upon us, and then how it brings the mind into a more wretched and depraved and hardened state.  
1. Of the deceitfulness of sin. One would think that either Human Nature were not so rational as we pretend it is, and that this were not our inseparable property; or else that Vice were not so foolish and unreasonable, so pernicious and destructive as we suppose it to be; when we look into the state of the World and see Vice every where prevailing and abounding, and most Men choosing and preferring it before Virtue; as Men are rational Creatures that act as from principles of Liberty and Judgement, so always from an instinct of self good and self preservation which seems to be a natural principle that prevents all reason, and which we can never with all our choice and freedom act wittingly and willingly against. We can never choose evil as evil, but under the colour and appearance of good; but our nature is made with an inward spring that runs of itself from a naked evil, but always pursues what we apprehend is good for us, what appears to us, as conducing and tending to our Welfare and Happiness; and therefore we must bring Religion and every thing else to this, if we would have it fall in with Nature, and be lastingly and surely sixth in our Minds.  
But either Vice is not so great an evil, so destructive and contrary to the good Welfare and Happiness of Humane Nature; or else our reason must be very much cheated and deluded, and imposed upon, when we are drawn into it; and we must be mightily deceived by some false reasoning or other about it in our own minds: for there is a sort of reasoning and arguing, judging and concluding however short and quick, and precipitate and mistaken this be, in every moral action we do; and some process there is in the mind and thoughts, even when we are led never so much by our senses, and act not upon thoughts or reason; else the action would not be Voluntary or Criminal, or capable either of guilt or blame, as proceeding from a misuse of our reason and choice, our judgement and fieedom.  
Our understanding and reason must therefore judge amiss and be grossly deceived and imposed on, when, contrary to our good and interest, we are drawn into the practice of sin, and seduced by its temptations, and inveigled by the deceitfulness of it; for tho' it be against our reason in one sense, i. e. against the right use of it, yet it carries our reason along with it at that time we commit it; and our judgement determines for it at that instant, tho' very rashly and unadvisedly, as we find when we come to consider it over again. The deceitfulness of sin lies therefore chiefly in these following things.  
1. In having too high an Opin on, Fancy, and Imagination of those little Goods, Pleasures, Profits, or whatever present sensual and worldly Enjoyments any of our sins may yield to us, or that we can hope to reap by them. These are the three Lusts the Apostle mentions, Of the Flesh, of the Eye, and the pride of Life, or rather the objects of those; these are the gilded bait, the fair fruit, the alluring charms and inviting temptations that draw in and inveigle every sinner; for no Man would be wicked or serve the Devil for nought, nor commit any sin out of pure malice to God and Religion, and mere hatred to Virtue; at least not till he is arrived to a very high degree of diabolical wickedness. No, 'tis to purchase and attain some fancied good and imagined pleasure or advantage; something grateful and desirable to the senses, Appetites and Inclinations of our nature, that tempts and allures us. Now there being a small natural good in many of those sinful temptations, for such it must be allowed bodily pleasure and worldly profit and other enjoyments are, which therefore good men may desire and partake of within such bounds and limits as are allowed by God and Religion; and those are even the blessings of God's left hand, as the Jews phrased them; and it is an unnatural piece of Stoicism, and an Hypocritical affectation to renounce them wholly, and declaim weakly against them. Riches, and Honours, and Pleasures, are Lawful objects of our desire in some degree, and may have a proper good allowed to them suitable to our present state and nature, and their contraries may be called evils; else it would be no Virtue to deny them, or forgo them in any case, nor would have any reward at God's hand; but they are not the great goods our nature was made for, nor those that can make us truly and completely happy, tho' we had never so many of them; nor are comparatively any goods, because nothing so great as Wisdom and Virtue, as Peace of Mind and Tranquillity of Soul, as an inward Sense of God's Favour, and cheerful hopes of Heaven; these will make a Man truly and inwardly happy without or with a very little of the other, and give him the true perfection and happiness of his nature, and make him eternally blessed, when all others are perished and gone, and signify nothing.  
'Tis an ignorance of the true nature of good and evil in relation to ourselves, as well as to the World, that is the prime and general cause of men's being deceived into sin; and the first part of its deceitfulness, is by the immoderate and  Opinion of those little Goods or present Enjoyments we may obtain by them; Thus when our Fancies and vain Imaginations represent Riches and a great Estate, as the greatest Good, as the greatest Security, Credit and Comfort, and what will afford and bring in all other good things of this World; this makes a Man make Riches his God, and put his trust in 'em, and Sacrifice every thing to Mammon, and use any means to attain 'em, because he thinks nothing so evil as to be without them, and nothing else so good as having abundance of them. So another fancies no happiness like that of being Great and above others, of having the knee and the head, and the outward marks and acknowledgements of superiority given him, or to appear in State and Grandeur with a rich Train, and splendid Equipage always attending him; and he despises poor and contemptible Virtue in respect of all this, and thinks as meanly of the greatest Wisdom without those, as that does of him; and therefore rather than part with those, he will part with his Conscience, and change his Religion rather than his place, and will stick at nothing either to keep or gain his ambitious Ends and Designs. Another who is a Voluptuary, and thinks Pleasure the summum bonum, the chiefest good he can taste or feel; he hunts after it through all the Scents and Paths of Sensuality, Luxury, Lewdness and Debauchery, and either Bacchus or Venus is the Deity he worships; and the greatest Good and Enjoyment he fancies and imagines, and has an Idea of, is the Wine sparkling in the Glass, or the Charms of Beauty, or the other objects of sensual Pleasure: and by heating his thoughts and inflaming his fancy, his desires of those things grow impatient, excessive and ungovernable. Now if a man had used himself to consider seriously how little there is in all those things, how very little in respect of the greater pleasures of a wise and easy Mind, a good Conscience, and the hopes of Religion; and that all the true Pleasures of Life, that are desirable to a Wise Man, may be otherwise enjoyed within the bounds of Virtue; and that the going beyond those is an unavoidable mischief to himself and to the World; and that all those little sensual and temporary goods he is so fond of, are at best but short and transitory, empty and unsatisfying things, but poor trisling satisfactions, and mere gilded decaying Vanities, that will all quickly perish and pass away, so that our proper happiness cannot lie in them. This would give us such true Opinions and right Apprehensions of all carnal and Worldly things, in which the whole strength and temptations of sin are placed, as would disarm and weaken it of all its power, strip it of all its fine dress and false attire, wash off all its paint, spoil all its beauty and shining lustre, whereby it imposes upon our vain fancies and weak imaginations; and deceives us with a false Opinion of those small Goods, Profits, or Pleasures it can afford us.  
2. We do not at the same time compare with those the great evil that is in them, and so do not judge rightly and impartially on both sides, but determine hastily on one, and so are deceived; whereas to make a true Judgement and Estimate, we should set the evil against the good, and so weigh the matter, and set the balance right between them; but, Alas! Men are in too much haste to do this, when they are so hotly and eagerly pursuing their Lusts; when, having the fancied good Pleasure and Enjoyment of their sins only in their Eye, they never think or consider, or take into their accounts the much greater and more numerous and more certain evils that belong to them, and are inseparably annexed to the commission of them; if they did, no Man would swallow the thin bait when he saw the satal hook under it; None would eat the forbidden fruit, tho' never so fair and pleasant to the Eye, if he knew and certainly believed that Death was its bitter sauce, and in the day he eat thereof he should die: No Man would drink the sweetest draught, or take down the most delicious morsel, if he thought it would kill him. Nature without any great deliberation refuses immediately, and abhors what it apprehends to be evil, as it is extremely fond and desirous of what appears good and agreeable to it; and the fear of the one is perhaps more strong and affecting than the love of the other; as the sense of pain is greater and quicker than that of pleasure; and therefore did it spy the Snake in the Grass, the Serpent hid under the Bed of Roses and Violets, it would not be invited by all their beauty and sweetness to lie down upon them; and it would be quickly frighted and run from the tempter, tho' he appeared as an Angel of light, if it saw his Cloven Foot. Vice therefore always uses art to conceal its worst side, hides its deformity and rottenness under a false paint and counterfeit colour, and varnishes over its real evil with the fucus of some seeming good; so the unwary sinner is drawn into its deadly embraces with its meritricious Looks and false Charms. The venomous sting lies covered under the sweet honey, and the sinner perceives not the Dagger of the Treacherous Assassin, till he is stabbed with it to the heart. But a little Wisdom and Observation, and looking about us, would plainly discern the innumerable evils that sin carries in its bowels, and is big and productive of; which grow out of it, as fruit from its proper root, and are inseparably annexed to it as effects to their causes; that can no more be divorced or rescinded from it, than light clipped from the Sun; and are unalterably settled upon it, by the nature and constitution of things, and the will, and appointment of the first cause and Author of them. How do many not only shipwreck their Consciences, but their Fortunes too by their Vices in this world, where we see abundance of those broken Vessels, who have split themselves upon Laziness or Luxury, Lewdness or Prodigality, or some other wickedness, by which they have ruined themselves here, as well as hereafter? How have others wasted their Bodies by the same courses as they have done their Estates? And have sinned particularly against those as the Scripture speaks, as well as against their Souls, and been a kind of Martyrs in the service of the Devil, and their own Lusts, and endured more pains in their bodies to go to Hell, than other Martyrs have done to go to Heaven? How do they whose hopes and designs are only in this Life, and who fear nothing so much as Death, and think nothing so happy as to live long; yet shorten their lives by their Vices, and by living as they call it too fast, that is, running on in the full Career of wickedness, and galloping as hard as they can to Hell. How do they, I say, Not live out half their days? and they are sometimes so hasty to die, that their bodies are often rotten before they come into their Graves, and their sins in some measure prevent death. How have others stigmatised their names with their Vices, and brought a lasting reproach and real infamy upon themselves and families; where yet nothing has been so dear to them as titular Reputation, and the false Image and Idol of Honour? How have they madly Sacrificed their Souls and their Lives to redeem that, which yet they have basely thrown away by a scandalous Life, which has made them base and contemptible to all wise Men? Thus, how plain is it that sin, besides the vast and amazing miseries of another World, brings most of the evils of this upon us; A blot and reproach to our credit and good names, sickness and diseases to our bodies, and often beggary to ourselves and families; and above all spoils and corrupts the Mind, takes away the Peace and Improvement of it, fills it with inward discomposure and uneasiness; and often so impairs a Man's reason and understanding as to leave the old and wretched sinner only the shape of a Man, with the nature and qualities of a Beast. Now all these a blinded sinner either sees not, or considers not; either quite forgets, or does not at all mind in the hot pursuit of his Lusts, and the hurry and tumult of his unruly Appetites; he feels not the Wounds that are given him in his hot blood, tho' when he grows cool a little he will be very sensible of them; his thoughts are wholly taken up with the sancied good and pleasure, and he looks to nothing but that, nor considers the much greater evils and mischiefs of them; so he pursues his Game and follows the Chase, and sees not the pit or the precipice just before him, till he is fallen into it; he leaps into certain danger without looking into it, and without any fear or foresight, runs upon Death and Destruction, as the horse rushes into the battle, as Scripture represents it, Jer. 8.6. An inward heat and ardour spurs him on, and he is wholly driven by other principles than those of his reasonable nature, and the serious thoughts and considerations of things, or observing the consequences of his own Actions. And thus sin deceives him, in the next place,  
3. By taking off his Mind from considering and examining things, or reflecting upon his own Actions, or using his own Thoughts; it makes him live only by the suggestions of sense, and the propensities of his animal nature and lower inclinations, without the Exercise or Government of his thoughts or reason, Like brute beasts that have no understanding, as the Scripture compares sinners, Ps. 32.9. His Passions and Lusts, and irregular Appetites, grow masterless and unruly, and get an entire Power and Dominion over him, and his reason has no check or control over them; his Vices keep him always warm and heated, and never suffer him to cool or grow sober, they ply him close with what shall more intoxicate and besot him, and keep him from ever coming to himself; so his mind is always dozed, and he lives under a perpetual kind of drunkenness, and loss of his reason: his thoughts are always drowned in Hurry, Business, or Company, Drink, Noise, or Diversion; or scattered and dispersed in mad freaks and pranks of extravagance, and with a sort of practical incoherent nonsense; or else amused with Fantastic Whimsies and Romantic Conceits, and imaginary Representations of things, as they are drawn by Plays and Poets, contrary to all sober thinking, and the right knowledge of the nature of things, as God has constituted them in the World. Thus it is with our either dull or witty unthinking Debauchees, who live a rambling, careless, thoughtless Life, without any true principles, or any serious consideration or reflection, and examining of things; who care as little as can be to think at all, and therefore avoid themselves as much as may be, and never love to be alone; for nothing is so troublesome and uneasy to them as themselves and their own thoughts, and therefore they keep from them all they can, and would be quite without them if they could: And upon this account we find them often declaiming against reason and thinking, and extolling the condition of Beasts above Men, which is only another way of commending themselves, for at the same time they are endeavouring to be as equal and like to them as may be.  
4. To show the deceitfulness of sin, we cannot but observe, that Virtue is much the likelier way to attain most of the present goods of this World, which sin aims at, but generally loses and destroys. Thus Sobriety, Chastity, and Temperance pick up that bodily pleasure which is lost and dropped by Vice and Debauchery, when they are so hastily running after it; the ambitious and covetous miss often their aims, whilst others unexpectedly meet with what they are in vain seeking; and generally most of the good things of this World, are by Nature and Providence settled upon Virtue, and lost by Vice; the one is a Tree of Life, as the Wiseman speaks, Prov. 3.18. and even literally Health to our Navel and Marrow to the Bones; while the other is a Disease and trouble to the Flesh, and rottenness to the bones. The one is a Crown of honour that circle's the head of the Wise and Virtuous, while the other is a foul stain and blemish to a man's Credit and good Name; the one is Peace and Joy and Gladness to the mind, the other is a worm to the Conscience, a tormentor to the Soul, and an inward Hell in a Mans own breast. Wisdom has in her right hand length of days, and in her left hand riches and honour; her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace, as the Wiseman long ago observed, Prov. 3.17. whereas most of the temptations to sin are Vain and Fantastic, Cheating and Delusive, and have only appearances, but no real good in them; like Zeuxis' Grapes, they are only painted artificially, but have no real sweetness; they deceive the eye and the fancy at a distance, but there is nothing of true pleasure and delight to be tasted in them, but often a real bitterness instead of it, like the vines of Sodom and Gomorrah, Deut. 32.32. their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter, their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of Asps.  
Men always find themselves deceived and disappointed in their vain expectations of what their sins will afford 'em, and therefore always come off with repentance, shame, and remorse; and can never answer it to themselves afterwards, nor find any good account in the reckoning when they come to cast it up, and ask themselves seriously the Apostle's question, What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? Rom. 6.21. They have walked after things that do not profit, as the Prophet speaks in another case, Jer. 2.8. after mere Idols and Images of good, pleasure and profit, which they have found to be nothing in the World, and to have no reality in them. They have courted and embraced a mere airy empty Cloud instead of Juno, and been led by a mere meteor, an Ignis fatuus, a false light and seeming appearance, which has bewildered and misguided them in their blind search and dark pursuit after their own good and happiness. Where they have looked for and expected any good, they have always miss of it, and found the contrary evil; their sins have been so hard and cruel to them, that when they have asked Bread, they have given them a stone, and instead of a fish a serpent; and their own experience, which is the best and only teacher to them if they would attend to it, would learn 'em above all things the deceitfulness of sin.  
5. Sin deceives very much with being customary and fashionable; this draws in a great many by the power of example, and the having such numbers and so great a party on its side; for thereby the shame and reproach of it is in great measure took of, and the sinner runs, he thinks, but the same risk and venture with so many others, and hopes to far as well as the rest of his Companions and as others in the crowd. This is a strong delusion and works upon a great many, and is not so easily took off unless a great Authority, and a great example brings virtue into fashion, as it easily may by having God and all good Men on its side; and so discounterances Vice, and makes it become as infamous and contemptible in the thoughts of others, as it is in itself: and when a mark of infamy is set upon any thing, even upon the greatest power or the greatest sin, it can never long hold its interest, nor keep its ground. Virtue can never lose its Credit by all the attempts in the World, but will always be honoured, and have a true value and esteem in the hearts of Men; and even those who forsake it, will yet have an inward awe and secret reverence of it: but Vice, tho' it bears a mark like Cain of shame and ignominy upon it, yet when it becomes modish and fashionable, grows more bold and impudent; and escapes a great deal of that reproach and disgrace that belongs to it, and bears out with some confidence and assurance, when otherwise it would sneak and be covered with confusion; than it endeavours as much as it can to run down solitary Virtue as a piece of singularity and affectation, and to change the opinion of Men in those things, and alter if it could the very nature of Vice and Virtue, and the thoughts and sentiments of mankind about them; and make false Names, and counterfeit Terms of honour to itself. But it may as well change the seasons of the year, and turn Summer into Winter, and Day into Night, and pluck up the sundamental Constitution of things, as destroy the fixed and immutable nature of good and evil; and as well pervert our senses, or our perceptions of the motions made upon us by outward objects, as the settled Judgement and Opinion of Mankind, concerning the moral objects of our mind. Nature, and Reason, and Wisdom are stubborn and inflexible things, and will not comply with the modes and humours of a foolish World, and will be always on virtue's side; and however, the mad men and the vicious may have the majority, yet they will never carry it against the other, nor be able to contend with them in a cause that Heaven, and Nature, and Reason have decided and settled by a decree that is irreversible. Health will be still health, and is to be preferred to Pain and Diseases, tho' in a general Contagion, and when never so many are sick, and tho' the Diseases make them never so frantic and lightheaded. Life was a thing very valuable and comfortable to Noah, when all the World besides perished; and Heaven will be never the less desirable, nor Hell never the more tolerable, though there be few, as our Saviour says, that find the one, and many that go into the other: so little is there in this deceitful Temptation to sin, that it has numbers on its side, and is customary and fashionable.  
6. Sin deceives very often by being counted a little one, but a small trifle and peccadillo in respect of those greater and more scandalous Vices that bear a blacker mark and fouler Character. Thus to drop an Oath now and then, to take a Cup a little too much sometimes, to set off Discourse with a little Profaneness and Obscenity, and to make bold with God and Religion for a Jest and a Witty saying, and to go as far in some Liberties as is possible without committing the last act of sin; these and other things are called only innocent freedoms and such as the sociable and well bred, and Persons even of Conduct and Prudence can hardly avoid, if they would converse in the World without the charge of too much preciseness and moroseness. But if these, however they are looked on, are direct breaches of a Divine Law, if they are inconsistent with the known rules of Religion, if they are contrary to the Gospel and the strict commands of Christianity; they are never to be called little or small sins, but such as a Man must avoid upon the peril of his Salvation, and being excluded out of Heaven: besides, these lesser unregarded sins lead to others, and take off the strict guard and serious watchfulness we ought always to maintain over ourselves; and lay us open very often to the greatest temptations, by carrying us to the utmost bounds of what is lawful, and so to the nearest approaches of what is sinful; and like smaller wounds and lesser illnesses by being over much slighted, and not taken care of, they become in time dangerous and mortal.  
Lastly, for the deceits of sin are innumerable, and cannot all be reckoned up, tho' it concerns mankind above all things to know and escape them, and not be cheated in the main things wherein their happiness or misery consists; but the last thing I shall name is this, That many Men are deceived into sin by thinking it may be easy to get rid of all the evil, and guilt, and punishment of it by the help of Repentance, and the merciful provision of the Gospel; by which they may quickly be set right again, and be in as good a state as they were before. Now here are too many mistakes to be considered at present, I shall only say, that this is to be deceived not only in the nature of sin, but in the nature of Repentance, and the nature of Religion, and to make that rather an incourager, and promoter of sin than a destroyer of it, and to find out a trick, if it will do, even by the help of Religion itself, to be too hard for Heaven upon its own Terms and Concessions; but God is not to be thus mocked or overreached. No Repentance will do but what brings forth the fruits of obedience and a good life, nor is a sin so easily repent of after it is committed, especially upon such presumptuous terms as may justly provoke God to give it up to an hardened and impenitent heart, and to that wretched state which sin by being continued in will bring it to. Which is the next thing I am to consider,  
2. How Men are hardened by their sins, or how sin hardens their minds afterwards, and brings them to the most wretched and depraved state and temper. And this I shall show.  

1. In the gross or in general.  
2. More particularly how, and to what degrees it hardens them.  
3. Make some remarks and observations from the whole.   
1. How Sin hardens in general. When a Man has given way to it in any great and wilful instances, and it has made a breach upon his purposes and resolutions which were too weak to hold out against it, it will enter with all its force and gain ground daily upon him, and quickly conquer and overcome him, if he do not repulse it immediately, and drive it out by Repentance: tho' he may a little struggle and rally against it, especially at the first beginning, when natural Conscience will strive a while with his carnal Lusts and Inclinations; yet if in this conflict the Sin prevails and is too hard for the Spirit, and he continues to commit it, it will at last wholly master him and bring him into such Bondage and Vassalage, that he shall lose the moral liberty and freedom of his mind, and be such a slave to it as to be led Captive by it at its will; so that in the same sense he both will not, and cannot get rid of it, for he has then lost the power of his mind, and is brought under the perfect dominion of his Lusts and Vices: so that tho' he sees the plainest mischief of them, and wishes he could leave them, and would do so, if a faint wish and a mere velleity were sufficient; yet he still lives in them to the plainest ruin both of his Body and Soul, to his undoing both in this World and another; and tho' he sees and seels the pernicious consequences and effects of them, yet neither a decayed Body, nor a disordered Mind, nor a shattered Estate, nor Conscience, nor Credit, nor his own Reason, which condemns and reproaches him for them, can ever prevail upon him to forsake and abandon them.  
They have taken such strong hold of him, and he is so much under their power, that he cannot for all these strong arguments and considerations resist the next temptation or opportunity that invites to them; His Lusts and sensual Inclinations and disorderly Appetites are grown so strong, and his Reason and Religion so weak and unable to resist them, that like a mighty Torrent, they carry all before them; and indeed he himself has broke down all the banks that should withstand them, and he is carried down by the violent stream of his Lusts, till it dries up of itself, and age, and infirmity abate and sink it, and his sins, as we commonly say, leave him; and even then when he is dead to sin in some sense, yet the Ghosts of his departed Vices still haunt him, and the Phantoms or fancies, the Spirits (if I may so call them) of his Lewdness and Debauchery, still hover over the Grave and the Carcase as it were of an old sinner, and will not quite departed from him.  
This hardening of a sinner is gradual, and comes not all at once upon him, but by the power of Custom, and the strength of Vicious Habits, he is brought by time and degrees to this hardened state, and by an unaccountable quality in sin itself, whereby the mind is as it were petrified by it, and brought to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Platonists often speak of; such a deadness and stupidness of its faculties, and its moral powers as we cannot well express. Every sin hardens the mind a little, and weakens the first tender sense of good and evil that is natural to it; and the longer it continues in it, it sensibly hardens it the more, tho' by secret and insensible means, as even Stones grow out of the Earth that was at first soft and fluid, but by time and a saline and other qualities they grow hard and rocky. A Sinner at first had great tenderness of mind, and could hardly be brought to commit a wilful Sin; till by Custom and many repeated Acts, he grew more hardened and emboldened: So that what he committed at first with reluctancy, he commits afterwards with greediness; the first conception and formation of Sin in his mind was by a small seed or principle, and by an unaccountable growth and increase, a wicked thought became at first an Inclination, or rather a natural Inclination produced a Thought, a Thought increased the Inclination, that begot a Delight, a Delight a Consent, a Consent an Act, an Act, by degrees, a Habit, and that becomes stronger and stronger by time; As in the growth of our bodies Anatomists tell us a Jelly becomes a Nerve, a Fiber, a Tendon, a Muscle or a Bone, by strange and imperceptible ways. The Body of Sin, which the Scripture speaks of, is form by custom, and grows still more and more, and has no fixed stature set to it, but is harder to be put off the older it is, and gets strength every day, and renews it by age: The Sin which at first might have been easily withstood and overcome, and like a young Weed readily plucked up; afterwards takes such deep root in a Man's mind that 'tis the hardest thing in the World to remove it, and to get rid of a long and confirmed habit, that has been a great while growing upon us.  
This hardening of the Mind by Sin I take to proceed from Custom, which has an unaccountable force and power upon us; and does as it were bend the Will that way, and put so strong a bias upon the Thoughts and Inclinations of the Mind, that it can hardly with all its natural Liberty and God's ordinary Grace, get off of it; and when the Will is thus obstinately bend to any Lust or Wickedness, it affects and draws in the Understanding, and corrupts the Judgement; and the mind at the same time, it is thus hardened by its Vices, is blinded also by them: and so the two great powers and faculties of the Soul are corrupted by it both at once; for hardening respects properly the Will, and blinding the Understanding, and they always go together, and are promiscuously mentioned, the one for the other in Scripture. men's Lusts and Vices as they harden them, and bring as it were a Callus upon the mind by long use and make it to be past feeling, as Scripture speaks, so they darken and blind the Understanding, which is as it were the Eye of the Soul, and bring a cloud over it, or cast a mist before it, and hinder it from seeing and discerning things as it ought to do. These, I confess, are all figurative expressions, whereby we are forced to describe and illustrate the Acts and Operations of the Mind, by material and bodily resemblances, as the Holy Ghost itself does: But there are such real effects in the Mind as answer to them, and about which we can use no other Words or Ideas. men's Sins at the same time they harden their Wills, and bring them to a senselessness and stupidity about their moral Actions, they blind their Judgement also, and bring them to a Reprobate sense, so as not to see the plainest Truths or greatest Evidence, nor be ware of the grossest and most notorious Errors, nor be convinced by the strongest Arguments and Demonstrations for the Truth or Practice of Religion.  
2. I shall consider a little more particularly in the 2d. place, how, and to what degrees the mind is thus hardened and blinded by its Sins.  
1. And this is done first of all by breaking through natural shame, and the innate modesty of our minds; this is one of the strongest senses which God and Nature have set about Virtue, and the greatest check and restraint against Vice; for it arises from the first quick and discerning sense of the mind, whereby it sees the ●●●ness and reasonableness of the one, and the indecency and natural turpitude and shame of the other; and when this is once broke through, the mind is quickly Prostituted and Debauched to the greatest Lewdness and Villainy, and comes to Sin Impudently and with a Where's forehead: at first indeed it was modest and reserved, and blustered at the rude offers of Sin, and ran from them; but by coming nearer and making some further approaches to it, it was drawn in to consent; and so having lest its Original innocence and native modesty, it is sooner brought to after-acts of Sin, and wears off by degrees that shame which was its great guard and preservative at first; and than it lies open to every Temptation, and 〈…〉 to every offer and opportunity that invites 〈◊〉 and hardly needs to be tempted, but becomes a tempter both to itself and others, and a Pander in time to all Vice and Wickedness.  
2. Sin hardens by stupifying Conscience, and deadning the inward and natural sense of good and evil on our Minds so as to bring Men by degrees to Sin without struggle, dispute, or reluctancy. It must be a great while before it comes to this, and a man must have gone through a long course before he can arrive at this state and perfection of Sinning. No Man can commit a plain and great Sin at first without great struggle and remorse of mind, and great reluctance and opposition from his own Conscience; the spirit will strive against the flesh, as the flesh lusteth against the spirit, Gal. 5.17. there being a natural principle of Virtue in us as well as of Vice. And as a good Man must have many conflicts with his lower inclinations before he can arrive at a full state of Virtue; so must a bad Man have as great a contest with his Conscience and the natural sense of his own Mind before he can be perfectly wicked. Conscience will check and restrain him at first, and inwardly smite and reprove him for doing amiss, and this is an evident proof of the natural difference between good and evil, and an excellent Monitor set up by God in every Man's breast to mind him of his duty, and the great security indeed of all Religion; but when Men have, by many acts and long customs of wickedness, wasted and sinned away Conscience, and stifled or stupisied the inward sense of their own minds, so as to sin with greater ease, and without any trouble or opposition from within, without any rebukes or resistances, or remorses of their own Consciences for whatever they do; then they are become perfect Sinners indeed, and come to an absolute and full state of Wickedness, to be hardened into an utter insensibility, so as to be past feeling, and to have their Conscience, as it were, seared with a hot iron, as the Scripture speaks, 1 Tim. 4.2. so as to be quite senseless. This senselessness may seem an easier and less painful state, but it is more mortal and dangerous; and is just such a Disease to the Soul, as an Apoplexy or a Lethargy is to the body. If this senselessness and stupidity would always last, it were much better indeed than sharp and actual pain, but the Conscience of a Sinner, tho' it may sleep and slumber a while, yet it will awake one time or other, and like an enraged Lion tear and devour all about it; Either Death or Sickness, or some Judgement or Affliction will probably rouse it here, and bring the stupefied mind to itself; or to be sure the flames of Hell will make it open its Eyes when it is too late, when it can see nothing but horror and despair before it, and round about it, and where it; Conscience shall always torment it with a Worm that never dieth, and with never ceasing Anguish and Remorse.  
3. A third instance and degree of being thus hardened by Sin, is doubting of the Truth of Religion, and calling into question the principles of it, and at last an utter rejecting and dis-believing of them. No Man ever did this till he was corrupted in his morals, and engaged in a vicious course; so that this Scepticism and Infidelity, was plainly the effect and consequent of his Vices; and proceeded from his Will, blinded with his Sins and Lusts, rather than from his Understanding, or from any want of Evidence about those matters. It was first the Sinners wish and desire that there were no God, before he questioned whither there was one or no; and he never doubted of the truth of another World, till it was against his Interest, and he was lost and undone, if there were one, and therefore he was very unwilling to believe it. Men must have very much blinded their Minds, if they do not see the plainest Evidence for Religion, both from Nature and Reason, and from History and Revelation; from the make and frame of the World, and from the make of their own bodies, and the inward sense of their own Minds: all which make it as unreasonable almost to doubt of the Being of a God, as to doubt of their own being and existence; and we may as well be Sceptics to the truth of any thing else, as to the truth of Religion.  
4. There is a degree yet beyond this, and that is ridiculing Religion, and exposing it to Contempt and Laughter; which is not only the utmost and most desperate attempt and affront against God, but the most rude and unmannerly, as well as mischievous thing to all Mankind; for all sober and wise Men, and civilised Nations, have always believed there is a God, and 'tis no very civil thing to call them all Fools or Cheats for doing so; 'tis so much the interest, nay the necessity of mankind that there should be one, that all Government, all Security, all Society, and living happily in the World, must be lost without it; to laugh therefore at this, as either a Politic Cheat or a Melancholy Delusion, on which so much depends, both as to the benefit of the public, and the happiness and comfort of all private Men, is only to show the boldest folly and ill-will, both together; and, without any reason in the World, to take upon themselves to persuade mankind that they are deceived in the most useful and necessary thing to 'em that can be. 'Tis certainly the highest impudence and rudeness to run down those things, and expose them as ridiculous, which have been the greatest objects of Honour and Reverence to all wise men; and to treat Religion and things Sacred, with jest and drollery, about which all the World has been the most serious and in earnest; and to mock and scoff at that which others bow down to and tremble at. This is only a more mad and daring bravery in wickedness, and one of the highest instances of a corrupted and hardened Mind. I shall add but another, which is an effect as it were of this; and that is,  
5. An industrious design of being wicked and glorying in it; to make it their business to spread and promote it, and to take pleasure not only in committing Sin themselves, but likewise in those that do it. This is to love Wickedness for Wickedness sake, and out of pure opposition to Virtue, and a direct enmity to Religion; When Men make it their Trade and a kind of Professed Science to be Debauched, and set down rules to themselves and others of being so; When they can boast of their Wickedness, and glory in it; and assume perhaps more to themselves than they have been guilty of, and charge themselves with such Sins as they never committed, thereby to Triumph as it were in their mighty deeds and great exploits; and, to endear themselves the more to their Lewd Companions, when they endeavour to outdo one another, and outvie their fellow Sinners in Oaths, Drinking, and Debauchery; and give greater proofs of their highest proficiency in Wickedness and Lewdness. This is perfectly giving up themselves to the Devil's Service, and to toil and drudge in it, as his greatest Slaves, and as his Disciples to devote themselves to him, and become sworn votaries to Hell and Wickedness, and declare themselves Champions and Defenders of his cause and interest, against God and Religion. 'Tis strange that Human Nature should be depraved and corrupted to these degrees, but we see too many Examples of it in the World; and we see too what is the cause of it; namely, men's being so strangely hardened and blinded by their Sins, and having their Reason and Understanding and all the Faculties of their Minds so horribly corrupted and depraved by them.  
3. From what has been said, I shall make the following Remarks and Observations.  
1. I observe from hence, That our proper and truest happiness lies in the Perfection and Improvement of of our Minds; and therefore we ought to take the greatest care of them.  
2. That Vice is the greatest Corruption and Depravation of the Mind; and therefore we should not suffer that to grow upon us.  
3. I shall inquire into the Scripture-notion of God's hardening Men, and whether that be any thing more than our Sins hardening us.  
4. From hence we may conceive and understand the misery and wretched state of the Devils and damned Souls, who are come to the highest degree of this hardening.  
1. I observe that our proper and truest happiness lies in the Perfection and Improvement of our Minds.  
The happiness of any Being must be suited and adapted to its Capacity and Faculties; for otherwise it has no root to grow upon, and the more those Capacities are enlarged and extended, and have agreeable objects to fill and entertain 'em, the greater is the happiness of it. The lowest Creatures that have sense, have very small Capacities, and their Enjoyments are very little; the more we rise in the scale of Being's, the Capacities are greater till we come to the All-perfect Being; We have bedily Capacities, the same with the Brutes, which can partake of such bodily pleasures as they do; but these are very little and narrow, and confined to few things, and a short time. We have much higher Capacities even like God himself, whereby we take in all the truth that can be known, and all the good that can be enjoyed; and hoard up these immortal Treasures in our Minds, and in the fullest measure of those consists our proper happiness as we are Men, and Rational, and Immortal Being's. 'Tis in our Souls, those noblest parts of us, that our Happiness lies and will lie for ever; Our bodies are poor dying decaying matter, that can afford very little Enjoyments, and for a very little while; the capacities of the mind are great and large, and comprehensive, and can reach not only to all things that are made, but even to the God that made them, and partake of a proper happiness from all of them; for the more it increases its knowledge, and grows up to a more perfect Understanding, and to a more free choice and entire willing of what is good; and the more good it enjoys, and the more its faculties are enlarged and filled up with their proper objects, the more Happiness and Perfection, Satisfaction and Enjoyment it must have; and this will be its Eternal Heaven when we shall be as like God as we can be, and equal to the Angels in the proper perfections of our rational nature advanced to the highest degrees, and the most unspeakable Enjoyments and Satisfactions.  
2. Vice is the greatest Corruption and Depravation of the Mind, and therefore is our greatest misery; it sinks and impairs the Faculties, decays and weakens the Mind, as a Disease does the body, and fills it generally like that with pain and uneasiness; as being contrary to its natural frame, and to its proper and regular Operations. Virtue is the Vigour and Health, the Soundness and right Constitution of the Soul, the Spiritual life which Religion and God's Grace would advance it to; but Vice and Wickedness are the Spiritual death of it, both in the Language of the Scripture, and of the best Philosophers of Old; their manner and custom of setting a Coffin in the place of him that had left the Schools and Precepts of Virtue, was speaking the same thing in emblem and figure with the Scripture expression of being dead in trespasses and sins; The loss of the Soul is justly accounted so great an one, as the gain of the whole World will not compensate; What shall it profit a Man, says our Saviour, to gain the whole world and lose his own Soul? Matth. 16.26. Now the Soul can never be so lost as to lose its Being or its Power of thinking. Happy would it be for a great many if it could so lose itself, and vanish into air or nothing: but 'tis the loss of its proper Life and Happiness of the right use of its noble Powers and Faculties, and of those Operations and Enjoyments it was made for; and suffering the Misery and Anguish which its own thoughts bring upon it; This is the unvaluable loss of the Soul, and a great part of its Hell, as I shall show immediately.  
Sin indeed brings the Mind to this lost and wretched condition by degrees; it darkens and blinds the Mind, and spoils its powers of rightly Judging and Understanding; not in an instant, but as darkness comes upon the Earth by gradual approaches. 'Tis hard perhaps to give a full Account how it does this; but it employs the thoughts upon wrong and undue objects; it immerses and sinks 'em in carnal Fancies and sensual Ideas; it perverts and distorts the Judgement, and gives it undue representations of things; or it takes it off from thinking and considering at all; by such means it brings it to this pass, tho' it have eyes to see, yet it sees not, tho' it have Understanding, that is, the natural power of it, yet it understands not, Mat. 13.14. so tho' it have its power of willing, yet it wills only evil, and has no moral ability to will good from the strong prevalency of its own evil desires and affections. This is losing the Soul, and the right powers of it, and making it like an absorbed Star, lose its proper light, centre, and motion, tho' it be still a Star but fallen, dark and wand'ring.  
3. And this I take in the third place to be the Scripture-notion of hardening, when Men's sins bring 'em to this state; and when God is said to harden them, 'tis not by any positive influx or poisonous infusion; nor yet perhaps by withdrawing his ordinary Grace, and the means of conversion from them: this he did not from Pharaoh or the Jews, or any other Sinners that we know of. 'Tis only Sin that hardens them, and their own Lusts and Vices that blind them; and when God is said to do it, 'tis generally by doing such things as are the occasion, not the cause of it; which are in themselves proper means of working quite other effects upon them, not of hardening and blinding, but rather of converting and convincing them: Such were all the Miracles God wrought and all the Methods he used, both with the Jews and with Pharaoh, where he tried all ways to bring them off from their Obstinacy and Infidelity, and continued so to do, notwithstanding their abuse of them. God strikes no Man spiritually blind, nor takes away that light which is necessary for him to see by; or that strength and assistance which is necessary to convert him. 'Tis the Clouds only darken the Earth, and not the Sun; 'tis the interposal of the dark body of the one, and not the withdrawing the beams of the other, which properly brings night upon it. I very much question whether there be any other judicial hardness and blindness, especially in this Life, than what men's sins bring upon them; their being left to the malignant Power and efficacy of those, is without any other influence or causality, the entire reason of their hardness and blindness; and God is said to leave them and give them up to hardness of heart, just as a Physician leaves his Patient to the incurable malignity of his Distemper, without either giving him any thing to increase it, or without withdrawing the Application of any proper Remedies that might help to cure it.  
4. Fourthly and Lastly, By this we may conceive and understand the misery and wretched state of the Devils and damned Souls, who are under the utmost and irreversible state of this hardened and depraved temper of Soul; which will naturally and necessarily make them miserable. Those accursed Spirits were once capable of noble pleasures and improvements of mind; but Sin and Disobedience to God, has spoiled, and sunk, and corrupted them, and brought them to this wretched condition, where their thoughts are filled only with rage and malice against God, and with an extreme horror and dread of him, joined with as great rage and vexation against themselves. 'Tis a terrible thing for a poor Creature wilfully to offend and sin against its Great God; impudently to affront and defy its Maker, and trample upon his Laws and Government; which is setting up its own Will, Thoughts, and Reason, against his. This will bring it to dreadful Thoughts and Resentments one day, whatever we think of it, or however we slight it now. Sin would not have had a Hell and Eternal torments prepared for it by a good God, had it not been an opposition to the Will and Counsels of Heaven, to all God's designs in making Us, and making the World; and contrary to all the measures of God's Wisdom and Government, and to the Good and Welfare of the whole System of Being's. Vice therefore by the order of things, throws Men into this miserable state; and a lower spirit by having its Thoughts, its Will, and Understanding, so contrary and opposite to the highest spirit, and by not having due regards and observances to him, must necessarily fall into this state of Misery, as well as of his utmost Wrath and Displeasure. It's Vices have depraved and corrupted its mind, given it wrong Thoughts of God, and of every thing else; and sunk it into the love of evil, and of every thing contrary to God and Goodness; made it delight in mischief, and in doing such things as are directly contrary to the good of its fellow Creatures, if it were but a little gratifying to itself. And now that false pleasure is gone off, and it is left wholly to the sting of its Vices, and it therefore reflects with infinite remorse upon the folly, and the madness, and the mischief of them; but it cannot now redress or amend them, or what injury it has done by them; and therefore it must lie for ever under the insupportable weight and burden of them. It cannot now raise up its thoughts to any love or desire of God, whom it has always had a fixed contempt and neglect of; it cannot now take any delight in him, or the apprehensions of him whom it seldom or ever thought of, or ever cared to Worship or Acknowledge before; and there is nothing now to divert or entertain it, its bodily Pleasures and worldly Enjoyments are gone off, and not here to be met with; and it is left wholly to its own uncomfortable thoughts, and to the extreme anguish and bitterness of them. It never rightly understood nor loved either God or Goodness; and now there is nothing else to be loved; and therefore it must hate itself and every thing else: It must now bear the misery of its own ill mind, which it has been spoiling and corrupting all its Life, and bringing to this sad state and condition; and now it is desperate and irrecoverable, and because it has lost the only opportunities of improving and sitting it for happiness, it must now necessarily be miserable with it as long as its duration lasts, that is for ever.  God grant that we may avoid all those sins which will thus spoil our minds, and bring this hardness, and this misery upon us.  
FINIS.   

ERRATA, besides some false Pointings.  
PAge 2. L. 11. r. there. p. 4. l. 18. r. Principle. p. 9 l. 9 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 21. l. 7. r. distractions. p. 22. l. 2. for the r. any. p. 33. l. 5. r. perception. p. 49. l. 15. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 50. l. 16. r. true Judgement. p. 51. l. 7. r. Reason. Would men. p. 58. l. 6. r. only are. p. 91. l. 27. r. Sediment. p. 100 l. 16. r. Dying, the. p. 106. l. 8. r. hid. p. 143. l. 17. r. leave them. p. 158. l. 12. r. ever. p. 214. l. 31. r. take. p. 219. l. 1. r. better not. p. 246. l. 8. r. as it was, of. p. 270. l. 28. r. no where. p. 289. l. 5. r. could.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  
THe Mystery of the Christian Faith and of the Blessed Trinity, Vindicated, and the Divinity of Christ proved. In three Sermons. Preached at Westminster-Abbey upon Trinity-Sunday, June the 7th. and September 21. 1696. By the late Reverend William pain, D. D. In the Press before his Death, and by himself ordered to be Published. And also a Letter from the Author to the Bishop of Rochester in Vindication of them.   

THE CONTENTS.  

Sermon I. Rom. IX. 14. WHat shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbidden. P. 1.  
Sermon II. Matth. XI. 29. last Part. And ye shall find rest unto your Souls. p. 29.  
Sermon III. Matth. VII. 13, 14. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there he that find it. p. 71.  
Sermon IU. Matth. VI 19, 20. Lay not up for yourselves Treasures upon Earth, where Moth and Rust doth corrupt, and where Thiefs break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves Treasures in Heaven, where neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt, and where Thiefs do not break through and steal. p. 103.  
Sermon V Luke XV. 31. And he said unto him, Son thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. p 131.  
Sermon VI Acts XVI. 30 latter part. Sins, what must I do to be saved. p. 167.  
Sermon VII. Job. XXVIII. 28. And unto man he said, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is Wisdom, and to departed from Evil is Understanding. p. 185.  
Sermon VIII. Rom. XII. 21. Be not overcome of Evil, but overcome Evil with Good. p. 203.  
Sermon IX. Luke XVI. 31. And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, tho' one risen from the dead. p. 223.  
Sermon X. Acts XVII. 22. latter part. I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. p. 245.  
Sermon XI. Acts XXVI. 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? p. 295.  
Sermon XII. Heb. III. 13. latter part. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. p. 325.    

Books Printed for Ri. Wilkin at the King's-Head in St. Paul's-Church-Yard.  
Immorality and Pride the great Causes of Atheism. The Atheist's Objection, that we can have no Idea of God, refuted. The notion of a God, neither from Fear nor Policy. Three Sermons Preached at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Jan. 3. Feb. 7. and Mar. 7. 169●, being the First, Second and Third of the Lecture for that year, founded by the Honourable Robert boil, Esq By John Harris M. A. and Fellow of the Royal Society. 4vo.  
Remarks on some late Papers relating to the Universal Deluge and to the Natural History of the Earth, by the same Author 8vo.  
Dr. Woodward's Natural History of the Earth. 8vo.  
Dr. Abbadies' Vindication of the Truth of the Christian Religion, against the Objections of all Modern Opposers. In 2. Vol. 8vo.  
A serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of their true and greatest interest. By a Lover of her Sex. The Third Edition. 12ᵒ.  
A serious Proposal to the Ladies, Part II. wherein a Method is offered for the Improvement of their Minds. By the Author of the First Part, 12ᵒ.  
Letters concerning the Love of God between the Author of the Proposal to the Ladies and Mr. John Norris. 8vo.  
An Answer to W. P.'s Key about the Quakers Light within, and Oaths; with an Appendix of the Sacraments. 8vo.  
A Letter to the Honourable Sir Robert Howard: To gether with some Animadversions on a Book entitled, Christianity not Mysterious, 8vo.