The works of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D. D. in nine volumes (volume 1 of 9)

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Title: The works of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D. D. in nine volumes (volume 1 of 9)

Author: Isaac Watts

Release date: October 21, 2025 [eBook #77103]

Language: English

Original publication: London: No name, 1812

Credits: Brian Wilson, David King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF THE REV. ISAAC WATTS, D. D. IN NINE VOLUMES (VOLUME 1 OF 9) ***


         The works of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D. D., Vol. 1 of 9




[Frontispiece: Isaac Watts, D.D.]




      THE WORKS OF THE REV. ISAAC WATTS, D. D. IN _NINE VOLUMES_.

                                VOL. I.

                               CONTAINING

                                SERMONS.

                                LONDON:

   PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW;
        BAINES, ROBINSON AND SON, HARDCASTLE, AND HEATON, LEEDS,
                        By Edward Baines, Leeds.

                                 1812.




                         CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.


Memoirs of Dr. Watts ... iii

Dedication ... xxv

Preface ... xxix

FORTY-THREE SERMONS ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS.

SERM. 1, 2, 3. The Inward Witness to Christianity, 1 John v. 10. ... 1,
13, 25

SERM. 4. Flesh and Spirit; or, the Principles of Sin and Holiness, Rom.
viii. 1. ... 45

SERM. 5, 6. The Soul Drawing near to God in Prayer; Sins and Sorrows
spread before God, Job xxxiii. 3, 4. ... 64, 78

SERM. 7, 8. A Hopeful Youth falling Short of Heaven, Mark x. 21. ... 92,
107

SERM. 9, 10. The Hidden Life of a Christian, Col. iii. 3. ... 123, 141

SERM. 11. Nearness to God, the Felicity of Creatures, Ps. lxv. 4. ...
160

SERM. 12. The Scale of Blessedness: or, Blessed Saints, Blessed Saviour,
& Blessed Trinity, Ps. lxv. 4. ... 172

SERM. 13, 14. Appearance before God here and hereafter, Ps. xlii. 2. ...
187, 199

SERM. 15, 16, 17. A Rational Defence of the Gospel; Or, Courage in
Professing Christianity, Rom. i. 16. ... 211, 226, 238

SERM. 18, 19. Faith the Way to Salvation, and none excluded from Hope,
Rom. i. 16. ... 251, 263

SERM. 20, 21, 22. Christian Morality, _viz._ Truth, Sincerity, &c. Phil.
iv. 8. ... 276, 291, 303

SERM. 23. Christian Morality, _viz._ Gravity, Decency, &c. Phil. iv. 8.
... 318

SERM. 24, 25. Christian Morality, _viz._ Justice, Equity, and Truth,
Phil. iv. 8. ... 331, 344

SERM. 26, 27. Christian Morality, _viz._ Justice, Purity, Temperance,
Chastity, and Modesty, Phil. iv. 8. ... 357, 373

SERM. 28. Christian Morality, _viz._ a Lovely Carriage, &c. Phil. iv. 8.
... 382

SERM. 29. Christian Morality, _viz._ Things of Good Report, &c. Phil.
iv. 8. ... 399

SERM. 30. Christian Morality, _viz._ Courage and Honour, Virtue and
Praise, Phil. iv. 8. ... 413

SERM. 31, 32. Holy Fortitude, or Remedies against Fear, 1 Cor. xvi. 13.
... 425, 439

SERM. 33. The Universal Rule of Equity, Mat. vii. 12. ... 457

SERM. 34, 35, 36. The Atonement of Christ, Rom. iii. 25. ... 472, 486,
503

SERM. 37, 38. The Christian’s Treasure, 1 Cor. iii. 21. ... 518, 532

SERM. 39 The Right Improvement of Life, 1 Cor. iii. 22. ... 547

SERM. 40. The Privilege of the Living above the Dead, 1 Cor. iii. 22.
... 563

SERM. 41. Death improved to our Advantage, 1 Cor. iii. 22. ... 582

SERM. 42. The Death of Kindred improved, 1 Cor. iii. 22. ... 599

SERM. 43. Death a Blessing to the Saints, 1 Cor. iii. 22. ... 609




                       MEMOIRS OF _DOCTOR WATTS_.


It was a custom among the ancient Romans, to preserve in wax, the
figures of those among their ancestors, who were of noble birth; or had
been _more_ nobly advanced to the chair of honour by their personal
merits. Sallust relates that Scipio and other great men, by beholding
these likenesses, found enkindled in _their_ breasts, so ardent a thirst
after virtue, as could not be extinguished, till, by the glory of their
_own actions_, they had equalled the illustrious objects of their
emulation. But it is the happiness of _Christians_ to possess truer
notions of virtue, and to be governed by infinitely higher views. We
may, however, hence observe the force of example, which is peculiarly
operative in those who sincerely love God. They no sooner reflect on the
accounts given of such as have been eminent for their piety and zeal,
than they become desirous of imbibing the same spirit[1].

The advantages to be derived from theological biography, are too various
to be enumerated; and of such obvious importance, as to supersede all
studied encomiums. The sacred scriptures abound with relations of
extraordinary occurrences in the lives of men, who were distinguished in
their day by their virtues or their crimes: And, as if the Holy Spirit
designed to provide for our entertainment, and to gratify our curiosity;
there is not a beauty in this species of historical writing, of which we
have not some interesting example, in the inspired volume.

Each character is drawn by the hand of impartiality and faithfulness; so
that we are in no danger of being deceived by the influence of any of
those passions, which so often degrade other relations of the same kind.
While compassion tempers the hatred of sin, the love of truth corrects
the ardor of _private_ gratitude, the usual partiality of friendship,
and the zeal of opinion. Here no excellence, which evidences them to be
the Sons of God, is exalted above its intrinsic value; nor is any
failing, common to them as the children of Adam, concealed or
extenuated.

Next to these divine records, our esteem is claimed by the many valuable
literary monuments which have been raised in all succeeding ages, by the
labours of piety and veneration, to the remembrance of those eminent
names, whom the unerring Judge of _true_ excellence _has delighted to
honour_.

The lives of men who have made themselves famous in the cabinet, or in
the field, may instruct and animate survivors of the same profession:
the intrigues of courts, the elevation and the fall of a statesman, the
manœuvres of generalship, the decision of a battle, are attended to with
a lively avidity by the sanguine politician: But if characters and
events in themselves little (if at all) adapted to the great purposes of
intellectual and moral improvement, can create such an interest in the
worldly mind, with what superior delight and advantage may the subjects
of the wisdom that is from above review the lives of those who (whatever
inauspicious circumstances may have attached to their origin, or to
their condition in life) have exemplified the beauties of unaffected
devotion, and shewn the way to true, to substantial happiness, and
immortal honour! “Such a man, although the meanest mechanic, who employs
his best affections upon the Author of his life and salvation, who loves
the good, compassionates the distressed, and breathes peace and
good-will to all; who abhors vice, and pities the vicious, who subdues
and triumphs over the unruly passions of his fallen nature; such a man
(however low his outward condition) is the best patriot, and has more
just pretensions to heroism, than he who makes the most glaring figure
in the eye of an injudicious world. He is like one of the fixed stars,
which through the _remoteness_ of its situation, may be thought very
inconsiderable and obscure by unskilful beholders, yet is as truly great
and glorious in itself, as those luminaries which, by being placed more
commodiously for our view, shine with more distinguished lustre[2].”

The christian will here see the excellence of genuine religion, in its
influence upon the mind and conduct through every department of life. In
the most afflicted state of the Saviour’s empire, he will find some
bright examples of decision, unshaken confidence, and undaunted zeal.
His faith in the doctrines of the gospel will be confirmed by observing
the god-like tempers, and the various lineaments of the divine character
produced by the sovereign virtues of those doctrines. In such memoirs,
he will learn more perfectly to distinguish between the realities and
the shadows of devotion; and to decide more satisfactorily on the state
of religion in his own mind; and while tracing the mysterious operations
of providence, in advancing the servants of God to prosperity and
happiness, by trivial and improbable means, new sources of admiration
and pleasure will continually open to his view. Here in the time of
difficulty, he may obtain well adapted directions for his conduct; he
may meet with salutary caution amidst the allurements of worldly
enjoyment; and in the prospect of suffering or dying, he may so far
enter into the spirit of the characters he contemplates, as more
effectually to secure the dignity of his own.

From the memorials of distinguished men, the student, who is seriously
engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, will renew his strength, to
surmount the hinderances incident to his labours, while he follows them,
whose admired _natural_ abilities have been cultivated to the highest
attainable state of perfection, or whose persevering application to the
means of improvement has brought to light hidden powers of genius; who
were insensible to the baits of pleasure, the contagious example of
indolence and vice, and the most discouraging difficulties; who were
superior to the obstinate prejudices which often persecute a low origin,
the disadvantages of indigence, a sickly constitution, natural
impediments, and whatever a supine and grovelling mind would pronounce
insuperable. While he keeps such a character in sight, he will assume
fresh courage in struggling to useful eminence; and every day his
success will be less dubious. The plans they adopted, the various helps
of which they availed themselves in their progress, their uniform
perseverance, their acquisitions and the application they made of them
to the service of the church and of civil society, cannot fail to
administer instruction. Every candidate for the work of the sanctuary,
who feels as he ought the importance of his designation, and who, having
finished his preparatory obligations, will owe much of his best
assistance to the light reflected upon him from these luminaries.

Some, if not all, of these advantages, will be obtained from the life of
Dr. Watts; if perused with such dispositions, as gave that life all its
lustre. What is said of another eminent man, will with equal truth apply
to him: As anatomy discovers all the curious contexture of our bodily
fabric, so here are vivid representations of faith, love, and an
heavenly mind; of humility, meekness, self-denial, entire resignation to
the will of God, in their first and continued motions; with whatever
parts and principles besides, compose the whole frame of the new
creature. Here it is as if we could perceive with our eyes, how the
blood circulates in an human body through all the veins and arteries;
how the heart beats, the animal spirits fly to and fro, and how each
nerve, tendon, fibre, and muscle, performs its several operations. Here
it may be seen, how an heart touched from above, works and tends
thitherward: how it depresses itself in humiliation, dilates itself in
love, exalts itself in praise, submits itself under chastisement, and
how it draws in its refreshments and succours as there is need. To many
who have seen so amiable a course of life, how grateful will it be to
behold the secret motions of those inward latent principles, from whence
all proceed! Though others would look no further than the advantages (in
external respects) that accrue from it. So some content themselves, to
know by a clock the hour of the day, or partake the beneficial use of
some rarer engine; the more curious, especially any that design
imitation, and to compose something of the same kind, would be much more
gratified, if through some pellucid enclosure, they could behold all the
inward work, and observe how every wheel, spring, or movement, perform
their several parts and offices, towards that common use[3].

But to him whose _only_ object is entertainment, the subsequent Memoirs
will afford but little gratification. Extraordinary incidents, and
curious anecdotes, are not to be expected in the life of a man, whose
excursions were bounded by a few miles in the neighbourhood of the
metropolis; who had formed no domestic relations; whose bodily
afflictions, often and for long seasons, incapacitated him for every
duty, and for every pleasure, but such as were purely intellectual and
spiritual; and who, when in health, perhaps rather shunned social
intercourse, as incompatible with his literary pursuits and his
ministerial obligations. But whoever is capable of appreciating the
importance of learning and philosophy, when sanctified by an ardent zeal
for the glory of God, by gentleness, humility, and unremitted exertions
for the best interests of the world; or whoever possesses the noble
ambition of attaining such eminence in wisdom, piety, and usefulness,
and of imbibing any degree of that elevation of mind, so conspicuous in
this great man, may anticipate more substantial rarities, the zest of
which he will never lose, while he fields the aid of instruction, or the
animating influence of an example so full of grace and beauty.

ISAAC WATTS, the eldest of nine children, was born July 17, 1674, at
Southampton. If his family connections did not possess the advantages of
affluence, they were such as might have secured him against the
prejudice usually attached to a low origin, by the pride of fashionable
life. But had he descended (as was reported) from a poor mechanic, had
his parents lived in the utmost meanness, his name would be pronounced
with reverence; his character and writings would be held in the same
esteem and admiration by all who are capable of making a just estimate
of what is truly valuable in the existence of man. As princely grandeur
can never dignify ignorance and vice, so talents, learning, and piety,
are not to be degraded by any reverse. His father presided over a
boarding-school, at Southampton; of good reputation. He was a man of
lively devotion, and a decided non-conformist. But living under a reign,
the profligacy of which, gave the stamp of fashion to almost every vice;
a reign, the bigotry of which, fixed the odium of fanaticism, hypocrisy,
and sedition, upon every avowal of attachment to the pure religion of
the cross, he became a considerable sufferer, driven by the persecuting
emissaries of the prince of darkness, from the comforts of domestic
life, and the enjoyment of his religious privileges, he was doomed to
the degradation and hardships of a jail. During his confinement, his
wife would often sit on a stone at the door of the prison, with this
child of promise at her breast, revolving in deep affliction of mind,
the horrors of that tyranny by which they were deprived of their chief
earthly protection, and left alone to contend with the buffetings of
adversity.

In the morning of life, he gave the most promising indications of a
bright and useful day: Before he had well learned to speak, a book was
his greatest pleasure, and every little present of money, received
additional value in his esteem, as it applied to the gratification of
this early propensity. When a child he began to act the part of maturer
years, in attention to mental improvement, and in preparation for the
service and enjoyment of God. The true principles of wisdom and
spiritual understanding, which thus early began to bud, yielded, through
every succeeding period of his earthly pilgrimage, a rich variety of
fruit, pleasant to the sight, and good for food. Although naturally of a
temper remarkable for vivacity, he was a singular exception to the
vanity of childhood and youth. The hours devoted by other children to
play, he employed in reading, or in composing little poems to gratify
the fond expectations of his mother.

In his _fourteenth_ year, he entered upon the studies of the learned
languages, under the tuition of Mr. Pinhorn, a minister of the
established church, and master of the free grammar-school at
Southampton; a man of considerable reputation for learning and
respectability of character. Here our young student discovered such
avidity of application, and extent of capacity, and so distinguished
himself by the ease and celerity of his progress, that all who knew him,
anticipated with delight, the perfection he afterwards attained. His
whole deportment in this critical period of age, formed a happy contrast
with the prevailing spirit of some modern fashionable seminaries, where
the seeds of vice find a congenial soil, and often before the age of
manhood, produce a copious harvest of personal and relative evils. To
prepare himself for usefulness in the world, to secure the approbation
of heaven, realize the hopes of his friends, and to reward the labours
of his preceptor, by his continual diligence in improving the advantages
he enjoyed; in these points was all his ambition concentrated. In the
twentieth year of his age, he inscribed a latin ode to Mr. Pinhorn,
which is not more honourable, as a tribute of gratitude to the merit of
the master, than as a proof of uncommon proficiency in the scholar.

His unremitted diligence, and rapid progress at the grammar school, were
so conspicuous as to draw upon him the attention of some considerable
characters in the town and neighbourhood, engaged by the promising
appearances which he made of future celebrity in learning and religion:
And with a view to his adoption into the established church, they
proposed to support him at one of our English universities. But having
studied the principles of non-conformity, on which the sufferings of his
father had probably given him some useful lessons; and being satisfied
that these principles were most congenial with a kingdom not of this
world, he respectfully declined the flattering proposal, and declared
his resolution to take his lot with the dissenters.

Thus when youthful vanity and ambition are generally most alive to the
allurements of emolument and elevation, he sacrificed the fairest
prospects of earthly possessions in order to unite himself with a
people, branded with every opprobrious epithet; a people with whom, in
place of the ease, riches, and honours of clerical preferment, he must
substitute labour for the salvation of souls, and estimate his gains
only by his success.

The date of his spiritual life cannot be ascertained, but the fact was
indubitable from a very early period: Surely the consideration, that
such a christian as DR. WATTS, could make no reference to the particular
circumstances of time, place, or means, connected with his first
spiritual affections, ought to check the presumption of those, who would
limit the operations of grace, to the contracted sphere of their own
pre-conceptions. He who condescended to lay aside the scholar and the
philosopher, to direct the hosannas of our children, and to provide
systems of instruction adapted to their wants and capacities, was
himself discriminated in his early childhood, by hatred of evil and love
to the ways of God.

When only seven or eight years old, he composed some verses to gratify
the wishes of his mother; which, for clear views of scriptural truth,
and fervour of devotion, would have done honour to far more advanced
age. The natural vivacity of his youth was corrected and improved by a
deep sense of religion; convinced that no life can be pleasing to God,
that is not useful to man, he sanctified his best days, by a lively and
well-tempered zeal to do good. He sought and enjoyed communion with God,
in retirement from the world; and displayed, in his uniform deportment,
the inseparable connexion subsisting between strict religion and
substantial pleasure. In the depth of his humility, in the elevation of
his affection, he was superior to most of his cotemporaries. Before he
attained his twenty-second year, he had composed the greater part of his
hymns; in comparison with which, most compositions of the same kind are
frigid and lifeless. They may indeed in some instances, be thought too
appropriating and extatic for our mixed assemblies, and for the general
state of our religious joys: but such objections only confess the
sublimity of his devotion; and faithfully applied to the disparity of
our resemblance, will excite every sentiment of humility. As he advanced
from his childhood in his intimacy with heaven, and in his rapid
attainments of that knowledge, which too commonly inflates the mind with
pride, he was still further removed from the consciousness of his
superiority; and in proportion as he grew in favour with God, his meek
and lowly temper rendered him daily a greater favourite with man.

Decided in his views and experience of the doctrines of the gospel, the
discipline of the church, and in the choice of his religious connexions,
he repaired to an academy in London, in the year 1690, where he
prosecuted his studies under Mr. Thomas Rowe, at that time pastor of the
independent church-meeting, at Haberdasher’s-Hall. Three years afterward
this church had the honour of receiving him as a member. At the academy
Mr. Hughes, the poet, Dr. Hort, afterwards archbishop of Tuam, and Mr.
Say (the successor of Mr. Ed. Calamy) were his fellow-students; and, as
appears by their subsequent correspondence, they entertained a warm
friendship for him. Here he appears to have laboured with incessant
perseverance; not merely to pass with credit through the routine of
academical obligations, but to attain to eminent distinction in the
soundest qualifications for future usefulness. Very few, by a much
longer course of study, make any near approach to the extent of his
acquirements. In diligence he had no equal; in his attainments, he had
no competitor; and as his progress in the paths of learning was not
dishonoured by an ostentatious vanity, he won the esteem and admiration
of all who were connected with him in preparatory studies.

From the first general incorporation of the dissenting interest, by the
rigid persecutions of the hierarchy after the restoration of Charles II.
the body of non-conformists have always deemed it an important object,
to provide a succession of ministers competently qualified with divine
and human knowledge. Deprived of the splendid advantages of Oxford and
Cambridge, they have endeavoured, and with no inconsiderable success, to
supply the necessities of their churches, by seminaries of a more
private and humble kind. In every dissenting academy, founded on
evangelical principles, satisfactory evidence is always required, that
the candidates for admission have experienced the power of religion upon
their hearts, that they have suitable dispositions for the reception of
knowledge, and that they are possessed of qualifications adapted to the
service of the church. During their academical residence, vigilant
attention is paid to maintaining inviolate the honours of practical
godliness; and that residence would, in any instance, be terminated by
an act of immoral or scandalous conduct. In the whole course of study,
supreme homage is paid to the WORD OF GOD; and languages and sciences
are pursued with a constant reference to the increase of divine wisdom,
and general usefulness. When these advantages are duly considered,
dissenters have good reason to be thankfully reconciled to their
exclusion from the noble endowments, the magnificent libraries, and the
splendid honours of those universities. One of the best scholars and
ablest writers Oxford has produced, has made the following candid
remarks on this subject:

“I believe it to have been a very happy circumstance for Mr. Secker[4],
that he was educated in a dissenting academy, and under so good a tutor.
I attribute much of his future eminence to this circumstance, as well as
to the connection he fortunately formed there, that purity, that
dignity, that decency of character, which enabled him to fill the great
offices of the church with singular weight and efficacy. Educated in a
dissenting persuasion, and under dissenting tutors, he had paid less
attention to polite letters, and more to divinity, than is usually
bestowed by students in the universities. Young men in Oxford and
Cambridge, frequently arrive at an age for orders, and become successful
candidates for them, who have studied scarcely any other divinity, than
such as is to be found in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, and Tooke’s Pantheon.
Few regularly-bred divines, as they are termed, apply themselves to
divinity at so early an age; and, indeed, through the defect of a
knowledge, and of a taste for it, in youth, many, after obtaining
orders, still continue to study, if they study at all, the theology of
Athens and Rome. But the dissenters study divinity at an early age, and
if they had united the study of the belles lettres with it in due
proportion, I believe their divines would have made a still more
honourable appearance than they have done, though they are, and ever
have been, highly respectable[5].”

What Mr. Watts was as a _student_, the testimony of his tutor
sufficiently evinces: He never, Mr. Rowe declared, gave him any occasion
for reproof; but was so exemplary, that he often proposed him as a
pattern for the imitation of other pupils. The great ends of his studies
were fixed, and the subjects of them were substantial, he well knew the
value of his opportunities, nor was he at any loss as to the best means
of improving them. No time was given to vain amusements, or to
unnecessary indulgencies. The seasons of rest and exercise (so essential
to health) were curtailed, and so passionately was he devoted to the
increase of his knowledge, that he either laid the foundation of
disorders, which imbittered his future life, or, if latent, armed them
with the power which resisted all medical skill. The operations of his
own mind, his reading, his observation, and his social intercourse were
all made subservient to the great designs of his station. With the hands
of a Midas, he had the art of turning whatever he touched into gold: the
treasures of knowledge, both philosophical and theological, opened to
the world, so early after he left the academy, shew the intenseness of
his application, and the capaciousness of his mind during his residence
there. The most important works in every science engaged his attention;
and as he had no tedious hours to amuse, nor any fugitive curiosity to
gratify, his reading uniformly promoted the increase of his mental
riches. He did not rove about in the fields of science to gather
withering flowers, but the precious fruits _wherewith the mower filleth
his hand, and he that bindeth sheaves his bosom_. To impress upon his
memory the most important and interesting parts of the books he read, it
was his custom, to make judicious abridgements; and that he might
compose and digest the sentiments and arguments of his authors, in order
to render each in succession instrumental to the confirmation and
enlargement of his views, his principal books were interleaved.

The long silence of this excellent and accomplished youth, after he left
the academy, as to the primary object of all his studies, the preaching
of the gospel, affords considerable scope for conjecture: He was twenty
years old when he returned from London to Southampton; there he remained
two years; after which he went to reside in the family of Sir John
Hortopp, as tutor to his son, where he continued two years longer.

It is true he was but still a youth diffident of himself and deeply
affected with the importance of the ministry, under a sense of his
insufficiency and trembling lest he should go to the altar of God
uncalled. But after sixteen years spent in classical studies, after
uncommon proficiency in other parts of learning connected with the work
of the ministry, with every qualification for the sacred office, living
at a time when his public services were peculiarly needed and when he
was known and spoken of as promising celebrity in whatever profession he
might chuse, that with all these advantages he should continue in
retirement; is a fact difficult to account for, and for which only his
extreme diffidence can afford any apology.

But whatever were his reasons for so long a silence, his time was wisely
unproved; he gave himself up to reading, meditation, and prayer; and in
the family of his patron, besides discharging the duties of a tutor, he
was employed in several of his most useful and popular works,
particularly his Logic, Astronomy and Geography.

In the family of Sir John, he appears to have enjoyed, whatever was most
congenial with his views in friendship and devotion: his testimony in
his sermon on the death of Sir John is highly honourable to his virtue
and to the mingled respect, sorrow and gratitude of the preacher.

While he was increasing his mental treasures by study, and familiarising
the importance of these treasures to his pupil, he enjoyed opportunities
of conversing with the wise, the learned, and the devout, here his
thirst after knowledge increased daily and his ambition for usefulness.
The advantages of his situation, like the beams of light, fell upon an
object capable of reflecting them; and to this part of his life, may be
ascribed much of that superiority, by which he was afterwards
distinguished in the church; which still animates us in his writings,
and which amidst all the caprice of taste, or the revolutions of
opinions, will endear and perpetuate his remembrance.

On his birth-day 1698, he preached his first sermon; “Probably
considering _that_ as the day of a _second_ nativity, by which he
entered into a new period of existence.” Sometime in the course of this
year he was chosen assistant to Dr. Isaac Chauncy, pastor of the
Independant church then meeting in Mark-lane, and such was his
acceptance and success, that in January 1701-2, he succeeded Dr. Chauncy
in the pastoral office. The day on which he accepted his invitation to
this charge was distinguished by an event peculiarly interesting to the
friends of religious liberty. The death of King William III. brought a
cloud over the prospects of the dissenters; which in the close of the
succeeding reign, was ready to burst in showers of calamity, and which
was only dispelled, by the critical interposition of divine providence
in the death of queen Anne.

Mr. Watts, who had not entered upon the service of God without duly
counting the cost, was not to be discouraged by difficulties, nor
deterred by opposition. He had “engaged in a sacred work, where the
harvest is great, and the labourers are but few; while he had left the
field of ambition, where the labourers are many, and the harvest not
worth carrying away.”[6] His views were directed to right objects, his
principles invigorated his exertions, and the power with which he was
endowed from on high, enabled him to speak with irresistible wisdom. The
same month in which he assented to the unanimous call of the church, he
was solemnly set apart to the important relationship; and never did any
young man assume the pastoral office with higher qualifications, with
deeper humility, or with more ardent desires for the eternal welfare of
men. His public declaration of acquiescence in the choice of the church
(of which some abstracts are here subjoined) while it illustrates the
truth of these observations, will gratify every reader of spiritual
discernment.

“Brethren,

“You know the constant aversion I have had to any proposals of a
pastoral office for these three years. You know also, that since you
have given me an unanimous call thereto, I have proposed several methods
for your settlement without me, but your choice and your affections
seemed to be still unmoved. I have objected my own indisposition of
body, and I have pointed to three divines, members of this church, whose
gifts might render them more proper for instruction, and their age for
government. These things I have urged till I have provoked you to sorrow
and tears, and till I myself have been almost ashamed. But your
perseverance in your choice, your constant profession of edification by
my ministry, the great probability you shew me of building up this
famous and decayed church of Christ, and your prevailing fears of its
dissolution, if I refuse, have given me ground to believe, that the
voice of this church is the voice of Christ; and to answer this call, I
have not consulted with flesh and blood: I have laid aside the thoughts
of myself to serve the interest of our Lord. I give up my own ease for
your spiritual profit and your increase. I submit my inclinations to my
duty, and in hopes of being made an instrument to build up this ancient
church, I return this solemn answer to your call, that, with a great
sense of my own inability in mind and body to discharge the duties of so
sacred an office, I do, in the strength of Christ, venture upon it, and
in his name I accept your call, promising in the presence of God and his
saints, my utmost diligence in all the duties of a pastor, so far as God
shall enlighten and strengthen me; and I leave this promise in the bands
of Christ our Mediator, to see it performed by me unto you, through the
assistance of his grace and Spirit.”

These professions and promises were followed by corresponding diligence
and holy zeal. The number and variety of his writings, the frequency and
excellence of his preaching, his exact attention to the spiritual
affairs of his flock by domestic visits, when not confined by illness,
shew the intenseness of his industry, and a laborious piety, as uncommon
to others as they were honourable to himself. The younger members of his
church were peculiarly interested in his affection and zeal. For them he
was always forming plans of religious improvement, and when he could no
longer be useful to them in the pulpit, he was solicitous for them in
his afflicting confinement. To promote their prosperity and happiness in
the momentous concerns of a future world, he formed a society from this
class of his charge, for prayer and spiritual conference. In this
society the substance of his Guide to Prayer was originally delivered.

In visiting the families of his congregation, he was always careful to
leave a savour of divine truth upon their minds; and as his own piety
was chearful, he endeavoured to diffuse its benign influences wherever
he went: Walking or riding, in company or in retirement, he was either
improving himself or others. He was never so much at home as in his
study, nor ever more in his element than when engaged in performing the
works of mercy and the labours of love.

His tempers were such as became his character, and secured to him the
veneration and esteem of those who most materially differed from him in
points of faith. To say he had his imperfections is only to assert, that
he was a man and not an angel. If his natural tempers were hasty, and he
occasionally expressed himself with a keenness bordering on resentment,
he was habitually meek and lowly.

With a mind eminently susceptible of the emotions of friendship and
gratitude, he was superior to the contracted views, and the untempered
zeal of the bigot. “It was not only in his book but in his mind that
orthodoxy was united with charity.” He knew how to sustain injurious
treatment without retaliating. His meekness of opposition was
remarkable, and the good he performed was unclouded by pharisaical
ostentation. His popularity was duly tempered by his low opinion of
himself, and his afflictions were sanctified by patient submission to
the unerring will of heaven. The love of money in a minister of Christ,
he looked on with contempt and detestation. A third part of his income
he devoted to the purposes of charity, and when he was incapable of his
public labours he refused to receive his salary. Happy will be that
reader whose mind is disposed, by his writings, to copy his benevolence
to man and his reverence to God.

In company he assumed no superiority, nor could any wise and good man
feel his superiority with other sentiments than such as were mutually
honourable. His conversation betrayed none of the weakness of egotism,
nor the malevolence of detraction. He could be entertaining without
levity, and serious without austerity. With a natural easy flow of
thought he combined aptness, purity, and elegance of expression; so
affable and engaging was his deportment wherever he went, that the
enquiring virtuous mind was always gratified, while the gay and
thoughtless were fixed in attentive veneration, and so conspicuously
were the beauties of sincerity delineated in his social character that
he was not more admired as a man of talents and learning, than he was
sought, loved and trusted as a faithful friend.

As a preacher, Dr. Watts ranks with the most eminent: His published
sermons afford a happy specimen of the spirit which pervaded his pulpit
exercises. Here is no trimming, no disguise of sentiment, all is
transparent and clear as crystal. He thought with the humility that
becomes a fallible man, but he spoke with all the perspicuity, decision,
and boldness, of an honest man. What is said of Mr. Philip Henry is not
less applicable to him. He was admired and loved, because, though so
excellent a scholar and so polite an orator, he became so profitable and
powerful a preacher, and so readily laid aside the enticing words of
man’s wisdom, which were so easy to him. While he avoided whatsoever
could disgust the learned and polite he was equally cautious not to soar
above the illiterate. In his sermons dignity and simplicity are so
conspicuous that every one sees he only wished to gain access to the
passions through the medium of the understanding. Sometimes he thought
he descended too low in accommodating his style to ignorance and dulness
of apprehension. In his discourse on Humility, represented in the
character of St. Paul, he makes this apology for descending to familiar
and low scenes of life. I almost reprove myself here, and suspect my
friends will reprove me too for introducing such low scenes of life, and
such trivial occurrences into a grave discourse. I have put the matter
into the balances as well as I can, and weighed the case, and the result
is this: General and distant declamations seldom strike the conscience
with such conviction as particular representations do; and since this
iniquity often betrays itself in these trivial instances, it is better
perhaps to set them forth in their full and proper light, than that the
guilty should never feel a reproof, who, by the very nature of their
distemper, are unwilling to see or learn their own folly, unless it is
set in a glaring view[7].

But as his great aim was to be understood, and to supply his hearers
with suitable matter for holy meditation in private; as he watched for
souls like one that was to give an account, a divine solemnity
accompanied all he said. The frivolous, jocular disposition of some
modern pulpit orators, never degraded his character, never insulted the
decency of public worship, or mocked the expectations of the devout
mind. Where is the expression that could raise the faintest blush upon
the cheek of modesty, or irritate the risibility of the most puerile?

In his personal appearance there was little that could interest the
admirers of external comeliness. He was low of stature, and his bodily
presence was weak; yet there was a certain dignity in his countenance,
and such piercing expression in his eyes, as commanded attention and
awe. His manner was animated; but not boisterous; the self-possession he
enjoyed was inspired by confidence in God; and therefore, discovered
nothing but respect and affection for his hearers. When Dr. Gibbons
asked him, if he did not find himself sometimes too much awed by his
auditory, he replied, That when such a gentleman, of eminent abilities
and learning, has come into the assembly, and taken his eye, he felt
something like a momentary tremor, but that he recovered himself by
remembering what God said to the Prophet Jeremiah, “Be not dismayed at
their faces, lest I confound thee before them.” In preparation for his
ministry, he wrote and committed to memory, the leading features of his
cursory sermons; the rest he trusted to his extemporary powers, and the
promised assistance of the Holy Spirit; and he never failed to acquit
himself with credit. “His reading had made him a full man, conference a
ready man, writing an exact man[8],” and his free access to the fulness
of Christ made him an essentially profitable man. At the conclusion of
weighty sentences it was his custom to pause, that he might quicken the
attention and more solemnly impress the realities of the gospel upon the
mind. He had cultivated with care and singular success the graces of
language. The correctness of his pronunciation, the elegance of his
diction, and the grandeur of his sentiments, obtained him an uncommon
share of popularity. I once mentioned, says Dr. Johnson, the reputation
which Mr. Foster had gained by his proper delivery to my friend Mr.
Hawkesworth, who told me, that in the art of pronunciation he was far
inferior to Dr. Watts.

His ambition of usefulness was confined to no time or place; such was
his love to the Head of the church, and his compassion for the fallen
children of men, that he was eager to seize every opportunity of
glorifying him, and administering the word of salvation to them, as the
subsequent anecdote, communicated by Mr. Kingsbury, of Southampton, to
Dr. Gibbons, will testify:—“Mr. Richard Ellcock was a servant in old Mr.
Watts’s family. Dr. Watts going to London after the last time of his
visiting his father at Southampton, Richard Ellcock was ordered to go
with him a day’s journey. The Doctor entered into serious discourse with
him, which made a deep and lasting impression on his heart and was the
means of his sound and saving conversion. After the Doctor came to
London, he wrote to his father, recommending the servant to his
particular regard, for that he doubted not he would make an eminent
christian, and so he lived and died, leaving an honourable character for
piety and uprightness behind him.”

Soon after he had entered upon his pastoral labours, he was visited with
illness, which threatened all the sanguine hopes of his people with an
early period to his usefulness. His confinement was long, his recovery
slow, and his constitution considerably impaired. Under these
circumstances, the Rev. Samuel Price was chosen to assist him in the
duties of his office. However, his exertions were renewed with his
strength, and his sufferings enabled him to preach more than ever to the
instruction and delight of his hearers. In the prosecution of his
various plans of usefulness, he met with no material interruption till
September, 1712, when he was seized with a fever of such violence, that
it brought a debility upon his nerves, for which time afforded no
remedy, and which entirely laid him aside from the exercise of his
ministry more than four years. How inscrutable are the dispensations of
providence, when men who, for disseminating the doctrines of the cross,
possess the first qualifications, are laid aside or cut off in the
flower of their age, while others, far below mediocrity, live till they
become useless and burdensome!

Of the affectionate solicitude of his people for the restoration of his
health he was honoured with the best evidence by their unceasing prayers
to God for him in this season of trouble. Particular days were set apart
for this purpose, in which many of his brethren in the ministry united
as men deeply impressed with the importance of his life; and their
prayers were answered. Mr. Price, his assistant, was now, at Mr. Watts’s
own desire, elected to be joint pastor with him; and he was accordingly
ordained to this office, March 3, 1713. Between these two
fellow-labourers there subsisted, till death, an inviolable friendship.
The amiable subject of our memoirs speaks of Mr. Price as his faithful
friend and companion in the ministry; and mentions a legacy that he
leaves him, “as only a small testimony of his great affection for him,
on account of his services of love during the many harmonious years of
their fellowship in the work of the gospel.” When the preachers of
religion, whether they sustain such immediate relationship or not, thus
live superior to the meanness and guilt of depreciating and envying each
others reputation, talents, and services in the church; when the
despicable spirit of competition, and variance, of cold civility, and
jealousy is absorbed in brotherly love, and in generous exertions for
the just honour of each other, then they will furnish an effectual
confutation to the ignorant clamours of infidelity against priest-craft,
and as was the case with these two excellent men, the friendship they
exercise will return seven-fold into their own bosoms.

The afflicting state to which Mr. Watts was reduced by this sickness,
inspired his friends with a tender and becoming sympathy, and
particularly engaged the benevolent attention of Sir Thos. Abney, at
that time an alderman of London, and afterwards one of its
representatives in parliament: A man of eminent piety and zeal, a
blessing to his country and the church of God. He died in the year 1722,
deeply regretted by all the friends who were contemporary with him and
acquainted with his worth, and no less respectfully remembered wherever
the works of Dr. Watts are read, by the monuments of his friendship for
the author; a friendship pure and uniform, without the usual pride of
patronage, or the obsequiousness of timid submission. In this family he
found an asylum from the anxieties of dependance, and that still more
endeared by the perception of reciprocal benefits. Here he experienced
all the tenderness and care that the languishing state of his health
required.

Whatever riches and munificence could supply, or respect and affection
suggest to alleviate these painful vicissitudes, he enjoyed to the full
extent of his wishes, and to the happy event of his introduction into
this benevolent family may be ascribed the prolongation of a life the
value of which may be estimated by the many excellent works which he
published, during his long residence with them. The same respect and
friendship shewn him by Sir Thomas Abney were perpetuated by his lady
and their daughter till his days were numbered and finished. Lady Abney
died about a year after him. She was endowed with every virtue essential
to an illustrious example.

The following anecdote, communicated to the late Mr. Toplady by the
Countess of Huntingdon, will serve to confirm what is said of the happy
terms upon which he lived with this house. The Countess being on a visit
to Dr. Watts at Stoke-Newington, was thus accosted by him: Your ladyship
is come to see me, on a very remarkable day. “Why is this day so
remarkable?” answered the Countess. “This very day thirty years,”
replied the Doctor, “I came to the house of my good friend Sir Thomas
Abney, intending to spend but a single week under his friendly roof: and
I have extended my visit to the length of thirty years:” Lady Abney who
was present, immediately said, Sir what you term a long thirty years
visit I consider as the shortest visit my family ever received. His
gratitude, in the review of his obligations during a thirty-six years
residence with her ladyship, is strongly marked in a passage of his
will, where he speaks of the generous and tender care shewn him by her
ladyship and her family in his long illness, many years ago when he was
capable of no service, and also her eminent friendship and goodness
during his continuance in the family ever since.

The various stories circulated of his strange nervous affections, or
father it should be said, of his intellectual derangement, appear to
have been the fabrications of the designing, and only to have obtained
belief with the credulous. “I take upon me, and feel myself happy,” says
his biographer and friend, Dr. Gibbons, “to aver, that these reports
were utterly false, and I do this from my own knowledge of him for
several years, and some of them the years of his decay; from the express
declaration of his amanuensis, who was ever with him, and above all from
that of Mrs. Elizabeth Abney, who lived in the same family with him
thirty-six years.”

But his constitution was broken, and his nervous system considerably
disordered and debilitated, by the frequent and heavy strokes of
illness, and his intense exertions of mind, especially in his youth[9].
He was for several years together greatly distressed with insomnia, or
continued wakefulness. Very often he could obtain no sleep for several
nights successively except such as was forced by medical preparations;
and not unfrequently even opiates lost their virtue, and only served to
aggravate his malady. It is wonderful how, with such a weak frame and so
many shocks rapidly succeeding each other, he was able to maintain such
equanimity of temper, and vigour of intellect: The state of his mind
through all the decays of nature, his humble confidence and his joy gave
the decisive stamp of reality to his hopes and exemplified the sublime
attainments of which we are capable in this vale of imperfection and
sorrow. His superiority to the pressures of sickness, and his triumphant
assurance of the love of God are beautifully expressed in his own devout
soliloquy which he entitles Thoughts and Meditations in a long sickness,
1712-1713.

              Yet, gracious God, amidst these storms of nature,
            Thine eyes behold a sweet and sacred calm
            Reign through the realms of conscience. All within
            Lies peaceful, all compos’d. ’Tis wondrous grace
            Keeps off thy terrors from this humble bosom.
            Though stain’d with sins and follies, yet serene
            In penitential peace, and chearful hope,
            Sprinkled and guarded with atoning blood.
            Thy vital smiles, amidst this desolation,
            Like heav’nly sun-beams hid behind the clouds,
            Break out in happy moments, with bright radiance
            Cleaving the gloom, the fair celestial light
            Softens and gilds the horrors of the storm,
            And richest cordials to the heart conveys.

              O glorious solace of immense distress,
            A conscience and a God! A friend at home,
            And better friend on high! This is my rock
            Of firm support, my shield of sure defence
            Against infernal arrows. Rise, my soul,
            Put on thy courage. Here’s the living spring,
            Of joys divinely sweet and ever new.
            A peaceful conscience, and a smiling heav’n.

The two universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen in the year 1728
severally conferred on him unsolicited and without his knowledge, the
degree of doctor in divinity. This academical honour was never better
bestowed or received with less vanity; and happy would it have been for
such seminaries had titles of this sort never been disgraced by any
thing mercenary in their source or by ignorance or superciliousness in
their subjects. In this case the honour was reciprocal, so far as a
diploma may be allowed to bear any proportion to poignancy of genius,
highly cultivated understanding, the richest talents of the head, added
to the most amiable virtues of the heart.

Although a non-conformist from principles and uniformly such in
practice, he held a friendly correspondence with some of the first
characters in the established church. Among these were Seeker,
archbishop of Canterbury, Gibson, bishop of London; Hort, archbishop of
Tuam, and many others of elevated rank and eminent literary reputation.
Their letters[10] to him are written in an uncommon strain of
reiteration and esteem, and although many expressions occur which bear
too near an affinity to the language of flattery, those who knew the man
and were benefited by his writings may be allowed some latitude beyond
what is common in such cases.

If, while the deadly night shade of infidelity is diffusing its poison
through our country, churchmen and dissenters, especially the clergy and
those who entertain the same views of the faith that was once delivered
to the saints, could agree thus to differ, and lay aside all intemperate
zeal for and against the modes and forms of religion; would they
mutually cherish brotherly love and unite as far as possible to aid each
others exertions in the common cause; what a mighty change would soon be
produced in the state of religion, and what sources of pleasure they
would daily open to the advocates of the truth?

Mental light has no immediate or necessary dependance upon exterior
circumstances, nor can it be confined within the bounds of any
denomination, so like that glorious element its progress is
irresistible, and must be unbounded in its dominion. Here superstition
has no influence, bigotry has no power; and although we cannot
accurately pronounce the Shibboleth and Sibboleth of different parties,
we may yet unite our prayers and our zeal where, as the candidates for
eternal life, we are all one. As we often perceive in chemical
experiments that two things the most hostile by nature, and most averse
to unite, by the addition of a third become perfectly miscible, so by a
spirit of true piety and candour poured out upon both, we should see
conformists and non-conformists extend to each other the right hand of
fellowship and unite in every office of friendship and in all the
obligations of their religious characters. May the auspicious period
soon dawn when Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and when Judah shall not
vex Ephraim.

              Let us no more contend, nor blame
              Each other, blamed enough elsewhere, but strive,
              In offices of love, how we may lighten
              Each other’s burden in our share of woe[11].

“Such characters as Dr. Watts still live and flourish in our churches:
(I adopt the words of a late acute writer). It would be easy to give a
long list of names from the dawn of the reformation to this day: but I
sacrifice the pleasure of doing so to the modesty of my friends. This
however, I will venture to say, and _no man shall stop me of this
boasting_, we have in our churches now exact copies of our ancient
models. _The prophets, do they live for ever?_ Yes they do. _The
spirit of Elijah rests upon Elisha!_ The grave solidity of Cartwright
and Jacob seemed to reside in our Owens and Goodwins and Gills. The
vivacity of Watts and Bradbury and Earle lives in others, whom I dare
not name. The patient laborious Fox, the silver Bates, the melting
Baxter, the piercing Mead, the generous Williams, the instructive
Henry, the soft and candid Doddridge, Ridgley, and Gale, and Banyan
and Burgess, in all their variegated beauties yet flourish in our
pulpits exercising their different talents for mutual edification. We
have Barnabas the son of consolation, and Boanerges the thunderer,
still.—Ye servants of the Most High God, who shew unto us the way of
salvation! _Peace be within the walls of_ your churches, _and
prosperity within your_ dwelling-houses[12].”

One great man after celebrating the just praises of Dr. Watts’s talents,
after acknowledging he was such as every christian church would rejoice
to adopt, descends to the miserable littleness of cautioning the world
against his non-conformity, as if that were a diminution of his
literary, or a blot upon his theological reputation. A melancholy proof
how far a philosophic mind may sometimes be debased by a churlish
bigotry; the very spirit that gave birth to all the persecutions which
harassed and oppressed the present established church when she dissented
from the church of Rome, and to which we may ascribe all the animosities
which divide and degrade those who only deviate in questions of a
circumstantial discipline since that period. In Dr. Watts were combined
all the excellencies which form a complete reverse of a party zealot,
and if a meek and lowly mind could shield the memory of any man from the
envenomed influence of this passion, his non-conformity had never been
mentioned but with a view of recommending the virtues by which he so
greatly adorned it.

As an author no man’s posthumous claim upon the gratitude of the church
and of his country, can be urged with a more imperative tone: The
natural strength of his genius, which he cultivated and improved by a
very considerable acquaintance with the most celebrated writers, both
ancient and modern, had enriched his mind with a large and uncommon
store of just sentiments, and useful knowledge of various kinds. His
soul was too noble and large, to be confined within narrow limits, he
could not be content to leave any path of learning untried, nor rest in
a total ignorance of any science, the knowledge of which might be for
his own improvement, or might in any way tend to enlarge his capacity of
being useful to others.

Though that which gave him the most remarkable pre-eminence was the
extent and sublimity of his imagination: how few have excelled, or even
equalled him in quickness of apprehension, and solidity of judgment: and
having also a faithful memory to retain what he collected from the
labours of others, he was able to pay it back again into the common
treasury of learning with a large increase. It is a question whether any
author before him ever appeared with reputation on such a variety of
subjects, as he has done, both as a prose-writer, and a poet. However
this we may venture to say, that there is no man now living of whose
works so many have been dispersed, both at home and abroad, that are in
such constant use, and translated into such a variety of languages; many
of which will remain more durable monuments of his great talents, than
any representation we can take of them, though it were to be graven on
pillars of brass[13].

His excellent friend, Dr. Doddridge, in his dedication of his Rise and
Progress of Religion in the Soul, congratulates him, “that while
condescending to the humble work of forming infant minds to the first
rudiments of religious knowledge by his _various Catechisms_ and _Divine
Songs_, he was also daily reading lectures of logic and other useful
branches of philosophy to studious youth, and this not only in private
academies but in the most celebrated seats of learning, not merely in
Scotland, and in our American colonies, where for some peculiar
considerations it might be most naturally expected, but, through the
amiable candour of some excellent men and accomplished tutors, in our
English universities too. And that he was also teaching hundreds of
ministers and private christians by his sermons, and other theological
tracts, so happily calculated to diffuse through their minds that light
of knowledge, and through their hearts that fervour of piety, which God
had been pleased to enkindle in his own. And as to my certain knowledge
your compositions have been the singular comfort of many excellent
christians on their dying beds, for I have heard stanzas of them
repeated from the lips of several, who were doubtless in a few hours to
begin the song of Moses and the Lamb, so I hope and trust, that, when
God shall call you to that salvation for which your faith and patience
have so long been waiting, he will shed around you the choicest beams of
his favour, and gladden your heart with consolations like those which
you have been the happy instrument of administering to others.”

Dr. Johnson, whom no one here will suspect of partiality, and whose
decisions in such case no one will dispute, acknowledges that few books
had been perused by him with greater pleasure, than Watts’s Improvement
of the Mind, of which he says, “the radical principles may indeed be
found in Locke’s Conduct of the Understanding, but they are so expanded
and ramified by Watts, as to confer upon him the merit of a work in the
highest degree useful and pleasing. Whoever has the care of instructing
others may be charged with deficience in his duty if this book be not
recommended.”

Of his Logic, which soon obtained considerable celebrity at home and
abroad, Lord Barrington speaks in the following terms of high encomium:

“I returned you my thanks for the kind present of your Logic soon after
I received it. I can now do it on much better grounds, for since I have
read it, I do not barely thank you for the civility, or the satisfaction
I have received on reading a book finely written on a noble and useful
subject, or for the profit I have reaped by it, but for a book, by
which, I expect, not only the youth of England, but all, who are not too
lazy, or too wise to learn, will be taught to think and write better
than they do, and thereby become better subjects, better neighbours,
better relatives, and better christians; for as wrong reasoning helps to
spoil each of these, so far will putting us in a right way of thinking,
help to mend us. I think your book so good an help to us in this way,
that I shall not only recommend it to others, but use it as a manual of
its kind myself, and intend, as some have done Erasmus or a piece of
Cicero, for another purpose—to read it over once a year.”

The author of the Meditations among the Tombs, and the Dialogues between
Theron and Aspasio, in a letter of acknowledgment for the present of his
discourses on the glory of Christ, says—“To say your works have long
been my delight and study, the favourite pattern by which I would form
my conduct and model my style, would only be to echo back in the
faintest accents what sounds in the general voice of the nation. Among
others of your edifying compositions, I have reason to thank you for
your sacred songs, which I have introduced into the service of my
church; so that, in the solemnities of the sabbath, and in a lecture on
the week day, your muse lights up the incense of our praise, and
furnishes our devotion with harmony.”

The Countess of Hertford, afterwards Duchess of Somerset, writes to him
in a strain of peculiar admiration and thankfulness, on reading his
Theological Works. “Almost all the hours I passed alone, I have employed
in reading your works, which for ever represent to my imagination the
idea of a ladder or flight of steps, since every volume seems to rise a
step nearer to the language of heaven, and there is a visible
progression toward that better country through every page, so that,
though all breathe piety and just reason, the last seems to crown the
whole, till you shall again publish something to enlighten a dark and
obstinate age, for I must believe that the manner in which you treat
divine subjects, is more likely to reform and work upon the affections
of your readers, than that of any other writer now living. I hope God
will, in mercy to many thousands, myself in particular, prolong your
life many years. I own this does not seem a kind wish to you, but I
think you will be content to bear the infirmities of the flesh some
years longer, to be an instrument in the hands of God, toward the
salvation of your weak and distressed brethren.”

Dr. Vicesimus Knox, in his Christian Philosophy, after a long citation
from the Inward Witness to Christianity, concludes thus:—“For my own
part, I cannot but think this good man approached as nearly to christian
perfection as any mortal ever did in this sublunary state; and therefore
I consider him as a better interpreter of the christian doctrines than
the most learned critics, who, proud of their reason and their learning,
despised or neglected the very life and soul of christianity, the
living, everlasting gospel, the supernatural operation of divine grace;
and be it ever remembered, that Dr. Watts was a man who cultivated his
reason with particular care, who studied the abstrusest sciences, and
was as well qualified to become a verbal critic, or a logical disputant
on the scriptures, as the most learned among the doctors of Sorbonne, or
the greatest proficients in polemical divinity. I mentioned this
circumstance for the consideration of those who insinuate that the
doctrines of grace cannot be entertained but by ignorant as well as
fanatical persons; by persons uninitiated in the mysteries of
philosophy.”

His Theological Works are numerous, and none of them appear to have been
hurried into the world under the impulse of a thoughtless vanity. The
perspicuity and elegance of his expression and the richness of his
imagination, enliven the most common subjects, and add lustre to the
most interesting. The multiplicity and diversity of his native and
acquired talents are every where conspicuous; and the application of
these talents uniformly discovers an accurate knowledge of human nature,
a high veneration of the gospel, an unshaken attachment to the cause of
christian liberty, and an habitual readiness for any sacrifice to the
virtue and happiness of the world. While exploring the most abstruse
subjects of corporeal and spiritual nature, he became a teacher of
babes; and that wayfaring men, though almost ideots, might not err in
the path of life, he laid aside the metaphysician and the philosopher,
to explain the doctrines and familiarise the history of the bible.
“Whatever he took in hand was, by incessant solicitude for souls,
converted to theology; it is difficult to read a page without learning,
or at least wishing, to be better. The attention is caught by indirect
instruction, and he that sat down only to reason, is on a sudden
compelled to pray.”

The Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts, which have given his name a kind of
immortality in our worshipping assemblies, deserve to be mentioned,
independent of their intrinsic merit, for the circumstance in which they
originated. The Hymns which were sung at the dissenting-meeting in
Southampton, were so little to his judgment and taste, that he could not
forbear complaining of them to his father. His father, who, perhaps,
fondly attached to his old guides in this service, and impatient of
innovations, was not very well pleased, bid him try what he could do to
mend the matter. He immediately set to work, and so successful was he in
his first essay, that a second was earnestly desired, and then a third,
and a fourth, till there was such a number as to make up a volume, which
was afterwards considerably enlarged. The first edition of his Hymns was
published in 1707, and his Psalms, 1719. The happy manner in which he
has rendered these composures intelligible to the ignorant, yet
instructive and delightful to the more intelligent, shew at once, how
warm a desire of extensive usefulness animated his heart, and how
skilful an hand directed his pen; while the strong images, the bold
flights, the lively painting, the sublimity of thought, and majesty of
expression, which occur in some other of his poetical writings, proclaim
what a master he was in that art, and how much self-denial he practised,
in condescending to a lower strain, when the genius for which he wrote
required it.

The two volumes published as the Dr.’s Posthumous Works, must be
ascribed to the avarice of a bookseller, or to the urgent calls of
hunger, expecting success from the celebrity of his character, and the
general avidity with which his productions were received. These volumes
are said, in the title-page, to be compiled from papers in possession of
his immediate successors, and to be adjusted and published by a
gentleman of the University of Cambridge. Many of the hymns in the first
volume were published before, and, with only one exception, they are
unmercifully mutilated. The rest bear no more resemblance to the poetic
ardor and sublimity of Dr. Watts’s muse, than the grasshopper does to
the eagle. It would be easy to select various proofs of imposition in
this work, were it necessary; but none, who have read the poet, can
hesitate to pronounce it a malicious attempt to hold him up to ridicule
and contempt; or, which is most probable, a design to make his name the
medium of pecuniary advantage. Such a farrago should not have been
mentioned, but as a reason for their exclusion from the genuine works.

Such authors as the subject of these memorials are the glory of nations.
The man whose writings expose the doctrines and ordinances of
christianity to contempt, who artfully endeavours to destroy the cause
of virtue, while he affects to celebrate its praise, by taking away all
its animating principle, throws open the flood gates of licentiousness,
destroys all public spirit, social order, domestic fidelity, and
personal happiness, takes the subject from under the restraint of the
civil law, saps the foundation of honour and confidence in commerce,
involves his wretched proselytes in the guilt of inveterate rebellion
against the Prince of Life, and subjects them to inconceivable woes in
the future world. When authors, whose writings have thus subverted the
faith, poisoned the morals, and destroyed the souls of their deluded
readers, are forgotten, or only remembered as objects of execration, the
Works of Dr. Watts justly claim the gratitude of his country, will be
perpetuated as blessings in the church, and be honoured with the final
plaudit of the Supreme Judge.

The dissolution of Dr. Watts fully corresponded with his holy and useful
life. For near three years prior to this period, his lamp had given such
a tremulous and uncertain light, that his friends daily expected its
utter extinction. But his prospects were bright and his confidence was
firm. If his intellectual faculties were not vigorous, they yet
continued to perform their office to the last. When in full possession
of himself he committed his soul into the hands of his Redeemer,
triumphing over all the terrors of death. Thus glorifying his profession
and the ministry of the gospel, administering the consolations of hope
to his sorrowing friends, and displaying the faith, fortitude, and joy,
which form the noblest conclusion of a life devoted to God.

Soon after, Mr. Henry Grove, who contracted an intimate friendship with
Dr. Watts, had published a funeral sermon on the fear of death; the
subject was treated in so masterly a manner that a person of
considerable rank in the learned world declared, that after reading it
he could have laid down and died, with as much readiness and
satisfaction as he had ever done any thing in his life. Some similar
effects may, it is hoped, be produced by reviewing the circumstances of
an event, where theory was most unusually realized in experimental fact.
It is not from books however finely written, but from the lips of the
dying disciple of Jesus, that we shall learn the exercise of patience
and courage in the anticipation of that state where we shall flourish in
everlasting health and vigour.

Let us mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, and see how
peacefully he reposes on his dying pillow, with what chearfulness he
bids adieu to his friends, and how he descends to the grave in a full
age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season. The day of this great
man’s life was not more useful in its progress, than serene and glorious
in its close. Without perturbation he read his summons to appear before
the Judge of all, and without reluctance he obeyed. After a long and
rough voyage he came with a propitious gale within sight of the peaceful
harbour; and how fully he enjoyed the prospect, his own language in that
happy period will abundantly testify.

With application to himself he often repeated the words of Paul to the
Hebrews, “Ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of
God, ye may receive the promise.” Not that he was exercised with bodily
pain, but, retaining his desire to do good in undiminished force, he was
not at times so resigned to his providential disability as he should
have been. In such a frame of mind perhaps, he once said, “I wonder why
the great God should continue me in life, when I am incapable of
performing him any further service.” But now he had finished the work
given him to do, he must quietly wait till the Lord of the vineyard
shall bestow the promised, the desired reward. With these considerations
he would check the encroachments of impatience, “The business of a
christian,” said he, “is to bear the will of God, as well as to do it.
If I were in health I could only be doing that, and that I may do now.
The best thing in obedience is a regard to the will of God, and the way
to that is to get our inclinations and aversions as much mortified as we
can.” He discoursed much of his dependance upon the atoning sacrifice of
Christ; and his trust in God through the Mediator remained unshaken to
the last. “I should be glad,” he said, “to read more, yet not in order
to be confirmed more in the truth of the christian religion, or in the
truth of its promises, for I believe them enough to venture an eternity
on them.” How his soul was absorbed in the faith of these promises, and
the certainty of their accomplishment, all who visited him during the
illness which terminated in his dissolution, could bear testimony.

On retiring to rest, he has been heard to declare, that if his Master
had no more work for him to do, he should be glad to be dismissed that
night, “I bless God,” he would say, at other times, “I can lie down with
comfort at night, not being solicitous whether I awake in this world or
another.” When he was almost worn out by his infirmities, he observed in
conversation with a friend, that he remembered an aged minister used to
say, that the most learned and knowing christians, when they came to
die, have only the same plain promises of the gospel for their support,
as the common and unlearned: “and so,” said he, “I find it. It is the
plain promises of the gospel that are my support, and I bless God they
are plain promises, that do not require much labour and pains to
understand them; for I can do nothing now but look into my bible for
some promise to support me, and live upon that.” In this way the
promises became a present inheritance of support and consolation both as
the security and prelibations of his future exaltation before the throne
of God; and “As the setting sun appears of greater magnitude, and his
beams of richer gold than when in his meridian, so this dying believer
was richer in experience, stronger in grace, and brighter in his
evidences for heaven than was usual in any period of his life.” With
some view, no doubt to this happy state of mind, Dr. Grovesnor, being at
the funeral of Dr. Watts, a friend said to him, “Well Dr. Grovesnor, you
have seen the end of Dr. Watts; and you will soon follow him: what think
you of death?” “Think of it.”—he replied, “why when death comes I shall
smile upon him, if God will smile upon me.”

His freedom from corporeal pain, and his uninterrupted assurance that
all was well, excited the strongest sentiments and expressions of
gratitude in his last moments, when without a struggle or a groan,
November 25, 1748, in the 75th year of his age, he departed this life,
eminently beloved of God, and lamented by all wise and good men. Such
are the joys and honours derived from the doctrines of Christianity.
Such are the joys and honours by which the true believer shall be
faithfully attended through the valley of the shadow of death, and which
will be consummated in the fruition of an eternal weight of glory. Let
those who doubt and despise our faith consider of what importance
religion is to the sick and dying, and till they possess the power of
healing, and of restoration from the borders of the grave, let them not
take away the only support of our hopes, the only solace of our
afflictions: Let them not interpose between us and the bright prospects
of life and immortality.

The remains of this great man were deposited in Bunhill-fields
burial-ground, London; and to give a final testimony to his affection
and liberality, his pall was supported by six ministers, two of the
presbyterian, two of the congregational, and two of the
antipoedo-baptist denomination, Dr. Samuel Chandler delivered an oration
at the grave, and Dr. Jennings preached his funeral sermon to the church
of which Dr. Watts had been pastor, from Hebrews xi. 4. “By it he being
dead yet speaketh.” Several other eminent men gave similar testimonies
of respect to his memory. But while his various excellencies procured
him these honours, he in his life time, was concerned to prevent
whatever might be considered as inconsistent with the humility of his
character. He gave directions to have only a stone erected over the
place of his interment, with this humble inscription:

    “ISAAC WATTS, D. D. Pastor of a Church of Christ, in London,
    successor to the Rev. Mr. Joseph Caryl, Dr. John Owen, Mr. David
    Clarkson, and Dr. Isaac Chauncy; after fifty years of feeble labours
    in the gospel, interrupted by four years of tiresome sickness, was
    at last dismissed to his rest.

    “In uno Jesu omnia.

    “2 Cor. v. 8.—Absent from the body, and present with the Lord.

    “Col. iii. 4.—When Christ who is my life shall appear, then shall I
    also appear with him in glory.”

A handsome tomb, bearing this inscription, with the time of his death,
was accordingly erected at the joint expence of Sir John Hartopp, once
his pupil, and Lady Abney, in whose house he so long and so happily
resided.

Footnote 1:

  Reynolds.

Footnote 2:

  Seed.

Footnote 3:

  Howe.

Footnote 4:

  Afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury.

Footnote 5:

  Knox.

Footnote 6:

  Goldsmith.

Footnote 7:

  Discourses on Humility.

Footnote 8:

  Bacon.

Footnote 9:

  What he says in one of his sermons shews to what the corporeal
  afflictions of his later days may be ascribed: Midnight studies are
  prejudicial to nature, and painful experience calls me to repent of
  the faults of my younger years, and there are many before me have had
  the same call to repentance. Wearing out the lightsome hours in sleep
  is an unnatural waste of sun-beams. There is no light so friendly to
  animal nature as that of the sun. Serm. xx.

Footnote 10:

  Letters published by Dr. Gibbons.

Footnote 11:

  Milton.

Footnote 12:

  Robinson.

Footnote 13:

  Jennings.




               DEDICATION TO THE FIRST VOLUME OF SERMONS.
     _To the Church of Christ assembling in Berry-street, London._


Christian Friends, dearly beloved in our Lord;

It is in the service of your souls that I have spent the best period of
my life ministering the gospel among you. Two and twenty years are now
expired since you first called me to this delightful work; from that
time my cares and labours, my studies and prayers, have been employed in
your behalf. I trust they have been accepted with God, and, through his
almighty blessing, have obtained some success. As to their acceptance
with you, I have too many and plain evidences to admit a doubt of it;
which I have often thankfully acknowledged to God and you. Your forward
kindness hath always forbid my request, nor do I remember that you ever
gave me leave to ask any thing for myself at your hands, by your
constant anticipation of all that I could reasonably desire.

While I was thus walking among you in the fellowship of the gospel with
mutual delight, God was pleased to weaken my strength in the way, and
thereby has given you a fairer opportunity to shew the vigour of your
affection under my long weakness and confinement. Your diligence and
zeal in maintaining public worship in the church, under the pastoral
care of my dear brother and colleague[14], in your special days and
hours of prayer for my recovery, your constant and fervent addresses to
the throne of grace on my account in your weekly solemn assemblies, and
your chearful supply of my necessities under so tedious an affliction,
have made me your debtor in a high degree, and have strengthened the
bands of my duty, by adding to them the bands of your love.

As soon as I was capable of the smallest attempt of service, you
received me with all joy in the Lord: And though we were rivals in this
pleasure, yet you will allow that my joy was, at least equal to yours;
for I think I can pronounce it with great sincerity, that “there is no
place, nor company, nor employment, on this side heaven, that can give
me such a relish of delight, as when I stand ministering holy things in
the midst of you.”

As fast as my health increases, you may assure yourselves it is devoted
to your edification. It often grieves me to think how poor, feeble, and
short, are my present labours among you; and yet what days of faintness
I generally feel after every such attempt: So that I am continually
prevented in my design of successive visits to you, by the want of
active spirits while I tarry in the city; and if I attempt to stay but a
week or ten days there, I find a sensible return of weakness; so that I
am constrained to retire to the country-air, in order to recruit and
maintain this little capacity of service.

I bless God heartily, and you are my witnesses, that in my better
seasons of health heretofore, and in the intervals of my studies, I was
not a stranger of your private families, nor thoughtless of your soul’s
improvement.

What shall I do now to make up these defects? What can I do more
pleasing and profitable to you, than to seize the advantages of my
retirement, to review some of those discourses which have assisted your
faith and joy in my former ministry, and to put them into your hands?
Thus something of me shall abide with you in your several houses, while
I am so incapable of much public labour, and of personal visits.

This, my friends, is the true design of sending this volume to the
press: And though many of my brethren may compose far better sermons
than I, whose persons I love and honour, and their labours I read with
reverence and improvement, yet I am persuaded, that share which I have
in your affections, will render these discourses at least as agreeable
to your taste, as those of superior excellency from other hands. If any
other christians shall think fit to peruse them, and find any spiritual
benefit, they must make their acknowledgments to God and you.

I cannot invite the loose and fashionable part of mankind, the vain
censors of the age, and the deriders of the ministry, to become my
readers: Too many of them grow weary of christianity, and look back upon
heathenism with a wishful eye, as the Jews did of old upon the leeks and
onions of Egypt, when they grew angry with Moses, and began to loathe
the bread of heaven. These persons will find but little here that suits
their taste; for I have not entertained you with lectures of philosophy,
instead of the gospel of Christ; nor have I affected that easy indolence
of style which is the dry delight of some modish writers, the cold and
insipid pleasure of men who pretend to politeness. You know it has
always been the business of my ministry to convince and persuade your
souls into practical godliness, by the clearest and strongest reasons
derived from the gospel, and by all the most moving methods of speech,
of which I was capable; but still in a humble subserviency to the
promised influences of the Holy Spirit, I ever thought it my duty to
press the conviction with force on the conscience, when light was first
let into the mind. A statue hung round with moral sentences, or a marble
pillar with divine truths inscribed upon it, may preach coldly to the
understanding, while devotion freezes at the heart: But the prophets and
apostles were _burning and shining lights_; they were all taught by
inspiration to make the words of truth glitter like sun-beams, and to
operate like _a hammer_, and _a fire_, and _a two-edged sword_[15]. The
movements of sacred passion may be the ridicule of an age which pretends
to nothing but calm reasoning. Life and zeal in the ministry of the
word, may be despised by men of luke-warm and dying religion: _Fervency
of spirit is the service of the Lord_[16], may become the scoff and jest
of the critic and the profane: But this very life and zeal, this sacred
fervency, shall still remain one bright character of a christian
preacher, till the names of Paul and Apollos perish from the church; and
that is till this bible and these heavens are no more.

In some of these discourses indeed I have not had the opportunity of so
warm and affectionate an address to the hearers. A true and just
explication of scripture and a convincing proof of the doctrine
proposed, have been the chief things necessary; yet I have endeavoured,
even there, to give a practical and pathetic turn, as far as the design
of the text would bear it: But in the other sermons I blame myself more
for the want of zeal and devout passion, than for the excess of it.

I will readily confess, there are here and there some periods where the
language appears a little too elevated, though not too warm; I know it
is not the proper style of the pulpit: but there is some difference
between speaking and writing. In one the ear must take in the sense at
once; in the other, the eye may review what the first glance did not
fully receive. Besides, my friendly readers will now and then indulge a
metaphor, to one who from his youngest years, has dealt a little in
sacred poesy.

You are my witnesses, that in the common course of my ministry, I often
press the duties of sobriety and temperance, justice and charity, as
well as the inward and spiritual parts of godliness. But since treatises
on the latter subjects are seldom published now-a-days, I have permitted
the matters of secret converse between God and the holy soul, to take up
a larger share in these discourses; and it has been my aim to rescue
these arguments from the charge of enthusiasm, and to put them in such a
light, as might shew their perfect consistence with common sense and
reason. Hereby I have done my part to defend them against the daily
cavils of those low pretenders to christianity, who banish most of these
things from their religion, and yet arrogate and confine all reason to
themselves.

It is necessary that a christian preacher should teach the laws of
sobriety, the rules of charity and justice, our duty to our neighbour,
and our practice of public religion; but it is my opinion that
discourses of experimental piety, and the work of the closet, should
also sometimes entertain the church and the world. Our fathers talked
much of pious experience, and have left their writings of the same
strain behind them: They were surrounded with converts, and helped to
fill heaven apace; for God was with them. But I mourn to think that some
are grown so degenerate in our days, as to join their names and their
works together in a common jest, and to ridicule the sacred matter of
their sermons, because the manner had now and then something in it too
mystical and obscure, and there is something in their style
unfashionable and unpolished.

It must be acknowledged indeed, to the honour of the present age, that
we have some pretences above our predecessors to freedom and justness of
thought, to strength of reasoning, to clear ideas, to the generous
principles of christian charity; and I wish we had the practice of it
too. But as to the savour of piety and inward religion, as to
spiritual-mindedness, and zeal for God, and the good of souls; as to the
spirit and power of evangelical ministrations, we may all complain, the
glory is much departed from our Israel. Happy the men who are so far
assisted and favoured of God, as to unite all these excellencies, and to
join the honours of the past and present age together! How far it has
been attempted amongst you, I have a witness in your consciences: and
though I keep a sincere and painful sense within me of my great defects
on either side, yet I must still pursue the same attempt; and with
reverence and zeal I beg leave to trace the footsteps of my brethren,
who come nearest to this shining character.

In all these things I rejoice, and cannot conceal my joy, that my kind
and faithful companion in the service of your souls, practises his
ministry with the same views and designs; and he hath been sensibly
owned and assisted of God, to support and to build up the church, during
my long confinement. His labours of love both for you and for me, shall
ever endear him both to me and you. May the divine blessing gloriously
attend his double services in the seasons of my absence and painful
restraint! May your united prayers prevail for my restoration to the
full exercise of my ministry among you! And may you all receive such
lasting benefit by our associated labours, that you may stand up, and
appear as our crown and our joy in the great day of the Lord! This is
the continual and hearty prayer of,

                      My dear Friends,

                      Your affectionate and afflicted

                      Servant in the gospel,

                      I. WATTS.

                      Theobalds in Hertfordshire,
                      February, 21, 1720-21.

Footnote 14:

  Mr. Samuel Price.

Footnote 15:

  2 Cor. iv. 4, 6. John v. 35. Jer. xxiii. 29. Heb. iv. 12.

Footnote 16:

  Acts xviii. 25. Rom. xii. 11.




                              PREFACE[17].


I am bound to give thanks to God always, for the acceptance that my
sermons have found among the more pious and religious part of mankind.
As it hath been the chief design of my ministry to explain the common
and most important things of our religion, to the understanding of every
christian, and to impress the most necessary duties of it on the spirit
and conscience, so when I am solicited to make my labours yet more
public, I would repeat the same work; I would fain give my readers the
clearest conceptions of some of the great articles of christianity, and
draw out the plain principles of truth which are in the head, to a
powerful and holy influence over the heart and life.

These discourses have but little hope to gratify those curious minds,
who turn over the leaves superficially to search if there be any new
discoveries in them, and being disappointed, lay down the book with
disdain: My chief intent was to entertain and assist those humble
christians, who converse in secret with God and their own souls.

And since it is the custom of many persons to read a sermon in the
evening of the Lord’s-day, as part of their family-worship, I was
desirous also to suit the sermons which I publish to such a pious
service. Now when the discourses, which are rehearsed in families have
much of criticism and speculation in them, or long and difficult trains
of reasoning, every one may observe, what a negligent air sits upon the
faces of the hearers, what a drowsy attention is given to this religious
exercise, and the greatest part of the household find very little
improvement.

I grant, it is sometimes necessary to preach, and print such discourses
which are more critical and laborious in exposition of difficult texts,
and which by artificial trains of argument, may penetrate deep into the
hidden things of God, and _bring forth things new as well as old_. But I
am content to wave the honour of such performances in the more general
course of my labours, whether of the pulpit or the press, and chiefly to
pursue those methods which more directly tend to the edification of the
bulk of mankind, in the knowledge of Christ and in practical godliness.

We are too often ready to judge that to be the best sermon, which has
many strange thoughts in it, many fine hints, and some grand and polite
sentiments. But a christian in his best temper of mind will say, “That
is a good sermon which brings my heart nearer to God, which makes the
grace of Christ sweet to my soul, and the commands of Christ easy and
delightful: That is an excellent discourse indeed, which enables me to
mortify some unruly sin, to vanquish a strong temptation, and bears me
from all the enticements of this lower world; that which bears me up
above all the disquietudes of life, which fits me for the hour of death,
and makes me ready and desirous to appear before Christ Jesus my Lord.”
If the publication of these discourses shall be so happy, as through the
influence of the Blessed Spirit to attain these ends, I have obtained my
best aim and hope, and will ascribe the glory to God my Saviour.

The first sermons which I published[18] were taken up chiefly in the
more spiritual parts of our religion, and such as relate more
immediately to the secret transactions of the soul with God, and with
his Son Jesus Christ. In several following discourses, I have attempted
to explain many duties of the christian life which refer to our
fellow-creatures. I hope no man who loves the gospel of Christ, will
knit his brow and throw disgrace upon the book, with a contempt of dull
morality: If such a person would give himself leave to peruse these
sermons, perhaps he would meet with so much of Christ and the gospel in
them, that he might learn to love his Saviour better than ever he did,
and find how necessary moral duties are to make his own religion either
safe or honourable: While _we are saved by faith_ in the blood and
righteousness of the Son of God, we must remember also, that it is such
a _faith as worketh by love_, for _faith without works is dead_, and
useless to all purposes of hope and salvation.

My design in these sermons is to represent vice and virtue in their
proper colours, I foresee that many readers will quickly spy out their
neighbours’ names amongst the vicious or unlovely characters; but it
would turn perhaps to their better account, if they can find their own:
for there is many a description here that a hundred persons may lay a
righteous claim to. It was my business to set a faithful glass before
the face of conscience, by which we may examine ourselves, and learn
_what manner of persons we are_; and I pray God to keep it daily before
my own eyes. I acknowledge my defects, and stand corrected in many of my
own sermons. Blessed be God for a Mediator who is _exalted to give
repentance and forgiveness of sins_.

Yet it may not be an improper or unsuccessful method of reproof to fold
down a useful leaf now and then for a friend, and give him notice in
such an inoffensive manner of any blemishes that may belong to his
character. Thus the silent page shall bestow upon him the richest
benefit of friendship; it may whisper in his ear a secret word of
admonition, and convey it to his conscience without offence. Such a
gentle monitor may awaken him to inward shame and penitence; may rouse
his virtue to shine brighter than ever, and scatter the clouds that hung
dark upon the evidence of his graces.

Since I first published these discourses[19], the world has been
furnished with a more complete account of most of these subjects, in
that excellent treatise called the “Christian Temper,” which my worthy
friend Doctor Evans hath sent abroad, and which is, perhaps, the most
complete summary of those duties which make up the christian life, that
hath been published in our age.

The next three sermons are employed on that divine subject, which I am
ready to call the chief wonder and glory of the christian religion, that
is, the great atonement for sin made by the death of Christ, and the
practical uses derived thence[20]. This is the blessed foundation of our
hope, which I have endeavoured to set in a clear light, and to support
by reasoning drawn from the types and predictions of the Old Testament
and the clearer language of the New. This is that grace and that
righteousness which was witnessed by the law and the prophets, as St.
Paul expresses it; Rom. iii. 24. This is that important work of the
blessed Saviour, who was promised to the guilty world ever since the
fall, and whose various glories have been well represented, according to
ancient prophecy, in a happy correspondence with the doctrine of the New
Testament, by a volume of “Discourses on the Messiah,” lately published
by Dr. William Harris. I wonder how any man can read all these
correspondencies of the type, prophecy and history, and not be convinced
that Jesus was the appointed Saviour of the world.

The several sermons that follow next, are all formed upon some of the
most momentous concerns of a christian, _viz._ How to improve every
thing for the advantage of our own souls; how to look on all things as
working for our good; how to employ the time of life to noble purposes,
and such as the saints above can never be employed in; and to improve
the death of others to valuable ends in the christian life, and
especially to a preparation for our own departure. The death of that
worthy gentleman and excellent christian, Sir Thomas Abney, gave the
first occasion to some of these meditations, for the use of the mourning
family, which were much amplified afterwards in my public ministry. Here
I have endeavoured to awaken myself and my friends to an immediate and
constant readiness for a dismission from this sinful, and sorrowful, and
tempting world: And God grant when that awful hour approaches, I may be
so far honoured by divine grace, as to become an example as well as a
teacher.

The last discourse of all, exhibits the “most plain and obvious
representation of the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, as it lies in the
bible, and the great and necessary use that is to be made of it in our
religion.” It is a doctrine that runs through the whole of our serious
transactions with God, and therefore it is necessary to be known by men.
Without the mediation of the Son, and the influences of the Spirit, we
can find no way of access to the Father, nor is there any other hope of
his favour proposed in the gospel.

I thought it proper also, to publish it at this season, to let the world
know, that though I have entered into some further enquiries on this
divine subject, and made humble attempts to gain clearer ideas of it, in
order to vindicate the truth and glory of this sacred article; yet I
have never changed my belief and profession of any necessary and
important part of it, as will here appear with abundant evidence.

In this sermon I have followed the track of no particular scheme
whatsoever; but have represented the sacred Three, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, in that light in which they seem to lie most open
to the common view of mankind in the word of God: And I am glad to find
what I have drawn out in this manner in seventeen propositions, appears
so agreeable to the general sense of our fathers in this article, that I
do not think any one of these propositions would be denied or disputed
by our divines of the last or present age, who have had the greatest
name and reputation of strict orthodoxy[21].

If I may express the substance of it in a few words, it is this: It
seems to me to be plainly and evidently revealed in scripture, “That
both the Son and the Holy Ghost have such a communion in the true and
eternal God-head, as to have the same names, titles, attributes and
operations ascribed to them, which are elsewhere ascribed to the Father,
and which belong only to the true God: And yet that there is such a
plain distinction between them, as is sufficient to support their
distinct personal characters and offices in the great work of our
salvation.” And this is what has been generally called the Trinitarian
Doctrine, or the doctrine of Three Persons and one God.

At the end of the latter sermons I have endeavoured to assist christians
in the devout collection of what they hear or read in a way of pious
converse with their own hearts, and with God. In most of those
meditations, the reader will find the principal heads of the foregoing
sermons rehearsed.

Where the sermons are too long to be read in a family at once, I have
marked out proper pauses, that the religious service may not be made
tedious. May the great God vouchsafe to send his own Almighty Spirit,
wheresoever his providence shall disperse these weak labours of mine in
the world, and attend them with his sovereign power and blessing for the
welfare of immortal souls! _Amen._

Footnote 17:

  In the fifth edition the three volumes in 12mo were reduced into two
  in octavo, and the prefaces abridged and united by the author.

Footnote 18:

  21st February, 1720-21.

Footnote 19:

  25th March, 1723.

Footnote 20:

  They were first published 25th March, 1727.

Footnote 21:

  In this complete collection of the author’s works there are large
  additions, as well as many alterations inserted in this sermon ‘On the
  Doctrine of the Trinity,’ from the author’s manuscripts. 1734.




                                SERMONS.

                               SERMON I.
                 _The Inward Witness to Christianity._
 1 JOHN v. 10.—He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the Witness in
                                himself.
                            THE FIRST PART.


There are two points of great and solemn importance, which it becomes
every man to enquire into: _First_, Whether the religion he professes be
true and divine; and _then_, Whether he has so far complied with the
rules of this religion, as to stand entitled to the blessings thereof.

The christians of our age and nation, have been nursed up amongst the
forms of christianity from their childhood; they take it for granted
their religion is divine and true, and therefore seldom enter into the
_first_ enquiry: but when they come to think in good earnest about
religious affairs, their great concern is with the _second_, _viz._ to
know whether they have so far complied with the rules of the gospel of
Christ, as to obtain an interest in the promised blessings of it. And
when they hear such a text as this, _He that believeth, hath the witness
in himself_, they immediately expect that the meaning and design of it
should be to _witness_ the truth of their own faith, and consequently to
prove their own title to salvation.

But in the first christian age the case was far otherwise. The gospel
itself was not then universally established, and the disciples of this
new religion might have frequent doubts in their own minds concerning
the truth of it, while they saw it disallowed and opposed by the world
round about them. It was evidently necessary therefore for them to
enquire, whether it came from God or no? And it is with this view the
apostle John writes these words, _He that believeth on the Son of God
hath the witness in himself_; _viz._ _he_ hath a proof within himself
that _eternal life is in the Son_, ver. 11. and is to be obtained by our
believing in him. It is to the truth of this doctrine that the _three
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and the
three on earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood_. And though
the proof of the sincerity and truth of our faith now may be derived
from hence by a farther consequence, yet the first and direct design of
the apostle is to shew, that the truth and divinity of our religion has
an inward witness to it in the heart of every believer.

Here give me leave to put you in mind, that it is necessary for you, as
it was for the primitive christians, to settle your profession of
christianity upon solid grounds; otherwise you are christians but for
the same reason that makes a Turk a disciple of Mahomet, or a heathen a
worshipper of the Gods of his country; that is, because you were born in
such a climate, and under such a meridian. And can you be contented with
so poor a pretence to the noblest religion? and lay so sandy a
foundation for your eternal hopes? Besides, the day in which we live,
threatens you with bold temptations; and how will you stand if you have
no surer grounds? Infidelity is a growing weed; the contempt and
ridicule of revealed religion, flourish and become fashionable among the
gay part of the world; and if you are not furnished with some solid
proofs of the gospel of Christ, you may be in great danger of losing
your faith; you may be tempted to yield up your religion to a witty
jest, and become a heathen for company.

I might say another thing to awaken you to acquaint yourselves with some
arguments that will justify and support your belief of the gospel.
Suppose you think you have complied with the rules of your religion, and
have raised your hopes of heaven to a high degree; should Satan the
tempter spread his darkness round your souls, and in a melancholy and
gloomy hour assault your faith with such bold questions as these, _How
do you know that christianity is the true religion? What tokens have you
to shew that it came from God?_ If you have no other answer to make, but
that _it is the religion of your country_, that _you are born and bred
up in it_, think with yourselves how your spirits will be surprized,
your comforts languish, and all your high built hopes totter to the
ground; unless the Spirit of God, by his uncommon and sovereign grace,
should give in an answer to the temptation, and by some immediate and
convincing argument support your faith: but if you are negligent to lay
a good foundation at first, you have no reason to expect such a divine
favour.

Let the importance of this concern therefore keep your attention awake,
while I briefly run over some of the proofs of christianity, and thus
lead you down to the surest and best of them, which is contained in my
text.

Many are the outward testimonies which God hath given to the gospel of
his Son; many witnesses have confirmed it from the time that Christ
appeared in the flesh, to the day when St. John wrote this epistle. If
we trace his life from the cradle in the manger to his cross and the
grave, we shall find the rays of divinity still shining round his
doctrine and his works, still pointing to his person, and proving his
commission with a convincing and resistless light. At his birth the
witnessing angels appeared in much brightness, and while the Son of God
lay an infant below, his record was on high; for there appeared a
strange new star, and was his witness in heaven. The wise men of the
East were his witnesses, when they came from afar, and paid tributes and
offerings, gold and incense to the God, the king of Israel. Simeon and
Anna in the temple, by the Spirit of prophecy witnessed to the holy
child Jesus. And the doctors with whom he disputed at twelve years old,
were his witnesses that there was something in him more than man. At his
baptism the Father and the Spirit witnessed to the Son of God; they told
the world that this was He, the Messiah: The Father by a voice from
heaven, saying, _This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased_; and
the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. His life was a life of
wonders, and each of them witnessed to the truth of his commission, and
to the divinity of his doctrine. Every blind eye that he opened, saw and
witnessed Jesus, and declared his divine power. Every one of the dead
that he raised were his witnesses. They came from the land of silence to
speak his glory, and to give a loud testimony to his mission from
heaven. The devils themselves, when he drove them out of their
possessions, confessed that he was Christ, _The holy one of God_; but he
had no mind to accept their witness, and therefore forbade them to
speak. Miracles attended him to the cross and the grave, and opened the
grave again for him, and made a passage for him to his Father’s right
hand. Nor did the witnesses of his person and of his doctrine then
cease; for _that salvation which began to be spoken by Jesus the Lord_,
was afterwards published _by those that heard him, God himself bearing
them witness with signs and wonders_; as in Heb. ii. 3, 4.

But all these still were outward witnesses to convince an unbelieving
world. There is an inward witness that my text speaks of, that belongs
to every true christian: _He that believeth on the Son of God hath the
witness in himself._ And let us prepare now to examine whether our
religion be true, and whether we are believers on the Son of God in
truth, by searching after this inward witness; which we shall endeavour
to explain, by considering these three things:

I. What believing on the Son of God means.—II. What this inward witness
is, that faith gives to christianity.—III. What sort of witness it is,
and how it exceeds other testimonies in several respects. And, _Lastly_,
We shall make some inferences.

I. What is meant in my text by _believing on the Son of God_? I answer
briefly under these two heads. It is,—1. A believing Jesus Christ to be
the Saviour of the world.—2. A trust in Christ Jesus as our Saviour.

1. It is a _believing_ Jesus Christ _to be the Saviour of the world_;
and in this manner it is often expressed by our apostle in these
epistles: a belief that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, who was foretold by
all the prophets, and represented by all the types and shadows of the
Old Testament. This usually includes a belief of the most important
things that are related in the gospel concerning his person; such as
these, that he is true God and true man, _i. e._ that God and man are
united in him; that he was the Son of God before all ages, and the son
of man born in time. _That he was the seed of David after the flesh, but
declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the
dead_; Rom. i. 3, 4. That he is that eternal Word, who _in the beginning
was with God, and was God_, and who was in due time _made flesh and
tabernacled among us_, as in John i. 14. This is that _mystery of
godliness_ which we must believe, _God manifest in the flesh_; 1 Tim.
iii. 16.

It implies also our belief of his doctrine, as well as of the divinity
and humanity united in his person; _viz._ That we are all sinners
condemned by the law of God; enemies to God in our minds, transgressors
in our lives, and exposed to eternal death: That the divine law is so
strict, so perfect, so holy, and so just that no mere man since the fall
can fulfil it, nor yet can excuse or free himself from the condemnation
of it: That Christ himself came _to fulfil this law_, as he tells us in
Mat. v. 17, 18. That he came not only to perform the duties of it by an
active obedience, but to put himself under the curse and condemnation
for our sakes. Which the apostle to the Galatians expresses in this
language, that _in the fulness of time he was made under the law_ to
become _a curse for us_, that we who are under the law _might be
redeemed from the curse, and receive a blessing_; Gal. iii. 13. and iv.
5. That _he died for our offences_, that _he rose again for our
justification_; and that he has received the spirit of holiness, which
he sends into our sinful natures, to form us fit for that heavenly
inheritance which he hath purchased for us by his death. That without
this purification of our natures, we can have no hope of heaven, for
_without_ repentance and _holiness no man shall see God_. That Jesus
Christ our Lord shall raise the dead, shall come in the last day to
judge the world, and pass a decisive sentence, and shall then _reward
every one according to their works_. Though all these things were not so
plainly taught by our Saviour himself in his public ministry in the
world, yet these were the doctrines which his apostles preached
continually, and they received them from him by private instructions, or
the inspiration of his Spirit, so that they may be properly called the
doctrines of Christ.

But this is not all that is required of believers; for so much
knowledge, and so much faith as this is, the devils may have, and Simon
Magus the sorcerer might have as much as this when he believed. The
faith that is expressed in this epistle, and in other places of
scripture, is more than a bare assent to the great truths of the gospel;
for it is such a faith as _overcomes the world_, such a faith as _gains
a victory_ over things sensual, and over Satan; such a faith as
evidences a man _to be born of God_. And therefore something more must
be implied in it than a mere belief of the nature and person of Christ,
and the truth of his doctrine.

2. It therefore implies a _betrusting the soul into the hands of Christ,
that he may be our Saviour_. And I have sometimes thought that those
words in the Greek, which we render _faith_ and _believing_ are
continually used in the New Testament, to signify _faith_, a _saving
faith_; because they not only signify, in their natural sense, the
_believing of a truth_, but the _trusting in a person_. They signify
believing the doctrine of Christ, and committing the soul into his hands
as a Saviour, as it is expressed by St. Paul; 2 Tim. i. 12. _I know whom
I have believed, and I am persuaded he is able to keep what I have
committed to him._ To _believe on the Son of God_ therefore, is when a
person, from a sense of sin and danger of eternal death, and his
inability to escape any other way, applies himself unto Christ Jesus, as
the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. When the soul commits itself
into his hands, as one All-sufficient in himself to save, and one
appointed by the Father for this glorious purpose. When the soul is made
willing to be justified by the merits and righteousness of another,
seeing itself unable, by all its own works, to attain to a justifying
righteousness. When the soul is desirous to be sanctified by the grace
that is from above, because it sees the necessity of holiness, and yet
feels itself utterly incapable to renew its own nature, to mortify its
own sins, or to form itself fit for the enjoyment of God and heaven.
When the soul for these ends, puts itself under the care of Christ
Jesus, who is authorised and commissioned by the Father to take care of
sinful and guilty souls, to remove and cancel their guilt by his
sacrifice, and invest them with a perfect righteousness, to begin the
work of grace in them, to fill them with principles of holiness, and by
degrees to fit them for his glory: such a soul is a believer on the Son
of God, and such a soul has the witness in himself, that our religion is
divine, and that christianity is from above.

II. The second thing I proposed to consider, is, _What is the inward
witness that faith gives to the truth of christianity?_

At the first promulgation of the gospel, there were some souls
overpowered with present miracles, attended with a divine light shining
into them. This was such as they could not resist, such as carried
glorious evidence with it, and effectually wrought upon them to believe
that our religion was from heaven, that Christ was the Son of God, and
that his name was the only ground of hope for salvation. This was
miraculous and extraordinary, and not to be expected every day now; such
was the conversion of St. Paul to christianity, and many such instances
of miracles appeared in the first seasons of the gospel.

But the witness that the apostle John speaks of in my text, is such as
belongs to every believer. It is an universal proposition, _He that
believes, has the witness in himself_.

In order therefore to enquire into the nature of this testimony, I shall
not lead you, nor myself into the land of blind enthusiasm, that region
of clouds and darkness, that pretends to divine light. The apostle does
not mean here a strong impulse, an irrational and ungrounded assurance
that our religion is true. Many times these vehement impulses are but
the foolish fires of fancy, that give the enquiring traveller no steady
light or conduct, but lead him far astray from truth. Christianity has a
better witness than this; being such as belongs to every believer, it
must approve itself to the reason of men. And I will endeavour to
explain it thus according to scripture.

Let it first be noted here, that the word _witness_ is used frequently,
by our translators, to signify _testimony_, or _evidence_. Nor will it
create any confusion to use these words promiscuously in this discourse,
while we distinguish them from the _thing witnessed_, (which in the
original, is also μαρτυρια) and is translated the _record_, ver. 10, 11.

Now if we enquire what is that _testimony_ to christianity, or that
_inward witness_ that every believer has in himself, let us consider
what that record is which God has testified concerning his Son Christ
Jesus. That you will find in the context, ver. 11, 12. _This is the
record_ or thing witnessed, _that God hath given to us eternal life, and
this life is in his Son; he that hath the Son of God hath life, and he
that hath not the Son hath not life_. He then that _believes on the Son
of God hath the witness_, or testimony to christianity, in himself, for
he hath within him the _thing testified_. He hath eternal life in
himself, he hath this eternal life already begun, and it shall be
carried on and fulfilled in the days of eternity. By believing in
Christ, we have a glorious testimony, or witness, within ourselves, that
Christ is the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, and the author of
eternal life; that his person is divine, that his doctrine is true, for
eternal life is begun in us.

We shall make this more fully appear, by considering what is _eternal
life_, and shewing how far it is found in every believer, and how it
becomes a witness of christianity in his heart.

Eternal life consists in _happiness_ and _holiness_; it is made up of
these two, and there is such a necessary connection between them, that
they run into one another; but for order-sake, I shall distinguish them
thus:

The happiness of eternal life consists in the pardon of sin, in the
special favour of God, and in the pleasure that arises from the regular
operation of all our powers and passions. Now these three things are, in
some measure, found with every soul that believes in Christ.

The happiness of eternal life consists,——I. _In the pardon of sin_;
thence arises _peace of conscience_. This is a part of heaven; the
perfection of this peace belongs to the heavenly state. Our pardon is
complete on earth, but the sense of this pardon is not complete and free
from all doubts, or at least from all danger of doubting, till we arrive
at full glory. When a soul is made sensible, that all its iniquities are
for ever cancelled, that God will never avenge any of his crimes upon
him, when he knows that this God, who has a right to punish with
everlasting revenge, is at peace, and will demand no more satisfaction
for his sins; this soul then has the beginning of heaven. This is a part
of final blessedness, and of complete eternal life.

Now this is, in some measure, found in believers here: They that have
trusted in the Son of God, begin to find peace in their own consciences,
they can hope God is reconciled to them through the blood of Christ,
that their iniquities are atoned for, and that peace is made betwixt God
and them. This belongs only to the doctrine of Christ, and witnesses it
to be divine: For there is no religion that ever pretended to lay such a
foundation of pardon and peace, as the religion of the Son of God does;
for he has made himself a propitiation; Jesus the righteous is become
our reconciler by becoming a sacrifice: Rom. iii. 25. _Him hath God set
forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, that he might be
just, and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus: Therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God_, Rom. v. 1. _Behold the Lamb
of God, that takes away the sins of the world!_ was the language of
John, who was but the forerunner of our religion, and took a prospect of
it at a little distance: And much more of the particular glories and
blessings of this atonement is displayed by the blessed apostles the
followers of the Lamb.

Other religions, that have been drawn from the remains of the light of
nature, or that have been invented by the superstitious fears and
fancies of men, and obtruded on mankind by the craft of their
fellow-creatures, are all at a loss in this instance, and can never
speak solid peace and pardon.

1. The religion of the _Heathens_, and the best of philosophers, could
never assure us, _Whether God would pardon sin at all, or no_. The light
of nature indeed would dictate thus much, that God is, in his own
nature, gracious, and compassionate, and kind; but whether God would be
gracious to you or me, compassionate to such ill-deserving sinners, as
we are, the light of nature could never determine. It is only the Son of
God, that came down from the bosom of the Father, could so well inform
us how the Father’s heart worked towards such sinners, in the designs of
pardon and reconciliation.

2. Again, the light of nature could never tell us, _how often God would
pardon sinners_. Suppose it could be found out by reason that God is so
compassionate, that he could forgive offences, yet it could never be
inferred how often we would be forgiven; and if he had pardoned us once,
we might for ever despair if we had committed new iniquities: For who
but a divine messenger can tell us, that he will often repeat his
pardons?

3. The light of nature could never inform us _how great the offences
were that could be forgiven_; reason could never tell us, that
rebellions of the biggest size, and treasons of the blackest
aggravation, should be all cancelled; the light of nature could never
say, _All manner of sin, and blasphemy, shall be forgiven to men_. This
the Son of God hath only taught us, who came from the bosom of the
Father, and who laid a foundation for the brightest displays of
pardoning grace.

4. Reason, with all the principles of natural religion, could never
teach us _what we must do to obtain pardon_, and on what terms God would
forgive. Reason indeed might require us to repent of sin, but it could
never assure us, that _he that confesseth, and forsaketh his sins, shall
find mercy_. Nor could it shew us any mediator or reconciler between God
and man, nor how, or in what manner, we must address ourselves to him,
or to an offended God by him; reason could never start a thought of this
strange way of salvation, that we must believe, or trust in another’s
sufferings in order to the pardon of our own sins; that we must depend
on the merits and righteousness of one that died, in order to obtain
forgiveness and life; that _by faith, in the blood of Christ, God will
justify them that believe in Jesus_? What could the light of mere nature
teach us concerning this Jesus? And yet _there is no other name under
heaven whereby we can be saved_; Acts iv. 12.

5. The light of nature, or any religion invented by men, could never
acquaint us _with the foundation of divine forgiveness_, nor shew _us
any merit sufficient to procure it_; and in this sense we are left at a
loss in all other religions, _upon what ground we could expect pardon
from God_: For they knew nothing of an atonement equal to our guilt,
nothing of a satisfaction great as our offences, and that could answer
the high demands of infinite and offended justice. Mankind found out by
reason, and by the stings and disquietudes of a guilty conscience, that
there was an offended God in heaven; and in several countries they
followed the dictates of a wild and uneasy imagination, inventing an
endless variety of methods to appease the angry Deity. What multitudes
of rams, and goats, and thousands of larger cattle, were cut to pieces,
and burnt, to atone for the sins of men? What deluges of blood have
overflowed their altars? What fanciful sprinklings, and vast effusions
of wine and oil? The first-born son for the transgression of the father,
and the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul? What cruel practices
on their own flesh? What cuttings and burnings to procure pardon? And
yet, after all, no true peace, nor reasonable hope.

The Jewish religion indeed was invented by God himself, and it contained
in it the way of obtaining pardon, but it was veiled and darkened by
many types and shadows; though it was not defective as to real pardon,
yet it was very defective as to solid peace; therefore the apostle tells
us, Heb. x. 1, 2, &c. _The law having a shadow of good things to come,
and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto
perfect, &c._ The sense of which, compared with the following verses, is
plainly this, _Those sacrifices, that were so often repeated, could
never perfectly take away the conscience of guilt_: there still remained
some trembling fears, some uneasy doubts, some painful concern of mind,
whether their iniquities should be entirely cancelled or no: because
they were convinced that the blood of bulls and goats could not do it,
and they could not fully and plainly see the blood of Jesus, the Son of
God, the Saviour. Dark hints, and obscure notices of such a Messiah, and
such a sacrifice, they had; but such a one as could not generally free
their consciences from all sense of defilement and guilt, and fears,
though it cleansed their souls in the sight of God.

The Socinians, in our age, can have but very little solid comfort, if
they are truly awakened to a spiritual sight of the law of God; for when
they have nothing to plead with God, and nothing to trust in but his
mere absolute mercy, while they deny the proper satisfaction of Christ
Jesus, how weak must their hope be, how feeble is the foundation of it!
but when a poor, convinced, awakened soul, that now believes the
doctrine of Christ, has been long before tormented in his conscience
about atonement for sin, and found no hope; the christian religion, the
gospel, with its pardoning grace, and the satisfaction that Christ has
made, gives the soul peace, and leads the troubled conscience to rest
and quiet; he trusts this gospel, he receives this salvation, and hath
the witness in himself that it is divine.

II. The happiness of eternal life consists also in the _special favour_
of God, which is distinct from the _pardon of sin_; for it is very
possible for a criminal to be pardoned, and not to be made a favourite
of the king. The favour of God, and a sense of this favour, is a great
part of heaven. This is called seeing of God, often in scripture. When
souls are fully possessed of the love of God, when they have it shed
abroad in their hearts in perfection; when they know that the infinite
and eternal Maker and Governor of all things loves them, and will for
ever love them, this is eternal life; and this is enjoyed in some
measure here on earth by true believers, this is a part of eternal life
begun in the heart of every christian; for when God pardons, he receives
into his peculiar favour.

This the christian religion teaches us, but the light of nature could
never tell us so: for if the light of nature and reason could have
proceeded so far as to acquaint us with pardoning grace in all the
extent of it, yet it could never have presumed to assure us _that he
should make the rebels he had pardoned his favourites for ever_. We
might have been forgiven, and then annihilated. But the scripture
teaches us, whom God forgives he makes favourites too. And Christ Jesus
has laid the foundation of this double blessing; for he has not only
made an _end of sin_, but _brought in an everlasting righteousness_;
Dan. ix. 24. He has fulfilled the law in all the commands of it, as well
as borne the penalty; he has purchased all the blessings of divine love,
as well as bought a freedom from divine vengeance. _If when we were
enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more
being reconciled we shall be saved by his life_, Rom. v. 10. And in ver.
1, and 2, he saith, _Being justified by faith, we have peace with God,
through our Lord Jesus Christ, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God_.
Thus you see there is not only _reconciliation_ but _full salvation_;
not only _peace with God_, but the _hope of glory_ to be obtained by
believing on the Son of God. Many are the instances of saints here
dwelling in flesh in a day of grace, that have been raised to a good
degree of eternal life in this respect, that have had a joyful sense of
the love of God shed abroad in their souls, and upon solid grounds have
hoped for glory, such as no other religion could pretend to furnish them
with; and this is a witness to the truth of christianity.

No mere human religion can pretend to tell how this special love of God
may be attained, no human religion can ever tell us how long this love
of God shall continue; but the word of God gives us full evidence and
assurance that the worst of sinners who apply to Jesus Christ the
Saviour, in the way of humble faith and hearty repentance, shall not
only be forgiven and released from the guilt of sin and punishment, but
also shall be beloved of God for the sake of Christ, and that this
divine love is everlasting. Read Acts iii. 19. _Repent and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out._ Acts xvi. 31. _Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved._ And when persons are interested
in these promises, who shall lay any thing to their charge? Who shall
condemn them when God justifies? Who shall separate them from the love
of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, famine or sword? No, by no
means; _for in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
that has loved us_; and we are _persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord_; Rom. viii. 38, &c.

When a rational mind is awakened to see the emptiness of all creatures,
and their insufficiency to make him happy, and finds nothing but the
eternal love of God capable to make a creature truly blessed; how
miserably must that soul be tormented, that knows not whether God will
love him or no, nor how this love may be attained; nor, when once
attained, how long this love will continue? But he finds an answer to
all these painful questions in the gospel of Christ: For the Father
loves the Son infinitely, and loves all those that believe on him for
his sake; they are for ever accepted; in him who is first and for ever
accepted: and they are beloved in him who is first and for ever beloved;
Eph. i. 6.

III. The happiness of eternal life consists in the pleasure that arises
from the regular operation of all our powers and passions. This was a
great part of the happiness of the innocent man; his reason was the
guide to all the meaner faculties, and his appetites, and his affections
in a sweet harmony followed the conduct of his reason: And as his
understanding and judgment put forth their regular dictates, so the
meaner powers paid a constant obedience, and pursued their proper
objects. There was no irregular anger to set his blood on fire; no
intemperate and corrupt wishes to vitiate his nature, to pollute his
pleasures, and disturb his peace; none of those tumults and hurricanes
in his soul, which we so often feel in our fallen state, and lament them
much oftener than we can suppress them. And as the fancy and appetites
of innocent Adam submitted to his reason, so, doubtless, if his Maker
were pleased to reveal any sublimer truth to him, which his reason could
not comprehend, then reason itself submitted to that revelation,
believed the word of a speaking God, and resigned the throne to faith.
His natural powers had no uneasy contest, there was no civil war nor
rebellion amongst them to interrupt his happiness.

And thus shall it be again, but in a more glorious manner, when we are
raised from all the ruins of our fallen state, and eternal life is made
complete in heaven.

But before we arrive at that final glory, the same sort of happiness is
begun in every believer in a state of grace. These are the beginnings of
eternal life, the earnests and the pledges of the perfect blessedness
which we hope for; and this arises from our faith in the Son of God. For
when we have attained a good hope of forgiving grace through the blood
of Christ, and believe that we are beloved of God our Maker, what have
we then to do but to abide in his love? We learn to despise those
tempting objects that would awaken our intemperate passions, and walk
onward in peace and pleasure towards our complete felicity. For since
God is become our God through the mediation of his Son, we have no need
to seek the meaner delights of sense and appetite, because we possess
the supreme. We have the Son of God himself for our leader and example,
and he that believes on the Son of God, walks as he also walked.

Besides these moral or persuasive helps that belong to the christian
life, we have also the Spirit of God given to reform our natures, to put
all our misplaced and disjointed powers into their proper order again,
and to maintain this divine harmony and peace. It is the blessed Spirit
that inclines reason to submit to faith, and makes the lower faculties
submit to reason, and obey the will of our Maker, and then gives us the
pleasure of it. And if at any time, through the power of temptation, the
violence of appetite, and the imperfection of grace, this blessed
harmony and order be disturbed, and this pleasure interrupted; the soul
of the christian is never easy till it rise again by repentance, and
recur to the Son of God, to fetch new and vigorous supplies of the
Spirit, and of this eternal life from him, and thereby it regains its
peace and pleasure.

But these thoughts naturally lead me on to the second part of this
subject, _viz._ holiness.

Thus much shall suffice therefore concerning the first part of eternal
life, which consists in happiness, _viz._ pardon of sin, peace of
conscience, the favour of God, the sense of his love, and the
pleasurable harmony of our natural powers. These are found in true
believers, and this is a noble witness to christianity to prove it
divine.




                               SERMON II.
                 _The Inward Witness to Christianity._
 1 JOHN v. 10.—He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the Witness in
                                himself.
                            THE SECOND PART.


When such a text as this is named for the foundation of discourse, some
nicer hearers begin to grow jealous, that the preacher is entering into
mystery and inward light, and they expect to hear no clear and solid
reasoning, nor any justness of thought. Thus blinded by their own
prejudices, they prevent their improvement by the ministry of the word;
and because they have heard the experiences of christians wittily
ridiculed, they resolve to believe that nothing of experimental religion
can be justified to strict reason, or have any thing to do with
argument.

But how impious, and how unreasonable a fancy this is, will sufficiently
appear, if it can be proved that every true christian has a most
rational and incontestable evidence of the truth of his religion, drawn
from the change that is hereby made in his own heart. If it can once be
made evident, that eternal life is begun in every soul that believes in
Jesus Christ, this will confirm christianity with a high hand, and
confute the wicked scandal for ever.

I have begun this attempt in the first discourse, and have shewn that
eternal life is composed of two parts, _viz._ holiness and happiness.

The happiness of it consists in a just and comfortable sense of the
forgiveness of sin, and a lively hope and persuasion of the special love
of God, and the delightful harmony of all the natural powers, _viz._
reason, conscience, the will and the passions. Where these are found,
heaven is begun; eternal life has taken possession of the soul; and this
evidently proves the doctrine that effected it to be divine.

Now, if an atheist, a heathen, or a Jew, should cavil and say, “Are not
all your hopes mere presumption? Are not your sense and persuasion of
the love of God mere delusions of fancy, and raptures of warm
imagination, without any ground, or solid foundation of reason?” The
christian may boldly refute such suspicions. These are no vain
transports, no foolish visions of hope and joy, because as high and
glorious as my comforts and my expectations are, they are built on a due
apprehension of the justice of God, as well as his mercy; I have no
hopes of pardon by Jesus Christ, but what are supposed by the
righteousness and truth of God, as well as his goodness; for in this way
of salvation, offended justice is satisfied to the full, and mercy can
exert itself in full glory, without the least dishonour or reflection on
the strict righteousness of God. God is just in the justification of a
sinner this way; _He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness_; 1 John i. 9.

Besides, says the christian, the change wrought in me is real, and not
imaginary; I am quite another creature than once I was: the several
powers of my nature, that were wont to be in perpetual war, now enjoy a
peaceful harmony, and my soul feels the pleasure, and the divine peace.
My strictest and severest reason approves the change, and owns it to be
divine.

And thus I am led onward to speak of the other part of eternal life, and
that is holiness. This also is found in believing souls, and becomes an
evidence of the truth of the gospel.

Holiness may be described by these five necessary ingredients of it.

1. An aversion to and hatred of all sin.—2. A contempt of the present
world, in comparison of the future.—3. A delight in the worship and
society of God.—4. Zeal and activity in his service.—5. A hearty love to
fellow-creatures, and more especially to fellow-saints.

I shall discourse of each of these particularly, and shew that eternal
life consists in them, and this eternal life is found in believers.

Holiness consists in an aversion to, and hatred of all sin. This is
complete in heaven, and without this, heaven cannot be complete. Into
heaven _there entereth nothing that defileth_; Rev. xxi. 27. Every
inhabitant there is completely averse to all iniquity, and hates every
thing that displeases God; for nothing but perfect obedience is found
there; the spirits of the just are there made perfect; Heb. xii. 23. Now
this in a measure and degree is found in believers here, for _he that
abideth in Christ sinneth not_; 1 John iii. 6. He cannot sin with a full
purpose of heart; _he that is born of God cannot sin with constancy_ and
greediness, as others do that are only born of flesh and blood; he
cannot sin without an inward sincere reluctancy, without the combat of
the spirit against the flesh; he doth not make a trade of sin, sinning
is not his business, his delight and pleasure.—This is a blessed
testimony of the truth of the gospel, that faith in the Son of God
purifies the heart; Acts xv. 9.

Every christian has an aversion to all sin: If he chuses some sins, to
continue in them, and hates other iniquities, he can never be said to be
a true believer in Christ, and to have the work of faith in sincerity
wrought in his heart.

Other religions have professed an aversion to some sins, but indulged
others. Some make cruelty a part of their duty, and require the
sacrificing of mankind to appease the anger of their gods; a bloody and
impious practice, as well as a vain and fruitless one! Some forbid
murder, but allow and encourage variety of uncleanness, and make that a
part of their worship. Other professions have forbid wanton practices,
and commended chastity; but they indulge resentment and revenge, as a
necessary part of the character of a warrior, or a great man. Carnal and
sensual lusts have been opposed and hated by some of the old
philosophers, but spiritual iniquities have hereby been promoted. Pride
has hereby been wonderfully increased, and none of them can excuse
themselves from those sins which make men very like Satan, although they
are freed from the brutality of sensual lusts. But the business of the
gospel of Christ is to keep men from committing any kind of sins
whatsoever.

Other religions have changed one lust for another; but the religion of
Christ forbids all manner of iniquity, and changes the whole nature into
holiness. Christianity refines the soul in all the powers of it, and
inclines us to the duties both of the first and second table; it writes
the law of God in the heart, and brings the soul to a sweet compliance
therewith. All the affections are renewed; all old things are done away,
and all things are become new; he that is in Christ is a new creature;
he has crucified the flesh, with its affections and lusts; 2 Cor. v. 17.
Gal. v. 24.

Surely there is a spirit and power that accompanies the religion of our
Lord Jesus, such as other religions know not; and this was manifest
abundantly in the primitive christians, when those wretches were
converted, whose names were once written in that black catalogue that
the apostle speaks of; 1 Cor. vi. 9. when they by the light of the
gospel, were purified, were purged from their defilements, and were made
new creatures. The apostle could appeal to the Corinthian church, and
say, so vile and filthy were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by
the Spirit of our God; 1 Cor. vi. 11. Not in the names of other Gods,
and other religions, but in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God. Philosophy was raised to a great height in the city
of Corinth; it was almost enough for a man to be accounted learned, to
have been in that city, and to have known a little of the customs of it;
yet all their learning was not sufficient to reform them, for they were
a profligate and lewd people still. But the religion of our Lord Jesus
Christ breaking in upon their souls, purified, refined them, and made
such an alteration in them, that the world beheld, and were amazed at
the surprising change. They thought it strange that the christians would
not run to the same excess of riot; 1 Pet. iv. 4. They were astonished
to see a drunkard at once turn sober and temperate; a lewd unclean
wretch, by hearing the gospel, become a professor and an example of
chastity; a cruel and passionate temper made calm, and kind, and
forgiving; a swine forsake the mire, and put on the nature of a cleanly
animal; a dog or a lion changed into a lamb. This wrought conviction
with power: This was miracle and demonstration; this witnessed the truth
and divinity of the gospel of Christ beyond all contradictions or
doubts.

II. A contempt of this world, is another part of holiness, and of
heaven; a sacred disregard of temporal things raised by the sight of
things eternal.

If we look upwards to heaven, we shall behold there all the inhabitants
looking down with a sacred contempt upon the trifles, amusements,
businesses, and cares of this present life, that engross our affections,
awaken our desires, fill our hearts with pleasure or pain, and our flesh
with constant labour. With what holy scorn do you think those souls, who
are dismissed from flesh, look down upon the hurries and bustles of this
present state, in which we are engaged? They dwell in the full sight of
those glories which they hoped for here on earth, and their intimate
acquaintance with the pleasures of that upper world, and the divine
sensations that are raised in them there, make them condemn all the
pleasures of this state, and every thing below heaven. This is a part of
eternal life, this belongs in some degree to every believer; for he is
not a believer that is not got above this world in a good measure; he is
not a christian, who is not weaned, in some degree, from this world: For
this is our victory, whereby we overcome the world, even our faith. He
that is born of God overcomes the world; he that believes in Jesus, is
born of God; 1 John v. 1, 4. Whence the argument is plain, he that
believes in Jesus the Son of God, overcomes this present world. And
where christianity is raised to a good degree of life and power in the
soul, there we see the christian got near to heaven: he is, as it were,
a fellow for angels, a fit companion for the spirits of the just made
perfect. The affairs of this life are beneath his best desires and his
hopes; he engages his hand in them so far, as God his Father appoints
his duty; but he longs for the upper world, where his hopes are gone
before: “When shall I be entirely dismissed from this labour and toil?
The gaudy pleasures this world entertains me with, are no entertainments
to me; I am weaned from them, I am born from above.” This is the
language of that faith that overcomes the world: And faith, where it is
wrought in truth in the soul, hath, in some measure, this effect; and
where it shines in its brightness, it hath, in a great degree, this
sublime grace accompanying it; or rather, (shall I say?) this piece of
heavenly glory.

Pain and sickness, poverty and reproach, sorrow and death itself, have
been contemned by those that have believed in Christ Jesus, with much
more honour to christianity, than ever was brought to other religions by
the same profession, and the same practice.

Other religions have in some degree, promised a contempt of the world, a
contempt of sickness, and pain, and death; but then it hath been only
here and there a person of a hardier mould of body; here and there one
in an age, or one in a nation, who by a firmness of natural spirits, an
obstinate resolution, attained by much labour of meditation, and toil of
thought, hath got above the world, and above death. But our religion
boasts of its hundreds and thousands, and that not only those who had
firmer natural spirits, or have been skilled in thought and meditation,
and absent from sensual things by philosophy, and intellectual
exercises; but the feeblest of mankind, the weak things of this world,
the foolish and the young, the infant (as it were) in years, and the
feeble sex, have been made to contemn this world, and the pleasures of
it, the hopes, and the sorrows, pain and death. They have learnt to live
above all the enticing joys and affrighting terrors of this present
state, that is, to live near to heaven: So that whatsoever religion
pretends to a competition with ours, it falls vastly short in this
respect, in raising the affections above the world, above the joys and
fears of the present life.

Again if we consider what motives have argued the minds of men to the
contempt of the world, we shall find the religion of Christ Jesus is far
superior to all in this respect.

Other religions have taught men to despise the good things of this world
and to be unconcerned about the evils of it, in a mere romantic way:
Such was the Stoical doctrine, denying health and wealth, sleep and
safety, to have any goodness in them; and professing that pain, poverty,
sickness, want, hunger, and shame, were no evils; and upon this account
they taught their disciples to be unsolicitous about the one or the
other, because they were neither good nor evil. Thus, while they change
the use of words they would make stocks and stones of us, rather than
intelligent and holy despisers of sensible things; but the christian
doctrine teaches us to contemn both the good and evil things of sense
and time, by the expectation and prospect of the invisible and eternal
world, where both the good and evil things are of infinitely greater
importance: So our Saviour preaches, Mat. vi. 19, 20. _Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal._ Pluck out a right eye, cut off
a right hand on earth, lest sparing these thy whole body be cast into
hell, where the gnawing worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched:
Mat. v. 29, 30. Mark ix. 43, &c. And the afflictions, as well as the
comforts of life, are contemned and surmounted by the spirit of a
christian, upon the same noble principles; Rom. viii. 18. He reckons
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us; and therefore he endures
the cross, and despises the shame, following the divine example of
Christ.

Other doctrines have endeavoured to raise the minds of men above the
solicitudes or cares of this life upon mean and base principles,
unworthy of human nature, denying the immortality of the soul, and the
life to come. Thus the Epicureans would raise the professors of their
religion above the fears of death, by assuring them, that after death
there was nothing; that the soul and body died together, were blended in
the dust, and were for ever lost in one grave: but, on the other hand,
the religion of Christ gives us a view of things beyond the grave,
insures a resurrection to us, brings life and immortality to light by
the gospel, by Christ Jesus, who together with the Father, is originally
possessed of eternal life, and thus leads us on to a glorious contempt
of this present world of vanity: _For our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen; for the things which are seen, are temporal; but the
things which are not seen, are eternal. For we know, that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens_; 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18.
and v. 1.

Other professions taught their followers not so much to contemn riches
and pleasures, as to exchange them for fame and glory, and public
applause; and this they looked upon as their chief good. Most of the
philosophers may be charged with this just accusation; and Cicero, that
great philosopher, in a notorious degree; but the christian both labours
and suffers reproach, because he trusts in the living God, and has the
promise of the life to come; 1 Tim. iv. 8, 10. he goes through the trial
of cruel mockings, as well as scourgings and torture, that he may obtain
a better resurrection; Heb. xi. 35, 36. He neglects his ease and his
honours together, and despises fame as well as pleasure and riches, and
all mortal desirables, when they stand in competition with his immortal
hopes.

Others have despised the grandeur and pomp of life, and thrown their
money into the sea; but instead of exalting themselves above men, they
have neglected all the necessary duties and decencies of life; they have
lived as it were, in common with their fellow animals of the earth, and
degraded themselves to the rank and level of brute-beasts; such were the
Cynic philosophers: But the christian is diligent and active in all
services to God and man, and fulfils the duties of his present state
with honour, while he lives upon the hopes of futures and invisibles.

Thus if we consider either the degree of this part of holiness, _viz._
the contempt of the world, if we consider the reasons upon which it is
founded, or how far this contempt of the world has prevailed among the
generality of christians; we shall find the gospel hath infinitely the
advantage of all other doctrines of all other religions.

To see a man raised above this world, and yet exercised in all the
duties of life; to see him live with a holy superiority to all things
below heaven, and yet fulfilling all his relative duties among men with
diligence; to see a man ready every moment to be gone from this world,
and yet content to stay here as long as his Heavenly Father pleases,
under the troubles, and burdens, and agonies of this life too; this
shews the religion to be divine, and from heaven: _he that believes, has
this witness in himself_; and where faith rises high, this witness
appears evident and glorious.

III. Another part of the holiness of eternal life, consists in a delight
in the worship and enjoyment of God. This is perfect in heaven, this is
eternal life; Rev. vii. 15. They are before the throne of God night and
day, that is, perpetually, and serve him there in his temple. Now the
christian religion attains this end in a good measure; it brings the
soul to delight in divine worship and converse with God, which no mere
human religion could ever do: For since no human religion could ever
teach an awakened sinner, how he might appear in the presence of a holy
God, with assurance and comfort, no other religion could make a soul
delight in the worship of God. We can never delight in drawing near to
God, that hath infinite vengeance in him, while we know not but he will
pour that vengeance out upon us; we fly far from him, unless we have
some good ground of hope, that he will forgive us our iniquities and
receive us into his favour. Now since there is no other doctrine that
shews us how our sins may be forgiven, or how the favour of God may be
attained; there is no other religion can allure or draw us into the
presence of God with pleasure; Heb. x. 19, 20. Let us draw near and
worship the Father, in full assurance and confidence, that he will
accept our persons and our worship, since we have such an high-priest to
introduce us with acceptance; since by his flesh and incarnation, he has
made a way for us to come into the presence of God with satisfaction and
pleasure, therefore let us draw near and worship him. The influence of
this argument has been found by christians, by every christian; for
there is not one that hath believed in Christ, but has had this witness
in himself. There is a sweet serenity and calmness of spirit belongs to
the souls of those in whom faith is lively and strong, even when they
stand before God, though he be a God of terror and vengeance to sinners:
for they know Jesus is their atonement, their introducer, their peace;
and therefore they love to draw near to him as a God reconciled, they
rejoice in him as their highest happiness.

Other professions of men, when they abandoned sensual pleasures, and the
vanities of this world, yet taught them that their happiness must flow
from themselves, and made their own virtues their heaven, without any
regard to God. These philosophers were self-sufficient, full of
themselves, and they were so far from making their rivers of pleasure to
flow from the right-hand of God, that they even denied their dependance
upon him in this respect; and they supposed their wise men to be equal
with God, deriving all their blessedness from within themselves. But
christianity leads the soul out of itself to God, as it gives a clearer
and larger knowledge of God himself, in his felicitating perfections,
than the heathens could ever attain; it assures us, that being near to
God, is our heaven, and the sight of him is our happiness, as well as
provides a new and living way of access to him, through the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ: therefore the believer rejoices in all
opportunities of drawing near to God, for it is the beginning of his
heaven, and his delight in it is an inward and powerful witness to the
truth of his religion.

IV. Zeal and activity for the service of God, is another part of heaven,
another part of eternal life, and the holiness of it. We have abundant
reason to believe that heaven is not a state of mere enjoyment, unactive
and idle; but a state of service and activity for that God whose we are,
and from whom we have received infinite favours. The angels in heaven
are swift messengers to perform the will of their God; Ps. ciii. 20, 21.
The spirits of just men made perfect are like angels. They do the will
of God as a pattern for us on earth; for we are taught to pray, that his
will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. What particular services
they are employed in of God, we know not; but that they are for ever
zealous in those services which God employs them in, we doubt not, we
cannot disbelieve. And this active zeal in the service of God, and
pursuit of his glory, is the very temper and practice of the true
christian; and that not only in some more important enterprizes, but in
the common actions of life: Whether he eat or drink, or whatsoever he
does, he makes it his rule of life, to do all to the glory of God; 1
Cor. x. 31.

Now this sublime zeal, this noble activity for the service of God and
his glory, was not found among the professors of other religions. To
glorify God, was not their aim and end; those that rose highest among
the old philosophers had not set their aim and end right: They that knew
God, glorified him not as God; Rom. i. 21. They did not make the glory
of God the great design of their actions: It was not zeal for God that
animated them to pursue virtue, but merely their own ends, their own
satisfaction or ease, or the vanity of their own minds, pride and
attempt of superiority above other men; or at best, their motives of
action were the reasonableness of virtue, and the benefit of it to
themselves and their fellow-citizens. But the glory of God is the aim of
christians, and the end of every true believer: he has some degree of
zeal for the honour of God, and therefore is active in those duties
which God proposes to him.

When we see a person regardless of all his self-interests in the world,
and at the same time pursuing the honour of an invisible God, following
hard after the glory of that God that his fleshly eyes have not seen; we
may say he has something above what mere corrupt nature leads him to, or
impresses upon him. The believer has this witness in himself, zeal and
activity for the glory of God in the world.

V. The last thing that goes to make up holiness, is a hearty love to all
men, and especially to the saints. This is a noble ingredient of eternal
life; this is a divine and heavenly temper; this is a beautiful part of
the image of God communicated to the soul of man. That God who is the
original and foundation of eternal life, is a glorious pattern of this
love; he makes his sun to rise, and his rain to fall on the just and on
the unjust, and leaves not himself without witness of his divinity, by
filling the hearts of men with food and gladness: See Mat. v. 45. Acts
xiv. 17. He shews his love to enemies and rebels, in forgiving millions
of offences, and pardoning crimes of the largest size and deepest
aggravations, and he loves his saints with peculiar tenderness. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, who also is the true God and eternal life, came down from
heaven to exemplify his divine love. It was his love to mankind that
persuaded him to put on flesh and blood, and prevailed with him to
suffer pains, agonies, and death, that his enemies might obtain
salvation and life. O glorious example of love! Now this is in some
measure wrought into the make of every true christian, and imitated in
the practice of every true believer: He is obliged, by one of the chief
rules of his religion to love his neighbour as himself: that is, to do
that to others, which he thinks just and reasonable that they should do
to him; Mat. xxii. 39. Luke vi. 31. He is bound to forgive freely those
that offend him, as he hopes for forgiveness of his offences against
God; Mat. vi. 14, 15. He rejoices in the welfare of his
fellow-creatures, without repining: He loves his enemies, does good to
them that hate him, blesses those that curse him, and prays for his
persecutors and spiteful foes; Luke vi. 27. He pities all that are
miserable, but takes a peculiar delight in his fellow-christians; (the
christians must be known by this, that they love one another.) _He does
good to all but especially to the household of faith_; Gal. vi. 10.

Other religions know nothing of so generous and diffusive a love; the
men of heathenism were _hateful, and hating one another, and spent their
lives in malice and envy_; Tit. iii. 3. They did not so much as aspire
to so divine a virtue as the love of enemies; this is the noble
singularity of our gospel. The heathen professions encouraged revenge,
and made it one ingredient of a hero: But envy and malice, wrath and
revenge, must be banished from the heart and practice of a christian, to
whom the kindness and love of God our Saviour has appeared; these vices
must stand aloof from the saint, and thus bear a testimony to the truth
and divinity of the doctrine of Christ.

I grant that every one of these instances, and all these parts of
eternal life which I have now described, are not to be found equally in
all believers; nor are they in every believer in a very eminent and
evident degree. But if we take all of them together, pardon of sin,
peace of conscience, the favour of God, and a sense of his love, a
pleasurable harmony of all our powers, an aversion to all sin, and
hatred of every iniquity, a holy contempt of this world, in the
pleasures, as well as in the pains and sorrows of it; delight in the
worship of God, and desire after his enjoyment; zeal and activity in
service for God, with a sincere aim for his glory, and a hearty love to
fellow-creatures and fellow-christians: I say, if we join all these
together, we shall find that the christian religion has a witness far
superior to all other doctrines that ever pretended to divinity. We
shall find that every believer has something of all these qualities
wrought in his heart, and it is exemplified in his life. Truly, where
none of these are found, that person cannot profess himself a christian
with any just ground of hope: Where there is not such a witness as this
to the truth of christianity, where there is not this eternal life begun
in some sensible measure and manner, that person’s profession of
christianity is but vain; and his practice and his course contradict the
words of his lips, when he pronounces himself a believer in the Son of
God.

I might here take notice, that the three that bear witness on earth to
the truth of the gospel, _viz._ the spirit, the water, and the blood,
may be expounded agreeably to the foregoing discourse. The blood may
signify the pacification of a guilty conscience by the atoning blood of
Christ. The water, may intend the sanctification and purifying of our
natures from sinful appetites and practices, as by the washing of water:
And the spirit may imply that efficacious influence which a believer
receives from the Holy Spirit, both toward the pacification of his
conscience, and the purification of his soul. All these witness to the
truth of christianity; though others are of opinion, that the Spirit in
his miraculous operations, the water, or purity of the nature and life
of Christ, and the blood, or his violent death, and the attendants on
it, are the three witnesses on earth which the apostle designs; nor can
I absolutely determine which is the right.

Before I conclude, I would lay down one caution and one reflection.

The caution is this: That though I exclude all human religions from the
honour, power, and glorious effects of christianity, as being utterly
incapable of them, yet the Jewish religion, and that of the ancient
patriarchs, which were divine, are not hereby totally excluded from this
honour, and these characters, but only in part: For there were many
souls in whom these beginnings of eternal life were wrought under those
dispensations, but not with that glory and evidence as under the
christian. And indeed Judaism was but a sort of infant christianity, a
veiled gospel. The christian religion is Judaism fulfilled, or the
gospel standing in open light. All that holiness and happiness which was
found among the Jews or patriarchs, is entirely owing to Christ and his
gospel, to the sacrifice, and the spirit, and grace of Jesus, which were
typified by the legal atonements, and blood, sprinklings and washings;
and which wrought powerfully this divine life in their souls, through
all those types, but with feebler conviction, and in a fainter light.

Besides, it should be observed here also, that since the christian
religion has received its full authority and divine establishment, the
Jewish dispensation ceases, and is no longer owned, or aided by the
Spirit of God, to produce these wonderful effects. The types and shadows
of that state have now no power to speak peace and pardon to the guilty
soul, or to purify our sinful natures, and begin eternal life in them.
These are abolished by divine appointment, and God will bear witness to
them no more. They who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh, are deceivers; 2 John 7. _He that hath not the Son of God hath
not life_; 1 John v. 12. So that the doctrine of Christ is the only
religion which we know of, that is practised in the world, that has had
the stamp of divine authority above sixteen hundred years; and as there
have been multitudes of witnesses to the truth of it, multitudes of
souls in the first, and all the succeeding ages, who have felt eternal
life wrought in them by the power of the gospel, so there is no other
religion ever since can produce and shew such divine testimony; for
there _is salvation in no other name_; Acts iv. 12.

The only reflection I shall make, is this: We may derive hence a solid
and infallible rule for self-examination, whether we are christians or
no. Have we in ourselves this divine witness of our christianity? Have
we eternal life wrought in our own hearts? Have we desired peace of
conscience and any hope of pardoning grace by trusting in the Son of
God? Have we found any satisfaction of soul in drawing near to God by
Jesus the Mediator? Do we find a sincere love to God kindled in our
souls by the hope of his special favour? Is there any thing of the
holiness or happiness of the heavenly state begun within us? Have we an
aversion to all sin in some degree answerable to what the saints and
angels have in heaven? Have we a holy contempt of this world? Have we
overcome the world as those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God,
and have put their trust in him? Do we live above it, as those that are
within sight of eternal blessedness? Are we come to mount Sion, the city
of the living God, to the innumerable company of angels, and the church
of the first-born, &c. in this respect? Do we look down upon the
tempting vanities of this life with a sacred disdain, something like
those that dwell on high in the full possession of life eternal? Is
there any similitude between our life and theirs, between our hearts and
theirs? Do we delight in the worship of God? Is his presence our joy? Is
his enjoyment the object of our desires? Are we zealous for his service?
Are our aims set for his glory? Are we active in the discharge of the
duties that he hath appointed to us, and the several provinces of
service that he has ordained us to be engaged in, in this world? Do we
do the will of our heavenly Father on earth, in some measure as it is
done in heaven? How stand our hearts affected toward our
fellow-creatures? Do we love our neighbour, by dealing with him as we
desire he should deal with us? Can we forgive enemies? Do we rejoice in
the welfare of others without envy, and take delight in the holiness and
peace of our fellow-creatures, and give the poor and mean followers of
Christ, a large share in our hearts and kindest affections? If this be
the character and temper of our spirits, and this the conduct of our
lives, then eternal life is begun in us; then we may say to our own
souls, This is the record that God hath given concerning his Son, that
there is eternal life in him; 1 John v. 11. and we are sure we build our
hopes on a solid foundation, for this life is already begun in our
hearts, and the Spirit of God, who has begun this work, will carry it
on, and make it perfect in the days of eternity. _Amen._




                              SERMON III.
                 _The Inward Witness to Christianity._
 1 JOHN v. 10—He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in
                                himself.
                            THE THIRD PART.


Many and glorious are the outward testimonies that God has given to our
religion, both in the days when his Son Jesus dwelt on earth, and in the
time of the ministration of the apostles who followed their blessed
Lord. The miracles wrought, the prophecies fulfilled, and the various
glories attending the ministration of the gospel, conspire to confirm
our faith; each of them are evidences of the truth and divinity of this
doctrine; and all of them joined together, bear such a testimony as
cannot be resisted. We live now in these later days at a long distance
from those seasons wherein these miracles were wrought, and wherein God
appeared in so immediate a manner from heaven, to witness to the truth
of the gospel of his Son; but God has taken care to furnish every true
believer with a sufficient witness of christianity; we are not left void
of evidence at this day. He that believeth, hath the witness in himself.
There is an internal testimony given to the gospel of Christ in the
heart of every one that receives it in truth. There are the beginnings
of that eternal life wrought in the soul, which the Son of God bestows
on all believers; he that hath the Son hath life. The spiritual life of
a christian runs into eternity; it is the same divine temper, the same
peaceful and holy qualities of mind communicated to the believer here in
the days of grace, which shall be fulfilled and perfected in the world
of glory; and this is a blessed witness to the truth of christianity; it
proves with abundant evidence, that it is a religion sufficient to save
souls, for the salvation is begun in every man that receives it.

I shall repeat no more of the foregoing discourses, but proceed
immediately to answer the last question there proposed, _viz._ What sort
of witness this is, which true faith gives to the gospel of Christ, and
what are the remarkable properties of this testimony.

I answer, I. It is a witness that dwells more in the heart than in the
head. It is a testimony known by being felt and practised, and not by
mere reasoning; the greatest reasoners may miss of it, for it is a
testimony written in the heart; and upon this account it has some
prerogatives above all the external arguments for the truth of
christianity. This inward argument is always at hand, when a believer is
in the exercise of his graces, and acting according to his new nature
and life: It is an argument that is not lost through the weakness of the
brain, the defect of the memory, and long absence from books and study,
to which other arguments are liable; it is an argument that cannot be
forgotten, while true religion remains in the heart, for it is graven
there in lasting characters.

Those words of St. Paul to the Corinthians, in his second epistle, chap.
iii. ver. 2, 3. have a reference to our present case: _Ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with
ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but
in fleshly tables of the heart._ We have a glory in our religion, that
distinguishes it from, and advances it above the Jewish dispensation;
their law was written in tables of stone, and afterwards Moses wrote it
out at large in a book: But ye have something (says the apostle) written
in your hearts, that proves the truth of your religion, and of my divine
commission, ye who are converted by my gospel; ye Corinthians, who were
once vile as the vilest, and upon whose souls the devil, by his
temptations and by his power, had inscribed many dark characters, and
seemed to seal you over, and mark you to damnation, ye are now the
epistle of Christ, ye have those dismal characters rased out, and ye
have golden and bright ones inscribed. The image of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who is eternal life, appears fairly written on your souls: Ye
are the epistle of Christ, and eternal life is begun in you, and thus
the gospel witnesses its own truth and divinity by an internal evidence.

The gospel of Christ is like a seal or signet, of such inimitable and
divine graving, that no created power can counterfeit it; and when the
Spirit of God has stamped this gospel on the soul, there are so many
holy and happy lines drawn or impressed thereby; so many sacred
signatures and divine features stamped on the mind, that gives certain
evidence both of a heavenly signet, and a heavenly operator.

A christian, who has well studied the doctrines and proofs of
christianity, can give sufficient reasons for the truth of them, and for
his believing them. He finds what is sufficiently satisfactory, to
confirm his belief in the outward testimonies, in the miracles wrought
in the world, and the prophecies fulfilled: I have (says he) in my
understanding many arguments and evidences of the truth of the gospel,
and my reason is convinced that it is a divine religion. But there is a
miracle wrought in my heart that is of more efficacy than this, and is
to me a more convincing proof of the gospel of Christ; eternal life is
begun in me. I find my conscience, that was disturbed with the guilt of
sin, established in peace, upon solid hopes of pardon. I have an
interest in the love of God, and lively sensations of that love; I have
a hatred of all sin, I live above the world, and have a holy contempt of
the trifles, businesses, and cares of this life: I delight in the
company of him that dwells in heaven: I find in my soul that I love him,
and love those who are like him; I walk, as seeing him, who is
invisible; I have a zeal for his glory, and with active diligence I am
employed for the honour of his name in the world. These things I find
wrought in me by the gospel of Christ: The discoveries of the nature and
works of God, by his gospel, have filled my soul with holy wonder, and
bowed my spirit down to adore him. The revelations of his amazing
condescension and love, have raised and fired my heart to love him; the
examples of superlative piety I meet with in this gospel, have excited
my holy imitation; and the motives proposed here, are so awful and so
alluring, that all my powers of hope and fear are joined and engaged to
constrain my obedience to the excellent and divine precepts of this
religion. I feel that I am quite altered from what once I was, I am a
new creature, and the change is divine and heavenly.—There is something
within me, that bears witness, that my religion is from God.

II. It is a witness that will, in some measure, appear in the life,
wheresoever it is written in the heart: For eternal life is an active
principle, it will be discovering and exercising itself. Is it possible,
that a man should have the pardon of his sins, and sweet peace of
conscience, a sense of the love of God, who is an infinite good, a
joyful satisfaction in his heavenly favour, and manifest nothing of this
in his aspect and behaviour? That he should shew no serenity of
countenance, no sweetness of temper, no inward joy; Is it possible that
he should have an utter aversion to sin, a hatred of all iniquity in his
heart, and not make it appear in his life? That he should maintain a
holy contempt of this world, and scorn of it, in comparison of the
future glories that his eye is fixed upon, so warm a zeal for God, and
so hearty a love to men, and not manifest it to the world? Surely his
life will be above, where his heart is; and his heart will be in heaven,
where his treasures are. _Our conversation is in heaven, says the
blessed Paul, under the influence of this religion and these hopes_;
Phil. iii. 20, 21.

It is true indeed, this is a testimony that cannot be communicated to
others, in the same measure and manner that it is felt by the persons
that believe. In this respect it is like the hidden manna, which none
knows but that they taste of it; yet those that feed upon it daily, will
discover it in some outward appearances; as you read of Jonathan, in the
day when he was faint in pursuing his enemies, he tasted of the honey,
and his eyes were enlightened; 1 Sam. xiv. 27. Just so will it be with
the soul that hath tasted of the gospel of Christ, this food of eternal
life; he will discover it in his language, in his behaviour; and it is a
shame to those that profess to be believers, that in all things they
look so much like the men of this world, and do not discover it in their
lives, and witness what they have in their hearts, even the beginning of
eternal life: If we are the epistle of Christ, we shall be, in some
measure, known and read of all men; 2 Cor. iii. 2, 3. Christianity in
the soul, eternal life begun in the heart, will be like the sweet
ointment of the right-hand, that bewrays itself, and cannot be hid;
Prov. xxvii. 16. Ye christians, ye are the light of the earth, ye
believers are the salt of the world; ye must not appear like others if
you would be like yourselves; the honour of God your Saviour demands
some sensible and important difference. Ye must not be too much like the
world, if ye mean to give glory or evidence to the religion of Christ;
John xv. 19. Rom. xii. 2.

III. Though this inward evidence of the truth of christianity be of a
spiritual nature, and spring from pious experience, yet it is a very
rational evidence also, and may be made out and justified to the
strictest reason. It is no vain, fanciful, and enthusiastic business;
for while every believer feels the argument working strong in his heart
and soul, he finds also the convincing force of it upon his
understanding: While he feels his inward powers sweetly inclined to
virtue and holiness, which by nature had strong inclination to
sensuality and sin, and knows that this was wrought in him purely by the
gospel of Christ; he cannot but infer, that must be a divine principle
which has such divine effects. He knows that he was once blind and dead
in trespasses and sins, but now he is awake, and alive to God and to
righteousness: he is born again, he dwells, as it were, in a new world,
there is a mighty and surprizing change past upon him, even from death
to life; and thence he concludes, by the justest rules of reasoning,
that it must be a doctrine of divine wisdom and power, that gave him
this blessed resurrection: It is above and beyond nature, it is a
miracle of grace, and none but God could work it.

And this is what I call the inward witness of the Spirit of God to the
truth of the gospel, at least in these latter ages of christianity. The
outward and more visible testimony of the spirit consists in those
sensible miracles that were wrought, and those wondrous gifts of
healing; of tongues, &c. that were bestowed on the first christians;
Heb. ii. 4. Rom. xv. 19. But the Spirit’s inward testimony is the
constant miracle of regeneration and converting grace. This witness, in
my opinion, has been dishonoured by too many protestants, when they have
explained it merely by inward impulses, and vehement impressions upon
the mind, without the conduct of reason. This has tempted the profane
world to call our devout efforts of christian piety mere enthusiasm and
wild imagination, the flashes of a kindled blood and vapours, that are
puffed about with every wind: But when the testimony of the spirit is
explained in the manner I have described, it must approve itself to all
the sober and reasonable part of mankind.

Here let us stand still and consider, how great and divine a power was
necessary to make this mighty change on the heart of a poor, ignorant,
guilty, sinful creature, and establish him a saint in peace and purity.
It is not every one that hears this same gospel, that obtains the same
salvation, and that feels the same glorious change; and many a true
christian must confess, how long they sat under the same ministry and
instructions before their hearts were brought to love God, or renewed to
an heavenly life; Thus their experience teaches them, there was an
Almighty virtue and efficacy at last attended this gospel, which made it
more powerful in one day, or week, or month, than it had been in whole
years before. There was a quickening spirit, that accompanied the voice
of the word, and gave them life, while the word called them to arise
from the dead. And this is yet more gloriously evident, when such
changes have been wrought on sinners in an hour or two: They went to
hear the gospel, poor, lame, blind, senseless and thoughtless of God and
eternity; and they were awakened, convinced of sin and of righteousness;
they learnt their ruin and their recovery at once, through the atonement
and grace of Christ: The poor came home enriched with various graces:
the blind see wonders, and the lame return leaping and rejoicing in the
hope of glory. This gives plain proof of a divine doctrine, and a divine
attending spirit and power.

It is the blessed Spirit of God, who dictated these divine truths of the
gospel, that accompanies them with his own power to the minds and
consciences of those who hear the gospel preached, and by his own power
works this glorious change in the hearts and lives of sinners: It is
through the sanctification of the spirit, and the belief of the truth,
that sinners are called by the gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ; 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14. It is by the preaching of
this gospel, attended with this spirit, that the fornicators and
adulterers become chaste, the thieves and extortioners are made honest
and just, the covetous earth-worms become heavenly-minded, the drunkards
are turned sober, and these heirs of hell are made fit to inherit the
kingdom of God. The unclean are washed, the unholy are sanctified, and
the guilty justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of
our God: 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, 11. It is the blessed Spirit the Comforter,
that speaks peace to the conscience of believers, through the atoning
blood of Christ; it is he sheds abroad the love of God in their hearts,
by believing the gospel; Rom. v. 5. and it is he that fills them with
love to God and to their neighbour; for this love is the fruit of the
Spirit; Gal. v. 22, and when the Spirit of God shines upon his own work
in the soul of man, and makes this glorious change appear to the
self-examining christian, it is a noble testimony that it gives to the
truth and divinity of the gospel of Christ.

IV. This witness to the truth of christianity is certain and infallible,
in the nature and reason of things; and where this divine life arises to
a considerable height, it gives a full assurance to the christian, that
his religion is true. Eternal life begun in the soul, according to the
description of it, cannot rise from a _false_ doctrine; it must proceed
from the God of truth, who himself is _eternal life_; 1 John v. 20. and
the original and spring of it to all his happy creatures. If it were
possible that any other doctrine or religion could work such an inward
witness in the hearts of sinners; if it were possible that any mere
human gospel could give such a life and happiness as I have described,
God would never have appointed his own divine gospel such a doubtful
witness. But I may say, God will never suffer so divine a testimony to
belong to any religion, but that which himself hath revealed; and in our
day it can belong to none but the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If
false religions could have this witness, could work this eternal life in
sinners, we could hardly ever have sufficient rules to judge of the true
religion by. Rejoice then ye that have found this witness in your souls,
that have eternal life begun in you; seek after no other way to heaven.
Be not drawn aside from the truth, but be stedfast. Ye cannot find such
another doctrine among men; ye cannot find another religion that can
offer such testimonies as this. It is then a convincing, an infallible
witness; such a new and heavenly life wrought in the heart, is a sure
proof that the doctrine comes from God.

V. It is a strong and powerful witness, and ever ready at hand to baffle
the most learned sophisms, and the boldest temptations. It lies so near,
and is always at hand, that it is a present shield against every flying
arrow from the camp of infidelity. It is an argument drawn from sense
and vital experience, and it effectually answers all the subtle cavils
of false reasoning. Suppose a crafty philosopher should pretend to
prove, that bread is not wholesome, that water is useless to allay
thirst, or wine is mere poison; I may boldly maintain the wholesomeness,
and the happy use of bread, water, and wine; for I am daily nourished by
this bread, my thirst has been perpetually quenched by water, and I have
often found and felt this wine refresh me. The quibbles of logic,
against the sense and experience of a true christian, are but as darts
of straw and stubble against the scales of a leviathan.

When _the Greeks, who seek after learning_, say to a christian, “How can
this gospel be true and divine, which is so plain and simple in itself,
which was preached by a parcel of fishermen, and invented by a
carpenter, and his followers that published it had no more learning than
he? How is it possible such a religion should be from God, that hath so
much of unlearned simplicity in it?” But the christian can tell them,
that all the wisdom and learning of the philosopher could never do such
miracles as this gospel has done, could never work such a divine life
and temper in my heart.

When the Jews shall say, “How can this be the Messiah? For the Messiah,
the Son of God, must be a great King, the Governor of the earth, must
deliver the Jews from their slavery, must have power over all the
nations; how could this be the Messiah, that was crucified among his
countrymen, and we, with our fellow-citizens, joined together to put him
to death, and he lay like a mere mortal in his grave? How can this be
the Saviour, or can his religion be true?” The christian, that is called
of God, and has found the witness in himself, makes answer, _he that was
foolishness to the Greeks, and a scandal to the Jews, is the wisdom of
God, and the power of God to me._ I have seen my _sins nailed to the
cross_ of this Redeemer; I have found a way for the pardon of all my
iniquities, and the satisfaction of my conscience (which was before full
of anguish) in and from the cross of this Messiah; I have found holiness
wrought in my soul by the belief of this gospel; I have felt such virtue
proceeding from this Saviour, that I, who was before all over unclean
and defiled, am in some degree made holy: This gospel therefore must be
from God, and this is the Messiah, his Son.

When the deists of our age shall object and say, “How can ye believe
such a religion to be divine, that is delivered in so poor and mean a
way, as the story of Christ, and all the strange doctrines of your
gospel? How can the bible be the word of God? Not only because there are
so many obscurities and mystical speeches in it, that a learned man in
our day would be ashamed to write it? How can this gospel be the
revelation of God, that wants so much of the beauty of oratory and
strong reasoning, which the wisdom of man pretends to, and daily
performs?” But the christian answers; “The gospel, that is contained
here, must be from God: For although it has so much human weakness in
our eyes, I have felt a divine power attending it, it hath been to me
the power of God unto salvation. Let it want therefore what human
ornaments it will, if it has a divine efficacy in it, I am sure it is
from above.” Thus whatsoever temptations are proposed to baffle his
faith, and to stagger his belief of the doctrine of Christ, this one
instance of its divinity, keeps the believer steady: “I have found it of
efficacy to begin eternal life in me, therefore I know it is from God.”

But as to this sort of objections, against the truth and divinity of our
religion, arising from the doubtful or difficult evidence of the books
of scripture, we may fetch a noble answer from the experimental
testimony of which I am now speaking: And this shall be the sixth
property of this inward witness.

VI. It is such a witness to the truth of the christian religion, as does
not depend on the exact truth of letters and syllables, nor on the
critical knowledge of the copies of the bible, nor on this old
manuscript, or on the other new translation: For how great soever the
difference may be between the various ancient copies of the books of
scripture, or the elder or later translations of it, either in
protestant or popish countries; yet the substance of christianity is so
scattered through all the New Testament, and especially among the
epistles, that every manuscript and every translation has enough of the
gospel to save souls by it, and make a man a christian indeed. How full
of noise and controversy has the christian world been, especially in the
learned ages of it, in order to adjust and settle the true books of
scripture, the true verses, and the true reading? How many doubtful
words have crept into some of the written copies by the mistakes of
transcribers? And how exceeding hard, if not impossible, is it in many
cases to judge which was the true and authentic word or sentence? But
the humble and sincere christian has learned so much of the same gospel,
in which all copies agree, as has renewed his sinful nature, and wrought
a divine life in him, and therefore he is sure the substance of this
gospel must be from God. Nay, if this property of the inward witness be
duly considered a little further in the nature and attendants of it, we
shall find that every true christian has a sufficient argument and
evidence to support his faith, without being able to prove the authority
of any of the canonical writings. He may hold fast his religion, and be
assured that it is divine, though he cannot bring any learned proof that
the book that contains it is divine too; nay, though the book itself
should ever happen to be lost or destroyed: And this will appear with
open and easy conviction, by asking a few such questions as these:

Was not this same gospel preached with glorious success before the new
testament was written? Were not these same doctrines of salvation by
Jesus Christ published to the world by the ministry of the apostles, and
made effectual to convert thousands, before they set themselves to
commit these doctrines to writing? And had not every sincere believer,
every true convert, this blessed witness in himself, that christianity
was from God? Eight or ten years had past away, after the ascension of
Christ, before any part of the New Testament was written, (as learned
men conceive) and what unknown multitudes of christian converts were
born again by the preaching of the word, and raised to a divine and
heavenly life, long ere this book was half finished or known, and that
among heathens as well as Jews? And though the scriptures of the Old
Testament might prepare the minds of some of these to receive the
gospel; yet we have reason to believe, that great numbers, especially of
the Gentile world, were convinced by miracles and tongues, and some,
perhaps by mere narratives and exhortations, and became holy believers;
each of them _the epistle of Christ written in the heart_, and bearing
about within them a noble and convincing proof that this religion was
divine, and that without a written gospel, without epistles, and without
a bible.

Again, in the first ages of Christianity, for several hundred years
together, how few among the common people were able to read? How few
could get the possession of the use of a bible, when all sacred as well
as profane books must be copied by writing? How few of the populace, in
a large town or city, could obtain or could use any small part of
scripture, before the art of printing made the word of God so common?
And yet millions of them were regenerated, sanctified, and saved by the
ministration of this gospel. The sum, and sense, and substance of this
divine doctrine, communicated to the nations in various forms of speech,
and in different phrases, made a divine impression on their minds, being
attended by the power of the blessed Spirit; and while it stamped its
own sacred image on their souls, it transformed their natures into holy
and heavenly, and created so many new witnesses to the truth of the
gospel, for it begun eternal life in them.

Consider then, christians, and be convinced, that the gospel has a more
noble inward witness belonging to it, than is derived from _ink and
paper_, from precise letters and syllables: And though God, in his great
wisdom and goodness, saw it necessary that the New Testament should be
written, to preserve these holy doctrines uncorrupted through all ages;
and though he was pleased to appoint the written word to be the
invariable and authentic rule of our faith and practice, and make it a
glorious instrument of instructing ministers and people to salvation in
all these later times: Yet christianity has a secret witness in the
hearts of believers, that does not depend on their knowledge and proof
of the authority of the scriptures, nor of any of the controversies that
in late ages have attended the several manuscript copies, and different
readings and translations of the bible.

Now this is of admirable use and importance in the christian life, upon
several accounts: As,

1. If we consider how few poor unlearned christians there are, who are
capable of taking in the arguments which are necessary to prove the
divine authority of the sacred writings; and few, even among the
learned, can well adjust and determine many of the different readings,
or different translations of particular scriptures. Now a wise christian
does not build his faith and hope merely upon any one or two single
texts, but upon the general scope, sum, and substance of the gospel, the
great doctrines of the satisfaction for sin, by the blood of Christ, and
the renewal of our corrupt natures by the Holy Spirit, the necessity of
faith in Christ, repentance of sin, and sincere holiness, in order to
salvation and heavenly glory; and by these he feels a spiritual life of
peace and piety begun in him: And here lies his evidence that
christianity is divine, and that these doctrines are from heaven, though
a text or two may be written false, or wrong translated, or though a
whole book or two may be hard to be proved authentic.

The learned well know what need there is of turning over the histories
of ancient times, of the traditions and writings of the fathers, and
authors, pious and profane; what need of critical skill in the holy
languages, and in ancient manuscripts; what a wide survey of various
circumstances of fact, time, place, style, language, &c. is necessary to
confirm one or another book or verse of the New Testament, and to answer
the doubts of the scrupulous, and the bold objections of the infidel;
what laborious reasonings are requisite to found our faith on this
bottom. Now how few of the common rank of christians, whose hearts are
inlaid with true faith in the Son of God, and real holiness, have
leisure, books, instructions, advantages, and judgment to make a
thorough search into these matters, and to determine, upon a just view
of argument, that these books were written by the sacred authors whose
names they bear, and that these authors were under an immediate
inspiration in writing them? What a glorious advantage is it then to
have such an infallible testimony to the truth of the gospel wrought and
written in the heart by renewing grace, as does not depend on this
laborious, learned, and argumentative evidence of the divine authority
of the bible, or of any particular book or verse of it?

2. If we consider what bold assaults are sometimes made upon the faith
of the unlearned christian, by the deists and unbelievers of our age, by
disputing against the authority of the scripture, by ridiculing the
strange narratives and sublime doctrines of the bible, by setting the
seeming contradictions in a blasphemous light, and then demanding, “How
can you prove, or how can you believe, that this book is the word of
God, or that the religion it teaches is divine?” In such an hour of
contest, how happy is the christian that can say, “Though I am not able
to solve all the difficulties in the bible, nor maintain the sacred
authority of it against the cavils of wit and learning; yet I am well
assured that the doctrines of this book are sacred, and the authority of
them divine: For when I heard and received them, they changed my nature,
they subdued my sinful appetites, they made a new creature of me, and
raised me from death to life; they made me love God above all things,
and gave me the lively and well-grounded hope of his love: Therefore I
cannot doubt but that the chief principles of this book are heavenly and
divine, though I cannot so well prove that the very words and syllables
of it are so too; for it is the sense of scripture, and not the mere
letters of it, on which I build my hope.” I might say yet further,

3. This inward witness gives great support in hours of darkness and
temptations of the devil, when such sudden thoughts shall be thrown into
the mind even of a learned christian: “What if the scripture should not
be divine? What if this gospel and the other epistle should not be
written by inspiration? What if these should be merely the words of men,
and not the very word of God?” The believer, who feels a renewed nature,
and a divine life working within him, can boldly repel these fiery darts
of Satan, with such a reply as this: “Though I cannot at present
recollect all the arguments that prove Matthew, Mark, and Luke, to be
divine historians, or Peter and Paul to be inspired writers; yet the
substance and chief sense of their gospels, and their epistles must
needs be divine, and God is the author of it, for it has begun the
spiritual and eternal life in my soul; and this is my witness (or rather
the witness of the Spirit of God within me) that Christ _is the Son of
God, the Saviour of sinners_, and the religion that I profess and
practice is safe and divine.”

And though there are many and sufficient arguments drawn from criticism,
history, and human learning, to prove the sacred authority of the bible,
and such as may give abundant evidence to an honest enquirer, and full
satisfaction that it is the word of God; yet this is the chief evidence
that the greatest part of christians can ever attain of the divine
original of the holy scripture itself, as well as the truth of the
doctrines contained in it, _viz._ That they have found such a holy and
heavenly change passed upon them by reading or hearing the propositions,
the histories, the promises, the precepts, and the threatenings of this
book: And thence they are wont to infer, that the God of truth would not
attend a book, which was not agreeable to his mind, with such glorious
instances of his own power and grace. Though it must be still confessed,
that this argument is much stronger, and the evidence brighter for the
general truth of christianity, than it can possibly be for the sacred
authority of any one verse or chapter of the New Testament.

I have dwelt the longer on this sixth property of the inward witness,
because I think it of great importance in our age, which has taken so
many steps towards heathenism and infidelity: for this argument or
evidence will defend a christian in the profession of the true religion,
though he may not have skill enough to defend his bible.

[This sermon may be divided here, if it be too long.]

VII. This is an universal witness to the truth of the gospel; for it
belongs to every true christian. The weak, as well as the strong, enjoy
this inward evidence in some measure and degree. This is an argument of
some force and conviction to him, who is but young in grace and
knowledge, as well as to him that has made high advances in the faith,
and is grown up to the stature of man in _Christ_. Though it must be
acknowledged that where faith and love, holiness and peace are weak, the
evidence of this testimony is weak also; yet it may sometimes stand firm
and strong, and shine bright in those christians, whose intellectual
powers are but mean and low. Some persons of great holiness, may have
but little natural parts, poor understandings, a mean education, and can
scarce give any clear rational account of the things of this world, or
of that which is to come; and these enjoy a great degree of this inward
witness to the truth of christianity, that a divine life is begun in
them, and that the gospel has effectually wrought in them _a new nature;
those great and precious promises of the gospel having made them
partakers of the divine nature_, they are sure those promises must be
divine, 2 Pet. i. 4. and 1 Cor. i. 22, 23. _Not many wise, not many
mighty, not many noble are called; but God hath chosen the poor, and the
weak, and foolish things of this world, to confound the wise and the
mighty_: Nor yet hath he chosen, or called one of them, without giving
them a sufficient witness to the truth of that gospel, by and to which
they are called. Though they cannot argue for the doctrine of _Christ_,
yet they find _Christ dwelling within them the hope of glory_; Col. i.
27. They find the characters of _Christ_ copied out in their hearts, and
the life of _Christ_ in some measure, transcribed in their lives. They
find something of sacred influence from the gospel of Christ, which no
other doctrines can pretend to; therefore though they cannot give a
rational account, which shall answer all the cavils of men; why they
believe christianity, through the weakness of their knowledge, yet their
faith in Christ is strong; for they are sure the doctrine is divine,
because of the sweet and sanctifying influence it has upon them. How
condescending is God to poor sinners, to give such a religion to be
saved by, that everyone who receives it shall have an infallible witness
in himself of the truth of it, without the learning of the schools, and
the knowledge of tongues! Their chief argument for it is, they have
divine holiness, and divine peace.

VIII. This inward witness of the truth of christianity, is, or should
be, always growing and improving. The testimony increases as the divine
love increases; the greater the degree of holiness we arrive at, the
more are we confirmed in the truth of christianity the testimony grows
stronger, 2 Cor. iii. 18. You find that text approves of what I have now
argued. When the apostle had been distinguishing between the religion of
the law, and that of the gospel; that the one was covered with a veil,
but under the other this veil was taken away: We, says he, under the
gospel, _with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory. We who behold the
face of Christ Jesus_ in his gospel, we who here see a God reconciled in
and by the death of his Son, we who see the holiness of Christ here
described, copied, and exemplified, _we are changed into the same
image_. The image of Christ is transcribed upon our natures, we go on
from one degree of it to another; we are changed _from glory to glory_,
from one degree of glorious holiness to another: thereby the gospel
appears to have a fairer, a brighter, and a stronger evidence.

Thence it comes to pass, that when christians have grown to a good
degree of strength in faith, and great measures of holiness in this
world, all the temptations that they meet with to turn them aside from
the doctrines of Christ, _are esteemed but as straw and stubble_; they
cannot move nor stir them from the faith that is in Jesus, because the
evidence hath grown strong with years: and as they have attended long
upon the ministration of this gospel, they have found more and more of
this eternal life wrought in their hearts; they have got nearer to
heaven, they have pressed on continually towards perfection, they have
found sweet assurance of the pardon of sin in their conscience, and
diviner sensations of the love of God communicated to them, and their
own love both to God and man increasing; they have found their hearts
more averse to all iniquity, they have felt themselves rising higher and
higher above this world, as they have come nearer to the end of their
days; and a holy contempt of this world has grown bolder: They take
greater delight in God, and more gustful satisfaction in his worship,
and in his company: Their zeal for his honour is warmer and stronger;
they are perpetually employing themselves in contrivances for the glory
of God among men. Thus in every part of this spiritual life the
testimony increases, the evidence grows brighter, as eternal life
advances in them.

In the last place: As it is a growing witness, so it is such an one as
never can be utterly lost; and that character of it is derived from the
very name, for it is _eternal life_. Where it is once wrought in the
soul, it shall be everlasting, it shall never die. _The seed of God
abides in those that are born of God_; 1 John iii. 9. _for they are born
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, even the word of God,
which lives and abides forever_; 1 Pet. i. 23. His gospel, which is an
_everlasting gospel_, continues that heavenly work in the soul, which
that gospel did first begin. It may be darkened indeed, it may be hidden
for a season; sometimes the violent temptations of the evil one, may, as
it were stop the mouth of this divine witness; and sometimes, defiling
lusts rising upon the face of the soul, may darken these evidences, but
can never entirely blot them out. Eternal life must abide for ever,
according to the name and nature of it. Though the evidence for a season
may be obscure, and may seem to be silent through the power of iniquity,
and the strength of temptation; yet this life will resume its activity,
and discover itself, because its nature is eternal. It is Christ Jesus
living in the soul by the power of his own Spirit; Christ Jesus, who is
the eternal principle of life, and his Spirit, which is the eternal
Spirit: and where he hath begun to dwell, he shall forever inhabit. This
evidence shall continue to all eternity, and shall give many a sweet
reflection to the saints in heaven. “I feel now (says every saint there)
that this was a true gospel I trusted in, in the days of my flesh; and
this religion was divine, for it hath raised me to these mansions of
blessedness. I feel now it was a doctrine came down from heaven, and
that Christ Jesus was not an imposter, but _the Son of God_ indeed, for
he has brought me to his Father’s house by this doctrine; he has seated
me upon his own throne, even as he is seated upon the throne of his
Father: he hath made me an overcomer by believing this doctrine, even as
he himself has overcome.” Eternal life itself, in the perfection of it
in the future world, shall be a standing and everlasting evidence of the
truth of the gospel.

I will now endeavour to draw some few inferences or remarks from the
discourse, and then conclude.

1. The first remark is very obvious, how glorious is the gospel of our
Lord! How preferable to all other religions! Those which men have
invented, are not to come into competition with it; let none of them be
named. Even that religion which God himself invented, the religion of
the Jews, had not such honourable characters belonging to it, as this of
our Saviour hath. Many expressions that are used in the epistles of St.
Paul, to shew the superiority of the gospel above the law, are such as
give it an infinite advantage and preference: As in point of glory, so
in point of evidence too. One was _the letter_; the other is _the
spirit_; one was _the ministration of condemnation_, the other of
salvation; one _the ministration of death_, the other of life: and as
life, spiritual or eternal life, is represented as the peculiar effect
and prerogative of the gospel, so it carries more light of evidence with
it to confirm its heavenly original; it brings the believing soul much
nearer to heaven.

The Jewish religion instituted by Moses, although, by the accompanying
power of the Spirit of God, _it wrought effectually_, in the hearts of
those that sincerely received it, and changed their natures in a saving
manner; yet the brightness and glory of this sort of evidence, that
belonged to that religion was derived from the gospel, which was hidden
under the types of it: Nor could it be supposed to have equal brightness
or force with the gospel itself, when unveiled, and shining in open
light; as I have shewn in the second discourse.

The Jews, when they had offered all their sacrifices for the hope of
pardon of their sins, and looked as far as they could look through the
smoke and shadows, to see the Messiah at a distance, could never have
their consciences so sweetly released from fears, and the sense of
guilt, as christians under the gospel, may enjoy through the blood of
Christ: never had they so much communion with God in love, as since it
is manifested by Christ Jesus, the Son of his love, that came _from his
bosom_. Never were they raised so high above the world, nor could any of
the Jews be so high refined in their hopes and joys, and exult in the
view of heavenly glories, as a christian may be, and do, since the veil
is withdrawn, and _life and immortality are brought to light by the
gospel_: 2 Tim. i. 10. Never could they triumph overall the terrors of
death, and the horror and darkness of the grave, as St. Paul the
christian often does, and teaches his fellow-saints the same triumphal
song; 1 Cor. xv. 54, &c. I grant that a single person or two like David,
might now and then, by the spirit of rapture and prophecy, be borne far
above that dispensation itself, and might have noble views and joys; but
the whole church, under that state had but dark apprehensions of things
above this life, and beyond death; their spiritual things were so much
mingled and interwoven with a worldly dispensation, and their sanctuary
itself called _a worldly sanctuary_. So much carnality entered into the
scheme of their constitution, that they could not be raised so high
above this world, and the things of this life, as christians under the
gospel: they could never have such a sense of forgiving grace, nor so
sweet a satisfaction in drawing near to God, as christians now have; nor
were they so expressly commanded, nor could, nor did they so gloriously
practise the duties of love and forgiveness to men, as the christian
religion requires, and works in the hearts of sincere believers.

2d remark. You learn here an excellent rule for self-examination,
whether you have true faith or no. If you have, it will be accompanied
with this evidence: for this eternal life begun in the soul, does not
merely prove that christianity is a true doctrine, but it proves also
that the faith of that person is true, where this eternal life is begun.
This is mentioned in the foregoing sermon, therefore I shall pass it
over briefly. The apostle asserts this sufficiently, ver. 13. _These
things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that ye may know that ye have eternal life._ The duties of morality,
both of the first and second table, will be written upon the heart, and
will, in some degree, be practised in the life, where the gospel is
written in the heart, and where christianity is wrought in its power in
the soul. But, on the other hand, those who neglect the duties of the
first table, or indulge themselves in a very careless performance of
them; those who pass by the duties of the second table, and those
relative engagements which they lie under to their neighbour by the law
of God, can never have the evidence within themselves, neither of the
truth of christianity, nor of the truth of their own faith: They may be
heathens, they may be heroes, they may be philosophers, they may be any
thing but christians.

3d remark. Learn the true method of confirming your souls in the
christian faith: seek daily greater degrees of this divine life wrought
in you. This advice is also hinted by the apostle John, in the 13th
verse, _I have written these things to you_ concerning the witness of
christianity, that consists in having _eternal life_ begun in you, not
only that ye may know ye have it, but that ye may go on to _believe on
the name of the Son of God_. We have need in our day to be well seasoned
with arguments against the dangers of the times, and the temptations of
the age in which, we dwell. Christianity begins to be a stumbling-block,
and the doctrine of the gospel is called folly; it is reproached to a
very great and shameful degree, in a nation, which in public professes
christianity. When we therefore shall be attacked with arguments to
baffle our faith, and when the _wind of false doctrine_ shall grow
strong, and shall carry away many; how shall we be able to stand our
ground, and hold fast our faith in Christ, if we have not this inward
witness, the beginnings of eternal life? Therefore it is that so many
christians waver and are led away, sometimes to this new doctrine,
sometimes to another, because they feel so little of the efficacy and
power of the gospel in their hearts, so very little of holiness and
eternal life within them.

If you cannot argue for the gospel with learning, nor from experience,
what will ye do in an hour of temptation? For the most part, christians
are too little bred up to those methods of knowledge, whereby they might
be capable of giving large, and rational, and satisfactory answers to
those that may set themselves to oppose the truth and progress of the
gospel. What will you do in the darkness of such a temptation, when
those that are learned and ingenious shall attack your faith, and say,
“Why do you believe in Jesus?” If you have this answer ready at hand, “I
have found the efficacy and power of the gospel on my heart;” this will
be sufficient to answer all their cavils. It was one way whereby
christianity was confirmed in the hearts of the martyrs of old, and
whereby they were enabled to bear up against all oppositions, because
they found such a divine efficacy attending the gospel, such a new and
heavenly life wrought in them, as enabled them to go through great
hardships for the sake of Christ. But this leads me to,

4. The fourth remark, _viz._ If there be this inward evidence belonging
to the gospel, and those that truly believe, then you have a strong
encouragement to profess christianity under the greatest persecutions.
It will bear you out, it carries its own evidence with it; christianity
in the heart will give courage against temptation. _Think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial_, says the apostle Peter, for in such a fiery
trial the gospel hath secured thousands; therefore, says St. Paul,
though I meet with reproaches wheresoever I go, _though bonds and
imprisonments await me_, and death itself; Acts xx. 23. _yet I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ_; Rom. i. 16. _for it is the power of
God to salvation, to every one that believeth_. Which is but the sense
of my text in other words. Every one that believes it in truth, hath
this evidence in _himself, even eternal life: Therefore I count not my
life dear to me, &c._ for the gospel will bear me out in my profession
of it, in my publication of it, and in my suffering for it. This is the
way we shall learn _to resist unto blood_, and seal the truth of this
gospel with our mortal lives, if we have the seal of this truth abiding
in our souls.

5th remark. As from this doctrine you have strong encouragement to
profess christianity, so you are here taught the best way to honour the
gospel, and to propagate the christian religion in the world. Make this
inward divine testimony appear to the world; let the eternal life that
is wrought in your souls by this gospel, express itself in all your
outward behaviour amongst men. Thus the primitive christians did, and it
was their work to propagate the faith of Christ this way. The gentiles
and unbelievers were _won by their conversation_; 1 Pet. iii. 1. Thus
the apostles did, who were as so many captains and officers in the army
of christians, going before the camp, and making war against all the
idolatry of the heathens. They made that eternal life which was wrought
in their souls, appear publicly, and discover itself unto men, and
hereby the gospel gained victory and triumph wheresoever it went. When
those who were ignorant of faith and its power, came into the assemblies
of christians, and found the gospel to be a doctrine of such divine
attendants, it convinced their consciences, and changed many of them
into new creatures; they fell down, and confessed that _there is a God
among the christians of a truth_. When they see _your conversation_,
when they behold your faith, and holy fear, your zeal for God, your
delight in his worship, your _gentleness_, your _meekness_, _kindness_,
and _goodness_ toward your fellow-creatures, your desire of the
salvation of men, and readiness to deny yourselves for their good; when
the heathens know and behold this, they shall be won, says the apostle,
by such a conversation as this is, to the belief of the same doctrine,
and practice of the same duties.

O what unknown millions of arguments would support and adorn the
doctrine of Christ, if every professor of it had this inward testimony
working powerfully in the soul, and breaking forth in the life! How
effectually would it silence the most impudent objectors! When they
shall put that question to you, “_What do you more than others?_” You
would make it appear in your lives, that the gospel is true and divine,
by challenging all the philosophers, and all the priests and devotees of
other religions, to shew such men and women as christians are; such
husbands and wives, such parents and children, such masters and
servants, such lovers of God and man. O how happy would it be for the
christian name and interest in the world, if those who profess the
gospel of Christ, could make a bold and universal challenge upon this
head! Or when the deists shall insult and say to a believer, What is
Jesus of Nazareth _more than another_ man, that you love and adore him
so? Or in the language of the carnal Jews, _What is thy beloved more
than another beloved_, that thou makest so much ado about him? The
discovery of Christ reigning in the soul by his renewing grace, will be
a sufficient evidence that he is the Son of God, that his character and
his person are divine, and his mission is from above; that he is the
_chiefest of ten thousand_, and _altogether lovely_.

It is worth while for us now to take a survey of ourselves, to look back
upon our lives, and ask, “What testimonies have we given to the glory of
this gospel, and to the truth of the religion of Christ? Have we not
sometimes rather been scandals to christianity? Have not our practices
been blots instead of evidences, and discouragements to the unbeliever,
instead of allurements? Have we not sometimes laid _stumbling-blocks_ in
the way of those that have had the look of an eye, and some tendency of
heart towards it?” This will be an awakening thought, and painful to
conscience in the review.

Have we not much reason to mourn that there are some among us _who walk
as enemies of the cross of Christ_? Phil. iii. 17. I would have you,
says the apostle, _be followers of me_, walk as I walk, _as you have me
for an example_. I would have you walk as those who have eternal life
begun in them, that you may be honours to the gospel. _But there are
many who walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even
weeping, they are enemies of the cross_, and dishonours to the gospel,
instead of evidences of the truth of it; their _end is destruction,
their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame_; whereas
_our conversation is in heaven, whence we expect Jesus the Saviour_; 18,
19, 20. We who are here upon earth, and have believed the gospel of
Christ, we should live as though we had part of ourselves in heaven
already, our conversation should be so holy and divine. Eternal life
begun in our hearts, should break out, and disclose itself, and shine
bright among the persons we converse with. O! how much is the
propagation of the gospel obstructed, how much the honour of our Lord
Jesus Christ obscured, and how much the good of souls prevented and
hindered by those that discover not this eternal life, this sacred
witness, in the holiness of heart and practice! _But, beloved, we hope
better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we
thus speak_; Heb. vi. 9. and yet we must speak thus, with a sacred
jealousy for the glory and evidence of this gospel, with a warm concern
for the peace and welfare of your souls, and with holy zeal for the
conversion of the unbelieving world to the faith of God our Saviour.


                DIVINE HYMNS FOR SERMONS I, II, AND III.
                 _The Inward Witness to Christianity._


                 _Long Metre._

                 Questions and doubts be heard no more:
                 Let Christ and joy be all our theme;
                 His Spirit seals his gospel sure
                 To every soul that trusts his name.

                   Jesus, thy witness speaks within;
                 The mercy which thy words reveal,
                 Refines the heart from sense and sin,
                 And stamps its own celestial seal.

                   ’Tis God’s inimitable hand
                 That moulds and forms the heart anew;
                 Blasphemers can no more withstand,
                 But bow and own thy doctrine true.

                   The guilty wretch that trusts thy blood
                 Finds peace and pardon at the cross;
                 The sinful soul averse to God,
                 Believes and loves his Maker’s laws.

                   Learning and wit may cease their strife
                 When miracles with glory shine;
                 The voice that calls the dead to life,
                 Must be almighty and divine.


                 _Common Metre._

                 Witness, ye saints, that Christ is true;
                     Tell how his name imparts
                 The life of grace and glory too:
                     Ye have it in your hearts.

                 The heav’nly building is begun
                     When ye receive the Lord;
                 His hands shall lay the crowning stone,
                     And well perform his word.

                 Your souls are form’d by wisdom’s rules,
                     Your joys and graces shine;
                 You need no learning of the schools,
                     To prove your faith divine.

                 Let heathens scoff, and Jews oppose,
                     Let Satan’s bolts be hurl’d;
                 There’s something wrought within you shews
                     That Jesus saves the world.




                               SERMON IV.
      _Flesh and Spirit; or, the Principles of Sin and Holiness._
   Rom. viii. 1.—Who walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit.


When we use the words flesh and spirit, in their literal and proper
sense, all men know what we mean by them: Flesh generally signifies the
animal nature; that is, the body and blood, &c. and spirit means an
intelligent nature that has understanding and will. When these are
attributed to man, they are but other names to express those two
distinct beings, the body and soul, that make up human nature. But these
words are often in scripture used metaphorically, and that in various
senses; yet the metaphor, as it stands in my text, hath such justness
and propriety in it, that the sense of it is not very difficult to be
traced, being happily and nearly derived from the proper and literal
meaning. It is plain that St. Paul uses this expression of _walking
after the flesh_, to signify a course of sin; and by _walking after the
spirit_, he describes a course of holiness. This is the character of
such as believe in Christ, and to whom belongs no condemnation, _that
they walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit_; they live not in a
course of sin, nor according to sinful principles, but follow the
principles of holiness that are wrought in them.

Thus the word flesh signifies, and includes all the principles and
springs of sin that are found in man, whether they have their immediate
and distinct residence in the body or in the soul. The word spirit
signifies and includes all the principles of holiness that are wrought
in any person, whether immediately residing in soul or body. And among
the many places of scripture where they are so used, those words of our
Lord himself to Nicodemus, John iii. 6. seem to make this most evident:
_What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is
spirit_; by which he means to assert, that what comes by natural
generation tends towards sin, and what is derived from the operation of
the Spirit of God leads to holiness. Or, more plainly thus: all the
principles of sin spring from mere human nature, as derived from our
parents, and are called flesh; and, on the contrary, all the principles
of holiness spring from the Spirit of God, and are called spirit; and
thence his argument derives the necessity of being _born again_, or born
from above. In the first part of these two sentences, flesh and spirit
are taken literally for the flesh of man, and the Spirit of God. In the
latter end of the sentences, flesh and spirit must be taken
figuratively, for the principles of sin, and the principles of holiness.

Now since the apostle frequently uses the terms flesh and spirit in the
same sense which his Lord and Master put upon them, and talks often on
this subject: I shall spend this discourse in shewing the grounds of
this figure of speech in my text, and in giving a full explication and
improvement of it in the following manner:

I. I shall offer some reasons why sin, and the principles of it, are
represented by the flesh.—II. I shall likewise propose the reasons why
the principles of holiness are expressed by the term spirit. And,—III.
Draw some useful remarks from the whole.

_First_, Let me shew why sin is represented by flesh, so often in
scripture; and I give these reasons for it:

I. Because fleshly or sensible objects, are the chief delight and aim of
sinners. They pursue them, and they rejoice in them; and these lead away
the soul from God to sin. It is the great business of sinners to _fulfil
the lusts of the flesh, and make provision for it_. This is their
character in St. Paul’s writings; to gratify the appetites of the body,
to provide for the desires of their animal natures, eating and drinking,
and luxury, and lusts of the flesh, are the cares of most unregenerate
men. _The lust of the eye_, and the gaities of life, gold and silver,
pomp and equipage, a fine house, a gay appearance in the world, gaudy
cloathing and glittering ornaments of the body, great splendor in the
eyes of men; these are the idols, the gods of sinners; and they are the
temptations of the saints too. The things that relate to the flesh, and
the enjoyments of this sensible and present life, are the objects of
sinful appetites, or of lawful appetite in a sinful degree; and
therefore sin is called flesh.

II. Sin is also called flesh, because it is communicated and propagated
to us by the parents of our flesh. It is by our flesh that we are a-kin
to Adam, the first great sinner, and derive a corrupted nature from him;
from this original taint we derive iniquity, as a polluted stream from
an unclean fountain; he is the father of a sinful posterity.

Our spirits indeed are formed immediately by God, and being united to
these bodies that come from Adam by the laws of creation, we become the
children of Adam, and so are partakers of his sinful nature. How this is
done, we may learn from other discourses: it is enough here to say, that
irregular humours, and motions, and ferments are transferred and
propagated from the first man, even from the same blood of which are
formed all the nations of men that dwell upon the face of the earth;
Acts xvii. 26. These are transmitted down to us the wretched posterity.
In some instances this is so evident, that all men see and believe it.
How often does the haughty, the peevish, or the choleric temper of the
parent appear in the son or the daughter beyond all contradiction? And
often, when we see a drunken or a wanton sinner, we cry, “He is the
express copy of his father, he borrows his vices as well as his
features, and seems to be his perfect image.” And though it is not so
evident in all men, that they borrow the seeds of iniquity from their
predecessors, yet there is proof enough from the word of God, that we
are _conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity_ that _man who is born of
a woman_ is neither clean nor righteous. _Who can bring a clean thing
out of an unclean?_ It is impossible; for _that which is born of the
flesh is flesh_; Psalm li. 5. Job xv. 14. John iii. 6. Irregular
tendencies towards lawful delights, and strong propensities towards
unlawful ones, a neglect of God, and aversion to all that is holy or
heavenly, with an inclination towards fleshly and sinful objects, are
conveyed to us all, even from our first parents. Sinful Adam begat his
sons _in his own likeness_; Gen. v. 3. and therefore sin is described by
flesh, because it came from the father of our flesh.

III. Another reason why sin is called flesh, is because the chief
springs of sin lie most in our fleshly natures; all the while we
continue here in this world, the occasions of sin lie much in our body,
in our blood, in our natural constitution, in this mortal frame and
contexture; fancy and passion, in all their wild irregularities, are
much influenced by the flesh and blood. Our bodily senses, our natural
appetites, are continually tempting us away from our duty, and leading
or enticing us to the commission of sin; or, at least, immediately
falling in with temptation: insomuch that _sin_ is said _to work in our
members_; Rom. vii. 5. _to reign in our mortal body_; vi. 12. Sinful
actions are called _the deeds of the body_; viii. 13. Our sins are
called our members, Col. iii. 5. _Mortify by the spirit the deeds of the
body_, saith the apostle in one place; _mortify your members which are
upon the earth_, saith he in the other place; in both which he means the
mortification of sin. He borrows words from the human body to describe
sin.

Here let it be noted, that we do not suppose that mere flesh and blood,
distinct from the soul, are capable of sin, properly speaking, or can
become guilty in a proper sense; for these are but mere matter, and,
separate from the mind, cannot be under a moral law, any more than brute
creatures: Therefore we say, sin is not formally in the body of man, but
it is occasionally there; because the senses and appetites, the parts
and powers of the body become very often an unhappy occasion of sin to
the soul; and upon this account the apostle often describes sin by the
word flesh.

I proceed now to the second thing proposed, and that is, to shew the
grounds of this metaphorical use of the word spirit: And there are the
same sorts of reasons to be given why this word is used to represent the
principles of holiness, as there are why flesh should signify the
principles of sin.

I. Because the objects and aim of holy souls are chiefly spiritual,
_viz._ God and heaven, invisible and eternal things. Spiritual objects
are chief in their esteem, most in their thoughts, and in their desires,
and have the first place in their designs and pursuits: As _they that
are after the flesh, mind the things of the flesh_; so _they that are
after the spirit_, mind _the things of the spirit_; Rom. viii. 5. A
saint, who is _spiritually-minded_, aims at those things that are more
a-kin to the nature of a spirit; he seeks the knowledge of the favour of
God, who is the supreme of Spirits, the infinite and self-sufficient
Spirit, in whose knowledge, and in whose love, all intelligent creatures
find a full sufficiency of blessedness. He knows that all created
spirits who are holy and happy, are made so by derivations from God’s
all-sufficient holiness and happiness; and therefore he applies himself
with zeal and vigour to all those spiritual exercises of meditation,
faith and prayer, wherein God reveals himself and his mercy. The
knowledge of God and his worship, of Christ and his gospel, of the Holy
Spirit and his grace, is the chief desire of a holy soul. These are the
objects of the pursuit of a spiritual man; he has devoted himself to God
and things divine; upon account of which, a man is denominated holy, and
therefore holiness is called spirit.

The holy man seeks the welfare of his own soul or spirit before that of
his flesh; and while sinful men lay out their whole care and contrivance
about the body, which must die, and grasp at the things of this life to
make _provision for the flesh_, the saint is most concerned about his
soul, which is an immortal spirit; he endeavours to rectify those
disorders of it, which sin and the flesh have introduced, and is ever
diligent to make provision for this soul of his in the spiritual and
unseen world, because it must have a being there for ever. The holy man
is most solicitous that his soul may be happy in an unknown hereafter,
while the sinner seeks all his happiness here.

As the natural man neglects the two chief Spirits he has any concern
with, that is, God and his own soul; so fleshly objects are his chief
desire: But the spiritual man despises them all, in comparison of the
unseen desirables of the spiritual world. The men of this world take
pains to gratify their senses, and indulge every fleshly appetite among
the entertainments of this present world; but those who are holy,
mortify their sinful passions, and set their affections on things above;
_Col._ iii. 1, &c. They look and aim at things that are unseen, that are
eternal, while the men of this world look only at the things that are
visible and temporal; 2 Cor. iv. 18. The sinful many, or multitude of
sinners, say, Who will shew us any good? But they seek it only among
corn, wine, and oil, &c. The saint prays to his God, _Lord, lift upon me
the light of thy countenance; and_ this shall _put gladness into my
heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased_;
Ps. iv. 6, 7. This is the first reason holiness is described by the word
spirit.

II. Holiness is represented by the spirit, because it is communicated to
us by God the Father of our spirits, even as sin is conveyed down to us
by the parents of our flesh. It is wrought in us by his blessed Spirit,
whose character it is to be holy. In Rom. viii. 13, 14. you see holiness
described as receiving its very nature and operation in us from the
Spirit of God. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God; and it is by the spirit we mortify the deeds of the flesh,
or body, that so we may live. As they that are born of the flesh are
flesh, so they that are born of the spirit are spirit: John. iii. 6.
This is the language of our Lord Jesus Christ. They who have past
through no renewing and reforming change of heart since their natural
birth, they are still in a natural sinful state, and the principles of
sin are prevalent in them: but they who have been thus changed and
renewed by the blessed Spirit of God, have a new and spiritual natural
principle and temper given to them, and are made holy. As by being born
of man, we become the children of Adam, and gain a sinful nature; so by
being born of God we become the sons of God, and gain a divine, a holy
nature. We are born of God unto holiness, as we are born of flesh unto
sin; 1 John iii. 9. _He that is born of God sinneth not_; that is, sin
is not his nature and delight, nor his common and allowed practice. We
are regenerated and new-created by the Spirit of God; Titus iii. 5. _Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but of his own mercy hath
he saved us by regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit._

III. Another reason why the principle of holiness is called spirit, is
because the chief springs of holiness, and of opposition to sin, are
found in the soul or spiritual part, as the springs and occasions of sin
are chiefly seated in the flesh.

This is true both in saints and sinners, for even in sinners that have
no renewing grace, there is the light of nature, as well as the
knowledge of scripture in our nation; there are the powers of reason and
conscience; and these judge concerning _vice_ and _virtue_, that one is
to be avoided, and the other practised; these inward and intellectual
principles tell us, that sin is offensive to God our Maker; that it
exposes us to his anger, and deserves terrible punishment; and by the
exercise and influence of natural reason, added to the knowledge of
scripture, and by the inward stings, and sharp reproofs of natural
conscience, many an evil motion of the flesh is suppressed, many an
inordinate appetite and passion subdued, and many a grosser sin
prevented. Now though all this is not properly called holiness, till the
nature itself be renewed, the love of sin broken, and the love of God
wrought in the heart; yet it is evident that those principles which
resist sin, and have any distant tendencies toward holiness, lie chiefly
in the mind or spirit.

This is yet more evident in a saint, a man that is regenerated and
sanctified by grace: For though in such a person, the body as well as
the spirit, may be in part sanctified; that is some of its irregular
appetites may be much weakened and subdued; yet still I cannot help
supposing that the spirit, or soul, has a greater share of
sanctification than the flesh in this life. It is in the soul that the
love of God is wrought by the Holy Spirit; it is the soul that repents
of past sins, and watches against temptation; it is the soul that
believes the gospel, and trusts in our Lord Jesus Christ; it is the soul
that by faith takes a distant prospect of heaven and hell, and converses
with invisible things beyond the reach and power of flesh and sense: It
is by the powers of the soul enlightened and renewed, that we come to
see the value and excellency of religion, and spiritual things above
temporal; and are inclined to chuse God for our only happiness, and
Jesus Christ _as the way to the Father_. The understanding and will are
faculties of the soul, and the flesh has no part in their operations.
The soul of a believer seems to be the more proper, immediate, and
receptive subject of the sanctifying influences of the Spirit of God and
this will appear by consulting the word of God, or the experiences of
men.

The word of God leads us very naturally into this sentiment by its
constant language. The apostle speaks indeed in one place of being
_sanctified wholly_, and our _whole spirit, soul and body_, being
preserved _blameless, &c._ 1 Thess. v. 23. But he much oftner expresses
sanctification by the _renewing of the mind_; Rom. xii. 2. Renewing of
the spirit of the mind; Eph. iv. 23. _Though the outward man_, or body,
perish, _yet the inward man_, or spirit, _is renewed day by day_; 2 Cor.
iv. 16. And the constant language of the scripture calling sin flesh,
and holiness spirit, in the saint, intimates that there is more sin in
the flesh, and more holiness in the spirit of one that is sanctified.
Thus we read in St. Paul’s discourse from the 16th ver. of Romans vii.
to the 25th, where you find him all along distinguishing the flesh and
the mind. By one of them he complains in a variety of expressions, that
he is led away to sin, while the other of them approves and pursues
after holiness; and though the words flesh and spirit are often used for
the principles of sin and holiness, yet it may be remarked, that he does
not confine himself here to these terms, but uses also the words body
and members, to represent sin; inward man and mind, when he points to
the springs of holiness; which would lead one very naturally to believe
that there is more sanctification in the mind or soul of a believer, and
more of the occasions of sin remaining in his body or flesh.

We may find this also in a great measure from our own experience: We are
tempted to many more sins by our various carnal appetites and senses,
than by the mere inclinations that belong to the mind, which are purely
intellectual. There are indeed the lusts or sinful desires of the mind,
as well as _the lusts of the flesh_; Eph. ii. 2. There is a sinful
curiosity of the mind; such was part of the temptation of Eve, a desire
to know evil as well as good; there is a spiritual malice and envy
against God and his saints: there is a spiritual pride of intellectual
endowments, &c. and some of these are found too much in true christians,
as well as in unbelievers; yet it must be acknowledged from constant
observation, that the lusts of the flesh are much more frequent, more
numerous, and more powerful in the greatest part of men; and it is
manifest that acts of religion and holiness, and exercises of grace,
begin more frequently in the inward inclination of the spirit,
distinguished from the flesh, as sin more frequently begins in, and from
the flesh itself, either in the outward or inward parts and powers of
it.

Surely if our souls were sanctified by divine grace, but so much as many
are in this world, and had no flesh about them, they would not sin so
much as they do. When we are engaged in the exercise of grace, or
performance of spiritual duties, such as meditation, prayer, delighting
in God, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, we should not be so soon weary of it,
nor so immediately called away from it by the mere vanity or wandering
of our minds, if we had no fleshly objects about us, no outward senses,
no inward treasures of fancy, no appetites of the body to start up and
mingle with our religion, to clog us in our sacred work, to make us grow
weary under it, and draw us from it. How often must a saint say, “My
soul is sincerely set against every sin, and I fear to offend him whom
my soul loveth; _with my mind I serve the law of God_, and I watch
against every rising iniquity: But my outward senses, or the inward
ferments of fleshly appetite or passion, surprize me before I am aware
and defile my soul. Sometimes my spirit wrestles hard _with flesh and
blood_; I summon all the powers of reason and scripture, conscience and
christianity; I make a firm stand for a season, and maintain a brave and
painful resistance; but the restless and perpetual assaults of fancy or
passion, at last over-power the feeble spirit, and I sinfully submit and
yield to the fretful or the luxurious humours of the body; and thus the
brutal powers overcome the mind, and _I am led away captive to sin_. If
I had not an eye, I had not been drawn away to the commission of this
folly; if I had not an ear, I had not been tempted from God at such a
season; if I had not such appetites or senses in exercise, I had been
secured from many a snare; if I did not wear this flesh about me, which
is so fond and tender of itself, and so impetuous and active in the
pursuit of its own ease and satisfaction, I had not shrunk away at such
a time from a dangerous duty; I had not been so fearful and cowardly at
such a place in the profession of my faith, nor so often polluted my
soul with sensualities, and made work for bitter repentance.”

Thus the experience of christians, and the language of scripture concur
in this point, That the occasions of sin evidently lie most in the
flesh: and a contradiction or opposition to sin, proceeds more from the
spirit.

It is true indeed, and must be confessed, that the soul being but in
part sanctified, too often complies with these _motions of sin which
work in our members_; and the affections of the soul itself, being not
perfectly holy, are too easily induced to indulge the desires and
passions of the flesh; and thereby sin is committed and guilt
contracted. _The law_ or principle, _of sin in the members_, leads the
mind, too often, captive; Rom. vii. 23. Thus the soul is very culpable
for want of perpetual resistance, and becomes guilty before God, by
every such inordinate passion breaking forth, and by the satisfaction of
every such sinful raging appetite; yet I must believe that the soul of a
christian would not be guilty half so often, if the lusts of the body
were not more active than the mere abstracted lusts of the mind are.
_The spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh against the
spirit_; Gal. v. 17. That part which is chiefly sanctified, and that
which is chiefly unsanctified, strike against each other; and it is true
in a literal sense, as well as a figurative one, that a saint _with his
mind serves the law of God_, but too often _with his flesh the law of
sin_.

Thus I have given the chief reasons why the principles of sin are
represented in scripture by flesh, and the springs of holiness by
spirit.

[This sermon may be divided here.]

From this consideration of flesh and spirit, of holiness and sin, which
are set forth in the word of God, and thus explained in the most free
and intelligible method that I am capable of, I would derive some
remarks for our information and practice.

Remark I. We may hence derive a rule of judgment concerning our own
state, and find whether we have any principle of holiness in our hearts
or no, or whether we are yet in the flesh, and in a state of sin. We may
draw an easy answer to these questions, by making an inward enquiry into
ourselves, according to the three descriptions of flesh and spirit.

_First_, What are our chief aims and desires? Are they bent to gratify
the appetites of the flesh, and set upon sensual enjoyments? Or do we
seek and pursue spiritual and eternal things, as our most valuable and
lovely portion? What is our chief treasure? Where are our hearts and our
hopes? Are they wandering amongst heaps of gold and silver, roving over
fair and large estates, entertaining themselves with gay cloathing,
honours, and vanities? Or are they pointing upwards, and directed
towards God, the first and best of beings; and fixed on the blessedness
of the spiritual world? Is our chief concern _to make provision for the
flesh_ and this life, or to secure an inheritance for our souls among
the incorruptible glories of the upper world? What is it that sits
highest in our esteem, and awakens our warmest affections and brightest
joys? Is it God or the creature, heaven or earth, things fleshly or
invisible? Let conscience be faithful, and answer to such inquiries.

Again, let us ask ourselves, have we nothing within us but what was
derived from nature and the flesh? or do we find ourselves enriched with
divine graces by the influence of the Holy Spirit? Are we the same sort
of creatures that we were born? or have we had a mighty change wrought
in us, so that we can find in ourselves that we _are born again_, born
of the spirit? Have we new love and new hatred, new designs and
pursuits, new joys and sorrows? or are the affections of our souls the
same that we brought into the world with us, and engaged chiefly about
the affairs of this body, and this temporal life?

Let us enquire, in the third place, whether there be any opposition made
by our spirits against fleshly passions and appetites? Let every one of
us ask our souls, What inward conflict do I find in myself? Do I comply
with all the sinful tendencies of fleshly nature, or do I maintain a
continual resistance? Is there a combat, and, as it were, a duel within
me, when temptations present themselves? or am I easily led away, and
yield to sin naturally, without any reluctance? Do I find my flesh and
spirit at war within me, when any sensual allurements appear? or do I
yield up all my powers as _servants to sin_, and comply with the lusts
of the flesh, with a hearty delight? Am I like a dead fish carried down
with the stream of my appetites and passions, and make no pretences to
oppose the vicious current? If, upon this enquiry, I find that the flesh
is sovereign, and the spirit never opposes it, I may pronounce myself
then to be in the flesh, in the most significant and complete manner:
then I have nothing but flesh in me, and my soul is, as it were,
carnalized, and deep immersed in the fleshly life.

I confess there may be some sort of opposition made to fleshly lusts,
where there is no renewed nature, no saving grace, no true principle of
holiness, such as is described by the spirit in my text. Many a youth
resists his inclination to a drinking hour, or unclean iniquities, by
the mere force of his education, by the awful regard he has to his
parents, by a fear of injury to his health, or of public shame or
scandal. Many a wicked man refuses to comply with his corrupt appetites,
because he cannot bear the anguish of his own conscience, and the sharp
reproaches of his reason and better judgment. And many a guilty passion
is restrained, and suppressed, from a natural fear of the justice of
God, and an everlasting hell, without any inward principle of real
piety.

It is not every resistance therefore that we make and maintain against
sin, can be a sufficient evidence that we are _new creatures_, unless we
can say with St. Paul; Rom. vii. 22. _I delight in the law of God after
the inward man_; that my soul not only approves, but takes pleasure in
holiness; that sin is the object of my utter hatred, as well as my
present resistance; and that not only as it promotes my own ruin, but as
it brings dishonour to God: that my very heart and soul are set for God
and religion, and it is a grief and daily burden to me, that there
should be any such thing as _a law in my members warring against the law
of my mind_; which makes the true christian cry out often, with
bitterness of soul, _O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from
the body of this death?_ Rom. vii. 24. Yet still it remains an
incontestible truth, That where there is no resistance to the flesh, and
the lusts thereof, there persons are not only in a state of sin, but in
the strongest bonds of iniquity; they have brutified their human
natures, and have made themselves _like the beasts that perish_; such
was the character of the Ephesian Gentiles when the gospel came first
among them; they were _alienated from the life of God_, and being past
feeling, gave themselves up to work all uncleanness with greediness;
Eph. iv. 18, 19.

Remark II. There may be some spirit in a person where there is much
flesh; some holiness where there is much sin. For as none but saints in
heaven are all spirit, and as the unregenerate are all flesh; so the
saints here upon earth, are some flesh and some spirit, because they are
sanctified but in part; they are in their way towards perfection, but
they are not perfect: The spirit and the flesh conflict in them, _so
that they cannot do the things which they would_. As they cannot serve
God and practise holiness, with such constancy and zeal as they desire,
because of the lusting of the flesh; so neither can they sink so far
into sin, nor indulge evil courses so far as the flesh would lead them,
if they had no strivings of the spirit to resist it, no principles of
regeneration or holiness. They are led away indeed many times by sensual
and fleshly allurements, but the chief objects of their pursuit are
spiritual and heavenly; they have too many of the same vain affections
and sinful desires, that were born of the flesh, remaining in them; but
they have also new thoughts and hopes, new inclinations and appetites
towards divine things, which could not be derived but from heaven, and
prove them to be born of the spirit.

As unreasonable as it is therefore for any sincere christians to say,
they are complete in holiness, or pretend to perfection in this life,
because they find a work of grace in them: so it is equally unreasonable
for them to charge themselves with being altogether carnal and
unregenerate, because they find some of the lusts of the flesh warring
in them. I would say, therefore, with compassion to such humble and
doubting souls, while you are inhabitants in flesh, and your
sanctification is imperfect, you will not have perfect peace, there will
ever be some enemies within, for you to conflict with; and this inward
war, this battle with flesh and blood, with self and sin, will by no
means prove that ye are utterly unsanctified: No, it will rather give
you some reasons to hope, that there may be a principle of holiness
wrought in you, because you find a resistance against the flesh;
especially if you experience also a zeal and hatred against every rising
iniquity. The most holy soul in this life, can never prevent all the
motions of irregular appetite: and the best of christians have much ado
to curb and suppress some sinful affections which spring from this
mortal body. The chiefest of saints had reason to complain that he was
too often _led captive by the law of sin in his members_; Rom. vii. 23.

It is true indeed, if we were completely sanctified, if our spirits were
entirely holy, they would constantly and effectually resist all evil
motions and appetites of the flesh, so that they should not bring forth
the fruits of iniquity and guilt: But where this resistance is not
always effectual, yet if it be constant and sincere, and flow from a
real hatred of sin, there the heart is renewed, and the spiritual life
begun. Let trembling christians therefore be encouraged, though they may
find many vexing ferments of the flesh, and disquieting passions
sometimes stirring within them; let them not cast away their hope, but
let them rather rejoice in the promises of the covenant, and go on daily
to cleanse themselves, by the aids of divine grace, _from all filthiness
of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God_; 2 Cor.
vii. 1.

Remark III. What bold and impious folly are those guilty of, who give a
loose to all the appetites and lusts of the flesh, under a pretence that
it is their temper and constitution leads them to it; that it is their
nature inclines them to riot in all luxury and wantonness: and that they
do but follow the leadings of nature? I would reason a little with
persons of such a profligate character, if they have not renounced
reason as well as religion.

1. Consider, sinners, whether you are not under a great mistake, while
you say, that you obey all the dictates of nature when you rush on to
fleshly iniquities. Have you no natural conscience within you that
forbids these vile practices? Has it not given you many a check already,
and many an inward reproach? Have you no reason that tells you there is
a God, and a judgment, and a terrible account one day to be given of the
guilt and madness which you now indulge? It is but one part of your
nature then, and that the meanest and the vilest too, whose dictates you
obey, when you give yourselves up to all intemperance. The very heathens
have such a conscience in them, such _a law written in their hearts_, to
forbid, and to condemn the grosser iniquities; Rom. ii. 15. And such an
inward monitor belongs to your nature too, unless you have entirely
subdued and enslaved your spirits, which are the best part of your
natures, to the tyranny of your flesh; unless you have buried your
reason in brutal appetite, and _seared_ your _conscience as with a hot
iron_, that they may neither feel nor speak.

2. You say, it is nature you obey, while you follow after fleshly lusts;
but is it not nature depraved and spoiled? Can you think it is the pure,
the original and uncorrupted nature of man to follow all the appetites
of flesh and blood, and live upon a level with _the brutes that perish_?
Can you imagine that your spirit and reason, and all the glorious powers
of your intellectual nature in their first perfection, were made to be
thus employed as lackeys to the body, and mere purveyors to the flesh?
Is it not a sign your nature is fallen from its original state, while
these meaner powers of sense and passion have so mighty and sovereign an
influence; and is it not rather the dictate of reason, and nature; and
true self-love, that you should seek the recovery of your original
excellencies, that you should use all methods to stop and heal the
diseases of your nature, and to repair these ruins of humanity.

But 3. Suppose it were the inclination of animal nature in its original
frame, to be intemperate, proud, angry, impatient and luxurious; and
suppose all the present evil appetites and passions of the flesh, were
the attendants of man in his first estate; yet has not God your Creator
and Governor, a right to place you in a state of trial, in order to
future rewards and punishments? And may he not forbid your spirit to
comply with these inclinations of nature and the flesh, as a test of
your obedience to God your Maker? Is it not proper there should be some
difficulties to conquer in such a probationary state? And if the God who
made you, has actually appointed the matter of your probation or trial,
to be a conflict of the spirit with flesh and blood, has he not a right
to make this appointment? And does not your own reason and conscience
tell you, that you deserve his anger and severe punishment, if you
abandon yourself to all the wild motions and extravagances of bodily
appetite, which he requires you to resist and subdue?

Bethink yourselves, O sinners, how you will answer it to God another
day; that when he has given you a soul, a spirit, a conscience to fight
against fleshly lusts, you should nourish and indulge them hourly? When
he has offered his grace to change your corrupt natures, and has sent
his only Son, and his eternal Spirit to purchase pardon for past sins,
and to make new creatures of you; when he has taught you your duty, and
offers divine aids to fulfil it; when he both entreats you as a friend,
and commands you as a God, to resist these lusts of the flesh
effectually, and be for ever holy and happy; that you should neglect the
laws and mercies of a great and condescending God, and still run riot in
the pursuit of forbidden passions and pleasure? _Can your hearts endure,
or your hands be strong_ in the day that the God of vengeance _shall
appear in flaming fire_, to make enquiry into such rebellion? Can you be
so stupid as to hope, that the poor pretences of flesh and nature, will
screen you from just and almighty indignation? Awake, awake, O mistaken
creatures, and let the man within you resume its place, and reason and
conscience do their office. Awake from this vain and dangerous dream,
this fatal security, and wilful blindness. Rouse the powers of your
souls to arm, and fight in opposition to the sinful flesh; arise and
bestir yourselves ere the time of trial be ended, and the decisive
sentence of an offended God, doom you to miseries that have no end.

Remark IV. In this description of the principles of sin and holiness, as
seated in our flesh, or in our spirit, we may see the nature of the
christian warfare; that much of it consists in a fight of the spirit
with flesh and blood. Little do some christians consider how much of
religion lies in watching over their appetites and senses, and setting a
guard upon the sinful tendencies of the flesh; little do they think how
much of their piety and their holy peace depends on keeping down this
flesh, and subduing it to the best service of the soul.

There may be some persons, who under pretence of serving God in the
spirit, and the more exalted and refined notions and practices of
christianity, give a loose to the flesh, in eating, and, drinking, and
dressing, and all the luxuries of life. But can these christians
imagine, that when they pamper and indulge that wherein sin is chiefly
seated, their spirits should long maintain their purity and
heavenly-mindedness? St. Paul was of another mind; 1 Cor. ix. 27. _I
keep under my body_, says he; I fight with my flesh which is my great
enemy, υπωπιαζω και δουλαγωγω, I subdue it, and bear it down, as with
heavy blows, I keep it under as a slave, lest _when I have preached to
others, I myself should become a cast-away_; lest, when I have preached
to others the doctrines of mortifying the flesh, and of walking
according to the spirit, I should indulge such fleshly sins as would
prove my eternal ruin.

Let not any man imagine, that I am here teaching the Romish penances,
and monkish severities; there is no necessity of sack-cloth and beggary,
scourging and starving, in order to keep the body fit for the duties of
religion. Surely there is a medium between the self-indulgence of some
lazy and carnal christians, and the superstitious forms of mortifying
the flesh, practised in the popish church; and if, under a pretence of
sublime spirituality, we let the fleshly appetites get the mastery of
us, the prosperity, and even the safety of the soul, will be in extreme
hazard; for St. Peter and St. Paul agree well in this doctrine, that
_fleshly lusts war against the soul_; 1 Pet. ii. 11.

I confess the apostle tells the Ephesians, chap vi. ver. 12. _We wrestle
not against flesh and blood, &c._ But it is plain he means no more, than
that flesh and blood are not our only enemies, but that we wrestle also
_with principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness_, _i. e._ with
Satan and the powers of darkness. Yet we must remember that the powers
of darkness chiefly attack our spirits by means of our flesh. I cannot
believe they would have so much advantage over our souls as they have,
if our souls were released from flesh and blood. Satan has a chamber in
the imagination, fancy is his shop wherein to forge sinful thoughts; and
he is very busy at this mischievous work, especially when the powers of
nature labour under any disease, and such as affects the head and the
nerves: He seizes the unhappy opportunity, and gives greater
disturbances to the mind, by awakening the images of the brain in an
irregular manner, and stimulating and urging onwards the too unruly
passions. This crafty adversary is very ready to fish, as we say, in
troubled waters; where the humours of the body are out of order. Thus he
is wise to make his advantage of all our weaknesses, and to gain some
interest in them, to execute his hellish designs thereby; 2 Cor. xii. 7.
_A messenger of Satan and a thorn in the flesh_, were both together
troublesome to St. Paul; whether they became two distinct enemies, or
one strengthened by the influence of the other, is hard to determine;
but thus much seems to be intimated, that some troublesome disorder in
the flesh, gave a great occasion to Satan to buffet St. Paul more
severely, and do him more mischief.

It is hard wrestling for a poor sanctified soul, with so violent and
strong a yoke-fellow as our flesh. The powers of the flesh twine about
our feeble spirit, and often pull it to the ground, and get the mastery
of it. _The just man may fall down seven times, and rise again; but the
wicked fall into mischief_, and attempt not to rise; Prov. xxiv. 16. We
are tied to the flesh while we are here, and it is the biggest, and the
hardest part of our state of trial, to be constantly tied to such flesh
as ours is. All the adversaries we have besides, are not equal to the
adversary that dwells with us, nor is all their power equal to the power
of our flesh and blood, with its restless urgencies, leading us away
from God to sin. There is so close a union between flesh and spirit, in
this state, that we carry our prison about us, even the flesh in which
we inhabit; we drag our chains about with us; we are tied down to our
senses; we are too nearly allied to the passions and appetites of this
animal in which the soul dwells, and these the soul cannot master and
subdue entirely; however, let us wrestle _with flesh and blood_, as well
as with the tempting world, and the malice of Satan; let us bestir
ourselves, and _fight the good fight of faith_, for the crown is worth
the labour of the conquest.

Yet there is another difficulty attends this pact of our spiritual
warfare, _viz._ This is a combat to which the _Captain of our Salvation_
did not lead us on in person, and in which Christ never went before us.
It is a labour of piety in which our blessed Saviour was not our
pattern; nor could he be, for he had no principle of sin in his soul,
nor any sinful motion in all his sensitive powers. His flesh itself, in
a literal sense, was born of the spirit, and he was all spirit, all
holy. _The Holy Ghost_ over-shadowed the blessed virgin; _and that holy
thing that was born of Mary_, was sanctified in its original, and united
to the eternal Son of God; Luke i. 35. Never had he one disorderly
passion; never one vicious appetite, no criminal wish, no guilty
inclination; he knew no excessive tendencies towards a lawful object,
nor did he feel any inward propensity toward an unlawful one. _He took
part_ of flesh and blood, indeed because _the children were partakers of
it: In all things was he made like to his brethren, but without sin_,
and tempted in all points, as we are, except this inward and native
temptation; Heb. ii. 14, 17. and iv. 15. This part of our warfare,
therefore, we have no perfect pattern for; the leader of the holy army
never went through these special and sore conflicts, in which our
spirits are daily engaged, even the war with corrupt nature and sinful
flesh: yet he pities and sympathizes with us; for, as God, he knows our
whole frame perfectly; and he knows, as man, what our flesh is, and what
its sinful appetites are, so far as his holy nature will admit of this
sympathy. In such a case as this, which he never experienced, yet he
supplies us with such grace as is effectually suited to relieve these
agonies; and the kind angel of the covenant will be at our right-hand,
to strengthen the sincere combatants, that they be not overcome.

Remark V. How much do our fellow-christians deserve our pity, that
labour under great difficulties, and great darkness, through the
perverse humours of their flesh? through the untoward constitutions of
their nature, through the peevish, or proud, or malicious, or passionate
tempers of their mortal body?

Some have a more wrathful, some a more wanton mixture of blood and
natural spirits; others again more melancholy in their constitution, are
ready to overwhelm themselves with despair and unbelieving sorrows; they
go on fighting and mourning all the day long, with many a violent
contest, many a groan and struggle, many a sharp combat, and perhaps
with many a wound too. They are often upon their knees for strength to
subdue this ever present enemy the flesh, and can gain but little
advantage; they are fighting from day to day, and their sins are so
powerful still, that they think they never get nearer to the conquest:
they labour and toil, pray and endeavour to obtain divine assistance,
and yet are too often overcome. This is the case of many a christian who
hath some strong corruption mingled with his constitution. Let us pity
such and pray for them too, and not be hasty in censuring their
character and their state: Bless God if your constitution be of a
happier mould, and if your trials are not so great, and your temptations
so heavy as theirs.

But you will say, “They sin often, and fall very foully, and dishonour
religion more than you.” It may be so; but it may be they fight harder
than you do, and labour with more assiduity, and exercise more grace
than ever you did, and yet are more frequently overcome by sin; so
strong is the constitutional iniquity in some natures, more than it is
in others. Therefore while you condemn the sin, let not the poor
striving mourning sinner be censured heavily as to his character, or as
to his estate. It was said of a very great man of God heretofore, that
he had grace enough for ten men, but not half enough for himself,
because his natural constitution was so very violent and passionate.

When thou seest therefore a christian often in sorrow, confessing his
follies, and continually humbled under a sense of the levity of his
spirit, or the vanity of his natural temper; when he grieves, that in
such and such a season, he has indulged unlawful airs, and complied too
far with the vices of company, when thou observest his spirit vexed and
pained inwardly, that he has indulged any criminal appetite or passion
beyond what has been visible in thy own conduct; do not pride thyself in
thy own purity, or disdain thy mourning brother, but say within thyself,
“Perhaps he has watched and laboured more than I have done, and yet his
own iniquity was too strong for him.” Think with thyself that he was
wrestling with a giant, and fought hard, and was overcome; but thy own
combat was but as it were with a dwarf or child, with some feebler vice
that had less root in thy constitution; and therefore though thou hast
laboured less, yet thou hast gained the victory. And to encourage such
mourning christians, let me add, that in the future state, it is
probable, the saints shall be rewarded not so much according to their
actual success and victory, as according to the toil and labour of the
combat.

Yet take this caution by the way too: Such persons should not think
themselves innocent, because they fight harder against sin than others
do; let them not think all warnings useless, nor be angry with the
gentle admonitions of their friends, as though they were hard censures:
for such christians have more need of warning than others, because they
are more in danger. They ought to be crying out on themselves
continually, _O wretched creature! who shall deliver me?_ They should
beg reproofs, and say, _Let the righteous mite me, it shall be kindness;
and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil that shall not
break my head_: Rom. vii. 24. Psal. cxli. 5. Let my brethren watch over
me, for I find I am not sufficient to be my own keeper; and let them
have compassion on me, _plucking me out of the fire_, for I hate, as
well as they, _the garment spotted with the flesh_; Jude, ver. 23. Thus
the flesh must be brought under by constant watchfulness, prayer, and
resistance, else we cannot maintain holiness and peace. Take heed
therefore, O feeble and tempted christian, while thou art by prayer
engaging the heavenly alliance on thy side, that thou let not thy own
weapons drop, but maintain the war. The fight is to last but threescore
years and ten; if thou overcome, there is the crown of life ready for
thee, which Jesus the Judge shall bestow, on all the conquerors.

Remark VI. How should we rejoice in hope of that hour that shall release
us from this sinful flesh; when we shall serve God in spirit without a
clog, without a tempter! O with what a relish of sacred pleasure should
a saint read those words in 2 Cor. v. 8. _Absent from the body, and
present with the Lord_; Absent from this traitor, this vexing enemy,
that we constantly carry about with us! Absent from the clog and chain
of this sinful flesh, the prison wherein we are kept in darkness, and
are confined from God! Absent from these eyes that have drawn our souls
afar from God by various temptations? and absent from these ears by
which we have been allured to transgression and defiling iniquities!
Absent from those lusts and passions, from that fear and that hope, that
pleasure and that pain, that love, that desire, and that anger, which
are all carnal, and seated in the fleshly nature, and become the spring
and occasion of so much sin to our souls in this state. _Absent from the
body, and present with the Lord_: Methinks there is a heaven contained
in the first part of these words, _absent from the body_; and a double
happiness in the last, _present with the Lord_: present with him who
hath saved our spirits through all the days of our christian conflict,
and _hath given us the_ final _victory_: Present with that God, who
shall eternally influence us to all holiness, who shall forever shine
upon us with his own beams, and make us conformable to his own holy
image: Present with that Lord and Saviour, from whom it shall not be in
the power of all creatures to divert or draw us aside.

It is by our flesh in this world that we are a-kin to so many
temptations, a-kin to all the objects that stand around us, to tempt us
from our God; and we are ready to cry out, “O the blessed angels that
were never a-kin to the flesh! O those blessed spirits, who move swift
as flames to execute the will of their God, without the incumberance of
flesh, without being allured by that most powerful and successful
tempter! Happy beings! they know not our toils; they feel them not; they
are all spirit; they are all holy! O the blessed saints in glory, that
are released from their flesh, which once they had so many, and so sore
combats with! Their flesh, which heretofore prisoned them, and pained
them, and drew them often away from God, contrary to that heavenly bias
that was put upon their souls by God the Sanctifier!”

But we rejoice in hope that our turn shall come too. There is a day of
deliverance from this sinful flesh provided for us. All our times are in
the hand of God; and the best time, is the time of release from this
sinful companion. Let our faith say, “I read in the promises that this
same happiness belongs to me, which the saints above are now possessed
of: It is coming, it is coming as fast as time and the heavens can move,
as fast as days and hours can remove out of the way.” Then we shall have
no flesh for the world to lodge one temptation in, nor for Satan to make
use of as an engine of his malice, to batter the constancy and duty of
our souls; then we shall be freed from all those methods of injury to
our spirits, which we receive now by means of the flesh.

Thus at the day of our death is derived a glorious liberty, and thence
we date our joys; but our joys rise high indeed, if our faith can but
look a little farther, and take a prospect of that day, when our flesh
shall be raised in perfect holiness, and our spirits completely holy,
shall be rejoined to it; then it shall be no more, true, that flesh and
spirit lust against each other, and these two are contrary; for flesh
and spirit shall both draw one way, both lead us towards our divine
original, and the first Father of our minds, shall concur together to
influence us to perfect holiness; then, when our spirits shall be like
God, the first and best of Spirits; and when our flesh shall be like the
flesh of the Son of God, that great pattern of a glorified body.

And this day will surely come, for our Redeemer with his body is
glorified in heaven, and he sits there as a pattern of our bodies to be
glorified, and a pledge to assure us of it too. O come the day when he
shall change these bodies of our vileness into the form of the body of
his glory! and he can easily do it, by that power whereby he can subdue
all things to himself; Phil. iii. 21. Then shall our flesh and our
spirit join sweetly together and each of them fulfil and enjoy their
part, in the business and blessedness provided for them in regions of
unknown pleasure. _Amen._


                          HYMN FOR SERMON IV.
      _Flesh and Spirit; or, the Principles of Sin and Holiness._


                  What vain desires, and passions vain,
                    Attend this mortal clay!
                  Oft have they pierc’d my soul with pain,
                    And drawn my heart astray.

                  How have I wander’d from my God,
                    And following sin and shame,
                  In this vile world of flesh and blood
                    Defil’d my nobler frame!

                  For ever blessed be thy grace
                    That form’d my spirit new,
                  And made it of an heaven-born race,
                    Thy glory to pursue.

                  My spirit holds perpetual war,
                    And wrestles and complains,
                  And views the happy moment near,
                    That shall dissolve its chains.

                  Cheerful in death I close my eyes,
                    To part with ev’ry lust,
                  And charge my flesh whene’er it rise,
                    To leave them in the dust.

                  How would my purer spirit fear
                    To put this body on,
                  If its old tempting powers were there,
                    Nor lusts, nor passions gone!




                               SERMON V.
               _The Soul drawing near to God in prayer._
JOB xxiii. 3, 4.—O that I knew where I might find him: that I might come
 even to his seat; I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth
                            with arguments.
                            THE FIRST PART.


This book of Job might, perhaps, be the first and earliest part of all
the written word of God; for learned men, upon good ground, suppose that
this history was elder than the days of Moses, and yet it hath many a
sweet lessen of experimental religion in it, to teach the disciples of
Christ; we may learn many duties and comforts from it in our day, _upon
whom the ends of the world are come_. The style of it in some parts is
so magnificent and solemn, in others so tender and affectionate, that we
must feel something of devout passion when we read this history, if our
hearts are but in a serious frame, and if our temper or circumstances of
mind or body have any thing a-kin to the grief or piety of this good
man.

Job had now heard long stories of accusation from his friends while he
was bowed down, and groaning under the heavy providences of God; they
_persecuted him whom God had smitten_, and poured in fresh sorrows upon
all his wounds. I will turn aside, saith he, from man, for _miserable
comforters are ye all_; and I will address myself to God, even to the
God that smites me. _O that knew where I might find him!_ The stroke of
the father doth not make the child fly from him, but come nearer, and
bow himself before his best friend: this is the filial temper of the
children of God. “_My complaint is bitter_, (saith Job, ver. 2.) because
of my sorrows from the hand of God, and from the accusations and
reproaches of my friends; you may think I am too lavish in my
complainings and my continual cries, but I feel more than I complain
of.” And therefore Job is set up as a pattern of patience; for he could
say, my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

There are some of the children of God who give themselves up to a
perpetual habit of complaints and groans, though no trial hath befallen
them but what is common to men; they make all around them sensible of
every lesser pain they feel, and being always uneasy in themselves, they
take the kindest and gentlest admonition for an accusation; and while
they imagine themselves in the case of Job, they resent highly every
real or suspected injury: in short, they make a great part of their own
sorrows themselves, and then they cry out and complain; and among their
dismal complainings, they often, without reason, assume the words of Job
as their own, and say, _my stroke is heavier than my groaning_. In some
persons this is the temper of their natures, and in others a mere
distemper of the body; but both ought to watch against it, and resist
it, because it appears so much like sinful impatience and fretfulness,
that it cannot be indulged without sin.

There are others, whose real afflictions are dreadful indeed, and
uncommon, who seem to tire all their friends with their complaints too;
but, it may be, if we knew all their variety of sorrows, and could take
an intimate view of every outward and inward wound, we should
acknowledge their stroke was heavier than their groaning; and especially
when God is in such a measure absent from them too, that they are at a
loss, as Job was, how they should come at him or converse with the
heavenly Father: then their souls break out into vehement desires, _O
that I knew where I might find him!_

A child of God who is wont to maintain a constant and humble
correspondence with heaven, does often receive such sensible influences
of instruction and comfort from the throne of grace, that he is led on
sweetly in the path of daily duty, by the guiding providences of God,
and by the secret directions of his Holy Spirit. He finds divine
pleasure in his morning addresses to the mercy-seat, and returns to the
throne in the evening with joy in his heart, and praise upon his tongue.
He has something to do with the great God, in a way of humble devotion,
in all his important concerns; but if God retire and withdraw from him,
he feels and bemoans the divine absence, and his heart meditates grief
and complaints; and when at the same time he is pressed with other
burdens too, he breathes after God with a sacred impatience, and longs
to know where he may find him: then says the soul, “_O if I could but
come near to the seat of God, in my addresses to him, I would order my
cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments._” This brings me to
the doctrine, which shall be the subject of my discourse.

Observation. When a christian gets near the seat of God in prayer, he
tells him all his sorrows, and pleads with him for relief.

In discoursing on this doctrine I shall consider four things.—I. How may
we know when a soul gets near to God in prayer; or what is to get near
the seat of God.—II. What are the particular subjects of holy converse
between God and the soul.—III. Why such a soul tells God all his
sorrows.—IV. How he pleads with God for relief.

_First_, How may we know when a soul gets near the seat of God in
prayer?

I answer, there will be some or all these attendants of nearness to God.

I. There will be an inward sense of the several glories of God, and
suitable exercises of grace in the soul. For when we get near to God, we
see him, we are in his presence; he is then, as it were, before the eyes
of the soul, even as the soul is at all times before the eyes of God.
There will be something of such a spiritual sense of the presence of
God, as we shall have when our souls are dismissed from the prison of
this flesh, and see him face to face, though in a far less degree: It is
something that resembles the future vision of God in the blessed world
of spirits; and those souls who have had much intimacy with God in
prayer, will tell you that they know, in some measure, what heaven is.
The soul, when it gets near to God, even to his seat beholds several of
his glories displayed there; for it is a seat of majesty, a seat of
judgment, and a seat of mercy. Under these three characters is the seat
of God distinguished in scripture; and because this word is part of my
text, I shall therefore a little enlarge upon these heads.

When the soul gets near to God, it sees him,

1. As upon a seat of majesty. There he appears to the soul in the first
notion of his divinity or godhead, as self-sufficient, and the first of
beings: He appears there as the infinite ocean, the unmeasurable
fountain of being, and perfection, and blessedness; and the soul, in a
due exercise of grace, shrinks, as it were, into nothing before him, as
a drop, or a dust, a mere atom of being. The soul is in its own eyes at
that time, what it is always in the eyes of God, as nothing, and less
than nothing and vanity. He appears then in the glory of his
all-sufficience, as an almighty Creator, giving birth, and life, and
being to all things; and the soul, in a due exercise of grace, stands
before him as a dependant creature, receiving all its powers and being
from him, supported every moment by him, and ready to sink into utter
nothing, if God withdraw that support. Such is God, and such is the
soul, when the soul draws near to God in worship.

He appears again upon his seat of majesty as a sovereign, in the glory
of his infinite supremacy, and the soul sees him as the supreme of
beings, owns his just sovereignty, and subjects itself afresh, and for
ever to his high dominion. O with what deep humility and self-abasement
doth the saint, considered merely as a creature, cast himself down at
the foot of God, when he comes near to the seat of his majesty!
_Behold_, saith Abraham, _I now have taken upon me to speak unto thee, I
who am but dust and ashes_; Gen. xviii. 27. This is the language of a
saint when got near to the seat of the majesty of God, “Before I had
seen thee as such a sovereign, I was restive and stubborn: in times past
I quarrelled with God because of difficult duties imposed upon me, and
because of the difficult dispensations I was made to pass through; but
now I behold God so infinitely my superior, that I can quarrel no more
with any duty, or any difficulty; I submit to all his will: whatsoever
he will have me be, that I am; whatsoever he bids me do, that I do; for
it is fit he should be a sovereign, and I should be a subject. I give
myself to him afresh, and for ever, that he may dispose of me according
to his own will and for his own glory: I would be more regardless of
myself, and more regardful of my God; it is fit he should be the
ultimate end of all that I can be, and all that I can do, for he is my
sovereign.”

Again, when a soul is near to God, God appears in the glory of his
holiness; for the seat of his majesty is called the throne of his
holiness; Ps. xlvii. 8. And then the heavens are not clean in his sight:
and the soul cries out with those worshipping seraphims, _Holy, holy,
holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory_: and
joins with Isaiah, the worshipping saint, in that humble language, _who
is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, &c._ You see the character of a
saint getting near to God, and standing before the seat of his majesty;
Is. vi. 3, 4. where the angels and the prophet worship together with the
deepest humility. “I have heard of thy holiness before, says the soul,
and I have heard before of thy glory afar off; but now _mine eyes see
it, and I abhor myself in dust and ashes_”; Job xliii. 6.

2. His seat is to be considered as a seat of judgment; for God is not
only a king, but a judge: and Job has, without doubt, a reference to
this in my text, because the language which he uses, seems suited to a
throne of judicature, a throne of justice. “If I could get near his
seat, I would order my cause before him, I would plead with him.” The
soul that gets near to God, sees him sitting upon a seat of judgment, as
an omniscient God: he looks like the judge of all the earth, and his
eyes are like a flame of fire to search our souls to the centre, and to
know our most hidden thoughts: the soul then attempts no more to conceal
itself, no more to hide its guilt or its wretchedness; for it beholds
those eyes of God that see through all things, that search into the
deepest hypocrisy, and it is impossible that any thing should be
concealed from him. “Behold I am before that God, says the soul, before
whom nothing can be hid; before whom all things are naked and open; and
it is with him that I have to do; therefore I open my heart before him,
and I spread open all my inward powers, for he sees and knows them all,
should I attempt to conceal them.” “I behold him in his infinite and
inflexible justice, as well as in his all-seeing knowledge; and I cry
out, _If thou, O Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord who should
stand?_” Ps. cxxx. 4. This is the language of the holiest saint getting
near to God here on earth, as seated upon a seat of judgment.

The soul beholds him also as girt with resistless power to execute his
own laws; and the thunder of his power, says Job who can understand?
xxvi. 14. He has armies of angels, ministers of fire, attendants on his
tribunal, and swift to execute the sentence of his mouth. The saint sees
him thus invested, thus surrounded, and adores and fears before him. The
soul beholds him with rewards in one hand, and punishments in the other;
infinite rewards, and infinite punishments; distributing to the unseen
world perpetual blessedness, and perpetual pains. “I behold him arrayed
in this glory, saith the saint, I expect my sentence from his lips, from
whence eternal blessings, and eternal curses, are dispensed to all the
regions of heaven and hell; but he will not plead against me with his
great power; the sentence that comes forth from his mouth, I trust,
shall be on my side.”

3. He appears as sitting upon a throne of grace. The majesty and
judgment that belong to his seat, do not forbid mercy to attend him; he
sits upon a seat of mercy, and _there_, says Job, _the righteous might
surety dispute with him_; xxiii. 7. and there I should be delivered from
his terrors as an avenging God; there, though he judge me, yet he will
plead my cause; for the same Judge that sits upon a throne of glory, has
taken upon him to become my Advocate. “There I behold him, says the
soul, with millions of pardons for vile transgressors, and with abundant
favour for rebels; such a rebel am I, and such a transgressor, and yet
there is pardon and grace for me. I behold there riches and raiment for
the poor, the needy, and the naked, and help for the weak believer.”
There goodness appears in the face of God, in all the sweet variety of
its divine forms. There appears long-suffering for old sinners, and
patience for repeated guilt, and pity for the miserable, and free grace
for those that deserve nothing but vengeance. All this discovers itself
in the face of God, to a soul that gets near him, even to his
mercy-seat; and the soul bows, and wonders, and worships, and makes
still nearer approaches, and receives the grace, and rejoices in the
salvation.

The soul puts in for a share in this mercy with faith and hope, and will
not be denied, will not be excluded; then he uses that holy boldness,
that παρρησια, or liberty of speech; Heb. iv. 16. And this is the
language of faith, when the soul gets near to God: “Since there are so
many millions of pardons with thee for sinners, I will not go away
without one; since there is such a righteousness as that of thine own
Son to clothe the naked, I will not go away without being clothed with
this righteousness; since there are such supplies of strength for the
weak, I will not leave thy seat till I get some strength.” The soul then
wrestles and pleads, and makes supplication as Jacob did when he came
near to God; Gen. xxxii. 22. _I will not let thee go, except thou bless
me._ The soul beholds in God mercy enough for the largest multitude of
sinners, and pardons large enough for the blackest offences; it sees
Paul the persecutor and blasphemer so near to the right-hand of God in
glory, that it cries out with a joyful faith, “All the aggravations of
my guilt shall no more divide me from the mercy-seat, shall no more
prevent my hope and help in God; for there sits Paul the persecutor and
blasphemer; and he was set forth as an example how full God is of
mercy!” 1 Tim. i. 16. _I obtained mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus
might shew all long-suffering, for a pattern to believers._ This is the
temper, this is the voice, and this is the language of a soul that gets
near to God, even to his seat, considered as a seat of majesty, of
judgment, and of grace.

I proceed now to the second sign or attendant of holy nearness to God in
prayer.

II. When a soul comes near to God in prayer, there will generally be
some sweet taste of the special love of God, and warm returns of love
again to God from the soul. The soul that comes near to God is not
satisfied merely with low degrees of faith and hope, with some feeble
dependance, and some faint expectations of mercy; it can hardly leave
God till it has an assurance. Faith and hope in the mercy of God, are
different from that joy that arises from the immediate sensations of
divine love. The Psalmist in the lxiii. _Psalm_, ver. 1, 2, &c. seems to
have a reference to both these particulars together, which I have
already mentioned. _My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for
thee—to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the
sanctuary._ “I have seen thee in the sanctuary as sitting upon a throne
of majesty, on a seat of judgment and of grace; I have seen thy power
and thy glory there, and I have seen something more than this, I have
tasted some special-loving-kindness, and that loving-kindness is better
than life, therefore my lips shall praise thee. I have had a sense of
the special love of God shed abroad in my soul, I have known his love is
exercised toward me, therefore my soul is full of praise.” God will
seldom let a soul that is got so near him by holy labour and fervency of
spirit, go away merely with hope and dependance, without some sacred
delight and joy.

A saint that has drawn near to God in worship, will tell you his own
rich experience, and say, “When I found him whom my soul loveth, I was
constrained to break forth into these sweet expressions, I am my
beloved’s and my beloved is mine: for I love him above all things, and
my love is but the effect of his. In that blessed hour I felt, and I was
assured of that mutual relation between God and me: I found so much of
his image stamped on me, that I knew I was the Lord’s: whence I rejoice
in the full persuasion of his love. I know he loves me, for his
sanctifying Spirit hath witnessed with my spirit, that I am one of his
children; and I know that I love him, for my spirit witnesseth also as
an echo to his Spirit, that I have chosen him for my Father, my Ruler,
and my God, and have surrendered myself to him on his own terms; and I
address him as my Father, with words of the choicest affection, and of
most endeared sentiments of soul.”

When a person in whom grace is wrought, gets so near to God, and sees
this God in his own loveliness, and in his kindest perfections, there
are some new divine passions kindled in the soul towards this God,
towards this first beauty, towards this original of all perfection and
goodness; and God will seldom let one come so near him, without shewing
him the love of his heart; and the name of the devout worshipper graven,
as it were, on the palms of his hands, or in the book of his mercy. He
speaks to the soul in his own divine language, “Son, or daughter, be of
good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee. O man, thou art greatly beloved.
I am your God, and you are my people. I have bought thee dear, and thou
art mine. I have created thee, O Jacob; I have formed thee, O Israel; I
have redeemed thee, O believer, and thou art for ever mine.” And such
discoveries of the love of God to the soul, draw out still more love
from the soul towards God, and raise more sacred exercises of divine
love in one hour, than a whole year of common devotions can do; and the
saint learns more of this sacred sensation of the love of God, than
years of cold and common devotions would teach him.

III. When the soul gets near to God in prayer, there will be a hatred of
sin at the very thoughts of it, and holy meltings and mournings under
the remembrance of its own sins. “How hateful does sin appear, will the
soul say, now I am come so near to the seat of a Holy God! Never did I
see sin in so dark and so odious colours, as this hour reveals and
discovers to me; never did I so sensibly behold the abomination that is
in all sin, as now I do; I never saw it so contrary to all that is in
God, to his holiness, to his glory, to his justice, and to his grace. O
wretch that I am, that I should ever have indulged iniquity! that I
should ever have borne with such an infinite evil in my heart? that I
should ever take delight in such mischief against God! Now I hate and
abhor myself because of sin. O that my head were waters, and my eyes a
fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night, because I have been
such a sinner so long, and because I am so much a sinner still!” The
heart of a saint that comes near to God, is pained at the memory of old
sins; and together with a present sweetness of divine love, there is a
sort of anguish at the thoughts of past iniquities. A present God will
make past sins look dreadful and heinous; therefore it is that sin looks
so little to us, and appears so light a thing, because we seldom get
near to the seat of God, and bring our iniquities to that divine light.

It is a very common instance, and you all know it, that a blot or spot
on a paper or garment, looks so much deeper, when the place you view it
in is lighter; at noon-day, and in the eye of the sun, those smaller
blemishes appear, which at other times are utterly unseen, and every
greater spot, every fouler stain, looks most odious and disagreeable.
Just thus it is with the soul, when it is displayed under the eye of the
Sun of Righteousness; every blemish, every defilement appears, and the
soul hates itself so far as it is sinful, while sin itself looks
infinitely more odious. Therefore Job says, ix. 30. _Should I wash
myself in snow-water, and make myself never so clean, thou wouldest
plunge me in the ditch, and my own clothes would abhor me_; that is,
“should I use all the methods of cleansing that are possible, and then
enter into thy immediate presence, that light of thy presence would
discover so many spots and defilements upon me, as if I had just plunged
myself in a ditch, and my garments had been all over defiled.”

[This sermon, if too long, maybe divided here.]

IV. At such a time there is a power and virtue enters into the soul,
coming from a present God, to resist sin, and to oppose great
temptation. “_I can do all things, if Christ be near to strengthen me_”,
says the apostle; Phil. iv. 13. When I was afflicted with the buffeting
of Satan, says the same apostle; 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9. for this I applied
myself to the mercy-seat, and I got near to the throne of grace; there I
pleaded with my God, and I received this answer from him; _My grace is
sufficient for thee_; then, says he, I could glory in infirmities, and
in persecutions for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong;
when I feel my own weakness, and see Almighty strength near me, and
engaged on my side, then I grow strong in courage, and with success
encounter my most powerful adversaries. I will not fear, says David,
though thousands have set themselves together against me, if thou art
with me, my strength and my rock: I will walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, and fear no evil; Psal. xxiii. 4. for thou art with me.
Divine courage and fortitude are increased abundantly by coming so near
to the throne of God.

There is a zeal for God enters into the soul at such a season, and the
soul is more desirous to lay out itself for the glory of God at such a
time. Moses had drawn near to God in the mount, and had been with him
forty days; when he came down from the mount, he beheld the people
filled with idolatry, and he brake the tables of stone in an impatience
of zeal; his zeal for God was so great, he hardly knew what he did, his
zeal for God was kindled high, because he had been so near to God, and
just conversing with him. So, Isaiah vi. 8. when that great saint had
been near to God, and had seen him in the glories of his holiness, and
had some courage and confidence in his love, “Now I will go, says he,
upon any difficult message; Here am I, send me, though it be to fulfil
the hardest service.” There will be generally all these attendants of
great nearness to God, _viz._ power against temptation, strength against
sin, zeal for the glory of God in the world; and ability to perform
difficult duties.

V. There will be a spiritual frame introduced into the heart and a
distance from all carnal things. “Stand by, saith the soul to all this
world, whilst I go to seek my God; but when I have found him, then the
world of itself, as to all the temporal concerns of it, vanishes and
goes out of sight. When I get so near to heaven, this earth is so small
a point, that it cannot be seen, and those comforts among the creatures,
that were fair as the moon, or bright as the larger stars, are vanished
and lost, and disappear under the brighter light of this Sun.” Created
beauties, with all their little glimmerings, tempt the soul toward them,
when God is absent; as a twinkling candle entices the silly fly at
midnight to hover about the rays of it; but the candle faints under the
broad beams of rising day-light; it has no power to attract those little
buzzing animals in the morning, and it is quite invisible at noon. So
the very approach of God makes creatures appear more contemptible and
worthless in the esteem of a devout christian; a God near at hand will
drive the creatures afar off; and a present God will command the world
to utter absence. None of the tempting vanities of life come in sight,
and sometimes not the most important concerns of it remain before the
eye of the saint, when God appears and fills the view and prospect of
his spirit. The soul is taken up with spiritual things, therefore carnal
ones vanish; it is entertained and filled with the majesty of God, the
riches of grace, redeeming grace; with the glory of Christ Jesus, the
beauty of his person, the honour of his characters, his various
excellencies, and the super-eminence of his offices, both in the
constitution and discharge of them; the soul is then warmed with a
zealous concern for the church of Christ, and big with the designs of
the honour of God, while it forgets the world.

Or at such a season as this, when we get near to God in prayer, if we
think of any of the creatures, it is all in order to the honour of God.
If I think of a brother, or father, or child, “O may they all be
instruments in thine hand, for thy honour here among men, and for ever
among blessed angels!” The soul does not ask for riches and glories on
earth for them: but, “May they live in thy sight, O Lord!” If it thinks
of the comforts of life, or the blessings of prosperity, “O let holiness
to the Lord be written upon them all; for I would not have one of them,
but what may subserve thine honour in the world.” If the soul thinks of
its pains, and sorrows, and reproaches, it longs for the sanctification
of them at present, and the removal of them in due season, that it may
serve its God the better. Thus the soul is, as it were, taken out of
self, when it gets near to God.

“Let me have the conveniences of life, (says the christian,) not so much
for my ease, as that I may better advance thine honour.” The soul grows
weaned from self at such a time; it breaks out of the narrow circle of
self, when it gets nigh to God. If it thinks of the ministry or of
ordinances, “Lord, let that ministry be for the advancement of thy name!
Lord, let these ordinances be for the increase of thy glory in the
world, for the advancement of grace in my heart, and bring me nearer to
heaven! If it thinks of the kingdom, or the parliament, powers or
princes in this world, it is with this design, that God may be glorified
in the courts of princes, and in parliaments, and honoured in armies and
nations known and unknown.” Thus the soul always keeps within sight of
God: it still keeps all its designs within the circle of God, and aims
still at the glories of its Heavenly Father. If it thinks of life or of
death, “I would not ask life, says the saint, but to glorify thee; nor
death, but to glorify thee better, and to enjoy more of thee.” Thus when
the soul is near to God, it is in a divine light that it sees all
things, it is still with a design for God; and when it indulges the
thoughts toward any creature, it is without turning aside a moment from
its God. Thus carnal things are taken into the mind, and spritualized by
the presence of God, the infinite Spirit, when the soul approaches so
near to his seat.

VI. There will then be a fixedness of heart in duty without wandering,
and liveliness without tiring. At other times of common and usual
worship, when the saint is in too formal and in too cold a frame, the
heart roves perpetually, and is soon weary; but when we get near to God,
then we have a little emblem of heaven within us, where they worship God
day and night without interruption, and without weariness. When we wait
upon God at this rate, we are still mounting up higher and higher, as
with eagles’ wings; we walk first without fainting, and then run without
wearying, at last, we fly as an eagle, and make haste to the fuller
possession of our God; Is. xl. 31. The soul is then detained in the
presence of God with overpowering delight, and it cannot be taken away
from the object of its dearest satisfaction. This is a joy above all
other joys, above all the joys of sense, above all the joys of the
intellectual world that are not divine and holy. There are some
pleasures that arise from philosophical and intellectual notions, that
are superior to the pleasures of sense; but the pleasure of being near
to God in devotion, far transcends all these. Animal nature, at such a
season, may be worn out, and faint and die under it; but the mind is not
weary. It is possible for divine transports to rise so high as to break
this feeble frame of flesh, and dissolve it; and there have been
instances of persons that have been near to a dissolution of mortality
under the power of divine ecstacies: but the soul has not been faint,
has felt no weariness.

There are at such a season most pleasurable thoughts of heaven; there
are some bright glimpses of that blessed state when a christian attains
this nearness to God; for heaven is a state of nearness to God
everlasting and uninterrupted: nor are the blessed inhabitants of that
world ever weary of their company or their business; and thus, when
there is any thing akin to heaven brought down to the saints in this
mortal state, they know it cannot be uninterrupted and perpetual; and
therefore there is a desire of frequent returns of such seasons as these
are, while they are here on earth. And as Christ, the bridegroom, speaks
to his saints in the language of Solomon, _Let me see thy face_ often,
_my spouse, my beloved, let me hear thy voice_; Song ii. 44. and viii.
13. So the saint says to his God at such a season, “O may I often see
thy face in this manner, may I often hear such a voice as this is from
thee, for I know not how to live without it. Flee, my beloved Saviour,
and make haste to a speedy return, and let there be an uninterrupted and
everlasting converse between God and my soul.”

Lastly, There is at such a season oftentimes a pouring out of the soul
before God with some freedom in the gift, as well as the grace of
prayer. Mere sighs and groans are for persons at a distance; but when we
get near to God, we speak to him even in his ear; and the heart is full,
and the tongue overflows. I grant there may be the spirit of prayer
assisting a poor soul that cannot get near to God, but still cries after
him when he is hidden, and expresses itself only in sighs and in groans
unutterable; so the apostle tells us; Rom. viii. 26. _The spirit itself
maketh intercession in us with groanings that cannot be uttered._ And
thus it may be, while God hides himself, while there is a veil
concealing God from our eyes, while there is any special temptation like
a mountain that separates between God and our souls, he may send his
Spirit to work us up to earnest desires and longings after him.

But when this SPIRIT OF PRAYER has brought the soul near, when God has
been pleased to turn aside the veil, to remove the mountain, and to
discover himself in all his glory, beauty, and love, then there will be
generally the gift of prayer also in exercise by the assistance of the
promised Spirit; and such persons many times are able to address
themselves to God with much freedom, and to pour out the soul before God
in proper words, notwithstanding at other times they appear to have but
weak capacities. When they have such affecting sights of their own sin
and guilt, and such surprizing views of the mercy of God manifested to
them in particular, and at the same time when they look upon all things
round them with a design for the glory of God; they are both naturally
and divinely taught to pour out their souls before God, and represent
their cares and circumstances to him in affecting language.

I will not say indeed, it is always so when any soul gets near to God;
there must be some allowance made for the different tempers and
constitutions, as I shall shew immediately. There have also been some
instances of holy men, whose voice has, at such a time, been overpowered
with divine pleasure, all their powers have been transported and
overwhelmed with rapturous silence; but for the most part holy souls
have found an uncommon liberty of language at the throne of grace at
such seasons. And this is one reason, I am persuaded, why the gift of
prayer is not so common a thing as might be wished, because there is so
little nearness to God among the professors of our day. The gift of
prayer abounds not among christians in our churches; O that I could say
it was found more gloriously among ministers, while in your name we
speak to the great God! But if there were a constant laborious diligence
in the soul to get nearer to God, in all our secret as well as public
addresses to him, we should find more abundance of the gift of prayer
poured down upon us by the Spirit, as well as brighter evidences of
every praying grace.

I must conclude this discourse before I proceed to the other heads which
were proposed; but I would not willingly leave it without a caution or
two, and one reflection. The first caution is this: Let not the humble
mourning christian, who walks carefully with God, under much darkness
and fear, charge himself with utter distance and estrangement from the
throne of grace, because he does not feel all these sacred passions and
powers of nature in lively exercise, while he bows his knees before the
Lord: for I have described this blessed privilege in the sublime glory
and beauty of it, so as it has been often attained and enjoyed by
persons eminent in grace and religion, and especially such as have had
lively affections, and the powers of animal nature in a good degree
sanctified, and subservient to the devotions of the soul. But where the
natural spirits are low and sinking, and where temptations and darkness
hang heavy upon the mind, the christian may truly draw near to God, so
far as to find a gracious acceptance with him, and may fetch secret
divine communications from the mercy-seat to maintain his spiritual
life; though he feels but little of these sensations of heavenly
pleasure, these more vigorous efforts of devotions and joy. Yet let him
neither deny nor despise those more elevated enjoyments of soul, those
near and blessed approaches to the seat of God, with which others have
been favoured.

The second caution shall be addressed to those, who feel much of rapture
and transport in their hours of secret piety. I entreat that they would
not imagine themselves so often to enjoy this unspeakable privilege of
holy nearness to God in worship, if they do not sensibly find such an
increase of holiness, as may prove effectually that they have been with
God. If they have been conversing with their Maker, like Moses on the
mount, there will be a shine of holiness upon the face of their souls.
To pretend therefore to have enjoyed much of God in the closet, and to
come down amongst men peevish and fretful, or immediately to betray a
carnal and covetous, or a haughty and untractable spirit; these are
things of so inconsistent a nature, that the succeeding iniquity spoils
the devotion, and almost destroys the pretence to any sublime degrees of
it. Such persons had need look well to themselves and make a narrow
search within, whether their hearts be sincere with God or no, lest they
build all their hopes upon the flashy efforts of animal nature, coupled
with the thoughts of some sacred objects, and tacked on to a divine
meditation.

Reflection.—What a wretched hindrance is this world to our christian
profit and pleasure! How often does it keep the soul at a sad distance
from God! With what difficulty and uneasy reluctance, are we sometimes
drawn, or rather dragged into retirement, that the soul may seek after
God there? How many excuses doth the flesh borrow from the cares and
necessities of this life, to delay, or to divert the duty of prayer? Our
memory, our imagination, and our senses, are faithful purveyors and
treasurers for the world; they are representing to us the things of this
present state, the trifles or the businesses, the cares or amusements of
it, the labours or delights which relate to this life; and thereby we
are diverted and separated from God, and called away from him often, as
soon as we begin to approach his presence.

What a pernicious enemy is this flesh to the soul, both in the pleasures
and the pains of it! and this world, both in the flatteries and the
frowns of it, and even in its necessary cares! When we would give our
God the upper-room in our hearts, how is this world ready to get the
ascendant! How often does it break in upon our most sacred retirements,
and thrust itself, with all its impertinencies, into our holy
meditations? How often does it spread a carnal scene all over our
thoughts at once, and spoil our devoutest hours? “I cannot dwell so long
in my closet as I would, says a christian, the world has such
importunate demands upon me.” The world follows us, into our places of
retirement; the exchange, or the shop, presses into the temple, and robs
God even to his face.

Let us then have a care of the flesh: let us have a care of this world;
we must be watchful over them as our most subtle and dangerous enemies,
if we would keep our souls near to God, or often enjoy this divine
privilege. Blessed Enoch! who could walk with God in the midst of all
the busy and vicious scenes of the old world! and he was translated to
heaven, without calling at the gates of death, that he might give a
glorious testimony to men how well God was pleased with him. Happy soul!
that could keep near to God, and maintain a holy and humble converse
with him, when all flesh had corrupted its way and the earth was full of
iniquity and violence! Blessed man, who knew not what it was to die, but
he knew what it was to be near to God; and his faith and his devotion
were changed the shortest way into sight and enjoyment! Happy spirit!
who without being absent at all from the body, was brought near to the
seat of divine Majesty, and in the fullest manner present with the Lord!


                           HYMN FOR SERMON V.
               _The Soul drawing near to God in prayer._


                My God, I bow before thy feet,
                When shall my soul get near thy seat?
                When shall I see thy glorious face,
                With mingled majesty and grace?

                How shall I love thee and adore,
                With hopes and joys unknown before!
                And bid this trifling world begone,
                Nor teaze my heart so near thy throne!

                Creatures with all their charms should fly,
                The presence of a God so nigh:
                My darling sins should lose their name,
                And grow my hatred and my shame.

                My soul shall pour out all her cares,
                In flowing words, or flowing tears!
                Thy smiles would ease my sharpest pain
                Nor should I seek my God in vain.




                               SERMON VI.
                 _Sins and Sorrows spread before God._
Job xxiii. 3, 4.—O that I knew where I might find him: that I might come
 even to his seat; I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth
                            with arguments.
                            THE SECOND PART.


There is such a thing as converse with God in prayer, and it is the life
and pleasure of a pious soul; without it we are no christians: and he
that practises it most, is the best follower of Christ: for our Lord
spent much time in converse with his heavenly Father. This is balm that
eases the most raging pains of the mind, when the wounded conscience
comes to the mercy-seat, and finds pardon and peace there. This is the
cordial that revives and exalts our natures, when the spirit, broken
with sorrows, and almost fainting to death, draws near to the Almighty
Physician, and is healed and refreshed. The mercy-seat in heaven is our
surest and sweetest refuge in every hour of distress and darkness on
earth: This is our daily support and relief, while we are passing
through a world of temptations and hardships in the way to the promised
land. _It is good for us to draw near to God_: Ps. lxxiii. 28. And yet
so much is human nature sunk down and fallen from God, that even his own
children are ready to indulge a neglect of converse with him, if their
souls are not always upon the watch. But let it be remembered here, that
so much as we abate of this divine entertainment among the vanities or
amusements of the world, the business or burdens of life; so much we
lose of the glory and joy of religion, and deprive our souls of the
comfort that God invites us to receive. Job was encompassed with sorrows
all around, and his friends had censured him as a vile hypocrite, and a
great sinner, because he was so terribly afflicted by the hand of God;
whither should he run now but to his heavenly Father, and tell him of
all his sufferings.

From the practice of this holy man, I thought we might have sufficient
warrant to draw this inference, _viz._ That when a saint gets near to
God in prayer, he tells him all his circumstances, and pleads for help.
And that is the doctrine which I am endeavouring now to improve. “O if I
could but come near him, even to his seat, I would order my cause before
him: I would spread all my concerns before his eye, and I would plead
with him for relief: I would fill my mouth with arguments.”

Four things I proposed in the prosecution of this doctrine.—I. To
consider what it is for a soul to get near to God in prayer.—II. What
particular subjects doth a soul, thus brought near to the mercy-seat,
converse with God about.—III. Why he chuses to tell all his
circumstances and his sorrows to God, when he is thus near him.—IV. How
he pleads for relief.

I. We have already considered, what it is for a soul to get near to the
seat of God, and what are the usual attendants of such a privilege. At
such a season the holy soul will have an awful and adoring sense of the
majesty of God, a becoming fear of his terrors, and some sweeter taste
of his love. There will be a divine hatred of every sin, and a sensible
virtue and influence proceeding from a present God, to resist every
temptation; there will be a spiritual and heavenly temper diffusing
itself through the whole soul, and all the powers of it; a fixedness of
heart without wandering, and a liveliness without tiring: no weariness
is felt in the spirit at such a season, even though the flesh may be
ready to faint under the overpowering sweetness: then the soul with
freedom opens itself before the eye of God, and melts and flows in
divine language, whether it complain or rejoice. But I have finished
this head, and repeat no more.

II. What are some of the particular circumstances, or subjects of
complaint, that a saint brings to God when he comes near him.

In general, a saint, when he is near to God, has all the fulness of his
heart breaking out into holy language; he pours out his whole self
before his God and his Father! All the infinite affairs that relate to
the flesh and spirit, to this life, and that which is to come: all
things in heaven, and all things in earth, created or uncreated, may, at
one time or other, be the subjects of converse between God and a holy
soul. When the question is asked by a carnal man, what can a christian
talk with God so long and so often about? The christian in a divine
frame, answers, “he hath matter enough for converse with God, to wear
out time, and to fill up eternity.” It may be as well asked on the other
side, what has he not to say? what is there that relates to God, or to
himself, to the upper, or the lower world, that he may not at some time
say to his God?

But I must confine myself from wandering in so large a field, that I may
comport with the design of my text. Though a good man, in devout prayer,
often spreads his hopes and his joys before the Lord, as well as his
sorrows, fears, and distresses; yet I shall at present endeavour to set
forth only the mournful and complaining representations of his
circumstances that he makes before the throne of God.

1. If I could but come near the mercy-seat, I would confess how great my
sins are, and I would pray for pardoning grace. I would say, “How vile I
am by nature;” I would count my original descent from Adam the great
transgressor, and humble myself at the foot of a holy God, because I am
the descendant of such a sinner.—I would tell him how much viler I have
made myself by practice; “I have been an enemy in my mind by nature, and
guilty of many wicked works, whereby I have farther estranged myself
from him.” I would tell my God how multiplied my transgressions have
been before I knew him, and how aggravated they have been since I have
been acquainted with him. I would acquaint him with the frequency of my
returning guilt, how I have sinned against mercies, against reproofs,
against warnings received often from his word, and often from his
providence.

I may appeal to the souls of many present, whether they have not had the
greatest freedom of confession of their sins, when they have been
nearest to God, even though he be a God of holiness. At other times,
they have not only been averse to confess to any friend, but even
unwilling to talk over to themselves the aggravation of their
iniquities, or to mention them in prayer: but when they are brought thus
near the throne of God, they unbosom themselves before him, they pour
out their sins and their tears together, with a sweet and mournful
satisfaction. “I behold,” says the saint, “the great atonement, the
blood of Jesus, and therefore I may venture to confess my great
iniquities, for the satisfaction is equal to them all. When I behold God
upon his seat, I behold the _Lamb in the midst of the throne as it had
been slain_, and he is my Peace-maker. I see his all-sufficient
sacrifice, his atoning-blood, his perfect, his justifying
righteousness.” The soul then answers the call of God with great
readiness, when God says in Is. i. 18. _Come let us reason together:
though your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be as wool._ “I am
ready,” says the soul, “to enter into such reasonings; I am ready to
confess before thee, that my sins are all crimson and scarlet, but there
is cleansing blood with thy Son: Blood that has washed the garments of a
thousand sinners, and made them white as snow; and it has the same
virtue still to wash mine too: I trust in it, and rejoice when I behold
that blood sprinkled upon the mercy-seat, and therefore I grow confident
in hope, and draw yet nearer to God, a reconciled God, since his throne
has the memorials of a bleeding sacrifice upon it.”

2. If I could get near the seat of God, I would tell him how many my
enemies are, and how strong; how malicious, and how full of rage.——And I
would beg strength against them, and victory over them.——I would say as
David: _Many there be that hate me, many there be that rise up against
me; and many there be that say of my soul, there is no help for him in
God; but thou, O God, art my glory, my shield, and the lifter up of
head_: Ps. iii. 1, 2, 3. Then says the soul, I would complain to God of
all my in-dwelling corruption, of the body of death that dwells in me,
or in which I dwell; and say, “O wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me!” I would tell him then of the secret working of pride in my
heart, though I long to be humble; of the rising of ambition in my soul,
though I would willingly maintain a middle state amongst men, and not
aim and aspire to be great.—I would acquaint him of the vanity of my own
mind, though I am perpetually endeavouring to subdue it. I would tell
him, with tears, of my sinful passions, of my anger and impatience, and
the workings of envy and revenge in me; of the perpetual stirrings of
disorderly appetites, whereby I am led away from my God: I would tell
him of the hardness of my heart, and the obstinacy of my temper. I would
open before his eye, all the vices of my constitution; all those secret
seeds of iniquity that are ever budding and blossoming to bring forth
fruit to death. These things are fit to mourn before the Lord, when the
soul is come near to his seat.

I would complain of this sore enemy, the world, that is perpetually
besetting me, that strikes upon all my senses, that by the ears, and the
eyes, and all the outward faculties, draws my heart away from God my
best friend. I would tell him of the rage of Satan, that watchful and
malicious adversary; that I cannot engage in any duty of worship, but he
is ready to throw in some foolish or vain suggestion to divert me; and I
would look forward, and point to my last enemy death, and beg the
presence of my God with me, when I walk through that dark valley:—“Lord,
when I enter into that conflict, assist me, that I may fear no evil, but
be made more than a conqueror through him that has loved me.”

3. I would tell him what darkness I labour under, either in respect of
faith or practice. If I am perplexed in my mind, and entangled about any
of the doctrines of the gospel, I would then tell my God what my
entanglements are, where the difficulty lies; and I would beg, that by
his Spirit and his word, he would solve the controversy, and set his own
truth before me in his own divine light. And then in point of practice,
what darkness lies upon the spirit at such a time, is revealed before
God: “My way is hedged up, I know not what path to chuse; it is very
hard for me to find out my duty; shew me, O Lord, the way wherein I
should walk, and mark out my path plain for me.”

4. I would mourn, and tell him, how little converse I have with himself,
how much he is hidden from me: I would complain to him, how far off I am
from him the most part of my life, how few are the hours of my communion
with him, how short is the visit, how much his face is concealed from
me, and how far my heart is divided from him. A soul then says, “Surely
there is too great a distance between me and my God, my heavenly
Father!” and cries out with bitterness, _Why is God so far from me, and
why is my heart so far from God?_ How often do I wait upon him in his
own sanctuary, and among his saints, but I am not favoured with the
sight _of his power and glory_ there! And how often do I seek him in my
secret retirements, but I find him not? I would tell him how often I
read his promises in the gospel, and taste no sweetness; I go frequently
to those wells of consolation, and they seem to be dry; then _I turn my
face and go away ashamed_.

5. I would tell him too of my temporal troubles, if I got near to God,
because they unfit me for his service, they make me incapable of
honouring him in the world, and render me unfit for enjoying him in his
ordinances: I would tell him how they damp my zeal, how they bow my
spirit down, and _make me go mourning all the day long_, to the
dishonour of christianity, which is a dispensation of grace and joy.
Thus I might complain before God of pains, of weakness, of sickness, of
the disorders of my flesh; I might complain there too of the weakness of
all my powers, the want of memory, the scatterings and confusions that
are upon my thoughts, the wanderings of my fancy, and the unhappy
influence that a feeble and diseased body has upon the mind: “O my God,
how am I divided from thee, by dwelling in such a tabernacle! still
patching up a tottering cottage, and wasting my best hours in a painful
attendance on the infirmities of the flesh!”

I might then take the liberty of spreading before my God, all the
sorrows and vexations of life, that unhinge my soul from its centre, and
throw it off from my guard, and hurry and expose me to daily
temptations. I might complain of my reproaches from friends and enemies;
because these, many times, wear out the spirit, and unfit it for acts of
lively worship. These are my weekly sorrows and groans, these are my
daily fears and troubles; and these shall be spread before the eyes of
my God, in the happy hour when I get near him.

_Lastly_, I would not go away without a word of pity and complaint
concerning my relations, my friends, and acquaintance, that are afar off
from God. I would put in one word of petition for them that are careless
and unconcerned for themselves: I would weep a little at the seat of God
for them: I would leave a tear or two at the throne of mercy, for my
dearest relatives in the flesh, for children, brothers or sisters, that
they might be brought near to God, in the bonds of the spirit. Then
would I remember my friends in Christ, my brethren and kindred in the
gospel; such as labour under heavy burdens, languish under various
infirmities of life, or groan under the power of strong temptations.
When God indulges me the favour of his ear, I would spread their wants
and sorrows before him, together with my own, and make supplication for
all the saints. I would leave a petition at the mercy-seat for my native
country, that knowledge and holiness may overspread the nation: that our
king may be a nursing father to the church, and our princes may be
blessings to the land. And while I send up my request for the British
islands, I would breathe out many a sigh for Zion, that she may be the
joy of the whole earth. I proceed now to,

III. The third head of enquiry, which is this: why does a saint, when he
gets near to God, delight to tell him all his circumstances, and all his
sorrows?

In general I might say this, because it is so seldom, at least in our
day, that a saint gets very near to God; therefore, when he finds that
happy minute, he says to his God all that he wants to say: he tells him
all his heart, he pours out all his wants before him; because these
seasons are very few. It is but here and there an extraordinary
christian, who maintains constant nearness to God: The best complain of
too much distance and estrangement. But to descend to particulars:

1. He is our chief friend, and it is an ease to the soul to vent itself
in the bosom of a friend, when we are in his company.—More especially as
it was in the case of Job, when other friends failed him when he had
begun to tell them some of his sorrows, and withal maintained his own
integrity; they would not believe him, but became his troublers instead
of his comforters: _My friends scorn me_, says Job, _chap._ xvi. 20.
_but mine eye poureth out tears unto God_. I go to my best friend, my
friend in heaven, when my friends here on earth neglect me.

Man is a sociable creature, and our joys and our sorrow are made to be
communicated, that thereby we may double the one, and alleviate the
other. There is scarce any piece of human nature, be it never so stupid,
but feels some satisfaction in the pleasure of a friend, in
communicating the troubles and the pleasures that it feels; but those
that have God for their highest and best friend, they love to be often
exercising such acts of friendship with him; and rather with him than
with any friend besides, rather with him than with all besides him. This
is the noblest and highest friendship; all condescension and compassion
on the one side, and all infirmity and dependence on the other, and yet
both joined in mutual satisfaction. Amazing grace of God to man! The
christian rejoices in this admirable divine indulgence, and delights in
all opportunities to employ and improve it.

Besides, this is the way to maintain the vigour of piety, and keep all
the springs of divine love ever opening and flowing in his own;
therefore he makes many a visit to the mercy-seat, and takes occasion
from every troublesome occurrence in life, to betake himself to his
knees, and improves every sorrow he meets on earth, to increase his
acquaintance with heaven. He delights to talk all his grievances over
with his God. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, is a blessed example of this
practice; 1 Sam. i. 10. When she was in bitterness of soul, by reason of
a sore affliction, and the teazing humour of her rival, she prayed to
the Lord, and wept sore: and when she had left her sorrows at the
mercy-seat, she went away, and did eat, and her countenance was no more
sad; ver. 18. So saith the christian, “I commit my sorrows to my God; he
is my best friend, and I go away, and am no more sad: I have poured out
my cares into his ear, and cast my burdens upon him, and leave them
there in peace.”

2. The saint knows God will understand him right, and will judge right
concerning his case and his meaning. Though the expressions, it may be,
are very imperfect, below the common language of men, and propriety of
speech, yet God knows the meaning of the soul; for it is his own spirit
that breathes in that soul, and he _knows the mind of his Spirit_; Rom.
viii. 27. The friends of Job perverted his sense: Therefore he turns
aside to God, for he knows God would understand him. It is a very great
advantage, when we spread our concerns before another person, to be well
assured that person will take us right, will take in our meaning fully,
and judge aright concerning our cause. Now we may be assured of this,
when we speak to our God: he _knows our thoughts afar off_, and all
circumstances, better infinitely than we can tell him. These our poor
imperfect expressions of our wants, shall be no hinderances to his full
supplies, nor any bar to his exercise of friendship towards us.

3. A saint pours out his soul before God, because he is sure of secrecy
there. How many things are there transacted between God and a holy soul,
that relate to guilt and inward workings of iniquity, that he could
never publish to the world! and many things also that concern his
conduct in life, his embarrassments of spirit, his difficulties, his
follies, or the obstinacy, guilt, or follies of his friends or
relatives, which prudence and shame forbid him to tell his
fellow-creatures; and yet he wants to spread them all before God his
best friend, God his dearest relative, the friend nearest to his heart.
There may be many circumstances and cases in life, especially in the
spiritual life, which one christian could hardly communicate to another,
though under the strictest bonds and ties of natural, and civil, and
sacred relation: But we may communicate these very affairs, these secret
concerns with our God, and unburden our souls of every care without the
least public notice.

We cannot be perfectly secure of this with regard to any creature; for
when we have experienced the faithfulness of a friend many years, he may
possibly be at last unfaithful: Unfaithfulness is mingled with our
nature since the fall, and it is impossible any person can be infallibly
secure from it: Ps. lxii. 9. _Men of low degree are vanity, and great
men are a lie_: but we may leave our case with our God, as secure as
though we had communicated it to none: Nay, we may be easily secure and
free in speaking, because God knows all before-hand. Our complaint adds
nothing to his knowledge, although it eases our souls, and gives us
sweet satisfaction in having such a friend to speak to.

4. A saint believes the equity, faithfulness, and the love of God;
therefore he spreads his case before him. His equity, that _the judge of
all the earth will do right; the righteous may plead with him_. His
faithfulness, that he will fulfil all his promises: and his love, that
he will take compassion on those who are afflicted; he will be tender to
those who are miserable. David takes occasion from this, to address God
under his sufferings and sorrows; Ps. lxii. 1, 2. _He is my rock, and my
salvation, and my defence, I shall not be moved; therefore mu soul waits
upon God; my refuge is in him._ lxv. 1, 2. _He is a God that hears
prayer, therefore unto him shall all flesh come._ God will not account
our complaints troublesome, though they be never so often repeated;
whereas men are quickly wearied with the importunities of those who are
poor and needy. Great men are ready to shut their doors against those
who come too often for relief; but God delights to hear often from his
people, and to have them ask continually at his door for mercy. Though
he has Almighty power with him, saith Job, _yet he will not plead
against me with his great power: No, but he would put strength in me_;
he would teach me how I should answer him; how I should answer his
justice, by appeals to his mercy; and how I should speak prevailingly
before him.

5. _Lastly_, A saint tells God all his circumstances and sorrows at such
a season, because he hopes for relief from him, and from him only; for
it is impossible creatures can give relief under any trouble, unless God
makes them instruments of relief. And there are some troubles in which
creatures cannot be our helpers, but our help must come only from God,
and that in a more immediate way. Whatsoever be our distress, whether it
arise from past guilt, and the torments of an anxious and troubled
conscience; or whether it arise from the working of in-dwelling sin, the
strength of temptation, or the violence of temporal afflictions, still
God is able and willing to give relief, _Call upon me_, saith the Lord,
_In the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me_;
Ps. l. 15. _And he hath never said to the seed of Jacob, seek ye my face
in vain_; Is. xlv. 19.

IV. The fourth general head of discourse which I proposed, is to shew,
How a saint, near the mercy-seat, pleads with God for relief.

Holy Job tells us in this text, that if he was got near to the seat of
God, _he would fill his mouth with arguments_. Not as though he would
inform God of the necessity, or the justice of his cause beyond what he
knew before; no, this is impossible: _He that teacheth man all things,
shall he not know?_ Ps. xciv. 9. 10. He who orders all the circumstances
of our lives, and every stroke of his own rod, can he be unacquainted
with any thing that relates to our sorrows? Nor can we use arguments
with God to awaken his ear, or move his compassion, as though he had
neglected us, or forgotten our distress; for _all things are_ for ever
_naked and open_ before _the eyes of him, with whom we have to do_; Heb.
iv. 13. The Shepherd of Israel cannot slumber nor does his mercy want
our awakenings.

But in this sort of expressions, the great God condescends to talk, and
to transact affairs with us, and permits us to treat him in a way suited
to our weakness: He would have us plead and argue with him, that we may
shew how deep a sense we have of our own wants, and how entirely we
depend on his mercy. Since we cannot converse with him in a way equal to
his own majesty and godhead, he stoops to talk with us in such a way as
is most agreeable to our state, and most easy to our apprehension: He
speaks such language as we can understand, and invites us to humble
conference with him in the same way. _Come_, says God to his people, by
Isaiah his prophet, _Come now, and let us reason together_; Is. i. 18.
And he often, in holy scripture, represents himself as moved and
influenced by the prayers and pleadings of his afflicted saints; and he
has ordained, before-hand, that the day _when he prepares their hearts
to pray_, shall be the day when his _ear shall hear the desire of the
humble_, and shall be the season of their deliverance; Ps. x. 17.

If you enquire, how a christian pleads with his God, and whence does he
borrow his arguments? I answer, that according to the various sorrows
and difficulties which attend him, so various may his pleadings be for
the removal of them. There is not a circumstance which belongs to his
affliction, but he may draw some argument from it to plead for mercy;
there is not one attribute of the divine nature, but he may use it with
holy skill, and thereby plead for grace; there is not one relation in
which God stands to his people, nor one promise of his covenant, but may
at some time or other, afford an argument in prayer. But the strongest
and sweetest argument that a christian knows, is the name and mediation
of Jesus Christ his Lord. It is for the sake of Christ, who has
purchased all the blessings of the covenant, that a saint hopes to
receive them; and for the sake of Christ, he pleads that God would
bestow them.

But having treated largely on this subject, in my discourse, intitled,
_A Guide to Prayer_, I shall not repeat the same things here, but refer
the reader to the first chapter of that book, sect. 5.—It remains that I
make a few useful reflections on the whole foregoing discourse.

Reflection I. What a dull and uncomfortable thing is religion, without
drawing near to God! for this is the very business for which religion is
designed; the end and aim of religion is getting nigh to God; if it
attain not this end, it is nothing.

O the madness of hypocrites, who satisfy themselves to toil in long
forms of worship, and appear perpetually in the shape of religion, but
unconcerned whether they ever get near to God by it or no! They lose the
end and design for which religion was made. What if we know all the
doctrines of the gospel; what if we can talk rationally about natural
religion; what if we can deduce one truth from another, so as to spread
a whole scheme of godliness before the eyes or ears of those we converse
with; what if we can prove all the points of christianity, and give
incontestible arguments for the belief of them; yet we have no religion,
if our souls never get near to God by them. A saint thinks it a very
melancholy thing when he is at a distance from God, and cannot tell God
his wants and sorrows. Though he be never so much studied in divinity,
and the deep things of God, yet if God be not with him, if he does not
come near to his mercy-seat, so as to converse with him as his friend,
the soul is concerned, and grieved, and never rests till this distance
be removed. It is to little purpose that we get into churches, join in
the fellowship of the gospel, and attend many seasons of prayer: It is
to very little purpose to read chapters, and to hear sermons, one day
after another: It is to little purpose all these forms are maintained,
if we have not the substance and power of godliness? if our God be not
_near us_, if we never _get near to God_.

Reflection II. How happy are we under the gospel, above all ages and
nations besides us, and before us! For we have advantages of getting
near to God, beyond what any other religion has; above what the heathen
world ever enjoyed; for their light of nature could never shew them the
throne of grace: above what the ancient patriarchs had, though God came
down in visible shapes, and revealed and discovered himself to them as a
man or an angel: above what the Jews had, though God dwelt among them in
visible glory, in the holy of holies. The people were kept at a
distance, and the high-priests were to come thither but once a year; and
their veil, and smokes, and shadows, did, as it were, conceal God from
them, although they were types of a future Messiah; and even their
_shekinah_ itself, or cloud of glory, gave them no spiritual idea or
notion of godhead, though it was a shining emblem of God dwelling among
them.

We have better ordinances, and brighter mediums of converse with God; we
have more powerful assistances to raise us heaven-ward; we have the
Messiah, the Emmanuel; that is, _God in flesh_, God come near us, that
we may get near to him; we have the _promise of the Spirit_, which is
one of the glorious privileges of the gospel; Eph. ii. 13, 18. _Ye who
sometimes were afar off, are made nigh through the blood of Christ: and
through him—have we access by one Spirit to the Father._ Through Christ
Jesus, and the purchase of his blood, and the working of his Spirit, we
approach to the Father, we are brought near to God.

And this very method, _viz._ the atonement of the blood of Christ, and
the working of the Spirit by which we are brought near to God in our
first conversion, are the ways by which we must draw near him in duty
ever afterward: it is by the same atonement, and by the same Spirit. We
are continually contracting fresh guilt, and were it not for the
perpetuity of the virtue of that sacrifice, our guilt would be an
irremovable bar against our coming near to God daily and hourly; and
after every new sin, were it not for that Spirit, we could never get
near to God again: but that Spirit is promised _to abide with us_; John
xiv. 16. and in Heb. iv. 14, 16. _Christ is passed into the heavens_, is
very near to God, and hath shewn us the way thither; Heb. x. 19, 20.
_Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of
Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith._

O how should we value our acquaintance with Christ, and pray earnestly
for his Spirit! one makes a way for our coming near to God, and the
other actually brings us near. How glorious would churches be, if there
were more of this Spirit poured down upon us! When an assembly of
saints, all joining together in one act of worship, shall at once rise
by the same Spirit, and approach to the mercy-seat, and order their
cause before God; what might not such a worshipping assembly obtain at
the hands of God? What beauty would appear in the worship of christians
then? What glory would be found in a society of saints, if this Spirit
were but there? Christianity has had these ornaments, and these honours:
let us pray that God would restore them again.

Reflection III. This doctrine will not suffer us to confine ourselves or
others, merely to a set prescribed form of words in prayer. For as the
cases and concerns of soul or body, which we spread before God, are
almost infinitely various, so must we express those cases and concerns
before God in proper words, and plead for relief with a variety of
arguments, as the Spirit of God shall assist us: _I would order my own
cause before him_, says Job, _and my mouth shall be filled with
arguments_. It is not possible that a Prayer Book should be drawn up
with forms particularly suited to every complaint, and every sorrow,
that a holy soul wants to pour out, and spread before the mercy-seat.
And the christian, that knows the pleasure of getting near to God in
prayer, cannot content himself to wrap up all his special and dearest
concernments in a few general sentences.

“What! when I am brought so nigh to my God, my Almighty and
compassionate friend; when I am taken, as it were, by the hand, and led
into his secret place; when I have the ear of God so near me, shall I
not tell him my secret and particular grievances? When I feel such a
sweet freedom of soul in his presence, shall I not unbosom my whole self
to him? Shall I check the devout appetites and affections of my heart,
because I do not find words in my Prayer Book fit to express them? Shall
I quench the blessed Spirit thus, and limit my converse with God?”

I allow forms of prayer well composed, to be useful helps for younger or
meaner christians; or, indeed, for all persons, when the spirits are low
and languishing, and the heart in a heavy or cold temper: But at such a
glorious season to confine a holy soul to a few good expressions,
written down before, how great an injury would it be to its divine
pleasure and profit?

Reflection IV. How comfortable a consideration may be drawn from my
discourse, by those that have never a friend upon earth, that there is a
friend in heaven, to whom they may tell all their circumstances, and all
their sorrows! There are some persons, in this world, so mean and so
wretched, that they are ready to think, at least, that they have never a
friend, and are apt to complain that they are altogether friendless. But
there is a God, one that they may be sure is their everlasting friend,
when they are willing to enter into a state of friendship with him: when
they have commenced friendship with him by the blood of Jesus the great
Reconciler, and by the working of the reconciling Spirit; then let them
improve this consideration with sweet joy. They have a friend in heaven,
before whom they can spread all their sorrows, though they be friendless
on earth; though they are forced to say of their souls, “There is no
refuge for them in the world,” yet they can say, _God is their refuge_:
They can express to him their various sufferings, and their several
difficulties, and they can be sure of a helper in heaven.

Reflection V. _Lastly_, That future state of glory must be blessed
indeed, where we shall be ever near to God, even to his seat, and have
no sorrows to tell him of. If it be so delightful a thing to come near
the seat of God here upon earth, to mourn before him, and to tell him
all our circumstances, and all our sorrows; how pleasurable a
blessedness must that of heaven be, where we shall be ever rejoicing
before him; as Christ Jesus was before the world was made, _rejoicing
daily before him_; and our _delight_ shall be with that God who created
_the sons of men_: Where we shall be for ever telling him our joys, and
our pleasures, with humble adoration of his grace, and everlasting
gratitude. It will be a sweet redoubling of all the delights and
enjoyments of heaven, to tell him, in the language of that world, what
infinite satisfaction we feel in his society; what enjoyments and
delights we derive from his immediate influences; how full our hearts
are of love to him, and how full they are of the sense of his love:
There his love communicated to us, shall be, as it were, reflected back
again from our souls to God; and in the perpetual communications and
reflections of knowledge, joy, and love shall our heaven consist.

O that I could raise your souls, and mine, to blessed breathings after
this felicity, by such representations. But how infinitely short must
the brightest description fall of this state and place: May you and I,
who speak and hear this, may every soul of us be made thus happy one
day, and learn the extent and glory of this blessedness, by sweet and
everlasting experience. _Amen._


                          HYMN FOR SERMON VI.
                 _Sins and Sorrows spread before God._


                  O that I knew the secret place,
                      Where I might find my God!
                  I’d spread my wants before his face,
                      And pour my woes abroad.

                  I’d tell him how my sins arise,
                      What sorrows I sustain;
                  How grace decays, and comfort dies,
                      And leaves my heart in pain.

                  I’d say, “How flesh and sense rebel!
                      What inward foes combine
                  With the vain world, and powers of hell,
                      To vex this soul of mine!”

                  He knows what arguments I’d take,
                      To wrestle with my God;
                  I’d plead for his own mercy’s sake,
                      And for my Saviour’s blood.

                  My God will pity my complaints,
                      And heal my broken bones:
                  He takes the meaning of his saints,
                      The language of their groans.

                  Arise, my soul, from deep distress,
                      And banish every fear;
                  He calls thee to his throne of grace,
                      To spread thy sorrows there.




                              SERMON VII.
               _A Hopeful Youth falling Short of Heaven._
            MARK x. 21.—Then Jesus beholding him, loved him.
                            THE FIRST PART.


If we would know the person who was favoured with the love of Jesus, and
be acquainted with his character, it is necessary to read the whole
narrative, as we find it delivered in this chapter, from the 17th to the
23d verse.

_And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and
kneeled to him, and asked him, good Master, what shall I do that I may
inherit eternal life?_ 18. _And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me
good, there is none good save one, that is God._ 19. _Thou knowest the
commandments; do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not
bear false witness, defraud not, honour thy father and mother._ 20. _And
he answered, and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from
my youth._ 21. _Then Jesus beholding him, loved him, and said unto him,
one thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come take up
the cross, and follow me._ 22. _And he was sad at that saying, and went
away grieved; for he had great possessions._ 23. _And Jesus looked round
about, and saith unto his disciples, how hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God?_

Now if we consult and compare the account which the other evangelists
give us of this transaction, we shall find that the person was a _young
man_; Mat. xix. 20. and a _ruler among the Jews_; Luke xviii. 18. He had
some concern upon his mind about his future state, and came to Christ,
as to a divine prophet, to enquire the way to heaven: But it is evident
he had a vain conceit of his own righteousness, and at the same time he
had an excessive love to money; he would fain have been an heir of
heaven, but he valued his inheritance on earth much more: He wished for
the love of God, but would enjoy and love this world too; and rather
than renounce the pleasant things of this life, he would quit his
pretences to a life to come; for he went away grieved and full of
sadness, at the direction which our Saviour gave him, and would not
venture the experiment. He forsook Christ and heaven, having great
possessions on earth.

It is necessary to our purpose, to know whether, in the following years
of his life, he was brought to repentance and salvation, though it is
most likely that he never was; for if he loved his estate and his money,
so well in his younger years, that vice probably increased with his age.
Besides, he stands in the history of the gospel, as an example of those
men, who lose heaven for the love of money. But howsoever it might be
afterward, this is certain, that at that time he was in the state of sin
and death; which is sufficient to my present design.

From the words of my text, set in this light, and compared with the
issue of the whole conversation, between Christ and this young man, we
may derive this doctrine:

Doct. Our Saviour had some love for a person that preferred this world
to heaven, and neglected his salvation.

In order to improve this thought, we shall consider.

I. What is meant by the love of our Saviour to this young man, and to
persons of his character.—II. What was there in him that might attract
our Saviour’s love.—III. What remarks may be made upon the sin and folly
of a person so lovely, and so beloved of Christ.—IV. Make an address to
three sorts of persons, taking the occasion from the character of the
person in my text.

_First_, What is meant by the love of our Saviour to this young man, and
how far may he be said to love a person who is void of true grace, and
neglects salvation.

Here, I conceive, we are not to look upon our Lord Jesus Christ as
acting according to his divinity, but only in his human nature; for it
is evident that Christ considered as God, loved him not in that sense in
which the love of God is usually taken; for he had plain evidences of a
worldly covetous mind, and so could not be the object of special divine
complacency: Nor do we find that Christ loved him so well, as to
communicate divine grace and salvation to him.

I confess there may be some sort of love attributed to God, with
relation to creatures of any kind, which have any thing valuable in
them: So God loves all the works of his hands; so he loves the heavens
and the earth, and all the pieces of inanimate nature: that is, he
approves his own workmanship, the effects of his own wisdom and power.
God is also sometimes said to love those to whom he communicates
temporal blessings, or makes the offer of eternal ones. So he loved the
whole nation of the Jews, though he did not give all of them his saving
grace. But still it is much more natural to expound the words of my text
concerning Christ as man; for there were some peculiar qualities in this
youth, which were suited to attract the love of human nature; such
qualities as a wise and perfect man could not but love: It was some such
sort of love as our Lord expressed toward the apostle John, in a way of
distinction from the rest; upon which account, probably, he was called,
_the disciple whom Jesus loved_; John xiii. 23. Therefore I conceive
Christ is here represented as exerting the innocent and kind affections
of human nature towards a youth so agreeable and hopeful.

Now this love implies in it these five things:

1. A hearty approbation of those good qualities which Christ beheld in
him: For he being perfect and wise, cannot but approve that which is
excellent. He had a sharp eye, and great sagacity of nature: With a
ready penetration he could discern what was valuable; and must
necessarily have a just esteem for every thing wherein his Father’s
wisdom and power did eminently appear. Whatsoever God created at first,
was good; Gen. i. 31. And whatsoever remains of that good workmanship of
God, Christ, the Son of God, approved still, so far as it was untainted
with sin, and considered in itself, abstracted from the criminal
qualities that might attend it.

2. This love of Christ to the young man, implies a complacency in his
person; a sort of human delight in a fellow-creature that had several
excellent properties; though the love of God, and powerful religion,
were wanting. If I read a book that has much good sense in it, and where
the reasonings are well connected, I cannot but have a delight in
reading, though the subject itself may be trifling, or the theme
disagreeable. If I hear an oration well composed, with many ingenious
turns of thought and pathetic expressions; and all these pronounced with
the various decencies of speech and gesture, I take pleasure in the
performance, and may love the orator, though he insist upon sentiments
quite contrary to my own. So I may be pleased with the learned
conversation of a knowing and well-tempered man, and love him so far,
though he may be my enemy, and perhaps, in his heart, an enemy to God
too; for such was this young man, an idolater of gold, and therefore an
enemy to God; _Jam._ iv. 4. concerning whom it is written, that _Jesus
loved him_.

3. Some natural good-wishes for his welfare are implied in this love.
There is in every wise and good man, a hearty desire of the happiness of
his fellow-creatures, he loves them all in this sense, even the foolish
and the wicked. Human nature that has any goodness in it, is ready to
wish well to any person, though he be an utter stranger, and unknown;
especially if he has some agreeable qualities. There may be an innocent
inclination to see all men happy, though we know this shall not be
brought to pass; for the word of God declares that most part of men walk
in the broad-way, and shall go down to hell. You know how passionately
St. Paul longed for the salvation of all his country-men the Jews. This
is called a love of benevolence; and it is evident by the following
particulars, that the Lord expressed this good-will towards the young
man in my text.

4. A conferring of actual benefit or kindness, is implied in the love of
Christ towards this youth; for he stood still and entertained him with
friendly discourse: He endeavoured by proper methods to convince him of
sin; he gave him directions what he should do to obtain treasure in
heaven; he called him to be his disciple and follower; and gave him a
promise of everlasting riches, if he would have complied with his
proposal. This is called a love of beneficence: And this our Lord Jesus
practised abundantly, even to those whom he did not savingly enlighten
and convert by his gospel; for it was his character, that he went about
doing good; Acts x. 38.

5. This love of Christ includes in it compassion for the young man, and
some degree of sorrow to think that he should miss of heaven; that he
should be so hardened in self-confidence, so puft up with a conceit of
his own righteousness, and so hard to be convinced of his weakness and
guilt, as to stand to it boldly, that he had kept all the commandments
of God: and at last, that he should be so entangled with a love to
money, as to despise the treasures of heaven, and to let Christ and
salvation go. Such a mournful pity did our Lord express to Jerusalem, in
the days of his flesh; O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, _which killest the
prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee: How often would I
have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood
under her wings, and ye would not!_ Luke xiii. 34. And he mingled the
tears of love and sorrow when he came near the gates: for the same
evangelist tells us, that _he beheld the city and wept over it_, with
this melting language, _If thou hadst know, even thou, in this thy day,
the things that belong to thy peace; but now they are hid from thine
eyes_; Luke xix. 41, 42.

When we behold a noble palace, a well-contrived garden, a piece of
painting of uncommon art: “It is pity, we cry, that such a building
should be reduced to ashes, such a garden over-spread with desolation
and disorder, or such a picture be all defaced.” We have a sort of pity
for these inanimate beauties, and we are ready to mourn their danger or
ruin. And the passion is innocent and becoming: But the grief and the
love rise higher still, when we see a living soul, a fellow-creature of
our own rank, a man or woman dressed in agreeable accomplishments, and
yet making haste to wilful destruction. Such love and such grief are
comely for a wise and good man, and they became our Saviour well.
Blessed Saviour! that ever thy love should lay itself out on such
objects, as would awaken thy grief, and give thee so painful a
compassion! But this was only in the days of his flesh: He pities
mankind now under their various wretchedness and folly, yet we cannot
suppose his present exaltation and blessedness does indulge real sorrow,
or admit any smarting affliction; though in his humble state on earth,
his human love expressed itself agreeably in such mournful compassion
and tenderness.

II. We come to consider, what there was in this person that might
attract our Saviour’s love.

1. He had probably some natural qualifications which were agreeable and
pleasing. His youth is expressed; Mat. xix. 20. A young man, in the
prime of his days, in the force and flower of his age, the beauty and
vigour of his nature: And it is very likely, that he might be of a
comely figure and ingenuous countenance; for it is said, our Saviour
beholding him, loved him. He fixed his eyes, and probably saw something
in him delightful in his very aspect and appearance, which might partly
induce him to those various expressions of love before-mentioned, and to
pity so lovely a youth, who was enslaved to riches, and bound to
destruction in fetters of gold.

2. He had a courteous and obliging carriage, which appears in several
instances; _viz._ he kneeled before our Lord, and paid him great respect
with the gesture of his body; he saluted him, good Master! which our
Lord did not reprove, when he said, there is none good but God; but put
him to the trial, whether he would own him to be God or no. He
acknowledged Christ as his superior, though he was so much a stranger to
him, and so much a poorer man than himself. By his whole deportment we
find him a person of great civility; he knew how to pay the honours of
his country well, to give titles to whom titles are due, and to do these
things gracefully. A courteous, humble, and decent behaviour, without
affectation or flattery, is so far from being reproved by Christ, that
not only, in this place, our Lord seems to be pleased with it, but in
many places of the New Testament, it is recommended to make christianity
amiable: It is pleasing to human nature, and cannot but gain love and
esteem with all wise and virtuous persons.

3. He was religiously educated even from his childhood, and had grown up
in sobriety, perhaps, from his very cradle; for he was but a young man
when he came to our Lord, and yet he says, concerning the commandments
of moral duty, I have kept them all from my youth. He sprung surely from
good parents; he had such instructions from them, and they such a
jealous and watchful eye over him, that he was kept from gross sins, and
was brought up in all the forms of godliness, and in the observance of
the moral law. Now Christ, considered merely as a man, loved the law of
God so well, that he could not but take pleasure in a person that
performed it, so far as that obedience reached. Virtue, in the mere
outward part of it, will command respect even from the vile and the
wicked: much more will the good and pious man pay honour to the practice
of it. There is something amiable in sobriety, temperance, charity,
justice, truth, and sincerity, though they may not proceed from the
divinest principle of love to God rooted in the heart.

4. He had given some diligence in seeking after eternal life, and had a
great concern about his soul. He came running to ask a question of the
biggest importance, _What shall I do to inherit eternal life?_ He was
convinced there was a heaven and a hell, and he was willing to do
something here to obtain happiness hereafter. He did not come with a
design to put curious and ensnaring questions, as the Sadducees did;
Mat. xxii. 23. but he seems to have an honest design to know the way to
heaven and happiness, for he went away sorrowful when he could not
comply with the demands of Christ. Though he thought he had practised a
great deal of religion, yet he was willing to receive further
instructions; _What lack I yet?_ Is there any other precept to be
performed, in order to entitle me to life eternal? Now our Saviour loves
to see conscience awakened, to see the springs of religion opened and
beginning to flow: A divine teacher conceives some hope of a man that is
willing to be taught, and ready to learn, and therefore he loves him.
This youth thought himself righteous, yet he did not think himself
all-wise; and therefore submits to farther instructions. Now it is a
pleasure to communicate knowledge to those that long to receive it; and
we pity them heartily when they do not comply with the necessary duties
that are revealed to them, through the charms of some strong temptation.

5. Add to all this, that he had many civil advantages by reason of his
riches, his authority, and his power. He was wealthy, and he was a ruler
among the people; which things, though they cannot in themselves make
any person amiable, yet when they are added to the former good
qualities, they render them all more lovely and more valuable; and that
because they are so seldom joined together. Dr. Goodman remarks very
ingeniously here, “that his concern about his soul, was not a sick-bed
meditation, for he was in health; nor a melancholy qualm of old age, for
he was young: nor was it the effect of his being discontented and out of
humour with the world, for he was rich and prosperous.” It is seldom
that we see a man in the prime of his days, possessing large treasures
and dominions in this world, that will seek after the things of another;
or that will shew due respect to his fellow-creatures, or practise so
much as the form of godliness: that when all these meet together, as
they did in this young man, they conspire to make him lovely in the eyes
of every beholder. But alas! this unhappy youth, furnished, as he was
with all these virtues, and these advantages, which our Lord beheld in
him, and for which he loved him, yet he lost heaven for the love of this
world. He refused to accept the proposals of Christ; he went away
sorrowful, for he had large possessions. And this naturally leads me to
the third head.

[If this sermon be too long, it may be divided here.]

III. Some remarks upon this mixed character; upon the folly, the guilt,
and misery of a man so lovely, and so beloved of Christ.

1st Remark. How much good and evil may be mingled in the same person?
what lovely qualities were found in this young man! and yet there was
found in him a carnal mind in love with this world, and in a state of
secret enmity to God. Our nature at first was a glorious composition of
all that was good. How has sin ruined human nature from its primitive
glory, and mingled a large measure of evil in its very frame! and yet
how has restraining grace kept our nature from losing every thing that
is good and valuable, and from becoming universally monstrous and
loathsome!

Let us take a survey of the world, and see what a mixture there is of
amiable and hateful qualities amongst the children of men. There is
beauty and comeliness; there is vigour and vivacity; there is
good-humour and compassion; there is wit and judgment, and industry,
even amongst those that are profligate and abandoned to many vices.
There is sobriety, and love, and honesty, and justice, and decency
amongst men that know not God, and believe not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus. There are very few of the sons and daughters of Adam, but are
possessed of something good and agreeable, either by nature or
acquirement; therefore, when there is a necessary occasion to mention
the vices of any man, I should not speak evil of him in the gross, nor
heap reproaches on him by wholesale. It is very disingenuous to talk
scandal in superlatives, as though every man who was a sinner, was a
perfect villain, the very worst of men, all over hateful and abominable.

How sharply should our own thoughts reprove us, when we give our pride
and malice a loose, to ravage over all the character of our neighbours,
and deny all that is good concerning them, because they have something
in them that is criminal and worthy of blame! Thus our judgment is
abused by our passions; and sometimes this folly reigns in us to such a
degree that we can hardly allow a man to be wise or ingenious, to have a
grain of good sense, or good humour, that is not of our profession, or
our party, in matters of church or state. Let us look back upon our
conduct, and blush to think that we should indulge such prejudices, such
a sinful partiality.

2d Remark. A man that has not true grace, nor holiness, may be the just
object of our love: for we find several instances and several degrees of
love were paid by Christ, the wisest and best of men, to a youth of a
covetous and carnal temper! one who preferred earth to heaven, and
valued his present possessions above those eternal treasures that Christ
had promised him.

I confess, under the Old Testament, in the cxxxix. Psalm, ver. 21, 22.
David appeals to God, _do not I hate them, that hate thee?_ and adds, _I
hate them with a perfect hatred_. But this need not be construed to
signify any malice in his heart against them, as a private person; but
his design to fight against them, and suppress them, as a soldier, and a
king, because they appeared publicly against God; for he adds, I am
grieved at those that rise up against thee, I count them mine enemies.
Besides, these persons were of so abandoned a character, that they seem
to have had nothing good in them; and he might justly hate them,
considered merely as sinners, in the same sense that we must hate
ourselves, so far as we are sinful. I might add to all this, that they
were cruel and bloody with regard to men, and they spoke wickedly
against God, and were God’s professed enemies, ver. 19. and 20. After
all, it was much more allowable in David the Jew in the heat of his
zeal, to talk thus, than it can be for us, christians; while we read the
words of our Saviour, Mat. v. 43, 44, 45. We _have heard that it hath
been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy: But I
say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in
heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust_: While we consider also in
what a divine manner our Lord Jesus has exemplified his own precept, and
has loved many of his enemies, so as to die for them; and manifested so
much natural affection, even for the young sinner in my text, because
there were some good qualities found in him.

I will not say therefore within myself concerning any man, “I hate him
utterly, and abhor him in all respects, because he has not true
holiness:” but I will look upon him, and consider whether there may not
be some accomplishment in him, some moral virtue, some valuable talent,
some natural or acquired excellency; and I will not neglect to pay due
esteem to every deserving quality, wheresoever I find it. It is a piece
of honour due to God our Creator, to observe the various signatures of
his wisdom, that he has impressed upon his creatures, and the
overflowing treasures of his goodness, which he has distributed among
the works of his hands.

Thus I may very justly love a man, for whom, in the vulgar sense, I have
no charity; that is, such a one as I believe to be in a state of sin and
death, and have no present hope of his salvation. How could holy parents
fulfil their duties of affection to their wicked children? or pious
children pay due respect to sinful parents? How could a believer fulfil
the law of love to an unbelieving brother, or a dearer relative, if we
ought to admit of no love to persons that are in a state of enmity to
God? How can we be followers of God as dear children, if we are not kind
to the unthankful, and to the evil; Luke vi. 37. To those who have
nothing of serious religion in them; Gal. vi. 10. “As we have
opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to them who are of
the household of faith.”

As God has a peculiar love for his own children, for those who are
renewed, and sanctified, and formed into his likeness; so ought we to
love all the saints with a peculiar kind of affection, and take special
delight in them, we should express a love of intimate fellowship unto
them; a love of divine friendship, of spiritual pleasure, and hearty
communion; rejoicing together with them in God our common Father, in
Christ Jesus our common Head, and in the hope of our common Salvation;
and we should ever be ready, in the first place, to assist and support
them, and supply their wants according to the calls of providence. But
sinners also must have some share in our love.

3d Remark. How different is the special love of God, from the natural
love of man! God seeth not as man seeth; he appoints not persons to
eternal life, because of some agreeable accomplishments which they
possess in this life. Jesus Christ himself, considered as God, did not
bestow his special and saving love upon that young Israelite, whom, as
man, he could not help loving. So Samuel was sent to chuse a king for
the Jews, among the sons of Jesse; 1 Sam. xvi. 6. When he saw Eliab
appear, he looked on him, and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is
before him; but the Lord said to Samuel, ver. 7. Look not on his
countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused
him.” Old Jesse, it may be, was ready to look upon his eldest son too,
being pleased with his tall and comely figure, and to say within
himself, “It is a pity that Eliab was not made a king.” But David was
God’s beloved.

If the question were put to us, Who are the persons that are fit to
stand in the court of God above, to be the inhabitants and ornaments of
heaven? We should be ready to say, the beautiful and the ingenious, the
souls of a sweet disposition, and the persons of graceful behaviour. We
are tempted to think that the well-born, the wise, the affable, and the
well-accomplished, should all be made saints, and the favourites of God;
but he sees with other eyes, he determines his special love by other
principles, and makes another sort of distinction by his sovereign
saving grace, unguided and unallured by the merit of man. 1 Cor. i. 26,
27, 28, 29. “Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and
God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things
which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen: yea, and things which are not, to bring to
nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.”

What would become of the morose, the rough natural tempers, if God loved
none but such as were lovely in our eyes? What would become of all the
deformed and the most uncomely pieces of human nature; the clownish, and
the weak, and base things of this world, if God should chuse none but
the fair, and the well-bred, the well-figured, and the honourable? If
this were the rule of his conduct, what dismal distinction would light
upon thousands, and some good men too, who must wear in their faces, in
this world, the dreadful sentence of their damnation in the next? But
the great and sovereign God acts by other measures; he lays down to
himself divine rules, that are to us unknown, and must be for ever
unsearchable.

Some, who are endowed with native excellencies, he adorns with heavenly
graces, and they shine as jewels set in rings of gold: Others, who have
scarce any thing in them amiable by nature, are the objects of divine
love, and made vessels of grace; though these do never make so charming
an appearance among men. Moses the meek and obliging, Jonah the rough
and the peevish, were both beloved of God; for he made saints and
prophets of them. Abraham the rich, and Sarah the beautiful; Peter the
poor fisherman, and Paul the man of mean aspect, and contemptible
figure; were all beloved of God, and made heirs of eternal Life. The
conduct of the great God, in this matter, is so various, and his reasons
so sublime and impenetrable, that it is in vain for us to attempt to
trace out his rules of action.

Sometimes he chuses a man of great intellectual powers, and sets an
invisible mark of divine love upon him: At another time he takes
pleasure to pour contempt on all the pride of human reason, by chusing a
foolish man, and making him an humble believer. Sometimes he exalts the
man of natural virtue into a saint; and again, he spreads shame and
confusion over all our own pretended righteousnesses and vain
confidence, by culling out, here and there, a profane wretch, and
converting him to faith and holiness, and in the mean time he leaves
some that are sober, and have many human virtues, and good appearances,
to perish with the Pharisee and the hypocrite for ever, in their pride
and self-righteousness. Jesus, the Man, looked upon this pretty youth
that was well-born, sober, and virtuous, and he loved him; but the
eternal God chose him not for a saint, for he suffered him to run
madding after his many possessions, and to despise heaven. Here it
becomes us to be silent and adore. O the depths of divine counsel! O the
awful and glorious sovereignty of the grace of God, that could pass by
so desirable a person, whom the man Jesus could not look upon without
pity and love! _How unsearchable are his ways, and his judgments past
finding out_; Rom. xi. 33.

Now though this be a very painful and tremendous meditation, yet there
is an excellent use to be made of it. No man should despair of
salvation, and the love of God, how mean and despicable soever his
appearance be among men, or how remote soever from all that we call
lovely. Let him forsake all sin and be happy for ever. Nor should the
most amiable of creatures, in the natural or civil world, flatter
themselves that they are upon that account beloved of God, and shall
certainly be partakers of eternal blessings in the world of glory. Let
them follow Christ, and be saved.

But I would dwell upon this last thought a little, and therefore I shall
propose my fourth remark in this manner.

4th Remark. Many lovely accomplishments, joined together, will not carry
a natural man to heaven. The finest composition of beauty and youth,
strength and riches, and all this embellished with many forms of
godliness, and some shining outward virtues, will not obtain eternal
life. The man that is thus qualified and adorned, if he prefers earth to
heaven, and loves the possessions of this world, above spiritual
treasures, abides in a state of condemnation and death. Grace is not a
flower that grows in the field of nature, nor is it made by the heart of
man: it is a divine seed; it is planted in our hearts by the Spirit of
God; John i. 13. The saints _are born not of blood_; that is, by natural
generation; _nor of the will of the flesh_, that is, by our own powers
of nature; _nor of the will of man_; that is, by the influence that
others have over us; _but of God_.

A man may set himself to work awhile for the good of his soul, and yet
may miss of salvation: _Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that
leads to life, and few there be that find it_; Mat. vii. 14. And _many
which seek to enter in, shall not be able_; Luke xiii. 24, They seek,
but not with all their might: they are not willing to forsake all for
heaven, and therefore they obtain it not: they seek, perhaps, with
diligence for a season, and give out before they have attained; they
tire, and grow weary, and lose the prize: they seek, but not in God’s
appointed way, and according to the rules of the gospel; and no wonder
if their labour be vain; for _he that striveth is not crowned, except he
strive lawfully_; 2 Tim. ii. 5. And this was the case of the rich young
man; he sought eternal life, but not with all his soul, for he could not
take up his cross and follow Christ; he sought the kingdom of God for a
season; but when he came to the hard work of self-denial, he would not
venture into that thorny path, but turned back, and _went away
sorrowful_. He sought justification and peace with God, but not in a
right way; for being _ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about
to establish his own, he fell short of the righteousness of God_, and
attained it not; Rom. x. 3. He loved heaven well, but he loved this
earth better: he chose his portion and happiness in this world, and lost
his soul.

The eye of God, our Judge, is sharp and severe; he sees the hidden vices
of the mind, through all the fairest veils of nature, and the brightest
dress of outward virtue. We may cheat others with the disguises of
religion, and allure the love of the best of christians: we may cheat
ourselves by these fair appearances, and entertain a fond opinion of our
own saintship; but the great God can never be imposed upon at this rate.
He knows well what is lovely and excellent in his creatures; but when he
seats himself upon his throne of judgment, all their shining ornaments
of body and mind are blemished, are darkened, are lost in his eyes, if
he discovers a secret love to sin in the heart. Where the love of this
world prevails, it over-balances all other good qualities, though ever
so valuable in themselves, and though they may create love in every
beholder, yet the love of God is not to be purchased, nor persuaded,
contrary to his own settled and eternal rules of judgment. _If any man
love this world, the love of the Father is not in him_; 1 John ii. 15.
nor does the Father love him. The prince of devils has many noble
endowments, and intellectual glories; the natural powers of an angel
remained still with him; but his inward enmity to God, confines him for
ever to hell: and in the sense of the apostle James, _Whosoever will be
a friend to the world, is the enemy of God_; James iv. 4, though in many
other excellencies he might be a fellow for angels.

Wise and happy is that soul who fears to build his hopes of heaven upon
the sand, upon a shining but feeble foundation. Wise and happy is he who
does not mistake the glories of nature for divine grace; who does not
satisfy himself to seek a little after heaven, but resolves to find it,
and parts with all for the knowledge and the love of Christ. While
others, who pretend to much wisdom, raise their vain expectations of
happiness, upon a few natural accomplishments, and devout wishes, this
man pursues the work upon diviner principles, and brings it to
perfection: and when others, at the great day of decision, meet with
shame and terrible disappointment, he shall be applauded, in the face of
angels, as the only wise man, and shall find himself for ever happy.

The 5th, and last remark, is this; how dangerous a snare is great
riches! They become a sore temptation (even to persons well-inclined) to
tie their souls fast to this world, and persuade them to neglect God,
and Christ, and heaven. This was the case of the young man in my text;
_he went away_ from our Lord melancholy and grieved, that he could not
join Christ and the world together: he _had great possessions_, and
therefore he refused to be a follower of Christ, under the poor and mean
circumstances of his appearance among men; see verses 22, 23. And our
Lord himself makes this same remark, _How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God?_ that is, as he explains it in the
following verse, because it is so hard, for those who possess great
riches, not to love them too well, and to trust in them as their chief
good.

How many lovely qualities are here spoiled at once, by the love of this
world! and a man that was not far from the kingdom of God, divided from
Christ, and driven to a fatal distance from heaven, by this dangerous
interposing snare! A wretched chain, though it was a golden one, that
withheld his soul from the embraces of his Saviour. He was young, he was
modest and humble, he had a desire to be saved, and he went far in the
outward forms of godliness; _all these commands_, said he, _have I kept
from my youth_, or childhood; and he had a mind to follow Christ too:
But Jesus was poor, and his followers must take up their cross, and
share in his poverty. This was the parting point; this was the bar to
his salvation; he was _almost a christian_, but his riches prevented him
from being _altogether so_. O fatal wealth, and foolish possessor!

It became our blessed Lord, the heir of all things to divest himself of
wealth and grandeur, and to renounce all the pomp and glittering
equipage of this world, when he came to introduce a religion so
spiritual and so refined, as the gospel was: and it became him to put
such a test as this to such as pretended to be his disciples; whether
they durst venture to exchange the present world, and the visible
enjoyments of it, for glories future and invisible? It was proper he
should try whether they could deny themselves, and become poor for his
sake, who made himself poor for their sakes, and promised them unknown
treasures in heaven. But the test proved too severe, and the gate too
strait for this young man, with all the bulk of his estate to enter in
at it.

Well might the apostle teach Timothy, the young preacher, to _charge
them that are rich in this world, not to trust in uncertain riches, but
to do good_ to the poor, to _distribute_, to the needy, that they _might
lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to
come_; 1 Tim. vi. 17, &c. because men are so ready to think that a store
of gold is a good foundation to trust in for happiness here, and forget
hereafter. Well might he admonish them _to lay hold on eternal life_,
because they are so ready to hold their money fast, though they let
eternal life go. They that have much, are often greedy of more, and
thereby _fall into temptations and snares, into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, that drown men in perdition: for the love of money is the root of
all evil; which, while some coveted after, they have erred from the
faith_, have forsaken Christ, _and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows_; ver. 9, 10.

Shall I take occasion here to put the rich in mind of their danger, and
intreat them to watch against the shining allurement that besets them
around? Have a care lest your eyes be dazzled with this glittering
world, and blinded to the gospel of Christ: and shall I comfort the
poor, by telling them their privilege, how much more free they are from
this golden snare? You have been used to meanness and poverty, therefore
we may hope that the plainness and simplicity of the gospel will not
offend you: that the doctrine of the cross, and the poverty of the Man
of Nazareth, who hung upon it for your sakes, will not be a scandal to
your thoughts, nor a bar to your faith. In the days of Christ, the _poor
received the gospel; and not many rich, and not many mighty_, have in
any age been the followers of a despised Jesus.

O may the rich in this assembly be led by divine grace to break through
all their temptations, and attend their Saviour, though his name, and
his disciples here on earth be surrounded with all the forms of contempt
and poverty! And may the meaner hearers improve their advantage, and
take up their cross, and follow their Lord, till they are all joined to
the glorious assembly above, and made possessors of everlasting riches!
_Amen._


                          HYMN FOR SERMON VII.
               _A Hopeful Youth falling short of Heaven._


                 Must all the charms of nature then,
                 So hopeless to salvation prove?
                 Can hell demand, can heaven condemn
                 The man whom Jesus deigns to love?

                 The man, who sought the ways of truth,
                 Paid friends and neighbours all their due
                 A modest, sober, lovely youth,
                 And thought he wanted nothing now?

                 But mark the change: thus spake the Lord
                 Come part with earth for heaven to-day:
                 The youth astonished at the word,
                 In silent sadness went his way.

                 Poor virtues, that be boasted so,
                 This test unable to endure,
                 Let Christ, and grace, and glory go,
                 To make his land and money sure!

                 Ah foolish choice of treasurer here!
                 Ah fatal love of tempting gold!
                 Must this base world be bought so dear!
                 And life and heaven so cheaply sold?

                 In vain the charms of nature shine,
                 If this vile passion governs me:
                 Transform my soul, O love divine!
                 And make me part with all for thee.




                              SERMON VIII.
               _A Hopeful Youth falling Short of Heaven._
            MARK x. 21.—Then Jesus beholding him, loved him.
                            THE SECOND PART.


When our Saviour dwelt upon earth, he found a young man in the coasts of
Judea, that preferred the riches of this world to all the treasures of
heaven; and yet Jesus cast an eye of love upon him.

In the foregoing discourse upon these words, it has been considered what
sort of love Christ could shew to a man, whose soul was so vain and
carnal; and what good qualities appeared in this youth, that could
engage the love of our Saviour, notwithstanding the guilt of his
covetousness; and some remarks were made upon a man so lovely, and so
beloved of Christ.

_First_, The love which our Saviour manifested to this person, was not
properly a divine love, for that would have changed his nature, and
refined his carnal desires, and conferred grace and salvation upon him:
We must understand it therefore only in this sense, that the affections
of his human nature were drawn out towards something that was valuable
and excellent in this young Israelite: He approved of those
accomplishments which he beheld in him, and felt a sort of complacency
in his person and character. He had an innocent and human desire of his
welfare, he gave him divine instructions for this end, and pitied him
heartily that he was so far gone in the love of the world, as to neglect
the offer of heaven.

_Secondly_, The qualities which might attract our Saviour’s love, were
such as these: He was young and sprightly, and it was probable that he
had something very agreeable in his aspect: His carriage was courteous
and obliging for he kneeled before our Lord, and saluted him with much
civility: He had a religious education, much outward sobriety and
virtue, so that he was ready to think himself a complete saint. _All
these commands_, says he, _have I kept from my youth_; yet he was
willing to receive further instructions, if any thing else were
necessary, in order to eternal life. Add to all this, that he was rich
and powerful, he was a ruler among the Jews, and had large possessions,
which made his humility and other virtues appear the more amiable,
because they so seldom are found in persons of an exalted station.

_Thirdly_, The remarks that were made upon a person that had so many
good qualities, and yet missed of heaven, might instruct us not to
disclaim any thing that is worthy and excellent, though it is mingled
with much iniquity; but to pay respect and love, as our Lord Jesus did,
to persons that have any thing valuable in them, though their virtues
are imperfect, and fall short of saving grace. We may learn also, that
God chuses not as man would chuse, nor saves all those that a wise and
good man may well bestow his love upon. We are taught further, that many
lovely accomplishments, joined together, are not sufficient to attain
eternal life, unless we renounce this world, and follow Christ: and we
are divinely warned of the danger of riches, how great a snare they
sometimes prove to persons of a hopeful character.

_Fourthly_, We proceed now to the last thing proposed, and that is, to
make an address to three sorts of persons, taking the occasion from the
character in my text.

I. Those who have any thing lovely or excellent in them, but through the
power of a carnal mind, are kept at a distance from God, and have no
title to heaven; such are beloved of men, but not beloved of God.—II.
Those who are weaned in some good measure from this world, and have
treasures in heaven, but are defective in those qualities that might
render them amiable on earth; such are beloved of God, but not of
men.—III. Those that are furnished with every good quality, and every
grace, that are the objects of the special love of God, and almost every
man loves them too.

I. Let me address myself to those who have any thing lovely or excellent
in them, but, through the power of a carnal mind, are kept at a distance
from God, and have no title to heaven. Such was the young man in the
gospel; and according to the several good qualities that he possessed, I
shall divide my exhortation to several persons.

1. To such as are endowed with any natural excellencies of body or mind.
Youth and beauty, strength and health, wit and reason, judgment, memory,
or sweet disposition; all these are the gifts of God in the world of
nature, and render persons so far amiable as they are possessed of them.
You that flourish in the vigour and glory of youth, and yet have no
saving acquaintance with God in Christ, no right to eternal life; while
I behold you, I mourn over you with much compassion. What pity it is
that the flower of your age should be employed only to sooth your
vanity! to adorn your guilty passions, and to dress up the scenes of
sin! That flower will wither in old age, and it leaves no perfume
behind, but what arises from virtue and goodness: or, perhaps, you will
give it up to untimely decay: by indulgence of irregular pleasures, you
devote it to be blasted by the breath of Satan, and in the smoke of
hell. But is it not a pity, that a strong and healthy constitution
should be wasted in slavery to your appetites, and in making provision
for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it? Why should not the powers of
nature, in their first bloom and glory, adorn the kingdom of grace? Why
should not our sprightly days, and the warmest hours of life, be
employed in some useful activity for the interest of God! What a decency
and honour is added to religion, by its fairest and youngest votaries!
With what peculiar praises does the word of God recommend the character
of youthful piety? How is the young king Josiah celebrated in the sacred
records? that _while he was yet young he began to seek after the God of
David his Father, &c._ 2 Chron. xxiv. 3. How is Timothy commended, _who
had known the holy scriptures from his very childhood_: 2 Tim. iii. 15.
And there are some young in years, to whom the apostle John might
address himself with the same pleasure as he does to the christian
converts, whom he calls young men, strong in grace, who had the love of
God abiding in them, and had overcome the wicked one; 1 John ii. 14. And
he gives them in the next verse a most needful and friendly caution
against the _love of the world, and the things of it_, lest they shut
the love of the Father out of their hearts. What an abuse and waste of
life are ye guilty of, when ye lay out the brightest moments of it upon
the works of darkness? and treasure up to yourselves everlasting
darkness and fire!

I pity the young, the vigorous, the comely figures of human nature, that
neglect to seek after divine grace, that are ruined and made wretched to
all eternity, by their excessive love of the pleasures, or the pomp, or
the riches of this vain world. A thousand such sinners that were once
the hope of their families, and the lovely ornaments of the place they
lived in, are now cursing the day of their birth, and raging with
despair in the midst of the wrath of God.

Let me speak a word to those also that have rich endowments of mind.
Where we behold a sprightly genius, solid reason, and deep judgment, we
cannot forbear loving the possessors of them: We cannot forbear to say,
“It is a pity that so much wit should be abused to ridicule religion,
and do honour to foul iniquity; that it should be enslaved to all the
arts of lewdness, and dress up the shame of nature in the charms of
language.” Or if it be not debased to so exceeding vile purposes, yet at
best, it is a pity it should be all employed in jesting and trifling, in
mirth and raillery, and vain amusement. Might it not have been laid out
infinitely better, to allure sinners to the love of God, to adorn the
truths of our holy profession, and give credit to the gospel of Christ,
even in the eyes of the witty and profane?

I pity the man of lively imagination without sanctifying grace. What a
lovely wilderness of blooming weeds! fair indeed in various colours, but
useless and unsavoury, and it must be burnt up with unquenchable fire.
You are the persons whose happy talents give a relish to the common
comforts of life; you diffuse joy and pleasure through all the company,
and enliven the dullest hours; your presence is coveted by all men, and
you are beloved of all: But how dismal is your state, if you neglect
holiness and are not beloved of God! Can you imagine that your gay fancy
will brighten the gloom of hell? or give airs to yourselves or your
companions, in those hideous regions of sorrow? It is a most melancholy
reflection to consider, that persons of your accomplishments should
increase the number of the damned; and there is no sport or amusement
admitted there, to divert the anguish of the tortured mind, or to
relieve that heavy and everlasting heart-ache.

I pity the man of strong reason and great sagacity of judgment, that
hath traced nature in her most secret recesses; that has sounded the
depths of the sea, and measured the heavens; but has spent no time in
searching the deep things of God, and lets the mysteries of religion lie
unregarded as obscure and useless things. He has never sounded the depth
of his own misery and guilt, as he is a son of Adam: Nor is he
acquainted with the way of climbing to heaven by the cross of the Son of
God. Reason is a faculty of supreme excellence among the gifts of
nature, and it is dreadful to think that it should ever be engaged in
opposition to divine grace. How great and wretched are the men of
reason, who strain the nerves of their soul to overturn the doctrine of
Christ! who labour with all their intellectual powers to shake the
foundations of the gospel, to diminish the authority of the scriptures,
and to unsettle the hope of feeble christians!

There are others who employ the best powers of the soul in pursuing the
interests of this life; they are wise in contriving to gratify their
appetites, to fill their coffers, and to heap up to themselves wealth
and honours; and wise to secure all these to their posterity after
death: _They call their lands by their own names_, and perpetuate their
memory to the latest generation, but make no provision for their own
souls: they are wise to set in order their houses in the day of their
health, and all things prepared for their dying hour, besides the
concerns of their own eternity; these are delayed from day to day, and
left at the utmost hazard; and still they think the next month, or the
next year, it is time enough to prepare for heaven, when perhaps a
summons is sent suddenly from on high; _Thou fool this night is thy soul
required of thee_; Luke xii. 20. What confusion and fear, what hurry and
distress of spirit will seize you in that hour? You that have laid out
all your wisdom upon the little businesses of this life, and trifled
with affairs of everlasting importance; you must go down to the chambers
of death in surprize and anguish; you must leave all the fruits of your
wisdom behind you, and be branded for eternal fools.

I pity those who are blest with a large memory, and would plead with you
this day for the sake of your souls. The memory, it is a noble
repository of the mind, it is made to receive divine truths, to be
stored with the ideas of God and his grace, with the glories of Christ
and heaven; it is given us to furnish and supply the heart and tongue
upon all occasions, for worship, for conference, and for holy joy. What
pity it is so wondrous a capacity should be crowded with vile images,
with wanton scenes, with profane jests, and idle stories! Or, at best,
it is filled with gold and silver, and merchandize; with lands and
houses, ships and insurances; it is all inscribed with stocks,
annuities, and purchases, and turned into a mere book of accounts, a
trading shop, or an everlasting exchange: Night and day, the buyers and
sellers are passing through this temple, which should be consecrated to
God; and there is no room left for the thoughts of heaven there. Shall
these busy swarms of cares and vanities for ever fill up so large a
chamber of the soul? Shall impertinencies be for ever thrust into this
treasury? such as will stand you in no stead, when you are dismissed
from the body, but shall vanish all at once in that hour, and shall
leave your spirits poor and naked; or if they follow you to the world of
spirits, it will be but as so much fuel gathered for your future
burning.

Think a little with yourselves, ye possessors of these rich endowments
of the mind when you have been honoured here on earth, can you bear to
be doomed to eternal shame and punishment in hell? Shall this wit and
this reason be there employed to express your hatred against God, and to
forge perpetual blasphemies against the Majesty of heaven? are you
willing to be joined to the society of devils, and be engaged in their
abominable work? Shall this sprightly fancy, this subtle reason, this
large memory, serve for no purpose, but to aggravate your guilt, and
your damnation? Shall these fine talents sharpen your misery, and give
edge to the keenest reflections of conscience: conscience, that inward
sting of the mind; conscience, that immortal tormentor? Yet this must be
the certain portion of those who spend their life, and lie down in
death, with these talents unsanctified: for the anguish and torture of
sinful souls, must rise, and grow for ever, in proportion to the glory
of their abused endowments.

Though, perhaps I have been tedious already under this head, yet before
I part with it, I must address myself to those who are born with a sweet
disposition, that seem to be cast in a softer mould than the rest of
men. I love and pity those of my acquaintance who are blessed with so
divine a temper; who have tenderness and good-will in their very form
and aspect, and I mourn to think that any of these should perish for
ever. You are the favourites of all men, and beloved by all who enjoy
the pleasure of your acquaintance; do ye not long to be the favourites
of God too! You seem to be made for the delight and comfort of mankind:
but shall this be all your portion? Good-humour is the composition of
your nature, _and the law of kindness is on your lips! when the ear
hears_ you, _then it blesses you; and when the eye sees_ you, _it gives
witness to you_. But is this enough to depend upon for eternal life?
Perhaps you have borrowed part of the valuable qualities of that good
man Job, _you have delivered the poor that cry, and the fatherless that
had none to help him_; you _have caused the widow’s heart to sing for
joy, and the blessing of him that was ready to perish, has come often
upon you_; Job xxix. 11, 12, 13. There is so much natural goodness in
your constitution, that leads you on, by a sweet instinct, to the
practice of many charities: but this is not saving grace. If Jesus
Christ himself were upon earth in this humbled state, he would look upon
you as man, and love you; but the Holy God looks down from heaven, and
beholds you as the object of his just and divine hatred, while you live
in a state of vanity and sin, drunken with sensual pleasures, and at
enmity with God.

This sweetness of temper, that springs from your blood, and the happy
mixture of humours; or, at best, from the mere natural frame of your
spirits, will never pass, upon the great tribunal, for holiness and
inward religion. With all this charming appearance of virtues, these
colours that look like heaven, you will be doomed to hell and perpetual
misery, unless there be found in you some nobler qualities, such as love
to God, mortification to this world, the knowledge and faith of Jesus
Christ. If these be not the springs of your charity and love to men, you
will not be secured from the condemning sentence of the Judge, nor from
the company of devils in the future world.

But, oh! how will your soft and gentle natures bear the insult and rage
of those malicious spirits? How will your temper, that had something so
lovely in it, sustain to be banished for ever from the world of love? to
be for ever excluded from all the regions of peace and concord? How will
your souls endure the madness and contention, the envy and spite of
wicked angels? You that delighted on earth in the works of peace, what
will ye do when your tender dispositions shall be hourly ruffled by the
uproar and confusion of those dark regions? and instead of the society
of God and blessed spirits, ye shall be eternally vexed with the
perverse tempers of your fellow sinners, the sons of darkness? O that I
could speak in melting language, or in the language of effectual terror,
that I might by any means awaken your souls to jealousy and timely fear!
That so many natural excellencies, as God has distributed amongst you,
might not be wasted in sin, abused to dishonour, and aggravate your
everlasting misery.

[This sermon may be divided here.]

2. My next exhortation shall be addressed to those youths who have been
trained up in all the arts of civility, and have acquired a courteous
and becoming carriage. There is something lovely in such an appearance,
and it commands the love even of the rude and uncivil. It so nearly
resembles the sweetness of natural temper, and imitates good humour so
much to the life, that it often passes upon company instead of nature,
and attains many valuable ends in human society. But where both these
are happily joined, how shining is that character, and universally
beloved? We are pleased and charmed with your conversation, whose
manners are polished, and whose language is refined from the rude and
vulgar ways of speech. You know how to speak civil things, without
flattery, upon all occasions; to instruct, without assuming a superior
air, and to reprove without a frown, or forbidding countenance. You have
learned when to speak and when to be silent, and to perform every act of
life with its proper graces; and can ye be content with all this good
breeding to be thrust down to hell? Is it not pity that you should be
taught to pay all your honours to men, and practise none to the living
God? Have you not read those duties in connexion; 1 Pet. ii. 17. _Honour
all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honour the king._ And why
will you divide what God has joined, and give every one their due,
besides God your Maker? how dare you treat the creatures with decency
and ceremony, and treat God the Creator with neglect; salute all men
with their proper titles of distinction, and not learn how to address
God in prayer? pay due visits to all your acquaintance, and yet scarce
ever make a visit to the mercy-seat, or bow your knees before the
Majesty of Heaven.

I pity those who have all the arts of complaisance in perfection, and
practise civility in every form; but are very little acquainted with the
forms of godliness, and never yet felt any thing of the life of
religion, or the powers of the world to come. How mournful a sight is it
to behold a well-accomplished gentleman, yet a vile sinner! A pretty
obliging youth among men, but deaf and obstinate to all the calls of
God, and the intreaties of a dying Saviour! A person of a free and
ingenuous deportment, yet in chains of slavery to corruption and death!
and how unspeakably sorrowful will it be at the last day, to see such as
these, the gay, the affable, the fair-spoken, and the well-bred sinner,
in the utmost agonies of horror and despair, mourning a lost God, a lost
soul, and a lost heaven!

Let me speak once more and try to provoke you to jealousy. Shall the
rugged and clownish part of mankind press forward into that kingdom
which ye despise? Will ye be patient to see some of the unbred and
unpolished set at the right hand of the Judge, and yourselves with
shame, be divided to the left? How will ye endure to see the honours of
heaven put upon those whom you have so often despised in your hearts
upon earth? Can you imagine that that tribunal will be bribed with fair
speeches? or that any thing will be accepted in that court, besides
solid and hearty religion? Suffer this exhortation then, and then
receive this advice, you that are not used to deny any thing to your
friends, you that love to oblige those who ask any reasonable favour at
your hands; nor let me plead this day in vain.

3. To those that have enjoyed the blessing of religious parents, and a
pious education; that have been bred up in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord, in the knowledge and practice of the moral law, and in the
outward performance of religion, according to the appointments of the
gospel. Children, we love you for your fathers’ sakes: we love to look
upon you, for you are the little living images of our dearest friends:
we have loved to ask you the younger questions that your parents have
taught you, and to see the first-fruits of their instruction and holy
care; but we pity you, from our very souls, when we behold you break the
bars of your education, and making haste to ruin: or when, at best, ye
go on and tread the circle of outward duties; as ye are led by custom
and form, with a neglect of inward christianity, and hearty godliness.

Did your parents love God above all earthly things, and will ye prefer
the love of this world above all things heavenly and divine? Have ye had
such shining examples of holiness brought so near you to no purpose? Do
they pray for you daily? Do they daily mourn over you, and hope, and
wish, and exhort you to take care of your souls? And are you resolved
that their counsels, their prayers, and their tears, shall be laid out
upon you in vain? Is this the return you make for all their care and
compassion? They tell you daily that they can have _no greater joy than
to see their children walking in the truth_, and will you cruelly
disappoint their pleasures, and bring down their grey hairs with sorrow
to the grave? Perhaps there are some of you, who already have parted
with your parents, and their spirits are at rest; and has neither their
life, nor their death, made serious and lasting impressions upon you;
have they entreated you in their last dying moments, by all that is dear
and sacred, to make sure of heaven? And will you abandon these
entreaties, and sell your souls to the world, and to death, for a few
perishing temptations? Have they laid a solemn charge upon you at their
last farewell, to travel in the paths of piety, and meet them on mount
Sion in the great day? and have you wandered already from this high road
of holiness, and forgot the solemnity and the charge? Shall your parents
dwell for ever with their God, and shall their children for ever dwell
in fire prepared for the devil and his angels?

You cannot sin at so easy and so cheap a rate as others. You must break
through stronger bonds, and do bolder violence to your consciences,
before you can indulge iniquity, and pursue wickedness. Your temptations
to sin have been less than others, and your advantages for salvation
have been much greater. Our hearts bleed within us, to think of your
double guilt, and your aggravated damnation: to think that you should
not only be separated from your parents, and their God, for ever, but
that your place of torment shall be the hottest also, amongst all your
companions in misery.

What anguish and inward vexation will seize you, when ye shall reflect
how nigh ye were raised in outward privileges, and how near ye were
brought to heaven? and how you quitted your interest, and your hopes
there, for the trifles of this life, for a base lust, or a foolish
vanity: What will ye say, when ye shall see _many coming from the east,
and from the west_, from families of wickedness, from the ends of the
earth, and from the borders of hell, and sit down with your fathers in
the kingdom of heaven; while you _the children of the kingdom, are cast
out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth_;
Mat. viii. 11, 12. I presume thus far with freedom to address you, _if
by any methods I might provoke to emulation them which are of the flesh
of Israel, of the kindred of the saints, and might save some of them_;
Rom. xi. 14.

4. To those who have taken some pains in seeking after eternal life, and
are still enquiring the way thither. Have a care of resting in the mere
practice of moral duties, or in the outward profession of christianity:
never content yourselves with the righteousness of the Pharisee. Were
your virtues more glorious than they are, and your righteousnesses more
perfect, they could never answer for your former guilt, before the
throne of a just and holy God. It is only the atonement of Christ, and
his all-sufficient sacrifice, which can stand you in stead there; and it
is pity that a youth, of so much virtue, should fall short of heaven,
and be but almost a christian. It is pity that you should have gained so
large a share of knowledge, and so honourable a character of sobriety,
and, after all, want _the one thing needful_, an universal change, and
renovation of your hearts, by receiving the gospel. Have you proceeded
thus far, and will you not go on to perfection? _Take heed that ye lose
not the things that ye have wrought, but that ye receive a full reward_;
2 John 8.

It is pity you should enquire the way to heaven, and not walk in it,
when it is marked out before your feet with so much plainness: It is
pity you should indulge the love of this world so far, as to suffer it
to forbid you the pursuit of a better; or at best, when ye receive
instructions about your souls, you let the affairs of this life
overwhelm and bury that good seed, and it never grows up to practice.
What would you say to the folly of a man, who has a long and hazardous
journey to make, to take possession of a large estate, and once a week
he comes to enquire the way, and hears a fair description of all the
road, perhaps he mourns his long neglect, and resolves upon the journey;
but the next six days are filled up with a thousand impertinences; and
when the seventh returns, he has not taken one step forward in the way?

Believe me, sirs, it is not an easy thing to be saved: laziness, and
mere enquiries, will never effect your happiness, nor secure your souls
from perdition; and all the pains you have already taken will be lost,
if you give over the pursuit. Let me call some of you this day to
remember your former labours, the prayers and tears that you have poured
out in secret before God; remember your days of darkness, and your
nights of terror, the groans of conscience, and the inward agonies you
felt, when you were first awakened to behold your guilt and danger;
remember these hours, and these sorrows; and love and pity your own
souls so far, as to pursue the work, and let not your pains be lost:
_Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain_; Gal.
iii. 4. Ye have wrestled with some sins, and have in part got the
mastery over them; and shall a darling lust overcome you at last, and
slay your souls with eternal death? Ye have resisted the tempter in some
of his assaults and put the powers of hell to flight; will you give up
yourselves at last to be led in triumph by Satan, and become his
everlasting slave? Methinks you look so amiable in those victories ye
have already obtained, that I would fain have you press onward through
the field of battle, fulfil the warfare, and receive the crown.

The ministers of the gospel look upon you with concern and pity: We love
you because you have proceeded thus far in religion; but ye shall not be
the beloved of God, if ye stop here, or go back again to sin and folly.
We had a hopeful prospect of you once, and said to our Lord in prayer,
“Surely these shall be one day the inhabitants, and the supports of
thine house; these young plants shall one day be fruitful trees in thy
vineyard; they shall be pillars in thy holy temple.” But alas! there is
a death upon our hopes, there is a darkness and a lethargy upon your
souls: We look upon you in all these your endowments, we mourn over you
with compassion, and with zeal we express our grief and our love:
“Awake, ye young sinners, who have deserved our love; awake, that ye
sleep not to everlasting death.”

5. To those that are rich in this world, and are furnished with the
former good qualities too. I am well assured, while I address myself to
this assembly, I speak to many persons of this character[22]. Ye are
wealthy and condescending, like the young man in my text: ye are often
uncovered, and ye pay reverence to the ministers of the gospel, as he
did; ye give us honours and civilities beyond our merit or wish; ye come
and ask of us the same question, “What shall we do to inherit eternal
life?” And we tell you from the word of God, “Love not the world, nor
the things of the world; for where the love of the world is, the love of
the Father is not. If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.
Mortify your affections that are upon the earth, and deny yourselves,
take up your cross, and follow Christ.” Become his disciples, without
reserve, in faith, and love, and universal holiness. While we propose
these paths to eternal happiness, shall it be said concerning you, they
went away sorrowful, having great possessions?

Your condescending and affable deportment, looks brighter by all the
rich lustre of your habits; and the bigger your circumstances are, the
more lovely is your humble attention to the ministers of Christ, and
your readiness to hear our words is the more commendable: But will ye be
hearers only, and never practice? The time is coming, and the hour makes
haste upon you, when ye shall stand upon the borders of the grave, and
look into that world of spirits, where all the honours and distinctions
of this world are known no more. Ye shall be stripped of those vanities
which ye loved above God and heaven. Think how mean and despicable a
figure your souls will make amongst fallen angels, if the love of this
world, and neglect of God should bring you into that dreadful company.
What gay and swelling figures soever you have made on earth, you will
make but a poor and wretched one in that world, if ye are found
destitute of the riches of grace; and it will be a mournful inscription
written on your tomb, “_This rich man died,——and he lift up his eyes in
hell_;” Luke xvi. 23. _But, beloved, we hope better things of you,
though we thus speak, and things that accompany salvation_; Heb. vi. 9.
Thus I have finished the first general exhortation, to those who have
any valuable qualities attending them, but through the love of this
world are tempted to neglect heaven.

The second exhortation is addressed to those who are weaned, in some
good degree, from this world, and have treasures in heaven, but are
defective in those good qualities which might render them amiable upon
earth. I confess I have no direct commission from my text to address you
here: But I am unwilling and ashamed that a rich young man should go to
hell with some more lovely appearances upon him than you have, who are
in the way to heaven.

You have chosen God for your eternal portion, and your highest hope; you
have chosen his Son Jesus for your only Mediator, and your way to the
Father: you have chosen the worship and the ordinances of God as your
dearest delight; ye are the chosen objects of the love of God, and his
grace has inclined you to love him above all things. Methinks I would
not have any blot cast upon so many excellencies. Be ye advised
therefore to seek after that agreeable temper and conduct which may make
you beloved of men too; that the wisest and best of men may chuse you
for an honour to their acquaintance and company. This will render your
profession more honourable, and make religion itself look more lovely in
the sight of the world.

What a foul blemish it is to our christianity, when we shall hear it
said, “Here is a man who professes the gospel of grace, but he does not
practise the decencies that the light of nature would teach him! He
tells us, that he belongs to heaven; but he has so little of humanity in
his deportment, that he is hardly fit company for any upon earth.” Shall
it be said of any of you, “Here is a man that pretends to the love of
God, but he is morose in his disposition, rude in his behaviour, and
makes a very unlovely figure amongst men? Let him fill what station he
will in the church, he bears but a disagreeable character in the house,
and disgraces the family or the city where he dwells. What his secret
virtues or graces are, we know not, for they shine all inward; he keeps
all his goodness to himself, and never suffers his light to shine out
amongst his neighbours.”

Can I bear that it should be said concerning me, “He seems indeed to
have something of the love of God in him, but he is so rough in his
natural temper, and so uncorrected in his manners, that scarce any man
loves him? He may bend his knees to God in prayer, but he has not common
civility towards men. His morality and honesty appear not upon him with
honour: His virtue does not seem to sit well about him, and his religion
is dressed in a very unpleasing form.” Is this the way to give
reputation to the gospel? Is this to _adorn the doctrine of God our
Saviour in all things_; Tit. ii. 10. When we become christians, we _put
away bitterness, and wrath, and clamour, and evil-speaking, and
filthiness, and scurrilous jests_; Eph. iv. 31. and v. 4. We are
commanded to _speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers_; but to be
_gentle, and shew meekness to all_; Tit. iii. 2. _to prefer one another
in honour; to bless, and curse not; to rejoice with them that rejoice,
and to weep with them that weep; to condescend to men of low estate;
and, if possible, to live peaceably with all men_; Rom. xii. 14, 15,
16-18.

Are there any souls here of this unpleasing character and carriage! Did
you ever read these words in your bibles? Do ye think these are the
commands of Christ, or no? You profess to love him above all, but what
care have you taken to obey these precepts of his? or do you think the
sublime practices of faith and adoration will make those lower duties
needless? Have ye found the sweetness of being at peace with God, and
tasted of the pleasures of his love; and can ye disregard all the
practices and pleasures of love and peace among men?

We are not required indeed to sell truth for peace, nor strict godliness
for the forms of civility. There is no need that we should conform
ourselves to any of the sinful practices of this world, in order to
fulfil the law of love. But wheresoever the customs of the place where
we dwell are consistent with the strict and holy rules of Christ, we
should practise them so far, as to render ourselves agreeable to those
with whom we converse, that we may shine in the world as the honours of
Christ, and that unbelievers may be won by our conversation, to come and
hear our gospel, to learn the same faith, and embrace the same hope: Not
only the things that are true, and honest, and just, and pure, but the
things that are lovely in the sight of men, and things that are of good
report, must be the subjects of our meditation, our learning, and
practice; Phil. iv. 8. St. Paul, that great apostle, did not think these
things unworthy of his care; he enjoins them upon the primitive
christians from his own example, and promises them the presence of the
God of peace. These are the things which I have taught you, saith he,
these ye have heard and seen in me; conform your manners to these rules,
and the God of peace shall be with you; ver. 9.

Believe me, friends, the natural habit of christianity is all decency
and loveliness: We put the religion of our Saviour into a disguise, and
make it look unlike itself, if our temper be sour and fretful, if our
carriage be coarse and rude, and our speech savour of roughness and
wrath. A Jew might make a better apology, for a harsh and severe
deportment, than a christian could do; he might put on a morose air with
better countenance, and plead the dispensation he was under, the bondage
of the law, and the terrors of mount Sinai. But we under the gospel, are
free-born; Gal. iv. 26-31. and our carriage should be ingenuous in all
respects. John the baptist, in his garment of hair, may be indulged in a
roughness of speech; he was but a forerunner of the gospel, and can
hardly be called a christian: but the followers of the Lamb should have
a mild aspect, a pleasing manner, that every one who beholds us may love
us too; that the Son of God, if he were here upon earth, might look upon
us and love us in both his natures, with a divine and human love.

Thirdly, The last address I would make to those who are furnished with
every good quality, and every divine grace, who are beloved by God and
men. Such a one was our Lord Jesus Christ in the days of his flesh: He,
from his very childhood, grew in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour
with God and man; Luke ii. 52. He had further discoveries of divine love
made to him daily: and as his acquaintance increased in his younger
years, so did his friends too, till his divine commission made it
necessary for him to oppose the corruptions of his country, and reform a
wicked age, and thus expose himself to the anger of a nation that would
not be reformed. There was something lovely in his human nature, beyond
the common appearance of mankind; for his body was a temple, in which
the godhead dwelt in a peculiar and transcendent manner, and his soul
was intimately united to divinity. I cannot but think, that, in a
literal sense, he was _fairer than the children of men_, and that there
was _grace in his lips_, and a natural sweetness in his language: Psal.
xlv. 2. If the Jews beheld _no comeliness in him, if his visage was
marred more than the sons of men_, it was because he _was a man of_
uncommon _sorrows, and acquainted with grief_; which might cast
something of heaviness or gloom upon his countenance, or wear out the
features of youth too soon. But surely our Lord, in the whole
composition of his nature, in the mildness of his deportment, and in all
the graces of conversation, was _the chiefest of ten thousands, and
altogether lovely_. How amiable are those who are made like him?

Such was John the beloved disciple; you may read the temper of his soul
in his epistles: What a spirit of love breathes in every line? What
compassion and tenderness to the babes in Christ? What condescending
affection to the young men, and hearty good-will to the fathers, who
were then his equals in age? With what obliging language does he treat
the beloved Gaius, in his third letter; and with how much civility, and
hearty kindness, does he address the elect lady and her children, in the
second? In his younger years, indeed, he seems to have something more of
fire and vehemence, for which he was surnamed _A son of thunder_; Mark
iii. 17. But our Lord saw so much good temper in him, mixed with that
sprightliness and zeal, that he expressed much pleasure in his company,
and favoured him with peculiar honours and endearments above the rest.
This is the disciple who was taken into the holy mount with James and
Peter, and saw our Lord glorified before the time; this is the disciple
who leaned on his bosom at the holy supper, and was indulged the utmost
freedom of conversation with his Lord; John xiii. 23, 24, 25. This is
the man who obtained this glorious title, _The disciple whom Jesus
loved_; that is, with a distinguishing and particular love. As God, and
as a Saviour, he loved them all like saints; but as man, he loved St.
John like a friend; John xxi. 20. and when hanging upon the cross and
just expiring, he committed his mother to his care; a most precious and
convincing pledge of special friendship.

O how happy are the persons who most nearly resemble this apostle, who
are thus privileged, thus divinely blessed! How infinitely are ye
indebted to God your Benefactor, and your Father, who has endowed you
with so many valuable accomplishments on earth, and assures you of the
happiness of heaven? It is he who has made you fair, or wise; it is he
who has given you ingenuity, or riches, or, perhaps, has favoured you
with all these; and yet has weaned your hearts from the love of this
world, and led you to the pursuit of eternal life: It is he that has
cast you in so refined a mould, and given you so sweet a disposition,
that has inclined you to sobriety and every virtue, has raised you to
honour and esteem, has made you possessors of all that is desirable in
this life, and appointed you a nobler inheritance in that which is to
come. What thankfulness does every power of your natures owe to your
God? that heaven looks down upon you, and loves you, and the world
around you fix their eyes upon you, and love you: That God has formed
you in so bright a resemblance of his own Son, his first-beloved, and
has ordained you joint-heirs of heaven with him; Rom. viii. 17.

Watch hourly against the temptations of pride; remember the fallen
angels, and their once exalted station; and have a care lest ye also _be
puffed up, and fall into the condemnation of the devil_. Walk before God
with exactest care, and in deepest humility. Let that divine veil be
spread over all your honours, that as you are the fairest images of
Christ, ye may be dressed like him too; for he who is the highest Son of
God, is also the holiest of the sons of men; he who is personally united
to the godhead, and is one with his Creator, is the humblest of every
creature.


                         HYMN FOR SERMON VIII.
               _A Hopeful Youth falling Short of Heaven._


                 Thus far ’tis well: You read, you pray,
                   You hear God’s holy word,
                 You hearken what your parents say,
                   And learn to serve the Lord.

                 Your friends are pleas’d to see your ways,
                   Your practice they approve:
                 Jesus himself would give you praise,
                   And look with eyes of love.

                 But if you quit the paths of truth,
                   To follow foolish fires,
                 And give a loose to giddy youth,
                   With all its wild desires.

                 If you will let your Saviour go,
                   To hold your riches fast;
                 Or hunt for empty joys below,
                   You’ll lose your heaven at last.

                 The rich young man whom Jesus lov’d
                   Should warn you to forbear!
                 His love of earthly treasures prov’d
                   A fatal golden snare.

                 See, gracious God, dear Saviour, see
                   How youth is prone to fall:
                 Teach them to part with all for thee,
                   And love thee more than all.

Footnote 22:

  This discourse was delivered at Tunbridge-wells.




                               SERMON IX.
                   _The Hidden Life of a Christian._
 COL. iii. 3.—For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
                            THE FIRST PART.


Death and life are two words of a solemn and important sound. They carry
so much of force and moment in them, as must awaken mankind to
attention; and therefore the Spirit of God often uses them as metaphors,
to express things unseen and spiritual, and to describe the state both
of saints and sinners: So that all who are alive on the face of the
earth, in the language of scripture, are said to be dead too, but in
different senses. Those who are in a state of nature, and under the
power of sin, unpardoned and unsanctified, are dead in trespasses and
sins; yet they live the life of brutes in the lusts of the flesh, or the
life of devils in the lusts of the mind; Eph. ii. 1, 2. Those who are
recovered from the fall, and brought into a state of grace by the gospel
of Christ, are said to be dead also; that is, they are dead to sin; Rom.
vi. 11. and they are crucified, and so dead to the world; Gal. vi. 14.
The delights of sin are hateful to them, so that they allure them not to
forsake their God; and the lawful enjoyments of life are so far
tasteless to the saints, in comparison of the things of heaven, that
they have much less influence, than once they had, to tempt them away
from God, and from the practice of holiness.

It is in this sense the christian Colossians are said to be dead in my
text. But they have another, a new life, and that of a different kind;
such as is mentioned in this verse, and which is hid with Christ in God;
and it is this hidden life shall be the chief subject of my discourse.

These latter words of the text afford two plain and easy propositions or
doctrines.

I. That the life of a christian is a hidden life.—II. That it is hid
with Christ in God. Let us meditate on them in order.

Doctrine I. A christian’s life is a hidden life.—Here we shall, _First_,
Consider what is this life, which is said to be hidden. And, _Secondly_,
In what respects it is so.

_First_, What is this life of a christian which is said to be hidden?

Not the animal life, whereby he eats, drinks, sleeps, moves and walks;
this is visible enough to all about him. Not the civil life, as he
stands in relation to other men in the world, whether as a son, as a
father, a master, or a servant, a trader, a labourer, or an officer in
the state: For all these are public, and seen of men.

But the hidden life is that whereby he is a christian indeed; his
spiritual life, wherein he is devoted to God, and lives to the purposes
of heaven and eternity. And this is the same life, which, in other parts
of scripture, is called eternal; for the life of grace survives the
grave, and is prolonged into glory. The same life of piety and inward
pleasure, which begins on earth, is fulfilled in heaven; and it may be
called the spiritual, or the eternal life, according to different
respects; for it is the same continued life acting in different stations
or places, and running through time and eternity; 1 John v. 11, 12.
Eternal life is in the Son, and he that hath the Son, hath this life; it
is begun in him, he is already possessed of it in some degree.

As the life of the child is the same with that of the full-grown man; as
the same vital principles and powers run through the several successive
stages of infancy, youth and manhood; so the divine life of a saint,
begun on earth, runs through this world, through death, and the separate
state of souls; it appears in full-grown perfection, in the final
heaven, when the whole saint shall stand complete in glory. Thus the
spiritual life of a christian is eternal life begun; and eternal life is
the spiritual life made perfect.

If we would describe this life in short, it may be represented thus: It
is a life of faith, holiness and peace; a life of faith, or dependance
upon God for all that we want; a life of holiness, rendering back again
to God, in a way of honour and service, whatsoever we receive from him
in a way of mercy; and a life of peace in the comfortable sense of the
favour of God, and our acceptance with him through Jesus Christ. All
these begin on earth, and in this sense faith itself, as well as peace
and holiness, shall abide in heaven: we shall for ever be dependants,
for ever happy and for ever holy.

In a state of nature the man lived such a sinful and carnal life, that
was more properly called death; but when he becomes a believer, a true
christian, he is new created; 2 Cor. v. 17. hew-born; John iii. 3,
raised from the dead, and quickened to a new life; Eph. ii. 1, 5. which
is called being risen with Christ, in the verses before my text; Col.
iii. 1. And this very spiritual life, as the effect of our symbolical
resurrection with Christ, is the subject of several verses of the 6th
chapter to the Romans, whence I cannot but infer the same to be designed
here, _viz._ that the christian who is dead to sin, is risen with
Christ, and alive to God; as Rom. vi. 11. All the life that he lived
before, with all the shew and bravery of it, with all the bustle and
business, the entertainments and delights of it, was but a mere dream, a
fancy, the picture of life, a shadow and emptiness, and but little above
the brutes that perish. Now he lives a real, a substantial, a divine
life, a-kin to God and angels, and quite of a different nature from what
the men of this world live.

There is this difference indeed which the scripture makes between the
spiritual life and the eternal. The first chiefly respects the
operations of the soul, for the life of the body is not immortal here:
the second includes soul and body too, for both shall possess
immortality hereafter. The first is attended with many difficulties and
sorrows; the second is all ease and pleasure. The first is represented
as the labour and service: the last, as the great, though unmerited,
reward; Gal. vi. 8. He that soweth to the Spirit, and fulfils the duties
of the spiritual life, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. The
one is the life of holiness and inward peace, though mingled with many
defects, and surrounded with a thousand disadvantages and trials: the
other, is the same life of holiness and peace, having surmounted every
difficulty, shining and exulting in full joy and glory.

_Secondly_, We come to consider, in what respect this life may be called
a hidden life.

And here I shall distinguish that part of it, which is more usually
called the spiritual life, and is exercised in this world, from that
which is more frequently called life eternal, and belongs rather to the
world to come: and then I shall make distinct inferences from the
consideration of each.

Now let us consider wherein the spiritual life is said to be hidden.

I. The acts and exercises of it are secret and unknown to the public
world. The saint is much engaged in the important and hidden concerns of
his divine life; and his converse is with God and Christ, who dwell in
the world of invisibles.

Who knows the secret transactions between God and the soul of a
christian, when he first entered into covenant with God, through Christ
the Mediator, and began this happy life? Who can tell the inward
workings of his spirit towards Jesus Christ his Lord in the first
efforts of his faith, and embraces of our Saviour? Who was acquainted
with the secret sorrows of his soul, when he was first set a mourning
for his past sins, and humbled himself in bitterness before God; Or who
can express the surprizing delight, and secret satisfaction he felt at
heart, when God communicated to him the first lively hope of forgiveness
and divine salvation? O the unknown joys of such an hour which some
christians have experienced, when a divine beam of light shone into
their souls, and revealed Jesus Christ within them, as St. Paul speaks:
when they saw his all-sufficiency of righteousness and grace, to answer
their infinite necessities; and when they durst believe in him as their
Saviour!

And as the beginnings of this life are hidden from the world, so the
exercises and progress of it are a secret too. While the world is
following after idols and vanity, the christian, in his retired chamber,
breathes after his God and his Redeemer, and gives a loose to his
warmest affections, in the pursuit of his Almighty Friend, and his best
beloved. While the men of this world are vexing their spirits, and
fretting under present disappointments, he dwells in a lonesome corner,
mourning for his sins and follies. And at another time, while the
children of vanity grow proud in public, and boast of their large
possessions, and inheritances, he rejoices in secret, in the hope of
glory, and takes divine delight in the fore-thought of his better
inheritance among the saints: his conversation is in heaven; _Phil._
iii. 20.

I might run through all the exercises of the sanctified affections, and
the various parts of the divine worship, and of the conduct of a saint
among the children of men. With what humble fear does he entertain the
mention of the name of God? With what deep self-abasement, and inward
adoration? At the presence of sin how is his anger stirred? and his holy
watchfulness when temptations appear? how does he labour and wrestle,
fight and strive, lest he be overcome by the secret enemies of his soul?
And as his bitterness of heart is unknown to the world, so _a stranger
intermeddles not with his joy_; Prov. xiv. 10. He feeds on the same
provision which his Lord Jesus did on earth, for it his meat and his
drink to do the will of his Father which is in heaven; This is a feast
to the christian, which the world knows not of; John iv. 32, 34.

II. The springs and principles of this life are hidden and unknown to
the world; and therefore the world esteems many of the actions of a true
christian very strange and unaccountable things, as we shall shew
afterward, because they see not the springs of them.

The word of God, or the gospel, with all the hidden treasures of it, is
the chief instrument, or means, whereby this divine life is wrought and
supported in the soul. The true christian beholds the purity of God in
the precepts; he reads grace, heaven, and glory, in the promises; he
sees the words of the bible in a divine light, and feeds sweetly on the
hidden blessings of scripture, deriving life, and nourishment, and joy
from it; whereas the carnal world go not far beyond the letters and
syllables. The gospel, which is all light and glory to a saint, is
hidden to them that are lost; 2 Cor. iv. 3. This same gospel is written
in the heart of a christian, and is the principle of his life there.
This is immortal and incorruptible, the seed of the word abiding in the
heart; the image of the eternal God, drawn out in such characters as our
nature can bear: For the written word is a transcript of God’s holiness;
and when it is inwrought into all the powers of a believing soul, it
becomes a vital principle within him for ever. A believer is, as it
were, cast in the very mould of the gospel; so the word signifies; Rom.
vi. 17. This is the word hidden in the heart, that secures the saint
from sin; Ps. cxix. 11.

The motives and springs that awaken a christian to keep up, and maintain
this spiritual life, are things hidden from the eyes of the world;
things eternal and invisible, 2 Cor. iv. 18. _While we look not at the
things that are seen, that are temporal; but at the things that are
unseen, and eternal_; we then count the joys or sorrows of this world,
things of little importance; then we live like christians, and the life
of our Lord Jesus is manifested, or copied out, in our lives; as ver.
10, 11.

The habits of grace and holiness in the hearts of believers, whence all
the actions of the spiritual life proceed, are secret and hidden. Who
knows how they were wrought at first? how this heavenly breath, this
divine life was infused, which changed a dead sinner into a living
saint? Our Saviour himself compares this work of the Spirit to the wind;
John iii. 8. _We hear the sound_, we feel and see the effects of it,
_but we know not whence it comes, nor whither it goes; so is every one
that is born of the Spirit_. Who can describe those secret and almighty
influences of the blessed Spirit on the mind and will of man, which work
with such a sovereign, and yet such a gentle, and con-natural agency,
that the believer himself hardly knows it, but by the gracious effects
of it, and the blessed alterations wrought in his soul.

It is this glorious Agent, this Creator, this blessed Spirit, who is the
uncreated principle of this life. The Spirit, as proceeding from our
Lord Jesus Christ, begun this life at first in the soul: and the same
glorious unseen power carries it on through all difficulties and
oppositions, and will fulfil it in glory.

I must add also, that Christ himself, who is said to be our life in the
verse following my text, is at present hidden from us; he dwells in the
unseen world, and the heavens must receive him till the restitution of
all things; Acts iii. 21. Christ Jesus is the bread from heaven; John
vi. 32, 33. by which the believer is nourished; he is the hidden manna,
the divine food of souls: It is upon him the christian lives daily and
hourly; it is upon the blood of the Lamb, which is carried up to the
mercy-seat, that the believer lives for pardon and peace with God: It is
upon the righteousness of his Lord and Head, that he lives for his
everlasting acceptance before the throne; it is upon the grace and
strength of Christ, that he rests and depends all the day, when he is
called forth to encounter the boldest temptations, to fulfil the most
difficult duties, or to sustain the heaviest strokes of a painful
providence. “_Surely_, saith the saint, _in the Lord alone have I
righteousness and strength_; Is. xlv. 24. In the Lord my Saviour, whom
the world sees not; but I see him by the eye of faith.”

I shall enlarge farther on this subject under the second doctrine.

Thus, whether we consider the spiritual acts and exercises of this
christian life, or the springs and principles of it, still we shall find
it has just reason to be called a secret, or a hidden life.

Before I proceed, I shall lay down these two cautions:

1st Caution. Though it is a hidden life, yet I entreat my christian
friends, that they would not suffer it to be such a secret, as to be
unknown to themselves. God has ordained it to be hidden, not that it
might always be unknown to you, but that you might search after it with
diligence; and that when you find yourselves possessed of it, you might
rejoice in the evidences of your life and his love. Be not satisfied
then, O ye professors of the gospel! until you have searched and found
this divine life within you. What a poor life must that christian live,
who goes from day to day, and from year to year, and still complains, I
know not whether I am alive or no!

Labour, therefore, after self-acquaintance, since God has been pleased
in his word, to furnish us with sufficient means to find out our estate;
1 John v. 17. These things I write unto you, says the apostle, that ye
may believe on the name of the Son of God, and that ye may know that ye
believe. It is a dishonour to the gospel of Christ, to abide always in
darkness and doubtings, and to rest contented in so uncomfortable a
frame. We are told in Rev. ii. 17. that those whose life is supported by
this hidden manna, have also a white stone given them, with a new name
in it, which no man knows, save he that receives it: that is, they have
divine absolution and pardon of their sins, which was represented
heretofore, in some courts of judicature, by the gift of a white stone;
but surely, if my own name were written in it, I would use my utmost
endeavours to read the inscription myself, though it may be a secret to
the rest of mankind; then my God and Saviour shall have the honour of
his pardoning love, and then my soul shall enjoy the consolation.

2d Caution. Though it be a hidden life in the sacred operations and the
springs of it, yet the world ought to see the blessed effects of it. We
must _hold forth_ to men _the word of life_; Phil. ii. 16. Let the world
see that we live to God, and that by the secret power of his word in the
gospel.

The christian life is no fantastic and visionary matter, that consists
in warm imaginations, and pretences to inward light and rapture; it is a
real change of heart and practice, from sin to holiness, and a turn of
soul from earth toward heaven. It has been dressed up, indeed, like
enthusiastic foolery, by the impious wits of men, and painted for a
subject of ridicule and reproach. Thus the saints and holy martyrs have
been clad in a fool’s-coat, or a bear’s-skin, but they are still men,
and wise men too; they have been dressed up like devils, but they are
still the sons of God. So secret piety has solid reason and scripture
still on its side, whatever silly scandals have been cast upon it; there
is no cause, therefore, to be ashamed of professing it. There is nothing
in all the christian life, that a man needs to blush at. _We have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty_, knavery, and uncleanness,
when we began to be christians; 2 Cor. iv. 2. It is our glory that we
are alive to God, and we should be ashamed of nothing that either
exercises or maintains this life. None of the duties of worship, none of
the practices of godliness, that render religion honourable among men,
and make God our Saviour appear glorious in the world, should be
neglected by us, whenever we are called to practise or profess them.

The effects of this hidden life should not all be secret, though the
springs of it are so; for christians are commanded to make their _light
shine before men, that others may glorify their Father which is in
heaven_; Mat. v. 14, 15, 16. The lights of the world must not place
themselves under a bushel, and be contented to shine there useless and
alone; we must give honour to God in public. And though we are commanded
to practise such secrecy and self-denial in our deeds of charity, as may
secure us from all ostentation and pride, yet we must sometimes make it
appear too, that we do good to men, that christianity may have the glory
of it. We must feed the hungry, we must clothe the naked, we must love
all men, even our enemies, and discover to the world that we are
christians, by noble and sublime practices of every virtue and every
duty, as far as it is possible, even by the best works, to discover
inward religion.

[This sermon may be divided here.]

I proceed now to draw some inferences from the hidden nature of the
spiritual life.

I. And my first inference would teach you not to rest satisfied with any
externals: for they who put forth no other acts of life, but what the
world sees, are no true christians.

We eat, we drink, and sleep; that is the life of nature; we buy and
sell, we labour and converse; that is the civil life; we trifle, visit,
tattle, flutter, and rove among a hundred impertinencies, without any
formed, or settled design what we live for; that is the idle life; and
it is the kindest name that I can bestow upon it. We learn our creed, we
go to church, we say our prayers, and read chapters or sermons; these
are the outward forms of the religious life. And is this all? Have we no
daily secret exercises of the soul in retirement and converse with God?
No time spent with our own hearts? Are we never busied, in some hidden
corner, about the affairs of eternity; Are there no seasons allotted for
prayer, for meditation, for reading in secret, and self-enquiries?
Nothing to do with God alone in a whole day together? Surely this can
never be the life of a christian?

Remember, O man, there is nothing of all the labours or services, the
acts of zeal or devotion, that thou canst practise in public, but a
subtle hypocrite may so nearly imitate the same, that it will be hard to
discover the difference. There is nothing of all these outward forms,
therefore, that can safely and infallibly distinguish thee from a
hypocrite and false professor; for the same actions may proceed from
inward motions and principles widely different. If you would obtain any
evidence that you are a christian indeed, you must make it appear to
your own conscience by the exercises of the hidden life, and the secret
transactions between God and your soul. He was not a Jew of old, who was
one outwardly in the letter only; nor is he a christian, who has mere
outward forms; but a Jew or a christian, in the sight of God, is such a
one as hath the religion in his heart, and in spirit, _whose praise is
not of men, but of God_? Rom. ii. 28, 29.

II. Inference. The life of a saint is a matter of wonder to the sinful
world; for they know not what he lives upon. The sons of ambition follow
after grandeur and power; the animals of pleasure pursue all the
luxuries of sense; the miser hunts after money, and is ever digging for
gold. It is visible enough what these wise men live upon. But the
christian, who lives in the power and glory of the divine life, seeks
after none of these, any farther than as duty leads him, and the
supports and conveniencies of life are needful, in the present state of
his habitation in the flesh. The sinner wonders what it is the saint
aims at, while he neglects the tempting idols that himself adores, and
despises the gilded vanities of a court, and abhors the guilty scenes of
a voluptuous life. Christ and his children are, and will be, signs and
wonders to the age they live in; Is. viii. 18. compared with Heb. ii.
13.

The men of this world wonder what a christian can have to say to God in
so many retiring hours as he appoints for that end; what strange
business he can employ himself in; how he can lay out so much time in
affairs, which the carnal mind has no notion of. On the other hand, the
saint, when he is in a lively frame, thinks that all the intervals of
his civil life, and all the vacant seasons that he can find between the
necessary duties of his worldly station, are all little enough to
transact affairs of such awful importance as he has to do with God, and
little enough to enjoy those secret pleasures, which the stranger is
unacquainted with. The children of God pray to their heavenly Father in
secret, and they feel unknown refreshment and delight in it; and they
are well assured, that _their Father who seeth in secret will hereafter
reward them openly_; Mat. vi. 6.

It is no wonder, that the profane world reproaches true christians as
dull, lifeless creatures, animals that have neither soul nor spirit in
them, because they do not see them run to the same excess in things of
the lower life. Alas! they know not that the life of a christian is on
high; they see it not, for it is hidden; and therefore they wonder we
are not busily engaged in the same practices and pursuits as they are; 1
Pet. iv. 4. _They think it strange that we run not to the same excess of
riot._ The world sees nothing of our inward labour and strife against
flesh and self, our sacred contest for the prize of glory; they know
nothing of our earnest enquiries after an absent God, and a hidden
Saviour; and least of all do they know the holy joys, and retired
pleasures of a christian, because these are things which are seldom
communicated to others; and therefore the world grows bold to call
religion a melancholy thing, and the christian a mere mope. But the soul
who lives above, who lives within sight of the world of invisibles, can
despise the reproach of sinners.

III. Inference. See the reason why christians have not their passions so
much engaged in things of this life as other men have, because their
chief concern is about their better life, which is hidden and unseen.
They can look upon fine equipages, gay clothes, and rich appearances in
the world, without envy; they can survey large estates, and see many
thousands gotten in haste by those that resolve to be rich, and yet not
let loose one covetous wish upon them; they have a God whom they worship
in secret, and trust his blessing to make them sufficiently rich in the
way of diligence in their stations: they hope they shall have blessings
mingled with their mean estate, and no sorrows added to their wealth.

They can find themselves exalted by providence to high stations in the
world, and not to be puffed up in countenance, nor swell at heart. If
they are but watchful to keep their divine life vigorous they will
distinguish themselves as christians, even in scarlet and gold, and that
by a glorious humility. They know that all their advancements on earth
are but mean and despicable things, in comparison of their highest
hopes, and their promised crown in heaven. They can meet threatening
danger, diseases, and deaths, without those terrors that overwhelm the
carnal sinner; for their better life shall never die. They can sustain
losses, and sink in the world, when it comes by the mere providence of
God, without their own culpable folly, and bear it with a humble
resignation of spirit, and with much inward serenity and peace; for the
things which they have lost, were not their life; all these were
visible, but their life is hidden; Phil. iv. 12. I know how to be
abased, and how to be exalted; I know how to abound, and to suffer want;
I can do all these things through Christ strengthening me: Christ, who
is the principle of my inward life. O! that the christians of our day
had more of this sublime conduct, more of these noble evidences of the
life of christianity.

IV. Inference. How vain and needless a thing is it for a christian to
affect popularity and to set up for a shew in this world. How vain is it
for him to be impatient to appear and shine among men, for he has
honours and treasures, joys and glories, that are incomparably greater,
and yet a secret to the world. A christian’s true life is hidden, and he
should not be too fond of public and gay appearances. The apostle Peter
gives advice how the christian women should behave themselves not as the
rest of the world do, who set themselves forth to public shew, with many
ornaments of gold and pearl; but the believer should adorn herself with
modesty, and with every grace, in _the hidden man of the heart_; 1 Pet.
iii. 4.

How unreasonable is it for us who profess the christian life to be cast
down, if we are confined to an obscure station in the world! Was not the
Lord of glory, when he came down on earth to give us a pattern of the
spiritual life, content to be obscure for thirty years together! Was he
not unknown to men, but as a common carpenter, or a poor carpenter’s
son! And in those four years of appearance which he made as a preacher,
how mean, how contemptible were the circumstances of life which he
chose? And shall we be impatient and fretful under the same humbled
estate? Do we dislike so divine a precedent? Must we, like mushrooms of
the earth, be exalted, and grow fond of making a public figure, when the
King of heaven was so poor and lowly? We lose public honour and applause
indeed, but perhaps our hidden life thrives the better for it, when we
resist the charms of grandeur.

Besides, this is not a christian’s time for appearing, whilst Christ
himself is absent and unseen. The believer’s shining-time is not yet
come; but the marriage-day of the Lamb is hastening, and the bride is
making herself ready. The general resurrection is our great shining-day:
_When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear
with him in glory_: Col. iii. 4. and the christian is content to stay
for his robes of light, and his public honours, till the dawn of that
glorious morning. Nor shall we dare to be censorious of those who make a
poor figure, and but mean appearance in the world; perhaps they are some
of Christ’s hidden ones; they promise but little, and shew but little,
either wit or parts, prudence or power, skill or influence; and perhaps
they have but little too; but they know God, they trust in Christ, they
live a divine life, and have glorious communications from heaven in
secret daily, they make daily visits to the court of glory, and are
visited by condescending grace. You see in all these instances, that
popularity and shew are not at all necessary for a christian.

V. Inference. How exceeding difficult is it for those who are exalted to
great and public stations in the world to maintain lively christianity!
They have need of great and uncommon degrees of grace to maintain this
hidden life. _How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the
kingdom of God!_ These are our Saviour’s own words; Mark x. 23. and he
gave this reason for it, ver. 24. because it is so hard for those that
have riches, not to trust in them, not to live entirely upon them, and
make them their very life.

How hard is it for men in high posts of honour, to take due care that
their graces thrive, while they are all day engaged, either in the
fatigues of office, in state and pomp of their own, or in everlasting
attendances on the will of some superior; so that they have few moments
in a day, wherein they are capable of retiring, and holding any converse
with themselves or with heaven. But O! how pleasant is it to such as are
advanced in the providence of God, and have a value for their hidden
life, to steal an hour of retirement from the burden of their public
cares! How sweet is the recovery of a few minutes, and how well filled
up with active devotion! The secret life of a christian grows much in
the closet, and without a retreat from the world it cannot grow. Abandon
the secret chamber, and the spiritual life will decay: Doubtless many of
you can witness that you have found it so; and your own mournful
experience echoes to the words of our ministry in this point.

There was an ancient philosopher, who, when he had lost his riches in a
storm at sea, gave thanks to providence, under a heathen name; “I thank
thee, fortune, that hast now forced me to retire, and to live within my
cloak;” that is, upon the supports of philosophy, in meaner
circumstances of life. How much more should the christian be pleased
with a private station, who has the supports of the gospel to live upon,
and to sweeten his retirements! How cautious should christians be,
therefore, of the management of all the public affairs of their civil
life, lest they do any that should hurt their secret or religious life!
We should be still enquiring, “Will such sort of company to which I am
now invited; such a gainful trade which I am ready to engage in; such a
course of life which now lies before me; tempt me to neglect my secret
converse with God? Does it begin to alienate my heart from heaven, and
things unseen? then let me suspect and fear it.” Be afraid, christians,
of what grieves the blessed Spirit of Christ, who is the principle of
your life and may provoke him to retire from you. Be diligent in such
enquiries, be very watchful and jealous of every thing that would call
your thoughts outward, and keep them too long abroad. Christians should
live much at home, for theirs is a hidden life.

VI. Inference. We may see here divine wisdom in contriving the
ordinances of the gospel, with such plainness, and such simplicity, as
best serves to promote the hidden life of a christian. Pomp and
ceremony, gilded and sparkling ornaments, are ready to call the soul
abroad, to employ it in the senses, and divert it from that spiritual
improvement, which the secret life of a christian requires, and which
gospel-institutions were designed for.

You see in the heathen world, and you see in popish countries, that the
gay splendours of worship tempt the hearts of the worshippers to rest in
forms, and to forget God; and we may fear the greatest part of the
people lay under the same danger in the days of Judaism. I grant indeed,
that where pompous and glittering rites of religion are of special
divine appointment, and were designed to typify the future glories of a
more spiritual church and worship; there they might hope for divine aids
to lead their minds onward beyond the type, to those designed glories.
But carnal worshippers are the bulk of any sect or profession. All
mankind, by nature, is ready to take up with the forms of godliness, and
neglect the secret power. We naturally pay too much reverence to shining
formalities and empty shews. Set a christian to read the most spiritual
parts of gospel, on one page of the bible, and let some scene of the
history be finely graven, and painted on the opposite side; his holy
meditations will be endangered by his eyes, fair figures and colours
attract the sight, and tempt the soul off from refined devotion.

I cannot think it any advantage to christian worship, to have churches
well adorned by the statuary and the painter; nor can gay altar-pieces
improve the communion service. While gaudy glittering images attract and
entertain the outward sense, the soul is too much attached to the
animal, to keep itself at a distance; while the sight is regaled and
feasted, the sermon runs to waste, and the hidden life withers and
starves. When the ear is soothed with a variety of fine harmony, the
soul is too often allured away from spiritual worship, even though a
divine song attend the music. Our Saviour therefore, in much wisdom, and
in much mercy, has appointed blessed ordinances for his church, with
such plainness and simplicity, as may administer most support and
nourishment to the secret life. Thus I have finished the remarks on the
hidden life of a christian, considered as to its spiritual exercises in
this present world.

I proceed to consider, in what respects this life is hidden, as it is
more usually called eternal life, or to be exercised and enjoyed in
heaven.

And here we must confess, that we are much at a loss to say any thing
more than the scripture hath said before us. _Life and immortality_,
indeed, _are brought to light by the gospel of Christ_, in far brighter
measures than the former ages and dispensations were acquainted with; 1
Tim. i. 10. But still, what the apostle says concerning all the
blessings of the gospel, we may repeat emphatically concerning heaven,
that eye hath not seen, that ear hath not heard, that it hath not
entered into the heart of man to conceive; nor indeed hath God himself
revealed but a very small part of the things he hath prepared, in the
future world, for them that love him; 1 Cor. ix. 10. _It doth not yet
appear what we shall be_; the glory of that state is yet a great secret
to us; 1 John iii. 2. We know much better what it is not, than what it
is: we can define it best by negatives. Absence from the weaknesses,
sins, and sorrows of this life, is our best and largest account of it,
whether we speak of the separate state, or the heaven of the
resurrection.

The veil of flesh and blood divides us from the world of spirits; we
know not the manner of their life in the state of separation: we are at
an utter loss as to their stations and residences; what relation they
bear to any part of this material creation; whether they dwell in thin
airy vehicles, and are inhabitants of some starry world, or planetary
region; or whether they subsist in their pure intellectual nature, and
have nothing to do with any thing corporeal, till their dust be recalled
to life. We are unacquainted with the laws by which they are governed,
and the methods of their converse: we know little of the businesses they
are employed in, those glorious services for their God and their
Saviour, in which they are favoured with assistant angels; and little
are we acquainted with their joys, which are unspeakable and full of
glory. The very language of that world, is neither to be spoken nor
understood by us; St. Paul heard some of the words of it, and had a
faint glimpse of the sense of them; but he could not repeat them again
to mortal ears; nor had he power, nor leave to tell us the meaning of
them; 2 Cor. xii. 4. For, _whether he was in the body, at that time, or
out of the body_, he himself was not able to determine.

And as for the heaven of the resurrection; what sort of bodies shall be
raised from the dust, for perfect spirits to dwell in, is as great a
secret. A spiritual body is a mystery to the wisest divines and
philosophers; where our habitation shall be, and what our special
employment through the endless ages of immortality, are among the hidden
unsearchables. The most that we know, is, that we shall be made like to
Christ, and we shall be where he is, to behold his glory; 1 John iii. 2.
and John xvii. 24.

If the eternal life of the saints be so much a secret at present, we may
draw these two or three inferences from it.

I. Inference. How necessary is it for a christian to keep faith awake
and lively, that he may maintain his acquaintance with the spiritual and
unseen world! It is faith that converses with invisibles: _faith is the
substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen_;
Heb. xi. 1. It is faith that deals in hidden traffic, and grows rich in
treasures that are out of sight. It is by faith in the Son of God, we
live this spiritual life, by faith in an absent Saviour; Gal. ii. 20.
_Whom having not seen we love; and though we see him not, yet believing,
we rejoice_; 1 Pet. i. 8. Let the christian, therefore, maintain a holy
jealousy, lest too much converse with the things of sense, dull the eye
of his faith, or weaken the hand of it. Let him put his faith into
perpetual exercise, that he may live within the view of those glories
that are hidden from sense; that he may keep his hold of eternal life;
that he may support his hopes, and secure his joys. Until we can live by
sight, let us _walk by faith_; 2 Cor. v. 7.

Though the life of heaven be hidden, yet so much of it is revealed as to
give faith leave to lay hold of it; and yet not so much, as to make the
hand of faith needless. It is brought down by our Lord Jesus Christ in
the gospel, within the view of faith, that we might live in expectation
of it, and be animated to the glorious pursuit; but it is not brought
within the reach of sense, for we are now in a state of trial; and this
is not the proper time nor place for sight and enjoyment.

II. Inference. How little is death to be dreaded by a believer, since it
will bring the soul to the full possession of its hidden life in heaven!
It is a dark valley that divides between this world and the next; but it
is all a region of light and blessedness beyond it. We are now borderers
on the eternal world, and we know but too little of that invisible
country. Approaching death opens the gates to us, and begins to give our
holy curiosity some secret satisfaction; and yet how we shrink backward
when that glorious unknown city is opening upon us! and are ready to beg
and pray that the gates might be closed again: “O! for a little more
time, a little longer continuance in this lower visible world!” This is
the language of the fearful believer: But it is better to have our
christian courage wrought up to a divine height, and to say, “_Open ye
everlasting gates, and be ye lift up, O ye immortal doors_, that we may
enter into the place where _the King of Glory is_.” There we shall see
God, the great unknown, and rejoice in his overflowing love. We shall
see him not as we do on earth, darkly, through the glass of ordinances;
but inferior spirits shall converse with the Supreme Spirit, as bodies
do with bodies; that is face to face; 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

There shall we behold Christ our Lord in the dignity of his character as
Mediator, in the glory of his kingdom, and the all-sufficiency of his
godhead; and we shall be for ever with him. There shall we see millions
of blessed spirits, who have lived the same hidden life as we do, and
passed through this vale of tears, with the same attending difficulties
and sorrows, and by the same divine assistances. They were unknown, and
covered with dust as we are, while they dwelt in flesh, but they appear
all-glorious and well known in the world of spirits, and exult in open
and immortal light: We shall see them, and we shall triumph with them in
that day; we shall learn their language, and taste their joys: we shall
be partakers of the same glory, which Christ our life, diffuses all
around him, on the blessed inhabitants of that intellectual world.

III. Inference. How glorious is the difference between the two parts of
the christian’s life, _viz._ the spiritual life on earth, and the
perfection of eternal life in heaven; when all that is now hidden shall
be revealed before men and angels! Come now, and let us take occasion
from this discourse, to let loose our meditations one stage beyond death
and the separate state, even to the morning of the resurrection, and the
full and public assembly of all the saints. O what an illustrious
appearance! What a numerous and noble army of new creatures! Creatures
that were hidden in this world among the common herd of mankind, and
their bodies hidden in the grave, and mingled with common dust, rising
all at once, at the sound of a trumpet, into public light and glory; the
same persons, indeed, that once inhabited mortality, but in far
different equipage and array. The christian, on earth, is like the rough
diamond among the common pebbles of the shore; in the resurrection-day
the diamond is cut and polished, and set in a tablet of gold. All that
inward worth and lustre of holiness and grace, which are now hidden,
shall be then visible and public before the eyes of the whole creation.
Then the saints shall be known by their shining, _in the day when the
Lord makes up his jewels_; Mal. iii. 17. When the spirits of the just
made perfect in all the beauties of holiness, shall return to their
former mansions, and become men again; when their bodies are raised from
the dust, in the likeness of the body of our blessed Lord, how shall all
the saints shine in the kingdom of their Father, though in the kingdoms
of this world they were obscure and undistinguished! They shall appear,
in that day, as the meridian sun breaking from a long and dark eclipse;
and the sun is too bright a being to be unknown; Mat. xiii. 43.

What is there in a poor saint here, that discovers what he shall be
hereafter? How mean his appearance now! how magnificent in that day?
What was there in Lazarus on the dung-hill, when the dogs licked his
sores, that could lead us to any thought what he should be in the bosom
of Abraham? What is there in the martyrs and confessors, described in
Heb. xi. those holy men, with their sheep-skins, and their goat-skins
upon them, wandering in deserts, and hidden in dens and caves of the
earth? What was there in these poor and miserable spectacles that looks
like a saint in glory? or that could give us any intimation what they
shall be in the great rising day?

_Now are we the sons of God_, but _it does not yet appear what we shall
be_; 1 John iii. 2. We can shew no pattern of it here below. Shall we go
to the palaces of eastern princes, and borrow their crowns and sparkling
attire, to shew how the saints are drest in heaven? Shall we take their
marble pillars, their roofs of cedar, their costly furniture of purple
and gold, to describe the mansions of immortality? Shall we attend the
chariot of some Roman general, with all the ensigns of victory, leading
on his legions to triumph, and fetch robes of honour, and branches of
palm to describe that triumphant army of christian conquerors? The
scripture makes use of these resemblances, indeed, in great
condescension, to represent the glories of that day, because they are
the brightest things we know on earth. But they sink as far below the
splendours of the resurrection, as earth is below heaven, or time is
shorter than eternity.

What is all the dead lustre of metals, and silks, and shining stones, to
the living rays of divine grace springing up, and shooting into full
glory? Faith into sight, hope into enjoyment, patience into joy and
victory, and love into its own perfection? Then all the hidden virtues
and graces of the saints, shall appear like the stars at midnight, in an
uncloudy sky. Then shall it be made known to all the world, these were
the men that wept and prayed in secret; it shall be published then in
the great assembly, these were the persons who wrestled hard with their
secret sins, that sought the face of God, and his strength, in their
private chambers, and they are made more than overcomers through him
that hath loved them. The poor trembling christian who lived this hidden
and divine life, but scarce knew it himself nor durst appear among the
churches on earth, shall lift up his head, and rejoice amidst the church
triumphant; and the hidden seed of grace, that was watered with so many
secret tears, shall spring up into a rich and illustrious harvest. This
is the day which shall bring to light a thousand works of hidden piety,
for the eternal honour of Christ and the saints; as well as the _hidden
things of darkness_, to the sinners’ everlasting confusion; Mat. xxv.
and 1 Cor. iv. 5.

Thus the spiritual life of christians, which was concealed in this
world, shall appear in the other in full brightness; and they themselves
shall be amazed to see what divine honours Jesus the Judge shall cast
upon their poor secret services and sufferings.

But in what supreme glory shall their life display itself, when both
parts of the human compound are rejoined after so long a separation!
This is life eternal indeed, and joy unspeakable. How gloriously shall
the perfections and honours, both of body and mind, unfold themselves,
and rise far above all that they heard, or saw, or could conceive! Each
of them surprized, like the queen of Sheba in the court of Solomon,
shall confess with thankful astonishment and joy, that not one half of
it was told them, even in the word of God. “And was this the crown,”
shall the christian say, “for which I fought on earth at so poor and
feeble a rate? And was this the prize for which I ran with a pace so
slow and lazy? And were these the glories which I sought with so cold
and indifferent a zeal in yonder world? O shameful indifference! O
surprizing glories! O undeserved prize and crown! Had I imagined how
bright the blessing was, which lay hidden in the promise, surely all my
powers had been animated to a warmer pursuit. Could I have seen what I
ought to have believed; had I but taken in all that was told me
concerning this glorious and eternal life, surely I would have ventured
through many deaths to secure the possession of it. O guilty negligence!
and criminal unbelief! But thy sovereign mercy, O my God, has pardoned
both, and made me possessor of the fair inheritance. Behold, I bow at
thy feet for ever, and adore the riches of overflowing grace.” _Amen._




                               SERMON X.
                   _The Hidden Life of a Christian._
 COL. iii. 3.—For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
                            THE SECOND PART.


It is to the christian converts who were at Colosse, that the apostle
addresses himself, in this strange language: Ye are dead, and yet I tell
you where your life is. This divine writer delights sometimes to
surprize his readers, by joining such opposites, and uniting such
distant extremes. But can a dead person have any life in him? Yes, and a
noble one too, ye are dead to the world, and dead to sin, but ye have a
life of another kind than that which belongs to the sinners of this
world: your life is spiritual and holy; theirs is sinful, and engaged in
the works of the flesh: Your life is heavenly, and seeks the things
which are above; theirs is derived from the earth, and grovels in the
dust: Your life is everlasting, for your souls shall live for ever in a
glorious state, and your bodies shall be raised from death into equal
immortality, and a partnership of the same glory; but their best life is
only a temporal one, and when that is at an end, all their joys, and
their hopes are for ever at an end too, and their eternal sorrows begin.

But this life of a christian is a hidden life. That was the first
doctrine I raised from the text. Both the operations and the springs of
it, are a secret to the world, and the future glories of it, when it is
most properly called eternal life, are still a greater secret, and much
more unknown: Yet, saith the apostle, I can acquaint you where the
springs of it lie, and whence all the future glories of it are to be
derived; they are hidden in God, with our Lord Jesus Christ. Now by
giving so short a hint, in a word or two, where this our life is hid, he
has said something greater, and brighter, and more sublime, concerning
it, that if he had shewn us, from a high mountain, at noon-day, all the
kingdoms of this world, with all the dazzling glories of them, and then
pointed downward, “there your life is.”

Let this therefore be the second doctrine, and the subject of our
present meditations, that the life of a christian is hidden with Christ
in God. It is hidden in God, as the first original and eternal spring of
it, and entrusted with Christ as a faithful Mediator; it is hid in God,
where our Lord Jesus Christ is, and he is appointed to take care of it
for us; for he also is called our life; verse 4.

The method I shall take for the improvement of this truth, is, to
explain these words of the apostle more at large, and then deduce some
inferences from them.

The _first_ enquiry will arise, in what respect the christian’s life is
said to be hidden in God? And, _secondly_, What is meant by its being
hidden with Christ?

I. _First_, In what respect is the life of a christian said to be hidden
in God?

The word God is taken in scripture, either in general for the divine
nature, which is the same in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; or, in
particular, for the person of the Father. And I do not see any absolute
necessity to determine, precisely, which was the meaning of the apostle
in this place. The three particulars by which I shall endeavour to
explain it, will include both. The life of a christian is hidden in God;
that is, in the all-sufficiency of the divine nature, in the purpose of
the divine will, and in the secret engagements of the Father to his Son
Jesus Christ, in the covenant of redemption.

1. The christian’s life is hidden in the all-sufficiency of the divine
nature. And there are immense stores of life, of every kind, hidden in
God, in this sense. This whole world of beings, that have, and have not
souls, with all the infinite varieties of the life of plants, animals,
and angels, were hidden in this fruitful and inexhaustible fund of the
divine all-sufficiency, before God began to create a world. All things
were then hidden in God; for of him are all things, and from him all
things proceeded; Rom. xi. 36. Now this all-sufficiency of God consists
in those powers and perfections, whereby he is able to do all things for
his creatures, and ready to do all for his saints; these are most
eminently his wisdom, his almightiness, and his goodness.

There are inconceivable riches of goodness and grace in God, which are
employed in furnishing out life for all his saints; and all the unknown
preparations of future glory are the effects of his grace. Eph. ii.
4.—_God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ_; and
he did it for this purpose, _that in the ages to come, he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ
Jesus_; ver. 7. Not all the goodness that appears in the rich provision
he hath made for all the natural world of creatures, nor all the
overflowing bounties of his providence, since the first creation, are
equal to those unsearchable treasures of mercy and goodness, which he
hath employed for the spiritual welfare, and eternal life and happiness
of his own chosen children; and in the secret of this grace were all the
blessings of his covenant hidden from eternity.

The divine wisdom is another part of his all-sufficiency. There are in
God infinite varieties of thought and counsel, riches of knowledge, and
wisdom unsearchable; and he hath made these abound in his new creation,
as well as in the old; in the supernatural, as well as in the natural
world. Eph. i. 8. _He hath abounded towards us_, sinners, in this work
of salvation, _in all wisdom and prudence_. What surprizing wisdom
appears in the vital powers of an animal, even in the life of brutes
that perish? What glorious contrivance, and divine skill, to animate
clay, and make a fly, a dog, or a lion of it? What sublime advances of
wisdom to create a living man, and join these two distinct extremes,
flesh and spirit, in such a vital union, that has puzzled the
philosophers of all ages, and constrained some of them to confess and
adore a God? And what a superior work of divinity, is it, to turn a dead
sinner into a living saint, here on earth? and then to adorn a heaven,
with all its proper furniture, for the eternal life and habitation of
his sons and his daughters? What divine skill is required here? What
immense profusion of wisdom, to form bodies of immortality and glory,
for every saint, out of the dust of the grave, and the ashes of martyred
christians? Our spiritual and our eternal life are hid in the wisdom of
God.

The power of God is his all-sufficience too. The power that quickens and
raises a soul to this divine life, must be almighty; Eph. i. 19, 20. It
is the same exceeding greatness of his power that works in us who
believe, which wrought in our Lord Jesus Christ, when he raised him from
the dead, and set him at his own right-hand in heavenly places. It is
the same powerful word _that commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, that shone into our hearts_, when he wrought the knowledge of
Christ there; 2 Cor. iv. 6. and when he commanded us, who lay among the
dead, to awake, and arise, and live. Was it not a noble instance of
power, to spread abroad these heavens of unknown circumference, with all
the rolling worlds of light in them, the planets and the stars? And the
same hand is mighty enough, if these were not sufficient, to build a
brighter heaven, fit for the saints to live in during all their
immortality, and to furnish them with vital powers that shall be
incorruptible and everlasting. Thus the life of the saints is hidden in
the almightiness of God, as well as in his wisdom and goodness. Thus it
is contained in the all-sufficience of the divine nature, and each part
of it is ready to be produced into act, in every proper season.

2. The life of a christian is hidden in the purposes of the divine will.
And in this sense, the whole gospel, with all its wondrous glories and
mysteries, is said to be hid in God; Eph. iii. 9. When St. Paul preached
_among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ_, he made all men
see something of that mystery, which from the beginning of the world had
been hid in God. And if this be compared with Eph. i. 9. we shall find
that this mystery of the will, or good-pleasure of God, was that which
he eternally purposed in himself.

There is not one dead sinner awakened, and called into this divine and
spiritual life here, or that shall ever be possessed of life eternal
hereafter, but it was contained in the eternal secret purpose, and
merciful design of God, before the world began. For it is a very mean
conceit, and a disgraceful opinion concerning the great God, to imagine
that he should exert his power to work life in souls, here in time, by
any new purposes, or sudden designs, occasioned by any works or merit of
theirs, which he had not formed and decreed in himself, long before he
made man. This doctrine would represent God as a mutable being; but we
know that he is unchangeable. There is nothing new in God; and his
immutability is that perfection of his nature which secures the
performance of this divine purpose, and the life of every christian.

3. I might add, in the third place, that the life of a christian is
hidden in the unknown engagements of the Father to his Son Jesus Christ
the Mediator. That sacred and divine transaction betwixt the Father and
the Son, is often intimated in the holy scriptures, and some of the
promises of that covenant are there represented; Ps. lxxxix. 19-28,
29-36, &c. _I have laid help upon one that is mighty; my mercy will I
keep for him for ever, and my covenant shall stand fast with him: his
seed will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of
heaven._ Then when _the covenant of peace was between them both_, as it
is expressed in Zech. vi. 13. then did the Father promise that he should
have _a seed to serve him_; Ps. xxii. 30. and this must be a living
seed, and they must be raised up from among dead sinners, and they shall
be made living saints in the world of grace, and in the world of glory.

Many of these promises are transcribed as it were, into the covenant of
grace, and they are written down in scripture for our present
consolation and hope; and many others are, doubtless concealed from all
but Jesus the Mediator; they are hidden from men and angels, and
reserved to be known, by surprizing accomplishment, in the future bright
ages, beyond the date of time, and to entertain the long successions of
our eternity. Now the truth and faithfulness of God are those attributes
of his nature which secure this covenant, and all the divine engagements
of it; both those which are revealed to the children of men, and those
that are known only to the Son and the Father: But it is sufficiently
evident, that all the degrees and powers of the spiritual and eternal
life of the saints, with all the graces, glories and blessings that
shall ever attend them, are hidden and laid up in these sacred
engagements and promises.

II. This leads me to the _second_ enquiry; and that is, what is meant by
these words, _with Christ_, in my text? and how the christian _life is
hid with Christ_?

If I would branch this into three particulars also, I should express
them thus:

1. Our life is hidden with Christ, as he is the great Treasurer and
Dispenser of all divine benefits to the children of men. This is the
high office to which the Father hath appointed him; and this is the
character that he sustains; and he is abundantly furnished for the
execution of this great trust. In this sense, all the stores of life and
blessing, that ever shall be bestowed on the sinful race of Adam, are
laid up in the hands of Christ, the Son of God.—_It hath pleased the
Father, that in him all fulness should dwell_; Col. i. 19. _And he was
full of grace and truth, that of his fulness we might receive grace for
grace_; John i. 14-16. That is, a variety of graces and blessings
answerable to that rich variety, with which our Lord Jesus Christ, the
High-treasurer of heaven, was furnished from the hand of the Father. And
to this purpose, perhaps, John v. 26. may be interpreted, compared with
ver. 21. _As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the
Son to have life in himself; that as the Father raiseth up the dead, and
quickeneth them, even so the Son may quicken whom he will._

The blessed Spirit itself, as it is the great promise of the New
Testament, and the glorious gift of God to men, was communicated to the
Son, and by him bestowed upon us; for he went to heaven to receive the
promise of the Spirit from the Father, and he shed it forth upon the
apostles and the believers; Acts ii. 33. It is this Spirit who gave
miraculous gifts to them heretofore, that is the immediate principle, or
worker, of divine life in dead souls now: And it is by this same Spirit,
that he shall raise our dead bodies from the grave; Rom. viii. 11. He is
the spring of our spiritual and eternal life; and he is dispensed to us
from the Father, by the hands of the Son.

And here it is proper to take notice of the special manner wherein the
Lord Jesus Christ is the treasurer, or keeper of life, and all divine
benefits for the saints, and becomes the dispenser thereof to his
people: He is ordained to stand in the relation of a head to them, and
they are his body, his members. Thus our life is hidden with Christ, as
he is the vital head of all his saints. Their life is hid with Christ,
as the spirits and springs of life, for all the members in the natural
body are said to be contained in the head. _Christ is the head of his
own mystical body_; Eph. iv. 14-16. _from whom the whole body, fitly
joined together_, maketh increase to its own edification: it is the same
vital spirit that runs through head and members.——_He that is joined to
the Lord, is one Spirit_; 1 Cor. vi. 17. and therefore partakes of the
same life.

Thus you see, that though the life of a christian is hidden in God, in
the all-sufficiency of his nature, and the purposes of his will; yet our
Lord Jesus Christ, as Mediator, is entrusted to keep it for him, and
dispense it to him.

2. Our life is hid with Christ, as he is our forerunner, and the
possessor of life, spiritual and eternal, in our name. And this may be
described in a variety of instances, according to the various parts, as
well as the several advancing degrees of our spiritual life, and the
perfection of it in life eternal. When his human nature was first formed
complete in holiness, it was a pledge and assurance, that we should be
one day completely holy too; for, as is the head so must the members be.
In the original sanctification of his spirit, flesh, and blood, we may
read the certain future sanctification of every believing soul, with its
body too; See John xvii. 19. and Heb. ii. 11.

Again; when his body was raised from the dead, it was a pledge and
pattern of our being raised from a death in sin, unto the spiritual life
of a saint, as well as a certain assurance of the resurrection of our
bodies into future glory. The first is evident from Eph. ii. 6. _When we
were dead in sin, he hath quickened us together with Christ._ And Rom.
vi. 4. _As Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we must also walk in newness of life; for we are planted
in the likeness of his resurrection_; ver. 5. And in 1 Cor. xv. 12, &c.
the apostle builds his whole argument of the resurrection of the bodies
of saints who are dead, from the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ out of
his grave: _For Christ being risen from the dead_; ver. 20. _is become
the first-fruits of them that slept_. And as all that are united to
Adam, by having him for their head must die; so all who are one with
Christ, and have him for their head, shall be made alive: which seems to
be the meaning of the 22d verse: _As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall
all be made alive._

When he ascended into the heavens, it was not merely in his own name,
but in ours too, to take possession of the inheritance for the saints in
light. Heb. vi. 20. Our hope enters within the vail, whither Jesus the
forerunner is for us entered. And when he sat down at the right-hand of
God in the heavenly places, it was as the great exemplar of our future
advancement, and thereby gave us assurance, that we should sit down
there too: and therefore the apostle, in the language of faith,
anticipates these divine honours, and applies them to the Ephesians
beforehand: _God hath raised us up together_, says he, _with Christ, and
hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus_.

It was _through the blood of the everlasting covenant_, that Jesus _the
great Shepherd of the sheep, was brought again from the dead_; and it
was _the God of peace_ who raised him; Heb. xiii. 20. And it is by
virtue of his own blood, and righteousness, that he, who once took our
sins upon him, is now discharged: It is through his own sufferings that
he appears with acceptance before the throne, and enjoys a divine life
in the unchangeable favour of God; and all this as our head, surety, and
representative, giving us assurance hereby, that we, through the blood
of the same covenant, shall be brought again from the dead too: that we
through the virtue of the same righteousness, and all-sufficiency of the
same sacrifice, shall appear hereafter before God in glory, and stand in
his eternal favour; and as an earnest of it, we enjoy a life of holy
peace and acceptance with God in this world, through the same
all-sufficient blood and righteousness: For he _appears in the holy of
holies, in_ heaven itself, _in the presence of God for us_; Heb. ix. 24.
He secures all the glories and blessings of spiritual and eternal life
for us, as he has taken possession of them in our name.

2. Our life of grace, and especially our life of glory, may be said to
be hidden with Christ, because he dwells in heaven, where God resides in
glory; God, in whom is our life. He is set down on the right-hand of the
Majesty on high; Heb. xii. 2. There our eternal life is. The things
which are above, are the objects of our joyful hope, _where Christ is at
the right-hand of God_; Col. iii. 1. It is the short, but sublime
description of our heaven, that we shall be _present with the Lord_, we
shall be where Christ is, to _behold his glory_; 2 Cor. v. 8. and John
xvii. 24. And shall possess all that unknown and rich variety of
blessings which are reserved for us in heavenly places, whither Christ
our Lord is ascended. Thus I have endeavoured to explain, in the largest
and most comprehensive sense, what we are to understand by the life of a
christian hidden with Christ in God: It is reserved in the
all-sufficiency, the purposes, and the engagements of God, under the
care of the Mediator, and in the presence of Christ.

[This sermon may be divided here.]

The use I shall make of this doctrine, is, to draw four inferences from
it for our instruction, and three for our consolation.

The inferences for our instructions are such as these:

1st Instruction. What a glorious person is the poorest, meanest
christian? He lives by communion with God the Father and the Son; for
his life is hid with Christ in God; 1 John i. 3.—“Truly our fellowship
is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you, that your joy may be full; the joy that you may
justly derive from so glorious an advancement.”

A true christian does not live upon the creatures, but upon the infinite
and almighty Creator: upon God who created all things by Jesus Christ.
Created beings were never designed to be his life and his happiness;
they are too mean and coarse a fare for a christian to feed upon, in
order to support his best life: He converses with them indeed, and
transacts many affairs that relate to them in this lower world: While he
dwells in flesh and blood, his heavenly Father has appointed these to be
a great part of his business; but he does not make them his portion and
his life. They possess but the lower degrees of his affection: He
rejoices in the possession of them, as though he rejoiced not; and he
weeps for the loss of them, as though he wept not: He enjoys the dearest
comforts of life, as though he had them not; and buys with such a holy
indifference, as though he were not to possess; 1 Cor. vii. 29, 30. for
the fashion of them passes away: But the food of his life is infinite
and immortal. It is no wonder that a man of this world lets loose all
the powers of his soul in the pursuit and enjoyment of creatures, for
they are his portion and his life. But it is quite otherwise with a
christian: he has a nobler original, and sustains a higher character:
His divine life must have divine food to support it.

Let our thoughts take a turn to some bare common, or to the side of a
wood, and visit the humble christian there; we shall find him cheerful,
perhaps, at his dinner of herbs, with all the circumstances of meanness
around him: But what a glorious life he leads in that straw-cottage, and
poor obscurity! The great and gay world shut him out from them with
disdain: He lives, as it were, hidden in a cave of the earth; but the
godhead dwells with him there. The high and lofty one that inhabits
eternity, comes down to dwell with the humble and contrite soul; Is.
lvii. 15. God, who is the spring of life, comes down to communicate
fresh supplies of this life continually. _He that dwelleth in love,
dwelleth in God_; 1 John iv. 16. He is not alone, for the Father is with
him; John xvi. 32. The Father and the Son come and manifest themselves
unto him, within the walls of that hovel, in so divine a manner, as they
never do to the men of this world, in their robes and palaces: John xiv.
22, 23. And that he may have the honour of the presence of the blessed
Trinity, his _body is the temple of the Holy Ghost_; 1 Cor. iii. 16. and
vi. 19. O! the wonderful condescensions of divine grace, and the
surprizing honours that are done to a humble saint! How is this
habitation graced! Heaven is there, for God and Christ are there; and
who knows what heavenly guards surround him! what flights of attending
angels? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent down to minister unto
them that shall be heirs of salvation? Heb. i. 14. But our Lord Jesus
Christ is now unseen, God and angels are unseen; the christian’s company
belong to the invisible world: He lives a hidden, but a divine life; his
life is hid with Christ in God.

IId Instruction. See how it comes to pass that christians are capable of
doing such wonders, at which the world stands amazed. The spring of
their life is almighty; it is hid in God. It is by this divine strength
they subdue their sinful natures, their stubborn appetites, and their
old corrupt affections: It is by the power of God, derived through Jesus
Christ, they bend the powers of their souls unto a conformity to all the
laws of God and grace; and they yield their bodies as instruments to the
same holy service, while the world wonders at them, that they should
fight against their own nature, and be able to overcome it too.

And as they deny themselves in all the alluring instances of sinful
pleasure, under the influence of almighty grace, so they endure
sufferings, in the sharpest degree, from the hands of God, without
murmuring. And when they have laboured night and day, and performed
surprizing services for God in the world, they are yet contented to
submit to smarting and heavy trials from the hands of their heavenly
Father, without being angry at their God: they know he loves them, and
he designs all things shall work together for their good.

Besides all this, they bear dreadful persecutions, cruel mockings, and
scourings, and tortures, from the hands of men, and go through all the
sorrows of martyrdom. What noble instances and miracles of this kind did
the primitive age furnish us with, so that their tormentors were amazed?
They saw not the secret springs of divine life which supported them;
they knew not the grace of God and the power of Christ, by which the
christians were upheld in all their labours and their sufferings. The
spring of their life was almighty, but it was hidden from the eyes of
men: It was concealed and reserved with Christ in God.

Read the labours and the sufferings of St. Paul; 2 Cor. xi. 23. “In
stripes above measure, in prisons frequent, in deaths often: He was
beaten with rods, he was stoned, he suffered shipwreck, in perpetual
perils by land and sea, in weariness, in painfulness, in watchings and
fastings, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness.” One would think
his bones were iron, and his flesh were brass. He was invisibly
supported by Christ the spring of his life. Read his wondrous virtues
and self-denial; Phil. iv. 11, 12, 13. I know how to be abased and how
to abound; I can be full, and be hungry; I can possess plenty, and I can
suffer want: I can do all things through Christ strengthening me. This
was the fountain of his life and strength. I acknowledge, says he, in
another place, that I am nothing, I have no sufficiency of myself to
think so much as one good thought: But all my sufficiency is of God, in
whom my life is hid; 2 Cor. iii. 5. And with what a devout zeal does he
ascribe his life to Christ, in that glorious amassment of spiritual
paradoxes! Gal. ii. 20. “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I
live: yet, not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me.” Therefore I can be delivered to death daily for
Jesus Christ’s sake; troubled and perplexed, and yet not in despair; be
cast down, and not be destroyed; because I believe that the life of
Jesus must be made manifest in my mortal flesh, and he which raised up
the Lord Jesus, shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us
with you; 2 Cor. iv. 14.

IIId Instruction. See whither a dead sinner must go to attain spiritual
and eternal life, and whither a decaying dying christian must go for the
recruit of his fainting life too; it is to God by Jesus Christ, for it
is all hidden with Christ in God.

In vain shall a man who is dead in trespasses and sins, toil and labour,
and hope to attain life any other way. God is the spring of all life,
and he has trusted it to the hands of Jesus Christ: _I am the way, the
truth and the life_, says our Saviour; John xiv. 6. No man can have life
without coming to the living Father; and no man cometh to the Father but
by me. Seneca and Plato, with their moral lectures, and the writings of
human philosophy, may give a man new garments, may make his outward life
appear much better than before; they may teach him, in some measure to
govern his passions too, and subdue some of the fleshly appetites; but
they cannot raise him to the love of God, to the hatred of every sin, to
the well grounded hopes of the favour of God, the blessed expectation of
a holy immortality, and a preparation for heaven. They cannot give the
man a new life: He must be born again of the Spirit of Christ, or he can
never become a living christian.

And in vain would the poor backsliding christian, with his withering
decaying graces, recruit and renew his divine life, without applying
himself afresh to Jesus Christ: While he forgets Christ, he must go on
to wither and decay still. There is nothing in earth or heaven can
supply the utter absence of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the stream of
spiritual life ebbs or runs low, it is not to be quickened, recovered,
and increased, but by new supplies from the fountain which is on high.
Remember, O degenerate christian, remember whence it was you derived
your first life, when you were once dead in trespasses and sins; fly to
the Saviour by new exercises of faith and dependance, mourning, in all
humility, for your unwatchful walking, and your absence from the Lord.
Commit your soul afresh to his care, exert your utmost powers, and beg
of him renewed instances of the living Spirit, that the face of your
soul may be like a watered garden, and the beauty of the divine life may
be recovered again.

IVth Instruction. See the reason why a lively christian desires and
delights to be so much, and so often, where God and Christ are; for his
life is with them.

This was the divine temper and practice of the saints under a much
darker dispensation than what we enjoy. How does the holy soul of David
pant and long for the presence of God! and he brings even his animal
nature, the very ferments of his flesh and blood, into his devotions;
Ps. lxiii. 1. _My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee._
Ps. lxxxiv. 2. _My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God._ In
all the various and fervent language of sacred passion and transport, he
breathes after God, who is the strength of his life and his salvation;
Ps. xxvii. 1. The Jewish saints cleaved to the Lord, _for he was their
life, and the length of their days_; Deut. xxx. 20.

And what sweet delight does St. Paul take in mentioning the very name of
Christ? How does he dwell upon it in long sentences, and loves to repeat
the blessed sound! How often does he rejoice in the hope of dwelling
with him hereafter, and persuades the Colossians, in this context, to be
much with him here; ver. 1. If ye are risen with Christ, and have
derived a quickening virtue from him to work a divine life in you, let
your affections ascend above, where Christ your life is.

Is not a man, whose very soul and life is wrapped up in honour and
ambition, desirous ever to be near the court! His life flourishes under
the sunshine of the prince’s eye, and therefore he would fain dwell
there. Does not the covetous wretch love to be near his hoards of gold
or silver? He has put up his life in his bag, among his treasures, and
he is not willing to be far distant, nor long separated from them.
Whatever a man lives upon, he would willingly be ever near it, that so
he may have the pleasure of feeding upon what is his greatest delight,
and be refreshed and nourished by that which he feels to support him.
Now, what honour is to the ambitious, what money is to the covetous,
what all the various delights of sense are to the men of carnal
pleasure; that is God to the saint, that is Christ Jesus to the
christian; and therefore he is ever desirous of such further
manifestations of God and Christ, that may invigorate his spiritual
life, and give him the pleasing relish of living. Then a man feels that
he lives, when he is near to the spring of his life, and derives fresh
supplies from it every moment.

Thence it is, that in every distress or danger, the saints fly to God
for refuge and relief: He is their great _hiding place_; Ps. xxxii. 7.
And Christ Jesus is represented in prophecy under the same character;
Is. xxxii. 2. This man, in whom the _Godhead dwells bodily_, shall be a
hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. The name of
God in Christ, _is a strong tower; the righteous run into it_, to hide
themselves, _and are safe_; Prov. xviii. 10. Their life is in God, in
the keeping of Christ, and they can defy deaths and dangers, when their
faith is strong, and their thoughts are fixed above.

They know the meaning of that tender and divine language; Is. xxvi. 20.
_Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about
thee; hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the
indignation be over-past._ In a time of public terror, and spreading
desolation, they retire to their secret places of converse with God, and
are secured, at least from the terror, if not from the destruction too.
When the arrows of death fly thick around them by day, and the
pestilence walks through the streets in darkness, when a thousand fall
at their side, and ten thousand at their right-hand, they make the Lord
their refuge, even the Most High their habitation, and dwelt at ease in
his secret place. He covers them from evil, or he gives them courage, so
that they are not afraid: They place themselves under the protection of
his name; they find shelter in his attributes: These are their secret
chambers; they hide within the curtains of his covenant, they wrap their
souls, as it were, in a sheet, or rather in[23] a volume of promises;
that ancient volume that has secured the saints in all ages; and though
death be near them, they know that their better life is safe: He gives
his angels charge over them, to keep them on earth, or to bear them up
to heaven, where their life is; Ps. xci. 11, 12.

Thence it comes to pass that we see christians, searching after God in
ordinances, and seeking for the Lord Jesus Christ in sermons, in
prayers, in the closet, and in the sanctuary; for they live upon him. A
holy soul pursues after the presence of his God, and his Saviour, with
the same zeal of affection and fervent desire, that the men of this
world indulge in their pursuit of created good: _My soul followeth hard
after thee_; Ps. lxiii. 8. Carnal persons are contented to be absent
from God, for he is not their life: They can satisfy themselves with a
shew of religion, without the power of it; and with empty forms of
ordinances, without Christ in them, because they are not born again,
their life is not spiritual. The sinner lives upon visible creatures,
and these awaken his warmest affections. A saint lives upon hidden and
invisible things, upon the hopes of futurity, and upon the glories that
are concealed in the promises: He lives upon the righteousness and the
intercession of Jesus his Mediator, upon the strength and grace of
Christ, who is his head in heaven; upon the word, the promise, and the
all-sufficiency of a God; and therefore these are objects of his
meditation and his desire.

I proceed now to the three inferences for our consolation.

1st Consolation. If our life be hidden with God, and our Lord Jesus
Christ, then it is in safe hands. The wisdom and mercy of God have
joined together, to appoint, shall I say, such a secret repository for
our spiritual life, that it might be for ever secure. What can we have,
or what can we desire more for the safety of our best life, than that
God himself should undertake to reserve it in himself for us, and
appoint his own eternal Son, in our nature, to be the great Trustee and
Surety, for his exhibition of it in every proper season?

Our original life was hid in the first Adam; it was intrusted with man,
poor, feeble, inconstant man, and he lost it: He was of _the earth_,
_earthy_, and our life with him goes down to the dust. Our new life is
intrusted with Christ; it is hidden in God, who is almighty and
unchangeable; and therefore it can never be lost. The second Adam is
_the Lord from heaven_, a quickening Spirit; 1 Cor. xv. 45, &c. And _he
that believeth on him, though he were dead in_ nature, _yet shall he
live_ by grace, for _Christ is the resurrection and the life_: And if he
be once made spiritually alive by Christ, he shall live for ever. This
is the language of Christ himself; John xi. 25, 26.

What an unreasonable thing is it then for a christian to fear what men
or devils can do against him, for they cannot hurt his best life! It is
above the reach of all the assaults of earth or hell. Our Lord Jesus
teaches us not to be afraid of them who only can kill the body; for the
soul is not in their reach; nor is it possible for them to prevent the
body from partaking of its share, in the glorious life appointed for a
christian at the great rising-day.

We see here upon what firm grounds the doctrine of a christian’s
perseverance is built, Christ is his life, _Jesus, the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever_. The all-sufficient God, and his eternal Son, have
undertaken for the security of it; John x. 28, 29, 30. _I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all, and
none is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are
one._ God hath sworn by his holiness, that the seed of Christ shall
endure for ever; Ps. lxxxix. 35, 36. and that his loving-kindness shall
not be utterly taken away from his own children: And our Lord Jesus
Christ doth little less than swear to the perseverance of his disciples,
when he says; John xiv. 19. _Because I live, ye shall live also_: for,
as I live, is the oath of God.

Why art thou cast down, O believer, and why is thy soul disquieted
within thee? Hope in God thy life, for thou shalt yet praise him, how
many and great soever thine adversaries are, and how difficult soever
thy path and duty may be, and how loud soever thy foes threaten thy
destruction. There may be many things in thy travels through this world,
that may hurt or hinder the growth of thy spiritual life, and may for a
season interpose, as it were, between thee and thy God: but neither
life, nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, shall ever separate thee entirely from him, whose love
is secured in Jesus Christ; Rom. viii. 38, 39. The disciples were much
to blame, that they were overwhelmed with terror in the midst of the
storm, while Jesus Christ was with them in the same ship; and ye should
chide your own souls, when you feel yourselves under such unbelieving
fears as our Lord Jesus Christ chid in his fearful followers: “O ye of
little faith, wherefore did ye doubt?”

2nd Consolation. What a comfortable thought must it be to a poor feeble
christian, that God and Christ know all the state of his spiritual life?
for it is hid with them. Though the life of a saint has a cloud upon it,
though it is entirely hidden from men, and sometimes too much hidden
from himself too, yet the Father and the Saviour know every circumstance
of it, how low it is, how feeble, what daily obstacles it meets with,
what hourly enemies assault it. Christ our Lord well knows when our life
is in danger, and what are the necessary supplies.

This is very encouraging to a poor trembling believer, when he hardly
knows how to address the throne of grace himself in such a manner, as to
represent all his wants, and all his spiritual sorrows and difficulties
to God in prayer; but our Lord Jesus Christ, who is a compassionate
high-priest, who is our Head, and near a-kin to us his members, is
perfectly acquainted with our state: And the christian, mourning under
the decays of grace, can look up to Christ with hope, he can mingle new
exercises of faith and dependance, among his sighs and groans, and
commit his case afresh to Jesus his Saviour, with a humble and a holy
acquiescence in him. Christ himself, who is the believer’s life, must
know and will take care of all affairs which relate to his spiritual and
eternal welfare.

It is a matter of sweet consolation too, when a humble christian, who
walks carefully before God, is reproached by the world for a deceiver
and a hypocrite, that he can appeal to God, with whom his life is hid,
and say, “My record is on high; though my friends, or my enemies, may
scorn or deride me, yet he knoweth the way that I take, and the secret
exercises of my hidden life: He knows my longings and breathings of soul
after him, and that nothing but his love can satisfy me: He knows my
diligence and my holy labour to please him: He knows the wrestlings and
the conflicts that I go through hourly, to maintain my close walking
with my God: He knows that I live, though it is but a feeble life; and
the charges of the world against me are false and malicious.” It is with
a relish of holy pleasure that the christian sometimes, in secret,
appeals to our Lord Jesus Christ, as Peter did, and says, _Lord, thou
who knowest all things, knowest that I love thee_, John xxi. 17.

IIId Consolation. It is a matter of unspeakable comfort to a christian,
that the most terrible things to a sinner, are become the greatest
blessings to a saint: And these are death and judgment. What can be more
dreadful to those who know not God than those two words are; for they
put an eternal end to all their present pleasures, and to all their
hopes. But what greater happiness can a saint wish or hope for, than
death and judgment will put him in possession of? The one carries his
soul upward where his life is, that is, to God and Christ in heaven; the
other brings his life down to earth, where his body is, for Christ shall
then come to raise his dust from the grave.

I confess, I finished my former discourse on this text, with a
meditation on death and judgment; how the gloom which hung around the
saint in this life, is all dispelled at that blessed hour; and he who
was unknown and despised among men, stands forth with honour amongst
admiring angels: His hidden manner of life is for ever at an end. But in
this discourse the secret and glorious springs of his life, _viz._ God
and Christ, will naturally lead us to the same delightful meditations of
futurity, as the hidden manner of it has done; and there is so rich a
variety of new and transporting scenes and ideas attending that subject,
that I have no need to tire you with unpleasing repetition, though I
resume the glorious theme.

Let my consolations proceed then, and let the saints rejoice. At the
moment of death, the soul may say, “Farewel, for ever, sins and sorrows,
and perplexities; farewell, temptations of the alluring, and the
affrighting kind; neither the vanities, nor the terrors of this world,
shall reach me any more; for I shall from this moment for ever dwell
where my joy, my life is. All my springs are in God, and I shall be for
ever with him.”—And when the morning of the resurrection dawns upon the
world, and the day of judgment appears, the body of a christian shall be
called out of the dust, and shall bid farewell for ever to death and
darkness; to disease and pain, to all the fruits of sin, and all the
effects of the curse. Christ, who is the resurrection and the life,
stands up a complete conqueror over all the powers of the grave: He bids
the sacred dust, arise and live; the dust obeys, and revives; the whole
saint appears exulting in life; the date of his immortality then begins,
and his life shall run on to everlasting ages.

Methinks such lively views of death should incline us rather to desire
to depart from the body, that we may dwell with Christ. Death is but a
flight of the soul where its divine life is. Why should we make it a
matter of fear then, to be absent from the body, if we are immediately
present with the Lord! Methinks, under the influence of such meditations
of the resurrection, faith should breathe, and long for the last
appearance of Christ, and rejoice in the language of holy Job: _I know
that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon
the earth_; Job xix. 25. A christian should send his hopes and his
wishes forward to meet the chariot-wheels of our Lord Jesus the Judge;
for the day of his appearance is but the display of our life, and the
perfection of our blessedness. _When Christ, who is our life, shall
appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory_; Col. iii. 4. My
thoughts kindle at the sound of that blessed promise, and I long to let
contemplation loose on a theme so divinely glorious. If ever the pomp of
language be indulged, and the magnificence of words, it must be to
display this bright solemnity, this illustrious appearance, which
outshines all the pomp of words, and the utmost magnificence of
language. Come, my friends, let us meditate the sacred conformity of the
saints to Christ, first, in their hidden, and then in their glorious
life; as he was on earth, so are they; both hated of the world, both
unknown in it. The disciples must be trained up for public honours, as
their Master was, in this hideous and howling wilderness, in caves of
darkness, or rather in a den of savages. They must follow the Captain of
their salvation through a thousand dangers and sufferings; and they
shall receive their crown too, and a glory like that which arrays their
divine Leader.

O may I never think it hard to trace the footsteps of my Lord, though it
be in a miry, or a thorny way! May I never repine at poverty and
meanness of circumstance in my present pilgrimage! nor think it strange
if the world scorn and abuse me, or if Satan, the foul spirit, should
assault and buffet me sorely! Dare I hope to appear in glory, when
Christ, who is my life appears; and can I not bear to attend him in
sufferings and shame? Am I better than my blessed Lord? What poor
attendants had the Son of God, at his first entrance into our world! How
mean was every thing that belonged to him on earth! What vile and
despicable raiment, unworthy of the Prince of glory! What coarse
provision, and sorry furniture, to entertain incarnate godhead! And how
impious was the treatment he found among men, and impudent temptations
from the same foul spirit! He had snares, sorrows, and temptations,
watching all around him: The sorrows of death compassed him about, and
the powers of darkness crowded him with their envious assaults; earth
and hell were at once engaged against him; they hung him bleeding on a
cursed and infamous tree, lifted on high to be made a more public
gazing-stock, and an object of wider scorn! Blessed Saviour! how divine
was thy patience to endure all these indignities, and not call for thy
Father’s legions, nor thy own thunder.

But, this was the hour of thy appointed combat, the place of thy
voluntary obscurity, and the season of thy hidden life; and thy saints
must bear thy resemblance in both worlds. How unspeakable were thy past
sorrows! and thy present glories all unspeakable! How infinitely
different were these dark and mournful scenes, from the joys and honours
thou hast purchased by those very sufferings! Sacred honours and joys
without alloy, which thou art now possessed of as their great
forerunner, and hast made ready for thy subjects in thy own kingdom!
What robes of light shall array thy followers in that day; What bright
planet, or brighter star, shall be the place of thy dwelling? or shall
all those shining worlds be mansions of various residence, as thou shalt
lead thy saints successively through the vast and numerous provinces of
thy boundless dominion? Sorrow, sin, and temptation, shall be named no
more, unless to triumph over them in immortal songs. The fairest spirits
of light, in their own heavenly forms, shall be the companions and
attendants of the children of God. Jesus, the Lord of glory, is their
king and head, the leader of their triumph, and the pattern of their
exaltation. Jesus shall appear in his meridian lustre, as the Sun of
Righteousness in the noon of heaven; yet the beams of his influence
shall be gentle as the morning-star. There needs no other sun in that
upper world; the Lamb is the light thereof. Jesus, the ornament of
paradise, and the delight of God, shall be the eternal and beatific
object of their senses, and their souls; they must be _where he is, to
behold his glory_.

The blessed God shall dwell among them, and lay out upon them the riches
of his own all-sufficiency, riches of wisdom, grace, and power,
all-suprising, and all-infinite. Divine power shall then reveal all the
glory that has been laid up for them, of old, in the purposes of God, or
in the promises of the book of life. But it was fit it should be hidden
there, while the time of their probation lasted; it was fit they should
live by faith, and under some degrees of darkness, while the ages of sin
and temptation were rolling away: It was divinely proper that eternal
life should not break forth; nor the splendours of the third heaven be
made too conspicuous, till the six thousand years of mortality and death
had finished their revolutions round the lower skies, and had answered
the scheme of divine counsel and judgment, on a world where sin had
entered.

But life and heaven must not be hid for ever. The almighty word, in that
day, shall bid the ancient decree bring forth, and the promise unfold
itself in public light. What new worlds of unseen felicity! what scenes
of delight, and celestial blessings, never yet revealed to the race of
Adam! When the rivers of pleasure, that had run under ground from the
earth’s foundation, shall break up in immortal fountains.

Mercy and truth shall lavish out upon men with an unsparing hand all
those treasures of life which were hid in God, and in the gospel for
them. The All-wise shall please himself in making so noble creatures,
out of so mean materials, dust and ashes. Glorified saints are
master-pieces of divine skill; and the blessed original, or first
exemplar of them, the man Jesus, is the perfection of the contrivance of
God; here he has abounded in all wisdom and prudence. Then the
inhabitants of upper worlds shall see an illustrious and holy creation,
rising out of the ruins of this wretched globe, involved all in guilt,
and weltering in penal fire. When this scene opens, what sounding
acclamations shall echo from world to world, and new universal honours
be paid to Divine wisdom! The morning-stars shall sing together again,
and those holy armies shout for joy. The grace of God descending to
earth, in days past, had in some measure prepared his children for
glory: But in that day he shall enlarge their capacities, both of sense
and of mind, to an inconceivable extent, and shall fill the powers of
their glorified nature with the fruits of his love, new and old.

And what if the limits of our capacity shall be for ever stretching
themselves on all sides, and for ever drinking in larger measures of
glory; What an astonishing state of ever-growing pleasure! What an
eternal advance of our heaven! The godhead is an infinite ocean of life
and blessedness, and finite vessels may be for ever swelling, and for
ever filling in that sea of all-sufficiency. There must be no tiresome
satiety in that everlasting entertainment. God shall create the joys of
his saints ever fresh: He shall throw open his endless stores of
blessing, unknown even to the first rank of angels; and feast the sons
and daughters of men with pleasures a-kin to those which were prepared
for the Son of God. For verily he took not upon him the nature of
angels, but the likeness of sinful flesh: And when he shall appear the
second time without sin to our salvation, we shall then be made like
him, for we shall see him as he is. _Amen._


                      HYMN FOR SERMONS IX. and X.
                   _The Hidden Life of a Christian._


                  O happy soul, that lives on high,
                    While men lie groveling here!
                  His hopes are fix’d above the sky,
                    And faith forbids his fear.

                  His conscience knows no secret stings,
                    While grace and joy combine
                  To form a life, whose holy springs
                    Are hidden and divine.

                  He waits in secret on his God;
                    His God in secret sees:
                  Let earth be all in arms abroad,
                    He dwells in heavenly peace.

                  His pleasures rise from things unseen,
                    Beyond this world and time,
                  Where neither eyes nor ears have been,
                    Nor thoughts of mortals climb.

                  He wants no pomp, nor royal throne
                    To raise his figure here;
                  Content, and pleased to live unknown,
                    Till Christ his life appear.

                  He looks to heaven’s eternal hills,
                    To meet that glorious day;
                  Dear Lord, how slow thy chariot-wheels!
                    How long is thy delay!

Footnote 23:

  The bible, of old, was written on several sheets of parchment tacked
  together, and rolled up in a volume.




                               SERMON XI.
              _Nearness to God the Felicity of Creatures._
  PSALM lxv. 4.—Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to
          approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts.
                            THE FIRST PART.


It was an elegant address that the queen of Sheba made to Solomon, when
she had surveyed the magnificence of his court, and heard his wisdom;
“Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, who stand
continually before thee!” 1 Kings x. 8. And there was much truth and
honour in her speech. But the harp of David strikes a diviner note;
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, O God, that he may approach unto
thee, and dwell in thy courts, in the holy sanctuary.

Whether, in these words, the Psalmist blesses those levites and priests,
whose duty it was to attend the ark, and to dwell near the tabernacle,
or whether he pronounces blessedness on every man of Israel, whose
habitation nigh the ark gave him frequent opportunities to attend at
that solemn worship, is not very necessary to determine. Either of these
may be called dwelling in the courts of God. But it is most probable,
that the sacred writer designs the second sense of the word, and that he
includes himself in the desire or possession of this blessedness, though
he was neither a priest nor a levite; for he uses the same phrase in
several places, and applies it to himself; Ps. xxvii. 4. _One thing have
I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life._ Ps. xxiii. 6.—_I will dwell
in the house of the Lord for ever._ By which he intimates, that he would
seek the most frequent opportunities of approaching God in public
worship.

It is sufficient to my present purpose, that the holy Psalmist makes the
_blessedness of man_ to depend upon his _near approaches to God_.

Here we should remember that God is necessarily near to all his
creatures, by his infinite knowledge, by his preserving and governing
power: _He is not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and
move, and have our being_; Acts xvii. 27, 28. But the privilege which
David speaks of in my text, is a _peculiar approach of a creature to
God_, which is a fruit of divine choice and favour. The souls who enjoy
this blessing are chosen to it, and by divine providence and mercy are
_caused to approach him_. What further explication of this phrase is
necessary, will be sufficiently given in the following parts of the
discourse.

Let this then be the doctrine which I shall attempt to confirm and
improve, _viz._

Doctrine. Nearness to God is the foundation of a creature’s happiness.

This may be proved with ease, if we consider, what it is that makes an
intelligent being happy: and how well such an approach to God furnishes
us with all the means of attaining it. The ingredients of happiness are
these three: 1. The contemplation of the most excellent object: 2. The
love of the chiefest good: 3. And a delightful sense of being beloved by
an all-sufficient power, or an almighty friend.

1. The contemplation of the most excellent object. And he who is nearest
to God, has the fairest advantages of this kind. The understanding is a
noble faculty of our natures; truth is its proper food; and truth, in
all the boundless varieties and beauties of it, is the object of its
pursuit, when it is refined from sensualities.

This is the delight of the _philosopher_, to search all the hidden
wonders of nature, and pursue truth with a most pleasurable and restless
fatigue: For this he climbs the heavens, traces the planetary and the
starry worlds: For this he pries into the bowels of the earth, and
sounds the depths of the ocean; and when, with immense toil of mind, he
has found out some unknown natural truth, how are all the powers of his
soul charmed within him, and he exults, as it were, in a little
paradise!

But the souls who are admitted to draw nearest to God, contemplate
infinite truth in its original. They converse with that divine
artificer, who spread abroad these curtains of heaven, who moulded this
globe of earth, and furnished the upper and the lower worlds with all
their admirable varieties. He is a God of glory and beauty in himself,
as well as the author of all the beauties of nature. All his
perfections, as well as his works, yield heavenly matter for
contemplation: He eminently contains in himself all the amazing scenes
of nature, and the more transporting wonders of the world of grace;
those mysteries wherein _he has abounded in all wisdom and prudence_:
How the ruined sons of Adam were rescued from death, by the Son of God
dying in their stead; how Satan was baffled in his most subtle designs,
and the deepest policies of hell undermined, when the prince of darkness
destroyed his own kingdom, by persuading men to put the Son of God to
death.

What a divine pleasure is it to converse with that wisdom which laid the
eternal scheme of all these wonders, and of ten thousand more unknown
beauties in the transactions of providence and grace, with which the
blessed minds above are feasted to satisfaction! And besides all these
God has reserved in himself a hidden world of new scenes to open
hereafter, and an everlasting profusion of new wonders to display before
the eyes of his favourites. Heaven is described by _seeing God_, by
_beholding him face to face_, and by _knowing_ him in the way and manner
in which _we are known_; 1 Cor. xiii. 12. And he is pleased to indulge
some taste of this felicity to his children in this life, by mediums and
glasses, by types and figures, by his word and ordinances, under the
enlightening beams of his spirit. This is the _beauty of the Lord_, for
the view of which David desired to _dwell in_ the sanctuary; Ps. xxvii.
4, that he might see the power and glory of God continually, as he had
sometimes seen it there: that he might behold his beauty, and talk of
his glorious goodness in his holy temple. O _how great is his goodness!
and how great is his beauty_; Zech. ix. 17.

But contemplation alone cannot make a creature happy: This only
entertains the understanding, which is but one faculty of our natures:
the will and affections must have their proper entertainment too. Their
beatific exercise may be comprized in the word love, either in the
out-goings, or the returns of it: And this leads me to the following
particulars:

II. The next ingredient of a creature’s happiness, is, the love of the
chiefest good. And those _whom God chooses, and causes to approach
himself_, when they are under divine illuminations, see so much beauty
and excellency in his nature, his power and wisdom, and so many lovely
glories in his overflowing grace, that they cannot but love him above
all things; and this love is a great part of their heaven. What sweeter
pleasure is there in this lower world, than to give a loose to the
affectionate powers of the soul, to converse with the most amiable and
most desired object, to feed upon it without ceasing, and to dwell with
it perpetually? But the most relishing enjoyments of this kind that
mortality admits of, in the pursuit or possession of created good, are
but faint and feeble shadows of the blessedness of holy souls in the
love of God, who is the most amiable, and the best of beings: Therefore
_they love him with all their heart and soul, with all their mind and
strength_; and if they had more powers in nature that could be employed
in love, they should all be laid out in the search and fruition of this
first and best-beloved: for there are endless stores, and treasures of
unknown loveliness in the godhead, to excite and entertain for ever the
fresh efforts of the most exalted love. But for me to know, and to love
the best of beings, cannot make me completely happy, unless I am
_beloved_ of him also, and unless I _feel_ that he loves me. Happiness
requires mutual love.

III. The third ingredient therefore of our felicity, and that which
perfects the blessedness of a creature, is, the delightful sense of the
love of an almighty friend. To know, to love, and to be beloved by such
a being, must complete our bliss; one who hath all beauty, and all
goodness in himself; one who can free us from every pain, secure us
against every peril, and confer upon us every pleasure. This is the
perfection of our heaven, when all these are enjoyed in a perfect
degree, without any alloy. Now such is the state of those who _are
chosen and caused to approach unto God_, so as to know him, and love
him; that they have the chiefest advantages to obtain the assurance and
taste of his love. The man whom the Psalmist pronounces blessed in my
text, hopes for this pleasure in _the house of God_, that he shall be
_satisfied with the_ divine _goodness_ there.

The _loving-kindness_ of God is life, or something _better than life_;
Ps. lxiii. 3. and to have a sensation of this loving-kindness, is to
feel that I live. To think, to know, and to be assured that I am
beloved, by an all-sufficient power, _who can do more_ for me _than I
can ask or think_, in life, and death, and in eternity, and to have
pleasing and spiritual sensations of _this shed abroad in the heart_;
this raises the christian near to the upper heaven, while he dwells on
earth, and he _rejoices with joy unspeakable, and full glory_.

Some may object here and say, Is it no part of our blessedness then to
love the saints, to rejoice in their love, to contemplate the works of
God, and his wonders in creation and providence? Answer, Yes surely; and
we have allowed it before: But when we take true satisfaction in any of
these, it is as they proceed from God, as they relate to God, and lead
our souls to centre in him; for God, who is the first cause, must be the
last end of all, and no creatures, as divided from him, can make us
either holy or happy.

I proceed to make some improvement of the few thoughts I have delivered
on this subject.

I. My first reflection should be upon the scale of blessedness, or the
several degrees of felicity that creatures are possessed of, according
to their advancing approaches toward God: But my meditations dilate
themselves here to so large an extent, as makes it necessary to adjourn
this thought to the next discourse. I proceed therefore to the

II. Reflection, What unknown evil is contained in the nature of every
sin, for it divides the creature from God and from happiness? It may be
said to every soul on earth, as it was once said to Israel; _Your
iniquities have separated between you and your God_; Is. lix. 2. What a
world of endless mischief was comprized in the first sin of Adam,
whereby this lower creation was, as it were, cut off from God at once?
Man was at first happy in the image and love of his Maker, a-kin to him
by nature and creation, as a son to a father: Adam was _the Son of God_;
Luke iii. 38. and he enjoyed the privilege and the pleasure of holy
nearness to God, and humble converse with him. He read the name of his
Maker in all his works; he could contemplate divine wisdom, power, and
goodness there; he loved his Creator with all his soul, and was happy in
his Creator’s love. But when sin entered, Adam fled from his heavenly
Father, and his friend; _he hid himself among the trees in the garden_,
when the voice of the Lord called after him, _Adam, where art thou?_ And
it has been the dismal description of sinners ever since, that they are
_afar off from God_.

O what tongue can express, or what heart can conceive, the immense load,
and everlasting train of mischiefs and miseries, that lie heavy on poor
mankind, and have pursued human nature, in all the infinite members and
branches of it, through all ages and nations, for almost six thousand
years? All these were introduced by man’s first disobedience. We are a
sinful race of creatures, born in the likeness of the original sinner;
We come into the world _estranged from God, and go astray from the
womb_; for we were _shapen_ in iniquity, and conceived in sin; Ps.
lviii. 3. and li. 5. It is the temper and spirit of mankind, by nature,
to desire an absence from God, and to wish their own misery; Job xxi.
14. “What is the Almighty that we should serve him?—Depart from us, for
we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.” By nature we love him not, nor
do we seek after his love. This is your state, and this mine by nature:
These are our hateful and deplorable circumstances, and yet we go on to
aggravate our own guilt, to run further from God hourly, and to make
haste to everlasting wretchedness, if divine grace prevent us not.

III. Reflection. Is nearness to God the foundation of the creature’s
felicity, then how vain are all pretences to happiness, while man is a
stranger to God? Let him be surrounded with all imaginable delights of
sense, or let him be furnished with all advantages of reason or natural
knowledge, to entertain the mind; yet if he be afar off from God, he
must be afar off from blessedness. _Without God, and without hope_, is
the character of the sinful world. Do the profane and sensual wretches
boast of their pleasures, while God is not in all their thoughts? Empty
shews of pleasure, and vain shadows! And even these shadows, these vain
flatteries, are ever flying from their embraces; they delude their
pursuit in this world, and shall vanish all at once at the moment of
death, and leave them in everlasting sorrow.

Let the sensualist _sport himself in his own deceivings_, and bless
himself in the midst of his madness: Let the rich worldling say, “Soul
take thine ease, for thy barns and thy chests are full.” Let the mere
philosopher glory that he has found happiness out; let him busy himself
in refined subtilties, and swell in the pride of his reason: let all
these pretenders to felicity, compliment each other, if they please, or
call themselves the only happy men; yet the meanest, and the weakest of
all the saints, would not make an exchange with them; for the saint is
brought nigh to God: And though his poverty here be never so great and
his understanding never so contemptible, yet he knows this great truth
well, that to exchange God for the creature, would be infinite loss, and
misery unspeakable. They who never drew near to God, who never saw God
in his works or his word, so as to love him above all things, and
partake of his love, must be miserable in spite of all their pretences:
_They that are far from God shall perish_; Ps. lxxiii. 27.

IV. Reflection. God has not utterly abandoned this world to sin and
misery, while he keeps his word and his ordinances in it: For these are
his appointed means of approaching to him, and steps whereby we may
climb to the blessedness of saints and angels. God sent his word after
Adam the sinner, when he fled from him in paradise, that he might recal
man back to himself; and he has been ever since sending messages of
peace, and invitations of love, to a ruined and rebellious world. Happy
sinners, who hear the voice of an inviting God, who turn their back upon
the perishing vanities of life and time, who forsake the creatures, and
return to their Creator again! Thousands of the sons and daughters of
Adam have accepted the messages of this grace, and have been by these
methods trained up for glory: By conversing with God in his ordinances,
and dwelling in his courts on earth, they have been happily prepared for
an everlasting habitation in his court of heaven. We this day are
favoured with the same divine call in the gospel; let every soul of us
rejoice and follow.

V. Reflection. The true value of things on earth may be judged of and
determined by their tendency to bring us near to God and heaven. The
common measure of our esteem of things, is the influence they have to
promote what we think our happiness. Now, if our judgment be set right
in this point, and we are convinced that an approach to God is the way
to be happy, then whatsoever leads us nearest to God will rise in value
in our esteem.

Then our hearts will set a high esteem on those friends or relatives who
draw us to the knowledge and love of God: Then we shall prize the
ministrations of the gospel in England above the riches of both the
Indies; then we shall not think the ministry of the word a mean and
contemptible employment, nor delight to hear scandals thrown on the
persons or the characters of those who are engaged in it; for _these are
the servants of the living God, who shew us the way_ to be happy. Then
we shall commend those sermons, and those writings most, not that have
most wit and fancy in them, but those which we feel and find to draw our
hearts farthest off from sin and the creature, and bring them nearest to
God; and then, if there were but one bible in the world, we should all
agree to say, that there is not treasure enough in all the material
creation to purchase it out of our hands.

VI. Reflection. All the means of separation from God should be numbered
among the instruments of real misery.

Does Satan the fallen angel, solicit our youth with his flatteries; that
it is time enough to mind religion yet; let us have a few more gaudy
days first? Does he frighten the aged sinner with terrible falsehoods,
and tempt him to an utter despair of grace? Let his wicked suggestions
be renounced with disdain, and let him never prevail to keep one soul of
us at a distance from God; for his first business was to divide us from
God, and to ruin our happiness: And it is his daily employment to hold
us fast in the chains of iniquity and death, and thus to prevent our
return to God.

Does the flesh allure us to pursue sinful delights? Does it awaken and
charm our imagination with the flowery and fatal scenes of luxury and
mirth? Do the lusts of the flesh, or the lusts of the eye, persuade us
to seek happiness among them? And tempt us, at least for the present, to
lay aside the thoughts of God? Let us set a strict guard upon ourselves,
and watch all the avenues of sense and appetite, lest we be drawn off
from the practice of piety, and the service, and the love of God, where
true happiness is only to be found.

Do you find, O christians, that the world begins to creep into your
hearts? Do you find any creature sit too near your souls, and take up
any of that time and room which God should have there? Awake, betimes,
and bestir yourselves, lest it divide you from your happiness. When you
feel your spirits at any time grow cold in religious worship, when you
can pass a day with an indifference about secret converse with God, and
be content to be long absent from him, search with diligence what enemy
it is that has crept in secretly, and interposes betwixt God and you;
and when you have found it, never rest, till by the aids of divine
grace, you have removed the idol from your thoughts, and your soul be
restored to its holy nearness to God again. I might say in general,
concerning all this world, keep your hearts aloof from it, while your
hands, and perhaps your heads too, are engaged in the necessary affairs
of it. The nearer your souls are to the creatures, the farther they
depart from God and blessedness. As a natural consequence from this
thought, we may raise another

VII. Reflection. Wanderings, and vain thoughts in the time of religious
worship, are, and will be, the great burdens of a child of God; for they
clog him, and keep him down when he would rise to his heavenly Father;
they are bars in his way to blessedness, for they hinder his approach to
God. But what wretched creatures are we, if we indulge vain thoughts,
and worldly images and idols in the house of God, without complaint, and
without mourning! What holy shame and repentance should it work in us,
to think, that even in the place where the great and blessed God comes
to shew his face, we should be building up walls and partitions to hide
his face from us! that we should turn away our faces from him in the
hour when he comes on purpose to meet us!

I might add, as a concluding reflection, that it is a tiresome bondage
to a saint, in a devout frame, to dwell so long in this body of flesh
and blood. This mortal state prevents our complete happiness every hour
that we tarry in it. While we sojourn in this tabernacle, we are so much
the farther from God; while _we are at home in the body, we are absent
from the Lord_; 2 Cor. v. 6. This mortal flesh is a painful veil to the
lively christian, for it divides him from the sight and full enjoyment
of his chosen blessedness. At the best we see God but _darkly through a
glass_ while we dwell here; the moment of release places us in the
region of spirits, _where we shall see him face to face_; 1. Cor. xiii.
12. Though all these reflections may afford us many useful rules for our
practice, yet I will not finish the discourse without a few inferences
which are more expressly practical.

Practical Directions.—1. Give all glory to God for ever, who brings
himself so near to us: He puts us thus far in the road to happiness,
when he builds his houses amongst us, when he approaches to us in his
holy ordinances, when he calls, and causes us to approach to him, and
gives us kind and sure promises of eternal blessedness above in his
immediate presence. Let each of us join with Solomon in that noble piece
of worship; 1 Kings viii. 27. “But will God indeed dwell on earth?
Behold the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less any
house that is built for thee?” Yet the Lord is near to the churches of
his saints, when they worship him; _he is near to all that call upon
him, to all that call upon him in truth_; Ps. cxlv. 18. And _his word is
near us_, even in our hands, and on our lips; that word which teaches us
the way to approach God, and ensures the blessedness.

O give glory to God, the great and holy God, that he should ever be
willing to let sinners approach him; that the Majesty of Heaven, and the
supreme Lord of all, who had been highly provoked by his rebellious
creatures, should ever come into terms of reconciliation; that he
himself should provide a reconciling sacrifice, to satisfy his own
governing justice, and a reconciling spirit to reduce the rebel man to
his obedience and love. This divine condescension, O my soul, demands
thy wonder and thy worship.

2. Adore the mystery of the incarnation, and bless God incarnate; for
this is the ground of all our habitual nearness to God, and all our
actual approaches to him and heaven. It was the Son of God, who is one
with the Father, that stooped down, and approached to our nature, and
took a part of it into union with himself, that we might approach to the
Deity: No man cometh to the Father but by the Son; John xiv. 6. For ever
had we, the wretched offspring of Eve, been banished from the courts,
and the presence of God, had not this man Jesus the Son of Mary, been
caused first to draw near, and to dwell near; and blessed be his name
for ever.

We rejoice with all the powers of our souls, to think how near to God
the man Jesus is, for since he approaches the throne, we shall approach
too; Rev. iii. 21. We shall be blessed through his blessedness; Gal.
iii. 8. 14. He was first chosen to draw near, and _we chosen in him_;
Eph. i. 4. Nearness to God is still a matter of divine choice and
distinction: He approaches to God above, accepted in his own spotless
righteousness, and we in him: He is in a more transcendant manner one
with God, and we must be united to God by him, and so made somewhat like
him; John xvii. 24. When our Mediator approaches to the Father in
worship, he, as our High-priest, bears the name of the whole church in
heaven and earth, on his breast, and on his shoulders; Ex. xxxviii.
12-29. In his beauty of holiness, we unholy creatures are presented
before God, and caused to approach with glorious acceptance.

Stand still here, O ye saints of the Most High, and survey your
privileges and your honours; and remember that whensoever you draw near
to God in the courts of his house, it was Jesus who drew near first, it
is Jesus who still dwells near to make you acceptable: it is he who
maintains the nearness of your state, and your peace with God, by ever
presenting your natures in his person: _He appears in the presence of
God for us_; Heb. ix. 24. It is Jesus, who, by his Spirit, lifts you up
near to the Father; and it is by his best beloved and nearest Son, that
God the Father draws near to all his children.

3. Be not found amongst the mockers of approach to God, and holy
converse with him in worship. They despise felicity itself. Such there
have been of old, and such there are in our days; and because they are
afar off from God themselves, they deny all nearness to him, they
ridicule our approaches to God, as the vain effects of a wild
imagination, and the mere sensible commotions of a warm fancy.

But is it not a very rational and intelligible thing, for a soul in
public worship, so to draw near to God, as to learn more of him, and to
know more of his perfections and graces than he knew before? May not
such a worshipper have his love to God raised and warmed by such
advancing knowledge! And may he not arise, by holy inferences, to a
livelier and surer hope that he is beloved of God too, and solace
himself in this assurance? What is there in all this which is not
perfectly agreeable to reason, or that should provoke an impious jest?
But let such have a care, lest they blaspheme God and his Spirit; let
them take heed, lest they be thrust down to hell, and set at a dreadful
distance from God, without remedy, who deride the joy of heaven.

4. Take heed of those deceits of being above ordinances, lest you lose
true happiness through pride and vain conceit. Abandon the vain fancy of
living nearer to God in the neglect of them. God is glorious in himself,
but he has appointed ordinances, as means whereby we may approach and
see him. Some stars, though large in themselves, yet are not visible
without glasses; and others that are visible to the naked eye, yet
appear much fairer and larger by this help. Even so those glories of
God, which are unknown to reason, and to the light of nature, are
discovered in the ministrations of his word; such are his subsistence in
three persons, and his forgiving grace: and those glories of his nature,
which are traced out by human reason, stand in a diviner light, with all
their splendors about them, in the gospel, and the sanctuary.

5. Never rest satisfied without approaching to God in spirit and in
truth, when you attend on his ordinances. This is the goodness of his
house that must satisfy the holy soul of the Psalmist, as he expresses
it in the following words of my text: _We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thine house._

What a folly it is to be pleased with empty ordinances without God! 1
Tim. iv. 8. _Bodily exercise profiteth little._ To make a serious matter
of mere external things, and to make nothing of spiritual ones! These
formal and silly creatures come to the palace of the king, and turn
their backs on his person, to play with his shadow upon the wall:
ridiculous and childish folly! And yet how often is this the trifling
practice of the men of wisdom? And sometimes persons of true piety are
tempted to indulge in it. Let me ask my conscience, “Did I never let my
curiosity dwell upon the just reasoning, the correct style, the pretty
similies, the flowing oratory, or flowery beauties of a sermon, while I
neglected to seek my God there, and to raise my soul near him? Or
perhaps I was charmed with the decency and voice of the preacher; or, it
may be, was better entertained with some zealous party flights which
flattered my own bitter zeal, and seemed to sanctify my uncharitable
censures; and when I returned from the place of worship, I had a
pleasant remembrance of all these.” But it had been better, if
conscience had reproached my folly, and made me remember that I had
forgot my God there.

It is also a dreadful abuse of gospel-ordinances, and a high mockery of
God, to come to his courts, and not draw near him; Jer. xii. 2. “When
God is near in our mouth, but far from our heart.” Ordinances are an
appointed medium for man to come to God by them. If we use them not as
such, we either make idols of them, by placing of them in God’s stead,
or we make nothing of them, no means of converse with God: both ways we
nullify them, for an idol is nothing, and mere vanity, as the prophets
and the apostles speak: So ordinances are vain and unprofitable, and
utterly insufficient to make us happy without God. They are mere images,
and shadows without the substance.

To seek after God, and endeavour to approach him in all his own
institutions, is the way to be recovered from the miseries of the fall.
To live in a holy nearness to God, is a restoration to the pleasures of
innocency. It is the full happiness of reasonable natures to be always
with God: It is our noblest honour, and our sweetest consolation, in
this state of darkness and trial, to get as near him as earth and grace
will admit; and it is also the best preparative for heaven and the state
of glory, where we shall dwell for ever near him, and be for ever
blessed. _Amen._


                          HYMN FOR SERMON XI.
              _Nearness to God the Felicity of Creatures._


                  Are those the happy persons here,
                  Who dwell the nearest to their God,
                  Has God invited sinners near?
                  And Jesus bought his grace with blood?

                  Go then, my soul, address the Son,
                  To lead thee near the Father’s face;
                  Gaze on his glories yet unknown,
                  And taste the blessings of his grace.

                  Vain vexing world, and flesh, and sense,
                  Retire while I approach my God;
                  Nor let my sins divide me thence,
                  Nor creatures tempt my thoughts
                  abroad.

                  While to thine arms, my God, I press,
                  No mortal hope, nor joy, nor fear,
                  Shall call my soul from thine embrace;
                  ’Tis heav’n to dwell for ever there.




                              SERMON XII.
  _The Scale of Blessedness: Or, Blessed Saints, Blessed Saviour, and
                           Blessed Trinity._
  PSALM LXV. 4.—Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to
          approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts.
                            THE SECOND PART.


By the entrance of sin into the world, man was first separated from God
and happiness: God in righteous anger withdrew from his creature man;
and man, obeying the dictates of his own impious folly, runs farther
away from his Maker God; _He is born like a wild ass’s colt_, unknowing
and thoughtless: and like a colt he runs wild in the forest of this
world, roving amongst a thousand vanities in quest of happiness, but
afar off from God still. He seeks substantial and pleasant food, but he
meets with broad barren sands in the wilderness, or with brakes, and
briars, and bitter weeds. He follows every foolish fire of fancy, till
he is led into many a pit and precipice; He rises again, and changes the
chase: He flies perpetually from object to object, but finds everlasting
disappointment: Shadows, and painted hopes, flatter and tire, and delude
him, till he lies down and despairs in death.

This is the case of mankind by nature; they live ignorant of God, and
wilfully blind to their own felicity. Fatal blindness and wretched
mankind! But blessed be God, that he has not renounced and abandoned all
our race for ever, and fixed us in a state of eternal separation from
him! Blessed be God, who has chosen, and already called many of the
wanderers to himself again! He has built dwellings for himself on earth;
he has appointed means for our return, and invites all to approach him.
Good David had a full and lively sense hereof when he wrote the words of
this song; _Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to
approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts_: Whence I derived
this doctrine in the foregoing sermon.

Doctrine. Nearness to God is the foundation of a creature’s happiness.

This doctrine appeared in full evidence, while we considered the three
chief ingredients of true felicity, _viz._ the contemplation of the
noblest object, to satisfy all the powers of the understanding, the love
of the supreme good, to answer the utmost propensities of the will; and
the sweet and everlasting sensation and assurance of the love of an
almighty friend, who will free us from all the evils which our nature
can fear, and confer upon us all the good which a wise and innocent
creature can desire. Thus all the capacities of man are employed in
their highest and sweetest exercises and enjoyments. Now it is God
alone, the great and ever-blessed God, who can furnish us with all these
materials of blessedness, who can refine our natures, and who can thus
engage and entertain all the powers and appetites of our natures
refined.

Having finished what I designed in the explication and proof of this
doctrine, I proceeded to make various reflections for our information
and practice. But the meditation which I proposed, and reserved for this
discourse, was the sacred scale of blessedness, or the several degrees
of felicity, that creatures are possessed of, according to their
advancing approaches toward God; and we shall find blessedness, in its
highest perfection, to belong only to God himself.

First degree of blessedness.—I. Happy are they who, though they are
sinners by nature, yet are brought so near to God, as to be within the
sound and call of his grace.

In this sense the whole nation of the Jews was a people near unto God,
for he shewed his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto
Israel; and upon this account they were happy, in ancient ages, above
all kingdoms of the earth; Ps. cxlvii. and cxlviii.

Happy those countries where the apostles of Christ planted the gospel,
and brought grace and salvation near them, though they were before at a
dreadful distance from God! Happy Britons in our age! Though we are
involved, with the rest of mankind, in the common ruins of our first
defection from God, yet we are not left in the darkness of heathenism,
on the very confines of hell: But God has exalted us near to heaven and
himself, in the ministrations of his word, and led us in a way to his
everlasting enjoyment. He has built his sanctuaries amongst us, and
established his churches in the midst of us. We are invited to behold
_the beauty of the Lord_, to return to our obedience and his love, and
thus be made happy for ever.

This is a matter of divine choice and peculiar favour. Blessed England,
whom “He hath chosen, and caused to approach” thus far towards himself!
And why was not the polite nation of China chosen too; And why not the
poor Savages of Africa, and the barbarous millions of the American
world? Why are they left in a dismal estrangement from God, “Even so,
Father, because it pleased thee,” whose counsels “are unsearchable, and
whose ways of judgment and mercy are past finding out.”

“Blessed are the people who hear and know the joyful sound;” Ps. lxxxix.
15. But there are degrees of this blessedness, even in the lands which
enjoy the gospel. Blessed are they above others, who dwell near to the
places of public worship, who sit under an enlightening, a powerful and
persuasive ministry, who have opportunity to hear the word of God often,
and who have skill to read it. Blessed are they who are born of
religious parents, and trained up in the early forms of piety; these are
still brought near unto God; they are nursed up, as it were, in his
churches, and dwell in his courts. And blessed are those who are devoted
to the service of the sanctuary, like the priests and levites of old,
who were brought nearest to God, among all Israel; for their civil
employment, as well as their religious duty, led them continually toward
God, heaven and happiness. But all these glorious privileges are not
sufficient to ensure eternal felicity, unless we come one step farther
in approaching to God.

Second degree of blessedness—II. Happy are those souls who have been
taught to improve their outward advantages of nearness to God, so as to
obtain reconciliation, with him by the blood of Christ. This is the
great end of all the privileges before-mentioned, which either Jew or
Gentile were partakers of: This was the design of all the approaches
that God made towards them. Peace and salvation, were preached _to those
which were afar off, and to them that were nigh_, and Christ died to
reconcile both unto God; and that _through him both might have an access
by one Spirit unto the Father_: Eph. ii. 16, 17, 18. Why are all the
alluring glories of the Lord displayed before us, in his gospel, but
that we might be drawn to love him? Why are these wondrous
manifestations of his grace made to us, but that we might become the
objects of his love, and taste of his special goodness.

Happy persons, who are weary of their old estrangement from God, who
have heard and have received the offers of his mercy, who have made
their solemn approaches to God by Jesus the Mediator, and are joined to
the Lord in a sweet and everlasting covenant! Happy creatures, who
behold the beauties of their Maker’s face with double pleasure, who love
him with all their souls, and begin to taste the love of his heart too!
This is a matter of special privilege. _Blessed are the men who are thus
chosen_ by divine grace, and whom he _has caused to approach to himself_
by the converting power of his own Spirit! Let them come, let them come,
and give up their names to his churches; let them take up their places,
and dwell in his courts on earth, and thus make a nearer approach to his
court of heaven.

O that sinners would once be convinced that there are divine pleasures
in religion, and _joys which the stranger intermeddles not with_! O that
they would be once brought to believe, that happiness consists in
approaching to God! That they would but give credit to the report of
wise and holy men, who have lived in humble converse with God many
years! What a sacred and superior pleasure it is, above all the joys of
sense, to love the great and blessed God, and to know that he loves me!
To walk all the day in the light of his countenance! To have him near me
as a counsellor, whose advice I may ask in every difficulty of life! To
be ever near him as my guard, and to fly from every danger to the wing
of his protection! To have such an almighty Friend with me in sickness
and sorrow, in anguish and mortal agonies, and ready to receive my
departing spirit into the arms of his love.

O that the formal and nominal christian, who attends divine worship,
would but once be persuaded, that if he come one step nearer to God, his
happiness will receive almost an infinite advance! Let the shadows lead
him to the substance; let the image in the glass allure him to converse
with the original beauty, and the ordinances of grace bring him near to
the God of grace! Let him no longer content himself with pictures of
happiness, but give himself up entirely to the Lord, and be made
possessor of solid and substantial felicity. Blessed is the man who has
renounced sin and the world, and his heart is over-powered by divine
goodness, and brought near to God in his holy covenant.

Yet there are degrees of blessedness among the saints on earth. Blessed
is every soul whose state and nature are changed, who is not a stranger,
but a son: but more blessed are those sons who are most like their
heavenly Father, and keep closest to him in all their ways! Blessed are
they above others in the holy family, who seldom wander from their God,
whose hearts are always in a heavenly frame, and whose graces and
virtues brighten and improve daily, and make a continual and joyful
advance toward the state of glory!

Third degree of blessedness.—III. Now let us raise our thoughts, and
wonder at the blessedness of the saints and angels in the upper world:
and blessed are those spirits, whether they belong to bodies or not,
whom the Lord has chosen, and caused to approach so near him, as to
dwell and abide in his higher courts! They are fully _satisfied with the
goodness of his house, even of his holy temple_. The saints are
established as pillars in this temple of God, and shall go no more out.
They approach him in their sublime methods of worship, without the
medium of types and ordinances: They _see God face to face_; 1 Cor.
xiii. 12. Though ordinances in the church on earth are means of drawing
near, yet in that very thing they are also tokens of some degree of
estrangement. The saints above are constantly _before the throne_, or
night and day serving the Lord, as it is expressed metaphorically; Rev.
vii. 15. though in truth _there is no night there_; for they who dwell
with God, dwell in light everlasting: They approach to their Maker in
most pleasurable acts of worship, without any interposing cloud to hide
his face from them, without clogs and fetters to hold them at a
distance, without wanderings, without sins, and without temptations.

O blessed state! O glorious felicity! They behold the beauty of the
Lord, transported in divine contemplation, infinitely various and
immortal. They feed upon his goodness with all the raptures of refined
love, and are held in long ecstacy under the permanent sensations of the
love of God.

Yet in this state of perfect glory, there are doubtless some different
degrees of nearness to God, and consequently there are different ranks
and orders of blessed spirits. This is evident amongst the angels beyond
all contradiction: for though all of them behold the face of God
continually; Mat. xviii. 10. yet Gabriel seems to be a favourite angel,
standing in the presence of God, and employed in the noblest errands to
men; Luke i. 19. And we read of seraphs and cherubs, angels and
archangels, thrones, dominions, and principalities; which plainly
exhibits to us a celestial hierarchy, or superior and subordinate ranks
of glory and power.

And why may it not be so amongst the saints on high, those sons of Adam
who are made like to angels! They are so many stars that shine with
various degrees of splendour, as they are placed nearer to the Sun of
Righteousness, and receive and reflect more of his beams. I might
multiply arguments on this head, but I shall at present ask only these
two or three convincing questions.

Can we ever imagine that Moses the meek, the friend of God, who was, as
it were, his confidant on earth, his faithful prophet to institute a new
religion, and establish a new church in the world; who, for God’s sake,
endured forty years of banishment, and had forty years fatigue in a
wilderness; who saw God on earth face to face, and the shine was left
upon his countenance? Can we suppose that this man has taken his seat no
nearer to God in paradise, than Samson and Jepthah, those rash
champions, those rude and bloody ministers[24] of providence? Or can we
think that St. Paul, the greatest of the apostles, _who laboured more
than they all_, and _was in sufferings_ more abundant than the rest; who
spent a long life in daily services and deaths for the sake of Christ,
is not fitted for, and advanced to a rank of blessedness superior to
that of the crucified thief, who became a christian but a few moments,
at the end of a life of impiety and plunder? Can I persuade myself, that
a holy man, who has known much of God in this world, and spent his age
on earth in contemplation of the divine excellencies, who has acquired a
great degree of nearness to God in devotion, and has served him, and
suffered for him, even to old age and martyrdom, with a sprightly and
faithful zeal; can I believe that this man, who has been trained up all
his life to converse with God, and is fitted to receive divine
communications above his fellows, shall dwell no nearer to God
hereafter, and share no larger a degree of blessedness, than the little
babe who just entered into this world to die out of it, and who is
saved, so far as we know, merely by the spreading veil of the covenant
of grace, drawn over it by the hand of the parent’s faith? Can it be
that the great Judge who _cometh, and his reward is with him, to render
to every one according to his works_, will make no distinction between
Moses and Samson, between the apostle and the thief, between the aged
martyr and the infant, in the world to come?

And yet after all it may be matter of enquiry, whether the meanest saint
among the sons of Adam, has not some sort of privilege above any rank of
angels, by being of a kindred-nature to our Emmanuel, to Jesus the Son
of God? But this leads me to the

Fourth degree of Blessedness.—IV. Let us stand still again, and wonder
yet more at the blessedness of the man Christ Jesus in his approach to
God.

1. His very union to God is habitual blessedness. He is constituted near
to God by an unspeakable union. What joys, what unknown delights above
our language, and above our thoughts, possess the holy soul of the man
Jesus, for he is the nearest creature to the blessed God; for he is one
with godhead; John x. 30. The Son of David, according to the flesh, is
joined in a personal union to the eternal God, and thus he _is over all,
God blessed for evermore_; Rom. ix. 5.

There was a time indeed, when the divine nature so far withheld its
influences, as to let him feel sorrows and sharp agonies, when he came
to make himself a sacrifice for our sins, and exposed his holy nature to
pain and shame: He consented for a season to have God absent, but cried
out terribly under the present anguish of it, and shall have no more
trials of this kind. Christ _being raised from the dead, dieth no more_;
Rom. vi. 9. The man who was born of the virgin, shall now have the
eternal Son of God for ever manifesting himself in him and to him,
according to this divine union.

This is that glorious piece of human nature, that one man, whom God has
chosen, from all the rest of mankind, to bring so near to himself. This
is that flesh, and that soul, which were chosen by God the Father’s
decree, from among all possible, and all future flesh and souls, to be
made for ever one with God: and they are for ever one. This wondrous
union has, and must have everlasting pleasure in it, vastly beyond our
nearest unions and approaches to God even in our most exalted state in
grace or glory. This is an approach to God indeed, _and blessed is the
man whom thou hast thus chosen_, O Lord, and thus _caused to approach
unto thee, that he may dwell, not only in thy courts, but in thy bosom_,
in thyself for ever and ever: Blessed is this man, and may he be for
ever blessed![25]

2. His knowledge of God is much more intimate, more extensive, and more
perfect, than any other creature can attain: for as he is exalted to the
highest station and dignity that can belong to a creature, so we may be
assured the all-wise God has furnished him with faculties of the noblest
capacity, answerable to so exalted a station; and Christ has the highest
advantage to fill all those capacities with inconceivable treasures of
knowledge, by dwelling so near to God, and being so intimately united to
Divine Wisdom. The sublime furniture of his understanding is vastly
superior to all that we know, or can know; for our union to God is but a
distant copy, his is the bright, but inimitable original. Our nearness
to God bears no proportion to that of the man Jesus; for his union to
the godhead is of a superior kind. He has therefore a vaster
comprehension of all truth, and a sweeter relish in the survey of it,
than any created spirit, angelic or human; and thereby this part of his
blessedness becomes far superior to theirs.

3. All the outgoings of his holy soul towards God, all his desires, his
love, and delight, are more noble in their kind, and more intense in
their degree, than those of any other creature. He who dwells so near to
godhead, sees vastly more beauty, excellency, and loveliness in the
Deity, than men or angels can do at their distance; and therefore his
love is raised to unknown heights and raptures.

All his worship of the Father consists of nobler acts, and nearer
approaches, than it is possible for any other creature to perform or
partake of. Jesus, the man, worshipped here on earth, and he worships
above in glory: He loves the godhead, as infinitely more amiable than
himself; he trusts in it as more powerful; acknowledges God is above him
in every glory, in every beauty infinitely superior to him; and this is
divine worship; for a creature is still beneath God, and the
acknowledgment of it is the worship due from him. Now Christ pays this
acknowledgment with greater humility than the meanest worm of the race
of Adam; for the nearer he is to God, the better he knows the true
distance of a creature; and because he does it with greater humility,
therefore with sweeter delight; for the lower a creature lies before
God, the nearer doth God approach it. _The High and Holy One, who
inhabiteth eternity, and dwelleth in the high and holy place, dwelleth
also with the humble soul_; Is. lvii. 15. But this leads me to a farther
degree of the blessedness of the man Christ Jesus; and that is,

4. He hath a fuller, a richer, and a more transporting sense of the love
of God, since God makes nearer approaches to him, and discovers more of
his infinite goodness, and communicates more of his love. We may venture
to say, that God loves the human nature of Christ better than he does
any other creature; and this human nature has a stronger, and more
intimate consciousness of the divine love, and a sweeter sensation of
it, than saints or angels can have, because of the personal union
between the son of man and the eternal God: which union, though we know
not precisely what it is, yet, we know to be sufficient to give him the
name Emmanuel, God with us; which distinguishes it most gloriously from
all our unions to God, and raises his dignity, his character, and his
advantages, even as a man, to so sublime a degree above that of all
other creatures.

By his exaltation, and his dwelling so near to God, his powers are
inconceivably enlarged, and made capable of taking in higher degrees of
felicity. Sights of God stretch the faculties of the soul, and enlarge
it to receive more of God; this eternal sight has our Redeemer. We see
the glory of God chiefly in the face of Christ Jesus his Son, but he
sees the glory of God in his own face and brightness, Christ himself is
_the brightness of his Father’s glory_; Heb. i. 2, 3.

5. As Christ is the medium of our nearness to God, as he is the head of
all those who approach to God, and the Mediator through whom all
approach, so his blessedness is above ours; for in some sense, and by
way of eminence, he enjoys and feels all that we enjoy and feel, and
vastly more too; for he is the medium through which we approach and we
enjoy, as well as a person who himself, and for himself, approaches and
enjoys: As when a stream of wine or living water is conveyed from the
spring by a pipe or channel, the pipe has a tincture of the rich liquor
as it flows; so, if it be lawful to illustrate things heavenly and
divine, by things on earth, and to bring them down to our ideas by
material similitudes, our Lord Jesus, who is authorised to confer life
and joy on the saints, and through whom all grace, glory, and
blessedness, are conveyed to them, feels, and tastes, and relishes,
eminently and in a superior manner, all the joy and the blessedness that
he conveys to our souls; and all better than we can do, for he is nearer
the fountain; he takes a divine and unknown satisfaction in every
blessing which he communicates to us. Besides all this, there are some
richer streams that terminate and end in himself; the peculiar
privileges and pleasures of the good man, while others flow through him,
as the head, down to all his members, and give him the first relish of
their sweetness.

When Christ, at the head of all the elect saints, shall at the great day
draw near to the Father, and say, _Here am I and the children thou hast
given me_; those blessed ones whom _thou hast chosen, that they may
approach unto thee_ by me; I have often approached to thee for them, and
behold I now approach with them to the courts of thy upper house. What
manner of joy and glory shall this be! How unspeakably blessed is our
Lord Jesus; and we rejoice with wonder!

[This sermon may be divided here.]

Fifth, or supreme degree of Blessedness.—V. Our admiration may be raised
yet higher, if we make one excursion beyond all created nature, and lift
our thoughts upward to the blessedness of the three glorious persons in
the trinity[26]. All their infinite and unknown pleasures are derived
from their ineffable union and communion in one godhead, their
inconceivable nearness to each other in the very centre and spring of
all felicity. They are inseparably and intimately one with God; they are
eternally one God, and therefore eternally blessed; 1 John v. 7. _For
there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and
the Holy Ghost; and these three are one_; which text I believe to be
authentic and divine, and that upon just reasons, notwithstanding all
the cavils and criticisms that have endeavoured to blot it out of the
bible. Nor is their blessedness, or their nearness, a dull inactive
state: Knowledge and mutual love make up their heaven, so far as mortals
dare conceive of it, and so far as we have leave to speak of God after
the manner of men.

_First_, Knowledge.—An eternal blissful contemplation of all the
infinite beauties, powers, and properties of godhead, and of all the
operations of these powers in an inconceivable variety among creatures,
is the glorious employment of God. His own knowledge of infinite truths,
whether wrapt up in his own nature, or unfolded and displayed in his
works, is a pleasure becoming the Deity; and each sacred person
possesses this unknown pleasure.

And besides the general glories of the divine nature, we may suppose,
that a full and comprehensive knowledge of the sameness, the difference,
the special properties, and the mutual relations of the three divine
persons, which are utterly incomprehensible to mortals, and perhaps far
above the reach of all created minds, is the incommunicable
entertainment of the holy Trinity, and makes a part of their
blessedness. In reference to this mystery, God may be said to dwell in
thick darkness; 1 Kings viii. 12. or, which is all one, in light
inaccessible; 1 Tim. vi. 16. We are lost in this glorious, this divine
abyss, and overcome with dazzling confusion: But the ever blessed Three
behold these unities and distinctions in the clearest light. _As the
Father knoweth me, so know I the Father_, saith Jesus the eternal Son;
John x. 15. And _as the spirit of a man knoweth the things of a man, so
the things of God are known to his own Spirit_, for he _searcheth the
depths of God_; 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. as it is expressed in the original,
τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ.

But God’s contemplation, or knowledge of himself, is not his only
pleasure, for God is love; 1 John iv. 8. He has an infinite propensity
towards himself, and an inconceivable complacence in his own powers and
perfections, as well as in all the outgoings of them toward created
natures. His love being most wise and perfect, must exert itself toward
the most perfect object, and the chiefest good; and that in a degree
answerable to its goodness too: Therefore he can love nothing in the
same degree with himself, because he can find no equal good.

May we not therefore suppose the blessedness of the sacred Three to
consist also in mutual love? May I call it a perpetual delightful
tendency, and active propensity toward each other? An eternal approach
to each other with infinite complacency? An eternal embrace of each
other with arms of inimitable love and with sensations of unmeasurable
joy? Thus saith the Son of God under the character of divine wisdom;
Prov. viii. 23, 30. _I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,
or ever the earth was. Then was I by him as one brought up with him, and
I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him._ As the Father
loveth the Son, so the Son loveth the Father. As the Father delights
infinitely in his perfect image, so may we not venture to say, the Son
takes infinite delight in the glorious archetype, and thus imitates the
Father? Will not the expressions of the apostle Paul; Heb. i. 3. and the
words of Christ himself; John v. 19, 20. encourage and support this
manner of speaking? He _is the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the
express image of his person: The Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him
all things that himself doeth: and what things soever he seeth the
Father do, these also doth the Son likewise_. And this seems to be the
first foundation of those glorious offices of raising the dead, and
judging the world, which in the following verses are committed to the
Son, _that all men may honour the Son, as they honour the Father_; ver.
23.

As the blessed Three have an unknown communion in the Godhead, or divine
nature, so they must have an unspeakable nearness to one another’s
persons, an inconceivable in-being and in-dwelling in each other. John
xiv. 10. I in the Father, and the Father in me. Each is near to the two
other divine subsistences, and this mutual nearness must be attended
with delight and felicity unknown to all but the blessed Three who enjoy
it. O glorious and divine communion! The Father for ever near to his own
image the Son, and herein blessed! The Son never divided from the
embraces of the Father, and therefore happy! The Spirit everlastingly
near them both, and therefore he is the ever-blessed Spirit! And all
these united in one Godhead, and therefore infinitely and for ever
blessed!

The Father is so intimately near the Son and Spirit, that no finite or
created natures or unions can give a just resemblance of it. We talk of
the union of the sun and his beams, of a tree and its branches: But
these are but poor images, and faint shadows of this mystery, though
they are some of the best that I know. The union of the soul and body,
is, in my esteem, still farther from the point, because their natures
are so widely different. In vain we search through all the creation to
find a complete similitude of the Creator.

And in vain may we run through all the parts and powers of nature and
art, to seek a full resemblance of the mutual propensity and love of the
blessed Three towards each other. Mathematicians talk indeed of the
perpetual tendencies, and infinite approximations of two or more lines
in the same surface, which yet never can entirely concur in one line:
And if we should say that the three persons of the Trinity, by mutual
in-dwelling and love, approach each other infinitely in one divine
nature, and yet lose not their distinct personality; it would be but an
obscure account of this sublime mystery. But this we are sure of, that
for three divine persons to be so inconceivably near one another in the
original and eternal spring of love, goodness, and pleasure, must
produce infinite delight. In order to illustrate the happiness of the
sacred Three, may we not suppose something of society necessary to the
perfection of happiness in all intellectual nature? To know, and be
known, to love and to be beloved, are perhaps, such essential
ingredients of complete felicity, that it cannot subsist without them:
And it may be doubted whether such mutual knowledge and love, as seems
requisite for this end, can be found in a nature absolutely simple in
all respects. May we not then suppose that some distinctions in the
divine Being are of eternal necessity, in order to complete the
blessedness of godhead? Such a distinction as may admit, as a great man
expresses it, of delicious society, We, for our parts, cannot but hereby
have in our minds a more gustful idea of a blessed state, than we can
conceive in mere eternal solitude.

And if this be true, then the three differences, which we call personal
distinctions, in the nature of God, are as absolutely necessary as his
blessedness, as his being, or any of his perfections. And then we may
return to the words of my text, and boldly infer, that if the man is
blessed who is chosen by the free and sovereign grace of God, and caused
to approach, or draw near him, what immense and unknown blessedness
belongs to each divine person, to all the sacred Three who are by
nature, and unchangeable necessity, so near, so united, so much one,
that the least moment’s separation seems to be infinitely impossible,
and, then we may venture to say, it is not to be conceived; and the
blessedness is conceiveable by none but God?

This is a nobler union and a more intense pleasure than the man Christ
Jesus knows or feels, or can conceive; for he is a creature. These are
glories too divine and dazzling for the weak eye of our understandings,
too bright for the eye of angels, those morning-stars; and they, and we,
must fall down together, alike overwhelmed with them, and alike
confounded. These are flights that tire souls of the strongest wing, and
finite minds faint in the infinite pursuit: These are depths where our
tallest thoughts sink and drown: We are lost in this ocean of being and
blessedness, that has no limit, on either side, no surface, no bottom,
no shore. The nearness of the divine persons to each other, and the
unspeakable relish of their unbounded pleasures, are too vast ideas for
a bounded mind to entertain. It is one infinite transport that runs
through Father, Son, and Spirit, without beginning, and without end,
with boundless variety, yet ever perfect, and ever present, without
change, and without degree: and all this, because they are so near to
one another, and so much one with God.

But when we have fatigued our spirits, and put them to the utmost
stretch, we must lie down and rest, and confess the great
incomprehensible. How far this sublime transport of joy is varied in
each subsistence: how far their mutual knowledge of each others’
properties, or their mutual delight in each others’ love, is distinct in
each divine person, is a secret too high for the present determination
of our language and our thoughts, it commands our judgment into silence,
and our whole souls into wonder and adoration[27].

Thus we have traced the streams of happiness that flow amongst the
creatures in endless variety, to their original and eternal fountain,
God himself: He is the all-sufficient spring of blessedness as well as
of being, to all the intellectual worlds; and he is everlastingly
self-sufficient for his own being and blessedness.

But are not we told in scripture, that _God delights in the works of his
hands_, that _he takes pleasure in his saints_, that _he rejoices in
Zion_, and _rests in his love_ to his church; that Jesus Christ, even as
man and Mediator, is the _beloved of his soul, in whom he is
well-pleased_? Yes, surely, this is one way whereby he represents his
own divine satisfactions in our language, and after the manner of men.
But we must not imagine that he ever goes out of himself, and descends
to creatures, as though he needed any thing from them, who are all
before him as nothing, and less than nothing, and vanity. It is from his
own wisdom, power, and goodness, as they appear in all his works, that
his delight arises; and it is in these glories of his nature, and in the
gracious purposes of his will, as they are manifested in his works, that
the saints and angels, and all the happy ranks of beings, find their
highest satisfaction. It is in the contemplation of God, and in the
exercises and sensations of divine love, that all supreme felicity
consists, so far as we are capable of being acquainted with it.

The only reflection with which I shall conclude the subject, is this,
that communion with God, which has been impiously ridiculed by the
profane wits of the last and the present age, is no such visionary and
fantastic notion as they imagine; but as it is founded in the words of
scripture, so it may be explained with great ease and evidence to the
satisfaction of human reason. That it is founded in scripture, appears
sufficiently in several verses of the xvii. chapter of St. John’s
gospel, where the divine union and blessedness of the Father and the
Son, are made a pattern of our union to God, and our blessedness; John
xvii. 21, 22, 23-26. _That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee; that they may be one in us_: And in this sense, but
in a lower degree, even here on earth, _our communion, or fellowship, is
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ_; 1 John i. 3. Though our
communion with Christ includes also some particular varieties in it,
which is not my present business to explain.

That this doctrine is exactly agreeable to reason, may be thus
demonstrated:

We use the word communion, when two or more persons partake of the same
thing. So friends have communion in one table when they dine together:
Christians have communion in one sermon, in one prayer, or one
sacrament, when they join together in those parts of worship; and the
saints have communion with God in blessedness, when they rejoice in the
same object of contemplation and love. God surveys himself, he is
pleased with his own glories, delights in himself as the highest and the
noblest object; he trusts in his own right-hand of power, he leans upon
his own understanding, he rests in his own counsels and purposes, he
feels and he acknowledges all his own infinite perfections, and thus he
enjoys them all. Thus also is our blessedness frequently set forth in
scripture. It is our happiness to know God, to contemplate his glories,
so far as they are revealed; to love him and his goodness, to trust in
his wisdom, and lean securely on his strength? to feel the workings of
divine powers and graces in and upon us, and to make acknowledgment of
them all to God. Thus the image of God is restored to us in holiness and
in happiness: Thus we are said to be holy as God is holy; and thus also
we are blessed as God is blessed.

But though we are admitted to this amazing privilege, and hold communion
with God, in the same object of contemplation and love, yet we must
still remember, with humble adoration, that his holiness and his
happiness, does infinitely exceed ours. The pleasures which arise from
his knowledge, and his love of himself, are as far above our taste, or
all our ideas of blessedness, as heaven is higher than the earth, or as
God is above the creature.

There is another sense also of this phrase, communion or fellowship with
God, which has been used by many pious writers, when they make it to
signify the same thing as converse with God; and this also depends upon
our nearness, or approach to him: As when a christian, in secret, pours
out his whole heart before God, and is made sensible of his gracious
presence, by the sweet influences of instruction, sanctification, or
comfort. When man speaks, and God answers, there is a sacred communion,
between God and man; Is. lviii. 9. _Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall
answer._ This holy David often enjoyed, and always sought after it. When
the soul, in secret, complains of perplexity and darkness, and God is
pleased to give some secret hints of direction and advice; when the soul
mourns before God, confessing guilt, and the weakness of grace, and some
divine promise is impressed upon the mind by the Holy Spirit, whence the
christian derives peace of conscience, and strength to fulfil duty, and
to resist mighty temptations: These certainly are seasons of converse or
communion with God.

So when, in public worship, we address God with our souls in fervent
prayer, and while we hear the word of God spoken to us by his ministers,
we receive an answer to those prayers in the convincing and sanctifying
impressions which the word makes upon the heart; this is also an hour of
secret communion. So at the supper of the Lord, when with hope and joy
we receive the bread and the wine, as divine seals of the faithfulness
of God’s covenant, and when we transact those solemn affairs also as
seals of our faith and love, and our engagements to be the Lord’s; we
may properly be said to hold _fellowship, or communion with him_.

What swift advances of holiness doth the saint feel in his heart, and
practise in his life, after such seasons of devotion! What glory doth he
give to religion in a dark and sinful world! What unknown pleasure doth
he find in such approaches to God! And he moves swiftly onward in his
way to heaven, by such daily receipts of mercy, and returns of praise.
These are powerful motives that will make him persist in his holy
practice and joy, in scorn of all the mockery and ridicule of a profane
age of infidels. So the moon holds bright communion with the sun, the
sovereign planet; so she receives and reflects his beams; she shines
gloriously in a dark hemisphere, and moves onward sublime in her
heavenly course, regardless of all the barking animals that betray their
senseless malice.

This blessed privilege and pleasure of converse with God, which is
enjoyed by the saints on earth, is doubtless the pleasure and the
privilege of the spirits of the just made perfect, and of angels near
the throne, but in a much higher degree: When they address the Majesty
of Heaven in the forms of celestial worship, and receive immediate and
sensible tokens of divine acceptance; or when they take their orders and
commissions from the throne for some particular errand, or high
employment, and return again to make their humble report there: These
are glorious seasons of converse with their Maker.

Much more glorious communion of this kind does the man Christ Jesus
enjoy with God, in transacting all the vast and illustrious affairs of
his commission; a commission large as the extent of his Father’s
kingdom, full of majesty and justice, terror and grace; a divine
commission to govern, to redeem, and to save, or to punish and destroy
millions of mankind, as well as to rule all his unknown dominions in the
upper and nether worlds.

But in what manner this communion between the Father and Christ is
maintained, we know not; nor can we guess in what manner, or in what
degree such sort of converse or communion as this is practised, or is
possible, between the three glorious persons of the ever-blessed
Trinity. These are mysteries wrapt up in sacred darkness, and the
explication of them surrounded with dangers. A particular knowledge of
these divine unsearchables, any farther than scripture has revealed
them, is by no means necessary either to begin, or to maintain our state
of grace. Let us content ourselves a few years longer with humble
ignorance, and we shall have brighter discoveries in the future world,
if it be necessary there to fulfil our happiness, and to complete our
state of glory.


                          HYMN FOR SERMON XII.
   _The Scale of Blessedness; or Blessed Saints, Blessed Saviour, and
                           Blessed Trinity._


                  Ascend, my soul, by just degrees,
                    Let contemplation rove
                  O’er all the rising ranks of bliss,
                    Here, and in worlds above.

                  Blest is the nation near to God,
                    Where he makes known his ways:
                  Blest are the men whose feet have trod
                    His lower courts of grace.

                  Blest were the levite and the priest,
                    Who near his altar stood;
                  Blest are the saints from sin releas’d,
                    And reconcil’d with blood.

                  Blest are the souls dismiss’d from clay,
                    Before his face they stand:
                  Blest angels in their bright array,
                    Attend his great command.

                  Jesus is more divinely blest,
                    Where man to godhead join’d,
                  Hath joys transcending all the rest,
                    More noble and refin’d.

                  But, O what words or thoughts can trace
                    The blessed Three in one!
                  Here rest my spirit, and confess
                    The infinite unknown.

Footnote 24:

  These expressions may be sufficiently justified, if we consider
  Jepthah’s rash vow of sacrifice, which fell upon his only child; and
  Samson’s rude or unbecoming conduct in his amours with the Philistine
  woman at Timnah, the harlot at Gaza, and his Delilah at Sorek, his
  bloody quarrels, and his manner of life. The learned and pious Dr.
  Owen, as I have often been informed by his intimate friend Sir John
  Hartopp, called him a rude believer. He might have a strong faith of
  miracles; Heb. xi. 22. but a small share of that faith which purifies
  the heart.

Footnote 25:

  I know the word blessed, when it is applied to God or Christ,
  generally signifies, that they are the objects of our blessing or
  praise, and it is thus translated from the originals, ברוך or
  ευλογητος: But in our tongue this word signifies also happy, and the
  original words אשרי and Μακαριος are frequently rendered blessed, to
  signify happiness, as in my text. Though, if our translators had
  always observed the distinction, the precise lease of the original had
  better appeared.

Footnote 26:

  See the note toward the end of this part of the sermon, p. 151.

Footnote 27:

  This discourse was delivered above twenty years ago, and the reader
  will observe some warmer efforts of imagination than riper years would
  indulge on a theme so sublime and abstruse. Since I have searched most
  studiously into this mystery of late, I have learned more of my own
  ignorance: so that when I speak of these unsearchables, I abate much
  of my younger assurance; nor do my later thoughts venture so far into
  the particular modes of explaining this sacred distinction in the
  godhead. There appears to me good reason to doubt, where there can be
  three distinct and different principles of consciousness, and three
  distinct and different wills in the one God, the one infinite Spirit.
  I was afraid to assert it in this sermon heretofore, and I am more
  afraid to assert it now. Reason and scripture join to teach me, that
  there can be but one God, and this God is a Spirit. What distinctions
  may be in this one Spirit, I know not: Yet, since I am fully
  established in the belief of the Deity of the blessed Three, though I
  know not the manner of explication, I dare let this discourse appear
  now in the world, as being agreeable so far to my present sentiments
  on this subject. A larger and more particular account of my most
  mature thought on the doctrine of the holy Trinity, may be seen in the
  last sermon of my third volume.—_April 8, 1729._




                              TWO SERMONS
           _On our Appearance before God here and hereafter._
Delivered in Sir Thomas Abney’s Family at Theobalds in Hertfordshire, at
            the Evening-worship, Nov. 25, and Dec. 9, 1716.


_To the Right Worshipful_ Sir Thomas Abney, Knt. and Alderman of London.

WORTHY SIR,

While you were restrained by the laws of men from public worship in that
way which you have chosen, I also suffered the same restraint, by the
providence of God confining me to long sickness; during which time I
enjoyed in your excellent family, many happy conveniences, toward the
ease of my affliction, and the recovery of my health.

I thought it therefore a necessary piece of christian gratitude, that
some of the first-fruits of my labours should be devoted to your
service; and with this view I attempted such meditations as might be
well suited to my own circumstances of confinement, as well as to yours;
that I might speak more sensibly from the heart to your spiritual
advantage, and to the profit of all your household.

Since that time it has pleased the providence of God to take off your
restraint entirely, by the repeal of that unrighteous law, and to give
you the pleasures of his sanctuary; yet the review of these discourses,
through the operation of the blessed Spirit, may renew some useful
meditations, when offered from the press as a testimony of public
thankfulness, and in this new form proposed to your perusal, by,

SIR,

Your most affectionate,

And obedient servant,

Under many obligations,

I. WATTS.




                              SERMON XIII.
              _Appearance before God here and hereafter._
        PSALM xlii. 2.—When shall I come and appear before God.
                            THE FIRST PART.


The holy Psalmist was now absent from his usual place of public worship,
and restrained from coming near to the ark of God which was the token of
the divine presence in the days of the Jewish church; and when he had
been meditating on his past and present circumstances in this respect,
both what he enjoyed heretofore, and what he was deprived of now, he
breaks out into a divine rapture: _As the hart panteth after the
water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God._ And he goes on to
describe the frame of his spirit in this holy song: The substance and
sense of the whole psalm is, as it were, epitomized and drawn up into
these few words, _when shall I come and appear before God?_ I shall not
spend time to shew in how many senses man may be said _to appear before
God_; but shall content myself to say, that in this place it signifies
attendance on public worship, in the place where it was usually
celebrated and performed. In the words of the Psalmist we may find the
temper of his heart expressed under these two general heads.

I. A belief of the special presence of God in his ordinances of public
worship.—II. An earnest longing after them on that account.

I shall enlarge a little on each of these, and make remarks as I go
along, under each head.

_First_, The words express David’s firm belief of the special presence
of God in his ordinances, insomuch that he calls an attendance on them,
an appearance before God. We are always in the view of God, and _every
creature is naked and open_ in his sight, and for ever appears before
him as the all-seeing and all-knowing Creator and Governor of all
things; but it is a peculiar, a gracious, and favourable presence of God
that belongs to his sanctuary, his appointed worship: God is taking
special notice of our carriage toward him, and manifesting his designs
of special mercy towards us.

David well knew this, that the great end of appointing public worship,
was, that there might be a communication between God and man, who were
so dreadfully separated by sin: He knew the gracious promise, that where
God _recorded his name, there would he come and meet his people, and
bless them_; Ex. xx. 24. He knew what sensible tokens of divine presence
were found in the sanctuary; there was _the ark of God, and the
mercy-seat that covered it_, upon which God dwelt in a bright shining
_cloud_ between the golden _cherubims_, to signify his dwelling in light
among the glorious angels in heaven; beside the many sweet experiences
which David had of sensible discoveries of God in counsel and grace,
strength and consolation, in his public worship.

And have not christians, under the gospel, as great a reason to expect
the special presence of God among them in his ordinances! Are they not
appointed on purpose to bring God near to us, and to bring us near to
God? Have we not an express promise of God himself, dwelling in flesh,
that _where two or three are gathered together in his name, he will be
in the midst of them_; Mat. xviii. 20. and is not Christ worthy of
credit? Have we not his word there published and preached? Doth not God
appear there very eminently, in the glory of his truth, in the beauty of
his holiness, in the purity of his commands, in the terror of his
threatenings, in the sweetness of his promises, in the wonders of his
wisdom and power, and more amazing works of his grace and love? Doth not
the Lord discover himself there in the majesty of his government, in the
miracles of his providence, and the divine glory of his fore-knowledge
in prophecies exactly fulfilled? Surely that man must be blind indeed,
who sees not God in the scriptures.

Will you say, “All this may be seen and read at home in private, as well
as in a public assembly?” But you must remember that even the written
word of God was communicated to the most part of mankind only in public
worship, for some thousands of years: for before the art of printing was
invented, one bible was scarce to be found in several hundred houses,
and very few of the common people were capable of reading; nor could
they know the written word, but by their attendance on the public
ministrations of it. And in our day, how many are they who either do, or
will know very little of religion, but what they hear at church.

Besides the written word of God is given to be expounded by his
ministers, that the gospel being preached at large, and the truths of it
being particularly applied, his presence and glory may appear therein.
Many parts of scripture are so obscure, that God stands, as it were,
behind a veil, or a curtain, till, in the ministry of the word, the
sense is explained, the veil removed, and God stands forth to sight in
the open glories of his majesty, or his mercy. It was for this purpose
that Christ, at his departure from earth, engaged the promise of his
presence with his ministers in the preaching of his gospel. _Lo I am
with you always even to the end of the world_; Mat. xxviii. 20. And is
not this sufficient ground for men to expect and hope to see God there?

Besides all this, have not christians enjoyed blessed experiences of the
presence of God _in his sanctuary, in the assemblies of his saints_? One
can say, “I was all darkness and ignorance, and there I found divine
light, discovering to me my sin and misery, and his salvation.” Another
can say, I was _dead in sin_, and found my soul raised to a divine life
there; “I was mourning and despairing, and there I found a word of
support and holy joy, such as no mere words of men could convey into me;
and I am forced to confess _God was in this place of a truth_;” 1 Cor.
xiv. 25.

Remarks on the first head.—I. How much should we guard hypocrisy in
divine worship, because it is an appearance before God? We do then, in a
solemn manner, set ourselves before God, and, as it were, humbly call
God to look upon us, and take notice of our hearts. Let us remember
this, every one of us, when we go to public worship, we do in effect say
to God, “O Lord, we are always in thy sight, but in a special manner we
now come to shew thee our hearts, to acquaint thee humbly with our
wants, our sorrows, and our sins, our desires and hopes;” and _God will
not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain; He is a jealous God,
he will not be mocked_; Gal. vi. 7. _He is a Spirit, and he will be
worshipped in spirit and in truth_; John iv. 24. He is sharp-sighted, he
sees through our souls, and knows the ends and designs of our coming,
whether to see creatures, and be seen of them, or to see himself, our
Creator: Whether to observe the modes, dress, and behaviour of our
fellow-creatures on earth, or to learn the will of God, and the mode of
heaven. Suppose Jesus Christ, in his human nature, were there, whose
_eyes are as a flame of fire_, and through your countenances can discern
the most secret thought of your souls, would you not stand in awe of his
majesty? Would not this glorious appearance fix the most vain and
fluttering imagination in a pious solemnity? How solicitously would you
watch over your minds, lest they wander from worship! How carefully
would you keep your hearts! Or suppose you saw the holy angels there
which attend the churches in worship, would you not be ashamed to trifle
in their presence? And has not the spiritual presence of the great God
as much real, though invisible awfulness and majesty in it!

How do persons both of the polite and the vulgar world, all agree to
dress fine and gay, and make the best figure of all the week, to appear
before men on the day of the Lord? But let us remember that we come not
only before men, but before the living God, in whose sight, ornaments of
the body are of no account, and, O, what pains ought we to take, to put
on our best ornaments of the mind! To see that our graces all shine,
when we are to stand before God! And not to suffer one vain thought, one
corrupt affection to work in us; nor _a spot or blemish_, if possible,
to be found upon us!

Alas! what millions of hypocrites have we in the world? How many may we
fear in every congregation? How many come to attend at prayers, but
never seek to join in their own wishes and desires with the words of him
who speaks? How many voices follow the tune in a psalm, but their souls
feel no joy, no inward elevation of praise? How many hear the word as
the word of man, and their hearts have no sense of God speaking to them?
_They sit before God as his people, but their heart goes after their
covetousness_; Ezek. xxxiii. 31. after their idols of business, or
carnal pleasure, after every vain object of their eyes, or vainer images
of the fancy. Let us take heed therefore, how we shut our eyes, or
harden our hearts against a present and a speaking God; _for the word of
the Lord is quick and powerful_; God speaking by his eternal word, or by
his ministers in the sanctuary, pierces the secret recesses of the soul
and spirit: God sits there: _discerning the intents and thoughts of the
heart; all things are naked and open before his eyes with whom we have
to do_; Heb. iv. 13.

II. Remark. In attendance on public worship, we should fix all our hope
and expectation of profit upon the presence of God in it; for the design
of ordinances is to bring us to _appear before God_. Now, if in things
of this life, God should be our chief hope, much more in things of
another; Ps. lxii. 5. _My soul, wait thou only upon God, my expectation
is from him._

How ready are we, even in spiritual concernments, to depend on outward
forms and ceremonials! and to hope, or despair of success, according to
some circumstantial attendants on worship? One is ready to say, “If it
were a nice enquiry into some deep doctrine, I should get something by
hearing the word.” Another complains, “Alas! If it had been a sermon of
grace and privileges, I had not been so careless in my attention, nor
wasted my time.” And a third satisfies his conscience with this, “If I
had heard moral duties enforced powerfully on our practice, then I could
profit by the preaching; or if he who ministers had but more skill in
composing, more fervency of speech, more warmth in delivery, more
graceful pronunciations, more strength of argument; surely I should feel
more lasting impressions of religion under every sermon.” And thus we go
on from week to week, and worship without any sensible benefit, because
we seek all from men.

But, alas! if all these things were exactly suited to our wishes, the
matter ever so agreeable, the manner ever so entertaining, the voice
ever so charming, and the performance ever so affectionate; if God be
not there, there is no lasting benefit; _Paul may plant, and Apollos
water, but God gives the increase_: 1 Cor. iii. 6. The ministration of
the word is committed to man, but not the _ministration of the Spirit_.
What can a man do to give eyes to the blind? To give ears to the deaf?
Can a man make the lame to walk? or raise the dead to a divine life? and
turn sinners into saints? _Who is sufficient for these things?_

A minister is ready to say, “When shall I preach to such a people? they
would learn and profit by my sermons.” A christian is ready to say, When
shall I hear such a minister, or partake of such an ordinance, or hear a
discourse on such a subject managed in such a particular method? And
they are ready to go away discouraged, as though all hope were gone,
when they find a disappointment in the pulpit; as though the graces of
God were confined to a particular instrument, or as though the words of
a man were our only hope.

When any of us have been at church, and waited in the sanctuary, let us
examine what did we go thither to see; a shadow of religion? An outside
of christian forms? a graceful orator? The figures and shapes of
devotion? Surely then we might with as much wisdom, and more innocence,
have gone _to the wilderness to see a reed shaken with the wind_. Can we
say as the Greeks at the feast; John xii. 21. _We would see Jesus?_ Or,
as Absalom; 2 Sam. xiv. 32. _It is to little purpose I am come to
Jerusalem, if I may not see the king’s face._ To little purpose we go to
church, or attend on ordinances, if we seek not, if we see not God
there.

III. Remark. What everlasting thanks are due to our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath made way for our _appearance before God_ with comfort and hope?
You are called by the name of christians, you profess to believe in him,
but you know little what you have to do with him, or what use his name
is of in religion, if you can go daily to appear in the presence of God
without him; you know not the nature of christianity, if you do not feel
a want of Christ when you bow yourselves before God.

Consider a little what God is, and what you are, that you may have a due
sense of the necessity of Christ; say to yourselves, “I am going to
appear before the great and glorious God, a God of infinite perfection,
and I am a little vessel of mere imperfection and infirmity; what shall
I do to stand in his sight? He is a God of majesty and judgment, and I
traitor, a rebel by nature and action; I want some person to introduce
me into his favour. He is a God of spotless holiness, and I am defiled
with a thousand sins, who shall make me appear lovely in his sight! he
is a God of inflexible justice, and I a guilty wretch, a criminal, a
malefactor, already condemned; who shall plead for me, and obtain a
pardon?” O beg of Christ to introduce you with acceptance; in him alone
can we appear well-pleasing to God: He is the beloved of the Father, and
if we are ever accepted, it must be in the beloved; Eph. i. 6. Christ
_appears now in the presence of God for us_, in the virtue of his blood
and spotless obedience; Heb. ix. 12, 24. He who once appeared with sin
imputed, _was made sin for us_, and was treated as a sinner in the world
for our sakes, now appears before God, without sin, in heaven, as our
_great High Priest_ and Surety, to make us acceptable to God there. Nor
should our warmest devotions, nor our highest praises, dare to appear
there without him.

Remember that the high priest himself among the Jews, was in danger of
death, whensoever he went into the _holy of holies_, to appear before
the tokens of the divine presence, if he had not proper garments upon
him, and _the blood of atonement_ with him; see Ex. xxviii. 35, 43. Lev.
xvi. 2, 13, 14. Let Aaron be clothed, and _the blood so sprinkled_,
saith the Lord, _lest he die_. How much more may we fear destruction, if
we rashly, or carelessly, come near and speak to God himself, and yet
neglect the garment of righteousness, and _the blood of sprinkling_, and
Christ our great Mediator.

Remember, O christian, that for a sinner to appear before God without
the Mediator, is a thing of infinite terror, and not of comfort. A
traitor would keep at the farthest distance from the prince, if he hath
no friend to speak a word for him there. To come and present yourselves
before God as sinners, without a Saviour, would be but to awaken his
wrath, and put him in mind of your guilt, and his righteous vengeance.
Remember therefore to take Christ with you when you come near to God.
See Eph. ii. 3, 13, &c. “We are by nature children of wrath, and afar
off from God,” it is he only can bring us near:—“No man cometh to the
Father but by me;” John xiv. 6.

And as this is the only appointed way for sinners to appear before God,
so it has been the sweet experience of ten thousand souls that they have
drawn near to God, in this manner, with acceptance and delight. Hear
what many a child of God can tell you in this case: “When I had the
first sight of my guilt and defilements, and beheld God in the terrors
of his holiness and justice, as _a consuming fire_, I was affrighted at
the thoughts of appearing before him; every threatening that I heard, I
thought it was pronounced against me, nor could I delight myself in the
blessings of his gospel, for they were not mine. But when he was pleased
to lead and draw me to Christ, I saw such an all-sufficiency of
atonement and righteousness in him, that would answer all the demands
that divine justice had upon me; I joyfully accepted of this salvation,
I surrendered myself as the subject of his saving grace: And though now
I behold God in the same glorious and dreadful attributes as before, and
behold myself still defiled and sinful, yet I humbly dare appear before
him daily and hourly, for Jesus is my intercessor, he is my
_propitiation_, he is the Lord my righteousness, and my God sits upon a
mercy-seat sprinkled with the blood of this heavenly sacrifice. My sins
are many and great, and the matter of my daily groaning; I hear the
threatenings and curses of his holy law, but they affright me not from
his presence; for in the name of my Mediator I come, who hath borne the
curse for me: With humble penitence, and with a lively faith, I draw
near to a reconciled God, and give eternal thanks to the Reconciler.”

IV. Remark. What a blessing it is to have many houses of God in the
nation where we dwell; and those houses of God near us! God may say to
us, as to Israel; Deut. xxx. 12. “Say not who shall ascend into heaven
to bring the word to us, that we may hear it? Or, who shall go over the
sea, &c. for the word is very nigh to us.” We need not travel so far as
the Jews, three times every year, to public worship; and yet they “went
from strength to strength, till they appeared before God in Zion;” Ps.
lxxxiv. 7. Consider some nations where God is not worshipped aright, and
hath no dwelling-place; consider how far some poor creatures come even
in this island, many miles from their own dwelling, to appear before God
in his ordinances; but God seats his throne, as it were, at our doors:
there are many synagogues of God in our land, for us to appear before
him, and many near us in the city where we dwell, and near us too in
this place of retirement.

How valuable a privilege is it to dwell in a religious family, in a
house of God, where there is a _church in the house_, as Phil. verse 2.
where we often appear before God? How gladly would many persons (who are
in better circumstances in the world than some of us enjoy) exchange
those better circumstances for spiritual advantages such as we have: But
some of you perhaps may say, “We may be saved without so much religion,
without so much ado about the worship of God in families or in
churches.” Let me tell you, if a religious family be not a pleasure to
you, heaven itself cannot afford you pleasure; for that is but one great
religious family, of which Jesus Christ is the head: And if the business
of that place be not your delight, you shall never have a place there.

Shall I ask the servants of this house, when you are called in to
morning and evening prayer, what is your end? Do you come with hope and
desire _to appear before God_? Or is it merely to obey the orders of the
house, and comply with the custom of the family, for the sake of your
temporal interest? Ask yourselves, my friends, what is it that brings
you in constantly at the seasons of reading and praying? Is it a design
to get near to God. Shall I ask the children, when you come in at the
hour of worship, do you set yourselves as before God? Do your thoughts
go along with the words of him who prays? Do ye attend to the word read,
as the word of God, whereby you must be judged? Or do you satisfy
yourselves to wear out the quarter of an hour, in sitting still, or in
kneeling as others do, without thoughts of God? Shall each of us ask our
own hearts, how do we pass the time of daily worship? Are we careful to
lay aside all our thoughts of the world, that we may be at leisure for
God? Remember, that not only in the morning and evening devotion, but at
every meal we appear before God: Now, do we join in prayer for a
blessing on our food and in giving thanks? Or do we think the word of
one who speaks sufficiently sanctifies and blesses the meat for all who
taste it?

Let us farther ask our consciences this one question, do we remember God
all the day, as those who have appeared before him at worship in the
morning? Do we walk among men as those who dwell in a house of God? Do
we eat, and drink, and speak, and live, as those who profess so much
religion and worship. Let us think on these things, and consider who
there is among us that ventures to trifle with the great and dreadful
God in such appearances before him? Or provoke him with a conversation
unsuitable to such professions?

Blessed be God, there is more than the form of Godliness found in the
governing parts of this family! And I am persuaded, that not the parlour
only, but the meaner rooms are witnesses of devotion and pious
discourse: But we are none of us above the need of self-enquiry; and as
we all appear with our bodies to worship God daily, methinks I would not
have one soul among us absent from God in this daily worship.

Thus have I finished the first general head of my discourse.

_Secondly_, The words of the text discover to us an earnest longing
after divine ordinances, and the presence of God in them. This
abundantly appears also in several parts of this psalm: How mournfully
doth the Psalmist complain, and what a painful sense he expresses of his
long absence from the house of God! _verses_ 3, 4. What a sweet and
sorrowful recollection he makes of past seasons of delight in worship?
_My tears have been my meat day and night,—my soul is cast down and
disquieted, I remember when I went with the multitude to the house of
God, with the voice of joy and praise_; but now God seems to have
_forgotten me_, ver. 9. How earnestly doth he breathe after the
sanctuary? Psalm lxiii. and lxxxiv. to _see thy power_, O God, and _thy
glory, as he had seen it there_. He borrows metaphors and similitudes
from some of the most vehement appetites of nature to signify his strong
desires after God; _my flesh thirsteth for thee, even fainteth for the
courts of the living God_.

And this is the blessed temper of a christian, when in his right frame;
he is never satisfied when quite restrained from divine ordinances,
whether by persecution, by banishment, by the unreasonable laws of men,
or by afflictions and weaknesses laid on him by the hand of God. He
thinks over again those seasons wherein he enjoyed the presence of God
in worship, and the recollection of them increases his desires of their
return. He watches every turn of providence, and hopes it is working
towards his release: When he sees the doors of his prison begin to open,
he is ready to break out of confinement, and seize the pleasure of
public worship: He thinks it long till he appears before God again. “I
have chosen God, saith he, for my highest good, for my everlasting
portion, and I would willingly often resort to the place where God hath
promised to communicate his blessings, and where I have so often _tasted
that the Lord is gracious_.”

Remarks on the second head.—I. How very different are they from the
temper of David, who enjoy public ordinances continually, and are weary
of them? Who appear before God frequently on the Lord’s day, and yet
cry, _what a weariness is it, when will the Sabbath be gone_; Mal. i.
13. and iii. 14. Amos viii. 5. When shall we return to the world again?

What is the reason of this great aversion to divine worship among those
who call themselves christians? Truly the greatest part have nothing of
christianity besides the mere name: Some are stupid sinners, and have no
sense of divine things; and they think it is all lost time: They have no
need to come before God, but that it is the custom of their country, or
of the family where they live, and they must do it; they do not know how
to spend the hour elsewhere without reproof and censure: Or they come
merely to see, and to be seen, as is the fashion of the land.

Some perhaps have a sense of religion, and yet they cannot look upon God
any otherwise than as their enemy, and so they come before him without
any love or delight in his company; and then no wonder if they are weary
of it. They do not come as friends to take pleasure in his presence;
they would be well enough pleased, if they could live for ever in this
world, and never have any thing to do with God: Their chief motive is
the fear of hell, and therefore they drudge on in toilsome and
undelightful religion.

And indeed this is one great reason why so many true christians feel no
more longing after God, either in public or in private worship; because,
though they have some faith and some cold hope, yet they are contented
to abide in this state of uncertainty, without joy or assurance, and do
not make it their business to advance in christianity: They cannot
rejoice in God as their father, or their friend, with a lively soul; and
they find but little pleasure in his house. But it is a divine pleasure,
and a-kin to heaven, when a child of God, with a lively faith and joyful
spirit, comes before God as his God, and entertains himself with all the
blessed discoveries that he makes of his wisdom and grace in his
churches, with all the promises of the covenant, with all the words of
love that God hath written in his book, or publishes in his ordinances
by the ministry of men. He feeds upon heavenly provisions in his
Father’s house; and when he departs, he maintains on his soul a sweet
savour of heaven. But alas! there is a great withdrawment of the Spirit
of God from his churches; a deadness of heart has seized believers in
our day, and they grow carnal: O pray that the Spirit may return to the
sanctuary again!

II. Remark. How comfortable a thing would it be, to feel our souls
longing for divine ordinances more earnestly after restraint! We should
learn the language of Jonah, when in the belly of the whale; Lord, _I am
cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple_;
Jonah ii. 4. I will look while I am at a distance, and pray toward the
mercy-seat, in hope and desire to come near the sanctuary.

We are too ready to grow indifferent, and think we can do well enough
without this appearing before God? We grow, as it were strangers to him
by long absence; and though the sacred correspondence in public be lost,
yet sometimes it is not much regretted: This is a frequent distemper of
the soul. When fasting increases a regular appetite, it is a sign of a
healthy constitution; but weakly natures are so overwhelmed with a
little fasting, that their appetite is gone too. Many christians may
complain of this, and say, “Though I find some relish of pleasure when I
am in the house of God, and amongst his saints; and though it was very
painful to me to endure the first months of confinement, yet a long
restraint has brought me under the spiritual disease, that my appetite
and desire grow feeble, and my heart too indifferent to public worship.”

Now in order to enquire into the temper of our spirits, and to awaken us
to greater longings after divine ordinances, let us consider what are
the two chief ends of a christian in his appearance before God: It is
either to do something for God by a public profession of his name among
men, or to receive something from him in order to our own comfort and
salvation. If we hope to receive, this calls faith into exercise; if we
endeavour to do something for his service, this awakens our zeal. Now,
is our faith active? Is our zeal lively in this matter? Some christians
have one of these, some the other most in exercise: Some look most at
honouring God in a public profession, some at obtaining some sensible
benefit and delight to their own souls: But it is best when both of
these invite us to the sanctuary, and make us long after the presence of
God.

Some of us, it may be, have found the work of grace and salvation begun
on our souls at public worship; there we were first awakened and
convinced of sin, there we were first led to the knowledge and faith of
Christ, and pardoning grace was revealed with power by the ministry of
the word; therefore we long after the _sincere milk of the word_, in the
same public dispensation of it, _that we may grow thereby_. Others have
been favoured, it may be, with the presence of God more abundantly in
secret; and reading, and meditation, and secret prayer, have been the
chief sensible instruments of their conversion, sanctification, and
peace; these therefore, sometimes have not the same earnest longing
after public preaching as others have; yet they do continually attend on
the ordinances of Christ in public, to maintain religion, in the
profession of it, among men; and they ought to do it. But these persons
are most in danger of growing cold and indifferent.

I grant it is a glorious and self-denying temper, to maintain a warm
zeal to do much for the honour of God in the world, even though we enjoy
but little of him; but this is not so frequent among men: For we are
usually drawn to God by the blessings we hope to receive; and we should
consider, that an utter neglect of all those enjoyments of God in the
sensible increase of grace and joy, which are to be found in public
worship, is a sign that our faith runs too low: We do not expect to
receive much from God, even in his own appointed methods; and therefore
we grow negligent whether we worship him in public or not. O let the
soul who feels nothing of this negligence, but maintains a warm desire
of ordinances under long restraint, rejoice and bless the Lord!

However, while any of us are confined, our desires after God ought to
appear in this, that we often seek him in secret, and are perpetually
with him in our thoughts; that we take all proper opportunities to lift
up our souls to him in the midst of common affairs, and thus do what we
can to make up the loss of the sanctuary: But we should be still
breathing also after church-worship, and the communion of saints; for
_God loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob_; Ps.
lxxxvii. 2.

III. Remark. O what unhappy clogs these fleshly sinful bodies are to the
mind! How they contradict the best inclinations of the soul, and forbid
it to fulfil its spiritual desires! The soul would appear often before
God, but the flesh forbids: The spirit would rejoice to be among
christian assemblies, but the body is too often confined by sickness, or
by the necessary cares that relate to this life, this poor animal life,
that has so troublesome an influence upon the noblest enjoyments of the
mind.

The soul would wait upon God whole hours together in praising, in
praying, in hearing the word; but the body is weak, overwhelmed with a
little attention, and can bear no more. The soul wrestles and strives
against the infirmities of the flesh, and labours hard to abide with
God; but these very wrestlings and strivings overcome languishing
nature; the impotence of the flesh prevails against the sprightliest
efforts and vigour of the mind; the flesh prevails, and the spirit must
yield. Thus we are dragged down from the holy mount of converse with
God, and the soul, who is a-kin to angels, and employed in their work,
must descend, and lie idle, to refresh the animal. In vain would the
spirit raise all its powers into lively and devout exercise, if the
flesh grows faint under a warm affection, it is forced to let go the
holy thought, and quit the divine pleasures of religion, until a better
hour return.

Sometimes, through drowsiness, and want of natural spirits, we grow
stupid and heavy in religious duties, and have but little sense of that
God before whom we appear. Sometimes, through excess of spirits, our
imagination grows vain and fluttering, and wanders far away from the God
whom we worship. If we fix our thoughts one minute upon things of the
highest importance and the most awful solemnity; the next flying idea
catches the mind away, and it is lost from God and devotion again. We
appear before God, and disappear again; we wander into the world, and
return to God, twenty times in an hour.

Our eyes and our ears are constant witnesses of this painful weakness;
and unhappy instruments they are to draw off our souls from the divinest
meditation. Every thing around us is ready to disturb and divert our
feeble nature in the most heavenly acts of worship: Poor broken worship!
Poor frail estate of human nature! But there is a blessed assembly of
better worshippers above: Awake our faith and desire to join them! and
let each of us say, “_O when shall I go_ to that bright company, _and
appear_ amongst them _before God_.”




                              SERMON XIV.
              _Appearance before God here and hereafter._
        PSALM xlii. 2.—When shall I come and appear before God.
                            THE SECOND PART.


By an appearance before God, in the text we are to understand our
attendance upon him in the public ordinances of worship; and the longing
desire the Psalmist had to draw near unto God in his ordinances,
represents to us the character of every sincere christian, when he
enjoys his own right frame, and heavenly temper of soul; He longs, he
breathes after those seasons of divine improvement and comfort.

I shall make no further repetition of any thing before delivered; but
considering that all our appearances before God in this world in his
sanctuary, are but means to prepare us to stand before God in the world
that is to come; I shall not think myself at all to wander from the
text, if I spend my whole time, at present in shewing the difference
that is between our appearance before God on earth here, and our
appearing before him in the other world hereafter; and this in order to
awaken the sinner, and to encourage the true christian.

There are two great future appearances before God, the one at judgment,
and the other in glory in heaven. The one belongs to all men, the other
only to the saints. And now that I may divide my discourse aright and
give to every one their portion, I would beg leave chiefly to apply our
general appearance before God at judgment, to those who are unconverted,
and in a state of sin; for we have reason to fear that there may be some
such among us: And I will apply the blessed appearance before God in
heaven to converted souls, to whom only it belongs: These are the
persons who have faith and love, and are in some measure prepared to
appear and worship there.

_First_ then, Let us consider our appearance before God in judgment. It
is true, at the moment of death our souls immediately stand before God
to be judged, as well as our souls and bodies united, shall stand
together there in the great day of the resurrection; yet I shall not
make any distinction of these seasons now, lest I should multiply
particulars; but shall treat of them together, to awaken the secure and
sinful worshipper, who appears before God here in the form of devotion:
And to put him in mind he must ere long stand before God in another
manner than now he does, and to set his thoughts at work to compare one
with the other in these particulars:

1. The sinner now appears with some degree of willingness in the
presence of God, then it is under a terrible constraint. A wicked man
may be willing to come to public ordinances for many carnal ends, as to
comply with his superiors, to follow the custom of the family where he
dwells, to gain reputation among men, to satisfy the cries of an
awakened conscience; for his conscience, perhaps, will not be easy
without the performance of some duties; and so he makes use of divine
worship, and his public appearances before God, as a kind of opiate, to
stupify an uneasy conscience, and therefore he has some inclination and
willingness to come before God here on earth: but at death, and at the
general resurrection, he must appear whether he will or no; Heb. ix. 27.
_It is appointed for all men once to die, and after death the judgment_;
Rom. xiv. 10. and 2 Cor. v. 10. _We must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ. The angels shall gather the elect_ from the four
quarters of the world, and bring them near to the judge with pleasure;
but sinners shall be dragged toward that awful tribunal, and be forced
to abide the trial.

While the believer, who walks in lively faith, says, When shall I come
into that world of spirits, and appear there before God? the sinner
wishes that day may never come: O that I might live for ever on earth!
that I might for ever converse with men, and never see the face of that
God who hates me, and whom I have never loved. O that death might make
an utter end of me! O that the grave would cover me for ever, that I
might rise no more. And when that dreadful day comes, then, “Fall on us,
rocks; then, mountains press us down, and conceal us for ever from the
wrath of God and the Lamb;” as in Rev. vi. 15, 16. that outcry is
represented. But they must stand and see the terror; they are
constrained to hear the glorious and dreadful sentence, Dost thou
believe this, O my soul! and canst thou be content to live unprepared
for the solemnities of this day?

2. Here sinners appear like the saints of God in disguise; but there as
sinners, openly guilty, and exposed to light: Here not separated from
the saints in the place of worship, there sufficiently distinguished and
divided from all who love God, and that worship him in spirit: For when
a sinful soul goes out of the body to appear before God, every angel in
heaven knows him; he is naked without a covering of disguise, as well as
without the covering of a justifying righteousness; and upon this
account he appears all guilty, not only before the searching eye of God,
and the terror of his anger, but also before the blessed spirits who are
near the throne. Here those who are in the same assembly, know not
whether we are the children of God, or _the children of the devil_; but
in the world of spirits, all the children of Satan are as much
distinguished from the children of God as an angel of light is from a
spirit of darkness.

This flesh is a disguise to the soul, a thick cloud to cover a thousand
hypocrisies; but at the great day the naked soul must be known; _All
nations shall be gathered before him, and he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats_; Mat.
xxv. 32. Jesus shall separate the one from the other; and what will the
sinner say at that day? “I have on earth appeared before God among the
saints, but now I must for ever dwell with my companions in iniquity,
with my partners in _everlasting burnings_; I am so like to the spirits
of hell, now I am undressed, and divested of all disguise, that I see
myself justly divided for ever from the saints, and a fit companion for
none but devils.” O who can tell the torment that is contained in such a
self-condemning reflection as this?

3. Sinners appear now, and take no notice of God as Creator, or Christ
as Mediator and Saviour; but at the appearance in judgment it will be
impossible to stand before God, and not take notice of him. He appears
there as a God of terrible and incensed majesty, and they must see him;
and Jesus Christ sits there, and must be seen, not as the Saviour to
secure them, but the judge ready to condemn them to everlasting
punishment; Rev. i. 7. assures of this day, and speaks of it as already
come: _Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and
they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail
because of him. I shall behold him_, says the wretched Balaam, _but not
nigh_; Num. xviv. 17. not as my God, near me, but as my enemy, afar from
me. “Now God speaks with the voice of mercy in the church, and I turn a
deaf ear to him, may the sinner say, but then it is the language of
justice and vengeance: O that my ears and my eyes were sealed up for
ever: for his looks, his words, his actions, smite my soul through with
a thousand torments.”

It is impossible for the wicked to turn their eyes from God in that day,
whereas now for a whole hour or two, in his worship, their hearts are
not once fixed upon him. A God of holiness will be seen on his seat of
judgment; and the sinner who _will not see, shall see_, and be
confounded at the sight. Think of this, O my soul! and when thou findest
thy thoughts wandering from God in the next duty of worship, take this
awful hint to recal them again.

4. Now the sinner appears before God as on a throne of grace; there on a
throne of justice: now in a state of trial: there for a final sentence.
He comes now to hear the general language of God to men; there to hear
his own particular judgment from the same God; now the sinner stands in
the church, in a general assembly: and he stands within the reach of a
general promise: _He that believes shall be saved; he that confesses,
and forsakes his sin shall find mercy_: But then the book of all the
promises is for ever shut, and it is declared by the Judge, that not one
of them belongs to him: He hath refused all the offers of grace, and the
day of grace is gone for ever.

Now he stands, and hears the general threatening of the word: _The soul
that sinneth shall die; the wages of sin is death: he that believeth not
shall be damned; he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap
corruption_: Yet he may escape all these threatenings. But in the great
and last day he hears his own name, as it were, read together with each
of these threatenings, and united to them all: “Thou art the impenitent
sinner, and thou must die for ever? thou hast not believed in Christ:
and thou art the person who shall be for ever damned.”

Now he appears before God, and though he is, as to his state; at a
distance from him, yet he may be converted and brought near; he hears
these blessed words; Mat. xi. 28. _Come all ye that are weary and heavy
laden, and I will give you rest._ Is. xlv. 22. _Look unto me, ye that
are at the ends of the earth_, and in immediate danger of hell, _and be
ye saved_. But there the only word is, _depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire_; for I have not one word of promise, of encouragement,
or of comfort for you.

Because he appears now in a state of trial, it is with some hope of
obtaining pardon; but there he stands only waiting for the sentence of
death, and therefore with everlasting despair: He appears there guilty
in open light, and his condemnation is certain and unchangeable.

Believe this, sinner, now in this life; the wrath of God lies heavy upon
you; John iii. 36. but this wrath may be removed; the condemnation that
is now upon you from the law, may be reversed: the gospel is ready to
take it off, if you receive this gospel: But there, before the judgment
seat, every soul who is found in his sins, falls under an eternal curse,
and without repeal: that condemnation shall never be removed; for
immediate execution follows upon the sentence. Now the sinner appears
before God, and hears such words of compassion as these are: “I delight
not _in the death of a sinner_, I would have him _turn and live_; I
propose the method of reconciliation and life;” But then the Lord sits
upon a throne of judgment, and he shall laugh at the calamity of the
wicked, and the obstinate sinner’s distress; for pity and compassion are
for ever hid from his eyes. Now, who is there among us able to bear the
sight of a provoked God, who is infinite in power, terrible in majesty,
and has abandoned all compassion.

5. The sinner now appears often before God; there but once, and is for
ever driven from his presence: Here, if you meet with no comfort from
God in one ordinance, you may find it in the next; but then you shall be
_punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,
and the glory of his power_; 2 Thess. i. 9. How will you long for such
seasons again, when you are for ever shut out from them? “O that I had
but one Lord’s-day more to spend in the service of God! how would I
labour and wrestle with God in prayer, that I might become a new
creature!” But in hell the days are all alike, they are all dark and
stormy; there is not one day of sunshine, not one sabbath, not one hour
of rest. “How did I mock God on earth, must the sinner say, when I
appeared before him! and after I had mocked him once, I trifled again
and again; but now I find he is a God who will not be mocked; I see he
is a terrible majesty, and I am driven for ever from all his grace and
compassion, and shall see his face no more.”

Use. All the use I shall make of this head, is only to urge upon your
minds a practical belief, and a lively sense of this appearance before
God at judgment. Must we all stand _before the judgment seat of Christ_?
Do we think we are ready? What answer do our own consciences give, when
we make that enquiry? Am I prepared to appear before God the Judge? Have
I but little hope, and yet can I satisfy myself to lie down at night,
and arise in the morning, and have this hope not increased? Have I so
little expectation of my appearing well there, and yet rest contented
under it?

Do I worship now with that sincerity and devotion, as those who must
hereafter come to be judged? Could we, dare we, indulge ourselves in the
neglect of any duty, or commission of any sin, or careless performance
of the religious services we owe to God, at the rate we now do, had this
great appearance before God at judgment been often upon our thoughts?
Alas! these things vanish from our minds, many times, together with the
breath and air that forms the words: Business, or cares, or the
diversions of this life, turn away the soul from God and judgment, We
dwell in flesh, we see not God, and we are ready, foolishly, to imagine
that we shall never see him: We thrust this hour at such a distance, as
though it would never come; we put it afar off as an evil day.

But let us stand still here, and consider a little: This evening we are
come to appear before God in worship; we see ourselves here, and see
each other; we are sure it is a reality, and not a dream; yet seven
years ago, this evening was at so vast a distance from us, that we
scarce knew how to realize it to our thoughts, and make it, as it were,
present: but now all that long distance is vanished, and this evening is
come; those days are all passed, and this hour is upon us. Thus it is in
the case of death and judgment. Seven years hence, it is most likely,
some one or more of us, and perhaps every one of us, shall appear before
the bar of God our Judge; that appointed hour will come however it seem
afar off now; and then it will be as real an appearance as this present
hour is, but a much more solemn one: we shall see and feel ourselves
there, and know it is not a dream, but an awful reality.

Consider further, that it can be but a few seven years more, before
every one of us must certainly appear at the judgment-seat of God; and
as long as these years seem now, yet they will quickly fly away, and the
last hour will be upon us.—Think how many of your acquaintance, in seven
years past, have made their appearance before God, have past their final
trial, and received their everlasting sentence: And each of us may say,
“Why should not I be the next? What is there in my nature, or in my
circumstances that can secure me against the summons of death and
judgment?” It may be but a few days before we are called; and is every
one of us here ready? This is a question of infinite importance, and let
us not give rest to our souls, till we can answer it to our
satisfaction.

O how should we live! how should we act! how should we speak! how should
we worship! if this were always upon our hearts? O that we could but
realize these awful things to our minds, and make them more familiar to
our thoughts daily! Could sinners then be one day contented without
converting grace, and without a justifying righteousness? Could they any
longer refuse the mercy of the gospel, and Jesus the Saviour? Could they
be satisfied to appear all guilty before God, and no friend there to
speak for them? no intercessor to plead for them? none to undertake
their cause? Could they go on to sin with a negligent mind, if they
thought the judgment-door just opening upon them, and Jesus Christ at
hand? Could it be possible we should have such cold and lazy desires
after a Saviour and his salvation, if we thought our everlasting
happiness or misery depended upon the next day, the next hour, or the
next moment? For we know not how soon the summons may come, and state us
before his tribunal.

II. The _second_ part of my discourse leads me to consider the blessed
difference that there shall be between a christian’s appearing before
God in heaven, and his appearance here in divine ordinances before God
on earth? and by a comparison of these two, may the Spirit of God awaken
our faith, our hope, our love, and our joy, and all join to promote our
sanctification! The differences then between our standing before God in
worship now, and our worshipping before God in heaven, are such as
these:

1. Now the true christian appears in a mixed assembly of saints and
sinners: there the assembly is all holy, and not one sinner amongst
them. Here sincere souls and hypocrites meet together in worship; there
the hypocrite is for ever banished. In the houses of God on earth, the
wicked Canaanites will mingle with the children of Israel; but in his
temple in heaven, every one is an Israelite indeed; _There shall no more
be found a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts_; Zech. xiv. 21.

The children of God here, are under a veil of infirm and sinful flesh,
and in the likeness of sinners; there they are unveiled and acknowledged
to be _the sons and daughters of the Almighty_; 1 John iii. 1, 2.
_Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God! But the world knows us not_; nay, we
are not at many times known to ourselves; but when he comes whom we have
trusted, then we shall be known and distinguished from the world, as
God’s only begotten Son; and we shall be known and distinguished as the
children of God, all related and a-kin to him:—_When he appears we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is_; 1 John iii. 2. and shall
sufficiently be distinguished from all who belong not to Christ.

Here a child of God, in the sanctuary, is deeply humbled at the mention
of the name of God; but his humility is not seen. Here his zeal kindles
at the proposal of a duty, but it burns with a hidden flame: Here his
love is at work, his hope is arising, his joy is getting up to heaven,
when he is engaged in the meditation of a comfortable promise, or some
of the blessed privileges of the children of God; while those who are
around him, even his next neighbour who sits close to him, knows nothing
of the holy workings of his heart, and the breathings of his soul
towards God: But there the whole assembly shall worship with one heart,
and one soul, and not one wandering worshipper, or one wandering thought
in worship.

We are ready to complain here, that we ourselves know not whether we
shall be accepted or no; through the weakness of faith, want of
holiness, decay of zeal in our spirits, and that degeneracy we sometimes
find and feel in ourselves, we are often ready to doubt, and almost upon
the borders of despair. This is the case of many a poor, trembling
christian; but there every one shall worship with strength of joy,
liveliest delight, and warmest zeal and affections: and be assured his
graces are all true, for he shall see them all in the light of glory.

This suspicion or jealousy of ourselves, flattens our devotion many a
time here, and takes away the pleasurable sensations of religion,
because we ourselves know not whether God accepts us or no: There a full
assurance of our being beloved of God, and being for ever accepted of
him, shall make every exercise of devotion a most agreeable and perfect
pleasure. O my soul, how should it quicken thy race, and exalt thy joy,
to think how fast thou art removing from this world of sinners, and from
all thy own doubts and fears, to a glorious assembly of holy souls,
where not one doubt, or fear shall remain in their consciences, nor in
thine!

2. In this world the saint appears among a few to worship his God, but
then among millions. Now many times we have worshipped in a secret
corner, for fear of men; but then it is all in public glory: for there
all the worship that is paid, is the established worship of the whole
country; and honours, and kingdoms, and wealth, are all on that side:
All the inhabitants are made rich for ever, with the riches of heaven;
and all the children of God are the sons and daughters of a king, and
all heirs and possessors of glory, and reign together with the Lord
Jesus: Rom. viii. 17. 2 Tim. ii. 12. Here many times the children of God
are forced to be separatists from their neighbours and fellow-citizens,
they are divided from the multitudes and crowds of mankind, they are but
a _little flock_; but there they shall shine in the midst of the
_general assembly of the first-born, and a great multitude which no man
can number_; Rev. vii. 9. that with victories and songs are for ever
addressing the throne of God and the Lamb. O when shall I hear the voice
from heaven say, _Come up hither_?

3. Now we worship in a way of preparation; there for enjoyment and full
delight. Ordinances here are but slight shadows, and very faint and
imperfect resemblances of what the worship in heaven shall be. Now the
word of God is spoken by a man, and it loses much of the divinity and
power, by the means of conveyance; there it will be spoken by God
himself to our spirits, or by our Lord Jesus Christ, to the ears of our
bodies, raised, sanctified, and immortal; and our souls shall receive as
much of the express ideas, as God designs to convey by all his
conversation with that sanctified number: nor shall they miss of any of
the beauty, or spirit, or perfection, of those thoughts which God
himself would impress upon us.

Now in the letters of the bible we read the good-will and mercy of God
to sinners; but there, in a far brighter manner of conveyance, _in thy
light shall we see light_; Ps. xxxvi. 9. Here we seek the Father and the
Son; the one as our happiness, the other as the way to the enjoyment of
that happiness, as they are usually represented in the word of God:
There we shall say, We have _found him whom our souls desire_ and love,
and shall be for ever happy in his presence. Our business now in this
world is to get a right temper and frame: there to practise and indulge
the joy. Happy souls, who are thus prepared in the outer courts to draw
nigh and worship _within the veil_!

Now we appear with imperfect services, and poor improvements, there with
glorious and complete worship: For here _we see God but as in a glass
darkly_; there _face to face_; 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Now we can have his
glory, or his grace represented to us but in part, in a small measure,
and according to our poor capacities of receiving; there _we shall see
him as he is, and know as we are known_.

What are our prayers, what are our praises here? our praises when
offered up in a song, or in plainer language, in comparison with those
that are paid to God above? Now we speak of him _whom we have not seen_,
therefore we speak in so imperfect a manner: There we shall hear and
speak of him whom we see or know more intimately: Now we appear before
God, and bring too much of the world with us; there we _leave the world
and go to the Father_, God and Christ are too much forgotten, or they
are too often thrust out of our minds by vain thoughts, even when we
ourselves are never so desirous to spend an hour or two with God; what
interruptions do we find? What long blanks divide the several petitions
of our prayer, and break off the meditation while we stand before God to
worship him? We have many enemies within and without, who stand ready to
seize away our souls from God, and to rob him of our devotion: Vain
fancies call us aside, and our senses turn off our minds from heaven.
There shall be everlasting worship above, without one impertinence
interposing; no trifles there to divert us, and separate one part of our
worship from the other: there all the powers and faculties of nature
shall perpetually be engaged in the business and blessedness of that
state. Glorious worship, and blessed worshippers! fit for the presence
of the Majesty of heaven.

5. I might say, We come with very little comfort, and many
discouragements, to appear before God on earth; but there with
everlasting consolation. We come now to the word, and we go away again,
hardly hearing the voice of God in his word or seeing his countenance,
but there we shall be for ever near him; no wall of flesh, or of sin to
divide us.

Now we are defiled with guilt, and ashamed to lift up our faces towards
heaven, and blush even when our hearts are never so sincere; but there
we shall come near to God, even to God in glory, and not be afraid of
him; there we shall see a God undefiled, ourselves also being undefiled;
a God of spotless purity, and ourselves without blemish _before the
throne_; our _garments washed_ white _in the blood of the Lamb_, and
never, never to be defiled again; that is the glory and pleasure of a
christian. Then we shall appear _without spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing_; without guile in our mouths, or vanity in our hearts; _without
fault before God_, and therefore without pain; without sorrow, and
without fear for ever, even though we stand before God in all his
majesty; for we are assured of his mercy. Now we worship with prayers
and tears, because of many and heavy burdens, sorrows and sins; but
_then with everlasting songs and joy on our heads_; Is. xxxv. 10. If we
had a painful and living sense of these things, of the wanderings,
temptations, burdens, and defilements, that mingle with our worship
here, we should cry aloud, and say, _How long, O Lord, how long?_

6. _Lastly_, Now we appear and depart again, but then we shall abide
with God for ever. Now we go down from the mount of converse with God,
into the world of temptation, and sin, and business, and care: We appear
upon mount Horeb, or Pisgah, and we take a little view of the promised
land: but we go down again as the children of Israel did, to fight with
the Canaanites, the giants that are in the valley, our mighty sins, our
strong corruptions. In this valley of tears we must have a conflict
before we get to the promised land; there every worshipper has in his
hand a palm of complete victory; Rev. vii. 9. and he is for ever
discharged from fighting: _Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in
the temple of my God; and he shall go no more out_; Rev. iii. 12. So
necessary is the presence of the saints in heaven, that our Lord Jesus
Christ has represented them as pillars of that building. God dwelling in
the midst of his saints, counts himself dwelling in one of his glorious
heavens: and every saint there is, as it were, a pillar, and a support
of it: We are _lively stones_ in that building in which God will for
ever inhabit. Now we come to the house of God as visitants; but there as
inhabitants, as the _children_ of God, who _abide for ever in the
house_: There every saint obtains what holy David wished for, and that
in the literal perfection of it, that he might _dwell in the house of
the Lord for ever_; Ps. xxvii. 4. and xxiii. 6.

Use. The only reflection I shall make on the second part of my
discourse, is this, that we should raise our hope, our consolation, and
our joy, by a meditation of such future worship in heaven as this is,
when we lie under many weaknesses, restraints, and defilements, in our
best worship on earth. O! how would this hope rejoice our hearts, if we
could but live upon it! What secret comfort would it be to a poor humble
soul, who is hindered from drawing near to God in worship now, because
his affections are perpetually ready to wander, to think that he shall
come and appear before God hereafter, and see him without ceasing, and
his thoughts shall never wander from his God. When he complains under
the temptations of Satan, and absence of God from his ordinances, what a
pleasure to think he is going above to worship at the _general
assembly_, where Satan never enters, and where God never conceals
himself; but appears universally gracious, and without a frown; where
the God of glory and mercy appears unchangeably, and for ever the same.

Those of us who have been long restrained from all the pleasure and
profit of public ordinances, what a blessed release will it be to our
souls, when we shall be dismissed from the bonds of flesh, into that
great and holy society of spirits, and shall feel no more restraints for
ever? We who have been detained from the house of God, by the
uncharitable laws of men, or the painful providence of God, with what a
divine relish shall we embrace our liberty in that day, and be eternally
free from all forbidding laws, and all imprisoning providences?

O how heartily should it engage our affections to one another, and
increase the pleasure of our worship, when we come to wait on God
together here below, to think that we shall worship God together in the
upper world? How should it unite the hearts of our congregations one to
another in divine love and make christians for ever forbear wrath and
anger here, since they must be everlasting fellow-worshippers above?

What a glorious joy will it be to you who are the heads and rulers of
this family, who have so often joined in sweet devotion here on earth,
when you shall meet each other there, and worship together before the
throne in heaven? What a mutual endearment, and mutual delight does such
a prospect raise between the nearest relations? How doth it exalt the
sweetest passion, heighten and refine the warmest love? What a blessed
transport will it be to the parents, to find their children there
engaged in the same work? And what a joyful meeting will it be to you,
the children, the hopeful offspring of this house, to find each other in
that company, and to see your pious parents with you? With what a
glorious and unspeakable joy shall parents render up their accounts to
God in this language, “_Lord here am I, and the children that thou hast
given me_;” imitating the words of the Lord Jesus, giving up his account
to his Father; Heb. ii. 13.

How will our gladness increase, and our souls enlarge themselves in holy
joy, to behold our christian friends, and our dear relatives, standing
in the same assembly, as fellow-worshippers at the throne? How will the
heads of this family rejoice, if their whole household should be found
there, whom they have endeavoured to encourage in their way to heaven,
by a religious care to maintain household worship? how will the joy of
faithful ministers be advanced by every one of their hearers, whom they
shall find in that blessed church above? _Ye are our crown, and our
glory, and our rejoicing in that day_; 1 Thess. ii. 19, 20.

Now should not each of us maintain a holy jealousy within ourselves, and
say, “Which of us shall be missing?” May not every one of us so far
suspect ourselves, as to say, ‘_Lord is it I?_’ Shall I be wanting
there, when all the rest of this little assembly shall be worshipping
with the saints in heaven? Shall I be separated from them with whom I
have so often appeared before God, and bowed the knee together on earth?
O dreadful thought of overwhelming sorrow! Which of us all has so much
stupidity, or such impious courage, as to bear the terrible
apprehension? To be divided for ever from the family of God, and shut
out of his upper sanctuary! O may these words make a proper impression
on every heart, to keep our jealousy awake, and spur us onward in our
christian course of duty and devotion! May such thoughts as these excite
us to _give all diligence, to make our calling and election sure_, and
in every act of worship here in this world, to get some clearer evidence
of an interest in the favour of God, some further meetness for glory;
that when the great assembly shall join together in that heavenly
worship, we may assist with our praises, and mingle our joy with theirs.
_Amen._


                    HYMN FOR SERMONS XIII. and XIV.
              _Appearance before God here and hereafter._


                   While I am banish’d from thy house,
                     I mourn in secret, Lord:
                   “When shall I come, and pay my vows,
                     And hear thy holy word?”

                   So while I dwell in bonds of clay,
                     Methinks my soul shall groan,
                   “When shall I wing my heavenly way,
                     And stand before thy throne?”

                   I love to see my Lord below,
                     His church displays his grace;
                   But upper worlds his glory know,
                     And view him face to face.

                   I love to worship at his feet,
                     Though sin attack me there;
                   But saints exalted near his seat,
                     Have no assaults to fear.

                   I’m pleas’d to meet him in his court,
                     And taste his heavenly love;
                   But still I think his visits short,
                     Or I too soon remove.

                   He shines, and I am all delight,
                     He hides, and all is pain:
                   When will he fix me in his sight,
                     And ne’er depart again?




                               SERMON XV.
      _A Rational Defence of the Gospel: Or, Courage in professing
                             Christianity._
  ROM. i. 16.——I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the
        power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
                            THE FIRST PART.


Shame is a very discouraging passion of the mind; it sinks the spirits
low, it enfeebles all the active powers, and forbids the vigorous
execution of any thing whereof we are ashamed. It was necessary
therefore, that St. Paul should be endued with sacred courage, and
raised above the power of shame, when he was sent to preach the gospel
of Christ among the Jews or the heathens, to face an infidel world, and
to break through all the reproaches and terrors of it. _I am a debtor_,
saith he, _verse 14_, _to the Greeks and to the Barbarians_; that is, to
the learned and the unlearned nations; _to the wise and to the unwise_:
I have a commission from Christ to publish his gospel among all the
nations of men, and I esteem myself their debtor, till I have delivered
my message: And though Rome be the seat of worldly power and policy, the
mistress of the nations, and sovereign of the earth, where I shall meet
with opposition and contempt in abundance, yet I have courage enough to
preach this doctrine at Rome also, _for I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ_.

My friends, this is an age wherein the gospel of our Redeemer meets with
much contempt and opposition. There are many in a baptized nation, and
who have been brought up in the christian belief and worship, that begin
to be weary of Christ and his religion; they are endeavouring to find
blemishes and defects in this sacred gospel, and in that blessed word of
God that reveals this grace to us. The divine truths, that belong to
this gospel, meet with mockery and profane reproach from deists and
unbelievers. I may call it therefore a day of rebuke and blasphemy. God
grant we may never become a land of heathens again! Those of us that
believe this gospel from the heart, have need of courage to maintain our
profession of it, especially in some companies and conversations. We
should prepare ourselves to encounter the false reasonings of
unbelievers, as well as harden our faces against their ridicule. Let us
therefore meditate this sacred text, that each of us may pronounce
boldly the words of this great apostle, _I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ_.

Now, that our meditations may proceed regularly on the present theme of
discourse, let us consider,

I. What the gospel of Christ is, that we may not mistake it.—II. What is
included in this expression, I am not ashamed of it.—III. What there is
in this gospel that might be supposed any way to expose a man to shame;
and I shall take occasion under this head to give particular answers to
some of the most important objections that might be made against the
gospel, and shew that there is no just reason to be ashamed of it.—IV. I
shall consider what is that general answer to all objections; that
universal guard against sinful shame which is contained in my text, and
which will bear out every christian in his faith and profession of the
gospel of Christ, _viz._ that it is the power of God to the salvation of
every one who believes.—And, V. I shall draw some proper inferences.

_First_, What is the gospel of Christ?

I answer in general, It is a revelation of the grace of God to fallen
man through a Mediator. Or, It is a gracious constitution of God for the
recovery of sinful and miserable man, from that deplorable state into
which sin had brought him, by the meditation of Christ: Or, in the words
of my text, it is the power of God, or his powerful appointment, for the
salvation of every one who believes. The word gospel, in the original,
εὐαγγέλιον signifies good news, or glad tidings. And surely, when a
sinner who is exposed to the wrath of God, is sensible of his guilt and
danger, it must needs be glad tidings to him to hear of a way of
salvation, and an all-sufficient Saviour. This constitution of God for
our salvation has had various editions, if I may so express it, or
gradual discoveries of it made to mankind, ever since Adam first sinned,
and God visited him with the first promise of grace before he turned him
out of paradise. But the last and most complete revelation of this
gospel was made by the personal ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
more especially by his apostles, when his own death, resurrection, and
exaltation had laid the complete foundation for it. From the books of
the New Testament therefore we may derive this larger description of the
gospel of Christ.

It is a wise, a holy, and gracious constitution of God for the recovery
of sinful man, by sending his own Son Jesus Christ into the flesh, to
obey his laws which man had broken, to make a proper atonement for sin
by his death, and thus to procure the favour of God, and eternal
happiness for all that believe and repent, and receive the offered
salvation; together with a promise of the Holy Spirit to work this faith
and repentance in their hearts, to renew their sinful natures into
holiness, to form them on earth fit for this happiness, and to bring
them to the full possession of it in heaven.

It might be proved that this is the sense and substance of the gospel of
Christ from many of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and the
ceremonies and figures of the Jewish church, as well as from a variety
of citations from the writings of the evangelists and apostles: Yet
there have risen some persons, I mean the Socinians and their disciples,
in the last age and in this also, who call themselves christians, but
they also curtail and diminish the gospel of Christ, as to make it
signify very little more than the dictates and hopes of the light of
nature, _viz._ “That if we repent of our sins past, and obey the
commands of God as well as we can for the future, Christ as a great
prophet, has made a full declaration that there is pardon for such
sinners, and they shall be accepted unto eternal life:” and all this
without any dependance on his death as a proper sacrifice, and with
little regard to the operations of his Holy Spirit.

Now I need use no other argument to refute this mistaken notion of the
gospel, than what may be derived from the words of my text, _viz._ that
St. Paul expresses it with a sort of emphasis, and as a matter of
importance, that he was _not ashamed of the gospel of Christ_: Whereas
if this had been all the substance of the gospel, he had no reason to be
ashamed of it either among the Jews or the heathens. The Jews had a
knowledge of forgiveness upon repentance, and a belief of it long before
Christ came: And the heathen philosophers would have readily received
it, as a thing very little different from what their natural reason
might lead them to hope for: though it could not fully assure them of
it: They would never have sought to expose and ridicule the preaching of
St. Paul as mere babbling, and called him _a setter forth of strange
gods_.

But on the other hand, if we suppose him publishing the glorious
doctrine which I have described, there was something in this so strange
to the ears of the heathens, as well as of the blinded Jews, that might
well be supposed to awaken their opposition and rage; and therefore it
was a great point gained with him, when he had courage enough to
maintain such a gospel, and to say, I am not ashamed of it.

This leads me to the second thing proposed.

_Secondly_, What is included in these words, I am not ashamed of the
gospel? To this I answer under these five heads:

1. I am not ashamed to believe it as a man.—2. I am not ashamed to
profess it as a christian.—3. I am not ashamed to preach it to others as
a minister.—4. I am not ashamed to defend it, and contend for it as a
good soldier of Christ.—5. I am not ashamed to suffer and die for it as
a martyr.

1. I am not ashamed to believe this gospel as a man. My rational powers
give me no secret reproaches. My understanding and judgment do not
reprove and check my faith. I feel no inward blush upon the face of my
soul, while I give the fullest assent to all these truths, to this
scheme of doctrine, to this heavenly contrivance and system of grace. A
rational man, especially who has been bred up in learning, should be
ashamed to believe fables and follies, but I believe all this gospel and
am not ashamed. My own reason approves it, and justifies me in the
persuasion and belief of such a gospel as this is. I believe it with so
firm and unshaken a faith, that I venture all my own eternal concerns
upon it. I lay all the stress of my hopes of a blessed immortality on
it. My soul rests here, and I am not ashamed of my resting-place: I am
not ashamed of my Saviour, and the method of his salvation. I am
persuaded my hopes shall never disappoint me. Surely, if the gospel had
been so very irrational a thing, as some men pretend it to be, St. Paul,
being so rational and wise a man, would have been ashamed to believe it.
But I believe it, says he, and am not ashamed. I do not think it casts
any just reflection upon my rational capacities, or my learned education
at the feet of Gamaliel, for me to give a full assent to this gospel.

2. I am not ashamed to profess it as a christian. I am ready to tell the
world that I believe it, and I take all occasions to let the world know
it. I am coming to profess this gospel at Rome, and am not ashamed: I
have owned it before my own countrymen the Jews already, where it has
been most reproached. I have been telling the Gentiles what the gospel
of salvation is, and I long to see you at Rome, that I may tell you what
my belief is in the gospel, and may hear how far you have believed, and
may be _comforted by the mutual faith both of you and me_; Rom. i. 12. I
shall be glad to tell you what doctrines I venture my own soul upon, and
shall be willing to hear from you whether you venture your souls upon
the same doctrine, or no; and shall rejoice to find we are both
interested in one salvation.

3. I am not ashamed to preach it to others as a minister, that is, to
invite others to believe it. It is a communicable good, and I am sent to
diffuse it, nor am I ashamed of my commission. See 2 Tim. i. 12, 13.
_Our Lord Jesus Christ has abolished death, and brought life and
immortality to light by the gospel_, and has appointed me a preacher,
and an apostle to the gentiles: I preach the gospel, and _am not
ashamed_, though I have suffered for it. I venture my soul upon it unto
the last great day, and I bid thee, Timothy, as a preacher unto others,
_to hold fast the same form of sound words which thou hast learned of
me_. I long to teach the whole world this faith and this doctrine,
therefore _I am a debtor to the Greeks and barbarians_; I would make
others partakers of the same hope. _Would to God, that not only thou,
Agrippa, but all those that hear me, were not only almost, but
altogether such as I am, except only these bonds, these sufferings_
which I endure for Christ’s sake; Acts xxvi. 22.

4. I am not ashamed to contend for it as _a good soldier of Christ_; to
defend it when it is attacked, and to vindicate the cause of my Lord and
Master. Where it is assaulted I endeavour to secure it, though with many
reproaches from the carnal prejudices of mankind. I oppose them all; for
they oppose my Saviour and his cross, and I build my everlasting hopes
there. _I am set for the defence of the gospel of Christ_; Phil. i. 17.
and I will _contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the
saints_; Jude ver. 3. And he gave us an instance of it, that when Peter,
who was an apostle, seemed to diminish some of the glory and the liberty
of the gospel, he _withstood him to the face_; Gal. ii. 11. “There shall
no man silence me, or stop my mouth, when I am preaching a crucified
Saviour, and when I express my faith in the liberty and latitude of the
gospel of Christ. For if I durst withstand an apostle under his criminal
concealments, and in his diminution of the honour of this doctrine,
surely I dare oppose all the world besides.”

5. _Lastly_, I am not ashamed to suffer and die for it as a martyr. Load
me with reproaches, ye Jews, my countrymen, and load me with chains, ye
magistrates of Rome; of none of these am I ashamed or afraid, but with
all boldness I am always ready that Christ should be magnified in my
life, or my death; Phil. i. 14, 20. And as for my friends that are full
of sorrow lest Paul should be sacrificed for the faith of Christ. What
mourn ye, and break my heart for? _I am not only ready to be bound, but
to die for the sake of Christ. I count nothing dear to me, no nor my
life precious to myself, that I may finish with joy the course of my
ministry of this gospel, that I may testify the grace of my God_; Acts
xx. 24. and xxi. 13.

I might add also, that St. Paul intends and means more than he expresses
by a very usual figure of speech: I am not ashamed of it, that is, I
glory in it, I make my boast of it. If there be any doctrine worth
boasting of, it is the gospel of Christ. If I have any profession to
glory in, it is that I am a christian. Once I was a pharisee, and I
counted it my gain and my honour; Phil. iii. 7, 8. _But what things were
gain to me, these I counted loss for Christ; yea, doubtless, and I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord._ I glory in being a minister of the gospel; it is the highest
honour God could have put upon me, who am less than the least of all
saints. _To me is this grace given to preach among the gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ_; Eph. iii. 8. I glory in it to that
degree, that I am dead to all things else. _God forbid I should glory in
any thing save in the cross of our Lord Jesus, whereby the world is
crucified to me, and I to the world_; Gal. vi. 14. I glory in my
sufferings: and, my friends, if ye understood the value of these things,
they are your glory too. _If I am offered up a sacrifice for the service
of your faith; I joy and rejoice together with all_; Phill. ii. 17. O!
that you would but rejoice together with me in it. Thus I have shewed
you that all these things are implied in St. Paul’s not being ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, and I have proved it to you from other parts of
his epistles.

The third general head I proposed to speak to, was this; What is there
in this gospel that may be supposed to expose any man to shame! And this
question is very needful; for if there were nothing in it that men might
take occasion to throw their scandals and reproaches at, it had been no
great matter for St. Paul to have cried out, I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ.

To this I answer in general, this was a gospel that contradicted the
rooted prejudices of the Jews, and was severely reproached by those that
professed great knowledge in their law; it was also a new and strange
thing to the Gentiles. _A crucified Christ was a stumbling-block to the
Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks_; 1 Cor. i. 23. There was something
in the faith, and practice, and worship of the gospel so contrary to the
course of their education in the world, so opposite to their carnal
inclinations, and to the customs and fashions of their country, that a
man might well be afraid and ashamed to profess it, when they lift their
tongues, and their hands, and their swords against it, and the chief of
them _crucified the Lord of glory_, and put the preachers of it to
death.

Thus in general. But while I descend to particulars, I shall confine
myself only to those occasions of shame, which the same gospel meets
with in our day, that so the discourse may be more useful, to the
present audience; and as I mention each objection or supposed occasion
of shame, I shall endeavour to take off the force of it, and shew that
it is unreasonable.

Now the things that might any ways be supposed to expose this gospel to
shame, may be ranked under these two heads:—

I. Those which arise from the doctrines of the gospel: And, II.—Those
which arise from the professors of the gospel.

_First_, The occasions of shame that arise from the doctrines of the
gospel, are these five that follow:

I. That there are mysteries in it which are above the powers of our
reason to comprehend, and I will never believe a gospel that I cannot
comprehend. This is the language of Socinians, men that have pretended
so much to reason in our day.

But to relieve this occasion of shame, let us consider that mysteries
are of two sorts.

_First_, Such as we should never have known but by divine revelation;
but being once revealed, they may be fairly explained and understood.
Such is the doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ, of the resurrection
of the dead, of the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ’s
sufferings, and of eternal life in a future world. I say, these are all
mysteries that were hid from ages, that is, they are such truths which
nature or reason could not have found out of itself, but being once
revealed to us of God, may be fairly explained and well understood.
Other sort of mysteries are those, which when revealed unto us, we know
merely the existence, or reality and certainty of them, but cannot
comprehend the mode and manner how they are. And of this kind there are
but two that I know of which are peculiar to our religion, and which are
the chief objects of offence to some men. These are the mysteries of the
blessed Trinity, and the mystery of the incarnation of Christ. The
mystery of Three, whom the scripture describes as persons, who have some
glorious communion in one godhead! and the mystery of two natures united
in one person.

Now, though the way and manner how the three persons, Father, Son, and
Spirit, should be one God, and how two natures, human and divine, should
be one person in Christ Jesus; I say, though the way and manner how
these things are, is not so easy to be explained and unfolded by us, and
above our own present capacity to comprehend and fully to explain, yet I
could never find these things proved impossible to be. If I must refuse
to believe a thing that I know not the manner and nature of, there are
many things in the world of nature, and in natural religion, that I must
disbelieve. Let them explain to me in natural religion what is the
eternity of God, what ideas they can have of a being that never began to
be; and then perhaps I may be able to explain to them how three persons
can have communion in one godhead, and how two natures can be one in
person. I am well assured, there are some doctrines in natural religion
as difficult to be explained, and hard to be understood, and the manner
of them is as mysterious, as these doctrines of revealed religion, which
are also rendered more offensive to the thinking mind, by some men’s
attempts to explain them in an unhappy manner.

But we may go a step lower to meet this objection, and confound it. In
the world of nature there are mysteries of this kind, which are as
unaccountable and as hard to be unfolded as the mysteries of grace. It
is the doctrine of union both in the trinity and the incarnation, which
renders them so mysterious. Now this doctrine of unions in natural
philosophy hath been hitherto insolvable. We know that spirit and body
are united to make a man: But the manner how they are united, remains
still a most difficult question. We know that some bodies are hard, and
some are soft; but what it is that ties or unites hard bodies so closely
together, and makes them so difficult to be separated, is a riddle to
the best philosophers, which they cannot solve; or what it is that
renders the parts of soft bodies so easily separable. And many other
things there are in nature as mysterious as this.

Besides, if it were possible for us to explain all things in nature, and
to write a perfect book of natural philosophy with the most accurate
skill, yet it would not follow that we must know God the Creator to
perfection. The things of God are infinitely superior to the things of
men. The nature of a Creator in his manner of existence is infinitely
above the nature of creatures in theirs. It is fit there should be
something belonging to God an infinite Spirit, that is incomprehensible,
and above the power of finite spirits to comprehend, and fully search
out and explain. It ought therefore to be no just ground of shame to the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it has mysteries in it, that is to
say, that it has some doctrines in it, which we could never have found
out by the mere light of reason; and some truths, the full explication
whereof we can never attain to, since there are many things in the world
of nature, in the world of bodies and souls, and many things in natural
religion, which we cannot fully explain.

II. Another occasion of reproach, which men fasten upon the gospel, is,
that some of the doctrines are so singular and contrary to the common
opinions and reasonings of men; such as that the ever-blessed God should
want a satisfaction, in order to pardon sin with honour; that he should
punish the most innocent and obedient man that ever lived, even his own
Son, for the sins of wicked and rebellious creatures; that we should be
freed from hell, which we had deserved, by the sufferings of another in
our stead; that one man should be justified with another’s obedience;
nay, that ten thousands of men should be pardoned and justified for the
sake of the obedience and death of one single man; that all our own
repentance is not sufficient of itself to obtain our pardon; and our
holiness, be it never so great, does not procure us a title to the
favour of God and heaven; that dead bodies, though mouldered in the
grave for thousands of years, should be raised again to life and
immortality: These are such strange doctrines, so very foreign to the
common sentiments of most men, that some of the Athenians cried out,
“_What does this babbler mean?_” A man should be ashamed of these
things; the very heathen philosophers called it foolishness.

But now to remove this scandal, let us consider that many of these
things are not so contrary to the reason of men as some think: As for
the satisfaction made for our sins by the sufferings of Christ, did not
almost all the heathen world suppose that God would not pardon sin
without satisfaction? What else mean all their bloody sacrifices? And
why did they sometimes proceed so far as to murder men, and offer them
to God for their sins? I confess indeed, that many of the philosophers
and learned men amongst them, who derided the gospel of Christ, did also
despise the sacrifices and religious ceremonies of their own countrymen,
believing that God would be merciful to men that were penitent and
pious, without any rites of atonement and sacrifice. But it is as
evident also, that the people had a general notion of the necessity of
some atonement for sin, and that the more valuable the sacrifice was,
the sooner was their god appeased, and the benefit procured would be
more extensive, howsoever the philosophers might ridicule it. It is
manifest then, that many of the heathens did imagine that the death and
sufferings of one person would procure pardon and immunities for a whole
multitude. And upon this principle some of the ancient Romans, now and
then, out of nobility of spirit, devoted themselves to death, to appease
the anger of the gods, for their whole country. Thus it appears, that
the business of satisfaction for sin, and the doctrine of expiation and
atonement by the blood and death of a surety, was not so utterly unknown
in the world.

I add farther, that the notion of one person’s making satisfaction for
the crime of another in human and political affairs, has been sometimes
practised, and thought to be very intelligible; and why should it be
counted so very monstrous and absurd in things divine? Do we understand
what it is for one man to become a surety for another, or for a criminal
to be set free from punishment by the voluntary substitution of another
person in his stead? Are we not well acquainted what it is for one man
to pay the debt of another, and the original person that was obliged
thereby, to become free? Do we not know what it is for a whole family of
children to inherit a possession for many ages, one after another, for
some noble acts and services of their father? Therefore honour, and
glory, and happiness, bestowed upon a multitude, for the sake of what
one man has done, is not so unintelligible a thing as some men would
persuade us. Why should that be esteemed impossible in the affair of
religion, which is evident and plainly practicable in the affairs of
this world?

Again, they think it strange that our repentance should not be enough to
obtain the pardon of past sins, and our own obedience should not procure
heaven for us. But are not traitors and robbers, and all notorious
criminals punished in all governments, notwithstanding their
repentances? Can their sorrow for what is past, procure a pardon of
their prince? Who then would be punished? And is man’s government in
punishing criminals, without a satisfaction, just and reasonable? And
shall God’s government be counted unreasonable? Can future obedience
among men obtain forgiveness for past treason and rebellion? And why
then should you think the great God is obliged to accept of it?

As for the resurrection of the dead, though it was counted a strange
thing among the heathens, when it was preached to them, yet in these
latter days, since the knowledge of God and his glorious attributes has
been so much increased, and the reason of men has freely exercised
itself upon things divine and human; the resurrection is not counted any
impossible thing, nor the doctrine of it incredible. And I am verily
persuaded if men, whom God has endued with large capacities and great
skill in reasoning, would but employ those talents to write a rational
account of most of the doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ, it might be
done with much glory and success.

As for those few doctrines of christianity, which may at first appear
less reasonable to men, their abundant attestation from heaven demands
our belief.

III. Another occasion of reproach is, that the gospel teaches
mortification and self-denial in a very great degree, conflicting with
our natural appetites, and fighting against our own flesh and blood: And
all that it promises is an unseen heaven, a future reward, a far distant
happiness in another country, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard of,
nor the heart of man conceived. A mere spiritual pleasure, that is to be
enjoyed by the mind, and which the body shall not taste of, till perhaps
after a thousand years or more. Now, as under the former head, the
doctrines of the gospel are a scandal to the men of reasoning, so under
this they become a scandal and reproach to those that are literally
called men of sense, who are carnalized and immersed in sensuality. They
think it strange to forego the joys of sense for the hopes of enjoying a
happiness in a world they do not know when or where.

But I need not stand long to answer this calumny; for even some of the
refined philosophers gave sufficient rebuke to this sensual temper: The
very heathens could say enough to abate this censure, and to remove this
occasion of shame, though the gospel of Christ does it infinitely
better.

Christianity does not abridge us of the common comforts of flesh and
blood, nor lay an unreasonable restraint upon any natural appetite; but
it teaches us to live like men, and not like brutes; to regulate and
manage our animal nature with its desires and inclinations, so as to
enjoy life in the most proper and becoming manner; to eat and drink, and
taste the bounties of providence, to the honour of our Creator, and to
the best interest of our souls.

But, suppose, we were forbid all the indulgence of our appetites, and
the delights of sense, by the gospel; surely, those who know what
intellectual pleasures are, who can relish the joy that belongs to
spirits, will not be much terrified with these objections, nor deride
the faith of Christ, because it does not propose to them the reward of
an earthly paradise. The rewards of the gospel are indeed spiritual till
the resurrection, but those spiritual pleasures shall vastly
over-balance all that toil, sorrow and suffering, we have passed through
on earth, and all that self-denial which we have exercised. But when the
body shall be raised again, our refined delights of all kinds shall be
infinitely satisfying: We shall not say, that God has dealt our
happiness to us with a niggardly hand, but that he has exceeded all his
promises, when we shall come to taste the things God has prepared for
us, which eye hath not seen, or ear heard of.

IV. Another prejudice against the gospel is this; some persons charge it
with much of enthusiasm; and that the doctrine of the operations of the
Spirit, and the expectation of his divine assistance to instruct us in
truth, to mortify sin in us, and to enable us to perform holy duties,
has too much of a visionary and fanciful turn of mind, and does not
become men that profess reason.

But if such objectors were better acquainted with themselves, and knew
the weakness of their own reason in the search after truth, and the
various and plausible errors that attend their enquiries on every side;
if they were better acquainted with the strength of temptation, the
power of their own sinful appetites, and the weakness of their will to
resist sin, and to fulfil the rules of righteousness: surely they would
not think it a ridiculous thing to lift up a prayer to the great God to
guide them into truth, and to assist them to walk steadily in the paths
of religion and virtue. If they had but a deep and lively sense of their
own insufficiency for every thing that is good, and of the many dangers
and enemies that beset them, they would rather see infinite reason to
bless their Creator, that has given them any promise or hope of the aids
of his grace.

Nor is it at all fantastical or irrational to suppose, that the great
and blessed God, who made these spirits of ours, should kindly act upon
them, and influence them by secret and divine methods to their duty and
their happiness; that he should send his own Spirit to help them onward
in their proper business, which is to serve him here; and assist them in
the pursuit of their true blessedness, which is, to enjoy him hereafter.

Methinks it is one of the glories of the gospel of Christ, that God has
not only sent his Son to purchase heaven for us, but continually sends
down his own Spirit to lead every humble christian in the way thither.
When a poor penitent creature, distressed under a sense of the power of
sin, dwelling in him, who has long and often toiled and laboured to
bring his heart near to God, and to suppress the irregular and
exorbitant appetites of his nature, addresses himself to the throne of
God, and cries earnestly for divine help, it is a glorious provision
that is made in the gospel of Christ, that the Spirit of God is promised
for our assistance. Nor is it at all unworthy of a person of the
greatest reason and the best understanding, humbly to wait and hope for
the accomplishment of this promise. Thus the charge of enthusiasm
vanishes, and the gospel maintains its honour.

V. The last objection against the doctrines of the gospel of Christ, is,
that they are not sufficiently attested, that there is not ground enough
given to credit the divinity of them in our age. They are ready to say,
“These things were done, according as ourselves profess, above sixteen
hundred years ago, and we have not sufficient credentials to venture our
faith upon it at this day.”

It would be too long here to repeat over to you half the grounds we have
for faith in this gospel. That there was such a man as Jesus Christ;
that he lived at such a time at Jerusalem; that he wrought wondrous
works in his own country, is not at all disbelieved by those that
profess any reasonable faith in human history. The Jews themselves, who
were his greatest enemies, do not deny that he wrought those miracles,
which others could not work; but they pretend, that he did it by some
magic art, by diabolical charms: and wrought miracles not by the power
of God, but by virtue derived from spells and evil spirits. So that the
miracles he wrought were not disbelieved and denied, but the heavenly
spring of them is impiously perverted and turned downward, as though
Christ borrowed his power from hell to transact these affairs. But the
holiness and the heavenly temper of the gospel of Christ refutes this
accusation. Satan was never known to demolish his own kingdom of
ungodliness in such a manner as this. The gospel of Christ in every part
of it has a most singular and sublime tendency to advance the name, the
attributes, and the honour of God, whom Satan hates with a perfect
hatred: He would never lend his assisting hand to support a scheme of
religion so divine and holy.

Never was any body of doctrines and of duties so composed and calculated
to promote the glory of God, nor the good of man, as this gospel does:
Our peace and happiness would be secured by it on earth, if all men
would comply with it, and our felicity after death is the great and
indefeasible proposal and design of it: Now Satan is a restless enemy to
men, his fellow-creatures, as well as to God, his Maker; and he would
never exert the remains of his angelic power to encourage and defend
such a pious and beneficent religion.

But the most amazing progress and success of the gospel is another
argument that proves it to be divine, even when devils and magicians
opposed it as well as princes and philosophers. That the gospel itself,
without the force of arms, that a naked gospel, that seems so incredible
as this did, should spread itself throughout the world in so short a
space of time, that by the preaching of a few despised persons, and
several of them fishermen that were utterly unlearned: That this gospel
should triumph over all the powers and policies of men and hell: That it
should make its way in opposition to the wisdom of philosophers, and the
will of princes, and all the temptations and terrors of this world: This
is another miracle, which perhaps is as divine and convincing as any of
the preceding wonders, that attested this gospel, when it was first
preached.

I add also the testimony of prophecy to that of miracles. The wondrous
and exact accomplishment of many prophecies since our Lord Jesus Christ
dwelt on earth in the days of his flesh, confirm his gospel. The
prophecies that he himself gave forth from God, is another testimony of
this gospel, which is uncontrollable. The destruction of Jerusalem, the
time and methods of its destruction, and the terrors of it, may be read
in Mat. xxiv. And if you read the history of Josephus, a Jew, you find
so many parallels, that you may say Christ did foretel it indeed.

I might here subjoin the predictions of the apostles, particularly that
of St. Paul, and St. John, concerning the rise and spirit of antichrist,
wherein the church of Rome so clearly answers the language of the
visions and prophecies. But the brightest and most uncontrollable
witness of prophecy to the truth of the gospel, is the most exact and
punctual accomplishments of all the predictions of the Old Testament, in
the life and death, the resurrection and glory of Jesus Christ our Lord.
From the first promise given to Adam in the garden, down to the words of
Malachi, the last of the prophets, you find every thing that was said of
him fulfilled in his history. And thus the books of the Jews, wherein
they placed all their hopes, confirm the gospel of Christ, and refute
and confound their own infidelity: So that if ever I had been a Jew, and
did believe Moses and the prophets, I think I am constrained to be a
christian, and believe in Jesus Christ.

Thus I have endeavoured to answer those objections against the gospel,
which are pretended to arise from the truths or doctrines of it: And
before I proceed to answer those cavils which are raised against it,
because of the professors of it, I must finish the present discourse
with a word or two of improvement.

Use 1. If this be a gospel not to be ashamed of, then study it well:
Learn the truths and doctrines of it thoroughly: Truths and doctrines,
which St. Paul, so wise, and so great a man, did not blush to profess,
and preach, and die for. Value it as he valued it: The more you know it,
the more you will esteem it; and the better you are acquainted with all
the glorious articles of it, the less you will be ashamed of it: The
divine harmony of the whole will cast a beauty and a lustre on every
part.

Use 2. Furnish yourselves with arguments for it daily, that you may
profess it without shame, and defend it without blushing: This is a day
of temptation, and you know not what conversation you may be called into
by divine providence; you know not what cavils you may meet with to
assault your faith, and attack christianity. _Be ready therefore to give
reasons of the hope that is in you_, and to make a just and pertinent
reply to gainsayers, and convince those, if possible, that are led away
captive by the wiles of the devil to forsake Christ and his gospel. Let
not every turn of wit, or sleight of argument and sophistry, make you
waver in your faith. It is a gospel that will bear the trial of
reasonings and reproaches. It has something in itself that is divine,
and therefore it is able to support the professors of it against an army
of cavillers.

Use 3. Submit to all the institutions of it. Profess the whole of the
gospel; not only the doctrines, but the ordinances of this gospel, are
divine and glorious; they have something in them that shew they come
from God, and they have something in them that evidently leads to God.
They have all something in their sense and signification that discovers
divinity. Wait upon God therefore in all his ordinances, in the
assemblies of christians, that you _may see his power and his glory in
his own sanctuary_, and that you may, from your own experience, be able
to say, that the gospel is too great, too glorious, too divine a thing
in its doctrines and worship, and in all its institutions, for you ever
to be ashamed of. It has now, for sixteen ages, endured the test of the
wit, and the rage of earth and hell, and it shall stand in power and
glory, till the heavens be no more.


                          HYMN FOR SERMON XV.
                  _A Rational Defence of the Gospel._


                  Shall atheists dare insult the cross,
                    Of our Redeemer God?
                  Shall infidels reproach his laws,
                    Or trample on his blood?

                  What if he chuse mysterious ways,
                    To cleanse us from our faults?
                  May not the works of sov’reign grace
                    Transcend our feeble thoughts!

                  What if his gospel bids us fight
                    With flesh, and self, and sin?
                  The prize is most divinely bright,
                    Which we are call’d to win.

                  What if the foolish and the poor,
                    His glorious grace partake?
                  This but confirms his truth the more,
                    For so the prophets spake.

                  Do some that own his sacred name,
                    Indulge their souls in sin?
                  Jesus should never bear the blame,
                    His laws are pure and clear.

                  Then let our faith grow firm and strong
                    Our lips profess his word;
                  Nor blush, nor fear to walk among
                    The men that love the Lord.




                              SERMON XVI.
      _A Rational Defence of the Gospel: Or, Courage in Professing
                             Christianity._
  ROM. i. 16.—I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the
        power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
                            THE SECOND PART.


There are many in the world who call themselves christians, and boast in
the name; yet if you ask them what the gospel of Christ is, they are
either struck into confusion and silence, or they give such an awkward
and impertinent answer, as sufficiently discovers they know little of
the religion of Christ, or of the sacred name into which they were
baptized. Now that we may act and speak as becomes persons endued with
reason, I thought it necessary at first to give some account what this
gospel is, that you might know and understand, the religion which you
profess; and if ye will glory in the name of christian, ye may be able
to tell what it is you mean by christianity.

By reading the books of the New Testament, wherein the gospel is
contained, you will find this to be the sum and substance of it, _viz._
that it is a wise, a holy, and a gracious constitution of God for the
recovery of sinful man, by sending his own Son Jesus Christ into the
flesh, to obey his law which man had broken, to make a proper atonement
for sin by his death, and thus to procure the favour of God, and eternal
happiness, for all that believe and repent, and receive this offered
salvation; together with a promise of the holy Spirit to work this faith
and repentance in their hearts, to renew their sinful natures unto
holiness, to form them on earth fit for this happiness, and to bring
them to the full possession of it in heaven.

I have shewn, in the next place, what St. Paul meant, when he told the
Romans he was not ashamed of this gospel: He was neither ashamed to
believe it as a man, nor to profess it as a christian, nor to preach it
to others as a minister, nor to defend it as a good soldier of Christ,
nor to suffer and die for it as a martyr.

The third thing which I proposed, was to make it appear, that all the
occasions of shame, which men of infidelity pretend to raise from this
gospel, may be answered upon the fair and just principles of reason and
argument. The first sort of reproaches are those which are cast upon the
doctrines of the gospel, and I hope I have rolled them away.

I repeat no more of these things, but proceed to the next sort of
occasions of shame, and these are such as are supposed to arise from the
professors of this gospel; and I shall endeavour to shew you also Low
they may be answered. They are chiefly these four.

I. Some will say, “The professors of this gospel in the beginning were
the weak, and foolish, and mean things of this world; but it was
despised by the wise, it was scorned by the great and honourable, and
persecuted by the mighty. Why should a Paul, a pharisee, a doctor of the
law, become a follower of a carpenter’s Son, and associate with a parcel
of fishermen? This is a scandal, and foolish indeed. _Who among the
pharisees or rulers have believed on him_; John vii. 48.” This was the
stumbling-block of the gospel in that age, and it is the stumbling-block
at which many persons take offence in our age too. “It is the unthinking
multitude, say they, the mere mob of mankind, that are led away with the
noise of strange things and the gospel. And it is only those who have no
relish of good sense that can dispense with mysteries. The poorer and
weaker sort of men and women flock after your powerful preachers of the
gospel, but wise men despise it.” I am very glad, my friends, if in your
conversation you meet with no such persons that ridicule the gospel at
this rate. But there are many in our age and nation arrived at this
height of pride and contempt of the gospel.

This objection may have more answers than one given to it; as _first_,
it is a matter of unjust reproach, and it is false in fact; for all the
professors of this gospel are not weak and unlearned. There have been in
the very beginning of christianity some wise, some great persons, that
have given testimony to this gospel by their believing it. St. Paul was
a man of no weak reason, no mean understanding, no small learning, and
yet he believes this gospel, and professes he is not ashamed of it.

And there have been in most ages of the church some instances of the
power and success of this gospel in converting philosophers and senators
and princes. The learned, the ingenious, and the noble amongst mankind
have sometimes given up their names to Christ, have yielded their assent
to his doctrines, and conformed their hearts and lives to the rules of
his gospel. Men of wit and reason have been converted to the faith, and
then have exerted their peculiar talents in the defence of christianity,
and they have convinced the world that they had neither left their
reason nor their wit behind them when they became christians. Men of
grandeur and power have sometimes also supported it with honour.

But the number of these have not been exceeding great. God has ordained
that there should be some, to shew that it is no foolish and
unreasonable doctrine, that it is not a religion unworthy of kings, nor
unbecoming the wisest and the greatest of characters. But if there have
been but a few great and wise have embraced it, it is evident that its
success and glory is not owing to the wisdom and power of men, but to
the divinity of its doctrines, and the power of God.

Besides, I might tell you, _secondly_, that riches, and grandeur, and
elevated degrees of wit and learning, become a sore temptation to pride
of mind and self-sufficiency. Now the faith of the gospel is founded in
humility, and self-diffidence, and poverty of spirit; and this is one
plain reason why it was received by so few of the rich, and the learned,
and the mighty among men, though it was contrived and invented by God
himself.

I answer, in the _third_ place, that it is one of the designed
characters of the true gospel of Christ, and it is foretold by the
ancient prophets, that when it should come to be preached upon the
earth, the poor should receive it. Its reception by the poor and weak
among men, is one evidence that it comes from God; Mat. xi. 5. When John
the baptist sent his disciples to our Saviour to know whether he was the
Messiah, or must they expect another? _Go, tell John, the blind receive
sight, the deaf hear, and the lame walk, and to the poor the gospel is
preached; blessed is he that is not offended in me, &c._ Go, and give
John this very account I now relate to you, and tell him these are my
credentials, these are the testimonials I bring. John will infer that I
am the Messiah, and this is the true gospel that I preach; for the great
and rich, and the pretenders to wisdom among the Jews, account it _a
stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence_, and only a few of the poor
receive it; as it was foretold by the prophets.

Each of us may say therefore, if only the wise, or the great, or the
rich, believed it, it must have been such a gospel as I could never have
believed; for it wanted one character which is necessarily adjoined to
it, that is, that the poor receive the gospel: _Father, I thank thee_,
says our Lord, _that thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, but thou hast revealed them unto babes_; Mat xi. 25. “It
pleased God, when the world by wisdom knew not God,” to darken all their
wisdom, and turn it into folly, and to call those that were esteemed
fools, and make them wise in believing the gospel, of Christ. It has
pleased God to chuse the mean, and _weak, and contemptible things of
this world to confound the wise and mighty_. It has pleased him to chuse
the _things that are not, to bring to nought the things that are, that
no flesh might glory in his presence_; 1 Cor. i. 27, &c.

II. It is another occasion of stumbling or shame in the gospel of
Christ, that some of the professors of it are vicious in their lives.
“Will you believe such a gospel, says an infidel, that does not restrain
the professors of it from the worst of sins?”

This, I confess, gives it great dishonour among the men of the world,
and is sometimes ready to shake the faith of younger christians; they
know not how to go on farther in christianity, for such and such that
made great profession, you see how they are fallen. This is a common
temptation of the devil; it is a frequent snare, and there hath been
many a pious soul that hath been in danger of being caught thereby. The
vices of some professors were great even in St. Paul’s days: There were
some among the Philippians; Phil. iii. 18. “Of whom I have told you
often, and now even weeping, that they walk as enemies to the cross of
Christ, and cast scandal and shame upon it. It makes my eyes flow with
tears, and my soul bleed within me to hear of it: The gospel of Christ
is so much dishonoured by these means.”

But if we take a nearer view, we shall see that no doctrine ought to
fare the worse, because some wicked men are professors of it. It was not
counted a discredit to philosophy, that some of the professors of it,
who hated the gospel, were vicious in their lives. I would ask the deist
now, is there any ground to disbelieve natural religion, because there
are some that make profession of it are fallen into great sins? The
gospel itself _teaches us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts_,
and does not indulge one of them. And they are said to be enemies to the
cross of Christ, when their conversation is all earthly, when their God
is their belly, and their glory is their shame. This is no fault of the
gospel, for they felt not the power of it. Nor is there any religion or
profession in the world that would have had any followers at all by this
time, if men must have entirely cashiered that religion, because there
have been some persons vicious that have been professors of it. There is
no sect, no religion in the world, though the institution and the rules
of it have been ever so pious, but what has produced some persons that
have been vicious in their lives.

But this cavil is still carried on, and urged with much vehemence. “If
the gospel of Christ were a religion so heavenly, and so divine in its
original, as you pretend, surely the nations that profess it would
eminently exceed all other nations in piety, in justice and goodness:
whereas the nations that now a-days embrace christianity, are not at all
superior to the Mahometans, nor to some of the heathens, either in duty
that relates to God or man: And if we may give credit to ancient
history, the virtues of the old Romans, long before the days of Julius
Cæsar, shone much brighter than any of the virtues of the baptized
nations: There was more truth and honesty, more devotion to the heavenly
powers, more of a public spirit and zeal for their country’s good, than
we can find in any christian kingdoms or states now-a-days.” To this I
would give these three answers:

1. The account which we have of the shining virtues of these best ages
of heathenism, is given us only by their own posterity, who lived in
succeeding ages. Now it is the well-known temper and custom of mankind
to magnify the virtue of their ancestors, and to say, that the former
times are better than these; But you have scarce any heathen writers,
who do not describe their own ages as vicious enough, if they have
occasion to talk upon that subject. And therefore there is just reason
to suspect the strict truth of these encomiums of their fore-fathers.

2. Although some social virtues in a heathen country might really
flourish more for an age or two, springing from the principles of
ambition, and honour, and love to their own country; yet there were such
vices also practised among many of the gentile nations, which are seldom
heard or known among christians: The apostle describes them in Rom. i.
26. and that in such a manner, as leads us to believe, that they were
practised by those who professed wisdom among them.

It must be acknowledged also, that these nations were gross idolaters,
and worshipped many gods, and that even in the times when their social
virtues were most conspicuous. Now this is most highly criminal in the
sight of the great and sovereign God, the Creator of all things: And the
warmer and the more zealous were their devotions which they paid to
these idols, with the neglect or contempt of the true God, the greater
was their guilt and abomination.

But, 3. The chief answer I give is this, that when whole kingdoms are
made christians merely by birth, education, and custom, it is not to be
supposed that a twentieth part of them believe the gospel upon any just
and reasonable principles of knowledge and choice. When whole cities and
nations are worshippers of Christ, no otherwise than the Ephesians were
worshippers of Diana, or the Turks of Mahomet, it is not reasonable to
expect that there should be much difference in the virtues of such a
national sort of Christians, Mahometans, or Heathens; for the principle
from which all their religion springs is the same, namely, their
education, custom, and fashion of their country; and therefore their
vices are much the same as they would be according to the present
reigning humour, disposition, or political temper of the nation,
whatsoever were their form of religion and their established worship.

The true way therefore to put these things to the test, is to consider
those christians only who believe and profess the gospel from knowledge,
and choice, and inward conviction, and who make their religion a matter
of solemnity and importance and not of mere form and custom. Now if you
separate these from the rest of mankind, I am well assured, that as bad
as the christian world is, you will find all the human and divine
virtues more gloriously practised among such christians as these, than
among an equal number of the professors of any other religion under the
sun: For inward christianity, and the faith of the gospel, when it is
built upon just foundations, will necessarily draw along with it such a
train of virtues and graces, as shall _adorn the doctrine of God our
Saviour_; and by such a comparison as this, men would be constrained to
confess that _God is among us of a truth_.

III. The various and divided opinions, the sects and parties that are
found in the christian world, have been another occasion of scandal and
offence to the infidels. “How can we ever come, say they, to any
certainty what your religion is, since you do not agree about it among
yourselves?”

“All Europe pretends to be christian, and to believe the gospel; yet
France, and Spain, and Italy, and Poland, and a good part of Germany,
tell us, that true christianity is found only amongst them. But in the
countries of Denmark, Sweden, and the northern parts of Germany, and in
the British islands, there is another religion professed, of a very
different kind, and they call theirs the pure gospel, and reformed
christianity. The protestant and the papist divide these western parts
of the world, and they are ready to tear one another to pieces upon the
account of their different opinions and practices. Now if the books that
contain the religion of Christ be of so very uncertain sense and
signification, truly we are ashamed of such a doubtful religion; it is
even as well for us to content ourselves with the religion that the
light of nature teaches us, and the dictates of our common reason, which
we think has more certainty in it.”

To this I answer, that it is a great mistake to imagine that the light
of nature and reason, if left entirely to itself in this corrupt and
fallen state, has more certainty in its determinations than scripture
hath. How many wild opinions hath the corrupt mind of man produced among
the inhabitants of the heathen world, and this same light of nature has
not corrected them? What infinite diversity of vain and monstrous
fancies hath past for religion and devotion among them? And the light of
nature has been supposed to dictate some of them, for they did not
always pretend revelation for them. There have been wide and
irreconcileable differences among the philosophers, as well as among the
priests and the people of different nations. The light of nature and
reason is a poor dark bewildered thing, if it hath no commerce, nor
communication with persons who have been favoured with divine
revelation. It is only the scripture that has established and
ascertained the doctrines of natural religion: And it is to the
scripture that the deists of our age are obliged for their greater
acquaintance with natural religion than ever their forefathers, the
heathen philosophers, arrived at, though they are too proud to
acknowledge it. If they agree better, and are more uniform in their
principles now than the old epicureans, the stoics, and the platonists
were, it is all owing to a more intimate acquaintance with the writings
of Moses and the prophets, the evangelists, and the apostles; so that it
is with a very ill grace that our present infidels can object to
christians their difference of opinions, and pretend that this is a
ground of shame to the gospel of Christ, and a reason why they do not
believe or profess it.

But I come now to give some account of the true reasons of such
divisions of sect and party among christians. There are two great causes
of these divisions, and the charge is not to be laid upon the gospel of
Christ, nor upon the books that contain it.

1. The first cause is, that the papist does not pretend to derive his
religion merely from the bible; but he brings in the Jewish apocryphal
writers of ancient ages, and lays them also for a foundation of his
faith; and he makes the traditions of the christian church, which he
pretends to have been delivered down from age to age, of almost the same
authority as the scripture itself: And some of their authors have raised
these traditions to equal dignity with the scripture, as being built
upon the same foundation, _viz._ the authority of the church. As they
have many things in their religion which they cannot find in the word of
God; so they think it is sufficient if they can support them by these
pretended traditions of the church. Whereas the protestant takes nothing
for the ground of his faith but the books of the Old and New Testament;
and what he cannot find written there, nor derived thence by most
obvious and evident consequences, he does not profess it as any
necessary part of his christianity. The religion of the protestant
therefore is abundantly more conformable to the gospel of Christ, both
in the doctrines and the worship of it, because it derives the whole
from the word of God: But it is no wonder at all that there should be
such a difference between them and the papists, when they lay such
different foundations for their faith and practice.

2. Another reason why the protestant and papist differ so much is,
because the papist pretends that there is an infallible judge among them
to determine all controversies; and that their popes, and their
councils, which they call the church, have authority to appoint what
shall be esteemed the true articles of faith, and to bring in rites and
ceremonies into their worship according to their own invention and
pleasure. And that all the people are bound to believe as the church
bids them believe, and to practise in matters of worship whatsoever the
church bids them practise: And upon this account they forbid the
scripture to be read by the common people, that they may not learn the
truth of the gospel, but may take all for gospel which they teach them,
and be content with it. Whereas the protestant has nothing else but his
bible to have recourse to for the conclusion of all controversies; and
he encourages every man to use his bible, and to judge for himself
concerning the sense and meaning of it, using the best helps that he can
obtain for this end: The protestant ministers teach him not only what
they know of the gospel, but they put the bible into his hand, and bid
him search and see whether things are so or no, that thence he may learn
what are those doctrines and those duties which Christ has required him
to believe and practise. Thence it comes to pass, that there are almost
a thousand things in popery, which the protestants utterly disown,
because they disown the power of the pope, or church, to stamp new
articles of faith, or invent new forms of worship.

Objection. But it may be said still, there are so many different sects
and parties among the protestants themselves, as encourages the deist to
maintain his charge and accusation.—“Why do you, saith he, who profess
to derive all your religion from the scripture, differ so much among
yourselves, both in doctrine, in worship, and in the order of your
churches, if the _gospel of Christ_ be so excellent a religion, and if
the books that contain it can give you so plain and certain a knowledge
of it!”

I answer, That almost all those things wherein protestants differ, are
but of smaller importance in religion, in comparison of those many and
great things wherein they agree. The chief and most important points of
christianity are written with so much plainness and evidence in the word
of God, as would lead all humble, honest, sincere and diligent enquirers
into a belief of them, and consent in them. Now it is not necessary that
the lesser matters of christianity should be written down so expressly
in scripture: For the all-wise God thought it proper to leave many of
these articles of less importance more dubious and obscure, both to
awaken the diligence of men to study his word, and to leave amongst them
some occasions for the exercise of their mutual charity and forbearance.
Our blessed Lord has thought it proper to put the universal love which
he requires amongst his followers, to this test or trial, to see whether
they will cultivate peace and charity to one another amidst their
various and divided opinions in things of less concernment.

I confess there are some differences among protestants in the great
doctrines of the Trinity, and the satisfaction of Christ, which must be
acknowledged to be articles of very high moment and importance in
christianity. But if we compare those few who profess dangerous opinions
in these points with the millions that agree in the same general
profession of faith, it will be found that their number is but very
small. If we consider the great ignorance of God, which is found in all
men by nature, and take a survey of the unhappy influences that
education, fancy, passion, pride, friendship, aversion, precipitance and
laziness, have upon mankind in forming their judgments and opinions, we
shall not wonder to find some persons here and there falling into
strange sentiments, contrary to the plain and sufficient evidence of
scripture. We believe in general, that whoever puts off all prejudices,
and is piously sincere in his search of the word of God, shall certainly
find, through divine assistance, all needful truth. If therefore a
disbeliever come with a serious, humble, and pious mind, and apply
himself with diligence and fervent prayer to read the scripture; I am
well assured he will become a christian, and find out so much of the
doctrines and duties of the gospel, as are necessary to his eternal
happiness.

But there will be heresies arising sometimes in the church. Tares will
grow up sometimes in the field that is ever so well cultivated, and sown
with corn: And what unknown reasons there may be in the counsels and
providence of God in permitting heresies to arise for the farther trial
of his own people, is too high and hard a point for us to determine. The
apostle saith; 1 Cor. xi. 19. _There must be also heresies among you,
that they which are approved may be made manifest_: If such a thing as
this is, shall be abused by men of corrupt minds, to turn them quite
away from the gospel of Christ, and to support their own infidelity,
they must answer for it at the great day to Christ their Judge.

Thus I have done with the third charge or accusation brought against the
gospel, and removed the scandal and shame that some men have thrown upon
it, because there are such sects, and parties, and divided opinions
among the professors of it.

IV. Another occasion of scandal which infidels charge upon the gospel of
Christ, is this, “That some who have long professed it have forsaken it;
and one should be ashamed to embrace such a faith as this is, for it has
been tried, and found to be vain and groundless, even by those who have
known it long, and searched it through and through, and therefore at
last they have abandoned and cast it off.”

But in answer to this, give me leave to say, first, that the chief and
most common reason why persons who have professed christianity cast it
off, is not because they found any just reason of blame either in its
principles or rules; but because they think it too strict for them, and
it curbs their vicious appetites more than they like.

I will allow, that perhaps there may be some persons who have abandoned
the christian religion from a wantonness of fancy, from a licentiousness
of thought, from a pride of reasoning, and who make it their glory to
have thrown off the bonds of their education, and to have obtained the
honour of free-thinkers, or from a presuming conceit that they must
comprehend every thing in their religion, and will believe nothing that
hath mysteries in it. Such vain principles as these may have influenced
some minds, and given them up to apostacy: But, I fear, far the greatest
part of those who forsake the gospel, have been tempted to it by the
power of their lusts, which the gospel would restrain: and some of these
persons upon their death-beds have confessed it too.

This is also sufficiently visible in the world, that when men have long
professed this gospel and forsaken it, they seldom grow more pious, more
sober, more honest or good than before; but, on the contrary, they
generally have indulged vicious excesses, and neglected all piety, and
this is rather a ground of glory to the gospel than a just reason of
shame.

If these persons had generally grown more holy, if they had feared God
more afterwards than ever they did before, if they had more aimed at the
glory of God, and loved him better, when they forsook Christ and his
gospel, then we might have some reason to suspect this gospel was false,
and a mere mistake or imposture. But when these persons grow more unjust
than before, love their neighbour less, are become more sensual, more
selfish, disregard God more than they did before; I repeat it again,
this is rather a ground of glory to the gospel of Christ, than of shame.
Demas _hath forsaken us_, saith Paul, because he _loved this present
world_; 2 Tim. iv. 10. A covetous Demas is no good argument why St. Paul
should forsake Christ, or be ashamed of the gospel. And the apostle has
shewn that those who have _made shipwreck of their faith_, have parted
with _a good conscience_ too, and lost their virtue; 1 Tim. i. 19, 20.

But there is another answer which the apostle John gives to this
objection in his first epistle, chap. ii. ver. 19. _They went out from
us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no
doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made
manifest that they were not all of us._ They might make a profession of
the gospel, and perhaps give a real assent to the truths and doctrines
of it by the convincing influence of miracles and human reason, or
perhaps they became christians merely by the force of education, because
they were taught this religion from their childhood, and professed it
without thought; but they never had such a powerful belief of this
gospel of Christ, as to change their hearts, to renew their natures, to
form their souls after the image of Christ into real holiness; and
therefore like the hearers that are compared to stony ground, the seed
did not sink deep into their hearts, though they might _receive the word
at first with joy, but having not root in themselves; they endure but
for a while, and when any temptation arises, they are offended_, and
depart from the faith which they once professed; Mat. xiii. 20, 21. Thus
it appears, that the gospel of Christ is never the worse in itself, nor
does it deserve the less esteem in the world, notwithstanding such
apostates as these, no more than seed-corn should be pronounced nought,
because it does not bring forth a harvest in every soil.

I have now finished the third general head of discourse which I
proposed, and have shewn, whatsoever occasions of shame might be
supposed to arise either from the doctrines of the gospel, or the
professors of it, are unjustly charged as blemishes on the gospel; and I
have given particular answers to both sorts of cavils, and defeated the
accusations.

One word of advice to christians shall conclude the present discourse;
and that is this:—

Since the gospel of Christ gives no just occasions of shame, you that
are professors of it should take heed that you do nothing to cast shame
on this gospel. Do not mingle the christian faith with doubtful notions
of your own. Do not defile your christian conversation with sinful
practices. Do not make the lesser circumstances and appendages of your
religion the matter of loud contest, and a party strife; for all these
things expose the gospel to shame, and may justly put its professors to
the blush, in the face of the world, when they are guilty of these
practices.

Let me insist a little upon each of these.

1. Do not mingle the christian faith with doubtful notions and fancies
of your own. The articles of our christianity, and the necessary truths
of the gospel, are divine and glorious: Take heed you do not bring in
your peculiar sentiments and favourite opinions, which have no
sufficient evidence from the word of God, and join them in the same
dignity with the articles of your faith; and much less should you dare
to impose them upon the consciences of your fellow-christians. The
gospel itself will suffer by it, and sink in the esteem of the world,
when the divine doctrines of it are mingled with our weaknesses, and
debased by the addition of our doubtful sentiments.

2. Defile not your christian conversation with sinful practices. Indulge
not a conformity to this present evil world in any of the corrupt and
unlawful customs and courses of it. Mingle not your practice of the
lovely duties which this gospel enjoins, with lying, and slandering, and
railing; do not interline your lives with religion and sin, with
devotion and shameful lusts. It is a gospel that forbids all iniquity,
it requires that you mortify sin and _cleanse yourselves from every
defilement of flesh and spirit_, and that you go on to _perfect holiness
in the fear of the Lord_; 2 Cor. vii. 1. The very design and end of it
in God’s eternal counsels and contrivance, is, _that you might be holy,
and without blame before him in love_; Eph. i. 4. If you pursue this
advice, then shall others, who behold you, confess that there is
something divine in christianity, when you thus adorn the doctrine of
God your Saviour. Thus you give the gospel its due honour by believing
all it reveals, by worshipping according to the methods of its
appointment, and by that purity of conversation which it enjoins.

3. Make not the lesser circumstances and appendages of your religion the
matter of loud contest, and a party-strife. We are called to _contend
earnestly for the_ great and necessary doctrines of _faith_, which were
once delivered to the saints: But we are commanded also to receive those
that are weak in the faith, without involving them _in doubtful
disputations_ about matters of less moment. Give no occasion to the
infidel to blaspheme the gospel by your factions and quarrels, and the
rage of a bitter and unsanctified zeal. Oh that the time were come, when
_the wolf and lamb shall lie down together, and there shall be nothing
to hurt or destroy in all the holy mountain_! But surely, it is very
hard if the lambs themselves, who belong to the flock of Christ, cannot
live without hurting and destroying one another; that christians cannot
live without exposing their divine and heavenly religion to the
blasphemies of sinful men. Happy were the christian world, if we could
all behave ourselves so as never to give occasion to the adversary to
reproach the professors of the christian faith, nor throw shame and
dishonour upon the gospel of Christ! May the blessed Spirit of God teach
us this lesson effectually, and let it be copied out in our lives daily,
till we arrive at the regions of perfect holiness and love! _Amen._




                              SERMON XVII.
      _A Rational Defence of the Gospel: Or, Courage in Professing
                             Christianity._
  ROM. i. 16.——I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the
        power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
                            THE THIRD PART.


Though the passion of shame has something in it that sinks our nature,
and enfeebles our spirits, yet it is a very becoming passion, where sin
is the object of it; and indeed it was wisely ordained by our Creator to
be a guardian to those small remains of natural virtue that abide in us
since the fall. We find the first young sinners clothed with shame in
the garden of Eden at the presence of God. But the growing corruption of
our natures, the subtilty of Satan, and the temptations of this world
have joined together to take this piece of artillery out of the hands of
virtue, and make use of it in their attacks upon religion and goodness.
We ought to be ashamed indeed of nothing but our sin, our folly, and our
wretchedness; but we have been too ready to be ashamed, even of the
grace of God, and the methods of our recovery from folly, wretchedness,
and sin. The gospel itself, _the glorious gospel_, has been made a
matter of reproach among men, and its professors have been sometimes
tempted to be ashamed of it.

The blessed apostle in my text had gained a victory over this
temptation, for he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Whatsoever
there might be contained in the doctrines of this gospel, or whatsoever
might be found among the professors of it, from which infidels or
unbelievers might take occasion to throw shame and scandal upon it; yet
I have shewn in the two foregoing discourses, that all this is unjustly
charged on the gospel, and have given particular answers to both sorts
of cavils.

I go on now to the last proposal, which is to explain the force of the
apostle’s argument against shame in professing and preaching this
gospel, and to make it appear, that the words of my text contain a
general and most extensive guard, or defence, against all possible
occasions of shame in the profession of christianity; and that is, that
_the gospel of Christ is the power of God for the salvation of all that
believe_.

Now this is an argument which you, who believe in Christ, may all assume
to yourselves as well as the apostle: You cannot preach this gospel so
well as he, nor explain the reasons of your faith to others, and
establish it upon so solid and unshaken foundations of argument, as Paul
could do; but every christian, that has embraced the faith, and felt the
power of this gospel for his own salvation, may give this reason for the
profession of it, and may support his courage in opposition to all the
sharpest temptations of mockery and reproach.

When the apostle says, it is the power of God, we must suppose him to
understand, it is a most powerful means, or effectual instrument that
God uses, to save souls, and it is attended with divine power for that
end.

It is more powerful than the light of nature; for we have no just reason
to believe, that the mere light of nature, without some helps of divine
revelation, or some unwritten traditions of it, ever saved any souls at
all; and if there have been any of the sinners of the heathen nations
made partakers of grace, I think it is otherwise to be accounted for
than merely by the poor remains of the light of nature.

It is more powerful than any religion that men or angels could invent,
and more powerful too, than any religion that God himself ever invented,
or revealed, and proposed to men before the gospel of Christ. His
revelations to the patriarchs were but few; they were made here and
there to a house or two, or to a family; they were particular favours
that he bestowed upon persons called out of idolatry, nor had they a
very long, nor spreading, nor lasting influence, except in the family of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, where they were frequently renewed.

It is more powerful than all the revelations of grace, which God made by
Moses to the children of Israel, and intermingled with the Jewish law:
for these discoveries reached but to one single nation, and wrought but
feebly toward the conversion of sinful souls to God and holiness, in
comparison of what the gospel of Christ has done.

Besides, let it be considered, that all the power which all the former
discoveries of grace to the patriarchs, or to the Jews, had to save
souls, was derived from the gospel of Christ, which is contained in them
in lower measures, and in a more obscure manner. Therefore since the
gospel of Christ now stands forth in open light, and in full glory, it
is most eminently powerful to convert sinners, to bring this apostate
world back again to God, and to save millions of souls.

I. It is the most powerful means of salvation, considered in itself, and
in its own nature and influence.—II. It is the most powerful means, as
it is accompanied with the influences of the Holy Spirit.

The first of these maybe called a moral persuasive influence; the last
is supernatural and sovereign. Let us meditate on each of these
distinctly.

I. It is the most powerful means, if we consider the gospel in itself,
and its own nature. Not that the mere word of the gospel, reaching the
ears of men, is sufficient to change the heart, and to save the soul
without divine influences: For it is said to be the power of God to
salvation; that is, it is that doctrine whereby God exerts his divine
power to save sinful man. But still it must be granted, that the
doctrine itself in its own nature has a very great and evident tendency
to this glorious end, as it is the noblest, the richest, and the
brightest discovery of grace that ever was made to man.

If we consider it in its own nature, it has the greatest moral power, or
persuasive influence toward the salvation of perishing sinners. This is
easily proved by explaining what this salvation means.

Salvation includes in it a freedom from the guilt and punishment of sin,
together with a right and title to heaven; it implies also a freedom
from the power of sin, and thereby a preparation for heaven, and a final
possession of it. Under each of these considerations it will appear with
great evidence, that _the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the power
of God to salvation_.

1. It is the most powerful means to set sinners free from the guilt and
punishment of sin, and to relieve a distressed conscience under the
sense of divine anger: It gives the most effectual security to a
believer against the terrors of hell and eternal death; for it not only
declares, that there is forgiveness with God, but it shews us the
foundation upon which this forgiveness stands, namely, the satisfaction
made to the offended justice of God by the death and sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, his Son. Suppose it were possible for a philosopher, or wise
man, to prove that God would forgive the sins of the penitent, yet there
is nothing but the gospel that can set the conscience at such joyful
ease from the terror of guilt, and release the soul from the chains
wherewith it was held: “For now, says the believer, I not only hear it
proved by divine testimony, that there is pardon of sin to be obtained
from God, but I see how God may do it with honour: I behold the
atonement that is made by Christ Jesus, his own Son: The atonement is
equal to the offence: He can justify me, though I am a sinner, upon the
account of this perfect righteousness, and he can do it with glory to
all his terrible perfections; therefore I may venture my assent to this
doctrine, and I may rest my soul upon it.”

2. The gospel is a powerful means also to raise undeserving sinners to a
hope of heaven and eternal life. It shews us what heaven is, by the
discoveries of one that has been there, even the Son of God himself.
_Life and immortality are brought to light by this gospel_, which lay
hid under much darkness before; 2 Tim. i. 10. It teaches us also, how
the happiness of heaven is procured for us, even by the obedience and
blood of the Son of God; and therefore, some think, heaven is called
_the purchased possession_ in Eph. i. 14. It assures us, that this
blessed state of the enjoyment of God in unchangeable peace, and in the
company of blessed spirits, waits for every believer, when he is
dislodged from this flesh, and when the habitation of the body is no
longer fit to retain the spirit: And it reveals also the final heaven of
the saints, when the body shall be raised into immortality. “Without
this gospel, says the soul, I could have no just ground to hope for
heaven; for all my best righteousnesses are imperfect, my fairest acts
of holiness have many defects in them; but I behold the perfect
righteousness of my Saviour that has procured it. A life of holiness
without defect, and a most submissive obedience to a painful and
shameful death, has been the price and purchase of it.”

3. This gospel is a most powerful means to subdue sin in the soul, to
mortify corrupt nature, to inspire us with virtue, to wean our hearts
from vice, sensuality, and trifles, and from all the insufficient
pretences to blessedness that the world can flatter us with. The gospel
of Christ, both in his own personal ministry of it, and in the writings
of his apostles, sets before us the most divine scheme of morality,
piety and virtue, that ever the world knew. The sacred dictates of
probity and goodness towards men, as well as the venerable rules of
piety toward God, which are scattered up and down in an imperfect and
obscure manner among the philosophers, and shine like a star here and
there in the midnight darkness of heathenism; these are all collected
and refined in the gospel of Christ, and fill the christian world with a
pure and universal light like the sun unclouded in a meridian sky: We
know our duty infinitely better from the instructions of Christ and St.
Paul, than all the Platos, and the Plutarchs, all the Zenos and the
Antonines of Greece and Rome, could ever teach us.

The most divine rules of the gospel are attended also with the noblest
motives to love virtue, and to hate all vice; for never was the evil of
sin so displayed to the eyes and senses of men, as by the cross and
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Never did sin appear so hateful, so
abominable, so justly the object of divine and human hatred, as when it
appeared pressing the soul of the holy One of God into agonies and sharp
anguish. A believer, who has seen the evil of sin as revealed in this
gospel, will hate it, and will be led powerfully to a conquest over it.

Besides, the terrors of hell are revealed to us among the doctrines of
christianity, as the just punishment of sin, and that in such a manner
as no other religion pretends to: For, as the doors of heaven are opened
by our Lord Jesus Christ, both by his ministry on earth, and by his
ascent into heaven, and by the farther discoveries which his apostles
have made of the future unseen happy world, so the doors of hell are
opened too. Our Lord Jesus himself preached hell and terrors to sinners
with a sacred vehemence, and set everlasting fire in a clearer and more
dreadful light than ever had been done by all the philosophers in the
world. The soul of every saint has been in some measure a witness of
this truth, when it lay under the work of divine conviction.

And not only the horrid nature and evil of sin, and the dreadful
consequences of it, are powerful motives to make us stand afar off, and
fear it: but “The sweet and constraining influence of the love of Christ
does most effectually incline me, saith the believer, to hate every sin,
and to follow after universal holiness: Shall I build up again the
things which my Saviour died to destroy? This would be to make him
suffer agonies in vain, and run counter to all the designs of his
bleeding love, and the voluntary sacrifice of his soul?”

“I have also the glorious and perfect example of my blessed Lord: Never
did virtue and religion shine so bright, and look so amiable as in his
life, and he has set it before me as my pattern: I feel the attractive
and divine power of it: Where my Lord leads, I must follow; for I would
fain be like him. He draws me by his example, and he draws me too by his
heavenly promises. He spreads the glories and the joys of heaven before
me, to allure my hope; I see those sacred glories, I long after the
possession of these unfading joys, and I must and will keep the path
that leads to paradise, that where my Lord is, I may be also. The rules
and precepts of holiness, which my Lord has taught me, are more pure,
more clean, more perfect, more divine and godlike, than ever any other
scheme of rules and duties was; and the joyful and dreadful motives
given me to press after this holiness, are infinitely beyond all the
motives that any doctrine of religion has proposed. Blessed be God that
I ever learnt those holy rules, that I ever felt the power of these
divine motives, and am become a lover of holiness.”

4. Thus the gospel prepares the saint for heaven, and fits every power
of his soul for the business and blessedness of those happy regions.
“Once, says he, I had no delight in spiritual things; I had no relish of
spiritual pleasures; but now I taste them with delight, and I rejoice in
the hopes of a sweeter and more complete taste of them on high. Once I
had no love to God: it is true, I feared him as some unknown and
extraordinary terror; but I had no delight in him, no desire after him.
Now he is the object of my warmest love, and of my sweetest meditations.
Heaven itself, as it is described in the word of God, was not pleasant
to me. What! The everlasting continuance of a sabbath? Perpetual
employments of worship and service to be done for God everlastingly?
These are things that were not agreeable to carnal nature; but by the
influence of this gospel of Christ my heart is new-moulded, and I
delight in the fore-thoughts of such a heaven as the gospel describes.”
Such instances as these of the sweet efficacy of the gospel upon the
soul of man, turning it into a divine temper, and fitting it for the
enjoyment of God, are so many proofs of the power of this gospel unto
salvation, and so many grounds and reasons why the believer cannot be
ashamed of it.

But I must add, in the fifth place, it is the gospel of Christ that
brings believers to the final possession of heaven. Then, and not till
then, is the salvation perfect, it is the gospel that has given us an
unchangeable promise of heaven, when our state of trial is ended here on
earth, and Christ is bound to fulfil it. The gospel assures us, that
when we are absent from the body, we shall be present with the Lord.
When we see the heavens open at the death of Stephen the first martyr,
and Jesus Christ, standing there to receive his departing spirit; we
believe that the same Jesus will fulfil the same kind office to us also,
and receive our spirits, if we have been found faithful to the death.

The same gospel also gives us a more distant hope and glorious assurance
of the resurrection of our bodies from the prison of the grave. When we
behold the body of our blessed Saviour rising from the tomb, and
ascending to glory, and when we are told, that his resurrection is a
pledge and pattern of ours; then with a joyful expectation we wait for
the same blessedness. The gospel lays an obligation upon Christ himself
to raise his saints from the dead; for he himself tells us, that it is
the will of his Father, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on him, should have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day; John vi. 40.

Hence it comes to pass, that the believer triumphs over death under the
influence of these hopes. “Now, saith the saint, I can venture to die;
for my spirit shall be received to dwell with my Saviour among the
spirits of the just that are made perfect. These feeble and withering
limbs of mine I can chearfully commit them to dust and the grave; for
the great trumpet must sound, the dead must arise, my Redeemer will call
my flesh from its dark prison; I shall arise to meet the Lord in the
air, and dwell with him for ever in unknown worlds of blessedness.” Thus
I have shewn you the first thing I proposed, _viz._ how the gospel in
its own nature has a very proper and powerful tendency in a moral or
persuasive way towards the salvation of the soul, as it insures
pardoning grace and final blessedness to believers.

II. I come now to shew how the gospel is made powerful to the salvation
of sinners by the accompanying influence of the Spirit of God, and this
is supernatural and sovereign. If I should run over all the particulars
I have just before mentioned, I might make it appear in each of them,
how the Spirit of God by the word of his gospel, works this salvation.

It is this blessed Spirit that awakens the stupid and thoughtless sinner
to a sense of his guilt and danger. It is he shews him the evil of sin,
and makes him groan after deliverance, and cry out, what shall I do to
be saved? And it is the Spirit that reveals and discovers Christ Jesus
to him as the only and all-sufficient Saviour: It is he who shews the
convinced sinner, that there is righteousness and grace to be found in
Christ, to answer all his present complaints and necessities. The word
of the gospel says these things indeed, but it is like a _dead letter_,
till the living spirit speaks them over again, and, as it were,
constrains us to hear the voice of encouragement and hope. It is he
represents the death and sufferings of the Son of God, as an effectual
atonement for sin, and makes the soul believe it, and teaches us how to
lay hold on this hope, to fly to this refuge, to receive this atonement:
It is the Spirit of God that softens the hardest heart, and melts it
into godly sorrow: It is he makes us willing to accept of Jesus as a
Prince and a Saviour, to renew our sinful natures, to refine our hearts,
and thereby to reform our lives: It is he that takes the blood of
Christ, and applies it to a distressed conscience under the guilt of
sin, and thus gives the disquieted soul rest and peace: _He takes of the
things of Christ, and shews them unto us_ in all their glory and
sufficiency for our salvation, and thereby justly obtains the name of
the paraclete, that is, an _advocate_ for Christ, and a _comforter_ to
us: John xiv. 26. and xv. 26. and xvi. 14, 15. He composes the ruffles
of the disturbed mind, and speaks all the waves of the soul into a calm:
He makes all within us peaceful and easy, under the apprehensions of
divine forgiveness through the merit of Christ.

It is only the Spirit of God that can make the discoveries of heaven in
the gospel effectual to awaken our hope, and to raise our joy: He shews
us how it is purchased by the blood of Christ, and that it is made sure
to all those that believe: He stamps his own holy image upon us, and
seals us up for the inheritance of heaven; Eph. i. 13. _When ye heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation_, and _believed it, ye
were_ then _sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance_. The Spirit is sent into our hearts as a _Spirit of
adoption, whereby we call God Father_; Gal. iv. 6. And he changes us
from children of wrath into the sons and daughters of the living God;
and he himself dwelling in us is a pledge and _earnest of that
inheritance, which is reserved for us among the saints in light_.

It is the same blessed Spirit that makes the gospel of Christ powerful
to mortify sin in us; for though the words of the gospel forbid all
iniquity, and require us to renounce the lusts of the flesh, and the
vanities of the world, if we belong to Christ; yet it is by the Spirit
of God alone that we are enabled to _mortify the deeds of the body_,
that we may obtain eternal life: It is he that makes the commands of
Christ come with divine power and authority upon the soul, and gives the
motives of the gospel power to persuade us: It is he that renews our
affections, makes us hate sin, and love God supremely, and causes us to
delight in the spiritual pleasures of a future, unseen world, which
before we treated with contempt, or disregard: It is by the
_sanctification of the Spirit, and the belief of the truth_, that we are
prepared for the heavenly _glory whereunto we are called by the gospel_;
2 Thess. ii. 13. And since the Spirit of God is promised to _dwell in us
for ever_; John xiv. 16, 17. we have good reason to believe he will be
our eternal Sanctifier in heaven and our eternal Comforter.

There is such a thing as the influence of the Spirit of God attending
the gospel of Christ. The apostle argues thus with the Galatian
christians, _Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the
hearing of faith?_ Gal. iii. 2. And it is the great promise of the
gospel, or the new covenant, that God would _send his Spirit_ to make it
powerful for the blessed ends for which he has designed it; Ezek. xxxvi.
25, 26, 27. Joel. ii. 28. Zech. xii. 10. Is. xliv. 3.

In the primitive days of christianity, and the age of miracles, the Holy
Spirit attended the preaching of the gospel with his extraordinary
_gifts of tongues, of healing, of prophecy_, as well as with the graces
of conviction, and sanctification, and comfort: And the suddenness and
the glory of the change that was wrought on sinners carried with it an
illustrious and incontested proof of the presence and power of God and
his Spirit. Nor have some fainter resemblances of such glorious grace
been altogether wanting in later ages. There have been some most
remarkable instances of great sinners converted at once by the _gospel
of Christ, and the demonstrations of the Spirit_.

But in his more usual and ordinary communications of grace, he works so
gently upon our natures, and in so sweet and connatural a way, as not to
distinguish his agency in a sensible manner from the motions of our own
souls; for he never disturbs our rational powers, nor puts any violence
upon the natural faculties; yet when we are changed, when we are
renewed, when sin is mortified, the scripture tells us, that it is the
Spirit of God has done it: When our souls are prepared for heaven, and
our corrupted natures sanctified, and suited to the things that are
prepared in heaven for us, we are assured by the word of God, that the
Holy Spirit has been the great operator, and has wrought this change in
us. Thus I have made it appear at large, how _the gospel of Christ is
the power of God to salvation_. I apply myself immediately to raise a
few inferences from the subject I have been treating of.

Inference.—I. How unreasonable are all the reproaches that are cast upon
this gospel! A gospel that saves mankind from misery, and from sin, and
eternal death! A gospel that teaches men how to appear before a holy and
terrible God with comfort, though their sins are many, and their
righteousnesses are imperfect! A gospel that gives the hope of pardon to
criminals and rebels, and the hope of heaven to undeserving creatures!
And all this upon such solid grounds and foundations as justifies its
highest promises and proposals to the reason of men! It is a gospel that
changes our sinful natures into holiness, and reforms our hearts as well
as lives! A gospel that, aided by divine power, creates souls anew, and
raises dead sinners to life! It is a gospel that turns wolves into
lambs, and makes ravenous vultures as meek as doves! A gospel that so
disturbs the kingdom of Satan, as to take thousands of slaves and
captives out of his dominions, to transfer them into the glorious
kingdom of Christ, and make them chearful and willing subjects! A gospel
that fulfils gloriously the first promise, and makes it appear, that the
seed of the woman hath broke the serpent’s head, and destroyed the works
of the devil. You have never seen, you have never known, you have never
learned this gospel aright, if you have not felt it to be the power of
God unto salvation. Those that can speak evil of this gospel, it may be
universally said concerning them, _they speak evil of the things they
know not_; for if they had known this gospel as they ought to know it,
they would have seen it all over glorious and divine; they would have
felt it to be attended with divine power to their salvation, and then
they would never speak evil of it.

The heathen world may be ashamed of their doctrines and their religion;
the heathen worshippers may be ashamed of their sacrifices, their
superstitions, and their forms of devotion; for they have no power to
save their souls: And many of them were indeed brutish and shameful.
Mahomet, the founder of the Turkish religion, may be ashamed of his
alcoran, and volume of fables and incredible lies; all his followers may
be ashamed of their prophet, and of the sensual paradise that he
promises them. The Jews, under the eye of Christ, and the sun-beams of
the gospel, may be ashamed of the vain traditions of their rabbins which
were never divine: and even of their old rites and ceremonies which
Moses gave them; for all these are now but _weak and beggarly elements_;
the Spirit of God calls them so; Gal. iv. 9. They have now no power to
save souls, since God hath abolished them; nor indeed had they ever any
power but what they borrowed from this gospel of Christ, which lay
concealed in them: But let none of us that believe and profess the
gospel of Christ, be ever ashamed of any of the doctrines, or precepts,
or promises of it; for they are all holy, they are all heavenly; all of
them have divine power accompanying them to lead souls to salvation.

II. Learn hence the true method of obtaining christian courage; courage
to profess the gospel of Christ against all opposition: It is by getting
it wrought into your hearts and lives by christian experience, and not
by learning a mere form of words in a road of education and catechism.
You must feel it as _the power of God to your salvation_, or you will
never suffer much for it: Let it be an _ingrafted word able to save your
souls_; James i. 21. and then it will harden your faces against all
blaspheming adversaries, and the terrors of a persecuting world: then
you will be able to render a most powerful reason why you are bold to
profess this gospel, and to _answer every one that asks you a reason of
the hope that is in you_; you will be able to oppose those that set
themselves against the gospel of Christ, when you feel this divine
spring of courage within you.

I have encouraged you before, to acquaint yourselves with reasons and
arguments that may defend your religion, and support your faith: But
hours of temptation may come, when all the knowledge and learned
furniture of your head, all the arguments that are treasured up in your
memory, and all the reasonings that your invention can supply you with,
will hardly be able to keep your faith and hope firm and stedfast; for
Satan goes before you in skill and rational argument; and though your
arguments are strong and solid, yet he may baffle you by his hellish
sophistry, and thus cheat you of your faith, and your hope, and your
heaven, if you have not got this gospel wrought into your hearts with
power, if you have not felt it to be _the power of God unto salvation_.

Hence it comes to pass, that in times of great temptation and
persecution there are many fall away, as the leaves of a tree in the
blasts of autumn, when but here and there one stands and endures the
shock: It is because there are so few of the professors of the gospel
have felt it to be the power of God to the conversion of their souls,
and turning their hearts to God and heaven. And hence it comes to pass
also, that several unlearned christians in all ages, that could not
argue much for the faith in a rational way, yet could dare to die for
it, because they had this argument wrought in their own souls; they had
felt a divine power going along with it to change their natures, to make
them new creatures, to give them the hope of heaven, and a preparation
for it.

III. From what you have heard of this subject, learn the wide extent of
this argument for the defence of the gospel of Christ, and the
invaluable worth of it to every christian, _viz._ that the gospel is the
power of God to your salvation.

It is an argument of wide extent: for it belongs to every christian, to
the wise and to the unwise, to the weak and the strong; there is no
sincere christian, no true believer in Christ, but hath got the
foundation of this argument wrought within him: He knows this gospel is
divine, and he should not be ashamed to believe and profess it; for he
hath felt it support his soul under a sense of guilt, and give him solid
hope of pardoning grace. He hath found it change his sinful nature,
soften his heart into repentance, and turn him from a sinner into a
saint; it hath laid the foundation of eternal life within him. And as it
is an argument that belongs to every true christian; so it answers every
objection that an infidel can bring against the gospel, either from the
doctrines, or from the professors of it: And methinks, I would fain have
you all furnished with this glorious argument, and learn to manage it
for the defence of your faith.

Do they tell you, that the doctrines of the gospel contain mysteries in
them, and things that are unsearchable? Do they endeavour to put you out
of countenance by ridiculing the truth of christianity, as being
contrary to the common opinions and reasonings of men? Do they reproach
them as foolish and unreasonable, and do they endeavour to persuade you
that they are not sufficiently attested, and there is not ground enough
to give credit to them? Though there have been particular answers given
to each of these cavils in the first discourse; yet you may give this
general and short reply to all of them, and say, “I am sure they are not
contrary to reason: for they are divine. They are not incredible, nor do
they want sufficient evidence; for God himself by his own Spirit has
borne witness to them in my heart: He has wrought an almighty work there
by the means of this gospel: He has created me anew unto faith, and
hope, and holiness: He has turned my heart from earth to heaven, and
subdued the sinful inclinations of my nature by the precepts, by the
promises, by the glorious discoveries of this gospel: He has made use of
it to save my soul; and I carry about me an incontrolable proof that it
came from heaven.” Now though this sort of argument may have but little
force in it sometimes for the conviction of the infidel; yet it is of
sufficient force to establish the believer.

But I proceed. Do they fill your ears with the mean and contemptible
character of the professors of this gospel? Do they charge many of them
with vicious practices? Do they tell you of their different opinions,
their contests and their quarrels? And do they discourage you by
pointing to the apostates that have forsaken the faith? You may defend
yourself and your profession against all these objections by the same
general argument thus; “Are the professors of it some of the mean and
base things of this world? But they are saints, and this gospel has made
them so; they are the sons and daughters of the most high God by faith
in this gospel; and I will not be ashamed to reckon myself of their
society, and to number myself amongst them. Are there many that are
called christians, whose lives are vicious? Surely they never knew this
gospel in truth; they are but false professors of it. There are
thousands that can bear this witness to the gospel, that it has changed
their hearts; it has renewed their natures: it has made them hate every
vice, and their lives shine amongst men glorious in holiness, and
resembling God himself. Are the sentiments of some of them different
from others? It is chiefly in points of lesser importance; but the
substantial truths of it, which are the power of God to salvation, are
professed and acknowledged by us all. And though a thousand should
forsake this gospel, and become apostates, yet I can never part with it,
while I feel the blessed effects of it abiding upon my heart, and I
trust, through the grace of God, they shall abide for ever.”

This leads me to the last inference.

IV. What strong engagements is every true christian under to maintain
the profession of this gospel? Not only is he laid under many
obligations from the commands of God, and the bonds of duty, and
gratitude, and love, but he has a constant pressing obligation within
him. “How can I be ashamed of my hope, my portion, my everlasting all?
Shall I be ashamed of that gospel, upon which my salvation is founded,
and my best and highest interest, even my expectations of endless
felicity? If I let go this faith, if I lose my hold of this gospel, I
let go my hold of Christ, of God, and his love; I let go my hold of
heaven, and all my happiness: My sins all return upon me with their
insufferable loads of guilt and anguish of conscience, if I lose my
faith in this gospel; for all my hope of pardon is built upon this
foundation: heaven with the joys of it vanish from my soul, if I part
with this glorious gospel of Christ, and death and hell face me with all
their terrors.”

There is an awful and solemn motive derived from the great judgment-day
to maintain the profession of this glorious gospel; for our Lord himself
has pronounced this threatening, and he will fulfil it, _Whosoever shall
be ashamed of me and my words amongst a sinful generation of men, I will
also be ashamed of him before my Father and his holy angels_. But this
text shall be the subject of some future discourses.


                    HYMN FOR SERMONS XVI. and XVII.
              _The Gospel the power of God to Salvation._


                 What shall the dying sinner do,
                 That seeks relief for all his woe?
                 Where shall the guilty conscience find
                 Ease for the torment of the mind?

                 How shall we get our crimes forgiven,
                 Or form our natures fit for heaven;
                 Can souls all o’er defil’d with sin;
                 Make their own powers and passions clean?

                 In vain we search, in vain we try,
                 Till Jesus brings his gospel nigh:
                 ’Tis there such power and glory dwell,
                 As saves rebellious souls from hell.

                 This is the pillar of our hope,
                 That bears our fainting spirits up:
                 We read the grace, we trust the word,
                 And find salvation in the Lord.

                 Let men or angels dig the mines,
                 Where nature’s golden treasure shines;
                 Brought near the doctrine of the cross,
                 All nature’s gold appears but dross.

                 Should vile blasphemers with disdain
                 Pronounce the truths of Jesus vain,
                 I’ll meet the scandal and the shame,
                 And sing and triumph in his name.




                             SERMON XVIII.
                     _Faith the Way to Salvation._
ROM. i. 16.——The gospel of Christ,—it is the power of God unto salvation
 to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.


Salvation is a frequent and familiar word in the mouth of all who call
themselves christians. It is a sort of asseveration or oath among the
looser and meaner part of mankind: As I hope to be saved. But little do
they know what salvation means. All the notion they have of it is this,
that they would be saved from going down to hell, a place of fire and
torment, and that they would go up to heaven when they die, to some
unknown shining place above the skies, where they shall be free from all
pain and uneasiness. This is the utmost point to which their idea
reaches, and I think I have hit their sense exactly in this description.
Alas! poor ignorant creatures! They have no thought of being saved from
sin, of having their hearts made holy, their sinful inclinations
rectified, their passions subdued or refined, their love turned toward
God and things spiritual, and their desire and delight fixed upon things
divine and holy, instead of their sensual entertainments of flesh and
blood. They have no concern about the pardon of the guilt of sin, and
restoration to the favour or image of God, and not so much as a wish for
the joys that arise from his love, or from the blessed presence of our
Lord Jesus Christ in the world to come.

I have shewn you therefore in the foregoing discourse what this
salvation is, and made it appear that the gospel is the power of God to
salvation, that is, it is a powerful means in the hand of the Spirit of
God to save us from the guilt of sin, and to give us a right to heaven;
to save us from the power of sin, to fit us for the business and the
joys of heaven, and ensure to us the actual possession of it.

There are two things yet remain to be considered in discoursing on this
subject:

I. The place or influence that faith, or believing, hath in this
salvation; for the gospel provides this blessing only for believers. It
is called the power of God to salvation to every one who believes.—II.
The wide extent of this glorious benefit: It belongs to every one that
believes, whether Greek, or Jew.

I shall treat of each of these particularly:

_First_, Since the gospel is the power of God to the salvation of them
that believe, let us enquire, what place or influence has our faith in
this concernment?

To answer this, we may consider faith in its various acts or degrees of
exercise as it begins in assent, as it proceeds to affiance, and as it
is completed in assurance; and shew what influence each of them hath in
the work of salvation.

1. An assent to the truths of the gospel must begin the work of
salvation in us: There must be a belief and inward conviction of our
sinful and dangerous state, which is more clearly revealed under the
gospel, and that there is an atonement made for sin by the blood of
Christ: We must believe, that there is forgiveness to be found with God,
for the sake of this atonement; and that there is grace enough in our
Lord Jesus Christ, to renew our sinful natures, and to fit us for
heaven. This usually begets in the sinner, who is truly awakened, some
desire toward this salvation, and some distant hope of obtaining it.
When the poor perishing creature believes and beholds the glorious
influence of the death and righteousness of Christ to justify a sinner
in the sight of God; when he surveys the love, the wisdom, the grace,
and the power of Christ, answerable to all his wants, he then comes to
determine thus with himself, “This salvation is glorious and desirable;
the methods proposed, even for my own attainment of it are practicable
and sufficient, and why should not I apply myself to this Saviour, and
seek this unspeakable happiness?”

2. Affiance or trust in Jesus Christ the Saviour is the next degree of
faith. When we are willing to be delivered from the condemning guilt of
sin, and from the defiling power of it, and have seen an all-sufficiency
of atonement, grace, and power in Christ, then we commit our souls into
the hands of Jesus, the Mediator for this blessed purpose, and make a
solemn surrender of our whole selves into his charge and care, that we
may be pardoned for the sake of his death, that we may be accepted of
God through his righteousness, that we may be sanctified and made holy
by his grace and Spirit, and that we may be fitted for and preserved to
his kingdom. We reflect upon our past iniquities, and mourn to think
that we have been rebels so long; we are ashamed and grieved for our
rebellions, and we now most earnestly desire to be made willing subjects
to his holy government; and therefore we entrust our souls with him, and
beg that he would take us under his care for this end, and bring us into
the Father’s presence with comfort and joy. This is the soul’s coming to
God by Jesus Christ.

Now such an act of faith as this is, has some sensible tendency to
promote the peace of a distressed conscience, the sanctification of a
sinful nature, the solid hope of heaven, and a preparation for it. But
still it must be acknowledged, that its original and chief influence
arises from divine appointment. The gospel is the power of God to
salvation, and it is by divine promise and power that faith saves the
soul. Such a faith, or trust in Christ, has all the promises of
gospel-blessings belonging to it. God has appointed in his word, and it
is the standing rule of the gospel, _He that believeth shall be saved_;
Mark xvi. 15, 16.

All the parts of salvation come by faith: Justification, and favour in
the sight of God; Rom. v. 1. _Being justified by faith, we have peace
with God._ Adoption comes also by faith; Gal. iii. 26. _Ye are the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus._ Sanctification is ascribed to
the same principle: Acts xv. 19. The Gentiles had their _hearts
purified_ from sin _by faith_. Joy and hope come in this way also; Rom.
xv. 13. _The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost._ And
you may read several of these benefits of the gospel, these divine
ingredients of our salvation put together, and all attributed to faith;
Acts xxvi. 18. I send thee now to the Gentiles, saith the Lord Jesus to
St. Paul, _to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and
from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins, and inheritance among them who are sanctified, by faith that is in
me_.

Faith, or affiance in Jesus Christ, is an acceptance of this salvation,
it is a trust in the offered grace, it is a dependance on the promises
of the gospel confirmed by Christ, it is the surrender of a sinful soul
to Jesus the Saviour to perform his whole work of grace for him and to
him; and thereby the believing sinner, according to the appointment of
God in his gospel, partakes of all the benefits that are treasured up in
Christ.

Faith in the gospel relieves the distressed soul under a sense of the
guilt of sin, and the humble weary sinner finds mercy to forgive, and
strength to subdue it. Faith appropriates and applies the blood of
Christ, that sovereign medicine, to the wounds of a guilty conscience,
and the conscience finds ease and refreshment. It applies the grace of
Christ, that powerful antidote, to expel the venom of in-dwelling sin,
and the soul is healed in some measure, and the poison is expelled. It
lays hold on the power of Christ to assist in the performance of every
duty, and it obtains divine assistance. Every true believer has
experienced something of these benefits by a sincere surrender of
himself to Christ in such a way of trust and holy dependance.

Can the thirsty soul taste of the running water, and not find
refreshment, since God, who created water, has ordained it to refresh
the thirsty? Can weary limbs lie down on a bed, and not find ease, since
a bed is made to give ease and rest to the weary? Can a fainting
creature drink a divine cordial appointed to give life, and yet feel no
revival? No more can a guilty, distressed, and penitent sinner believe
the truths of the gospel, and trust in Jesus the Saviour, and yet find
no relief: for this is the will and settled law of the God of heaven,
that peace and holiness shall be obtained this way.

3. When faith grows up to assurance, it approaches towards complete
salvation. Then the christian can say, _I know I have believed on the
Son of God_, I know I enjoy his favour. Then the holiness and the joy
increase, for the salvation enters into the soul in fuller measures: The
nearer faith arises to assurance of our own interest in the grace of
Christ, the more it supports the soul, the more it comforts, the more it
sanctifies, and the more evidently doth the gospel appear to be divinely
powerful to save us from sin and hell.

“Can I believe God has pardoned me, so vile a rebel, and forgiven me so
many and aggravated offences, and yet is it possible I should not love
him, and rejoice? Can I be assured he loves me, and not make him a
return of my highest and warmest love? Can I believe that Christ the Son
of God died for me, and shall I not consecrate myself and all the powers
of my nature to him, that I may live devoted to his service? He has
bought me with a price, a dear and valuable price, that of his own
blood, and I must _glorify him with my body and with my soul, which are
his_; 1 Cor. vi. 20. Can I believe that I am redeemed from hell and
destruction, and shall I dare to walk in the road that leads to it? And
not rather _run with patience_ and joy _the race that is set before me_,
till I arrive at the gates of heaven? Am I not assured that Jesus the
beloved of God suffered death for my sins, and shall not I hate sin,
which caused his suffering? Sin, which was the occasion of his agonies,
and the very sting of his sorrows! _I am crucified_ and dead to sin, and
to this world, by my union with a crucified Saviour, _yet I live_, saith
the divine apostle, _and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who hath loved me, and given himself for
me_; Gal. ii. 20. How is it possible that I should hope to be made like
Christ in glory, with a full assurance of arriving thither, and not
_purify myself as he is pure_; 1 John iii. 2, 3. While I believe and am
persuaded that the promise of the joys of heaven shall be fulfilled to
me, I would awaken myself hourly to the joyful prospect, and be ever
preparing for the possession of that blessedness.”

Thus when faith arises to a sublime and eminent degree in this world,
the believer may be said to _rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of
glory, and to receive the end of his faith, even the salvation of his
soul_; 1 Pet. i. 8, 9.

Before I pass to the second head, I desire leave to make these few
remarks.

Remark I. Though the first degree of faith or assent to the gospel be
necessary to salvation, yet it is not of itself sufficient; and though
the last degree of faith or assurance be gloriously useful in this work,
yet it is not absolutely necessary.

A mere assent to the truths of the gospel is not sufficient to save; for
there are many who by the force of education, or by the force of
argument, yield their assent to the doctrine, and believe it to be true,
yet it is a cold, feeble, languid assent; it begins and ends in the
head, and never reaches the heart; it does not awaken them thoroughly,
nor make them long after the pardon and the grace promised: They seem to
sit still contented with the forms of their catechism, and a general
belief of the christian religion, so far as they know it; but are under
no painful solicitude, or concern of soul, about the forgiveness of
their sins, the sanctification of their natures, their interest in the
favour of God and eternal happiness; and therefore they proceed no
farther, they never heartily apply themselves to Jesus Christ the only
Saviour, and they fall short of the blessing. The devils believe as much
as they do, but are in a state of damnation still.

Again, consider that a full assurance of our own interest in the favour
of God through Jesus Christ, is the highest degree of attainment on
earth; but it is not necessary to the being of christianity, nor doth it
belong to every christian. It is true indeed, that every one ought to
seek after it by the frequent exercise of faith and love, and every
grace, thus brightening the evidences of his saving interest in the
blessings of the gospel daily; and where assurance is obtained upon
solid grounds, holiness and joy will rise by swift degrees, and the soul
will make glorious advances towards the heavenly state and complete
salvation: But some christians scarce ever arrive at this attainment all
their days.

Since therefore a mere assent to the gospel in general is not sufficient
for salvation, and a full assurance of our own interest is not
necessary, it follows, that an affiance or trust in Christ as a Saviour
is the most essential and important act of faith. This is that sacred
and appointed duty of a convinced soul, whereby it is made partaker of
the blessings of salvation according to the gospel, if it be practised
in the way which I have just before described.

II. Take notice here of the difference between the law and the gospel,
between the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace. The one gives
us life upon our working, the other saves us from death, and gives us a
right to heaven upon our believing, therefore one is called _the law of
works_, and the other _the law of faith_; Rom. iii. 27,

It is proper here to observe, that the scripture sometimes speaks of two
covenants; the old and the new: and means chiefly the œconomy or
dispensation of the Jews under Moses, and the œconomy of Christ, or the
dispensation of the gospel since the Messiah came. But by the two
covenants I now speak of, I would be understood to mean the law or
constitution of innocency, and the constitution of grace.

By the constitution, or law of innocency, man was to have obtained
eternal life before his fall; and as this law or covenant was given to
Adam as the head and representative of all mankind, so every son and
daughter of Adam continues under it till they accept of the covenant of
grace, or the offers of the gospel, either in the darker or brighter
discoveries of it: And therefore all mankind, Jews and Gentiles, are
laid under condemnation by it in the writings of St. Paul, in the second
and third chapters to the Romans. By this law of works, _every mouth is
stopped, and the whole world is become guilty before God_; Rom. iii. 19.
Though the nations of the Jews and christians, and perhaps the greatest
part of the heathen world, have had some revelations of the gospel or
covenant of grace, and have been under the outward offers of it; yet
Jews, heathens, and national christians, are all under the sentence of
the covenant of the law of works, till they enter into the covenant of
grace by repentance and faith in the mercy of God.

But the covenant of grace, or the gospel is a new constitution, which
God hath ordained for the relief of poor fallen miserable man, condemned
and perishing under the curse of the law of works. It is a constitution
of grace, whereby alone fallen sinners can obtain salvation.

The law of works demands universal obedience to all the commands of God,
obedience perfect and persevering; for this is the language of it; _the
man that doth them shall live in them_; Rom. x. 5. and it curses every
sinner without hope or remedy; _cursed is every one that continueth not
in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them_; Gal.
iii. 10, 12. But the voice of the gospel, the righteousness of faith, or
the way of justification by Christ, speaketh on this wise, _With the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation; for the just shall live by faith_; Rom. x. 10. Gal.
iii. 11. The one proclaims eternal life to all that perfectly obey, the
other publishes salvation to all that believe, though their obedience be
very imperfect.

I grant indeed, that the apostle cites these descriptions of the law of
works out of the books of Moses, and therefore some persons would
suppose him only to mean the particular law given to the Jews at mount
Sinai, and not the general covenant of works made with Adam, and with
all mankind in him.

But to this I give these two answers:

1. The laws of works, which the apostle speaks of in the epistle to the
Romans, particularly in the second and third chapters, cannot signify
merely the Jewish law; for it is such a law as includes all the heathen
world, as appears plain; Rom. ii. 14, 15. and by which the heathens as
well as the Jews were condemned, and could never be justified; Rom. iii.
20. _By the deeds of the law shall no flesh he justified in his sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin_; therefore this must be a law
that extended to all mankind, since it stops every mouth, and proclaims
the whole world guilty before God.

2. The law given to the Jews, or the covenant of Sinai, so far as it is
purely political, was indeed a covenant of works; and their continuance
in, or rejection out of the land of Canaan, depended upon their own
works, their obedience or disobedience to this law, as it is often
expressed in the writings of Moses: And upon this account it is used
sometimes by the apostles as a very proper emblem or representative of
the covenant of works made with our first father Adam, who was to have
enjoyed or forfeited some earthly or heavenly paradise, according to his
obedience or disobedience. It is plain then, that though St. Paul may
cite the law of Moses to shew the nature of a law of works in general,
yet it does not follow that he means only the law or covenant of Sinai;
and it is as plain, by his including the Gentiles under it, that he does
not mean the law of Sinai, but the original law or covenant of works
made with all mankind in Adam their father and their head, and of which
the law of Sinai was a proper emblem or figure.

All laws of works therefore are insufficient for the salvation of sinful
man, and his restoration to God’s favour and image, and eternal life.
The law of Sinai was a law of works, promising an earthly Canaan to the
obedient Jews. The law of innocency in Eden was a law of works,
promising life and immortality to obedient mankind. But they have been
both wretchedly broken; man was turned out of paradise, and the Jews out
of Canaan, because of disobedience. But now the gospel whereby the Jews
or Gentiles are to be saved, or to obtain eternal life, requires faith
in the mercy and promises of God in and through Jesus Christ; and by
this means it saves us, though our obedience be far short of perfection:
This was the way whereby the Jews themselves were saved under the Old
Testament: for the _gospel was preached to them as well as unto us_;
Heb. iv. 2. though it was in darker hints, and types and figures. And in
this way were Abraham and David justified as the apostle teaches; Rom.
iv. 3, 4, 5, 6.

Though the Jews’ enjoyment of the land of Canaan depended on their good
works and obedience to the law of Moses, yet their hope and enjoyment of
heaven depended on their faith or trust in the mercy of God, which was
to be farther revealed in the days of the Messiah. And it is the same
gospel by which we are to obtain salvation, since Christ is come in the
flesh; but with this difference, that we are now more expressly required
to make Jesus Christ the object of our faith, and we have a thousand
clearer discoveries of his righteousness and grace than ever the Jews
were favoured with.

Happy mankind! though fallen and ruined in Adam, yet recovered and
raised to righteousness, grace, and glory by Jesus Christ. How dreadful
is that law which pronounces a curse and death upon every transgressor!
_Tribulation and wrath, indignation and anguish upon every soul that
doth evil, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile_; Rom. ii. 9. But
how sweet and reviving is the grace of that gospel, which becomes the
power of God to the salvation of every one that believeth, to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek!

The great and blessed God saw the frailty of his creature man, how ready
he was to ruin himself under a law of works; therefore he appointed his
recovery by the law of faith. And _what the law could not do, in that it
was weak through the infirmity of flesh, that he has sent his own Son
Jesus Christ in the likeness of sinful flesh_, to do for us, to fulfil
all the demands of the law, both in the penalty and the precept, _to
finish transgression, to made an end of sin_, by his own sufferings,
_and to bring in an everlasting righteousness, that whosoever believes
on him shall be saved_. Blessed God! How kind and condescending are thy
ways to the children of men! How full of compassion to rebels, who had
destroyed themselves! How gentle are the methods of thy recovering
mercy! If we will but confess our sins, mourn over our own follies,
return to the Lord our God by humble repentance, and put our trust in an
almighty Saviour, there is peace and pardon, there is grace, and life,
and glory provided for us, and laid up in the hands of Jesus Christ our
Lord.

III. Though the gospel offers us salvation by faith and not by works,
yet it effectually secures the practice of holiness since holiness is a
part of that salvation. We are saved from sin as well as from hell by
this gospel; and we must have our souls prepared for heaven, as well as
brought to the possession of it. He that pretends to trust in Christ,
for a deliverance from hell and has no desire to be made holy, he has no
desire after such a salvation as Christ proposes in his gospel, nor is
he like to attain it.

We must be sensible then of the corruption of our natures, the
perverseness of our wills, the vanity of our minds, the earthliness of
our affections, our inability to do that which is good for time to come,
as well as our guilt, condemnation and misery, because of our
transgressions past: We must desire that a thorough work of repentance
may be wrought in our hearts, that the power and reign of sin may be
broken there, and that we may become new creatures as well as desire to
escape the wrath of God, and hell, and eternal death, if ever we would
be partakers of that salvation which the gospel proposes. Christ will
not divide one part of his salvation from the other: And in vain do we
presume to trust in him for happiness, if we are not willing to be made
holy too.

How false and unreasonable are all the reproaches that are cast upon the
doctrine of salvation by faith, as though it tended to promote looseness
of life, and to indulge iniquity; when that very salvation includes in
it a freedom from the power of sin, and a delight in all that is holy?
This is the very character of Christ our Saviour, and the reason of _his
name Jesus_, that _he should save his people from their sins_; Mat. i.
21. If we are _delivered by Christ_, it is _from this present wicked
world_; Gal. i. 4. If we are _redeemed_, it is _from all iniquity, that
we might be a peculiar people purified to himself, zealous of good
works_; Tit. ii. 14.

IV. Though the gospel is such a glorious doctrine of grace, that there
is no reason to be ashamed of it, yet since it saves us by faith, and
not by works, there is no reason for us to boast when we are saved. We
may _glory_ indeed _in the cross of Christ_ and make our boast in the
Redeemer all the day long; but the gospel for ever cuts off all ground
of boasting in ourselves. Here the justice and mercy of God shine forth
gloriously; here the righteousness of God is declared, sinners find
remission or pardon, _God is just_, and _a justifier of him who
believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law?
Of works? Nay, but by the law of Faith_; Rom. iii. 25, 26, 27. _By grace
ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift
of God; not of works, lest any man should boast_; Eph. ii. 8, 9.

The gospel concurs with the law in this respect, that it shews us our
own guilt and vileness, our ruin and our impotence to restore ourselves,
and therefore it has put all our help upon another. God has _laid our
help upon one that is mighty to save_; Ps. lxxxix. 19, and he has
ordained that the way whereby we should derive this salvation, is by
renouncing all dependance upon self, and trusting in Christ and grace
for all that we enjoy and hope for. This is the business of faith; this
is the very nature of that Christian virtue, to disclaim all
self-sufficiency, and receive all from mere mercy; and therefore it is
appointed to be the means of our justification under the gospel;
therefore it is said so often in scripture, that we are _justified by
faith_, that divine grace may have all the glory; Rom. iv. 16. Therefore
it is of faith, that it might be of grace. We are ignorant and foolish,
and must derive wisdom from Christ: We are guilty, and must receive
righteousness from him: We are unholy, he is the spring of our
sanctification: We are captives and slaves to sin and Satan, and we must
have redemption from him: _He is made of God to us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that no flesh might glory
in his presence_, but _he that glories, must glory in the Lord_; 1 Cor.
i. 29, 30.

Man, innocent man, had power and righteousness, and life put into his
own hands; but the first Adam grew vain in his self-sufficiency, and he
foolishly sinned, and lost it all: Therefore God, in order to our
recovery, would put power, and righteousness, and life into the hands of
another, even his own Son, the second Adam, that we might go out of
ourselves, and seek it all from another hand. Now faith, or trust, is
the proper act of the soul, to express our own emptiness, and our
dependance on another for all.

This is the language of faith, “Lord, I am a sinful and guilty creature;
I have no righteousness, no merit, to recommend me to thy favour; I have
no power to change my unholy nature, and rectify the criminal disorders
of my soul; I am unable to subdue the sins that dwell in me, or practise
the required duties of holiness; I deserve condemnation and death, and I
am by nature walking in the way to hell: helpless and hopeless for ever
in myself, but in thy rich grace is all my hope: I rejoice in the
discoveries of thy mercy; I come at the call of thy gospel, upon the
bended knees of my soul I accept of the proposals of thy grace; I give
up myself to thy power and mercy, as it is revealed in Jesus Christ, thy
Son, that I may be saved from sin and hell. To me belongs nothing but
shame and confusion of face; I renounce for ever all self-sufficiency,
and if ever I am saved, thy grace shall have all the glory.” Now when a
poor humbled sinner is brought thus far, and receives the salvation of
God in this lowly posture of soul, the great God has obtained a good
part of his designs in the gospel upon him; self is humbled, grace is
glorified, and the sinner is saved by faith.

V. Heaven is made up of believers. The whole number of the saved were
once sinners, and obtained salvation by faith.

The holy angels indeed never sinned, and yet whether their confirmed
state of holiness and glory is not secured to them by trust or
dependance on Christ, may be a reasonable enquiry; for _all things in
heaven and earth are_ said to be _gathered together, and reconciled in
him_; Eph. i. 10. Col. i. 20. But this we are sure of, that not one of
all the race of Adam hath been restored to the love of God, or raised to
heaven, by their own works but all by faith. It is sovereign and
glorious grace that has saved them all, and that by the gospel too, in
the various editions of it, from the promise in Eden, till the full
discovery of grace at the day of pentecost after the ascension of
Christ.

O it is a pleasing entertainment of soul to send our thoughts forward to
the last great day, or to send them upward to the courts of heaven and
glory, and to hear how the millions of redeemed sinners shout and sing
to the honour of divine grace! How all that happy world of believers
assist the melody, and dwell upon the delightful sound. “_Not unto us, O
God our Father, not unto us, but to thine own name_”, and to thy mercy
be all our honours paid though the ages of eternity. We were a race of
guilty and perishing rebels, who had sinned against thy majesty, and
ruined our own souls: We lay upon the borders of death and hell without
help, and without hope: We could do nothing to procure thy love, nor
merit any thing by the best of our works: But thou hast called us to
believe thy gospel, to trust in thy grace, and to lay down the arms of
our rebellion, and to receive the blessings of salvation by faith: We
have nothing to boast of, for we are mere receivers: Thou hast put forth
thine almighty arm, and hast made thy gospel the instrument of thy power
to save us; and while we feel and taste the complete salvation, thy
power and thy mercy shall have all the praise.

Not unto us, O Lord Jesus our Saviour, not unto us is any honour due;
but to thy condescending love; to thy compassion and death shall our
honours be paid, and our acknowledgments made for help. We saw ourselves
helpless, and were directed to thee for ever: We trusted in thee, and
thou hast saved us: it is thy sufferings that have procured our pardon;
it is by faith in thy blood we find an atonement; it is through thy
righteousness that we are justified and accepted of God, and made
partakers of these heavenly glories that shine all around us. All our
sacred comforts, our excellencies, and our joys are thine. Pride is
hidden from our eyes for ever, and boasting is banished from all our
tongues: It is thou hast fulfilled the law: it is thou hast suffered the
curse; it is thou hast purchased, and promised, and bestowed the
blessing. We believed thy word, we received thy grace, and behold, we,
dying sinners, are raised to life, and advanced to glory. There is not a
soul of us but delights to join in these sublime anthems of worship;
_Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing: Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power be to him that sits upon the throne, and to
the Lamb for ever_. Amen.


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XVIII.
                     _Faith the Way to Salvation._


                 Not by the laws of innocence
                 Can Adam’s sons arrive at heaven;
                 New works can give us no pretence
                 To have our ancient sins forgiven.

                 Not the best deeds that we have done,
                 Can make a wounded conscience whole;
                 Faith is the grace, and faith alone,
                 That flies to Christ, and saves the soul.

                 Lord, I believe thy heavenly word,
                 Fain would I have my soul renew’d;
                 I mourn for sin, and trust the Lord,
                 To have it pardon’d and subdu’d.

                 O may thy grace its power display,
                 Let guilt and death no longer reign;
                 Save me in thine appointed way,
                 Nor let my humble faith be vain.




                              SERMON XIX.
                       _None Excluded from Hope._
ROM. i. 16.—The Gospel of Christ,—it is the power of God unto salvation
 to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.


We have seen the gospel of Christ vindicated in the former discourses on
this text, and the glorious doctrines of it guarded against the various
reproaches of an unbelieving world: We have heard what a powerful
instrument it is in the hand of God for the salvation of perishing
sinners. We have been taught the way to partake of this salvation, and
that is by believing; and we have learned what influence our faith has
in this sacred concernment. I proceed now to the last thing which I
proposed, and that is to shew the wide extent of this blessing of the
gospel; for it brings _salvation to every one that believes, to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek_.

Where the word Greek is used in opposition to the Barbarian, as it is in
the fourteenth verse before my text, it signifies the learned part of
mankind, as distinguished from those that are unlearned; the Greeks
being the most famous among the nations for wisdom, knowledge, or
learning in that day: But when this same word stands in opposition to
the Jew, as it does here in my text, then it includes all the heathen
world, so that when the apostle says, the gospel brings salvation both
to the Jew and the Greek, he shews the extent of this benefit to all
mankind that hear and receive it.

It may be worth our while to spend a few hints upon the order in which
the apostle represents the communication of this blessing, _viz._ to the
Jew first, and then to the Greek or Gentile.

When he describes, in the second chapter of this epistle, the terms or
conditions of the covenant of works, he sets mankind in the same order;
he pronounces _indignation and wrath upon every soul that doth evil, of
the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honour and peace to
every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile_.
So when he declares the blessings of the covenant of grace or the
gospel, he brings the salvation first upon the Jews, and then upon the
Gentile nations: And one reason of it may be this, that the Jews having
been favoured with an earlier and more express discovery of the nature
and will of God than the heathens, they seem to stand fairest for the
participation of divine blessings and that, even by the law of works, if
life and righteousness could have been obtained by it, as well as by the
covenant of grace, or law of faith. But if they abuse their knowledge,
and their sacred advantages, to the neglect of God and godliness, faith
and works, they justly fall under a more severe condemnation every way,
because their guilt is greater.

But there may be some special reasons given why God thought it proper,
in the course of his providence, to send the notice of this salvation by
Jesus Christ among the Jews, before he sent it to the Gentile world.

I. The Jews were the chosen people of God, the sons and daughters of
Abraham, his friend, the first favourites of heaven, considered as a
family and a nation: and as he first preached to them the purity and
perfection of his law, whence they might discover their own sin and
misery, so he published his gospel of grace by Jesus Christ first among
them, and sent his Son with the messages of peace and forgiveness first
to their nation. The great God thought it becoming his equity to publish
his abounding mercy first toward them, amongst whom he first published
his law, to shew them their guilt and misery through the abounding of
sin: “By the law is the knowledge of sin; and where sin has abounded,
grace has much more abounded;” Rom. iii. and v.

II. The Jews had this same gospel preached to them many ages before in
types and emblems, in sacred ceremonies and dark prophecies. Now it was
fit, that the types and prophecies should be explained and the grace
contained therein revealed first to them; for hereby the gospel obtained
a great confirmation, and established its own truth, when it appeared in
all the parts of it so exactly answerable to the ancient figures, and to
the predictions of many hundred years. It was fit that the Messiah
should appear among them first, where his character add picture had been
drawn for many ages before, that so he might be known and distinguished
whensoever he should visit the world. It was fit that his doctrine
should be first published in plain language, where it had been long
written and spoken in metaphors. Thus the gospel went forth first from
Jerusalem, that it might be preached and proclaimed with more glorious
evidence among the rest of the nations.

III. Jesus Christ, who is the subject and substance of the gospel, was
himself a Jew, of the seed of Abraham, of the nation of Israel. He was
born, he lived, he died amongst them. All the great affairs of his
birth, his life, his ministry, his death and resurrection, were
transacted in their country, and in the midst of them. It was fit the
benefit thereof should be first offered to them.

If this gospel of Christ had been first preached to the gentiles, while
it was kept silent and secret amongst the Jews, there might have been
reason to suspect that there was some fraud or falsehood at the bottom,
and that this doctrine would not bear the light in the country where
these things were done, and that it would not stand the test of
examination in the land of Judea, and therefore the story was told first
among strangers: And thus the gentiles might have found some difficulty
to receive it, and been prejudiced against the belief of it. But now,
when it is published through all the land of Israel, and the apostles
appeal to their own countrymen for the truth of these transactions; when
it has stood the test of public examination there, where the things were
transacted, it goes forth to the rest of the nations with brighter
evidence and glory.

IV. I might add in the last place, that it was fit it should be first
published to the Jews, who seemed to have the first claim to it; that
since they refused it, it might be offered to the poor gentile nations
with greater justice and equity, even the Jews themselves being judges.
Such are the frequent hints given by St. Paul; Acts xiii. 46. _It was
necessary that the word of God should have been first spoke to you; but
seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Be it known therefore unto you, that
the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it_;
Acts xxviii. 28.

When we think of that poor unhappy nation, the Jews, scattered abroad
among all the kingdoms of the earth, banished from their own promised
land for their rejection of Christ, and yet hardened in their unbelief,
methinks we should send out a groan of pity for them; for they are the
sons and daughters of Abraham, the first favourites of our God. Jesus
our Saviour was their Messiah, their kinsman, and their rightful king.
We should send up a kind wish to heaven upon their account, “How long, O
Lord, how long shall Israel be cast off? How long wilt thou be angry
with the children of Abraham, thy friend? When shall the day come for
the opening of their eyes, that they may _look on Jesus whom they
pierced_, and believe _and mourn_? When shall _the veil be taken off
from their hearts_, that they may read the books of Moses, and trust in
Jesus of Nazareth, whom their fathers crucified?”

When we see one and another of the Jewish nation in this great city, and
think of their blindness and their zeal for the idle traditions of their
teachers, and observe their ignorant rage against our blessed Saviour:
when we behold the vain superstitions of their worship, the thick
darkness that hangs upon them under the brightest beams of gospel-light,
and their wide distance from salvation, we should let our eyes affect
our hearts, and drop a tear of compassion upon their souls. “These were
they to whom the promises of salvation did first belong, and to whom the
first news was brought, that _Jesus the Saviour is born_. These are they
to whom the gospel was first preached. God himself dwelt in the midst of
them, and the Son of God was their brother, their flesh and their blood.
Though they are for a season cast off for their infidelity, yet God has
told us, that he has a secret love for that nation still for their
father Abraham’s sake; Rom. xi. 28. and this love shall break forth in
its full glory one day. Make haste, _O deliverer_, who didst _come out
of Zion_, make haste to fulfil thy promises, and _turn away ungodliness
from Jacob_. Let the _fulness of the Gentiles be brought in, and let all
Israel be saved_. Bring them back from all the lands whither thine anger
hath scattered them. Release thy ancient people from their long
captivity to Satan, and their bands of thick darkness. Be thou, O
_Jesus, who art the light of the Gentiles_, be thou also _the glory of
thy people Israel_.”

But I would endeavour to make a larger improvement of this general head
of discourse.

Does the gospel bring salvation to every one that believes without
exception: to all ranks and characters, and degrees, and orders of men?
then let this grace be spread far abroad: And let not the more polite
and nicer hearers grow tired, or drowsy, or disdainful, while I amplify
a little and diffuse my thoughts into various particulars, pointing out
the variety of the subjects of this grace; for I would, as it were,
mention every sinner by name, that they may not be left only to
unaffecting general notions, but being especially addressed they may all
come and partake of this salvation by believing this gospel.

A glorious and extensive gospel indeed, and a wide-spreading salvation?
To _every one who believes_! None excluded from this blessing!

1. It is not confined to one nation, or one family, not to one tribe or
kindred of mankind, as the law of Moses was. _Go preach the gospel_,
says our Lord, _to every creature_; Mark xvi. 15. _Preach repentance and
remission of sins in my name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem_;
Luke xxiv. 47. To the Jew first, but let not this grace be confined to
them: Publish this blessed doctrine also to the sinners among the Greeks
and Gentiles. You that are afar off from God, even in the _ends of the_
earth, ye are called to _look unto Christ: and be saved_; Is. xlv. 22.
It is no matter, O sinner! what thy father was, or what thy kindred are!
if thou art but a believer in Christ, thy soul is happy, thy sins are
pardoned, _the gospel is the power of God to thy salvation_.

2. It is not confined to one sex only, or to one age. The children are
called as well as the fathers, and men and women are invited to partake
of this blessing together in Christ. _There is neither male nor female_,
neither young nor old, neither Greek nor Jew, that have any distinction
put upon them, to exclude them from this grace; _they are all one in
Christ Jesus_; Gal. iii. 28. Children, have you seen the evil of your
sins, and the danger of hell? Do you long for pardoning and saving
grace, and are you willing that Christ should make your peace with God,
that he should enable you to serve him upon earth, and prepare you for
heaven? Come then, trust in this gospel, give up yourselves to Jesus
Christ the Saviour in the manner I have spoken, and the salvation is
yours. Nor let old sinners thrust away this mercy from them, under a
pretence that they have long abused it. You are now under the joyful
sound of the gospel; you sit now under the language of inviting love:
Are you willing to be made new creatures before you die, and to accept
of a deliverance from hell, though you are upon the very borders of it?
Behold power enough in this gospel to deliver you: The blood of Christ
can wash out stains of the longest continuance; The Spirit of Christ can
change the skin of an old Ethiopian, and create an old inveterate
transgressor into holiness. This gospel could save the thief upon the
cross, and ensure paradise to him. It can rescue a dying rebel from
eternal death; for it gives life and salvation to every one that
believes.

3. It is not limited to one rank or condition of men in the civil life,
but reaches to persons of every circumstance. The rich and the poor, the
master and the servant, the prince and the peasant, must partake of
salvation by the same faith in the Son of God. The barbarian and the
Scythian, who seem to be born for slaves, and the Romans who are lords
of the earth, _the bond and the free_, have all an equal call to receive
this salvation; Col. iii. 11. Ye are all rich enough to obtain it: There
is no purchase of these blessings by any other price but that of the
blood of Jesus. Silver and Gold, and the treasure of kings, are all
contemptible offers in so sacred a concernment as this is. The benefit
is too valuable to be bought at any meaner rate: Christ, who paid for
it, will bestow it freely on all. If the rich will receive it, they must
come without money, and without price, and accept of the free gift of
God, as humble petitioners at his footstool; and the poor _that have no
money, come ye and buy_; Is. lv. 1, 2. Let the vilest, meanest creature
come to this treasury of grace, and with thankfulness receive the
salvation, for it is bought already. You are called only to trust in
this gospel, to surrender yourselves to this Saviour, and the salvation
shall be yours. Ye that are mean and low and base in this world, there
are many of your brethren already joined in the fellowship of this
gospel: Come, enter yourselves into the blessed fraternity. _To the poor
the gospel is preached_, and the poor receive it. But there are some
noble, there are some great, there are some rich, that have felt the
power of it too: There is Philemon the master, and his servant Onesimus,
joined in the same faith, and partakers of the same salvation; Philem.
16.

Again, 4. It is not confined to persons whose intellectual excellencies
are superior to their neighbours, or who exceed others in understanding
and the acquirements of the mind. St. Paul was _debtor both to the wise
and the unwise_; to the learned Greek, and to the ignorant and
unpolished barbarian; Rom. i. 14. He preached the gospel to all of them:
For Christ had a chosen number amongst them all. If the witty, and the
wise, and the learned will lay down their pride, and submit to the
doctrine of Christ crucified, and not call it foolishness: If they will
humble their understandings to receive the sacred mysteries of our
religion, _God manifest in the flesh_, and put to death for the sins of
men, and will place the concerns of their eternal welfare into the hands
of him who hung bleeding upon the cross: If they are willing to _be
converted and become as little children_, there is a door for them to
enter into the kingdom of heaven. And as for you, whose understandings
are weak and unpolished with human learning, this is a doctrine and a
gospel exactly fitted for your character: It is no business of great
sagacity, no ingenious matter to become a christian. Believe the truths
that are plainly revealed concerning your own sin and misery, and the
power of Jesus Christ to save you; bewail your own wretchedness and
guilt, and entrust yourselves in the arms of his grace, that ye may be
made holy and happy, and ye also shall become possessors of the same
kingdom. _Father, I thank thee, Lord of heaven and earth, that though
these things may be hidden from the wise and the prudent, yet thou hast
revealed them to babes_; Mat. xi. 25, 26.

But I pursue the distributions of this grace yet farther:

5. No particular tempers or constitutions of men, no different qualities
of soul or body, can exclude those that believe from the grace or
blessings of this gospel. _Let not the strong man glory in his
strength_, nor the comely figures of human nature boast themselves in
their beauty. Let not the weak be overwhelmed with despair, nor the
deformed or uncomely stand afar off and abandon their hopes; the same
Saviour proposes the riches of his grace to all. Learn therefore to look
upon all your natural advantages, and all your natural discouragements,
with a negligent eye in the matter of your salvation. If you would be
strong to win heaven, you must borrow all your strength from Christ and
the gospel. If you would appear comely and honourable before the face of
God, you must be clothed in _the robe of righteousness, and the garments
of salvation_, which he has prepared; Is. lxi. 10.

Nor can any difference in the natural qualities of the soul forbid any
person who believes in Christ to hope for this salvation. Those who are
by nature proud or peevish, sullen or passionate, angry or revengeful,
have been made partakers of this grace, as well as those who by the
complexion of their animal frame, and the original temper of their
minds, have had more of the natural virtues belonging to them; such as
gentleness, meekness of spirit, good-humour and kindness. Those who have
something in their very frame that is sly and crafty, or covetous,
wanton, and intemperate, have felt the power of this gospel, as well as
those that have been generous and sincere, modest, chaste, and
abstemious; for the grace of the gospel, which was typified by the ark
of Noah, takes in all manner of animals, clean and unclean, and saves
them from the deluge of divine wrath that shall come upon an ungodly
world. But there is this blessed difference, that the brutes went out of
the ark with the same nature they brought in: but those who come under
the protection and power of this gospel by faith, they are in some
measure changed, they are refined, they are sanctified. The wolf that
came in, is turning into a lamb, and the raven by degrees becomes a
dove, surely, the gospel has begun to make them so, for it has begun
their salvation.

I will grant indeed, that the perverse temper of blood and spirits, and
the very make of the man, as to his natural and vicious qualities, is
seldom entirely altered by the grace of God here on earth. There will be
some sallies of animal nature, some out-breakings of the irregular fire
that is pent up in the constitution; and these will too often mix
themselves with our conduct, and interline our acts of virtue and duty.
But the holy soul, who believes in Christ, will be humble, will mourn,
will accuse and chide itself before God in secret, and will be
importunate and restless in prayer for the victory. The christian will
not suffer himself to be carried away willingly by the stream of vicious
inclinations; for _he that is born of God sinneth not_; 1 John v. 18.
and it is in vain to talk of the gospel and salvation of faith and
grace, if we give up the reins to vicious nature, and bid a careless
farewell to any one virtue.

But to proceed yet farther in reckoning up the various characters of
men, whom the gospel makes christians by the grace of faith.

6. As no persons are excluded because of their natural constitution, so
neither are any forbid the blessing of salvation because of their former
ill characters in the moral life. Not the greatest of sinners are shut
out from this blessing, if they repent and believe the gospel. Not the
Jews who crucified the Lord of glory: Not the Gentiles or Greeks, who
were slaves to superstition and idolatry, and drenched in most infamous
and abominable practices; the Greeks, who gave themselves up to work
uncleanness with greediness without God, and without hope in the world.
One gospel has saved them all. No former follies or faults, no, not the
greatest of sins against man, or against God himself, ought to shut up a
humble soul under despair; for _this is a faithful saying, and worthy of
all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came to save the chief of sinners_; 1
Tim. i. 15. And that is a word of most extensive grace which our Saviour
speaks; Mat. xii. 31. _All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven
unto men._

You who have enjoyed a happy education, and had pious parents to boast
of, as the Jews boasted of Abraham; you who have many shining works of
sobriety and righteousness, you are called to come and trust in this
gospel: But you must renounce all your pretended merit, and accept of
pardoning grace, or you can never be saved. And you that have nothing
that looks like a good work to glory in, sinners as bad as the worst of
Gentiles, come, and believe this gospel, and surrender yourselves to
Jesus the Prince and the Saviour; his blood is all-sufficient for the
pardon of your sins, his righteousness is all-sufficient for your
justification; and his Spirit can purify your sinful natures. _Where sin
has abounded, grace has much more abounded_; Rom. v. 20. It is to the
everlasting honour of _the gospel of Christ_, that it has appeared to be
_the power of God to the salvation_ of multitudes of such as you: _Such
were some of you_, saith the apostle to the _Corinthians_; _but ye are
washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God_; 1 Cor. vi. 11.

And surely if great degrees of sin cannot exclude the penitent soul from
the benefit of the gospel; then, 7. Neither shall any person be excluded
because of the weak degrees of his faith; _Him that is weak in the
faith, receive ye; for Christ has received him_; Rom. xiv. 1-3. Read
that kind condescending promise, and believe it; Mat. xii. 20. _He will
not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax_, nor suppress,
nor despise the least, the lowest desires of grace: He will encourage
the youngest and the feeblest acts of sincere repentance and true faith,
though struggling under much sin and darkness, till it break out into
evident and active flame. The little tender seed of grace under his
heavenly influences shall bud, and blossom, and spring up into full
glory.

How large and glorious is the salvation that attends faith in this
gospel! How extensive is the grace of God our Saviour! How unsearchable
are the riches of his mercy! _O the heights and the depths, the lengths
and the breadths of the love of Christ, that pass all knowledge!_ None
of the sons or daughters of Adam the sinner, are excluded from this
salvation, where the gospel is preached, but those who exclude
themselves by stubbornness and unbelief. Persons of every kind, every
character, condition and quality, amongst men, have found this _gospel
become the power of God to their salvation_, when they have fled to this
refuge, and believed in this Saviour.

What improvement now shall I make of the last part of this discourse,
this wide extent of salvation bestowed on all who believe? Has every
single believer this salvation in some measure conferred on him, and
wrought in him? Then here is a plain and evident test, whereby to try
our faith, or a certain sign whereby we may judge, whether we are true
believers, or no.

The gospel is the manifestation of the power of God for the salvation of
every one that believes. What have you found of this salvation begun in
you? What have you felt of your own guilt and wretchedness by reason of
sin, and of your danger of eternal death? Have you seen the death of
Christ as an effectual atonement to procure the forgiveness of an
offended God? Have you beheld the power and grace of Christ sufficient
to renew your sinful natures, and to form them after the image of God in
righteousness and true holiness? Have you found your conscience resting
upon the sacrifice of Christ, and your souls humbly expecting pardon and
peace there? Are your hearts turned away from every sin? Is the temper
of your mind made divine and heavenly, and suited to the business and
blessedness of the upper world? This is the salvation of Christ which
the gospel proposes, and bestows upon all that believe.

Upon such solemn enquiries as these, I am persuaded there is many a soul
must take up this heavy complaint, “Alas! I fear I am no believer: I
have sat long under the sound of the gospel, and I have heard the
doctrine of Christ crucified many years to no purpose; for I have never
found this gospel attended with any such powerful impressions as to
begin salvation in me. I have been too thoughtless about the guilt of my
sins, and about the forgiveness of them in the court of heaven. Nor have
I found my sinful nature changed, nor my affections sanctified. I have
very little of these spiritual desires and delights which have been
before described as part of my salvation, I feel the inward workings of
my soul vain and carnal still; I am not prepared for the heavenly world,
and surely then I have never truly believed in Christ, nor received his
gospel.”

To such complaints as these, I would propose these three several
answers:

Answer I. It may be so indeed. All this complaint may be just and true;
and perhaps thou art an unbeliever still, dead in trespasses and sins,
and exposed every moment to the stroke of death, and to everlasting
misery. This is the case of many a thousand beside thyself: Even the
greatest part of those who are called christians, are yet afar off from
God and from salvation, and have no just ground to suppose that they are
believers in Christ. But it is of infinite concern for thee, O sinner,
to busy thyself about this enquiry. There is not any one act in thy
life, in which thou canst be engaged, that is of greater and more awful
importance than this; for thy heaven or thy hell depends upon it.

Some sit all their days under the gospel, and hear nothing but the
outward sound, always unmoved, unawakened, and unaffected; slumbering
and nodding upon the borders of eternal fire; while others hear the
voice of the Son of God, arise from the dead and receive a new, a divine
life. Some in the same family, perhaps of thy own kindred, thy flesh and
blood, or some that are upon the same seat in the public assembly, are
convinced and converted, believe in Christ, and are saved; while thou
remainest a hard and impenitent sinner under the voice of the same
grace, and the preaching of the same salvation.

And if this be thy case, it is a dreadful one indeed. Consider, how will
thy condemnation be aggravated, that thou hast heard the gospel
published with so much glorious evidence in such a land, and such an age
of light as this is, and yet thou abidest in the state of impenitence,
and unbelief, and death. Thou hast had the blessings of heaven offered
at thy door, and hast hitherto refused to receive them. Thou hast sat,
as it were, on the banks of the _river of life_, and never desired to
taste the _living water_. Thou hast dwelt near the shadow of the _tree
of life_, but art an utter stranger to the fruit. O! with what a stupid
and a careless ear hast thou heard the things of thy everlasting peace!
Think of it therefore, and be horribly afraid: If the gospel be not
powerful for the salvation of thy soul, it will become through thy own
impenitence, a powerful means to increase thy damnation, to make thy
hell hotter, and thy eternal sorrows more intolerable, _Wo to thee_,
Capernaum! _Wo to thee_ Bethsaida! Wo unto you, O sinners of Great
Britain, ye have been exalted to heaven in divine favours, and ye shall
be thrust down to hell, if ye continue in unbelief. _It shall be more
tolerable in the day of Judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for you_;
Mat. xi. 21.

But art thou indeed yet an unbeliever? Yet sleeping the sleep of death?
It may be this is thy awakening time: It may be this is the hour when
thou shalt begin to hear the voice of God in order to life. O cherish
such important thoughts as these. Let them arise with thee in the
morning, let them lie down at night with thee, and give thyself no rest,
nor give rest to the God of heaven, nor to Jesus Christ the Saviour,
till he has received thy soul into the arms of his love, forgiven thy
sins, and made thee a new creature, that the gospel may not be to thy
soul the savour of eternal death.

II. But perhaps the person who makes this complaint, may be some humble,
melancholy christian, some sincere believer in Christ, and yet under
dark and timorous apprehensions, concerning his own state. It may be,
poor trembling soul, that thou hast found the preaching of the gospel to
be the power of God to thy salvation, though thou art not able rightly
to evidence it to thy own conscience.

Thou hast not the joy of pardon indeed, but hast thou not some
glimmering hopes? Surely thou dost not abandon thyself to utter despair?
Thou hast not assurance that Christ has accepted of thee; but art thou
not sincerely willing to surrender thyself to him, to receive his
complete salvation in the holiness as well as the happiness of it? Dost
thou not long to be pardoned and accepted of God, for the sake of his
death and obedience? And art thou not heartily desirous to give him all
the honour of thy salvation? Thou hast not much power against sin, but
dost thou not hate it with immortal hatred, and esteem it thy constant
enemy? Does it not often cause thee to mourn before the Lord, because of
thy captive state, and the working of in-dwelling iniquities? Perhaps
thou dost not yet feel thyself to be manifestly saved from sin, but art
thou not saved from the love of sin? It dwells in thy flesh, it may be,
and raises tumults there, but not in thy desire and thy delight. Canst
thou not say with the apostle; Rom. vii. 23, 24. _There is a law in my
members warring against the law of my mind?_ But it is a daily torment
to me, _O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?_ Thou dost not
love God, it may be, according to thy wish and desire; but is there any
thing which thou valuest more than God and his love? Art thou not truly
willing to love him above all things, to be renewed and sanctified in
all the powers of thy nature, to be fitted for the business of heaven,
and suited to the blessedness?

If thy heart can echo to this sort of language, and the grace of God has
prevailed thus far in thee, then thy salvation is begun; the gospel has
shewn its divine power upon thee, and thou art indeed to be numbered
among the believers.

III. But I would conclude my discourse with a word that may have equal
respect to saints or sinners. If you are concerned sincerely about your
eternal welfare, but can see no comfortable evidences in yourselves of
the work of faith, or the beginnings of salvation, if all within you
appear to be guilt and sin, and there is much of hell and darkness in
the soul, yet do not cast away all hope: Arise and come to Jesus the
Saviour, behold he calleth you. This is the season of the grace of the
gospel, _This is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation_. Make
haste now to the city of refuge, fly now to the hope that is set before
you.

The promises are held open to thee, O soul! whosoever thou art, even the
promises of light and life, of grace and eternal glory. Christ Jesus
invites thee by the messengers of his gospel: If there be some darkness
upon thy Spirit, do not spend all thy time in laborious and fruitless
enquiries whether thou hast heretofore believed in Christ, or no; but
come now with an humble sense of thy guilty and sinful circumstances,
and surrender thyself to his charge and care by a new act of faith, or
trust, or dependance. Plead with him to accept a vile criminal
overloaded with guilt and misery, and to make thee accepted with God by
a righteousness which was not thy own. Beseech him to look with pity on
thy unholy soul, to sanctify and renew it, to take thy hard heart into
his hand, and soften it into repentance. Plead with him, and say, Lord,
art not thou exalted to give repentance as well as remission? Entreat of
him to subdue thy sins, to new-mould and create all the powers of thy
nature in the beauties of holiness, and to prepare thee for the heavenly
state. Go and complain humbly at his mercy-seat, how long thou hast sat
under the ministry of his own gospel, and felt no divine power attending
it. Intrust thyself now to his care, and place thyself by faith under
his divine influences. _He that comes_ in this manner, _shall in no wise
be cast out_, for the Lord has promised to receive him; John vi. 37.
Wait on him with daily importunity, follow all the means of grace which
he hath appointed, and the gospel of Christ shall appear in due time to
be the power of God, even thy God, to thy salvation. _Amen._


                          HYMN FOR SERMON XIX.
                       _None excluded from Hope._


                   Jesus, thy blessings are not few,
                     Nor is thy gospel weak?
                   Thy grace can melt the stubborn Jew,
                     And heal the dying Greek.

                   Wide as the reach of Satan’s rage,
                     Doth thy salvation flow:
                   ’Tis not confin’d to sex or age,
                     The lofty or the low.

                   While grace is offer’d to the prince,
                     The poor may take their share:
                   No mortal has a just pretence,
                     To perish in despair.

                   Be wise, ye men of strength and wit,
                     Nor boast your native powers;
                   But to his sovereign grace submit,
                     And glory shall be yours.

                   Come, all ye vilest sinners, come,
                     He’ll form your souls anew:
                   His gospel and his heart have room
                     For rebels such as you.

                   His doctrine is almighty love;
                     There’s virtue in his name,
                   To turn the raven to a dove,
                     The lion to a lamb.




                               SERMON XX.
          _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Truth, Sincerity, &c._
PHILIP. iv. 8.—Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
 things are honest, _or grave_, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
 good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think
                            on these things.
                          Οσα εστιν αληθη, &c.


Faith and practice make up the whole of our religion: A sacred compound,
and divinely necessary to our happiness and our heaven! Nor does the
blessed apostle in any of his writings ever dwell so entirely on one of
them, as to forget the other. In this letter to the saints at Philippi,
practice has the largest share. Through every chapter he scatters up and
down particular directions for the conduct of those believers who dwelt
among the gentiles; but he gives them two general rules, by which they
were to walk. The first is in the beginning of his epistle; Philip. i.
27. _Let your conversation be as becomes the gospel._ Act always
agreeable to the temper and design of that gospel, which brings
salvation by Jesus Christ, and then you will certainly practise every
virtue of life; your carriage can never be amiss.

And toward the latter end of his letter he saith, _Finally, brethren_,
before I take my leave of you, I would give another general rule to
direct your practice: I would recommend holiness to you under another
view, and describe it in such colours and characters, as will not only
approve themselves to your fellow-christians, but even to the heathens
among whom you live, _that you may be_, as he expresses it in _chap._
ii. ver. 15. _that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God
without rebuke in a wicked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as
lights in the world_; that they that have a mind to speak evil of
christianity, and cast what reproaches they can upon the doctrine of the
cross, may not be able to find any flaw in your conversation, or any
ground to slander the doctrine which you profess.

The rule is this, whatsoever the light of nature, and the better sort of
heathens, esteem true and honest, or decent, and just, and pure, and
lovely, and of good report, let these things be your meditation, let
these be your constant aim and design, let these be the business of your
lives, and your perpetual practice: Think of these things, says the
apostle, and think of them so as to perform them.

In a day wherein the professors of christianity, and of the glorious
doctrines of the gospel, grow degenerate and loose in their lives, and
fall sometimes into vices, which the better sort of the heathens have
utterly condemned, I think it may not be amiss to stir you up together
with myself to all holy watchfulness and caution; that christianity in
our profession and in our practice may appear and shine in its own
bright raiment; _that the doctrine of God our Saviour may be adorned in
all things_, and that it may look, as it is indeed in itself, a doctrine
according to godliness.

Without any further preface, or division of the words, I shall take
these several sentences in the text, as so many distinct characters of
morality, or virtue, which the apostle recommends; and in discoursing of
each of them, I shall follow nearly the same method; _viz._

I. Shew the sense, latitude, and extent of the duty.—II. Make it appear,
that these duties are required by the law of nature.—III. Discover what
additional influence the gospel should have upon our consciences to the
meditation and performance of such duties; and sometimes,—IV. I shall
give directions toward the performance of them, and guard against the
contrary sins.

_Whatsoever things are true._—The first thing that the apostle mentions
is this, whatsoever things are true, let these be our meditation, and
our practice.

_First_, Let me shew the sense, latitude, and extent of this advice.

Truth in general lies in a conformity of one thing to some other which
is made the standard or rule of it. So a picture is said to be true,
when it is conformable to the face and figure of the person: So a copy
of any writing is true, when it is conformable to the original. So a
narrative or history is true, when it describes matters fairly as they
were transacted, and tells the circumstances just as they are. And that
is true doctrine which is conformable to the word of God, which is the
rule and standard divine truth.

But none of these agree to the design of my text. For the apostle here
is describing moral characters, and the duties of a christian. Truth in
this place is not so much to be considered as seated in the
understanding, as it is in the will. It signifies here integrity and
uprightness, in opposition to hypocrisy, insincerity, or moral
falsehood. And there are three things that make up the perfect character
of truth or integrity:

1. That our words be conformable to our hearts.—2. That our deeds be
conformable to our words.—3. That our whole carriage be conformable to
itself, and consistent with itself at all times, and in all places.

1. The first thing wherein this virtue consists, is in the conformity of
our words to our hearts. This is sometimes called veracity, sometimes
sincerity; a necessary duty that belongs to every christian, and that in
all the affairs of life. We must be sincere in all relations of matters
of fact; in all the narratives or accounts we give of either persons or
things, in all our discoveries of our esteem for other men, and in all
our professions of love and good-will to others. Whatsoever we speak, it
ought to be agreeable to the sentiment of our souls.

Let us first consider what is that truth that is required in relating
matters of fact, and narratives concerning things or persons. This is
what Solomon mentions; Prov. xii. 17. _He that speaketh truth, sheweth
forth righteousness; but a false witness deceit._ In the xvth Psalm,
ver. 2. it is the character of one of those who shall inhabit the holy
mountain of God, that he not only worketh righteousness, but he speaketh
the truth in his heart. That which he thinks in his heart to be true, he
clothes it in words, and thus delivers it out to his fellow-creatures.
The apostle in Eph. iv. 25. makes mention of the same duty, and presses
it upon those to whom he writes; “Wherefore putting away lying, speak
every man truth with his neighbour; for we all are members one of
another:” Members one of another, as we belong to the same original, as
we are born of the same first parents, as we are made of one flesh and
blood, as we are parts of the same civil society or nation, and
especially as we that profess christianity are related to one another in
nearer and diviner bonds, as we are members of the general church or
body of Christ. Now it does not become those that are joined in so near
a relation to lie and speak falsely, and deceive one another, no more
than the members of the natural body should do injury to each other,
whose single welfare lies much in the welfare of the whole body.

I grant it is possible for the best and wisest of men sometimes to be
mistaken in their apprehensions of things, and they may happen to speak
something that is false in the course of their conversation: for they
may be deceived themselves, and not know the truth. But in matters which
they have occasion to speak of, they ought to be as well informed of the
truth of things as present circumstances will admit, and to say nothing
to their neighbour but what they really believe themselves. When we
speak a thing which we sincerely believe, and it happens not to be true,
that is properly called a MISTAKE, for we had no design to deceive the
person we converse with. But when we speak the thing that is false, and
we know it to be false, or do not believe it to be true, this is
wilfully to deceive our neighbour; and is properly called by the odious
name of LYING.

It is granted also, that no person is always obliged to speak all that
he knows, when he is giving an account of some particular affair or
concern of life. There are several seasons, wherein it is a piece of
prudence to be silent, and not to publish all the truth. We have a most
remarkable instance of this in the prophet Jeremiah, when he had been
admitted to the speech of Zedekiah the king, and had given him divine
counsel, that he should submit himself to the Chaldeans, and save his
life, and preserve the city from burning, and at the same time had
intreated for himself, that he might not return to Jonathan’s house and
the dungeon, lest he died there. A little after, the princes of Israel
demanded of him what discourse he had with the king; he concealed his
chief business from the princes, which was about submission to the
Chaldeans, and told them that he _presented his supplication to the
king, that he would not cause him to return to Jonathan’s house, so the
princes left off speaking with him, and the matter was not perceived_;
Jer. xxxviii. 24, &c. There may be various occasions in life, wherein it
is proper to keep ourselves upon the reserve. Silence is much commended
by Solomon, who was made divinely wise; Prov. xxix. 11. _A fool uttereth
all his mind; but a wise man keepeth it in till afterward._

Yet it must be confessed too, that sometimes the concealment of part of
the truth, when it is necessarily due to the hearer, in order to pass a
right judgment of the whole, is almost as criminal as a lie: And herein
consists the guilt of partial representations. But I cannot stay to
discuss this point at large.

The great rule of veracity in general lies in being just and fair in our
narratives and representations of things and in saying nothing but what
we believe to be true. Whatsoever therefore we have to speak to our
fellow-creatures, let us lay a charge upon our consciences perpetually,
that we speak according to the sentiments of our hearts; and remember,
that what disguises soever our tongues put on, God our Judge sees
through them all.

And not only when we relate matters of fact, but when we express our
sentiment of the characters of men, let us be just to truth. I confess,
brotherly love generally requires us to put the most favourable colours
on a blemished character, and say the softest things that the matter
will bear; love covereth a multitude of faults and follies, and in this
case silence often becomes us best. But when providence and duty
requires us to speak, no pretences of love or charity are sufficient to
excuse a falsehood.

Again, when we have a bright character upon our tongues, or when we are
paying civilities to our neighbours or friends, let us take heed of
being lavish beyond what truth will allow. The sins of complaisance may
be connived at or applauded by men, and miscalled by the name of good
breeding; but the eye and ear of God take a juster and more severe
notice of the softest and smoothest falsehoods.

In all the discoveries of our esteem for other men, let us speak no more
than we in our hearts believe. It is a character of a very vicious time,
and a very degenerate and corrupt age, Ps. xii. 2. “They speak every one
with his neighbour, with flattering lips, and with a double heart do
they speak; but the Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, for he hates
them,” ver. 3. They speak flattery with their tongue, while at the same
time their throats are open sepulchres, and they, it may be, attempt to
waste, devour, and destroy. This character of the basest of men you read
in the vth Psalm; and you find the same hateful practice among the Jews
in their deepest degeneracy; _Jer._ ix. 5, 8. “They will deceive every
one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth. One speaketh peaceably
to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth wait for him.”
But this which was so abominable in a Jew, surely a christian ought to
stand at the greatest distance from it at all times.

As in discovery of our esteem, so in the profession of our love and
good-will to our neighbour, we must observe truth. When your heart is
not with your neighbour, be not profuse of the language of friendship.
_Let love be without dissimulation_; Rom. xii. 9. Let love be sincere to
your fellow-creatures, and love to your fellow-christians be upright and
cordial. Let not that affection appear in a flourish of fine words, if
it be not warm in your soul. This is the first character of truth, that
our words agree with our hearts.

II. The next instance of the truth required in my text, is, when our
deeds are conformable to our words: And this is called faithfulness, as
the former is called veracity or sincerity. Faithfulness or truth, in
this sense, has respect to our vows, our promises, our resolutions, or
our threatenings.

1. Vows are properly made to God alone: And when they are made, if the
matter of them be lawful, they ought to be performed. “When thou vowest
a vow, defer not to pay it. Better it is thou shouldst not vow, than
that thou shouldst vow, and not pay;” Ec. v. 4, 5.

2. Promises of things lawful made to our fellow-creatures, must also be
fulfilled with religious care. As for things unlawful, they ought not to
be promised. We bind ourselves to perform what we promise, and the law
of God binds us as well as the laws of social life. In the xvth Psalm,
ver. 4. it is another of the characters of him that shall inhabit the
mountain of God, _that he sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not_;
that is, he makes a promise to his neighbour, and though it be much to
his own disadvantage, yet he doth not alter the word that is gone out of
his lips, nor make a forfeiture of his truth by breach of his promise.

We should remember, that when we bind ourselves by a promise to give any
good thing to another, or to do any thing for the benefit of another,
the right of the thing promised passes over from us to the person to
whom the promise is made, as much as if we had given him a legal bond,
with all the formalities of signing and sealing; we have no power to
recal, or reverse it without his leave. Always except the promise be
made with a condition expressed, or necessarily and evidently implied;
then indeed, if the condition fail, the promise is void. But the lips of
a christian, when they have once uttered an absolute promise, have laid
a bond upon his soul; and he dares not break the law of his God, though
the law of man should not bind him.

3. The case of threatenings is somewhat different. A promise makes over
the right of some benefit to another who may justly claim it; but a
threatening only shews what punishment shall be due to another for such
a particular fault or offence. If a superior propose and publish a law,
and therein threaten an inferior with some penalty, the superior is
supposed to be at liberty, whether he will execute the threatening of
his own law, or no: for the criminal will not claim it. Thence arises
the power of a superior to pardon a fault.

But if over and above the proposal and publication of this law, a
father, for instance, or a master, does solemnly foretel or declare that
he will certainly execute the penalty upon the child or servant
offending; I think he ought generally to esteem himself bound to fulfil
such a declaration or threatening, if it were made in a prudent and
lawful manner; unless the repentance of the offender, or some other
change of circumstances, give him a just reason to change his mind and
alter his purpose.

And in the fourth place, the case is much the same when we make a solemn
resolution, and publicly declare it, that we will do such or such a
thing in time to come. If this resolution be solemn and public, and be
in all respects lawful, it should generally be performed; unless some
other circumstances arise, which we did not foresee, or which escaped
our present notice when the resolution was made: otherwise we justly
expose ourselves to the censure of fickleness, inconstancy, rashness,
and folly: And such a conduct seems to intrench upon truth. But this
leads me to the third or last instance of truth.

III. Another part of the character of truth is, when our whole carriage
is conformable to itself. When we are always of a piece with ourselves,
and our conduct is still consistent with our own character and
profession. This is called constancy.

Something of this might have been introduced indeed under the first or
second particulars, when I shewed how our words should agree with our
hearts, and our deeds with our words; for both these demand that our
practice should correspond with our profession. But I choose to cast all
that I have to say on this subject under the head of constancy to our
professions and pretences, which implies a perpetual and persevering
honesty of thoughts, words, and actions, and a regular consistency with
ourselves. Now that I may throw this matter into the easiest method, I
shall shew how this exercise of christian truth will appear in a good
man at all times, in all conditions of life, in all places, and in all
companies.

1. At all times a good man is the same: He ever maintains the same pious
and religious design, and having set his face heavenward, he travels on
in the sacred narrow path, and never wilfully turns aside to the
right-hand or to the left: Or if at any time he makes a false step, he
recovers it again with humility and shame, and repentance, and his feet
return to the ways of holiness.

Here let it be observed, that a good man may change his practices in
some lesser points of christianity, and alter his principles too in
doctrines of less importance, and yet he is not to be charged with
criminal inconstancy or falsehood: For he never renounces all
improvement of knowledge, but is ever ready to receive further light,
and to retract his former errors and mistakes: And indeed this is one
glorious evidence of his being a constant friend to truth. But being
well established in the necessary and fundamental points of faith and
practice, he walks on regularly in his christian course without
wavering, or wandering into forbidden paths, ever pursuing his last
great end: And this is a constant christian, though his sentiments, in
the latter part of his life, may differ in several points from the
thoughts of his youth.

When the eye of the world smiles upon his profession, and the sun shines
bright upon his party, or when the clouds arise, and the sharp winds of
persecution blow, he is still the same steady christian, composed,
quiet, undisturbed; not doubtful what he should do, but aiming at
heaven, he marches on homewards, with the regular discharge of all his
duties to his God on high: nor does he forget his obligations to his
fellow-creatures on earth, though in twenty instances they may forget or
refuse to fulfil their duty to him. His supreme obligations are to God
his Maker, and to these he must be true and faithful.

How various were the trials that St. Paul met with from the Jews, and
from the Greeks, from the Jewish christian, and the heathen converts?
But how bright and blessed an uniformity ran like a golden thread
through his whole life and ministry? Hear the holy man often in his
writings declaring his own stedfast adherence to the gospel: Hear him
appealing to his Ephesian disciples concerning his own conduct, and
proving it to their consciences, that he had in some good measure
acquitted himself according to this rule of christianity; Acts xx. 18.
When the elders of Ephesus were come to him, _Ye know_, says he, _that
from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been
with you at all seasons_, and that was by the space of three years, as
in ver. 31. _serving the Lord with all humility of mind, with many tears
and temptations that befel me_: And I was constantly testifying to the
Jews and Greeks, _faith and repentance, and shunned not to declare the
whole counsel of God to you, coveting no man’s gold or apparel_, &c. I
have shewed you now, that for these three years together I have
maintained the same holy conduct, that so you might follow my example,
that ye might always act agreeable to yourselves, and be constant to
your own virtuous and holy character.

But what an inconstant christian is he who changes his principles and
practices, being blown about with the wind of prevailing party, and the
humour of the times? Who seems active in the cause of religion, when
religion is the fashion of the age; but he grows ashamed of every part
of godliness, when the times turn upon him! His religion dies, when
piety is discouraged in the world, and a saint becomes a name of
reproach! To-day for the God of Israel, and to-morrow among the
worshippers of Baal! Now a zealot for pure doctrine and worship, anon so
lukewarm and indifferent about every thing of religion, as though it had
no place near his heart! Multiplying duties of godliness one week, and
grossly negligent of all duty the next! To-day preaching and practising
the rules of christianity, and to-morrow talking and living like a man
of heathenism? True and constant to nothing, but to his own fickle
temper and inconstancy!

Is it not a glorious character when we can say of a good man, that “all
that have known him give him a good word; that those who have lived many
years with him, and seen him in his unguarded hours, and in the undress
of life, pronounce him the same man as he appears in the public world.”
They who have known him longest, admire him most and love him best, and
they bear a noble testimony to his virtues, and his graces. His graces
and his virtues advance with his years, they imitate the morning sun,
which keeps the same steady pace through the heavens, but rises hourly,
and shines with a brighter lustre, and with warmer beams. “The path of
the just, like the morning light, shines more and more unto the perfect
day;” Prov. iv. 18.

But what a wretched satire it is upon any man to say, “If you see him
for an hour his talents will surprize and please you, but if you have a
year’s acquaintance with him, his evil qualities are so many and so
hateful, that all his charms vanish, and he sinks and loses all your
esteem?” So a torch blazes high when it is first kindled, but the flame
grows lower as it burns, till it expire in stench and smoke. Where such
a censure is just, or such a simile well applied, the man is far from
that fair character of truth and constancy which the gospel recommends.

2. A true christian is the same in all conditions of life. Let the
favours or the frowns of men attend him, or the awful providence of God
make a surprizing change in his affairs, still he ceases not to look and
live, to speak and act like a christian. Is it not a very honourable
account that you have heard sometimes given of a person in the height of
prosperity, and in the depth of afflictive circumstances, that he is
still the same man? That he maintains his probity and his integrity, and
every virtue, in the midst of all the revolutions of providence! Serene
and chearful, calm, peaceful and heavenly, holy and humble amidst them
all! St. Paul was eminent for this grace. “I know,” saith he, “how to be
abased and how to abound, to be full and to be hungry: I have learned to
be content in whatsoever state I am,” and to appear a christian under
every change of circumstances; Philip. iv. 11, 12.

The man of truth and constancy, when he is exalted and walks upon the
mountains of prosperity and honour, is not vain and haughty in his
treatment of inferiors, nor does he look askew upon his former friends,
nor cast his eye down with contempt on his meaner brethren. When his
mountain shakes and falls, he descends calmly into the valley; but he is
not of a mean, abject and desponding spirit: Ever mindful of his high
birth as a christian, and of his heavenly home, he bears up with a
sacred constancy of soul, with a generous contempt of this world, and
all the vanishing honours and the uncertain possessions of it. His
behaviour is ever true to his holy profession, and to his sublimest
hope. Is not this a character which each of us wish our own? Is it not
worthy of our aim and ambition, our daily pursuit and labour to obtain?

There are some christians that know not how to bear the smiles of
providence: and some who are as much untaught to bear the frown of it:
For their piety is ever changing, as their circumstances are.

The first sort are they who are never very serious and devout but when
they lie under the chastisements of God: They seem humble, penitent, and
pious when the rod of heaven is upon them, but when that is once
removed, they forget their sorrows and their seriousness together. Such
were the rebellious and inconstant Jews of old, when the Lord slew them,
they sought him early, and enquired after God; but they took every new
occasion to murmur and rebel again: There was no truth in their
religion; “their heart was not right with God,” nor “were they stedfast
in his covenant;” Ps. lxxviii. 34. “In trouble they visited thee, O
Lord, and poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them; but
their goodness was like a morning cloud, and as the early dew, it
vanished away;” Is. xxvi. 16. Hos. vi. 4.

There is another sort of men who behave well enough in matters of virtue
and religion when they are in peaceful and easy circumstances; but if
once they are smitten in their flesh, in their good name or their
estate, or have any of the comforts of life imbittered to them, they
grow peevish and passionate, and nothing can please them; they vent
their impatience on their friends, and throw their vexation of spirit
all around them, as though they resolved to imitate that brutal
character which the prophet mentions, _like a wild bull in a net_,
struggling, and raving, and _full of fury_ under _the rebuke of the
Lord_; Is. li. 20. Surely both these qualities are very contrary to that
serene and uniform practice of true godliness that becomes a saint.

3. In all places, as well as in all times and circumstances, the true
christian appears the same, and is just to his own profession.
Wheresoever he dwells, or sojourns, where he spends an hour or a year,
he is constant to himself, and consistent with himself still. He ever
maintains the same pious designs, and adorns and glorifies the doctrine
of the gospel in all things. When at home and when abroad, he is the
same person. When at church paying his honours and devotions to heaven;
when in his own family among his children and servants, or when in his
shop and in the affairs of life; when in the street or on the exchange
conversing with the world, friends and strangers, known and unknown;
when in his closet and secret chamber, still he is the same good man:
still acting consistent with himself and his profession, still pursuing
a regular steady course of piety, and his dying pillow confirms the
sincerity and practice of his life. Religion is ever uppermost in his
heart, and all his affairs and businesses in the world, are managed with
regard to his last great end. Thus though his engagements and actions of
life be very various daily, according to the various calls of duty; yet
his design is ever the same, and the rule that governs all his practices
is the word of God, the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

How far from the glory of this character were the false-hearted sons of
Israel in Jeremiah’s time! They were guilty of stealing and murdering in
the streets, or by-ways, or private-houses, _yet they came and stood
before the Lord in the house which was called by his name_; Jer. vii. 3,
4, &c. There were also in our Saviour’s days men of the same deceitful
spirit, whom he frequently and sharply reproved under the odious name of
hypocrites, who made long prayers in the temple, and in the corners of
the streets; but devoured widows’ houses, and neglected judgment, mercy
and faith; who made clean the outside of their cup, but filled it with
all extortion, luxury, and excess. You read their infamous manners at
large in the vi. and xxiii. chapters of Matthew.

They had no more truth in them than whited sepulchres or flowery graves,
fair indeed and beautiful on the outside covering, but all within is
death, and horror, and rottenness. O, how inconsistent were the two
pieces of this character one with another! How far from that truth and
uprightness, that sincerity and constancy, that the gospel requires, and
so much approves of? What a most sharp and shameful reproach is it, and
yet a righteous one too, that is thrown on some persons? They are saints
at church, and devils at home!

It is pity we must borrow a word from hell to describe any sort of men
that dwell on earth: I would not willingly apply it to any particular
person living: But in describing a general character of this kind, we
can hardly paint it in colours frightful enough. In public they are all
meekness and innocence, all demure, and abstemious, and heavenly, and
they _transform themselves_, as their father does, _into angels of
light_; 2 Cor. xi. 14. but follow them to their houses, and you see a
surprizing change: There luxury and riot, there fury and passion reign
in every room, their dwelling is without God, without prayer, without
piety or peace, and has more of hell than of heaven in it. _O my soul,
come not into their secret_, to their family, _my honour, be not thou
united!_ for truth and goodness are far from them.

4. The true christian is the same in all companies: And though he does
not think himself obliged to cast his pearls before swine, to give that
which is holy to dogs, or to impose a discourse of religion upon those
that hate it; yet he never forgets his religion in the worst of company,
nor does he throw off the christian in the midst of heathens. The
general course of his life shines in the beauty of holiness, and
glorifies his God in an impious world. And there are seasons too, when
he sees it necessary to rebuke public iniquity, and bear a testimony
against a vicious age: _He has never any fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness_, but _rather he reproves them_; Eph. v. 11. Yet
sometimes his prudence directs his christianity to lie concealed, but he
never dares do any thing that contradicts it. It is like a garment that
he ever wears about him, though he does not always wear it uppermost: He
keeps it ever as his guard, though he does not always expose his glory.

What a scandal is it to any person who professes the name of Christ,
that he can sometimes lay aside all his christianity, and bury it in an
hour of riot! That he can drink till midnight when he gets among
drunkards, and take his cup as merrily and as often as they! That he can
relish a lewd or profane jest, and make one too, when he sits in the
company of lewd or profane jesters! That he can lisp out an oath, and
stammer at a curse, or perhaps he can swear roundly when he is in the
midst of swearing wretches! And yet he can pray and talk devoutly when
he falls into religious company, and pretend to tremble at the
profaneness of the age. What shameful hypocrisy and falsehood is this!

There are some persons who have appeared in the country to be professors
of religion, and perhaps may have obtained a name of piety; but when
they come up to the city among loose libertines, where their vices are
better hid, they give themselves up to loose practices, and indulge a
licentious month or two. They are pious amongst their acquaintance, and
profane amongst strangers. They have not impudence enough to be constant
in vice, nor have they grace enough to be true to virtue.

There are some that speak fair to the face of their neighbour, and
spread their compliments abroad before him; but behind his back, in
other company, they are as liberal of their reproaches, and can hardly
endure a good thing to be said of him. Their behaviour has brought an
infamous word into the English tongue; for they are justly called
backbiters.

There are some children that pay the utmost deference to their parents
in appearance and shew, and will not dare anything vicious while they
are under their eye; but when they are mingled with their vain young
acquaintance, they run into many extravagances, and give a loose to the
wild appetites of the flesh. But these are not the children of truth.

There are some servants who make their zeal and diligence appear while
their master’s eye is upon them; but they are mere eye-servants and
false creatures, for when they are out of his sight, they can waste his
substance among merry companions, and perhaps purloin and pilfer to
gratify their own covetousness, or luxury: or at best they make no
conscience of acting for their master’s interest, when he is absent.

Thus different company hath a different influence on the thoughts, the
words, and the works of men: And some persons will run into every vice
and folly, rather than to oppose their company; they had rather sin
against God, and be false to their profession, than venture to be, what
they call, rude and uncivil to company. So tender are they of giving
offence to men, and so careless of offending the great and dreadful God!

There are some of all ranks and orders, of all sexes and ages of
mankind, that seem to be sober, but have nothing of this divine virtue
of truth or constancy in them. They would neither swear, nor drink, nor
game, nor speak a lewd or impious word, when they are in a sober family:
But when at any time they happen to come into houses without godliness,
they can follow the course of the family in all manner of iniquities,
and grow false to all their former appearances of goodness.

I might multiply instances of this kind, to shew what falsehoods and sly
deceits are practised amongst men who call themselves christians, and
how inconsistent many of their actions are with their own professions
and pretences: But this part of my discourse hath already exceeded its
just bounds. Yet I think I ought not to leave it till I have answered
one objection.

Objection. It may be said here, does not St. Paul, one of the truest
christians and the best of men, tell us, that when he was among the
Jews, he became as a Jew, and appeared like one that was under the law:
But when he was among the Gentiles, who were without law, he appeared
like a Gentile too, for he was not willing to offend the one or the
other; according to his own advice, _Give none offence neither to the
Jews, neither to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God_; 1 Cor. ix. 20.
and chap. x. 32. To this I answer,

The blessed apostle, when he had none but Jews about him, practised so
much of the Jewish law as was consistent with christianity: When he had
none but Gentiles with him, he declared his freedom and release from the
bonds of the Jewish law, and neglected the Jewish ceremonies, for some
parts of the Jewish law were now lawful for a season, though they were
so far abolished that they were not necessary for a christian. And the
apostle managed this affair with holy prudence, and with a religious
design to ingratiate himself and his ministry, as much as possible both
with the Jews and Gentiles for the salvation of both of them: For you
find this was his great end, _I am made all things to all men, that I
might by all means save some_; and _this I do for the gospel’s sake_;
ver. 22, 23.

Yet you may observe, that though he appeared free from the Jewish law
when he was among the Gentiles, yet he did not carry it like a lawless
man, but confined all his practice within the bounds of his duty to God
and his Saviour, _being not without law to God, but under the law to
Christ_; ver. 21. So that neither one sort of company nor the other
tempted him to neglect any duty, or to indulge any sin.

You may observe also upon another occasion, where Jews and Gentiles were
both present, when he thought a conformity to any of the Jewish customs
might give greater offence to the Gentile christians, and be likely to
do more hurt than good, he withstood Peter to the face, for his sinful
compliance with the uncharitable Jews: He reproved him for dissembling,
and chid him because he _walked not uprightly, according to the truth of
the gospel_, and would not _give place to him by subjection; no, not for
an hour_; Gal. ii. 5, 11, 14, &c.

There are some seasons therefore when we may indulge an innocent
compliance with our company in things lawful, in order to do credit to
the gospel Of Christ, and make our profession appear lovely and
honourable in the eyes of all: But there are other seasons when
circumstances are so placed, that we may not indulge the same
compliances, lest our liberty be construed to an evil purpose, and we
bring more scandal than honour to our profession by it.

I grant there are some difficulties attending particular cases in the
christian life, and it is hard to know sometimes how far we may go. It
is no easy matter to tread in the apostle’s steps, to become all things
to all men, and yet be true to Christ. In the general, let this be our
great rule, to act always with honest zeal for the glory of God, and see
that we please him in the first place; and then as _far as possible to
please all men, not seeking our own profit, but the profit of many, that
they may be saved_; 1 Cor. x. 31, 32, 33. And if while we endeavour to
be true to God, we should happen to be less complaisant to men, we shall
certainly find favour at the throne of God, and then we ought not to be
over-solicitous whether men be pleased, or no.

Thus I have finished the first general head, which was to shew the
extent and latitude of this virtue, or what is included in the nature of
this truth, which the apostle recommends to christians. It contains in
it veracity or sincerity, faithfulness and constancy: And a lovely
character it is indeed, when it shines in its full glory.

But it is time now to enquire, which of us can say, “This character
belongs to me? Am I this true, this sincere, this faithful, this
constant christian? Am I always careful that my words are conformable to
my heart, and express the honest sense of my soul; Do I speak nothing
but what I believe to be true, and set a continual guard upon the door
of my lips, lest they utter deceit and falsehood? Do I neither flatter
my neighbour, nor spread a false report of him? Am I watchful to make no
promises, but what I mean sincerely to fulfil? And am I as careful to
perform my vows and all my engagements? Am I sincere in the profession
of godliness, and constant in my practice of it at all times and
circumstances, in all places and companies whatsoever?”

Let us ask our hearts again, “While we have heard this discourse, how
many of us have sat here judging our neighbours, and not ourselves: Have
we been distributing abroad the shameful characters of insincerity,
falsehood, unfaithfulness, and inconstancy, among our acquaintance? Or
have we applied the words as a test to our own souls, as a trial of our
christianity? Have we taken a secret and malicious pleasure in fixing
these scandals upon others? Or have we begged of God to fix the
conviction upon ourselves if we are guilty? And which of us can stand up
and say in the face of heaven, We are innocent, entirely innocent of all
these charges?” O may the blessed Spirit, the Convincer and the
Sanctifier, shew each of us our own concern in this sermon, awaken each
of us to a sense of our own iniquities, and by his almighty grace work
in us repentance, and restore us to truth and holiness!




                              SERMON XXI.
          _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Truth, Sincerity, &c._
   PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are true,—think on these things.


Truth is a name of wide extent. It includes in it the blessings of the
head and the heart. Happy the man whose head is furnished with a large
knowledge of divine and human truth, and so far delivered from mistakes
and errors, as to lay a foundation for wisdom and holiness! But all the
furniture of the head is not sufficient to make us truly wise and holy,
without the honesty and integrity of the heart. Truth demands a room and
place there also: And this is the truth which my text recommends.

The first thing I proposed, was to shew the latitude and extent of this
duty—and I have described it as consisting in these three things; 1.
Veracity, which is, when our words are conformable to the sentiments of
our mind. 2. Faithfulness, when our actions agree with our words. 3.
Constancy, and that is when our practices are consistent with our pious
principles, and the whole course of our life is of a piece, governed by
the same rules and dictates of morality and religion. Where these are
wanting, that person is false, faithless, fickle, and inconstant, and
acts neither agreeable to his nature as a man, nor to his character as a
christian.

The second thing I designed to shew, was that the light of nature
dictates and requires the practice of this virtue: And it will appear,
if we consider our relation either to God or man.

I. If we consider our natural relation to God, both as our Creator or
Father, and as our Lord or Governor.

Consider him as our Father, the Author of our being. Truth and
faithfulness are the attributes of his nature, and the necessary
characters of his conduct toward his creatures; and many of the heathens
could tell us, that a likeness to God the Father of our spirits, in such
moral perfections of his nature, is the duty and glory of mankind. We
are his offspring, saith Aratus, a heathen poet; Acts xvii. 28. and
children should be like their divine Parent.

The light of nature tells us, that he is not only our Creator, and our
Father in this sense, but he is our Lord and Governor also. And he has
knowledge, and he has power to answer and fulfil this high character and
station. The great God who looks into our hearts, who sees our souls
through and through, he knows what our inward sentiments are while the
falsehood is on our lips; he remembers what our engagements and
contracts are while we renounce and break them; he hates deceit, lying,
and falsehood; and all the civilized nations have ever supposed that he
will avenge it with peculiar judgments.

It is upon this supposition of an all-knowing and avenging power, that
oaths are administered in all countries which are reformed from utter
barbarity. An oath is appointed to be the confirmation of truth in what
we say or do. Therein God himself, with all his knowledge, his power and
his terrors, is called upon to bear witness to what we speak, and to be
an avenger of perjury and falsehood. Surely we might venture to say,
that a day will come when the great and holy God will shew himself
terrible to liars and deceivers, if we had nothing but the light of
nature to tell us so.

II. If we consider our relation to mankind, truth will appear to be a
necessary duty. Man is a sociable creature, he is made to love society;
but no society can be maintained without truth: All falsehood therefore
is inconsistent with the social nature of mankind, and consequently it
becomes contrary to the law and light of nature. Without truth we should
all become deceivers to one another, every man a liar to his neighbour.
No contracts would be of any force; no commerce could be maintained;
none of us would he able to trust another, nor could we live safe by
those that dwell nearest to us.

He that indulges himself in lying, takes away his own credit, and gives
sufficient occasion for his neighbour not to believe him, even when he
happens to speak the truth; for a man that will lie and deceive
sometimes, how can we tell that he is not dealing deceitfully with us,
even when he professes to be most faithful and true? And children should
take notice of this, that if once they indulge the sin of lying, there
is nobody will ever believe what they say.

A liar is such an abandoned character amongst mankind, that though there
are too many who deserve the name, yet every one is ashamed of it. It is
esteemed a reproach of so heinous and hateful a nature for a man to be
called a liar, that sometimes the life and the blood of the slanderer
has paid for it. The very nature of man resents it highly, for it
implies in it, that a man guilty of this vice deserves to be cut off
from all society with mankind, and to be thrust out of cities and
families like a beast of the earth.

The same thing may be said of an unfaithful man, a man who makes
promises, contracts, and agreements, and takes no care to perform them.
All commerce and traffic is confounded, and the laws of it dissolved, by
a person of this shameful conduct. He that loses his credit and honour
by this sort of falsehood, cuts himself off from many of the blessings
of civil society, and stands as it were excommunicated from the
friendship, the company, and commerce of his neighbours among whom he
dwells. His character becomes hateful among men, and his name is a word
of scandal and infamy. But where a man is true to his word, and punctual
in all his correspondencies, how fair is his reputation! How honourable
is his name! And he stands entitled to all the blessings of the society
where he resides.

I might borrow arguments also from the light of nature, to shew what an
excellent virtue is that of constancy; how useful in the whole course of
life; how honourable a name does it gain a man in the world! With what a
happy regularity his affairs proceed, both in his household and in his
shop, or business of life! He maintains a sacred and steady peace of
mind, and all men bless him: but the character of a fickle, wavering,
inconstant man, is always mean and contemptible: he is compared to a
weather-cock, that is blown about by every wind: and his name is thus
exalted, or stuck on high, there to become a more public mark of jest
and ridicule.

The third thing I proposed, is to consider what are those additional
arguments that might be drawn from the gospel for the practice of this
truth and sincerity, this faithfulness and constancy: For the gospel
doth not only confirm all the duties of morality that the light of
nature dictates, and establish all the reasons of them that the light of
nature more feebly proposes, but it adds also many arguments and motives
to enforce the same virtuous practices, which the mere light of nature
knows nothing of; and I shall represent all these advantages of the
gospel here. But I will not overload your memory with particulars, and
therefore I shall speak them more generally, and heap them together; and
may your souls and mine feel the united force of them!

It is a gospel of truth we profess, even the eternal truth of God
revealed to men concerning our salvation and his glory. There are a
multitude of scriptures where the gospel itself is called the truth, and
the word of truth; and it is a most inconsistent thing for the
professors of this gospel to be guilty of falsehood.

God the Father is the God of truth: and never did he give so glorious a
demonstration of the sincerity of his love, of the faithfulness of his
promises, and of the constancy of his compassionate design to man, as in
sending his own Son into the world, according to his ancient prophecies
of a thousand years, and bestowing upon us Jesus the Saviour.

Jesus Christ, by whose name we are called, _he is the true and faithful
witness_; Rev. iii. 14. _Truth, and grace_, and peace, _came by him_;
John i. 17. He is called the truth; John xiv. 6. He came down to _bring
life and immortality to light by his gospel_; he came to tell us, and he
well knew, that in _his Father’s house were many mansions; and if it
were not so, says he, I would have told you_: But it is not my business
to be a deceiver to men: Therefore all the life, light, and immortality
that I have discovered to you in my preaching, it is all sincere, it is
all real. When you enter into the other world, trusting my promises, you
will find all my words fulfilled. I would not have raised your
expectations, if it had been otherwise.

Again, _the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of truth_; it is he that _guides us
into all truth_; John xvi. 13. And the name of this Father, and this
Son, and this Holy Spirit, is called upon us in our first admission to
christianity. So that we wear the name of the God of truth upon us, and
shall we indulge temptations to falsehood? Shall we practise deceit, who
profess a gospel of such truth, and upon whom the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the name of the God of truth is pronounced
in baptism?

God is sincere in his revelations of grace, and discoveries of his
pardoning mercy; for he sent his own Son to die for us, and this is a
proof of his sincerity in his designs of love. Let us then be sincere in
love to our God, to our fellow-creatures, and fellow-christians. Jesus
Christ is sincere in the profession of his love, and he hath given us an
infallible pledge of it, for he hath given his life for us. _Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends_; John xv. 13. But he hath laid down his life for enemies, and
therefore he hath magnified his love, and divinely demonstrated it to be
sincere and true, beyond all possibility of jealousies and exceptions.

God is faithful to all the promises of his gospel; _all his ways are
mercy and truth to his people: He is a God keeping covenant through all
generations._ This is the illustrious title that he assumes to himself,
and glories in: And this is the name by which the ancient saints have
delighted to make their addresses to him. These heavens shall be
dissolved and perish in the flame, and this earth become a smoking
cinder; “heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of the Lord and
his truth abide for ever; not one jot or tittle of them shall perish,
but all shall be fulfilled.”

“By two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie;”
that is, his oath and his promise, he hath established his covenant of
grace, “that the heirs of salvation, might have strong consolation;”
Heb. vi. 18. Hereby it comes to pass that we have a sure hope of eternal
life; for “God that cannot lie hath promised it to us in Christ Jesus
before the world began;” Tit. i. 2. and 2 Tim. i. 9. And though it was
so long ago since the first promise was made, the first promise made to
Christ before the foundations of the world, and the first promise made
to fallen Adam a little after the foundations of the world were laid;
yet our God hath not forgotten his promises and his covenant; he remains
still faithful to fulfil every word of grace “that is gone is out of his
lips;” Ps. lxxxix. 33, 34. And should not this oblige us to like
faithfulness to our fellow-creatures, since God, who is so infinitely
our superior, is pleased thus to bind himself by promises, and thus to
fulfil them.

The constancy and immutability of God in his designs of mercy to
sinners, should influence us to the practice of the same constancy of
spirit in our professions of his gospel. God acts always like himself,
conformable to the glory, and holiness, and dignity of his nature, so
should we, who are the sons and daughters of the most high and holy God.
He is uniform in his counsels and methods of grace and peace, he is
unchangeable in his love, and always the same: “And Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;” constant to himself, and
consistent with himself in all the purposes of his mercy, and in all the
prosecutions of those divine and eternal purposes in heaven and on
earth. No alteration of circumstances, no change of place, from a cross
on earth to a throne in heaven, can change his compassion and love to
his saints. And shall we suffer our petty changes here on earth, from a
higher to a lower part of a little mole-hill, to make such a shameful
alteration in our conduct to our friends, as too often endangers our
truth, and discovers our inconstancy?

Let us consider that by our profession of christianity we renounce
deceit and falsehood, and all the hidden things of darkness: We are
_children of the light_, then let us _walk in the light and do the
truth_, and let our _deeds be made manifest, that they are wrought in
God_; that is, in the faith and fear of God; John iii. 21. Why should a
christian be a deceiver, when he bears the name of Christ the faithful
and true? How inconsistent a character is it for a christian to be a
liar? For a christian to be false, and violate and break his word? How
dishonourable is it to the holy name we bear?

Let the children of Satan, who is a liar from the beginning, delight
themselves in falsehood, and sport themselves in their own deceivings:
Let those who renounce all hope in the promises of God, imitate the
devil, who is the father of lies: But let us who trust in the God of
truth, who believe in Jesus the Saviour, and make his truth our hope,
let us imitate our heavenly Father and our blessed Lord. Let us speak
the truth and practise it. It was by a lie of the devil that our first
parents were deceived and ruined: All our sin and misery sprung from
that falsehood, _Ye shall not surely die_. And it is by our faith in the
truth and promise of God that we hope for salvation. While we therefore
remember either the spring of our ruin, or the means of our recovery, we
should love the truth, and hate lying.

But there are motives of terror, as well as arguments of grace and love,
that should ever influence us to sincerity and truth. We should remember
that Christ our Lord has _eyes like a flame of fire, that he searches
the hearts and the reins, and will render to every one according to
their works_; Rev. ii. 23. We should remember the dreadful threatenings
that Christ the faithful and true Witness, Christ the Lord and Judge of
all men, hath denounced against hypocrites. You scarce find him
preaching a sermon of any length, but he has one or more woes in it
ready for those that practise hypocrisy.

There is no sort of sinners that he treats with such infamous names, and
such killing reproaches as he does the hypocrite. They resemble the old
serpent, the devil, in subtlety and falsehood, and therefore the
language of Christ to them runs in this manner; Ye Jews, who are false
to the inward conviction of your own consciences, _ye are of your
father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: He was a
murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there
is no truth in him.—When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for
he is a liar and the father of it_; John viii. 44. It is as if our Lord
had said, “The first lie that ever was made, was made by the devil; and
by his telling a lie, and our mother Eve’s believing it, he murdered
mankind in Adam their head. And yet you false Jews would imitate him,
and make him your father.” And again, _Woe unto you scribes and
pharisees, hypocrites,—ye serpents, ye generation of vipers_, sons of
the old serpent, _how can ye escape the damnation of hell_; Mat. xxiii.
29, 33. Your eternal punishment is most just and unavoidable.

In another of his discourses he makes the punishment of hypocrites to
be, as it were, the pattern of the punishment of the worst of
wickedness. The _servant_ who is intrusted with the household of his
Lord, that shall _beat his fellows_, and _shall eat and drink with the
drunken, his Lord shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion
with the hypocrite; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth_; Mat.
xxiv. 51. And when you read the black catalogue of sinners, who are
doomed to everlasting destruction; Rev. xxi. 8. the name of liars is put
in with a peculiar remark, _the unbelievers, the murderers, the
whoremongers, the sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the
second death_. As if he had said, whosoever escapes hell, no liar shall
escape it, and it is repeated again in the next chapter, _Without the
gates of_ heaven _are dogs, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever
loveth and maketh a lie_; Rev. xxii. 15.

Whensoever therefore we find a temptation to falsehood, let us set
ourselves under the immediate eye of God our Judge, God _who shall bring
to light the hidden things of darkness, and shall judge the secrets of
every heart one day by Jesus Christ our Lord_; 1 Cor. iv. 5. Rom. ii.
16. If we did but always place ourselves as in the sight of the great
and dreadful God, whose eye beholds every falsehood we practise, and all
the hidden hypocrisy, the lurking deceit of the soul, whose ear attends
to every word of falsehood we speak, and records it all in his book
against that great and terrible day of account; surely we should find a
more effectual influence of it upon our spirits, to guard us from such
words and actions as are inconsistent with the sincerity of a christian.

And let our hearts be melted into repentance for our past iniquities of
this kind, and moulded into the love of truth by a delightful meditation
of the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ to us, in performing his
kind and dreadful undertaking to suffer for our sins. Let us dwell upon
the thoughts of his faithfulness to all his promises, and think thus
with ourselves, that he has engaged us to truth of every kind by the
strongest bonds of duty and love: And if we are false and unfaithful to
him in this world, how justly may he cut us off from all our glorious
hopes and expectations in the world which is to come.

But this leads me to the fourth general head that I proposed; which was
to lay down some directions how christians may be preserved in the ways
of truth, how they may secure and maintain this blessed character of
integrity and uprightness which I have described. And I think this may
be better performed by distinguishing truth, or integrity, into those
three distinct parts, under which I treated of it before, namely,
veracity, faithfulness, and constancy, and by giving some rules for the
preservation of each.

The rules to preserve veracity, or to keep our words conformable to our
hearts, are such as these:

I. Be persuaded in your own minds, that no circumstances whatsoever can
make a lie lawful. Though when a question is asked, there are many cases
wherein it may be lawful to turn the discourse aside, to wave a direct
answer, to be entirely silent; or in some circumstances it may be both
lawful, prudent, and proper, to conceal a part of the truth, as I hinted
in the former sermon; yet in my opinion it is neither prudent, proper
nor lawful, to speak a falsehood to deceive my neighbour. The whole
truth may not always be necessary to be spoken to men; but such
falsehood is always a sin in the sight of God. All lying is utterly
forbidden; and the true meaning of a lie is, when we speak that which we
believe to be false, with a design to deceive the person to whom we
speak.

Here may arise two questions:—I. If I have a good and valuable end in
speaking, and my design is to serve the glory of God, or the good of my
neighbour, may I not then use the art of lying, or speak a known
falsehood without sin?—2. Surely there are some sort of persons who have
no right to truth, such as children, common liars, knaves or cheats; may
we not therefore deceive them by direct falsehoods, either for their
good, or for our own?

These are enquiries of very great importance to the honour of truth, to
the satisfaction of conscience, and to the welfare of mankind: And it is
my present opinion (and I think there is good reason for it) that none
of these cases can make an express and deceitful falsehood to be lawful,
or change the nature of a lie, and make it innocent; but to debate these
two cases as largely as they deserve, would too much incumber the
present discourse; I leave them therefore to be read with an honest and
serious mind, as an Appendix to these sermons of truth, and so proceed
to the next direction, how to preserve our veracity.

II. The second rule to preserve veracity is this; accustom yourselves to
a sober, modest way of speaking, avoid all those methods of speech that
border upon falsehood. I shall mention a few of them, to give sufficient
notice of what I mean.

Some persons affect to be certain of every thing they speak, and
pronounce all that they say with the highest assurance. If they are
relating matters of fact, which they only learn by report, they tell you
every circumstance without the least hesitation, and endeavour even in a
dubious matter to make the hearer believe it with the highest
confidence: They are never in the wrong, never doubtful, whether they
are in the right no. If they are declaring their own sentiments of the
most difficult subject, it is always as clear to them as the light, they
are always as positive as if it were divinely revealed, and written in
the most express words of scripture.

Now such sort of speakers will often find they have been mistaken; and
if they have modesty enough to retract their words, it is well: but for
the most part they refuse conviction, and often persist to maintain
their own error, even almost against their own consciences. In short, it
appears to me, that a man who dares frequently to assert doubtful
matters with the most positive air of assurance, has not so much
tenderness about his heart, and such a religious fear of lying, as a
good christian ought to have.

There are others again that affect to tell you nothing that is common,
but would always surprize the company with strange things and prodigies,
and all this out of the pride of their hearts, and an ambition to have
their own stories applauded and admired by all that hear them. This sort
of affectation oftentimes betrays a person into falsehood, and secretly
and insensibly allures him to say things that are neither credible nor
true. Sailors and travellers should set a special guard upon themselves
in this respect.

There are a third sort of talkers, that when they discourse of common
things, are ever expressing them in exalted and superlative language. If
they speak of any thing small, it is prodigiously small; if they speak
of any thing great, it is incomparably great. If they name a man of
wisdom, he is the wisest man in the world; or a woman of piety, she is
the only saint in the nation. An imprudent man with them is the greatest
fool in nature; and a little disappointing accident in life, is an
intolerable vexation. If they happen to hear a good sermon, the preacher
was inspired, not an angel could exceed him: If it was a mean discourse,
the wretch had not a grain of sense and learning. Every opinion they
hold is divine and fundamental: All their own sentiments, even in lesser
matters, are the very sense of Christ and his apostles, and all that
oppose them are guilty of heresy or nonsense. Now persons who have
accustomed their tongues to this language in common discourse, seem to
want that due caution which the strict rules of godliness may seem to
require, and make a little too free with truth. Either their thoughts
are very injudicious, if they can believe what they say; or if they do
not believe it, they should make their words agree better with their
thoughts.

But besides the approaches to falsehood in this manner of conversation,
there is something in it that is very vain, and almost ridiculous.
Methinks such an extravagant talker is something like a man that walks
upon stilts through the open street, or like one who wears a coat much
longer than his neighbours; and how tall soever they may think
themselves, the world will be ready to call one of them a child, and the
other an idiot.

Objection. But are there not a multitude of such expressions in
scripture in the books of Job, and the Psalms, and the Prophets, wherein
even the more plain or common occurrences of life are dressed up in very
magnificent language, and in expressions that far exceed the truth of
things? Does not David, in his elegy upon Saul and Jonathan, say, _they
were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions_? 2 Sam. i. 23.
And even in St. John’s history of the life and death of Christ, does he
not suppose, _that if all things which Jesus did were written, even the
world itself could not contain the books_? John xxi. 25.

Answer. It is the natural language of poetry and prophecy, and the
custom of the eastern nations, to express things in a lofty and sublime
manner; so that there is no danger of being deceived by that language,
when a prophet or a poet indulges such figures of speech. Now the books
of Job and Psalms, and David’s elegy, are so many Hebrew poems. The
business of oratory is a-kin to verse, and sometimes requires a
figurative style. But in familiar language and common discourse, it is
not the custom of mankind to use such extravagance of expression: The
hearer is many times ready to be led into a mistake thereby, because he
supposes the speaker to mean plainly what he says. And I would not
willingly indulge a habit of expressing my thoughts in such a manner in
common conversation, as should deceive my hearers, to humour a silly
affectation.

As for the figure which St. John uses to represent the variety of useful
things which were said and done by our Saviour, it is such as can lead
no man into a mistake, for none can believe it to be understood in a
literal sense. Besides, if one would indulge the most superlative
expressions and boldest figures that human language can furnish one
with, to set out the honours of any person on earth, there can be no
such proper or deserving subject as Jesus Christ our Lord.

III. The third rule to preserve veracity is this, practise nothing which
you are ashamed of. Do nothing that you need be afraid of the ear of the
world: Walk carefully in the ways of virtue and duty: Fulfil your
obligations to God and man to the utmost of your power: Venture upon no
practice that needs a cover, a disguise, or an excuse; and then you will
not be so often under the temptation of lying.

Let children remember this, and have a care of disobeying God, or their
parents, even when they are alone; lest they be tempted to excuse their
faults by lying, which indeed does but enlarge and double them, rather
than diminish and excuse them. Let servants take notice of this, and pay
all due honour and faithful obedience to their masters and governors? or
else the devil, and their own corrupt hearts, will frequently join
together and help them to lie for the cover of their guilt. Let every
one that hears this discourse watch over all their actions, and confine
them within the rules of religion; otherwise their practice, which will
not bear the light, will put them under a temptation to hide it behind a
refuge of lies.

And under this head I might particularly give this advice. Do not affect
a cunning way of life. Do not aim at the character of a subtle and
crafty man. Be not fond of being let into secrets, nor of engaging in
intrigues of any sort. There are some tempers of mankind that are
naturally addicted to craft, and are ever seeking to outwit their
neighbours: they seldom live upon the square, or walk onward in an open
path; but are still doubling, and turning, and traversing their course.
They take a special pleasure in managing all their affairs with art and
subtilty, and call it necessary prudence. But if you would shew
yourselves tender of the truth, and preserve it, let your course of life
be bold, and free, and open. There is much prudence to be used in our
daily conduct, without this crafty humour. The integrity of a man will
preserve him, and keep his tongue from falsehood; whereas a man who is
much engaged in crafty designs, will now and then be tempted to intrench
upon truth, and come near the brink of lying, to carry on and cover all
his secret purposes.

Methinks I could pity rather than envy the high station of courtiers.
How often they are constrained to put on disguise, to colour or to
conceal their real designs! How near they walk to the borders of
falsehood, and tread hourly upon the very edge of a lie! David, the man
after God’s own heart, while he kept his father’s sheep, was more secure
from this temptation; but when he became a courtier and a king, he was
often exposed, and therefore he begs earnestly, that God would _remove
from him the way of lying_; Ps. cxix. 29. He had felt the mischievous
influence of this snare, and dreaded the pernicious power of it. To be
ever practising the politician at home and abroad, is a constant snare
to sincerity; and to live as a spy in a foreign court, may be a post of
service to our own nation; but it is exceeding dangerous to virtue and
truth.

IV. Have a care of indulging any violent passion, for that will tempt
the tongue to fly out in extravagance of expression, and out-run the
settled judgment of the mind. Whether it be grief or impatience, or
anger and resentment, it will engage the soul to form ideas far above
and beyond the truth of things, and often arm the tongue with unruly
expressions, even beyond the sentiments of the heart. Strife and
contention, and noisy quarrels are very dangerous enemies to truth.

And upon this account, above all things, I would warn young christians
to avoid the excessive zeal of a party-spirit in the lesser differences
of religion. There has been often a great deal of darkness, and fire, of
rage, and deceit, and falsehood in such sort of quarrels as these. Men
of natural warmth, animated by an honest zeal for God and religion,
taking it into their head, that every doctrine besides their own is
damnable heresy, and all forms of worship different from their own, are
superstitious or schismatical, and abominable in the sight of God; they
have, under the influence of these principles, kindled their passions to
a flame: and to secure the reputation of their own party, or vindicate
all their principles and practices, they have made shameful inroads upon
truth, even in relating matters of fact: and as Dr. Tillotson well
expresses it, that the zealots of all parties have got a scurvy trick of
lying for the truth; though he confesses he has never observed any that
would be so very fond of a false report, or hug and caress a lie as the
papists have done. And I wish no protestant had ever followed their
example.

I should proceed now to lay down rules how persons may best preserve
their faithfulness to vows or engagements of any kind. But this may be
reserved to the next discourse.


                      HYMN FOR SERMONS XX AND XXI.
          _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Truth, Sincerity, &c._


                 Let those who bear the christian name
                   Their holy vows fulfil:
                 The saints, the followers of the Lamb,
                   Are men of honour still.

                 True to the solemn oaths they take,
                   Though to their hurt they swear;
                 Constant and just to all they speak,
                   For God and angels hear.

                 Still with their lips their hearts agree,
                   Nor flattering words devise;
                 They know the God of truth can see
                   Through every false disguise.

                 They hate th’ appearance of a lie,
                   In all the shapes it wears;
                 Firm to the truth: and when they die,
                   Eternal life is theirs.

                 Lo! from afar the Lord descends,
                   And brings the judgment down;
                 He bids his saints, his faithful friends,
                   Rise and possess their crown.

                 While Satan trembles at the sight,
                   And devils wish to die,
                 Where will the faithless hypocrite,
                   And guilty liar fly?




                              SERMON XXII.
          _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Truth, Sincerity, &c._
   PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are true,——think on these things.


When we are ever so well informed in the nature of our duty, we still
want arguments to make our consciences feel the obligation. Flesh and
blood are frail and sinful; grace is feeble and imperfect in the present
state; temptations surround us in this lower world, and are ever ready
to allure or affright us from the paths of holiness: we have need
therefore of powerful motives to enforce every duty upon our practice.

In the first discourse on this subject, we have heard the nature and
extent of that truth or sincerity which the gospel requires. In the
second we have considered what obligations are discovered by the light
of nature to be faithful, upright and constant in our words and our
ways; and what additional motives the religion of Christ has furnished
us with, to practise the same virtues; and may the good spirit of God
make our souls feel the power of them! But nature is dark, as well as
feeble. We are unskilful in the matters of holiness, and know not how to
secure our virtue, and to guard ourselves from temptation to the
contrary vice, unless we are informed by particular directions. I begun
this work at the end of the last discourse. And as truth was divided
into three parts, _viz._ veracity, faithfulness, and constancy; so I
proposed to give special rules for the preservation of each of them.

The directions to preserve our veracity, were these:

1. Be well persuaded in your minds, that a known and wilful lie is
utterly unlawful: Let your heart be established in this doctrine; for a
slight conviction may be easily overcome by some advantageous
circumstances, and the temptation will soon prevail.—2. Be sober,
modest, and cautious in the manner of your speech, and do not allow
yourself in those ways of expression which border upon lying; for if you
often accustom your tongue to venture near a lie, you will be in danger
sometimes of falling into it.—3. Take care to do nothing that you need
to be ashamed of, that so you may not be under the temptation of a lie
to cover or excuse it.—4. Watch against the violence of any passion; for
this will sorely endanger the veracity of your lips. Passion will carry
your judgment beyond the truth of things, and then it will soon awaken
your tongue to an extravagance of language, even beyond the present
irregular judgment of the mind.

I persuaded you there to beware of blind and fiery zeal, and more
especially in matters of small importance, lest you should be tempted to
tell lies for a pretended defence of the truth. The pious frauds, as
they are called, or the religious cheats that have been practised in
christendom in all ages, have brought much dishonour to the gospel of
Christ.

The second part of truth is faithfulness, to our vows, promises, and
solemn resolutions. This is a conformity of our deeds to our words, as
the former was a conformity of our words to our thoughts. And I come now
to lay down some rules how we may secure our faithfulness, and maintain
our conscience and conversation free from guilt or blame in this respect
also.

I. Be very cautious in all the promises, vows and obligations, under
which you lay yourself. Use a pious prudence in this matter, and it will
be more easy to you to perform them. Do not multiply needless bonds upon
your souls. The more care you take before you utter any thing with your
lips, you will be more secure of fulfilling what your lips pronounce. In
the case of vows, there is no inconvenience of solemn engagements to God
to do what his law hath made your duty before. And this was the custom
of the primitive christians, as Pliny, a heathen, acquaints us, that
they made vows, and swore in their secret meetings, not to commit
murder, or theft, or adultery, or indulge vicious courses. It is good to
remind ourselves of what God requires, and establish all our obligations
to the general practice of holiness.

But you had need be well advised before you make vows in matters that
are indifferent; for many times this has exposed persons to greater
snares and difficulties. They have hoped to restrain the violence of
natural appetites by means of their own devising; and thus they have
been tempted to be unfaithful to God himself. The word of God gives us
this advice; Ec. v. 5, 6. _Better it is that thou shouldst not vow, than
that thou shouldst vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy
flesh to sin, neither say thou before the angel, it was an error.
Wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the works of
thine own hands?_ That is, “Do not hastily engage thyself in vows, such
as the weakness of flesh and blood will not suffer thee to perform: Nor
think of being absolved from thy own obligations in the presence of God,
and his holy angels, by foolish excuses, and saying, It was a mistake;
lest God, being angry and offended at thy broken vows, should bring a
curse upon thee and thy affairs.” There is most abundant experience of
the folly and danger of needless vows in the church of Rome.

In the case of promises made to others, and public solemn resolutions,
be not too frequent in making of them. See that the reason of things,
the providence of God, and the circumstances of life, seem to call you
to it before you engage, that so you may better maintain your
faithfulness, and turn your words into deeds. Why should you make chains
to bind yourself, without necessity or reason? Why should you promise to
do this, or to go thither in a thoughtless or trifling way, and let your
tongue put needless bonds and fetters on your hands and feet for time to
come? _My son, if thou art surety for a stranger_, or if thou make a
bargain without discretion, or multiply promises without prudence, _thou
art snared with the words of thy mouth_.

There are some persons who are very free of their promises upon all
occasions; and often indulge this manner of speaking, “I am resolved to
do such a thing to-day, or I will certainly go to such a place
to-morrow,” &c. Whereas sometimes they find the thing impracticable,
sometimes it is inconsistent with their other duties of life, sometimes
it lays them under great difficulties and inconveniences to fulfil such
appointments, and often they forget them too, and so disappoint their
friends.

Before you tie yourselves by your solemn resolves and engagements, ask
your hearts, Is it possible to be done, Is it lawful? Is it convenient?
Is it proper? Is it consistent with other promises? Is the thing which I
would promise due to my neighbour upon principles of honour, virtue,
gratitude, religion? Is it necessary at all, and is it necessary at this
time? Methinks I would have no promise made, but what should be kept;
and therefore I would set all these guards around my lips. Experience of
human affairs will teach us the use of these prudential rules, if we
cannot learn them without it. A watchful caution in all such sort of
language, as lays us under any engagements to future practices, is of
necessary use to secure our faithfulness, and to maintain our truth with
honour.

Besides, I might add also, that we should bring in something of God and
piety into the common engagements of life; and this would preserve a
greater guard upon our tongues, _Go to now, ye that say, to-day or
to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and
buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the
morrow;—for that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and
do this, or that_; James iv. 13, &c.

If therefore we would secure our faithfulness as well as our veracity,
it is necessary to learn a modest and cautious way of speaking and
accustom our tongues to practise it. When we are relating any thing past
or present, the words, I think, I suppose, it is my opinion, are very
proper where the case has any thing doubtful in it: So when we engage
ourselves to do any thing for time to come, I intend, I design, I hope,
I will endeavour, are more cautious methods of speech, and very proper
upon most occasions of life, except where the circumstances require a
more express promise, whereby we bind all our faithfulness to the
performance.

II. I would add another rule in the case of vows and promises, which
cannot but have some force toward the preservation of truth. Think
solemnly with yourself, how miserable and abandoned a creature you must
be, if neither God nor man should fulfil any of their promises or
engagements to you, and thereby you should awaken your soul and all your
powers to perform your obligations to them. What if your governors
should break their engagements to defend and protect you? What if your
parents and your friends should refuse to help and assist, to feed, or
clothe, or comfort you? What if your debtors should refuse to pay what
they owe you? and your servants deny you their obedience and help in a
most necessary hour? What if your neighbours should disappoint you in
all the agreements and promises they make? What if the great and blessed
God should seize all your forfeited mercies, because of your
unfaithfulness to him, and perform none of the promises of his word
which regard this life, or the life to come? What a load of calamities
would at once come upon you, and overwhelm you in soul and body! You
would fall under universal distress and wretchedness in this world, and
have no hope for eternity; and yet if you are careless to fulfil your
covenants, or wilfully break your engagements, why should you expect
that God should fulfil any on his side? Or why should his kind
providence incline any creature to fulfil any on their side?

“O blessed and holy God, how false have we been to thee! How fickle! How
unfaithful! How often have we broken the solemn engagements under which
we have laid ourselves to thy majesty! Our comforts are all forfeited
into thy hands, and yet we have food and clothing given us; the mercies
of the night and the day are continued to us; thy compassions are
renewed every morning, and in the evening thy faithfulness is glorified.
We are ready to charge our fellow-creatures with unfaithfulness, and
reproach their breach of promise, when we ourselves perhaps have been
the unfaithful dealers, and have broken all those engagements and bonds
of kindness or duty which are the foundation of their promises. We
seldom or never think of our own unfaithfulness to them or to thee, but
delight ourselves in accusations, while thou delightest in forgiveness.
O how often hast thou pardoned our broken vows, and hast been slow to
anger! But we though we are wretchedly unfaithful ourselves, yet are
slow and backward to forgive. We have been guilty of many failures in
thy covenant, and our everlasting hopes had been utterly lost, if thy
covenant had not stood firmer on thy side than it has on ours. Blessed
be the name of Jesus, our glorious Surety, our Advocate at thy
right-hand, to whom thy promises were first given! He has fulfilled all
his sacred engagements: Thy faithfulness to him can never fail: in him
are all our hopes established; by his grace we are kept from an utter
renouncing of thy covenant, though we have so often wretchedly failed in
the performance of it. Glory, honour, and praise be given to a faithful
God, to a kind and faithful Mediator.”

I come now to propose a rule or two for the preservation of our
constancy, which is the third part of truth or integrity; and to give
some directions how we may keep the whole course of our life consistent
with itself, and agreeable to our profession.

I. Fix your great and general end, your chief and everlasting design,
and keep it ever in your eye: then you will certainly be more regular
and uniform in all your particular practices. Set your face towards
heaven betimes. Let it be the most solemn and unalterable business of
your lives to please God on earth, in order to enjoy him in heaven, and
then you will not be easily tempted aside by the flatteries or the
terrors of this world, to go astray and wander in the paths that lead to
hell. Give yourselves up to Christ both in secret and in public. Devote
yourselves to him, to his fear, and love, and service, in your private
retirements, and solemnize your obligations to him among the churches of
his saints. See that you are an inward christian, and declare to the
world, that you are a follower of Christ. Mix with the sheep of his
flock, and you will find many advantages thereby to secure your truth
and constancy. When a temptation comes to make you act like the sinners
of this world, tell the world, and tell your own heart, that you are a
christian, and you must pursue heaven.

II. Get above the fear of the world, and the shame of professing strict
godliness. It is sinful shame, or sinful fear, that has a thousand times
tempted the professors of the name of Christ, to be false to their
profession, to act unbecoming their character, and inconsistent with
christianity. It is from a certain feebleness and cowardice of soul that
they desire, at any cost, to keep well with all men, and are afraid,
sorely afraid, to be out of the fashion, or unconformable to this world:
therefore they venture upon some practice in company, that their hearts
would abhor, if they were alone: Therefore they indulge many sinful
compliances; sometimes they countenance the lewd and the profane, they
join in a jest upon things sacred, they make the ministers of Christ
their objects of ridicule; and sometimes they fall into sensuality,
luxury, and excess, because they must do as their company does, and have
not courage enough to refuse.

If we would be true to Christ, we must live above the world, and be dead
to all its threatenings and reproaches. If we are afraid of being
thought truly religious, we shall not be able to maintain religion in
the truth of it. There needs a sacred courage to be constant in the
faith. We must learn to _endure hardship as good soldiers of Christ_, if
we would be true to the _Captain of our salvation_. All that belong to
his army are _chosen_ and _faithful_; Rev. xvii. 14. It is a coward that
changes his side as oft as the enemy makes a flourish, and he lists
himself under every banner: But the constant christian is a soldier
_faithful to the death, and he shall receive the crown of life_; Rev.
ii. 10.

III. Never venture into the world without having solemnly committed
yourself to the grace of Christ. Trust your soul afresh in the hands of
Jesus every morning, that he may keep you true to himself all the day.
All the divine motives you have learned, and all the solemn engagements
under which you lay your own souls, will prove but a weak defence to
virtue without faith and prayer. Commit yourselves to him who is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless. Your hearts, your
lips, and your lives must be in his keeping, if you would have them true
to God or man. Your adversary the devil is watchful and busy with all
his wiles to tempt you to falsehood and inconstancy; none but he who has
conquered the devil can be your sufficient guardian. And when and
wheresoever we find frailty and folly in ourselves, O may the strength
of Christ appear in our weakness, and be glorified in our preservation!

Thus I have finished all that I proposed concerning the first duty
recommended in my text, Whatsoever things are true—think on these
things.

There may be perhaps some other instances wherein this divine character
of truth, uprightness, or integrity, ought to appear in the conduct of
christians which do not so directly and immediately fall under the
general heads which I have before named: But they may be easily reduced
to one or another of them. There are various other methods of deceit and
falsehood practised in the world, which break in upon this sacred
character of truth, which I have not expressly mentioned before; such as
subscribing with the hand to testify our assent to opinions, which we do
not believe; counterfeiting the names or writings of other persons
without their knowledge, consent, or approbation; adding or blotting out
any thing from divine writings; or doing the same to the writings or men
in civil affairs or contracts, whereby one party or another may receive
damage; practising fraud or deceit, or any criminal concealment in
matters of traffic, or in matters of trust; and, in general, forgery and
knavery of all kinds whatsoever: some of these may, by natural and easy
consequences, be reduced to the heads I have spoken of, and are
effectually precluded by the large description of moral truth, which I
have given: Others of them fall as naturally under the general head of
justice and injustice, which will be the subject of one of the following
discourses.


                              AN APPENDIX
_To the three foregoing Sermons, wherein two important Questions about_
               TRUTH _and_ LYING, _are debated at large_.


Question I. If I have a good and valuable end in speaking, and my design
is to serve the glory of God, or the good of my neighbour, may I not
then use the art of lying, or speak a known falsehood, without sin? Did
not Rahab the harlot practise this; Josh. ii. 4, 5. when she hid the
spies of Israel, and told the messengers of the king of Jericho, that
she knew not whence they came, nor whither they went? And yet she is
commended by the apostle Paul; Heb. xi. 31. That _by faith the harlot
Rahab perished not with unbelievers, when she received the spies in
peace_.

Answer I. When any action, considered in itself, is utterly unlawful, it
is not possible that the goodness of the end or design, can so change
the law of God, or alter the nature of things, as to make that action
lawful. The apostle Paul brings the same objection; Rom. iii. 7. _If the
truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why am I
judged as a sinner?_ But in the next verse, he speaks of it with
indignation, as a heinous slander cast upon him, that he should maintain
this pernicious doctrine, _Let us do evil that good may come_: And he
adds concerning these slanderers, or concerning those who hold this
doctrine of doing evil with a good design, that _their damnation is
just_; ver. 8.

Answer II. The case of Rahab is easily adjusted in this manner, without
allowing a lie to be lawful: Rahab, though she was a woman of evil fame
in Jericho, yet had heard of the promise of God to Israel, to establish
them in the land of Canaan; she believed this promise, and under the
influence of this faith she entertained the spies, and thereby assisted
the Israelites in the conquest of that city; so far her action is
approved of God, and mentioned with honour: But she used a very sinful
method in compassing this design, when she told a plain lie to the
messengers of the king. The timorousness of her temper was a sore
temptation to her; and though she fell into a criminal action, yet God
so far excused the ill conduct, as to forgive the falsehood, and thereby
put a more signal honour upon the eminence of her faith. Her name stands
therefore recorded with honour in scripture among believers. But the
lie, though it was pardoned, remains still a blemish to her character.

There may be also a reason given why the scripture does not particularly
make any sharp remark upon this falsehood of Rahab: for the great degree
of her ignorance does much lessen her fault, though not cancel it. A
woman of her character, living in a heathen country, may well be
supposed to have had little knowledge of the sinfulness of so beneficial
a lie as that was, and no scruple about it.

But it is by no means a sufficient justification of her conduct, that
the scripture does not directly censure her for lying; for there are
many actions recorded in scripture, both of saints and sinners, which
are utterly unlawful in the sight of God, which yet have not an express
censure passed upon them. Rahab’s being an harlot is not censured in any
part of her history; nor Judah’s defiling Tamar his daughter-in-law; nor
Jacob and Rebecca’s complication of lies to gain the blessing; nor the
most express and wicked lie of the old prophet in Bethel, though it was
the cause of the death of another prophet; 1 Kings xiii. yet surely
these were crimes of heinous guilt. The plain commands or prohibitions
of scripture are the rules to govern our practice: Nor can we fetch the
lawfulness or unlawfulness of any matter of fact from the mere silence
of the historical part of scripture about it.

Question II. If there are some persons who have not a right to truth,
may we not lawfully speak falsehood to them? Now to prove that some have
not a right to truth, it is urged, that truth or veracity is a virtue or
duty of the social life: But there are many questions may be asked in
the social life which the speaker has no right to be informed of, and
therefore he has no right to truth when they are answered; may we not
then answer them with falsehood? There are also some characters of
persons who seem to have no part in the social life, as children who are
not capable of judging for themselves, nor acting regularly in society;
may we not speak a falsehood to them for their good? There are some who
practise no social virtue, such as knaves and cheats, thieves, and
pilferers; surely these have no right to truth, who are ever dealing in
falsehood; and may we not cozen them who would cozen us? I will first
offer two or three general answers to the question, and then descend to
consider the particular instances.

Answer I. Truth seems to be a matter of eternal right and unchangeable
equity. And there are general and express commands given us in scripture
to speak the truth, and there are as express prohibitions of falsehood
and lies. Now if there were any such exceptions as these against the
general rule, I think God would have given us some plainer evidence of
these exceptions in so important a point as truth is, upon which the
welfare of mankind so necessarily depends: But I cannot find any such
evident exceptions given in the whole word of God.

Answer II. When we say a person has no right to truth, it may signify
one of these two things:

1. That he has no right to demand of me a direct answer to his enquiry:
And I will readily grant it in this sense, there are thousands who have
no right to the truth; and therefore I may wave the question, I may give
them an insufficient answer, or I may be silent, and boldly refuse to
give them any answer at all. But 2, If his having no right to truth, be
intended to signify, that the character of his person, or the nature of
his question, is such as releases me from all obligation to truth in
answering him, and that therefore I may lawfully tell him a falsehood;
then I deny the propositions: For my obligation to speak truth doth not
all depend on the nature of his question, nor doth it depend merely on
the character of the enquirer, but on the eternal rule of equity, and
the command of God. And I think this appears from hence, that though I
were alone, it would not be warrantable in me to assert with my lips a
known falsehood: and in this case the right or claim of man can have no
place nor consideration.

Answer III. If this exception be made to the plain law of God, that we
may speak a direct and express falsehood to any persons who in our
esteem have no right to the truth in their enquiry; this seems to break
all the bands of human society, violate all the faith of men, and render
the divine commands of veracity, and the prohibitions of falsehood
almost useless. The consciences of men would find a way of escape from
the greatest part of the bonds of duty, and yet think they committed no
sin.

For let us consider, who it is that must judge whether the person to
whom we speak has a right to truth or no. Is it not the speaker himself
who will be the judge? Now if the speaker must judge whether his
neighbour has a right to truth, there is no case, wherein the speaker’s
interest may be any ways endangered by the truth, but his own sinful
heart will readily whisper to him, that the hearer has no right to truth
in such a question: and conscience will easily be warped aside, and
comply to pronounce a known falsehood, under the colour and pretence of
this exception: As for instance; if the buyer asks the seller, how much
he gave for any merchandize? The seller by this rule may tell him double
the price that it cost; for he will say, the buyer has no right to truth
in such a question as this is. So if I ask an artificer, how he fashions
his work, or what tools he uses in it? He may by this rule give me a
very false answer, under pretence that I have no right to truth.

I readily grant in these cases, that the enquirer has no right to demand
and claim an answer to such questions; therefore the seller or the
artificer may refuse to inform him. But it is surprising to think that
any man should persuade himself, that such a question being once asked,
gives him a right to tell a lie! That any person should ever believe,
that the mere enquiry of a thing improper to be told, absolves the
answerer from all the obligations of truth, which his duty to God and
man have laid upon him! Surely such a rule of conduct as this, had need
have better arguments to establish it. But those who maintain this
principle, must rather recur to the character of the person who makes
the enquiry: and here indeed they give a little better colour to their
cause.

I come therefore now to give particular answers to the instances
alledged; 1. Concerning children. 2. Concerning knaves and cheats.

Instance I. Will you say, that children have no right to truth, because
they are not capable of civil society?

But I reply, they are capable of knowing what truth and falsehood are,
and of being influenced by the one or the other; they are capable of
being deceived, and of knowing when they are deceived, they are capable
of judging when they are treated with truth and sincerity, and acting
according to the things you tell them; or else to what purpose do you
speak falsehood to them instead of truth, and try to impose a lie upon
them?

They are capable of resenting your conduct, when they find out the
falsehood; and of refusing to believe you another time; For the very
reason why they believe your falsehood at first, is, because they
suppose you speak truth to them, and would not deceive them: And it is
only upon this very principle that you yourselves can attempt to impose
upon them.

Again, They are capable of learning from you and imitating your conduct,
and they will be so much more ready to practise lying, and to deceive
you with it, when they have found you practising lies, in order to
deceive them. Suppose a mother has now and then persuaded a child to
take a wholesome bitter medicine, by saying, it is not bitter, or has
allured it to bed or to school by some of the arts of falsehood, and
this child should imitate the mother’s example, and grow up to a
confirmed liar; what inward and piercing reflections must the mother
feel? Alas! I have taught my child this sinful practice, I myself have
led it into the ways of the devil: How can I chide and correct by my
reproof that vice, which I have taught by my example!

It is sufficiently evident therefore, that though children are not
capable of half the duties of the social life, yet they are so far
capable of them, as to know what truth and falsehood are, and to resent,
and to practise accordingly: And this is sufficient to the present
argument, and fully answers the objection. I think therefore it is
infinitely better to allure those, whose understandings are weak, and
whose wills are obstinate, to the practice of duty, by all the gentle
arts of softness and fondness, of persuasion and love, than by venturing
to make an inroad upon our own sincerity, and to trifle with so sacred a
thing as truth.

But the querist may say, Suppose these softer arts have been tried, and
have no effect, and children may be in danger of destroying themselves,
if they are not immediately prevented by some plain and express
falsehood; is it then unlawful to preserve their lives by a lie? Answer.
It is a command of God indeed to preserve life, but it must be done by
lawful means. May a man rob on the high-way, to get money to feed and
clothe him? Surely we ought to trust the kind care and providence of God
with our own lives and others in the way of duty, and not do evil that
good may come, as was said under the former question.

Thus much shall suffice for the case of children, on pretence of their
being incapable of civil society. But the querist will insist still on
the next instance:

Instance II. Cheats, and knaves, and thievish criminals, have no right
to truth; for they have broken the bonds of civil society, though not by
a public renunciation of them, and therefore we may use all manner of
deceit toward them, and treat them with express falsehood and lying,
wheresoever it may promote our own interest and safety.

To this I reply, that the rule of Christ is, _Whatsoever ye would that
men should do unto you, do ye also that unto them_; Mat. vii. 12. But
this licentious doctrine cancels this divine rule, and substitutes
another in the room of it, _viz._ _Whatsoever men do unto you, do ye
also that unto them_; which is as widely different from the sacred rule
of Christ, as light is from darkness, or heaven from hell. By this new
rule we are no longer bound to practise that truth, that justice, that
goodness to others, which we think reasonable they should practise
towards us; but we have leave to practise that falsehood and knavery,
that fraud, and injustice, and mischief to others, which they do
actually practice towards us, or which we suspect they design to
practise.

If one half of a city or a nation were fallen into knavish practices,
through the great degeneracy of the age, or were become thievish
pilferers, the other half would, by this rule, practise knavery with
licence toward them, and deal out falsehoods to them by divine
permission. And then the charge would quickly be just and universal,
_There is no truth in the land_, as Hos. iv. 1.

There is indeed scarce any censure of a degenerate and corrupt age under
the Old Testament, but fraud and deceit, lies and falsehood, make a
considerable part of the accusation or complaint; and surely God would
never allow any principles or practices that have so pernicious a
tendency. Hear how the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah lament their
multiplied transgressions in _conceiving and uttering from the heart
words of falsehood_: _Truth is fallen into the street, yea, truth
faileth, and equity cannot enter_; Is. lix. _This is a nation that
obeyeth not the voice of the Lord. Truth is perished, and is cut off
from their mouth. They deceive every one his neighbour, and will not
speak the truth; they bend their tongues like their bow for lies_; Jer.
vii. and ix. Now if this licentious principle were allowed, neither God
nor his prophets would ever want matter of complaint.

By this means also it will come to pass, that if a man happen once to
get the name and character of a thief or a cheat, all his neighbours
will think themselves authorized to have no regard to truth or honesty
in all their dealings and discourse with him; for this rule affirms that
he has no right to truth. And when any person fancies that he has seen
reason to suspect or disbelieve his neighbour’s honesty, he will think
himself absolved from all obligations to speak truth to him. But what a
wide and dreadful flood-gate would be opened by this means, to let in an
inundation of fraud and falsehood, and to practise all manner of deceit!

Let it be remarked also, that this doctrine is near a-kin to the popish
abomination, “That no faith is to be kept with heretics; for they are a
sort of dangerous men, who would ruin the church, and therefore they
have no right to truth.” Now what shameful and horrid perjuries, and
what execrable mischiefs, have sprung from this one impious principle of
the church of Rome? The word of God gives no manner of indulgence to
such licentious principles as these. We must wrong no man, defraud no
man; we must not render to any man evil for evil, nor falsehood for
falsehood, but overcome his evil with our good: and we must _provide
things honest in the sight of men_.

It will be said, perhaps, that the scripture most frequently mentions a
neighbour, or a brother, or a fellow-christian, in the prohibitions of
lying and falsehood, as in the ninth commandment, _Bear no false witness
against thy neighbour_; 1 Thess. iv. 6. _No man defraud his brother._
Eph. iv. 25. _Speak every man truth to his neighbour._ Lev. xix. 11.
_Lie not one to another._

But let it be replied, that the scripture demands righteousness for the
strangers also; Deut. i. 16. and in several other places. And when God,
by his prophet Malachi, forbids _treacherous dealing with a brother_, he
gives this reason for it, _Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God
created us?_ Therefore all mankind are brethren in this sense. Our duty
to speak and practise truth, arises from our obligations to the law of
God; and since God has not released us by any such exceptions, the lying
and deceitful carriage of men does not authorise us to practise deceit
and lying. It is indeed a piece of an old latin verse, that is in the
mouth of many, “_Fallere fallentum non est fraus_;” which may be
Englished thus, To cheat a knave is no cheating: But I know no verse in
scripture that gives us this liberty. And I think we may by the same
rule steal from them that would steal from us, or plunder those who
would plunder us.

I will readily grant, that when a contract or bargain is made, whereby
both parties are obliged mutually to perform something to or for each
other, whether this contract be expressed in verbal promises, or implied
in the nature of things, and by the known customs of mankind, then if
one of the parties fail of performance, the other is thereby released
from his promise or engagement: and the reason is most evident, because
the promise or engagement was made in a conditional manner; and if the
condition on one side be not fulfilled, the agreement or bargain on the
other side is void, and utterly ceases; so that a man is innocent in
this case, though he does not perform his promise. Now this is so well
known to all men by the light of nature, and the easiest reasoning, that
there is no need to enlarge upon it.

According to this general and known rule, suppose a merchant order any
quantity of goods from his correspondent by the first ship, and promise
payment by such a day; if the sending of those goods be neglected, and
carelessly delayed, the merchant is not bound to keep his first
appointed time for payment. An hundred instances there are of the like
nature, which a small degree of reason, and an honest conscience, will
easily determine, without intrenching upon truth. Such is the case of
all conditional promises and contracts. But if a man be never so great a
knave, and I should make him a lawful and an absolute promise of any
thing, surely I ought to perform it, and not satisfy my conscience in
the practice of deceit and falsehood, under a pretence that he had no
right to truth.

There are other cases which may occur in human affairs, and create
difficulty in the minds of sincere christians, a solution of which may
be found in books written on those subjects: But I think most of them
may be easily answered by the general principles before laid down: And,
to finish this subject, I add, that I know of no circumstances that can
make a plain, and express, and known lie to become lawful: If life
itself were in danger, yet the express prohibitions of falsehood and
lying in the law of God, make it safer, in point of conscience, to
venture the loss of any earthly comfort, and life also, rather than
venture upon a plain and solemn lie.

And, in my opinion, that man, who, being assisted by divine grace,
maintains the truth boldly, or refuses to speak a known falsehood to a
murderer, or a bloody tyrant, and bravely resigns his life upon the
spot, he dies a martyr to truth; his name shall be registered with
honour among the saints of God on earth, and his soul shall have its
place among the martyrs in the upper world.


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXII.
                            _Faithfulness._


                   Hath God been faithful to his word,
                   And sent to men the promis’d grace,
                   Shall I not imitate the Lord,
                   And practise what my lips profess?

                   Hath Christ fulfill’d his kind design,
                   The dreadful work he undertook,
                   And died to make salvation mine,
                   And well perform’d whate’er he spoke?

                   Doth not his faithfulness afford
                   A noble theme to raise my song?
                   And shall I dare deny my Lord,
                   Or utter falsehood with my tongue?

                   My King, my Saviour, and my God!
                   Let grace my sinful soul renew,
                   Wash my offences with thy blood,
                   And make my heart sincere and true.




                             SERMON XXIII.
          _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Gravity, Decency, &c._
 PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are honest, _or grave_, &c. think on
                             these things.
                             Οσα σεμνα, &c.


Since the translation of the bible into the English tongue is so
excellent a performance in itself, and so necessary a service to the
church: I feel a sensible regret, whensoever there is occasion to
complain of it, or to correct it. In the main, I may venture to say
boldly, it teaches us all the necessary doctrines and duties of
christianity in a very ample and complete manner, and sets them in an
evident light: And what the Spirit of God spoke in ancient times in
Greek and Hebrew, is sufficiently manifested to us for our salvation in
the English bible.

But in this part of the verse, which I am now to discourse of, the word
which we render honest, is not so well translated as I could wish; for
honesty is contained in the words true and just, which go before, and
follow my text. But the Greek σεμνος, more properly signifies grave,
decent, or venerable; and so you find it in the margin, which will
oftentimes help you, when the word in the English text is not so
expressive of the original sense. The same word σεμνος is rendered grave
in several other places of scripture: It is three times so expressed in
the third chapter of the first epistle to Timothy, ver. 8. _The deacons
must be grave._ Ver. 11. _Their wives also must be grave._ Ver. 5. _A
bishop must have his children in subjection with all gravity._

It is a word that is used in Greek authors to represent the character of
an aged man, a philosopher, or a magistrate among the heathens. It
carries in it the idea of an honourable gravity, and a venerable decency
of behaviour; and this is what the apostle recommends to the practice of
christians. It is as if he had said, “The character of every common
christian should have something in it so honourable, as may command a
sort of veneration and respect from all persons they converse with, as
much as the character of a wise old man, a magistrate, or a philosopher,
does in the heathen world.”

To improve this subject, I shall shew,

I. Wherein this gravity consists.—II. How the light of nature recommends
it.—III. How the gospel enforces it.—IV. Lay down a direction or two, in
order to obtain it.

_First_, This gravity and venerable decency which the apostle recommends
in my text, may be supposed to consist in these three things.

1. A moderation and decency in our apparel.—2. A gravity and sobriety in
our speech and conversation.—3. Honour, decency, and dignity in our
whole deportment and behaviour.

I. A moderation and decency in our apparel, such as becomes the
profession of persons whose chief ornament is religion and godliness.
This the apostles, both St. Peter and St. Paul, each in their turn,
insist upon, as a necessary qualification of women who profess
christianity, and as an ornament to the doctrine of the gospel of
Christ; 1 Pet. iii. 2, 3. Let your conversation be with fear; _whose
adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and
wearing of gold_; 1 Tim. ii. 9, 10. The apostle Paul bids Timothy the
young evangelist teach the same doctrine and practice. _In like manner_,
I will _also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with
shamefacedness and sobriety; as becometh women professing
godliness_.—Not that all christians must utterly abandon those richer
and costly methods of ornament, gold or pearls, which the apostle there
makes mention of; for every one of us should wear such raiment as suits
our character and our age, our company and business in the world: But
let not these be our chief ornaments, still remembering that we are
christians, and let our apparel, as well as our conversation, shew that
we despise trifles and thus maintain the dignity of our high and holy
calling.

Here, saith a[28] learned commentator, “it is worthy to be noted by the
women that this precept ought not to be slighted by them, as of little
moment, seeing it is so carefully inculcated by the two chief apostles
of the Jew and Gentile, St. Peter and St. Paul; and the contrary is
represented as a practice opposite to godliness.”

Nor while you are dressing, should you forget that you are sinners, and
therefore should put on shamefacedness; for all our ornaments and
clothing are but a memorial of our first sin and shame. And when we take
a pride in our garments, it looks as if we had forgotten the original of
them, the loss of our innocency. Nor is this sort of advice to be
confined to the female world: For, as the same author expresses it, “If
it be so unbecoming a christian woman to be thus concerned in adorning
and tricking up her body, it must be much more unbecoming a christian
man, and that which makes him truly to deserve the name of a fop.” It is
a token of a light and vain mind to be too fond of gaudy habits, a mind
not much affected with sin or with salvation. Surely christians are born
for greater things, and their aim should point at higher excellencies
than these are. Let their chief ornaments be the graces of the Spirit,
and the virtues of the heart and life. A well adorned body, and a
neglected mind, very ill becomes a professor of the gospel.

Christians should look like strangers and pilgrims here, and not think
themselves undressed, unless they are conformed to all the niceties and
fashions of the world. Sometimes, it may be, we are too much afraid we
shall not look like the children of this world; whereas the apostle
advises us rather to look like strangers. We are travelling homeward
through a foreign country, having the ornaments of holiness on us, which
is the raiment of heaven. I confess we are not required to affect
singularity, nor to seek a foolish and useless distinction from the
customs of our country, where they are proper, innocent, and becoming;
for the kingdom of God does not consist in any affected peculiarities of
dress or behaviour; but let us remember too, that it is below the glory
of our character, and the dignity of our calling, to have our thoughts
uneasy, if every pin and point that belongs to our apparel be not placed
in the most fashionable manner; to fret and rage, if every fold of our
garment be not adjusted in perfect conformity to the mode.

Then we may be said to fall short of that venerable decency in our
apparel which christianity should teach us, when we are among the first
in any new devised and gaudy fashions; when we are some of the foremost
in the gaieties of the age: When we run to the extremes of every new
mode, and affect to vie with the vainest of our sex: When the business
of dressing is made one of the most frequent, important, and solemn
enquiries and concerns of life; and when it employs some of our most
serious thoughts, and our warmest passions: When we indulge a greater
expence in finery than our circumstances will allow, or our stations
require: When we waste more time in adorning ourselves, than the duties
we owe to God or man, will reasonably permit; and especially if we
intrench upon the hours which should be devoted to sacred purposes. I
should add also, that then we certainly break in upon christian
sobriety, when we indulge such sort of clothing as in its own nature
becomes a temptation to immodesty, and brings fuel to the impure fire of
the eyes, or of the heart.

I would not be thought to treat too largely upon this subject or handle
it too severely; but let us remember, that our biggest danger in this
age is excess, and luxury, and vanity of mind: We are pretty secure
now-a-days from too great a carelessness in this respect.

II. Gravity and sobriety in our speech is another part of that
honourable conduct and character which we ought to maintain, and to
which the holy apostle invites us. In the second chapter of Titus, ver.
6, 7, 8. you have this direction of the apostle to Titus the evangelist,
how he ought to behave himself, and what he speaks to him chiefly as a
minister, may be given as a rule to all christians whom he must instruct
in all things, _shewing thyself a pattern of good works_; _in doctrine_,
or in discourse, _shewing incorruptness, gravity, and sincerity; sound
speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part
may be ashamed, having no evil to say of you_. He gives the christians
at Ephesus the same advice; Eph. iv. 29. _Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of
edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers._ Talk of
something that may improve one another in knowledge, in virtue, in
religion: And let each of us be ashamed to think that we have been an
hour or two in each other’s company, and have neither spoke nor heard
any thing that is worth remembrance. How often, after a visit among
friends, must we take up this just and shameful complaint, “Alas, I have
said nothing for their improvement, nor heard any thing for my own!”

In Eph. v. 4, the apostle there secludes some sort of conversation from
the lips of christians, _Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting, which are not convenient_, which are ουκ ανηκοντα, not
agreeable to our profession. Foolish talking and jesting are here
forbidden, as well as filthiness. By foolish talking, we may suppose
such sort of language to be intended, from which it is impossible any
profit or advantage, should arise to a wise or a good man. And by
jesting the apostle here designs such sharp and biting jests that wound
the reputation of a person concerning whom they are spoken. Such a turn
of wit, as the original word signifies, that at the same time wounds a
good name, and gives a bitter reproach: Not that every thing pleasantly
spoken is supposed to be unlawful; or that the apostle any where forbids
all manner of mirth and jesting in conversation; for there are proper
times and seasons for such sort of discourse: And there may be valuable
ends in it too, when it is innocently used, on purpose to recreate
nature, and refresh the mind. And how far this may be indulged, I shall
have occasion to speak toward the end of this sermon.

III. Another thing that is included in this word gravity, is honour and
decency in our whole deportment and behaviour. Each of us should be
careful to maintain our public character as a christian, with a due
sense of the dignity of it. Christians should be ashamed to debase the
powers of their nature, to practise any thing that is sordid and
unworthy; nor make the members of their flesh, nor the faculties of
their mind, slaves to that which is ridiculous or foolish.

How unbecoming is it to see a christian spoil his countenance, and
disfigure a human face, by practising all the wild and wanton grimaces
of folly and madness! To see man, who is made after the image of the Son
of God, distort his body in the most antic postures, and give up all the
honours of his nature to base and senseless merriment! Surely the duties
of christianity lead us to nothing below the dignity of man. Here I
would not be mistaken, nor do I pretend that the gospel requires such a
constant solemnity of countenance and language, as though we were all
preachers, or always preaching. There is no need to put on serious airs
at all times: We are not bound to banish mirth when we become
christians. Laughter is a natural action, and the faculty was not given
to mankind in vain, nor is the exercise of it forbidden for ever.

The chief ends of it seem to be these two; either to recreate animal
nature by expressions of mirth, or to put folly out of countenance.

There may be times to recreate nature, to unbend the spirits from
business, and to indulge mirth among our friends. The wise man assures
us, there is a time to laugh, as well as to mourn. There are times
proper for weeping, and some persons may have times for dancing too; Ec.
iii. 4. And in the 19th verse of the xth chapter the same divine writer
says, _a feast is made for laughter_. At the mutual entertainment of
friends we may be merry, and not sin. Our holy religion only demands
this of us, that we confine our mirth within the limits of virtue, and
take heed lest when we give a loose to the sprightly powers of animal
nature we should transgress the rules of piety, or trespass upon things
sacred.

Another purpose for which laughter was made, is to reprove and punish
folly, and put vice out of countenance. There are seasons wherein a wise
man or a christian may treat some criminal or silly characters with
ridicule and mockery. Elijah the prophet condescended thus to correct
the priests and worshippers of Baal; but this sort of conversation must
by no means be the business of our lives, and the daily work and labour
of our thoughts and our tongues. It is _the heart of a fool that is in
the house of mirth_, for he would dwell there continually; Ec. vii. 4.
If we are always affecting to throw out some turns of wit upon every
occurrence of life, and tack on a jest to every thing that is spoken, if
we interline all our discourse and conversation with merriment, banter
and joking, it is very unworthy of that gravity and honour that belongs
to the christian life.

The second head of discourse which I proposed, is to prove that the
light of nature, or the law of reason, requires something of this
gravity of speech and behaviour; and this is manifest, if we consider
the nature of man in opposition to the brute that perishes, or the
growth and age of man in distinction from children and babes.

1. If we consider man in opposition to the brutal world: Man, who has a
rational soul, should act conformable to that sublime principle within
him, and not devote himself to a life of fantastic humour, or content
himself with the character of an everlasting trifler. What a poor and
contemptible account is it of any person to say, he is a walking jest, a
mere living trifle? His thoughts are made up of vanity and emptiness,
his voice is laughter, and his whole life is composed of impertinences.

There is a sort of persons in the world who never think well of
themselves but when they are dressed in gay attire, and hope to command
the respect of mankind by spreading abroad their own fine feathers.
Their raiment is the brightest and best thing that belongs to them, and
therefore they affect to shew it. There is another sort of men who value
themselves upon their merry humour, and that they can make their company
laugh when they please. But the more refined and rational part of the
world value all these creatures as they do peacocks, or other animals
that imitate the voice and actions of man. They use them as an
entertainment for their eyes or ears, to give a fit of diversion, or to
pass away a merry hour. We generally look upon this kind of people as
very worthless things, as something beneath ourselves and as sinking
below their own species. We seldom converse with them upon the level, or
to attain any of the nobler purposes of life. We only borrow their wit,
or their folly, their humour, or their finery, for a season of
amusement, and justly despise them when the laughing hour is at an end.
Reason itself tells us, that human nature was made for something greater
and better, for contemplation and action much superior to what these
trifling creatures are acquainted with. Again,

2. If we consider man as he stands in distinction from childhood, surely
a more grave and solemn carriage becomes him.—Children are pleased with
painted toys; gaudy garments and sounding trifles are their chief
delight. They are entertained with little impertinences, agreeable to
their ignorance and the weakness of their age: But it is a shame to a
person of well-grown years to practise the child for ever. He that
devotes himself to a life of useless idleness, and treads round the
circle of perpetual mirth and amusement, without profit to himself or
the world, is but a child in longer garments, or an infant of larger
size.

The third general head leads us to consider, what forcible arguments
christianity furnishes us with to practise this sobriety, gravity and
decency of behaviour: And I shall throw them all into a few
expostulations.

1. Do we not bear the name of Christ, a sacred and venerable name? And
shall we cast disgrace upon it by any thing that is mean and
dishonourable? Do we not profess to be the followers of a crucified
Jesus, to be disciples of the cross? But wherein do we follow him, if we
spend our days in mirth and trifling? His conduct was all holy and
heavenly, and we can never look like his disciples, if our conversation
savour of earth and vanity. What a noble simplicity runs through all his
speeches, through all the actions and the behaviour of our blessed Lord!
And how little do we imitate him, if we fondly pursue the gay follies of
life in our dress, in our speech, and in every thing we do! No glarings
of affected wit, nor insipid pertness, can add any thing to our
character as christians.

2. Let us remember that we are the sons and daughters of the Most High
God. We profess to separate ourselves from the triflings and
impertinences of this world, as well as from the impiety and guilt of
it. “Come out from among them, saith the Lord, and I will be your
Father, and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, saith God almighty.”
Surely the children of a prince should behave with solemnity and honour,
when they are in the midst of the lower orders of mankind; and the
children of the King of heaven should remember the dignity of their
birth, and their high relation, when they are conversant among the sons
of earth. Their carriage indeed should not be proud and haughty to the
men of this world; Jesus, the only begotten Son, was meek and lowly: And
there is a sacred art of maintaining a divine humility, among the
meanest of our fellow-creatures, without indulging the practice of any
thing mean and ridiculous. Our blessed Lord was a companion of
fishermen, but not of mimics and public jesters.

3. Let us think again, that we are bought with a high and valuable
price; _we are redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and
gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot_; 1 Pet. i. 17, 18. And what is it that we are
redeemed from? It is from this evil world, and from a vain conversation.
The Son of God hath _loved us, and washed us in his own blood_, and
shall we defile these souls of ours with the meannesses of this life
which Christ hath cleansed in so rich a laver? He hath _made us kings
and priests unto God and his Father_. Let us now and then ask ourselves
and enquire, is our language and behaviour becoming such illustrious
names, such titles, such honours, as are put upon us by the Father and
the Son?

4. Again, let us review our profession; What is our calling? What is our
design? What is our hope? Are we not born from above? Are we not
pilgrims and strangers here? Do not we profess to seek a better country,
that is, a heavenly? Do we not live for heaven and immortality? How
unbecoming is it then for christians to be perpetually light, and vain,
and frothy? How unbecoming our holy and heavenly calling, and our
everlasting hopes? If we are children of the light and of the day, let
us not live as though we belonged to the night and darkness: Let us not
sleep, nor trifle as others do, but watch and be sober. And especially
if our natural temper be sanguine and sprightly, and incline to assume
vain airs, there is more need of constant watchfulness over the heart
and life, and a bridle upon the tongue, lest we should speak
indecencies, and be guilty of folly and madness.

[Here this sermon may be divided.]

The last thing I designed, was to propose some directions in order to
cure the levity of the mind, and to maintain such a decent gravity in
the course of our life as becomes the gospel.

Direction I. Let us meditate often on the most sublime and the most
awful parts of christianity; and through the assistance of the Spirit of
God, these will be effectual guards against this vanity of temper.

The sublime truths of christianity demand our frequent review. Let us
often rise high in our thoughts, and let our faith look far backwards to
the eternal ages before this world was. Let us contemplate the love of
God the Father, in contriving our salvation, before he stretched abroad
these heavens, or laid the foundations of this earth. Let us think of
the condescension of his mercy, when he chose fallen perishing sinners
to be the objects of his everlasting love. Let us dwell upon his
compassion to man, when he appointed his own Son to take flesh upon him,
and to become our Mediator and sacrifice. Let us survey with holy wonder
the various glories of the Son of God, by whom and for whom all things
were made, who upholds all things by the word of his power, and who is
the express image of his Father. Let us behold him consenting to hide
all these honours behind a veil of flesh and blood, walking the streets
of Jerusalem, and travelling on foot through the villages of Israel,
attended with a few poor despicable men, or surrounded with the
reproaches of the blaspheming Jews. Let us look upon this illustrious
person, who was adored by angels, yet unknown and unglorified among the
sons of men, and humbled even to death and the grave; then gaze on him
rising again from the dead, and declared to be the Son of God with
power, exalted at the right-hand of the Majesty on high, and ruling all
the millions of inhabitants of the visible and invisible worlds. Surely
if our souls were inured to the meditation of such sublime wonders as
these, we should not easily immerse ourselves in trifles and fooleries.

Again, let us meditate on the more awful doctrines, the more solemn and
dreadful truths of our religion, and these will be an effectual
restraint to a vain temper of mind. Let us think on the justice of God
manifested in the destruction of sinners in all ages, when it appeared
in a prodigious flood of water, and with a deluge of rain testified
against the wickedness of the old world; and when it came down in
flaming fire upon Sodom, and upon the cities of the plain. Let us
meditate on the wrath of God, that has been revealed in numerous
instances against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Let us
contemplate that divine and severe justice, that appeared in the
sufferings and death of God’s own Son, when it pleased the Father to
bruise him, and to make his soul an offering for sin. Let us think of
his agonies in the garden, and on the cross, when he bore the weight of
our iniquities, and stood in the place of sinners. Let us send our
thoughts down to the regions of death and hell, and behold the fallen
angels bound in chains of darkness, and groaning under present torments,
yet waiting for the day of greater vengeance. Let us think with
ourselves what millions of our fellow-sinners, the sons and daughters of
Adam, lie there banished from the presence of the Lord, and tormented
with fire in their consciences without remedy, and without hope, and
say, why are not we there too?

Let us often look forward to the awful moment of our death, and the time
of our departure from all the flattering scenes of this present world.
This will put a damp upon the vainest mind, and hang with a painful
weight upon the sons of mirth and levity. This will be a means to
restrain us from that foolish and trifling behaviour, which otherwise
our tempers might incline us to. And let us remember the solemn hour
when we must stand before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ,
divested of all these gaudy shews of life, in which we are now ready to
pride ourselves, and there we must receive a sentence without repeal,
which shall send us to heaven or to hell at once, and fix our
everlasting state. These are terrors or glories too solemn to be trifled
with; these are thoughts that will hold our souls awake and serious,
this will preserve that gravity of mind which becomes a christian, and
keep us in a prepared temper to fulfil present duty, and to wait the
final event of all things.

II. If we would maintain that venerable decency in our frame of spirit,
and in our deportment, which becomes the gospel, let us set ourselves
about some useful employment for the service of God, or our
fellow-creatures, or for our own best improvement. If Satan find the
mind empty of thought, and the hands void of all business, he will be
ready to fill them with temptations to iniquity and mischief: And the
triflers of this world will be ready to seize upon such a person as a
fit partner for their impertinences, and allure him into follies beneath
the dignity of human nature, and the character of a christian.

I have often pitied some of the dependents of honourable and wealthy
families of both sexes, the unhappiness of whose education has given
them nothing to do, nor taught them to employ their hands or their
minds: Therefore they spend their hours in sauntering, not knowing
whither to go, and are at a loss what to do with themselves to wear
their life away. Upon this account they give themselves up sometimes to
the mean and scandalous pleasures of the lowest of the people, and spend
their hours in chattering and vulgar merriment. They make the business
of their dress the study and labour of half the day, and spend another
part of it in trifling discourse and laughter, and in scattering jests
and scandal upon their neighbours or acquaintance. All these pieces of
folly and immorality would be rectified, if they would but find out for
themselves some daily and proper business to be employed in. King
Solomon at his leisure hours studied natural and moral philosophy, he
discoursed of the nature of vegetables, from the cedar to the hyssop,
and of beasts, birds, and fishes besides his proverbs and rules of
prudence for the government of human life; 1 Kings iv. 32, 33. St. Paul,
when he was not employed in his sacred work, yet he would not be idle;
and having no need to study for his sermons which he had by inspiration,
therefore he wrought with his hands at tent-making, and maintained
himself by it: “_Not_, says he, _because we have not power to eat your
bread while we teach you the gospel: but to make ourselves an example to
you_.” See Acts xviii. 3. and 2 Thess. iii. 8, 9. And good Dorcas, when
she had no business of her own, _made coats and garments for the poor_;
Acts ix. 36, 39. Such honourable examples as these deserve our
imitation.

III. Let us keep a strict watch over ourselves when we indulge mirth,
and set a double guard upon the seasons of recreation and divertisement.

The rules of religion do not so restrain us from the common
entertainments of life, as to render us melancholy creatures, and unfit
for company. There is no need to become mere mopes or hermits, in order
to be christians. The gospel does not deprive us of such joys as belong
to our natures, but it refines and heightens our delights. It draws our
souls farther away from mean and brutal pleasures, and raises them to
manly satisfactions, to entertainments worthy of a rational nature,
worthy of a creature that is made in the image of God. The innocent
entertainments of life are not utterly forbidden to christians, but are
regulated by the gospel.

When we have considered and found them to be lawful, then they are to be
regulated these two ways.—1. All our recreations and divertisements must
have some valuable end proposed. 2. We must distinguish the proper time
and season of them, and confine our diversions to that season.

1. They must always have some valuable end proposed. The chief and most
useful design of them is to make us more chearful and fitter for some
hours or days of service afterwards. Recreation must not be our trade or
business, but merely used as a means to prepare us for the valuable
businesses of life.

The scripture indeed tells us, that “_of every idle word that men shall
speak, there shall be an account given in the day of judgment_;” Mat.
xii. 36. And much more of idle hours and actions. But this doth not
utterly exclude all manner of recreations, or all words of pleasantry,
which may be innocently and properly used upon some occasions; but
whatsoever words, whatsoever conversation, whatsoever sort of
pleasurable entertainments, we indulge ourselves in, which have no
valuable end, no useful design in them: These will bear but an ill
aspect before the judgment-seat of Christ. We shall not be able to give
a tolerable account of such idle words or hours at that day; and it is
the judge himself who tells us so, and adds his _Amen_ to it.

It is proper more especially for persons that are of a melancholy
temper, or that have perhaps been overwhelmed with bodily diseases, or
overloaded with some sorrows, or cares, or businesses of life, to give
themselves a little loose or diversion now and then in delightful
conversation, or other recreations and exercises. These may be as useful
as a glass of wine to refresh nature, to make the heart glad, and the
spirits lightsome; for they tend to fit this animal body of ours for
better service to the soul in future duties that God calls us to: And so
long as we confine our recreations to this design, and keep this end in
view, our words of pleasantry in private conversation, and even our
recreations, and diversions that are more public, may be agreeable to
the mind and will of God; for it is his will, that our whole nature,
flesh and spirit, should be kept in the fittest frame for duty. And some
natures are so constituted, that they will hardly be kept in a temper
fit for duty, without some divertisements and recreations. Where this
therefore is the end, these practices cannot be called idle, that is,
impertinent, and to no purpose. But where no reasonable design is
proposed, sports and merriments are hardly to be defended, for all
rational creatures ought to act with a view to some valuable end.

2. Another regulation which ought to be given to all our diversions, is
this; we should narrowly watch, lest the time of our recreations intrude
upon the hours and seasons of business or of religion. There is a time
to laugh, the wise man tells us, as well as a time to labour or to pray;
but laughter must be confined to its proper place and proper time, and
not intrench upon the season where affairs of bigger importance, and
matters of grave and serious consequence should be transacted.

Conscience has something to do in matters of recreation as well as in
our religious or civil affairs: And as it can never be lawful to rob God
or our families of any of the time that should be devoted to their
service, on purpose to lay it out in diversion, so neither is it by any
means proper to let the seasons of diversion come too near the seasons
of worship. When a loose is given to all the natural powers in mirth and
pleasure, they are not so easily recollected all at once for the sacred
service of religion. Nor should we run hastily away from the duties of
worship, and plunge ourselves into the midst even of innocent merriment;
for this would look as though we were weary of devotion, and longed to
be at play. A wise christian will divide his times aright, and make all
the parts of his conduct to succeed one another in a decent order.

Besides, the hours of recreation should not be multiplied by those
persons who have least need of them; such are persons of a chearful and
healthy constitution: And they will be used more sparingly by christians
of maturer age, and longer standing in religion. As a child grows up
toward man, he leaves off the impertinences of infancy, and the sports
and trifles of childhood; and as a man grows up more and more toward a
perfect christian, his methods of pleasure will be changed from light
and gay, to that which is grave and solid.

To conclude this subject, I would mention only one powerful motive to
preserve christian gravity, and that is, that hereby the temper of your
spirit will be better prepared for every religious duty, whether it be
prayer or praise, and better fitted to meet every providence, whether it
be prosperous or afflictive: Whereas those who perpetually indulge a
merry temper of mind, when a prosperous providence attends them, they
are tempted to excessive vanity and carnal joy; their hearts are not
filled with thankfulness to that God from whom their mercies come, being
too thoughtless and regardless of the original donor. On the other hand,
when affliction smites them, they are in danger of despising the stroke
of the rod, nor does the correction of their heavenly Father make so
deep and useful an impression upon their spirit as it ought to do.

When in the course of our lives we maintain such a grave and composed
frame as becomes a christian, we find our hearts more ready for all the
duties of worship. We are prepared to receive evil tidings as well as
good, and to attend on the will of God in all his outgoings of
providence. We are ready to receive messages of sorrow, or the summons
of death, for we are still conversing with God: We keep the invisible
world in the eye of our faith: And our spirits are ready prepared to
depart from the flesh, and to meet our God and our Saviour in the
unknown regions of light and immortality.


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXIII.
          _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Gravity, Decency, &c._


                Are we not sons and heirs of God?
                Are we not bought with Jesus’ blood?
                Do we not hope for heavenly joys,
                And shall we stoop to trifling toys?

                Can laughter feed th’ immortal mind?
                Were spirits of celestial kind
                Made for a jest, for sport and play,
                To wear our time, and waste the day?

                Doth vain discourse or empty mirth
                Well suit the honours of our birth?
                Shall we be fond of gay attire,
                Which children love, and fools admire?

                What if we wear the richest vest,
                Peacocks and flies are better drest:
                This flesh, with all its gaudy forms,
                Must drop to dust and feed the worms.

                Lord, raise our hearts and passions higher,
                Touch our vain souls with sacred fire;
                Then with an elevated eye
                We’ll pass these glittering trifles by.

                We’ll look on all the toys below
                With such disdain as angels do,
                And wait the call that bids us rise
                To promis’d mansions in the skies.

Footnote 28:

  Dr. Whitby.




                              SERMON XXIV.
              _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Justice, &c._
PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
     _or grave_, whatsoever things are just——think on these things.
                           Οσα εστιν δικαια——


In many parts of the sacred writings, there appears a very close
connexion of the subjects which are handled; a natural order is
observed, and a beautiful transition made from one to the other: But
this is not to be expected in every text, nor is it at all necessary
that it should be so. When St. Paul enumerates several virtues or vices,
he sometimes heaps them together, and doth not design any regularity or
natural order in placing them. Our commentators therefore in such cases,
when they are once resolved to find these beauties and connections where
the holy writer did not intend them, they oftentimes torture and strain
both their own invention, and the words of scripture. Thus, I fear, I
should do, if I would attempt to give a reason why the apostle in this
collection of virtues, named gravity or decency before justice, which is
of so much greater importance in the christian life.

I take them therefore in the order in which they lie; and having treated
of truth and gravity, I proceed now to consider the third piece of
morality which he mentions, that is, justice, _Whatsoever things are
just_,—think on these things; let these be the objects of your
meditation and of your practice.

And here if I should entertain you in two discourses with this single
subject of justice, I hope I shall not exceed the limits of your
patience: For it is what the apostle frequently insists upon as a glory
to christianity, that those that profess it be just or righteous. You
who have fixed your hope on the grace of God, and have a design to
honour the gospel, to you I would recommend this great duty of the law,
and that in this method:

I. I shall endeavour to shew what is the general nature of this justice,
and lay down the universal rule of it.—II. Discover in various special
instances what those things are, which are just, or wherein our justice
or righteousness must appear.—III. I shall give some proof of this great
duty of justice or righteousness by the light of nature, and according
to the law of reason.—IV. Shew what forcible influence the gospel of
Christ has to recommend justice to your meditation and practice.—V.
Propose a few directions how to guard yourselves against temptations to
injustice, or rather point out some of the chief springs of injustice,
that you may avoid them.

And while I proceed in this work, you will rejoice inwardly if you find
your own consciences sincerely answering to the characters of this
virtue in any good measure: And if there be any shall find himself a
guilty sinner, and very deficient in this practice, let him be reproved,
ashamed, and amend.

First then, Let us consider the nature of this justice, and what is the
most universal rule of it.

In general, justice consists in giving to every one their due. According
to the stations in which God has placed us, and according to the several
relations in which providence has joined us to our fellow-creatures,
every person we converse with hath something due to him; and this we are
bound to pay as men, and much more as christians. But since cases and
circumstances are infinite, and it is impossible for any book to
contain, or any man to receive and remember so many special rules for
justice, as there may be occurring circumstances in the world, which
require the practice of it; our Lord Jesus Christ has therefore given us
one short rule whereby to judge what is due to every man, and fitted it
to every purpose: Mat. vii. 12. _All things whatsoever ye would that men
should do unto you, do ye even so to them; For this is the law and the
prophets._

I confess there may happen in human affairs some cases of such exceeding
intricacy and difficulty, that very few persons have skill enough to
determine precisely what is due, or what would be strictly just and
righteous: Nor will this rule infallibly lead us into the perfect
knowledge of it; but even in such cases, a sincere honest man consulting
his own conscience, and asking, what he thought reasonable that his
neighbour, in the like case, should do to him, would seldom wander far
from strict justice; and by practising agreeably to this general law,
would approve his conduct both in the sight of God and men.

Thus our blessed Saviour hath set up a court of equity in the breast of
every man. This rule is easy to be understood, and ready to be applied
upon every occasion. The meanest of them may learn and practise it, and
the highest are bound to obey it. This is that divine and comprehensive
rule of justice or righteousness, by which you must regulate all your
actions, and give every one their due: “Do to others, as you would have
them do to you:” Not as an unreasonable self-love would wish to receive
from others, but as your own conscience would think it reasonable others
should do to you, as I have explained it at large in a sermon on that
text.[29]

The second thing proposed, was to discover in various instances what
those things are which are just, or wherein our righteousness must
appear.

Here it is necessary to distinguish justice into that which belongs to
magistrates, and that which belongs to private persons.

That which belongs to magistrates is called distributive justice,
because it divides and distributes such rewards and punishments as are
due to every one, according to the merit or demerit of the person; and
this is done either by the law and light of nature, or by the laws of
the land in which we dwell. Now in this sort of justice the general rule
of our Saviour, of which we have been speaking, is of excellent and
constant use. Let a prince or a magistrate place himself in the room of
a subject or inferior, and ask what is equitable and just that his
governor should practise toward him, and let that be the measure of his
own conduct toward his subjects or inferiors: Let him exercise his
authority according to this sacred rule of righteousness.

But in our separate assemblies we have very little need to speak of the
duty of magistrates, or of distributive justice, since there are very
few of that rank and order of men among our hearers. We have reason to
give hearty thanks to our present governors, who distribute so much
justice to us, as to give us the liberty of worshipping God in a manner
that differs from theirs.

I apply myself therefore immediately to consider that justice which
belongs chiefly to private persons, and which is their duty to practise.
This is called commutative justice. This is that equity of dealing, that
mutual exchange of benefits, and rendering to every one their due, which
is necessary between man and man, in order to the common welfare of each
other. This is that justice that is due from every person toward his
neighbour, whether he be superior, inferior, or equal: And I think the
following instances which I shall mention, will comprehend most of the
cases wherein the practice of justice is required:

I. It is just that we honour, reverence and respect those who are our
superiors in any kind; whether parents, masters, magistrates, ministers,
or teachers, or whatsoever other character of superiority there be in
the natural, the civil, or the religious life; otherwise we do not pay
them their due.

Honour and obedience are due to parents. It is the first command of the
second table. _Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be
long in the land. Children obey your parents, for this is right in the
Lord._ Manifest your affectionate duty toward them. Pay all due
submission to their commands, and all honourable regard to their advice.

_Honour the king as supreme_, and other ministers of justice as
subordinate to him, and submit to them in all the just executions of
their authority: This is due from subjects to princes. _Servants, be
obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, in
singleness of heart as unto Christ, with good-will, doing service as to
the Lord, and not to men._ Your faithful, diligent, and cheerful service
is their due. _Let those that labour in the word and doctrine be counted
worthy of double honour_, that is, of respect and maintenance: It is due
to them in the church where they are set as elders, if they rule well. I
mention these hints but very briefly, and for the most part in the
language of scripture, as instances wherein these characters of
superiority demand honour and duty from inferiors.

I grant there may be other obligations to respect and honour our
superiors in some of these cases, besides the mere law of justice: but
this law of commutative justice that I am now treating of, obliges us to
it. The light of nature and scripture both suppose and oblige parents to
take care of their children, to advise and instruct, nourish and provide
for them; therefore obedience and honour becomes their due. The command
of submission given to subjects, supposes and obliges princes and rulers
to protect and defend them from all injury. The precept of chearful and
willing obedience given to servants, supposes and obliges _masters to do
the same things unto them_; that is, to treat them with good-will, and
chearfully give them their food and clothing, or their wages and hire;
Eph. vi. 9. Nature and scripture suppose ministers and teachers to be
capable and willing to give good advice, counsel, and instruction to
those who are younger, or who accept of their preaching; therefore let
respect and honour be paid where it is due.

It is the foundation and rule of commutative justice in all these
instances, that whilst inferiors are obliged to pay due regards to those
that are above them, the superiors are equally obliged to confer those
benefits on persons of a lower character, which the law of God, and the
light of nature require; but some of the cases I have mentioned, will
fall in naturally under the following particulars.

II. Another instance of commutative justice, is the particular kindness
that is due to near relations. This is a very beautiful and a pleasant
part of life, where it is well managed, this affectionate and delightful
exchange of good turns one for another.

Now that it is due to near relatives, according to the appointment of
God, will be made evident in this manner:

God, the great Creator of all things, could have produced all men
immediately by his own power, and have made them arise up in several
successions of time, without such a propagation or dependance one upon
another, if he had pleased; and then there would have been none of these
tender and engaging relations of father, son, and brother. But the wise
Creator hath ordained otherwise; he hath appointed such methods for the
building of families, and continuing mankind in the world, as bind every
soul of us by the ties of nature to one another; Acts xvii. 26. _Of one
blood hath God made all the nations of the earth._ And those that are
nearer a-kin to one another, especially in the same family, as brethren
and sisters, ought to look upon themselves under more peculiar and
mutual obligations to do kindnesses for each other in the first place,
according to their capacity. The obligation lies on each party, because
it lies upon the other. My brother is bound to love and help me,
therefore it is my duty to help and love my brother: For _a brother is
born for adversity_; Prov. xvii. 17. It is the sovereign will of Heaven,
that there should be such near relations, who should be bound by the law
of creation and duty to protect, to support, and assist one another in a
time of adversity: This is the design of God the Creator, in the course
of his providence, in his subdivision and propagation of all the
families of the earth.

And as it is a piece of justice to confer this mutual help which is due
to near relations, so there is something of justice too in our
distinguishing acts of kindness and assistance according to difference
of necessity, and according to difference of merit. I cannot believe I
am bound to love or serve every brother, or every sister, with equal
degree of affection and kindness, whatsoever their character be, whether
virtuous or vicious: Nor to bestow equal benefits upon them, where there
is not equal necessity: this can never be of a divine appointment. And
though there is some duty, some kindness, some assistance always due to
those that are our near relatives, yet this very rule of justice obliges
us to give more respect or love to those that are in themselves more
honourable and worthy, and those who merit more at our hands, may
reasonably expect it. This will farther appear from the next particular.

III. Another instance of justice is, love to those that love us, and
gratitude to those that have done us good. Those that have been
serviceable to us in the concerns of our souls, or our bodies, demand
kindness from us, and returns of service, according to their benefits,
and our capacity.

Let us first take notice of the gratitude that is due for spiritual
benefits. The christian Galatians, who were converted from idolatry and
heathenism, and reconciled to God by the preaching of St. Paul, had such
a powerful and penetrating sense of their obligations to him, that if it
were possible, saith the apostle, _I bear you record, ye would have
plucked out your own eyes, and given them to me_; Gal. iv. 15. And when
the same apostle writes to Philemon, who was converted to the faith by
his ministry, he gently insinuates the obligations he was under; though
I do not think proper to tell thee, saith he, _how thou owest unto me
even thine own self_; ver. 19. St. Paul speaks upon this principle in
many places of his epistle; 1 Cor. ix. 11. _If we have sown unto you
spiritual things, is it a great thing if we should reap your carnal
things?_ And when he gives an account of the contribution which the
christians of Macedonia and Achaia made for the poor saints at
Jerusalem, he expresses himself thus: _It hath pleased them verily to
make this contribution, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles
have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also
to minister unto them in carnal things_; because it was from the Jews
that the gospel first came forth, and was preached among the Gentiles;
Rom. xv. 27.

There is some sort of gratitude due also to those who by their writings,
or more especially by their conversation or instructions, have improved
our understandings, and added to our knowledge in things natural or
moral, as well as divine. There are some persons in the world, who have
advanced their intellectuals in a very sensible manner, by the company
of their friends, but they have so much of pride and self reigning in
them, that they refuse to acknowledge it: They would fain have the world
believe that it is the rich soil of their own understanding has produced
this harvest of itself: They are ambitious and fond to have it thought
that their notions are all their own. Though they plumed themselves with
borrowed feathers, they are unwilling to confess whence they received
them, and pretend they are owing to nature only. But pride is a secret
vice, and a cursed spring of injustice in more instances than one, as I
shall shew hereafter.

After the benefits bestowed on our souls, we ought to consider what is
due to those that have served our bodies, or our natural life. Those
that have healed our diseases, that have saved us from imminent dangers
and calamities, or present death; those that have fed or clothed us, or
supported life when we were poor and destitute: All these deserve
particular kinds of remembrance, and due returns of service. Those that
have either vindicated our honour, or increased our reputation, and
spread our good name in the world, stand entitled also to some agreeable
returns of benefit.

Do not let us imagine then, that gratitude is a mere heroic virtue, that
we may pay or not pay at our pleasure; for nature dictates it to us, as
a piece of strict commutative justice, and equity of dealing between man
and man. We may be very properly said to treat our neighbour unjustly,
if we refuse to serve him again, who hath first served us, when his
distressed circumstances shall require our assistance.

There are some cases indeed wherein the person who is obliged by his
neighbour’s kindness, cannot possibly make a return equal to the benefit
received, without ruining himself and his family, or exposing himself
much more than his neighbour did to serve him. There are cases wherein
the person who hath obliged us, may over-rate his kindness, and
undervalue all our acknowledgments: He may require most unreasonable
returns, and think he is never sufficiently recompensed. There are cases
also wherein the benefactor may repent of his past services, may
endeavour to take away the benefit bestowed, may without reason commence
a resolute enmity, and do what in him lies to cancel all former
obligations: In such circumstances as these, the obligation of gratitude
may be diminished, and perhaps may cease altogether. And though
sometimes, in these very cases, there may be high and heavy charges of
ingratitude brought by the first benefactor against a person of a very
grateful mind; yet these accusations may be utterly unjust in the sight
of God, who knoweth and weigheth all circumstances in a righteous
balance. But where no such bars are laid in the way, it is evident that
the practice of gratitude, and a mutual return of benefits, is but a
piece of natural justice. The very _publicans and sinners do good to
those, that do good to them_: Mat. v. 46. Luke viii. 32.

IV. Another piece of justice is, the payment of the full due to those
whom we bargain or deal with, whether the contract be made formally in
words, or implied in the nature of things, according to the customs of
mankind. And under this head, not only those who buy and sell, who lend
and borrow; but all ranks and degrees of mankind, who have any commerce
with each other, are included, from the prince upon the throne, to the
day-labourer in the high-ways and hedges.

The very notion of commutative justice implies the giving one good thing
in barter of exchange for another. And all commerce amongst men was
originally carried on this way, _viz._ the husbandman gave corn, the
grazier cattle; the draper gave cloth; the artificers and labourers
their skill and work; the prince and rich man gave food and protection;
the poor and the subject gave their attendance and service: And thus
mankind lived by an exchange of benefits. But when they found many
inconveniences arise from this manner of dealing, they contrived another
way of exchanges, and that is by money, which by universal agreement is
made the common measure of all things in contract: And since that time,
skill and labour, attendance and services are exchanged for money, as
well as goods and merchandizes. Now herein consists the practice of
justice, that every one render to his neighbour that which is due upon
the account of any of these benefits or conveniencies of life he
receives from him.

Let us give the first place to kings and rulers in this discourse, as
justice requires. Though the distribution of special rewards and
punishments may have something in it of a distinct nature, yet the
common protection which they owe all their subjects, and the obedience
and tribute which their subjects owe them upon that account, are
properly a part of commutative justice. By their oath of magistracy, and
by our engagements of allegiance expressed or implied, we bargain with
them for protection, and we ought to pay them tribute. They accept of a
high and heavy charge, and agree to execute the laws of the land for the
good of the people: Therefore not only the purses, but the consciences
of the people are under obligations to pay taxes to the magistrate for
the support of his governing power, and the maintenance of his honour
and authority, that he may the better fulfil the glorious and useful
work. This is what the apostle insists upon, and argues in that known
place, the xiii. chapter to the Romans; _Rulers are ordained of God, not
for a terror to good works, but to the evil_. The ruler is the _minister
of God to thee for good, and he beareth not the sword in vain; he is an
avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil_. Wherefore ye must
needs be subject, not only for wrath, that is, for fear of his anger:
but for conscience sake, as a matter of justice and duty: And for this
cause also pay tribute. And it is to be noted, the apostle puts our duty
in this respect upon the foot of justice; ver. 7. _Render therefore to
all their dues_; that is, whatsoever things are just, perform to them;
render _tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to
whom fear, honour to whom honour_.

As the payment of tribute and taxes to those who undertake our
protection, defence, and safety, is a necessary duty; so the payment of
a salary to a teacher, of wages to a servant, of money or merchandize to
a trader, of hire to the workman, are other parts of justice. Let not
the labourer that hath reaped down your fields, or wrought in your
service, go without his hire, which was a practice the apostle
reproached in his days; James v. 4. The law of Moses is very strict in
this matter; Deut. xxiv. 14, 15. _Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant
that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or a stranger._
To express it in modern language; whether he be a christian or not, a
good man or an evil man, let him have his hire. If he is so poor that he
cannot tell how to provide for himself to answer the necessities of the
evening, then see that thou pay him the hire of the day, nor let the sun
go down upon it, for he is poor, and sets his heart, or depends upon it.
Trespass not upon his poverty by thy withholding his due so long as may
turn to his prejudice; let not his hire, which is detained by fraud, cry
against thee, for the Lord of hosts, the God of Justice will hear the
cry of the oppressed.

And not only in the case of a poor labourer, but in every other instance
make conscience of paying that which you have borrowed, or what you owe
to your neighbour, and that not only in full measure, but at the
appointed time of payment: The time is part of the contract as well as
the money. Do not say, “I intend to be honest, but I will not pay this
week, or this month.” Do not withhold what is due, and say to thy
neighbour, _Go, and come again, when thou hast it by thee; Withhold not
good from him to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand
to do it_. This is forbid by the inspired preacher Solomon; Prov. iii.
27, 28. Nor is this agreeable to the golden rule of our Saviour, _Do to
others as ye would that others should do unto you_.

V. Help to our fellow-creatures in cases of great necessity, seems to be
another piece of human justice, even though they have never done any
thing actually for us. We are bound to defend our neighbour from
apparent injury, so far as is consistent with our own safety, and
sometimes farther too. It is our duty to direct him in the right way,
when he is wandering or uncertain. It is a piece of justice to warn him
of approaching danger, and to give him some assistance in case of sudden
calamity or distress attending him. When we see his soul, or his body,
or his estate in imminent hazard, we ought to give him notice of it; we
should put forth some efforts of kindness for his security, and pluck
him as a brand out of the fire. Our own conscience dictates this to us,
since we should think it a very reasonable thing to expect the same
kindness from our neighbour, when we are found in the like
circumstances.

Can we suppose that the law of God should appoint us to lift the ox or
the ass of our neighbour out of a pit, or to restore his sheep to him
when going astray; Deut. xxii. 1. and yet that we are not bound to
fulfil the same duty of love toward our neighbour himself? Nay, the
command of Moses reaches still farther; Ex. xxiii. 4. _If thou meet
thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it
back to him again._ How much more should this be practised toward the
soul or the body of a fellow-christian?

If the law of justice require us to secure the cattle or possessions of
our neighbour; surely then we are obliged to deal as kindly with his
reputation and good name, which in some cases is the best part of a
man’s estate, and is almost as dear to many as their health or life.
When we happen therefore into such company as give their tongues a loose
to scandal, and we hear our neighbour vilified and reproached, we ought
to ward off the calumny, and to refute the scandal, where we know that
our neighbour does not deserve it.

This piece of justice or duty, to assist a suffering neighbour, arises
from the social nature of man, who by the law of nature is so far born
for a social life, as to come into the world with this claim, and under
this sort of obligations; for a naked exposed infant may claim the
patronage and protection of every eye that beholds him. And where other
circumstances are equal, those who are most capable of affording help,
seem to be most obliged. Now if it be a work of human justice to
preserve such a helpless piece of human nature from death, surely every
infant grown up to any degrees of capacity and manhood, ought in like
manner to esteem himself obliged to afford some assistance to his
fellow-creatures, according to their distress, and his capacity well
considered and adjusted.

Therefore, my assistance or relief of an injured or perishing creature,
is a sort of duty to mankind, though the person himself be an utter
stranger to me: The history of the good Samaritan in the gospel tells
me, that in such a case every man is my neighbour, though he be of a
different nation, sect, or party. But when men are fellow-subjects, or
fellow-citizens, or combined in any natural, civil, or religious
society, this rule of justice appears with more force and evidence; it
strikes a brighter light upon the conscience, and ought to have more
power upon the heart and practice; for combination into society is an
implicit contract or promise of mutual help under necessity.

I confess, several of the instances which I have mentioned under this
fifth head may be referred also to charity and mercy, of which I shall
speak hereafter: but for as much as the light of nature and the law of
God require these beneficial actions of men toward each other, I have
here placed them under the head of justice.

VI. The last piece of justice which I shall mention, is reparation to
those whom we have wilfully injured, as far as possible: And this is a
certain duty, whether we have done them injury in their souls, in their
bodies, in their estates, or in their reputation.

If we have led them into errors or heresy by our conversation; if we
tempted them to sin by our allurement or example; if we have solicited
their assistance in any base or guilty practices of our own; we ought
seriously to employ our best powers and prayers toward their recovery
from the snare of the devil: If we have wilfully injured their health;
if we have blasted their credit; if we have thrown a blot upon their
good name; if we have defrauded them of any part of their due, or wasted
their substance, let us know and consider that the law of justice
requires us to make what restitution we are capable of: But still it
must be done in such a manner as must consist with our duty to the rest
of our fellow-creatures round about us. It is a vain thing to pretend to
be sorry and repent that we have done our neighbour a wilful injury or
to flatter him with idle compliments of asking his pardon, while it lays
in our power to repair the damage he sustains in a way of consistence
with our duties, and yet we obstinately refuse it: Such a repentance as
this cannot be sincere in the sight of God, nor have we any reason to
hope that his justice or mercy will condescend to accept it.

We have heard these various instances of justice, this large and
particular account what is due to our neighbour, in the manifold
relations and businesses of life. I grant there are several difficulties
that may attend some of these instances in the particular practise of
them, by reason of the infinite variety of circumstances which may
surround our actions, and the unforeseen occurrences of human life. The
strictest rules of equity or justice, in some cases, require a
mitigation; and it is impossible to say before-hand what shall be
precisely and exactly due to our neighbour in every new accident or
occurrence. But a sincere love of justice wrought deep into the heart,
and a sacred regard to the golden rule of equity which Christ hath given
us, will lead us through most of these perplexities into the paths of
righteousness and truth.

It is time now to have the question put close to conscience; Has this
been the manner of our life? Has this been our conduct toward our
fellow-creatures? Are we children, and have we paid all due honour and
obedience to our parents? Has the father no cause to complain that we
have disobeyed his authority? Has the mother no reason to say, that we
have scorned her advice, or abused her tenderness and compassion? Are we
servants, have we never wasted the goods of our master, nor spent that
time in idle company, in folly, or in sin, which should have been
employed in his service? Have we dealt with our relatives in the same
family as becomes a brother, a sister, or a near kinsman, and fulfilled
the duties to which we were born? Do we never neglect to make due
acknowledgments for favours received? Have we loved those that love us,
and practised the law of justice and gratitude to those who have rescued
our souls and bodies from distress and danger, or laid obligations upon
us by peculiar benefits.?

Am I a trader, and do I practise strict justice and truth, in all that I
buy, and in all that I sell? Have I been carefully solicitous to wrong
no man, to defraud no man, to cheat and cozen no man? Do I hate the arts
of falsehood and knavery? Have I paid the full due to all that I deal
with, and do I keep the proper time of payment, which contract or custom
have appointed? Have I defended my neighbour from injury, and assisted
him in the day of his distress, as I myself should reasonably hope for
his defence and assistance? Have I sought to rescue his good name from
reproach and slander when it has been attacked? Or have I rather fallen
in with slanderers, and joined in with the wilful scandal? Have I
honestly sought to make restitution to another where I have been guilty
of wilful injury, and done what in me lays to repair the damage that my
injustice has brought upon him? Have I attempted to repair his losses,
so far as is consistent with the duties of my other relations in life?

Where is the person that can lay his hand upon his heart, and say, I am
guiltless before God in all this? Who can wash his hands in innocency,
and pronounce himself righteous? Surely such a discourse as this is,
should awaken conscience to sensible acts of repentance and mourning; we
should be willing and ready to yield to the conviction, where the word
of God fastens the charge upon us, and lay ourselves low before the
throne of a righteous God. _Blessed Lord God, if thou art strict to mark
iniquities, who can stand before thee? But there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared._ We have failed in many instances of
duty toward our fellow-creatures, as well as toward thee our Creator: We
have neither given to God nor to our neighbour the full due of love
which thy righteous law requires: We lie down in the dust before thee,
and betake ourselves to the refuge that is set before us: Jesus the
righteous is our hope, he not only paid to God and man all their due, in
the course of his holy life, but he also restored that honour to thy
justice by his death, which we had taken away by our unrighteousness. O
may every soul of us be forgiven for his sake, and created anew in
Christ Jesus unto good works? _Amen._


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXIV.
           _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Justice and Equity_.


                  Come let us search our ways, and try,
                    Have they been just and right?
                  Is the great rule of equity
                    Our practise and delight?

                  What we would have our neighbour do,
                    Have we still done the same?
                  And ne’er delay’d to pay his due,
                    Nor injur’d his good name?

                  Do we relieve the poor distress’d,
                    Nor give our tongues a loose
                  To make their names our scorn and jest,
                    Nor treat them with abuse?

                  Have we not found our envy grow,
                    To hear another’s praise?
                  Nor robb’d him of his honour due,
                    By sly malicious ways?

                  In all we sell and all we buy,
                    Is justice our design?
                  Do we remember God is nigh,
                    And fear the wrath divine?

                  In vain we talk of Jesu’s blood,
                    And boast his name in vain,
                  If we can slight the laws of God,
                    And prove unjust to men.

Footnote 29:

  See Sermon XXXIII.




                              SERMON XXV.
              _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Justice_, &c.
 PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are just, &c.——think on these things.


If a bare proposal of the rule of duty, and the mention of the various
instances of it, were sufficient to persuade mankind to the practice;
then I need not prolong my discourse on this subject of honesty and
justice: For I have already proposed the sacred rule which our Saviour
has given us, Do to others as ye would that others should do to you; and
I have described the several instances wherein this rule must direct our
conduct, that we may be just and righteous in all our dealings amongst
men.

But alas! our natures are so corrupt, our consciences are so unwilling
to receive the laws of duty, and our perverse wills and passions have so
much reluctance to the practice, that we have need of arguments to
enforce it upon conscience, we have need of powerful motives to awaken
our souls to righteousness, and it is necessary therefore that I proceed
to the third head of discourse which I proposed, and that is to shew how
far the light of nature dictates to us the duty of common justice, and
what arguments may be drawn from thence to influence men to be honest.

I. If we consider the natural right that every man hath to keep that
which belongs to him, it will appear that this is the gift of God as the
God of nature. God, the common author of all our beings, requires that
this right be held sacred and inviolable.

I shall not run back to ancient ages, to trace the original grounds of
property, or how men became entitled to any of their possessions: It is
sufficient for me, that every man is born into this world with a right
to his life, to his limbs, to his liberty and safety, and to the good
things of this world which he possesses according to the laws of nature,
and of the nation where he is born. He has a right also that these
should be secure from the hands of injustice and violence, unless he
himself be some way concerned in the practice of injury to his
fellow-creatures. That man therefore who offers injustice or violence to
his neighbour in his body, or his soul, or estate, he robs him of his
natural right which God hath given him, and which the law of nature
secures to him: He sins against the God of nature, the common Father of
mankind; and his conscience hath reason to expect that the God of
nature, who is just and righteous, will avenge the mischief done to his
injured creatures.

Let it be always observed and excepted here, that the great God himself,
considered merely as the God of nature, and where he has not bound
himself by promise, reserves a right to resume what he has given, and
especially when his creatures have made a forfeiture of their blessings
by sinning against their Maker: But this does not authorize men to
deprive one another of their possessions, unless he has appointed them
from heaven the executioners of his vengeance by a most evident and
infallible commission particularly given by God himself; as in the case
of the Israelites spoiling the Egyptians of their borrowed jewels, and
depriving the Canaanites of their lands, and their lives: But I know not
any instance of that kind ever since.

II. If we consider the need that every man stands in of the help of his
fellow-creatures, justice and honesty will appear to be a natural duty
of the social life: And God, as he is the Governor of the world, will
take vengeance of any neglect or violation of this duty, either in this
world, or in the other.

Commutative justice, as it is described in the former discourse, is
built upon this foundation, that one man has need of another’s
assistance: Nor is there any the meanest figure amongst mankind so very
worthless, useless, and contemptible, but he may be capable of doing us
some service either now or hereafter. It is possible we may be in such
circumstances, as to stand in need of the help of the meanest, as well
as of the mighty; and therefore the duty of social life obliges us to
practice the rules of justice toward all. The rich stand in need of the
poor to perform the meaner offices for their convenience, as much as the
poor stand in need of the rich to supply them with food or money. The
master has need of the servant to assist and obey him, as well as the
servant stands in need of maintenance or wages from the hands of his
master. One man can never procure for himself all the necessaries, and
all the conveniences of life! it is indeed impossible. The same man
cannot sow his own corn reap his own harvest, keep his own sheep, make
his own bread, form all his own garments, build his own house, fashion
his own furniture, and secure his own possessions; no man can provide
for himself in all respects, without the assistance of his
fellow-creatures. Now those from whom he expects to receive help in any
of these instances, it is necessary he should give them help in other
instances wherein they stand in need of his. This is one foundation of
justice between man and man; that so every man may have the necessaries
and conveniences of life by his neighbour’s assistance. Thus _the king
himself_, as Solomon says, _is served by the field_; Eccl. v. 9. The
prince stands in need of the plowman: The plowman gives food to the
prince, and the prince gives to the plowman protection and safety.

I might run through the various instances wherein justice is to be
practised, and shew how the higher and lower orders and characters of
men have mutual need of each other: The buyer and the seller, the
artificer and the merchant, the teacher and the scholar; and thus I
might make it appear, that unless a due exchange of benefits be
maintained, and the practice of justice secured, none of us could enjoy
the safety, the ease, or the conveniences of life.

Where there is no practice of justice amongst men, no man can live safe
by his neighbour: Every one that is mighty and malicious, that is proud
or covetous, that is envious or knavish, would rob another of his due,
and either assume the possessions of his neighbour to himself, or make
havoc of them, and destroy them. There would be everlasting confusion
amongst men, slander and theft, cheating and knavery; plunder and
slaughter, and bloody violence would reign among all the tribes of
mankind; if justice were banished from the earth; for neither life, nor
liberty, nor peace, nor any of our possessions, nor our good name, can
be secured without it. Therefore the light and law of nature sets a
sacred guard upon justice, and has written the necessity of it in the
consciences of all men, who have not seared those consciences as with a
red-hot iron, and rased out so much of human nature from their souls.

The practice of justice has so extensive an influence into the whole
conduct of our lives, and the welfare of mankind, that some of the
heathen writers have made it to be comprehensive of all virtues.

But because sinful men are ready to break the bonds of commutative
justice and invade the property, the peace, or the life of their
neighbours, therefore government is appointed, and magistrates are
ordained to maintain peace and equity amongst men, and to punish the
breakers of it. This is the greatest reason why there must be such a
thing as magistracy and distributive justice amongst mankind; that those
who commit outrage upon their neighbours, and practice injustice toward
them, may be punished by the laws: For, as the apostle says to Timothy,
_the law is not made for the righteous, but for the disobedient, for the
ungodly, and for sinners; for murderers, stealers, and liars, &c._ That
it may be a strong restraint upon the violent inclinations of men, and
bring just vengeance upon them, when they bring injury upon their
neighbours. Therefore it is for the welfare of the innocent and the
righteous, that the laws have ordained vengeance for the guilty; that
those who would not injure their fellow-creatures, may be guarded in the
enjoyment of their own property and their peace, and may have them
secured from the sons of injustice.

And besides all the punishment that such sinners justly receive from men
on earth, God, the great Governor of the world, has often revealed his
wrath from heaven against all the unrighteousness of men, as well as
their ungodliness. He has hereby proclaimed his public approbation of
justice, and his hatred of all iniquity. His terrors have sometimes
appeared in signal and severe instances against those who have been
notoriously unrighteous, and who have broken all the rules of equity in
the treatment of their fellow-creatures. This the heathens themselves
have taken notice of. And they thought this to be so necessary for the
government of the world, that their priests have invented a sort of
goddess called Nemesis, whose office is to avenge the practice of fraud
or violence, and to bring down curses on the head of this kind of
criminals.

As the ancient records of the heathen world give us some histories of
divine vengeance, so the bible abounds with more awful and illustrious
instances of this kind; which leads me to,

The fourth head of my discourse; and that is, to consider what forcible
arguments and motives the christian religion affords for the practice of
justice among men.

If I were to speak of distributive justice, or that which belongs to the
practice of the magistrate, never was it more gloriously manifest, than
in and by God the Father, when he refused to pass by our iniquities
without punishment, and laid the dreadful weight of it upon the head and
soul of his own Son. Never could magistracy receive such a glory, as
when our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung and died upon the
cross, suffering the penalty that the law of God, the supreme
magistrate, had denounced against sinners.

And as punishing justice was glorified in all its terrors, so rewarding
justice also appeared most illustrious. Because our Lord Jesus Christ
had fulfilled obedience not only to the broken law which we lay under,
but to those peculiar laws which God the Father also gave him as a
Mediator; therefore it pleased God highly to advance him, according to
his own eternal covenant. God rewarded him, as a magistrate,
distributing justice to a person who had done the greatest things for
the honour of his sovereign: He exalted him at his own right-hand, and
gave him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow; for he deserved it at the hands of his Father, and his
Father distributed rewards equal to his desert.

Rewarding justice again appears glorious, in that God the Father
communicates unto us the rewards of the sufferings of his own Son. God
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, because _the blood of Jesus
Christ, his Son_, has paid for all our follies and unrighteousness; 1
John i. 9. Faithful and just to his Son, that he may not go without the
rewards of his sufferings: Faithful and just to us, because it was in
our name and stead that the Son suffered. But not to insist upon this
longer, commutative justice is abundantly enforced also by many
considerations drawn from the books of the Old Testament, as well as
from the gospel of Christ.

If we consult the moral statutes of God, which were given to the Jews,
we shall find them full of righteousness. These statutes are of
everlasting force, and their divine solemnity should impress our
consciences. _That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou
mayest live and inherit the land: And the judges and officers shall
judge the people with righteous judgment, and shall shew no respect to
persons, nor take a gift to pervert justice_; Deut. xvi. 18, 19, 20. _Ye
shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. Thou shalt
not defraud thy neighbour, nor rob him. The wages of him that is hired
shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. Ye shall do no
unrighteousness in judgment, in weight, or in measure, just balances and
just weights shall ye have; I am the Lord your God_; Lev. xix. 12, &c.
_A false balance is an abomination to the Lord; but a just weight is his
delight_; Prov. xi. 1. _To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to
the Lord than sacrifice_; Prov. iii. 15. _Woe to him that buildeth his
house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong, who uses his
neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work_;
Jer. xxii. 13. _Remove not the ancient land-marks, nor enter into the
field of the fatherless: for their Redeemer is mighty, and he shall
plead their cause with thee_; Prov. xxiii. 10, 11.

If we review the records of the Jewish history, we shall find the cruel
and the covetous, the tyrant and the oppressor, made terrible examples
of the vengeance of God against unrighteousness. Survey the plagues of
Egypt, and the dreadful desolations of that fruitful country, with the
destruction of the first-born by the midnight pestilence, and the armies
of Pharaoh drowned in the Red sea, and you may read there the wrath of
God against the unrighteousness of men, written in dreadful characters.
They treated the race of Israel with cruelty and sore oppression; they
destroyed their male-children, and provoked God to bring swift
destruction upon themselves. Behold Adonibezek, king of the Canaanites,
with his thumbs and his great toes cut off by Joshua, and confessing the
justice of the great God. _Three-score and ten kings_, saith he, _with
their great toes and their thumbs cut off, have gathered their meat
under my table: As I have done, so God hath requited me_; Judges i. 7.
_See the dogs licking up the blood of Ahab in the place where he slew
Naboth the Jezreelite_, in order to take unjust possession of his
vineyard; 1 Kings xxi. 19. These things which were written of old time,
remain upon record for our instruction in the days of christianity.

But let us take more special notice what influences may be derived from
the gospel, and from the name of Christ, to enforce the practice of
justice among men.

I. If we look to our Lord Jesus Christ as a law-giver, how various and
how plain are his solemn and repeated commands, not only in his sermon
upon the mount, but upon other occasions too, that justice be practised
between man and man. He hath explained to us that glorious rule of
equity, on purpose to make the practice of justice easy, plain, and
universal, _love your neighbour as yourself_; that is, do to others, as
ye would that others do to you.

We cannot but think that the holy soul of our Lord Jesus was concerned
to secure the practice of justice and righteousness among his followers,
when we read his terrible rebuke to the pharisees for the neglect of it,
and a curse pronounced upon them; Mat. xxiii. 23. “Woe unto you scribes
and pharisees, hypocrites: for ye pay tythe of mint, and anise, and
cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,
mercy, and faith.” Judgment in that place may signify commutative and
distributive justice: all manner of exercise of righteousness towards
their fellow-creatures. Under a pretence of serving God better than your
neighbours, and crowding his temple with your presence, and his altar
with sacrifices and gifts, ye abandon common justice, ye neglect the
righteousness due to your fellow-creatures. There is a woe denounced
upon you, and my Father will inflict the curse, for _he hates robbery
for burnt-offering_; Is. lxi. 8. Nor will the God of heaven excuse you
from paying your dues to men on earth, under pretence of paying honour
or sacrifices to him.

There are many other threatenings in the New Testament written against
those that neglect justice, and pronounced by the apostles in the name
and authority of Christ, their exalted Lord. The covetous and
extortioners, those that take away the light of their fellow-creatures,
are shut out from the heavenly blessedness; 1 Cor. vi. 10. “Know ye not,
says the apostle, that none of these shall inherit the kingdom of God?”
As much as to say, it is so very obvious a thing, that an unjust man can
never enter into heaven, whatsoever pretence he makes, that I may appeal
to the meanest capacity, ye all know it. God will repay vengeance to
them that do wrong to their neighbours, whether they be great or mean,
for _there is no respect of persons with him_; Col. iii. 25.

II. Consider Christ as a pattern of justice and righteousness. Look to
the example of our Lord Jesus; you see him, who was the sovereign
Magistrate and Lord of all, who could distribute crowns and kingdoms to
men, submitting himself to commutative justice among creatures.

Behold the Son of God, who was the brightness of his Father’s glory, and
the delight of his soul before the creation; behold him stooping down to
our world, and taking flesh and blood upon him to become our brother,
that he might shew us how we ought to love our brethren. It was an
unparalleled instance of divine love that Christ has given us, when he
came down from heaven to become our neighbour, and to dwell amongst us,
that he might teach us to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Behold the glorious Son of God subjecting himself to his earthly
parents, to Joseph the carpenter, and to Mary his mother, that he might
instruct us how to pay obedience to our superior relations. See how the
King of kings pays tribute to Cæsar, when he was so poor, that he was
forced to send Peter a fishing, to procure the tribute-money by a
miracle. And though the beasts of the field were his, and he could have
commanded the cattle upon a thousand hills, to make provision for his
followers; yet he would not dispossess the owners of them, but created
food on purpose to feed four or five thousand in the wilderness.

III. If we consider Christ as a glorious benefactor, who has taken care
to provide for us the necessaries of this life, and hath purchased for
us, at the hands of God, the eternal treasures of heaven and glory. Has
not this blessed consideration force enough to guard us against all
temptations to injustice? Shall a christian break the rules of equity,
and steal, or cheat, or plunder his neighbour to gain money or
merchandise, who has the promises of God for his support in a way of
diligence and humble faith? Shall we sully our consciences, and defile
our souls with knavery and injustice for a little of the pelf of this
world, when we have the unsearchable riches of Christ made over to us in
the gospel, and the inheritance of heaven in reversion?

IV. Let us consider the very nature and design of the gospel of Christ,
it is to make sinners holy, to make the unjust righteous: The new man of
christianity must be created in righteousness and true holiness.
Therefore are we _purchased with the blood of Christ, that we might be a
peculiar peeple, zealous of good works_; Tit. ii. 14.

It is a shame and scandal to the christian name, when one who wears it
is unrighteous or dishonest. An unjust christian, what a contradiction
is it in itself, and how it disgraces the profession of the gospel! Hear
how the great apostle treats his Corinthian disciples when such sort of
sins were found amongst them; 1 Cor. vi. 1-8. _Dare any of you, having a
matter against another, go to law before the unjust man and the infidel?
Dare any of you injure your neighbour, your fellow-christian? I speak
this to your shame. Brother goes to law with brother, and ye injure one
another. Why do not you rather suffer wrong? nay, you do wrong, and
defraud, and that your own brethren._ But what is the consequence? Such
wretches as these are, _shall never inherit the kingdom of God_.

_The grace of God that bringeth salvation_; Tit. ii. 9, 10. _teacheth us
to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly and
righteously_, and religiously, _in this present evil world_. It teacheth
us righteousness towards men, as well as sobriety among ourselves, and
godliness towards the King of heaven. But how hath this divine religion
been scandalized for want of justice in the professors of it!
Scandalized among heathen kingdoms, among Turks and unbelievers! and
christianity in our own land, how hath it been dishonoured by the
practices of those that pretend to that holy name! How hath the
conversion of wild heathens in the Indian nations been hindered by the
injustice and fraud of christian merchants and traders there, or by
merchants who call themselves christians. I have heard it said by
persons whom I could fully credit, that a Turk when he is suspected of
fraud and cheating, will reply, “What, do you think I am a christian?” O
how hath the gospel of the lovely Jesus been rendered odious by the
abominable practices of those that pretend to honour him! What
falsehood, what lying, what perjury, and cheating, and deceit, and
violence have been practised by our traders in foreign lands! Thus there
has been an ill savour of our holy christianity carried beyond the seas,
by those, perhaps, who have pretended to convert the infidels. And many
in our own nation, who have begun to set their faces towards heaven,
have been sorely disgusted at the knavish practices of professors, and
been tempted to think that all religion is a jest, and to abandon the
ordinances of the gospel. But when souls stumble, and fall, and perish
by such discouragements, woe to him that gave the offence, and laid this
stumbling-block of iniquity in their way. How heavy must the blood of
souls lay upon such sinners!

Surely there has been enough said on this head to discourage oppression,
deceit, and injustice in the professors of christianity, if argument,
and shame, and terror can have power and prevalence over sin and
temptation. O may almighty grace attend this discourse of justice, and
work the sacred love of it in the hearts of men!

Now if ye are made willing to walk by the rules of equity and justice,
instead of proposing particular directions for this end, I shall
proceed,

In the fifth and last place, to point out the various springs of
injustice, that ye may avoid them.

The great and general spring of injustice to our neighbour is a criminal
and excessive love to ourselves. For since the comprehensive notion of
justice lies in this, to give to every one that which is due, it
follows, that the general notion of injustice consists in taking to
ourselves more than is due, or in giving less than is due to our
neighbour.

There are a thousand instances of this unrighteousness among men, in
reference to their bodies, their souls, their good name, or their
possessions in the world. This general term of injustice is so
extensive, that it includes a great part of the sins forbidden in the
second table. Disobedience to parents and governors, rebellion, treason,
murder, adultery, theft, violence and plunder, cheating, and deceit, and
slander, with all sinful desires to possess what belongs to our
neighbour, may be justly ranked under the head of unrighteousness: And
they spring from this one fountain, namely, an excessive regard to self.
It is to this natural and exalted idol that we sacrifice the peace and
the property, the good name, and even the life of our fellow-creatures.
Nor will any method be effectual to secure us from the practice of
injustice, till we learn to degrade self a little in our own esteem, and
to judge of our neighbour, and of the things that are his due, by the
same rule and measure by which we take an estimate, of ourselves, and of
what is due to us. Let us put our neighbour in the place of self, and
judge how he ought to be treated.

But that we may more effectually guard ourselves from the temptations of
injustice, let us descend to particulars, and we shall find that almost
all the unrighteous practices of men spring from some of these six
principles; _viz._ covetousness, pride, luxury, sloth, malice against
men, or distrust of God.

I. Covetousness is a great spring of injustice. This consists in an
immoderate desire of possessing: And we are told by the apostle, that
the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted
after, they have not only erred from the faith, but they have ventured
upon many sins, as well as pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
For _they that will be rich, fall into temptation, and a snare, and into
many foolish and hurtful lusts, which draw men in destruction and
perdition_; 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10. Solomon is of the same mind; Prov. xxviii.
20, 22. He that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be innocent, for he
hath an evil eye upon the possessions of his neighbour.

It is from this cursed root of covetousness that a multitude of bitter
fruits proceed. It is by this vicious principle working within us, that
we are tempted to take what is not our due, either by craft or by
violence. Hence it is that men cheat each other in their daily commerce,
they defraud and over-reach their neighbour, if they can, in every
bargain they make, and try all the arts of subtle knavery, in order to
enrich themselves. They divest their souls of truth and virtue, and put
off conscience and shame to load themselves with thick clay.

It is covetousness that teaches the sons of men to practise upon their
dealers with a false balance and a deceitful beam. They shorten their
measures, and lessen their weights by which they sell their goods: But
when the case alters, and they buy any thing for themselves, they will,
if possible, take another sort of weight, or use a different measure;
all which are an abomination to the Lord.

It is the same evil and unrighteous principle that persuades the seller
to put off corrupt and damaged wares for good and sound, and to cozen
his neighbour with merchandize that is by no means such as he reasonably
expects. It is this principle that persuades the buyer also to cheat his
neighbour with corrupt and false money, which he knows to be unlawful
coin. For corrupt merchandize and corrupt money, false balances, light
weights, and scanty measure, seem all to stand in the same rank of
deceit: These are all weapons of craft and knavery to give a secret
wound to their neighbour’s estate, they all belong to the armory of
fraud, and the magazine of unrighteousness.

It is this covetous humour that tempts the tongues of men to speak
flattering falsehoods in their daily dealings, and some of them make an
hourly sacrifice of truth to the gain of a penny. It is from this
principle that they break their promises of payment; they withhold the
money that is due to their neighbour, beyond all reasonable time, and
that for no other reason but to gain by the loan of it: They delay the
payment of their poor creditors for many months, or perhaps for years,
and put the advantage which they make of this delay into their own
purse. This is a frequent, but an unrighteous practice in our day: For
the profit that accrues by the detaining of money that is due to another
beyond the customary or contracted time of payment, should doubtless be
given to the person to whom the principal money was due; or at least he
should have such a valuable share of it as may compensate the damage or
loss he sustains by the delay.

It is a covetous desire of gain that tempts men to practise extortion,
and to prey upon the necessities of those they deal with. When the buyer
wants any conveniency of life, they force him to give much more than it
is worth, because he stands in the utmost need of it; or they constrain
the seller perhaps to part with some of his most valuable possessions
for a trifle, because he is under special necessity and present
distress. This was the extortion which Jacob practised upon his brother
Esau, when he made him sell his birth-right for a mess of pottage, while
he was faint with hunting. And it is the same iniquity when we impose
upon the ignorance or known unskilfulness of the persons we deal with;
and especially when we make our advantage of children or servants, or of
persons who confess their own ignorance, and leave the choice of the
goods, or the determination of the price, to the conscience of him that
sells.

We may indeed set a just value upon our own goods; but we must not set a
price upon any man’s pressing necessity, nor raise a tax upon his
ignorance. It can never be certainly determined how much it is lawful
for a trader to get by his merchandize: Doubtless he may sometimes make
a greater gain of the same things than at another: And this is often
necessary, in order to compensate the losses, the risks or dangers that
he passes through. He may lawfully make those advantages which the
change of things, and the divine providence often puts into his hands:
Nor is it unlawful for him to take more of some persons than he does of
others for the same merchandize; for he may treat some of his customers
favourably, though he must deal righteously and justly with them all.
But let him see to it that he use ingenuity towards the poor, the
necessitous, and the unskilful, as well as moderation toward all men.
The circumstances of things are so various, that much of the practice of
justice must be left to the court of equity in every man’s breast, under
the sacred influence of this rule, _Do that to others which you think
reasonable that others should do to you_. It is best in all doubtful and
difficult cases to practise what is fair and honourable in the sight of
men, and what is safe and innocent in the sight of God: for a good
conscience is better than the largest gain: But where the sacred
principles of virtue are over-borne by corrupt inclinations, the moral
powers of the soul are stretched at first to the lengths of moderate
iniquity, and conscience is strained to the indulgence of some smaller
unrighteousness: but virtue will die by degrees, and conscience will
learn in time to allow bolder injustice. And then, though it may be
stupified and senseless for a season, yet let the sinner know, that it
will have its feeling return again, and the guilt of knavery and
falsehood will torture the soul with unknown agonies here or hereafter.

But the wretched influence of this vice of covetousness is not confined
only to traffic and merchandize: It spreads its unrighteousness much
farther and wider: It tempts the sons and daughters of men to withhold
due honour and necessary supplies from their aged parents, and exposes
to great hardships in the latter end of life, those to whom we owe our
life itself, and the comforts of it in our younger years. It withholds
wages from the servant, and salary from him that has earned it. It
forbids those who have received benefits to make a grateful return to
their benefactors. It will teach a man to stop his ears at the cry of
his neighbour in distress, lest it should cost some money for his
relief. It refuses an alms to the starving poor, and finds an excuse for
the churl, lest he stretch out his hand of bounty to a perishing family.
It is so wrapped up in self, that it never considers what is due to
another; and ventures to break all the rules of righteousness rather
than diminish its own estate, or part with any thing it can call mine.
It would suffer a church or a kingdom to sink and perish, and let the
public peace be broken, and the nation dissolved, if it might but secure
itself and its own possessions in the midst of those ruins. An accursed
vice. An iniquity big with misery and desolation! yet it hides itself
too often from conviction and reproof; it runs like a river under
ground, and attempts to conceal itself under the specious disguises of
frugality and virtue, while it practises all the mischiefs we have been
describing.

II. Pride is another spring of injustice. But having broken up the
fountain of covetousness as of a great deep, and traced it in its
various streams, the labour of drying them up has employed so much time,
that the pursuit of the other springs of unrighteousness must be delayed
till a further season.


                          HYMN FOR SERMON XXV.
           _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Justice and Truth_.


                   Great God, thy holy law requires,
                   To curb our covetous desires,
                   Forbids to plunder, steal, or cheat,
                   To practise falsehood or deceit.

                   Thy Son hath set a pattern too,
                   He paid to God and men their due:
                   A dreadful debt he paid to God,
                   And bought our pardon with his blood.

                   Amazing justice! boundless love!
                   Do we not feel our passions move?
                   Do we not grieve that we have been
                   Faithless to God, or false to men?

                   Have we no righteous debt denied,
                   Through wanton luxury or pride?
                   Nor vex’d the poor with long delay,
                   And made them groan for want of pay?

                   Have we ne’er thrown a needless shame,
                   Or scandal on our neighbour’s name?
                   O happy men, whose age and youth
                   Have ever dealt in love and truth;

                   But if our justice once be gone,
                   And leave our faith and hope alone;
                   If honesty be banish’d hence
                   Religion is a vain pretence.




                              SERMON XXVI.
              _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Justice, &c._
 PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
                         think on these things.
                         Οσα δικαια, οσα αγνα.


Justice and truth are two of the chief bands that preserve human
society. If truth and justice perish from the earth, the sons of men
would become like the savages of the wilderness, where the strong or the
crafty animals prey upon _the weak, the simple, and the innocent_. The
Lord God, the author of nature, is a God of justice, and he has written
something of this law in the consciences of men. But the God of grace
has given us much plainer rules for the practice of it, hath allured us
to righteousness by sweeter motives, and hath guarded it by more awful
and solemn terrors. These things have been the subject of the former
discourse; and that we may, as far as possible, assist towards the
rooting out injustice from the hearts and lives of christians, I have
begun to point out some of the chief principles, or springs of it.

The first which I mentioned is covetousness, a vicious weed that grows
in corrupt nature, and is fruitful of a thousand unrighteous actions.

I proceed now to the second, that is pride. When a person sets too high
a value upon himself, and aggrandizes himself in his own esteem, he is
ready to imagine that all things are due to him, and there is very
little left to become due to his neighbour. The proud, as well as the
covetous man, is full of self, and he forgets the command of love to his
neighbour: He treats him as if he was not made of the same clay, and
lives as though he were obliged to no duty to his fellow-creatures. This
is evident in a variety of instances.

It is pride that forbids us to give due respect to those that are above
us in the family, in the church, or in the civil state: And instead of
paying the honours that are due to superiors, we are tempted to treat
them with insolence and scorn. Many a father in our degenerate age, has
found this unhappy effect of raising his children too soon and too high:
And the mother has seen her sin, and felt it in her punishment, when she
has cockered up her young offspring in pride, and thereby taught them to
break the rules of justice, to slight all her authority, and make a
scoff of that pre-eminence which God and nature have given her. The
proud man is ready to say in his heart, “All that are around me ought to
pay me respect, and do me justice,” while he is regardless of the
respect due to others. “Let them carry it towards me as they ought, and
I will carry it toward them as I please.”

It is pride that inclines us to throw a blot here and there upon the
good name of our neighbour, and to blemish his reputation, lest he
should outshine us. When some honourable mention is made of another
person in our company, especially if it be one of our own sex, our own
rank or degree in the world, do we not feel something rising within to
lessen their honour, and to stain their character? It is through this
vanity and ambition of mind, that we are tempted to defame and reproach
our neighbour, and to rob him of his just honour among men, and we
endeavour to build our own fame and credit upon the ruin of his. But it
is a sandy, or rather an impious foundation; and the fame that is built
upon such ground will never stand. Pride inclines us to assume more
respect than is due to ourselves, and to take it away from our
neighbour, even as covetousness tempts us to take more money to
ourselves than is due, and to deprive our neighbour of it. Thus both of
them are opposite to the sacred rule of justice; one to that justice
which we owe to our neighbour’s estate, and the other to his good name.

But the evil influence of pride spreads farther also; for it teaches us
to practise unrighteousness in matters of property: It instructs us in
the methods of oppression, and inspires us with a wicked courage to
practise it; Ps. lxxiii. 6, 7, 8. _When pride compasses men as a chain,
and they wear it as a golden ornament, then violence covers them as a
garment; and though their eyes stand out with fatness, and they have
more than heart could wish, yet they are corrupt, and speak wickedly
concerning oppression._ They gripe those that are poor, because they
themselves are mighty. They refuse to pay the just demands of their
neighbours, they speak loftily, and stand it out with them against all
right and justice, because they are great in the world. It is the rule
of justice to change places with our humble neighbour, and ask
ourselves, what we should think due to us, if we were in his place. Or
at least we should set ourselves and our neighbour upon the level, and
consider what is just and right on both sides. But the heart of pride
cannot bear such a rule, it exalts itself far above the level of
mankind, and practises toward those that are around it with a superior
insolence and injustice. Cursed pride, the first-born of hell! It seized
our first parents and tempted them to aim at godhead, to practice injury
to God himself, and assume a right to the fruit of the forbidden tree!
Vile iniquity, that hath tainted all the seed of Adam! It is a haughty
poison that was infused into our veins with the first sin; and where
shall we find the son or daughter of Eve that is not infected with it?
Blessed be the grace of God, wheresoever its dominion is broken, so that
it does not break out into all the works of unrighteousness.

The third spring of injustice among men is profuseness and luxury. When
persons affect to live in a manner above what their circumstances will
afford, they are tempted to intrench upon the property of their
neighbour, either by cheating or by violence.

It is the language of luxury, “I must indulge my appetite, my table must
be furnished with a costly variety, and I must eat and drink with
elegance, as is the modish phrase. I must treat my friends when they
visit me, with fashionable entertainments; I must keep fine company, and
make a figure in the world; I must appear in such an equipage as my
neighbour allows himself, though he be ten times richer than I am. I
must have many changes of raiment, for it is a mean and vulgar thing to
appear too often in the same dress: My house must be furnished after the
mode, and I must shine at home and abroad in silks or in silver; for I
cannot bear the thought that such or such a one should out-shine and
over-top me.” Then the patrimony is sold or mortgaged to raise present
supplies, and the rich food and clothing, and luxurious expences of a
twelve-month, devour and swallow up seven years income, or the gain of
half their lives.

What remains then, when their own substance is not sufficient to supply
their vanity, but that they make an inroad upon the property of their
neighbour? They run deep into debt with the artificer and trader, and
they never concern themselves how to make payment. The workman has built
them palaces, instead of such common dwellings as their character
requires, and the artificers of various kinds have furnished out their
bravery of apparel or equipage: But the unhappy creditors are ready to
starve in tattered raiment, through the oppression and injustice of
their luxurious neighbour. And when they make a modest demand of what is
due to them, they meet with nothing but a frown or a jest, and the
reproachful names of saucy and impertinent. But, _wo to him that covets
an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high;—for
the stone shall cry out of the wall against the oppressor: The beam out
of the timber shall answer it, and shall bear witness against
unrighteousness_; Hab. ii. 9, 11.

This is the crying guilt of many, and very commonly practised in this
city, in greater or in less degrees; but perhaps the profuse wretch
pursues a bolder course of injustice, and betakes himself to robbery and
plunder: He lies at watch on the high-ways, he seizes and assaults the
innocent traveller, and deprives him of his wealth and every thing
valuable, in order to support his own wild and extravagant expences.
Luxury must be fed, though justice be starved; and luxury must be
clothed, though justice go naked.

My hearers perhaps will think themselves unconcerned in all this story,
and take no share of conviction to themselves, nor do I know any of them
to whom half this charge belongs. But let it be considered, that men do
not usually rise to this degree of madness all at once. Unrighteousness
has several steps and stages in its race; if we indulge our appetites,
and spread our tables, or form our apparel or our furniture but a little
beyond our income, if we once begin to admit such a manner of life and
expence as exceeds our estate, in order to please our own sensual or
vain inclinations, or to vie with our neighbours, we expose ourselves to
most evident temptations of injustice, and lead our souls into sinful
snares. “We cannot live frugally as our fathers did: The fashion is
altered, and we must follow it, whether the purse can bear it or no.”

Hence arise the impetuous desires of hasty and extravagant gains by
gaming, in order to recover what is lost by luxury. Men venture largely
upon the turn of a dye, and defraud their honest creditors of their
bread and life, to pay, what they call in their cant, the debts of
honour. A wanton sort of justice and illegal equity! It is the luxurious
fashion of life that hath filled our land with the itch of gaming; and
if the turn of a wheel can entitle them to thousands, they despise the
slow and tedious ways of supplying their wants by labour, business, or
traffic. Thus honest industry is discouraged, and trade, which is the
political life of our nation, lies groaning and expiring.

Hence proceeds the wicked custom of breaking promises to those that we
deal with, and long delays of payment, till we imagine that the debt is
cancelled, by being almost forgotten. A vain and criminal imagination!
As though the daily increase of interest, and the patience of the
creditor, could make the principal cease to be due! As though time, and
unjust delay could pay debts without money.

Hence flows the unrighteous practice of borrowing without any design to
pay, which is gross and shameful iniquity: I would hope none of the
professors of religion have so far abandoned all sense of righteousness.
Yet there are too many, who, when once they have borrowed, grow so
careless and negligent of payment, that it brings a disgrace upon their
profession, and a blot upon their character. Profuse and thoughtless
sinners, who run in debt to every one that will trust them for the daily
conveniencies of life! Though they have no reasonable prospect of
paying, yet they ask their neighbour to lend, with a free and courageous
countenance, and put a bold face upon their venturous iniquity, being
too proud to let their poverty be known. But the God of justice beholds
their crime, and writes their names down in his book among the
unrighteous. Ps. xxxvii. 21. _The wicked borroweth and payeth not
again._

Hence it comes to pass that there are so many bankrupts in our days,
even among the professors of strict religion: A shameful and ungodly
practice, if it arise from luxury and profuseness, or from a careless
neglect of their proper affairs! It was thought sufficient, in the days
of our fathers, to deserve an expulsion from the church of Christ,
unless they could evidently make it appear, that it was merely the
unforeseen and frowning providences of God, they were reduced to this
extremity.—There is many a man hath groaned away his latter years in
poverty, and perhaps in a cold prison, and in most forlorn circumstances
of life, by means of the profuseness of his youth: And he hath been
taught to read the guilt of his luxury and injustice in a long and
painful lesson.

But a profuse and sensual humour is not only the spring of
unrighteousness among persons of better rank and circumstance in the
world, but it tempts servants also to be unjust to their masters: They
will now and then provide a treat for themselves and their friends; they
must eat nicely, and drink to excess: And thus they waste their master’s
substance. They must keep good company in the world, and now and then
spend a licentious hour or two, while their just and reasonable service
at home is neglected; and perhaps the purse of the master must pay for
all.

Under the same head I may bring a charge of injustice against the
careless and wasteful servant, who persuades himself that his master is
rich enough, and therefore he is not solicitous to buy or sell, or
manage any affairs for him to the best advantage. He permits the goods
of his master to be wasted or embezzled, he grows liberal and generous
at his master’s cost, and has no thought of the golden rule of our
Saviour, to manage his master’s concerns with the same frugality and
conduct, as he would expect a servant should do for him. But it is time
I proceed to the next particular.

The fourth occasion of injustice, is sloth and idleness. For the
_slothful man is a brother to him that is a great waster_; Prov. xviii.
9.

Whosoever wants the necessaries, or the conveniencies of life, is bound
to obtain them by labour and diligence, if he is not possessed of them
by any other methods of favourable providence. _In the sweat of thy
brows shalt thou eat thy bread_, was the command given to Adam, when he
was turned out of paradise, and forfeited his property in the fruits of
Eden. But when once a person gets an aversion to business, when he finds
a pleasure in sauntering and trifles, and indulges idleness and a lazy
life; then he is tempted to seek the supports and comforts of nature by
some practices of unrighteousness. _The slothful man will be clothed
with rags_, unless he procure better clothing by fraud or violence;
Prov. xxiii. 21.

Hence it is that persons learn the art of stealing, and possess
themselves of the goods or the money of their neighbour by thievery.
They mark out the houses in the day, and break them up at midnight for
plunder. They remove the ancient land-marks, to enlarge their own
borders; they violently take away flocks, and feed upon them. They go
forth to their unrighteous work in the morning, and rise betimes for a
prey. They reap down the corn in their neighbour’s field, and the wicked
gather the vintage. They cause the naked to lodge without cloathing, and
take away the sheaf from the hungry. _These are they that rebel against
the light, they abide not in the paths thereof._ Though God does not lay
folly to them, nor punish their crimes by his immediate judgments, yet
his eyes are upon their ways; Job xxiv. 2-23. And many times his
providence brings their crimes to light, and they are punished for their
iniquity by the sentence of the judge. O what a shame and scandal is it,
that in a nation professing christianity, there should be such
multitudes trained up to the pilfering trade, and educated for infamy,
for transportation, and the gibbet!

There are others, whose hands refuse to labour, and whose temper of mind
delights in idleness, but they venture not upon these bolder crimes;
they learn other unrighteous arts of cheating and falsehood, and fall
into the same evil practices, which I have just before described under
the head of luxury. But when luxury, pride, and sloth join their forces
together, the temptation to injustice becomes exceeding strong, and
there are few who have power to resist it. Such was the unjust steward,
whom our blessed Saviour represents in a parable, procuring himself a
way of living by cheating his Lord: Luke xvi. 1, 2, 3, 4. He had wasted
his master’s goods, and he was to be cashiered from his service: What
shall I do, said he, I have not been used to work, I cannot dig; there
is the sloth of the man: He had lived well in his stewardship, and was
grown proud, to beg I am ashamed. Well, I can purloin no more of my
Lord’s estate for myself, but I can do it for his debtors; I will cheat
him in his accounts, and make all his debtors my friends, by cancelling
a good part of their obligations, and then I shall get a livelihood
amongst them. O that all such practices had been found no where but in
parables!

Some that have been reduced to poverty by idleness, and have borrowed
boldly what they could never pay, yet wipe their mouths, and think
themselves innocent and righteous, because they have not a sufficiency
to make payment: Whereas, in truth, it is their own sloth that makes
them poor, and keeps them so. Some of these idle creatures waste their
days in drowsiness and inactivity. “A little more sleep, a little more
slumber, so poverty comes upon them like an armed man without
resistance.” Others are a little more sprightly, and they spend their
hours in an inquisitive impertinence, in public news and private
slander, in searching and tatling of the affairs of other persons and
their families, while they eat, and drink and live upon the labour of
the diligent, and unjustly serve themselves out of the industry of their
neighbour. So the worthless drone wastes the summer’s day in buzzing and
trifling, he gads abroad, and wanders with idle flight; then he returns,
and feeds upon the honey that the bee has gathered, and abuses the
industry of a better animal.

St. Paul takes notice of this sort of people at Thessalonica who call
themselves christians, and reproves them with just severity; _We hear
there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but
are busy bodies. Now them that are such, we command and exhort by our
Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own
bread: For even when we were with you this we commanded you, that if any
would not work neither should he eat_; 2 Thess. iii. 10, &c. And in his
letter to the Ephesians, he exhorts the thief to diligence. _Let him
that stole steal no more, but rather let him labour, working with his
hands, the thing which is good_; and that not only for his own support,
but that he may have to give to him that needeth; Eph. iv. 28. How
little do those christians read their bibles! Or how little do they mind
what the great apostle tells them! They profess they were never brought
up to work, and give that answer roundly as a sufficient excuse for
idleness: And therefore when they become poor and necessitous, they
think it the duty of others to maintain them, without stretching out
their hand for any thing but to beg and receive. They will apply
themselves to no employment, though they are told their duty
continually: Their pride, indolence, and sloth withhold them from
labour, though they are called to it daily in the loudest language in
which God now-a-days speaks to his creatures; and that is the voice of
reason, of scripture, and of providence.

But there is another sort of sloth and idleness, that leads on to the
practice of injustice too, and that is when men are busy in their
trades, and the affairs of life, but seldom look into their accounts, or
perhaps keep none at all: And thus they live upon the spend, and are
utterly ignorant whether their income will support it. They eat and
drink with daily chearfulness, and sleep sound upon their pillow, while
they know not whether their food and raiment, and even the bed they rest
on, be their own or no. Perhaps they have let their accounts run long
behind, they are a little jealous of their circumstances, and then it is
an unpleasant and tedious task to take a thorough review of them. By
this means they run on venturing and heedless, till justice overtakes
them, and ruin seizes them at once. Then they see what a shameful and
cruel inroad they have made upon their neighbour’s property: They find
then that they have fed and clothed themselves and their household out
of their neighbour’s estate. What shall I say to persons of this
character? Their souls are generally hardened on all sides against
conviction, and it is with much difficulty they are ever brought to
confess their own folly, their sloth and unrighteousness. Ask thyself, O
man, O woman, ask thyself this short and solemn question, “Am I willing
my neighbour should deal thus with me, and spend my substance for his
daily support?”

Here let it be observed, that I would always except from this accusation
such as are mere children and cannot work, or such as are aged, and past
all ability of labour, such as are weak and sick, and rendered thereby
utterly incapable of working, and such as seek work with honest
diligence, and would be glad to be employed in any thing they can do, if
they could find others to employ them. Some of these indigent and
necessitous persons are in every city, and they seem to be marked out by
providence as the proper objects of compassion and bounty, and are not
to be blended with the slothful and idle creatures in the general charge
of unrighteousness.

Fifthly, The next spring of injustice is malice and envy. This is the
vilest of all, and the most like the devil; for it contrives mischief,
and brings injury upon others, without seeking gain and advantage to
self. This is a vile iniquity, and has a great deal of the spirit of
cruelty and of hell in it, where ill-nature and spite reign and triumph.

Though envy and malice awaken and excite the sinner to acts of
unrighteousness and violence, and tempt us to rob our neighbour of what
is his due; yet these vicious principles aim more frequently to disturb
the peace, or health, and good name of our neighbour, than to injure his
estate. It is wrath and hatred that boils up the blood into fury and
revenge, and moves us to smite our neighbour with the fist of
wickedness; nor is the guilty passion allayed till it has practised
mischief to his body, or his reputation, or his family, or to something
that belongs to him. Hence proceed murders and death, and all the train
of evils and injuries of the cruel and bloody kind. It was from this
principle that Cain slew Abel his brother, that the sons of Jacob sold
Joseph into slavery: It was from this principle that Sanballat and
Tobiah joined their rage and their counsels against the Jews, that they
might hinder the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and endeavour to destroy the
builders, and throw down the work; Neh. ii. 10.

I hope there are no examples of this flagrant injustice to be found
among us who profess piety. But are there none of us guilty of some
lesser injuries rising from the same principle? Are there none of us
that indulge our tongues to backbite and slander, to make our neighbours
look odious, or to make ourselves easy or merry? This is to play the
_madman, who casts abroad fire-brands, arrows, and death,—and saith, Am
I not in sport?_ Prov. xxvi. 18, 19. Are there none of us that delight
to teaze, and vex, and torture our neighbour by disagreeable speeches
and sly reproach? Do we never envy and provoke one another, contrary to
the apostle’s express prohibition? Gal. v. 26. Do we not take pleasure
to repeat the things that make each other uneasy, in order to vent the
gall within us, and scatter the venom upon our neighbour’s good name?
This is malice and unrighteousness together; a complicated crime, which
one would think should be abhorred by every christian, if one did not
frequently see and feel the practice of it among the professors of the
name of Christ. I might well compare such creatures to a wasp or hornet,
who first teaze and disquiet us with their endless humming, and ere we
can get rid of them, they fix their painful sting in our flesh; though
neither the pain nor the teazing vexation they give us, can procure any
conveniency to those peevish insects, those noisy animals of a little
angry soul.

If we are poor, this evil humour tempts us to envy the riches of our
neighbour, and we magnify and exalt them beyond the truth, that we may
give some colour to our splenetic and uneasy carriage. If we are
afflicted, or in pain, we envy the welfare and the ease of others, we
enlarge our paraphrases upon their blessings, and blacken their
character, that they may appear unworthy of such favours, and worthy of
our indignation and envy. “When shall the time come, O Lord Jesus, thou
king of righteousness, and king of peace, when shall that day appear,
that Ephraim _shall not envy Judah, nor Judah molest Ephraim_? When
shall it be that no ravenous beast shall come near Zion, and there shall
be nothing to hurt or destroy in all thy holy mountain?”

The last spring of injustice that I shall mention, is unbelief, and
distrust of the providence of God. When persons are in low
circumstances, they are sometimes hurried by the power of this
temptation to use sinful means in order to obtain what they want, or at
least what they fancy they want for the comfortable support of life. The
word of God has many engaging promises in it, to those who are diligent
in their duty: Though _the soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath
nothing; yet the soul of the diligent shall be made fat_: Prov. xiii. 4.
It is the hand of a diligent man that maketh rich, for it hath the
blessing of the Lord upon it. God can increase the handful of meal in
the barrel, and lengthen out the stream of oil from the little cruse,
that the debts of the widow may be paid thereby, and her family find
provision; 1 Kings xvii. 12, 14. And even since the days of miracles
have ceased, there are many christians who have lived by faith, and have
found wonders of support, not much inferior to this ancient miracle.

But those who know not the way of living by faith, are too ready to
indulge themselves in some little pilfering or cheating methods to
procure a subsistence. Thus unbelief has a plain tendency to
unrighteousness, but _he that believeth shall not make haste_; Is.
xxviii. 16. He that believes the care of God toward his own people, and
puts his trust in his Redeemer, who is Lord of all things, he that lives
upon the covenant of God daily he shall not make haste to make himself
rich, or to possess himself of the comforts of life by any methods of
injustice; his faith and diligence shall be rewarded at least with daily
bread.

And now having finished this subject, I must beg pardon of my reader for
insisting so largely on those two virtues, justice and truth, in my
text. But they are of so divine a necessity to make up the character of
a christian, they are of so valuable importance to the glory of the
gospel, and so shameful an inroad has been made upon them in various
instances in our degenerate age, that I was willing to attempt something
to retrieve this part of godliness: And O may the convincing and
sanctifying Spirit of God attend it with his sacred influences, that
those who are called by the sacred name of christian, may never bring a
blemish upon it by deserving the characters of false and unjust!

[The Second Part of this Sermon.]

The next virtue mentioned in my text, is purity; whatsoever things are
pure,—think on these things. The sense of this word αγνα in the Greek,
is extended so far by some critics, as to include temperance in eating
and drinking, as well as chastity and modesty in all our words and
behaviour; and thus it signifies almost the same with sobriety, and
implies a restraint upon all the excessive and irregular appetites that
human nature is subject to. Under these two heads I shall treat of
purity briefly, and shew under each of them how the light of nature, and
how the gospel of Christ requires the practice of it.

I. Temperance in eating and drinking may be included in this command of
purity, for we can hardly suppose the apostle omitted so necessary a
virtue, and it is not mentioned at all, if it be not implied here. It is
not beneath the doctrine of christianity to condescend to give rules
about the most common affairs of human life, even food and raiment. It
is a piece of impurity to imitate the swine, and to gorge ourselves
beyond measure; to give up ourselves to fulfil every luscious appetite,
and every luxurious inclination of the taste.

An indulgence of this sort of vice, what infinite disorders doth it
bring upon mankind! If a man would read the character of a drunkard
painted in very bright and proper colours, and receive the foulest ideas
of it in the fairest oratory, he cannot find a better description than
Prov. xxiii. 29-32. _Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath
contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath
redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek
mixed wine. Look not therefore upon the wine when it is red, when it
giveth its colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright._ Some men in
our age well understand what Solomon here means. _But at the last it
biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder._ The pleasure will be
attended with intolerable pain and mortal injury, when the excess of
liquor shall work like so much venom poured into the veins, and cast
thee into diseases as incurable as the biting of any serpent; it will do
thee more mischief than an adder with all his poison. There are many
that have felt the words of Solomon true, when their voluptuous sins
have been dreadfully recompensed with ruin to their soul and body.

But the inspired writer dwells upon the loathsome subject, and bids us
mark the particular effects of it: _Thine eyes shall behold strange
women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things_; Prov. xxiii. 33.
that is, says a learned paraphrast[30] upon the text, “thy thoughts will
not only grow confused, and all things appear to thee otherwise than
they are; but lustful and adulterous desires will be stirred up, which
thou canst not rule, and thy mouth being without a bridle, will break
forth into unseemly, nay, filthy, scurrilous, or, perhaps, blasphemous
language, without respect to God or man.” Yea, thou shalt be, saith the
wise man, as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that
lieth upon the top of a mast; ver. 34. that is, “Thou wilt sottishly run
thyself into the extremest hazards, without any apprehensions of danger,
being no more able to direct thy course, than a pilot who snores when a
ship is tossed in the midst of the sea; no more able to take notice of
the peril thou art in, than he that falls asleep on the top of a mast,
where he was set to keep the watch.” _They have stricken me_, shalt thou
say, _and I was not sick_; they have beaten me, and I felt it not. When
I shall awake, I will seek it yet again; ver. 35. It is as if the wise
man had said, “That to complete thy misery, thou shalt not only be
mocked, and abused, and beaten, but thou shalt be as senseless as if no
harm had befallen thee: And no sooner wilt thou open thine eyes, but
thou wilt stupidly seek an occasion to be drunk, and be beaten again.”

My friends, have ye never seen a drunkard make that odious figure, in
which Solomon represents him? You find human nature is constant to
itself: It appears now in Britain, just as it is described in the days
of old at Jerusalem in all its vicious excesses. There is a great degree
of likeness between our forefathers’ intemperance, and their children of
late posterity. One would think one such a spectacle as this, or the
mere report of it, with an assurance of the truth, should be enough to
forbid our lips the excess of liquor, and to set a guard upon ourselves
in the hour of temptation.

Not only those who overwhelm themselves with strong drink, and forget
reason and themselves, but those that are mighty to drink wine, have a
severe censure cast upon them, and a curse in the book of God: Is. v.
11. not only _woe to them, that rise up early in the morning, that they
may find strong drink_, and continue till night, till wine inflame them;
but _woe to them that are mighty to drink wine_, even though they are
not utterly overcome by it, to the disorder and disgrace of their
understandings, verse 22. The reason is, because nature will not bear
such a quantity of wine or strong liquors at first; and it is presumed
men have forced nature beyond its original capacity, and thus have grown
up, by degrees of sin, to such a strength in drinking. These are they
that _call evil good and good evil_, and that glory in their shame.

_Hearken to thy father’s advice_, O youth, _and despise not thy mother’s
counsel; hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the
way of temperance. Be not among wine-bibbers, amongst riotous eaters of
flesh_; ver. 19. Youth is greedy of pleasure, and in danger of being
corrupted by it; therefore avoid the society of drunkards and gluttons.
You see they are joined together in the prohibition and threatening of
the word of God, “for the glutton and the drunkard shall both come to
poverty.” A wanton indulgence of the taste will tempt men to revelling
and riot, thence follows a neglect of all business; and many a prodigal,
who had a fair estate, is by this means become a beggar or a prisoner.
Let us be watchful therefore when we sit down at a plentiful table, and
put a knife, as it were, to our throat, if we feel the danger of a sharp
and wanton appetite; let the guard of our virtue be as sharp and active
as our thirst or hunger. Let us not be desirous of feasting ourselves
with dainties, for they too often prove deceitful meat: And though they
are never so tempting to the palate, yet they may disturb the health of
the body, or indispose the mind for the service of virtue. But this
leads me to the next general head, and that is, To consider how the
light of nature condemns this vice, this sort of impurity.

If it were my business to make a flourish with learned citations, it
were an easy matter to bring the Greeks and Romans hither to pass
sentence upon the glutton and the drunkard, and all the luxury of the
taste; for it is too mean an indulgence either for a man or a christian.
It does not become human nature to endanger the welfare of all its
powers, and enslave them all to the single sense of tasting, “I am
greater, says Seneca, and born to greater things, than to be a slave to
this body, or to live merely to become a strainer of meats and drinks.”
The wisest of men, and the best writers of all ages, even in the heathen
nations, have passed their heavy censures on these impure and brutal
follies, whereby we are reduced to the rank of beasts that perish, or
perhaps sunk below them by the practices of intemperance; for there are
but few of that lower rank of creatures, who swill themselves beyond the
demands of nature; or, at least, beyond what nature is able to bear.

Let us argue a little upon this head from the principles of reason, and
consider that the chief designs of food are these two, the support of
our nature, and the refreshment of our spirits. Therefore give food to
him that is hungry, that life may be maintained: Give drink to him that
is thirsty, to assist the supports of life, and to refresh it. Give
strong drink to him that is ready to faint, that his spirits may be
recruited: and wine to him that is heavy of heart, that he may forget
his sorrows; Prov. xxxi. 6, 7. It is evident that every thing, which
goes beyond the mere necessity of nature for its support, does not
presently become sinful; because the refreshment of nature is also one
end and design of our food. Remember that the supports of nature are
designed by the God of nature to make us fit for all the services and
duties of life, and the refreshments of it are ordained by the same
Author of nature, to render us chearful in the discharge of those
duties. The one is necessary to give us a capacity to perform, and the
other proper to render the performance chearful and delightful to us,
and to intermingle our labour with such innocent delights as may awaken
our thankfulness to the bounty of our Creator.

Thence it will follow, that the rich are allowed to furnish their tables
with a variety of pleasing and grateful food; and that feasts designed
for chearful enjoyment of our friends, are by no means forbidden by the
light of reason, or of scripture: For we gain vigour for action, by
having the spirits raised and exhilerated. But it will follow also, that
when we have our choice of what we shall eat or drink, we ought to
determine not merely by pleasure and appetite, nor feed till we are
unfit for service. If we know, or have a good guess beforehand, that
this cup, or this dish, will render us unfit for the proper business of
the day, or incapable of the several duties we are called to; yet if,
for the sake of mere sensuality, we venture upon it, God will number it
among our sins against the light of nature. Those ends therefore for
which God hath ordained our various food, both in his creation and in
his providence, namely, the support of nature, and its refreshment; let
these be our designs in eating, and give rules for our determination
what food we should partake of.

It must be granted indeed, that a sickly person may be indulged in more
solicitude about food, and may make it a matter of more distinguishing
choice than persons vigorous and healthy. But then the great end must
still be kept in the eye, that is, the recovery of strength for future
service, where they are much cut off from present work: For neither the
sick nor the healthy, should live for the sake of eating, but both
should eat for the sake of living and working.

Now if the light of nature requires such purity and temperance, how much
more doth the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ oblige us to it?

I. It is the command of our Redeemer, “that we take heed of surfeiting
and drunkenness, lest our hearts at any time be overcharged with them;”
Luke xxi. 34. And what charge doth the holy apostle give, Eph. v. 18.
_Be not drunken with wine_, wherein is excess, _but be ye filled with
the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual
songs_. Do not be so indulgent to your palate and your glass, as to let
excess of wine overtake you, lest you christians should do as heathens
have done, and break out into irregular songs, and licentious or profane
mirth; but seek rather the largest influences of the blessed Spirit, and
give a sacred loose to a devout frame: Break out into divine psalms or
songs; comfort yourselves, and edify your neighbours thereby. In Rom.
xiii. 13, 14. St. Paul advises us how we should behave ourselves in this
point; _Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and
drunkenness;—but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision
for the flesh, to fulfil it in the lusts thereof._ Put on the spirit of
the gospel, and the ornaments of christianity, and then you cannot for
shame seek the pleasures of the brute, nor sink down into the base
impurities of the animal nature: If you have put on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and are his disciples indeed, then look like christians; let the
very life of Christ be manifest in your lives: Live above these animal
desires, these lower designs of the flesh, which is not the chief nature
of the man, much less should it be the chief end of christians to
gratify it.

II. Let christians consider, that the original ruin of their natures,
soul and body, arose from the indulgence of a foolish appetite. When our
mother Eve saw the fruit of the forbidden tree, she thought it was
pleasant to the eye, and good for food: She tasted it herself, and
tempted Adam to the sin that ruined him and all his offspring. When
therefore a temptation to this sort of guilt appears, let us think of
all the miseries of our fallen state, and not dare to repeat that crime,
which had such dismal consequences. It brought iniquity, pain, and death
into human nature, and begun all that dishonour to God, and all that
mischief among men, that ever was found in this lower world.

III. Every saint ought to have a mortal quarrel with the flesh, because
he carries about the seeds of iniquity in it, and the springs of
perverse appetite which ought always to be kept under, lest our very
spirits become carnal, and we lose our heavenly crown. Therefore saith
the apostle; 1 Cor. ix. 27. _I keep under my body, and bring it under
subjection_, and endeavour to be temperate in all things, that running
in the christian race, I may obtain the prize. It is the business of a
christian to eat and drink in due season, for strength and refreshment,
not for luxury and drunkenness, which Solomon forbids to princes; Eccl.
x. 17. It was an excellent saying of that holy man, Mr. Joseph Allein;
“I sit down to my table not to please my appetite, or to pamper my
flesh, but to maintain a servant of Jesus Christ, that he may be fit for
the Lord’s work.”

IV. The saints should be pure and holy; even in the affairs of the
natural life; for they have meat to eat, that the world knows not of:
they drink of the pleasures that flow from God, and from his covenant;
and therefore should not be over-solicitous about pleasing their meaner
appetites. Those that indulge themselves in carnal delicacies, and make
enquiry for the pleasures of the flesh, as the main business of life,
what shall I eat, and what shall I drink? Those that live in a round of
sensuality, they debase their souls, make themselves unfit for the
duties and pleasures of a christian, unfit for divine communications,
for holy fellowship, heavenly meditation, and lively exercises of faith,
upon unseen things; they damp their zeal for God, blunt their relish for
religious delights, and are perpetually defiling their own consciences.
These are they that _make their God their belly_, while they profess to
be christians. But the apostle, in Phil. iii. 18, 19. tells us,
“whatsoever they profess, _they are enemies of the cross of Christ_, and
I cannot speak of it, says he, without weeping.”

Now if there be any such sinners amongst us, such slaves to a paltry
appetite, that make it a business of too solemn and solicitous enquiry,
“How we shall regale the palate, and gratify the taste:” If there are
any of us that know not how to forbid ourselves a savoury or luscious
dish, even though we know or expect it will discompose the flesh or the
mind: If we have not temperance enough to deny the superfluous or
excessive glass, when it comes to our turn, nor virtue nor courage
enough to refuse it, let us take our share in the reproofs of this
discourse; and let us remember that we have had fair warning this day
from the word of God, that we may not drown our souls in sensual
indulgences, and make ourselves unfit for the duties of life, or for the
business or the joy of heaven.


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXVI.
               _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Temperance_.


                  Is it a man’s divinest good,
                  To make his soul a slave to food?
                  Vile as the beast, whose spirit dies,
                  And has no hope above the skies?

                  Can meats or choicest wines procure
                  Delights that ever shall endure,
                  Was not I born above the swine,
                  And shall I make their pleasures mine?

                  Am I not made for nobler things?
                  Made to ascend on angel’s wings?
                  Shall my best powers be thus debas’d
                  And part with heaven to please my taste?

                  Can I forget the fatal deed,
                  How Eve brought death on all her seed,
                  She tasted the forbidden tree,
                  Anger’d her God, and ruin’d me.

                  Was life designed alone to eat?
                  What is the mouth, or what the meat?
                  Both from the ground derive their birth,
                  And both shall mix with common earth.

                  Great God new-mould my sensual mind
                  And let my joys be more refin’d;
                  Raise me to dwell among the blest,
                  And fit me for thy heavenly feast.

Footnote 30:

  Bishop Patrick.




                             SERMON XXVII.
              _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Chastity_, &c.
 PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are pure, &c.—think on these things.
                             Οσα αγνα, &c.


Purity of heart and life, in the perfect beauty of it, belongs to no man
since our original apostacy. That foul and shameful departure from God,
has rendered us all unholy and unclean. But we are recalled to seek our
ancient glory, by the messengers of heaven, and the ministry of the
gospel. The apostle exhorts us to it in the text. If the word pure be
taken in its largest extent, it may include in it temperance in meats
and drinks, as well as chastity in behaviour. You have heard already a
discourse of temperance, with so hateful an account of the crimes of
gluttony and drunkenness, that I hope my hearers have conceived a sacred
aversion of such sensualities.

Let us now proceed to the second sense implied in the word, and that is,
modesty and chastity of speech and behaviour. This is a most eminent,
and most undeniable part of that purity, which St. Paul here requires;
and this, in many of his epistles he insists upon as necessary, in order
to make up the character of a christian, and render it honourable; and
St. Peter recommends it to the pious women in his day, as a means of the
conversion of their husbands, who were gentiles: _That they who obeyed
not the word of the gospel, might be won to a_ good esteem of
christianity, _while they beheld the chaste conversation of their
wives_; 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2.

This virtue stands in opposition to those several vices, which are
distinguished by different names in scripture, such as adultery,
fornication, lasciviousness. 1. Adultery, when one of the persons who
are guilty of impure embraces, is under the sacred bonds of marriage. By
the commission of this sin there is injury done to another family, and
thus it is not only an offence against the laws of purity, but a
violation of the laws of justice. 2. Fornication, when both the guilty
persons are free and unmarried. It has been sufficiently proved by many
writers, that this is utterly unlawful, however some have attempted to
varnish the guilt, and excuse the crime. 3. Lasciviousness, which
consists in giving a loose to those impure thoughts, words, and actions,
which have an apparent tendency toward the sins before-mentioned.
Besides these, there are other names and instances of unclean
abominations, which I wish could be utterly rooted out from human
nature, by burying them in everlasting silence.

If I were to fetch arguments from reason and the light of nature, I
might make it appear that these things are criminal and contrary to
those rules of morality, which were written in the heart of man. And
perhaps they would have appeared in the same guilty colours to all men,
if the light of nature were not obscured by corrupt passions, and
licentious appetite. The practice of these impure vices is inconsistent
with the great ends for which God has formed our natures, has raised us
above the beasts that perish, and has inclined mankind to form
themselves into societies for mutual benefit. The brutes, who have no
nature superior to the animal are not governed by the same laws. But the
God of nature, who has made us compound beings and (shall I say?) hath
joined an animal and an angel together to make up a man, expects that
the angel should govern the animal in all its natural propensities and
confine it within the rules of religion and the social life.

These vices are also contrary to the solemn ordinances of marriage which
the blessed God instituted in paradise in a state of innocency, and
designed to continue through all generations. If these impurities of
conversation were publicly permitted, all the tender and most engaging
names of relation and kindred, such as father, sister, and brother,
would be confounded, and almost abolished among mankind; and what dismal
consequences would hence ensue? In what helpless circumstances would
children be then brought into this world? And many of the ends of human
society would become frustrate and vain.

I confess indeed, that several of these vices were practised in the
heathen world without any inward remorse of the mind, without private
reproof or public shame. Some of these impurities were allowed by the
laws of their country; some were indulged at festivals, and sometimes
they were mingled with their religious ceremonies, and made part of the
worship of their gods; Idol gods! Abominable religions! Base and
shameful worshippers! _For it is a shame_, saith the apostle, _even to
speak of those things that are done in secret; those unfruitful works of
darkness_: Eph. v. 11, 12. Yet there have been several of the grave, the
sober, and the wisest among the Gentiles, who being constrained by the
mere force of reason, have spoke against these corrupt practises, and
have adorned the virtue of chastity with many honourable encomiums.

But how doubtful soever this duty hath been reckoned among the heathen
nations, yet it is made necessary by the principles of the christian
religion, and a strong and severe guard of prohibitions and threatenings
is set all around to secure the practice of it. Now that I may speak of
this subject as becomes me, and recommend it in language pure and
undefiled, I shall set before you some of these scriptures, that bear
witness against all the violations of it, under the following heads:

I. The express precepts of the law of God demand the first place in this
catalogue of divine testimonies against impurity, for they were
delivered at Mount Sinai to many hundred thousands at once, they were
ushered in with lightning, and pronounced with thunder. Ex. xx. 14.
_Thou shalt not commit adultery._ This is the seventh command: And that
there may not be the least tendency toward this sin, the tenth command
is set as a preservative and defence, _thou shalt not_ so much as _covet
thy neighbour’s wife_, verse 17. In this epitome and sum of the laws of
God, whereby he rules his creatures, which is called the decalogue or
ten commandments, you find this vice of impurity is twice forbidden;
once in the perfect act, and again in the criminal wish and intention.
Observe here, that though the words of these commands directly point to
adultery, yet it appears by the very reason of things, as well as from
other passages of scripture, that all unchaste thoughts, words, and
actions, are here forbidden, as our younger years have been taught in
the catechism.

Nor is this a law that belonged only to the Jews, for the New Testament
mentions and enjoins this command with the rest, which are of equal
force under the gospel. The law forbids all manner of lust, and saith;
_Thou shalt not covet_; Rom. vii. 7. The great apostle puts the
Thessalonians in mind of what he had taught them as the law of Christ. 1
Thess. iv. 2, 3, 4, 5. _For ye know what commandments we gave you by the
Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that
you should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know
how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust
of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God._ It is as
much as if he had said, it is a dishonour to christianity, and a step of
return to heathenism, to give a loose to impure lusts. He repeats the
same thing; Eph. iv. 17-21. “This I say therefore, and testify in the
Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity
of their minds, having the understanding darkened, and being alienated
from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them; because of
the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling, have given
themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with
greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ;” “if so be ye have been
led by him, and taught the truth as it is in Jesus.” In vain ye profess
to have learned the truth as it is in Jesus, or to have put on Christ,
while you practise the same abominations as ye did before, while ye walk
and live as the heathen world.

II. The hateful description of these sins which is given us by the holy
writers, should print the same odious image of them upon our minds, and
for ever forbid the practice. Solomon, a great king, and a man of
excellent wisdom, had well known the mischief and madness of this sort
of vice; he gives his son the most solemn charge against it in various
parts of the book of Proverbs, more especially in the vi. and vii.
chapters, which he spends entirely upon this theme, and in the ii. and
vi. and the ix. chapters, where he applies near half of them to the same
design; wherein after he has shewn the insinuating flatteries of the
wanton woman he never fails to give notice of the terrible attendants of
those that follow her. _For her house inclines to death, and her paths
unto the dead; none that go to her return again, neither take they hold
of the paths of life._ There is scarce any iniquity that does so
effectually harden the heart, and prevent all repentance. _Let not thine
heart therefore decline to her ways; go not astray in her paths: For she
has cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men have been slain by her:
Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death._ This
leads me to the next particular.

III. If we consider the dismal effects of these impure practices, as
they are recorded in sacred history, they should keep our souls awake,
and keep us always to the watch, lest we be ensnared. Behold Sampson the
strongest of men, who was a holy Nazarite, and devoted to God; how was
he brought down shamefully from the heights of his glory to prison and
slavery, to blindness and death by the love of strange women! Behold the
Jewish hero lying like a thoughtless fool upon the lap of Delilah, while
the _seven sacred locks of his head were shaven_, and his divine
strength _went from him, for the Lord departed_! Behold the wretched
captive with his eyes bored out by the Philistines, bound with fetters
of brass, and grinding in the prison-house! Behold the man who was once
their terror, now become their sport, their mockery, and their
laughing-stock in the house of Dagon their god: See him there crushed to
pieces, and expiring under the weight of his own revenge upon his
Philistine enemies; and all this for the love of a harlot! Mark the
mischiefs, the calamities, and the bloodshed that pursued the house of
David, when adultery and guilt in the matter of Uriah had provoked his
God! See how sin and death made wide inroads into his household! See
there his son Amnon slain by his brother Absalom for the folly he had
wrought in Israel, and the incest with his sister Tamar? Think of
Solomon the wisest of men, whose heart was enticed away by strange women
from the God and religion of his fathers, when he paid such profane and
criminal regard to the idols of his mistresses, as to build temples for
them near the temple of Jehovah; and “the Lord was angry with Solomon,
when his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and he rent the
kingdom from him in the days of his son Rehoboam,” and made a long and
fatal separation between the tribes of Israel for many generations. And,
to name no more, turn your eyes to Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of
the plain, _giving themselves over to fornication, and going after
strange flesh_; mark how the Lord _rained fire and brimstone out of
heaven upon them_, and they are _set forth for an example suffering the
vengeance of eternal fire_; Jude 7.

IV. Think of the dreadful threatenings that are denounced against impure
sinners in the word of God, and you will find these are flaming
witnesses against their practice; Hos. iv. 1-5, “The Lord hath a
controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because of killing,
stealing, and adultery: therefore shall the land mourn.” And God seems
to forbid the prophets to give them reproof, as though he resolved to
destroy them. _Let no man strive and reprove another._ His mercy and
forgiveness seem to be put to a stand; Jer. v. 7, 9. “How shall I pardon
thee for this? saith the Lord; thy children have forsaken me when I fed
them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves
in troops in the harlots’ houses. Shall I not visit them for these
things, saith the Lord? and shall not my soul be avenged on such a
nation as this?” When the apostle Paul had represented this sort of vice
in 1 Cor. vi. 18, 19. “as a defilement of the body, which is the temple
of God, and the habitation of the Holy Spirit;” he adds this word of
terror; iii. 17. “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God
destroy; for the temple of God is and ought to be holy,” and not kept as
a nest for unclean vermin. “Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who indulge vile impurities, shall
inherit the kingdom of God;” 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. _Such were some of you_,
indeed, says St. Paul to his converts, _but ye are washed and
sanctified_ from these pollutions, or you could never have been saved.
Therefore saith the same holy writer, “let neither fornication, nor any
unclean practices be so much as once named amongst you as becometh
saints;” that is, let them never be named without abhorrence. “For this
ye know, that no whoremonger, nor any unclean person, nor covetous man
who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of
God. Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things
cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience;” Eph. v. 3-6.
The visions of St. John in the book of the Revelation, pronounce the
doom of _whoremongers_ with the rest of notorious sinners, and give them
“their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is
the second death;” Rev. xxi. 8. How impiously bold are those sinners,
who dare venture through all these terrors to gratify a sensual
appetite! Who can rush upon the point of the avenging sword of God, and
plunge themselves into everlasting burnings, to taste the deceitful
baits of impure and forbidden pleasure!

Before I conclude this head, I would just hint a few directions to those
who would preserve their modesty and virtue, and prevail against all
temptations to impurity.

1. Set a severe watch upon your eyes and your heart. Keep all the powers
of nature under a proper discipline, and guard all the avenues of the
soul. Secure your senses without, and your fancy within, as much as
possible, from all allurements of this kind. Let us remember that sin
often begins in the imagination, and therefore we must establish a
strict guard upon our roving thoughts, and reduce them when they first
begin to go astray. We must lay a strong chain of restraint upon those
endless wanderers; for our Saviour himself tells us, Out of the heart
proceed adulteries and fornications, which defile the man; Mat. xv. 19.

We must make a self-denying covenant with our eyes, that we may not look
upon temptation, lest we be led astray from the paths of purity. Our
blessed Lord himself gives us a sufficient caution, when he explains the
seventh commandment; Mat. v. 28. _I say unto you that whosoever looketh
on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already
in his heart._ When our Saviour forbids a wanton look, he requires that
we put a veil upon our eyes, lest like wandering stars or foolish fires
they betray us into foul and miry pits of pollution, or lead us to deep
and dangerous pollutions.

Avoid all impure representations, pictures, and images: Turn your eyes
from immodest sights, and your ears from polluted language, whether it
be in discourse, or writing, a lewd jest, or a wanton song. Let them not
entertain you, though they may be attended and adorned with never so
many colours of wit, and charms of music. Romances and novels, and
invented stories of forbidden love, have painted over these impurities
with shining eloquence, and awakened the same foolish passions in the
reader. O how unhappily has the art of verse, which was first
consecrated to the service of the temple, been prostituted to the vilest
purposes, to give gay colours to temptation, and gild over the foulest
images of iniquity! And what a multitude of souls may date the
commencement of their guilt and ruin from the time when they began to
frequent the poisonous entertainments of the stage! Their ears which
were shocked at first with some of the coarse and foul expressions of
modern comedy, by degrees are hardened to bear the most offensive
language: Their modesty and blushing dies and vanishes by degrees, till
at last they learn to relish the grossest pollutions of the theatre, and
perhaps put the fable into practice.

As faith and salvation come by hearing, so iniquity and everlasting
death come sometimes by hearing too. And what we would not hear, surely
we should not speak. Let us then set a guard upon our tongues, lest they
border upon forbidden language. _No filthiness, no foolish talking, no
corrupt communication must proceed out of our mouths_; Eph. iv. 29. and
v. 4. We should not affect those speeches of a double meaning, which
lead the thoughts away to lewd and wanton conceits, and make foul
impressions upon the mind. Let your ears hate to be treated with such
indecencies, nor let our lips dare to treat others so.

2. Do not make too rich provisions for the feeding of the flesh; indulge
not yourselves on the delicacies of the taste, nor in the luxury of
excessive sleep: Both of these may incline animal nature to licentious
desires: Stand afar off from gluttony and excess of wine, nor pamper the
body beyond the just support, and due refreshment of nature. The holy
apostle in his prohibitions, couples “chambering and wantonness with
rioting and drunken practice;” Rom. xiii. 13. and calls them all works
of darkness. It is a good remark of Kempis, a devout papist in former
days, “Bridle the appetites of the palate, get a sovereignty over them,
and you will be better able to master every other appetite.”

3. Always employ yourselves in something innocent and useful, that may
engage the powers of the body, or the mind, or both, that so temptation
may never find you idle. The springs of the sin of Sodom were _fulness
of bread, and abundance of idleness_; therefore they grew _haughty, and
committed abomination before the Lord_; Ezek. xvi. 49, 50. This is an
advice of Jerome, one of the christian fathers. Be still doing some
work, that the devil, when he comes to tempt, may always find thee busy.
Where you are in danger of these sins, put yourselves upon a necessity
of diligence all the day, that you may have no time nor room for wild
imaginations nor impure indulgences.

4. Avoid the seasons, the places, and the objects of temptation, as far
as it is consistent with the necessary duties of life: For he that hath
no caution about him, and is not afraid of being tempted, he is not
acquainted with human weakness, nor is he so much afraid of sin as he
ought to be.

5. Maintain an everlasting and awful sense of the presence of God thy
Maker, thy Governor, and thy Judge. Remember the Lord beholds the secret
workings of the heart, and the foul practices of darkness and midnight.
There is not a place where the eye of God cannot come. What an
honourable character hath young Joseph acquired in the word of God, and
his name stands recorded with renown in divine history through all ages,
for his flight from the allurements of an immodest woman: The guard
which he continually placed upon his virtue, was the all-seeing eye of
heaven. “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Gen.
xxxix. 9.

6. Get those scriptures written in your hearts, and ready at all times
in your memories, which may be the most effectual antidotes and
preservatives against all forbidden pleasure. This was the ancient
practise of the saints. Ps. cxix. 11. “Thy word have I hid in my heart,
that I might not sin against thee.” The word of God is the sword of the
Spirit, to put to flight, and to slay whole armies of iniquity.

7. Fly daily to the mercy-seat for divine aid: Commit thy soul and body
to the keeping of Christ; he is exalted and authorized to take care of
sinners, who make him their refuge: he is also compassionate and ready
to succour the tempted. There is cleansing virtue in the blood of Christ
to wash away the foulest guilt, and to sprinkle the conscience of the
humble penitent with peace and pardon: and there is all-sufficient power
and grace with him to subdue the most raging vices. Make haste to him by
humble faith, and most importunate prayer: Continue instant at the
throne: Never rest till he hath by his providence and his grace
delivered you from the dangerous temptation, or made you conqueror over
the sin that easily besets you. There are a thousand souls in heaven,
who were once conflicting here with the same impure temptations, but
they gained the victory by the blood and Spirit of Christ, and are made
more than conquerors through him who hath loved them.

I fear I have trespassed upon my hearers, in dwelling thus long on this
dangerous theme. It is time to retire, and end my discourse. Those who
have a mind to be better furnished with weapons and divine armour
against these enemies of purity and virtue, I would recommend to them
three books, where they may find abundant provision: And these are Mr.
Ostervald’s Treatise of Uncleanness, Mr. Henry’s Four Discourses against
immorality, and Mr. Baxter’s Christian Directory, tome 1 chap. 8. part
5. And may the holy and pure Spirit, who attended at the baptism of our
Saviour in the form of a dove, which is an emblem of chastity, may he
give these waters of the sanctuary a divine efficacy to purify the souls
of polluted sinners, and to guard the innocent and the tempted from
these dangerous pollutions!


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXVII.
                _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Chastity._


                    The lord, how great his majesty,
                      How pure are all his ways,
                    Sinners unclean offend his eyes,
                      Nor stand before his face.

                    Thou hast ordain’d immortal woes,
                      And everlasting fire,
                    To be the just reward of those
                      Who follow loose desire.

                    I hear, I read the dreadful doom
                      Of Sodom; in thy word;
                    And dares a feeble worm presume
                      Thus to provoke the Lord?

                    Dear Saviour, guard me by thy grace,
                      From thoughts and words unclean,
                    Nor let temptation gain success
                      To draw my soul to sin.




                             SERMON XXVIII.
         _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _a Lovely Carriage_, &c.
  PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are lovely——think on these things.
                           Οσα προσφιλη, &c.


Man was a lovely creature in his first formation and innocence, however
he has been debased and dishonoured by the fall. Now there is nothing in
all the religion of Christ but what tends to restore man to the
excellencies of his original state, or to exalt him above them, and to
render him all over amiable. To this end truth and sincerity are
recommended to him in the gospel, with a venerable decency in all his
conduct. To this end he is required to practise justice to his
neighbour, and to keep himself pure and chaste from all the vices of
sensuality. Thus far we have proceeded in improving the text. And the
man who has attained thus far, has many lovely qualities belonging to
him, such as lay a foundation for a good report, and deserve our
praises.

Yet there are many things in human conversation, which do not directly
fall under the commands of truth and gravity, justice and purity: These
the apostle recommends to the Philippians, under the following
characters, _viz._ things that are lovely, that are of good report,
deeds of virtue, and worthy of praise.

The things that are lovely, are such as look well among men, and have a
good appearance in the eyes of the world: Those things that gain the
love of our fellow-creatures: Not merely such religious practices, as
make us beloved by fellow-christians, but such a temper and conduct as
commands the esteem and respect even of the ungodly, and those that
profess not strict religion. This ought to be the carriage of the saints
of the Most High, they should practise those things that are grateful
and pleasing to human nature, so far as innocence allows: those things
that may recommend our conversation to our neighbours, and procure the
love of all men. Is it not a very desirable thing to have it said of any
particular christian, all that know him love him; he hath no enemies but
those that are unacquainted with him, unless it be such as hate him upon
the same ground as the devil doth, and that is because of his piety and
goodness? But to explain this more fully, and impress it with more power
upon every one of our consciences, I will descend to particular
instances of a lovely carriage. And here I shall mention but these few,
_viz._ prudence, moderation, humility, meekness, patience, and love.

I. Prudence is a lovely quality. This teaches us to speak every word,
and perform every action of life at a proper time, in the proper place,
and toward the proper person. It is prudence that distinguishes our
various behaviour toward our fellow-creatures, according to their
different ranks and degrees among mankind, or the different relations in
which we stand to them. It is a very desirable excellency to know when
it is proper to speak, and when it is best to keep silence; at what
seasons, and in what company we should awaken our zeal, and exert our
active powers; or when we should hide ourselves, or put a bridle upon
our lips, and sit still, and hear.

Prudence is of infinite use in all the affairs of life and religion: Nor
is there any hour of the day, nor any place wherein we spend that hour,
whether alone or in public, but gives occasion for some exercise of this
virtue. It does not belong to human nature to possess this in
perfection: Perfect prudence dwells with God alone, God the most lovely
of beings: He that comes nearest to it, is the wisest of men, and he
gains the love and high esteem of all that are near him; for his conduct
in life is of singular advantage to those that converse with him, as
well as to himself. This man is consulted by his friends as an earthly
oracle, and by his advice he saves many from ruin. Thus he wins and
wears their honour and their love.

There are many good qualities both of the natural and moral kind that
must meet together, to make up a prudent man. He must be furnished with
a memory of things past, and with just and proper observations made upon
them, that he may know how to improve every opportunity and occurrence
of life to the best purposes when the same occasions return. There is no
prudence without some degrees of experience. But experience alone is not
sufficient; he should have also a wide extent of soul, and be able to
take a large and comprehensive survey of the concurrent circumstances of
things present: And he must be blessed with a solid judgment, that by
putting many things at once into the balance, he may find which
outweighs the rest, and determine his present conduct thereby. He must
have a degree of sagacity, to foresee future events, according to the
usual consequences of things in this mortal state. The prudent man
foresees the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are
punished; Prov. xxii. 3. that is, They suffer for their want of prudence
and foresight. And besides all these, he should be a man of firm and
steady resolution to go through difficulties, and to put in practice
what his judgment has determined.

Rash and ungoverned passions are great enemies of this virtue. Both
these push a man onward to a hasty and irregular conduct. His lips
multiply folly, and his hands practise it through the impatience of his
spirit. His unguarded talk, and precipitant actions plunge himself into
snares, and sometimes involve his acquaintance in the same mischief.

There are other characters also inconsistent with prudence, such as an
unthinking and an unsteady temper. The thoughtless person lives at a
venture, walks always at random, and seems to aim at nothing. He enjoys
the present hour indeed, talking and acting according to the mere
appearances of things. He is content with a slight sudden view of any
thing without recollection or forethought; and in a most literal sense
takes no thought for the morrow. The fickle and inconstant man, he may
aim at something indeed, and have honest designs in his head, but is
ever changing the means to attain them, and pursues nothing with that
steadiness that prudence requires, or that the necessity of human
affairs demands of every man that would be wise and happy. Such men may
be pitied as weak and silly, but they are seldom esteemed, or much
beloved in the world, while prudence is so much wanting.

There is no necessity that I should cite special parts of the word of
God, to encourage us to seek this most amiable quality, since the
recommendations of true wisdom, both human and divine, are scattered up
and down through all the sacred writings: And the Spirit of God has
given us one or two books on purpose to teach us prudence; these are
Ecclesiastes and the Proverbs of Solomon. Nor can I propose any better
direction to gain universal wisdom, that to read the book of Proverbs
often with diligence and humble prayer.

II. Moderation is another lovely quality. It teaches us to maintain a
medium between those wild extremes, into which human nature is ready to
run upon every occasion.

When a warm and imprudent talker adorns some common character with
excessive praises, and carries it up to the stars; the moderate man puts
in a cautious word, and thinks it is sufficient to raise it half so
high. Or when he hears a vast and unreasonable load of accusation and
infamy thrown upon some lesser mistakes in life, the moderate man puts
in a soft word of excuse, lightens the burden of reproach, and relieves
the good name of the sufferer from being pressed to death. When he sees
oppression and violence practised among his neighbours, the justice of
his soul directs him to take the part of the injured person, and his own
moderation and goodness inclines him to do it in such a manner, as may
calm and suppress the resentment of the oppressed, and soften and melt
the oppressor into compliance with the rules of justice. Thus he
reconciles them both, without giving offence to either.

When any sects of christians seem to be carried away with the furious
torrent of some prevailing notions, or some unnecessary practices, some
special superstition, or a contentious spirit, the moderate man tries to
shew how much of truth and goodness may be found amongst each party,
where all agree to hold Christ Jesus the head; though he dares not
renounce a grain of truth or necessary duty, for the sake of peace, and
he would contend earnestly, where providence calls him, for the
essential articles of faith which were once delivered to the saints; for
he knows the wisdom that is from above is first pure, and then
peaceable; James iii. 17. Yet he takes this occasion to prove that some
truths or some practices, are articles of less importance to the
christian life; that they are not worthy of such unchristian quarrels;
and thus he attempts, as far as possible, to reconcile the angry
disputers. Sometimes he has the happiness to shew them both that they
fight in the dark; he explains their opinions and their contests, and
puts the best sense upon both of them: And when he hath brought them
into the light, he makes it appear that they are friends and brethren;
and that religion and the gospel are safe on both sides, if they would
dwell together without fighting, but that it is sorely endangered by
their battles. So St. Paul dealt with the Jewish and gentile christians,
and assured them that they both belonged to the kingdom of God, and the
church of Christ, though they quarrelled about flesh, and herbs, and
holy-days. How lovely, how glorious, how desirable is such a character
as this!

I confess when a party-spirit runs high among the different sects of
religion, or the different divisions of mankind, this most amiable
virtue is called by the scandalous names of indifferency, and
lukewarmness, and trimming; and it sustains a world of reproaches from
both the quarrelling parties. Moderation, though it is the blessed
principle, which awakens and assists men to become peace-makers, yet at
the same time when it enters into the battle to divide the contenders,
it receives an unkind stroke from either side. This the reconciler
expects, and he bears it for the sake of union and love.

The moderate man in cases of private property or interest, does not
insist upon the utmost of his own right with a stiff and unyielding
obstinacy, but abates of his just pretensions for the sake of peace; and
what he practises himself, he persuades others to practise in the like
contests. This is that moderation and gentleness, which the great
apostle recommends a few verses before my text. Phil. iv. 5. _Let your
moderation be known unto all men._ And our blessed Lord himself gives
the moderate man this illustrious encomium, blessed are the meek, who
submit rather than quarrel, for they shall inherit the earth. _Blessed
are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God_;
Mat. v. 5-9. Happy souls whom the God of truth, and the God of peace,
acknowledges for his children, and to whom he promises a large
inheritance!

And let it be observed also, that whatsoever hard usage the sons of
peace may meet with, while the ferment of parties is hottest, and the
storm is high, yet when the clamour and rage are sunk and calm, when the
party-fury hath spent itself, and is grown cool enough to suffer men to
bethink themselves, and to see all things in their true colours, then
the man of moderation stands approved of men as well as of God; the
divine virtue appears in its own lovely form, and receives a becoming
share of honour.

III. Humility is a lovely virtue. It is beautiful and becoming for a man
to divest himself of all affected grandeur, and not to exalt his head
above his neighbour. O that we were all clothed with humility! It is an
ornament that becomes sinners well. Let us put it on with our daily
raiment, and strive to vie with each other which shall practise this
grace in the greatest perfection.

How unlovely a carriage is it to boast ourselves of any superior quality
we possess, or to assume lofty airs, because we have more money than our
neighbours! To aggrandize ourselves in our own esteem, in our own
language, in our behaviour, because we fancy ourselves to be better
dressed, or better fed than our fellow-creatures! And if we have a
little honour put upon us by the providence of God, it is a criminal
vanity for us to grow haughty and insolent upon that account. I am in
pain whensoever I hear a man treat his servant as he does his dog: as
though a poor man were not made of the same clay, nor born of the same
ancient race as his master: As though Adam, whose name is dust, was not
our common father, or a lord had not the same original as other men.

Nay, the nobler possessions of the mind, ingenuity and learning, and
even grace itself, are no sufficient ground for pride. It is a comely
thing to see a man exalted by many divine gifts, and yet abasing
himself. It is a lovely sight to behold a person well adorned with
virtue and merit, and glorified in the mouths of all men, and yet
concealing himself: To see a man of shining worth drawing, as it were, a
curtain before himself, that the world might not see him, while the
world do what they can to do him justice, and draw aside the veil to
make his merit visible. Not that a man of worth is always bound to
practise concealment; this would be to rob mankind of the blessing God
has designed for them, and to wrap up his talents, in the unprofitable
napkin. But there are occasions wherein a worthy and illustrious person
may be equally useful to the world, and yet withdraw himself from public
applause. This is the hour to make his humility appear.

How graceful and engaging is it in persons of title and quality to stoop
to those that are of a mean degree, to converse freely at proper seasons
with those that are poor and despicable in the world, to give them leave
to offer their humble requests, or sometimes to debate a point of
importance with them: Not all the dignity of their raiment can render
them half so honourable as this condescension does; for nothing makes
them so much like God. The High and Holy One, who inhabits eternity,
stoops down from heaven to visit the afflicted, and to dwell with the
poor. And surely, when we set ourselves before the divine Majesty, we
are meaner and more contemptible in his eyes, than it is possible for
any fellow-creature to be in ours; he humbles himself to behold princes.

It must be allowed indeed, that where God and the world have placed any
person in a superior station, and given him a sensible advancement above
his fellow-creatures, he is not bound to renounce the honours that are
his due, nor to act beneath the dignity of his character and state. This
would be to confound all the beautiful order of things in the natural,
civil, and religious life. But there are cases and seasons that often
occur, when great degrees of humility may be practised without danger of
sinking one’s own character, or doing a dishonour to our station in the
world. There is an art of maintaining state with an air of modesty, nor
is there any need to put on haughty and scornful airs, in order to
secure the honours of a tribunal, or the highest offices of magistracy.
I have known a man who acted in an exalted station with so much
condescension and candour, that all men agreed to love and honour him so
far, that it was hard to say, whether he was most honoured, or most
beloved.

How amiable a behaviour is it in younger persons, when respect is paid
to age, and the honour is given to the hoary head that nature and
scripture join to require; Lev. xix. 32. “Thou shalt rise up before the
hoary head, and honour the face of the old man: and fear thy God: I am
the Lord. Though the character of the aged person, in respect of riches,
quality, and learning, may be much inferior, yet the wisdom that is
naturally supposed to be derived from long experience, lays a foundation
for this superior honour. And I look upon it as a part of the shame and
just reproach of our day, that there is such a licentious insolence
assumed by youth to treat their elders with contempt. But so much the
more lovely is the carriage of those who, in spite of evil custom, treat
old age with reverence, and abhor the pert and petulant indignities that
some of their companions cast upon the writings and counsels of their
ancestors.”

And here I beg leave also humbly to admonish my fathers, that they
practise the lovely grace of condescension, when they converse with
those that are young. I entreat them to permit a youth of an inquisitive
genius, to propose an argument for some farther improvement of
knowledge, or to raise an objection against an established doctrine, and
not to answer him with an imperious frown, or with the reproaches of
heresy or impertinence. I beseech them to indulge the rising generation
in some degrees of freedom of sentiment, and to offer some demonstration
for their own opinions, besides their authority, and the multitude of
their years. The apostle Peter’s advice may be addressed to persons of
all ages and characters; 1 Pet. v. 5. _Ye younger, submit yourselves to
the elder: Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed
with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the
humble._ If we have more knowledge than others, how lovely is our
conduct, when we teach and instruct them, not like sovereigns of their
faith, and dictators to their understanding, but in a way of friendly
conversation, and mutual improvement? If any thing occurs to be debated,
it is a sign of modesty to yield to the force of argument, and not to
resolve before-hand to be infallible and obstinate, as though we were
exempted from the common frailty of human nature, and free from all
possibility of mistake. While we are arguing with others, in order to
convince them, how graceful a thing it is, when we have the power of the
argument on our own side, to keep ourselves from insult and triumph! how
engaging a behaviour toward our opponent, when we seem to part as though
we were equal in the debate, while it is evident to all the company,
that the truth lies wholly on our side!

Yet I will own there are seasons, when the obstinate and the assuming
disputant should be made to feel the force of an argument, by displaying
it in its victorious and triumphant colours: But this is seldom to be
practised, so as to insult the opposite party, except in cases where
they have shewn a haughty and insufferable insolence. Some persons
perhaps can hardly be taught humility without being severely humbled;
and yet where there is need of this chastisement, I had rather any other
hand should be employed in it than mine.

IV. Meekness is another of the lovely graces. This is contrary to wrath
and malice, and all the angry passions, as humility stands in opposition
to pride. As there are generally some secret workings of pride in the
heart, when a man gives indulgence to his wrathful passions; so where a
person has thoroughly learned the practice of humility, the grace of
meekness is easily attained, and indeed it seems to be a necessary
consequent of it.

How lovely is the character of a man, who can hear himself censured and
reviled, without reviling again! Who can sustain repeated affronts,
without kindling into flame and fury. Who has learned to bear injuries
from his fellow-creatures, and yet withhold himself from meditating
revenge! He can sit and hear a strong opposition made to his sentiments,
without conceiving an affront: He can bear to be contradicted without
resenting: And as he never loves to give offence to any man, so neither
is he presently offended. It is only the more peevish and feeble pieces
of human nature, that are ready to take offence at trifles, and many
times they make their own foolish jealousies a sufficient ground for
their indignation.

We cannot expect to pass through the world, and find every thing
peaceful and pleasant in it. All men will not be of our mind, nor agree
to promote our interest. There are savages in this wilderness, which
lies in our way to the heavenly Canaan; and we must sometimes hear them
roar against us. Divine courage will enable us to walk onward without
fear, and meekness will teach us to pass by without resenting. We should
learn to feel many a spark of angry fire falling upon us, from the
tongues of others, and yet our hearts should not be like tinder ready to
catch the flame, and to return the blaze. The meek christian, at such a
season, possesses his soul in patience, as good David did, when Shimei
sent his malice and his curses after him: The saint at that time was in
an humble temper, and said, _Let Shimei curse_. We should not _render
evil for evil_, but according to the sacred direction of scripture,
endeavour to _overcome evil with good_; Rom. xii. 21.

Anger is not utterly forbidden to the christian; yet happy is he that
has the least occasion for it. In Eph. iv. 26. the apostle gives this
rule: _Be ye angry, and sin not._ As if he would have said, when the
affairs of life seem to require a just resentment and anger, look upon
it as a dangerous moment, and watch against a sinful excess. Let us
never give a wild loose to our wrath, but always hold the reins of
government with a strong hand, lest it break out into forbidden
mischief. When we give ourselves leave to be offended, let the anger
appear to be directed against the sin of the offender, if possible, more
than against his person.

Let our anger be well-timed, both as to the season and the length of it.
The seasons of it should be very uncommon; a christian should seldom
awaken his anger, and the continuance of it must be very short. _Let not
the sun go down upon your wrath, nor give place to the devil_; Eph. iv.
26, 27. The long sullen resentment which is practised by some persons,
carried on from day to day with a gloomy silence, and now and then
venting itself in a spiteful word, or a sly reproach, is by no means
becoming the name and spirit of a christian. This is _giving place to
the devil_, and making room for him to lodge in our hearts. This is as
much contrary to meekness, as a short and sudden fury is, and perhaps
carries in it a guilt more aggravated in the sight of God.

Yet neither should our anger indulge itself in loud and noisy practises,
nor fill the house with a brawling sound. _It is better to dwell in a
corner of the house-top, than to cohabit in a palace with such a
brawling companion of life_; Prov. xxi. 9. And the wise man has repeated
it again in the xxv. chapter, as a matter worthy of a double notice. St.
Paul forbids this practice to the Ephesians: _Let all bitterness, and
wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you,
with all malice_; Eph. iv. 31.

Nor should our resentments carry us to any cruel practices. The word of
God spends its curses upon such sort of anger; Gen. xlix. 7. _Cursed be
the wrath of Simeon, for it was fierce, and the anger of Levi, for it
was cruel._ You know what mischiefs it hurried them into, even to foul
treachery and murder, and the destruction of a whole country. The grace
of meekness is an enemy to all these practices, and a happy preservative
from them.

V. Patience is a lovely virtue. I am not now speaking of that religious
exercise of it, which consists in a humble submission to the providences
of God, without repining at his hand, or sending up our murmurs against
heaven; but a patient conduct to our fellow-creatures, is the thing
which I chiefly design here to recommend.

When some persons stand in need of any of the necessaries or
conveniences of life, they must be supplied first, they can brook no
delay; let all the world stand by waiting till they are served; and
their anger is quickly kindled if their affairs are not dispatched in a
moment. They make no allowances for the necessities or conveniences of
others; nor for the various accidents that attend human life, which may
stop the speed of the most diligent servant, and constrain him
unwillingly to delay his message or his work. But the patient christian
considers all things; desires but his share of the attendance of his
fellow-creatures, and waits without clamour till the proper season. He
makes wise and kind allowances for every incident of life that may give
just occasion to a delay; and gains the love of all that are about him
by his most engaging carriage.

How lovely is it to see a teacher waiting upon those that are slow of
understanding, and taking due time and pains to make the learner
conceive what he means, without upbraiding him with his weakness, or
reproaching him with the names of stupid and senseless? This is to
imitate God, the God of long suffering and patience, _Who giveth wisdom
to all that ask, and upbraideth not_; James i. 5. The patient man
attends and waits upon those that are slow of speech, and hears an
argument fully proposed before he makes his reply. This is an honourable
and lovely character; _But he that answereth a matter before he heareth
it, it is folly and shame unto him_; Prov. xviii. 13. Perhaps he is
utterly mistaken in the objection which his friend was going to make,
then he is justly put to the blush for his folly and impatience.

The virtue of patience teaches us to be calm and easy toward our
fellow-creatures, while we sustain sharp and continued afflictions from
the hand of God. It is the unhappy conduct of some christians, that when
the great God puts them under any sore trial or chastisement, they are
angry with all their friends around them, and scatter abroad their
discontents in the family, and many times make them fall heaviest upon
their most intimate friends. If one were to search this matter to the
bottom, we should find the spring of it is an impatience at the
sovereign hand of God; but because their christianity forbids them to
vent their uneasiness at heaven, they divert the stream of their
resentment, and make their fellow-creatures feel it: So a piece of
unripe fruit pressed with a heavy weight from above, scatters its sour
juice on every thing that stands near it, and gives a just emblem of the
impatient christian.

But what a lovely sight is it to behold a person burdened with many
sorrows, and perhaps his flesh upon him has pain and anguish, while his
soul mourns within him; yet his passions are calm; he possesses his
spirit in patience, he takes kindly all the relief that his friends
attempt to afford him, nor does he give them any grief or uneasiness but
what they feel through the force of mere sympathy and compassion? Thus,
even in the midst of calamities, he knits the hearts of his friends
faster to himself, and lays greater obligations upon their love by so
lovely and divine a conduct under the weight of his heavy sorrows.

VI. Love to mankind in the various branches of it, is a most lovely
quality, and well becomes a christian.

Should I speak of love in the heart, which ever thinks the best
concerning others, and wishes and seeks their welfare and happiness:
Should I speak of it as it works on the tongue, and appears in all
friendly language, whether the object be present or afar off: Should I
describe it as it discovers itself in the hand of assistance and bounty,
to relieve the poor and helpless: Each of these would yield sufficient
matter for a whole discourse; and this grace would appear lovely in all
its forms. It is a pain to my thoughts to omit it here: Methinks I can
hardly tell how to let it go without large encomiums: Nor could I
prevail with myself to pass it over now with so brief a mention, if I
did not design to employ an hour or two on this subject hereafter.

[The Second Part of this Sermon.]

I proceed to shew how the very light of nature recommends every
agreeable and obliging character; every lovely quality that is found
among mankind; and reason exhorts us to the acquirement and practice of
it.

I. Our own interest directs us to it. It is a natural good quality, and
a most useful thing to desire the love of others, to seek the favour of
our fellow-creatures. It is a very lawful ambition to covet the
good-will of those with whom we converse; and to pursue such practices
as may procure us a place in their good opinion and friendship. We who
are born for society, must naturally desire to stand well with mankind;
and that our neighbours should wish our welfare, should treat us with
decency, and civility, and love; should assist our interest, and do us
good when we stand in need of them: And if so, then the rule of justice
obliges us to practise the same towards them, which we desire they
should practise towards us. The more we exercise of _humility_,
_meekness_, _patience_, _charity_, and _good-will_ towards our
neighbours, the more reason have we to expect the same returns of a
lovely carriage from them. And it is no small advantage in life, for a
person to be much beloved. When he falls under sudden distresses, every
man is ready to relieve him, when he meets with perplexing difficulties
he has the ready assistance of multitudes at his command, because he
hath many lovers.

II. It is a most generous character, and the sign of a great and good
soul, to delight to please those with whom we converse. It is a lovely
sight to behold a person solicitous to make all around about him easy
and happy. Such amiable souls as these it is a frequent practice, and a
pleasure to them, to contradict, their own natural inclinations, in
order to serve the desires, or the interest of their friends. Happy
temper! that finds so much satisfaction in this self-denial, that the
very virtue loses its name, and it becomes but another sort of
self-pleasing. Such persons are in pain, when they find their friends
hard to be pleased, and they suffer sometimes too much uneasiness in
themselves, because of the perverse humours of those they converse with.
This uneasiness indeed may arise to a criminal excess, but the spring of
it has something amiable. I could wish every soul of us would learn a
lovely carriage. For,

III. It makes us resemble God himself. And yet there are some that will
be selfish and churlish, that will practise the furious or the peevish
passions, through some reigning principle of pride, or covetousness,
impatience, or envy. There are some that delight in vexing their
fellow-creatures, and in giving them torment and pain. Part of these
qualities make us a-kin to brutes of the worser kind, when we take care
of none but self, and are regardless of neighbour’s welfare. “If self be
healthy and rich, easy and honoured, it is no matter though the rest of
the world sustain sickness, and poverty, and scandal.” Others of these
unlovely characters approach nearer to the spirit of the devil, who
takes delight in torturing his fellow-creatures, and doing what mischief
he can amongst men.

But it is a God-like temper to take a sweet satisfaction in diffusing
our goodness, and in pleasing and in serving all that are near us. _Let
us then be followers of God as dear children_; Eph. v. i. He is the
original beauty, he is the loveliest and the best of beings. To be good,
and to do good, is a divine perfection, and let us remember it is a
perfection that may be imitated too. _He causes his sun to rise, and his
rain to fall on the just and on the unjust, and fills the hearts_ even
of the evil as well as the good _with food and gladness_, when he _gives
them fruitful seasons_; Acts xiv. 17. Let us not dare then to be rough
and quarrelsome, and sullen, and ill-natured, while we profess to be his
offspring. Let there be something lovely in our whole temper and
conduct, while we pretend to be imitators of the God of love. And does
the light of nature furnish us with all these motives for a lovely
carriage? then surely the light of scripture enforces them all. The
gospel obliges christians to this practice by much stronger arguments,
and it lays on us more substantial obligations.

I. The blessed and ever glorious Trinity, the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit, give us in the gospel a divine example of this practice.
Has God, the great and glorious God, manifested a lovely conduct in his
works of creation, and his ways of providence; how much more glorious a
pattern has he set us in the transactions of his redeeming love! What
condescension hath he here shewn! What gentleness! what patience and
forbearance! what forgiveness! what infinite and endless discoveries of
grace has he made in his gospel! _God the Father reconciling the world
to himself by Jesus Christ_, has a peculiar sweetness of aspect and most
amiable appearance. Here every christian beholds him such as he revealed
himself to Moses, when he caused his _glory to pass before him_; Ex.
xxxiv. 6. _The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth_, &c. The Son of God
stooping down to take flesh and blood upon him, made the most amiable
figure in the universe. Even in his glorious and triumphant state in
heaven, he is represented by a _lamb that was slain_, an emblem of
meekness and innocence. And if ever the blessed Spirit appeared in the
shape of any living creature, it was in the _form of a dove_, a lovely
and gentle animal. Thus the blessed Trinity conspire to teach us this
amiable and divine carriage.

II. The Son of God incarnate has brought a lovely pattern of this
practice nearer to us in his whole deportment on earth. I cannot part
with the most graceful example of our Lord Jesus Christ with a slight
notice. He came into this world partly with a design to become our
pattern in every virtue, and in every grace. Let us turn our eyes
towards him in all the circumstances and behaviours of life, and he will
ever appear, as he is in himself, the _chiefest of ten thousands, and
altogether lovely_. Let us take a survey of him under those several
particulars, in which an amiable carriage has been described.

Is prudence a lovely virtue? How perfectly wise was the conduct of our
Lord! How carefully did he attend to the circumstances of time and
place, while he dwelt among mankind! How happily did he suit his
conversation to his company! How wisely did he derive his divine
discourses from the daily occurrences of life! How admirably did he
distribute his benefits according to the various necessities of men! So
that the unprejudiced world pronounced concerning him, _He has done all
things well_. Shall we be rash and foolish, fickle and imprudent, and
live at random in our words and our works, when we have so divine a
pattern of prudence before us in the history of the gospel?

Is moderation another lovely character, and a peace-maker an amiable
title? Such was our blessed Lord, and such should his followers be. How
glorious a sight is it to behold the Son of God coming down from heaven
to be a mediator betwixt his offended Father and his offending
creatures! to reconcile heaven and earth together, and rather than fail
in this attempt, he gladly exposed himself to shame and death, and made
a cement of everlasting friendship betwixt God and man with his own
blood. Shall we, who are reconciled by such amazing transactions,
quarrel with each other for trifles, and form ourselves into parties for
rage, and strife, and hatred, and yet profess the name of the great
reconciler! Are we not commanded to _follow peace with all men, as far
as possible_, with the security of our holiness and peace with God? And
how can we otherwise hope to be the subjects and favourites of the
Prince of peace?

Is humility another part of an amiable character? Who was ever humble as
the Son of God? _The brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express
image of his person, who emptied himself, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and humbled himself yet
lower, even to the death of the cross_, and to the dust of the grave;
Phil. ii. 6-9. Therefore the Father loved him, and the Father exalted
him. This is the man, the God-man, who calls us to the practice of this
virtue; _Learn of me_, says he, _for I am meek and lowly, and ye shall
find rest for your souls_; Mat. xi. 29. What folly and madness is it for
dust and ashes to be proud, when God’s own Son was humble? And he gives
us a noble instance to assure us that humility is a lovely quality: When
the rich young man in the gospel came and kneeled before him to ask his
advice, _Jesus looked upon him and loved him_; and would have left it
upon record in his word, that there was something lovely in a modest and
humble carriage, even where the saving grace of God was wanting: Mark x.
21.

Meekness and patience are the next things I mentioned, that go to make
up the character of a lovely person. But who was meek as the Son of God
is? What affronts did he endure even while he was inviting sinners in
the most affecting language to their own eternal happiness? What
shameful mockery did he sustain? What loads of malicious and infamous
blasphemy? But _when he was reviled, he reviled not again_; 1 Pet. ii.
23. _as a sheep before her shearer is dumb, so opened he not his mouth_;
Is. liii. 7. O when shall we learn to imitate our blessed Lord, and
forbear and forgive as he did.

How was his patience tried to the utmost? And that not only in the
fruitless and thankless labours of his life among a cruel and insolent
race of men, but in the approaches of his bloody death. When the blessed
Redeemer lay agonizing in the garden, or hung bleeding on the cross, to
see him oppressed with the weight of the wrath of God due to our sins,
conflicting with the rage of devils, forsaken by his friends, and
surrounded with the profane insults of barbarous men: What a mournful
and moving spectacle! And yet there is something divinely amiable in it,
to behold him all over calm and patient, and meditating immortal and
forgiving love. What unworthy followers are we of the blessed Jesus,
_the Lamb that was slain_, when upon every occasion we take fire, and
break out into an impatient fury?

But if I should enter upon the last instance of a lovely character, and
begin the mention of love, how far beyond all example, and beyond all
description, is the love of our Lord Jesus! How tender were the
compassions of his heart! How extensive the benevolence of his soul!
What melting language of love dropped from his lips hourly! And how were
his mortal and immortal powers employed in procuring infinite blessings
for sinful men, in distributing them amongst the rebellious! O that we
could learn to think, and speak, and act like our blessed Saviour whose
life and whose death was a rich and various scene of divine and human
love!

III. I might draw further arguments from the examples, and from the
writings of the apostles and holy men in the primitive days of
christianity; when they were all of one heart and one soul, and did
every thing to please and serve their fellow-christians. I would mention
the epistles of St. John; what a divine spirit of love breathes in them!
But next to our Lord Jesus, I should rather turn your eyes and thoughts
to the temper and conduct of St. Paul, the greatest of the apostles, and
the nearest to Christ. How did _he please all men, not seeking his own
profit, but their salvation, even as Christ pleased not himself_? And he
leaves us his own example in subordination to his Lord, _Be ye followers
of me, even as I also am of Christ_; Rom. xv. 1-3. and _give none
offence, neither to Jew nor Gentile_; 1 Cor. x. 32. Who is there
sorrowful among you, and I sympathize not? _Who is weak, and I am not
weak?_ _Who is offended_, and I do not share in the pain? 2 Cor. xi. 29.
I bear and _endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may be
saved_; 2 Tim. ii. 10. How lovely was his behaviour in all respects? His
epistles are full of it, it shines through every page: His character
demands a volume to describe it, all worthy of our imitation and our
wonder.

But I must hasten to the last motive derived from christianity, and that
is the nature and design of the gospel itself. It is the most lovely of
all religions. Wisdom, humility, peace, patience, meekness, moderation,
and love, run through every part of the covenant of grace, like so many
bright and beautiful colours joined together in the rainbow, that
stretches its glory round the lower sky, and seals an ancient and
everlasting peace between earth and heaven.

There is therefore the most sovereign and constraining obligation laid
upon us christians, to do all things that are lovely, that we may make
our holy religion appear like itself, and cause christianity to be
beloved of men. Every christian is in some degree entrusted with the
honour of Christ, and with the credit and renown of his gospel. Let us
be watchful then to take all opportunities, and use all pious methods to
make our hope appear glorious, and set the name of Christ in its own
amiable light, and to _adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour_.

How dishonourable and shameful a thing is it for a christian to have an
unlovely carriage, or to shew any thing in his conduct that is rough and
forbidding! What a blemish does it cast upon the gospel which he
professes! Let us talk what we will of the sublimer glories of
christianity, and profess an acquaintance with the deepest mysteries,
yet with all our flaming zeal for the faith, we may become scandals to
the gospel, if we abandon the practices of love. The world will judge of
our religion by our temper and carriage. We give occasion therefore to
the world to upbraid us, _What do you more than others?_ If we, who
pretend to be christians, who have professed the most lovely of all
religions, are guilty of practices unworthy of the sacred name: When
they see our carriage as bad as others, they will be ready to cry out,
“_What is your beloved more than another beloved?_” What are your
doctrines better than others, if your practice differs not from others!
And are you willing it should be said of you, that you are the occasions
of shame and scandal to the name and religion of Christ?

We should do all things that are amiable in the sight of men, that the
gospel may have the glory of it: Shall I say, the gospel of Christ
deserves it at our hands? If the gospel brings so rich a salvation to
us, it is fitting we should bring a great deal of honour to it. How
honourable is it to the gospel of Christ, when persons of a rough,
crabbed, sour temper, are converted by this gospel, are become
christians indeed, and are made all over amiable, and soft, and obliging
in their deportments; when they carry it like new creatures, like
persons that are changed indeed, that have much of the spirit of love in
them, the temper of the gospel, and the temper of heaven! It is this
gospel, as I have said before, that turns lions into lambs, and ravens
into doves, the most savage creatures into mild and gentle.

While we are thus engaged in the practice of love, we have no need to
abandon our zeal for the truth; but we should separate our divine zeal
from all our own guilty passions, lest instead of honouring God, we
should destroy his children. The servant of the Lord may be bold and
stedfast in the defence of the gospel, but he must _be gentle towards
all men, ready to teach_, and patient under injuries. _He must not
strive_ like a hero for victory, but when any _oppose themselves to the
truth, he must instruct them in meekness_; 2 Tim. ii. 24. While we are
peaceful and harmless, we may be at the same time prudent and wise; our
Lord Jesus has joined these two characters; Mat. x. 16. And it is a very
lovely inscription for a disciple of Christ to wear in all his public
and private conversation, _wise as serpents_, and _harmless as doves_.
Thus we may guard ourselves from the malice of the world, while we
attempt to win them by all the sacred methods of humanity and divine
goodness.


                        HYMN FOR SERMON XXVIII.
           _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _a Lovely Carriage_.


                  O ’tis a lovely thing to see
                    A man of prudent heart,
                  Whose thoughts, and lips and life agree
                    To act a useful part.

                  When envy, strife, and wars begin
                    In little angry fools;
                  Mark how the sons of peace come in,
                    And quench the kindling coals.

                  Their minds are humble, mild and meek,
                    Nor let their fury rise;
                  Nor passion moves their lips to speak,
                    Nor pride exalts their eyes.

                  Their frame is prudence mix’d with love;
                    Good works fulfil their day;
                  They join the serpent with the dove,
                    But cast the sting away.

                  Such was the Saviour of mankind,
                    Such pleasures he pursu’d;
                  His flesh and blood were all refin’d,
                    His soul divinely good.

                  Lord, can these plants of virtue grow
                    In such a soul as mine?
                  Thy grace can form my nature so
                    And make my heart like thine.




                              SERMON XXIX.
       _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Things of good Report, &c._
  PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are of good report,—think on these
                                things.
                            Οσα ευφημα, &c.


The value of a good name was so great under the Jewish dispensation,
that the Spirit of God does not think it beneath his care to recommend
it to his chosen people, by the mouth of Solomon, the wisest of men. _It
is better_ and more worth _than precious ointment_; Eccl. vii. 1. It was
counted an ornament and entertainment at public feasts, to have rich
oils poured upon the head; the price of some of them was exceeding
great; they gave refreshment to the natural spirits, and spread a
perfume through all the company. But a good name is of greater price, it
is a rich ornament to the character of him that possesses it, and has a
considerable influence toward his happiness; so that to use the words of
Solomon again; Prov. xxii. 1. _It is rather to be chosen than great
riches._

The blessed apostle of the Gentiles is of the same mind, and he
recommends to the christian world, the practice of those things that are
of good report, which is the way, whereby a good name is to be obtained.
He had just before recommended to us the things that are lovely in the
eyes of men, and such as will render us well-beloved among our
neighbours. Now he invites us to the practice of those _things that are
of good report_ in the world, such as will procure us reputation, and a
good name, where we may live, especially among the wise and sober part
of mankind. This hath some difference in it from the former, though it
must be granted, that all things that are lovely, have also a tendency
to obtain a good name.

There are many things in the conduct of life, which do not so directly
offer themselves to us, as parts of necessary justice, piety, or
goodness. But yet they are such as bear a good character in the world,
and they give to the man that practises them, a good reputation among
his fellow creatures: on the contrary, there are several other
practices, which is not easy to prove directly sinful, yet they are of
ill report, and they ought not to be indulged among christians. Among
these practices of good report, some are changeable with the times and
customs of the country, and they obtain a different character and
esteem, according to the age and place wherein we dwell; others always
and in all places among sober and wise men, obtain the same character;
they have been in all ages and in all nations, esteemed things of good
report: The nature of them seems to be unchangeable: And it is this sort
of actions only that I shall take notice of. By various particulars this
head will be better illustrated and improved, than it can be by any
general descriptions.

It is a matter of good report to mind our own business, yet to be of a
public spirit, to be regular in our conduct, to keep the best company,
to abstain from the utmost bounds of things lawful, and in doubtful
matters, to follow the practices of the wisest and the best. As I
discourse upon each of these particulars, I shall observe what are those
opposite practices of evil report, which we ought to avoid.

I. It is a thing of good report to mind our own business.—The holy
apostle requires it; 1 Thess. iii. 11. _That ye study to be quiet, and
to do your own business._ One would think there should be no need of
study and application in order to be quiet; but some persons are of so
turbulent and restless a temper, that they naturally intermeddle with
everything: They had need take pains with themselves to keep themselves
quiet, and busy only in their proper work. The word in the Greek
φιλοτιμεισθαι signifies that we should be ambitious of quietness and
diligence in our calling, for it is a matter of honour and credit. In
whatsoever station we are placed, it is industry must gain reputation.
There are other great and valuable advantages of it, but I confine
myself now to this one, that is a thing of good report among men.

If persons are called to magistracy, let them attend to the work of
their superior post. Let them rule and govern with all diligence, and
fulfil that office well, with which God has entrusted them. Let them
employ themselves much in their proper sphere, and not wear the
honourable title in idleness, or bear the sword in vain, which hath been
too frequent a practice in this great city, and thereby vice has grown
rampant, and reformation of manners hath been shamefully discouraged.

These who are made ministers of the gospel, let them make it their
business to win souls to salvation, to bring in sinners to faith and
holiness, and to edify the saints by their exhortations, by their
doctrine, by their example. We should be _instant in season, and out of
season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and
doctrine_; 2 Tim. iv. 2. _Let him that ministers wait on his ministry:
He that teacheth, on teaching; he that exhorteth, on exhortation_; Rom.
xii. 7. Let us not waste our time and our best talents in the pursuit of
laborious trifles, in intricate and perplexing controversies, which are
less necessary to the life of christianity, or on useless and angry
squabbles, which divide and tear the church. Nor let us throw away these
thoughts and hours, on pompous ornaments of learning, on critical or
polite, studies, or curious and artificial works, which should be
devoted to matters of more sacred importance.

If we are engaged in trades, manufactures, or merchandize in the world,
let us shew all industry; and honest labour and care, and thus walk with
God, _every man in his calling, wherein he is called_, till the
providence of God evidently leads him to other work; 1 Cor. vii. 25. And
thus we may refute the calumnies of those who would seek all occasions
to reflect upon us for our stricter profession of religion. There are
many encouraging promises given to diligence in the word of God. I shall
mention but one at present that agrees with my present subject; Prov.
xxii. 29. _Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand
before kings, he shall not stand before mean men._ That is, “his good
report and his reputation shall grow and increase, that he shall be
brought into more honourable company, and to a more exalted station.”

If we are servants, let us devote our time and thoughts to the business
which our superiors have entrusted us with, and seek their interest with
ah honest soul. If we are children and scholars, under instruction, let
us apply our minds to learn the things we are taught, and attend to the
instructions of those who teach us. Every one of us have our proper
work, which demands our application to it. There are many enemies to
this virtue, many practices inconsistent with the character of
diligence, as it is celebrated and recommended in the word of God.

_First_, Sloth or laziness stands foremost in this rank. Surely the
powers of our mind and body were never made to be useless. _Go to the
ant, thou sluggard_, and learn industry of that little animal. Can we
think we were born to be cumberers of the ground, and mere burdens of
the earth we dwell on? Let us shake off this stupid and infamous humour,
let us rise to an active life, and answer the ends of our creation. And
for the same reason it is, that there ought to be a restraint put upon
an excess of sleep, and slumber. You know the character of the drowsy
wretch, that turns from side to side _upon his bed, as a heavy door upon
its hinges_; and _the sluggard_, who with folded hands sits still and
lets the weeds grow over his corn; but these men shall be _clothed with
rags_; Prov. xxi. 14.

_Secondly_, Luxury and an intemperate love of pleasure, is another enemy
to diligence in our callings. It is an odious character that is given to
the inhabitants of Crete by one of their own poets; and the Spirit of
God confirms the truth of it; Titus i. 12. _The Cretans are evil beasts,
slow bellies_; so shamefully engaged in gluttony and the luxury of the
palate, that they render themselves heavy, stupid, and unfit for
business; A lazy generation of men, that have much more inclination to
eat and drink, and live like brutes, than to employ themselves in any
honest labour, that is worthy of human nature, or becomes a man.

Under the same reproof I may justly bring an excessive indulgence of
sports or recreations, beyond what is necessary for the refreshment of
nature, and the recruit of our spirits, in order to fulfil duty with
more diligence: This was intimated in a former discourse. It is but a
character of ill report, when a man is too often found in the place of
sports and unnecessary diversions, while he ought to be in his shop, or
in other proper business of his life. Prov. xxi. 27. “_He that loveth
pleasure shall be a poor man; and he that loves wine and oil_, feastings
and entertainments, _he shall not be rich_.”

_Thirdly_, A tattling humour, excessive talking, and an idle inquisitive
impertinence, are great enemies also to that industry, that is
recommended to us. Solomon assures us, that though there is _profit in
all labour_, yet _the talk of the lips, tendeth only to penury_; Prov.
xiv. 23. And he redoubles it upon our ears, that a _prating fool shall
fall_: Prov. x. 8-10. There are some persons that love to talk of any
thing, or every thing, besides their own business; like foolish children
that turn every page of their books, and flutter a little about every
part of them, besides where their lesson is. Every moving feather is
ready to seize the fancy of these triflers, this fickle and talkative
race of men: They are but taller children. Every little story entertains
their idle inclination, and gives them fresh employment to tell it over
again. They had rather do any thing than the duty of the present hour;
they spend their time like the _inhabitants of Athens, in little else
but hearing or telling some new thing_.

Some of these persons are ready to intermingle themselves with every
man’s concernments, uncalled and undesired: They search into the secrets
of families, in order to gratify a wicked humour, to spread abroad and
publish some private scandal. _They creep into houses_, to make mischief
there, and by _tattling_ and repeating matters of contest, _they
separate very friends_, and raise angry quarrels in peaceful families;
Prov. xvii. 9. Such persons seem to deserve the public censure of the
magistrate, in the opinion of the apostle Peter; 1 Peter iv. 15. _But
let none of you_, that are christians, _suffer as an evil-doer, or as a
busy body in other men’s matters_. He himself once fell under the
censure of Christ our Lord, for this inquisitive and needless curiosity.
John xxi. 21, 22. When St. Peter had received a prophecy from his master
concerning his own martyrdom, he had also an express notice what his own
business was, _viz._ to _follow_ his master. But Peter had a mind to
know what should become of John too; “Lord, says he, and _what shall
this man do or_ suffer? _What if I will_, says our blessed Lord, _that
he tarry till I come again?_ _What is that to thee?_ Is that thy
business, Peter, to know what shall befal John? Mind thy own duty, and
_follow thou me_.” A wise and divine rebuke from our risen Saviour!
After this, St. Peter well knew how to censure such impertinence, and to
reprove _busy-bodies_.

Of the same mind is the apostle Paul. He advises women how to behave
themselves, that they may not fall under this charge. _Let them guide
the house_, says he, and employ themselves in domestic affairs: for if
they neglect this work, _they learn to be idle, wandering about from
house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busy-bodies,
speaking things which they ought not_; gathering up matter for slander
of their neighbours at their next visit, where every one is ashamed to
be silent, and therefore each is ready to furnish the company with their
share. But this practice, in the opinion of the sacred writer furnishes
the adversary with daily occasion to slander christianity, and to _speak
reproachfully_ of the gospel, and it is a thing of _very ill fame_; 1
Tim. v. 13, 14.

II. A public spirit is another thing of good report. Though christians
must be diligent in their business, yet they should not confine all
their cares within the narrow circle of self, but have a hearty
solicitude for the welfare of the nation in which they dwell, for the
neighbours among whom they inhabit, for the church of Christ in the
world, and extend their concern to the happiness of mankind: The apostle
directs Timothy to _make supplications, prayers, and intercessions for
all men_, and to take such a satisfaction in the mercies they receive,
as to _give thanks_ to God upon their account; 1 Tim. ii. 1. He exhorts
the Ephesians to _prayer and supplication for all the saints_; Eph. vi.
18. And what he taught, he also practised in an eminent and glorious
manner; _the care of all the churches came daily upon him_: And you find
him in the beginning of his epistles lifting up his petitions and his
praises to heaven continually for the churches to whom he writes.

_We should rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that
weep_, and share with our fellow-christians in their joys and their
sorrows, that we may thereby double their joys, and lighten the weight
of their sorrows by a blessed sympathy. Rom. xii. 15. We should _bear
one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ_; Gal. vi. 2. And
in 1 Cor. x. 24. he saith, “Let no man seek his own, but every man
another’s wealth, or welfare;” that is, “Let no man be so wholly
swallowed up in his own profit and peace, as utterly to neglect the
peace and profit of his neighbour.” But though this be so honourable and
becoming a practice, yet it has ever been too much neglected, even among
the professors of the gospel; for St. Paul tells the Philippians, that
Timothy was a singular instance of this good quality; Phil. ii. 20, 21.
_I have no man like minded, who will naturally care for your state; for
all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s._

Some may be ready to raise an objection here, and say, “How is this
consistent with the former character and practice which I recommended,
namely, that every man mind his own business?”

I grant that this ought generally to be our first care, that we fulfil
the duties of our own particular station well, and see to it, that
ourselves and our household be supported: This is usually the loudest
call of providence, for he that provides not for those of his own house,
when it is in his power, does not answer the demands of christianity,
but is worse than an infidel, or one that has denied the faith; 1 Tim.
v. 8. But there are many sacred and civil services may be done for the
neighbourhood, the church, and the nation, without any culpable
hinderance to our own affairs. So much time may be easily redeemed from
sloth and slumber, from useless and impertinent conversation, as the
public may call for at our hands. And when there is a day of distress or
trouble come upon our friends, upon the land wherein we dwell, or the
churches of Christ in the world, when virtue and religion are in sinking
circumstances, we are called sometimes to lay out a larger part of our
time and strength, our interest and our substance, for the welfare of
the public, which otherwise perhaps might be due to ourselves, and our
own family. In such cases as these, christian prudence must direct us
how to distinguish wisely, and determine how far this self-denial is to
be exercised, in order to promote the happiness of mankind, and the
public honour of Christ. This is a thing of good report in the church
and in the world, and it will turn to our honour in the day of the Lord.

But let no man deceive himself, and vainly imagine that he may lay claim
to the honour of a public spirit, because he spends half his days in
places of public resort, and in fruitless enquiries and chatterings
about the affairs of government, and the business of the state; perhaps
he extends his care also to Muscovy and Persia, as well as Great
Britain, while the care of his shop is a little thing with him, the
business of his study or counting-house is forgotten, and his family
complains of woeful neglect: Nor are public affairs mended by all his
impertinence.

[If this sermon be too long, it is best divided here.]

III. Regularity in the conduct of our affairs is a becoming character,
and will gain us a good name amongst men. As there are many and various
duties that belong to the natural, the civil, and the religious life; it
is a piece of eminent wisdom to appoint proper seasons and rules for the
performance of them; nor should we think it beneath us, as far as
possible, to govern ourselves by those rules, and keep to our own
appointed seasons; otherwise all our affairs will be ready to run into
confusion, one duty will be apt to intrench upon another, and some of
the duties of life or godliness will be neglected, or quite forsaken,
under a pretence of want of time.

One thing that intrenches upon the regular hours and orders of life, is
a trifling and dilatory temper, putting off necessary business, whether
it be work or devotion, till the last moment; and then, if the least
accident intervenes, we have not left ourselves sufficient time to
perform it. These are the persons who are frequently found in a hurry
and confusion, because they have neglected to do the proper work in the
proper season. Their business is always done in haste, and often
unfinished. These are they who keep no appointments, who are seldom true
to their hour, who make their friends wait for them upon all occasions,
who often create uneasiness to all the company, and put a whole family
out of order. What an unbecoming behaviour is this! What an ill aspect
it bears! especially if these delayers are in any degree inferior, or
the younger parts of a house. And yet it might easily be prevented, by
taking the first opportunity for every business. O it is an excellent, a
golden rule, “Never leave that till to-morrow, which may be done to-day,
nor trust the business of this hour to the care of the next,” for the
next is not mine.

When servants are of this dilatory and trifling humour, they waste their
master’s time perpetually, and put their superiors to many
inconveniences. They prevent one another’s business as well as neglect
their own. You would wonder how they could spend three or four hours in
a common errand, and make a family wait half a day for a message, that
might be dispatched in half an hour. They cannot keep their eyes or
their ears from attending to every object they meet; their endless
curiosity of enquiry, and their irresistible inclination to talk of
every thing that does not concern them, is an everlasting hinderance to
their proper work. This active sort of idleness is much harder to be
cured than that of the slow and stupid kind; and you see it belongs to
the poor as well as the rich; though it is a matter of disreputation and
infamy to both.

Persons of this unhappy conduct, whether of high or low degree, are in
great danger of trifling in the most sacred and divine concernments, as
well as in common life. They sometimes manage their spiritual and
immortal affairs in the same dilatory manner, but with more dreadful and
fatal consequence. They put off repentance from day to day, and delay
their solemn transactions with God, till sickness seizes them, or till
death approaches: Then what hurry of spirit! What dreadful confusion of
soul! What tumults and terrors overwhelm them! And it is well if the
matters of their salvation be not unfinished at the last hour, and
themselves made miserable to all eternity, because they trifled away
life and time.

A second enemy to this regular conduct of life, and which indeed is
derived from the former, is this, an inversion of the order of nature,
and a change of the seasons which God hath appointed for business and
rest. I confess this is not now-a-days a matter of ill report in itself,
however contrary it be to the laws of nature and the creation: But it is
attended with many irregularities, and sometimes with infamous practices
too: And therefore I would spend one page to give it an ill name; and to
bring it into just discredit.

_God has made every thing beautiful in its season_; Eccl. iii. 11. _The
sun ariseth;—and man goeth forth to his work until the evening_; Ps.
civ. 22, 23. It is more natural and healthful to pursue the concerns of
life, as much as possible by day-light. Midnight studies are prejudicial
to nature: A painful experience calls me to repent of the faults of my
younger years, and there are many before me have had the same call to
repentance. Wearing out the lightsome hours in sleep, is an unnatural
waste of sun-beams. There is no light so friendly to animal nature as
that of the sun. Midnight assemblies, festivals, and entertainments,
exhaust the spirits, and make a needless profusion of the necessaries of
life: They carry a very ill appearance with them, even where no
wickedness is indulged, they are practices of evil report, and deserve
censure and shame.

It is no honour to our whole nation, that we have learned the fashion of
doing nothing in the morning; among persons of mode the day often begins
at noon: The hours of business are grown much later among us than our
forefathers could bear. They knew the worth of day-light. In some things
indeed we are bound to comply with custom, or we must forsake the world:
for a few can never stem the general tide, or reform a degenerate age:
And there are some few trades and employments which demand labour at
night. But in our general conduct we should endeavour to act more
agreeably to the laws of creation and nature, and to reduce families to
a little better order, wheresover we have power and influence. Surely it
can be no great hardship for any persons in health to begin their duty
with the rising sun, for almost half the year. We should not think it
sufficient to get up a little before noon, nor should we turn the
morning of God and nature into midnight, nor make the decline of the sun
serve for our morning work.

I would not be thought in this page to reflect upon the weak, the
sickly, and the aged parts of mankind, whose nature may require longer
sleep, and a larger degree of rest to recruit their spirits: Nor do I
accuse those unhealthy persons, who can get no slumber till the night is
half spent, and are thereby constrained, merely for the sake of health,
to let their bed intrench upon so many hours of day-light: Yet I
persuade myself, that if these last would but bear the inconveniences
they complain of for a week or two, if they would break off their
morning-slumber early, and early betake themselves to rest, nature would
quickly learn a better habit, the reformation would soon grow easy: And
perhaps this might advance their health in a sensible manner, beyond all
their old indulgences, or their present expectations.

An excessive love of company, an affectation of going abroad, a delight
in wine and strong drink, are the third sort of enemies to that
regularity and order which I am now recommending. Such practices are
censured in the word of God; I have called the prophet Isaiah, in a
former discourse, to witness against the drunkard, but I must ask leave
to cite the same text again, against the wasters of time in taverns, or
meaner drinking-houses. _Wo to them that go to their cups in a morning_:
This throws all the business of the day out of order; and sometimes they
are tempted to continue until night, or at least they return thither
again and stay till wine inflames them: then all the follies of life
play their parts; but they forget religion, and _regard not the work,
nor the worship of the Lord_; Is. v. 11, 12. How often has it been
found, that the religion of the closet, as well as that of the family,
hath been shortened and omitted, and by degrees thrust out of doors, and
forgotten, for want of shaking off every impediment, and confining
ourselves to proper seasons. We intend to fulfil our duties, but we
intend it at random, without keeping any time for it: And thus some
households, that would be called Christians, live without God in the
world. They that _tarry long at wine_, or in any needless company, and
lengthen put the hours of their needless absence from home, may count
themselves guilty of the several disorders that are committed in the
family; which would be rectified, or entirely prevented by the presence
of the master.

I confess sometimes necessary business detains a person beyond his usual
and appointed hour: there must also be some allowances made for the
unhappy engagements which may attend some particular callings in the
world. Our own consciences must be the final judges in this case: But
let us be faithful and honest, and frequently make an enquiry, whether
our conduct be regular or no: and whether it be the necessity of affairs
that intrenches upon the seasons of duty, or whether it be a careless
indifference of spirit. Good orders in a household, and regular hours
for all the duties and enjoyments of life, give beauty and ornament to
life itself: Like a musical instrument, where every string is wound up
to strike its proper note, and the skillful musician keeps his time, how
does it entertain the ear with innocent pleasure, and refresh the heart,
when practised at proper seasons? Such a family appears like a Bethel, a
house of God, and the Lord himself delights to dwell in it. O may it be
my lot and portion always to inhabit in such a tabernacle, till I lay
down this body in the dust, and my soul arises to the well-ordered
family of heaven!

IV. Sorting ourselves with the best company is another beautiful part of
Christian conduct, and procures a good report. By the best of company, I
do not intend the greatest or the richest, nor the most ingenious and
witty; for there are some of these that are vain and vile enough; but
the best in my esteem, are those who are most virtuous, most pious, most
knowing and wise, or those that are seeking after virtue, piety, and
wisdom. Thus by conversation with the one, we may be always doing good,
and with the other we may be always receiving some good. _He that
walketh with wise men, shall grow yet wiser, but the companion of fools
shall be destroyed_; Prov. xiii. 20. _Be not deceived, God is not
mocked, evil communications corrupt good manners._ A heathenish poet,
and an inspired apostle agree in these words; 1 Cor. xv. 33. If we are
engaged much in converse with those that are light, and frothy, and
vain, we shall gain the same levity of temper. If we talk much with the
profane, we shall be tempted now and then to a profane expression too.
“Can a man touch pitch, and not be defiled!” Can a man pass through the
flames, and his clothes not be singed? Neither can those that walk
frequently and delightfully amongst light, vain, intemperate persons,
escape being defiled by them.

It is true, the apostle tells us, if we would utterly seclude ourselves
from all manner of converse with persons of ill character, we must
abandon society, and almost _go out of the world_; 1 Cor. v. 10. But the
meaning of the apostle, when he bids us avoid evil companions is, as
much as possible, to shun their company; see therefore that it is a
necessary call of providence leads you amongst them; otherwise abstain.
Those who give themselves up to be entertained by every one that will
entertain them, those who will walk with every companion, and will herd
with every drove, they are in danger of being corrupted with any vice,
and of learning every ill principle. But if through the grace of God, we
should escape the infection, of error or sin, yet we shall loose our
good name by keeping ill company. A delight in base and worthless
companions, will make the world judge that we are like them: Whereas we
shall gain a part of the good character of our associates and
acquaintance, and derive honour from them, if we are so happy as to have
friendship and intimacy with persons of piety, learning and virtue. May
these be the friends of my choice, and my companions for ever!

V. Abstinence from the utmost bounds of things lawful, is another
practice of good report amongst men. It is but a narrow line in many
cases, that divides, between a lawful and a sinful practice; and if we
will venture, as near as possible to the very borders of what we think
lawful, we shew too great an inclination to the bordering iniquity, and
we shall often be in danger of treading on forbidden ground. If we
indulge the love of pleasure, or give an unguarded loose to any unlawful
passion, we shall find it difficult to with-hold the violence of corrupt
nature from transgressing the lawful bounds. If a wild horse be indulged
in his career, it is well if he does not break the reins, and fling the
rider. It is a foolish fancy to walk upon the edge of a precipice,
unless we could infallibly secure our head from giddiness, or our feet
from stumbling. It is much safer therefore to keep a proper distance
from fatal danger. The world will give us but an ill character, and say
very justly concerning us, that we are not much afraid of vice, if we
dare rashly venture into temptation.

It is the advice of the Holy Spirit, and St. Paul to the christian
converts, _Abstain from all appearance of evil_; 1 Thess. v. 22. And the
Apostle Jude requires us to _hate even the garments that are spotted by
the flesh_; Jude, verse 23. Every thing that looks like guilt should
forbid our approach; we should chuse to stand afar off, and withhold our
desires, lest we defile our consciences, and bring a blemish upon our
character. What an honour is it to any man, when it is said concerning
him, “He has a tender soul, and a conscience that will not stretch, to
the length of the loose customs and fashions of the times: he dares not
allow himself all the liberties that are innocent and lawful, lest he
should wound his own spirit, and his good name, by venturing too near to
the borders of iniquity.” Let such a temper be our constant guard and
ornament.

VI. Following the common practices of the saints in doubtful matters, is
another thing of good report, and ought to be so among those that
profess the name of Christ? Whether it be in our trade and business, in
our apparel, or our visits, in our forms of address to our superiors, or
common methods of conversation and civility, of recreation, or
entertainment, let the general customs of the saints of the purest ages,
or the customs of the purest churches, and the best christians in our
own age, be a direction to our practice. _Ask for the good old way_,
says the prophet Jeremy, and if we know not what part to chuse, let us
_go by the footsteps of the flock_ of Christ. Enquire what the followers
of our Lord have done in past ages, and what the wisest and best of them
do in our own age, and this will give us a considerable assistance to
determine what ought to be our practice.

In 1 Cor. xi. 16. the apostle Paul seems to refer to this general head,
for our determination in doubtful matters. When he had been proposing
the law of nature, or the order of creation, to direct the man and the
woman what sort of covering they ought to wear, _viz._ _that a woman
ought not to be uncovered, and that a man should not wear long hair_,
that is, should not nourish his hair to make it grow long, as women, nor
manage it with a nice and effeminate curiosity, he concludes with this
sentence, _If any man seem to be contentious_, that is, if any man be
not contented with the arguments I have brought, but will carry on
contention and dispute, let him remember this decisive argument, that
_we have no such custom, nor the churches of God_; we the preachers of
the gospel, and the apostles of Christ, have neither found nor approved
such sort of customs among the christians where we have lived, nor are
they practised in any of the churches of God, which we have heard of.

I will readily allow, that the strict professors of religion in some
particular ages of the church, may have generally indulged either some
unreasonable scruples, or some unreasonable liberties. There are some
practices of evident and undoubted lawfulness, which have been forbidden
in severe and dreadful language by some or other of our religious
ancestors; such as wearing borrowed hair, or suffering our own to reach
the shoulders; using any thing that borders upon lot or chance, except
in matters of sacred or solemn concernment: wishing a friend’s health
when we drink; practising any part of our civil calling after sun-set on
Saturdays, or even calling the months, or the days of the week by names
borrowed from the heathens, such as Monday or Tuesday; January, or
February: Yet in such cases as these, had I lived amongst them, I would
have conformed to their customs, and have given no offence; but I would
have taken every proper occasion to shew that these were unnecessary
scruples.

This was the conduct of St. Paul, in the controversy about eating meats
offered to idols; 1 Cor. viii. 8. _Meat commendeth us not to God; for
neither if we eat, are we the better; neither if we eat not, are we the
worse._ There he declares how needless these scruples were; and 1 Cor.
x. 25. to shew that christian liberty, where no scrupulous person was
present and opposed it, he bids them, _eat whatsoever is sold in the
shambles, asking no questions for conscience-sake_. But in both these
places he cautions them against offending the weaker brethren, and shews
also how afraid he was of giving offence, or acting in their presence
contrary to their practices, even though they were built on needless
scruples. Verse 13. _I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, if it
make my brother to offend_; that is, if it tempt him to grow bold, and
venture upon the same food against his conscience. And the apostle
practised this self-denial, lest he should _sin against his weak
brother_, lest he should _grieve him_ by his _uncharitable_ licence; as
Rom. xiv. 15. This holy caution and tenderness of offending the weak,
was the constant practice of that blessed saint, who had more knowledge
than all of us, but he had more condescension and self-denial too. O
that we might all make him our pattern, and practise the charity we
preach so loudly, and profess with such a modern assurance!

There are other practices which might be comprised under this general
character, and recommended as _things of good report_. But I must not
draw such discourses out to a tiresome length, which perhaps may create
but too much pain and uneasiness, by the very sense and subject of which
they treat. Yet certainly it is a part of our duty and our interest to
know, and meditate, and practise those things that may gain us a good
name and reputation in the world, and may brighten our character among
the churches of Christ; and to avoid every thing that would blemish our
honour, or sink our esteem among wise and good men. What arguments may
be drawn from the light of nature to enforce this exhortation, or what
more powerful motives are derived from the gospel, to awaken and excite
us to the practice of all that is honourable, shall be considered in the
next discourse, when I treat of the matters of virtue and praise, which
are recommended in the last words of my text.


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXIX.
         _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Things of Good Report_.


                   Is it a thing of good report,
                   To squander life and time away?
                   To cut the hours of duty short,
                   While toys and follies waste the day!

                   To ask and prattle all affairs,
                   And mind all business but our own?
                   To live at random void of cares,
                   While all things to confusion run?

                   Doth this become the christian name,
                   To venture near the tempter’s door?
                   To sort with men of evil fame,
                   And yet presume to stand secure?

                   Am I my own sufficient guard,
                   While I expose my soul to shame?
                   Can the short joys of sin reward
                   The lasting blemish of my name?

                   O may it be my constant choice
                   To walk with men of grace below,
                   ’Till I arrive where heavenly joys,
                   And never-fading honours grow!




                              SERMON XXX.
_Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Courage and Honour; or Virtue and Praise_.
  PHILIP. iv. 8.——If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
                         think on these things.
                  Ει τις αρετη και ει τις επαινος, &c.


Virtue is an honourable and extensive name: It is used by moral writers
to include all the duties we owe to _ourselves_, or our
_fellow-creatures_; such as _sobriety_, _temperance_, _faithfulness_,
_justice_, _prudence_, _goodness_, and _mercy_; and the sense of it is
sometimes stretched so far, as to comprehend also the duties of religion
which we owe to _God_. But let us take notice, that the first and
original signification of the word both in the Greek and Latin tongues
is much more limited, and it means only _power_ or _courage_. The Greek
word αρετη, used here by the apostle, is derived from Αρες, the name of
Mars, or the heathen god of war: And doubtless the most ancient meaning
of it among the _Greek writers_ was _warlike valour_, though in time the
_philosophers_ enlarged the sense of it to include every moral
excellency.

The several places in the New Testament where the word is used, have
chief reference to some work or glorious power when it is applied to
God, or courage when it refers to men. I wish I could stay here to
explain them all, but I must mention one of them, _viz._ 2 Peter i. 5.
_Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge
temperance_, &c. Virtue is to be added to faith, that is, next to your
belief of the gospel, get courage to profess what you believe: Is it not
to be supposed, that in this place virtue can signify the whole of
morality, because the particular virtues of temperance, patience, and
charity are named also: And therefore this must signify some part of
morality distinct from the rest, _viz._ a strength or fortitude of soul.

And for the same reason the word virtue in my text cannot signify the
whole system of moral duties because St. Paul in the same verse had been
recommending truth, justice, and purity or temperance, which are so many
pieces of morality; and it is not reasonable to imagine that he brings
in a general name that comprehends them all in the midst of so many
particulars, which is contrary to the use of all writers, and to his own
custom too. I confess if he had said, _if there be any other virtue_, as
he does in the like case; Rom. xiii. 9. when he had omitted any
particular, we might then have understood virtue in the general sense;
but now it is evident, that he means a particular excellency, distinct
from those before-mentioned; and the word itself requires us to
understand a brave, bold, and generous spirit and practice. He
recommends to them a great and excellent behaviour, wherein their holy
courage may appear, when the call of providence gives a just occasion.

Courage is a virtue which stands in opposition both to fear and shame;
and it guards the mind of man from the evil influence of both those
passions. The man of courage has not such a feeling fondness for his
flesh nor his estate, as to be afraid to profess his sentiments, or to
fulfil his duty at every call of providence, though his estate may
suffer damage by it, or his flesh be exposed to pain: Nor has he such a
tenderness for his honour, as to secure it with the loss of his
innocence. He is not ashamed to appear for virtue in an age of vice and
scandal: He stands up boldly for the honour of his God, and ventures a
thousand perils rather than wound his conscience, or betray his trust:
He dares profess and practise temperance among an herd of drunkards, and
purity in the midst of the lewd and unclean: The man of courage can
despise the threatenings of the great, and the scoffs of the witty,
conscious of his own integrity and truth. He can face and oppose the
world with all its terrors; and travel onwards in the paths of piety
without fear. _The righteous man is as bold as a lion_; Prov. xxviii. 1.

Now it is the apostle’s advice to the Philippian converts, that
whensoever there is any just occasion given to exert their fortitude,
whether it be in the defence of the rights of mankind, and the liberties
of their country, or in vindication of the cause of God or virtue, let
the christian take those opportunities to speak his mind, and shew his
courage; let him make it appear that the meek of the earth may sometimes
resist the mighty oppressors, that the followers of the Lamb dare to
oppose the wild beasts of the age, and are ready to sacrifice all that
human nature calls dear for the service of God, or the welfare of their
fellow-creatures.

The heathen world may derive some arguments from the light of reason,
and some perhaps from more corrupt and selfish principles, to awaken
their valour, and to raise heroes amongst them: But there is nothing
among all the writings of the philosophers, or the examples of their
real or their fabled heroes, that can raise and support so illustrious
and divine a courage, as the principles and the patterns with which the
gospel of Christ has furnished us; whether we look to Jesus, the founder
of our religion, the Son of God in our nature, or to his apostles, or to
the primitive martyrs, among whom some of the weaker sex and the weaker
age, have outshone the glory, and darkened the lustre of all the great
men of heathenism.

What blessed views hath the gospel given us of heaven and future
happiness, to animate our zeal, and to engage us to the boldest efforts
of goodness! What promises of almighty power to assist us in our sacred
attempts, and to bear up our spirits! What rich and infallible
assurances have we in the word of God to support our highest
expectations, that if _we are faithful to the death, we shall receive a
crown of life_! Rev. ii. 10. And Jesus our forerunner hath already taken
possession of all these prizes and glories to reward the conquerors.

Shall we sink and despond at any dark appearances? Shall our spirits
fail us in the midst of duty, when we have so many divine motives to
valour and holy fortitude? Methinks there should be nothing too hard for
a christian to undertake or suffer, when God and providence call him to
it. I confess that flesh and blood are frail and feeble: Animal nature
overwhelms the soul with its shudderings, and forbids the execution of
the bravest purposes. It is only grace, divine grace, that can
strengthen the trembling christian, and make him venture through dangers
and death in the way to the heavenly crown. It is this gives power to
the promises, and makes the saint believe the performance. It is this
sets heaven before his eyes, and gives it such an attractive influence,
such a sovereign conquest over all his fears; it even braces the sinews
of nature, and exalts the spirits to despise danger and pain. What
wonders of holy fortitude might a christian perform, if the eye of his
faith were kept always open, and firmly fixed on those bright and
everlasting invisibles?

But I shall enlarge no farther on this argument of christian courage,
and I am the more inclined to dismiss this subject at present, having
reserved some discourses on it for another season[31].

I proceed therefore to the last exhortation in my text, _If there be any
praise_, any actions that deserve honour amongst men, _think on these
things_, engage yourselves in the practice, and obtain the honour. The
praise which the apostle here recommends, may be described as Cicero,
the famous Roman orator, describes glory; it is, “The concurrent and
unanimous commendation of good men, or the general voice of wise and
uncorrupted judges, concerning any eminent practice of virtue.”

The holy apostle had just before recommended things of good report, and
now he exhorts them to the practice of laudable actions or things that
merit praise. The difference between these two is this: a good report
signifies a clear and unblemished character, fair reputation among men,
a good name among those with whom our daily acquaintance lies, and our
civil conversation and business. But praise implies a considerable
degree of applause or honour, obtained by some eminent actions, or some
extraordinary instances of wisdom, courage, or goodness. A man that has
never attained to any great degree of excellence above his neighbours,
may yet have a fair reputation in the world: But the word praise seems
to imply a great and honourable name, as well as a good one.

I shall mention but two general instances, wherein we may suppose the
apostle recommends to us the practice of those things that are laudable:
One is, an extraordinary conduct in common affairs; the other is an
improvement of the seasons, or occasions of extraordinary virtue.

I. It is a thing praise-worthy to labour after an extraordinary conduct
and uncommon excellence in our common affairs of life, to excel all
others in the things that relate to our station in the world. Let each
of us search and enquire, what is it within our reach that shines
brightest among men, and then pursue it with vigour.

If a person, who professes religion in the strictest manner, and in the
purest forms, be made a magistrate or public officer, let him do
something extraordinary for the public welfare, if it be possible, and
merit the public thanks and praise of the community. So if a man be
called to the ministry of the gospel, let him imitate the blessed
apostle in zeal for Christ; as in 1 Cor. xv. 10. _I laboured more—than
they all._ Let there be no bounds to our desires of excellence, and our
zeal for the salvation of men. _Covet earnestly the best gifts_, says
the apostle; 1 Cor. xii. 31. and animate them with the noblest graces.
There is a holy emulation wherein we may vie with one another, and each
of us get as near perfection as possible. This is praise-worthy. I told
you before, that magistrates or ministers must be diligent in their work
to gain a good report, but they must double that diligence to obtain
special praise.

So in the most common employments of life, and the management of daily
affairs abroad or at home, we should aspire to be patterns of every
thing that is good and laudable, that we may all be able to say as St.
Paul, _Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ_: 1 Cor. xi.
1. Am I a master? Let me have a holy ambition to be the best of masters,
and by an excellent conduct constrain all my servants to praise and love
me; except such vulgar and brutal souls that no kindness can engage, no
merit can oblige, and no virtue can influence. Am I a servant? Let my
zeal for my master’s interest exceed all my fellows, and my faithfulness
and diligence in every duty extort honour even from those who envy me,
and deserve the esteem and love of those that are above me. If I am an
artificer, and God hath given me any superior talents or capacities, I
should not employ those superior talents in trifles, but use them to
some most valuable purposes, for the benefit of mankind, beyond what
former ages have known. I should promote useful knowledge, if I am a
philosopher, and carry it on farther than my fathers have done. These
are some instances wherein we may perform actions of praise that are
becoming a man or a Christian.

II. It is a thing praise-worthy to improve all the seasons and occasions
of extraordinary virtue, to seize on those special opportunities which
providence now and then may give us to exert uncommon degrees of wisdom
or mercy, activity or courage.

We are always required to be faithful to our rulers, and kind to our
neighbours and friends: But when our king or our country is in some
imminent danger, when some threatening mischief hangs over a family, or
a city, when our friend or brother, or even a stranger, is in immediate
peril of life, there may be a glorious occasion for some great and
generous exercise of loyalty, fortitude, compassion, or love, to save a
friend or a stranger, a prince or a nation. All the world shall agree to
praise the man who performs that noble service.

We are bound always to be liberal, and to give to the poor, but
sometimes we have an opportunity to exercise that grace of liberality in
a more ample and generous manner, so as to deserve and obtain an
honourable name: As when a great number of distressed wretches come to
the city or place where we dwell, or when some general calamity involves
all our poor neighbours, and reduces them to great straits, then we
should exercise bounty beyond the common measure: Thus a christian shall
have the honour of relieving the poor more than heathens do, or those
who make no profession of godliness.

So in the practice of charity and forgiveness, Jesus our Lord requires
us to forgive our enemies, and to do good to those that hate, and abuse,
and persecute us: But when it lies in our power to do a most
considerable service to a person that has done us the highest injury,
then there is a special providence calling us to perform a glorious
action of praise. Such was the character of that great and good man
Archbishop Cranmer, of whom it is said, if any man had done him an
injury, he would ever afterward be his friend.

In short, whensoever an occasion arises to give an eminent and glorious
proof of generosity or compassion, of gratitude or goodness, of zeal for
God, or love to men, it is the apostle’s advice, that a christian should
seize the golden hour, and not suffer a heathen to prevent or exceed
him. And among christians, let those who profess the severest virtue,
and the purest methods of christianity be the persons who seize most of
these opportunities to perform actions worthy of praise. But when there
is any thing mean and base, scandalous and sordid appears in the world,
as it never should be said that a christian has done it, so neither
would I ever have such a scandal fall upon any person who professes the
strictest forms of godliness.

I come in the next place to consider, what arguments may be drawn from
the light of reason, to excite us to actions of good report, and such as
are worthy of special praises; for in the foregoing discourse I told
you, that I should join the arguments or motives together, which belong
to both these exhortations.

I. If a person practises things of good report, and acquires to himself
reputation and praise amongst men, he does himself and his family a
considerable kindness by it. If a man has not a good name, he can
neither expect to be entertained in any society with pleasure, nor to
receive any special benefits from the world. A person of ill report is
rather hated than beloved, he is shunned and avoided rather than
desired, and his neighbours will treat him with neglect rather than
assistance. His very name is mentioned with disgrace instead of praise.
Whereas, on the other hand, a man whose excellent character has deserved
a good report and honour among his fellow-citizens, has every one ready
to invite him to their company, and willing to reach out to him their
friendly hand when he is fallen into danger or distress.

Besides, such a person lays up honour for his household, and provides
the friendship of mankind for the help of his family in generations yet
to come. It is confessed indeed, that the spirit of the world has too
much baseness in it, and too great a neglect of real merit: Yet when a
man has deserved exceeding well of his country, and acquired any special
degrees of praise or renown amongst them, the world is not yet quite so
brutal and degenerate, but that it has given many instances of bounty
and goodness to the posterity of a man of honour. _His name shall be had
in everlasting remembrance, and the generation of the upright shall be
blessed._ Ps. cxii. 2, 6.

II. A man that has obtained a good report and honour in the world, by
many reputable actions, is capable of much greater service both to God
and his fellow-creatures. If we have gained esteem and reputation among
men, they will be more ready to hearken to our counsel, and comply with
our advice. We shall have more influence on mankind, both to promote the
honour of God and the benefit of men. A word that we speak, will make
deeper impression, and be attended with greater success. A word or a
look of Cato among the Romans, would do more to restrain vice, and to
shame the vicious, than the frown of an emperor.

III. There is so much real and inward satisfaction arises from a good
character, obtained by a life of virtue and piety, that a man who knows
the pleasure of it, would not renounce the practices which may attain
it. I confess it is a more important matter to secure a good conscience
than a good name, and to obtain praise in the sight of God, than in the
lips of men: But where both these are joined together by the favour of
divine providence, our virtue and piety has a larger reward, and our
natures are so framed and composed, that we cannot help taking some
satisfaction in it. Prov. xv. 30. _A good report makes the bones fat_;
that is, as one expresses it, it revives the heart to such a degree, as
renders the body more healthful and vigorous.

Methinks those persons have something very degenerate in them, and their
conduct is a little unnatural who seem to have lost the very desire of a
good name or reputation. I cannot but wonder to hear a person boast of
his scorn and contempt of it in such language as this; “I will pursue my
own designs, I will gratify and please myself, and I care not what the
world says of me.” Surely if such language did become a christian, the
scripture would not be so solicitous to recommend a good name and things
of good report.

This naturally leads me to consider, what influence christianity has to
excite us to the practice of reputable actions and such as deserve
honour amongst men.

Here we may first take notice, how often the scripture proposes honour
as a reward of goodness and virtue. Our Saviour promises it to those
that are humble and condescending; if thou art ready at some
entertainment to seat thyself in a lower place; Luke xiv. 10. _The
master of the feast shall exalt thee, and thou shalt have worship in the
presence of those that sit at meat with thee; for he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted._ St. Paul tells the christians, _do that which
is good, and thou shalt have praise from the ruling power, for
magistrates are appointed for the praise of them that do well_; 1 Pet.
ii. 14. Solomon proposes the same motive; Prov. iv. 7, 8. _Wisdom is the
principal thing, therefore get wisdom;—she shall bring thee to honour
when thou dost embrace her._ The apostle recommends often to the
christians of his day a good name amongst infidels and heathens, a good
report of them which are without; and he mentions it as an eminent
character of a companion of Titus, that his praise is in the gospel
throughout all the churches; 2 Cor. viii. 18. And it is recorded to the
honour of Demetrius by St. John, that he had _a good report of all men,
even of the truth itself_; 3 John verse 12. Christians and heathens
speak well of him, and his good character is just and true. Nor must it
be forgotten, that in this little collection of advices in my text the
apostle twice recommends such practices as deserve honour among men,
_viz._ things of good report, and things worthy of praise.

Surely if we did but consider how much our Saviour and his gospel gain
by it in the world, we should ever be engaged in works of good report,
and practising that which may redound to our praise, for hereby we
spread a good savor of the name of Christ wide in the world, and our
holy religion reaps sensible honour and advantage by it. When the name
of any person is celebrated amongst men for something great and useful,
when his deeds are mentioned with public praise, it is quickly enquired,
“What religion is he of?” Is he a heathen? Then the glory will be
ascribed to idolaters, and the honour perhaps be given to their idols.
Is he a christian? Then the name of Christ our Lord will gain reputation
by it, and men will speak more favourably of that doctrine which was
adorned with such eminent virtue and piety. This did unknown service to
the gospel in the first propagation of it, when it appeared in the
world, that the characters and the lives of christians were lovely, that
their works were all goodness, that they were persons of an excellent
spirit, and obtained a good report among their heathen neighbours: they
saw their good works, and were thereby led, by degrees, to glorify their
heavenly Father, and their Saviour.

And where there is any separation made from the public worship of a
nation, with a profession to reform any corruptions of doctrine or
practice, how much honour would be done to these reforming principles,
and how much service to this interest, if every one that is engaged in
it were always practising things of good report, and aiming at some
eminency and uncommon goodness in their various stations of life. If
therefore we have any love for Christ our Lord, if we have any zeal for
his glory, if we have any regard to the honour of the gospel, or if we
would bring any credit to the particular profession we make, let us set
a severe watch upon ourselves against every thing that would blemish our
character in the world, and let us aspire to all superior excellencies
that are within our reach, that we may be _to the praise of the glory of
his grace, who has made us accepted in the beloved_; Eph. i. 6.

It is necessary here to remove two or three objections out of the way,
that may seem to attend this exhortation of the apostle.

The first is this: If a good name be so valuable a thing, why should
there be such a woe denounced by our Saviour against those that have the
good word of all men: Luke vi. 26. _Woe unto you when all men shall
speak well of you; for so did their fathers to the false prophets._

I. Answer. That the design of our Saviour is to shew, that no man in a
degenerate and corrupt age, can attain the high esteem and hearty good
word of all persons in the world, but those who are time-servers and
hypocrites, who can suit themselves to every company, and comply with
every change of the times; who can profess to be religious, and yet
indulge themselves or others in the practice of their secret iniquities;
such were the false prophets of old. Such a person as this may for a
short season get all men to speak well of him: The drunkards will
commend him, for he can get drunk as well as they, and the swearer, for
he can join with them in swearing; and the men of piety may be deceived
in him, and give him a good report, for his tongue is tipped with
religious language, and he seems to be a saint; but in reality he is an
universal hypocrite, and true to nothing. Our Lord Jesus hates and
censures such a character as this is, and this is the design of his
reproof. Again,

II. Let it be noted, that this sort of sinners can hold the good word of
all men but for a very short time. The drunkards, the profane, and the
lewd, may caress a man for a season who complies with their vices; yet
when they hear that he pretends to be religious among persons of piety,
they will speak evil of him in abundance, and brand him for an
hypocrite, which is a more loathsome name; and his pious acquaintance,
when they shall find out his practice of secret wickedness, they will
justly fix the same odious character upon him: Thus he who before had
the good word of all men, shall then be loaded with public scandal and
infamy. I add further,

III. That a good report signifies a good character and honourable
reputation among all wise and good men, upon the account of valuable
qualities, and the exercise of virtue and goodness; and where a man
manages his affairs with an excellent conduct in this respect, and keeps
himself without a blemish, he will command some degree of esteem and
reverence from the viler part of the world: His good name will be
general, though perhaps not universal; and if the wicked world finds
occasion to speak evil of him in any thing, it is only in the matters of
his God, and his exemplary practice of piety. This thought introduces

The second objection, _viz._ if a good name amongst men be so desirable,
why does our Saviour say, Mat. v. 11, 12. _Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you, and shall speak all manner of evil against you, falsely for
my sake; then rejoice ye, and be exceeding glad, for great is your
reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets that were before
you._

Answer. It is supposed that the evil which men speak of you is false;
for so our Saviour expresseth it, _when they shall speak all manner of
evil against you, falsely for my sake_. They shall scandalize you as
being ill men, merely because you are christians; and throw upon you
many odiums, which your practice has never deserved, on purpose to
expose the christian religion. The apostle Peter agrees with our Lord
Jesus Christ in the same design; 1 Pet. iii. 16. Keep _a good
conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you as evil-doers, they may
be ashamed while they falsely accuse your good conversation in Jesus
Christ_.

Now when it appears to be pure hatred of God and of goodness, of Christ
and his gospel, for which you are reproached, then you have cause to
rejoice, because Christ is on your side: So he was reproached in the
days of his flesh, so the prophets that went before him, and the
apostles that succeeded him; 1 Pet. iv. 14. _The Spirit of God and of
glory resteth upon you, for on their part he is evil spoken of, but on
your part he is glorified._ Happy are ye, for Christ and you are joined
together in the same cause: and you who have glorified him on earth,
shall be glorified together with him in heaven.

The third objection is this; if praise amongst men be lawful to be
sought, how comes it to pass that there are so many reproofs given to
those who seek the praise of men? How can these scriptures be reconciled
with some others that are cited before to encourage actions worthy of
praise! How often does our Saviour severely rebuke the pharisees for
this practice, that _they do their good works to be seen of men_? Mat.
vi. 2, 5, 16. John v. 44.

Answer. It is evident that these hypocrites whom our Saviour reproves,
neglected all inward piety before God, and practised the outward forms
of godliness merely to gain the _praise of men_, they _loved_ and
_valued_ it _more than the praise of God_; John xii. 43. They received
honour of one another, and had no concern about that superior blessing,
that divine esteem and approbation which God only can bestow, and which
only would stand them in stead hereafter. Where the praise of God is
inconsistent with the praise of men, there it is evident we must despise
the censures or the praises of the world, and seek the divine
approbation only: But where these two benefits may be happily conjoined,
we are not bound to separate them. God never requires us to seek infamy
and reproach, or to abandon that honour that belongs to truth and
goodness.

But that I may more effectually guard every christian against all the
dangers and temptations that may attend a good name, and honour in the
world, I would conclude the discourse with these four advices:

I. Make not the praise of men your chief aim or design in any thing you
do: But let it be your first and chiefest care to approve yourselves to
God and your own consciences. Do those actions that are worthy of
praise; and whether the world acknowledge it or no, your souls will find
inward peace, your labour of love shall not be forgotten of God, _he is
faithful who hath promised_; Heb. x. 23.

II. If you are so happy as to obtain the esteem of men, set a guard upon
your soul, lest pride and vanity take occasion to arise and shew
themselves. Have a care lest Satan the tempter gain an advantage against
you by the fruits of your virtue and the eminence of your graces. Pride
is such a cursed twining weed, it will sometimes root itself in virtue
and honour, it will grow up to an equal height, and make its supporters
wither and die.

III. Let all the honour you acquire among men, be improved to the honour
of your God and Saviour. If you make your own applause your great end,
Jesus will say to you another day, as he did once to the pharisees,
_Verily I say unto you, ye have your reward_; Mat. vi. 2, 5, 16. The
praise of men will be your whole recompence, and there is nothing more
remains for you. Whensoever therefore you receive applause from the
world, make the world know that it was not the man but the christian
that practised the virtue, and gained the praise. _Not I, but the grace
of God, which was with me_; 1 Cor. xv. 10. If you so manage all your
laudable actions, that Jesus Christ and his name may gain some honour by
them, this shall turn to your praise and glory in the day of Christ, as
well as to the praise of God your Saviour.

IV. When the providence of God and his grace have favoured you so far as
to gain a good character in the world, have a care of every thing that
may impeach your honour, or sully your reputation. Remember the lesson
that Solomon teaches you from so contemptible a thing as a dead fly; a
few of them will _cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a
stinking savour; so does a little folly disgrace a man who is in
reputation for wisdom and honour_; Eccl. x. 1. The blemish that arises
from one base or foolish action will darken a bright character, and
cancel the honour that has cost the labour of many years to acquire; And
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ will suffer much by it also, it
those persons once descend to folly and disgrace, who have risen high
before in the regions of wisdom and public esteem.

Happy those christians who walk closely with God to the end of life, and
keep their garments unspotted! When they die, they leave a perfumed name
behind them to the churches, and to the families to which they have
belonged; and perhaps they bequeath a lasting honour to religion as long
as the world shall stand. Such has been the character of some of the
saints in ancient ages of the world, such in the elder and later days of
christianity: The brightness and savour of their good name abides to
this day amongst us, as an ornament to religion, and a rich perfume to
the gospel of our Lord Jesus. To him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. _Amen._


                          HYMN FOR SERMON XXX.
           _Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Courage and Honour_.


                  Do I believe what Jesus saith,
                    And think his gospel true?
                  Lord, make me bold to own my faith,
                    And practise virtue too.

                  Suppress my shame, subdue my fear,
                    Arm me with heavenly zeal,
                  That I may make thy power appear,
                    And works of praise fulfil.

                  If men shall see my virtue shine,
                    And spread my name abroad;
                  Thine is the power, the praise is thine,
                    My Saviour and my God!

                  Thus when the Saints in glory meet,
                    Their lips proclaim thy grace;
                  They cast their honours at thy feet,
                    And own their borrow’d rays.

Footnote 31:

  See the two following sermons.




                              SERMON XXXI.
              _Holy Fortitude, or Remedies against Fear._
1 COR. xvi. 13.——Stand Fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.


In the first ages of christianity, the professors of the gospel had
great need of divine courage, that they might stand the many shocks of
opposition, reproach and violence. The Corinthian heathens, though they
were a polite and learned people, yet they were blind and obstinate in
their own superstitions and idolatry, and rooted in the profane and
vicious customs of their ancestors. It required a large stock of holy
fortitude, to profess and practise a new religion among them, that ran
counter to all their former opinions, and their manners. Therefore St.
Paul, who planted the gospel in that city, calls upon his converts to
shake off cowardice and fear, to stand firm and unmoved in the
profession of their faith, to behave like men of war, like heroes, in
the practice of christianity, and to exert all their strength of soul in
this glorious work. _Stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be
strong._

It is true, we live not in a heathen country, among lewd and barbarous
superstitions: The land where our lot is cast, is honoured with the
christian name, and professes the religion of Jesus: yet let me tell
you, infidelity is a growing temptation of this age, the gospel of
Christ hath plentiful ridicule thrown upon it, by many of our neighbours
that go under the name of christians, and we may sometimes be called to
put on courage for the defence of this gospel.

But besides this, there are many things occurring in the divine life,
that require us to put on this holy fortitude of soul. The very nature
of men is so corrupt and vicious, their hearts are so averse to the holy
precepts of christianity, the multitude of sinners is so exceeding great
in every nation, even where the gospel is professed, the customs of this
world are so contrary to the rules of the gospel, and the malice and
rage of Satan with his evil angels, is so constant and so violent
against the religion and the name of Christ, that it is true at all
times, as well as in the primitive age, _that all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution_; 2 Tim. iii. 12. When we
become soldiers of Christ, and resolve to be religious in good earnest,
we must reckon upon enemies and oppositions, we must be prepared to
endure hardness; chapter ii. verse 3.

Our business therefore is, to seek for a spirit of power and holy
fortitude, that we may be void of fear in the profession of our faith,
and in the practice of our daily duties. Not the Corinthians only, but
we also, _must watch, and stand fast in the faith, we must quit
ourselves like men, and be strong_. If we are frighted at the sound of
every reproach, or terrified by the fierce opposition of a wicked world,
we shall be in danger of turning back from the paths of christianity,
and of losing the heavenly prize. Such doctrines, and such practices as
the gospel teaches, require the professors of them to be bold and
valiant.

And besides the difficulties we shall meet with from a degenerate and
sinful world, there are many other trials that attend the christian
life. Sorrows and sufferings belong to human nature, in this fallen and
unhappy state: _Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward_; Job v.
7. This earth is designed for a stage of conflict, a scene of probation,
where each of us must act our parts, under the eye and notice of God our
supreme governor, and our final rewarder. He expects that we should put
on a sacred hardiness of soul; he requires that we should not indulge a
spirit of fear, but be armed with power and courage, that we may endure
to the end. And blessed be his name that he hath given us promises to
raise our hope, that as he endued his people in ancient times with his
grace, so he will bestow this spirit of holy fortitude upon us also, and
that as our day is, so our strength shall be.

To cast my discourse into some method, I shall,

_First_, Briefly describe this divine temper of mind. In the next place,
_Secondly_, I would represent the various occasions which we shall find
for the exercise of it. _Thirdly_, I shall mention a few motives to
incite us to acquire this holy fortitude, and to maintain it throughout
our whole course of life. And _Fourthly_, propose some remedies against
a spirit of slavish fear, which is directly opposite to this christian
virtue.

The first thing proposed is, to describe what I mean by fortitude and
courage; and to this end, we must distinguish it into that of the active
and that of the passive kind. Active valour or courage, is such a temper
of soul, as to attempt and venture upon any bold act of duty, which may
endanger our present case, and worldly interest; and prompts us to
pursue it with a becoming steadiness and bravery of mind, undaunted at
every opposition we meet with, and unterrified at all the threatening
dangers that stand in our way. Passive valour is such an habitual
firmness and constancy of soul, as enables us to bear what sufferings we
fall under, without repinings and inward vexations, and without any
outward tokens of sinking and despondency. When we sustain heavy
sorrows, or anguish of the flesh, without any wild and unreasonable
groanings of nature, without rage and unbecoming resentment, without
tumult and confusion of spirit. And this should be the temper of our
souls, and our christian conduct, whether the sufferings which we feel,
arise from the immediate hand of God, or from the injustice and violence
of men.

In the second place, I come to represent the various occasions that we
shall find in the christian life, for the exercise of this holy courage,
and that under both kinds of it, _viz._ the active and the passive, or
that which consists in doing, and that which consists in suffering; and
I shall enlarge upon each of them in a practical way. Active valour is
necessary for a professor of the christian faith: And when and
wheresoever divine providence gives us any just occasions for the
exercise of this sort of fortitude, let no christian refuse them, or
shamefully withdraw from his duty. The occasions we have for it are such
as these:

I. When we are called to profess and practise strict piety, even under
the special view and notice of profane sinners. Perhaps our dwelling may
be cast among profligate wretches, who live without God in the world;
but we must not be afraid to own, that we fear the great God, and that
we worship that awful name, which their blasphemies affront and vilify.
Nor must we be ashamed to let the world know, that we cannot pass a day
without calling upon our God, and that prayer is as necessary to us, as
our daily food. It is strange and monstrous that it should ever be
accounted a matter of shame among creatures to acknowledge the God that
made them, or that it should ever need any courage to profess homage and
adoration to our Creator! What degenerate times do we live in, that it
should require some fortitude to tell the world, that we who are
creatures confess a God! And yet sometimes even this very fortitude is
wanting, and we are contented to look like atheists, lest we should be
thought religious. Base cowardise! and degenerate times indeed!

II. When we happen into the company of infidels and apostates from
christianity, who throw their impious jests on the gospel of Christ, we
may find a plain call of providence to stand up for his name and honour.

It is true, there are few of us who are sent to travel beyond the seas,
and to engage in necessary converse about religion with heathens; but I
hinted before, that infidelity is a growing mischief of the present age,
even in our own land. It seems to be a spreading infection, and how far
the great God may suffer it to prevail, he only knows. There are
multitudes already that have made shipwreck of the faith of Christ, and
betake themselves only to the dim and glimmering light of nature, as a
sufficient refuge for their souls, and their only guide in matters of
religion: A poor doubtful guide, and a dangerous refuge! And yet these
men are continually instructing one another to wage war against the
blessed gospel, and rise in arms of defiance against the only Saviour.
It is proper then for us to enquire, are we ready to declare ourselves
christians if we are called to it, when deists and scoffers surround us
with their abominable jests, or their wanton cavils? For though
sometimes they argue against our creed with calmness and decency, yet it
must be confessed that those are the most common weapons which this sort
of men make use of. Dare we now make a profession of our faith among men
of infidelity, and not value their banter, and their insolent
reproaches? Let us remember, that christian courage must encounter
mockery and slanders as well as other terrors: Courage must guard us
against sinful shame, as well as against sinful fear. Can we glory in a
crucified Saviour as the wisdom and the power of God, if we should be
placed between the Jews on one side, and the heathens on the other, who
load this doctrine with folly and scandal. St. Paul was a brave example;
O that every soul of us could as bravely imitate him! But let us proceed
to some more occasions of courage a-kin to this.

Perhaps we content ourselves to be christians in our closets, and to
frequent the public assemblies of worship without shame or fear, because
our neighbours do the same: But I would enquire of such general
professors of christianity, why are you so backward to give up your
names to Christ, and attend on the special ordinance of his holy supper?
Is it not because you are ashamed to appear in such a strict profession
of godliness, and to be known and observed by the world, as those that
have devoted themselves to the Lord in his church? This is certainly the
case of some younger converts. Let them here be put in mind of their
former neglects, and their present duty. Be strong in the Lord, banish a
shameful shame, and seal your covenant in the blood of Christ, his cross
is your hope, and why should you not make it your glory too?

If you are ashamed of such a public profession in peaceful times, what
will ye do if days of trial should come? Would you be ready to vindicate
your separation from the church of Rome, and all its superstitions?
Would you have courage enough to maintain the purity of your profession,
and your close adherence to scripture, in opposition to all the
inventions and traditions of men? Would your heart be strong to persist
in your peculiar practices of religion, in the most scriptural forms of
it, in an hour of persecution and danger? Blessed be God for a
protestant king on the throne, and a glorious race of protestant princes
to succeed him. May the blessings of heaven from above descend on them
all, and render them in their successions an everlasting blessing to
Great Britain and all the protestant churches! But a christian indeed
should be so formed, and so furnished, as to be ready to profess and
practise his religion in every nation, and in every age, in the midst of
storms as well as under the shining sun.

III. When we are called to practise an unfashionable virtue, or to
refuse compliance with any fashionable vice. This is another occasion
that demands the exercise of christian fortitude. Let us survey a few
instances of this kind.

It is an unfashionable thing now-a-days to introduce a word of practical
godliness into company: The polite world will tell us, it spoils
conversation: Mark, what a silence is spread over the room, when any
person dares to begin so disagreeable a subject; there is none to second
him, he may preach alone, and it is well if he escapes a profane scoff.
This is a very true, but a very shameful account of things, according to
the present mode. Any thing but religion is thought fit to entertain a
friend. Even where persons of piety meet together in their visits, this
sort of language is banished from company and the parlour, and it is
confined only to God and the closet. Alas! we are ashamed to appear
truly religious; but if we had holy courage enough, one person would not
be afraid to begin, nor another to carry on such divine discourse. There
are surely some happy moments wherein an useful word may be introduced
with prudence and decency, to warm each other’s hearts, and to rekindle
the holy fire of love and devotion that is almost expiring.

Again, perhaps we may be much engaged in the world among persons that
make no conscience of speaking truth: But if we would be christians
indeed, we must have courage enough always to shew a hatred of
falsehood, and keep up a tenderness of spirit, lest we be drawn to the
borders of a lie; nor must we be ashamed to let the world know that we
are the devoted servants of truth. When some knavish or unjust practice
has overspread a city or a country, and become almost universal, we must
dare to be honest in a cheating world; we must maintain our
righteousness, and let it shine in the midst of a deceitful age, though
perhaps we may be called scrupulous fools. If we happen to be engaged in
necessary business with persons who drink to excess, we must boldly deny
the imposed glass, we must secure our own sobriety, even in the midst of
drunkards, and as much as possible avoid their society: Nor should any
scandalous names of puritan and precisian affright us from the paths of
strict holiness. When we meet with gross affronts in the world, we may
be made the scorn and jest of all the company, if we decline the modish
customs of satisfaction and bloody revenge; we may be charged with
cowardice among the ruffians of the age; but a man of honour must have
courage to bear this charge, unless he will venture to run upon the
sword of God which is drawn and pointed against revenge, duelling, and
murder.

When the fashion of dress or visits, of salutations or entertainments,
exceeds the bounds of modesty or temperance, or intrenches upon truth or
religion, we must bravely dare to be unfashionable, and _have no
fellowship with any unfruitful works of darkness_; Eph. v. 11. We must
obey the great and holy God, rather than comply with the sinful customs
of men.

             “’Tis brave to meet the world, stand fast among
             Whole crowds, and not be carried with the throng.”

I grant that religion doth not consist in singularity, but there are
some seasons when we must be singular, if we would be holy, and exert a
sacred fortitude of soul, to secure ourselves from the defilements of
the world. _Come out from among them is the language of God in such
cases, touch not the unclean thing, and be ye separate, saith the Lord_;
2 Cor. vi. 17.

IV. Another instance of necessary courage, is, when we are called to
undertake the cause of the oppressed, to plead for the poor against the
mighty, or to vindicate the innocent against the men of slander or
violence. It is a cowardly spirit, a spirit of shameful pride, or
selfish meanness, to trample upon those that are lying upon the ground,
to tread upon the poor and the distressed, and sometimes through fear of
the mighty, as well as scorn of the poor, to neglect the cries of those
that are injured. This indeed is the custom of the world; but if we be
the disciples of Christ, we must have more courage than this, we must
_open our mouths for the dumb_, and plead the cause of those that cannot
speak for themselves; Prov. xxxi. 8.

When we happen into company that delight in scandal, and the slander
goes round from tongue to tongue, we must first guard our lips from the
infamous compliance, though we cannot defend our ears: And then we
should have some compassion on the absent person, who perhaps may be
loaded with calumny and lies: Nor should we be afraid or ashamed to put
in a relieving word; to support the good name of those that are
oppressed by malicious reproaches. And if the censure be never so just,
yet where providence doth not plainly call us to join in that censure,
let us not betray such an inclination to evil-speaking, nor shew such a
base and mean soul, as to call names for company.

Where the life or the estate of our neighbour is in danger, we must
venture something to secure it, as well as to defend his good name. This
advice is given in Prov. xxiv. 11, 12. _If thou forbear to deliver them
that are drawn out to death, and those that are ready to be slain; if
thou sayest, behold, we knew it not, doth not he that pondereth the
heart consider?_ That is, if there are any persons drawn out to death,
and ready to be slain by sinful oppression, and that thou had a just and
reasonable power in thine hand to preserve them, it is not thy duty to
stand still or hide thyself, and say, _behold I knew it not_. He that
lets the ox or the ass of his neighbour go astray or sink under a
burden, and passeth away regardless as though he did not know it, is
under the censure of the word of God; and much more do we deserve the
censure, if we abandon our fellow-creatures of human nature to perish,
when we are able to save them. The all-wise and almighty God considers
it, and he will not approve of such meanness of spirit, and such a
shameful defect of christian charity.

V. It is a work which calls for courage to admonish our brethren when
they depart from the ways of righteousness, and to reprove sin among
those with whom we converse. The law of God requires it; Lev. xix. 17.
_Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise
rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him._ It is expressed as
though a neglect of reproof, where it is a duty, looks like a sort of
hatred, or want of love. But for the most part it is want of courage
forbids it. Let it be done with holy boldness; but without wrath and
resentment, or selfish revenge; let it be expressed and managed with all
love and gentleness, with all humility and compassion, and with a
becoming exercise of those lovely characters of moderation and meekness,
which I have elsewhere described.

Nathan the prophet ingeniously reproved David the king for his adultery
and murder. And we should learn the most artful and obliging methods,
and the softest language of reproof, that we may practise it with more
courage, security, and success; and the more secret it is, it will
generally be most successful. If at any time we are called by most
evident providence, to give an open rebuke in the face of the world,
together with courage, we must put on all wisdom and humility, lest we
publish our own conceit and pride, and provoke wrath without hope of
success. When we rebuke the profane and impious wretch, for the most
glaring iniquity, we should use our best prudence in distinguishing
proper seasons, _lest we cast a pearl before swine, and it become
useless, and be trodden under foot_; Mat. vii. 6.

Sometimes it is hard to know what is our duty in this respect but thus
far in general it may be said, This should be done whensoever there is a
great and evident probability of doing service to God and souls by it:
Whensoever a vindication of the name of God and his honour requires it,
or when there is any just hope of doing good to men; there is indeed a
time to keep silence in this case, and there is a time to speak. O may
the word and Spirit and providence of God join together to give us
direction in this difficult duty, and courage to perform it!

VI. Reformation of all kinds, whether in families or churches, in
cities, or nations, demands a good degree of resolution and courage. It
is a brave and daring enterprize, to stem the torrent of the age we live
in, and to attempt to change the vicious customs of a city or nation. We
must have a soul inspired with zeal for piety and goodness, if we would
contest the point with the guilty, and cover them with deserved shame,
or bring them to deserved punishment. Blessed be God there are societies
formed in our age for this glorious purpose! May everlasting success
attend their zeal, and may their heads be covered with divine protection
in every hour of danger!

We have need of courage to stand up for truth and purity in the church
of Christ, when it is over-run with corrupt doctrines, wicked heresies,
superstitions, and false worship. We must use our endeavour to root out
these evil weeds by all the sacred influences of reason and scripture;
not by rage and violence, not by fraud and falsehood, not by slander and
scandalous language, not by calling in the power of the magistrate and
the sword of the state to assist us; Christ hath not allowed his
followers such weapons as these against superstition and heresy; _The
sword of the Spirit is the word of God_; Eph. vi. 17. _The weapons of
our warfare are not carnal_; 2 Cor. x. 4.

And when we have endeavoured to reform the offenders by all christian
methods, and find no success, we must dare to separate ourselves from
the many and the mighty, who will not be reformed. This was the glorious
practice of our fathers, the protestants and the puritans, in the
several seasons of their reformation, when they were called to oppose
the greater or the lesser corruptions of the christian church.

If our kindred or families are fallen into any foolish, vain, or sinful
practices, or any civil society to which we belong hath departed from
the rules of justice or truth, it belongs to a christian to become a
public good, by using his influence, as far as it goes, toward the
rectifying of every disorder. He should put on a divine fortitude,
whensoever providence calls him to attempt a reformation amongst them.
There is need of a noble spirit and a pious bravery, to rise up against
any foolish or vicious customs, to combat any rooted principles or
habits of error or iniquity, and to oppose any number of persons that
are engaged in an evil course. Moses forbids us _to follow a multitude
to do evil_; Ex. xxiii. 2. And there are seasons when we may be called
to oppose a multitude of evil-doers: And though no man stand by us, yet
we are bound to stand by the cause of God and goodness. So divine a
cause deserves and demands such divine courage.

How glorious was the character of Caleb and Joshua, who spoke well of
the land of promise, and encouraged the armies of Israel while all the
rest of the spies which were sent _brought an evil report upon the good
land_: Num. xiii. 31, 32. The people believed the evil report, and spoke
of stoning Joshua and Caleb. But the _glory of the Lord appeared in the
tabernacle_, and God himself gave a testimony from heaven to the sacred
courage and honour of these Jewish heroes. What a brave spirit dwelt in
Elijah, who attempted to reform Israel from idolatry! He would not fall
down and worship Baal, though he thought he had been left alone, the
only worshipper of the true God in the nation; 1 Kings xix. 14.

VII. There are some other, and very common occasions for the exercise of
sacred courage, which attend persons especially in the lower ranks of
life: As for instance; when a servant is called by providence to speak
the truth, and yet he dare not do it without offending his master: When
a poor man is required to bear witness in some important concern, and
his rich neighbour frowns and looks sour upon him: When a person of an
inferior character is tempted to join with the mighty in some unjust and
dishonourable practices, and while his superiors invite him to it, his
conscience forbids his compliance. It is a noble act of christian
courage, in such instances as these, to follow truth, equity, and
conscience, wheresoever they lead, in opposition to all the allurements,
the frowns, and the threatenings of persons in an higher station. Let
those who fall under such a temptation remember, _there is an higher
than the highest_, and the great God, the Lord of heaven and earth, is
the patron of truth and righteousness, the guardian of innocence, and
the dreadful avenger of deceit and lying.

I might add other instances of a kindred nature in common life, wherein
christian fortitude is greatly necessary, especially in this corrupt and
degenerate age: As when a trader must look poverty in the face, and meet
approaching ruin in his outward circumstances, unless he make some
inroad upon his honesty, and practise falsehood and deceit. But if the
case be thus, if a christian sees himself sinking in the world, by the
frowns of providence, he must dare to sink rather than cheat his
neighbour, and save himself by any base and dishonest methods. A man of
religion and honour must stand firm to his word, must follow strict
equity in all things, and neither enter into any methods of fraud, nor
of violence, to retrieve his decaying circumstances.

O how many little knavish contrivances do persons often practise to
secure a good bargain to themselves, and sometimes they support their
dying credit in the world at the expence and loss of their innocent
neighbour! They borrow what they know they are not able to pay: They
draw up false accounts of their own estate: They impose upon the
credulous with words of a double meaning, or with downright lies: They
almost forget they are christians, for fear lest they should be undone,
and practise the things at which an heathen would have blushed and
started, because they have not courage enough to be honest and poor.

VIII. Christians have need of holy fortitude, to venture their lives at
the demand of providence, and expose themselves to violence, and to a
bloody death. Sometimes they are called to this glorious service in the
cause of God and his church: So were many of the prophets, the apostles,
and primitive christians, as well as the martyrs of later ages.
Sometimes in the cause of our country, divine providence calls us to
expose our blood, and to assist or guard the nation against invasions
from abroad, or tumults at home, and to quell the rage of a brutal
multitude. In a just and necessary war for our country, or in a defence
of our natural or religious rights, we may fight with christian courage,
when we have well surveyed the justice of our cause, and find it
approved of God. And there are seasons when we may be called to venture
our lives for our christian brethren; 1 John iii. 15.

But perhaps some of these things may come as naturally also under the
head of passive valour and courage: And indeed the most active valour of
the greatest heroes is built upon that which is passive. It is on this
account they dare venture to expose their flesh to wounds, their names
to reproach, or their bodies to death, because they can bear the wounds,
the reproaches, or death itself with a noble serenity and fortitude of
soul. All the active boldness in the world is but rashness and folly
where such a hardiness and patience are utterly wanting. Of this passive
valour I shall mention but two particular cases wherein christians must
exert themselves.

I. When we are called to bear sickness, pain, shame, losses,
disappointments, all the sorrowful changes of life, or death itself from
the mere hand of God. This is to be done with a steadiness of spirit,
with a firmness of soul, with christian fortitude, with a sacred and
serene calm upon all our powers and passions, without fretting or
vexing, or inward disquietude. It is a sign of a weak mind to be overset
with every blast of wind. _If thou faintest in the day of adversity, thy
strength is but small_; Prov. xxiv. 10. We must not indeed _despise the
chastening of the Almighty, nor must we faint when we are rebuked of
him_; Heb. xii. 5.

Let the men of this world that know not Christ, that are not acquainted
with the gospel, and have not felt the powers of the world to come, let
them fret and grow peevish at every disappointment that falls upon them
in their earthly comforts, or when their flesh is visited with sore
pains: But it does not become a christian to be sour and fretful under
the afflicting hand of God, for it is the hand of his heavenly Father.
To be overwhelmed and almost distracted with the crosses we meet with in
the world, is not becoming the character of a child of God, one that is
high born, that has his birth from heaven, and his family there; it is a
shame for him to grow wild with impatience, or to run into desperate
courses for relief. This is not courage, but mere cowardice of soul, to
put an end to our own life in order to escape from our sorrows. The
wisest among the heathens reproved it as a meanness of spirit; and
surely it is much more unbecoming the religion of Christ, and that
divine fortitude that every christian should be endued with. We are not
to be affrighted, though the mountains should be turned upside down, and
cast into the midst of the sea. The Lord of hosts is our shield and
defence, he is a rock above all the waves, and if our feet are fixed
upon this rock, what need have we for terror? The name of the God of
Jacob, in the xlvi. Psalm, is a match for all our foes, and a sovereign
remedy for all our fears.

Christian courage appears also upon a bed of sickness, when, at the call
of God, we look death in the face with a chearful soul. When all our
friends stand around us, and every one, by the lamentable air that sits
in their faces, gives us notice of our approaching dissolution, then to
look upon death with a serene countenance, and not be affrighted, but
venture boldly into the invisible world; this is a glorious fortitude
derived from the grace of faith.

II. Another instance of passive valour is, when we bear persecutions of
all sorts from the hand of men with a holy courage, for the sake of God.
When we can be plundered of our possessions in this world, and stripped
of all our comforts, and yet be easy. _Ye took joyfully the spoiling of
your goods_, says the apostle to the Hebrews; _chapter_ x. _verses_ 33,
34. _and ye endured the great fight of afflictions with chearfulness,
knowing that in heaven ye have a better and more enduring substance_. In
Heb. xi. _verse_ 36. when the apostle speaks of the ancient Jewish
saints, _they had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, of bonds and
imprisonments, they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheep-skins, and
goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented_: but they were men
above this world, _of whom the world was not worthy_: They had a spirit
of divine courage that made them too great for this world, although they
were almost banished out of it, and wandered among the beasts of the
earth. Let not christians then be guilty of base and mean compliances,
to preserve their substance in the world, nor to cover their names from
slanders and infamy, nor to secure their liberties or their lives when
Christ calls us to part with them. If there be any virtue, if there be
any praise, think on these things. If there be any call to the practice
of such courage, for the sake of Christ, remember these exhortations,
and be not afraid.

Thus I have given you variety of instances both of active and passive
valour, as they are to be exercised in the christian life: I fear they
are too many for the best and boldest of us to practise, even under all
our advantages. But in order to render them a little more easy to
christians, the following motives and directions may give some
assistance under the influence of the blessed Spirit. And these shall be
the subject of the next discourse.

Recollection.—And now, O my soul, it is time to turn thy thoughts
inward, and enquire, how much of this discourse is suited to thy own
case? Thou acknowledgest there is a God, but art thou not sometimes
ashamed to call upon him in the morning for his presence all the day,
lest thy companions should know thou hast been upon thy knees? Hast thou
courage to ask a blessing on thy food in the place where others deride
the practice?

Thou hast learned and thou hast believed the religion of Christ, but
hast thou ever yet had courage enough to make a solemn and public
profession of it? Hast thou ever yet publicly given thy name up to
Christ as one of his subjects, and joined thyself to his visible kingdom
amongst men: Or art thou only a believer in secret, ashamed to make
profession of thy faith, by joining thyself to some christian assembly?
If this be thy state, thou hast now a loud call to add fortitude to thy
faith, and assume christian courage to profess the sacred name in which
thou hast believed.

Or art thou a professor of this holy religion? Thou hast listed thyself
under the banner of Christ, in these days of liberty and peace, and
while thou dwellest among those who encourage thy faith and profession.
But enquire into thyself, hast thou such a love to the gospel, as to
glory in it even amongst infidels, who make it the object of their
mockery and reproach? Has this divine religion so deep a root in thy
heart, as to bear and resist the storms of the world, and to stand firm
and flourish still? Hast thou courage to declare thyself a disciple of
the cross, and a professor of a crucified Saviour, when thou shalt
happen to be in the company of those who blaspheme him?

Hast thou obtained holy boldness enough to practise virtue when it is
out of fashion, and canst thou refuse to comply with the warmest
temptations to a fashionable sin? Hast thou got such a victory over
thyself as to dare to be singular, if thy company would lead thee into
any modish vice? This is an hard lesson to young and tender minds, but
it must be learned. O my soul, if thou wilt be a christian indeed, hast
thou courage to vindicate the innocent, when he is assaulted with
slanders, and to frown upon those who delight in scandal? Or art thou so
meanly spirited, as to join in a common jest, that is thrown upon the
absent, and to mix with the odious tribe of back-biters? Remember this
is a shameful baseness of spirit: but a christian must be a man of
honour.

Canst thou see thy friends, thy companions, indulge a sinful course, and
hast thou not one kind admonition for them? Hast thou not virtue and
courage enough to warn thy brother, and to turn his foot from the path
of iniquity, that leads to ruin and death? But remember also, that
gentleness and love must attend thy rebukes, if thou ever desirest they
should attain success. A reprover should have a bold, but a tender
spirit. What zeal hast thou, O my soul, for reformation? Or canst thou
bear with immoralities and corruptions of every kind? And rather than
venture to displease man, wilt thou let thy neighbours go on for ever to
displease God? What wouldest thou do, if thou wert called to face the
great, and to profess religion before the mighty men of the earth? Is
thy faith grown bold enough to shew itself in a court, in a palace, and
to venture all thy earthly interests for the defence of it?

Thus far concerning thy active fortitude. But how stands the case with
regard to passive valour, and enduring of sufferings? Is thy heart firm
under sharp trials of providence? Canst thou resign thy health and thy
ease into the hand of God without fretting or repining? Or doth thy
courage faint, and thy impatience shamefully discover itself under the
common pains and diseases of nature? I grant there is much of weakness
derived even to a manly spirit, from the distempers of the flesh: When
the nerves are unbraced, and the tabernacle of the body tottering, the
soul partakes of the infirmities of this poor fleshly engine. O frail
unhappy state of human nature, and souls that dwell in clay! But is it
thy constant labour and prayer, that patience may have its perfect work,
that thy spirit may be ever sedate under all the pains and disquietudes
of this mortal flesh, and thy temper kept serene under all the frowns
and clouds of heaven?

Art thou ready to face the king of terrors, and to descend into that
dark valley? Thou must meet this adversary shortly, O my soul! Labour
therefore daily to get courage and victory over death, by faith in a
dying and a rising Saviour. Happy is that faith that has no carnal fear
attending it, but is got above the frowns and smiles of this world. My
soul longs after it, and reaches at it, as something within the power of
her present attainment through the grace of Christ. I long to be armed
with this sacred courage, and to have my heart fortified all round with
these divine munitions. I would fain be calm and serene in the midst of
buffetings and reproaches, and pursue my course steadily toward heaven,
under the banner of faith, through all the arrows of slander and malice.
Lord Jesus, I wait for thy divine influence, to bestow this grace, and
thy divine teachings, to put me in the way to obtain it.


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXXI.
              _Holy Fortitude, or Remedies against Fear._


                   Am I a soldier of the cross,
                     A follower of the Lamb?
                   And shall I fear to own his cause,
                     Or blush to speak his name?

                   Must I be carry’d to the skies,
                     On flow’ry beds of ease;
                   While others fought to win the prize,
                     And sail’d through bloody seas?

                   Are there no foes for me to face?
                     Must I not stem the flood?
                   Is this vile world a friend to grace,
                     To help me on to God?

                   Sure I must fight if I would reign;
                     Increase my courage, Lord!
                   I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
                     Supported by thy word.

                   Thy saints in all this glorious war,
                     Shall conquer though they die;
                   They see the triumph from afar,
                     And seize it with their eye.

                   When that illustrious day shall rise,
                     And all thy armies shine,
                   In robes of victory through the skies,
                     The glory shall be thine.




                             SERMON XXXII.
              _Holy Fortitude, or Remedies against Fear._
 1 COR. xvi. 13.—Stand fast in the Faith, quit you like Men, be strong.


Having described this holy temper of spirit, this fortitude both of the
active and passive kind, and having set before you various occasions for
its exercise in the christian life, I proceed now to the third thing
which I proposed, and that is, to excite you by some engaging motives,
to seek after this temper, which is so necessary for a christian. I
shall not enforce this from the light of nature, and from the mere laws
of reason, which have been joined with ambitious and selfish principles
in some of the pagan heroes, and have influenced many a man, in the days
of heathenism, to some great exploits of fortitude and fame. There is
nothing in all the principles of natural religion, that makes the mind
brave and noble but it receives high advancements and glorious efficacy
from christianity. I would call you,

_First_, To cast your eyes on the noble patterns of courage that you
find in the New Testament. I do not invite you to meditate the examples
of heathen warriors, but consider the example of christian heroes, your
predecessors, who have stood fast in the faith, who have quitted
themselves like men, in numerous and shining instances of active and
passive courage. Look at the blessed apostles, Peter and John, when they
rejoiced to suffer shame for the sake of Christ their Lord, and boldly
told the council of priests, that they must preach the name of Jesus, in
opposition to their menaces: They must obey God rather than men. Look at
St. Paul the most eminent christian hero: Behold him in the midst of the
Roman soldiers, and a violent multitude of unbelieving Jews. Hear how he
acknowledges his exalted Saviour before captains and centurions, before
king Agrippa, before Felix and Festus, who were two successive governors
of Judea! And with the same fortitude of soul he appeared before Cæsar,
at Rome. _I am not ashamed_, says he, _of the gospel of Christ_; Rom. i.
16. for he whom I have trusted in is almighty to support me. Read that
most generous and pathetic speech of his; Acts xxi. 13. when the spirit
of prophecy had foretold that Paul should be _bound at Jerusalem, and
delivered captive into the hands of the Gentiles_; his friends and
strangers besought him not to go up to that city. Then Paul answered,
_What mean ye to weep, and to break mine heart? For I am ready, not to
be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord
Jesus._ I know, says he, _and the Holy Ghost is witness, that bonds and
afflictions wait for me, but none of these things move me, neither count
I my life dear to myself, that I may finish my course with joy, and the
ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel
of the grace of God_; Acts xx. 24.

Now when a special occasion calls us to the exercise of this virtue, and
to confess Christ before the world, for us to be mealy-mouthed, and
baffled, and frighted at the countenances of men, this is to forsake the
example of the blessed apostles, and obey men rather than God. The
prophets and the apostles, the ancient saints and the primitive martyrs
have given us noble patterns of this virtue; and why should our spirits
fail us, or our lips tremble, if we are called to the same glorious
confession? Is not our religion divine? Is not the gospel still worthy
of the same honour? Is not our God the same almighty? Is not our
Redeemer the same Jesus? And does not a dying, a rising, and a reigning
Saviour deserve the same homage of our tongues, and demand the same
glory at our hands? Yes, surely he demands it of us, and he deserves it
infinitely: And not only his apostles, but his own example teacheth us
to practise this fortitude, both of the active and the passive kind. In
the

_Second_ place then, behold this perfect pattern of fortitude, Jesus the
Son of God: When he came into the world in the midst of poverty, and
made but a mean figure, as the son of a carpenter, he was called to
oppose the whole nation of the Jews, and the priests and princes of
Jerusalem; he was sent to reform the vicious customs of a wicked and
degenerate age. How did he stand and face danger without fear? When he
went into the temple, with what a sacred zeal did he scourge the buyers
and sellers out of his Father’s house of prayer? Ye know what a noble
testimony he bare to the truth, when he was called before the great men,
the rulers of the church and state. You know again, what instances of
passive courage our Lord Jesus manifested, when he was hatefully
reproached, and suffered shameful indignities from a rude multitude:
When he was persecuted, when he was buffeted, when he wrestled with many
and mighty sorrows, when his friends left him alone in the hands of his
cruel enemies.

It must be confessed, his spirit trembled within him, and he was sore
amazed, when it pleased his Father _to bruise him, and put him to grief,
and to make his soul an offering for sin_; Is. liii. 10. These were
unknown and inexpressible burdens, that made him groan indeed; and
offered strong cries and tears to heaven, that the cup of terror might
pass from him. If ever his courage seemed to fail him, it was in that
agony in the garden, when he endured more than any mere man could bear.
A formidable and a dismal hour, when the Father hid his face from him,
and the powers of darkness fell upon him with angelic might and fury!
But these are sorrows of atonement, which the saints are never called to
suffer. And yet by secret divine supports, Jesus endured all these
agonies, and upon the cross he triumphed not only over the malice of
men, but _over principalities and powers of hell, and made an open shew
of them_; Col. ii. 15. perhaps, before armies of the invisible world,
and millions of applauding angels.

Read the sacred advice; Heb. xii. 1, 2, 3. Not only look ye, says the
apostle, to the great cloud of witnesses that are gone before, but above
all look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith, who, for the
joy that was set before him, endured the cross, and despised the shame,
and is set down at the right-hand of the throne of God. Consider him
that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that opposed
a multitude, a legion, a world of sinners, lest ye be weary and faint in
your minds, nor let your spirits sink while you behold his divine
fortitude: Let such an illustrious scene animate your souls, and inspire
the fainting believer with new courage. Consider,

_Thirdly_, What you are; if you are christians, ye are soldiers of
Christ, ye have already entered the lists, with all the powers of hell,
and are ye afraid of _man that is a worm, and the son of man that is a
worm_? Job xxv. 6. Ye have ranged yourselves under the banner of the
Redeemer, and the Redeemer’s army must fight against all the armies of
darkness and their allies. You have set up to oppose sin and Satan, two
powerful enemies, and are ye afraid to be brow-beaten by a fellow-worm,
one who is weak and mortal like yourselves? Consider,

_Fourthly_, If ye are christians, what promises of the divine presence
and help you have in the bible, and when the mighty God has given such
divine encouragement, he chides his people into courage; Is. li. 12, 13.
_I, even I am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldst
be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be
made as grass? And forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched
forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? and hast
feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor?_ A
generous and divine cordial to keep the soul from fainting! The presence
of God is an effectual support. St. Paul found it so; _for when all men
forsook him, the Lord stood by and strengthened him_; 1 Tim. iv. 16, 17.
Alas! we are poor, feeble, trembling soldiers, our hands hang down, and
our faces gather paleness: But we dare to confront the terrors of this
world, if we taste and feel such divine encouragements. We know that a
weak christian can do wonders with an almighty Saviour and an
all-sufficient promise. When St. Paul had this word given him, _My grace
is sufficient for thee_, he could _glory even in infirmities_, that the
_power of Christ might rest upon him_; 2 Cor. xii. 9. The little feeble
man, of a _contemptible presence_, could do _all things through Christ
strengthening him_; Phil. iv. 13. And every believer has the same
Almighty Helper, the same gospel, and the same promises.

In the last place, consider the large and never-fading crown of glory,
that awaits the conqueror at the end of the christian conflict. _Be thou
faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life_; Rev. ii. 10.
Consider the honour and triumph, those riches of glory, and that
everlasting inheritance, that shall be your reward in the future world,
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; _He that overcometh shall
sit down with me on my throne_, &c. Rev. iii. 21. _He that overcometh
shall inherit all things_; chap. xxi. 7. Put all these together in the
balances, with a few crosses and disappointments, a little trouble and
uneasiness, nay, though you should add torture and death in the same
scale, you may easily judge which will outweigh. Gaze at your crown of
life, and your immortal hopes, till you feel your souls divinely
animated to the combat: Learn from the apostle, and assume that glorious
language; _Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment_, are
scarce to be mentioned or named _with the far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory that shall be revealed_; 2 Cor. iv. 17. _Therefore we
both labour and suffer reproach_; therefore we bear all present sorrows
with holy courage, because we look not at the things that are seen,
little things that are temporal; but look at the great unseen things
that are eternal; 2 Cor. iv. 18.

The fourth and last general head of discourse shall now furnish us with
some sacred remedies against this slavish fear. The passion of fear in
general, is wisely wrought by the great God into human nature: It is a
disturbance both of our animal composition, and of the mind upon the
apprehension of some approaching evil, or upon the apparent danger of
it. This is an excellent provision, which the God of nature has made, to
guard us from many mischiefs. It is innocent and useful when it is fixed
on a proper object, and exercised in a proper degree. It becomes a part
of our religion when God is the object of our fear, whereby we maintain
such a holy awe of his majesty, as awakens a constant desire to please
him, joined with a temper of holy love.

But when we suffer creatures to raise and influence our fears upon every
occasion, so as to ruffle and disquiet our spirits to throw the soul
from off its rest, and to turn us aside from the steady course of duty,
then it becomes a sinful and forbidden passion, and we should make it
our business to watch against it, and suppress it. There are some
persons so feeble in their native constitutions, or their spirits are so
weakened by the distempers of the flesh, that fear is a constant tyrant
over them: Their case is to be pitied indeed, but they ought to stir up
themselves as far as possible to shake off this bondage, lest it
withhold them from the practice of necessary duties, and rob them of all
the comforts of religion. This slavish fear is a disease of the mind, as
well as a weakness of nature; and besides, our summoning together all
the powers and precepts of reason, we should also apply the remedies of
religion, in order to remove it: If the divine Spirit concur with his
blessing, the following methods may be made happily successful:

I. See to it that ye are christians indeed, that you have the power of
religion wrought in your hearts, otherwise you will never be able boldly
to maintain the form and the profession of it, in an hour of danger.
Fear will prevail over every thing but true faith: And if your religion
be not inward and sincere and built on solid foundations, it will
tremble and totter, and be in great danger of being utterly lost. One
hard name, one biting reproach, one witty scoff or ugly slander, will
dash the hypocrite out of countenance, and he dares not stand up for his
God and Saviour.

And remember also that your faith must be always kept awake and lively.
See to it that your hope be not only well established, but you must
preserve your evidences for heaven ever clear, that ye may look upon
yourselves as the care and charge of Christ, and under the special eye
and protection of God your Saviour. This was the divine foundation on
which the great apostle raised his courage in the gospel to so high a
degree. I am neither afraid to suffer these things, says he, that is,
bonds and imprisonments; nor am I ashamed of this gospel, for I know
whom I have believed, I know him as my Saviour, and I am persuaded he is
able to keep that which I have committed to him against the day of his
appearance; 2 Tim. i. 12.

If you would raise your spirits to a sublime pitch of holy fortitude,
brighten your faith and hope daily, by a frequent examination of the
frame of your hearts, by watchful walking before God, by committing your
souls afresh into the hands of Jesus and his Spirit, for pardoning and
renewing grace, that you may believe on just and solid grounds, that you
are the children of God, and that Jesus is your salvation. A lively
faith gives divine courage. Faith is a noble shield to ward off fear,
and our helmet is the hope of salvation.

Take heed of defiling yourselves with sensuality: Take heed of any false
biasses on your spirit, and wrong designs in your actions, lest you
bring fresh guilt upon your consciences. Guilt will create fear, and
fill the soul with a perplexing tumult of thoughts. But when the terrors
of this world assault you on every side, reproaches and threatenings,
the frowns of your friends, and the rage of your enemies, you may be all
serene and peaceful within, while you maintain a sacred consciousness of
soul, that you have been seeking the light of truth, and pursuing the
path of duty. When I can say, God is my witness that I am sincerely
labouring in his service, when I can look up to heaven, though my
friends scorn me, and say, my record is on high; I may imitate the faith
and courage of Job in his best hours, and leave all my interests in the
hand of my God. Let our faith be active then, and our conscience clear,
that we may read our title to all the promises, and apply them to our
own case with courage and assurance. _The God of hope will fill us with
all joy and peace in believing_; Rom. xv. 13.

The covenant of grace is a blessed treasury: There is armour of defence
to be found against every assault and danger. If the promises of the
covenant be ours, we shall be secured of a happy final issue of all our
sufferings: _All things shall work together for our good_; Rom. viii.
28. _If God be for us who shall be against us?_ verse 31. If we behold
God engaged on our side, we may defy a legion of adversaries in the name
of the Lord our God. _Thou art my glory_, says the Psalmist, _and my
shield, and the lifter up of my head_; Ps. iii. 3. The little word, my,
shews his own interest in his God, and then he can grow brave in the
very centre of a thousand deaths and dangers. _I will not be afraid of
ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round
about_; verse 6.

II. Get a large and general acquaintance with the promises of the
gospel[32], that in every special time of need you may have some
suitable word of refuge and support. From xl. to the xlv. chapters of
Isaiah, there is a variety of rich encouragements against slavish fear:
And there is another treasure of them from the l. to lv. Many a
christian has been able to live upon them, in the most dangerous and
distressing seasons. They are divine springs of courage, and they
overflow with consolation. The assurances of holy David in the midst of
his perils, have been a glorious support to the fearful soul. Several of
his Psalms are filled with the same heavenly cordials. You can hardly
find three of them together, without some triumphs of faith in them. In
the writings of the evangelists, and in the epistles you may read many
precious promises scattered abroad, to allay your fears. In the second
and third chapters of the _Revelation_, they stand thick as the spangles
of heaven: They sparkle like stars in the firmament at midnight, and
they ever shine brightest in the darkest sky. It is with unknown
pleasure that the soul of a christian contemplates and surveys those
heavenly lights in the most gloomy and dismal hours, and they turn the
shadows of death into morning.

Though it is of excellent use, to have the mind and memory well stored
with the various promises of the covenant, yet in some special seasons
of trial, it is of eminent advantage to keep the mind and thoughts fixed
upon some single promise, that is most suited to the present danger or
suffering; and to the present taste and relish of the soul. In such a
season, the running speedily from one promise to another, and skimming
over them with a slight survey, will not be so effectual a relief, as
fixing upon some peculiar and proper word of grace, and living upon it
for a whole day together. Thus every morning you may take some new
comforter with you, and let it abide upon your heart all day, and it
will whisper to your soul with divine sweetness in the dark and solitary
watches of the night. When some special terror possesses your thoughts,
and the heavy oppression returns often upon your spirits, or when any
fresh assault comes on you from without or within, fly to the word you
have chosen for your refuge; repeat it often, and cleave to it by
meditation. _The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous
runneth into it and is safe_; Prov. xviii. 10. And remember God has
magnified his own word above all the rest of his name; Ps. cxxxviii. 2.
Try this method, it has been successful and well approved, and I doubt
not but that you will be able to attest the success of it through the
aids of divine grace.

III. Preserve the spirit of prayer always in exercise, and the spirit of
fortitude will descend on you. Address the throne of God with
earnestness and faith, and cry to the Lord the God of your salvation
without ceasing. It is he gives spirits to renew the battle, when we are
almost tired and grow weary; Is. xl. 28, 29. He gives courage in the
midst of terrors, for he can preserve and secure us in the extremest
perils. _We despaired of life_, saith the apostle, _and had the sentence
of death in ourselves, but we were delivered, for we trusted in him that
raiseth the dead_; 2 Cor. i. 8, 9, 10. It is he that repels the most
imminent danger, it is he that rebukes the spirit of fear, and gives us
the spirit of power, and holy fortitude; 2 Tim. i. 7. _Wait on the Lord,
and be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart; wait I say on
the Lord_; Ps. xxvii. 14.

But be sure in all your addresses to the mercy-seat, have an eye to
Christ Jesus the Mediator, your advocate at the throne, and the Captain
of your Salvation, who is engaged to see you brought safe to heaven. The
Father has entrusted you as sheep in his hand, and he will not suffer
you to perish. Look to him as your great High-priest and Intercessor in
heaven; and _since you have such a High-priest as Jesus the Son of God,
who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, let us come
boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace
to help in time of need_; Heb. iv. 14, 15, 16. Many a feeble christian
who has gone to the mercy-seat, trembling and terrified under huge
apprehensions of danger, and almost overwhelmed with tumultuous fears,
has risen up from his knees with a heavenly calmness and composure: The
army of his fears has vanished at once, and he has gone out to face the
most formidable of his adversaries, with divine resolution and courage.
“I sought the Lord and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
They looked unto him and were enlightened, and their faces were not
ashamed. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him,
and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is
the man that trusteth in him;” Ps. xxxiv. 4-8. “In the day when I cried,
thou answeredst me: and didst strengthen me with strength in my soul;”
Ps. cxxxviii. 3.

IV. Get a greater degree of weanedness from the flesh, and from all the
delights and satisfactions that belong to this mortal life: Then as you
will not feel so great a pain in being stripped of them, so neither will
your soul be filled with terror, when you are in danger of losing them.
Learn to put off a little of that sinful tenderness for self, which we
brought into the world with us. One of the first lessons in the school
of Christ, is self-denial; Mat. xvi. 24. If any man will come after me,
that is, be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross,
and follow me.

It is a certain tender fondness for our flesh that makes us afraid of
pain. It is a fondness for our name and reputation that makes us afraid
of reproaches. It is a fondness for our possessions, and our easy
circumstances in the world that makes us afraid of poverty: And too
great a fondness for life makes us afraid of dying. Whensoever therefore
the cause of Christ plainly calls us to risk our name and honour in the
world, to part with our wealth or our ease, and to venture and to expose
life itself, we shrink from the command; slavish and sinful fear
prevails mightily upon us, because we love earth, and self, and flesh
better than we ought to do. We must subdue this self-love, and unmanly
softness, if we would approve ourselves as good soldiers of Jesus
Christ, and gain a spirit of sacred courage and resolution. We must be
dead to the things of flesh and sense, and gain a victory over the
complaints and groanings of nature. We must go as far as we can toward
parting with right-hands, and right-eyes, in every sense of the words,
if we would be christians indeed.

V. Endeavour to keep yourselves always employed in some proper work,
that your fears may be diverted when they cannot immediately be
overcome. If our thoughts and hands are idle and empty we lie open to
the invasion and tumult of our fears, and we give them leave to assault
us on all sides.

The passion and principle of this slavish fear, is mingled with our
flesh and blood, and therefore we must employ even our flesh and blood
in some better business, that we may turn the current of animal nature,
and leave the imagination no leisure to sit brooding over its own
terrors. Want of occupation and engagement of the powers of nature,
exposes the mind of man to the inroad of all the frightful images, that
fancy can furnish out, and to all the terrifying suggestions of a
watchful and malicious tempter. That wicked spirit has some strange and
unknown methods of access to our souls: He will worry the sheep of
Christ with terrors, when he is not suffered to devour or destroy them;
and an unbusied mind is prepared to admit his worst temptations.

But while I am pressing you to find out some employment for yourselves,
take care that it be such as may approve itself to God and your own
consciences. We must be ever found in the way of duty, as I hinted
before, if we would support a holy courage. It is only the righteous
that has just reason to be bold as a lion. Be ready to meet Christ the
judge, and his glorious appearance at all times, and then you need not
fear all that earth or hell can do against you.

[If this Sermon be too long, it may be divided here.]

Let us proceed now to propose some further remedies against this slavish
passion of fear.

VI. Keep your eye fixed on the hand of God in all the affairs of men.
View his powerful and over-ruling providence in all things, even in
those things that awaken your most troublesome fears. Think with
yourselves, that you put creatures in the place of God, if you fear them
more than God, as though they were the sovereign lords and disposers of
all your comforts. Learn to see God in all things, and behold him in all
things as your God, and then creatures will have but little influence to
awaken any of the passions of the soul, or to raise distressing fears
within you.

Are your spirits so weak, that thunder and lightning, and the storms of
the air affright you? Think who it is that commands the tempests to
arise, and quashes the storms at his pleasure. In whose hand is the
thunder? Who kindles the lightning? Who directs the flashes, and guides
every sweeping blast of wind or fire to its appointed place? Remember
the disciples in the midst of the storm, and the language of Jesus
walking upon the water, _It is I, be not afraid_; Mat. xiv. 27.

Or if the public commotions of the world awaken your fears, read the
name and presence of God, even your God, in the xlvi. Psalm, and rejoice
and stand firm amidst the tumult and shaking of the nations. _God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help, in trouble. Therefore we will
not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be cast
into the midst of the sea_, verses 2, 3. _The heathen raged, the
kingdoms were moved: He uttered his voice, the earth melted_; verse 6.
_The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge_; verse
11. _Selah_[33].

Or perhaps more particular and personal dangers and afflictions threaten
your good name, your estate, your flesh, your life. Well, the name of
God in his presence is an universal spring of comfort and courage, a
wide spreading shield against every mischief.

Are you terrified at the thoughts of personal reproach and slander, know
that the tongues of men are within the reach of the hand of God, and he
can cast a bridle of restraint upon them, but if he take off that
restraint, and leave them to their own perverseness and rage, learn to
say as good David, when Shimei cursed him; the hand of the Lord is in
it, God hath given him a loose to curse me: And thus sweetly compose
yourselves to an acquiescence in the providential will of your heavenly
Father.

Is poverty and want the thing you dread? But is not God your heavenly
Father? And can you not trust him to provide for his children? Will he
give the young ravens their food, when they cry, and will he not feed
his sons and his daughters? It is true you may be reduced to bread and
water, and brought down to the very lowest circumstances, and you must
submit to his will: God will feed your nature, though he will not feed
your pride.

Are you affrighted at the thoughts of sickness and pain? Remember
diseases are the servants of our Lord Christ, he can bid pains and
anguish of body go or come as he pleases; nor can they seize you without
his commission, nor tarry with you beyond his appointed moment. Commit
your flesh to him as well as your spirit: He is a wise physician, and he
will deal tenderly with you: He has worn flesh and blood, and has a
sympathising heart, nor will he grieve his own members beyond what his
wisdom and his love sees needful.

Are you afraid of persecuting enemies, that hunt you from place to
place, and would pursue you even to the death? Remember that they are
but the slaves of Satan, and they and their master are all in a chain,
under the sovereign dominion of Christ your Lord. The wicked of the
earth, in this sense, are called the hand of God; Ps. xvii. 14. They are
but as instruments to execute his divine purposes, and they cannot move
nor act beyond his permission. He put a hook in the nostrils of
Sennacherib, that Assyrian wild beast, and a bridle into his jaws; he
suffered him to come and gaze at Jerusalem, then in one night the angel
of death destroyed all his army, and the Lord put a song of triumph into
the mouth of his people.

In a time of persecution in the last century, some pious ministers were
met together, expressing their mutual fears, and consulting how to
provide for their own safety: When one stood up in the spirit of faith,
and said, _We are all immortal till our work is done_; whereby he
declared his lively sense of the restraining power of God over the
malice of men, and his assurance that God would preserve them in life,
so long as he had any service to employ them in. This was in truth a
sublime thought: A Roman orator or a Greek poet would have been admired
and celebrated for it by all the critics: This was the language of
faith, and it had a sublime and glorious effect, it dispersed their
fears at once, and they went away rejoicing.

VII. Recollect your own experiences of the goodness of God in carrying
you through former seasons of danger and sorrow. _I will remember_, says
David, _the works of the Lord, and his wonders of old_; Ps. lxxvii. 11.
I will remember the special deliverances I have obtained in times of
most imminent peril. Think with yourselves how high the tempest of your
fears has sometimes risen, and God has sunk them at once into silence.
Think how extreme your danger has been, when you have been perplexed in
a wilderness of thorns, and have seen no way for your escape, but the
eye of God hath found a path of safety for you, a path which the eagle’s
eye hath not seen: He has led you as one that was blind, by the way that
you knew not, he has made darkness light before you, and crooked things
straight, according to his promise; Is. xlii. 16.

And remember also, that sometimes when the very evil which you feared
has fallen upon you, it has not been half so heavy and painful as your
fears have represented it, and you have been enabled to bear that which
you thought was intolerable. Remember the years of ancient time, and
rejoice in that God who has often disappointed your fears of
destruction, and has outdone all your hopes in a way of deliverance. _I
said, I am cut off from the earth, and shall go to the gates of the
grave: I reckoned from night till the morning that he will cut me off
with pining sickness, from day even to night, he will make an end of me:
But in love to my soul, O Lord, thou hast delivered it from the pit of
corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back._ Perhaps
your own experience may teach you to sing this song of Hezekiah, as it
is recorded; Is. xxxviii. 10-17. Or to join with holy David, and repeat
his hymns of praise. And thus, beside your own experiences you may
review the happy experiences of the saints of old, or of Christians in
later times, and encourage your faith in opposition to all your fears.

VIII. Charge your conscience solemnly with the authority of the divine
command to suppress your fears. Remember that the exercises of faith,
courage, and holy firmness of soul, are duties as well as blessings.
Read how often the great God forbids his people to indulge their fears;
Is. xl. 10-13, 14. xliii. 1-5. xliv. 2-8. Fear not, is a command
perpetually repeated, because God well knew how prone our feeble natures
are to be affrighted at every appearance of danger: And even when he
calls his people Jacob a _worm_, and confesses the extreme weakness of
their nature under that emblem, yet he insists on the same precept
still, _Fear not thou worm Jacob_; Is. xli. 14.

Our blessed Lord joins frequently in the same prohibition of a slavish
fear; Mat. x. 28. _Fear not them which can kill the body, but are not
able to kill the soul; but fear him rather, who can destroy body and
soul in hell._ And Peter, who once wanted courage, and denied his Lord,
in his elder and better days, grew bolder for the name of Christ, and he
forbids us _to be afraid or troubled at the terror of men_; 1 Pet. iii.
13. He repeats the charge of the prophet Isaiah, _sanctify the Lord of
hosts in your heart_; Is. viii. 13. The Lord of hosts alone is the
proper object of our supreme fear. This will over-rule and abolish all
other fears, as the little noises of earth are lost in the thunders of
heaven. The fear of God in a sublime degree will be an effectual cure of
our sinful fear of creatures.

It is true, the principal of fear is a natural affection, it is rooted
in flesh and blood, it grows high and domineers, especially in some
constitutions, and when the natural spirits are enfeebled, it still
gains the greater ascendancy over us: But if it be indulged and
encouraged, it soon becomes sinful, for it seems to stand opposite to
the grace of faith, and too often prevails over it. Therefore Christ
chides his disciples, when they were affrighted in the storm while he
was in the ship: _Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no
faith?_ Mark iv. 40. And even when Peter was walking upon the water, and
Christ was near him, he saith, _O thou of little faith, wherefore didst
thou doubt?_ Mat. xiv. 31. For a christian to give himself up to the
wild tyranny of his fears, is contrary to the very spirit and design of
the gospel of Christ; Rom. viii. 15. Ye have not received the spirit of
bondage to fear, but the spirit of adoption. The spirit of power and
love; 2 Tim. i. 7. Remember then you are the sons and daughters of God:
It is below the dignity of your character to yield to this slavery, and
your Father himself reproves, and your Redeemer forbids it.

IX. Think of the many advantages that arise from a holy fortitude of
spirit in the midst of dangers. This divine temper of mind will
establish your feet on a rock in the midst of storms, it will animate
you to practise every duty, and to prevent many of the mischiefs you
fear. This will preserve the soul in a sacred serenity and calmness
under all the gloomy and painful events of providence. Without this
firmness of spirit you can never practise what Christ commands his
disciples, and that is, _to possess their souls in patience in the hour
of their distress_; Luke xxi. 19. But we may keep up the government of
ourselves by a holy fortitude and calm submission to the will of God.
This will make sorrows lighter, and the heaviest afflictions become more
tolerable.

Whereas, if we give a loose to fear, it throws the whole frame of nature
into a tumultuous hurry and confusion, it takes away the use of prudence
to contrive the proper means for our escape, it cuts the sinews of our
most active powers, and enfeebles our whole nature, so that we become an
easy prey to every adversary. The more we are affrighted, the less able
are we to defend ourselves.

Fear is a dreadful bondage of the soul, and it holds the man in chains:
Therefore in the text just now cited, the spirit of fear is called a
spirit of bondage. It is this that brings the soul down to taste the
bitterness, and to feel the smart of those very evils which affright us
at a distance, and which perhaps never come near us. Those very
sufferings which are prevented by the mercy of God, we endure them in
our thoughts, and feel the pain of them by an indulgence of an excessive
fear. We suffer an affliction once, if we are overwhelmed with the
terror of it: And if at last it does really overtake us, we double the
suffering, and make the pain the longer. Oftentimes in cases of bodily
distempers, the fear itself brings the disease, and aggravates all the
symptoms. If we could read the records of the grave, we should find that
many a person has been oppressed, and sunk down to death, by the
excessive fear of dying.

The last remedy of fear which I shall mention, is this, suppose the
worst that can come, and be calmly prepared for it: This will be a
mighty relief against the tyranny of our fears.

You are afraid of losing your honour among men, afraid to bear the
scourge of their tongues, and bitter reproaches. But think with
yourselves, when slander and falsehood have done their worst, it is but
the wind of the breath of man, and this cannot hurt your best interest,
while you stand approved of God. Infamy amongst men is but a trifling
evil if compared with praise honour and glory among the saints before
the throne, and the applause of Jesus and his angels at the last great
day.

You are frighted with the hideous appearance of poverty, because scorn
attends it as well as want. But our blessed Lord had not where to lay
his head; he was fed by the bounty of kind friends and pious women, who
ministered to him of their substance. The great and the wise, the rich
and the learned of that day, made him their mockery: The very finger of
scorn pointed at him in the streets: And why should the disciple think
it necessary that he should be above his Lord. Ye may be _poor in this
world, and at the same time rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom_;
James ii. 5.

You are afraid of sickness and pains of the flesh, and your life becomes
a burden to you, by reason of your constant dread of some infectious
distempers. You shift your dwellings, you hide yourselves at home, and
yet you enjoy no peace. Suppose the distemper should seize you, has not
sickness often brought your soul nearer to God? And if your outward man
has decayed, your inward man and your best interest have had a rich
advancement thereby.

You are terrified at the threatening of bloody men. It must be granted,
that flesh has a strong empire over the soul where dangers of torment
and death appear. But suppose men of violence kill the body, then you
will be dismissed at once from all their fury, and from your own fears.
Their terror cannot reach beyond the grave; that is a safe and peaceful
hiding-place.

But perhaps you are frighted at the thoughts of dying, even in the
common way of nature: It may be, the king of terrors dresses himself in
formidable airs, and shakes your very frame: But would you live here on
earth for ever? A christian who has hopes and interests, and possessions
beyond the regions of time and sense, should not be afraid to enter upon
them. Remember that death itself, even in its most formidable
appearance, is ordained of God to open the door of heaven for you, and
let your souls into the joy of eternal life: The grace of your Redeemer,
and the epistle of St. Paul, join to teach you this song, _O death,
where is thy sting?_ And _O grave, where is thy victory?_ 1 Cor. xv. 55.

Thus, by keeping your soul in a ready preparation for the worst events
that your fear can imagine, you overcome this tyrant of the soul, and
triumph over this slavish passion. Thus you transform your very terrors
into joys, and gather honey out of the lion, as Samson did. The more
fatal your dangers are, the nearer is your final deliverance. Say to
yourself, Is my feeble flesh tottering into the grave? Then my soul is
so much nearer to the gates of glory. This is the holy skill of turning
evil into good. Such a faith, kept in lively exercise can make roses
spring out of the midst of thorns, and change the briars of the
wilderness into the fruit-frees of paradise. O what a state of divine
and sacred peace does that christian enjoy, who can look stedfastly upon
the face of danger, in its most frightful forms, and say through grace,
I am prepared! _Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for my God is with me_, and he will be with me for
ever.

_Recollection._—What progress hast thou made, O my soul, in acquiring
this sacred fortitude? The former discourse has taught thee the
necessity of it, and the various occasions for the exercise of it in the
course of the christian life. In this latter sermon thou hast heard the
motives that should awaken all thy powers to obtain and practise it, and
thou hast been informed what are some of the most sovereign remedies
against thy foolish and sinful fears. Methinks I feel the want of this
holy hardiness of soul, to walk through the midst of temptations
unmoved, unterrified, and undefiled. My virtue and my religion have too
often suffered by the prevailing power of a slavish fear: my conscience
has lost its innocence and peace by too many sinful compliances. What
shall I do to harden my spirit all over, that temptation and slavish
fear may not find a place to enter.

For this end I review the glorious motives set before me. For this end I
look to the noble army of martyrs, to the blessed society of the
apostles, to the cloud of witnesses which have trod the same path before
me, who have borne an undaunted testimony to the same religion which I
profess. I would chide and shame myself out of my sinful cowardice,
while I behold their illustrious examples of zeal. But above all I fix
my eye upon Jesus, the divine author of this religion, _the Author and
Finisher of my faith_; Heb. xii. 2. I would learn of the _Captain of my
salvation, who was made perfect through sufferings_; Heb. ii. 10. I
would learn of my divine Teacher, to endure hardships like a good
soldier of Christ, while I fight under his banner, against those very
enemies that he hath subdued.

Consider, my soul, what thou art: What is thy character and profession:
If thou art a christian indeed, thou hast taken up arms against sin and
Satan, and a world that is in rebellion against God: And shall the frown
of a man make thee drop thy weapons, and discourage thee from the
glorious service? Thou hast many rich encouragements to expect divine
assistance: Many joyful assurances of victory are given to them that
endure in the day of conflict, and a glorious crown stands ready for
those that overcome. O may the crown of glory sparkle in my eye, and
grow brighter and larger by a nearer view, and a perpetual contemplation
of it! Make me forgetful of ease and health, O my God, and of all my
mortal interests, while I press forward with sacred courage to lay hold
on this crown! Blessed Saviour, make me triumph over every difficulty,
till death the last of all my enemies, be subdued, and I have obtained
the glorious prize.

I would shake myself out of my fears, and awaken my zeal by such motives
as these. And O that I could treasure up in my memory the various
remedies of which I have heard this day, to heal this infirmity of my
nature, and to overcome these foolish and sinful terrors of spirit! I
will review my faith, and the grounds of my hope, that I may know that I
am a christian indeed, that I am one of the sheep of Christ, and under
his divine care; and I would watch against every temptation, lest I
contract a new guilt and defilement, and thereby darken my evidence and
awaken my fears. I would survey with pleasure the gracious words of
promise, which are scattered up and down in the book of God. O may the
blessed Spirit print many of them on my heart, that they may be always
present with me, and that I may find them within my reach, and ready at
hand as a special cordial in every fainting hour! I would run to them as
my sure refuge in every season of danger and conflict, and be animated
to confront a sinful world.

Give, me, O my God, give me the spirit of prayer, and let me keep ever
near to the throne of grace, that my soul may not come thither as a
stranger, but that in every surprize I may address thee as a God near at
hand, and that in the name of my great High-priest, Jesus the Son of
God, I may find grace ready to help me in the time of need.

Wean me, O Lord, from all the delights and hopes of flesh and sense?
Mortify me to all the humours and joys of a perishing life, and a vain
world. Arm my soul all over with a religious hardiness, that I may
venture into the field of battle, and may scarce feel the wounds which I
receive, in thy cause. Give me the happy skill of diverting my fears,
when I cannot at once subdue them, and lead me into proper employments
of my heart and hand for this purpose.

I would live as under the eye of God. I would take notice of his hand in
all the affairs of life, and all the dangers that attend me. I would
learn of Moses to endure the fight of afflictions, as seeing him who is
invisible. Let me hear thy voice, O Jesus, my Saviour, let me hear thy
voice walking upon the waters; when I am tossed about upon the waves of
distress and difficulty, speak to my soul, and say, It is I, be not
afraid.

Surely I have had some experience of the Divine Presence with me in the
midst of dangers: God has sometimes disappointed all my fears, and
interposed his shield of power and love for my defence: Why should not I
trust a faithful God, and that infinite goodness which I have already
tasted of? I charge my conscience with the authority of thy word. O
Lord, when thou forbiddest all my sinful fears, I would renounce them
too, I would struggle to break these painful fetters, and fight against
this inward slavery of the soul, these domestic tyrants. O that the
spirit of power were always with me, to dispel the spirit of bondage.

I would be bravely prepared for the worst of sufferings, to which my
circumstances in this life may expose me. I would be ready to meet
contempt and scandal, poverty, sickness, and death itself. Jesus can
support me in the heaviest distresses, though all the sorrows I fear
should come upon me. He can bear me on the wings of faith and hope, high
above all the turmoils and disquietudes of life: He can carry me through
the shadow of the dark valley, and scatter all the terrors of it. Give
me, O Lord, these wings of faith and hope, and bear me upon them through
all the remains of my short journey in the wilderness: Make me active
and zealous in thy cause while I live, and convey me safely above the
reach of fear, through the valley of death, to the inheritance prepared
for me in the land of light. Then my fears shall cease for ever, for
enemies and dangers are not known in that land. There all our conflicts
shall be changed into everlasting triumphs, while songs of honour and
salvation ascend in a full choir to the grace that has made us
overcomers. _Amen._


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXXII.
              _Holy Fortitude, or Remedies against Fear._


                When tumults of unruly fear
                Rise in my heart, and riot there,
                What shall I do to calm my breast,
                And get the vexing foe supprest?

                What power can these wild thoughts control,
                This ruffling tempest of the soul?
                Where shall I fly in this distress,
                But to the throne of glorious grace?

                My faith would seize some promise, Lord;
                There’s power and safety in thy word:
                Not all that earth or hell can say,
                Shall tempt or drive my soul away.

                I call the days of old to mind,
                When I have found my God was kind;
                My heavenly Friend is still the same;
                Salvation to his holy name.

                Great God, preserve my conscience clean;
                Wash me from guilt, forgive my sin;
                Thy love shall guard me from surprize,
                Though threat’ning dangers round me rise.

                When fear like a wild ocean raves,
                Let Jesus walk upon the waves,
                And say, “’tis I;” that heavenly voice
                Shall sink the storm, and raise my joys.

Footnote 32:

  A little book published lately by Mr. Samuel Clark, of St. Alban’s, is
  of excellent use for this purpose. The title of it is “A Collection of
  the Promises of Scripture under their proper heads.” 1720.

Footnote 33:

  That is an excellent treatise which Mr. Flavel has published against
  sinful fear, especially in times of public danger and persecution: And
  his little book of keeping the heart, has some valuable chapters in
  it, containing rich preservatives against this weakness of the mind.




                             SERMON XXXIII.
                    _The Universal Rule of Equity._
  MAT. vii. 12.—All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto
  you, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and the prophets.


When our blessed Lord took upon him the public office of a prophet or
teacher amongst men, he found it was not only necessary to instruct them
in the sacred mysteries of religion, and inform them of their duty to
God his Father, and to himself; but he employed much of his ministry
also, to teach them the practice of social virtue, and how they should
behave toward their fellow-creatures. In the heathen world the rules of
morality were lost in a great measure, as well as the rules of piety and
worship; and the Jews, the peculiar people of God, had grossly corrupted
both the one and the other. As our Saviour refined the practice of
religion towards God, and raised it by his gospel, to a high and
heavenly degree, beyond what mortals had known before, so he explained
and established the rules of moral virtue, in a more glorious and
convincing manner than the world had been acquainted with.

Read his life, and observe how often he takes occasion in the several
seasons of his preaching, to give particular directions for our conduct
toward our neighbours. But after all, he knew that the nature of man was
corrupt, his passions strong, his memory frail, and that he would be
ready to neglect, or forget his various sacred precepts, when there was
most need to practise them; and therefore he thought it proper to give
one short and comprehensive rule of equity to regulate all our conduct,
that should be written as it were in our very souls: And this is
contained in the words of my text, _whatsoever ye would that men should
do unto you, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and the
prophets_.

To dilate a little upon this subject, and refresh a living sense of it
upon your memories and your consciences, I shall follow this method, and
enquire,

I. What is the true meaning of this divine rule.—II. What is the special
argument that our Lord uses in order to enforce it. III. Wherein the
particular excellencies of it appear.—IV. I shall conclude with some
reflections on this subject.

_First_, What is the true meaning of this rule?

In order to understand this rule aright, we must consider what it does
not require, as well as what it does: For on the one side, some selfish
necessitous and unreasonable persons may expect more from us than this
rule obliges us to perform: And on the other side, a timorous and weak
conscience may perhaps be led into a mistake, and think itself bound by
this rule to perform some instances of kindness to others, which are
utterly unreasonable and unrequired, and which might be injurious on
other accounts to ourselves, or to our families, or to the rest of
mankind.

We must remember then, that this rule does not mean to oblige us to give
all that to another, or do all that for another, which we could possibly
desire or wish to be bestowed upon us, or done for us; but whatsoever we
could reasonably desire, and justly expect another should do to us, that
we ought to do to him when he is in the like circumstances. All that in
our calm and sedate thoughts we judge fit and proper another should do
for us, that we should practise and do for him. Such requests as we
could make to others, and could justify them to ourselves in our own
consciences, according to the principles of humanity, the rules of civil
society, and the rights of mankind, such we ought not to deny to others
when they stand in need. Not all that a fond self-love would prompt us
to ask, but all that our conscience tells us we might with reason
expect.

I shall mention an instance or two, which will more fully explain what I
mean.

A criminal under righteous condemnation for murder or robbery, may think
thus with himself, _Surely I would pardon the judge or the prince, if he
were in my circumstances, therefore he ought to pardon me_; Or the judge
himself might think, _I should be glad to be pardoned or not condemned
if I were in the case of this criminal, therefore I will not condemn
him_. This sort of thoughts arising from unreasonable and unjust
principles, either of a sinful self-love, or indulgence to iniquity, are
not to be the measure of our actions nor expectations; these are not
just and reasonable desires, nor can our own conscience in our sedate
and calm enquiries judge so concerning them.

Again, if we were poor and starving, it may be we would be glad if our
rich neighbour would settle upon us a competent estate sufficient to
maintain us for the term of our lives; but this we cannot reasonably
expect, or reasonably desire and demand; therefore we are not bound, be
our circumstances never so large, to settle such a competency upon our
poor neighbours, be their circumstances never so mean. We cannot
rationally expect these things should be done unto us, we cannot
equitably desire them of another, therefore we are not bound to do thus
to another.

But if we are placed as criminals at the bar of judgment, we may
reasonably expect that all the favourable circumstances which attend our
accusation, should be well weighed, and all the kind allowances made,
which the nature of the charge or crime will admit; for our consciences
would think it reasonable to allow so much to any criminal, if we
ourselves were placed in the chair of magistracy. Or if we, through the
frowns of providence, are poor and starving, we may reasonably expect
our rich neighbour should bestow upon us a little of his bread, a little
of his clothing, to supply our extreme necessities now and then; and
thus much our neighbour may expect from us, when he is fallen into decay
by the providence of God, while our circumstances are large, and we are
well furnished for such bounty.

Thus you see the true intent and meaning of this universal law of
equity, _viz._ That we practise toward our neighbour in such a manner as
our own hearts and consciences would think it reasonable he should
practise towards us in the like case.

The _Second_ enquiry was this. What special argument doth our Lord use
to enforce the observance of this sacred precept?

When our Saviour had laid down this general rule, he adds, “This is the
law and the prophets;” that is, this is the summary of all the rules of
duty, which are written in the law of Moses, concerning our carriage to
our neighbour, and of all the laws which are explained by the succeeding
prophets, and sacred writers under the Old Testament. They are all
comprehended in this short line; _Do to others, as you would have others
do to you_. It is very nearly the same thing, in other words with the
law of Moses, _Love thy neighbour as thyself_; Lev. xix. 18. but it is
much plainer and more intelligible: And indeed this rule of Moses is to
be understood and interpreted, and applied in practice according to this
plainer rule of Christ, thus, “Let thy love to thy neighbour be as great
as thou canst reasonably expect or desire thy neighbour’s love should be
to thyself.”

When our blessed Lord gives an abridgment or abstract of the ten
commandments, he doth it in these words; Mat. xxii. 37, 38, 39. _Love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul, that is, love God above
all things: this is the first and great commandment._ _And the second is
like unto it; love thy neighbour as thyself_; that is, consider him as a
piece of human nature, as a second self, and imitate thy love to thyself
in thy conduct toward him: Or, according to my text, it may be explained
thus; enquire of thy own heart how thou wouldst have him love thee, and
let this be the rule and measure of thy love to him. All our duties to
God or man, all the commands of the first and the second table, all the
dictates of the law and prophets depend on these two commandments.

Then we answer the design of the law, then we obey the prophets, then we
fulfil the commands of Moses, and of Christ, when we give to God our
supreme love, and when we put ourselves in the room of our neighbour,
and then carry it toward him, according to the love we expect he should
bear us. This is _loving our neighbours as ourselves_, and this _love is
the fulfilling of the law_; Rom. xiii. 10. When our Saviour delivers the
words of my text, it is as if he had said to us, “If ye would practise
all the duties that you owe to your fellow-creatures, and fulfil all the
laws of the second table, in the most compendious and perfect manner,
remember and practise this one general direction, deal with the rest of
mankind as your conscience judges they should deal with you.” But this
leads me to the:

_Third_ enquiry, _viz._ wherein do the peculiar excellencies of this
rule appear:

This golden rule hath many excellent properties belonging to it. I shall
mention a few on purpose to impress it on your consciences with more
conviction, pleasure and power.

I. It is a rule that is easy to be understood, and as easy to be applied
by the meanest and weakest understanding. It is so plain, that what is
said by Isaiah concerning all the precepts of the gospel, is more
eminently true of this; _it is a highway of holiness, and the wayfaring
man, though a fool, shall not err therein_; Is. xxxv. 8. The laws of man
are often expressed in such obscure language and terms of art, that they
puzzle us to find out the meaning of them: And the nice distinctions and
subtle reasonings of men, oftentimes add to their darkness, and raise
new disputes: But this is a law that every man understands; nor is it
easy to be clouded by the comments and glosses of crafty men, if we are
but sincerely resolved to judge and practise according to it. By the
means of this rule, they who never studied the civil law, nor took pains
in enquiring the moral dictates of the light of nature; they who never
examined the statutes of a nation, nor the rules of natural justice, are
all furnished with a law or rule of equity in their own minds, by which
to manage their whole practice, with regard to their neighbours. Those
who are not capable of long trains of reasoning, or of applying several
general rules to all their particular cases: yet are able to look into
their own hearts, and to ask this easy question, “Would I myself be
content to have others deal thus with me? Why thou should I deal thus
with another?”

II. It is a very short rule, and easy to be remembered: The weakest
memory can retain it; and the meanest of mankind may carry this about
with them, and have it ready upon all occasions. It is of admirable use,
to solve a thousand cases of conscience that may arise on the sudden,
and may perplex our minds with difficulty. “It lies ready,” says a
considerable author, “for present use upon all exigencies and occasions.
We can scarce be so far surprized by an immediate necessity of acting as
not to have time for a short recourse to this rule, or room for a sudden
glance, as it were, upon it in our minds, where it rests and sparkles
always like the urim and thummim on the breast of Aaron.”

If we have no written cases of conscience, no books at hand to direct
our practice, if we have no faithful minister near us, no wise and pious
friend to consult on a sudden occasion, this one rule, written in the
heart, may serve instead of all other helps. This blessed precept
strikes a sudden and sacred light into the mind, where the case may seem
intricate: It shines upon our way, and makes our path plain, where an
honest and scrupulous conscience might be just before bewildered in the
dark, and not know how to act. “Practise that, O man! toward thy
neighbour, which thou art convinced thy neighbour should practise toward
thee.”

III. This excellent precept of Christ, carries greater evidence to the
conscience, and a stronger degree of conviction in it, than any other
rule of moral virtue. As I said before, that a little reason will serve
to apply it, so I say now, there is not much need of reasoning to find
it out; for we fetch the proof of it from within ourselves, even from
our own inward sensation and feeling. If we would know what is just and
equitable to do to our neighbour, we need but ask our own inward sense,
and our conscience together, what we would think equitable and just to
receive from him? Thus there is but one and the same measure of justice,
by which we must mete it out to ourselves and others; and that measure
lies within us, even in the heart. We are very sensible of benefits and
injuries that we ourselves receive, and this very sense of injuries and
benefits, is, as it were, transcribed into our conscience, from the
tenderest part of our own souls, and becomes there a rule of equity, how
we should treat our neighbours.

It is a most righteous precept of the ancient Jewish law, and of
universal obligation; Deut. xxv. 13, 14, 15. _Thou shalt not have in thy
bag, or in thine house, divers weights, and divers measures; a great and
a small: That is, one wherewith to buy, and another wherewith to sell;
but thou shalt have a perfect and just weight; a perfect and just
measure shalt thou have._ This precept as soon as it is mentioned,
strikes the conscience with conviction of the justice of it: And what is
said here of traffic and dealing, holds as truly of the general commerce
between man and man, in all the ordinary and extraordinary affairs of
life: That mutual exchange of good offices, whereby society is upheld,
must be regulated in the same manner, and by the same rule; and the
immediate conviction of the equity of it, doth as strongly strike the
conscience. “There must be a perfect weight, and a just measure,” saith
the author before-cited, “by which all men are mutually obliged to
regulate their conduct, in acting and suffering, in commanding and
obeying, in giving and receiving: and this can be no other than the
equal and righteous rule of the text; the doing in all cases and to all
persons, even as we would be done unto. There is no one so absurd and
unreasonable, as not to see, and acknowledge the absolute equity of this
command in the theory, however he may swerve and decline from it in his
practice.” For, it is founded not only in the reason of things, and in
the common share, and equal interest that we all have in human nature;
but it is also written in the most sensible and the tenderest part of
our constitution; and from thence it is derived to the mind and
judgment, as a law of behaviour towards our fellow-creatures.

IV. Hence it comes to pass, that it is a precept particularly fitted for
practice, because it includes in it a powerful motive to stir us up to
do what he enjoins. This character of it, I borrow from the same author,
who talks thus upon it: “Other moral maxims propose naked truths to the
understanding, which operate often but faintly and slowly on the will
and passions, the two active principles of the mind of man: But it is
the peculiar character of this rule, that it addresseth itself equally
to all these powers, even to the passions, and the will, as well as the
understanding. It not only directs, but influences; it imparts both
light and heat; and at the same time that it informs us clearly what we
are to do, excites us also in the most tender moving manner, to the
performance of it; for in truth, its seat is not more in the brain, than
in the heart of man: It appeals to our very senses themselves, and
exerts its secret force in so prevailing a way, that it is even felt as
well as understood by us.”

“There is nothing that we know, that gives a man so true and lively a
sense of the sufferings of others, or restrains him so powerfully from
doing unrighteous and oppressive things, as his having smarted formerly
himself under the experience of them. Now the supposing another man’s
ill usage to be our own; is the giving ourselves a present sense, as it
were, and a kind of feigned experience of it; which doth, for the time
serve all the purposes of a true one.”

V. It is such a rule, as if well applied, will almost always secure our
neighbour from injury, and secure us from guilt, if we should chance to
hurt him. God will not impute guilt to us, if we should happen to
mistake in a point of doubtful enquiry, and to hurt our neighbour by a
conscientious obedience to this rule.

I say, it will almost always secure us from injuring our neighbour, I
cannot say, it is always an absolute, infallible, and certain rule of
right and wrong; for our knowledge of the eternal rules of right and
wrong is but imperfect; neither our own heads or hearts, are furnished
with all the various and particular principles of equity. A mere enquiry
into our own hearts or consciences, can never give us a perfect
knowledge of the abstracted rules of justice: Nor can it determine us to
the certain practice of it, in all the most intricate cases, unless
these perfect rules of justice were fully written in the heart of every
man. But under the present circumstances of mankind, in this poor,
ignorant, and corrupt state of human nature, it appears to be the best,
the most righteous, the most secure, and the most universal rule that
ever could be invented or given to men; for it will certainly secure and
prevent every man from injuring his neighbour in all cases, except where
he himself is willing and content to receive equal injury: And I am
sure, self-love will tell us, that these cases are exceeding few.

It is evident therefore, that an honest man will scarce ever mistake in
keeping close to this rule. And if I should then happen to do an injury
to my neighbour, instead of strict equity, yet I can appeal to God, and
say, I endeavoured to apply this rule to my conscience, in the present
circumstances, with the utmost sincerity. I acted no otherwise to my
neighbour, than I desired or judged it reasonable for my neighbour, to
act towards me in the like case. And surely my unavoidable mistake will
not be imputed to me as a crime, where I have honestly followed the rule
my Saviour has given me, and acted therein according to the best
capacity of my judgment.

VI. It is a rule as much fitted to awaken us to sincere repentance upon
the transgression of it, as it is to direct us to our present duty. This
rule abides in the bosom of a christian, it dwells so near him, that it
is, as it were, mingled with conscience itself; and by this means it
becomes not only a safe guide, but a sharp reprover too: It soon puts us
in mind where either inclination or practice warps toward injustice and
deceit. Have we never felt our conscience sting us with a bitter
reflection derived from this rule, when we have neglected in any
instance to fulfil our duty to our neighbour? I am sure if we kept it
much in view, we could neither practise injustice with ease of mind, nor
dwell long under this guilt, without some inward reproaches: If the
precept had not power enough to restrain us from present sin, yet it
would spur us on to serious and speedy repentance.

[Here the sermon may be divided, if it be too long to be read in a
family at once.]

VII. It is a most extensive rule, with regard to all the stations, ranks
and characters of mankind: for it is perfectly suited to them all: And I
think it may be said, that it is equally useful to the rich and the
poor, to the buyer and the seller, to the prince and to the peasant, to
the master and the servant: They all come under the single rule of duty
and justice: This should govern them in all their conduct. Be your
condition, O christians, what it will in the world, do but put
yourselves into the circumstances of one another, in your own thoughts,
for a moment, and ask what is reasonable to be done to yourselves? And
your consciences will return a speedy and easy answer what you should do
to others.

Let the tenant say, “If I were a landlord, what should I think
reasonable that my tenant should pay me?” And the landlord should ask
himself, “Were I a tenant, what should I claim of my landlord?” I would
have the master enquire, “What should I expect, if I were a servant, at
the hand of my master?” And let the servant say, “What, if I were a
master, should I expect from the hands of one that served me?” Parents
should ask themselves, “if I had been a negligent child, and guilty of
some trifling offence, could I think it just my father should be in such
a passion with me?” And the son should enquire, “if I were a father,
would I not think it reasonable my child should obey me in such
particular instances or commands?” Thus the landlord and tenant, thus
the master and servant, thus the father and the son may come to an
adjustment of their mutual obligations.

The merchant should say to himself, “if I were an artificer, should I
think it reasonable that the labour of my hands, and the sweat of my
brows, should be screwed down to so cheap a price?” The seller of goods
should say, “If I were the buyer, would I think it just to have such
corrupt or faulty wares put into my hands? Am I willing to have my
necessity, my ignorance, or unwariness thus imposed upon?” And the buyer
should ask himself, “If I were the seller, should I bear to have my
goods thus run down and depreciated below the just value?”

The learned professions may also learn their duty from this rule. The
lawyer should say to himself, “What if I were the client should I think
it equitable to have my cause so long delayed, by so many shiftings and
escapes, from a determination?” The physicians and the surgeons should
put themselves in the places of their sick and wounded patients, and
say, “Do we prescribe never a potion, or use never a plaster more than
we would think proper for ourselves, if we were languishing under the
same sickness or wounds? Do we take the same safe and speedy methods of
relief for others that we would have applied to ourselves?” And the
preachers of the gospel should place themselves in the room of their
hearers, and say, “Do we labour in our closets, in our secret hours of
retirement, and in our public ministrations, for the conversion and
salvation of those who hear us, as we would have ministers do for us, if
we were perishing in our sins, and in danger of eternal death? Do we
take such pains to awaken the slumberers upon the borders of hell, as we
ourselves would have others take, in order to awaken us out of such
fatal slumbers? Do we study and contrive with what divine cordials we
shall refresh and comfort the mourners in Zion, even as we should desire
to be comforted and refreshed?” Such sort of self-enquiries as these,
will lead us to the practice of our present duty, and solve many a
difficult case of conscience better than turning over the largest
volumes.

VIII. This sacred rule is a most comprehensive one, with regard to all
the actions and duties that concern our neighbours. It is not confined
merely to the practice of justice, but it extends much wider and
farther: It is of mighty influence in the direction and practice of
meekness, of patience, of charity, of truth and faithfulness, and every
kind of social virtue, and a most happy guard against every social vice.
It would be endless to enter into all the special cases of vice and
virtue, which relate to the social life, and to shew how much they are
affected by this rule, and what divine advantages we may attain for the
practice of morality, by keeping this one sentence ever upon our
thoughts. Yet I cannot pass over so important a theme, without giving a
short specimen of some of these advantages.

This golden precept would teach us how to regulate our temper and
general behaviour in the world. Am I not willing to be treated in an
affable and civil manner by those who converse with me? Let me treat
others then with all becoming civility, and make it appear that
christianity is a religion of true honour, and that a christian is
indeed a well-bred man. Do I think it unreasonable that my neighbour,
though he be my superior, should assume haughty airs and disdain me? Let
me watch therefore against all such scornful speeches and disdainful
airs, when I converse with one, who is inferior to me. Do I think it a
grievous thing, that a man should break out into sudden passion against
me, if I happen to speak a word contrary to his sentiment, or to set
himself in a rage for a trifle? Let me set a strict guard then over all
my passionate powers, and learn to bear opposition without impatience.
Let me quench the first risings of sudden anger, lest they kindle into
an ungoverned flame, and hurry me on to the practice of what I condemn
in others.

This excellent rule would teach us tenderness and beneficence to those
that are unhappy. We should never make a jest of the lame or the blind,
the crooked or the deformed: we should never ridicule the natural
infirmities of the meanest of our fellow-creatures, nor their
providential disadvantages, if we did but put ourselves in the room of
the blind and lame, the deformed and the poor, and ask whether we should
think it just and reasonable to be made the mockery and the jest of
those that behold us. We should certainly be inclined to visit the sick,
and feed the hungry, to give drink to him that is a-thirst, and to
secure the feeble and helpless from the oppression of the mighty, if we
enquired of our own hearts, what treatment we should expect if we were
hungry and thirsty, if we were sick and helpless.

This blessed command of our Saviour would incline us to reprove with
gentleness, to punish with mercy, and never to censure others without a
just reason, and a plain call of providence; for we ourselves desire and
would reasonably expect this sort of treatment from others. If we
carried this sentence always in our memories, should we blaze abroad
scandalous reports before we know the truth of them? and publish
doubtful suspicions of our neighbour’s guilt? Should we blacken his
character to the utmost, even where there is a real crime, and make no
reasonable allowances for him? Should we perpetually teaze children,
servants, or friends with old faults, and make their follies and
miscarriages the matter of our delightful conversation? Should we
censure every little deviation from the truth, as heresy? Should we
pronounce anathemas and curses upon him that leaves out of his creed a
few hard words which men have invented, or that differs from us in the
business of meats, and days, and ceremonies? We ourselves think it hard
to have doubtful reports of evil published concerning us, and suspicions
blown up into guilt: We think it hard if our crimes are aggravated to
the utmost, and no reasonable allowances are made: We find it very
painful to us, and think it unreasonable to be ever teazed with the
mention of our former follies, or to have our little differences from
another’s faith or worship to be pronounced heresy, and to be cut off
from the church for it.

In short, if this blessed rule of our Saviour did but more universally
obtain, we should never persecute one another for our disagreement in
opinion, for we should then learn this lesson, that another has as much
right to differ from me in his sentiment, as I have to differ from him.
If this rule did but prevail amongst all that own the christian name;
then truth, honesty and justice, meekness and love would reign and
triumph through all the churches of Christ, and those vile affections
and practices of pride, envy, wrath, cruelty, backbiting, and
persecution would be banished for ever from amongst us.

IX. It is not only a rule of equity and love to direct our whole conduct
toward our neighbours in the social life, but it is also a rule of the
highest prudence with regard to ourselves; and it promotes our own
interest in the best manner: For if we make conscience of treating our
neighbours according to all the justice and tenderness that this rule
will incline us to, we may reasonably expect the same kind and tender
treatment from those that are round about us. Such a practice will
naturally engage the greatest part of mankind on our side, whensoever we
happen to be assaulted or oppressed by the sons of malice or violence.
Happy is that person who has gained the love of mankind, by making the
love of himself a rule and measure of his actions toward them, and has
piously followed that precept of the law of God, _Love thy neighbour as
thyself_.

Let us remember that we live in a changeable world, and the scenes of
life are continually shifting. I am now a master, and in possession of
riches, and if I treat my servant, or any poor man insolently, I may
expect the like insolent treatment if my circumstances sink, and reduce
me to a state of poverty or service. But if I follow this golden rule of
our Saviour, in treating my inferiors, I do, as it were, hoard up for
myself a treasure of merit and benevolence amongst men, which I may hope
to receive and taste of, in the day of my necessity and distress. Thus
in behaving myself toward others according to this holy rule of
friendship, I not only please and obey my God and my Saviour, but I
happily secure my temporal interests also.

X. In the last place, to mention no more. This rule is fitted to make
the whole world as happy as the present state of things will admit. It
is not to be described nor conceived what a multitude of blessings and
felicities the practice of this single precept would introduce among all
mankind.

If we were not thus wrapped up entirely in self, in our own party, or in
our own kindred, but could look upon our neighbours as ourselves, and
seek their advantage together with our own, every man would become a
diffusive blessing amongst his neighbours, and the mutual benefits of
mankind would scatter happiness through all the world. In such a
beneficent state as this, every man would be, as it were, a good angel
to all that came within the reach of his commerce; this earth would be a
little image of heaven; and our present social life amongst men would be
a foretaste of our future happiness among saints and angels. In those
glorious regions, every one rejoices in the welfare of the whole
community and they have a double relish of their own personal
blessedness, by the pleasure they take in contributing to the
blessedness of all their fellows.

Thus have I given a short and very imperfect account of the excellencies
of this sacred rule of equity and love, and named some of the advantages
it has above most other precepts of morality. It remains only that I
make two or three reflections on so agreeable a subject.

Reflection I. In what a compendious method has our Saviour provided for
the practice of all the moral duties enjoined by Moses and the prophets!
For he has summed them up in a very few words, and reduced them to one
short rule; but the extent and comprehension of it is universal, and
almost infinite.—Though we should forget twenty particular precepts of
love and righteousness, yet if this be fresh in our thoughts, and always
ready at hand, we shall practise all those particular precepts
effectually, by the mere influence of this one general rule. It is true,
it is a real advantage toward our practice of virtue and justice, to
have the mind stored with special precepts, suited particularly to every
case; but where the memory is defective, or other rules are not learned,
this golden one will do very much towards supplying the place of many.
Our Saviour himself grants this truth, when he says; _This is the law
and the prophets_.

II. What divine wisdom is manifested in making this golden rule of
equity a fundamental law, in the two most famous religions that ever God
appointed to the children of men; that is, the Jewish and the christian!
_Love thy neighbour as thyself_, was a rule appointed to the Jews; Lev.
xix. 18. This is repeated by our Saviour; Mat. xix. 19. And a happy
explication or comment on it given in my text, _Whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and
the prophets_. There were none of the heathen philosophers that
delivered this as a general law, in so strong, so universal, and so
comprehensive a manner as our Saviour has done, though one or two of
them offered some occasional hints of the same kind. But our Saviour
appoints it as the grand rule of social virtue, amongst all the subjects
of his kingdom; and he tells us too, that this is the sum and substance
of the directions given by Moses and the prophets for the conduct of men
toward their fellow-creatures.

The wisdom of this precept eminently appears herein: Our blessed Lord
well knew that self-love would be a powerful temptation to men, to turn
them aside from the sacred laws of justice, in treating their
neighbours; and therefore he wisely takes this very principle of
self-love, and joins it in the consultation with our reason and
conscience, how we should carry it toward our fellow-creatures. Thus by
his divine prudence, he constrains even this selfish and rebellious
principle to assist our consciences and our rational powers, in
directing us how to practise the social duties of life.

It was Christ the Son of God who gave laws to Moses for Israel before
his incarnation, and it is he who is come in the flesh, as a preacher of
righteousness to men, in these latter days; and in both these seasons of
legislature, he has manifested this sacred wisdom: _Ye know the heart of
a stranger_, saith the Lord, in his dictates to Moses; Ex. xxiii. 2.
_for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt; therefore thou shalt not
oppress a stranger_. And he gives us still the same general rule for our
conduct; “Look into your own hearts, consider what human nature is, you
know you are men of like frailty with others, enquire what treatment you
would reasonably expect from your fellows, and be sure you practise in
the same manner toward them.”

III. Since the wisdom of Christ thought fit to teach us rules of equity
and righteousness amongst men, and has, as it were, extracted the very
soul and spirit of all social duties, and summed them up in this short
sentence: Let not the disciples of Christ forget this rule; nor let the
most eminent and exalted christians think it beneath their study and
their practice. The love of God and Christ is not the whole of our duty,
nor can we be christians indeed, if we neglect to love our neighbour.
How vain are all our pretences to faith in Christ, and piety toward God,
if we grow careless in our conduct toward men? All our fancied
attainments in the school of Christ, how are they disgraced and
destroyed, if we abandon this rule of moral virtue, and treat our
neighbours contrary to this divine principle of equity and love.

What shall we answer in the great judgment-day to an enquiring God, when
in flaming fire he shall put us in mind: “I gave you a plain and easy
rule of righteousness in my word, I wrote it in your hearts also, in
very legible characters: If you had but looked carefully into your
consciences, you might have read it there: But you resolved to sacrifice
all to your lusts: you have wronged and defrauded your brethren, and
exposed yourselves to my righteous sentence, for your wilful practice of
unrighteousness against so plain a law.”

It is a just remark which has often been made on this occasion: “The
heathen emperor Severus shall rise up in the judgment with such a
generation of christians, and condemn them: For he, by the light of
nature, was taught highly to reverence this precept,” when he had
learned it from the professors of christianity. You might read it upon
the walls of his palace; it was engraven there to govern his court in
the times of peace; and it is said, he carried it to war with him in the
banners of his army, that it might regulate his conduct, upon all
military occurrences. What a pity it is that Severus was a heathen! Or
rather what a shame and sorrow it is, that there should be so few of
this character in the courts, in the armies, in the markets, the shops,
and the families of christians? When will that blessed day come, that
shall bring this departed glory back again to the church of Christ? When
shall the spirit of faith and charity be poured down from on high, and
righteousness come from heaven to dwell among us?

Recollection.—Blessed Saviour, how great is thy goodness, to give us so
complete, so plain, so easy, and so divine a rule to square all our
actions in the social life! How happily hast thou comprized Moses and
the prophets in two short lines, that is, the command of a supreme love
to the Lord our God, and a love to our neighbour like that which we bear
to ourselves?

Remember, O my soul, this short and comprehensive lesson; and amongst
all thy duties and zeal toward thy God, forget not this rule of conduct
toward thy fellow-creatures. I can never complain, it is too high and
hard for my understanding to apprehend, or too tiresome and painful for
my memory to retain, or too burdensome to carry it about always with me.
I am convinced, fully convinced of the justice of it: It strikes upon my
conscience with strong light and evidence, and sometimes I feel the
force of it, like an inward motive, awakening me to the practice of all
that it enjoins. O that I might ever live under its prevailing
influences, and then I might humbly appeal to God, that I have
transacted my affairs with men, by the principles of sincere godliness,
truth and justice.

Forgive, O my gracious God, all the wretched instances of my departure
from this sacred law of equity. This sacred law will awaken the soul to
repentance, as well as direct it to duty; and whatever station of life I
am engaged in, whatever rank, character, office, or relation I bear in
the world, or in the church of Christ; let me form all my future conduct
by this command of my Saviour, let me bring all my past actions to this
holy test, and let my conscience repent or rejoice.

O how bright a lustre would be cast on the religion of Jesus, and on all
the professors of it, if this rule were always in use! But alas! it lies
silent in our bibles, and we hear it not; or it sleeps in our bosom and
we awake it not, when we have most need of its assistance. We read and
we forget even this short rule of righteousness, and thus we practice
iniquity daily, and injure our neighbours without remorse. O wretched
creatures that we are? How great is our negligence and our guilt, that
we do not so much as ask our consciences honestly, how we should treat
our fellow-creatures; but we ask our lusts and our passions, we enquire
of our ambition and pride, our covetousness, our wrath and revenge, how
we should behave to others.

Reflect, O my soul, how often thou hast turned aside from this blessed
rule of thy Saviour, by consulting with the corrupt principles of flesh
and blood. How often hast thou neglected this holy precept, to follow
the vicious customs of a sinful world, and a degenerate age! A
degenerate age indeed, that has forgot the practise of truth and love!
Where shall we write this rule in large and golden letters, that the
whole city might read it daily? Shall we engrave it on every door, that
all who pass by may see it? Shall it stand fixed to every post of the
house, that it may direct all your domestic conduct? Shall it meet us at
the entrance of every shop, and thus guard our traffic from iniquity,
and sanctify all our commerce? Shall we make a philactery of it, and
wear it on the borders of our garments, that we may never put it off,
unless we lie down to sleep, and cannot act? But the Spirit of Christ is
the best writer of his own golden rule, and the heart of man is the best
table to receive and bear this writing. O that the holy Spirit would
write this sacred law of justice and love more deeply, more effectually
in all our hearts, that the religion of our Saviour might look like
itself, all amiable and holy; and that while we give glory to God on
high, for his saving grace, we might find peace and truth spreading
through all the earth, and good-will multiplied among the children of
men. Thus the will of God would be done on earth, as it is in heaven,
and the kingdom of our Redeemer come in its expected glory. _Amen._ Even
so come Lord Jesus.


                        HYMN FOR SERMON XXXIII.
                    _The Universal Rule of Equity._


                  Blessed Redeemer, how divine,
                  How righteous is this rule of thine,
                  “Never to deal with others worse,
                  Than we would have them deal with us.”

                  This golden lesson short and plain,
                  Gives nor the mind nor memory pain:
                  And every conscience must approve
                  This universal law of love.

                  ’Tis written in each mortal breast,
                  Where all our tenderest wishes rest;
                  We draw it from our inmost veins,
                  Where love to self resides and reigns.

                  Is reason ever at a loss?
                  Call in self-love to judge the cause;
                  Let our own fondest passion shew
                  How we should treat our neighbours too.

                  How bless’d would every nation prove,
                  Thus rul’d by equity and love!
                  All would be friends without a foe,
                  And form a paradise below.

                  Jesus, forgive us that we keep
                  Thy sacred law of love asleep;
                  And take our envy, wrath and pride,
                  Those savage passions, for our guide.




                             SERMON XXXIV.
                       _The Atonement of Christ._
      ROM. iii. 25.—Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation——


It is one of the chief glories of the gospel, that it discovers a full
atonement for sin by the blood of Christ, that it sets before us the
reconciliation of sinners to an offended God, by the death of his own
Son. One would be ready to wonder, that any of the guilty race of Adam
should be unwilling to receive so divine a discovery, or should refuse a
blessing so important.

But such unhappy principles have prevailed over the minds of some men,
and particularly the Socinians in the last age, that they have been
content to venture their eternal hopes on the mercy of God, without a
dependance on the satisfaction made for sin, by Jesus the Saviour. They
imagine Christ the Son of God came into our world chiefly to be a
teacher of grace and duty, to be an example of piety and virtue, to
plead with God for sinners, and in short to do little more than any
other divine prophet might have been employed in, if the wisdom of God
had so appointed it. They suppose he yielded to death that he might seal
his doctrine with his blood, and might set us a glorious pattern of
suffering and dying, and then he led the way to our resurrection, by his
own rising from the dead.

It is granted indeed, these are some of the designs of the coming of
Christ, some of the necessary parts of the blessed gospel: But it seems
to me, that this blessed gospel is shamefully curtailed, and deprived of
some of its most important designs and honours, if a proper atonement
for sin by the blood of Christ be left out of it.

Forgive me, my fellow-christians, if I spend a discourse or two on this
great article of our common faith. I think it of so high a moment, that
I would fain pronounce and publish it aloud in an age that verges
towards infidelity; I would glory in the cross of Christ, and endeavour
to support this doctrine with all my power. O may none of those who bear
the christian name, ever grow weary of it, or run back again to the mere
religion of nature, as though we had no gospel!

I shall not spin out my thoughts, or employ yours in a laborious enquiry
into the connection of the words, but take them just as they lie, and
make this plain sentence the foundation of my discourse.

Doctrine.—God hath set forth his Son, Jesus Christ, to be a propitiation
for the sins of men.

When the apostle says, God hath set him forth, Christ is plainly the
person intended: and this greek word προεθετο, set forth, denotes
either, 1. That God hath fore-ordained and appointed his Son to become
our propitiation by his divine purpose in eternity, which purpose he
executed here in time: Or, 2. It intends that God hath set him forth,
that is, proposed and offered him to the world as an atonement for the
sins of those who trust in the merit of his death; for so the following
words intimate, God set him forth for a propitiation, through faith in
his blood. I am not solicitous which of these senses the reader will
chuse; either of them perfectly agrees with the design of the apostle.

I would just take a brief notice also, that some interpreters transpose
the words of the text a little, and read them thus, _whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation in his blood through faith_, and thus they
suppose the apostle, in this very verse, declares that Christ atoned for
our sins by his own blood: And if this be the true sense of it, it does
but more effectually confirm the design of my doctrine, which is to shew
that Christ, by his bloody death, became a sacrifice to God, in order to
make satisfaction for the crimes of men. My method of discourse shall be
this:

I. To explain more at large the manner in which I conceive Christ to
become an atonement or propitiation for our sins.—II. To give some
reasons to prove, that he is ordained of God, and set forth or offered
to the world under this character.—And, III. I shall shew what glorious
use is made of this doctrine throughout the whole christian life.

_First_, Let me explain the manner wherein Christ becomes an atonement
or propitiation for sin. And to render this point easy to the lowest
understanding, I would draw it out into these propositions:

Proposition I. The great God having made man, appointed to govern him by
a wise and righteous law, wherein glory and honour, life and immortality
are the designed rewards for perfect obedience; but tribulation and
wrath, pain and death, are the appointed recompence to sinners who
violate his law.

This law is in a great measure engraven on the hearts and consciences of
all men by nature; at least the general precepts of it are written in
the conscience: And mankind, by the light of nature, has some notion
also of these penalties, _viz._ the _indignation and wrath of God on
those that do evil_. And such as have enjoyed the benefit of divine
revelation, in patriarchal, Jewish, or christian times, have had much
clearer discoveries thereof. This might be proved at large from the
discourse of St. Paul; Rom. ii. 6-16. compared with Rom. i. 32. _The
heathens who are without the law, have the work of the law written in
their hearts_, and they know, or might know, that those who break it
_are worthy of death_.

II. All mankind have broken the law of God. _There is none righteous;
no, not one_; Rom. iii. 10. By sinning against God, we have lost all
pretence to the reward of life, and immortality, and glory; Rom. iii.
23. _All have sinned and come short of the glory of God._ And we have
also subjected ourselves to guilt and punishment; verse 19. _Every mouth
is stopped, and all the world becomes guilty before God._ A sentence of
wrath and death is _passed upon all men, for that all have sinned_; Rom.
v. 12. and the best of saints were by nature _dead in trespasses and
sins, and the children of wrath even as others_; Eph. ii. 1-3.

III. God in His infinite wisdom did not think fit to pardon sinful man,
without some compensation for his broken law, some recompence for the
dishonour done to his government. He did not see it proper to forgive
all our guilt without some satisfaction for breaking his holy commands.
I will not enter into that curious enquiry, whether God, considered
absolutely as a sovereign, could have done it. It is enough for us that
he hath, in effect, declared he would not do it, and that probably for
such reasons as these:

1. If the Great Ruler of the world had pardoned the sins of men without
any satisfaction, then his laws might have seemed not worth the
vindicating. It might have been questioned, whether his statutes were so
wisely contrived and framed, as to deserve a vindication, if he had
freely forgiven all rebels that had broken them, without any
consideration, without any satisfaction at all. It becomes a wise
lawgiver to see that his wisdom in framing his laws, be not exposed to
dishonour; and therefore his laws must be vindicated, when they are
broken.

2. Men would have been tempted to persist in their rebellions, and to
repeat their old offences continually, if there had been no vindication
of the honour of the law, nor any of the threatenings of it had been
executed. Therefore God requires a satisfaction for his broken commands,
that his subjects might be kept in due obedience, by an awful fear of
his governing justice. And it is on this account, _viz._ to deter and
fright men from sinning, and breaking his laws, he hath given them an
account in what a severe and terrible manner he dealt with _angels that
sinned, he spared them not_; 2 Pet. ii. 4. _but delivered them to chains
of darkness until the judgment of the great day_; Jude 6.

3. His forms of government among his creatures, might have appeared as a
matter of small importance: His threatenings might have been counted a
trifling and useless formality, and mere vain terrors, if he had given
laws, and took no care whether they were obeyed or no: and if he let
those creatures that broke them come off, without any tokens of his
displeasure, without any reparation of the honour due to his law and
government: Let not sinners deceive themselves with vain hopes, and
dress up the great God in their own imaginations, as a being of mere
mercy, as an Almighty Creator, that keeps no discipline or authority
among his creatures; Gal. vi. 7. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; He
that soweth to the flesh shall reap destruction.”

4. God had a mind to make a very illustrious display, both of his
justice and of his grace among mankind, which should be the solemn
spectacle and the wonder of other worlds besides this, even the world of
angels, principalities and powers; and therefore he hath designed his
grace and his justice should mutually set forth each other, in his
transactions with sinful man: On this account he would not pardon sin,
without a satisfaction; but he thought fit to require and demand that
sin be punished, and that the honour of the law be repaired to the full,
that his justice might shine in full glory: And at the same time, in
order to display his rich mercy, he would find out a way to save
multitudes of these rebellious creatures.

These, and other reasons, infinitely superior to all our thoughts, might
be in the divine mind, why God would not pardon sinners without a
satisfaction.

IV. Man, poor sinful man, is not able to make any satisfaction to God
for his own sins, by his utmost labours of future obedience: For all
that he can do for time to come, is but mere necessary duty, if he had
not sinned at all; and therefore this can never make any recompence to
the governing justice of God, for his past transgressions.

It is a most strange vain doctrine of the papists, that some persons are
such great saints, that they do works of heroic virtue beyond what they
are required to do; and these they call works of supererogation, whereby
they can merit some favours at the hands of God, not only for
themselves, but for their neighbours too. Strange doctrine indeed, made
up of folly, pride, and absurdity! Our best services are so much due to
God, that if any man could practise complete righteousness, and fulfil
the law of God constantly through all his life, it would not make amends
for one past offence, nor merit any favour of God for a criminal
creature.

But, alas! man is so far from being able to fulfil perfect righteousness
for time to come, that in this fallen state, he can do nothing that is
truly good: he broke the law of God in days past, and he goes on to
break it daily and hourly. His understanding is grown so dark, his will
so perverse, and his affections and appetites so corrupt and vicious, by
his departure from God, that he cannot answer the present demands of
duty; much less can he bring an offering of righteousness to atone for
past iniquities. “We are by nature dead in trespasses and sins.”

V. Neither can this guilty, wretched creature man, make any satisfaction
to the broken law of God by his sufferings, any more than by his doings.
For the penalty of the law is tribulation and anguish of soul and body,
the wrath of God and death: and how far this dreadful sentence reaches,
what miseries are implied in it, and how long the execution of it must
continue, who can tell? This we know, that God himself, who sees the
full evil, and complete desert or demerit of sin, hath, in some places
of scripture, threatened eternal punishment of sinners.

And if we may venture to judge concerning the greatness of the guilt,
and demerit of our offences against God, by the same rules, by which
reason teaches us to judge of the guilt and demerit of an offence
against our fellow-creatures, we must say the guilt of sin is infinite;
and therefore the punishment due to a sinning creature is everlasting,
because he cannot any other way sustain punishment equal to his infinite
demerit of sin. Among men the crime is always aggravated in proportion
to the person, against whom it is committed: Therefore any offence
against a father, or a king, has much more guilt in it, and is more
severely punished, than the same offence committed against an inferior,
or an equal. An attempt upon the life of a neighbour, is punished With
imprisonment or a fine: But an attempt made on the life of a king
deserves death.

Now the great God our Creator, being a king of infinite glory and
majesty, infinitely superior to his creature man, every offence against
this God, has a sort of infinity in it[34]: And God may demand
satisfaction equal to the offence, that is infinite, which poor sinful
man can never pay, so as to out-live the payment. On this account, he is
exposed to the execution of the sentence of God for ever: His punishment
has no end. Perhaps this will be counted an old-fashioned argument, and
not so generally received in our day, as it was in the days of our
fathers: Therefore I have examined it afresh with all the skill I have,
and having surveyed the objections which are raised against it, I think
they are not hard to be answered: And, after all, so far as I can judge
in a may of reasoning upon what scripture has revealed, this argument
seems to have weight and strength in it still.

Were it not for the supposition of the infinite guilt and demerit of
sin, I do not so plainly see the justice or equity of God in preparing
everlasting chains of darkness, and eternal fire, for the devil and his
angels, as a proper punishment due to their first act of rebellion
against him, and because they _kept not their own first estate_[35];
Jude 6. Nor indeed do I see such evident reason, why sinners among men
should be threatened with eternal punishments, and punished with
everlasting destruction, as a legal penalty due to past sins; Mat. xxv.
46. and 2 Thess. i. 9. which sins were done perhaps in a few days or
hours, unless upon a supposition that all offences committed against the
infinite majesty of God, have a sort of infinite demerit in them.

I beg leave to add this one thought more, and that is, if sin has not a
sort of infinite demerit in it, I cannot see why man himself, by some
years of penal sufferings, might not make full atonement for his own
sins: But the language and current of scripture seems to represent
sinful man as for ever lost to all hope in himself, and then the
necessity of a Mediator appears with evidence and glory.

VI. Though man be incapable to satisfy for his own violation of the law,
either by his obedience or his punishment, and so to restore himself to
the favour of God, yet God would not suffer all mankind to perish.
Therefore out of his abundant mercy, he appointed his own Son to
undertake this work. His own, his only begotten Son, who is the
brightness of his Father’s glory, and who lay in the bosom of the Father
before all worlds, his Son who was one with the Father, by a communion
of the godhead, and who is himself, on this account, called God over
all, blessed for ever; this well-beloved Son of God is ordained and
appointed to be the great Reconciler between God and man.

VII. Because God intended to make a full display of the terrors of his
justice, and his divine resentment for the violation of his law;
therefore he appointed his own Son to satisfy for the breach of it, by
becoming a proper sacrifice of expiation or atonement: Now, both among
Jews and heathens, the original notion and design of an expiatory
sacrifice, is, when some other creature or person is put in the room or
place of the transgressor, and the punishment or pain due to the
transgressor is transferred to that other person or creature. Therefore
beasts were slain for the offences of men, who were supposed to deserve
death. And when any person became a surety for a city or nation that was
defiled with sin, among the heathens, that person was substituted in
their room, and so devoted to death. So the Son of God became a surety
for sinful men: It pleased the Father to make him their sacrifice, and
substituted him in their stead: God ordained that he should put himself
into their circumstances, as far as was possible, with a due
condescendency to his superior character, and that he should sustain, as
near as possible, the very same pains and penalties which sinful man had
incurred. Since tribulation and anguish of soul and body, a sense of the
wrath of God, and death, were the appointed penalties of the sin of man;
therefore he determined that his own Son should pass through all these:
And since the law curses all that continue not in all the commands of
it, therefore Christ _was made a curse for us, that he might redeem us
from the curse of the law_; Gal. iii. 10-13. Hereby he gave a most awful
and sensible demonstration to this visible world of mankind, and
perhaps, much more to the invisible world of angels and devils, how
dreadful a thing it is to break the law of a God, what infinite evil is
contained in sin, and at what a terrible rate it must be expiated and
atoned for.

VIII. The Son of God being immortal, could not sustain all these
penalties of the law which man had broken, without taking the mortal
nature of man upon him, without assuming flesh and blood: Thus his
incarnation was necessary, that he might be a more proper surety,
substitute, and representative of man who had sinned; and that he might
be capable of suffering pain, and anguish, and death itself, in the room
and stead of sinful men. It was because the _children who were_ given to
Christ; Heb. ii. 13, 14. because these _children were partakers of flesh
and blood, therefore he himself also took part of the same, that through
death he might redeem them_, that by his own dying he might make
atonement for their sins; Heb. x. 5. _Sacrifice and offering_ of beasts,
thou wouldst not accept as equivalent for the sins of men: _But a body
hast thou prepared me_, saith our Lord, _that men might be redeemed by
the offering the body of Christ, once for all_; ver. 10.

It was in the prospect of the Son of God becoming man, by taking flesh
and blood upon him, that God spake thus to David; Ps. lxxxix. 19. “I
have exalted one chosen out of the people; that is, out of mankind: I
have laid help upon one that is mighty: And when he was found in fashion
as a man;” Phil. ii. 10. God laid on him the iniquities of us all by
imputation; Is. liii. 5, 6. even as the sins, and iniquities, and
trespasses of the children of Israel were laid on the head of the goat
of old, by the confession and hand of Aaron; Lev. xvi. 21.

When the guilt was thus transferred to him, as far as it was possible
for the Son of God to sustain it, he then became liable to punishment;
and indeed that seems to me to be the truest and justest idea of
transferred or imputed guilt, _viz._ when a surety is accepted to suffer
in the room of the offender, then the pain or penalty is due to him by
consent: And as this is the true original and foundation of expiatory
sacrifices, as I have shewn before, so this seems to be the foundation
of that particular manner, wherein scripture teaches us this doctrine:
“He that knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him;” 2 Cor. v. 21. “His own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree;” 1 Pet. ii. 24. “The chastisement or
punishment of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed;”
Is. liii. 5. And in many other places of scripture we read the same sort
of language. This doctrine is supported with great strength, by the most
learned and pious Dr. Owen, in his short treatise of the satisfaction of
Christ.

Upon this account, though God the Father was never truly angry with his
beloved Son, yet it pleased the Father to bruise him, when he stood in
the room of guilty creatures. The Father himself put him to grief, and
made his soul an offering for sin; Is. liii. 10. Then the Son of God
began to be sore amazed, and very heavy at the approaching deluge of
this sorrow; Mark xiv. 33. The Father forsook him for a season, withdrew
his comfortable influences, and gave him some such exquisite sight and
sense of that indignation and wrath that was due to sin, as filled his
holy soul with anguish, “his soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto
death;” Mat. xxvi. 38. While his body sweat drops of blood in the
garden: And at last he poured out his soul to death, and “gave his life
a ransom for many: he reconciled us to God by the blood of his cross;”
Col. i. 20.

Though we allow the human nature of Christ to be the highest, the
noblest, and best of creatures, and in that sense might be worth ten
thousand of us: yet if sin has an infinite evil in it, then no mere
creature, by all his sufferings, could make complete and equal
satisfaction for sin: But when the Son of God, who is one with the
Father, takes flesh and blood upon him, and becomes God manifest in the
flesh, here God and man are united in one complex person, and hereby we
enjoy an all-sufficient Saviour, a Reconciler beyond all exception, a
Sacrifice of atonement, equal to the guilt of our transgressions. And so
far as I can judge, it is on this account one apostle says; Acts xx. 28.
“God redeemed the church with his own blood; and another asserts, Hereby
perceive we the love of God, that he laid down his life for us;” 1 John
iii. 16.

And I do not yet see sufficient reason why that expression of St. Paul;
Heb. ix. 14. may not be referred to the same sense. “How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience, &c.” If the eternal Spirit
signify the divine nature or godhead, which dwelt bodily in the man
Jesus, then the dignity of his complete person is made the foundation of
the value of his blood. This dignity of the godhead which was personally
united to the man who suffered, spreads an infinite value over his
sufferings and merit: And this renders them equal to that infinite guilt
and demerit of sin, which would have extended the punishment of man to
everlasting ages. The infinite dignity of the person suffering, answers
to the infinite dignity of the person offended, and so takes away the
necessity of the everlasting duration of it.

Thus our blessed Mediator, the man Jesus Christ, in whom dwells all the
fulness of the godhead bodily, fulfilled the righteous demands of the
law, and suffered the penalties due to our sins. He magnified his
Father’s law in this manner, and made it honourable, beyond what all the
sons of Adam could do by their utmost sufferings. Thus the justice of
God shines most gloriously in the sufferings of his Son Jesus Christ:
Thus the great God vindicated his own character, as a wise and righteous
law-giver, before the face of men and angels, in the anguish and death
of his own Son: He gave a most awful and formidable assurance, that he
was not a God to be trifled with, and that the sin of his creatures
should not go unpunished. He that spared not his own Son, when he stood
in the room of sinners, will never spare guilty rebels that persist in
their rebellions. Thus far we see how Christ became a sacrifice of
atonement.

IX. God, the great Ruler of the world, having received such ample
satisfaction for sin, by the sufferings of his own Son, can honourably
forgive his creature man, who was the transgressor. There is so glorious
a reparation made to the honour of his righteous and broken law, that he
can pardon sinners without dishonour to himself, and his government. He
can glorify his justice and his mercy, at once, in a most exuberant and
illustrious manner, since his own Son has become a priest of atonement,
and offered up himself as a sacrifice, to make _propitiation for sin_:
_He can declare his righteousness, though he passes by a thousand
offences that are past, and can shew himself, just to his own law and
government, at the same time that he forgives millions of sins; and is a
justifier of him who believeth in Jesus_; Rom. iii. 25, 26.

X. I might add in the last place, since my text intimates it, that as
the great God in his eternal counsels, appointed his Son Jesus Christ to
undertake this difficult and glorious work, for the salvation of sinful
men, so in the days of the gospel he has, in the most plain and explicit
manner, offered this reconciliation to sinners who return to God by the
mediation of Jesus Christ: He has proposed peace to those who are
sincerely desirous to be reconciled to God, and to have all enmity done
away on both sides; to those who trust in the virtue of the blood of
Christ, as the foundation of this divine peace between God and them, or
in the language of my text, to those who have faith in his blood.

But let it be remembered, that this desire to be reconciled, must
proceed from a painful sense of sin, that makes a separation between God
and the soul: This implies sincere repentance in the nature of it. It
must be such a faith in Jesus and his sacrifice, as works powerfully by
holy love, and produces all the good fruits of religion in the heart and
life. All faith is useless to attain peace with God, unless it carries
in it the springs and seeds of love and holiness. Though we are
justified by faith, yet it must not be a mere bold presumption, but a
living faith, which will appear in its fruits.

Thus I have endeavoured to perform the first thing I proposed, and that
was to shew in what manner I conceive of the Son of God becoming an
atonement for the sins of men. Far be it from me, to imagine that every
one must believe these things just after the same order, and in the same
manner in which I have learned to conceive of them: Several learned and
pious men have explained the manner of this atonement in another way:
But they agree in the doctrine of a proper satisfaction for sin.
Different persons behold the representation of these great and important
things of christianity in different lights: And though, according to my
measure of knowledge in the scripture, this manner of conception of the
atonement of Christ seems most agreeable to the word of God, yet, I am
fully persuaded, God has never made salvation to depend upon a nice
exactness of sentiment about the mere order of ranging these divine
discoveries, or about the precise logical relations of the sufferings of
Christ, to our sins, or to our pardon. Whosoever sincerely confesses and
repents of sin, and trusts in the all-sufficient atonement and sacrifice
of Christ, to remove the guilt of it, has abundant assurance from
scripture, that the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse him from all sin,
and that the Son of God has been, and will be his High-priest, to
reconcile him to God the Father.

The Recollection.—It becomes me now to reflect on what I have heard this
day. The atonement of Christ is one of the chief glories, and most
surprising wonders of my religion: It is the ground of my hope, it is
the very life of my soul. Here I have been learning the several
transactions of the great God, the Creator and Ruler of the world, with
all the children of men from the beginning of their creation. The light
of nature informs me in an imperfect manner, and the scripture with much
brighter evidence assures me, that I was made under the law, and not
born to live at random, according to the wild dictates of appetite and
passion. I am informed also, my Creator has guarded the honour of his
law with indignation and wrath, with pain of the flesh, and anguish of
the mind, and death itself, as the penalties to be inflicted on those
that break it. A law divinely wise and righteous, and a sanction of
solemn and divine terror!

But, alas! I am one of the sinful guilty race of man. My very nature is
corrupt, my powers of action are unholy, and I have broken the law of my
God in a thousand instances. My conscience condemns me, my mouth is
stopped, I am guilty before God, I lie under the sentence of his
condemning law by nature, and am by nature a child of disobedience, and
a child of wrath. It is a glorious instance of divine mercy and
forbearance, that he has not executed the severities of his law upon me
long ago: It is rich mercy and adorable patience that my flesh and
spirit have not been filled with all these terrors, that I am not made
as wretched as I have been rebellious.

Nor can I expect, that the great and terrible God, who sent his
indignation upon angels when they sinned, turned them out of heaven, and
chained them in darkness, should forgive all my infinite offences,
without some reparation made for the honour of his broken law. He is a
great God indeed, his majesty is tremendous, and every thing that
belongs to him must have its due honour.

If I labour with all my powers to make him some recompence for my past
iniquities by new obedience, I find it is impossible. The best of my
righteousnesses are all defective: My holiest services want some
forgiveness as well as my wilful sins. Nor can I suffer the punishment
due to my iniquities, without being for ever miserable. All the doors of
hope are shut against me, nor by the utmost effort and labour of my own
powers, can I find a way to escape: If I am left to myself in this
state, I must despair and perish. But blessed, for ever blessed be the
mercy of my God, that he has sent his own Son to take flesh and blood
upon him. He has sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh to become a
sacrifice for sin, to sustain the sorrows which I could never sustain,
and to provide a laver of his own blood to cleanse us from all sin.
Lord, I humbly approach this sacred laver, to wash away the defilements
of my soul.

Christ is become a sacrifice to divine justice, in the room and stead of
men. And he is also our great High-priest: For he offered himself up to
the strokes of justice, and the penal demands of the law of God, and
thereby he hath shewn himself to be a priest of reconciliation. How
adorable is this contrivance! How amazing is this love! How should
sinners be surprized with a sense of this abounding grace! Here I behold
the Son of God stooping down from the height of his glory, to become a
mortal man, surrounded with flesh and sorrows: I behold the first
favourite of heaven, the first beloved Son leaving the bosom of his
Father, and the fulness of celestial joys, that he might unite himself
to our feeble nature, and taste the anguish and the smart that our
rebellious had deserved. I behold him forsaken of his Father, and lying
under the weight and terror of some unknown discoveries and impressions
of that divine indignation and wrath that was due to sinners; unknown
impressions indeed, that struck the Son of God with amazement, and made
his soul exceeding sorrowful even to death.

And was all this for my sins, O my Saviour; Didst thou sustain these
heavy sufferings from the hand of God, that such a rebel as I might be
reconciled? Yes, all this for my sins, if I am found a sincere believer
on the Son of God.

Enquire now, O my soul, dost thou believe in Christ? Hast thou seen thy
heavy guilt, and thy danger of eternal death? Hast thou been weary and
heavy laden with a sense of thy past iniquities? Hast thou been pained
at thy heart under the present power of indwelling sin: And hast thou
fled for refuge to the hope set before thee in the gospel? Hast thou
joyfully received Jesus the Saviour by faith in his blood? by a living
and active faith? Hast thou committed thyself to him, to be delivered
from the reign of sin, as well as from the condemnation of it? Then
mayest thou join with the blessed apostle, and speak in the language of
faith, _He loved me, and gave himself for me_? Gal. ii. 20.

Let me meditate again the sorrows and agonies of my dear, my adored
Redeemer. Infinite agonies and sorrows, beyond all the powers of
language. Is my heart made of stone, that it can hear such an history
and not melt within me, have I no tender part within me to bleed at the
rehearsal of such anguish, and such love? Blessed Jesus smite the rock
of my heart, and let it pour out new streams of repentance and
affectionate gratitude. I was dead, and the Son of God gave himself up
to death, in order to raise me to life again. I was a traitor and an
enemy, and he hath sustained the arrows of the Almighty to reconcile me
to his Father, and turn away his infinite indignation. My great
High-priest has offered up himself a bloody sacrifice for me, that my
guilt might be forgiven, and cancelled for ever.

Think, O my soul, study, contrive, speak, what wilt thou render to the
Lord for such astonishing condescension, and such unexampled grace. How
wilt thou show thy inestimable value of his atonement? What does he
require of thee, but to keep those garments clean, which he has washed
in so rich a fountain as his own blood? And shall I ever wilfully
indulge the practice of sin again, and return to my old defilements?
Shall I ever consent to break the law of my God? Have I not seen the
dreadful nature and dismal effects of it, in the agonies and death of my
dearest Lord? What shall I do that I may never sin more? Lord, I cannot
preserve myself from the fatal infection, while I dwell in a world where
sin reigns all around me, in a world that lies in wickedness; and while
I am so nearly allied to flesh and blood, where folly, vice, and sin run
through every vein to my heart. Jesus, I commit myself afresh to thy
care, thou wilt save the soul that thou hast purchased at so dear a
rate; thou wilt accept and save a returning penitent. Here I devote my
life, my self, my flesh and spirit, and all my powers to thy obedience,
and the purposes of thy glory for ever and ever: My soul looks up to
thee with an eye of humble confidence, and my faith and hope rest on thy
everlasting love. _Amen._


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXXIV.
                       _The Atonement of Christ._


                   How is our nature spoil’d by sin!
                     Yet nature ne’er hath found
                   The way to make the conscience clean,
                     Or heal the painful wound.

                   In vain we seek for peace with God
                     By methods of our own;
                   Jesus there’s nothing but thy blood
                     Can bring us near thy throne.

                   The threat’nings of the broken law
                     Impress our souls with dread:
                   If God his sword of vengeance draw,
                     It strikes our spirits dead.

                   But thy illustrious sacrifice
                     Hath answered these demands;
                   And peace and pardon from the skies
                     Come down by Jesus’ hands.

                   Here all the ancient types agree,
                     The altar and the lamb:
                   And prophets in their visions see
                     Salvation through his name.

                   ’Tis by thy death we live, O Lord:
                     ’Tis on thy cross we rest:
                   For ever be thy love ador’d,
                     Thy name for ever blest.

Footnote 34:

  Every circumstance that aggravates any crime, must aggravate it in a
  degree proportionable to that circumstance; otherwise we could never
  determine what is the degree of this aggravation, nor adjust the
  punishment in proportion to it. On this account, if the crime he
  committed against God, an infinite being, the guilt must be infinitely
  aggravated.

Footnote 35:

  I grant, 1. That their continual persistence and obstinacy in sinful
  practices, may naturally render them continually miserable; and 2.
  This continued obstinacy may also, in a legal sense, merit continual
  new punishment. And perhaps, on these two reasons, the actual eternity
  of hell may be justly supported. But unless we suppose every wilful
  rebellion against the infinite Majesty of God, to have also a sort of
  infinite evil in it, I do not see that everlasting chains, and eternal
  fire, are a proper deserved punishment, legally due to their first
  rebellion, that is, to one act of sin.




                              SERMON XXXV.
                       _The Atonement of Christ._
      ROM. iii. 25.—Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation——


Having explained the manner in which Christ is a propitiation for sin; I
come in the second place to propose some reasons to evince the truth of
this doctrine, namely, That God hath ordained his Son Jesus to be our
propitiation or sacrifice of atonement. And here I shall proceed by
degrees, from some apparent probabilities, to more evident and
convincing proofs.

I. The first reason I shall give for it is this, that an atonement for
sin, and an effectual method to answer the demands of an offended God,
is the first great blessing which guilty mankind stood in need of: but
the powers of nature could never procure it, nor could the light of
reason ever shew them how to obtain it: Now it is the design of the
gospel of Christ to supply the wants and deficiencies of guilty nature,
that is both impotent and blind; it is to introduce an effectual
reconciliation between God and sinners; it is to point out an atonement
to them, answerable to their guilt, which they wanted, and to discover a
solid foundation for peace. This is done in the death of Christ.

A few easy reflections of natural conscience, will acquaint all the
thinking part of men that they are sinners, that they have offended the
great and glorious God who made them: And those that have read the
histories of mankind, and have surveyed distant nations and past ages,
have found this to be almost the universal enquiry of men, “What shall
we do to pacify the anger of that God, against whom we have sinned?” The
heathen world had an awful notion of the vengeance of heaven. Hence
arose endless forms of superstition: How many long and costly
ceremonies, what painful and bloody rites of worship have been invented
and practised by men, to make some compensation for their crimes? All
the craft and contrivance of their priests, could never have prevailed
with the bulk of mankind, to take such yokes of bondage upon them, if
there had not been something in natural conscience, which wanted an
atonement and peace to be made with heaven, from a sense of their own
guilt.

The prophet Micah introduces this general language of an awakened
conscience, _Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, or bow myself
before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings?—Will
the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of
rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the
fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?_ Micah vi. 6, 7. Alas! All
these are vain and fruitless proposals: But the gospel makes the
enquiring conscience easy, when it proposes the blood of the Son of God,
appointed by the Father as a satisfactory offering for the sins of men:
This is what the guilty world wanted, but could never find out. This the
gospel hath revealed and set in an open light.

And indeed, if the great God who is offended, did ever send down a
Peace-maker to reconcile heaven and earth, it is very reasonable to
suppose that he should answer the universal cry of nature distressed
with guilt; and that he should furnish sinful creatures with such an
atonement for sin, and such a solid foundation for their acceptance with
himself, as might fully satisfy their reason and their awakened
consciences. And this is no where to be found in so evident and complete
a manner, as in the death of Christ.

II. The very first discoveries of grace, which were made to man after
his fall, implied in them something of an atonement for sin, and pointed
to the propitiation which Christ has now made; Gen. iii. 15, &c. The
first appearance of grace was the promise given that the _seed of the
woman should bruise the head of the serpent_, that is, he should abolish
the guilt, mischief, and misery that sin and the tempter had introduced:
But in order to do this, the woman’s seed must have his heel bruised,
must sustain some personal sufferings.

Immediately after this, sacrifices of beasts were instituted[36] as a
type and prefiguration of some future glorious sacrifice and atonement
that should be made to God for the sins of men. Now it is the very
notion of an expiatory sacrifice, as I have shewn before, that some
creature is provided to stand in the room of the original transgressor
and to bear his guilt and suffer punishment in his stead, that thereby
the transgressor having his guilt taken away, may be delivered and
saved. And when Adam was ordered to put a beast to death which had not
sinned, in order to worship or honour God by it, and when he found that
he himself who had sinned, was not put to death, it was not hard for him
to understand that the beast was put to death in his room and stead: And
it is not unlikely that God told him so.

Let us consider further, that it is exceeding probable, when the _Lord
God made coats of skins for Adam and his wife_; Gen. iii. 21. these were
the skins of the beasts that had been put to death in sacrifice: And
thus God made it appear to them, that their nakedness was covered, and
the shame of their guilt removed, by a blessing derived from the beasts
that were slain. The skins of the sacrifices being put upon their
bodies, might abate something of their former fear, and encourage them
to appear before God, who were terrified a little before, at the
thoughts of their guilt and nakedness. Their deserved death was
transferred to the sacrificed animal; and the skin of the animal
sacrificed, was transferred to them as a covering for their guilt and
shame. These are no obscure intimations of benefit and safety to be
derived to sinners, from some atonement to be made for sin.

If we will hearken to St. Paul, he explains the first promise, when he
says, Heb. ii. 14. that _Christ took flesh and blood upon him, that he
might, by his own death destroy the devil, who had the power of death_,
or had introduced it into the world. Here the Saviour’s heel was
bruised, and the head of the serpent broken; nor can it be well
supposed, how the death of Christ should destroy the works of the devil,
but by making an atonement for the sins of men; for which sins divine
justice had put them under his power or tyranny.

I will not presume to say, that Adam himself could read so much gospel
as this in those first words of promise; or that he knew in so explicit
and distinct a manner, the designs and ends of a sacrifice, when God
taught him the practice: Yet it is very probable, that the great God
condescended to give a much farther explication both of the first words
of comfort concerning the seed of the woman, and of his own appointment
of sacrifices, and of the reason of them, than Moses has written, or
than we who live at this distance of time can ever certainly know.

III. Suppose what I have yet offered, be too obscure a foundation for
this doctrine, yet let us consider that the following train of
ceremonies, which were appointed by God in the Jewish church, when he
separated a peculiar people to himself, are plain significations of such
an atonement for sin as our Lord Jesus has made, and they confirm the
meaning of the first institution of sacrifices.

I will grant indeed, that many of the ceremonies of the Jewish church,
had also some other intendments, _viz._ To distinguish the nation of
Israel from the Gentile world, and to keep them in subjection to God,
who was their political head or king, as well as their God, to preserve
them as a nation in his favour, and restore them when they had offended
him as their governor and king: But a few considerations will give us
sufficient evidence, that these are mere subordinate designs of God in
the Jewish law, and especially in his institution of the ceremonies of
atonement and priesthood.

First Consideration.—The Jewish ceremonies are often represented as
types or figures of gospel-blessings by the apostle Paul; 2 Cor. iii.
Gal. vi. Col. ii. Heb. vii, viii, ix, x. The levitical ceremonial rites
were but the letter, of which the gospel of Christ is the spirit or
meaning: Those were but as a veil to cover the good things of the
gospel; they were but weak and poor rudiments or elements of learning,
to lead us into the knowledge of gospel-blessings. “The law was our
school-master to bring us to Christ. They were but a shadow of things to
come, whose substance or body is Christ; They served but to the example
and shadow of heavenly things: that is, the things of the gospel: They
were a figure for the time present; a shadow of those good things to
come, which the Holy Ghost signified by them.” The great end of these
Jewish ceremonial appointments in the sense of this inspired writer,
was, that they should stand but as types and figures of things under the
gospel; as emblems of the various offices of the Messiah that was to
come, and eminently of his priesthood and propitiation. Now the
substance is superior to the shadow.

Second Consideration.—This is more evident still, if we consider that
many of the defilements which were to be removed by these sacrifices and
purifications, were of an external and corporeal nature, which,
considered in themselves, were generally innocent as to moral guilt, and
did not want such sort of bloody purgations[37]. Thence we may
reasonably infer, that these external defilements of the body, did
typify and represent the moral and sinful pollutions of the soul: and
consequently, that the external and corporeal forms of atonement and
purgation were chiefly designed as types and figures of the blood of
Christ, which was a real propitiation for the sins of the soul.

Third Consideration.—The most exact and happy resemblance and
conformity, between the method of atonement by the priesthood and
sacrifice of Christ, and the appointed rites of the levitical priesthood
and atonement, very naturally leads us to suppose, that one was designed
to figure out and foretel the other; especially since the scripture
gives us such frequent hints of it. The great God, to whom all his own
works are known from the beginning of the world, had the sacrifice and
priesthood of his Son Jesus ever in his eye, when he ordained the Jewish
forms of atonement. He kept in view Jesus the high-priest, who was
hereafter to enter into heaven in the virtue of his own blood, when he
appointed Aaron to go into the holy place, the figure of the true, with
the blood of the yearly expiation. He kept in view the merit of Christ’s
death, which was to be applied to our souls and consciences by faith,
when he appointed the people to be sprinkled with the blood of the
sacrifices: And therefore the blood of Christ is called the blood of
sprinkling; Heb. xii. 24. And when he ordained the morning and evening
lamb for a continual burnt-offering, he pointed, though afar off, to the
Messiah, the Lamb of God, that must take away the sins of men.

These resemblances might be shewn in a multitude of other instances: but
I cannot omit this one, _viz._ As the killing of the beast was designed
to hold forth the violent and bloody death of Christ, the great
sacrifice; so the burning of the flesh and entrails on the altar by that
divine fire, which was always kept alive there, and which was kindled at
first from heaven, seems plainly intended to foretel those sacred divine
impressions of the indignation of God due to sinners, which were to be
made upon the holy soul of Christ himself, _when it pleased the Father
to bruise him, and put him to grief_: For the indignation of God is
often represented by fire.

We must not imagine therefore, that these levitical ordinances were
first in the design of God, as proper statutes for the Jewish nation,
and then that the Son of God came into the world, and passed through
such special scenes of life, death, and resurrection, merely in order to
copy out these Jewish ordinances: But we must conceive the Son of God,
first designed as our great Atonement and High-priest on earth, and in
heaven: And in the view and foresight hereof all those levitical
ordinances were given to the Jews as figures and emblems, to give early
notice before-hand, of the blessings of the great Messiah. Surely the
atonement of the Messiah, which was to be a real relief for the guilt of
all nations, was of much more importance, and held a higher rank in the
ideas and designs of God, than the mere ceremonies given to a single
nation.

If it should be objected still, that those Jewish rites have been
plainly proved by some learned men to be political services done to God
as their King and Governor, for he dwelt in Jerusalem as their king, and
kept his court among them in the tabernacle and the temple. I answer:

1. This may very well be granted as an inferior and subordinate design
of God: For the consideration of God, as the civil or political ruler of
the Jewish nation, is much inferior to the consideration of him as the
Creator, and the Lord of the souls and consciences, not only of the
nation of Israel, but of all mankind, who were to derive benefit from
the sacrifice of Christ. The supreme intent and meaning of any
constitution, does by no means destroy those which are subordinate. It
may be allowed also:

2. That the sacrifices duly offered, did make a real and proper
atonement for the political guilt of the Israelites in the sight of God,
considered as their peculiar king, and continued them in his political
favour, or restored them to it, after some breach of the Jewish laws.
This seems to be the sense of the apostle, Heb. ix. 13. _The blood of
bulls and goats sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh_, as well as of
many expressions in the books of Moses. And yet these same sacrifices
might make a typical atonement for their moral guilt in the sight of
God, considered as their God, that is, as the Lord of conscience, and
the God of the souls of men: And all this with a direct aspect upon the
sacrifice of Christ, the great and real atonement that was to come: And
indeed, the next words; Heb. ix. 14. intimate so much, _How much more
shall the blood of Christ purge your consciences from dead works?_ that
is, from works of sin which deserve death in the sight or judgment of
God, considered as the supreme Lord of souls and consciences.

These sacrifices, I say, could make but a typical atonement for moral
guilt in the sight of God, considered as their God; for it is
sufficiently evident to any thinking mind, that it _was not possible for
the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin_, as committed against a
God; Heb. x. 4. And therefore the Jews themselves, when they had offered
their chief sacrifice of yearly expiation, had not so clear, so full,
and so satisfactory a peace in their consciences, as the gospel of
Christ bestows on christians; The apostle says, verse 1, 2. _The comers
thereunto were not made perfect_; for if they had _the worshippers once
purged, would have no more conscience of sin_, or sense of guilt.
_Wherefore, when Christ came into the world, he saith, sacrifice and
offering_, that is, _of bulls and goats, thou wouldst not, for they were
not sufficient, but a body hast thou prepared me_; and for what end this
was done, the following verses tell us, that sinners might be purified
from the guilty defilements of sin, _through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all_; verse 10.

Thus the blessed God, who designed in due time to make his own Son an
atonement for sinners, did early give some emblematical notices of this
divine atonement to those few who were taught to understand them: And in
this manner he kept alive in the world the hope of some such glorious
future transaction, which should be the ground-work of peace between God
and men, by the appointed death and sacrifice of beasts throughout all
ages, ever since he made the first promise, and gave the first hope of
grace to fallen man.

And indeed, all the souls that were pardoned, and all the sins that were
remitted under the several ancient dispensations of Adam, Noah, Abraham,
and Moses, must be referred to the virtue of this great sacrifice of the
Son of God, though all who were pardoned might not distinctly know the
ground of it. _Him hath God set forth to be a propitiation for the
remission of sins that are past_ in far distant ages, as well as for
sins that are yet to come; Rom. iii. 25. His sacrifice has a most
extensive efficacy, it reaches through all nations, and all ages, from
the beginning of the world to the end of it. It was this sacrifice of
Christ, that gave virtue to all other institutions and rights of
atonement that were appointed by God himself. In themselves they were
weak and insufficient, but they were made powerful through the blood of
Christ, to speak pardon and peace in some measure, to the guilty
conscience, though since Christ is come, we hear the joyful sound of
peace and pardon more distinctly.

IV. Nor was this doctrine manifested only in the ancient forms of
worship and sacrifice which God had ordained, but some of the noblest of
the following prophecies confirm and explain the first promise, and shew
that Christ was to die as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of men. I
will mention only the words of those two great men, Isaiah and Daniel.
By Daniel we are told, that the _Messiah shall be cut off, but not for
himself, and the design of this is, to finish transgression, to make an
end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness_; Dan. ix. 24, 26. Isaiah speaks the same
thing more largely, in his liii. chapter, verses 5, 6, 10, 11. _Christ
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are
healed: We like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all.——It pleased the Lord to bruise him, and_ _to put
him to grief, and to make his soul an offering for sin.—By the knowledge
of him shall he justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities._ How
exceeding plain and strong is this language to support my doctrine, and
how exceeding hard to construe it to any other sense!

It may not be amiss to subjoin the witness of John the Baptist, who was
more than a prophet, and the very fore-runner of the Messiah; John i.
26. _Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world._ Now
a Lamb takes away sin in no other way than by dying as a sacrifice. Thus
our blessed Redeemer who, once in the end of the world, appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself, as a great High priest, was, as it
were, ushered into his office by a long train of types and prophecies:
All these went before him, that when his great sacrifice was offered, it
might not seem a strange thing, but might be more easily received by all
the world, who stood in so much need of him, and to whom the tradition
of sacrifices had been conveyed from Noah; and especially by the Jews,
who had so much notice of him before, by more express revelations beyond
what the heathens could learn by their broken traditions of sacrifice.

V. Our Saviour himself, among the rest of his ministrations as a
prophet, taught us the doctrine of atonement for sin by his death, and
that in these three ways:

1. He did speak of it, though but sparingly, in plain and express
language to his own disciples in private. Mat. xx. 28. _The Son of man
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a
ransom for many_: And this he spoke a little after he had foretold his
sufferings, his crucifixion, his death, and his rising again the third
day.

2. He preached this doctrine publicly to the multitude in parables and
figures of speech; John vi. 51. _The bread that I will give is my flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world. Except ye eat the flesh of
the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you_: Which can
signify nothing but his dying as a propitiation for sin, that we might
live by our feeding upon his sacrifice, or partaking the benefit of it.
John xii. 24. _The hour is come that the Son of man must be glorified.
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone:
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit._ Verse 32. _If I be lifted
up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me: This he said, signifying
what death he should die._ His being lifted up on the cross should draw
many souls to him as their way to the favour of God. Once he spoke it in
a little plainer language, in public; John x. 11. where he represents
himself as the _good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep_.

3. He taught the same doctrine both in types or emblems, and in plain
language, just before he died, at the institution of the holy supper;
Luke xxii. 19. _He took bread—and brake it_, saying, _This is my body
which is given for you_. And of the cup he said, _This cup is the New
Testament in my blood which is shed for you_; or as St. Matthew
expresses it, _This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for
many, for the remission of sins_. These things put together, make it
evident that Christ himself taught this doctrine.

Objection. But it will be said, How can we suppose that this doctrine of
atonement by the death of Christ, should be so considerable a part of
the gospel, if our blessed Redeemer, the great Prophet of his church,
spoke so seldom of it in public, and that in so obscure a manner?

Answer 1. This doctrine of atonement for sin by his death, and the
acceptance of it with God the Father, could not be so well preached in
public till he died, and rose again; for his death was the foundation of
this atonement; his resurrection and his ascension to heaven were the
proofs of its being accepted of God. Now it was divinely wise and proper
for our Lord not to preach such doctrines too freely in public to the
multitude, till these events should appear in the world. If he had
spoken all these things, concerning himself it would have probably
amazed and confounded the common people, and raised their rage or their
ridicule; so ignorant and so full of prejudice as they were in that day.

2. If Christ had publicly and plainly preached up the atonement of his
death, he must thereby have foretold openly that he must die as a
sacrifice; and this might have had very ill effects on the malicious
Jews, either, 1. To provoke them to kill him, before his hour was come,
and pretend that they only obeyed his own prophecy and commission when
they put him to death: Or, 2. They might lay hold on him, and keep him
prisoner without killing him, to endeavour to falsify his prophecies of
his death, and thus attempt to make void his doctrine of atonement.

It is true, God, by his immediate influence on the wills of men, could
have prevented these effects: But it is not the manner of God’s conduct
in providence to answer and accomplish his own predictions by such
immediate, divine, and over-ruling restraints upon the wills of men, if
it may done otherwise. And therefore indeed, the prophecies, and
especially such as are accomplished in the same age in which they are
spoken, are usually given forth in metaphors and parables, that men may
not so clearly and perfectly understand them, and that God, in his moral
government of the world, may not be constrained to go out of his common
and ordinary methods, in order to bring these prophecies to pass.

3. It is evident, from many expressions in the evangelists, that it was
not the design of Christ, in his own life-time, to publish the grace and
glory of the gospel, in so clear, so distinct, and so complete a manner,
as he designed to have it published by his apostles after he was gone to
heaven. The design of his own public ministry was rather to prepare the
way for the setting up of his own kingdom in the world, than to set it
up in the full glory of it in his own person. According to this view of
things, his preaching was formed; _Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand_; Mat. iv. 17. That is, the gospel state approaches, or hath
approached to you. The prayer he taught his disciples stands on the same
foot, wherein they are instructed to pray, _Thy kingdom come_; Mat. vi.
10. Therefore when he spake to the multitude, of the special glories of
his gospel, and especially of his atoning sacrifice, it was generally in
parables; and when he instructed his disciples more particularly in
private, he gave them but hints of it, and told them that they should
publish these things upon the house-tops after the Son of man should
rise from the dead, but not before.

Even just before his death, his own disciples themselves could not
bear many things that he had to teach them; John xvi. 12. These things
were reserved therefore for the forty days communication with them
after his resurrection, when he spake with them _of things pertaining
to the kingdom of God_; Acts i. 3. and more especially for the
teachings of his own Spirit, which he poured out upon them after he
went to heaven. By these means they were more completely furnished for
their ministry, and learned the doctrines of the gospel, in a more
perfect manner than ever our Lord himself taught them in his
life-time. Thus it appears that though Christ was the founder of a new
religion among men, yet there is good reason to be given, why he did
not teach plainly and publicly some of the chief doctrines of this
religion, during his own life on earth, _viz._ because these doctrines
were built on his death, his rising again, and ascending to heaven,
which events were then unaccomplished[38].

Thence we may infer, as we pass along, that if we would learn the
plainest and fullest account of the gospel of Christ, it is not enough
for us to consult merely his public sermons, or the histories of his
life, which are called the four gospels, but we must read carefully the
writings of the apostles after he went to heaven; for, during the life
of Christ, neither did he preach, nor did the apostles themselves learn
this gospel in the complete extent and glory of it. But this is only an
inference by the way.

[This is a proper pause in the middle of this sermon, when it is read in
families.]

Let us proceed to the next reason to prove that Christ was a
propitiation for our sins in his death.

VI. The terrors of soul, the consternation and inward agonies which our
blessed Lord sustained a little before his death, were a sufficient
proof that he endured punishments in his soul which were due to sin.
These were vastly greater than the persecutions of bloody men, and the
mere fears of dying: Can it ever be imagined, that the Son of God, whose
virtues and graces, whose patience and holy fortitude sparkled with
divine lustre in the various parts of his life, should have shewn so
much natural fear, and innocent disquietude of spirit, at the mere
thoughts of death by the hands of men, as if he had nothing else to
encounter with? When this dreadful hour was come, and the powers of
darkness were let loose upon him, _he began to be sore amazed, and very
heavy_; Mark xiv. 23. He told his disciples, _My soul is exceeding
sorrowful even unto death; He went forward a little, and fell on the
ground, and prayed, that if it were possible that hour might pass from
him_. He entreated his Father, _with prayers and supplications, with
strong cries and tears_; Heb. v. 7. Such a terror was upon his spirits,
that three times he repeated the same petition, that he might be excused
if possible from drinking that cup of sorrow. The agonies of his soul
pressed great drops of blood through the pores of his body, and bathed
him in a crimson sweat. These cries and tears, these agonies and these
sweats of blood preached the doctrine of atonement with dreadful power,
and uncontested evidence. And as upon the cross, so in the garden, it is
probable his Father forsook him, or hid his face from him, so that he
had need of an angel to be sent down from heaven on purpose to comfort
or strengthen him; Luke xxii. 43. It was here that he learned feelingly
what was the curse of the broken law, what was that indignation and
wrath, tribulation and anguish, that were due to the sin of man. Here
the seed of the woman maintained a combat with that great serpent, the
devil, and had his heel bruised; that is, his lower nature filled with
anguish. And it is most probable, that his nature being worn out with
this load of distress, was the true reason why he expired on the cross
much sooner than was expected, so that _Pilate marvelled to hear that he
was already dead_; Mark xv. 44.

I think it is impossible for the Socinians, who represent the death of
Christ chiefly as a martyrdom for the truth of his doctrine, and an
example of patience in suffering, to support their scheme against this
argument, or to give any tolerable account of this amazement which
possessed his spirit before his enemies came near him, and of these
agonies of soul which our blessed Lord sustained. Surely such sorrows
and such terrors demonstrate the work of propitiation and the dreadful
labour of reconciling an offended God and sinful man.

VII. This doctrine of satisfaction for sin by the death of Christ is
declared, and confirmed, and explained at large by the apostles in their
writings, when they were fully furnished for their ministry, by the
gifts of the Holy Ghost. Read St. Paul’s letters to the churches, and
you find them abounding in such expressions as these: _Christ died for
our sins_; 1 Cor. xv. 3. _He gave himself for us, to redeem us from all
iniquity_; Tit. ii. 13. _We have redemption through his blood_; Eph. i.
7. _God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them._ _He was made sin_; 2 Cor. v. 19, 21. _And he
was made a curse for us_; Gal. iii. 13. _He is our propitiation and
atonement_; 1 John ii. 2. _He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself_; Heb. ix. 26. _When we were enemies we were reconciled to
God by his death_; Rom. v. 10. _He made peace by the blood of his
cross_; Col. i. 20. _He was delivered for our offences, and raised again
for our justification_; Rom. iii. 25. _By the righteousness of one man,
the free gift came upon all men to justification of life._ _By the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous_; Rom. v. 18, 19.

Now in the writings of St. Paul on this subject, we may observe three
things.

1. He speaks this language, when in a plain doctrinal way he is teaching
the gospel of Christ, therefore these expressions of his are to be
understood in the common sense and meaning of the words. It would be a
very great force and torture put upon these expressions, if we construe
them only to mean, that God promised forgiveness to penitent sinners by
Jesus Christ, as a messenger of grace, and that Christ died as a martyr
to bear witness to this truth. Read his epistles to the Romans, the
Ephesians, the Colossians, and the Hebrews, where he treats of these
subjects, and you will find that the apostle in his doctrine of
atonement, means much more than this; for he talks in a plain rational
and argumentative style and method, to inform the minds of men, of the
true design of the death of Christ, and give them the clear knowledge of
the truth.

2. He not only represents the death of Christ as our atonement for sin,
but he declares this to be the great end of his appearing in the flesh.
Heb. ii. 14. _Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he
himself also took part of the same, that through his own death he might
destroy the devil._ Heb. x. 5. _Sacrifices of bulls and goats were
insufficient, but a body hast thou prepared me._—ix. 26. _Once in the
end of the world he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself._ This was the design of his incarnation.

3. He makes the cross of Christ, and Christ crucified, to stand for the
gospel itself, and glories in it; 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. _Christ crucified is
the wisdom of God, and the power of God_;—ii. 2. _I desired to know
nothing among you but Christ, and him crucified._ Gal. vi. 14. _God
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ_: And many such
expressions he uses, as though the public sermons of Christ, the example
of Christ, and the duties that he prescribed, were all as nothing
without the atoning virtue of his death, and his sacrifice on the cross;
for all these would not save us without his dying. This is eminently the
gospel.

Nor is the apostle Paul singular in declaring this doctrine of
atonement, or different in his sentiments from the other apostles. You
find Peter and John saying the same things in their epistles: 1 Pet. i.
18, 19. “Ye were not redeemed with silver and gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish.”—ii. 24. “Who
his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. Ver. 21. Christ
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to
God.” 1 John i. 7. “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all
sin.”——ii. 1, 2. “Jesus Christ the righteous is the propitiation for our
sins.” iii. 16. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, that he laid down
his life for us.” Rev. i. 5, 6. Unto him that loved us and washed us
from our sins in his own blood be glory and dominion for ever. These
apostles take every occasion to publish the same gospel and the same
promises and hopes of salvation, by the death and sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus Christ.

VIII. To sum up many arguments in one, These were the doctrines that
were witnessed to the world by those amazing gifts of the Holy Ghost,
which attended the gospel[39]. The gifts of tongues, the wonders of
prophecy, the powers of healing and destroying, communicated to men in
such a manner as the world never saw, and astonished the spectators, all
confirmed the truth of this atonement which the apostles preached. These
were the discoveries that were made so gloriously successful for the
conversion of nations. These doctrines subdued kingdoms to the belief of
them, and triumphed over the souls of men: These were the truths that
changed the corrupt natures of men into virtue, piety, and goodness,
that turned sinners into saints in multitudes, and raised a church for
Christ in the world, in spite of all the rage of enemies, the
superstitions of the priests, the learning and sophistry of the
philosophers, the wild prejudices of the people, and the tyranny of
princes.

The primitive christian writers who were converted to the faith, teach
us these same doctrines of the grace of God, through the atonement of
Christ, the pardon of sin through his blood, which had so much power
over their own souls. In the faith of these doctrines, and the hope of
eternal life by them, they became the glorious confessors and martyrs of
a crucified Christ, and cast down the tempter and the accuser by the
blood of the Lamb. This is the doctrine that has been delivered down to
us through all ages of the christian church; and though the
antichristian powers have mingled it with many of their superstitions,
yet the gates of hell have never been able to prevail against it, so as
to root it out. This is the religion which, two hundred years ago, was
reformed from popish corruptions, and while our blessed reformers
laboured to recover and convey it to us in its primitive glory, many of
them were called to witness and seal it with their own blood.

An occasional Remark.—Since these were the truths that the last, and
brightest, and best revelation of God communicated to men: since this
propitiation of Christ was the doctrine which the inspired apostles
taught, and in which all the foregoing revelations centre, even from the
beginning of the world: It is by this therefore, that all the former and
darker discoveries are to be explained; all the types and shadows of
ceremonial worship, and the obscure language of prophecy, must have
their true light cast upon them by this doctrine. This is the clue to
guide us into the mysteries and deep things of God, which lay hid under
the veils for so many ages. The great apostle St. Paul shews us how to
penetrate and unfold all the ancient dispensations, by the doctrine of
the Son of God coming into the flesh, by his dying as a sacrifice for
sin, by his rising and ascending to heaven, by his appearing there as a
priest to intercede for sinners in the virtue of his sacrifice, and by
his sitting there as a king, to reign over all things for the salvation
of his people, whom he has purchased with his own blood.

The Recollection.—What a variety of supports has this blessed doctrine
of our reconciliation to God by the atoning death of Christ? What a
train of arguments to confirm it are drawn down from the very first
entrance of sin into the world? Guilty nature urges us on to enquire
after such an atonement, and the bible reveals it to us in a long
succession of types, promises, and prophecies, in narratives and plain
instructions, in darker or brighter discoveries from the beginning of
mankind.

If I forsake the gospel of Christ, and his atonement for sin, whither
shall my guilty conscience fly to find a better relief? This is the
doctrine that supplies the chiefest wants of a guilty creature, and the
chief defects of natural light and reason. Nature shews me no way to
recompense the justice of God for my innumerable sins. Nature shews me
nothing which God will accept in the room of my own perfect obedience,
or in the room of my everlasting punishment. If I leave thee, O Jesus,
whither should I go? Thy sufferings are the spring of my hope of pardon,
and my eternal life depends on thy painful and shameful death.

I see and obtain in this gospel of atonement all that the heathen world
laboured for in vain, by many wild inventions, and painful
superstitions. The anger of the God of heaven is pacified by the
sufferings of Jesus his Son. O my God, let my soul never run back to
infidelity and heathenism, and rove abroad among the foolish inventions
of men, in quest of any other methods of atonement. The blood of Jesus
is all my hope.

Here I see the gracious promises of ancient times fulfilled, even the
first promise of mercy that was ever made to fallen man. Here I behold
the accomplishment of the predictions of the holy prophets since the
world began; 1 Pet. i. 11. “It was the Spirit of Christ spake in them,
concerning the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow;”
Gen. iii. 15. Here I see “the seed of the woman breaking the head of the
serpent;” 1 John iii. 8. _The Son of God manifested_, and by his own
death, _destroyed the works of the devil_. Here I behold; Dan. ix. 24,
26. the Messiah _cut off, but not for himself_. I behold him here on his
cross, _finishing_ iniquity, _transgression, and sin_; and _bringing in
everlasting righteousness_. I see, Is. liii. 10. _his soul made an
offering for_ the _sins_ of men: And the prophets Isaiah and Daniel
conspiring with the blessed apostles to point to Jesus as an
all-sufficient Saviour.

I see the types and shadows of the Jewish religion so happily answered
in this doctrine of the priesthood and sacrifice of Christ, that I am
well assured that this is the substance, for it bears the shape and
lineaments of the shadow. This is the great original; for if carries the
exact resemblance of the types and pictures that went before. The
ancient religion of emblems and figures was confirmed by the amazing
wonders of Moses; but the religion of Christ, which contains in it the
substance and true glory of all former dispensations, is not only
attested by the miracles of the Son of God, but he himself also appears
in the midst of it, in so divine a correspondence with the typical
ordinances of Moses, as gives a double and most undoubted confirmation
to his own blessed gospel, and his own atonement for sin. Every thing
that established the religion of the Jews, serves to establish me in the
religion of Christ. Their lavers and washings, their altars and
sacrifices were divine; but they were divine only for a season. These
ancient veils which covered the gospel, were of God’s own contrivance;
and when they were exhibited to the people, especially in the days of
Moses and Solomon, they made a bright and sacred appearance; but now the
gospel stands forth unveiled, and in perfect light, God himself hath
folded up these veils as an old garment, and laid them aside. The
substance is come, and the shadows disappear. Blessed be the Lord that I
was brought forth since the Sun of Righteousness is risen upon the
earth, and the morning clouds are vanished away.

I hear Jesus, my great Prophet, preaching this doctrine of propitiation
for our sins by his death, in his own ministry; though he was content to
do it in a more obscure and imperfect manner: And I now see the reason
why he taught this truth chiefly in parables, because it was not proper
in that age to be published to the multitude in plain language, till he
had actually died and rose again.

I behold his terrible agonies in the garden, before he came near the
cross. I see the blessed Son of God labouring under the burden of our
guilt, wrestling, and sweating blood, under the unknown impressions of
that tribulation and wrath, that indignation and anguish which was due
to my sins. What else could make so glorious and divine a person
discover such dreadful distress of soul? Again, he cries out on the
cross with anguish of spirit, he bleeds, he groans, he dies. I
acknowledge the truth of the doctrine of his atonement. I read it in all
his agonies. These are such sufferings, and such sorrows as are beyond
all that men could inflict, or that a mere man could bear, beyond all
the common terrors of death and the grave. My Saviour sustained a
heavier burden, and was engaged in harder work; a labour more dreadful
and more glorious. He was then making atonement to divine justice for my
sins. And blessed be his name for ever and ever.

I read the same doctrine of atonement for sin, by the death of Christ,
in the writings of his holy apostles. This was the gospel which they
preached to the Jews, and to the rest of the nations. This they
delivered down in the sacred records of the New Testament, whence we
derive our religion and our hope. The language in which they expressed
our reconciliation to God, by the death of Christ, carries with it such
evidence, and such strength, that if I believe these books to be divine,
I cannot but receive this doctrine as the truth of God; and I would
learn of St. Paul; Gal. vi. 14. _to glory in the cross of Christ_;
and—ii. 20. to _live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me_.

When I read the astonishing gifts of the blessed Spirit, communicated to
the first preachers and professors of the gospel, when I survey these
gifts in all their extensive glory, and in all their force of argument,
I look upon all of them as a heap of united wonders, conspiring to
support this doctrine of the propitiation of Christ, which was every
where taught by these inspired favourites of heaven. Every strange
tongue which they spoke, teaches me this blessed truth. Every disease of
body which they healed, assures me, that the stripes which Christ
sustained, were for the healing of our souls. Every unclean spirit which
they cast out, establishes my belief, that by the atoning death of
Christ we are delivered from the power of the devil. Every surprising
wonder which they wrought, gives me a firmer persuasion of this wondrous
doctrine, that the Son of God died to give us life.

Blessed Saviour, let the same spirit, by whose influence they healed the
sick, they cast out devils, and wrought all these wonders, write this
holy religion, and this doctrine of thy atonement for sins deep in my
heart. O let me make it my daily food, the support and the life of my
soul. Teach me to apply it to all the holy purposes for which so
glorious a doctrine was revealed to the world. In the faith of this
atonement, by the blood of Jesus, let me join in the songs of angels,
and pronounce with joy; Luke ii. 14. _Glory to God in the highest, peace
on earth, and good-will to men_; Glory to God my Father, and my Saviour:
Pardon, life, and salvation to dying sinners. _Amen._


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXXV.
     _Faith and Repentance encouraged by the Sacrifice of Christ._


                  Where shall the guilty conscience go
                    To find a sure relief?
                  Can bleeding bulls or goats bestow
                    A balm to ease my grief?

                  Will popish rites and penances,
                    Release my soul from sin?
                  What insufficient things are these
                    To calm the wrath divine!

                  God, the great God, who rules the skies,
                    The gracious and the just,
                  Makes his own Son our sacrifice:
                    And there lies all our trust.

                  O never let my thoughts renounce
                    The gospel of my God,
                  Where vilest crimes are cleans’d at once
                    In Christ’s atoning blood.

                  Here rest my faith, and ne’er remove;
                    Here let repentance rise,
                  While I behold his bleeding love,
                    His dying agonies.

                  With shame and sorrow here I own
                    How great my guilt has been;
                  This is my way t’ approach the throne,
                    And God forgives my sin.

Footnote 36:

  Though we have no express revelation in scripture, that sacrifices
  were now instituted, yet there is abundant reason to believe it: For,
  1. Abel offered bloody sacrifices. Now we can hardly suppose that Adam
  or Abel would ever invent such a strange ceremony to please God with
  it: Nor could reason ever dictate to them, that God, their Creator,
  would be pleased with such a bloody practice, as cutting his living
  creatures to pieces, and then burning them with fire. Nor would God
  who is jealous of his prerogative in matters of worship, ever have
  shewn his acceptance of these rites, if he himself had not appointed
  them. 2. Though we do not read that Adam offered sacrifice, yet it is
  plain he was not permitted to eat flesh; and therefore it is more
  probable, that when he killed beasts, it was for sacrifices: And God
  taught him to make cloathing for himself out of their skins. This was
  immediately after the fall.

Footnote 37:

  It may be worthy our notice here, that blood is no very proper liquid
  for purification of any defilements, unless it be, as it represents
  death to be an atonement for the guilt of sin, which is a moral
  defilement of the soul. And yet Heb. ix. 22. _Almost all things under
  the law are purged by blood_: One would think water should be a much
  better cleanser: But we find this purging or cleaning signifies
  atonement for sin, when the very next words give us the reason why
  blood is appointed, _viz._ because pardon or remission is the thing
  sought; _for without shedding of blood is no remission_.

  It is plain therefore, that to a guilty and defiled soul or
  conscience, every thing is defiled; as Tit. i. 13. But when both the
  people and their sacred utensils were sprinkled with blood, it denotes
  that all things are sanctified and pure, to those whose souls partake
  of the atonement of Christ, and whose sins are remitted through his
  bloody death.

Footnote 38:

  I grant there are some other ingenious and probable reasons offered by
  the author of Miscellanea Sacra, why Christ did not communicate his
  gospel so completely to his disciples in his own life-time; Essay 1.
  p. 156-159, but what I have mentioned is sufficient for my purpose.

Footnote 39:

  It was generally agreed that these gifts of the Holy Ghost were never
  set in such an illustrious light, for the defence of christianity, as
  in a late treatise, entitled Miscellanea Sacra, Essay I. especially
  from page 141 to the end.




                             SERMON XXXVI.
   _The Use of the foregoing Sermons, with intermingled Reflections._
      ROM. iii. 25.—Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation——


This glorious doctrine of the propitiation of Christ, has been explained
and proved at large in the former discourses. It remains that we shew
the proper uses of it. If we would set our thoughts at work to draw
inferences, we might derive thence many truths, as well as duties. But
as my chief design is to promote practical godliness, I shall content
myself with mentioning two doctrinal inferences, and all the rest shall
more immediately direct our practice.

First doctrinal inference. How vain are all the labours and pretences of
mankind, sinful, guilty mankind, to seek or hope for any better religion
than that which is contained in the gospel of Christ! It is here alone,
that we can find the solid and rational principles of reconciliation to
an offended God. This doctrine of atonement for sin by the sufferings of
Christ, is a substantial ground for our establishment in christianity,
and should be an effectual persuasive, to continue in the profession of
the gospel; Heb. iv. 14. _Having such a High-priest as Jesus the Son of
God, who after he had died for our sins, rose again, and entered into
heaven, let us hold fast our profession._ All the religions that God
ever appointed for fallen man, meet and centre here. If you have any
regard to reason and argument, if you would follow the dictates of
revelation, or if you would seek the peace and happiness of your souls,
never, never forsake the religion of Jesus.

Reflection.—“My soul, hast thou heard this doctrine of the propitiation
of Christ, and the arguments that support it in the last discourse? Dost
thou receive, dost thou believe this great article of faith? Hold it
fast then, and live upon it continually. Never hope to find a surer
spring of pardon, nor a sweeter relief for a guilty conscience. Maintain
this hope, and hold fast thy bible, where this blessing is discovered to
men. Keep upon thy spirit a due sense and relish of this atonement for
sin: It will be a blessed guard against infidelity, and assist thee to
stand in an hour of temptation, against the cavils of men, who have
renounced the gospel of God.

“But remember, O my soul, that if thou sin wilfully against this gospel,
that is, if thou abandon this grace, and reject it utterly with contempt
and opposition, _after thou hast received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the
adversaries_;” Heb. x. 26, 27. This scripture seems to stand like a
divine engine, charged with vengeance and eternal death, and pointed not
only against the primitive apostates, but against some of the profane
infidels and scoffers of our age, who have renounced, reproached, and
ridiculed the gospel which they once professed. Remember also, that it
carries in it a very dangerous and threatening aspect, upon those who
continue to profess the religion of the bible, but cancel out of it the
doctrine of the atonement of Christ; for there remains no other
sacrifice. Have a care, therefore, O my soul, and stand at a distance
from their company, who deny the propitiatory virtue of the blood of
Christ! Let them find a better ground to build their hopes of pardon
upon: But do thou lay thy foundation _on this rock, and the powers of
hell shall not prevail against it_.

Second doctrinal inference.—How strange and unreasonable is the doctrine
of the popish church, who while they profess to believe the religion of
Christ, yet introduce many other methods of atonement for sin beside the
sufferings of the Son of God, and the atonement which Jesus has made.

Every time they celebrate the Lord’s-supper, and the priest communicates
the consecrated bread to his deluded followers, they suppose there is a
fresh propitiation made for sin: Therefore they call it the sacrifice of
the mass, and imagine that their unscriptural representation of this
holy ordinance, is a real propitiation, not only for the sins of the
living, but for those that are dead also. Whereas St. Paul assures us;
Heb. ix. 28.—_Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many._ Heb. x.
14. _By one offering he hath for ever perfected them that are
sanctified._ I confess, this practice, of theirs in the mass, looks
something like a pretence of honour, to the name and death of Christ;
because, they declare, the mass is but, as it were, a repetition of the
very sacrifice of Christ himself: Though that is expressly contrary to
the language of scripture; for “this man Jesus, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sin, for ever sat down at the right-hand of God;” Heb. x.
12. because his single sacrifice was all-sufficient, and needs no
repetition.

But, besides this, they have many other methods of atonement which men
perform, and which they add to the atonement of Christ. What are all
their imposed penances, their pilgrimages on bare feet, the scourgings
of their own bodies, the garments of hair worn upon their flesh, and
their multitudes of repeated Latin prayers? What are they all but
toilsome and painful labours, invented by men, to make atonement for the
sins of the soul?

Reflection.—“Blessed be the name of our God, who has delivered our
nation from this bondage of iniquity, from these foolish yokes and
burdens of superstition; these profane dishonours done to the sacrifice
and atonement of Jesus our Saviour. We are ready to look on popery now
as lying afar off, across the seas, as an evil thing at a great
distance, and are not so much impressed with a grateful sense of our
preservation from it. We are too soon forgetful of our narrow escape
from this mischief, by the late revolution, and the protestant
succession; by the arm of God, and by the two best of kings, William our
deliverer, and George our defender. Had it not been for these
providences of heaven, and these princes on earth, our land might have
been filled with these superstitions, and they might have been imposed
on us, under the penalties of imprisonment and poverty, torment and
death. And how could we stand in the fiery trial? Awake, O my heart, and
let my tongue awake into songs of praise and salvation, that I am not
tempted or compelled to disgrace the blood of my Saviour by having other
atonements for sin imposed on my conscience. And in the midst of thy
praises to God, O my soul, drop a tear of pity on thy brethren, who
dwell in the midst of these temptations, and in the language of
christian sympathy, lift up a groan to heaven for them, and say, _How
long, O Lord, how long?_”

But let my thoughts return home from the popish countries and their
superstitions. It is not enough for me to renounce the inventions of
men, as any part of my righteousness, to procure my pardon and
acceptance in the sight of God, but even the duties which God himself
has required, the duties of faith and love, of repentance and new
obedience, must never stand in the room of the atonement of Christ. They
are all poor defective works, and want to be sprinkled with the blood of
his sacrifice! They were never designed to join with the obedience of
Christ, in procuring the favour of an offended God. Have a care,
therefore, O my soul, of resting in the best of thy holy services, or of
making them a matter of merit, to introduce thee before his presence.
When thou art raised nearest to heaven in the practice of christian
graces and duties, fall down before the throne, confess thy
unworthiness, and say; Ps. cxxx. 3, 4. _If thou, O Lord, shouldst mark
iniquities, who can stand?_ But _there is forgiveness with thee_, and
plentiful redemption by the blood of Jesus. There lies all my hope.

Thus I have finished the two inferences for instruction, I proceed now
to those which more immediately relate to our practice. This blessed
doctrine of the atonement of Christ, runs like a golden thread through
the whole of our religion: It unites the several parts of it in a sweet
harmony, and casts a lustre over them all. Let us then particularly
survey some of the various practical uses to which it may be applied.

1. It is a solid foundation, on which the greatest of sinners may hope
for acceptance with God, when they return to him: It is a sufficient
ground for their firm trust in Christ as a Saviour, and a reviving
cordial against sinking in despair.

Let the crimes of a creature be never so great and heinous, yet the
atonement of the Son of God is equal to them all. Let the defilements
and stains of the soul be never so deep and crimson, the blood of Christ
has a strange and divine virtue to wash them away, and to make the
sinner white as snow, even in the sight of a holy God. Rev. vii. 14.
_They washed their garments, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb._ _This is a faithful saying_, as St. Paul tells Timothy, _and
worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am chief_; 1 Tim. i. 15. And our Saviour assures us,
_All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men_; Mat. xii.
14. because that he knew that he could make compensation to divine
Justice for all this guilt. Therefore all sorts of blasphemers and
criminals shall be forgiven, but those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit in
his highest attestations to this gospel, and utterly refuse this
atonement of Christ. 1 John i. 7. _The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
us from all sin_; it is a divine sacrifice, and all-sufficient
propitiation, extensive as our iniquities.

Jesus is an able and an almighty Saviour, so that the vilest of sinners
need not despair, if they are but willing to return to God, and come
unto him, that they may be saved in his own way. The deepest wounds that
were ever made in the conscience by sins, against light, and against
love, sins of long continuance, sins of old obstinacy and repeated
backslidings, sins of the blackest aggravations, may all be healed by
applying the blood of Christ. Awake, arise, O sinner, fly to the hope
that is set before thee? In vain will you try a thousand remedies, this
is the only relief. A soul stung with the guilt of sin, as with a fiery
serpent, must look up to Jesus hanging on the cross, there alone can he
find healing and life.

Reflection.—“And what is my state? and what is my present case? Am I a
sinner under the first awakenings of conscience? Is my spirit filled
with dreadful apprehensions of an offended God, and of a law that
pronounceth curses and death? Am 1 enquiring, What shall I do to flee
from the wrath to come? Does the load of all my past offences lie heavy
upon me? Are my sins gone over my head as a heavy burden, too heavy for
me to bear? Does Satan the tempter and the accuser, terrify and hurry me
with despairing thoughts? Does he tell me that my crimes are too big to
be forgiven? But Satan is _a liar from the beginning_. The gospel of
Christ is divinely true. I come to Jesus as a great High-priest in the
blood of his atonement: I come _weary and heavy laden_, under a sense of
the guilt of past sins, and the remaining power of them in my soul. O
Jesus fulfil thy promise, and give rest to my labouring and wounded
spirit! Speak a word of peace and pardon to a sinking creature, and
raise and receive him to hope and salvation. I am worthy to perish for
ever, but thy death is worthy to procure life for me. Here I rest my
heavy-laden soul, and with humble hope I wait for thy mercy.

“Or, am I a professor of religion that have fallen under great decays
and wretched backslidings? Are old terrors and agonies returned upon my
conscience with redoubled smart and anguish? Do I see my guilt? My
shameful wanderings, my loathsome iniquities? Do I seem as it were to be
cast out from God? And does he seem to shut the door of heaven against
my prayers? Yet I will not despair: I will come in the name of Jesus the
great atonement. Wash my guilty soul, O blessed Redeemer, with thy
blood, and I will look again toward the holy temple. I will lift up a
humble eye toward an offended God. Thy sacrifice is ever fresh in the
power and virtue of it. The _Lamb as it had been slain_, appears in
heaven with the marks of his sacrifice. I return with a broken heart to
my heavenly Father: I return trembling and hoping in the merit of that
everlasting atonement, and wait for restoring grace.

“Or, am I endeavouring to walk closely with my God, in all the duties of
holiness, but daily infirmities break out, daily follies and guilt
attend me? I make sore complaints indeed, because of the perpetual
workings of indwelling sin; yet I will not despair. I love the word of
God, and I read it to keep me from sinning: But St. John assures me _if
any man sin_ through the weakness of nature, and the prevalence of daily
temptations, _we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus the
righteous_; 1 John ii. 1, 2. And he is an effectual Advocate, because he
is a propitiation for our sins; and he pleads in the virtue of his own
blood. O may I ever maintain a constant exercise of faith on the Son of
God, as my great High-priest! May I keep up a lively and delightful
sense of the all-sufficiency of his atonement upon my spirit, that this
which is the glory of my religion, may also be the daily life of my
soul.”

II. This doctrine of atonement for sin, should be used as a powerful
motive to excite repentance in every heart where sin hath dwelt.
Repentance and forgiveness are joined together in the commission of our
exalted Saviour; Acts v. 31. Grace is a sweet and constraining motive to
duty. There is abundant encouragement for sinners to repent and mourn
before God for their past transgressions, because the blood of Jesus has
provided pardon for them. 1 John i. 9. _If we confess our sins, God is
faithful_ to his own word, and _just and true_ to his Son Jesus, _to
forgive such_ offenders, _and his blood will cleanse us from our sins_.
The fallen angels are not called and encouraged by divine mercy, to
repent of their heinous rebellions; for there is no Saviour, there is no
atoning sacrifice provided for them.

Reflection.—“And is there such an atonement made? And are there such
pardons provided for such guilty wretches as I have been? Is God
reconciling himself to men, and reconciling men to himself, by the blood
of Jesus? Then let my soul mourn for all her follies, all her past
iniquities. Let me be covered with shame, and lie in the dust at the
foot of God. O let him speak peace and forgiveness to me, through the
blood of Christ. I remember my guilt, and am confounded, and open my
mouth no more to vindicate myself: I am overwhelmed with this amazing
instance of divine love: God has sent his Son to die for me, and is
pacified toward me, for all that I have done against him. O wretched
creature that I am, that ever I should rebel against a God of such
compassion! Against a God, who all this while had such kind designs
towards me, and was making his own way to reconciliation and peace,
through the blood of his own Son! I find now by sweet experience, what I
have been often told by other christians, that the most kindly workings
of true repentance, arise from the sense of a forgiving God, and a dying
Saviour.”

III. Let us use this atonement of Christ, as our constant way of access
to God in all our prayers. This is the only safe method of address to
the mercy-seat: It is ordained for this very purpose, to help a sinner
near to God; Heb. x. 19, 21, 22.—_Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to come into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,—and having a High-priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart._ He is
ascended to heaven before us, he is entered within the veil in virtue of
his sacrifice: he has bespoke acceptance for our persons before the
throne, and a favourable audience for all our prayers. Whatsoever we ask
of the Father, we must ask it in his name, and especially in the name
and virtue of his great atonement: All the blessings that God has to
bestow, are purchased by his sufferings.

Reflection.—“Remember, O my soul, and be humble; remember thou canst not
be a welcome guest even at the throne of grace, unless thou art
sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. The God whom thou hast offended, is a
great God, and a terrible, a God of holiness, like a devouring fire; a
God of awful majesty and severe justice, who will by no means clear the
guilty, without some recompence for his broken law. Dare not to approach
him therefore, but under the protection of the blood of his Son: Christ
is set forth as our propitiation through faith in his blood. If thou
bring the atonement of Christ in the hand of thy faith, thou shalt find
sweet and easy access: And when thou art filled with inward sorrows,
thou mayest pour them all out, and spread thy complaints and thy burdens
before the eyes of thy God, with inward consolation and hope.

“Lord, I have sinned, but thy Son has suffered: I come to the throne of
grace in his name. My offences cry for vengeance, but the blood of Jesus
speaks better things, and cries louder for peace and pardon. Let the
voice of that blood which has made full satisfaction for the vilest
sins, prevail over all my unworthiness. Let the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne be honoured this day, by introducing a guilty
creature with all his complaints and sorrows into thy awful presence,
and thy divine favour. Let me obtain grace in the hour of my distress
and necessity: And, O that I may find such success, and such ease of
soul, in drawing near to God by the blood of Christ, that on all
occasions I may run to this refuge, and maintain humble and constant
communion with God my Father, in this new and living way of access. May
this earthly and foolish spirit of mine, never be such a stranger as it
has been at the mercy-seat, since the door of approach is always open,
since I have so glorious an introducer.”

IV. We should use this atonement of Christ, as a divine guard against
temptation and sin; 1 Pet. i. 15, 18, 19. _As he which hath called you
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation—for ye are redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot._

Reflection.—“And has this soul of mine, which was in slavery to sin and
the power of Satan, been redeemed by the death of the Son of God? and
shall I run back to my old slavery, and give myself up again to the
reign and tyranny of sin? Has this guilty and polluted soul been washed
in so precious a laver as the blood of the Son of God? And shall I
defile myself again? Shall I return with the dog to his vomit, or with
the swine that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire?” 2 Pet. ii. 22.
It was sin that cost my Redeemer so dear, that cost him agonies and
death: And shall I indulge such an enemy in my heart, and obey it in my
practice? God forbid! How shall I that am dead to sin, by my interest in
a dying Saviour, live any longer therein? Rom. vi. 2. It is a scandal
and reproach to this blessed doctrine of atonement, if I should ever
dare give a loose to my iniquities, while I profess faith in the blood
of Christ. Grant, O Jesus, that I may never turn this adorable grace of
thine into wantonness.

V. The atonement of Christ is an argument of prevailing force to be used
in prayer, when we plead for the aids of the blessed Spirit; when we ask
for his sacred influences to enlighten, to sanctify, or to comfort our
souls. The Spirit flows down to us in the blood of Christ.

Reflection.—“Holy Father, thou hast not withheld thy Son Jesus, but hast
given him to die for me, and wilt thou not give me thy Spirit to live in
me, and to raise me to a divine life? Even when I was dead in trespasses
and sins, my blessed Saviour poured out his own soul to death, that I
might be recovered to thy favour; and shall I not have thy image
impressed upon me by the Spirit, that I may appear before thee in the
beauty of holiness? Shall I be sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and
have my errors forgiven, and shall I not have divine light bestowed upon
me, that I may not wander afresh in the ways of error and darkness! Is
my guilt cancelled, and are my iniquities removed by the great atonement
of the Son of God, and wilt thou not bestow thy sanctifying Spirit upon
me, to guard me from renewed guilt and fresh iniquities? Lord, have I
not fled to lay hold on the hope set before me? Hast thou not forgiven
all my sins? And shall not the Spirit the Comforter, speak peace to my
soul, and fill me with hope and joy in believing? Wilt thou deny thy
Spirit to any creature, for whom thy Son has poured out his invaluable
life and blood?”

[If this sermon be too long, here is a proper pause.]

How great and desirable are the advantages that we have found already to
be derived from this gospel of atonement? May our souls possess and
improve them all? But there are still more treasures of divine grace to
be dug out of this golden mine: It is an inexhausted fountain of duties
and blessings. I proceed therefore to point out more of them to the eye
of faith.

VI. We should use this doctrine of propitiation for sin by the death of
Christ, as an everlasting spring of holy love to God the Father, and to
his Son Jesus Christ. Great and unspeakable was the love of God the
Father; 1 John iv. 10. “Herein is love; not that we loved him, but he
hath loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.”
Great and unspeakable is the love of Jesus the Saviour; “it has heights,
and depths, and lengths, and breadths in it which pass our knowledge;”
Eph. iii. 18. For, “when we were enemies, he died to reconcile us to
God;” Rom. v. 10. The great and blessed God had no richer gift than his
Son, and he bestowed his Son upon us. Christ Jesus himself made his
flesh and soul an offering for our sins. It was a spring of divine love
that arose from the bosom of God, and runs through all this sacred
transaction in many blessed streams: It runs through all the length of
time into a long eternity. How should this melt and soften our hearts,
into returns of love to the great God, and to his Son Jesus Christ. _We
love him_, saith the beloved apostle, _because he first loved us_; 1
John iv. 19.

Reflection.—“And what shall I do to raise my love to God my Father, and
my blessed Redeemer? When I was a stranger and an enemy, God reconciled
me to himself, by sending his Son to die for me. How hard is this
wretched heart of mine, that it feels no more powerful impressions from
this amazing love and compassion of God to a rebel creature? What
sorrows, what indignities, what bitter scoffs, what loads of reproach,
what inward and unknown agonies of soul, what a shameful and painful and
cursed death, did the blessed Son of God endure for my sake: And can I
forbear to love him? Alas! how cold are my affections! How feeble and
languid is my zeal! What poor sorry returns do I make for these infinite
condescensions of divine love! Warm my heart, O Jesus with this love,
and inflame all my affections. O may all the powers of my soul exert
their utmost diligence in the service of the Son of God, that has
redeemed me! His love was stronger than death: and shall it not
constrain me to love him? Did he lay down his life for my sake, and
shall I not lay out and employ my life with all my talents and
capacities to his honour? Blessed Jesus, I grieve, I mourn, I am
confounded that I feel no more of the constraining influences of thy
dying love, to make all my duty and obedience easy and delightful.”

VII. This doctrine carries in it a strong persuasive to that love and
pity which we should shew on all occasions to our fellow-creatures. When
the apostle John had magnified the love of God, in that he had sent his
Son to be a propitiation for our sins: He makes this inference,
_Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another_; 1 John
iv. 11. And in the foregoing chapter, iii. 16. he raises this inference
of love to a sublime degree: _Because God hath laid down his life for
us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren_. But how can any
person make a pretence to christianity, who _hath the goods of this
world, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him_? verse 17. How can such an hardened and cruel heart
pretend that the love of God dwells there?

This blessed truth of the forgiveness of sin through the propitiation of
Christ, demands of us the duties of forbearance and forgiveness, of
kindness and tenderness to men. “Be ye kind one to another, and
tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake hath
forgiven you;” Eph. iv. 32. Shall Christians bite and devour each other,
shall they rage against each other with bitter reproaches, shall they
quarrel, and grieve, and wound each other who were once fellow-slaves in
the chains of guilt, and death, and were redeemed together by the
voluntary death of the Son of God? Shall they who have known and tasted
such divine compassion, imitate the rage, and malice, and envy of hell,
rather than the heavenly example of the blessed Jesus?

Reflection.—“And hast thou never felt the influence of this divine
truth, O my soul, this blessed doctrine of atoning love? Dost thou swell
with anger? Dost thou resent every supposed injury? Dost thou indulge a
spirit of revenge? And do thy thoughts contrive mischief to men, while
the thoughts of the Son of God are all tenderness and compassion towards
thee? Had he resented all thy iniquities, had he meditated vengeance for
all thy crimes, he had never laid down his life to rescue thee from
hell, and thy state and thy case had been miserable without hope.

“Hast thou no pity for the poor, when their necessities and groans cry
aloud for thy relief? The Son of God did not deal thus with thee: He
expended the riches of his love upon thee, even his unsearchable riches
of grace: And when no other price was sufficient to redeem thee from
death, he gave up himself for thee, and made his own soul an offering
for thy sins.—Remember therefore, when provocations to anger are set
before thee, and thou feelest the inward rising passion, remember the
death and love of the Son of God, remember the price of thy
forgiveness.”

VIII. Patience under heavy afflictions, is another divine lesson that we
should learn from this doctrine of the atoning death of Christ; and not
patience only, but holy joy in the midst of earthly sorrows may be
derived from the same spring. Rom. v. 1, 2, 3, 8. “Being justified by
faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;—we rejoice
in hope of the glory of God; and not only so, but we glory in
tribulations,—because God has commended his love towards us at this
rate, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

Reflection.—“Why then should my spirit be overwhelmed under the troubles
of this life? Surely the mercies which I enjoy are infinitely greater
than all my sorrows. God has redeemed my soul from hell by the blood of
his Son. Lord, I would suppress all repining thoughts; I am humble, I am
thankful; and though thou visitest me with chastisements, to reduce me
from my follies, thou hast not laid on me the burden of my sins, nor
called me to the hard and dreadful work of answering the severe demands
of thy broken law. This burden thy own Son has borne; this work he has
performed. _The cup_ of common sorrows _which my heavenly Father puts
into my hand, shall I not drink it!_ It is not a cup of such anguish and
terror as the Son of God drank up for my sake. Why should a creature
saved from hell, be impatient and uneasy at any of the little sufferings
which he sustains here on earth!

“This is not only a powerful argument to compose my soul to resignation
under troubles, but even to raise me to holy joy. Surely he that has
loved me, and has given his own Son up to death for me, does not afflict
me willingly, nor grieve my spirit beyond what he sees necessary. He
transacts all his affairs with me according to that covenant of love
whereby he ordained his Son to die for me; and he will bestow upon me
every good thing in its proper season: _He that spared not his own Son,
but gave him up to die for us, shall he not with him freely give us all
things_; Rom. viii. 32.

“Bless the name of thy God, O my soul, let my heart be filled with
thankfulness, and my lips with praise: He has distinguished thee, my
soul, by peculiar blessings. He has made no such preparation of an
atonement for angels, those heavenly creatures, when they sinned against
him, but they are cast down into chains of darkness, and why am not I
cast into chains of darkness too? He has not revealed this grace to
several large heathen nations: They know nothing of a Redeemer: But he
has revealed his Son to me, in the glory and grace of his atonement He
has raised me to the hope of eternal life, by the death and the
resurrection of Jesus his Son. Let all my murmurings and impatience be
silent for ever. The worst of _my present sufferings are not worthy to
be compared with the glory that shall be revealed_, the glory purchased
by the sufferings of Christ;” Rom. viii. 18.

IX. The doctrine of the atonement of Christ gives us a blessed
invitation to the Lord’s-supper, where Christ crucified is set forth
before us in the memorials of his propitiation.

The propitiation of Christ is of so constant and universal use in the
whole of our religion, that our blessed Lord would not suffer us to live
without some sensible tokens and signs of it, and these are to be
frequently repeated to the end of the world; and therefore he has given
a most express and positive command; Luke xxii. 19. _This do in
remembrance of me._ And the apostle Paul; 1 Cor. xi. 29. where he
teaches the Corinthians this ordinance, assures them, _As often as ye
eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he
come_. Our blessed Lord has not given us such a peculiar memorial of any
of his other actions or offices as he has of his priesthood and
sacrifice.

Reflection.—“And shall I not do honour to the memory of my dying
Saviour? Shall I refuse to remember my great High-priest, and his
propitiation for sin, in the way and manner in which he has enjoined me?
Do I not trust in the death of Christ for my salvation, and shall I not
glory in his cross, and profess it before the world? Do I not stand in
daily need of this bread of life which was broken for my sake, and shall
I reject the memorials of his broken body, when his flesh and spirit
were made an offering for my guilt: Do I not hope for forgiveness
through his blood, and shall I not drink this cup of reconciliation
which he has mingled! I have learned by the gospel, the excellency and
virtue of the propitiation of Christ, to cancel my iniquities, and shall
I not receive this propitiation in all the methods of his own
appointment? Shall I dare to say, it is enough for me to read it in the
bible, and to hear it in the ministry of the word, and to meditate on it
in private, when my Lord has given me an express command to receive it
also in those emblems and sensible figures of bread and wine, and has
sanctified them for this very purpose? Is this a kind return to him that
died for me?

“Blessed Redeemer, forgive all my omissions, my delays my careless or
slothful neglects of this holy ordinance of thine, and all my sinful
indifferency about it. O scatter all my doubts, banish all my excuses,
and bring me to thy holy table as a penitent and humble disciple, as a
worthy and joyful receiver; there let me join with my fellow-christians
and remember thy dying love.”

X. We may use this doctrine as our most effectual defence against the
terrors of dying; and as our joyful hope of a blessed resurrection.

The atonement of Christ is a divine support in the agonies of death. At
such a season a thousand past iniquities will sometimes crowd in upon
the memory, and fill the soul with horror, and perhaps Satan the accuser
makes a dreadful assault upon the conscience at the same time, and
torments the spirit with painful agonies: But the most formidable
terrors, the sharpest agonies find a relief here, the very sting of
death is taken away by the death of Christ; 1 Cor. xv. 56. _The sting of
death is sin, and the strength of sin to condemn us is the law of God:
but thanks be to God through Christ Jesus_, who hath answered the
demands of the condemning law, and taken away the sting of death by his
atoning sacrifice.

We may now venture into the presence of a holy and righteous God, laying
fresh hold of the atonement in a dying hour by a living faith, and
having our departing spirits sprinkled with the blood of Christ. It was
this very blood in the virtue of which Jesus himself was raised from the
dead; Heb. xiii. 20. _The God of peace brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant._ It was in the virtue of this blood that he
ascended and appeared before God in heaven; Heb. ix. 12. _Christ by his
own blood entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us._

Did the cursed guilt of our sins bring the Son of God down from heaven
to earth, did it smite him to death, and lay him low in the grave? But
the power of his complete atonement has broken the bonds of death and
the grave; this has brought him back to life again, and has raised him
from earth to heaven; and by the same blood of his cross he has opened
an effectual way for our rising from the dead, and our final admission
into the place of blessedness. As Aaron the Jewish high-priest might not
dare to venture into the holy of holies without the blood of expiation,
so Christ our great High-priest, when he had once taken our sins upon
him, might not ascend to heaven into the presence of God, till in the
language of scripture he could carry his blood with him, till he could
shew a full atonement. Now that very same blood and sacrifice which gave
Christ himself a joyful admission into heaven, who was the great
Shepherd and the Representative of his people, will also give every one
of his sheep a safe and glorious entrance into the presence of God. This
we may hope for with a chearful heart, when our departing spirits are
called away from this lower world. And for the further joy of our faith,
we should remember also, that in the virtue of the same blood we shall
be raised from the grave: The grave shall obey the voice of him that
died for us; for he has ransomed us from the power of it. Then the soul
and body of every disciple of Christ shall be introduced with divine
acceptance to dwell where Jesus is, and _to behold his glory_; John
xvii. 24.

Reflection.—“Why then art thou so terrified, O my soul, at the thoughts
of dying? Why all these shudderings of the flesh, and these agonies of
spirit at the apprehensions of death and the grave? Are the sins of thy
life great and numerous? Do they throng in upon thy conscience, and fill
thy thoughts with tumult and terror? Remember the time, the dark and
dismal hour, when Jesus thy Saviour bore all those very sins in his own
body on the tree: There the demands of Divine Justice were all answered,
and sin has now no power to condemn the saint, nor has death power to
hurt him in his best interests;” Rom. viii. 34. “Who shall condemn? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather has risen again, as a complete
conqueror over death.” And is not Christ thy Head, thy Redeemer and the
Captain of thy salvation?

“Let me call to mind the solemn seasons of transaction between Christ
and my soul. Have I not resigned myself to him as an all-sufficient
Saviour, to deliver me both from the guilt and the power of every sin?
Have I not trusted in the blood of his atonement, and felt the
quickening power of his Spirit as the fruit of his blood? Has he not
raised me to a new life? What if the mortal body must die, because it
has sin in it, yet my Spirit shall live because Christ is my
righteousness. Fear not then, O my soul, but go chearfully through the
gates of death when he calleth thee. Jesus has taken away the terrors of
that dark passage. He has deprived death of its sting, and sanctified
the grave for a sweet sleeping place. Awaken all the powers of thy
faith, and triumph over the conquered enemy. The justice of God is
become thy friend, and death can do no mischief to the friends of God,
reconciled by the blood of Jesus. Look forward and behold thy great
Fore-runner ready to introduce thee into the presence of _his Father and
thy Father, his God and thy God_, with exceeding joy. Bid a joyful
farewell to flesh and sense, those busy tempters; farewell to time and
this world, and all things that are not divine and holy. Turn thy back
on all visible objects, close thine eyes with a smiling countenance,
forget earth for ever, and enter into the heavenly mansions.”

XI. The view of Christ as our propitiation, is not only a safe defence
against the terrors of death, but it is a divine allurement toward the
upper world. There lives our dear Redeemer, our blessed and beloved
Lord, who ransomed our souls from sin and hell. There he reigns on the
throne as king of glory, who once hung on the cross as our sacrifice of
atonement: The Lamb of God in the midst of the throne, with the signals
of his death upon him. The sight of these signals shall open all our
springs of love: Joy, love, and gratitude shall fill the departed
spirit: As soon as we are absent from the body, we are present with the
Lord who died for us.

Reflection.—“O happy day and happy hour indeed, that shall finish the
long absence of my beloved, and place me within sight of my adored
Jesus! When shall I see that lovely, that illustrious Friend, who laid
down his own life to rescue mine, his own valuable life to ransom a
worm, a rebel that deserved to die. He suffered, he groaned, he died:
but he rose again, the blessed Saviour arose, he lives, he reigns
exalted over all the creation. Faith beholds him risen, and reigning,
but it is through a glass, it is at a distance, and but darkly. I wait,
I hope for a more divine pleasure; it is a delight worth dying for, to
behold him face to face, to see him as he is, to converse with his
wondrous person, and to survey his glories. Alas! my soul is too patient
of this long distance and separation. O for the wings of love, to bear
my spirit upward in holy breathings! Methinks I would long to be near
him, to be with him, to give him my highest praises and thanks for my
share in his dying love. I would rise to join with the blessed
acclamations, the holy songs of the saints on high, while they behold
their exalted Saviour. How sweet their songs! How loud their
acclamations! This is the man, the God-man who died for me! This is the
Son of God, who was buffetted, who was crowned with thorns, who endured
exquisite anguish, and unknown sorrows for me, who was scourged, and
wounded, and crucified for me! This is the glorious Person, the Lamb of
God, who washed me from my sins in his own blood. Blessing, honour, and
salvation to his holy name forever.” _Amen._


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXXVI.
                   _Christ’s Propitiation improved._


                  Lord, didst thou send thy Son to die
                  For such a guilty wretch as I?
                  And shall thy mercy not impart
                  Thy spirit to renew my heart?

                  Lord, best thou wash’d my garments clean
                  In Jesu’s blood from shame and sin?
                  Shall I not strive with all my power
                  That sin pollute my soul no more!

                  Shall I not bear my Father’s rod,
                  The kind corrections of my God,
                  When Christ upon the cursed tree
                  Sustain’d a heavier load for me?

                  Why should I dread my dying day
                  Since Christ hath took the curse away,
                  And taught me with my latest breath
                  To triumph o’er thy terrors, death?

                  O rather let me wish and cry,
                  “When shall my soul get loose and fly
                  To upper worlds? When shall I see,
                  The God, the man, that dy’d for me?”

                  I shall behold his glories there,
                  And pay him my eternal share
                  Of praise, and gratitude, and love,
                  Among ten thousand saints above.




                             SERMON XXXVII.
                      _The Christian’s Treasure._
                 1 COR. iii. 21.—All things are yours.


It is a peculiar delight of this apostle to survey the blessings we
derive from Christ, and to run over the glories of the gospel in flowing
language. At the end of this chapter he reckons up the privileges of the
saints, and tells them, they have an interest in all things: “It does
not become you, says he, to enter into parties, and to glory in any
single man, no, not in Paul, Apollos, nor Cephas, _for all things are
yours, whether life or death, whether this world or the other, whether
things present or things to come, all are yours_.”

To improve this proposition, and to bring it down to some practical
purposes, let us consider,

I. What we are to understand by this extensive privilege of true
christians, contained in this expression, _All things are yours_; and
what is the true limitation of the sense of it.—II.—It shall be proved,
that notwithstanding the limited sense of these words, yet the saints
have a richer treasure in them, than the greatest riches of a
sinner.—III. We shall enquire how christians come to possess such a
treasure. And,—IV. See what use may be made of this doctrine:

_First_, What are we to understand by this expression, _All things are
yours_? To answer this enquiry clearly, I am constrained to introduce
these two negatives:

1. We are not to suppose here that all things are in the possession of
true christians, and under their power. This truth every man is a
witness of, that the saints have neither heaven nor earth in their
present possession. The sun and stars are not at their command, nor the
riches of this world in their chest, nor the kingdoms of this world
under their government. No, by no means, for they are most times poor
and mean in this world, many of them destitute of the common supports of
nature, and the comforts of life. Christ himself their Lord and Master
had not where to lay his head: And the apostles, who were the chief of
christians, suffered “hunger and thirst, were naked and buffetted; they
had sometimes neither food nor raiment, neither rest nor peace, nor any
certain dwelling-place;” 1 Cor. iv. 11.

2. And as all things are not in their possession, so neither are we to
understand that all things in a civil sense are their right and
property. They have not a just claim and demand of the good things which
their neighbours possess, nor ought they to take possession of them,
though they had power to do it. It is a very wicked principle which has
no countenance from scripture, and has been abused to most unrighteous
and bloody purposes, that dominion is founded in grace, or that the
saints have a present civil right to all the earth, and the good things
of it. From this sort of doctrine, some men of furious zeal and
enthusiasm have been tempted to rise and seize on the property of their
neighbours. And indeed, all the persecution in the world upon the
account of religion, is built on this principle, “that the saints alone
have a right to peace and liberty, to honour and money, and all the good
things of this life; and that the heretic and the sinner have no right
to any thing.” And though persecutors are very much ashamed to own this
doctrine in words, yet they confirm it and comment upon it, in all their
oppressive and bloody practices.

But the christian religion knows no such principles; it allows every
man’s property and interest in the goods of this world, whether he be a
Turk or a Jew, a heathen or a christian, a saint or a sinner. It is
providence has disposed of these outward things in the civil life, and
men become entitled to them, by the laws and agreement of civil society:
And thus a rich wicked man may be righteously possessed of a fine house,
and purple raiment, may have a well spread table, and large lands, and
dominions, while a saint may happen to lie at his door destitute of
bread and clothing.

But in what sense than can it be said, that “all things are theirs.”

To give a just answer to this enquiry, we must take notice, that the
apostle’s first design here, is to shew, that believers need not be so
fond of assuming to themselves a peculiar interest in one minister or
another, for they may enjoy the gifts of all; _all are for their sakes_:
And from this single hint he rises high into the privileges of the
saints. Not ministers only, as Paul and Cephas, are designed for their
benefit; but all are theirs: All things in heaven or earth, in time, or
in eternity, are appointed to do some service to them. This therefore I
take to be the true sense of my text, _viz._ “That all things in the
creation of God, all things in all his vast dominions, which a christian
can or shall at any time have to do with, shall as certainly serve to
promote his true interest, and his final happiness, as though he himself
had sovereign dominion over them, or present possession of them:” Always
supposing that the christian maintains his character, and acts in his
station becoming the dignity of his holy and heavenly calling.

The plain meaning of the words is, that _all things shall work for the
good of the saints_. But the apostle chuses to express this in a noble
manner here, and by such an exalted figure of speech as aggrandizes the
character of the saints, and raises their dignity: And therefore he
represents them as having a property in all things, and speaks sublimely
of them, as though they were possessors of heaven and earth. Now the
ground on which he builds this manner of speaking, may be set in a just
and easy light. We can properly be said to possess nothing but what
turns to our account, what is of some service or advantage to us; and
therefore in the common language of life, we say, concerning a rich
covetous man, “he is a poor wretch, he has nothing, because he receives
benefit from so small a part of his estate: And in truth, he has no more
than he enjoys or uses.” Now the true christian reaps the benefit of all
things; and God, the great God, the Possessor of heaven and earth, makes
all things work together for the benefit of his people; and in this
sense it is that all things are theirs.

All things shall turn to their advantage, either, 1. for the support and
comfort of their temporal life; or, 2. for the beginning and improvement
of their spiritual life; or, 3. for their possession and enjoyment of
life eternal.

But instead of collecting all the treasures and riches of the saints
under these three general heads, I shall chuse rather to make a
paraphrase on the whole verse of my text, and thus discover the interest
that a christian has in the persons and things of earth and heaven.
“Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
or things present, or things to come, all are yours.”

I. The ministers of the gospel are yours.

Is Paul appointed an apostle separated to the gospel by the immediate
call of Christ; it is for your sakes, O ye Corinthians, that he was
chosen and called! Christ had you in his eye, and upon his heart, when
he stopped him in the midst of his fury and persecution; when he
overwhelmed him with glory, in the road to Damascus; and from a
persecutor, made an apostle of him, and a preacher of the cross of
Jesus: For he designed then to send him to Corinth, to call you from
heathenism, and to save your souls.

Is Paul a man of learning and of bright parts? Is he endowed with
profound knowledge of divine mysteries above his brethren? Is he fit to
preach for the conversion of the heathen world, and to write the great
things of God for the church, in all future ages? It is for your sakes,
O christians, that he is thus endowed: It is for you, O believers in
Great Britain, though you live as it were at the ends of the earth, and
in the old age of the world; it is even for you that he was appointed
and inspired to write his epistles to Rome, Corinth, and Ephesus, and
the rest of the early churches. It is by his writings, that you have
been enlightened in the mysteries of Christ, and the wonders of the
gospel. Almost seventeen hundred years ago was he made the apostle of
the gentiles, and that partly for your sakes. Paul himself is yours.

Was Apollos an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures? It was for
you, O primitive christians, that he had the gift of oratory bestowed on
him. Has any minister in our age and place of abode a peculiar talent of
eloquence, hath he a vivacity of fancy, a strength of expression, a
sweet accent, and a commanding voice? It is designed for the conviction
and salvation of your souls. Can he thunder like the voice of God on
mount Sinai, and flash the terrors of the law, like lightning, upon your
consciences? It is to awaken you out of your carnal slumber and security
in sin, to make you fly from the wrath to come, and cry out, _What shall
I do to be saved?_ Can he set the blessings of salvation in a glorious
and convincing light? It is to persuade you to accept them. Has he the
art of striking the passions, and touching the inward springs of the
soul? Can he spread the invitations of grace before you, in alluring
language? Can he dissolve his thoughts in the tenderest accents of
speech, and moisten his words with his tears? It is all designed as a
means, in the hands of the Spirit, to melt your hearts to repentance,
and to soften your souls to receive the impressions of the gospel. Has
he the holy skill of displaying the glories of our blessed Saviour? Can
he set off the miracles of his life? Can he talk of his bleeding and his
dying love in the most affecting manner? Can he paint him in the honours
of his resurrection, his triumph and his exalted state, in most
magnificent colours? It is all for the assistance of your faith, the
kindling of your love, and the advancement of your joy. Not Paul only,
but Apollos is yours.

Is Cephas or Peter a man of boldness and courage to defend the truths of
the gospel, or to speak for Christ amongst infidels? It is to lead you
onward as the soldiers of Christ, through the midst of dangers, and to
encourage you to face the persecuting world bravely in the profession of
the cross.

Or is the character of Cephas, as an instructor of the young, and a
condescending preacher to babes? He has this talent given him for your
sakes too, to feed you while you were babes in Christ, with the sincere
milk of the word, to set before you the first principles of the oracles
of God, and assist you to imbibe the rudiments of christianity, before
you were fit to receive the more exalted doctrines, and be fed with
stronger meat. Thus not only Paul and Apollos, but Cephas is yours. All
the officers in the church, both ordinary and extraordinary, are
appointed for your sakes. It is for you that Christ ascended on high,
and gave gifts to men. Read and believe it; Eph. iv. 11, 12. “And he
gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some
pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

And as the gifts and graces of the ministers of the gospel are designed
for the benefit of the church, so the outward circumstances that attend
them, their sorrows, and their joys are ordained for the advantage of
christians: And St. Paul rejoices in it; 2 Cor. i. 3, 4, 6. “Blessed be
God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies,
and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation,
that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the
comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God;—And whether we be
afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which appears to be
effectual, when ye endure the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or
whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation,” that
is, we preach more effectually from our own experience.

Thus whatsoever be the characters, or the talents, or the circumstances
of life that attend your ministers, they are ordained of God for some
valuable purposes to you.

II. This world is yours. Not only the ministers of the gospel but the
world, and the things of it are yours. It is for your sakes, O
believers, that the world stands! For when sin entered into it by Adam
the first man, there was a curse spread over it; and perhaps immediate
destruction had attended it, but for the sake of the children of God,
who were appointed to be born in successive ages, amongst the posterity
of Adam, among the children of men. It is for the sake of the elect, who
were given to Christ before the world was, that this earth and these
lower heavens are continued in being. This earth abides as a stage of
action, proper for a state of trial for the saints, and when the last
saint is born, and his state of trial is finished, the world and the
works of it shall be burned up together.

It is for you, O christians, that these heavens, or, shall I say, this
globe of earth rolls round in its daily and yearly courses, and the sun
and the moon send out their brighter or paler beams, to light you onward
in your way to glory. The morning breaks for you to give you day-light,
that you may work for God: And the evening spreads its long thick
shadows over the nations, to determine a time for your repose and
refreshment. The darkness and the light are yours, during your
continuance in the flesh. When all your work here is done, these lower
“heavens shall be folded up like an old garment, as a vesture shall they
be changed;” they shall flee away and be no more.

Survey the trees and the fields, how they bring forth food for you. The
beasts of the earth grow and are nourished for your conveniency; they
were born and live, and die for your support and nourishment. The winds
blow to purge the air for you, and to keep it wholesome, while God has
appointed you to breathe in it. The fountains bubble, and the rivers
flow to quench your thirst. Flax and wool are ordained for your
covering, and the silk-worm is set to his shining task, that some of
your garments may be soft and easy: _The beasts of the earth are at
peace with you, and you are in league with the stones of the field_; Job
v. 23. O happy and glorious state of the children of God!

Christ, in his providential management of all things in this world, has
a chief regard to his own people. The wicked of the earth who dwell
among the saints, come in for a share of the common good things of life,
chiefly as they are instruments of the providence of Christ, for some
known or unknown benefit to his church.

I might tell you also, that if you are christians indeed, then though
your ungodly neighbours may have a rightful civil property in many good
things of the world, yet you have a better and sweeter interest in the
earthly blessings which you possess. You can taste the love of a Father
in them, and the kindness of a reconciled God. They are common benefits
to the world, but they are made as it were special blessings to you.
They are put into your hand by a better covenant: They are sanctified to
your use: The world itself becomes a means to raise your heads towards
God. And whereas wealth, and honours, and the plenteous enjoyments of
life, become a temptation and a snare to the wicked; and, through the
corruption of their natures, divide their souls from God and heaven, the
same things are made happy instruments in the hand of the Mediator, to
furnish you out for eminent service, and to help you onward to a better
world.

III. Life and death are yours. Life, with all the comfortable attendants
of it; or even with all its difficulties and vexations, it is still
designed for your advantage: And death, as terrible as it is in itself,
shall appear to be a benefit to you. But I insist no longer on this head
at present, because I design it to be the subject of following
discourses.

IV. Things present, whether visible or invisible, and things to come,
are all yours.

1. Visible things present are yours. I have shewed you in part already,
how the wheels of nature are rolling for you. This lower creation stands
and moves for your sakes, for your relief and support, while you are
travelling to heaven. The present posture of things in this world, the
daily scenes of life are continued or changed and still over-ruled by
divine providence for your good. Kingdoms, and laws, and governments,
are established among men for your safety: If the world were without all
government, and all things run into confusion, the saints, with all
their earthly comforts, would become the plunder and property of the
wicked continually. The princes of the earth, and the political
constitutions of nations, are designed to be a screen and defence to the
people of God, who dwell among them: For _if these foundations are
destroyed, what can the righteous do_; Ps. xi. 3. _The wicked would bend
their bow, and make ready their arrow upon the string_; and they would
not only in private, but publicly _shoot at the upright in heart_; verse
2. There would be neither life nor safety for a christian. Yet, on the
other hand, when Christ, in the course of his providence, brings
confusion on states and kingdoms, and when he suffers the wicked of the
earth, like wild beasts of the wilderness, to spoil, devour and destroy,
it is usually designed by his wisdom, as a season of proper trial for
his own people, and that country becomes a scene of their glorious
sufferings. Christ, who is the head over all things, sets up and pulls
down tyrants or good princes, as may best serve the counsels of his
Father’s mercy, and his own kind designs for his chosen and redeemed
people.

And as the whole world of nature, and the present affairs of nations are
managed by Christ, for the good of the church; so the world of grace,
and the affairs of his sanctuary, and his kingdoms on earth, are all
ordained for the benefit of the saints. Christians, why did he separate
you from the world, and call you out of the wilderness, and make you a
chosen nation, and a peculiar people? Was it not for your advantage? Why
did he write his word? Why did he ordain ministers and holy
institutions? Was it not for your edification? Were not the seals of the
covenant given to assist your faith, by the aid of your senses, and by
this means to inflame your love, and exalt your joy? Are not the
precepts of the word written to direct you in the way of duty? Are not
the threatenings pronounced to awaken your fear, and guard you from sin
and folly? And are not all the promises of the gospel given to comfort
your souls, to support your spirits, and give a sweet taste of glory
before-hand.

Whatsoever temporal circumstances attend you in this present life,
whether they are painful or pleasant, they are all the appointments of
your heavenly Father for your real interest. Are you at peace in the
midst of plenty, and does every thing around you smile upon you? It is
that your hearts may be raised to thankfulness, and your lips tuned to
praise. Do you labour under pain or sickness? It is to wean you from
flesh and blood, to put you in mind, that this tabernacle is falling, to
awaken your hearts to insure a better habitation on high. Do you want
food or raiment? It is to make you remember that you are in the
wilderness, and to call your meditations upward to your Father’s house,
where there is bread enough, and to spare. Are you scorned and reviled
by the basest of men? Are you persecuted or imprisoned and treated with
rudeness or cruelty? It is to try and prove your suffering graces, that
your faith, courage, and patience may shine as gold that has passed
through the furnace; are you called to seal the truth and testimony of
Jesus with your blood? It is to prepare you for the crowns of glory that
are laid up for martyrs.

This thought leads me onward in the survey of this rich inventory of a
christian, and carries my thoughts into the invisible regions, and into
far distant futurities.

2. Not things present only in this visible world, but things invisible
in other worlds are also yours, and were appointed for your benefit.
These are numbered by the apostle among the riches and possessions of
the saints. Is there a heaven built on high, with many palaces of light
in it? They were built and furnished for your reception. It is, “the
inheritance of the saints in light;” Col. i. 12. Are there mansions of
unknown glory, well prepared by our Lord Jesus Christ, since his ascent
to heaven? He assures us in his last words, that they are prepared for
you; John xiv. 2, 3. _In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were
not so, I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to
myself; that where I am, there ye may be also._ Each of these mansions
stands waiting for those saints, for whom they are provided; and they
are all adorned with rich magnificent furniture, in the perfect beauty
of holiness.

The angels, in their shining orders, are ordained to be your attendants:
Those holy inhabitants of the upper blessed world, _encamp round about
those that fear the Lord_; Ps. xxxiv. 7. and are appointed as guards to
his children, by their heavenly Father. _Are they not all ministering
spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of
salvation_; Heb i. 14. They wait upon your dying beds, and convey your
souls to the bosom of Abraham; Luke xvi. 22. Happy souls, who have so
illustrious a guard, so secure a convoy to the far distant and unknown
regions of light and joy.

The very hell that is provided to punish impenitent sinners, though we
cannot say it was built for you, christians; yet it has been of glorious
and terrible service, to awaken your souls out of a natural and guilty
state. When the Spirit of God in the ministry of his word has opened the
mouth of hell, and brought the flashes of that furnace into your face;
it has awakened your consciences in time past, and driven you to seek
refuge in the arms of Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Thus hell itself is constrained to pay a tribute towards the salvation
of the saints.

And the devils themselves who dwell there, with all their fiery
temptations, have been but as underworkers for our final good; they are
as slaves to Christ, the great Refiner, who designed to purify your
souls by those very methods of temptation, which those evil spirits made
use of on purpose to destroy you. Thus the ministers of divine wrath to
sinners are become instruments of your benefit. _When Satan has desired
to winnow you as wheat, Christ has prayed for you, that your faith fail
not_: Luke xxii. 31, 32. and he has care that by this winnowing you
might be purified, that nothing might fly away but the empty chaff: that
you might appear in the sight of Christ as purer corn. Now if hell, and
the wicked inhabitants of it, may be constrained to serve your interest,
and to promote your happiness, surely there is nothing in all the
creation, but may turn to your advantage. O divine privilege, when the
creatures that are under the deserved curse of God, are thus made to
subserve your blessedness!

3. But not only present invisibles, but even all future unseen things
are yours too. The morning of the resurrection is appointed for your
glory; and the great trumpet is put into the hands of the arch-angel, to
awaken your sleeping dust into immortality. Jesus the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven to call you from the grave: And _though ye were
dead, ye shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and live_; John v. 35.
The great day of judgment, and all the solemnities of it, are ordained
for your honour, to publish your victories over sin and Satan, before
the face of the whole creation, to pronounce you openly acquitted and
justified before men and angels, to proclaim you the sons and daughters
of the Most High God, and determine your state to everlasting
blessedness.

Are there crowns of infinite value laid up in heaven? Are there rewards
of glory there, immense rewards, and of endless duration? It is to crown
your labours, your conflicts, your christian race; it is to reward your
sufferings, your patience, and your conquest: And the day of glory is
stretched out to all everlasting, that your happiness may know no end.
_Thus things present, and things to come are all yours_; and there is
nothing in time or eternity, which can come within the reach or notice,
but in some of these senses shall subserve your interest, and turn to
your advantage. This is the genuine sense, and this the true limitation
of these words, _all things are yours_.

The second thing proposed in this discourse, was to prove that
notwithstanding the limited sense of these words, yet the true christian
has a richer treasure in them, than all the worldly wealth of the
sinner. And without multiplying particulars the proof of it will
sufficiently appear in these four things:

I. The treasure of the meanest saint is vastly more large and extensive,
than that of the richest sinner. Let the wicked man point to his heaps
of money, and run over the names of his farms and manors, and call
himself the lord and master of them all; it is but a narrow and poor
survey, that a few pieces of shining earth can give us; or the fields
that lie within the prospect of a mile or two, when compared with this
vast and universal treasure, _all things are yours_! It is true,
christians, that you have not the civil property and power over the
earth, or the heavens; but you receive a divine advantage from all
things, and that is more than the sinner can say concerning any one
thing that he possesses in the way of civil property.

II. This treasure of the saints is more secure, and more durable than
any thing that a sinner enjoys; therefore the apostle calls the wealth
of this world, _uncertain riches, that cannot be trusted in_; 1 Tim. vi.
17. _Riches make to themselves wings, and fly away as an eagle towards
heaven_; Prov. xxiii. 5. and leave the owner poor and destitute: Many a
wealthy man who flourished yesterday, in abundance of ease and plenty,
may be stripped of all to-morrow, and want the common supports of
nature. What possessions soever are built upon the foundations of civil
property, may be taken away from the saint or the sinner, by robbing and
plunder, by cheating and knavery, by inundations of water, or the rage
of fire, or by the invasion of a foreign enemy, but the beneficial
interest that a christian has in all things is preserved to him by the
covenant of grace. He may be stripped of all earthly possessions, but
the loss of his temporal estate shall turn to his real benefit, as well
as the possession of it. Losses and crosses, as well as plenty and
peace, are numbered among the items of his inventory, and make up his
treasure; so that though the outward scenes of things on earth are
perpetually changing, his real and everlasting treasure is the same; for
all things that appear in nature, that occur in present providence, or
shall arise in future ages, shall work for his advantage: He may lose
money or lands as well as a sinner; but that very loss shall turn to his
gain.

This sort of treasure he cannot be dispossessed of by death itself for
when he quits his visible interest in all things in this lower world, he
enters into a new world of spirits, which he has never seen: and yet all
things in that world are his too: All things in those unknown regions,
where the departing spirit goes, are made over to the saint, by the same
covenant as the things of this world; they shall all administer some
divine profit to him, and be a part of his happiness in the world to
come.

III. This treasure of a christian is ever growing, at least in the
possession; for the occurrences of every day make some addition to it;
whereas the wealth of sinners is impaired with using. The largest
earthly estate may be wasted: Money decreases daily by procuring the
supports of life; but a christian’s treasure still improves. He lives
upon it every day, and yet it grows still.

The providences of God here on earth, present us daily with some new
affairs, new occurrences: Whether they be pleasant or painful, still the
spiritual man finds his interest in them; and when he reviews his
account in the evening, if his heart has been in a proper frame, he may
write himself gainer. He has possessed and enjoyed the very crosses and
sorrows of his former days: He has treasured up a store of divine
experiences, in the midst of plenty and want, health and sickness: New
scenes of life arise, new appearances of things; he is still like the
bee, ready to suck honey from every flower that blows: He gathers his
food and his riches from weeds that are unsavoury, as well as from the
blossoms of perfume: If he is by this means adding daily to the number
and strength of his graces and virtues, he is, as it were, treasuring up
a good foundation for time to come, and, shall I be bold to say, adding
beauties and ornaments to his robes of glory, and lustre to his heavenly
crown.

IV. This large inheritance of a christian is all sanctified, which is
more than can be said of any part of a sinner’s estate. The riches of
this world may be abused to luxury and debauchery, to iniquity and sore
vexations. They may be abused to profaneness and impiety, to dishonour
God, and corrupt the conversation of men, and to ruin their souls for
ever: But this large and extensive treasure of a christian, is designed
for his real happiness, as well as for the honour of his God; whatsoever
he has to do with in the world, he uses it to the glory of his God, to
the honour of his Saviour, to the benefit of his fellow-creatures, and
to his own sublimest advantage. And concerning this sacred treasure, it
may be said, that it is the property, or in the possession of a
christian, no farther than it is sanctified to him, or than he receives
it with a sanctified mind. _To the pure all things are pure_; Tit. i.
15. for _every thing is sanctified by the word of God and prayer_; 1
Tim. iv. 5. The exercise of piety among the saints puts a sort of
consecration upon all creatures, so far as they use or enjoy them.

Thus it is made sufficiently evident, that the treasure of a saint
vastly exceeds all the richest possessions of a sinner. I cannot enter
now upon the third branch of my design, which was to shew, how a
christian comes to be made heir and possesser of all things. Let us
therefore shut up the present discourse with this one reflection:

Reflection.—“How unreasonable is it for a christian to forsake his
profession, or his practice, for any thing which this world can tempt
him with? For his treasures and enjoyments already are greater than any
thing he can hope for in the ways of sin.

“What a powerful motive may be drawn hence, to persevere in faith and
holiness? Christians, _all things are yours_; every thing you converse
with shall turn to your benefit; _this world, and the other, things
present and things to come, life and death are yours_.

“What valuable pretences can the world make, to tempt you to lose this
inheritance, to quit these hopes, and to part with these possessions?
Can you, by complying with any temptation, provide yourself with such
riches as these; or with any thing that shall answer the loss of them?
Sin and the world can promise you but a little, narrow share of good
things: The gospel of Christ gives you a most extensive treasure, for it
bestows all things upon you. The world can make nothing secure, but the
treasures of christianity are everlasting; they reach beyond the grave,
into unknown worlds and ages. All the wealth and pleasures, and
enjoyments of this life perish with the using; but your inheritance is
ever upon the increase: As fast as time and providence bring forth days,
and seasons, and new scenes, so fast this treasure grows; and you may
receive the daily profit of it. What can sin and the world give you but
what hath a secret curse in it? These your treasures are sanctified
blessings, and the foretastes of them are designed to assist you onward
in the ways of holiness and peace, till you arrive at the brightest and
sweetest part of them, the full enjoyment of God and happiness in the
upper world.

“Go on then, christians, with zeal and courage in the profession of your
faith: Go on with constancy in the practice of duty: Feed daily upon
that portion of your inheritance, which your heavenly Father appoints to
sustain you in your travels homeward; and expect the rest in your
Father’s house. When the world would tempt you to forego your sacred
interest in the gospel, by the alluring offer of any temporal
enjoyments, tell the world, that _life and death, things present and
things to come, are yours_ already: Let the world know that Christ has
engaged and secured your heart for ever to himself, by outbidding all
that the world can offer; for he has written down and sealed your title
to a larger and richer inheritance, and annexed it to his own: _Ye are
joint-heirs with Christ_. And he has appointed it to stand recorded in
his holy book to the view of men and angels, that _all things are
yours_.”

The Recollection.—“And is it possible that so worthless a creature as I
am, should be really entitled to all these blessings: Can it be true,
that so rich an interest in the good things of time and eternity belongs
to me? To me, who am less than the least of all the mercies of God? To
me, who in the days of sin and ignorance, have abused all things, O my
God, to thy dishonour? To me, who have provoked thy justice to strip me
of all the common blessings of nature and life, and to make me for ever
poor and miserable? Is the mercy of God so vast and overflowing, as not
only to forgive these provocations, and to admit me into his favour, but
to bless me also with so rich an inheritance? Fall down prostrate, O my
soul, at the foot of sovereign and all-sufficient grace. Remember thy
guilt, thy poverty, and thy wretchedness, and be ever humble before God
thy infinite benefactor. Mourn over all thy unworthiness, and maintain a
constant temper of penitent love, and self-abasing gratitude. I deserve
to be cut off for ever, O Lord, from thy house, from thy family, and
from all the blessings of thy children: But thou hast called me to the
knowledge of thy Son Jesus, thou hast taught me to lay hold on the arm
of thy salvation, thou hast made me willing in the day of thy power to
renounce every sin, to subject myself to thy sceptre of righteousness,
and to accept the grace of thy gospel. Thou hast opened the treasures of
thy love, treasures that contain in them the good things of earth and
heaven, things visible and invisible, things present and things to come:
And while these treasures stood open to my view, in the voice of thy
gospel thou hast told me, _All is yours_.

“O for an enlarged exercise of faith, to survey this inheritance! to
rejoice in this extensive bounty of the Most High! to read the blessed
language of this text, and to believe it with a humble claim and
appropriation! Surely here is enough for faith to live upon, through all
the remaining years of my pilgrimage, and my hope, till faith shall be
turned into perfect sight, and hope into full and final enjoyment. I
would not change my portion with the richest sinner on earth: My estate
is larger, and my interests are more extensive. His gold and silver, his
houses and lands can reach no farther than this world and time; but my
inheritance runs into eternity, and my enjoyment of it has no period.

“My treasures are secure against all the invasions and plunder of
enemies, against all the rage of the winds, and waves, and fire; against
all the confusions of the world, against all the overwhelming changes of
time and nature; even against death itself, and the last conflagration.
These lower heavens may be dissolved, the elements may melt with fervent
heat, and the earth, and the works thereof, with all the fields, and the
palaces, and the treasures of it, may be burned up, but my inheritance
stands ever secure, for God himself, who is the original Creator and
Possessor of all things, has secured life and happiness to me in his
covenant: He has secured a possession of every thing that can be
necessary to my happiness, or to my eternal life.

“O that I were taught to enjoy these blessings daily; and to observe the
daily accessions that are made to my treasures, by all the new scenes of
providence that are ever rising! May I be instructed to make a
sanctified improvement of them all, and thus add something hourly to my
best interest, to my everlasting hope! May life itself, with all the
daily comforts and crosses of it, minister to me some sacred
meditations, some holy and heavenly thoughts! May a divine consecration
come down on all my affairs and concerns in this present state! and by a
wise improvement of all those parcels of my inheritance, which my
heavenly Father puts into my hands here on earth, may I be trained up
and grow fitter daily for those brighter talents, those more glorious
enjoyments, which he keeps in reserve for me when time shall be no more.
_Amen._”


                        HYMN FOR SERMON XXXVII.
_A Christian’s Treasure:—All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos,
                            or Cephas, &c._


                 How vast the treasures we possess!
                 How rich thy bounty, King of grace!
                 This world is ours, and worlds to come:
                 Earth is our lodge, and heaven our home.

                 Paul is our teacher: while he speaks,
                 The shadows flee, the morning breaks;
                 His words like beams of knowledge shine,
                 And fill our souls with light divine.

                 Cephas is ours: he makes us feel
                 The kindlings of celestial zeal:
                 While sweet Apollos’ charming voice
                 Gives us a taste of heav’nly joys.

                 The springing corn, the stately wood,
                 Grow to provide us house and food:
                 Fire, air, earth, water, join their force;
                 All nature serves us in her course.

                 The sun rolls round to make our day,
                 The moon directs our nightly way;
                 While angels bear us in their arms,
                 And shield us from ten thousand harms.

                 O glorious portion of the saints!
                 Let faith suppress our sore complaints,
                 And tune our hearts and tongues to sing
                 Our bounteous God, our sovereign King.




                            SERMON XXXVIII.
                      _The Christian’s Treasure._
                 1 COR. iii. 21,——All things are yours.


There is nothing that a wise man can wish for in order to make him
happy, but the gospel proposes it to encourage the faith and practice of
christians. What honour is there to be enjoyed among the sons of men,
that is wont to gratify our ambition, but the gospel assures us of
higher honours than this, when it makes us the sons of God? What
pleasures are there to be tasted in the satisfaction of animal nature,
but the gospel invites us to more refined, and more lasting pleasures,
which are to be derived from the love of God, and the company of our
Saviour with all his saints? What riches can be possessed or desired by
the most covetous mind, but the gospel proposes a far more extensive, a
more durable, and more useful treasure, when it tells us in the words of
my text, _all things are yours_?

The former discourse has made it appear in what sense these words are to
be understood: Not that we have a present possession of till things, a
power over them, or a civil right to seize and enjoy them; but the
meaning is this, that so far as a christian can have any thing to do
with the things of this world, or of another, things present or to come,
they shall all be made to work together for his real good. It has been
also proved in the second place, that this inheritance of the saints is
incomparably richer, and more valuable than any thing which sinners can
possess. I proceed now to the:

Third general proposition, and that is, to enquire how christians come
to be partakers of so fair and rich a treasure.

I. It is the kind and eternal purpose of God their Father, that it
should be so. Christians, God has created all things in the world of
nature with this design, that you should derive some benefit from them,
as far as they can come within your reach or notice, your service or
use: He appointed all things in the counsels of his providence, to bear
some blessing for you. He has ordained all things in his kingdom of
grace for your advantage: and there are unknown regions of light and
glory which he has provided for you. His elect were ever nearest to his
heart, next to the man Christ Jesus, next to his only begotten Son; _for
they were all chosen in him before the foundation of the world_; Eph. i.
4. Whether creation or providence, whether nature, grace or glory, _all
things are for your sakes_; 2 Cor. iv. 15.

I would caution you again, that you are not to understand it in such an
incredible sense, as though God made every particular creature in the
upper and the lower worlds, only to give the possession of them to the
saints, or that he manages all his providential kingdom, merely for the
sake of his own people without any other view. No, this is stretching
the words into an extent too large and unreasonable; for there are
millions of creatures, millions of plants and animals in earth and sea,
that are born, and grow, and live, and die again, which the saints of
God never saw, nor know, nor shall know; nor can they receive any
immediate benefit from them. But the meaning is this, that all things
whatsoever the saints can or shall have to do with in this or other
worlds, were intended to yield some profit to them, and especially while
they maintain their character as the children of God, and walk as
becomes their dignity and their profession. In all God’s general
counsels of creation, and providence, and grace, he kept his eye, as I
may say, still upon his saints: He designed their good in ten thousand
instances, in his great and glorious works, and resolved that nothing in
all his kingdoms should interfere with their last and best interest.

Though what he has written down in the book of his decrees, is read only
at large by his Son Christ Jesus, yet he has written out a sweet
abstract of it in the book of his promises, that the saints on earth
might read and know it; Rom. viii. 28. _And we know that all things work
together for good, to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose._ It was for their sakes the promises were
written, that they might have not only a present relish of divine
blessings, but a sweet foretaste of joys long to come. The blessings of
the children of God were numbered up, and written down originally for
them, in the book of God’s everlasting counsels; and in the book of his
word has he copied out for them, the blessings of heaven from above, and
of the deep from beneath; the precious things brought forth by the sun,
and under the influence of the moon; the chief things of the ancient
mountains on earth, so far as is needful for them here, and the precious
things of the everlasting hills of paradise hereafter.

Does the great Creator and Lord of all keep the wheels of nature in
their settled courses? It is for his people’s good. _The stars in their
courses shall fight for Israel_: Or does he countermand nature in any of
its motions, and bid the _sun stand still in Gibeon, and the moon in the
valley of Ajalon_? It is that the armies of his people may have long
day-light, to subdue their enemies. Hail-stones and thunder shall break
out of the clouds to destroy the Canaanites, when Israel is at war with
them: But if Israel want bread in the wilderness, the clouds shall drop
down manna, and give them bread from heaven. The Lord gave up Egypt with
her armies to the waves of the Red-sea, for the ransom and redemption of
his people: He gave Ethiopia and Seba to the sword for the safety of his
servant Jacob; Is. xliii. 7. _I have loved thee, O Israel, therefore I
gave men for thee, and people for thy life._ And it is no wonder that
God has given all things to his children, since he has given himself to
them, and told them, _I am your God_: It is no wonder he has bestowed
all things upon them, since he has bestowed his Son upon them: His own,
his only Son, who is dearer to him than all the creation; Rom. viii. 32.
“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how
shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

II. The saints have an interest in all things, for Christ is made Lord
over all things for his people’s good; Eph. i. 22. “God hath put all
things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to his
church.” Thus the names of the saints are, as it were, inserted into
that divine patent that exalts and constitutes Christ Lord of all.

And indeed, Christ has not only a right to all things by the mere
donation of the Father, but it may be said, he has purchased all things
for his own honour, and his people’s good. “Because he was obedient unto
death, therefore God has so highly exalted him;” Phil. ii. 8. “and made
him Lord of the dead and the living;” Rom. xiv. 9. And perhaps it is in
this sense, that the inheritance of the saints may be called “the
purchased possession;” Eph. i. 14. Now, christians, since all the
affairs of nature, grace, and glory, are put into the hands of such a
friend in trust for you, that they may be managed and employed for your
advantage, it is as well, nay, it is much better than if all things were
at present in your possession, that is, under your present state of
weakness and folly; for his wisdom and goodness shall govern all for
your truest interest. Ye are Christ’s, so the apostle expresses it in
the verse next to my text: And Christ, who has all in his hands, will
take care of you who are his own.

“Christ is made heir of all things;” Heb. i. 2. And if ye belong to
Christ, _then are ye heirs of God, and joint heirs of Christ_; Rom.
viii. 17. And the express promise of the Father confirms it, that all
things are yours; Rev. xxi. 7. “He that overcometh shall inherit all
things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son;” 1 Cor. xii. 27.
“Ye are the members of the body, and Christ is the head.” Now the
members must in their measure become sharers of what the head possesses.
In your proportion, O christians, you shall have communion with Christ
your Lord, in his royalties and his wide dominion: for he hath promised
that “ye shall sit down on his throne, when ye have overcome your
enemies, even as he overcame, and is set down on the throne with his
Father;” Rev. iii. 21. Ye are one with Christ, and therefore in your
measure, O believers, and according to your capacity, ye shall possess
and enjoy all things which he possesses, so far as is requisite for your
benefit in this world, and your truest happiness for ever.

III. The saints are actually invested with this privilege, by believing
on the Son of God, by accepting the covenant of his grace, by receiving
Christ Jesus the Saviour, according to the appointed methods of the
gospel. When a poor, destitute, guilty, and perishing creature is made
willing by divine grace, to give up himself to Christ as his Saviour and
his Lord, he is divested of his guilt, he is clothed with the robes of
salvation, he is translated out of a state of sin, poverty, and
wretchedness, into a state of rich grace, and becomes a child of God,
and an heir of all things. A living faith, which has all the springs of
holiness in it, is ordained to carry in it all the springs of treasure
and felicity. This unites the soul to Christ, this gives a humble claim
to all the blessings laid up in the eternal decrees and purposes of God;
blessings purchased by the blood of his Son Jesus; blessings promised in
the word of the gospel, wherein all things are given for a possession to
the children of the Most High.

IV. All things may be said to belong to the saints, or shall turn to
their advantage, because the blessed Spirit is given them, to teach them
to improve all things for their own benefit; 1 Cor. ii. 12. _We have
received—the Spirit, which is of God, that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of God_: And that not only that christians might
know what their treasures are, but learn how to make a right use of them
too. They are taught by the Holy Spirit, to receive the common blessings
of nature from the hands of God, as a Father and a Friend, and a God in
covenant: And they rejoice in them as such, with humble thankfulness;
they are instructed to derive useful meditations from the sun, moon, and
stars; and to read the wisdom, the power, and the glory of their
Creator, and their Father there, and to rejoice in his goodness. The
peaceful state of kingdoms, or battles, wars and earthquakes, and the
convulsion of nations, are all made useful lessons to a child of God;
and he gains something from all of them, by the teachings of the blessed
Spirit.

The saints are led into an acquaintance with the word of God by the same
Spirit too: They receive the promises and directions of the gospel,
through the influences of this Spirit. They derive light, holiness and
comfort from every part of the book of God; that is, from the law and
the prophets, the histories and the epistles, and from all the
ordinances of the sanctuary: He teaches them to borrow some food and
delight from Moses and David, as well as from Peter and John. He leads
them through the sweet fields of gospel grace, and directs them to
gather many a flower there for their refreshment, and to feed on the
fruit of the tree of life for their support. He shews them how to profit
by the ministry of a Paul, and to learn the deep mysteries of Christ: He
impresses on their souls the warm and pathetic words of an Apollos, and
fires their hearts thereby with zeal and love: He teaches his younger
disciples over again the first lessons of grace, which a Cephas had just
taught them. Thus Paul and Apollos, and Cephas are theirs.

He instructs them how to converse with things invisible and future by
faith, and to make use of the unseen and distant glories of eternity,
for their present comfort and joy. “It is the God of hope, who by his
Spirit fills them with all peace and joy in believing:” Rom. xv. 13. And
I might add also, that the Holy Spirit is given them, and dwells in them
as an earnest of their inheritance of all things, 2 Cor. v. 6. till the
redemption of this purchased possession, that is, till it shall be
redeemed, and freed from all the present incumbrances of sin and Satan;
Eph. i. 13, 14. Then in a happy hour shall this purchased possession be
disclosed in the fairest light, and proclaimed to be the property of the
saints.

To sum up all in a few words, a christian’s interest in all things is
well founded, and well confirmed. They are his by the original purpose
of God the Father, when he created all things; it was his design that
his chosen people should receive benefit from them. They are his by the
appointment of divine providence, that all things shall work together
for his good. They are his; for Christ the Son of God has purchased a
dominion over all things, that he may manage them for the service of his
redeemed ones. They are his, because the Spirit teaches him to derive
some advantage from all things by faith and holy meditation. God has
given himself to the saints as their portion for ever: He has given his
own Son for them as a ransom from death; he has given his Spirit to
them, as the principle of their life: And in this view, we may rise in
the language of faith, and say in the words of the blessed apostle, “How
shall he not herewith freely give us all things;” Rom. viii. 32.

Thus having made it appear in what sense all things are yours, and upon
what foundations this glorious privilege is built, I proceed in the

Last place, to consider what use may be made of this discourse.

First Use.—It affords a word of mourning and terror to obstinate and
impenitent sinners. Are all things made beneficial to the saints? Think
with yourselves then what you lose, because you are not of that number.
If you live and die in this sinful state, you have a comfortable
interest in nothing: Nothing works for your real benefit. Your abuse of
all things that you have any thing to do with, takes away the true
pleasure and enjoyment of what you possess, and turns them into a curse
to you instead of a blessing. _Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or
this world, or life or death, or things present, or things to come_,
nothing is yours: _for ye are not Christ’s_. And ye shall reap no final
and lasting advantage from any thing, if you persist in a sinful and
impenitent state; for ye are without God in the world, without Christ,
and without hope.

Do you sit under the ministry of Paul, who spreads the glorious light of
the gospel around you? But the God of this world hath blinded your
minds, that this divine light should not reach them: Even the preaching
of Paul is a savour of death unto you, if you live and die without the
faith and love of Christ. Do you hear the zealous and pathetic language
of Apollos? But your heart perhaps grows the harder under it: You resist
the affectionate entreaties of the gospel, from the lips of that
eloquent preacher. And even Apollos, whose soul is wont to melt with
compassion for perishing sinners, shall rise up in judgment against you.
And as for the plain and condescending ministry of Cephas, you despise
the man and his sermons together; therefore you can get no benefit by
them. Neither Paul, nor Apollos, nor Cephas is yours.

Well, if spiritual things are not yours, you hope, however, that you
have a property in things temporal: If the blessings of the church do
not belong to you, yet you claim a good share in this world, and the
blessings of it: You feed deliciously, you are dressed in gay colours
and gold, and you have wealth laid up in store for many years to come.
Poor vain creatures! What is all your treasure? What is your property in
it? A sorry property in lands, and a large estate, when not a clod of
the earth, nor a penny of the money shall turn to your real and lasting
benefit! I grant that you possess some of the good things of this world
indeed. But your riches and plenty are not real and proper blessings,
while you are afar from Christ, and strangers to him: Your own unbelief
and impenitence, and rebellion against God, turn all the comforts of the
world into curses: It is only the grace of Christ can take off the
curse, and sanctify this world into a blessing.

Life is not yours; it is not for your final advantage, while you waste
it in vanity and sinful amusements: A long life spent in this manner,
shall but add to your guilt, and aggravate your condemnation. Death is
not a benefit, but a dreadful hour to you, for it delivers you over to
the full power of Satan that cruel tormentor, and opens the scene of
your everlasting sorrows.

Things present are not blessings to you, while you resolve to continue
in this sinful state. You abuse the day-light, and waste it in trifles
or in crimes; or at best you spend it in an eager pursuit of the things
of the world, with the neglect of God. The night is given to recruit
nature for new services, but you seize the shadows of the evening to
make a screen for your secret iniquities, and hide your sins behind the
curtains of midnight.

You feed on the fruits of the earth, and other rich provisions of divine
bounty; but perhaps you make them instruments of shameful intemperance:
Or at best you lay out the strength of them in empty follies, or in low
earthly designs, without a thought of God or heaven. The morning and the
evening wait upon you in long successions, but you are heaping up
iniquities from morning to evening. You walk daily in the paths of
death, and the suns-beams do but light you onward to everlasting
darkness. You are nourished by your food for the day of slaughter. Daily
and hourly you abuse the goodness of God, and even these abused
blessings of his goodness shall call for greater degrees of vengeance at
his awful judgment seat. Thus neither the light of the sun, nor the
fruits of the earth, neither day nor night, are yours; for you abuse
them to sinful purposes, and they yield you no real profit.

And if things present are not yours, if ye have no solid and lasting
benefit by them, much less can you pretend to claim any comfortable
share in the things that are to come. There is a heaven of happiness
provided for the saints, but you are utterly unprepared to fulfil the
business of it, or to taste the blessedness. There is no room nor place
there for you. There is nothing glorious and delightful among all the
promises of God, or all the joyful scenes of the world to come, that you
can claim any title to, nor have you any interest in them. When hell
shall open its mouth indeed, to receive millions of the damned,
according to the final sentence of the Judge, there you will find a
place and room provided for you; but it is an uneasy and dreadful one.
Hell is yours, the vengeance of God is yours, endless misery is yours;
you have been treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath; and you can
claim nothing but this painful portion, this dismal and everlasting
inheritance.

And can you be content with such a portion as this is, while the saints
are inheritors of all that is holy and happy, both in this world and the
next? O may your busy thoughts be awakened betimes, and make you ever
restless and uneasy in your present wretched estate! Return to the Lord
in humble mourning for all your past iniquities: Return to God speedily,
from whom you have wickedly departed: Loath yourselves because of your
abominations, and abandon every idol: _Say to him, my Father, in the
spirit of faith and penitence, and he will put you among the children,
and give you a goodly heritage_; Jer. iii. 19.

Seek acquaintance with Jesus the Son of God, the Saviour, the Lord and
Heir of all things; commit your souls to his hands, resign yourselves
entirely to his grace, that he may change your unholy natures by his
Spirit, that he may cleanse away your guilt by the blood of his
atonement, that he may give you an interest in his own riches; then the
covenant of his love shall sanctify to you all the enjoyments of earth
and time, and make you possessors of all the good things in heaven and
eternity.

Second Use.—This doctrine discovers to us the glory of the new covenant.
A blessed covenant indeed that has given so rich a treasure to creatures
so unworthy! We are sinners, and deserve nothing, yet when we believe in
the Son of God, the gospel gives us in our measure the inheritance and
possession of all things.

Adam was made Lord of this lower world; this earth and the creatures
that dwell on it were put into his hands, all things below were given
him for his use, his support, and his delight. Thus mankind considered
in the first Adam, in his innocent estate, were lords of all. But _by
one man sin entered into the world_; Rom. v. 12. and by that sin, Adam
has forfeited his sovereignty and dominion, with all his large
possession of the creatures, both for himself and for us. When the
sentence came forth from the mouth of God, _Cursed be the ground for thy
sake_; Gen. iii. 17. the curse fell on all this lower world, and did, as
it were, make a seizure of the creatures out of the hands of Adam the
great sinner. They are no more his in that sanctified manner for his
real and final benefit, as they were before: They now become instruments
of temptation and sin, pain, and sorrow and misery. But the covenant of
grace restores all back again to us in and by the second Adam, who is
the Lord of the new world, and under this character, is possessor of all
things: And a sanctified use of all things is given to us again, in and
by Christ Jesus. O glorious covenant, that can take away the curse from
creatures, and make them become a blessing to the saints!

But there is a further glory in it still; for our possession of all
things in the second Adam, is far more secure than it was in the first.
This rich and extensive treasure is put into the hands of Christ our
Mediator, our Head, and our Surety for us, that we may not abuse our
possession by sin to our own ruin; and that we may not forfeit our
inheritance the second time, and so lose it for ever.

Third Use.—This doctrine yields sweet consolation to a poor afflicted
saint, who is taught to make a right improvement of it. The gospel
should teach a christian in these circumstances, such divine language as
this: “Am I poor and despised by the great and rich in this world? yet I
trust I am made a child of God by his renewing grace, and the promise
gives me a right to all things. God my Father has engaged that all
things shall work together for my good. He has made me a joint-heir with
his best-beloved Son Jesus, and has given me a fair and large
inheritance. I shall be possessor of every comfort among the creatures
that is necessary to my supreme interest, and my final happiness, and
God himself is my eternal portion.

“What if I cannot read my name and my title to lands and houses, to
green fields and palaces, in large conveyances and writings under the
seal of men? but I can read my name as a christian in the covenant of
grace, under the seal of God, and the blood of his Son, and there I find
that all things are mine. While I survey the gardens of a rich sinner,
every herb and flower there gives me more sweetness than he can find in
them all: For I can converse with God my Maker, and my Father, in every
herb, and every flower. While I walk amongst the trees of my neighbour’s
fields, they yield me their refreshing shade, and compose my thoughts to
divine meditation. I can lift up my eyes to the stately building where
my neighbour dwells, and raise my thoughts thence to the mansions of
glory: Then I rejoice to think how much my inheritance and my mansion
there exceeds the most magnificent structure on earth. Thus his fields,
and his gardens, and his stately dwelling, afford a divine light to me,
which perhaps the earthly possessor of them knows nothing of: And though
I have almost nothing that I can call my own on earth, yet, in this
sense, _I possess all things_. My God hath given me so much of the good
things of this world, as he saw needful and proper for my real interest:
and surely if I might have had all things within my immediate reach, and
under my sovereignty, I would not lay hold of more of them (if I were
truly wise) than would promote my welfare.

“Do I sit at the footstool of the rich in the house of God; or am I but
a door-keeper in the sanctuary, yet I can there hear Paul declare the
sublime mysteries of the gospel, and while he reveals the wonders of
God’s eternal love, my heart within me believes, and adores, and
rejoices. Apollos entertains me with most affectionate discourses of the
grace of Christ and his glory: my faith rises high, my love is kindled
to him whom my eyes have not seen; I believe in him, I love him, and my
joy grows almost unspeakable. I remember the former instructions of
Cephas, who taught me the first principles of this divine religion; and
I take pleasure in those sacred foundations. Blessed be God, they are
unshaken, and my faith and hope, which were begun under his ministry,
stand for ever firm. Paul, and Apollos, and Cephas are mine.

“It has pleased my heavenly Father indeed, to lay many sorrows upon me
in this wilderness; but I have learned to think and speak like a
christian, and say, Though I appear _as dying, yet behold I live_;
though I am _chastised_, yet I am _not killed_: Every stroke of his rod
is given by the hand of his love. His rod, like the rod of Aaron,
blossoms with divine blessings, and brings forth holy fruit. These
wounds that I feel let out the blood of pride, and cure the distempers
of my soul. Thus the very sufferings of nature, and the sorrows of life
are mine; I have learned to reckon my afflictions among my blessings;
they work for my profit. Whether peace or pain, are all mine. Besides, I
solace myself in the midst of my poverty and distress with this sweet
meditation, that the less I enjoy of temporal comforts, and the delights
of this world, if I improve my sufferings and sorrows well, there is the
more joy and glory laid up for me in the world to come. _My light
afflictions which are but for a moment, are working for me a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory_; 2 Cor. iv. 17. Is my life on
earth stretched out to a tiresome age? Heaven will be much the sweeter,
and after many toils, I shall have the stronger relish of an eternal
rest. Or does death make haste toward me in younger years, and bring my
body quickly down to the dust? My soul then is but dismissed the sooner
to the building on high that is prepared for me; for whether life or
death, all are mine.”

“When I cast my eyes around, and survey the present frame of things, the
sun in his daily circuit, and the moon and stars in their nightly
courses, my faith assures me they are all employed in rolling the months
and hours away, that stand between me and immortal happiness: And when
the morning of the resurrection dawns upon the earth, the gospel tells
me, that I have a share in all the rising glories of that day. Should
the heavens and the earth be shortly set on fire, if I have but my faith
awake within me, I shall have no fear nor surprize; I myself, and all my
best interests are out of the reach of these flames; my treasures are of
an unperishing kind. The period of all things here below shall but usher
in my brightest hours, and begin the years of my eternal pleasure; for
the book of God assures me, that things present and things to come are
mine. Make haste then, all ye remaining revolutions of nature; and days,
and months, and ages make haste: Time cannot fly too fast for me, who
have such an eternity in view. My Lord hath told me in his word, surely
I come quickly, and my heart echoes to that voice of my beloved, Amen,
even so come Lord Jesus.”

Fourth Use.—This doctrine requires the believer to be found in the
constant exercise of faith, that so he may be able always to survey his
inheritance, and take solid delight in it. Otherwise, when he sustains
loss in temporal things, and sickness and trouble attend him in the
flesh, he will be ready to judge by the mere principles of sense, and to
think his comforts all gone, and that he has nothing left. It is faith
alone can teach a believer to rejoice in this treasure given him by the
covenant of grace, when the world has taken almost all sensible comforts
from him. The natural man with an eye of sense looks on things just as
the eye of a brute-animal beholds them, and sees nothing more than
according to the common impressions they make on flesh and blood: But
the eye of faith is aided by the divine glass of the covenant, which as
a microscope discovers many beauties where the natural eye unassisted,
can see nothing but roughness and deformity.

It is nothing but faith fixing its eyes on sanctified losses and
crosses, sanctified pains, and sickness, and distresses, that can enable
us to reckon these among our treasures. It is nothing but the spirit of
faith that can instruct us to think ourselves rich, because we are heirs
of the kingdom, while we are poor and destitute in this lower world;
James ii. 5. It is the spirit of faith that taught the Apostle Paul to
triumph under all his infirmities, in such language as this; _As dying
and behold we live; as sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing; as poor, and
yet making many rich; as having nothing_, and _yet possessing all
things_; 2 Cor. vi. 9, 10. And if we have the same spirit of faith we
may believe and speak the same language.

Fifth Use.—This doctrine forbids all murmuring at the hand of God,
though his dispensations may have something painful and severe in them.
He has given us all things indeed, by the promise of the gospel, but he
has not put this treasure into our own hands, lest we should abuse and
forfeit it; but he has put it into the hands of Christ for us; and it is
Christ our Lord who distributes out such parcels and portions of our
estate to us daily, as his perfect wisdom sees most proper to promote
our real interest.

The christian under sickness, perhaps will say, Is not life and health
writ down in the inventory of my inheritance? Yes, but sickness and
death are written down there too, and thy Saviour knows that sickness is
better for thee at this season than health. Do not murmur at his hand,
for God the Father has intrusted him to manage and govern all his own
vast dominions; and canst not thou entrust him to manage thy estate, to
dispose of thy concerns, and to allot thy daily portion to thee?

The saint surrounded with distress and poverty, or naked, and hungry
will say, Is not food and raiment, and peace specified in the articles
of the covenant, and numbered among my treasures? Yes, but poverty, and
hunger, and cold, and nakedness are there also: And thy heavenly Father
sees it best to withhold peace and plenty from thee at present, or to
give thee thy food and raiment but in a scanty measure, to mortify thy
flesh, to humble thy pride, to wean thee from the creatures, to teach
thee immediate dependence on himself, and to fit thee for a departure to
the heavenly world.

When thou art deprived therefore of one earthly comfort after another,
and the remaining good things of this life seem to be leaving thee, have
a care of murmuring against thy God. Dare not take up the words of Jacob
and say, “Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and will ye take Benjamin
also? Surely all these things are against me;” Gen. xlii. 36. But Jacob
was made to know, by sweet experience, that all these things wrought for
his real advantage, and were made the means of preserving himself and
his family too in a day of spreading famine and desolation.

Sixth Use.—This doctrine forbids all contention and envy at our
fellow-creatures, as well as repining against God.

Is my brother healthy and strong, while I am sick and feeble and
languishing? Does my brother possess more of the good things of this
life than I do? It is because our common Father sees it proper to keep
me shorter, and to withhold so full an allowance from me. I have an
interest in the same large inheritance: I am a child of the same family;
and therefore all things are mine as well as his: But I have committed
it entirely to the wisdom and goodness of our heavenly Father, to put
into my hands what part he pleases of my large inheritance. He is
wisest, and will distribute the several portions that he sees fittest
for his children, and for this reason I cannot envy my brother. It is
the same kind and faithful hand that weighs and measures out my grains
and scruples, and little handfuls of earthly blessings, that gives my
brother his loads and his full barns.

Has the ministry of Paul been blessed to me, and not that of Apollos?
Have the labours of Apollos been more blessed to my fellow-christian, or
the plain and familiar instructions of Cephas? Well, I will never make
any parties in the church upon this account: for all the ministers of
the gospel are appointed for our edification; and I will rejoice in them
all, and bless God for the service they do the family of Christ. If my
portion of spiritual food be distributed to me by the hands of Paul, it
is our common Father that conveys the same sacred food to another, by
the hands of Cephas or Apollos; and the world shall never hear me say,
“I am of Paul, in opposition to Apollos or Peter; though I must confess,
God has blessed his ministrations most eminently to my soul.”

Seventh Use.—Has God given all things to the saints by the covenant of
grace, surely then they should return all things back again to him, in a
way of gratitude, duty and service. Has he promised to make every thing
which we have to do with, concur to promote our best interest, and our
final happiness? Let us then apply ourselves with zeal and diligence, to
make every thing within our reach subserve his divine interests, and the
glory of his kingdom.

Has my gracious God withheld nothing from me, but together with his own
Son given me all things, why then should I withhold any thing from him?
Why should I not devote my heart, my head, my hands, my whole self, and
all things that are within my power, to the honour of his name? Does God
bestow life or health or riches upon such a worthless creature as I am?
Let holiness to the Lord be written upon them all. And if my
fellow-creatures are poor, needy, cold, and starving, let me chearfully
minister to them of my substance, which the great Lord of heaven and
earth has so richly bestowed on me. My God honours me indeed, when he
makes me the dispenser of his blessings among his creatures, and
especially among his saints. I lose nothing by this benevolence, but am
rather enriched by this very distribution. I become rich in good works,
and rich in divine promises: “He that gives to the poor lendeth to the
Lord, and he will repay him.” Alms are as money laid out to the best
interest, and are a growing treasure.

But should I hope for no new beneficial return of all my kindness to
men, the very benefits received of God my Father constrain me to this
bounty. Has he given all things to a poor worthless creature, and shall
I give nothing to the poor, or the unworthy? Shall I not rather imitate
the profuse bounty of my God, who commands _his sun to shine, and his
rain to descend both on the evil and the good_. It is a divine
excellence to love and to distribute as God does.

The name of Jesus my Saviour has yet a further power to oblige me to use
all my earthly possessions for his honour. Has Christ Jesus purchased
this large and fair inheritance for me with his blood, has he given me
much on earth, and the hopes of greater treasures in heaven, then I will
be my own no longer, but give my whole self up to him, with all my
powers and talents, and possessions! They are thine, blessed Saviour,
they are thine for ever. It is the solemn and deliberate wish of my
heart, that I may never possess or enjoy any thing from which Christ has
no revenue of glory. O that his grace may enable me to employ things
present for this holy purpose! And when I arrive at the actual
possession of things to come, they shall be improved in an unknown but a
nobler manner, for the everlasting glory of my God, my Father, and my
Saviour.

The Recollection of the doctrinal part.—“In this discourse, O my soul,
thou hast not only been called to survey the riches of thy inheritance,
but thou hast learned also, in what manner this inheritance is made over
to thee, if thou art a sincere christian, and a believer on the Son of
God.

“Look backward, my soul, to eternal ages, before the world began, when
God marked out the bounds of this creation, and the limits of these
heavens, and this earth, he designed them with all their treasures, for
the service of his holy ones, for the benefit of his children, angels
and men; and thy name and thy share was written down amongst them. The
great God, in those early days of his eternity, has provided a rich
sufficiency for thy present and future blessedness. O may my faith take
this delightful and distant retrospect, and rejoice in God’s eternal
love?

“God has given all things into the hands of his own Son Jesus, whom he
hath ordained Lord of all, that he might govern and dispose of all
things for the good of his people. Christ is risen from the dead, and
hath taken possession of all the blessings of grace and glory, in the
name of his saints, that he may make them possessors in their season,
and according to their measure: That he may make thee, O my soul, a rich
possessor of so fair an inheritance; and that he may keep every part of
it secure for thee, till in succession of times and seasons, both in
earth and in heaven, thou art fit to receive and enjoy it. If thou art
made a joint-heir with Christ, thou art heir of all things.”

But remember, it is a living faith in Christ that must entitle thee to
this rich inheritance. It is of infinite importance then, to search
often and enquire, Am I a christian indeed? A sincere convert, a
believer in Jesus? And does my faith evidence itself in all the fruits
of repentance, love, and holiness? O may I feel my soul to live daily
this divine life by the faith of the Son of God, that I may maintain a
humble claim to these treasures of mercy laid up in the gospel,
treasures committed to the hands of Christ to be kept safe for me.

“And may the blessed Spirit instruct me daily to improve all things to
my spiritual and eternal benefit, that I may not be like a fool, who has
a prize put into his right-hand, and knows not how to make use of it!
May I be taught to draw some sacred advantage, some holy delight and
refreshment from the continual new scenes and occurrences of life! May I
derive knowledge, and love, and heavenly sweetness from the surprizing
works of God, as the God of nature, and from the more surprizing wonders
of his grace! May I learn something divine and holy from all the
transactions of his providence, and the various turns and changes of
this present state, till I am prepared and _made meet for_ a more fit
and ample possession of the everlasting _inheritance of the saints in
light_!” Amen.


                        HYMN FOR SERMON XXXVIII.
                _All things working together for Good._


                  My soul survey thy happiness,
                  If thou art found a child of grace,
                  How richly is the gospel stor’d!
                  What joy the promises afford!

                  “All things are ours;” the gift of God,
                  And purchas’d with our Saviour’s blood,
                  While the good Spirit shews us how
                  To use and to enjoy them too.

                  If peace and plenty crown my days,
                  They help me, Lord, to speak thy praise;
                  If bread of sorrows be my food,
                  These sorrows work my real good.

                  I would not change my bless’d estate
                  With all that flesh calls rich or great;
                  And while my faith can keep her hold,
                  I envy not the sinner’s gold.

                  Father I wait thy daily will,
                  Thou shalt divide my portion still,
                  Grant me on earth what seems thee best
                  Till death and heav’n reveal the rest.




                             SERMON XXXIX.
                    _The right Improvement of Life._
         1 COR. iii. 22.—Whether life or death,—all are yours.


It is a large and fair inheritance that belongs to the children of God.
They have no need to divide themselves into little parties, and to
quarrel about their particular interest in one minister or another, in
one blessing or another; for whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,
whether life or death, all things are theirs.

My former discourses have explained in what sense christians possess all
things, and that is, that all things present or to come, that can any
way affect or concern them, shall certainly turn to their benefit, and
subserve their great and final interest. I proceed now more particularly
to enlarge on the words, which I had chiefly in my design, _whether life
or death, all are yours_. The first doctrine arising from the words is
this, “Life itself, and the continuance of it to the saints, is for
their advantage.” Now to improve this proposition to practical purposes,
I shall do these things:

I. I shall make it appear under a variety of instances, that life is
designed for the benefit of christians.—II. I would amplify and confirm
the doctrine yet further, by discovering what a variety of graces may be
exercised on earth, which can have no place in heaven; and make it
appear, that in some respects, a saint below hath advantage above the
saints that are on high.—III. I shall answer a considerable objection or
two that seems to rise against the doctrine, while I am treating of it:
And, at last some inferences will be drawn from the whole discourse.

First let me shew wherein life appears to be a benefit to true
believers. _Life is yours_, O christians, for

1. This is the time that was given you for your reconciliation to God,
and securing your everlasting interest. All the elect of God are born
into this world sinful and miserable, by their relation to the first
Adam, therefore St. Paul seems to include himself, as well as the
heathen infidels, when he speaks of the iniquity of their nature, and
the guilt of their state. Eph. ii. 2. _We all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as
others._ Now this life is the time given to seek deliverance from the
wrath to come, to fly to the hope that is set before us; _now is the
accepted time, now is the day of salvation_; 1 Cor. vi. 2. Now while we
are in our state of trial, before the gates of the grave have closed
upon us, and before the gates of hell have been opened to receive us.

We are all, by nature, strangers to God, enemies in our minds by wicked
works, and under sentence of condemnation: Remember, O sinners, this is
the time to get acquaintance with God, to return to his service, and
obtain his special favour. We are defiled and guilty creatures: This is
the hour of cleansing while the fountain of the blood of Christ stands
open, to wash us from sin and uncleanness. We are, by nature, utterly
unfit for heaven, and all the works and the joys of it, because of the
vicious inclinations that govern us. This is the day of repentance as
well as pardon: This is the day given to us to insure those blessed
mansions on high, and to obtain preparing graces. This temporal life is
the only season, wherein the sentence of our condemnation can be
reversed, and wherein we may obtain eternal forgiveness, and a right to
life everlasting. The blood and righteousness of the Son of God, are not
proposed nor offered to guilty creatures in the other world. Now is the
time to acquire a meetness for the inheritance in light through the
sanctifying influences of the blessed Spirit.

After death there is nothing of this kind to be done: There is no work,
nor device, no knowledge, nor wisdom, no faith or repentance to be
exercised, no such duty to be performed among the dead, no opportunity
to rectify, the mistakes of life: There is no grace to be obtained for
sinners _in the grave, whither we are all travelling_; Eccl. ix. 10.
What is left undone at that awful moment, must be for ever undone. At
the voice of the summons we must go, whether pardoned or unpardoned,
whether holy or unholy, whether hoping or despairing. And a dreadful
spectacle it is, as your eyes ever beheld, to see a sinner expiring in
full and raging despair.

But O what infinite advantage has it been to christians, that they have
enjoyed, this golden hour of grace, and been taught to improve it well!
What, had become of you, O believers, if ye had been arrested some years
ago by the messengers of death, and hurried away into eternity? Where
had your portion been, if ye had been sent down to the grave in the
midst of your sins, before you were awakened or convinced of your folly
and danger, before you had felt inward repentance, or had been
acquainted with Jesus that bought and bestows forgiveness; before ye had
known the virtue of his reconciling blood, or seen the face of a God
reconciled? While your hearts and life were all unclean and unholy, your
death must have been dreadful, and your soul for ever unhappy. What
infinite honours are due to the patience and long-suffering of your God,
and to the mercy and mediation of Jesus your Saviour? Glory be to divine
patience, and divine grace, for life prolonged, and a sinner saved!

II. Life is yours; it is your opportunity of doing much service for
Christ, and manifesting your gratitude for his redeeming love; 2 Cor. v.
15. _They who live, should not henceforth live to themselves, but to him
that died for them, and rose again._

Here on earth, you may speak of the wonders of his grace that has saved
you, and publish his love that is unspeakable: You may tell sinners of
the infinite dimensions of this love, to invite them to partake of the
same salvation. Here your lips, and your tongues may be delightfully
employed, in declaring what you have tasted of the blessings of the
gospel, and the grace of Christ; and call others to _taste and see that
the Lord is good, and how blessed the man is that trusteth in him_! Ps.
xxxiv. 8. Here you make it known, for the support of poor convinced
wretches that are ready to despair, what heights and what lengths, what
breadths and what depths there are in the love of Christ; for it reached
your soul even at the borders of hell, it spread wide to cover all your
great and heinous iniquities; it rises high, for it has lifted your
hopes to heaven, and it stretches its sweet and sovereign influence
beyond the length of time, and provides for your life and happiness that
shall measure out eternity. Here you may proclaim the praises of your
Redeemer to an ignorant world, you may promote his interest a hundred
ways on earth, and thus glorify your Saviour which is in heaven.

This is not to be done in the same manner, nor for the same blessed
purposes amongst the saints above. When the body lies senseless and
mouldering in the grave, the tongue cannot praise the Lord: _The living,
the living, they praise thee as we do this day_, as Hezekiah did when he
was recovered from sickness, and had a sense of pardoned sin. Is.
xxxviii. 17, 18. _In love to my soul, thou hast delivered it from the
pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. The
grave cannot praise thee, the dead cannot celebrate thee; they that go
down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth._ This is the proper work of
the living saint, to make known to sinners the grace of salvation.

Life is the only time of such work and service. “Opportunity, (saith a
writer on this subject) is like a golden instrument to dig for heavenly
treasure: Do not wear it out as many have done in digging for pebbles,
and at your latter end become a fool. Plead not your mean capacity:
_Kings of the earth, and all people, old men and children may praise the
Lord_; Ps. cxlviii. 11, 12. Serve your age according to your talent;
Mat. xxv. 15. He that had but one talent, but a single capacity, was
called to account for it, and cast into outer darkness. Think how many
opportunities you have out-lived, which will never have their
resurrection: Redeem lost time, by improving what remains. Project
improvements of life, since your light is near extinguished. Make up in
affection what may be wanting in action. If you cannot do much, yet love
much. If our servants should work no better for us than many have done
for God, we should turn them out of doors. Stir up others to work for
God, that you may do by their hand what you cannot do by your own.” Thus
this pious author.

Let us consider what glorious services have been done for God, by the
long continuance of saints in this world. Survey the labours and the
sufferings, the ministry, the zeal and the success of the blessed
apostles, who planted the first christian churches. What monuments of
honour did they raise among Jews and strangers, among Greeks and
barbarians, the savage and the polite heathens, to their crucified and
exalted Saviour! What multitudes of subjects were brought to bow the
knee to Jesus by their preaching! What a large harvest of souls was
gathered unto Christ, when the apostle scattered the seed of the gospel
all round the countries, from Jerusalem, through the provinces of the
lesser Asia, and through the southern parts of Europe, as some have
supposed, as far as Spain! And the Redeemer was glorified by his labours
where the name of the true God the Creator was hardly known before. What
an extensive blessing to the world was the life of Paul? It is to this,
that the following ages of christianity, as well as the primitive
saints, owe the unspeakable benefit of his writings; and it is to this,
that Great Britain owes the blessing of his divine epistles. How
honourable was it for St. Paul himself, and how happy for us, that he
was made an instrument of such service to Christ, such a glorious
service, as spread itself around the nations, and reached to distant
ages of mankind. His long life was an illustrious blessing both to
himself and to the christian world.

III. Life is yours, O christians, for it allows many a proper season for
giving examples of holiness to mankind. And it is a honour to a saint,
to be made an example of religion amongst a nation of sinners, or a
pattern of holiness, among the churches of believers. Herein you become
followers and imitators of the blessed Lord your Master: He is the first
pattern, he is the most glorious example; for in all things he must have
the pre-eminence.

If you become a public and a shining example of virtue, and piety, and
goodness, you may attain these four very valuable ends at once:

1. By this means you pay great and just honours to the blessed gospel
whereby you are saved, and confound and silence the impious accusations
and slanders of the wicked: And especially if your station and rank in
the world make you the object of more public notice, either in a city,
in a village, in a neighbourhood, or in any society of men, then like a
candle or a torch set on a hill, you diffuse light and honour far around
you, and God and the gospel are glorified on your account. And not only
in the higher stations of life, but even servants of the lowest
character, if they are but saints, _may adorn the doctrine of God their
Saviour in all things_; Titus ii. 10. It is greatly for the credit of
our holy religion, when the men of this world seeing our good works, are
forced to confess that there is something divine in christianity, that
God is amongst us of a truth; and by these means they are constrained to
glorify our Father, and our Redeemer, and our holy religion. This is the
command of Christ; Mat. v. 16.

2. Hereby sinners are not only convinced that there is a power and glory
in the doctrine of Christ, but many a soul has been converted to the
faith of Jesus, by beholding the pious conversation, the heavenly
graces, the holy love, the divine zeal, the constancy, the patience, and
the sufferings of christians. The good women in St. Peter’s days were
exhorted to invite and draw their unbelieving husbands to the faith and
love of the gospel, by beholding their chaste conversation, coupled with
religious fear, and the ornament of a meak and a quiet spirit; 1 Pet.
iii. 1-4. Look forward, O christians, to the last great day, and think
with what a pleasing joy you shall hear those who have been converted by
your example, and reformed from a licentious course of life, declare
this to your public honour before men and angels: Your holy example
though buried long in silence, shall have a glorious resurrection in
that day, and the Judge himself shall proclaim it to your praise, that
he used your piety here on earth, as an instrument of his grace to
enlarge his kingdom.

3. Hereby christians of a lower form, and those that are babes in
Christ, are awakened to a holy imitation of your superior virtues and
graces. It was the continuance of St. Paul in this life, through the
various stages of it, that recommended him as a pattern to the believers
of his day, in all the various circumstances of their lives; and the
longer he lived, the more glorious example he left behind him, for the
benefit of the saints, that they might _be followers of him as he was of
Christ_; 1 Cor. xi. 1. And I may add in the

Fourth place, Where a christian of shining virtues and of diffusive
goodness is blessed with a long life, the memory of his example, and the
sweet savour of his graces, remain the longer on earth, after his own
departure to heaven. It is like a rich perfume that has lain some
considerable time among garments, it communicates a pleasant fragrancy
to the apparel long after the perfume itself is removed. Thus many a
saint, by the sweet odour of his name, has done honour to the gospel in
the place where he lived, while his bones are mouldering in the dust:
The history of his various virtues has dwelt long on the lips of the
surviving neighbours, and perhaps, hath awakened others to an imitation
of such a pattern many years after his decease.

Whether example be of any use in heaven, or whether the saints of lower
rank there may be excited to holy imitation, by the superior graces or
glories of more eminent saints, is not so well known to us; but this we
may be well assured of, that the example of christians can have no use
in that happy world, to guard the doctrine of Christ from profane
reproaches, or to convince or convert sinners and infidels. It is the
living, and the living alone, that can do this service for Christ, and
glorify his gospel in such instances as these:

But I proceed to another advantage of our continuance in this world.

IV. Life is yours; for it gives opportunity for abounding in good works
to the great benefit of mankind. The longer a saint lives, if he
maintains his character with honour, he becomes so much a greater
blessing to the world. But what a deal of good ceases with the life of a
good man!

Christians, ye are required to maintain good works for the honour of
your Father, and for the glory of your Saviour, who hath purchased you
to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works: But there is another
reason for them too, and that is, “these things are good and profitable
to men;” Titus ii. 14. compared with the third chapter, verse 8. Every
day of life opens some new scenes, wherein you may be serviceable to
your neighbours, your relatives, your fellow-creatures, and so make the
world the better for you.

The days and years of life should be numbered by the multitude of good
works, as much as by the revolutions of the sun and moon: For lost and
wasted time should not come into the account of life. But if this were
our way of counting, what should we say of thousands, who have lived to
no other purpose but to eat and drink, and to make up the number of
mankind? O it is a mean and pitiful thing only to be old in time, and
not in duties to God, or benefits to men. And, as an author speaks on
this subject, All the good works of many who are stricken in years will
lie in a very little compass: To be an ancient man or woman of two or
three years old, sounds like a contradiction, and it is, indeed, a
matter of great shame, and ought to awaken deep repentance.

How many are there that live to no purpose at all, and the world will
not miss them when they are gone? How many that live to wicked purpose,
and the world is glad to be rid of them? Some are mere cumberers of the
ground, and some are perfect nuisances, and public mischiefs. Such
should never pretend to the name of christians. Let us remember it was
the character of our blessed Lord, that _he went about doing good; and
he was willing to work those works while it was his day of life; for the
night was coming on him wherein he should have no such sort of work to
do_; John ix. 4. O may our Saviour be our pattern, and let us be
followers of the holy Jesus! Alas! what a noble pattern! what slow and
distant followers.

It was this desire of service to the world, that put the great apostle
into a strait betwixt two, as in Philip. i. 23. He knew not what to ask
for; _Shall I pray for death and glory, my heart hath a wish that way?
It is far better for me to depart, and to be with Christ: Or shall I
desire to continue in life? This is for the service of your faith, and
furtherance of your joy; therefore I am content, saith he, to have my
crown and glory deferred, that my longer life may be your advantage. O
what an illustrious spirit of zeal and love reigned in the heart of this
apostle!_

_Ye are the light of the world_, saith Christ to his disciples; Mat. v.
13, 14. What a dark dungeon would this world be, if it had never a saint
in it? _Ye are the salt of the earth_; What corruption of manners would
overspread the face of the earth! What vile communications, and odious
practices would defile the world in a few years, if every christian were
dead! What shameful and abominable works had over-run the heathen
nations, before Christ and his gospel appeared, and the idolaters were
made christians! A saint in a family, is like _the ark of God in the
house_ of Obed-edom; 2 Sam. vi. 12. _For the Lord blessed the house of
Obed-edom, and all that pertained to him, because of the ark of God._ A
pious soul is a Joseph in the family of Potiphar; Gen. xxxix. 5. _When
the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the
blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the
field._

A number of saints in a city, or a nation, are many times like Noah,
Daniel, and Job, in the midst of them. They guard the public by their
prayers from mighty ruin and wide desolation. Sodom itself had been
saved, if there had been ten righteous souls in it. And I am persuaded,
Great-Britain had been a kingdom of idolaters and slavery, or a heap of
confusion and slaughter, and a field of blood long ago, because of the
provoking wickedness in the midst of it, had it not been for the few
righteous that have always stood in the gap: There have been always some
powerful pleaders at the mercy seat, when the wrath of God and the
destroying angels have been breaking in like a flood upon us, some Moses
and Samuel to withhold the desolation, when popery and tyranny have been
just at our gates, and ready to overwhelm us.

O how many unknown blessing do these sinful nations enjoy, because of
the lives and the prayers of the saints that are in it! Holy souls, who
though they are divided into different parties, and practise their
different forms, yet worship the same God, through the same Mediator,
and by the same Spirit, who are ever welcome to the throne of grace, who
are all saints in the esteem of God, and in the language of scripture.
Strange, that the name of a saint should be used as a term of reproach
amongst us, and cast upon one party in a way of scorn, when these are
the persons of every party who are the most excellent in the earth;
these are the guards and walls of defence to the nation, _the chariots
of our Israel, and the horsemen thereof_; 2 Kings ii. 12. xiii. 14.

V. Life is yours; for it affords means for brightening your evidence for
heaven, and improving your own preparation for glory. Surely you are not
willing to depart from this world, till you have good hope of an
interest in a better state, and a comfortable expectation that it shall
be well with you for ever. Does God prolong your days on earth? See
then, that the principles of piety and goodness be well rooted in your
hearts, and that your graces grow up under the influences of heaven. See
that they bud and blossom with fair flowers, to the honour of your
profession, and to the joy of your own consciences. Let the sacred
fruits of your love and zeal break out upon all just occasions: Shine
brighter in holiness every day of your mortal life, and bring forth
fruits meet for life everlasting, that ye may know and be assured that
the seeds of glory are sown within you, such divine seeds as will bear a
rich and blessed harvest in the great day.

_He that has this hope will purify himself as Christ is pure_; 1 John
iii. 3. and his increasing purity will confirm his hope. Believe it
christians, as your life and practice grows more divine and undefiled,
the image of Christ will appear in you with fairer evidence, and raise
your hopes of dwelling with him to the joys of assurance. Many a soul
has gone to heaven as in a chariot of triumph, after some years of their
practice of christianity, who, at their first profession of it, were
oppressed with many doubts and fears, and were often trembling upon the
borders of despair. Life was their blessing indeed, when it taught them
to die with faith and honour, and enter into the world of spirits with
divine joy.

Let it be said then concerning you, O christians, that you sensibly
approach nearer to heaven every month of your continuance upon earth,
and that you look more like the inhabitants of that upper world, by how
much the longer you continue in this lower state; that when you depart
hence, you may be assured of a joyful admission into paradise. May your
graces shine bright, and your evidences for heaven appear so glorious
and incontested, that there may be no tremblings about your heart in
that solemn and important hour; no doubtful flutterings or frights on a
deathbed, but that you may find the gates of glory open before you, that
you may see your way clear through the dark valley, and have a rich and
abundant entrance into the kingdom of your God on high.

VI. Life is yours, that by a due improvement of it your crown of glory
may be enlarged, and your seat advanced in heaven.

That there are different degrees of honour and joy conferred on the
saints above, according to their different characters and capacities, is
a doctrine that hath so much countenance and evidence from scripture,
that we can no longer justly doubt of it: And, I think, I have made this
appear by incontested proofs in another place[40]. If you are zealous
for the cause of Christ, and active in his service through all the
stages of life, and your old age be crowned with abundant fruits of
righteousness, your reward in glory shall bear a proportion to these
labours, and the length of your time on earth shall give a glorious
addition to your recompence in the heavenly world; 1 Cor. xv. 58. _Be ye
stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; for as
much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord._ What a
shame and pity is it that you or I should have a long life on earth, and
but a low rank or a little portion of reward in heaven!

But to animate your zeal, I would humbly propose yet a more surprizing
advancement in glory, to the diligent improvers of life and grace. What
if the services you do for God on earth should still bring forth new
fruit among men long after your death? and if your happiness should be
ever increasing in this proportion? When the great Judge comes, he will
surely _reward every one according to their works_: But in Jer. xvii.
10. it is said, _God will not only give to every man according to his
ways, but also according to the fruit of his doings_? What if our
labours, our prayers, our pious works and words, or our examples on
earth should go on to produce this divine fruit, even the conversion of
souls when we are in heaven? And what if the rich and overflowing grace
of God should reward us on this account with growing glories? And _those
who turn many to righteousness in this manner, should shine as stars
with increasing lustre_?

Some divines have supposed, that the mischievous influence of the works
and lives of the wicked shall increase their torment: And perhaps,
Jeroboam, who set up the calves at Dan and Bethel, and who made the land
of Israel to practise idolatry for some hundreds of years after his own
death, might feel yearly more intense agonies of conscience, and his
hell grow seven times hotter. This is a dreadful thought, and should
terribly awaken and impress those sinners who have diffused their
iniquities far and wide, who have corrupted whole families, and cities,
and nations, and spread their poison through succeeding ages. And why
may not the joy and crown of St. Paul increase and brighten by the
conversion of sinners, through sixteen hundred years, by the influence
of his holy writings amongst all the christian nations? And thus not the
Thessalonians alone, but the inhabitants of Great Britain, shall be the
matter of his glory and joy! O it is a blessed thing to multiply good
instructions, and counsels, and exemplary practices of holiness; and to
hear of them after we have gone to heaven, either by ministering angels,
or by souls newly arriving there, that they still yield on earth a
further crop and harvest of honour to Christ, and profit to men. Such
tidings as these cannot but raise and advance our own joys.

As your zeal and labour in active service shall find a retribution every
way answerable, so your patience under sufferings shall meet with a
proportionable reward; 2 Cor. iv. 17. _For our light afflictions, which
are but for a moment, are working for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory._ Life is the only season, as I shall shew
afterwards, for this sort of exercise; and the longer we endure sorrows
here honourably, the richer shall our reward be hereafter, though the
reward is not of merit but of free grace.

How many saints are there in heaven exalted to eminent stations in that
upper world, and some who wear, perhaps, the crown of martyrdom, and
enjoy the prizes of victory over a thousand temptations, after they have
run a long race in christianity? And yet many of these, it may be, would
have possessed but a low station, and a little share of honour and
happiness in those heavenly regions, if they had been cut off from the
earth in their younger days, and been called away to heaven immediately
after their conversion. Surely, if you have spent many years in public
labour for Christ, and zealous devotion, you have endured cruel
mockeries, imprisonments and sharp sorrows, for the sake of Christ and
his gospel, and through the course of a long life, have borne a constant
testimony to the faith of Jesus, there are superior glories suited to
your character in heaven, which wait your arrival there.

Thus I have made it appear, in various instances, that temporal life
itself, and the continuance of it, becomes a real advantage to a true
christian: which was the first thing I proposed. But here is an
objection which may be raised against this doctrine, _viz._ “Do not some
true christians fall into grievous sins, when their life is prolonged,
whereby their conscience is wounded, their garments defiled, their
profession blemished, and the holy name of God and Christ blasphemed? Is
long life therefore any blessing to christians, since we are so
uncertain how we shall behave, and especially if we behave ill?”

Answer 1. The great and natural design, and tendency of our continuance
in life, is to do more service for God and men, and obtain more
blessings for our own souls; to grow more fit for heaven, and to raise
and enlarge our crown. If we abuse the time given us for these blessed
purposes, and indulge to sinful lusts or follies, it is highly criminal
in us, and we alone must bear the blame.

2. Sometimes those very sins have been so impressed upon the
conscience by the convincing spirit, as to become a means to awaken
degenerate christians to greater watchfulness, greater tenderness of
conscience, and greater degrees of humility, of spirituality, and
heavenly-mindedness: Those very falls have been made an occasion of
their rise and growth in christianity by the grace of that God, who
turns darkness into light, and a curse into a blessing.

But where it is not so, God is not to be charged with injustice, in not
raising us to higher degrees after our falls; our negligence and
criminal indulgences of temptation, have justly forfeited his peculiar
favours: And it must still be confessed, it is our own fault where
length of life is not attended with growth in grace, and meetness for
superior glory.

I should now proceed to the second general head proposed; but not having
room to finish all my design at once, I shall conclude this discourse
with these two reflections:

First Reflection.—What a rich advantage is put into the hands of a young
convert! When a sinner, in his younger years of life is changed into a
saint, what a blessed privilege is granted him by divine grace? And what
a glorious opportunity is afforded him, the improvement whereof may
reach to everlasting ages!

Happy soul, who art reconciled to God betimes, and a thousand sins in
the following course of thy life are hereby prevented! Happy soul, to
whom Christ has manifested his love in the beginning of life, and saved
thee betimes from eternal death! According to the course of nature, thou
hast a prospect of doing long service for thy Lord and thy God. Awaken
all thy thoughts; consult, contrive, and seek divine advice what thou
shalt do for his honour, who hath given thee so early a salvation. Pray
for the direction of the blessed Spirit, to mark out the paths of thy
feet, and to employ thy head, thy hands, and thy tongue, in the most
honourable manner for thy God, and the most useful for the good of men.

Remember, every hour of thy time is a part of thy treasure: Let it not
be said at last, it was a prize put into the hands of a fool that had no
skill nor heart to use it. God, even thy God, expects a daily revenue of
glory, as the just improvement of this treasure. Let a holy zeal be
kindled within thee, to do glorious services for thy Creator and thy
Saviour, and to shew thy large returns of love to him who hath first
loved thee. Let a pious ambition set all thy powers at work to do some
uncommon good for men, and to be made an extensive blessing to all that
are near thee, arise, and shine long, as a fair example of holiness in a
dark and wicked world, and let every year of life brighten thy character
on earth and enlarge thy reward in heaven. Be not content merely to get
safe within the walls of paradise; the thief on the cross, who was
called at the last hour of life, obtained this privilege; but let thy
ambition rise higher, and reach at some of the more exalted stations in
that kingdom. Then shall it appear that life is thine in the sweetest
sense, when every stage and period of it shall add new honours to the
name of thy God, give new blessings to the world, and advance the joys
of thy own eternity.

Second Reflection.—If life be such a privilege to a christian, and be a
part of his treasure in this sense, then what a dismal account hath an
old sinner to give, who hath wasted life and time in folly and guilt,
and no part of it hath been improved for his eternal happiness.

O miserable creature! Neither life nor death is thine. Bethink thyself a
little, and review the dismal scene: Say to thy soul, “What have I been
doing these fifty or sixty years? I came into life guilty and unclean,
and am now upon the borders of death unclean and guilty still. I was
born a child of wrath, and am a son or daughter of wrath still. I was by
nature an enemy to God, and I am an enemy to God still, and have no
interest in his love. Life was given me that I might seek reconciliation
and grace; but I have neglected and abused offered grace, and am not yet
reconciled to my almighty and offended Maker. The Judge is just at hand,
methinks I hear the sound of his chariot-wheels, and a dismal account
have I to give of all my wasted life. I have done no real service for
God, nor have given an example of holiness to men: but alas! I have been
a pattern of iniquity, or at least, I have followed a multitude to do
evil: Every year have I heaped up to myself new treasures of wrath in
hell, instead of securing a crown in heaven, and advancing my station
and my joy there. Is there any hope for me in the poor remains of life
that may yet be allotted me? Is the grace of the gospel sufficient to
save such a wretch as I am?”

“Yes, O sinner, it is sufficient, for Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners, even the very chief of them. There is grace in the
heart of the Father to receive thee; there is sufficient virtue in the
blood of Christ to cleanse away all thy guilt; there is influence enough
in the blessed Spirit to soften thy heart, and renew thy nature, though
thou art an old hardened rebel, and a transgressor from thy very
infancy. Lose not a moment more, but set about the work in good earnest;
trifle no longer with grace, thou who art on the borders of the grave;
fly to the hope that is set before thee; beg salvation of God with daily
and nightly tears, and give him no rest till he hath heard thee. Such an
importunity is like to be successful; and then, though thy temporal life
hath been no benefit to thee hitherto, yet the last moments of it may
possibly be accepted, and prevent thy everlasting death. God who is rich
in mercy, may bestow on thee some humble place in heaven, but thou canst
not expect to shine amongst the brightest saints. Thou mayest be blessed
among the dead who die in the Lord, and rest from thy sorrows and thy
sins; but thou hast scarce any good works to follow thee. Thy works in
all the sprightly years of thy life, have been matter of guilt and
shame, and it is infinite mercy, that they shall be remembered no more,
But if thy heart be broken for sin, and healed by the blood of Christ,
thy humble repentance, and thy holy faith in the few remaining days of
old age, and death, shall be accepted through the abounding grace of the
gospel. The dying thief on the cross forbids thee to despair utterly,
though thou hast run a terrible risk, and ventured on the borders of
destruction: And if thou art saved at last, it is so as by fire, it is
like a brand plucked out of the burning, or as a man escaping naked out
of the flames, and passing on the very brink of hell into everlasting
life.”

The Recollection of the doctrinal part.—“And is life the only space
given me to be reconciled to God, and am I still a stranger and an
enemy? Have I wasted away so many years of this golden season of hope,
this day of mercy, and have I not yet received this mercy, nor laid hold
on this hope set before me: Search, examine, enquire, what is thy state,
O my soul? And if thou art yet a child of wrath, and unreconciled to
God, make haste and fly for refuge to the grace of the gospel. Cry
mightily for repentance and forgiveness in the name and blood of Jesus.
Let no more days of thy life pass away in such a dangerous and dreadful
state, lest life should come to a speedy period, and then thou art
banished from grace and hope for ever.

“But if the character of a sincere penitent, and a holy christian be
found with thee, if thou art partaker of the love of God, through the
grace of Jesus, then _bless the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is
within me praise his holy name_, that he has not cut me off in the days
of my enmity to God, unsanctified, and unpardoned; that he has
lengthened out my life and the seasons of his mercy, till he has changed
my sinful nature, and secured me in the covenant of his grace.

“Is life given me as an opportunity of service to my Lord Jesus? It is
he that has redeemed me: it is he that has laid out his valuable life
for me, what shall I do, O my Saviour, to make some humble returns of
acknowledgment and love? O let my useless and unserviceable years be
forgiven, and let the remains of life, whether long or short, be all
devoted to the interests and honours of my Redeemer. Were it possible
for the saints, after they have dwelt some time in heaven, to come down
and dwell on earth again how would they multiply their labours, and lay
out their new life in more activity and service for their God and
Saviour? When they have found and tasted what a heaven of happiness
succeeds the short labours of life, how would they double all their zeal
and diligence, and be grieved they could do no more? When they have seen
and conversed with their beloved Lord, and beheld him face to face, with
how much warmer love would they engage in his service? Surely they would
all cry out, that the longest life on earth is much too short to shew
their zeal, affection, and gratitude to so divine and glorious a friend.
Think of this, O my soul, and remember, if thou ever arrive safe at
heaven, thou wilt wish thou hadst done more for thy beloved Lord here on
earth.

“Is this mortal life continued to me that I may spread a savour of piety
amongst my fellow-creatures, and set a religious example to men? Lord,
suffer me to do nothing that may lead sinners astray from thee. Pardon
all the evil examples I have ever given, and let my future conduct shine
in holiness, as a pattern to those that are round about me. Methinks, I
would convince the world that religion has something excellent and
divine in it, and encourage them to the practice of strict godliness.

“Is life prolonged that I may be profitable to mankind, and have I lived
thus long already to so little purpose? Though my goodness extends not
unto thee, O Lord, yet I entreat that my fellow-creatures may be the
better for me while I continue amongst them. O may the God of Abraham
bestow on me that rich favour which Abraham received in those divine
words of promise, _I will bless thee, and I will make thee a blessing_;
Gen. xii. 2. I would fain live useful and beloved, that I may die
desired and lamented. What a shameful thing is it when I go out of the
world, that my acquaintance should say, He is gone, but there is no loss
of him.”

“Have my days been prolonged thus far that my hopes of heaven might be
daily increasing, that my evidences of adoption might grow stronger
daily, and my soul be more prepared for heaven: Look inward then, O my
soul: Hast thou acquired a more divine and heavenly temper than in years
past? Art thou wrought up to a greater meetness for the inheritance on
high? Are thy desires, thy appetites, and all thy powers more fitted for
the business of heaven, and attempered to the blessedness of the upper
world? Art thou growing fitter still for the sight of God, for converse
with Christ, for the company of saints and holy angels? How are thy days
and months, and years run out to waste, if thou art so much nearer
death, and yet art not so much riper for heaven?

“And is it possible that a length of life should be so improved, as that
my crown of glory, and my portion of happiness may be enlarged
hereafter? Let my holy ambition awake at such a hint as this, and let me
aspire to a superior rank among the blessed, by employing every part of
life to the most noble and excellent purposes for which life is granted.
Let me ever abound in the work of the Lord, since I am assured that no
part of my labours shall be in vain in the Lord, or want its proper
recompence. Though it is the blood of my Redeemer that has purchased all
the prizes and crowns in heaven; yet if I am a swift runner in the
christian race, and the race itself be long, I am fitted to receive the
fairer prize: And if I am an active and victorious soldier in the army
of Christ, and have served faithfully through a tedious war, I may have
reason to hope for a brighter crown. We may humbly wait for a reward in
proportion to the work, according to the encouragements of the bible,
while we still acknowledge that it is free and sovereign grace both
enables us to hold out working, and bestows the rich reward.” _Amen._


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XXXIX.
                    _The Right Improvement of Life._


                    And is this life prolong’d to me?
                      Are days and seasons given?
                    Shall I not then prepare to be
                      A fitter heir for heaven?

                    I’ll never let these moments pass,
                      These golden hours be gone;
                    Lord, I accept thy offer’d grace,
                      I bow before thy throne.

                    Now cleanse my soul from ev’ry sin,
                      By my Redeemer’s blood;
                    Now let my flesh and heart begin
                      The honours of my God.

                    Let me no more my soul defile
                      With sin’s deceitful toys;
                    Let chearful hope encreasing still,
                      Approach to heavenly joys.

                    My thankful lips shall loud proclaim
                      The wonders of thy praise,
                    And spread the savour of thy name,
                      Where e’er I spend my days.

                    On earth let my example shine;
                      And when I leave this state,
                    May heaven receive this soul of mine
                      To bliss divinely great.

Footnote 40:

  Treatise on Death and Heaven, discourse II. sect. 2.




                               SERMON XL.
             _The Privilege of the Living above the Dead._
        1 COR. iii. 22.——Whether life or death,——all are yours.


When these words were explained, this doctrine was drawn from the first
part of them, _viz._ “When life is given or continued to the saints, it
is for their advantage.”

The first thing proposed, in our meditations of this truth, was to make
it appear by a variety of instances, that life is designed for the
benefit of christians. I proceed now to the

Second, _viz._ to amplify and confirm this doctrine yet further by
representing what various graces may be exercised on earth, which can
have no place in heaven; and to discover in what respects, a living
christian may be said to have some advantage over the saints that are
dead.

1. The first grace I shall mention, which belongs only to this life, is,
faith of things unseen, whether present or future; for in heaven this
sort of faith is ended and lost; it vanishes into sight; 1 Cor. v. 7.
Here in this world we walk by faith, and not by sight; but in the world
above, we shall live by sight, and not by faith. _Blessed are those
souls_ on earth, _who have not seen, and yet have believed_; John xx.
29.

Hereby the living christian doth much honour to God, and offers him a
revenue of such glory, as can never be offered to him among all the
saints and angels on high. To believe that there is a God who made all
things, among a world of atheists, that deny him that made them; to
carry it toward an unseen God with a solemn awe of his majesty, and deep
reverence and submission to his will, in the midst of thoughtless
sinners who deride religion, and live without God in the world; to
believe that the bible is the word of God, notwithstanding all the
difficulties contained in it, and all the bold and subtle cavils that
infidels have raised against it, to make this word the ground of our
religion, the rule of our practice, and the foundation of our hopes, in
the midst of an age of deists and heathens, that laugh at our bible and
our belief together: These are noble instances of a militant faith in a
world of infidelity. To believe that Jesus of Nazareth, who was hanged
upon a tree without Jerusalem, and died there, is the only begotten Son
of God, the Maker and the Saviour of the world, to believe that he now
lives and governs all things at the right-hand of his Father, and to
trust in him who died upon the cross to give us a crown of eternal life;
these are such exercises of the grace of faith, as have no place in the
world of sight, where every saint beholds him face to face: Such acts as
these, are only suited to our present state of absence from the Lord,
and yet they are highly honourable to God and our Redeemer, _whom having
not seen we love, and in whom, though now we see him not, yet believing,
we rejoice with joy unspeakable_:—2 Pet. i. 8.

To believe that there is a heaven of glory far above the clouds, where
our Lord Jesus Christ has dwelt in his human nature almost two thousand
years, and where ten thousands of his blessed saints and angels are for
ever enjoying divine consolations; to maintain a firm belief that there
is a reward for the righteous laid up on high, while they are here
trodden to the dust; to believe there is a hell, an unseen world of
misery and torture, where damned spirits are punished for their
rebellion against the great God, and shall for ever suffer the weight of
his indignation; and to walk through this world with a holy negligence
and contempt of it under the influence of these future invisibles, these
eternal joys and eternal sorrows: This is a faith that gives much glory
to God, while we live, and speak, and act, while we suffer and endure,
as seeing him who is invisible, and firmly believing all the joys and
terrors of another world, which are hidden from us by the veil of flesh
and blood.

This was the faith of the ancient patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
this was the faith of Noah and Moses, and many other heroes, whose names
shine with honour in St. Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews; and great and
blessed God received daily honours from this their faith. In heaven all
these invisibles are seen, all these futurities become present, and they
are no longer matters of faith. O that this faith might overspread the
earth, as sight is found all over heaven!

II. Hope and expectation of future blessings, either here or hereafter,
under all present darknesses and discouragements, is another grace which
may be exercised by the living saints; but among the saints that are
dead there is no room nor place for it; for in heaven our hope is turned
into enjoyment; _hope that is seen or enjoyed, is not hope; what a man
seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it_, Rom. viii. 24. And this
patient and chearful expectation under discouraging difficulties, is a
glorious homage paid to God, such as the saints in heaven cannot pay
him.

The living christian knows not what honour he brings to his God, when
his hope for promised mercies bears itself up, while there are no
appearing prospects to the eye of sense, and in opposition to a thousand
rising dangers; when he can live upon the naked promise, and be assured
of the full performance, merely because his God hath spoken it. Then we
give honour to God, such as the souls in heaven cannot give him, when
under the renewed exercise of faith and repentance we maintain a humble
hope of the pardon of sin through the promises of his gospel, even
though our iniquities have been exceeding great, and though sin is every
day working and striving against our best purposes, and too often
bringing us under fresh guilt.

Then we glorify our blessed Redeemer so as the saints in heaven cannot
glorify him, when we feel our consciences burdened with sin, and yet
maintain faith and hope of acceptance with a great and holy God, through
the death, righteousness, and intercession of a person whom we never
saw. This is an illustrious honour done to the name, and sacrifice, and
mediation of the Son of God.

Then we give glory to the blessed Spirit our enlightener, and our
sanctifier, when in the midst of our own errors and darknesses, and in
the midst of difficulties and cavils raised by men, we trust in his
promised guidance into all necessary truth; when we walk on in the midst
of temptations waiting and hoping for fresh sanctifying influences,
while we feel and groan over the deceitfulness and the weakness of our
own hearts, that are too ready to start aside from God like a broken
bow.

Then we honour God and his gospel indeed, when we hope for our own final
salvation through the blood of the everlasting covenant, having fled for
refuge to the hope that is set before us, though by the wiles of the
devil, we have been under strong temptations to despair, and sometimes
have seemed to be forsaken of God, as Christ Jesus was when hanging on
the cross: It was then that he glorified his Father and his God, by the
constancy and courage of his hope, in such a manner as he was never
capable of doing after that great and dreadful day; and herein his poor
tempted followers have been noble imitators of their Saviour and their
Lord, and have held fast their confidence in divine mercy in the midst
of sore temptations, and given great glory to their God and Father.

Nor is this hope a vain presuming confidence, or a bold fit of
enthusiasm, for it evidences its own heavenly and divine original, by
keeping the soul pure, and holy, and humble, in the midst of all this
darkness, and this disconsolate state: _He that has this hope will
purify himself, even as Christ is pure_; 1 John iii. 3. A presuming hope
that carries no spring of holiness in it, can neither honour God nor
profit men.

But there are other occasions also in this life, for the exercise of the
grace of hope, _viz._ amidst huge and threatening difficulties, that
relate to the public interests of religion. When the feeble and doubting
christian sees the affairs of the church of Christ sinking daily, he is
almost ready to sink and die too, and to despair for Zion; and it is the
language of his unbelief, _by whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small?_
But the stronger christian, who knows how to live upon a promise, can
reply, that the God of Jacob is almighty, the king of Israel is the true
God and everlasting king, and the interest of the church shall rise
again, even though it were drowning; for not all the floods on earth,
nor even the gates of hell shall prevail against the church that is
built upon Jesus the rock of ages: And Jesus himself receives his
special tribute of glory from his saints on earth, while they triumph in
this hope.

There are also some seasons wherein a living saint honours God in this
world, by maintaining his hope in the midst of various trials that
attend him in his private affairs, and especially when poverty and
distress overtake him like an armed man, and he hath no other help nor
hope left, but in some gracious words of promise, and some unknown
appearances of providence in his behalf. Blessed are the poor who can
live by faith! A christian honours God also greatly in the days of
sickness, and the hour of death, when he feels nature sinking, and flesh
dissolving; yet he can look upon his withering limbs without dismay, in
the hope of the resurrection, and speak in the language of holy Job,
“Though after my skin worms devour this body, yet in my flesh shall I
see God;” Job xix. 26.

I grant that the saints who are in heaven, the spirits of the just made
perfect, wait also, and hope for the resurrection of the body, and all
the promised blessings of that day; but they have a bright and sure
prospect of it by the light of glory, in which they read all the
promises; and they have a pledge and pattern of it in the body of Jesus
Christ raised from the dead, and glorified in the midst of them. Their
hope lies under no darkness, no discouragement. The saints on earth
therefore, in the exercise of this their hope, give a greater glory to
God than those in heaven; for it struggles with mighty difficulties, and
overcomes them all. It is such a hope as Abraham built on the mere
promise of God, that he should have a son when he was a hundred years
old, and his wife Sarah was ninety. “He hoped in God who quickened the
dead, and called those things which be not as though they were; who
against hope believed in hope, that he might become the Father of many
nations, according to that which was spoken; so shall thy seed be. He
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in
faith, giving glory to God;” Rom. iv. 17, 18-20.

III. Liberality and compassion to the poor is another exercise of grace,
for which this life only gives opportunity. The objects of our bounty on
earth are both saints and sinners; for we are charged to imitate our
heavenly Father, _who commands his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and his rain to fall and refresh the just and the unjust_; Mat. v. 45.
But in the world to come, the saints are raised far above the want of
our compassion, and condemned sinners in their long everlasting misery
are forbid all refreshment.

It is in this life only, that we can shew our love to Christ himself, by
refreshing the bowels of his saints. It is here that we may treasure up
matter for divine approbation and solemn applause, in the great
judgment-day, when the alms that have been given in a private corner,
where _the left-hand has not known what the right-hand did_, shall be
published with honour before that innumerable assembly. “I remember,”
says our blessed Lord, “I well remember, when in yonder world ye fed my
hungry saints, then ye fed and nourished me; when ye gave drink to them,
ye gave drink to me, and relieved my thirst; when ye bestowed garments
on them, it was I that was naked, and ye clothed and covered me; and
when ye visited them in sickness or in prison, I was the prisoner, I was
sick, and I take it as kindly as though ye had visited and comforted
me.” Astonishing condescension of the Son of God! Surprizing honour put
on the liberal christian! But here is the only place for acquiring these
honours, though they are published hereafter.

There is no poor christian to be supplied in heaven out of the stores of
your bounty, no naked saints to be clothed there. All the regions of
heaven cannot afford any such object of your compassion and love. Many a
saint on earth is hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and exposed to sore
hardships and necessities, but necessities and hardships are unknown in
heaven. Many a widow, and orphan, and poor destitute christian, lies
sick and groaning as it were at the gates of glory: Let us seize the
opportunity to feed, to support, and to comfort them; for there is no
destitute creature, no sick, or poor, no needy widow or orphan, within
the gates.

Life is given to some persons for this very end! Good Dorcas was even
raised from the dead, and had her life lengthened out to make more coats
and garments for the poor. Ministering to the saints is a delightful
labour, and a business worth living for. In this world the rich
christian has the honour of being a steward for God to feed his
children; but in the world above, there are no earthly treasures to
receive such a sort of consecration as this is, no alms to be offered up
as an acceptable sacrifice to God the Father, or to his Son Jesus. See
then that ye practise this virtue as often as providence gives a proper
occasion, and thus consecrate your substance to the Lord of the whole
earth. Lend a little to the Lord in this manner, and it shall be paid
with large interest: “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord,
and he will repay him;” Prov. xix. 17.

Perhaps another week, or another day shall divide you from all your
earthly riches; no more of them can be laid out for God: Perhaps death
may send you into the invisible world, and ye shall have no more objects
of your pity for ever; _whatsoever thy hand then finds thee to do, do it
with all thy might_; Eccl. ix. 10. _You that are rich in this world, be
rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying
up in store a good foundation against the time to come, that ye may lay
hold on eternal life_; 1 Tim. vi. 18, 19. And remember that _he that
sows sparingly, shall reap sparingly; but he that soweth bountifully in
his distributions to the poor, for the sake of Christ, shall also reap
bountifully of the riches of glory, in the great day of reward_; 2 Cor.
ix. 6.

IV. Another grace which only the living can exercise, is, charity to our
fellow-creatures under their mistakes, or infirmities, and a charitable
and loving frame of spirit to our fellow-christians who differ from us
either in principle or practice.

Infirmities and mistakes belong only to the present state: This life is
the only time when a fellow-saint can be overtaken in a fault, and when
we are capable of restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness. It is
here only that the proposed motive has any room or place; _consider
thyself lest thou also be tempted_; Gal. vi. 1. And though we are bound
to maintain an everlasting aversion to every sin, yet we should imitate
and honour the forgiving mercy of our God, by speaking peace and
consolation to a returning sinner.

Be not too severe in your censures, you who have been kept from
temptation, but pity others who are fallen, and mourn over their fall.
Do not think or say the worst things you can of those who have been
taken in the snare of Satan, and been betrayed into some grosser
iniquities. When you see them grieved and ashamed of their own follies,
and bowed down under much heaviness, take occasion then to speak a
softening and a healing word. Speak for them kindly, and speak to them
tenderly. “Have compassion of them, lest they be swallowed up of over
much sorrow;” 2 Cor. ii. 7. And remember too, O censorious christian,
that thou art also in the body, it is rich grace that has kept thee
hitherto, and the same God, who for wise ends has suffered thy brother
to fall, may punish thy severity and reproachful language, by
withholding his grace from thee in the next hour of temptation: and then
thy own fall and guilt shall upbraid thee with inward and bitter
reflections, for thy sharp censures of thy weak and tempted brother.
This life is the only time wherein we can pity the infirmities of our
brethren and bear their burdens. This law of Christ must be fulfilled in
this world, for there is no room for it in the next; _wherefore bear ye
one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ_; Gal. vi. 2.

This world is the only place where different opinions and doctrines are
found amongst the saints; Disagreeing forms of devotion, and sects, and
parties, have no place on high: None of these things can interrupt the
worship or the peace of heaven. See to it then, that you practise this
grace of charity here, and love thy brother, and receive him into thy
heart in holy fellowship, though he may be weak in faith, though he may
observe days and times, and may feed upon herbs, and indulge some
superstitious follies while thou art strong in faith, and well
acquainted with the liberty of the gospel. Let not little things provoke
you to divide communions on earth; but by this sort of charity, and a
catholic spirit, honour the Saviour and his church here in this world;
for since there are no parties, nor sects, nor contrary sentiments among
the church in heaven, this christian virtue can never find any room for
exercise there. This kind of charity ends at death.

V. Sympathy with mourners, and pity and relief to those that are
oppressed with many sorrows, is a virtue that belongs only to the saints
on earth. There are no sorrowful christians in heaven, and the various
methods of comfort, which we practise toward our suffering brethren here
below, are therefore impracticable in the upper world. “The God of all
comfort is he who comforteth us in our tribulations, for this reason,
that we may be able to comfort those that are oppressed with their heavy
afflictions;” 2 Cor. i. 4. “This is pure religion and undefiled; to
visit the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions, as well as to
keep yourselves unspotted from the world;” James i. 27. But it is the
religion of the church on earth, not the religion of heaven.

Go, then and visit thy brother in distress, visit poor afflicted and
suffering christians: Go mention the promises of divine grace that
belong to them in a suffering state, and lead them to rest upon some
happy promise: Go teach them the benefit of afflictive circumstances:
Let the twelfth chapter to the Hebrews be your text, and raise many a
sweet inference for the support of sufferers. Tell them of the fruits of
holiness that grow upon the bitter tree of earthly sorrows; and that the
wood of the cross blossoms with grace and glory. Put them in mind of the
examples of divine deliverance, when there has been no outward prospect
of help and hope. Lead them to a meditation of the heavenly state: Point
their thoughts upward: Direct their faith and their hope thither: teach
them to look at the things that are unseen and eternal, that they may be
able in the language of faith to say, “These light afflictions which are
but for a moment, are working for us an eternal weight of glory;” 2 Cor.
iv. 17.

There are no sorrows among the inhabitants of heaven, no sufferings
there, no pain, no complaint; nor is there any need of your
consolations: This is a work you cannot do in paradise, but God delights
to see his children here comfort one another in their travels through
this valley of tears, this tiresome wilderness; 1 Thess. iv. 18. Then
let us give our fellow-christians their due of consolation, and offer to
our God the sacrifice of his delight.

VI. Forbearance and forgiveness of real or supposed injuries, is a grace
to be practised only by the living christian.—Christ Jesus our Lord
demands it, and lays a bar upon your hopes of the forgiveness of God, if
ye refuse it to your fellow-creatures; Mat. vi. 14, 15. And the great
apostle entreats you to practise it. _Put on therefore, as the elect of
God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one
another, if any man hath a quarrel against any: Even as Christ forgave
you, so also do ye_; Col. iii. 12, 13. Charity, or love, as it should be
translated, suffers long, beareth all things, and hopeth all things; and
though considered in the general notion of love to the saints, it lives
for ever in heaven; yet these special exercises of it belong to this
world. Charity or love is not easily provoked, it thinketh no evil,
gives every thing the best turn that it will bear, and puts the best
sense upon all things that are spoken. O that every living christian
might adorn his profession with the exercise of this virtue; 1 Cor.
xiii. 4-8.

Meekness is a grace which has no place in the upper world, in this
respect, that it has no trials there. Glorify God your Saviour therefore
in the days of your trial here below, and be ye meek and lowly as he
was; be ye slow to anger, and swift to forgive, as God your Father is.
When you hear a word of offence or reproach spoken, and feel the rising
ferment of the blood, watch against it, subdue it: This is the hour of
battle, see that ye come off conquerors. When there is a word of
bitterness upon your tongue, stifle it, and keep silence, subdue the
temptation, and prevent that sin; give glory to God in this manner,
which the saints in heaven cannot do. “Dearly beloved, avenge not
yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: Be not overcome with evil;
but overcome evil with good;” Rom. xii. 19-21.

Love is a virtue that flourishes in heaven, it grows high, it spreads
wide, and it shines bright in the upper world. Love is a grace that
out-lives faith and hope, and endures for ever. There is no such union
of hearts, no such sacred bonds of affection, as are found among the
saints on high. Heaven is the very element and region of love; but it is
all love to God, love to Christ, and to our fellow-saints: For love to
enemies is not known in that country, because there is no enemy there.
To love them that hate us, to bless them that curse us; to pity, and
forgive, and pray for those that injure us; these are not only noble
singularities of the christian religion, which are not known amongst all
the catalogues of heathen virtues, but neither are they practised in the
heavenly world. As glorious and sublime as they are, yet they are never
found among _the spirits of the just made perfect_: Those holy souls,
are all far above the reach of malice, hatred, and enmity; there are no
objects there for them to exercise these divine virtues upon. Love to
enemies therefore dwells only amongst the living saints: To forgive
injuries, is the glory that is peculiar to christians in this mortal
state, and our blessed Saviour has a most peculiar revenue of honour
from it.

But besides the honour that Christ and his gospel receive from such a
kind and charitable conduct, there is a pleasure in this victory over
resentment, that far exceeds the pleasure of revenge which is the
delight of the wicked: And it is a pleasure also, which the saints above
cannot partake of; for there are no offences, no injuries, no
provocations there: This life alone is the time to forgive, and to be
forgiven. Now who is there among us, that would not seize the
opportunity of every injury and offence to practise a glorious duty, and
enjoy a pleasure which the blessed in heaven cannot taste?

VII. Self-denial and mortification of sin, belongs also to this life
alone. It is the first lesson in the school of Christ, _to deny
ourselves daily, if we will be his disciples_; Luke ix. 23. but it is
the lesson of the school and not of the palace; a lesson for earth and
not for heaven; for in the world above, our duty is all delight, and
there is no need of contradicting our own pleasure, or our interest, in
order to please or serve our God, or our brother. In those holy regions
every part of our work is congenial to our sanctified natures, and with
resistless appetite and inclination we shall pursue all the duties that
belong to that happy state.

Nor are there any sins to be mortified there: The body of death is
buried with the body of flesh in the grave, and earth is the place where
the members of it must be put to death. _Mortify your members which are
upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry_; Col. iii. 5. Let us
be daily engaged in the zealous practice of this duty, and subdue all
the unruly appetites that make an assault upon our virtue, that defile
our conscience, and subdue our peace. Now, now is the time to set
ourselves at work to fight against our vicious inclinations and our
irregular desires: Now let us multiply our victories over sin and self.
Earth is the field of battle with sin: In heaven our desires shall all
be pure and holy, there is no sinful wandering appetite, no perverse
affection; no irregular thought or wish amongst all the saints above:
There is no contest with indwelling corruptions, no such conquests are
to be gained in all that holy and happy world. There are no new honours
of this kind to be given to Jesus, the Captain of our Salvation, nor any
new triumphs to be obtained over sin, to the glory of divine grace. Come
then, let us bestir ourselves, and awake to the battle, let us bravely
resist the workings of flesh and blood, by the aids of the blessed
Spirit; let us _be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus_, and
maintain the glorious warfare, like soldiers who fight for the honour of
their general, and who hope for a crown of immortality.

[If this Sermon be too long, it may be divided here.]

VIII. Repentance and godly sorrow for our past offences, belong only to
this life. Converting grace works only on earth; we are called to repent
in order to be forgiven: _Repent and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out_; Acts iii. 19. And the exercise of this grace is not only
necessary at first conversion, (though it most eminently appears at that
season) but it must run like a thread through the whole course of this
mortal life, till death shall put an utter end to sin. Let every known
sin therefore which we are guilty of be attended with some new and
sensible exercise of shame, and sorrow, and holy indignation against
ourselves. Let us live in a daily, constant, penitent frame, for we are
daily sinners. This painful sense of sin, this holy mourning, is an
honour done to the law of our God. It is the living, the living who are
called to this work; for _there is no repentance in the grave_: Shew
your hatred of sin therefore continually, and your sincere love to the
law of holiness by such an humiliation as becomes an imperfect saint.

You will ask me, “Do no saints in heaven repent that they have ever
sinned here on earth?”

I answer, that whatsoever regret they feel in the memory of their past
transgressions, it is not attended with such sensible shame and inward
pain at the heart, as are necessary to that duty of repentance that is
required here on earth; for there is nothing must break in upon their
perfect peace or joy in heaven. As God is said not to remember their
iniquities, because he does not remember them in order to punish, so the
saints above are not said to repent of sin, because they have no such
shame and grief accompanying it as whilst they dwelt upon earth, and
which are some of the most remarkable ingredients in our repentance.

But we may suppose there is among them some sort of holy
self-displicency, and something of a sacred regret, that ever they
offended such a God, and such a Saviour? There will be surely an inward
and hearty disapprobation of their former sinful ways whenever they
think upon them: And, indeed, without some reflection on their former
guilt and misery, they can never give due glory to Christ their
Redeemer, who rescued them from their sorrows and their sins. But all
the painful and shameful attendants of this grace of repentance must be
banished from heaven, because it is a state of perfect joy and peace.

IX. Patience and submission to the will of God under all manner of
painful providences, gives glory to God here on earth, such as the
saints in heaven cannot give him. We are taught indeed to say, _Lord,
thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven_: But it is the preceptive
will of God, or the will of his commands, which is here signified, not
his providential will, whereby he punishes; for there is no affliction
in heaven, and therefore there is no such sort of submission, no
exercise of patience there: They obey the will of his commands in
perfection there, and God himself has no will that they should suffer,
or endure sorrow.

Shew then, O believers, your submission to the will of God, here, as
dear and obedient children, when your heavenly Father sees it needful to
chasten you; Heb. xii. 6-11. _If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with
you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?
Give him reverence therefore when he corrects you, and be ye in
subjection to the Father of spirits and live._ It is only children under
age that their earthly fathers scourge and chastise; such are christians
in this world, the sons of God in their infant state: but when the
children are grown up to manly age, they have no more chastisement; such
are the saints in heaven, who are _grown to the fulness of the measure
of that stature_ which God designs for them in Christ. This life
therefore is the only time when you can honour the sovereignty and the
wisdom of God your Father, when he sees fit to take his rod in hand, and
to instruct you in righteousness.

X. A sacred compassion for perishing sinners, and longing desire and
labour for the conversion of souls, is a business that belongs to this
life only. When we are past the line of time, and entered into eternity,
we can add no new subjects to the kingdom of our Lord: This is a service
that can be performed no where but in the present state: It is the
living, and they alone that have this work intrusted with them. When the
lips are closed in the grave they cannot speak for God, nor exhort
sinners to be saved.

Let ministers call up all their powers then to the blessed work of the
gospel. Let them stir up all their gifts, and employ them all for the
welfare of immortal souls. What is the furniture of human learning? What
are their talents of oratory, their flowing language, and their art of
persuasion? What is their vivacity of spirit, their sweetness of voice,
their penetrating force of elocution? What are all these but weapons of
warfare to fight against the kingdom of Satan among men, and instruments
to build up the church of God on earth? What are they all but
consecrated gifts to win souls to Christ out of the kingdom of this
world? They are given only for service in the present life. Let us use
them then with our utmost skill for these holy purposes: For, _Whether
there be tongues they shall cease: Whether there be knowledge_ and human
learning, _that shall vanish away?_ 1 Cor. xiii. 8, 9. These poor
imperfect talents are not made for heaven. Let our zeal therefore employ
them to the utmost on earth.

O let us be _instant in season and out of season_, and proclaim the
terrors of the law to awaken the stupid and impenitent, to make them fly
from the wrath to come. Let us publish the glad tidings of the gospel,
and by all the methods of compassion and tenderness, let us beseech and
intreat sinners to be reconciled to God. Let us set the unsearchable
riches of Christ before them, the all sufficiency of his righteousness,
and the power of his grace; and study and contrive how we may address
their consciences in the most successful manner, till we have won their
hearts over to Christ and salvation.

And let this not only be the labour of the sanctuary, and the work of
our public offices in the church, but let the houses where we dwell, and
the families where we visit, be witnesses for us in the great day, that
we have instructed and warned the souls of men, that we have carried on
the business of the pulpit in the parlour, and have spread the savour of
the knowledge of Christ through all our conversation.

Let parents that are solicitous for the eternal welfare of their
offspring, and love their sons and daughters as their own souls, let
them seize the present opportunity for this sort of work. Let them make
use of all the language of gentle authority, and of constraining love,
to win the hearts of their children to God, to persuade them to accept
of the grace of Christ, and snatch them as brands out of the burning.
Let friends and dearest relatives, let masters and rulers of families,
lay hold on every just occasion to speak of the things of God to those
that are near them.—Life is the only time to express our zeal for God,
and love to souls, in such a manner as this. When we pray, _Thy kingdom
come_, we should awaken our endeavours to gain some new subjects to
Christ.

Come, let us all engage our own consciences in this sacred and
compassionate work, while we consider, that _to-day is the accepted
time, now is the hour of salvation_. God may put an end to our own
lives, or the lives of our friends to-morrow, and either their death or
ours will prevent this sort of work for ever. Then we can speak no more,
or they can hear us no more: They will be for ever out of the reach of
our compassionate desires to save them. We may send our bitter sighs,
and our fruitless groans, after them, when they are gone down to
darkness without hope; and we may feel the inward anguish of a sharp and
painful repentance, while, through our neglect, and their own folly and
wickedness, they are cursing the day of their birth and crying out, in
full despair, under the torture of divine vengeance.

XI. Another grace which can be exercised only in this life, is holy
zeal, and boldness in the profession of christianity, with courage in
suffering for Christ. These are virtues that belong only to our mortal
state; these are made necessary to the saints, by the opposition that is
raised against true religion by the men of this world. Here in this
world, _they that will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer
persecution_; 2 Tim. iii. 12. Our Saviour himself, in the first
publication of his own gospel, _endured the contradiction of sinners
against himself_; he sealed his doctrine with his own blood, and has
given his followers a glorious example of a suffering zeal and holy
fortitude. Imitate him who _endured the cross, and despised the shame_;
Heb. xii. 2, 3.

This sort of virtues doth not belong to the heavenly state; for there is
no opposition made to truth and holiness: There are no such trials of
our zeal and courage in heaven; courage to speak boldly for Christ, and
zeal to give him public glory, by maintaining his gospel in the face of
terror and death; for there are no infidels, no sinners, no enemies in
all the heavenly regions. There are no threatening tyrants, no
persecuting powers, no penal laws in the upper world: No prisons, no
fires, no gibbets nor axes there for the followers of the Lamb; no cruel
mockings nor so much as a reproachful word: but the greater our zeal is
for the service of God and our Saviour in the heavenly state, the
greater shall be our honour and applause among the inhabitants of that
country.

Endure then for a season, ye disciples of Christ, grow bold in the
profession of his name, and exult with holy _joy, that you are counted
worthy to suffer shame for his sake_; Acts v. 41. It is here on earth
only, that it is in your power to shew, how much you love your Saviour
more than your life, and that your love to your Lord is stronger than
death with all its terrors. Upon this account shall I exhort you to
practise what the apostle James expresses; James i. 2. _Count it all
joy, my brethren, when ye fall into divers temptations; for the proof or
trial of your faith shall appear honourable and glorious when Christ
comes_; 1 Pet. i. 7. It was a frequent and sacred ambition among the
primitive christians to contend for the crown of martyrdom. This world
is the only stage for such bloody conflicts, and this life is the only
season wherein we can obtain the addition of this ornament to our crown
of glory.

XII. May I add in the last place, that a calm and chearful readiness for
a removal out of this world, is an honour done to Christ and his gospel
here on earth, which belongs not to the heavenly state. Death, in the
course of nature, as well as by the hands of violence, hath always
something awful and formidable in it. Flesh and blood shrinks and
trembles at the appearance of a dissolution, and Christ delights to see
the grace that he has wrought in his saints gain the ascendency over
flesh and blood, and conquer the terrors of death and the grave. He
loves to see his followers maintain a serene soul, and venture upon the
invisible world upon the merit of his blood, with holy fortitude and a
chearful faith. It is only the living christian that can die, and
glorify God his Saviour in that great and important hour. The saints,
who are arrived at heaven, _dwell in the temple of God, and shall go no
more out_; Rev. iii. 12. They are for ever possessed of life and
immortality. There are no more deaths or dangers for them to encounter,
no more terrors to engage their conflict. Death is the last enemy of the
saints; and when the christian meets it with sacred courage, he gives
that honour to the Captain of his Salvation, which the saints in glory
can never give, and which he himself can never repeat. Dying with faith
and fortitude is a noble conclusion of a life of zeal and service. It is
the very last duty on earth; when that is done, then heaven begins.

Thus I have made it evident, in many instances, that there is a rich
variety of virtues and graces to be exercised in this life, which have
no place after death, and upon this account the living christian may be
said to have some advantage beyond the dead. Here an objection or two
will arise that may require an answer.

Objection I.—But is not heaven always represented as a state of
perfection? Is not grace and holiness more complete there than ever they
have been, or can be in the time of our mortal life? And yet how can it
be a state of greater perfection, if so many graces are wanting there?

Answer.—These graces which belong to the living saint, and have no place
among the happy dead, are but the various exercises of a sanctified
mind, arising from some imperfections in our present state. Faith is
owing to our want of sight: Hope is owing to our want of enjoyment:
Patience, courage, compassion, forbearance, forgiveness, repentance, and
such like graces, are owing to the sins, the sorrows, or the temptations
that are found in this world only. The follies, the mistakes, the
infirmities of ourselves, or our fellow-christians, or the wickedness of
the world wherein we live, are the only things that give occasion for
the exercise of such graces as I have now mentioned; therefore in a
perfect state there is no room for them.

Yet every saint in heaven has a sanctified nature, which is the root and
spring of all these graces, and they would appear in glorious exercise
again, if there were any objects, or occasions, or seasons proper to
excite them. Therefore the saints above are not defective in any virtue
or grace, though they have no actual exercise of several of them in
heaven. So God himself would not be in himself less merciful if he
appeared in any province of his dominion where there was no creature in
misery, and consequently no proper object for mercy. He is a God of
infinite compassion and forgiveness still, though he has no immediate
new exercises of them in heaven, in a world where no sinners are: for
sin and misery are the only proper occasions of forgiveness and mercy.
Thus the saints in heaven are perfect in grace and holiness, even though
there are no proper objects or occasions, for this holiness or this
grace to manifest itself in such peculiar instances as I have been
describing in this discourse.

II. How can it be said, that a living christian has any advantage above
the dead? Is not heaven better than earth? And upon that account, is not
death often represented to us under most pleasing colours in the gospel,
as it is an escape from the sins and sorrows of this present state, and
as it conveys us into the world of blessed spirits, where there are
infinite advantages above any thing to be enjoyed in this life!

Answer.—Though the living saint has some advantages which the dead
cannot partake of, yet it is very true, that the honours, the pleasures,
the joys, the perfections, and the advantages of heaven, when summed up
together, are far more and greater, and are infinitely preferable to
those on earth; but they are not at all of the same kind. When we
compare the state of grace and the state of glory together, we may
boldly say, the state of glory has vastly the preference; and St. Paul
himself thought so, Phil. i. 21, 23. _To be dissolved, and to be with
Christ, is far better_ than to dwell in this sinful world. He asserts
it, that death would be his own gain; yet still he allows there are some
advantages of this life, which death would deprive him of; for, says he,
_for me to live_ in the flesh, will be for the honour of Christ in his
churches; and I shall have this fruit of my life, even the _furtherance
of your faith and joy_; verses 22, 25.

When we are encouraging christians to live above the fear of death, we
represent to them all the glories and felicities of the future world,
which are infinitely superior to all things we can enjoy in this life.
But while we continue here on earth, under the difficulties and
hardships of the present state, _we have need of patience, that when we
have done the will of God, we may receive the promises_; Heb. x. 36. And
we have need of all those peculiar advantages to be set before us, which
can belong to our stations here on earth, on purpose to support our
patience, to bear us up under present burdens, and make us active in
present duties: Although it must be still confessed, that all those
advantages of this life, joined with our present sins and sorrows, are
much inferior to the actual taste and fruition of the joys of heaven,
where sin and sorrow are known no more.

This thought very naturally leads me to the improvement and conclusion
of my discourse, which I shall wind up briefly in these four practical
inferences:

Inference I.—Since there are many virtues and duties which belong only
to this present life, “let us lose no opportunity for the practice of
them, for the next day, or the next hour, may put it for ever out of our
power to practise them.” Eternity is a long duration indeed, but it will
never afford us one season for visiting the sick, for feeding the
hungry, or for charity and meekness towards those who injure us:
Eternity itself will never give us one opportunity for the pious labours
of love toward the conversion of sinful acquaintance and relatives. O
let us not suffer this precious lamp of life to burn in vain, or weeks,
and days, and hours to slide away unemployed and useless. Let us
remember, that while we are here, we work for a long hereafter; that we
think, and speak, and act with regard to an eternal state, and that in
time we live for eternity. Let us call up all our powers to action and
diligence, that not a day of our short lives may pass away, but what may
turn to our account in the years of eternity. While God is pleased to
delay our heaven, let our continuance on earth be filled up with the
various exercise of such graces as are suited to our present stations.
Let this be a new spring and motive to our zeal, that we are doing such
honours to God and our Saviour here on earth, of which none of the
saints above are capable, and for which this life is the only season:
And let it appear in the day of retribution that the length of our life
here on earth, has been a great, and real, and everlasting advantage to
us, by preparing us for a higher station after death, and a fairer
inheritance in that world which is everlasting.

II. “Though your hopes of heaven be never so well grounded, yet be not
too impatient of dwelling longer on the earth: And though your burdens
and sorrows may be very great in life, yet be not too hasty and
importunate in your desires of death.” Support yourself under all the
fatigues, trials and difficulties of the present state, with this
consideration, that you are now employed in such service for God, and
paying such a tribute of honour to him in your suffering circumstances,
as all the saints in heaven cannot do. Some of the children of God in
this world have been too impatient of life, and too eager in their
importunities for death and the grave. Job and Elijah were great
favourites of heaven, but they failed a little in this point: And God,
in the course of his providence, afterward made it appear what eminent
service he had for them both to do before they left this world. Elijah
was designed to reform the whole nation of Israel from idolatry, and Job
to be parent of a new large family, and give the world an example of
God’s rewarding providence. _If life be yours_, O christians, and be
numbered among your possessions, be not too hasty to part with it, nor
to throw away that talent which may yet in days to come be employed to
the signal honour of thy God and Saviour.

III. “If life be almost spent, and you have done little for God, see
that in your last, your dying hours, if possible, you speak and act for
his glory. Let not the whole season of life quite pass away, and be
turned over like a blank leaf which has none of the praises of God[41]
written upon it. A word of warning from a death-bed may make a deep and
happy impression on those that hear it, and through divine grace may
save a soul; and if so, thou shalt hear of it again with honour and
applause in the great day. The thief that was converted upon the cross,
spoke a word for Christ in his last moments, and it has been blessed to
rescue many from the jaws of despair: That dying creature had done
nothing for God in his life; a vicious life, and a wicked creature! But
the profession of sincere faith and repentance which he made at his
death, hath been richly honoured in the kingdom of grace; and I am
persuaded it has helped many a fearful christian on toward the kingdom
of glory.”

IV. If so many valuable works are done, and so many graces are exercised
on earth, which have no place in heaven, then the lives of the saints
are worth praying for. Precious in the eye of God is the life of his
saints, and they should be precious in the eye of man too. When an
active, useful christian, when a pious magistrate, when a zealous and
faithful minister goes down to the dust, alas! how much good ceases from
the earth for ever? The world knows not what it loses by such a death.

Let not children be impatient at the length of life which their holy
parents enjoy: You know not, children, what benefit ye may reap from
their example, their counsel, their earnest prayers, and secret
wrestlings with God for your souls: Let us have a care that we do
nothing, that may break the spirits of our pious friends, or that may
hasten the departure of holy persons from this lower world, whose
virtues and graces are of eminent use among us. Let us rather pray
earnestly, that God would lengthen out the days of those, who speak and
act with a useful zeal for the honour of Christ, and for the welfare of
the souls of men. When death once has put a period to their days, all
this sort of service is finished for ever; and we ourselves may sustain
unknown loss by their speedy departure out of this world.

The Recollection.—“Is not this a strange doctrine which I have heard
to-day, that a christian on earth has many privileges which can never
belong to the saints in heaven? Is it not strange tidings to hear, that
there are many graces to be exercised in this life, which neither saints
nor angels can practise in the holy and heavenly world? And yet the
evidence is so strong, and the truth is so plain and certain, that I see
it, and I must believe it. Remember then, O my soul, thou hast one more
motive to diligence in all the duties of life than ever thou hadst
before; And thou hast also one more support under all thy sorrows,
beyond what thy former days were ever acquainted with. A delightful
support it is under sufferings, and a noble motive to duty. Awake, awake
all my active powers, let every grace be in exercise, and every talent
be employed to bring this revenue of honour to my God and my Saviour in
this life, which the saints above cannot give him, and which, at the
moment of death, must for ever cease.”

Blessed Spirit, lead me to the practice of the most useful duties, that
my service may be of a large extent both to God and man. Now let me
study and contrive, wherein I may best promote the interest of Christ
and his gospel here on earth. Let me bear the burdens of life with a
holy satisfaction: Let me endure the fatigues of labour with a sacred
pleasure: Let me resist the temptations, let me sustain the sorrows of
life like a good soldier of Christ in the present field of battle.
Heaven will have other business for me, and proper work of its own: That
is the place of joy and triumph.

“Forgive, O my God, all my slothfulness in duty, and my impatience of
suffering. Let this new and glorious motive possess my spirit
powerfully, and influence all my future conduct, that when the messenger
of death shall tell me, I must be employed in this sort of work no more,
I may look back from the borders of eternity, and rejoice that I have
been assisted by divine grace, to do so much for God on earth; and when
I am called away from the present stage of action, I may be received by
my great Master at the gates of heaven, with a _Well done good and
faithful servant, come, enter into the joy of thy Lord_. _Amen._”


                          HYMN FOR SERMON XL.
             _The Privilege of the Living above the Dead._


                   Awake my zeal, awake my love,
                   And serve my Saviour here below,
                   In works which all the saints above,
                   Which holy angels cannot do.

                   My faith and hope may see the Lord,
                   Though veils of darkness lie between:
                   Hope shall rest firm upon his word,
                   And faith rejoice in things unseen.

                   Awake my charity and feed
                   The hungry soul, and clothe the poor;
                   In heav’n are found no sons of need,
                   There all these duties are no more.

                   Subdue thy passions, O my soul,
                   Maintain the fight, thy work pursue,
                   Daily thy rising sins controul,
                   And be thy vict’ries ever new.

                   The land of triumph lies on high,
                   There are no fields of battle there;
                   Lord, I would conquer till I die,
                   And finish all the glorious war.

                   Let ev’ry flying hour confess
                   I gain thy gospel fresh renown,
                   And when my life and labours cease,
                   May I possess the promis’d crown.

Footnote 41:

  It was a custom in former days for merchants in their books of
  accounts to have “Laus Deo, or Praise to God,” written in the
  beginning of every leaf, and it stood on the head of the page in large
  and fair letters, to put them always in mind, that in their human
  affairs they should carry on a divine design for the glory of God.




                              SERMON XLI.
                   _Death improved to our Advantage._
         1 COR. iii. 22.—Whether life or death,—all are yours.


The chief thing which the apostle has in his eye in these verses, is to
represent the glory and grandeur, the treasures and possessions that
every believer is a partaker of, by virtue of his interest in Christ:
and to shew, that whatsoever persons or affairs a christian has to do
with in the natural, the civil, and the religious life, they shall all
turn to his benefit some way or other. All the circumstances that attend
him while he continues here in this world, and even his departure out of
it too, shall work for his good. Death is numbered among his possessions
as well as life. Death may be terrible to flesh and blood, for it is a
curse in its original nature and design, and sinners will find and feel
the curse of it; but it is transformed into a blessing to the saints by
the abounding grace of the gospel.

I confess, it is a christian’s own death, that the holy writer seems
chiefly and most particularly to design and intend here: And this I
shall most largely insist upon. But since death in all its circumstances
and attendants, in all the extent of its dominion, and with all its
power, is under the sovereign management of God our heavenly Father; it
is constrained to subserve his kind and gracious purposes to his own
people, in all its forms and appearances. And I think upon this account,
that I shall not transgress the apostle’s great and general design, if I
take the dreadful name of DEATH, in its widest and most formidable
extent of power, and with relation to all its victories, and shew how,
even in this largest sense, it is appointed to subserve the glory of
God, and the kingdom of Christ, and by the grace of the new covenant, it
is rendered useful and beneficial to every true christian; on this
account therefore it may be numbered amongst his possessions. _Death is
yours._

With this view I shall endeavour to run through these five general heads
following, and improve each of them, in a few particulars, to the
benefit of christians, agreeably to the design of my text.—Death is made
useful to a saint, when we consider it.

I. As reigning over all mankind in general.—II. As seizing on impenitent
and unpardoned sinners.—III. As taking captive the bodies of the
saints.—IV. As depriving us of our dear relations and kindred. And,—V.
As bringing our own bodies down to the dust.

I confess, I was very unwilling to leave the death of Christ out of this
catalogue; for his death is not only the most eminent blessing to every
christian, but it is also the price that purchased all other blessings
in time, and in eternity. It is the death of Christ that may be called
the christian’s richest treasure, for it procures for him all the
treasures of grace and glory. It is the fruit of his death, that _all
things are ours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or things present,
or things to come_. It is his death that gives truth and virtue to the
words of my text, and to all the rich and spreading comments upon it,
that faith can make here on earth, and that our souls shall taste and
enjoy hereafter in heaven.

Yet when I consider, that the death of Christ is more directly expressed
in many other scriptures, and does not seem at all to have been the
design of St. Paul in this text: and when I survey what a vast and
copious subject I must enter into, if I recount the riches of blessing
that are derived from this spring, I chuse to refer that subject to
another season. I proceed therefore according to the order I have
proposed, to treat of the various advantages to be derived from this
proposition, _Death is yours_.

_First_, The death of mankind in general shall be made profitable to
believers. The death of all the sons and daughters of Adam, shall
promote the improvement of the children of God, in knowledge, grace, and
holiness; for it instructs them in three most useful lessons.

1. It gives them a most powerful and sensible lecture on the vanity of
man. A burying place filled with tombs, is a lively book of human
frailty: It repeats the melancholy lesson in every leaf. Each little
grave-stone becomes a preacher of vanity to the living, even in the
profound silence of the dead. This is the doctrine of every rising
hillock, this is the universal theme: And every stately monument there
strikes the beholder with the same mortifying truth: though perhaps it
swells with many pompous titles and images of honour. And this lesson of
vanity stands written there still in fair and indelible characters,
though the name of the dead, and all their praises be quite worn out.
Dust and ashes, even without an inscription, and without a monument, are
silent but powerful teachers.

Alas, what is man in his best estate! A poor and mortal dying creature!
When we read the histories of past ages and foreign nations, and find
that those whole nations and ages are all dead and mingled with the
dust, and even those, who once made a great bustle and figure in this
world, are now but an empty name, we cry out, “What vain creatures we
are!” When we behold our neighbours and our acquaintance on the
right-hand, and on the left, dropping away all around us; when we see
one following another daily down to the grave of silence, it is a very
natural and just reflection: “Alas, how frail is man!” When we behold
the young, the healthy, the fair, and the strong, the rich, and the
powerful, together with the poor, the feeble, and the slave, all
yielding to the common law of death, and turning into earth and
rottenness, we have just occasion to cry out, “What a vain empty thing
is human nature, even the best of it: A piece of pretty mouldering clay:
These bodies of ours are fine and curious engines but made of the dust,
and to dust they return again.”

This is the common state, situation, and view of things in all seasons,
and in every generation. But when we fix our thoughts on some special
seasons or causes of mortality, when we think of a famine or a
pestilence that sweeps away thousands in a few days, that empties the
whole streets in a night or two, and lays towns or cities desolate; when
we read of wars and battles that overspread the mountain with slaughter,
and cover vast plains with human carcases; when we hear of storms at sea
that drown many hundreds at once, and perhaps some thousands sink down
to death in their floating habitations, then we are more feelingly
penetrated with a sense of our vanity, then we sigh and groan aloud and
break out into this mournful language? _O Lord! hast thou made all
mankind in vain?_ Ps. lxxxix. 49. How awful is thy government! How
terrible are thy judgments, thou Almighty Sovereign of life and death!
The ancient saints have made such remarks often, and mixed these scenes
of mortality with their pious thoughts, and turned them into devotion:
They have drawn many serious and pathetic inferences from such
meditations on death, and vented their musings of thought in holy
language.

(1.) “Shall man compare himself with God? Mortal man _that dwelleth in
houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, and who is crushed
before the moth! Shall he set himself to contend with the eternal God
his Maker_;” Job. iv. 17-19. Again:

(2.) “What little reason have we to be proud and boastful! Poor dying
mushrooms, who start up for a few hours, but cannot assure ourselves of
to-morrow! To-day we swell and look big among men, to-morrow we are a
feast for worms. _Our days are as a hand’s breadth; verily every man at
his best estate is altogether vanity_;” Ps. xxxix. 5. Again:

(3.) “How vain and fruitless a thing is it to _put our trust in princes,
or in the son of man in whom there is no help_? _His breath goeth forth,
he returneth to his earth, in that very day, his thoughts perish_; Ps.
cxlvi. 3, 4. Man is too weak a thing to encourage or support our
confidence.” And:

(4.) “What a necessary duty is it then to fix our constant dependance
upon God, even in all the common affairs of life! _Let us not say
therefore, that to-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and
continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain; whereas ye know
not what will be on the morrow? For what is your life?_ _It is even a
vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away; for
that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live to do this or
that_; James iv. 13-15. And it is the same inference that holy David
makes more than once upon a survey of the mortality of man, in the
Psalms just before cited, _Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee_;
Ps. xxxix. 11. _Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help,
whose hope is in the Lord his God, who keepeth truth for ever_; Ps.
xlvi. 5, 6. The Lord is an everlasting friend, he lives when creatures
die, and fulfils his word of truth, when the words of princes perish
with their breath.”

2. The death of mankind in general shews us the dreadful evil and desert
of sin. It discovers to us the awful holiness and terrible Majesty of
God; and it teaches us what a sublime value he puts upon his own law,
and how fearfully he avenges the violation of it. I join these three
things together, because they stand so nearly connected in the divine
economy.

(1.) The universal death of mankind shews us, what a dreadful and
heinous evil there is in sin, and, what wide destruction it has
deserved. _By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned_; Rom. v. 12.
_For the wages of sin is death_; Rom. vi. 23. Man was made innocent, and
while he continued obedient, he was immortal: Transgression and death
came in together: A formidable pair! Two dreadful names, big with
mischief and ruin to human nature. When we see the dying agonies of poor
mankind, our fellow-creatures, our brethren in flesh and blood, let us
remember the sin of our common father, that first subjected him and all
his posterity to death; and let us reflect upon the dreadful evil that
is contained in the nature of every sin; for it deserves death at the
hand of God. Alas, how often has the best of us deserved to die, for our
transgressions have been multiplied without number.

(2.) The death of all mankind makes a solemn discovery to us of the
terrible Majesty of God and the justice that attends his government. He
will not pass by the guilt of his rebellious creatures, without a due
resentment of their crimes. And even though he pardons the sins of his
own people, so as to secure them from eternal vengeance, yet they must
pass through death, that they may learn what an evil and bitter thing it
is to have offended against their Maker and their God.

When we see a church-yard filled with little hills of mortality, the
ruins of a parish, or a spacious town, and the dust of many generations,
we naturally cry out, as in Deut. xxix. 24. “Wherefore hath the Lord
done thus unto this land, and what meaneth the heat of all this great
anger?” The next verse will give you an answer to it; yea, every man may
answer himself, _because they have forsaken the Lord their God_; they
have forsaken _his covenant of life and sinned against him_. Those
dreadful words, _In the day thou eatest, thou shalt die_; have been
putting into execution almost six thousand years, and the _Lord’s anger
is not yet turned away, but his hand is stretched out still_; Is. v. 25.
the vengeance of the Lord is not yet fully executed according to the
just demerit of sin. Though saints are saved from the dismal
consequences of death, yet God would not rescue them from dying, that
they might always remember what sin deserved. Thus the death of all
mankind discovers to us the awful Majesty of God our Maker, who will not
be affronted by his creatures, without terrible resentment; he is a holy
and jealous God.

(3.) It teaches us the high value that God has for his own law, that he
will rather dash a whole creation to pieces, than suffer his holy law to
be insulted and broken, without some reparation of the honour of it. The
race of Adam is doomed to death, for the sake of sin against this law,
and mortality and a curse spread over this lower world. Let us inure our
thoughts to such reflections as these, that we may ever keep our souls
in awe of the Majesty of God, and dread the thoughts of breaking his
law, which he values above a whole world of men. O that sin may become
the most hateful object in our eyes; it is this that has laid cities
desolate, and fills the graves; it is this that has corrupted and
destroyed our natures; it has turned millions of strong and well-formed
bodies into dust: It has ruined the most beautiful part of God’s lower
creation, and is sending thousands daily to the pit of corruption and
noisome darkness. It is sin has filled our nature with diseases, and
sown the poisonous seeds of mortality and death in every son and
daughter of Adam. A malignant and fatal poison, that has destroyed all
the nations upon earth, and buried them under ground, heaps upon heaps,
in above a hundred successions! But I now go on to another distinct
lesson, that the death of all mankind teaches us.

3. It informs us, in a very sensible and affecting manner, that we
ourselves must shortly die, and awakens the soul to actual preparation
for its departure. Heb. ix. 27. _It is appointed for all men once to
die, and after death the judgment_, Joshua and David, saints and kings,
tell us they _go the way of all the earth_: “The grave is the house
appointed for all the living;” Job xxx. 23. When we behold one after
another, made of the same flesh and blood as we are, going down to the
dust in a long continual succession, we have a solemn warning, that we
must shortly follow: There is no ransom in this case, no hope of safety,
no door of escape, and as Solomon expresses it, _there is no discharge
in this war_; Eccl. viii. 8.

A true christian takes notice of this with a pious awe upon his spirit;
and when he is ready to grow drowsy and secure, the sight of a funeral,
or a grave, shall rouse him out of his sleepy temper, and awaken
religion into life again: When he hears of a neighbour’s death, he asks
his own soul, “Art thou ready? For the next summons may come to call
thee away into the world of spirits, to stand before God the Judge of
all.”

Thus a child of God reaps some advantage by the spreading empire of
death over all mankind; he makes a sacred improvement of the terrible
waste that the king of terrors has made over all the earth: He learns
the vanity and emptiness of man in his best estate: He grows humble and
dependant on the eternal God: He reads the dreadful evil of sin on every
tomb-stone: The death of every man calls him aloud to prepare for his
own, and to be in actual readiness for his entrance into the invisible
world. Happy souls, who take this warning, and stand ever prepared!

But I proceed to the next general head which I proposed;

_Secondly_, As the death of mankind in general, gives these divine
lessons to a saint, so the death of impenitent sinners, which hath
something in it very terrible, may be turned to the advantage and profit
of believers, these three or four ways:

1. If we are true christians, and persecuted and injured here on earth,
then the death of the wicked delivers us from our enemies, and releases
us from the wrath of our oppressors. In the grave “the wicked cease from
troubling, as well as the weary are at rest;” Job iii. 17.

Look back to the distance of three thousand years, and see the children
of Israel on the banks of the Red-sea, rejoicing in the Lord their
deliverer, when an army of Egyptian carcases floated on the waters, or
were cast up in heaps upon the shore: These were the cruel oppressors of
the people of God: They were drowned in the evening, and the morning
light discovered the havoc that death had made, and the salvation it
wrought for Israel, in the xiv. and xv. of Exodus. See the whole city of
Jerusalem, and Hezekiah at the head of them, triumphing in the Lord,
when he sent the angel of death, and destroyed the besiegers: “A hundred
and four score and five thousand Assyrians lay dead on the borders of
the city;” Is. xxxvii. 36. “By terrible things in righteousness God
answered the prayer of his saints;” Ps. lxv. 5. And at the death of
Herod, the father and mother of our blessed Lord were glad, for they
returned from their flight; they came from the land of Egypt, and dwelt
in their own land again; and the child Jesus was saved from the
murderous designs of that cruel man; Mat. ii. 19.

Such examples of advantage which the saints receive from the death of
the men of violence, their impious and bloody enemies, are frequent in
sacred history: And we may remark in our day, how many a time God hath
saved us in Great Britain, when we have been on the borders of
destruction, by the death of persecutors at home and abroad. The
monarchs of the earth, have been turned down to their graves, one year
after another, and the churches of God, in many nations, have found rest
and deliverance.

2. The death of impenitent sinners has been many a time, the happy
occasion of the conversion of a saint. There is many a holy soul, now in
heaven, that was first awakened to fly from the wrath to come, by the
death of some of his wicked companions in his younger years. When a
snare falls suddenly, and seizes a little bird or two of the flock, the
rest take wing toward heaven, and fly for safety. And happy are those
souls, who take the terrible warning, who fly to the sacred refuge, and
lay hold on offered grace.

When a vile wretch is seized in the midst of his companions, and his
sins, and sent down to hell and destruction in a moment, the very gates
of hell seem to open before our faces, to receive the rebel; such a
spectacle fills the hearts of those that are near him, with amazement
and terror, and hath often been the first means of sending them to the
throne of grace; and, by degrees, to the gates of heaven. The story of
Peter Valdo is famous on this occasion, who was a rich merchant at Lyons
in France, but had no sense of inward religion, or true piety. When in
the midst of feasting and merriment, he saw one of his companions struck
with sudden death, he was awakened to serious thoughts of eternity: Upon
this he applied himself to study the scripture, and discover the errors
of the Roman church; he acquainted his friends with them, and instructed
the poor, who were continual partakers of his bounty. Then being
excommunicated by the popish clergy, he retired, with some of his
disciples, to the vallies of Piedmont, where he found some christians of
an ancient and primitive stamp, and joining with them, established those
churches which are called the Vaudois, and are famous in history, even
to this day.

Bishop Burnet also tells us, in the life of the Lord Chief Justice Hale,
that in his younger years he gave himself up to much frolic and vanity,
till one of his loose companions fell down on a sudden, and they thought
him dead: which surprizing providence sent Mr. Hale to his knees, to
pray earnestly for the recovery of his companion, and laid a foundation
for that life of eminent virtue and religion, which is described in
those memoirs. Thus not only the death of profligate sinners, but even
the appearance of their death, has been blessed to gracious purposes,
for the conversion and salvation of others.

3. The death of the wicked gives the children of God glorious matter for
praise to his distinguishing grace. When they see or hear of a hardened
and impenitent sinner cut off in his guilt and obstinacy, and in the
pursuit of his lusts, the holy soul cries out with thankfulness and
zeal, “Glory be to that grace which has made the difference betwixt him
and me!”

And this is still more remarkable, when a sinner dies with all the
terrors of God upon him, when the sting of death enters into his heart,
and sharpens all his last agonies, when conscience is awakened with all
its horrors, and the soul is plunging with its eyes open into a gulf of
everlasting misery. O how sensibly does this affect the heart of a true
christian! He stands and wonders, and adores that rich mercy that has
snatched him as a brand out of the burning. “What am I,” says he, by
nature more than another, that God should have called me by his grace,
and given me repentance unto life, while this poor wretch continued
obstinate and impenitent? We were both sons of Adam the sinner,
alienated from the life of God, and enemies to all that is holy: We were
both favoured with the means of grace, and sat under the ministrations
of the same gospel. Who, or what am I better than my neighbour, that God
should powerfully incline my heart to accept the offered salvation! That
he should have prepared me as a vessel of mercy, to be filled with
glory, while my old companion has now made himself a complete _vessel of
wrath_, and fitted himself for swift destruction; Rom. ix. 22, 23. By
nature I was a _child of wrath_, as well as he, a rebel, and a vile
transgressor, _without God_, without Christ, _and without hope_: And why
was not I seized by divine justice, in those days of my rebellion, and
made a sacrifice to the indignation of God? What merit was there in me,
that I should be spared, while my companion suffered under speedy
vengeance? Let the freedom and riches of grace be adored for ever: It
was rich and sovereign grace that spared me. And now, through the
abounding mercy of God, I hope I have fled to lay hold on the refuge set
before me; my heart is, in some measure, sanctified, my nature renewed,
and my sins pardoned. Blessed be the Lord who hath given me _hope in
death, while the wicked are driven away in their wickedness, driven far
away_ from hope and heaven; Prov. xiv. 32.

4. The death of impenitent sinners does another service also for the
saints, in that it sensibly excites their pity and their prayers for the
living. It awakens the exercise of pious charity for the souls of their
friends, that are yet _in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of
iniquity_. A true christian, that has tasted of the grace of God, can
hardly be supposed to see his impenitent neighbour seized with sudden
death, and sent away to darkness, but it touches the springs of holy
tenderness within him, and constrains him to speak a word to others in
the same danger, and to lift up a cry to God upon their account for
grace and salvation. Surely that christian is not in a right temper of
mind, who can see or hear of impenitent and guilty souls seized away
from his neighbourhood or his acquaintance, and plunging into eternity
with horror and despair, and yet have no compassion awakened in him, no
bowels of pity moving for those of his acquaintance that are involved in
the same iniquities, and are yet in the land of the living, and on this
side hell. Such an awful providence is like a warning-word which heaven
puts into our mouths, that we may echo it with solemn horror round the
neighbourhood, and try to rouze stupid sinners from their dangerous and
fatal lethargy.

[Here is a proper pause in this Sermon, if it be too long to be read at
once.]

But it is time now to leave this general head, and go on to the next.

_Thirdly_, If the death of hardened sinners turns to the advantage of
the saint, the death of fellow-christians shall certainly work for his
benefit too.

You will be ready to say, “What! Can the loss of good men from the earth
ever be turned into a benefit? Can the death of saints bring any
advantage to the survivors?” Yes, surely, if they die like christians
indeed, in the lively exercises of faith and hope, and this will appear
in these four particulars:

1. It confirms our faith in the gospel of Christ, and supports our holy
profession. It gives us an assurance of the truth and power of our
religion, above all other religions in the world, when it enables a poor
feeble dying creature to face death with courage, to look beyond the
limits of life and time, and venture into an unseen world with holy joy
and triumph. It gives us a glorious evidence, that the principles of
christianity are such, as will justify all the labours of a holy life,
and will bear us out in the profession of it, in the midst of ridicule
and mockery, of persecution and martyrdom. This surely must be a
religion coming down from God, that can give the weak and unlearned such
a courage, as to encounter death itself without fear: and that not from
a stupid and senseless temper of spirit, not from a brutal hardiness,
such as carries the horse and the hero into the battle, but with a clear
and full discovery of God and his holiness, of our own sins and his
forgiving grace, this religion can enable us to venture into his
immediate presence. How glorious is our gospel, how divine a doctrine is
this! It has wrought ten thousand such wonders by faith in the blood of
Christ, as the great atonement for sin, and the only way to the Father.

A saint leaving this world, and putting off mortality, with the light of
heaven breaking in upon his soul, and the beams of glory shining round
about him, with divine joy and transport in his countenance, and the
language of heaven upon his lips, brings the invisible world into
present view: The pious spectators grow up to a sensible assurance of
the glories and felicities of that invisible world; each of them sits on
the borders of paradise, each of them gets a glimpse of the new
Jerusalem, and all the heavenly country, and this adds new strength to
his faith and hope.

2. The glorious death of our fellow-christians greatly encourages the
imitation of their holy life. To see a child of God die from amongst
men, leave this world with a holy contempt and sincere pleasure, and
enter into the presence of his heavenly Father with a filial confidence;
to see him finish his race with joy, and, as it were, lay hold on
salvation, and put on his heavenly crown: This calls aloud upon us to
tread in the same steps, to pursue the blessed prize, and to be
_followers of them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the
promises_; Heb. vi. 12. When we _mark the perfect man, and behold the
upright, and see that his end is peace_; Ps. xxxvii. 37. we are animated
to walk with God in the same uprightness, and to press after the same
perfection. Having such _a cloud of witnesses_ that have gone before us,
and Christ our Lord at the head of them, _we run with patience the race
that is set before us_, till we arrive at the promised glory; Heb. xii.
1.

To stand near the bed of a dying saint, and observe the sweet serenity
of his soul under the agonies of his flesh, would force Balaam himself
to say, _Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be
like his_; Numb. xxiii. 10. But the christian goes further, and with
holy zeal, and humble dependance upon divine grace, establishes himself
in the ways of holiness: He resolves that he will live the life of the
righteous too, and tread in the paths of piety with utmost watchfulness
and care that he may lay a foundation for the same peaceful reflections
on his death-bed, and the same joyful prospect.

3. The death of fellow-saints is for our benefit, as it weans us from
this world, as it makes earth and this life less pleasant to us, and
heaven more desirable. Every holy soul that leaves the world, carries
away so much grace and goodness from it. What would this world be if all
the saints had left it, but a cage of unclean birds, a nest of serpents,
a wilderness of savage beasts, a habitation of Satan, and his sons and
daughters; a dwelling of devils, and a region of darkness a-kin to hell?
Did not converting grace turn sinners into saints, and make a constant
succession of christians, this would be the dismal character of this
world in the space of one generation. But, blessed be God, as bad as
this world is, divine grace is still at work, and makes it a sort of
nursery for heaven by new conversions.

Yet still the death of the saints is the loss of so much of heaven out
of our sinful world; and the fewer friends God has here, there will be
the fewer communications between heaven and earth. The absence of Christ
and his saints, spreads a sort of dim shadow over all the fairest
colours of this lower creation; the beauties of it fade, and the flowers
of it, in our esteem, languish and hang their head, because Jesus, and
so many of his holy ones, are departed. When we see one pious friend
after another, taking their leave of us, and ascending to the upper
world, we are ready to say, “What should we stay here for? Our God is on
high, our Saviour is on high, multitudes of our friends are departed
from us, and dwell on high. Farewell earth, and time, and sensible
things: We long to be with our best friends, and with our God; we are
ready, O Jesus, for thy first summons; take us when thou pleasest into
heaven and eternity.”

4. The comfortable death of a saint instructs us how to die, and makes
death easy. When we see and hear a fellow-christian examining his heart,
searching his soul to the bottom, turning all his secret thoughts
outward, and looking over the past conduct of his life; when we behold
him reviewing his own follies and iniquities, and recalling to mind also
all his sacred transactions with God; when we see him surveying all
these most important concerns in the light of the last judgment, and, as
it were, under the piercing rays of the great tribunal; when we hear him
abasing himself to the dust in the most vilifying expressions, because
of his sins, and yet rejoice in the evidences of his graces, and
repeating the promises of the gospel with a pleasant hope; this teaches
us to converse with our own souls in a more lively manner, about sin and
forgiveness, about death and eternity; for it brings these awful themes
into open view, and sets them before us in their infinite importance.
This reads us a glorious lecture upon the gospel of Christ, and
pardoning grace, and the sanctifying Spirit, and the hope of glory,
beyond what we ever found before in the best of sermons, and under the
warmest preachers.

Come, my friends, come into the chamber of a dying christian, come,
approach his pillow, and hear his holy language: “I am going up to
heaven, and I long to be gone, to be where my Saviour is. _Why are his
chariot-wheels so long a coming?_ Then with both arms stretched up to
heaven, I desire to be with God. I hope I am a sincere christian, but
the meanest, and the most unworthy: I know I am a great sinner; but did
not Christ come to save the chief of sinners; I hope I shall find
acceptance in Christ Jesus. I have trusted in him, and I have strong
consolation. I have been looking into my own heart, what are my
evidences for heaven? Has not the scripture said, _He that believeth
shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life_; John iii. 16. Now,
according to the best knowledge I have of what faith is, I do believe in
Christ, and I shall have life everlasting. Does not the scripture say,
_He that hungereth and thirsteth after righteousness shall be
satisfied_; Mat. v. 6. Surely I hunger and thirst after it, I desire to
be holy, I long to be conformable to God, and to be made more like him;
shall I not then be satisfied! I love God, I love Christ, I desire to
love him more, to be more like him, and to serve him in heaven without
sin. I have faith, I have love, I have repentance, yet I boast not, for
I have nothing of myself, I speak it all to the honour of the grace of
God, it is all grace; I say then, I have faith, and repentance, and
love; but faith and repentance are all nothing without Christ; it is he
makes all acceptable to the Father, and I trust in him. My friends, I
have built on this foundation Jesus Christ, he is indeed the only
foundation: Have you not built on the same foundation too? This is my
hope. Is it not your hope also? Dear brother, I shall see you at the
right-hand of Christ: There I shall see our friends that are gone a
little before: I shall be with them first before you. I thank you, my
friends, for all your offices of love; you have prayed with me, you have
refreshed me. I love and honour you now, but I shall meet you in heaven,
I go to my God and your God, to my Saviour and your Saviour[42].”

Would one think there could be so much pleasure in the dying chamber of
a beloved friend? Surely this makes good the words of my text; if we are
christians, death is ours. O this is a divine entertainment that
refreshes our spirits! And while sorrow trickles from our eyes for the
loss of a departing christian-friend; there is a sympathy of joy that
works powerfully at the heart, and the heaven within us breaks out and
shines through our tears. Then, with a wondrous mixture of the painful
and the pleasant, with a sweet confusion of pious passions, we bid our
dying brother, “Farewell.”

At such a season as this, our thoughts are led upward to heaven, and
forward to the great resurrection. We open the eye of faith, and see the
holy soul ascending to God; we behold the weak and languishing body
rising glorious out of the grave, shaking off the dust, and putting on
its immortality: While our faith attends the spirit of our departing
friend to heaven, we grow willing and desirous to be gone too; and being
brought so near to the gates of glory, we would fain take our leave of
mortal things, and accompany the expiring saint to the joyful world of
spirits. The memory of such a scene, and such a hour, will dwell upon
our thoughts long, and support our own hope of victory, when we shall be
called to conflict with the same enemy. Having such a witness gone
before us, we shall not only _run our race with patience_, through all
the stages of it, but _finish our course with joy_.

There is a sacred courage derived many times to a weak believer, by
attending the last moments of a dying saint ascending to the upper
world. I was afraid of death, says a feeble christian, till I saw my
neighbour die: He was once a sinner as well as I, and he had his
imperfections and failings in this life, as I have mine; I humbly hope I
have practised the same repentance as he has done, I have trusted in the
same Saviour, I have ventured my all upon the same gospel, and travelled
on in the same path: surely there is forgiveness for me too; surely the
sting of my death shall be taken away also; and, through grace, I shall
join in his triumph; _O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy
victory_; 1 Cor. xv. 55.

This observation has been most gloriously exemplified in the death of
martyrs: When the spectators that have been heathens, or but almost
christians, have been strangely animated to profess the gospel boldly,
while they have seen the most amazing courage of these glorious
sufferers for Christ. And those that have been doubtful and trembling
believers, whose faith was wavering, and who were ready to let go their
profession, have ventured through blood and torments, and death, with a
divine resolution, when they have beheld the martyrs meet the same death
and torments with a sacred bravery of soul.

A multitude of fearful christians may be animated and encouraged to
travel through the dark valley, and to cross the cold flood of death, by
the example of a single saint, who has passed that important hour with
success and honour. So you have seen a flock of sheep stand doubtful and
delaying on the bank of some little brook; but when the first and second
have made their way through it, the rest venture over in multitudes, and
leap the ditch with the greatest ease, the difficulty and the danger
vanish at once, when they have seen a forerunner leading the way.

Thus it hath been made evident in several instances, that the death of
fellow-christians is ours. It shall turn to our great advantage, through
the influences of the gospel, and the Spirit of grace, where christians
die like themselves, in the exercise of a joyful hope. It confirms our
faith in the gospel of Christ, it encourages our imitation of their holy
life, it makes earth and this life less pleasant to us, and heaven more
desirable, and it instructs us how to die.

But if a saint go out of this world under much darkness and terror, this
is commonly to be supposed a divine chastisement for the criminal
indulgence of some temptations, or some unwatchful steps he has taken in
the course of his life; for God will make his own people know, many
times by painful experience, that it is an evil and bitter thing to
backslide and depart from him. A wise and pious spectator upon this
occasion, will take warning by the terrors of the Lord, and by the
punishment of his fellow-christian, to avoid that guilt, and those
criminal indulgences, which have provoked God to leave his brother to
darkness, even in the hour of death: And this may be a means to awaken
him to a most watchful course of holiness, lest he fall under the same
strokes of anger from his heavenly Father, and suffer his displeasure in
that awful moment, when he would most earnestly wish for the sweetest
sense of his love. Thus I have finished the third general head, and
shewed that the death of the saints may be richly improved to the
advantage of the living.

The Recollection.—“Come, my soul, who art daily conversing with the
affairs and concerns of life, come now, and meditate on the name of
death: It is a name that carries much terror in it to nature; come, and
see whether thou canst not derive a blessing from it, by the
instructions of the gospel, and the aids of grace. Thou hast heard the
lessons that the death of mankind in general should teach thee: Enquire
now what thou hast learned of them: Hast thou seen the vanity of man as
a mortal dying creature? It is an easy matter to say, Alas, we must all
die: But hast thou felt the penetrating force of this truth? And does it
influence thy whole conduct? Art thou not still, at every turn, putting
thy confidence in one creature or another, whose breath is in his
nostrils, and whose death disappoints thy hope? Or hast thou removed thy
dependance from all creatures to God, and fixed thy hope in him that
lives for ever? O blessed effect of the meditation on death?”

“Again, Hast thou seen the heinous evil of sin in the spreading
desolation that death has made over this lower world? Remember that it
received its commission from the justice of God, almost six thousand
years ago, and from his law which sin had broken: The dreadful execution
proceeds to this day, and it will proceed till there be no sinner upon
earth. Sin is the spring of all this havoc of the lives of men. It is
sin that has deserved all these tremendous executions of wrath: And yet,
O my soul, how often hast thou indulged this mischief, to play about thy
bosom, like a harmless thing! Come, view the dismal effects of it, in
the death of millions, and learn to hate and renounce it for ever. It is
no small evil that could awaken the indignation of God at this rate, and
diffuse it so widely, over so large and so glorious a part of his
creation, as the whole nature and race of man.

“Again, I would enquire, has the death of mankind taught me effectually,
that I must shortly die? And have I been excited, to make a suitable
provision for this awful and important hour, since I must not, I cannot
escape it? Not only the death of mankind in general, but the death of
wicked men may instruct me in some useful lessons too. Here I learn how
God rescues his children from the rage of oppressors, when he smites
them down to death, and lays all their fury silent in the dust. Thus
death itself becomes a deliverer to the saints, by destroying their
cruel persecutors. I learn also, that when early or sudden death has
seized a bold sinner, it is a loud warning-word to all his companions.
When I see such terrible examples in the course of providence, let my
soul stand in awe and fear.

“And if God has distinguished me by his mercy, if he has pardoned my
guilt, and sanctified my corrupt nature, if he has made me one of his
own children, and prepared me for dying, when he summons others away
unpardoned, unsanctified, unprepared, let all my powers be excited to
bless the name of the Lord for his saving love. I was also a child of
sin and wrath, but divine grace has made the difference. It is grace
that has snatched me from the very brink of the pit of hell, and is
training me up for heaven. And while I adore thy distinguishing mercy, O
my God, to me, I would pity and pray for poor heedless and regardless
sinners, that are following one another in a dismal succession, down to
the gates of death. O may their eyes and souls be awakened in their day
of life and hope, lest death seize them, and send them farther down to
everlasting darkness and despair! But if such lessons, as these, be
derived from the death of sinners, how much more benefit may be drawn
from the dying hours of a sincere christian, especially if his heart be
strong, and his faith lively!

“Here, I see the gospel of Christ in some of its power and glory, when I
see a christian under all the weaknesses and languishings of nature,
meeting death without terror, and _overcoming his last enemy by the
blood of the Lamb_. I see the saint all serene and peaceful, even in the
agonies of dying nature, and amidst the sorrows of lamenting friends. He
has heaven in view, and he bids farewell to earth with holy joy: Shall I
not imitate the faith and holiness of his life, which laid a foundation
for so peaceful and glorious a death? Do I not feel my soul a little
more weaned from the world, since such a pious friend has left it? Has
not death lost some of its frightful appearances, since I have actually
seen it conquered? Do I not feel my heart panting and breathing toward
the society above, since I have another friend gone thither? Does it not
seem a more easy thing to me to lay down this tabernacle, to part with
flesh and blood, and to venture into those unseen regions, since I have
beheld my fellow-christian go before me? He has made the great and
solemn experiment, and surely I should have courage to follow: He has
given evident proof, that there is a sacred power in the gospel, the
promises and the grace of Christ, to convey the soul safe through the
dark shadow of death, without surprise and consternation: And has not my
soul the same rich encouragements, the same promises of grace, and the
same gospel of hope?

“O my Redeemer, and my Lord, hear a humble suppliant, influence my soul
by thy rich grace, to keep my faith awake, my conscience undefiled, and
my evidences for heaven ever bright and clear; And when my appointed
hour comes, that solemn and final hour, _let me die the death of the
righteous_, and my departure be like his; Num. xxiii. 10. Is death an
enemy to nature, and does it carry terror in the name? Yet since thou
hast subdued this enemy, and taken it captive, to serve the purposes of
thy love, since thou hast numbered it, and written it down among the
possessions of thy people: since thou hast taught so many of thy
followers to triumph over it; let me also, blessed Jesus, let me be
enabled to meet it with holy fortitude, and a lively hope. O let me
follow _the footsteps of the flock_, into the world of spirits, with a
sacred pleasure, though it be through a dark passage. And as those, who
went before me, have taught me to dare to die, so let my dying moments
encourage those who come after me, to venture into death, at thy call,
without terror and without reluctance.” _Amen._


                          HYMN FOR SERMON XLI.
           _Death of Mankind, Saints and Sinners, Improved._


                 Has death such vast destruction made?
                 Does every hour increase the dead?
                 Here I behold the guilt of sin,
                 That brought this spreading mischief in.

                 Great God! How awful and how just!
                 Thy law, that turns our flesh to dust!
                 O let me learn how frail am I,
                 And all my life prepare to die.

                 When impious wretches yield their breath,
                 And go unpardon’d down to death,
                 Awake my soul, adore the grace;
                 That gave thee a repenting space.

                 But when a saint with chearful air
                 Meets his last foe, and feels no fear,
                 Our faith, our hope, and courage grow;
                 We learn to face the tyrant too.

                 We could renounce our all things here,
                 And wish that moment would appear,
                 When we shall leave this world and rise
                 To meet the joys above the skies.

Footnote 42:

  These are some of the dying words of the Reverend Mr. Samuel Rosewell,
  when, with some other friends, I went to visit him two days before his
  death, and which I transcribed as soon as I came home, by their
  assistance.




                              SERMON XLII.
                    _The Death of Kindred improved._
        1 COR. iii. 22.——Whether life or death,——all are yours.


Happy and immortal had Adam been, and all his children, if he had not
ventured to break the command of his Creator: Life had been theirs in
the most glorious sense of it; and death had not been known. But when
sin entered into the world, death followed close behind it, according to
that just and solemn threatening, _In the day thou eatest, thou shalt
surely die_; Gen. ii. 17. And what a dismal havoc has this enemy made
amongst the inhabitants of our world! It has strewed the earth with
carcases, and turned millions of human bodies into dust and corruption.
The very name of death spreads a terror through all nature: But as
dreadful and formidable as it is in itself, the grace of Christ makes a
blessing of it, and sanctifies it to the advantage of his own people.

In the former discourse on this subject, we have learned some divine
lessons from death, in its widest extent of dominion. The death of all
mankind yields some special advantage to a saint: He is taught to reap
some benefit from the death of impenitent sinners, though it carry along
with it, such a fearful train of attendants, and draw after it a long
eternity of torments. He knows how to derive some advantage from the
death of his fellow-christians; and whether they die in the joy of
faith, and serenity of spirit, or whether their sun sets in a cloud, and
fears and doubts attend them, in that important hour, still he is taught
to profit by it. In these three instances, it appears that death is
ours: Death is in this respect made the treasure and property of a
christian, as he is instructed to improve it, to his own sacred
interest, and to the welfare of his soul. We proceed now to the

Fourth general head, and shall endeavour to shew how the death of our
relations and kindred in the flesh shall turn to our benefit.

I. It shews us the emptiness and insufficiency of our dearest created
comforts, of all blessings that are not immortal.

We have lost, perhaps, an inferior relation, a son, a daughter, a
nephew, a pleasing entertainment and comfort of life: But death tells
us, it was a poor dying comfort, a pretty piece of brittle clay, broken
and dissolved, and mouldering to the dust. Our love and our grief, it
may be, join together, to recal the past days of fondness and delight,
short-lived delight, and empty vain fondness, that ends in tears and
long mourning? We have lost a superior relation, or perhaps, an equal, a
father, a wife, a husband, or a brother: We have lost a guide, a
support, a helper, a dear affectionate friend, entirely loving and
entirely beloved.

He was a kind and skilful guide, but death teaches us the insufficiency
of his guidance, who left us in the mid-way, and lets us travel through
all the remaining part of this dark wilderness alone. He has given us
sweet counsel and direction in days past, but he can now direct us no
more, we can consult him no more: Those lips of advice, on which we
hung, are closed and silent in death: That voice will be heard no more:
We must walk without this counsellor all the rest of our way, be it
never so long, and never so dangerous.

He was our helper, and our support under daily difficulties; but it was
a weak support, that could not stand itself, when death shook him: A
poor helper, and a sorry defence, that could not resist the powers of
disease and mortality, nor defend himself from the assaults of death.

He was a friend, and a faithful one too; but it was a feeble, a failing
friend, even in the midst of his love and faithfulness; for he was
called away, and constrained to depart from us in a dark and sorrowful
minute, and hath left us to mourn alone.—He could not abide with us a
moment beyond his summons; he forsook us while we were drowned in grief,
and could give us no more consolation. _Our fathers where are they?_
_Our prophets_, our instructors, our guides, and helpers are gone down
to the land of silence, they lie asleep in the dust and darkness; Zech.
i. 5.

Thus death is made of advantage to us, even when it strikes us in so
tender a part: For it teaches us this sacred lesson, how vain and empty
are all our hopes in creatures! The dart of death is like a pen of iron
in his hand, and he writes emptiness and vanity on every friend, on
every relative that he takes from our family, from our side, from our
bosom: He writes it in deep and painful characters, and holds our souls
to the solemn lesson. The same truth stands written in many a part of
the book of God, in divine and golden letters; but perhaps, we would
never have learned it, had not death copied it out for us in letters of
blood.

II. The death of our kindred drives us to a more immediate and constant
dependance on God. When the stream is cut off, what should we do but run
to the fountain? If the stars vanish, we seek the sun-beams. And O may
the sun arise, and shine upon our souls with growing light and comfort
as the stars disappear!

While our friends or kindred were alive, we made them our refuge in
every distress; we have trusted in them perhaps too much; we have lived
too much upon them, with the neglect of God. A parent, a brother, or
perhaps a dearer relative; these were our high tower, our defence, our
sun, and our shield: These assumed that station in our hearts, and that
high place in our esteem, which is due to God only. But, when this tower
is battered down to dust, when the shield of clay is broken to pieces,
and this dim and feeble sun turned into darkness, then we make God alone
our sun, our shield, and our high tower of defence. Then we search out
earnestly, what kind and condescending characters, and relations God has
assumed in his word; and we read and survey the gracious titles of our
Lord Jesus Christ, with new and unknown delight.

Have any of you lost your earthly parents? Then you read with pleasure
those words of the Psalmist, _If my father or my mother forsake me_, as
they must do at the hour of death, then the Lord will take me up; Ps.
xxvii. 10. And you rejoice in that glorious promise, _Be ye separate
from idols_, saith the Lord; that is, separate yourselves from the
sinful practices of the world, _and I will receive you, and I will be a
Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty_; 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. Has death entered into a family, and taken
the head, the husband away? The words of Isaiah grow sweeter than ever;
Is. liv. 5. _Thy Maker is thy Husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name,
even the God of the whole earth._ Are the widows and the fatherless
children in danger of oppression, because they have lost their defender?
They run to the lxviii. Ps. and live upon the 5th verse of it; _A Father
of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widows, is God in his holy
habitation_. Is a brother summoned away by the stroke of death? But the
Lord Jesus is alive still: He that took flesh and blood upon him, that
he might be made like the rest of the children of God, _He is not
ashamed to call them brethren_; Heb. ii. 11. This is a _brother_ that
was _born for_ the day of _our adversity_; this is the _friend that
sticks closer than a brother_, and abides with us when a brother
departs, according to the expression of the wise man; Prov. xvii. 17.
and xviii. 24. Thus the names, and characters, and relations of God the
Father, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, acquire a new sweetness, and
appear with greater love and glory in them, at the death of our earthly
relatives.

There is many a christian can speak feelingly, and say, “Never did I
live so much upon my God, I never knew nor loved my Saviour so well,
never conversed so much with his word, never did I find such sweetness
in his names, nor his promises, nor such pleasure in secret converse
with him, as I have done since the day I lost such a friend, or such a
dear relation by the stroke of death: I have learned now to put no trust
in creatures; _for their breath goeth forth, and that very day their
thoughts of kindness perish_; Ps. cxlvi. 3-8. _Now refuge fails me, no
man_ seems to be _concerned for me_, since the death of such a friend;
_I say_, therefore, _to my God, thou art my refuge_; Ps. cxlii. 4, 5.”

III. The death of our dearest friends calls us to a noble trial of our
love to God, and our submission to his sovereignty. Human nature indeed
is afraid of trials; but when the present aids of divine grace give us
the victory, then _blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when
he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him_; James i. 12. And upon this account, he
exhorts christians in the second _verse_, to a very sublime and
difficult practice, _My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into
divers temptations, knowing this, that the trial of your faith worketh
patience_, and if it endures the trial, _it will be found unto praise,
and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ_; 1 Pet. i. 7.

When God sends his messenger of death, and takes a dear and beloved
creature from our arms, or our bosom, the divine question is like that
of our Lord to Peter, _Simon, lovest thou me?_ John xxi. 15-17.
Christian, _lovest thou me more than_ thou lovest this creature? Art
thou willing to resign this comfort at my call? Hast thou not given
thyself to me, and does thy heart refuse to give up thy son, thy
brother, or thy dearest friend? Hast thou not called me thy sovereign? I
am come now to enquire into thy sincerity. Dost thou resign thy most
beloved objects to my disposal? I gave up my Son to death for you; and
have you any thing so dear to you as my Son was to me? What says your
heart in answer to these solemn questions? Do you love me above all
things, or no? Is your will bowed down to my foot? Can you now repeat
from your very souls the same language, in which you have often
addressed me in your closets, and in my sanctuary, “I am thine, Lord, I
am thine; all that I have is thine?” Or do you murmur and quarrel at my
providence, when I send my servant death to your house, to try whether
these professions of yours were sincere or no?

Happy the christian that comes off with honour in this hour of trial,
and who can say heartily, Lord, I resign what thou demandest, and am
angry with myself that I should find so much reluctance in my heart, to
surrender any thing at the call of God! What a shining evidence of our
sincerity is obtained at such a season? What a noble proof of our
supreme love to God? And it shall be recorded in heaven for our honour,
and produced in the day of the Lord Jesus?

There is nothing in all the history of Abraham, the father of the
faithful, that gives him a more shining character on earth, or, perhaps,
in heaven, than that he gave up his son Isaac, at the command of God,
and _took the wood, and the fire, and the knife, in his hand_, and
devoted his beloved, his only son to death; though it was in a way so
terribly painful and so shocking to nature, that he himself must be the
executioner. He had offered the precious sacrifice already in his heart,
when the angel of the Lord came down and stopped his hand: Now I know
that thou fearest God, and I know that thou lovest him too, seeing thou
hast not withheld thy son, thy only son from me; Gen xxii. 9-12.

Thus the death of the dearest relation turns greatly to our advantage,
when it gives us so bright an evidence of our own graces, and assures us
that we are hearty lovers of God.

IV. The death of a beloved relative, has often wrought for the good of a
saint, when the long and painful sorrow which has attended it, has shewn
us how dangerous a thing it was to love a creature too well.

“O! What a wound do I feel at my heart, says a christian, since the
death of so near a relation: It pains me all the day: It fills my eyes
with tears, and forbids my rest in the night: I am so troubled that I
cannot sleep: It unfits me for the present duties of life, and hangs too
heavy upon me, in the midst of the duties of religion. Surely, that
creature dwelt too near my heart, and was joined in too close a union,
since my heart bleeds and smarts so long after the parting stroke. Let
me watch my affections for time to come, and set a guard upon my love,
that it never, never tie my soul so fast to a creature again. Come down,
blessed Saviour, and take faster hold of my heart; let thy own hand heal
the wound that death has made, and let thy mercy pardon the guilt of my
excessive creature-love: Dwell thou in my soul, my Lord and my God, and
fill up all the unhappy and painful vacancy: Keep my affections for ever
true to thee, and let my love to thee be supreme and unrivalled; nor let
the softer passions of my nature wander and lose themselves amongst
creatures again, lest they contract new guilt: lest they provoke thee to
repeat the same smarting tragedy, and to renew these scenes of
mourning.”

V. The death of our kindred is for our advantage, when it awakens us to
review our own conduct toward them, whether we have behaved aright or
no, and when it quickens our duty to surviving relatives.

While they are alive, and present with us, our neglect of duty towards
them does not so soon strike our consciences; but when the stroke of
death divides them from us in this world for ever, we are ready then to
bethink ourselves, whether our carriage toward them has been just and
kind: And if our enquiry finds out our guilt, our hearts are tender at
that season, and we soon yield to the conviction. “Did I pay that duty
to a father, which he well deserved, and which God required? Did I treat
a mother with that filial affection, and submissive tenderness that
became a child? Did I pay that just deference and honour to the counsels
and advice of my parents as I should have done? Did I treat my sisters
with that decent affection and respect that became me? And did I
exercise brotherly love toward all my equal relatives? Or has my conduct
been undutiful, unkind, and unbecoming?”

And especially if we have this to charge ourselves with, that we took no
care for the welfare of the souls of those that are dead. Such thoughts
as these will hang heavy about the heart, and press hard upon the
conscience in that day. “Did I not see my child or my brother walk in
the ways of sin: and yet did I ever give him a hint of his dreadful
danger? Did I fear that he was a stranger to the grace of God, and yet
did I not neglect to invite him to receive the gospel? Had I not reason
to question whether he was a sincere convert or no? But how little have
I done toward his conversion?

“Or if he was ever concerned about the affairs of his soul, and awakened
and thoughtful about death and hell, did I direct him in the way of
peace? Did I endeavour to lead him to Jesus the Saviour? Or did I let
him go on without instruction, and without comfort, till death laid its
cold hands upon him, and he plunged into the eternal world at a mournful
uncertainty? O my heart! my heart! The anguish of it pains me beyond
what I am able to bear. O that I could recal my brother, or my son from
the grave! How would I follow him with counsels and intreaties? And
neither give him nor myself any rest, till I had good hope, through
grace, that he had fled for refuge to lay hold on Christ and his
salvation. I would never be at ease, nor would I cease pleading for him
at the throne of grace, till I had found some evidences of a new nature
in him, and a change of heart from sin to repentance and holiness.

“Or suppose my departed relative was a true christian, what did I do
toward the increase of his faith? Did I ever allure him to holy
conversation? Did I take occasion now and then to introduce religious
discourse? Did I converse with him ever about the matters of our common
salvation, that as iron sharpens iron, so we might have quickened each
others zeal and love, and helped each other onward in our way to heaven?

“Surely I have found myself too guilty, in some of these instances.
Forgive my criminal negligence, O my God, and through thy grace, I will
apply myself to double diligence, with regard to my relatives that yet
survive: I will enquire, as far as it is proper, into the state of their
souls: I will seek the most powerful and the kindest methods, to awaken
the thoughtless sinners amongst them; and I will study, and pray, and
ask God what I shall say to make a deep impression upon their hearts:
And though I have no office in the church, yet what I have learned
there, I will talk over at home: I will preach Christ crucified, and all
his gospel to them, as God shall give me proper opportunity. I will
converse more freely with my pious kindred about the things of God, and
learn their inward sentiments of religion and experimental godliness.
Thus will I bring holy discourse into the parlour and the chamber; and
every soul in my house shall be a witness of my endeavours to promote
the eternal welfare of those that are near me.”

Now when the death of a near relation attains such an end as this, and
raises our repentance and holy zeal at this rate, we cannot doubt but
that we receive sensible advantage by it.

VI. The death of our friends, who were truly religious, inclines us to
review their instructions and their virtues, and sets them before our
eyes, in a fresh and lively manner, to influence our own practice.

We are too ready to forget their advice, while they are living and daily
present with us, and we take too little notice of those virtues, in
which they were eminent. We beheld their humility toward God and men,
their condescension to their inferiors, their love and hearty friendship
toward their equals, and their sweetness of temper toward all around
them. We beheld it, and perhaps we loved and honoured them for it; but
we took but little pains to copy after them. We saw their pity to the
poor and the miserable, their charity to persons of different sects and
sentiments in religion; their readiness to forgive those that offended
them, and their good-will and obliging carriage to all men. There was a
beauty and loveliness in this conduct, that rendered them amiable
indeed, but how little have we transcribed of their example, either into
our hearts or our lives? We observed their constant tenderness of
conscience, their devotion toward God, and their zeal for the honour of
Christ, and his gospel in the world. O that we had made these graces the
matter of our imitation! What can we do now more to honour their memory,
than to speak, and live, and act like them?

It may be we have got their pictures drawn by some skilful hand, and
their images hang round us in their best likeness, as tender memorials
of what we once enjoyed, to give us now and then a melancholy delight,
and awaken in us the pleasing sadness of love. These we call our most
precious pieces of furniture, and our hearts rate them at an uncommon
price. But it would be much richer furniture for our souls, to have the
best likeness of our pious predecessors and kindred copied out there.
Let us now and then reflect what were their peculiar virtues, and the
remarkable graces that adorned them; and if we could imagine the spirit
of each of them to look down upon us, through those eyes which the
pencil has so well imitated, and to speak through those lips, each of
them would say, in the language of the softest and most sacred
affection; _Be ye followers of me as dear children_, so far _as I was a
follower of Christ_.

And this thought I would more especially impress on those who were most
unhappily negligent of the pious counsel of their ancestors, or ran
counter to their holy advice and example in their life-time. “I was too
regardless, may a young christian say, of the wise and weighty sayings
of my father deceased, they return now upon my thoughts, with a fresh
and living influence. I have been too ready to neglect what a kind
mother taught me; but the instructions that I received from her dying
lips, had such an air of solemnity and tenderness in them, that they
have made a deep impression upon my heart; and I hope I shall never
forget them. The prudent and pious rules that my elder relations have
often set before me, recur to my thoughts with double efficacy since
their death: I shall hear them speak no more, I shall see their holy
examples no more: I will gather up the fragments of their religious
counsels, and make them the rule of my conduct: I am w ell assured their
souls are happy, and by the grace of God I will tread in their steps,
till I arrive at those blessed regions, where I hope to meet them.”

This thought leads me on to the last instance of benefit which we derive
from the death of our kindred in the flesh.

VII. The death of dear and near relations calls our thoughts in a more
powerful and sensible manner, to converse with the grave and eternity.

When our neighbours, or our common acquaintance die, we attend the
funeral, and cast an eye into the grave; we spend a thought or two on
the pit of corruption, and the mouldering dust: We awaken a meditation
or two on things heavenly and the world to come; and we return quickly,
and busily to this world again: But when God sends death into our
chambers, and it makes a slaughter there, it awakens us more effectually
from a drowsy frame, and it nails our thoughts down to our most
important and everlasting concerns. “Part of me is gone to the dust
already, it is not long ere the surviving part shall go also. Death has
smitten the desire of my eyes, and the partner of my joys, it will
strike me ere long, and am I ready?” This thought dwells upon the heart
of a true christian at such a season, and while the Spirit of God
assists the work, it is not in the power of all the trifles in this
earth to banish the holy thought, and carnalize the mind again. As when
a man is seized with the dead palsy, or has a limb cut off, and buried
in the dust, how sensibly does this awaken in him the thought of death
and futurity? “The sentence of death is begun to be executed on me
already, and the whole execution will be quickly fulfilled; it is time
now to be ready, for death is in good earnest, and has begun his work.”

And if our departed relative were a christian indeed, and gave us
comfortable hope in his death, then it leads our thoughts naturally to
heaven, and most powerfully touches the springs of our heavenly hopes.
It raises our pious wishes to the upper world and we say, as Thomas did
at the death of Lazarus, _Let us go, that we may die with him_; John xi.
16. Let us go to our God and our holy kindred, and enjoy their better
presence there. Let us not _sorrow for the dead, as those that mourn
without hope_; 1 Thess. iv. 13. but look upward to things unseen, and
forward to the great rising-day, and rejoice in the promised and future
glories that are beyond life and time.

Every dear relative that dies and leaves us, gives us one motive more to
be willing to die: Their death furnishes us with one new allurement
toward heaven, and breaks off one of the fetters and bonds that tied us
down to this earth. Alas! we are tied too fast to these earthly
tabernacles, these prisons of flesh and blood. We are attached too much
to flesh and blood still, though we find them such painful and such
sinful companions. We love to tarry in this world too well, though we
meet with so many weaning strokes to divide our hearts from it. O it is
good to live more at a loose from earth, that we may be ready for the
parting hour: Let us not be angry with the sovereign hand of God that
breaks one bond after another; though the strokes be painful, yet they
loosen our spirits from this cottage of clay, they teach us to practise
a flight heaven-ward in holy meditations and devout breathings; and we
learn to say, _How long, O Lord, how long?_

The Recollection.—“Have any of us lately felt such parting strokes as
these? Have we lost any of our beloved kindred? God calls upon us now,
and enquires, What have you learned of these divine lessons? I would ask
myself this day, Have I seen the emptiness and the insufficiency of
creatures, and recalled my hope and confidence from every thing beneath
and beside God? Have I past through this solemn hour of trial well, and
shewn my supreme love to God, and my most entire submission to his
sovereignty, by resigning so dear a comfort at his demand? Have I been
taught by the inward pain which I felt at parting, and by the smart
which still remains, how dangerous a thing it is to love a creature too
well? Have I duly considered my past conduct toward my relations
deceased, and does it improve itself to my conscience at the review? Or
have I found matter for self-condemnation and repentance? Have I
treasured up the memory of their virtues in my heart, and set them
before me as the copy of my life? Have my thoughts followed the soul of
my dear departed friend, and traced it with pleasure to the world of
blessed spirits; and does my own soul seem to fix its hope and joy
there, and to dwell there above? Are my thoughts become more spiritual
and heavenly? Do I live more as a borderer on the other world, since a
piece of me is gone thither? And am I ready for the summons, if it
should come before to-morrow?”

“Happy christian, who has been taught by the Spirit of grace to improve
the death even of the dearest relative to so divine an advantage! The
words of my text are then fulfilled experimentally in you: _Death is
yours_: Death itself is made a part of your treasures. The parting
stroke is painful indeed, but it carries a blessing in it too; for it
has promoted your heavenly and eternal interest.” _Amen._


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XLII.
                      _Death of Kindred improved._


                   Must friends and kindred drop and die?
                       Must helpers be withdrawn?
                   While sorrow, with a weeping eye,
                       Counts up our comforts gone.

                   Be thou our comfort, mighty God,
                       Our helper and our friend:
                   Nor leave us, in this dang’rous road,
                       Till all our trials end.

                   O may our feet pursue the way,
                       Our pious fathers led?
                   While love and holy zeal obey
                       The counsels of the dead.

                   Let us be wean’d from all below;
                       Let hope our grief dispel;
                   Death will invite our souls to go,
                       Where our best kindred dwell.




                             SERMON XLIII.
                   _Death a Blessing to the Saints._
         1 COR. iii. 22.—Whether life or death,—all are yours.


We have already seen many divine comforts, and a rich variety of
blessings derived from the formidable name of DEATH: One would scarce
have thought that a word of so much terror should have ever been capable
of yielding so much sweetness; but the gospel of Christ is a spring of
wonders: It has consecrated all the terrible things in nature, even
death itself, and every thing beside sin, to the benefit of the saint.

Death, in all its appearances, may furnish the mind of a believer with
some sacred lesson of truth or holiness. When it appears in the extent
of its dominion, and bringing all mankind down to the dust; when it lays
hold on an impenitent sinner, and fills his flesh and soul with agonies;
when it assaults a saint, and is conquered by faith; when it makes a
wide ravage among our acquaintance, when it enters into our families,
and takes away our near and dear relatives from the midst of us, still
the christian may reap some divine advantage by it.

But can our own death be ever turned into a blessing too? Nature thinks
it hard to learn such a strange lesson as this, and has much ado to be
persuaded to believe it. How dismal are its attendants to flesh and
blood! What languishings of the body! What painful agonies! What
tremblings and convulsions in nature frequently attend the dying hour
even of the best of christians! Can that be a blessing which turns this
active and beautiful engine of the body into loathsome clay; which
closes these eyes in long darkness, and deprives us of every sense? Can
death become a blessing to us, which cuts us off from all converse with
the sun and moon, and that rich variety of sensible objects which
furnish out such delightful scenes all around us, and entertain the
whole animal creation? Can that be a blessing which divides asunder
those two intimate friends, the _flesh and the spirit_, that sends one
of them to the noisome prison of the grave, and hurries away the other
into unknown regions? Yes, the gospel of Christ has power and grace
enough in it to take off all these gloomy appearances from death, and to
illuminate the darkest side of it with various lustre. So the sun paints
the fairest colours upon the blackest cloud, and while the thick dark
shower is descending it entertains our eyes with all the beauties of the
rain-bow; a most glorious type and seal of the covenant of grace, that
can give a pleasing aspect to death itself, and spread light and
pleasure over the darksome grave.

If we are believers in Christ, _death_ is ours as well as _life_. These
two contrary states may each of them derive peculiar benefits from the
new covenant. The christian may be taught so to value and improve life,
that he may be not only patient, but chearful and thankful in the
continuance of it. This has been made evident in a large discourse
already: And yet it must be confessed, that the advantages which death
brings to a believer are still greater and more glorious, and this will
appear in the following particulars:

I. Death finishes our state of labour and trial, and puts us in
possession of the crown and the prize. St. Paul was appointed to die by
the sword of Nero, and to end his labours and his race in blood; yet he
rejoices to think that his race was just at an end, and triumphs in view
of the glorious recompence; 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. _I have fought the good
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness._ There is a voice from heaven
that proclaims the dead happy; upon this account, that their toil and
fatigue is come to an end. Rev. xiv. 13. _Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord, for they rest from their labours, and their works follow
them_; that is, the prize of everlasting happiness which Christ has
promised to his labouring saints. Rev. ii. 10. _Be thou faithful unto
death, and I will give thee a crown of life._ So the weary traveller
counts the last hour of the day the best; for it finishes the fatigue
and toil of the day, and brings him to his resting-place. So the soldier
rejoices in the last field of battle; he fights with the prize of glory
in his eye, and ends the war with courage, pleasure, and victory.

II. Death frees us for ever from all our errors and mistakes, and brings
us into a world of glorious knowledge and illumination. The vale of
death is a dark passage indeed, but it leads into the regions of perfect
light. _Now we know but in part_, says the apostle; 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
_Now we see but through a glass darkly, then we shall see God and our
Saviour face to face, and know them even as we are known_; not in the
same degree of perfection indeed, but according to our measure and
capacity, we shall know them, in a way of vision, or immediate sight, as
God knows his creatures, as one man knows his friend, whose face he
beholds with his eyes; or as one spirit knows another, by some unknown
ways of perception which belong to spirits.

O what a new and unspeakable pleasure will it be to the disciples of
Christ, and the ministers of the gospel, that have been tired and worn
out in tedious controversies in this world, and sorely perplexed amongst
the difficult passages of scripture, when they shall arrive at that
region of light and glory, where the darknesses of the mind shall be all
scattered, the veil shall be taken off from sacred things, and doubts
and difficulties shall vanish for ever!

Alas! What desolation and mischief has the noise and clamour of
controversy brought on the church of Christ in all ages! What quarrels
and sharp contests has it raised among fellow-christians, and
especially, where zeal and ignorance have joined together, and brought
fire and darkness into the sanctuary! This has banished charity and love
out of the house of God, and made the Spirit of God himself to depart
grieved. Surely death carries a considerable blessing in it, as it
delivers us from these disorders, these bitter quarrels, and appoints us
a place in the temple of God on high, where the axe and the hammer never
sound, where the saw of contention is never drawn, where the noise of
war is heard no more, but perfect light lays a foundation for perfect
and everlasting love.

III. Death makes an utter end of sin, it delivers us from a state of
temptation, and conveys us into a state of perfect holiness, safety, and
peace. _The spirits of the just are made perfect_ in holiness, when they
leave this sinful and mortal flesh, they stand without spot or blemish,
without fault or infirmity of greater or lesser size, and appear pure
and undefiled before the throne of God; Rev. xiv. 5. _Their robes are
washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb; and they serve him
without sin, day and night, in his temple_; Rev. vii. 14, 15. When death
carries them away from this world, it carries them out of the
territories of the devil; for he has no power in that land whither happy
souls go: And all the remaining lusts of the flesh, that had their
death’s wound given them by renewing grace, are now destroyed for ever;
for the death of the body is the final death of sin, and the grave is,
as it were, the burying-place of many unruly iniquities, that have too
often defiled and disquieted the spirit.

And as the corrupt affections which are mingled with our flesh and
blood, and which are rooted deep in animal nature, are left behind us in
the bed of death, so when we ascend to heaven, we shall find no manner
of temptation to revive them. There is no malice or angry resentment to
be awakened there, no incitements to envy, intemperance, or the cursed
sin of pride, that cleaves so close to our natures here on earth. When
we are encompassed with those blessed creatures, angels and saints made
perfect, we shall meet with no affront, no reproach, no injury to
provoke our anger, or kindle an uneasy passion. Most perfect friendship
is ever practised there; it is a region of peace, a world of immortal
amity.

Nor shall we find any temptation to envy, in that happy state; for
though there are different ranks of glorified creatures, yet each is
filled with a holy satisfaction, and hath an inward relish of his own
felicity suited to his own capacity and state, and they have all a
general relish of the common joy, and a mutual satisfaction in each
others happiness. Envy, that fretful passion, is no more. In heaven
there are no provocations to those unruly appetites, which break in upon
our temperance, and pollute our souls.

Pride and haughtiness of spirit have no room in that blessed world: The
superior order of saints, which are nearest the throne, shall not
despise the meanest; for the nearer they approach to the perfect image
of Christ, the more intense and diffusive is their love. Besides, every
saint in glory shall see himself in his own nothingness, and infinitely
indebted to divine grace for all things: This shall for ever forbid all
vanity and conceit of merit. In heaven we shall see God in the fulness
of his glory, and shall have so penetrating a sense of his saving grace,
that a creature rescued from hell cannot be proud there.

Rejoice then, ye poor feeble christians, that have been long wrestling
with your indwelling sins, and maintaining a holy and daily fight, with
strong and restless corruptions in your nature: _Lift up your heads_ at
the thoughts of death, _for the day of your redemption draws nigh_; Luke
xxi. 28. Death is your deliverer. It is like the angel that Christ sent
to Peter, to knock off his fetters, and release him from the prison; it
may smite and surprize you, and it has indeed a dark and unlovely
aspect; but its message is light and peace, holiness and salvation.

IV. Death is ours, for it takes us away from under all the threatenings
of God in his word, and places us in the actual possession of the
greatest part of the blessings, that God has promised us. The saints
that are dead are thus described; they are _those, who through faith and
patience, inherit the promises_; Heb. vi. 12.

Whilst we are in this life, there are many threatenings in the bible
that belong to the saints as well as to sinners. I shall mention that
great and general one that is annexed to the covenant of grace; Ps.
lxxxix. 30. _If the children of Christ forsake my law, and walk not in
my judgments; then will I visit their transgression with a rod, and
their iniquity with stripes_; but when death has conveyed them into the
presence of their heavenly Father, they shall forsake his law no more;
there are no more transgressions for the rod to correct, the stripes of
chastisement cease for ever; and their Father, and their God, shall be
angry no more.

The best part of the promises are fulfilled when a soul arrives at
heaven. The promise of the resurrection of the body yet remains
unaccomplished indeed; but every separate spirit in heaven waits for it
with full assurance of accomplishment. “I have found,” says the holy
soul, “so many rich promises of the covenant fulfilled already, and I am
in the possession of so many divine blessings that God once foretold,
that I am well assured that my God is faithful who has promised, and the
rest shall be all fulfilled.”

V. Death raises us above the mean and trifling pleasures of the present
state, as well as delivers us from all present pains, and brings us into
a world of perfect ease, and superior and refined delight. It divides us
from the pains and pleasures, that we derive from the first Adam, and
sets us in the midst of superior blessings, which the second Adam has
purchased for us. _We shall hunger no more, we shall thirst no more,
neither shall the scorching heat of the sun light upon us_, or any
painful influence from the elements of this world: _The Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed us with celestial food_, suited to
our purified natures, and lead us to drink full draughts of unknown
pleasure, which is described by living fountains of water. We shall see
God himself, the original beauty, and the spring of all delight: We
shall see our Lord Jesus Christ, the most illustrious copy of the
Father, _the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his
person, and God himself shall wipe away all tears from our eyes_; Rev.
vii. 16, 17. _Though the wages of sin is death_ by the appointment of
the law of God; Rom. vi. 23. yet this very death is constrained to serve
the purposes of our great Redeemer; and it brings us into the possession
of that _eternal life_, which is the _gift of God through Jesus Christ
our Lord_.

VI. Death not only gives us possession of promised blessings, but it
banishes all our fears and doubts for ever, by fixing us in a state of
happiness unchangeable. They that are once entered into the temple of
God on high _shall no more go out_ of it; Rev. iii. 12. For they are
established in the house of God, they are as pillars there, they become
a part of that vast and living temple, in which God dwells for ever in
all his glory.

Death is ours; for it finishes our fears, it fulfils our wishes and our
hopes, and leaves us no more room to fear to all eternity. When we
behold the face of God in righteousness, and awake out of this world of
dreams and shadows, in the world of happy spirits with the likeness of
God upon us, we shall find sweet satisfaction; Ps. xvii. 15. _I shall be
satisfied when I awake with thy likeness._ Death leaves a saint, as it
were, but one thing to wish or hope for, and that is the resurrection,
or the accomplishment of this text in its completest sense, _viz._ that
their bodies may awake out of the grave with the likeness of Christ upon
them, and be made conformable to his glorious body, in vigour, beauty,
and immortality.

VII. Death is a happiness to a christian; for it divides him for ever
from the company of sinners and enemies, and places him in the society
of his best friends, his God, and his Saviour, his fellow-saints, and
the innumerable company of angels. O how sorely has the soul of many a
saint been vexed here on earth, as the soul of Lot was in Sodom, with
the conversation of the wicked! How have they often complained of the
hidings of the face of God, of the absence of Christ their Lord, and the
sensible withdrawings of the influences of the blessed Spirit!

There is a great partition-wall betwixt us and the happy world, whilst
we are in this life; the veil of flesh and blood divides us from the
world of spirits, and from the glorious inhabitants of it. With what
surprizing joy, shall a poor, humble, watchful christian, that has been
teased long, and long tormented with the company of the wicked, enter
into that illustrious and blessed society, when death shall break down
the partition-wall, and rend the veil of flesh and blood that divided
him from them, and kept him at a painful distance! “It is better,
infinitely better, shall the departed soul say, to see God without the
medium of such ordinances, as I have used on earth: It is better to be
absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord Jesus. It is
better to ascend, and worship in the midst of the heavenly Jerusalem,
and amongst that blessed assembly of the first-born, than to be joined
to the purest churches on earth, or to be engaged in the noblest acts of
worship, which the state of mortality admits of. Farewell sins and
sinners for ever: Temptations and tempters, farewell to all eternity.
And ye my dear holy friends, beloved in the Lord, my pious relatives, my
companions in faith and worship, farewell but for a short season, till
you also shall be released from your present bondage and imprisonment by
the messenger of death: Fear it not, for it is your Lord, and my Lord,
your Saviour and mine, who sends it to release you from all the evils
which you have long groaned under, and to bring you to our Father’s
house, where the businesses, the pleasures, and the company are
infinitely agreeable and entertaining.”

Thus have I shewn in various instances, how the death of a believer in
general is appointed to work for his good, and becomes an advantage to
him through the grace of Christ. I proceed to shew how the death of a
christian in all the particular circumstances that attend it, has
something in it that may be turned to his benefit.

_Christ has the keys of death and the grave; he was dead, and is alive,
and behold he lives for evermore_; Rev. i. 18. And he knows how to
manage all the circumstances of the death of his saints for their
profit: He appoints the time when, the manner how, and the place where
they shall die, and determines all these things by rules of unsearchable
wisdom, under the influence of his faithfulness and his love.

1. The time when we shall die is appointed by Christ: If he calls us
away in the days of our youth, he secures us thereby from many a
temptation, and many a sin; for our life on earth is subject to daily
defilements. He prevents also many a sorrow and distress of mind, many
an agony and sharp pain to which our flesh is subject, and saves us from
all the languishing weaknesses of old age, and from tasting the dregs of
mortality.

When our blessed Lord foresees some huge and heavy sorrows ready to fall
upon us, or some mighty temptations approaching towards us, he lays his
hand upon us in the midst of life, and hides us in the grave. This has
been the sweet hiding place of many a saint of God, from a day of public
temptation and over-spreading misery.

If he lengthens out our life to many years, we have a fair opportunity
of doing much more service for our God, and our Redeemer; and we also
enjoy the longer experience of his power, his wisdom, and his faithful
mercy, in guiding us through many a dark difficulty, in supporting us
under many a heavy burden, and delivering our souls from many a
threatening temptation. Oftentimes he sweetens the passage of his aged
saints through the dark valley, with nearer and brighter views of the
heavenly world: He gives them a strong and earnest expectation of glory,
and some sweet foretaste of it, to bear them up under the langours of
old age and sickness: The haven of rest becomes sweeter to them, when
they have passed through many tedious storms: The hour of release into
the world of light, is more exquisitely pleasing, after a tedious
imprisonment in the flesh, and long years of darkness.

2. The manner, how we shall die, is appointed also by Christ our Lord,
for the benefit of his saints. If death smite us with a sudden and
unexpected stroke, then we are surprized into the world of pleasure at
once, and, ere we are aware, our souls find themselves in the midst of
the paradise of God, surrounded with joys unspeakable. If our mortal
nature decay by slow decrees, we have a precious opportunity for the
more lively exercises of faith, we may then converse with death
before-hand, and daily grow in preparation for our departure. We see
ourselves launching down the stream of time, and if our faith be awake
and sprightly, we rejoice in the sensible and hourly approaches of
heaven and eternity. We may speak many useful dying sentences for the
glory of our Lord, and make happy impressions upon the souls of those we
leave behind; We may invite and require, we may allure and charge our
dear relatives to follow us in the same path, and to meet us before the
throne.

3. Our Lord also designs our benefit, when he appoints the place of our
death, whether we shall quit the body at home or abroad; for some of us
he sees it best, that our friends should stand round us and close our
eyes, and, as it were, see our spirits take their flight into the
invisible world, that they may assist and support us with divine words
of consolation, or that they themselves may learn, and dare to die, and
be animated by our example to encounter the last enemy. Our Lord sees it
proper, for others of his saints, to die in the midst of strangers, or
perhaps amongst enemies and by a violent death, that he may thereby give
a glorious testimony to their faith and piety, as well as to the power
of his own gospel. Whether we breathe our last at land or at sea, in our
native country, or in a foreign climate, _all shall work together for
the final welfare of those that love God, and are called_ and justified,
and sanctified _according to his holy purpose_; Rom. viii. 28.

There are, doubtless, some peculiar and secret reasons, in the grand
comprehensive scheme of the counsels and decrees of God, why the death
of every saint is appointed at this season, and not at another; why some
young buds are cropped ere they blossom on earth, and transplanted to
open and unfold themselves, and shine in the garden of God on high,
while others are brought home into the heavenly garner, like fruit well
grown, or like a shock of corn fully ripe. There is a divine reason why
some are hurried away by a violent death, and others are permitted
naturally to dissolve into their dust: Why some must die on this spot of
ground, and others on that: for the vast scheme of his counsels has a
glorious consistency in it with the covenant of his grace: And indeed,
the covenant of grace runs through the whole scheme of divine counsels,
and mingles itself with them all. We rejoice in this meditation, while
we believe the truth of it. We are persuaded, that we shall know,
hereafter, the various and admirable designs of divine providence and
love, in all the infinite variety of the deaths of his saints; and this
shall make part of our songs in the upper world, and give a joyful
accent to our hallelujahs there.

Let us maintain therefore, a blessed assurance of the wise and gracious
designs of our Lord, in all the circumstances of the death of his
people. Let us learn to say with that aged saint, and eminent servant of
Christ, the Reverend Mr. Baxter, when under many weaknesses of nature,
and long and sore agonies of pain, he spake concerning his death, “Lord,
when thou wilt, what thou wilt, how thou wilt.” Let us insure our souls
in his hands for eternity, and not be over-solicitous about the
circumstances of our death, about the place, the manner, or the hour
when we shall take our leave of life and time.

[If this sermon be too long, it may be divided here.]

Having made it appear, in these several sermons, that death is ours, or
shall turn to our advantage, not only when it strikes our friends or
strangers, but when it seizes our own flesh also: I desire to conclude
this subject of discourse with various inferences, of which some may be
called doctrinal, and others practical.

The doctrinal inferences are these:

Inference I. How different is the judgment of sense, from the judgment
of faith? The eye of sense looks upon death as a sovereign and cruel
tyrant, reigning over all nature and nations, and making dreadful havoc
among mankind, as it were, after his own will and pleasure; but faith
beholds it as a slave subdued to the power of Christ, and constrained to
act under his sovereign influence for the good of all his saints. Sense
teaches us to look upon ourselves, as the possession and food of death;
but faith assures us, that death is our possession, and a part of our
treasure. Death is yours, O christians, _for all things are yours_.

When sense has the ascendant over us, we take death to be a dark and
dismal hour; but in the speech and spirit of faith, we call it a bright
and glorious one. Sense esteems it to be the sorest of all afflictions,
but faith numbers it among the sweetest of our blessings, because it
delivers us from a thousand sins and sorrows.

It has been reported, that Socrates called “death a birth-day into
eternal life.” A most glorious thought, and a very inviting name! But it
is strange, that a heathen philosopher should ever hit upon it, it is so
much like the dialect of the gospel, and the language of faith. He had
learned to talk more nobly than the sensual world, though he was not
favoured with the light of the gospel. It is so much the more shameful
for christians, to talk and live below the character of this
philosopher.

O when shall we get above this life of sense? When shall we rise in our
ideas and our judgment of things? When shall we attain to the upper
regions of christianity, and breathe in a purer air, and see all things
in a brighter and better light? When shall we live the life of faith,
and learn its divine language? Death is like a thick dark veil, as it
appears to the eye of sense; when shall our faith remove the veil, and
see the light, the immortality, the glory that lies beyond it? Death,
like the river Jordan, seems to overflow its banks, when we approach it,
and divides and affrights us from the heavenly Canaan: When shall we
climb to the top of Pisgah, that we may look beyond the swelling waves
of this Jordan, and take a fair and inviting prospect of the promised
land.

II. How glorious and how dreadful is the difference, between the death
of a saint and that of a sinner, a soul that is in Christ, and a soul
that has no interest in him! The death of every sinner has all that real
evil and terror in it, in which it appears to an eye of sense; but a
convinced sinner beholds it yet a thousand times more dreadful. When
conscience is awakened upon the borders of the grave, it beholds death
in its utmost horror, as the curse of the broken law, as the
accomplishment of the threatenings of an angry God. A guilty conscience
looks on death with all its formidable attendants round it, and espies
an endless train of sorrows coming after it. Such a wretch beholds death
riding towards him on a pale horse, and hell following at his heels,
without all relief or remedy, without a Saviour, and without hope.

But a true christian, when he reads the name of death among the curses
of the law, knows that Christ his Saviour and his Surety, has sustained
it in that dreadful sense, and put an end to its power and terror. He
reads its name now in the promises of the gospel, and calls it a
glorious blessing, a release from sin and sorrow, an entrance into
everlasting joy. The saint may lie calm and peaceable in the midst of
all the attendants of death; like Daniel in the den of lions, for it
cannot hurt or destroy him: But when a sinner is thrown to this
devourer, it does as it were break all his bones, it tears both his
flesh and his spirit as its proper prey; _Death feeds upon him_, as the
scripture expresses it: Ps. xlix. 14. and fills his conscience with
immortal anguish. Who can bear the thought of dying in such a state
under the dominion of death, without Christ, and without hope.

III. How much does the religion of the New Testament transcend all other
religions, both that of the light of nature, and all the former
revelations of grace; for it better instructs us how to die. The
religion of the ancient patriarchs, the religion of Moses and the Jews,
as well as the religion of the philosophers, all come vastly short of
christianity, in the important business of dying.

The philosopher, by the labours of his reason, and by a certain
hardiness of spirit, persuades himself not to tremble at the thoughts of
death; for it may be, there is no hereafter; or if there be, he would
fain hope for an happy one: And thus he ventures into death, with some
sort of courage and composure of mind, like a bold man, that is taking
an immense leap, in the dark, out of one world into another: but he can
never know certainly, that there are no terrible things to meet him in
that unseen state.

The religion of the Jews and patriarchs, which God himself revealed to
men, enabled many of them to resign their lives with patience and hope,
and to walk through the valley of death without much dismay, when the
appointed hour was come. A few of them I confess, have been elevated by
a noble faith above the level of that dispensation: Yet some of them
seem to make bitter mourning, because of the shadows of darkness that
covered the grave, and all the regions beyond it. _They were all their
life-time subject to bondage through the fear of death_; Heb. ii. 14.

It is our Jesus alone, who has _brought life and immortality into so
glorious a light by the gospel_; 2 Tim. i. 10. He dwelt long in heaven
before he came into our world, and again he went as a fore-runner into
those unseen worlds, and came back again and taught his disciples, what
heaven is: And thus we learn to overcome death with all its terrors, by
the richer prospect, which he has given us, of the heavenly country that
lies beyond the grave: He has taught his followers to rejoice in dying,
and to possess the pleasures that are to be derived from death, as it is
an entrance into the regions of light and joy. Blessed be God! that we
were born in the days of the Messiah, since Christ returned from the
dead, and that we were not sent either to the schools of the
philosophers, or even to Moses, to teach us how to die.

IV. Learn from these discourses, what a sweet and delightful glory
belongs to the covenant of grace, that turns a curse into a blessing.
When the broken law, or covenant of works attempts to curse thee with
death, O believer, (as Balaam did Israel) _the Lord thy God turns the
curse into a blessing to thee by this new covenant, because the Lord thy
God loveth thee_; Deut. xxiii. 5. So afflictions are turned into mercies
by the virtue of this covenant, they mortify our sins, they wean us from
the world, they bring our hearts near to God, they make us partakers of
his holiness. So death, which is the greatest affliction to nature, and
has such a formidable aspect to a sensual man, is made subservient to
the eternal welfare of a christian. It is this sweet covenant that has
wrought the change; Christ has conquered it, and the believer enjoys the
triumph.

Does the eye of nature behold death as a serpent? Our Lord Jesus has
broken its teeth, and taken away its sting; for by his sacrifice he has
abolished sin, which is the sting of death. Does nature look upon death
as a lion? Our Redeemer has slain it, and the covenant of grace has
furnished the carcase of it with honey, and stored it with delicious
food for the entertainment of a christian; thus, _Out of the eater
cometh forth meat, and out of the strong cometh forth sweetness_; Judges
xiv. 14. The riddle of Samson, when applied in this manner, carries a
diviner beauty in it, and more exquisite delight. And as that Jewish
champion feasted his father and his mother, with delicacies taken out of
the lion he had slain, so does our Lord feast his brethren and his
friends, with sacred pleasures derived from death, our vanquished enemy.

O how unspeakable is the privilege of those that belong to Christ! If
you are his, then death is yours: Christ is the only begotten Son, and
he inherits all things; not only as a son but as the first overcomer:
_Ye all are sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus_; Gal. iii. 26. _Ye
shall also be overcomers, and shall inherit all things_; Rev. xxi. 7.
_Whether life or death, things present or things to come, all are yours,
for ye are Christ’s._ I proceed to the practical uses.

I. If death in every sense, may be turned to the advantage of the
saints, as I have proved in the former discourse, let us see then, that,
in all its appearances, we gain some advantage by it. Let us not act
like fools, who have a prize put into their hands, and know not how so
use it.

If our fellow-creatures die and go down to the dust, and the nations of
mankind perish from the earth, let us learn thereby the frailty of our
natures; let us learn so to _number our days as to apply our hearts to
wisdom_; Ps. xc. 12. and be awakened to an active and immediate
preparation for the day of our own death. If we see impenitent sinners
dying under the anguish of a guilty conscience, let us gain a sensible
lesson of the dreadful evil of sin; let it raise such a religious fear
of the wrath of God, and such a sacred gratitude for our deliverance,
from the torments of hell, as may quicken every grace into its warmest
exercise, and its brightest evidence. If death seize upon our Lord
Christ himself, his dying groans lay a foundation for our immortal
hopes: Let us meditate on the thousand blessings we receive from his
cross and his tomb. Do the saints around us lie down and die? We should
learn to follow them boldly into the dark valley, and to fall asleep in
the dust with the same chearful hopes of the joyful rising-day. Does
death come near us into our own family, and tear our dear relatives from
our arms? Even this may be turned to our advantage too; it should render
the world and the pleasures of it more insipid and worthless; it should
loosen our heart-strings from the fond embraces of the creature; for it
calls our eyes and our souls heavenward and home-ward, and that with a
loud and sensible voice, if nature and grace are awake to hear it.

If death and the grave be ours, and we make no use of this privilege, we
are like misers, who have treasure in their possessions but never employ
it to any valuable purpose. Has Christ our Lord taken death among his
captives, and made it his own property? Let us look upon ourselves as
humble sharers in the victory; he has appointed it to serve the interest
of all his followers: He has put it into the inventory of our treasures.
Let us improve it then to these divine purposes, let us seize and enjoy
the spoils _which Christ, the Captain of our salvation_, has taken from
the hands of the prince of darkness.

II. Is death become your possession, O believers, through the grace of
the covenant: Fear it not then, but ever look upon it with an eye of
faith as a conquered adversary: Behold it, as reduced to your service;
wait for it, with holy courage and pleasure; it is a messenger of mercy
to your souls from Christ, who hath vanquished it in the open field of
battle, and reduced it to his subjection. When you labour and groan
under sins and temptations, under pains and sorrows, remember Christ has
appointed death to be his officer for your relief. It is like the porter
that opens the door of his repository, the grave, where your bodies
shall take a sweet slumber till the resurrection-day; and it is
appointed also to open the gates of heaven for your spirits and to let
them into a world of unknown felicity.

Death has so many things belonging to it, which are afflictive to
nature, and formidable to the eye of sense, that we have need of all
manner of assistance to raise our souls above the fear of it. The very
thought of dying makes many a christian shudder, and sweat, and tremble,
and awakens all the springs of human infirmity: O may the grace of faith
gain a more glorious ascendancy in our souls! We should often meditate
on such doctrines as these, which place that dreadful thing death in the
most easy and pleasing light; we should behold it as changed from a
curse into a blessing, and numbered among our treasures. Christians
should accustom themselves to look at it through the glass of the
gospel, which casts fair colours upon what is in itself so dark and
formidable. It is the gospel in that glass which discovers to us the
flowery blessings that grow in that gloomy valley, and gives a fair and
delightful prospect of those hills of paradise and pleasure that lie
beyond the grave. Why should we let this blessed gospel lie neglected,
and live still in bondage to the fear of dying?

The Recollection.—“Come now, and let us learn by this discourse, to
shame ourselves of these weaknesses, these unreasonable fears. Let us
talk to our own souls in the language of faith. Why, O my soul, art thou
afraid to let this body die? Hast thou not endured labours and trials
enough, and art thou unwilling to come to the end of them? Hast thou not
yet been tempted enough? Hast thou not been foiled too often, and too
often thrown down in the conflict? Think of thy many wounds of
conscience, the bruises of thy spirit, the defilement of thy garments,
and the loss of thy purity and thy peace. Canst thou bear, that all
these should be repeated again and again? Art thou unwilling this war
should have an end? Art thou afraid of victory and triumph? What dost
thou labour and fight for? Dost thou not run to obtain the prize? Dost
thou not wrestle and fight to gain the crown? And hast thou not courage
enough to go across the dark valley, to take possession of this crown
and this prize?

“Think, O my spirit, think of thy painful ignorance whilst thou dwellest
in this region of shadows: Is not knowledge thy natural and delicious
food? Hast thou not lived long enough in darkness, and been involved too
long in mistakes and errors? And art thou willing to dwell in a land of
darkness still, a land of dreams and disguises, where truth is hardly
found? Art thou afraid of the borders of that world, where light and
knowledge grow, and where truth, and realities appear all unveiled and
without disguise? Where thou shalt be cheated no more with the sound of
words, but shalt see all things just as they are, in a clear light,
without error, and without confusion? O happy period of thy mistakes and
wanderings, of all thy learned mazes in quest of truth! And art thou
still afraid to come near it?

“Has it not been the matter of thy sacred mourning, that thy God is so
much concealed from thee, that greatest and best of beings? That the Son
of God, _the brightness of the Father’s glory_; Heb. i. 3. is so much a
stranger, and thy Saviour is so little known? That thy faith has been
labouring and wearied in many enquiries about the glories of his person
as God-man, about the wonders of his united natures, and the mysteries
of his gospel, about the power of his death, the virtue of his
righteousness, and the sovereignty of his grace? And art thou afraid of
the sunshine, and that perfect day that shall scatter all these clouds
of doubt and mistake, and let thee see thy Saviour and thy God face to
face, as they are seen by angels? O that surprizing hour, of unknown
delight, that shall place thee, O my soul, in the midst of the world of
spirits, surrounded with the light of heaven, and in the open presence
of God, even thy God! When thou shalt gain swift and transporting
acquaintance with the Almighty Being that made thee, and the Son of God,
who dwelt once in mortal flesh, and died to save thee! When the divine
irradiations of the Eternal Spirit shall unfold those mysteries to thy
view, which had so much darkness about them in these lower regions! What
an illustrious scene of light and joy shall arise all around thee as
thou enterest into that unknown state! What strange new ideas of things,
what new worlds of knowledge shall throng in upon thee, and thy enlarged
understanding shall receive them all with infinite satisfaction, and
with ever-growing pleasure! Art thou not already on the wing, my soul,
at such a divine prospect as this? O stupid creatures that we are! we
seek after the light of truth here below, and crowd about a glimmering
spark of knowledge, we wrangle all around it with endless contention,
and yet when death would open the gate of glory, and admit us into
regions of light, we start back, and retire, contented to abide among
twilight and shadows.

“But, O my soul, if truth and knowledge are not sufficient, to allure
thee, has holiness no constraining power? Hast thou not sinned enough
and broken the laws of God often enough already? Hast thou not brought
guilt enough, and grief enough, upon thyself, that thou art afraid of a
state of perfect holiness? What is it that has given thee such inward
pain as the perpetual workings of thy native iniquity? What is it that
has made thee cry out, _O wretched creature that I am! who shall deliver
me from the body of this death?_ Rom. vii. 24. From the temptations and
sins which are mingled with flesh and blood! And art thou afraid to have
thy groans ended, thy complaints removed, and thy deliverance appear?
Art thou unwilling to accept of the release? Dost thou shrink back from
the sight of the deliverer? Hast not thy faith often seen the spirits of
the just made perfect standing before the throne, rejoicing before God,
worshipping in the complete beauty of holiness? And has not thy faith
awakened thy desires and thy sacred wishes? O that I were in the midst
of them! Why then art thou so unwilling to leave this body of sin and
darkness, and to go out of this troublesome and impure prison into that
glorious world, that blessed assembly, and to worship amongst them
without imperfection, and without weariness? Consider, O my soul, are
thy complaints of indwelling corruption sincere? Are thy groans for
deliverance honest and hearty? Why then art thou afraid to let this
tabernacle be dissolved, and to gain a blessed release from these inbred
and restless enemies? Has not the lustre of perfect holiness attraction
and force enough in it, to awaken thy longings, and stretch thy wings
for a flight to heaven?

“Remember also whilst thou art here, and art often sinning, many of the
threatenings of God in his word stand bent against thee, his arrows
sometimes stick in thy flesh, and pierce thy very soul. I confess these
are not the sword of his vindictive justice, thy afflictions are but the
corrections of his rod: But is it not better to dwell in that world
where thou shalt feel no such correcting strokes, and deserve
chastisement no more, where the Lord thy God shall lay aside every
frown, and remove his anger for ever?

“Thy best life now is to live upon the promises; but does not all the
excellency of a promise consist in the hope of performance? And is not
the performance then so much better than the promise itself? Is not
possession better than hope? Is not an assured and an unchangeable
possession better than this state of doubts and fears? Is it not much
more agreeable to _dwell in the house of God for ever_; Ps. xxiii. 6.
than only to make a visit to it now and then? Is it not infinitely
better to be fixed in a state of perfect felicity, without the least
fear or apprehension of losing it? To be as a _pillar in the temple of
God, thy God, and to go no more out_; Rev. iii. 13.

“Think again, Hast thou not sustained sufficient pains and sorrows both
of flesh and mind in this lower world? Death shall put an end to them
all; and art thou unwilling to have a full release from sorrow and pain?
Has this flesh of thine been complained of so often as thy clog and thy
painful prison, and art thou more afraid to have thy fetters knocked
off? Has not thy body given thee smart and anguish enough? And has it
not tempted thee enough away from thy God, and thy truest happiness? Has
thy sinful sickly flesh been so charming a companion that thou art not
yet willing to part with it? Dost thou not desire to have all thy
diseases healed at once? Wouldst thou not be glad to have all thy
torments of body and mind for ever eased, and all the uneasinesses of
flesh and spirit removed for ever?

“It is true, the mere desire of ease should not be the chief reason why
thou shouldest desire death, nor shouldest thou seek it with an
impatient spirit: It is thy duty to bear sufferings and sorrows with
holy patience, as a good soldier of Christ, it is thy duty to abide in
thy post during his pleasure, to fill up the hours with service, and to
sustain the fatigues and burdens of the mortal state to the glory of God
thy Saviour: But he does not require that thou shouldest fall in love
with a state of guilt and pain, a state that has so much sin and
temptation, so much burden and fatigue in it; he gives thee leave to
groan after the hour of release and deliverance. _In this tabernacle we
groan earnestly, being burdened_; 2 Cor. v. 2.

“Consider further, O my soul, what is there in this world that should
make thee fond of continuing among the inhabitants of it? Has not the
world, thou dwellest in, sufficiently discovered itself to thee, as a
land of mere vanity and vexation, and art thou fond of the tents of
Meshech and Kedar, where thy soul has so little peace? Art thou afraid
to change thy dwelling-place? Hast thou not been teased long enough with
the company of sinners, or the foolish and unfriendly carriage of those
who are imperfect saints? Hast thou not been often ready to say, _O that
I had the wings of a dove, to fly away from the windy storm and
tempest?_ Ps. lv. 6, 7. to get afar off from the rage and malice of
enemies, from the troublesome infirmities of friends, afar off from the
peevishness, the envy and the passion of some of thy fellow-christians?
How often hast thou wished even for a wilderness where thou mayest be at
rest? Behold the door of death will shortly open itself to thee, and
would let thee in, not to a wilderness, but to a paradise, to a place of
eternal rest and freedom from all uneasy society; and yet thou delayest
and hangest backward, and art afraid to go.

“In that upper world the saints have no follies about them, no vicious
and fretful humours, no springs of vexation; they leave all their
weaknesses, their envy, and their anger behind them in the grave. In the
heavenly country, every companion is an everlasting friend, and all thy
dear and pious kindred, who are departed, have put off every thing that
once made thee or them uneasy. They are far better company above than
ever they were, or could be, here on earth; and dost thou not want to
see them all in their best raiment of grace and glory; and to hold sweet
communion with them in the purest intercourses of love?

“But there are still sweeter allurements to a holy soul; God, even thy
God, dwells in the midst of his saints on high, and that in the full
glories of his love: Jesus thy Saviour, whom thou hast known, and whom
thou hast loved, though thou hast never seen him; Jesus is Lord of that
country, he waits for thee there; God himself dwells there as the
fountain of felicity, and shall be no more absent from thee. Thou shalt
no more complain of the withdrawings of the light of his countenance, or
the short visits of his grace: Thou shalt sit solitary no more, nor
mourn under the dark eclipses of the Sun of righteousness. It is the
pleasure of that heaven thou hopest for, _to be for ever with thy Lord,
to behold his glory, to see him as he is, and to be made like him_, and
wilt thou not enter in at the gate into the new Jerusalem when he calls
thee, but tremble and start backward, because there is a short dark
valley that lies on this side of it?”

Remember, O my soul, _death is thine_: There is nothing in that dark
valley shall hurt thee. Lift up thy head, arise, and shake thyself out
of the dust. Let thy faith take a sweet prospect over the little hills
of time, and beyond the vale of death: Look far into the invisible
world, and banish all thy fears under the strong allurement of the joys
that are prepared for thee; wait with pleasure for the hour of thy
departure, and rejoice and triumph when the divine message shall come.
While thou continuest here, _life is thine_. When thou goest hence,
_death is thine: things present and things to come are thine_; and the
invisible world to which thou art hastening, has everlasting joys in
reserve for thee: Heaven itself is thine: Heaven is the inheritance of
all the saints: The glories laid up there are waiting for thy
possession: the dissolution of thy earthly tabernacle shall convey thee
into the midst of them.

Awake, arise, and meet the happy moment, when thou shalt be undressed of
this sinful flesh and blood: O let these defiled garments ever sit loose
about thee, that they may be cast off without pain and regret: Go, my
soul, at the summons of thy God and Father, and when the symptoms of
dying nature shall say, _Hark, he calleth thee_; let thy faith and thy
love, and thy joy answer, _Lord I come_. Go, my soul at the invitation
of thy Redeemer, at the voice of thy beloved: Behold he appears, he
comes! Go forth and meet him. Drop this fleshly clothing with holy
delight; arise, _put on thy beautiful garments_, and shine for the
_glory of the Lord is rising upon thee_: Go shine among _the spirits of
the just made perfect_, thyself a spirit released from earth, and
divested of all imperfection. O happy farewell to life and time! O
glorious entrance into immortality!


                         HYMN FOR SERMON XLIII.
                   _Death a Blessing to the Saints._


                  Do flesh and nature dread to die?
                  And timorous thoughts our minds enslave?
                  But grace can raise our hopes on high,
                  And quell the terrors of the grave.

                  What! Shall we run to gain the crown,
                  Yet grieve to think the goal so near?
                  Afraid to have our labours done,
                  And finish this important war?

                  Do we not dwell in clouds below,
                  And little know the good we love?
                  Why should we like this twilight so,
                  When ’tis all noon in worlds above?

                  There shall we see him face to face,
                  There shall we know the Great unknown,
                  And Jesus, with his glorious grace,
                  Shines in full light amidst the throne.

                  When we put off this fleshly load,
                  We’re from a thousand mischiefs free,
                  For ever present with our God,
                  Where we have long’d and wish’d to be.

                  No more shall pride or passion rise,
                  Or envy fret, or malice roar,
                  Or sorrow mourn with down-cast eyes,
                  And sin defile our souls no more.

                  ’Tis best, ’tis infinitely best,
                  To go where tempters cannot come,
                  Where saints and angels ever blest,
                  Dwell and enjoy their heavenly home.

                  O for a visit from my God,
                  To drive my fears of death away,
                  And help me thro’ this darksome road,
                  To realms of everlasting day!


END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.


Edward Baines, Printer, Leeds.




 ● Transcriber’s Notes:
    ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
    ○ Footnotes have been moved to follow the sermons in which they are
      referenced.





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