A sermon preach'd before the King in the chappel at Whitehall on the third Sunday in Lent, being the 7th day of March, 1696/7 by the Right Reverend Father in God, Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Sarum. Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. 1697 Approx. 42 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 20 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A30450 Wing B5906 ESTC R21494 12683137 ocm 12683137 65700 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A30450) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 65700) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 682:15) A sermon preach'd before the King in the chappel at Whitehall on the third Sunday in Lent, being the 7th day of March, 1696/7 by the Right Reverend Father in God, Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Sarum. Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. [4], 32 p. Printed for Ri. Chiswell ..., London : 1697. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Lenten sermons. Sermons, English -- 17th century. 2003-11 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-11 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2003-12 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2003-12 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion PRINTED By His Majesty's Special Command . A SERMON Preach'd before the KING In the Chappel at Whitehall . On the Third Sunday in Lent , Being the 7th day of MARCH , 1696 / 7. By the Right Reverend Father in God , GILBERT Lord Bishop of SARUM . LONDON : Printed for Ri. Chiswell , at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard . MDCXC VII . THE BISHOP of SALISBVRY's Sermon before the KING , ON The Third Sunday in LENT . 1697. A SERMON Preach'd before the KING . EPHES. V. VER . 2. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children . THERE is nothing more natural , than for every Man to form himself upon some Pattern or other . Few have the strength of Thought , and the correctness of Judgment that is necessary for framing a Scheme to themselves . It is much easier , as well as much surer to work after some Oaiginal ; in which we may be better able to find out what may be Corrected or Improved , than to form an entire Design to our selves . This is the simplest and surest way of Instruction . Great attention to observe well , and some reflection to judge aright , will carry us far . But when we view Patterns given us in History , we are apt to mistrust it , both because we flatter our selves , and so do not believe any thing that is too high above us ; and because we see Friendship or Interest dispose men to flatter others , both living and dead , we do not believe the Heroes of former Times had so much Good , and that with so few Mixtures , as their Lives represent them ; so that dead Patterns and written Examples move us but feebly . As for those whom we have known , we find after much Practice , such Defects and Abatements in them , as will much sink the high Thoughts that a slighter knowledge of them might at first raise in us . And though Charity is willing to shade them , yet still they are Foils which weaken the Lustre of the Piece . If we follow any too closely , we may insensibly enter into the Imitation of their Weaknesses , as well as of their Virtues ; and by too servile a forming our selves according to such Originals , we may run into Singularity and Affectations , which are always disagreeable . For some Native or bolder airs , that lookt nobly in the Original , shew but poorly when Copied by a weak and unskilful Hand . After all , since a Copy must needs sink below the force and grace of the Original , for Copy imports weakness ; If we take our Patterns from those who are too near our own size , they will raise us but very little ; and if we take them too far out of our reach , they will make us despair of rising up to them . But what mistakes soever we may commit in Copying out men like our selves , we cannot err in endeavouring to become as like God as is possible . The word in my Text rendred Followers , is Imitators , and is the same word from which the Abusive Ones of Mimick and Mimichry are drawn . God made man after his own image , or to be an image and resemblance of himself . He had no other Pattern to Copy from , but his own Infinite and Eternal Mind ; he made us from that Pattern , and has obliged us to imitate it . But is there not a boldness that seems to border on Blasphemy in this , for a Mortal man to pretend to be like God ? It seems too high an aim : A flight above our reach , and beyond our prospect . The very Idea of God carrying Infinite Perfection in it , declares him to be Incomprehensible : Can we then pretend to imitate that which we cannot look at : No eye hath seen , or can see him ; and though all is light about him , yet it is a Light to which we cannot approach ; for clouds and darkness are round about him , with relation to us . Yet if this Light is too strong for us to behold , God has so tempered it , and has brought it so near us by dwelling in Flesh , that while we look at him in that express image of his person , we see in his face the light of the knowledge of the glory of God ; and in him with open face , as in a glass , we behold the glory of the Lord. The brightness that would otherwise dazzle , is here so softned , as yet to lose none of its Beauty , or its Glory ; it is both more Instructive , and more agreeable , as well as less vehement and awful . Upon the whole matter it is certain , that this is the Great and Fundamental Truth of all Religion , That its main Design is to raise and exalt the Nature of man , all that is possible , into a Conformity to the Divine Nature . This is the standing difference between True and False Religion , between Idolatry or Superstition on the one hand , and Pure Religion and Undefiled on the other . That whatsoever proposes any Forms or Practices , Opinions or Interests to be espoused , that have no real tendency in them to the reforming or exalting our Natures , but that rest in these , as things in which the Divinity will be pleased , as in such Acts of Homage and Submission that are offered to it with which the Deity is appeased or bribed , so as to dispense with , or forgive greater matters . This is Superstition , and is the practice of those who study to corrupt Religion in its vital and most important parts , and who would bring men into Parties , and under Conceits , of which they may have the conduct , and by which they may manage other Ends that may pass under solemn Names , but are really the effects of Passion and Ambition , and are directed to serve the Interests of Carnal and Designing Men. On the other hand , The right view of True Religion is , when a Set of such Principles and Practices is set before us , which gives us great and noble thoughts of God , and of another Life ; just and humble ones of our selves , with a tender regard to other men , and a generous contempt of this World , with every thing in it , and even of Life it self : And when this set of Mind breaks out into a course of vertuous and generous Actions ; When we shew that our Religion is the best of all others , because we are made much the better by it ; and all others feel such an influence in our Religion , and such effects from it , that thereby they are both disposed to enquire after it , and prepared to believe well of it . For the World will always think this to be as true an Argument , as it is a short and an easy one , That that must be the best Religion which makes the best Men. All the Rules , Forms , Practices , and Institutions in Religions , must be such as have a tendency to raise , to feed , and to maintain those great and noble Ideas which True Religion gives . When they are so practised , they contribute towards it , and so become a part of True Religion . For instance , If one prays only as a custom , in which so much Time must be spent , so many Forms gone through , so many Words repeated , and so many Acts drawn out of the Mind ; which being done , if he think his Duty is also done , God is pleased , Scores are cleared , and all is set to rights ; here is the superstitious conceit of Prayer . On the other hand , If one considers Prayer as a mean and method to raise within him high thoughts of God , and low ones of himself ; a severe sense both of his Sins and Duties ; with earnest Addresses made to God , and humble Resolutions formed in himself ; and thus uses Prayer as a real mean to humble and to purify himself , to keep him in mind of his Duty , and to direct him by fervent Addresses to obtain Divine Assistances ; he feels this is a Practice , the continuance of which makes him really the better ; and upon such Performances he sees it is very reasonable for him to believe , that according to the Promises made in the Gospel , of the hearing and granting our Prayers , that God will accept of such Addresses , and will upon them make such returns as our Necessities or Occasions do require . This in general then is certain , That God has not imposed Religion on the World , as it were , to lay a Tax on men , or raise a Tribute from them ; he needs nothing from us , as we cannot give him any thing ; he has only commanded us to be Religious , because it is the only possible way to exalt our Natures , to compose our Minds , and to govern our Actions . It is that which renders us proper Objects of the Divine Love and Complacence , and puts us in the certain way of attaining the utmost Happiness of which we are capable ; which is to see God as he is , and to be made like unto him : Our being made like God here , is the certainest Method , as well as the surest Earnest , of our being to enjoy him for ever , in that State of a more and perfect Conformity to him , than we are capable of arriving at here . What is this , to be like God! Can a mortal and finite Nature , stretch it self so far beyond its Bounds and Capacities , as to become either Infinite or Eternal ? Can such frail and short-sighted Beings , as we are , become Omnipotent or Omniscient ? No surely : Man is but Vanity , and even men of high degree are a lie ; they are no less a Vanity than the rest ; but because they seem to be somewhat , they are a lie . The Kings and mighty Potentates of the Earth , after all the swellings of Flattery and Vanity , are , when compared to God , as nothing , or less than nothing , and vanity ; a diminution in Speech , that wants not its beauty . Wherein must we then resemble God , or how can we hope to become like unto him ? It must be at a great distance , and with an infinite disproportion , that we can pretend to this Imitation . God may be considered by us , either in an Intellectual way , as he is a Mind perfect in himself ; or in a Moral way , as he is perfect in his Dealings with all others . In both respects we may be able to find out proper Instances of conforming our selves to him . He is a pure and perfect Spirit , not clogged with Matter , or any union or relation to Matter . We are indeed chained down to a Body and lock'd up in it : We are incumbred with all its pressures , and drawn down to an earthliness and lowness , by too great a commerce with sense and sensible Objects . This captivates and depresses us , nor can we quite throw it off , or escape from it , till the Prison can hold us no more , and our Fetters fall off . A disturbed Imagination does now viciate our Thoughts ; violent Passions and inflamed Appetites do strangely , by a sort of Magick , transform our Souls : They become heavy and dull , feeble and unactive , and almost as Low and Insensible as Matter it self . Then do we rise up to resemble God in the Intellectual way , when we raise our Minds as much out of our Bodies and above them as we can ; when we deny our selves all commerce with those viciating Objects , that corrupt our Minds , and war against our Souls : And when we reduce our selves to short allowances , with relation to those more Innocent amusements and delights ; which may be necessary to the support of the Body , and to the keeping it in such tune , as to answer the occasions that our Souls may have with it ; or to give our Minds such easy and lively intervals between severer exercises , a continuance in which would quickly wast or overset us , that so we may return to them with greater advantage , and prosecute them with more force . But besides this , a Man who would raise his Mind to be the greatest and noblest sort of Being to which it can be exalted , ought to break himself all he can to all eagerness and vehemence , and to a quick pursuit of his Passions or Pleasures . He ought to shake off all those additional fetters which he has added to those under which he is put by the state of Life he is now made subject to . He gives wings to his Soul , who raises it often above Sense and Interest , above the views of Pleasure or Advantage , who directs it to Contemplate and to Meditate ; and by such practices is , as it were , making escapes from his Body and Bodily Objects , who grows even ashamed of that necessary commerce which he must hold with this material World , and therefore he not only prepares to leave it , but is daily looking and longing for it . In a word , do not all Men feel that when then they let their Minds go far into Voluptuous , Covetous , or Ill-natur'd designs , their Souls are , as it were , steep'd and soak'd into Matter , they are depressed and debased by it , and made capable of nothing that is high or generous . By a long continuance in these things they lose their relish of better things , as they become incapable of them . Their Minds grow down to Earth , and become little better than what the Libertines allow them to be , mere sluggish and unactive Matter . Is not this a Degeneracy and a Debasing of our Natures , and a sinking them deeper and deeper into Matter and Corruption ? Whereas those , and those only , feel that they have Souls indeed , who rise to the higher Regions of Thought and Meditation : Who break themselves to Appetite and Passion , to Humour and Interest , and live in Thought and Reflection ; who awaken all those noble Seeds that are in their Natures , and Exercise and Improve them , and make themselves to become as much Minds as they can possibly be . The Clog of the Body will be often taking them down , yet they will rise up again , and aspire after as much of Intellectual Light and Life as this state of Matter and Mortality will allow of . A Second thing in the Intellectual way , in which the considering God as our Pattern will direct us to raise and exalt our selves , is when we consider him as Acting eternally upon a true and full view of all things , and upon the purest and clearest Light , with a perfect and unerring Wisdom . It is true we are not capable of this sort of Perfection . God sees all things past , present , and to come , in one single view . Yet in this we see what is the Perfection of a Rational Nature . It is Thought , Acting with Liberty , and Guided by Knowledge . The better we know things , the more we examine their Nature , Causes , and Effects ; the more we examine what is past , and look into what may be before us ; the deeper we go into our selves , to consider our Capacities , and to examine our Defects , the greater views we give our selves of Truth in general , the more we open our Minds to know the Works of God , the Courses of the Heavenly Bodies , the Structures of this Earth , with all the varieties with which it is both Beautified and Enriched ; but above all , the more we consider this strange mixture of Light and Darkness , of Soul and Body which meet in Man , the wonderful Capacities of his Mind , and the amusing Texture of his Body ; and when from all this we accustom our selves to think much of God and his Attributes , when from mere Speculative views we descend to more Practical ones , and view our selves , and compare our Obligations and our Actions , and from a strict review of what we have seen , form a wise prospect of what may be before us ; and above all , when a Man brings those more general Thoughts to an exact knowledg of himself , and a strict rule of Life , then does he become truly Wise , and so grows up to be as sublime , and as exalted a sort of Being , as he can work himself up to . Then a Man grows up to the height of his Nature , when he is often turning his Thoughts towards some useful Piece of Knowledge or Observation : when he reflects much , and judges slowly , but sedately and truly , and frames his whole Life to a constant Pursuit of that which is the effect of so much Consideration and Care. A Man needs but reflect a very little on what he feels within himself , to be convinced of the truth of all this . The more Ignorant and Implicite , the more Rash and Inconstant , the more Headstrong and Wilful he is , he feels that he is the lamer and imperfecter sort of Creature : He whose Knowledge is only imployed in the mean Business of Life , or in the meaner Arts of Cozenage and Deceit ; he who is led or driven blindfold , and who neither knows , nor is concern'd to know how he ought to conduct himself , but leaves himself to Chance or Fate , to sudden Thoughts , or unlook'd-for Accidents , and is not the wiser for what is past , nor the carefuller of what may be before him ; this Man , I say , is with all his Shows of Wealth and Greatness , with all his Gilding and Trappings , but a poor , a blind , and a miserable Creature : a Slave to Humour or Interest , to Envy or Ill-nature . But he is of a much Nobler Order , one is almost tempted to say , of another sort of Beings , who has opened his Mind , and spread his Faculties wide , to the acquiring of true and useful Knowledge ; who imploys his Thoughts and Time to the digesting of what he knows , and the rendring it useful to himself and others , and who makes it the study of his whole Life , to reduce those his Theories to Practice , and so lives by Thought and Reflection . Souls so raised , are aspiring to imitate that Original Perfection ; they are on a true Scent , and in the right Way ; they may perhaps make some wrong Steps , but it is impossible that those who take this Method can miscarry . All must end happily with those who begin so well . As God is Pure and Perfect in Himself , so he is Holy in all his Ways ; and all those who arrive at good degrees of this Intellectual Purity , are at the same time very exactly careful in observing the Moral Order of Things , that Rule of their Actions and Deportment towards others . These are reduced to Two general Heads , of Truth and Goodness . Truth is the Vertue which of all others Nature puts on us with the most forcible Impression . It is indeed no other but the speaking and acting according to the Sense that we have of Things . It is that which Nature always suggests ; it shoots it self ever first into our Thoughts and Words . It is simple and uniform , ever the same , maintained without Care , and managed without Study . It requires a good degree of study to carry on false and deceitful Designs , with proper Disguises , with that contrivance and presence of Mind , and with that Memory and Attention that are necessary to indirect Practises . Whereas if a Man has but the Virtue and the Courage to be Honest , he goes on with little anxiety , trusting to his Integrity , for that will both support and conduct him . Truth is the first and the most indispensable of all the Obligations among Men. It is the Basis of Society , and the Foundation of all the Confidence and Security that can be in the World. Many Nations have differed much in their Notions concerning the other Virtues , but all have agreed , that within Society , at least , Truth ought to be maintain'd sacredly ; and the more open and free , the more unreserved and hearty this Sincerity is , it tends to establish Nations and Neighbourhoods upon a surer Bottom . It is the same Vertue that makes us true in our Words , just in our Dealings , faithful to our Promises , and exact in our Payments : all arise from the same Root , from an Integrity of Heart , and a candid Sincerity in all that one professes , says , or does . This is the speaking the Truth as one thinks and intends it , and the maintaining the Truth as it has been spoken or promised . This is the conforming our selves to the Divine Being , who is true and faithful , keeping his Covenant and Promises ; who is the God of Truth , and who desires Truth in the inward parts : Whereas the Men of Falshood and Deceit , who love and tell Lyes , who lie in wait to deceive , who give themselves to Oppression and Extortion , who take Advantages from the simplicity and credulity of other Persons , to impose on them the more dextrously ; and who make Lies their refuge and their Strength , and are not wanting to fortifie them with Oaths and Imprecations , that they may vent them with the better Grace , and give them the more Credit ; these are fallen from the Resemblance of the true and righteous God , and are lapsed into the state of the Apostate and fallen . Spirit , whose Character is , That he abode not in the truth , because there is no truth in him , who when he speaketh a Lye , speaketh of his own ; that is , his natural Stile and Dialect , for he is a Lyar , and the Father of it . Here we must begin our Conformity to God , as to our Morals . It is a vain thing to pretend to make any farther Progress in Religion , 'till we have learnt to practise this which is the first Element of Virtue . There is no going further 'till we enter upon the diligent Practice of this : as a careful Master will not carry his Scholars over the first Elements 'till they are once fully the Masters of these . It is the deceiving them to pretend to lead them further , before these are well understood by them ; so Truth is of so ●ndispensable a Nature , both with Relation to Religion and Humane Life , that without it we can neither be Happy nor secure in this Life , nor have any Hope in the next . Since Liars are reckoned in almost in every Catalogue , that is given us , of those who are adjudged to endless Miseries . Next Truth is Goodness and in this we find that Nature has also made very deep Impressions on us : We feel Dispositions to Kindness and Compassion , to Acts of Mercy and Pity , and to Love and Friendship , laid in our Natures . We feel that the more these are shut up , and restrained in us , the feebler their Influence and the fain●er their Power is , that we are thereby the lower , the meaner , and the deader in every thing that is either Great or Generous : whereas the more we awaken and open these Seeds in us , the greater Compass they take , and the stronger that they work upon us , we become thereby a nobler Sort of Creatures : We have greater Thoughts , better Designs , with a more generous Exaltation of Nature and a further enlargment of our Faculties . Goodness is not meer Pity ; much less a feeble Disposition to pardon too easily , or to carry Compassion beyond all Rules or Measures : such a Goodness as this , would too much encourage the wickedest Race of Men , they would presume too much upon it . If Princes were too easie in this way , Society would become an impracticable Thing : The worst Sort of Men would be too bold , if the best were too merciful . The chief Acts of Goodness are , the endeavouring to make others truly Good. He who feels in himself the Power and Excellence of the Principles of Religion and Virtue , endeavours to spread and communicate these all he can : He is so sensible of his Happiness , in being under their Influence , that he takes all the Methods he can , to infuse the like Sense into all others . Love and Compassion are the Root of this Disposition in him : all the other Offices and Acts of Charity , are Acts only of a Lower Order , though they are all necessary in their Kind : those which tend to make Men truly Good , are of the Nobler Sort. This we find in the Manifestations of the Divine Goodness . God is perfect in himself , and from that fulness there is a perpetual emunation to all Rational Beings , while they are capable of being made truly Good. In Order to that End even the Pardon of Sin is offered but as an Encouragement to our becoming truly Good : our Faculties are made capable of it : all Knowledge is set before us in Order to that End : and the Blessings of Life are given us like so many Largesses , which make it easie and convenient , to give us the more freedom of Thought , and the better to dispose us to enter upon wise and good Methods . So the whole Design of God in all his Dealings with us , is to make us really Good. Other Things are only collateral , and are directed to this end . Here then is the true Idea of perfect Goodness ; a real Desire and hearty Endeavour to make Men good , by all the Means and Methods that we can think on . HAPPY THEY who have their Power to do much Good ; who ought to consider this as the Noblest Character of Divinity , by which they do shine with a Glory that is much Brighter than all the Attire of Majesty . They are born to be publick Blessings to Mankind , not only as they protect and defend them , as they rescue them from Oppression and Tyrany , and as they do Justice and spread their Royal Bounty among their People . This is no small Degree of Honour , but it is not all their Dignity . They can make the World not only the safer and the happier , but the better by their Means . They can set such an Example that will bring many to endeavour to imitate it . What they do is much observed ; they are ever in view , and always narrowly lookt to . Many for Interest , and others for Decency , will follow the Patterns that they set , especially if all is Uniform and of a Piece ; and if they join with it , the Influences of their Favour , and the Force of their Authority , to encourage and promote Virtue and Religion , and to discourage and disgrace Vice and Impiety . The bare Practice of Virtue , and giving good Examples , is all that the lower sort of Men are capable of doing , in order to the reforming the World. But for those who are fortified with Power and Authority , who have Rewards and Punishments in their Hands , besides that , which in other Persons is of little Force , but has in them a mighty Influence , their good or ill Looks which carry Life , or give Death , or at least a Damp that will put boldest to a stand . For them , I say , to be silent Observers of the Vices of others , is to give them Impunity , if not Protection . When these are of the side of Nature , and give it scope , then they are very successful : little Labour , with bad Examples in those set on high , will soon corrupt a Nation . But when they work against the Current , tho' the Foundation of all that they can hope to effect , must be laid in their own good Example ; yet this will work slowly and feebly , if not follow'd with a mighty Influence . Practices that have got possession , when they have Nature on their side , will be stubborn , and are not easily conquered . But Rewards and Encouragements , with some few Severities , when extorted , will turn the Tide at last . Are not those then born for the Noblest Ends , and exalted to the best Purposes , who live and govern so , that the World grows the better by their means . But as this is the Top of their Honour , and a high one it is indeed , so they must remember that they must give an Account of it to him by whom Kings reign . The greater Opportunities and Advantages that are put in their Hands , they have so much the more to answer for , since to whom much is given , of them much will also be required . Here then is our Pattern , and this is our Lesson ; we must be the followers of God , and shew forth the vertues of him who hath called us from darkness to his marvellous light . But if we think this is too far out of sight , let us view it a little , as it is brought nearer us , and set before us in more sensible Idea's . In the Person of our Blessed Saviour , we see those Characters of the Divinity , in a Light , that is more accommodated to our Faculties . If we view him with relation to the Particulars that have been hitherto insisted on , we find that tho' he was clothed with our Nature , together with all its innocent Infirmities , yet he not only kept at a perfect distance from all the Defilements of Sense , but he despised Wealth and Greatness , Ease and Pleasure , and fled even from the Offers of a Crown : He neglected his Person , and spent many Days in Fasting , and the Nights in Prayer : He lived in Contemplations that were indeed above us , because he saw Truth in a Light superiour to our Capacities : He was neither led by Partialities nor Humours , but was ever delighted to do the Will of God in all things . There was no guile in his mouth : He would not save his Life by the concealing or disguising of Truth , but freely confessed that upon which his Enemies were resolved to take it away : He was ever open and sincere , tho' he knew that all his Words were wrested to the worst Sense possible . He was ever doing good , as his Life was a perfect Pattern of it : His Time was chiefly imployed in instructing the Multitudes that gathered about him : he taught them plainly , suitably to their Capacities , with great Tenderness and Patience : only he shewed a just Indignation , which he has thereby recommended to us , against the proud , the bloody , and the hypocritical Corrupters of Religion in his Time : He bore all the Contempt that was put upon him , and all the Injuries that were done him , with silence and patience , and was ever ready not only to forgive them , but to render Good for Evil ; while an unaffected Humility , and a decent Modesty run thro● all he either said or did . Thus he lived , and thus he died . He died that he might reconcile us to God ; but he lived to set us a Pattern , to shew us what true Religion was , how to be attained , and how practised . This was that which gave the Christian Religion its chief Authority , after the Miracles with which it was at first proved , had ceas'd . The shining Lives , the Purity , the Sinceri●y , and the Charity of those who professed it , recommended it so effectually to the World , that even the most malicious of all its Enemies , Iulian the Apostate , in a Letter to one of his Priests , in which he laments the small Progress he was making in restoring Heathenism , and confesses the Disorders that were among them , says , The Christians , ( whom he in derision calls usually the Galileans ) had gained their Credit by their Charity to the Poor , and by the Gravity or Purity of their Lives . It is true , his Malice made him put in the Word counterfeit Gravity , but the virulence of that is very plain . In the same Letter , speaking of relieving the Poor , he does it by this Gradation ; he reproaches the Gentiles with their neglect of them ; he says none of the Iews did beg ; but of the Christians , he says they not only take care of their own Poor , but of ours likewise . It was by the force of such Patterns , that the Christian Religion prevail'd so much as it did in the World. But what made the Stand ? what put a Stop to its Progress , and has brought it under so fatal a Reverse , that now it is losing Ground instead of gaining any ? We that are called Christians , are chiefly to be blam'd for this : Our bad Practices , and the ill Examples we set the World , have given it deep , and , with relation to us , just Prejudices . It amazes a Man to think , what it can be that should possess the World so much against a Religion that is so Pure and Holy in all the parts of it , but chiefly in its Precepts , and that particularly tends to make all Mankind both safe and happy . The first and great Reason , is the corruption of Men's Natures ; that stands it out in a stiff opposition to that which is so contrary to them , to their Ends , their Interests , their Appetites , and their Passions . This they are willing to fortifie by all the ill-natur'd Observations , whether true or false , that they can make , of those who are of any Form , or bear any Character in this Religion . But suppose all were true that they suggest , and that we were as bad as they wish we were , or study to make us appear to be ; we are certainly so much the more to blame , since our Practices will have a more certain Influence than our Discourses ; yet whatever we may be , tho' we may have the Defects and Infirmities of Humane Nature hanging about us , and returning too often on us , yet we have this treasure put in earthen vessels . How contemptible soever the Pot or Vessel may be , that makes not the Treasure found in it to be of less Value . It is so temper'd , and was so from the very beginning , that the excellency of the power may appear to be of God , and not of Man. Let Men say of us what they please , and let us defend us from it the best we can , yet what can the whole Tribe of Libertines say against the Vertues and Rule of Life , that Temper of Mind , and Course of the whole Conversation , that this our Religion prescribes : Let us bear our own Burden , but let no part be cast on that Faith which we believe , and that Doctrine in which we instruct the World : Nor ought Judgments to be made too rashly : for Men may have weak Sides and frail Minutes , and yet upon the whole they may sincery believe , and faithfully follow this form of Doctrine , even tho' Humane Nature may be so strong , as to make them give Ground sometimes , and start aside but too often . Yet certainly this is so strong a Prejudice to those who seek for it , and study to fortifie themselves by it , against the Power of Conviction , that it ought to have a great effect on all Persons , in whom , or by reason of whom the Honour of Religion may be concerned ; to oblige them to a great attention to themselves , and to a strict watchfulness over all they do ; for they are watched and observed by others , who wait for their halting , and will not fail to improve all the advantages that are given in this manner , with a most industrious spite . But after all , we cannot pretend to go further than St. Paul did , Beye followers of me , as I also am of Christ. Then indeed our Words will have the utmost Force , that can be put in Words , when our Lives are of a piece with them : but when it is otherwise , it is the worse for our selves ; but our Cause has still the same truth and the same force in it , how ill soever it may be set out , or supported by us . God be thanked for it , we are not so destitute of Patterns , but that some remain ; and some we have known , who are now enjoying the Rewards of their Religion and Vertue , who have signally edify'd the World , and whose Name and Fame do still live . We are to do all this as dear Children , under deep Impressions of the Love and Goodness of God : for these are the powerfullest Motives to a generous and lively Obedience . The Glory and Majesty of God strike us , but his Goodness overcomes all those that are capable of a just sense of things ; we receive a great deal in common with the rest of Men , or of Christians , and those Blessings are of such a Nature , that if we but let them in upon our Thoughts , in their true value , we will feel a mighty force in them , to determine us to a sincere Obedience . The Blessings that go to all Mankind in common , or at least to a great part of it , will not perhaps make such Impression on some , as those that are more special , or that having more immediately and particularly to themselves . In such every Man who examines the whole conduct of Providence towards himself , from his first setting out to the present time , will be able to collect such a train of kind and tender , happy and indulgent Instances of the Goodness of God towards him , preserving him from Evil , rescuing him out of Dangers and Inconveniences , conducting him thro' Difficulties , and following him with many Blessings ; that he will soon find Matter enough , if he but believes and observes Providence , to raise within himself a grateful Sense of it , and humble Acknowledgments for it . In this no Man's Life is so barren , but that it will afford him great occasions of Praise and Thanksgiving : for all Men share more or less in the Watchfulness of Providence . SOME have indeed had a larger measure of it : happy and great Accidents , have as it were by a Combination , led them thro' Difficulties that seem'd insuperable , they have rescu'd them out of Dangers , that have been of so extraordinary a Nature , as if They had been directed on Design , to shew the wonderful Interpositions of Providence , for their Preservation . Friends and Enemies , Seasons and Winds , and Heaven and Earth , have seem'd as it were to conspire to their Elevation , and cross Accidents have seem'd to be interspersed thro' their Lives , only to make the unlookt-for happy Crisis , come with the greater surprize upon themselves , and upon all others , as if they were the special Favourites of Providence , and markt out to be among the most amazing Instances that can occur in History . If such things have hapned to any , and have set them as much above the rest of Mortals by the Distinctions of Providence , as they are by the Elevation of their Fortunes , then what Returns do they owe to that Goodness and Love that has been so very bountiful to them , in such a copious Distribution of its Favours ? What returns of Praise and Gratitude ought they to make ? How ought they to distinguish themselves from the rest of Mankind , by their Zeal and Activity , and by their Influence and Authority , to promote the Glory of that God who has laid so much Honour on them , and to imploy their thoughts and time chiefly in contriving and executing the best Designs they can think of , or that can be suggested , for the greatest Good of Mankind ; which , if they sincerely pursue , this will be , after all , the greatest of all the Blessings of Heaven to them ; it will make them Blessings indeed to this World , and advance them to the highest degrees of Happiness in the next . Here is then the design of Religion ▪ the chief Aim to which all the rest is directed , to raise and perfect our Natures , to make them as great and as pure , as wise and as good as is possible to raise them above the Depressions of Interest and Sense , above the Intanglements of Appetite and Passion , above little , low , and narrow things , to an enlargement of their Capacities , to an exaltation of their Thoughts and Tempers , and , in a word , to make them become like God , that is , the perfectest kind of Beings possible . Can a greater Thought enter into the Mind of Man , or can he pursue a nobler Design ? which carries Greatness and Majesty in very Sound of it . It is plain this must be the greatest Design of Religion ; it is ▪ the primary End of the Creation , and the chief Business of the whole Christian Religion . Every Man must feel there is somewhat in the bare Proposition of it , that strikes his Faculties , which presently yield to it , and dispose him to close with it . Oh happy they who do really set about , and do sincerely prosecute it : It shews a nobleness of Mind to be capable of so great a Thought , which could not move an abject Soul. This is none of those vain Speculations that set Men on to a fantastical Pursuit of unattainable things . The Design is solid and practicable , as well as it is generous and great : It does not swell the Mind with Air and Vanity , on the contrary it seasons it with Modesty and Humility . How difficult soever the Performance may be , there are Aids proportioned to the Labours of it ; which will both encrease our Force , and render all those Difficulties the more easie to us . Our sincere Endeavours will be both accepted and assisted : and how small a Progress soever we may make here , how often soever we may be taken down from so high a Flight , and how much soever we may feel our Bodies and our Senses , and the necessary Commerce that we are engaged in with sensible Objects , depress and distract us ; yet as there is a secret Pleasure in great Undertakings , even tho' our Success does not answer our Hopes , so we are sure we shall master all at last , and in Conclusion arrive at that State of a more perfect Conformity , whereas our Bodies shall be made like unto the glorified Body of the Son of God , and shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of our Father , so in our Minds we shall become like unto God ; for we shall see him as he is , and the sight of these infinite Perfections shall transform our Minds , into as near a Resemblance of them , as is possible : and as in this we shall ever feel a true Joy and real Happiness , following us , in proportion to those Advances we make in our Conformity to God : so when that Conformity shall be carry'd as far as our created and limited Capacities can go , then we shall with it partake of a proportion'd fulness of Joy : as great a fulness as our Faculties can receive : and we shall be ever with the Lord , in those Pleasures that are for evermore . In this our being now the followers of God will certainly end ; we who study to follow him here , shall follow him into those Mansions of Glory , where with Angels and Saints we shall be unspeakably happy to all Eternity . Thither God of his infinite Mercy lead us thro' all the Changes and Chances of this mortal Life ; for the sake of Iesus Christ our Saviour , to whom with the Father , and the Holy Ghost , be all Honour and Glory both now and for ever . Amen . FINIS . ERRATA . Page 12. Line 15. for amusing read amazing . p. 26. l. 1. for us r. our selves . p. 27 . l. ult . for 〈…〉 Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A30450-e220 Gen. 1. 26. 1 Tim. 6. 18. 2 Cor. 4. 6. 2 Cor. 3. 18. 9 Dan. 4. 51 Psal. 6. 8 John 45. 1 Pet. 2. 9. 1 Pet. 2. 22. 1 Tim. 6. 23. Jul. Ep. 49. 2 Cor. 4. 7. 1 Cor. 11. 1.