THE LIBRARY O.F THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE SERMONS O F Mr. Y O R I C K. VOL. V. A NEW EDITION. LONDON: inted for W. STRAHAN ; and T. CADELL, in tie ^Strand. 1779. 29914 PR v. 5 CONTENTS O F T H E FIFTH V O L U M E. SERMON XV. Defcription of the World. SERMON XVI. St. Peter's Charader. SERMON XVII. Thirtieth of January. SERMON XVIII. CONTENTS. SERMON XIX. Truft in God. SERMON XX. SERMON XXI. Sanflity of the Apoftles. SERMON XXII. Penances. SERMON XV. Defcription of the World. 2 PETER Hi. 1 1. Seeing then, that all tbefe things Jhall be diflohiedi what manner of per- 1 Jons ought ye to be in all holy con- verfaticn and godlinefs ? looking and baftening unto the coming of God. THE fubjed upon which St. Peter is difcourfing in this chapter, is the certainty of Chrift's coming to judge the world; and the words of the text are the moral ap- plication he draws from the repre- fentation he gives of it, in which, in anfwer to the cavils of the fcoffers VOL. V. B 2 S E R M O N XV. in the latter days, concerning the delay of his coming, he tells them, that God is not flack concerning his promifes, as fome men count flack- nefs, but is long fuffering to us ward i that the day of tie Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens foall pafs away with a great noife, and the elements Jhall melt with fervent heat, the earth alfo, and the works that are therein, (hall be burnt up. Seeing then, fays he, all thefe things mall be diffolved, what man- ner of perfons ought ye to be in all holy converfation and godlinefs ? The inference is unavoidable, at lead in theory, however it fails in prac- tice; how widely thefe two differ, I intend to make the fubject of this SERMON XV. 3 difcourfej and though it is a melan- choly companion, to confider, c what manner of perfons we really are,* wiih 4 what manner of perfons we ought to be;' yet as the knowledge of the one, is at lead one flep towards the improve- ment in the other, the parallel will not be thought to want its ufe. ' Give me leave, therefore, in the firft place, to recal to your obferva- tions, what kind of world it is we live in, and what manner of perfons we really are. Secondly, and in oppofuion to this, I (hall make ufc of the apoftle's ar- gument, and from a brief reprefent- ation of the Chriftian religion, and the obligations it lays upon us, (hew, B 2 4 S E R M O N XV. what manner of perfons we ought to be in all holy converfation and god- linefs, looking for and haftening unto the coming of the day of God. Whoever takes a view of the world will, I fear, be able to difcern but very faint marks of this character, either upon the looks or actions of its inhabitants. Of all the ends and purfuits we are looking for, and haften- ing unto, this would be the leaft fufpected, for without running into that old declamatory cant upon the wickednefs of the age, we may fay within the bounds of truth, that there is as little influence from this principle which the apoftle lays ftrefs on, and as little fenfe of religion, as fmall a fhare of virtue (at leaft as SERMON XV. 5 little of the appearance of it) as can be fuppofed to exift at all in a country where it is countenanced by the ftate. The degeneracy of the times, has been the common complaint of many ages: how much we exceed our forefathers in this, is known alone to that God who trieth the hearts. But this we may be allowed to urge in their favour, they flu died at leaft to preferve the appearance of vir- tue; public vice was branded with public infamy, and obliged to hide its head in privacy and retirement. The fervice of God was regularly attended, and religion not expofed to the reproaches of the fcorner. How the cafe ftands with us at prefent in each of thefe particulars, it Bj 6 S E R M O N XV. is grievous to report, and perhaps un- acceptable to religion herfclf ; yet as this is a feafon wherein it is fit we fhould be told of our faults, let us for a moment impartially confidcr the articles of this charge. And firft, concerning the great article of religion, and the influence it has at prefent upon the lives and behaviour of the prefent times ; concerning which I have faid, that if we are to truft appearances, there is as little as can well be fuppofed to exift at all in a chriftian country. Here I mail fpare exclamations, and avoiding all common place railing upon the fubjecl, confine myfelf to facts, fuch as every one who looks out into the world, and makes any S E R M O N XV. 7 obfervations at all, will vouch for me. Now whatever are the degrees of real religion amongft us, whatever they are, the appearances are ftrong againft the charitable fide of the queftion. If religion is any where to be found, one would think it would be amongft thofe of the higher rank in life, whofe education and opportu- nities of knowing its great import- ance, (hould have brought them over to its intereft, and rendered them as firm in the defence of it, as eminent in its example. But if you examine the fad, you will almoft find it a teft of a politer education and mark of B 4 8 S E R M O N XV. more fhining parts, to know nothing, and indeed, care nothing at all about it : or if the fubjeft happens to engage the attention of a few of the more fprightly wits, that it ferves no other purpofe, but that of being made merry at, and of being re- ferved, as a (landing jeft to enliven difcourfe, when converfation fickens upon their hands. This is too fore an evil not to be obferved amongft perfons of all ages, in what is called higher life; and fo early does the contempt of this great concern begin to (hew itfelf that it is no uncommon thing to hear perfons difputing againft religion, and raifing cavils againft the Bible, at an age when fome of them would be hard SERMON XV. 9 fee to read a chapter in it And I may add, that of thofe whofe ftock in knowledge is fomewhat larger, for the moft part it has fcarce any other foundation to reft on but the finking it of traditional and fecond hand objections againft revelation, which had they leifure to read, they would find anfwered and confuted a thouiand times over. But this by the way. If we take a viey of the pub- lic worfhip of Almighty God, and obierve in what manner it is reve- renced by perfons in this rank of life, whofe duty it is to fct an exam- ple to the poor and ignorant, we fliall find concurring evidence upon this melancholy argument of a general want of all outward demonftration of jo S E R M O N XV. a fenfe of our duty towards God, as if religion was a bufinefs fit only to em- ploy tradefrnen and mechanics and the falvation of our fouls, a concern utterly below the confideration of a perfon of figure and confequence. I (hall fay nothing at prefent of the lowerranksof mankind though they have not yet got into the famion of laughing at religion, and treating it with fcorn and contempt, and I be- lieve are too ferious a fet of creatures ever to come into it i yet we are not to imagine but that the contempt it is held in by thofe whofe examples they are too apt to imitate, will in time utterly {hake their principles, and render them, if not as prophane, at leaft as corrupt as their betters. SERMON. XV. n "When this event happens and we begin to feel the effects of it in our dealings with them, thpfe who have done the mifchief will find the necef- fuy at the laft of turning religious in their own defence, and for want of a better principle, to fet an example of piety and good morals for their own intereft and convenience. Thus much for the languifhing ftate of religion in the prcfent age; in virtue and good morals perhaps the account may ftand higher. Let us inquire And here, I acknowledge, that an unexperienced man, who heard how loudly we all talked in behalf of virtue and moral honefty, and how unani- 12 SERMON XV. mous we were all in our cry againft vicious characters of all denomina- tions, would be apt haftily to con- clude, that the whole world was in an uproar about it and that there was fo general a horror and deteftation of vice amongft us, that mankind were all aflbciating together to hunt it out of the world, and give it no quarter. This I own would be a na- tural conclufion for anyone who only trufted his ears upon this fubject. - But as matter of fact is allowed better evidence than hear-fay let us fee in the prefent how the one cafe is con- tradided by the other. However vehement we approve ourfelves in difcourfe againft vice I believe no one is ignorant that the re- SERMON XV. ij ception it actually meets with is very different the conduct and behaviour of the world is fo oppofite to their language, and all we hear fo contra- dicted by what we fee, as to leave little room to queftion which fenfe we are to truft. Look, I befeech you, among thofe who.'e higher flarions are made a fhelter for the liberties they take, you will fee, that no man's chara&er is fo infamous, nor any woman's fo abandoned, as not to be vifited and admitted freely into all companies, and, if the party can pay for it, even publicly to be courted, carefied, and fh< rered. If this will not overthrow the credit of our virtue, take afhorc view of the general decay of it, from 14 S E R M O N XV. the faftuonable excefles of the age,- in favour of which there feems to be formed fo ftrong a party, that a man of fobriety, temperance, and regularity, i'carce knows how to ac- commodate himfelf to the fociety he lives in, and is oft as much at a lofs how and where to difpofe of him^ felf-, and unlefs you luppofe a mix- ture of conftancy in his temper, it is great odds but fuch a one would be ridiculed, and laughed out of his fcruples and his virtue at the fame time; to fay nothing of occafional rioting, chambering, and wanton- nefs. Confider how many public markets are eftablifhed merely for the fale of virtue, where the manner of going, too fadly indicates the inten- SERMON XV. 15 tion ; and the difguife each is under, not only gives power fafely to drive on the bargain, but too often tempts to carry it into execution too, This finning under difguife, I own, feems to carry fome appearance of a fecret homage to virtue and decorum, and might be acknowledged as fuch, was it not the only public inftance the world feems to give of it. In other cafes, a'juft fenfe of fhame feems a matter of fo little* concern, that inftead of any regularity of be- haviour, you fee thoufands who are tired with the very form of it, and who at length have even thrown the maflc of it afide, as a ufelefs piece of incumbrance. This I believe will need no evidence, it is too evidently 4 16 SERMON XV. feen in the open liberties taken every day, in defiance (not to fay of reli- gion) but of decency and common good manners ; fo that it is no un- common thing to behold vices, which heretofore were committed only in dark corners, now openly fhew their face in broad day, and oft times with fuch an air of triumph, as if the party thought he was doing himfelf honour, or that he thought the deluding an unhappy creature, and the keeping her in a ftate of guilt, was as neceffary a piece of gran- deur as the keeping an equipage, and did him as much credit as any other appendage of his fortune. If we pafs on from the vices to the indecorums of the age (which is SERMON XV; i? a fofter name for vices) you will fcarce fee any thing, in what is called higher life, but what befpeaks a ge- neral relaxation of all order and di cipline, in which our opinions as well as manners feem to be fet loofe from all reftraints ; and, in truth, from all ferious reflections toot- and one may venture to fay, that gaming and extravagance, to the utter ruin of the greateft eftates, minds diffipated with diverfions, ano 1 heads giddy with a perpetual rotation of them, are the mod general characters to be met with ; and though one would expect, that at leaft the more folemn feafons of the year, fet apart for the contemplation of (Thrift's fuf- ferings, mould give fome check and VOL. V. C i 8 SERMON XV. interruption to them, yet what ap- pearance is there ever amongft us, that it is fo 5 what one alteration does it make in the courfe of things ? Is not the doctrine of mortification infulted by the fame luxury of enter- tainments at our tables ; is not the fame order of diverfions perpetually returning, and fcarce any thing elfe thought of? does not the fame kvity in drefs, as well as difcourfe,. {hew itfelf in perfons of all ages? I fay of all ages , for it is no fmall ag- gravation of the corruption of our morals, that age, which by its autho- rity was once able to frown youth into fobriety and better manners, and keep them within bounds, feems but too often to lead the way, and SERMON XV. 19 by their unfeafonable example give a countenance to follies and weaknefs, which youth is but too apt to run into without fuch a recommendation. Surely age, which is but one re- move from death, fhould have no- thing about it, but what looks like a decent preparation for it. In purer times it was the cafe, but now, grey hairs themfelves fcarce ever ap- pear, but in the high mode and flanting garb of youth, with heads as full of pleafure, and clotkes as ridiculoufly, and as much in the fafhion, as the perfon who wears them is ufually grown out of it: upon which article give me leave to make a fhort reflection -, which is this, that whenever the eldeft equal the youngeft C 2 20 S E R M O N XV. in the vanity of their drefs, there is no reafon to be given for it, but that they equal them, if not furpafs them, in the vanity of their defires. But this by the bye. Though in truth the obfervatiort falls in with the main intention of this difcourfe, which is not framed to flatter our follies, or touch them with a light hand, but plainly to point them out , that by recalling to your mind, what manner of perfons we really are, I might better lead you to the apoftle's inference* of what manner of perfons ye ought to be, in all holy converfation and god- linefs ? looking for, and haftening unto the coming of the day of God, SERMON XV. 21 The apoftle, in the concluding verfe of this argument, exhorts, that they who look for fuch things be diligent, that they be found of hini in peace, without fpot, and blame- lefs; and one may conclude with him, that if the hopes or fears, either \ the reafon or the paffions of men are to be wrought upon at all, it muft be from the force and influence of this awakening confideration in the text: " That all thefe things Ihall be difiblved," that this vain and perilhable fcene muft change, that we who now tread the ftage, muft fhortly be fummoned away ; that we are creatures but of a day, haftening unto the place from whence ~ 2* SERMON XV. we fhall return no more ; that whilft we are here, our conduct and beha- viour is minutely obferved; that there is a Being about our paths and about our beds, whofe omnifcient eye fpies out all our ways, and takes a faithful record of all the pafifages of our lives; that thefe volumes lhall be produced and opened, and men lhall be judged out of the thtogs that are written in them , that with- out refpect of perfons, we fliall be made accountable for our thoughts, our words, and actions to this greateft and beft of Beings, before whofe judgment-feat we muft finally ap- pear, and receive the things done in the body, whether they are good, or whether they are bad. SERMON XV. 23 That to add to the terror of it, this day of the Lord will come upon us like a thief in the night; of that hour no one knowethj that we are not fure of its being fufpended one day or one hour ; or, what is the fame cafe, that we are {landing upon the edge of a precipice, with nothing but the fingle thread of human life to hold us up ; and that if we fall unprepared in this thoughtlefs Hate, we are loft, and muft peri(h for evermore. What manner of perfons we ought to be, upon thefe principles of our religion, St. Peter has told us, in all holy converfation and godlinefs , and I fhall only remind, how dif- ferent a frame of mind, the looking C 4 24 SERMON XV. for, and haftening unto the coming of God, under fuch a life, is, from that of fpending our days in vanity, and our years in pleafure. Give me leave, therefore, to con- clude in that merciful warning, which our Saviour, the judge himfelf, hath given us, at the clofe of the fame exhortation. Take heed to yourfelves, left a,t any time your hearts be over-charged with furfeiting and drunkennefs, and the cares of this life ; and fo that day come upon you unawares: for as a fnare (hall it come upon all that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to SERMON XV. 25 efcape all thefe things that flaall come to pafs, and to ftand before the Son of man. Which may God of his mercy grant, through Jefus Chrift. Amen. SERMON XVI. ST. PETER'S Character. ACTS Hi. 12. And when Peter faw it, be anfwered unto tbe people, Te men oflfrael, wby marvel ye at tbis? cr wby lock ye fo eameftfy on us, as though by our own power or bolinefs we bad made tbis man to walk ? THESE words, as the text tells us, were fpoke by St. Peter, on the occafion of his miraculous cure of the lame man, who w%s laid at the gate of the temple, and, in the begin- ning of this chapter, had afked an 2 8 SERMON XVI. alms of St. Peter and St. John, as they went up together at the hour of prayer ; on whom St. Peter fatten- ing his eyes, as in the 4th verfe, and declaring he had no fuch relief to give him as he expected, having nei- ther filver nor gold, but that fuch as he had, the benefit of that divine power which he had received from his Matter, he would impart to him, he commands him forthwith, in the name of Jefus Chrift of Nazareth, to rife up and walk. And he took him by the hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ancle-bones received itrength ; and he leaped up, flood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, leaping and praifing God.. SERMON XVL 29 It feems he had been born lame, had pafled a whole life of "defpair, without hopes of ever being reftored ; fo that the immediate fenfe of ftrength and activity communicated to him at once, in fo furprifing and unfought-for a manner, caft him into the tranfport of mind natural to a man fo benefited beyond his expecta- tion. So that the amazing inftance of a fupernatural power ; the noto- riety of fact, wrought at the hour of prayer; the unexceptionablenefs of the object, that it was no impoflure, for they knew that it was he which fat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple ; the unfeigned expref- fions of an enraptured heart almoft befide itfelf, confirming the whole j 4 30 SERMON XVI. the man that was healed, in the loth verfe, holding his benefactors, Peter and John, entering into the temple with them, walking and leaping, and praifing God; the great concourfe of people, drawn together by this event in the nth verfe, for they all ran unto them, into the porch that was called Solomon's, greatly won- dering. Sure never was fuch a fair opportunity for an ambitious mind to have eftabliuVd a character of fu- perior goodnefs and power. To a man fet upon this world, who fought his own praife and honour, what an in- vitation would it have been to have turned thefe circumdances to fuch a purpofe ; to have fallen in with the paffions of an aftonifhed and grateful SERMON XVI. 31 city, prepofTefied, from what had hap- pened, fo flrongly in his favour al- ready, that little art or management was requifite to have improved their wonder and good opinion into the higheft reverence of his fanciity, awe of his perfon, or whatever other belief fhould be neceffary to feed his pride, or ferve fecret ends of glory and in- tereft. A mind not fufficiently mor- tified to the world, might have been tempted here to have taken the ho- nour due to God and transferred it to himfelf. He might not fo a dif- ciple of Chrift : for when Peter faw it, when he law the propenfity in them to be miQed on this occafion, he aa- fwered and faid unto the people, in the words of the text, Ye men of Ifrael, 3 $2 SERMON XVI. why marvel ye at this? or why look you fo earneftly on us, as though by our own power and holinefs we had made this man to walk ? the God of Abraham, and of Ifaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his fon Jefus. O holy, and blefled apoftle ! How would thy meek and morti- fied fpiric fatisfy itfelf in uttering fo humble and fo juft a declaration ? What an honeft triumph wouldft thou tafte the fweets of, in thus con- .quering thy pafTion of vain gloryj keeping down thy pride, difclaim- ing the praifes which mould have fed it, by telling the wondering fpecla- tors, It was not thy own power, it SERMON Mvas not thy own holinefs, which had wrought this, thou being of like pafiions and infirmities-, but that it was the power of the God of Abra- ham, the holinefs of thy dear Lord, whom they crucified, operating by faith through thee, who waft but an inftrument in his hands. If thus ho- neftly declining honour, which the occafion fo amply invited thee ta take ; if this would give more fatif- faclion to a mind like thine, than the loudeft praifes of a miftaken people, what true rapture would be added to it from the reflection, that in this inftanceof felf-denial thou hadft not only done well, but, what was dill SL more endearing thought, that thou hadft been able to copy the example VOL. V. D 34 SERMON XVI. of thy divine Matter, who, in no ac- tion of his life, fought ever his own. praife, but, on the contrary, declined all poffible occafions of it ^ and in the only public inflance of honour which he fuffered to be given him in his entrance into Jerufalam, thou didft remember, it was accepted with fuch a mixture of humility, that die prediction of the prophet was not more exactly fulfilled in the hofannas of the multitude, than in the meek- nefs wherewith he received them, lowly and fitting upon an afs. How could a difciple fail of profiting by the example of fo humble a mafter, whofe whole courfe of life was a particular lecture to this virtue, and, in every inftance of it, (hewed plainly he came 2 SERMON XVI. 35 not to {hare the pride and glories of life, or gratify the carnal expectation of ambitious followers; which, had he affected external pomp, he might have accomplimed, by engrofTmg, as he could have done by a word, all the riches of the world; and by the fplen- dour of his court, and dignity of his perfon, had been greater than Solo- mon in all his glory, and have at- tracted the applaufe and admiration of the world : this every difciple knew was in his power; fo that the meannefs of his birth, the toils and poverty of his life, the low offices in which he was engaged, by preach- ing the gofpel to the poor the num- berlefs dangers and inconveniencies attending the execution, were all vo- D 2 36 SERMON XVI. luntary. This humble choice both of friends and family out of the meaneft of the people, amongft whom he appeared rather as a fervant than a matter, coming not, as he often told them, to be miniftered unto, but to minifter, and as the prophet had foretold in that mournful defcription of him, having no form nor comeli- nefs > nor any beauty that we mould defire him. How could a difciple, you'll fay, reflect without benefit on this ami- able character, with all the other tender pathetic proofs of humility, which his memory would fugged had happened of a piece with it, in the courfe of his matter's life ; but par- ticularly at the conclufion and great SERMON XVI. 37 cataftrophe of it, at his crucifixion; the imprefftons of which could never be forgotten. When a life full of fo many engaging inftances of humi- lity, was crowned with the moft en- dearing one of humbling himfelf to the death of the crofs, the death of a (lave and a malefactor, fuffering himfelf to be led like a lamb to the (laughter, dragged to Calvary with- out oppofition or complaint, and as a fheep before his (hearer is dumb, opening not his mouth. O blefied Jefus ! well might a dif- ciple of thine learn of thee to be meek and lowly of heart, as thou exhortedft them all, for thou waft meek and lowly : well might they profit, when fuch a leflbn was feconded by D 3 38 SERMON XVI. fuch an example ! It is not to be doubted what force this muft have had on the actions of thofe who were attendants and conftant followers of our Saviour on earth; faw the mcck- nefs of his temper in the occurrences of his life, and the amazing proof of it at his death, who, though he was able to call down legions of angels Co his refcue, or by a fmgle aft of omni- potence to have deftroyed his ene- mies j yet fuppreffed his almighty power, neither refented or reven- ged the indignity done him, but pa- tiently fuffered himfelf to be num- bered with the tranfgreffors. It could not well be othervvife, but that every eye-witnefs of this muft have been wrought upon, in SERMON XVI. 39 fome degree, as the apoftle, to let the fame mind be in him which alfo was in Chrift Jefus. Nor will it be difputed how much of the4io- nour of St. Peter's behaviour in the prefent tranfaction might be owing to the impreflions he received, on that memorable occafion of his Lord's death, finking ftill deeper, from the affecting remembrance of the many inftances his matter had given of this engaging virtue in the courfe of his life. St. Peter certaJnljjjeasLpf a warm and fenfible nature, as we may col-" led from the facred writings, a temper fitteft to receive all the ad- vantages which fuch impreflions could give ; and therefore, as it is a day D 4 40 SERMON XVI. and place facred to this great apoftle, it may not be unacceptable, if I engage the remainder of your time, in a fhort effay upon his character, principally as it relates to this par- ticular difpofition of heart, which is the fubje: --pXgyik^paffions, tempered "with the greateft^humilit^jin^jnoft unaffected poverty of fpirit that ever met in fuch a character. So that in the only criminal inftance of his life, which I have fpoke to, you are at a lofs which to admire moft; the tender- nefs and fenfibility^ojFJhisJaul, in be- ing wrought upon to repentance by a look from Jefus ; or the uncom- mon humility of it, which he teftified thereupon, in the bitternefs of his for- row for what he had done. He was once prefumptuous in trufting to his E 3 54 SERMON XVI. own ftrength; his general and true character was that of the mod engag- ing meeknefs, diflruftful of himfelf and his abilities to the lad degree. He denied his matter But in all inftances of his life, but that, was a man of the greateft truth and fin- cerity; to which part of his .cha- racter our Saviour has given an un- deniable teftimony, in conferring on him the fymbolical name of Cephas, a rock, a name the moft expreflive of conftancy and firmnefs. , He was a man of great love to his mafter, and of no lefs zeal for his religion, of which, from among many, I (hall take one inftance out of St. John, with which I mail conclude this 3 SERMON XVI. 55 account. Where, upon the defer- tion of feveral other difciples, our Saviour puts the queftion to the twelve, Will ye alfo go away ? Then, fays the text, Peter anfwered and faid, Lord! whither lhall we go? Thou haft the words of eternal life, and we believe, and know that thou art Chrift the fon of God. Now, if we look into the gofpel, w find what our Saviour pronounced OR this very confeflion. Bleffed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flefh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven. That our Saviour had the words of eternal life, Peter was abfe\ to deduce from principles of natural reafon; becauie reafon was able to E 4 56 SERMON XVT. judge from the internal marks of his doctrine, that it was worthy God, and accommodated properly to advance human nature and human happinefs. But for all this, reafon could not infallibly determine that the mefTen- ger of this doctrine was the Mefllas, the eternal fon of the living God : to know this required an illumina- tion; and this illumination, I fay, feems to have been vouchfafed at that inftant as a reward, as would have been fufficient evidence by itfelf of the difpofition of his heart. I have now finifhed this fhort efTay upon the character of St. Peter, not with a loud panegyric upon the power of his keys, or a ranting encomium upon fome monaftic qualifications, SERMON XVI. 57 with which a popifli pulpit would ring upon fuch an occafion, without doing much honour to the faint, or good to the audience; but have drawn it with truth and fobriety, re- prefenting it as it was, as conGfting of virtues the moft worthy of imita- tion, and grounded, not upon apo- cryphal accounts and legendary inven- tions, the wardrobe from whence po- pery drefles out her faints on thefe days, but upon matters of fact in the facred Scriptures, in which all chriftians agree. And Cnce I have mentioned gopery, I cannot better con- clude than by oblerving, how ill the fpirit and character of that church refembles that particular part of St. Peter's which has been made the fub- 58 SERMON XVI. ject of this difcourfe. Would one think that a church, which thrufts itfelf under this apoftle's patronage, , and claims her power under him, would prefume to exceed the degrees of it which he acknowledged to pof- fefs himfelf ? But how ill are your expectations anfwered, when inftead of the humble declaration in the text, Ye men of Ifrael, marvel not at us, as if our own power and holinefs had wrought this ; you hear a language and behaviour from the Romifh court, as oppofite to it as infolent words and a&ions can frame! So that inftead of, Ye men of Ifrael, marvel not at us, Ye men of Ifrael, do marvel at us, hold us in admira- tion: Approach our facred pontiff, SERMON XVI. 59 (who is not only holy but holinefs itfelf ) approach his perfon with re- verence, and deem it the greateft ho- nour and happinefs of your lives to fall down before his chair, and be ad- mitted to kifs his feet, Think not, as if it were not our own holinefs which merits all the ho- mage you can pay us. It is our own holinefs, the fuperabundance of it, of which, having more than we know what to do with ourfelves, from works of fupererogation, we have transferred the furplus in ecclefiaftic warehoufes, and in pure zeal for the good of your fouls, have eftablimed public banks of merit, ready to be drawn upon at all times. o SERMON XVI. Think not, ye men of Ifrael, or fay within yourfelves, that we are unpro- fitable fervants; we have no good works to fpare, or that if we had, > we cannot make this ufe of them ; that we have no power to circulate our indulgences,, and huckfterthem out, as we do, through all the parts of Chriftendom. Know ye by thefe prefents, that it is our own power which does this; the plenitude of our apoftolick power operating with our own holinefs, that enables us to bind and loofe, as feems meet to us on earth j to fave your fouls or de- liver them up to Satan, and as they pleafe or difpleafe, to indulge whole kingdoms at once, or excommunicate SERMON XVI. 61 them all; binding kings in chains, and your nobles in links of iron. That we may never again feel the effects of fuch language and prin- ciples, may God of his mercy grant us. Amen. SERMON XVII. Thirtieth of January. EZRA ix. 6, 7. And I faid, my God^ I am ajhamed and blujb to lift up my face to tbee 9 my God: for cur iniquities are in- creafed ever our bead, and our tref- pafs is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trefpafs unto tbis day. THERE is not, I believe, throughout all hiftory, an in- ftance of fo ftrange and obftinately qorrupt a people, as the Jews, of whom Ezra complains; for though, on one 64 SERMON XVII. hand, there never was a people that received fo many teftimonies of God's favour to encourage them to be good, fo, on the other hand, there never was a people which fo often felt the fcourge of their iniquities to dimearten them from doing evil, And yet neither the one or the other feemed ever able to make them either the wifer or better; neither God's bleffings, nor his corrections could ever foften them ; they flill continued a thanklefs, unthinking people, who profited by no leffons, neither were to be won with mercies, nor terrified with punilhments, but on every fucceeding trials and occa- fions, extremely difpofed againfl God, to go aflray and act wickedly. 5 SERMON XVII. 65 In the words of the text, the pro- phet's heart overflows with forrow, upon his reflection of this unworthy part of their character; and the manner of his application to God, is fo expreflive of his humble fenfe of it, and there is fomething in the words fo full of tendernefs and fhame for them upon that fcore as be- fpeaks the mod paternal, as well as paftoral concern for them. And he faid, O my God, I am aihamed, and blufli to lift up my face to thee, my God. No doubt, the holy man was confounded to look back upon that long feries of fo many of God's undeferved mercies to them, of which they had made fo bad and ungrateful a ufe : he confidered, that they had VOL. V. F 66 SERMON XVII. all the motives that could lay re* ftraints either upon a confi derate or a reafonable people; that God had not only created, upheld, and fa- voured them with all advantages in common with the reft of their fellow- creatures, but had been particularly kind to them; that when they were in the houfe of bondage, in the moft hopelefs condition, he had heard their cry and took companion upon their afflictions, and by a chain of great and mighty deliverances, had fet them free from the yoke of opprefllon. The prophet, no doubt, reflected at the fame time, that befides this in- ftance of God's goodnefs in firft fa- vouring their miraculous efcape, a feries of fuccefies, not to be ac- 3 SERMON XVII; 67 counted for from fecond caufes, and the natural courfe of events, had crowned their heads in fo remarkable a manner, as to afford an evident proof, not only of God's general concern, but of his particular provi- dence and attachment to them above all people: in the wildernefs he led them like fheep, and kept them as the apple of his eye ; he fuffered no man to do them wrong, but re- proved even kings for their fake ; that when they entered into the pro- mifed land, no force was able to ftand before them -, when in pof- fefllon, no army was ever able to drive them out ; that nations greater and mightier than they, were thruft forth from before them j that, io a F 2 68 SERMON XVII. word, all nature for a time was driven backwards by the hands of God, to ferve them, and that even the fun itfelf had flood ftill in the midft of heaven, to fecure their victories ; that when all thefe mercies were caft away upon them, and no principle of gratitude or intereft could make them an obedient people, God had tried by misfortunes to bring them back j that when instructions, warn- ings, invitations, miracles, prophets, and holy guides had no effect, he at laft fuffered them to reap the wages of their folly, by letting them fall again into the fame ftate of bon- dage in Babylon, from whence he had firfl raifed them. -Here it is that Ezra pours out his confeffion. SERMON XVII. 6$ It was no fmall aggravation to Ezra's concern, to find that even this laft trial had no good effcd upon their conduct; that all the alternatives of promifes and threats, comforts and afflictions, inftead of making them grow the better, made them ap- parently grow the worfe: how could he intercede for them, but with fhamc and forrow; and fay, as in the text, O my God, I am aihamed and blulh to lii't up my face to thee, for our iniquities are increafed over our heads, and our trefpafc is grown up unto the heavens; fince the days of our fathers have we been in a great trefpafs unto this day. Thus much for the prophet's hum- ble confeffion to God for the Jews, 7 o SERMON XVII. for which he had but too juft a foundation given by them; and I know not how I can make a better ufe of the words, as the occafion of the day led me to the choice of them, than by a ferious application of the fame fad confefiion, in regard to ourfelves. Our fathers, like thofe of the Jews in Ezra's time, no doubt have done amifs, and greatly provoked God by their violence ; but if our own ini- quities, like theirs, are increafed over our heads ; if fince the days of our fathers we have been in great trefpafs ourfelves unto this day, 'tis fit this day we mould be put in mind of it ; nor can the time and occafion be better employed, than in hearing with SERMON XVII. 71 patience the reproofs which fuch a parallel will lead me to give. Itmuft be acknowledged, there is no nation which had ever fo many extra- ordinary reafons and fupernatural mo- tives to become thankful and virtuous as the Jews had ; yet, at the fame time, there is no one which has not fufficient (and fetting afide at prefent the confideration of a future ftate as a reward for being fo) there is no na- tion under heaven, which, befides the daily blefiings of God's providence to them, but have received fufficient bleflings and mercies at the hands of God to engage their bed fervices, and the warmeft returns of gratitude they cay pay : there has been a time, 72 SERMON XVIf. may be, when they have been de- livered from fome grievous calamity, from the rage of peftilence or fa- mine, from the edge and fury of the fword, from the fate and fall of kingdoms round them , they may have been preferved by provi- dential difcoveries, and plots, and de- figns againft the well-being of their flates, or by critical turns and revo- lutions in their favour when begin- ning to fink ; by fome fignal inter- pofition of God's providence; they may have refcued their liberties, and all that was dear to them, from the jaws of fome tyrant; or may have preferved their religion pure and un- corrupted, when all other comforts failed them. SERMON XVII. 73 If other countries have reafon to be thankful to God for any one of thefe mercies, much more has this of ours, which at one time or other hath received them allj infomuch that our hiftory, for this laft century, has\ fcarce been any thing elfe but the hif- \ tory of our deliverances, and God's j bleffings, and thefe in fo compli- cated a chain, and with fo little inter- ruption, as to be fcarce ever vouch- fafed to any nation or language be- fides, except the Jews ; and with regard to them, though inferior in the ftupendous manner of their work- ing, yet no way fo in the extenfive goodnefs of their effects, and the in- finite benevolence which muft have wrought them for us. Here then let us ftop and look back a moment, and 74 SERMON XVII. inquire, as in the cafe of the Jews, what great effects all this has had upon our lives, and how far worthy we have lived of what we have re- ceived ? A ftranger, when he heard that this ifland had been fo favoured by heaven, fo happy in our laws and religion, fo flourifhing in our trade, fo blefled in our fituation and na- tural product, and in all of them fo often, fo vifibly protected by pro- vidence, would conclude, our gra- titude and morals had kept pace with our blefiings ; and he would fay, as we are the moft blefled and favoured, that we muft be the moft virtuous and religious people upon the face of the earth. SERMON XVII. 75 Would to God ! there was any other reafon to incline one to fo cha- ritable a belief; for without running into any common-place declamation upon the wickednefs of the age, we may fay within the bounds of truth, that we have profited in this refpect as little as it was poflible for the Jews ; that there is as little virtue, and as little fenfe of religion, at leaft as little of the appearance of ir, as can be fuppofed to exift at all, in a country where it is countenanced by the ftate. Our forefathers, what- ever greater degrees of real virtue they were pofiefied of, God, who fearcheth the heart, bed knows ; but this is certain, in their days they had at leaft the form of godlinefs, ;6 SERMON XVII. and paid this compliment to reli- gion, as to wear at leaft the appear- ance and outward garb of it The public fervice of God was better fre- quented, and in a devout, as well as regular manner; there was no open profanenefs in our ftreets to put piety to the blufli, or domeftic ridi- cule, to make her uneafy, and force her to withdraw. Religion, though treated with free- dom, was dill treated with refpefti the youth of both iexes kept under greater reflraint; good orders and good hours were then kept up in rnoft families ; and, in a word, a greater ftriflnefs and fobriety of manners maintained throughout amongft peo- ple of all ranks and conditions ; fo SERMON XVIL 77 that vice, however fecredy it might be pra&ifed, was afhamed to be fcen. But all this has infenfibly been borne down, ever Ence the days of our forefathers trefpafs; when, to avoid one extreme, we began to run into another -, ib that inftead of any great religion amongft us, you fee thou- fands who are rired even of the form of it, and who have at length thrown the mafk of it afide, as an ufcleis incumbrance. But this licentioufnds, he would fay, may be chiefly owing to a long courfe of profperity, which is apt to corrupt men's minds. God has fince this tried you with afflictions ; you 4 ;8 SERIVTON XV1L have been vifited with a long and ex- penfive war : God has fent, more- over, a peftilence amongft your cattle, which has cut off the flock from the fold, and left no herd in the flails. Surely he'll fay, two fuch terrible fcourges mufl have awakened the confciences of the moft unthinking part of you, and forced the inhabit- ants of your land from fuch ad- monitions, though they failed with the Jews, to have learnt righteoufnefs for themfclves. I own this is the natural effect, and one would hope mould always be the natural ufe and improvement from fuch calamities i for we often find that numbers who, in profperity, feem to forget God, do yet remember SERMON XVII. 79 him in the day of trouble and dif- trefs. Yet confider this nationally, we lee no fuch effect from it in fact, as one would be led to expect from the fpeculation : for inftance, with all the devaftation, bloodihed, and expence which the war has occa- fioned, how many converts has it made to frugality, to virtue, or even to ferioufnefs itlelf ? The peftilence amongft our cattle, though it has diilrefled and utterly undone fo many thoufands, yet what one vifible alte- ration has it made in the courfe of our lives ? And though one would imagine that the neceflary drains of taxes for the one, and the lofs of rents and property from the other, mould in 8o SERMON XVII. fome meafure have withdrawn the means of gratifying our paffions, as we have done-, yet what appear- ance is there amongft us, that it isfo? What one famionable folly or ex- travagance has been checked by it ? Is not there the fame luxury and epicurifm of entertainments at our tables ? do we not purfue with eager- nefs the fame giddy round of trifling diverfions? is not the infection dif- fufed amongft people of all ranks, and all-ages ? And even grey, hairs, whofe fober example and manners ought to check the extravagant fallies of the thoughtlefs, gay, and unexperienced, too often totter un- der the fame coftly ornaments, and SERMON XVII. 81 join the general riot. Where vanity, like this, governs the heart, even charity will allow us to fuppofe, that a confcioufnefs of their inability to purfue greater excefies, is the only vexation of fpirit. In truth, the ob- fervation falls in with the main in- tention of the difcourfe, which is not framed to flatter your follies, but plainly to point them out, and fhew you the general corruption of man- ners, and want of religion ; which all men fee, and which the wife and good fo much lament. But the inquirer will naturally go on, and fay, that though this repre- fentation does not anfwer his expec- tations, that undoubtedly we muft have profited by thefe lefibns in VOL. V. G 82 SERMON XVII. other refpefts; that though we have not approved our underftanding in the fight of God, by a virtuous ufe of our misfortunes, to true wifdom ; that we muft have improved them, however, to political wifdom 5 fo that he would fay, though the Englifh do not appear to be a reli- gious people, they are at leaft a loyal one : They have fo often felt the fcourge of rebellion, and have tailed fo much fharp fruit from it,- as to have fet their teeth on edge forever. But, good God! how would he be aftonifhed to find, that though we have been fo often toft to and fro by our own tempefluous hu- mours, that we were not yet fick of the ftorm j that though we fo- 8 SERMON XVII. 83 lemnly, on every return of this day, j lament the guilt of our forefathers in ftaining their hands in blood, we never once think of our princi- ples and practices, which tend the fame way: and though the provi- dence of God has fet bounds, that they do not work as much mifchief, as in days of diffraction and defola- tion, little reafon have we to afcribe the merit thereof to our own wif- dom ; fo that, when the whole ac- count is ftated betwixt us, there feems nothing to prevent the appli- cation of the words in the text ; that our iniquities are increafed over our heads, and our trefpafs is grown up unto the heaven. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a G 2 $4 SERMON XVII. great trefpafs unto this day; and though it is fit and becoming that we weep for them, 'tis much more fo, that we weep for ourfelves, that we lament our own corrup- tions, and the little advantages we have made of the mercies or chaftife- ments of God, or from the fins and provocations of our forefathers. This is the fruit we are to gather, in a day of fuch humiliation j and unlefs it produces that for us, by a reformation of our manners, and by turning us from the error of our ways, the fervice of this day is more a fenfelefs infult upon the memories of our anceftors, than an honeft defign to profit by their miftakes and mif- fortunes, and to become wifer and 6 SERMON XVII. 85 better from our reflections upon them.- Till this is done, it avails lit- , tie, though we pray fervently to God, not to lay their fins to our charge, whilft we have fo many re- maining of our own. Unlefs we are touched for ourfelves, how can we expect he mould hear our cry ? It is> the wicked corruption of a people which they are to thank for whatever natural calamities they feel; this is the very ftate we are in, which, by difengaging providence from tak- ing our part, will always leave a people expofed to the whole force of accidents, both from within and with- out: and however ftatefmen may 86 SERMON XVII. difpute about the caufes of the growth or decay of kingdoms, it is for this caufe, a matter of eternal truth, that as virtue and religion are our only recommendation to God, that they are, confequently, the only true bafis of our happinefs and profperity on earth. And however we may flicker ourlelves under diftinclions of party, that a wicked man is the worfl enemy the flare has; and for the contrary, it will always be found, that a virtuous man is the bed pa- triot, and the bed fubject the king has. And though an individual may fay, what will my righteoufnefs pro- fit a nation of men? I anfwer, if it fail of a bleffing here (which is SERMON XVII. 87 not likely), it will have one advan- tage, it will fave thy own foul, and give thee that peace at the laft, which this world cannot take away. Which God, of his infinite mercy, grant us all. Amen. G 4 SERMON XVIII. ROMANS ii. 4. Defpifeft tbou tbe riches of bis gocdnefs* and forbearance ) and long- faff tring^ knowing that tbe goodnefs of God leadetb tbee to repentance ? So fays St. Paul. And EcCLESIASTES viii. II. Becaufe fentence againft an evil work is not executed fpeedily ; therefore the heart of tbe fons of men is fully fet in them to do evil. TAKE either as you like it, you will get nothing by the bar- gain. 'Tis a terrible characterof the world, which Solomon is here accounting 90 SERMON XVIII. for, that their hearts were fully fet in them to do evil. And the general outcry againft the wickednefs of the age, in every age, from Solomon's down to this, (hews but too lament- ably what grounds have all along been given for the complaint. The diforder and confufion arifing in the affairs of the world from the wickednefs of it, being ever fuch, fo evidently feen, fo feverely felt, as naturally to induce every one who was a fpectator or a fufferer, to give the melancholy preference to the times he lived in; as if the corruptions of men's manners had not only exceeded the reports of former days, but the power almoft of rifing above the pitch to which the wickednefs of the SERMON XVIII. 91 age was arrived. How far they may have been deceived in fuch calcula- tions, I fhall not inquire; let it fuffice, that mankind have ever beeiA bad, confidering what motives they 1 have had to be better; and taking/ this for granted, inftead of declaiming againft it, let us fee whether a dilcourfe may not be as ferviceable, by endea- vouring, as Solomon has here done, rather to give an account of it, and by tracing back the evils to their firft principles, to direct ourfelves to the true remedy againft them. Let it here only be premifed, that the wickednefs either of the pre- i:nt or pad times, whatever fcandal and reproach it brings upon chri- flians, ought not in reafoa to reflect 92 SERMON XVIII. difhonour upon chriflianity, which is fo apparently well framed to make us good, that there is not a greater paradox in nature, than that fo good a religion mould be no better recom- mended by its profefibrs. Though this may feem a paradox, 'tis dill, 1 fay, no objection, though it has of- ten been made ufe of againft chrifli- anity:, fince, if the morals of men are not reformed, it is not owing to a defed in the revelation, but 'tis owing to the fame caufes which de- feated all the ufe and intent of reafon, before revelation was given. For fetting afide the obligations which a divine law lays upon us, whoever confiders the flate and condition of human nature, and upon this view, SERMON XVIII. 93 how much ft rongejs^the- -natural mo- tives are to virtue than to vice, would expect to find tnT"worT3mucR better than it is, or ever has been. For who would fuppofe the generality of mankind to betray fo much folly, as to act againft the common intereft of their own kind, as every man does who yields to the temptation of what is wrong ? But on the other'fide, if men firft look into the practice of the world, and there obferve the flrange prevalency of vice, and how willing men are to 'defend as well as to commit it, one would think they believed that all difcourfes of virtue and honefty were mere matter of fpeculation for men to entertain fome idle hours with 5 and fay truly, that 94 SERMON XVIII. men feemed univerfally to be agreed in nothing but in fpeaking well and doing ill. But this cafts no more dilhonour upon reafon, than it does upon revelation; the truth of the cafe being this, that no motives have been great enough to reftrain thofe from fin who have fecretly loved it, and only fought pretences for the practice of it. So that if the light of the gofpel has not left a fufficient provifion againft the wickednefs of the world, the true anfwer is, that there can be none. 'Tis fufficient that the excellency of chriftianity in doctrine and precepts, and its proper tendency to make us virtuous as well as happy, is a ftrong evidence of its divine original, and thefe advantages SERMON XVIII. 95 it has above any inftitution that ever was in the world : it gives the beft directions, the beft examples, the greateft encouragements, the beft helps, and the greateft obligation to gratitude. But as religion was not to work upon men by way of force and natural neceffity, but by moral per- fuafion, which fets good and evil before them ; fo that, if men have power to do evil, or chufe the good, and will abufe it, this cannot be avoid- ed. Not only religion, but even rea- \ fon itielf, muftnecefiarily imply a free- I dom of choice; and all the beings in the 1 world, which have it, were created free I to ftand or free to fall: and therefore men that will not be wrought upon by this way of addrefs, muft expecl, and 96 SERMON XVIII. be contented, to feel the ftroke of that rod which is prepared for the back of fools, oft times in this world, but un- doubtedly in the next, from the hands of a righteous governor, who will finally render to every man according to his works. Becaufe this fentence is not always executed fpeedily, is the wife man's account of the general licentioufnefs which prevailed through the race of mankind, fo early as his days ; and we may allow it a place, amongft the many other fatal caufes of depra- vation in our own j a few of which, I mall beg leave to add to this ex- plication of the wife man's ; fubjoin- ing a few practical cautions in rela- tion to each, as I go along. SERMON XVIII. 97 To begin with Solomon's account in the text, that becaufe fentence againft an evil work is not executed fpeedily, therefore the hearts of the fons of men are fully fet in them to " do evil. It feems fomewhat hard to under- ftand the confequence, why men fhould grow more defperately wicked, becaufe God is merciful and gives them fpace to repent ; this is no natural effect, nor does the wife man intend to infmuate that the goodnefs and long-fuffering of God, is the caufe of the wickednefs of man, by a direct efficacy to harden fmners in their courfe. But the fcope of his difcourfe is this, Becaufe a vicious man efcapes at prefent, he VOL. V. H 98 SERMON XVIII. is apt to draw falfe conclufions from it, and from the delay of God's punimment in this life, either to conceive them at fo remote a dif- tance, or perhaps fo uncertain, that though he has fome doubtful mif- givings of the future, yet he hopes in the main, that his fears are greater than his danger i and from obferv- ing fome of the worft of men both live and die, without any outward teftimony of God's wrath, draws from thence fome flattering ground of encouragement for himfelf, and with the wicked in the pfalm, fays in his heart, Turn, I (hall never be caft down, there mall no harm hap- pen unto me: as if it was necefiary, if God is to punilh at all, that he SERMON XVIII. 99 muft do it prefently ; which by the way, would rather feem to befpeak rage and fury of an incenfed party, than the determination of a wife and patient judge, who refpites punifh- ment to another (late, declaring for the wifeft reafons, this is not the time for it to take place in, but that he has appointed a day for ir, wherein he will judge the world in righteoufnefs, and make fuch unal- terable diftinctions betwixt the good and bad, as to render his future judgment a full vindication of his juftice. That mankind have ever made an ill ufe of this forbearance, is, and I fear will ever be the cafe : and St. Peter, in his defcription of the fcof- H 2 ioo SERMON XVIII. fcrs in the latter days, who, he tells us, fhall walk after their own lufts (the worft of all characters), he gives the fame fad folution of what fhould be their unhappy encouragement ; for that they would fay, Where is the promife [where is the threaten- ing, or declaration of, r? fTrxyttXux.'] of his coming, for fince the fathers fell afleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the cre- ation j that is, the world goes on in the fame uninterrupted courfe, where all things fall alike to all, without any interpofition from above, or any outward token of divine difpleafure: upon this ground, " Come ye," fay they, as the prophet reprefents them, " I will fetch wine, 8 SERMON XVIII. 101 and we will fill ourfelves with ftrong drink, and to-morrow mall be as this day, and much more abundant." Now if you confider, you will find, that all this falfe way of reafoning doth arife from that grofs piece of felf-flattery, that fuch do imagine God to be like themfelves, that is, as cruel and revengeful as they are, and they prefently think, if a fellow-creature offended them at the rate that finners are faid to offend God, and they had as much power in their hands to punifli and torture them as he has, they would be fure to execute it fpeedily ; but becaufe they fee God does it not, therefore they conclude, that all the talk of God's anger againii vice, and his 102 SERMON XVIII. future punilhment of it, is mere talk, calculated for the terror of old women and children. Thus fpeak they peace to their fouls, when there is no peace , for though a finner (which the wife man adds by way of caution afcer the text) for though a 'finner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged upon the earth, yet fure I know, that it fhall be well with them that fear God, but mail not be well with the wicked. Upon which argument, the pfalmift, fpeaking in the name of God, ufes this remonflrance to one under this fatal miftake which has mifled thoufands j thefe things thou didft, and I kept filence: And it feems this filence was interpreted SERMON XVIII. 103 into confent ; r for it follows, and thou thoughteft I was altogether fuch a one as thyfelf; but the pfalmift adds, how ill he took this at men's hands, and that they fhould not know the difference between the forbear- ance of finners, and his neglect of their fins; but I will reprove thee, and fet them in order before thee. Upon the whole of which, he bids them be better advifed, and confider, left, while they forget God, he pluck them away, and there be none to deliver them. Thus much for the firft ground and caufe which the text gives, why the hearts of the fons of men are fo fully fet in them to do evil; upon which I have only one or two cau- H 4 jo4 SERMON XVIII. tions to add, That, in the firft place, we frequently deceive ourfelves in the calculation that fentence fhall not be fpeedily executed. By fad experience, vicious and debauched men find this matter to turn out very different in practice, from their ex- pectations in theory ; God having fo contrived the nature of things throughout the whole fyftem of moral duties i that every vice, in fome / meafure, mould immediately revenge itfelf upon the doer ; that falfehood, I and unfair dealing, ends in diftruft \ and dimonour; that drunkennefs and debauchery, mould weaken the thread of life, and cut it fo fhort, that the tranfgrefTor mall not live out half his daysj that pride fliould be SERMON XVIII. 105 followed by mortifications; extra- vagance by poverty and diftrefs ; that the revengeful and malicious Ihould be the greateft tormentor of himfelf, the perpetual disturbance of his own mind being" Ib imme- diate a chaftifement, as to verify what the wife man fays upon ir, That as the merciful man does good to his own foul, fo he that is cruel troubleth his own flem. In all which cafes there is a punifh- ment independent of th-fe, and that is, the pun^mejy^jvhidL--a- man's own mind takes upon icfelf, from the remorfe of doing what is wrong Prima eft h&c ultio, this is the firft revenge which (whatever other pu- nifhmsnts he may efcape; is fure to io6 SERMON XVIII. follow clofe upon his heels, and haunts him wherefoever he goes ; for whenever a man commits a wilful bad action, he drinks down poifon, which, though it may work flowly, will work furely, and give him per- petual pains and heart-aches, and if no means be ufed to expel it, will deftroy him at laft. So that, not- withftanding that final fcntence of God is not executed fpeedily in exact weight and meafure, there is never- thelefs a fentence executed, which a man's own confcience pronounces againft him ; and every wicked man, I believe, feels as regular a procefs within his ov/n bread commenced ag-iinft himfelf, and finds himfelf as much accufcd, and as evidently and SERMON XVTII. 107 impartially condemned for what he has done amifs, as if he had received lentence before the moft awful tri- bunal 5 which judgment of confci- ence, as it can be looked upon in no other light but as an anticipation of that righteous and unalterable fen- teace which will be pronounced here- after by that Being to whom he is finally to give an account of his ac- tions I cannot conceive the ftate of his mind under any character than of that anxious doubtfulnefs defcribed by the prophet, That the wicked are like the troubled fca when it can- not reft, whole waters caft up mire and filth. A fecond caution againft this uni- form ground of falfc hope, in fen- io8 SERMON XVIII. tence not being executed fpeedily, will arife from this confideration, That in our vain calculation of this diftant point of retribution, we ge- nerally refpite it to the day of judg- ment ; and as that may be a thou- fand, or ten thouland years off, it pro- portionably lefiens the terror. To rectify this miftake, we fhould firft confider, that the diftance of a thing no way alters the nature of it. 2dly, That we are deceived in this diftant profpect, not confidering that however far off we may fix it in this belief, that in fact it is no farther off from every man than the day of his own death. And how certain that day is, we need not furely be re- -minded: 'Tis the certainty of the SERMON XVIII. 109 matter, and of an event which will as furely come to pafs, as that the fun mall rife to morrow morning, that mould enter as much into our calcu- lations, as if it was hanging over our heads. For though, in our fond ima- ginations, we dream of living many years upon the earth; how unex- pectedly are we fummoned from it ! How oft, in the ftrength of our age, in the midft of our projects, when we are promifing ourfelves the eafe of many years! how oft, at that very time, and in the height of this imagination, is the decree fealed, and the commandment gone forth to call us into another world ! This may fuffice for the examina- tion of this one great caufe of the no SERMON XVIII. corruption of the world ; from whence I mould proceed, as I pur- pofed, to an inquiry after fome other unhappy caufes which have a mare in this evil. But I have taken up fo much more of your time in this than I firft intended, that I mall defer what I have to fay to the next occa- fion, and put an end to this difcourfe, by an anfwer to a queftion often alked relatively to this argument, in preju- dice of chriftianity, which cannot be more feafonably anfwered than in a difcourfe at this time; and that is, Whether the chriftian religion has done the world any fervice in reform- ing the lives and morals of mankind, which fome who pretend to have confidered the prefent ftate of vice, SERMON XVIII. in feem to doubt of? This obje&ion I, in fome meafure, have anticipated in the beginning or this difcourle ; and what I have to add to that argu- ment is this, that as it is impofllble to decide the point by evidence of faces, which at fo great a diftance cannot be brought together and com- pared, it muft be decided by reafon, and the probability of things ; upon which iffue, one might appeal to the moft profefled deift, and truft him to determine, whether the lives of thofe who are fet loofe from all obliga- tions, but thofe of conveniency, can be compared with thofe who have been bleft with the extraordinary light of a religion ? and whether fo juit and holy a religion as the chriilian, ii2 SERMON XVIII. which fets reftraints even upon our thoughts, a religion which gives us the moil engaging ideas of the per- fections of God, at the fame time that it imprefies the moft awful ones of his majefty and power ; a. Being rich in mercies, but if they are abufed, terrible in his judgments; one con- ftantly about our fecret paths, about our beds : who fpieth out all our ways, noticeth all our actions, and is fo pure in his nature, that he will punifh even the wicked imagina- tions of the heart, and has appointed a day wherein he will enter into this inquiry, and execute judgment ac- cording as we have deferved. If either the hopes or fears, the paffions or reafon of men are to be SERMON XVHI. 113 wrought upon at all, fuch principles muft have an effeft, though, I own, very far fhort of what a thinking man ihould exped: from fuch motives. No doubt, there is great room for amendment in the chriftian world, and the profeflbrs of our holy reli- gion may in general be laid to be a very corrupt and bad generation of men, confidering what reafbns and obligations they have to be better. Yet ftill I affirm, if thofe reftrainta were leffened, the world would be\ infinitely worfe; and therefore we* cannot fufficiently bleis and adore the goodncfs of God, for thefe advanta- ges brought by the coming of Chrift, which God grant that we may VOL.V. I M4 SERMON XVIII. live to be more deferving of; that, in the laft day, when he fhall come again to judge the world, we may. rife to life immortal. Amen. SERMON XIX. Trnft in God. PSALM xxxvii. 3. Put tbou tby truft in tbe Lord. WHOEVER feriouQy reflects upon the flate and condition of man, and looks upon that dark fide of it, which reprefents his life as open to fo many caufes of trouble ; when he fees, how often he eats the bread of affliction, and that he is born to it as naturally as the fparks fly upwards; that no rank or de- grees of men are exempted from this law of our beings i but that I 2 ii6 SERMON XIX. all, from the high cedar of Liba- nus to the humble fhrub upon the wall, are fhook in their turns by numberlefs calamities and diftref- fes: when one fits down and looks upon this gloomy fide of things, with all the forrowful changes and chances which furround us, at firft fight, would not one wonder, how the fpirit of a man could bear the in- firmities of his nature, and what it is that fupports him, as it does, under the many evil accidents which he meets with in his pafiage through the valley of tears? "Without fome certain aid within us to bear us up, fo tender a frame as ours, would be but ill fitted to encounter what gene- rally befals it in this rugged jour- SERMON XIX. 117 ncy: and accordingly we find, that we are fb curioufly wrought by an all- wife hand, with a view to this, that in the very competition and texture of our nature, there is a remedy and provifion left againft moft of the evils we fufrer ; we be- ing fo ordered, that the principle of felf-love given us for prefervation, comes in here to our aid, byopen- ing a door of hope, and in the worft err.erger.cies, Sr.ieri-g us wi:h a be- lief that we ihall extricate ourielves, and five to fee better days. This expectation* though in fa& it no way alters the nature of the crofs accidents to which we lay open, or does at all pervert the courie of them, yet impofes upon the fenfe 13 n8 SERMON XIX. of them, and like a fecret fpring in a well-contrived machine, though it cannot prevent, at lead it counter- balances the preflure, and fo bears up this tottering, tender frame under many a violent (hock and hard juft- ling, which otherwife would unavoid- ably overwhelm it. Without fuch an inward refource, from an incli- nation, which is natural to man, to truft and hope for redrefs in the moft deplorable conditions, his ftate in this life would be, of all creatures, the moft miferable. When his mind was either wrung with affliction, or his body lay tortured with the gout or (lone, did he think that in this world there fhould be no refpite to his forrow j could he believe the SERMON XIX. 119 pains he endured would continue equally intenfe, - without remedy, without intermiffion ; with what de- plorable lamentation would he lan- guim out his day, and how fUU as Job fays, would the clods of the valley be to bim ? But fo fad a per- fuafion, whatever grounds there may be fometimes for it, fcarce ever gets full poflfcffion of the mJM^ofmaa. which by nature ftruggles againft defpair : fo that whatever part of us fuffers, ihe darkeft mind inftandy ufliers in this relief to it, points out to hope, encourages to build, though on a fandy foundation, and raifes an expectation in us, that things will come to a fortunate iffue. And in- deed it is fomething furprifing to 14 120 SERMON XIX. confider the ftrange force of this pal- fion; what wonders it has wrought in fupporting men's fpirits in all ages, and under fuch inextricable difficulties, that they have fometimes hoped, as the apoftle exprefies it, even againtt hope, againft all like* lihcod ; and have looked forwards with comfort under misfortunes, when there has been little or nothing to favour fuch an expectation. This flattering propenfity in us, which I have here reprefented, as it is built upon one of the moft deceit- ful of human paffions (that is) felf-love, which at all times inclines us to think better of ourfelves, and conditions, than there is ground forj how great foever the relief is, SERMON XIX. i2i which a man draws from it at prefent, it too often difappoints in the end, leaving him to go on his way forrow- ing, mourning, as the prophet fays, that his hope is loft. So that, after all, in our feverer trials, we ftill find a neceiTity of calling in fomething to aid this principle, and direct it fo, that it may not wander with this uncertain expectation of what may never be accomplimed, but fix itfelf upon a proper object of truft and reliance, that is able to fulfil our defires, to hear our cry, and to help us. The paffion of hope, without this, though in ftraits a man may fupport his fpirits for a time with a general expectation of better fortune 5 yet, like a fliip tofied "122 SERMON XIX. without a pilot upon a troublefome fea, it may float upon the furface for a while, but is never, never likely to be brought to the haven \ where it would be. To accomplilh I this, reafon and religion are called 1 in at length, and join with nature / in exhorting us to hope ; but to hope in God, in whofe hands are'the iffues of life and death, and with- out whofe knowledge and permifllon we know that not a hair of our heads can fall to the ground. Strength- ened with this anchor of hope, which keeps us ftedfaft, when the rains defcend, and the floods come upon us, however the forrows of a man are multiplied, he bears up his head, looks towards heaven with confi- SERMON XIX. 123 dence, waiting for the falvation of God: he then builds upon a rock againft which the gates of hell can- not prevail. He may be troubled, it is true, on every fide, but fhall not be diftrefied, perplexed, yet not in defpair : though he walks through the valley of the madow of death, even then he fears no evil ; this rod and this ftaff comfort him. The virtue of this had been fuffi- ciently tried by David, and had, no doubt, been of ufe to him in the courfe of a life full of afflictions ; many of which were fo great, that he de- clares, that he mould verily have fainted under the fenfe and appre- henfion of them, but that he believed to fee the goodnefs of the Lord in the 124 SERMON XIX. land of the living. He believed ! how could he do otherwife ? He had all the conviction that reafon and in- fpiration could give him, that there was a Being in whom every thing concurred which could be the proper object of truft and confidence ; power to help, and goodnefs always to incline him to do it. He knew this infinite Being, though his dwel- ling was fo high that his glory was above the heavens, yet humbled himfelf to behold the things that are done in heaven and earth: that he was not an idle and diftant fpedator of what paflxd there, but that he was a prefent help in time of trouble : that he bowed the heavens and came down to over-rule the courfe of SERMON XIX. 125 things; delivering the poor, and him that was in mifery, from him that was too ftrong for him ; lifting the fimple out of his diftrefs, and guarding him by his providence, fo that no man fhould do him wrong : that neither the fun (hould fmite him by day, nei- ther the moon by night. Of this the Pfalmift had fuch evidence from his obfervation on the life of others, with the ftrongeft convidion, at the fame time, which a long life full of perfonal deliverances could give ; all which taught him the value of the leflbn ia the text, from which he had received fo much encouragement himfelf, that he tranfmits it for the benefit of the whole race of mankind after him, to fupport them, as it had done him, 126 SERMON XIX. under the afflictions which befel him. in God\ as if he had faid, Whofoever thou art that fhall here- after fall into any fuch ftraits or trou- bles as I have experienced, learn by my example where to feek for fuccour ; truft not in princes, nor in any child of man, for there is no help in them : the fens of men, who are of low de- gree, are vanity, and are not able to help thee j men of high degree are a lie, too often deceive thy hopes, and will not help thee : but thou, when thy foul is in heavinefs, turn thy eyes from the earth, and look up towards heaven, to that infinitely kind and powerful Being, who nei- ther flumbereth nor fleepeth ; who is SERMON XIX. 127 a prefent help in time of trouble : defpond not, and fay within thyfelf, why his chariot wheels (lay fo long? and why he vouchfafeth thee not a fpeedy relief? but arm thyfelf in thy misfortunes with patience and fortitude; truft in God, who fees all thofe conflicts under which thou laboureft, who knows thy neceffities afar off, and puts all thy tears into his bottle ; who fees every careful thought and penfive look, and hears every figh and melancholy groan thou uttereft. In all thy exigencies truft and de- pend on him; nor ever doubt but he, who heareth the cry of the father- Icfs, and defendeth the caufe of the widow, if it is juft, will hear thine, 3 128 SERMON XIX. and either lighten thy burden, and let thee go free-, or, which is the fame, if that feems not meet, by adding ftrength to thy mind, to ena- ble thee to fuftain what he has fuf- fered to be laid upon thee. "Whoever recollects the particular pfalms faid to be compofed by this great man, under the feveral diftrefies and crofs accidents of his life, will perceive the juftice of this paraphrafe, which is agreeable to the ftrain of reafoning, which runs through, which is little elfe than a recollection of his own words and thoughts upon thofe occafions, in all which he ap- pears to have been no lefs fignal in his afflictions, than in his piety, and in that goodnefs of foul which he SERMON XIX. 129 difcovers under them. I faid, the reflections upon his own life and providential efcapes, which he had experienced, had had a (hare in form- ing thefe religious fentiments of truft in his mind, which had fo early taken root, that when he was going to fight the Philifline, when he was but a youth and flood before Saul,- he had already learned to argue in this manner : Let no man's heart fail him , thy fervant kept his fa- ther's fheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, and I went out after him and fmote him, and delivered it out of his mouth i and when he arofe againft me, I caught him by the beard, and fmote him, and flew VOL. V. K 1 3 o SERMON XIX. him ; thy fervant Qew both the lion : and the bear, and this uncircumcifed Philiftine will be as one of them ; for the Lord, who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will alfo deliver me out of his hand. The conclufiort was natural, and the experience which every man has had of God's former loving-kindnefs and protection to him, either in dan- gers or diftrefs* does unavoidably engage him to think in the fame train. It is obfcrvable that the apoftle St. Paul, encouraging the Corinthians to bear with patience the trials incident to human nature, re- minds them of the deliverances that God did formerly vouchfafe to him* SERMON XIX. 131 and his fellow-labourers, Gaius and Ariftarchus; and on that ground builds a rock of encouragement, for r truft and dependence on him. His life had been in very great jeopardy at Ephefus, where he had like to have been brought out to the theatre, to be devoured by wild beafls, and indeed had no hu- man means to avert, and confe- quently to efcape it; and therefore, he tells them, that he had this ad- vantage by it, that the more he be- lieved he Ihould be put to death, the more he was engaged by his deliverance, never to depend on any worldly truft, but only on God, who can refcue from the greateft extre- mity, even from the grave and death K 2 ijz SERMON XIX, itfclf. For we would not, brethren-, fays he, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Afia, that we were prefied out of meafure, above our flrength, infomuch that we defpaired even of life ; but we had the fentence of death in our- felves, that we fhould not truft in ourfelves, but in God, who raifeth the dead, who delivered us from fo great a death, and doth deliver, and in whom we truft that he will (till deliver us. And indeed a ftronger argument cannot be brought for future truft, than the remembrance of paft pro- tection-, for what ground or reafon can I have to diftruft the kindnefs SERMON XIX. 1:3 of that perfoo, who has always been 017 friend and benefactor ? On whom can I better rely for affiftance in the day of my diftrefs, than on him who flood by me in all mine affliction P and, when I was at the brink of deftrufton, delivered me out of all my troubles ? Would it not be highly ungrateful, and refleft either upon his goodoefs or his fufficiency, to diftruft that pro- vidence which has always had a watchful eye over me? and who, according to his gracious promifes, will never leave me, nor forfake me; and who, in all my wants, in all my emergencies, has been abundantly more willing to give, than I to afk it. If the former and the latter rais i 3 4 SERMON XIX. have hitherto defcended upon the earth in due feafon, and feed time and harveft have never yet failed ; why Ihould 1 fear famine in the land, or doubt, but that he who feedeth the raven, and providently caterethfor the fparrow, mould like- wife be my comfort? How unlikely is it that &ver he ihould fuffer his truth to fail! This train of reflection, from the confideration of pad mercies, is fuitable and natural to all man- kind; there being no one, who by calling to mind God's kindnefles, which have been ever of old, but will fee caule to apply the argument to himfelf. And though, in looking back upon the events which have befallen us. SERMON XIX. ij 5 we are apt to attribute too much to the arm of flelh, in recounting the more fuccefsful parts of them; fay- ing, My wifdom, my parts, and addrefs, extricated me from this mif- fortune; my forefight and penetra- tion faved me from a fecond ; my courage, and the mightinefs of my ftrength, carried me through a third : However we are accuftomed to talk in this manner, yet whoever coolly fits down and reflects upon the many accidents (though very im- properly called fo), which have be- fallen him in the courfe of his life, when he confiders the many amaz- ing turns in his favour, ibmetimes in the moft -unpromifing cafes, and often brought about by the moft K 4 136 SERMON XIX. unlikely caufes; when he remem- bers the particular providences which have gone along with him, the many perfonal deliverances which have preferved him, the unaccount- able manner in which he has been enabled to get through difficulties, which on all fides befet him, on one time of his life, or the flrength of mind he found himfelf endowed with, to encounter afflictions, which fell upon him at another period : where is the man, I fay, who looks back with the leaft religious fenfe, upon what has thus happened to him, who could not give you fuffi- cient proofs of God's power, and his arm over him, and recount feveral cafes, wherein the God of Jacob was SERMON XIX. 137 his help, and the Holy One of Ifrael his redeemer? Haft thou ever laid upon the bed of languifhing, or laboured under a grievous diftemper which threatened thy life ? Call to mind thy forrowful and penfive fpirit at that time ; and add to it, who it was that had mercy on thee, that brought thee out of darknefs and the lhadow of death, and made all thy bed in thy fick- nefs. Hath the fcantinefs of thy con- dition hurried thee into great ftraits and difficulties, and brought thee almofl to diftra&ion ? Confider who it was that fpread thy table in that wildernefs of thought, who was it made thy cup to overflow, who 138 SERMON XIX. added a friend of confolation to thee, and thereby fpake peace to thy troubled mind. Haft thou ever fuf- tained any confiderable damage in thy (lock or trade? Bethink thyfelf who it was that gave thee a ferene and contented mind under thofe loffes. If thou haft recovered, confider who it was that repaired thofe breaches, when thy own fkill and endeavours failed : call to mind whofe providence has blefled them fmce, whole hand it was that has fmce fet a hedge about thee, and made all that thou haft done to profper. Haft thou ever been wounded in thy more tender parts, through the lofs of an obliging huf- band ? or haft thou been torn away SERMON XIX". 139 from the embraces of a dear and promifing child, by its unexpected death ? O confider, whether the God of truth did not approve himfelf a father to thee, when fatherlefs, or a huf- band to thee, when a widow, and has either given thee a name better than of fons and daughters, or even beyond thy hope, made thy remain- ing tender branches to grow up tall and beautiful like the cedars of Li- banus. Strengthened by rhefe confider- ations, fuggefting the fame or like paft deliverances, either to thyfelf, thy friends or acquaintance, thou wilt learn this great leflbn in the text, in all thy exigencies and clik I 4 o SERMON XIX. treffes, to truft God; and whatever befals thee, in the many changes and chances in this mortal life, to fpeak comfort to thy foul, and to fay in the words of Habakkuk the prophet, with which I conclude, Although the fig-tree fhall not bloffbm, neither fhall fruit be in the vines j although the labour of the olive lhall fail, and the fields lhall yield no meat j although the flock (hall be cut off from the fold, and there fhall be no herd in the flails ; yet we will rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of our falvation. To whom be all honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen. SERMON XX. EXODUS xxi. 14. But if a man come prefumptuoufly upon his neighbour^ to Jlay him with guile ; tboujhalt take him from my altar t that be may die. AS the end and happy refult of fociety, was our mutual pro- tection from the depredations which malice and avarice lay us open to, fo have the laws of God laid proportionable reftraints againft fuch violations as would defeat us of fuch a fecurity. Of all otffi attacks which can be made agamlTm, that of a man's life, which is hilsall, 3 i 4 2 SERMON XX. being the greateft, the offence, in God's difpenfation to the Jews, was denounced as the moft heinous, and reprefented as moft unpardon- able. At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whofo fheddeth man's blood, by man mail his blood be fhed.- Ye mail take no fatisfaction for the life of a murderer j he mall furely be put to death. So ye mall not pollute the land wherein ye are, for blood defileth the land; and the land cannot be cleanfed of blood that is fhed therein, but by the blood of him that fhed it. For this reafon, by the laws of all civilized nations, in all parts of the globe, it has been punifhed with death. SERMON XX. 143 Some civilized and wife commu- nities have fo far incorporated thefe levere difpenfations into their muni- cipal laws, as to allow of no dif- tinction betwixt murder and homi- cide, at leaft in the penalty; leaving the intentions of the feveral parties concerned in it to that Being who knows the heart, and will adjuft the differences of the cafe here- after. This falls, no doubt, heavy upon particulars, but it is urged for the benefit of the whole. It is not the bufinefs of a preacher to enter into an examination of the grounds and reafons for fo feeming a feverity. Where moft fevere, they have proceeded, no doubt, from an excefs of abhorrence of a 144 SERMON XX. crime, which is, of all others, moft terrible and fhocking in its own nature, and the moft direct attack and ftroke at fociety , as the fecurity of a man's life was the firft protection of fociety, the ground- work of all the other bleffings to be defired from fuch a compact. Thefts, oppreffions, exactions, and violences of that kind, cut off the branches; this fmote the root: all perilhed with it , the injury irre- parable. No after-act could make amends for it. What recompence can he give to a man in exchange for his life ? What fatisfaction to the widow, the fatherlefs, to the family, the friends, the relations, cut off from his protection, and SERMON XX. 145 rendered perhaps deftitute, perhaps ' rciferable for ever ! Xo wonder, that, by the law of nature, this crime was always pur- fued with the moft extreme ven- geance -, which made the barbarians to judge, when they faw St. Paul upon the point of dying a fudden and terrifying death, Xo doubt this man is a murderer; who, though he has 'efcaped the fea, yet vengeance fuf- fereth not to live. The cenfure there was rafh and uncharitable; but the honed deteft- ation of the crime was uppermost. They faw a dreadful punifhment, they thought; and in feeing the one, they fufpeded the other. And VOL. V. L i+6 SERMON XX. the vengeance which had overtaken the holy man, was meant by them the vengeance and punifhment of the almighty Being, whofe provi- dence and honour was concerned in purfuing him, from the place he had fled from, to that ifland. The honour and authority of God is moft evidently ftruck at, moft cer- tainly, in every fuch crime, and therefore he would purfue it; it being the reafon, in the ninth of Genefis, upon which the prohibi- tion of murder is grounded;- for in the image of God created he man; as if to attempt the life of a man had fomething in it pecu- liarly daring and audacious 5 not only (hocking as to its confequence above 6 SERMON XX. 147 all other crimes, but of perional violence and indignity againft God, the author of our life and death. That it is the higheft ad of injufticc to man, and which will admit of no compenfation, I have faid. But the depriving a man of life, does not comprehend the whole of his fuf- fering; he may be cut off in an unprovided or diibrdcred condition, with regard to the great account be- twixt himfelf and his Maker. He may be under the power of irregular paGons and defires. The belt of men are not always upon their guanL And I am furc we have all reafon to join in that affe&ing part of our Litany, That amongft other evils, God would delifcr us from E * 148 SERMON XX. fudden death ; that we may have fome fore-fight of that period to compofe our fpirits, prepare our accounts, and put ourfelves in the belt poflure we can to meet it ; for, after we are mod prepared, it is a terror to human nature. The people of fome nations are faid to have a peculiar art in poifon- ing by flow and gradual advances. In this cafe, however horrid, it favours of mercy with regard to our fpiritual ftate; for the fenfible de- cays of nature, which a fufferer mu ft feel within him from the fecret workings of the horrid drug, give warning, and mew that mercy which the bloody hand that comes upon his neighbour fuddenly, and flays him SERMON XX; 149 with guile, has denied him. It may ferve to admonifh him of the duty of repentance, and to make his peace with God, whilft he had time and opportunity. The fpeedy exe- cution of juftice, which, as our laws now ftand, and which were intended for that end, muft ftrike the greater terror upon that account Short as the interval between fentence and death is, it is long, compared to the cafe of the murdered. Thou al- lowedft the man no time, faid the judge to a late criminal, in a moft affecting manner; thou allowedft him not a moment to prepare for eternity ; and to one who thinks at all, it is, of all reBedions and felf- accufation, the moft heavy and un- i^o S E R M O N XX. furmountable. That by the hand of violence, a man in a perfect (late of health, whilil he walks out in per- fect fecurity, as he thinks, with his friends; perhaps whilft he is fleep- ing foundly, to be hurried out of the world by the affaffin, by a fudden ftroke, to find himfelf at the bar of God's juftice, without notice and preparation for his trial, 'tis moil horrible ! Though he be really a good man, (and it is to be hoped God makes merciful allowances in fuch cafes) yet it is a terrifying confideration at the beft ; and as the injury is greater, there are alfo very aggra- vating circumftances relating to the perfon who commits this aft. As SERMON XX. 151 when it is the effecl: not of a rafh and fudden paffion, which fometimes diforders and confounds reafon for a i moment, but of a deliberate and ' propenfe defign or malice. When; the fun not only goes down, but rifes upon his wrath; when he fleeps not till he has ftruck the ftroke ; when, after he has had time and lei- fure to recoiled himfelf, and con- fider what he is going to do-, when, after all the checks of confcience, the ftruggles of humanity, the re- coilings of his own blood, at the thoughts of fheddmg another man'?, he mail perfift ftill, and refolve to do it. Merciful God I protect us from doing or fuffering fuch evils. Blefied be thy name and pro- L4 152 S E R M O N XX. vidences which feldom or ever fuffers it to efcape with impunity. In vain does the guilty flatter himfclf with hopes of fecrecy or impunity : the eye of God is always upon him. Whither can he fly from his pre- fence ! By the immenfity of his nature, he is prefent in all places ; by the infinity of it, to all times ; by his omnifcience, to all thoughts, words, and actions of men. By an emphatical phrafe in Scripture, the blood of the innocent is faid to cry to heaven from the ground for vengeance; and it was for this rea- fon, that he might be brought to juftice, that he was debarred the benefit of any afylum and the cities ofre/uge. For the elders of his city SERMON XX. 153 fhall fend and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, and that their eye fhould not pity him. The text fays, Thou (halt take him from my altar that he may die. It had been a very ancient imagi- nation, that for men guilty of this and other horrid crimes, a place held facred, as dedicated to Gcd, was a refuge and protection to them from the hands of juftice. The law of God cuts the tranfgrefibr off from all ddufive hopes of this kind ; and I think the Romifh church has very litrle to boaft of in the fanclu- aries which (he leaves open, for this znd o'her crimes and irregularities. Sanctuaries which are often the firil i 5 4 SERMON XX. temptations to wicked nefs, and there- fore bring the greater fcandal and dilhonour to her that authorifes their pretenfions. Every obftruction of the courfe of juftice, is a door opened to betray fociety, and bereave us of thofe blefT- ings which it has in view. To Hand up for the privileges of fuch places, is to invite men to fin with a bribe of impunity. It is a ftrange way of doing honour to God, to fcreen aclions which are a difgrace to humanity. What fcripture and all civilized nations teach concerning the crime of taking away another man's life, is applicable to the wickednefs of a man's attempting to bereave himfelf SERMON XX. 155 of his own. He has no more right over it, than over that of others : and whatever falfe glofles have been put upon it by men of bad heads or bad hearts, it is at the bottom a complication of cowardice and wick- ednefs, and weaknefs; is one of the fataleft miftakes, defperation can hurry a man into ;-r-inconfiftcnt with all the reafoning and religion of the world, and irreconcileable with that patience under afflictions, that re- fignation and fubmifllon to the will of God in all (Iraits, which is required of us. But if our calamities are brought upon ourfelves by a man's own wickednefs, dill has he lefs to urge, lead reafon has he to re- nounce the protection of God when i 5 6 SERMON XX. he moft (lands in need of it, and of his mercy. But as I intend the fubject of felf- murder for my difcourfe next Sun- day, I (hall not anticipate what I have to fay, but proceed to con- fider fome other cafes, in which the law relating to the life of our neigh- bour is tranfgrcffed in different de- grees. All which are generally fpoken of under the fubjecl of mur- der, and confidcred by the bed cafuifts as a fpecies of the fame, and in juftice to the fubjecl: cannot be paired here. St. John fays, Whoibever hateth his brother is a murderer ; k is the firft ftt-p to this fin i and our Savi- SERMON XX. 157 our, in his iermon upon the Mount, has explained in how many (lighter and unfufpeded ways and degrees, the command in the law, Thou (hale do no murder, may be oppofed, if not broken. Ail real mifchkfs and . . injuries malicioufly brought upon a man, to the forrow and disturbance / of his mind, eating out the comfort ^ of his life, and fhortening his cays, are this fin in difguife; and the grounds of the Scripture expreffing it with fuch feverhy, is, that the be- ginnings of wrath acd malice, in event, often extend to fuch, great and unfbrefeen effects, as, were we foretold them, we fhould give fo little credit to, as to fay, Is thy fcr- vaht a dog, that he fhould do this 158 SERMON XX. thing? And though thefe begin- nings do not neceffarily produce the worft (God forbid they fhould), yet they cannot be committed without thefe evil feeds are firft fown : As Cain's caufelds anger (as Dr. Clarke obferves) againfl his brother, to which the apoflle alludes, ended in taking away his life; and the bed inftrudtors teach us, that, to avoid a fin, we muft avoid the fteps and temptations which lead to it. This mould warn us to free our minds from all tincture of avarice, and defire after what is another man's It operates the fame way, and has terminated too oft in the fame crime. And it is the great ex- cellency of the chriflian religion, SERMON XX. 159 that it has an eye to this in the ftrefs laid upon the firft fprings of ) evils in the heart; rendering us ac- / countable not only for our words, ! but the thoughts themfelves, if not checked in time, but fuflfered to pro- ceed further than the firft motions of concupifcence. Ye have heard, therefore, fays our Saviour, that it was faid by them of old time, Thou [halt not kill; but I fay unto you, whofoever is angry with his brother without a caufe, (hall be in danger of the judgment; and whofoever (hall fay to his brother, Raca, fhall be in danger of the coon* cil ; but whofoever fhall fey, ** thou fool," (hall be in danger of hell- fire. The interpretation of which I xo S E R M O N XX. fhall give you in the words of a great fcripturifl, Dr. Clarke, and is as fol- *"'*^ ^^r lows ; That tITe three gradations of crimes are an allufion to the three different degrees of punifhment, in the three courts of judicature amongft the Jews. And our Saviour's mean- ing was, That every degree of fin, from its firfl conception to its out- rage, every degree of malice and hatred, lhall receive from God a punilhment proportionable to the of- fence. Whereas the old law, ac- cording to the Jewim interpretation, extended not to thefe things at all, forbade only murder and outward in- juries. Whofoever lhall fay, " thou fool," fhall be in danger of hell- fire. The fenfe of which is not that, SERMON XX. t6t in the ftrift and literal acceptation, every ralh and pafiionate expreflion ihall be puniihed with eternal dam- nation ; (for who then would be faved ?) but that at the exact account in the judgment of the great day, every fecret thought and intent of the heart (hall have its juft eftimation and weight in the degrees of punifh- ment, which (hall be afiigned to every one in his final date. There is another fpecies of this crime which is fcldom taken notice of in difcourfes upon the fubject, and yet can be reduced to no other dafs : And that is, where the life of our neighbour is fhortened, and often taken away as directly as by a weapon, by the empirical fale of no- VOL. V. M 162 SERMON XX. ftrums and quack medicines, which ignorance and avarice blend. The loud tongue of ignorance impu- dently promifes much, and the ear of the fick is open. And as many of thefe pretenders deal in edge tools, too many, I fear, perifh with the mifapplication of them. So great are the difficulties of tracing out the hidden caufes of the evils to which this frame of ours is fubjecl, that the moft candid of the profeflion have ever allowed and lamented how unavoidably they are in the dark. So that the beft medi- cines, adminiftered with the wifeft heads, fhall often do the mifchief they were intended to prevent. Thefe arc misfortunes to which we SERMON XX. 163 are fubjecl: in this ftate of darknefs ; but when men without {kill, without education, without know- ledge either of the diftemper, or even of 'what they fell, make merchan- dize of the miferable, and from a dilhoneft principle trifle with the pains of the unfortunate, too often with their lives, and from the mere motive of a difhoneft gain, every fuch inftance of a perfon bereft of life by the hand of ignorance, can be confidered in no other light than a branch of the fame root. It is murder in the true fenfe ; which, though not cognizable by our laws, by the laws of right, every man's own mind and confcience, muft appear equally black and deteftable. M 2 164 SERMON XX. In doing what is wrong, we ftand chargeable with all the bad confe- I quences which arife from the action, whether forefeen or not. And as the principal view of the empiric in thofe cafes is not what he always pretends^ the good of the public, . but the good of himfelf, it makes the addon what it is. Under this head it may not be improper to comprehend all adulte- rations of medicines, wilfully made worfe through avarice. If a life is loft by fuch wilful adulterations, and it may be affirmed, that in many critical turns of an acute diftemper, there is but a fingle caft left for the patient, the trial and chance of a fingle drug in his behalf} and if SERMON XX: i6 5 that has wilfully been adulterated and wilfully defpoiled of its beft virtues, ^what will the vender anfwer ? May God grant we may all anfwer well for ourfelves, that we may be finally happy. Amen. SERMON XXI. Sandity of the Apoftlcs. MATTHEW xL 6. Ble/td is be that JbaU m*t Ir offended in me. THE general prejudices of the Jewifh nation concerning the royal ftate and condition of the Sa- viour, who was to come into the world, was a ftone of (tumbling, and a rock of offence to the greateft part of that unhappy and prepof- feflcd people, when the promife was adually fulfilled Whether it was altogether the traditions of their M 4 168 SERMON XXI. fathers, or that the rapturous ex- preflions of the prophets, which re- prefented the Median's fpiritual king- dom in fuch extent of power, and dominion, mifled them into it ; or that their own carnal expectations turned wilful interpreters upon them, inclining them to look for nothing but the wealth and worldly grandeur which were to be acquired under their deliverer j whether thefe, or that the fyftem of temporal bleflings helped to chcrifh them in this grofs and covetous expectation, it was one of the great caufes for their rejecting him, " This fellow, we know not whence he is," was the popular cry of one part ; and they who feemed to know whence he was, SERMON XXI. 169 fcorafully turned it againft him, by the repeated quere, Is not this the carpenter, the fon of Mary, the brother of James and Jofes, and of Judah and Simon r and are not his fifters here with us? And they were offended at him. So that, though it was prepared by God to be the glory of his people Ifrael, yet the circumftances of humility, in which he was manifested, were thought a fcandal to them. Strange! that he who was born their king, fhould be born of no other virgin than Mary, the meaneft of their people; (for fee hath regarded the low eftate of his handmaiden)-^and of one c: :;-.r ric/.:: :~:> : fof f:ir bad no: a lamb to offer, but was purified, 1 70 SERMON XXT. as Mofes directed in fuch a cafe, by the oblation of a turtle-dove ; that the Saviour of their nation, whom they expected to be ufhered amidft them with all the enfigns and appa- ratus of royalty, mould be brought forth in a (table, and anfwerable to diftrefs ; fubjeded all his life to the lowed conditions of humanity: that whilft he lived, he mould not have a hole to put his head in, nor his corpfe in, when he died ; but his grave too, muft be the gift of cha- rity. Thefe were thwarting confi- derations to thofe who waited for the redemption of Ifrael, and looked for it in no other fhape, than the accom- plimment of thofe golden dreams of temporal power and fovereignty, SERMON XXI. 171 which had filled their imaginations. The ideas were not to be recon- ciled; and fo infuperable an ob- ftacle was the prejudice on one fide, to their belief on the other, that it literally fell out, as Simeon prophe- tically declared of the Meffiah, that he was fet forth for the fatt^ as well as the rifing again, of many in IfraeL This, though it was the caufe of their infidelity, was however no ex- cufe for it. For whatever their mif- takes were, the miracles which were wrought in contradiction to them, brought conviction enough to leave them without excufe; and befides, it was natural for them to have con- cluded, had their prepofleffions given i 7 2 SERMON XXI. them leave, that he who fed five thoufand with five loaves and two fifties, could not want power to be great \ and therefore needed not to appear in the condition of poverty and meannefs, had it not, on other fcores, been more needful to confront the pride and vanity of the world, and to fhevv his followers what the temper of chriftianity was, by the temper of its firft inftitutor ; who, though they were offered, and he could have commanded them, de- fpifed the glories of the world ; took upon him the form of a fervant ; and though equal with God, yet made himfelf of no reputation, that he might fettle, and be the ex- ample of fo holy and humble a reli- SERMON XXI. 173 gion^and thereby convince his dif- ciples for ever, that neither his king- dom nor their happinefs were to be of this world. Thus the Jews might have eafily argued , but when there was nothing but reafon to do it with on one fide, and flrong prejudices, backed with intereft, to maintain the difpute, upon the other, we do not find the point is always fo eafily determined. Although the purity of our Saviour's doctrine, and the mighty works he wrought in its fup- port, were demonflratively flronger arguments for his divinity, than the unrefpected lowlinefs of his condi- tion could be againft itj yet the prejudice continued flrong ; they had been accuftomed to temporal 174 SERMON XXI. promifes; fo bribed to do their duty, they could not endure to think of a religion that would not promife, as much as Mofes did, to fill thtir bafket, and to fee them high above all nations: a religion whofe appearance was not great and fplen- did, but looked thin and meagre; and whofe principles and promifes, like the curfes of their law, called for fufferings, and promifed perfecutions. If we take this key along with us through the New Teftament, it will let us into the fpirit and meaning of many of our Saviour's replies in his conferences with his difciples, and others of the Jews; fo particularly in this place, Matthew vi. when SERMON XXI. 175 John had fent two of his difciples to inquire, Whether it was he that mould come, or that they were to look for another? Our Saviour, with a particular eye to this preju- dice, and the general fcandal he knew had rifen againft his religion upon this worldly account, after a recital to the meffengers of the many mira- cles he had wrought ; as that the blind received their fight, the lame walked, the lepers were cleanfed, the dead railed ; all which charac- ters, with their benevolent ends, fully demonftrated him toTbe the Meffiah that was promifed them ; he clofes up his anfwer to them with the words of the text, And blefled is he that mail not be offended in me ; 8 176 SERMON XXI. blefled is the man whofe upright and honeft heart will not be blinded by worldly confiderations, or hearken to his lufts and prepofieffions in a truth of this moment. The like benediction is recorded in the 7th chapter of St. Luke, and in the 6th of St. John ; when Peter broke out in that warm confeffion of their belief Lord, we believe, we are fure that thou art (Thrift, the fon of the living God. The fame benediction is ut- tered, though couched in different words, Blefied art thou, Simon Bar- jona ; for flefii and blood has not revealed it, but my father which is in heaven. Flefh and blood, the natural workings of this carnal de- fire ; the luft and love of the world 3 SERMON XXI. 177 have had no hand in this conviction of thine ; but my father, and the works which I have wrought in his name, in vindication of this faith, have eftablifhed thee in it, againft which the gates of hell fhall not prevail. This univerfal ruling principle, and almoft invincible attachment to the interefts andglories ofthe Wjjrld,' which we fee firft made fo powerful a ftand againft the belief of chrifti- anity, has continued to have as ill an effect, at leaft, upon the practice of it ever fince , and therefore, there is no one point_pi^wilJiiom, that is of nearer importance to^us, than, to purify this grofs appetite, and re- ftrain it within bounds, by lowering VOL. V. ~*"~ 178 SERMON XXI. our high conceit of the things of this life, and our concern for thofe advantages which mifled the Jews. To judge juftly of the world, we muft ftand at a due diftance from it ; which will difcover to us the vanity of its riches and honours, in fuch true dimenfions, as will engage us to behave ourfelves towards them with moderation. This is all that is wanting to make us wife and good -, that we may be left to the full influence of religion ; to which chriftianity fo far conduces, that it is the great blefling, the peculiar ad- vantage we enjoy under its inftitu- tion, that it affords us not only the mod excellent precepts of this kind, but alfo it fhews us thofe precepts 5 SERMON XXI. 179 confirmed by moft excellent exam- pies A heathen philofopher may talk very elegantly about defpifing the world, and, like Seneca, may prefcribe very ingenious rules to teach us an art he never exercifed himfelf : for all the while he was writing in praife of poverty, he was enjoying a great eftate, and endeavouring to make it greater. But if ever we hope to reduce thofe rules to prac- tice, it mud be by the help of reli* gion. If we would find men who by their lives bore witnefs to their doctrines, we mud look for them amongft the acts and monuments of our church, amongft the firft fol- lowers of their crucified Matter; who fpoke with authority, becaufe they N 2 i8o SERMON XXI. fpoke experimentally, and took care to make their words good, by dc- fpifing the world, and voluntarily accounting all things in it lofs, that they might win Chrift. O holy and bleffcd apoftles! blefled were ye indeed, for ye conferred not with flefli and blood, for ye were not offended in him through any con- fiderations of this world; ye con- ferred not with flefh and blood, nei- ther with its fnares and temptations. Neither the pleafures of life, or thd pains of death laid hold upon your faith, to make you fall from him Ye had your prejudices of worldly grandeur in common with the reft of your nation 5 faw, like them, your expectations blaftedj SERMON XXI. i8r but ye gave them up, , as men go- verned by reafon and truth. As ye furrendered all your hopes in this world to your faith, with fortitude, fo did ye meet the terrors of the world with the fame temper. Nei- ther the frowns and difcountenance of the civil powers, neither tribulation or diflrefs, or perfecution, or cold, or nakednefs, or famine, or the fword, could feparate you from the love of Chrift. Ye took up your crofles cheerfully, and followed him ; followed the fame rugged way trod the wine prefs after him ; ^ voluntarily fubmitting yourfelves to poverty, to punilhment, to the fcorn and the reproaches of the .wo-ld, which ye knew were to be N 3 i8z SERMON XXI. the portion of all of you who en-* gaged in preaching a myftery fo fpoken againft by the world ; fo un- palatable to all its paffions and plea- fures, and fo irreconcilable to the pride of human reafoh. So that ye were, as one of ye exprefTed, and all of ye experimentally found, though ye were made as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things, upon this account; yet ye went on as zealoufly as ye fet out. Ye were not offended, nor afhamed of the gofpel of Chrift; wherefore fliould ye ? The importer and hy- pocrite might have been afhamed ; the guilty would have found caufe for it; ye had no caufe, though ye had temptation. Ye preached SERMON XXI, it$ but what ye knew, and your honeft and upright hearts gave evidence, the ftrongeft, to the truth of it -, for ye left all* ye fuffered all, y gave all that your fincerity had left you to give. Ye gave your lives at laft as pledges and confirmations of your faith and warmeft affection for your Lord. Holy and bkfled men ! ye gave all, when alas ! our cold and frozen affection will part with nothing for his fake, not even with our vices and follies, which are worfe than nothing; for they are vanity, and mifery, and death. The ftate of chriftianity calls not now for fuch evidences, as the apoftles gave of their attachment to it. We have, literally fpcaking, N 4 i&4 SERMON XXL neither houfes nor lands, nor poflefr fions to forfake; we have neither wives or children, or brethren or fitters, to be torn from ; no ra- tional pleafure or natural endear- ments to give up. We have no- thing to part with, but what is not our intereft to keep, our lulls and paffions. We have nothing to do for Chrift's fake but what is mod for our own ;- that is, to be^tenia- perate, and chafte, and juft, and peaceable, and charitable, and kind to one another. So that if man could fuppofe himfelf in a capacity even of capitulating with God, con- cerning the terms upon which he would fubmit to his government ; $nd to chufe the laws he would be 3 SERMON XXI. 185 bound to obferve in teftimony of his faith - t it were impoflible for him to make any propofals which, upon all accounts, mould be more advan- tageous to his interefts, than thofe very conditions to which we are already obliged ; that is, to deny ourfelves ungodlinefs, to live foberly and righteoufly in this prefent life, and lay fuch reflraints upon our ap- petites as are for the honour of human nature, the improvement of our happinefs, - our health, our peace, our reputation and fafety. When one confiders this reprefent- ation of the temporal inducements of chriftianity, and compares it with the difficulties and difcourage* ments which they encountered who 186' SERMON XXI. firft made profcffion of a perfecuted and hated religion ; at the fame time that it raifes the idea of the fortitude and fanctity of thefe holy- men, of whom the world is not wor- thy, it fadly diminimes that of our- felves, which, though it has all the biddings of this life Apparently on its fide to fupport it, yet can fcarce be kept alive; and if we may form a judgment from the little ftock of religion which is left, fhould God ever exact the fame trials, unlefs we greatly alter for the better, or there mould prove fome fecret charm in perfecution, which we know not 0f, it is much to be doubted, if the Son of Man mould make this proof, i of this generation, whether there SERMON XXI. 187 would be found faith upon the As this argument may convince us, fo let it fliame us into virtue,^- that the admirable examples of thofe holy men may not be left us, or commemorated by us to no end ; but rather that they may anfwer the pious purpofe of their inftitution, to conform our lives to theirs, that with them we may be partakers of a glorious inheritance, through Jefu Chrift our Lord. Amen. SERMON XXII. Penances. i JOHN v. 3. And his commandments are not grievous. NO, they are not grievous, my dear auditors. Amongfl the many prejudices which at one time or other have been conceived againft: our holy religion, there is fcarce any one which has done more dif- honour to chriftianity, or which has been more oppofite to the fpirit of the gofpel, than this, in exprefs con- trad idion to the words of the text, 190 SERMON XXII. " That the commandments of God are grievous." That the way which leads to life is not only ftrait, for that our Saviour tells us, and that with much tribulation we fhall feek it; but that chriftians are bound to make the worfl of it, and tread it barefoot upon thorns and briers, if ever they expect to arrive happily at their journey's end. And in courfe, during this difaftrous pilgrimage, it is our duty fo to renounce the world, and abftradl: ourfelves from . it, as neither to -interfere with its interefts, or tafte any of the plea- fures, or any of the enjoyments of this life. Nor has this been confined merely to fpeculation, but has frequently SERMON XXII. 191 teen extended to practice, as is plain, not only from the lives of many legendary faints and hermits, whofe chief commendation feems to have been, " That they fled un- naturally from all commerce with their fellow-creatures, and then mortified, and pioufly half flarved themfelves to death ;" but likewiie from the many auftere and fantaftic orders which we fee in the Romifh church, which have all owed their origin and eftablifhment to the fame idle and extravagant opinion. Nor is it to be doubted, but the affectation of fomething like it in our Methodifts, when they defcant upon the neceflity of alienating them- felves from the world, and felling 192 SERMON XXII. all that they have, is not to be afcribed to the fame miftaken enthu- fiaflic principle, which would caft fo black a (hade upon religion, as if the kind Author of it had created us on purpofe to go mourning, all our lives long, in fack-cloth and aflies, and fent us into the world, as fo many faint-errants, in queft of adventures full of forrow and af- fliction. Strange force of enthufiafm ! and yet not altogether unaccount- able. For what opinion was there ever fo odd, or action fo extrava- gant, which has not, at one time of I other, been produced byjgnorance, conceit, melancholy ; a mix- an ill con- s R M o N xxii. 193 currence of air and diet, operating together in thelairne perfon. When the minds of men happen to be thus unfortunately prepared, whatever groundlefs doctrine rifes up, and fet- tles itfelf ftrongly upon their fan- cies, has generally the ill-luck to be interpreted as an illumination from the fpirit of God ; and whatever ilrange action they find in themfelves a flrong inclination to do, that im- pulfe is concluded to be a call from heaven; and confequently, that they cannot err in executing it. If this, or fome fuch account, was not to be admitted, how is it pofilble to be conceived that chriftianity, which breathed out nothing but peace and comfort to mankind, which profef- VOL. V. O i 9 4 SERMON XXII. fedly took off the feverides of the Jewifh law, and was given us in the fpirit of meeknefs, to eafe our fhoul- ders of a burden which was too heavy for us ; that this religion, fo kindly calculated for the eafe and tranquillity of man, and which enjoins nothing but what is fuitable to his nature, fhould be fo mifunderftood y or that it fhould ever be fup- pofed, that he who is infinitely happy, could envy us our enjoy- ments j or that a Being infinitely kind, would grudge a mournful paf- fenger a little reft and refrefhmenr, toftipport his fpirits through a weary pilgrimage j or that he fhould call him to an account hereafter, be- caufe, in his way, he had haftily S E R M O N XXII. 195 fnatched at fome fugacious and inno- cent pleafures, till he was differed to take up his final repofe. This is no improbable account, and the many invitations we find in Scripture to a grateful enjoyment of the bleflings and advantages of life, make it evident. The apoftle tells us in the text, That God's commandments are not grievous. He has pleafure in the profperity of his people, and wills not that they fhould turn tyrants and executioners upon their minds or bodies, and inflict pains and penalties on them to no end or pur- pofe : That he has propofed peace and plenty, joy and victory, as the encouragement and portion of his fervants; thereby instructing us, O 2 196 SERMON XXII, that our virtue is not neceffarily en- dangered by the fruition of outward things -, but that temporal bleffings and advantages, inftead of extin- guiihing, more naturally kindle our love and gratitude to God, before whom it is no way inconfiftent both to wormip and rejoice. If this was not fo, why, you'll fay, does God feem to have made fuch provifion for our happinefs ? "Why has he given us fo many powers and faculties for enjoyment, and adapted fo many objects to gratify and entertain them ? Some of which he has created fo fair, with fuch wonderful beauty, and has formed them fo exquifitely for this end, that they have power, for a time, to SERMON XXII. 197 charm away the fenfe of pain, to cheer up the dejected heart under poverty and ficknefs, and make it go and remember its miferies no more. Can all this, you'll fay, be reconciled to God's wifdom, which does nothing in vain ; or can it be accounted for on any other fuppo- fition, but that the Author of our being, who has given us all things richly to enjoy, wills us a comfort- able exiftence even here, and feems moreover fo evidently to have ordered things with a view to this, that the ways which lead to our future happi- nefs, when rightly underftood, he has made to be ways of pleafantnefs, and all her paths peace ? 03 j 9 3 SERMON XXII. From this reprefentation of things we are led to this demonftrative truth, then, that God never intended to debar man of pleafure, under certain limitations. Travellers on a bufinefs of the lad and mod important concern, may be allowed to pleafe their eyes with the natural and artificial beauties of the country they are paffing through, without reproach of forgetting the main errand they were fent upon ; i-^and if they are not Jed out of their road by variety of profpects, edifices and ruins, would it not be a fenfelefs piece of feverity to (hut their eyes againft fuch gratifica- tions ? For who has required fuchfer- 'vice at their hands ? SER&ON XXII. 199 The humouring of certain appe- tites, where morality 4s not con- cerned, feems to be the means by which the Author of nature intended to fweeten this journey of life, and bear us up under the many Ihocks and hard joftlings, which we are fure to meet with in our way. And a man might, with as much reafon, muffle^ up himfelf againft fun-fhine and fair weather, and at other times cxpofe himfeif naked to the incle- mencies of cold and rain, as debar himfelf of the innocent delights of his nature, for affected rcfcrve and melancholy. It is true, on the other hand, our paffions are apt to grow upon us by indulgence, and become exorbitant, 4 200 SERMON XXII. if they are not kept under exact difciplinr, that by way of caution and prevention, 'twere better, at cer- tain times, to affect fome degree of needlefs referve, than hazard any ill confequences from the other extreme. But when almoft the whole of reli- gion is made to confift in the pious fooleries of penances and fuffer- ings, as is praclifed in the church of Rome (did no other evil attend it), yet, fmce it is putting religion upon a wrong fcent, placing it more in thefe than in inward purity and in- tegrity of heart, one cannot guard too much againft this, as well as all other fuch abufes of religion, as rnake it to confift in fomething which it ought not. How fuch mockery SERMON XXIf. 201 became a part of religion at firft, or upon what motives they were ima- gined to be fervices acceptable to God, is hard to give a better account of than what was hinted above 5 namely, that men of melancholy and morofe tempers, conceiving the Deity to be like themfelves, a gloomy, difcontented and forrowful being, believed he delighted, as they did, in fplenetic and mortifying adions, and therefore made their religious worfhip to confiit of chimeras as wild and barbarous as their own dreams and vapours. What ignorance and enthufiafm at firft introduced, now tyranny and impofture continue to fupport. So that the pel ideal improvement of 4 202 SERMON XXII. thefe delufions to the purpofes of wealth and power, is made one of the ftrongeft pillars which upholds the Romifh religion , which, with all its pretences to a more ftricl: mor- tification and fanclity, when you examine it minutely, is little elfe than a mere pecuniary contrivance. And the trueft definition you can give of popery is, that it is a fyflem put together and contrived to operate upon men's weaknefles and pafiions, and thereby to pick their pockets, and leave them in a fit condition for its arbitrary defigns. And indeed that church has not been wanting in gratitude for the good offices of this kind, which the doctrine of penances has done them j SERMON XXII. 203 for, in confideration of its fervices, they have raifed it above the level of moral duties, and have at length complimented it into the number of their facraments, and made it a ne- ceffary point to falvation. By thefe, and other tenets, no lefs politic and inquifitional, popery has found out the art of making men m iferable _in fpkc of their j^cnjgSf* and the plenty with which God has blefled them. So that in many countries where popery reigns, but efpecially in that part of Italy where fhe has raifed her throne, though, by the happinefs of its foil and climate, it is capable of producing as great variety and abun- dance as any country upon earth ; 204 SERMON XXII. yet fo fuccefsful have its fpiritual directors been in the management and retail of thefe bkffings, that they have found means to allay, if not entirely to defeat, them all, by one pretence or other. Some bitternefs is officioufly fqucezed into every man's cup for his foul's health, till, at length, the whole intention of nature and providence is deftroyed. It is not furprifing, that where fuch unnatural feverities are praclifed and heightened by other hard(hips, the mod fruitful land fhould be barren, and wear a face of poverty and defoiaiion; or that many thou- fands. as have been obferved, mould fly from the rigours -,f fuch a go- vernment, and feck fhehcr rather SERMON XXII. 205 amongft rocks and deferts, than lie at the mercy of fo' many unreafon- able tafk-mafters, under whom they can hope for no other reward of their induflry, but rigorous flavery, made flill worfe by the tortures of un- neceflary mortifications. / fay un- necejjary^ becaufe where there is a virtuous and good end propofed from any fober inftances of felf-denial and mortification, God forbid we mould call them unneceflfary, or that we mould difpute againft a thing from the abufe to which it has been put ; and, therefore, what is faid in ge- neral upon this head, will be under- ftood to reach no farther than where the practice is become a mixture of fraud and tyranny, but will no ways be interpreted to extend to thofe 206 SERMON XXII. felf-denials which the difcipline of our holy church directs at this folemn feafon; which have been introduced by reafon and good fenfe at fir ft, and have fmce been applied to ferve no purpofes, but thofe of religion : thefe, by reftraining our appetites for a while, and withdrawing our thoughts from grofler objects, do, by a mechanical effect, difpofe us for cool and fober reflections, incline us to turn our eyes inwards upon ourfelves, and confider what we are, and what we have been doing; for what intent we were fent into the world, and what kind of charac- ters we were defigned to act in it. It is neceflary that the mind of man, at fome certain periods, fhould be prepared to enter into this ac- SERMON XXII. 207 count; and without fome fuch dif- cipline, to check the infolence of un- reftrained appetites, and call home the confcience, the foul of man, capable as it is of brightnefs and perfection, would fink down to the lowed depths of darknefs and bru- tality. However true this is, there {till appears no obligarion to renounce the innocent delights of our beings, or to affect a fuilen diftafte again ft them. Nor, in truth, can even the fuppofition of it be well admit- ted : for pleafures arifing from the free and natural exercife of the facul- ties of the mind and bod}', to talk them down, is like talking arpinll the frame and mechanifm of human nature, and would be no Icfs fenfe- 8 208 SERMON XXtl. lefs than the difputing againft the 1 burning of fire, or falling downwards of a ftone. Befides this, man is fo contrived, that he ftands in need of- frequent repairs; both mind and body are apt to fink and grow un- aclive under long and clqfe attention; and, therefore, mud be reftored by proper recruits. Some part of our time may doubtlefs innocently and lawfully be employed in actions merely diverting ; and whenever fuch indulgencies become criminal, it is feldom the nature of the actions themfelves, but the excefs which makes them fo. But fome one may here afk, By what rule are we to judge of excefs in thefe cafes ? If the enjoyment of SERMON XXII. 209 the fame fort of pleafures may be either innocent or guilty, according to the ufe or abufe of them, how lhall we be certified where the boun- daries lie? or be fpeculative enough to know how far we may go with fafety ? I anfwer, there are very few who are not cafuifts enough to make a right judgment in this point. Forfince one principal reafon, why God may be fuppofed to allow plea- fure in this world, feems to -be for the refrefhment and recruit of our fouls and bodies, which, like clocks, muft be wound up at certain inter- vals, every man underftands fo much of the frame and mechanifm of himfelf, to know how and when to unbend himfelf with fuch relaxations VOL. V. P 210 SERMON XXIT. i as are neceflary to regain his natural vigour and cheerfulnefs, without which it is impoftible he fhould either be in a difpofition or capacity to dif- charge the feveral duties of his life. Here then the partition becomes vifible. Whenever we pay this tribute to our appetites, any further than is fufficient for the purpofes for which it was firft 4 granted, the adion pro- portionably lofts fome mare of its innocence. The furplufage of what is unneceflarily fpent on fuch 'occa- fions, is fo much of the little portion of our time negligently fquandered, which, in prudence, we mould apply better j becaufe it was allotted us for more important ufes, and a different 3 SERMON XXII. 211 account will be required of it at our hands hereafter. For this reafon, does it not evi- dently follow, that many actions and purfuits, which are irreproach- able in their own natures, may be rendered blameable and vicious, from this fingle confideration, " That they have made us wafteful of the mo- ments of this fhort and uncertain fragment of life, which mould be almoft one of our laft prodigalities, fince of them all, the leaft retriev- able." Yet how often is diverfion, inftead of amufement and relaxation, made the art and bufmefs of life itfelf? Look round, what policy and contrivance is every day put in practice, for pre-engaging every day P 2 212 SERMON XXII. in the week, and parcelling out every hour of the day for one idlenefs or another, for doing nothing, or fomething worfe than nothing; and that with fo much ingenuity, as fcarce to leave a minute upon their hands to reproach them. Though we all complain of the fhortnefs of life, yet how many people feem quite overftocked with the days and hours of it, and are continually fending out into the highways and ftreets of the city for guefts to come and take it off their hands. If fome of the more diftrefsful objects of this kind were to fit down and write a bill of their time, though partial as that of the unjuft fteward, when they found in reality that the whole fum of it, SERMON XXII. 213 for many years, amounted to little more than this, that they had rofe up to eat, to drink, to play, and had laid down again, merely becaufe they were fit for nothing elfe : when they looked back and beheld this fair fpace, capable of fuch hea- venly improvements, all fcrauled over and defaced with a fuccefllon. of fo many unmeaning cyphers, good God! how would they be afhamed and confounded at the ac- count ! With what reflections will they be able to fupport themfelves in the decline of a life fo miferably caft away, mould it happen, as it fome- times does, that they have flood idle even unto the eleventh hour. We . 5 ii4 SERMON XXII. have not always power, and are not always in a temper, to impofe upon ourfelves, When the edge of appe- tite is worn down, and the fpirits of youthful days are cooled, which hur- ried us on in a circle of pleafure and impertinence, then reafon and re- flection will have the weight which they deferve; afflictions, or the bed of ficknefs, will fupply the place of confcience; and if they fhould fail, old age will overtake us at laft, and fhew us the pad purfuits of life, and force us to look upon them in their true point of view. If there is any thing more to caft a cloud upon fo melancholy a pro- fpect as this mews us, it is furely the difficulty and hazard of having SERMON XXII. 215 all the work of the day to perform in the laft hour; of making an atonement to God, when we have no facrifice to offer him, but the dregs and infirmities of thofe days, when we could have no pleafure in them. How far God may be pleafed to accept fuch late and imperfect fer- vices, are beyond the intention of this difcourfe. Whatever ftrefs fome may lay upon it, a death-bed re- pentance is but a weak and (lender plank to truft our all upon. Such as it is ; to that, and God's infinite mercies, we commit them, who will not employ that time and oppor- tunity he has given to provide a better fecurity. 216 SERMON XXII. That we may all make a right ufe of the time allotted us, God grant through the merits of his Son Jefus Chrift. Amen. END OF THE FIFTH VOLUME, Thiibook.U date stamped below. "Si. - 20 im ,B, AUG 20 t 10M-1 1-50(2555) 470 REUINSTON RAND- XO _ ., ifi . Jin mi mi mi ill in ,.. , 3 1158 01019 889! 1 ' A 000 007 71 1 5 3ARY ^ELES. CALIF.