The theological and miscellaneous works of the Rev. William Jones : to which is prefixed a short account of his life and writings

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THE

THEOLOGICAL

AND

MISCELLANEOUS WORKS

OF THE lAXE REV-

WILLIAM foNES, M.A.

MINISTER OF NAY LAND, SUFFOLK.

T<» WHICH IS PREFIXED,

A SHORT ACCOUNT

OF HIS

LIFE AND WRITINGS

BY WILLIAM STEVENS, ESQ.

A NFAV EDITION.

IN SIX VOLUMES.
VOL. IV.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR C. AND J. RIVINGTON,

ST. Paul's church-yakd,

AND WATERLOO-PLACE, PALL-MALL.

1820.

LONDON :

PRINTED BY R. GILBHIIT,

ST. John's square.

I

•CONTENTS. _ ■

FOURTH VOLUME.

SERMONS.

SERMON I.

THE RELIGIOUS USE OF BOTANICAL PHILOSOPHY.

PAGE

And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed
after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was
in itself; and God saw that it was good- Gen. i. 12.. 1

[Preached on Mr. Fairchild's foundation at the church of St. Leonard,
Shoreditch, June 1, 1784.]

SERMON II.

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE AND OECONOMY OF BEASTS
AND CATTLE.

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and
cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw
that it was good. Gen. i. 25 13

[A second sermon, on the same occasion, preached on the Tuesday in
Whitsun-week, May 17, 1785.]

SERMON III.

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH
AND ITS MINERALS.

And God said. Let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together tmto one place, and let the dry land appear ;
and it was so.

A 2

IV CONTENTS.

PAGE

And God called the dry land earth ; and the gathering to-
gether of the waters called he seas ; and God saw that

it was good. Gen. i. 9, 10 39

[A third sermon, on the same occasion, preached June G, 1786.]

SERMON IV.

ON THE NATURAL EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal power and godhead,
Rom. i. 20 57

[A fourth sermon, on the same occasion, preached Tuesday in
WhitsunWeek, 1787.]

SERMON V.

THE NATURE AND EXCELLENCE OF MUSIC.

Sing to the harp with a psalm of thanksgiving. Psalm
xcviii. 6 74

[Preached at the opening of a new organ, at Nayland, Suffolk,
July 29, 1787.]

SERMON VI.

THE REASONABLENESS AND NECESSITY OF FEARING GOD.

Fear God. 1 Pet. ii. 17 90

SERMON VII.

THE BENEFITS OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE.

Honour the king. 1 Pet. ii. 17 .*... 103

[Preached at Harwich, on Sunday, June 21, 1 778,]

SERMON VIII.

PAROCHIAL REFORMATION RECOMMENDED.

To the one we are the savour of death unto death ; and to
the other the savour of life unto life : and who is sitffi-
cient for these things? 2 Cor. ii. 16 114

CONTENTS.

V

SERMON IX.

THE DUTY OF RELIEVING THE POOR AND THEIR CHILDREN.

PAGE

Ye have the poor with j/ou always, and, whensoever ye

will, ye may do them good. Mark xiv. 7 128

[Preached in the parish church of St. Peter's, Colchester, April 27, 1783.]

SERMON X.

THE BLESSEDNESS OF CONSIDERING THE POOR.

Blessed is he that consider eth the poor and needy: the Lord
shall deliver him in the time of trouble. Psalm xli. 1. 142

[Preached at Chelmsford, September 10, 1786, for the benefit of the
charity school.]

SERMON XI.

THE HISTORY OF COLLECTIONS FOR THE POOR ; WITH ADVICE
TO THE MEMBERS OF FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have
given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by
him in store as God hath prospered him. 1 Cor. i. 2. 157

[Preached to a friendly society (who, by mutual contribution, re-
lieve one another) on Easter Tuesday, 1782.]

SERMON XII.

ETERNAL LIFE, THE GREAT PROMISE OF THE LAW.

As touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read
that which was spoken to you by God, saying, I am the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the liv-
ing. Matt. xxii. 31, 32 172

Vi CONTENTS.

SERMON XIII and XIV.

PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED.

PAGE

And when he had S2)ent all, he began to be in want. Luke
XV. 14 189 and 202

SERMON XV.

THE MAN OF SIN.

How is it that ye do not discern this time ? Luke xii. 56. 217

[Preached at Spring Garden Chapel, on Sunday, Jan. 26, and at
Oxford Chapel, on Sunday, Feb. 2, 1794.]

SERMON XVI.

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the
earth ? Luke xviii. 8 , . . . . 230

[Preached in Spring Garden Chapel, on Sunday, Feb. 8, 1795.]

SERMON XVIL

THE NATURE, USES, DANGERS, SUFFERINGS, AND PRESERVATIVES
OF THE HUMAN IMAGINATION.

God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. Gen. vi. 5 249

SERMON XVIII and XIX.

A FRIENDLY ADMONITION TO THE CHURCHMAN, ON THE SENSE
AND SUFFICIENCY OF HIS RELIGION.

Hear the Church. Matt, xviii. 17 265 and 281

[Addressed to the inhabitants of the parish of Paston, in
Northamptonshire.]

SERMON XX.

THE USE AND ABUSE OF THIS WORLD.

And they that use this world as not abusing it. 1 Cov.
vii. 31 295

[Preached at St. Bene't, Gracechurch, in the city of London, on
Sunday, October 9, 1796.]

CONTENTS. VII

SERMON XXI.

CALLING AND ELECTION.

PAGE

Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. 2 Pet. i. 10 314

SERMON XXII.

THE NECESSITY AND ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER ; WITH A METHOD
OF PRAYING ALWAYS.

Men ought always to pray. Luke xviii. 1 330

SERMON XXIII.

THE DANGER OF DESPISING LAWFUL AUTHORITY.

These filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion,
and speak evil of dignities. St. Jude, Verse 8 347

SERMON XXIV.

REPENTANCE NECESSARY TO OUR SALVATION.

Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luke xiii. 8. 359
SERMON XXV.

PAUL AND ELYMAS.

And when they had gone through the Isle unto Paphos,
they found a certain sorcerer, a false Prophet, a Jew,
whose name was Bar-.fcsus. Acts xiii. 6 371

SERMON XXVI.

AIHTHOPUEL THE SUICIDE.

And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed,
he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his
house, to his city, and jmt his household in order, and
hanged himself, and died. 2 Sam. xvii. 23 383

SERMON XXVII.

THE DELAY OF GOD's JUDGMENTS.

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed
speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully
set in them to do evil. Eccles. viii. 11 399

viii

CONTENTS.

SERMON XXVIII.

THE MAN BORN BLIND.

PAGE

And as Jesus passed by, lie saw a man which was blind
from his birth. John ix. 1 409

SERMON XXIX.

DOGS AND SWINE.

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither east ye
your pearls before swine ; lest they trample them under
their feet, and turn again and rend you. Matt. vii. 6. 422

SERMON XXX.

CHRIST THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, and the Truth, and
the Life. John xiv. 6 432

SERMON XXXI.

THE CASE OF THE LAW STATED.

For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made mid,
and the promise made of none effect. Rom. iv. 14. . . 444

SERMON XXXII.

RAHAB AND JERICHO.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were

compassed about seven days.
By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that

believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

Heb. xi. 30, 31 455

SERMON XXXIII.

THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

TJien said Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise. Luke
X.37 466

AND THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH GRASS, AND HERB
YIELDING SEED AFTER HIS KIND, AND THE TREE
YIELDING FRUIT, WHOSE SEED WAS IN ITSELF ; AND
GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. GEN. I. 12.

If an author, who should undertake to explain the
proportion of architecture, were to trouble us with
a long preface, to prove that every house we see must
have been the work of some man, because no house
could possibly build itself, or rise into form by acci-
dent ; I presume, we should all be of opinion, that he
might have spared this part of his labour. It seems
equally superfluous to insist, that the structure of na-
ture could not raise itself ; the cases being exactly pa-
rallel, and both self-evident to common sense. There
is a sort of sense, which pretends to discover, not only
that the argument is necessary, but that the proof
is deficient. We trust, however, that such neither is,
nor ever will be common. If there re^^lly be such a
thing as speculative or philosophical atheism, that
doctrine must be the individual point, in which the
affectation of wisdom meets the extremity of folly :
and it would be loss of time to reason with it. We
therefore take it upon the authority of the text, that
herbs, trees, fruits and seeds, are the work of God ; and
the present occasion requires us to consider how, and

VOL. IV. B

2

THE RELIGIOUS USE OF

C^SERM. I.

in what respects, this work is good, and displays the
wisdom of the great Creator.

The goodness ascribed to this part of the creation is
evidently not moral but natural : it means, that the
several articles of the vegetable kingdom have that
sort of goodness of which they are capable ; that they
are beautiful and perfect in their kinds ; wonderful
in their growth ; sufficient in their powers and pro-
perties ; and beneficial in their uses. In these capa-
cities we are to consider them ; and to observe how
the wisdom of the Creator is manifested.

First, in the form and structure of vegetables.

Secondly, in the manner of their growth.

Thirdly, in their natural uses, for meat and medicine.

Fourthly, in their moral uses ; for the advancement
of human prudence and religious faith.

Herbs and flowers may be regarded by some per-
sons as objects of inferior consideration in philosophy;
but every thing must be great which hath God for
its author. To him all the parts of nature are equally
related. The flowers of the earth can raise our
thoughts up to the Creator of the world as effectually
as the stars of heaven : and till we make this use of
both, we cannot be said to think properly of either.
The contemplation of nature should always be sea-
soned with a mixture of devotion ; the highest faculty
of the human mind ; by which alone contemplation is
improved, and dignified, and directed to its proper
object. To join these together is the design of our
present meeting ; and when they are joined, may they
never more be put asunder !

In the form and structure of plants, with the pro-
vision for their growth and increase, there is a store of
matter which would more than fill a philosophical

SERM. I.^

BOTANICAL PHILOSOPHY.

<»

o

treatise : I must therefore content myself with tracing
some of the outlines of^o large a subject.

The first thing that engages the curiosity of man,
and tempts him to bestow so much of his labour and
attention upon this part of the creation, is the beau-
tiful form and splendid attire of plants. They who
practise this labour know how delightful it is. It
seems to restore man in his fallen state to a participa-
tion of that felicity, which he enjoyed while innocent
in Paradise.

When we cast our eyes upon this part of nature, it
is first observable that, herbs and trees compose a
scene so agreeable to the sight, because they are in-
vested with that green colour, which, being exactly
in the middle of the spectrum of the coloured rays of
light, is tempered to a mildness which the eye can
bear. The other brighter and more simple colours
are sparingly bestowed on the flowers of plants, and
which, if diffused over all their parts, would have
been too glaring, and consequently offensive. The
smaller and more elegant parts are adorned with that
brightness which attracts the admiration without en-
dangering the sense.

But while the eye is delighted with the colouring of
a flower, the reason may be still more engaged with
the natural use and design of a flower in the oeconomy
of vegetation. The rudiment of the fruit, when young
and tender, requires some covering to protect it ; and
accordingly, the flower-leaves surround the seat of
fructification ; when the sun is warm, they are expand-
ed by its rays, to give the infant fruit the benefit of the
heat : to forward its growth when the sun sets, and
the cold of the evening prevails, the flower-leaves na-
turally close, that the air of the night may not injure
the seed-vessel. As the fructification advances, and

B 2

4

THE RELIGIOUS USE OF |^SERM. I.

the changes of the air are no longer hurtful, the flower-
leaves have answered their end, and so they wither
and fall away. How elegant therefore, as well as ap-
posite, is that allusion in the Gospel ; / say unto you,
that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these * .• for the flower, which is the glory of the lily
and other plants, is literally and physically a raiment
for the clothing of the seed-vessel ! And a raiment it
is, whose texture surpasses all thelaboured productions
of art for the clothing of an eastern monarch. The
finest works of the loom and the needle, if examined
with a microscope, appear so rude and coarse, that a
savage might be ashamed to wear them : but when the
work of God in a flower is brought to the same test,we
see how fibres, too minute for the naked eye, are com-
posed of others still more minute ; and they of others ;
till the primordial threads or first principles of the
texture are utterly undiscernible ; while the whole
substance presents a celestial radiance in its colouring,
with a richness superior to silver and gold : as if it
were intended for the clothing of an angel. The whole
creation does not afford a more splendid object for
minute examination than the leaves and filaments of
flowers ; even of some flowers which look obscure,
and promise little or nothing to the naked eye.

But besides this richness of substance and colour,
there is an elegance of design in the whole form and
disposition of a plant, which human artists, in orna-
mental works, are always studious to imitate. Their
leaves, and branches, and flowers, are thrown about
with that ease, and turned into beautiful lines, so as
to charm the eye with a variety of flexure, and con-
vince us that all the excellence of art must take its
pattern fi*om nature.

* Matt. vi. 29.

SERM. I.^ BOTANICAL PHILOSOPHY.

5

The parts generally observable in plants, are a root,
a stalk, branches, leaves, flowers, fruit and seeds,
succeeding each other in their order, and all seeming
necessary to one another. But under the direction of
divine wisdom, vegetable life is carried on in every
possible form, and the end of fructification is attained,
while the n^eans seem to be wanting : as if Providence
meant to shew us, that it is not confined to any parti-
cular means ; and that the work of God in this respect
essentially differs from the work of man. The Ferns,
have neither stalks, nor branches, nor flowers, but
consist of single leaves on their pedicels, with seeds
upon the backs of them. The flower of the Dwarf-
thistle sits upon the ground without a stalk ; while
the Torch-thistle, has nothing but a stalk, like the
staff of a spear. The Melon-thistle is all fruit ; the
Opuntia, or Indian fig, all leaf : and whilst the various
fruits are produced from the germens of their re-
spective flowers, the Fig-tree gives us its fruit with-
out any such concurrence, and incloses the flowers
themselves. The Tuber terra, or Truffle, has neither
leaf, stem, branch, flower, nor seed ; nothing but a
globular root, which thrives under ground, and does
not appear to be fed by fibres like other roots ; yet
it increases and multiplies.

It is a general rule in nature, that plants which have
the same characters have like qualities ; but where
this rule would teach us to expect a poison, we find a
plant with an agreeable odour and wholesome nou-
rishment ; as in the Solannm Escidentum, which is of
a deadly race, with all the external characters of a
Night-shade. Are we not hence to learn, that quality
does not arise from configuration, or from any neces-
sity of nature ; but follows the will and wisdom of the

6

THE RELIGIOUS USE OF

C^SERM. I.

Creator; who to every plant, as to every man, divideth
severally as lie ivill 9

It seems essential to trees, that they should be fixed
in the earth, and draw their nourishment from it ;
but some will have no communication with the earth ;
affixing themselves in a strange manner to the wood of
other trees, and subsisting upon their juices ; yet pre-
serving their own peculiar nature and complexion.

Flowers are commonly expanded by the heat of the
sun ; but some are opened in the evening when others
are closed ; and break forth at midnight ; particularly
one, which is the glory of the vegetable creation ;
like the nightingale, which delights the ear of men,
and displays its skill without a rival, while other birds
are silent and at rest.

When we survey the plants of the sea, how discern-
ible is that wisdom which hath provided for their sub-
sistence and safety in that element ! Such as have
broad leaves, and would be forced from their station
by tides or storms, if their roots were fixed into an
earthy bottom, are fastened by the root to weighty
stones and pebbles ; where instead of being driven
about at random by the agitations of the water, they
lie safe at anchor. That they may not be bruised by
lying prostrate on the ground, they are rendered
powerfully buoyant, and kept in an erect position, by
means of large vesicles of air, variously disposed about
their leaves or their stalks, as the difference of their
form and structure may require. A similar provision
for their preservation is observable in many of the
plants which grow upon the land. Such as are tender
and flexible, and apt to trail upon the ground, are
furnished with spiral tendrils, or other like means, by
which they lay hold of such other plants as are firm
and upright. What an useful lesson is this to human

SERM. 1.3

BOTANICAL PHILOSOPHY.

7

society ! where, according to the analogy of nature,
the strong ought to support the weak, and the de-
fenceless should rest securely upon the powerful.
How different a place would the world be, if this ex-
ample were religiously followed !

And now if there are so many effects of the divine
wisdom visible to us who are confined in a climate re-
mote from the sun; what opportunities must they
have, what wonders of the Lord must they see, who
go down to the sea in ships, and make their observa-
tions in happier regions ; where the sun, the soil, the
air, all things being different, vegetation is on a much
larger scale, and presents many grand and glorious
objects which can never come to our sight !

In speaking of the growth of plants, which is the se-
cond thing to be considered, I must forbear to attempt
a theory. The first particular which meets us is that
spoken of in the text ; that herbs and trees carry their
seeds in themselves : from whence it seems deducible,
that the primeval tree or plant, which was contempo-
rary with tlie first father of mankind, included all the
trees that should proceed from it to the end of time ;
so that the seed which is growing into an herb at this
day, is but an evolution of something which subsisted
in the first plant at the creation. How to get clear of
this consequence we do not see ; and to pursue it we
are not able ; our imagination is bewildered and lost in
the idea of such a succession ; the rudiments of a
future forest included in a single acorn !

It is not so far beyond us to observe, how the ele-
ments in their several capacities are made subservient
to the life and increase of plants. The soil on which
they grow contains a mixture of principles, wisely
tempered together, which supply vegetables with
matter for their nourishment ; and their root with its

8

THE RELIGIOUS USE OF

[[SERM. I,

fibres and lacteals, which takes in this nourishment,
answers the same purpose as the stomach in animals.
Water is the vehicle which conveys this nourishment
into their vessels ; while the -iun and air, expanding
and contracting, keep up an oscillatory motion ana-
logous to that of respiration.

It is now allowed, that there is both a vital circula-
tion of the juices in vegetables, and a large perspira-
tion from their pores : which latter is become a subject
of great curiosity and importance, from the success-
ful labours of those who have cultivated this part of
natural philosophy. The circulation in plants is strong
in the spring, and languid in the winter ; in some it
is so forcible and abundant, that if their vessels are
opened at an improper season, they will bleed to death,
as when an artery is divided in the human body. If
the finer spirit evaporates from a plant, and it has no
fresh supply, it becomes instantly flaccid and fading,
as an animal body dies with the departure of its breath.

The process of vegetation is forwarded in a wonder-
ful manner by the vicissitudes of day and night, and
the changes of the weather. The heat of the sun
raises a moist, elastic vapour, which fills and expands
certain vessels in plants, and so gradually enlarges
their bulk ; while the colder air of the night condenses
and digests the matter which has been raised, and so
confirms the work of the day. We complain of cold
blasts and clouded skies, by the intervention of which
vegetation rapidly advancing is suddenly stopped and
seems stationary : but this may be wisely ordained by
Providence ; the growth of herbs may be too hasty ;
they are weak in substance, if they are drawn forward
too fast. A cold season prevents this too hasty growth ;
as in the moral world some seasonable disappointment
may give a salutary check to an aspiring mind, and es-

SERM. I.]] BOTANICAL PHILOSOPHY.

9

tablish it in wisdom and patience. Even the rough-
est motions of the elements have their use. Winds
and storms, which agitate the body of trees and herbs,
loosen the earth about their roots, and make way for
their fibres to multiply, and to strike more kindly into
the soil, to find new nourishment. Thus is nature
more effectually progressive when it seems to be sta-
tionary or even retrograde ; and all things work toge-
ther for good ; which they could never do but under
the foresight and direction of an all-wise Providence.

But above all, the showers of heaven, concurring
with the sun, promote the work of vegetation. They
keep the matter of the soil soluble, and consequently
moveable ! for salts cannot act but in a state of solu-
tion ; they furnish matter for an expansive vapour,
which acts internally and externally ; and, what is but
little understood, though equally worthy of admira-
tion, the rain brings down with it an invigorating ethe-
real spirit from the clouds, which gives it an efficacy
far beyond all the waterings which human labour can
administer. It is here in the kingdom of nature as in
the kingdom of grace ; nothing can succeed without a
blessing from heaven : Every good gift and every per-
fect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Fa-
ther of lights *. How commonly do we see, that some
seeds which lie still in the ground, and cannot be
made to stir by all the waterings of art, will suddenly
start up to life as soon as they are touched by a wa-
tering from the heavens ! Such is the difference be-
tween the gifts of God and the gifts of man.

But, thirdly, the goodness of God, as well as his
power and wisdom, is diplayed in the uses of plants ;
and it is rather a matter of duty than of curiosity to
consider them attentively. It is the wisdom of man

* James i. 17.

10 THE RELIGIOUS USE OF [|SERM. I.

to learn the will of God from the state of nature, as
well as from the pages of revelation ; and it is his hap-
piness to follow it when known. According to the
state of nature, a preference seems to be given to ve-
getable diet. For the useful and harmless cattle,
which either feed man with their milk, or assist him in
his labours, nothing is provided but a vegetable or
farinaceous diet. Animal food is proper to wild beasts
of fierce and savage natures ; and the man who abuses
it is too nearly allied to that class of animals. The
beasts distinguished by the Levitical Law as proper
and wholesome to man are very few. The inhabitants
of the waters, which supply a more temperate diet,
are administered to us in much greater variety : but
the luxuriance of nature is found in the vegetable king-
dom ; where the roots, leaves, fruits, and seeds of plants,
afford all that is most tempting to the eye, grateful
to the taste, and desirable to the appetite. The sweet-
est food in the world, which is honey, is a composition
elaborated by the bee from the flowers of vegetables.
The emblematical horn of plenty is not stored with
beasts, fowls, and fishes, but with herbs and fruits for
the sustenance and delight of man. The efficacy of a
vegetable diet, for preserving the body in health, and
the mind in a clear and temperate state, hath in all
ages been confirmed by the experience of the wise and
good. The greatest instances of longevity have been
found among the virtuous and the recluse, who feasted
on the herbs and roots which their own hands had cul-
tivated.

Of the goodness and wisdom of God we have far-
ther evidence in the medicinal herbs. If men obtain
the reputation of wisdom by a judicious application
of them to the cure of diseases ; what must that origi-
nal wisdom be, which gave them their forms and their

SERM. I.]]

BOTANICAL PHILOSOPHY.

11

faculties ! The Lord, saith the son of Sirach, hath
created medicines out of the earth, and he that is wise
ivill not despise them*. When he considers who is
the author of them, he will be persuaded, that, if un-
derstood, they must be found more safe in their use,
than the preparations of human art ; he will there-
fore respect their virtues, and give them the prefer-
ence which is due to them. There is certainly a
momentum in mineral preparations, which produces
sudden and great effects ; but their power approaches
too near to violence : while the vegetable medicines,
ordained to be such by the Creator, are more conge-
nial to the human constitution; and thus a reasonable
alliance is preserved between the medicine of man and
the diet of man ; but we never eat minerals, though
we use them in medicine ; often with some good, and
also with the danger of some bad effect. The mineral
materials of a volcano will warm us, as the fuel of
any other fire; but at the same time they may suffocate
us, or send down ruin upon our heads.

What possible modification of minerals can chemis-
try exhibit, which will quiet a distempered agitation
of the nerves, and lessen the sensation of pain, which
would otherwise be insupportable ? But this desirable
effect is wonderfully produced by the medicinal juice
of the poppy. The learned know that there are seve-
ral effects in medicine, m hich are never to be obtained
but from vegetables ; and so persuaded are they of a
specific, salutary power in them, that they apply for
help even to such plants as are poisonous. That the
poisonous plants have their use, we must presume, be-
cause they have the same divine author with the rest.
Every Creature of God is good in its proper capacity ;
but if we mistake its capacity, we shall abuse it. Poi-

* Ecckis. xxxviii. 4.

12

THE RELIGIOUS USE OF

CSERM. I.

sonous herbs, from their great power, may do ser-
vice internally, in very small quantities ; but we
should rather suppose, from what we have heard and
seen, that they were intended chiefly for external ap-
plication ; in which they can perform wonders ; and
medicine might perhaps be improved, if more expe-
riments were made in this way. But, it is not my
province to enlarge here, and I have nothing but a
good meaning to plead for proceeding thus far.

It is now to be observed, lastly, that the same wis-
dom, which ordained the vegetable creation for the
natural use of feeding and healing the body, hath ap-
plied it also to a moral or intellectual use, for the en-
larging of our ideas, and the enlightening of our un-
derstandings. It joins its voice in the universal chorus
of all created things, and to the ear of reason cele-
brates the wisdom of the Almighty Creator. As the
heavens, from day unto day, and from night unto
night, declare the glory of God, so do the productions
of the earth, all trees and herbs, in their places and
seasons speak the same language ; from the climates
of the north to the torrid regions of the south, and
from the winter to the spring and the harvest.

The Holy Scripture hath many wise, and some beau-
tiful allusions to the vegetable creation, for moral and
religious instruction. The most ancient piece of this
sort is the parable of Jotham in the book of Judges ;
where the dispositions and humours of men, and their
effects in society, are illustrated by the different na-
tures of trees. On occasion of AhhnelecK s treachery,
Jotham tells the people, under the form of a fable, that
the trees went forth to anoint them a king ; and when
all the good and honourable, as the olive, the fig-tree,
and the vine, declined the trouble of ruling in so-
ciety, the bramble offered his services, and invited

SERM. BOTANICAL PHILOSOPHY, 18

them to trust in his shadow *. Thus it happened in the
case of Ahimelecli : and doth not experience shew us
at this day, that the moral is still good ? that the
worst, and most worthless, are always the most for-
ward to thrust themselves into power, and promise
great things ; how safe and happy we should be un-
der their shadow ! As if brambles, of a nature to tear
the skin, and draw blood from every part of the body,
and fit fpr nothing but to be burned out of the way,
could form an agreeable shade for the people to sit
under. The good and the virtuous, who are fruitful
and happy in themselves, would be deprived of their
internal comforts by the hurry and danger which at-
tend the possession of power : but bad men who have
no source of content and enjoyment within them-
selves, are always so forward to seek it without them-
selves, and would turn the world upside down, or
tear its inhabitants to pieces, to satisfy their own
ambition. When circumstances conspire to bring
those into action who are most worthy of power,
then people sit under the vine, and under the Jig-tree,
in the enjoyment of peace and plenty.

Our blessed Saviour, with a like allusion, hath re-
ferred us to the natural state and condition of plants
and flowers ; thence to learn the unprofitableness of
that anxiety and distrust, with which we seek after the
things of this world. Consider the lilies, how they
grow — If God so clothe the grass of the field, shall he
not much more clothe you f ? As if he had said : " You
admire the beautiful clothing of a flower ; and indeed
it is worthy of all admiration ; the God on whom you
depend is the author of its wonderful contexture ;
whence you ought to learn, that if he hath bestowed
this rich attire upon the inferior part of the creation,

* See Judges ix. 8, &c. t Maft. vi. ^8. .30.

14

THE RELIGIOUS USE OF [[SERM. I.

the grass of the field, so fading and transient, he w ill
never leave you unprovided who are made for eter-
nity."

The accidents to which plants are exposed in their
growth, afford matter for the beautiful and instructive
parable of the sower, which conveys as much in a few
plain words, as a volume could do in any other form *.
The seed of God's word, when it is sown by a preacher,
may fall into an honest and good heart, as the seed
of the sower into a happy, fruitful soil ; or it may light
among the thorns of worldly cares, and the rank weeds
of worldly pleasures, which, springing up with it,
will choke it, and render it unfruitful ; or it may fall
into an hasty, impatient mind, like seed upon a shal-
low, rocky soil, w^here it hath no depth of earth, and
so cannot endure when the heat of the sun dries it.
Other minds are open to the ways of the world in pub-
lic or fashionable life, and unguarded against the dan-
gers of sin ; so are exposed to the depredations of evil
spirits, which rob them of what they had heard ; as
birds of the air pick up without fear or molestation the
seeds which are scattered by the side of a public road.

The transient nature of plants and flowers has
given occasion to many striking representations of
the brevity and vanity of this mortal life. " As the
" leaves wither and fall away from the trees, and
" others succeed, so," saith an ancient poet, " are
" the generations of men -f

* Matt. xiii. 3, &c.

■}• OtTj Trep ^uXXwv yev£?j, Toirj^e (cat avBpwv.
<bv\Xa ra fiey r avefioe x<^/^*'^'£ X**'*

Horn. II. ^. 146.

Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,
Now green in youth, now with'ring on the ground.

Pope's Homer, b. vi. 1. 181.

13

SERM. I.^ BOTANICAL PHILOSOPHY.

15

How sublime and affecting is that reflection in the
book of Job — " Man that is born of a woman hath
but a short time to live, and is full of misery ; he
Cometh up like a flower, and is cut down * :" In the
same figurative language doth the Psalmist speak of
the flourishing state of man in youth, and his decay
in the time of age ; " In the morning they are like the
grass which groweth up, in the morning it flourisheth
and groweth up ; in the evening it is cut down and
withered." To cure us of our confidence in the
wealth and prosperity of this world, and make way
for the serious temper of the Gospel, nothing can be
more expressive and rhetorical than that sentence of
St. James : " Let the brother of low degree rejoice in
that he is exalted ; but the rich in that he is made
low ; because as the flower of the grass he shall pass
away ; for the sun is no sooner risen with a burning
heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower
thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it pe-
risheth ; so shall the rich man fade away in his ways :"
that is, he shall decay in his prosperity, as the flower
fades the sooner for the enjoyment of the sun-shine.

The reviving of seeds and roots buried in the earth,
though so common a fact, is yet so wonderful, that it
is more than a figure, it is a pledge and assurance
that the dead shall rise again. In every spring nature
presents us with a general resurrection in the vegeta-
ble world, after a temporary death and burial in the
winter. The root that lies dormant under the ground
is a 'prisoner of liope, and waits for the return of the
vernal sun. If it could speak, it might repeat (and to
the ear of faith it does repeat) those words of the Apos-
tle : — O grave ivhere is thy vie fori/? So plainly doth
vegetable nature preach this doctrine of the resurrec-

* Job xiv. 2.

16

THE RELIGIOUS VSE OF [[SERM. I.

tion, that the man is supposed to be senseless, who
does not make this use of it — Ihou fooJ, it is not
quickened, except it die.

I would now only observe, after what hath been
said, that a right use of our present subject in all its
parts must contribute to the dignity, and to the hap-
piness of man. How innocently, and how pleasantly
is he entertained, who in cultivating the various pro-
ductions of the earth, hath the elements working
with him, and assisting him to perfect his flowers
and fruits, and raise a Paradise around him ! What a
rational and noble employment it is, to trace the ef-
fects of divine wisdom in a survey of the vegetable
kingdom ; in the beautiful forms of plants, their end-
less variety, the configuration of their organs, the
distinction of their characters ; the places of their in-
habitation, by land, by sea, in rivers and in lakes, on
rocks and mountains, in the fields, the pastures, and
the woods : Avith their successions from the spring
to the summer, from the summer to the autumn :
their appearances by day and by night !

How proper is it to use them for health and for
temperance, as the wise have done, and as the Crea-
tor, ever mindful of the sum of our happiness, hath
appointed ! What a respectable benefactor is he to
mankind, who discovers their virtues in medicine,
and applies them to the relief of the miserable ; an
office ever grateful to a benevolent mind !

But happiest of all is he, who having cultivated
herbs and trees, and studied their virtues, and applied
them for his own, and for the common benefit, rises
from thence to a contemplation of the great Parent of
good, whom he sees and adores in these his glorious
works. The world cannot shew us a more exalted cha-
racter than that of a truly religious philosopher, who
11

SERM. I.]3 BOTANICAL PHILOSOPHY. 17

delights to turn all things to the glory of God : who
from the objects of his sight derives improvement to
his mind, and in the glass of things temporal sees the
image of things eternal. Let a man have all the world
can give him ; he is still miserable, if he has a grovel-
ing, milettered, indevout mind : let him have his
gardens, his fields, his woods, and his lawns, for gran-
deur, ornament, plenty and gratification ; while at
the same time God is not in all his thoughts. And
let another have neither field nor garden; let him
only look at nature with an enlightened mind; a mind
which can see and adore the Creator in his works; can
consider them as demonstrations of his power, his
wisdom, his goodness, his truth : this man is greater,
as well as happier, in his poverty, than the other in
his riches. The one is but little higher than a beast,
the other but little lower than an angel.

We ought therefore to praise those who in their
life-time made this use of the natural world, and grate-
fully to remember that piety which directed our minds
to an annual commemoration of God's wisdom in the
works of the vegetable creation ; a great subject ; in
discoursing on which, I have only scattered some
seeds, to be opened and perfected by your future
meditation : in which may the grace of God assist
us all, through Jesus Christ our Lord, &c.

VOL. IV.

C

SERMON II

AND GOD MADE THE BEAST OF THE EARTH AFTER HIS
KIND, AND CATTLE AFTER THEIR KIND, AND EVERY
THING THAT CREEPETH UPON THE EARTH AFTER
HIS KIND : AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD.
GEN. I. 25.

When the works of God were finished, his eye
surveyed them, and saw that they were good ; that
they were perfect in their construction, and capa-
ble of answering all the ends to which they were ap-
pointed. As far as man can observe his goodness in
the works of nature, and see the mind of the Creator
in the creature, so far he sees things as God sees
them, and becomes partaker of a divine pleasure.

On a former occasion, I endeavoured to point out
some of that goodness which is found in the vegeUtble
kingdom * ; from whence I shall now proceed to the
animal, with a desire to trace the same goodness in
the structure, qualities, and ceconomy of living crea-
tures : but confining myself chiefly to those spoken
of in the text, beasts and cattle.

When vegetable and animal life are compared, dif-
ferent things are to be admired, but nothing is to be
preferred ; for the wisdom of the Creator, being infi-
nite, is every where equal to itself : to its works no-

* See the preceding Sermon on the Religious Use of Botanical
Philosophy,

15

SERM. IlO CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE, &C. 19

thing can be added with advantage, nothing can be
taken from them without loss. All things are perfect
in their several kinds, and possessed of that goodness
or sufficiency which must be found in every work of
God.

Yet there is a visible series or scale in the natural
creation; where those derivative powers which are in
the creature, rise from the lower to the higher, and
keep ascending regularly till we can follow them no
farther. When we pass from a lower to an higher
order of beings, some new faculty presents itself to
our admiration. Thus, betwixt plants and animals
there are essential differences, which immediately
strike us. A plant is a system of life, but insensitive,
and fixed to a certain spot. An animal hath voluntary
motion, sense, or perception, and is capable of pain
and pleasure. Yet in the construction of each there
are some general principles which very obviously
connect them. It is literally as well as metaphorically
true, that trees have limbs, and an animal body
branches. A vascular system is also common to both,
in the channels of which life is maintained and circu-
lated. When the trachea, with its branches in the
lungs, or the veins and arteries, or the nerves, are
separately represented, we have the figure of a tree.
The leaves of trees have a fibrous and fleshy part ;
their bark is a covering, which answers to the skin
in animals. An active vapour pervades them both,
and perspires from both, which is necessary to the
preservation of health and vigour.

The parallel might be extended to their wounds and
distempers : but we must not be too minute, when
our purpose is rather to raise devotion than to satisfy
curiosity. However, it ought not to be omitted, that
the t'/.y vitcp, or involuntary, mechanical force of ani-

c 2

20 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATI RE AND [^SERM. II.

mal life, is kept up by the same elements which act
upon plants for their growth and support.

The organs of respiration, acted upon by the air,
are as the first wheel in a machine, M'hich receives the
moving power ; heat preserves the fluidity of the
blood and humours, and acts as an expanding force
in the stomach, heart, and blood-vessels ; which force
is counteracted from without by the atmospherical
pressure; for the want of which, the vessels would be
ruptured by the prevailing of the force within.

The nerves form another distinct branch of the ani-
mal system, and are accommodated by the Creator to
the action of that subtile, forcible fluid, which in its
different capacities we sometimes call light, and some-
times ether. Late experiments have shewn us how
little this acts on the blood-vessels, and how power-
fully on the nerves and muscles, the functions of which
it will therefore restore, and hath done in several cases,
when they have been impaired by diseases or accidents.

The animal mechanism, and the forces of life, are
things fearful and wonderful in themselves, and of
such deep research, that I am afraid of venturing too
far ; but thus far I think we are safe, that animal life,
considered only as motion, is maintained like the
other motions of nature, by the action of contrary
forces; in which there is this wonderful property, that
neither appears to have the priority ; and their joint
efiect is a motion, which in theory is perpetual. The
flame of a candle cannot burn without fire, nor be
lighted without air: which of these is first we cannot
say, for they seem co-instantaneous ; and they con-
tinue to work together till the matter fails which they
work upon.

Thus, when an animal is born into the world, and
the candle of life is lighted up, it is hard to give any

SERM. 11.^ (ECONOMY OF BEASTS AND CATTLE. 21

precedence to the elementary powers which support it.
The weight of the atmosphere forces into the lungs, as
soon as they are exposed to its action, that air which
is the breath of life ; but this could not happen unless
the more subtile element were to occasion a rarefac-
tion within ; and this reciprocation, once begun, is
continued through life : though it will fail if either of
the elements cease to act upon it. With extreme cold,
the circulation of blood will stop ; and the want of air,
or the admission of that which is improper, will ex-
tinguish the vital motion in the lungs. But here, as
the power of the Creator is found to maintain a vege-
table life in plants, v/here the necessary means seem to
be wanting ; so when we think the mechanism of ani-
mal life is understood, and that heat, and respiration,
and circulation, are all necessary to it, we look far-
ther, and find animals living without respiration : some
totally, and others (which is more wonderful) occasi-
onally. Some are comparatively, if not positively,
cold in their temperature ; as those which lie under
water in the winter months. These are unable to en-
dure that degree of heat which is the life of others :
as there are plants which fix themselves upon the bleak
head of a mountain, and will never be reconciled to a
richer soil and a warmer air. Thus doth the wis-
dom of God work by various ways to the same end ;
and animal life is maintained where the means of life
seem to be wanting. That the elements which act
upon the barometer and thermometer are necessary
to animal life cannot be doubted, however the recep-
tive faculties of organised matter may be varied. We
have musical sounds from the pipe, the string, and the
drum ; but never without the musical element of air.

If we enquire how the wisdom of the Creator is dis-
played in the different kinds of animals, the field is so

22 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE AND [[SERM. II.

large, that the time will permit us to consider those
only to which we are directed by the words of the
text, beasts of the earth and cattle after their hind.
And that we may proceed herein without confusion,
we must take advantage of a plain and significant
distinction which the Holy Scripture hath proposed
to us for our learning.

The law of Moses, in the xith chapter of Leviticus,
divides the brute creation into two grand parties, from
the fashion of their feet, and their manner of feeding ;
that is, from the parti?tg of the hoof, and the chewing
of the cud ; which properties are indications of their
general characters, as wild or tame. For the dividing
of the hoof and the chewing of the cud are peculiar to
those cattle which are serviceable to man's life, as
sheep, oxen, goats, deer, and their several kinds.
These are shod by the Creator for a peaceable and in-
offensive progress through life ; as the Scripture ex-
horts us to be shod in like manner with the prepara-
tion of the Gospel of Peace. They live temperately
upon herbage, the diet of students and saints ; and af-
ter the taking of their food, chew it deliberately over
again for better digestion; in which act they have all
the appearance a brute can assume of pensiveness or
meditation ; which is metaphorically called rumination,
with reference to this property of certain animals.

Such are these : but when we compare the beasts
of the field and the forest, they, instead of the harm-
less hoof, have feet which are swift to shed blood *,
sharp claws to seize upon their prey, and teeth to de-
vour it ; such as lions, tygers, leopards, wolves, foxes,
and smaller vermin.

Where one of the Mosaic marks is found, and the
other is wanting, such creatures are of a middle na-

* Rom. iii. 15.

SERM. II.)] (ECONOMY OF BEASTS AND CATTLE. 23

ture between the wild and the tame ; as the swine,
the hare, and some others. Those that part the hoof
afford us wholesome nourishment; those that are
shod with any kind of hoof may be made useful to
man ; as the camel, the horse, the ass, the mule ; all of
which are fit to travel and carry burdens. But when
the foot is divided into many parts, and armed with
claws, there is but small hope of the manners; such
creatures being in general either murderers, or hunt-
ers, or thieves ; the malefactors and felons of the
brute creation : though among the wild there are all
the possible gradations of ferocity and evil temper.

Who can review the creatures of God, as they ar-
range themselves under the two great denominations
of wild and tame, without wondering at their different
dispositions and ways of life ! Sheep and oxen lead a
sociable as well as a peaceable life ; they are formed
into flocks and herds ; and as they live honestly they
walk openly in the day. The time of darkness is to
them, as to the virtuous and sober amongst men, a
time of rest. But the beast of prey goeth about in so-
litude ; the time of darkness is to him the time of ac-
tion : then he visits the folds of sheep, and stalls of
oxen, thirsting for their blood ; as the thief and the
murderer visits the habitations of men, for an oppor-
tunity of robbing and destroying, under the conceal-
ment of the night. When the sun ariseth the beast
of prey retires to the covert of the forest ; and while
the cattle are spreading themselves over a thousand
hills in search of pasture, the tyrant of the desert is
laying himself down in his den, to sleep off the fumes
of his bloody meal. The ways of men are not less
different than the ways of beasts ; and here we may
see them represented as in a glass ; for, as the quiet-
ness of the pasture, in which the cattle spend their

24 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE AND [^SERM. II,

day, is to the bowlings of a wilderness in the night,
such is the virtuous life of honest labour to the life of
the thief, the oppressor, the murderer, and the mid-
night gamester, who live upon the losses and sufferings
of other men.

The different qualities and properties in which brute
creatures excel are as manifest proofs of the divine
wisdom as their different modes of living. The horse
excels in strength and courage. His aptness for war
is finely touched in the book of Job. — Hast thou
given the horse strength 9 hast thou clothed his neck
with thunder ? — He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth
in his strength: he goeth on to meet the aimed men :
he mocheth at fear, and is not affrighted; neither
turneth he hack from the sword*. When he heareth
the sound of the trumpets, and the noise of the battle
at a distance, the thunder of the captains and their
shouting, he signifies by his voice and his motion, that
he is impatient to join them and be in action. The
fox excels in subtilty and subterfuge ; and his arts
find employment for some amongst mankind, who dis-
dain to busy themselves in any useful study or labour
for the benefit of the community.

The dog is gifted with that sagacity, vigilance, and
fidelity, which qualify him to be the guard, the compa-
nion, the friend of man ; and happy is he, who finds
a friend as true and uncorrupt as this animal ; who
will rather die by the side of his master than take a
bribe of a stranger to betray him. The sense whereby
he is enabled to trace a single person through a croud
of people, is a gift of the Creator, which exceeds our
comprehension : and many other examples of the sa-
gacity of this creature would be incredible, if they
were not common and well attested. By what natu-

* Job xxxix. 19.

SERM. 11.^ (ECONOMY OF BEASTS AND CATTLE. 25

ral faculties they are performed, it is hard for us to
conjecture.

In all brute creatures there is implanted an ardent
attention towards their offspring, which prevails over
every other consideration. Even the weakest crea-
tures will undertake to defend and preserve their
young at the hazard of their lives. They do not
leave their offspring to be attended for hire by others,
that they may be at liberty to follow their own un-
profitable pleasures ; this duty is their greatest plea-
sure ; and yet it never exceeds the bounds of discre-
tion. Beasts, with all their tenderness, are never be-
trayed into any acts of false indulgence : their affec-
tion never gratifies itself with raising up their young
to an unnatural state of ease, idleness, and ignorance :
as soon as they are well able to exercise the faculties
the Creator hath given them, they are compelled by
their parents to provide for their own wants. And,
through the divine bounty, the world is open to them,
and their own labour is sufficient to maintain them.
Provision of the proper sort is within the reach of
every species, and a place is allotted to each, in which
it does not encroach upon the rest. The mountains
and rocks are a refuge for the wild goats, which climb
over frightful precipices to a pasture where no other
creature can partake with them. The beast of prey
is covered by the wood, and can feed himself accord-
ing to his nature. Foxes, and other animals, have
holes wherein they rest and hide themselves under
the earth. The sheep hath a fold, the ox hath a stall,
provided for them by man ; having no covert pro-
vided by themselves. Beasts of labour are main-
tained by their labour ; for few men are so unjust as
to muxxle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

The different manners of beasts and cattle, with
their dependence upon the bounty of God, are briefly

26 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE AND [^SERM. II.

described to us in those sublime terms which are pe-
cuhar to the Scripture. Thou makest darhiess that it
may he night ; wherein all the beasts of the forest do
move. The lions roaring after their prey do seek their
meat from God. The sun ariseth, and they get them
away together, and lay them down in their dens. (Then)
man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the
evening ; and those serviceable worthy creatures,
which are the companions of his labour, go along
with him — O Lord, how manifold are thy works ; in
wisdom hast thou made them all ; the earth is fidl of
thy riches ! All creatures wait upon thee, that thou
mayest give them their meat in due season. When thou
givest it them they gather it ; and when thou openest
thine hand tJiey are filled with good. How great is
this idea ! the hand of man scatters food to the few
creatures that are about him ; but when the hand of
God is opened, a world is fed and satisfied.

The usefulness of cattle to the support, comfort,
and convenience of man, is a topic which would carry
us out to a great length. The state of man, as an
inhabitant of this world, could not be maintained
without them. From cattle we have food, and rai-
ment, and assistance, and employment. How wisely
and mercifully is it ordained, that those creatures
which afford us wholesome nourishment are disposed
to live with us, that we may live upon them : their
milk is so agreeable to the human constitution, and so
pleasant in itself, that it is celebrated among the first
blessings of the promised land. The wool of the sheep
gives us clothing, such as the world cannot equal ;
and late discoveries explain to us an essential differ-
ence between the vegetable clothing and the animal;
the former of which draws off, the latter retains and
promotes animal heat ; and is found to assist in the
cure of some very critical distempers. What would

SERM. II.]] CECONOMY OF BEASTS AND CATTLE. 27

the labour of man avail, without the strength and pa-
tience of beasts to assist him in the cultivation of the
earth, and the necessary business of life ? even the
fiercest of creatures made to be taken and destroyed *,
have their use ; for, in taking and destroying them,
man is employed ; and so one great purpose of his
present life is answered. Whoever considers this,
will find, that the true state of nature is a state of so-
ciety ; in which men necessarily unite against the beasts
of the field, which would otherwise prevail against
them : and he is fittest to be a leader in natural so-
ciety, who can best defend others against their natural
enemies the beasts. Thus from the nature of wild
beasts arises one of the employments of man, which
is that of hunting ; to which war is nearly allied, as
another sort of hunting ; and it should never be en-
tered upon, but for reasons the same with those which
arm us against the beasts that would devour us ; that
is, for self-defence ; though it is too true in fact, that
men hunt men for their spoils, as they hunt wild
beasts for their skins ; and the scalps of men are the
trophies of some, as the scalps of foxes are nailed up
by others against the wall.

Hunters and warriors make a great figure in the
world ; but he that feeds the sheep is more honour-
ably employed than he who pursues the lion. The
attendance of man upon those innocent creatures
which God hath ordained for his use, is an employ-
ment which succeeded to the life of Paradise. The
holy patriarchs and servants of God were taught to
prefer the occupations of shepherds. Their riches
consisted in flocks and herds : and it was their plea-
sure, as well as their labour, to wait upon them in
tents, amidst the various and beautiful scenery of the

* 2 Pet. ii. 12.

28 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE AND [^SERM. II.

mountains, the groves, the fields, and streams of wa-
ter. The fancy of man hath always been delighted
with the simple pleasures of the pastoral life ; which
probably afforded matter to the first poetry, before the
tumultuous scenes of war and slaughter had been cele-
brated in verse. Whatever the improvements of mo-
dern times may be, the imagination has a pleasure in
resigning them all, to dwell upon the less improved
manners of those who lived in the purer ages. O happy
state of health, innocence, plenty, and pleasure; plenty
without luxury, and pleasure without corruption ! How
far preferable to that artificial state of life, into which
we have been brought by overstrained refinements in
civilization, and commerce too much extended ! where
corruption of manners, unnatural, and consequently
unhealthy modes of living, perplexity of law, consump-
tion of property, and other kindred evils, conspire to
render life so vain and unsatisfactory, that many throw
it away in despair, as not worth having. A false glare
of tinselled happiness is found amongst the rich and
the great, with such distressing want and misery
amongst the poor, as nature knows nothing of; and
which can arise only from the false principles and selfish
views and expedients of a weak and degenerate policy.

It hath been made a question, v.hether the world
and the creatures that belong to it were made for the
benefit of man : which question was well argued, and
wisely determined in the affirmative, by the philoso-
phical orator of Rome : but the modern infidel, to
make man an inconsiderable being, has a strong
propensity to the negative ; and some poets, in their
way of arguing, have attempted to make the subject
ridiculous. We see that even the fiercest creatures
have their use, by driving men into society for their
mutual defence. All creatures in general are the sub-

SERM. 11.^ (ECONOMY OF BEASTS AND CATTLE. 29

jects of man, whose dominion is established by a char-
ter from heaven. By the reason and understanding of
man the swiftest are overtaken, and the strongest are
overpowered: he can take them as his property,
manage them as his servants, confine them as his cap-
tives, and destroy them at his pleasure : they are im-
pressed with a fear and dread of him, as if they were
sensible of his power. Most of them serve to some
natural use ; but all have their intellectual use, in
giving necessary ideas and lessons of wisdom to the
mind of man. The goodness of God is no where more
manifest than in this intellectual application of brute
animals and their properties ; no one creature upon
earth can make that use of man, which man makes of
all the rest ; in rendering himself, if he will, a better
reasoner, a better citizen, a more devout worshipper
of God. This is so important a part of our present
subject, so curious in itself, and so necessary to the
improvement of the human understanding, that I
must beg your attention, while I dwell upon it as far
as the time will permit.

I. First then, we borrow from beasts, cattle, and
creeping things of the earth, many of our best ideas of
moral good and evil. As it was said by Solomon, " Go
to the ant, consider her ways and be wise;" so might
it be said, with parity of reason, go to the sheep for a
pattern of submission and obedience ; go to the ox for
an example of patient labour; go to the swine, con-
sider its stubborn disposition, its intemperance, and
beastly uncleanness ; and thence learn to abhor and
avoid them. The passage taken by St. Paul from the
poet Callimachus contains a plain allusion to the
unprofitable character of this beast — " The Cretans
are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies * ;" for the

* Kpr/rtf ati il/ivrjrai, kuku Brjptu, ya<Trfp(c apyai. Tit. i. \2.

30 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE AND [^SERM. II.

swine of the Eastern countries drags its belly upon
the ground, and is so incapable of speed, that it can
scarcely walk. And such is man, if he is a slave to
his bodily appetites ; his feet are retarded by the
heaviness of his nature, and he can make no progress
in any w^ork that is good, useful, or ingenious.

The first man w as instructed in Paradise from the
qualities of brute creatures, which God summoned
before him for his observation. The first writing in
the w^orld was by pictures and forms of animal life,
for the conveying of religious and moral truth to the
mind, before alphabetical writing was in use. These
forms or likenesses had been abused by the idolaters
of Egypt ; so God forbad the use of them, and ap-
pointed the alphabetical signatures in their stead ;
which still retain some traces of the old animal forms *.
The moral fables of antiquity are chiefly founded on
the properties and manners of brute creatures, which
are made to converse and reason according to the
views and tempers of each, and so to give notice of
the ways of different sorts of men. Thus also did
God instruct his people in the laAv of Moses, by or-
dering their diet as they were to order their conversa-
tion. The unclean, and the rapacious, were prohi-
bited, and, as it were, excommunicated ; the useful,
gentle, and obedient were selected for food and sacri-
fice. The prophets explain things in the same way.
Isaiah describes the conversion of cruel and immoral
heathens to the Gospel of peace under the figure of a
miraculous reformation amongst the wild beasts of the
earth ; when the lion should eat straw like the ox, the
wolf and the lamb should feed together, and all the

* See some very ingenious observations on the Origin and Pro-
gress of Alphabetic Writing, by the Rev. Mr. Davy, printed for
Cadell.

SERM. U.'2 CECONOMY OF BEASTS AND CATTLE. 31

savage kinds should put off the nature of evil beasts,
as formerly when they had all lived quietly under the
same roof in Noah's ark, a figure of the Church of
Christ. The New Testament carries on the same mode
of instruction, and Peter is taught in a vision that a
communication was to be opened between the Jews
and the Gentiles, under the figure of a liberty to eat
all kinds of unclean beasts, now to be made clean by
their reception to the purity of the Gospel *. Even
the ill qualities of the great adversary of mankind are
set forth for our dread and abhorrence, from Genesis
to the Revelation, under the emblem of the old ser-
pent, cursed above every beast of the field ; insidious,
insinuating, double-tongued, and having the power of
death in his bite. We see him again under the em-
blem oi a roaring lion, going about and seeking whom
he may devour. Thus are all the creatures service-
able, both good and bad, in giving us ideas for the
improvement of the mind and manners.

2. We may observe next, that industry and activity
are recommended to us by the example of the whole
animal creation. All work, that they may eat ; and
therefore, he who does not work, is not fit to live.
All creatures seek their meat from God ; it is not pro-
vided for any of them in an inactive state, but they must
employ themselves to find and obtain it. Birds of the
air are upon the wing from morning till evening. Wild
creatures must hunt before they can be fed. Some
partake of that sentence of labour passed upon man
after the fall, and labour with him for their daily food.
If it is then the appointment of God, that all his
creatures should be in action, the idle man is a
monster in the creation, who must pay for his offence

• See Acts x. Compare verses 14, 15, and 28,

32 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE AND [^SERM. II.

either by poverty, sickness, ignorance, or vice ; and
must, in some respect or other, become a nuisance to
society; on which consideration, it is a great evil in
government to maintain any, or to suffer any, for want
of employment, to live idly.

3. From the state of beasts under the dominion of
man, as God hath wisely established it, the parallel
is very strong for the benefit and necessity of govern-
ment amongst mankind.

Among brute beasts we find the two classes of wild
and tame, totally differing in their manners, and in a
state of hostility with each other. Man is over them
all, to feed the gentle and domestic, to reward the
laborious, and to secure them from the incursions of
the common enemy. To the one sort he is a governor
and protector ; to the other an avenger, who ought
not to bear the sword in vain ; for if he does, he him-
self must suffer by it as well as the beasts that are
committed to his care ; the enemy being equally at
war with both.

Let us now suppose this law of subordination and
subjection to be dissolved : let us suppose the autho-
rity of man to be withdrawn, and all animals aban-
doned to their natural liberty : what would be the
consequence ? The swine would make his part good
by his impudence, and would root up the fruits of the
earth in fields or gardens at his pleasure. Foxes, and
other vermin, would no longer be thieves, because
there would be none to judge them, and so they would
take what they wanted by natural right. The wolves
would scatter the sheep and tear them to pieces : the
dogs, having no master to encourage and direct them,
would forget their duty, and join the enemy : and
thus the best part of the animal creation would become

11

SER.M. II. 3 UiCONOMY OF BEASTS AND CATTLE.

33

a prey to the worst. The dogs might perchance
quarrel sometimes with a wolf : but the sheep would
be no gainers by that.

In order to bring things to this state, the wolf might
persuade the sheep, that the power of the shepherd
is an imposition, a base encroachment of that tyrant
and usurper man ; that all creatures arc born free
and equal ; and that they would see blessed times,
if they were to assert their natural rights and become
independent. The wolf that should thus argue for
universal liberty, would be a wise wolf; for he would
be a gainer : but the sheep that should admit the ar-
gument, and bring up her lambs in the doctrine,
would be a silly sheep indeed ; for she would soon
be a loser, chased out of her pasture, and worried
out of her life.

Among men there certainly is the same difference
as among the beasts. There is a sort of them with
hard and unfeeling tempers, impudent foreheads, idle
dispositions, voracious appetites, and endless wants :
who will push themselves into importance, and make
their party good either by importunity or by force.
There is another sort, modest, sober, and gentle ;
fearful of offending, and contented with a little. This
difference, so obvious and indisputable, is totally over-
looked by those who plead for universal liberty and
natural equality : for men are no more equal in their
natures than the lamb and the lion's whelp : and sup-
posing liberty to be universal, the bold, the impudent,
the idle, and the rapacious, instantly make their for-
tunes out of the peaceable and the patient. There-
fore these can never live together in the world, but
under the ordinance of God, who has appointed an
authority of law and magistracy, which lays a common
restraint upon all : whence all good men, who mean

VOL. IV. D

34 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE AND [^SERM. II.

well and know their duty, will pray for those who are
in authority, that God would direct their counsels
and strengthen their hands in the execution of his
laws, for the common good : that the fences may not
be weak, nor the beast of prey find friends and ac-
complices within the fold. It is of pernicious con-
sequence to the peace of mankind, that there is a
certain wild spirit of reforming policy, which, whe-
ther it works with the commanding air and garb of
philosophy, or with the powers of oratory, or the
fancies of poetry, can never rest till it has made men
wolves to one another ; for as things are, this must
be the effect of natural equality brought to its proper
issue. If we would reason like men, let us first in-
form ourselves from the regulations and laws which
God hath established in the world : this will be our
best philosophy : When oratory takes us off* from
this ground, it is nothing but sophistry ; and poetry,
when it misrepresents the nature of things, is de-
lusion and madness.

4. But now, fourthly, as the animal creation sets
before us the natural interests of men in society, it
leads us farther on to the attributes and perfections of
God ; as the stream, if we trace it upwards, must
bring us to the fountain. The whole world, as an
effect, is so constituted as to instruct us in the na-
ture of its cause. Thus the effect of motion in the
world demonstrates a cause which has motion from
itself, and in which all other motion must begin.
Derivative life in living creatures must descend from
a life which is original ; that is, from a Being, wJio,
as the Scripture speaks, only hath immortality.

The faculty of sight, so piercing and extensive in
some creatures, and so necessary to all, directs us to
an all-seeing Power, from which nothing can be hid.

SERM. 11.^ (ECONOMY OF BEASTS AND CATTLE. 35

He that made the eye must see with perfect sight,
and be the witness of our secret thoughts. The ap-
pearance of mechanical art in animals, which is won-
derful and incomprehensible in some kinds, is a spe-
cimen or emanation of that consummate art and skill
which are in the Creator himself. Natural affection
in animals toward their young is a proof that the
Creator, who infused it, hath the same affection to
his own creatures ; especially to man \for ive are his
offspring. The workings of natural affection in the
creature are appealed to, as a sign or pledge of his
own tender mercies to us : can a woman forget her
Slicking child, that she should not have compassion on
tlie son of her womb ? Yea, they may forget, yet ivill
not I forget thee. Our Saviour insists upon a like
example in nature to give us an idea of his own ten-
derness towards his people : how often would I have
gathered thy childreyi together, even as a hen gather-
eth her chickens under her wings ! From these and
other like examples, we infer with certainty, that
whatsoever is good or excellent in the creature, the
original of all that goodness is in the Creator him-
self ; the whole world being as it were a transcript
or transfusion of the Divine Mind.

5. Lastly, from the consideration of those wonder-
ful instincts which are found in living creatures, it
should be our earnest desire and our highest ambition
to have God for our teacher. The stork, the turtle,
the crane, and the swallow, know their appointed
times *, and find an unbeaten invisible track through
the air, and over the wide ocean to a distant climate.
The spider spreads and suspends its web by the nicest
rules of art. The beaver, the architect of the waters,
builds an habitation which no human architect could

• Jer. viii. 7-
D 2

36 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE AND [^SERM. II.

contrive or execute. The bird weaves a nest of un-
tractable materials, which it disposes and adjusts with-
out any difficulty. The bee designs with unerring
skill what no geometrican could teach, and measures
its work in the dark. As a chemist, it has the grand
secret of transmutation ; extracting the sweetest of
meat from the most poisonous of herbs. See how
wise all these are, without the tedious forms of prac-
tice and experience ! they have no elements to learn,
but are well read by immediate infusion. From the
same power, and in the same compendious manner,
did the Apostles, on the day of Pentecost, attain
to the knowledge of all languages M'ithout learning
them. The working of God is to us as unaccount-
able in the one way of teaching as in the other. And
doth not God still give to man a sense and a powder su-
perior to reason, when he appears plainly to have
given such a power to inferior creatures ? Will not
he still teach man, who continueth to teach the beasts
of the earth, and the fowls of heaven ? Therefore, if
any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who cer-
tainly will give to men as liberally as to brutes; and
they have a promise that they shall be answered if
they apply for direction. Where shall the ant or the
bee go, but to the Creator, to learn what no reason of
man can teach them ? And whither shall man go but
to the same teacher ? The knowledge he wants is not
from himself, but from the Spirit of Truth, and the
word of Revelation ; and now, by the sending of the
Holy Ghost, and the publication of the Gospel, we see
fulfilled which was written in the prophets, they shall
be all taught of God ; the grace of God hath been
given to all nations as universally as instinct hath been
infused into all the kinds of living creatures : and so
God is just and equal in all his works: what we have

SERM. (ECONOMY OF BEASTS AND CATTLE. 37

not in the ordinary way of nature, we obtain in the
extraordinary way of grace ; which is the better and
the wiser way upon all accounts ; and he, who pre-
tends to have by nature what God giveth by grace,
is more unprovided, and in a worse condition, than
the beasts that perish.

6. Upon the whole, the animal world sets before
us the most evident assurances of the Divine wisdom,
power, and goodness ; and our duty, in respect to
this subject, is equally plain from what has been said.
As the government of all creatures is committed to
man by the Creator, not obtained by chance, it must
be considered as a trust, which we are seriously and
faithfully to discharge. We think few men are fit to
be kings, and are strangely apprehensive of despo-
tism : yet is every man an absolute monarch over
these poor brute subjects ; often shamefully abused
by the wanton, the passionate, and the hard-hearted :
A righteous man, who doeth good from a sense of
duty, regardeth the life of his beast * : he abstains
from all cruelty ; he rewards the labour of his brute
servants and domestics, and delights to render their
lives as easy and comfortable as he can ; knowing
that he must give an account of this as of every other
trust. In their natural capacity, he uses them for his
benefit with thankfulness to their Maker : in their
intellectual application, he derives improvement to
his mind from the contemplation of their natures.
That man is a poor animal, not worthy of the name
of a man, who looks upon beasts as beasts look upon
him, and learns nothing from them ; when a wise
man may gather so much instruction to serve him
in every relation of hfe, whether natural, social, civil,
or religious.

* Prov. xii. 10.

38 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE, 8fC. [|SERM. II.

When we see what wisdom is found in the beasts
of the earth, and fowls of the heaven ; how they per-
form what surpasses the power of reason, because
God worketh in them ; let us apply to their Teacher,
that he may assist us in all the works necessary to
the saving of our souls : that we may be as wise for
the next world as they are for their well-being in this
world. Whatsoever gifts and talents are necessary
to them, they have by nature without asking ; for
they cannot ask : what we want we must pray for ;
God having made his teaching unto us an object of
choice, and endued us with speech for the great
ends of praying to him and praising him. To Him
therefore, who is the only wise, who only hath im-
mortality, the Lord and giver of life, who is magni-
fied in all his works, even the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost, three persons and one God, be
ascribed all honour, glory, power, and dominion, now
and for evermore. Amen.

SERMON 111

AND GOD SAID, LET THE WATERS UNDER THE HEAVEN
BE GATHERED TOGETHER UNTO ONE PLACE, AND LET
THE DRY LAND APPEAR : AND IT WAS SO. AND GOD
CALLED THE DRY LAND EARTH, AND THE GATHER-
ING TOGETHER OF THE WATERS CALLED HE SEAS :
AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. GEN. I. 9, 10.

The earth is generally considered as the place of
man's habitation, and the theatre of those various
actions which have filled the pages of history. When
we take the earth in this sense, we find it a bad and
a troublesome world, a scene of error and confusion,
in which the exploits of the mischievous bear away
the prize from the actions of the virtuous, and the
most wicked of men are celebrated as the benefactors
of mankind. Here warlike nations have extended
their borders, and erected kingdoms, which appeared
in great splendor for a time, to serve the purposes
of God's providence, and then vanished away like a
fiery meteor of the night. Here have busy men, by
fraud and violence, obtained large possessions, which
soon changed their owners, and raised magnificent
buildings, which are fallen into the dust. Thus do all
the works of men upon earth pass away, while the
earth itself, which is the work of God, and is inno-

10

40 ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS, |^SERM. Ill,

cent of all the evil that is done upon it, standeth
sure, and his building suffereth no decay.

This is the earth which I would now propose to
your consideration ; the natural history is very dif-
ferent from its political ; and, I trust, we shall find
it both an agreeable and an edifying subject.

Writers, who have given us descriptions of the
natural world, have divided it into three grand de-
partments, or kingdoms, oi plants, animals, and mine-
rals. Of plants and animals I have treated in two
former discourses : and I shall proceed now to the
consideration of the earth and its minerals ; in which
we shall every where see the most evident proofs of
the wisdom and goodness of God, and by which
the truth of his revelation will be illustrated and
confirmed.

I shall enter into no new curious theories ; nor will
there be any occasion for it. The great outlines of
nature are fittest for all the purposes of Christian
edification. The plainest things, and such as are best
understood by every capacity, are generally the most
wonderful, and the most improving to the mind that
meditates upon them. Where there is much ciuriosity
and difficulty, there is frequently less profit.

The words of the text relate the generation or birth
of what is called the Earth ; that immense body of
land and water, which human writers call the ter-
raqueous globe : from which we learn, that, as the
dry land did not appear till the waters were gathered
together, the land was formed under water. The
wisdom of this mode of formation is evident ; although
the progress of it must be above our comprehension.
For in water all the materials of the earth were easily
moved ; and by means of water, solution, separation,
association, and subsidence are manifestly promoted ;

SERM. III.^ ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. 41

and accordingly, by those who dig into the earth, its
solid materials are found to be duly sorted, and have
the appearance of a sediment, which had once floated
in water, and afterwards settled out of it. And if
the strata of the earth in mountains are not now pa-
rallel to the horizon, but often very oblique, and some-
times nearly perpendicular, yet the construction of
such masses shews that they had settled in a regular
form, and were brought by some force afterwards to
their present situation.

As the earth appears to have been formed under the
waters, it is as manifest to every attentive observer,
that the waters did once retire from the whole surface
of the earth. When we compare small things with
great, we find, that as the land and the channels of
rivers are worn into precipices, pits, and winding
furrows, by the departure of occasional inundations,
so the surface of the earth, upon a scale proportion-
ably larger, doth every where present to the sight the
effect of descending waters. From the tops of the
highest mountains, it is furrowed with channels ;
which, meeting others in their descent, grow wider and
deeper, and wind about, as water doth in its progress,
till they fall into the bed of some river, or lead us
down to the sea, into which they retired when they
subsided from the land.

From this retiring of the waters, we derive the in-
equality of the earth's surface : and to that inequality
we owe the generation of springs and rivers, the feed-
ing of metallic ores and minerals in the fissures of the
earth, and the .regular draining off of waters, with
an uninterrupted course, towards the sea. And to
the great water-courses of the earth we owe most of
those prospects which delight the eye. The waters,
which once covered the earth, having forced their way

42 ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. [[SERM. HI.

down to the sea, left a way open for other waters ever
after, over the whole face of the earth. Let the stream
start from the higher grounds, and it will no where be
detained till it falls into the ocean ; which is a won-
derful provision of divine Providence, though not
commonly attended to ; and how it could have been
brought to pass by any other mode of formation but
that related in the Scripture, doth not appear. The
elegant serpentine disposition of vallies, occasioned by
the descent of water, constitutes the chief beauty of
our prospects. Where the soil is soft and moveable,
these cavities are easy and gradual, and the bottoms
are rich with the vegetable matter which has been
washed off from the higher grounds. But in lands of
an harder texture, rocks are undermined and over-
thrown ; frightful precipices are formed by their frac-
tures ; and the vallies are rough w^th stones and rub-
bish. Yet we are no losers : for here the lines of
nature are bolder. Where the face of a country is
abrupt and irregular, it becomes sublime and magni-
ficent ; as a building in ruins makes a better picture,
and is a fitter subject for a painter than where it has
a fiat and regular face. A new building, which is the
production of human art, hath a littleness about it,
from the uniformity of its lines ; but when time and
the elements have done their work upon it, it ap-
proaches nearer to the grandeur of nature.

The sea, considered in itself, with the periodical
motion of its tides, and its occasional commotions by
winds and storms, gives us a stupendous idea of the
power and greatness of God, who hath this raging
element so much under his command, that he is re-
presented to us as holding the seas and waters of the
world in the hollow of his hand. Nor is his goodness
less evident than his power : for the agitation of the

SERM. III.^ ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. 43

sea, by the daily reciprocations of the tides, contri-
butes to the purity and the wholesomeness of the
air ; the labour of man is assisted by the advance and
retreat of the waters through tracts of inland country.
The sea, which seems to divide the inhabitants of the
world from each other, keeps up an intercourse more
effectually between the most distant parts of the globe.
Mankind are likewise abundantly fed by the waters
of the sea ; wherein the creatures of God multiply in
a much greater proportion than by land, and are all
maintained without the cost or attendance of man:
they are a singular flock, which have no shepherd but
the Creator himself, who conducts them, at different
seasons, in unmeasurable shoals, to supply the world
with nourishment.

From this hasty survey of the earth, we cannot
but be struck with the many ends which are answered
by the generation of the earth from the waters of the
sea, although we have considered but a part of them.

When we examine the substance or matter of the
earth, we find all things useful, all administering in
various ways to our support and convenience. Even
the very dirt we tread upon is a compost of rich
principles, which supply the necessary nourishment
to plants : and when particles from an offensive
putrid mass of earthy matter are diffused through
the frame of a vegetable, they put on an appearance
of beauty, which is dazzling to the eyes, and emit a
fragrance, which is ravishing to the sense. If such
a thing had not yet been, and we were told that it
would be, mortals affecting wisdom would have sig-
nified their doubts ; as when it was questioned what
the rising of the dead should mean.

Below the surface of the earth, we find the various
sorts of stones; the ores of metals and minerals; and

44 ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. [I^SERM. III.

the stones which are called /;rm'o?/,y, from their beauty
and rarity. The common uses of stone in building,
and the several degrees of them, from the coarsest
rock to the finest marble, are well known : but still,
the situation of the stone, as it lies in the earth,
compared with the property of that stone, which is
most ordinary, is v/orthy of particular consideration.
Beds of stone, as they lie in the quarry, are parted
here and there with perpendicular cracks, by means
of which the largest masses become accessible, and
subject to such forces as will separate and raise them
up ; and unless the beds of stone had been thus na-
turally parted, all the art of man would have been
insufficient to extract stones from the earth, for the
common uses of life. Some are of such a grain
that they will split like wood, and may be shivered
even without a tool, into thin plates, by the force of
the weather. But wonderful above all is the pro-
perty of the limestone; which, when its native mois-
ture is totally expelled by fire, imbibes water with
such force that it falls into an impalpable powder,
and forms a cement, by which separate stones are
indissolubly joined into one body : and it holds them
together more firmly at the end of a thousand years
than it did at first. This is a discovery of such im-
portance in the art of building, that it is probably,
as ancient as the art itself. The use of stone and
mortar is spoken of as known before the building of
Babel: and how it could be found out, doth not ap-
pear ; because, I think, there is no operation in the
common course of nature which could lead to it.

It would answer no purpose here to recount the
various sorts of opaque stones; some curious for
their beauty, others excellent for their use. The
flint enables us to produce fire, of which no creature

SERM. III.^ ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. 45

but man hath the use and management. The
fiercest of wild beasts fly from the sight with terror ;
and dread that fire which is kindled by man, as man
himself dreads the fire of lightning which is sent
from heaven.

In regard to the common stones of the earth, there
is a certain fact which must excite the curiosity of
those who attend to it. Of the pebble kinds, the
greater part are formed out of fragments of stone,
spar, and marble rounded by trituration in water ;
of which kind millions are agitated to and fro, and
worn by the motion of the tides upon the shores of
the sea. The inland parts of the earth, to the great-
est depths, contain these pebbles ; which, being the
production of the sea, could never have been formed
where they are found, and must, therefore, have been
originally lodged by water in places which are now
remote from the sea. The same may be said of an
immense quantity of sand, which, though it is now
lying in dry beds of earth, has the certain marks of
trituration by water.

Metals and minerals, which are the more valuable
productions of the earth, are, in form and appear-
ance, but another kind of stones ; under which name
they are mentioned in the book of Deuteronomy ;
where Moses commends the promised land to the
people, as a land whose stones are iron, and out of
ivliose lulls they might dig brass ; not in the form of
hrass, but of stones, out of which brass might be ex-
tracted, and compounded by the labour of man, and
the rules of art. All the treasures of the earth are
found in an imperfect state, which calls forth the arts
' of chemistry, and makes work for the fires of the re-
finer ; but when due pains have been bestowed upon
them, then we discover what a pure and splendid

46 ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. [[SERM. III.

nature is given to them by the Creator. Who would
think, that burnished gold, and polished steel, should
have been in an obscure state, like the stones of the
earth ? The mind of man, improved by education,
is just as different from the same mind in the state
of nature.

Such is the richness and brightness of the several
kinds of metals, that it hath been the custom with
men, from time immemorial, to give to the metals of
the earth the same names as to the lights of heaven,
according to their colour and their dignity. Gold is
allied to the sun, from its yellow colour, and its
splendor ; silver to the moon, from its whiteness, and
as being next in dignity to the sun. Mercury or
quicksilver takes its name from the planet nearest
to the sun ; copper from the planet next in order ;
iron, tin, and lead, were given to the remaining
planets more remote from the sun.

The natural history of the metals seems to have had
a considerable share in the mythological mysteries of
heathenism *. But leaving these fanciful doctrines of
men, who gave the honour of God's works to their
idols, we may go on from the metals to the gems,
which are of an higher order, and a more refined na-
ture. Here the glory of the terrestrial, approaches
very near to the glory of the celestial bodies ; espe-

* Copper had its name from the Island of Cyprus, where the use
of brass was said to have been first invented ; (In Cypro, ubi, pri-
ma fuit aeris inventio. Plin. lib. xxxiv. cap. 2.) and hence we may
account for the mystical dedication of that Island to Venus, the Cy'
prian goddess, (Diva potens Cypri. Hor.) who agrees in name with
a planet in the heavens, and with the ore of Copper in the earth.
On this plan, it is very probable that the fable of Jujxiter's burial
in the island of Crete might, at the bottom, be nothing but a mytho-
logical mode of signifying to those who were in the secret, that tin
was found under ground in that island.

SERM. III.^ ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. 47

cially in the diamond, the prince of precious stones ;
which vies in purity and brightness with the matter of
the heavens, and appears like embodied light ; inso-
much that, if the fluid of light could be fixed into an
ice, as the fluid of the water is, we may imagine that
something like the diamond would be produced. It is
remarkable, that the brightest matter of the earth is
united with the richest, for the formation of a precious
stone ; the various sorts which receive their colour
from some metal ; as the ruby ixom gold ; the emerald
from copper; whence emeralds were commonly found
in the copper mines of Cyprus *. When the metals
are united to a chrystalline, or pellucid basis, they
form a gem ; but, if to an opaque earthy matter,
they form the high-coloured earths of the painters,
which all derive their beauty from some metallic mix-
ture. It is further remarkable, that the chrystalline
matter, and the metal which gives it colour, are united
in nature by the mediation of water : whereas, if we
attempt to unite them by art, in the artificial gems,
we are obliged to have recourse to the violence of
fire, to diffuse the colouring parts through the crys-
tal. This, and some other like instances of the dif-
ference between the chemistry of art and the che-
mistry of nature, should make us cautious of pro-
nouncing too hastily concerning subterraneous pro-
ductions, lest we take that for the effect of fire,
which was, in reality, the effect of water.

Instead of naming the several minerals which are
dug out of the earth, I shall rather direct your atten-
tion to two which are of more consequence than the
rest : these are salt and sulphur. Salt preserves from
putrefaction ; and, being soluble in water, it keeps

* Theophrastus.

48 ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. [^SERM. III.

the sea sweet and wholesome. Where the heats are
greater, the sea has more salt ; because there is more
danger of putrefaction ; which teaches us that the sea
was not salted, by accident, but by design*. As the
doctrine of truth in the Gospel saves the world from
moral corruption, so doth salt preserve it from natu-
ral corruption ; whence the one is used as a figure of
the other. Ye are the salt of the earth, said Christ to
his preachers ; without you the world would be as
putrid as flesh is found to be without the use of salt.

The other ?«^Wr«/ substance is sulphur; of univer-
sal effect, as the cement of nature for uniting the parts
of metals into masses or mineralizing them, and giving
them many of their properties. It is also the grand
combustible of the world ; which, as it descended from
the heavens in rain for the destruction of Sodom, so
is it now the chief cause of those dreadful commotions
which happen in the earth. When iron and sulphur
and water meet together, a fermentation ensues, which,
if strong enough, breaks out into actual fire and flame.
It hath pleased God, for wise ends, to lodge these
different principles near to each other, in many places,
that their mixture may present to our sight one of the
most tremendous appearances in nature. When the
sun shines upon the calmness of the ocean, we under-
stand that God is benevolent as well as great ; and, when
the volcano rages,weareto learn thathe is justand ter-
rible in his wrath and vengeance. When the law was
given on mount Sinai, the whole mount trembled, and
burned with fire, and there were thunders and light-

* The late Dr. Halleij, supposing that the sea grew salt by ac-
cident, in tract of time, from the waters washing away some salt
from the land, proposed a new method for finding tlie age of the
World, from the saltness of the sea. See Phys. Disq. where some
farther observations are made on this subject.

SERM. III.^ ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS.

49

nings, and a thick cloud upon it. Here were all the
appearances of a volcano ; and, as this manifestation of
God at Sinai was intended to fill the hearts of the peo-
ple with the fear of God, by shewing them how terri-
ble he is in his judgment against those who break his
law ; so every burning mountain, at this day, in the
world, should inspire the same religious fear ; and, I
believe, generally does, to those who are spectators
of it; declaring to the world, that God is the avenger
of sin ; and that the fires of nature, which are now but
partial, and under the restraint of mercy and forbear-
ance, shall at length break out to the burning of the
earth, and of all things therein. When the flood came
upon the world, the fountains of the great deep were
opened; the waters of the air were added to the
waters of the earth, and all united their forces to exe-
cute the divine sentence : so at the last visitation of
this world, all the fountains of fire shall be opened ;
the burning mountains of the earth shall send forth
all their hidden stores, while new ones shall be opened
in all places ; and the fires of the sky shall co-operate
with the fires of the earth. Modern discoveries have
taught us, that the sea, the earth, the air, the clouds,
are replete with a subtile and penetrating matter,
which, while at rest, gives us no disturbance ; but,
when excited to action, turns into a consuming fire,
which no substance can exclude, no force can resist ;
so that the elements, which are to melt with fermnt
lieat, want no accidental matter to inflame them ;
since all things may be burnt up by that matter
which now resides within them, and is only waiting
for the word from its Creator.

All the phsenomena of nature speak some religious
truth to those who have ears to hear their voice. When
we say this, we do not deny that voicanos may have a

VOL. IV. E

50 OM THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. []sERM. III.

natural use in purging the earth, and giving vent to
combustible principles, which, if wholly confined,
might shake and shatter the earth to pieces before the
time. These things are very consistent, because the
wisdom of God works for many different ends by the
same means.

A review of the earth and its contents, however
short and imperfect, must inspire us with an awful
sense of the divine power and wisdom. But we are
not to stop there ; the natural history of the earth bears
an unanswerable testimony to the truth of revelation?
and we should never fail to apply it to that purpose,
when an opportunity offers. The Scripture, which
tells us that this earth, on which we live, is now under
sentence to be destroyed by fire, doth also teach us,
that it hath been once destroyed already by water :
of which destruction the earth still bears such evident
marks, that the belief of it is as obvious to every ob-
server of nature, as it is necessary to a Christian.
From the surface of the earth we understand, that the
whole was once under water ; v»'hich descended, with
an accelerated velocity, from the land to the seas, to-
ward which all the furrows of the earth are directed,
and in which they terminate. Then if we search
under the earth, Ave find, that as man is not in the state
in which God first made him, but fallen into disorder
and sinfulness ; so the earth has undergone some na-
tural revolution, which, in part, dissolved its sub-
stance, and lodged within it such bodies as must have
been the remains of a former earth, because they
could not possibly be the productions of the present.
Bones of animals, shells of fishes, fruits of trees, are
found buried at all depths, and even in the midst of
the hardest stone and marble. Whence we are to
argue: 1. That these bodies were transported and

SERM. III.J ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. 51

deposited by a flood of waters ; because most of them
belonged to the sea. 2. That the matter of the earth
must have been in a state of sokition when this hap-
pened; because it could not otherwise have inclosed
sea shells, and filled up their cavities through the small-
est apertures. 3 . That the flood was general, or com-
mon to the whole world; because these monuments of
it are found in all countries of the earth ; on the highest
mountain, and in tracts most remote from the sea.

To account for a disorderly situation of things, out
of their several places, under ground, we must apply
to water or to Jire ; which two are the causes of all
the changes in this globe. We cannot apply to sub-
terraneous fire, because here is an effect which is uni-
versal, and subterraneous fire is a cause but partial
and occasional ; the marks of which, when compared
with those of water, are but of small extent *. Be-
sides, fire would have destroyed bodies which water
preserved ; such as the tenderest shells, the skins of
scaly fish, the fruits and leaves of vegetables. All these
would bear drowning and burying, but could never
survive the devastations of fire. How could fire trans-
port the productions of all climates into one place ?
But if they floated on water, subject to winds, tides,
and currents, such a thing might easily be ; accord-
ingly, we find the fruits of the East and West-Indies ;
bones, teeth, and shells from fish of different seas ;
the elephant of Africa, the tortoise of America, all
near to one another in the same spot ■\, as if laid up
for a testimony to the truth of the Holy Scripture,

• The effects of fire, compared with those of water, may per-
haps be nearly in the same proportion, as the forge of the smith,
with its flags and cinders, when ccmpared with the lands of the
whole parish.

t What is here said is verified in the island of Sheepy in Kent.

E 2

52 ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. [^SERM. III.

which alone gives us a faithful account of this great
revolution in nature. When we are informed, that
the earth we now inhabit is the hurying-'place of a
former earth, it is as reasonable that we should dig
up the remains and ruins of it, as that we should find
the bones and coffins of former generations in the
earth of a church-yard.

Our subject will become more edifying, if M'e exa-
mine what use hath been made of some parts of it in
the Scripture.

1. Thus, for example, every man is to consider
himself as clay in the hands of a potter, and to sub-
mit himself, with resignation, to the appointment of
God, who gives to all men their proper stations and
uses in life, as the potter forms some vessels to mean,
and some to honourable offices ; and it is as vain for
any man to quarrel with the ordination of heaven, and
throw himself out of that sphere of life in which God
hath placed him, as for the clay to murmur against the
design of the potter. There is an ancient fable of
Eastern original (for the son of Sirach hath it *)
which relates the folly of the vessel of earth in join-
ing itself to the company of the vessel of brass ; in
consequence of which it was broken to pieces.

2. The treasures of the earth are buried within it;
so that they cannot be discovered and brought forth
without the labour of man ; yet they are not placed
so deep, as to render our labour ineffectual. Thus
hath God ordained in every other case ; nothing, but
what is worthless, is to be found by the indolent upon
the surface of life: every thing valuable must be ob-
tained by labour ; all wisdom, all science, all art and
experience, are hidden at a proper depth, for the ex-
ercise of the wise ; and they, who do not spare their

*■ Ecclus. xiii. .'i.

SERM. III.]] ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. 53

labour, shall not be disappointed in their search. The
treasures of wisdom, in the word of God, do not lie
upon the surface of the letter, for every superficial
reader to observe them ; therefore, where it is said.
Search the Scriptures, the word implies that laborious
kind of searching, by which the treasures of the mine
are discovered under ground.

3. The properties of metals are very considerable,
and would afford us much instruction, if the limits of
this discourse would admit of it. As gold stands the
test of fire, such is the constancy of true piety, which
grows brighter and purer with every trial. And, as
gold cannot be pure without being refined in the fur-
nace, so cannot any man be fit for God's acceptance,
till he hath first endured temptation. The father of
the faithful was put to the fiery trial of offering up
his own son for a sacrifice, that he might be an ex-
ample to all his children ; to whom this warning is
given by the son of Sirach, My son, if thou come to
serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation—for
gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the

furnace of adversity *. I suppose this rule to be so
certain, that human life never did, nor ever will,
admit an instance to the contrary.

4. In the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Baby-
lon, the four great monarchies of the world are signi-
fied by the four principal metals, gold, silver, brass,
and iron. The Assyrian monarchy has the pre-emi-
nence, as well in dignity as in order of time, and is
compared to gold. Thou, said the Prophet Daniel to
Nebuchadnezzar, art this head of gold: from which
interpretation, his image of gold seems to have been
presumptuously derived ; the proud king, not content

* Ecclus. ii. 1 — 5.

51 ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. [^SERM. III.

with being the head, assumed to himself the whole
body of worldly empire.

As silver, brass, and iron, have less value than gold,
the monarchies of Persia, Greece, and Rome, which
succeeded, must have had less splendor and dignity
than the Assyrian : and the Roman must have been
the basest of all, if the Scripture is just in its compa-
rison. If we were to enter into the question, how
kingdoms are debased, we might obtain some light
from the case of the Roman empire, as it is stated in
this prophecy. This empire then, though strong as
iron in war, was of a baser nature than those which
preceded, because it was unnaturally compounded of
miry clay mixed with its iron ; which two would never
incorporate. It was compounded of military power
and popular authority ; to unite which, all attempts
were unsuccessful ; and, consequently, with all that
hardness of iron, with which it bruised and hroJee in
pieces other nations, there was a constitutional weak-
ness ; by reason of which, it was vexed and broken
at home with eternal balancings and divisions ; and,
when it had conquered the world, it became its own
executioner. The words of this prophecy are very
remarkable, when applied to the character and con-
stitution of the Roman state. It was partly strong
as iron in military force, and partly broken, from
this unnatural mixture in the materials of its govern-
ment. By the mingling of iron with miry clay, as it
is interpreted for us by the Prophet, it was signified,
that they of this kingdom should mingle themselves
with the seed of men, and not cleave to one another,
even as iron is not mixed ivith clay. Imperial power
in the Scripture, is a divine institution, of heavenly
original ; and to suppose it an human thing, and
derive it from the power of the people, as the Ro-

SERM. 111.]] ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. 55

mans did, is to mingle it with the seed of men, and
debase the nature of it; of which the certain conse-
quence is disunion and weakness : for no state can
be strong in itself, which is founded on principles
subversive of God's authority. Under the Assyrian
monarchy and the Persian, and the kingdoms of Greece,
in the age of Homer, there was no question concern-
ing the origin of power ; it arose afterwards amongst
the Greeks ; and the popular scheme attained its
highest degree of absurdity under the Romans.
Would to God it had never found its way amongst
Christians ; where it has done infinite mischief, and
will probably continue so to do, till it has undermined
the peace of all mankind, and unhinged the whole
political world ! Majesty, when it is in kings, is where
God hath placed it : honour is then in the fountain
of honour ; but the majesty of the people, which the
enthusiastic vanity of the Romans hath so magnified,
and in which they have been followed, for selfish
ends, by libertines and deistical philosophers, is con-
trary to all the ideas of revelation, and is inconsistent
with common sense. A people may seem to them-
selves to rise higher, as \kveimwer of government sinks
lower ; but it is all a deception ; for nothing can be
more evident than that nations are debased in the
estimation of the world, by the doctrines of anarchy.
For which of the two is the most respectable ; the
house wherein there is a proper respect kept up : or
that where there is none ? The family of the noble-
man, whose domestics are under his authority, pre-
serves an appearance of greatness and elegance ; but
the publick house, where the people who fill it are
upon a level with the householder, is a scene of vul-
garity and disorder.

5. And now, what should be the end of all our re-

10

56 ON THE EARTH AND ITS MINERALS. [^SERM. III.

searches mto Nature and the Scripture, but to delight
in giving God the honour that is due to him ? For
his pleasure all things were made ; and he "will be
pleased with men when they glorify him in his works.
We should therefore call upon all nature to join with
us in a Psalm of praise and thanksgiving, after the
example of the royal prophet : Praise the Lord, ye
moimtains and all hills, fruitfid trees and all cedars,
heasts and all cattle. Let the heavens rejoice and let
the earth he glad ; for the name of the Lord is ex-
cellent, and his praise is above heaven and earth.
To him therefore, cj'c.

SERMON IV.

FOR THE INVISIBLE THINGS OF HIM FROM THE CRE-
ATION OF THE WORLD ARE CLEARLY SEEN, BEING
UNDERSTOOD BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE,
EVEN HIS ETERNAL POWER AND GODHEAD. ROM.
I. 20.

The wisdom of God in the natural creation, is a
proper subject of the lecture delivered in this place
upon this occasion * : but as the knowledge of the
Scriptures is not excluded, I may be permitted to
bring them both together into one discourse : for they
illustrate one another in a wonderful manner : and he
who can understand God as the fountain of truth, and
the Saviour of men, in the holy Scripture, will be bet-
ter disposed to understand and adore him as the foun-
tain of power and goodness in the natural creation.

To those who search for it, and have pleasure in
receiving it, there is a striking alliance between the
oeconomy of Nature, and the principles of divine re-
velation ; and unless we study both together, we shall
be liable to mistake things now, as the unbelieving
Sadducees did, in their vain reasonings with our
blessed Saviour. They erred, not hiowing tlie Scriji-
turesy nor tJie power of God: they neither understood
them separately, nor knew how to compare them to-
gether.

* This Sermon was preached at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, on
Tuesday, in Whitsun Week, 1787, on Mr. Fairchild's foundation.

58

ON THE NATURAL EVIDENCES [[SERM. IV.

Men eminently learned, and worthy of all commen-
dation, have excelled in demonstrating the wisdom of
God from the works of Nature : but in this one res-
pect they seem to have been deficient ; in that they
have but rarely turned their arguments to the particu-
lar advantage of the Christian Revelation, by bring-
ing the volume of Nature in aid to the volume of the
Scripture ; as the times now call upon us to do : for
we have been threatened, in very indecent and inso-
lent language of late years, with the superior reason-
ings and forces of natural philosophy ; as if our late
researches into Nature had put some new weapons
into the hands of Infidelity, which the friends of the
Christian Religion will be unable to stand against.
One writer, in particular, who is the most extrava-
gant in his philosophical flights, seems to have per-
suaded himself, and would persuade us, that little
more is required to overthrow the whole faith and
oeconomy of the Church of England, than a philoso-
phical apparatus ; and that every prelate and priest
amongst us hath reason to tremble at the sight. This
is not the voice of piety or learning, but of vapour-
ing vanity and delusion. Neither a Bacon, nor a
Boyle, nor a Newton would ever had descended to
such language, so contrary to their good manners
and religious sentiments ; the first of w^hom hath
w isely observed, that the works of God minister a
singular help and preservative against unbelief and
error : our Saviour, as he saith, having laid before us
two books or volumes to study ; first the Scriptures,
revealing the ivill of God, and then the creatures, ex-
pressing his 2}oiver ; whereof the latter is a 1(C]) unto
the former *. Such was the piety and penetration of
this great man. However, let us not take it amiss,
that, at certain times, we are rudely attacked and in-

* See Bacon's Adv. of Learning, B. i.

SERM. IV.^

OF CHRISTIANITY.

59

suited. Christians, under the temptations of ease and
security, would forget themselves, and go to sleep ;
they are therefore obliged to their adversaries for dis-
turbing them, that they may awake, like Samsori, and
discover their own strength. So little reason have we
in fact to be terrified with the threatenings of our ad-
versaries, that we invite them to enter with us upon a
comparison between the word and the works of God.
For it will be found true, as I shall endeavour to shew,
that the invisible things of God, that is, the things
concerning his Being and his Power, and the ceco-
nomy of his spiritual kingdom, which are the objects
of our faith, are clearly seen from the creation of the
world, and understood by the things that are made.

Having much matter to propose, I must not in-
dulge myself in the use of any superfluous words. A
plain and unadorned discourse will be accepted ra-
ther for the meaning than the form; and as I am
about to consider the works of God in a new capa-
city, I must bespeak your attention, not without a
degree of your candour also, to excuse an adventu-
rous excursion into an unfrequented path of divinity.

Let us enquire then, how the religious state of
man, and the spiritual kingdom of God, as the Scrip-
tures have made known to us : that is, how Christi-
anity, as a scheme of doctrine, agrees with the works
of God, and the ceconomy of Nature 1 In conse-
quence of which it will be found, that the Christian
Religion hath the attestation of natural philosophy ;
and that every other religion hath it not. '

Our Bible teaches us these great principles or doc-
trines ; that man is now in a fallen state of forfeiture
under Sin and Death, and suffering the penalties of
disobedience : that, as a religious being, he is the
scholar of heaven, and must be taught of God ; that

60

ON THE NATURAL EVIDENCES [^SERM. IV.

the Almighty Father of men and angels gives him
life and salvation by his Word and Spirit ; in other
words, by Christ and the Holy Ghost : that there is
danger to us from the malignity and power of evil
spirits : that a curse hath been inflicted upon the
earth by a flood of water : that there is no remission
of sin without shedding of blood ; and that a divine
life is supported in us by partaking of the death of
Christ in the Paschal or Sacramental Feast of the
Lord's table ; that there is a restoration to life after
death by a resurrection of the body ; and lastly, that
the world which we inhabit shall be destroyed by fire.

These are the principles, at least the chief of them,
which are peculiar to the Scriptures. He that be-
lieves them is a Christian ; and if the works and ways
of nature have a correspondence with these princi-
ples, and with no other, then ought every natural
philosopher to be a Christian believer.

I. Let us proceed then to examine how the case
stands. The unbelieving philosopher supposes man to
be in the same state of perfection now, as when he
came from the hands of his Creator. But the infirmi-
ties of his mind, with the diseases and death of his
body, proclaim the contrary. When the death of man is
from the hand of man, according to the laws of justice,
it is an execution : and it is the same in its nature,
when inflicted upon all men by the hands of a just God.
The moral history of man informs us, that he offended
God by eating in sin. His natural history shews us,
'that, in consequence of it, he now eats in labour and
sorrow. The world is full of toil and trouble; and for
what end, but that man may earn his daily bread ?
The hands of the husbandman are hardened, and his
back is bowed down with the cultivation of the earth.
Thorns and thistles prevail against him, and multiply

SERM.

OF CHRISTIANITY.

61

his labour. While some are toiling upon the earth,
others are doomed to work underneath it. Some are
exercised and wasted with works of heat: some for a
livelihood are exposed to the storms and perils of the
sea ; and they who are called to the dangers of war,
support their lives at the hazard of losing them.

The woman who was first in the transgression, is
distinguished by sorrows peculiar to her sex ; and if
some are exempt, they are exceptions which confirm
the general law ; and shew, that the penalty doth not
follow by any necessity of Nature, but is inflicted.

Many are the unavoidable sorrows of life ; but if
we consider how many more are brought upon man by
himself, it is plain his ynind is not right : for if he had
his sight and his senses, he would see better and avoid
them.

Suppose human nature to be perfect; what is the
consequence ? We not only contradict our own daily
experience : but we supersede the use of Christianity,
by denying the existence of those evils, for which only
it is provided. The whole system of it is offered to us
as a cure for the consequences of the fall. From the
accommodation of its graces, gifts, and sacraments to
the wants of our nature, we have a demonstration
that our minds are in a distempered and sinful state :
as the drugs and instruments in the shop of the sur-
geon are so many arguments that our bodies are frail
and mortal.

II. The Scriptures declare farther, that man, thus
born in sin and sorrow, would grow up in darkness
and ignorance, as to all heavenly things, unless he
were taught of God : whose word is therefore said to
be a light. The case is the same in nature. For how
doth man receive the knowledge of all distant objects?
not by a light within himself, but by a light which

62

ON THE NATURAL EVIDENCES [^SERM. IV.

comes to him from heaven, and brings to his sight a
sense of the objects from which it is reflected. What
an uninformed empty being would man become in
his bodily state : how destitute of the knowledge of all
remote objects, but for the rays of light which come to
him from without ? Such would he be in his religious
capacity without the light of revelation, which was
therefore sent out into all lands, as the light of the sun
is diffused throughout the world : The people that
walked in darkness (which is the state we are born to)
have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined*.
The Scriptures declare that we are in a state of stu-
pidity and death, till we are illuminated by the Gos-
pel: Awake thou that steepest, and rise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light f. But they cannot
make our souls worse than our bodies would be with-
out the visible lights of heaven; and therefore in this
respect, the physical state of man answers precisely
to his religious state ; and if we duly observe and
reflect upon the one, we must admit the other also,
or oppose the testimony of our senses.

III. The Gospel informs us, that there is a light of
life to the soul of man, and a divine Spirit of God which
quickens and inspires; and that the whole oeconomy
of grace is administered to us by the persons of the
Son and the Holy Ghost. And are not the principles
of man's natural life maintained by a parallel agency
in nature ? Do we not there also find a light to ani-
mate, and a spirit to inspire and give us breath ? The
divine Spirit,from his nature and office, takes its name
from the air or natural spirit of the world, which sup-
plies us with the breath of life. On the day of Pente-
cost he descended fromheaven under the outward sign
* Isa. ix. 2. t Eph. v. U.

SEUM. IV.]]

OF CHRISTIANITY.

63

of a rushing mighty wind; that from his philosophical
emblem we might understand his nature and opera-
tions; who, like the wind, is invisible, irresistible, the
medium of life and the inspirer of the prophets and
apostles, who all spake as the Spirit gave tJiem utter-
ance. The air is the instrument of speech, and the
vehicle of sound. Such was the divine Spirit to the
apostles ; by whose aid and operation, their sound
went out into all lands. The ways of the Spirit of God
in the birth of man unto grace, are hidden from us :
we distinguish him only by his effects : so it is in na-
ture : we hear the sound of the wind, but we cannot
tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. Thus did
our Saviour himself illustrate the operations of the
Holy Ghost from those of the air : and, what is very
remarkable, he communicated the Holy Ghost to his
disciples under the outward sign of breathing upon
them.

In the invisible kingdom of God, there is a sun of
righteousness which rises upon a world that lieth in
darkness ; raising up the dead to a new life, and
restoring all that sin and death had destroyed. So
doth the visible world present to us the great lumi-
nary of the day, whose operations are in all respects
like to those of the sun of righteousness. In the
morning it prevails over darkness, and in the spring
it restores the face of Nature.

When the Scriptures say that the powers of the
Word and Spirit of God are necessary to the souls of
men ; they say no more than what the most scrupu-
lous philosophy must admit in regard to their bodies :
for certainly mankind cannot subsist without the sun
and the air. They must have light, to live by as
well as to see by ; and they must have breath, with-
out vvhich they can neither live, nor speak, nor hear.

64

ON THE NATURAL EVIDENCES [^SERM, IV.

We are to argue farther ; that as we must suppose a
sun to shine before we can suppose man to exist upon
earth : so by parity of reason, the divine h'ght was pre-
existent to all those who are saved by it; and to pre-
sume that J esus Christ, who is that light, is only a man
like ourselves, is as false in divinity, as it would be false
in philosophy to report the sun in the heavens as a thing
of yesterday, and formed like ourselves out of the dust
of the ground. Doth not philosophy teach us, that the
elementary powers of light and air are in nature su-
preme and sovereign ? for is there any thing above
them ? Is there a sun above the sun that rules the day ;
and is there a spirit above the wind that gives us breath ?
therefore, so are the persons of Christ and the Holy
Ghost supreme and divine in the invisible kingdom of
God. If not, it must lead us into idolatry and blas-
phemy, when we see them represented to us in the
Scripture by these sovereign powers in nature. God is
Light, and God is a Spirit: therefore, that person who
is called t/ie Sjiirit must be divine ; and Jesus Christ
who is the true Light must be the true God.

"Wheresoever we go in divinity, thither will philoso-
phy still follow us as a faithful witness. For if we are
assured by revelation, that there is a power of divine
justice to execute vengeance on the enemies of God,
and which shall destroy with a fearful destruction the
ungodly and impenitent whenever it shall reach them;
we find in nature the irresistible power of fire, which
dissipates and destroys what it acts upon, and which
in many instances hath been applied as the instrument
of vengeance upon wicked men. Sacrifices were con-
sumed by fire, to signify that w rath from heaven is due
to sin, and would fall upon the sinful offerer himself,
if the victim did not receive it for him by substitution.
When the law was given on Mount Sinai, the heavens

SERM. IV.^

OF CHRISTIANITY.

(i5

flamed with fire, and the mountain burned below, to
give the people a sense of the terrors of divine judg-
ment. With allusion to which exhibition, and other
examples of the actual effects of his wrath, God is said
to be a consuming fire : and happy are they who re-
gard the j)oiver of it, and flee from it, as Lot and his
family fled from the flames of Sodom.

IV. Another doctrine, peculiar to the Scripture, is,
the danger to which we are exposed in our religious
capacity from the malignity and power of the Devil ;
whose works are manifest, though he himself is invisi-
ble. But the natural creation bears witness to his ex-
istence, and to all his evil properties ; where the wis-
dom of God hath set before us that creature the Ser-
pent, a singular phaenomenon of the same kind ; whose
bite diffuses death so suddenly and miraculously
through the body, that he may be said, in comparison
of all other creatures, to have thej^ower of death. He
is double-tongued and insidious ; often undiscovered
till he has given the fatal wound. In a word, he is
such a pattern of the invisible adversary of mankind,
who was a liar and a murderer from the beginning,
that the hieroglyphical language of the Bible speaks
of him in the history of the first temptation, under the
name of the Serpent. The wicked who are related to
him as his seed or children, are called a generation of
vipers; by which figurative phrase it is literally meant,
that they were of their father the Devil.

In the modern systems and schemes of those who
affect the philosophical character, we are not always
sure of finding a God : but we are sure never to find
a Devil : for as the Heathens of old offered sacrifices
to him without understanding that they did so ; in like
manner do some people of these days work under him
without knowing him. Yet certainly the Scripture,

VOL. IV. F

66

ON THE NATURAL EVIDENCES [^SERM. IV,

by its application of the word Serpent to the Tempter
who brought Sin and Death into the world, hath re-
ferred us to the natural creation for the properties of
the Serpent-kind : and from those properties every
naturalist may learn what the Devil is, and what we
have to fear fi'om him, more accurately and effectually
than any words can teach. What he finds in the na-
tural Serpent he must apply to another invisible Ser-
pent, who can think and reason and dispute the ve-
racity of God ; which the common Serpent never
could. How came so fearful and cursed a creature
into the works of God ? Certainlv for the wisest end :
that men might understand and avoid the enemy of
their salvation. The world was made, as the Scrip-
tures were written, for our learning ; and unless the
Serpent were found in it, there would be a blank in
the creation, and we should have been to seek for
some ideas, which are of the last importance to the
mind of man.

Other ideas, nearly related, may indeed be collected
from the contrariety between light and darkness ;
with their figurative alliance to moral good and evil.
The power of Satan hath the like effect on men's souls
as darkness hath upon their bodies ; and the Scripture
calls it the power of darhnesa. If the enemies of
God's religion are called the seed of the Serpent, in
opposition to the sons of God ; so are they also re-
presented to us as children of darkness, in opposition
to the children of light. What communion, saith St.
Paul, hath light with darhiess ; ivhat concord hath
Christ icith Belial; or icliat part hath he that be-
lieveth ivith an Infidel? The ancient Persians, who
were given to speculate as Philosophers on the prin-
ciples of their theology, argued from a course of
Nature, that there are two contrary principles of

SERM. IV.^

OF CHKISTIANITY.

67

good and evil in the world of Spirits : that there
is a malignant Power acting in opposition to the
benign goodness of the Creator, as darkness, in the
vicissitudes of day and night, holds divided empire
with light. Which speculations, properly corrected,
are agreeable to the imagery of the Scripture ; in
which the author of evil is called the power of dark-
ness ; and, in his capacity of a destroyer, is compared
to lightning, which, like Yjwcxiox, falls from heaven to
do mischief upon earth.

V. Another doctrine of Revelation is the execution
of a curse by the waters of a flood ; which obliges us
to examine how it agrees with the natural history of
the earth. It was impossible to know that this catas-
trophe was universal, but by Revelation ; but when
known, it is confirmed as a fact by the same proofs
of it occurring to us in every part of the known world.
The curvatures, furrows, and channels, on the whole
face of the earth, open to common observation, are so
many marks and monuments of the forcible effects of
descending waters. The relics, fragments, and bones
of marine productions, every where found under the
earth, shew that the sea covered the land, and that the
present world, on which we now live, is the burying-
ground of a former, on which that curse was exe-
cuted, which God pronounced at the beginning.
The natural history of the earth, as bearing this tes-
timony to the Flood of Noah, has been very trouble-
some to our Infidel-Philosophers ; and the improba-
bility and weakness of some theories, with the wild
extravagance of others, advanced to disguise this
plain fact, shew that its evidence is stubborn and un-
tractable.

VI. The derivation of a principle of life from the
death of Christ, and the remission of sin by the shed-

F 2

68

ON THE NATURAL EVIDENCES [^SERM. IV,

ding of his innocent blood, are doctrines essential to
the Gospel, and every way agreeable to the condition
of man's natural life : for we live by the death of in-
nocent animals, who lay down their lives for our
sustenance, not for any fault of their own. Such
creatures as are hurtful, and not fit to live, are not
fit for us to eat. The act of killing clean beasts in
sacrifice, and the sprinkling of their blood, and the
feasting upon their flesh, had undoubtedly an intended
correspondence with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
and the support of our spiritual life by a participation
of his death. The whole institution was prophetical,
and the Scriptures are copious in the application of it.
And though the act of slaughtering innocent creatures
is not now a religious act, as it used to be, the ra-
tionale of it is still the same ; and it will speak the
same language to the end of the world ; it will always
be declaratory of the salvation of man by the death
of an universal sacrifice. The insensible people who
trade in the slaughter of innocent animals, and shed
their blood by profession ; and they who feed upon
them by daily custom, never think of this : but the uni-
versal practice of mankind speaks, w ithout their un-
derstanding it, that which Caiaphas prophesied with-
out knowing what he said, it is expedient that one man
die, that the whole people perish not. It is expedient
that the innocent should die to feed our bodies : let
any man deny it if he can : and it is equally expe-
dient, that Jesus Christ should die to feed our souls.

Some philosophers of antiquity, ignorant of the
terms man is now upon with his Maker, refined upon
the traditional rites of sacrifice and the priesthood,
(which are nearly as ancient as the world) and rea-
soned themselves into an abhorrence of animal food.
They exclaimed against the use of it, as barbarous.

SERM. IV.^

OF CHRISTIANITY.

69

and unworthy of a rational creature : especially as
the lot falls upon the most inoffensive of animals,
whose dispositions and services have a claim upon us
for kindness and protection. But these are doomed
to die by the wise appointment of God ; and by these
men live; as Jesus Christ the righteous, with the
meekness and innocence of the Lamb, was brought to
the slaughter ; that through his death we might have
life eternal.

VII. The resurrection of the body, which comes
next in order, is no where taught but in the Scrip-
tures. The apparatus of the philosopher can furnish
no argument against it : and God's apparatus is clearly
on the side of it. For if it be examined by the light
of nature, that is, by the light reflected from natural
things, it becomes a reasonable, and almost a natural
doctrine.

It is evident that man's body was made of the dust
of the earth, because we see that it returns into earth
again. Philosophy therefore may argue, that as God
formed man's body of the dust at first, he can as
easily restore and raise it from the same afterwards.
That he will actually do this is promised to us in the
Scripture ; and on that promise Nature is giving us a
lecture every day of our lives. Many animals, after
a torpid state, scarcely distinguishable from death,
recover the powers of life at the proper season by
the influence of the sun : some after submersion in
water during the whole winter. Some crawl for a
time as helpless worms upon the earth, like ourselves ;
then they retire into a covering, which answers the end
of a coffin, or a sepulchre, wherein they are invisibly
transformed, and come forth in glorious array, with
wings and painted plumes, more like the inhabitants
of heaven, than such worms as they were in their for-

70

ox THE NATURAL EVIDENCES [^SERM. IV.

mer earthly state. This transformation is so striking
and pleasant an emblem of the present, the interme-
diate,and the glorified states of man, that peopleof the
most remote antiquity, Avhen they buried their dead,
embalmed and inclosed them in an artificial covering,
so figured and painted as to resemble the caterpillar,
or silk-Avorm, in the intermediate state : and as Joseph
was the first we read of that was embalmed in Egypt,
where this manner prevailed, it was very probably of
Hebrew original.

The vicissitudes of night and day instruct us far-
ther on the same subject. The sun sets to rise again ;
the year dies away into the winter, and rises to verdure
and beauty in the spring. Sleep is a temporary death
from which ■sve daily awake ; insomuch that in many
passages of the Scripture, sleep and death are the same
thing, and he that j-ises from the dead is said to aivake
out of sleep *. The furrow of the field is a grave, out
of which the seeds that are buried rise to a new and
better state. Their death and burial, which seems to
be their end, is the beginning of their life : It is not
qidcJcened except it die. The allusion to plants and
seeds is very common in the Scripture, to illustrate the
present and future state of man : and if it reminds us,
that all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as
the flower of the field ; it makes us amends, by assur-
ing us, that our hones shall flourish as an herb, and
that every seed shall have its oicn body.

Vni. The destruction of the world by fire is the
last doctrine I shall take occasion to speak of : which,
though never unreasonable, and admitted even by the
Heathens of old time, is now more apparent than
ever, from the late improvements in experimental

* See Daniel xii. 2.

SERM. IVO

OF CHRISTIANITY.

71

philosophy. Indeed, we may say, the world is already
on fire : for as Sinai, with its smoke and flame, was a
positive, so is every volcano a natural prelude to the
burning of the last day. The earth, the air, the clouds,
the sea, are all replete with a subtile penetrating fire,
which, while at rest, is neither felt nor observed, and
was absolutely unknown to some of the most learned
for ages ; till accidental discovery hath now laid open
the treasures of fire in heaven and earth to all that
have the use of their sight and senses. The publica-
tion of the philosophy of fire hath been so sudden and
so universal, and is so wonderful in itself, that it seems
to be second to the publication of the Gospel : at least,
there is no event in philosophy or literature that comes
near to it.

In this element we live and move ; and, perhaps, so
far as our frame is mechanical, we are moved by it.
When excited to action, it turns into a consuming
fire, which no substance can exclude, no force can
resist. The matter of lightning, which seems to break
out partially and accidentally, is now found to be
constitutional and universal in the system of Nature :
so that the heavens, which, according to the language
of the Scripture, are to melt ivith fervent heat, want
no foreign matter to convert them into fire. What is
called phlogiston can rise in a moment from a state
of quiescence to a state of inflammation ; and it dis-
covers itself in many bodies where we should little
expect to find it. The earth, and the works that are
therein, carry within them the seeds of their own de-
struction; and may be burnt up by that element
which now resides within them, and is only waiting
for the word from its Creator.

Upon the whole then, philosophy, so far as the
term signifies a knowledge of God's wisdom and power

15

72 ON THE NATURAL EVIDENCES [^SERM. IV.

in the natural creation, which is the best sense of the
word ; this philosophy, I say, is so far from being ad-
verse to true religion, that with all the common evi-
dences of Christianity in reserve, we may venture to
meet the philosopher upon his own ground ; we have
nothing to fear from the testimony of Nature ; we ap-
peal to it : we call upon every man of science to com-
pare the Gospel which God hath revealed, with the
world which God hath created : under an assurance,
that he will find tlie latter to be a hey unto the former,
as our noble philosopher hath well asserted. We
have ventured to try this comparison upon the general
plan of Christianity, and we see how it answers.

And if Nature answers to Christianity, it contra-
dicts Deism ; and that religion cannot be called na-
tural which is contradicted by the light reflected
upon our understandings from natural things. The
Socinian is nearly in the same situation with the Deist:
and they may both join together in calling upon Na-
ture, from morning until night, as the Priests of Baal
called upon their Deity : but there will be none to
answer ; and philosophy must put out one of his
eyes before it can admit their doctrines. In short,
take any religion but the Christian, and bring it to
this test, by comparing it with the state of Nature,
and it will be found destitute and defenceless. But
the doctrines of our faith are attested by the whole
natural world. Wherever we turn our eyes, to the
heaven or to the earth, to the sea or to the land, to men
or to beasts, to animals or to plants, there we are re-
minded of them. They are recorded in a language
which hath never been confounded : they are written
in a text which shall never be corrupted.

The Creation of God is the school of Christians, if
they use it aright. What is commonly called the world,

SERM. IV. ^ OF CHRISTIANITY.

73

consists of the forms, manners, diversions, pursuits,
and prospects, of human society. But this is an arti-
ficial world, of man's making : the subject of his study,
the object of his ambition. The natural world, of
God's making, is full of wonder and instruction ; it is
open to all, it is common to all. Here there can be
no envy, no party, no competition ; for no man will
have the less for what his neighbour possesses. The
world, in this sense, may be enjoyed without fraud
or violence. The student in his solitary walk, the
husbandman at his labour, the saint at his prayers,
may have as much as they can desire, and have no-
thing to repent of; for they will thus draw nearer to
God, because they will see farther into his truth,
wisdom, and goodness.

Some have expressed their astonishment at the
choice of hermits, and men of retirement, as people
who have fled from all the enjoyments of life, and
consigned themselves to melancholy and misery.
They are out of the world, it is true ; but they are
only out of that artificial world of man's making, in
which so many are hastening to disappointment and
ruin : but they are still in that other better world of
contemplation and devotion, which affords them all
the pleasures and improvements of the mind, and is
preparatory to a state of uninterrupted felicity.

Let us then, finally, give thanks to him, who to the
light of his Gospel hath added this light of nature,
and opened the wonderful volume of the creation be-
fore us, for the confirmation of his truth, and the
illumination of his people ; that we may thence know
and see the certainty of those things ivherein we have
heen instructed. As all his works are for our good,
let it be our study and our wisdom to turn them all
to his glory.

SERMON V

SING TO THE HARP WITH A PSALM OF THANKSGIVING.
PSALM XCVIII. 6.

These words, like many others in the Psalms of
David, assert and encourage the use of music, both
vocal and instrumental, in the worship of God : the
propriety and benefits of which will be evident from
such an examination of the subject, as the present
occasion may well admit of : and I hope the good
affections of my hearers will be as ready to enter into
a rational consideration of the nature and uses of
music, as their ears are to be delighted with music.
For this art is a great and worthy object to the un-
derstanding of man : it is wonderful in itself: and in
its proper and best use, it may be reckoned amongst
the several means of grace, which God in his abund-
ant goodness hath vouchsafed to his church ; some
to direct our course through this vale of tears, and
some to cheer and support us under the trials and
labours of it.

INIusic will need no other recommendation to our
attention as an important subject, when it shall be
understood, as I mean to shew in the first place, that
it derives its origin from God himself : whence it will
follow, that so far as it is God's work, it is his pro-
perty, and may certainly be applied as such to his
service. The question will be, whether it may be
applied to any thing else.

SERM. v.]] THE NATURE AND EXCELLENCE OF 3IUSIC. 75

What share soever man may seem to have in modi-
fying, all that is found in this world to delight the
senses, is primarily the work of God. Wine is pre-
pared by human labour ; but it is given to us in the
grape by the Creator. The prismatic glass is the work
of art ; but the glorious colours which it exhibits to
the eye are from him who said. Let there he light.
Man is the contriver of musical instruments ; but the
principles of harmony are in the elements of nature ;
and the greatest of instruments, as we shall soon dis-
cover, was formed by the Creator himself. The ele-
ment of air was as certainly ordained to give us har-
monious sounds in due measure, as to give respiration
to the lungs. This fluid is so constituted as to make
thousands of pulses at an invariable rate, by means of
which the proportions and coincidences of musical
sounds are exactly preserved. The same wisdom
which established the seven conspicuous lights of the
firmament, which gave names to the periodical mea-
sure of time in a week ; and which hath distinguished
the seven primary colours in the element of light,
hath given the same limits to the scale of musical
degrees, all the varieties of which are comprehended
within the number seven.

In the philosophical theory of musical sounds, we
discover some certain laws which demonstrate that
the divine wisdom hath had respect and made pro-
vision for the delight of our senses, by accommodat-
ing the nature of sounds to the degree of our percep- ,
tion. As this must be a pleasing consideration to the
lovers of music, I shall beg leave to enlarge upon it.

There is no such thing in music as a simple or soli-
tary sound. Every musical note, whether from a
string, a pipe, or a bell, is attended by other smaller
notes which arise out of it. When a string sounds in

76

THE NATURE AND

C[SERM. V.

its whole length, the parts also sound in such sections
or divisions as have a certain proportion to the total
sound. We find by calculation and experiment, that
these measures are harmonious in the greater of them,
but that in the lesser they run into discords. Now
herein is the wisdom and goodness of God manifest ;
that these sounds are so attempered to the sensibility
of the human ear, that we feel all the pleasant with-
out any part of the disagreeable effect. Were the
ear more sensible, or these discords louder, all music
would be spoiled.

There is another providential circumstance in the
theory of sounds, that if a pipe is blown to give its
proper note, a stronger blast will raise it to its octave
(8 notes higher.) This is done by an instantaneous
leap, which if it were done by procession from the one
to the other, as bodies in motion rise or fall, not
music, but a noise would be the consequence, most
disagreeable to the ear ; to which nothing is more of-
fensive than a sound rising or falling by the way of
the whole intermediate space, and not by just inter-
vals ; for that is a principle of noises as they differ
from notes : and a curious principle it is, if this were
a proper occasion for pursuing it. We find music as
a work of God in the constitution of the air ; which
is made capable of proportionate vibrations to delight
us ; and in such degree and manner as to save the
ear from offence and interruption.

Music may be farther traced as the work of God in
the nature of man : for God hath undoubtedly made
man to sing as well as to speak. The gift of speech
we cannot but derive from the Creator ; and the gift
of singing is from the same Author. The faculty, by
which the voice forms musical sounds, is as wonderful
as the flexures of the organs of speech in the articu-

SERM. V.3 EXCELLENCE OF MUSIC.

77

lation of words. The human pipe is of a small diame-
ter, and very short when compared with the pipes of
an organ : yet it will distinctly give the same note with
the pipe of an organ eight feet in length. The move-
able operculum on the pipe of the human throat,
which is imitated by the reed of the organ, has but a
very small range : yet with the contraction and ex-
pansion of the throat, it will utter a scale of seven-
teen degrees, and divide every whole tone into an
hundred parts ; which is such a refinement on me-
chanism as exceeds all description.

But, more than this, man is an instrument of God
in his whole frame. Besides the powers of the voice
in forming, and of the ear in distinguishing musical
sounds, there is a general sense, or sympathetic feel-
ing, in the fibres and membranes of the body, which
renders the whole frame susceptible of musical emo-
tion. Every person strongly touched with music must
be assured that its effect is not confined to the ear, but
is felt all over the frame, and to the inmost affections
of the heart ; disposing us to joy and thankfulness on
the one hand, or to penitential softness and devotion
on the other. Whence it follows, that when words
convey to the mind the same sense as the music does,
and dispose us to the same affection, then the effect
of music is greatest; which consideration at once gives
to vocal the pre-eminence above instrumental music.

It is a very observable experiment in music, that
when one stringed instrument is struck, and another
in tune with it is held upon the palm of the hand, it
will be felt to tremble in all its solid parts : Thus doth
the frame of man feel and answer to instruments of
music, as one instrument answers to another.

Man is to be considered as a musical instrument of
God's forming; he has music in his voice, in his ear,

78

THE NATURE AND

CSERM. V.

and in his whole frame. Hence the Psahnist, when he
calls upon the lute and harp to awake, hath rightly
added, I myself, an instrument which God hath formed
for his own use, will awake right early : I will utter,
and I will feel, such sounds as are worthy of a soul
awakened to the praise and glory of God.

Now we have derived music from its proper origin,
we are to consider the end which it is intended to
answer. The mind of man is subject to certain emo-
tions, which language alone is not sufficient to express;
so it calls in the aid of bodily gestures and musical
sounds, by which it attains to an higher kind of ex-
pression, more adequate to its inward feelings. In
prayer, words alone are not adequate to the affections
of the soul : so the eyes are lifted up to the everlasting
hills, the knees are bent, and the body falls prostrate
upon the dust, to denote the prostration of the mind.
So naturally are the knees bended, and the hands
folded together, when we are imploring the divine
forgiveness, that the word supplication is taken from
thence. In joy and thanksgiving, the tongue is not
content with speaking ; it must aw^ake and utter a
song ; while the feet are also disposed to dance to the
measures of music ; as was the custom in sacred ce-
lebrities of old among the people of God, before the
world and its vanities had engrossed to themselves all
the expressions of mirth and festivity. They have
now left nothing of that kind to religion ; which must
sit by in gloomy solemnity, and see the world, the
flesh, and the devil, assume to themselves the sole
power of distributing social happiness. When the
holy prophet David danced before the ark of God,
INIichal scorned him in her heart, as if he was ex-
posing himself, and robbing the vain world of its
tributary right : for which she was barren to the day

8ERM.

EXCELLENCE OF MUSIC.

79

of her death ; as all they are likely to be in their
hearts, who are either ashamed of the condescension,
or can find nothing chearful and pleasant in the wor-
ship of the God of Israel. However this may be, it
must be admitted, that nothing adds so fully to the
expression of joy, as the sound of instruments ac-
companying the voice.

When the mind is intent upon some great object,
then all the aids of speech are called for. They are,
therefore, never so proper and necessary as in the
praises of God, the best and the greatest. When you
glorify the Lord, (saith the son of Sirach) exalt him
as much as you can ; and when ye exalt him, put forth
all your strength, and he not weary, for you can never
go far enough. Ecclus. xliii. 30. Here music ap-
pears in its proper character : but to call in the as-
sistance of great sounds to magnify little or worthless
things, is absurd and ridiculous. The powers of
speech are more than they deserve : but certainly,
laborious celebration, when dedicated to trifles, is to
the reproach of human judgment. The winds of hea-
ven, and the waves of the ocean, which can transport
the loftiest ships, were not intended to float a cork,
or to drive a feather. When the highest music is ap-
plied to the highest objects, then we act with reason
and propriety, and bring honour to ourselves, while
we are promoting the honour of our Maker. If a
musician has any sense of great things, they must lead
him to higher performances in his art than little things :
they call for an higher sort of expression ; and accord-
ingly we find, in fact, that masters have exceeded
themselves when their talents have been turned to
divine subjects in the service of the church ; in whose
archives are to be found the most sublime and excel-
lent of all musical compositions. What is the sense

80

THE NATURE AND

C^SERM. V.

and subject of the most perfect piece of music in the
Avorld, but the humiliation of man, and the exaltation
of God ? Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, hut to
thy name he the glory ! In truth, there is nearly the
same proportion between the music of the church and
the music of secular assemblies, as between the vene-
rable Gothic aile of the cathedral and the common
chamber ; and there is the like difference in their ef-
fects upon the mind ; for its elevation and enlarge-
ment are better than its levity ; and rapture is above
mirth.

It may have been made a question by some people,
more melancholy than wise, and soured with the prin-
ciples of spurious reformation, whether instrumental
music may be lawfully applied to divine worship. But
it is no question at all. The voices of men are to
speak the praises of God : but not they alone. Every
devout and well-informed mind hears the whole frame
of nature, the world and all things that are therein,
joining in one great instrumental chorus to the glory
of the Creator. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the
earth be glad — let the sea make a noise, and all that
therein is ; let the floods clap their hands — let the
field be joyful, let the vallies sing — let all the trees of
the wood rejoice before the Lord. This is a grand
sentiment, sufficient to overpower and confound all
the sullen objections of enthusiatic melancholy *,
and to awaken the stupidity of indevotion itself. Here
the whole inanimate creation is musical : and the
thought hath been plainly borrowed by our best poet

* Amongst other laws, equally extravagant, established in a
Democratical province of ftmatics in America, we find the follow-
ing : " No man shall keep Christmas, read the Common Prayer,
eat minced pies, or play on any instrument, except the drum, trum-
pet, and Jews-harp.

SERM. V.^ EXCELLENCE OF MUSIC.

81

in his supposed hymn of Adam and Eve in Paradise ;
which will naturally occur to the memory of those
who are acquainted with it. Sounds from inanimate
bodies, such as musical instruments, are, therefore,
undoubtedly to be used in divine worship : and all
ages and nations of the world have admitted them.
On occasion of the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host,
Miriam the prophetess took a timbrel in her hand to
celebrate the glorious triumph of the Lord. In the
service of the tabernacle and temple, all kinds of in-
struments were used, and bands of singers and mu-
sicians were appointed in so great a multitude, that
their sound must have produced an astonishing effect.
A father of the church informs us, that the music of
the temple, on great occasions, from the multitude
of performers, and the elevation of the place, was
heard to the distance of ten miles. That the songs
of Sion were usally accompanied by the harp, ac-
cording to the exhortation in the text, appears from
the 137th Psalm. Even the Heathens, in their sa-
cred festivals, retained the use of instrumental mu-
sic. When the golden image was set up in the plain
of Dura, the signal was given for the act of adoration
by the sound of all kinds of instruments.

In the lowest state of the church, when the suffer-
ings of our blessed Saviour were at hand, himself and
the company of his disciples still followed the custom
of adding music to their devotions ; they sung an
hymn. Pliny, the minister of the emperor Trajan,
t^lls his master how the first Christians made it their
practice to sing hymns to Jesus Christ, as to God. We
are surely not to wonder, if instruments were not
used while the church was in an afflicted and perse-
cuted state : it could have no organs when it had no
public edifices to put them in, supposing them to have

VOL. IV. G

82 THE NATURE AND [[SERM. V.

been then in use : but when the church was supported
and established by the kingdoms of the world, it as-
sumed a like form of worship w ith that which pre-
vailed in the prosperous days of David and Solomon.

We find organs in the church as early as the seventh
century, near 1200 years ago. And here let all the
admirers of the musical art stop awhile to reflect with
gratitude and devotion, that the invention of choral
harmony in parts arose from the Trinitarian worship
of the Christian church. It is certain we have no
music of that form extant in the w^orld, but such as is
Christian ; nor do we read of any ; and had it not
been for the schools of music, established and main-
tained by the church, I will venture to say there had,
at this day, been none of that excellent music with
which all of us are now charmed, and I hope, many
of us edified. Look out of Christendom into the king-
doms of China, Tartary, Turkey, and the regions of
the southern world, and you will discover no music
but what is beggarly and barbarous, fit only to amuse
the ears of children or savages. Every thing that is
great and excellent in this w-ay, hath come down to
us from the Christian church. O holy and blessed
society, w'hich hath thus introduced us to all that we
can know and feel of heaven itself! How shall we
celebrate thee, how shall we cultivate and adorn thee,
according to what we have derived from thee ! Let
others be cold and indifferent, if they will, to our
forms of w orship ; but upon musicians, if they know
themselves, religion hath a particular demand ; for
they would never have been w hat they are, if God in
his infinite goodness, had not brought us to the im-
provements of the Gospel.

If we proceed now to enquire, what are the subjects
to which music may be applied, we shall find the chief

SERM.

EXCELLENCE OF MUSIC.

83

of them set down for us in the 33d Psalm ; where the
righteous are directed to praise the Lord with instru-
ments of music, because his word is true, and all his
works are faithful. The wisdom of his word, and the
w^onders of his works, are, therefore, to be celebrated
in our sacred songs ; he is to be praised as the de-
fender of his people, giving victory to their arms
against their heathen enemies ; feeding, healing, and
delivering out of all danger those who trust in him, as
their help and their shield. To all these subjects
music may be applied ; and this is the use we make of
it in the Te Deum, and all the hymns of the morning
and evening service ; to the words of which such
strains of harmony are adapted in this our Church of
England, that the world cannot shew the like.

But as the mind has another language of sighs and
tears, very different from that of praise and triumph,
so the scale of music affords us a melancholy key with
the lesser third, and a mournful sort of harmony pro-
ceeding by semi-tones, which is exceedingly fine and
solemn, and reaches to the bottom of the soul, as the
lighter sort of music plays upon the top of it. That
musical sounds are applicable to prayer and suppli-
cation and penitential sorrow, none will doubt, who
hears the Anthem, / call and cry ; or that other. Call
to remembrance, O Lord ; by two of our most ancient
and excellent composers * : or that versicle of the
Burial Office, Thou knoivest, Lord, the secrets of our
liearts, by the greatest of modern masters f. Thus
much for the subjects of music.

The form of the Anthem derives itself naturally
from the structure of some of the Psalms, in which we
so frequently find the soliloquy, the dialogue, and the

* Tallis and Farrant.

G 2

f Piircel.

84

THE NATURE AND

QSERM. V.

chorus. Thus, for example : — The Lord hear thee in
the day of trouble, is the voice of a company encou-
raging a priest in his intercession ; who also answers
for himself, and expresses his confidence; Now hioic
I that the Lord heJpeth his anointed: then all join to-
gether in supplication ; Save, Lord, and hear us ivhen
tve call upon thee. The solo, the verse, and the chorus,
in our church music, express all these turns in the sa-
cred poetry, when they are properly applied. The re-
sponsory form of our chanting by alternate singing
in the choir, is agreeable to the heavenly worship of the
seraphim, in the vision of the prophet Isaiah, where
they are represented as crying one to another with
alteniate voices*. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of
Hosts. The version of the Psalms into poetical metre
leads to a sort of Psaknody so plainly measured, as to
be easily comprehended and perfonned by the gene-
rality of the people in a congregation: and simple as
this music may appear, the greatest masters have
thought it worthy of their cultivation, and we have
some di\ine pieces of harmony in this kind. The old
hundredth Psahn, which is ascribed to Martin Luther,
is deservedly admired; the 113th is excellent; so is
the old 81st, the 148th, and many others, which are
judiciously retained in our congregations.

Such is the state, and such the excellence of our
music, in the church of England ; and long may the
sound of our cathedrals and churches go up to hea-
ven, and reach the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

To what hath here been said on the nature, and use,
and state of music, I wish it were in my power to add
something effectual toward the reformation of some
abuses ; for such will find admission into all societies.

* Altemis dicetis, amant alterna Camaenas. Virg.

SERM. V.]]

EXCELLENCE OF MUSIC.

85

through negligence in some, and want of judgment
in others.

As God is the greatest and best of beings, and it is
the highest honour of man in this life to serve him,
every thing relating to his worship should be ordered
with decency, propriety, reverence, and affection. /
will sing with the understanding, saith the Apostle : so
should we sing, and so should we perform, in all our
approaches to the throne of Grace ; our music should
be the music of wise men and of Christians. No
lame, or maimed, or defective sacrifice was permitted
to be offered in the temple of God ; who, being the
first proprietor of all things, hath a claim to the best
of every thing, and consequently to the best music,
performed in the best manner we are able.

Church music has a proper character of its own,
which is more excellent than that of secular, or pro-
fane music, and should always be preserved. With-
out the restraints of discretion, wisdom, and authority,
the art of man is apt to run out into excess and im-
propriety ; and while it affects to be too fine, and too
powerful, becomes ridiculous. What is it but vanity
that betrays the poet into bombast, the orator into
buffoonery, the composer of music into useless curio-
sity, the performer into ineffectual rapidity and flou-
rish ? Thus do men always fail of their end, when
they think more about themselves than about their
subject. Queen Elizabeth, therefore, took what care
she could by her injunctions, that affectation, which
spoils all other things, should not be permitted to
spoil the music of the Church; and it hath been
rightly observed, that the music from the Reforma-
tion to the Restoration was more plain and solemn
in its style than that which succeeded ; though it
still preserved great excellence.

86

THE NATURE AND

[[SERM. V.

The performer on the organ, who for the time he is
play ing by himself, hath the minds of the congregation
under his hand, should take care not to mislead the
ignorant into vain fancies, nor to offend the j udicious
with unseasonable levity. In the tone of the diapasons
of the church organ, there is nothing noisy and mili-
tary, nothing weak and effeminate, but a majestic
sweetness, which is fittest to dispose the mind of the
hearer to a devout and holy temper. If the diapasons
could speak in articulate words, there is not a text in
the Bible which they would not utter with dignity and
reverence ; and hence their music is of excellent use
to prepare the people for the hearing of the Scrip-
ture. Many here present must have felt the effect
of it : and I hope I shall give no offence if I add it
as a suspicion that they who do not feel the power
of slow harmony upon the organ, have not the right
sense of musical sounds. The organist should, there-
fore, by all means cultivate that style of harmony
which is proper to this noble capacity of his instru-
ment.

The Psalmody of our country churches is universally
complained of, as very much out of order, and want-
ing regulation in most parts of the kingdom. The au-
thority of the minister is competent to direct such mu-
sic as is proper, and to keep the people to the ancient
forms. A company of persons, who appoint themselves
under the name of the singers, assume an exclusive
right, which belongs not to them but to the congrega-
tion at large ; and they often make a very indiscreet use
of their liberty ; neglecting the best old Psalmody, till
the people forget it, and introducing new tunes, which
the people cannot learn ; some of them without science,
without simplicity, without solemnity ; causing the
serious to frown, and the inconsiderate to laugh. I
15

SERM. V.3

EXCELLENCE OF MUSIC.

87

have frequently heard such wild airs as were not fit to
be brought into the church : through the ignorance of
the composers, who were not of skill to distinguish
what kind of melody is proper for the church, and
what for the theatre, and what for neither. If any
Anthems are admitted during the time of divine ser-
vice, country choristers should confine themselves to
choral harmony, in which they may do very well ; and
our church abounds with full anthems by the best
masters *. No solos should ever be introduced with-
out an instrument to support them; and besides, these
require a superior degree of expression to make them
tolerable. The Psalmodists of country choirs may
with care and practice sing well in time and tune ; and

* We labour under one inconvenience in respect to our Psalmody,
which might be removed. Our Psalm tunes have undergone so
many experiments, that there is great diversity in copies and
editions, some of them very false and bad ; whence it happens too
often, that the organist plays one way, while the congregation sings
another, and a confusion arises which should always be avoided. I
have known even the 1 00th Psalm tune, common as it is, materially
affected by the blunders of incompetent editors. An eminent master
(the late Dr. Boyce) furnished our cathedrals with a correct and
valuable copy of the best Services and Anthems from the Reforma-
tion to the beginning of the present century. It is to be wished that
all the Psalm tunes of the first merit and authority were published in
the like complete form by as faithful an editor. An original edition
by Ravenscroft, himself the greatest author of our ancient Psalmody,
was published in four parts, but is rarely to be met with, and, in its
present form, is not very intelligible to common singers. To render
the old Psalm tunes more generally useful in congregations, a learned
friend of mine hath published a very good collection of them in
three parts very lately, under the title of. Select Portions of the
Psalms of David, for the Use of Parish Churches : and though I am
precluded from saying any thing in praise of this edition, I shall ven-
ture to recommend it as the most correct and convenient work of the
kind. I am witness also, how rapidly it hath advanced the just per-
formance of Psalmody in a parish of my own.

88

THE NATURE AND

[^SERM. V.

in choral music, or music of several parts, the want of
due expression is compensated by the fulness of the
harmony : but they can never attain to the speakhtg of
music without being taught. There is an utterance
in singing, as in preaching or praying, which must
be learned from the judgment of those who excel in it.
A man can no more sing a solo for the church without
a musical education, than a clown can speak upon the
stage for a learned audience in a theatre.

When we consider the performance of sacred music
as a dictij, much is to be learned from it. If music is
a gift of God to us for our good, it ought to be used
as such, for the improvement of the understanding, and
the advancement of devotion. Services, Anthems, and
Psalms should be understood as lessons of purity in
life and manners. Rejoice in the Lord, O %je righ-
teous, saith the Psalmist, for it becometh well the just
to be thankful. What ? shall we praise God with our
lips, while we blaspheme him with our lives ? Praise,
saith the Son of Sirach, is not seemly in the mouth of a
sinner, for it was not sent him of the L,ord. Praise to
the Lord is proper to those only who derive blessings
from the Lord ; it is impertinent and false when it
comes from those who are never the better for him.
O give thanks unto the Lord, for lie is good, for his
mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the
Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of
the enemy : but let not them say so, who have given
themselves up to a state of captivity under sin and
folly. Some there are, who are very loud and forward
in singing, while they are insensible of the greatness
and the value of those subjects which our music cele-
brates ; like the souiiding brass of a trumpet, which
makes a great noise, but feels nothing. Others there
are, who are not chargeable with this error : loose.

SERM, V.^

EXCELLENCE OF MUSIC.

89

irreligious people, who have an absolute dislike and
contempt for divine music : and they are right ; for it
would carry them out of their element. But God for-
bid that we should be where they are : no ; let us
keep our music, and amend our lives. It must be
our own fault, if our music doth not contribute to our
reformation, and we may have it to answer for in com-
mon with the other means of improvement which we
have abused. All our church music tends to keep up
our acquaintance with the Psalms, those divine com-
positions, of which none can feel the sense, as music
makes them feel it, without being edified. The sacred
harp of David will still have the effect it once had
upon Saul ; it will quiet the disorders of the mind,
and drive away the enemies of our peace.

Another excellent use of music, is for the increase
of charity ; and this in more senses than one. When
Christians unite their voices in the praises of God,
their hearts become more united to one another.
Harmony and Charity never do better than when they
meet together ; they are of the same heavenly origi-
nal ; they illustrate and promote each other. For as
different voices join together in the same harmony,
and are all necessary to render it complete ; so are all
Christians necessary to one another. The high and
the low all meet together in the church of Christ, and
form one body. As those who perform their different
parts in a piece of music, do all conspire to the same
effect ; so are we all members one of another ; and as
such, are to be unanimous in the performance of our
several duties to the praise and glory of God. And as
a greater heat arises from a collection of a greater
number of rays from the sun ; so more Christians,
united in charity and harmony, are happier than fewer.
The most critical judges of music must deny their

90

THE NATURE AND

CSERM. V.

own feelings, if they do not allow that the effect of
music is wonderfully increased by the multiplication
of voices. Indeed the principle is attested and con-
firmed by the grand performances of the present age,
so greatly and skilfully conducted of late years to
the astonishment of the hearers. Magnitude of sound
will strike the mind as well as sweetness of harmony;
and this is one reason why we are all so affected with
the sound of thunder, to which the sound of a great
multitude may well be compared. Thus it comes to
pass in the union of Christians : the joy and peace of
every individual increases in proportion as charity is
diffused and multiplied in the church.

But there is another sense in which charity is pro-
moted by music. This happens on those occasions,
when music is promoted with a charitable intention.
Very considerable sums are raised from the contribu-
tions of those who come to be treated with sacred
harmony. The poor are fed, the sick are healed, and
many good works are carried forward. Blessed be the
art, which from the hands and hearts of the wealthy
and the honourable, can draw relief for the poor and
needy ! The widows and orphans of the poor clergy
of this church were the first objects relieved through
the medium of church music : and let us hope they
will rather be gainers than losers by all improvements
in this way : for they who are related to the church
have, undoubtedly, a priority of claim upon the music
of the church.

1 am now, lastly, to remind both my hearers and
myself, that all our observations upon this subject will
be to no purpose, unless from the use of divine music,
and its effect upon us, we learn to aspire to the felici-
ty of heaven, of which it gives us a foretaste. While
we are in this lower state, there is no vehicle like

SERM. V.'2

EXCELLENCE OF MUSIC.

91

sound for lifting the soul upwards toward the eternal
source of glory and harmony. We may conceive
the spirit of man as riding on the wings of Psalmody to
the celestial regions, whereto its own powers could
never transport it. A great admirer and practitioner
of sacred music, who was also a man of great piety and
devotion, was present at a grand church performance,
with which he felt his mind so wrapt and elevated,
that in describing the sensation afterwards, he made
use of this emphatical expression — I thought I should
have gone out of the body*. O what a place would this
world be, were it our only employment thus to be ris-
ing upwards towards heaven, to visit God with our
hearts and affections, adoring his greatness, and de-
lighted with his goodness ! but this we can attain to
only by uncertain intervals ; the corruptible body will
soon recal the soul from its heavenly flights. How
high soever it may mount, on certain occasions, it
must descend again to the wants and weaknesses and
sorrows of mortality ; as the lark, from its loftiest song
in the air, drops to its lowly residence upon the ground.
However, what we do enjoy must make us wish for
more. What then have we to do, but to fit ourselves
for that society, which praise God without interrup-
tion in his own glorious presence, and rest not day
or night ?

When that heavenly scenery is described to us in
the Revelation — " I heard, as it were, the voice of a
great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and
as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying. Alleluia, for
the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ! let us be glad
and rejoice, and give honour to him !" Who can read
these words without a desire to add his own voice to
that multitude, and to sing as a member of that king-

* The late Rev. Sir John Dolben.

92 THE NATURE AND EXCELLENCE OF MUSIC. [[SERM. V.

dom, in which the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth !
How must the soul be filled with that immense chorus
of men and angels, to which the loudest and mightiest
thunder shall add dignity without terror, and be re-
duced to the temper of an accompaniment !

God of his infinite mercy give us grace so to pray,
and so to sing, and so to live, in this short time of our
probation, that we may be admitted into the celestial
choir, where with angels and archangels, and with all
the company of heaven, and with sounds as yet un-
heard and unconceived, we may laud and magnify
the adorable name of God ; ascribing to the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, into whose name and
worship we were baptized upon earth, all honour,
glory, power, might, majesty and dominion for ever
and ever. Amen.

SERMON VI

FEAR GOD. 1 PETER II. 17.

Man is led to the fear of God by a wise considera-
tion of his power in the creation and preservation of
the world, and the justice with which he governs it
now, and will judge it hereafter.

By this fear man is distinguished from the heasts
of the field ; which are fearfully and wonderfully
made, but have no apprehension of the power which
formed them : they are fed by the hand of God, but
are insensible of his bounty : they are governed by
him, and observe his laws, but know not their law-
giver. But the view of man extends to that invisible
power which made and sustains the world : he sees
that hand which filleth all things living with plen-
teousness ; and expects retribution from that just
Judge, who knows the secrets of all hearts, and is
no respecter of persons.

The brute creation is subject to the dominion of
men ; but man himself, being the subject of God, is
never to proceed in any matter, as if God had no
concern with it. When we think and live by this
rule, we are men, properly so called ; because we are
under the influence of a fear unknown to irrational
creatures ; and are exalted to our proper dignity, as
subjects of the kingdom of God.

94

THE REASONABLENESS AND [[SERM. VI.

Fear is a servile passion, when it has an unworthy
object; but it becomes honourable when God is the
object of it, and is the test of the human character.
When fear is understood in a more general sense, and
qualified Avith prudence, it is the passion which dis-
tinguishes men from brutes, and wise men from fools.
The ignorant fear nothing, because they know no-
thing; and some people are mistaking and offending
all their lives, because they never know when to fear,
nor what to be afraid of : so that the want of fear
argues a want of wit in common life, as it undoubt-
edly argues a want of grace in religion.

Nothing but the fear of God can render a man fit
to live in the world as a member of society. No
penalties, which human authority can inflict, lay any
obligation upon the conscience ; but he that fears
God will consider himself as the servant and subject
of God, and consequently he will be true and just,
independent of all temporal considerations.

To believe in God, and to fear him, ought to be
the same thing with all mankind : but experience
shews us, that many who would be ashamed to deny
God openly, do not live as if they feared him. Let
me, therefore, point out to you some of those consi-
derations which produce the fear of God in the heart
of man.

The first of these is the consideration of his
power, as it is manifested to us in the natural world.
Who can observe the glorious lights of heaven in
their wonderful order ; the changes of the seasons,
the operations of the elements, the structure of
man, without being filled with a sense of the divine
power ? They shall fear thee, saitli the Psalmist,
as long as the sun and moon endureth. The lights
of heaven must be blotted out of it, before we can

SERM. VI,] NECESSITY OF FEARING GOD.

95

resist the necessary inference, that the Maker of
them is the first and greatest object of our fear and
reverence.

We go forward with this argument, and consider
God as the governor of the world ; directing the ele-
ments for our good, or interrupting the course of them
for our punishment. What force of language can
imprint such an awe upon the mind, as a sight of that
solemn and majestic appearance of the sky, which is
preparatory to a storm of thunder ? When the clouds,
as if they were summoned by a divine command, are
gathered together from different quarters of the hea-
ven; when the air is dark above, and the earth below
is in silent expectation of the voice that is to follow,
and fearful of that fire, which gives us an assurance
and foretaste of what shall happen at the destruction
of the world. Well might it be said by EliJm, in the
book of Job — At this my heart trembleth, and is
moved out of its place. The man who feels nothing
upon such an occasion, has no reason to value himself
upon his courage : such courage is no honour to any
man : it is not fortitude, but stupidity. In different
minds the effect will be different : in some, the ter-
rors of guilt will be awakened ; in others, a pious
fear and a submissive veneration, by which they are
brought nearer to God, and become better acquainted
with their own sins and infirmities.

The providence of God in the government of states,
and the changes of empire, is another consideration
which will instruct us farther in the fear of him, by
shewing us how we are subject to his power, and de-
pendent upon his will.

The mighty monarchy of Babylon was raised up
for a scourge to other nations : it was an axe in the
hand of Providence, and hewed down other powers.

96

THE REASONABLENESS AND [^SERM. VI.

to exalt itself; while the invisible hand, which direct-
ed it, was turning it to other purposes. It was made
instrumental in punishing the Jews for their idolatry;
detaining them under a long and miserable captivity,
till they were cured of their inclination to idols : and
when this end was answered, and the Jews were to be
replaced in their own land, the power of this great
kingdom departed from it in one night. As soon as
the sentence was passed, it was executed on the pro-
fane Belshaxzar ; and the particulars of this catas-
trophe are preserved by a celebrated heathen histo-
rian. Cyrus, to whom the kingdom was transferred,
used his authority soon afterwards for the rebuilding
of the temple of J erusalem, and the restoration of the
Jewish oeconomy.

When God w^as about to send the Christian religion
into the world, which was to be spread into every part
of it, the Roman empire increased to its utmost gran-
deur, and the form of it was changed from republican
to monarchical, amongst a people, who by education,
natural temper and principle, were the most averse to
monarchy of any upon earth. The country of Judea,
the stage on which the Gospel was to make its first
appearance, was become a Roman province, governed
by Roman magistrates, and subject to Roman laws
and customs : whence it came to pass, that our Sa-
viour, Jesus Christ, suffered death upon a cross, after
the Roman manner ; his preachers were sent about
the world, over which the Roman jurisdiction was
extended ; and the Gospel at length became the esta-
blished religion of the empire, by virtue of the im-
perial edicts, in opposition to all the power and in-
terests of paganism. When these things were accom-
plished, and the designs of Providence were answered,
this mighty empire was broken into smaller inde-

SERM. VI.]] NECESSITY OF FEARING GOD.

97

pendent kingdoms, and the name of it is now nearly
lost in the world.

The Roman power answered another remarkable
purpose in the hand of God, for the punishment of
the Jews under their last and great apostasy. They
betrayed and crucified their Saviour, lest the Romans
should come and tahe away their place and nation ;
maliciously exclaiming, that they had no king but
Ccesar : therefore, these very Romans were the peo-
ple appointed of God to drive them out of their land ;
the power of Caesar, to whom they had given the
preference, was turned against them ; and they who
had sold their Saviour were, themselves, sold into
captivity and bondage ; thirty of them, as history
saith, for one piece of silver.

Their rejection of the Gospel and the consequent
judgment of God upon them, are thus represented in
one of the parables of Christ — Theij took his servants,
and entreated them spitefully, and slew them: hut
wJien the king heard thereof he was wrath ; and he
sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers,
and hurnt up their city. When the Jews had filled
up the measure of their sins, the Roman armies were
sent out by the Divine direction, to inflict the ven-
geance due to them. Their city was burned, their
temple levelled with the ground : their land is now
possessed by aliens and infidels ; themselves are wan-
dering about the world, without any home, and their
backs are bowed down under the burthens they carry
upon them ; they are mixed with all nations, but in-
corporated with none ; they sojourn with all people,
yet still differ from all, in their customs, and even in
their looks ; they are marked out like Cain, as va-
gabonds and murderers, and are miraculously pre-
served for a lesson to all that behold them : so that

VOL. IV. H

98

THE REASONABLENESS AND [^SERM. VI.

a man can hardly look upon a Jew without exclaim-
ing— Thou persnadest me to be a Christian. Slay
them not, said the prophet, lest my people forget it,
hut scatter them abroad : for thence it will be under-
stood in all succeeding ages, that God is terrible in
his judgments ; that none can forsake him, without
being lost to themselves ; and that obedience to his
law can alone secure his protection to any other na-
tion.

The Jews are held forth as the most striking ex-
amples of national sin, and national punishment ; but
they are not singular : other nations have had their
share, when their pride and wickedness have pro-
voked the divine displeasure : and some would grow
wise, in time, from the example of others, unless it
were found to be true, by fatal experience, that men
become infatuated in their understandings, when
they are devoted to destruction.

If the history of this kingdom were to be written,
with all the truth and impartiality of inspiration, and
effects compared justly with their causes ; we should
see how God, at sundry times, and in divers manners,
hath interposed to visit us ; sometimes raising us to
honour, in the sight of those that are round about
us, and indulging us with the blessings of peace and
plenty ; at other times giving us up to be devoured
among ourselves, when a spirit of faction and dis-
obedience has been let loose, to set us at variance,
and make us a scourge to one another. When a
sense of past evils shall have lost its effect upon us,
then the same turbulent spirit will again prevail, to
undermine our greatness, and render us weak and
contemptible in the sight of the nations that are
round about us.

Upon the whole, so manifest is the power of God

SERM. VI.^ NECESSITY OF FEARING GOD.

99

in the creation and direction of the natural world ;
so remarkable the interposition of his providence in
the revolutions of kingdoms ; that he who cannot
thence infer the necessity of fearing him, and the
wisdom of being subject to him, has neither the faith
of a Christian, nor the understanding of a man.
And now, if to the foregoing considerations we add
this, the last and greatest of all ; that the same God,
who visits us here in this life, is to judge us in ano-
ther ; all other fear will resolve itself into the fear of
him ; according to that precept of our blessed Sa-
viour, / will forewarn you ivhom you shall fear : fear
him, which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast
into hell ; yea, I say unto you, fear him. But then
you are to understand with all this, that our religion
is not intended to make life melancholy and misera-
ble, but rather to make us happier by making us
wiser, and to keep us in safety by bringing us nearer
unto God. It teaches the necessity of a reasonable
fear ; the wisdom of a voluntary subjection ; a fear
which brings security, and a subjection which leads
to liberty.

If, after what I have said, there should be any here
present, who have not the fear of God, and will not
be persuaded to it ; I must warn them of one thing,
which perhaps they have not considered. I give
them to know, then, that no man born into this world
can live without fear. If he does not fear God, he
shall not escape fearless, as he thinks ; for he shall
certainly fear something else. The fear of God
would do him good, and make him happy : but if he
does not fear God, he shall fall into some other fear,
which will do him no good at all, but haunt him like
an evil spirit, to make his enjoyments worthless, and
his life miserable.

H 2

100

THE REASONABLENESS AND [^SERM. VI.

You are to observe, then, that he who does not
fear God, shall fear death. When God is banished
from the mind, the hope of immortality goes with
him, and the fear of death prevails : and death being
an enemy whom no man can cheat, or conquer, or
avoid ; the mind that is apprehensive of him falls un-
der a sort of bondage, for which the whole world has
no remedy.

When a man does not fear God, he is possessed
with a servile fear of the world; he becomes the slave
of fashion, in his mind, his body, and his morals : he
dreads nothing so much as to be thought little and
insignificant, by those who give laws to the fashion-
able part of society. He looks up to the opinion of
the world with all that anxious reverence with which
a Christian looks to the word of God. How many
do we meet with, who are miserable, unless they are
seen where the world is, and go where the world
goes! How many renounce their judgment, or con-
ceal it, and that with respect to the greatest sub-
jects, if it contradicts the current of the day !

You are to consider farther, that he who does not
fear God shall ieox jioverty. The fear of God gives
a man the hope of an inheritance in another world ;
therefore he is easy if he has but little property in
this. But where this world is all a man hath, and all
he is to expect, he will fly from poverty with the loss
of his conscience, and at the hazard of his soul, if he
is in the higher class of life : if he is a profligate of
the lowest order, he will expose himself daily to the
iron hand of justice, for the sake of some stolen pos-
session, and all his enjoyments are embittered with
the terrors of the halter and the gibbet.

All cases are not equally bad : yet I may venture
to pronounce, that although many do not entirely

10

SERM. VI.]3 NECESSITY OF FEARING GOD.

101

forget God, yet, in proportion as the fear of God is
wanting in the heart, in that same proportion will
these other fears enter in and dwell there : and a
thoughtful and sensible person can no more enjoy him-
self in such company, than if he were daily beset with
ruffians and murderers. All the base passions which
murder a man's soul, murder his peace at the same
time : and this is what he gets by a dislike to the fear
of God. Therefore, as it is the worst of folly to live
without the fear of God, it must be the beg'mning of
wisdom to have it, and be directed by it. But folly
in this world leads to misery in another ; which is the
most dreadful consideration of all. Who can express
or conceive the amazement of those, who have lived
here without the fear of God, when they shall see the
day of vengeance approaching, and all the terrors of
the last j udgment gathering round about them ! Then
shall that fear of God come upon them, which now
for a while they can put away : and the hearts of
those, who now seem to care for nothing, shall sink
and melt away within them. What would they then
give, if they had but been wise enough to attend to
instruction while the day of grace lasted ? What will
then become of their proud speeches, and their looks
of defiance ? when they shall remember their folly in
the bitterness of their souls, and be afraid to lift up
their heads towards heaven, where their Judge is now
revealed to every eye, no longer to be despised and in-
sulted, but attended with millions of the heavenly
host ; seated on a throne rendered majestic and ter-
rible, with dark clouds and flames of fire.

For the present hour, we talk of these things, as
distant from us ; yet when they shall be displayed
before our sight, the interval between this time and
that will seem but as a moment. What are wc then

102

THE REASONABLENESS, &C. [^SERM. VI.

to do, but to set the Lord alway he/ore us ; who, if
he is our fear now, he will be our defence then : and
in the mean time, we shall find our fears of all other
things lessening every day, and our hopes increasing;
till an acquaintance with God shall give us a foretaste
of the peace and liberty of that glorious kingdom, in
which we shall serve him without fear, in holiness and
righteousness.

SERMON VII.

HONOUR THE KING. 1 PETER II. 17.

The precept in the text, which at this time deserves
the serious consideration of all Christian people in this
kingdom, is founded on that common doctrine of the
Scripture, that kings and rulers have their authority
from God, and that upon this account they are to
receive honour from men.

To prevent all mistakes, give me leave to observe,
in the first place, that it can never hurt kings and
rulers to tell them so. Are the clergy the worse men,
when they consider themselves as the servants of God ?
May they do as they please, because they are the
ministers and stewards of a Master, who is no respecter
of persons, and from whom, if they fail, they will re-
ceive the greater condemnation ? That would be a
strange inference : and the same observation is ap-
plicable to civil governors. All power being originally
inherent in God as his own property, power is a
talent committed by him to man : and as the abuse
of this is more extensive in its ill effects than the
abuse of any private endowment, it must be strictly
accounted for ; therefore this doctrine can do no
harm : there is no flattery in it ; it is a fearful consi-
deration.

With respect to ourselves, the consequence is plain;

104 THE BENEFITS OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE. [^SERM. VII.

that if kings rule by an authority from God, it must be
our duty to give them honour : in treating of which,
I shall endeavour to convince you, that it is also our
wisdom, and our interest, as a people.

Our duty is evident from the Scripture; which de-
clares that government is the ordinance of God ; that
the ruler is the minister of God ; that the sword in his
hand, is a sword of divine justice ; and that the wrath,
executed by it, is the wrath of God against those who
transgress his laws. Government must therefore be
supported, that the Imvs of God may be executed:
and this is one reason why rebellion against govern-
ment is an offence against God himself, because its
tendency is to set us loose from the observation of
his laws. That charge of Jehosaphat to the judges
of Israel, is upon all others in the like authority ;
tahe heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, hut
for the Lord ivho is with you in judgment. And the
same charge will apply itself to the people : " take
heed what ye do, for your obedience is not to man,
but to the Lord."

The primitive Christians placed civil obedience
among the first articles of social duty ; and we cannot
refuse to Christian princes that honour which they
allowed to heathen emperors. / exhort, said the
apostle, that first of all supplications, prayers, in-
tercessions, and giving of thanlts, he made for all men;
foi' Mngs, and for all that are in authority, that we
7nay lead a quiet and a peaceahle life in all godliness
and honesty. When the enemies of the Christians
had no evil thing to say, they endeavoured to make
them odious to the state, as people of suspicious
politics, the friends of another king, whose interests
w^ere not consistent with those of the empire. But
this scandal was confuted by that amiable submission

SERM. VII.]] THE BENEFITS OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE. 105

and quietness which they never failed to observe
towards all that were in authority over them.

Our duty, then, is clear from such precepts as can-
not be evaded, and such examples as are taken from
the purest times of the Gospel, when obedience to
heathen persecutors was a trial far more severe to flesh
and blood, than the practice of common loyalty to
the friends and protectors of Christianity.

The wisdom of adhering to this duty, is the next
thing to be considered. And surely it must be the
wisdom of men enlightened by the word of God, and
blessed with great improvements of science, to pro-
ceed on true principles ; to walk in that light which
they have, and not to emulate the darkness of hea-
thens, or the confusion and rapine of barbarians.
The Scripture teaches us, that there is no power hut of
God ; that, as he is the maker of the world, all the
property of the world is originally vested in him ;
that kings hold of him ; and the people of their kings ;
and our laws recognize this doctrine, by making all
property revert to the crown, upon any act of treason
or rebellion. Some embrace another opinion, that
there is no power hut of dhe people ; which position
being contrary to that of the Scripture, they cannot
both be true. The question about pov/er may easily
be solved, if we do but distinguish rightly between
physical or natural poiver, and power of authority.
It can never be denied, that an armed multitude is
superior in physical power to any defenceless man,
with all his honours and titles about him ; as smoke
and ashes, shot upwards from the bowels of the earth,
can put out the light of the sun : but in this there is
no power of authority; and it may be turned against
all the law, and all the reason in the world. A gang
of robbers have power over the helpless traveller in

106 THE BENEFITS OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE. ^SERM. VII.

the forest, and he is obliged to submit to it at the
peril of his life : but still there is no authority ; no-
thing but brutal force ; and it matters not how large
we suppose the gang to be ; for its properties are no
more changed by its magnitude, than the properties of
a circle, which are always the same. Their power is
absolute force ; and the authority by which they ex-
ercise it, is from themselves, against all the settlements
of law, and all the rights of j)ossession. Allow but
the force of those two commandments. Thou shalt do
no murder, Thou shalt not steal, and then all this sort
of power vanishes.

Such, however, is the power of the people ; against
which, therefore, every government is armed and de-
fended ; and without such a defence, there could be
neither property nor security in the world ; nothing
but violence and rapine, which are sure to prevail, as
soon as the people, under some wolvish unprincipled
leaders of sedition, attempt to take power into their
own hands. All liberty then takes its flight ; the li-
berty of acting, of speaking, and perhaps of breath-
ing ; unless the breath be applied to blow the flames
of sedition.

My brethren, let me speak freely to you upon this
subject : power is a weapon of so sharp an edge,
that mistakes about the nature and exercise of it are
perilous indeed, and the bad consequences inexpressi-
ble : therefore, as we value our own security, let us
always distinguish between power and authority.
The storm hath power to blow ; the waves of the sea
have power to rage ; the lightning hath power to
strike ; the fire hath power to consume ; but all this
power tends only to destruction : the power which
God givetli is for edification, and not for destruction.
It is to build up society and preserve it, not to destroy

SERM. VIlO THE BENEFITS OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE. 107

it. He hath appointed the sun to rule over the day,
the moon and the stars to govern the night : all the
nations of the earth enjoy light, and peace, and hap-
piness under their dominion, and their authority is
confined by a law which cannot be broken. But if
we should become so insensible of this blessing, as to
argue for a lawless power in the elements, and they
were to be let loose upon us in consequence of our
mistake ; we should then discover, that it is the
wisdom as well as the happiness of man, to submit to
the ordinance of God. They are Ms laws which are
executed in a state ; and they can be executed by no
authority but his own : if by an authority from the
people, that would exalt the people into the place of
God. Every state must have power of life and
death : but no individual hath any such power over
himself ; and consequently, he cannot give what he
hath not : such a power can be communicated only
by that God, in whose hand are the lives of all man-
kind ; to whom alone belongs that sword of justice,
which is borne by the magistrate : who being the
giver, is also the Lord of Life ; and to suppose it
otherwise, is to derive power by ascent instead of de-
scent ; which is contrary to the order of nature in all
other cases whatsoever. Christians, who, according
to the doctrine of their religion, derive all power from
tibove, from whence every good and perfect gift cometh,
go as high as they can, up to God himself: they
who derive it from beneath, must go as low as they
can, even down to the father of all that tumultuous
rage and disorder, which distinguishes the power of
the people. When this power is supposed to include
authority, it is so contrary to fact, to reason, and to
revelation, that it is seldom taken up, but by those,
who wish to raise a storm against the state, and en-

108 THE BENEFITS OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE. [[SERM. VII.

courage the waves to beat, because they have hopes
of plunder from the wreck. Such a power was, in-
deed, admitted and highly esteemed by those fanciful
Greeks and Romans of later times, who, having de-
parted from their ancient principles, were torn to
pieces with factions, and amused themselves with a
vain search after that philosopher's stone in politics,
a constitution where all might govern, and none be
governed; till their balancings and fluctuations pro-
duced an arbitrary government, and brought them all
under the yoke of military power ; the natural con-
sequence of such experiments. When a nation is
grown restless with dreams of despotism, jealous of
all authority, and agitated with contentions for power,
on the ground of natural right against positive law ;
then we may know that the desolation thereof is nigh ;
that it must either fall under the lawless power of
some intestine faction, or be reduced to the mortifi-
cation of looking on, while its lands are divided and
parcelled out by a foreign force ; which hath hap-
pened lately in a country of Europe, where liberty
was professed, whilst the worst sort of tyranny was
practised.

But it is also our interest, as well as our duty and
wisdom, to honour the king, and support that power
by which we are protected. Government was not
ordained to enslave the world, but to preserve the
peace of society, to defend the innocent from the
violent and injurious, to distinguish and secure pro-
perty, and to prevent the people from falling a prey
to one another, as they never fail to do in times of
rebellion. When the restraint of government hinders
the will of one man from being a law to another, by
maintaining a common rule of action for all, it is
the greatest blessing upon earth. There are in every

SERM. VIlJ THE BENEFITS OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE. 109

iLition turbulent spirits, who would permit no law to
prevail but their own will ; and if there were nothing
to hinder them, would set the world on fire to make
themselves considerable. Tribute is, therefore, due
from every people, in return for the protection they
receive : and if the government of the most absolute
tyrant is better than the force of a lawless multitude ;
that is, if one bad man without law is a less evil than
an hundred thousand, the purchase (dear as it may
be) is certainly worth the price to those who are
blessed with a regular establishment.

Our common interest will oblige us to consider,
that the strength of every government against its fo-
reign enemies depends on the affection of its own
natural subjects ; so that they are its worst enemies,
who endeavour to lessen that affection ; for when a
nation is out of humour with its governors, and care-
less of its establishment, it is of course weak and de-
fenceless. Great things may be done, when the people
are united with one heart and mind under the per-
son of their prince. How small and contemptible an
insect is the bee ? yet, when the whole swarm is as-
sembled, and kept together by an attachment to their
leader, they are invincible ; neither man nor beast
can stand against them. Every loyal nation hath the
same advantage : but then we are to remember, that
the union, in which their strength consists, is the gift
of God ; who maketh men to be of one mind for
their common preservation.

Under this head of i4iterest, our lioyioiir is concern-
ed : for the honour of the people is involved in that of
their king. We must judge of states as we do of fami-
lies. Does it not add to the reputation of any family,
when there is a good understanding among the mem-
bers of it ; especially if the father of it is well esteemed.

110 THE BENEFITS OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE. [^SERM. VII.

and treated with veneration by those who are under
him, his children and his servants ? But it is a sure
sign, that the family is either very wicked, or very vul-
gar, when a proper deference is wanting from the chil-
dren to the parents ; the disgrace of their ill behaviour
returns with double weight upon themselves ; accord-
ing to that admonition of the son of Sirach, Glory
not in the dishonour of thy father ; for thy fatJier's
disho7iour is no glory unto thee : for the glory of a
man is from the honour of his father. "Whatever ac-
cusation there may be ground for, it is w^eak and cruel
in a son to take it up : he should leave that to the
worst enemies of the family, whose malice is waiting
for the ruin of them all. But if the father is virtuous
and honourable, then the son is a wretch, who can de-
light himself with the dishonour of such a parent.
All this is applicable to those subjects, wheresoever
they are to be found, who search for accusations, who
feed upon grievances, who shout for joy on any dis-
advantage to their native country, and publish its
distress to all the world, making ten times more of it
than is true. If duty could not restrain such, policy
and common sense should be sufficient to guard them
from so unnatural and ridiculous a crime.

To conclude ; we live in a country, where the fear
of God, and the honour of the king, are inculcated by
the laws of the state, and all the forms and doctrines
of the church. Let us be thankful to God that they
are still preserved to us : and that our profession is
such, as duty, wisdom, interest, and honour, will never
fail to recommend. There is nothing to seduce us
from the practice of this profession, but false ideas of
liberty, Avith which unthinking minds are easily capti-
vated ; and complaints of slavery and grievances, with
which weak and unbridled tempers are easily terrified.

SERM. VII. 3 THE BENEFITS OP CIVIL OBEDIENCE. Ill

Against the ill effects of these, give me leave to ob-
serve, not as a politician (for I do not aspire to that
character) but as a minister of Jesus Christ; that there
is no true liberty but in the service of God ; and that
the greatest of all grievances is sin, as fatal to societies
as to individuals. The only free men, properly so
called, are they whom the Son of God hath made free
from the bondage of sin : the slavery is all on the other
side ; with those who are subject to their own turbulent
lusts and passions, by which they are as effectually
enslaved as the wretch who is chained down to drudge
at the oar all the days of his life : his servants ye are
to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedi-
ence unto righteousness. Pride, vanity, avarice, envy,
hatred, ambition, extravagance, and impatience : these
are the tyrants of the children of disobedience, who,
while they are under the dominion of such masters,
are generally the most forward to hold out the temp-
tation of liberty, and promise it to all their followers ;
but the beggar may as well promise crowns and scep-
ters. Of such men St. Peter gives us this character,
that they speulievil of dignities ; and while they ^;;-o-
mise liberty are themselves the servants of corrxiption.
Tied and bound with the chain of their vices, and
probably of their debts, they commence arbiters of
freedom ; and would have us believe, what great
quietness we should enjoy, and what very worthy
deeds would be done by their providence.

It is a mistake of the worst tempers only to sup-
pose that liberty consists in contradiction ; for if that
were true, then the more unreasonable the contradic-
tion the greater the liberty. Every society is a body,
the members of which being appointed to different
offices, should all conspire to the same end for the
good of the whole. Hath the tongue no liberty, but

13

112 THE BENEFITS OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE. [^SERM. VIL

in uttering imprecations, and calling down vengeance
upon its owner ? Have the hands no liberty, but when
they are lifted up against the head, or striking at the
heart ? It is the honour of the feet, that they can sup-
port the head by which they are animated and di-
rected ; it is the honour of the hands, that they can
defend the vital parts, and repel the adversaries of
the body : this is their proper employment, and
when the order of nature is observed, the whole sys-
tem will be in safety, which is all the liberty good
men will ever expect in a world so full of mischief
and danger.

As to grievances, it must be owned we have our
share ; and no government in the world is withoutthem;
but it is the unhappiness of this nation, to be more
disturbed with imaginary than with real evils. The sick
man may suffer much from his distemper ; but he often
suffers much more from his dreams, and throws him-
self into certain destruction, while he is flying from
the terrors of a vision. It is no such easy matter for
people in a lower sphere, especially in this age of
scandal and defamation, to know when and how their
superiors are in fault. The inhabitant of the valley
blames the dimness of the air, and sees a mist spread
over the hills and higher grounds ; which to those in
a better situation, appears to rise out of his own soil,
and to settle upon the place of his own habitation.
But then, have governors no faults, and are we to see
nothing amiss in them ? undoubtedly they have their
faults, if they are mortal men, together with many dif-
ficulties, misfortunes, and mortifications from their
office ; under all which, it is our duty to pray for them,
and not to revile them ; to pray that God will give
them grace to amend their faults, and assist them by
his good providence, in the critical affairs of their

SEUM. VII.^ THE BENEFITS OF CIVTL OBEDIENCE. 113

country ; approving ourselves as true Christians,
servants of God, and friends of mankind.

Let not then any heathen principles, any visionary
notions of liberty, interpose to debauch our minds
with disaffection, and thereby give occasion to foreign
enemies, whose envy will always be active, and is even
now awake, to foment our divisions, and to triumph
in all the unhappy effects of them *. Not many years
are passed since we might justly be accounted the first
people in the world. Nothing can support us in that
high rank, but loyalty and unanimity, without which,
a kingdom that hath attained its utmost greatness,
must soon fall with its own weight.

May therefore the King immortal and invisible, in
whose hand are all the nations of the earth ; who, ac-
cording to his good pleasure, sendeth counsel in peace
and success in war, give us all grace, in our several
stations, to correct what is amiss, to hold fast what is
good, to restore what is lost, to preserve what is ready
to perish, and to see the things that belong to our
peace, before they are hid from our eyes ! Amen.

* Those enemies have now disamned themselves, by falling into
the doctrine of licentiousness, against which this Discourse was
directed.

VOL. IV.

I

SERMON Vlir.

TO THE ONE WE ARE THE SAVOUR OF DEATH UNTO
DEATH ; AND TO THE OTHER THE SAVOUR OF LIFE
UNTO life; and WHO IS SUFFICIENT FOR THESE
THINGS ? 2 COR. II. 16.

So Strangely has the world been divided in its opinion
concerning the Gospel, that the Ministers of Jesus
Christ, whose business it is to preach it, have always
found themselves in a difficult situation ; for which no
mancanbe sufficient without the gifts of fortitude, and
prudence, and patience, from the Spirit of God, to
support and assist him in his office. Christianity al-
ways had, and always will have its adversaries : it cor-
rects the false opinions, and controuls the licentious
morals of unconverted nature ; therefore nature rises
up against it ; and as nature is the same in all ages,
and in all parts of the world, time and place make but
little difference in this respect. The difficulty was
certainly greater to the Apostles than it is to us. The
heathen religion was then in possession of the world;
and all its abominable practices had the sanction of
custom and establishment ; so that the opposition then
carried on against the Gospel was more active and vi-
rulent, as well as more powerful, than it is now. But
error and vice are still the adversaries of true religion
as they were then ; and therefore the difficulty must

SERM. VIII. 3 PAROCHIAL REFORMATION, &C. 115

remain to all the successors of the Apostles, so long
as error and vice shall have any power and interest
upon earth. God, who gave to his ministers the know-
ledge of the truth, and all good men who love the
truth, will be ready to encourage them for their work's
sake ; but evil will be as near at hand to discourage
and resist them. The Apostle, having this case under
his consideration, is shocked with the difficulty, and
cries out, who is sufficient for these things 9 Who can
endure to stand in this fearful and troublesome situa-
tion, with the sun shining on one side of him, and a
cold tempestuous wind beating against him on the
other ? What patience can hold out against, what con-
stitution can long survive, such a trial ? Yet such
must be the trial, in some degree, of every true preach-
er of God's word ; and as it has been my lot to preach
amongst you, I hope with some profit, I am sure with
much sincerity, it will be for our common advantage
to consider the difficulties to which I am exposed in
common with every other minister of a parish : that
having considered them, you may be ready (as I have
reason to think you will be) to do all in your power to
lessen them. The better I shall succeed in my duty,
the greater will be your advantage ; and that as well
in this world as in the next.

However well disposed and tractable the people of
a parish may be, all will not be alike. Some will
respect their minister for God's sake, for the church's
sake, and for his work's sake : they will attend with
pleasure to his doctrine, and his advice will sink into
their ears. He found them good, and his instructions
will make them better: they will profit by his admoni-
tions, and even bear his reproofs, if such should be ne-
cessary, without being offijiided. But it will not be so
with all : others there are who will judge differently;

I 2

116

PAROCHIAL REFORMATION [^SERM. VIII.

some from an untractableness of natural temper : some
from worldly interest : some from an unhappy turn in
their education, or from a total neglect of it, under
careless and ungodly parents ; more from bad customs,
and long established habits of vice or self-indulgence.
Hence it will always happen, that if a minister in his
preaching bears hard upon any particular sin, as the
course of his duty may require, and describes the fol-
ly, misery and shame of it ; every sin will find a friend
in some corner of the church who will take its part,
and be offended with the preacher. If he speaks
against drunkenness, " there," says the drinker, " he
" means to reflect upon me :" that stroke upon covet-
ousness, was intended for me, says another : in that
remark upon the pernicious consequences of fornica-
tion, he meant to expose me, says another. Thus
they bring themselves to a persuasion, that their mi-
nister is their enemy, and means to be severe upon
them: for no other reason, butbecause they cannot help
being severe upon themselves. Hear how the Apostle
states this difficulty in a few words : am I therefore,
says he, become your enemy, because I tell you the
truth? Suppose we see a man straying out of the road,
while he is going on business of the last importance,
and has no time to lose ; and we call out to him to tell
him he is wrong, and use all our endeavours to
put him in the right way ; ought that man to take us
for his enemies ? We should think him a strange man
if he did. Is the shepherd an enemy to the straying
sheep, when he would bring it back from the error of
its ways in safety to the fold ? But suppose that which
shouldbe a sheep, is a wolf, or a swine : such, indeed,
have an interest against being brought back ; and,
instead of respecting their guide as a friend, will turn
again and rend him. Some such there will be found in

SERM. VIII J

RECOMMENDED.

117

all places. Every minister must expect to have some
amongst his flock, who are more nearly allied to the
forest than the fold ; who never intend to reform them-
selves, and do not even wish to be better than they are;
even as the swine gives itself no trouble to acquire the
character of the sheep. What will such do ? What
can they do, but endeavour, out of favour to themselves,
to lessen the influence of their minister ? There are
several ways of doing this : of which the most common
and obvious is to impute all his zeal to an evil motive ;
to pride, hypocrisy, or ill nature : to any thing rather
than to sincerity and charity. Another way is to take
advantage of some accident or appearance, and raise
reports to his disadvantage. There never did, nor
ever will, live that man upon the earth, whose life could
be secure from misrepresentation: and truth misrepre-
sented answers all the purposes of defamation better
than a lie, because there is some apparent foundation
of reason and fact to build upon. Another artifice is
that of ridicule. There is in most men, through the de-
pravity of their nature, almost as great a propensity to
laugh, as there is in monkeys to chatter ; and there-
fore they are very easily provoked to it. Children
laugh at that which is nothing ; and many with older
heads upon their shoulders laugh at that which is next
to nothing : some laugh when they ought to pray : and
others when they ought to cry. I could tell you of a
Wit, (now gone to answer for his folly) who even ridi-
culed the providence of God *, and the doctrine of
future rewards and punishments in another life : Yet
this is the engine which many people employ, to lessen
the efficacy of the Gospel, and the influence of those

^ Voltaire, in his C'andtde, which is a satire upon tlie btlitf both
of a particular and general Prov idence.

118

PAROCHIAL REFORMATION [[SERM. VIII.

that preach it. Not only the ministers of God, but
even God himself is made an object of ridicule !

Thus you see how every preacher is liable, from
the nature of his office, to suffer from the tongue of
slander. They who hate the truth, must never be
expected to love those that publish it : and of those
whom they do not love, they will be tempted to speak
evil. Hence you will understand the propriety of
that declaration of our blessed Lord " icoe he unto
" you ivhen all men speak icell of you for the world at
large never will speak well, hnt of those who make
all things easy, and give them no disturbance ; false
prophets who speak smooth things, and care for no-
thing but themselves, will be v^ eW spoken of.

It is another misfortune upon the minister of a pa-
rish, that with frequent use his voice and manner be-
come familiar, and consequently lose something of their
force and influence upon the audience. When he
comes first to a place, he is gladly received and eager-
ly attended to : just as any other thing would be that
is new. But when curiosity abates, as it always must
do with familiarity and repetition, such as have no
deeper root than this to their attachment, must grow
indifferent, and will fall away, perhaps into total in-
attention. The public is so fond of novelty, and more
in this than any nation of Europe, that they are apt to
over-rate what is new, and having begun with inexpe-
rience and indiscretion, they end with disappointment.
Imagination, that deceitful faculty, is always at work
to cheat men with vain expectations : they look for
more than they can find, and thence suspect, at last,
that they have found nothing. They expect a preacher
to be all perfection, and exempt from the errors of
mortality ; but preachers are exposed to the same cross
accidents with other men, from the vicissitudes and

15

SERM. VIII.3

RECOMMENDED.

119

trials of human life, and the humours of other people,
over which they have no power. They have their in-
firmities and their mistakes ; they are exposed from
without to the contempt of real enemies, and from
within to the neglect and treachery of pretended
friends; the world, from abroad, may frown upon the
sincerity of their labours : and at home, their foes may
be those of their own household. In all things of this
kind, they are not only on a level with other men, but
are in farther danger of being reduced below it from
envy to their office, and jealousy against their autho-
rity : These things, saith St. Paul, / have in a figure
transferred to myself and Apollos for your sahes, that
ye might learn in us, not to think of men above that
ivhich is written— for I think that God hath set forth
us tite Apostles last, as it were appointed unto death :
for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to an-
gels, and to men*. Even Christ himself, whose time
was all spent in doing good, and shewing forth many
mighty works, all of a saving and merciful turn, was
railed at and despised, as one that Jiad a devil and was
mad. But who were they that spoke evil of him ?
conceited, blind guides, who had made God's word of
no effect; covetous and adulterous Pharisees; worldly
minded priests : unbelieving Sadducees ; hypocrites,
politicians and profligates. In like manner, if there
are any in a place who shew less regard than the rest
to their clergyman ; look at such persons, and examine
their lives and manners : see whether they are kind
and merciful to their poor neighbours ? whether they
make a conscience of frequenting the worship of God
in the church ? whether they are sober and temperate,
abstaining from all indecency and excess ? It is a
common observation, that some tongues can be guilty
* 1 Cor. iv. a.

120

PAROCHIAL REFORMATION

C^SERM. VIII.

of little slander ; because the reports of men and
their reflections will have weight according to the
value of their private characters. What does it sig-
nify hoAv many ill w'ords a man vomits out against
his minister, who, perhaps, is seen in the street soon
after, vomiting up his drink ? What does it signify
w^hether he honours a priest or not, who blasphemes
the holy name of God in his common discourse, and
is a disgrace to his profession, and a nuisance to the
public? However, as there is no man who means to
court another's ill-will, and who would not rather be
glad to have his esteem ; the disesteem which falls
upon clergymen from their office, though it be only
from the worst, aud is totally owing to the parties
themselves, is yet a loss and a trial : for the worst
man has a soul, which might be saved ; and a minis-
ter is bound to promote the salvation of it by for-
bearance, and tenderness, aud kind advice, so long as
there is any hope remaining.

Now I have represented to you some of the general
difficulties and discouragements which must, in all
places, attend a sincere clergyman ; I shall venture to
go a step farther, and set before you some of the dis-
advantages peculiar to myself in this place : and I
trust you will hear me patiently, and without offence.

My brethren, I am thankful that I came amongst
you, and hope I shall never have any reason to repent
of my choice ; for hither did I come by choice, and
not by necessity. The world was before me, and any
other place might have suited with a busy life, such
as mine has always been. But when I settled here,
the parish had been long without a resident minister,
and at times had been served very irregularly, and
was consequently out of order : yet I think, upon the
whole, not so much as w ould have happened in some

SERM. VIII.3

RECOMMENDED.

121

other places under the like circumstances : and I
have imputed much of the good that was retained
amongst you, to the seed sown, and the labour be-
stowed by a late learned and worthy predecessor, the
Reverend Mr. John White *, whose light is not yet
gone out, and whose name ought to be had in ever-
lasting remembrance.

The first difficulty I was under, and that a very
great one, was owing to an habitual neglect of the
communion in too many of the congregation : on
which account I laboured in the pulpit, and out of it,
to produce some reformation ; and not in vain ; for
we have many more communicants than formerly.
But alas ! how often have I been distressed with vi-
siting people in their last sickness, who had never
attended the communion in all their lives ! In some
few cases, they had been misguided by vain fears,
and the influence of ill advice ; all arising from an ig-
norance of the subject ; but in many others, this ne-
glect arose from the want of a godly sense of the de-
ceitfulness of sin, and the great danger of a careless
life unrepented of : and seeing too many others in the
same way, they were encouraged (or rather they en-
couraged themselves) to go on to their lives' end in
the same fatal error. It is sorrow enough to a mi-
nister to attend a parishioner to his grave, and to see
the dust thrown upon a person with whom he had
conversed, and to whom he had preached : this is
sufficient of itself ; but when the consideration is
added, that he had neglected the terms of his salva-
tion ; that he had been often called upon in the ex-
hortation of the church (a powerful address upon the
subject) but never prevailed upon ; that now there is
no farther exhortation to be used, no opportunity

* Author of Letters to a Gentleman dissenting from the Church of
England, and other pieces which were well received.

122

PAROCHIAL REFORMATION [[SERM. VIII.

in the grave : this is a greater sorrow to every consi-
derate mind ; and I wish to God I may feel less of it
for the time to come.

Another evil is the prevailing practice of excessive
drinking, with all its fearful consequences ; of which,
as you all know, there are so many examples ; and I
fear the rising generation is likely to furnish more. I
cannot stay now to set hefore you the sin, and shame,
and danger of this vice : I have done this at other
times : I have shewed you how it is attended with loss
of time, of health, of substance ; to the inj ury of a
poor family ; the hardening of the conscience ; the
quenching of God's grace, till the light of religion is
turned into total darkness. From the havoc this sin
makes in men's minds, bodies, and estates, too much
can never be said against it : and as it is a fearful thing
to be a partaker in other men's sins, when every man
has too many of his own to answer for ; therefore if
there be any here present, who, from deceitful calcu-
lations of worldly interest, are tempted to encourage
their neighbour to this folly and excess, and urge him
on to abuse and ruin himself ; I beseech them to con-
sider what they are doing, and to hear that warning
voice of the prophet — Woe unto him tlmt giveth his
fieighhour chink ; that puttest thy bottle to him, and
mahest him drunken also, that thou inayest look on
their nakedness — that thou may est see them stripped
of their reason, when they are turned fools, and their
minds are naked ; and see them also stripped of their
property, after they have sat swallowing liquor, till
there is not a penny left in their pockets. He that
strips a man upon the highway has all the sin to him-
self; but he that strips a man in this way, has his
neighbour's sin, as well as his own, to answer for ;
and it is justly to be apprehended, that the provi-
dence of God, in many instances, brings ruin instead

SERM. VIII.]] RECOMMENDED.

123

of riches, and disappointment instead of success,
from all that sort of gain which arises from the cor-
ruption of other men's morals. So the prophet tells
us, that there is a cup of judgment which comes
round at last, to give them their reward in kind, and
make them vomit up what they have unjustly gotten.
On which consideration I entreat all those, whose oc-
cupation exposes them to this danger, to be aware of
it, and guard against it as well as they can ; with this
assurance, that who grows rich by other men's ruin,
takes a fire into his bosom, which may lie there smo-
thered, for a time, like embers under the ashes, but will
too surely break out at last into a flame, the effects
of which will be felt, when the cause is forgotten.

Another evil, and to the great misfortune of this
country, an increasing evil in many places, is that of
fornication, which brings an unhappy and unpromis-
ing race of children upon a parish, who grow up half
disowned and neglected, with the influence of an evil
example from their parents, added to the influence
of a corrupt, uncultivated nature ; and who, if they
live, will perhaps bring another breed of the same
sort ; and so on to the end of the world ; to the great
corruption of the youths of both sexes, and the impo-
verishing of those who live honestly, and are obliged
to assist in the maintaining of such, as become charge-
able to others from vice and idleness. Something
might be done toward the lessening of this evil, if the
ofiicers of a parish would bestir themselves, as they
are all bound to do in reason and conscience, and
some of them by the sacred obligation of an oath.
The lower class of people will certainly make light of
this evil, if those who are above them do nothing to
prevent it. A minister, according to his duty, repre-
sents the miserable consequences of this unlawful

121.

PAROCHIAL REFORMATION [[sERM. VIII.

commerce ; how it is attended with loss of con-
science, loss of character, the destruction of family
happiness, the forfeiting of God's blessing, the pros-
pect of beggary, infamy, and eternal damnation.
These things he may represent ; but unless admoni-
tion is seconded with some activity, and some au-
thority from the laws, it will not be of sufficient
weight ; because, when things are left to this, and
reformation is forwarded by nothing but admonition,
it looks as if people were not in earnest.

Another evil is the profanation of the Sabbath. We
have too many examples of persons exercising their
worldly business in defiance of sobriety and decency ;
of others absenting themselves from the church for
years together, and attending no other place of wor-
ship ; as if it were the opinion of the place, that men
are at liberty to live without God in the world.

Of all these abuses which I have set before you,
there is not one, for the preventing of which I am
not ready to do my part : but it is the chief business
of this Discourse to remind you, that I can do no-
thing of myself, against the sense, and without the
hearty concurrence of my neighbours. V/hen the
minister of a parish stands single in the exercise of
discipline and the work of reformation, he can only
make himself enemies, who will hate him without a
cause, instead of amending themselves.

In an age when civil and ecclesiastical authority are
both grown decrepit with old age and want of exercise,
the defects of lawful government must be supplied by
confederacies and associations of one party against an-
other. This is a poor substitute for regular authority ;
but in some cases, it is the best the times allow us.
Therefore, they who wish to preserve order, must
unite against those who wish to break it. There is

SERM. VIII.^ RECOMMENDED.

125

nothing that appears odious in the application of such
remedies as the law affords, if the many unite against
the few, who are then left without that countenance
and defence which they borrow from the neglect of
their superiors. The minister can do little for his
parish in this way, unless the majority are with him,
and desire that he should succeed. Indeed it is uni-
versally true, that nothing can be done for those who
will do nothing for themselves. It is thus in the edu-
cation of youth, and the instruction of the ignorant ;
none can be taught to much purpose, but they who
are desirous to learn. Even God's grace works only
with those who will work along with it : Yea, and our
blessed Saviour himself, when upon earth, though ever
ready to do good, could do none to those who were
not disposed to look for it, and ready to receive it.

I wish to see this place a pattern of regularity and
sobriety, not an example of drunkenness, profaneness,
and ill manners. If ever I hear it spoken of under
this latter character, I am hurt and grieved, as if I had
heard some evil report against myself, or my own
family. And does it not concern you, my Brethren,
to feel as much for yourselves as I feel for you ? Re-
ligion, reason, and good policy, the authority of God,
and the common sense of man, call upon you to do
what you can against the spreading evil of bad exam-
ples and corrupt communications. Vice is an expen-
sive thing to all that practise it, and to all that con-
nive at it. A wicked parish will ever be an idle
parish ; and an idle parish (as men are to live by
their industry) must be a poor parish ; and the more
the poor increase in any place, the fewer shoulders
are left to bear the burthen ; and then ^some who do
not deserve it, and have no share in the general cor-
ruption, are broken down with the weight of it.

126

PAROCHIAL REFORMATION [[SERM. VIII.

I am sometimes very uneasy when I revolve these
things in my mind : yet under all these difficulties,
I have two considerations on which to repose myself.
I have lived long enough in the world to know, that
however sincerely a man may wish to have every body
do what is right, he must be content to see much evil
which he cannot prevent, and to hear many falsehoods
which he can never hope to silence. If it is his desire
to resist prevailing evils, they will not be imputed to
him, though he should not succeed : let those look to
it, who might forward his good intentions and do not.
The other consideration, with which I comfort myself,
is this, and a very common one it is ; that if w e cannot
do as much as we would, we must still be willing to do
as much as we can. If some advantages are denied to
us, others will always be left to us. I can instruct the
children of my parish ; I can visit the sick, and com-
fort those who have no comforter but God and myself ;
I can help the poor in some of their occasional dis-
tresses ; (and with God's help) I can preach the Gospel
freely ; and if my labours should not prosper here so
much as might be wished, and my evening lectures
should not be so well attended as when novelty recom-
mended them, I must then consider my country as my
parish, if it will give me leave ; I must hope that what
I speak here, will be better attended to somewhere
else, and be doing some good, when I can speak no
longer. In the mean time I shall not be discouraged :
this sermon may do more good than I can yet foresee,
and may stir up some others to be like-minded with
myself. God send it may do so ; the advantage will
not be to me, but to us all : and as the time is ap-
proaching, when some yearly regulations are to take
place, I trust you will all remember what has now
been said to you. I have only to tell you farther, that

SERM. Vni.;] RECOMMENDED.

127

the time is short ; and that all worldly interests and
worldly considerations will soon be of no value to
any of us : but that the zeal we exercise for the
honour of God, and the benefit of the place in which
we live, will follow us into the grave, and rise with
us again to judgment ; when they that have done
good shall go into life everlasting.

SERMON IX.

YE HAVE THE POOR WITH YOU ALWAYS, AND WHEN-
SOEVER YE WILL, YE MAY DO THEM GOOD. MARK
XIV. 7.

When Ave enquire into the ceconomy either of the
natural or the moral world, we are anxious to account
for the origin of evil ; so in the political world, a like
question may be raised concerning the origin of po-
verty ; how it comes to pass, that, as the text asserts,
ice have the poor icith us always ? ^Miy could not all
men have been born in the same station, and lived
together on terms of equality, like the oaks of the
forest, or the lilies of the field, or the cattle which
feed upon a thousand hills ? "When we see but a
little way into the constitution of things, we may
pei'ijlex and distress ourselves v. ith such questions :
but when we see farther, we shall discover, that the
general form and condition of society in civilized
states, is as much the appointment of God, as the
form and structure of the human body ; and that the
several orders of which it consists, are as necessary
and useful to each other, and as fully display the
wisdom of God, as the head of all government, and
the author of all regularity ; as the limbs, and mem-
bers, and faculties of the body demonstrate his power
and goodness as the Creator of the world.

SERM. IX.^ THE DUTY OF RELIEVING, &C.

129

Man without society, would be what the world was
in its chaos, when it was dark, and void, and form-
less : and He who brought it out of that state, and
divided the lights of the firmament, the clouds, the
air, the waters of the ocean, and fixed the body of
the earth, into their several distinct regions ; hath
with equal wisdom brought men out of their barba-
rous state, such as they would be in by nature, to be
divided into classes, offices, and employments ; each
in due subordination, and all serviceable to one
another ; for there is no plan of God's establishing,
in which all the parts do not work together for the
good of the whole.

Two societies were certainly formed under God's
immediate direction, the commonwealth of Israel,
and the Christian church ; and in neither of these did
he set men in a state of equality. The apostle St.
Paul enforces a comparison between the body natu-
ral and the body ecclesiastical ; shewing how God
hath tempered all the members together, and that
those which seem to be more feeble * are necessary to
the rest.

We can all see that the strong are necessary to the
weak, and the rich to the poor : but that the poor are
also necessary to the rich, does not appear so imme-
diately ; yet they certainly are so, both in a civil and
in a religious capacity. Many offices must be per-
formed, and much work must be done for the service
of society, which will never be done either by the
proud, or the indolent, or the effeminate. It would be
as reasonable to expect, that those works should be
executed by the hands of men, which are proper to
horses and bullocks, appointed by God's providence

VOL. IV.

* 1 Cor. xii. 22.

K

130

THE DUTY OF RELIEVING THE [^SERM. IX.

for such ends, and furnished with strength and pa-
tience to fit them for the business they were intended
to perform. So much for the civil capacity of men :
when we consider them in their religious capacity, it
appears that they have works to do for the service of
God, and for the benefit of their souls ; as they have
other works to be performed for the ends of common
life. In human society, men are related to one another,
and work for one another ; in religious society, they
are all related to God, and are to work, in another
way, for his glory, and the salvation of their own
souls ; approving themselves, in their several orders
and degrees, as the subjects of that community, of
which God is the head, and in which he is the only
law-giver. All have their proper parts assigned to
them, together with their proper stations ; and all are
to do their duty in that state of life unto which it hath
pleased God to call them. The poor are to be con-
tented with their lot, as being the appointment of
God ; and the rich are to be careful of the poor, as
holding of God in trust for that purpose, and account-
able to him as stewards and overseers. They could
not approve themselves to God by giving such an ac-
count, if there w^ere no poor. In such a case, one ge-
neral scheme of selfishness and independence would
prevail, useless to man and dishonourable to God.

It would be easy to shew, that there is perfect jus-
tice as well as wisdom in this distribution of things ;
no partiality, no respect of persons. The rich have a
sort of superiority, which is temporary, transient, and
dangerous : the poor, with their low station, have
health, and safety, and a better disposition to receive
the Gospel. Heathens could see, in ancient times,
that poverty was the school of virtue ; and many of
them on that ground aifected voluntary poverty, and

SERM. IX. ^ POOR AND THEIR CHILDREN.

131

made an ostentatious shew of their rags. But what-
ever the abuses of Heathens might be, poverty among
Christians is certainly a preparatory exercise of the
mind for the reception of truth, and consequently for
the belief of the Gospel. Thus then we are to make
our estimate ; that if the poor are rich in faith, and
have laid a foundation for eternity, they have nothing
to complain of; while the rich, on the other hand, have
no reason to boast of that wealth or that honour,
which will set them never the higher in the kingdom
of heaven ; and too often disqualifies them for a place
there. Thus the ways of God are equal, where they
seem, to us, to be unequal ; and the several parts of
society, like the several parts of the creation, serve in
a wonderful manner toward the common good.

By a sort of writers, who call themselves moral phi-
losophers, I have seen it lamented that there is such a
thing in the world as exclusive property : and they think
it a great pity that this evil cannot be prevented. But
the poor, considered as a link in the chain of society,
are of God's making ; and to speak in the language of
an apostle, the foolishness of God is wiser them men * ;
that is, the ways of God, which seem most exception-
able, are so, only because they are superior to our
wisdom, and higher than our thoughts. They who
would make a better religion than God hath revealed,
are tempted by their vanity to expose the shallowness
of their reason : and the case is the same with those,
who would alter that form of society which God hath
ordained, and?»^»c?it; as if Providence had committed
a mistake, where it has given us a demonstration of in-
finite wisdom and goodness. All this arises from an
affection toward high things, and an indisposition to

• 1 Cor. i. 25.
K 2

132 THE DUTY OF RELIEVING THE [[SERM. IX.

condescend to men of low estate. Such is the error
of man's imagination, that it always inclines to the
side of pride and haughtiness, the first sin that was
infused by the author and father of pride. As the
worldly-minded Jew could see nothing wonderful or
necessary in the story of Bethlehem, and the manger,
and the shepherds ; so the haughty philosopher thinks
the world would do better, if there were nothing low
in human life, nor any thing higher than himself ; as
if the creation could be improved, by taking the sun,
moon, stars, air, earth, and waters, and stirring them
all together into one horizontal miscellany. If there
had been no poor in the world, Christ could not have
submitted to that state which was necessary to our
salvation. He was born in poverty ; of parents not
thought good enough to be provided with room in
a common inn, but shut out to make room for their
betters, and lodge with beasts in a stable. Let us not
wonder that the contemplation of this history of our
Saviour's birth inspired many saints and hermits with
the love of poverty. If all men were duly affected
by it, and compared it properly with their own un-
worthiness, the proud would lay aside their plumes,
the ambitious would be ashamed of their popularity,
and kings would throw down their crowns and
scepters to the earth.

From the foregoing considerations, it appears to
be a part in the plan of Divine Providence that we
should Jiave the poor always with us. To this plan
the social laws of God are accommodated, which pre-
scribe condescension, compassion, and almsgiving on
the one side ; contentment, industry, and submission
on the other. Without this, the moral government of
God, and the social duties of man, would have been
imperfect ; and it does not appear how the scheme

SERM. IX.;] POOR AND THEIR CHILDREN.

133

of our salvation, by the birth and humiliation of
Jesus Christ, could have taken effect. We have,
therefore, every reason to conclude, that what is, in
this respect, is right ; and that the poor do not exist
by accident, but by preordination.

If this doctrine is important enough in itself to
merit our serious meditation, it is still more so in the
uses we are to make of it. The goodness of God
could, and if it had been best, would have prevented,
the wants of the poor ; but now we see a reason why
he did not. The poor have their wants, that the
rich may be blessed with the opportunity of reliev-
ing them : a duty very earnestly enjoined in many
places of the Scripture, and supposed in those words
of the text — whensoever ye will ye may do them good.
Too many have the ability without the will to do
them good; others say, they are sure they should
have the will, if they had the ability. But this will
is amongst the other gifts of God, and is always most
to be depended upon when it arises from a religious
principle. It is then neither subject to be defiled by
vanity and hypocrisy, nor defeated by capricious hu-
mour and partiality.

I do not mean to move you with an afflicting re-
presentation of the evils of poverty ; I would rather
apply myself to your reason and your consciences
than to your imaginations : but my subject obliges me
to mention them ; because it requires me to shew
how, and in what respects, we are to do the t^ooy good
according to their wants ; after which, I shall endea-
vour to inforce the obligations we are under, and the
encouragement we have to relieve them.

It is a common observation, that one half of the
world knows but little what the other half is doing
and suffering. While the licentiousness of the rich is

134

THE DUTY OF RELIEVING THE [^SERM. IX.

studying how to provoke appetite with variety ; the
poor are either half filled, or satisfied with what the
delicate would disdain to feed upon. While indolence
is enjoying its ease, and proud of the contemptible
privilege of having nothing to do ; they are seeking
bitter bread by severe labour. Their occupations
expose them to all the varieties of the weather ; at
noon day they are wasted with the heat, and at night
they are wetted with the dew of heaven. While
others are spending their precious hours in a vain and
fruitless adorning of their persons, they are too fre-
quently exposing themselves to the air when they are
heated w ith hard labour ; and thence are subject to
pains in their joints, stiffness in their limbs, and
premature old age and decrepitude. Other hardships
are brought upon them by the contempt and oppres-
sion of their superiors ; I will not call such people
their betters. Some men carry themselves with a lofty
air toward the poor, as if they were of some lower
species of animals : and as if contempt were not suffi-
cient, others proceed to injury and oppression : nor
are there wanting those who are said to grind the
faces of the poor * ; that is, who are mean enough to
make a property of them ; extorting unjust and paltry
gains out of a poor man who has nothing to part
with ; nothing but what is necessary to his life and
being : so that their attempt has as little sense and
as little mercy in it, as if they were to grind off
something from the skin and the flesh of his face.

But the greatest wants of the poor, and those which
I am directed by the present occasion chiefly to insist
upon, arise from their ignorance, and their inability
to procure necessary instruction. Whatever they may

* Isa. iii. 15.

SERM. IX.]] POOR AND THEIR CHILDREN. 135

suffer from their bodily wants, the wants of the mind
are of much greater consequence. It is one privilege
of the rich, that they have it in their power to cultivate
their understandings ; though many of them neglect
it, and are weak enough to think their wealth a sub-
stitute for education and improvement. But the poor,
without the assistance of the rich, have no such op-
portunity. Some of them are, and some are not sen-
sible of their loss ; but it is very great to all those,
who, for want of timely instruction, are not able to
read the Word of God. When we meet with a poor
family, in which neither the father nor the mother is
able to read, what a prospect is there before the chil-
dren of such parents ! If many fall a prey to vice,
who have been well taught in their childhood, what
must become of those who are left to their natural
ignorance ? We are all sensible, that bodily blind-
ness is a miserable defect ; but certainly ignorance,
which is the blindness of the soul, is much worse ;
because it is more dangerous to fall into a profligate
course of life, than into a pit ; and worse to lose the
soul, than to bruise the limbs ; and when ignorance is
led by passion, tlie blind leading the blind, what but
ruin can be expected to the mind and manners ?

The poor, who with their children are in a place
where they may have them taught for nothing, and
despise or neglect the opportunity, will have both
their own ignorance and that of their children to an-
swer for. God is said to have winked at the igno-
rance of the heathen world, because it is not expected
that men should see in the dark ; but such ignorance,
as may be prevented, and is not, will be considered as
a love of darkness. We think it a very preposterous
passion, when a white inhabitant of Europe falls in
love with a black savage ; but it is more unaccount-
15

136

THE DUTY OF RELIEVING THE [[SERM. IX.

able that a Christian, who is born among the children
of light, should be fond of that ignorance, which
was the misfortune and curse of the heathen world.

Now we have taken a prospect of these evils, let
us consider the obligations we are under to find a
remedy for them. And the first obligation is that of
gratitude ; when we remember our own dependence
upon God, and the blessings we receive from his
bounty. If we have any portion among the good
things of this life, it is he whogiveth us all things richly
to enjoy ; and the offerings we make out of what we
have are so many acknowledgments that we have no-
thing but what we have received. All the beasts of
the forest, says he, are mine, and so are the cattle upon
a thousand hills. No sacrifice therefore could be of-
fered to God under the law, but of that which was
already his own. And the case is the same now :
God is the real proprietor of all things ; the earth is
the Lord's and the fulness thereof : so that we can
make no return to God, but of that which was his
own before.

The obligation we are under to do this, is farther
evident on a principle of distributive justice. That
inequality of possession, which is both wise and neces-
sary, does not proceed from any respect to particular
persons ; for the mercies of God are over all his worles ;
but God has been pleased to put the allowance of one
man into the hands of another, for a trial of his virtue ;
so that the rich are guilty of fraud and injustice if they
either keep it, or bestow it wantonly upon themselves.
Withhold not good, saith the wise \mx\,from them to
whom it is due * .• as if charity were not a gift, but a
debt. As such it is spoken of in the New Testament ;

* Prov iii. 27.

SERM. IX,;] POOR AND THEIR CHILDREN.

137

Charge them that are rich — that they be ready to dis-
tribute, willing to communicate ; the original means,
willing to make that common, which God intended
to be so ; at least, amongst the household of faith ;
in which they that have most are stewards for the
rest.

But our obligations as Christians is plainest of all
from this consideration ; that God doth not require us
to do any thing for the poor, but what he himself hath
done for us, in a sense infinitely superior. If he com-
mands us to visit them, he himself, as the day-spring
from on high, hath visited us : If he commands us to
give bread to the hungry, he himself hath given to us
the bread of life. Who is it that commands us to
clothe the naked, but he who hath put the best robe
upon his returning prodigal, and clothed us with the
garments of his own righteousness, which shall never
decay ? as a sign of which, the clothes of his people
did neither wear out nor wax old, neither their shoes
upon their feet, in their journey through the wilder-
ness. Who is it that expects we should teach the
ignorant, but he who hath taught us by his holy
word, opening to us all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge, and giving light to them that sit in dark-
ness ? Few exhortations will be wanting to those who
believe these things, and are sensible of their own ob-
ligations to God as the Saviour of sinners : the love of
God is already shed abroad in their hearts, and cha-
rity to man will be the fruit of it. Happy are they
who act on such liberal and sublime principles : it is
their pleasure, as well as their honour, to be doing good.
Far from looking with an evil eye upon their poor
brethren, they rejoice that there are any poor to be
relieved ; they would never wish to be without them;
and they are thankful for the opportunity of assisting

138

THE DUTY OF RELIEVING THE [^SERM. IX.

them ; and if the poor do not look for them, they look
for the poor.

But besides the obligations which arise from the
consideration of what is past, we are encouraged to do
good to the poor from the expectation of future bless-
ings. And here let me observe, that no kind of cha-
rity answers better in this world than that which pro-
vides for the teaching of the children of the poor. It
shews them the way, and it gives them the power of
becoming useful members of society ; it introduces
them to the knowledge of God's holy will and com-
mandments ; it sets before them the reasons, the mea-
sures, the rewards of those duties, by means of which
they are to prosper now, and be happy hereafter.
Superior talents, with good principles, may lawfully
raise the poor above the level of their birth ; but it
cannot be expected that this should happen, without
the advantage of an early education. I have known
some instances of poor children, who have attained to
credit and affluence,by the help of that learning, which
they obtained from the hand of charity ; and who lived
to make returns of gratitude to the persons from whom
they had received it. Where the seed of instruction
has fallen into a proper soil, there have undoubtedly
been many examples of the same kind, which never
came to the knowledge of myself, or of any that are
here present. But with all this, we are to consider,
that if a charitable education should never raise them
to wealth, it may do more ; it may be the saving of
their souls : and though the effect in this case is not
so conspicuous as if it mended their fortune, it may
be of greater value, though but little heard of ; for
the advancements of piety are secret and silent, and
better known to God than to man.

This is an encouragement which relates only to them

SERM. IX.^ POOR AND THEIR CHILDREN.

139

that receive : they who are the givers have something
higher to expect ; and the case is stated to us in such
a manner as is well worthy of our attention. He that
hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and
that which lie hath given will he pay him again *. To
the charitable man the proprietor of heaven and earth
is a debtor, and will assuredly pay him in another life,
and probably in this also. There are some sins which
meet with their punishment even in this world ; I look
upon the oppression of the poor to be of that num-
ber : therefore, by parity of reason, the same attention
of Providence which punishes some, will reward
others ; especially as the Author of all good is more
ready to bless than to afflict. He does the one un-
willingly ; the other is the natural fruit of that mercy
which is over all his works.

So much for this world : but when the great day of
retribution shall come, then our blessed Saviour will
consider himself as the object of what we have done
to his poor brethren. I was an hungered, says he, and
ye gave me meat : / was thirsty and ye gave me drink :
I was naked and ye clothed me When he was
manifested in the flesh, he joined the party of the poor,
not of the rich nor honourable. We are all ready to
own him under the majestic part of his character ; for
human vanity loves to attach itself to what is great
and splendid : but this is the trial of our affection ;
whether we can condescend to him as the advocate
and brother of the poor ; whether we can make our-
selves poor with him, who was poor with us ; who
submitted to the condition of a servant, that he might
bring down the pride of man, and prepare him for
exaltation by self-abasement ; the hardest, and there-
fore the greatest of all the Christian virtues.

• Prov. xix. 17. t Matt. xxv. So.

140 THE DUTY OF RELIEVING THE [[SERM. IX.

Upon the whole, in order to fulfil the duty which
is due from the rich to the poor, it is good that there
should be a natural tenderness of the mind, which
makes it susceptible of what is called compassion ;
which, if it is not a virtue of itself, is nearly allied to
it ; it is the soil of virtue, and a rich one too, on which
many excellent fruits may grow. Did not I weep, says
Job, for him that was in troubled was not my soul
grieved for the poor * ?

To this disposition we are to add the obligations of
gratitude, and justice, with the encouragement arising
from the hope of a blessing upon us in this world, and
the next. But if all these considerations should be in-
sufficient, there remains one more, which is the fear of
punishment, and as it is urged in the book of Job, with
all the vehemence and zeal of a godly mind, it seems
irresistible: If I have withheld from the poor their
desire — If I have eaten my morsel myself alone — If I
have seen any perish for want of clothing — If I have
lift up my hand against the fatherless ; then let mine
arm fall from my shoulder-blade, and let mine arm be
brolcenfrom the bone: for destruction from God was a
terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not
endure f. He means, that God will destroy those who
can bear to see others destroyed ; and that this consi-
deration had raised a terror in his mind which he could
never resist. The same sentiment is more forcibly
expressed in another place ; where, on a supposition
of any neglect in this matter, he asks, what then shall
I do when God riseth up ? and when lie visiteth what
shall I answer him 9 To some of his servants God
hath committed more, to others less : to all will he
come at last, and enquire how that which he committed

* Job XXX. 25.

t Job xxxi. 16, &c.

SERM. IXj POOR AND THEIR CHILDREN.

141

hath been disposed of. Every man is now to consider,
what answer he shall then give ; and what will become
of him if he should have no answer ! Better would it
be to suffer all the evils of poverty in this life, than to
stand speechless in the great day of our final account.
If this one consideration is duly weighed, we shall
want no farther instruction in the duty of this day :
we shall never see the jooor, without being willing to
do them good.

SERMON X.

BLESSED IS HE THAT CONSIDERETH THE POOR AND
NEEDY ; THE LORD SHALL DELIVER HIM IN THE
TIME OF TROUBLE. PSALM XLI. 1.

To consider the poor, in the common acceptation of
the phrase, is to give them something for the reUef
of their wants : but he only can be said to consider
the poor in the true sense, who relieves them in con-
sequence of having meditated on their condition, and
his own duty. When the nature of the case hath
been duly considered, few words will be wanting to
enforce the practice of relieving the poor.

Poverty passes for a frightful subject, and the poor
(especially in these times) for a troublesome class of
people : but great instruction may be derived ; and, I
hope, some rational entertainment together with it,
from a consideration of what I must call the theory
of poverty.

When we meditate upon this subject, we discover,
that poverty doth not appear in the world by accident,
but by the preordination of God. For, first, in-
equality of condition amongst mankind is absolutely
necessary in a state of civilization. Many things must
be done for the common good, which will never be
done by the proud, the indolent, or the effeminate:
They who can live without their own labour, (which.

SERM. X.^

THE BLESSEDNESS, &C.

143

by the way, is no very great privilege) cannot live
without the labour of others ; as the head and the
eyes cannot execute their own designs without the
assistance of the hands and the feet. The same
divine wisdom which hath tempered the body toge-
ther, and made some of the parts subservient and
necessary to others, hath appointed the like subordi-
nation in the political body of men in society.

But inequality amongst men is farther necessary
for moral reasons. By being placed in different
stations, men are called to the exercise of different
duties : the poor to the duty of submission ; the rich
to the duty of compassion. The rich are to be served
by the poor, and the poor are to be protected and
relieved by the rich. Unless there were want in some,
God could not be served by the bounty of others.
Nothing can be more evident, than that some are en-
trusted by Providence to take care of others. And
hence we infer, that if they assume an exclusive right
to what they have, they are contradicting the designs
of heaven ; and that a want of charity is a breach of
trust ; an offence which, under certain circumstances,
may be more base and sinful than robbery itself.
" Charge them who are rich," saith the apostle. It
is not said, admonish and persuade, as if they were at
liberty; but give it in charge, as a matter of indispen-
sable duty and justice. We hold it to be a great sin,
when a servant defrauds his master, or wasteth his
goods : but the very same sin is committed, with many
aggravations, when the rich waste upon their own pride
or pleasure that superfluity, which was put into their
hands, that they might supply what is left wanting to
others. God is the common master of all ; their goods
are his goods ; and if these are misapplied or wasted by
some of his servants, other servants of the same master

144

THE BLESSEDNESS OF QSERM. X.

will be suffering under the fraud ; for which, they
who are guilty of it, will be called to account, when
the day of reckoning shall come.

To rectify that inequality which Providence permits
for the wisest ends, the primitive Christians cast all
their property into a common stock, out of which an
equal distribution was made, as every man had need.
None could be idle; none could be extravagant ; none
could be drunkards or profligates ; if they did not
work it was the apostolical rule that they should not
eat; and none could hope to obtain any allowance for
the support of their vices. Let every Christian ask
himself, whether, if it were now required, he could
submit to this charitable regulation ; or, w^hether the
proposal would send him away sorrowful? Out of the
apostolical fund, a society of devout widows were pro-
vided for, who employed themselves in all works of
charity ; such as those of making garments to clothe
the poor, distributing the alms of the church, and as-
sisting in the service of God. Such an institution can-
not take place in these days ; but the law will be in
force to the end of the world, that the strong should
uphold the weak, and the rich relieve the poor.

It may seem to us upon a superficial view, that Provi-
dence hath been partial in distributing the good things
of this world, and hath made some happy and others
miserable by their birth and station. But when the
advantages and disadvantages are laid together, we
shall find, that the ways of God are just and equal to-
ward all men. Rich persons are tempted, in considera-
tion of their wealth, to be proud,insolent, and wasteful;
to trust in this world, and to be forgetful of God : and
hence we are told, that but few of them are fit for the
kingdom of heaven. The poor, under all their pre-
sent disadvantages, are more frequently blessed with

SERM. X.^

CONSIDERING THE POOR.

145

an humble mind, and look up to God for that hap-
piness which they do not find here : therefore Jesus
Christ, when he preached the Gospel, chose the poor
for his hearers : while those of higher life and prouder
education had no respect to his person, and were
only hurt by his doctrines. By the reception of the
Gospel, the poor are made rich in faith, and so have
nothing to complain of; and the rich have but little
reason to boast of a very perilous situation.

Upon the whole, the rich and the poor are neces-
sary to one another ; the difference between them is
agreeable to the designs of God's providence and his
moral government of the world ; and when the ac-
count is balanced, all is just and equal. If there were
no poor, there could be no alms : if all were equal, a
spirit of independence and selfishness would prevail,
which is most hateful to God. Every man would
then live to himself, v/hich no man ought to do ; and
he would also die unto himself ; none would want
him ; none would miss him. How far better is it,
that there should be the generous feelings of hu-
manity on the one side, and an humble dependence
on the other.

But besides all the foregoing considerations, the
condition of poverty was necessary to the humiliation
of Jesus Christ. The Saviour of mankind was to visit
a world corrupted with pride, and lost in sin : he
therefore took upon himself that state of poverty,
which was satisfactory to God, and exemplary to
man. He that was rich in heaven became poor on
earth for our sakes, and took the form of a servant,
the lowest condition of life. While the foxes had
holes, and the birds of the air nests, he had not where
to lay his head. While he fed hungry multitudes by
a miracle, he was himself dependent on the liberality

VOL. IV. L

146

THE BLESSEDNESS OF

j^SERM. X.

of those who ministered unto him. So noble and
divine was this voluntary poverty of the Son of God,
that many have been in love with poverty, and have
taken it upon themselves for his sake ; leading a life
of obscurity and abstinence, while the world was not
worthy of their virtues. And where is the mighty
difference ? So short is the time of man, that the dis-
tinctions of this world are but shadows ; his great ob-
ject is to get safe to heaven ; and he may make his
way more safely in poverty than in riches. What is
salvation but an escape from shipwreck ? and he who
swims naked and uprovided, is more likely to reach
the heavenly shore.

Poverty, in itself, is a low thing ; but you see it is
a great subject. However, it is time, now, to leave
our contemplations, and proceed to the duty of re-
lieving the poor.

The things necessary to man's natural life, are
meat, drink, and cloathing ; to his civil or social life,
knowledge and learning ; to his spiritual life, the
faith, hope, and charity of a Christian. Therefore,
the three great evils of poverty, are hunger, and
nakedness, and ignorance ; and, consequently, the
three great works of charity corresponding thereto,
are the feeding, the cloathing, and the teaching of
the poor.

That it is a good work to feed the hungry, and to
clothe the naked, is universally allowed ; and the
sight is pleasant, which we have now before us, of such
decency and comfort in so many children of the poor.
It is pleasing to us all : but it must be so in a more
especial manner to tjieir benefactors, who have a
nearer interest in the case. Thus far, then, we are
all agreed, that it is good to feed the hungry, and
clothe the naked : but I have heard it questioned.

SERM. X.^

CONSIDERINC! THE POOU.

147

whether it be expedient or charitable to teach the
poor. You may be surprised at this ; but I can
assure you it is very true ; and the arguments by
which the objection is supported, are these ; viz. that
learning tends to lift the poor out of their sphere, or
tempts them to affect things above their station ; and,
which is worst of all, gives them ability to do that
mischief in society, which they could not have done,
if they had been left to their o wn ignorance. The
objection against any thing good, which is drawn from
the possibility of its being abused, is the weakest as
well as the most common ; for all things in this life
are abused ; and if we were to drop them one after
another on that account, we should have nothing left.
In the present subject, all arguments against the
teaching of the poor may be answered on this one
consideration, that God hath given to man a revela-
tion in writing ; it must therefore be good for man
to read. But how shall the poor read, unless they
are taught ? and if they cannot pay for their own
teaching, others must pay for it who can afford it
better : and in so doing, they are undoubtedly fufilling
the will of God. If learning enables the poor to raise
themselves above their station, in God's name, let
them do it, if they can : the pen of business is a
more innocent and useful instrument than the sword
of war, by which so many have raised themselves from
a low station to wealth and honours. If learning
disposes the poor to be discontented with their con-
dition, it ought not to do so, because the remedy goes
with the temptation. When they are taught to write
and read, they receive religious instruction at the
same time ; they are taught, that their duty is to be
done in that state of life to which God hath called
them ; and they may thence infer, that discontent is

L 2

148 THE BLESSEDNESS OF [^SERM. X.

an act of rebellion against his Providence ; and will
forfeit his favour, the loss of which is worse than
death. In an age when vain and corrupting publi-
cations abound without any restraint, reading may be
a dangerous employment ; and many, who read only
to amuse the imagination, have read themselves into
idleness and beggary. I have heard of a mother,
who hath gone into a workhouse with a novel in her
hands, followed by a family of poor ragged children.
But then, reading is not taught with this view : for
there is the reading of wisdom, and the reading of
folly ; and they are at liberty to take the one, or
the other. Life and death are set before all, as the
two trees were planted for the trial of our first pa-
rents in Paradise ; and if some are so infatuated by
passion as to make choice of death, many will prefer
the worst sort of reading ; such as will corrupt the
mind, as surely as death corrupts the body. But
this danger ought to be no discouragement : it proves
nothing, but that good, by an abuse of it, may be
turned into evil ; and that the world abounds with
temptations to sin.

But now, if some are disposed to plead against
learning from the possible danger of it ; it is but fair,
that they should consider how the case stands with
ignorance. There the danger is certain. Leave
nature to itself, say some, and it will go right ; but,
that I deny. Leave the land to itself, and see what
will happen ; you will soon find it covered with
weeds ; and the stronger the soil, the fouler it will
grow, if it is neglected. It is thus with the heart of
man; which must be cultivated, and sown with good
seed, before any fruits can be gathered from it : and
by neglect, the weeds of nature become so deeply
rooted, that nothing but a miracle of grace can ex-

SERM. X.^

CONSIDERING THE POOR.

149

tract them. In the account which is given of felons
and malefactors, or which they have given of them-
selves, I never heard of one that imputed his ruin to
his learning; but of numbers who have laid it wholly
to their ignorance ; which ignorance proceeded either
from the want of instruction, or their own indispo-
sition to receive it. Some were neglected by bad
parents ; some had no teachers ; others had them,
and ran away from them, because they were idle and
ill disposed ; as if there were a mutual antipathy
between vice and learning.

The profligacy of the lowest order of people, in this
age and nation, hath of late become so alarming to
the public, (who know not what cause to ascribe it to,
but to a general want of teaching ) that Sunday schools
have lately arisen out of the evil, as the most promis-
ing remedy ; and I trust in God, we shall, in a few
years, see the benefit of them. They must tend to
remove that ignorance of the common people, which
hath of late years, so filled our gaols, and occasioned
such numberless executions. A worthy clergyman
who had attended an unhappy criminal, lately con-
demned and executed for a shocking murder, told me
he found him in total ignorance : he had never been,
to his own knowledge, within a church since he was
baptized there; and seemed to have no sense of God
or the devil, but such as had been collected from the
oaths and curses of his wicked companions. This
poor wretch, roused into a little sensibility by an ap-
proaching execution, had the elements of his catechism
to learn, when he was going out of the world. This
man is but the pattern of multitudes, who come daily,
by the same way, to the same end. Upon the whole,
if knowledge doth harm, it is by accident, and con-
trary to its nature : but ignorance destroys by neces-

150

THE BLESSEDNESS OF [|SERM. X,

sanj consequence ; and, therefore, it is both wise and
charitable to promote the teaching of the poor.

That this teaching may have the better effect, I
must address myself in a few words to the children,
who are supported by the charity of this day. If then
the benefits of instruction are so apparent, it is your
duty to value it accordingly, and receive it with atten-
tion and patience. Learning of every kind is the
work of time ; it comes by little and little, and more
slowly to some than to others ; but all must be im-
proved by patience and perseverance. Remember
how the grain, which the poor claim, as their portion
from the rich, at this season of the year, is gathered
up by single ears, for which they are patiently stoop-
ing all the day long, till they are wetted with the dew
of heaven. We have seen the fields overspread with
children at this employment ; their parents encourag-
ing them, and setting them the example. The fruits
of learning, which you are gathering at school, are far
more valuable and lasting : gather them, therefore,
with the like perseverance, and you will find at length,
that as the single ears of the field rise insensibly to a
burthen as large as you can bear; so will your learn-
ing increase in a few years to such a stock, as will be
sufficient to carry you through the business of this
world to a better.

Above all, when you learn to read and write, learn
to pra?/. Think how many fall into sin and misery,
and the displeasure of God, because they were never
taught to pray, or, because they would never learn.
To walk without prayer, is to w^alk without God : and
how miserable must that be in a world of such danger!
If the righteous man, who lifteth up his eyes unto the
everlasting hills, and prayeth daily for the help and
protection of God, is scarcely saved, and escapes as a

SERM. X.^ CONSIDERING THE POOR.

151

brand plucked out of the fire ; what must become of
those, who never pray at all ? If we wrestle against
principalities and powers, for which we are not a
match : what must be the fate of those who have no
helper ? The poor and friendless orphan is in a hope-
ful state when compared with the soul that has lost the
presence of its heavenly Father, and while it is under
the weakness and poverty of nature, and the deceit-
fulness of sin, is left to the malice of its spiritual ene-
mies. Make it, therefore, the first and the main busi-
ness of your lives, to engage the power and good-
ness of God on your side, by learning to call uipon
him at all times, as your catechism directs, hy diligent
prayer. We have a promise, that, whosoever cometh
to God by the prayer of faith, shall not be cast out :
but, he who doth not pray, casteth out himself ; and
to such all evil must follow of course, both in this
world and the next.

This is a reflection which equally concerns us all ;
and brings us back to the duty of the text, and the
promise which attends it. i/"God he for us, saith the
Apostle, ivJio can he against us ? and if God be against
us, who, or what, can be for us, to do us any good ?
What will all the power, honour, and wealth, of this
world signify to that man, to whom the great God of
heaven and earth is no friend ? and if the indevout,
who never pray, have no title to his favour, the un-
merciful shall pray in vain; they never listened to
the prayers and wants of others ; and so their own
prayers shall be fruitless. But, on the other hand,
how blessed is he that consider eth the poor and needy;
the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble.

Blessedness, as the term is applied in the Scripture,
and particularly in the Psalms, denotes the happiness
of man living under the approbation and favour of

152

THE BLESSEDNESS OF

C^SERM. X.

God, and taking pleasure in the way of his command-
ments. Such is the state of the blessed man in the
first psalm ; he is happy in himself, and his ways are
prospered upon the earth. There is a farther blessed-
ness in peace of conscience under a sense of the for-
giveness of sin ; as it is said. Blessed is the man to
wJiom the Lord ivill not impute sin.

It is certainly one of the first blessings in this life,
to be able and willing to relieve the wants of the poor;
not only for the prospect of future good, but the en-
joyment of present pleasure. For is it not a blessed
privilege in the divine nature, that it can distribute to
the wants of all, and Jill their hearts with food and
gladness ? and can it be otherwise than a blessedness
in man, when he partakes of the blessedness of God?
Here pleasure and duty go together ; and, doubtless,
there are many good hearts which feel in themselves
the blessedness pronounced upon them in the text.
Man can be like unto God in no capacity so much as
in that of being glad to distrihute : and to this like-
ness we may aspire without ambition. In fact, we
are commanded to propose God himself as a pattern
to us. " Be ye perfect," saith our blessed Saviour,
" even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
Not perfect in wisdom, or power, or purity, but in
goodness ; distribute with kindness, and do good to
all without partiality, even as He malteth. his sun to
rise, and sendeth his raiii on the just, and on the un-
just. It is said of kings and magistrates, that they are
gods, though they shall die lilte men : and Moses was
made a god unto Pharaoh, with authority to execute
vengeance on a proud prince, and a wicked people.
This office we are not to desire; nor did Moses desire
it ; he was the meehest of men in his temper, and
therefore God chose him as a fit instrument for the in-

SERM.

CONSIDERING THE POOR.

153

flictingof his judgments'; who could drive the furious
blast with calmness and serenity. He is the proper
minister of vengeance, who can execute it without
wrath. Our blessed Saviour, to whom all judgment
is committed, was the mildest and the most lowly in
his conversation upon earth. In this capacity of a
judge, we are not called to imitate him ; but all may
go about doing good; and they who can do the most
good, have the most pleasure within their power.

But there is now another sort of blessedness (and
that more valuable to us in our present state) to which
he shall be entitled, who considereth the poor and
needy ; — the Lord shall deliver him in the time of
trouble.

In the days of youth, we are thoughtless and for-
getful; in the days of prosperity, we are high-spirited
and presumptuous ; but the time of sorrow must
overtake those who least think of it ; and there are
troubles in store, by which the highest minds shall
be brought low, and the stoutest hearts shall be made
to tremble. Then to find deliverance from the Lord,
is the greatest blessedness of man ; and, consequently,
to secure it before hand, by shewing mercy to the
poor, must be his great wisdom. Wealth being so
often abused as a root of evil, is called the Mammon
of unrighteousness ; but by this wise application of
it, we may provide to ourselves a sure friend in the
day of our distress.

The troubles of man's mind are as many and as
various as the diseases of his body, so that it were
vain to number them : but there are some in par-
ticular under which you must all see, that we can
expect no deliverance but from God. There are
cares and disappointments, brought upon us some-
times by our own oversights, sometimes by the per-

154

THE BLESSEDNESS OF

[[SERM, X.

verseness and treachery of others, from which nothing
can extricate us, but that Providence which ruleth
over all, and worketh by ways which are secret and
unexpected. And by some such way shall he be de-
livered, who hath co?isiderecl others in their necessity.

There is another trouble, by which the mind is sub-
ject to be agitated ; and which is more afflicting than
worldly sorrow : I mean a remorse of conscience
under a sense of guilt. Some men when they have
fallen into sin, seem to be as easy as they were before.
This is a dreadful symptom. When a limb feels no
pain from incision, we know it is in a state of morti-
fication : and ease in such a case, is the forerunner of
death. But a mind more tender, and of a godly frame,
is often reduced to a fearful sense of past sins. Sor-
row, and shame, and terror seize upon it like fiends,
and threaten to tear it in pieces. Where can it look
for deliverance at such a time, but to the grace of
God, who hath promised forgiveness of sin ? Neither
the power of man, nor the comforts of the world,
can reach this case. Spiritual griefs must have a
spiritual remedy ; and that remedy is with the great
Physician of the soul, who alone can heal our sins,
and help our infirmities. If he is sought at such a
time of trouble, and tiot found, nothing remains but
despair, which is the extremity of trouble. Many
passages in the Psalms are written for the use and
support of contrite minds, labouring under the bur-
then of their sins ; and by the charitable they shall
not be uttered in vain. They that have shewed
mercy shall find mercy, and be restored to peace of
conscience.

Another time of trouble is the time of sickness.
The help of God, under this trial, is particularly
promised to the merciful, in the words which follow

SERM. X.^ CONSIDERING THE POOR,

155

the text. TJie Lord shall comfort Mm when he lieth
side upon his bed: thou shalt make all his hed in his
sickness. The Scripture expresses all things in
figure and metaphor, with great force and significa-
tion. The making of his bed is a relief to the sick,
and sometimes the only relief they are capable of.
How easy then must he lie, whose bodily sorrows
are made lighter by a communication of ease and
comfort from above ! for an easy mind, which is the
gift of God, will sustain all the infirmities of the
body. How frequently and unexpectedly doth the
blessing of God raise up the sick, whose life hath
been despaired of ; as it is here said. The Lord shall
preserve him and keep him alive, that he may be blessed
upon the earth. But some sickness must end in
death : and when that time of trouble is approaching ;
when this world is vanishing from our sight, and we
are departing into the world of spirits ; how inesti-
mable is one ray of light from above, to cheer us in
that hour of darkness ! Who, that duly considers this
in the days of health, would not sell all that he hath,
and give to the poor, to purchase it ?

But there is still another occasion of trouble, and
that the greatest of all : when we shall be summoned
by the trump of judgment to appear before the tri-
bunal of Jesus Christ. Then must the rich and
the poor, the weak and the powerful, stand naked
and helpless before a Judge, who is no respecter of
persons, but will demand an account of every man ;
of me that speak, and of you that hear ; and reward
them all according to their works. Who are they
that shall be able to stand in that fearful day of
reckoning ? who, but they that have distributed of
their abundance to the poor members of Jesus
Christ ? What is now done to them, will then be

15

156

THE BLESSEDNESS, &C. [[SERM. X.

placed by him to his own account, as if it were done
to himself. / was naked, saith he, and ye clothed me;
sick and in prison, and ye visited me. To the rest
who bestowed their possessions upon themselves, and
were unmindful of him, and of his poor brethren, he
saith. Depart from me, I know you 7iot.

Think then, all ye that have ability : think what a
serious trust is coftimitted to you, and what great
things depend upon a faithful discharge of it. We
count the rich happy ; we labour for wealth ; we
court popularity ; we are proud of honours and
titles ; but all these things will fail us in the time
of troid)le. No man can be accounted happy, but
he who shall find deliverance from God. This de-
liverance is promised to the charitable man ; and
the promise of God shall never disappoint him. In
all the cares and vexations of life ; in the temptations
of prosperity, and in the sorrows of adversity ; in
health and in sickness ; in the hour of death, and in
the day of judgment; Messed is he that consideretk
the poor and needy ; the Lord shall deliver him in the
time of trouble.

SERMON XI.

NOW CONCERNING THE COLLECTION FOR THE SAINTS,
AS I HAVE GIVEN ORDER TO THE CHURCHES OF GA-
LATIA, EVEN SO DO YE :

UPON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, LET EVERY ONE
OF YOU LAY BY HIM IN STORE, AS GOD HATH PROS-
PERED HIM. 1 COR. XVI. 1, 2.

Hence we learn, that the custom of providing for
the wants of necessitous Christians by a voluntary
contribution, is as ancient as Christianity itself. The
method ordained by the Apostle in the churches of
Galatia, and, by this precept of the text, in the church
of Corinth also, was to lay by something in store
weekly, according to the abilities of each, and the
blessing of God upon their affairs ; and at stated
times, what was so raised, was collected by the go-
vernors of the church, and distribution was made as
every man had need ; so that in the first ages, though
there would of course be many poor in the church,
because there were people of all orders converted to
the faith, yet there were none without relief. If they
were sick, or under persecution, or any other misfor-
tune, they were the pensioners of the church, and

158

THE HISTORY OF

CSERM. XI.

their wants were supplied, as the charity and pru-
dence of their rulers directed.

The text seems to call upon me to take a review of
the modes of making collections for the poor^, which
have prevailed among Christians in different ages of
the church. The subject is edifying in itself, and very
interesting at the time when the poor are supported
at so enormous an expence ; which shews that they
are strangely multiplied, and the causes of this de-
serve to be enquired into.

So great was the zeal of those who first embraced
the Gospel, that if they were wealthy they sold their
possessions, and a common fund w as raised, out of
which the ministers of the church were maintained,
and the poor relieved at their discretion.

Though this practice of selling all w^as really and
readily observed by many, w^e do not find it was ab-
solutely commanded. But this other custom of lay-
ing apart something every week was established by
a standing order of the church, which extended to
every member of it, according to their several abi-
lities : let every one of you, says the Apostle, lay hy
him in store.

When the church was farther spread, and better
established, then the ancient rule took place amongst
the Christians, of giving the tenth part of all their
increase ; which rule had been observed long
before the law of Moses, and lasted, though with
many abuses and interruptions, till the times of the
Gospel, when we hear the Pharisee boasting that he
gave tithes of all he possessed. When Christianity
was admitted into this country, the same practice
came with it, Avhich prevailed, as we learn from the
writings of the first ages, in all other nations of the
world. Christians gave a tenth part of the increase

SERM. Xl.^ COLLECTIONS FOR THE POOR.

159

of their lands and chattels, and every article from
which any gain or profit was derived. In process of
time, the first hereditary Saxon monarch that go-
verned the whole nation of England in peace, re-
peated what had been done in another form about an
hundred years before ; he gave to the church, by a
solemn charter, with the presence and consent of the
Lords and Commons, the tithes of the whole king-
dom for ever, in the year of our Lord 855, and of-
fered his charter upon the altar of the great church
at Westminster, the bishops receiving it from his
hands on the part of God. The piety of succeeding
benefactors added many lands to the support of the
church and religious monasteries : and, out of these,
churches and colleges were built ; strangers and tra-
vellers were entertained ; the poor were all fed, or
set to work, and the sick received into infirmaries
and almonries (or amberies) as they were then called.
I do not pretend to say that there was no mixture of
superstition in these things ; that charity was not
carried to excess ; and that there were not many
abuses in religious societies. It could not be other-
wise ; because there never was any good in this
world, nor ever will be, without a mixture of evil.
In this, however, as a fact, all writers agree, that it
belonged to the church for many hundred years to
take care of the poor out of their own revenues : and
it was computed, in former times, that in all the pa-
rishes of England, taking them one with another,
one-fourth part of the tithes of the parish would, and
actually did, maintain the poor.

Till the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth, there
never was any tax laid upon England as a poor's rate.
Before the Reformation, the poor were kept by the
clergy, with the voluntary contributions of well dis-

160

THE HISTORY OF

C^SERM. XI.

posed people ; but there was no such thing as a poor's
rate. The bishops and clergy of different kinds,
kept open hospitality for the benefit of strangers and
travellers, and the poor of the neighbourhood ; and
were obliged so to do by their foundations : and it
pleased God to bless these means to such a degree,
that the poor were no burthen to the nation : not a
penny was imposed upon any layman for maintain-
ing them. But when the sacrilegious encroachments
of Popery were confirmed at the Reformation, by the
alienation of church lands, and the clergy were
thereby impoverished ; the laity who took them did
not comply with the conditions of the tenure.

Reason and law suggest to us, that they, who got
the lands of the church, took them with the encum-
brance that was upon them. Out of those lands the
poor had been maintained ; therefore, they that took
the lands should have taken the poor with them ; and
they made a great shew of doing it for a time, be-
cause that was the pretence with which they took
them from the clergy : but when the fish was taken,
the net was laid aside.

I need not inform you what state we are in at
present, when the poor's rates are come to such an
enormous height throughout the kingdom, that
about the year 1700 they were computed at a million
yearly : and from that time to this they have been
more than doubled ; so that there is more than twice
as much paid to the poor, as is now paid to all the
clergy in the kingdom. And in all this expence,
there is no charity ; no devotion as formerly ; it is an
involuntary payment, forced from us by law, and
squeezed out of many, who are fitter to receive some-
thing for their own wants, than to contribute to the
wants of others.

SERM. XI.3 COLLECTIONS FOR THE POOR.

161

If there was a time, when one-fourth of the tithes
was found sufficient to maintain the parish poor,
and the revenues of the national poor are now twice
as great as the revenues of the church, thence it
follows, that where they had one poor man we have
eight throughout the kingdom, that is, 1000 poor
instead of 125. It may please God still to increase
the poor, till they swallow up the rich who de-
voured them : for I think it requires no degree of
superstition or credulity to see the hand of God in
this whole matter.

Even heathens were persuaded that their gods
were the avengers of sacrilege ; and if it is a certain
fact that the poor have increased as the church hath
gone down, they who lessened the patrimony of the
church brought upon us such an evil as might be ex-
pected ; indeed, such as seems to follow naturally and
necessarily ; for what a man soweth, that sliall he also
reap ; therefore, he that soweth in sacrilege must ex-
pect to reap in poverty. Even in this parish, there
is a singular concurrence of circumstances : and if I
speak of them, you all know me too well to suspect I
have any design in it, but that of following the order
of my subject ; which has required me to give you a
brief and impartial history of collections for the poor,
and the nature of them in different ages. It is a fact
known to us all, that in this place, no part of the
property of the parish is settled upon the service of
the church. The rectorial tithes are in the possession
of a lay impropriator who is a papist ; the vicarial
are taken by the minister of another parish ; and the
only certain dependence of a minister is upon bene-
factions of a modern date from other quarters. So
stands the case with the church. Now look at the
poor ; and you will find such a charge as occurs but

VOL. IV. M

162

THE HISTORY OF

CSERM. XI.

in few parts of the kingdom ; for the sum expended
annually upon the poor amounts, one year with
another, to three hundred and fifty pounds ; that is,
to more than one fourth part of the whole rents of the
parish. Amongst the rest of our national burthens,
the single tax upon the land, a new imposition, never
thought of till within the last hundred years, takes
more from the landed interest, than would, at the
time when it was imposed, have been sufficient to
maintain all the poor in the kingdom : and these two
burthens were neither of them felt by the nation
while the poor were maintained by the church. So
many ways has the providence of God of shewing us,
that he is stronger than we are ; and how little they
are like to gain in the end, who mix sacrilege with
their policy, and hope to enrich themselves by any
act of impiety.

We can now only lament these things ; we cannot
correct them. We have no reason to think God will
be reconciled to national sin, without national resti-
tution; and there is less hope of that every day.
The work of Sir Henry Spelman *, shewing the ma-
nifest judgments of God upon the violation of
churches and the usurpation of church lands, had
its effect for a time in some instances, but it is now
almost forgotten. There are, indeed, some other
lesser concurring causes to increase the burthen of
the poor, to which prudence might apply some
remedy : these are, first, the corruption of morals
amongst the poor; secondly, the indolence of persons
of fortune and influence, who take no care of them ;

• See the work of Sir Henry Spelman, De non temerandis Eccle-
siis. — A Tract of the Rights due unto Churches. A work alarming in
its subject, and unanswerable in its argument ; the author of it being
equally skilled in law and divinity.

SERM. XI.]] COLLECTIONS FOR THE POOR.

163

and thirdly, the laying of too many farms together,
especially where new enclosures have taken place.

As to the first of these causes, when the state of
the poor was inquired into, at the desire of govern-
ment, by a person of great eminence for learning,
in the year 1697 ; he delivered it as his opinion, to
the Lords J ustices, that many of our grievances, in
regard to the poor, arose from the toleration of
tippling in public-houses ; drinking spirituous liquors
at private shops ; and the wandering about of idle
people, as beggars, without restraint, from their
proper parishes. However great these evils might
be at the time above mentioned, I fear they grew
much worse afterwards. Of late years, indeed, the
magistrates have been so sensible of the increase of
poverty, from the increase of public-houses, that the
number of them has been much diminished in many
parts of the kingdom ; and they are more cautious,
than heretofore, in granting licences. I am not pre-
pared to give you an exact history of the inn and
the public-house in England. It seems there were
no such common sources of corruption to the
people, when travellers, in times of greater simplicity,
were accommodated by charitable hospitality : and,
bad as they are by their nature, they are become
still much worse in practice since the common use
of spirituous liquors, which is but of the last hundred
years.

Another cause of our increasing rates, is that want
of public spirit, and that aversion to business, which
has prevailed of late years amongst our gentry ; who
leave the inspection of the poor wholly to their infe-
riors. I knew a worthy person, of great piety, charity,
and extensive learning, who was allowed to have great
judgment in all national concerns, and was so well

M 2

164

THE HISTORY OF

[[SERM. XI.

acquainted with the state of the poor, that none ever
wrote better upon the subject than himself. It was
an observation of his, that the rich are under a fun-
damental error, in supposing that the duty of alms-
giving is the essential part of the comprehensive duty
of charity ; and so their object is rather to remove
present misery, than to pi-event it by encouraging
piety, order, and good morals. Let gentlemen of
fortune, said he, give more of their time to the poor
though they give less of their money, and then we
shall have found out the grand secret for reducing
the parish rates : the poor would then behave better,
and cost less, and find themselves much happier than
they do at present *.

To these another cause may still be added, which
has had the unhappy effect of damping the industry
of the poor, by taking away from them the hope of
bettering their condition by good management : I
mean the selfish practice of laying many farms into
one, to save trouble and raise more money ; whence
it comes to pass, that labourers have not that en-
couragement to endeavour to advance themselves and
their families as they had formerly : in some places
there are no small farms left for them, and they are
not able to take a large one ; in consequence of which
they grow desperate in their poverty ; and even where
there are small farms, the profits are, in a manner,
eaten up in many parishes, by burthensome rates
and taxes.

* Paupers at London take collection from many parishes, at
once, under false names. A spy is detected in a camp, by ordering
all the soldiers to their tents ; so these impostors might be de-
tected by a muster, or roll-call, of all the parishes held at the
same time : and every person so detected, should receive corporal
punishment, and a brand of infamy on their forehead.

SERM. XI. 3 COLLECTIONS FOR THE POOR.

165

I have now enumerated, to the best of my know-
ledge, and without concealing any part of the truth,
the several causes which have contributed to increase
the number of the poor, and to render them so bur-
thensome, that they cannot always find a provision
adequate to their wants in times of sickness and ina-
bility. Societies have, therefore, been formed, the
members of which undertake, in the days of their
health, to make a better provision for one another,
out of a common stock, than they could expect from
the public, if they should ever be reduced to the ne-
cessity of applying for it. As I heartily approve of
this design, and have given you my sentiments to that
effect on former occasions, I shall now add such ad-
vice as may promote and secure the benefit to all
those that are concerned in it ; and I know not how
to do this more effectually than by enforcing the ex-
hortation of the Apostle, that each of you lay by him
in store as God hath prospered him. For in order to
do this, so as to keep up to the sense of the exhorta-
tion, he must be.

1. Prudent; 2. industrious; 3. sober; and 4.
honest ; without which, he has no reason to expect
that God will prosper him.

By prudence, I mean a proper attention to his
affairs ; which we call ceconomy. It is as wicked to
waste what God hath bestowed, as to deny it to him
that is in need ; and for this plain reason, because he
who wastes what he has, will have nothing to give.
Prudence in our affairs is a duty so necessary, that our
blessed Lord, who was exemplary and instructive in
his actions, as well as in his words, seems to have
shewn a particular regard to it : Gather up the frag-
ments which remain, said he, that nothing be lost :
and if he, whose word alone was sufficient to provide

166

THE HISTORY OF

[[SERM. XI.

for an hungry multitude in a wilderness ; if he, I say,
thought it expedient that we should make the most
of his gifts, the same rule will oblige us to make the
most of our own gains, and to take care that nothing
he lost. It is a sort of tempting God, if we expect
him to work two miracles, when a prudent application
of one would answer the end. The means were
miraculous the first time the multitude were fed;
but they were natural when the fragments that had
been laid up were distributed. It is the care of Pro-
vidence to put us in a way, and do what we cannot
do for ourselves ; but it must be our care to make
the most of his gifts by a prudent attention to them.

A second qualification, necessary to those who
would lay by any thing, is industry. Idleness is the
disgrace of human kind. It was made neither for the
rich nor the poor ; neither for man when he was in
Paradise, nor now he is out of it. The body, the
mind, and the estate, all suffer by it. It brings
diseases upon the rich, and filthiness upon the poor :
it weakens all the faculties of the mind, and leaves it
empty and dissatisfied ; it ruins the estate, because an
idle disposition is for the most part attended with ex-
pensive inclinations, while it brings in nothing for the
supply of necessary wants. Idle people are generally
vicious : they are idle because they are vicious ; and
vice always did cost more than virtue to maintain it.
Instead of having any thing to lay by, idleness expects
to receive that from the labours of others, which it
does not deserve from any body. The idle man is to
society, what a useless limb is to the body, which must
be carried or dragged along by the rest ; and if he is
not troublesome to-day, he will be soon : for he that
has neither house nor land, nor any useful employ-
ment, must be maintained either by beggary or by

SERM. XI.^ COLLECTIONS FOR THE POOR.

167

working in the dark, when other men are asleep :
therefore, such people ought to be strictly watched ;
and every society has a right against them on a prin-
ciple of self-defence ; for he who does them no good,
will very soon do them some mischief. In a neigh-
bouring nation, celebrated for few virtues besides
those of frugality and industry, they endure no idle-
ness amongst them ; so you see no beggars about
their streets, and very seldom hear of any executions
for felony. If any poor man turns idle, and a,dmoni-
tion does him no good, they take the following method
to make him work : they confine him in a large
cistern, into which the water runs so fast, that unless
he pumps it out with all his might for several hours,
it will prevail over him and drown him. Our schools
of labour are called houses of correction ; but the
place where this discipline is exercised, is called the
bettering home : and if the first trial does not make
a man better, they give him a second ; and so on, till
he is brought to reason with himself : then he dis-
covers, that it will be less trouble to earn his living
by moderate labour, than to do such hard work and
get nothing by it. This, however, is a way of teaching
men as we teach brutes, by compulsion. How much
better is it to hearken and learn as children do, and
be bettered hy the instructions of wisdom ! Go, then,
to the ant, thou sluggard, consider Iter ways and be
wise : which Jiaving tio guide, overseer, or ruler, jjro-
videth her meat in tlie summer, and gather eth her food
in the harvest.

But now, thirdly, I am to remind you, that he who
would lay any thing by for charity, must be temperate.
No man will ever be able to do much good to others,
who does not lay some restraint upon himself. Intem-

168

THE HISTORY OF

[^SERM. X.

perance is hurtful to the rich ; but it is ruinous to the
poor ; and alas ! we have too many examples of it in
all places ; of men who spend all they have upon
themselves, and sometimes more than they have, and
live more like swine than Christians. If there should
be any such here present, may God give them grace
to understand rightly the miserable bondage into
which they have been betrayed by ungoverned appe-
tites ; while, instead of fancied indulgence, they find
nothing but real misery ; the ingredients of which are
the three great evils of human life, sickness, guilt, and
poverty. If we were to follow some people of the
lower class of life, to observe how they live, particu-
larly those who are employed in handicraft trades, in
the great metropolis of this kingdom ; we should see
them working hard for a few days, then taking their
wages, and giving themselves up for as many days
more to idleness and intemperance in a public-house.
There they meet with others as idle as themselves ; who
are come upon the same errand, to waste their time
and their money. They sit till all is spent, and,
perhaps, till their senses are gone together with their
money ; but if not so bad as that, their consciences
are wounded, and their peace of mind is destroyed ;
so that they have not one moment of rational enjoy-
ment. In the mean time, if we were to see the un-
happy wife of one of those free-livers, we should find
her at home, with her poor, ragged, helpless children
about her, hungering and thirsting for the fruit of
their father's labour ; with which, he is all the while
abusing himself in other company. When all is gone,
and he has time to think a little, the distress of his
family stares him in the face ; he is entertained with
bitter accusations, which he has brought upon him-

SERM. XI.3 COLLECTIONS FOR THE POOR.

169

self; and the cruelty and robbery he has been guilty
of prey upon his spirits. Instead of laying by for the
day of necessity, he is treasuring up for himself misery
in this world, and wrath against the day of vengeance,
in another.

You will not expect such to follow the advice of
the Apostle : no, they that Imj hj, with the design
recommended in the text, are another sort of persons.
How different from the picture I have just set before
you, is the man, who returns home in sobriety to his
family, there to be received as the protector and friend
of all that belong to him ; congratulated by his wife,
embraced by his children, and entertained after the
toils of the day, with their pretty innocent conver-
sation. He sleeps in peace, and returns again to his
work, with his wits about him ; and when his contri-
bution becomes due, he hath it in readiness, and
bestows it with chearfulness. When the day of sick-
ness comes, as it must come some time, the distress
of his family is greatly alleviated ; and if his health is
not suddenly restored (though it is the sooner likely
to be so, from the benefit to which he is intitled) his
wants are fewer, and his mind is more at ease, than it
could possibly be, if he had been obliged to apply in
the usual way for relief from the public.

You therefore see, my Brethren, how necessary
prudence, industry, and temperance are to those who
undertake to lay by for the future wants of themselves
and their companions. But now I must warn you,
though I have recommended these virtues, not to trust
in them, or in yourselves. Your trust must be in
God ; because your prosperity is from him only ; you
are directed to lay hy as God hath prospered you.
Therefore, the object of your present meeting, if you

170

THE HISTORY OF

tSERM. XI.

make a right use of it, leads you daily to a pious de-
pendence upon God for his blessing ; and this, as I
observed above, will keep you honest in your deal-
ings. If you take the matter in this light, and are
persuaded you have succeeded better, because God
hath prospered you, you must then be conscious that
you have laboured honestly in your vocation ; and
you will go on as you have begun, in hope of farther
prosperity from the same divine assistance. Thus
your labour will become a work of faith ; you will
persevere as seeing him that is invisible ; you will
remember, that the eyes of the Lord are in every
place, beholding the evil and the good: that the greatest
prudence, without him, will turn into foolishness, and
the greatest industry will be labour in vaiji. There
is nothing like this sense of God's aK-seeing eye, to
make men honest, and Iceep them so. The bad man
and the good differ chiefly in this respect, that the
former thinks of nothing but the world, and the gain
he can make of his craft by any manner of means ;
the other works under a continual sense of God's
presence. He feels himself under a daily obligation
to behave so as to ensure that prosperity, which is
the gift of God ; if he loses that, he loses his all ;
for he knows that wealth is but a snare to those
who forget God, and think they can do as well with-
out him as other men do with him. But if he be-
lieves, that all he has is from God, then he may
apply to himself that promise of the Old and New
Testament, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
In all the labours and trials of our life, may those
gracious words be ever sounding in our ears — /
will never leave thee nor forsake thee ! By shewing
how nigh God is to us, they will keep us nigh unto

SERM. XI.]] COLLECTIONS FOR THE POOR.

171

him, in the observation of his laws, the frequenting
of his worship, the receiving of his sacraments,
the reading of his word : and he who takes this
way of qualifying himself for any society upon earth,
shall be company for saints and angels in the society
of heaven.

SERMON XII.

AS TOUCHING THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, HAVE
YE NOT READ THAT WHICH WAS SPOKEN TO YOU BY
GOD, SAYING,

I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND
THE GOD OF JACOB ? GOD IS NOT THE GOD OF THE
DEAD, BUT OF THE LIVING. MATT. XXII. 31, 32.

The resurrection of the dead was a doctrine gene-
rally received among the Jews, and the expectation
of it had supported all the faithful from the fall of
Adam. That there were some in J udea who did not
believe it, appears from the case before us ; but these
were not Jews ; they were conceited philosophizing
heretics, who had departed from the religion of their
forefathers, and were declared by our blessed Saviour
to be ignorant of the Scripture, and of the power of
God ; so their example is of no more weight against
the general persuasion of the Jews, than that of our
modern Arians, Socinians, Quakers, and such like,
against the faith of the Gospel, and the general sense
of the Christian world. If we listen to such people as
these, our Gospel has no atonement, our Saviour no
divinity of person,ournaturenoneedofthe assistances

SERM. XIlJ

ETERNAL LIFE, &C.

173

of divine grace. In short, Christianity will be no
Christianity, if bad men, who pretend to teach it, are
allowed to be of any authority. We shall remain
under the like uncertainty, if we ask Sadducees and
Herodians, who had fallen into gross secularity, and
were little better than our Deists, what was the faith
of the Jews under the law of Moses ? Those of the
Jews must have learned better, to whom our Saviour
appealed, when he said, Search the Scriptures, for
in tJwm ye think ye have eternal life ; not only the
promises of this world, but of the world to come.
And the same must be admitted, where he asserted
against the Samaritans, that salvatioji, (meaning
spiritual and eternal salvation) was of the Jews-
John v. 29, and iv. 22.

That the resurrection of the dead was commonly
believed amongst them, appears from many examples.
When our Lord told Martha (speaking of Lazarus)
that her brother should rise again, " I know," said
she " that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the
last day." She, therefore, had no doubt about this
doctrine, although not so inquisitive as Mary in sub-
jects of divinity, St. Paul's words are much more
remarkable, as being of much greater extent and ap-
plication : " For the hope of Israel I am bound with
this chain." Now, if we refer backwards to his trial
before king Agrippa, we shall see that this hope, which
it seems was the hope of Israel, that is, of the church
of the Jews at large, was the hope of the resurrection.
" I stand, and am judged for the hope of the promise
made of God unto our fathers, unto which promise,
our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night,
hope to come; for which hope's sake, king Agrippa,
I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought
a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the

174

ETERNAL LIFE, THE GREAT [[SERW- XII.

dead?'' This, then, was the express object of their
hope : and why ? not because they had learned it of
one another, till it grew into a national persuasion ;
but because it yf^i?) promised of God unto their fathers,
the Patriarchs and their posterity. Therefore, the
promises made to them, however worded,and however
carnally misunderstood, in ancient or modern times,
were promises which included the hope of another
life, and the resurrection of the dead. This agrees
exactly with our Saviour's interpretation of the pro-
mise in the text. The God of life, the God of the
spirits of all flesh, calls himself the God of the fathers
of Israel, when they were laid in their graves ; and
Moses reported this to sheio * that the dead are raised:
in as much as the God of spirits, that is, the God of
the living (for all spirits live) can have no relation
with the dead, but as still living in spirit, and pre-
served unto life eternal in body also. With this text,
we read that the Sadducees were put to silence, and
the multitude were astonished at the doctrine. The
Sadducees were impudent and obstinate ; but the case
was too plain to be resisted ; and the promise of
life was recognized by the people with wonder and
delight.

I may instance, again, in that passage of Ezekiel,
chap, xxxvii. where the resurrection of dry bones into
a multitude of living people, is used by the prophet,
as a sign, to assure the Jews, then in captivity, that
they should be restored to their own land. For this
passage shews, it was a doctrine universally known to
them, that the dead should be raised out of their
graves. It was not written to teach them the doctrine
of the resurrection at that time, but to build upon it.

* See Luke xx. 37.

SERM. XII.^ PROMISE OP THE LAW.

175

as a thing known and allowed amongst them. There
is a plain reason in all language, why the sign should
be better known than the thing signified. Here, the
thing unknown to the poor desponding Jews, was
their deliverance from captivity ; the resurrection of
the dead from their graves, is the sign and pledge to
assure them thereof. The God, who according to his
promise, was engaged to bring them from the last and
greatest captivity under the power of death, would
bring them out of the land in which they were then
held in bondage : and as they believed the one already,
they might thence be induced to believe the other,
when the prophet Ezekiel informed them of it, in
terms borrowed from the resurrection of the body.

The hope of Israel was then in the promise of a
resurrection : this was in all times the general persua-
sion of the Jews, to whom Moses had shewed it : and
none but the worst of heretics disputed it, who dis-
puted every thing. How comes it then to have been
imagined, that the people of God, while under the law,
looked only for temporal promises? The seventh
article of our church is strongly pointed against this
error ; therefore it had made its appearance soon
after the Reformation. And, I am sorry to say it, one
of our most learned divines, whose sermons are de-
servedly in great repute, hath affirmed in plain words,
that the people, and even the priests of the Jews, did
not know so much of the immortality of the soul, as
the heathen philosophers did *. And another of later

* " As to evident discovery concerning the immortality of
man's soul, or the future state (so material a point of religion, of
so great moment and influence upon practice) even the Gentile
theology (assisted by ancient common tradition) seems to have
outgone the Jewish, grounding upon their revealed law ; the
Pagan priests, more expressly taught, more frequently inculcated
15

176

ETERNAL LIFE, THE GREAT j^SERM. XII.

times built a grand argument for the divine authority
of Moses on the supposition, that the doctrine of a
future state is not to be found in his writings !

Here, then, is a very strange and shocking oppo-
sition between the doctrine of Christ and his apostles,
and some of our celebrated reasoners of modern times.
Christ saith, Moses shewed that the dead are raised:
Paul says, he taught nothing but what Moses taught *,
and that the resurrection of the dead was the hope of
Israel: while some of later times say, Moses has pur-
posely omitted the doctrine of a future state ; and
that even the priests of the Jews knew little or nothing
about the immortality of the soul and a future life.
It is our misfortune, that for four generations past,
a strange degree of inadvertency with respect to the
sense of God's promises, and the language of his law,
hath been stealing upon us ; since the new schemes
of human religion have been invented, and have found
so many admirers. I have, therefore, determined to
examine the Scripture by the light of the Scripture,
and see what it delivers to us on the immortality of
the soul, the world of spirits, the resurrection of the
dead, and the rewards of the faithful after death.

Our best method will be to suppose the negative ;
that the immortality of the soul, and the world of spi-

arguments drawn from thence, than the Hebrew prophets : a plain
instance and argument of the imperfection of this religion." See
Dr. Barrow s Sermons on the Imperfeclion of the Jewish Religion.
Such a remark, from a man of such judgment and learning, and
good intentions as Dr. Barrow, must be considered as a symptom,
that we were falling into times, when the spirit of the Old Testa-
ment should be less understood than formerly : and accordingly it
was strangely misrepresented by Sj^encer, Warburton, Middleton,
and others : while Stanhope, and many writers of his class, asserted
the doctrine which I am defending in this discourse.

* Acts xxvi. 12.

SERM. xir.^

PROMISE OF THE LAW.

177

rits, and a reward after death, were not taught in the
law of Moses, and then to compare this with the
Scripture.

Is it not then very strange, to say, that the immor-
tality of the soul is not taught in the law of Moses;
when the Bible begins with it ? what was the tree of
life in Paradise ? It was not the tree of natural life ;
for this man had already ; and every other tree in the
garden would support it ; therefore, it was the tree of
spiritual life ; that is, of a sort of life which admits of
no death : and when man was debarred from the use
of it, the reason given is, lest he should take of it and
live for ever. What is it to live for ever ? it is to be
immortal : therefore, the immortality of the soul is
one of the first doctrines of the Scripture. What did
man gain by eating the forbidden fruit ? 3Iortalify,
What then did he lose ? Immortality. Therefore, it
is the doctrine of Moses that man was intended for
immortality ; and that his mortality was an accident,
occasioned by the entrance of sin. The word life, in
many places of the law, can mean nothing but eternal
life. What else can it signify, when it is applied to
God ? " As I live, saith the Lord." — And when it is
told the people by Moses that God is their life, and
the length of their days, {Deut. xxx. 20.) nothing can
be understood but a divine life, no days but the days
of eternity ; as when it is said, that Christ is our life
(in the other Testament) it means, according to his
own sense, / am the resurrection and tlie life — and
again, because I live, ye shall live also. The reason of
the thing is the same in both Testaments, for the life
of God must be eternal ; and there is to mortal man,
whose life here is a shadow, no length of days but by
the resurrection from the dead.

VOL. IV. N

178

• ETERNAL LIFE, THE GREAT []SERM. XII.

Let US next suppose, that the Jews under the law
had no knowledge of another invisible world of spi-
rits. How could this possibly be, when people, in the
times described in the historical part of the law, had
a nearer intercourse with heaven than we have now ?
God himself, the head and father of the world of
spirits, was visibly known to Adam, to Abraham, to
Moses. The host of angels, the inhabitants of the in-
visible world, were personally revealed to the Holy
Patriarchs. We read, (Gen. xxxii.) that Jacob went
on his way, and ihe angels of God met him : and when
Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's host : and he
called the name of that place Mahanaim : which
means the encampment of an aiimj, on account of
their number. Before this, a visionary ladder was
shewn to the same Patriarch, on which angels as-
cended and descended, to signify that there is a com-
munication between heaven and earth. This was the
immediate sense of the vision ; and must have been
inferred from it : but its full accomplishment is in the
Person of the Son of God, the living ivay, on whom
hereafter the angels of God will be seen ascending
and descending as in Jacob's vision.

That there is in this world of spirits an evil being,
the enemy of God and man, is taught in the history
of the fall; and the name of a serpent is given to
him ; a name much more instructive than that of the
devil or satan ; because the name of a serpent gives
us his whole character at once. That the serpent
was not a real, but a figurative one, is evident from
his having the gift of speech : as from his argument,
it appears, that he was a lyar ; and from his act, that
he was « murderer from the he ginning.

Let us next suppose, that the rewards of faith and
obedience, promised in the law of Moses, were merely

SKKM. XII. ^

PUOMISE OF THE LAW.

179

temporal ; that is, an enjoyment of good things in the
land of Canaan. If this was the sense of God's pro-
mises, then they were false to Abraham, to whom
they were first made : for he never received the pro-
mises in that sense. St. Stephen {Acts vii. 5.) urges
the Jews with this case, in answer to their own blind
Avorklly wisdom, which had totally mistaken the mean-
ing of their law. We ought never to conclude what
the law taught, from what some disaffected people
learned from it : for when the affections are wrong,
the understanding is never right. " God," saith St.
Stephen, speaking of Abraham, " gave him none in-
heritance in it ; no, not so much as to set his foot on ;
yet he promised that he would give it to him for a
possession." What follows then^ but that the earthly
C^inaan was not the thing meant in the promise, but
only a figure of the thing ? and so St. Paul assures us
in his Epistle to the Hehreivs ; telling us, that they
who had received this promise, did not look upon
Canaan as the end of tlie promise, but still called
themselves jyilgrims and strangers upon earth, de-
claring that they were seeking a country, not an earthly
one (for when they had left Canaan they shewed no
desire of returning jto it) but an heavenly country, the
thing intended in the promise. The very person, to
whom God promised a land to be afterwards enjoyed,
had not a foot of land upon earth, except a hurying-
place ; and when he was laid in that, God still calls
himself his God, still in covenant with him, still re-
lated to him, the same as before, though he was now
dead ; and, consequently, still as much engaged as ever
to make good his words in their true sense, and give
him the land he had promised. Go then, thou
worldly Jew, or thou half-blind Christian, go to the
sepulchre of thy father Abraham, and there consider,

N 2

180

ETERXAL LIFE, THE GREAT [^SERM. XH.

whether the promises of God in the law of Moses
were temporal onhj. To him they were spiritual only;
I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward, saith
the promise in Gen. xv. 1 ; and what they were to
Abraham, that they were to all his posterity ; and are
to us at this day : for the law, which was after, could
not set them aside, or render them of no effect.

The rewards of another life were also promised to
the people of God, under the name of a sabbath or
rest. When Gods works of this world were finished,
he rested. Now it was promised, that into that rest
of his, his people, if faithful, should erder. Where
could it be, but in heaven ? for there God rested :
ichen could it be, but after the works of man are
finished ; that is, after this present life ; as the I'est of
God was after the worJes of God ? The sabbath, or
rest of the seventh day, was therefore a perpetual
memorial, before and under the law, that God had so
rested, and that man should rest icith him ; and it was
a constant monition, to those who observed it, of an
heavenly rest ; as the Apostle argues more at large
in the Epistle to the Hebreics *.

You will not wonder at this language of the law,nor
find it difficult, when you see how it is copied in other
parts of the Scripture. In the Prophet Jeremiah,
where Rachel mourneth for the death of her children,
she is comforted with a promise, that they shall come
again from the land of tJie enemy : their death is ex-
pressed as a captivity ; and the region of departed
spirits, is the country, in which the grand, or the last
enemy, detains his prisoners. But, saith the Lord,
tJiere is hope in thine end, that is, in thy death, that

• This argument is drawn out in the Lectures on the Figurative
Language of the Scripture, p. 362. §. 6, Second Edition.

SERM. XII. ^

PROMISE OF THE LAW.

181

thy children shall come again to their own border ;
that is, that they shall return at the resurrection, as
captives are brought back from the land of the enemy,
and restored to their native country. See Jer. xxxi.
15, 16, 17. In the same language doth the widow of
Telcoah plead with David. She takes the metaphor
which arises from the occasion of Absalom's banish-
ment : and argues, that though death is appointed to
all men, yet God deviseth means, that his banished
be not expelled from him. 2 Sam. xiv. 14.

Now if death and life are thus spoken of in the
Prophets, under the similitude of leaving and return-
ing to our native land ; this is the land which God
promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; who never
enjoyed the earthly Canaan, but were pilgrims and
strangers upon earth. This is the land wherein dwell-
eth righteousness, in which shall be found the true ta-
bernacle of God, the city of God, the new Jerusalem,,
where saints and angels shall dwell together. All this,
as the Apostle assures us, was intended by the pro-
mise in the text. God is there called the God of those
who are dead in body, because they are still alive in
spirit ; and having prepared for them a city, which
they shall enjoy at the resurrection, he is not ashamed
to be called their God ; as he would have been, if his
covenant with them had extended only to the present
life. Because he gave an earthly land, and a city
built by men, we think he meant nothing else ; whereas
these things never were more than similitudes and
pledges ; the one of an heavenly country, the other of
a city, whose builder and maher is God. Of that place
which is reserved for the blessed after the resurrec-
tion, we can have no conception, but from what we
see upon earth ; and therefore, God doth not describe
it in words of its own to Jews or Christians, but gives.

182

ETERNAL LIFE, THE GREAT [[SERM. XII.

it to both in sign and figure. Our Saviour Jesus
Christ tells us, that he is gone before to prepare a
place for us. What that place is, he does not say.
If we would know something more of it, we must
look back to his forerunner, the Joshua, or Jesus of
the law, who went before the people of God, to pre-
pare a place for them in Canaan, and settle them in
possession of it. Thence we shall learn, that the
place prepared for us is preferable to that we now live
in, as the freedom of Canaan was preferable to the
bondage of Egypt : that there are many nwnsions in
the heavenly land, as Canaan was divided and laid
out into many quarters, for the orderly reception of
the several tribes of Israel. That as they all went up
to worship at Jerusalem, so shall all the tribes of the
earth, who shall be saved, assemble together to wor-
ship in the heavenly city of God. Other particulars
w^e might gather; but this is the only way in which we
can learn ; and we can go no farther than this method
will carry us, in understanding the promises of God.
Jewish priests and prophets, even though they had
taken their lesson from the philosophers of heathenism
(who thought their deities delighted in good eating
and drinking) could have come no nearer than they
have done : for the things of another life are not to be
described, as they are, in words which man can under-
stand : it is, therefore, never attempted : since the
beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor per-
ceived hij the ear, neither hath the eye seen — ichat he
hath prepared for him that wuitefh for him. Isaiah
xiv. 4. Our present life is not a state of knowledge,
but of expectation, on which alone the Patriarchs and
friends of God subsisted so long as they were here,
in the want of due conception, Jews and Christians
are all upon a level : all the information they can

SERM. XII.]]

PROMISE OF THE LAW.

183

receive is conveyed under the words, life, rest, a pro-
mised land, redemption from enemies, a city of God,
new heavens and neiv earth, and such like signatures
of visible things; for which reason the doctrine of the
prophet is taken up and reasserted by the Apostle.
See 1 Cor. iii. 9.

I might add other things, if the time would permit,
on the character of Enoch and Elijah, and the idea
given of death to the priests, and rulers, and kings of
ancient times. A state of life after death could never
be unknown to those, who knew that Enoch was
actually taken into it. His character was handed
down to the times of the Gospel, as that of an evan-
gelical prophet, who warned the people of the old
world of a judgment to come — Behold the Lord
Cometh, &c. See Jude ver. 14. — Elijah went up alive
into heaven ; whence it was known to all those who
knew the fact, that men may live in heaven ; and so,
the Jews must of necessity have learned from the
rapture of Elijah, what we learn from the ascension of
Christ ; though of heaven itself we know nothing but
from the sky which we behold with our eyes. When
it is said of the saints of old, that they slejd with, their
fathers, what could be meant, but that they should
awake ; as it is actually applied in the prophet Daniel,
chap. xii. 2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of
the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and
some to shame, and everlasting contempt. So when it
is said of Moses and Aaron, that they should he ga-
thered to their fathers, it is therein affirmed, that their
fathers were still alive: which sense is so obvious,
that I find it insisted upon even by Jewish commenta-
tors.

From what has been said, I hope you will see farther
than some learned men have done into the resurrec-

13

184

ETERNAL L,1FE, THE GREAT [^SERM. XII.

tion of the dead and the life everlasting, as they were
promised under the law of Moses ; to shew us which,
against the blindness and perverseness of the Saddu-
cees, was the design of our blessed Saviour in the
text.

It may be proper now to clear up a difficulty or
two, and make some reflections to render this subject
of moral use to us.

It has been insisted upon, that temporal blessings
in the land of Canaan were plainly promised to the
people under the law of Moses ; and thence it has
been argued, that these were the only sanctions of the
law, the only rewards of obedience. But this doth by
no means follow : because ^of?//we*5, under the Gospel,
hath the promise both of this life, and of that which
is to come ; and it is still the effect of righteousness to
exalt every nation. The present blessings of this life
do not exclude the blessings of the other, neither
can a nation be blessed, as such, but in the present
life. The promises of God are very nearly alike
under both Testaments. We Christians have a pro-
mise, that, even here, our obedience shall be rewarded
with houses and lands : but lest we should forget
what is to come, the enjoyment of these things is tern-
i^ereA. with j)ersecutions : {Markx. 30.) even as God,
for the correcting and spiritualizing the minds of those
who were under the law, preserved wicked heathens,
for thorns in their sides, and terrors upon their bor-
ders. The Holy Patriarchs never enjoyed the bless-
ings promised in their literal sense : to them, there-
fore, as to us, they were no more than signs of better
things : and under every age of the Mosaic dispensa-
tion, they who entered by faith into the ways of God,
and the language of his law, voluntarily renounced,
like the family of the Rechabites, the enjoyments of

SERM. XII.^

PROMISE OF THE LAW.

185

this world, and made themselves pilgrims and so-
journers upon earth, such as the best of their fathers
had been before, and as all good men were to be
after.

It has been objected farther against the doctrine
of immortality in the Old Testament, that life and
immortality were brought to light by the Gospel. But,
if by bringing to light we understand the revealing
of what was not hnown before, the expression is not
true ; because the resurrection of the dead was cer-
tainly known to the Jews before the Gospel ; and the
greater part of them in our Saviour's time never
thought of disputing it. Therefore, when it is said
that immortality (the word is incorruption, and means
the incorruption of the body) was brought to light,
the sense is, that not the doctrine, but the thing it-
self was brought to light, by the,/«c/ of our Saviour's
resurrection, and the actual abolition of the power of
death. It might, indeed, be said, with respect to all
mankind, that the thing was then brought to light :
but, if it is understood of the doctrine, that can be
applied only to the Gentiles, who had no knowledge
of the resurrection ; and the wisest of them mocked
as soon as they heard of it. Therefore take it either
way, and there will be no objection from this text
against the doctrine of the resurrection in the Old
Testament.

But it is objected farther, that if this doctrine is
revealed in the laAv and the prophets, it is in a way
so faint and obscure, as if it were intended that the
Jews should not learn it. This merits consideration:
however, if the Jews did learn it, and receive it, as
they undoubtedly did, then there must be in us some
misunderstanding of the case. Accordingly we shall
find, and must allow, that there is an obscurity in

186

ETEIVNAL LIFE, THE GREAT [|SERM. XH.

the law, arising partly from design in God the law-
giver, and partly from ignorance in man. When we
read the historical, prophetical, or ceremonial part
of the law, we see the wisdom of God there deliver-
ing itself in parables ; and for the same reasons as
our Saviour did afterwards ; covering up the pre-
cious doctrines of life under a veil : which method,
while it rendered them still more precious to the
wise, who could see and understand, secured them
from profane heathens and carnal Jews. They could
not despise them, for they could not see them *.

The life and spirit of the signs and figures in the
Christian mysteries are now as effectually lost to our
Deists, Socinians, and other like disputers of this
world. They who do see through this method, which
God hath constantly observed from the beginning of
the world, from the tree in Paradise, to the lamb of
the Passover, and from thence to the bread of the
Christian sacrament, see the better for it; while
those, who have not an heart to understand, are
blinded, and confirmed in their unbelief. Not only
the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of
the dead, are doctrines of the law lost to a carnal
mind, but all other great doctrines are lost in like
manner : the corruption of man's nature, the bondage
of sin, purification of the heart by grace, atonement
by the shedding of blood, the true character of the
Messiah, the calling of the Gentile world, were none

• The sense I have here fallen upon, coincides so exactly with
the words of a Jewish writer, that I shall set them down i'or the
Reader to reflect upon. " Servans recondilam, et relinquens doctis
et sapientibus eruendam, ex variis legis locis, iWumfutiiram hcatitudi-
nem. Atque haec eadem causa est, cur nulla mentio nperta fiat in
Genesi ; sub metaphora tantum proponatur." Menasseh Ben Israel,
de Resur. Mort. lib. i. cap. 13.

SERM. XII.3

PROMISE OF THE LAW.

187

of them to be found in the law, according to the
sense of the carnal Jew ; neither are they now seen
by the disputing Christian. Therefore, let us all en-
deavour to put oif this Jewish spirit, and pray in the
words of the Psalmist, who understood all these
things, open thou mine eijes, that I mmj see the won-
drmifs things of thy law ! The letter of the law is the
shadow of truth, and nothing more. Of this some
have been ignorant, while the world allo^ved them
the reputation of great learning ; and this igno-
rance produced the monstrous proposition published
amongst us of late years, that a revelation came to
man from the living God, without life in it : which is
so far from being an improvement in literature, or
divinity, that it must be shocking to the ears of in-
telligent Christians ; and being false and heretical,
stands condemned in the Articles of the Church of
England.

But now, lastly, give me leave to tell you, that the
moral doctrine to be drawn from the words of the
text, is a matter of great consideration : and I desire
you will lay it up in your minds. God calls himself
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob : this is the
title he has chosen ; his favourite memorial to all ge-
nerations : but in this title he declares his relation to
his friends and servants when they are dead. He is
our support in life ; and that is a blessing and an ho-
nour to us ; but he delights rather to consider him-
self as our lije in death ; and as such we ought to
consider him daily. We are ?A\ solicitous to raise
ourselves in the eyes of our neighbours, and to be
reckoned among the higher orders of the living :
whereas it should be our chief care to consider, with
whom we shall be numbered when we are dead. Let,
then, the vain and the ambitious be striving to be in

188

ETERNAL LIFE, &C. [^SERM. XII.

the class of the mighty, the wealthy, and the honour-
able of this world, while they live : but let us rather
provide, that we may be numbered with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, when we are dead. Then will
God be with us when we are no longer with men ;
and we shall rest in the hope, that he will soon fulfil
the promises made to the Holy Patriarchs, our spiri-
tual forefathers, by raising us from the dead, and
giving us a place in the heavenly city, which he hath
prepared for them and for us, that they without us,
should not be made perfect.

SERMON Xlir

AND WHEN HE HAD SPENT ALL, HE BEGAN TO BE IN
WANT. LUKE XV. 14.

The words describe the miserable situation of a
young man, who might have lived in his father's
house, where there was plenty of all things for those
who were wise enough to enjoy it.

But the love of liberty, and novelty, arose in the
mind of this unfortunate youth. A restless curiosity
was in his temper, and pleasure was his object : not
the pleasure of the wise, but of the foolish ; not that
which God allows for our comfort, but that which the
tempter throws in our way to ruin us. So he left
his father's house, and went afar off, to be his own
master, and take his pleasure, where no authority
would reprove him, no counsel direct him, but that
of himself and his wicked companions.

For awhile, he went on as he pleased : but at length,
the evil consequences which he had kept out of his
mind, fell upon his affairs : he had spent all, and
began to he in want. He, who is without prudence,
will, by degrees, be without money : and he, who hath
spent all, must suffer many inconveniences ; of which
this is one ; that having learned no useful employ-

190

PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, [^SERM. XIII.

merit, he will be driven to miserable and base expe-
dients to keep himself from starving : as this poor
young man, in his distress, submitted to be sent into
the field to feed swine, without being allowed the
liberty of partaking with them.

The parable supposes this poor sinner to have re-
covered his senses, and to have returned : but, alas !
how many are there, who go oiF and never return !
whose ruined affairs can never be repaired.' who
have no father to receive and restore them ; but are
left to do as they can, and be lost in the misery they
have brought upon themselves.

I mean to use this example of the Gospel, for the
purpose of warning my hearers, especially some of
the younger part of them, of the causes and miseries
of extravagance, and of recommending the wisdom
and virtue jof ceconomy, as absolutely necessary to
make them happy.

When you enquire into the sources of extravagance,
you may imagine that extravagance is owing to an
extravagant temper. But extravagance is not the
cause of itself : A man will no more throw away his
fortune, than he will throw away his victuals, till some
infirmity or folly has got possession of his mind.
Every act, good or bad, is the result of some counsel,
either from a man's judgment, or his imagination,
leading his judgment astray. If his idea of things is
false or partial, his actions will accord with it : unac-
countable, perhaps, to reason and wisdom, but suit-
able to his conceptions. Allow a madman his princi-
ples, and then you will no longer wonder at his actions.
Thus it is in the case of an extravagant person. He
has conceived a false idea of things, and persuaded
himself, either that we are sent into the world for no-
thing but to seize the present nK)ment, and take our

SERM. XIII.^ AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED, 191

pleasure, or that Ms actions will not be attended with
such consequences as other men's are ; or that con-
sequences, which are distant, are not to be weighed
against gratification which is present. Extravagance,
therefore, in all cases, is to be considered as an effect
which hath its causes : and these I find to be,

1. Intemperance. If a man is hungry, he may feed
cheaply ; but if he is nice, he cannot live but at a
great expence. And here we are also to consider,
that besides the extravagant charge of high eating and
drinking, excess of every kind has a bad effect upon
the understanding, and brings upon the mind a
sottishness, which is always improvident. As the
drunkard loses the direction of his feet, an intemperate
man is very apt to lose the direction of his fortune,
and run headlong into many other foolish and hurtful
expences. Fulness breeds sleepiness and indolence ;
and while extravagance is carrying every thing out,
idleness brings nothing in ; so that an intemperate
man is between two fires ; he has ruin before him and
behind him ; and if his livelihood depends on his
attention to business, he very soon falls into distress.
And the case is not much better with the man of for-
tune ; whose inattention and indolence will have the
same baneful effect upon his affairs, though his ruin
may not come on so rapidly. Two evil principles are
working upon him at once : the same passions, which
make him wanton and expensive, render him also
inattentive and careless ; and so his affairs, instead
of being inspected by himself, are left to others, who
are secretly making a property of him ; feeding and
enriching themselves, and their friends, without his
knowledge. While his visible expences are great,
and he gathers his fruits too fast v/ith his own hand
before they are ripe: there is an invisible worm work-

192

PRODIGAH^TY DISPLAYED, [^SERM. XIII.

ing at the root, which brings on unexpected, and
seemingly unaccountable but certain decay. It is,
therefore, a very unfortunate circumstance, when
any gentleman, or lady, through a fault in their tem-
per, or a defect in their education, think themselves
too great to be personally acquainted with the state
of all their domestic concerns : a privilege to which
nobody is born but the idiot.

2. A second cause of extravagance is a vain desire
of shew and appearance. Persons who do not seek
true happiness within themselves, derive an imaginary
happiness from the opinion, or what they think to be
the opinion, of other people. They suppose it impos-
sible for them to be happy, unless they seem so :
therefore they purchase this visionary happiness at an
extravagant rate. No man or woman can say how
far this fancy will carry them, or where it will end :
for perhaps it will never be satisfied so long as a single
competitor is left. It is too common in this age, for
those who are less, to take their pattern from those
who are greater. God made them to be rich : but
they find a way of making themselves poor, by living
after a fashion which is above their condition. Hence
it is a just observation, and has been frequently made
by those who know the world, that some of the poorest
families in this kingdom, are those of middle fortunes
who affect the style of the nobility. For, what is po-
verty ? It is want : and he, who is in w ant, is poor,
whatever may be the value of his estate. He suffers
the distress of poverty, with those additional evils of
vexation and mortification, unknown to persons of
humble life. Artificial appetites are observed to do-
mineer more than the natural ; and it is equally true,
that artificial poverty is more pressing and more dis-
tressing than that poverty to which we are born. It

SERM. XIII. ^ AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED.

193

ought in justice to be so ; because the one is innocent
and the other sinful. Therefore, let not the poor re-
pine, as if they were the only poor ; many of their
betters, who make a great shew in the world, are in
the same condition with themselves, or a worse. Sup-
pose a man of reasonable size should resolve to add
even one inch more to his stature. This small ad-
dition he cannot preserve but by being constantly upon
the rack, and submitting to be in an agony, that he
may appear greater than he is. What is worst of all
to themselves, when they come to the knowledge of
it, such people find they have made themselves con-
temptible to their superiors, and ridiculous to their
equals. In his sphere, every man may be respectable ;
but no man can be so out of it ; because he cannot
get thither without having first made himself a fool.
So great is this species of folly, that in many instances
it approaches near to madness. I remember an ex-
ample of a gentleman, who was a wit in other respects,
but so desirous of appearing great and splendid above
himself, that he had laid out large sums in beautifying
a seat which did not belong to him; and he was shew-
ing a friend what waters and plantations he had
added, and how much farther he intended to carry his
improvements; while the oflficers of justice were then
actually in the house, to apprehend him as a debtor.

Admirable is the sentence of the son of Sirach, on
the abortive plans of extravagant people : he that
huildeth an house ivith other meiis money, that is, by
running into debt, is like one who gathereth stones for
the tomb of his burial. Ecclus. xxi. 8. The edifice
raised on such terms, stands as a monument of the
builder's oeconomical death. Thus did the vanity of
Absalom raise a pillar, to be a grand memorial of
himself : not thinking that an ignominious death should

VOL. IV. O

194

PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED,

[^SERM. XIIL

lay him under a rude heap of stones, a monument
more suitable to his character and actions.

3. A third cause, by which many fortunes are dissi-
pated, and the owners brought to beggary, is a pas-
sion for gaming. The employment, as an employment,
is below a rational creature, and not well consistent
with honesty, under the best acceptation of it. For,
whence doth the gamester seek his happiness ? From
the hopeof depriving others of their property, without
giving them any thing in lieu, but chance ; which is
but a shadow, and to the loser is departed as such.
Unless gaming is for a large stake, the passions of the
avaricious are not sufficiently interested to make it an
entertainment: and if it is, then gaming is equivalent
to duelling, and is to be condemned on the same prin-
ciple. The gamester does that for covetousness, which
the duellist doth for revenge. The one stakes that
life wantonly, which is the property of God, and due
to his country : the other stakes that property which
should maintain his family and pay his debts ; and
this, being a wicked act, is generally attended with
ruinous consequences. Who are the persons that
profess gaming ? the profligate, who are either too
proud or too idle to work. In low life, they are
sharpers and cheats; the hawks and vultures of civil
society, who are upon the watch to tear and scatter
the plumage of the simple. And, it is to be feared,
they are often not much better in higher life. Woe
be to those who love their company, and fall under
their rapacity ; for this vice is not like some others
which consume by slow degrees : it is not like blight-
ing winds, overflowing rains, or burning droughts,
bringing scarcity in their rear : but like an earth-
quake, which swallows up houses and lands with in-
stantaneous ruin. The love of play generally takes

SERM. XIII.^ AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED.

195

place, where bodily labour, or thoughtfulness of mind,
is wanting: it is the business of those who have no
business ; it is a spirit which rushes like wind into a
vacuum.

4. A fourth cause, which drains many of their
wealth, is that vain curiosity which is always wanting
something, always seeking after novelty or rarity. It
is weary of the last toy, and must buy a new one ;
not considering that this must soon be succeeded by
another, and that by another; because none of them
are sought for their real, but for their fancied, worth ;
and when fancy tires (which, being weak, it is very apt
to do) they lose their value. Vain curiosity is an in-
satiable principle, because its objects are such as give
no real satisfaction. It is analogous to that infirmity
of the stomach, which covets and swallows every thing
and digests nothing ( revomuntur cihi) but is still
empty, with all its feeding. It is the curse of some
people that they are tormented with imaginary wants,
till there is no supply left for such as are natural : the
lean and hungry kine, never to be fattened or satisfied,
eat up all those of better condition. This humour of
wanting every thing for its novelty, and the ruin it
brings with it, was censured by one of the Latins, with
an equivocation, in which the wit is very just and se-
vere— You buy every thing, says he, therefore you will
sell every thing : and the world has frequent oppor-
tunities of seeing how often, and how soon, this taste
for buying is followed by the necessity of selling.
Sales are daily published, in which the superfluous ar-
ticles, heaped together by ruined people, are dispersed
abroad, and pass into the hands of others, who attend
with a curiosity, which either knows nothing, or feels
nothing, of the unhappy state of those who are thus
stripped of their effects.

o 2

196 PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, [[SERM. XIII.

The case would not be nearly so bad, if the spirit of
profuseness preyed only upon itself : but so many
industrious families are hurt, many relations and
dependents injured in their just expectations, who
happen to lie within the vortex of an extravagant man,
that there ought surely to be some legal restraint on
those who are apparently (as privileged swindlers)
undermining and plundering others, while they are
ruining themselves. There is a kingdom of Europe,
where, if it can be shewn by the relations or parties
concerned, that a man has sunk one-third of his
capital or his estate, complaint may be made, and the
attorney-general, after due inquest, appoints guar-
dians, as if he were a minor, for the management of
what remains : and thus his ruin, with the conse-
quences of it to others, is prevented by the timely in-
terposition of authority. Under such an establish-
ment, I apprehend, there can be no such thing as
gaming.

5. The two remaining causes of extravagance are,
the love of fame, and the love of pleasure. Pride
works more or less in all mankind : but as it shews
itself in a desire of popularity, it was very prevalent
among the heathens of Greece and Rome ; who were
lavish of their gifts to the populace, to obtain their
interest or their applause. Pride is never so mean,
as when it looks beneath itself, and pays its court to
those over whom it wants to rule. It appeals, for its
own merit, to those who have no judgment; and yet
blinds their eyes with a gift, before it ventures to take
their opinion. Popular interest is become a public
commodity, for which there are so many candidates
and competitors, that it is frequently purchased at an
exorbitant rate, and brings the possessor to poverty.
I do not mean to extend my observations to particu-

13

SERM. XIII.^ AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED. 197

lars ; but shall only observe, that it is a sign the
times are degenerate, and that Christians are become
too much like heathens, when opinions are bought
and sold like provisions in a market, and the minds
of the people, which should be pure and uncorrupt,
are given up to prostitution.

As to pleasure, little need be said to prove the ill
effects it hath upon a man's circumstances. With
wise men, it hath always had the character of an har-
lot, as well for its extravagance and expensiveness,
as for its deceit and wickedness. When pleasure is
become the grand object, the mind grows so weak and
effeminate, that all resolution is lost, and it must have
what it demands. If, in its pride and wantonness, it
requires pearls of inestimable value, to dissolve and
swallow them at a draught, as Cleopatra did, they
must not be refused. Here the prodigal of the text
returns upon us, whose substance was wasted with
riotous living ; that is, in the enjoyment of expensive
revellings in the worst of company ; and there is none
worse than harlots, who are next in order to the
gaming table, for bringing the unwary into speedy
ruin. They are therefore stigmatized in the parable
as devourers : this thy son, said the elder brother,
hath devoured thy living with harlots.

Having thus far enquired into the causes of pro-
digality, which I believe are in general such as have
been here described ; we are now to consider its
effects. These are, loss of comfort, loss of honour,
of liberty, of honesty, perhaps of life itself, and
(which is worst of all) of the grace of God.

And first, the extravagant man forfeits the comfort
of his life ; while his substance is wasting, he may for
a time be insensible of his danger ; like a patient in a
consumption, who flatters himself he may do well.

198

PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, [^SERM. XIII.

though others see and lament that he is daily drop-
ping into his grave : but when he has spent all, which
he who spends without consideration wiU soon do,
then poverty, w hich had concealed itself under his
table, rises up as an armed man, to assault and terrify
him : and it is impossible for him to enjoy any com-
fort with such a companion at his side. The bur-
then of debt is so much like the burthen of sin, that
the one is often put for the other. It is as unplea-
sant to a man of sensibility to walk with this load
upon his mind, as to travel barefooted through bad
ways with a load upon his shoulders, which he can-
not shake off; and remorse gnaweth upon him, when
he reflects that he hath made it for himself.

In the next place, he loses the repute and honour
of his character in the eyes of the world : for what
can be more contemptible than a man who was great,
but has made himself little; who was rich, but has
made himself poor ; not in assisting others, but in
abusing and undermining himself!

The loss of liberty is another unhappy effect of ex-
travagance. It brings on debt ; and hopeless debt
leads to hopeless confinement. Misfortunes, impu-
table to the secret influence of Providence, or which
arise from want of judgment, in respect of which some
men differ much from others, have a claim upon the
benevolent for their favour, and will always find it :
but if we were to review the company in some prisons,
and enquire into their past conduct, we should find
amongst them the vain and inconsiderate, who flou-
rished away in a character which did not belong to
them, and, like the flies of a day, which dance about
in the air, took their pleasure in a little false sunshine
of their own making, to bring a cloud of misery and
infamy upon the rest of their lives ; and whose pride

SERM. XIIl.^ AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED. 199

and indiscretion, though they were extricated, would
soon involve them in their former difficulties.

Extravagance hath in many cases a worse effect
than I have yet mentioned : it tempts men of good
hearts to actions which cannot be justified. The
best of prodigals are in a dangerous situation ; neces-
sity drives them upon mean and base expedients, for
the satisfying of present wants : such as they would
never have thought of, if their circumstances had
been unembarrassed, and their judgment free. This
is reported to have been the case with that renowned
and otherwise great and good man, the Lord Chan-
cellor Bacon. In such a situation, men who are no
profligates are tempted to make encroachments upon
their conscience ; which, having yielded to one dis-
honourable action, grows more insensible to those
that follow ; and when the case becomes desperate,
their actions are desperate. When a man is sinking
he catches at a twig ; and if it has thorns upon it,
he must lay hold of it in the moment of distress ;
though his hand is pierced through by the shift he is
making to uphold himself and save his life.

As for the worst of prodigals, who die by the hand
of justice, they are not properly holden within our
consideration. Many of them can waste nothing of
their own, for they have nothing ; and the profusion,
of which thieves are so universally guilty, arises, as
their theft doth, from the prevailing of ruinous vices ;
such as idleness, intemperance, the love of ill com-
pany ; all under the influence of ignorance and ill
principle. And it is incredible, how much persons of
this character will run through in a short time. One
of them, who was executed of late, declared, that be-
tween the months of October and April, he had seen
the end of eight hundred pounds. But there are pro-

200

PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, [^SERM. XIII.

digals of an higher class, who do not lose their lives
by the hand of justice, but, what is worse, by the
hand of despair. The history of all past times informs
us, how common it hath been, and many miserable
examples, of the present day, shew how common it
is, for a spendthrift to throw away his life, when he
has nothing else left. The disappointed avarice of the
gamester rages with impatience ; and pride, brought
to beggary, sinks with dejection ; and neither of these
having any support from the sources of religion,
there is neither comfort in the present, nor hope of
the future ; so, to their distracted imagination there
seems to be no refuge for them, but in that black and
dark gulf, to the brink of which their steps have been
carrying them through the mazes of a mistaken life.

This leads me to observe, farther, that prodigality,
while it throws away that property which is temporal,
is also forfeiting the grace of God and the better riches
of eternity. This, being the worst, is the only ill effect
of wastefulness insisted upon by our blessed Saviour
in his parable of the Unjust Steward : If ye have not
heen faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will
commit to your trust the true riches ? that is, if ye
have wasted the riches of this world which were com-
mitted to you, how can you expect to be trusted with
the gifts of faith, and the talents of divine grace ? con-
cerning which, we learn farther, that man has no other
possession properly so called; for our Lord hath
added, as equivalent to what he had said before, but
differently expressed for our better instruction, if ye
have not been faithful in that which is another's, who
shall give you that which is your own 9 As the ma-
nagers of this world's wealth, we are not proprietors
but stewards, holding in trust for the great proprietor
of all, to whom we are accountable : therefore, the

SERM. XIII.3 AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED. 201

unrighteous mammon is not our own but another's ;
and we must leave all such possessions behind us at
our death : but the grace of God, the true riches,
when given, will abide with us in life, and pass with us
through death into the land of righteousness, from
whence they came. These, therefore, when we have
them, may be called our own ; for they never leave
us, and no man can take them away : but he who is
found unfit to be trusted with what is of less value,
shall not have these committed to him, to be abused
and wasted. And it is surely to be apprehended, that
much of the grace of God is seldom committed to a
man who is loose and wasteful in the conduct of his
life. He is without that consideration, that serious-
ness, that purity, that justice, which are necessary
to the character of a religious man who is a candi-
date for heaven, and keeps up an acquaintance with
God.

SERMON XIV.

PART II.

AND, WHEN HE HAD SPENT ALL, HE BEGAN TO BE IN
WANT. LUKE XV. 14.

When the case of the prodigal is considered, we
owe it as a debt due to the folly of mankind, to shew
them the sins and miseries of extravagance : but we
owe it also as a debt to their understanding and good
sense, to convince them of the duty and wisdom of
oeconomy. Some may think it sufficient to say, that
the way not to be profuse, is to be saving ; and that
the spirit of parsimony is the only certain cure for the
spirit of prodigality. But this remedy, so as it pre-
vails in some constitutions, may prove as bad as the
disease. The eeconomy of a wise man and a Chris-
tian doth not consist in the saving, but in the prudent
and charitable disposal of his substance : not exclu-
sive of a sparing principle, when that becomes ne-
cessary to his affairs.

The ingredients which properly constitute what we
call eeconomy, are providence, prudence, and order or
method. He, who doth not observe these, will always
be in danger of that dissipation which leads to ruin.

SERM. XIV.^ PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, &C.

203

The provident man, according to the sense of his
name, looks forward: he lives to-day, as one who con-
siders that he is to live to-morrow ; whereas the fool,
looking to the present day only, saith, let us eat and
drink, for to-morrow we die. When he undertaketh
any work, he first revolves in his mind, how it is to be
conducted, and when it will be finished. It may be
such, perhaps, as any body can begin. Any man can
leap into the stream ; but he who does this, without
considering how he shall swim across, is very much to
be blamed ; especially if he hath been first admonished
of the depth. A person, who miscarries for want of
timely consideration, makes himself the talk of his
neighbours. Want of foresight is want of wisdom ;
and want of wisdom, when it affects any thing great,
is always in danger of being ridiculous. This case is
strongly represented by our Lord in the Gospel :
which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not
down first and counteth the cost, whetJier he hath suf-
ficient to finish it ? lest haply after he liath laid the
foundation, and is not able to finish, all that behold it
begin to mock him. No man can be allowed to have
sense, who hath sense of the present, with no sense
of the future. The laughter, which is not restrained
by thought, is mad ; and the mirth, not tempered by
a consideration of what is to come, is frantic. Im-
providence is against nature ; at least, it is against
what we call nature in brutes ; because it is against
the principle of self-preservation ; of which principle
he seems to be destitute, who considereth not what is
to become of him, when the day of present gratifi-
cation is over. Therefore every man, who would live
in the world, must consider what his station and cir-
cumstances will admit of ; leaving as little as possible
to probabilities and contingencies, which are very apt

204

PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED,

CSERM. XIV.

to fill the minds of the indolent, and to produce many
abortive expectations.

The catechism of the church of England teaches
us, while we are children, that there is a certain state
of life to which God by our birth or education is
pleased to call us : we are to lay down a plan of
living suitable to that state, and then we may be able
to support it for the time to come. Even in our re-
creations, it is wise to provide a reserve, and keep up
a future relish for them ; lest they become insipid, and
consign us over to remorse and melancholy. But,
there are young people, headstrong and inconsiderate,
with no experience of human life, and fascinated with
ideas of self-indulgence, who enter upon the world, as
if they meant to tear up pleasure by the roots, that it
may never bear any fruit to them afterwards : and so
their pleasures either end in untimely death, or leave
them nothing but bitter herbs to feed upon for the rest
of their life. Whereas, a little timely foresight, with
regard to common sense as well as to virtue, would
preserve to them all that can be enjoyed with wisdom
and innocence : and nothing else, which this world
hath to give, will be worth their seeking.

The second ingredient, in good ceconomy, is 'pru-
dence. The use of this virtue is to distinguish between
good and evil, between causes and effects, between
appearances and realities : and in consequence of a
proper discrimination of things and persons, to choose
the good, and avoid the evil. Prudence examines all
things, rather in their consequences, than in them-
selves : it judges of things, as the Gospel teaches us to
judge of men, by their fruits. Many actions of man-
kind are of a doubtful nature ; partly good and partly
bad : good under some circumstances, and as bad
under others : good in appearance, bad in effect: well

SERM. XIV.]] AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED. 205

esteemed in the sight of man, but of no account, or
even odious and abominable in the sight of God.
The world hath virtues of its own manufacture, very
expensive, and highly praised, and yet good for little
at the bottom. When Satan has the vending of such
equivocal virtues, he turns their white side upper-
most : and men learn of him, to deceive one another
by the like artifice. They praise some good thing,
for the sake of some evil thing which is attached to
it ; or magnify one side of a man's character, which is
good, or at least specious, to recommend the other
which is bad. How agreeable it is to hear, that a
man may be a libertine, and yet pass for a man of vir-
tue ! Such deceptions as these may have a very fatal
effect upon our oeconomy. We are captivated and
flattered with fine ideas of liberality, generosity, hos-
pitality, benevolence, and charity ; which are indeed
most excellent things, when they are found in the
wise and prudent ; but when they are affected by the
vain or the inconsiderate, they change their nature,
,and become sometimes ridiculous, often mischievous,
always dangerous. Real virtue will be sure to ad-
vance us sooner or later : spurious virtue may bring
us to ruin, as it hath already brought many, whose
profuseness, while upon its progress, did very little
good to their neighbours or their country.

Prudence, therefore, is always to distinguish. It
will teach us, that no man can be generous in his gifts,
till he is just in his payments. It is no better than a
specious fraud, to convert that into a gift, which is
due elsewhere as a debt : to purchase the character
of benevolence, by feeding one man with the bread of
another : or, perhaps, by sending one man to gaol,
for want of that money which buys another man out
of it. Sometimes it is a much greater kindness to

206

PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, [|SERM. XIV.

prevent evil by timely and friendly admonition, than
to cure it afterwards (perhaps very imperfectly) by
giving money. It is a good thing to shew mercy to
felons and debtors, in a prison ; but it would be a ,
much better thing to keep them out of it, by teaching
them the happiness of sobriety and moderation, or
restraining their excesses by a seasonable execution
of the laws. It is good to relieve the poor, but the
passion of feeding vagrants, encouraging idleness, or
promoting debauchery, is so weak and unserviceable,
that we may be called to an account for such kindness
in the day of judgment. And here I must observe,
moreover, that all fictitious virtue, being the child of
vanity, is apt to raise an enthusiastic affection ; and
being chiefly resident in weak minds, who do not
make proper distinctions, it has been found to eat
deeper into men's fortunes, than the most heroic
charity. Prudence, therefore, must save us from
being cheated by specious but false virtues ; to the
power of which many noble and unsuspecting minds
are exposed. Before we admit, we must prove them ;
as the wary prove their money, before they put it
into their purse, by applying it to some touchstone ;
and there is none better than this of prudence.

To providence and prudence, we must add, above
all things, order and method, for the regulating of our
daily affairs. Persons of high spirits, and volatile
dispositions, look down upon order, as a low thing,
fit only for dull people. But no man's life can be
either useful or pleasant, who does not live by rule in
the disposing of his time. We all see the absolute
necessity of order, in the marshalling, leading, and
governing an army ; in transacting the business of a
kingdom ; in regulating the company of a ship, and
carrying on the practice of navigation; without order

SERM. XIV.^ AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED. 207

and discipline, these things cannot be done : every
man must have his post, and his work, and his time.
And the reason is the same in common life ; for every
family is a lesser kingdom ; life is a voyage, and a
warfare ; in which the undisciplined must expect to
suflfer the inconveniences of confusion and anarchy.
Such is the dignity, propriety, benefit, and beauty of
order, that it is from God himself, and shines through-
out the whole world which he hath made. The sun
rises every morning at his time ; light and darkness
succeed regularly, for labour and for rest ; the stars
perform their courses with unerring certainty ; the
tides ebb and flow at their hour ; there is a season
for every change, and every change is in its season.
Even brute creatures all follow their instinct in an
orderly manner. Those that are made for pasture
spread themselves over the hills with the rising of the
sun ; while those which are made for prey are then
retiring to their dens. The stork in the firmament
knoweth her appointed time ; the turtle, the crane,
and the swallow observe their seasons ; the bees, the
ants, are examples of the most exact order and oeco-
nomy. The heavens above, the earth below, the
seasons and the tides, beasts, birds, and insects, all in-
struct us, that we are to live by rule, and be exact in
allotting our time to the several works and functions
of life. And let me tell all those who have such an
opinion of the brightness of their parts, and depend
so upon the agility of their minds as to think they are
above rules, that they are the persons, who stand
most in need of them ; to reduce their motions to some
meaning, and oblige them to a certain time, in doing
those things, which otherwise their wandering heads
would never do at all. Fluid mercury is very bright,
and wonderfully active ; but we can make no vessel

208

PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, [^SERM. XIV.

out of it for the service of a family. For all such
purposes, the solid metal is better, as well as more
valuable in itself. Yet good wits may be regular,
without any impeachment of their sufficiency. Our
great Alfred was a man of wit, learning, magnani-
mity, and accomplishment ; but, from his wisdom and
piety, such was his self-government, that no man ever
lived by more exact rules, or did more business by
the force of them. We have seen another character
of modern times ; not an Alfred, but very great as a
man of parts, and a prince, and a general ; Avho made
his time of incredible value, and did wonderful things,
by the observation of an exact method in the oecono-
mical application of his hours. It may be difficult at
first to live by rule : all restraint bears hard upon the
wildness of nature, like a bit in the mouth ; but habit
makes it pleasant, and they who have tried it find so
much use in it, that they can never willingly depart
from it ; such is the facility with which it enables us
to conduct our alfairs ; such the readiness with which
we transact business, and pass through all the concerns
of life. It renders our time of much greater effect
and value : a regular man will do more business in
one day, and with less trouble, than another will in
two. Kings are not ashamed of regularity : the want
of it is the mark of a vulgar education, or a weak
understanding, or an irreligious and vicious disposi-
tion. Where regularity prevails, the cottage becomes
respectable ; and without it, the palace itself is mean,
unpleasant, and contemptible. Solomon, who is cele-
brated as the wisest man upon earth, was also the
greatest and the most splendid, from the singular
order of his kingdom, and the exact oeconomy of his
household. This produced such an appearance of
prosperity and happiness, and was judged to be the.

SERM. XIV.^ AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED. 209

result of so much wisdom, that the queen of Sheba
was beyond measure astonished at the sight — Happy
are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand
continiially before thee, and Jiear thy wisdom. Where
the greatest wisdom was, there was found also the
greatest order ; and with it the greatest dignity and
splendor. Yea, and our blessed Lord himself, a
greater than Solomon, with the business of heaven
always before him, was yet never regardless of order
and ceconomy upon earth. He was exact in observing
days and hours, times, places, and persons, set apart
for the services of the church. When he fed five
thousand people at once, there was no tumult, no in-
terruption, in so great a company. They were all
exactly divided into parties of a certain number :
what was to be distributed amongst them, was given
first to the disciples, and from them to the multitude:
and when they were all fed, the fragments were care-
fully gathered up, that nothing might be lost or wasted.
This was done by him, who could so easily supply all
defects, who could even create and multiply with his
word, for a pattern of attention and consideration to
us, in the use we make of the things of this world.
After the two examples of Solomon and our blessed
Saviour, I can only say, that no man should pretend
to be wise, or great, or good, or happy, whose life is
not conducted with order and regularity.

All the lessons of the moralist may be reduced to
this short one : " vice is evil, for it makes us misera-
ble ; virtue is good, for it makes us happy." The
truth of this is no where more apparent than in our
present subject; when we compare together the man
of extravagance, and the man of moderation. The
Apostle admonishes us, to use this world, as not abus-
ing it. The happiness of man depends on his atten-

VOL. IV. P

210 PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, [^SERM. XIV.

tion to this distinction ; for every creature of God, all
the elements of the world, all the gifts and riches of
his Providence, all the senses of the body and the
faculties of the mind ; all are good, as they are used;
all disappoint and torment us when they are abused.
In this respect, beasts are in a safer way than men,
being restrained by that instinctive wisdom, which
hinders them from abusing what God hath given.
They pass through life, without having the command
of fire, or the use of gold and silver, Avhich are so dan-
gerous to man. They cannot burn their own stalls,
nor bring themselves to beggary, by purchasing ar-
ticles of luxury or vanity. From these dangers and
temptations they are free : some things they cannot
abuse, and they are not disposed to abuse other
things : but live contented within the bounds of tem-
perance ; and their instinct is an infallible direction
for their preservation. They rise when the light ap-
pears, and lie down to rest when it is departing ; they
eat what is natural, they decline what is hurtful, and
observe such measures as secure to them the benefit
of health and strength. But man is committed to his
appetites, and is subject to the delusions of an ima-
gination, in which causes and effects are falsely repre-
sented. He has no rule within him to direct him,
no instinct to restrain him ; and, if he is without
religion, and the checks of prudence, he lives in
absurdity and uneasiness, and contradicts all the ends
of his being. He goes to a fire, not to warm himself,
but to be burnt ; he eats, not to be nourished, but to
be bloated and surfeited ; he drinks, not to be re-
freshed, but intoxicated ; he sleeps, not for rest, but
for sloth and stupidity ; he spends his wealth on what
will destroy him, and with that unthinking profusion
which turns it into poverty. In short, he abuses all

13

SERM. XIV.]] AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED. 211

the gifts of God, and all his creatures ; and in so doing
he turns the world upside down. This world ought
to be a place of preparation for the blessedness of
heaven ; but he converts it into a place of disappoint-
ment and torment ; as if it were intended only for an
introduction to the kingdom of darkness, where man
will associate with those evil spirits, who threw away
the glory they possessed, and by reason of their own
ill management found heaven itself insufficient to
their happiness.

Physicians have a way of curing distempers, by en-
quiring into their causes, and counteracting them by
others of a contrary effect. The method is good, and
often proves effectual : I would, therefore, recom-
mend it in the present case. We have seen the causes
of prodigality ; that it arises from intemperance,
affectation of appearance, gaming, love of novelty,
of fame, of pleasure.

To guard against intemperance, we are to consider
as Christians, that we are not sent hither for a life of
pleasure, but into a world of danger, to be surrounded
with enemies, and wrestle with principalities and
powers, who are snatching from us the prizes of eter-
nity. If men in contests of little peril, and for objects
of little value, are temjierate in all things ; how shall
we be intemperate, who are striving for the salvation
of our souls ?

As to the love of shew and finery, how ridiculous is
all extravagance of dress, when we remember that
clothing was not known, till the innocence of man,
and with it his happiness, was lost : that, as sin hath
brought death, all our splendid equipages must termi-
nate in the hearse ; and, that as we came naked into
the world, we must go naked out of it. This is the
real state of man. The pride of life throws a disguise

p 2

212

PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, [[SERM. XIV.

over it for a time, which death takes off and lays
aside for the moths to devour.

Gaming will be no snare to those who avoid the
company of gamesters, which hath very little to re-
commend it. This will be most easy to such persons
as have learned to amuse themselves more rationally
than they do, with reading, conversing, and following
such works and pursuits as are worthy of a man.
Gamesters often lose all by coveting all ; which dan-
ger he will be sure to escape who covets nothing, but
makes himself contented with what his diligence earns
or God gives.

Curiosity is another cause of ruin. It is always
seeking some new object : let us choose that which is
good, and hold it fast, and we shall not want to change
it. Buy the truth : it will not cost much ; and we
shall never wish to be selling it again. Great things
may be had for little cost. A Bible, value five
shillings, is of more use, and will do us more good,
and, if we understand it, give us more pleasure, than
all the others books that can be bought for five thou-
sand pounds. A Christian, from the great objects he
hath before him, will not want new things like a child ;
and, from the humble state of his mind, will not be
tempted by the pride of purchasing.

The expensive love of fame and popularity will
never do any hurt, where the approbation of the wise
and virtuous, and the favour of God, is sought after.
The praise which is paid for is very uncertain and de-
ceitful, and may turn against us to-morrow. The
praise of God is not to be obtained by all we can lay
out; not even by selling all we have, and giving it to
the poor : but by an affectionate mind, performing
small and cheap things, according to our ability, on
great motives.

SERM. XI V.^ ANDnXJECONOMY RECOMMENDED. 213

As to pleasure, the last, and perhaps the most uni-
versal cause of ruin to the bodies, souls, and fortunes
of men ; the surest method will be to seek that plea-
sure which is good, and then we shall not wish to de-
stroy ourselves by that which is evil. The body hath
its pleasures, and the mind hath its pleasures : the
latter only are the pleasures of a man ; and many of
them are so cheap, that they may be had for nothing.
I told you of one, who ruined himself by beautifying a
seat which did not belong to him ; and you wondered
at his folly : but the moral is better worth considering
than the fact : for this is true of us all, when we waste
our substance in forming scenes of grandeur and plea-
sure upon this earth ; we are beautifying what does
not belong to us, and must soon be left behind. There
is a pride in being the owner of fine places ; but the
thoughtful mind may have great pleasure in them,
without being the owner of them ; and so far as God
hath beautified the world, he hath done it for the com-
mon pleasure of us all : and the saint or the philoso-
pher, who contemplates it as a scene which God hath
adorned, partakes of a pleasure as sincere, perhaps
as great, but certainly more pure and lasting, than the
possessor who calls himself the owner of the soil-
When he sees the wood towering upon the hill or
hanging over the vale, his happiness does not depend
on his being able to cut down the timber in it, but in
admiring its verdure and rejoicing in its shade. The
garden of pleasure is planted and adorned at a great
expence ; but, to the botanist, the world is his garden,
and God is the planter of it. I might go on to shew
you, from other like instances, how the greatest plea-
sures are frequently enjoyed by those who spend least
upon them. Vicious pleasure is a deceitful harlot,
who smiles at us and ruins us ; virtuous pleasure is

PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, [[SERM, XIV.

such as Eve Avas in the state of innocence, and there
is a paradise around her.

"When we meditate on the miseries of prodigality, it
is natural to turn our eyes about us, and examine how
it is with us, as a nation, in respect of our oeco-
uomy. And here we cannot but discover, that it is
the error of all orders of people amongst us to live at
a more expensive rate, than can consist with the pros-
perity of themselves, or the public. The ill effects of
this are manifest and undeniable ; and I see more than
it may be prudent to speak of. In the rich, it pro-
duces distress within doors, and the oppression of the
poor without : in the poor it produces hopeless debt,
and promotes profligacy of manners. If our nobility
and gentry, who form what is called the landed in-
terest, live upon too large a scale, they must find such
resources as they can. Their rents must be raised to
an immoderate height : which the farmer cannot pay,
unless corn is dear ; and then, if any artificial scarcity
should take place annually, either by connivance, or by
trifling with the laws, and making a breach between
the constitution of the country, that must be a very
great evil ; for if there is a just human right upon
earth, and which ought to be religiously attended to,
it is a right in the poor to have bread for their labour ;
and so long as they have bread cheap, we shall never
hear any complaints from them : and this, I say, they
ought always to have, except when scarcity is from the
visitation of God. Why is there such a demand for
money, among the rich ? is it to support two families
instead of one No ; but that one family may live at
the expence of two : that they may be able to lead a
dissipated, unprofitable, unhealthy life ; which, while
it seems to benefit some individuals (among whom we
.shall find the most useless members of the commu-

SERM. XIV.]] AND (ECONOMY RECOMMENDED. 215

nity) hurts themselves and the public in general.
Our metropolis is swollen to a monstrous size, like
a body that is dropsical : and we may consider it as
a scale, whereby our expensiveness, as a people, is to
be measured ; for its magnitude has been rendered
excessive, chiefly by a change of manners, in those
who have exceeded the bounds of their oeconomy.

And the poor follow the rich according to their
measure. Many of them have departed from a cheap
and manly diet, to admit articles of luxury, on which
they live worse for more money. The terms they are
upon, under the present laws, and the ill management
of parish officers, tempt them to idleness and profli-
gacy. It would be a dangerous experiment to render
the maintenance of the poor discretionary, at a time
when all the rich are outliving themselves : but cer-
tainly it is of bad consequence, that the maintenance
is fixed by the laws ; depending on which, many
people make themselves poor by idleness and drunk-
enness, and apply for relief when they ought rather
to be sent to the house of correction. When the
high price of the necessaries of life brings a poor in-
dustrious family into difficulties, so that they are
obliged, after all their labour, to live upon what cre-
dit they can get ; harassed with small debts, and
dejected at the sight of their creditors ; then my heart
bleeds for them : I wish I was rich enough to relieve
them all. I lament that there is not more oeconomy
in their betters ; and I pray that God will some time
shew them a better world than this they now live in.
When we compare the wants of many honest poor
people, some under difficulties, some in distress, some
in sorrow and lamentation, with the thousands which
are squandered away for no one good purpose by the
rich ; a sum, perhaps, in the adventures of a single

216 PRODIGALITY DISPLAYED, &C. ^SERM. XIV.

night, is hazarded and lost, sufficient to clear and
set up an hundred poor families for life : when we
compare these things, what shall we say, but that
wickedness and folly united, cannot shew us a worse
case ? If he who gains the world, and loses his soul,
be a fool, what is he who loses both ! For here I am
to warn all Christian people, that God giveth to us,
that we may be able to give to others. He is no
respecter of persons ; his ways are equal ; his mercy
is over all his works ; and all men must account
strictly to his justice. Then the prodigal, who hath
tormented and ruined himself, will discover that he
has also robbed the poor, and that the Almighty is
their Avenger. Therefore, let the poor be frugal,
that they may lessen the troubles of the present life ;
and let the rich be prudent, that they may be chari-
table ; so shall they find the blessing of God upon
themselves and their affairs in this world, and secure
an interest in the world to come.

SERMON XV

HOW IS IT THAT YE DO NOT DISCERN THIS TIME ?

LUKE xii. 56.

God never calls upon us to discern the ways of his
Providence, without giving us some signs, to direct
and assist us in our judgment ; who can no more
comprehend the Divine counsels, without the Divine
light, than we can behold the sun, without the assist-
ance of his own rays.

When our blessed Lord required the people to ex-
amine, and judge for themselves, from the signs which
attended his coming, he called them to a pleasant as
well as a profitable enquiry : for as he then came to
save the world, all the signs given to confirm his
mission, explained the end of it, and were signs of
salvation. The blind received their sight, the ears of
the deaf were opened, the sick were healed, the dead
were raised. Even the heathen poets, according to
the expectation they had of so desirable an event,
represent it under the most beautiful imagery, as the
restoration of a golden age, in which man should
recover that purity and happiness, of which he had so
long been dep/ived by the corruption of his nature.
And when these things were about to be fulfilled, we
hear the servants of God, who were better informed.

218

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congratulating each other on the times they had lived
to see ; Blessed art thou among women, said Elizabeth
to the holy Virgin : Blessed are your eyes, said the
Lord to his disciples : many prophets and kings have
desired to see the things which ye see, and have not
seen them. The wise men of the east rejoiced with
exceeding great joy, when they saw the star which
directed them : the shepherds glorified and praised
God for all the things which they had seen and heard :
even the heavenly host uttered a song of triumph :
the heavens rejoiced, and the eai-th was glad, when
the Saviour was ushered into the world : all the signs
of his birth, and of his ministry, were favourable and
salutary, and inspired with hope and gladness all those
who were wise enough to understand them.

Such were the sentiments of men and angels at his
first appearance. His second coming, to judge the
world, hath also its signs ; but none of them are plea-
sant : they are all alarming, all terrible ; all partaking
of the nature of that tremendous event in which they
are to terminate : earthquakes, famines, pestilences,
distress of nations : insurrections and tumults ; dis-
turbing the world, as storms agitate the wide waters of
the sea : these are the things we are to look for. As
bodily death is preceded by symptoms of a deadly
sort; by terrors, and faintings, and pangs, and convul-
sions ; we have every reason to expect, that the world's
death will be brought on by sins and disorders, upon
a great scale, and of a new species. And here it is
worth observing, that while men, by their perverse-
ness, are making the miseries of the time, they are
marking its characters: hut, in ignorance; they know
not what they do.

Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the rulers of the
Jews, were all busy in bringing to pass what the hand

SERM. XV.]]

THE MAN OF SIN.

219

and counsel of God had determined to be done ; but
without knowing it : they had ends and objects of
their own, at which they were aiming for themselves,
while they were fulfilling the purposes of God ; and
had they received any friendly hint of what they
were doing, they would have rejected it with disdain,
and probably have put the monitor to death.

The case is the same now. A considerable part of
mankind are vehemently pursuing their own imagina-
tions : and while they themselves are blind to the
nature and consequences of their own actions, they
are giving instruction to us : their darkness is our
light ; and I mean, with God's help, to use it as such
upon the present occasion.

lam very sensible, that the attention of the public
hath been nearly exhausted, and their curiosity
satiated, with the many fearful accounts transmitted
to us, and the pious and penitent reflections made
upon them by good and learned men. But still, there
is a certain view of the subject, so edifying, that we
can scarcely dwell too much upon it. As politicians,
we enquire how far government may suffer from
dangerous innovations : as a commercial nation, we
consider how trade may be affected : as a military
people, we consult how war is to be carried on ; with
what resources ; and what will be its probable issue.
All this is very proper : but, as Christians, it is our
duty to compare the signs of the time with what the
Almighty Ruler of the world hath been pleased to
open, concerning his own purposes, and the events to
be expected as the world draws nearer to its end. I
enter here upon no diffuse investigation ; but mean
to confine myself to one remarkable sign of the last
days, which I think hath never yet received an ade-
quate interpretation ; not through the unskilfulness

220

THE MAN OF SIN.

C^SERM. XV.

of interpreters ; but, because it seems to be one of
those mysterious predictions, which nothing but the
event can enable us to understand : and which a
succession of future events may still be opening to us
farther than we can see at present.

It seems there was a persuasion very early in the
Christian church, that the coming of Jesus Christ, to
judge the world, was then near at hand. His judg-
ment of the Jewish nation had been foretold, in terms
so applicable to his final judgment, that a mistake
might thence arise, even among wise and pious Chris-
tians : of which St. Paul having heard, gives them
proper information, in that remarkable passage of the
second chapter of the second epistle to the Thessa-
lonians ; wherein he warns them of a very extraor-
dinary fact, which would precede the final destruction
of this world ; and that the end of all things was not
to be expected, till this should have come to pass.
The passage is this, — Let no man deceive you hij any
means : for that day shall not come, except there come
a falling away (an apostacy) first, and that man of
sin he revealed, the son of perdition ; who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or
that is worshipped ; so that he as God, sitteth in the
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. It
may be proper, that the words, in which a prophecy
is delivered, should have a certain degree of obscurity,
that they may not open too much before the time ; and
the same happens partly from the necessity of the
case ; because the thing which hath not as yet been
known to the world, will be conceived with difficulty
even from a plain description of it. This is appli-
cable to the passage now before us ; on which volumes
have been written, with great uncertainty of interpre-
tation ; depending on facts, which however bad in

SKRM. XV.]3

THE MAN OF SIN.

221

their way, did certainly never come up to this descrip-
tion. But when the event brings its own interpre-
tation with it, a child may see farther than the most
learned could before : and if the whole passage be
taken in its obvious sense^ and with all its circum-
stances, it will apply itself so directly to a case in
hand, that little doubt can remain in the mind of any
reader, who has no reason for shutting his eyes against
the truth.

We observe, then, first, that a falling away should
happen before the end of the world. The original
calls it an apostacy ; which term, in the mouth of a
Christian apostle, can mean nothing but an apostacy
from the Christian faith and worship. And this is
more particularly said to consist in a revelation of a
man of sin, the son of perdition. It is not necessary
here to suppose, that this man of sin is only one in-
dividual person. In the tenth Psalm, when we read
of the tnan of the earth, we do not understand a single
person but a character, a sort of ungodly people, whose
whole confidence is in this world. In like manner,
the tnan of sin may very properly denote a particular
sort of sinful character, or even the race of mankind,
when become sinful in the extreme, according to that
state of depravity, which is described in the words
that follow . For, it seems, this man of sin opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or
that is worshipped. Here the terms are less diflScult
in the original than in the English. All that is called
God is literally every person, every man who is called
God : and the word we translate worshipped expresses
more properly that sort of worship which is given to
venerable or august persons, whatever the oflfice may
be that makes them such.

If we enquire who they are that are called God, it

222

THE MAN OF SIN.

CSERM. XV.

immediately occurs, that the expression cannot so
properly denote God /limselfasiheyicegerents of God;
those who are called by his name. And who are they ?
The Scripture itself will answer us : I have said, ye are
gods ; which words are spoken of princes and rulers ;
as it is also said in the law {Exod. xxii. 28.) thou shalt
not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people ;
where the latter clause is but explanatory of the for-
mer. The reason of this is plain ; rulers are called
God, because they act under him, and execute his
laws by liis own authority. The question therefore is
partly answered : they that are called God are kings
and rulers. Our blessed Saviour himself tells us who
they are in the New Testament — He called them
gods, to whom the word of God came. John x. 35.
The name of God, therefore, is plainly given to men,
on account of their office and commission under the
word of God, whether they be princes, prophets, or
priests ; because they act in God's stead with respect
to mankind. Our Saviour, therefore, even in his human
capacity, had a right to be called God, in virtue of his
commission ; and this seems to have been the inten-
tion of his argument with the Jews, as an argumentum
ad homines, taken from the words of their own law.

We shall obtain some farther light into the charac-
ter of the man of sin, if we go on with the apostle's
account of him. The subject, it appears, had been
mentioned to the disciples before, and privately ex-
pounded to them ; for, says he, ye knoiv wJiat with-
holdeth, that he might he revealed in his time ; for the
mystery of iniquity doth aheady worTi ; only he who
mw letteth, will let, till he be taken out of the zvay ;
and then shall that wiched one be revealed whom the
Lord shall destroy icith the brightness of his comiyig.
This part of the description informs us, first, that the

SERM. XV.^

THE MAN OF SIN.

223

man of sin, and thatmystery of iniquity which worketh
for the producing of the character, was even then in
the world, and would have broken out ; but that,
secondly, there was some restraining power, which
served as a let or hinderance, to keep it down ; till
the time should come, when it should rise up in its
true shape, and be fully displayed to the world. And,
lastly, as it is to be destroyed by the actual presence
of the Lord in judgment, it must be the last form of
sin, or power of iniquity, that shall appear in the
world. It may be worth distinguishing here, though
I would build nothing upon it, that the word for
wicked one is [noi Trovrjpoc but avoixoq^ lawless ; as cast-
ing out, and renouncing all authority of law, as well
human as divine.

What has been said amounts to this : that, in the
last age of the world, before the coming of Christ,
there should be an actual apostacy, or departure from
the Christian faith and worship : that the sinful nature
of man, rising up against the powers of religion and
government, which had restrained it for so many ages,
should break loose, and take a form of iniquity, such
as may properly be called a new revelation of sin,
which the world had never seen before. More par-
ticularly, that this form of sin should exalt itself
against the authority of God in his ministers, whether
civil or religious : that it should even seize upon the
temple of God, and convert it into the temple of man ;
that it should exclude God, and make a God of itself,
claiming the honours of divine worship. That this
spirit of disobedience had always been at work ; but
that there was a power which hindered it from shewing
itself to the world, till the proper season ; when that
restraining power should no longer operate, but be
taken out of the way, either by the violence of man, or

224

THE MAN OF SIN.

I^SERM. XV

the just judgment of God, or by the one co-operating
with the other. And, finally, that this is the last and
most desperate state of sin, on which Christ himself
shall come to take vengeance, when its measure (of
which he is the only proper judge) shall be filled up.
Then shall this iviched one, whose sin is the same
with that of Lucifer, the rival of the Most High ; and
of Corah, who exalted himself against the authority
of God in his ministers Moses and Aaron, the king
and the priest ; perish as they did. Satan was cast
down, and the flames of heaven followed him. The
fire of the Lord came forth, to destroy Corah and his
company : and after the like form shall judgment be
taken on this man of sin ; who is to be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,
and from the glory of his power, when he shall be
revealed in flaming fire.

I will not omit, though it be scarcely necessary to
observe after what has been said, that, in detecting
the man of sin, we may use the same method as John
the Baptist did for discovering the true Messiah,
when he sent his disciples with this question. Art thou
he that should come, or look we for another? The
messengers in this case were bidden to observe, what
was done by Jesus Christ, and were assured, that
John would thence know for certain, who he was that
did it : the works of salvation would infallibly point
out the Saviour. So if we are inquiring after the man
of sin, let us but observe what he does, and we shall
be sure who he is. Thus, for example ; if instead of
the sacred right of government, we find the sacred
right of insurrection ; instead of God only wise, the
wisdom of man deified and adored in the temple of
God ; instead of the liberty of serving God, which is
the only true freedom, the liberty of disobeying him ;

SERM. XV.^

THE MAN OF SIN.

225

instead of that justice and mercy, in which only man
can be like to God ; the power of death, the delight
of the devil, wantonly exercising itself in destroying
men's lives ; instead of laws for securing property,
rapine and sacrilege laying every thing waste ; w^e
desire to know, what the true man of sin, whoever he
is to be, and whenever he is to come, can do more ?
If there could be such a thing as an actual incarna-
tion of the prince of the infernal regions, it does not
appear what he could do worse. He might perhaps
display greater acts of power, as being an angel that
excels in strength ; but he could not commit greater
acts of sin : For, what sins do we know of beyond
rebellion, sacrilege, murder, and blasphemy ? two of
which are more than Lucifer was guilty of when he
was cast out of heaven.

Little did we think, twenty years ago, that we should
live to see these things fulnlled so nearly as they have
been ; and in shewing this, I shall have no occasion
to invent or to exaggerate : the facts are such as will
speak for themselves ; and there is scarcely a person
here present, who could not say to me what I am
about to say to him. We all know, that in a neigh-
bouring country, a direct apostacy hath taken effect.
The Christian religion hath been renounced; not ne-
gatively, through corruption of manners, or neglect of
truth ; but positively, publicly, and in solemn form.
The restraining power of government, and tlie obliga-
tions of law, have not been interrupted and defied, in
the fury of tumultuous agitation, but absolutely iahen
out of the ivay and abolished. The will of a wicked
nation hath been admitted as the only sovereign law
now to be obeyed: and while the Gospel teaches, that
there is one Lawgiver, ivho is able to save and to
destroy, we see a portentous company risen up, who

VOL. IV. Q

226

THE MAN OF SIN.

[[SERM. XV.

take to themselves the sublime denomination oi legis-
lators ; not under the authority of God, but in their
own right ; exclusive of his legislation, and in opposi-
tion to his power. And, that nothing may be wanting
to the fulfilling of the prophecy, even in the letter,
the churches have been shut up from the worship of
God, and opened to admit the worship of reason ;
an idol unknown to the temples of Pagan antiquity.
And what is the reason here intended ? It is the reason
of man; that is, of the philosopher or the plowman;
for the one is as much a man as the other ; and
where all are equal, as good a man. And what is the
reason of man, but the mind of man ! And what is
the mind of man, but man himself ; who now, as God,
is actually seated in the temple of God to be wor-
shipped. This is what the wisest man living could
not have suspected some years ago ; and what the
most incredulous man cannot now deny : it is pub-
lished and gloried in before the face of all people :
the publication of Christianity itself was not more
notorious. Government hath been murdered in the
person of its prince ; sin and blasphemy of every
kind, like wild beasts that have broken their chains,
have over-ran the country. No law subsists : the
will of sinful man, or of the man of sin, is a law unto
itself; and as the apostle once said, that the law was
the strength of sin; so now it maybe said, the strength
of sin is the law ; and there is no other. It is a law,
which doth not punish robbery, but ordains it : a law,
which doth not protect or save men's lives, but
destroys them : and, if it had power according to its
will, would not leave one honest man upon the earth.
And hereby the man of sin proves himself to be, what
the apostle calls him, the son of perdition; that is,
the son of the destroyer, whose name is Apollijon ;
15

SERM. XV.|3

THE MAN OF SIN.

227

the son of that father, who was a murderer from the
heginning, and leads all his children to the practice
of his own favourite sin ; who, in their capacity of
legislators, have nothing to render them respectable,
but new-invented terrors of torture and bloodshed.
The prospect here becomes too shocking to be mi-
nutely delineated : every human creature, that has
any feeling, must turn away from it with horror ;
and resolve, that if such be the world now left to us,
it must surely be our duty and interest, to pray to
God, that he would put an end to it : or, in the more
devout and affecting language of our Liturgy, that he
would shortly accomplish the number of his elect, and
hasten his kingdom.

As the bee can extract honey from a poisonous
flower, so may the Christian, when properly informed,
derive comfort from every subject. Every event,
whatsoever it may be in itself, is valuable to us, if the
consideration of it tends to the confirmingand strength-
ening of our faith : and how can it be otherwise, when
we see with our eyes that God is faithful and true,
and that the sure word of his prophecy is daily fulfill-
ing in the world ? This brings the truth of the Gospel
home to our bosoms, and makes us living witnesses of
it. When the wickedness of the Jews brought down
the vengeance of heaven upon Jerusalem, the time
was fearful and fatal to that people : while Christians
considered the whole as an accomplishment of what
their Master had foretold, and an earnest of their
own approaching redemption. The more wicked
this world becomes, the nearer is its end : corruption
is never very remote from dissolution. This great
subject will have different effects on the minds of
different persons ; to some of terror, from the aveng-
ing hand of God, whom in the moment of licentiout:-

Q 2

228

THE MAN OF SIN.

C^SERM. XV.

ness they have insulted and defied : to others, of
comfort and confidence, from the fulfilling of the
Divine promises. The same waters of the flood,
which drowned the world, supported that ark which
preserved the family of Noah. When the world shall
be in its last agonies of sin and perturbation, and
men's hearts are failing them for fear ; the servants of
Christ are commanded to lift up their lieads (which
have been bowed down under reproaches and perse-
cutions) and to looh up, for their redemption draweth
nigh. That the time is actually come, for the Chris-
tians of this generation to lift up their heads, it would
be rash to affirm, and perhaps weak to believe : many
strange things may intervene : yet thus far, I think,
our persuasion may extend with reason : that all the
servants of God, who now are, or shortly will be, leav-
ing this present world, may go to rest, under an as-
surance that their separation from the body will be
short : a consideration, which to our weak minds, sub-
ject to strong impressions from the ideas of time and
place, may have its use in lessening the fear of death ;
and it is therefore worth encouraging.

As you have seen, from the prediction of the
apostle, that the revelation of the man of sin was an
event, to happen before the end of the world ; how
thankful ought we to be, that it did not happen here:
for, that the mystery of iniquity hath long been at
work in this nation, cannot be denied : and it would
have prevailed, but for that power which letteth, the
restraining power of government, which ithath pleased
God, of his unmerited goodness, still to preserve
amongst us. I fear there is too much truth in the as-
sertion, that the first seeds of all this mischief were
sown in Britain. Here it was, that reason, now dei-
fied in France, was first invested with the right of

SERM. XV.^

THE MAN OF SIN.

229

making its own religion ; Avhicli, in other words, is a
right of being its own God : and modern atheists have
only carried that right to the point, to which it has
always been tending, mider the management of our
deists. The lights and sanctions of religion can be
only from God : if from man, then he is God to him-
self. This doctrine, in fairer words, was first started
amongst us : and so was that other, that there is no
power of government but from the power of the
people. Here did that doctrine arise in the last cen-
tury ; and the murder of a king, with a sacrilegious
plundering of the church, and a miserable oppression
of the people, soon followed. But, through the
mercy of God, we were not given up : our mistakes
did not terminate in atheism : and may the same Di-
vine grace still dispose us to take proper warning,
and make a wise use of the example now before our
eyes ; that we may every day be farther from the
danger, and safer from the infection, of apostacy :
that the church, which God hath promised to preserve
to the end of the world, may be preserved here ; and
that the little faith he shall find at his coming, may
be found with us. Amen.

SERMON XVI.

WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMETH, SHALL HE FIND
FAITH ON THE EARTH ? LUKE XVIII. 8.

When the Son of Man dwelt among us, faith was
the first thing he looked for in those with whom he
conversed : and if it was not found, his mission, to
such persons, was without effect. At his second
coming, he will be looking for the same ; but the text
gives us little hope that he will find it. The words do
not positively assert, that no faith shall then be left,
but that the finding of it shall be questionable : it shall
be so far lost, that the instances in which it is found
shall be few and rare. With this the words of St.
Paul agree ; who teaches us, that in tJie last claijs pe-
rilous times shall come, 2 Tim. iii. 1 ; that the truth
should be resisted by men, as Moses was resisted by
the perverse unbelieving magicians of Egypt, Jannes
and Jamhres, and that they should become, as those
men were, reprobate concerning tJie faith, ver. 8.
This character of the last age of the world falls in with
another equally remarkable ; I mean the appearance
of the man of sin : though it may well be suspected,
that both these characters of the time are reducible to
one : for the man of sin arises out of the Christian

SERM. XViO

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

231

faith, and raises himself upon the ruins of it ; as
the worm that destroys the fruit, is bred within it.
That the depravity foretold in the Scripture, is the
depravity of Christians, there can be no doubt ; the
prediction concerning it being thus worded — the
spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times
some shall depart from the faith, &c. 1 Tim. iv. 1.
The corruption, therefore, foretold, is a departure
from the faith ; and in that we may expect to see
something much worse than the corruption of unin-
formed savage nature. An apostate from truth adds
perfidy to his wickedness : he is in darkness, because
he has out the light : and can offend with that
blasphemy against heaven, which is not in the power
of an ignorant unbeliever.

It is not my design, however, to display his wicked-
ness, but rather to shew how truly the text has pointed
out the root and cause of it in a single word ; in order
to which it must first be shewed what faith is, and
what place it holds in the Christian religion. Of this
it is so considerable a part, and so essential to all the
rest, that it is frequently put for the whole : for what
does the Apostle mean by departing from the faith,
but departing from Christianity? and where he speaks
of the word of faith, what does he intend, but the
preaching of the whole Gospel? and the Gospel is
called the word of faith, because faith only can receive
what it delivers. The invisible things of God and of
a spiritual world must be told to us ; for we can nei-
ther see them nor know them ; and faith receives the
testimony on which they are revealed. Things invi-
sible can have no evidence but that of the faith which
believes them : and if the witness of them be from
God, then is God the object of our faith ; and if we
live and act in consequence of that faith, then our

232

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF. j^SERM. XVI.

works are wrought in God ; and they are accepted,
not for what is done, but for the faith with which it is
done. He that does not receive the witness of God,
makes God a liar ; and of such a person it will ever
be true, that his M^orks, however specious they may
appear, will be the works of opposition and pride, and
have the nature of sin. As a branch cannot hear grapes,
unless it abide in the vine, John xv. 4. no good work
can be produced but in the life and faith of the Gos-
pel. In all the works of faith, God is the immediate
object : in all other works he has no share, and he
hath promised no reward. He owes no man any
thing ; but he accepts and rewards every thing in
those that believe in, and diligently seek him. Heb.
xi. 6. He called Abraham from his country, and from
his Mndred, and from his father's house. Gen. xii. 1.
and he went out, not knowing whither he went, Heb.
xi. 8. but readily obeying such commands, as he could
not thoroughly comprehend; he believed God, audit
was imputed to him or accounted for righteousness,
and he is proposed as a pattern to all believers.
There is, strictly speaking, no such thing as righte-
ousness in the world ( there is none righteous no not
one, Rom. x. 3.) but the act of faith is accounted for
it, because it shews a love and friendship to God ;
and it is that only which he regards. With faith a
man sees every thing, he receives every thing, he is
content M'ith every thing, he loves every thing, that
comes from God : without faith he sees nothing, he
receives nothing, he is discontented with every thing,
he hates every thing, if God has any share in it.
Though a matter be incontestably proved, even to
the senses, it makes no difference : it is not received,
unless there be in the heart that principle, which be-
lieves God on his own testimony.

SERM. XVI.^

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233

The relations of things that are seen, may he proved
and understood by the natural reason of man : hut
the relations hetween man and the things which are
not seen, and the relations of those things between
themselves, can be understood only by faith : they
must be received on testimomj, or not at all. If we
wish to see a reason, why faith is so highly accounted
of in the sight of God, we may take this one instead of
all the rest. Virtue may be practised on worldly
motives ; and being only between man and man, the
most specious virtue may be practised in hypocrisy,
and be good for nothing : but faith being between
man and God, on whom it is not possible for us to
impose, there can be no such thing as hypocritical
faith in God. But when faith is established, then
virtue comes in well ; and therefore we are bid to
add to our faith virtue. In short, there can be no
duty to God, but when it is done to God, as to the
Lord, and not unto men: Ephes. vi. 7. but God be-
ing invisible, nothing can be done as to him, but in
faith. And farther, as nothing can be done towards
God, nothing can be received from him but by faith.
The light is without its power to the man that has no
eye : no gift can be offered to him that has no hand
to take it. Of the spirit of man faith is the eye and
the hand, which some men have, and some have not ;
all men have not faith, 2 Thess. iii. 2. How did it
happen, when mercy went forth to all, that one sick
man was cured, and another was not cured ; but that
the one had faith to he healed, and the other had not ?
No mighty work could be wrought, even by Omni-
potence itself, where men had no faith to be wrought
upon. Therefore faith gains all, and unbelief loses
all. The Israelites in the wilderness fell short of
Canaan, because of their unbelief: it is true they

23'l! THE AGE OF UNBELIEF. ^SERM. XVI.

were guilty of many acts of ingratitude and dis-
obedience : but the whole is laid to their want of
faith : this was the cause of all : and so it is in every
other man, with whom God is not well pleased ; for
witJiout faith it is impossible to please him. Heb. xi.
6. And while faith is the root of all good, it is the
only remedy against all the evils of life ; it gives
tience, and is the victory that overcometh the world.
When the storm arises, and the waves toss them-
selves, it knows that Christ is with it in the ship: it
levels all mankind, by making the gifts of the poor
equal to those of the rich: it performs what human
strength cannot accomplish ; all things are possible to
him that believeth. Mark ix. 23.

I have said thus much to convince you, that in all
the transactions betwixt man and God, faith is every
thing : and that without it, the name of Christianity
may remain, but the thing is lost.

We are now to ask, what is the present state of faith
in the Christian world? But for this inquiry we shall
not be well prepared, unless we attend first to a plain
distinction, which is of the utmost importance in our
present subject. When we speak of reason, we mean
the wisdom of man ; and I know of none who will
not give me leave thus to define it : but by the Gospel,
we mean the word of faith, or the wisdom of God.
Between these two there is an essential difierence ;
and the Scripture assures us in the plainest language,
that, ever since the entrance of sin, there has been an
opposition. The manner in which God has thought
proper to save mankind, is not approved by the
wisdom of man. It is so contrary to his thoughts,
and so mortifying to his wishes, that the preaching of
it, being taken for foolishness, was seconded by the
force of miracles ; and even these were often found in-

SERM. XVI.^

THE AGE OF UNBEUEF.

235

sufficient to make men receive it. And when it is
admitted, it will always be in danger from the wisdom
of man. There are in the world two interests, the
human interest and the divine interest: and they can
no more prevail both at once, than any other two par-
ties in opposition. The one party rejoices to own,
that man is wise with the word of God ; the other
boasts that man is wise without the word of God.
The one raises high thoughts and imaginations, as so
many strong holds and fortifications of human wis-
dom : the other is mighty through God to the imlling
them all down, 2 Cor. x. 4. that God alone may be
exalted : what the one builds, the other demolishes.
Take faith and reason for the wisdom of God and the
wisdom of man, in which sense I have used them, and
the opposition between them is undeniable : if that,
then, be true, which a foolish man hath said, that the
present age is the age of reason ; then it must follow,
that it is not the age of faith ; which is, indeed, what
he means ; and then our point is proved without
farther trouble. In such persons as himself and his
friends, the assertion is true in its fullest sense : rea-
son is triumphant over faith ; that is, man has pre-
vailed against God. And I wish we could stop here;
but it is our duty to examine, how far faith is decaying
in better people, and on what principles ? The attempt,
I well know, is critical and dangerous; and, to some
persons, I doubt not, it will give offence. But this
we are not to regard ; for there never yet was the
time or place, when good could be done to some with-
out offence given to others. It was the fate of the
Gospel, and of Christ the author of it. When the
Apostles preached the Gospel at Jerusalem " say no
more about it," said the Jews : and the Devils said
to their Master, " why art thou come to torment us?"

236

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

CSERM. XVI.

As if his design, which was to save the world, had
been only to torment them. Such considerations as
these ought not to stop us at any time, and least of
all at this time ; let us therefore proceed.

When we review the different sorts of men as they
present themselves to us on the present occasion, the
first that occur are the Infidels of the age, who openly
declare their unbelief. That the faith is not found in
them, and that it never will be, needs no proving.
Here the fact is as open as it is lamentable ; and if
we cast our eye over Christendom, we shall observe
how they have increased of late years ; perhaps there
are ten for one, if the end of this century be compared
with the beginning of it. The more we have of these
in the earth, so much the less is faith found in it : and
if we look forward, the prospect is tremendous !
Should the world go on to its appointed period (what-
ever that may be) and this humour should prevail in
the proportion it hath of late years, it seems as if no
flesh could be saved. But it is promised, for the sake
of God's elect, that the days shall be shortened. Matt,
xxiv. 22. A few years ago, it seemed as if the infidel
party trusted to scoffing and jesting and pleasantry,
and meant no more than to laugh the Gospel out of
the world if they could. These were the coruscations
of wit, which played in the air for a while, and pre-
tended to be gentle and harmless ; but they were soon
changed into the thunders of persecution, and followed
by torrents of Christian blood ; insomuch that it is
probable the heathens, when they raged most furiously
against the Gospel, did never shed so much blood in
so short a time. If they have any friends in this coun-
try, they are found among persons of the same class,
actuated by the same spirit ; men of no religion, or
of a false religion, which is as bad as none, and some-

SERM. XVI.J

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

237

times worse. These are the worst members of society
amongst us.

Next to these are the men of pleasure, whose minds
being wholly devoted to themselves, they see nothing
of God or of another world. With them the present
moment is all : and when pleasure is the God, we
can easily tell how he will be worshipped. In the
days of Faith and Piety, churches are seen to arise
about a country, for the honour of God, and the prac-
tice of devotion : but in proportion as infidelity in-
creases, it will be with us as with the Greeks and
Romans ; spectacles will be multiplied ; theatres will
arise, and outshine the glories and splendors of reli-
gion *. There was a time, when the priest of the
country parish was seen leading his people to public
prayers in the middle of the week ; in some places on
every day ; where now no such practice is seen or
thought of. If faith is alive in the heart, it will as
certainly pray, as a living body will certainly breathe.
If Christians do not pray so much in this age, as they
used to do in the last ; there is not so much faith
amongst them now as there was then f. And if we

* One of our poets, a professed derider of faith, triumphs in this
as a certain symptom of the decay of superstition ; his words are too
remarkable to be omitted :

In the good age of ghosthj ignorance,
How did Cathedrals rise, and zeal advance !
But now that pious pageantry's no more,
And stages thrive as churches did before.

There never was a more severe satire upon the entertainments of
the theatre : not excepting even the Book of Jeremiah Collier with
all its wit and spirit. The author of these lines was supposed to be
Dr. Garth ; and they were preached (as a prologue) to a very numer-
ous congregation.

t An excellent discourse on the daily service of tlie Chilrch of
England, is distributed this year, as the annual present, by the

238

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF. [^SERM. XVI.

proceed from the state of prayer, to the way of preach-
ing and handling the Scripture ; there again we are
much degenerated ; and all upon the same principle,
the decay of faith. W e preach Christ crucified, said
the Apostle : too many of his successors, alas, might
say, " ive do not preach Christ crucified" we have
more of the orator and of the philosopher than of the
apostle, and have improved the obsolete Christian
Homily, into an Essay upon Virtue. How many
there may be of this way I do not conjecture : may
their number be much less than is apprehended ! but
in the beginning of the last century there were none.
In expounding the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testament, the decay of faith makes a great differ-
ence. It was the doctrine of St. Paul, in his charge
to a minister of the Gospel, that the Scriptures of the
Old Testament were able to make men wise wito sal-
vation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus : 2
Tim. iii. 15. consequently, if they are interpreted
without that faith, their nature is changed, and they
no longer answer their design. The word of God,
like man, for whom it was given, consists of two parts,
a body and a soul, called the Letter and the Spirit ;
the one the object of sense, the other of faith ; and
as the body without the spirit is dead, so is the Scrip-
ture a dead letter, unless we keep the spirit and inter-
pretation of it. Instances might be given in abun-
dance to shew my meaning ; but let us be content
with one.

The things which God did for our fathers, under
Moses, have a spiritual relation to us, and shewed
what God would do for us under the Gospel ; and

Society for promoting Christian Knowledge ; occasioned by the
notorious decay of daily worship, particularly in cities and populous
towns.

SEUM. XViO

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

239

many excellent and necessary lessons are thence to
be drawn*. Thus, they were saved by water, when
they passed the Red Sea ; as we are saved by water
in baptism. They were fed with manna, as we are
by that bread of life, which, like the manna, came
down from heaven ! They drank of miraculous waters
from a rock, which rock, as St. Paul adds, was Christ,
because he gives to all his thirsting followers the
waters of life: let him come to me, said this rock him-
self, a7id drink. Of these and other like events, the
plain history, as it was witnessed by the Jews of old,
is the Letter : the meaning, as it concerns us Chris-
tians, is the Spirit; and the relation between the facts
under Moses and those under Christ is so certain,
that it is our duty to understand them, and to reason
from the one to the other : and without so doing, we
can have no proper sense of the greatness of the dis-
pensation we are under, so marked out by such aston-
ishing events so many ages ago. But without faith,
to discern and embrace the spiritual things so de-
livered, the whole is lost upon us : and therefore it is
not wonderful that we see an infidel of noble birth
absolutely denying the likeness, and scoffing at the
blessed Apostle, as a fanciful cabalistical interpreter,
who applies things to Christianity, which had no more
relation to it than to what was then doing in France.
From this teaching of the Apostle, you see what the
spirit of the Old Testament means ; and in the exam-
ple I have given, you see the blindness of infidelity ;
and the same blindness will be more or less in every
person, who reads, or criticises, without the eye of
faith: and in proportion as this way of interpreting is
either disliked or neglected, we may be certain there

* See 1 Cor. x.

240

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF. [[SERM. XVI.

is a decay of faith in the same proportion. Here lies
the grand distinction between a Jew and a Christian :
the Jew sees nothing of Christianity in the Old Testa-
ment, and rejects it with scorn when it is pointed out
to him : the Christian sees it with admiration and con-
viction ; and, if God has made him a minister of the
spirit, 2 Cor. iii. 6. he teaches it to the people. If
you understand what I have said, your own expe-
rience will confirm the observation : if you do not
understand it, then your want of understanding is a
proof of what I have said ; that these things are not
taught as they should be amopg Christians, and as
they used to be formerly.

There is another remarkable instance, and that of
great moment in these times, where the decay of faith
is notorious. The Scripture teaches us that God
governs the world, and that his /dngdoni rnleth over
all. But this kingdom they only can see, who by faith
see him that is invisihle. In our Liturgy, wherein we
pray as Christians, we frequently acknowledge this
doctrine ; the Scripture every where affirms it ; but,
in the world, what is become of it ? Is it not almost
universally forgotten or stigmatised ? Are not prin-
ciples publicly taught, and received, and boasted of,
as the wisest in the world, which render this doctrine
of the Scripture impertinent and impossible ? In a
neighbouring country thousands have been inhu-
manly butchered for adhering to it. Yet is the doc-
trine as true as the Gospel ; and it is the only scheme
that can be made sense of: but when faith goes this
doctrine goes with it; and the lawless kingdom of
darkness, in which there is nothing but discord, con-
fusion, and misery, rises up in the place of it. Many
see and lament the confusion ; but how few are there
who acknowledge the true cause of it ! However, let

SERM. XVI. 3

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

241

us hope, that the present times have opened many
eyes *. A dreadful lesson hath been given, to alarm
and enlighten us : they that are not enlightened are
plunged farther into darkness, and inflamed to greater
rage and insolence ; which is the worst of all misfor-
tunes. They say it hurts government to maintain
the doctrine of the Liturgy, and to preach as we
pray : but, I say, not : it is the want of this doctrine
that makes the people perfidious and turbulent, and
puts government upon shifts and expedients, by
which the people are sufferers.

I have stated some effects, as they are too visible
amongst us ; and I hope nothing has been exaggerated.
We are now to enquire into the cause : and here you
may be ready to answer, that the facts explain them-
selves ; and that the want of faith is at the bottom of
all the evils we complain of. But we must go a ques-
tion farther : how has it come to pass, that we are
thus wanting in the faith of our forefathers ? The ene-
mies of our faith are those we renounce at our baptism,
the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world hath
its vanities, its pomps, and its pleasures : the flesh
hath its passions ; and the devil hath his devices. But
these causes are too general ; all ages have been ex-
posed to their influence; and the world in conse-
quence hath always been filled with vice and misery.
This doth shew us how the age differs from those that
were before it. Let us try then, if we cannot account
for the change, as the infidels themselves account for
it : let us allow that it is the age of reason ; that is,

* See Mr. Whitakers publication on the real Origin of Govern-
ment, lately printed and sold by Mr. Stockdale, in Piccadilly. As
this is the strongest book of its size and date against all the So-
phism and Subtleties of Republican Theorists, I must request the
Reader, if a Christian, or willing to be such, to give it a fair hearing.

VOL. IV. R

242

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

[;SERM. XVI.

the age in which the ivisdom of man has been admitted
as an authority against the ivisdom of God. How this
has happened it may he difficult to say, though the
fact cannot be denied. I question very much whether
I can trace the evil from the beginning : but I will
give my own sense of it, submitting what I say to be
corrected by those who see farther than I do.

We all know how Christianity was disgraced by the
folly, hypocrisy, and cruelty of fanatical men in the
last century ; who surfeited the wise with their cant-
ings and absurdities. To wipe away the reproach of
which, it was thought good to produce a scheme of
religion not capable of such abuses ; more reason-
able in itself, and more worthy of philosophers ; a re-
ligion of human reason. This is the plan adopted
by our Deists, who profess a rule of life independent
of Revelation : and so the facts of the Bible, with
their consequences, on which our whole religion is
founded, are all rejected as no longer necessary,
Christianity is a scheme of facts ; the other is a scheme
of abstract reasoning. And, what is worst of all, the
plan which thus answers the purposes of infidelity,
was not ushered into the world by profligates and
blasphemers (for in that case Christians would have
stood upon their guard) but by persons of learning
and religious character : who by once admitting that
nature can furnish man with religion, have opened a
door which will never be shut again. If nature is
once allowed to be its own teacher, here is the finest
opportunity in the world for throwing off all the ob-
ligations of Christianity, and setting religion upon a
new bottom. This is the use the Deists have made
of it ; and thus a religion from reason soon turns a
man into an Infidel. But there is a middle generation
of people, who would preserve some decency and

SERM. XVI.^

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

243

solemnity of character, between believers and infidels:
these are your rational Christians (as they call them-
selves) who allow in Christianity all that is agreeable
to the religion of rjeason, but nothing more : and
when they have divested Christianity of all that is
Christian, they wonder why there should be any infi-
dels ; for that Christianity is the most reasonable
thing in the world. To make it so, all the doctrines
of faith are taken out of it : for nature knows not one
of them. How can it reveal them to itself? It has no
redemption from sin, no gift of divine grace, no dan-
ger from the tempter, no priesthood, no sacraments ;
in a word, it has not one of those things to which
salvation is promised. It was never admitted into
this country, till toward the latter end of the last
century ; since which the strides of infidelity have
been gigantic. And what can be done ? We have
admitted a worm to the root of the tree of life ; and
the withering of its top should have convinced us long
ago of our mistake. Happy would it be, if in these
dangerous times, when many evils are come so near
to maturity, men of learning and ability, whose de-
signs are good, would be roused, before it be too
late, to an impartial consideration of this case, as I
have laid it before you.

There is another cause which has bad effects, besides
this of a pretendedly — rational religion, which has
operated with much mischief against the faith. When
a man values himself upon his knowledge, he grows
proud, and then he becomes weak. The knowledge
of nature is a noble science, and deservedly holds a
distinguished rank in this kingdom. The contempla-
tion of nature should bring us nearer to God who
framed it : but it seldom does ; too often it has the
contrary effect : and if we were to survey, with more

R 2

244

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

l^SERM. XVI.

accuracy than is proper for a sermon, the different
classes of men, who have done most mischief to re-
ligion, w e shall find them chiefly among those who
take the name oijyhilosojjhers. They make discoveries
on matter, or think they do (for there is great contra-
diction among them) till they see no such thing as
spirit : and so fall into materialism. It was an old
and true accusation, that the ivorlcl hy icisdom hieiv
not God: 1 Cor. i. 21. and the same is the great mis-
fortune of man at this day. Thousands are spoiled,
not by philosophy itself, but by the vain deceit of phi-
losophy. Tell a person of this sort, inflated with his
own importance, that in order to be icise he must be-
come a fool: and what good can be expected ? His
monitor will be set down for the fool ; and the mad-
man may probably be added. Some mathematicians,
w ho see no farther than their own science, can find
certainty no where else: not distinguishing, that there
is natural certainty and moral certainty ; and that by
far the greater part of w hat we know, and receive, is,
and must be, founded upon the evidence of testimony ;
and he that disputes this kind of certainty hath as little
reason in him as he that disputes the other. Now, if
we receive the ivitness of men, as we do every day, and
neither knowledge nor business can go on without it,
the witness of God is greater, 1 John v. 9. W e call
the evidence of testimony moral evidence ; but in the
case of religion, we can trace it up to natural evidence ;
that is, to the miraculous facts evident to the senses of
men, which w^ere publicly given in confirmation of
the word of God. But it doth by no means follow
that because the evidence is natural and sensible, the
doctrine proved thereby will be admitted. In multi-
tudes of people it had not that effect : for instead of
admitting the truth which they hated, they attempted

SERM. XVI.3 THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

215

to destroy the evidence ; as in the case of the resur-
rection of Lazarus, and the resurrection of Christ
himself. The wise men of Pharaoh's court were eye-
witnesses to the miraculous deeds of Moses, but they
were not convinced. And the Apostle hath forewarned
us, that men of like character, the wise men of the
last days, should resist the truth, as Jannes and Jam-
hres, the magicians of Egypt, withstood Moses. He
calls them men of corrupt minds, in a state not fit for
the reception of truth, and consequently reprobate
concerning the faith. The formal rejection of Chris-
tianity by a nation of reprobates, who build every
thing upon their philosophy (materialism), and are as
busy in working natural wonders, and as conceited
of what they do, as Jannes and Jambres were in the
land of Egypt, is a melancholy demonstration of what
I have here said, and ought to serve as a warning to
the philosophers of Britain.

I shall now come to the use of all that hath gone
before ; in which I must be brief.

The text gives us reason to expect, that at the com-
ing of the Son of vawn, faith shall scarcely be found on
earth. It is therefore obvious to conclude, that in
proportion as the faith decays, the coming of Christ is
drawing near. The scoffers of the last days may inso-
lently demand of us, as it was foretold they should,
ivhere is the promise of his coming? and object that
there is no sign of it, for that all things continue as
they were : but this cannot now be said with truth ; all
things do not continue as they were : there hath been
a marvellous change of late in the affairs of this world,
and in the state of religion, with which all serious men
are alarmed, j ustly apprehending that some still greater
event is to follow. The signs of the times, to those who
can read them, are many ; and there is one which is

246

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

[^SERM. XVI.

but little noticed. When it is mentioned, some will
be ready to tear their garments with rage, as if they
had heard blasphemy.

Before the first coming of Jesus Christ, the world
has been harassed, plundered, and destroyed for many
years by a nation of Republicans ; enthusiasts for
liberty at home, but subjecting all nations in their pro-
gress to robbery and slavery ; who, like wolves, by na-
ture quarrelsome and ravenous, were banded together
to make a prey of mankind. This was the state of the
world before the first advent of Christ, and with his
appearance it ended. In the ways of Providence there
is an uniformity of conduct ; and though we must not
presume, where we have no positive direction to guide
us, yet it is a very strange incident, that when the se-
cond coming of Christ is expected, the most powerful
nation in Europe (for such they are) and the most
monarchical (for such they were) should turn into the
most savage and ravenous republicans, and form a
plan, as the Romans did, of invading, overturning,
and plundering all other nations ; this nation, in par-
ticular, if it should ever be in their power, above all
the rest. How this began, we can tell : how it will
proceed, and by what farther steps, God only knows :
but this we are sure of, that however long it may last,
it must cease with the coming and kingdom of Christ.
In the interval, they may rejoice and be as merry as
Ahab was, when he had seized upon the property of
the murdered Naboth : but the fearful question will
come at last, Jiast thou killed, and also taken posses-
sion? 1 Kings xxi. 19. Then shall rebellion, and
blood-guiltiness, and blasphemy, call upon the moun-
tains to hide them from Him, who will then manifest
himself in the two characters, at present the objects
of their peculiar hatred and contempt — a Priest and

SERM. XVI.3 THE AGE OF UNBELIEF.

217

a King. It may be admired as a great exploit, that
Christianity, with all its restraints, is driven out : but
the world may be assured, this will be no peaceable
event. The faith, planted throughout the earth, will
never be rooted out without a tremendous shock.
When the founder of our religion expired, the earth
trembled, the sun was darkened, and all nature felt
the stroke ; and if his faith is to expire, the catas-
trophe will shake the w orld ; a circumstance often
spoken of in the Scriptures both of the Old and New
Testament, as preparatory to the great day of the
Lord. How much the earth is moved at this time,
we feel every day : how much more it may be before
the end cometh, it is not for us to judge : but this we
know, that all the commotions of the earth will ter-
minate in the fulfilling of the promises of God, when
we shall receive a kingdom which cannot be moved *.

It is either weak and childish, or wicked and pro-
fane, to consider this as a frightful subject. We learn
many things to prepare us for the part we are to take
in this world ; but we learn Christianity to prepare us
for that other world which it hath promised : and shall
we be afraid to hear it is at hand ? shall we pray daily
that the kingdom of God may come ; and shall we
wish at the same time it may not come ? Is not death
the end of this world to every man ; and is there any
man who thinks he shall never see it ? Does it come
the sooner, because we preach about it ? We may
make people serious, and that may make them sober ;
and so they may live the longer ; and then death will
come the later. So in the other case ; the Lord, in
his time, must be revealed from heaven, with every
circumstance of majesty and terror : he that shall come

* Heb. xii, 28. See also Hagg. ii. 7.

248

THE AGE OF UNBELIEF. [^SERM. XVI.

will come, and he will come in this manner. If we
preach about it, we may make men wiser ; and that
will make the event less terrible ; and we shall thereby
do them the greatest kindness in the world. If any
man can be brought to such a state of mind, as to
hope for and desire that great event, which all the
pov/ers of earth and hell can never prevent ; then he
is a happy man indeed ; and not before. Let us there-
fore all devoutly pray, that when we are told of the
Lord's coming, our hearts may be ready to answer —
Amen ; even so, come LordJesus.

SERMON XVII.

GOD SAW THAT THE WICKEDNESS OF MAN WAS GREAT
IN THE EARTH, AND THAT EVERY IMAGINATION OF
THE THOUGHTS OF HIS HEART WAS ONLY EVIL CON-
TINUALLY. GEN. VI. 5.

In the short and comprehensive history of ^he time
before the flood, we are told how sin first arose ; how
it came to maturity ; and how it was punished. The
words of this text do not give us a systematical ac-
count of it ; hut we may thence collect, what is the
seat of it, and how it operates in the constitution of
man : a subject which demands a close and serious
scrutiny. For the nature of man is still the same :
evil now keeps its place as in the beginning ; it
arises in the same manner, and gathers strength from
the same causes.

Of all the things we see, nothing can be truly un-
derstood in its first principles. God alone can see
things in their beginnings, who is himself the alpha
and omega, the beginning and the end of all things.
We can trace them so far only as he hath been
pleased to disclose them to us ; not for physical, but
for moral purposes.

250

THE NATURE, &C.

[[SERM. XVII.

The wickedness of man, is here said to consist in
the evil workings of his imagination : the imagination
therefore is that faculty, in which the wickedness of
man hath its beginning. To miderstand this better,
we must examine what the imagination is, how it
works, is worked upon, and with what effects ; a
matter of more concern to us, than all the curious
disquisitions that can be written upon the understand-
ing. He that can discover the seat of a disease, and
tell us how it may be cured, or how it may be pre-
vented, is a more useful man in an hospital, though
in a lower office, than the curious demonstrator, who
can descant on the structure and ceconomy of the
human frame. And here, one hint from the M ord of
God, who knoweth whereof we are made, and in what
respects we are become degenerate, will carry us
farther in an hour, than our conjectural researches
in the whole course of our lives.

Let as then first obtain what light we can from the
sense of the words which the wisdom of God hath
used in the text, to denote the imagination and
tlwughts of man. The terms of the original are trans-
lated, I believe, as accurately as they can be ; and
only want a little explaining. The word we render
imaginationy has the sense of forming and Jiguriiig,
as a potter forms the clay, or a seal gives the impres-
sion ; and when applied to the mind, denotes its fa-
culty of receiving and forming images. When it re-
ceives them it is passive ; when it forms them it is
active. The other word, which signifies the tJioughtSy
has the sense of adding, computing, or putting things
together : and as all the faculties of the mind can
work together, like the members of the body, this
operation of the head is very much under the in-
fluence of the heart, which is the seat of the passions;

SERM. XVIlO OF THE HUMAN IMAGINATION. 251

SO that what the head can form, in image and figure
the heart and affections can compound, and put to-
gether. If the images of the mind are rightly com-
pared, the result is truth ; if improperly, unnaturally,
or unfairly, the result is error. The old logicians, in
tracing the operations of the mind, have told us very
truly, that the mind compares two ideas, and thence
forms a judgment. If a man does this falsely for
himself, he is deluded : but if his intent is to deceive,
he does the same thing for others ; and having pre-
sented to them a false composition of ideas, he leads
their judgment wherever he pleases. To put the
images of the mind truly and faithfully together, is
the greatest wisdom of man ; and it is what the word
of God hath taught us how to do throughout the
images of nature; particularly in the parables of
Christ, by which he instructs the world ; to put
images falsely together, is the artifice of Satan, by
which he deceives the world ; and by which wicked
men never fail to deceive one another.

The subject now before us is so deep and curious,
that it would admit of much subtile disquisition;
which, however, I shall avoid as much as I can, and
endeavour to make it plain and profitable, by shewing
the right use of the imagination, with the dangers we
are under, and the punishment we suffer from the
abuse of it. After which, if I can prescribe such rules
as will secure us from the evils of the imagination,
the moral end I have in view will be answered.

Truth being the great object of the understanding,
the use of the imagination is to give us pictures and
images of truth ; and without the aid of such pictures,
we can receive but little information. Give the mind
a well-adapted image, and in that image it will see
truth : an object so beautiful in itself, that it will see

15

252

THE NATURE, &C. [[SERM. XVII.

it with delight ; and the influence between the ima-
gination and the affections being reciprocal, a great
advantage is obtained, if the affections are once in-
terested in the cause of truth ; or, (as the Scripture
speaks)" receive the love" of it. 2 Thess. ii. 10. He
is one of the best friends to mankind, who presents
images to the head, with design to amend the heart.
Emblems, of a moral signification, furnish a most
excellent mode of instruction ; especially to minds
young and inexperienced : for while new ideas are ac-
quired, and the fancy is amused, the heart gets under-
standing, and becomes prepared for action. Great
pains have therefore been taken in this way by ancient
moralists: but the method itself is of such sovereign
use, that our blessed Saviour observed it in all his
discourses ; he never spake without a parable ; that
is, without some natural illustration of truth ; and
the like method is followed in all the teaching of the
Bible ; where divine and moral truth is conveyed to
the mind under some sign or figure of it ; the exam-
ples of which are without end.

This mode of instruction is not only necessary, as
being accommodated to the faculties of man ; but it
is of all others the most agreeable ; because the mind
is delighted with every kind of imitation ; and ac-
cordingly, they that undertake to delight the mind,
whatever their intention may be, always have recourse
to imitation in some shape or other.

There are occasions, when it is not possible to get
access to the judgment, and to set the truth before it,
but under some image of the truth. Of this we have
an example in the address of the prophet Nathan to
King David, which may stand for all the rest. The
prophet set before his imagination a parable, wherein
wickedness and cruelty were so discernible, that the

SERM. XVII. 3 OF THE HUMAN IMAGINATION. 253

judgment of the king immediately pronounced upon-
the case, without being aware that he was passing
sentence upon himself : and when he saw it was im-
possible to retract, he was brought to shame and peni-
tence ; to which, it is probable, he never could have
been brought by any other way of reasoning : and all
this was effected by applying properly to his imagina-
tion. There are few minds, however ill disposed,
which may not be wrought upon in this oblique man-
ner ; and the ignorant are sooner instructed by it
than by any other ; which makes it so proper for the
teaching of children. More may thus be learned in
an hour from a plain simple teacher, than in a year,
under the dry and abstracted language of the wisest
philosopher. In the Parable of the Sower, a volume
of Christian instruction is communicated under a short
form. It sets before the eyes a case in the course of
nature, parallel to the preaching of the Gospel : and
when once the similitude is pointed out, a train is kin-
dled, which runs to a great length, and without which
it is not easy for the mind to get forward. For there
are subjects, which the bestandthe wisest of mankind
cannot understand, till they are taught after the man-
ner of children. There are things of a sublime and
spiritual nature, which our reason would understand
as they are in themselves ; but it cannot be : for here
the judgment can get nothing without the help of the
imagination. For the conceiving of many things
which the Gospel reveals, the glass of the natural
creation must be used ; and they must be viewed as
they are thence reflected to the understanding. From
the light of the day, we learn to value the light of
divine truth ; from the sun, too bright for the eyes to
look upon, we learn, that God is too great for the
mind to comprehend ; from the element of air and

25i

THE NATURE, &C.

CSERM. XVII.

its operations, we know there may be ministering spi-
rits ; in whom great power is united to a substance
invisible : and even the divine Spirit, as the Lord and
Giver of life, is understood from the natural air, or
breath, upon which we live. By such teaching as
this, we are raised above ourselves : we ascend up to
God by the scale of his creation ; and while we are in
this world can foretaste the wisdom of a better. This
is the best and highest use of the imagination ; and if
I have been so happy as to make myself understood,
we may now go on to the abuse of the imagination.

For, the thoughts of man's heart, which puts things
truly together, for good, can put them falsely together,
for evil ; and be prepared for hell by those powers and
actions of the mind, which should lift us up to heaven.
The first evil that came into the world, entered by this
way of the imagination. On that faculty the tempter
practised, when he promised a sort of wisdom indepen-
dent of God; and a sort of happiness consistent with
disobedience. It was suggested to our first parents,
that a new light would break in upon their minds; and
that, in consequence of it, they would rise to an
equality with God. Here is first a vision for the head ;
and with it a lesson of pride for the heart : and thus
the first sin is a pattern for every other. In every
temptation, some alluring object is held up ; the
image of it works upon the heart ; the heart re-acts
upon the head ; false and irrational compositions are
formed, and vain expectations are raised : the act is
sin ; the result is error ; and the end is death. Yet, in
this manner doth the mind of man, in his present
fallen state, and left to itself, never fail to work, if
the text be true ; every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart is only evil continually. The first motion to
sin begins in the imagination; and it may be questioned

SERM. XVII.]] OF THE HUMAN IMAGINATION.

255

whether any one instance can be produced to the con-
trary. The passions, so productive of evil works, do
all act as the imagination directs, to fulfil some vision
it has entertained. Love, hatred, hope, fear, envy,
revenge, and despair, which contribute in their turns
to agitate and torment the heart of man, do all ope-
rate according to the measures of the imagination ;
that is, according to the images the mind hath formed
of persons and things ; of itself within ; and of the
world without. The slightest affront will give un-
pardonable offence to the man who has formed a
great idea of himself : when disappointed he is ex-
ceedingly hurt ; because the magnitude of the disap-
pointment will be according to the rate or value he
has set upon his own person : so that one man shall
even be killed outright with indignation and despair,
by an accident, which another circumspect man, of
an humble mind, would not feel for half an hour. A
grand idea of this world in a man's head, with the
love of its wealth or its fame in his heart, will work
together, till they produce strange efifects, and turn
a man of sense into a fool : of which we can find no
greater example, than in the case of an avaricious
person ; who admires gold for its use in procuring
every thing ; and with it procures nothing. The
thoughts of his heart unite together wealth and hap-
piness : the wealth, with much toil and anxiety, and
perhaps no small degree of fraud and injustice, is rea-
lized : but the happiness is still a vision as at first : it
began in the imagination, and it never gets any farther.

Our danger will be better understood, when we
consider how the imagination is furnished with matter
by the two senses of the sight and the hearing. The
Psalmist apprehending this, did wisely pray, O turn
(may mine eyes lest they behold vanity! When the

25G

THE NATURE, &C.

QSERM. XVII.

passions are enslaved, and ruin is inevitable, how
often do the deluded sufferers wish, they had never
beheld such and such objects ! So much sin enters by
the sight, that the Sou of Sirach (chap. xxxi. 13.) pro-
nounced, there is nothing more wicked than the eye ;
that therefore it iceepetli, and is made the fountain of
sorrow in every countenance. On this consideration,
public spectacles and stage entertainments, so alluring
to the eye, and so curiously provided, are always dan-
gerous, and not seldom fatal : for by indulging this
luxiurious and insatiable appetite of the eye, distem-
pers are introduced into the mind, of which it is never
cured. The objects there presented to the sight, are
either corrupting in themselves, or made so by art and
circumstance. Piety, goodness, and virtue, are quiet
and obscure ; they pass through life without noise or
figure : but the spirit of intrigue is active and busy ;
productive of plot and incident ; vice is enthusiastic,
impetuous, and picturesque ; and furnishes matter of
grand effect, fit for stages and theatres. When good
and evil are both misrepresented, Avhich often happens,
the mind of an unguarded spectator catches the mis-
representation, and makes it a rule of action. Let
the self-murderer appear with dignity, and the robber
be merry and successful, upon the stage ; suicides
and thieves will be increased and multiplied. This is
not speculation ; it is undoubted fact. What a com-
mon artifice it is, to couple something that is great and
sacred with something which is mean and contemp-
tible; to make it ridiculous, and provoke insult!
While that which is base, worthless, and pernicious,
shall be raised and recommended, by joining it to
something that is good ; or, which the times agree to
call good. These arts of deception are so necessary
to the cause of wickedness, that prints, pictures.

SERM. XVII.^ OF THE HUMAN IMAGINATION.

257

public sights, and shews, are always employed to
work upon the mind, by the fabricators of public
mischief. They can lead religion and loyalty to be
hooted at and burned with disgrace ; while sedition
and treason are carried home upon men's shoulders
in triumph. No preposterous disguises or deceptions
can be wondered at, in any age or country, when it is
remembered, that the Lord of Glory was disfigured
by a wicked world with a crown of thorns ; and the
hand, that can aim the lightnings of heaven, insulted
with a weak reed for a sceptre : while, perhaps, Ba-
rabbas, the acquitted felon, was attended home with
acclamations.

The ears are imposed upon by sounds, as the
eyes by appearances ; the orator can work with de-
ceitful iniages and false comparisons, to inflame the
passions, and mislead the judgment. That prime in-
tellectual juggler of the times, Voltaire, whose logic
has driven the world to madness, never fails to work
upon his readers with false associations : they are his
peculiar manufacture. His reasonings are contemp-
tible ; but his power in debauching the minds of men,
by setting false images before them, is prodigious,
and would be unaccountable, if the principle now be-
fore us did not explain it all.

I shall conclude upon this part of my subject, with
observing, that the Scripture imputes all the wicked-
ness of an unbelieving world to the inventions of their
imagination. Here all the various formations and
fictions of idolatry began : and they never ended, but
in the total perversion of truth, the corrupting of
manners, and the sanctifying of cruelty and all kinds
of immorality. The old idols are many of them out
of fashion : but the restless mind of man can never
forbear its fictions ; so that new idols are daily rising

VOL. IV. S

258

THE NATURE, &C. [^SERM. XVII.

up ; not without the pomp and pageantry of the old,
to recommend them : such as liberty without law ;
majesty of the populace ; equality in all ranks ; by
which and other like phantoms, while the world is
amused, it is betrayed into confusion and calamity ;
and God alone can tell whether it will ever more be
reduced to peace and order : for which, however, we
should daily pray.

We have now seen how the imagination leads into
sin ; let us next inquire how it brings us into misery.
For it is always found by those who consider the
righteous ways of divine Providence, that men are
punished by those things wherein they offend. When
the entrance of sin brought sickness and deatli upon
the body, the imagination also became weak and sub-
ject to some grievous distempers. It seems to be the
faculty on which the fall hath taken effect. So long
as it continues in a sound state, it is like a mirror,
plain and bright, and reflects all objects truly; but if
its polish be injured, it reflects them imperfectly; and
then we conceive things slowly and obscurely : if it be
lost, as in the case of idiots, it reflects nothing — and
as there is no wickedness where there is no imagina-
tion, language gives the name of an innocent (Fr. un
innocent) to the idiot. If the mirror hath a false
figure, it will give the image wrong: it will make great
things appear little, or little things great ; or even
distorted and monstrous, though they are regularly
formed and beautiful. Sometimes one certain image
is seen constantly by the mind, as if a figure were
burned in upon the face of a mirror : and in some
cases, the mind forms images involuntarily, and be-
comes like a body which has lost its retentive powers,
and is both active and passive at once. Neither
must we forget, that images are forced upon the

SERM. XVII.]] OF THE HUMAN IMAGINATION. 259

mind, for torment, by the malignant Being who first
introduced them for sin ; even heathens were per-
suaded that ideas of horror might be raised in the
mind, for punishment, by tormenting Furies. In all
such extreme cases as these, the person is mad ; his
imagination is under no more controul when he is
awake, than that of rational men when they are
asleep ; whence it is plain, the humiliating distemper
of madness, the most deplorable evil of man's life, is
seated in the imagination, where sin first began. And
if it be considered, that there is no man, who at all
times has the perfect command of his imagination,
what can we say, but that all minds are subject to a
sort of weakness, which may pass for a degree of in-
sanity ? The imaginations of some ingenious per-
sons, particularly those of a poetical turn, work so
freely and so violently, that they are nearer to mad-
ness than other men ; and sometimes actually fall in-
to it. If so, it seems as if what we call genius, may,
in certain cases, be infirmity : like the beautiful va-
riegations of a flower ; which are known to proceed
from the weakness of the plant.

It is scarcely credible, how much the evils of life
are magnified, multiplied, and even created, as the
imagination happens to be affected : which can strike
with such force upon the passions, that sudden fear
and terror, or even joy and surprise, have been fol-
lowed by instant death. Persons of lively imagina-
tions have irritable nerves ; they suffer more from
pain and grief of every kind ; and pay a severe tax
for their boasted sensibility. They that use but little
air and exercise, and accustom themselves to an in-
dolent delicate way of life, grow lax and soft and
effeminate, and suffer more on every occasion, than
those that rise early, and fare hardly, and preserve a

s 2

260 THE NATURE, &:C. [^SERM. XVII.

firmness of habit and constitution. Too many there
are, who by giving themselves up to the luxury of the
imagination, become totally worthless and useless in
their minds ; never acting from reason and duty, but
always from the impulses of fancy, which is no rea-
soning faculty. Many are taken off from the neces-
sary employments of life, and fall into poverty and
contempt, because truly, their imagination will allow
them no time to work. Instead of feeding upon their
labour, they are starving upon their thoughts. In
every station of life, the indolent never fail to be tor-
mented with imaginary evils : they contradict the
great and universal law of God ; who hath ordained,
that man shall eat his bread, not in the fancies of his
brain, but in the sweatings of his brow. Let it also
be observed, that for want of useful employment, the
mind wears and preys upon itself, like a mill, when it
is not supplied with corn to work upon. We are all
rightly informed, and, I believe, most of us convinced
by experience, that man's life is a struggle, a warfare,
a passage over a dangerous sea : but none can under-
stand to what degree, and in what extent it is such,
till they have reviewed the errors, and dangers, and
sufferings of the imagination.

It is therefore our duty, and will be our wisdom,
to consider how we may best secure ourselves against
these evils.

First then, that the imagination may not be danger-
ously employed, let it be turned to its proper use.
The word of God presents no images to the mind, but
to lead us into truth : that word ought therefore to be
the daily object of our attention. To set a mistaken
value upon things, and make false estimates ; to take
little things for great, and great for little, is the worst
misfortune that can befal the mind of man : his whole

SERM. X\Il.'2 OF THE HUMAN IMAGINATION. 261

life is hereby thrown out of its due course; he becomes
useless to others, and unhappy in himself. On the
contrary, the Scripture gives us a sure rule for finding
the weight and measure of every thing : and with
the use of it, let us beseech God to deliver us from
the wandering of our thoughts ; by which we are so
apt to be disturbed in our meditations and devotions.
Every serious Christian must have found, how trouble-
some and impertinent the imagination is, when the
soul should be given up to its prayers ; by which all
our sacrifices are so interrupted, and rendered so im-
perfect, that another prayer is commonly necessary
at last, for forgiveness upon all the prayers that have
gone before.

2. If we know the true excellence of the Scripture
in furnishing the mind with images, we shall of course
avoid all such reading as only fills the head with
empty visions ; which is too often the only excellence
that can be found in works of genius. In a corrupt
age, the vanity of invention abounds: idle novels
arise, to feed upon public folly ; as worms breed in
putrid flesh, and then live upon it. Those fashionable
productions, whose object is only to amuse, are the
ruin of thousands; who collect from thence false
ideas of themselves and of the world, which betray
them into fatal mistakes, and render them totally un-
fit for the business of life. Nor is this the worst :
the disappointed mind, with vanity to inflate it, and
nothing solid to support it, is driven to the agonies
of despair, and to the last miserable refuge of despair
— God send better things to every Christian soul in
which there is a spark of grace !

3. Many strange doctrines, with a colouring of re-
ligion upon them, have been propagated of late years,
nearly allied to the old heathen magic ; which lead

262

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^SERM. XVII.

people into a new land of shadows and dreams, and
have been known to produce such an effect upon the
imagination, that it sees spectres at noon day, and is
under the delusions of sleep while it is wide awake.
If such reports are true, they should teach Christian
people to beware how they listen to miraculous novel-
ties in religion or pharmacy.

4. He that would be sober -minded must also learn
to regulate his bodily appetites. Experience must
have taught us all, what an effect our diet has upon
our dreams : and it must, in its degree, have a like
effect upon our waking thoughts. How differently do
the same things appear according to the different
states of the body ! When the blood is inflamed, the
mind falls into a delirium : and it is worthy of con-
sideration, whether there be not persons, who, though
not accounted insane, are yet never so perfectly in
their senses, as they might be, if they would but do
justice to their own understandings, by keeping them-
selves cool, and practising a little reasonable self-
denial : for thus did the saints of God in the best
ages preserve their minds pure, patient, humble, wise,
and devout ; and why should not the rule succeed as
well now, when there is a natural reason for it ?

5. Business is another remedy ; and the best for the
purpose is business with some aim, some useful object
in view ; to keep the thoughts at work in a right line,
and prevent wanderings. Labour of some kind is the
lot of man, to keep his restless mind out of mischief:
and the careful mind, even though it be anxious, is
always preferable to the empty : it is delivered from
itself : it no longer looks inward on that gloomy va-
cuity, which it is impossible to survey without being
dispirited. The labouring part of mankind are seldom
tormented with the evils of the imagination ; and in

SERM. XVII. ;3 OF THE HUMAN IMAGINATION. 263

this respect they have an advantage over the rich, the
learned, and the delicate: who will never be cured of
their weakness but by that which preserves the
strength of the poor ; and the labours of the field or
the garden are always open to the wealthy ; and will
be productive of pleasure to the mind, as well as
health and soundness to the senses. The Christian
should carry it a little farther ; and learn, as the apos-
tle advises, to endure hardness, like a soldier, to keep
afar off that effeminate tenderness of the frame, which
induces a weakness of the imagination : and hardness
of life will have the same effect upon the Christian,
as it hath upon the soldier ; it will lessen the fear of
death, that greatest of all terrors ; from which none
can escape, and for which all must prepare.

6. To sum up all my rules in a few words, " fear
God and keep his Commandments, for this is the
whole duty of man :" with this, man is every thing he
should be ; and without it he is nothing. His security
can be found only in that, with which all wisdom
should begin and end. Religion : I mean the religion
of faith, hope, and charity. The first conflict in Para-
dise was between faith and imagination ; and it is con-
tinued, under the original form, at this day. Ima-
ginations and thoughts, according to the language of
the text, are the ruin of man: faith is the victory that
overcomes them both. What imagination raises, how-
ever high and strong, faith throws down ; and brings
every ' hought into captivity : and having no depen-
dence on man or itself, but only on God's truth, it is
steadfast and unmoveable against all the changeable
forms of human wisdom. Hope, like the sunshine
that gilds all objects, improves every innocent enjoy-
ment, and makes every state of life supportable.
Charity, delivered from the tormenting selfishness of

15

264.

THE NATURE, &C.

[^SEllM. XVII.

nature, is the friend of God and man ; and preserves
a conscience void of offence. Where these three are
found, there will the Peace of God abide : and with
it that illumination of the heart, that holy light of
the day-star, before which all imposture is detected,
all shadows fly away. In which state, keep us, O
God of Truth, according to the measure of this
present time ; and bring us to the consummation of
it in thy presence, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

FRIENDLY ADMONITION

TO THE

CHURCHMAN,

ON THE

SENSE AND SUFFICIENCY OF HIS RELIGION ;

IN

TWO SERMONS,

ON THE TEXT OF MATTII. XVIII. 17.
ADDRESSED TO THE

INHABITANTS

OF THE

PARISH OF PASTON, IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

TO THE

CONGREGATION

AT

PASTON.

MY DEAR BRETHREN,

Having more employment in my profession than
will admit of my attending upon you so often as
I wish, it is my endeavour, when I speak to you
from the pulpit, to give you as much truth as I
possibly can in a small compass.

It can be no offence to any of you to suppose,
that as members of a congregation in the Church
of England, you may stand in need of some seri-
ous admonition, concerning the nature of your
profession. Too many there are, who follow the
Church from custom, without considering and
applying personally to themselves what the Re-
ligion of the Church teaches and requires. My
business, in what I here present to you, is to put
you in mind of the sense and spirit of your wor-
ship, and to prove that you can have no just cause
to depart from it.

268

DEDICATION.

It gave me a sincere pleasure to find that I
was heard with so much attention when I spake
to you upon this subject; and that you wished
for an opportunity of reading and laying up in
your minds what I then delivered. In conse-
quence of which the following Discourses are
printed, and very affectionately recommended to
your farther consideration.

That God Almighty may give you his Grace
to apply them effectually ; to your comfort here,
and your eternal happiness hereafter; is the
hearty prayer of

Your brother and servant,

August 6, 1796.

For Christ's sake,

W. JONES.

SERMON XVIII.

HEAR THE CHURCH. MATTH. XVIII. 17.

There are two sorts of Christians, who do not
hear the Church ; and of these, one sort is in the
Church. There are also two great errors, into which
Christian people are hetrayed ; the first supposes,
that the Church will save men without godliness ; the
second, that godliness will save men ivithout the
Church. The first was the error of the J ews, and is
now the error of too many, who call themselves
Churchmen : the other is the error of those that leave
the Church to follow some private way of worship.
Very plain rules may be laid down, by which both
these parties may judge of themselves, if they will but
be honest and sincere : and as the case of the Church-
man is of nearer concern, I shall in this discourse
address myself to him in the first place.

His profession is right : but it will do him no good,
unless he is wise enough to keep up to the design and
spirit of it. All the living creatures, which God hath
made, are endued with form and life. There is no
life that we know of without form. And the Church,
which God hath made, is of a like constitution. It
hath its forms, its sacraments, its ordinances ; and
with these, it has a life, sense, and spirit of them ;

270

FRIENDLY ADMONITION [|SERM. XVIII.

without which, the Church is nothing but a form; that
is, a body without a soul. Every Christian is taught,
that with the sign, there is the thing signified. The
sign is the pledge for information and assurance : the
thing signified, is the inward and spiritual part : and
neither of these can be, what God intended it should
be, without the other. With every doctrine of the
Church, there is a moral, or practice, which should
attend it : and the latter should always follow : accord-
ing to that admonition, be ye doers of the word and
not hearers only. But here the Churchman falls into
a mistake : if he complies with the form, he is too apt
to think himself safe ; and his mistake is the same as
that of the Jew was formerly. If the Jew was cir-
cumcised on the eighth day, he was called a son of
Abraham; and such he was; but not by the sign
without the sense of it. For there was a circumcision
made with hands : and there was another circumcision
made without hands, which was inward upon the
heart, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, disposing
and enabling a man to put away all carnal and un-
clean affections. This latter was the inward and spi-
ritual grace, without which a person was uncircum-
cised in Jieart. By the outward circumcision, he be-
came a Jew ; but unless the inward and spiritual were
added, he was not a true Jew ; not an Israelite in-
deed.

The case is the same, and the danger is the same,
at this time, with the Christian, in regard to Baptism.
The outward sign is water ; and the promise of God
to the office and authority of the Christian Ministry,
makes that water effectual to the purpose intended.
But what is the sense of the sign ? What is it that
water doeth ? It washes and cleanses : and what that
doeth to the outward man, the Spirit of God doeth to

SERM. XVIII.^ TO THE CHURCHMAN.

271

the inward. But the effect may remain with us ; or,
it may be lost. He that is washed may remain white
and pure, as the sheep doth ; or, he may turn again to
the mire, as the swine doth. From the lives of too
many Christians, it appears, that they have returned
to the vileness of nature, and are now in the midst of
it, defiling themselves with that sinfulness, which it
is the work of Baptism to wash away.

The true Churchman is therefore mindful of his
Baptism ; knowing that its real value is not in the
washing with water, but in the new creature*. He
therefore continues in newness of life ; according to
that petition of the office in his behalf, wherein the
Church prays, that he may lead the rest of his life
according to that beginning ; that he may be dead
unto sin, and alive unto righteousness. The end of
Baptism is everlasting life : for it makes us members
of Christ, and consequently heirs with Christ of his
Father's kingdom ; but all this must be through a pre-
sent life of righteousness. In this we have the true
sense of Baptism ; it is not only a birth but a Ife,
never to be departed from. For Christ being dead
unto sin, dieth no more, butliveth for ever unto God :
and the Christian is to be conformed to the same
pattern ; sin should no more have dominion over him :
then is Baptism what it should be, and what the
Church intends, and prays for, from the beginning.

The service of the Church requires every person to
repeat the Articles of the Apostles Creed : and so far
we may be said to witness a good confession. But
does he that repeats the Creed endeavour to practise
it ? I say, practise it : for the Christian faith is prac-
tised in the Christian life : if not, it will be a witness
against us : every word we repeat will condemn us.

* Gal.vi. 15.

272

FRIENDLY ADMONITION []SERM. XVIII.

A man may say, he helieves hi God: but does he live
as if he believed in him ? Does he serve him, and
shew the world that his faith is real by the life it pro-
duces ? He believes that Jesus Christ was conceived
by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary :
but, is he bom of God: and doth it appear to himself,
or to any body else, that he is a spiritual man, be-
gotten again by the Gospel to newness of life ? He
believes that Jesus Christ was crucified : but is he
crucified ? Is the old man of sin, that was born in him,
put to death ? Is he hated by bad people, for the good
that is about him ? Does he, for the sake of Christ,
suffer any thing w ith Christ : or is he conformed to
the world, that he may suffer nothing ? He believes
in the Holy Ghost : does he also believe, that the
Holy Ghost now w'orketh in the Church for the re-
mission of sin : that he is the Lord and giver of life ;
that there is no life to the soul of man wdthout him ;
and that it is impossible to think a good thought, or
do a good action, without the help of the good Spirit
of God moving and assisting us ; and that the Spirit is
therefore most eminently called the gift of God, with-
out which all other gifts and endowments are vain ?
He believes that the Church is holy : but has it made
him holy ; or, does he desire that it should evei' make
him holy ? An unholy person may be in the Church ;
as he was at the feast, who was w'ithout a wedding
garment : or, as the bad fishes were inclosed in the
same net with the good ones : but he cannot continue ;
for when God shall come, to cast out all things that
offend, he will not abide that inquisition.

The Commandments may be considered in the
same way. For the honour of God, and the benefit
of those w ho belong to the Church, they are com-
monly written about the Altar^ and held up before our

SERM. XVIII. ^

TO THE CHURCHMAN.

273

eyes. This is a very good custom, and agrees well
with our profession : but then, the Churchman is to
remember, that the Commandments which are written
upon our walls, are to be written upon our hearts :
for this is the promise of God to the Gentiles, when
they should be called into the Church of Christ : /
IV ill put my law in their inward part, and icrite it in
their hearts * .• and when this promise was fulfilled
in the Gentiles, the Apostle boasts of them to the
Jews, for the ivot^Jc of the law written in their hearts :
so written, that no man had now any occasion to teach
another ; because the law transcribed into his own
heart was thenceforward a source of teaching to him-
self: sufficient for admonition or justification to the
conscience, or, as the Apostle words it, their thoughts
accusing or else excusing one another. So should the
law now be written in the hearts of us Gentile-Chris-
tians, as a constant, and I may say, ^portable rule of
our obedience.

If the matter of the Commandments be well consi-
dered, particularly of the first and second, the sense
extends much farther than we may suppose at first
sight. For the beart of man, as well as his eyes, may
have its idols. We are to have none but the true
God in our thoughts: and instead of placing idols
before the imagination, we are to set the Lord always
before us ; to be mindful, that he sees all our actions,
and knows all our thoughts, and that his eyes are in
every place : that he is the author of our happiness ;
and, as such, the supreme object of our love and
affection. If we trust to any thing for our happi-
ness more than to God, that object, whatever it may
be, whether it be wealth, or pleasure, or fame, takes

* Jer. xxxi. 3rJ. Ileb. viii. 10.
VOL. IV. T

274

FRIENDLY ADMONITION C!SERM. XVIII.

the place of God ; and we become, in sense and
effect. Idolaters. If we love the things of the world
and trust in them, the world is our God. When the
Apostle says, whose God is their helly *, he means,
that all are idolaters, and the worst of idolaters, even
self-worshippers, who make the gratification of their
appetites the object of their actions, instead of making
the Commandments of God the rule of their obedience.
They act as their lusts command ; not as God com-
mands ; and so, their belly is their God. This may
seem a coarse expression, but it is very true ; the hap-
piness of such a person being like that of a beast,
which knows of nothing above this present life. If
the heart be set upon diversions, spectacles, appear-
ance, precedence, or any other thing which is merely
of this world ; it signifieth not what the object is, if it
takes the affections away from God, to whom they
are due ; and in comparison of whom, all things are
to be given up, if he requires ; even father, mother,
wife, children ; yea, and life itself also. This is our
Saviour's doctrine to his Disciples : God will have no
competitor.

Let every Churchman then ask himself, with this
attention to the sense of the Commandments, " Do I
shew that I have God for my God, by loving his wor-
ship ? Do I frequent it when I have an opportunity ?
Or, do I put it from me as a thing that is needless,
and prefer some other employment ?" If that should
be the case, then you have some higher object of your
affections ; some other God, whom you secretly prefer
to the true. You may say, this is rigid doctrine ; but
this is the doctrine to which you and I are bound, if
we are Churchmen indeed, and not in name and ap-
pearance only ; and I should deceive you if I were to
preach any other. I cannot here go through the

* Phil. iii. ] 9.

SERM. XVIIlO I'O THE CHURCHMAN.

275

Commandments ; but I give you a key, with the help
of which you may go through them for yourselves.

You are commanded farther to love your neighbour
as yourself: by which it is meant, that you should
act toward him by the same rule and measure as you
would act toward yourself. He that means to hurt
himself is justly accounted a madman; for no man in
his right senses ever yet hated his own flesh : there-
fore certainly you are not to hurt your neighbour by
any injurious act: no, nor by any injurious word.
But now let every person ask himself, " Did I never
raise any evil report against a neighbour, whom I do
not like ? Or, if I do not make evil myself, do I never
take a pleasure in hearing it ; and afterwards in re-
porting what T hear ?" This ought not to be : what
envy delights to publish, charity should delight to
conceal ; for by so doing, our own faults will be co-
vered ; of which Ave have much need. All the Com-
mandments might be treated in this way : but instead
of proceeding farther, let me observe to you again
concerning them all, that it will signify little to you,
how much the Church excels the Conventicle, in
having the Commandments of God fairly Avritten in
letters of gold, to remind people of their duty ; unless
they are also written in the heart, and made a rule of
action : or, as the Apostle speaks, in language taken
from the original history of the Commandments, un-
less they are transcribed from the tables of stone to
the fleshy tables of the heart *. For the heart of man
is by nature as hard as those tables on which the
Commandments were first engraved : but God hath
promised by the Prophet, to change that heart of
stone into an heart of flesh, a substance soft and yield-
ing, on which an impression may be made : and when

* 2 Cor. iii. 3.
T 2

276

FRIENDLY ADMONITION j^SERM. XVIII.

it is made, let us pray, and let us endeavour, that it
may never be effaced any more.

I would speak with you a little in the same way
about the other Sacrament of the Church, the Supper
of the Lord. It is a blessed thing that the Church of
England, after the example of the primitive times,
offers it so frequently to the people : while perhaps
among some other classes of Christians, the observa-
tion of it is neglected for a year, or several years, to-
gether. You are therefore to thank God that you
have such frequent opportunities of partaking of the
Holy Communion ; and you do well in appearing
there ; but then you are seriously to ask yourselves,
what brings you there ? Is it custom ; or the example
of your neighbours ; or the fear of being singular ? Or,
is it, as it ought to be, a belief in Christ as the life of
the world ; and a desire to partake of that life ? Do
you go, as the Hebrews went, out in the wilderness to
gather manna for their life ; knowing that your spiri-
tual life cannot be supported in this wilderness without
bread from heaven ? Do you go for the strengthening
and refreshing of your souls, as the Catechism pro-
perly expresses it, that like labouring men you may
be better enabled to worh out your oivn salvation ; and
together with your spiritual strength, receive a pledge
of a blessed resurrection and a glorious immortality ?

I have hitherto said nothing of the duty oi prayer :
but here the Church most eminently leads the way, in
appointing a form of morning and evening service for
every day of the year ; and particular forms for every
season of the year. But does it give us only the form ?
Does it not also teach us the sense and spirit of
prayer ? that prayer is an evidence of the Christian
life, as breathing is the evidence of our natural life :
that we are under dangers and necessities, out of

SERM. XVIII.]] TO THE CHURCHMAN.

277

whicli nothing but the right hand of God, stretched
out to those that cry unto him, can possibly save and
deliver us : it therefore supposes that Churchmen pray
every day — twice a day — as they certainly ought,
either at the Church or in their families, or both.
What must (or rather what does) become of families
who do not pray together ? What must become of
single persons who do not pray for themselves by
themselves ? By disuse they become more and more
averse to their duty, and farther from God, in their
lives and conversations ; and he, of course, is farther
from them. Such persons therefore as do not ac-
custom themselves to pray ; what are they ? Are they
true members of the Church of England? If they do
not pray, they are not Christians ; and cannot be said
to be members of any church : they cast themselves
out of all Churches. Their life is a passage through
storms and tempests over a dangerous sea : what will
become of them in life ? What will become of them in
death ? What will become of them after death ? For
the soul will continue in such a state after death, as it
lives and dies in. If it dies without prayer, it will
continue without God. The souls of the righteous are
represented to us in the Revelation as still continuing
in prayer, and uttering to God what was the petition
of their lives, hoiv long, O Lord, holy and true *, &c.
In this language do they cry unto God to fulfil that
righteousjudgment upon the world, which the Church
of the living prayeth for ; particularly in the Burial
Service, where we call upon God to accomjjlish the
number of his elect, and to hasten his Icingdom.

Enough has been said, I hope, to convince you,
what it is, in propriety of speech, to hear the Church :

* Rev. vi. 10.

278

FRIENDLY ADMONITION [^SEllM. XVIII.

that it is not to hear with your ears only, but to un-
derstand with your heart ; to keep up to the sense of
her doctrines, and the life and spirit of her forms.
When our blessed Saviour described in few words the
character of Nathaniel, he said, behold an Israelite in-
deed: for all w^re not Israel in spirit, that were of
Israel by their birth and education. So may we now
say of him, that keeps up to the life, while he follows
the forms of the Church ; behold a Churchman indeed:
and it is devoutly to be wished, that the portrait I
have drawn were more frequently verified. But as
there were not many Nathaniels when Christ visited
the Church of Israel ; so it is to be feared, that of the
Nathaniels of the present day there is no great num-
ber : and there will be fewer every day, if the delu-
sions and deceptions, with which mankind are so easily
drawn away, should increase upon us as they have of
late years. I have shewn you plainly how the cha-
racter is to be attained ; and instead of blaming me,
as if I had brought up a new doctrine to disturb your
consciences, you are to examine yourselves impartially
by this plain rule of hearing the Church. You may
have persuaded yourselves that if you believe the facts
of Christianity, you have the religion of the Church ;
and that nothing more is necessary. But the facts of
the Christian history are all without you : what is it
that happens within you ? Do you believe the inward
distempered state of your nature ; and that the Gos-
pel is a remedy sent from Heaven to those who are
poor, and blind, and nahed*? To believe the Gospel
truly, is not to believe that there is such a thing as the
Gospel, (for the Devils know that;) but that it is the
power of God for the salvation of man ; that there is

15

Rev. iii. 17.

5ERM. XVIII.]] TO THE CHURCHMAN.

279

no life without the spirit of it ; no teaching without
the liffht of it : that the wisdom of nature can never
shew us the will of God ; and the works of nature
never render us acceptable to Him : that if laws are
written in the heart, they are God's laws, transferred
to the heart, according to his promise, by the power
of his Grace. If this be your religion, we may then
truly say that you are a Churchman ; and every good
man will allow it. But if you take the outside of
Christianity, Christianity will never be more than the
outside of you : your religion will be a form, and you
yourself will be a lifeless Christian. On this subject,
no rule is so worthy to be remembered, as that short
and plain rule of the Apostle : he is a Jew, which is
one inwardly *. For all the gifts of God's religion
are inward : nothing but signs are outward ; and if
the Churchman is an outward Christian, he is nothing
but the sign of a Christian ; with no more true life
in him, than the sign of a man's head, which is
painted on a board : and how bright and glaring so-
ever the colours may be, it is but a board at last.

I do not say these things with design to reflect upon
any person in particular : my design is to stir up the
minds of you all by way of remembrance, and prevent
a fatal security, of which there is too much in all
places. Many are prevailed upon to leave the Church,
and frequent other assemblies, because there is
nothing but form amongst us : and whoever he may
be, that contributes to the truth of the accusation,
he is partaker in other men's sins ; he is answerable
for the ill use that is made of the fact, to intice people
from the sober and edifying worship of the Church.
Be in earnest then in your profession : be sincere.

* Rom. ii. 2'J.

280

FRIENDLY ADMONITION, &C. [^SERM. XVIII.

and alive, as you ought to be, and you will disarm
them : perhaps you may convert them from the error
of their ways : but if not, you will secure yourself :
the Church of God will be to you what he intended
it should be to all; and the promises made to it will
be made to you.

And now, my friends, having taken courage to
speak a little plain truth to Christians of our own
sort ; reason and duty require, that I should be as
plain when I speak of Christians, who are of a dif-
ferent sort, who think they are better than we are.
The godliness which we want they profess to have.
They know that our ungodliness will not save us m
the Church, but they think that their own godliness
will save them out of it. How far that may be true
or false, is a question which deserves great consi-
deration : and I shall, for your security, answer it as
far as I am able on a plain principle, the application
of which will require but few words. I conclude at
present with a prayer for both parties : not that you,
or I, or they, may distinguish ourselves ; for which
all mankind are so given to strive ; but that God in
all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

SERMON XIX.

HEAR THE CHURCH, MATTH. XVIII. 17.

I REMINDED you, in a former discourse, that Chris-
tians are betrayed into the two great errors, of living
in the Church without godliness ; and of professing
godliness without living in the Church. In opposi-
tion to the former of these, I shewed you, that true
godliness is the sense and spirit of all the forms and
services of the Church : and that forms and services
have no meaning, unless they are so understood and
applied. Men may call themselves Churchmen, while
they are without the life of the Church : but they
are not Churchmen indeed, and will certainly fall
short of the benefits of their profession. This case,
I think, was made so plain, that no reasonable person
could misunderstand it.

That you may not fall into the other error, of pro-
fessing godliness independent of the Church, I am
now to shew you what dangers there are on that side ;
and to do this effectually, I shall lay down a plain and
easy doctrine, which none can deny, and which all
may understand. When this is done, we shall be
upon firm ground ; and may apply the doctrine as we
find occasion.

282

FRIENDLY ADMONITION [^SERM. XIX.

I say then, that man consists of a soul and a body,
which the Scripture distinguishes by the inner and
the outward man. I say farther, that this being the
nature of man, his soul cannot be taught but through
the senses of the body ; whence all the institutions of
God, who teaches after a perfect manner, will have
something outward to teach, when there is something
inward to be understood : or, in the plain words of
our Catechism, that if there be any inward and spi-
ritual grace, it will be attended with some outward
and visible sign, for a pledge and assurance thereof.
Hence it will follow, that if God has planted any
Church upon earth, that Church will be outward and
visible, as well as inward and spiritual ; and that we
must be of the Church outwardly, in order to be of
the Church inwardly.

Thus we shall find the matter to be upon exami-
nation. The Apostle teaches us, that as the body is
one, and hath many members — so also is Christ : for by
one spirit we are all baptized into one body *. This
body being called Christ, we cannot be members of
Christ without being members of this body. So far as
Baptism is an invisible work of Grace, it makes us
members of an invisible society ; but Baptism being
also a visible thing, there must be a visible body an-
swering to it. From this similitude of a body, the
Apostle argues — that as a body cannot be a body, un-
less it has members of different stations and uses, so
God hath set\ officers of different orders in the
Church, who have all one common life, and are
under one common law of the Spirit ; with their
several uses so distinguished, that there need be no
more disorder or confusion in the Church than in
the body natural.

* 1 Cor. xii. 13. t Ibid. v. 28.

SERM. XIX.^ TO THE CHUllCHMAN.

283

It appears then, that although the Spirit of God be
the life of this body ; yet must the body itself be an
outward and visible thing. It always hath been such
from the beginning ; when although it had some gifts
in it, which were proper to that time, yet had it others
which were proper to this. For while it had miracles,
prophecies, and diversity of tongues, it had also
teachers, governments, and helps, which are as neces-
sary now as they were then ; for without teaching,
and governing, and helping when there is need, no
society ever did or ever can subsist. These therefore
must remain with us to the end of the world. And the
Apostle having declared, that they are all set in the
Church by God himself ; it must follow that they are
set neither by the people, nor by themselves ; but set
by God in such a way, that we may know the thing to
be of his doing; and this we do know when we see it
to be done by those whom he hath already appointed.
All persons of the ministry are set in the Church in an
outward and visible manner, by the laying on of
hands ; and have been so appointed from the time of
Jesus Christ to this day; yea, from the time of Moses,
who was two thousand years before. Give him a
charge in their sight *, said God to Moses, that all
the people might be sure he had the true commission.
The Scripture knows of no such thing as a calling
which is out of sight : the inward calling is ever at-
tended with the outward, that is, by some infallible
sign and testimony which all men may see and under-
stand. And now we are upon the subject of Jewish
Ordination, it is a matter worth your observing, that
less is said about the governments of the Chris-
tian Church in the New Testament than we might

* Numb, xxvii. 19.

284

FRIEKDLY ADMONITION [^SERM. XIX.

expect, because the\^ were copied from the Jewish.
The Apostles were twelve in number, after the twelve
Patriarchs who were heads of the tribes of Israel * ;
and the Disciples were seventy, after the seventy
Elders of Moses. History also does abundantly testify,
that in Christian Churches, wherever they were plant-
ed, there was a Bishop, and Priests, and Deacons ;
answering to the High Priest, and Priests, and Le-
vites of the Law. For the Christian and Jewish
Churches were not two, but a continuation of the one
Church of God. Things were thus regularly ordained,
because it is of infinite consequence to man, that he
should always be able to know, by certain outward
marks and signs, where and with whom the gifts of
God are to be found. ^Miere spiritual things are ad-
ministered there is ever something open to the sight
of all, as a rule to direct, that we may never be left
in uncertainty.

The same rule will hold good, if we apply it to the
spirit and character of individual men. We are never
to judge of a man from any thing which he thinks, or
has thought, or which he now says and tells, of what
passes in his own mind. Thai may be evidence to
him, but it is none to m ; and is therefore never to
be drawn into a rule. There must be some outward
mark : therefore saith our Lord, " Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." We
may call ourselves the Disciples of Christ in heart and
affection, and think ourselves to be such : but how are
other men to know that we are truly so ? Here again
we have an outward sign to direct us : " By this shall

* I am not sure that a division into tribes does not take place,
in a mystical sense, in the Christian Church. See and consider
Acts xxvi. 7. Jam. i. 1.

SERM. XIX.^

TO THE CHURCHMAN.

285

all men Inioiv that ye are my Disciples, if ye have love
one to another *." The reason is good, and the rule is
general : we are to know men by their fruits, not by
their thoughts ; and to judge of them accordingly, not
by what they say, but by what they do.

After this, you will not wonder, that a contrary rule
is followed by those who have any intention to deceive.
They lead you off in the first place from outward
means and visible evidences ; that when you are un-
settled in this respect, the way may be open, and you
may be carried into farther delusion.

Having now laid my foundation, by shewing you the
invariable rule of divine wisdom, with the reasons of
it ; this alone, if you bear it in mind, may be sufficient
to keep you in the right way, and preserve you from
going into the by-paths of religion. But as there are
specious objections, from which well-disposed minds
may be in danger, I shall produce and answer some of
the chief of them.

1. It is made a grand objection against the Church,
that the people who follow it are formal and lifeless in
their profession. Too many of them are so : we see
and lament it ; but how many soever they may be, this
is no reason for leaving them — far from it : for, hath
it not always been thus ? The kingdom of Heaven is
like a net cast into the sea, ivhich gathered of every
land, both had and good f. In the Church, the righ-
teous and the wicked are mixed together ; and if this
be a reason for leaving the Church, it always was a
reason ; the best people should always have left it ;
and then, what would have become of it ? Allowing
such persons to be as good as they think themselves,
would it not be better that they should stay, and try
if they can amend, by their good advice and example,

* John x,iii. 35. f Matt. xiii. 47.

286

FRIENDLY ADMONITION [[SERM. XIX.

those who are not so perfect as themselves ? That
would be a charitable measure. Besides, if the bad
affright and drive them away from the Church, ought
not the good to prevail w ith them to continue in it ?
Is it just to desert the righteous for the sake of the
wicked ? Many devout godly people are to be found
in the Church, more than are commonly observed.
Much of the fear and love of God is with many Chris-
tians, who make no great shew of themselves. In the
worst of times, the Church has many who know God,
and are known of him. Could any thing be more cor-
rupt than the generality of the Jewish people were in
the time of our blessed Saviour ? Yet you read of
Anna the Prophetess, who departed not from the
Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers
night and day. Many bad people frequented the
place, but that was no reason with her for leaving it ;
she did not follow the people, she followed God ; and
there at the latter end of her days she found him : she
saw the blessed Jesus there ; which would not have
happened, if she had objected to the bad members of
the congregation, as not holy and good enough for her
to assemble with. And d id not Christ himself frequent
this same Temple afterwards, and teach in it after-
wards, though there were many great and scandalous
abuses, which he endeavoured to reform ; not by
taking affront and leaving the congregation, but by
staying with them, and bearing with their contradic-
tion and ill humours.

But, as the heart of man, when judging of itself, is
very deceitful, it may not be for reasons of piety, as
they believe and would have it supposed, when per-
sons forsake the congregation ; but for reasons of a
very different kind ; for pride ; for distinction ; to
shew the world how much wiser they are ; and if that

SERM. XIX.3

TO THE CHURCHMAN.

287

should be the case, will not the pride that separates
them from man separate them from God at the same
time, and spoil all their religion, instead of bringing
them nearer to perfection ? Christians would not be
so weak as they are in this respect, if they did but
duly consider, that true piety does not lead to will-
worship, in which men consult the pleasing of their
fancy ; but in a conformity of the mind to the will and
the ways of God. This is the severest trial of man,
and few are able to endure it : nay, not one amongst
us, without the special grace of God, disposing the
heart to self-abasement, and poverty of spirit.

There is another danger which persons may bring
themselves into, by boasting of an higher degree of
piety than that of the Church : for while they do
themselves no real good,, they may be doing much
harm to other Christians. The great godliness, on
which they value themselves, may prove at last to be
false and counterfeit ; or it may appear weak and
ignorant ; more zealous than wise ; or it may be en-
vious and quarrelsome : and thereby they will give
persons occasion to say, that all pretension to superior
piety is a suspicious thing, generally taken up for some
bad purpose. Thus they bring universal reproach
upon a religious character : it being concluded from
their example, that honest and sensible people will be
better thought of, if they purposely avoid all appear-
ances of godliness, and discover as little of it as pos-
sible in their words and actions. This is a fearful
conclusion, and hastens many a dangerous downfall.
I have heard, and many others must have heard, per-
sons talking and arguing after this fashion, whom it is
out of our power to convince ; and perhaps it is con-
venient to themselves that they never should be con-
vinced. It is one lamentable consequence of division.

288

FRIENDLY ADMONITION [^SERM. XIX.

that the months of such vain talkers are opened.
Persons divided in their religious sentiments watch
one another with an evil eye ; and instead of hiding
one another's faults, are delighted with detections
and aggravations. This is to the great disadvantage
of all piety : it is an evil we should be studious to
avoid ; and the prospect of that havock which it
makes amongst us, should be one great inducement
towards a prudent and charitable union with our
fellow Christians.

It is said farther, that there is better teaching out of
the Church. But I do sincerely believe, on the other
hand, that bad as the teaching of the Church may be,
there is worse teaching out of it than in it. This in-
deed we must confess, that so far as the doctrine de-
pends upon the minister, it is not always right : but
we may say at the same time, that so far as the doc-
trine depends upon the Church, it is never wrong.
The Church duly delivers the teaching of God in the
Scriptures; and has an unexceptionable form of sound
Christian teaching in her Homilies : I wish the people
heard them more frequently, and that the spirit of
those Homilies was followed by all the Teachers of
the Church.

But, does all religion consist in man's preaching ?
Some argue as if they thought so. Hath not God
preaclied to us all in his Gospel ; and doth he not
say, " My House shall be called the House of Prayer?"
Did not the Apostles, though appointed to preach in all
the world, go to pray in the Temple ? They under-
stood that God had ordained them to preach, with
design that they should convert the world to the prac-
tice of praying ; and it would have been strange, if
they had not set the example of it in their own per-
sons.— Preaching meant at first the publishing of the

SERM. XIX.]]

TO THE CHURCHMAN.

289

Gospel ; that the world might be brought over to it :
when the world is converted, and the Scriptures are
received as the word of God, the duty then is to read,
and to pray, and to act, as the Gospel instructs ; which
Gospel is now daily preaching to us all. The more
hopeful employment of the ministry now, and of more
extensive benefit, is that of teaching the first elements
of Christianity in the Catechism. Preaching will
never teach these, if they have not been taught be-
fore. No science can be understood properly unless
we begin with its elements. For this reason I have
always been so desirous, that children should be well
instructed in their Catechism. I received the advice
many years ago from a Bishop of this Church, who
was your Diocesan * : he said, " Whatever you do
be diligent in catechising ; it is of much more use
than preaching." So indeed it is : and there are
those who can witness that I have never been wanting
in the practice : in which if any minister engages with
sincerity and affection, I can promise him, from my
own experience, that the smiles of the little children
of his parish Vv^ill make him amends for many of the
frowns he may meet with in the world.

It is a farthei: temptation to people to leave the
Church, because it has been supposed of late years that
something better is now found out, which will answer
the purpose without it — I mean a new birth. That
there is a new birth in the Scripture, and that it is neces-
sary to Salvation, no man can deny; for, saith our Sa-
viour, " except a man be born again of water and the
spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven f-"
There is then a new birth of the spirit; but as water
is mentioned with it, it must mean the new birth in

* Bishop Kinchcliffe. + John iii. 5.

VOL. IT. U

290

FRIENDLY ADMONITION TsERM. XIX.

Christian Baptism. There is also a Regeneration
spoken of by St. Paul * : but as it is called the wash-
ing of Regeneration, this also must refer to the water
of Baptism. The Church of England follows this doc-
trine of the Scripture, and understands Regeneration
as the gift of God in Baptism : for this is the language
of the Church in the office: " We yield Thee hearty
thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased
Thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit."'
Regeneration therefore is the work of the Holy Spirit
in Baptism: and neither the Scripture nor the Church
gives us any encouragement to believe, that Christians
are ever baptized by the hearing of a Sermon. If it
be said that the presence of the Spirit of God cannot
be without the effect of Regeneration ; and that every
person who has the Spirit of God, must be born of
God ; this is not accurate Divinity ; even allowing
them to have the Spirit as they say. For the gift of
the Spirit may be one thing, and Regeneration may be
another. AVheu the Holy Ghost fell on them that
heard the word, this was the effect of preaching: but
the Apostle commanded those very persons to be
baptized with water, although they had received
the Holy Ghost t- Therefore the receiving of the
Holy Ghost, so far as this is the effect of preaching,
is different from what is done in Baptism, and is not
what is meant by Regeneration, or the New Birth.
If it can be shewn, that the Gospel any where pro-
mises a New Birth, independent of Baptism, we
will believe it : but as the Church could never find
it, we never shall ; and they that teach it, and say
there is experience for it, have no warrant from the
Scripture.

* Titus iii. 5,

t Acts X. 47.

SKRM. XIXO

TO THE cm RCHMAN.

291

A famous Preacher of late times, who believed,
and pleaded for, all the extraordinary symptoms of a
New Birth, refers us for the reality of it to numbers of
people who had experience of it. " Ask them," says
he, " they will not deceive you. ' But supposing they
are deceived themselves, they will in that case deceive
us also; and it is no wonder if they should; for most
men are inclined to repeat a story which magnifies
themselves ; and their teachers are willing that they
should repeat it, for it magnifies them too *. These
facts, whether true or false, are attended with a mis-
take. The conversion of the mind to a sober and
godly life is here confounded with a New Birth; and
the tendency of this is to depreciate the means of
Grace; which enthusiasm never fails to do: but Con-
version and Regeneration are never confounded in the
Scripture : they are different things, and the one may
be without the other. Infants are subjects of Regene-
ration in Baptism ; but they are not capable of Con-
version : nor do they want it, being already in that
simple unassuming state of mind, to which grown per-
sons are to be converted, and become as little chil-
dren f. Baptism is one of the necessary means of Grace :
it is the gift of God : no man can make it, or substitute
any thing else in the place of it : but if he wishes to
raise a party, and make a Church of his own, he will
depreciate Baptism, and teach you how you may do

* The like wonders were boasted of by the Puritans of the last
century ; whose ministry, as it is noted by Merick Casaubon, pro-
duced in their followers " lirst desperation, or somewhat very
near to it ; then an absolute covjidence grounded upon it. That
this is the only way is an invention of their own, whicli I think
hath more of policy in it, in the first inventors and abettors, than
of ignorance." Casaubon on Credulity and Incredulity, p. 193.

t Matt, xviii. 3.

u 2

292

FRIENDLY ADMONITION

[^SEUM. XIX.

without it, by finding a sort of conversion, which will
answer the same end. He will lead yon from outward
means to inward testimonies : texts w ill be misapplied;
and the evidences of Christianity will all be reduced
to personal experience ; of which experie ce another
person knows nothing, and in which the person him-
self may be grossly mistaken. The consequences are
very bad ; for some think they have this experience,
and proceed with confidence to farther errors : others
wish for it in vain, and not being able to perceive it,
fall into despair, and sometimes into distraction; they
are left without the witness which they are taught to
expect, and therefore think they are lost. But the
witness which the Scripture teaches, is that of faith
and a good conscience: faith is the witness to ourselves;
and obedience, which is the fruit of it, is the witness
to others. In this doctrine there is no danger.

Before I conclude, let me forewarn you, that good
people are in danger (perhaps in most danger) of
being imposed upon by strange appearances ; sup-
posing them to be new, when they are not. Above two
hundred years ago, the party that began to trouble
this kingdom, and at length completed its ruin, began
with setting up the spirit, and decrying the order and
authority both of Church and State. The people that
troubled the Christian Church, in its earliest days, were
always of the same fashion ; they never failed to despise
government, and taught their followers to do the
same*. They boasted of superior gifts in praying,
preaching, and converting : but the Apostle settled
that argument for ever with the Church of Corinth.
They were disputing, and dividing themselves into
parties, upon the reputation of their gifts : but he

* 2 Pet. ii. 10. Judc, 8.

SERM. XIX.]] TO THE CHURCHMAN.

293

shewed them, that although it was a good thing to
have good gifts, there was a more excellent way of
salvation, the w^ay of peace and charity : without
which all their gifts, however great and wonderful
in the sight of the people, would be of no value in
the sight of God. It signifies not (argues he) what
I have and what I understand ; if I have no charity
I am nothing. How extremely dangerous is it then,
to break the order and peace of the Church ; even
though it be done with a sincere desire to promote
faith and piety ! for whatever good appearances may
attend it for a time, they will not end well. If we
do evil that good may come, we shall find, sooner or
later, that the evil will remain and the good will be
lost : which might be confirmed by the recent exam-
ple of a large body of people, who are now divided
from us without being united among themselves.
Division is not the way to unity : all experience
teaches us, that it leads to more division ; and that
there can in fact be no security, no pillar and ground
for truth to rest upon, no stability, no certainty, but
in that Church, with its doctrines, institutions, and
orders, which God hath appointed in the word. I
therefore end as I began : I say. Hear the Church.
Let the Churchman understand, that he then only
hears the Church as he ought, when the Christian
forms lead him to the Christian life. And let others
learn, that if they would have the Christian life, they
must have the Christian forms. These hath God
joined together as soul and body. No man ever had,
or ever will have, any authority to put them asunder;
and I have given you my reasons why it cannot be
attempted without danger to the Christian cause, and
to the salvation of Christian people.

THE

USE AND ABUSE OF THIS WORLD:

A

S E li M O N,

PREACHED AT

ST. BENE'T GRACECHURCH,

IN THE

CITY OF LONDON,

ON SUNDAY, OCT. IX. MDCCXCVI.

TO THE

REV. GEORGE GASKIN, D.D.
RECTOR OF ST. BENE'T GRACECHURCH.

DEAR SIR,

When I delivered the following Discourse in your
pulpit, I did not foresee that the audience would
require me to print it. At the request of good
people, I have already printed more sermons, and
within a shorter time, than I intended or desired.
The subject of this present one being almost as
wide as the world of which it treats; I would have
kept it awhile longer under my eye, for the chance
of some further improvements ; but if your Con-
gregation are disposed to accept it in its present
imperfect state, I ought to submit without scruple
to their good intentions. On one account, I am
pleased with the accident : it gives me a fair op-
portunity of expressing my regard and affection
for you J who serve the Church at large, by dedi-
cating your life, as Mr. Broughton, that eminent
example of piety, did before you, to the busmess
of Christianity, as well as to the other common
offices of devotion and charity.

298

DEDICATION.

In return for the honour your Congregation have
done me, I can wi^h them nothing better, than
that they may distinguish wisely, and receive faith-
fully, the blessings they may derive from 3'our
ministry.

This Epistle is the smallest testimony due to
your merits, from.

Reverend Sir,
Your affectionate Brother in Christ,
And humble Servant,

Nayland,
Nov. 10, 1796.

W. JONES.

SERMON XX

AND THEY THAT USE THIS WORLD AS NOT ABUSING IT.
1 COR. VII. 31.

To distinguish properly between the use of this world,
and the abuse of it, is the part of every wise man ;
and happy will it be for him, if, when he knows this
distinction, he makes it a rule of action, which doing,
it will seldom fail to direct him. How common is it
for men to render their lives insignificant to others,
and troublesome to themselves, for want of knowing,
and observing this plain distinction ! The life of man
is, and will be, short, when we do our best ; and it
must be often disturbed, by the ways of other peo-
ple, over whom we have no power : but, after all, most
of the evils which man finds in this life, are of his
own making. Natural and necessary evils may be
great, but artificial evils are much greater : and so
true is this, that if the case were properly related,
with all circumstances, it would be generally found,
that of those unhappy wretches, who drive themselves
out of the ivorld, the far greater number are brought
to this extremity, by their abuse of it. They first
spoil the world by their folly, then dislike it, and at
last leave it in despair. Great effects often follow

300

THE USE AND

C^SERM. XX.

from little causes ; on which account, the nature of
effects and causes in human life should be minutely
observed, that we may know how to avoid the begin-
nings of danger : and if we cannot be so great, or so
happy, as we may be tempted to Avish, we may at least
not be the authors of our own misery.

There are so many plain matters of fact to prove
what I say, that the subject before us may be seen,
and understood, by every person that w ill cast his eye
upon it. It will be therefore profitable for us to sur-
vey some of the chief of those things, which this world
presents to us ; and having considered what their na-
tural and proper use is, according to the intention of
Providence ; then to compare the conduct of men in
respect to them, and note the effect that conduct must
necessarily have upon themselves. By this rule, we
may examine ourselves, and others ; and having done
so, we shall see better what human life is, and be
taught how to use it.

The first thing which this world presents to us, is
Time, which God hath given to us all. To some he
gives nobility ; to others w^ealth ; to others quickness
of parts ; but he gives Time to all. To have life is to
have time, and time is given only for its use. It is
divided into day and night : the day, being light, is
intended for work and labour : and the night, being
a time of darkness, is made for rest. All the useful
creatures which God hath made, conform themselves
to this division of their time. When the sun arises,
the cattle go out to pasture ; the birds of the air
take wing in search of food. Even the flowers of the
field open their eyes, to take advantage of the light,
that shines upon them, and is bringing them to per-
fection. All creatures are well, and easy, when they
follow this order of nature. The busy man that rises

SERM. XX. ^ ABUSE OF THE WORLD.

301

early to work, is cheerful in his mind ; his family are
living upon the fruits of his labour ; and, according
to the common course of things, his days will be pro-
longed upon the earth. He that uses his time as he
ought, will have most of it to use. A regular life is
commonly a long life.

But now what is he that abuses his time ? never
happy ; never truly at ease ; but restless, because he
is useless. If he be rich and idle, he can afford to
turn night into day. When the night comes, nature
would shut his eyes ; but folly keeps them open : and
what is contrary to nature cannot be without injury
to the health and spirits. He that is busy in the night,
must rest in the day : if he be a poor man, his affairs
go to ruin ; if he be a rich man, his health and mind
suffer. With irregularity he loses his prudence, and
with that he loses his fortune : for woe be to the man,
who in a world of so much danger, is not careful to
keep his head clear, and his wits about him. If the
watchful man scarcely escapes, what must become of
one who is stupid with sloth, or giddy with pleasure
and dissipation ? A regular orderly life is generally
prolonged ; an irregular life is shortened ; and how
often do we see, that he who lives in the world to no
purpose, is sent out of it before his time !

The case is so plain with respect to the use and
abuse of Time ; that we may go on to another article ;
which shall be that of wealth.

What we call wealth has no intrinsic value of its
own ; it is valued for the sake of what it will procure ;
and when it procures nothing, it is worth nothing :
but as its nature is, to answer all things ; it gives us
the command of all things. And what a noble op-
portunity is this ! The rich man has the means of im-
proving himself in wisdom, and knowledge ; he can

302

THE USE AND

(^SERM. XX.

obtain all the information he desires : he can buy
light; light for his mind to see by ; while others of less
ability are obliged to sit in their own darkness. This
is one great purpose, for which wealth is bestowed ;
but it is not the only one : for wealth is given to some
for the sake of all: God is no respecter of persons,
but appoints some as his stewards and agents, for the
benefit of others. On which consideration, no man
has a right to consider himself as an absolute proprie-
tor, with power to dispose of every thing he has, ac-
cording to his own will. No : the Creator is the only
proprietor, who is possessor of heaven and earth : and
when man giveth to any, he resembles God, who giveth
to all. Not he that receives most, is the greatest, but
he that gives most, because he is most like to God ;
which consideration alone is sufficient to prove, that it
is more blessed to give than to receive. What a divine
pleasure is it, to see others relieved in their wants, or
gratified in their expectations, by any thing we have
to bestow. The mind that delights in this, can find
no higher or purer pleasure upon earth : and it is a
pleasure that does not end with this world,but reaches
to a better ; it lays up treasure in heaven. Such is
the use of wealth. But the abuse of it does great mis-
chief : for as it furnishes an opportunity of more
wisdom, when well used, its abuse corrupts the heart,
breeds idleness, and nourishes folly. Instead of mak-
ing others happy, it makes the possessor himself
miserable : it puts him into a dangerous situation,
by multiplying his temptations, and his opportunities
of sin : so that it might well be said, how hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God I
If he bestows that upon himself in wantonness, which
he ought to bestow upon others ; he becomes vain,
selfish, and hard-hearted. Instead of being loved, he

SERM. XXj

ABUSE OF THE WORLD.

303

is hated : for nothing is more odious than pride and
selfishness: and how must that man feel in his own
mind, who is sensible that nobody loves him ? All his
wealth will never make him amends for such a loss.
Wealth is therefore (as you will find all other things
to be) either good or bad, the means of happiness or
misery, according to the use that is made of it.

This will appear farther, when we consider the use
of meat and drink, for the support of man's life. To
the hungry man, what a comfort it is to eat ; and to
the thirsty and faint, how pleasant it is to drink.
Great reason, therefore, we have, especially in this
plentiful season, to be thankful to the Author of all
good, when he gives us food sufficient for us. But
for what end is it given ? To enable us to carry on
the necessary business of life ; and that our support
may be such as our work requires. This is the use of
food : man eats and drinks that he may work : there-
fore the idle man forfeits his right to his daily bread ;
and the Apostle lays down a rule both just and na-
tural ; that if any man will not ivorl', neither sJiould
he eat.

But no sooner do we fall into abuse and excess,
than we are sure to suffer for it, in mind and in body ;
either with sickness, or ill-temper, or vicious inclina-
tions ; or with all of them at once. It is with men,
as it is with cattle. If we feed a horse properly, he is
able to work : if he be over-fed, he is high-spirited
and kicks ; and perhaps may break his own neck, as
well as that of his rider. We may know how neces-
sary moderate living is to the temper, if we observe
how high living disposes the mind to riot and mischief.
Besides ; it has an effect directly contrary to its na-
ture : for as man is enabled to work, by eating what is
sufficient; he is hindered from working, and becomes

15

304

THE USE AND

CSERM. XX.

heavy, idle, and stupid, if lie takes too much. As to
the bodily distempers, that are occasioned by excess,
there is no end of them. How often do the limbs of
men become useless, which were given that they might
use them in their necessary occupations ? Gluttony
breeds apoplexy ; drunkenness sometimes ends in a
dropsy, or a fever, or even in fm'y and madness. By
seeking too much enjoyment, we have no enjoyment
at all. Ungovernable appetite leads to ungovernable
passions: to a clouded understanding; to a miserable
life ; and often to a speedy death. When we use that
gift of God to destroy us, which was intended to pre-
serve us, then we are fools indeed.

Consider next what is the use of our clothing ? It
was intended, as its name signifies, in the first lan-
guage of mankind, to cover shame. Another use of
it, especially in such a climate as ours, is to protect
us from the coldness of the air, and the roughness
of the weather. It serves likewise as a mark, to
distinguish the different orders, and degrees, amongst
mankind. But soon enter vanity and fashion, and
turn it all into absurdity. Fashion is so variable,
that the study of it absolutely fills up the lives of some
people ; and helps to swallow up the fortunes of
others. New fashions are continually arising; some
of which are foolish and monstrous, and make the
wearers ridiculous ; others are so unnatural and in-
convenient, that they make them uneasy : yet they
must all be followed. To this foolish servitude, the
world has given its sanction ; and it is submitted to.
So much thought is taken for the body, what it shall
put on, that if we were to read the history of some
people's lives we should hear of nothing but of what
they put on, and what they put off. The mind is little
thought of : the putting off the old man, and the put-

SERM. XX.^

ABUSE OF THE WORLD.

305

ting on of the neio mem, are subjects little studied,
and little understood ; though upon this alone de-
pends our admission into the presence of God, and
the fashion in which we must appear to all eternity.

We have another matter to consider, which would
require many words, if it were properly treated, and
according to its importance : I mean, that society
which God hath ordained of man and woman, for
their mutual help and comfort in life. If this be ac-
cording to the laws of God, it leads to happiness : if
according to the laws of sin, it leads to misery and
death. The estate of matrimony is wise, and holy,
and honourable ; and if it proves to be, what God de-
signed it always should be, it is the most happy in the
world. It was the state of man, in the time of his in-
nocency ; and even now innocency is gone, it is a re-
lief under all the cares of life : poverty and labour
are more tolerable; sickness is less afflicting ; disap-
pointments are diminished, and blessings are in-
creased. All this is, or may be, true : and the pro-
fane jests of the libertine signify nothing. We argue
with God on our side, and are in no fear of being
mistaken. It is certain, that from a common rela-
tion to a family of children, a friendship arises out of
matrimony, such as the world can never produce,
from any other relation in life : and, as friendship is
one of the first of blessings, so far as paradise can be
recovered by us, in this state of mortality, it must be
found here, or nowhere.

But, who can describe the miseries which arise from
all abuses of the relation between the sexes ? True and
lawful society renders life innocent and happy : false
society never fails to end in wretchedness, and corrup-
tion of every kind. For the man, if a libertine, has
no real friend ; such as he ought to have : he can

VOL. IV. X

306

THE USE AND

C^SERM. XX,

never expect to find it in any partner of his iniquity.
The woman has no protector, on whom she can de-
pend ; but is left to scorn, to beggary, to infamy, and
wretchedness. How much there is of this wretched-
ness in the world, they only can tell, who are ac-
quainted with the crooked paths of life ; of which,
honest men know but little. However, a great deal
of it must be known to all mankind. In every place
we need not go far for some shameful and wretched
examples of vice and ruin : out of which, the hand of
God may be able to save ; but the hand of man can-
not ; because it is not in man's power to change a
lost character. How can I say more in few words on
the subject than this ? that as matrimony is the insti-
tution of God, for man's good (perhaps for the sal-
vation of his soul), so whoredom is the institution of
the devil ; for man's destruction in this world, and
perhaps for his damnation in the next. How careful
then ought we to be, to do all we can, by vigilance, by
example, by discipline and correction, to save from
ruin those who are going headlong to perdition ;
blinded by their passions, and corrupted by the licen-
tiousness of the times, or the bad examples of the
place wherein they live. They see not the gulph of
misery into which they are hastening : they lose them-
selves ; they lose the world ; and they lose (which is
the greatest of all calamities) the grace of God, and
his favour ; which is worse than the loss of life : and
all this, by not following the commandment of God
for the right use of the world. They that follow
other commandments of their own lusts, may seem
to be easy and happy under them, for a time ; but
that is no more than a bait ; which the devil offers,
when he means to have a lost soul in return.

As the states of men, so all their faculties, have
their use and their abuse. How excellent is the use

SERM. XX.]] ABUSE OF THE WORLD.

307

of speech, when applied to the instruction, admo-
nition, or consolation of others ! It is to the mind,
what light, and medicine, and food are to the body :
it can enlighten the ignorant ; feed the hungry ; heal
the sick. In these cases, the speech of a man is like
the voice of an angel from heaven. But how shame-
fully is it misapplied ; for corrupting the manners ;
for railing, for cursing, for blaspheming, and setting
the world on fire. What should the idle, the igno-
rant, or the vicious man speak, when he has nothing
good to speak upon ? Lo, his talk degenerates into
empty jesting, to provoke laughter ; and to make
those merry whom he is not able to make wise.
Though, in such a case, it be the speech of a man ;
it is but little better than the noise of a beast. When
a beast uttereth its voice, the subject is that only,
which it knoweth naturally : and the subjects, on
which the natural man speaketh, are nearly the same :
and then his speech is but little better than a brutish
noise : sometimes it is worse ; for beasts can neither
curse man, nor blaspheme their Maker.

Music, nearly allied to speech, is another faculty
which man hath : and how noble is it, when it cele-
brates the praise and glory of God, or recommends
lessons of wisdom to man ; which was the use of it, in
very ancient times. It calms the passions ; inspires
devotion ; and raises the mind above itself ; as if it
were carried upon wings of air toward the heaven
above. It has therefore always been used in religious
worship, by Christians, Jews, and Heathens, But
how little and low is it, when applied in a light, in-
sipid form, to enervate the mind : or in songs of
drunkards and debauchees, to inspire corruption of
manners : to weaken the reason, and inflame the
passions!

x2

SOS

THE USE AND

TSERM. XX.

I might go on to shew the like as to many other
particulars ; but ^^^e have seen enough to convince us.
Let us now ask ; who gave us all things ; but God ?
for which his name is ever to be praised : and he that
gave them, has taught the use of them, "When we
follow his rules, we are like to do well, and are never
disappointed : the world is then to us what it might
be to all : for godliness hath the promise of this life,
and of that which is to come : it is not more surely
the way to glory above, than to peace and comfort
below. ^Vho is it that leads us into the abuse of all
things, but the devil ? whose pride and malice have
no delight, but in spoiling, perverting, and defacing
the works and the gifts of God, If man observes the
laws of God, they give to him, and to the world, an al-
liance Avith heaven : but the laws of the devil infuse
the poison of hell into all the comforts upon earth ;
and create torments in the present time, wliich are
preparatory to those of eternity.

If I were to meet with two men, one of whom uses
the world, while the other abuses it ; and both these
characters v>-ere complete in their kind ; I would shew
them to you : but if we cannot find them, let us form
them. Before they are known, we may affirm of
them in s:eneral, that the one is a wise man, and
the other a fool. The wise follows the order which
God hath appointed in the use of his time : he works
with the light, he rests with the darkness ; his time
is therefore of its natural value : and the regularity of
it gives a habit of activity and cheerfulness to his
mind. His uealth, ^vhen it has supplied his own
wants, supplies the wants of others ; and brings down,
upon his head, the blessings of the widow and the
fatherless. He clothes not himself for vanity and
shew, but for decency and convenience : he can there-

SERM. XX.^

ABUSE OF THE WORLD.

309

fore afford to put clothes upon the naked. He eats
and drhiks for health and refreshment; and his wits
are always with him. As he feed not to excess, he
can spare something to feed the hungry. If he be the
father of a family ; he is their friend and protector ;
he looks upon them with kindness and affection ; and
they look up to him with gratitude and delight. His
speech is with grace ; and his words are the words of
truth and soberness ; the ignorant derive light from
it, and the afflicted help and comfort. Hymns and
psalms give calmness and sweetness to his mind ; and
when God is exalted, he is lifted toward heaven ;
which place he will reach at last ; for his charities
and his affections went thither before him.

Such may be, and such, by the blessing of God,
hath been the life and the end of many a wise man :
but what is the other? what is the servant of sin ? He
begins with folly, and ends with misery. His time
has neither order nor value : a thousand years of such
time would be worth nothing. His object is pleasure ;
but he is always out of the road : for an unnatural
world can never prove to be a pleasant world. His
wealth is devoured by himself; or lost and squandered
away upon hawks and harpies ; who would tear the
flesh off his bones, and never thank him, for any
thing they get by him. By eating, or drinking to ex-
cess, his understanding is darkened; his body is dis-
tempered ; and his life is cut short. The ill company
he keeps at home by their faithlessness and ingratitude,
disappoint him, distress him, and ruin him : and, in
the end, he treats them, and they treat him, with
mutual curses and accusations. As to his conversa-
tion, the best of it is seasoned with foolish jesting, and
the worst of it is poisoned with blasphemy. His
music is the noise of intoxication ; itgives glory to vice

310

THE USE AND

(^SERM. XX.

and folly ; and his mirth is the crackling of thorns
under apot^, which consume themselves with their own
blaze. When he has done what mischief he can to
himself and others, he comes to his last hour ; but
there is no comfort to be found ! a dreadful gulph is
before him ; God hath not been in all his thoughts :
the world which he abused is going from him ; and a
worse is coming ; toward which, every step of his life
was leading him ; but he saw not the end.

The two men I have now been describing appear
like the inhabitants of two different worlds. They
certainly belong to two classes of beings ; the first to
the children of light ; the other to the poor disap-
pointed children of this world, who love darkness
rather than light.

Methinks I hear some of you cry out, " What
would I give to be like the first of these men ?" And
hath not God called you for this very end, and taught
you how to be like him ; and promised to assist you,
in the etideavotir to make yourself like him ? If you
dread the other character, hath not God taught you
how to avoid it ? Has he not forewarned you of the
deceitfulness of sin ; what a cheat it is ; and how it
betrays into certain misery ? Conquered you may be;
but you never can be taken by surprize, when you
have had so many warnings.

You may now see by example, that man is the
maker of most evils ; for the greater part are occa-
sioned by the abuse of this world ; and they are in
most danger of abusing it, who have most of it in their
possession. Men look up to them with admiration
for what they have got, and praise the happiness of
their situation ; but, unless they have wisdom along
with their riches, they are to be pitied rather than
envied, for their temptations and dangers. The poor

SERM. XX.]]

ABUSE OP THE WORLD.

311

man has not so much to fear, yet he can find ways of
abusing the world to his own ruin : so that all men,
rich and poor, should learn in time, what it is to use
it wisely : if they do not, they see the consequence ;
the whole subject has been reduced to matter of fact.

And now, who can behold, without sorrow of heart,
what man is, when it is considered what he might be !
But how dreadful does the case become, when it is
added, that man has but owe life to live in this world;
if he throws that away, there is no second trial : he
never returns to correct his mistake ; he is never per-
mitted to try the world over again ; and if he were
to try it a thousand times, he would always miscarry,
if he is not with God, and God is not with him.

Thrice happy, then, is he, who looking up to God,
and following his rules, and depending upon his pro-
tection, is in the way of deliverance : who looking
upon the world as a wide ocean, sees others tossed
in the storm, while his own feet are upon firm land ;
who, having used this world according to the sense
of the Apostle in the text, shall be admitted to the
use of a better, where there shall be neither abuses
nor offences, but righteousness and peace without
end, and without interruption.

SERMON XXI.

CALLING AND ELECTION.

PREFACE.

Evil is not yet established by law in this country ; but good
and evil have been growing up together so long, that they
will never more be separated, unless it shall be in some small
remnant of Christians. By means of predestination falsely
stated, the rights of God and his ministry are so far forgotten,
that we are getting every day nearer to Babel, and farther
from Jerusalem. In the last century, this Calvinistic corrup-
tion swallowed up both Church and State, and it threatens to
do so again, if it be not guarded against, more than I expect
it will be. It will not work directly and with the same vio-
lence as before, but slowly and by way of sap, under the name,
appearance, and intention of good, as evil always does, when
most mischief is intended. We cannot wonder, that it is so
unmerciful now in consigning the souls of men to perdition,
when we remember how cruelly it treated their bodies and
estates formerly. God, who saved us before, cannot be ex-
pected to save us again, by any equally extraordinary inter-
position, where the error is the same as before ; I have therefore
drawn up these few hints to set wise men on thinking : if I
had been in health, I would have carried them much farther :
I pray God to turn them to good, to the end that old apos-
tolical faith, that piety and peace, may still remain among us.

SERMON XXI.

BRETHREN, GIVE DILIGENCE TO MAKE YOUR CALLING
AND ELECTION SURE. 2 PET. I. 10.

There is not a more plain precept than this in the
Gospel ; even a child that has been christened, and
has learned the catechism of the Church, is taught to
be thankful to God, who by haptism has called it to a
state of salvation : and to pray and to hope, that with
the help of God's grace which he promises in that
sacrament, it may continue in the same state unto its
life's end.

This, I say, is plain doctrine, and I am sure it is
true ; we may also safely say, it is the doctrine of the
Church of England ; which tells us in the 27th article,
that baptism is a sign of regeneration, or new birth,
whereby we are ingrafted into the Church, and by
which the promises of forgiveness of sin and of our
adoption to be sons of God by the Spirit are sealed ;
faith is conjfirmed, and grace increased.

If the Church of England (as some contend) is not a
Church of Christ, I know not what to say more ; if itis,
then all the promises made to baptism in the Scripture
are ensured to all the members of it ; and the sign will

SERM. XXI.^ CALLING AND ELECTION.

315

be attended with the thing signified ; supposing that
the baptism is administered according to the will and
command of Jesus Christ. But to this another doc-
trine is preferred by Christians of a new fashion ;
which doctrine supposes the election of God to sig-
nify only the election of single independent persons ;
whom God, by an eternal purpose and secret decree,
hath chosen out of others (either in a Church or out
of a Church, I know not which, nor do they know
themselves) : and that for this we have no other reason,
but that absolute will, that sovereign power, which
God exercises over all his creatures, whether heathens
or Christians, to save some, and cast others away.

This notion some have carried so far (for when
people are out of the road they never know where to
stop) as to affirm, that persons elected can never fall
away; and that persons rejected can never be re-
ceived : I shall therefore undertake to shew yow, first,
that this is a frightful doctrine ; next, that it is a dan-
gerous doctrine, and answers a very bad purpose ; and
lastly, that it is not a scriptural doctrine, taught by
the Apostles of Jesus Christ : after which I shall
think it my duty to warn you against it. It will do
you no good, because you have all you can want with-
out it ; you have the promises of God, made to
Churches, and to single persons ; and if you insist on
more, you fall into that dreadful sin of tempting God ;
you would know what cannot be known. It may do
you much harm ; it may lift you up with spiritual
pride, or disturb you with vain fears ; and discourage
those prayers, in which every Christian should perse-
vere to the last gasp ; never giving up his prayers, till
he gives up his breath.

According to the plain sense of the text, you will
understand, that the Christian life is a Calling, or

316

CALLING AND ELECTION.

CSERM. XXI.

Profession ; not like to the callings and professions
that are of this world ; but of an high and heavenly
nature, to which God has called us out of the world,
and confirmed our calling by the sign of baptism.
Thus was Abraham called and elected, and all his
children in him ; and their calling was confirmed by
the sign of circumcision. Every Jew, such, was a
child of Abraham, and an elected heir to the promises
of God ; even under their blindness and apostacy, the
Apostle speaks of them as still beloved, still capable of
being again received, for their father's sake ; for
though men may change, God doth not change ; his
gifts and callings are without repentance *.

In like manner, we Christians, by our profession,
are called out of the world, and taken into the Church
of God by baptism; with allusions to which, the New
Testament, when it speaks of God's elect, means bap-
tized Christians: this you may see at the 13th verse of
the 5th chapter of St. Peter's first Epistle ; and it
seems most probable, that St. John, by the Elect Lady
mentioned in his second Epistle, means some par-
ticular Church ; and by her Elect Sister with her chil-
dren, he means that Church, and its sons, with which
he was then present at the writing of this Epistle.
The text admonishes Christians to make their calling
and election sure ; that is, to persevere in the course
of the Christian life, as they began it rightly in bap-
tism. But to teach, as many have done, and that
with great confidence, that some are saved, and that
others are lost, by a decree, which we can never pre-
tend to know without laying ourselves open to the de-
lusions of Satan : to teach this is to teach a doctrine

* Repentance here signifies change of mind in God ; as in the
passage respecting peace. See Heb. xii. 17.

SERM. XXI.^ CALLING AND ELECTION.

317

deceitful to some, and frightful to others : for must
it not terrify any man in his sober senses, when he is
told, that the Creator gives being to his creatures, but
with this difference ; that some of them are brought
into the world as vessels of his pleasure, made for sal-
vation ; others as vessels of his wrath, made for de-
struction, without any hope or possibility of fleeing
from the wrath to come ? Let us allow that all man-
kind in their natural state are sold and lost under sin,
and can never receive any thing but of God's free and
unmerited grace in Christ Jesus : that he may give and
take away as he pleases, and none can contradict his
will: but all this we must allow to the power of God;
still his promises demonstrate that these are not the
terms to which he hath called his people : they are the
terms under which he hath left heathens. Does he
not appeal to his Church by a prophet in the Old Tes-
tament, that his ways are equal, and that the ways of
man are unequal, unjust, uncertain; while his own
ways are always consistent with that goodness and
mercy, which willeth not the death of any one sinner?
Does he not therefore appeal to his people, and ask
them why they will die ? suggesting by those words,
that if a sinner dies who has been under his covenant
and among his elect people, to whom the prophet
speaks, it is not according to the will of God, but ac-
cording to Ms own v/ill *. For God hath set before
him life and death, that he may choose which he will
take. This choice is not given to the heathens, and
the like question could not be put to them ; there
must be a sense therefore in which, and circumstances
under which man maybe said to choose : for it would
be a cruel sort of mockery for God to tell his people

* See the absolution in the Church service.

318

CALLING AND ELECTION. [[SERM. XXL

that their destruction is from themselves, if it be or-
dered from his own sovereign will ! Would he ask
" why they will die T when they are not within his
covenant, and it is impossible for them to live ? There
must here be some great misunderstanding in our
method of conceiving and stating the ways of God :
his counsels may be deep and mysterious, but they
cannot be cruel and unjust.

Suppose a poor prisoner to be shut up within massy
walls ; and one were to look through the iron gate of
his cell, and tell him, that the prison was about to be
set on fire, that he must fly for his life, and lose no
time ; that the delay of one moment is an argument of
his infatuation ; would not this be to trifle with the
misery of a poor wretch devoted to destruction ? It
has therefore been well said of those who believe that
God can speak and act upon those principles, that
they have given to him the nature of the destroyer ;
yea, that they have actually turned the Author of all
good into the author of all evil.

Predestination is also a very dangerous doctrine ;
it brings a snare upon others ; it intrusts every man
with an office for which no man is fit, by making him
an arbitrary judge of his own spiritual state. None
but the Searcher of all hearts can fathom the depth of
deceit to which the human heart is subject; therefore
the Scripture takes this judgment out of our own
hands, and gives it, first to other men, but ultimately to
God : " not he that commendeth himself is approved,
but whom the Lord commendeth." He that hath
the judgment of himself in his own hands will natu-
rally despise the judgment of other men, and set it at
defiance ; yet the Scripture pronounces that other men
shall know by their fruit what we may ourselves be
ignorant of ; and that whatever our inward testimony

15

SERM. XXl.'} CALLING AND ELECTION.

319

may say, they shall clearly see by our works to v/hat
party we belong : whether to the Author of Peace, or
the spirit of confusion. If we look back into the last
century, we may find examples in plenty of great sin-
ners, who thought themselves great saints; and some
of them are reported as such to this day ; to the great
danger of some Christians, and the great grief of
others. This was the lamentable and hopeless state
of the Pharisees ; " They trusted in themselves that
they were righteous, and despised others ;" but God
knew their hearts. He saw that their contempt of
others was as vain as their opinion of themselves ;
and the doctrine which they had about their own
election as Jews might be the foundation of all : for
I believe the doctrine of election had never a worse
effect and a worse issue than it had upon them. The
like persuasion, instead of being a ground of safety
and comfort to Christians, has been a delusion of
Satan to draw souls into perdition : and if there be
any amongst us who never yet observed this, we
should pray to God to open their eyes, and give them
grace to be alarmed at the prospect ; for it is a dread-
ful one.

This doctrine is further dangerous, as it favors the
practice of schismatical division in the Church ; it
both promotes and covers the evil of separation :
whether that was foreseen by those who brought it
into fashion I will not say; but it was seen in a short
time after by every body else, and this use of it was
very natural : for who shall convince those of sin in
schism who have a rule above us all ? If we will allow
it, they have an inward testimony superior to all au-
thority upon earth, and who shall dare to speak against
it? When Jesus Christ was upon earth, no man was
so hated and despised as He : and by whom ? By

320

CALLING AND ELECTION.

I^SERM. XXL

proud, conceited, quarrelsome people, who called
themselves the elected of God in their Father Abra-
ham. The contempt which then fell upon Jesus
Christ, now falls upon his Church ; and from the
same sort of people, who call themselves the Elect.

When the superstition of the church of Rome was
done away by the overthrow of order, and the pre-
sumption of envious or insidious piety prevailed
among irregular protestants, then this doctrine came
in and abounded ; but it may soon be detected, for it
is either with the means of grace administered in the
Christian Church, or it is without them : if it is with
them, then let them shew ns how the privilege of
one Christian is above another Christian. Are not
all entitled to the same promises ? Will not baptism
carry a child to heaven ? As surely, though it be born
of a slave, and baptized in a church ; as if it were of
noble birth, and baptized in a parlour. Under the
means of grace in Christ Jesus there is neither rich
nor poor, bond nor free ; but all are equal. If elec-
tion be ivithout the means of grace, then it explains
itself ; it must be an imposture ; it is to supply their
place, and render them superfluous ; and when the
means of grace are gone, the appearance of Christi-
anity will last but a short time.

If any person, through pride or envy, hath thrown
himself out of the Church, or is not able to prove
himself in it ; I say, if any such person can yet boast
of his election to salvation, and persuade others to
believe him, to what purpose then did Jesus Christ
found a Church in opposition to the gates of hell, and
promise to be with it to the end of the world? Here
is a persuasion to which it doth not appear that anij
Church is necessary : therefore all dissenters are fond
of a Churchman, who believes it : it is a notion that

SERM. XXI.]]

CALLING AND ELECTION.

321

rests in the conceit of a man's own mind ; and if we
admit its authority, what is the consequence ? We
then give to the word of a man a place above the
word of God. A good meaning is supposed by weak
people to sanctify a bad action : but St. Paul meant
well when he persecuted the Christian Church : yet
he condemned himself severely for it afterwards. It
may be said, by some who profess this doctrine, that
they take it for their comfort, and mean no harm by
it ; intending thereby to draw us away from the foun-
dations of truth and the certainty of divine promises,
till the whole Christian fabric falls into ruins at
once ; as if, when the kingdom of God were departed
from amongst us, some other new light should spring
up in the world.

Enough has been said to prove the danger of this
doctrine ; I think it may be shewn as plainly that it is
not a doctrine of the Scripture. This we freely al-
low, that the election of Christians out of the world
into the Church of Christ is plain and certain : but
the election of Christians out of Christians is not so ;
if there were such a thing, it is what we cannot
know, having no visible sign for it, and therefore we
do wrong, and must bring ourselves and the Church
into danger if we pretend to know it. The religion
of the Gospel, by which we are saved, is the religion
of faith, hoj)e, and charity : to this religion we are
called at our baptism ; with that which cannot be re-
duced to any of these three we can have no concern;
and such is the knowledge of God's secret decrees.
We are not called upon to know what cannot be
known, neither are we required to act as if we knew
it : we are to trust in God, but always to be in fear
for ourselves ; and thence the Church wisely directs
us to pray, that even in our last hour we may not fall

VOL. IV. Y

322

CALLING AND ELECTION. QSERM. XXL

from him. To what end is this prayer, if it be de-
termined by our predestination that we shall never
fall? This language of the Church implies, that we
may fall even to the last moment, and that we are
never safe till death shall put an end to sin and temp-
tation.

The great mistake seems to have consisted in ap-
plying to Christians what is said to heathens. The
vessel of wrath fitted to destruction was an heathen ;
a man never taken into the covenant of God, and
who had determined that he never would be. It
should always be remembered, that in the Epistle to
the Romans the Apostle is arguing against the Jews,
about the reception of the heathens ; a thing they
could never bear to hear of, because they confined all
grace to themselves. There is not a Christian upon
earth who can prove that he is entitled to any one
privilege but what he hath in common with other
Christians ; he is therefore to pass the time of his so-
journing here in fear; not to think that he has found
out a short way of being saved, a way unknown to
other people : not to be high-minded, as the Jews
were, who fell, through vain confidence of their own
election. Such a sort of election the Scriptures do
not teach ; they shew the vanity of it from the exam-
ple of the J e ws : the text also is expressly against it ;
for if Christians are called upon to make their elec-
tion sure, then is that election such as may be iiot
sure. Why else is it said, " let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall 2" He who thinheth
he hath got farther can only think so ; and in that he
may be grossly mistaken. And how doth he stand ?
not by certain knowledge, as he pretends, but hy
faith : faith in the promise of God, as his only secu-
rity.

SERM. XXI.^ CALLING AND ELECTION.

.323

There is no case more to our purpose than that of
the Apostle St. Paul : he was a vessel individually
chosen by God : in him we see the election of God's
grace falling on a single person : but what does he
infer from it ? No absolute exemption from danger :
he supposes that he may still be cast away, and lost by
his own neglect. He led a severe, watchful, and mor-
tified life, " lest, when he had preached to others, he
himself should be a castaway." Will any man pre-
sume upon privileges higher and surer than those of
this great Apostle ? Might St. Paul be cast away ?
who, then, shall dare to be secure ? He, who can per-
suade himself that God hath called him to a privilege
which St. Paul had not, must be under some strong
delusion *.

But is there no assurance ? Undoubtedly there is :
but it is the assurance of faith, and the assurance of
hope: for any thing further we must wait till that judg-
ment for which all men are reserved ; which shall
detect the secrets of all hearts ; laying open to thou-
sands the true nature of those works, that they never
understood before, though they imagined they did.
How shall God judge every man according to his works,
if every man is to judge himself before half his works
are done, according to his feelings f Are we to judge
first, and is God to judge afterwards ? Can we think
such a thing without blasphemy ? and can we teach it,
without thereby rendering our whole religion of no
effect, as the Jews did by a like presumption ? Shall
we take from the chief Shepherd his office of separat-
ing the sheep from the goats in the next life, by doing
it for him beforehand in this life ? Shall we poor blind

• See Note 1, p. 827.
Y 2

324

CALLING AND ELECTION.

i^SERM. XXI.

sinners dare to say who have made their election sure,
and who have not, when prohably our first mistake is
about ourselves ? All this may be prevented by a
single text from St. Paul, " Judge nothing before the
time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to
light the hidden things of darkness, and will make
manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall
every man have praise of God." Till we shall ob-
tain that praise, let us forbear to depend upon our
own, which will only render us suspected by those
who know hov>' to distinguish. In the mean time we
may know with absolute certainty that no election will
save us, but that which teaches us to tvorl: out our own
salvation with fear and trembling. Poor self-con-
demning mourners, who lament their own sins, and
those of the church to which they belong *, are in a
much safer way, than those who are confident and
self-witnessed : and they have a blessing on their side ;
" Blessed are they that mourn (especially for sin) for
they shall be comforted."

If, after all I have said, there should still remain in
any man a desire to be assured, whether God hath
actually adopted him for one of his own children, I
will satisfy him as soon as I can.

It is a rule in Scripture, to which I believe there
never was, nor will be, any exception, that " iihom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scoiirgeth every
soyi whom lie receiveth ; and that if tee are without
chastisement, then are tee bastards and not sons."
He who can see the hand of God, through the course
of his life, correcting him for his soul's health, and
leading him into crosses, sufferings, and persecutions

* See Ezekiel ix. 4.

SERM. XXI.]] CALLING AND ELECTION.

325

from the world ; that man has the best of all evidence
that he is the child of God, and that he is intended to
bean heir of salvation. The man who sees and knows
this will be thankful for his troubles, and would not be
without them for all the world. When God was
pleased to choose the blessed Paul, He did not tell him
what inward testimonies of his own election he should
feel, nor did he teach him any of the heavenly uses of
false doctrine ; his promise runs in a different strain ;
" He is a chosen vessel unto me, for I will shew him
how great things he must suffer for my name's sake."
And the same must be the rule with all other Chris-
tians ; the best proof they can have in this world of
their jfinal election to glory, is their suffering upon
earth for the truth's sake. What could support the
Martyrs of the Christian Church, but this one con-
sideration, that if God called upon them to suffer, he
called upon them to be saved, according to that
faithful saying, that " if we suffer, we shall also reign
with him ?" But that a man, with blood-guiltiness
upon his head, and that of the worst sort, unrepented
of, should be an heir of salvation, and find himself in
the sure way to heaven, is a dream fit only for a de-
duded Christian of the last days to believe ; if there
ever was one person so deluded, the case would make
us for ever afraid of this doctrine ; whereas history
assures us there have been many, and that in this
kingdom.

Upon the whole, Christianity is a religion which
does not busy itself about decrees never to be known
nor understood * ; but which believes promises, re-
joices in hope, acts with charity, and suffers with

• See Note 2, p. 32!).

326

CALLING AND ELECTION.

CSERM. XXI.

patience. It does not send a man to heaven by the
short soft way of sweet meditation and self-com-
placency ; but it sends him first to Calvary to carry
a cross after Jesus Christ; to bear some trifling
affliction, some burden of sorrow, which God lays
upon him : he may then think himself a true child of
God, and in the right way to make his calling and
election sure.

NOTES.

NOTE I.— Page 323.

For that sense of election which I allow and rejoice in I have
two excellent authorities,- Bishop Andrews and Bishop Jeremy
Taylor ; the former of which has these words in one of the forms
of prayer in his daily devotions : " Let my faith in the Church
" entitle me to a part in its calling and election." (Andrews*
Devot. p. 36. Bishop Home's edition.) Bishop Andrews is right
in ascribing salvation first to the Church, and from the Church to
its members ; for thus we are taught to argue from the figure of
Noah's ark : to be saved by rvater was a property original to the
ark ; and salvation was derived from the ark to those who were
taken into it : so election belongs first to the Church, the proto-
type of the ark. Such as were to be saved when the world was
drowned were taken into the ark. Such as shall be saved when
the world shall be again destroyed are added to the Church. The
Church, we grant, may be much degenerated ; but so long as it is
a Church, the promises of God must remain with it. If its pri-
vilege of bringing children to a state of salvation is lost, how and
when did it lose it ? Time might possibly produce a leak in the ark,
yet certainly none of such consequence as to change its nature,
and prevent its usefulness. The Christian Church, by reason of
its connection with this world, has fallen into many mistakes and
irregularities, which piety will lament and correct as far as it can,
instead of triumphing in them as an occasion for mockery and in-
sult against God and his institutions. Difficult cases must occur
from the commerce between the Church and the world, too great
for us to resolve ; and we must leave them to the judgment of the
great day ; as we ought also to leave those mysterious characters,
in which we find such a mixture of godliness and prophaneness as
to our judgment is utterly unaccountable.

328

NOTES.

In a prayer to be used on his birth-day, Bishop Taylor speaks
thus : " I give thee glory that thy hand sustained and brought me
" to tire illumination of baptism with thy grace preventing my
" election, by an artificial necessity and holy prevention engaging
" me to the profession and practices of Christianity." (See Holy
Living, p. 316.) I cannot stop without shewing how differently
election is spoken of by a great predestinarian, and of what sort his
proof is : " let it suffice," saith he, " that we feel it ;" but this, we
affirm, is the very thing that will not suffice ; because our Saviour
hath expressly cautioned us against it upon more occasions than one.
He commands us to judge their feelings by their fruits ; and not as
they themselves do, their fruits by their feelings. We have seen
how lamentably many have been deceived, and how they have de-
ceived others : but hear how this predestinarian concludes, " and let
" them perish with their errors that cast away a doctrine of such
" heavenly use." (See Bishop Babington's Sermon, p. 35, in Sir
Richard Hill's Apology for Brotherly Love) : that is, let them perish
who do not receive our election with its self-evidence of feelings,
■which our Saviour would not admit in favour of himself ; " if I bear
" witness of myself, my witness is not true." Who then shall insist
upon our receiving their own witness, and tell us it is sufficient for
them, when it was not sufficient for Jesus Christ ? They must think
themselves in this respect more sufficient than He. He appeals to
that second greater witness, " The works which my Father giveth
" me to finish bear witness of me."

Thus must it be in our case ; to visible works we must at last ap-
peal ; and we shall be confident the rule is right, though predesti-
narians go on to the end of the world wishing that we may perish for
insisting upon it. Miserable it is to see what self-conceit and un-
merciful judging of others this doctrine produces in tlie hearts of
Christians. This uncharitableness to fellow-Christians is sufficient
witness against it, and proves it to be worth nothing : yet if we were
to believe some writers, it is the first and greatest of incentives to
brotherly love : but if you will examine it, you will find it to be of
a very spurious sort ; it embraces Schismatics, but cannot endure a
Churchman. If it be thus unmerciful to men's souls, and consigns
them so easily to perdition, who can wonder that in the last age it
spared neither men's bodies nor estates ?

NOTES.

329

NOTE 2. Ease 325. On the XVIIth Article.

O

By the adversaries of the Church of England, who take Calvin
for their guide, it has been boasted that the 17th article is calvinis-
tical : but this our best divines never allowed ; they say the times
required that the article should be neutral. So the fact appears to
be ; and the article may be retained, as far as it goes ; for it teaches
us to receive the promises of God, and to act according to his rvill, as
it is expressly declared. His rvill we do know ; and his promises we
know ; his decrees relating to particular persons, we do not know ;
and tlierefore we cannot set up his decrees against his promises.
The article tells us, the elect are taken out of viankind; this we allow :
but the spurious predestinarian holds, that Christians are elected out
of Christians : which doctrine is to be found neither in the Scripture
nor in the article ; though we apprehend, less than this will npt come
up to the wishes of the Calvinists. They preach to us, that the un-
known decrees of God, and the use they make of them, are necessary
to be admitted by all true Christians ; warning us, that we are under
strong temptation not to admit them, because they humble our
pride ; and is there not enough to do it without them ? and wishing
that all may perish who do not admit them. But how then does it
happen, that neither St, Peter nor any of the Apostles ever published
this doctrine as a foundation for Christians to build upon ? When the
new converts on the day of Pentecost asked Peter and the rest of the
Apostles what they should do, he does not bid them believe the all-
sufficient doctrine of predestination for the remission of sins: but
commands them to " repent and be baptized, every one of them, for
the remission of sins, and they should receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost."

St. Paul, having a knowledge of the secret decrees of God by re-
velation, argues from them to reconcile the Jews to the election of
heathens; but never makes them articles of faith, or principles of ac-
tion : and from the great stress laid upon them in these latter days,
a snake in the grass is to be feared ; and he that knows the history of
predestination must have discovered, that this doctrine hath been and
is the strong hold of schism : therefore I take St. Peter's old doctrine
^ rather than this nerv ; and I would advise all Christians to do the
same. If it should be said, that baptism is not now what it was in
St. Peter's time, what is it but to tell us, that we have lost the jjrt>-
mises of God, and have now no Church ? This will be a pleasant
hearing to the Roman Catholics, who have been telling us the same
thing ever since the Reformation.

SERMON XXII.

MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY. LUKE XVIII. 1.

The man who does not pray, does not live ; he may
walk about, and seem to be alive, but he does not
live, in the Christian sense of the word ; for as the
natural breath is a proof that the body is alive, so the
breath of prayer is a proof that religion is alive in the
heart. When the body ceases to breathe perceptibly,
in that case its life becomes doubtful, and it may be
actually dead : even so that faith, which does not
breathe in prayer to God, may be dead past recovery ;
at least, there may be great danger that it will never
come to a state of life and godliness. Many con-
siderations naturally arise from this likeness between
hreath and prmjer : for, is it easy to breathe ? it must
tdso be easy to pray. If the body be alive and well,
it breathes of itself, without pain or difficulty ; and
prayer will in like manner be a thing of course, if
faith be alive in the heart. Is it necessary to breathe ?
m necessary, that life cannot long continue without it ?
It is equally necessary to pray ; for the spiritual life of

15

SERM. XXI1.'2 THE NECESSITY, &C. 331

the soul cannot possibly be preserved without it.
There is something always at hand, which will never
fail to destroy it ; of this our Saviour gave notice on a
certain occasion to his disciples : prai/, said he, i/ia(
ye enter not into temptation. Temptation would de-
stroy us all : and, if we enter into it, we shall, without
God's grace, fall under it. It was this, that first
brought death into the world ; and is now the great
danger of man. The first evil did not arise from man's
own nature,but from the suggestion of the devil; who
first taught man to disobey his Maker, and which it is
ever at hand to teach the same lesson at this hour :
and his manner of teaching is different from what it
was at first ; he taught evil to our first parents by a
speech from without; he now teaches from within us:
he gets into our hearts and affections, and worketh in
the children of disobedience ; it is therefore a petition
in the Lord's Prayer, that our heavenly Father would
not lead us into temptation. This is one of the reasons
why we ought to pray : if we would know them all,
we must find them in the Lord's Prayer : because the
petitions of it shew us what are the duties, the wants,
and the dangers of man. They shew us, why we ought
to pray ; why we must pray ; and what will certainly
happen to us if we do not pray. They direct us to
the first object of our thoughts; even to the great God
that made us ; the Father of our being, the Author of
our faculties. He is the great object of our worship ;
and the man who is made by him, and does not wor-
ship him, differs in nothing from a beast, but in his in-
gratitude ; the basest of all sins, and such as beasts
are seldom guilty of : for the ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master's crib. Even the dog is mindful
of him that feedeth him. What must the man be
then, who makes no return of worship to God, who

332 THE NECESSITY AND [^SERM. XXII.

feedeth the creation ? Can any man consider the great-
ness of his kingdom, without raising his voice, and
lifting up his heart, to promote the glory and honour
of it 1 Every Christian soul is a subject of that king-
dom, which is over all ; and when he knows what it
is, the Lord's Prayer teaches him to pray, that it may
prevail in himself and in all the world : that the w ill
of God may be the rule of man; and maybe done by
men on earth, as we are sure it is done with readiness
and delight by the angels of heaven. What a divine
privilege is it, that the subjects of this great King are
permitted to speak to him ! how much more, that they
are invited and encouraged to it ? and what shame
and infamy to them if they do not speak to him ! they
that tvill not pray must have their portion with those
beings, whose curse it is, that they cannot pray. With
those that pray God is present : and if God be not
with them, we know who will be so ; and that they
who live without God must die without him ; and
there is no more certain sign that they live without
him, than that of their keeping up no intercourse with
him by prayer. Hear the testimony of an illiterate
savage on this subject, who had only the feeble rays
of tradition for his guide.

Some English soldiers, (as I heard once from an
officer who had been amongst them), were quartered
on a settlement in Africa, where the climate was hot
and unwholesome : they had no clergyman, and they
attended no place of worship. While they were in
this situation, a fatal distemper broke out among them,
and carried them off daily. A poor negro of the
country, who was a witness to the case, made this ob-
servation upon it, " the English never speak to God
" Almighty ; God Almighty never speaks to them :
" bO the devil comes to fetch them away." Such was

SERM. XXII.3 ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER.

333

the language of this poor ignorant person ; but simple
and illiterate as the language may be, the observation
is very alarming, and the doctrine is true : they who
live without God must die without him. If a sheep
be strayed in the night, and is met by a lion, we know
what will become of it.

Man is therefore to pray ; not only because he
owes worship to the God who made him ; but also,
because he is a poor dependent creature ; in daily
want and danger, and must perish without the divine
protection.

One of his first petitions to God, is for his daily
bread: he must live by him; and therefore he prays
to him. If a man can live of his own substance, he
need not beg ; but if he have nothing to support him,
he must seek assistance from the charity of others.
And he is not only ready to speak in his own behalf,
but is ingenious in asking and provoking compassion;
insomuch that the language of beggary is a science.
And all this is for the wants of the body, which must
soon be at an end. The soul has its wants, which
none, but God, can supply ; and cannot live a single
day, unless they are supplied : I say live ; for the life
that is without God is not life : his grace is as neces-
sary to the soul, as bread is to the body : for man
Uveth not hy bread alone, but by the icord of God :
and as the manna came down from heaven every day,
we are thereby taught, that man must do as the Israel-
ites did ; he must go out every day to seek it ^i-^ prayer,
and gather it. If we seek it, we shall find it; nothing
is promised to him, that seeketh not ; he who knows
this, and acts accordingly, is a true believer : he feels
himself to be, when he comes to God, what the beggar
feels himself, when he comes to the door of plenty :
hungry, and thirsty, andjull of complaints ; he feels.

334

THE NECESSITY AND

[^SERM. XXII.

what no man but a Christian can feel ; his hunger and
thirst are therefore blessed : they are a proof that he
is alive; they have a promise, that they shall be filled.
But he that asketh not, hungers not ; and he that
hungers not, has not the wants of a living man.

We are now to consider that every man ought to
pray as a sinner ; for a sinner he certainly is.
many things tve offend all : and if God should he ex-
treme to mark ichat is done amiss, no flesh should be
saved. What shall then become of us, without for-
giveness of sin ? for this purpose were the morning and
evening sacrifices appointed from the beginning, which
ought to be daihj offered at this time, in their proper
signification, to him, without whom there is no remis-
sion of sin. All men are guilty of offences which they
do know ; and of many more, which they do not know.
Hence the Psalmist says, who can tell how oft he qf-
fendeth ? O cleanse thou me from my secret faidts !
Sins of both kinds were equally before the eyes of
God, and needed the advantage of the sacrifice. That
forgiveness of sin is to be prayed for daily, is manifest
from hence ; because it is the subject of a petition in
the Lord's Prayer, which is daily to be used. But the
same was signified by the daily practice the Church,
before that prayer was given : every sacrifice that was
offered shewed the necessity of atonement for sin.
And the sacrifices of the tabernacle and temple being
offered daily in the morning and evening service, the
congregation who offered them applied for forgiveness
of sin twice a day to God : and less, I think, will not
suffice in any family at this day. We are not departed
from the custom of sacrificing^ though we do not offer
up a bloody sacrifice, as of old ; but we offer to the
Father his Son Jesus Christ, who suffered for our sins
upon the cross. Twice in the day doth the Church

SERM. XXII.]] ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER.

335

direct all its members to put up a petition to heaven,
that the Lord would have mercy upon us miserable of-
fenders, according to his promises declared unto man-
kind in Christ Jesu our Lord. But here it should be
well considered, that when we ask forgiveness for our
sins, we ask it, on condition that we forgive the sins
of others. The words are easily spoken ; but what
man can fulfil them, without the grace of God to dis»
pose and assist him ? for wrath and malice are in the
heart of man : the spirit that is iti us lusteth to envy ;
and we thirst for revenge against those who have
despised, offended, or injured us. The struggle be-
tween duty and passion is often very hard to good
men ; who cannot bring their minds to calmness, pa-
tience, and forbearance, till they set before their eyes
the patience of Jesus Christ, pleaded ^lXM^ prayed
for his murderers.

But after all that has been said, the greatest reason
for prayer is yet behind. Our duty first calls upon us
to pray ; next, our wants and necessities ; and lastly,
our dangers. From the final petitions of the Lord's
prayer, we may learn what will certainly become of
us, if we do not pray : viz. that we shall, as I observed
before, be led into temptation, and not be delivered
from evil. The first temptation brought death with
it : all temptation aims at man's destruction : and
the world is full of it. Every age, every state of life,
hath its temptations. How shall we meet them ? how
shall we overcome them ? never, without the help of
God ; and this I cannot repeat too often : that help
he will not find, who does not pray for it. If you
would have a prospect of all the dangers to which man
is liable, set before your eyes the three great enemies
of his salvation ; always endeavouring to draw him
into sin. Look at the vain and wicked world, with all

336

THE NECESSITY AND

LSERM. XXII.

its ways and its fashions, its vain pageants and diver-
sions, its corrupt customs and lies ; by which it ac-
quires an absolute authority over the unguarded man :
it first deceives him, and then domineers over his
judgment. Next to this, behold theflesJi, with all its
appetites ; all of which are by nature given to impe-
tuosity, and excess. As the dog goes to his vomit,
and the swine to its wallowing in the mire, so doth the
natural man, if he has self-indulgence for his rule, lose
the understanding of a man, and fall into what is
beastly and destructive. Every object which is about
us, if our faculties are not duly regulated, tempts us
to some abuse of the creatures of God : and, what is
worst of all, there is a subtle invisible enemy always at
hand, who, being himself evil, turns all things to evil ;
to the end that those things, which God made for our
good, may work together for our ruin ; and we are
either to be delivered jyom this enemy, or to be de-
livered tq) to him. Where we pray to God, to deliver
us from evil, it means rather, from the evil one ; and
many of our best divines agree, that the words ought
to have been so rendered ; deliver us from the evil
one, that is, the Devil. Our English version seems to
fail in the same way, in another passage where the
person of our Saviour is to be understood ; " V>'ho
will harm you, if ye be followers of that ichich is
good ?■' where it ought rather to be, " if ye be
followers, or imitators} of that good one, Christ
for the Scripture does not deal much in abstractions.
Taking it for granted then, that evil is the evil one ;
we learn from the Scripture, who, and what, he is ;
that his work in general is, to overthrow all the de-
signs of God for the salvation of man : that he is a
serpent, a liar, a murderer, a destroyer : though mo-
dern divinity, if it may be called divinity, says he is

SERM. XXII.^ ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER.

nothing. (What ? when Christ came into the world
to destroy the works of him?) We learn also, that
with all this he is a spirit, who excels in the strength
of a spirit ; and is armed with darts of fire ; against
which there is no defence, but from the shield off aith,
which Prayer holds up to guard us against the enemy.
It is no shield, until prayer applies it : pray, says our
Lord, that ye enter not into temptation. How terrible
is that warning, which is given us in the Revelation
against this enemy of man ; of whom some Christians,
not worth reasoning with, now make no serious ac-
count ! Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth and of
the Sea ; for the Devil is come down to you, having
great wrath, because he hnoweth that he hath hut a
short time. His wrath will therefore do all the mis-
chief that can be done in the time : and he hath lately
found some new ways of doing-great things in a short
space : consider then, ye who are careless, that while
you neglect him, he does not neglect you ; while you
lose all your time, he loses none of his. He leads you
captive at his will -.firstmio sin, and at last into con-
demnation : as you will find, when the spiritual world,
which is now concealed, and seems to be nothing,
shall be opened upon you. If you would flee from the
wrath to come, you must pray : if you would fall into
it, then neglect to pray ; nothing further is necessary ;
all the rest will follow of course.

My design in what I have already said on these
words, has been to shew the necessity of prayer to
those who do not pray : in what follows, I shall speak
to those who do pray; with the hope of teaching them
how to pray better ; by giving them a new method of
jiraying always : which may seem to be a very hard
thing; but you are not here to understand, that men
are always to be upon their knees : for then the busi-

VOL. IV. Z

338

THE NECESSITY AND [^SERM. XXII.

ness of life could not go forward, as the condition of
man in this world requires. To separate the time of
business from the time of prayer, stated hours were
appointed in old time : and devout persons, who ob-
served them, might be said to jjraij always ; that is, at
all the appointed hours of prayer. I consider Corne-
lius the Centurion to have been one of these ; and that
it is therefore said of him, that he 'praijed to God al-
ways ; that is, he prayed with the Church daily, at all
the hours of prayer. The time of the day when he
saw the vision agrees with this ; it appeared to him at
the ninth hour of the day (one of the hours of prayer)
and while he was in the act of prayer : because it is
=said to him, as to a man who was praying, thy prayers
are come iip before God. Peter, in like manner, had
his vision, at the sixth hour of the next day : when he
went up, according to custom, to the house-top, to
pray. There are those, who mock at us for praying
formally at appointed hours of the day : as if all pray-
ing were to be by fits and starts, as man pleases : but
if God himself from heaven has jiaid regard to these
times, we are undoubtedly justified in the practice ;
and it is in conformity to God's will that we should so
pray. This custom of praying with the Church at all
the regular times of prayer, was one of the methods of
praying always. The chapter from which the text is
taken shews us another way. A poor widow is repre-
sented as praying for justice to an unjust judge, who,
it seems, attended to her petition lest she should
weary him by her continual coming. Our Saviour
relates the parable, to shew us the certain effect of
perseverance in prayer : we should pray without ceas-
ing, till our petition is granted, how long soever it
may please God to try our faith and patience, by not
granting it so soon as we might hope and expect. We

SERM. X\Il.'2 ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER.

339

ought therefore to pray always, without fainting, or
being wearied out ; and this is the sense of praying
always, according to the text. But there is another
way, which to me seems the most excellent of all.
When Saint Paul advises the Thessalonians to pray
without ceasing, he adds, in every thing give thanks.
This cannot be done, unless the mind be in a constant
habitual frame of devotion ; using itself to the daily
custom of setting God alway before it, and walking
with him in all the actions of life ; endeavouring to
turn all things to his glory. Believers are to consider
God, in his power, his wisdom, his providence ; in all
which he hath made, in all which he hath given, in all
which he hath done, and all which he doth do for the
children of men : in his blessings, his judgments, his
visitations, his corrections : under a persuasion that
every thing we see is formed by his wisdom, every
thing that happens in the world is from his justice,
mercy, or goodness ; and, therefore, that every thing
he does is right, and is to be so received by us. We
. are to give thanks for good, because it is a present
blessing ; for evil, because it will be a future bless-
ing, if God pleases.

There is no object of nature, nor any occasion of
man's natural life in this world, which may not be im-
proved to some holy purpose ; if we learn to under-
stand objects, as the Gospel hath applied them, and
then make them the subject of some petition. There
is no great difficulty in the thing : custom will keep
the mind ready and in a godly frame ; and use will
make is pleasant. Thus the duty of praying always
will be fulfilled in a way, of which the world hath very
little knowledge. We cannot begin too soon in the
morning : and there is no better object in the world
to begin with, than the light of the day. As soon as

z 2

3i0

THE NECESSITY AND [[SERM. XXII.

"sve see it, we should utter some thanksgiving to the
Almighty Creator : who hath given to us, not only
the natural light, but the light of truth, the light of the
Gospel ; and hath promised us an inheritance of the
saints in the light of the new Jerusalem, ^^"hen we
awake to such thoughts, we awake as men and Chris-
tians, not as beasts ; who receive the benefit of the
light, without knowing what glorious things are to be
understood by it. When we see the sun in his daily
course, we should say to ourselves, such is the Sun of
Righteousness, and thus did he rise upon the world,
and thus will he rise again to dispel the darkness of
the shadow of death, and begin the glorious day of
Eternity. As the natural light moves from East to
West, so hath the Gospel shined throughout the world:
as the day declines, and the evening comes on, so doth
the life of man decline. "S^'hen this happens, we
should say with the two Disciples, when they invited
Christ to tarry w ith them at Emmaus, ••' abide with us,
for the dan i-^fd^' spent."

The elements and the changes of the weather will
supply us with more matter of the same sort. If there
cometh rain to water the earth, let us be thankful, not
only for that, but for the grace of God, and the word
of truth, ■uhich cometh down from heaven as the rain :
that the soul of man may be fruitful in works of righ-
teousness. As the earth is parched in a time of
drought, and cracked with dryness, so should man
open his mouth, and say with the Psalmist, " my soul
thirsteth for thee, my flesh also longeth after thee, in a
barren and dry land where no water is." If there
cometh thunder, we should listen to it, as to the voice
of God ; which, what noise soever men may make
below, will be heard above all. How insignificant do
the word and power of man appear, whenever God is

SERM. XXII. ^ ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER.

341

pleased to shew himself, and his lightning shines from
one end of heaven to the other ! This appearance
should always remind us, that the Lord will at last be
revealed in flaming fire. What will then become of
us, if we have never thoughtof his judgments, till they
are upon us, and the great account is to be given by
all sinners ? He who lives by the rule I am now giving,
will never be surprized. He sets the Lord always
before him, therefore he shall not be moved : if his
heart is ready, he will in every place find matter for
prayer or for praise. If he is in a garden, he thinks
on Paradise : how it was lost by the first Adam, who
ate in sin ; and how it was regained by the second
Adam, who fasted in the wilderness. If he is in the
fields or meadows, by the river side, and sees the
flocks and herds feeding, he remembers, that he him-
self belongs to God's pasture ; he prays, that the
Lord, the keeper of Israel, who is his Shepherd, will
convert and bring him back, when he strays from the
paths of righteousness, and will lead him forth beside
the waters of comfort : under these circumstances he
may be disposed to repeat the twenty-third Psalm ;
and he will then feel the force of it.

The husbandman, who is employed in the works of
the field, has many opportunities beyond other men ;
all his works are of such a sort, as may suggest reli-
gious thoughts, and lead his mind to devotion : our
blessed Saviour took one of his finest parables from
the labours of the field ; where the ground, good and
bad, is the heart of man ; the seed is the word of God ;
the wheat the righteous ; the tares the ungodly ; the
harvest the end of the world, and the reapers are the
angels. Who can have these things before him, with-
out thinking about himself; what he is, and what is to
become of him? and these thoughts will lead him to

342

THE NECESSITY AND

C^SERM. XXII.

his prayers ; that he may be ready to receive into his
mind the good seed of God's word, and to lay it up
in his heart, as the grain is covered in the earth, that
it may bring forth fruit to life eternal. Then shall the
angels come at the end of the world, when the great
harvest shall be gathered, to take the elect into the
kingdom of God. If the husbandman thinks on these
things, his work will be sanctified ; and he himself
will be brought nearer every day to the kingdom of
heaven. It is very truly said of the husbandman,
that his work is never done ; every season, every day,
brings some new employment with it. It is the same
with the Christian : his work is never done ; and he
would be under a dangerous mistake, if he should
think it is : for the tempter is always at some new
device, to give a Christian sorrow or trouble ; Jie never
thinks his work done, till the man is destroyed, and
made a child of hell, instead of a child of God.

I would have it here to be remembered, that 1 am
only giving a few examples, which the learner is to
practise upon, and be multiplying all the days of his
life. I open a school-door, into which he that is dis-
posed may enter and profit according to his capacity;
the employment is delightful ; and the matter in-
exhaustible.

In our observations upon other people, charity and
all the Christian virtues will be exceedingly promoted,
if we use ourselves to make a short prayer on what
passes before our eyes. Thus if we see one that is
blind ; how proper would it be to say, " Lord, thou
hast taken from that man bodily sight, give him the
sight of the mind, which is far better." If you see
one that is lame, you may say, " O thou who didst
enable the lame to walk ; though thou art not now pre-
sent with us, to heal the infirmities of our bodies, thou

SEUM. XXII.^ ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER.

3i3

canst still show us the path of life, and enable us to
walk in the way everlasting : thus shall the halt and
lame enter into life." If we hear of any one that is
fallen into some dreadful sin or calamity, it would be
proper to say, " Lord, I bless thy name, that I myself
am not made an example to that man, who is now
made an example to me : raise up him that is fallen ;
and let me not he high minded, hut fear ; for hlessed
is the man that feareth ahvays in such a world as this."
If you should hear the bell sound for a funeral, you
may say, " Lord, make me wise to consider my latter
end: that while I live I may live unto thee, and when
I die, I may die unto thee, so that living and dying I
may be thine."

Once more : if you should be present when cri-
minals are judged at an assize ; think of the great
tribunal of Jesus Christ : think, how we shall all be
called out of our graves, to stand hefore his judg-
ment-seat : in which case it is hardly possible for a
man to turn his eyes towards himself, without saying,
" liOrd, how, where, shall I appear in that dreadful
day ? O let thy holy angels find me, to strengthen
and encourage me, before I dare to look upon thy
face ; that so I may have boldness in the day of judg-
ment, and find myself placed on thy right hand among
the heirs of salvation : Lord rememher me in that
day; for my heart ptanteth, my strength faileth, when
I think of it : but thou didst expire upon the Cross,
to lessen the terrors of it to ine and all ptoor jicniient
sinners."

There would be no end, if we were to collect such
other examples as might be thought of ; the day,
the night, the sea, the land, the heaven ahove, and the
earth heneath, abound with objects to exercise our
devotion. I would now say a word or two on the ad-

344 THE NECESSITY AND [[SERM. XXII.

vantage of praying in this manner. If prayer be a
labour to the mind, there is none of it here : a small
transient ejaculation is sufficient to signify the dis-
position of the heart, even though it be not uttered by
the lips : for God is a witness to the meditations of
the heart. Therefore it may be used in society, as
well as in solitude ; and in whatever work a man is
employed, provided it be lawful, it will not be inter-
rupted but promoted. Is the husbandman interrupted,
if, when he casts the seed into the ground, he prays
that the seed of God's word may take root in his own
heart ? so far from it, that it will bring down a bless-
ing upon himself and his labour : and improve his
daily work into a work of grace ; a work, by which
his mind will be kept in constant practice, to a temper
of piety : so that he may be strictly said, to loalk with
God, as the Saints did of old ; which should be the
first object of a Christian's ambition. The agreement
between the objects of the natural world and the ob-
jects of revelation, so amply and illustriously displayed
in the Scriptures, shews (to those who understand it)
a wonderful sight ; it shews the whole Creation as one
great picture of divine truth : which will give as much
entertainment, and afford more variety to the imagi-
nation of a Christian, than all the works of genius,
which all the wit of man ever did, or ever will invent.
It is as wide as the world, and as bright as the ocean,
when the sun shines upon it. Religious meditation
and devotion draw it forth into use ; and shew so
many ways of applying it to the edification of the mind,
that if we can bring any qualified person to this one
employment, he will never complain that Christianity
is a dry study. It infuses a new spirit into common
things, which in themselves are dull and insipid : every
trifling event assumes a new figure and new import-

SERM. XXII.^ ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER.

345

ance, when applied to spiritual things : every common
object changes its nature and value * : the touch of a
devout mind has a magical effect upon it, and turns it
into gold ; so that to live by this rule, and turn all
objects to a spiritual use, is the next thing to living
in a spiritual world.

There will be this further advantage, and a great
one it is, that we shall find this sort of devotion our
best security against temptation. Good thoughts will
keep out evil ones. The tempter makes use of all
objects to corrupt our minds, and draw us into evil :
the way of turning them to godliness, is directly con-
trary to his way of turning them to sin : and there-
fore it is the best remedy in the world against his
devices ; it may be used also, as a test to the mind,
whether it be alive to God or not. If the Christian
finds himself disposed to it, or if he does not, he may
thence learn the state of his own soul, and discover,
whether he is a carnal or a spiritual man ; whether
he is in the light or in the dark : if he feels no incli-
nation to it, his own soul is then a thing of no con-
cern to him. Satan may have it, for what he cares ;
this world has blinded his eyes : all the objects in it
serve to wrong uses; it is a curse, and not a blessing
to him, that he was brought into it ; and when that
perishes, he must perish with it.

If a man sees nothing spiritual here, he will see
nothing hereafter : but if he looks at the things of this

* If the reader wishes to know better this art of applying natural
objects to sacred subjects ; I would desire him to consult a small
Key to the Language of Prophecy, hound up with the third edition of
the Book of Nature ; also, Lectures on the Figurative Language of
the Scriptures. The Husbandman's Manual ; with such other things
as he can collect of the same kind : particularly a Treatise on Eja-
culatory Prayer, by the Rev. Robert Cooke, late Vicar of Boxted,
in Essex. All printed for Rivingtons.

346

THE NECESSITY, &C. [[SERM. XXII.

world with an eye of faith, and can make them the
subject of some petition to God, he may then con-
clude, that his heart is alive; and that, with the help
of divine grace, he may so pass through things tem-
poral, and make such an use of them, that they shall
help him to pass on through them, to things eternal.

Before I conclude, my beloved brethren, suffer me
once more to look back to the subject of prayer in
general ; of which I must always think, and will al-
ways affirm it, that it is the first practical ^niy of the
Christian religion : on which consideration, I know
not what to say of those Christians, who do not
pray : they will pardon me, if I know not what to
call them ; I can scarcely cry out with the prophet,
" awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead."
To speak freely, I wonder how any family can look
one another in the face, when they assemble together
in the morning, to begin the works of the day, with-
out a solemn invocation of Almighty God, for his di-
rection, help, and blessing on all the affairs of this
transient and dangerous state. I shall be thankful,
if one single soul shall be brought by what I have
here said to a better mind.

SERMON XXIII.

THESE FILTHY DREAMERS DEFILE THE FLESH, DES-
PISE DOMINION, AND SPEAK EVIL OF DIGNITIES.
ST. JUDE, VERSE 8.

The people here described are every way reprehen-
sible. They are compared to the men of Sodom for
their wickedness ; and to dreamers, for their absur-
dity and foolishness ; their thoughts, principles, and
reasonings, having no more foundation in sense, than
those of men in a dream. There always were such peo-
ple in existence ; but of late, a new and abundant ge-
neration of them has appeared in the world ; as if a
swarm of locusts had lately issued out of the bottom-
less pit, with fire and smoke, to destroy all things.
They are very busy in the work of turning the world
upside down ; and a considerable part of their work
(the beginning on which all depends) consists in
cheating the senses, and inflaming the passions of
ignorant people. They are said to despise dominion,
and speak evil of dignities. Dominion is the same
with Government : these people despise the thing,
and speak evil of those that exercise it : but their ar-
gumentation signifies no more than if they were
talking in their sleep, according to the visions or the
fancies with which the brain is then occupied.
1

348

THE DANGER OF DESPISING [[SERM. XXIII.

This is as exact, a description of some persons
who now make a great noise in the world, as if the
Apostle had seen them. But that is no wonder :
folly and wickedness may find some new words ; but
they are no new things. What Satan does now in
the children of disobedience, is so like what he did
formerly, that we are not ignoi-ant of his devices : and
the delusions of men are after the old fashion, though
they may find some new expressions.

The text requires us to examine, first, what the
thing is which these people despise : secondly, how
they proceed, when they would make others despise
it.

The thing which they despise is Dominion. The
word here used signifies lordship over others ; and
such lordship there must be in some persons or other,
because the world cannot go on without it: there
must be rulers below, as there are rulers above. The
sun is said to rule over the day ; and the moon and
stars to govern the night : without them, nature
would be all in confusion. The elements of the world
are contrary tempers, and must be regulated by the
powers of heaven, which keep them to their appoint-
ed course. The state of the natural world is, and
will ever be, so long as it continues, a state of go-
vernment. The sun will be the lord and ruler of the
day : and if any man should talk of improving the
world, by setting the elements to rule themselves
better without the sun, we should immediately pro-
nounce that man to be in a dream. And the case is
as clear with respect to human society. For no man
comes into this world to have his own will ; but to
have somebody set over him, that he may not have it.
And the reason is this ; that if one man be born to
have his own will, another will be born to have his ;

2

SERM. XXIII.]] LAWFUL AUTHORITY.

3i9

but this is not possible : for different men ivill very
different things : two men want the same thing,
where but one of them can have it. Their wills in-
terfere in such a manner, that if every man were to
have his will, human society would be like the waves
of the sea in a storm, dashing and breaking one ano-
ther to pieces. They must therefore be under some
law, some i-ule; and consequently there must be some
Ruler to enforce it : for a law considered in itself is a
speculation, and can effect nothing. Unless confu-
sion is to prevail, the authority of some over others
is as necessary to the world, as that God should go-
vern the universe, and keep the elements in order.
For this purpose He that certainly rules the natural
world, hath as certainly placed himself at the head of
the active world : he hath made laws, to restrain the
will of man, and keep it in subjection to himself His
ten commandments are an absolute check upon the
unlawful will of one man, that it may not interfere
with the lawful will of another, but may leave him in
the quiet possession of every thing that is his ; and in
so doing God hath established the right of possession.
And if there be a right of possession, and laws can-
not execute themselves (for what can letters and pa-
pers and books do ?) there must be persons to see that
they are executed : in order to which, they must have
power over those who wish to see them 7iot executed.
And who are they? Who, but the men that cry out
for liberty ? Honest men want no liberty, but that of
being secure and unmolested in their possessions; for
which end law and government were established in
the world. Liberty and government, in the mouths
of some men, are two opposite things, but they are in
their nature the same. Laws may be mild and fa-
vourable to the people : but government must be go-

350

THE DANGER OF DESPISING [^SERM. XXIII.

vernment : there may be liberty under- it, but there
can be no liberty against it. For as the total absence
of government would be absolute confusion ; so every
relaxation of government is a weakness which par-
takes of anarchy, and must be attended with many of
its effects. If you would know what a nation is with
government, and what witJiout it, look at a man of
sense, and a madman. The man of sense walks by
rule : he has a regard to the happiness of others as
well as his own, knowing that they have an equal
right to it; and he lives in subjection to the laws of
God and man. In the madman, the governing prin-
ciple is gone : he has no rule, but his inclination to
foUy and mischief: it is dangerous to meet him
abroad ; therefore he is shut up, and his liberty is
taken away for the safety of all honest sober people,
who go regularly about their business. If there
should be a majority of lunatics, they would vote
themselves to be the only people of sense, and pro-
nounce the sober part of the world to be mad. If in
such a case there should not be power enough to
restrain them, in what a fearful condition should we
be ! God Almighty deliver us from it ! And it is cer-
tainly his will that we should be delivered from it, by
his appointed law and government amongst us.

Let us then ask what this government is ? When men
are gathered into an orderly society, they are called a
hodij ; because, like a body, they are under some head,
which rules and directs all the rest of the members.
If the head is stricken off from a body, that body falls
into convulsions, and becomes a shocking spectacle.
If the head is of no effect, the body is like that of a
madman, acting extravagantly and doing mischief.
Every body therefore must have some effective head to
rule and direct, and a people under a government of

SERM. XXIII.n LAWFUL AUTHORITY.

351

due authority, and who are themselves in due subor-
dination, are like the body of man when in a rational
and healthy state, and in a fair way to continue so.
The two cases of an army by land, and a ship at sea,
are plain cases, which shew that whatever the con-
stitution of a government may be in theory, it must
be, in practice, under some one leader, as a natural
body has one head. The ship then keeps her destined
course ; but if the crew are mutinous, and rise upon
the commander, then the ship turns pirate and plun-
ders the world, or changes her course, and sets sail
for some paradise of fools in a remote part of the uni-
verse. The history of such a crew would be some-
thing like the history of a certain nation, now in a
state of piracy against the world, whos6 directors are
nothing but criminals, and, as such, merit the fate of
robbers and ruffians, which by the just judgment of
God many of them have met with.

The sum of the matter is this. Man is not under
his own will, but under the will of God : and as man
doth not know the will of God, nor can know it ; the
laws of society must originally come from God ; and
the authority to execute those laws must be from the
same. He that kills a man for his own will and plea-
sure without law is a murderer : he that kills him with
law is a judge or ruler ; one into whose hand God, for
the maintaining of his own laws, and the safety of the
people, puts a sword : and if he holds that sword in
vain, evil prevails, and the hand is turned against him-
self. This was the case of the poor unfortunate King
of France ; of whom it is said, that by permitting the
law to take its course against a few worthless wretches,
not fit to live, (as he was intreated to do at a critical
moment, when the sword was in his hand) ; he might
have saved the lives of a million of innocent peo-

THE DANGER OP DESPISING [^SERM. XXIIL

pie. How many more we know not : for the con-
fusion being once begun, and among the people who
have always given fashions to Europe, may last
to the world's end, and be the immediate cause of its
end.

Look upon the natural world, and see how quiet
and orderly it is under the Government of God.
There his laAvs are never broken. The sun shines ;
the moon rises ; the stars are in their prescribed sta-
tions ; the tides ebb and flow at their time ; the spring
gives her flowers ; the summer ripens the corn ; and
the autumn gathers it. Thus tranquil and orderly
would human society be, if it would but be as obe-
dient to the laws of God. Oh how devoutly is it to be
wished, that the moral world were under an authority
as wise and as irresistible ! But God has left man, as
a free agent, to his own counsel ; that, if he sees fit,
he may break the divine laws, overturn the whole or-
der of things, and terrify the nations of the earth with
" blood and fire and pillars of smoke ;" which words
do well describe the present state of war in this last
age of the world.

The reason being now plain, why God hath ap-
pointed the rule of some over others ; and it being
fully shewn what a blessing it is, when this order is
duly observed, and what misery follows when it is
broken, we are now to examine what sort of people
they are who despise dominion. Evil men you may be
sure they must be ; and in one respect they act wisely ;
they do well to hate government ; for it is pointed
against themselves. A great philosopher of ancient
Greece pronounced it impossible for man to be wise
if he were not good ; and he spoke the truth : for if
you watch evil men closely, you will always discover
that they are fools, and that their own tongues will

SERM. XXIII.^ LAWFUL AUTHORITY.

353

make them fall ; insomuch that he who seeth them
shall laugh them to scorn. Our text therefore calls
them dreamers; their opinions being as monstrous, as
incoherent, as unprofitable, as ridiculous, and as un-
accountable, as those of men that are asleep. One
of their first devices is this : when they cannot openly
deny the necessity of Government to the good of man;
they speak evil of dignities ; they rail at the persons
that exercise it : either as persons weak in their un-
derstandings ; or ill-intentioned ; or insufficiently in-
formed ; or oppressive and tyrannical. If the laws
cannot be spoken against (though they do this as often
as they dare) they fall foul upon them that administer
them, in order to make the laws themselves odious.
The children of disobedience, who reject all authority,
are particularly denominated as children of Belial, in
whom he is said to work. Now if the Scripture tells
us truly, that the spirit that is in us, our own human
spirit, lusteth to envy, and that envy, and hatred which
always attends it, are natural lusts of the mind ; what
must men become, when there is an Evil Spirit work-
ing within, to impel them, and inflame them, till their
tongues (as the Apostle speaks) are set on fire of hell?
Then does all . manner of seditious language break
forth and abound, with such vain boasting and vile
abuse as honest men cannot account for : but the Evil
Spirit knows what he intends by it : he knows, that as
the fiery tongues of the Gospel gave light and peace
to the world, so his fiery tongues will spread discord
and confusion, to the ends of the earth. All this is
done directly, to raise discontents, and make govern-
ment itself an odious thing. Their next step is to
overturn it, by propagating false principles among the
people. I called them principles ; but having no foun-
dation, they really are dreams. The first is this, that
VOL. IV. A a

354

THE DANGER OF DESPISING [^SERM. XXIII.

every man has rights; -which is said with this design,
that every man may be discontented, and may turn
the world upside down by contending for them.

There is no such thing in the world as the absolute
right these persons talk about. There is no right with-
out reason ; and right will follow reason, so long as
men speak sense. But in a dream, reason has no
share ; so we find little of it here. We must ask, in
what state of man is this right to be found ? Man can
have no right before he is born. To his hirth he has
no right ; for it is the gift of God that he comes into
the world at all. In his infancy he may have a right
to be fed and nursed, because he cannot feed himself;
but then his parents also, so long as he is dependent
upon them, have a right to his obedience and service.
If as he grows up he refuses to work, he has no right
to eat. If as he grows up he cheats and steals, he has
no right to be exempted from suffering punishment as
a felon : if he commits murder, he has no right to
escape the righteous sentence of death. I say these
things to shew that rights are in every case, the rights
of justice; that every right must have its reason ; and
where there is no reason there can be no right. The
rights of man must be the rights of man in society ;
and where there is society, there must be government :
all the rest is either a vision, which is nothing ; or it is
the direct contrary to all right and justice; the assumed
right of the wild beast in the desert, or the lawless
murderer. If it were true that one man comes into
the world with a right against another, it must be
equally true, that the other comes into the world with
an equal right against him ; and opposite rights amount
to nothing : they can be no rights till there be some
third preponderant power to decide between them ;
which third power is what we call government ; and

SERM. XXIII.3 LAWFUL AUTHORITY.

355

till that interferes, the social compact is a state of war
and violence, in which every man's hand is against
every man.

But it may be imagined, that though single men
have no rights, many men, whom we call the people,
may have some right. I think not : for if one wave
of the sea has no right ; add all the other waves of
the ocean, and you make the case worse. All the
right they have is to ride over one another's heads,
and dash one another to pieces. And this never fails
to be the case when the experiment is tried among
mankind : and therefore the Scripture puts together
the noise of the waves, and the madness of the people.
The winds and tempests drive the waves ; and the
winds of concupiscence, which will never be at rest,
so long as man is man, drive the people.

But our dreamers say further, that all men are by
nature equal : whence the practical inference follows,
that as they are now in fact unequal, one half may
rob the other half, till they are all reduced to the
same level. This is the doctrine of those who are
called Levellers. But call it what you will, any man
may see, that the whole is a scheme of plunder ; and
that the reason given for it is no reason, because it
has no foundation in nature. For, are all men born
equal ? No : not in any one respect whatever. Some
are born wise, some foolish : and if we are to have a
law that all men shall be equal, we may as well have
a law that all shall be wise ; all shall be tall ; all shall
be strong. Consider all men as members of a body.
Is this body all head ? Are all men heads ? all made
to direct — are all men eyes ? all made to see for
others ? Are all hands, to work for others ? all feet,
to walk ? all made for messengers ? have all tongues
to speak and teach ? What absurdity is here ! Change

A a 2

35G

THE DANGER OF DESPISING [^SERM. XXIII.

the order of the body in any one respect, and it is no
longer a body but a monster *. Are they men that
can reason thus in a dream, or are they not ? The
man that is awake will know : but he who is himself
dreaming will not. But if men were all born equal,
like the blades of wheat in a field of corn ; or if
it were in the power of man to make them equal,
nothing could lieep them so. If all the lands of a
country were equally divided, the share of a single
man would be small ; and how is a poor man to oc-
cupy it ? To furnish himself with stock and imple-
ments of husbandry, he must part with some of his
land, which immediately makes him unequal ; and so
the plan miscarries at the first step. They who have
of late invented or revived this equality, are them-
selves a proof of its absurdity : has equality set them
at ease ? has it indeed ever taken place amongst them ?
By no means : they are ravaging and destroying
the countries on three sides of them, and they would
ravage this country if they could. It is with them as
naturalists tell us it is with the kingdom of bees : if
their chief be lost, the rest turn thieves, and plunder
their neighbours as far as they can. This is exactly
verified in the nation who of late destroyed their king ;
and it is a fact which ought to open the eyes of this
whole nation : but when men are under the power of
visions in a dream, realities have no effect.

* When the first republic of these last days was begotten by
rebellion, (as all republics are) they were going to make a law
that all men should be equal : " but hold," says one wiser than
the rest, " you must make a law first, that none shall be industri-
" ous : for the industrious will soon be above the idle, do whatever
*' you will : and certain it is, equality can never be restored again till
" the idle robs the industrious, and seizes the fruit of another's
" labour."

SERM. XXIII.]] LAWFUL AUTHORITY.

357

But your enemies, knowing the wildness and weak-
ness of their arguments, and not daring to trust their
cause to them, have another deep device to practise
upon you ; in which, I must no longer say they dream,
but show how nearly they are related to the grand
author of mischief, who never sleeps. If they cannot
make you foolish all at once, they are persuaded they
shall do it at last, if they begin with making you
wiclted. Therefore every art is tried to spread wick-
edness among you. You believe the word of God :
that keeps you in the fear of God : and that fear will
never suffer you to turn robbers and republicans.
Therefore the Bible, which stands in the way, must
first be taken out of the way : Christianity must be ri-
diculed : argument, mockery, and blasphemy, rise all
at once, to perplex you and corrupt you. To overturn
the world, by first overturning Christianity, has been
the work of the party from the beginning. This was
their employment at home till they had ruined their
own monarchy : and no sooner did they get footing
in Germany, than, in a military fortress, they began
to print the works of that infidel, who drew people
on with his wit, till he ruined their hearts, and made
each of his disciples as much the child of hell as he
was himself. All the world knows that the first Re-
publicans were heathens : therefore, if the foundation
of heathenism can be laid, a broad and easy way is
open to a Republic. See who they are that incline
to this party : they are either persons of a false reli-
gion, or of no religion at all : the avaricious, whom
nothing will satisfy ; the prodigal, whom nothing
will maintain ; the ambitious, who have no other way
of distinguishing themselves ; the vicious, who can
bear with no regular authority. The eyes of such
persons the God of this world hath blinded, that he

358 THE DANGER OF DESPISING, &C. [[SERM. XXIII.

may lead them blindfold to their own destruction, and
that of their comitry.

My brethren, you see who they are that despise
dominion, and how they argue. When you consider
that they are in a dream, be thankful to God who
hath called you to awake out of sleep, and be of the
number of those who are not of the night nor of dark-
ness, but are children of light and truth. If you wish
to have the advantage against them, be Christians :
they will hate you the more, but they will prevail the
less ; for God, we hope, will be on our side. Let us,
in one word, escape their sin, and we shall have no
reason to be afraid of X\ieix power.

SERMON XXIV.

EXCEPT YE REPENT, YE SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PARISH.
LUKE XIIL 8.

All impenitent sinners will be punished ; but not
immediately. Some are distinguished, for an example
to others : and if those others do not take warning,
they will then be doubly guilty, and deserve a double
punishment.

Some people of Judea had been killed at Siloam by
the falling of a tower upon their heads ; and others of
Galilee had been cruelly slaughtered by Pilate. In
such cases, it was the manner of the Jews to argue,
that if any suffered punishment, it was a sure sign they
were sinners ; and if their punishment was great, that
their sin must have been great also. But with this
they had another dangerous opinion ; viz. that if a
man were not punished, then it would follow, that he
was not a sinner ; at any rate, not so great a sinner as
those that were punished. This was one way they had
of justifying themselves, by comparing themselves
with other men. When they told our Saviour how the
Galileans had suffered ; partly with design to affront
him as a supposed Galilean, and partly out of curio-

360

REPENTANCE NECESSARY [|SERM. XXIV.

sity to hear what he would say, they put this question
to him: " Master, what great sin had those Galileans
committed, that they suffered such things ?" He does
not answer to their curiosity, (which signified nothing)
but he answers to their mistake ; letting them know,
that those men had not been chosen for punishment
because they were the greatest of sinners ; but to give
warning to other sinners, as great or greater than
themselves, that without repentance they also would
certainly perish at some time or other. A tower
might not fall upon their heads, to kill them in the
midst of their rioting, as was the case at Siloam ;
neither might the sword of a tyrant slay them ; yet
they might be assured, they should at length perish
under the vengeance of God ; and this vengeance
had already fallen upon some as an earnest and ex-
ample to all the rest.

If you consider with yourselves what it is to perish,
that is, to be lost and miserable to eternity ; and that
you must either perish or repent; I think you will be
ready to hear what I have to offer upon the subject ;
and if your minds should hitherto have been careless
and dead upon it, you will awake, and hear what
is to be said : for at some time or other you must
awake ; and how much better is it to be called out
of your sleep by 2i friend, than to be awakened in the
morning by the voice of an executioner, calling you
to your death !

I shall have but little difficulty in making you un-
derstand what it is to repent, if you recollect the vow
you made at your baptism, to renounce the world, the
flesh, and the devil. These are the three enemies,
which draw men into sin, and by binding them down
in it with a chain, hinder their repentance. The devil
tempts you to pride, envy, malice, ignorance, cruelty.

SERM. XXIVO TO OUR SALVATION.

361

falsehood, and disobedience ; by the last of which, I
mean rebellious undutifulness. The world tempts you
to covetousness, vanity, the pursuit of pleasure, the
love of shew and appearance : and covetousness draws
you into injustice, fraud, oppression, and extortion.
The flesh tempts you to excess, self-indulgence, sloth,
intemperance, greediness, drunkenness, and all such
sins as turn man into a beast ; the worst of beasts,
and the most odious, which is the swine.

The law of God in the ten commandments, as you
have been taught in your catechism, is pointed against
all these sins, and, the law of God being known, con-
science will be sure to tell you how and when you
depart from it ; and it will so often set your offences
before you, that it requires very little art and skill to
try and examine yourselves according to the plain rule
of God's commandments. Your heart, if you listen
to it, will soon tell you how you stand, in respect to
the law of God on the one hand, and to your three
enemies and their works on the other. To repent, is
to forsake them and their works, and turn to God and
his law; not in your words only, but in your hearts ;
for so the catechism teaches ; that by repentance we
do not only confess sin, but forsake it.

I am convinced, that very little teaching is wanting
to shew people what it is to forsake sin, and turn to
God. Our Saviour says nothing about it in the text,
but supposes his meaning to be sufficiently under-
stood ; and that nothing is wanting in his hearers, but
a due consideration of the motive, which should lead all
men to repentance : that except they repent, they shall
perish. What a terrible world is this, if we could
understand it now, as it will be understood by sinners
hereafter : But, as it is said of the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him, that they are

362

REPENTANCE NECESSARY [[SERM. XXIV.

such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath
it ever entered into the heart of man to conceive
them ; so may we say of those other things, which
God hath prepared for them who do not love him,
that they are such as our senses of seeing, and hear-
ing, and conceiving, will not now enable us fully to
understand. What it is to perish, can be known, so
far only, as God has been pleased to reveal to us in
his word. If it were possible for us to comprehend
it in its full extent, the prospect might shock us to
such a degree, as to strike us dead upon the spot with
terror. But that would be of no use ; it is not de-
signed to fright us out of life, but to fright us out of
sin. God grant that it may have its effect ! The
general sense of it is contained in those words of our
Saviour concerning his sheep — I give unto them eter-
nal life, and they shall yiq.\qx perish: so that to perish,
is to lose eternal life ; and, with that, all things desire-
able and delightful to man. It is hard for us to con-
ceive what a spirit can be without life : but you may
have some understanding of it, if you consider that
there is even in this world a life which is no life ; with
which when death is compared, it is preferred, and
often chosen, as the better of the two. Many there
are to be found, who live only to feel misery ; who
breathe only to utter sighs and groans : and when the
body is thus overloaded with infirmity, the faculties of
the mind are of little use. When the strength of the
body is gone, the spirit is also broken, and no longer
capable of exerting itself any further, than barely to
be sensible of its own suffering. What is such a life
as this, but a daily death ? And if we were to say of
such a person, that he dies every day, the meaning of
the expression would immediately be understood by
those who are made acquainted with the case. We

SERM. XXIV.]]

TO OUR SALVATION.

363

are then to conceive, that the spirit which loses eternal
life, lives only to suffer and to be miserable. It lives,
but without the powers and comforts of life. It is
separated from Christ, the Light of the world ; and
having lost him, finds nothing but the darkness of
despair. It is separated from the Spirit, whose name
is the Comforter, and its misery can find no allevia-
tion. Being thus divided from the Light and Spirit of
the Lord, the divine presence can be manifested to it
only as a consuming fire, such as God is said to be to
the wicked : it will never be blessed with a prospect
of that place which Christ hath prepared for his disci-
ples : it will never be admitted to the society of an-
gels, and just men made perfect ; but will be sent
away to join the blaspheming crew of fallen angels ;
and be tormented with those, for whom torment was
made. These are some of those terrors of the Lord,
by the preaching of which the Sii^ostles persuaded tnen;
that is, persuaded them to repent, and fly from the
wrath to come. And perhaps, they that hear me now
may think it necessary they should repent : perhaps
they form a resolution that they will repent. So did
Felix ; and thought he might find a proper season for
it ; but that season never came : " Go thy way, for
this time, (said he to Paul,) when I have a convenient
season I will call for thee." Thus it generally hap-
pens : for, as Felix never found a time, so the man
who doth not enter upon a new course of life, the
moment he is convinced that such a course is neces-
sary, never enters upon it at all : if he suffers himself
once to cool upon the subject, all things are against
him, and he will never be warm any more : if he
can put off his repentance, he will never repent at
all : and I will give you my reasons, why I think he
will not.

364

REPENTANCE NECESSARY ^SERM. XXIV.

1. Man brings with him a corrupt nature into the
world : he is more incHned to evil than to good. One
bad example can draw him further into a life of wick-
edness, and prevail more for his destruction, than
twenty good ones for his reformation. One corrupt-
ing discourse from a seducing companion will instil
more evil into his mind, than twenty demonstrations
from the pulpit will be able to overcome : this is my
first reason.

2. When sin becomes habitual to the mind, the case
is daily altering for the worse. There is a double
disadvantage ; sin grows stronger, and the mind grows
weaker : on which account, he who does not resist
his sin to-day, will be less able to do it to-morrow.
It is the same with sin as with sickness. All men
know, that in the case of bodily sickness, it is of the
utmost importance to seize the first opportunity of a
cure. Some trifling remedy may be sufficient now ;
but after a few days, not all the remedies in the world ;
and so the case is a lost one.

3. The Scripture represents it as an impossibility
to change a habit of evil for a habit of good : and we
have a frightful picture of the case by the prophet
Jeremiah, in the following words : " Can the Ethio-
pian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? then
may ye do good, that have been accustomed to do
evil." Yet men are so sottish as to continue the
practice of sin ; and if they think at all (which some
never do) they think they shall be able to wash it off
when they please, as easily as if it were a speck of
dirt. But when it is grown old, it is no longer like
dirt upon the skin ; it is the blackness of the Ethio-
pian, to take away which, you must take away the
skin at the same time. Did you ever hear of the
herdsman, who thought the time would come, when

SERM. XXIV.^

TO OUR SALVATION.

365

all his black cattle would turn white ? You would
conclude such a man to be out of his senses. But
doth not the sinner ; doth not he, who knows he can
not make one hair of his head white or black, expect
that this may happen to himself? Doth not he per-
suade himself, that his soul, hardened and blackened
by sin, (by a life of sin) may become pure and white
before he dies? Thousands commit this mistake,
and the world wonders not at it ; neither will such
people appear in their true character, till the last
day shall shew them without disguise to men and
angels.

4. There is another reason, why such men never re-
pent ; because they see so many around them who do
not. Well therefore may the Spirit warn us against
this danger ; follow 7iot a multitude to do evil. And if
you would know what the power of a multitude is,
look at the fashions : see how fast people run into
them, and how they are never ashamed of them ;
ashamed did I say ? how they are proud of them : and
certainly very many are proud of their sin, for the
same reason, because without it they cannot be like
the multitude. The world is always wrong, and it
never repents ; neither will he repent who conforms to
it ; the world will keep the impenitent sinner in coun-
tenance : there are so many of his own sort, that he
need never be ashamed; and if it is like to be well
with them all, he has nothing to be afraid of : but we
know that the world, which lieth in wickedness, is to
be condemned ; and he that looks up to it as a rule
will be condemned with it.

If you consider, that true repentance is a conver-
sion from sin to a life of righteousness, you will be
sure that it must be a work, not only of difficulty, but
of time. It is in grace, as it is in nature : the grain

366 REPENTANCE NECESSARY [[SERM. XXIV.

comes to be fit for the harvest by slow degrees. The
ground is first to be broken up by the plough ; then it
is to be sown ; then follow the blades of corn ; at first
they are tender, and remain long upon the ground be-
fore the ears of corn are found upon them. This is a
process which begins in the spring, and is not finished
till late in the summer. It is thus with the Christian ;
the fallow ground of his heart must be broken up
by true contrition,before the seed of God's word which
falls upon it can spring up, and bear fruit. Yet there
are some people, who think they can be Christians all
at once, when they please to find time for it. You
never heard of a field that was ploughed, and sown,
and full grown, and fit to be reaped, and all this in
one day : and you never yet saw a Christian, who at-
tained all at once to the life of grace. At the creation
of the world, plants grew up instantly at the word of
God ; but no farmer of any sense expects that such a
thing will happen noiv. So, at the beginning of the
gospel, Paul, by a miracle of which he had no expect-
ation, and against his own will, was a complete
Christian in a few days : but the like is not to be ex-
pected now, any more than that God should raise up
the fruits of the earth as he did at the creation of the
world. As he would be a foolish husbandman, who
should neglect his land, and let the weeds grow till
midsummer, and presume that God will give him a crop
by a miracle at the harvest ; so must he needs be a
foolish Christian, who puts off the great work of re-
formation to the close of his life, till the opportunity,
and the accepted season of grace, is lost : who thinks
the good seed of God's word may take effect in a
heart, where sin has been striking its roots deeper and
deeper every year : who thinks, that the religion of
Christ may be learned at a time of life, when few men,

15

SERM. XXIV.^ TO OUR SALVATION.

367

who had not learned them before, would be able to
learn their letters : who can flatter himself, that he
may be entitled to the reward of good works, after
his life has been spent in filling up the measure of his
iniquities.

Christian reformation then is a work of time ; and
the man who puts it off to another day will not be
reformed at all, unless by a miracle of grace ; which
he hath no reason to expect ; whose vain presumption
is a tempting of God to transgress the laws of his
justice, in favour of an impenitent sinner, who hath
so long trifled with the offers of his mercy and good-
ness. Repentance, at whatever season it comes, is
the gift of God; and St. Paul makes it very doubtful
whether God will grant it at all times, even to those
that ask it : for to some whom he adviseth to pray
for it, he uses these remarkable words, if God per ad-
venture will give tJiem repentance : as if there were
no rule nor promise to render it certain, that every
sort of offender might have it for asking. St. Peter
expresses the same doubt in the case of Simon Magus :
" repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray
God, IF PERHAPS the thought of thine Jieart may
be forgiven thee." But the most terrible of all to this
purpose is the declaration of God by Solomon ; whence
it may certainly be inferred, that the dilatory presump-
tuous sinner, who has dared to try the patience of
God, by refusing to hear him, shall at last find no
place for repentance and acceptance. " Because I
have called and ye refused, I will also laugh at your
calamity, and mock when your fear cometh. Then
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer ; they
shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."
Therefore seek God while he may be found : refuse
not to hear him at the first call ; for after that re-

368 REPENTANCE NECESSARY [|SERM. XXIV.

fusal, you know not what the second may be : death
and judgment may be the only things remaming to
you.

We often see how dreadfully they are disappointed,
who deceive themselves with the assurance of future
opportunities, when there can be no such assurance.
Two things are requisite toward a true repentance,
time and ability, neither of which are in our power ;
both are in the hands of God. I look upon it as a
sure sign of repentance, when a person thinks of the
blessed sacrament, who never thought of it before,
and is desirous of preparing his mind for it by prayer
and a serious examination of his conscience, as the
Church of England directs, in her exhortations to the
people. That person I consider as a true penitent,
who is forsaking his sins, and putting himself in a way
of salvation ; and I pray to God to help him forward
and give him perseverance. But I have met with
those, who seemed to have formed a good intention to
do their duty, yet have put off the performance for
the present, and said in their hearts, " Not this time ;
the next will do very well ;" but, alas, before the next
time came, I have seen them seized with sudden inca-
pacity, and hurried without warning into their grave;
where every farther opportunity was lost, and while
their great account remained unsettled.

On the other hand, if I see a man, who from time
to time can hear the exhortations, the solemn, and
earnest, and affectionate exhortations of the church,
to bring the congregation to the holy communion, and
pay no regard to them ; I am sure that man does not
repent ; and I have all the reason in the world to fear
and believe, that he 7iever intends it. What is to be-
come of him hereafter, when he shall make his appear-
ance before the tribunal of Christ, we do not yet see :

SERM. XXIVJ TO OUR SALVATION.

3C9

but I can tell you what generally comes of him here ;
(I say generalhj ; for we must not presume to make
a certain rule for the searcher of hearts to follow :)
generally then it happens to such a person, that he dies
as insensible as he lives ; and when death gives him
warning, that warning is not taken. He who has
hardened his ears against the language of the Church,
does at last not understand the language of death,
though it speaks loud enough and plain enough for
every body else to understand it. For it is the en-
deavour of Satan, after he has deceived a sinner all
his life, to deceive him at his death, and make him as
insensible of his bodily, as he has always been of his
spiritual danger : so that when his neighbours and
friends see him sinking apace out of life, his head is
filled with nothing but thoughts of this world : he is
contriving how some business shall be done a month
or a year hence, and perhaps at some greater dis-
tance. He determines in his sickness, what a man
dare not determine in his health, if he has any wis-
dom about him. If it happens that he is aware of
his ill state, then he is amused with hopes of reco-
very : his old Enemy suggests to him, that he is not
in such danger as people think him ; that there is
but a very little between him and health ; and with
these vain expectations he is buoyed up, till his last
breath undeceives him. This is the common end of
one who has hardened himself against the^grace of
God, and lived in the total neglect of repentance, or
put it off to the time of his death : he and his in-
tended repentance go on and on, from time to time,
till they drop both together into another world,
wherein there is no repentance.

If then, my brethren, the text assures every sinner,
that he must either repent or perish ; and if a careless

VOL. IV. B b

370 REPENTANCE NECESSARY, ScC. [^SERM. XXIV.

life ends in an impenitent and hopeless death ; my
lesson after this may be short. If the sinner would
tiy to be saved, he must try noic ; and he must be as
quick as he can : he must flee from the wrath to come.
He must be as much in haste, as he would be, if he
were running with the family of Lot, and saw Sodom
on fii"e behind him. For the same fire is now pur-
suing every sinner, whether he sees it or not ; and
unless the saving angels shall lead him by the hand
to Zoar, it will certainly overtake him. There is no
time for loitering : you must escape for your life with
all speed, or be lost : Sodom was intended to shew you
that ; where one faithless soul, by loitering, was lost.

Let no man therefore deceive himself with any vain
expectation, that though he is not such as he could
wish at present, he shall be so, at some future time:
that if he is not prepared to meet his God now, he
shall be so, before he dies. This is the delusion un-
der which so many perish. The broad way to hell
is crouded with people, who intended to grow better,
but never did. When once they have this habit of
loitering, as they live, so they die : nothing makes
any difference in them but death ; and that makes
A great difference.
Now to God, &c.

SERMON XXV.

AND WHEN THEY HAD GONE THROUGH THE ISLE UNTO
PAPHOS, THEY FOUND A CERTAIN SORCERER, A FALSE
PROPHET, A JEW, WHOSE NAME WAS BAR-JESUS.
ACTS XIII. 6.

The great apostle of the Gentiles is here in the
course of that mission, on which he was sent by the
Church of Antioch. It is a circumstance worthy of
observation, that the same Paul, who had been ap-
pointed to the ministry by Jesus Christ himself in
person, and who had his call and ordination from
heaven, should yet be sent out like other men accord-
ing to the forms of the Church. An order came from
the Holy Ghost to them of Antioch, that they should
separate (that is consecrate*) Barnabas and Saul;
and accordingly they fasted and prayed, and laid their
hands on them, and sent them away. After this,
where is the man that shall pretend to a call from
heaven, without a call from the Church, as sufficient
to constitute a preacher of the Gospel ; when it was
not sufficient in the case of Paul himself? To prevent
disorder, it is the will of God, that the authority and
rule of his Church should in all cases be preserved :
so the Church sends out even where God himself hath
separated already ; to the end that no man, under
any circumstances whatever, may be independent of

* See Numb. xvi. 9.

B b 2

372

PAUL AND ELYMAS.

[^SERM. XXV.

the Christian society. The Apostle might have ob-
jected to this " laying on of hands/' as unnecessary
in his case, who had been consecrated already by an
higher authority : but God acts by the Church which
he has appointed, for the preservation of order and
the preventing of imposture ; and charity, which seeJe-
eth not her ouui, will never claim any private rights in
opposition to it. St. Paul, therefore, who had been
sent forth from heaven, was sent forth by the Church
in company with Barnabas. It had been the custom
of Christ to send out his disciples upon the work of the
ministry by two and two, and thence we hear one of
them calling his companion a true yolte-fellow : in
conformity with which custom, Paul and Barnabas
were sent together ; who travelled from Antioch to
Seleucia, and thence took ship to the island of Cy-
prus ; where, at Salamis, in the synagogues which
the Jews had in that place, they exercised their minis-
try : and, proceeding from thence, they went through
the island to Paphos, which lay at the other extremity
of it. In their progress, they must have said and done
many things, which had already made them well
known to the people : and in all probability the fame
of their preaching had reached the place long before
they arrived thither : in consequence of which, we are
not to wonder that Sergius Paulus, the Roman pro-
consul, was desirous to hear what so many others of
the people had heard before him : he therefore called
for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word
of God ; and being himself a man of sense and pru-
dence, with a mind open to conviction, the word of
God was likely to have its effect, and make a convert
of him. But here an accident intervenes, which is far
from being uncommon ; a certain man, who has an
interest against the truth, throws himself across the

SERM. XXV.]] PAUL AND ELYMAS.

373

way to hinder its progress : there seems to be some
such mischievous blasphemous person ready in all
places ; permitted by God, and provided by the
Devil ; provided to resist the truth ; permitted to
make it shine more bright ; as truth seldom fails to
do, when it meets with malicious opposition. Thus
when Moses presented himself to Pharaoh, the ma-
gicians withstood him : with design to confute his
wisdom by their philosophy, and to equal his miracles
by their enchantments. This man seems to have been
partly of the same character : the text calls him a sor-
cerer ; nearly the same thing with an enchanter ; and
so far he is an heathenized magician ; with that name
o^3Iag'/ts, which is given only to the wise men of the
heathen religion. There is a portentous mixture in
this man's character ; for he who, as a magician, is an
heathen, is also a Jew, and is called Bar-Jesus, which
is a Jewish name. A Jew, free from prejudice, and
learned in the Scriptures of the first covenant, was of
all others best qualified to hear and receive the Gospel
of Christ ; but this was a Jew fit for nothing but un-
belief: because a Jew turned heathen, would be much
worse than a native heathen : his Judaism, being of a
spurious malignant kind, would be all against him,
and carry him away so much farther from the truth.
From his being acquainted, as a companion, with the
proconsul, we may also judge that he was a person of
some figure, one who had probably the repute of a
learned education, such as qualified him to be in the
society of the superior class of people. Such a man
as this could foresee nothing but the total ruin of his
own character in the doctrines of the Gospel ; there-
fore it was improbable that he would receive them
himself; and he was determined that no one else, as
far as his influence went, should receive them. So he

374

PAUL AND ELYMAS. [^SERM. XXV.

withstood the Apostles, and either by his arguments,
or his sneers, or his lies, sought to prevail with Sergius
not to listen to them. In such a case as this what
does the Apostle do ? I can tell you what he would
probably have done, had he lived in this civil half-
believing age : when it is the fashion not to stand up
for the authority of God, for fear of being reputed an
high-churchman ; nor to be too sure of any thing, lest
you should give offence to those, who find it conve-
nient to be sure of nothing, and say, they cannot think
as you do : so with the influence of our times upon
him, he might have observed, " that the learned
philosopher would be of another opinion if he would
but permit him to lay the case before him ; that he
had many things to say, which his opponent had
probably not well considered." This was not the
Apostle's manner : he knew that nothing but the Devil
could resist the Gospel ; that nothing but darkness
could be opposite to light ; so he makes the man no
fair speeches ; but tells him and his friends in plain
terms what he thinks of him, " O full of all subtlety
and all mischief ; thou child of the Devil; thou enemy
of all righteousness ; wilt thou not cease to pervert
the right ways of the Lord ?" The ways of the Lord
are the ways of truth, and the ways of truth are strait ;
this man wanted to make them appear crooked and
false ; and the Apostle seeing that this was his design,
had no mercy upon him ; but gave him his real cha-
racter at once. And from this example, we have a
rule for our own conduct in like cases. Where per-
sons err through ignorance, or cannot see properly
for want of light, we are to make a proper difference,
and treat them with all gentleness : but if they pre-
tend to be wiser than wisdom, and wish not to see by
the light, but to put it out that nobody else may see

SERM. XXV.]]

PAUL AND ELYMAS.

375

by it : in short, if their design is bad, then we are
never to spare them ; we are never to be tender to
malice ; for that is the same as to be cruel to all true
men : therefore, there are cases, when the difference
between good and evil must be expressed without
reserve. Our power upon such occasions can be
shewn only in words ; but the words of the Apostle
were confirmed by a miracle ; and that so remarkable
that there is nothing more so. Consider, that truth
is light ; and that this man resisted the light of truth :
therefore, the Apostle for a season consigned him to a
state of darkness, in order that he himself and all pre-
sent might know what he had done. Christ is the
Sun of righteousness ; and he who will not own his
light is not fit to see the light of heaven. The pu-
nishment is exactly apposite to the crime : all who
will not see the Gospel, deserve no other. All are
not struck blind ; for that is not necessary, nor would
it be expedient : but one is here struck blind for a
warning to the rest. This Bar-Jesus, or Elymas,
"was probably one of those who called themselves the
illuminated : perhaps he would not have refused the
Gospel, had he not in opinion had a better light of
his own. Woe be unto them, therefore, who think
they see : no men are in a worse state than they :
you see their fate in this man : his bodily blindness
is a pattern of their spiritual blindness ; and there
is nothing more terrible in this world.

What a remarkable judgment is here upon unbelief!
You may argue upon it, and say, surely it must have
changed his opinion. When he perceived, that for
resisting the Gospel he lost his eyesight, that must im-
mediately have convinced him of his mistake, and he
must have been converted to the truth ; but this was
not the case : we do not find, that it wrought any
15

376

PAUL AND ELYMAS.

[^SERM. XXV.

difference in him. He makes no confession of his
sin ; he utters neither prayer nor cry for mercy ; but
goes about seeking for some to lead him by the hand.
He can direct his feet no longer; that seems to be his
concern : he wants somebody to lead him, that he
may find his way home : as for finding the way to
truth, he is as far from it as ever ; he had an hatred
towards it, and had purposely withstood and prevented
it ; and therefore did this evil come upon him. Where
wickedness is in the manners of a sinner, his mind
may be rectified, and that will mend his manners :
but when the wickedness is in the mmd, there is little
hope : it is not a departure from God and goodness
through the prevailing lusts of the flesh ; but it is a
hatred of them ; and then there is no remedy. St.
Paul calls him by his true name, " thou child of the
Devil;" and for this reason the miracle has no effect
upon him ; he that is a devil, will continue to be a
devil. This is a fearful consideration ; and it is a
doctrine which it highly behoves us to understand.

The character of this wretch is very instructive :
it shews us what sort of people there are in the world ;
men whose eyes the god of this world hath blinded :
whose minds are actually incapable of receiving the
light of truth. This man was by profession a Jew ;
but with it, was a Sorcerer, and a false prophet : and
have not we as strange characters amongst us ? Put
together another composition of the same kind; in-
stead of the Jew, and the false prophet, and the sor-
cerer ; say, a Christian, and a Socinian, and a philoso-
pher : how often do these meet together ? and when
they do meet, they form as strange a character as that
of Elymas : a Christian, but no more of a Christian
than Elymas was of a Jew ; a Sorcerer, big with con-
ceit about the mysteries of nature ; a false prophet.

SERM. XXV.^ PAUL AND ELYMAS.

377

denying as false what the Scripture reveals to be
true : and teaching that the Lord of Glory is a mere
man like ourselves ; that the writers to whom the
Holy Ghost dictated were not inspired; that man
neither hath nor wants any redemption in Jesus
Christ : with other things of the same kind ; so hurt-
ful to man, and so contrary to truth, that no Jew, no
sorcerer, no false prophet, could teach worse.

If St. Paul had met with one of these, he would cer-
tainly have addressed him as he did Elymas; he would
have accused him of subtlety and mischief, and called
him a child of the devil, whatever his companions
might have wished to call him : they, perhaps. Would
have extolled and magnified him, as a great, a learned,
an ingenious man, wonderful in wisdom and know-
ledge : and so, very probably, was this man reputed
by people at the island of Cyprus ; if he had not
been eminent in his way, he would scarcely have been
encouraged by Sergius Paulus, the chief person of the
place : and with this man, prudent as he was, the sor-
cerer might have succeeded, and turned him away
from the faith, if it had not been for the miracle which
was wrought in his sight. For no sooner was Elymas
made blind, than the deputy, seeing what was done,
believed what he had heard, being astonished at the
word of the Lord : he was astonished at the miracle,
and he believed what was so confirmed. The power
that made one man blind, opened the eyes of another ;
and this was the way in which it pleased God to bring
men to the Gospel. When the wisdom of man thinks
about the right way of bringing us to truth, it thinks
a different way from this. Man tells us, we must be
reasoned with ; we must have it proved to us, that a
doctrine is reasonable before we believe it ; and that
if it does not appear reasonable, we ought not to re-

378

PAUL AND ELYMAS. [[SERM. XXV,

ceive it at all. This is absurd and impossible : the
Gospel could never have been propagated in that
manner : there was no time for it. Sergius Paulus, to
whom our Apostle addressed himself, was an heathen ;
and to convert him by reasoning, he must have pro-
ceeded methodically, and have brought him first to an
understanding of the Old Testament ; of the religion
of the law, and the writings of the prophets : he must
have made a Jew of him first ; then he must have ar-
gued from the agreement of the events of the Gospel,
with what had been foreshewed, and foretold in the
Scriptures before ; and this course of instruction
would have required a long time : and, what is worst
of all, it might not have succeeded at last ; for man is
not in a condition to be taught this way : till God
works upon him by his grace, he can be nothing more
than a natural man ; and we are told the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ;for they
are foolishness unto him : they seem to be all wrong :
it is contrary to man's pride, and lust, and covetous-
ness, to receive and follow a crucified Saviour. Na-
ture and reason can never be brought to this, with-
out being conquered by some power which the senses
cannot resist ; and when the word of God comes for-
ward in this manner, then it is received. The pro-
consul was astonished when he saw what was done
by the hand of the Lord ; and then he believed what
was said by his minister, and became a Christian.

This is God's way of converting the world to the
truth : but man would have it all done by reasoning.
When a man has received it, he may see that it is all
reasonable, and be in love with the wisdom of it, and
6ven give up his life for the truth of it ; but for all
this, he is not indebted to his own reason or nature,
but to the power of God, by which his reason is taken

SERM. XXV.]] PAUL AND ELYMAS.

379

captive. Upon the evidence of miracles, the world at
first received the Gospel ; and when parents have it
and understand it, they will teach it diligently to their
children, who receive it before they can reason upon
it. Let them be neglected and left in ignorance till
they are grown up, and then see whether their reason
will ever take to it. I fear it will not ; for the children
of bad parents are generally bad themselves : not al-
ways ; because the goodness of God can find other
ways of bringing them to the truth, and putting them
into the way of salvation : but the ordinary way, after
the first establishment of the Gospel by miracles, is
by education and instruction ; and woe to parents that
neglect it ! they will suffer in a two -fold sense ; in
their own persons, and in the persons of their impeni-
tent children.

We have now gone through the particulars of this
wonderful narrative. We have seen how the power
of the word of God wrought by his Apostle. We have
seen a wise man (for such without doubt the sorcerer
thought himself) made blind ; and a prudent man
brought over to the Gospel, which he wanted to know,
from what he had heard. Before we leave the subject,
I would point out some few things which are most
worthy to be laid up in our minds.

1. The Apostle of the Gentiles makes a great ap-
pearance upon this occasion, and acts in that honour-
able character, under which he ought always to be
remembered. We are told how God wrought special
miracles by the hands of Paul ; and that wrought upon
the sorcerer was a special miracle, great in itself, and
instructive to those who consider it. The progress of
the Apostle through the isle of Cyprus shews us with
what power the Gospel made its way in the world.
This island was an accursed place ; it was one of the

380

PAUL AND ELYMAS.

C^SERM. XXV.

grand seats of heathenish delusion, wliere Satan might
be said to have established his throne ; and yet, in this
place, all the power of the enemy gives way to the
Gospel. The preachers begin at Salamis, and pub-
lish the word in the synagogues of the Jews there : they
begin, as it was their constant custom, with the Jews,
and thence go through the isle, working and preaching
as they go, though the particulars are not related ;
and coming at length to Paphos, that grand mart of
idolatry, they find this Sergius Paulus, an heathen,
desirous to hear, and disposed to receive the word of
God. They come to him, and enter upon their em-
ployments ; but here is a man in the way that would
hinder them ; this Elymas would turn away the de-
puty from the faith. He was a prudent man, and
able to see and to judge : why could not he leave him
to himself? But this wicked men can never do ; they
can never let people alone ; they expect that all men
should be like themselves, and are as earnest for a lie,
as an apostle is for the truth. The Devil is always
active and zealous; he never suffers the truth to
prosper, if he can help it : and his children are like
him : they are full of subtlety and art to do mischief:
but let them be as cunning as they will, God and his
truth are above them.

When you see what this man does, you must expect
that others will be doing the same to the end of the
world ; and you ought never to be staggered in your
belief by the tempers and actions of the enemies of
the truth. All men will not love truth : many are
adverse to it, and to God for being the author of it ;
which is a most lamentable consideration. Even a
miracle, which brings astonishment and conviction
upon some, will have no effect upon others. They
go on just as they did before : when this man is made

SERM. XXV.)] PAUL AND ELYMAS.

381

blind, all he seeks is to be led by the hand, that he
may find his way : he makes no reflections, and re-
ceives no benefit. It was thus with the men of
Sodom. When they had beset the house of righteous
Lot, they carried on the assault after they were struck
blind : they still " wearied themselves to find the
door," and were as intent upon mischief as ever.
The sufferer in the parable thought that a miracle
would be the saving of his wicked brethren ; but he
judged falsely ; for if men who have the Scriptures
do not hear them, their heart is wrong, and then a
miracle would have no effect.

Now in the last place, remember, that the man, who
would not see, lost the use of his eyes. Beware, lest
the like misfortune should befal any of you ; lest, by
neglecting the light while it is shining in your eyes,
you should be able at last to see nothing. Never turn
away from the truth, lest the truth should turn away
from you, and leave you in eternal darkness. Culti-
vate every gift that you have, and it will be increased :
use what light you have, and God will open your eyes
to see more : he that can see great things, shall see
greater. If you read the Scripture, and desire to un-
derstand it, some new light will come in upon you, and
will enable you to understand it better. When once
the inclination is discovered, it will be encouraged
and assisted. Sergius Paulus callediopc Barnabas and
Saul ; and then all those great things followed, about
which I have been discoursing to you. Philip the
Evangelist was sent to the Ethiopian nobleman in
the wilderness ; but then you are to observe, that
he was sent to a man, who had already got a Bible
in his hand, and who wished to hear it interpreted.

God will act by the same rules now, by which he
acted in former ages : these examples of the Scrip-

382

PAUL AND ELYMAS. [[^SERM. XXV.

tures will certainly be fulfilled in you. If you hate
the light, as Elymas did, you will become blind
and lose it : if you rejoice in it, and use it, it will
increase more and more unto the perfect day ; that
is, till the light of truth shall lead to the light of life
eternal ; for which end God sent it from heaven, and
spread it over the world.

SERMON XXVI

AND WHEN AHITHOPHEL SAW THAT HIS COUNSEL WAS
NOT FOLLOWED, HE SADDLED HIS ASS, AND AROSE,
AND GAT HIM HOME TO HIS HOUSE, TO HIS CITY,
AND PUT HIS HOUSEHOLD IN ORDER, AND HANGED
HIMSELF, AND DIED. 2 SAM. XVII. 23.

Self-murder is a subject, the consideration of
which can never be impertinent or unseasonable in
a Christian congregation : because in setting forth the
causes of that dreadful crime, and in recommending
preservatives, we may secure people from many of
those lesser evils which lead to it ; evils, which every
wise man will be glad to avoid. The same rules which
are sufficient to save a man from death, may save him
also from a burning fever ; for which he will have
great reason to be thankful. One of the best methods
I can think of for the understanding of this crime is,
to examine the nature of it, as it appears to us upon
the record of historical truth. Example shews more
than reasoning or precept will teach without it : I shall
therefore proceed to explain the subject, from the ex-
ample which the Bible hath set before us in the re-
markable case of Ahithophel.

384

AHITHOPIIEL THE SUICIDE.

CSERM. XXVI.

When we see ruin and destruction brought upon
the soul of any man, much good may certainly be done
by dissecting his character. Dissection is a disagree-
able operation: to learn from the actual inspection of
a dead human subject is a hard trial to a tender mind.
But if the corpse is that of a malefactor, justly put to
death for some hateful treason, or some inhuman
practice, the mind is more easily reconciled to it. The
wretch, who, when alive had defaced in himself the
image of God, is no longer to be considered as a man.
The person now under our consideration was a male-
factor of the basest kind in his life-time : we may
therefore very properly dissect him, and learn w^hat
we can from him.

All the circumstances prove that this man Avas no
lunatic ; that he acted Avith as much deliberation
against his own life, as if he had been lying in wait
for the life of any other man. He committed his own
murder with the same foresight as he would have
committed any other wickedness. He " set his house
in order that is, he settled his affairs, he made his
will as a j)erson of sound mind and memory ; as he
would have done, if death had been coming upon him
in a natural way. The case is therefore unexception-
able of the kind; such as we may safely make use of
for discovering that internal state of a wicked mind,
which terminates in the fatal crime of self-murder.

We discover in the first place, that he was a man of
had principles ; by which I mean such principles as
do not restrain, but give encouragement to the bad
passions of pride, covetousness, and ambition ; which
is the nature of those principles wdiich are not of God,
but are of man, and of the world. When a man of
these principles gains the world, in its wealth, its fame,
its honour, or its power, he gets all he wants ; when

SERM. XXVI. 2 AIIITIIOPHEL THE SUICIDE. 385

he loses it, he loses all he seeks for ; there is nothing
left for him. A worldly-minded man commonly grows
up under worldly parents ; who set an unprofitable
example in their own conduct, and place before the
minds of their children no great and worthy objects :
for it must be a very bad mind indeed that gives the
preference to this world, when it has been taught the
value of the other. And we have in this Ahithophel
a man who was in no want of a capacity to learn ; he
was not ignorant for want of an understanding ; on
the contrary, he had obtained the repute of great
wisdom: The counsel of Ahithoplicl, ivJiich he coim-
selled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at
the oracle of God. It is often found too true by ex-
perience, that persons of superior penetration and
wisdom are of bad intentions : they see further than
other men, and are under a temptation to turn their
minds to the overreaching of others, and effecting
mischief: their ability in accomplishing wickedness is
a snare and a temptation to them : they find they can
do it, and therefore are ready and willing to do it.
The children of this world are wiser in their genera-
tion than the children of light : they study causes and
effects as to things of this life, and can conjecture
what will be, and what will not be, with more precision
than persons whose minds are employed upon higher
things. If any man was at a loss in a difficult case,
here was the man who could tell him how to act for
the best ; he was like an oracle ; his judgment was
never under a mistake : but he made a great mistake
in one respect, as we may learn from his own case.
We may suppose he would be as exact for himself, as
for any other person : but when he calculated for
himself, it appears, that he left God out of the ques-
tion. Providence made no part of his plan. He

VOL. IV. C c

38G

AHITHOPHEL THE SUICIDE. [^SERM. XXVI.

considered with great sagacity how he was to act; but
he never considered how God would act : and there-
fore all his wise designs must have been very defec-
tive. " I will act so and so," says the man of the
world : but he never asks himself, " how will God
act?" The rich man said, *' I shall want room for
my stores ; I will pull down my barns, and build
greater, and then I can do as I please." But the
Gospel calls him a fool, for not considering that God
might call him out of the world that night, and that
then all his schemes of happiness and prosperity would
die with him. Such is he who is wise w ithout God ;
and such was this Ahithophel. He had no regard
either to the ways of God or the laws of God; for he
advised Absalom to commit such horrible wickedness
against his father's house as could never be forgiven^
that the people might be sure there could never be a
reconciliation between them, and thereby might be
confirmed in their rebellion. All this he did without
scruple, as a wise politician ; and his advice, though
very wicked in itself, was good advice for promot-
ing the ends he had in view. A politician may be a
good man : but then, I am afraid, he will be a bad
politician; because there are cases, in these evil
days, in which a man of nice virtue will be apt to
miscarry. So practically and experimentally true is
it, as we said before, that the children of this world
are in their generation wiser than the children of
light.

But now we proceed to consider, that this wise man
was soon after under great mortification and disap-
pointment. His pride, his vanity, his ambition, were
all disappointed. He knew he had given the best ad-
vice for the destruction of the king and his party ; but
he found that the worse advice was preferred, and

SERM. XXVI.]] AIIITHOPHEL THE SUICIDE.

387

foresaw that it would be the ruin of Absalom and of
his cause. He had entered into the conspiracy with
a persuasion that his advice would be taken ; that he
should continue to be the great oracle he had hitherto
been : but his purpose was frustrated ; that hurt his
pride ; and when the worse counsel was preferred to
the better, that opened a dreadful prospect ; for in
case of a miscarriage, which he now considered as un-
avoidable, all his golden hopes were blasted. His am-
bition had promised itself wealth and honour; instead
of which, the disgrace, infamy, and punishment, due
to his treason, presented themselves to his mind.
And perhaps he now began to see for the first time,
that as he had been against God, God was against
him, and, according to the prayer of David, was turn-
ing his counsel into foolishness. Under this calamity,
what had he to support him ? Nothing but that policy
of a wicked man, which never supported any body
long. It may work for a time, and may seem to pros-
per : but when it falls, it falls to rise no more. In the
trouble of a righteous man there is hope ; but in the
trouble of the wicked there is none : he had no cou-
rage to make any further trial, but giving the whole
matter up for lost ; to avoid an ignominious death,
which he knew was what he merited, he went home
to put an end to his life, as many others have since
done under the like circumstances.

It was a severe misfortune to him that he kept bad
company, that he associated with persons of that de-
scription and character, which from time to time have
helped to bring ruin upon many a man. A leader of
sedition, let him be ever so wise, has bad designs : to
the execution of bad designs bad people are necessary,
and, therefore, such a sort of person soon finds him-
self in the midst of them; they encourage him, and he

c c 2

388

AHITHOPHEL THE SUICIDE. [^SERM. XXVI.

makes his use of them, and so they work together to
fulfil some wise ends of Providence, an hich it is hard
for us to understand, till it pleases God to bring the
authors of evil to destruction. " That which is now is
that which hath been." Look at any leader of rebel-
lion, in these days, and you will find him an ungodly
man, a man of no principles ; and Avho are they that
follow him ? Are they not in general as bad as him-
self ? No man that has the fear of God will unite him-
self with such a party : his conscience will keep him
from it ; but if that were not suflBcient, the expectation
of wrath and vengeance, which ^however slow its ap-
proach) certainly comes at last, would deter him from
the undertaking. He that joins the wicked will come
to the end of the wicked ; and, of late days, we have
been witness to many strange examples of this : we
have seen party after party, in a neighbouring coun-
try, rising up, one after another, and triumphing for
a while in murder and oppression, but in time as
effectually cut off, as if it had been done by virtue
of a death warrant sent down upon them from heaven.
Some, and they not a few, seeing their own wicked
designs defeated, have laid violent hands upon them-
selves, like Ahithophel, sending themselves out of the
world because their wickedness was unsuccessful. If
I were to attempt an history of those whom ill com-
pany has brought to destruction, it would be a black
catalogue ! O beware then how you join any bad
party : let no Absalom beguile you with fair and flat-
tering speeches ; he is in the way to ruin himself, and
you may soon be ruined along with him. Absalom
and Ahithophel both perished, as we see, in a strange
manner : the judgment of God hanged up the one in
a tree by the hair of his head, and the other hanged
himself.

SERxM. XXVI.^ AlIITHOPHEL THE SUICIDE.

389

It seems, further, to have been the case of our
traitor, that he never opened his grief to any body ; in
which respect he was a more sullen sinner than Judas
his successor : for Judas, in the agony of his mind, did
speak out, and said, " I have betrayed the innocent
blood." — He spoke it indeed to those who gave him
no comfort, but left him to his distress ; as it often
happens among partners in iniquity : they are no
" sons of consolation ;" but, when calamity comes
among them, they leave one another to desperation
and death. Indeed how can a man give comfort to
another, who has none for himself? He who has wicked
friends, can expect nothing but to be cast off and for-
saken at last ; and he is therefore debarred from that
salutary relief of a troubled mind, the opportunity of
telling its burthens and sufferings to a faithful coun-
sellor ; without which, and for the want of which, the
mind of the wretched has been so frequently lost. The
soul that cannot speak its grief, is in a like situation
with the body when it is pent up in a close room ; it
is suffocated with its own smoke ; it dies of a fulness
which has no relief ; as when the body is lost by an
apoplexy, which might have been saved by a timely
use of the lancet, to lessen the quantity of the fluids.
As the apoplexy is prevented by the opening of a vein,
and by other seasonable evacuations, so the mind be-
comes lighter and more tolerable to itself, if it can
but throw off outwardly some of that noxious matter
with which it is inwardly overcharged. This relief is
so natural and necessary to the case, that reason can
no more invent a suhstitute for it than the art of me-
dicine can cure palsies, apoplexies, surfeits, and in-
flammations, without lessening the quantity of blood.
When a person goes with a sick body to a physician,
he must describe his ailments, and tell all the symptoms

390

AHITHOPHEL THE SUICIDE.

l^SERM. XXVI.

under which he suffers : wilhout which,it is impossible
for the physician to take such a course as will restore
him to health. This parallel suggests to us, that the
proper person to whom the griefs of the mind should
be opened, is he w hose profession makes him the phy-
sician of the soul. The practice of consulting a spi-
ritual counsellor, and confessing of sins, was too much
discountenanced at the Reformation ; and the Clergy
are so much disused to the custom of giving private
advice, that many of them are less prepared for the
office than might be expected. An opportunity of
» this kind is, indeed, still allowed to the people ; and,
upon a particular occasion, w^e invite them to come
to us, and 02)en their grief: — But who ever comes ?
few, very few, indeed. If a clergyman has any know-
ledge of physic, the people will be ready to apply to
him for advice ; and if they do not in the other case,
what can we infer, but that their souls are either per-
fect and well, or that if sick, they are of no value ? In
the person of Ahithophel we see a man brought into
the extremity of misfortune, with neither inclination
nor opportunity to open his mind. He is sullen and
silent, and he falls a sacrifice to his wicked temper.
Any one may see from the particulars which I have
stated, that he was a man of no religion from the be-
ginning : this v/orld was the grand object of his atten-
tion and affection ; the pride of his own wisdom had
filled his heart ; the desire of greatness had raised his
expectations ; and to humour his pride, and gratify
his expectations, he was ready for any thing. A
change of government seemed to promise what he
wanted ; and he was upon the high road tow ard the
fulfilling of his wishes. He had formed some promis-
ing schemes ; but they were not better than airy vi-
sions— mere cobwebs, which the hand of Providence,

SERM. XXVI.3 AHITHOPHEL THE SUICIDE. 391

when it interfered, swept away at a stroke ! Disap-
pointment came upon him in a form he little ex-
pected ; his counsel, which had been so highly valued,
was now set at nought ; and in consequence of that,
all his projects were ruined. This wise Ahithophel
was taken in his own craftiness ; disgrace and punish-
ment were before him ; and for a man like him there
was no refuge but in despair. From his example we
may learn what is the common, and, as I may call it,
the natural way to his fatal end. When a man lives
without God, and has formed no expectations in an-
other life, but has deluded himself with wicked hopes
in this world, and they are all disappointed ; then life
becomes insupportable, and he throws it away. Some
destroy themselves in a gust of rage and passion be-
fore they have time to think (and may God have
mercy upon them !) but the hardened atheist dies
with deliberation and forethought, like the sinner in
the text, who seems to have placed himself beyond
the reach of divine mercy.

As religion lessens, despair increases ; and when
the true religion of Christianity decays, the false wis-
dom of heathenism prevails. There is therefore in
this age much more of the crime of suicide (or self-
murder) than there was in the last, and there will
probably be more in the next than in this : for which
some reasons may be given; and it may be of use to
make them known. Men corrupt one another by their
foolish mistakes, which pass among themselves for a
sort of wisdom. It is now the fashion to dislike the
authority of law and justice, and to be tender to crimes
under the name of misfortunes, though it be notorious
thata sinner wilfully brings them upon himself There
are laws intended to render self-murder infamous,
that men may abhor it, and be deterred from the com-

13

392

AHITHOPHEL THE SUICIDE.

CSERM. XXVI.

mission of it; and history informs us, that by a shew
of severity toward the dead, the living have been pre-
served. By false indulgence toward the dead, the
living may be lost; and often are so; a circumstance
which neither reason, nor law, nor piety will justify.
Some destroy themselves who are out of their minds,
in a state of lunacy, not being accountable for their
own actions ; of such the law takes no account : but
when a man, like this Ahithophel of the Scripture,
discovers every sign of sobriety and deliberation, and
brings himself to a fatal end by trusting to the world
instead of trusting to God, it must have a very bad
effect to make such a man innocent by calling him a
lunatic : the persons who give such a verdict are per-
jured ; the justice of the country is insulted ; the
public is abused and corrupted ; and no good is done
to the dead ; the difference is all to the living. False
mercy, or compassion against reason, notwithstanding
the applauses it may find from the ignorant, is cruelty;
the worst of cruelty, because it is lasting ; it promotes
and multiplies the misery of posterity.

It is farther to be lamented, that the representations
of poetry have tended very much to the corruption of
the times. The world admires wit, though it is not
agreeable to truth ; without considering that the end
of such wit is misery and madness. The stage has
often done mischief, but never more than in a well-
known tragedy, wherein self-murder appears with all
the reputation of Roman courage, and all the wisdom
of heathenish philosophy; because the politics of the
time when that tragedy appeared were thought to re-
quire, that this sullen, sour republican should be
brought out for a pattern of patriotism. The truth of
the matter is no other than this ; the pride of that man
would not bear to see that the greatest man in the

SERM. XXVI.^ AHITIIOPHEL THE SUICIDE. 393

world was greater than himself: so he wounded him-
self with his own sword for envy and disappointment;
and when his wound was dressed by those who wished
to save his life, he tore it open, and died wallowing in
his blood. All this foul rage of republican enthusiasm
is turned into a fine scene of patriotic virtue ; the man
dies with honour, and the guilt of his blood is laid
upon the world ; that is, in effect, upon the providence
of God, which raised Caesar to be Emperor of Rome-
This artifice has been attended with fatal effects : the
story thus disguised has been adopted as a noble pre-
cedent, and pleaded as a sufficient reason by persons
who have destroyed themselves ; of which I might
give you several examples, and some of them very
striking. When the imaginations of men are thus
wrought upon by false pictures, and fine verses, there
is very little difference between poetry and poison :
only the sin is greater in poisoning the mind than iu
poisoning the body.

Another artist of the same profession commemo-
rates the death of a certain lady, who murdered her-
self because she had entertained a criminal passion,
in which she was disappointed, and could not bear it.
Here is a precious picture for a poet to work upon.
In the first place, her crime is misfortune : instead of
guilty and desperate, she is called unfortunate : then,
the self-murderer is made an honourable character,
because it is Roman, and as such must be great and
brave : her desires were the more noble for being un-
lawful, for so were the desires of Lucifer ; and there-
fore her mind had in it the greatness of an angel * ;
that is, of a fallen angel, a devil : in the ground where
she is buried, she is pronounced to rest in peace: and

* See Note 1, p. 396.

39'i AHITHOPHEL THE SUICIDE. [[SERM. XXVI.

angels make it holy by spreading their wings over it.
These are called flowers of poetry, but they are in
reality the poisonous weeds of a wild and ungodly
imagination. What grandeur and sublimity is here
given to those unrestrained passions which ruin the
world, and make a hell upon earth ? Take these senti-
ments out of their poetical dress, and they are no
better than madness and blasphemy ; but in it, they
dazzle the eyes of the vain and unthinking, and do
irreparable mischief. When we see poets thus mis-
applying their talents, and combining with the great
adversary of mankind, that they may be admired for
their wit, while they are doing all they can to destroy
the world, one could wish they were all banished out
of a Christian country: but as if this were not enough,
sentimental novelists add themselves to the party, and
teach us, what is horrible to hear, that self-murder
may be an act of piety ! farther than which, madness
itself can never go *.

From the whole of this subject, you must see what
is the dangerous situation of miserable man : deceived
by his imagination, how he is agitated by the winds of
his ov, n passion, and drawn out of his course by the
false lights held out to him by the deceivers and cor-
rupters of mankiild ! Beware therefore of men, and
fly to God, who alone can support and deliver us
under the trials of this mortal life. Danger destroys
many ; but danger awaits all : even those that are
saved must first be tried. There never was a saint
who found his way to heaven, but after some great
tribulation, of which the world perhaps knew little or
nothing. Many things pass between God's providence
and the heart of a poor sinner, which can neither be

* See Note 2, p. 398.

SERM. XXVI.n AHITHOPHEL THE SUICIDE.

395

described, nor forgotten : the soul is brought into
some strait, out of which it seems impossible to escape,
that it may feel its own insufficiency, and depend only
and wholly upon the sufficiency of God : in other
words, that it may be convinced of the truth of the
principle, on which it is to be saved ; of which
principle the world knows nothing, and it is lost for
want of it. We have a great pattern of this in the
history of the children of Israel, when they were
brought out of Egypt : the Church of God was led
forth in a direction toward the Red Sea. The wa-
ters were before them ; the Egyptians were behind
them : if they went forward, they were drowned ; if
they went backward, they were slain : they could do
nothing but stand still ; they did so ; and they saw
the salvation of God *. It is not a time to learn
these lessons when the evil is upon us : fhey must
have been learned before, or we shall not be able to
stand in the evil day.

That God brings good men into difficulties out
of which he alone can save them, is a doctrine which
none but good men can understand or believe. And
let them never be discouraged ; such trouble is no
sign that God has forsaken them ; it is a sign that
God hath adopted them for his children, and will save
them at last. One of the greatest favourites of hea-
ven, the patriarch Jacob, was exercised with these
trials ; but under them all God was present to his
faith, redeeming him from all evil ; and whenever we
are in extremity, let his words be a lesson to us.^ — /
have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.

* See Note 3, p. 398.

NOTES.

NOTE 1.— Page 393.

The Poet in his Elegy on an unfortunate Lady who killed herself
for love (I believe incestuous) thus blends his praises with his lamen-
tations.

First, it is made questionable whether it can be any crime in hea-
ven to act the part of a Roman, and the lady is celebrated for think-
ing greatly 'and dying bravely : that as she soared above vulgar
passion in the practice of incest, her ambition was sanctified by
the example of aspiring to angels and gods, that is devils ; for he
can allude to nothing but the fall of Lucifer, whose fall is called a
glorious one. The poet, seeming to think himself in possession of
St. Peter's keys, makes no doubt but that the pure spirit of this
self-murderess (who made Lucifer her pattern) is gone to heaven,
its congenial place. Yet such is the consistency of a poet's logic,
that he prays heaven that the lasting lustre, the great sentiments,
and the heroic death of this woman, may be sent as a curse, and a
sudden vengeance on the posterity of those who crossed her de-
sires. So are they all to perish ; that is, they are to indulge the
passion of angels and gods, and die an honourable Roman death,
receive the protection of angels' wings over (Jieir graves, and con-
secrate the unconsecrated ground in which self-murderers are
buried !

Our studies of late have encouraged a sort of religion which has
no devotion in it ; while it affects superior rationality, it leaves us
there, and so we are destitute of that divine comfort without which
the soul of a Christian cannot weather the storms of life.

Want of employment renders the mind stagnant, vapid, and by
degrees noxious to itself.

If the affections are violently set upon any thing in this world,

NOTES.

397

whether fame, wealth, or pleasure, and are disappointed, then life
becomes insupportable. Therefore the moral is this : " Set your
affections on things above, not on things on the earth."

Lunacy, though sometimes accidental or natural, is generally arti-
ficial : ungovernable appetites fill the vessels with gross humours,
and if they settle in the head, they generate disorders in the mind.
I do not suppose there ever was a well-governed mind in an un-
governed body : and mortification being now totally out of fashion in
the world and exploded in religion (so far have we unhappily carried
on reformation) there is more self-indulgence than there used to be,
and consequently the mind becomes distempered, and when vice co- y
operates, and inflamed passions are disappointed, lunacy succeeds,
and ends in suicide. This is often the progress : the world is full of
disappointment : he who would bear it well must reduce his passions,
and he who would do this must mortify his body. There is no other
course. I have heard it observed in a Roman Catholic country,
*' that the fulness which intemperance breeds in the gentry is brought
down by the meagre days of the week ; and if that is not sufficient,
when the Lent comes round, that it is sure to bring them into good
order, good principles, resignation to the will of God in all things,
and trust in his protection." God permits the troubles of the righ-
teous, whose disappointments are productive of future good to pious
men, and they then often live. Faith holds out a light in tlie dark-
est night of vexation, and hope raises the dejected spirit. They are
not the passions of good people that lead to suicide, but of the proud,
the vain, and irreligious ; who take their comfort from this world,
and it forsakes them.

Temperance is the next preservative : and to open the mind to
some faithful friend, especially to a spiritual counsellor. When
the mind is filled with some bad subject and overloaded, it must be
relieved, as the body is when it is too full of bad blood.

Vanity and ungoverned passions breed extravagance ; extravagance
soon leads to distress and poverty : to remedy which they fly to
gaming for a poor chance of mending their broken affairs, which
becoming still worse by this dreadful expedient, desperation ensues,
and self-murder is the end.

The doctrine of reprobation terrifies some ill-informed minds,
who taking the notion of absolute unconditional predestination in
a wrong sense, are driven to despair, and give themselves up as ob-
jects devoted to destruction ; a most unhappy delusion, to remove
which would require a discourse of itself ; but here I can only touch
upon it.

398

NOTES.

NOTE 2— Page 394.

Ignorant and ill designing people tell us, that suicide is no where
forbidden in the Scripture. If it be not expressly forbidden, it is
because it is not supposed, as being a thing to which there is no
temptation ; for no man hateth his own flesh ; he is in danger of
loving it over much ; when a man is forbidden to murder for rob-
bery or revenge, to commit adultery, and to covet his neighbour's
goods, there is the temptation of gaining or gratifying ; and there-
fore there is something to he forbidden : but how strangely would it
sound, if it were inserted into the commandments, " thou shalt not
put out thine own eyes !" It would look as if the commandments
were given for the benefit of fools and madmen ; to whom no com-
mandments can be of any service: and they that can argue in such a
manner are surely no better.

NOTE 2.— Page 395.

When a man is surrounded with danger, and knoweth not in his
distress which way to turn himself; it may sound like foolishness to
bid him sit still, but it is good doctrine, even tlie doctrine of God
himself, by the prophet Isaiah, (xxx. 7.) their strength, says he, is to
sit still; and it is very true ; for when it comes to this, God is their
strength ; and in that case they are sure to be delivered. There are
situations, under which nothing can preserve the servants of God,
but the faith and patience with which they wait upon him.

SERMON XXVII.

BECAUSE SENTENCE AGAINST AN EVIL WORK IS NOT
EXECUTED SPEEDILY, THEREFORE THE HEART OF
THE SONS OF MEN IS FULLY SET IN THEM TO DO
EVIL. ECCLES. VIII. 11.

If it were executed speedily — for instance, if every
man who committed a theft were immediately to lose
the use of his right hand, there would be no such
thing as theft in the world : but the honesty produced
by such a measure would be of little value, because it
would be the effect of force ; there would be no prin-
ciple in it but that of fear ; which is the principle of a
slave ; the same with that which keeps brute beasts iu
order. The works of men can be good or bad only
so far as they are the works of the will, which is at
liberty to choose between good and evil. True religion
assists the will of man, and works with it, but does
not destroy it. Therefore sentence is not executed
speedily against an evil work ; but the punishment of
it is generally suspended for a time, and the decrees
of God in that respect are left to the contemplation
of faith, which sees things as yet invisible. In some
cases punishment is deferred for so long a time, that
men persuade themselves it will never be executed :

400 THE DELAY OF GOd's JUDGMENTS. [|SERM. XXVII.

that there is no invisible judge of human actions ;
or, if there is, that he either careth not about them, or
puts off all punishment to another world : and that
therefore men may act as they please in this world
without any fear of the consequences. These are per-
sons of a very untoward disposition of mind, and there
is little hope of doing them much good : but if it were
possible to open their eyes, they might judge in a dif-
ferent manner. I shall therefore attempt to prove in
this discourse, that although God does not punish
speedily, he punishes certainly. Sin and misery do so
belong to one another, that they will meet togetlier ;
in many cases much sooner than people are aware
of : this is what I mean to shew by arguments taken
from the nature of sin, from the records of holy Scrip-
ture, and from the opinions of good men.

The nature of sin is such (of some sins more than
others) that it either carries its own punishment with
it, or soon brings it. Among a list of unrighteous
persons St. Paul places the drunkard, the fornicator,
the covetous, and assures us, that such persons shall
not inherit the kingdom of God : which is certainly
true, because the kingdom of God can never bear
what is contrary to its nature. But follow such per-
sons for awhile, and see what becomes of them in this
world. Is there any misery in poverty ? How much
more miserable does it soon become if you add drunk-
enness to it ! In honest poverty there is no shame ;
but the poor drunkard is all shame : he is a nuisance
to himself and to the world. If the drunkard be rich,
will that save him ? How many such are carried off
suddenly ; some by distempers ; some hjevil accidents ;
some by fighting and contention ! And they who may
seem to be at a stand, as if they were in no danger,
are slowly undermining their constitutions, or bringing

SSRM. XXVll.^ THE DELAY OF GOD's JUDGMENTS. 401

ruin upon their affairs, and paving the way to a
prison.

If you look into a jail, you see men sitting there
pensive and in rags : that is their posture now : had
you seen them awhile ago, they were uttering shouts
of riotous exultation among their profligate compa-
nions, as if no harm could possibly come to them.
Then as to covetousness, which is the opposite vice,
all the world agrees that it is a torment to itself, by
giving to a covetous man the name of a miser or mi-
serable one. To a man in a dropsy thirst is a torment-
ing part of the distemper. What he drinks never
quenches it, but makes it worse : such is the appetite
of the miser for wealth : what he gets never satisfies,
but only increases the distemper of his mind. Evil
trees will bear evil fruits. No thorn will produce
grapes ; no thistle or bramble will bear figs ; so can
no happiness arise out of sin. As men sow they will
reap ; perhaps not to-day, nor to-morrow ; but cer-
tainly, though not speedily : and you must have seen
so many examples of this, that a doubt ought not to
remain on your minds. Health may as well consist
with poison, as peace and happiness with a sinful life ;
andif there were nothing to prove it but the natural
effect of vice, that alone m ould be sufficient with wise
men. But as all vice is disobedience, and disobedience
against God, whose laws are transgressed by it, vice is
not left to its natural effects, though they are suffi-
ciently disastrous, but calls down various kinds of
punishment from God. These judicial effects of sin
bring us to the examples of the Scripture, Avhich are
to be found in every part of it. Cain the first mur-
derer was not (as murderers are now) put to death
immediately ; but is that man under no punishment,
who is condemned to constant terror of mind, and

VOL. IV. D d

402 THE DELAY OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS. [[SERM. XXVII.

cast out as a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth ;
like the Jews at this day, who are under the same
sentence for the same crime ? Every day of their lives,
they rise up in the morning with that sentence upon
their heads, and carry the guilt and punishment of it
with them when they go to their rest in the night.
Hophni and Phinehas, the two profligate sons of Eli,
whom he did not correct as he ought to have done,
went on for a time in their own ways, but signal ven-
geance overtook them in the midst of their course : in
one day they died both of them by the sword of the
enemy, as it had been foretold of them. David fell
in an evil hour into the sins of adultery and murder :
of his guilt he was for a while insensible, till he was
alarmed by a n^essage from Nathan the prophet ; and
from that time forward he saw no more happiness and
peace in this world : his life was disturbed with tumults
and rebellions ; always do we find him either flying
from danger, or weeping with sorrow. Let no man
then hereafter tell us of the example of David, as an
encouragement to sin ; the miserable consequences of
sin were never more displayed than in the history of
that man. He was a sinner for a comparatively short
period, and he was a sorrowing, afflicted, and tortured
penitent for the rest of his life. We learn from the
case of David, that God can punish and that he can
forgive at the same time. How that can be, and why
it happens, may be considered in another place.

If we goto the New Testament, we are there taught
how sin is punished in this world. When a poor man,
who had suffered from an infirmity thirty and eight
years, was cured by our Saviour at the Pool of Bethes-
da, he added some words of advice in consequence,
which contain much in a little compass, and throw
great light on our subject when examined— Sin m

SERM. XXVII.]] THE DELAY OF GOD's JUDGMENTS. 403

more, lest a worse thing come to thee : from which it is
an obvious inference, that the bad thing under which
he had so long suffered, had been sent upon liim
for his sin ; for some sin which his conscience knew,
and which he should have corrected by repentance.
We learn further, that when God chastises sin in his
servants, and that chastisement has not its proper
effect, something worse is to be feared, and may be
expected. If this be the situation of the servants of
God, will any man tell me that sin goes unpunished
in this life ? Is not the rod of correction daily held
over us ? Happily for us, it is : for its use is to
awaken us, and open our eyes, that we sleep not in
death; that sin may not increase and stupify us, till
it becomes mortal.

We learn from St. Paul, that there were great abuses
in the church of Corinth respecting the sacrament of
the Lord's Supper : their meetings were not godly,
but even riotous and disorderly : one was hungry and
another was drunken ; so that they were a disgrace to
the Church, and to the occasion for which they came
thither. What was the consequence of this ? For this
cause, says the Apostle, many are weak and sicJdy
among you, and nmny sleep ; that is, many suffer for
the offence, by being visited with sickness, or even
death itself, who ought to have examined themselves,
and to have attended that holy institution with repent-
ance and faith, as all Christians are taught even by
their catechism; let them but listen to that; they will
then have nothing to fear, and every thing to hope :
for God never yet cast out the poorest sinner, who
came to himwith a penitentheart, trusting in the merits
of Christ's death. If any one would escape, he must
judge himself, and then he will not be judged of the
Lord : But the reason why I mention this, is to shew^

D d 2

404 THE DELAY OF GOD's JUDGMENTS. [^SERM. XXVII.

that God sends punishment upon sin in this life; and
therefore that no man has any reason to think he is
secure against it. No wise man ever thought that
sinners are left to their own ways : they seem so in-
deed, because sentence is not executed speedily : but
all that understand the case know that it is executed
certainly. Hear what the son of Sirach pronounces
against perjured persons and profane swearers. — •
" A man that useth much swearing shall be filled with
iniquity, and the plague shall never depart from his
house : if he shall offend, his sin shall be upon him ;
and if he acknowledge not his sin, he maketh a double
offence : and if he swear in vain he shall not be inno-
cent, but his house shall be full of calamities.*' In
like manner it is threatened to the adulteress, that her
children shall not take root, and her hrcmches shall
hring forth no fruit. Does not David pronounce that
hloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their
days ? The wicked seem to prosper while the sen-
tence is suspended ; but execution comes, when nei-
ther they expect it for themselves, nor the world for
them. These are the ungodly, says the Psalmist, these
prosper in the \vorld, and these have riches in posses-
sion. The case is enough to stagger the godly ; but
let them wait awhile, and the scene is changed : let
them go into the sanctuary of God for instruction,
and then they will understand what comes to such
men; how their prosperous situation is but a slippery
place, from wliich they fall and are destroyed. O
how suddenly do they consume, perish, and come to a
fearful end ! Psalm Ixxiii. 18. To the same purpose
he saith in another place ; ivicTted doers shall he rooted
out — yet a little ichile, and the ungodly shall he clean
gone ; thou shalt look after his place and he shall be
away ; and again, / myself have seen the ungodly iti

SERM. XXVII.3 THE DELAY OF GOD's JUDGMENTS. 405

great power, and flourishing like a green hay tree. I
went by, and lo, he ivas gone ; I sought him, hut his
place could no ivhere he found. Psal. xxxvii. 36.

It appears from what I have said, that no sinner
can promise himself any security even in this present
world : and if his heart is set in him to do evil, hecaiise
sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed,
he will soon find himself miserably deceived. This
point being settled, I cannot help observing to you,
how idly people are often heard to talk about sin and
its punishment. They suppose that God does not
punish sin in this world, and therefore that it is tin-
charitahle for us to judge that he does so in any par-
ticular instance : but on the contrary, God does often
punish sin openly and visihly ; and therefore it must
be our duty to see that he does. For if God punishes
some for a warning to others, what benefit can arise
to those who do not see it ? And in many cases, the
judgment of God is so plain, that men must either
see it, or shut their eyes against it. If they are not
taught by it, they will have to answer for their indo-
cility ; and God, who never brings evil upon some,
but out of mercy to others, will be justified in all his
ways. It must be said, that the judgment which
falls upon sinners in this world, is suspended for so
long a time (God waiting for their amendment in
many cases) that men persuade themselves it will
never be executed at all : that there is either no in-
visible judge of human actions ; or that if there is, he
careth not about them for the present, but putteth
off all judgment to another world: and perhaps when
they have got thus far, their next step is to deny the
punishments of the other world ; and not only to
deny them, but even to mock at them.

I know how wicked people corrupt one another

406 THE DELAY OP GOD'S JUDGMENTS. [[SERM. XXVII.

with foolish and wicked reflections : the fire of bell,
it is true, was ordained for the punishment of devils :
but if there be Christians, so called, who take part
with the devil in his sin, they must expect to have
their part in his punishment ; they will be consigned
to the company they have chosen. They who think
with angels, and jiraise God with angels, will live with
angels. They who think with devils must have their
place with devils : they hate the ways of God, and
mock at them ; devils hate them, but they do not
mock at them ; they know too much for that ; and in
this they tempt ignorant men to be more wicked and
desperate than they dare to be themselves ; which is
a fearful consideration. Devils who dare not mock
at God, will mock at tliem for their folly, and accuse
men before God as more ivicTted than evil spirits : and
what can such men say for themselves ? they will be
speechless then, however rapidly and holdly they may
talk now. To such false confidence as this is that
warning given, in the same book from whence my
text is taken — Rejoice, O young man in thy youth,
and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth,
and ivalk in the ways of thine Jieart, and in the sight
of thine eyes — that is, go on in tlie icays of thine own
passions and opinions — hut know thou, tlmt for all
these things, God will bring thee into judgment. Ecc).
xi. 9.

That God will judge men hereafter, we have no
doubt : that he often judges them here, cannot be de-
nied : and though all the laws of infinite justice, by
which rewards and punishments are administered ia
this world and the next, are such as we can neither
find Old, nor understand, still the reason is sufficiently
clear, why g-ooc? men are qftm punislied in th^ world,
^334^ bad men a^-rO. nqi.

SERM. XXVII.]] THE DELAY OF god's JUDGMENTS. 407

It was observed above, that God can punish and
forgive at the same time : because punishment from
him, when it falls upon good men, is not the punish-
ment of wrath and vengeance, but that of love and
correction; it is therefore a sign that he forgives,
and it ought to he so understood. It may seem a
strange doctrine, that God should punish ivhile he
forgives; but it is certainly tme. When Nathan
said to David, the sword shall never depart from thy
house ; he said at the same time, the Lord hath put
away thy sin, thou shall not die. God therefore for-
gives while he punishes, and punishes because he for-
gives. It may possibly be a privilege of the godly
to suffer under him ; and every wise Christian will
pray, as many have been known to do, that they may
have all their punishment in this world. If they are
the sons of God, they must be corrected when they
offend : for what wise father is there who doth not
correct his own children ? It is a sign that they belong
to God ; who speaking to his people Israel, saith. You
only have I known of all the families of the Earth,
therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities.
What a comfort is it under every affliction for a
Christian to know, that his sufferings mark him for a
child of God, under the care of the Almighty ! He
has little to fear, in life or in death.

On the other hand, when we see the wicked not
only unpunished, but even prosperous, it is no sign
that they are in a safe way, but the contrary ; they
are neglected and left to their own ways, because they
are bastards and not sons : they escape in this world,
because they are reserved for the punishment of
another, and miserable will they be when the day of
their visitation shall come ! We see one in the Gos-
pel, possessed for a time of his good things, and faring

408 THE DELAY OF GOD's JUDGMENTS. [|SERM. XXVII.

sumpti(0Hs/7/ evenj day : but how soon does he lift up
his eyes in torment ! This is the end of such a man,
be he never so easy and prosperous in his life. The
sentence may be speedily executed upon him, and
often is. He has no security against it, and he has
reason to fear it every day : but however slow it may
be in its approach, it is sure to come at last. Cloud
after cloud may pass over him : but one will come, a
black and dark one, from whence the storm ■svill
break upon his head. How foolish and mad are all
the ungodly speeches, by which he and his empty
companions set judgment at defiance. Alas, poor
sinner ! whilst thou art boasting that no harm shall
happen to thee, the judge is standing at the door,
ready to enter, and condemn thee to everlasting
torment.

I speak not to them who sin of malignity and un-
belief, for they come not for instruction ; but if there
be any here, whose hearts are set to do evil, from
carelessness and inconsideration ; O, let them awake,
and consider these things ; let them judge themselves
here, and pray that God also may touch their hearts,
and take them under his correction in the time pre-
sent, that their souls may be saved in the day of the
Lord !

SERMON XXVIII.

AND AS JESUS PASSED BY, HE SAW A MAN WHICH WAS
BLIND FROM HIS BIRTH. JOHN IX. 1.

These words are introductory to an history so curious
in the subject of it, and so remarkable in all its cir-
cumstances, that there is nothing of the kind, which
can be more worthy of our meditation.

We have here the story of a man blind from his
birth ; on whose case a question is raised ; how and
for what reason Providence had ordered such a
thing ?

Next we have the cure of this man, with the man-
ner of it, and the moral of it : the explanation of
which would, of itself, furnish matter enough for a
sermon.

After this we have a particular account of the effect
wrought upon the Pharisees ; where we see how truth
operates upon those that will not receive it.

Then there is the condition and disposition of those
that do receive it : which we see in the account of the
man himself.

And last of all, the Judgment of Jesus Christ upon
both parties — " Far judgmeiit I am come into this

410

THE MAN BORN BLIND. [^SERM. XXVIII.

world, that they which see not might see, and they
which see might he made blind."

These things let us examine in their order : and first,
the case; which, it seems, had occasioned some
speculation among the disciples. They had reasoned
thus ; " As the misery of man is punishment, and as
all punishment is for some offence, where could the
offence be, of which a man brought the punishment
into the world with him ? so they asked their Master,
who did sin, the man or his parents ? They enquire
curiously about the cause or heginning of the fact ;
but our Saviour answers in a few words with respect to
the end of it : they speak of the evil that was in it ; he
of the good that would come out of it ; that the thing
was not designed as a punishment for the sin of any
person, but as a case that would afford an opportunity
for the works of God to be made manifest : the man
was born blind, that Jesus Christ might give him sight.
What wisdom is here, in giving such a turn to the sub-
ject t How many vain, tedious, and fruitless questions
about causes and beginnings might be avoided, if we
did but consider ends and effects, and the good which
there is in every thing which is easy to be seen, and is
worth all the rest. How does the rain fall, says the
Philosopher ? is it by its own weight, or by the state of
the Heavens ? Is the cause in the water itself, or is it
in the air, or in something else ? What an opening is
here for disquisition ! Whereas the answer of Truth
and Wisdom is exactly like what we have heard al-
ready : " It falls, that the fruits of the earth may
grow ; that man may be fed, and may be thankful to
the Giver of all good.'*^ That is enough for us ; this
is the best part of the subject ; and here we are in na
danger of being mistaken. The best way then to
answer the great question about the origin ^ Evil,

SERM. XXTIII.3 THE MAN BORN BLIND.

411

is to consider what is the end of it ; what good comes
out of it ; this makes the subject at once plain and
useful. Why was the man born blind ? That the
works of God might appear, and Christ might cure
him. Why did man fall ? That God might save him.
Why is evil permitted in the world ? That God may
be glorified in removing it. Why does the body of
man die ? That God may raise it up again. When
we philosophize in this manner we find light, and
certainty, and comfort : we have a memorable ex-
ample of it in the case before us ; and I humbly
think, this is the use we ought to make of it.

Next in order is the ewe of the blind man ; con-
cerning which, we are first taught the manner of it,
and then the moral of it : the manner of it is very in-
structive ; but the moral is more so. The power of
God being invisible in its operation, is always attended
with some outward form, as a visible sign of it. In
the present case, Jesus anoints the eyes of the patient
with clay, and bids him go and wash it off with water,
in the Pool of Siloam : in consequence of which,
when the water should wash away the clay, the Divine
Power would take away the blindness. Now, if this
man bad been a modern Philosopher, he would have
put a question or two : he would have said, " Clay !
What can that do ? it will make my eyes worse instead
of better. And as to the water that is to wash it away,
when did that make a blind man see ? And why the
waters of Siloam ? What are they moi-e than others ?"
Thus does human wisdom stand questioning and ex-
pecting to have a reason for every thing ; and this, in
eases where, perhaps, a reason cannot be given ; the
will of God being the only reason, and the best of all ;
but it is such as human reason never yet submitted to:
nothing hyxifaith can submit to the will of God : and

412

THE MAN BORN BLIND. [^SERM. XXVIII.

as nothing but the will and pleasure of God can save
lost mankind, nothing but faith, which submits to that
will, can be saved. Man asks, how can an effect fol-
low from that which is no cause of it ? But faith an-
swers, it will be a cause, if God shall please to make it
so : therefore I will take it as a cause, and trust to
him for the effect. Thus doth faith reason, and it finds
its own account in so doing ; but thus the Philosopher
never did reason, nor will he ever. And Naaman
was one of them when he argued, that if water was to
be the cure of his leprosy, why not any water ; why
not the better waters of Damascus, rather than the
worse in Israel ? But here he was mistaken — water
was not to be used as a natural cause, but a spiritual
cause ; a cause according to the will of God ; a pledge,
without thcAise of which, the invisible divine cause of
the cure would never have acted. The Syrian was
angry, when he was directed to the use of such a
cause ; and Christianity, for the admitting and pre-
scribing of such causes, is never forgiven by the wise
reasoners of the world, but called superstition. But
the poor man now before us, being blessed with
common sense, and having none of that fine superior
sense, which turns a man into a fool by making him
act absurdly, did as he was bid ; he went to the pro-
per place, though he could give no reason for it but
the command of Christ, and he returned with his
eyesight. So much for the manner of this cure ; the
moral of it is still of more value.

When our Saviour was about to perform the mi-
racle, he preached upon the case, and gave the sense
of it. "As long," said he, " as I am in the world,
am the light of the world." He did not come into
the world to cure the bodies, but the souls of men ;
and he never cured their bodies, but as a sign that he

SERM. XXVIII.^ THE MAN BORN BLIND.

413

came to cure their souls. If his office had beeu to
cure their bodies, he might have said, I am come to
give sight to this man that was born blind : but no ; he
gives light to a ivorld ; and to this poor man only as a
sign of it. He is a figurative and spiritual sun, and if
he restores to the blind the light of the day, it is no-
thing more than a proof that he restores to the under-
standing the light of truth. He shines, as the sun
does, who is his image, not to an individual, not to a
nation, not to an age, not to a world ; but to all places,
and to all times. He who comes to destroy the works
of the Devil, must work upon the same great scale.
The Devil is called the god of this world, who hath
Minded the minds of them which believe not, lest the
light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine
unto them. Therefore, he who came to destroy the
works of the Devil must act as a light of the world ;
and restore the sight of their minds, that the light of
the glorious Gospel may shine unto them : and this
was the sense and spirit of the miracle, as Christ him-
self hath applied it. In the common way of reasoning,
nothing more is considered, than that a miracle is an
act of divine power ; to shew that he by whom it is
done must be a teacher come from God, and that God
is with him : but there is much more than this to be
learned ; for while the jmtver of the miracle shews
that he was sent of God, the sense of the miracle
teaches for what purpose he was sent ; and so where
reason sees a proof, faith hears a sermon.

Christ is therefore the light of life, the light of the
mind, without whom every man is in darkness, without
whom every man is born in darkness : and before the
Gospel can shine in upon the mind, the eyes of the
understanding must be restored to sight, that the
organ of faith may receive the things of God ; with-

414

THE MAN BORN BLIND. |^SERM. XXVIII.

out which an unbeliever, let him be as wise and as
learned as he will in all other things, is perfectly in
the state of a man that is blind ; he was horn blind,
and he continues so.

We come now to a most interesting part of the nar-
rative : the effect which this miracle had upon the
Pharisees, who could not receive it. When the sun
shines full upon a man's eyes, and he cannot turn
away from it, he discovers symptoms of uneasiness,
which make him appear to great disadvantage. And
the case is the same with his mind : which, when the
truth which it cannot receive is thrown strongly upon
it, is in the same condition with the face ; it is agitated
and convulsed, and so much out of shape, that the
mind of a wise man cannot be distinguished from that
of an idiot: of which reflection the truth will be fully
confirmed by the case before us.

For in the Pharisees, who were assembled upon this
occasion, we have a set of men, learned in the law,
and subtle and captious disputants, who from some
appearances, which did not well agree with their prin-
ciples, had already agreed among themselves, that if
any man did confess that Jesus was the Christ, he
should be put out of the synagogue ; that is, that he
should be excommunicated. But here comes a man,
who shews them by an undeniable fact, that he was,
and must be the Christ. The question therefore was,
what could be done under this dilemma ? How they
could maintain their own precipitate sentence, or how
they could yield to the demonstration ? Here they
were in a great strait ; for they could do neither the
one nor the other : a cowardly retractation would
have ruined their cause, and made their characters
ridiculous ; the expedient, therefore, which offered
itself, was, to try whether they could deny the fact.

13

SERM. XXVIII.]] THE MAN BORN BLIND.

415

Some of the people had been questioning with the
man before ; but when it is said that he was hrougM
to the PJiarisees, it is to be apprehended that he was
brought in form to the council or seat of Moses, in
order to be examined. And first, they do not ask
him directly about the fact, but about the manner of it,
Jiow he had receive his sight ; hoping to find therein
some subterfuge ; either that it might have been an
accident, or might be owing to some natural cause :
but that could not be ; for clay and water, without the
power of God added, will never cure a man that is
blind. Here some of them thought it a good objection
against the miracle, that it had been done on the
Sabbath Day, and that therefore he who did it must
be a bad man : but it occurred in answer to that, that
if he had been a bad man, he could not have done it
at all. — How can a man tJmt is a sinner do such mi-
racles 9 Here then they were at a stand : so their
next device is, to get rid of the fact by cross-examining
the witness. They send now for his parents, knowing
that they would be loth to speak out, for fear of the
consequences : but their evidence was positive, as to
the identity of the person, and as to his former blind-
ness : as to the fact of his cure they left it to their son
to bear witness of that, and the manner of it : and he
adhered to his own story with such firmness and sim-
plicity of truth, that nothing could be made of him. So
now we find them at another stage of their absurdity ;
they admit the fact, but deny the consequence ; and
attack the character of Christ, as if they knew him to
be a sinful person ; a man that could never be taken
for the Messiah, because they could not know whence
he was. Here common sense could no longer contain
itself: the man is astonished to think, how it could
possibly happen, that there should be a prophet in the

416

THE MAN BORN BLIND. [^SERM. XXVIII.

place, opening the eyes of the blind, and that the great
doctors of the time should know nothing of him ! He
therefore preserves no respect for them any longer,
but follows up his arguments so closely, that there was
nothing left but to have recourse to absolute autho-
rity, and do that by violence which they could not
compass by all the arts of evasion. So they gave him
to know, that all he had said signified nothing, because
he was an inferior person, not fit to teach them, and
had come into the world as a poor blind sinner : thus
they answered him at last, and " cast him out" of the
congregation ; which act shews that he was before a
Court of Judicature. And here, we may suppose,
that the persons who would have put Lazarus to death,
that his resurrection might not bear witness against
themselves, would freely have put out the eyes of this
man again, that his sight might not condemn their
blindness. If we would see human perverseness in
its utmost excess, and to what lengths of absurdity
the hatred of truth will drive men ; there is no greater
example upon earth than this we have now before
us. But we have done for the present with those
who rejected the truth ; and are now to consider the
case of the man who received it.

He that finds Jesus Christ, and follows him, must
bear his reproach : but his gains will be far greater
than his losses. This man being likely to prove a
troublesome witness against the Pharisees, they rid
themselves of him as well as they can ; and being
themselves in possession of the law, there is neither
law nor judge to call them to an account: but, never-
theless, judgment hangs over their heads. As to the
man himself, their conduct, though apparently against
him, was very much in his favour— for he could never
more have any opinion of their judgment ; and so

SERM. XXVIII. ^ THE MAN BORN BLIND. 417

great a difficulty in the way of every common Jew as
the authority of the rulers, was removed. He could
never think of their persons afterwards, without hating
and despising their opinions : and in consequence
would never after be deceived by them. He was in
every respect a fit object for our Saviour's mercy — he
was born in blindness : a sort of beginning that would
not dispose his mind to reject the light * : he was in so
much poverty, that the history tells us he sat and
hegged: the world had affronted him, and had con-
demned him against all sense and reason, when they
could not answer him ; so he was in little danger from
fashion and opinion, those pests of learning and re-
ligion. He had a personal experience of the power of
Jesus as a prophet sent from God : and being thus
prepared in mind, body, and estate, he would have
no objection against his unpopular character, or
against the novelty of his doctrine. When Jesus
heard that they had cast him out, he found him;
whence we may presume he went after him, as it was
natural for him to do, the man being now one of those
whom he came into the world to seek and to save, a
lost sheep ; a sheep turned out of the fold, and in want
of a Shepherd to take him up and receive him. To
this man our Saviour put the question, " Dost thou
believe on the Son of God ?" The man was already
convinced, that he was 2i prophet, and had affirmed it
to the Pharisees ; the question then must mean more
than that : and what can it mean, but the belief of his
divinity ? which it certainly did, because in conse-
quence of this belief, we are told, that he worshipped
him. It has been already observed, how this man was

* Heu dementiam ab his initiis existimantium, ad supeibiam se
genitos. ' Plin,

VOL. IV. E e

418

THE MAN BORN BLIND. [^SERM. XXVIII.

prepared for a believer ; but his readiness is wonder-
ful ; as soon as he heard the name of the Son of God,
he asked, who is he, that I might believe on him ?
Blessed and happy, however contemptible in the
world's esteem, is this poor man, so ready to believe !
How much do we now hear of those, who are not ready
to believe ! who looking upon every act of faith as an
act of weakness and enthusiasm, are ready for any
thing rather than that ; and are never easy till the
world knows it. The Gospel of Christ has not many
recommendations for the great and the wise : the blind
can see it, the lame can go after it, the poor can pur-
chase it : and all the greatness of man must put itself
into their state, and stoop to poverty of spirit, before
it is possible to believe. In the two characters of the
Pharisees, and the person they thus cast out, we have
a pattern of the believer and the infidel, which will
hold true to the end of the world ; where the temper
of the Pharisee is, there will Christ be unknown or re-
jected ; where the other temper is, of the man that was
born blind, there will Christ be accepted and valued,
and no where else. It is the wise and righteous judg-
ment of God, never to be thought upon but with the
most profound reverence and submission, that the low
should be exalted, and that the lofty should be made
low ; that the hungry should be filled, and the rich
sent empty away ; the ignorant enlightened, and the
wise confounded. For this purpose did our Lord, as
he informs us, come into the world, that this judg-
ment might take place ; and this is the last part of the
subject we are to consider : for the history is concluded
with this application of the whole. — For judgment am
I come into this world, that they which see not might
see, and that they which see might be made blind. The
language of the Gospel has many seeming contradic-

SERM. XXVIII. 3 THE MAN BORN BLIND.

419

tions (called paradoxes), which when examined are
strictly true and proper ; this is one of them. How
can he be said to see that seeth not, or he to be made
blind that has the use of his eye-sight ? The meaning
is, that the Gospel should make the poor and ignorant,
who are reckoned to see nothing, wise and knowing
in the things of God, but that it should make those,
who are wise in their own conceit, and think they see
every thing, know less than they did before. In the
reason and propriety of all this, God will be justified,
when the case shall be explained to us : but the fact
has been notorious in every age. We have the first in-
stance of it in Paradise : " Ye shall see," said Satan,
and he was believed : in consequence of which, man
fell from light into darkness, and is now born in it ;
every son of Adam is born blind. The heathens again
had originally the knowledge of God; it is expressly
said that they knew God; but when they reasoned,
and would see for themselves, they lost what they had
before ; they lost the object and the sense, God and
their understanding, both at once ; and we are told
that their foolish heart was darkened. Dark and
foolish it must have been, if we recollect what doc-
trines they taught, and what things they committed ;
how they sacrificed one another, and celebrated im-
purity with adoration: how they lost the way of
peace, and fell into eternal discord in pursuit of
liberty, a phantom never to be found on earth.

When Christ, as the light of the world, came to his
own people, they would not see him or know him :
and in consequence of it, we have seen in the history
before us, how they acted against reason and common
sense ; with the weakness of children, and the fury of
madmen ; the more they knew, in the way of their
own conceit, the less they could see of the truth ; and

E e 2

420

THE MAN BORN BLIND.

CSERM. XXVIII.

thus they proceeded till they crucified their Saviour,
fell into misery and confusion amongst themselves,
and were at last extirpated or dispersed. When we
see a Jew, we see one of these poor objects, who
having rejected, and still rejecting, the light, is made
blind, and goes wandering darkly about the world:
the light of the Gospel shining around him, and him-
self groping like the blind at noon-day.

View the Christian world at this time ; you will see
that we are living, to our danger and sorrow, within
sight of a country once enlightened, but now lying in
darkness and the shadow of death. Take the character
which these men give of themselves, and they are
illuminated ; they can see every thing, while poor su-
perstitious Christians see nothing : but their works
are the works of infernal darkness and diabolical in-
fatuation ; such as rebellions, rapine, murder ! bar-
barity, more than heathenish ; idolatry, more than
savage. What further proof do we require, that
these new seers are of the number of those whom the
God of this world hath blinded ? But enough of these
examples : the tendency of them all is to teach us,
that there is no wisdom against God ; that truth alone
(religious truth) can preserve the mind in a sound
state ; in short, that if we keep the Gospel, we may
keep our wits. What shall we do then, but pray God,
as our Church wisely directs, to lighten our darkness;
knowing and confessing, that like the poor man in
the Gospel, we are horn blind : that the light of all
true knowledge is wanting, till the God that made
the Sun sends it down upon us from Heaven ; and that
even when light is come, the organ of sight is distem-
pered and must be cured. This world too is so much
before the eyes of men, that it will not permit them
to view better things : let us arise then at the com-
mand of Jesus, and wash away that clay.

SERM. XXVIII.^ THE MAN BORN BLIND.

421

From what we have seen in the Pharisees, let us
beware the judgment of men, who would bear us down
with their own false opinions, the fashionable errors
of the time; and never have recourse to such judges
to know what the Gospel is, and how far Jesus is to
be received by us. When we see into what excesses
of absurdity and envy they were carried through a
conceit of false learning, let us put up the following
petition, which in few words comprehends the whole
moral of the subject. — Give us, O Lord, the sight of
that man who had been blind from birth, and deliver
us from the blindness of his judges, who had been
learning all their lives and knew nothing : and if the
world should cast us out, let us be found of Thee
whom the world crucified ; and having followed the
Light of thy Truth in this world, we may, through
thine own merits and mediation, have with Thee the
Light of Life in the everlasting glory of the world to
come. Amen.

SERMON XXIX.

GIVE NOT THAT WHICH IS HOLY UNTO THE DOGS,
NEITHER CAST YE YOUR PEARLS BEFORE SWINE;
LEST THEY TRAMPLE THEM UNDER THEIR FEET, AND
TURN AGAIN AND REND YOU. MATTH. VII. 6.

No man wishes to bestow labour in vain : and if the
fruit of labour is nothing but danger, that is worst of
all. Such must be the labour of those who under-
take to feed dogs with holy things ; or cast what is
valuable before swine : for dogs may be fed with com-
mon things ; and it is an act of profaneness to give
them holy things ; for which the dogs are no better ;
and the giver is much worse. Swine have no know-
ledge of any thing valuable ; if it is not eatable (which
is all they think of) they despise and tread it under
their feet. Instead of being obliged, they are disap-
pointed and provoked ; instead of thanking the person
who treats them so much out of their own way, they
will turn again upon him and rend him.

Any wise man would so little wish to be thus em-
ployed, that the precept, m the letter of it, is scarcely
necessary ; but in the spirit of it there is great sense
and reason. For these dogs and swine are unholy

SERM. XXIX.]] DOGS AND SWINE.

423

men ; who are so called, because they are like the
dogs and swine, in their manners and disposition. The
holy thing, here meant, is the Gospel ; and its value
is expressed by pearls, things rare and precious.
Therefore we will first consider the nature of this
holy thing : then the persons to whom it will do no
good, and ought not to be given. The reason is,
because the attempt will be unsuccessful and danger-
ous. When this is made to appear, some admonition
proper to the case may arise, as a conclusion from
the whole.

The holy thing here spoken of is first to be con-
sidered. This is the Gospel ; and a holy thing it is in
its nature, because it comes from God, who is the
fountain of holiness, and must, as such, partake of his
nature. But it is chiefly so, when we consider that
the end of it is to communicate holiness to man, and
lead him to holiness and purity of life. It calls men
to be separated from this world, which lieth in wicked-
ness, and to become members of the kingdom of God.
From thenceforth it sets new objects before them, new
good and new evil, and inspires them with new affec-
tions, with love for the one, and hatred for the other.
Its objects being all of an high and spiritual kind, the
precepts which are intended to lead us to them are
all pure and holy, and the sum total of them all is ex-
pressed in that one precept of the lavv^, " Be ye holy, for
I am holyT Man is to be made fit for the presence of
God ; but that cannot be, unless he becomes such as
God is. Therefore the Gospel saith, " Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God :" no other per-
sons will be fit for it ; it is therefore the design of the
Gospel to make them such. And this it doth, not by
restraining men from sin, as the laws of the land and
the terror of punishment do ; but by inspiring them

424

DOGS AND SWINE. [^SERM. XXIX.

with an admiration of purity, and a love towards it ;
for the sake of God who is purity itself. The Gospel,
as an introduction to the kingdom of heaven, must be
a lesson of holiness : it cannot be otherwise : and poor
blind mistaken men, who would make it consistent
with unholiness, know nothing about it, and can have
no share in it. How precious then is the Gospel,
if it can lead man to the glorious presence of God ! It
is therefore represented to us by something more pre-
cious than gold itself, even hyjiecirls : " cast not your
pearls" saith the text. And in another text, the Miig-
doni of heaven, which is still no other than the Gospel,
is like unto a merchant, seeking goodly pearls : who,
when he had found one pearl of great price, went and
sold all that he had and bought it. So apposite is this
comparison, that even the history of the pearl will
afford us moral instruction. Pearls do not lie in the
way of every common observer ; they lie deep in the
ocean ; he that would obtain them must seek for them ;
and he that would purchase the best of them all must
give a great price. So also must he who would pur-
chase the Gospel ; he must seek it — he must give — the
whole world for it ; nothing less will buy it ; and he
who would have it for less, shews that he is not wor-
thy of it. The world, as men commonly understand
and use it, is one great lie : he that would have the
truth, must give it up. " We have left all," said the
disciples ; and they did right : they were merchants
that knew how to reckon, and how to estimate : they
were therefore assured what they should have in re-
turn : this pearl would make them amends for all they
had given up.

But this pure, this holy, this inestimable treasure,
is not to be thrown away upon those who are inca-
pable of possessing it. It is not to be given to dogs

SERM. XXIX. DOGS AND SWINE.

425

or swine. A dog is incapable of that which is holy :
if he were fed with a limb from a sacrifice, it would in
that capacity be nothing to him : he would look upon
it, as upon any common thing *. Give a pearl to a
swine, and it becomes a thing of no value. It is the
same with men. To many of them the Gospel sig-
nifies no more, than if you were to give a sacrifice to
a dog : and its value is no more seen or understood,
than when pearls are cast before the filthiest beasts
in nature ; who tread them under foot as they would
the mire of the streets. The author of the Epistle to
the Hebrews bids us think of what sore punishment
they must be worthy, who have trodden under foot tJie
Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant
wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing ; re-
garding these sacred and precious things as dogs and
swine would regard and treat the greatest treasures
of the world. But of that sore punishment such per-
sons do not think, because they are insensible of their
own unworthiness. From the animals by which they
are denoted, we may learn what temper they are of,
and what is the true reason of their contempt and
insensibility. The chief qualities by which dogs and
swine are distinguished, are greediness, impudence,
and uncleanness. These qualities are odious in the
worst of beasts ; but how much more so, when they
are found in men : worst of all, when they are found
in Christians ; I mean in those who are so called.
And first, for their greediness.

To a bad man this world is the great object. He
thinks he never can have enough of it ; and he is re-

* The ancient Greeks had holy or sacred places ; they had even
sacred islands ; but into such places it was not lawful to transport a
dog. See Xenoph, Cyneg. cap. v. §. 23.

426

DOGS AND SWINE. [[SERM. XXIX.

solved to get it by any manner of means. As one dog
will snatch the meat from the mouth of another, so
will he take to himself the property, the prospects, the
character, of another man. The dog is all for the
present time ; so is he. The dog sees nothing beyond
it; no more doth he : if the appetite is supplied, it it
all he looks for. When the dog is hunting, he thinks
of nothing but his prey ; and the man of the world, in
all his pursuits, thinks only of what he shall catch.
The prophet complains of bad watchmen under the
name of greedy dogs, which can never have enough ;
looking every one for his own gain from his quarter.
— Isa. Ivi. 11. Such men think only how they may
get, and have, and enjoy ; as the dog when he is
hunting thinks only how he shall overtake and de-
vour. How incessant are the labours of some men
in this chace, hunting the world ; hunting one another;
and snatching whatever they can from those who
are upon the same hunt with themselves! These
are the men who are so fond of the doctrine of
equality ; they admire it of all things ; but this
shews their true character ; for a pack of dogs are
all equal; all have the same rights ; all are born to
hunt and devour. No dog gives any thing to another
dog : his rule is, to have it all to himself : and so little
justice or mercy is there among these animals, when
the devouring principle takes place, that it is not an
uncommon accident for one poor beast to be marked
out for a victim ; in which case the rest fall upon
him, and tear him to pieces.

That fatal distemper of madness, communicable
to men and all four-footed beasts, and so dreadful in
its effects, begins wholly (to the best of our knowledge)
in the species of dogs ; and is therefore distinguished
by the name of canine madness. Distempers of the

SERM. XXIX.^

DOGS AND SWINE.

427

same quality are bred in the minds of greedy men :
distempers as unaccountable, as infectious, and as
deadly as that which is bred in dogs . When they lose
their religion, and all sense of another world, they are
often given up to this malady ; and when one man
hath it, he is as eager as a raving dog to communicate
the Same to others. The doctrine of equality ; what
is it, but the bite of a mad dog ? The " rights of man"
is another bite : The doctrine of election, as the
fanatics understand it, is another : and as the dog
under his distemper leaves his home, and runs wild
into the fields, and woods ; so do men with this notion
in their heads, leave the church and go off into schism.
In all these cases, we see how fast the infection
spreads ; and how often it is incurable : reason and
argument cannot reach it. What can the event be,
but that men shall worry and devour one another to
the end of the world, unless God of his infinite mercy
shall find some remedy ? And what does all this arise
from but a dog-like greediness after this world ? This
it is which makes men the enemies of God, the ene-
mies of truth, and the enemies of one another.

A second quality of the dog is impudence ; the most
ancient of heathen poets compares a man to a dog on
account of his impudence — he calls one a shameless
dog. With the greediness of the dog, there com-
monly goes the impudence of the dog. There is
scarcely any property which distinguishes a bad man
from a good one more than his impudence : therefore,
impudent men are great favourites with the author of
evil. Blessed are the meek, says the Saviour : blessed
are the impudent, says the destroyer : and if there be
any sort of grace, which it is in the power of Satan to
bestow, it is certainly this of impudence : ye may call
it the devil's Messing. If he employs any person

428

DOGS AND SWINE. |^SERM. XXIX.

about his own works and designs, he seems commonly
to provide in the first place, that he be impudent. A
love of truth, an honest heart, and a good intention,
will make a man bold : piety and trust in God will
make him patient : but a bad heart and a mischievous
intention will make him impudent ; and unless he is
so, he will have but little chance of succeeding in his
undertakings. If an honest man is met by any one in
the road to evil, he is easily abashed, and his modesty
saves him : but an evil man, if confronted and dis-
appointed, begins again : his conscience feels no more
than his flesh would do, if it had been seared with a
hot iron : if confuted and exposed, he feels no shame ;
nothing hurts him, unless it be the loss of some worldly
object, or a miscarriage in some base design : and
even then he is not discouraged, but still perseveres ;
repeats his old lies, renews his old attempts, and as
he begins, so he goes on, stedfast and unmoveable.
These are the men in whom Satan delights, and whom
he employs upon the best of his enterprises. Look at
some of the principal of those persons, who at this
time are leaders in public mischief : see if there is a
modest man amongst them : it cannot be : such a man
would be of no worth in tJiat party. And indeed you
will generally find, that the man whose face can op-
pose every thing, goes naturally into opposition : that
is the stage on which his talents are displayed : the
face of an hog can make its way through an hedge
of thorns.

But there is another quality remaining ; which is
that of U7icleanness. For this the two animals of our
text are brought together by St. Peter. Christians
are called away that they may escape the pollutions of
the world: but many return to them again, and be-
come as they were before. This is illustrated in the

SERM. XXIX.^ UOGS AND SWINE.

429

following words. — It happened unto them according
to the true proverb : the dog is turned to his own
vomit again ; and the sow that was washed to her
ivallowing in the mire. These practices are loath-
some : but they are no more than a sign of the more
loathsome ways of those people, who forsake the
grace of God for the pollutions of the world. Nothing
is really unclean in the sight of God but sin, which
defileth the soul and spirit. Devils are called unclean
spirits from their wickedness ; though in them there
can be no such thing as bodily impurity. A soul de-
filed with sin is as contrary to the nature of God, as
a beast wallowing in the mire is hateful and adverse
to man ; and a soul returning to the sin it had forsaken,
falls into as loathsome an habit as that of the dog ;
who never can be raised above his nature, and cured
of his odious manners : education will never mend
him ; he will be a dog still as he was before.

When we meet with men of these ill qualities, of
such men we, as Christians, are to beware ; for we
shall do them no good, and if they can they will do
us harm : therefore, says the Apostle, beware of dogs ;
for there were persons, particularly the unbelieving
Jews at that time, w^io beset the preachers of the Gos-
pel, as dogs fall upon a stranger. Ill men arm them-
selves against those who reprove them ; and if a man
is given up to this world, nothing provokes him more
than Avhen he is told of another world. It was de-
clared, in the language of prophecy, that Christ should
be persecuted by evil men, in that passage of the
twenty-second Psalm — " many dogs are come about
me, the council of the wicked layeth siege against
me." It is tl 0 same with the followers of Christ at
this day : they who do not receive the truth, will al-
ways hate, and despise, and contradict, and persecute.

430

DOGS AND SWINE. [[SERM. XXIX.

and snarl at, and bite those who deliver it. If any
one hears the Gospel, he can very seldom hear it with
indifference ; it either pleases him or provokes him :
and provoked he must be, if he belongs to the class
of people we have been describing. For the Gospel
tells a man he must dejiy himself ; how will he bear
that, if he is greedy ? it tells him he must renounce
the world : how will he bear that, if it is the great
idol of his affections ? and if it be the pride and bu-
siness of his life to follow the forms and fashions of
the world ; he will be out of patience when he hears,
that a Christian must not conform to it ; that he
must not do as the world does.

Every person of common sense must know, if a
swine could hear the doctrine of obedience, with the
necessity of submission, how he would despise and
detest it : precious as the doctrine is, he would trample
it under his feet. And is not the world full of these
swine ? do they not abound more every day ; who cry,
" down with order, down with authority, down with
property, down with honesty, down with religion; let
all things be under ourfeet^" How can it be expected,
that those who have once imbibed such notions, should
ever hear the truth, or forbear to persecute those who
bring it to their ears ? The purity of the Christian
religion never can be acceptable to the unclean and
abominable; it is recommended to us here, that we
may be fit for the presence of God hereafter : but the
world to come and the glory of it is no more to such,
than a pearl is to a swine ; so he tramples that also
under his feet ; and not satisfied with expressing his
contempt, he turns again and expresses his hatred and
rage. How did the Jews and heathens revile and
persecute the first preachers of Christianity ! and
what was the reason of it all ? it was only because
11

SERM. XXIX.]] DOGS AND SWINE.

431

the persecutors were allied to the dog and the swine
in their principles and manners.

You see therefore what must be, in order to re-
ceive and value the Gospel ; you must put away those
sins and corruptions which hinder the reception of
it. Into the place of greediness and insatiableness,
you must admit self-denial ; for impudence you must
admit of an humble, contrite spirit ; intemperance
and uncleauness must be exchanged for holiness and
purity : then will you love the truth, and delight to
hear it preached. Then shall we ever be ready to
give you that which is holy, and cast pearls at your
feet ; knowing that they will be taken up with reve-
rence, and valued according to their worth. The
text says, cast ye not your pearls. What a blessing
is that ! the Gospel hath put us in possession of them :
these pearls are our property : God hath given them ;
and all the world cannot take them away : neither
moth nor thieves can touch them : nothing can for-
feit them but our own unworthiness, and the indul-
gence of base and grovelling affections. Which may
God Almighty prevent, for the sake of Jesus Christ
our Lord, to whom, &c.

SERMON

XXX

JESUS SAITII UNTO HIM, I AM THE WAY, AND THE
TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. JOHN XIV. G.

He who would be liappy in this world, and in the
world to come, must know Jesus Christ, and love him,
and keep his Commandments. — By knowing him, I do
not mean that we should have personal knowledge of
him, as Peter had, when he said, Loi'd thou hnowest
that Hove thee. It is sufficient for us to know ivhat
he is : to receive him with the heart and affections ;
though it be not possible that we should see him with
the eyes of the body. To the eye of faith he is visible
enough, for all the purposes of salvation ; and so the
words of St. Peter imply, where he says — whopi having
not seen ye love: in whom, though ye now see him not,
yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory. Such joy must every man feel, when his
eyes are opened, and Jesus Christ is revealed to him;
and no words can reveal him to us more effectually
than the words of this text. — Blessed are the eyes
which can see him as he is here described ! That you
may be able to do this, I shall make them as plain and
easy as I can : and if there be any among you, who

SERM. XXX.]] CHRIST THE WAY, &C.

433

have not seen him yet, may God hring such out of
darkness into light ; that their eyes may not be
closed in death, till they have seen the salvation of
God!

I proceed to shew you, how truly these three
terms, the way, the truth, and the life, describe to us
the character of Jesus Christ : and first I shall shew,
how he is the way.

We are all departed from God : our disobedience
drove us from Paradise, to wander about this world ;
and nothing but disappointment and misery can attend
us, till we find God whom we had lost, and return to
him again. We are all gone out of the way : and in-
stead of seeking after God, we are always seeking
after something else. We have some vision of happi-
ness before us, to which God is not necessary ; in
which he has no share — God is not in all their thoughts,
saith the prophet. Here are two very bad circum-
stances : first, that we are lost, and next, that we have
neither power nor inclination to return. The poor
sheep, straying in the wilderness, when wolves are
abroad, cannot be in a worse case. It was the wolf
which first made us wander. Such doctrine as a Avolf
would give to a sheep, such did the tempter give to
man; and in consequence of it, he has been wandering
ever since — he is in a loilderness ivhere there is no
way ; no footsteps are to be seen : we may go over
the whole world, and find no way that will lead us to
God : every way of man carries us farther from him.
The way in which he commonly walketh is called a
shadow ; it is only an image and outward semblance
of life, which, like a shadow, soon departeth. Try all
his ways by this rule, and you will find them all alike.
When he is in the way to be rich, he is laying up for
some other to gather when he is gone. If he is in the

VOL. IV. F f

434

CHRIST THE WAY,

CSERM. XXX.

way to be happy, his pleasures turn into thorns and
vexations. If he is in the way to be great, a short
time will put him upon a level with the lowest of man-
kind. If he is in the way to be wise, his wisdom is a
wisdom of words. If he is a discoverer, he brings in
a fresh generation of terms ; persuading the world
that he has new knowledge, because he has new ex-
pressions. Thus is man constantly seeking the way,
but he is still estranged from it, and misses his true
object. It was therefore intimated of old that a way
is prepared, which man can neither make nor find.
Jacob's visionary ladder had this use; it foreshewed
that there should be a communication between earth
and heaven ! a method of descending from heaven,
and of ascending from the earth. This our Saviour
applies to his own person. He is that ladder by
which man is to ascend to God : and to attempt it
without him, is to think we can step into the clouds.
Man can no more make his own communication with
God, than he can make a ladder to heaven. Christ
must be our mediator, before he becomes our teacher ;
and of this we can give you another proof. When
man was shut out of paradise, a flaming sword was in-
terposed to keep the way of the tree of life. When
man left that seat of bliss, labour and death were be-
fore him, and vengeance was behind him. There was
no return for him into paradise, without passing the
fire of that sword. This is the thing which Christ
did for us : he suffered that fire, and survived it ; and
thus he recovered for us the way to paradise : he
overcame this sharpness of death, and opened the
kingdom of heaven to all believers : and from the
story of the malefactor upon the cross, we may know,
what was true of him, may be true of us all ; we may
all be with him this day in paradise.

SERM. XXX.]] THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. 435

There is no way to the favour of God, or to the
knowledge of God ; no entrance administered, but by
Jesus Christ ; who being the only mediator, is also
the only teacher, who shews us the way in which we
are to walk. This was one great end of his coming :
and all the world hath known and confessed, till of
very late years, that tJie way of man is not in himself:
it must be revealed to him. And as a way is wanting
to all mankind, it is necessary all should understand
it. The prophet therefore speaks of it as an highway;
such as all may see and understand, if they will walk
in it. What can be easier to every capacity, than the
rule of example ? We have nothing to do but to look
at Christ ; and all is plain. Learn of me, says he,
Jbr I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find
rest to your soids. — Matth. ii. 29. How short, and
how proper ! How suited to our case ! — while the
world gives a very different lesson. — " Learn of me,
for I am proud and high-spirited, and ye shall find
nothing but disquiet and labour of heart." The
blessed Apostle repeats a lesson corresponding with
that of his Master — Be ye followers of me, even as I
am of Christ. How heavy is the burthen of the
world, when compared with the yoke of Christ! how
laborious and difficult is the way of fashion, when
compared with the way to heaven ! This short, plain
rule, of following Christ, would deliver us all.

And as for that other way ; that valley of the sha-
dow of death, in which we must all walk, there Christ
hath gone before us, and shewed us the path of life :
so that we may all say with the Psalmist, yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil, for thou art with me ; thy rod and
thy staff, they shall comfort me. We shall find the
way, as sheep are directed across a ford by the shep-

F f 2

436

CHRIST THE WAY,

CSERM. XXX.

herd : and though that ford be as wide and as deep as
the Red Sea, it will make no difference : the bondage
of Egypt will then be left behind, and Canaan will be
in full view before us ; to which the rod and staff of
this great Shepherd will conduct us in safety.

But now let us consider the second capacity in
which Christ appears to us ; that of the truth.

When we lost our way, we lost the tnitli at the same
time. When Satan shewed a way of knowledge, truth
was no longer to be found. — The different opinions
among men ; that vain jangling, as the Apostle calls it,
is a proof that there is no truth among them. Let
any man hear what philosophers have said about God,
and he will soon see what human truth is. But the
truth of God is this : that the Father sends his Son
into the world, that all that believe in Him may be
saved. This no philosopher ever thought of. But
this is the truth, on which man has depended ever
since it v*'as said in paradise, " the seed of the woman
" shall bruise the serpent's head." The great end of
revelation was to keep up and explain this truth,
which was fulfilled in the person of Christ. Without
him neither the law nor the prophets, nor even the
world itself, hath any truth in them. What are all the
types of the law of Moses ? What is that greatest of
all, the passover? It is nothing, unless you add to it,
Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. The law had
a shadow of good things to come ; but the body and
substance, from whence that shadow was formed, is of
Christ. Take away the blood of Christ, and what is
the blood of bulls and of goats? It cannot take away
sill : it cannot do that for which it was commanded
to be shed ; and so it is nothing. We are told of a
redemption from Egypt ; but that was a temporary re-
demption : nothing will save us but an eternal redemp-

SERM. XXX.;] THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.

437

tion, of which that was a figure ; but the truth is in
Christ : he is the true Lamb, the true Moses, the true
Aaron, the true Joshua : he is the truth of all that
were before him ; the true leader and captain of the
people of God ; the true priest, the true sacrifice :
and this was probably the glorious subject of his
Exodus, about which INIoses and Elias talked with
him at his transfiguration. For neither Moses nor
the prophets have any other truth : Christ is the sum
and substance of all.

But I ventured to say, that the natural or created
world itself has no truth without him: and I am per-
suaded you will find the assertion true. For look at
some of the world's first objects, and examine them.
We see and admire the light of the day ; and we may
say with the wise man, " truly the light is sweet, and
a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun."
But this is the light of the eye : it is not the light of
the mind : Christ is that light ; and therefore he calls
himself the true light, whom the sun in the heavens
points out to us as the sun of righteousness. The
natural light of the day cannot enlighten a man that
is born blind : but the light that enlighteneth every
man that cometh into the world, that alone is the true
light : and this Christ shewed, when he gave light to
a man blind from his birth : he did this to teach us,
that no man is out of the reach of his light, be his
case what it will : from the enlivening rays of that
sun nothing is hidden.

Bread is of great consequence to man's life ; but it
is so only to his natural life : that alone is the true
bread which cometh down from heaven, and giveth
light to the world. He that eateth of what we call
bread, will die afterwards ; and even they that did eat
of manna in the wilderness, all died : but this is the

438

CHRIST THE WAY,

l^SERM. XXX.

true bread from heaven, that a man may eat thereof
and not die.

On another occasion, Christ calls himself the True
Vine ; because every thing that can be said of the
vine is fulfilled in him. The vine, considered in
itself, is but a shadow ; apply it to him, and it has
sense and substance.

Water is made to quench the thirst ; but he that
drinJeeth of it, shall thirst again : this is the true tiring
water, of which a man may drink and thirst no more :
and this is what our Saviour offered, when he said, if
any man tJiirst, let him come unto me afid drink.

In like manner, all things in this world that are
most necessary and valuable to man, are verified in
Christ : in him alone the truth of them is found. And
we may thence affirm, that the world we see without
him is not the true world ; it is only a shadow of it.
The world before us is a bodily world, and made for
the body of man : but the true world is made for his
spirit, and must be of a spiritual nature. Hence you
may understand the two great mistakes which the wise
man of tlie world is sure to make, concerning this
world and the other. He judges totally amiss of the
Christian and of himself. He supposes his own ob-
jects to be real, and the objects of the Christian imagi-
nary ; because the one walks by sight, and the other
by faith : whereas the objects of a Christian's faith are
the true objects, while the man of the world has no-
thing but the shadow of them; and when he loses the
shadow, the Christian gains the substance : when this
world goes down and disappears, the world of eternity
rises up, and the objects of faith are all realized. —
Lord, give us evermore of that world which we see
not ; and of this that now appears to us give us more
or less, according to thy good pleasure : for we now

11

SERM. XXX.]] THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.

439

see how it is possible to possess all things, even while
we have nothing !

But there is still one more capacity in which our
Saviour is to be understood. He that is the Way, and
the Truth, is also the Life ; and what a blessed hear-
ing is this in such a world as ours, where death spoils
every prospect, dissolves all society, and renders every
possession vain and empty! What is your life ? It is
a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then
vanisheth ; like a cloud that passes over our heads
before the wind, and is gone. Even a wise Heathen
can tell us, that it is rather death than life ; and that
the only real life is to be found, not in this world, but
out of it. Ask the man of pleasure how he finds it ?
He must answer, according to matter of fact, (if he
has any sense in him) that it is a life, which through
the fear of death brings him into continual bondage.
The thought of death may be profitable, as it leads us
toward another world ; but it turns this into a Gol-
gotha, njilace of a scull ; a place to which men are
brought only to be executed. When the Saviour ap-
pears in it, it is no longer that lamentable place it was
before ; its very nature is changed : for when he be-
held the funeral procession of a young man that was
carried out to be buried, and the widow his mother
following, he said unto her, weep not : and what he
said to her, he saith to us all : it is a voice to the
whole Christian world. He who spake these words to
that poor widow, was himself the resurrection and the
life, and was about to raise her son. She did not
know that, and therefore she we2)t. But now we all
know it ; and therefore we ought not to weep.

Since the resurrection of Christ, death is no death,
because he has no sting ; for sin is the sting of death :
and when sin is taken away, as by the atonement of

440

CHRIST THE WAY,

C^SERM. XXX.

Christ, death should no longer be terrible. Hence
the Apostle exclaims, O death, where is thy sting?
For if Christ be risen, it is a proof that the debt is
paid ; and that sin, which kills us all, is no longer
imputed.

From the history of man it is known, that if sin had
not entered, man would not have died ; for death
Cometh by sin ; without it there Avould have been none.
The life of paradise would have been sustained per-
petually by the tree of life. But when man fell into
sin, he was driven from the tree of life, to return to
the dust out of which he was taken. To restore that
life which we lost in Adam, and give us that to which
the tree of life would have raised us, the Saviour came
into the world. How much more than this his own
words may promise to us, we cannot affirm ; but he
tells us — / am come that ye might have life, and that
ye might have it more abundantly : whence we may
gather indubitably, that the life which we obtain
through Christ is better than we should have derived
from Adam ; and that for this reason he is called the
Tree of Life : he does what that would have done,
and more : and as we have no title but through him,
he is therefore called our Life.

It is a plain doctrine, and generally understood,
that Christ becomes our life by his resurrection from
the dead ; and that therefore he calls himself the re-
surrection and the life ; but the Gospel teaches, that
Christ is our life before the resurrection of the body ;
there being a resurrection to grace and newness of
life, which begins here, and is the pledge and earnest
of the resurrection of the body. Modern Christians
seem to think that the Christian religion is a history
(a very true history) of things without us : but is
it not also a history of something within us 1 does it

SERM. XXX.]] THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.

441

not also preach up a principle of life, given to Chris-
tians at this time, and distinguishing them from a dead
world that lieth in darkness ? is not Christ now a life
to animate and revive the dead ; as well as a light to
instruct the ignorant ? Doth not the prophet say the
same — awake thou that steepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light ? Can the sun
of the spring shew itself, without raising the roots that
lie huried in the earth ? Even so, he that gives light
must give life at the same time, and by the same act.
And this must be the life of which Christ himself
speaketh, where he saith, he that helieveth in me,
though he were dead yet shall he live ; and he that
liveth and helieveth in me shall never die. This must
be meant of that spiritual life with which we now live :
and the occasion on which the words were spoken, the
resurrection of Lazarus, relates to the same : for
Martha had said, I know that he shall rise again in the
resurrection at the last day. But this confession was
notsufficient; the resurrection of Lazarus was to shew
somethin;^ more : it was to shew, not only that the
hour is coming, but that it now is, when the dead in
sin hear his voice and come forth. Reason therefore
requires that the words which follow should be strictly
taken — " I am the resurrection and the life" — and
were they not strictly fulfilled, when the Gentile world
were raised up by the Gospel from that hopeless death
of sin in v/hich they lay ? And are they not now ful-
filled in every sinner, who at this time is raised up
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness ? To
such Jesus Christ is now the resurrection and the life :
but there are many who say with Martha, that they
believe the resurrection at the last day, without seem-
ing to regard or understand tins : but blessed and
holy is he who hath part in this first resurrection : to

442

CHRIST THE WAY, [[SERM. XXX.

him Christ is truly the life ; and over him the second
death shall have no power.

I have now shewed you, how just a description the
text hath given us of Jesus Christ ; and from that you
may learn the value of his religion ; and what a bless-
ing it is to us all that we are still in possession of it ;
for if we lose that, we lose all. The world would no
longer be a place fit to live in. If there be any such
thing as a religion without Christ, you may judge what
it must be : it can neither shew us the way, nor tell us
the truth, nor give us the life ; and that must be a
strange religion. It has no teacher to shew us the
way ; no mediator to prepare it. It leaves us like
sheep in a desert ; departed from God, and not know-
ing how to return to him. If we try to be wise, we
are ever learning, and never ahle to come to the know-
ledge of the truth. If we are shocked at the brevity
and vanity of man in this world, we see no remedy.
The richest and fairest parts of the earth, whatever
trees and fruits they may produce, have no tree of life.
Death reigns without controul ; for whatsoever the
various schemes of man's wisdom may promise, not
one of them all ever pretended to give Ife.

How devoutly thankful ought we to be for that in-
estimable blessing which God hath bestowed upon us,
in giving us his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish but have ever-
lasting life ! The way to heaven lies right before us,
and is so plain that a child may find it. We have
knowledge of that truth, which is above all truth ;
and we partake of that life, which is a life of eternity.

We shall be thankful in the only proper manner,
and as God requires, if we take advantage of these
blessings, and use them as we ought.

Therefore, if Christ be the way ; let us return

SERM. XXX.^ THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. 443

to God by him : let us pray, with him for our inter-
cessor ; and then we shall have access to God. It
is the custom in the East to this day for persons to
gain access to some great and powerful man, by
sending an offering before them to prepare the way.
Our offering is Christ : we offer him to the Father,
and we are accepted in the beloved. Paradise itself
is open to those who seek it in this manner : no
flaming sword is now in the way, to stop them from
the tree of life.

If Christ be the Truth, let us find him in the
word of truth. Let us learn how he is the end of
the law for righteousness : how it all points to him,
and is fulfilled in him. Let us look unto him
through the works of the creation, and learn how
he is the truth of nature : the true vine ; the true
bread; the true light ; the truth of every thing our
eyes can see, that is great and valuable in the world.
Till we see this use and sense of nature, the sun may
give light to our eyes, but it gives none to our minds.

If Christ be the Life, let him be our life. As man
liveth not by the bread of earth alone, but by the
bread of heaven ; let us go out to gather that manna,
where it is to be found (and as often as it is to be
found) at the table of the Lord. Christ our passover
being sacrificed for us, let us keep the feast ; and let
us think it a feast ; as indeed it is, in comparison of
which all that is in the world is emptiness and famine.
Christ being also the true Tree of Life, the old pro-
hibition is no longer in force against us ; we may
now with safety put forth our hand, and talce of the
tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.
Now to God the Father, &c.

SERMON XXXT.

FOR IF THEY WHICH ARE OF THE LAW BE HEIRS^ FAITH
IS MADE VOID, AND THE PROMISE MADE OF NONE
EFFECT. ROM. IV. 14.

The five books of Moses stand in the beginning of
our Bible, and it is of great importance to all readers
of the Scripture, that they should have a right un-
derstanding of them ; for two reasons : first, because
we have in those books the foundation of all that
follows ; and secondly, because in this age they have
been dangerously misrepresented.

The doctrine of the text is this ; that they who
were under the law could not, as such, inherit the
promise ; because the promise had been made to the
faith of Abraham before the law ; and had it after-
wards been given to the law, it would have been
taken from faith ; and so the Avhole together would
have been a contradiction. But as the promise had
first been given to faith, it could not be given to the
law afterwards ; and it was not given : for the law
answers other purposes, as we shall see.

That the promise is given to faith, the case of the
great father of the Church was intended to shew.
God called Abraham from Iris friends, that he might

SERM. XXXI. ^ THE CASE OF THE LAW STATED. 445

go out to a land which he had not seen : he commanded
him to devote his son to God, and he obeyed : in
consequence of which he received the promise. —
Now I knoiv that thou fearest God — thou didst not
withhold thy son — in Messing I will Mess thee, &c.
Few words are here wanted to shew, what sort of re-
hgion is most pleasing to God. It is the religion of
Abraham ; which leaves father and mother, and for-
sakes the world, at the call of God ; which believes
his word, while appearances argue the contrary ; and
resigns itself to his will, though he requires what is
most valuable in life. In a word, it shews, that God
is pleased with faith, and that without faith it is im-
possible to please him — he believed in the Lord, and
he counted it to him for righteousness. Gen. xv. 6.

If you would know the justice of this, the case is
plain. Man is in a state of alienation and forfeiture :
the works of his nature are nothing worth : there is
none righteous, no not one. God hath therefore con-
cluded all under sin : and as righteousness is not to
be found, another service is admitted, to be counted
for righteousness : which is the service of faith. The
Apostle breaks out into rapture when he thinks on it
— O the depth of wisdom and goodness ! that God
should conclude all under sin, that he might have
mercy upon all ! Thus Gentiles as well as Jews are
all brought in, as children of Abraham, and heirs of
the promise. All that was given to faith in Abraham ;
the promise, and the blessing, and the oath which
confirmed it, might also be given to the like faith in
them. Every thing is given to this faith ; even Christ
himself, the greatest blessing of all. For as Abraham
had given up his son, so did God in due time give up
his. In return for that act, which resigned Isaac as a
sacrifice, did God on the very same spot, in after

446 THJS CASE OF THE LAW STATED. [[SERM. XXXI.

ages, give Jesus Christ to die for the sins of the world.
In conformity to the same example, the Christian is
still required to resign his fame, his pleasure, his chil-
dren, his friends, when God requires ; and then he
will have Christ in return. This is the true religion,
which leads men to salvation, and which always did
so ; and it is as plain and easy as it is true.

But with this religion of faith, there was another
sort of service, another necessary rule of obedience to
God, called the law : concerning which the text in-
forms us, that they who were of it could not be heirs ;
that is, could not thereby be intitled to inherit the
blessing which God had promised to Abraham. And,
I believe, whosoever shall examine the law of Moses,
will find that no such promise is any where added to
the works of the law. The Apostle expressly declares
the contrary: hy the deeds of the laio shall no flesh be
justified in his sight : and again ; a man is justified hy
faith without the deeds of the law. Rom. iii. 20. 28.
Certain it is then, that if the law cannot justify ; it
could not give life ; and if it could not give it, it could
not promise it ; and accordingly it never did. But
here the Jew made a fatal mistake. He went about,
thinking it possible to establish the sufficiency of his
own righteousness by the deeds of the law ; and so he
failed of that other righteousness which God had im-
puted to Abraham. It is no disparagement to the law
of Moses, that it did not give righteousness : nor
should we hence imagine that the law and the promise
were in opposition : God forbid ! for if there had
been a law given, which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law ; it was the
most excellent system which could be for the purpose :
but from the nature of man t/iat could not possibly be.
The Scripture had concluded all men, had as it were

SERM. XXXI. ^ THE CASE OF THE LAW STATED. 447

shut them all up together, under a sentence of sin
and condemnation : so that justification must be
.brought in some other way ; which way is that of
faith ; and a counting of that for righteousness, which
in itself was not righteousness, till God pleased to
make it so. It would surely have been a strange
thing, if the law had promised what it could not
give : and much hath been said about this to little
purpose : but there is in the mean time a great and
useful question which deserves to be answered. For
if the law could not give life, what was the design of
it, and what end did it answer ? The Apostle in-
structs us, that it was added because of transgression;
and that it was a schoolmaster unto Christ. We are
therefore to examine into the signification of these
two characters.

And first, the law was added because of transgres-
sion. If it was added, there was something in use be-
fore it, to which it was added by way of preservation,
in order to lessen transgression for the time to come.
The case was this : from Adam to Noah, and down to
Abraham, there had been a practice of divine Avor-
ship, which comprehended the chief institutions of
that law which was afterwards written. This worship,
the people whom we call Heathens, and who are sup-
posed to have arisen from the confusion at Babel, had
corrupted, and had turned the rites of it to the ser-
vice of false gods ; whom they worshipped with such
abominable practices as made them hateful to the true
God, and of course very dangerous companions to
his people. That Abraham might escape this danger,
God called him from his family, who are said to have
served other gods ; (Josh. xxiv. 2.) and for the same
reason his posterity were separated from all other
people : and when they were to be settled in the land

448

THE CASE OF THE LAW STATED. [^SERM. XXXI.

of Canaan, the nations of Idolaters were ^riven out.
The first form in which God gave his law was that of
the ten commandments : and the first of these forbids
the worship of strange gods; as doth the second the
invention of images, which was the constant wicked-
ness of the heathens. And this, without any thing
farther, is sufficient to shew, what kind of transgres-
sion the law was added to prevent, and who the trans-
gressors were, ^^'hat the witchcraft was which di-ew
mankind away to the belief and worship of false gods,
it may not be easy for us, at this distance of time, to
detect and understand. The shortest svay is to sup-
pose, what is certainly true, that idolatry was a subtle
invention of the devil : and we know what he can do,
and what absurdities men can receive and embrace,
from what is at this time stirring in the world. Cer-
tain it is, that the company of these Heathens always
was a snare to the people of God ; of whom it is too
truly said, that they transgressed against the God of
their fathers, and tvent a whoring after the gods of
the people of the land, whom God destroyed before
them. We are to note well that expression, theij went
a whoring: for as fornication and adultery are lusts of
the body ; so is disaffection to the true God, and a
love of unclean idols, a lust of the mind ; which ill
company and bad teaching are sure to excite. For
this cause God divided his people from the Heathens,
and laid them under every possible obligation for their
security, by the institutions of the law of Moses ; as a
good father would keep his son from the seducing
company of profligates and blasphemers. Many of
the Mosaic laws are preservatives against heathenism ;
but there is one law, of equal effect with all the rest ;
this is, the distinction of meats into clean and unclean,
in the 11th of Leviticus. By this law Heathens and

SERM. XXXI.^ THE CASE OF THE LAW STATED. 449

Jews could not eat together, and so could not live
together. God tells them in direct words, that the
design of this law was to keep them separate from
the Heathens, and all their abominable customs — ye
shall he holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy, and
have severed you from other people that ye should
be mine.

Thus was the law concerning beasts understood ;
for this end was it observed ; and thus is it applied and
interpreted in the Acts of the Apostles ; where Peter,
referring to his vision of the animals in the sheet, saith ;
ye hiow how that it is an unlawful thing for a man
that is a Jew to heep company, or come unto one of an-
other nation; hut God hath shewed me (by putting an
end to the distinction of meats) that I shoidd not
(now) call any man common or unclean. The sepa-
ration was now at an end ; and therefore this law,
which had kept it up, was no more to be observed.

This law, as I have said, which forbid them to eat
with Heathens, made it impossible to live with them;
and this might be sufficient to account for it. But it
is delightful to see, how that law which kept up the
distinction, comprehended in itself the sense and
reason of the distinction. Forbidden meats were so
fixed on as to resemble forbidden men; and lawful
meats, properly understood, were so many lessons of
purity, patience, obedience, and integrity.

To this question then, wherefore serveth the law ?
the Apostle, we see, is right in one of his answers : it
y^ac^ added to the Patriarchal religion, to prevent those
transgressions and abominations which heathenism
had brought into it. In his second reason we shall
find him as right as in the first; namely, that the law
was a schoolmaster unto Christ. And when Christ
came, the Jews, who had been under this school-

VOL. IV. G g

450 THE CASE OF THE LAW STATED. [^SERM. XXXI.

master, ought to have known him immediately, and
to have said : " These new and wonderful things,
which we are taught to believe of Jesus Christ, are
the very same in sense and substance with what we all
have seen and been acting over from the beginning of
our law. As children are sent to a schoolmaster to
acquire the first rudiments of learning, so have we
been brought up to learn these things : and as chil-
dren are shut up in a school, so have we been shut
up from the world, to practise over continually those
signs and figures which describe to us Jesus Christ."

For, is Jesus Christ a mediator between God and
man ? And had not we our mediator, Moses, between
God and us, at Mount Sinai ? Is Christ the true high
priest of God ? And have not we always been used to
the sight of an high priest and his ministry ? Is he a
sacrifice for the sin of the world ? And hath not the
blood of sacrifices always been shed amongst us for
atonement and sanctification, and always taught us
that without shedding of blood there is no remission ?
Is Christ the lamb of God redeeming us by his blood,
and turning away the wrath of God ? And did not a
lamb in Egypt save us by its blood from the destroying
angel, when the first-born of Egypt were slain ? They
say Christ is the true passover. And is he not in
every respect like the passover we have been used to ?
How wonderful is it that his bones were not broken
when he hung upon the cross ! but were not we for-
bidden to break a bone of the paschal lamb ? They
say he hath ascended into heaven, there to appear in
the presence of God for us : and did not our high
priest go yearly into the most holy place of the temple,
and return from thence to bless the people, as the
Comforter is now sent down from Jesus Christ in
heaven ? These and many other like things have we

SERM. XXXI.]] THE CASE OF THE LAW STATED. 451

learned under our schoolmaster the law ; and if we do
not now see and understand them, after we have so
long been used to them, we must be lost in ignorance,
and incapable of receiving information.

What I have here said for the Jew, he should have
said for himself ; and he would have said it, had not
the love of this world, together with a vain trust in the
letter of the law, and in his own righteousness built
upon it, blinded his eyes and hardened his heart. And
when he had blundered in the beginning, by rejecting
Jesus for not encouraging him in the love of this
world ; his pride would never condescend to compare
the figures of the law, to see whether these things were
so. He had determined that Jesus was not the Christ
before he had enquired ; so he would never enquire
after he had determined. Wonder not that the Jew
thus erred: for the Christian world is still full of such
Jewish scholars, who begin where they should end ;
who first determine, and are never afterwards dis-
posed to enquire. Instead of beginning with the wis-
dom of God, and from thence deriving the wisdom of
man, they begin with what man has established, and
thereby they judge God, as the Jews crucified Christ.

An examination of the text has enabled us to lay
down such certain principles as will correct some mo-
dern mistakes. The law, you see, did not give life. It
could not give it, because the promise had given it be-
fore : and had the law given it, the promise must have
lost it. — Some have hence concluded, that the Jews
under the law had no knowledge of another life and
another world. But what do they mean ? that while
the Jews practised the book of Leviticus, they were
not permitted to read the book of Genesis, which told
them of the fall of man from life to death ; of the pro-
mised seed ; of the life, and pilgrimage, and death,

Gg2

452 THE CASE OF THE LAW STATED. [^SERM. XXXI.

and burial, of the patriarchs ; of the intercourse of
man with God and with his angels? Could they know
these things, and know nothing of another world ? Is
such an opinion worthy of a man of learning, which is
scarcely worthy of a child ? We allow it to be true as
a fact, that the Jews preferred the carnal part of their
law, and neglected the spiritual : but it is much to be
lamented that any Christians should follow them in
their mistake, and lay the fault upon the Bible, as if
the books of Moses were wholly secular. But as this
has been done, it was wise in the Church of England
to provide against this error in her seventh article ;
where we are rightly taught, that m the Old Testa-
ment and New everlasting life is offered to tnanldnd
ly Jesus Christ ; and that they are not to he heard,
which feign that the old fathers did look only for
transitory promises.

It seems indeed true, that the promises of God, so
far as they are added to the law of works, are transi-
tory, and do relate to this world only. The promises
of the law are given to two covenants ; so it has pro-
mises and better promises * ; promises temporal, and
promises spiritual. And are not Christians at this day
upon the same terms ? have they not a promise of
this world, and of that which is to come ? I look upon
the cases of the Jew and the Christian as perfectly
similar ; and that as temporal blessings were given
to the due observance of the law of Moses, so the
promise of this world is given to the keeping of God's
commandments, while faith only can entitle us to
the promise of the world to come.

A good argument for the divine original of the law
of Moses may be founded upon its temporal promises.

Heb. viii. 6. See Eph. ii. 12.

SERM. XXXI.3 THE CASE OF THE LAW STATED. 453

For who but God, the Proprietor of the World, and
the Disposer of all Events, could fulfil those promises?
Human lawgivers have added 2)u?iL<ikments and penal-
ties, for those are in their power ; but they never
added jiromises, which were out of their power. Who
was it that could bring armies of aliens to vex and pu-
nish the sins of Israel ; and who could turn them to
flight, but the same God, who could blow with his
wind, and carry an army of locusts into the Red Sea?
Therefore a law promising and threatening such things
as are above man, could come only from God, who
was able to fulfil his promises. And unless the nation,
who were so many ages under the law, had found
them true, they would have had no reason to remain
any longer under it. The argument is very plain,
and can never be answered.

When we reflect on the case of the Jews, and the
principle on which they fell away, it must occur to our
minds (because we see too much of it before our eyes)
that Christians fall away after the same example.
They are born under the promises of the Gospel ; but
they aim at nothing more than the keeping up of a
moral character, because common honesty is abso-
lutely requisite to those who would obtain and enjoy
the blessings of this life. But when will you find
such people at their Bibles ? When will you find
them at their prayers ? When will you find them at
any good work for the love of Christ, and the prospect
of an heavenly kingdom ? If all these were selected
out of a country called Christian (profligates and
atheists I take not into the account), and we were
to add to them the multitude of those who justify
themselves, and expect to be saved by their own
works as the Jews did, there would be left a remnant,
but only a remnant, of those who keep the faith, and

454 THE CASE OF THE LAW STATED. [^SERM. XXXI.

follow the steps, and look for the reward of their father
Abraham.

That we may understand these things better every
day, may God of his mercy grant, through Jesus
Christ our Lord.

To whom, &c.

SERMON XXXII

BY FAITH THE WALLS OF JERICHO FELL DOWN, AFTER
THEY WERE COMPASSED ABOUT SEVEN DAYS.

BY FAITH THE HARLOJ RAHAB PERISHED NOT WITH
THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT, WHEN SHE HAD RE-
CEIVED THE SPIES WITH PEACE. HEB. XI. 30, 31.

It is tlie doctrine of the Gospel, that salvation is
from faith, and destruction from unbelief. In this
Scripture the Apostle sets before us a striking ex-
ample of both, in the fall of the city of Jericho, and
the deliverance of Rahab the harlot.

Faith is the evidence of things not seen ; by which
it is to be understood, that faith proves to the mind of
a believer what cannot be proved by other evidence :
viz. that the promise of God shall be brought to pass,
while as yet there is neither sign, nor appearance, nor
any reason to expect it, other than the word which has
foretold it. Thus, in the case before us, the walls of
Jericho were to be overthrown, and the people within
the city were to be destroyed. In order to this, priests
were commanded to blow with trumpets, and the walls
were to be encompassed seven days. It certainly

15

456

RAHAB AND JERICHO. [|SERM. XXXII.

did not appear how this harmless ceremony could
tend to destroy a besieged city ; no city had ever been
destroyed by means of such a cause ; but the people,
believing it would be made the cause, complied with
the ceremony, and the effect followed.

You are not in the situation of the Jews in the land
of Canaan — but their case is nevertheless your own.
You are tried ; that is, your faith is tried, after the
same manner as theirs was — you are taught to expect
things, of which the producing cause is no cause, till
God shall make it so ; no more than the sound of a
trumpet can shatter the wall of a city. You are com-
manded to be washed with water, that you may be
born of the Spirit ; and that your sins may be
forgiven : you are to receive power from above, by
the laying on of the hands of man ; but what relation
is there between water and the Spirit of God ? What
relation between the hands of man, and the powerful
grace of God ? Who sees all this ? No man. But
faith believes what it does not see : and this is the
great trial by which God is pleased to prove his ser-
vants. The man of the world, who with an opinion
of his ow^n wisdom, has no faith in God, can never
abide this test ; but in order to maintain his own
ground, he ridicules the whole plan of Christianity, or
persecutes the preachers of it : he has no other wea-
pons of controversial warfare. Such an one is not of
the number of those that encompass the city, but of
those who are shut up Avithin it, and are consequently
devoted to destruction. The men of Jericho, when
they saw from the wall how the priests and the people
were occupied, and how fruitlessly they were em-
ployed, must have judged the whole to be no better
than an unmeaning pageantry, dictated by folly and
madness : they could see no relation between the ap-

SEllM. XXXII.3 RAHAB AND JERICHO.

457

parent cause that was acting, and the effect that was
to follow ; and in all probability were deriding the
Hebrews, and encouraging one another in their un-
belief and insolence, till the moment, when, at the
command of God, his people shouted, and sudden
destruction came upon them.

From this destruction, one person of the city is de-
livered; and she, as we should think, a most unlikely
person; even the harlot Rahab. But the text gives
us the reason of this : hij faith the harlot Rahab
perished not with them that helieved not, when she had
received the spies with peace. All the people of Jeri-
cho had heard of Israel, and of what God had done
and was doing for them, as well as Ptahab : but they
did not believe, and she did. / Icnow, said she, that
the Lord hath given you the land; now therefore
swear unto me, that ye will shew me kindness, and de-
liver our lives from death. When the king of Jericho
was informed that the spies were with her, he sent to
demand them ; but she hid them till the danger was
past. She did all this at the peril of her own life ; for
had she been discovered in what she had done, she
would surely have been put to death ; but she brought
herself into present danger, to obtain future deliver-
ance for herself and her relations, which accordingly
was granted soon after ; and she is an example to us
at this day. For this history of Jericho and Rahab is
to be fulfilled upon the world, and those that dwell
therein ; the world will be destroyed like Jericho, and
the faithful will be saved like Rahab. The Apostle
speaks of the future judgment of the world in such
terms as certainly allude to this history of Jericho.
The Lord himself, says he, shall descend from heaven
with a shout, ivlth the voice of the Archangel, and with
tJw trump of God. Observe here ; it shall be the

458

RAIIAB AND JERICHO. ^SERM. XXXII.

liord himself, not Jesus the servant of Moses, but
Jesus the Son of God ; the true captain of our salva-
tion ; and as the people shouted when Jericho fell,
so shall there be a great shout of the host from heaven
when this world shall fall. O how will the righteous
be encouraged, and the wicked terrified, at the hearing
of that shout ! The trumpets also that sounded at
Jericho, shall then prove figurative of the trumpet of
the last judgment, called the trumj) of God: a thing
not unknown to the people of Israel ; for they had al-
ready heard the sound of it on Mount Sinai, as a pre-
lude and earnest of that last sound which will shake
the world. At that time will the faithful be delivered
as Rahab was ; whose example teaches us this lesson,
that we are to believe what we have heard of the
judgment which is soon to come upon us, and to make
our peace against that time of vengeance, not regard-
ing what the world may say, and what men may
threaten, to terrify those who dare to take a better
part, for the sake of securing their own future deli-
verance. Rahab knew all that was said by the peo-
ple of the city ; but she was not moved from her pur-
pose ; the king's command did not terrify her ; and at
last she saved her life, by having ventured the loss
of it ; she perished not with them that believed not.

Such is the history of Jericho and of Rahab : on the
particulars of which many important reflections must
arise to those who consider it. And first ; the city of
Jericho presents itself to us as a figure of this world,
in which we now live : as being wicked ; as being in
opposition to God ; as being blind to impendingjudg-
ments. The people of Jericho are distinguished by
the title of those that believed 7iot. In this consisted
the difference between them and Rahab. Had they
believed as she did, they might have been saved as she

SERM. XXXII.;]

RAHAB AND JERICHO.

459

was ; but where unbelief hath once prevailed, how
rarely is it corrected ! The Scribes and Pharisees of
Jerusalem had principles of their own, which would
not suffer them to believe Jesus Christ to be the true
Saviour ; their pride would never give up their own
false wisdom ; and their covetousness would not give
up the world : so all the miracles of Christ could not
convince them. But publicans and harlots, and all
others to whom sin was burthensome, and judgment
frightful, believed and were saved. Every man that
will not believe, has some wicked reasons for it ; and
he can never believe, till those reasons are given up :
on which consideration, it is necessary that repentance
should go before faith. What those reasons were in
particular, which hindered the people of Jericho from
believing, it may now be hard to enumerate : long
established idolatry, with the habitual vices attending
it, was sufficient ; in which pride and presumption are
among the chief. I believe, their high walls, and their
miraculous downfall, were alluded to in those words
of the Apostle, where he says, for the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, hut mighty through God to
the pulling down of strong holds ; casting down ima-
ginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and hringing into cap-
tivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Such
weapons as men use in war, are called carnal : these
were not employed against Jericho ; but such only
as were figurative and mystical, but which never-
theless, are mighty through God to the casting down
the walls of this proud city ; such weapons as could
have no effect but what he gave them. The Gospel
is such another weapon : it is sounded by priests ;
and with the same effect : the high thoughts of man
are brought down, and all imaginations fall before

460

RAHAB AND JERICHO. []SERM. XXXII.

it *. In such wicked imaginations did the people of
Jericho persist ; and therefore they could not under-
stand what was coming upon them. But observe,
that though they continued firm to the last in their
unbelief, they were far from being easy. The terror
of destruction was upon them, and their hearts
melted within them. Thus it is with wicked men :
they suffer fear and terror from the state they are in ;
but it does them no good : they neither grow wiser
nor better. What a deplorable case is this ! but it
was the case almost universally of those wicked na-
tions of Canaan, when they had filled up the measure
of their iniquities : and such is the natural end, and
last effect of sin : when it has blinded the eyes, it
hardens the heart, and then there is no recovery to
be expected. The judgments of God are then cer-
tain, and his justice is inflexible. When judgment
is come, mercy is past ; according to that terrible
declaration by the prophet Amos ; I will set mine eyes
upon them for evil, and not for good. How dreadful
is it, when it comes to this! when God is determined
upon punishment, then it soon appears what it is to
fall into tJie hands of the living God.

But whatever a sinner may have been, if he returns
and makes his peace while the day of mercy lasts, he
is never cast out. This doctrine is exemplified in
the case of Rahab ; who was received to mercy when
the city perished. This case, before it is well con-
sidered, may seem to give encouragement to sin.
What ? hath a wicked harlot nothing to do, but to
believe and be saved ? Here we are too hasty : for
when she believed, what did she ? She did not sit
still to be idle and worthless ; but as she believed, so

* See Isaiah ii. 14.

SERM. XXXII.3 RAHAB AND JERICHO.

461

she acted : she received the spies with peace : and
saved their lives at the hazard of her own. Surely
then, if he who gives only a cup of cold water as a
testimony of his faith, is entitled to a reward ; he
who saves the life of another, on the same principle^
must he entitled to a greater.

This case of Rahab has given occasion to some rea-
sonings in the Scripture, which often are not rightly
understood. In the text the Apostle teaches us, that
hy faith the harlot Rahah perished not : but St. James
asks ; was not Rahab the harlot justified hy worhs,
when she had received the messengers, and had sent
them out another ivay f There is here an apparent
contradiction in words ; but there is none in point of
fact ; for faith, and the work of faith, are in reality
but one and the same thing : the faith produces the
work; and the work proves the faith ; and neither of
these can be certain without the other. Faith which
does not work is dead ; and a work, if a work of faith,
justifies : indeed faith itself is a work in the heart of
man, and so the expression of St. James imports; for
he says of Abraham, that faith wrought with his works;
and so it was a working, that is, a living faith. But
the most express declaration to this purpose is the
answer of Christ to that question of the Jews ; ^vhat
shall we do, that we might work the works of God 9 to
which he answered. This is the work of God, that
ye believe on him whom he hath sent. So that the
dispute which men have raised about faith and works,
is without foundation. When these two are asunder,
they are nothing : when they are together, they are
but the same thing. Faith that is alive will work ;
and the work will be good, because it is the work of
a believer.

They who never considered the power and value of

462

RAHAB AND JERICHO. [|SERM. XXXII.

faith toward salvation, may learn how great it is from
the history of Rahab's deliverance. When we are
told, that Abraham was justified by faith, we do not
wonder: we can believe any good of our father
Abraham. But that it should avail to the saving of
Rahab is extraordinary, and never to be accounted for
by the man of the world. The just live by faith ; that
is, they are not saved for their justice, but for their
faith : and if the best are not accepted without faith,
the worst may not be condemned if they have it. But
why is faith preferred in this manner above all things ?
I will tell you some of the reasons. Faith in God is a
cure, because it is contrary to man's native distemper.
Man began to sin with believing a lie : and he believed
it when told by an enemy ; by the enemy of God ; as
he is still disposed to do at this day ; with what pro-
priety of justice then can God receive the man, who
refuses to believe him upon his word ? Faith in the
Enemy brought him to ruin, and keeps him in it :
nothing can restore him, but its contrary ; which is
faith in God.

Another reason is, that the way of faith is contrary
to the way of man's own wisdom ; and is therefore the
hardest trial that he can be put to. It is after the
wisdom of God : but it has nothing of man's wisdom
in it : it is contradictory to it all. This the wise man
cannot bear to hear of ; and he therefore pronounces
it to be folly. There are in the world two contrary
descriptions or characters of men : the one has faith,
the other has none : and they are so different in their
conception of things, that each is considered as un-
wise by the other. The man of the world makes it a
rule to believe nothing but what he sees : but the
faith of the believer is a sight of the mind, which gives
evidence of things not seen. There is no doctrine

SERM. XXXII.]] IIAHAB AND JERICHO.

463

upon earth which mortifies the pride of man, like this
of salvation by faith ; it is therefore appointed as the
great test by which man is proved. He cannot endure
the thought, that his wisdom should be foolishness,
and that his ostentatious virtues should be good for
nothing. But he who cannot bear this mortification,
he who will not freely make an offer of his mind to
God, is not fit for the kingdom of heaven. He per-
sists in that rebellious desire of the mind, which first
drew him away from God : and to shew him his
mistake, God hath chosen the foolish things of the
world, to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world, to confound the things
which are mighty. How is the worldly-wise offended,
when the Gospel tells him of a malefactor, translated
from a cross to paradise ! What rage will torment
him, when he shall see the harlot Rahab admitted,
and himself shut out ! But such are the ways of God :
he exalteth the weak, and putteth down the mighty.
Men may glory for a while in the appearance of
their greatness ; but their high walls will come to
the ground. They may despise Rahab ; but the best
and the greatest of them all must submit to be saved,
upon the same terms with that repentant and be-
lieving sinner of Jericho. They may talk to one
another in high strains about virtue, and right, and
degrees of credibility : but God regards them not :
his salvation is bestowed upon the poor penitent,
who believes that Jericho will soon fall; that de-
struction is coming upon the world of the ungodly ;
that the judge standeth at the door ; and who makes
provision accordingly ; securing an interest against
the day of vengeance. They who Avould not be
found, but persecuted the messengers of God (as un-
believers never fail to do) shall be involved in all

464

RAHAB AND JERICHO. [[SER.M. XXXII.

the horror and confusion of a falling world : while
they that have made their peace like Rahab, shall be
sought out and delivered. God shall send his an-
gels, to gather together his elect ; who have made a
covenant with him, through the sacrifice of Christ ;
and can produce the scarlet token of his blood, which
marks them for the redeemed of the Lord : and they
shall be advanced to a place in the kingdom of God,
as Rahab was joined to Israel, and her name now
stands, as that of a mother in Israel, in the line
of those from whom the Saviour of the world de-
scended *.

I have presented to your minds an history, the
sense of which is so important to a Christian, that
you cannot remember and apply it too often. When
you are alone, think that you have before your eyes
that proud city of unbelievers, filled with the eue-
mies of God : think that you hear the noise of its
downfall, added to the shrieks and exclamations of
those that are found within it ; and that you see a
cloud of dust rising up into the air !

Such will be the ruin of this world ; and such will
be the terror of those, on whom destruction (una-
voidable destruction) cometh. You did not see and
hear the fall of Jericho : if you had, you would never
have forgotten it : but the other judgment upon the
world, the fulfilling of it, the substance of which that
was but a shadow ; you sliall see ; that sight you can-
not escape : therefore prepare for it in time : take
part with God and his truth, while you may — even
at the hazard of your life — while the day of salva-
tion lasts : when the city shall fall, you will then have
nothing to fear. You will indeed see yourself sur-

* See St. Matthew i. 7.

SERM. XXXII.]] RAHAB AND JERICHO.

465

rounded with destruction — with the destruction of
many whom it would have rejoiced you to have
saved : but it shall not touch you : ye shall be as a
firebrand plucked out of the burning — angels shall
be sent to take you out of the overthrow : ye will be
saved as Rahab was ; and hj faith, will not perish
with tJwm tJiat believe not.

VOL, IV.

Hh

SERMON XXXIII.

THEN SAID JESUS UNTO HIM, GO AND DO THOU
LIKEWISE. LUKE X. 37.

The parable, of which these words are the principal
part, is proposed as an inducement to the exercise
of mercy toward all mankind : the charitable act of
this good Samaritan is described with all its circum-
stances, and then the practical inference is added —
go and do thou liheicise. The man must have a hard
heart and a mean understanding, who is insensible to
the beauty of this story : it being a striking instance of
that simplicity of expression, and propriety of descrip-
tion, for both of which the Gospel is so superior to all
other writings. But the story hath certainly a more
deep design, than such a narrative might be supposed
to have, if it had occurred in some other book : and
this I think must be evident upon the following con-
sideration. The precept — go and do thou likewise, is
of general obligation. What our Saviour here said to
the Jews, he said to all his disciples and followers to
the end of the world. And if they are all bound to
the practice of this precept, it is but natural to think,
that they should all be interested in the circumstances
of that narrative, on which the precept is grounded.

SERM. XXXIII.^

THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

467

It is the general design of the parables of Christ, to
set before us the great and interesting principles of
th3 Gospel, under the form of something familiar to
the understanding : therefore our blessed Saviour
never relates any thing of this kind, but with some
superior allusion : and if we take this story as a para-
ble, representing to us under other terms that merciful
act of redemption in which we are all equally con-
cerned, then there will l)e no difficulty in making the
example and the precept consistent with each other.
I may add likewise, that in this Christian acceptation
of the parable, we shall agree with all the best expo-
sitors of the Church, from the apostolic age to the pre-
sent : which consideration will have its weight with
all those, who are not poisoned with the pretended
improvements of modern times. It is the general
intention of the Gospel, and of all its principles and
doctrines in particular, to improve our understandings
in the way of godliness, and encourage our endeavours
to the practice of holiness. This passage of the Scrip-
ture, when truly interpreted, will, like the rest, be
found capable of answering both these purposes :
with which persuasion, I shall now propose to your
consideration the several particulars.

A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Je-
richo, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of
his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving
him half dead.

If we suppose the man here spoken of to be Adam,
departing first from innocence to sin, and next from
paradise into the world ; all the circumstances of the
parable will fall naturally into this interpretation, and
we shall soon be satisfied that the design of it is not
misunderstood. The journey from Jerusalem to Je-
richo is plainly that from paradise into the world. In

Hh2

468

THE GOOD SAMARITAN. [^SERM. XXXIII.

the book of Revelation, the names of " Jerusalem"
and " Paradise'" are applied indifferently to the same
thing. The tree of life is spoken of as growing in the
midst of the paradise of God : but in another place,
the same tree of life is said to grow in the midst of the
street of the new Jerusalem. Something of the like
kind occurs in St. Paul ; who tells us he was caught
up to the third heaven, which he calls paradise : yet
elsewhere, with allusion to the same paradise, he
speaks of a Jerusalem that is above, which is the
mother of us all: to which character, in a proper
sense, the earthly paradise also had a title, in as much
as all mankind are descended from it. And if it be
true, that we all died in Adam, it will follow, that in
him we all were once inhabitants of paradise ; and the
sin which drove Adam from that happy place, drove
out his posterity with him. So long as Adam pre-
served his innocence, he was secure in his possession
of paradise, and had a right of inheritance in the Je-
rusalem that is above ; that heavenly original, of
which the garden planted upon earth was but an ear-
nest and a pattern. But when he disobeyed the
divine command, he lost the present enjoyment of the
inferior paradise, and at the same time forfeited his
reversionary title to the superior. His departure
therefore is very properly described as a going doivn
from Jerusalem : the fall of man, as the term neces-
sarily signifies, being in every acceptation of it a des-
cent from an higher to a lower state.

Nor is the place to which he descended less ex-
pressive than that of Jerusalem : for when Adam
was expelled from Eden, he was removed into the
world, of which the city Jericho was emblematical in
several respects*. It was accursed to the Lord for the
* See this idea enlarged on in the preceding discourse.

SERM. XXXIII.3 THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

469

wickedness of its inhabitants, as this world is now sub-
jected to a curse for the disobedience of man. Jericho
was formally devoted to ruin and destruction; and the
man who should attempt to rebuild it, was to lay the
foundation thereof in his first-horn, and in his youngest
son to set up the gates of it : wliich sentence was at
length fulfilled upon Iliel, a presumptuous projector
in the degenerate times of Ahab. The world itself is
under a like sentence ; being kept in store against the
day of judgment. The walls of Jericho fell down flat,
and the city was burned with fire, and all that was in
it was destroyed, on the seventh day, after the sound-
ing of the trumpets and the shouting of the people.
The world in like manner, according to the sense of
antiquity, and some obscure intimations of the Scrip-
ture, is expected to endure six thousand years, and
to perish in the seventh, which answers to the sab-
bath ; when the lust trumpet shall sound, and the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. —
The Lord himself seems here in the language of the
Apostle to be oj^posed to Joshua or Jesus his repre-
sentative, and the circumstances attending the de-
struction of the world are selected and worded in such
a manner, as to shew a plain allusion to the fall of
Jericho*.

But we are now to follow our traveller, and to ob-
serve what happens to him upon his journey.

Ever since the introduction of evil, the constitution
of tliis world hath been changed, and the Devil (to-
gether with the host o-f darkness) hath been permitted
to establish his own empire in it; v, hence the devil is
expressly called the 2)rince of this world. Hence it
Cometh to pass, that no man can depart from paradise

* Compare 1 Tlicbs. iv. IG, and v. li, vvitli Jo&lma, cliap. vi. -

470

THE GOOD SAMARITAN. [|SERM. XXXIII.

into the world, without falling into the hands of evil
spirits, or, as the parable expresses it, without falling
among thieves. For these are the thieves to whom
our Lord seems to refer, where he commands us to
lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
do not break through nor steal. The moth which
devours the garment of the body, is death * : the rust
whereby the soul is darkened and defiled, is sin : and
the malignant powers of hell are the thieves which
steal away our treasure : who, according to the cha-
racter given of them in another parable, endeavour
to steal the word of God out of the heart as soon as
it is laid up there.

If we examine the marks of violence which they left
on the man who went down to Jericho, it will soon be
discovered that they are the thieves intended by this
parable. Devils, like men, may be known by their
acts ; as a lion maybe distinguished from other beasts
by the print of his foot. For in the first place, these
thieves stripped the traveller of his raiment. Adam,
when he had sinned, found himself /iftAw/. — Then they
wounded him ; sin was the Aveapon, and mortality was
the effect of it ; for it Avas said in the day thou eatest
thou shall surely die: While Christ was upon earth,
it was his custom to signify his power in curing the
distempers of the soul, and renewing it again to purity
and holiness, by restoring all the diseased faculties of
the body. So the Destroyer, whose actions are oppo-
site to those of the Saviour, made it his practice to
commit such acts of violence upon the body, as corres-
ponded exactly with his destructive attempts upon the

* Isaiah li. 8, fear ye not men, for the moth shall eat them up like
a garment.

11

SERM. XXXIII.]] THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

471

spirit. For, according to the pattern of this original
stripping and wounding in the parable, the poor de-
moniac in the country of the Gadarenes, who was
possessed by a legion of these thieves, tvare no clothes :
he wandered amongst the mountains and the tombs
night and day, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
We read also, that when the evil spirit \\2Ld prevailed
over the seven sons of Sceva, they fled out of that
house NAKED and ivounded. All of which presents us
with a wonderful uniformity in the operations of the
Devil, who delights himself with every thing that
looks like a repetition of that mischief and cruelty
which he first committed in the fall of Adam.

When the thieves had stripped the man andwounded
him, thei/ departed: their malice had effected all its
purposes ; righteousness was stolen from him, and the
feting of death was left in him. But here the case is
very particular ; they left him half dead. Sin was not
the immediate death of Adam, in a bodily sense ; but
he died in spirit on the very day in which he sinned,
and so his better half was dead : in consequence of
which, the death of the body would necessarily follow.
The man who is mortally wounded, may languish for
a considerable time ; but he has the earnest of death
in him, and its effect must at length be completed.

Such is the present state of every son of Adam ;
from which neither the prince, nor the warrior, nor
the philosopher, is exempt. The first may glory in
his honours, the second in his conquests, and the last
in his contemplations : but whatever they may think
of themselves, these thieves have prevailed against
them all : they are stripped, wounded, and half dead,
in the sight of God, and also in the sight of those
who are taught by divine revelation to distinguish
between appearances and realities.

472

THE GOOD SAMARITAN. j^SERM. XXXIII.

The case now before us being difficult, and almost
desperate, let us enquire what help is to be met
with ?

The parable proceeds to inform us, that by chance
there came down a certain Priest that way, and when
he saw him he passed by on the other side. And like-
wise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and
looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

By the Priest and Levite, we are to understand the
Mosaic law, which was administered by these two or-
ders of men, the sons of Aaron, and the tribe of Levi ;
or perhaps we shall not err, if we take these figurative
persons for the patriarchal and legal dispensations ;
the former, as well as the latter, having been distin-
guished by priesthood and sacrificature, ever since the
commencement of our present condition. These per-
sons came to the place, and looked upon the wounded
man, as might be expected ; because the law, whether
written or traditional, was not made for a righteous
man, but for the ungodhj and for sinners, and would
of course point out to them the fallen condition of
human nature. They both looked upon him, but
could afford him no relief : his wound was sin ; and
the blood of bulls and of goats, which they admi-
nistered, cannot take away sin. So far then was the
law from furnishing any effectual remedy to be applied
by the Priest and Levite, that it could only shew
the wounds to be mortal, and by their endeavours to
be incurable. The Priest and the Levite therefore
must leave him as they found him : they cannot make
any atonement to God for him, but must pass by on
the other side, and let that alone for ever.

But what the law coidd not do, was at length effected
by Him who cometh after the Levite, who is himself
the end of the law for righteousness to all them that be-

SERM. XXXIII.]] THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

473

lieve. For a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed,
came to the place where he was, and when he saw him,
he had compassion on him. The unbelieving J ews, who
were fond of representing Jesus Christ as a person
false to the interests of his own people, and as one
who upon that account should be deemed an alien and
an outcast, appealed to him once in these insolent
terms — Saij we not well that thou art a Samaritan ?
There was then a particular aversion in the J ews to-
ward the Samaritans ; therefore they meant this for a
name of the utmost contempt and reproach. Never-
theless, under all this reproach, we take that person
to us as a Saviour, who was to them as a Samaritan ;
and in this we follow the example of our master
himself, who hath thought fit to exhibit a Samaritan
to us, under the character of a Saviour. In the per-
son of this Samaritan then, we see the second Adam
looking with compassion upon the first : the great High
Priest of the human species, touched ivith the feeling
of their infirmities, and administering relief to his ene-
mies. A Samaritan, saving a Jew in distress, affords
us an example of disinterested and ineffable mercy,
and as such doth aptly illustrate the condescension
and love of that Saviour, who offered himself for those
that reviled him as an alien, and who deemed malicious
Jews and profane heathens the objects of his compas-
sion : as if he had said — " You have in this Samaritan
the pattern of a true neighbour, who generously over-
looking all the foolish animosities arising from pride
and personal considerations, chooses his worst enemy
as a fit object of his mercy ; attending first and chiefly
to the distress that presented itself, without standing
to consider the description of the sufferer." The
journey he took was that of the incarnation, which
called upon him to take the same course with his bre-

474

THE GOOD SAMARITAN. [[SERM. XXXIII.

thren, whom he followed from Jerusalem toward Jeri-
cho, that he might bring them back with him on the
way from earth toward heaven. In the course of this
journey, he came into this vale of tears, and found
miserable man naked and helpless upon the earth ;
and as he came from heaven in the capacity of a phy-
sician to the soul, he was furnished with every thing
necessary to counteract the works of the Devil. When
he had found the wretched object of his compassion,
he went to him, and bound up his wounds, poured in
oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and
brought him to an inn, and took care of him. Each
of these particulars is well worthy of a particular con-
sideration; and as you may possibly begin to find
yourselves interested in the event of this narrative, I
hope you will bestow some attention upon them.

His first act was that oihinding tip his tcounds, pour-
ing in oil and wine * : which passage is worth regard-
ing in its physical acceptation; for wine hath an ab-
stersive sharpness in it, which renders it of sovereign
use for the cJeansins of wounds : while it is the nature
of oil to heal, on which account it is a general ingi e-
dient common to all ointments, the use of which is to
mollify and heal, when the wound is properly cleared
and prepared for them. But the virtue of oil is most
remarkable when applied to the bite of a serpent, par-
ticularly a viper, for which it is now publicly received
as an infallible cure, and the experiment is very com-
mon in this age. To our understanding such an effect
is almost miraculous ; for oil is a liquor, in all ap-
pearance indolent, insipid, and incapable of pene-

* An ointment is now in use with many under the name of the
Samaritan Balsam. It is composed of sound old wine boiled to a
consistence with an equal quantity of olive oil. — It is of great efficacy
for the cure of green wounds.

8ERM. XXXIII.]] THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

475

trating in such a manner as to do any good ; yet few
substances are more quick in their operation, nor is
there a fluid in the world which will pass through
the body of steel itself in so short a time.

The application of all this is plain enough. — The
whie poured by the Saviour into the wounds of man,
is his own precious blood, which, as St. John ex-
presses it, clcanseth us from all sin. By the oil is sig-
nified the power of the holy Spirit, which healeth all
our infirmities ; and which in baptism restores what
sin and Satan had destroyed.

The misery of sin, and the cure of it, are repre-
sented under the like terms in other figurative parts of
the holy Scripture. Isaiah thus describes the corrupt
state of the people of his own time — " from the sole of
the foot even to the head" (that is, from the lowest of
the people up to the princes and rulers) " there is no
soundness, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying
sores : they have not been closed, neither bound up,
neither mollified with oil." The prophet David, in
the person of a natural man, describes his own case in
similar expressions — *' There is no soundness in my
flesh becauseof thine anger, neither is there any health
in my bones by reason of my sin — my wounds stink
and are corrupt, through my foolishness." Then on
the other hand, there are promises to the poor and
helpless, that the Lord will preserve him and keep
him alive, neither will he deliver him unto the will of
his enemies — the Lord will strengthen him upon the
bed of languishing, and will make all his bed in his
sickness — for he healeth the broken hearted, and
bindeth up their wounds. Psal. cxlvii. 3.

The second act of this Samaritan was to set the
wounded man upon his own heast. No sinner hath
any natural ability to rise from the earth, and convey

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THE GOOD SAMARITAN. [^SERM. XXXIII.

himself to a place of safety : any more than a man
lying half dead upon the ground can stand upright
and find help for himself by the strength of his own
limbs. With the divine help man is brought to a new
state : he is removed from the perils and dangers of
the world, to find health and refreshment in the
Church of God : for the parable adds — he hrought
him to an inn, and took care of him. The life of a
Christian is that of a pilgrim, or way-faring man, upon
his journey from this world of vanity to the heavenly
city of God : and to preserve a sense of this journey,
as well as of their pilgrimage from Egypt, the Israelites
were commanded to eat the passover with their loins
girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staffs in
their hands ; that is, equipped in all respects as tra-
vellers. In the road to heaven we find the Church,
which, like an inn, receives all that will come to it,
and is open indifferently to people of all nations. The
question is never put to any stranger, v. hether he is
Jew or Gentile, Greek or Barbarian, bond or free :
these distinctions are of no more account in the Chris-
tian Church than at an inn on the highway : all men
being accepted, and their wants supplied in this place
of accommodation. The master of it, standing before
the door, and seeing the weary traveller pass by, calls
out to him with the voice of hospitality and mercy —
Come unto me, all ye that travel and are heavy laden,
and I ivill refresh you. In this place, the Samaritan
is said to have tarried awhile with his charge, in order
to settle things that were necessary toward his perfect
recovery. And on the morrow ichen he departed, lie
took out twopence, and gave them to the host, and
said unto him. Take care of him, and whatsoever thou
spendcst more, when I come again I will repay thee.
By the host we are here to understand the ministers

SERM. XXXIII.]] THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

477

and rulers of the Church, to whom at his departure
Christ committed the care of every returning sinner :
and thatthey may be enabled to supply all their wants,
he hath committed to them the Holy Scriptures under
the form of the two Testaments, which it is the proper
business of the host to expound, enforce, and apply
for the support of those who are committed to their
charge. The ministers of the Church are stewards of
the mysteries of God; who are to keep that safe which
is committed to their trust, and not to suffer their
people to perish for lack of knowledge. Other duties
are indeed required of them, such as mercy, charity,
the administration of the sacraments, the power of
absolution, in the distribution of which they are to
act according to the exigence of particular cases —
therefore it is added, whatsoever thou spendest more,
when I come again I will repay thee. Our Samaritan
then, who when he had made provision for the salva-
tion of man, and committed his Church to the care of
his ministers, went into a far country, will once more
travel upon the same road, and make his appearance
in his Church. The heaven must receive him till the
time of the restitution of all things ; when, accord-
ing to his promise, he will come again, to enquire how
far the trust hath been fulfilled. In the mean time,
every faithful minister of Christ hath the comfort to
reflect, that he is not only a steward, but a creditor
of the Fountain of mercy and goodness ; and be it
soon or late, yet the time will certainly come, when
what he hath laid out shall be paid him again.

On a review of the parable thus interpreted, some
inferences naturally offer themselves.

1. From the condition and circumstances of the
miserable object herein described, it appears that no
man hath any thing to boast of, in the great work of

478

THE GOOD SAMARITAN. [[SERM. XXXIII.

his salvation. This wounded man doth not find the
Samaritan, hut the Samaritan finds him. How sen-
sible soever he might be of his own misery, he knew
nothing of the person who was able and willing to
give him relief: and had he known it ever so per-
fectly, he was unable to seek after him.

It is thus with every Christian : he does not find
the Gospel, but the Gospel finds him. He doth not
indeed so much as know his own misery, till he is told
of it : nor hath he sense to seek for any relief till it is
offered to him, and in some cases almost forced upon
him against his will. Happy therefore and wise also
is he, who submits himself with thankfulness to the
mercy of God, for the saving of his own soul ; even
as this poor traveller committed himself to the hands
of the Samaritan for the healing of his wounds.

Many there are who lie in the way of mercy, with-
out receiving any benefit. The true Samaritan vi-
sits them with his institutions, his Scriptures, his sa-
craments, and would convey them to his Church from
all the perils to which they are exposed : but they
remain insensible of their misery ; either denying that
they have any wounds, or endeavouring to bind up
and heal them in their own way. There is one sect of
Christians in particular, who will have neither oil nor
wine from the Saviour of mankind, rejecting both
baptism and the supper of the Lord. Others, through
sloth and carelessness, will lie bleeding to death, ra-
ther than be disturbed with the process of their own
deliverance. A man who hath lain abroad in the field,
naked and wounded, finds the benefit of an inn, and
is sensible of the change: while they who are born and
brought up from their childhood under the advantages
of the Gospel, sink into stupidity, and become as in-
different to the means of grace, and all the mysteries

SERM. XXXIIlJ THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

479

of divine mercy, as if there were no such things to be
heard of upon earth.

O fools, and blind ! do men ever behave in this
senseless manner with respect to their bodily wounds ?
A man will give all that he hath for the saving of his
life, while he neglects to have his soul saved, though
it might be saved for nothing. This corporeal pain
is felt and understood : while the misery of a soul
wounded by the Devil, is never felt, or never com-
plained of.

It appears, secondly, that works of mercy are re-
quired of every follower of Christ : for nothing can
be plainer than the admonition which directs us to
follow the example of this Samaritan. He who refuses
this upon any consideration, conducts himself as if he
were no neighbour to his fellow-creatures, nor they
to him ; but keeps himself in a lofty abstracted state,
like that hateful tribe of Pharisees and hypocrites,
whose felicity seemed to consist in a contempt for
other men : and he who misunderstands this great
duty toward his neighbour, which comprehends one
half of the divine law, will have but a partial title
to the inheritance of eternal life : like that narrow-
minded teacher of the law to whom this parable was
directed, and whose principles were condemned out
of his own mouth.

Lastly and chiefly, we are hence to learn the motive
and source from which all our works of mercy are to
be derived. The faith which receives the Christian
redemption, and the gratitude which that faith will
inspire, should lead us to the practice of goodness
and mercy toward all mankind, as well as to those
who are of the household of failh. Christ hath here
proposed his own example to us, and we are to have
compassion upon others, even our very enemies, as

480

THE GOOD SAMARITAN. [[SERM. XXXIII.

he had compassion upon us in the same state. Grant,
therefore, O blessed Lord, that thy people may know
how to value and imitate thy example, how meanly
soever their spirit and their practice may be esteemed
by a proud and mistaken world. Above all, grant
that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries, to
whom thou hast committed the inestimable means of
grace in thy Church, may not pass hij, like the un-
profitable Priest and Levite, but carry on that great
work, which thou thyself didst descend from heaven
to begin amongst us. As thou hast shewed thyself
a neighbour to him that fell a?nong thieves, let them
^0 and do likewise.

END OF VOL. IV.

LONDOX:

PRINTED BY R. GILBERT, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.