FROM THE LIBRARY OF
REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D.
BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO
THE LIBRARY OF
PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
,3
IST.'-f
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013
http://archive.org/details/worksofreverendl03watt
THE
WORKS
OF THE
REVEREND AND LEARNED
ISAAC WATTS, D.D.
CONTAINING, BESIDES HIS
SERMONS, AND ESSAYS ON MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS,
SEVERAL ADDITIONAL PIECES,
g>elerteU from ins iWanusmpts
REV. DR. JENNINGS, AND THE REV. DR. DODDRIDGE, IN 1753;
TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED,
MEMOIRS OIF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,
COMPILED
BY THE REV. GEORGE BURDER.
IN SIX VOLUMES. VOL. III.
Kmtom:
PRINTED BY AND FOR J. BARFIELD, WARDOUR-STRFFT, PRINTER TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES.
1810.
u //
CONTENTS
THIRD VOLUME.
AN HUMBLE ATTEMPT TOWARDS THE REVIVAL OF PRACTICAL RELIGION AMONG CHRISTIANS, AND PARTICULARLY THE PRO TESTANT DISSENTERS.
An
Exhortation to Ministers -
Section I. Of a Minister's personal Re- ligion ----------- 5
Sect. II. Of a Minister's private Studies, and the Composure of Sermons - - 8, 28
Sect. III. Of public Ministrations - - 29
Sect. IV. Of the Conversation of a Mi- nister ----------- 31
Sect. V. A solemn Enforcement of these Exhortations on the Conscience - - - 36
AseriousAddresstothePeople. Matt.x. 47. 42
Sect. I. The Text applied to the Disciples 42
Sect. II. The Words applied to our own Age and Circumstances ----- 4;,
Sect. III. The Advantages of Protestant Dissenters in Matters of Religion - - 52
Sect. IV. Of the Obligations of Protestant Dissenters to greater Degrees of Holiness fiS
Sect. V. Peculiar Practices of Virtue and Piety among the ancient Nonconformists 77
Sect. VI. Of the special Advantages of some Christians -------- g.5
Sect. VII. Of the special Obligations of some Christians -------- 94
Sect. VIII. Persuasives to superior Vir- tue and Piety - - 100
A GUIDE TO PRAYER;
A FREE AND RATIONAL ACCOUNT OF THE GIFT, GRACE, AND SPIRIT OF PRAYER.
CHAPTER I.
The Nature of Prayer ------in
Sect. I. Of Invocation ----- 112
Sect. II. Of Adoration 112
Sect. III. Of Confession 113
Sect. IV. Of Petition 115
Sect. V. Of Pleading 117
Sect. VI. Of Profession or Self-dedication 120
Sect. VII. Of Thanksgiving - - - - 121
Sect. VIII. Of Blessing ----- 123
Sect. IX. Amen, or the Conclusion - 123
CHAPTER II.
Of the Gift of Prayer 124
Sect. I. What the Gift of Prayer is - 124
Sect. II. Of Forms of Prayer, of free or
conceived Prayer, and praying extempore 125
Sect. III. Of the Matter of Prayer - - 131
Sect. IV. Of the Method of Prayer - 138
Sect. V. Of Expression in Prayer - - 141
Sect. VI. Of the Voice in Prayer - - 149
Sect. VII. Of Gesture in Prayer - - 152
Sect. VIII. General Directions about the
Gift of Prayer - 1 ">7
A 2
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III. Of the Grace of Praver - - -
PAGE
160
Sf.ct. I. What the Grace of Prayer is, and how it differs from the Gift - - - - 160
Sect. II. General Graces of Prayer
I6i
Sect. III. Graces that belong to particu- lar Parts of Prayer ------- 163
Sect. IV. Directions to attain the Grace of Prayer - - - - 165
CHAPTER IV.
PAGE
167
Of the Spirit of Prayer - - - - -
Sect. I. Proofs of the Assistance of the Spirit of God in Prayer ----- \6S
Sect. II. How the Spirit assists us in Prayer - --------- 170
Sect. III. Cautions about the Influences of the Spirit in Prayer ----- 17s
Sect. IV. Directions to obtain and keep the Spirit of Prayer ------ is.)
Sect. V. A Persuasive to learn to pray - 1ST
A DISCOURSE ON THE WAY OF INSTRUCTION BY CATECHISMS, AND OF THE BEST MANNER OF COMPOSING THEM.
Sect. I. The Duty of instructing Chil- dren in Religion -------- <203
Sect. II. Of instructing Children, partly by Reason, and partly by the Authority of the Parent 205
Sect. III. Short Summaries of Religion are necessary for the Ignorant
- '205
Sect. IV. Catechisms are the best Sum- maries of Religion for Children - - - 207
Sect. V. Of teaching Children to under- stand what they learn by Heart, and of the Use of different Catechisms for dif- ferent Ages - -------- 208
Sect. VI. Of composing any other Cate- chisms besides that of the Assembly of Divines - --------- 210
Sect. VII. The Inconveniences of teach- ing Children what they do not understand 2 1 1
Sect. VIII. Rules for composing Cate- chisms for Children -------216
The Young Child's Catechism The Second Catechism - -
23 1
235
The Assembly's Catechism, with an Expo- sition of the more difficult Words con- tained in it --------- 251
A Preservative from the Sins and Follies of Childhood and Youth - 265
PART I.
Of Sins against God - - £67
PART II.
Of Sins against our Neighbour - - - - 269 PART III.
Of Sins which chiefly relate to ourselves - 275 PART IV.
Of the Follies and Frailties incident to Children and Youth 278
The Catechism of Scriptural Names for Young Children -------- 285
The Historical Catechism for Children and Youth - 291
A large Catalogue of remarkable Scripture Names - - - 303
CONTENTS.
A SHORT VIEW OF THE WHOLE SCRIPTURE HISTORY.
The History of the Old Testament - -
CHAPTER I.
The History of Mankind before the Flood
CHAPTER II.
Of Noah, Abraham, and their Families after the Flood --------
Sect. I. Of Noah and his Sons - - -
Sect. II. Of Abraham and Lot, Ishmael and Isaac ----------
Sect. III. Of Esau and Jacob, and their Posterity ----------
CHAPTER III.
The Deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and of Moses and Aaron - - -
CHAPTER IV. Of the Moral Law - --
CHAPTER V.
Of the Ceremonial Law of the Jews - -
Sect. I. Of the Ceremonies of Purification
Sect. II. Of the Holy Persons - - -
Sect. III. Of the Holy Places, particu- larly the Tabernacle - - - - - -
Sect. IV. Of the Holy Things - - -
Sect. V. Of the Holy Times and Holy Actions - - ---.-___
Sect. VI. The Use of the Jewish Cere- monies -----------
CHAPTER VI.
Of the political or judicial Law of the Jews
CHAPTER VII. Of the Sins and Punishments of the Jews in the Wilderness -------
CHAPTER VIII.
Of the Jews' Entrance into Canaan, and their Government by Judges - - - -
PAGE
323
324
328 328
330
333
335 339
340
341 343
344 345
351
353
355
359 361
Sect. I. Of the Israelites' Possession of Canaan - - --------
Sect. II. Of the Government of Israel by Judges ---------
CHAPTER IX.
Of the Government of Israel under their Kings, and first of Saul and David - -
CHAPTER X.
Of the Reign of Solomon and Rehoboam over all Israel, and the Division of the Nation into two Kingdoms - _ - -
CHAPTER XI.
Of the Kings of Israel ------
CHAPTER XII. Of the Kings of Judah ------
CHAPTER XIII.
Of the Return of the Jews from Captivity in Babylon, and the rebuilding the City of Jerusalem and the Temple - - - -
361 365
369
375
378
383
389
CHAPTER XIV. The History of Job - - 395
CHAPTER XV.
The History of Jonah - 397
CHAPTER XVI. The History of Jeremiah ----- 398
CHAPTER XVII. The History of Daniel - ----- 40 1
CHAPTER XVIII. The History of Esther 405
CHAPTER XIX.
A Continuation of the History of the Go- vernment and Church of the Jews, from the End of the Old Testament to the Times of Christ 407
CONTENTS.
Sect. I. Of Nehemiah's further Reforma- tion, Synagogues, Targurns, Samaritans, Proselytes, &c. -------- 407
Sect. II. Of the Jewish Affairs under the Persian and Grecian Monarchies - - 41Q
Sect. III. Of the Jewish Affairs under Ptolemy Soter, &c. of the Great Syna- gogue, the Jewish Traditions, and of the Septuagint Translation of the Bible into Greek -----------413
Sect. IV. Of the Jewish Affairs under Antiochus the Great, Seleucus and An- tiochus Epiphanes, Kings of Syria - - 418
Sect. V. Of Mattathias, the Father of the Maccabees, and the great Reformer 420
Sect. VI. Of the Jewish Government under the Maccabees or Asmoneans; and first of the three Brothers, Judas, Jona- than, and Simon -------- 422
Sect. VII. Of the Jewish Affairs under the Conduct of the Posterity and Suc- cessors of Simon the Maccabee ; and of the several Sects among the Jews, viz. Pharisees, Sadducees, Essencs, Hero- ilians, and Karaites ------- 431
Sect. VIII. Of the Government of Herod the Great and his Posterity over the Jews 440
CHAPTER XX.
Of the Prophecies which relate to Jesus Christ our Saviour, and their Accom- plishment; or, a Prophetical Connexion between the Old and JNew Testament - 447
The History of the New Testament
- 457
CHAPTER XXI.
Of John the Baptist ------- 457
CHAPTER XXII.
PAGB
Of the Birth and Childhood of Jesus Christ 460
CHAPTER XXIII.
Of the public Life and Ministry of Christ, his Preparation for his public Work - 462
Sect. I. Jesus Christ's Appearance with the Characters of the Messiah - - - 464
Sect. II. Of the Subjects of his preach- ing, his Parables, his Disputes - - - 465
Sect. III. The Miracles of Christ - - 469
Sect. IV. The Example of Christ - - 470
Sect. V. His calling the Apostles, and instructing them - - -----471
Sect. VI. His Appointment or Institution
of the two Sacraments ------ 472
Sect. VII. Remarkable Occurrences in the Life of Christ - 473
CHAPTER XXIV.
Of the Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ ---------- 476
Sect. I. Of his Sufferings, and Death and Burial - - ------- 476
Sect. II. Of the Resurrection and Ap- pearances of Christ ------- 480
Sect. III. Of his Ascension to Heaven 481
CHAPTER XXV.
Of the Acts of the Apostles, chiefly Peter and John ; and the Deacons, Stephen and Philip 482
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Acts of Paul the Apostle, his Travels and Sufferings, his Life and Death - - 488
PRAYERS COMPOSED FOR THE USE AM) IMITATION OF
CHILDREN
A Catechism to teach Children to pray - 521
Prayers for Youth of Ten or Twelve Years
of Age ----- 527
Examples of Prayer on various Occasions 543
A serious Address to Children and Youth relating to the great and necessary Duty of Prayer - - ------- 554
Advices to Children relating to Prnver
558
CONTENTS.
QUESTIONS PROPER FOR STUDENTS IN DIVINITY, CANDIDATES OF THE MINISTRY, AND YOUNG CHRISTIANS.
I. Questions of serious Importance for Students in Divinity frequently to put
to their own Consciences ----- 565
II. Question in the Doctrines of Divinity proper to be proposed to Students in their Examination in order to preach - 564
HI. Practical and Casuistical Questions for Candidates of the Ministry and Young Preachers - - ----- 566
IV. Questions proper for Young Ministers frequently to put to themselves, chiefly borrowed from the Epistles to Timothy and Titus - - 567
Sect. I. Of Faithfulness in the Ministry 567
Sect. II. Of Diligence in the Ministry
Sect. III. Of constant Prayer and De- pendence ----------
Sect. IV. Of Self-Denial, Humility, Mor- tification, and Patience - - - - _
Sect. V. Of Conversation - - - -
V. Questions by which Young Persons may be taught to examine themselves, both as to their Christian Knowledge and their Spiritual State - - - - -
VI. Questions relating to Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Fellowship with a Christian Church - ------
568
569
569 570
570
573
ORTHODOXY AND CHARITY UNITED IN SEVERAL RECONCILING ESSAYS ON THE LAW AND GOSPEL, FAITH AND WORKS.
ESSAY I.
The Substance or Matter of the Gospel -
Sect. I. The Gospel described - -
Sect. II. Illustrations and Proofs of the Gospel - - --------
Sect. III. Answers to Objections - -
ESSAY II. The Form of the Gospel ------
581 581
584 590
594
Sect. I. Is the Gospel a conditional Promise 594 Sect. II. Is the Gospel a new Law - - Sect. III. Objections answered - - - Sect. IV. Reconciling Sentiments - - Sect. V. Advices or Requests - - - ESSAY III.
The true Use of the Moral Law under the Gospel. Matt. xix. 17. -
Sect. I. The Introduction ----- 61 8
Sect. II. The Sense of Christ's Answer 622
Sect. III. An Answer to some Objections 626
Sect. IV. Of what Use is it to keep the Law then - - - --_.-_ £33
Sect. V. Reflections ------ 637
597 603 607 613
- - 618
ESSAY IV.
The mistaken Ways of coming to without Christ. John xiv. 6. -
God
644
ESSAY V.
A plain and easy Account of a Sinner's coming to God by Jesus Christ, or of saving Faith in Christ Jesus. John xiv. 6.
ESSAY VI.
A View of the manifold Salvation of Man by Jesus Christ represented, in order to reconcile Christians of different Sentiments
Sect. I. The Character of Christ as our Deliverer from the Sinfulness of our Natures - -- -
Sect. II. The Characters of Christ as our Deliverer from the Guilt and Punish- ment of Sin --------.
Sect. III. The Reasons why Christ and his Salvation may be represented to us under these various Characters - - - 67 1
Sect. IV. The Difficulties which are re- lieved by this various Representation of the Salvation of Christ 673
ESSAY VII.
Against Uncharitableness 678
Sect. I. The Causes of Uncharitableness 679
656
665
665
666
CONTENTS.
Sect. II. An occasional Vindication of the Apostles from the Charge of Uncha- ritableness - - ------- 689
Sect. III. The mischievous Effects of Uncharitableness - - - - - - - 691
Appendix to the First Edition - - - - 699
ESSAY VIII.
Of the Difficulties in Scripture, and the different Opinions of Christians in Things less necessary - - ------701
Sect. I. A short Account of these Diffi- culties ----------- 701
Sect. II. An Insurrection of contending Christians ---------- 7O8
Sect. III. Some Reasons why these Dif- ferences are permitted to arise among Christians - - -------711
ESSAY IX.
An Apology for the different Judgments and Practices of sincere Christians that are weak in Knowledge - - - - - 717
SELF-LOVE AND VIRTUE RECONCILED ONLY BY RELIGION.
Sect. I. The general Proposals of the Subject 725
Sect. II. There are eternal Fitnesses in human Actions and in Divine - 726
Sect. III. In human Actions these Fit- nesses may contradict each other - - 727
Sect. IV. The Existence of a God recon- ciles these Contradictions ----- 729
Sect. V. These Contradictions irrecon- cileable without an existent God - - - 731
Sect. VI. The chief Difficulty of this Scheme of Thoughts removed - - - 734
Sect. VTI. The Necessity of Divine Re- velation, both to clear up the Rules of Virtue, and to strengthen the Obligations 736
THE REDEEMER AND THE SANCTIFIER, OR THE SACRIFICE OF
CHRIST.
Sect. I. The Introduction, or Agrippa's Creed recited and opposed - - - - 742
Sect. II. Queries to prove the Doctrines denied by Agrippa - - 746
Sect. III. The Importance of the Doc- trines of Christ's Atonement for Sin argued - - -------- 773
Sr.CT. IV. The Necessity of this Doctrine * represented in the express Words of two I. aincd .Men of well-known Charity, and of a Catholic Spirit ------- 781
Sect. V. Queries urged against the Ne- cessity of believing this Doctrine - - 7S4
Sect. VI. The Doctrines affirmed, and
their Necessity limited and adjusted - 788
Sect. VII. The transcendent Advantages of the Doctrine of the Atonement of Christ, and the Sanctification of the Spirit toward all Christian Duties - - 793
Sect. VIII. A Question about a Minis-
r s pn lved, <
_olve<f, with hearty'Pctitions for Agrippa and all his Followers -
ros
AN
HUMBLE ATTEMPT
TOWARDS THE
REVIVAL OF PRACTICAL RELIGION
AMONG
CHRISTIANS,
BY A
SERIOUS ADDRESS TO MINISTERS AND PEOPLE,
IN SOME OCCASIONAL DISCOURSES.
VOL. III.
THE
PREFACE.
.AMONG the papers published last year, there hath been some enquiry made, whether there be any decay of the dissenting interest, and what may be supposed to have been the occasion of it. So far as I have searched into that matter, I have been informed, that whatsoever decrease may have appeared in some places, there have been sensible advances in others. And without entering into any debate about the particular reasons of its declension in any town whatsoever,* I am well satisfied that the great and general reason is the decay of vital religion in the hearts and lives of men, and the little success which the ministrations of the gospel have had of late for the conversion of sinners to holiness, and the recovery of them from the state of corrupt nature, and the course of this world, to the life of God by Jesus Christ. If this be not our hope and design, the support of the dissenting interest is but of little importance. What is it that we mean by asserting the rights and freedom of conscience in our separation from the established church, but more effectually to promote the kingdom of God amongst men, to do more honour to the name of Christ our Saviour in his institutions, and better to carry on the blessed work of the salvation of souls ?
But if these things are not happily promoted amongst us, it is no wonder that persons release themselves from all the inconveniences that in some places may attend their se- paration from a public establishment, especially when it is so evident that the allurements of riches and honours, and public trusts and offices lie all on that side.
Nor is the complaint of the declension of virtue and piety made only by the protestant dissenters : It is a general matter of mournful observation amongst all that lay the cause of God to heart : And therefore it cannot be thought amiss for every one to use all just and proper efforts for the recovery of dying religion in the world. And since something may be done amongst the ministers, and something among the people, to attain this de- sirable end, I have been persuaded to publish these following exhortations, or addresses, which are directed both to the one and the other.
The exhortation to ministers was composed at the request of my worthy friend and brother Mr. John Oakes, and designed to have been delivered at his public ordination in the congregation of dissenting protestants, at Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, on November 12, 1729. But the providence of God prevented me from fulfilling that service by confining me to a bed of sickness on that day. In the composition of that discourse, my thoughts ran out to four or five times the length of what would have been sufficient for that service, so that I must have greatly contracted it in the delivery : But being much importuned, both by my reverend brother, who has perused far the greatest part of it, and by the congregation now under his care, to make it public, I have revised it with a
* This whole affair is set in the best light in a little pamphlet, entitled " Free Thoughts on the most probable Means of reviving the Dissenting Interest, occasioned by a late Enquiry into the Causes of its Decay." N. B. It was written by the late Rev. Dr. Philip Doddridge.
B 2
THE PREFACE.
larger view, and humbly hope that my younger brethren in the ministry may be in some measure excited and encouraged hereby to do their part toward the revival of decaying piety. It is expressly with this view and design, that my worthy friend Mr. David Some, in Leicestershire, published an excellent sermon last year, the perusal whereof I would heartily recommend to all my brethren.
The following exhortation to the people was delivered in several discourses to the con- gregation which I serve in the gospel; and I would hope it has made some serious im- pressions on the minds of those who heard it, since it had been much desired that they might have a review of it by the assistance of the press. Among the many motives which maybe urged upon the consciences of our hearers, in order to awaken them to strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die, I thought it not improper to borrow some arguments for this purpose from their own profession as protestant dissenters, and as separating from the established worship of the nation : And this I have done without entering into a detail of all the grounds of our practice, or vindicating the cause of non- conformity, which has been sufficiently performed by other writers. While we quit all the outward advantages of the national establishment by worshipping in separate as- semblies, it is presumed, in the nature of things, that we do it, or at least that we should do it, upon the prospect of some better advantages for religion ; and we hereby also lay ourselves under special obligations to make the best improvement of these real or sup- posed advantages.
But this particular motive relating to the dissenters is pursued only in the middle part of that discourse. The first and the latter sections of it are of equal concern and importance to protestants of every name and party : The sense and style are suited to common understandings : Novelties and elegancies are less needful, where the writer's whole aim is to charge and impress the conscience with the plain rules and duties of practical religion. And may the Spirit of God, by his heavenly influences, render what was designed sincerely for the revival of real godliness amongst us all, effectual to attain this blessed end !
There is no party of christians whatsoever, who have liberty to choose their own way of worship, but pretend they are blessed with some special advantages for the service of God, and their increase in piety or virtue beyond their neighbours, and these pretended advantages lay them under proportionable obligations of duty: A great part of this ad- dress, which I have made to our people, tends to enforce every sort of engagement upon their consciences, and to excite them to superior degrees of holiness ; and it is the sincere desire of my soul, that our brethren of the church of England also may improve to the utmost all their public privileges of every kind, for the increase of virtue and religion. May every denomination of christians in the land maintain a holy emulation with each other, which of us shall run swiftest in the course of the christian life, and make the most eminent advances toward the heavenly world ! Amen.
April 2, 1731.
AN
HUMBLE ATTEMPT,
AN EXHORTATION TO MINISTERS.
W HEN true religion falls under a general and remarkable decay, it is time for all that are concerned to awaken and rouse themselves to fresh vigour and activity, in their several posts of service. If the interests of piety and virtue are things fit to be en- couraged and maintained in the world, if the kingdom of the blessed God among men be worthy to be supported, surely it is a necessary and becoming zeal for every one who hath the honour to be a minister of this kingdom, to take alarm at the appearance of such danger ; and each of us should enquire, What can I do to strengthen the things which remain and are ready to die, as well as to recover what is lost ? Let my brethren therefore in the ministry forgive me, if I presume at this season to set before them a plain and serious exhortation. It was prepared for a public solemnity, wherein an esteemed young friend and brother entered into the ministerial office ; and upon this account I have used much more freedom in the language than I could ever pretend to justify on any other occasion. It was in the name of my reverend brethren then present, as well as in my own, that the exhortation addresses him in the manner following :
You have this day devoted and dedicated yourself to the service of Christ in the ministry of the gospel, and particularly for the edification of this church. Your brethren in the ministry have also done all that they can do toward the dedicating and devoting you to the same sacred service, by the various solemn transactions of the day ; and now we entreat, we exhort, we charge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the words of the great apostle, that you take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfil it; Col. iv. 17. While we are endeavouring to press this charge on your conscience, we would speak also, each of us, to our own souls, and renew the awful charge upon ourselves. We would call to mind our own vows and engagements this day, and revive our decaying and dying zeal in this sacred and important service. What I have to say on this subject shall be contained under four general heads :
I. Take heed to your own personal religion, as absolutely necessary to the right dis- charge of the ministerial office.
II. Take heed to your private studies and preparations for public service.
III. Take heed to your public labours, and actual ministrations in the church.
IV. Take heed to your conversation in the world, and especially among the flock of Christ over which you preside. Bear with me while I enlarge a little upon each of these*
SECTION I.
OF A MINISTER'S PERSONAL RELIGION.
I. Take heed to your own personal religion, especially to the work of God in your own heart, as absolutely necessary to the right discharge of the ministerial work. Surely
8 OF A MINISTER'S PRIVATE STUDIES. Sect. 2.
4. Hereby, when you come among- men in your sacred ministrations, you will appear, and speak, and act like a man come from God ; like Moses ivith a lustre upon his face, when he had conversed with God ; like a minister of the court of heaven employed in a divine office; like a messenger of grace who hath just been with God, and received instructions from him^ and the world will take cognizance of you, as they did of the apos- tles, that they were men who had been with Jesus; Acts iv. 13.
5. This will better furnish you for serious converse with the souls and consciences of men, by giving you experimental acquaintance with the things of religion, as they are transacted in the heart. You will learn more of the springs of sin and holiness, the workings of nature and grace, the deceitfulness of sin, the subtilty of temptation, and the holy skill of counterworking the snares of sin, and the devices of Sata7i, and all their designs to ruin the souls of men. You will speak with more divine compassion to wretched and perishing mortals ; with more life and power to stupid sinners ; with more sweetness and comfort to awakened consciences, and with more awful language and in- fluence to backsliding christians. You will hereby learn to preach more powerfully in all respects for the salvation of men, and talk more feelingly on every sacred subject, when the power, and sense, and life of godliness are kept up in your own spirit. Then on some special occasions it may not be improper to borrow the language of David the prophet, and of St. Paul and St. John, two great apostles, though it may be best in public to speak in the plural number, We have believed, therefore we have spoken ; what we have heard and learned from Christ, ice have declared unto you; what we have seen and felt, we are bold to speak ; attend and ive will tell you what God has done for our souls.
You may then at proper seasons convince, direct, and comfort others by the same words of light and power, of precept and promise, of joy and hope, which have convinced, directed and comforted you ; a word coming from the heart will sooner reach the heart.
SECTION II.
OF A MINISTER'S PRIVATE STUDIES.
The second general head of exhortation relates to your own private studies : Take heed to these, that you may better fulfil your ministry. Give yourself (saitli St. Paul to Timothy) to reading, to meditation, that your profiting may appear to all; 1 Tim. iv. 13, 15. These private studies are of various kinds, whether you consider them in general, as necessary to furnish the mind with knowledge for the office of the ministry ; or in particular, as necessary to prepare discourses for the pulpit.
1st. Those general studies may be just mentioned in this place, which furnish the mind with knowledge for the work of a minister; for though it is known you have passed through the several stages of science in your younger years, and have made a good im- provement in them, yet a review of many of them will be found needful, and an increase in some (so far as leisure permits) may be proper and useful, even through the whole course of life. Among these, some are necessary to improve the reasoning faculty, to teach us to distinguish truth from falsehood, and to judge aright concerning any subjects that are proposed to us ; such are the art of logic, which gives us rules for judging and reasoning, and some of the speculative principles of the mathematics, particularly the
Sect. 2. OF A MINISTER'S PRIVATE STUDIES. 0
demonstrations of geometry, and the inferences or corollaries that are drawn from them, wherein we have the clearest and fairest examples to teach us reasoning by the prac- tice of it.
And as all arts and sciences have a connection with and influence upon each other, so for a divine as well as for a physician, it is needful there should be some knowledge of nature and the powers of it in the heavens and earth, in the air and water, that we may thereby learn and teach more of the glories of our Creator, and more easily distinguish between what is natural and what is miraculous. This will enable us also to think and speak more justly almost upon any subject which occurs in our private reading, in our public ministry, or in our daily conversation ; and particularly it is useful, if not neces- sary for a minister to have some acquaintance with human nature, in the two constituent parts of it, soul and body, and in the powers and passions of mankind, that we may better distinguish how far particular actions are natural and mechanical, and how far they are voluntary and moral, virtuous or sinful ; how far they are influenced by Jlesh and blood, and how far they are under the government of the will, which is of great import- ance in order to judge right in many cases of conscience, and to give directions for the moral or religious life.
It is needful also, and of considerable moment, that a divine should be acquainted with the arts of method and of oratory ; the one to range our thoughts and discourses in due order, and to set the things of God before men in the plainest, the most conspicuous and convincing light ; and the other to win upon the hearts of the hearers, and to lead them by a sweet and powerful influence on their affections, into the love and practice of religion. There are other parts of science which are necessary for ministers to be well acquainted with, and particularly those which are the foundations of all religion ; such as the know- ledge of God and his attributes by the light of nature and reason, the knowledge of man as a creature of God, in his natural dependance upon his Creator, and in his moral rela- tions both to God and his fellow-creatures, together with the obligations to duty which are derived thence, and which branch themselves into all the parts of morality and reli- gion. It is requisite to have some acquaintance also with the heathen writers, the folly and madness of pagan idolatry, the history and the customs of ancient ages and nations, and the history of the church of the Jews and of christians, in order to establish our faith in the doctrines of Christianity, and to prove the religion of Christ to be divine, and that the Bible is the word of God.
When this great point is once settled, then our chief business will be to understand this Bible, and to find out the meaning of the holy scriptures ; and for this end (as well as for the reading of ancient heathen authors) it is requisite that we should have some skill in the tongues ; and particularly those wherein the scriptures were written, viz. Hebrew and Greek, that we may be able at least to judge a little for ourselves, concerning the translation of any text in our language. For this purpose also some knowledge of the customs of the ancients, both Jews and pagans, is necessary, in order to give us a juster idea of many things recorded in scripture ; and we should get some acquaintance with geography and chronology, which will be of great service to set before our eyes, the distant places and times wherein those ancient affairs were transacted, Avhich the scrip- ture relates, and without which the history of scripture, as well as some of the prophecies, can never be well understood.
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Nor is it an unprofitable study to read some of the writings of the fathers, who lived in the very first ages of Christianity, that we may know the sentiments and customs of those who lived nearest to the days of the apostles ; this may give a little light to some expres- sions and phrases used in scripture, and enable us sometimes better to understand what the evangelists and apostles wrote. But it must be confessed, that immediately after the apostolic age, and indeed before the apostles were dead, there were so many corruptions and mistakes both in faith and worship, so many fancies and inventions of men crept iuto the church, that there is scarce one ancient writer perfectly free, and not one of them to be entirely trusted, as a director of our consciences, or as a regulator of our belief or practice. St. Paul himself tells us, that in his days the mystery of iniquity began to ivork; 2 Thess. ii. 7. The fathers, as they are called, have many weak and fanciful things in their writings ; it is the Bible alone that must be our guide ; the ivord of the Lord is pure and perfect.
Above all things therefore, the constant reading and study of the holy scriptures are necessary, in order to a larger and more complete acquaintance with our divine religion. Here our faith and conscience may rest safely, in all our enquiries about matters of belief or practice. The doctrines, the commands, the types and histories, the prophecies, the promises and threatenings of the word of God, are the brightest, and noblest part of the knowledge of a minister. These are the things that are able to make us and our hearers ivise unto salvation, and to furnish the man of God for every good uord and work ; 2 Tim. iii. 15, 10. Let us never imagine we know enough of divine things, while we dwell in flesh and blood. God and Christ, and the things of heaven, are fruitful and inexhaustible subjects of our enquiry and knowledge; they are so in this world, and they will be so for ever in the world to come. The angels of God pry further into them, nor shall the sons of men ever know them to perfection. These will be the glorious objects of everlasting study, and everlasting entertainment.
I might add in the last place, that there are some other parts of human knowledge, which, though they are not necessary, yet are greatly ornamental to a minister, in the present age, which is so much enriched with knowledge, viz. some further acquaintance with modern geography, the nations and kingdoms of this world ; some general view of astronomy, the appearances, and seeming or real motions of the sun and moon, stars and planets, and of this earth, which is now generally agreed to be one of the planetary worlds; to which we may join some skill in philology, criticism on the writings of men as well as on scripture, and various parts of science which go under the name of the belles lettres, or polite learning. These are such sort of accomplishments of the mind as will embellish the character of a minister, and render his prison and his labours more acceptable to the world.
But amongst all these enquiries and studies, and these various improvements of the mind, let us take heed that none of them carry our thoughts away too far from our chief and glorious design, that is, the ministry of the gospel of Christ. Let none of them in- trench upon those hours which should be devoted to our study of the Bible, or prepa- rations for the pulpit ; and wheresoever we find our inclinations too much attached to any particular human science, let us set a guard upon ourselves, lest it rob us of our diviner studies, and our best improvement. A minister should remember, that hinisell, with all his studies, is consecrated to the service of the sanctuary: Let every thing be done therefore with a view lo our great end : Let all the rest of our knowledge be like
Sect. 2. OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. 17
lines drawn from the vast circumference of universal nature, pointing- to that divine centre, God and religion; and let us pursue every part of science with a design to gain better qualifications thereby for our sacred work. Forgive me, my friends, that I have dwelt so long on these general preparations for the work of the ministry. Though they are learned at the academy, yet 1 can by no means think it proper they should be left there and forgotten.
2nd. I come to speak of those particular studies which are preparatory for the public work of the pulpit ; and here when you retire to compose a sermon, let your great end be ever kept in view, i. e. to say something for the honour of God, for the glory of Christ, for the salvation of the souls of men; and for this purpose a few rules may perhaps be of some service. One great and general rule is, Ask advice of Heaven by prayer about every part of your preparatory studies ; seek the direction and assistance of the Spirit of God, for inclining your thoughts to proper subjects, for guiding you to proper scrip- tures, and framing your whole sermon both as to the matter and manner, that it may attain the divine and sacred ends proposed. But I insist not largely on this here, be- cause prayers for aids and counsels from heaven belong to every part of your work, both in the closet, in the pulpit, and in your daily conversation. The particular rules for your preparatory work may be such as these :
I. In choosing your texts, or themes of discourse, seek such as are most suited to do good to souls, according to the present wants, dangers, and circumstances of the people ; whether for the instruction of the ignorant ; for the conviction of the stupid and senseless ; for the melting and softening of the obstinate ; for the conversion of the wicked ; for the edification of converts ; for the comfort of the timorous and mournful ; for gentle admonition of backsliders, or more severe reproof. Some acquaintance with the general case and character of your hearers is needful for this end.
II. In handling the text, divide, explain, illustrate, prove, convince, infer, and apply in such a manner, as to do real service to men, and honour to our Lord Jesus Christ. Do not say within yourself, How much or how elegantly I can talk upon such a text, but what can I say most usefully to those who hear me, for the instruction of their minds, for the conviction of their consciences, and for the persuasion of their hearts ? Be not fond of displaying your learned criticisms in clearing up the terms and phrases of a text, where scholars only can be edified by them ; nor spend away the precious moments of the congregation, in making them hear you explain what is clear enough before, and hath no need of explaining ; nor in proving that which is so obvious that it wants no proof. This is little better than trifling with God and man. Think not, How can I make a sermon soonest and easiest? but how I can make the most profitable ser- mon for my hearers ; not what fine things I can say, either in a way of criticism or philosophy, or in a way of oratory and harangue, but what powerful words I can speak to impress the consciences of them that hear with a serious and lasting sense of moral, divine, and eternal things. Judge wisely what to leave out as well as what to speak. Let not your chief design be to work up a sheet, or to hold out an hour, but to save a soul.
HI. In speaking of the great things of God and religion, remember you are a minister of Christ and the gospel, sent to publish to men what God has revealed by his prophets and apostles, and by his Son Jesus ; and not a heathen philosopher to teach the people merely what the light of reason can search out : You are not to stand up
c 2
12 OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMON?. Sect. 2.
here as a professor of ancient or modern philosophy, nor an usher in the school of Plato or Seneca, or Mr. Locke ; but as a teacher in the school of Christ, as a preacher of the New Testament. You are not a Jewish priest, to instruct men in the precise niceties of ancient Judaisms, legal rites and ceremonies; but you are a christian minister; let Christianity, therefore, run through all your composures, and spread its glories over them all.
It is granted, indeed, that reasonings from the light of nature have a considerable use in the ministry of the gospel. It is by the principles of natural religion, and by rea- soning from them on the wonderful events of prophecy and miracle, &c. that we ourselves must leam the truth of the christian religion, and we must teach the people to build their faith of the gospel on just and rational grounds; and this may perhaps, at some time or other, require a few whole discourses on some of the principal themes of natural religion, in order to introduce and display the religion of Jesus. But such occasions will but seldom arise in the course of your ministry. It is granted also, that it is a very useful labour sometimes in a sermon, to shew how far the light of nature and reason will carry us on in the search of duty and happiness ; and then to manifest how happily the light of scripture supplies the deficiencies of it; that the people may know how greatly they are indebted to the peculiar favour of God for the book of divine revelation.
And yet farther, since the whole of natural religion is contained and included in the gospel of Christ, it is proper sometimes to shew that reason as well as scripture confirms the same doctrines, and obliges us to practise the same duties. It is certain also that human reason, though it could not discover the religion of Christ, yet it is able to point out many admirable glories and divine condescendences in this religion when it is dis- covered. It is good to impress the conscience, as well as instruct the understanding, by the two great lights that God has given us, viz. reason and revelation. Two such pillars will support the structure of religion better than one. And when we happen to hear any of our brethren occasionally insisting on the themes of natural religion, and enforcing the belief of truths, or the practice of duties, by the principles of reason, let us candidly suppose they are pursuing some of these designs which I have now mentioned, and that the principles and topics of revelation and Christianity are in reserve, to be displayed at large in their following sermons.
In general, it is most safe and honourable for a minister of Christ, to make the gospel appear to be the reigning principle in his discourses, and make our hearers see how gloriously it has improved the religion of nature. If you speak of our natural know- ledge of the attributes of God, and the truths of religion that reason dictates, shew how they are all exalted, how brightly they shine in the gospel of Christ, and what new disco- veries and new glories relating to them are derived from the holy scriptures. If you speak of the duties which men owe to God, or to one another, even those which are found out by reason and natural conscience, shew how the gospel of Christ hath advanced and refined every thing that nature and reason teach us : Enforce these duties by mo- tives of Christianity, as well as by philosophical arguments drawn from the nature of things : Stir up the practice of them by the examples of Christ and his apostles, by that heaven and that hell which are revealed to the world by Jesus Christ our Saviour : Im- press them on the heart by the constraining influence of the mercy of God and the dying' love of our Lord Jesus Christ, by his glorious appearance to judge the living and the deach
Sect. 2. OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. I;j
and by our blessed hope of attending him on that day. These are the appointed argu- ments of our holy religion, and may expect more divine success.
When you have occasion to represent what need there is of diligence and labour in the duties of holiness, shew also what aids are promised in the gospel, to humble and feeble souls who are sensible of their own frailty to resist temptations, or to discharge religious and moral duties ; and what influences of the Holy Spirit may be expected by those who seek it. Let them know that Christ is exalted to send forth this Spirit, to bestow repentance and sanctijication as well as forgiveness ; for without him we can do nothing; Acts v. 31. John xv. 5.
As there are seasons and times proper to impress the mind with the glories of God our Creator, and to enforce the duties of morality, to teach men to govern their unruly appetites and passions, to bind all the rules of virtue on the consciences of men, and press them with zeal and fervour, according to the example of the apostles in the New Testament ; so there are times and seasons to treat more at large on the peculiar truths of revelation and the glories of Christianity, both for the honour of our Saviour, and for the welfare of souls. For this reason they are so largely insisted on by the holy writers, those blessed patterns of our ministry. There must be some seasons allotted to the descriptions of the sinful and miserable state of mankind as revealed in scripture ; to the dignity of the person of Christ the Redeemer, the only begotten Son of God, and the Son of Man; to the covenant of grace, of pardon and salvation made with men, in and through this glo- rious Mediator; to the incarnation, life and death, the sacrifice and atonement, the re- surrection, intercession, and universal government and lordship of Jesus Christ, and his coming to judge the world at the last day ; and to the appointed methods of our partici- pation of the blessings which he bestows. These illustrious doctrines are big with a thousand duties both to God and man ; all the practices of faith and love, repentance and universal holiness flow from them by plain and easy deduction ; all the sacred rules of piety and virtue, sobriety, justice and goodness, the holy skill of living and dying in the love and favour of God, are the most natural and happy inferences from these sublime truths of our religion. We preach the gospel in a very defective manner, if we neglect the moral or divine duties which are derived from the faith of Christ.
If you would raise the hearts of your hearers to a just and high esteem of this gospel of grace, and impress them with an awful sense of the divine importance and worth of it, be not afraid to lay human nature low, and to represent it in its ruins by the fall of the first Adam. It is the vain exaltation of ruined nature, that makes the gospel so much despised in our age. Labour, therefore, to make them see and feel the deplorable state of mankind as described in scripture, that by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and a sentence of death hath jmssed upon all men, for that all hare sinned; let them hear and know that Jews and gentiles are all under sin, that there is none righteous, no, not one ; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the ivorld may appear guilty before God. Let them know that it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps ; that ice are not sufficient of ourselves to think any good thing ; that we are without strength, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance and darkness of our understandings, and are by nature children of disobedience, and children of wrath; that we are unable to recover ourselves out of these depths of wretchedness without the condescensions of divine grace, and that the gospel of Christ is introduced as the only sovereign remedy and relief under all this desolation of nature, this overwhelming distress ; neither is there
U OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. Sect. &
salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved; Acts iv. 12. And they that wilfully and obstinately reject this message of divine love, must perish without remedy and without hope ; for there re- mains no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful expectation of vengeance ; Heb. x.26. By this conduct you will approve yourself to be a faithful messenger of Christ in good earnest, a minister of the New Testament, and a workman that needs not to be ashamed, if you take special seasons to discover to men what the word of God reveals concerning their misery, and declare to them the whole counsel of God for their salvation. I entreat you, my dear friend and brother, to get it deeply impressed on your heart, that as (I believe) your real and sincere design is to save the souls of men from sin and eternal death, so it is the gospel of Christ which is the only instrument whereby you can ever hope to attain this blessed end ; and that for two reasons.
1. It is this gospel, which, in its own nature, is most happily suited in all the parts of it to this great design ; and no other schemes which the wit or reason of man can contrive are so : It is the voice of pardoning grace and reconciliation to God by Jesus Christ, that powerfully allures and encourages the awakened sinner, to return to his duty to God and his Maker : It is the promise of divine assistance to enable us to mortify sin, and to practise holiness, which animates the feeble creature to attempt it : It is the attractive view of heavenly blessedness as revealed in the gospel, that invites the soul onward to make its way through all the dangerous enticements and terrors of this world, which is at enmity with God. The divine fitness of this gospel of grace, to restore fallen man to the favour and image of his Maker, is so various and astonishing, that to de- scribe it in all instances would require a large volume.
And 2. As the gospel is so happily suited to attain these ends, so it is the only effectual means that God has appointed, in the lips of his ministers, for this purpose. It is with these wondrous discoveries of this gospel, that he furnished the minds and lips of the fishermen and illiterate persons, when he sent them forth to convert and save a perishing world. These were the sacred weapons with which they were armed, when our exalted Saviour gave them commission to travel through the dominions of Satan, which were spread over the heathen countries, and to raise up a kingdom for himself amongst them. It was with principles, rules, and motives, derived from this gospel, that they were sent to attack the reigning vices of mankind, to reform profligate nations, and to turn them from dumb idols to serve the living God. And though St. Paul were a man of learning above the rest, yet he was not sent to preach the enticing words of mans icis- dom, nor to talk as the disputers of the age and philosophers did in their schools ; but his business was to preach Christ crucified: Though this doctrine of the cross and the Son of God hanging upon it, was a stumbling block to the Jews, and the Greeks counted it foolishness, yet to them that were called, both Jews and Greeks, this doctrine was the power of God, and the wisdom of God for the salvation of men. And therefore St. Paul determined to know nothing among them, in comparison of the doctrine of Christ and him crucified. These were the weapons of his warfare, which were mighty through God to the pulling down of the strong holds of sin and Satan in the hearts of men, and brought every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. It was by the ministration of this gospel that the fornicators were made chaste and holy, and idolaters became worshippers of the God of heaven; that thieves learned honest labour, and the covetous were taught to seek treasures in heaven ; the drunkards grew out of love with their cups, and re-
Sect. 2. OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. 15
nounced all in temperance ; the revilers governed their tongues and spoke well of their neighbours, and the cruel extortioners and oppressors learned to practise compassion and charity : These vilest of sinners, these children of hell, were made heirs of the kingdom of heaven, being washed, being sanctified, being justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God ; 1 Cor. vi. 9, &c.
Had you all the refined science of Plato or Socrates, all the skill in morals that ever was attained by Zeno, Seneca or Epictetus ; were you furnished with all the flowing ora- tory of Cicero, or the thunder of Demosthenes ; were all these talents and excellencies united in one man, and you were the person so richly endowed, and could you employ them all in every sermon you preach, yet you could have no reasonable hope to convert and save one soul in Great Britain, where the gospel is published, while you lay aside the glorious gospel of Christ, and leave it entirely out of your discourses. Let me pro- ceed yet further and say, had you the fullest acquaintance that ever man acquired with all the principles and duties of natural religion, both in its regard to God and to your fel- low-creatures, had you the skill and tongue of an angel to range all these in their fairest order, to place them in their fullest light, and to pronounce and represent the whole law of God with such force and splendour to a British auditory, as was done to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, you might perhaps lay the consciences of men under deep conviction, for by the law is the knowledge of sin: But I am fully persuaded you would never reconcile one soul to God, you would never change the heart of one sinner, nor bring him into the favour of God, nor fit him for the joys of heaven, without this blessed gospel which is committed to your hands.
The great and glorious God is jealous of his own authority, and of the honour of his Son Jesus; nor will he condescend to bless any other methods for obtaining so divine an end, than what he himself has prescribed ; nor will his Holy Spirit, whose office is to glo- rify Christ, stoop to concur with any other sort of means for the saving of sinners, where the name and offices of his Son, the only appointed Saviour, are known, and despised and neglected. It is the gospel alone that is the power of God to salvation. If the pro- phets will not stand in his counsel, nor cause the people to hear his words, they will never be able to turn Israel from the iniquity of their ivays, nor the evil of their doings ,• Jer. xxiii. 22.
Perhaps it may be said in opposition to this advice, that the peculiar doctrines and discoveries of the gospel of Christ, were necessary to be published in a more large and particular manner, at the first institution of our religion, and to be insisted upon with greater frequency among the Jews, and especially among the gentiles, who before were unacquainted with the name, the history and the several offices of the blessed Jesus ; but there is no such need of repeating them in christian countries, where people are- trained up from their infancy to know Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Saviour of the world: And therefore it is more needful in our land to preach upon the natural duties of piety towards God, of justice and truth and goodness toward our neighbour, and self- government and sobriety with regard to ourselves. And this may be done with good success among the people, upon the plain principles and motives which arise from the very nature of things, from the beauty and excellency of virtue, and its tendency to make all men happy, and the natural deformity of vice, and the mischiefs that attend it. But give me leave to answer this objection with these three or four enquiries :
First, Was it not the special design of these doctrines of Christ, when they were first
316 OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. Sect. St.
graciously communicated to the world, to reform the vices of mankind which reason could not reform, and to restore the world to piety and virtue, for which the powers of reason appeared so feeble and impotent? The nations of the earth had made long and fruitless essays, what the light of nature and philosophy would do, to bring wandering- degenerate man back again to his Maker : Fruitless and long essays indeed, when after some thousands of years the world, who had forgotten their Maker and his laws, still run further from God, and plunged themselves into all abominable impieties and corrupt practices! Now if the all-wise God saw the.gospel of Christ, to be so fit and happy an instrument, for the recovery of wretched man to religion and morality ; if he furnished his apostles with these doctrines for this very purpose, and pronounced a blessing upon them as his own appointment, why should we not suppose, that this gospel is still as fit in its own nature for the same purposes as it was at first? And why may we not hope, the same heavenly blessing in a great measure to remain upon it, for these purposes, to the end of the world? While we introduce these divine topics, drawn from the gospel of Christ, to enforce piety and virtue upon the consciences of men, God forbid that we should abandon those arguments, drawn from the nature of things, and from human reason: The gospel does by no means exclude them, but clears and enlightens and advances them all, and gives them tenfold power for the purposes for which they are designed. The blessed apostles themselves sometimes made use of them ; and they may be spread abroad in a rich variety by every preacher of the gospel to much better purpose, than a Seneca, or an Epictetus could display them. All kinds of efforts are necessary, and every sort of weapon may be used in its proper place, to make assaults upon the kingdom of Satan in the hearts of men ; but it is evident, that the divine principles and motives of Christianity were sent us down from heaven, as more sovereign remedies for the mortal diseases of the soul, and far more effectual for the reformation of mankind.
Secondly, If the beautiful ideas of virtue and religion, and the natural tendency of it to make men happy, be such sufficient motives to enforce the practice of it, I would enquire, why was not the gentile world reformed without the gospel ? Why were the polite and knowing nations so abominably and almost universally sunk into shameful vices ? Why did not the self-sufficient reward of virtue constrain greater numbers of mankind to change their manners, and to practise good morality? If this had been the best and most effectual way of changing the hearts and of reforming the profligate lives of men, why was not St. Paul sent only or chiefly with these principles and instructions of reason, to talk of the divine beauty of religion and excellency of virtue amongst them, and the advantages that it brought into human society and private life ? What need was there that he should be commissioned to preach the doctrine of the cross of Christ, and the love of the Son of God descending from heaven to die for sinners ? What makes him dwell so much upon the recovery of a sinful world to God, by the atonement and sufferings of the blessed Jesus, as a means and motive to persuade sinners to forsake their sins, and to be reconciled to God? Why are the evangelic topics so often insisted on, and represented in lively language, for the encouragement of virtue and piety, and as a guard against sin? What need had he of the history of a crucified Son of God rising from the dead, ascending to heaven, sitting at the right hand of God, interceding for sin- ners, and governing the world, in order to reform mankind from vice and impiety? Why does the scripture tell us, that the hearts of men are to be purified by faith, that believing on the Son of God is the way to gel the victory over the world? What need was there
Sect. 2. OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. 1?
that St. Paul should teach us, that our sins are to be mortified iu us by the assistance of the Holy Spirit ; or that St. Peter or St. John should tell us, that we must be born again and made new creatures by the word of God, and by this blessed Spirit and his influences ? Were all these doctrines so needful in the primitive days, and attended with such illustrious and divine success, and are they grown useless and needless now?
Let me enquire, in the third place, Are all the hearers that make up our public assem- blies so well acquainted with the doctrines of Christ and the gospel in our day, that they have no need to be taught them? Have- they all enjoyed so happy an education from their infancy, as to understand the principles of the christian religion, and the peculiar articles of the faith, which are so necessary to restore sinners to a divine life ? Do they so much as know that they are by nature dead in trespasses and sins? And do they know how to apply those vital truths to the blessed purposes of godliness ? I am sure when we make particular enquiries, we find many of them ignorant enough both of themselves and their Saviour, and they have need to be taught the Jirst principles of the oracles of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Shall I enquire yet farther, Is this a day when we should leave the peculiar articles of the religion of Christ out of our ministrations, when the truth of them is boldly called in question, and denied by such multitudes who dwell among us? Is this a proper time for us to forget the name of Christ in our public labours, when the witty talents and reason- ings of men join together, and labour hard to cast out his sacred name with contempt and scorn ? Is it so seasonable a practice in this age, to neglect these evangelic themes, and to preach up virtue, without the special principles and motives with which Christ has furnished us, when there are such numbers amongst us who are fond of heathenism, who are endeavouring to introduce it again into a christian country, and to spread the poison of infidelity through a nation called by his name ? If this be our prac- tice, our hearers will begin to think indeed that infidels may have some reason on their side, and that the glorious doctrines of the gospel of Christ are not so necessary as our fathers thought them, while they find no mention of them in the pulpit, no use of them in our discourses from week to week, and from month to month, and yet we profess to preach for the salvation of souls. Will this be our glory to imitate the heathen philoso- phers, and to drop the gospel of the Son of God ? To be complimented by unbelievers as men of superior sense, and as deep reasoners, while we abandon the faith of Jesus, and starve the souls of our hearers, by neglecting to distribute to them this bread of life, which came down from heaven? O let us who are his ministers remember the last words of our departing Lord, Go, preach the gospel to every nation : He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; and he that believeth not shall be damned; and lo, I am with you alway, to the end of the world; Mark xvi. 15, 16. Matt, xxviii. 20. Let us fulfil the command, let us publish the threatening with the promise, and let us wait for the attendant blessing.
Wheresoever this gospel is published with clear and proper evidence, the belief of it is made necessary to salvation, and it is part of the commission of ministers to make known this to the people ; nor is there any thing else which can stand in the room and stead of this gospel, or attain those happy purposes for which this holy institution was designed. Unless, therefore, you have such a high esteem for the gospel of Christ, and such a sense of its divine worth, and power, as to take it along with you when you desire to save souls, you had better lay down the ministry and abandon your sacred profession ;
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18 OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. Sect. C.
for you will but spend your strength for nought, and waste your breath in vain declama- tions : You will neither save your own soul, nor them that hear you; and you will have a terrible account to give at the last day, what you have done with this gospel which was entrusted with you for the salvation of men : You have hid this divine talent in the earth, you have traded entirely with your own stock, you have compassed yourself about ivith sparks of light of your own kindling, and you must lie doivn in sorroiv ivith eternal loss.
Forgive me, my dear brother and friend, and you, my beloved and honoured brethren in the ministry, forgive me, if I have indulged too much vehemence in this part of my discourse ; if I have given too great a loose to pathetic language on this needful subject. I doubt not but your own consciences bear me witness, that this elevated voice is not the voice of reproof, but of friendly warning ; and, I persuade myself, that you all join with me in this sentiment, that if ever we are so happy as to reform the lives of our hearers, to convert their hearts to God, and to train them up for heaven, it must be done by the principles of the gospel of Christ. On the occasion of such a head of advice, therefore, I assure myself you will forgive these warm emotions of spirit. Can there be any juster cause or season to exert fervour and zeal, than while we are pleading for the name, and honour, and kingdom of our adored Jesus ? Let him live, let him reign for ever on his throne of glory; let him live upon our lips, and reign in all our ministrations: Let him live in the hearts of all our hearers ; let him live and reign through Great Britain, and through all the nations, till iniquity be subdued, till the kingdom of Satan be destroyed, and the whole world are become willing subjects to the sceptre of his grace ! Thus have I finished my third exhortation relating to the preparation of your sermons for the pulpit.
IV. In addressing your discourse to your hearers, remember to distinguish the dif- ferent characters of saints and sinners, the converted and the unconverted, the sincere christian and the formal professor, the stupid and the awakened, the diligent and back- sliding, the fearful or humble soul, and the obstinate and presumptuous ; and in various seasons introduce a word for each of them. Thus you will divide the word of God aright, and give to every one their portion; 2 Tim. ii. 15. The general way of speaking to all persons in one view, and under one character, as though all your hearers were certainly true christians, and converted already, and wanted only a little farther reformation of heart and life, is too common in the world ; but I think it is a dangerous way of preach- ing : It hath a powerful and unhappy tendency to lull unregenerate sinners asleep in secu- rity, to flatter and deceive them with dreams of happiness, and make their consciences easy without a real conversion of heart to God.
Let your hearers know that there is a vast and unspeakable difference betwixt a saint and a sinner, one in Christ, and one out of Christ ; between one whose heart is in a state of corrupt nature or unrenewed, and one that is in a state of grace, and renewed to faith and holiness ; between one who is only born of the flesh, and is a child of wrath, and one who is bom again, or born of the Spirit, and is become a child of God, a member of Christ, and an heir of heaven. Let them know that this distinction is great and necessary ; and it is not made (as some have imagined) by the water of baptism, but by the operations of the word and Spirit of God on the hearts of men, and by their diligent attendance on all the appointed means and methods of converting grace. It is a most real change, and of infinite importance, and however it has been derided by men, it is glorious in the eyes of God, and it will be made to appear so at the last day in the eyes of men and angels ; but it will bring with it infinite terror to those, who thought themselves safe in a common
SrcT.C. OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. 79
careless profession of Christianity, without any inward and divine change of heart. That little treatise, written by the learned Mr. John Jennings, concerning the preaching of Christ and experimental preaching, has many valuable hints relating to these two last particulars of my exhortation.
V. Lead your hearers wisely into the knowledge of the truth, and teach them to build their faith upon solid grounds. Let them first know why they are christians, that they may be firmly established in the belief and profession of the religion of Christ; that they may be guarded against all the assaults of temptation and infidelity in this evil day, and may be able to render a reason of the hope that is in them; furnish them with argu- ments in opposition to the rude cavils and blasphemies which are frequently thrown out in the world against the name and doctrines of the holy Jesus.
Then let the great, the most important, and most necessary articles of our religion, be set before your hearers in their fairest light. Convey them into the understandings of those of meanest capacity, by condescending sometimes to plain and familiar methods of speech ; prove these important doctrines and duties to them by all proper reasons and arguments ; but as to the introducing of controversies into the pulpit, be not fond of it, nor frequent in it : In your common course of preaching avoid disputes, especially about things of less importance, without an apparent call of Providence. Religious contro- versies, frequently introduced without real necessity, have an unhappy tendency to hurt the spirit of true godliness, both in the hearts of preachers and hearers ; 1 Tim. iv. 7. And have a care of laying too much stress on the peculiar notions, and terms, and phrases of the little sects and parties in Christianity ; take heed that you do not make your hearers bigots and uncharitable, while you endeavour to make them knowing christians. Esta- blish them in all the chief and most important articles of the gospel of Christ, without endeavouring to render those who differ from you odious in the sight of your hearers. Whensoever you are constrained to declare your disapprobation of particular opinions, keep up and manifest your love to the persons of those who espouse them, and especially if they are persons of virtue and piety.
VI. Do not content yourself to compose a sermon of mere doctrinal truths and arti- cles of belief, but into every sermon (if possible) bring something practical. It is true, knowledge is the foundation of practice ; the head must be furnished with a degree of knowledge, or the heart cannot be good : But take heed that dry speculations and mere schemes of orthodoxy do not take up too large a part of your composures ; and be sure to impress it frequently on your hearers, that holiness is the great end of all knowledge, and of much more value than the sublimest speculations ; nor is there any doctrine but what requires some correspondent practice of piety or virtue. And among the practical parts of Christianity, sometimes make it your business to insist on those subjects which are inward and spiritual, and which go by the name of experimental religion. Now and then take such themes as these, viz. the first awakenings of the conscience of a sinner by some special and awful providence, by some particular passages in the word of God, in pious writings or public sermons, the inward terrors of mind, and fears of the wrath of God, which sometimes accompany such awakenings ; the temptations which arise to divert the mind from them, and to soothe up the sinner in the course of his iniquities ; the inward conflicts of the spirit in these seasons, the methods of relief under such tempta- tions, the arguments that may fix the heart and will for God, against all the enticements
d2
20 OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. Sect. c.
and oppositions of the world ; the labours of the conscience fluctuating between hope and fear ; the rising- and working of indwelling sin in the heart ; the subtle excuses framed by the flesh for the indulgence of it; the peace of God derived from the gospel allaying the inward terrors of the soul under a sense of guilt; the victories obtained over strong cor- ruptions and powerful temptations, by the faith of unseen things, by repeated addresses to God in prayer, by trusting in Jesus the great Mediator, who is made of God to us ivis- dom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
While you are treating on these subjects, give me leave to put you again in mind, that it will sometimes have a very happy influence on the minds of hearers, to speak what you have learned from your own experience, though there is no need that you should tell them publicly it is your own : You may inform them what you borrowed from your own observation, and from the experience of christians, ancient or modern, who have passed through the same trials, who have wrestled with the same corruptions of nature, who have grappled with the same difficulties, and at last have been made conquerors over the same temptations. As face ansivers face in the glass, so the heart of one man answers to another ; and the workings of the different principles of flesh and spirit, corrupt nature, and renewing grace, have a great deal of resemblance in the hearts of different persons who have passed through them. This sort of instruction, drawn from just and solid experience, will animate and encourage the young christian, that begins to shake off the slavery of sin, and to set his face towards heaven : This will make it appear, that religion is no impracticable thing ; it will establish and comfort the professors of the gospel, and excite them with new vigour to proceed in the way of faith and holiness ; it will raise a stedfast courage and hope, and will generally obtain a most happy effect upon the souls of the hearers, beyond all that you can say to them from principles of mere reasoning and dry speculation ; and especially where you have the concurrent experience of any scriptural examples.
VII. Whether you are discoursing of doctrine or duty, take great care that you impose nothing on your hearers, either as a matter of faith or practice, but what your Lord and Master Christ Jesus has imposed. These are the limits of the commission which Christ gave to the first ministers of the gospel ; Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. Go disciple all nations, baptizing them who are willing to become my disciples, and leach them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. He has not given leave to his ministers, whether separate in their single congregations, or united in synods or councils, the least degree of power to appoint one new article of faith, nor to enjoin any new sort of devotion or prac- tice, nor to impose any one right or ceremony of worship but what he himself has framed and enjoined. And yet, to our universal reproach, there is scarce any party of christians but hath been too ready to impose some doctrines upon the belief of their proselytes which Christ has not imposed, or to require of them some practices or some abstinences about meats or days, or things indifferent, which Christ has not required. It is this assuming power that has turned Christianity into a hundivd shapes, and every one of them in some degree unlike the glorious gospel. It is this has brought in all the super- stitions and fooleries, the splendid vanities, the useless austerities, and the childish trifles of the Greek and Roman churches j and it is this has too far eonupted the purity, and defaced the beauty of most of those churches who boast of reformation, and wear the protestant name.
Now to discourage and deter us all from such presumption, let us remember that this
Sect. 2. OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. £1
imposing spirit has generally found it necessary to support its commands with penalties and persecutions. Hence proceed the imprisonments and the murders, the cruelties, the tortures, and the wild and bloody fury that has ravaged the nations of Christendom, and cast, a foul and lasting blot and infamy upon the religion of the blessed Jesus. Blessed Jesus! when shall this stain be washed out from thy religion, and this scandal die? If we survey the persecuting laws and edicts that have been framed and executed in Great Britain, or in foreign nations, in ancient or later times, we shall seldom find that the plain and explicit doctrines and duties of the gospel have been guarded with these terrors ; but it is the wretched inventions of men, it is the institutions of priests, or the appointments of kings, (all which have been mere additions to the word of God) that have had the honour, shall I say, or the infamy to be thus guarded with bloody severities, and with engines of death. It is the absolute determination of men upon some points which Christ has not plainly determined ; it is some forms of pretended orthodoxy which scrip- ture knows nothing of, or at least which the word of God has not made necessary to our faith ; it is some ceremonies or modes of worship which Christ and his apostles never commanded, that have generally been the shameful occasion of excommunications and prisons, of banishments and martyrdoms. See to it therefore with a holy and religious care, when you dictate any thing to your hearers as necessary to be believed or practised, that you have the plain and evident direction of scripture to support you in it.
It is this corrupt mixture of human opinions, and human forms of divine service, that has so disguised the pure religion of the gospel, as to tempt the deist to renounce it entirely. The pure religion of Jesus has divine charms in it, and is, like the author, alto- gether lovely; but when on one hand it is corrupted and debased, by new doctrines foisted into our creeds, and new mysteries which men have invented to overload our faith ; when it is incumbered by new rituals of worship, or imposed rules and practices on the other hand, which the holy scripture has not enjoined ; when men make articles of faith, which are no where plainly revealed ; when they pronounce that to be a sin which God hath no where forbidden, and apppoint that to be a duty which God hath never com- manded, (which I take to be the very nature of superstition) it casts such a veil of de- formity over the beauties of the gospel, that it is no wonder if the men of reason start at it, and pronounce against it. While we hold forth this confused mass and mixture of things divine and human, and call it the religion of Christ, we tempt the men of infidelity to esta- blish themselves in their unbelief; and they will hardly now give a favourable hearing to the pure doctrine of the gospel, because they have been so much disgusted with the sight of it, in a corrupt and superstitious dress.
But in this state of frailty and imperfection, dangers attend us on either hand. As we must take heed that we do not add the fancies of men to our divine religion, so we should take equal care that we do not curtail the appointments of Christ. With a sacred vigi- lance and zeal, we should maintain the plain, express, and necessary articles, that we find evidently written in the word of God, and suffer none of them to be lost through our default. The world has been so long imposed upon by these shameful additions of men to the gospel of Christ, that they seem now to be resolved to bear them no longer. But they are unhap- pily running into another extreme ; because several sects and parties of christians have tacked on so many false and unbecoming ornaments to Christianity, they resolve to deliver her from these disguises ; but while they are paring off all this foreign trumpery, they too often cut her to the quick, and sometimes let out her life-blood, (if I may so express it)
22 OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. Sect. 2.
and maim her of her very limbs and vital parts. Because so many irrational notions and follies have been mixed up with the christian scheme, it is now a modish humour of the age to renounce almost every thing that reason doth not discover, and to reduce Chris- tianity itself to little more than the light of nature and the dictates of reason. And under this sort of influence, there are some who are believers of the Bible and the divine mis- sion of Christ, and dare not renounce the gospel itself; yet they interpret some of the peculiar and express doctrines of it into so poor, so narrow, and so jejune a meaning, that they suffer but little to remain beyond the articles of natural religion. This leads some of the learned and polite men of the age to explain away the sacrifice and the atonement made for our sins by the death of Christ, and to bereave our religion of the ordinary aids of the Holy Spirit, both which are so plainly and expressly revealed, and so frequently repeated in the New Testament, and which are two of the chief glories of the blessed gospel, and which perhaps are two of the chief uses of those sacred names of the Son and the Holy Spirit, into which we are baptized. It is this very humour that persuades some persons to reduce the injury and mischief that we have sustained by the sin and fall of Adam, to so slight a bruise and so inconsiderable a wound, that a small matter of grace is needful for our recovery ; and accordingly they impoverish the rich and admirable remedy of the gospel to a very culpable degree, supposing no more to be necessary for the restoration of man, than those few ingredients, which, in their opinion, make up the whole composition. Hence it comes to pass, that the doctrine of regeneration, or an entire change of corrupt nature by a principle of divine grace, is almost lost out of their Christianity ; or at least they suppose renewing grace and sanctification by the Holy Spirit, and his assistances, to carry nothing more in them than the outward divine mes- sages and discoveries of grace, made and attested by the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit to the christian world. This is a dangerous extreme on the other hand ; I hope it will never obtain amongst us protestant dissenters; but since it is a fashionable error, you ought to set a stricter guard against it. As he that adds or takes away from the icords of the prophecy in the latter end of the book of God, is left wider a curse; Rev. xxii. 18, If), so we should set a holy guard upon ourselves, lest we add any thing to the gospel of Christ; or take any thing from it, lest we expose ourselves to the same divine indig- nation.
To avoid both these extremes, permit me to give this general word of advice, and may God enable me to take it myself, viz. That in all our ministrations we keep a constant and religious eye upon the holy scripture, that in the necessary ami most important points of doctrine or duty, we may teach our hearers neither more nor less than the scripture teaches. Our great business is to expound scripture, and enforce the word of God upon the minds and hearts of men : When therefore we explain the great and neces- sary points of the gospel contained in any one scripture, let us do it as much as possible by bringing other parts of scripture into the same view, that the word of God may be a comment on itself. When we have occasion to make inferences from it, let us take care that the connection of them be strong and evident, and that they lie not far off at a dis- tance, for in very distant inferences we are more liable to mistake. When Ave are deli- vering our own best opinions concerning divine subjects, and giving our advice upon mat- ters which arc not so evidently and so expressly revealed, let us practise the modesty of the blessed apostle, 1 Cor. vii. 6, 10, 12, 25, &C. I speak this by permission or adcice, and
Sect. 2. OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. 23
vol of commandment :* It is I speak it, and not the Lord: I have no plain commandment of the Lord about it, yet I give my judgment as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful : I suppose, therefore, that in the present case, this is good to be practised, or that to be avoided: Judge ye within yourselves, whether what 1 speak be agreeable to the word of God; 1 Cor. xi. 13.
VIII. Remember that you have to do with the understanding, reason, and memory of man, with the heart and conscience, with the will and affections ; and therefore you must use every method of speech which may be most proper to engage and employ each of these faculties, or powers of human nature, on the side of religion, and in the interests of God and the gospel. Your first business is with the understanding, to make even the lower parts of your auditory know what you mean. Endeavour, therefore, to find out all the clearest and most easy forms of speech, to convey divine truths into the minds of men. Seek to obtain a perspicuous style, and a clear and distinct manner of speaking, that you may effectually impress the understanding, while you pronounce the words ; that you may so exactly imprint on the mind of the hearers the same ideas which you yourself have conceived, that they may never mistake your meaning. This talent is sooner attained in younger years, by having some judicious friend to hear or read over your discourses, and inform you where perspicuity is wanting in your language, and where the hearers may be in danger of mistaking your sense. For want of this, some young preachers have fixed themselves in such an obscure way of writing and talking, as hath very much prevented their hearers from obtaining distinct ideas of their dis- course. And if a man gets such an unhappy habit, he will be sometimes talking to the air, and make the people stare at him, as though he were speaking some unknown language.
Remember you have to do with the reasoning powers of man, in preaching the gospel of Christ ; for though this gospel be revealed from heaven, and could never be discovered by all the efforts of human reason, yet it is the reason of man must judge of several things relating to it, viz. It is reason must determine whether the evidence of its heavenly original be clear and strong : It is reason must judge whether such a doctrine or such a duty be contained in this gospel, or may be justly deduced from it: It is the work of human reason to compare one scripture with another, and to find out the true sense of any particular text by this means : And it is reason also must give its sentence, whether a doctrine, which is pretended to be contained in scripture, be contrary to the eternal and unchangeable relations and reasons of things ; and if so, then reason may pronounce that this doctrine is not from God, nor can be given us by divine revelation. Reason, there- fore, hath its office and proper province, even in matters of revelation ; yet it must always be confessed, that some propositions may be revealed to us from heaven, which may be so far superior to the limits and sphere of our reasoning powers in this present state, that hu- man reason ought not to reject them, because it cannot fully understand them, nor clearly and perfectly reconcile them, unless it plainly see a natural absurdity in them, a real impossibility, or a plain inconsistence with other parts of divine revelation.
* I know these expressions of the apostle have another turn given them by some judicious commentators, viz. that the apostle had sufficient proof of the directions which he pronounces strongly to be the commands of Christ from other places of scripture ; but that these which he expresses so cautiously, were directions which Christ had not elsewhere given us, but were made known to him by his own special inspiration. 1 am not fully assured which is the true sense, but I rather think it is to be understood, as St. Paul's own private sense of things, who was a man favoured with many inspirations.
24 OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. Sect. 9.
Well then, since you have to do with reasonable creatures in your sacred work, let your manner of speaking be rational, and your arguments and inferences just and strong, that you may effectually convince your hearers of the truth of what you deliver, in your ministrations of the gospel. And in your representation of things to the reason and understanding of men, it would sometimes be of special advantage to have some power over the fancy or imagination : This would help us to paint our themes in their proper colours, whether of the alluring or the forbidden kind. And now and then we should make use of both, in order to impress the idea on the soul with happier force and success.
When you would describe any of the personal or social virtues of life, so as to enforce their practice, set yourself to display the beauties and excellencies of them, in their own agreeable and lovely forms and colours. But do not content yourself with this alone : This is not sufficient to allure the degenerate and sensual mind of man to practise them. Few persons are of so happy a disposition, and so refined a genius, as to be wrought upon by the mere aspect of such inviting qualities. Endeavour, therefore, to illustrate the virtues by their contrary vices, and set forth these moral mischiefs both in their deformities and their dangerous consequences, before the eyes of your hearers. Think it not enough to represent to them the shining excellencies of humility and benevolence, of justice, veracity, gratitude, and temperance; but produce to sight the vile features of pride, envy, malice, spite, knavery, falsehood, revenge, sensuality, luxury, and the rest of that cursed train, in their proper places and seasons. Make it evident, how contrary they are both to the law of God and the gospel of Christ ; describe them in all their several forms, shapes, and appearances ; strip them of their false pretences and disguises ; shew how they insinuate and exert themselves in different occurrences of life, and different constitutions ; and pursue them so narrowly, as it were, with a hue and cry, with such exact descriptions, that if any of these vices are indulged by your hearers, they may bo found out by strict self-examination, that the consciences of the guilty may be laid under conviction of sin, and be set in the way of repentance and reformation.
Whensoever any vice has found the way into our bosoms, and make its nest there, its proper and evil features and characters had need to be marked out by the preacher witli great accuracy, that it may be discovered to our consciences in order to its destruction: for these wretched hearts of ours are naturally so foud of all their own inmates, that they are too ready to hide their ill qualities from our own sight and conviction, and thus they cover and save them from the sentence of mortification and death, which is denounced against every sin in the word of God. And let the preacher and the hearer both remember, that sin must be pursued to the death, or else there is no life to the soul. Jt is only the christian who by the spirit mortifies the sinful deeds of the body, has the promise of salvation and life; Rom. viii. 13. It would be a happy thing, if this vivacious and sprightly power of the fancy, which too often becomes an ingenious and successful tempter of the soul to guilt, mischief and ruin, might, by the art of the preacher, be gained over to the interests of virtue and goodness, and employed for God and salvation.
Think farther, that you should take some care also to engage the memory, and to make it serve the purposes of religion. Let your reasonings be never so forcible; and convincing, let your language be never so clear and intelligible, yet if the whole discourse glide over the ears in a smooth and delightful stream, and if nothing be fixed in the memory, the sermon is in great danger of being lost and fruitless. Now to avoid this danger, I would recommend to you the care of a clear and distinct method, and let this method appear to
sect.c. of the composure or sermons. (j.>
MjgMMgM- I ■»»■!■...ij_L ! UJi i-!-- 1
the hearers, by the division of your discourses into several plain and distinct particulars, so that the whole may not be a mere loose harangue, without evident members and dis- cernable rests and pauses. Whatsoever proper and natural divisions belong to your subject, mark them out by the numbers 1st, 2d, 3d, &C. This will afford you time to breathe, in the delivery of your discourse, and give yonr hearers a short season for n col- lection of the particulars which have been mentioned before.
But in this matter take care always to maintain a happy medium, so as never to arise to such a number of particulars as may make your sermon look like a tree full of branches in the winter, without the beautiful and profitable appearance of haves and fruit. Cast the scheme of your discourse into some distinct general heads, and lesser subdivisions in your first sketches and rudiments of it: This will greatly assist you in the amplification; this will help you to preserve a just method throughout, and secure you from repeating the same thoughts too often : This will enable you to commit your sermon to your own memory the better, that you may deliver it with ease, and it will greatly assist the understanding as well as the memory of all that hear you. It will furnish them with matter and method for an easy recollection at home, for meditation in their devout retirement, and for religious conference or rehearsal after the public worship is ended.
Consider again, your business is with the consciences, and wills, and affections of men. A mere conviction of the reason and judgment, by the strongest arguments, is hardly sufficient, in matter of piety and virtue, to command the will into obedience ; because the appetites of the flesh and the interests of this world are engaged on the opposite side. It is a very common case with the sons and daughters of Adam, to see and know their proper duty, and to have the reasons that enforce it fresh in their memory ; and yet the powerful efforts of the flesh and the ivorld withhold the will from the practice, forbid its holy resolutions for God and heaven, or keep them always feeble, doubtful and wavering. The God of nature, therefore, has furnished mankind with those powers which we call passions, or affections of the heart, in order to excite the will with superior vigour and activity to avoid the evil and pursue the good. Upon this account, the preacher must learn to address the passions in a proper manner, and I cannot but think it a very imper- fect character of a christian preacher, that he reasons well upon every subject, and talks clearly upon his text, if he has nothing of the pathetic in his ministrations, no talent at all to strike the passion's of the heart.
Awaken your spirit, therefore, in your composures, contrive all lively, forcible, and penetrating forms of speech, to make your words powerful and impressive on the hearts of your hearers, when light is first let into the mind. Practise all the awful and solemn ways of address to the conscience, all the soft and tender influences on the heart. Try all methods to rouse and awaken the cold, the stupid, the sleepy race of sinners ; learn all the language of holy jealousy and terror, to affright the presumptuous ; all the com- passionate and encouraging manners of speaking, to comfort, encourage, and direct the awakened, the penitent, the willing and the humble ; all the winning and engaging modes of discourse and expostulation, to constrain the hearers of every character to attend. Seek this happy skill of reigning and triumphing over the hearts of an assembly ; per- suade them with power to love and practise all the important duties of godliness, in oppo- sition to the flesh and the world ; endeavour to kindle the soul to zeal in the holy warfare, and to make it bravely victorious over all the enemies of its salvation. But in all these
VOL. III. e
~*& OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS.
efforts of sacred oratory, remember still you are a minister of the gospel of Christ ; and as your style must not affect the pomp and magnificence of the theatre, so neither should you borrow your expressions or your metaphors from the coarest occupations, or any of the mean and uncleanly occurrences in life. Swell not the sound of your periods with ambitious or pedantic phrases ; dress not your serious discourses to the people in too glittering array, with an affectation of gaudy and flaunting ornaments, nor ever descend to so low a degree of familiarity and meanness, as to sink your language below the dig- nity of your subject or your office.
IX. As the art of reasoning, and the happy skill of persuasion, are botli necessary to be used in framing your discourses, so both of them may be borrowed in a good measure from the holy scriptures. The word of God will furnish you with a rich variety of forms toth to prove and persuade. Clear instruction, convincing argument, and pathetic address to the heart, may be all drawn from the sacred writers. Many fine strokes of true logic and rhetoric are scattered through that divine book, the Bible : Words of force and elegance to charm and allure the soul, glitter and sparkle like golden ore in some pecu- liar parts of it. You may find there noble examples of the awful and compassionate style, and inimitable patterns of the terrible and the tender. Shall I therefore take the freedom once again to call upon you to remember, that you are a minister of the word of God, a professor and preacher of the Bible, and not a mere philosopher upon the foot of reason, nor an orator in a heathen school? I am not here directing you to compose your whole sermons of nothing else but a perpetual connection of texts of scripture; nor to spend the whole hour in running from one text to another, as a concordance, or the mar- gin shall point them out. Persons of low degrees of learning, who give themselves up to this method, have frequently introduced scripture in their discourses, in a sense which the holy writers never thought of, and which the Spirit of God never designed ; and yet if a learned man would happily explain the more difficult parts of the word of God, perhaps it would be generally best done, and especially in the pulpit, by comparing them with other texts which are more plain and easy. Scripture is the best interpreter of itself.
As for argument to confirm a doctrine or enforce a duty, you may borrow much of this from the word of God. It is true, when we speak of those subjects which belong to natural religion, we may very properly bring arguments from the nature of God and man, and from the reason of things, to shew how necessary and reasonable it is to believe such a truth, or to practise such a virtue; nor is the scripture itself barren of such reasonings, and even in the peculiar articles of Christianity, it is a most excellent and useful design, now and them, to shew how consistent and harmonious they are with reason, and how worthy of our faith and practice, since the word of God has revealed them, though they could not be found out by the light of nature. Yet these arguments, if they are long and laboured, and not immediately apprehended by the mind, are much more proper to be communicated to the world by writing than by speaking ; there the reader may review and dwell upon an argument till he has grasped the whole chain, and admits all the con- nected inferences, and sees the undoubted evidence of the conclusion : But reasonings in the pulpit, for the most part, should be short and easy, that they may strike conviction into the mind almost as soon as they strike the ear, unless your hearers were all men of learning and refined education.
But the bulk of our auditors, whether in the city or country, are not much profited by sermons merely made up of rational proofs of any doctrine or duty, deeply and
Sect. 2. OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS.
laboriously deduced from the original springe and j>rime nature of things* They do not find their minds so much enlightened, nor their hearts warmed by a tedious train of con- nected inferences that are fetched from distant principles of nature and philosophy. This method, I confess, may entertain a few of the more rational, the more learned, or more po- lite persons in an auditory, who can survey and comprehend the sense of such discourses, and feel the force of such long chains of argumentation ; and these persons, I own, ought to have due respect paid them in some parts of our ministry. Yet it is not the great business of a preacher of the gospel only to please the few, but to become all things to all men, and, if possible, to win a multitude of souls to Christ. The generality of our hearers have their lives filled up with the business of their station, and have little leisure or advantage to improve their understandings in the art of deep reasoning. These will yawn and nod, and grow weary of the sermon; nor will such a preacher (though his discourses are never so much laboured) profit the assembly, any more than please them, if he goes on resolutely in this May : Such a minister will quickly despise his hearers, and they will soon be tired with their preacher; and if some providence does not remove him to another congregation, or if he does not betake himself to some other business of life, he will be tempted to forsake the protestant dissenters, and throw himself into the esta- blished church, when he has persuaded his conscience to comply with the imposed terms of ministerial conformity.
I grant it is necessary to use good reason through your whole discourse, and connect all the parts of it with justice : But, as I hinted before, let your arguments to prove any point be generally short and easy, and within the grasp of a common understanding : Re- member that a few plain and obvious reasonings, from familiar and well-known principles, and some clear and well-chosen texts of scripture, with a word or two to explain or apply them to the understanding and conscience of men with light and zeal, will impress the judgment and pierce the heart with more speedy and powerful conviction ; and our hearers, who regard a plain scriptural argument as the word of the living God, will much more readily receive it, and submit much sooner to the force and authority of it. Thus saith the prophet, or thus sailh the apostle, carries greater weight with it, both to convince and to persuade, than a long series of demonstrations from remote principles, though they should be firm and strong as those of Euclid or Sir Isaac Newton.
And as for bright, warm, and pathetic language, to strike the imagination or to affect the heart, to kiudle the divine passions or to melt the soul, there is none of the heathen orators can better furnish you than the moving expostulations of the ancient prophets, the tender and sprightly odes of holy David, or the affectionate part of the letters of St. Paul, which even his enemies in the church of Corinth confess to be powerful. The eastern writers, among whom we number the Jews, were particularly famous for lively oratory, for bright images, and bold and animated figures of speech. Could I have heard Isaiah or Jeremy pronouncing some of their sermons, or attended St. Paul in some of his pathetic strains of preaching, I should never mourn a want of acquaintance with Tully or Demosthenes.
A preacher whose mind is well stored and enriched with the divine sense and senti- ments, the reasoning and the language of scripture, (and especially if these are wrought into his heart by christian experience) supposing his other talents are equal to those of his brethren, will always have a considerable advantage over them in composing such
e 2
£8 OF THE COMPOSURE OF SERMONS. Sect. 2.
discourses as shall be most popular and most useful in christian assemblies ; and he may better expect the presence and blessing of God, to make his word triumph over the souls of men, and will generally speak to their hearts with more power for their eternal salvation. Shew me one sinner turned to God and holiness by the labours of a christian preacher, who is generally entertaining the audience with a long and weighty chain of reasoning from the principles of nature, and teaching virtue in the language of heathen philosophy : And I think I may undertake to shew you ten who have been convinced and converted, and have become holy persons and lively christians by an attendance upon a scriptural, affectionate, and experimental ministry : The whole assembly hang attentive upon the lips of a man who speaks to the heart as well as the understanding, and who can enforce his exhortations from a manifold experience of the success of them. They delight to hear the preacher whose plain and powerful addresses to the conscience, and whose frequent methods of reasoning in the pidpit, have been drawn from what they themselves have read in scripture concerning God and man, sin and duty, our misery and divine mercy, death, resurrection, judgment, heaven and hell. They attend with holy reverence and affection on such a minister, whose frequent argument both in points of doctrine and practice is, Thus saith the Lord.
X. Be not slothful or negligent in your weekly preparation for the pulpit : Take due time for it: Begin so early in the week, that you may have time enough before you to finish your preparations well ; and always allow for accidental occurrences, either from indisposition of body, from interruptions by company, from unforeseen business or trouble, &c. that you may not be reduced to the necessity of hurrying over your work in haste at the end of the week, and serving God and the souls of men with poor, cold, and careless performances. Remember that awful word, though spoken on another occasion, Jer. xlviii. 10. Cursed be he that doth the ivork of the Lord deceitfully. Manage so as to leave generally the Saturday evening, or at least the Lord's-day morning, entire for the review and correction of your discourse, and for your own spiritual improvement by the sermon which you have prepared for the people.
If it should happen that the mere providence of God, without any neglect of yours, has hindered you from making so good a preparation as you designed, you may with courage, and hope of divine assistance, venture into the assembly with more slender and imperfect furniture: But if your conscience tells you that your preparations are very slight, and the neglect is all your own, you have less reason to expect aids from above without great humiliation for your negligence. And what if God should forsake you so far in the pul- pit, as to expose you to public shame, and thus punish you for your carelessness in the midst of the congregation ?
Study your matter well by meditation and reading, and comparing scriptures together, till you have gotten it completely within your grasp and survey : Then if you should happen to be so situated in preaching, that you could not refresh your memory by the inspection of your paper every minute, yet you will not be exposed to hurry and confu- sion ; a ready thought will suggest something pertinent to your purpose. Let your preparations be usually so perfect, that you may be able to fill up the time allotted for the discourse with solid sense and proper language, even if your natural spirits should happen to be heavy and indisposed at the hour of preaching, and if your mind should ha\e ho new thoughts arising in the delivery of your discourse. Labour carefully in the forma- tion of your sermons in younger years : A habit of thinking and speaking well, procured
Sect. 3. OF PUBLIC MINISTRATIONS. 29
by the studies of youth, will make the labour of your middle age easy, when perhaps you will have mueh less time and leisure. This shall suffice for the second general head, which exhorts you to take heed to your private studies, both those which may furnish you for the work of the ministry in general, and those which are necessary to your parti- cular preparations for the pulpit.
SECTION III.
OF PUBLIC MINISTRATIONS.
We proceed now to the third general head, and that is, Take heed to your public labours and ministrations in the church, which maybe done by attending to the following particulars :
I. Apply yourself to your work with pious delight ; not as a toil and task, which you wish were done and ended, but as matter of inward pleasure to your own soul : Enter the pulpit with the solemnity of holy joy, that you have an opportunity to speak for the honour of God, and the salvation of men. Then you will not preach or pray with sloth or laziness, with coldness or indifference : We do not use to be slothful and indifferent in the pursuit of our joys, or the relish of our chosen pleasures. Stir up yourself to the work with sacred vigour, that the assembly may feel what you speak. But if you deliver the most solemn and lively composures like a man that is half asleep, it will be no wonder if your hearers slumber. A dull preacher makes a drowsy church.
II. Endeavour to get your heart into a temper of divine love, zealous for the laws of God, affected with the grace of Christ, and compassionate for the souls of men. With this temper engage in public work. Let your frame of spirit be holy with regard to your own inward devotion, near to God, and delighting in him ; and let it be zealous for the name of Christ, and the increase of his kingdom. O pity perishing sinners when you are sent to invite them to be reconciled to God. Let not self be the subject or the end of your preaching, but Christ and the salvation of souls. We preach not our- selves, saith the apostle, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake; 2 Cor. iv. 5. Speak as a dying preacher to dying hearers, with the utmost com- passion to the ignorant, the tempted, the foolish, and the obstinate \ for all these are in danger of eternal death. Attend your work with the utmost desire to save souls from hell, and enlarge the kingdom of Christ your Lord. Go into the public assembly with a design (if God please) to strike and persuade some souls there into repentance, faith, holiness and salvation. Go to open blind eyes, to unstop deaf ears, to make the lame walk, to make the foolish wise, to raise those that are dead in trespasses and sins to a heavenly and divine life, and to bring guilty rebels to return to the love and obedience of their Maker, by Jesus Christ, the great Reconciler, that they may be pardoned and saved. Go to diffuse the savour of the name of Christ and his gospel through a whole assembly, and to allure souls to partake of his grace and glory.
III. Go forth in the strength of Christ, for these glorious effects are above your own strength, and transcend all the powers of the brightest preachers. Be strong in the grace Which is in Christ Jesus; 2 Tim. ii. 1. Without him we can do nothing; John xv. 5. Go with a design to work wonders of salvation on sinful creatures, but in the strength of Jesus, irho hath ail power givtii him in heaven and earth, and hath promised to be with his ministers to the end of l/tc world ; Matt, xxviii. 20. Pray earnestly for the promised aids
3D OF PUBLIC MINISTRATIONS. Sect. S.
of the Spirit, and plead with God who hath sent yon forth in the service of the gospel of his Son, that you may not return empty, but bring in fair harvest of converts to heaven. It is the Lord of the harvest who only can give this divine success to the labourers. He that pluntelh is nothing, and he that ivalerelh is nothing; but all ovr hope is in God, who giveth the increase ; 1 Cor. iii. 7.
IV. Get the substance of your sermon, which you have prepared for the pulpit, so wrought into your head and heart by review and meditation, that you may have it at command, and speak to your hearers with freedom ; not as if you were reading or repeating your lesson to them, but as a man sent to teach and persuade them to faith and holiness. Deliver your discourses to the people like a man that is talking to them in good earnest about their most important concerns, and their everlasting welfare ; like a messenger sent from heaven who would fain save sinners from hell, and allure souls to God and happiness. Do not indulge that lazy way of reading over your prepared paper, as a schoolboy does an oration out of Livy or Cicero, who has no concern in the things he speaks. But let all the warmest zeal for God, and compassion for perishing men, animate your voice and countenance; and let the people see and feel, as well as hear, that you are speaking to them about things of infinite moment, and in which your own eternal interest lies as well as theirs.
V. If you pray and hope for the assistance of the Spirit of God in every part of your work, do not resolve always to confine yourself precisely to the mere words and sentences which you have written down in your private preparations. Far be it from me to encourage a preacher to venture into public work without due preparation by study, and a regular composure of his discourse. We must not serve God with what cost us nothing. All our wisest thoughts and cares are due to the sacred service of the temple : But what I mean is, that we should not impose upon ourselves just such a number of pre-composed words and lines to be delivered in the hour, without daring to speak a warm sentiment that comes fresh upon the mind. Why may you not hope for some lively turns of thought, some new pious sentiments which may strike light, and heat, and life into the understandings and the hearts of those that hear you ? In the zeal of your ministrations, why may you not expect some bright, and warm, and pathetic forms of argument and persuasion, to offer themselves to your lips, for the more powerful conviction of sinners, and the encouragement and comfort of humble christians ? Have you not often found such an enlargement of thought, such a variety of sentiment and freedom of speech, in common conversation upon an important subject, beyond what you were apprized of beforehand ? And why should you forbid yourself this natural advantage in the pulpit, and in the fervour of sacred ministrations, where also you have more reason to hope for divine assistance ?
Besides, for us who are protestant dissenters, and confine ourselves to no set forms in prayer, it seems more unreasonable to confine our lips constantly and precisely to the words written in our papers in the work of preaching. Do we plead so earnestly for the liberty of prayer, and yet never give our spirits a liberty to express their present warm, lively, and affectionate thoughts, in ministering the gospel of Christ under the hopes of his assistance? Why must we never dare to add any thing to our premeditated notes in apeaking to the people, while we take this freedom in speaking to the blessed God? As there has been many a fervent and devout petition offered to God in our addresses to him which has not been thought of before, so many a sentence that was never written has
SECt. 4. OF THE CONVERSATION OF A MINISTER. 31
been delivered in our addresses to the people with glorious success ; it has come more immediate and warm from the heart, and may have been blessed of God to save a soul.
VI. Here would be a proper place to interpose a few directions concerning elocution, and the whole manner of delivery of your discourse to the people ; which includes both a voice, gesture, and behaviour suited to the subject and design of every part of the sermon. But the rules that are necessary for this part of our work are much better derived from books written on this subject, from an observation of the best preachers, in order to imitate them, and an avoidance of that which we find offensive when we ourselves are hearers. Besides, as I have had an opportunity sometimes, my dear brother, of attending your performances in public, I think I may be bold to say, that in this, as well as in several other parts of your ministration, you stand in no need of any advice I can give. But since you have called me at present, to this service, I have endeavoured to fulfil it. If I had a design to go through the whole of the ministerial office, I should here also find a proper place to speak of the manner of your perform- ance of public prayer, of your direction of the person who leads that part of worship which is called psalmody, and in your ministration of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's-supper ; but this would require much more time, and my chief design was to put you in mind of a few useful things which relate to preaching. I proceed, therefore, to the last particular.
VII. Be very solicitous about the success of all your labours in the pulpit. Water the seed sown not only with public but secret prayer. Plead with God importunately, that he would not suffer you to labour in vain. Be not like that foolish bird the Ostrich, which lays her eggs in the dust, and leaves them there, regardless whether they come to life or not: God hath not given her understanding; Job xxxix. 14 — 17. But let not this folly be your character or practice : Labour, and watch, and pray, that your sermons and the fruit of your studies may become words of divine life to souls.
It is an observation of pious Mr. Baxter's which I have read somewhere in his works, that he has never known any considerable success from the brightest and noblest talents, nor the most excellent kind of preaching ; and that even where the preachers themselves have been truly religious, if they have not had a solicitous concern for the success of their ministrations. Let the awful and important thoughts of souls being saved by my preaching, or left to perish and be condemned to hell by my negligence, I say, let this awful and tremendous thought dwell ever upon your spirit. We are made watchmen to the house of Israel, as Ezekiel tuas; Ezek. iii. 17, &c. and if ive give no warning of approaching danger, the souls of multitudes may perish through our neglect, but the blood of souls will be terribly required at our hands.
SECTION IV.
OF THE CONVERSATION OF A MINISTER.
We are come now to the fourth and last thing which I proposed, in order to the ful- filling of your ministry, viz. Take heed to your whole conversation in the world ; let that be managed not only as becomes a professor of Christianity, but as becomes a minister of the gospel of Christ. Now amongst other rules which may render your conversation agreeable to your character, I entreat you to take these few into your thoughts :
OF THE CONVERSATION OF A MINISTER. Sect. 4.
I. Let it be blameless and inoffensive. Be vigilant, be temperate in all things, not only as a soldier of Christ, but as an under-leader of part of his army. Be temperate, and abstain sometimes even from lawful delights, that you may make the work of self-denial easy, and that you may bear hardship as becomes a soldier; 2 Tim. ii. 3, 4. Be watchful or vigilant, lest you be too much entangled with the affairs of this life, that you may belter please him who has chosen you for an officer in his battalions, and that you may not be easily surprised into the snares of sin. Guard against a love of pleasure, a sensual temper, an indulgence of appetite, an excessive relish of wine or dainties; this carnalizes the soul, and gives occasion to the world to reproach us but too justly.
Watch carefully in all your conduct that you give no offence, as far as possible, neither to Jew or gentile, nor to t/ie church of God, that so the ministry may not be blamed; 1 Cor. x. 32. 2 Cor. vi. 3. Maintain a holy jealousy over yourself and your conduct, that the name of Christ and his gospel suffer not the reproach of tongues and impious blasphemies through your means. Oh how dreadful is the mischief that a scandalous minister does to the gospel of our blessed Lord ! What a fearful train of consequences may attend his indulgence of any sinful appetite, or any single criminal action, even though it be not repeated ! What a fatal stumbling-block does he lay before the feet of saints and sinners ! He turns away the heart of sinners from God and religion, who perhaps began to think of setting their faces towards heaven : He discourages the hearts of young christians, and weakens the hands of all the friends of Christ. Woe be to the preacher by ivhom such offences come.
II. Let your conversation be exemplary in all the duties of holiness and virtue, in all the instances of worship and piety toward God, and in those of justice, honour, and hearty benevolence towards men. Be forward and ready to engage in every good word and work, that you may be a pattern and a leader of the flock, that you may be able to address the people committed to your care in the language of the blessed apostle, Be ye
followers of vie even as I also am of Christ ; 1 Cor. xi. 1. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. — For our conversation is in heaven; Phil. iii. 17, 20. Those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard and seen in me, do you practise, and the God of peace shall be with you; Phil. iv. 9.
II L Let your conversation be grave and manly, yet pleasant and engaging. Let it be grave, manly, and venerable : Remember your station in the church, that you sink not into levity and vain trifling, that you indulge not any ridiculous humours or childish fol- lies below the dignity of your character: Keep up the honour of your office among- men by a remarkable sanctity of manners, by a decent and manly deportment. Remember that our station does not permit any of us to set up for a buffoon ; nor will it be any glory to us to excel in farce and comedy. Let others obtain the honour of being good jesters, and of having it in their power to spread a laugh round the company when they please : But let it be our ambition to act on the stage of life as men who are devoted to the service of the God of heaven, to the real benefit of mankind on earth, and to their eternal interests.
Yet there is no need that your behaviour should have any thing stiff' or haughty, any thing sullen or gloomy in it: There is an art of pleasing in conversation that will maintain the honour of a superior office without a morose silence, without an affected stiffness, and without a haughty superiority. A pleasant story may proceed without offence from a minister's lips ; but he should never aim at the title of a man of mirth, nor abound in
Sect. 4. OF THE CONVERSATION OF A MINISTER. 33
such tales as carry no useful instruction in them, no lessons of piety, or wisdom, or virtue. Let a cheerful freedom, a generous friendship, and an innocent pleasure, gene- rally appear on your countenance; and let yf>ur speech be ever kind and affectionate. Do not put on any forbidding airs, nor let the humblest soul be afraid to speak to you. Let your whole carriage be civil and affable ; let your address to men be usually open and free, such as may allure persons to be open and free with you in the important concerns of their souls. Seek as far as possible to obtain all your pious designs, by soft and gentle methods of persuasion.
If you are ever called to the unpleasing and painful work of reproof, this may be done effectually upon some occasions without speaking a word. When vicious, or uncleanly, or unbecoming speeches arise in public conversation, a sudden silence, with an assumed gravity, will often be a sensible and sufficient reproof. Or where words of admonition may not be proper, because of the company, sometimes a sudden departure may be the best way to acquaint them with your disapprobation. But there are cases wherein such a tacit, rebuke is not sufficient to answer your character and your office. Sometimes it is necessary for a minister to bear a public and express witness against shocking immorality, or against vile and impious discourse. Yet in general it must be said, if a reproof can be given in secret, it is best and most likely to prevail upon the offender, because it less irritates his passions, nor awakens his pride to vindicate himself, and to despise all reproof.
Whensoever Providence calls you to this work, make it appear to the transgressor, that you do it with regret and pain ; let him see that you are not giving vent to your own wrath, but seeking his interest and welfare ; and that were it not for the honour of God, and for his good, you would gladly excuse yourself from the ungrateful task; and that it is a work in which your spirit takes no delight. If the case and circumstances require some speeches that are awful and severe, let it appear still that your love and pity are the prevailing passions, and that even your anger has something divine and holy in it, as being raised and pointed against the sin rather than against the sinner. Study to make the whole of your carriage and discourse amongst men so engaging, as may invite strangers to love you, and allure them to love religion for your sake.
IV. In order to attain the same end, let your conversation be attended with much self-denial and meekness ; avoid the character of a humourist, nor be unreasonably fond of little things, nor peevish for the want of them. Suppress rising passion early. If you are providentially led into argument and dispute, whether on themes of belief or practice, be very watchful lest you run into fierce contention, into angry and noisy debate. Guard against every word that savours of malice, or of bitter strife ; watch against the first stirrings of sudden wrath or resentment; bear with patience the contradiction of others, and forbear to return railing for railing. A minister must be gentle, and not apt to strive, but meekly instructing gainsay ers. He should never be ready either to give or take offence, but he should teach his people to neglect and bury resentment, to be deaf to reproaches, and to forgive injuries, by his own example, even as God has forgiven all of us. Let us imitate his divine pattern, who cancels and forgives our infinite offences for the sake of Jesus Christ. A bishop must not be a brawler or a striker; 1 Tim. iii. 3. but such as the apostle was, gentle among the people, even as a nurse cherishes her chil- dren; and being affectionately desirous of their welfare, we should be willing to impart not
VOL. III. F
34 OF THE CONVERSATION OF A MINISTER. Sect. 4.
only the gospel of God to them, but any thing that is dear to us, for the salvation of their souls ; 1 Thess. ii. 7, 8.
Never suffer any differences (if possible) to arise between you and any of the people who are committed to your care, or attend on your ministrations : This will endanger the success of your best labours among them, and for this reason, though you visit families with freedom, yet avoid all unnecessary enquiries into their domestic affairs by a prying curiosity; the pleasure of such secrets will never pay for the danger that attends them, and your own business is sufficient for you. Avoid entering into any of the little private and personal quarrels that may arise among them, unless Providence give you an evident call to become a peacemaker: But even in this blessed work there is some danger of disobliging one side or the other; for though both sides are often to blame, yet each supposes himself so much in the right, that your softest and most candid intima- tion of their being culpable, even in little things, will sometimes awaken the jealousy of one or both parties against you ; this will tend to abate their esteem of you, and give a coldness to their attention on your sacred services. We had need' be wise as serpents in this case, and harmless as doves; Matt. x. 16.
V. Let your conversation be as fruitful and edifying as your station and opportunities will allow. Wheresoever you come, endeavour (if possible) that the world may be the better for you. If it be the duty of every christian, much more is it the indispensable duty of a minister of Christ, to take heed that no corrupt communication proceed out of his mouth, but that which is good for edification, that it may minister grace to the hearers; Eph. iv. 29. In your private visits to the members of your flocks, or to the houses of those who attend on your ministry, depart not (if possible) without putting in some word for God and religion, for Christ and his gospel : Take occasion, from common occur- rences that arise, artfully and insensibly to introduce some discourse of things sacred. Let it be done with prudence and holy skill, that the company may be led into it ere they are aware. The ingenious Mr. Norris's little Discourse of Religious Conversation, and Mr. Matthew Henry's Sermon of Friendly Visits, have many excellent and valuable hints in them for our use.
It is to be confessed, that Hie best of ministers and christians sometimes fall into such company, that it is hardly possible to speak' a word for God and the gospel among them. Try then whether you cannot lead the discourse to some useful theme in matters of science, art, and ingenuity, or to rules of prudence, morality, or human conduct. There is a time of keeping silence, and restraining our lips as with a bridle, even from every thing that is piously good, while some sort of wicked men stand before ns; Psalm xxxix. 1, 2. The best men are sometimes dumbivith silence, and dare not speak of God, or religion, lest they should cast their pearls before swine, and give their holy things to dogs; and lest they should provoke the unclean or the envious animals to foam out their impurities, or to turn again and rend them. But I doubt this caution has been carried much farther by our own cowardice and carnality of spirit, than David ever practised it in the xxxix. Psalm, or than Jesus Christ meant it in the vii. of 3Jatthcw. Let us take heed then that we abuse not this prudent caution to a manifest neglect of our duty, and to withhold our lips from the things of God, where Providence gives us a fair opportu- nity to speak of them.
Now and then take occasion to speak a kind and religious word to the children of the household ; put them in mind of avoiding some childish folly, or of practising some
Sect. 4. OF THE CONVERSATION OF A MINISTER. 3.5
duty that belongs to their age. Let your memory be well furnished with the words of scripture, suited to the several ages of mankind, as well as to the various occasions of life, that out of the abundance of the heart your mouth may speak to the advantage of all that hear you, and particularly improve the younger parts of mankind, who are the hopes of the next generation. Make the lambs of the flock love you, and hear your voice with delight, that they may grow up under your instruction, to fill up the room of their fathers when they are called away to heaven : Nor let servants be utterly neglected, where Pro- vidence may afford you an opportunity to speak a word to their souls.
Learn what are the spiritual circumstances of the families whom you visit, and address them with a word in season, where you can have proper opportunity. Converse per- sonally with them (if you can) about their eternal concerns. Let the ease and gentleness of your addresses to them, in a natural and familiar way, take off all that shy and bashful tincture from their minds, that is ready to prevent their uttering a word about the concern of their souls. Enquire tenderly into their state with regard to God : Draw sinners by words of compassion to repent of their crimes, to return to God, and to trust in Jesus the Saviour. Teach christians sincerely to love and practise duty, and to endure with honour the trials of life. Teach them to be sick and die as becomes the disciples of Christ. Treasure up your own experiences of divine things, not only as matters of delightful review in your own retirements, and for the encouragement of your own hope, but as lessons to be taught your people upon all proper occasions. Whether you are afflicted, or ivhether you are comforted, let it be for their consolation and salvation; 2 Cor. i. 6.
A minister, whose business and known employment is to speak of the thingsof God, should never be ashamed to impart divine knowledge, or to exhort to holiness with his lips, and to preach the word of the gospel of grace, whether the world calls it in season or out of season; 2 Tim. iv. 1. He that has the happy talent of parlour preaching, has sometimes done more for Christ and souls in the space of a few minutes, than by the labour of many hours and days in the usual course of preaching in the pulpit. Our character should be all of a piece, and we should help forward the success of our public ministrations by our private addresses to the hearts and consciences of men, where Pro- vidence favours us with just occasions.
In order to promote this work of particular watchfulness over the flock of Christ, where he has made you a shepherd and overseer, it is useful to keep a catalogue of their names, and now and then review them with a pastoral eye and affection. This will awaken and incline you to lift up proper petitions for each of them, so far as you are acquainted with their circumstances in body or mind. This will excite you to give thanks to God on account of those who walk as becomes the gospel, and who have either begun, or pro- ceeded and encreased in the christian life and temper by your ministry : You will observe the names of the negligent and backsliding christians, to mourn over them, and admonish them : You will be put in mind how to dispose of your time in christian visits, and learn the better to fulfil your whole ministry among them.
I shall enlarge no further in the enumeration of our duties, which would easily swell into a volume, if they were set before our eyes in their full extent : But in general I say, these are the methods whereby we must take heed to ourselves, if we would fulfil the ministry that we have received of Christ. To supply what I have omitted, read frequently, and with holy attention, the epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus, which will furnish
f 2
36 A SOLEMN ENFORCEMENT OF Sect. 5.
you richly with directions for your work ; and I would recommend to you the examples of St. Paul and Timothy, as they are put well together in a little book by the Reverend Mr. Murray, which was printed but a few years ago. And as the account of the lives of many ancient ministers may furnish us with patterns for our imitation, so the life of the late venerable Dr. Cotton Mather, of New England, has many excellent hints in it for this purpose; Chap. ii. Sect. 1. and Chap. vi.
SECTION V.
A SOLEMN ENFORCEMENT OF THESE EXHORTATIONS ON THE CONSCIENCE.
The things which I have spoken hitherto have been a display of the best methods I can think of, for the execution of the sacred office of the ministry : And so far as they are conformable to the word of God, we may venture to say these are your duties, my dear brother, and these are ours. It remains now to be considered, in what manner shall we enforce them on our own consciences, and on yours. What solemn obtestations shall I use to press these momentous concerns on all our hearts? What pathetic lan- guage shall I choose, what words of awful efficacy and divine fervour, which may first melt our spirits into softness, and then imprint these duties upon them with lasting power? We exhort and charge you, we exhort and charge ourselves, by all that is serious and sacred, by all that is important and everlasting, by all the solemn transactions between God and man which are past, and by all the more solemn and awful scenes which are yet to come, by all things in our holy religion which are dreadful and tremendous, and by all things in this gospel which are glorious and amiable, heavenly and divine ; we charge you by all that is written in this book of God, according to which we shall be judged in the last day, by all the infinite and astonishing glories and terrors of an invisible world and an unseen eternity, we charge and exhort you, we exhort and charge ourselves, that we all fake heed to the ministry which we have received of the Lord Jesus that we fulfil it. But let us descend to more particular forms of solemn exhortation, which perhaps may strike our consciences in a more sensible manner, and print the duties deeper upon our hearts.
First then, we exhort and charge you, we charge and exhort our own souls, by all the ancient transactions between God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, for the salvation of sinful men, by all the eternal counsels of peace that passed between them to recover lost mankind to the favour and image of his Maker, that we preach this gospel with faith- fulness, and be instant in the sacred work. It is the effect of these divine counsels that we publish to sinners ; it is the merciful product of this sacred covenant of redemption that we are sent to proclaim to a lost world : This is the gospel that is put into our hands : God grant we may speak as becomes creatures entrusted with messages of such a heavenly original with affairs of such divine solemnity.
Secondly, We exhort and charge you, and we would charge ourselves to fulfil our ministry, by the invaluable treasure of this gospel which is put into our hands, by that word of life which is committed to our ministration. Let us speak with such a serious zeal as becomes the oracles of God and the embassies of his mercy, with such compassion to dying souls as is manifested in this gospel of love, with such inward fervour and holy solicitude for the success of our labours, that if it were possible, not the soul of one sinner
Sect. 5. TFIESE EXHORTATIONS ON THE CONSCIENCE. 37
within the reach of our preaching might miss of this pardoning mercy and eternal joy. Oh let us not dare to trifle with God or men : Let us not dare be cold and lifeless in pronouncing the words of everlasting life, nor lazy and indolent in carrying these errands of divine love to a lost and perishing world.
Thirdly, We charge and beseech you, and we charge ourselves, by the mercies of the living God, which we hope both you and we have tasted, by the grace of our Lord Jems Christ, which we hope we have felt and received, that you and we proclaim these mer- cies with a sacred zeal, and that in the name of God and of our Lord Jesus, we offer them to a miserable world with holy importunity. If ever we have known this wondrous compassion of God to ourselves, if ever we have tasted that the Lord is gracious, let us remember the relish we have had of this infinite compassion and condescending grace, when we were perishing under the power and guilt of sin ; and with an imitation of that divine piety, let us entreat sinners to be saved. Let us remember all the alluring charms, the heavenly sweetnesses of forgiving, sanctifying, and saving grace; and do our utmost to set them all before sinners in the most inviting light, that we may win sinful men to accept of the same salvation.
Fourthly, We exhort and charge you, and we charge ourselves, by the dear and glo- rious name of our blessed Jesus, whose servants ive are, whose name we bear, whose authority gives us commission, and who hath chosen us to be the ministers of his grace, the messengers of his dying love to the sons of men : We charge and beseech you to take care of the honour of his name in your ministrations, for we are sent forth to display before the eyes of the world the unsearchable riches of Christ. We are entrusted to spread abroad the honour of his name; O let us labour and strive that our zeal bear some proportion to the dignity of our trust, and let us take heed that we do nothing- unworthy of our great and glorious Master in heaven, who dwells at the right hand of God; nothing unworthy of that holy and illustrious name, in which we are sent forth to preach this gospel, and to enlarge his kingdom. He has set us up as lights upon a hill in this sinful world, this benighted part of his dominion ; let us burn and shine to his honour. He has assumed and placed us as stars in his right hand ; let us shine and burn gloriously, that we may give light to a midnight world. O that we may point out to them the morning star, that we may bring them under the beams of the rising sun of righteousness, and guide them in the way to the hills of paradise and everlasting joy !
Fifthly, We beseech and charge you, while we charge ourselves, by the inestimable value of the blood of Christ, which purchased this salvation, that you and we display this illustrious and costly purchase to sinful perishing creatures ; this precious blood, which is sufficient to redeem a world from death, and which is the price of all our infinite and everlasting blessings, demands that we publish and offer them in his name, with holy zeal and solicitude to sinful men. Oh may our hearts and our lips join to proclaim this redemption, this salvation, these everlasting blessings, with such a devout and sacred passion as becomes the divine price that was paid for them ! Let us not be found triflers with the blood of Christ, nor let us bring cold hearts and dead affections, when we come to set before sinners the rich and inestimable stream of that life and blood that comes warm from the heart of the dying Son of God. Let perishing creatures know that it cost the Prince of Glory such a dreadful price as this to redeem them from eternal misery ; and at the same time let our own spirits feel the powerful workings of gratitude to the
36 A SOLEMN EXHORTATION OF Sect. 5.
divine friend that bled and died for us, and let our language make it appear that we speak what we feel.
Sixthly, We entreat you with all tenderness, and with holy solemnity and fear, we charge you, and we charge ourselves, by the invaluable worth of perishing souls, that we fulfil all oar ministry with a concern of heart equal to so important a case. How can we dare to speak with lifeless lips, with cold language, or a careless air, when we are sent to recover immortal souls from the brink of everlasting death ? Oh let it never be said that such or such a soul was lost for ever through our carelessness, through our coldness, through our sinful sloth in publishing the offers of recovering grace! How tremendous and painful will such a thought be to our hearts ! How dreadful the anguish of it to the awakened conscience of a drowsy preacher !
Seventhly, We charge you solemnly, and we charge ourselves, by the honour that Christ has done to us in times past, and has done to you this day, by the dignity of that office with which we have been formerly invested, and which you have this day received, that neither you nor we do any thing unbecoming this honourable character. Does Jesus, the divine Shepherd, appoint us under-shepherds of his flock ; are we constituted stewards in his house, to dispense the mysteries of his grace, and the good things of his gospel ; are we the messengers of our risen Lord to a dying world ; are we the ministers of our exalted Saviour in his kingdom here below; are we the stars in his right hand ; are we the earthly angels in his churches? Oh let us take heed that we do nothing to disgrace the titles of dignity and honour which he has put upon us in his word : Let us remember that every dignity brings an equal duty with it ; and by fulfilling the various and difficult duties of our holy station, let us make it appear that our office was not con- ferred upon us in vain. It behoves us well to remember, that a blemish upon the name of a minister, arising from his own criminal conduct, brings a foul and lasting scandal upon the office itself, and upon the gospel of our glorified Lord, in whose name we act : And he will not fail to resent it.
Eighthly, We exhort and charge you therefore, my dear brother, by all the sacred solemnities of this day, by the vows of God which you have this day taken upon yourself, and the bond wherewith you have bound your soul; and we would each of us charge our own consciences, by our own former solemn vows, that neither you nor we ever suffer ourselves to forget or disregard our holy and powerful engagements ; that we be awake at all times to fulfil our work, and that we never indulge low and trifling thoughts of what has formerly appeared to us, and what this day appears to you of such awful importance. Oh let us ever refresh upon our spirits the serious and important transactions of that day, wherein we gave up ourselves to Christ, in the sacred service of his church. Let us often review the vows of these remarkable seasons of our life, and renew and confirm them before the Lord.
Ninthly, We charge you, and we charge ourselves, by the decaying interest of religion, and the withering state of Christianity at this day, that we do not increase this general and lamentable decay, this growing and dreadful apostasy, by our slothful and careless management of the trust that is committed to us. It is a divine interest indeed, but declining ; it is a heavenly cause, but among us it is sinking and dying. O let us stir up our hearts, and all that is within us, and strive mightily in prayer and in preaching to revive the work of God, and beg earnestly that God, by a fresh and abundant effusion of his own Spirit, would revive his own work among us ! Revive thy own work, O Lord, in
Sect. 5. THESE EXHORTATIONS ON THE CONSCIENCE. 39
the midst of these years of sin and degeneracy, nor let us labour in vain. Where is thy zeal, O Lord, and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and thy mercies/ Are they restrained/ O let us rouse our souls with all holy fervour to fulfil our ministry, for it will be a dreadful reproach upon us, and a burthen too heavy for us to bear, if we let the cause of Christ and godliness die under our hands for want of a lively zeal, and pious fervour and faithfulness in our ministrations.
Tenthly, We entreat, we exhort and charge you, and we charge ourselves, by the solemn and awful circumstances of a dying bed, and the thoughts of conscience in that important hour, when we shall enter into the world of spirits, that we take heed to the ministry which we have received : Surely that hour is hastening upon us, when our heads will lie upon a dying pillow. When a few more mornings and evenings have visited our windows, the shadows of a long night will begin to spread themselves over us : In that gloomy hour, conscience will review the behaviour of the days that are past, will take account of the conduct of our whole lives, and will particularly examine our labours and cares in our sacred office. Oh may we ever dread the thoughts of making bitter work for repentance in that hour, and of treasuring up terrors for a death bed by a careless and useless ministry !
Eleventhly, We exhort and charge you, and we charge ourselves, by our gathering together before the throne of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the solemn account we must there give of the ministry with which he hath entrusted us, that we prepare by our pre- sent zeal and labour to render that most awful scene peaceful to our souls, and the issue of it joyful and happy. Let us look forward to that illustrious and tremendous appear- ance, when our Lord shall come with ten thousands of his holy angels to enquire into the conduct of men, and particularly of the ministers of his kingdom here on earth. Let us remember that we shall be examined in the light of the flames of that day? What we have done with his gospel which he gave us to preach ? What we have done with his promises of rich salvation, which he sent us to offer in his name ? What is become of the souls committed to our care ? O that we may give up our account with joy, and not with grief, to the Judge of the living and the dead, in that glorious, that dreadful and deci- sive hour !
Twelfthly, We charge and warn you, my dear brother, and we warn and charge our- selves, by all the terrors written in this divine book, and by all the indignation and vengeance of God, which we are sent to display before a sinful world; by all the tor- ments and agonies of hell, which we are commissioned to denounce against impenitent sinners, in order to persuade men to turn to God, and receive and obey the gospel, that we take heed to our ministry that we fulfil it. This vengeance and these terrors will fall upon our souls, and that with intolerable weight, with double and immortal anguish, if we have trifled with these terrible solemnities, and made no use of these awful sceues to awaken men to lay hold of the offered grace of the gospel. Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord, let us persuade men, for ice must all stand before the judgment -seat of Christ, to receive according to our ivork; 2 Cor. v. 10, 11.
In the last place, We entreat, we exhort and charge you, by all the joys of paradise, and the blessings of an eternal heaven, which are our hope and support under all our labours, and which in the name of Christ we offer to sinful perishing men, and invite them to partake thereof: Can we speak of such joys and glories with a sleepy heart and indolent language? Can we invite sinners who are running headlong into hell to
40 A SOLEMN ENFORCEMENT OF Sect. 5.
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return and partake of these fel -cities, and not be excited to the warmest forms of address, and the most lively and engaging methods of persuasion ? What scenes of brightness and delight can animate the lips and language of an orator, if the glories and the joys of the christian heaven and our immortal hopes cannot do it? We charge and entreat you there- fore, and we charge ourselves, by the shining recornpences which are promised to faithful ministers, that we keep this glory ever in view, and awaken our dying zeal in our sacred work. There is a crown of righteousness laid up for those who have fought the good fight, who filiate nished their course, ivho have kept the faith; 2 Tim. iv. 7. There is a glory which is to be revealed, a crown of glory which fadeth not away, prepared for every under-shepherd, who shall feed the flock of God under his care, and be found faithful in his work ; when the great Shepherd shall appear, he himself will bestow it upou them. O let us look up continually to this immortal crown! Let us shake off our sluggish- ness, and rouse all our active powers at the prospect of this felicity. Let us labour and strive with all our might, that we may become possessors of this bright reward.
Before we conclude this exhortation, let us try to enforce it still with more power, by considering in whose presence are these solemnities transacted, and these charges given. We exhort and charge you then, in the presence of this church, who hath called you to minister to them in holy things, and who give up their souls this day to your care, to your instructions, to your conduct in the ministrations of the gospel. We charge and exhort you that you take the oversight of them with all humility and diligence, and sacred delight, that you make the life of their souls your perpetual care, that none of them may be lost through your default.
We exhort, and charge you in the presence of this whole assembly, who are met toge- ther to behold and hear our faith and order in the gospel. They are witnesses of the solemn obligations you have this day laid yourself under, and will be called as witnesses against you in the day of Christ, if you take no care to perform your sacred vows. We exhort and charge you, in the presence of the holy and elect angels, who are continually waiting in their ministry on the saints in the church, and viewing with delight the ministra- tion of the gospel of Christ, their Lord and ours, as it is managed by the hand of men. They see, they hear, and they will bear record against you ; a dreadful record of broken vows and faithless promises, if you are found careless and unfaithful.
Forgive me, dear brother, forgive the solemn language of these exhortations ; we hope, we believe, we are persuaded your heart is right with God, and you will be found faithful in that day, and that men and angels will be witnesses of your zeal and your labours in the sacred work. But we also feel so much coldness in our own spirits, that we have need to address you and ourselves in most solemn and awful language.
We charge you then finally, in the presence of God, the great God, the all-knowing and almighty, the universal Governor and Judge, and our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom he hath committed all judgment, ivho hath eyes as aflame of fire to see through our hearts and souls ; we charge you, and we charge ourselves, under the all-seeing eye of the great God, and of his Son Jesus our Lord, that with holy care and diligence both we and you fulfil the work of our ministry with which Christ hath entrusted us, that we may approve our- selves to him in zeal, and faithfulness, and love ; in zeal for his honour and his gospel, m faithfulness to our sacred commission, and in love and pity to the souls of men. If sin- ners will continue obstinate and impenitent, after all our pious cares, labours and prayers, .their blood will not lie at our door; our work is left with the Lord, and our judgment and
Sect. 1. THESE EXHORTATIONS ON THE CONSCIENCE. 41
reward with our God; Isaiah xlix. 4. But if it be possible, we should with utmost earnestness and compassion seize the souls of sinners who are on the very borders of hell, we should pluck them like brands out of the fire, and save them from burning ; Jude verse 23.
O may the spirit of the blessed God favour us with his divine aids, that we may bring home many wanderers to -the fold of Christ, the great Shepherd ; that we may rescue many souls from death, who may be our joy, and crown, and glory in the day of the Lord Jesus ! May this be your happiness, my dear brother, may this be mine ? May this be the happiness of every one of us who minister in holy things, through the abounding grace of Christ and the influences of his Spirit: And may it be the happiness of all who in different places attend our constant holy ministrations, and particularly of all that hear us this day, to stand and appear with us before the judgment-seat of Christ with mutual delight and joy : And may each of us who preach and hear, receive our proper portion of the everlasting recompence and glory which shall be assigned to those who are faithful, by Jesus, our Saviour and our Judge, to whom be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.
A SERIOUS ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE.
MATT. V. 57. WHAT DO YE MORE THAN OTHERS ?
SECTION I.
THE TEXT APPLIED TO THE DISCIPLES.
A HAT excellent sermon which our Lord preached on the mount seems to be addressed in a special manner to his disciples, though a mixed multitude might attend to hear it. The first verse of the chapter tells us, that Jesus seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain ; and when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit : And there are several expressions iii the sermon which plainly shew that the discourse was chiefly directed to the disciples, Matt. v. 13, &c. Ye are the salt of the earth, ye are the light of the world; which he would never say to a multitude of mixed people that followed him, made up probably of Gali- lean gentiles, as well as Jews.
The words I have chosen are a warm and pathetic question put to the consciences of the disciples, with regard to the great duty of charity and love, which our blessed Saviour had been just preaching in sublimer degrees than the ancient prophets, If you salute none but your brethren, if you love only those that love you; or as Luke vi. 33. If ye do good to them that do good to you, what do you more than others? For the publicans and sinners do the same. Persons who make no pretences to godliness, and who neither enjoy the advantages with which you are blessed, nor lie under equal engagements ; they love their own friends as well as you, and make grateful returns for benefits received ; they practise many duties of morality, but I expect that you my disciples should far excel them, both in the duties you practise, and in the manner of performance : I expect that you should love your enemies, and should bless them that curse you, and do good to them that hate you, as in verse 44. What is here spoken thus warmly by our Lord to his own disciples, concerning love, and civility, and kindness to our fellow-creatures, may with the same justice be applied to most of the duties which we owe to God or man, and give us ground to raise this general doctrine or theme of discourse :
Doctrine. God requires and expects higher improvements in virtue and religion from persons who enjoy peculiar advantages, or lie under special obligations. Now to improve this thought, and press it upon all our consciences, I shall enquire, 1. What are the circumstances under which the disciples of Christ then lay that obliged them to superior virtue and goodness ; and 2. I shall endeavour to apply this to ourselves, by enquiring what peculiar circumstances of advantage and obligation all or any of us lie under to exceed others in any instances of duty, either to God or our neighbour, and whether we have answered these engagements or no.
In answer to the first enquiry, What were the circumstances of the disciples at this time ? We may consider our Saviour in his sermon exhorting them to superior degrees of good-
Sect. I. THE TEXT APPLIED TO THE DISCIPLES.
ness, as they appeared under these two characters; J. as they were Jews, and not heathens, as a part of the nation and church of Israel, in distinction from the men of other nations or gentiles ; or 2. as they were the disciples of Christ, and not of the scribes or pharisees ; as they were followers of a new preacher, who was neither authorized nor acknowledged by their priests and doctors of the law, who had no countenance from the established national church, and who frequently worshipped in separate assemblies.* And there is good reason for this twofold consideration of them, if we remember that in my text Christ compares his disciples with publicans, or the gatherers of the taxes, whom the Roman governors appointed, and who were most of them heathens, and were often guilty of oppression and injustice, and therefore he demands of his disciples greater degrees of goodness than they ever practised ; and in the twentieth verse of this chapter he compares them with the scribes and pharisees, the strict pretenders to religion, and the teachers of it among the Jews ; and assures them, that except their righteousness exceed that of the scribes and pharisees, they shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven ; Matt. v. 20.
I. If we consider the disciples of Christ as Jews, as a part of the nation and church of Israel, they had many special advantages for religion above the heathen world, and many peculiar obligations. They were interested in those special marks of honour and love that God had set upon the Jewish nation, they were chosen to be a peculiar people to the Lord, and were devoted to him from their infancy : They had their laws given them by God himself, as their King and Governor, and could have no doubt of the wisdom, and justice, and equity of them : They had a multitude of special revela- tions both of duty and grace from God as their King and their God ; from God as the object of their worship and their everlasting rewarder? They had the living oracles committed to them for their instruction, wherein divine truths and duties were written down in plain language, as the lessons of their faith and the rules of their practice : They had many institutions of religion and worship dictated by God himself, and they were not left to the wild and uncertain fancies of men to invent ceremonies of their own, which God will never approve: They had the gospel preached to them under types and shadows, and there were many clear discoveries of the forgiveness of sin, and reconcilia- tion to God, to be obtained for sinners who return to God by repentance, and who rely on the promises of his grace. Well might our Saviour say, I expect from you superior degrees of religion and virtue above the heathen and the publican, above the Roman tax- gatherers that dwell amongst you, and even those of your own nation, who make no strict profession of piety or goodness. Think with yourselves, therefore, examine your hearts and practice, what do you more than they? And let your consciences be able to give an honourable answer.
II. Let the disciples of Christ be considered as the followers of a new preacher, in a way of distinction from the disciples of the scribes and the Jewish doctors of the law. They sat under the ministry of a rising prophet, Jesus of Galilee, the supposed son of a
* It is granted, indeed, that our blessed Saviour did not separate himself from the Jewish national church, so as to abstain from the worship of the temple, because that was expressly of God's own establishment ; nor did he avoid the synagogues while they would suffer him to preach there, and to warn the people against their traditions : Yet there were so many corruptions in that day that had crept into the national church, that he found he could not fulfil his ministry, nor promote the salvation of souls according to his desire, and his heavenly commission, without holding separate assemblies.
G 2
44 THE TEXT APPLIED TO THE DISCIPLES. Sect, i.
carpenter, who bad no approbation, nor authority, nor countenance from the established church, who held separate assemblies for praying and preaching, and who taught the people sometimes on a mountain, sometimes in the wilderness, sometimes on the sea shore, and at other times in private houses ; and here we shall find that the disciples lay under farther circumstances of engagement to greater purity, and a higher perfection in holiness. They had the Son of God himself for their preacher, who spake so as never man spake, who had all his doctrines and his messages from heaven, and spake what his Father commanded him; a preacher who explained the law in a more perfect manner, and raised it to sublimer degrees of virtue even than Moses himself, who received it from God ; and he purified it also from the false and corrupt glosses which the scribes and doctors of that degenerate age had put upon it; an ambassador from heaven, who published the tidings of rich grace, and pardon, and salvation, in a clearer manner, and gave them stronger encouragements to repentance, and faith, and piety, and brotherly love, than the world had ever known before.
They had miracles wrought to convince them of the truth of the commission of Christ from heaven ; Matt. iv. 24. The God of nature spoke often to them in some work of wonder, which was superior to all the powers of nature, to assure them that Jesus was the minister of his Father's grace to the sons of men. They had seen some of the pro- phecies fulfilled in him, and some of the characters of the Messiah exemplified in his person, in his doctrine, and his conduct; for though this sermon stands near the begin- ning of St. Matthew's history, yet it was by no means the first sermon that he preached, nor the very beginning of his ministry, as will easily appear if we consult Malt. iv. and Luke iv. where we have several accounts of his preaching before this. , Let us consider another great advantage they enjoyed above others ; they had the noblest and most sublime pattern of holiness always before them, who practised self- denial, humility, zeal for the honour of God, mortification to the world, resistance of temptations, and retired devotion, in a superior manner to whatever any mere mortal attained or practised. And besides all this, they made a profession of greater strictness and purity by their adherence to Christ and his preaching, who appeared in the world as a new teacher, to reform the vices of men, and found fault with the preachers of the established church, for the many corruptions both of doctrine and practice that reigned amongst them.
Now, " To what purpose (might our Lord say) and for what end are all these advan- tages given you, if not to make you wiser and better than the rest of the nation ? And what is it you pretend in following my sermons, and attending upon my ministry in separate assemblies ? Is it not that you may become more strictly religious, and that your virtue and your goodness may exceed your neighbours? If the teachings of the scribes and the doctors of the law are sufficient for your instruction, and equal to your wishes and your hopes, why do ye follow me from town to town, and from one part of the nation to the other? Does not your own profession of being my disciples oblige you to greater degrees of piety ? And have you not peculiar advantages for this end, by attending on my ministrations? I expect, therefore, that you should live, and speak, and act to the honour of God and the good of men, in a degree and manner far superior to what the sinners and publicans can pretend to, and that you exceed in righteousness aH the pretences and the practices of the pharisees and the scribes"
Sect. 2. THE WORDS APPLIED TO OUR AGE AND CASE. 4.5
SECTION II.
THE APPLICATION OF THE WORDS OF THE TEXT TO OUR OWN AGE AND CIRCUMSTANCES.
Thus having shewn how reasonable was this demand of Christ upon his own disciples, we come in the next place to apply all this to our own case, to our own age and circum- stances. And here, in order to enforce this enquiry upon our consciences, what do wc more than others? We shall consider our character and our privileges; 1. That, we are christians, and not Jews nor heathens. 2. That we are proteslants, and not papists. 3. That we are protestant dissenters, who worship God in separate assemblies, and follow the teachings of men who have no commission from the established and national church; and under each of these characters we shall enquire how much our circum- stances of advantage and obligation are superior to those of the rest of the world from whom we are distinguished, and whether our behaviour has been answerable to these special engagements.
I. We are christians, and not Jews nor heathens. Let me speak to each of these apart :
1st, We are not born in a land of heathenism, in gross darkness, and in the shadow of death, and therefore our piety and virtue should far exceed all the practices of the heathen world. We are not left to the teachings of the book of nature, and to the silent lectures which the sun, moon, and stars can read us : Nor are we abandoned merely to the instructions of religion that we may derive from the beasts of the earth and the foivls oj the heaven, or any of the works of God the Creator.
We are not given up in the things of religion merely to the wandering and uncertain conduct of our reason, feeble as it is in itself, corrupted by the fall of Adam onr first father, beset with many sins and prejudices, and turned aside from the truth by a thousand false lights of sense and appetite, fancy and passion, by the vain customs of the country, and the corruptions of our sinful hearts. We are not bewildered among the poor remains of divine tradition delivered down from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to his posterity in the several nations of the earth; we are not left to spell out our duty from those sorry broken fragments of revelation, which are so lost and defaced amongst most, of the nations, and so mingled with monstrous folly and delusion, that it is hard to find any relicks of truth or goodness in them. We are not given up to foul idolatry and wild superstition, nor to the slavish and tyrannical dictates of priests and kings, who contrive what ceremonies they please, and impose them on the people, which is the case of a great part of the heathen world.
Poor and deluded creatures ! feeling about in the dark for the way to happiness, in the midst of rocks, and precipices, and endless dangers, and led astray into many mischiefs and miseries by those whom they take for guides and rulers. And what an infamous and shameful thing would it be for us, who have the divine light of the gospel shining among us to direct our paths, if we should read among the records of the heathen nations, that any of them have behaved better than we have done, either in duties to God or man, and exceeded us either in personal or in social virtues ? Nay, what a scandal would it be to our profession, if we should not abundantly exceed all the shining virtues of the
46 THE WORDS APPLIED TO OUR AGE AND CASE. Sect. 2.
heathen nations, since the divine light that shines upon us, and the divine lessons that are published amongst us, are so infinitely superior to all that the heathen world has enjoyed?
And yet, to our shame and reproach, there are several single examples found in ancient history of some of their moral and social virtues, beyond what most of us have arrived at. What patience under injuries and cutting reproaches is ascribed to Socrates? What a contentment of soul under great poverty, what calmness under oppression and pain, and Avhat a noble disinterestedness in the comforts or calamities of this life was found in Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher? What a friendly and forgiving spirit in An- tonius, the emperor? What a moderation in the enjoyments of life, what a brave con- tempt of present death, and what a generous love of their country and self-denial for the public good do we read of in some of the ancient Romans, before the ages of splen- dour and luxury had corrupted them? It is granted, indeed, these instances are but few and rare, and we have good reason to hope and believe that the virtues which are prac- tised in the christian world are abundantly more common and numerous, and therefore they pass without such public notice and renown : But is it not a shame there should be any one instance of heathen virtue transcending the practice of christians ?
And if we consult the histories of their religious affairs, we shall find several examples of their zeal for sorry superstitions and ridiculous idolatries, rising higher than ours has done in the practice of our divine religion : How far have their self-denial and sufferings, their fatigues and fervency in the worship of their idols, transcended our devotion to the living and true God? What costly honours have they done to some of their mediator gods and goddesses, beyond what we have a heart to do for our Jesus, the only true Me- diator between God and man? WTith what curiosity and exactness, and unwearied diligence, have the votaries of those false deities, in some of the eastern and western nations, in ancient and later times, fulfilled their washings, and scourgings, and painful abstinences, and practised all the austere rites of their religions, while we are cold and indifferent, sluggish and indolent in paying the sacred worship we owe to the great and blessed God, and to his Son Jesus? Lord, will not this heathen zeal condemn our shameful sloth and negligence ?
Again 2dly. We are christians and not Jews : How much should our practices of piety exceed theirs ? Our gospel is not hidden under types and figures, nor veiled under the smoke of incense and sacrifice, as it was in the religion of Moses : How cheerfully should we receive, and study, and rejoice in this gospel of salvation, which shines amongst us in its fullest light? And while we remember that we are freed from the bondage of numerous ceremonies, how diligently should we attend to the two sacred institutions of baptism and the Lord's Supper, which Christ has given us, and take care that all the spiritual designs of them be attained in us and upon us : We are not waiting for a Messiah yet to come, which was the case of many prophets, and kings, and righteous men under the Jewish dispensation : Blessed are our eyes and our cars, for they have read and heard those glorious transactions and doctrines relating to the Messiah the great prophet, the King of Israel, and the Saviour of the world, for which the fathers wailed from age to age. With what zeal and joy, with what holy exercises and raptures of faith and love should we receive Jesus the Sou of God, the great Messiah, who has all the characters of this divine prophet and this promised Saviour found in him ? With what a firm and steady soul should we receive the doctrines, and maintain the articles
Shct. 2. THE WORDS APPLIED TO OUR ACE AND CASH. 47
of the religion of Jesus, in opposition to all the snares of infidelity, and the artifices of every deceiver.
Again, We are not left, as the Jews were, to the obscure language of prophecy, to inform us of the grace and blessings of the Messiah's kingdom ; nor are we put to spell out our faith by such weak and idle commentaries of men, as the Jewish rabbins have, left us, whereby to understand the law of Moses : We have the New Testament given us to explain the Old ; Christ and his apostles are sent to us as interpreters of the ancient prophets : the veil is taken away ivhile the books of 31oses are read among us, and many of the dark figures and the typical scenes of Providence that belonged to the Jewish dis- pensation, are now unfolded and explained in a divine light. How should our hearts burn within us under an evangelical ministry, in imitation of the two disciples ; Luke. xxiv. 32. while Christ was unfolding to them the spiritual glories and graces of his kingdom, which were delivered by Moses and the prophets in more obscure language ? How delightfully should we converse with the two books of God, the Old Testament and New, when we understand the scripture so far beyond what the best of the Jews could do, who had only the first of these divine writings given them, without a second to explain it : How much, therefore, should our faith and our hope, our love and our holiness transcend the virtues and graces of a Jew.
And yet, alas ! how greatly does our piety, our zeal, our self-government, our single and social virtues, and our universal holiness, fall short of those degrees to which some of those Jewish saints attained? Which of us can compare with the first of their leaders, Moses, the servant of God, in an unwearied attendance upon the commands of his Lord, in opposition to all the threatenings of the King of Egypt, and the murmurings of his own people Israel ? Which of us would have shewn such meekness in bearing so many indignities and affronts from an ungrateful race of men, whom he had rescued from the brick-kilns, and taskmasters, and cruel bondage? Which of us follow God so fully as Caleb and Joshua did, and could bear such an undaunted testimony to the truth of his word, and the excellency of the promised blessings, in opposition to the clamours of a whole nation, and the danger of being stoned upon the spot ? How few are there in the present age of christians, who are so well acquainted with the efficacy and success of prayer as Hannah, the mother of Samuel, who poured out her petitions before God, and left her cares and her burthens there, and went away and teas no more sad? When shall any of us arise to the blessed experiences of David? When shall we live so much by faith as he did, and triumph over all our fears, even in the midst of enemies, dangers and distresses ? When shall we arrive at such a humble, holy intimacy with God, as to walk ivith him all the day long, and communicate with him all our concerns, our comforts, our dangers and our difficulties, and be able to rejoice in hope as he did ? How far are the ways of his faith and love above ours, like the way of an eagle in the air, too high and too hard for us ? When shall our zeal for the house of God carry us to such a pious solicitude about it as his did? And when shall we feel such longing desires and insatiable thirstings after the presence of God in holy ordinances, as he found ? Which of us can say with the humble spirit of Micah, vii. 9. / will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he arise and plead my cause? Or where is the christian that can assume the words of Habakkuk, iii. 17. with the same spirit of faith ? Though there be no fruit in the field, nor herds in the stall, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation. But it is time to proceed to some other cha-
48 THE WORDS APPLIED TO OUR AGE AND CASE. Sect. 2.
racters that belong to us, and wherein we enjoy advantages for holiness superior to others ; for it is a most evident and heavy reproach upon us, that either Jews or heathens should exceed us in any instances of the religious or civil life.
II. We are protestants and not papists ; and what progress have we made in devout religion and in real piety, beyond what some of the poor deluded people have done under the power of popish darkness, superstition and tyranny, notwithstanding our transcendent advantages? We are not withheld from the pure and perfect instructions of the word of God in our own language, nor imposed upon by the traditions of men as the papists are, who are generally forbid to keep Bibles in their own custody in most of the popish nations, nor are they suffered to acquaint themselves with the scriptures in their mother tongue. We can see the doctrines with our own eyes, which we are required to believe; we can read the duties which we are commanded to practise; we can learn the whole counsel of God for our salvation, and be instructed in all the articles of faith and manners from the word of God itself. We are not deprived of this key of kiioic- Jedge, that leads us into the treasures of heaven and eternity : We have the Bible in our hands, we read it in our families, it is open before us in our retirements : How dili- gently should we search and enquire into every truth and duty that is proposed to us, as the noble Bereans did; Acts xvii. 11. AVith what zeal and fervency should we practise every divine appointment, when the obligations come upon our consciences more imme- diately from the word of God ? And how careful should we be to worship God more exactly according to his own appointments, since we have his own word to instruct us?
How great and unspeakable are our advantages beyond those who dwell under popish governments ! Alas for those poor benighted and imprisoned creatures, held in the chains of darkness ! How wretchedly are their consciences governed by blind leaders,, and they are not suffered to believe any thing but what the church teaches them, i. e. the priests, who are made the directors of their faith and practice? Their belief is founded on the word of poor fallible men, and sometimes of wicked and deceitful men too, instead of the dictates of heaven, and the words of the true and living God. They must believe nothing contrary to what the church believes, though it be never so plainly written in scripture ; for if the church has determined against the plainest doctrines of the Bible, they must be construed to another sense, according as the church from time to time shall please to interpret the word of God. What a wonder is it if any of these miserable mortals, under such wretched disadvantages, should attain to the practice of true religion, and the faith and holiness of the gospel ? But how much more shameful would it be to us, if any of them under these disadvantages should be found to exceed and outshine our character and our practice ?
We are not taught to repeat our prayers like parrots in an unknown tongue. Oh, what a mockery of heaven is this ! What an high affront to God and to the reason of man, to chatter over words and syllables before the God of heaven, and to address him about the important things of grace, and salvation, and eternal life, and yet know nothing of our wants or our petitions! How serious, how fervent, how spiritual should our devotion be, in comparison of theirs, who are taught to pronounce a little gibberish in Latin instead of serious devotion ? Whenever I read of any instances of religious and devout papists, and especially if they arc persons of the lower rank of life, who have not the advantages of the men of learning among them ; and when 1 reflect to what heights here and there one of them have risen in the spiritual parts of religion, 1 blush and am ashamed
w
Sect. G. THE WORDS APPLIED TO OUR AGE AND CASE. 49
of myself, who enjoy so much superior advantages, and sink so far below them in these divine exercises.
We are not brought up in the superstitions and idolatries of the church of Rome ; we are not taught to worship saints and angels, nor required to bow down before a piece of bread in the hand of a priest, nor to pay religious honours to images of wood and stone, vf gold and silver ; we are not taught to address ourselves to departed saints and angels for mediators, to apply to the virgin mother instead of Christ her Son, nor to address the apostles instead of their Master : We are directed only to the one Mediator, Christ the Son of God, who is all-sufficient, to reconcile us to God, and to make our persons and our prayers acceptable before the throne ; whereas the disciples of the pope dis- tribute the care of their best interests amongst many mediators, and recommend them- selves to the protection of many saints and saviours. Well, let us enquire, then, are our hearts united in the faith and love of Jesus, the only Mediator, more than theirs ? Are we better acquainted with Jesus the Son of God, to whom we have committed all our immortal concerns, since our thoughts and hopes, our wishes and prayers, are not divided amongst many intercessors? Do we pay more honour to Jesus our only Saviour than they do, who have so many objects of their trust and worship to divide their hearts and devotion into slender streams ?
What shall I say for our own excuse, if I should find some papists exceeding us in their love to God, in their devotion to Christ, and in their benevolence to men ? I believe, indeed, their number is but small ; but melhinks it is a shame and reproach to us under our superior advantages, if there should be found any of that corrupt and superstitious church practising the christian religion, in the substantial duties of it, better than we. When I read Thomas a Kempis resigning himself to his Lord and Saviour in such pious language, Give me what thou wilt, and as much or little as thou ivilt, arid when, thou ivilt. Deal ivilh me as thou knowest to be most proper, and as may bring thee most glory ; place vie where thou pleasest, 1 am in thy hand; turn me and toss me from side to side: Behold thy servant ready to be and bear every thing, for my desire is not to live to myself, but to thee. When I hear that excellent man, the Archbishop of Cambray, lifting up his devout heart thus to heaven, in the same strains of pious resignation, / am for thee, O my God, against myself; none could have thus divided me from myself but thy hand only. I leave myself in thy hand, O my God, mould this clay of mine, and turn it up, and turn it down againy give it a form, then break it and new mould it ; it is entirely thine, it has nothi?ig to reply, it is enough for me that this being of mine serves thy purposes and t hy good pleasure ; com- mand, appoint, forbid what I shall do or uhat I shall not do : Elevated, abased, com- forted, suffering, I for ever adore thee, in sacrificing all my own will to thine: When I hear this language of a papist, how am I ashamed of my own restiff and unpliable heart ? How much do I want of such an entire resignedness to my Makers will ? With what pleasure do I read Monsieur de Renty in the zeal of his inward piety running counter to the practices of his own communion, and declaring that, Jf we know not our own devotion rather by the mortification and denial of otirselves, than by the multiplication of our devout exercises, it is to be feared they will be rather practices of condemnation tJian of sanctification: And yet we see the ivork of Jesus Christ is almost reduced to this pass among the spiritual persons of our times. But it is with a sacred regret and self- displicency I would look upon myself, while I review other parts of bis life, where he
VOL. III. H
3® THE WORDS APPLIED TO OUR AGE AND CASE. Sect. 2.
took upon him all the mean and laborious figures of service to his fellow-creatures, and conformed himself to all inconveniences for the good of his neighbour : Methinks, says he, my soul is all charity, and I am not able to express ivith what ardency and strange expansion I find my heart to be renewed in the divine life of my new-bom Saviour, burning all in love towards mankind. How do I wish that I could repeat from my heart the words of that poor servant maid, Armelle Nicholas, in France, in the last century ; God has not sent me into this tvorld but to love him, and by his great mercy I have loved him so much, that I cannot do it more in the way of mortal creatures; I must go to him, that I may love him in the way of the blessed.
But before I dismiss this head entirely, I would take notice of one advantage more which the protestants of Great Britain enjoy toward the practice of charity and love to their fellow-creatures, above and beyond what the papists generally enjoy ; and yet even in this very grace of charity there have been instances, as you see, wherein some of them exceed us. Let us remember that we are not educated in such a cruel and bloody religion as the papists, which cruelty, though it is not practised by all of them, yet is taught by their leaders. Their religion encourages and inspires men to murder and destroy their fellow-creatures for God's sake, as our Saviour himself foretold ; John xvi. 2. They first call us heretics, and then condemn, torment, and murder us, and blindly imagine they are doing God service. Oh, bless the name of the Lord for your freedom from the hand and power of those whose religion it is to do mischief in the name of God, and to destroy those that the priests and the inquisitors shall pronounce guilty of any opinions which they are pleased to call heresy ! How often do they dress up a protestant as it were in a wolf's or a bear's skin, and send out all their dogs to devour hiin? Bless God with all the powers of your souls, that you are not bred up in these barbarous sentiments ; nor should you think yourself worthy of the name of a protestant, if you do not make the Bible the rule of your faith and practice, and give others leave to find out their duty also in that holy book, according to their own best sense of it, as well as yourselves. But if you reproach and persecute the sincere enquiries after the truth, if you bite and devour those who differ from you in their reli- gious sentiments, who are humble and sincere enquirers, what do you more than others? What are you better than the bloody papists? And indeed how much worse are you than some few of them whose souls abhor this cruel and antichristian tyranny? This barbarous temper of yours would run all the lengths of persecution, even to blood and burning, if the sword and the fire were entrusted in your hands. Shew therefore that you live in a land of protestant principles, and an age of liberty, and that the spirit of the gospel, the spirit of charity and love dwells in you, by allowing to all men the freedom of their own opinions, while they maintain the public peace : And as you profess to follow the divine rule of scripture, and the dictates of your own consciences with honesty and sincere zeal, believe charitably that your fellow-christians of a different party may seek after the truth with as much zeal and with equal sincerity, though they may not happen to see all things in the same light, nor embrace the same principles. Let not your accusations and censures grieve their spirits. Make it appear that you love your neighbours, your fellow-christians, and even the enemies of your person and your religion better than the papists, from whom you would distinguish yourselves with honour. But this shall suffice for the general distinction between papist and protestant.
Sect. 2. THE WORDS APPLIED TO OUTt AGE AND CASE. 51
III We are come in the next place to consider ourselves as protcstant dissenters: Hereby we are distinguished from our fellow-christians who belong to the national church of England, in our choice of different modes of worship and ministrations of holy things. Permit me here to address you, who are my hearers under this character, and enquire what do you more than others : You who attend upon the worship of God in separate assemblies, and sit under the ministrations of those who have no commission from the spiritual guides of the nation and rulers of the church ; you who in this respect are placed under such a sort of providence, as to be imitators of the disciples of Christ when he maintained separate assemblies, and preached to the people without receiving any public authority, or so much as countenance and approbation from the rulers of the national church in his day. Surely this is a question of very awful importance, and very necessary, while we continue our separation, what higher degrees of piety or virtue do we practise? What sublimer advances in religion are we arrived at? Wherein are we better by all our nonconformity, than those who constantly conform to the church of England as by law established? What do all our pretences to separation mean, if we ascend to no superior degrees of godliness ?
But before I enter into so nice a subject as a comparison between the advantages and obligations to strict religion, which are found amongst the dissenters, or amongst the church of England, and their different improvements under them, I desire to lay down this one caution, viz. That nothing which I am going to speak should be construed to relate to any of those holy souls who are of the first rank in the school of Christ, who are the most pious and the most strictly religious, either among the members of the church of England, or among protestant dissenters ; for I am not going to speak to or of these persons, nor would I make comparison between them : I would set them all before me as examples for my humble imitation and yours, and not for the subjects of my comparison. I am verily persuaded, there are many persons of both communities who are dear to God, ivhose names have an honourable place in the book of life, who walk humbly and closely with God in all the known duties of the christian state, whose sobriety in what relates to themselves, whose justice and charity in what relates to their neigh- bours, and whose devotion in what belongs to God, is glorious and exemplary indeed ; who are taught and led by the same spirit of holiness, and are largely interested in the favour of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. To those holy souls on both sides I would only ask leave to say, Go on in your illustrious course of Christianity ; rival each other in the swiftness of your race, in your pious and divine progress toward heaven : and may each of you run so far, as to obtain one of the larger and fairer crowns of righteousness that shall never fade away. Yet I can hardly withhold myself from pro- nouncing this one word of justice, That if any of the members of the established church in this most pious rank of men, are superior to those of our dissenting churches, I think they ought to have the honour of this superiority; and some degree of shame will belong to the best of us, if we are found inferior to them either in virtue towards men, or piety towards God, because of our superior advantages and obligations.
Having laid down this caution, I come to declare that the persons whom I would at this time compare together, are the common professors of religion in the church of England, and the common professors among the dissenters, the bulk of the people both on the one side and on the other ; and I would fain excite you who bear me this day,
h 2
52 THE ADVANTAGES OF DISSENTERS Sect. 3.
who are professors of religion, and call yourselves protestaut dissenters, to bethink yourselves a little concerning the sensible decay of real goodness that is found amongst you, in order to awaken you to the warmest zeal and utmost endeavours to revive lan- guishing and dying religion. Give me leave, while I have the honour to be a preacher amongst you in this congregation, to address you in the words of our blessed Saviour, who was in his day a divine teacher to a congregation meeting upon a mountain, and in the pathetic language of admonition and love I would say to my hearers, as he did to his disciples, What do you more than others? What is there of duty to God or man, wherein you separatists from the public establishment exceed the rest of the nation? And to enforce this exhortation, I shall here consider,
I. What real advantages for religion you enjoy above your brethren of the church of England, according to your own common sense of things.
II. What superior obligations lie upon you, by your particular profession of religion in a separate way. And under each of these two general heads, I shall run through vario'us particulars,
SECTION III.
THE ADVANTAGES OF PROTESTANT DISSENTERS IN MATTERS OF RELIGION.
The first question that offers itself to our consideration is this, What are the real and special advantages for improvement in religion which you protestant dissenters enjoy, or suppose you enjoy, above your brethren of the church of England? And here I desire my readers to observe, that I neither design to begin nor maintain any controversy with my brethren of the established church in these papers, which are written purely to revive practical godliness amongst us ; nor would I willingly give them any offence. I confess, indeed, that it may not be improper, in some parts of our ministrations, to enter into the merits of the cause, and modestly to give our people an account of the reasons why we separate from the public worship of the parish : And yet this we have almost universally declined for many years out of respect to the church, nor is this my present business or intent in this place ; nor shall I stand to enumerate all our differences, nor insist upon a vindication of our conduct in the several particulars, that go to make up the grounds of nonconformity. You may find them put together and well supported by other writers, and particularly by Dr. Calamy, in his three volumes of Moderate Nonconformity ; and the chief heads of them, so far as they relate to the people, are well abridged in a very little book, called Lay-nonconformity Justified ; to which 1 refer my readers, who desire to take a more particular notice of the reasons of our separation.
My only design in this place is, to mention some of those advantages which you pro- testant dissenters are generally supposed to enjoy above your neighbours in the affairs of religion ; and even these I shall cite and borrow from those books which were written several years ago, to make it appear that I design no contention : And if I am necessi- tated to speak of some of the differences that lie between us, the reader will see that I represent them not in the language of dispute, nor pursue them any farther than to shew mere matter of fact, that I may thence derive more forcible and pungent warnings and reproofs to those of our own communion, who are negligent of piety and virtue under all their supposed advantages.
Seot. 1. IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. J3
Advantage I. You arc not in so much danger of talcing up with the outward forms of religion, instead of the inward power and more spiritual parts of it, as your neighbours may be, and that particularly in the two following- instances : First, You are in no such danger of* mistaking baptism for inward and real regeneration,* as those who are edu- cated in the established church. You are not in the least tempted or encouraged in any of our ministrations to suppose, that your souls are regenerated by the outward ceremony of baptism, or that you are really horn again and made new creatures by being baptized with water ; to which unhappy and dangerous mistake the office of baptism in the church of England has been thought to give too much countenance, in the plain sense of the expressions, and without any sufficient guard or caution : And the answer in the cate- chism which children are taught, does but too much confirm and establish them in this mistake : Read the second question in the church catechism : Quest. Who gave you this name? Answ. My godfathers and godmothers in my baptism, wherein 1 was made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. And when their parents hear it mentioned so expressly at the baptism, that the child, after it is baptized, is regenerate and grafted into the body of Christ's church, and that this infant is regenerated iviih the Holy Spirit, it is no wonder if they encourage children to believe in a most, literal sense what their catechism expressly teaches them, that they are all born again so as to become the children of God, members of Christ, and heirs of heaven by baptism. I readily grant, that many of the ministers of the church and the wiser christians do know and believe, that there is no such inward grace and salvation really communicated by baptismal water : Yet almost all the expressions in the offices relating both to public and private baptism, and to the baptism of those of riper years, establish persons in the same mistake, and that as I hinted before, without any manifest caution to secure them from it.
But you, my friends, who separate from the national forms of worship, are afraid of receiving this doctrine, for you think it a matter of dangerous consequence both with regard to yourselves and your children. You have been taught and have learned that regeneration is a great and holy change, wrought in the powers of your soul, your under- standing, will, and ciffections by the Spirit of God, whereby you come to see the evil and defiling nature of sin, and the dreadful consequences of it, beyond whatever you saw before ; whereby you learn the excellency and necessity of holiness ; whereby your sensual, vain, and earthly temper of mind is altered, and your heart set upon the things of God, and heaven, and eternity, instead of the perishing enjoyments of this life; whereby your sinful nature is renewed by divine grace, and you are brought to love God and fear him, to hope and trust in him, as he has manifested his grace in Christ Jesus his Son ; and whereby you are inclined to practise all the duties of piety towards God, and justice and charity towards your fellow-creatures. You are taught also, that though baptism or washing with water be a sign, or figure, or emblem of this great and holy change, this purification fom the defilement of sin, and this renovation of your natures to holiness, yet it is not the thing itself, it is not the real spiritual blessing ; nor does this divine blessing always attend it; and it is often administered to persons who are never truly regenerate, who never have this divine change or purification passing upon them.
* See Dr. Calamy on Moderate Nonconformity, Vol. II. p. 131.
-54 THE ADVANTAGES OF DISSENTERS Sect. 3.
You lie therefore under the strongest obligations to see to it, that you have better evi- dences of regeneration than your mere baptism with water: You are bound by your own principles to seek this divine change of your heart, this spiritual and important blessing with the utmost care, diligence, devotion and prayer. You are exhorted in the ministry of the word to labour with your own hearts to convince them of the evil of sin, of the beauty and necessity of holiness, of the excellency of true religion and the divine life ; to impress your spirits by all proper motives, that they may repent of all sin, that your will may be turned away from it with hatred ; that your love, and fear, and hope may be fixed upon better objects than they are by nature, even upon God and Christ, and things spiri- tual and eternal : You are frequently called upon to strive and seek, that your inward disposition of soul toward your neighbour may be kind, and just, and faithful, such as God requires; that you may be delivered from the power of sin reigning in you, and that you may be reformed and made fit for the business and blessedness of heaven, where nothing shall enter that defileth. You are exhorted and obliged to pray earnestly to God for the assistance of his Spirit in this divine work, for unless we are born of the Spirit, as well as washed with water, ive cannot enter into the kingdom of God; John iii. 3, 5, 6. Now, has this been your solemn care ? Has this been your zealous desire, and the matter of your labour with your own heart in secret, and of your fervent prayer to God ? Do you give yourselves no rest till you find such a charge wrought in your souls, whereby you are become new creatures, whereby you hate every thing that is offensive to God, and love and delight in the practice of your duty toward God and man ? What clear and con- vincing evideuces have you that you have entered into this new state, and obtained this divine blessing ? That instead of being a child of sin and wrath (as you are by nature) you are become a child of grace, arid a son or daughter of the Most High God?
Again, as you profess this doctrine of inward regeneration, and the necessity of it in order to eternal life, do you take due care to impress the sense of it on your children ? Do you let them know, that though they are baptized with water, which is designed to be a type or figure of regenerating grace, and of your duty of purification from sin, yet this is not a sufficient evidence of it, unless they find that their hearts are inwardly changed ? Do you inform them at proper seasons, and by all gentle and convincing means, that they are early sinners before God, that their hearts and lives are corrupt and unholy, that, washing with water can never make them christians any farther than a bare profession goes, that they must be born again, i. e. they must become new creatures, and have their hearts and inclinations, and desires and passions, altered from what they are in a sinful state, and formed unto holiness, if ever they would be saved? John iii. 3.
What profit is it to yourselves or your children to avoid this unhappy mistake of inward regeneration by baptismal water, if you never concern yourselves to seek after such a real divine change of heart and life, in yourselves or in them, as may make it appeal* that you are born again ? What advantage is it to your offspring to guard them from this error, if you never take care to convince them of their corrupt nature and sinful inclinations? If you never teach them plainly that it is their duty to be converted, and turn from sin to God, and beseech them earnestly to set about the work of conversion with all holy dili- gence? What signifies it to keep them from this mistake about regeneration, if you never pray for them, nor teach them to pray for themselves, that God would renew their hearts by his Spirit, that he would work this glorious and divine change in them, that he would really translate them out of the family of Satan, and make them his sons and his daughters?
Sect. 3. IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. §S
'i — ^— — — ^ — i^— ^— —
What ! do you take care to let them know that the outward washing of baptism does not, cannot make them really the children of God, members of Christ, and heirs of the king- dom of heaven, and yet have you no solicitude, nor take pains to shew them, how they may become the children of God, and inheritors of his kingdom? Do you let them grow up from the day of their baptism, wherein the figure and emblem of renewing grace passed upon them, until they are become men and women, without ever instructing and exciting them to seek after the substance of this heavenly blessing? Fathers, mothers, elder kindred, do you never concern yourselves that your children should obtain this divine favour, and give good evidence of the work of the renewing Spirit of God in them, by a holy behaviour and a heavenly conversation? It is but a poor pretence for sepa- rating from the established church, that you or your children are in danger of being led into mistaken opinions there, if you are not deeply solicitous that both they and you may avoid the mischief as well as the error, and that you practise as well as learn the truth.
But leaving this mistake about baptism, there is another thing also wherein you pro- testant dissenters are free from the danger of taking up with outward forms instead of spiritual blessings, and that is the ceremony of confirmation.* You have no such rite performed among you as the solemn imposition of the hand of the bishop on your head, to become a token or sign of the favour of God toward you, as is found in the offices of the established church. See the office of confirmation in the common prayer. So soon as children are come to a competent age, and can say in their mother tongue their creed, and Lord's-piayer, and the ten commandments, and also can answer to other questions of this short catechism, they shall be brought to the bishop. And every one shall have a godfather or a godmother as a witness of their confirmation. Then the first prayer begins, Almighty and everliving God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these thy servants by ivater and the Holy Ghost, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins, Sfc. And in a following collect the bishop says — These thy servants upon whom (after the example of thy holy apos- tles) we have now laid our hands, to certify them (by this sign) of thy favour and gracious goodness towards them. But you declare to the world, that you cannot find that God has given to his ministers any such authority to certify persons of the favour and gracious goodness of God towards them, by any such sign as this. But since you reject this sign, are you not bound then to enquire what surer signs you have of the favour and love of God to you ? What better inward tokens and evidences have you that you are the children of God, and partakers of his favour ?
You complain that the public liturgy tempts children to believe they are regene- rated or born again, and made members of Christ and children of God in baptism, which dangerous opinion is also repeated in the office of confirmation ;| and you complain that they are farther confirmed in this mistake when the bishop lays his hand upon their head to certify them by this sign of the favour of God ; are you careful then to teach your children, and to enforce it upon their consciences, that they must seek after better signs of regeneration and of the divine favour, even the graces of faith and love, and the exer- cise of universal holiness in heart and life? What a vain imagination is it, what an idle pretence to guard against the dangers of mistaking the imposition of the hand of a man
*See Dr. Calamy on Moderate Nonforniity, Vol. II. page 271.
t This mistake is still more confirmed and established by the office of burial, wherein every baptised person, except the self-murderers and the excommunicated, has his body committed to the dust in sure and certain hope of resurrec- tion to eternal life, and is called a dear brother or sister, and thanks are given for Cod's taking their souls to himself, how wicked soever their lives have been.
56 THE ADVANTAGES OF DISSENTERS Sect. 3.
for a certain sign of the favour of God, unless you instruct your household what are the true and undoubted signs of his favour? Unless you persuade them to all holy diligence, in securing and maintaining such evidences of converting grace and the love of God, as God himself has prescribed, such as God will approve of, and such as will stand the test in the day of judgment?
II. Another advantage that you protectant dissenters have towards your improvement in true religion, and in acceptable service to God, is, that you are freed from the inven- tions of men, and from the impositions and incumbrances of human ceremonies in divine wor- ship* There need be no proof of the imposition of sucli rites in the established church, since the preface to the common-prayer book confesses they have been devised by man, and yet it is thought good to reserve them still. But you, my friends, are required to practise nothing in the worship of God but what you take to be his own pure institutions.
It has pleased God in his providence, and it hath pleased our late and present rulers, in their great goodness and justice, to give you freedom from these human appointments, and to permit you to worship God in a way more agreeable to his own word and to your own consciences : The question of my text then returns upon you, What are you belter than they who submit to them, ivhat do you more than they ? Do you never