Sermons, Sermon 3
The III. Sermon.
PROV. i. 22.
How long, ye ſimple ones, will ye love ſimplicity?
THat Chriſt is the beſt, and Satan the worst choſen Maſter, is one of the weightieſt, and leaſt conſidered Aphoriſms of the Goſpel. Were we but ſo juſt and kind to our ſelves, as actually to purſue what upon judgment ſhould appear to be moſt for our intereſts, even in relation to this preſent life: And (without making Heaven the principle of our motion) but only think never the worſe of a worldly temporary bliſs, not quarrel againſt it for being attended with an eternal: Were we but patient of ſo much ſobriety and conſideration, as calmly to weigh and ponder what courſe, in all probability, were moſt likely to befriend and oblige us here, to make good its promiſe of helping us to the richeſt acquiſitions, the vaſteſt poſſeſſions and treaſures of this life, I am confident our Chriſt might carry it from all the World beſides, our Saviour from all the tempters and deſtroyers; and (beſides ſo many other conſiderable advantages) this ſuperlative tranſcendent one, of giving us the only right to the reputation and title of Wiſdom here in theſe Books, be acknowledged the Chriſtians, i. e. the Diſciples monopoly and incloſure: And Folly, the due brand and reproach and portion of the ungodly.
The wiſeſt Man, beſide Chriſt, that was ever in the World, you may ſee by the Text, had this notion of it, brings in Wiſdom by a proſopopaeia (i. e. either Chriſt himſelf, or the ſaving doctrine of Heaven, in order to the regulating of our lives, or again, Wiſdom in the ordinary notion of it) libelling and reproaching the folly of all the ſorts of ſinners in the World, poſting from the [without in the ſtreets] Verſ. 10. to the Aſſemblies of the greateſt renown [the chief place of concourſe,] i. e. Clearly their Sanhedrim, or great Council in the 21. from thence to the places of judicature; for that is [the openings of the gates] nay, to [the City] foreign the Metropolis and glory of the Nation; and crying out moſt paſſionately, and bitterly againſt all in the loudeſt language of contumely & ſatyr, that ever Paſquin or Marforius were taught to ſpeak: And the ſhort of it is, That the pious Chriſtian is the only tolerable wiſe; and the World of unchriſtian ſinners, are a company of the moſt wretched, ſimple Atheiſtical fools, which cannot be thought on, without a Paſſion and Inculcation, How long, ye ſimple ones, will ye love ſimplicity? And ye ſcorners, &c.
The firſt part of this Verſe, though it be the cleaneſt of three expreſſions, hath yet in it abundantly enough of rudeneſs, for an addreſs to any civil Auditory: I ſhall therefore contain my diſcourſe within thoſe ſtancheſt limits, How long, ye ſimple ones, will ye love ſimplicity? And in them obſerve only theſe three particulars.
1. The character of the ungodly mans condition, contained in theſe two expreſſions, Simple ones, and ſimplicity; How long, ye ſimple, &c.
2. The aggravation of the ſimplicity, and ſo heightning of the character, and that by two farther conſiderations.
Firſt, From their loving of that which was ſo unlovely, That they ſhould be ſo ſimple as to love ſimplicity.
Secondly, From their continuance in it, that they ſhould not at length diſcern their error, That they ſhould love ſimplicity ſo long.
3. The paſſion that it produceth in the ſpeaker (be it Wiſdom, or be it Chriſt, or be it Solomon) to conſider it; and that paſſion, whether of pity, That men ſhould be ſuch fools; or of indignation, That they ſhould love and delight in it ſo long. How long &c.
I begin firſt with the firſt, The character of ſin and ſinners, i. e. Of the ungodly mans condition, contained in theſe two expreſſions: Simple ones, and ſimplicity. How, &c.
Four notions we may have of theſe words, which will all be appliable to this purpoſe: You ſhall ſee them as they riſe.
Firſt, As the calling one ſimple, is a word of reproach, or contumely; the very ſame with the calling one foreign, Matth. v. i. e. Empty, brainleſs perſon, the next degree to the foreign, or thou fool, in the end of that and this Verſe. And then the thing that we are to obſerve from thence, is, What a reproachful thing an unchriſtian life is: what a contumelious, ſcandalous quality.
A reproach to Nature firſt, to our humane kind, which was an honorable reverend thing in Paradiſe, before ſin came in to humble & defame it; a ſolemn, ſevere Law-giver, foreign, in Clemens; the Syſteme or Pandect of all Rational notions, foreign, that either likes or commends all that now Chriſt requires of us, bears witneſs to the Word of God that all his Commandments are righteous; and ſo is by our unnatural ſins, thoſe foreign, ignoble diſhonourable affections of ours (which have coupled together Sins and Kennels, Adulterers & Dogs, Rev. xxii. 15.) put to ſhame and rebuke, diſhonoured and degraded, as it were. Not all the uglineſs and poiſon of the toad, hath ſo deformed that kind of creatures, brought it ſo low in genere entium, as the deformed malignantcondition of ſin hath brought down the very nature and kind of men, making them foreign, the children, i. e. the objects of all the wrath, and hatred in the World.
2. A reproach to our Souls, thoſe immortal vital Creatures inſpir'd into us by Heaven, and now raiſed higher, ſuperinſpir'd by the Grace of Chriſt; which are then as Mezentius's invention of puniſhment, bound up cloſe with a Carcaſe of Sin, tormented and poiſoned with its ſtench, buried in that noyſomeſt Vault, or Carnel-houſe. 'Twas an admirable golden ſaying of the Pythagoreans, the foreign, what a reſtraint of ſin it would be, if a man would remember the reverence he ought unto himſelf, and foreign, was their own explication of it; the Soul within thee is that ſelf to whom all that dread and awe, and reverence is due. And O what an impudent affront, whatan irreverential prophaning of that ſacred Celeſtial Beam within thee (that foreign, as the Philoſophers call it) is every paultry Oath, or Rage, or Luſt, that the ſecure ſinner is ſo minutely guilty of! Every ſin, ſay the Schools, being in this reſpect a kind of Idolatry, an incurvation and proſtitution of that Heavenly Creatute (ordain'd to have nothing but Divinity in its proſpect) to the meaneſt, vileſt Heathen Worſhip, the Crocodile, the Cat, the Scarabee, the Dii Stercorii, the moſt noyſome abominations under Heaven.
3. A reproach to God, who hath owned ſuch ſcandalous Creatures, hath placed us in a degree of Divinity next unto Angels, nay to Chriſt, that by aſſuming that nature, and dying for it, hath made it emulate the Angelical Eminence, & been in a manner liable to the cenſure of partiality in ſo doing; in advancing us ſo unworthy, dignifying us ſo beyond the merit of our behaviours, honouring us ſo unproportionably above what our actions can own, Whilſt thoſe that are in ſcarlet embrace the dunghill, Lam. iiii. 5.as it is in the Lamentations, thoſe that are honoured by God, act ſo diſhonourably. 'Twas Plato's affirmation of God in reſpect of men, that he was a Father, when of all other Creatures he was but a Maker; and 'tis Arrian's ſuperſtruction on that,Lib. 1. c. 3. that remembring that we are the Sons of God, we ſhould never admit any baſe degenerous thought, any thing reproachful to that ſtock, unworthy of the grandeur of the Family from whence we are extracted: If we do, it will be more poſſible for us to prophane, and embaſe Heaven, than for the reputation of that Parentage of ours to ennoble us: the ſcandal that ſuch a degenerous, diſingenuous Progeny will bring on the houſe from whence we came, is a kind of Sacrilege to Heaven, a violation to thoſe ſacred manſions, a proclaiming to the World what colonies of polluted Creatures came down from thence, though there be a nulla retrorſum, no liberty for any ſuch to return thither.
Laſtly, 'Tis a reproach to the very Beaſts, and the reſt of the Creation which are deſigned by God, the ſervants and ſlaves of ſinful Man; which may juſtly take up the language of the ſlave to his vitious Maſter in the Satyriſt, Tune mihi Dominus? Art thou my Lord, who art ſo far a viler Bondſlave, than thoſe over whom thou tyrannizeſt? a ſlave to thy Paſſion, thy Luſt, thy Fiends, who haſt ſo far dethroned thy ſelf, that the beaſt becomes more beaſt when it remembers thee to have any degree of ſoverainty over it.
Put theſe four Notions together, and 'twill give you a view of the firſt intimation of this Text, the baſeneſs and reproachfulneſs of the ſinners courſe: and unleſs he be the moſt abject, wretchleſs, forlorn ſot in the whole Creation, unleſs he be turned all into earth, or phlegm; if he hath in his whole Compoſition, one ſpark of Ambition, of Emulation, of ordinary ſenſe of Honour; the leaſt warmth of Spirit; impatience of being, the only degenerous wretch of the earth now, and of Hell to all Eternity; if he be not abſolutely arriv'd to Arrian's foreign,L. 1. c. 5. (his practical as well as judicative faculty, quite quarr'd and petrifi'd within him) to that foreign in the Goſpel, Mar. iii. 5.that direct ferity and brutality, in compariſon of which, the moſt creſt-faln numneſs, palſie or lethargy of Soul, were Dignity and Preferment; if he be not, all that is deplorable already, & owned to be ſo for ever; he will certainly give one vital ſpring, one laſt plunge, to recover ſome part of the Honour and Dignity of his Creation; break off that courſe that hath ſo debaſed him, precipitated him into ſuch an abyſs of filth and ſhame, if it be but in pity to the Nature, the Soul, the God, the whole Creation about him; that like the ſeven importunate Women, Iſai. iv. 1.Iſai. iv. 1. lay hold on this one inſenſate perſon in the eager clamorous ſtyle of the foreign take away our reproach. And let that ſerve for a firſt part of the Sinners Character, the conſideration of his reproachful, ſcandalous offenſive ſtate, which might in all reaſon work ſome degree of good on him, in the firſtplace.
A ſecond Notion of this Phraſe, and degree of this Character, is the giddineſs and unadviſedneſs of the Sinners Courſe; as ſimplicity ordinarily ſignifies ſenſeleſneſs, precipitouſneſs, as Triſmegiſtus defines it foreign, a ſpecies of madneſs in one place, and foreign, a kind of drunkenneſs in another, a wild irrational acting, and this doth expreſs it ſelf in our furious miſchieving our ſelves, in doing all quite contrary unto our own ends, our own aims, our own principles of action: and this you will ſee moſt viſible in the particulars, in every motion, every turn of the ſinners life. As
1. In his malices, wherein he breaths forth ſuch Aetna's of flames againſt others, you may generally mark it he hurts neither God nor man but only himſelf. In every ſuch helliſh breathing, all that malignity of his cannot reach God, he is foreign, untemptable by evil in this other ſence, I mean impenetrable by his malice: All that was ſhot up towards God, comes down immediately on the ſinners own head; and for the Man againſt whom he is enraged, whoſe blood he thirſts after, whoſe ruine he deſires, he does him the greateſt courteſie in the World, he is but bleſt by thoſe curſes; that honourable bliſsful eſtate that belongs to all poor perſecuted Saints, (and conſequently the foreign, matter of joy and exultation) is hereby become his portion; and that is the reaſon he is adviſed to do good to him by way of gratitude, to make returns of all civility and acknowledgments, not as to an Enemy, but a benefactor, to bleſs and pray for him by whom he hath been thus obliged: Only this raving mad man's own Soul is that againſt which all theſe blows and malices rebound; the only true ſufferer all this while: Firſt, in the very meditating and deſigning the malice, all which ſpace he lives not the life, but the Hell of a Fiend or Devil (that foreign, that enemyman, as he is called) his names-ſake, and parallel: And again ſecondly in the executing of it; that being one of the baſeſt, and moſt diſhonourable imployments; that of an foreign, an Angel or Officer of Satan's, (to buffet ſome precious Image of God) which is to that purpoſe fill'd out of Satan's fulneſs, ſwoln with all the venemous humour that that fountain can afford to furniſh and accommodate him for this enterpriſe. And then laſtly, After the ſatiating of his wrath, a bloated, guilty, unhappy Creature, one that hath fed at the Devils table, ſwill'd and glutted himſelf in blood, and now betrays it all in his looks and complexion. And as in our malices, ſo, Secondly, in our loves, in our ſofter as well as our rougher paſſions, we generally drive quite contrary to our own ends and intereſts; and if we obtain, we find it experimentally, the enjoyment of what we purſue moſt vehemently, proves not only unſatisfactory, but grating, hath to the vanity, the addition of vexation alſo; not only the foreign, no manner of fruit, then at the point of enjoying, an empty paultry nothing, but over and above the foreign, ſhame, and perturbation of mind (the gripings and tormina of a confounded Conſcience) immediately conſequent; and 'twould even grieve an enemy to hear the Apoſtle go on to the dear payment at the cloſe, for this ſad nothing, the foreign, ex abundanti, and over and above the end of thoſe things, is death. And oh what a ſimplicity is this! Thus to ſeek out emptineſs and death, when we think we are on one of our advantagious purſuits, in this Errour of our ways, as the Wiſe man calls it, is ſure a moſt prodigious miſtake, a moſt unfortunate errour; and to have been guilty of it more than once, the moſt unpardonable ſimplicity.
From our loves proceeding to our hopes, which if it be any but the Chriſtian hope,1 Joh. iii. 3. than this hope on him, 1 Joh. iii. 3. i. e. hope on God, and that joyned with purifying, it is in plain terms the greateſt contrariety to it ſelf, the perfecteſt deſperateneſs; and for ſecular hopes the expectation of good, of advantages from this or that ſtaff of Egypt, the depending on this, whether prophane, or but ordinary innocent auxiliary, 'tis the forfeiting all our pretenſions to that great aid of Heaven (as they ſay the Loadſtone draweth not, when the Adamant is near) 'tis the taking us off from our grand truſt and dependance, ſetting us up independent from God; and that muſt needs be the blaſting of all our enterpriſes; that even lawful aid of the Creature, if it be looked on with any confidence as our helper, foreign, Rom. i. beſide, or in ſeparation from the Creator, is (and God is engaged in honour, that it ſhould be) ſtruck preſently from Heaven, eaten up with worms like Herod, when once its good qualities are deified: broken to pieces with the brazen Serpent, burnt and ſtampt to powder with the golden Calf: Iſa. i. 31.and the ſtrong ſhall be as tow, Iſa. i. 31. the falſ Idol ſtrength is but a prize for a flaſh of lightning to prey on. And as St. Paul and Barnabas are fain to run in a paſſion upon the multitude that meant to do them Worſhip, with a Men and Brethren, &c. and the very Angel to St. John, Rev. xxii. 9.in Rev. xxii. when he fell down before him; vide ne feceris, ſee thou do it not; for fear if he had been ſo miſtaken by him, he might have forfeited his Angelical eſtate by that unluckineſs; ſo certainly the moſt honourable promiſing earthly help, if it be once looked on with a confidence, or an adoration; if it ſteal off our eyes and hearts one minute from that ſole waiting and looking on God; 'tis preſently to expect a being thunderſtruck from Heaven, as hath been moſt conſtantly viſible among us; and that is all we get by this piece of ſimplicity alſo.
And it were well when our worldly hopes have proved thus little to our advantage; our worldly fears in the next place, might bring us in more profit. But alas! that paſſionate perturbation of our faculties ſtands us in no ſtead, but to haſten and bring our fears upon us, by precipitating them ſometimes, caſting our ſelves into that abyſs which we look on with ſuch horror, running out to meet that danger which we would avoid ſo vehemently; ſometimes diſpiriting and depriving us of all thoſe ſuccours which were preſent to our reſcue;Wiſd. xvii. 12. the paſſion moſt treacheroſly betraying the aids which reaſon, if it had been allowed admiſſion, was ready to have offered; but perpetually anticipating that miſery, which is the thing we fear, the terror it ſelf being greater diſeaſe ſometimes, conſtantly a greater reproach and contumely to a Maſculine Spirit, than any of the evils we are ſo induſtrious to avoid. 'Tis not a matter of any kind of evil report, really to have ſuffered, to have been ſqueez'd to atomes by an unremediable evil, eſpecially if it be for well-doing; but to have been ſick of the fright, to have laviſh'd our conſtancy, courage, conſcience, and all, an Indian ſacrifice to a Sprite or Mormo, ne noceat, to eſcape not a real evil, but only an apprehenſion, or terror; this is a piece of the moſt deſtructive warineſs, the foreign, the greateſt ſimplicity that can be.
I ſhall not enlarge the proſpect any further, as eaſily I might, to our Unchriſtian Joyes, that do ſo diſſolve, our Unchriſtian Sorrows, that do ſo contract and ſhrivel up the Soul; (and then as Themiſon, and his old ſect of Methodiſts reſolv'd, that the laxum and ſtrictum, the immoderate diſſolution or conſtipation, were the principles and originals of all diſeaſes in the World, ſo it will be likely to prove in our ſpiritual eſtate alſo:) nor again to our heatheniſh foreign, rejoycing at the Miſchiefs of other men; (which directly transform us into fiends and furies, and reak no malice on any but our ſelves, leave us a waſted, wounded, proſtitute, harraſt Conſcience, to tire and gnaw upon its own bowels, and nothing elſe.) I have exerciſed you too long with ſo trivial a ſubject, ſuch an eaſie every days demonſtration, the wicked mans contradictions to all his aims, his acting quite contrary to his very deſigns, a ſecond branch of his Character, a ſecond degree and advancement of his ſimplicity.
The Third notion of Simplicity, is that of the Idiot, the Natural, as we call him, he that hath ſome eminent failing in his intellectuals, the laeſum principium, the pitcher or wheel, in that 12. of Eccleſiaſtes, I mean the faculty of underſtanding, or reaſon broken or wounded at the fountain or ciſtern; and ſo nothing but animal, ſenſitive actions to be had from him. And of this kind of imperfect Creatures, it will be perhaps worth your marking, that the principal faculty which is irrecoverably wanting in ſuch, and by all teaching irreparable & unimproveable, is the power of numbring; I mean not that of ſaying numbers by rote, (for that is but an act of ſenſitive memory) but that of applying them to matter, & from thence that of intellectual numbring, i. e. of comparing and meaſuring, judging of proportions, pondering, weighing diſcerning the differences of things by the power of the judicative faculty; which two, ſeem much more probably the propriety and difference of a man from a beaſt, than (that which the Philoſophers have fancied) the power of laughing or diſcourſing. To reckon and compute, is that which in men of an active clear reaſon, is perpetually in exerciſing per modum actus eliciti, that naturally of its own accord, without any command or appointment of the will, pours it ſelf out upon every object. We ſhall oft deprehend our ſelves numbring the panes in the Window, the ſheep in the Field; meaſuring every thing we come near with the eye, with the hand; ſinging Tunes, forming everything into ſome kind of metre (which are branchesſtill of that faculty of numbring) when we have no kind of end or deſign in doing it. And this is of all things in the world, the moſt impoſſible for a meer Natural or Idiot. And ſo you have here the third, and that is the prime, moſt remarkable degree of ſimplicity, that the Unchriſtian fool, the foreign, whether you render it the animal or natural man, is guilty of; that pitious laeſum principium, that want of the faculty of weighing, pondering, or numbring; that weakneſs, or no kind of exerciſe of the judicative faculty, from whence all his ſimplicity and impiety proceeds. The Hebrews have a word to ſignifie a wiſe man, which hath a near affinity with that of weighing and pondering foreign which hath no difference in found from that which ſignifies ponderavit, whence the Shecle, the known Hebrew word is deduced, to note as the Pſalmiſt ſaith, that He that is wiſe, will ponder things. All the folly and Unchriſtian Sin, comes from want of pondering; and all the Chriſtian Wiſdom, Piety, Diſcipleſhip, conſiſts in the exerciſe of this faculty. Whatſoever is ſaid moſt honourably of Faith in Scripture, that ſets it out in ſuch a grandeur, as the greateſt deſigner and author of all the high acts of Piety,Heb. xi. Heb. xi. and as the Conqueror over the World,1 Joh. v. 1 Joh. v. 4. is clearly upon this ſcore, as Faith is the Spiritual Wiſdom, or Prudence; (for ſo it is beſt defined) and as by comparing, and proportioning, and weighing together the Promiſes, or the Commands, or the Terrours of the Goſpel on one ſide, with the Promiſes, the Preſcriptions and Terrours of the World on the other, it pronounces that Hand-writing on the Wall againſt the latter of them, the Mene tekel upharſin. They are weighed in the balance, and found moſt pitifully light, in compariſon of thoſe which Chriſt hath to weigh againſt them; and ſo the Kingdom, the uſurpt Supremacy (that they have ſo long pretended to in the inconſiderate ſimple precipitous world) is by a juſt judgment, torn and departed from them.
Will you begin with the Promiſes, and have but the patience a while to view the Scales, and when you have ſet the Beam Even, removed the carnal or ſecular prejudices (which have ſo poſſeſſed moſt of us, that we can never come to a right balancing of any thing; the beam naturally enclines ſtill as our cuſtomary wonts & prepoſſeſſions will have it:) when, I ſay, you have ſet the beam impartially, throw but into one ſcale the Promiſes of Chriſt, thoſe of his preſent, of his future bliſs; of preſent, Such as eye hath not ſeen, nor ear heard, nor entred into the heart of man to conceive, 1 Cor. ii. 9.1 Cor. ii. 9. prepared for them that love God, and that at the very minute of loving him (the word foreign, referring to the manna of old; the Hebrew deduced from foreign praeparavit, and therefore deſcribed by the Author of the Book of Wiſdom, Wiſd. xvi. 20.according to that literal denotation of the Hebrew, foreign, bread baked, as it were, and ſent down ready from heaven to the true Iſraelite) the guſt of every Chriſtian duty, being ſo pleaſurable and ſatisfactory to the palate, as it were, of our humane nature; ſo conſonant to every rational ſoul, that it cannot practiſe, or taſte, without being truly joyed and raviſhed with it: and ſo that which was the Iſraelites feaſt, the Quails and Manna, being become the Chriſtians every day ordinary diet, you will allow that to be of ſome weight or conſideration, if there were nothing elſe but that preſent feſtival of a good conſcience in the ſcale before you: But when to that, you have farther caſt in the glory, honor, immortality, which is on arrear for that Chriſtian in another life; that infinite, ineſtimable weight of that glory laid before us, as the reward of the Chriſtian, for his having been content, that Chriſt ſhould ſhew him the way to be happy here, and bleſſed eternally: And when that both preſent and future felicity is ſet off, and heightned by the contrary, by the indignation, and anger, and wrath, that is the portion of the Atheiſtical fool, and which nothing could have helped us to eſcape, but this only Chriſtian Sanctuary; when the bliſs of this Lazarus in Abrahams boſome, is thus improved by the news of the ſcorching of the Dives in that place of torments; and by all theſe together, the ſcale thus laded on one ſide, I ſhall then give the Devil leave to help you to what weight he can in the other ſcale, be it his totum hoc, all the riches and glory of the whole world (and not only that thouſandth part of the leaſt point of the Map, which is all thou canſt aſpire to in his ſervice) and what is it all, but the bracteata felicitas, in Seneca; foreign in Naz. Epiſt. 115.A little fictitious felicity, a little paultrey traſh, that nothing but the opinion of men, hath made to differ from the moſt refuſe ſtone, or dirt in the Kennel; the richeſt gems totally beholding to the ſimplicity and folly of men, for their reputation and value in the World. Beſides theſe, I preſume the phanſies expect to have liberty to throw in all the pleaſures and joys, the raviſhments and tranſportations of all the Senſes; and truly, that is ſoon done, all the true joy that a whole age of carnality affords any man, if you but take along with it (as you cannot chuſe but do in all conſcience) the ſatieties, & loathings, and pangs, that inſeparably accompany it (the Leaven, as well as the Hony, under which, the pleaſures of ſin are thought to be prohibited, Levit. ii. 11.) it will make but a pitiful addition in the ſcales, ſo many pounds leſs than nothing, is the utmoſt that can be affirmed of it; and when you have fetcht out your laſt reſerve, all the painted air, the only commodity behind, that you have to throw into that ſcale, the reputation and honor of a gallant vain-glorious ſinner, that ſome one fool or madman, may ſeem to look on with ſome reverence; you have then the utmoſt of the weight that that ſcale is capable of; and the difference ſo vaſt betwixt them, ſuch an inconſiderable proportion of ſtraw, ſtubble to ſuch whole Mines & Rocks of Gold and Silver, and precious Stones, that no man that is but able to deal in plain numbers (no need of Logarithms or Algebra) can miſtake in the judgment, or think that there is any profit, any advantage in gaining the whole world, if accompanied with the leaſt hazard or poſſibility of loſing his own ſoul: And therefore the running that adventure, is the greateſt idiotiſm, the moſt deplorable, woful ſimplicity in the World.
The ſame proportion would certainly be acknowledged in the ſecond place, betwixt the commands of Chriſt on one ſide, high, rational, venerable commands, that he that thinks not himſelf ſo ſtrictly obliged to obſerve, cannot yet but revere him that brought them into the World, and deem them foreign, a Royal and a gallant Law, whilſt all the whole Volume or Code of the Law of the Members, hath not one ingenuous dictate, one tolerable, rational propoſal in it, only a deal of ſavage drudgery to be performed to an impure tyrant (ſin and pain being of the ſame date in the world, and the Hebrew foreign ſignifying both) and the more ſuch burthens undergone, the more mean ſubmiſſions ſtill behind; no end of the tale of Brick to one that is once engaged under ſuch Egyptian Kiln and Task-maſters.
And for the terrors in the laſt place, there are none but thoſe of the Lord, that are fit to move, or to perſwade any: The utmoſt ſecular fear is ſo much more impendent over Satan's, than God's Clients (the killing of the body, the far more frequent effect of that which had firſt the honor to bring death into the world: The Devil owning the title of deſtroyer, Abaddon, and foreign, and inflicting diſeaſes generally on thoſe whom he poſſeſt; and Chriſt, that other of the foreign and foreign the Phyſitian and the Saviour, that hath promiſes of long life annexed to ſome ſpecials of his ſervice) that if it were reaſonable to fear thoſe that can kill the body, and afterwards have no more that they can do, (i. e. Are able by the utmoſt of their malice, and Gods permiſſion, but to land thee ſafe at thy fair Haven, to give thee Heaven and bliſs before thy time, inſtead of the many lingring deaths that this life of ours is ſubject to) yet there were little reaſon to fear or ſuſpect the fate in Gods ſervice, far leſs than in thoſe ſteep precipitous paths which the Devil leads us thorow. And therefore to be thus low-bell'd with panick frights, to be thus tremblingly diſmayed where there is no place of fear, and to ride on intrepid on the trueſt dangers, as the Barbarians in America do on Guns, is a mighty diſproportion of mens faculties; a ſtrange ſuperiority of phanſie over judgment: That may well be deſcribed by a defect in the power of numbring, that diſcerns no difference between Ciphers and Millions, but only that the noughts are a little the blacker, and the more formidable. And ſo much for the third branch of this character.
There is yet a fourth notion of ſimplicity, as it is contrary to common ordinary prudence, that by which, the politician and thriving man of this world, expects to be valued, the great dexterity and managery of affairs & the buſineſs of this world; wherein let me not be thought to ſpeak Paradoxes, if I tell you with ſome confidence, that the wicked man is this only impolitick fool, and the Chriſtian generally the moſt dextrous, prudent, politick perſon in the world; and the ſafeſt Motto, that of the Virtutem violenter retine, the keeping vertue with the ſame violence that Heaven is to be taken with: Not that the Spirit of Chriſt infuſes into him the ſubtleties and crafts of the wicked, gives him any principles, or any excuſe for that greater portion of the Serpentine wiſdom; but becauſe honeſty is the moſt gainful policy, the mok thriving thorow prudence, that will carry a man farther than any thing elſe. That old principle in the Mathematicks, That the right line comes ſpeedilieſt to the journeys end, being in ſpight of Machiavel, a Maxim in Politicks alſo: and ſo will prove, till Chriſt ſhall reſign and give up to Satan the oeconomy of the World. Some examples it is poſſible there may be of the Proſperum Scelus, the thriving of villany for a time, and ſo of the preſent advantages that may come in to us by our ſecular contrivances; but ſure this is not the laſting courſe, but only an anomaly or irregularity, that cannot be thought fit to be reckoned of, in compariſon of the more conſtant promiſes, the long life in a Canaan of Milk and Honey, that the Old and New Teſtament both have enſured upon the meek diſciple.
And I think a man might venture the experiment to the teſtimony and tryal of theſe times, that have been deemed moſt unkind and unfavorable to ſuch innocent Chriſtian qualities; that thoſe that have been moſt conſtant to the ſtrict, ſtable, honeſt principles, have thrived far better by the equable figure, than thoſe that have been moſt dexterous in changing ſhapes; and ſo are not the moſt unwiſe foreign, if there were never another ſtate of retributions, but this. Whereas it is moſt ſcandalouſly frequent and obſervable, that the great Politicians of this world are baffled and outwitted by the Providence of Heaven; ſell their moſt precious ſouls for nought, and have not the luck to get any money for them; the moſt unthrifty improvident Merchandiſe, that foreign folly, Pſal. xlix. 13. which the lxxii render foreign, ſcandal; the moſt pitious offenſive folly, the wretchedſt ſimplicity in the World.
You would eaſily believe it ſhould not ſtand in need of a farther aggravation, and yet now you are to be preſented with one in my Text, by way of heightning of the Character, and that was my ſecond particular, that at firſt I promiſed you, made up of two farther conſiderations; Firſt, The loving of that which is ſo unlovely; ſecondly, The continuing in the Paſſion ſo long, How long you ſimple ones, will you love, &c.
Firſt, The degree and improvement of the Atheiſts folly, conſiſts in the loving of it, that he can take a delight and complacency in his way; to be patient of ſuch a courſe, gainleſs ſervice; ſuch ſcandalous mean ſubmiſſions had been reproach enough to any that had not diveſted himſelf of ingenuity and innocence together, and become one of Ariſtotles foreign, Natural ſlaves (which if it ſignifie any thing, denotes the fools & ſimple ones in this Text, whom nature hath marked in the head for no very honorable employments.) But from this paſſivity in the Mines and Gallies, to attain to a joy & voluptuouſneſs in the employment, to dread nothing but Sabbatick years and Jubiles, and with the creſt-fallen ſlave, to diſclaim nothing but liberty & manumiſſion, i. e. in effect, Innocence, and Paradiſe, and Bliſs; to court and woo Satan for the Manſions in Hell, and the ſeveral types and praeludiums of them, the foreign, the initial pangs in this life, which he hath in his diſpoſing, to be ſuch a Platonick lover of ſtripes and chains, without intuition of any kind of reward, any preſent or future wages for all his patience, and as it follows, to hate knowledge and piety; hate it as the moſt treacherous enemy that means to undermine their Hell; to force them out of their beloved Satan's embraces: This is certainly, a very competent aggravation of the ſimplicity And yet to ſee how perfect a character this is of the moſt of us, that have nothing to commend, or even excuſe in the moſt of thoſe ways, on which we make no ſcruple to exhauſt our ſouls, but only our kindneſs; irrational paſſionate kindneſs and love toward them; & then that love ſhall cover a multitude of ſins, ſuperſede all the exceptions and quarrels that otherwiſe we ſhould not chuſe but have to them. Could a man ſee any thing valuable or attractive in Oaths & Curſes, in Drunkenneſs and Beſtiality (the ſin, that when a Turk reſolves to be guilty of, he makes a fearful noiſe unto his Soul to retire all into his feet, or as far off as it is poſſible, that it may not be within ken of that beſtial proſpect, as Busbequius tell us.) Could any man endure the covetous man's ſad galling Mules, burthens of Gold, his Achans Wedge that cleaves and rends in ſunder Nations,(ſo that in the Hebrew, that ſin ſignifies wounding and inciſion, Joel ii. 8.Joel ii. 8. and is alluded to, by his piercing himſelf thorow with divers ſorrows,1 Tim. vi. 10. 1 Tim. vi. 10.) his very Purgatories, and Limbo's, nay, Hell, as devouring and perpetual as it; and the no kind of ſatisfaction ſo much as to his eye, from the vaſteſt heaps or treaſures, were he not in love with folly and ruin; had he not been drenched with philtres and charms; had not the Necromancer plaid ſome of his prizes on him, and as S. Paul ſaith of his Galatians, even bewitched him to be a fool. would we but make a rational choice of our ſins, diſcern ſomewhat that were amiable, before we let looſe our paſſion on them, and not deal ſo blindly in abſolute elections of the drieſt unſavory ſin, that may but be called a ſin (that hath but the honor of affronting God, and damning one of Chriſt's redeemed) moſt of our waſting, ſweeping ſins, would have no manner of pretenſions to us; and that you will allow to be one ſpecial accumulation of the folly and madneſs of theſe ſimple ones, that they thus love ſimplicity.
The ſecond aggravation, is the continuance and duration of this fury, a laſting chronical paſſion, quite contrary to the nature of paſſions, a flaſh of lightning, lengthned out a whole day together, That they ſhould love ſimplicity ſo long.
It is the nature of acute diſeaſes, either to have intervals and intermiſſions, or elſe to come to ſpeedy criſes; and though theſe prove mortal ſometimes, yet the ſtate is not generally ſo deſperate, and ſo it is with ſins: Many the ſharpeſt and vehementeſt indiſpoſitions of the Soul (pure Feavers of rage and luſt) prove happily but flaſhing ſhort furies, are attended with an inſtant ſmiting of the heart, a hating and deteſting our follies, a ſtriking on the thigh in Jeremy, and in David's penitential ſtile, a [So fooliſh was I, and ignorant; even as a beaſt before thee.] And it were happy if our Feavers had ſuch cool ſeaſons, ſuch favorable ingenuous intermiſſions as theſe. But for the hectick continual Feavers (that like ſome weapons (the foreign) barbed ſhafts in uſe among the Franks in Agathias, being not mortal at the entrance, do all their ſlaughter by the hardneſs of getting out) the Vultures that ſo tyre and gnaw upon the Soul, the foreign that never ſuffer the ſinner fool, to make any approach toward his wits, toward ſobriety again: This paſſionate love of folly, improved into an habitual, ſteady courſe of Atheiſticalneſs, a deliberate, peremptory, final reprobating of Heaven (the purity at once, and the bliſs of it) the ſtanch demure covenanting with death, & reſolvedneſs to have their part to run their fortune with Satan, through all adventures; this is that monſtrous brat, That (as for the birth of the Champion in the Poet) three nights of darkneſs more than Egyptian, were to be crowded into one (all the ſimplicity and folly in a Kingdom) to help to a being in the World: And at the birth of it, you will pardon Wiſdom, if ſhe break out into a paſſion and exclamation of pity firſt, and then of indignation, How long, ye ſimple ones, &c. My laſt particular.
The firſt debt, that Wiſdom, that Chriſt, that every Chriſtian Brother ows and pays to every unchriſtian liver, is that of pity and compaſsion; which is to him of all others, the propereſt dole. Look upon all the ſad moanful objects in the world, betwixt whom all our compaſsion is wont to be divided; Firſt, the Bankrupt rotting in a Gaol; ſecondly, the direful bloody ſpectacle of the Soldier, wounded by the Sword of War; thirdly, the Malefactor howling under the Stone, or gaſping upon the Rack or Wheel; and fourthly, the gallant perſon on the Scaffold or Gallows ready for execution; And the ſecure, ſenſeleſs ſinner, is the brachygraphy of all theſe.
You have in him, 1. A rich patrimony and treaſure of grace (purchaſed dear, and ſetled on him by Chriſt) moſt prodigally and contumeliouſly miſpent & exhauſted. 2. A Soul ſtreaming out whole Rivers of blood and ſpirits, through every wound, even every ſin it hath been guilty of; and not enduring the Water to cleanſe, much leſs the Wine or Oyl to be poured into any one of them; the whole Soul transfigured into one wound, one foreign congelation and clod of blood. Then thirdly beyond this all the racks and pangs of a tormenting conſcience, his only preſent exerciſe: And laſtly, all the torments in Hell (the Officer ready hurrying him to the Judg, and the Judg delivering him to the Executioner) his minutely dread and expectation, the dream that ſo haunts and hounds him. And what would a man give in bowels of compaſſion (to Chriſtianity? or but) to humane kind, to be able to reprieve or reſcue ſuch an unhappy creature; to be but the Lazarus with one drop of water to cool the tipof the ſcalding Tongue, that is engaged in ſuch a pile of flames? If there be any Charity left in this frozen World, any Beam under this cold uninhabitable Zone, it will certainly work ſome meltings on the moſt obdurate heart; it will diſſolve and pour out our bowels into a ſeaſonable advice, or admonition (that excellent Recipe, ſaith Themiſt. foreign, That ſupplies the place, and does the work of the burnings and ſcarifyings) A cry to ſtop him in his precipitous courſe; a tear, at leaſt, to ſolemnize, if not to prevent ſo ſad a fate. And it were well, if all our bowels were thus employed, all our kindneſs & moſt paſſionate love, thus converted and laid out on our poor lapſed ſinner-brethrens ſouls, to ſeize upon thoſe fugitives, as Chriſt is ſaid to do, foreign Heb. xi. 16. to catch hold and bring them back, ere it be yet too late; reſcue them out of the hands of their deareſt eſpouſed ſins,Solon. and not ſuffer the moſt flattering kind of death (foreign in Gal. de Athl. the Devil in the Angelical diſguiſe) the ſin that undertakes to be the prime Saint (the zeal for the Lord of Hoſts) any the moſt venerable impiety, to lay hold on them. Could I but ſee ſuch a new faſhioned Charity received and entertained in the World; every man to become his brothers keeper, and every man ſo tame, as to love and interpret aright, entertain and embrace this keeper, this foreign, this Guardian Angel, as an Angel indeed, as the only valuable friend he hath under Heaven, I ſhould think this a lucky omen of the worlds returning to its wits, to ſome degree of piety again. And till then, there is a very fit place and ſeaſon for the exerciſe of the other part of the paſſion here, that of Indignation, the laſt minute of my laſt particular, as the how long is an expreſſion of Indignation.
Indignation, not at the men (for however Ariſtotles foreign [A man ought to have indignation at ſome perſons] may ſeem to juſtifie it: Our Saviour calls not for any ſuch ſtern paſſion, or indeed any but love, and bowels of pity, and charity toward the perſon of any, the moſt enormous ſinner; and S. Paul only, for the foreign, the reſtoring, ſetting him in joynt again, that is thus overtaken in any fault) but Indignation, I ſay, at the ſin, at the ſimplicity and the folly, that refuſe reproachful Creature, that hath the fate to be beloved ſo paſſionately, and ſo long. And to this will Ariſtotles ſeaſon of indignation belong, the ſeeing favors and kindneſs ſo unworthily diſpenced (the upſtarts, ſaith he, and new men advanced and gotten into the greateſt dignities) knowledge to be profeſtly hated, and under that title, all the prime, i. e. Practical Wiſdom, and Piety, and ſimplicity, i. e. folly and madneſs, and ſin, to have our whole ſouls laid out upon it.
O let this ſhrill Sarcaſm of Wiſdoms, the [How long, ye ſimple ones] be for ever a ſounding in our ears. Let this indignation at our ſtupid ways of ſin, tranſplant it ſelf to that ſoyl where it is likely to thrive and fructifie beſt, I mean, to that of our own, inſtead of other mens breaſts, where it will appear gloriouſly in S. Pauls inventory, a prime part of that foreign, the durable, unretracted repentance, an effect of that godly ſorrow that worketh to Salvation. And if it be ſincere, O what indignation it produceth in us? What diſpleaſure and rage at our folly? to think how ſenſeleſly we have moulted and crumbled away our ſouls; what unthriſty bargains we have made? what ſots and fools we ſhall appear to Hell, when it ſhall be known to the wretched, tormented Creatures, what ambitions we had, to be but as miſerable as they? upon what Gotham arrants? what Wild-gooſe chaſes, we are come poſting and wearied thither? O that a little of this conſideration, and this paſſion, betimes might eaſe us of that endleſs wo and indignation; thoſe tears and gnaſhing of teeth, quit us of that ſad arrear of horrors, that otherwiſe waits behind for us. Lord, do thou give us that view of our ways; the errors, the follies, the furies, of our extravagant Atheiſtical lives; that may by the very reproach and ſhame, recover and return us to thee. Make our faces aſhamed, O Lord, that we may ſeek thy Law; Give us that pity, and that indignation, to our poor periſhing ſouls; that may at length, awake and fright us out of our Lethargies, and bring us as ſo many confounded, humbled, contrite penitentiaries, to that beautiful gate of thy temple of mercies, where we may retract our follies, implore thy pardon, deprecate thy wrath; and for thy deliverance from ſo deep an Hell, from ſo infamous a vile condition, from ſo numerous a tale of deaths; never leave praiſing thee, and ſaying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Hoſts; Heaven and Earth are full of thy glory; Glory be to thee, O God, moſt high.
To whom with the Son, and the Holy Ghoſt be aſcribed, &c.