Exposition of the Apostles Creed, Part · Sermon 47
The Character or Description of a true Christian.
Phil. 3. Vers. 20, 21.
For our Conversation is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ;
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
VVISE men live by Rules and Precepts; the many by precedents and examples; so generous, so ingenuous, of such heavenly mould are the few; so blind, so vain, of such pliable wax or temper to ill are the most: Saint Paul well knowing that in the Church of Philippi were both, gives in this Chapter directions to both, that nor learned, nor unlearned; strong nor weak, should want either Rule or Example to live by. At the third verse he gives them a Rule; Not to have any confidence in the flesh; that is, not to hope for salvation by the righteousness that comes by the Law, as they of the Circumcision, or rather of the concision did, verse 2. which Rule he exemplifies in himself, proposeth his priviledges, his exact performances, and yet could not find them gainful for his justification; and therefore in comparison of Christs righteousness, reckons them as dung, verse 8. He acknowledgeth his imperfection, yet withall, shews his contention and endeavour to win the prize: This mind he wishes to be in them, and therefore again at the 17th. verse, he proposeth himself, and others for example to walk by; of others not at large; for there were many unruly walkers, verse 18, 19. but of those which walk so, as they had us, himself, and the other Apostles for an example; for their Conversation was in Heaven.
In which words we have the character of a true Christian, who may well be known by his hope and good behaviour. He is an expectant, and looks for a Saviour; and therefore thou…h he walk, and converse with sinful men here below, yet his whole mind and aim is above; and therefore his actions are Saint-like, sutable to such as live in heaven. He is Coeles…i donatus Civitate, a Burgess of that heavenly City; and as he hopes to enjoy the priviledges and immunities, so he takes care to observe those Laws,Wisd. 5.4. The fools of this World hold his life madness, but he knows he takes a wise course; were their expectation like other mens, their Conversation would be like other mens; but they look for a Judge to come from thence; though a Saviour, yet that Saviour to be a Judge, who shall examine all their actions, nay words and thoughts, and this keeps them in awe.
In the words then we are to consider
1. The Character of a true Christian, Our Conversation is in Heaven.
2. His hope or expectance, Whence we look for the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. What it is that he expects at his appearing, which in brief is, the Resurr…ction of the body.
Which Article of Faith that we may understand the better, we are to consider a double state of this body; What it is now; What it shall be.
1. Now for the present it is foreign, a body of humility, a vile body; cloath it with the entrails of worms, feed it with all the Tribute of Sea and Land, yet it is but vile corpus, a poor carcass for all that, a matter little worth.
2. But then it shall be other, a glorious body; a body like our Saviours, transfigured on the Mount; a body like his, when he shall be in the Throne of his glory; the Apostles Antithesis is worth observation; here of no esteem, there somewhat worth; here vile, there glorious.
3. The manner, how this glory is acquired; it is by mutation, not transubstantiation; foreign, He shall change; change, not the substance, not the lineaments of our bodies, but the qualities; corruption being changed into incorruption, baseness into glory, infirmity into power.
4. The cause of this change, the Divine power, He shall change. He, our Lord Jesus Christ by his omnipotent power, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.
Tertull. de Resur. carnis.Fiducia Christianorum, Resurrectio Mortuorum; the hope and confidence of Christians, is the Resurrection of the dead. If then we have this hope, our Conversation m…st be in Heaven, which is the first point.
1. Our Conversation is in Heaven.
All the men of the World belong to two Cities; either ad Civitatem Dei, or Civitatem Mundi; the distinction is Saint Augustins; the compass of the World is the extent of the one, and all that walk in it; the amplitude of the Church is the latitude of the other, and in the circumference of it are comprehended, Christ, Angels and Men: But these men within this City are not of one kind; for some there be, who are such as our Apostle describes in the former verses, Enemies to the Cross of Christ, whose god is their belly, whose glory is their shame, Ver. 19.who mind earthly things; foreign, Politicians they are, foreign They bend their wits,Gennad. and beat their brains to satisfie their lusts, and fill their purses; and as if their souls were of the same mould that their bodies, their bellie is glued to the dust.
But it was well observed by Plato, foreign, to live like the most, is the most dishonest life; for the policy of the World, is enmity with God; and therefore those who belong to that other City, whose builder is God, conform not themselves to the Rules of these Politiques. Live among them they must, as Lot did in Sodom, their body forceth them to that; but they hold not themselves any of their Corporation,Gen. 18. foreign, they esteem themselves from their people, and out of their Countrey; and therefore as strangers they behave themselves quietly and peaceably, submitting themselves even for conscience sake to honest Laws, but yet live by the Laws of their own City. I (saith Saint Paul) foreign, have served God in all good conscience to this day.Acts 23.1.
And I know no City in the World which hath so strict, so holy, so just Laws. Read over the Politiques of Plato or Aristotle; peruse the Laws of Draco writ in blood; examine the constitutions of Lycurgus, Solon, Minos, Zamolxis, and say whether you find any State so justly, so straitly tyed and ordered: Even the Israelites, Matth. 19.8.who first were the free Denizons of this City, for the hardness of their hearts, had an indulgence, of which Christians dare not make use. They were suffered to give a Bill of Divorce, Mat. 5.43, 27.which we may not: They took liberty to hate their enemies, so they loved their friends; and thought they might look and long after a maid without sin, so they shewed no further folly.
Whereas in the Christian state, foreign, an action lies against a man in this City-court,Naz. foreign. not only for the commission of evil, but for a wicked purpose, the intent being no less punishable than the act. A bloody hand, and a murderous heart, is so heinous a crime in a Citizen,Matth. 5.22.27, 28. that even an angry thought, if morose, and a disgraceful word is a foul out-rage; and a modest and maiden-like behaviour is so far enjoyned, that a wanton eye is utterly prohibited. I need not tell you how hateful among these perjury is, since that our Master hath engraven this command in fair Characters on the City gate, foreign, Swear not at all. Many among these Citizens are not rich,Matth. 5.34. 1 Cor. 1.27, 28 Gen. 13.2. Job 1.3. Mark 10.24. Luke 12.42. God having chosen the poor and weak things of this World to confound the mighty. An Age perhaps may produce a rich Job, and a wealthy Abraham; but none of these trust in their riches, make them their Patron, their Idol, their God; so far they are from any such confidence, that at the most, they hold their place to be that of the steward of Gods City, entrusted only with their Masters treasure, and bound to dispense it to those that need. Tell me, in what state did you ever hear of these injunctions? To do good to them that hate you; Matth. 5.44. Luke 6.27, 28.to bless them that curse you; to pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you: In a word, to overcome cruelty, pride, impiety, with humility, meekness, patience, except in the Christian-Common-wealth! Here indeed we have an order for all these; and those who truly observe it, may say truly with Saint Paul, Our Conversation is in Heaven, their wayes being of another fashion, than the most who walk on Earth. In Heaven they are by their contemplations, in Heaven by their affections, in Heaven by their wayes and works.
1. The soul of a good Christian is reposed in Heaven, and therefore he doth alwayes contemplate, and seek the things above. His thoughts being busied not about the objects of the eye, but the objects of faith: He is ever looking, not upon the things which are seen, but upon the things which are not seen; Col. 3.1.knowing, that the things which are seen, are temporal; 2 Cor. 4.18.but the things which are not seen, are eternal. To contemplate the Earth, and things of the Earth, he leaves to Earthly-minded men, while he soars higher, and by faith beholding, what Peter saw with his eye, cries out, It is good to be here; here, if anywhere,Luke 9.33. he will make his Tabernacle.
This is a heavenly business, and therefore prosecuted by those only who are bent to Heaven; by this we make use of all good means, fit our selves for all good duties; by this we get more light of true knowledge, more fervour of affection, more life of devotion; by this we look strange upon things on earth, and solace and please our selves with invisible comforts; we see our Saviour with Stephen, we talk with our God as Moses, Acts 7.56. Num. 11.17. 2 Cor. 12.2.we are ravish'd with Saint Paul into Paradise.
And because we never can contemplate aright, without sit objects to fix on, therefore hath Christ in his Word proposed to us great mysteries on which to meditate; by reading his Word, and other holy and pious books, we are moved to pray, to praise God, to give him thanks, to exalt him with Psalmes and Hymns, and spiritual Songs, in all which while we spend our houres, Our Conversation may be well said to be in Heaven.
But this is a work beyond our own power; for no man can come unto me, (saith our Saviour) except the Father draw him. The grace of God to call,John 6.44. to draw, to help, to bring us into these Cellars of heavenly and spiritual dainties and refections, is necessary. Although Mary chose the better part, Cant. 1.4. Luke 10.42.yet of her self she chose it not, till mov'd and call'd by Christ; that then we be prompt and ready for this work, divers things are to be done by us.
1. We must implore the Divine help and assistance with vehement and earnest prayers, breaking forth with David in fervency of spirit, O send forth thy light and thy truth: Let them lead me, Psal. 43.3.let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy Tabernacles, ducant, adducant, introducant, let them lead, bring,Hieron. bring me into those dwellings of pleasure and repast, seated on thy holy hill,Luke 11.9. to which by my own strength I can never ascend. To which fervent ejaculations, we have this comfortable promise annexed, Aske and ye shall have, s…eke and ye shall finde, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Aske, seeke, knock. We aske what we want; we seek with labour what is distant, or hid; we knock when we are near the doore. Aske then with importunate prayers, that ye may have help, and you shall receive. And upon help given, seek, and cooperate with that help, and you shall finde more and more assistance. Which having found, now you are near the doore, and therefore now knock with more vehement importunate desires, sighs, fastings, prayers, and it shall be opened unto you: Cant. 1.4.The King will bring you into his wine-cellars of comfort.
2. Before we can thus converse with God, there must be in us be a great quiescence and tranquillity of spirit. Mary was at rest, and sitting at Christs feet,Luke 10.39. Habac. 2.1. when she heard his words. I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the fenced place, saith the Prophet, and I will watch to see what he will say to me. For when the minde is full of tumult and anxiety, which carries a man to another matter, it is not apt to meditate on the things of God. All impediments then must be removed, and the minde at rest. And these impediments are four especially. The fear by night, the arrow that fleeth by day, the pestilence that walketh in the darknesse, and the destruction that walk…th at noone-day; Psal. 91.5, 6.From all which God promiseth his a protection.
1. That which first hinders men in their contemplations, and spiritual converse with heaven, is this same Timor nocturnus, the spirit of pusillanimity, of fear, of carelesnesse, of tediousnesse, which brings a terrible night upon the soul,Psal. 53.3. and makes it fear where no fear is, fingit laborem in praecepto, it presents a command involved with a thousand difficulties full of many dangers, beset with powerful enemies, exposed if observ'd to scoffs, hurtful to our health, troublesome to the body. O saith this ignorant and dark fear, There's a Lion in the way; Prov. 26.13. Num. 13.28.the sons of Anak are there; and will any wise man upon the view of this danger, desire to set foot in this Land? better then still to sojourne in the Desert, than by endeavouring to converse wirh heaven, to be thus disquieted on earth. He then, who will have his conversation above, must be as bold as a Lion, and not be frighted with this fear by night.
2. From which when he is escaped, yet he is not safe, for he is in danger of the arrow that fleeth by day: This is the spirit of pride, vain-glory, boasting, presumption, over-much curiosity; and well it is said to flie by day, for it wounds most, when the light of knowledge, or at least so supposed, is in the Zenith. They meditate, They contemplate, They spend their time in devotion? What needs that? they have greater matters to search, the secret judgements of God to pry into, to constitute Churches, to gather Saints. Meditation and Contemplation, and pious devotions are for simple souls, their imployments are for higher matters. This is the arrow that flies and wounds the heart of many by day, and turns the light into dark night. Of these, those words of Hosee may be verified,Hos. 12.1. Ephraim feeds on the winde, and followeth the East winde; For when they should feed their souls with Meditation and Devotion, they feed upon windy aiery speculations, vain chimera's and fancies, heats of zeal and pride, and by imploying over-much time in empty and long-winded discourses to bolster up Schisme and Separation, they neglect in themselves, and coole in others the maine duties of a Christian, piety, devotion, contemplation, prayer, by which a man may be truly said to have a great part of his conversation in heaven. This is a sharparrow, and it wounds farre and deep. God keep every good Christian out of the reach and danger of it.
3. Nusquam securitas. Man that lives on earth can never be secure, for yet there is another enemy that will disturb him in his practice of piety; it is the pestilence that walketh in darknesse, an infectious and deadly are that he draws in from his near approaches to the businesses and negotiations of this life; while he is over-solicitous of temporals, and walks after honours, great dignity, riches, pleasures, his heart is disquieted, distracted, and with cares so oppressed, that he cannot take time for heavenly contemplations. Leasure he hath none to converse above,2 Tim. 2.4. because he converseth so much below. Whence Saint Paul adviseth, That no man who is a souldier in this spiritual war…are, entangle himself with the affairs of this life. Exod. 3.3.When Moses saw the bush burning, and not consumed, he said, I will go and see this great sight; a generous resolution! I will turne aside from this place, I will leave my sheep, I will see this great sight, and enquire the cause, why the bush should be on fire, and yet not consumed! But when he came thither, first, he is taught to approach near God with reverence, Draw not nigh hither. Then how to be disposed; Put off thy shooes from thy feet: These are but made of the skins of dead beasts, they are a burden to thy feet; away then with these dead affections; these as thy shooes joyne thee to earth; a man to contemplate great sights, must be free from these. Besides, at this time, I meane to take thee to my s…lf, to be my peculiar servant; renounce therefore the service of Jethro, this pastoral office in taking care of feeding rhy father-in-lawes sheep, and become wholly mine. A sign whereof was a putting off the shooe: By which Ceremony a disclaim to any title in land was past, Ruth. 4.7. And when we come to contemplate heavenly things, we must approach bare-footed, without earthly affections, passions, perturbations; these as shooes being put off, and laid aside, ultimate, that we are no longer nostri juris, at our own dispose, but wholly at the will of him to whom we approach. Secular occasions will molest and distract our pious intentions, and therefore they must then be laid aside, as Moses shooes.
4. But there is one evil spirit more, which is a greater enemy to Contemplation and Devotion than the other three; it is daemonium meridianum, a destructive Divel that walks abroad at noon-day. At noon-day cattle betake themselves to shady places, to avoid the heat of the Sun; at noon-day the weary labourer takes his rest for awhile; and in the heat of temptation, and after his wearied spirits tired out with uncessant pains,Cant. 1.7. the active Christian betakes himself to Meditation and Devotion, in which Christ makes his flock to rest at noone. But then appars this noone Divel, transforming himself into an Angel of light, that he may deceive those who intend to pray and contemplate. Heu rara hora, brevis mora! nam tarde venit, cito recedit. Bern. in Cant. Ser. 32.This hour seldome comes, and is quickly gone. He perswades that the duty be either omitted, or lightly performed; and to that end he suggests some honest and lawful action that may call us off; some obedience at that time to be performed to a Superiour, or some necessary office to be done for our selves, or our neighbour; he presents things that are true and pious in their season, that he may steale from us these seasons of conversing with God.
These enemies and impediments eueryevery pious man well knows, and therefore he takes the truth of God,Psal. 91.4. that shield and buckler which God hath left him; that nor the fear by night, nor the arrow by day affright him, nor the pestilential negotiations of the world infect him, nor the noone-Divel can avocate him from his devotions; …otwithstanding all these, by his dayly and pious thought and contemplations, his conversation is in heaven.
2. A Christians conversation in heaven by his affections.
Now out of these happy and heavenly contemplations, there ariseth a true affection, by Divines called amor unionis, by which the soul desires to be united and joyned to God. For love is that verge and inclination of the soul, by which it joins it self to the object it loves; or to speak more truly, ongeth to be mingled and made one with it. That therefore which gravity and weight is to heavy bodies, that is love to our souls, it moves them forward foreign to the place of their rest and contenrment, that so ab amore desiderii, they may come ad amorem fruitionis, from desire they may come to enjoy what they love.1 Cor. 5.8. This love was in Saint Paul, who was wel-pleased to be absent from the Body, that he might be present with the Lord. Hence he desires to be dissolved; for so long as he was in this Tabernacle,Phil. 1.23. foreign, he did groan for that burden which kept him and his Saviour asunder. Christ was always with Paul by the power of his Spirit,2 Cor. 5.4. but Paul desired to be with Christ to see his glory and partake of it. For as two loving souls, that are kept asunder, are alwayes in perpetual fear and discomfort; quod ardentius desideres, cares aegrius: what a man ardently desires, he never wants without trouble: so is it with the soul that truly loves God, it ponders all the impediments that may withold it from God, casts up the dangers that may encounter it in the way, and upon it thinks the time long till it come to appear in the presence of God; it laments, it mourns, it sighs, it weeps, it grieves, till it be fully united to the God of love.
It cannot be unknown to you, that Christ in the Scripture is called the Husband of his Church, she then must needs be his Spouse. What affection then every good Woman bears to her Husband, there is no good Wife but knows; she grieves at his departure, fears in his absence, longs for his return; the reason is, because the soul is ubi amat, non ubi animat, not where it lives but where it loves. Hence it is, that every good soul who truly bears an affection to Christ, though in the Word and Sacraments she enjoys many comforts from him, yet these give her not full content; she knows that she still is absent from her Lord, and therefore is full of fear, and full of sorrow. Which grief for his absence,Cant. 2.5. the Spouse in the Canticles hath thus expressed; she sought, and sought, and when she could not find him whom her soul loved, she fell into a Lipothymie, wanted cordials and spiritual comforts to chear her up; for she was sick at heart with love, being overcame with a longing expectation of her future delayed glory.
Bern. Gerson.And yet observe here, that languet amor, she was sick and feeble; it was an infirmity in her, that she could love him no more: Her love though fervent, was not in that degree it should be, being too often cooled by the over-much earthynesse of the neighbouring body: For howsoever her affection stood firm and entire to God, yet she hath too many allurements to draw her downward; sometimes the beauty of the world, sometimes the glittering of riches, sometimes the incentives of pleasure, that I name not the Pandarism of the Devil, make her to entertain many an adulterous thought; so that her best love is but languor amoris, weakly dividing it self betwixt God and the world.
What then happens to other qualities, the same happens to this of Love; it is either heightned or abated, heated or cooled by certain degrees or steps. There is Tepor, there is fervor in it. And yet this Tepor, this lukewarmness inclines rather to fervour, or the utmost degree of heat, than abates to the first of coldness; for it can never be put out, or cool'd by the copious inundation of wickedness; but rather as fire by the aspersion of water, it recovers strength, and breaks out into the greater flame.Cant. 8.7. Many waters canot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; nor the watery temptations from the flesh; neither the raging floods or waves of persecution, are ever able to put out this flame.
There is indeed a kind of Tepor, verging and inclinable to cold; such was that Laodicean temper, which a little water will quench,Revel. 3.15. a wicked temptation, or an easie persecution alters his love. This degree is to be found in an hypocrite, whom you would think to be reaking hot in zeal, as the wind of the time blows up his coal; but all this zeal and courage is dash'd out with the least water that is dash't upon it, or rather goes out of it self. We are not to seek for examples of this kind, Et si nolim dicere, quis me coget? When time served,Senec. foreign. Claudii. who so hot! but time was, and time is, and they have served the time. Then their Conversation seem'd to be in heaven, but after their heaven was on earth, and their Conversation is sutable.
But there is another Tepor or warmth in religion which the godly nourish by prayers, fire by their pious endeavours, and never cease till they make it burn and flame out by their religious works and conversations; for they think it not enough that they be shining, except they be burning Lamps, by which they give an evident testimony of their love, and shew clearly that their conversation is in heaven.
3. Our Conversation is in heaven, in respect of an holy and heavenly life.
Which Saint Paul principally in this place professeth in his own, and in the name of the Primitive Christians: For while the Church remained a Virgin, she had the conditions and qualities of a good Maid, Modesty Sobriety, Chastity. No adulterous lust, or immodest thought, or bewitching gift could corrupt her to prostitute her self to the world, or wed her to the earth. I speak of her better and greater part; for if any proved otherwise, desinunt apud nos fieri Christiani, saith Tertullian, in their Apology,Tert. apol. they cease to be esteemed Christians among us.
Hence it was, that as with us the Tree may be known by his fruits, Mat. 7.17, 18, 19.the sun by his light, or the fire by the heat: so in those Primitive golden days, a Christian might be known by his life and conversation: As their Faith and Doctrine were different from other mens, so also their life and conversation were more holy then all other mens. Pliny an Heathen, gives them this Testimony, That they were a sort of harmlesse, innocent people, that rose before day, Tertul.and sang praise and hymns to the honour of one Jesus. And when some virulent tongues set a fire by hell cast upon them some foul aspersions, Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Cyprian, Minutius Faelix, rose up in their defence, and asserted their innocency by books dedicated unto their persecutors.Tertul. Apolog. c. 39, 40, &c. Hear Tertullian for all, who describes their practice to the life: Before we taste our meat, we take a taste of prayer; we eat as much as men that still are hungry; we drink as much as is profitable for them who live chaste: so we fill our stomacks as we remember, that we must rise to pray at midnight; so we talk and devise, as who know God hears all: we sing Psalms and praises to God, and thereby declare how much every man hath drunken; prayer endeth our banquet as it began it; the very name of our banquet argueth, that we meet rather for piety and charity, then good chear; for we call it foreign, love; and so loving, so officious so hospital, so charitable we are one toward another, that even you Heathen note us for it; for what is more common in your mouths then this, Vide ut invicem se diligunt, & pro alterutro mori parati sunt! see how these Christians love one another, being ready to die one for the other! This was the charity, this the chastity, this the sobriety, this the piety, this the innocence of the first Christians. And this just defence and vindication of their conversation serves well for two uses; to inform us in our wayes, and to reform and shame our lives.
1. It is of great use to instruct us what the lives and behaviour of Christians ought to be in this world, viz. such, that though vivant corpore in terra, yet corde habitant in coelo, August.in the world with their bodies, but in heaven with their hearts, using the strength and youth of their bodies to the conquering of sin,Rom. 6.19. but never yielding their members as weapons of unrighteousness to fight for sin. Ye may well compare them to a wheel, which in one part of the circumference toucheth the earth, whereas the greatest part of the orb either points or mounts toward heaven; so true Christians, though by reason of the provisions for the flesh, they are forced to look toward the earth, yet their cheifest and highest thoughts have respect to heaven; and that part which carries them downward, yet is not glued, and fix'd and fastened to this base and dirty element, but quickly ascends, and looks to heaven again.
2. Thus it is with the true Christian. But let a man look into the world, and he shall find him as rare as a Winter Rose, or a Summers Snow; were Saint Paul now alive, he must alter his words; for it could not be said of the generality of Christians Their conversation is in heaven. Castalio de Aulico.A Cardinal hired the Duke of Urbans Painter to draw the effigies of Peter and Paul upon a Table, to be placed in the Popes Chappel; the picture being perfected, the Cardinal blamed the workman, that he had overlaid their faces with too red and high-colours: but the witty Painter replyed, that true it was, when they were alive, they looked pale and wan by fasting and preaching, and other exercises of mortification, but now they were become red and high coloured by blushing at the wickednesse of their Successors, so that very shame had altered their colour. foreign,Naz. foreign. Could. the eyes of those blessed Spirits that behold the face of God, look down from that seat of glory, and take a full view of our actions, who profess to live by their directions, how would they blush and colour for shame of our impure, unsavoury, and corrupted lives! So far fall we short of their rules and example.
Isa. 58.7.4. Prov. 26.18, 19. Isa. 5.20.If to oppersse the innocent, and turn from our own flesh, if to cast abroad fire-brands, and yet say I am in jest, if to vitiate virgins and defile the marriage-bed, if to fast, and smite with the fist of iniquity, if to call good evil, and evil good, if to drink, spue, and reel in the streets, if to violate oahts and swear falsly and vainly, if to corrupt the truth, and introduce heresies, if (for I want breath to say all) in a word to violate not upon infirmity and weakness, but upon malice and wickedness, all Gods holy Commandments, may be characters of Professors of Religion, then indeed we may be said to be good Christians. For these works, and greater abominations appear in our lives; and if such a life be the life of Saints, then our conversation is Saint-like in heaven indeed.
Gen. 15.16.I appeal to your consciences, whether these be not your sins? and whether these like those of the Amorites, are not grown to the full among you:Jer. 23.10. Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit. Because of oaths, saith the Prophet, the land groaneth; and what a burden then doth this our land sustain, which is not only loaded with oaths and perjuries, but with adulteries, fornications, drunkennesse, oppression, covetousnesse, prophaneness, and a whole chaos of iniquity. Would to God men were not fallen almost with one consent from religion to Atheism, from Christ to Belial, saying, (if a man may judge by their wicked actions) with a wicked heart, and a shameless face, There is no God: Psal. 4.1.The Sacred Name of Jesus Christ is made but a jest and a fable among the Jews and Heathens by reason of us, so that blasphemously they have judged the Christians God to be the worst of all Gods, who hath such wicked Servants. What shall we think of our selves, when our iniquities are grown to such an height, that they have (because unrepented) scarce left us any room with God to obtain mercy? how can we do other then expects the vials of Gods wrath to be poured down upon us, since now men sin with the whores forehead that cannot blush, Jer. 3.3.and so openly and impudently trangresse, as if sin were their honour, not their shame?
Is this O you who have given up your names to Christ, to have your conversation in heaven? Is this that holiness that will make you Saints of that City? Can you expect a Saviour from thence the Lord Jesus Christ, when you shew your selves to be such vile servants? I know and you know, that the conditions and Laws, upon which you were admitted into his family were other. And except you perform your duty and keep your vow to your Lord, why should you expect that he should perform with you? except you observe and live by the statutes and injunctions which he hath enacted for the government of his house, how can you hope to enjoy the priviledges and immunities of it? If you live like Christians, and die like Christians, you shall have the reward of Christians; but if profess the Name of Christ, and live like Infidels, you must expect the punishment of Heathens.
Live like Infidels did I say? I said too little, you live worse; I wish these my words might be blurr'd with a black coal, and this impeachment were a meer slander. Which of the Nations have robbed their God? yet ye have robbed me. Mal. 3.8.Among the Scythians adultery is not heard of; for
Metnens alterius viri certo foedere castitas,Horat.
Et peccare nefas, aut pretium mori.
To do as they would be done by, is their rule of life; just they are in their dealings and contracts, punctually conscientious to observe their leagues. Yea to go one step farther in their devotions and prayers, which they offer to their false gods, they shew such reverence, such silence, such humility, such pious behaviour in their Moschees and Temples, as if they meant to rise up in judgement against us Christians at the last day, and condemn our profane, careless, irreligious irreverence.
That God which searcheth the secrets of all hearts, knows how unwillingly I have broken into this bitter but over-true complaint, which proceeds rather out of compassion toward your miserable souls, then any desire to disclose your faults.Euseb. I had rather with that great Constantine take my mantle, and cover all, could they by it be covered from the eyes of God. But when you and I must both appear before him, and I must answer for my silence, as well as you for your leudness, I held it profitable for neither, to palliate that which you discover, commit in the sight of the sun, and boast, and glory in, and boldly defend. He whose conscience is guilty, let him carry home this discovery, and lay it next his heart. It may perhaps have that effect upon him,Act. 2.37. that Peters Sermon had upon the traiterous and murdering Jews, prick and wound him to the soul; cause him to grieve that his life hath been no better, and move him hereafter so to frame his conversation as one that means to come to heaven. And he that can wash his hands, his heart I should say, let him bless God who hath so far sustained him with his Grace, that he hath fixed and directed his feet to walk in that path which will bring him unto that heavenly Jerusalem.