{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_4738/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_4738","id":"gutenberg_4738","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4738","summary":null,"tags":["Category: British Literature","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","Church of England -- Sermons","Conscience","Obedience","Sermons, English -- 18th century","Trinity -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1889 George Routledge and Sons \u201cThe Tale of a Tub\nand Other Works\u201d edition by Stephen Rice.  Additional proofing by David\nPrice, email ccx074@pglaf.org\n\n                          [Picture: Book cover]\n\n\n\n\n\n                        THREE PRAYERS AND SERMONS\n                            BY JONATHAN SWIFT\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nPrayers used by the Dean for Stella       373\nOn Mutual Subjection                      377\nOn Sleeping in Church                     385\nOn the Wisdom of this World               393\n\n\n\n\nTHREE PRAYERS\nUSED BY THE DEAN FOR STELLA\nIN HER LAST SICKNESS, 1727.\n\n\nI.\n\n\nALMIGHTY and most gracious Lord God, extend, we beseech Thee, Thy pity\nand compassion toward this Thy languishing servant; teach her to place\nher hope and confidence entirely in Thee; give her a true sense of the\nemptiness and vanity of all earthly things; make her truly sensible of\nall the infirmities of her life past, and grant to her such a true\nsincere repentance as is not to be repented of.  Preserve her, O Lord, in\na sound mind and understanding during this Thy visitation; keep her from\nboth the sad extremes of presumption and despair.  If Thou shalt please\nto restore her to her former health, give her grace to be ever mindful of\nthat mercy, and to keep those good resolutions she now makes in her\nsickness, so that no length of time nor prosperity may entice her to\nforget them.  Let no thought of her misfortunes distract her mind, and\nprevent the means toward her recovery, or disturb her in her preparations\nfor a better life.  We beseech thee also, O Lord, of Thy infinite\ngoodness, to remember the good actions of this Thy servant; that the\nnaked she hath clothed, the hungry she hath fed, the sick and the\nfatherless whom she hath relieved, may be reckoned according to Thy\ngracious promise, as if they had been done unto Thee.  Hearken, O Lord,\nto the prayers offered up by the friends of this Thy servant in her\nbehalf, and especially those now made by us unto thee.  Give Thy blessing\nto those endeavours used for her recovery; but take from her all violent\ndesire either of life or death, further than with resignation to Thy holy\nwill.  And now, O Lord, we implore Thy gracious favour toward us here met\ntogether.  Grant that the sense of this Thy servant\u2019s weakness may add\nstrength to our faith; that we, considering the infirmities of our nature\nand the uncertainty of life, may by this example be drawn to repentance\nbefore it shall please Thee to visit us in like manner.  Accept these\nprayers, we beseech Thee, for the sake of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, our\nLord, who, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth, ever one\nGod, world without end.  Amen.\n\n\n\nII.\nWRITTEN OCTOBER 17, 1727.\n\n\nMOST merciful Father, accept our humblest prayers in behalf of this Thy\nlanguishing servant; forgive the sins, the frailties, and infirmities of\nher life past.  Accept the good deeds she hath done in such a manner\nthat, at whatever time Thou shalt please to call her, she may be received\ninto everlasting habitations.  Give her grace to continue sincerely\nthankful to Thee for the many favours Thou hast bestowed upon her, the\nability and inclination and practice to do good, and those virtues which\nhave procured the esteem and love of her friends and a most unspotted\nname in the world.  O God, Thou dispensest Thy blessings and Thy\npunishments as it becometh infinite justice and mercy; and since it was\nThy pleasure to afflict her with a long, constant, weakly state of\nhealth, make her truly sensible that it was for very wise ends, and was\nlargely made up to her in other blessings more valuable and less common.\nContinue to her, O Lord, that firmness and constancy of mind wherewith\nThou hast most graciously endowed her, together with that contempt of\nworldly things and vanities that she has shown in the whole conduct of\nher life.  O All-powerful Being, the least motion of whose will can\ncreate or destroy a world, pity us, the mournful friends of Thy\ndistressed servant, who sink under the weight of her present condition,\nand the fear of losing the most valuable of our friends.  Restore her to\nus, O Lord, if it be Thy gracious will, or inspire us with constancy and\nresignation to support ourselves under so heavy an affliction.  Restore\nher, O Lord, for the sake of those poor who, by losing her, will be\ndesolate, and those sick who will not only want her bounty, but her care\nand tending; or else, in Thy mercy, raise up some other in her place with\nequal disposition and better abilities.  Lessen, O Lord, we beseech Thee,\nher bodily pains, or give her a double strength of mind to support them.\nAnd if Thou wilt soon take her to Thyself, turn our thoughts rather upon\nthat felicity which we hope she shall enjoy, than upon that unspeakable\nloss we shall endure.  Let her memory be ever dear unto us, and the\nexample of her many virtues, as far as human infirmity will admit, our\nconstant imitation.  Accept, O Lord, these prayers, poured from the very\nbottom of our hearts, in Thy mercy, and for the merits of our blessed\nSaviour.  Amen.\n\n\n\nIII.\nWRITTEN NOVEMBER 6, 1727.\n\n\nO MERCIFUL Father, who never afflictest Thy children but for their own\ngood, and with justice, over which Thy mercy always prevaileth, either to\nturn them to repentance, or to punish them in the present life in order\nto reward them in a better; take pity, we beseech Thee, upon this Thy\npoor afflicted servant, languishing so long and so grievously under the\nweight of Thy hand.  Give her strength, O Lord, to support her weakness,\nand patience to endure her pains without repining at Thy correction.\nForgive every rash and inconsiderate expression which her anguish may at\nany time force from her tongue, while her heart continueth in an entire\nsubmission to Thy will.  Suppress in her, O Lord, all eager desires of\nlife, and lessen her fears of death by inspiring into her an humble yet\nassured hope of Thy mercy.  Give her a sincere repentance for all her\ntransgressions and omissions, and a firm resolution to pass the remainder\nof her life in endeavouring to her utmost to observe all Thy precepts.\nWe beseech Thee likewise to compose her thoughts, and preserve to her the\nuse of her memory and reason during the course of her sickness.  Give her\na true conception of the vanity, folly, and insignificance of all human\nthings, and strengthen her so as to beget in her a sincere love of Thee\nin the midst of her sufferings.  Accept and impute all her good deeds,\nand forgive her all those offences against Thee which she hath sincerely\nrepented of or through the frailty of memory hath forgot.  And now, O\nLord, we turn to Thee in behalf of ourselves and the rest of her\nsorrowful friends.  Let not our grief afflict her mind, and thereby have\nan ill effect on her present distemper.  Forgive the sorrow and weakness\nof those among us who sink under the grief and terror of losing so dear\nand useful a friend.  Accept and pardon our most earnest prayers and\nwishes for her longer continuance in this evil world, to do what Thou art\npleased to call Thy service, and is only her bounden duty, that she may\nbe still a comfort to us and to all others who will want the benefit of\nher conversation, her advice, her good offices, or her charity.  And\nsince Thou hast promised that where two or three are gathered together in\nThy name Thou wilt be in the midst of them to grant their request, O\ngracious Lord, grant to us who are here met in Thy name that those\nrequests, which in the utmost sincerity and earnestness of our hearts we\nhave now made in behalf of this Thy distressed servant and of ourselves,\nmay effectually be answered, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord.\nAmen.\n\n\n\n\nON MUTUAL SUBJECTION. {377}\n(FIRST PRINTED IN 1744.)\n\n\n         \u201cYea, all of you be subject one to another.\u201d\u2014I _Peter_ v. 5\n\nTHE Apostle having, in many parts of this Epistle, given directions to\nChristians concerning the duty of subjection or obedience to superiors,\nin the several instances of the subject to the prince, the child to his\nparent, the servant to his master, the wife to her husband, and the\nyounger to the elder, doth here, in the words of my text, sum up the\nwhole by advancing a point of doctrine, which at first may appear a\nlittle extraordinary.  \u201cYea, all of you,\u201d saith he, \u201cbe subject one to\nanother.\u201d  For it should seem that two persons cannot properly be said to\nbe subject to each other, and that subjection is only due from inferiors\nto those above them; yet St. Paul hath several passages to the same\npurpose.  For he exhorts the Romans \u201cin honour to prefer one another;\u201d\nand the Philippians, \u201cthat in lowliness of mind they should each esteem\nother better than themselves;\u201d and the Ephesians, \u201cthat they should\nsubmit themselves one to another in the fear of the Lord.\u201d  Here we find\nthese two great Apostles recommending to all Christians this duty of\nmutual subjection.  For we may observe, by St. Peter, that having\nmentioned the several relations which men bear to each other, as governor\nand subject, master and servant, and the rest which I have already\nrepeated, he makes no exception, but sums up the whole with commanding\n\u201call to be subject one to another.\u201d  Whence we may conclude that this\nsubjection due from all men to all men is something more than the\ncompliment of course, when our betters are pleased to tell us they are\nour humble servants, but understand us to be their slaves.\n\nI know very well that some of those who explain this text apply it to\nhumility, to the duties of charity, to private exhortations, and to\nbearing with each other\u2019s infirmities; and it is probable the Apostle may\nhave had a regard to all these.  But, however, many learned men agree\nthat there is something more understood, and so the words in their plain\nnatural meaning must import, as you will observe yourselves if you read\nthem with the beginning of the verse, which is thus: \u201cLikewise, ye\nyounger, submit yourselves unto the elder; yea, all of you be subject one\nto another.\u201d  So that, upon the whole, there must be some kind of\nsubjection due from every man to every man, which cannot be made void by\nany power, pre-eminence, or authority whatsoever.  Now what sort of\nsubjection this is, and how it ought to be paid, shall be the subject of\nmy present discourse.\n\nAs God hath contrived all the works of Nature to be useful, and in some\nmanner a support to each other, by which the whole frame of the world,\nunder His providence, is preserved and kept up, so among mankind our\nparticular stations are appointed to each of us by God Almighty, wherein\nwe are obliged to act as far as our power reacheth toward the good of the\nwhole community.  And he who doth not perform that part assigned him\ntowards advancing the benefit of the whole, in proportion to his\nopportunities and abilities, is not only a useless, but a very\nmischievous member of the public; because he takes his share of the\nprofit, and yet leaves his share of the burden to be borne by others,\nwhich is the true principal cause of most miseries and misfortunes in\nlife.  For a wise man who does not assist with his counsels, a great man\nwith his protection, a rich man with his bounty and charity, and a poor\nman with his labour, are perfect nuisances in a commonwealth.  Neither is\nany condition of life more honourable in the sight of God than another;\notherwise He would be a respecter of persons, which He assures us He is\nnot; for He hath proposed the same salvation to all men, and hath only\nplaced them in different ways or stations to work it out.  Princes are\nborn with no more advantages of strength or wisdom than other men, and,\nby an unhappy education, are usually more defective in both than\nthousands of their subjects.  They depend for every necessary of life\nupon the meanest of their people; besides, obedience and subjection were\nnever enjoined by God to humour the passions, lusts, and vanities of\nthose who demand them from us; but we are commanded to obey our\ngovernors, because disobedience would breed seditions in the state.  Thus\nservants are directed to obey their masters, children their parents, and\nwives their husbands, not from any respect of persons in God, but because\notherwise there would be nothing but confusion in private families.  This\nmatter will be clearly explained by considering the comparison which St.\nPaul makes between the Church of Christ and the body of man; for the same\nresemblance will hold not only to families and kingdoms, but to the whole\ncorporation of mankind.  \u201cThe eye,\u201d saith he, \u201ccannot say unto the hand,\n\u2018I have no need of thee;\u2019 nor again the hand to the foot, \u2018I have no need\nof thee.\u2019  Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more\nfeeble are necessary; and whether one member suffer, all the members\nsuffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with\nit.\u201d  The case is directly the same among mankind.  The prince cannot say\nto the merchant, \u201cI have no need of thee,\u201d nor the merchant to the\nlabourer, \u201cI have no need of thee.\u201d  Nay, much more those members which\nseem to be more feeble are necessary; for the poor are generally more\nnecessary members of the commonwealth than the rich; which clearly shows\nthat God never intended such possessions for the sake and service of\nthose to whom He lends them, but because he hath assigned every man his\nparticular station to be useful in life, and this for the reason given by\nthe Apostle, \u201cthat there may be no schism in the body.\u201d\n\nFrom hence may partly be gathered the nature of that subjection which we\nall owe to one another.  God Almighty hath been pleased to put us into an\nimperfect state, where we have perpetual occasion of each other\u2019s\nassistance.  There is none so low as not to be in a capacity of assisting\nthe highest, nor so high as not to want the assistance of the lowest.\n\nIt plainly appears, from what hath been said, that no one human creature\nis more worthy than another in the sight of God, further than according\nto the goodness or holiness of their lives; and that power, wealth, and\nthe like outward advantages, are so far from being the marks of God\u2019s\napproving or preferring those on whom they are bestowed, that, on the\ncontrary, He is pleased to suffer them to be almost engrossed by those\nwho have least title to His favour.  Now, according to this equality\nwherein God hath placed all mankind with relation to Himself, you will\nobserve that in all the relations between man and man there is a mutual\ndependence, whereby the one cannot subsist without the other.  Thus no\nman can be a prince without subjects, nor a master without servants, nor\na father without children.  And this both explains and confirms the\ndoctrine of the text; for where there is a mutual dependence there must\nbe a mutual duty, and consequently a mutual subjection.  For instance,\nthe subject must obey his prince, because God commands it, human laws\nrequire it, and the safety of the public makes it necessary; for the same\nreasons we must obey all that are in authority, and submit ourselves not\nonly to the good and gentle, but also to the froward, whether they rule\naccording to our liking or not.  On the other side, in those countries\nthat pretend to freedom, princes are subject to those laws which their\npeople have chosen; they are bound to protect their subjects in liberty,\nproperty, and religion, to receive their petitions and redress their\ngrievances, so that the best prince is, in the opinion of wise men, only\nthe greatest servant of the nation\u2014not only a servant to the public in\ngeneral, but in some sort to every man in it.  In the like manner a\nservant owes obedience, and diligence, and faithfulness to his master,\nfrom whom, at the same time, he hath a just demand for protection, and\nmaintenance, and gentle treatment.  Nay, even the poor beggar hath a just\ndemand of an alms from the rich man, who is guilty of fraud, injustice,\nand oppression if he does not afford relief according to his abilities.\n\nBut this subjection we all owe one another is nowhere more necessary than\nin the common conversations of life, for without it there could be no\nsociety among men.  If the learned would not sometimes submit to the\nignorant, the wise to the simple, the gentle to the froward, the old to\nthe weaknesses of the young, there would be nothing but everlasting\nvariance in the world.  This our Saviour Himself confirmed by His own\nexample; for He appeared in the form of a servant and washed His\ndisciples\u2019 feet, adding those memorable words, \u201cYe call me Lord and\nMaster, and ye say well, for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and Master,\nwash your feet, how much more ought ye to wash one another\u2019s feet?\u201d\nUnder which expression of washing the feet is included all that\nsubjection, assistance, love, and duty, which every good Christian ought\nto pay his brother, in whatever station God hath placed him.  For the\ngreatest prince and the meanest slave are not, by infinite degrees, so\ndistant as our Saviour and those disciples, whose feet He vouchsafed to\nwash.\n\nAnd although this doctrine of subjecting ourselves to one another may\nseem to grate upon the pride and vanity of mankind, and may therefore be\nhard to be digested by those who value themselves upon their greatness or\ntheir wealth, yet it is really no more than what most men practise upon\nother occasions.  For if our neighbour, who is our inferior, comes to see\nus, we rise to receive him; we place him above us, and respect him as if\nhe were better than ourselves; and this is thought both decent and\nnecessary, and is usually called good manners.  Now the duty required by\nthe Apostle is only that we should enlarge our minds, and that what we\nthus practise in the common course of life we should imitate in all our\nactions and proceedings whatsoever; since our Saviour tells us that every\nman is our neighbour, and since we are so ready, in point of civility, to\nyield to others in our own houses, where only we have any title to\ngovern.\n\nHaving thus shown you what sort of subjection it is which all men owe one\nanother, and in what manner it ought to be paid, I shall now draw some\nobservations from what hath been said.\n\nAnd first, a thorough practice of this duty of subjecting ourselves to\nthe wants and infirmities of each other would utterly extinguish in us\nthe vice of pride.\n\nFor if God has pleased to intrust me with a talent, not for my own sake,\nbut for the service of others, and at the same time hath left me full of\nwants and necessities which others must supply, I can then have no cause\nto set any extraordinary value upon myself, or to despise my brother\nbecause he hath not the same talents which were lent to me.  His being\nmay probably be as useful to the public as mine; and therefore, by the\nrules of right reason, I am in no sort preferable to him.\n\nSecondly, It is very manifest, from what has been said, that no man ought\nto look upon the advantages of life, such as riches, honour, power, and\nthe like, as his property, but merely as a trust which God hath deposited\nwith him to be employed for the use of his brethren, and God will\ncertainly punish the breach of that trust, though the laws of man will\nnot, or rather indeed cannot; because the trust was conferred only by\nGod, who has not left it to any power on earth to decide infallibly\nwhether a man makes a good use of his talents or not, or to punish him\nwhere he fails.  And therefore God seems to have more particularly taken\nthis matter into His own hands, and will most certainly reward or punish\nus in proportion to our good or ill performance in it.  Now, although the\nadvantages which one possesseth more than another may, in some sense, be\ncalled his property with respect to other men, yet with respect to God\nthey are, as I said, only a trust, which will plainly appear from hence:\nif a man does not use those advantages to the good of the public or the\nbenefit of his neighbour, it is certain he doth not deserve them, and\nconsequently that God never intended them for a blessing to him; and on\nthe other side, whoever does employ his talents as he ought will find, by\nhis own experience, that they were chiefly lent him for the service of\nothers, for to the service of others he will certainly employ them.\n\nThirdly, If we could all be brought to practise this duty of subjecting\nourselves to each other, it would very much contribute to the general\nhappiness of mankind, for this would root out envy and malice from the\nheart of man; because you cannot envy your neighbour\u2019s strength if he\nmake use of it to defend your life or carry your burden; you cannot envy\nhis wisdom if he gives you good counsel; nor his riches if he supplies\nyour wants; nor his greatness if he employs it to your protection.  The\nmiseries of life are not properly owing to the unequal distribution of\nthings, but God Almighty, the great King of heaven, is treated like the\nkings of the earth, who, although perhaps intending well themselves, have\noften most abominable ministers and stewards, and those generally the\nvilest to whom they intrust the most talents.  But here is the\ndifference, that the princes of this world see by other men\u2019s eyes, but\nGod sees all things; and therefore, whenever He permits His blessings to\nbe dealt among those who are unworthy, we may certainly conclude that He\nintends them only as a punishment to an evil world, as well as to the\nowners.  It were well if those would consider this, whose riches serve\nthem only as a spur to avarice or as an instrument of their lusts; whose\nwisdom is only of this world, to put false colours upon things, to call\ngood evil and evil good against the conviction of their own consciences;\nand lastly, who employ their power and favour in acts of oppression or\ninjustice, in misrepresenting persons and things, or in countenancing the\nwicked to the ruin of the innocent.\n\nFourthly, The practice of this duty of being subject to one another would\nmake us rest contented in the several stations of life wherein God hath\nthought fit to place us, because it would, in the best and easiest\nmanner, bring us back, as it were, to that early state of the Gospel when\nChristians had all things in common.  For if the poor found the rich\ndisposed to supply their want, if the ignorant found the wise ready to\ninstruct and direct them, or if the weak might always find protection\nfrom the mighty, they could none of them, with the least pretence of\njustice, lament their own condition.\n\nFrom all that hath been hitherto said it appears that great abilities of\nany sort, when they are employed as God directs, do but make the owners\nof them greater and more painful servants to their neighbour and the\npublic.  However, we are by no means to conclude from hence that they are\nnot really blessings, when they are in the hands of good men.  For,\nfirst, what can be a greater honour than to be chosen one of the stewards\nand dispensers of God\u2019s bounty to mankind?  What is there that can give a\ngenerous spirit more pleasure and complacency of mind than to consider\nthat he is an instrument of doing much good; that great numbers owe to\nhim, under God, their subsistence, their safety, their health, and the\ngood conduct of their lives?  The wickedest man upon earth takes a\npleasure in doing good to those he loves; and therefore surely a good\nChristian, who obeys our Saviour\u2019s commands of loving all men, cannot but\ntake delight in doing good even to his enemies.  God, who gives all\nthings to all men, can receive nothing from any; and those among men who\ndo the most good and receive the fewest returns do most resemble the\nCreator; for which reason St. Paul delivers it as a saying of our\nSaviour, that \u201cit is more blessed to give than receive.\u201d  By this rule,\nwhat must become of those things which the world values as the greatest\nblessings\u2014riches, power, and the like\u2014when our Saviour plainly determines\nthat the best way to make them blessings is to part with them?\nTherefore, although the advantages which one man hath over another may be\ncalled blessings, yet they are by no means so in the sense the world\nusually understands.  Thus, for example, great riches are no blessings in\nthemselves, because the poor man, with the common necessaries of life,\nenjoys more health and has fewer cares without them.  How then do they\nbecome blessings?  No otherwise than by being employed in feeding the\nhungry, clothing the naked, rewarding worthy men, and, in short, doing\nacts of charity and generosity.  Thus, likewise, power is no blessing in\nitself, because private men bear less envy, and trouble, and anguish\nwithout it.  But when it is employed to protect the innocent, to relieve\nthe oppressed, and to punish the oppressor, then it becomes a great\nblessing.\n\nAnd so, lastly, even great wisdom is, in the opinion of Solomon, not a\nblessing in itself; for \u201cin much wisdom is much sorrow;\u201d and men of\ncommon understanding, if they serve God and mind their callings, make\nfewer mistakes in the conduct of life than those who have better heads.\nAnd yet wisdom is a mighty blessing when it is applied to good purposes,\nto instruct the ignorant, to be a faithful counsellor either in public or\nprivate, to be a director to youth, and to many other ends needless here\nto mention.\n\nTo conclude: God sent us into the world to obey His commands, by doing as\nmuch good as our abilities will reach, and as little evil as our many\ninfirmities will permit.  Some He hath only trusted with one talent, some\nwith five, and some with ten.  No man is without his talent; and he that\nis faithful or negligent in a little shall be rewarded or punished, as\nwell as he that hath been so in a great deal.\n\nConsider what hath been said, &c.\n\n\n\n\nON SLEEPING IN CHURCH.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd there sat in the window a certain young man named Eutychus,\n    being fallen into a deep sleep; and while Paul was long preaching, he\n    sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was\n    taken up dead.\u201d\u2014_Acts_ xx. 9.\n\nI HAVE chosen these words with design, if possible, to disturb some part\nin this audience of half an hour\u2019s sleep, for the convenience and\nexercise whereof this place, at this season of the day, is very much\ncelebrated.\n\nThere is indeed one mortal disadvantage to which all preaching is\nsubject, that those who, by the wickedness of their lives, stand in\ngreatest need, have usually the smallest share; for either they are\nabsent upon the account of idleness, or spleen, or hatred to religion, or\nin order to doze away the intemperance of the week; or, if they do come,\nthey are sure to employ their minds rather any other way than regarding\nor attending to the business of the place.\n\nThe accident which happened to this young man in the text hath not been\nsufficient to discourage his successors; but because the preachers now in\nthe world, however they may exceed St. Paul in the art of setting men to\nsleep, do extremely fall short of him in the working of miracles,\ntherefore men are become so cautious as, to choose more safe and\nconvenient stations and postures for taking their repose without hazard\nof their persons, and upon the whole matter choose rather to trust their\ndestruction to a miracle than their safety.  However, this being not the\nonly way by which the lukewarm Christians and scorners of the age\ndiscover their neglect and contempt of preaching, I shall enter expressly\ninto consideration of this matter, and order my discourse in the\nfollowing method:\u2014\n\n  _First_, I shall produce several instances to show the great neglect of\n  preaching now among us.\n\n  _Secondly_, I shall reckon up some of the usual quarrels men have\n  against preaching.\n\n  _Thirdly_, I shall get forth the great evil of this neglect and\n  contempt of preaching, and discover the real causes whence it\n  proceedeth.\n\n  _Lastly_, I shall offer some remedies against this great and spreading\n  evil.\n\n_First_, I shall produce certain instances to show the great neglect of\npreaching now among us.\n\nThese may be reduced under two heads.  First, men\u2019s absence from the\nservice of the church; and secondly, their misbehaviour when they are\nhere.\n\nThe first instance of men\u2019s neglect is in their frequent absence from the\nchurch.\n\nThere is no excuse so trivial that will not pass upon some men\u2019s\nconsciences to excuse their attendance at the public worship of God.\nSome are so unfortunate as to be always indisposed on the Lord\u2019s day, and\nthink nothing so unwholesome as the air of a church.  Others have their\naffairs so oddly contrived as to be always unluckily prevented by\nbusiness.  With some it is a great mark of wit and deep understanding to\nstay at home on Sundays.  Others again discover strange fits of laziness,\nthat seize them particularly on that day, and confine them to their beds.\nOthers are absent out of mere contempt of religion.  And lastly, there\nare not a few who look upon it as a day of rest, and therefore claim the\nprivilege of their cattle, to keep the Sabbath by eating, drinking, and\nsleeping, after the toil and labour of the week.  Now in all this, the\nworst circumstance is that these persons are such whose company is most\nrequired, and who stand most in need of a physician.\n\nSecondly, Men\u2019s great neglect and contempt of preaching appear by their\nmisbehaviour when at church.\n\nIf the audience were to be ranked under several heads, according to their\nbehaviour when the Word of God is delivered, how small a number would\nappear of those who receive it as they ought!  How much of the seed then\nsown would be found to fall by the wayside, upon stony ground, or among\nthorns! and how little good ground would there be to take it!  A preacher\ncannot look round from the pulpit without observing that some are in a\nperpetual whisper, and by their air and gesture give occasion to suspect\nthat they are in those very minutes defaming their neighbour.  Others\nhave their eyes and imagination constantly engaged in such a circle of\nobjects, perhaps to gratify the most unwarrantable desires, that they\nnever once attend to the business of the place; the sound of the\npreacher\u2019s words do not so much as once interrupt them.  Some have their\nminds wandering among idle, worldly, or vicious thoughts; some lie at\ncatch to ridicule whatever they hear, and with much wit and humour,\nprovide a stock of laughter by furnishing themselves from the pulpit.\nBut of all misbehaviour, none is comparable to that of those who come\nhere to sleep.  Opium is not so stupefying to many persons as an\nafternoon sermon.  Perpetual custom hath so brought it about that the\nwords of whatever preacher become only a sort of uniform sound at a\ndistance, than which nothing is more effectual to lull the senses.  For\nthat it is the very sound of the sermon which bindeth up their faculties\nis manifest from hence, because they all awake so very regularly as soon\nas it ceaseth, and with much devotion receive the blessing, dozed and\nbesotted with indecencies I am ashamed to repeat.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nI proceed, _secondly_, to reckon up some of the usual quarrels men have\nagainst preaching, and to show the unreasonableness of them.\n\nSuch unwarrantable behaviour as I have described among Christians in the\nhouse of God in a solemn assembly, while their faith and duty are\nexplained and delivered, have put those who are guilty upon inventing\nsome excuses to extenuate their fault; this they do by turning the blame\neither upon the particular preacher or upon preaching in general.  First,\nthey object against the particular preacher: his manner, his delivery,\nhis voice, are disagreeable; his style and expression are flat and slow,\nsometimes improper and absurd; the matter is heavy, trivial, and insipid,\nsometimes despicable and perfectly ridiculous; or else, on the other\nside, he runs up into unintelligible speculation, empty notions, and\nabstracted flights, all clad in words above usual understandings.\n\nSecondly, They object against preaching in general.  It is a perfect road\nof talk; they know already whatever can be said; they have heard the same\na hundred times over.  They quarrel that preachers do not relieve an old\nbeaten subject with wit and invention, and that now the art is lost of\nmoving men\u2019s passions, so common among the ancient orators of Greece and\nRome.  These and the like objections are frequently in the mouths of men\nwho despise the foolishness of preaching.  But let us examine the\nreasonableness of them.\n\nThe doctrine delivered by all preachers is the same: \u201cSo we preach, and\nso ye believe.\u201d  But the manner of delivering is suited to the skill and\nabilities of each, which differ in preachers just as in the rest of\nmankind.  However, in personal dislikes of a particular preacher, are\nthese men sure they are always in the right?  Do they consider how mixed\na thing is every audience, whose taste and judgment differ, perhaps,\nevery day, not only from each other, but themselves?  And how to\ncalculate a discourse that shall exactly suit them all, is beyond the\nforce and reach of human reason, knowledge, or invention.  Wit and\neloquence are shining qualities that God hath imparted in great degrees\nto very few, nor any more to be expected in the generality of any rank\namong men than riches and honour.  But further, if preaching in general\nbe all old and beaten, and that they are already so well acquainted with\nit, more shame and guilt to them who so little edify by it!  But these\nmen, whose ears are so delicate as not to endure a plain discourse of\nreligion, who expect a constant supply of wit and eloquence on a subject\nhandled so many thousand times, what will they say when we turn the\nobjection upon themselves, who, with all the rude and profane liberty of\ndiscourse they take upon so many thousand subjects, are so dull as to\nfurnish nothing but tedious repetitions, and little paltry, nauseous\ncommonplaces, so vulgar, so worn, or so obvious, as, upon any other\noccasion but that of advancing vice, would be hooted off the stage?  Nor,\nlastly, are preachers justly blamed for neglecting human oratory to move\nthe passions, which is not the business of a Christian orator, whose\noffice it is only to work upon faith and reason.  All other eloquence\nhath been a perfect cheat, to stir up men\u2019s passions against truth and\njustice for the service of a faction, to put false colours upon things,\nand, by an amusement of agreeable words, make the worst reason appear to\nbe the better.  This is certainly not to be allowed in Christian\neloquence, and therefore St. Paul took quite the other course.  He \u201ccame\nnot with the excellency of words, or enticing speech of men\u2019s wisdom, but\nin plain evidence of the Spirit and power.\u201d  And perhaps it was for that\nreason the young man Eutychus, used to the Grecian eloquence, grew tired\nand fell so fast asleep.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nI go on, thirdly, to set forth the great evil of this neglect and scorn\nof preaching, and to discover the real causes whence it proceedeth.\n\nI think it is obvious that this neglect of preaching hath very much\noccasioned the great decay of religion among us.  To this may be imputed\nno small part of that contempt some men bestow on the clergy, for whoever\ntalketh without being regarded is sure to be despised.  To this we owe in\na great measure the spreading of atheism and infidelity among us, for\nreligion, like all other things, is soonest put out of countenance by\nbeing ridiculed.  The scorn of preaching might perhaps have been at first\nintroduced by men of nice ears and refined taste, but it is now become a\nspreading evil through all degrees and both sexes; for, since sleeping,\ntalking, and laughing are qualities sufficient to furnish out a critic,\nthe meanest and most ignorant have set up a title, and succeeded in it as\nwell as their betters.  Thus are the last efforts of reforming mankind\nrendered wholly useless.  \u201cHow shall they hear,\u201d saith the Apostle,\n\u201cwithout a preacher?\u201d  But if they have a preacher, and make it a point\nof wit or breeding not to hear him, what remedy is left?  To this neglect\nof preaching we may also entirely impute that gross ignorance among us in\nthe very principles of religion, which it is amazing to find in persons\nwho very much value their own knowledge and understanding in other\nthings; yet it is a visible, inexcusable ignorance, even in the meanest\namong us, considering the many advantages they have of learning their\nduty.  And it hath been the great encouragement to all manner of vice;\nfor in vain we preach down sin to a people \u201cwhose hearts are waxed gross,\nwhose ears are dull of hearing and whose eyes are closed.\u201d  Therefore\nChrist Himself in His discourses frequently rouseth up the attention of\nthe multitude, and of His disciples themselves, with this expression, \u201cHe\nthat hath ears to hear let him hear.\u201d  But among all neglects of\npreaching, none is so fatal as that of sleeping in the house of God.  A\nscorner may listen to truth and reason, and in time grow serious; an\nunbeliever may feel the pangs of a guilty conscience; one whose thoughts\nor eyes wander among other objects may, by a lucky word, be called back\nto attention; but the sleeper shuts up all avenues to his soul; he is\n\u201clike the deaf adder, that hearkeneth not to the voice of the charmer,\ncharm he never so wisely;\u201d and we may preach with as good success to the\ngrave that is under his feet.\n\nBut the great evil of this neglect will further yet appear from\nconsidering the real causes whence it proceedeth, whereof the first I\ntake to be an evil conscience.  Many men come to church to save or gain a\nreputation, or because they will not be singular, but comply with an\nestablished custom, yet all the while they are loaded with the guilt of\nold rooted sins.  These men can expect to hear of nothing but terrors and\nthreatenings, their sins laid open in true colours, and eternal misery\nthe reward of them; therefore, no wonder they stop their care and divert\ntheir thoughts, and seek any amusement rather than stir the hell within\nthem.\n\nAnother cause of this neglect is a heart set upon worldly things.  Men\nwhose minds are much enslaved to earthly affairs all the week cannot\ndisengage or break the chain of their thoughts so suddenly as to apply to\na discourse that is wholly foreign to what they have most at heart.  Tell\na usurer of charity, and mercy, and restitution\u2014you talk to the deaf; his\nheart and soul, with all his senses, are got among his bags, or he is\ngravely asleep and dreaming of a mortgage.  Tell a man of business, that\nthe cares of the world choke the good seed; that we must not encumber\nourselves with much serving; that the salvation of his soul is the one\nthing necessary; you see, indeed, the shape of a man before you, but his\nfaculties are all gone off among clients and papers, thinking how to\ndefend a bad cause or find flaws in a good one; or he weareth out the\ntime in drowsy nods.\n\nA third cause of the great neglect and scorn of preaching ariseth from\nthe practice of men who set up to decry and disparage religion; these,\nbeing zealous to promote infidelity and vice, learn a rote of buffoonery\nthat serveth all occasions, and refutes the strongest arguments for piety\nand good manners.  These have a set of ridicule calculated for all\nsermons and all preachers, and can be extremely witty as often as they\nplease upon the same fund.\n\nLet me now, in the last place, offer some remedies against this great\nevil.\n\nIt will be one remedy against the contempt of preaching rightly to\nconsider the end for which it was designed.  There are many who place\nabundance of merit in going to church, although it be with no other\nprospect but that of being well entertained, wherein if they happen to\nfail, they return wholly disappointed.  Hence it is become an impertinent\nvein among people of all sorts to hunt after what they call a good\nsermon, as if it were a matter of pastime and diversion.  Our business,\nalas! is quite another thing; either to learn, or at least be reminded\nof, our duty; to apply the doctrines delivered, compare the rules we hear\nwith our lives and actions, and find wherein we have transgressed.  These\nare the dispositions men should bring into the house of God, and then\nthey will be little concerned about the preacher\u2019s wit or eloquence, nor\nbe curious to inquire out his faults and infirmities, but consider how to\ncorrect their own.\n\nAnother remedy against the contempt of preaching is that men would\nconsider whether it be not reasonable to give more allowance for the\ndifferent abilities of preachers than they usually do.  Refinements of\nstyle and flights of wit, as they are not properly the business of any\npreacher, so they cannot possibly be the talents of all.  In most other\ndiscourses, men are satisfied with sober sense and plain reason; and, as\nunderstandings usually go, even that is not over-frequent.  Then why they\nshould be so over-nice in expectation of eloquence, where it is neither\nnecessary nor convenient, is hard to imagine.\n\nLastly, The scorners of preaching would do well to consider that this\ntalent of ridicule they value so much is a perfection very easily\nacquired, and applied to all things whatsoever; neither is anything at\nall the worse because it is capable of being perverted to burlesque;\nperhaps it may be the more perfect upon that score, since we know the\nmost celebrated pieces have been thus treated with greatest success.  It\nis in any man\u2019s power to suppose a fool\u2019s-cap on the wisest head, and\nthen laugh at his own supposition.  I think there are not many things\ncheaper than supposing and laughing; and if the uniting these two talents\ncan bring a thing into contempt, it is hard to know where it may end.\n\nTo conclude: These considerations may perhaps have some effect while men\nare awake; but what arguments shall we use to the sleeper?  What methods\nshall we take to hold open his eyes?  Will he be moved by considerations\nof common civility?  We know it is reckoned a point of very bad manners\nto sleep in private company, when, perhaps, the tedious impertinence of\nmany talkers would render it at least as excusable as the dullest sermon.\nDo they think it a small thing to watch four hours at a play, where all\nvirtue and religion are openly reviled; and can they not watch one half\nhour to hear them defended?  Is this to deal like a judge (I mean like a\ngood judge), to listen on one side of the cause and sleep on the other?\nI shall add but one word more.  That this indecent sloth is very much\nowing to that luxury and excess men usually practise upon this day, by\nwhich half the service thereof is turned to sin; men dividing their time\nbetween God and their bellies, when, after a gluttonous meal, their\nsenses dozed and stupefied, they retire to God\u2019s house to sleep out the\nafternoon.  Surely, brethren, these things ought not so to be.\n\n\u201cHe that hath ears to hear let him hear.\u201d  And God give us all, grace to\nhear and receive His Holy Word to the salvation of our own souls.\n\n\n\n\nON THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD.\n\n\n    \u201cThe wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.\u201d\u2014I _Cor_. iii. 19.\n\nIT is remarkable that about the time of our Saviour\u2019s coming into the\nworld all kinds of learning flourished to a very great degree, insomuch\nthat nothing is more frequent in the mouths of many men, even such who\npretend to read and to know, than an extravagant praise and opinion of\nthe wisdom and virtue of the Gentile sages of those days, and likewise of\nthose ancient philosophers who went before them, whose doctrines are left\nupon record, either by themselves or other writers.  As far as this may\nbe taken for granted, it may be said that the providence of God brought\nthis about for several very wise ends and purposes; for it is certain\nthat these philosophers had been a long time before searching out where\nto fix the true happiness of man; and not being able to agree upon any\ncertainty about it, they could not possibly but conclude, if they judged\nimpartially, that all their inquiries were in the end but vain and\nfruitless, the consequence of which must be not only an acknowledgment of\nthe weakness of all human wisdom, but likewise an open passage hereby\nmade for letting in those beams of light which the glorious sunshine of\nthe Gospel then brought into the world, by revealing those hidden truths\nwhich they had so long before been labouring to discover, and fixing the\ngeneral happiness of mankind beyond all controversy and dispute.  And\ntherefore the providence of God wisely suffered men of deep genius and\nlearning then to arise, who should search into the truth of the Gospel\nnow made known, and canvass its doctrines with all the subtilty and\nknowledge they were masters of, and in the end freely acknowledge that to\nbe the true wisdom only \u201cwhich cometh from above.\u201d\n\nHowever, to make a further inquiry into the truth of this observation, I\ndoubt not but there is reason to think that a great many of those\nencomiums given to ancient philosophers are taken upon trust, and by a\nsort of men who are not very likely to be at the pains of an inquiry that\nwould employ so much time and thinking.  For the usual ends why men\naffect this kind of discourse appear generally to be either out of\nostentation, that they may pass upon the world for persons of great\nknowledge and observation, or, what is worse, there are some who highly\nexalt the wisdom of those Gentile sages, thereby obliquely to glance at\nand traduce Divine revelation, and more especially that of the Gospel;\nfor the consequence they would have us draw is this: that since those\nancient philosophers rose to a greater pitch of wisdom and virtue than\nwas ever known among Christians, and all this purely upon the strength of\ntheir own reason and liberty of thinking; therefore it must follow that\neither all revelation is false, or, what is worse, that it has depraved\nthe nature of man, and left him worse than it found him.\n\nBut this high opinion of heathen wisdom is not very ancient in the world,\nnor at all countenanced from primitive times.  Our Saviour had but a low\nesteem of it, as appears by His treatment of the Pharisees and Sadducees,\nwho followed the doctrines of Plato and Epicurus.  St. Paul likewise, who\nwas well versed in all the Grecian literature, seems very much to despise\ntheir philosophy, as we find in his writings, cautioning the Colossians\nto \u201cbeware lest any man spoil them through philosophy and vain deceit;\u201d\nand in another place he advises Timothy to \u201cavoid profane and vain\nbabblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called;\u201d that is, not to\nintroduce into the Christian doctrine the janglings of those vain\nphilosophers, which they would pass upon the world for science.  And the\nreasons he gives are, first, that those who professed them did err\nconcerning the faith; secondly, because the knowledge of them did\nincrease ungodliness, vain babblings being otherwise expounded vanities\nor empty sounds; that is, tedious disputes about words, which the\nphilosophers were always so full of, and which were the natural product\nof disputes and dissensions between several sects.\n\nNeither had the primitive fathers any great or good opinion of the\nheathen philosophy, as is manifest from several passages in their\nwritings; so that this vein of affecting to raise the reputation of those\nsages so high Is a mode and a vice but of yesterday, assumed chiefly, as\nI have said, to disparage revealed knowledge and the consequences of it\namong us.\n\nNow, because this is a prejudice which may prevail with some persons so\nfar as to lessen the influence of the Gospel, and whereas, therefore,\nthis is an opinion which men of education are likely to be encountered\nwith when they have produced themselves into the world, I shall endeavour\nto show that their preference of heathen wisdom and virtue before that of\nthe Christian is every way unjust, and grounded upon ignorance or\nmistake; in order to which I shall consider four things:\u2014\n\n  _First_, I shall produce certain points wherein the wisdom and virtue\n  of all unrevealed philosophy in general fell short and was very\n  imperfect.\n\n  _Secondly_, I shall show, in several instances, where some of the most\n  renowned philosophers have been grossly defective in their lessons of\n  morality.\n\n  _Thirdly_, I shall prove the perfection of Christian wisdom from the\n  proper characters and marks of it.\n\n  _Lastly_, I shall show that the great examples of wisdom and virtue\n  among the heathen wise men were produced by personal merit, and not\n  influenced by the doctrine of any sect; whereas, in Christianity, it is\n  quite the contrary.\n\n_First_, I shall produce certain points wherein the wisdom and virtue of\nall unrevealed philosophy in general fell short and was very imperfect.\n\nMy design is to persuade men that Christian philosophy is in all things\npreferable to heathen wisdom; from which, or its professors, I shall,\nhowever, have no occasion to detract.  They were as wise and as good as\nit was possible for them to be under such disadvantages, and would have\nprobably been infinitely more so with such aids as we enjoy; but our\nlessons are certainly much better, however our practices may fall short.\n\nThe first point I shall mention is that universal defect which was in all\ntheir schemes, that they could not agree about their chief good, or\nwherein to place the happiness of mankind; nor had any of them a\ntolerable answer upon this difficulty to satisfy a reasonable person.\nFor to say, as the most plausible of them did, \u201cThat happiness consisted\nin virtue,\u201d was but vain babbling, and a mere sound of words to amuse\nothers and themselves; because they were not agreed what this virtue was\nor wherein it did consist; and likewise, because several among the best\nof them taught quite different things, placing happiness in health or\ngood fortune, in riches or in honour, where all were agreed that virtue\nwas not, as I shall have occasion to show when I speak of their\nparticular tenets.\n\nThe second great defect in the Gentile philosophy was that it wanted some\nsuitable reward proportioned to the better part of man\u2014his mind, as an\nencouragement for his progress in virtue.  The difficulties they met with\nupon the score of this default were great, and not to be accounted for;\nbodily goods, being only suitable to bodily wants, are no rest at all for\nthe mind; and if they were, yet are they not the proper fruits of wisdom\nand virtue, being equally attainable by the ignorant and wicked.  Now\nhuman nature is so constituted that we can never pursue anything heartily\nbut upon hopes of a reward.  If we run a race, it is in expectation of a\nprize; and the greater the prize the faster we run; for an incorruptible\ncrown, if we understand it and believe it to be such, more than a\ncorruptible one.  But some of the philosophers gave all this quite\nanother turn, and pretended to refine so far as to call virtue its own\nreward, and worthy to be followed only for itself; whereas, if there be\nanything in this more than the sound of the words, it is at least too\nabstracted to become a universal influencing principle in the world, and\ntherefore could not be of general use.\n\nIt was the want of assigning some happiness proportioned to the soul of\nman that caused many of them, either on the one hand, to be sour and\nmorose, supercilious and untreatable, or, on the other, to fall into the\nvulgar pursuits of common men, to hunt after greatness and riches, to\nmake their court and to serve occasions, as Plato did to the younger\nDionysius, and Aristotle to Alexander the Great.  So impossible it is for\na man who looks no further than the present world to fix himself long in\na contemplation where the present world has no part; he has no sure hold,\nno firm footing; he can never expect to remove the earth he rests upon\nwhile he has no support besides for his feet, but wants, like Archimedes,\nsome other place whereon to stand.  To talk of bearing pain and grief\nwithout any sort of present or future hope cannot be purely greatness of\nspirit; there must be a mixture in it of affectation and an alloy of\npride, or perhaps is wholly counterfeit.\n\nIt is true there has been all along in the world a notion of rewards and\npunishments in another life, but it seems to have rather served as an\nentertainment to poets or as a terror of children than a settled\nprinciple by which men pretended to govern any of their actions.  The\nlast celebrated words of Socrates, a little before his death, do not seem\nto reckon or build much upon any such opinion; and C\u00e6sar made no scruple\nto disown it and ridicule it in open senate.\n\nThirdly, the greatest and wisest of all their philosophers were never\nable to give any satisfaction to others and themselves in their notions\nof a deity.  They were often extremely gross and absurd in their\nconceptions, and those who made the fairest conjectures are such as were\ngenerally allowed by the learned to have seen the system of Moses, if I\nmay so call it, who was in great reputation at that time in the heathen\nworld, as we find by Diodorus, Justin, Longinus, and other authors; for\nthe rest, the wisest among them laid aside all notions after a deity as a\ndisquisition vain and fruitless, which indeed it was upon unrevealed\nprinciples; and those who ventured to engage too far fell into\nincoherence and confusion.\n\nFourthly, Those among them who had the justest conceptions of a Divine\npower, and did also admit a providence, had no notion at all of entirely\nrelying and depending upon either; they trusted in themselves for all\nthings, but as for a trust or dependence upon God, they would not have\nunderstood the phrase; it made no part of the profane style.\n\nTherefore it was that, in all issues and events which they could not\nreconcile to their own sentiments of reason and justice, they were quite\ndisconcerted; they had no retreat, but upon every blow of adverse\nfortune, either affected to be indifferent, or grew sullen and severe, or\nelse yielded and sunk like other men.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nHaving now produced certain points wherein the wisdom and virtue of all\nunrevealed philosophy fell short and was very imperfect, I go on, in the\nsecond place, to show, in several instances, where some of the most\nrenowned philosophers have been grossly defective in their lessons of\nmorality.\n\nThales, the founder of the Ionic sect, so celebrated for morality, being\nasked how a man might bear ill-fortune with greatest ease, answered, \u201cBy\nseeing his enemies in a worse condition.\u201d  An answer truly barbarous,\nunworthy of human nature, and which included such consequences as must\ndestroy all society from the world.\n\nSolon lamenting the death of a son, one told him, \u201cYou lament in vain.\u201d\n\u201cTherefore,\u201d said he, \u201cI lament, because it is in vain.\u201d  This was a\nplain confession how imperfect all his philosophy was, and that something\nwas still wanting.  He owned that all his wisdom and morals were useless,\nand this upon one of the most frequent accidents in life.  How much\nbetter could he have learned to support himself even from David, by his\nentire dependence upon God, and that before our Saviour had advanced the\nnotions of religion to the height and perfection wherewith He hath\ninstructed His disciples!\n\nPlato himself, with all his refinements, placed happiness in wisdom,\nhealth, good fortune, honour, and riches, and held that they who enjoyed\nall these were perfectly happy; which opinion was indeed unworthy its\nowner, leaving the wise and good man wholly at the mercy of uncertain\nchance, and to be miserable without resource.\n\nHis scholar Aristotle fell more grossly into the same notion, and plainly\naffirmed, \u201cThat virtue, without the goods of fortune, was not sufficient\nfor happiness, but that a wise man must be miserable in poverty and\nsickness.\u201d  Nay, Diogenes himself, from whose pride and singularity one\nwould have looked for other notions, delivered it as his opinion, \u201cThat a\npoor old man was the most miserable thing in life.\u201d\n\nZeno also and his followers fell into many absurdities, among which\nnothing could be greater than that of maintaining all crimes to be equal;\nwhich, instead of making vice hateful, rendered it as a thing indifferent\nand familiar to all men.\n\nLastly, Epicurus had no notion of justice but as it was profitable; and\nhis placing happiness in pleasure, with all the advantages he could\nexpound it by, was liable to very great exception; for although he taught\nthat pleasure did consist in virtue, yet he did not any way fix or\nascertain the boundaries of virtue, as he ought to have done; by which\nmeans he misled his followers into the greatest vices, making their names\nto become odious and scandalous even in the heathen world.\n\nI have produced these few instances from a great many others to show the\nimperfection of heathen philosophy, wherein I have confined myself wholly\nto their morality.  And surely we may pronounce upon it, in the words of\nSt. James, that \u201cThis wisdom descended not from above, but was earthly\nand sensual.\u201d  What if I had produced their absurd notions about God and\nthe soul?  It would then have completed the character given it by that\nApostle, and appeared to have been devilish too.  But it is easy to\nobserve from the nature of these few particulars that their defects in\nmorals were purely the flagging and fainting of the mind for want of a\nsupport by revelation from God.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nI proceed, therefore, in the _third_ place, to show the perfection of\nChristian wisdom from above; and I shall endeavour to make it appear from\nthose proper characters and marks of it by the Apostle before mentioned,\nin the third chapter, and 15th, 16th, and 17th verses.\n\nThe words run thus\u2014\n\n\u201cThis wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual,\ndevilish.\n\n\u201cFor where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.\n\n\u201cBut the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,\nand easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without\npartiality and without hypocrisy.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe wisdom from above is first pure.\u201d  This purity of the mind and\nspirit is peculiar to the Gospel.  Our Saviour says, \u201cBlessed are the\npure in heart, for they shall see God.\u201d  A mind free from all pollution\nof lusts shall have a daily vision of God, whereof unrevealed religion\ncan form no notion.  This is it that keeps us unspotted from the world,\nand hereby many have been prevailed upon to live in the practice of all\npurity, holiness, and righteousness, far beyond the examples of the most\ncelebrated philosophers.\n\nIt is \u201cpeaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated.\u201d  The Christian\ndoctrine teacheth us all those dispositions that make us affable and\ncourteous, gentle and kind, without any morose leaven of pride or vanity,\nwhich entered into the composition of most heathen schemes: so we are\ntaught to be meek and lowly.  Our Saviour\u2019s last legacy was peace, and He\ncommands us to forgive our offending brother unto seventy times seven.\nChristian wisdom is full of mercy and good works, teaching the height of\nall moral virtues, of which the heathens fell infinitely short.  Plato\nindeed (and it is worth observing) has somewhere a dialogue, or part of\none, about forgiving our enemies, which was perhaps the highest strain\never reached by man without Divine assistance; yet how little is that to\nwhat our Saviour commands us, \u201cTo love them that hate us, to bless them\nthat curse us, and to do good to them that despitefully use us.\u201d\n\nChristian wisdom is \u201cwithout partiality;\u201d it is not calculated for this\nor that nation of people, but the whole race of mankind.  Not so the\nphilosophical schemes, which were narrow and confined, adapted to their\npeculiar towns, governments, or sects; but \u201cin every nation, he that\nfeareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him.\u201d\n\nLastly, It is \u201cwithout hypocrisy;\u201d it appears to be what it really is; it\nis all of a piece.  By the doctrines of the Gospel we are so far from\nbeing allowed to publish to the world those virtues we have not, that we\nare commanded to hide even from ourselves those we really have, and not\nto let our right hand know what our left hand does, unlike several\nbranches of the heathen wisdom, which pretended to teach insensibility\nand indifference, magnanimity and contempt of life, while at the same\ntime, in other parts, it belied its own doctrines.\n\nI come now, in the last place, to show that the great examples of wisdom\nand virtue among the Grecian sages were produced by personal merit; and\nnot influenced by the doctrine of any particular sect, whereas in\nChristianity it is quite the contrary.\n\nThe two virtues most celebrated by ancient moralists were fortitude and\ntemperance, as relating to the government of man in his private capacity,\nto which their schemes were generally addressed and confined, and the two\ninstances wherein those virtues arrived at the greatest height were\nSocrates and Cato.  But neither these, nor any other virtues possessed by\nthese two, were at all owing to any lessons or doctrines of a sect.  For\nSocrates himself was of none at all; and although Cato was called a\nStoic, it was more from a resemblance of manners in his worst qualities,\nthan that he avowed himself one of their disciples.  The same may be\naffirmed of many other great men of antiquity.  Whence I infer that those\nwho were renowned for virtue among them were more obliged to the good\nnatural dispositions of their own minds than to the doctrines of any sect\nthey pretended to follow.\n\nOn the other side, as the examples of fortitude and patience among the\nprimitive Christians have been infinitely greater, and more numerous, so\nthey were altogether the product of their principles and doctrine, and\nwere such as the same persons, without those aids, would never have\narrived to.  Of this truth most of the Apostles, with many thousand\nmartyrs, are a cloud of witnesses beyond exception.  Having, therefore,\nspoken so largely upon the former heads, I shall dwell no longer upon\nthis.\n\nAnd if it should here be objected, Why does not Christianity still\nproduce the same effects? it is easy to answer, first, that, although the\nnumber of pretended Christians be great, yet that of true believers, in\nproportion to the other, was never so small; and it is a true lively\nfaith alone that, by the assistance of God\u2019s grace, can influence our\npractice.\n\nSecondly, We may answer that Christianity itself has very much suffered\nby being blended up with Gentile philosophy.  The Platonic system, first\ntaken into religion, was thought to have given matter for some early\nheresies in the Church.  When disputes began to arise, the Peripatetic\nforms were introduced by Scotus as best fitted for controversy.  And\nhowever this may now have become necessary, it was surely the author of a\nlitigious vein, which has since occasioned very pernicious consequences,\nstopped the progress of Christianity, and been a great promoter of vice;\nverifying that sentence given by St. James, and mentioned before, \u201cWhere\nenvying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.\u201d  This was\nthe fatal stop to the Grecians in their progress both of arts and arms;\ntheir wise men were divided under several sects, and their governments\nunder several commonwealths, all in opposition to each other, which\nengaged them in eternal quarrels among themselves, while they should have\nbeen armed against the common enemy.  And I wish we had no other\nexamples, from the like causes, less foreign or ancient than that.\nDiogenes said Socrates was a madman; the disciples of Zeno and Epicurus,\nnay, of Plato and Aristotle, were engaged in fierce disputes about the\nmost insignificant trifles.  And if this be the present language and\npractice among us Christians no wonder that Christianity does not still\nproduce the same effects which it did at first, when it was received and\nembraced in its utmost purity and perfection; for such wisdom as this\ncannot \u201cdescend from above,\u201d but must be \u201cearthly, sensual, devilish,\nfull of confusion and every evil work,\u201d whereas, \u201cthe wisdom from above\nis first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of\nmercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.\u201d  This\nis the true heavenly wisdom, which Christianity only can boast of, and\nwhich the greatest of the heathen wise men could never arrive at.\n\nNow to God the Father, &c.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES.\n\n\n{377}  A clearer style, or a discourse more properly adapted to a public\naudience, can scarce be framed.  Every paragraph is simple, nervous, and\nintelligible.  The threads of each argument are closely connected and\nlogically pursued.\u2014_Orrery_.","title":"Three Prayers and Sermons","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":11372}