506 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SeR. VII.
their course, as that light things should move upwards, and heavy bodies downward ; but there are other things that happen for the most part, though not always, as for men to use the right hand and not the left ; so there are some things which have such an eminent holiness and righteousness in them, that by the universal consent of mankind they are approved ; as that God should be loved above all, that children should honour their parents, that I should do as I would be done by ; for these things are agreeable with the divine nature, and also with the reasonable nature, so far as it is a copy of it ; other things may be variable, which are not clearly reconcilable with our notions of God. Fourthly, By the sentiments which men have of a holy, sober, godly life when they come to die, and the disallowance of a dissolute carnal life : Job xxvii. 8, ' What hope hath the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God shall take away his soul ? ' Jer. xvii. 11, ' At his latter end he shall be a fool.' Then men's mistakes do usually appear, and their carnal confidences vanish : ' Whereas the just man's end is peace,' Isa. xxxviii. 3, and Ps. xxxvii. 37. When men are entering upon the confines of eternity, they are wiser ; the fumes of hist are then blown over. Now I look upon these as testimonies to God's law. The apostle saith, 1 Cor. xv. 56, ' The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.' It is not from the fancy or melancholy of the dying person, nor from his distemper, but from his reason and the law of God. If it did only proceed from the distemper, or the sharp vapours of a disease, it were another matter. This anguish of spirit which death occasioneth by reason of sin is from a higher cause, the dread of God's justice, who will proceed according to his law, which the guilty person hath so often and so much violated and broken ; they are not the ravings of a fever, nor the fruits of natural timorousness and credulity. No ; it is a more serious business than so. This trouble is justified by the law of God and the highest reason. Fifthly, By reason ; thus : That among beings some are better, others are worse, is out of all doubt ; that the best beings should be most prized and esteemed is as clear as the former ; therefore if I prize a mean thing equally with the best, or above the best, I unquestionably err against the law of nature. There are two objects propounded to our esteem — God and man, Mat. xxii. 37-40. There is an infinite distance between the things themselves, so should there be in our respect to them. We owe more duty, honour, and service to God than to men. What more rational than to love God above all. and our neighbour as ourselves ? Among men, some are superiors, some inferiors, some equals. As to common nature, all are equal, therefore an equal respect is due to them ; we must do to them as we would be done by ; for as there is a differ- ence of persons, as parents, husbands, masters, so there are different laws. God hath considered not only what may conduce most to his own glory, but what is fit for men : ' These things are good and profit- able unto men,' Titus ii. 8. All are content others should be just and merciful, whatever they be themselves : it is for the good of human society, for all the uses and turns of mankind, without which the world would be but a den of thieves, or public stage whereon to act all manner of villany. Sixthly, By supposing the contrary. Do but for argu- ment's sake suppose the contrary of all that God hath said concerning the embracing of virtue and the shunning of vice. If God should free
VeR. 4.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 507
us from these laws, and leave us to our own choice, that whatever our naughty hearts desire we should follow after it without any let and restraint on our part, you would see the world were not to he lived in ; yea, not only free us from it, but command the contrary. Suppose he had forbidden us all respect to himself, commanded us to worship false gods, to transform or misrepresent his glory by images, to fall down before stocks and stones, that we should blaspheme his name continually, and despise all those glorious attributes which clearly shine forth in the creation, if he had commanded us to be impious to our parents, to fill the world with murders, adulteries, robberies, and thefts, to pursue others with slanders and false-witnessings, and that all this would be acceptable to him. Doth not the heart of man abhor such a conceit? Yea, the fiercest beasts would abhor it, if they were capable of having such an idea and speculation represented unto them. Now should we break such a law as this, so reasonable and evident, so conducible to the honouring of God, and the governing of ourselves, and commerce with others ? Surely the ways of God are equal.