This is not the Spirit of CHRIST, my dear brethren; I had not come to have thus preached; I had not come into the highways and hedges; I had not exposed myself to the ill treatment of these letter-learned men, but for the sake of your souls: indeed, I had no other reason, but your salvation; and for that (I speak the truth in CHRIST, I lie not) I would be content to go to prison; yea, I would rejoice to die for you, so I could but be a means to bring some of you to JESUS: I could not bear to see so many in the highway to destruction, and not shew them their danger: I could not bear, my brethren, to see you more willing to learn, than the teachers are to instruct you: and if any of them were to come and preach to you, I should not envy them, I should not call them enthusiasts or madmen; I should rejoice to hear they had ten thousand times more success than I have met with; I would give them the right-hand of fellowship; I would advise them to go on; I would wish them good luck in the name of the LORD, and say as CHRIST did, when the disciples informed him of some casting out devils in his name, and were for rebuking of them, “Forbid them not, for they that are not against us are for us;” or as St. _Paul_ says, “Some preach CHRIST of envy, and some of good-will; notwithstanding, so CHRIST is but preached, I rejoice; yea, and will rejoice.” The gospel of JESUS, is a gospel of peace. Thus you may see, that to be righteous over-much, is to be uncharitable, censorious, and to persecute persons for differing from us in religion.
_Secondly_, Persons are righteous over-much, when they spend so much time in religious assemblies, as to neglect their families. There is no licence given by the blessed JESUS, for idleness; for in the very infancy of the world, idleness was not allowed of. In paradise, _Adam_ and _Eve_ dressed the garden, _Cain_ was a tiller of the ground, and _Abel_ was a keeper of sheep; and there is a proverb amongst the _Jews_, “That he who brings his son up without a business, brings him up to be a thief:” and therefore our Saviour was a carpenter; “Is not this the carpenter’s son,” said the _Jews_: and St. _Paul_, though brought up at the feet of _Gamaliel_, was a tent-maker. Labour, my brethren, is imposed on all mankind as part of the divine curse; and you are called to be useful in the society to which you belong: take care first for the kingdom of GOD, and all things necessary shall be added. To labour for the meat that perisheth, is your duty; only take care, that you do not neglect getting the meat for the soul: that is of the greatest consequence, for this plain reason, the things of this life are temporal, but those of the next are eternal. I would have rich men to work as well as poor: it is owing to their idleness, that the devil hurries them to his diversions; they can be in their beds all the morning, and spend the afternoon and evening in dressing, visiting, and at balls, plays, or assemblies, when they should be working out their salvation with fear and trembling. Such a life as this, occasions a spiritual numbness in the soul; and if JESUS CHRIST was not to stop those who thus spend their time, they would be hurried into eternity, without once thinking of their immortal souls. But JESUS CHRIST has compassion upon many of them, and while they are in their blood, he bids them “live.” And though I preach this doctrine to you, yet I do not bid you be idle; no, they that do not work should not eat. You have two callings, a general one, and a special one: as we are to regard the one in respect of our bodies, so we are to regard the other on account of our souls. Take heed, my brethren, I beseech you, take heed, lest you labour so for the meat that perisheth, as to forget that meat which endureth for ever. Seek the things of GOD first; look well to obtain oil in your lamps, grace in your hearts. I am not persuading you to take no care about the things of the world, but only not to be encumbered with them, so as to neglect your duty towards GOD, and a proper concern for your souls. It is meet, it is right, it is your bounden duty, to mind the callings wherein GOD hath placed you; and you may be said to be righteous over-much not to regard them. This brings me,
_Thirdly_, To give you another sign of being righteous over-much; and that is, when we fast and use corporal austerities, so as to unfit us for the service of GOD.
This, my brethren, you may think there is no occasion at all to caution you against, and indeed there is not a great necessity for it; however, many persons, upon their first being awakened to a sense of their sin, are tempted to use austerities to that excess which is sinful. It is our duty to fast, it is our duty to fast often, and it is what we are directed to by JESUS CHRIST himself; but then we are to take care to do it in a proper manner: to bring our bodies under for the service of GOD, is that which we are commanded by our LORD JESUS CHRIST.