Chapter XX: Part 20

1. That he has no right to demand of me a direct answer to his enquiry: And I will readily grant it in this sense, there are thousands who have no right to the truth; and therefore I may wave the question, I may give them an insufficient answer, or I may be silent, and boldly refuse to give them any answer at all. But 2, If his having no right to truth, be intended to signify, that the character of his person, or the nature of his question, is such as releases me from all obligation to truth in answering him, and that therefore I may lawfully tell him a falsehood; then I deny the propositions: For my obligation to speak truth doth not all depend on the nature of his question, nor doth it depend merely on the character of the enquirer, but on the eternal rule of equity, and the command of God. And I think this appears from hence, that though I were alone, it would not be warrantable in me to assert with my lips a known falsehood: and in this case the right or claim of man can have no place nor consideration.

Answer III. If this exception be made to the plain law of God, that we may speak a direct and express falsehood to any persons who in our esteem have no right to the truth in their enquiry; this seems to break all the bands of human society, violate all the faith of men, and render the divine commands of veracity, and the prohibitions of falsehood almost useless. The consciences of men would find a way of escape from the greatest part of the bonds of duty, and yet think they committed no sin.

For let us consider, who it is that must judge whether the person to whom we speak has a right to truth or no. Is it not the speaker himself who will be the judge? Now if the speaker must judge whether his neighbour has a right to truth, there is no case, wherein the speaker’s interest may be any ways endangered by the truth, but his own sinful heart will readily whisper to him, that the hearer has no right to truth in such a question: and conscience will easily be warped aside, and comply to pronounce a known falsehood, under the colour and pretence of this exception: As for instance; if the buyer asks the seller, how much he gave for any merchandize? The seller by this rule may tell him double the price that it cost; for he will say, the buyer has no right to truth in such a question as this is. So if I ask an artificer, how he fashions his work, or what tools he uses in it? He may by this rule give me a very false answer, under pretence that I have no right to truth.

I readily grant in these cases, that the enquirer has no right to demand and claim an answer to such questions; therefore the seller or the artificer may refuse to inform him. But it is surprising to think that any man should persuade himself, that such a question being once asked, gives him a right to tell a lie! That any person should ever believe, that the mere enquiry of a thing improper to be told, absolves the answerer from all the obligations of truth, which his duty to God and man have laid upon him! Surely such a rule of conduct as this, had need have better arguments to establish it. But those who maintain this principle, must rather recur to the character of the person who makes the enquiry: and here indeed they give a little better colour to their cause.

I come therefore now to give particular answers to the instances alledged; 1. Concerning children. 2. Concerning knaves and cheats.

Instance I. Will you say, that children have no right to truth, because they are not capable of civil society?

But I reply, they are capable of knowing what truth and falsehood are, and of being influenced by the one or the other; they are capable of being deceived, and of knowing when they are deceived, they are capable of judging when they are treated with truth and sincerity, and acting according to the things you tell them; or else to what purpose do you speak falsehood to them instead of truth, and try to impose a lie upon them?

They are capable of resenting your conduct, when they find out the falsehood; and of refusing to believe you another time; For the very reason why they believe your falsehood at first, is, because they suppose you speak truth to them, and would not deceive them: And it is only upon this very principle that you yourselves can attempt to impose upon them.

Again, They are capable of learning from you and imitating your conduct, and they will be so much more ready to practise lying, and to deceive you with it, when they have found you practising lies, in order to deceive them. Suppose a mother has now and then persuaded a child to take a wholesome bitter medicine, by saying, it is not bitter, or has allured it to bed or to school by some of the arts of falsehood, and this child should imitate the mother’s example, and grow up to a confirmed liar; what inward and piercing reflections must the mother feel? Alas! I have taught my child this sinful practice, I myself have led it into the ways of the devil: How can I chide and correct by my reproof that vice, which I have taught by my example!

It is sufficiently evident therefore, that though children are not capable of half the duties of the social life, yet they are so far capable of them, as to know what truth and falsehood are, and to resent, and to practise accordingly: And this is sufficient to the present argument, and fully answers the objection. I think therefore it is infinitely better to allure those, whose understandings are weak, and whose wills are obstinate, to the practice of duty, by all the gentle arts of softness and fondness, of persuasion and love, than by venturing to make an inroad upon our own sincerity, and to trifle with so sacred a thing as truth.

But the querist may say, Suppose these softer arts have been tried, and have no effect, and children may be in danger of destroying themselves, if they are not immediately prevented by some plain and express falsehood; is it then unlawful to preserve their lives by a lie? Answer. It is a command of God indeed to preserve life, but it must be done by lawful means. May a man rob on the high-way, to get money to feed and clothe him? Surely we ought to trust the kind care and providence of God with our own lives and others in the way of duty, and not do evil that good may come, as was said under the former question.

Thus much shall suffice for the case of children, on pretence of their being incapable of civil society. But the querist will insist still on the next instance:

Instance II. Cheats, and knaves, and thievish criminals, have no right to truth; for they have broken the bonds of civil society, though not by a public renunciation of them, and therefore we may use all manner of deceit toward them, and treat them with express falsehood and lying, wheresoever it may promote our own interest and safety.

To this I reply, that the rule of Christ is, _Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye also that unto them_; Mat. vii. 12. But this licentious doctrine cancels this divine rule, and substitutes another in the room of it, _viz._ _Whatsoever men do unto you, do ye also that unto them_; which is as widely different from the sacred rule of Christ, as light is from darkness, or heaven from hell. By this new rule we are no longer bound to practise that truth, that justice, that goodness to others, which we think reasonable they should practise towards us; but we have leave to practise that falsehood and knavery, that fraud, and injustice, and mischief to others, which they do actually practice towards us, or which we suspect they design to practise.

If one half of a city or a nation were fallen into knavish practices, through the great degeneracy of the age, or were become thievish pilferers, the other half would, by this rule, practise knavery with licence toward them, and deal out falsehoods to them by divine permission. And then the charge would quickly be just and universal, _There is no truth in the land_, as Hos. iv. 1.

There is indeed scarce any censure of a degenerate and corrupt age under the Old Testament, but fraud and deceit, lies and falsehood, make a considerable part of the accusation or complaint; and surely God would never allow any principles or practices that have so pernicious a tendency. Hear how the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah lament their multiplied transgressions in _conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood_: _Truth is fallen into the street, yea, truth faileth, and equity cannot enter_; Is. lix. _This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord. Truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. They deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth; they bend their tongues like their bow for lies_; Jer. vii. and ix. Now if this licentious principle were allowed, neither God nor his prophets would ever want matter of complaint.

By this means also it will come to pass, that if a man happen once to get the name and character of a thief or a cheat, all his neighbours will think themselves authorized to have no regard to truth or honesty in all their dealings and discourse with him; for this rule affirms that he has no right to truth. And when any person fancies that he has seen reason to suspect or disbelieve his neighbour’s honesty, he will think himself absolved from all obligations to speak truth to him. But what a wide and dreadful flood-gate would be opened by this means, to let in an inundation of fraud and falsehood, and to practise all manner of deceit!

Let it be remarked also, that this doctrine is near a-kin to the popish abomination, “That no faith is to be kept with heretics; for they are a sort of dangerous men, who would ruin the church, and therefore they have no right to truth.” Now what shameful and horrid perjuries, and what execrable mischiefs, have sprung from this one impious principle of the church of Rome? The word of God gives no manner of indulgence to such licentious principles as these. We must wrong no man, defraud no man; we must not render to any man evil for evil, nor falsehood for falsehood, but overcome his evil with our good: and we must _provide things honest in the sight of men_.

It will be said, perhaps, that the scripture most frequently mentions a neighbour, or a brother, or a fellow-christian, in the prohibitions of lying and falsehood, as in the ninth commandment, _Bear no false witness against thy neighbour_; 1 Thess. iv. 6. _No man defraud his brother._ Eph. iv. 25. _Speak every man truth to his neighbour._ Lev. xix. 11. _Lie not one to another._

But let it be replied, that the scripture demands righteousness for the strangers also; Deut. i. 16. and in several other places. And when God, by his prophet Malachi, forbids _treacherous dealing with a brother_, he gives this reason for it, _Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?_ Therefore all mankind are brethren in this sense. Our duty to speak and practise truth, arises from our obligations to the law of God; and since God has not released us by any such exceptions, the lying and deceitful carriage of men does not authorise us to practise deceit and lying. It is indeed a piece of an old latin verse, that is in the mouth of many, “_Fallere fallentum non est fraus_;” which may be Englished thus, To cheat a knave is no cheating: But I know no verse in scripture that gives us this liberty. And I think we may by the same rule steal from them that would steal from us, or plunder those who would plunder us.

I will readily grant, that when a contract or bargain is made, whereby both parties are obliged mutually to perform something to or for each other, whether this contract be expressed in verbal promises, or implied in the nature of things, and by the known customs of mankind, then if one of the parties fail of performance, the other is thereby released from his promise or engagement: and the reason is most evident, because the promise or engagement was made in a conditional manner; and if the condition on one side be not fulfilled, the agreement or bargain on the other side is void, and utterly ceases; so that a man is innocent in this case, though he does not perform his promise. Now this is so well known to all men by the light of nature, and the easiest reasoning, that there is no need to enlarge upon it.

According to this general and known rule, suppose a merchant order any quantity of goods from his correspondent by the first ship, and promise payment by such a day; if the sending of those goods be neglected, and carelessly delayed, the merchant is not bound to keep his first appointed time for payment. An hundred instances there are of the like nature, which a small degree of reason, and an honest conscience, will easily determine, without intrenching upon truth. Such is the case of all conditional promises and contracts. But if a man be never so great a knave, and I should make him a lawful and an absolute promise of any thing, surely I ought to perform it, and not satisfy my conscience in the practice of deceit and falsehood, under a pretence that he had no right to truth.

There are other cases which may occur in human affairs, and create difficulty in the minds of sincere christians, a solution of which may be found in books written on those subjects: But I think most of them may be easily answered by the general principles before laid down: And, to finish this subject, I add, that I know of no circumstances that can make a plain, and express, and known lie to become lawful: If life itself were in danger, yet the express prohibitions of falsehood and lying in the law of God, make it safer, in point of conscience, to venture the loss of any earthly comfort, and life also, rather than venture upon a plain and solemn lie.

And, in my opinion, that man, who, being assisted by divine grace, maintains the truth boldly, or refuses to speak a known falsehood to a murderer, or a bloody tyrant, and bravely resigns his life upon the spot, he dies a martyr to truth; his name shall be registered with honour among the saints of God on earth, and his soul shall have its place among the martyrs in the upper world.

HYMN FOR SERMON XXII.
_Faithfulness._

Hath God been faithful to his word,
And sent to men the promis’d grace,
Shall I not imitate the Lord,
And practise what my lips profess?

Hath Christ fulfill’d his kind design,
The dreadful work he undertook,
And died to make salvation mine,
And well perform’d whate’er he spoke?

Doth not his faithfulness afford
A noble theme to raise my song?
And shall I dare deny my Lord,
Or utter falsehood with my tongue?

My King, my Saviour, and my God!
Let grace my sinful soul renew,
Wash my offences with thy blood,
And make my heart sincere and true.

SERMON XXIII.
_Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Gravity, Decency, &c._
PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are honest, _or grave_, &c. think on
these things.
Οσα σεμνα, &c.

Since the translation of the bible into the English tongue is so excellent a performance in itself, and so necessary a service to the church: I feel a sensible regret, whensoever there is occasion to complain of it, or to correct it. In the main, I may venture to say boldly, it teaches us all the necessary doctrines and duties of christianity in a very ample and complete manner, and sets them in an evident light: And what the Spirit of God spoke in ancient times in Greek and Hebrew, is sufficiently manifested to us for our salvation in the English bible.

But in this part of the verse, which I am now to discourse of, the word which we render honest, is not so well translated as I could wish; for honesty is contained in the words true and just, which go before, and follow my text. But the Greek σεμνος, more properly signifies grave, decent, or venerable; and so you find it in the margin, which will oftentimes help you, when the word in the English text is not so expressive of the original sense. The same word σεμνος is rendered grave in several other places of scripture: It is three times so expressed in the third chapter of the first epistle to Timothy, ver. 8. _The deacons must be grave._ Ver. 11. _Their wives also must be grave._ Ver. 5. _A bishop must have his children in subjection with all gravity._

It is a word that is used in Greek authors to represent the character of an aged man, a philosopher, or a magistrate among the heathens. It carries in it the idea of an honourable gravity, and a venerable decency of behaviour; and this is what the apostle recommends to the practice of christians. It is as if he had said, “The character of every common christian should have something in it so honourable, as may command a sort of veneration and respect from all persons they converse with, as much as the character of a wise old man, a magistrate, or a philosopher, does in the heathen world.”

To improve this subject, I shall shew,

I. Wherein this gravity consists.—II. How the light of nature recommends it.—III. How the gospel enforces it.—IV. Lay down a direction or two, in order to obtain it.

_First_, This gravity and venerable decency which the apostle recommends in my text, may be supposed to consist in these three things.

1. A moderation and decency in our apparel.—2. A gravity and sobriety in our speech and conversation.—3. Honour, decency, and dignity in our whole deportment and behaviour.

I. A moderation and decency in our apparel, such as becomes the profession of persons whose chief ornament is religion and godliness. This the apostles, both St. Peter and St. Paul, each in their turn, insist upon, as a necessary qualification of women who profess christianity, and as an ornament to the doctrine of the gospel of Christ; 1 Pet. iii. 2, 3. Let your conversation be with fear; _whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and wearing of gold_; 1 Tim. ii. 9, 10. The apostle Paul bids Timothy the young evangelist teach the same doctrine and practice. _In like manner_, I will _also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety; as becometh women professing godliness_.—Not that all christians must utterly abandon those richer and costly methods of ornament, gold or pearls, which the apostle there makes mention of; for every one of us should wear such raiment as suits our character and our age, our company and business in the world: But let not these be our chief ornaments, still remembering that we are christians, and let our apparel, as well as our conversation, shew that we despise trifles and thus maintain the dignity of our high and holy calling.

Here, saith a[28] learned commentator, “it is worthy to be noted by the women that this precept ought not to be slighted by them, as of little moment, seeing it is so carefully inculcated by the two chief apostles of the Jew and Gentile, St. Peter and St. Paul; and the contrary is represented as a practice opposite to godliness.”

Nor while you are dressing, should you forget that you are sinners, and therefore should put on shamefacedness; for all our ornaments and clothing are but a memorial of our first sin and shame. And when we take a pride in our garments, it looks as if we had forgotten the original of them, the loss of our innocency. Nor is this sort of advice to be confined to the female world: For, as the same author expresses it, “If it be so unbecoming a christian woman to be thus concerned in adorning and tricking up her body, it must be much more unbecoming a christian man, and that which makes him truly to deserve the name of a fop.” It is a token of a light and vain mind to be too fond of gaudy habits, a mind not much affected with sin or with salvation. Surely christians are born for greater things, and their aim should point at higher excellencies than these are. Let their chief ornaments be the graces of the Spirit, and the virtues of the heart and life. A well adorned body, and a neglected mind, very ill becomes a professor of the gospel.

Christians should look like strangers and pilgrims here, and not think themselves undressed, unless they are conformed to all the niceties and fashions of the world. Sometimes, it may be, we are too much afraid we shall not look like the children of this world; whereas the apostle advises us rather to look like strangers. We are travelling homeward through a foreign country, having the ornaments of holiness on us, which is the raiment of heaven. I confess we are not required to affect singularity, nor to seek a foolish and useless distinction from the customs of our country, where they are proper, innocent, and becoming; for the kingdom of God does not consist in any affected peculiarities of dress or behaviour; but let us remember too, that it is below the glory of our character, and the dignity of our calling, to have our thoughts uneasy, if every pin and point that belongs to our apparel be not placed in the most fashionable manner; to fret and rage, if every fold of our garment be not adjusted in perfect conformity to the mode.

Then we may be said to fall short of that venerable decency in our apparel which christianity should teach us, when we are among the first in any new devised and gaudy fashions; when we are some of the foremost in the gaieties of the age: When we run to the extremes of every new mode, and affect to vie with the vainest of our sex: When the business of dressing is made one of the most frequent, important, and solemn enquiries and concerns of life; and when it employs some of our most serious thoughts, and our warmest passions: When we indulge a greater expence in finery than our circumstances will allow, or our stations require: When we waste more time in adorning ourselves, than the duties we owe to God or man, will reasonably permit; and especially if we intrench upon the hours which should be devoted to sacred purposes. I should add also, that then we certainly break in upon christian sobriety, when we indulge such sort of clothing as in its own nature becomes a temptation to immodesty, and brings fuel to the impure fire of the eyes, or of the heart.

I would not be thought to treat too largely upon this subject or handle it too severely; but let us remember, that our biggest danger in this age is excess, and luxury, and vanity of mind: We are pretty secure now-a-days from too great a carelessness in this respect.

II. Gravity and sobriety in our speech is another part of that honourable conduct and character which we ought to maintain, and to which the holy apostle invites us. In the second chapter of Titus, ver. 6, 7, 8. you have this direction of the apostle to Titus the evangelist, how he ought to behave himself, and what he speaks to him chiefly as a minister, may be given as a rule to all christians whom he must instruct in all things, _shewing thyself a pattern of good works_; _in doctrine_, or in discourse, _shewing incorruptness, gravity, and sincerity; sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil to say of you_. He gives the christians at Ephesus the same advice; Eph. iv. 29. _Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers._ Talk of something that may improve one another in knowledge, in virtue, in religion: And let each of us be ashamed to think that we have been an hour or two in each other’s company, and have neither spoke nor heard any thing that is worth remembrance. How often, after a visit among friends, must we take up this just and shameful complaint, “Alas, I have said nothing for their improvement, nor heard any thing for my own!”

In Eph. v. 4, the apostle there secludes some sort of conversation from the lips of christians, _Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient_, which are ουκ ανηκοντα, not agreeable to our profession. Foolish talking and jesting are here forbidden, as well as filthiness. By foolish talking, we may suppose such sort of language to be intended, from which it is impossible any profit or advantage, should arise to a wise or a good man. And by jesting the apostle here designs such sharp and biting jests that wound the reputation of a person concerning whom they are spoken. Such a turn of wit, as the original word signifies, that at the same time wounds a good name, and gives a bitter reproach: Not that every thing pleasantly spoken is supposed to be unlawful; or that the apostle any where forbids all manner of mirth and jesting in conversation; for there are proper times and seasons for such sort of discourse: And there may be valuable ends in it too, when it is innocently used, on purpose to recreate nature, and refresh the mind. And how far this may be indulged, I shall have occasion to speak toward the end of this sermon.

III. Another thing that is included in this word gravity, is honour and decency in our whole deportment and behaviour. Each of us should be careful to maintain our public character as a christian, with a due sense of the dignity of it. Christians should be ashamed to debase the powers of their nature, to practise any thing that is sordid and unworthy; nor make the members of their flesh, nor the faculties of their mind, slaves to that which is ridiculous or foolish.

How unbecoming is it to see a christian spoil his countenance, and disfigure a human face, by practising all the wild and wanton grimaces of folly and madness! To see man, who is made after the image of the Son of God, distort his body in the most antic postures, and give up all the honours of his nature to base and senseless merriment! Surely the duties of christianity lead us to nothing below the dignity of man. Here I would not be mistaken, nor do I pretend that the gospel requires such a constant solemnity of countenance and language, as though we were all preachers, or always preaching. There is no need to put on serious airs at all times: We are not bound to banish mirth when we become christians. Laughter is a natural action, and the faculty was not given to mankind in vain, nor is the exercise of it forbidden for ever.

The chief ends of it seem to be these two; either to recreate animal nature by expressions of mirth, or to put folly out of countenance.

There may be times to recreate nature, to unbend the spirits from business, and to indulge mirth among our friends. The wise man assures us, there is a time to laugh, as well as to mourn. There are times proper for weeping, and some persons may have times for dancing too; Ec. iii. 4. And in the 19th verse of the xth chapter the same divine writer says, _a feast is made for laughter_. At the mutual entertainment of friends we may be merry, and not sin. Our holy religion only demands this of us, that we confine our mirth within the limits of virtue, and take heed lest when we give a loose to the sprightly powers of animal nature we should transgress the rules of piety, or trespass upon things sacred.

Another purpose for which laughter was made, is to reprove and punish folly, and put vice out of countenance. There are seasons wherein a wise man or a christian may treat some criminal or silly characters with ridicule and mockery. Elijah the prophet condescended thus to correct the priests and worshippers of Baal; but this sort of conversation must by no means be the business of our lives, and the daily work and labour of our thoughts and our tongues. It is _the heart of a fool that is in the house of mirth_, for he would dwell there continually; Ec. vii. 4. If we are always affecting to throw out some turns of wit upon every occurrence of life, and tack on a jest to every thing that is spoken, if we interline all our discourse and conversation with merriment, banter and joking, it is very unworthy of that gravity and honour that belongs to the christian life.

The second head of discourse which I proposed, is to prove that the light of nature, or the law of reason, requires something of this gravity of speech and behaviour; and this is manifest, if we consider the nature of man in opposition to the brute that perishes, or the growth and age of man in distinction from children and babes.

1. If we consider man in opposition to the brutal world: Man, who has a rational soul, should act conformable to that sublime principle within him, and not devote himself to a life of fantastic humour, or content himself with the character of an everlasting trifler. What a poor and contemptible account is it of any person to say, he is a walking jest, a mere living trifle? His thoughts are made up of vanity and emptiness, his voice is laughter, and his whole life is composed of impertinences.

There is a sort of persons in the world who never think well of themselves but when they are dressed in gay attire, and hope to command the respect of mankind by spreading abroad their own fine feathers. Their raiment is the brightest and best thing that belongs to them, and therefore they affect to shew it. There is another sort of men who value themselves upon their merry humour, and that they can make their company laugh when they please. But the more refined and rational part of the world value all these creatures as they do peacocks, or other animals that imitate the voice and actions of man. They use them as an entertainment for their eyes or ears, to give a fit of diversion, or to pass away a merry hour. We generally look upon this kind of people as very worthless things, as something beneath ourselves and as sinking below their own species. We seldom converse with them upon the level, or to attain any of the nobler purposes of life. We only borrow their wit, or their folly, their humour, or their finery, for a season of amusement, and justly despise them when the laughing hour is at an end. Reason itself tells us, that human nature was made for something greater and better, for contemplation and action much superior to what these trifling creatures are acquainted with. Again,

2. If we consider man as he stands in distinction from childhood, surely a more grave and solemn carriage becomes him.—Children are pleased with painted toys; gaudy garments and sounding trifles are their chief delight. They are entertained with little impertinences, agreeable to their ignorance and the weakness of their age: But it is a shame to a person of well-grown years to practise the child for ever. He that devotes himself to a life of useless idleness, and treads round the circle of perpetual mirth and amusement, without profit to himself or the world, is but a child in longer garments, or an infant of larger size.

The third general head leads us to consider, what forcible arguments christianity furnishes us with to practise this sobriety, gravity and decency of behaviour: And I shall throw them all into a few expostulations.

1. Do we not bear the name of Christ, a sacred and venerable name? And shall we cast disgrace upon it by any thing that is mean and dishonourable? Do we not profess to be the followers of a crucified Jesus, to be disciples of the cross? But wherein do we follow him, if we spend our days in mirth and trifling? His conduct was all holy and heavenly, and we can never look like his disciples, if our conversation savour of earth and vanity. What a noble simplicity runs through all his speeches, through all the actions and the behaviour of our blessed Lord! And how little do we imitate him, if we fondly pursue the gay follies of life in our dress, in our speech, and in every thing we do! No glarings of affected wit, nor insipid pertness, can add any thing to our character as christians.

2. Let us remember that we are the sons and daughters of the Most High God. We profess to separate ourselves from the triflings and impertinences of this world, as well as from the impiety and guilt of it. “Come out from among them, saith the Lord, and I will be your Father, and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, saith God almighty.” Surely the children of a prince should behave with solemnity and honour, when they are in the midst of the lower orders of mankind; and the children of the King of heaven should remember the dignity of their birth, and their high relation, when they are conversant among the sons of earth. Their carriage indeed should not be proud and haughty to the men of this world; Jesus, the only begotten Son, was meek and lowly: And there is a sacred art of maintaining a divine humility, among the meanest of our fellow-creatures, without indulging the practice of any thing mean and ridiculous. Our blessed Lord was a companion of fishermen, but not of mimics and public jesters.

3. Let us think again, that we are bought with a high and valuable price; _we are redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot_; 1 Pet. i. 17, 18. And what is it that we are redeemed from? It is from this evil world, and from a vain conversation. The Son of God hath _loved us, and washed us in his own blood_, and shall we defile these souls of ours with the meannesses of this life which Christ hath cleansed in so rich a laver? He hath _made us kings and priests unto God and his Father_. Let us now and then ask ourselves and enquire, is our language and behaviour becoming such illustrious names, such titles, such honours, as are put upon us by the Father and the Son?

4. Again, let us review our profession; What is our calling? What is our design? What is our hope? Are we not born from above? Are we not pilgrims and strangers here? Do not we profess to seek a better country, that is, a heavenly? Do we not live for heaven and immortality? How unbecoming is it then for christians to be perpetually light, and vain, and frothy? How unbecoming our holy and heavenly calling, and our everlasting hopes? If we are children of the light and of the day, let us not live as though we belonged to the night and darkness: Let us not sleep, nor trifle as others do, but watch and be sober. And especially if our natural temper be sanguine and sprightly, and incline to assume vain airs, there is more need of constant watchfulness over the heart and life, and a bridle upon the tongue, lest we should speak indecencies, and be guilty of folly and madness.

[Here this sermon may be divided.]

The last thing I designed, was to propose some directions in order to cure the levity of the mind, and to maintain such a decent gravity in the course of our life as becomes the gospel.

Direction I. Let us meditate often on the most sublime and the most awful parts of christianity; and through the assistance of the Spirit of God, these will be effectual guards against this vanity of temper.

The sublime truths of christianity demand our frequent review. Let us often rise high in our thoughts, and let our faith look far backwards to the eternal ages before this world was. Let us contemplate the love of God the Father, in contriving our salvation, before he stretched abroad these heavens, or laid the foundations of this earth. Let us think of the condescension of his mercy, when he chose fallen perishing sinners to be the objects of his everlasting love. Let us dwell upon his compassion to man, when he appointed his own Son to take flesh upon him, and to become our Mediator and sacrifice. Let us survey with holy wonder the various glories of the Son of God, by whom and for whom all things were made, who upholds all things by the word of his power, and who is the express image of his Father. Let us behold him consenting to hide all these honours behind a veil of flesh and blood, walking the streets of Jerusalem, and travelling on foot through the villages of Israel, attended with a few poor despicable men, or surrounded with the reproaches of the blaspheming Jews. Let us look upon this illustrious person, who was adored by angels, yet unknown and unglorified among the sons of men, and humbled even to death and the grave; then gaze on him rising again from the dead, and declared to be the Son of God with power, exalted at the right-hand of the Majesty on high, and ruling all the millions of inhabitants of the visible and invisible worlds. Surely if our souls were inured to the meditation of such sublime wonders as these, we should not easily immerse ourselves in trifles and fooleries.

Again, let us meditate on the more awful doctrines, the more solemn and dreadful truths of our religion, and these will be an effectual restraint to a vain temper of mind. Let us think on the justice of God manifested in the destruction of sinners in all ages, when it appeared in a prodigious flood of water, and with a deluge of rain testified against the wickedness of the old world; and when it came down in flaming fire upon Sodom, and upon the cities of the plain. Let us meditate on the wrath of God, that has been revealed in numerous instances against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Let us contemplate that divine and severe justice, that appeared in the sufferings and death of God’s own Son, when it pleased the Father to bruise him, and to make his soul an offering for sin. Let us think of his agonies in the garden, and on the cross, when he bore the weight of our iniquities, and stood in the place of sinners. Let us send our thoughts down to the regions of death and hell, and behold the fallen angels bound in chains of darkness, and groaning under present torments, yet waiting for the day of greater vengeance. Let us think with ourselves what millions of our fellow-sinners, the sons and daughters of Adam, lie there banished from the presence of the Lord, and tormented with fire in their consciences without remedy, and without hope, and say, why are not we there too?

Let us often look forward to the awful moment of our death, and the time of our departure from all the flattering scenes of this present world. This will put a damp upon the vainest mind, and hang with a painful weight upon the sons of mirth and levity. This will be a means to restrain us from that foolish and trifling behaviour, which otherwise our tempers might incline us to. And let us remember the solemn hour when we must stand before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ, divested of all these gaudy shews of life, in which we are now ready to pride ourselves, and there we must receive a sentence without repeal, which shall send us to heaven or to hell at once, and fix our everlasting state. These are terrors or glories too solemn to be trifled with; these are thoughts that will hold our souls awake and serious, this will preserve that gravity of mind which becomes a christian, and keep us in a prepared temper to fulfil present duty, and to wait the final event of all things.

II. If we would maintain that venerable decency in our frame of spirit, and in our deportment, which becomes the gospel, let us set ourselves about some useful employment for the service of God, or our fellow-creatures, or for our own best improvement. If Satan find the mind empty of thought, and the hands void of all business, he will be ready to fill them with temptations to iniquity and mischief: And the triflers of this world will be ready to seize upon such a person as a fit partner for their impertinences, and allure him into follies beneath the dignity of human nature, and the character of a christian.

I have often pitied some of the dependents of honourable and wealthy families of both sexes, the unhappiness of whose education has given them nothing to do, nor taught them to employ their hands or their minds: Therefore they spend their hours in sauntering, not knowing whither to go, and are at a loss what to do with themselves to wear their life away. Upon this account they give themselves up sometimes to the mean and scandalous pleasures of the lowest of the people, and spend their hours in chattering and vulgar merriment. They make the business of their dress the study and labour of half the day, and spend another part of it in trifling discourse and laughter, and in scattering jests and scandal upon their neighbours or acquaintance. All these pieces of folly and immorality would be rectified, if they would but find out for themselves some daily and proper business to be employed in. King Solomon at his leisure hours studied natural and moral philosophy, he discoursed of the nature of vegetables, from the cedar to the hyssop, and of beasts, birds, and fishes besides his proverbs and rules of prudence for the government of human life; 1 Kings iv. 32, 33. St. Paul, when he was not employed in his sacred work, yet he would not be idle; and having no need to study for his sermons which he had by inspiration, therefore he wrought with his hands at tent-making, and maintained himself by it: “_Not_, says he, _because we have not power to eat your bread while we teach you the gospel: but to make ourselves an example to you_.” See Acts xviii. 3. and 2 Thess. iii. 8, 9. And good Dorcas, when she had no business of her own, _made coats and garments for the poor_; Acts ix. 36, 39. Such honourable examples as these deserve our imitation.

III. Let us keep a strict watch over ourselves when we indulge mirth, and set a double guard upon the seasons of recreation and divertisement.

The rules of religion do not so restrain us from the common entertainments of life, as to render us melancholy creatures, and unfit for company. There is no need to become mere mopes or hermits, in order to be christians. The gospel does not deprive us of such joys as belong to our natures, but it refines and heightens our delights. It draws our souls farther away from mean and brutal pleasures, and raises them to manly satisfactions, to entertainments worthy of a rational nature, worthy of a creature that is made in the image of God. The innocent entertainments of life are not utterly forbidden to christians, but are regulated by the gospel.

When we have considered and found them to be lawful, then they are to be regulated these two ways.—1. All our recreations and divertisements must have some valuable end proposed. 2. We must distinguish the proper time and season of them, and confine our diversions to that season.

1. They must always have some valuable end proposed. The chief and most useful design of them is to make us more chearful and fitter for some hours or days of service afterwards. Recreation must not be our trade or business, but merely used as a means to prepare us for the valuable businesses of life.

The scripture indeed tells us, that “_of every idle word that men shall speak, there shall be an account given in the day of judgment_;” Mat. xii. 36. And much more of idle hours and actions. But this doth not utterly exclude all manner of recreations, or all words of pleasantry, which may be innocently and properly used upon some occasions; but whatsoever words, whatsoever conversation, whatsoever sort of pleasurable entertainments, we indulge ourselves in, which have no valuable end, no useful design in them: These will bear but an ill aspect before the judgment-seat of Christ. We shall not be able to give a tolerable account of such idle words or hours at that day; and it is the judge himself who tells us so, and adds his _Amen_ to it.

It is proper more especially for persons that are of a melancholy temper, or that have perhaps been overwhelmed with bodily diseases, or overloaded with some sorrows, or cares, or businesses of life, to give themselves a little loose or diversion now and then in delightful conversation, or other recreations and exercises. These may be as useful as a glass of wine to refresh nature, to make the heart glad, and the spirits lightsome; for they tend to fit this animal body of ours for better service to the soul in future duties that God calls us to: And so long as we confine our recreations to this design, and keep this end in view, our words of pleasantry in private conversation, and even our recreations, and diversions that are more public, may be agreeable to the mind and will of God; for it is his will, that our whole nature, flesh and spirit, should be kept in the fittest frame for duty. And some natures are so constituted, that they will hardly be kept in a temper fit for duty, without some divertisements and recreations. Where this therefore is the end, these practices cannot be called idle, that is, impertinent, and to no purpose. But where no reasonable design is proposed, sports and merriments are hardly to be defended, for all rational creatures ought to act with a view to some valuable end.

2. Another regulation which ought to be given to all our diversions, is this; we should narrowly watch, lest the time of our recreations intrude upon the hours and seasons of business or of religion. There is a time to laugh, the wise man tells us, as well as a time to labour or to pray; but laughter must be confined to its proper place and proper time, and not intrench upon the season where affairs of bigger importance, and matters of grave and serious consequence should be transacted.

Conscience has something to do in matters of recreation as well as in our religious or civil affairs: And as it can never be lawful to rob God or our families of any of the time that should be devoted to their service, on purpose to lay it out in diversion, so neither is it by any means proper to let the seasons of diversion come too near the seasons of worship. When a loose is given to all the natural powers in mirth and pleasure, they are not so easily recollected all at once for the sacred service of religion. Nor should we run hastily away from the duties of worship, and plunge ourselves into the midst even of innocent merriment; for this would look as though we were weary of devotion, and longed to be at play. A wise christian will divide his times aright, and make all the parts of his conduct to succeed one another in a decent order.

Besides, the hours of recreation should not be multiplied by those persons who have least need of them; such are persons of a chearful and healthy constitution: And they will be used more sparingly by christians of maturer age, and longer standing in religion. As a child grows up toward man, he leaves off the impertinences of infancy, and the sports and trifles of childhood; and as a man grows up more and more toward a perfect christian, his methods of pleasure will be changed from light and gay, to that which is grave and solid.

To conclude this subject, I would mention only one powerful motive to preserve christian gravity, and that is, that hereby the temper of your spirit will be better prepared for every religious duty, whether it be prayer or praise, and better fitted to meet every providence, whether it be prosperous or afflictive: Whereas those who perpetually indulge a merry temper of mind, when a prosperous providence attends them, they are tempted to excessive vanity and carnal joy; their hearts are not filled with thankfulness to that God from whom their mercies come, being too thoughtless and regardless of the original donor. On the other hand, when affliction smites them, they are in danger of despising the stroke of the rod, nor does the correction of their heavenly Father make so deep and useful an impression upon their spirit as it ought to do.

When in the course of our lives we maintain such a grave and composed frame as becomes a christian, we find our hearts more ready for all the duties of worship. We are prepared to receive evil tidings as well as good, and to attend on the will of God in all his outgoings of providence. We are ready to receive messages of sorrow, or the summons of death, for we are still conversing with God: We keep the invisible world in the eye of our faith: And our spirits are ready prepared to depart from the flesh, and to meet our God and our Saviour in the unknown regions of light and immortality.

HYMN FOR SERMON XXIII.
_Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Gravity, Decency, &c._

Are we not sons and heirs of God?
Are we not bought with Jesus’ blood?
Do we not hope for heavenly joys,
And shall we stoop to trifling toys?

Can laughter feed th’ immortal mind?
Were spirits of celestial kind
Made for a jest, for sport and play,
To wear our time, and waste the day?

Doth vain discourse or empty mirth
Well suit the honours of our birth?
Shall we be fond of gay attire,
Which children love, and fools admire?

What if we wear the richest vest,
Peacocks and flies are better drest:
This flesh, with all its gaudy forms,
Must drop to dust and feed the worms.

Lord, raise our hearts and passions higher,
Touch our vain souls with sacred fire;
Then with an elevated eye
We’ll pass these glittering trifles by.

We’ll look on all the toys below
With such disdain as angels do,
And wait the call that bids us rise
To promis’d mansions in the skies.

Footnote 28:

Dr. Whitby.

SERMON XXIV.
_Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Justice, &c._
PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
_or grave_, whatsoever things are just——think on these things.
Οσα εστιν δικαια——