Of the Duty of Man, by the Light of Nature, by the Light of Scripture: The three great branches of Man's Duty to God, Ourselves, our Neigh bour: Our Duty to God of Faith, the Promifes, of Hope, of Love, of Fear, of Trust. ぶ T HE Benefits purchased for us by Chrift, are fuch as will undoubtedly make the Soul happy for Eternal Happinefs itself is one of them But because these Benefits belong not to us till we perform the Condition required of us, whoever defires the Happiness of his Soul, muft fet himself to the performing of that: Condition. What that is, I have already mention'd in the general, That it is the hearty, honeft endeavour of obeying the whole will of God. But then that will of God containing under it many Particulars, it is neceffary we should alfo know what thofe are; that is, what are the feveral Things that God, now requires of us, our performance whereof will bring us to everlafting Happiness, and the neglect to endlefs Mifery. B 2. Of I Sunday 2. Of these things there are fome which I. God hath fo ftamped upon our Souls, that we Of the Light Naturally know them; that is, we fhould of Nature. have known them to be our Duty, though we had never been told fo by the Scripture. That this is fo, we may fee by thofe Heathens, who having never heard of either Old or New Teftament, do yet acknowledge themselves bound to fome general Duties as to worship God, to be Juft, to Honour their Parents, and the like and as St. Paul faith, Rom. 2. 15. Their Confciences do in thofe things accufe or excufe them; that is, tell them, whether they have done what they fhould in thofe particulars or no. 3. Now though Chrift hath brought greater Light into the world, yet he never meant by it to put out any of that natural Light, which God hath fet up in our Souls: Therefore let me here, by the way, advise you, not to walk contrary even to this leffer Light; I mean, not to venture on any of those Acts, which meer Natural Confcience will tell you are Sins. 4. It is juft matter of fadnefs to any Chriftian heart, to fee fome in thefe days, who profefs much of Religion, and yet live in fuch fins, as a meer Heathen would abhor; Men that pretending to higher degrees of Light and Holiness, than their Brethren do, yet practise contrary to all the Rules of common honefty, and make it part of their Chriftian Liberty I. Liberty fo to do; of whofe feducement it Sunday concerns all that love their Souls to beware: and for that purpose let this be laid as a foundation, That that Religion or Opinion cannot be of God, which allows Men in any Wickedness. 5. But though we must not put out this Light which God hath thus put into our Souls, yet this is not the only way whereby God hath revealed his Will; and therefore we are not to reft here, but proceed to the knowledge of those other things which God hath by other means revealed. 6. The way for us to come to know them, The light is by the Scriptures, wherein are fet down of Scripthofe feveral Commands of God, which he hath given to be the Rule of our Duty. 7. Of thofe, fome were given before Chrift came into the World; fuch are, thofe Precepts we find scatter'd throughout the Old Teftament, but especially contained in the Ten Commandments, and that excellent Book of Deuteronomy; others were given by Christ, who added much, both to the Law implanted in us by Nature, and that of the Old Teftament; and thofe you fhall find in the New Teftament, in the feveral Precepts given by him and his Apoftles, but efpecially in that Divine Sermon on the Mount, fet down in the 5th, 6th and 7th Chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel. 8. All these fhould be feverally fpoke to; but because that would make the Difcourfe tures. I. anday very long, and fo lefs fit for the meaner fort of Men, for whose use alone it is intended, I chufe to proceed in another manner; by fumming up all thefe together, and fo, as plainly as I can, to lay down what is now the duty of every Christian. The three Man's Duty. 9. This I find briefly contain'd in the great bran words of the Apoftle, Tit. 2. 12. That we ches of fhould live foberly, righteously, and godly in this prefent world; where the word Soberly, contains our duty to Ourselves; Righteously, our duty to our Neighbour; and Godly, our duty to God. These therefore fhall be the Heads of my difcourfe, our DUTY to GOD, OURSELVES, and our NEIGHBOUR. I begin with that to God, that being the beft Ground-work whereon to build both the other. Duty to Acknow ledging bim to be God. 10. There are many parts of our DUTY to GOD: The two chief are thefe; First, To acknowledge him to be God; Secondly, To have no other. Under these are contained those particulars, which make up our whole Duty to God; which fhall be fhewed in their order. 11. To acknowledge him to be God, as to believe him to be an infinite glorious Spirit, that was from everlafting, without beginning, and fhall be to everlafting, without end That he is our Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, one God, bleffed for ever; That he is subject to no al teration, I. teration, but is unchangeable: That he is no Sunday Bodily Subftance, fuch as our Eyes may behold, but Spiritual and Invifible, whom no Man hath feen, or can fee, as the Apostle tells us, 1 Tim. 6. 16. That he is infinitely Great and Excellent, beyond all that our Wit or Conceit can imagine: That he hath received his Being from none, and gives Being to all things. 12. All this we are to believe of him in regard of his Effence and Being: But befides this, he is fet forth to us in the Scripture by feveral Excellencies, as that he is of infinite Goodness and Mercy, Truth, Juftice, Wif dom, Power, All-fufficiency, Majefty; that he difpofes and governs all things by his Providence; that he knows all things, and is present in all places: these are by Divines called the Attributes of God, and all thefe we muft undoubtedly acknowledge; that is, we must firmly believe all these Divine Excellencies to be in God, and that in the greateft degree; and fo that they can never ceafe to be in him: he can never be other than infinitely Good, Merciful, True, &c. 13. But the acknowledging him for our God, fignifies yet more than this; it means, that we should perform to him all thofe feveral parts of Duty which belong from a Creature to his God. What thofe are I am how to tell you. |