SERMON IX. Obligations to Godliness and Virtue, from the Confideration of the Nature of the Chriftian Calling, in general and in particular. Preach'd before Queen Anne, 1709-10. EPHES. iv. 1. I therefore the Prifoner of the Lord, befeech T HAT is to say, You are, by the great Mercy of God, called to be Chriftians. I beseech you, take Care that your Converfation be fuch as becomes that Calling. God hath brought you out of the Darkness of Heathenifm into the Light of the Gofpel: It is fit therefore you fhould walk as Children of the Light. You have VOL. VI. P taken 209 taken upon yourselves the Profeffion of a holy and pure Religion, which makes over to its Followers ineftimable Privileges and Benefits. This is your Calling, your Vocation. Oh! let your Lives bear fome Suitableness thereto. Let the Frame of your Minds, and the Tenor of your Actions, hold fome Proportion with the Dignity and mighty Advantages of this high Calling in Chrift Jefus. This is that which the Apoftle begs of the Ephefians here, and of all other Chriftians. And no Man living can fay that he asks any thing but what is infinitely reasonable. It is the fundamental Law of univerfal Nature, that every thing should act according to its Kind; and it is the fundamental Law of the reafonable Nature in particular, that we should obferve the Refpects and Relations that Things have to Things, and the Congruities and Incongruities that arife from hence, and direct all our Actions accordingly. And whofoever in any Cafe acts contradictorily to the Perfon he fuftains, or unfuitably to the Profeffion he makes, doth act abfurdly and ridiculously; for he deftroys the Propriety, and confounds the Relations of Things. In fhort, for a Man to be a Christian in Vocation, to own Chrift for his Lord, and the Gofpel for his Rule; and yet to live like a Heathen, or an Atheist, or a Worldling, or an Epicure, is fuch a Piece of Unrea Unreasonableness, as no Apology can be made for. But what is it that the Apoftle would have us do? What fort of Conversation is it that he requires of us, when he bids us to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith we are called? I answer, You yourselves, and every Man in the World, that underftands what it is to be a Chriftian, is a competent Judge of that. Do but inquire of yourselves what the Nature of your Vocation is, what you profefs in it, and what Benefits you expect from it, and you will need no Inftructor, as to the fort of Life and Conversation that is worthy of it; nor indeed will you need any further Motives or Arguments to oblige you to put it in Practice. To affift you therefore in making these Inquiries fhall be my Work at this Time. And here my Method shall be, First, To confider our Vocation in general, and to fhew what the Obligations of that are. 2dly, To take notice of fome Particulars in our Vocation, which will ftill add a further Force to the general Confideration. I. I begin with our Vocation in general. And there the Query that I would propofe to you to put to yourselves, is this: What fort of Life doth fo clear, fo full, fo excellent a Discovery of God's Will for the Salvation of Mankind, as we have by Jefus Christ, P 2 Chrift, in Comparison of what the World had before; what fort of Life, I fay, doth it require of all thofe who have the Knowledge of it? What kind of Life should that Man lead, who is called from Darkness to Light; from Ignorance of God, and of the Way of recommending ourselves to him, to plain Revelation of his Will; from the Bondage of Death, to a certain Hope of a glorious Immortality; from a profane and impious Worship, to a holy, pure and reafonable Service? Will not Nature teach fuch a one, that in Proportion to those Advantages he hath above others, he ought alfo to be more exact and regular in his Life, more careful to approve himself to God, more ftudious of his Will, and more zealous and induftrious in his Service, than other Men, who have not thofe Means or those Privileges? Yet this, my Brethren, is our Vocation, and therefore judge ye how unworthy we are of it, if it do not produce thofe Effects in us. Nay, judge ye whether this our Vocation will not turn to our unspeakable Mifery and Punishment, if it be not attended with those Fruits. If John 15. I had not, fays our Saviour, come and spoken to them, they had not had Sin; but now they have no Cloak for their Sin. There was fomething to be faid for Men, who lived in the Darkness of Gentilifm, who had no other Guide but the mere Light of Nature, and that too horribly darkned and obfcured 22. thro' thro' that univerfal Degeneracy and Corruption of Manners that obtained all the World over. The Times of this Ignorance A Acts 17. God might be fuppofed to wink at. Or if 30. he would punish thofe Men for their Sins, yet it was to be hoped that he would do it lightly; and because they knew not their Luke 12. Mafter's Will, and therefore did it not, they 48. fhould be beaten only with few Stripes, as our Lord expreffes it. Nay, there was fomething alfo to be faid in Excufe for those who lived a worldly, fenfual, vicious Life, under the Jewish Difpenfation, where, tho' they were in Covenant with God, and had his Laws and his Promises, yet both thofe Laws and Promises being in the Letter and outward Appearance of an earthly temporal Nature, and in a manner relating only to the Things of this Life, it might be prefumed a hard Matter for them to raise up their Minds above this World, they feeming to want both Light and Encouragement to put them upon a vigorous Pursuit of Holiness here, or Happiness hereafter.. Upon this Confideration, I fay, there was fomething to be faid in Apology for the Jews, tho' they lived not fo purely and fo virtuously as they ought to do. But for us who are under the Chriftian Difpenfation, who have been inftructed in the whole. Will of God, and that by no less a Master than His own Son; who have the strongest Demonftrations in the World given us of another P 3 |