CXXV. SERM. if they would, and if they were there, they would soon wish to be out again, as finding nothing to please and gratify their corrupt humours, nothing but what is contrary to their temper and inclinations: insomuch that Heaven would seem more like Hell than Heaven to them: the company that is there would seem irksome, the work tedious, and the very joys would be a trouble to them. But they need not fear that they shall ever be troubled with them; for, going out of this world with unclean hearts, they will be immediately sent to a place and company that is more proper for them, even to live with unclean Spirits in the region of darkness for ever. [Col. 1.12.] Wherefore, as ever we desire " to be meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light," we must be sure to depart out of this life with clean hands, and a pure heart, that so the air of that place may agree with us, and our minds may be duly qualified and disposed to taste and relish those pure and spiritual entertainments, which Christ hath purchased at no less a price than with His Own Blood, and is now providing for us, out of the inexhaustible treasure of His Own infinite goodness and bounty, in the highest Heavens, where we shall always live with Him and see His Glory, and continually admire, adore, magnify, and enjoy all those glorious, infinite, incomprehensible and eternal perfections that are concentred in His Divine Nature. And then we shall fully understand how blessed a thing it is to see God, and how the pure in heart shall do it for ever. Which, therefore, that we may all do, let us make it our constant care and study to get and keep our hearts always clean and pure. And seeing we can never do it without the assistance of God's Holy Spirit, let us earnestly pray to [Ps.51.10.] God with David, that He would" create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us ;" and with our Church, that He would "cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit." And seeing some hearts are like those unclean Spirits, which, our Saviour saith, "will not go out but by prayer and fasting," let us often join fasting with our prayers, that "keeping our bodies under, we may be better able to keep our hearts free from [Matt. 17. 21.] 1 Cor. 9. 27.] all impure thoughts and desires, and in a right disposition to receive such illuminations and assistances of God's pure and Holy Spirit, as may make them also pure and holy. For which purpose, let us also frequently read and meditate upon God's Holy Word, and apply ourselves to Christ, in His Holy Sacrament, that together with His mystical body and blood, we may, by faith, receive His Spirit too. By the constant and sincere use of these means, and trusting upon God for His blessing upon them, through the assistance of His Holy Spirit moving in them, we may both get and keep our hearts pure, and so be as blessed as God Himself can make us, for we shall see Him: we may be confident of it, for we have Christ's Own Word for it, saying, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." SERMON CXXVI. AGAINST RASH SWEARING. SERM. THESE words are much to be observed, as containing the will of our Heavenly Father, revealed to us, not by a Prophet, or Apostle, or any creature, but by His only-begotten Son, Who came into the world on purpose to save us; and therefore, be sure, would require nothing of us, but what is necessary for our Salvation: and being Himself also truly God, of the same nature with the Father, He could not but perfectly understand what was necessary, and what was the Divine will and pleasure we should do, in order thereunto. For which reason, therefore, while He was upon earth, conversing with mankind in their own likeness, He took particular care to instruct them with His Own mouth in their whole duty, what they ought to believe, and what they ought to do, that they may be saved by Him. And having observed that the ancient Rabbins, or Doctors and Leaders of the Jewish Church, had put false glosses and misinterpretations upon the Moral Law, and that the people, taking the sense of it from them, had been led into great mistakes about it, which might hinder their obtaining that eternal Salvation which He designed to purchase for them with His Own blood; He therefore took all occasions of correcting those mistakes, and of acquainting them with the true sense and meaning of each commandment. Particularly, whereas it is said in the third Commandment, "Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in Exod. 20. 7. vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain;" and elsewhere, "Ye shall not swear Lev. 19. 12. by My Name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the Name of thy God; and again, "If a man vow a vow unto the Num. 30. 2. Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth." These, and suchlike laws concerning oaths and swearing, the ancient Rabbins had interpreted so, as if no more was meant by them, but only that men should do whatsoever they had sworn they would do. Again," saith our Saviour, " ye have heard that it Matt. 5. 33. hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths," which false interpretation of those Divine laws, was of very ill consequence; for people having received this from their forefathers, as the full sense of them, they made no conscience of swearing in their common discourse, or of taking the Name of God rashly and in vain: they regarded not what, or how, or how often they swore: if they did but perform what they had sworn, they thought themselves guilty of no fault, but that they had perfectly obeyed the Law, and done all that was required in it. But our blessed Lord, Who was Himself the Lawgiver, teacheth them another lesson, saying, in the words of my text, "But I say unto you, Swear not at all." As if He had said, I, Who made the Law, and therefore must needs know the meaning of it better than you or your forefathers; I, Who am Wisdom itself, and therefore understand the full extent and latitude of every precept; I, Who am Truth itself, and therefore neither will nor can deceive you; I, Who am come into the world to direct you into the right way of serving God, and keeping His laws, I assure you, there is a great deal more in those laws about swearing than you imagine, or have received by tradition from your ancestors; for they do not only require you not to forswear yourselves, but not to swear at all: "But I say unto you, Swear not at all." But it is strange to observe, that these plain and per CXXVI. SERM. spicuous words, which were designed to explain those of the Moral Law, have been as little understood, and as falsely interpreted by some, as those which they were designed to explain: for as the Jews contracted the sense of the moral Commandments into so narrow a compass, as if no more was intended by them but that men should not forswear themselves; so some that are called Christians, as Pelagians, Anabaptists, and Quakers, have extended these words of our Saviour so far, as to make them reach all manner of swearing, upon the most necessary and solemn occasions that can happen; which is every way as false and absurd as the other. And therefore, to prevent your falling into any mistakes about them, I shall first explain our Saviour's will and pleasure in them, what He doth not, and what He doth mean, by not swearing at all; and then shew how much it concerns all men carefully to observe what He here commands, saying, " But I say unto you, Swear not at all." By swearing, therefore, we are to understand, the calling God to witness the truth of what is said; for that is the usual definition of an oath, or the common notion of swearing in general. To make us sociable creatures, or capable of conversing with one another, God hath given us the use of speech or language, whereby we can express or declare our thoughts and intentions to one another, which otherwise must always have lain hid in our own breasts, and unknown to all our fellow-creatures: whereas by this means we may know what another thinks, only by hearing him speak, at least so far as we are sure that his heart and his tongue go together. But that we can never be perfectly sure of, so long as men are in their imperfect state, and, as the Psalmist Ps.116.11; speaks, are "all liars," for they may say one thing, and think or intend another; and none knows whether they think as they speak, or intend to do what they promise, but only God, the Searcher of Hearts. And therefore the calling of Him, or naming Him as witness of the truth of what we say, is the greatest assurance that we can give to one another, that we really think or intend in our hearts, what we utter with our lips: which if it be in a matter of fact, past or present, it is called an assertory oath, because we assert or affirm it to be so: if it be about something to come, Rom. 3. 4. |