TWO great Evils have reigned among us, by which Almigh­ty God has been moved to heavy Displeasure: The denial of his Existence by Atheists, and the forbea­rance of a Profession of Piety by weak Be­lievers, [Page 2] who have not had enough of Chri­stian Courage to bear the Shock of their inso­lent Mockeries: insomuch that the very Form and Face of true Religion has, some­times, disappeared; and the worst kind of Hypocrisie has come upon the Stage, the dissembling of Iniquity; and the owning of Vices which have not been committed.

Hence Publick Fastings and Humiliati­ons, being open Testimonies of our Fear of God and our dependence upon him, have been unfrequent, notwithstanding so great and Pressing a Load of Guilt has laid upon us.

The Celebration therefore of the humble Solemnity of this Day, (on which we make a Publick Acknowledgment of the Divine Providence, Justice, and Long-Suffering Goodness; and of our own Unworthiness to eat so much as of the Crumbs which his Liberality has every where scattered) as it is our most bounden Duty, so it is our most reasonable Service. And a due sense of our former Neglects should mightily quicken us in our present Performance, that it may not languish in mere Forma­lity

[Page 3]And for the Performance of this Duty, the whole of it is not accomplished by a bewailing of Sin in general. Neither will so short a space admit of an enumeration of every Sin, and of a due reflection upon it. I have, therefore, chosen out one Evil, which seems to be the root of all the rest: It is the Sin of inordinate Self-Love, to which S. Paul attributes those Troubles and Miseries which make the World so unea­sie a Place; and to which we, in particu­lar, may ascribe our own dissettlements. This know, That in the last daies perillous times shall come: for Men shall be Lovers of their own selves.

In speaking to these Words four things may be considered.

• I. What kind of Self-Love it is which Saint Paul do's here so severely cen­sure.
• II. By what manner of Influence Self-Love makes Times and Seasons become perillous.
• III. What Times the Apostle means by the Last Daies; and whence it is, that [Page 4] Self-Love operates with such Successful Prevalence in those Daies, as to render them, The Evil Daies.
• IV. What Reflections are fit to be made by us, this Day, upon occasion of this Ar­gument, in relation to our Age, and to our selves, and our present Affairs, in order to that which all ought to Fast and Pray, and labour for, the stability of our Times, and the Peace of Ierusalem.

My Method obliges me in the

First Place, To consider what kind of Self-Love S. Paul speaks against, as the Fountain of Publick Mischief: for there is a Self-Love, which is a very Natural and a very useful Principle.

No Man ever yet hated his own Flesh: No considering Man can be an Enemy to that concerning which he is convinced that it is, upon the whole Matter, his true Interest; no Man, without the loving of himself, does either preserve or improve himself.

All Friends at distance of Place would be in perpetual Pain for one another, if they did not, under God, place some part of [Page 5] their Security in this Thought, that, hav­ing a Principle of Self-Preservation in their Natures, they would take some competent Care of themselves. If Almighty God would not have suffered Men to love themselves, be would not have moved them to their Duty by their personal Benefit, and especi­ally by so great a Recompence as is that of Life Eternal.

It would conduce to the Felicity of Men, even in this World, if they truly loved them­selves; for then they would not wast their Fortunes by an unaccountable profuseness, nor destroy their Bodies by the extravagan­ces of Rage, and Luxury, and Lust. Even the Mortifications and Self-denials prescri­bed by Religion, are consistent with the Love of ourselves, and move upon the Foot of it, though not upon that alone; for it turns to the greatest Profit of every Man, when by losing the World he saves his Soul.

The Self-Love, here condemned by S. Paul, is that narrow wicked Affection which either wholly or principally confines a Man to his seeming personal Good on [Page 6] Earth. An Affection, which either oppo­seth all Publick Good, or at least all that Publick Good, which comes in competi­tion with Man's private Advantage.

For some will do a good Office when it costs them nothing, and no Self-Ends are obstructed by the performance of it. But others are so bound down to their own Ill­natured Selfishness, that they will not move in the easiest Charities, if by them they cannot serve a particular Turn.

Of such Lovers of themselves the Apo­stle gives a very ill Character in the Words that follow the Text.

He says of them, in the 2d. Verse, That they are covetous; their Heart is like the Mouth of a devouring Gulf, which sucks in all into it self with deep & unsatiable desire.

He continues to mark them, in the 3d. Verse, as Persons without Natural Affection, as People who have no Bowels for the mi­serable part of Mankind: As such who re­joyce at a publick Wreck, not considering the Loss of others, nor the moving, the dis­mal Circumstances of it; but minding, with their whole Intention, the Profit which [Page 7] they may gather up for their inhuman selves.

He adds, in the same Verse, that they are Despisers of those who are Good. They vili­sie Men of a Publick Spirit, as so many simple Sheep, who bear Fleeces for others, and understand not how to keep themselves warm in their own soft and beloved In­terests. Now,

II. This strait and uncharitable Affection is of so malignant an Influence, that where it prevails, no Age can be Calm, no Go­vernment Stable, no Person Secure.

And that it is of such perillous conse­quence, may be demonstrated on this man­ner.

God, Who is Good and does good, designed, That whilst Man was here on Earth, it should be competently well with him in case of his Obedience, though he intend­ed not to give him all his Portion in this Life.

He knew that Men could not subsist apart with such Conveniences as they might obtain, by being knit into Regu­lar [Page 8] Societies. He, therefore, united them in Civil and Sacred Bodies, That by conjoyned Strength they might procure those Benefits, which, in a separate State, and by their single selves, they could not come at.

For, consider, (I beseech you) how void of Comfort a Life of intire solitude would have been to Man? with what a Life of Fear, would they have been crucified, who had stood perpetually by themselves on their own Defence? with what a Life of Labour and Meanness, would Men have been bur­thened, if every one of them must have been his own only Servant? If every one had been obliged to build and plant, and till the Ground, and provide Food and Phy­sick and Garments, for himself by his own solitary Power? And how could a Man serve himself in any of these necessary Offices in times of Sickness, Lameness, Delirancie, and decrepit Old Age? To such a perillous and laborious Life, as I have been speaking of, indiscreet and vi­cious self-love tends: for as far as Men do mind and seek themselves alone, so far they [Page 9] dissolve Society, and lessen its Benefits, being rather in it than of it. And if all stood upon as narrow a Bottom as some do, Government it self would fail, till Men (learning Wisdom by Affliction) finding their personal Interest in the Com­mon Good, should again enter into the Co­venants of it.

So that the Soul which animates Society, whose Advantages are so considerable, is the great and generous Spirit of Charity. That violates no Compacts, That raises no Commotions, That interrupts no Good Man's Peace, That assaults no innocent Man's Person, That invades no Man's Pro­perty, That grinds no poor Man's Face, That takes no Ewe lamb out of his Bosom, That envies no Man, That supplants no Man, That submits its Private Conveni­ence to the Publick Necessities, That does all the Good it can; But it does not so much as think of Evil, unless to suppress and pre­vent it.

All the Evil that is thought of and done, comes originally from Men of ill Natures [Page 10] and narrow Dispositions, who behave themselves in the Publick Body, as the Vermin, and not the Members of it.

From a false and unnatural Self-Love it is, That Children enquire too early into the Age of their Parents: That Discord arises and separates Brother from Brother, whilst each covets the greatest Share of the Inheritance: That Friends divide, and af­ter Professions of the sincerest Love, exer­cise the bitterest Hatred: That so many Men are barbarously murthered, and so many Houses set on fire by Thieves and Robbers, who are tempted by incoside­rable Spoils to such inhuman Villanies

From Selfishness it proceeds, That in the Kingdoms of the Earth, there are sometimes Markets for Justice: That Causes are often carried by secret Perjuries: That Men intrude into Offices, which they have more ability to pay than to execute: That they affect the Honor or Profit of Publick Places, and shun the Duty of them; and appear only when a Private Turn for themselves, or their Dependants is to be served: That [Page 11] Trusts are managed as Estates: And that he who has obtained a Guardianship, does think he has made a Fortune: That to gratifie a private Animosity, many en­gage into a publick Embroylment: That the Selfish make as many Inlets as pos­sible, in their own Cisterns, out of the Publick Revenue, 'though it be one great worldly Instrument of Protection.

These are the Practices which make all Times perillous; and Self-Love is the Head from whence they flow.

Concerning this vile Affection S. Paul taught, That it would possess the Men of the last Daies.

And we are, in the

III d. Place, To consider what Times he means by those Daies; and in what sense he speaks of Self-Love, as the Distemper of the last Daies, seeing it has been the Disease of every Age.

[Page 12]By the last Days he means the last Age of the World, the Age of the Messiah, not excluding that part of it in which he himself lived; for he gives Caution to Ti­mothy, V. 5. against some Practices which he should presently meet with from Judai­zing Christians and vain Philosophers. S. Peter, 1 Pet. 1.5, 20. speaking of the Son of God, saith, He was manifest in these last Times, referring to his own. 1 Joh. 2.18. And S. Iohn speaks more expresly, Little Children, it is the last Time; or this is the last Age of the World.

There were several precedent Periods, That of the Fathers before the Flood: That of the Patriarchs before the Law: That of Moses and the Prophets under the Law. But after the Age of the Messiah, Time it self shall no more.

To this Age all evil Self-Love cannot be confined, for that Dotage had a Be­ing in the World from the very beginning of it.

[Page 13]The Murther of Cain was so early, that he sinn'd without Example; and from his Selfishness his Murther proceeded. He could not bear the sight of a man more acceptable, in God's Eye, than himself; though it was the greater Vertue of Abel, which made his way to the greater Favour of that God who is a Respecter of Causes, but not of Per­sons.

We therefore misunderstand S. Paul, if we interpret him, as speaking, not of the In­crease, but of the Being of Self-Love: For it is not its Existence, but its abundance, which he foretells; prophesying, that the World should, as it were, throw off the Dreggs of this its distemper into the Extream Parts of it; and that its Covetousness would increase with its Age.

What he wrote has been true in Fact, from the Times of Demas and Diotrephes, to this ve­ry hour. Light is come into the World, a glorious Gospel which shines every where, and every where sheds its healing influence; and men love darkness rather than light, and shut up themselves in their own hard, and rough, and private Shells.

[Page 14] How this should come to pass, few can rea­dily understand: S. Paul, without a Spirit of Prophesie, could scare have affirmed, That in the Age of the Messiah, which affords the best Moral Causes, there should be the worst Effects.

Selfishness cannot be the direct Natural Ef­fect of the Gospel of Christ, which, of all o­ther Dispensations, depresseth the Private un­der the Publick Good. And if the Heaven­ly Doctrines of it were heartily believ'd, and the Divine Rules of it were exactly follow'd, the Event would not be a Sword, but Peace on Earth: The Times would then be so free from peril, that Men would have strong Temptation to say, It is good for us to be here.

The Age of the Messiah is the best of A­ges in His Design, and in the Means of Ver­tue, which he gives the World; and if the Men of it be worse than those of other Ge­nerations, the greater is the aggravation of their Guilt, whilst, under a Gospel of the widest Charity, they exercise the narrowest Selfishness; whilst, the nigher they are to the last Judgment, the more Criminal they grow; [Page 15] in which respect, the Self-Love of the last days, though it be but equal to that of for­mer Times, is to be esteemed a greater E­vil, seeing it offends against higher means.

How men (I say) should thus advance in wickedness, under a Dispensation so proper for the suppressing of it, is a Mystery not so easie to be unfolded.

But however, so it is: Whether it be, that wicked men, by a Spirit of Contradiction, op­pose Charity where they are most earnestly pressed to it.

Or that the Devil, having but a short time, is the more passionately industri­ous in promoting the Interests of his King­dom.

Or that the further men are from the Age of Divine Revelations, the less firmly they believe them.

Whether it be, that the greater Communi­cation of the Nations of the World with one another in the latter Times, has, by making the Vices of the World more fully and com­monly known, made them to be the more commonly practis'd.

[Page 16]Or that the Men of these late days having, in especial manner, apply'd their Minds to the framing of Hypotheses of Nature, and Sy­stems of the World; have, in the Vanity of their Imaginations, fallen upon such Schemes as represent the Universe more the Work of Chance than Wisdom; and so live without God in the World, and meerly to them­selves, always in not advancing, and some­times in opposing the Common Good.

For our selves.

Perhaps the Doctrine of Personal worldly Self-Love, as the measure and ultimate end of all Man's Designs, has, in no Age, and in no Countrey, been more closely thought of; more cultivated with the Art of pre­tended Philosophy, more diligently spread, and with more fatal Contagion propagated, than in our own.

It concerns us then, in the

4 th Place, To make serious Reflections upon this Argument, and to suffer our selves to be touch'd with such deep Remorse for the Guilt of our Partiality, that God may be ap­peased, and our Sins pardon'd, and our Lives [Page 17] reform'd; and that perillous Times may be succeeded by many prosperous Days.

And 1 st, Let us give Glory to God, and take Shame to our selves, upon the Account of that selfish Principle which hath long wrought among us, and still worketh.

The Complaint of the Apostle in his Days, is in ours, not malicious Satyr, but just Reprehension: ‘All Men [or the grea­ter part of them] seek their own; and none [exceeding few, comparatively none] seek the Things of Jesus Christ.’ And those things are the Publick Interests of God's Church, and of Civil Peace.

Of the Spirit of New Rome, of its Parti­ality, of such an absurd Catholicism as con­fines Salvation it self to a Party, a Corrupt and Erroneous Party, we have had enough; enough even to Satiety: But for the Ancient Roman Spirit, which widens the Minds of Men, and makes them capable of the grea­test and most generous things: for such a Spi­rit as This, whether has it fled? or where has it conceal'd it self? For it is not very discerna­ble among us.

[Page 18]It is not long since, in open Theaters, the Men of Business, the Men of Publick Spirits, were scoffed at, as dull and insipid People; as Publick Drudges, and Beasts of Burthen. But unless there had at all times been some such supporters, Total Ruine had come down.

Instead of deriding the greatest of Ver­tues, let us openly lament that crying iniqui­ty whereby we have liv'd, as if Personal Care were the only Providence; as if God rul'd not the World, and intended not the Common Good of it; as if it was indiffe­rent to him, whether he were own'd or neg­lected; and would hold them Guiltless, who, being planted in his Vineyard, would, in imi­tation of Ephraim, bring forth Fruit unto them­selves.

The Idle and Useless, God will judge; and for the Authors of Publick Peril, they shall re­ceive the greater damnation.

And if the unprofitable Servant shall undergo so severe a Doom, where shall the Cruel, the Malicious, the Mischievous appear?

[Page 19]2 dly, May we not only bewail, but , a­mend this great Defect in our Nature, and in our Civil and Christian Duty.

The re-gaining of a Publick Genius is worthy our care at all times; and at all times that Spirit needs our Care, and par­ticularly at this.

1. The re-gaining of a Publick Spirit is at all times worthy our Care.

We can do no greater thing than to ‘follow God, who is concerned for all, as if they were but one Man; and for e­very single Person,’ as if he were a World.

God hath disposed all things in mutual subserviency to one another: The Light, the Air, the Water, are made for Common Good: and because they are Common, they are the less, but they ought, for that Reason, to be the more esteemed. There is not an humble Plant that grows to it self, or a mean Ox that treads out the Corn meerly for his own Service: And shall Man be the only useless part of the Creation? Man, who has [Page 20] so much power to know Good, and so much ability to do it?

It is a most unworthy practice, upon the Account of Self-Interest, to multiply the mo­ral Perils of the World, whilst there are In­conveniencies enough in insensible Nature. It is enough, that the Natural Seasons are Tempestuous; Mens Passions should not raise more Storms.

It is enough that Famine can destroy so many; Uncharitableness should not do it.

What is it that is worthy the daily Thoughts, and the nightly Studies of a Man of Under­standing, and of an Excellent Spirit? Is it the supplanting of a credulous Friend, or the oppressing of an helpless Neighbour? Is it the eating the Bread of others, at the Ex­pence of our Conscience? Is it the gaining of an Estate by Extortion, Fraud and Per­jury? Is it the Pining of the Body for the fat'ning of the Fortune? The taking in of all we can, by ways just or unjust, and the using of nothing? Alas! these are Designs so base and low, that he who calls himself a Man, should not stoop to them.

[Page 21]But that which is worthy of a Man, is the Service of his God, his Church, his Coun­try; the generous exposing of himself when a Kingdom is in hazard. These are the things which deserve a Statue, and they will not miss a Reward, tho they meet not with that.

2. A Publick Spirit, as it is worthy our Care at all times, so at all times it needs it.

For it requires the utmost application of our Minds, seeing Self-love insinuates with great art and subtlety into all our Designs and Actions. And if we keep not a close watch upon our Hearts, they will betray us into Partiality, even when we lay before us as our Scope the Publick Good.

Some oppos'd Christ as Caesar's Enemy, but it was after their Malice had made him their own. Some preach'd Christ out of En­vy, but for the lessening of St. Paul, not for the propagating of the Gospel.

It is an ancient Observation that those who wrote against Vain Glory, set their Names to their Books; and it hath been noted of the Cynic, that whilst he trampled on the Gown of Plato, and pretended to trample on his [Page 22] Pride, he did it in a way of Ostentation, and with greater Pride.

The Scripture hath taken notice of a Gene­ration of Men who fasted for Strife and De­bate; who upon pretence of long Prayers, devoured Widows Houses; who gave Alms as the purchase of popular Praise.

Blessed God! where shall we meet with sincere Piety and Charity, if Self-love min­gles it self with Fasting, Prayer and Alms?

So subtle a Poison requires our nicest care for the preventing of it. And

Thirdly, It ought to be prevented at all times, and in particular manner in these.

For 1 st. There is now an open pretence (and much more I hope than a pretence) of repairing the Breaches our Self-Interest has made: of settling upon the firmest Bottom of Laws, of pursuing the true end of Govern­ment, the Good of the whole Body; of raising the Figure of the Nation, and making us that which we are capable of being, by our na­tural Genius, and by the Advantages of our Scituation, a great and flourishing People.

How can this be effected, but by bringing again the Spirit of our illustrious Ancestors, [Page 23] which appeared gloriously in former days, and particularly in the Reign of that excellent Princess who settled our Reformation, and was a Terror to some Nations, a Support to others, a common Blessing to her own Coun­try, and a Praise in the whole Earth.

2 dly. We are engaged in the Evangelical Cause, against Popish Superstition. The means by which we may have success in this Cause, is the raising up the true Spirit of Christianity, which hath for its Scope the Publick Benefit. That Spirit will not prostitute it self to the vile and little Interests of the foolishly cun­ning Men of this present World. That will not turn a Church into a Secular Factory. It will therefore suppress the Popish Spirit which aims at temporal Advantages in its spiritual Policy.

The Fire of Purgatory would die away of it self, if no person was to pay for the deliver­ing of his Friends out of that Visionary Flame.

Relick and Indulgences would not be so ve­ry common, if no worldly Trade could be driven by them.

The Oracle of Infallibility would be silent; Persecution for the Heresy of believing our [Page 25] senses, when rightly dispos'd, would rage no longer, if Impostors were hindred from making a gain of the credulous, by raising up in them an unjust admiration of them­selves. If they were not permitted to take hold of the Riches of the Ignorant and Sim­ple, by making themselves first sole Masters of their Faith; chaining them up in the dark Prison of an implicit Assent.

Lastly, We are, in effect, engag'd in a War against all manner of unjust Self-love; let us be­have our selves like Christian Men.

AT HOME, our publick Peace has been interrupted upon slender, upon insignificant Motives. Perilous things have been done for the sake of Tapers and Processions, of Ima­ges and enchanted Water.

Now, as by a Zeal for inconsiderable things, a narrow and little Spirit has brought upon us many Troubles and Disquiets; so it ought to be our Endeavour, by a Di­vine Charity which pursueth great and no­ble Ends, to deliver our selves out of those Difficulties in which that imprudent Selfishness has entangled us.

[Page 25]ABROAD, we are engag'd in an Op­position to his Arms, who is reputed, even by the Head of the Roman Church, the Common Enemy of West-Europe. We are at War with One, who (how unlike soever he is to the Governour of the World) hath set himself in the Seat of God, by making his Personal Glory his ultimate End.

It is true, he has done Great Things, but they have been Great Things for Himself. And the Sacrifice can never be truly Great, where the Idol is Vain Glory.

He hath encourag'd Orators; but such Orators as have celebrated his own Praise. And Mercenary Rhetoricians, (who with a small Talent of Skill could understand what would please) have turned Praise into Flat­tery; and from Flattering have risen to Blas­pheming.

Certainly the Minimes in the Convent of Marseille, were not much short of Blas­phemy, who declared in so many Words; That Lewis the Great, might be very justly call'd the King of Glory; strong and mighty in Battel. Questions choises a son Roi, &c. Juin. 1685. p. 26, 27. — Louis le Grand qu'on peut appeller fort justement, le Roi de gloire fort & puissant en guerre.

[Page 26]It is confess'd that he has caus'd the Art of War to be considerably improv'd, but in order to the making room for his own Triumphs in the Solitudes of his Neighbour­hood.

He hath professed a most Catholick Zeal: but in pursuance of it he has done the meanest Things in the World: for nothing could be more mean than Cruelty to the In­nocent, who gave him no Provocation. In the heat of this Catholick Zeal, (which has been an unusual Fury, for it has lasted) he has put Multitudes of his Obedient Sub­jects into Prisons and Gallies. He has ter­rified Multitudes into a sudden Flight into strange Lands, yet to them more charitable than their Native Country. And for many who could neither escape of themselves, nor obtain of him the Priviledg of Banishment, he has driven them by a Terror (by mere Human Strength not to be resisted) into the very worst of all Refuges; I mean, Hypo­crisy.

For what Great, for what Good, for what Glorious Ends has all this Severity been exer­cis'd? [Page 27] Why! not for making his People all of One Christian Mind, but all of His.

Excuse me, All you who are Judges of Decency, if my just Indignation against the Inhumanities of a selfish and violent Persecu­tor, has caus'd me to trespass in any Degree against the Character of a Sovereign Prince. Profound Respect is always due to such high Authority; but for Tyranny which usurps the Rights of all others, it should (methinks) have little remaining to it which it self could justly claim.

May our Councils be wise and steady, in order to the frustration of his Devices. May both our Sea and Land-Forces prepared against such pernicious Self-Love, go forth in the Name of that God who is truly the Lord of Hosts. May they go forth with Courage, and return with Victory. May they prosper against the Arms of a Nation to which we were never yet in Bondage. We shall not be disappointed in these Wishes, if God's great Ends be Ours. Success will attend on our Fleets and Armies, [Page 28] if there be more of God among them than has sometimes been, tho there should be less of Man.

We have of late (Blessed be Heaven, from whence descend the Inspirations of Charity) been a Relief to the Distressed of two Nations; to those from France first, and now to those from Ireland, who are doubly persecuted by Men who first trouble them, and then declare that they are not troubled.

There is, also, under your wise and cha­ritable Consideration the great Case of the City Orphans. And the more we make our Nation a Sanctuary for the Miserable; we may, with the surer Hope, make God our Refuge.

He does the great Things that are done upon Earth. They are brought about frequently, through ways by us unthought of. If we depend on him in the use of Good Means, he will, either by those Means, or by some other Methods of his Providence, give unto us at last the Blessing of Settlement. We may expect this much desired Blessing from Heaven, if we sincerely aim at the Publick [Page 29] Interests of Church and State. But, if we merely seek our Selves, That Iniquity, will be our Ruin.

Seek, therefore, the Peace of the Commu­nity, and in it ye shall have Peace. And as Evil Men, who have heightned themselves by trampling upon the Laws, do in the re­turn of Things, find those very Laws rising up against Them; so Good Men, in the Cir­culation of Benefits in a well-regulated State, will find the Good they did the Publick re­turn, in some sort, into their own Bosom. Every Passenger meets with his Convenience in the Safety of the Vessel in which he Im­barqu'd, after having apply'd himself to the preserving of it with all his Might, and per­haps with the throwing out of his Goods, du­ring the time of a perillous Storm.

Oh that there were in us such an enlarged Heart, that we might seek, in the first place, the Publick Good; and then God, in his due time, would make us happy in a lasting Tranquil­lity, after we had endured, for a Season, in Christian Manner, the Embroylments of War.

[Page 30]Under this Lord of Hosts, and God of Peace, let us humble our selves. In this Pro­tector of Kingdoms let us put our Trust. To this King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only wise God, be Honour and Glory, for ever and ever. Amen.