CXXXVI.

SERM. do it, because it is God's will and pleasure; otherwise though we may perhaps do what God wills, yet we cannot be said to do His will, because we do not do it under that notion, or upon that account because it is His will. As for example: you give an alms to the poor; it is very good, and it is the will of God you should do it; yet if you do it only out of compassion, or upon some bye and sinister account, not considering the will of God in it, God doth not look upon His will as performed, nor on Himself as concerned in what you do, any farther than to punish you for not observing His will. Again; you are now here in the presence of God, where it is God's will you should be; but though some of you may, I fear many of you do not, do the will of God in coming hither, not coming out of any such design or intention as to obey the will of God, but only out of custom or formality, or perhaps being servants, your masters, or being children, your parents, would have you come; and, by consequence, it is their wills rather than God's which you regard and fulfil in coming. Neither can you be ever said to do the will of God, unless you therefore, or upon that consideration only do it, because it is the will of God. And one single act of obedience, performed after this manner, shall be more acceptable to God, and more advantageous to yourselves, than all the most plausible and specious actions of your whole life besides as Matt.10.42. our Saviour Himself saith, that "he that giveth to a disciple a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, shall have his reward;" so whatsoever we do, if we but do it eo nomine, because it is the will of God, we shall most certainly find the benefit and comfort of it.

Neither are our understandings only, but our wills likewise, to be employed in doing the will of God, so as to make it the matter of our choice, and to will the doing of it, because God doth so. And verily, there is more in this than commonly we are aware of; yea, so much that we can do nothing of God's will without it: forasmuch as the very essence of true obedience consisteth in the inclination of our wills to God's, in willing what He wills, and because He wills it. So that the great art and mystery of doing well lies in our willingness and inclination to do it; without

which, howsoever glorious our actions may seem to men, they are altogether odious and abominable unto God: because at the same time that we outwardly perform them, we have an inward averseness and reluctancy against them. And so, though we may seem to do what God requires, yet doing it against our wills, it must needs be contrary to God's will too, Who requires our whole man, soul as well as body, to be employed in the doing of what He commands; and hath enjoined us to "serve Him with a perfect 1 Chron. 28. heart, and with a willing mind." Thus David, "I delight Ps. 40. 8. to do Thy will, O God: Thy Law is within my heart." This is doing the will of God indeed, when our wills run thus parallel with God's, and we are as willing and ready to obey as He is to command; when we delight to do the will of God, and please ourselves in pleasing Him. This is that which our Saviour here calls "doing the will of His Father which is in Heaven."

9.

From whence, in the last place, it necessarily follows, that he who would do the will of God, must do the whole will of God: for he whose heart is so inclined and bent to God, as to delight to do His will, because it is His, he cannot but delight in all the commands of God, one as well as another, because they are all equally the will of God. He doth not will one duty or virtue more than another, so neither should we; we must not pick and choose, nor think to put God off with a partial obedience, which indeed is no obedience at all, nothing deserving that glorious title, but a sincere "respect unto all the command- Ps. 119. 6. ments" of God.

Well then, if you would do the will of God, you must not content yourselves with some particular acts of piety towards God, and equity towards your neighbour; but whatsoever God hath bid you do in Scripture, you must be sure to do it, and that with cheerfulness and delight too, as it is the command of God, so as to use the utmost of your endeavour in observing all things that are required of you and yet when all is done, look upon yourselves as unprofitable servants, for that is the will of God too; as Luke 17.10. also that they depend on Christ alone for pardon and acceptance. And whosoever thus doth God's will, need not

SERM. fear but he shall enter into the "kingdom of Heaven;" for you have the words of Christ Himself here for it.

CXXXVI.

Having thus shewn you what is the will of God which we must do, and how it is that we must do it, if we desire to enter into the kingdom of God, I hope I need not spend much time in convincing you, that unless you thus do this will of God, you shall never come thither. For I dare say you all believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, and the only Saviour of mankind; and that it is only by Him that you can be saved, and admitted into the kingdom of Heaven; and therefore you cannot, surely, but take His Word for what you must do, in order to your obtaining that happiness which Himself hath purchased for you with His Own blood. Yet you see that He Himself hath told you, as plainly as He could, that it is not your calling Him Lord, Lord," can bring you to Heaven, but you must "do the will of His Father which is in Heaven," if ever you desire to come thither. And therefore, do not you please yourselves with the groundless hopes of going to Heaven when ye die, unless you do the will of God whilst you are alive; neither think that Christ so died for your sins, that you shall be happy whether you forsake them or no.

It is true, I do not deny, but look upon it as a fundamental article of the Christian faith, and the only ground of all our hopes in another world, that Jesus Christ, by His death and passion, hath made full and complete satisfaction to the justice of God for the sins of mankind; or, as the 1 John 2. 2. Apostle words it, "He was a propitiation for our sins,

and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world;" but we must not think that this satisfaction of Christ will be imputed, or this righteousness applied, to any person that doth not perform the conditions required in order to it; or that doth not repent of his sin, and obey the Gospel. For notwithstanding all that He hath done and suffered for us, we still find Him pressing the duties of the moral law, and obedience to the will of God, as strictly as if we were to be saved by it; and particularly in my text He assures us, that for all His glorious undertakings for us, yet we must do the will of God, or else we shall never enter into the kingdom of Heaven: and therefore it is in vain for

us to expect pardon or Salvation from Christ Himself, unless we do what He hath commanded us, endeavouring to the utmost of our power to adjust and conform our lives to the laws and commands of God, so as to be "holy in all [1 Pet. 1. 15.] manner of conversation;" without which " no man shall Heb. 12. 14. ever see the Lord," as the Lord Himself, Whom we desire to see, hath told us.

What mean you, then, my brethren, to buoy up yourselves with vain and groundless hopes of happiness in another world, and in the meanwhile indulge yourselves in known sins, or live in the constant neglect of your duty to God or man? What, do you think to disannul the counsels, and revoke the decrees of Heaven? To make Christ Himself a liar, and His words void and of none effect? How, then, can you expect to go to Heaven without doing the will of God, when Christ Himself hath told you in plain terms, that you shall not? Have you any other way of getting to Heaven but by Him? No, God Himself hath told you there "is no name given under Heaven, whereby Acts 4. 12. you can be saved, but the Name of Christ." But what, will He allow you to continue in your sins, and yet save you for all that? Or hath He given you any encouragement or intimation that you may be happy hereafter, howsoever you live here? Or hath He granted you any such indulgence, as His pretended vicar at Rome doth, even for sins past, present, and to come? No, mistake not yourselves, He is so far from that, that while He was upon earth He made it His business to convince men of the danger of sin, and the necessity of holiness, in order to eternal bliss. And therefore have a care of fathering your sins on Him: do not think that He will ever patronise them; nor feed yourselves with fancies, that when you come to stand before Christ's tribunal, He will absolve you from your sins, whether you have repented of them or no; or advance you to everlasting glory, whether you have obeyed the will of God or no. No, He hath told you beforehand, and that in as plain and familiar terms as possibly He could, that He will not; assuring you, that "none shall ever enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of His Father Which is in Heaven;" which He therefore hath forewarned you of,

M

CXXXVI.

SERM. that you may not expect any such thing at His hands, as to be made happy hereafter, without being holy here. For that you can never be; there is an impossibility in the thing itself, that any soul should be happy, and yet not holy at the same time.

But seeing this notion, rightly considered and improved, will be of extraordinary use to convince you of the indispensable necessity of doing the will of God, and being holy in order to your being truly happy in another world; I shall endeavour to explain it more fully and clearly to you. To which end I desire you to consider seriously with yourselves what Heaven is, and wherein that happiness consists which is to be had there. Heaven is a place you often speak of, and you all pretend a title to it: but what kind of place do you fancy it to be? Do you imagine it to be like the old Elysian Fields, or the Turkish Paradise, full of carnal pleasures and sensual delights? Or do you conceive it like the temporal kingdom of the Messiah, which the Jews still look for, wherein you shall be enriched with earthly possessions, and have the highest titles of civil honour conferred upon you? Or do you think it like any thing upon earth, which the men of this world are so much taken with? If these be your thoughts of Heaven, I do not wonder that you mind it so little, and think holiness so impertinent and unnecessary in order to it for the more holy you are, the less happiness you will find in such toys and trifles as these are.

But assure yourselves, if ever it shall please the Most High God to bring any of you to Heaven, you will find it to be quite another thing from all the seeming pleasures of this lower world; consisting in nothing else but beholding, admiring, praising, and enjoying the Most High God. And though many of you may think this to be no such great happiness as the Scriptures would make it, yet questionless it is not only the greatest, but the only happiness that our souls are capable of; it being that which at their first creation they were designed for: and therefore were so composed, that they are always restless and out of tune, until they be fixed upon God, as their proper object; and are only so far happy as their inclinations meet in Him, as their only centre. And therefore, when the souls of just men are