with a stranger thou art snared with the words of thy mouth Prov. 11. 15. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it Prov. 17. 18. A man void of understanding striketh hands and becometh surety in the presence of his friend Prov. 20. 16. Take his Garment that is surety for a stranger Prov. 22. 26 27. Be not thou one of them that strike hands or of them that are sureties for debts if thou hast nothing to pay why should he take the bed from under thee And in other places Our pity is stirred towards a man that is like to be undone and ruined therefore there is such disswading from suretiship and hath not God a greater pity over the afflictions of his people He pities the afflictions of them that suffer most justly yea far below their desert Iudg. 10. 16. His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel 2 Kings 14. 26. For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was very bitter for there was not any shut up nor any left nor any helper for Israel How much more will he pity them that are unjustly oppressed of men Acts 7. 34. I have seen the afflictions of my people which is in Egypt and have heard their groanings and am come down to deliver them His bowels worketh God loveth his people better than they love themselves fide-jube Domine pro servo 3. Our relation to him I am thy servant and I know thou art a good Master and he is our Sovereign Lord and therefore hath undertaken to provide for us the master was to be the servants Patronus God hath found us work and he will find us defence This is the Argument of the Text Be Surety for thy Servant We are employed in his work engaged in his Cause If a rich man set a poor man at work as to dig such a Ditch if he be afterward troubled for it the rich man is concerned to bear him out Psal. 116. 16. O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy Handmaid Whilest we are engaged about our masters business and in his work he is engaged to protect us and bear us out in it 4. Our very running to him and committing our selves into his hands is an engaging God Psal. 86. 2. Preserve my soul for I am holy O thou my God save thy servant that trusteth in thee Psal. 10. 14. The poor committeth himself unto thee thou art the helper of the fatherless Employ God and find him work he will not fail to do what he is entrusted with Psal. 57. 1. Be merciful unto me O God be merciful unto me for my soul trusteth in thee yea in the shadow of thy wing will I make my refuge until these calamities be over-past God taketh it well that we should make bold with him in this kind and tell him how we trust him and expect relief from him Nothing is so dishonourable to God nor vexatious to us as the disappointment of trust An ingenuous man will not fail his friend that doth trust and rely upon him much less will a faithful God fail those that look to him and depend upon him for help Use Is advice to us what we should do in our deep distresses and troubles when able to do nothing for our selves God will be Surety that is make our Cause his own 1. As your matters depend in an higher Court and with respect to your own guilt and sin which hath cast you into these troubles acknowledge your debt but look upon Christ as your Surety who gave himself a ransome for us The Controversie between God and us must be taken up by submission on our parts for God is an enemy that cannot be overcome but must be reconciled The way is not to persist in the Contest and stand it out but beg terms of peace for Christs sake 2 Chron. 6. 38 39. If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul then hear thou from the Heavens even from thy dwelling place their prayers and supplications and maintain their Cause and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee Job 5. 8. I would seek unto God and unto God would I commit my Cause 2. As your danger lyeth with men acknowledge your impotency but consider who is your Surety and will take your part against the instruments that have had a hand in your trouble First God who hath such a pity over his suffering servants is ready ever to do them good Psal. 35. 1. Plead my Cause O Lord with them that strive with me fight against them that fight against me He is in such full relation and so fast bound to them that they may not be weary and impatient and swallowed up of despair he will interpose God seeth our sufferings heareth our groans suffereth together with us and is afflicted in all our afflictions believe it assuredly that he will take the matter into his own hand and be the party responsible Psal. 140. 12. I know that the Lord will maintain the Cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor Wo be to them that would not have God for their party joined in the Cause of the afflicted God hath given assurance of his protection not by words only but by deeds Prov. 22. 23. The Lord will plead their Cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them He hath past his word and he will do it Prov. 23. 11. For their redeemer is mighty he shall plead their Cause with thee 'T is his title Isai. 51. 22. Thus saith thy Lord the Lord and thy God that pleadeth the Cause of his people not by a verbal or local but a real and active Plea Ezek. 38. 22. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood and I will rain upon him and upon his bands and the people that are with him an overflowing rain and great hail-stones fire and brimstone And Isai. 40. 8. He is near that justifieth me who will contend with me let us stand together who is mine adversary let him come near to me that is let him join issue with me commence his Suit in Law We should be confident upon Gods undertaking Ier. 50. 34. Their redeemer is strong the Lord of Host is his name he shall thoroughly plead their Cause that he may give rest to the land 'T is a great ease in affliction to commit our Cause unto God and put our affairs into his hand 2. God who hath such power we need not fear any opposite if God be our Surety Psal. 27. 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid Psal. 46. 1 2. God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore will not we fear though the Earth be removed and the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea a resolution to adhere to God and his truth
up our revenge and then there is no difference between us and them they sin and we sin Revenge and injury differ only in order Injury is first and Revenge is next Saith Lactantius If it be evil in another for thee to imitate him to be as mad as they break out in passion and virulency it is more evil in thy self because thou sinnest twice against a Rule and against an Example therefore God tries whether we will be passionate or patient The patience of his servants is mightily discovered by reproaches 1 Cor. 4. 12. Being reviled we bless being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat There must be a season to try every grace and therefore now God trieth us whether we can with a meek humble submission yield up our selves or whether we are exasperated and drawn into bitterness of passion yea or no. 3. God tries our Uprightness Many are turned out of the way by reproaches The Devil works much upon stomach and spleen Tertullian being reproached by the Priests of Rome in revenge turns Montanist Now God tries us to see whether we will hold on our course The Moon shines and holds on its course though the Dogs bark So a child of God should hold on his way though men talk their fill In the Text though proud men reproached and contemned David yet all this did not unsettle him Some men can be Religious no longer than when they are counted to be religious but when their Secular Interest is in danger they fall off Thus when men injure them they do as it were take a revenge upon God himself Those carnal men that fall off from God are like pettish servants that run away from their Master when he strikes them a good servant will take a buffet patiently and go about his Masters work and if we were seasoned as we should be for God we would pass through evil report and good report 2 Cor. 6. 18. and still keep our integrity Thirdly God ordereth this grievous and sharp affliction to do you good or to better you Reproach is like Soap which seems to defile the clothes but it cleanseth them There is nothing so bad but we may make some good use of it a Christian may gain some advantage by it Dung seems to stain the grass but it makes the ground fruitful and to rise up at Spring with a fresh verdure Reproaches are a necessary help to a godly conversation to make us walk with more care and therefore this is another piece of holy revenge we should take upon them to make us walk more strictly and more watchfully the more they slander us and speak of us as evil doers the way is not to contend for esteem so much as to stop their mouths by a good apology Passionate returns will but encrease sin but a holy conversation will silence them USE 2. To them that either devife or receive reproaches both are very sinful First To you that devise them that speak reproachfully of others Consider 1. You hazard the repute of your own sincerity Jam. 1. 26. Whosoever seemeth religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this mans Religion is vain Hypocrites and men that put themselves into a garb of Religion and are all for censuring take a mighty freedom this way these men bewray the rottenness of their hearts Those that are so much abroad are seldom at home they do not enquire and look into their own hearts Alas in our own sight we should be the worst of men the children of God do ever thus speak of themselves as the least of Saints the greatest of sinners more brutish than any men of sinners whereof I am chief Why because we can know others only by ghess and imagination but they can speak of themselves out of inward feeling therefore we should have a deeper sense of our own condition But now a man that is much in judging and reproving others is seldom within for if he did but consider himself if he had but an account of his own failings he would not be so apt to blemish others It is a cheap zeal to let fly at the miscarriages and sins of others and to allow our own Consider thou hast enough to observe already in thy self 2. You rob them of the most precious treasure He that robs thee of thy name is the worst kind of thief Prov. 22. 1. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches A man that is taken pilfring another mans goods he is ashamed when he is found so should a censurer you rob him of a more excellent treasure 3. You offend God and draw publick hatred It is the Devils work to be the accuser of the brethren Rev. 12. 10. The Devil doth not commit adultery doth not break the Sabbath nor dishonour Parents these are not Laws given to him If the Devil will bear false witness he is an accuser of the brethren it is the Devils proper sin and therefore Slanderer and Devil have one name Diabolus Object But must we in no case speak evil of another or may we not speak of another's sin in no case Sol. 1. It is a very hard matter to speak any evil of another without sin for if it be without cause then it is downright slander and is against truth if it be for a light and small cause then it is against Charity if it be for things indifferent or for lesser failings indiscretions or weaknesses still 't is against Charity Jam. 4. 11. Speak not evil one of another brethren It is worse in brethren Many take liberty to traduce Gods choice servants that are in difference For a Soldier to speak evil of Soldiers or a Scholar of Scholars is worse than for those that hate these Functions so for you Christians to speak evil one of another you gratifie the triumphs of Hell and bring a reproach upon the ways of Christ. In things doubtful judg the best in things hidden and secret we can take no cognizance when the fact is open we do not know the aim nor the intent of the heart It is the Devils work to judg thus Doth Iob serve God for nought when he could not traduce his action If the practice be open and publick we do not know what alleviating circumstances it may bear what grievous temptations they had or whether they have repented yea or no. The Devil is called a slanderer because he doth accuse the Saints It is too true many times what he accuseth them of I but he accuseth them when they are pardoned he rakes up the filth God hath covered he accuseth the brethren after repentance after they are acquitted by the Lords grace and so you may incur the like and therefore it 's a very hard matter to avoid sin in one way or other we shall dash upon the Command better let it alone 2. Speak not of him but to him and so change a sin into a duty I say when you turn
you may agree with them I answer In the general certainly the separation of one Christian from another is a great evil which should be carefully avoided and if walls of separation be set up by others yet we must do what in us lies to demolish them They do no service to Christ that make separations needlesly when as much as is possible there should be a union and coalition between Christians Now what shall we say to this Separation from Rome who were in the possession of a Christianity I tell you this Bug-bear needs not fright us out of the good way if we can but clear three things to you 1. That as to the rise it was neither unjust nor unnecessary 2. As to the manner of it it was not made rashly and lightly but as became them that had a serious sense of the Interest of Christ and of his Church in the world 3. As to the continuance of this Separation that if it were made upon good grounds and the same grounds still continue certainly we have no cause to revert and return back the Roman Synagogue not being grown better but much worse since the first breach If all these can be proved there is no reason to complain of our Separation First That this Separation was neither unjust nor unnecessary It is unjust if it be made without a cause it is unnecessary if it be made without a sufficient cause or such a cause as may warrant so great a breach in the Christian world Certain it is that the Schism lyeth not in the Separation but the Cause and so is not chargeable on those that make the Separation but on those that give the cause So that if we would examine whether the Separation be good I think we must examine the causes of it therefore let us a little consider this very thing Certainly the cause was not unjust there was a cause I shall shew that by and by And that it was not unnecessary without a sufficient cause and so no way culpable The business is Whether the Controversies be of such moment as that there should be such a breach among Christians that we and they should keep such a distance I speak only to the sufficiency of the cause the justness we shall see by and by Of what moment soever the Controversies were if the things that are taken to be errors be imposed as a condition of Communion a Christian cannot joyn himself with them Certainly it is no sin to abstain from the communion of any Church upon earth where the conditions of its communion are apparently unlawful and against conscience though it may be the matters in debate be not of great moment I only speak provisionally be they or be they not of moment yet if these be propounded as conditions of its communion for no man is necessitated to sin In some cases it is lawful to withdraw out of a place for fear of danger and infection as if a house or town be infected with the Pestilence it is but a necessary caution to look to our selves be-times and withdraw out of that house or town But now when no men are permitted to tarry but those that are infected with the disease the case is out of dispute the sound must be gone and withdraw from them by all the means they can Now such are the corruptions of Popery and the danger of seducement so manifest that little children are by all means to keep themselves from idols 1 Joh. 5. 21. We should be very cautious and wary of that communion wherein there is so much hazard of salvation if possibly we should keep our selves untainted but when we are bound to the belief practice profession of those errors there needs no more debate a Christian must be gone else he will sin against conscience Now this is the case clearly between them and us Suppose the corruptions were not great nor the errors damnable yet when the profession of them is required and the belief of them as certain truths is imposed we are to endure all manner of extremity rather than yield to them Therefore much more when it is easie to be proved that they are manifest and momentous corruptions Therefore certainly to leave the communion of the Popish Faction is but to return to our union and communion with Christ it can be no fault to leave them that left Christ and the ancient faith and Church The innocent husband that leaves the Adulterous wife is not to be blamed for she had first broken the bonds and violated the rights of the Conjugal relation Or a good Citizen and Soldier are not to be blamed in forsaking their Governour and Captain who first revolted from his allegiance to his Prince I and when he would engage them in the same Rebellion too Secondly As to the management of it or the manner how it was carried on It was not made rashly and lightly without trying all good means and offering to have their complaints debated in a free Council In the mean time continuing in their station and managing the cause of Christ with meek but yet zealous defences until they were driven thence by Antichristian fury for blowing the Trumpet and warning the Church of her danger from that corrupt party until persecuted by censures not only Ecclesiastical but Civil cast out of the Church put to death some for witnessing against others meerly for not owning and practising these corruptions and hunted out from their corners where they were willing to hide and worship God in secret with all rigor and tyranny driven first out of the Church then out of the world by fire and sword unless they would communicate with them in their sin thus were they used So that the Romanist cannot charge the Protestants for Schism for leaving their communion any more than a man that thrusteth another out of dores can be offended at his departure Yea when the Reformed did set up other Churches it was after all hopes of Reformation were lost and defeated And the Princes Magistrates Pastors and people were grown into a multitude and did in great numbers run to the banner which God had display'd because of his Truth and so could not in conscience and spiritual safety live without the means of grace and the benefit of Ordinances and Church-Societies lest they should be scattered as sheep without a shepherd and become a ready prey to Satan And then this Separation which was so necessary was carried on with love and pity and with great distinction between the corruptions from which they separated and the persons from whom they separated and they had the same affection to them and carried it all along just as those that are freed from Turkish slavery and have broke prison and invited the other Christian captives to second them it may be they have not the heart and courage to venture with them though they leave them fast in their enemies chains and will not return to their company they
cease not to love and pity them though it were long of their fear they did not enjoy the like liberty themselves Thirdly As to the continuance of this Separation It was made upon good grounds and it is still to be continued upon the same grounds The Roman Church is not grown better but worse and that which was before but meer practice and custom is since established by Law and Canon and they have ratified and owned their errors in the Council of Trent And now Antichrist is more discovered and God hath multiplied and reformed the Churches and blessed them with his gifts and graces and the conversion of many souls surely we should not now grow weary of our Profession as if Novelty only led us to make this opposition If we shall think so slightly of all the truths of God and blood of the Martyrs and all this a-do to bring things to this pass that Christ may gain ground and we should tamely give up our cause at last as some have done implicitely and others shrink and let the Papists carry it quietly it is such wickedness as will be the brand and eternal infamy of this generation If Hagar the bond woman that hath been cast out should return again and vaunt it over Sarah the lawful wife the mischiefs that would follow are unspeakable God permitted it to be so for a while in Queen Maries days and what precious blood was shed during that time we all know and shall we again return to the Garlick and Onions of Egypt as being weary of the distractions of the Wilderness and expose the Interest of Christ meerly for our temporal good which we cannot be secured of neither Therefore since this Separation was not unjust without cause nor unnecessary without sufficient cause and since it was carried on with so much meekness and Christian lenity and since Rome is not grown better but worse rather surely we have no reason to be stumbled at for our departure from that Apostatical Church In short This Separation was not culpable it came not from error of mind they went out from us but they were not of us 1 Joh. 2. 19. Not from corruption in manners These are those that separate themselves sensual not having the spirit Jude v. 19. Not from strife and contention like those Separations at Corinth where one was of Paul another of Apollo c. 1 Cor. 1. 12. Not from pride and censoriousness like those that said Stand further off I am holier than thou Isa. 65. 5. Not from coldness and tergiversation as those that forsook the assembling of themselves together because they were in danger of this kind of Christianity Heb. 10. 25. but from Conscience and this not so much from the Christians as from the Errors of Christians from the corruptions rather than the corrupted there is no reason we should be frighted with this suggestion But now because that Separation is good or evil according to the causes of it let us a little consider the state of Rome when God first summoned his people to come out of this Spiritual Babylon and if it be the same still there is no cause to retract the change The state of it may be considered either as to its Government Doctrine or Worship the Tyranny of their Discipline and Government the Heresie of their Doctrine and the Idolatry of their Worship And if our fathers could not and if we cannot have communion with them without partaking of their sin it is certain the Separation was and is still justifiable First As to their Government Three things are matter of just offence to the Reformed Churches 1. The Universality or vast Extent and Largeness of that Dominion and Empire which they arrogate 2. The Supremacy and absolute Authority which they challenge 3. The Infallibility which they pretend unto And if there were nothing else but a requiring a submission to these things so false so contrary to the tenor and interest of Christianity this were ground enough of Separation 1. The Universality of Headship over all other Churches this the people of God neither could nor ought to endure Suppose the Roman Church were sound in Faith in Manners in Discipline yet being but a particular Church that it should challenge such a right to it self in giving Laws to all other Churches at its own pleasure and that every particular Society which doth not depend upon her beck in all things should be excluded from hope of salvation or not counted a fellow-Church in the communion of the Christian Faith this is a thing that cannot be endured That the Pope as to the extent of his Government and Administration should be Universal Bishop whose Empire should reach far and near throughout the world as far as the Church of Christ reacheth this as to matter of fact is impossible as to matter of right is sacrilegious As to matter of fact it is impossible because of the variety of Governments and different Interests under covert of which the particular Churches of Christ find shelter and protection in all the places of their dispersion and therefore to establish such an Empire that shall be so pernicious to the Churches of Christ which are harboured abroad it is very grievous and partly by reason of the multitude and diversity of those things that belong to Governments which is a Power too great for any created understanding to wield As to matter of right it is sacrilegious for Christ never instituted any such Universal Vicar as necessary to the unity of his Church But here was one Lord Jesus and one God and one Faith but never in union under one Pope And therefore we see in Temporal Government God hath distributed it into many hands because he would not subject the whole world into one as neither able to manage the affairs thereof or brook the Majesty of so large an Empire with that meekness and moderation as becomes a creature It is too much for meer man to bear Now Religious concernments are more difficult than Civil by reason of the imperfection of light about them and it would easily degenerate into superstition and idolatry therefore certainly none but a God is able to be head of the Church 2. The Authority of making Laws consider it either as to matter or form the matter about which it is exercised or the authority it self their intollerable boldness and proud ambition is discovered in either As to the matter about which this Power is exercised for temporal things God hath committed them to the care of the Magistrate and it is an intrusion of his right for the Pope to take upon himself to interpose in Civil things to dispose of States and Kingdoms a power which Christ refused Man who made me a judg over you Luk. 12. 14. As to matter of Religion some things are in their own nature good and some evil some things of a middle nature and indifferent As to the first God hath established them by his Laws as
offence Christians what Religion is it you are of Is it not the Christian Religion whose great interest and work it is to draw you off from the concernments of the present world unto things to come The whole drift and frame of the Christian Religion is to draw mens hearts off from earthly things and to comfort and support them under the troubles inconveniences and molestations of the flesh therefore for a Christian to hope an exemption from them is to make the doctrine of the Gospel as incongruous and useless as to talk of bladders and the art of swimming to a man that never goes to sea nor intends to go off from the firm land 3. A great occasion to shake the faith of many is Scandals the evil practices of those that profess the name of God O! when they run into disorder especially into all manner of unrighteousness and iniquity and cruel things and make no conscience of the duties of their relations as subjects as children and the like it is a mighty offence and we that have to do with persons and sinners of all sorts find it a very hard matter to keep them from Atheism such stumbling blocks having been laid in their way Scandal's far more dangerous than Persecution There are many that have been gained by the patience courage and constancy of the Martyrs but never any were gained by the scandalous falls of professors Persecutions do only work upon our fear which may be allayed by proposal of the Crown of life but by scandalous actions how many settle into a resolved hardness of heart In crosses and persecutions a man may have secret likings of truth and a purpose to own it but by scandal She dislikes the way of God of Religion it self it begets a base and vile esteem thereof in the hearts of men so they are loose and fall off And this mischief doth not only prevail with the lighter sort of Christians but many times those which have had some taste it makes them fly off exceedingly Matt. 18. 7. There will be offences but wo be unto them by whom they come Christ hath told us all will not walk up to the Religion they own therefore we must stand out against this temptation Secondly Be fortified within by taking heed to the causes of apostasie and falling off from the truth either in judgment or practice What is there will make men apostates 1. Ungrounded assents A choice lightly made is lightly altered When we do not resolve upon evidence and have not taken up the ways of God upon clear light we shall turn and wind to and fro as the posture of our interest is changed First we must try all things then hold fast 1 Thes. 5. 21. Men waver hither and thither for want of solid rooting in truth they take up things hand over head and then like light chaff they are driven about with every wind of doctrine Eph. 4. 14. Half conviction leaveth us open to changes Iames 1. 8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways A man that seems to have a faith concerning such a thing then seems to have a doubt concerning such a thing sometimes led by his faith at other times carried away by his doubts If we have not a clear and full perswasion of the ways of God in our own minds we shall never be constant 2. Want of solid rooting in grace that is rooted in faith Col. 2. 7. or rooted and grounded in Love Eph. 3. 17. as to both it is said Heb. 13. 9. It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace that is by a sound sense of the love of God in Christ. A sweet superficial tast may be lost but a sound sense of the love of God in Christ will engage us to him O! we have felt so much sweetness and have had such real proof of the goodness of Christ that all the world cannot take us off The more experience you have and the deeper it is the more you will be confirmed The most of us content our selves but in a superficial tast When we hear of the doctrine of salvation by Christ we are somewhat pleased and tickled with it but this is not that which doth establish us but a deep sense of God's grace or feeling the blood of Christ pacifying our Consciences this is that which establisheth our heart and setleth us against apostasie 3. Unmortified lusts which must have some error to countenance them By an inordinate respect to worldly interests we are sure to miscarry A man governed by lusts will be at uncertainty according as he is swayed by the fear or favour of men or his carnal hopes 2 Tim. 4. 10. Demas hath forsaken us having loved this present world If a man hath love to present things if that be not subdued and purged out of his heart he will never be stable never upright with God It may be he may stand when put upon some little self-denial for Christ he may endure some petty loss or some tender assault I but at length the man will be carried away as Ioab that turned after Adonijah though he turned not after Absolom 1 King 2. 28. there will some temptation come that will carry them away though at first they seem to stand their ground as long as lust remains unmortified in the heart 4. Sometimes a faulty-easiness As there is an ingenuous facility The wisdom that is from above is gentle and easie to be entreated Jam. 3. 17. so there 's a faulty easiness when men cannot say nay when they change their Religion with their company out of a desire to please all and Camelion-like they change colour with every object Some are of such a facile easie nature soon perswaded into great inconvenience This faulty-easiness always makes bold with God and conscience to please men when we are of this temper Jer. 38. 5. The King is not he that can do any thing against you It is not a good disposition but baseness and pusillanimity It is observed of Chrysostome though a good man in the main yet he ran into many inconveniences why because he was through simplicity and plainness of his nature easily to be wrought upon Therefore though a good man in regard of the sweetness of his temper and converse should be as a Load-stone yet he should be also resolute and severe in the things of God Paul though they did even break his heart they could not break his purpose 5. Self-confidence when we think to bear it out with natural courage and resolution as Peter did Though all men forsake thee yet will not I. We are soon over-born and a light temptation will do it God gives men over that trust in themselves For the Lord takes it to be his honour to be the Saints Guardian to keep the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2. 9. He will be owned and depended upon 6. There 's an itch of Novelty when men are weary of old truths and
Interests are in danger then they fall off questioning the ways of God and unsetling their hearts that is to take a Revenge upon God himself Hypocrites take pet like Servants that run away when their Master strikes them but a good Servant will take a buffet patiently and go about his work still So when the Lord buffets us by wicked men still we must follow our work and go on with God Thirdly The Lord doth it to do you good to make you better Reproaches are like Sope that seems to defile the Lynnen but it cleanseth it There is nothing so bad but we may make a good use of it and a Christian may gain some advantage by it Or as dung which seems to stain the grass but it makes the ground fruitful and the grass spring up with a fresher verdure So Reproaches are a necessary help to make us more humble heavenly to make us walk with a holy awe This holy Revenge we should take upon our Enemies to make us more strict and watchful The way is not to contend for esteem but to grow better more serious more faithful in our Lives for this is the way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2. 15. to muzzle the mouths of Adversaries as the mouth of a Dogg or wild Beast is Passionate returns do but increase sin but a holy conversation will silence all and therefore you should confute Calumnies you bind up their mouths thereby In short an innocent meek unblamable profitable Life will certainly have its due esteem in the consciences of men do what men can Therefore do you go on and be you the more strict and then these Reproaches will do you good This is the first Use Advice to us what to do in case we be reproached Use 2. To those that either devise or receive the Reproach both are very faulty and sinful 1. First you that devise Reproaches 1. You hazard the repute of your own Sincerity Iames 1. 16. If a man seems to be Religious and bridles not his tongue that mans Religion is in vain Such men that are seldom at home seldom look to the state of their own hearts Alas if they were acquainted with themselves or their own failings they would see themselves the worst People in the World Paul can see himself worse than Iudas I am the chief of Sinners because he hath a greater feeling of his own case Now he that is much in Judging is seldom within If a man had a Catalogue of his own faults he would not be so ready to blast others but say I am the chief of Sinners Hypocrites have nothing in them but empty shews and appearances It is a cheap zeal to let fly and yet this is the Religion of a great many at the miscarriages and faults of others No you should rather study your own 2. You rob them of a most precious Treasure For if that of Solomon be true Prov. 22. 1. A good Name is rather to be chosen then great Riches they are the worst thieves that rob a man of his good name A thief that pilfers and steals any thing from you he is ashamed when found and should not you be ashamed that rob a man of a more excellent Treasure 3. You offend God and draw publick hatred upon your selves For Censurers are always looked upon as the Pests of the World It is the Devils business his proper work Rev. 12. 10. He is called the accuser of the Brethren The Devil doth not commit Adulty break the Sabbath dishonour Parents but he will Slander and accuse and speak evil The other are not Cammandments suited to his Nature but this is a Commandment that may suit with Angelical Nature We are not to accuse another wrongfully Objection But must we in no case you will say speak evil of others I Answer Sol. 1. Be sure that it be not a downright Slander now it is hard to avoid that If the evil you speak be without cause then it is against truth If it be for a light and slender cause then it is against Charity if it be for things indifferent or for lesser failings the indiscretions and weaknesses of Christians all this is against that Charity that should pass especially between the Disciples of Christ Iames 4. 11. Speak not evil of one another Brethren It is worser in Christians always to be whispering and speaking evil one of another you gratifie the triumphs of hell In things doubtful you should judge the best in things hidden and secret we cannot take cognizance of them and we know not their aims and intents of the heart that is Gods work 1 Cor. 4. 5. and it is the Devils work if when the practice be good and fair to suspect them of Hypocrisie Besides too if there be some grievous fault you do not know what were their temptations how it may be alleviated by the temptation still you must consider your selves lest you also be tempted Gal. 6. 1. and you do not know whether they have repented of it The Devil is a Slanderer why He doth accuse the Children of God of what thy are guilty of and they give him too much cause to accuse them I but after Repentance after they are Justified by God and quitted by the Grace of God so he is a Slanderer So after they have repented you are insisting on those faults it is a great evil 2. Speak not of him but to him When men are absent it is not fit they should be judged for then they are not able to make a defence then it is back-biting When you thus speak of them you exchange a Duty for a sin Admonition for Reproach It is an unquestionable Duty to admonish one another but it is an unquestionable Sin to speak evil one of another 3. If of him it should be done with tenderness and grief When they are incorrigible when they are like to pervert others and dishonour the Gospel or for the manifest Glory of God O if we would but lay restraints upon our selves in this kind and never speak of others but when manifestly the glory of God calls for it And then it should be with Grief Phil. 3. 19. Of whom I have told you often and now weeping saith the Apostle There are a crew of Hereticks it is supposed he means the Gnosticks filthy and impure Persons that had debauched the Gospel to a licentious life yet the Apostle speaks of them weeping and therefore we should be very tender of speaking of them Not out of Idleness and for want of other talk that 's tattle forbidden in many places of Scripture Not out of Hatred and Revenge for that 's Malice there may be malice where the thing you speak is truth Not to please others that 's Flattery But if ever you speak of them and it should be with these cautions out of of zeal for the glory of God and the good of the Church If men did consider what restraints are laid upon them they would
motions and operations of the soul are under a rule Live as being always under the eye of God Live as being sensible God takes care for us himself remembreth us every moment therefore it is but reason we should take him II. Secondly A perseverance without Defection and Apostacy that we may not fall off from God when we have taken a Profession of his name upon us Now the considerations to quicken you to that will be these 1. Consider how equal it is that our Duty should last so long as we would have Gods Blessings last that one part should answer another We would have God bless us to the end therefore we must serve and obey him to the end Psal. 48. 14. For this God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto Death He doth not lay down the Conduct of his Providence untill we come to Heaven and therefore we should keep his Law for ever and ever How can we desire God to be ours to the end if we are not his to the end The Stipulation of our part of the Covenant must answer that of Gods 2. We have the same reasons to continue that we had to begin at first there is the same loveliness in Gods ways Christ is as sweet as ever and Heaven as worthy and as great as ever If there be any difference there is more Reason to continue than there was to begin why because we have more experience of the sweetness of Christ you knew him before only by report and hear-say but now you have tasted he is gracious you know him by experience 1. Pet. 2. 3. Surely when we have made trial Christ should be sweeter and Heaven nearer Rom. 13. 11. Our Salvation is nearer The nearer to the enjoyment of any good the more impatient in the want of it A Christian as he is the nearer to his Hopes and Happiness and the more experience of God and Christ the more stable should his heart be in the ways of God I speak of this because at first men are carried out with great affection and zeal and are of very promising beginnings There is no reason of altering our course and why we should grow remiss lazy and changeable in Gods Service What is more usual with men than to cast off their first Faith 1 Tim. 1. 12. and their first Love Rev. 2. 4. and their first diligence and obedience 2 Sam. 17. 3. We read of the first ways of David Many that seem to have set forth with a great deal of forwardness and zeal tire afterward In the Marriage-Relation true affection increaseth but Adulterous Love is hot only while it is new 3. Consider the danger and mischievous effects of Apostacy and declining from God 1. This is somewhat that you lose your Crown Rev. 3. 11. Hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy Crown The Honour and Comfort of all we have hitherto done and suffered will be lost and gone Therefore take heed to your selves that you lose not the things which we have wrought Ephes. 2. Iohn 8. All your watchings strivings prayings fastings professing the name of God all is come to nothing The Nazarite under the Law was to begin again if the days of his separation were defiled Numb 6. 12. If he had separated himself for such a while though he kept almost all his time yet if he defiled himself before the time was out he was to begin all again Ezek. 18. 24. When the Righteous turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth iniquity all his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned When you turn head against your former Profession all comes to nothing 2. Consider falling off is more dishonourable to God than a simple refusal why you bring an ill report upon him as if he were not a good Master A wicked man that refuseth Grace he does not so much dishonour God because his refusal is supposed to be the fruit of his prejudice But now you cast him off after trial and so your refusal is supposed to be the fruit of your experience as if the Devil were a better Master when you have tryed both you do as it were deliberately judge that Satans Service is best or that you do not find in God that which he Promised and you expected from him And that 's the reason why God stands upon his Credit and pleads with Apostates Ier. 2. 5. What iniquity have your Fathers found in me that they are gone far from me and Micah 6. 3. O my People what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me Is he hard to please or backward to reward what cause of distast have you found in him for you do implicitely accuse him 3. When you fall off after a tast of the sweetness and comfort of the practice of Godliness your condition is worse than if you had never begun and you will be more unable than you were at first A man that is climbing up a tree or ascending a Ladder if after he hath gotten up many steps he let go his hold and falls down he doth not only lose the benefit of his former pains but gets a bruised body and broken bones and is less able to climb up than he was before 4. All the Promises are made to perseverance Heb. 3. 6. 1 Col. 23. Rev. 2. 10. Rom. 2. 7. Oh there be many that leave their first Love and so they forfeit all the Comfort of the Promises 5. The more you persevere the more assurance you have of the goodness of your condition Heb. 6. 11. We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of Hope unto the end When a man keeps up his warmth his hope increaseth and he grows to more assurance and more establishment and keeps up his diligence in Gods Service Use 1. For Reproof 1. Those that take up Religion only by way of Essay and Tryal that do not resolve upon all hazards but take it only as a walk and not a Journey Like men that go to Sea for pleasure not to make a Voyage But when ever we begin with God we should say I will keep thy Law continually for ever and ever We should sit down and count the charges make God a good allowance resolve that nothing shall withdraw us from him 8 Rom. 35 36. 2. It Reproveth Aguish Christians whose Piety and Devotion takes them by Fits Their Righteousness is like the Morning Dew 6 Hosea 4. that cannot endure the Rising Sun and so they are off and on with God 3. Those that are of the Samaritan temper sway'd altogether by temporal Advantages The Samaritans sometimes they would be of the Jews Religion when favoured by Alexander when the Jews were pursued by other Princes then they would be against the Jews and deny the Temple of God Sometimes their Temple was dedicated to the God of Israel sometimes to the God of the
from the beginning as the good Angels continued in their first estate Men that are engaged in an evil course often continue in it without retractation they are no changelings always the same that 's no honour to them Luther when he was charged with apostasie for appearing against the Pope Confitetur se Apostatam esse sed beatum sanctum qui fidem Diabolo datam non servavit He confesseth he was an Apostate but a holy and blessed one that he did not keep touch with the Devil Constancy must ever be understood with respect to a right choice for to break faith with Satan is not matter of dishonour but of praise We must go on with an accurate prosecution for that giveth us experience and causeth us to find joy and sweetness and power in the truth and is a great means of constancy If men would be constant the next thing they must do is to practise that Religion they chuse and live under the power of it Holiness is a great means of constancy 1 Tim. 3. 9. Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience As precious liquors are best kept in clean vessels so is the mystery of faith in a pure conscience Men may be stubborn in their opinions out of natural courage and the engagement of credit and interests but this is of little worth without practical godliness their Orthodoxy and rightness in opinion will not bring them to heaven nor shall they be saved because they are of such a sect or party But then all must be closed up by persevering in our resolutions otherwise all our former zeal will be lost I have chosen the way of truth thy judgments have I laid before me and then now I have stuck unto thy testimonies O Lord put me not to shame 2 John 8. Look to your selves that ye lose not those things which ye have wrought All that a man hath done and suffered watching striving praying they come to nothing unless we stick to it and persevere Under the Law a Nazarite was to begin his days of separation again if he had defiled himself if he had separated himself for a year and kept his vow within two days of the year he was to begin all anew Numb 6. 12. and the interpretation of that type I cannot give you better than in the Prophets words Ezek. 18. 24. When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be remembred When they turn head against their former profession it comes to nothing Thus you see what a perfect dependence there is between this Verse and the former In the words there is 1. A profession I have stuck unto thy testimonies 2. A prayer O Lord put me not to shame First For the profession I have stuck to thy testimonies Saith Chrysostom he doth not say I have followed thy testimonies but stuck or cleaved stuck so fast that nothing could remove him no difficulties tryals shakings he was still firm Doct. Those that have chosen the way of God and begin to conform their practice thereunto ought with all constancy to persevere therein First We have the same reasons to continue that we had to begin at first there 's the same loveliness in God's ways Christ is as sweet as ever Heaven is as good as ever if there be any difference there is more reason to continue than there was to begin why because we have more experience of the sweetness of Christ you knew him heretofore only by report and hearsay but now when you have walked in the way of holiness then you know him by experience and if you have tasted 1 Pet. 2. 2. then certainly you should not fall off afterwards Upon trial Christ is sweeter and the longer you have kept to conscience heaven is nearer and would a man miscarry and be discouraged when he is ready to put into the Haven Rom. 13. 11. Your salvation is nearer than when you first believed The nearer we are to the enjoyment of any good the more impatient in the want of it As natural motion we find swifter in the end because it 's nearer to the center but Violent motion is swiftest at first as when a stone is thrown upward it is swifter at first but when the impression of the external force is more spent then the motion is weaker It argues that you are not seriously through with God if you should break with him after some profession of his Name now your motion should be more earnest more strong towards him I speak this because we are so apt to cast off our first faith 1 Tim. 5. 12. and to lose our first love Rev. 2. 4. and to grow remiss and lazy and neglect our first works 2 Chron. 17. 3. Iehoshaphat is said to walk in the first ways of his father David We see many at the first are carried on with a great deal of affection and zeal and there are many promising beginnings of a very flourishing spring but yet they are no sure prognostications of a joyful harvest why consider with your selves we have the same reasons to continue as to begin yea much more as heaven is nearer In a marriage-relation true affection encreaseth but adulterous love is only hot while it is new If our hearts be upright with God we will encrease with zeal for his glory and love to his testimonies Secondly The danger and mischievous effects of apostasie and falling off that 's another reason why we should stick to his testimonies 1. It is more dishonourable to God than a simple refusal for you bring an ill report upon him as if he were not a good Master A wicked man that refuseth grace doth not so much dishonour God because his refusal is supposed to be the fruit of his prejudice but now you that cast him off after tryal your apostasie is supposed to be the fruit of your experience as if the Devil were a better Master when you have tried both you return to him again Tertullian in his Book de Poenitentia hath this saying After you have tried God you do as it were deliberately judg Satans service to be better or at least you do not find that in God you did expect Therefore the honour of God is mightily concerned and lies at stake when you fall off after you have seemed to begin with him with a great deal of accurateness And God pleads for himself and stands for his credit which seems to be wronged by this apostasie Ier. 2. 5. casting off his service for the Idols of the Nation What iniquity have your fathers sound in me that they are gone far from me And Mic. 6. 3. O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me What can you complain of God Is God hard to be pleased backward to reward What cause of distast have you found in him for implicitely you do as it were accuse him 2.
When you fall off after a tast of the sweetness and practice of godliness your condition is worse than if you had never begun There are two dreadful Scriptures which speak of the condition of total Apostates after some tast and after they have had some savour of holy things and some delight in the ways of God One is Heb. 6. 4 5 6. For it is impossible c. Christians after they have had some tast and some enlightning and made a savoury profession of godliness afterwards they split themselves some fall forward to errors and preposterous zeal others fall backward by an unfaithful heart one breaks his face the other breaks his neck as old Eli. But a little to clear that place Certainly all of us should stand in fear of this heavy judgment of being given up to perish by our apostasie to an obstinate heart never to reconcile our selves by repentance even the children of God for he proposeth it to them supposeth they are made partakers of the heavenly calling The Apostle doth not speak there of every sin against knowledg but of apostasie from the faith of Christ and not of apostasie of general professors that lightly come and lightly go as the loose sort of Christians here among us but specially of those that had a tast savoury experience of the sweetness of Gods ways Again he doth not speak of apostasie for a fit in some great temptation of fear but of deliberate apostasie of those that were enlightned feeling tasting so as to make some strict profession afterward turn off lose all turn Atheists Antiscripturists Formalists renouncing Christ and the World to come in the hope of which they seemed before to be carried out with a great deal of delight and strength and affection The Apostle saith it is impossible they should be saved because it is impossible they should repent This is a fearful state and yet as fearful as it is it is not unusual it is a thing we see often in some that have made a savoury profession of the name of God and afterwards have been blasted either given up to an injudicious mind or to vile affections and are fallen off and it 's impossible to renew them again unto repentance O then you that have begun and have had a tast of the ways of God and begun to walk closely with him you should lay this to heart Therefore this is propounded to believers that they should keep at a very great distance from such a judgment lest we grow to such an impenitent state as to be given up to a reprobate mind and vile affections The other place is 2 Pet. 2. 21 22. It had been better for them not to have known c. Mark there are some that through the knowledg of Christ may upon some general assent to Gospel truths take up a strict profession of the name of Christ may escape the pollution of the world that is outward and gross sins being enrolled among God's children and have the priviledges of the members of his Church and yet after this may fall off dreadfully it were far better for such never to have been acquainted with God and Christ than to return to their old bondage A sin after knowledg and profession of the right way is greater than a sin of bare ignorance therefore their condition is far more deplorable than the condition of other sinners for no men sin with such malice as they do they have had greater conviction than others not only external representations of the doctrine of Christ but some tast and have made some closure with it in their own souls they are more given over by God than others and so there are none persecute and hate profession and strictness so much as they that are fallen from it and they are more oppressed and intangled by Satan as the Jaylor that hath recovered the prisoner which ran from him loads him with irons Therefore we had need betimes look to it and continue and persevere in the practice of the ways of God which we have owned and taken up upon experience USE 1. Get grace then look after perseverance Evil men must get grace and God's children their business is to persevere in that state to which they have attained But what should we do to persevere First Be fortified against what may shake you from without beware of being led away by offences and scandals Three things are wont to give offence and exceedingly shake the faith of some viz. Errors Persecutions Scandals 1. Errors Be not troubled when differences fall out about the truths of God nor shaken in mind the winds of error are let loose upon the floor of the Church to sever the chaff from the solid grain 1 Cor. 11. 19. There must be heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest Take heed of taking offence at errors I do not speak now of being led captive by error Many question the ways of God and give over all Religion because there are so many differences and sects therefore they think nothing certain Certainly God saw this discipline to be fittest for his people he hath told us there must be errors he would not have us take up Religion upon trust without the pains of study and prayer Lazy men would fain give Laws to Heaven and teach God how to govern the affairs of the world they would have all things clear and plain that there should be no doubt about it But the Lord in his wise Providence saw it fit to permit these things that they which are approved may be made manifest Men to excuse the trouble of search study and prayer would have all agreed else they take offence at Religion and think it to be but a fancy that is one means to draw them off even after some profession What the Canonists say grosly this was their blasphemy that God were not discreet and wise unless he had appointed one universal Test and one infallible Interpreter this is mens natural thoughts they would have such a thing The Iews say certainly Christ was not the true Messiah why because if he had he would not come in such a way as to leave any of his Countrey-men in doubt so many think Religion is but a fancy they fall off to Atheism and Scepticism at last and irresolution in Religion because there are so many Sects and Divisions and all upholding it with plausible pretences To excuse laziness we pretend want of certainty But God's word is plain to one that will do his will Iohn 7. 17. If we will use all the means God hath appointed and unfeignedly and with an unbiassed heart come to search out the mind of God 2. Persecutions they are an offence Matt. 11. 6. Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me When the people of God are exposed to great troubles when they are in the world they have but a mean outside what are these the Favourites of heaven it makes men take