them both as to the magnifying of his Grace as also for our own sakes and Interest The Ephesians cryed out Acts xix 28 Great is Diana of the Ephesians and could not tell for what reason but we when we hear of this have known and solid cause to cry out Glorious is the Grace of God which brought such Slaves of Sin into the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God Let me say as it is 1 Cor. xii 2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles carried away unto these Dumb Idols Do you not And consult Stories and they will tell you of the abominable Blindness and Barbarousness of this our Britain No Nation under Heaven went beyond it in these things And now look upon our Britain as under the Gospel and find ye not Cause to Glorifie God upon the Promise in the Text now accomplisht The Creature it self shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption c Could you but read Tacitus Caesar and others to observe how this Nation lived as Brutes Worshipped Idols Sacrificed sometimes Men and Women went most Naked were Barbarous above the most Barbarous And look upon England now and we have much like Cause of wonder to that Luke viii 35 Where those who found the Man out of whom the Devils were departed clothed and in his Right Mind are said to be afraid How great a Mercy does the Apostle speak in the Words of the Text The Creature it self shall be delivered c. In it we have Night and Day Darkness and Light what the Gentiles were as Gentiles and what as Called Set the Contraries one against another Bondage Liberty Corruption Glory For so it is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Liberty of Glory which is not amiss rendred as we do The Glorious Liberty so some do that Ephes. i. 6 To the Praise of his Glorious Grace But it bears a greater Emphasis to take it as the Greek hath it Into the Liberty of the Glory of the Children of God And what is meant by Glory Learn this by the contrary term It is opposed to Corruption as Liberty is to Bondage And therefore as Corruption means Sinfulness so Glory means Holiness And that so it is taken in the Phrase of Scripture the next Discourse will shew IV. The Christian Holiness as well as his Future Happiness stiled GLORY A HOLY Christian hath a Glory here and a Glory hereafter So that may be taken 2 Cor. iii. ult We are changed into the Image of God from Glory to Glory That is from HOLINESS to HAPPINESS In 1 Pet. iv 14 Mention is there made of the Spirit of Glory and of God If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of GLORY and of God resteth on you We need not dispute what this Spirit of Glory is take it for the Spirit of Holiness and it gives it but its right Title Rom. viii 30 Whom he Called them he also Justified and whom he Justified them he also Glorified Where is Sanctified It is included in Glorified Those that he Justified he endued with the Glory of Holiness here and shall reward with Eternal Glory hereafter Lam. iv 2 The precious Sons of Zion comparable to fine Gold how are they esteemed as Earthen Pitchers Jeremiah was one of them He and the rest were now poor and contemptible in this sad Captivity but they carried a precious Glory about them a Value and Shining above the finest Gold Psal. cx 3 Thy People shall be willing in the Day of thy Power in the Beauties of Holiness Some take these Beauties of Holiness to mean the Temple But take it in the Propriety of the Word and 't is a most fit Title for Holiness And observe it is not Beauty only but Beauties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may well be rendred Glories Not one Beauty not one Glory but many joined together or all Beauties are in Holiness and none in any thing else Eph. v. 27 That he might present it to himself a GLORIOUS Church Alas It was a Poor Persecuted Church but this made it a GLORIOUS Church viz. The Glory of Holiness it was decked withal for so it follows That it should be Holy and without Blemish The Jews speak of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cloaths of Glory that God made for Adam and that they descended to the First-Born This is the true Clothing of the Children of God that God makes for them as Jacob did for his Son Joseph that they appear by their GLORY the Sons of God A View and Proof of this Glory let us take by comparing it with all other Glories set before you as the Devil did before Christ Luke iv 5 6. All the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them and then set before you a Child of God in the Glory of Holiness and what say you to the Comparison 1. 'T is a Glory and Beauty that all the World cannot give As Solon said to Craesus in all his Glory that every Peacock was braver Every Lilly of the Field is finer than Solomon in all his Glory But this is a Beauty above Art and Nature when God Decks and Dresseth a Saint and that with his own Divine Image Ephes. iv 24. There you Read of putting on a New Man after God's Image A New Creature Clothed in Righteousness and Holiness after God's own Image 'T is but a poor Glory that Satan can give as that in Luke iv the Kingdoms of the World 'T is but a poor Beauty that Art can give as Jezebel's Face 'T is but a poor Lustre that Nature can give as Skin-deep Beauty That is the Glory that God alone can give that is found no where but in his Treasury Jewels in his Cabinet the Dressings of his VVardrobe 2. 'T is a Glory and Beauty that all the VVorld cannot take away A Treasure that neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt nor Thieves break through and Steal The pitiful Bravery of the World that is blasted in a Moment either fading by its own Nature and Frailty or by Thieves or Fire or some other Occurrence or by an immediate Hand of God Ah! Glorious Holiness that nothing can undo Luke x. 42 Mary hath chosen that good part that shall not be taken away from her This is a Treasure that all the Devils in Hell cannot Plunder from the Owner He could Plunder indeed Job's Estate but he could not his Holiness It is Gold that the Fire of Persecution cannot Consume but Refine A Shining of the Beauty and Image of God in the Soul that cannot be defaced An everlasting Glory that never changeth but to a greater Glory 3. 'T is a Beauty and Glory that God himself is in Love withal Ezek. xvi There Judah is said to be Lovely not in the Eyes of Man but of God Holiness is a Dress that only pleaseth God V. An Elucidation of Heb. x. 26 27. If we Sin wilfully after we have received the Knowledge of the Truth there remaineth
Sept. 28. It appeared at Sun-rise and said Thou told'st Mr. Crompton the Town where Anne Harrison lived was Redstone but I told thee Barnstone Sept. 29. At Eight a Clock it appear'd and the Woman said In the Name of the Father c. How camest thou to be so long down and not to appear It answered she said certain Prayers over me when they struck down the Stake that I could not appear Upon Thursday about Sun-rise it appeared Isabel asked what became of his Horse It answered My Horse was sold on Midsummer-day at Beverly to one Mr. Weldbread that liveth in the South for 5 l. Octob. 4. It appeared to several of the Town of Driffield But Isabel was not at home and did not see it It appear'd in White all the time like one of Eighteen Years old Some Gentlemen bade Isabel ask it where he should abide after Seven Years were expired It said I must enjoy the happy Eternity and in the mean time the Lord is my Governour Signed Thomas Blackwell It is pity the Relation went no further For one would have been glad to have known to what Issue this Business came and whether this Woman accused by the Spirit ever came to her Trial. The Credit of this Story depended not upon Isabel alone for it appears the Spectre was seen also by others and the Circumstances were such as did mightily confirm Evidence of her to whom it chiefly reveal'd it self and its Cause And it appears that Crompton the Justice a Person as it seems of Sobriety and good Judgment slighted her not but advised her to put divers material Demands to it And the Story seems also to have found good Credit with our Divine as well as others in that he thought fit to transcribe the whole Relation which I have here exemplified And so I leave it I have one Demonstration more of his Piety to God that he continued as long as he lived constant and painful in the Word and Doctrine And as he was an assiduous and excellent Preacher so his Sermons ran very much upon a Strain of urging Holiness and a pure and good Life upon his Auditors in a plain but nervous Stile teaching them substantial Virtue and Goodness seldom meddling with Controversies unless they were such as tended to obstruct the Necessity of a Holy Life or to undermine the Purity and Humility required in the Gospel or enticed to a Revolt from the Protestant Religion Thus he shewed them that it was no such easie Matter to be a Christian but that it required long Pains and Diligence A Change from Sin to God is a continued Act and requires Space and Time to accomplish it Our Fall was in a Moment that Change from our Happiness to our Sinfulness and Misery was in an Instant but our changing back again requires time A Man may fall off from an high Tower in a Moment but to recover his Bruise and to climb up thither again is not so soon done And because many were apt to defer their Repentance by the Example of the good Thief hoping to have their great Work done in an Instant and to find such Success as he did therefore Dr. Lightfoot added That in all the Bible we have but one Example of a short Change and that was the Thief on the Cross who had his Work of renewing done in an Hour or thereabouts But it was at such a time as never was before and never will be again When the Son of God was undergoing his great CHANGE from Life to Death and was purchasing the CHANGE of his People from Death to Life If thou canst light on such a nick of Time which is impossible then thou mightest expect it possible that this Change should be wrought suddenly Otherwise expect it will take up no little time We must distinguish of the first working of Grace and of the Growth and Encreasing from thenceforward That first Work of Grace doth indeed translate the Person from one Condition to another but Succession of Time and Growing in Grace is required to transform him thorowly from one Temper to another Again the first Work of Grace doth indeed make a Man capable of Heaven but more is required to make him fit for Heaven He puzzled not his People with propounding to them nice and critical Signs to know whether they were in a State of Grace but shewed the plain way to be satisfied therein Who is there but if he will well examine himself may easily tell whether he be in the Ways of God or no Let him but try his Heart and Actions whether God in his Word hath commanded or allowed such an Heart and such Actions as he carries and acts or whether he hath forbade and cried out against them Who but his own Heart will easily tell him that God never commanded or allowed him to Lye and Deceive to be Cross and Contentious to be Proud and Scornful to be Wanton and Luxurious to be Envious and Revengeful to be Worldly and Covetous And therefore if he carry such an Heart and if he practice such Practices as these he must needs conclude that he is under God's Blaming and Complaint He checked those that tho' they were none of the best yet entertained a Confidence that they should do well and bolstered out themselves with good Hopes of their own Condition using these Words to such That Man that hath ever gone in a sinful worldly Way never minding any thing but to satisfie his own Mind and Lust and yet will not be driven out of Hope that he shall be saved as well as the best This is not Hope but Drunkenness As you may perswade a drunken Man to very strange Hopes This is Raving rather than solid Hoping For true and right Hope wheresoever it comes creeps out of Fear as poor Israel did out of their Caves and Dens when the Fear and Danger of the Enemy was past and over And again Hope never comes but where Fear hath been before As the still Voice to Elias came not but after Fire Earthquake and Tempest The Soul that will breed and bring forth a lively Hope must like Rebecca bring forth the rough rugged Esau of Fear before it bring forth the smooth Jacob of Hope There is first the Spirit of Bondage unto Fear before there comes the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father A Conscience that was never troubled startled or molested but blith debonair and fearless is not Peace of Conscience the Gift of God but Deadness and Stupidity of Conscience the Spirit of Slumber He gave Men this wholsome Admonition concerning the Exercises of Religious Worship Prayer confessing of Sin attending upon God's Service these are Sacrifices that God requires and they are Sacrifices with which God is well pleased if they be well done But there is one thing more that God requires and without which these are nothing and that is that which the Apostle speaks of Rom. xii at the beginning for a Man to
sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He had a Remnant according to Election among them Rom. xi 5 It was then for the sake of their Fathers and for his own Name 's sake too Ezek. xxxvi And that is the second Reason Secondly He spared them for his own Name 's sake Consider we a little God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. xii 1 2. Now the Lord had said unto Abram get thee out of thy Country and from thy Kindred and from thy Father's House and I wilt bless thee and make thy Name great and thou shalt be a Blessing 1. Messiah must take Flesh of Abraham God appointed it that the Messiah should be of this Seed Heb. ii 16 He took not on him the Nature of Angels but he took on him the Seed of Abraham and the rest of the Seed of Abraham God chose for the visible Church 2. Having chosen it tho' perverse yet it had two Tyes upon him to shew Mercy First His Covenant and Secondly the Glory of his Name This Moses pleads in Behalf of Israel Upon this it is that God wisht Psal. lxxxi 13 O! that my People had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my Ways And Deut. v. 29. O! that there were such a Heart in them c. That is that his Covenanted People for the Honour of his Name would walk in his Ways and be obedient that he might not destroy them From hence we make two Observations First What a Canker stuck to this People in the beginning and yet they lasted a long time after This Sin and God's Doom laid on them and yet they remained a People Now wherein lyes the proper Cause of a sinful Peoples prospering enjoying of the Gospel and all good things Let England be the Example How many profane People in it How many that mind not God What Sins are among us And yet England lives Wherein lyes the Cause God's Covenant With whom VVith a peculiar People that fear him How God's Covenant God's Covenant is God's VVord of Promise and the Conditions thereof that be brought to a People And why does this Covenant procure us this Good from God Because there are some that do embrace it For their sakes God doth well to a Nation and yet they are commonly despised and persecuted So Lot was in Sodom VVhy does the VVorld stand That the Elect may be gathered Secondly A Generation may sin to that height as to bring a Guilt and Punishment upon succeeding Generations God threatens I will visit the Sins of the Fathers upon the Children This oft proves true in whole Nations As the Jews Idolatry with the Golden Calf had a sad Influence upon their Posterity And so also had that Saying of theirs long after His Blood be on us and on our Children VI. The Case of Widows marrying again considered CERTAIN VVidows were shrewdly taxed by S. Paul for marrying again in 1 Tim. v. 11 12. But the younger Widows refuse for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ they will marry Having Damnation because they have cast off their first Faith And the Rhemists hereupon make second Matriages a Fault little less if any thing at all than Adultery I shall speak something of such a VVoman's Case The Matter here at first Sight is obscure VVe will therefore take up first the general Scope of the Apostle at this Place and then particularly unfold the several Clauses of these Verses Writing to Timothy Minister of the Church at Ephesus he gives Rules for ordering the Church there as Chap. iii. 14 15. These things I write unto thee â—â—ping to come unto thee shortly But if I tarry long that thou mightest know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God And First in the Third Chapter Rules for ordaining of Ministers and appointing Deacons and what Persons they ought to be And in this Chapter Rules concerning poor Widows to be taken to the Charge and Maintenance of the Church and to be in some Office and Employment in it They had their Xenedocheion i. e. Hospital and Widows in it to look to the Poor to get Strangers Meat to take Care of their Lodging c. Rom. xvi 1 will illustrate this I commend unto you Phoebe our Sister which is a Servant of the Church which is at Cenchrea In ver 9. they are not to be taken in under Threescore Years old So that the Apostle allows Maintainance for Widows poor Widows and Aged Widows because they had not Familes to care for as the Married had Poor that they might be relieved by the Church and do the Church some Service And Aged because such would be grave prudent and sober But the younger Widows refuse for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ they will marry c. The Rhemists brag here for the Vow of single Life such as of Priests and Nuns Because the Apostle saith not They wax wanton and play the Whore but wax wanton and Marry Therefore they conclude it means the Vow of Chastity and single Life and they extol that Vow and cry out of the Marriage of such who have made such rash Vows First Observe that Rev. ix 8 The Locusts have the Hair of Women that is long Hair as Nazarites pretending Vows Secondly We may say Wo to them that call Evil Good and Good Evil. What is their Doom that call Vowing single Life so great a Piece of Religion which is in it self evil Chastity is good and single Life good in some Respects 1 Cor. vii 34 but to vow either is Evil because it is to vow what is not in our own Power Jer. iv 2 we are to vow in Judgment as well as in Righteousness Not only to vow that which is lawful but what is in our own Power to do For a Man to vow he will fly in the Air walk on the Sea c. is a sinful Vow because impossible so to vow a single Life is for ought he knows as impossible for him and to live chastly And God hath evidenced his Curse upon this their wretched Vowing by giving them up to horrid Uncleanness and to the Murther of their Children But we will not insist on this we are taught that Marriage is Honourable and that all cannot attain to live single and that it is better to marry than to burn But in the Case before us there is no Vow at all but another Matter A poor young Widow if taken in to be sustained by the Stock of the Church and do some Service in it as tending the Sick c. will be ready to hearken after being married and so will be careless of the Charge committed to her will be ready to be wanton and so be a Scandal Nay may be ready to be wanton against the Religion of Christ and marry to an Infidel and so cast off her first Faith The Apostle makes Supposal what young Widows may be incident to Their Age may incline them to marry their Inclination to marry
Scriptures upon that Account But he reads studies meditates on them finds the Divine Excellency Sweetness Power of them And then he believes they are the VVord of God And that now is not for the Churches sake but for themselves The Church of England in the Thirty-nine Articles hath determined such Books Canonical VVhy Because the Church hath ever held them so That is some Furtherance to their Belief but not the cause of it They first believed the Church held them so but they saw Cause and Reason in the Books themselves to believe they were so As the Samaritans believed not at first that Christ was Christ for the VVoman's Relation but they believed she thought so and believed he might be so but that he was so they believed upon his own Words So we believe the Church owns the Scriptures but he is but a poor Christian that believes the Scriptures are the Scriptures upon no other Account He may believe the Canons of the Council of Trent about Scripture upon such an Account But he is a right Christian that believes the Scripture is the Word of God upon Proof and Trial. II. The Communion of Saints THIS Article harps upon the String of that before I believe the Holy Catholick Church and I believe that Church is in a Communion It is a Church of Saints for it is a Holy Church and tho' it be Catholick dispersed in divers Nations yet there is a Communion of those Saints But to what is this Article material What is it to me whether there be a Communion of Saints or no It is material in it self and if thou beest a true Christian it is material to thee And there is no true Saint but he blesseth God that there is such a Communion and he rejoyceth to be of that Communion as in the opening of the thing you will see the Cause If I should say there is a Communion of Devils or a Communion of ungodly Wretches Devils incarnate I doubt it would prove too true and it might not be unprofitable to observe such a fearful Communion to avoid it But when I say there is a Communion of Saints it is not only a Truth in Divinity but it is a Comfort in Religion and a Perswasive in Reason that Men would strive to be of that Communion if they did but understand what it meant It is not only I believe there is a Company of Saints for the Article before speaks that but I believe there is a Sacred Union Communion common Interest among that Company what is advantageous to every Member and to the whole What this Communion is and wherein it consists we must find out by these Considerations I. That Saints are very thin in the World Here one of Christ's little Flock there another but very rare Jer. iii. 14 And I will take you one of a City and two of a Family and I will bring you to Zion There were many Thousands in the City and but One of so many and many Cities in a Tribe and but Two of all these the Lord 's picked ones to bring to Zion Take the Character of a true Saint of God as David pictures him Psal. xv and how rarely is such an one to be found Day was when in all Jerusalem among Thousands of Persons such a Person was not to be found Jer. v. 1 Run ye to and fro through the Streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad Places thereof if ye can find a Man if there be any that executeth Judgment and seeketh the Truth and I will pardon it Cast out the Chaff and Refuse that is in the World and how very little Wheat is to be found Openly prophane and close Hypocrites carnal Gospellers and lukewarm Christians covetous Worldings and voluptuous Epicures set these aside by themselves and look at those that truly fear God and eschew Evil that deny themselves and dare not break any Command of God and how small is that Number But Three Hundred in Gideon's Army fit to do the Work of God of Thirty-two Thousand If there be Three Hundred of Three Hundred Thousand that prove true Saints it is well if there be so many as it is sad there be no more Let me pose any one or let every one pose their own Heart Dost thou think thou art a true Saint of God Every one will be ready to assume the Title but sift thy Heart to the Bran and what saith it Is there no Love of the World No Malice Pride Self-seeking Coldness in Religion Carelesness of Duty there I tell thee a Saint's Heart is a rare Jewel we may go a great way before we find one Oh! that all the Lord's People were Prophets as Moses said so I say Oh! that they were Saints But it proves not so A Saint is a rare Creature and they grow very thin in the World here and there a Berry in the Top of a Bough here and there a Plant of the Lord 's planting but very rare Therefore when the Creed speaks of the Catholick Church meaning true Saints that serve God in Truth it speaks not Multitude tho' it mean Universal But it speaks that such are scattered up and down the World here some in one Nation there some in another here One in One City there another in another II. Therefore Communion of Saints cannot mean Personal or Local Union or Communion Saints in one Place or in one Lump together Not a College of all Saints in one Place but a Communion 'twixt them as scattered here and there all the World over As there is a Communion 'twixt two Friends one in Turky another in England one in New England another in Old The Jews little understand the Communion of Saints when they construe Hos. i. 11 Then shall the Children of Judah and the Children of Israel be gathered together and they shall appoint themselves one Head c. and such other Places Literally of their Meeting together and going to Canaan together and dwelling there together Whereas the Words mean their gathering into Communion of another Nature How would you understand that Mat. xxiv 31 And he shall send his Angels with a great Sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds from one end of Heaven to the other By the Angels he means his Messengers the Ministers by the Sound of a Trumpet he means the Gospel by the whole he means that after the Destruction of Jerusalem of which the Speech is in the Verses before God by the preaching of the Gospel would fetch in his Elect among all Nations or call home the Gentiles But how gather them together What Into any one Place or Country or City No but into such a Communion as we are speaking of in the several Nations or Countries where they lived One Saint in Judea another in Assyria another in Greece All staying in the Place where they receive the Gospel and yet all gathered together into one