had taken some part of their discipline did forbid a great number of meats and contained several very scrupulous regulations about eating as you may see in the eleventh chapter of Leviticus and in other places Among the beasts of the field it permitted the Jews to take none for meat but such as chew the cud and divide the hoof and among fishes none but such as have fins and scales and by this rule it banish'd from their tables Hares Rabbets Leverets The Hog the Lamprey the Tortoise and many other kinds that I may not speak of several sorts of birds which were interdicted them It was an abomination for them so much as to touch any of these things And for drink though there was no general rule given yet they had divers particular observations which do referr unto it as for instance Nâ—m 19.15 they were not to drink any liquor drawn out of a vessel that had no close cover and the more devout absteined from wine and strong drink either for ever or for some time only according to the law of the Nazarites And that they might not fall unwittingly into the transgressing of some of these rules they did never eat with Pagans or of any meat they had dress'd for fear there might have been some lard in it or some other mixture of things prohibited them or that their meat and drink had been offer'd to idols as with the Pagans was ordinary a thing they greatly had in abomination For this cause Daniel and his fellows Dan. 1.8 would not taste of the meat or of the wine of the King of Babylon's table desiring rather to eat nothing but pulse and drink nothing but water then put themselves upon the danger of being defiled And hereto we must referr that eating herbs which the Apostle reports of those weak ones Rom. 14.2 who still retained the Mosaical distinction of meats The meaning is that living among Pagans and fearing lest the victuals they sold in their shambles and shops were defiled one way or other they forbore them and restrain'd themselves to herbs in which they feared no such thing The Judaical rules about eating and drinking being such it is hard to say whether the Seducers reteined them all in general or observed only part of them Great probability there is that they adhered to them in some sort either in whole or in part Yet drawing a part of their observations as they did from the sinks of secular Philosophy it might well be that beside what they had taken out of Judaism to this purpose they did mingle with it some observances of the Philosophers also who likewise had their abstinences as we understand by the books of the ancients And that of the Pythagoreans is sufficiently known who fed on herbs and fruits only forbidding the use of all animated things It is very likely that those false Apostles upon whom S. Paul hath his eye here had some such discipline considering that which he addeth afterwards of the nature and ends of their abstinences And this is that which we may say concerning their laws about the matter of eating and drinking As for the days which they observed all those that the Apostle nameth in the Text were taken out of Judaism For that the new Moons by which the Hebrews began all the months of their year as the most part of the people of the East do to this day that they I say were solemnly observ'd among the Jews do's appear both by divers places in Moses where he ordeineth Num. 10.10 28.11 Psal 81.4 that a Trumpet be sounded at the beginning of the month and that certain peculiar sacrifices be offered unto GOD and also by that Psalm where the Prophet commandeth to sound the trumpet on the new Moon upon the solemn feast-day and again by Isaiah where GOD rejecting the vain services which hypocrites presented Him without any true 〈◊〉 13 14. faith or devotion doth say As for the new Moons and the Sabbaths and the opening of your convocations I can no longer bear the trouble of them nor of your solemn assemblies My soul hateth your new Moons and your solemn feasts They are grievous to me I am weary to bear them As concerning the Sabbath that is the seventh day of every week which we call Saturday no body is ignorant with what devotion it was observed and kept holy by the Jews according to the ordinance of GOD repeated in divers places of Moses and even registred among the ten articles of the Decalogue Again by the festivals which S. Paul mentions he meaneth those high days which besides the Sabbaths and new Moons that went on in the ordinary succession of weeks and months were solemnized at certain seasons of the year as the Passeover on the fourteenth day of the first month remarkable for the immolation of the Lambe and for the unleavened bread Nâ—m 24. and lasted seven dayes Pentecost which was kept fifty dayes after the Passeover and the feast of Tabernacles which was celebrated the fifteenth day of the seventh month and lasted seven dayes which the people spent under Tents and Booths So you see the Apostle doth here point at all the three kinds of Jewish feasts those of the year which he calleth simply festivals to wit the Passeover Pentecost and the Tabernacles those of months which were the new Moons and in fine those of the weeks which were the Sabbaths Now whereas the French hath translated it in the distinction of a festival day it is word for word in the original in part of a festival day which some take to signify in respect of festivals or upon the account of festivals in the same sense that S. 1 Pet. 4.16 Peter seems to use the word when he saith If any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorify GOD in this part or in this behalf that is in this respect and as to this matter And thus the Apostle in this place would say let no man condemn you in regard of festivals or for festivals that is in the matter of the observation of certain dayes But the word here used being the root of that other which in Greek signifies to distinguish to sever to divide as in French partir and partager do come from the word part or partie that Interpreter hath not succeeded ill in rendring it the distinction For they that keep holy certain dayes and make them festival do distinguish them from others and set them apart to observe and celebrate them quite otherwise then they do other dayes For substance the Apostles intention is clear namely that he forbids every man whoever he be to condemn Christians in respect of the use of certain meats and the observing of certain dayes Let no man condemn you saith he in eating or in drinking or in distinguishing of a festival day or of a new Moon or of Sabbaths It is properly in the Original Let no
good thing so necessary for you If you have it not hitherto ask it of GOD incessantly with prayers and tears and quit Him not before you have obtained it If you have it thank Him for it more than for all the goods of the Universe and make account that in giving you charity He hath given you the Life the Kingdom and the Crown of Heaven Exercise this precious gift continually let there be none of your neighbours without feeling of it Do good to all Communicate what you have received the light of your knowledge to the ignorant the succour of your good offices to the afflicted the sweetness of your patience to enemies the consolation of your visits to the sick the assistance of your alms to the needy the example of your innocence to all with whom you converse But have a particular care of Saints the members of the LORD JESUS who serve Him here with you and how poor soever they be have yet been redeemed with His blood and predestinated to His glory as well as you Dear Brethren your labour shall not be in vain Your charity shall bring forth it's fruits in their season with a most abundant usury For terrene and perishing good things which you shall have sowed here below you shall one day reap on high those that are celestial and immortal for a little bread and a little money that you shall now give to JESUS CHRIST you shall receive from His liberal hand the delights of Paradice and the treasures of eternity This is the hope which is reserved for you in the Heavens It is not the word of weak and vain men that hath promised it to you You have heard by the Gospel the Word of Truth which cannot lye And as so magnificent an hope should enflame our Charity so should it comfort our patience and render it invincible under the Cross to which the Name of CHRIST doth subject us Consider a little what the men of the world do and suffer for uncertain hopes that whirl in the Air flote on the Sea and depend upon the Wind and Fortune to how many dangers they expose themselves to what travail and disquiet they condemn themselves Voluntarily passing nights and dayes in a most laborious servitude for an imaginary good that neither yet is nor perhaps shall ever be and which how happy soever the success of their designs may be they shall not enjoy at most but during some years only Christian shall it be said that you have less zeal for Heaven than these people have for Earth Their hope is doubtful Yours is assured Theirs dependeth on the will of men and the inconstancy of elements Yours is in Heaven Pursue then generously so high and glorious a design And since your hope is in Heaven have incessantly heart affection and thought there Regard no more either flesh or earth it is not here your bliss is JESUS CHRIST hath seated it on high at the right hand of the Father in the Palace of His holiness Let this excellent hope sweeten all the evil you suffer here below If you be not at ease here if you be despised if you have no part in the wealth or honours of the world think that in like manner neither is it here that JESUS CHRIST hath promised you the rewards of your piety That Heaven which you see so constant and immutable keeps them faithfully for you You shall there receive one day the honour the glory and the dignities you now breath after not to possess them during some miserable moneths as worldlings enjoy their pretended riches but eternally with a perfect and unspeakable contentment in the blessed communion of Saints of Angels and of JESUS CHRIST the Lord of the one and the others To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit the only true GOD blessed for ever be honour and glory to ages of ages Amen THE II. SERMON COL I. Ver. VI VII VIII Vers VI. The Gospel which is come unto you as also it is into all the World and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day you heard and knew the Grace of GOD in truth VII As also you have learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant who is a faithful Minister of CHRIST for you VIII Who also hath declared unto us your charity which you have in the Spirit DEar Brethren the Gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST is the most excellent and most admirable Doctrine that was ever published in the Universe It is the grand mysterie of GOD the wisdom of Angels and men the glory of Heaven and the happiness of the Earth It is the only seed of immortality the perfection of our nature the light of our understandings and the sanctity of our affections There is no Philosophy or other Discipline but this alone that is able to deliver us from the slavery of Devils and make us Children of the most High It is this solely that truly purifieth us from the filth of sin and clotheth us with a complete righteousnes that plucketh us out of the hands of death and hell and giveth us access to the Throne of GOD there to receive of His bounty life and supreme felicity All other religions invented and followed by flesh and blood are wayes of perdition disciplines of errour and vanity that present themselves to poor men in the thick darkness of their ignorance as those seducing fires that sometimes abuse Travellers during the obscurity of the Night leading them into the deeps of death and eternal malediction The Law it self though come from on high is nevertheless as much beneath the dignity of the Gospel as Sinai is beneath Heaven and Moses beneath JESUS CHRIST The Law affrighteth Consciences the Gospel assureth them The one slayeth the sinner the other raiseth Him up again The one maketh grace be desired the other makes it be enjoyed The one presented the shadows and figures of the truth the other giveth us the lively image and very body thereof Whence you may judge my Brethren how much it concerneth us to know so saving and Divine a Doctrine that we may embrace and obey it since the repose and happiness of our souls stand on it which we shall unprofitably seek any other where It is to enflame us with an ardent desire of this holy and blessed knowledge that the Apostle St. Paul proposeth to us so often in His Epistles the praises of the Gospel scarce ever naming it without adding presently something to its commendation as the custome is of those that love ardently never to speak of that they love without giving it some Elogy that testifies both its excellency and their passion Such is the manner of Our St. Paul towards the Gospel of his Master He hath his soul so full of the love and admiration of this Heavenly doctrine that He can neither pronounce nor write the name of it but He accompanies it with praises as the just and due marks of its dignity We have
task of our whole life in especial manner at present now that the death of our LORD and Saviour and his resurrection and his holy Supper do call us to extraordinary efforts of piety and sanctity And if the labour be great the felicity and the glory that follows it is infinite Let us employ our selves in it well-beloved Brethren with ardency and generosity put off the body of all our sins that having truly crucified our old man with the LORD JESUS we may also rise again with Him to be enliven'd by his Celestial food and have part for ever after the short trials of this life in His blessed immortality Amen The Twenty-third SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER XII XII Being buried with Him through baptism in which also you are raised again together through the faith of the efficacy of GOD who hath raised Him from the dead DEar Brethren It is very true that the solemnity of this great day which hath been consecrated by all Christians to the resurrection of the LORD JESUS and sanctifi'd by the Mysteries of his Table at which we have communicated doth require more than ordinary devotion and meditations of us Yet I have not needed to seek a subject for the present exercise any other where than in the series of the ordinary Texts which I do in this place expound to you the words I have read which immediately succeed those you heard last LORD's Day excellently suiting each of those duties to which this day is particularly dedicated For they treat of our LORD's resurrection and of the fruits that redound to us thereby as also of Baptism wherein they are communicated to us and which was wont for this reason to be solemnly administred heretofore in the ancient Church on the night before Easter and of that faith by which we become possess'd of this Divine Resurgent Lastly They speak of the interest we have in his burial that sequel of his precious death the blessed commemoration whereof we have celebrated this morning Subjects these which are as is plain to all eminently meet for the devotion of this day This then shall be by the will of GOD the matter of this action Faithful Souls afford it a vigorous and a deep attention elevating your thoughts to JESUS CHRIST the Prince of our salvation and Author of our immortality whiles we shall endeavour to represent to you what his Apostle here teacheth us about our communion in his burial and resurrection You may remember that to confound the impiety of certain Seducers who would oblige Christians to Mosaical Circumcision this holy man alledg'd in the precedent Text that we have in JESUS CHRIST that substance and truth whereof the Judaical Circumcision was but the shadow and model having in him put off the body of the sins of the flesh so as having receiv'd through the grace of JESUS this mystical and divine circumcision the other carnal and typical one is altogether useless to us and cannot be desired or practis'd by Christians without wronging their Saviour He still prosecutes that same intention and to shew how rich that sanctifying-grace is which we have in JESUS CHRIST he adds that besides our being circumcised by the virtue of his word and divested of the body of the sins of the flesh we have moreover been buried with him through Baptism and further that we are therein risen again with him through the faith of the efficiency of GOD who raised him from the dead For a right understanding of these words we are to consider First The communion we have both in the burial and resurrection of our LORD JESUS CHRIST And secondly The twofold means by which this communion is given us to wit Baptism and the Faith of the efficiency of GOD who hath raised our LORD from the dead The Apostle expresseth the first point in these words Being buried with him in which also you are risen again together As for our burial with the LORD you know that having suffer'd on the Cross that dolorous and accursed death which we had merited his sacred body loosned from that mournful tree and wrap'd up in a sheet was by Joseph of Arimathea laid in a new Sepulcher where it remained three days without motion without respiration and without life in this sad state the last of our infirmities until the beginning of the third day when he gloriously rose again The transcendent wisdom of the Father which ordered all the parts of this great work proceeded thus here very fitly to justifie the truth of his Son's death by his stay in the grave For if he had resum'd his life immediately after he laid it down and descended from the Cross alive again I confess such a Miracle might have astonish'd and transported the minds of the Spectators and demonstrated that this Divine crucified Person was more than man But on the other hand it would have rendred his death suspicious and without doubt made men imagine that it had been but a feigned and false appearance and no real separation of his soul from his body which opinion would evidently have shaken and overthrown our salvation it being entirely founded on the death of the LORD JESUS Whereas therefore it so highly concerns us to believe the same GOD hath in such sort assured and certifi'd the truth that we have not any shew of reason to call it in question For this cause it was his will that the LORD JESUS having commended his spirit into his hands should be laid in the Sepulcher and continue there three days there remaining after this no more cause to doubt but that he was truly dead since he was so long a time in the state of the dead Moreover our consolation required that he should enter into our Sepulchers to take away for us the horror of them and to assure us by His example that they have not force enough to detain our bodies for ever or to hinder them from rising one day again It 's for these reasons and other such that JESUS CHRIST would go down into this death's last entrenchment The Apostle saith then that true believers have been buried with him How so you will say seeing that they being living persons were never laid in the grave and surely not in our LORD's that was situate on Mount Calvary nigh to Jerusalem places very far distant from our abode Dear Brethren there is no man so gross but doth plainly see that these words are not to be taken according to the letter but figuratively and that they signifie not a natural but a mystical Sepulcher And in such a sense it may be said two manner of ways That we have been buried in CHRIST or with CHRIST First in regard of our justification that is the remission of our sins And secondly in regard of our sanctification and the mortifying of the old man For as concerning the first it is evident that JESUS CHRIST was not buried as neither was he crucified and put to death but for us only
that supposing a man be perfectly cured of vicious habits and inclinations yet would he nevertheless be faulty by reason of his fore-passed sins and consequently liable upon this account unto the curse with which and the terrors that precede it true life is so incompatible that it is not imaginable a man in such a state could ever resolve to serve GOD freely and sincerely Therefore GOD that he may throughly quicken us doth not only deliver us from the tyranny of vice and of the flesh by that Princely Spirit which he poureth into our inward parts but moreover pardoneth us all the sins whereof we are guilty and it seems in very deed if we do accurately observe the moments of his action in us that it 's there he does begin first remitting our former offences to the end that the sense of this goodness of His may cause us to love him and encline us to obey him and conform our selves with all our might unto his holy will The Apostle attributeth unto this remission two remarkable qualities One that GOD forgiveth us all our offences that is doth not impute to us any of our sins either in whole or in part but treateth us as if we had committed none at all Another is that he doth it freely and of meer grace for so doth the word giving used here in the Original properly signifie as our Translation hath well express'd by rendring He hath freely forgiven us The Scripture tells us not of any other kind of pardon For as to that which our Adversaries do assert to wit whereby the fault is remitted but the punishment exacted either in whole or in part or is bought out with the payment of our own satisfactions or the satisfactions of others it's a figment of their own Schools of which the Holy Ghost says nothing any where but represents unto us all that remission which GOD gives the faithful either at the beginning or in the progress of their regeneration as an entire pardon and purely gratuitous As for that satisfaction by which our LORD and Saviour obtained it for us it is so far from any way diminishing that it does infinitely exalt the bounty of GOD towards us since that he so loved us as that he might pardon our faults with the consent of his Justice he would have his only Son to shed his precious blood for the contenting thereof This is that we had to deliver upon this Text of the Apostle's Dear Brethren Let us hold fast what it hath taught us of the condition that all men are naturally in before GOD calleth them to his grace Let not their outward appearance deceive you nor the pleasures of their flesh nor the splendor of their pretended virtues either civil or moral All this is but a false image of life covering a carkass that 's stinking and abominable before GOD. Make account that they are dead and that if they walk it is not a true principle of life but sin the poyson of life which doth animate them and set them on working The issue will one day clear it to us all when the just judgment of GOD having stript them of that fallacious disguise which now hideth the hideousness of their nature shall shew it before Heaven and Earth and make us plainly see that they were but Sepulchers whited without and full of filth and infection within and cast them thereupon into that wretched and eternal death which is prepared for them with the Devil and his Angels Bless we GOD who hath deliver'd us from this perdition by his great mercy and hate we sin and the corruption of the flesh which had involv'd us in it Look we on them as pests and poysons that destroy our life and reckon we that we have liv'd no more time than what hath been exempted from our serving of them You deceive your self Worldling who count the days of your unclean pleasures or your vain honours the best part of your life To say plainly it was the time of your being dead and not of your being alive After so many years as you have tumbled up and down the earth you have not yet liv'd a moment You have all along been in a state of death And they that write upon your Tombs that you liv'd so many years and died such a day do grosly err You did not live when you offended GOD and your Neighbour or lost your time in the filth of your infamous delights And on the day that you shall quit the earth you will not cease to live for to say true you never liv'd but from one kind of death you will pass into another from the death of sin to a death of torment Christians if you love life and hate horror at death renounce sin and mortifie your flesh You cannot live except it dye Put in exercise that noble life which the LORD hath given you in his Son Act according to the Principles which he hath put into you by his Spirit and lay forth continually in good and holy works the Graces wherewith he hath vested you Faithfully love and serve him Let your minds meditate on nothing beside him your hearts desire none but him your tongues speak only of him Let the contemplation of the wonders of his love and the hopes of his glory be the whole food of your souls Respect those men in whom you see his Image shine Affect them and serve them for his sake looking upon their lives their estates their honour their bodies and souls as sacred and inviolable things Endeavour to enrich them by communicating of your prosperities unto them Offend no man Do good to all Let your charity and your innocence be conspicuous in the sight of GOD and Man Faithful Brethren This is that life truly worthy to be called life which GOD doth reward for the present with a joy and contentment of Conscience that 's a thousand times more sweet and savoury than any of the vain delights of the world and which he will crown one day with that glorious Immortality he hath promised It 's for this that he hath vouchsafed to forgive us freely all our offences all those so many horrible Crimes which had merited Hell-fire and is still ready to pardon all the sins we have committed since This so great and admirable loving-kindness of his tendeth only to withdraw us from sin and oblige us to love and revere so good a GOD. It 's for the self-same end that he hath raised up his Son from the dead and enliven'd us with him giving us faith hope and charity the principles of a new life even that henceforth renouncing sin and the flesh and turning our hearts towards Heaven where our treasure and our glory is we might live soberly righteously and godly in the present world looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great GOD and Saviour JESUS CHRIST Amen The Twenty-fifth SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER XIV Ver. xiv Having effaced the obligation
heretofore took the care to make those draughts is Author of the verities they represented and that the body doth descend from the same Heaven that at first did make the shadows of it to be seen I pass by for this time the Lamb and the Sacrifices and the aspersions and expiations and all the Levitical Priesthood a true delineation of our grand Victime offer'd for the salvation of the world and of that eternal righteousness which His bloud hath procured for us and other like things which cannot but with extreme difficulty be mainteined nor accorded with the ways of the ordinary wisdom of GOD save by acknowledging and receiving as veritable what the Apostle doth here teach us and is evident enough of it self namely that all this was heretofore ordained for the prefiguring of CHRIST I will only speak a few words of the distinction of meats and dayes The Apostle opens the mystery of it elsewhere For as to observance of meats giving us order in the Epistle to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 5.8 to keep the feast of our Passoever not with the old leaven of naughtines and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth doth he not clearly shew us that abstinence from leavened bread observ'd by the first people was a Picture of the Innocence and sanctity of the second and that by consequence it 's to the same we must referr the distinction of other legal meats the beasts which were forbidden them representing by the characters of their natural qualities those moral imperfections that is those vices and corrupt affections from which our lives ought to be exempted As for example abstinence from Swines flesh which was an abomination to them did signifie that the people of the Messiah should have no commerce with those uncleannesses and ordures of deportment wherein men of the world notably represented by the genius of this animal do wallow And when the same Apostle telleth us that we should keep our feast in truth and sincerity and in another place Hebr. 4 9. that there remaineth unto us a Sabbath or a rest doth he not shew us again that the old feasts of Israel were shadows of ours even of that feast which the Messiah hath procured and appointed for the faithful and which doth consist in two things the one that they do absteine from the works of sin and of the flesh the common works of men and the other that they do celebrate a rest in GOD with eternal joy Now that the body of these shadows is in JESUS CHRIST is evident For innocency sanctity abstinence from sin joy and immortality do well in Him fully There it is and no other where that the truth the example and pattern the doctrine and all the cause of them are to be found together with an almighty Spirit of light which alone is capable of producing these divine things in every one of us Whereby you see it is so far from being consequent upon these distinctions having been heretofore ordeined of GOD that we ought now to observe them still that on the contrary it is to be concluded we may insist no longer on them For since they were appointed in the quality of shadows until CHRIST should be revealed who sees not but that now when CHRIST hath been fully manifested it would be meer folly in us to adhere unto them still even as if seeing and having in hand the very body of a thing we should busy our selves in following after and embracing the shadow of it Precisely such was the extravagancy of these false Teachers who are here noted by S. Saul and such also is the errour of all those who upon the like pretences intermedle with the imposing of laws upon Christians concerning usage of or abstinence from such things as are in their nature indifferent And it is in this matter for one that our adversaries of Rome are infinitly to blame who notwithstanding the reason of the things themselves and the so clear doctrine of this great Apostle both in this place and in many other have made and constituted a no less number of laws about the distinction of dayes and meats then were among the Jews themselves They have marked more then half of the dayes of the year some with black and others with white I call marked with black those which they have devoted to the sadness of fasts and abstinences as all the Fridayes and Saturdayes of the year the Ember weeks the Rogation-dayes the Advent the Eves and Lent I mean by marked with white those which they consecrate to joy as that great throng of Holy-dayes which they disperse through all the fower seasons JESUS CHRIST the Father of eternity hath made His Disciples free from the laws of time raising them up above the Heavens which do make and measure it But these men put them in subjection to dayes and months and reduce them under the yoke of the Jews and make their piety depend upon the Almanack If they do not exactly observe all the dayes of the year if they fast not one day if they eat not on another if on one they don't do penance if they make not mirth on another though upon the former they should have cause to rejoyce in GOD and upon the latter to afflict themselves for their sins or their sufferings they commit a mortal sin though they did it without contempt or scandal Was there ever a discipline less reasonable or more contrary to the doctrine of S. Paul who would not have Christians condemned for the distinction of a Festival-day of a new Moon or of the Sabbaths who reprehends the Galatians for their observing-dayes and months and times and years Gal. 4.11 Rom. 14 6. and counts it for a weakness in faith to esteem one day above another Neither may it be replyed here that we also do discriminate Sundayes and Easter and Christmas and Pentecoste We observe them for orders sake not for Religion for the Polity of the Church and not upon scruples of devotion For what a confusion would there be if we had no dayes appointed for the assembling of the faithful It 's for our mutual edification and not for the worth and value of the dayes themselves that we observe them and as an Ancient said not that the day on which we do assemble is more holy or more glorious S. Hieâ—ome l. 2. Comment in Ep. ad Gal. To. 9. p 314. then another but because what day soever we assemble it 's a consolation to us to behold our selves all jointly employed in holy exercises For the main to us all dayes are equal as uniform parts of the same time which flow on by the order of one and the same LORD all of them and are all employable to His glory but the necessity and infirmity of this poor life doth constrain us of force to divide and part them out for divers uses If it be thus O adversaries that you discriminate-dayes I shall
confess I have done wrong to accuse you of crossing the doctrine of S. Paul But who knows not that it is a devotion for dayes and not the profit of men that makes you observe them You believe you do GOD service in this very thing that you feast one day and fast another You give it to the dignity of the day and not to the necessity of order or to your edification neither do you esteem dayes alike Those which you observe you set up very high above others not only by reason of the Church's command but because they have the honour to represent and signify some mysterious thing Accordingly you hold that besides the use which Festivals may be of for your instruction and your having time for works of piety your very solemnizing of them is a Religious act such as makes up a part of Divine service and is as you say meritorious in the sight of GOD which is exactly the opinion and the practice of those whom the Apostle in this place doth oppose For they condemned Christians not for absence from the assembly of the Church on the day appointed for it or for having profaned such howers in the world as were destin'd unto the service of GOD or for having scandaliz'd their neighbour by this kind of fault but only and precisely as you do for not having celebrated a Festival-day What shall I say of the other point to wit the use of and abstinence from meats The Apostle saith Let no man judge you in eating In conscience dare you affirm that you judge none of the faithful in this behalf What mean then those so rigorous laws of yours against them that eat any flesh those laws of yours that deprive Christians of this liberty for more then one third of the year and condemn that man who during all this time shall tast one bit of Bief or Mutton to as heavy penalties as if he had committed a deadly sin You are come so far as you look not upon those who violate these fine laws as sinners You abhorr them as proâ—ne persons and Atheists and count them not for Christians Is not this a grave and holy discipline and well worthy of S. Paul and JESUS CHRIST to make the service of GOD consist in meat whereof neither abstinence Matth. 15. 1 Cor 8 8. Rom. 14.17 nor use as reason sheweth every one and as our Saviour and His Apostle do teach doth pollute or sanctify doth bring loss or gain it being a thing purely indifferent in it's self good or evil only as it hurts or helps the interests of temperance and charity But we shall have shortly a fitter occasion to speak unto you of this subject more at large For the present Beloved Brethren make your profit I beseech you of S. Pauls instruction Use the liberty which the LORD JESUS hath obtained for you as His Apostle doth declare It is not reasonable that men should take from you what GOD hath given you and bought with the precious bloud of His Son Only see Gal. 5.13 that you take not this liberty for an occasion to live after the flesh Lay by shadows since you are no longer children But embrace the body which is in JESUS CHRIST His Kingdom is neither meat nor drink and no one will He condemn for having eaten any of the things which he hath created for the faithful to use with thanksgiving If He otherwhile prohibited some of them it was to deliâ—â—ate and figure out by this fleshly abstinence that which is mystical and spiritual whereunto He hath shaped you by His cross Your abstinence Christian is to renounce the meat that perisheth to loath the passions and productions of vice whereon the world doth feed It nourisheth it's self with the works of sin Avarice and ambitions and injustice and luxury and the ordures of wantoness and the infamous sweets of revenge are the aliments it runs after and cannot live without This is O ye faithful that flesh the usage whereof is forbidden you This is the Lent which JESUS CHRIST and His Apostles have in truth enjoyned a Lent to be observed not fourty dayes only but all the year long even that we abhorr what is evil that we eschew vice as poison that our lives be pure and innocent and clean from all the filthines of the flesh This is in truth that abstinence that makes a Christian and without which no man can have place among the members of CHRIST Gal. 5.24 6.14 For they that are His have crucify'd the flesh with the affections and lusts therefore The world is crucify'd to them It 's provisions it's pleasures it's allurements are had in execration of them Whoever he be that fasteth this Lent exactly he shall have part in the resurrection of CHRIST JESUS Not a man shall attain thereto otherwayes Prosecute it in good earnest Christian Souls and powerfully mortify in your selves all the lusts of this accursed flesh which perisheth it's self and will make all those perish too that desire it's delights and cannot wean themselves from it's deadly dainties See what JESUS CHRIST hath done and suffer'd for the destroying of it See the excellency of that other divine food on which He would have you live Your true food is to fulfil the will of His Father This is the food of the Prince of glory and of all His Angels food that is holy and immortal which will leave in your Souls a divine relish and contentment much better then all the feasts on earth and after the consolations wherewith it will solidly strengthen your consciences in this life eternally repast you in the Heavens with the delights of blissful immortality Brethren this is the body whereof the abstinence of the Jews was the shadow and delineation only As for their festivals they were also figures verily not of those in Rome which to say true are meer shadows and weak repesentations themselves no less then these of the Jews only they are instituted by men whereas the Jewish were ordeined of GOD they were I say figures of the resting and spiritual contentment of the faithful Origen against Cels s. l. 8. p. 404. Our festival as one of the ancients heretofore answered a Pagan that reproached Christians for their having none our festival is to do our duty to worship GOD and offer Him the unbloudy sacrifices of our holy supplications to rest from our own works and entirely sequester our selves to the work of GOD to exterminate from among us that really servile and mechanick labour of vitious actions and spend our lives in the truly noble and divine exercise of Sanctification Our Passeover is to eat the flesh of the Lambe to make use of His bloud to pass out of Egypt unto Canaan out of the world unto GOD and from Earth to Heaven leaving the things that are behind and advancing daily towards the mark and prize of our calling Our Pentecost is to converse with CHRIST in heavenly places
marks that he might possess us with a just horrour at them Neither may it be answered that he speaks of such as hold the nature of meats to be impure and polluted in it self He attributes no such thing to those whom he condemneth and saith simply that they would command to abstain from meats If our Adversaries do not so command we do wrong to apply this Text unto them But since they eminently command the thing and so mightily esteem the command that they deny him the name of a Christian who doth violate it it is clear that of them also the Apostle speaks He alledgeth it is true that every creature of GOD is good and was created to be used by the faithful with thanksgiving He alledgeth this I say to refute this error as we also make use of it to refute that of Rome But he doth not at all impute to them whom he opposeth that they did formerly deny this verity and hereafter we shall hear that those whom he does in this place refute did ordain their abstinences for the humbling of the spirit and the mortifying of the flesh altogether after the same manner as our adversaries at this day do and not out of any opinion they had that the meats they prohibited were unclean or polluted in their nature Accordingly we read that the ancient Christians who lived about the end of the second Century and the beginning of the third did not forbear condemning the Montanists laws of abstinence and to apply to them that passage of the first Epistle to Timothy which we quoted even now though those Hereticks protested as they of Rome do at this day that it was not intended against them who believed with Catholicks both the Divinity of the Creator and the goodness and purity of the creatures but against the Marcionites and the Encratites who denied the one or the other or both of them together as we learn by a certain book of Tertullians in which he expresly pleadeth the cause of Montanus against the Orthodox whom in derision Tertul. lib. de Jujuniis c. 15. he calleth Psychiques Thus having refuted the error of those of the Roman Communion I should now come to answer their revilings For upon the pretext of our disapproving the tyrannicall law of their abstinences they accuse us of being Epicureans and our Religion altogether a Religion of flesh and blood and favouring gourmandise and drunkenness as if it were neither possible to commit excess with fish nor to exercise sobriety with any other food It is not now adays only that this error being unable to defend it self with reason hath had recourse to railing The Jews at the beginning seeing our Saviour live simply without the pomp of their fasts and abstinences called Him a glutton and a wine-bibber Mat. 11.19 the Montanists afterwards cryed out upon the Catholicks of those dayes as they of Rome do upon us at present that the belly was their god Tertullian ibid. and the Buttery their Altar and a Kitchin their Temple and a Cook their Priest and the steam of meats their Holy-Spirit and sauces their gifts of Grace Let it not shame us to be treated as the Son of GOD was with His first and best disciples I might here say many things of our morals and the morals of our adversaries and perhaps it would be found that our Carnavel is no less sober than their Lent and their abstinence many times as intemperate as our pretended dissoluteness But it is better to refute their slanders by the honesty of our lives than with the acrimony of our words Shew then dearly beloved Brethren by your sobriety purity and temperance that it is not the love of the flesh as calumny gives out but respect to truth which makes you embrace the party you do Defend your liberty in such manner as that you take it not for an occasion to live after the flesh Gal. 5.13 'T is this flesh that JESUS CHRIST hath forbidden us That of animals doth not defile such as eat of it soberly and with thanksgiving But this flesh renders all those truly unclean that suffer themselves to be tempted with its pleasures Abstain you from all its lusts Have in abhorrence all its sweets 1 Pet. 2.11 Eat not at any time of its fruits and count it a grievous crime to taste of its dainties It is of this flesh that we may without rigor lay the injunction upon you Touch it not and taste not of it Let the acts of injustice and the pollutions and the vanities to which it carrieth men of the world be an abomination to you and your meat as the LORD JESUS's was Joh. 4.34 to do the will of GOD and finish His work In particular keep your selves from the excesses of the season that is at hand Abhor the disorders of the world even more than you pitty its superstition and partake farr less in its debauches than in its abstinences Prepare your selves also for that divine repast unto which we are about to invite you by all kind of good works of piety and charity and above all remember that the doctrine of the LORD JESUS is we renounce ungodliness and the lusts of the flesh to live soberly justly and religiously and that His true discipline consists but in two points the one that we abstain not from what is in its nature indifferent but from what He hath forbidden us as contrary to piety towards Him or charity towards our neighbour or honesty in respect of our selves the other that we patiently and cheerfully suffer the pains and mortifications not which a voluntary superstition assigneth us but which His holy and paternal hand dispenseth unto us This dear Brethren is our Advent this our Lent and the true law of our abstinences The LORD JESUS who hath given it us vouchsafe us His grace that we may duly fullfil it to His glory the edification of our neighbours and our own salvation Amen THE XXXI SERMON COL II. Vers XXIII Vers XXIII Which have yet some shew of wisdom in voluntary devotion and humility of spirit and in that do they not at all spare the body and have not any regard to the satisfying of the flesh DEar Brethren It is a truth acknowledged by the Sages both of the Church and of the world that Man puts not forth his affections but to things that seem to him to be good whether they be such in effect or through error of mind he judge them such when in reallity they are not Examine the motions of your own souls and the designs and desires of your neighbours as far as you can penetrate them You will find without doubt and discover without difficulty that neither your selves nor they do love or pursue any thing but what you account to be good that is tending to your benefit and capable â—â—ther of yielding you some pleasure or affording you some profit or acquiring yâ—â— some honour Hence it is that the
Scriptures of GOD they plead to us that they are voluntary services which are performed with a good intention and do tend to humble the Spirit Their Fastings and Abstinences their Watchings and Pilgrimages their Whippings and Disciplines and all the odd exercises of their Monks are not in the least commanded of GOD. But what skills it The more voluntary they are say they the more meritorious and then on the other hand they mortifie the body which they spare not at all having no regard to the satisfying of its desires There 's nothing but they might make pass for good and godly with this specious pigment I might justly plead against these vain pretexts that GOD's will ought to be the rule of ours and that it is dangerous to trust our intentions in matter of Religion seeing it often comes to pass that GOD hath that in abomination which does most please our thoughts as also that it is a proud and an extravagant humility to give men a power over our Consciences which it is the prerogative of GOD alone to have and that if the not sparing of the body do serve for the mortifying of it it follows not that we must place divine service therein I might alledge these and many other things and found them by the Scripture to demonstrate the vanity of their pretexts But for this time I content me with the Apostle's example and authority He acknowledgeth that the Doctrines of those Seducers whom he doth oppose had these three very colours and that the same gave them a shew of wisdom And yet for all this he doth not forbear to reject them making so little account of that shew of theirs that he vouchsafes not to spend one word upon the refutation of it How specious soever their Doctrines be it 's enough for his condemning them that they were instituted and taught by men and not by the LORD clearly presupposing by this procedure of his that all Christians should hold it for an undoubted maxime that Religious service must be measured by the will of GOD and not by ours by His order and not our phansie and that the foundation of our humility is the respect we owe him not to submit our Consciences to any besides Him Let then the Traditions of Rome in other regards be of what quality you please let them have all the colours of wisdom let them be voluntary and humble and meet to mortifie the flesh You will do much by setting all this pompous shew in view You will gain much by laying it forth before mine eyes and declaiming to me of the advantages of those things I cannot receive them except you shew me that it is GOD hath instituted them and not the will of man The Apostle hath taught me to make so little account of these kind of reasons as that I should not vouchsafe so much as to amuse my self to consider them After having heard you it sufficeth me to tell you as he saith here to the Seducers of his time that if your Doctrines have this shew of wisdom which you attribute to them they are in conclusion but humane things since GOD hath not at all commanded them in His word Yet upon thorough examination it will be found My Brethren that the most of their inventions do want not the reality alone but the colour and the very shew of wisdom For I beseech you what shadow of wisdom is there in this Lent for instance which they began the other day after the ordinary Preface of their Carneval What reason or common sense is there that can affirm if it be free that it is wisdom after license taken for all kind of debauches and fooleries to imagine an handful of ashes will efface it all That it is wisdom to believe the eating of Fish is fasting That it is wisdom to think the eating Herbs or Salmon or Green-fish is a sanctifying ones self and that to taste but a bit of Bief or Mutton during these forty days is to defile ones soul with a sin mortal and meriting eternal fire as if the whole nature of things were changed in a moment and the living Creatures of the earth from being good and wholsome as they were but four dayes ago became contagious and deadly Is it wisdom to tye up Christianity to an observance which hath so little reason in it and to say as they do that such as eat any flesh within this time are not Christians There is no understanding how ordinary soever but may easily judge that all this hath no shew of wisdom in it to say no worse And it is to no purpose to tell us that it 's not the nature of the things themselves but the commandment of their Church that makes them be of this opinion For if these things be not true in themselves their Church does ill to authorize them and besides that it contravenes the rules of wisdom evidently violates those of charity also as straitning the way to Heaven and augmenting the difficulty of entring there and damning men for things which without its commandment would be free and indifferent Let us lay aside then I beseech you my Brethren all these humane Commandments which are so far from being just and necessary that they have not for the most part so much as that vain shew of wisdom which the Apostle granted the Doctrines of the Seducers of his time had Hold we to the Sacred and saving institututions of our LORD JESUS which all are just all reasonable all full of deep Mat. 16.11 and truly Divine wisdom Let us believe as he hath taught us that 't is not what enters in at the mouth that doth defile a man but what cometh out of the heart and that the Kingdom of GOD Rom. 14.17 is not meat or drink but righteousness peace and joy of the Holy Ghost Serve we Him according to His own rule and not according to the imaginations of men Let our will be bound up to His let it count it self happy in following the same and not presume to guide it self Let it learn of Him what it oweth Him not be so arrogant as to define it after its own phansie The task He hath given us is great enough for our employing all the time and strength we have without diverting ought of the same any other way It 's in this that true humility consists even in submitting absolutely to JESUS CHRIST in refusing no particular of what He would have in attempting nothing beyond His orders He it is clear would have us to love GOD with all our heart and our Neighbour as our selves and that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in the present world looking for His glorious appearance This Beloved Brethren is the rule of the Israel of GOD that was delivered by JESUS CHRIST Preached by His Apostles confirmed by their Miracles and by the Conversion of the World Peace and Mercy be to all that shall
follow it Amen The End of the Second Part. SERMONS OF M R. JOHN DAILLE ON THE EPISTLE OF THE Apostle S T. Paul TO THE COLOSSIANS THE THIRD PART CONTAINING An Exposition of the two last Chapters in Eighteen SERMONS LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst 1671. The Author's Epistle Dedicatory TO MONSIEUR Monsieur de Rambovillet LORD OF LANCEY and of PLESSIS-FRANC SIR THese Sermons will not be new to You there having past so little time since you heard them at Charenton no doubt but you will know them at first sight The support they then found in our holy Assembly emboldens them now to present themselves in publick Perhaps it had been better to rest contented with that favour which our people shew'd them and not publish them once more in this other form For beside that the eye is much more delicate than the ear and the defects of a discourse are far more easily observ'd on paper where they abide than in the air where they do but pass there is further a great difference between an Auditor whom devotion doth oblige to hear you and a Reader who does owe you nothing The one would think he should sin against Piety if he deny'd you his attention The other doth you a favour in heeding you and may examine you without a crime The one's judgment is half made for you whereas the other's is at its full liberty These reasons would have with-held me from hazarding the edition of these small Books if the matter had wholly depended upon my opinion But the desires of my friends and the intreaties of the Book-seller interposing in it their violence hath forc'd my modesty Yet I should have had vigour and firmness enough to defend my self against it if the question had been simply of my self and my reputation For the present age being so polite and so illuminated as the most eloquent tongues and the best fashioned penns can hardly content it I well know that to please it there is need of graces and perfections which I do not possess But neither is that the thing I seek since of my weakness and the Calling wherewith GOD hath honoured me having competently secured me from such a passion That which made me yield to the too favourable will of my Friends is the interest of Christian souls which they laid before me and the service they believ'd this Book might do them The success will inform us whether they had reason to promise themselves so much from it For my part the thing being as yet uncertain I held my self obliged to give place unto their judgment and to prefer the profit which they imagine the faithful may receive from my poor labours before any other consideration And if it be temerity to hope the same at least it is not a crime but a laudable affection to desire it Of one thing Sir I am well-nigh assured that you will not dislike the gift I make you of this third and last part of my work For to say nothing of that sweetness of spirit and that obliging nature which every one observes in you and not to consider divers testimonies which I have received of your good will towards me in particular I am confirm'd in this opinion by your piety well known in our Church both by the excellent fruits of your charity in the ordinary course of your life and by the services you have sometime done our whole flock in the Office of an Elder while you executed it among us with much edification and praise Perswading my self therefore Sir may it please you that you will receive this small present with your usual goodness and facility there remains not else but that I pray GOD to conserve you with your worthy and well-born Family in health and prosperity daily augmenting on you His most precious blessings both spiritual and temporal I beseech you to continue me the honour of your good graces and to do me the favour to believe that I passionately am SIR Your most Humble and most obedient Servitour DAILLE From Paris Apr. the 1. 1648. SERMONS ON THE THIRD AND FOURTH CHAPTERS OF THE Epistle of the Apostle St. Paul TO THE COLOSSIANS SERMON XXXII CHAP. III. Verses I. II. Verse I. If then ye be risen again with CHRIST seek the things which are above where CHRIST sitteth at the right hand of GOD. II. Mind the things which are above not those which are on the earth DEar Brethren If the study and practise of true holiness which consists in the love of God and our Neighbour had filled as it ought the hearts and lives of Christians they would never have amus'd themselves in those minute devotions and carnal ceremonies wherewith superstition hath alwaies fed and doth still to this day feed the World This second sort of services was not invented and introduced in Religion but to be a supply in defect of the other For man well knowing that the Majesty and Beneficence of GOD obligeth us to serve Him and the charms and tentations of the earth turning away his heart from the legitimate service we owe Him which is that of a true and real sanctity that he may not appear empty in the presence of this soveraign Deity he presents it instead of that which it requireth of us with certain corporeal childish and spurious devotions which for that they are of our own invention are naturally pleasing to us Accordingly they are commonly called satisfactions because they are performed to content GOD and pay Him for the omission of what was due to Him An evident sign that if men had fulfill'd their duty there would have been no need of their busying themselves in these other exercises Hence there proceeded at the beginning those abstinences from certain meats and those distinctions of daies and that worshipping of Angels which some seducers would have set up among Christians in the very daies of the Apostles From the same source also issued afterward the stations the xerofagies and other disciplines of the Montanists and of divers hereticks that sometime disturbed the ancient Church In fine from this very original have sprung the observances and voluntary services of Rome those Orders and Rules of so many Monks as do now a-daies fill the World quadragesimal rites fasts and vigils auricular confession pilgrimages whippings feastivals jubilees chappelets and fraternities with a multitude of such other devotions which have overwhelmed Christian Religion We may confidently say there would never have been recourse to such things if mortification of the old man if true piety towards GOD and true charity towards their neighbour had exercised and continually taken up the affections and whole life of Christians So likewise you see their greatest Zealots confess that their rules and disciplines have no place in Heaven where holiness is perfected and never had less on earth than among Christians of the first age that is the best and most holy all these humane devotions being evidently sprung from a relaxing of the piety
friends doth offend us And though we have more need than any of the equity and indulgence of others yet we can bear nothing from them but imitating in this part of our lives the furious and extravagant rigours of Rome in her Councils do excommunicate and anathematize indifferently all that crosseth us And as for the offences that are done us we make them so hainous that if we were believ'd they would all be taken for treasons which cannot be pardon'd without injustice and notable prejudice to all humane society Hence come those hatreds and quarrels wherewith all is full among us and which are kept on foot and perpetuated to the reproach of the Gospel and scandal of the world between great and small yea the more the sorrow between neighbours and nearest alliances not so much as Brethren and Sisters exempted neither the communion of grace nor of nature being sufficient to reduce our refractory and untrâ—ctable stoutness to reason Now though this be horrible yet need it not be wondred at For the cause of it is very evident even pride which hath taken up the place of that humility which the Apostle commandeth us 'T is this arrogancy and that haughty opinion which every one hath of himself that renders us so cruel and unnatural insensible of the miseries of the afflicted and implacable towards those that have offended us This is the poyson that kills all sweetness and gentleness all tenderness and humanity in us and draws out of our bowels all the sentiments of the charity of JESUS CHRIST Restore humility and you will soon recover all those divine Vertues But dear Brethren enough of complaints especially on so good a day in which we have communicatted at the LORD 's own Table I would now much rather praise your vertues and graces than reprehend your faults and vices I shall therefore leave the charge of examining them to each one of your selves to be performed by you apart under the eyes of GOD and in the secret of your own consciences and will for a conclusion content my self with exhorting and conjuring you to obey henceforth this command of the Apostle and to put on as he enjoyns bowels of mercy kindness humility gentleness and patience bearing with one another and pardoning one another if one hath a quarrel against the other as CHRIST hath pardoned you This is required of you by that sacred Bread and Wine which you all have taken together this Morning at the Table of JESUS CHRIST and are the symbol of your union and the badge of your concord Hath not that mystical Cup indeed sweetned your hearts Hath it not mitigated your gall and bitterness and mollified your stoutness and expel'd out of your minds all thoughts contrary to charity This again that holy and glorious LORD calls for of you who hath to day been communicated to you Christian saith he I have shewed thee mercy that thou might'st so do to others I have had pity upon thee that thou might'st have compassion upon them I have given thee my flesh and blood that thou might'st impart of thy good things to my poor members who need them I have dy'd for thee that thou might'st live for them and have satisfied thee with the bread of Heaven that thou might'st distribute unto them that of the earth I have pardoned thee thy crimes and drowned them all in my blood that thou might'st chearfully forgive them the offences they have done thee Thus it is my Brethren that the LORD bespeaks us The name of Christians which we bear and the quality of elect of GOD Saints and Beloved which is inseparably annext thereto doth also oblige us to the same devoirs For with what face can we say that we are elected of GOD if we still abide in the commerce of the World and its vices Or his Saints if we have no mark of his sanctity Or his Beloved if we despise his commandments In fine the interest of our own welfare and salvation demandeth too the same thing of us For what is there more miserable than cruel haughty hard-hearted and implacable souls whom their own vices do torment night and day for the present and the fire of Hell will torment eternally in the world to come And on the contrary what is more graceful or more happy than a Church in which do reign pity and benignity humility meekness and patience And these holy vertues bind all the faithful together It 's there that the LORD hath commanded life and the blessing for ever Psal 133.3 as the Psalmist sings It 's there he pours forth the graces and consolations of his Spirit during this world and will in the next distribute the crowns of his Glory and of his Immortality Amen THE FORTIETH SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. III. VER XIV XV. Verse XIV And besides all this put on Charity which is the bond of persection XV. And let the peace of GOD hold the chief place in your hearts unto which ye are called in one body and be ye thankful DEAR Brethren Hypocrisie that piece of wickedness which GOD most abhorreth hath a great extent in humane life It not only counterfeiteth piety doing external actions of religion and hiding a protane and impious heart under this handsome veil but also frequently puts on a false thew of justness and goodness towards men that by this out-side it may deceive them and through their credulity accomplish its unhonest and vicious designs Hereby first it commits an iniquity of blackest note it being as a wise Heathen sometime said one of the unjustest things in the world to make a wicked wretch pass for an honest man And secondly it does unworthily profane the acts of vertue as holy and sacred a thing as any is making them serve the passions and interests of vice than which a more unclean and baser object cannot be imagined For an Hypocrite does good not out of any affection he hath unto vertue but to get reputation or win peoples hearts or advance his own affairs Ambition or avarice or pleasure is the idol to which he sacrificeth the noblest and most splendid actions For instance when he gives alms unto the poor 't is not for that he careth for them as the Scripture speaks of Judas but he doth it only to win credit He gives properly to his own vanity and not to the necessitousness of men Again when he acts the part of a merciful man and forgives those that have cross'd him the offences they have done him it is not any sentiment of goodness but meerly the interest of his glory that sways him so to do There are a multitude of people that do thus abuse beneficence and gentleness As the more expert sort of Tyrants they make 'em instruments of their lust and when they perform any actions of 'em it is not at the command of those vertues themselves but in subserviency to their own vices retaining a disposition to be cruel and inhumane if their interest requireth
earth then to overcome the King of Kings your salvation is concerned The grace you crave of Him is the abolition of crimes that merit an eternal death and that which you sollicite with Him is not a piece of ground or an house or a small sum of money or some years of a temporal life or liberty It is Heaven and Eternity which you beg the treasury and palace of His CHRIST the peace and joy of his Spirit an immortal liberty an immortal life and glory It 's for this Beloved Brethren that we should be violent eager and obstinately importunate It 's for this we should spend days and nights in sollicitation at the feet of GOD and seize resolutely on Him and protest unto Him with a firm and fixed determination that we will not quit Him till He accord our desire No LORD thou shalt not escape me Either Thou must suffer day and night my importunities or I obtain what I petition for I will give thee no rest untill Thou hast fulfilled the desire of my heart I will have it from Thine hand or die begging it Such Christians is the perseverance which the Apostle commands us here and again elsewhere when he gives us order to pray without ceasing I have only two advertisements to add The first is that we may not understand these words as if he obliged us to quit all other exercise and lay aside the labour of the callings in which GOD hath set us and do nothing but pour out prayers as they say certain extravagant hereticks called the Eutiches that is the Prayers did sometime interpret it The Apostle who orders us here to pray without ceasing commands us also to labour and that with such necessity as he sentences that man not to eat who doth not labour These acts of our piety do not thwart one the other Prayer seasoneth and animateth labour hindereth it not That perseverance in it which is our duty is not continued praying without intermission but prayer frequently resumed and assiduously reiterated so as neither the trouble of waiting nor despair of obtaining nor any other consideration makes us give over the diligent practise of it The other advice we have to give you in reference to this subject is against superstition which regulateth prayers you know by the clock and scrupulously ties men up to the number and to the words of their orisons A Christian who hath his conversation in Heaven above time and the motions that make it measures his devotion by things themselves and makes his prayers not at the toll of a bell but at the signal of his need he lengthens or ends them not according to the number of beads in a chaplet but according to the movings of his heart Now after Perseverance in prayer the Apostle requires also of us vigilancy in it Persevere in prayer saith he watching in it with thanksgiving I freely yield that the faithful may steal away some hours from their repose and employ them in prayer provided it be done without superstition Nor do I deny but that the Prophets and the Apostles and the Christians of the primitive Church often did so rising at night and spending either in private or in their temples some hours in prayer and other exercises of piety Yet it seems to me that it is not of these watchings the Apostle speaketh here For there is another kind of Watch which we may call the Watch of the Soul and it 's only an attention of mind when we keep all our faculties in a good estate lively and working not asleep nor drown'd in idleness or in love of the world or in it's errors and vanities but awake and elevated unto GOD heeding him and intent upon His work looking unto CHRIST and for His day and expecting His salvation with earnestness and constancy Psal 130. â— It 's thus the soul of that Prophet watched who waited more attentively for GOD then the morning watchmen that waited with impatience for the break of day And hereto must be referred so many places of the New Testament that commanded us to to watch Watch and pray that ye enter not into tentation Watch Mat. 26.41 Mark 13.35 1 Thes 5.6 for you know not when the Master of the house will come Let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober 1 Cor. 16.13 Rev. 3.2 16 15. Watch ye stand fast in the faith quit you like men be strong Be vigilant Blessed is he that watcheth And the like often elsewhere For as the Apostle somewhere elegantly says of a widow who spends her time in the pleasures of sin that she is dead while she liveth so may we say in like manner of a person that takes no thought of GOD nor of his service nor minds the occasions of doing good and holy works how active and busie soever he otherwise is in the affairs of the world that he sleeps while he is awake This mystical sleeping is an insensibility of soul for the things of GOD. The waking or watching opposite to it is the attentiveness the sensibility and the acting of the soul about the things of salvation 'T is true this kind of watching is necessary for us in all the parts of our lives and that no season no occasion should ever find a Christian asleep in this sense But as prayer is the excellentest of all our services so doth it particularly require of us this watching this attention I account therefore that it 's precisely this the Apostle means when he commands us to watch in prayer He would have us bring unto it a soul awakened not overwhelm'd in the cares and passions of the world not loaden and weighed down with thoughts of the flesh not spiritless and languid but stretch'd forth and lifted up to GOD not heedless of what it doth or heeding it by halves but minding the things it asks of Him and that CHRIST of his in whose name it presents it's requests to Him By which you may judge what account we are to make of most mens prayers that are pronounced by the mouth alone without any attention of heart for custom rather then out of any solid devotion Certainly since prayer ought to be made with watching thereunto it is evident that these peoples supplications are to say true dreamings and not prayers They are vain words like to those which a man that dotes utters sometimes in his sleep Those of Rome are so far from taking Christians off from this abuse that they precipitate them into it by that strange and extravagant law for their services which orders the performing them to be in a language that the people understand not Our hearts are so vain that they can hardly keep close to the things and words we understand I beseech you what attention can they have for those they understand not And how do they watch in praying that are so far from thinking upon what they say as they know not what is meant Pies
GOD with thankfulness and undergoing his chastisements and trials with patience that His grace may be with us for ever both in this world and in the world to come Amen FINIS Books to be Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chapel A Commentary on the Hebrews By John Owen D. D. Folio An Exposition of Temptation on Mat. 4. verse 1. to the end of the Eleventh By Dr. Thomas Taylor fol. A Learned Commentary or Exposition on the first Chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians By Richard Sibbs D. D. fol. A practical Exposition on the third Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians with the Godly Man's Choice on Psal 4. vers 6 7 8. By Anthony Burgess fol. The dead Saint speaking to Saints and Sinners living in several Treatises The first on 2 Sam. 24.10 The second on Cant. 4.9 The third on John 1.50 The fourth on Isa 58.2 The fifth on Exod. 15.11 By Samuel Bolton D. D. fol. The view of the Holy Scriptures By Thomas Broughton fol. Christianographia or a Description of the Multitude and sundry sorts of Christians in the world not subject to the Pope By Eph. Pagit Fol. These Six Treatises next following are written by Mr. George Swinnock 1. The Christian Man's Calling or a Treatise of making Religion ones business in Religious Duties Natural Actions his Particular Vocation his Family Directions and his own Recreation to be read in Families for their Instruction and Edification The first Part. 2. Likewise a second Part wherein Christians are directed to perform their Duties as Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants in the conditions of Prosperity and Adversity The second Part. 3. The third and last part of the Christian Man's Calling wherein the Christian is directed how to make Religion his business in his dealings with all Men in the Choice of his Companions in his carriage in good Company in bad Company in solitariness or when he is alone on a week day from morning to night in visiting the sick on a Dying-bed as also the means how a Christian may do this and some motives to it 4. The Door of Salvation opened by the Key of Regeneration 5. Heaven and Hell Epitomized And the true Christian Characteriz'd 6. The Fading of the Flesh and the flourishing of Faith Or One cast for Eternity with the only way to throw it well All these by George Swinnock M. A. Quarto's A Learned Commentary on the fourth Chapter of the second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians to which is added First A Conference between Christ and Mary Second the Spiritual Man's Aim Third Emanuel or Miracle of Miracles By Richard Sibbs D. D. 4to An Exposition on the five first Chapters of Ezekiel with useful observations thereupon By Will. Greenhil 4to The Gospel-Covenant or the Covenant of Grace opened Preached in New-England By Peter Bulkley 4to Gods Holy Mind touching Matters Moral which himself uttered in ten words or ten Commandments Also an Exposition on the Lords Prayer By Edward Elton B. D. 4to Fiery Jesuite or an Historical Collection of the Rise Increase Doctrines and Deeds of the Jesuites Exposed to view for the sake of London 4to Horologiographia Optica Dialling Universal and Particular Speculative and Practical together with the Description of the Court of Arts by a new Method By Silvanus Morgan 4to Praxis Medicinae or the Physicians Practise wherein are contained all inward diseases from the head to the foot By Walter Bruel Regimen Sanitatis Salerni or the School of Salerns Regiment of Health containing Directions and Instructions for the guide and Government of Mans Life 4to Heart-Treasure Or a Treatise tending to fill and furnish the head and heart of every Christian with soul-inriching treasure of truths graces experiences and comforts to help him in Meditation Conference Religious Performances Spiritual Actions Enduring Afflictions and to fit him for all conditions that he may live holily dye happily and go to Heaven triumphantly By O. H. with an Epistle prefixed by John Chester Large Octavo Closet-prayer a Christians Duty The sure Mercies of David Both by the same Author The Conversion of a Sinner explained and applyed from Ezek. 33.11 The Day of Grace Discovered from Luke 19.41 42. Worthy walking pressed upon all those that have heard the Call of the Gospel All three by Nath. Vincent The Duty of Parents A Little Book for Little Children Method and Instruction for the Art of Divine Meditation All three by Thomas White The Childs delight together with an English Grammar By Tho. Lye The Life and Death of Dr. Sam. Winter The inseparable Union between Christ and a Beleever which death it self cannot sever or the Bond that can never be broken Opened in a Sermon at the Funeral of Mrs. Dorothy Freeborn By Tho. Peck An Antitode against Quakerisme By Stephen Scandret 4to A Glimpse of Eternity By A. Caley A practical Discourse of Prayer wherein is handled the Nature and Duty of Prayer By Tho. Cobbet Of Quenching the Spirit the evil of it in respect both of its causes and effects discovered By Theophilus Polwheile Wells of Salvation opened or Words whereby we may be saved With advise to young Men By Tho. Vincent The re-building of London encouraged and improved in several Meditations By Samuel Rolles The sure way to Salvation or a Treatise of the Saints Mystical Union with Christ wherein that great Mystery and Priviledge is opened in the nature properties and the necessities of it By R. Steedman M. A. The greatest Loss upon Matth. 16.26 By James Livesey Small Octavo Moses unvailed By William Guild The Protestants Triumph being an exact Answer to all the sophistical Arguments of Papists By Ch. Drelincourt A Defence against the fear of Death By Zach. Crofton Gods Soveraignty displayed By Will. Geering A sober Discourse concerning the interest of words in Prayer The Godly Mans Ark or City of Refuge in the day of his distress in five Sermons with Mrs. Moor's Evidences for Heaven By Edm. Calamy The Almost Christian discovered or the false Professor tryed and cast By Mr. Mead. Spiritual Wisdom improved against Temptation By Mr. Mead. 1. A Divine Cordial 2. The Doctrine of Repentance 3. Heaven taken by Storm 4. The Holy Eucharist or The Sacrament of the Lords Supper briefly opened 5. The mischief of Sin it brings a person Low All five by Tho. Watson The True bounds of Christian Freedom or a Discourse shewing the extents and restraints of Christian Liberty wherein the truth is settled many errours confuted out of John 8. verse 36. The Lords Day enlivened or a Treatise of the Sabbath By Philip Goodwin The sinfulness of Sin and the Fulness of Christ two Sermons By W. Bridge A serious Exhortation to a Holy Life By Tho. Wadsworth Comfortable Crumbs of Refreshment by Prayers Meditation Consolation and Ejaculations with a Confession of Faith and sum of the Bible Aurifodina Linguae Gallicae or the Golden Mine of the French Language opened By Edw. Costlin Gen. Four Centuries of Select Hymns collected out of Scripture By Will. Barton Sins Sinfulness By Ralph Venning Sober Singularity By R. Steedman The Parable of the great Supper By John Crump of Maidstone in Kent The Christians dayly Monitour By Joseph Church A Memento to young men and old By J. Maynard The History of Moderation or the Life Death Resurrection of Moderation None-such Wonder in Martha Taylors Life who hath been supported above a year without use of Meat or Drink FINIS