tender regard had the children of Israel for David by no means must he endanger his Person in the battel for in their eye he was more worth than ten thousand of them Good Josiah did better deserve the name of Delicium humani generis than Caesar observe how the people lament him by the lips and eyes of the weeping Prophet Lament 4.20 The breath of our nostrils the anointed of the Lord was token in their nets of whom we said Under his shadow we shall be preserved alive among the heathen Secondly There is imprinted upon the Nature of man a special reverence for Holiness and Religion which you may easily perceive in the common people who tho they seldom understand what true Religion is yet how do they hug and embrace the very rumour and report of it Let Religion beat up a drum and you cannot allay the heat of their spirits they must follow the noise of it This makes Satan in our days put on the appearance of an Angel of light and every jugling Enthusiast will pretend Sanctity and Religion when he designeth to obtrude his own blasphemies upon the World How many miserable Souls are trepan'd into the thraldom of the Romish Church by a Religious blush which sits upon the face of her Worship It was no hard matter for the Scribes and Pharisees to swallow down whole houses under the pretence of Devotion Plutarch in his Politicks gives this advice to Trajâ—â—â—â— the Emperor Venerare Deos per pietatem in coâ—â—m honorem opibus tuis utare magnopere enim multitudo affici solâ—t dum pietatem coram conspiciunt quos maximi ducunt This got Numa Pompilius such an excellent name Quod plurima fana lucosque Deorum dedicavit Thirdly The great design of Christian Religion especially the publick and solemn Worship of God is to render men alike one to another of one heart mind way and life Our prayers are the same that all of us as one man may consent to say Amen Our Discourses either are or should be the same differing in phrase and manner of utterance yet bearing proportion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the wholesome form of sound words We are initiated after the same manner by Baptism into one and the same Church at the Eucharist fed at the same table with the same bread refreshed with the same wine by all incorporated that being one body all the members may have a mutual respect and care one of another St. Paul upon this consideration magnifieth the Christian Religion Eph. 4.3 as keeping the unity of the spirit and commends it in the next words for the power that it carrieth to secure the common interest of love which he calleth the bond of peace the reasonableness of which he evinceth v. 4. There is one body as there is one spirit as likewise ye are called into one hope of your calling One Lord one faith one baptisme one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all things The whole body of Religion is comprized in this word Love and we may judge of the sincere professors of it by their conformity to it Thus have I done with the second particular the cementing nature of true Religion The third and last Enquiry is What priviledge the Text alloweth to a Nation or People whilst they are zealous and devout in Religious Worship thus expressed Then shall ye and the King which reigneth over you continue to follow the Lord. In the Original there is nothing at all found for following all that is there expressed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Translators have rendered as you read the Septuagint does not much differ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walking behind or after the Lord the meaning of which must be that as God when they had no King was their Captain leading forth their Armies and giving them success and victory for this was the great reason they urged for alteration of Government that they might have a King to go out before them and so fight their battels so also upon due observation of Religious Worship by him appointed he would still be their General and under his Banner they should sight victoriously over their Adversaries Now that this blessing is not meerly temporary belonging only to that people but entailed upon Piety and Religion to all generations is evident from the constant care and tender respect he hath continued to his Church to this day for according to his promise that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against it so it is and so it shall be so long as the world endureth And lest it should be objected that Promises of this nature are peculiar to the Church Universal and have no reference to particular Churches or Nations although true Religion be therein professed and incouraged let it be remembered that what belongs to the whole belongs also to the part and though many particular Churches formerly renowned are now utterly extinct as the seven Churches of Asia and many more yet before their ruine they had a charge of notorious crimes drawn up against them and notice of those exterminating Judgments which without repentance would follow God does very rarely if ever deal with Churches or Societies of men as with Individuals these he oftentimes leaveth under dismal and sore afflictions not so much for the demerit of their Sins as the probation of their Graces This was the case of Abraham of Lot in Sodom of holy Job who had this excellent character from God at the very instant when he sealed a Commission to Satan to afflict him that he was an upright and perfect man But who can tell of a Righteous Nation which hath kept inviolate the Judgments and Statutes of Heaven that was ever forsaken by God If you please to look home you will find the never failing Providences of the Almighty to watch over this Kingdom for good so long as we kept our Garments clean so long as Religion flourished and the Corruptions thereof were discountenanced Prosperity attended the long Reign of Queen Elizabeth although the Enemies of our Church were more numerous then and as busie and active as they are now The peaceable bringing in of King James almost to a Miracle was a demonstration of the kindness which God had for a people unanimous for then neither Popery nor Phanaticism were tolerated All the time he reigned both Church and State were in a prosperous condition but as soon as ever extravagant spirits began to break the unity of the spirit by Faction then did God righteously begin to break the bond of peace And it is farther observable that when the Inhabitants of England waxed wanton in their Religion then also did they become immoral loose and debauched in their lives for Superstition Heresie Schism Factions in the Church and Adulteries Fornication Drunkenness Prophaneness in the State are but gemini fratres which come into the world at one and the same time If we look for a reason
We may judge of the force that Religion has by the combining nature of Superstition and Will-worship which as Lactantius observes is but verae Religionis unitatrix it makes men all of one mind and judgment Pignoratos reddit animos it causeth them to pawn their Souls and Affections and Estates also one to another Herod and Pilate though desperate enemies before were then made friends when Christ was to be crucified Old Rome will dye to the last man pro aris focis new Rome is at this day as zealous for her new-coined Devotions and will unite all the World over against those whom they are pleased to Damn for Hereticks The Jews stand as stifly to the Traditions of their Forefathers the Rabbins and Doctors of their Church as the Turks to the Precepts of their Alcoran or we to the Old and New Testaments Now if the name of Religion though it be false carrieth with it such Magical force and power to how much more may true Religion pretend He that reads the History of the Ten Persecutions when the native and simple beauty of Religion ravished the Souls of those blessed Martyrs will easily believe that she is strong and mighty as well as amiable and lovely The pacifick argument which Abraham urgeth to Lot when there was discord between their herds-men was this That they were of the same Religion Gen. 13.8 Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee between my herds men and thy herds-men for we be brethren Hoc est Fide Religione and the more cogent was his request because the Canaanite and the Perizite men that were strangers to God and Religion dwelt then in the Land No sooner had the influence of it touch'd the Souls of the Three thousand Acts 2.44 but they were together and had all things common I confess when Religion began to grow into Faction then sprang up Divisions a parting of Minds and Souls as well as of Purses and Estates then was the Common of Christianity turn'd into inclosures when one cries out I am of Paul another I am of Apollos a third I am for Caephas and a fourth I am for Christ that is neither for Ministers nor Ordinances but only for Jesus and his Spirit But who dar'st impute this to Religion when St. Paul tells you it proceeds from the flesh 1 Cor. 3.4 For while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo are ye not carnal But the glory of true Religion will be more apparent If you observe 1. That she is a most perfect piece of Beauty and therefore of her own nature attractive for love to its proper object is strong and never at rest till it does transire in amatum the drawing out of those lines of Perfection upon her was not trusted to the pencil of Apelles or the curious finger of any Mortal but the unerring hand of God himself nor was there any Copy or Exemplar to draw by but himself he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Original of her Perfection in her shineth forth his Wisdom Goodness Mercy Patience Justice Purity and all other communicable Virtues to the Sons of Adam All other Beauties in respect of this are but tenebrae What you see in the vaulted Heavens which made the holy Prophet admire the beauty of Sun Moon and Stars what you see upon Earth in the Spring when nature has put on her rich embroidery whatever can be said of or for Riches Honours Pleasures Preferments in the World are nothing in comparison of her loveliness If that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which St. Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 14. the exact and comely disposition of the Worship of God could be found in our Assemblies where all persons with one consent should offer up their Spiritual Sacrifices to Almighty God Angels would rejoyce and delight to joyn with us and make up the Chorus of sweet-fingers in Israel Papists would no longer have occasion to say that we are Fracti corde ore The sober part of Dissenters that have truely tender Consciences would no longer keep at a distance you would then see the Antepast of Eternity when Religion shall ascend the Meridian of her Glory where there shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same sound and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all sweetly together singing Hallelujahs to their King That which spoileth the beauty of our Service now is want of Order as the most exact piece of Beauty may be ill drawn or the best Dish of meat spoil'd with ill cooking Those Factions and Divisions which are amongst us the slovenly and nasty carriage of many that come to our Assemblies and of them also which wait upon the Altar represent Religion deformed made up of disproportion so that St. Paul's Infidel if he should come amongst us cannot say the Lord is with us of a truth Secondly True Religion is most rational answering the Philosophy of Man's Nature and the Ends of Discourse I know some Mysteries of our Religion are supra rationem that a Virgin should bring forth a Son that the same should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the dead should rise again c. but none of these are contra rationem If you take Religion in a large sense as she comprehendeth all Virtues nothing can be more reasonable than her demands To fear God to love our neighbour to be humble and meek to honour our parents to pray for our enemies What can be more reasonable God has now taken away the rigor and severity of the Law and given us a yoke to bear which is more easie and the burthen more light And if I come nearer the Text you 'l find it to be the purest reason that God should have the fattest of the flock for his portion the most ingenuous and holy observance in his Worship the most exact order and decency in our approaches to him which St. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.1 Now if Religion be thus rational in all her demands it must also be of a knitting and cementing quality Reason being the substratum of all Societies of all Converse between man and man And if we add to this the sweetness of her Nature exactly answering the Conversation of our Blessed Saviour when upon Earth his Love Affability Candor Humility nothing certainly can better attract and draw the Souls of reasonable men than Religion The Professors of it I confess are sometimes morose and cynical not at all inviting in their behaviour but the fault of them cannot be imputed to our Religion which though it does correct yet does it not utterly remove the frowardness of our Nature Thirdly It is delicate and spiritual so attenuate that it can penetrate the Soul ravish the Thoughts and command the Conscience with a holy and sweet Violence Good and bad Angels as they are Spirits have a power to suggest good or bad thoughts Of this refined substance is true Religion and the Character given of
Atheism Thus this beautiful Virgin is every minute in danger to be destroyed by the beasts of Ephesus the latter sort and defloured by the former tho pretended Lovers who by their abominable Separations have torn into pieces the seamless garment which Christ had beautified her with and have put upon her a Coat of divers colours and patches representing rather the spots and changes of the Moon than the lustre and beauty of the Sun she is become a stone of stumbling a rock of offence scarcely known so miserably disfigured that she is like that Stone which Pliny calls Achates tot variis inumbratus coloribus ut unum lapidem esse minimè credamus But thanks be to God that in this night of confusion some of us know what we Worship and what our Worship is and to satisfie men of unbiassed principles I need go no farther than the Text to fetch a true Description of both for it must necessarily follow from the nature of the promise and threatning that the Worship we offer is to the living God who made Heaven and Earth according to the Precepts of his revealed Will. This is our solemn and publick Sacrifice so defined by St. Austin in his Civitas Dei and thus it is distinguished from the private Devotions of a Religious Soul which tho it be very acceptable to the great God yet falls far short of that acceptance which the union of hearts and voices in publick Assemblies findeth with him He hath always loved the gates of Zion better than the dwelling-places of Jerusalem the reason of which the holy Prophet giveth Psal 122.4 Because thither went up the Tribes the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord. When a multitude speak the same thing and conspire together to offer up their Sacrifices to the Lord then does the Glory of the Lord appear then does he manifest his gracious Presence as he did his Glory in the days of Solomon 2 Chron. 5.13 14. It came to pass when the Trumpets and Singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord and when they lift up their voice with the Cymbals and Trumpets and Instruments of Musick and praised the Lord saying For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever that then the house was filled with a cloud even the house of the Lord so that the Priests could not stand to minister by reason of the Cloud for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God The want of this sweet harmony and consent of Souls in the Worship of God is the reason why our Church mourns at this day her visible Members speak not the same things but divers and contrary one to another Babel is found in Bethel confusion in the house of God as if we would force that to be the true and genuine meaning of our Saviour when he brought the Everlasting Gospel into the World I come not to send Peace but a Sword How unlike are we to those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who came up thither to Worship and tho of divers Nations and Languages yet wâ—â—e they of the same Religion from whence undoubtedly they were called Jews We tho we use no other but our Mother-tongue in the Service of God yet have we more Religions than they were Nations Can any good come out of this Galilee Is it likely that a fire should be quenched with Oyl or a healing plaister be made of Corrosives Let us fear rather lest a Church divided against it self should not stand Rome rides faster and gets more ground upon the speckled horse of our own divisions than upon the prancing Genet of her own worship she cunningly does her work and sits still whilst we by our Separations are perfecting her designs in our own ruines and lest any should wonder why so magisterially I seem to obtrude my own Sentiments upon the World let him but impartially consider how the old Axiom is again revived in Rome divide impera and then let him tell me whether the reason of our present impotency and weakness and of their hopes and expectations does not proceed principally from those cursed and sinful Divisions amongst Protestants My humble Address therefore to this Right Honourable and Noble Assembly is That in your respective places as Judges as Magistrates as Nobles as Gentlemen you would glorifie your God save if possible your Country from that destruction which as a dark Cloud hangs over her head that you would imbellish and perfume your names to all generations by honouring Religion by vindicating her innocent beauty from the vile assaults and bruitish rapes of prophane and dissolute men Assert the solemnity of our Worship by your publick constant and reverential attendance against all Detractors who set up Altar against Altar Church against Church and make it the greatest part of their Religion to defame ours Defend the purity and simplicity of it from the superstitious and corrupt mixtures of the Church of Rome by a generous and rational observance of decency and order in the Worship of God Religion takes no pleasure either in a nasty slovenly behaviour or delight in a Pharisaical gaudery Our Ceremonies are few in number easily told as easily understood not like those of the other Church a load insupportable scarcely inferior to the Bondage of the Jewish State Again Let me beseech you to show your Zeal for it in the Presence of Atheists Let not Hell tho it be broken loose in our days make you ashamed of your Crucified Saviour and his Royal Laws It argueth a poor sneaking ingentile spirit when men shall be hectored out of their Religion by a company of Sots that have no God but their Belly and understand no other pleasure but what Bruits do find Hand ulla Numina expavescunt Coelitum Ventri offerent Deos ignorant caeteros as Euripides expresseth them These are the Antichrists which endeavour publickly and privately the ruine of our Religion a Jewel too precious to be lost if you please to consider the second particular the healing and cementing nature of it It 's the Balsome of the Creation the Pandora of all excellent Virtues which undoubtedly will heal all wounds in Church and State may they be applied But that which does not a little advance the Excellency of it is that the perfection which she challengeth as her own does not proceed meerly from the abstracted blessing of the great God but in part from the curious composure of that Spirit which God has endued her with which her very Name as St. Austin and Propertius testifie does sufficiently demonstrate this being that which fasteneth the Soul and Conscience to God and Goodness The Greeks translate it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those that joyned themselves as Proselytes to the Jewish Church were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes waiters for the Kingdom of God longing for the Revelation of the Messias
why men of all sorts rich and poor the Lord and the Beggar are so daring and confident in all kind of licentiousness as if there were neither Heaven nor Hell God or Devil you need not go far Religion hath not been encouraged which was always and ever will be may she be protected a curb to all Impiety If any man therefore shall ask why the promise of the Text is not made good to England why we are in a trembling dangerous condition The Answer is near Protestants have declined in their Zeal abated in their love to Religion these burned gloriously a considerable time after the Reformation but now their heat and light are both impaired Some are turned Atheists and so hate Religion others are turned Hereticks and so corrupt it a multitude are become froward Schismaticks and at this day are tearing and renting it into pieces The proud Atheist scorns to be control'd his tongue is his own and he will be Lord of it Tush doth the Lord see and is there any knowledge in the most high He hath said in his heart There is no God And this abominable Principle openeth a sluce for a whole flood and deluge of all Impieties Psal 14. Esse aliquos manes subterranea regna Et Contum Stigio ranas in gurgite nigras Nec pueri credunt They will not believe any thing of this nature unless sometimes God doth extort it St. Paul met with this herd of men rather beasts that were laughing at the resurrection of the dead as a meer cheat imposed upon the world to keep it quiet 1 Cor. 15. And the abominable conclusion which they draw from these horrid Premises you may there read Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye i. e. after death we shall neither taste nor smell but be annihilated and therefore let us have as great a share of pleasure as we can before it cometh Can it be well with the Nation whilst this Viperous brood are suffered to rant and hector in the World venture into Gentlemens company diffuse their poyson take liberty to baffle young and old to make as many Proselytes to Hell as they can These men that deserve the worst of Deaths for their blasphemy at least to have their tongues cut out are the Gallants of the time and no man must be so saucy as to controle them Can there be peace whilst these go unpunished Secondly Hereticks corrupt our Religion for this is the next piece of Satan's damnable policy if he cannot club down true Religion and force it out of the world he will make it as useless as may be in the world by spoiling the simplicity and adulterating the purity of it His instruments are always prepared to serve this cursed turn men that are reserved close carrying the fairest show of Religion that with more facility they may confound it Nestorius will by no means deny the Blessed Virgin to be the Mother of Christ but she must not be the Mother of God subtilly designing thereby to spoil the glorious office of a Mediator We have too many amongst us at this day who have swallowed down the poyson of this cursed Doctrine granting that Christ dyed at Jerusalem without the gate but they will not own him to be a Saviour of the World He was indeed a good man but not ab aterno there was a time when he was neither God nor Man I should be too tedious in enumerating many instances of this nature there being I believe no Article of our Creed which at this day is not depraved We are not without Arians Socinians Munsterians c. who tho they lye snug and close not appearing like the broad fac'd Atheist yet are they as dangerous to Church and State and as great disturbers of the peace of our Israel as the former Lastly The angry Schismatick who tho he professeth the same Faith and Doctrine with our Church yet does he scorn that any should conduct his Zeal in the Worship of God Whereas a truly pious and humble Soul whether he be of the Clergy or Laity entertaineth low thoughts of himself and is willing to be guided in those things that concern Discipline the other is proud self-conceited and thinks that he is more fit to govern than to be governed I confess Charity commands me to believe that some Dissenters have better hearts but these may easily be differenced from the rest by their meekness patience readiness to be informed But when men have brazen brows Iron necks I cannot conceive how they should have tender consciences and let them pretend to what they please yet till I see them fashioned to the sweetness of the Gospel of Christ I cannot perswade my self that they aim at the Glory of God or the Exaltation of true Religion But are there none else none amongst our selves who deprive us of the blessed influence of the promise I fear we cannot excuse our selves Our want of devotion our irreverence and hypocrisie in the presence of Almighty God will bear witness against us We rather bring our pomp and gallantry with us into the publick Assemblies than our consciences our eyes than our ears our faces than our faith our lusts than our graces we look not upon Religion as our business but rather our diversion not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our souls but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our fancies When I consider how devout Heathens have been at the Worship of their Idols with what fear and reverence they approach their Deities what study to make them propitious how superstitious not daring to strike the first blow nor begin a battel till they have killed their sacrifice and found out the faustum omen When I read how cogent Pliny is in his Panegyrick to his Mecaenas nihil benè riteque auspicandum sine Deorum immortalium natu consilio how penitent and sorrowful they have been when sensible of any neglect in Religion It may cause Christians to blush at the indifferency and looseness of their behaviour before the All-seeing God When I see our Congregations full of those men and women which St. Chrysostome complaineth of in his days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dull sottish sleepy souls snoring yawning I may add whispering laughing intent upon nothing less than Religion Lastly When I consider the immoralities of all from the highest to the lowest of Priest and People rich and poor the common and bloody Oaths the National drunkenness adulteries fornication murders too common and rife amongst us there cannot methinks be any room left for this Question Why is it thus with England since we profess true Religion but rather why are we not as Sodom and Gomorrah as Admâ—h and Zeboiim since our abominations are as weighty and numerous as theirs were I have no more to add to this first Proposition but to leave these few words to your consideration That as it was neglect of Religion which did first open a wide and effectual door through which crouded in upon us all Impieties and both together have caused the Heavens to look sable and black over us so must Religion be exalted to her former simplicity and observance before we can expect the face of our God to shine upon us which will lead me to this short word of Application You see Right Honourable both our wounds and the cure of them the only restorative of our consumptive both Church and State use I beseech you with all diligence and speed this healing plaister pour of this blessed Oyl into our wounds let us not bleed to death in the lap of our abominations although it be an easie death Oh! let not an Icy slumber seal up our eyes to everlasting darkness We are brought low very low if the floods of Irreligion and Impiety be not stopped our destruction cannot be far Stir up your selves therefore to a due consideration of our danger be strong and couragious you that have power to suppress all Prophaneness let not the wild beasts of the Forrest wicked and debauched persons trample under their prophane feet the Royal and Holy Law it 's below a Christian to be a meer man when the interests of God and Religion lye at the stake Indeavour I beseech you to establish Unity as well as Purity in Religion Why should men without controle take liberty against Law not only to separate from our publick Assemblies but set up Altar against Altar Reasonable men would soon be perswaded to frequent our Congregations were it not for them who are heady high-minded and unreasonable men that love to Proselyte silly souls that they may serve to maintain their own Factions whilst they exercise a sordid Jurisdiction over their Consciences I confess it 's a vanity to go about to knock down mens reason or to captivate their minds by force let them abound in their own sense please their own fancies in their retirements but in publick worship where we are all alike interessed there I beseech you contend earnestly for a blessed agreement Every river and rivulet will have its private murmurs according to those Eddies and turns which oppose their waters but the Ocean into which they all empty themselves hath but one sound it were desirable that every Christian were a good Oeconomy able to govern himself and family according to the Laws of God and his Church but who looks into corners or digs a hole through his neighbours Wall to pry into his Family-devotions But no less can be expected then that upon solemn days of Worship they should be ready to joyn with us in setting forth the praises of our gracious God and presenting our Petitions at the Throne of his Mercy This is the counsel of the Text which if we will entertain we may still continue to follow the Lord if not I must leave to your consideration the last Verse of the Text The hand of the Lord shall be against you as it was against your Fathers Which God of his infinite Mercy divert for the sake of our dearest Lord To whom with thee O Father and the Holy Spirit be all Glory and Praise for evermore FINIS