horrible Combustion of Conscience or at the least Inquietude and Uneasiness of Mind any thing but Satisfaction Joy and Rest Of such Men I say as Gen. 49.6 Oh my Soul come not thou into their Secret unto their Assembly mine Honour be not thou united And now Oh my Soul what is thy Trouble and Sorrow and Anxiety of Mind Or what are thy Desires Cares Delight Joy Contrivances Counsels Activity concern'd about Canst thou feed upon thy sweet Morsels alone and glory in the Affluence of Personal or Domestick Blessings while the Gates of Sion mourn Are any in Affliction imprisoned persecuted for Righteousness sake and wiltest not thou bear a part in their Dolours Remembring those in Bonds as bound with them and them which suffer Adversity as being thy self also in the Body Heb. 13.3 Dost thou not partake of that common Spirit of Goodness Compassion Charity which as good Blood diffuses it self and circulates through all the Members of that one Body ingenerating an universal Fellow-feeling and Care of mutual and general Concerns in all and every one that lives by the Life of the Head in Heaven Art thou weak with the Weak and with the Offended dost thou burn 2 Cor. 11.29 Canst thou bear every ones burthen and so fulfill the Law of Christ and restore those overtaken with Infirmities considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Gal. 6.1 2. See the Apostle prosecuting this Argument fully 1 Cor. 12.12 to 27. If thou be acted by the private strait-lac'd selfish Spirit of the generality who can neither give a jot of ease to themselves under their Personal Straits and Sorrows by a serious Reflection on the Welfare of the Church of God nor will in the least imbitter their Joys with any Considerations of the Afflictions of Joseph suspect thy self to be an Alien from the Life and the Catholick Body of Jesus Christ which subsists by a Vital Union with him What now are the Measures by which thou actest in thy Station and with respect to the Members of Christ If thou espouse and tenaciously adhere to only the Sentiments of some Particular Party or Sect farewel all publick Spiritedness Thou professest a Belief of the Communion of Saints as in one Catholick Church which is indeed an Invisible Thing as are all Objects of Faith in its distinction from Sense Does this Faith work by Love Thou ownest also one Universal Body seen in its parts visible in its whole extent throughout the World actually by the Eyes of its Head seen in its Unity at once and potentially by Man Which is not a Chaos of every thing in confusion but an Organical Body that in diversity of useful comely Members Parts Congregations the least of the denomination Countries and Kingdoms makes up a lovely Community Not a Rope of Sand but a Golden Chain where every very Link has its Beauty Preciousness Connexion Suitableness A Garden enclosed where variety of Walks Beds c. constitute a fair delicious Paradise One Spouse of Christ one Body for one Head Does thy Fancy or Partiality here make Restrictions Can'st thou dar'st thou chop and mangle this Body Tear off a Limb of this Spouse Break the golden Chain for one Link And dote upon these without regard to the rest Can thy Love walk no where but in little Severals and petty Enclosures In this sence I cannot disallow that Saying of a Great Person viz. That the Church of Christ is neither Rome nor a Conventicle There may be some Part of it there but confin'd to either it cannot be exclusively to the rest of the World Art thou a Christian Then must Christianity command the freest Motions of thy Affections the Interest of that thou must and shalt respect honour promote and love not as it is pretended or conceitedly monopolized by any distinct Party but as like the Sun it diffuses its efficiency vertue and influence every where and shines with a lovely radiancy and glory in any Man whatsoever Seest thou one that in the judgment of rational Charity makes Religion his principal Business above all labouring that it may have a prevalent Interest in his Heart Cleave to this Man embrace him in thy most near and intimate Affections be he of what Party soever Dost thou find any diligently searching the Word of God to know him in all his Perfections not meerly for Notion sake but that his inward Soul and outward Conversation may be under the Dominion and Command of what he knows A Man that maintains a high and honourable esteem of the ever blessed Redeemer of the World the only begotten Son of God as the alone Saviour of Mankind taking the greatest care to gain a true and full Understanding of his Excellency Undertaking Offices and Benefits that he may entirely devote himself to him A Man that is daily acquainting himself how much it is his Interest to live under the Conduct of the Holy Ghost and therefore studies his inspired Writings to attain right Apprehensions concerning his Nature Gifts Graces Comforts that he may aspire after them inwardly feel them in their power and accordingly engages his Mind Will Affections Conscience executive Power all within and without him in an universal Subjection to this Holy Trinity in Unity and with a reverend Awefulness minggled with Love demeans himself under the Government of that ever Adoreable Majesty as one that hath present powerful Sensations of its immediate Presence Oversight and perfect Cognizance of the most secret recesses of his Soul A man that understanding his relation to God owns Him pants after Him with insatiable Ardour cleaves unto Him with full purpose of heart in a singular Complacency fears praises glorifies trusts chooses embraces acknowledges Him in all His ways as His chief Good and Happiness and would not willingly displease Him for a World And having with a Holy Religious Veneration observ'd approves of is singularly well pleas'd with that Wonder of all Wonders the Grace of Almighty God revealed by the Gospel in giving His Eternal Son to be the Redeemer of Lost Mankind God in our Flesh manifested in the fulness of time to do and suffer whatever Justice required that our Sins might be pardon'd our Persons accepted sanctified and glorified And Looking unto Jesus doth heartily acquiesce in the Method of Salvation ordain'd by God thro' him intirely yields up himself to him to be and do and suffer whatever he pleases sincerely accepts of him as an All-sufficient Saviour submits to his Government in all things never can be satisfied but is in a restless Agony day and night till he gain some good Evidence that Christ is his and he Christ's spontaneously chearfully with a self-denying humble penitent Heart venturing his All upon him for ever in believing in him hoping for his Sake to obtain the Love and Favour of God in Justification Reconciliation and Eternal Blessedness and therefore deliberately freely with all readiness of mind engages himself to Christ by the Renewal of his Baptismal Covenant with
to be destroy'd That is our strongest and most delightful bent of Will being for God and goodness against Sin we sin not out of Love to sin as dntiful Subjects obey their Sovereign out of love to obedience Yet so masterful and imperious are our Corruptions that they will fight against us under their Chains and taking their advantage knock us down and ravish us that according to Rom. 7.18 to the end we sometimes do that we would not or do not that we would our delight being in the Law of God after the inner Man which no unregenerate Man can truly say But the Law in our Members does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 counterwar and captivate and Sin dwelling in us does overbear our most determinate purposes in some particular Act although for the-main and in the general course of our lives we keep it under alway dislike it are afflicted with it would give Worlds to be rid of it and use God's appointed means for mortifying it that we may gain an absolute Victory Though it may get the better in some slighter skirmishes yet we remain Masters of the Field In brief when Sin has our liking allowance love delight 't is a King when not a Tyrant The former is inconsistent with Sanctification not the latter therefore does not debar our right to Pardon and Peace though it may darken our Evidence and so damp our Comfort But if we enjoy this assurance that God is ours we have Evidence also that Grace is ours Pardon is ours Peace is ours and therefore may solace our selves in its abundance Psal 37.11 As on the contrary antecedently to this assurance there can be no secure and well bottomed although there may be a fallacious and presumptuous Peace For Peace of conscience alway supposes Peace with God and this discovered by some overt act else 't is but a drunken Dream If a Man have no testimony that God is reconciled to him 't is all one in effect as if he were not reconciled The old Maxim must here obtain non esse non apparere tantidem sunt The privilege we enjoy is to us a non-entity the comfort we feel not to us is not My Soul is in woe because I have offended God my trouble cannot must not cease till I know that the offence is past by and forgiven no nor then neither wholly if I be an ingenuous Child I shall be grieved whenever I review the disingenuous baseness of my behaviour toward my heavenly Father although he resolve never to remember it to my prejudice yet with this difference before pardon I shall be afflicted with a tormenting Sorrow the issue of Fear which will at present extinguish and overthrow my comfort but after sense of Remission only with a more generous Compunction and godly Sorrow the fruit of Love consistent with although it something diminish and detract from the fulness and sweetness of my Consolation If I can sit down content under the dishonour I have done and the Provocation I have given unto my affectionate and tender hearted Father I am an unworthy Child nay if I so little and lightly regard his anger as to be in no pain but at ease under it and so affront and undervalue his Love as to be at rest and content without it I am a Rebel not a Child a Devil not a Saint Now let a Messenger be with me one of a thousand to shew my uprightness Job 33.23 24. that I have sincerely observ'd the Conditions of the promise of Pardon and therefore God is gracious to me and saith deliver him from the pit execute not the sentence of Condemnation pronounced by the Law against him I have found a Ransome or Atonement the Satisfaction my Justice hath received at the hands of the Redeemer shall be available for him to all intents and purposes as fully as if he himself in person had given it Mine anger is turned away from him I am at peace with him I have pardoned him If I have good testimony of this it quiets my Heart dispels my Doubts allays my Sorrows satisfies my Conscience replenishes my Soul with Comfort and Peace Hence that sweet reviving Proclamation Isa 40.1 Comfort ye Comfort ye my People saith your God speak ye comfortably Hebr. to the heart to Jerusalem and cry unto her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because her warfare is accomplished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because her Iniquity is pardoned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because she hath received from the band of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two double for all her sins There is an express causal Connexion betwixt these things Proclaim Comfort because 't is thus and thus Here are three Grounds of Comfort and all from your God I begin with the last and lowest which is therefore the Foundation 1. Punishment inflicted to the Satisfaction of Justice She hath received two double She i. e. the Church a Body complex and compounded of Head and Members If not in the Members yet in the Head Christ Jesus she has born the Indignation of the Lord in so full a measure that all the further claims and demands of Justice as to her are sinally silenced as far as they concern the Penalty And 't is not unusual in Scripture for that to be ascribed to the Head Christ Body the Church which is proper to the Body Head and this in consideration of the Mystical Union and Communion betwixt the Head and Members Act 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me 2 Cor. 1.5 As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolation aboundeth by Christ Rom. 8.17 if we suffer with him Isa 49.3 And said unto me thou art my Servant O Israel in whom I will be glorified 'T is apparently spoke to and of Christ as the whole Context demonstrates But let the sense be proper and not relative to Christ viz. that the Body the Church had suffered Double i. e. sufficient in the estimate of her tender and compassionate God who is afflicted in all her Afflictions and in the depths of his Love makes aggravating greatning Representations of all the Miseries she groans under as if she had born Punishments truly more than proportionable to her sins yet this implies both an antecedent Compensation made by Christ in vertue whereof God is so wonderfully propitious and candid in his Opinion and Sentiments concerning her Sufferings And also that although these were not a real and full Satisfaction in the nature of the thing yet they were accepted as such and so accounted in the repute and benign Interpretation of her reconciled God who seems as it were repentingly and rueingly to declare this as Jer. 31.20 Hosea 11.8 9. 2. Since there seems to be not only a causal dependance of these three and the Comfort here tendred but also of each upon other that the latter appears to be a ground and reason of the former hence grievous Suffering is alledged as the Motive upon which the Divine Majesty was pleas'd to
which being cultivated by External Advantages and his own more than ordinary Industry he became an universal Scholar comprehending the whole Encyclopaedia of all profitable Literature a solid Logician a good Linguist a fluent Rhetorician a profound Philosopher and very skilful in the Mathematicks Being thus well accomplished for Learning and Parts after he had taken his Degrees in the University the first Essay he made upon the Publick Stage was about Peterborough where staying but a little season he came into his Native Country about the Year 1660. and his Uncle Mr. William Clarkson who was Parson of Add-hill dying he was presented to that Parsonage by Esq Arthington of Arthington the Patron he accepted of it but enjoyed it but a little space for Dr. Hich Parson of Guiseley challenged it as his by right upon King Charles the Seconds Return having been excluded by the Act against Pluralities made by the Parliament Mr. Sharp was capable of it having been Ordain'd by a Bishop yet he saw there was no contending with so great a Man especially in that juncture he was willing to resign although Mr. Arthington would have tryed his Title to present by Law but he declined it for at that time he saw a Cloud approaching with covered us all and so retired to his Father's House where he was of singular use living privately and following his Studies very close attending upon Publick Ordinances in the Parish Church at Bradford where that worthy Person Mr. Abraham Brooksbank was Vicar till he removed to Reading But when the Licences granted by King Charles 2. in 72. came forth he took the opportunity to exercise his Ministry in his own House being crowded with great numbers that flock'd to hear him About that time he married Mrs. Bagnall's Daughter by whom he had one Daughter but both dyed After a season he married Mr. Sales Daughter an excellent N. C. Minister by whom he had several Children but none are now living but one Son and one Daughter He had a call to Preach at Morley where he was very industrious and highly esteemed But the Inhabitants of that populous Town of Leeds having built a large Chappel upon Mr. Richard Streattons remove to London gave him a call which he embraced living at his own House at Horton riding mostly on Lords day Morning to Leeds and back again at Evening in Summer time at least which was above a dozen Miles and Preaching twice which at length he found too hard for him therefore he bought a House in Leeds repaired it built to it and kept House there and at Horton also where his necessary affairs requir'd his frequent attendance He was in Labours more abundant and spared not his own Body or Estate that he might do good to Souls and edifie the Church of God He was very self-denying and stood not upon Worldly Incomes whether they were more or less he was very well content so that he gave strict charge to those who collected that small Pittance he accepted of in consideration of his Labours not to urge any but only receive the voluntary Contributions of those who were as well able as willing He was exceeding Temperate mortified to all Earthly Enjoyments of great Aequanimity Sociable to all yet prized above all others such as feared God these were his chosen Companions He invited Ministers and Christian Friends frequently to days of Fasting and Prayer in his own House and went upon a call abroad upon those Occasions He was indeed very excellent in Prayer and had a peculiar way of pleading with God by serious sensible Expostulations with great Ardency and Affection which made it appear to Intelligent Christians that he was much with God in Prayer and very familiar with him few had those rare Gifts or exercised Grace at that rate and no doubt God dealt familiarly with his Soul he lived near God and now is with his God His Prayers were usually long but not tedious being flowered with variety of sweet Expressions and Pathetical Expostulations and I doubt not but the Lord graciously accepted his Person and vouchsafed many gracious Answers to his ardent Prayers as might appear in several Instances which I forbear to mention He was a fluent Preacher a Master of Words not so much abounding in Rhetorical Flourishes as in Pithy and Profitable Sentences very taking with his Auditors that fit under his Ministry with great delight His Sermons were Elaborate and Accurate all he did was exceeding Polite and Scholar-like his Method was peculiar to himself and sometimes Cryptical but always suitable to the matter and proper to the end design'd not to please the Fancy but to inform the Judgment convince the Conscience work upon the Will and Affections and change the Heart and Life He hath often said he should never have been so cautious and so careful of his Words had not his Father been so critical and found so many faults with him which he studied to rectifie this did him good though he found it hard to stoop to but as he was sensible of his Paternal Authority and his own Filial Duty so he was convinc'd of his Fathers judicious Exceptions and the tendency thereof to his own Benefit He was very Sound and Orthodox and trod much in the old Path though he was well acquainted with the Controversies of the Times and very able to oppugne Error and defend the Truth yet he was of a peaceable Spirit making the best Constructions of doubtful Phrases and inclined rather to compose Differences Civil and Sacred than to espouse a Party he was of a Catholick Spirit and spake well of what was good in Persons that differed from him he was very unwilling to engage in any Controversie only some knowing his Acuteness and Genius desired his help in three Cases first against the Papists upon occasion of a young Man turning that way and sending a Letter to his Relations which he answered very Learnedly and to great Satisfaction 2dly Two Papers he writ in Reply to two Conformists who grievously and rigidly censured their peaceable Brethren the one in Print the other in Writing both which he Answered and Confuted both well deserved Publishing but the Times would not then bear it and now they may seem out of season but are still preserved as choice Manuscripts in the Hands of Friends As is also 3dly an Answer to some Queries supposed to be Dr. Owens Whether Persons who have engaged unto Reformation and another way of Divine Worship according to the Word of God c. may lawfully go unto and attend on the use of the Common Prayer in Divine Worship c. He had a lofty Poetical Strain wherein he sometimes for a diversion employed himself upon special Occasions as upon the Death of that Worthy Grave Divine Mr. Elkanah Wales and upon the Burning of London in 1666. which being show'd to Dr. Robert Wild he seem'd surpriz'd and ingenuously acknowledg'd that Man should be his Master he would yeild the Laurel to the
Pet 2.4 To love thy self into Sobriety or Prudent self Government to cloath thy self with a Robe of Righteousness and Mercy in thy dealings with Men is not enough is not the full and adequate Doctrine and Duty taught by the Grace of God which brings Salvation Titus 2.11 There must be superadded not only a denying Vngodliness so as to crucifie it but a living Godly leading a Religious Life towards God in Love Faith Fear Honour Universal Acknowledgment out of Conscience For what Conscience in dealing well with Men and ill with God that is with the Subjects fairly and not with the Soveraign What Conscience in breaking the first Article betwixt God and Man which is to give him the sole command in his House thy Heart that living Temple which is the sum of the First Commandment What Conscience to dwell in his House and pay him no Rent No external Acknowledgment and Worship in Publick in thy Family in thy Closet the sum of the Second Command What Conscience whilst tender of thy own Name to be regardless of Gods forbid in the Third Command What Conscience in stealing time from God's reserved part when he allows thee so much beside the Fourth Command violated Be never so sober just free kind to Man-ward if thou respect not God O my Soul thou hast no Conscience For where there 's no Godliness there can be no Conscience Oh make it thy first and main business to approve thy self to God Thou canst never be true to thy self or Man if thou be a Traytor to God Thou hast no greater assistance in thy dutifulness to Men than a due regardfulness of God Thou canst have no better evidence of a due regardfulness of God than thy conscientious dutifulness to Men. Thou forfeit'st the reputation of thy Religiousness towards God if thou be not Righteous towards Man and of thy Righteousness if not Religious Like Hippocrates's Twins these are born and act and sicken and die together That 's the 4th ingredient of the Psalmist's Character he upheld universal Innocency and Integrity of Conscience CHAP. VII The Subject of Comfort Publickly Spirited c. True Christianity c. 5. THis Holy Man was of a Publick Spirit living under a Catholick sence of and care for the common concerns of the Church of God Lamenting its Miseries ver 5 6. longing and praying for its redemption from them by the Power and Justice of God ver 1 2 3 4 20. and encouraging his own and its hopes thereof by a serious reflection upon the Divine Attributes ver 1 2 8 9 10 11. Providences ver 12 13. and his own particular experience ver 17 18 19 21. withal by a Prophetick Spirit foretelling it ver 14 15 23. all which are plain in the Psalm and plain demonstrations of a Heart enlarged in its desires and endeavours for Publick Good A good Soul is not well at ease when the Servants of God are ill at ease The Sufferings of the Church are made its own by a sympathizing Spirit which is afflicted in all its Afflictions and cannot enjoy Prosperity or it self in Contentation when God's Children are groaning under the Cross Mourns with Mourning Rejoyces with rejoycing Sion and uses its interest in Heaven to work upon the Bowels of the ever-blessed Son of God that he may demonstrate his tender Commiserations toward his own Members in Misery by turning the course of his Providence And that this is a proper method to Comfort we see Isai 66.10 11. Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her rejoyee for joy with her all ye that mourn for her that ye may suck and be satisfied with the Breasts of her Consolations that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her Glory God had a People a Heritage which though Afflicted and broken in pieces here ver 5. yet he would not cast off nor forsake either in respect of Affection or Communion ver 14. So neither must we For 't is by Vertue of our Union and Communion with that Body and its Head that all those comfortable Spirits and Influences are derived to us which refresh and revive us I confess 't is through our internal and spiritual Confederation and Fellowship but he that values and receives benefit by this cannot despise and vilifie the External Hence our Psalmist here as a Member vitally joined to the Body and partaking of a common Sense does not only comfort himself and it with the consideration of the inviolableness of that Union and Communion which was of a spiritual Nature ver 14. nor only reflects upon those external Ligaments and Bonds which ty'd together so numerous a People into one single Heritage or Church but also was grievously afflicted for those external breakings in pieces rents and disunion of parts though involuntary which were the fruit of the outward Violence and Rage of Persecutors So should we But then Oh what Affliction would have rent his tender Heart in the view of those voluntary tearing in pieces the Seamless Coat of Christ the Divisions and Breaches we make amongst our selves Those Fractions were only some kind of dissolution of their Civil Political Union ours of the Ecclesiastical and Wounds are most dangerous in the most noble Parts State Factions are not more to be dreaded than those of the Church because these have more immediate respect to the Soul and God Lamentable are the Miseries of a Civil War where Thousands Born Bred up Nourished by one common Mother Brethren by Stock Blood Condition Cohabitation Membership of the same Body Politick perhaps of one Name and Kindred and Family of the same Body Mystical the Church Blind and Dumb and Deaf to the Cries and Shreeks and Wounds and Groans and Deaths of their own proper Limbs in a barbarous drunken rage tear off their own Skin Flesh and Bones rive open their very Hearts to let out Spirit Life Strength Soul hurl one another down to Hell under their Sin in a deluge of Blood and worry themselves by piece-meal into eternal Damnation And are the Church Digladiations in the Christian World less deplorable when those whose respite from everlasting Burnings cost no less than the Blood of God who are denominated from that most venerable Name wash'd in the same Laver of Regeneration Members of the same Spiritual Body privileged with the same most excellent Gospel and Covenants of Promise and would every one be ready to tear out his Heart that should dare to tell them that they shall not each possess the blessedness of an unspeakably glorious Heaven where therefore as in a Center they must meet if their hopes fail not When these I say who thus concenter and agree in their Titles Royalties and Expectations are so far from combining in the common profession and practice of Unity Love Peace Goodness Vertue Godliness Brotherly kindness Charity as to grind one another into Atoms bite and devour one anothers Hearts by bloody Animosities Reproaches
Railings Revilings Censures Uncharitableness Cursings Excommunicatings Fines Imprisonments Murderings Massacrings for things extrinsecal and foreign to their holy Profession recommended in the Mosaical Prophetical Evangelical and Apostolical Writings As if God had not delivered Precepts enough to guide Men to Heaven ever Party must have new of its own to torture Mens Consciences doubting that there are not Sins enough to damn Men unless we by our whimsies make large additions to the sum discovering thereby how much we are affraid that those who otherwise would securely tread in the Paths of Life and gain the Crown of Glory should not stumble and fall upon our new created Blocks and thereby precipitate themselves into Hell For what else is the meaning of our unwritten Traditions unwritten Canons unwritten Offices unwritten Orders and an hundred more by the by 's Tricks and Snares and Trains and Traps made to help the Devil more certainly to catch enough Is not the Holy Word of God the Scripture in its Rules and Laws too oft too much too foully-transgress'd but the Mouth of Hell must be gagg'd and rack'd wider with new devices that it may be capacious enough to receive the numberless numbers that we resolve to send thither by man-made Sins as if it were in despite of God And least our self-devised Engins should fail of effecting this and a poor quivering trembling Conscience that looks asquint at them should chance to preserve its Innocence and Allegiance to God and its present Light and Sentiments by sliping out of or breaking through the Snare and refusing to wound it self to eternal Death with the Ponyard we put into its hands we must jog and thrust home and drive on its slow and cautious pendulous Arm by the violence of such severe indispensible Sanctions so strictly look'd after so rigorously executed and all under a bold pretence of Divine Warrant that if Men have any thing of Nature Sense and Commiseration to their own Flesh their dearest Yoke-fellows their pretty tender innocent Babes they must be cruelly enforc'd to determine to be damn'd for them or kill their Hearts by dying before their Eyes under as many Agonies as ingenious Malice can invent and this perhaps a thousand times over beside the bequeathing them to the same or more miserable Fortune and all this is doing God good Service As if the Lord that bought Mens Souls to ease them Matth. 11.29 30. had done it only to sell them again to the most bloody butchering Fiends to torment them And God who with so much severity prohibits Cruelty Murder Bloodshed by his Laws had laid in an exception and given Commission for this to as many as can so divest all sense and bowels of Humanity and Christianity as to judge none to be Men and Christians but themselves and invest so much of Wolf Tyger Dragon as to do the utmost to make all others Proselytes of the Gates of Heil like themselves when in the mean time Men with the greatest impunity may violate the noblest Ordinations of Heaven or upon Prosecuon buy off or commute the Penance for a little Trash and Dirt. Oh dear Lord Jesus how long how long shall such a Spirit Triumph and ride in Scarlet How long shall they tear in pieces thy People and Heritage under the Beasts Skins wherewith they have cloathed them Oh blessed Spouse of Christ How long must thou be affronted with the violence of such beastly Ruffians that under a disguise pretend to be thy-very self that they may the more securely ravish and destroy thee The Wolf in the Lambs skin unsuspectedly to devour it A Beast with Horns like a Lamb but a Voice like a Dragon Rev. 13.11 Well Christ's Servants are not Wolves Thorns and Thistles Matth. 7.15 16. Profitable to none hurtful to all publick Curses But Sheep Vines Fig-trees their Temper their Behaviour their Fruit altogether good meek gentle sweet refreshing reviving pleasing generally useful publick Blessings like their Master every way desirable grateful all being better for them none worse in Goods good Name Body or Soul their Designs their Principles their Temper and Spirit their Behaviour and Purpose and Practice being the general benefit of Mankind and the Church of God especially that wherein their Lines are fallen They think it they represent it they indeavour further to make and preserve it a goodly Heritage If it hold the Head if it uphold the main if its established Doctrine be truly Christian if its design be true goodness if its Worship in the substance be Divine They bless God for it they cover its Blemishes they bear with its Infirmities they further its Ends they endeavour to inlarge it to adorn it with real Beauties to vindicate it from Reproaches to promote its Unity Prosperity Peace Purity Felicity lament its Miseries Breaches Corruptions Defects Deformities but expose it but defame it they dare not they will not This is a truly Catholick Spirit proceeding in all its actings upon truly Catholick Principles This and this only when the risk of Partiality Censoriousness Self-idolizing Faction Fury Barbarousness Madness Devilism is run will stand upon a secure basis and yeild a Man the blessed Fruits of Comfort Joy Peace and Contentation But I must come out of the Clouds and be plain Therefore shall first direct what ought to be owned by a Publick Spirit next what Principles will enable a Man to own what he ought 1. Common Humanity engages to be well wishers to that general Nature which is diffused through all the Species and love that in any Man which I honour in my self All the Butcheries and Barbarities on Earth issue from Mens degeneracy from Humanity into a ferine or diabolical Nature But since I am a Man nothing humane shall be foreign to my Cognisance to my Compassion to my Ear to my Conscience When the Vices of Persons give a check to my Bowels the vertue of the Nature shall retrieve their yearning motions and when I can see nothing in Men to engage I will endeavour to imitate the best of Paterns in taking Arguments from my self I will not so much regard their Conditions as their Capacities and that in all their Possibilities If this Nature be personally joined to God why should not I be joined to it in Affection Shall I tread that Man in the dirt who may shine as a Star in the Firmament of Glory Shall a Companion of Angels and God himself be worse dealt with than a Devil May Heaven receive him and shall not my Heart Is God so unkind to me as to give me an Example of brutishness to my own Nature I must not be worse to him than I would have him to me were our circumstances changed the measures I meet to him shall I receive of God 2. Christianity next both renders a man more meet and lays upon me a further bond to desire endeavour and effect his good The honour of the Name the power of the Thing The famed Mr. Fox could never deny
an Alms asked in the Name of Christ but above all the Eternal Father never will Joh. 14.13 14. and 15.16 and 16.23 24. But the Nature the Life the Power of Christianity is a Thing incomparable the highest communication of Divine Goodness issuing from the lowest condescension of infinite grace Christ the God of Wisdom dwelling in our Nature by the Holy Ghost the God of love and in our hearts by Faith to root and ground us in Love Oh the height depth length breadth of the love of Christ an Hyperbole to our knowledge infinitely surpassing shooting above it that we may be FILLED WITH ALL THE FULNESS OF GOD. Oh Mystery above all Mysteries Oh Grace above all Grace The Height of most incomprehensible Majesty in the deepest humility of boundless Mercy exalting poor degenerate man from the lowest Abyss of unspeakable misery to the utmost sublimity of celestial Glory in such an extensive amplitude and fullness of all the richest blessings spread abroad over the whole latitude of humane nature having their spring from that everliving fountain of Eternal Love and streaming in infinite varleties to the length of all eternity with such accommodation and suitableness to every of our particular necessities desires hopes as becomes a fruit of unparallel'd incomparable Wisdom and Grace Oh unfathomable Love thou hast even outdone thy self and undone me a man of an unclean heart and lips for how shall such a poor weak polluted worm be ever able to conceive aright of thy unconceivable plenitude be thankful for and speak well enough of thy unspeakable magnitude with a degree of Love and delight high enough entertain thy unmeasurable sufficiency sweetness and satisfactory Perfection or faithfully improve and walk worthy of thy unmatchably rich and glorious communications The unsuitableness the unanswerableness of my Spirit and practice will ruine me if by another astonishing Miracle of demission thou do not spread abroad thy quickening confirming thy sanctifying and actuating influences throughout all the powers of my Soul that in thine own strength I may rightly glorify thee That is Christianity in its causes the Wisdom Love and Grace of God in Jesus Christ and its general Notion an elevation of Fallen Man to God More particularly Christianity in the Theory is the Doctrine of Faith in Jesus Christ in the Practice 't is covenanting and keeping Covenant with God This is brief inlarge your Thoughts thus Christianity is an undissembled acknowledgement or owning and receiving Jesus Christ as the only Mediator betwixt God and man in a hearty Submission to the terms of the Covenant of Grace Repentance Faith and upright Obedience It supposes Natural Religion in an universal subjection to the Deity as Creator Governour and Owner of all For if God had nothing to do with us nor we with him there would be no need of a Mediator so neither if there were no Sin Hence it also supposes the Obligation of the Law of Nature which is the Rule of Natural Religion and the guide of man in his natural subjection to God It supposes also the Covenant of Nature commonly called Works with the violation of it which none could expiate but God-man And it includes as most essential the Covenant of Grace and in special the New Edition thereof for the old is Judaism i. e. the Gospel exhibiting Jesus Christ as already come God in our Flesh Teaching for our instruction Commanding for our direction Doing for our example and advantage and Suffering in our room and stead and for our Sin All things necessary for our Salvation hereby satisfying Divine Justice and meriting for us the Holy Ghost with his gifts grace pardon peace and eternal glory to be given us upon conditions and terms suitable to his own goodness and our present state viz. Repentance toward God for and from dead works that we might serve him the Living God and Faith in Jesus Christ accepting of submitting and committing our Souls to him in well doing with all the fruits hereof in Love Meekness Humility Self-denial Patience Heavenly-mindedness Watchfulness in Summ Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety to be wrought in us and exercised by us through the Grace and Might of Christ which only makes them sincere and sound and so acceptacle to God through Christ who alone intercedes with God on the behalf of Man for this end as a Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all perfection Heb. 7.25 This is the summ of Christianity owned by some Professionally only by others Really also But because the reality of the Heart is only known to God whereof he never made us the Judges We must proceed solely upon the external Profession as far as it renders the other real inward owning credible Now 't is in respect of this credible owning of Christianity manifested by Profession that a Man becomes a member of the Catholick Church Visible has a right to all Ordinances Baptism Fellowship with a particular Church the Lords Supper and consequently Ministry Ministerial and Fraternal Inspection c. 1. There 's no Vital Union betwixt Jesus Christ and any particular Person merely as a Member of a Particular Church and under that Formality but only as a Member of the Church Universal invisible For There 's no union of Life but by unfeigned Faith uncorrupt Love which are invisible things These make no Man a Member of a Particular Church actually and ipso facto though they give the first and truest right thereto but of the Catholick they actually do Nay the Visible profession of them though it give the right yet does not actually invest in a particular Church but does in the Universal Visible and after it has been own'd by the Church in Baptism we are not only Visible potentially but seen and actually acknowledged Members of the Catholick Church Visible yet not presently of a particular Church Though Baptism be in a particular Church yet 't is not into it but the Universal Consent without actual associating does not constitute any a Member actually but only potentially and virtually That which makes a Man a Member of a particular Church is only Actual Association with its consent explicit or implicit Every one that is truly a Member of the Catholick Church Visible and gives any credible evidence thereof either explicit or implicit as Mr. Tho. Hooker truly observes and essays to joyn himself to a particular Church upon that evidence ought to be receiv'd to a participation of all Ordinances and that particular Church cannot de jure deny its consent but it betrays its trust and sins greatly both against the man and Christ also But then no man is saved under that Formality as a member of a particular Church merely but only as he partakes of that common Christian Nature which constitutes the Members of the Catholick Church Though he sin Grievously and without Repentance general or particular may justly be damn'd for neglect of joining in the Ordinances with some particular Church or other if he have opportunity 2.
he would out-brave and out-face even his Maker in his Accusations of the Brethren c. Whatever his Methods Eph. 6.11 or Wiles Devises 2 Cor. 2.11 Snares 1. Tim. 3.7 2 Tim. 2.26 Depths Rev. 2.24 Whatever his Stratagems Policies are to delude defile disquiet or destroy thee however cunningly craftily managed Yet still is he not too wise for God who well knows how to defeat all his Designments and amongst infinite other has this one Method to lead thee to Comfort even when thine Adversary hath out-witted and got the better of thee and is leading thee into Temptation Trouble and Torment viz. to bring thee thorow the narrow way of Repentance to a New Life of Grace Peace Joy and Consolation present and eternal This he doth oftentimes with Man Job 33.28 29. Read from the 14th to the 31st Job 28 28. Vnto Man he said behold the fear of the Lord true Religiousness that is Wisdom and to depart from evil true Repentance that is Vnderstanding He knows how to rule the raging of that Sea of Sorrow Terror and Anguish wherewith the Devil attempts to overwhelm thee and shipwrack all thy Hopes and Happiness and so turns the Storm into a Calm of Godly sorrow that Satans Creature yields and gives place to the Creation of God and the Grief which God exhales does issue in the fruit of the Lips Peace of the same extraction Is 57.19 and thus is Satan over-reach'd and baffled in his most subtle Contrivances and his Machinations to ruine our Comfort become means for its Establishment But if his own immediate Actings be seconded with the Agency of his Instruments that all the Politicks on Earth combine with those of Hell to overturn our security and rest Yet are they never the nearer their Purpose of subverting the Counsels of Heaven for the solace of our troubled Hearts but rather promote them whilst they drive us nearer God as our everlasting Refuge and Sanctuary in whom we may be sure to find a Fulness of Joy and Compensation Is all the Carnal Wisdom on Earth set on the rack to devise the Ruine of True Religion and Thee in the Profession and Practice of it Are wicked Men thy particular Foes in a Confederacy against thee contriving thy Destruction in Spirituals and Temporals Yet where-ever they deal wisely proudly cruelly He is above them Art thou thy self are all Men else at a loss in their Thoughts either how Religion should be secured in whole or in part when at any time its Enemies conspire against it or how Jacob should arise when he is very small or how thy Personal Interest should be safeguarded or how thy Health restored or Death prevented or Deliverance be wrought under some grievous Calamity or any Mercy obtain'd for Soul or Body thy self thy Friends or the Church and Nation Be not solicitous the All-comprehending Wisdom of Heaven can never be at a Loss this unsearchable understanding has all Possibilities present in view and cannot but chuse the best for Himself for Thee for All and it seldom begins of its Work till all be at their Wits end when every thing else fails and the Wisdom of Men has given up all for gone Divine Wisdom resumes the Work and glorifies its self in bringing it to Perfection In short all the Artifices of Earth and Hell cannot invent or reduce into Circumstances so deplorable and desperate as to over-match the Contrivance of Infinite Wisdom for our Comfort under and after them its Provisions are truly Catholick extending to all possible Cases Conditions Seasons Places and Persons whereof the Holy Scriptures are a full Evidence as a legible Declaration of the Unfathomable Wisdom of God Here are the Rivers whose Streams make glad the City of God Psal 46.4 Oh the Adoreable Plenitude of the written Word of God which comprehends the whole Counsel of God for our Illumination Effectual Calling Sanctification Justification Comfort and Eternal Salvation There is nothing devised by the Infinite Understanding of God for the Ease and Quiet of troubled Hearts but which is contained in the Bible a Transcript whereof upon the Heart creates a Life of Joy Peace and Rest God's Wisdom speaks Peace to us in no other Language than that of the Word 'T is indeed visible in his Works of Creation and Providence which are under its Conduct and bear its lively Characters but these scarce intelligible without the Sacred Writings Here only is all perspicuous and plain that 's needful either to purifie or pacify the Conscience What a World of Consolatory Matter is couched in this one Psalm will appear anon What then is there in the whole Book of God Judge of the Immense Ocean by this Little Rivulet Admire and Reverence that incomparable Abstract of the Wisdom of Heaven in these Lively Oracles and hence derive all thy Consolations § 2. This Wisdom is not alone nor in this Case a Self-mover but goes upon the Errand and Designs of Infinite Gooodness An Attribute brim-full of Solace Joy and Rest as our Psalmist found Ver. 18. especially and every where Ver. 12 13 14 15 17.19 21. Indeed every Request in the Psalm supposes it and every Assertion refers to it even his Complaints are Addresses to it and all his Expectations are from it 't is the good Blood that runs in every Vein not a Verse but points at it Now as Wisdom chuses the Method and Means of applying Comfort and pitches upon such as are most accommodate in particular So Goodness administers the Matter in general Every thing that creates the light of Gladness and Consolation in a dark benighted troubled soul is a spark a beam of Goodness The Goodness of God lies in Two Things Love and Holiness Did I call them Two They are both but only Love Love in us is Holiness as a Conformity to the whole Law of God Holiness in God is nothing but Love to himself as the alone perfect Law and Standard of all Incomprehensible Excellency and Glory But to consider them as distinct Love is that illustrious greatest Light amongst the Divine Perfections the benign Rays whereof are plenteously reflected through the Sun of Righteousness upon wretched and miserable Man God is Love 1 Joh. 4.16 and Love in its Perfection is God that Love which God is is God and diffuses its sweet Influences upon us in wonderful variety Not that it is other than Unity indivisible invariable in it self but that it meets with several respects and produces divers effects in us We are Sinners the guilt it pardons the filth it purges the power of Sin it subdues We are miserable through sin Love lays it to heart that 's Mercy Is afflicted in our Afflictions there 's Compassion has yerning Bowels towards us which is Pity bears much at our hands and this is Patience suspends the Punishment due to our sin either for an Indefinite time therefore called Forbearance or a great while whence 't is stiled Long-suffering or exempts us wholly under the
did bear so favourable an Aspect upon his troubled Soul as vers 14. does not obscurely intimate For the Lord will not cast off his People neither will he forsake his inheritance The Negative excludes universally perpetually He will never cast off nor forsake it also infers the Affirmative He will own and accompany his People and Inheritance for ever and ever Which he is enabled to do only by vertue of his Eternity Possibly that Expression vers 22. may also import something of like nature My God is the Rock of my Refuge He could not be unacquainted with the Song of Moses and the Blessing he pronounc'd upon the Twelve Tribes Deut. 32. and 33. There are these Titles first of all given to God Rock in the Song is five times apply'd to the Lord vers 4 15 18 30 31 twice to Idols vers 31 37. But that which I have chiefly in my eye is Chap. 33.27 The Eternal God is thy refuge very proper and Emphatical For 't is the Eternity of God that renders him a sufficient and compleat Refuge Notwithstanding all other Perfections if he were not the Everlasting God our Refuge would finally fail and be none at all He is called The Rock of Ages which our Translation renders Everlasting Strength Isa 26.4 And indeed a Rock the most indissoluble and durable part of the Earth is an Emblem of perpetuity A Rock of Refuge is therefore an everlasting security and comfort Nor is it a mean Satisfaction to remember that as there is a sufficiency of Ability and good Will in our God who by Covenant is engaged to put an end to our troubles and replenish us us with the Joys of his Salvation So he lives for ever to continue them that they shall have no period short of Eternity He is an ever-over-flowing fountain of Everlasting Consolations as they are called 2 Thes 2.16 17. Now our Lord Jesus Christ and God even our Father who hath loved us and given us everlasting Consolation through Grace Comfort your Hearts c. Our Consolations are Eternal because God is for in him they are as in the Well-spring therefore cannot be as Waters that fail as Jerem. Expostulates Chap. 15.18 If they could our Wound might be incurable indeed refusing to be healed and our pain perpetual But all this shall certainly have an end because God cannot This cannot be Eternal because God is Whatever is wanting in the durableness and sweetness of these fluxible perishable Enjoyments which we possess on Earth whatever we suffer through the continuance and bitterness of our Calamities is made up and amends made us abundantly in the Perennity of all Excellencies in God There is in this Attribute a suitable relief in all kinds of Distresses outward and inward All the short liv'd Comforts of this World have a better Being and Life in the Eternity of God Thou losest thy Friends and Relations the sweetest the best perhaps by the immediate hand of God as the Psalmist here by the violent hands of wicked Men vers 5 6. The Church of God in some places is laid waste and the stormy Cloud hangs over more and its implacable restless Adverries threaten all The Innocency of Christ's Lambs is no Protection against the Thrones of Iniquity in Babylon and Hell vers 20 21. No that 's the very ground of the Quarrel and Enmity Conformity to them Innocency and Iniquity would reconcile them Do'st thou tremble for the Ark of God And is thine own Personal Jeopardy or Suffering in Body Mind or Estate in any extremity Be not disinay'd Nubecula est cito transitura The greater the Tempest the sooner over Storms may huff against the Heavens yet cannot hurt them but only spend themselves And the Church is oft call'd Heaven in the Apocalypse and its Officers Stars from betwixt our Eyes and which the most raging furious blasts may dispel and drive away the Clouds that Eclipse and darken them but still leave those Coelestial Lamps more clear and inextinguishable whilst themselves are extinct in a moment The Dragons Flood will be soon swallowed up and the fury of Men and Devils shall quickly faint and melt away but the Love of God to his chosen never never Isa 40.27 28. Why sayest thou Oh Jacob and speakest Oh Israel My way is hid from the Lord and my Judgment is passed over from my God Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the Everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding Therefore possesses he an unfathomable Skill and Ability to refresh and revive thee but this is laid as the Foundation Stone upon which thou may'st rebuild thy decaying hopes viz. that he is the Everlasting God I therefore return again to that Deut. 33.26 27 28. There is none like the God of Jeshurun who rideth upon the Heavens in thy help and in his Excellency on the Skie The Eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are everlasting Arms and he shall thrust out the Enemy from before thee and shall say Destroy them Israel shall then dwell in safety alone c. Happy art thou Oh Israel who is like unto thee Oh People saved by the Lord the shield of thy help who is the Sword of thy excellency c. Hence in the Title given to Christ Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace have an immediate Connexion and Dependence Isa 9.6 If trouble be long 't is light but brief if grievous Si longa levis si gravis brevis Goodness cannot groan for ever because it leads to God and the more 't is oppressed the more it grows upward Heaven-ward where it shall only enjoy its everlasting Crown The Fire upon the Altar of God will be inextinguishable if from Heaven and those Coelestial Sparks of Divinity or Grace which the Holy Spirit kindles will by the bluster and storms of Affliction conceive a more vehement Flame perish and die they cannot as long as God lives from whom they derive their Being and Eternity But suppose all other sweet Satisfactions whether Spiritual Joys and Refreshments or Temporal Contentments be totally extinct as to present sense yet finally they shall not because they possess a perennity of Life in God And when Goodness and He meet in the Superiour World these will revive and Misery die I grant the most flourishing Gourds of Earthly Pomp and Glory may wither in a Night as being a vain Pageant and mere Phantastry Acts 25.23 The fairest freshest sweetest Flowers of the Youthful Spring of Humane Life may be blasted in a moment and converted into dust and rottenness The most pleasing Sun-shine of the smiling Morn of a fortunate Prosperity may suffer an Eclipse and issue in a dismal Hurricane of insupportable Calamities Nay Heaven it self may seem to frown and a dark Cloud to cover the Light of God's Countenance Lam. 3.44 But none of these Evils can extend beyond the Grave there are they buried