A SERMON Preached in St. Saviour's Church in Dartmouth July 24th Anno Dom. 1698. Together with Some Reflections on the Opinion of those who affirm that the only difference between the Church and the Meeting-House is that of a few Ceremonies In a LETTER to a Friend By HVMFRY SMITH M. A. EXON Printed by Sam. Darker and Sam. Farley for Charles Yeo John Pearce and Philip Bishop 1698. Advertisement to the Reader The Author having committed these Discourses to my Disposal I thought the Printing of them would do right to him and no small service to the Publick Robert Burscough TO Mr. Robert Burscough SIR I Now send you that which hath made so much Noise and undergone so much Censure amongst some in this Place Namely what I Preachâ—d both in the Morning and Afternoon on Sunday the 24th of the last month You may not only Satisfy Your own desire in the perusal of it but also communicate it to Your Friends as you think fit Tho' I must tell you that if either you or They have expected something Extraordinary you will soon find your mistake For notwithstanding the Opinions both of them that were pleas'd and of them that were displeas'd with what I then said I am sensible of nothing either much better or much worse then what I am wont to say at other times My design in this plain Discourse was not you will perceive some new or strange thing but to do that which every Preacher without doubt is oblig'd to do frequently to encourage to a Zealous pursuit of Good notwithstanding all the difficulties we shall meet with Because it may be pretty hard for you to discover the crimes which have expos'd me to so much anger and reproach I will let you know what I take to be the chief Among other things we are oblig'd to as Followers of that which is Good I recommended as you will find Constancy in matters of Religion and Zeal for the Interests of it By which I was suppos'd to have aâ— indeed I had a particular regard to the Religion by Law establishâ—d And this I presumed to do the Sunday before the Election of Burgesses to 〈◊〉 in Parliament a time when I ought as some think more especially to have kept my self within my own sphere and not attempted thus to intermeddle with things that do not belong to me This is the main charge against me and I perswade my self I have no need to fear from you a very heavy Sentence You do not I am well assur'd think it an unpardonable fault to put People in mind of acting consistently with their own Religious Professions Neither do you look upon a Person of my character as quite out of his Province if at any time he appears concern'd for the welfare of Our holy Mother the Church of England Whether it was not fit for me upon that occasion to choose a subject which Our Church in some sort recommended to me being taken out of the Epistle for the Day And whether in the handling of it I went indecently out of my way to fetch in the things which have been dislik'd You Sir and the rest that shall read my Sermâ—n are to Judge For my part I do freely own that had I said much more to the same purpose and taken any other occasion to bring it in I should not thereupon esteem my self in any sort criminal Yea I would much rather be accounted impertinent needlesly zealous or over busy than not to express a just regard for what I believe to be a very great blessing The laws of the Land you know Sir require all the Clergy of England and indeed the People too to thank God â—or restoring Our Religion and Worship after the Confusions of Several Years yea to acknowledge it as his unspeakable goodness to us And are the Instances of God's unspeakable goodness which we are thus publickly to be thankful for not proper to be mention'd by us yea is it unseasonable to exhort to a due sense of a mighty Blessing for this very reason because some of the Hearers will be speedily in a capacity to do that which may contribute either to the Overthrow or the preservation of it It is hard that things of the same nature should be so very allowable in one Sort of People and yet so faulty in others Tho' you and I Sir converse but little with them that will discover what is done in the Meeting-Hâ—uses we have however met with accounts of the extraordinary heat of some of the Preachers in them on occasion of the late Elections A thing too is not long since accidentally come to light See some Reflect on a Model now in Projection by the Presbyt Dissenters which walk'd it seems in Darkness namely A form'd design for such a General Meeting as perhaps could it hope for the countenance of Authority might one day prove as famous as a late General Assembly I do not hear that the Dissenters have condemn'd their Leaders for such Practices as these And will they not then permit us to have somewhat of the same respect for our Religion which these men have for theirs Whilst the Profess'd Enemies of the Establish'd Church are promoting their Cause even in contempt of the laws in being with the silence if not applause of their Followers are we to be censur'd and reproach'd if we make the least discovery that we are not ignorant of their devices And having mention'd a General Assembly I cannot but note that the time is not yet out of memory when a company of men under that Name made an Act for Censuring Ministers for Aug. 3. 1648. their silence and in it ordain'd that the main current of Applications in Sermons should run as against some other things so more particularly against the defection from the League and Covenant against unjust decrees establish'd by Law and against the Plots and Practices of those they call'd Malignants And that in case any Minister for his freedom in this kind should be rais'd at mock'd or threatned the Presbytery of the bounds should bring the Offender to publick Repentance or else Excommunicate him This certainly was Such a zeal for their own way as no true Sons of the Church of England would ever be willing to imitate However the men of that Stamp may be assur'd that we think as well of our Religion as they can of theirs And the Indifferent Part of the World perhaps will Judge that we have much greater reason for it You will conclude I believe that what I have thus said is sufficient to prove it no unreasonable thing for those that profess the Religion of the Church of England to express some concern for the welfare of it But now Sir I am to acquaint you with a short Answer to all such Arguments an Answer I find very common of late in the mouths of some Well-meaning People The Church of England say they neither is nor can be in danger from the
â—am soli penitus Sustulerunt cum postlimâ—io reducere conaremur nobis hactenus obstiterunt Calvin in Epist ad Card. Sadol Quod Si nuâ—c Anglicanae Ecclesiae instaturatâ—â—e Suorum Episcoporum Archi Episcoporum Auctoritate 〈◊〉 perstant Quemadmodum hoc illi nostra memoria contigit ut ejus Ordinis homines non tantum insignes Dei Martyres sed etiam Praestantissimos Pastores ac Doctores habuerit fruatur Sane â—sta Singulari Dei beneficientia quâ—◠〈◊〉 â—it Illi perpetua Beza ad Tract de ministr Ev. grad ad Had. Sarav c. 18. instead of recommending it to others were ready at first to make Apologies for it themselves as an Expedient they were forced upon even against their own Inclination Being willing if it had been possible for them to retain what was justified by the unquestionable practice of the purest Ages Should any Society of Christians undertake to change the Observation of the Lord's-Day from the first to the third or fourth or any other of the Week the boldness of such an attempt would doubtless be very Severely censured unless the Men were able to plead that it was not matter of choice but the effect of some very great Necessity Now I verily believe that the presumption is in no sort less of wilfully throwing down Episcopacy to fill the Room of it with some new Contrivance Has the Lord's Day Sufficient Discimus quidem ex hoc loco non â—am fuisse tunc aequalitatem inter Ecclesiae Ministros quin uâ—us aliquis Autorirate consilio prae esset Calvin Com. in Tit 1. 5. Warrant from Holy Scripture so has that Form of Church-Government Is the one confirm'd by the undoubted Practice of the Catholick Church in all Ages so is the other also Indeed the mischief of Innovation appears to me much greater in the Case of Bishops than it could be in that of the Lord's-Day Were we obliged by some new Law to meet together upon another day of the week and not the first there would be only the change of a Circumstance of Worship which was of Divine Institution But should the Order of Bishops be Overthrown to make room for those Teachers who are so much offended at it there is too much Reason to conclude that somewhat essentially necessary at least to the well-being of the Church would then be wanting The Authority of them who were Ambassadors 〈◊〉 Christ and had the Ministery of Reconciliation hath been undoubtedly conveigh'd down by a Succession of Bishops in the Christian Church And putting aside that Succession I should be glad to learn a way how any Person can justly pretend a Commission to transact with the People the great Business of their Souls and speak to them in the Name of the Lord. Another thing which I shall not scruple to mention as a matter of importance wherein we differ from the Dissenters is an Excellent Liturgy We of the Church of England do publickly Worship God by the use of known Forms compil'd at first with much care and study by the Glorious Martyrs of our Reformation and abundantly approv'd since by the best the wisest and most learned Men Whereas on the other hand the Dissenters in their Meeting-Houses do only offer up unto the most High such a service as the Premeditation Or perhaps the present Invention of their several Preachers shall be able to furnish This certainly is a considerable difference and that the advantage is much on our side must needs be very plain to any unprejudiced Person Putting aside the regard we ought to have for the Authority and example of our Lord Christ who both taught and commanded his Mat. 6. 9. Ezke 11. 2. Disciples to make use of a Form when they pray'd Not considering the undoubted practice both of the Jewish and the Christian Church which is manifestly for us yea particularly the practice of those Churches a nearer resemblence to which some men express so great a value for calling them the best Reformed I say Omitting all these Considerations which would strongly conclude for a preference to Publick Forms above the Compositions or Ex-tempore-Effusions of private Persons I would venture to appeal in this matter to the Common Sense even of any Judicious Dissenters themselves who would but Seriously think upon it Such Persons cannot but say that the Liturgy of the Church of England was contriv'd by men of Considerable Abilities for such a work the fame of their great Learning and Sincerity being unquestionable in the World And can they who are so diligent to find out somewhat to Scruple at in this Liturgy imagine that every Preacher in a Conventicle is qualified to frame a better and more acceptable Service Yea can such Preachers be supposâ—d able to do this anew once or twice every Week and that as many of them seem willing to have it understood without thinking before hand on the words they are to utter Were the Ex-tempore-Prayers of some of the most eminent for that faculty but put in Writing that so they might be duly Examin'd as some passages of that kind were not See Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence long since in a Neighbouring Kingdom It might perhaps then abundantly appear that they who are so fond of such performances have the least reason of any in the World to criticize on the Prayers of Our Church and censure the defects of them But a Liturgy may Some say would be a tolerable thing were it of a different Make from that of the Church of England Wherein several of those Forms are to be met with which are still of Use amongst the Papists And this now some People look upon as a terrible Objection against the Book of Common-Prayer Whereas You well know Sir that 't is rather a considerable Proof of it's Excellency We have in it the Lords Prayer the Apostles Creed the Gloria Patri Te Deum and some other Forms of Prayer Thanksgiving and Confession of Faith which the Romanists make Use of But then our agreement with them in these instances is because besides the Corruptions they have added they still retain many Things which are pure and primitive The business of those Excellent Men who framed our Liturgy was not to make a new Religion but to reform the Old Whence as a most learned Forreigner has observ'd Passim variae a vaâ—iis Reformationis Autoribus conditae praescriptae â—unt S. Liturgiae formulae simplicâ—s purae in Germania Gallia Anglia Scotia Belgio c. quam minimum â—ieri 〈◊〉 ab antiquis formulis Primitivae Ecclesiae abscedentes Ludovicus Capellus Thes Salm. Th. de Liâ—â—â—g par 3. Th. 6. the first Authors of the Reformation not only in England but also in Germany France Scotland the Netherlands c. prescrib'd Forms of publick Prayer differing as little as possible from the Ancient Forms of the Primitive Church And indeed we begin every Day to be more and more convinced of the great Wisdom and
Piety of our first Reformers in retaining those ancient Forms in our Publick Service The late growth of Heresy amongst us makes us too sensible of what Consequence it is to keep up the fences against it In an Age so fruitful of Monstrous Opinions if the People know nothing before-hand of the Prayers and Praises they are to joyn in they cannot be certain whether they shall offer up a Service leven'd with Arrianism or Socinianism or some other Abomination destructive of the Common Principles of Christianity But as they appear in God's presence to speak unto him in the voice of his Church as they are sure to keep to the same Forms of sound Words which have been made use of to express the true Faith by the most Glorious Defenders of it in ancient time they are secure from the fear of offering an unholy thing before the Lord or blaspheming that Name which they pretend to glorify Another Difference between the Church and the Meeting-house is that one requires External Worship and the other hath but little regard for it And this I take to be as great a difference as that between Obedience to a Divine Precept and the neglect of it O come let us Psal 95. 6. worship and â—ow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker Thus in the Jewish Church they encouraged one another to their Duty in that divine Song compos'd as a learned Father Theodorer thinks on purpose for the Reformation of Josiah And that this outward Reverence is a Branch of natural Religion to which we are equally obliged under the Gospel appears from St. Paul's Exhortation not only to glorify God in 1 Cor. 6. â—0 our Spirit but our Body too In Conformity to these and several other places of Scripture our Church having provided excellent Forms of Devotion directs and requires in the Use of them such external Acts as do properly express our inward Adoration But that the Dissenters have very little respect for these agreeable yea these necessary things is not to be denied I think by such as frequent their Assemblies Certainly when they are occasionally present with us as we serve the Lord they for the most part seem not at all concern'd to fall down on their Knees to Pray to him or to stand up to Praise him The Excuse perhaps is that if we Worship God in Spirit and in Truth there is no need of such inconsiderable things as the Gestures of the Body But so to assert is to seem wiser than the Church of God in all Ages yea then Christ himself the Head of it When the Devil offer'd him all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them for a single act of external Adoration as that cunning Spirit did not certainly set so great a price upon a trifle so our blessed Saviour puts him in mind of the Value telling him it was a Holy thing somewhat which the Great King of Kings had claim'd as his Right and therefore was incommunicable to any Creature It is written Mat. 4. 10. thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Were not bodily Adoration as well as spiritual intended by God where he commands us to worship him then this answer of our Saviour would have been nothing at all to the purpose The Devil we find was willing at any rate to purchase that external Veneration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is paid by falling down to the Ground and would the words of our blessed Lord have stopp'd his Mouth and made him fly if he had said no more than this It is written the heart is the Lord's and with that we are to worship him Indeed Sir I have often thought that the Notion which some People have entertain'd about such external Acts of religious Worship would go a great way towards the justifying most of the Idolaters that have been in the World those I mean who have still preserv'd an awful sense of the supreme Being whilst they have bow'd down to Images If Bowing and Kneeling or the like external Expressions of our inward Devotion be not due to the Almighty How do People rob him of his Honour in bestowing them upon other things Such an Opinion as this could it have been depended on might have been of admirable Use to the Primitive Christians under the Rage of the Heathen For then according to the Temptations of some of their Persecutors when they appear'd in a good humour the Champions of the Faith might have escaped the Axes and the Gibbets the Gridirons and the Saws by doing a very small matter even the giving but a little of that sort of Honour to an Idol which God neither claims nor has any regard for I might give some other Instances of a greater disagreement than that of a few indifferent Ceremonies between Us and the Dissenters But as you Sir may justly think that a very few words would have been enough in so plain a Caâ—e so some others will conclude that if the thing I have been attempting were even some new discovery I should deserve but little thanks for making it The distance it will be said is indeed too great and they are engaged in an ill Employment who instead of closing the wounds are for keeping them still open And now to this Objection I think it would be a sufficient answer to say that searching Wounds can certainly be no hinderance to their cure and that a different Method is so far from promising Success that it is likely in the Issue to expose them that shall be employed about it to such Correction as that in the Prophet They have healed the hurt Jer. 6. 14. of the Daughter of my People Slightly Saying peace peace when there is no peace Certainly a Solid and lasting Union can never be hoped for till People will be willing seriously and impartially to consider wherein the difference lies and who made it Notwithstanding the hard Censures which some have so liberally passed on the Stiffness of our Church It has not been backward to encourage any real advances 〈◊〉 towards a good agreement But it is doubtless able to distinguish between true Moderation or Peaceableness and such artifices as are made use of on purpose to betray it For my part as you know Sir that I was always very far from envying any favour which Our Governours think fit to shew to those Dissenters who approve themselves to be truly Conscientious so if ever they shall begin to shake off their Scruples and make approaches towards us I could heartily wish they might be received with all possible Expressions of Kindness and Condescention But then I must own that the Men of design and intrigue they that sometimes blow cold and sometimes hot that sometimes consider us as if we were Anti-Christ and Babylon and at other times are ready to say to us Be not affraid of us we are your near Friends yea Churchmen as well as you
Dissenters and therefore all the zeal that is pretended for it in opposition to them might very well be spar'd For the Dissenters are of the Church of England too They have the same faith and the same kind of worship the only difference being that of a few Ceremonies You may perhaps think it fit to let these Papers come into the hands of some who are pleas'd with this Notion and so will allow me to make some short Reflections upon it It will be granted I think that this Pretence will not hold with relation to all our Dissenters from the Establish'd Church Such as deny the Eternity of the Son of God and the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity Such as cast off the use of the two Holy Sacraments Such as despise the Rule of Scripture and are prepar'd for all the Extravagancies of Enthusiasm Such Dissenters as these surely must be thought to stand at a greater distance from us than that of a few Ceremonies As for the men too who are of more sober Principles it will not Universally hold that they preach no other Doctrine but that of the Church of England You have seen the private letters which several years ago I was oblig'd to write to a Preacher of some â—ame amongst the Presbyterians and Independents about some passages in one of his Printed Books together with his Mr. Fiavel's Fountain of Life opened answers And you very well Remember that thoâ— I was concern'd for such things as are own'd by Our Church Ceremonies were not at all the Subject of that Controverysy But supposing the Doctrine which is preach'd in the Conventicles to be always the very same with what is taught in the Churches the accord alas is not yet so great as is pretended There is still a considerable difference even that which is between such as obey those that have the Rule over them and such as do not that which is between such as preserve the Vnity of the Church and such as Schismatically divide from it And this the Ancient Fathers declare to be a very great difference yea as great as was between that part of the Congregation of Jsrael which adher'd to their Cyprian de unitate Eccles Oper. Ed Ox. p. 116. Chryâ—st â—om 3 p. 822. Ed. Savil. Leaders and the company of Corah who perished in his Gainsaying But if this be so great a difference may some say it is in the power of the Governours of the Church of England to remove it assoon as they please Let them but take away the causes of Separation and there will be an end of all discord We shall then according to the desire of St. Paul with one mind and one mouth glorify Rom. 15. â— 6. God even the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. That is Let the Church who hath given no real ground of offence yield their cause and go and joyn with the offended and then the peace is made This indeed is a notable Expedient and it is pity that such a healing method had not been found out in former ages Here would have been a present remedy for the Novation Schism which disturb'd the peace of the Christian Church for so long a time It was but for the Catholicks to have gone over to them who forsook their Communion without sufficient reason and then the Union would have been reestablished Or in the Case before-mention'd it was but for Moses and Aaron to have parted with some of that Authority which was thought too much for them seeing all the Congregation were Holy Num. 16. 3. and that Ecclesiastial Sedition would have been presently ended Till our Dissenters shall be able to prove that their Separation from us was absolutely necessary which all their past attempts in order to it sufficiently assure us will be a very great difficulty for them that carnal thing as St. Paul 1 Cor. 3. â— Gal. 5. 20. account's it enters the very Constitution of their Religious Assemblies and makes them Essentially differ from such as are held in the Unity of Christ's Church But could some wonderful Art at length be found out to heaâ— their Schism notwithstanding their adherence to the Principles on which they made a very unnecessary division The difference between the Church and the Meeting-House would yet be manifestly greater than that of a few Ceremonies It cannot yet be forgoten that the Dissenters once violently seiz'd that which they now seem so willing to have freely deliver'd up to them the legal Establishment of our National Church Having open'd their way through the Greatest of it's Defenders down they threw it and set up themselves And when this was done had we still the same Church of England which we had before only abating a few Ceremonies Did the Enemies of the Reformation rejoyce in and the Friends of it lament no greater a change than that Certainly the Learned even at Geneva were of another Vide Epistol Jo. Diodati ad Theolog. Westmonast Opinion For when Diodati and the Other Ministers there were courted by the Assembly of Divines to approve the Proceedings in England their Answer was That now a Church was rent In pieces which was the Eye and Excellency of all the Churches Christ's own choice purchase and peculiar and that they perfectly trembled with hoâ—â—our at the deformity which was brought on the most beautiful face of it It must certainly be no difficulty to shew that â—ven our moderate Dissenters disagree from the Church of England in matters of no small importance Yea that they have Express'd a huge dislike of some very considerable things in it Which are however Sufficiently Justified by the 〈◊〉 of other Reformed Churches by the Practice of the purest and most primitive times and which is above all by the Word of God it's self Lest any that favour the Separation should consider this as too Severe a Charge I will mention a few Particulars wherein I am confident it may at any time be fully made ouâ— Amongst these I am sure you will allow me to name Thâ— Government of the Church by Bishops You have 〈◊〉 with so much strength of Reason and such clear Evidence asserted that Government Making in so plainly appear to have a Sufficient Foundation in Holy Scripture and to have been of Constant and only Use in the Christian Church in all times and all Countries till the Presbyterian Discipline was first set up in a few places in the last Age that I believe A Treat of Ch. Government Pub. An. Dom. 1692. the most learned of the Adversaries will deliberate yet longer ere they will pretend to answer your Discourse on that Subject Indeed the Great Patrons of that Model which now by all means would Supplant Episcopâ—cy were abundantly sensible of the novelty of the thing And Disciplinam qualem habuit vetus Ecclesia nobis de esse neque nos diâ—â—â—temur Sed cujus erit aequitatis nos eversae disciplinae ab iis accusari qui
I say I must acknowledge that such as these have always been consider'd by me as a very unaccountable kind of People If they are for the Establish'd Church how can they go as they often do to those Assemblies which are founded in this very Opinion that the Worship of our Church is unlawful If they are Dissenters what are become of the Grounds of their Dissent when they Joyn with us as they sometimes will even in such things as that Party condemns for most offensive The Character which a Dissenter himself is pleas'd to give of such as these would dispose one to be more affraid of their Smiles than their Frowns For he tells us as you have observ'd that they give too much cause for us to look upon them as such as break all bounds and leap over all Vox Clamantâ—s Sec. 6. hedges Such as would indeed support their Reputation with Jesuitical Artifices but yet do the things which are most likely to render them in the eyes of all as men of flexible and profligate Consciences The shewing the mistakes of a Pretence which hath been made use of to no good Purposes hath drawn this Letter you See to a very unusual length I shall therefore do little more than only mention another fault this Sermon is accus'd of and that is Personal Reflections I do not deny that there are Several things in it which bear hard upon some Peoples Practices But if I have represented nothing as amiss which the Word of God doth not also condemn nor let fall any Expression which can be justly accounted spiteful or even unbecomeing I cannot I think be said to have exceeded the Bouâ—ds of my Duty Whether in this matter as well as the former I am guilty or not they that shall read my Papers are to determine Your Judgement upon the whole I particularly desire and that it may be free from all kind of partiality I will be contented while you peruse them that you do that which upon other occasions I cannot possibly consent to namely consider me as a perfect stranger to you and not as Your Most affectionate Friend and Servant H. S. August 30th 1698. A SERMON Preached in St. Saviour's Church in Dartmouth JVLY 24th 1698. Being the Fifth Sunday after TRINITY 1 Pet. 3. 13. Part of the Epistle for the Day And who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good PART I. THE greatest Discouragement to any undertaking is the danger that attends it Many things there are which People would soon conclude fittest and best were it not for the Lion in the way a doubt of their own Safety in them Fears and Terrours which draw them from the attempt Tho' the Israelites had so much Experience of the Power of that God who delivered them from their bondage and conducted their Armies Yet upon the very Entrance into the Land of Promise they are amaz'd with a Panick Fear and even resolve again for the Slavery they had been so wonderfully rescued from When they heard an evil report of the Men of great Stature Num. 14. 1. the Giants the Sons of Anak they lifted up their vâ—ice and cried and wept all night They Verse 4. said one to another let us make a Captain and let us return into Egypt And as it is thus in other matters So alas it is too frequently in the things of Religion Many would more readily espouse it and the Interest of it in a Season of difficulty were not such a regard for it thought a dangerous thing a thing that would expose them to trouble loss or even utter ruine Nicodemus was a man who seemed to have been very well disposed towards Jesus but he was a Ruler of the Jews and there was no small hazard in a way which was cryed down by all the great men of the times and therefore tho he came to Jesus it was by night Jo. 3. 2 The Disciples as their worldly Interests were less so they expressed more courage and resolution Defying the Danger they followed their Master through the whole course of his Ministry yea Solemnly engaged their word that death it's self should never part them Tho' we die with Mat. 26. 35. thee said they yet will we not deny thee And yet when a mighty difficulty actually came when the Multitude appeared with Swords and Staves bound their Lord and led him away These men of Resolution were subdued by their own fears shrunk from the Engagements so lately made they forsook him and fled Verse 56. The most daring amongst them all was Peter He had been the most zealous in the Profession of his own stedfastness he gave some proof of his Courage tho' by a Violence that was unwarrantable and after the flight of the rest followed his Master Still at some distance But yet at length he failed and denyed him Easily gave up the Faith and the constancy he had resolved on to terrour and amazement These and many more are the sad instances on record of humane weakness And yet all the while as to matter of Religion the affright and despondency are for the most part groundless People are scar'd from their Duty by the Creatures of their fancy the Mormos of their own invention A stedfast adherence to the things of God is not attended with the Difficulties which are ordinarily imagined St Peter here being now better acquainted with the tendencies of our holy Religion and the Wisdom and the Care of Providence thus bespeaks the Christians he wrote to even in days of trouble and sorrow And who is he â—â—at will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good In which words we may observe these two things 1. The Christians duty which is here Supposed If ye be followers of that which is good 2. The Christians security in the practice of this Duty proposed by way of affirmative question who is he that will harm you that is There will be no body Both these I intend to speake to beginning with the first the Christians duty here supposed If ye be followers of that which is good Tho' the general design and aim of this Expression seems clear enough yet the particular Notion we are to pitch upon as the genuine Sense of it is not so manifest The Opinions of Expositors being somewhat different 1. concerning the thing to be followed the Good here intended and 2. concerning the act what it is to be followers of it It will not be unprofitaâ—ble in this case to enquire a little what they say of each As for the first the Good that is to be followed some there are that understand by it the Supreme Good God Almighty himself And so the Duty is the very same which the Apostle St. Paul recommends Eph. 5. 1. Be ye followers of God as dear Children And endeavouring to transcribe as far as we are able the divine Perfections being Holy as he is Holy Merciful as