that the blessed time so long wrapped up in sacred Prophecy is indeed now ready to be revealed When the Church of Christ being purged from those Corruptions that have so long defaced its Beauty shall again appear in its primitive Purity When all Heresie and Schism being every where abolished and the Mystery of Iniquity laid fully open and the Man of Sin destroyed true Religion and sincere Piety shall again reign throughout the World God himself shall pitch his Tabernacle among us and dwell with us and we shall be his People and he shall be our God O Blessed State of the Church Militant here on Earth the glorious Antepast of that Peace and Piety which God has prepared for his Church Triumphant in Heaven Who would not wish to see those days when a general Reformation and a true Zeal and a perfect Charity passing through the World we should All be united in the same Faith the same Worship the same Communion and Fellowship one with another When all Pride and Prejudice all Interests and Designs being submitted to the Honour of God and the discharge of our Duty the Holy Scriptures shall again triumph over the vain Traditions of Men and Religion no longer take its denomination from little Sects and Factions but we shall all be content with the same common primitive Names of Christians and Brethren and live together as becomes our Character in Brotherly Love and Christian Charity with one another And who can tell but such a Change as this and which we have otherwise some reason to believe is nigh at hand may even now break forth from the midst of us would we but all seriously labour to perfect the Great Work which the Providence of God has so gloriously begun among us and establish that Love and Vnity among our selves which may afterwards diffuse it self from us into all the other Parts of the Christian World besides But however whether we shall ever see I do not say such a Blessed Effect as this but even any good Effect at all of our Endeavours here on Earth or no yet this we are sure we shall not lose our Reward in Heaven When to have contributed tho' in the least degree to the healing of those divisions we so unhappily labour under shall be esteemed a greater Honour than to have silenced all the Cavils of our Enemies and even to have pray'd and wish'd for it and where we could not any otherwise have contributed our selves but to have exhorted others to it shall be rewarded with Blessings more than all the Stars in the Firmament for number Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ To Him be Honour and Praise for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preach'd before the Honourable House of Commons AT St. MARGARET'S WESTMINSTER June 5 th 1689. Being The FAST-DAY Appointed by the KING and QUEEN'S Proclamation TO Implore the Blessing of Almighty God upon Their MAJESTIES Forces by Sea and Land and Success in the War now declared against the FRENCH KING Jovis 6 o die Junii 1689. Resolved THat the Thanks of this House be given to Mr. Wake for the Sermon he Preached before them yesterday And that he be desired to Print the same Ordered THat Mr. Grey do give him the Thanks and acquaint him with the Desires of this House accordingly Paul Jodrell Cl. Dom. Com. OF THE Nature and Benefit OF A PUBLICK HUMILIATION JOEL ii 12 13. Therefore also now saith the LORD Turn ye even to Me with all your heart and with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning And rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the LORD your God for He is Gracious and Merciful slow to Anger and of great Kindness and repenteth Him of the Evil. THough the time of this Prophecy be uncertain so that neither the Jewish Rabbins nor Christian Antiquaries are able to give us any tolerable Account of it yet is the Design plain and the words of my Text a most proper and pathetick enforcement of the great duty of this day to turn unto the Lord our God with all our Heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning for he is Gracious and Merciful slow to Anger and of great Kindness and repenteth him of the Evil. If we look into the foregoing Chapter we shall there find an astonishing Account of the great Evils that were just ready to befall the Jews for their Sins But that which is yet more surprising is That though all this was about to come upon them yet were they nevertheless insensible of their danger nor took any the least care to prevent their utter desolation To awaken a stupid and inconsiderate People a Nation dead in Sin and Security in the beginning of this Chapter he prepares a lofty and magnificent Scene He sets before them a Prophecy of yet greater dangers than any they had hitherto experimented and that in a manner so unusual with such a Pomp of Words and in such Triumphant Expressions as carry a terror even in the Repetition of them Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion sound an Allarm in my holy Mountain Let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble for the day of the LORD cometh for it is nigh at hand A day of darkness and of glooâ—iness a day of Clouds and of thick darkness as the Morning spread upon the Mountains a great People and a strong there hath not been ever the like neither shall be any more after it A fire devours before them and behind them a flame burneth The Land is as the Garden of Eden before them and behind them a desolate Wilderness The Earth shall quake before them the Heavens shall tremble the Sun and the Moon shall be dark and the Stars shall withdraw their shining Whatever be the Import of these Phrases whether by the mighty and terrible Host here spoken of we are only to understand that swarm of Locusts and other Insects that we are before told were utterly to devour all the Fruits of the Land Or whether under the Character of these we shall with most Interpreters comprehend the numerous and mighty Armies of the Chaldeans and Babylonians which at divers times brought such Desolations as we read of upon the Jews This is plain that we have here the denunciation of some Judgment worthy of God and great as the sins and incorrigibleness that occasion'd it And now who would not here expect the final desolation of such a People as this But behold God even yet in his Anger remembers Mercy and tho' they had hitherto neglected all the Calls and Invitations of his holy Prophets to Repentance yet He resolves once more to try whether they would now at least in their dangers hearken to his Admonitions He raises up Joel at once both to set before
about whether it be fit to be done by him ought certainly yet much more to carry every good Christian to this farther necessary Reflection Whether it may be done by him And whosoever ventures upon any Action without this he may by accident not do ill but 't is his good Fortune not his Praise that he does not And were it never so good yet for want of doing it with that design and knowing it to be such he must not expect that God should ever impute that to him for Righteousness which he himself did not design or perform with that intent As to the other sort of Consideration That of our State and of our Duty What God requires of us and how we have lived according thereunto Certain it is that 't is absolutely necessary that we should some time or other enter upon it and then I suppose I need not say how very prudent it will be for us not to defer it For since our Life is but a puff of breath every day in our Nostrils and which we can at no time say shall be our own the next moment surely it will very much concern us not to defer considering how we are provided for another World seeing we have so very little Hopes or security in this Repentance is not a Duty that can be discharged in a Moment and I fear the best among us upon the enquiry will find that we stand in need of a very great one Now there is no time no place for Repentance but only in this present Life And should we suffer our Incogitancy so far to prevail upon us as to neglect it here we shall in vain lament our sin and our folly to all Eternity hereafter If there be therefore any one among us that has hitherto omitted so great and necessary a Consideration what shall I say to him Let him no longer defer it Nay but rather in the words of holy David Let him not go back unto his house nor climb up into his bed let him not suffer his eyes to sleep nor his eye-lids to slumber till he has begun to set about it It were no doubt very much to be wish'd that men would not suffer any day to slip without this Consideration There is I believe but seldom a day passes in which we are not guilty of something that may justly call for a particular Repentance to obtain our forgiveness And who can tell if he lies down to sleep e're he has done this whether he shall ever rise up to perform it afterwards But alas This is the greatest Instance of all of our Inconsideration And instead of repassing in this manner every day upon our Actions I fear there are many who go on whole Weeks and Months and Years without ever thinking at all of it as if it were enough to practice this duty by the same proportions which some of our modern Casuists have prescribed for that other of the Love of God some of which have thought it necessary to be done only upon Sundays and Holy-days others not above once a year some once in Five years others at any one time in our whole lives and lastly others never at all either living or dying But thô there be then no time so proper as the present for the doing of that which cannot without the greatest danger be deferr'd the least moment yet some seasons there are which seem more especially to invite us to it Thus 1 st If old Age be crept upon us or any Sickness or Danger threaten us with a speedy appearance before God's Tribunal this ought certainly at the same time that it admonishes us of the shortness of our present life to call us to an immediate providing for the next 2. Thô the hand of God be not just upon us yet if we see his Arm lifted up to strike if we have some just cause to apprehend any evils or afflictions likely to come upon us much more if our Country and our Church be in danger for the iniquity of her Children and People within her this also may be another time that seems on purpose mark'd out to call us to Consideration to think upon our ways and how to prevent both our own and the publick desolation But now 3 dly If these Evils are not merely apprehended but are actually upon us so that we already have begun to bear the punishment of our sins and may have just cause to apprehend yet more dreadful effects of them this certainly ought yet more strongly to engage us to such a Consideration In such circumstances as these the worst of men naturally become Religious God himself could say of the Rebellious Israelites That in their afflictions they would seek him early And the Prophet observed of all men in general That when God's Judgment are in the Earth then the inhabitants of the World will learn Righteousness I will only add 4 thly And with reference to the approaching season That as the time of Lent has in all Ages of the Church been look'd upon as a season proper for the business of Repentance so certainly we cannot better prepare for it than by the practice of this great Preliminary duty of Consideration without which it will be impossible for us ever to discharge it as we ought to do And however the Godly Primitive Discipline of Publick Confession and Penance has for the hardness of our hearts been of late laid aside among us yet ought we not therefore to be ever the less nay rather we should be the more careful to examine our own souls and call our ways to remembrance and by our Private Diligence make some supply of what seems to be acknowledged by our Church as wanting to our Publick Discipline And to the end I may the better enforce this Practice which upon all these accounts seems so very proper for us I will now finally Close all IV thly With some Motives that may serve to stir us up to the fulfilling of our duty in so great and necessary a part of it I have already observed in the beginning of this Discourse That 't is the want of Consideration that is really the last universal Cause of all our Sins And I have just now shewn That till it be removed it will be impossible for us to repent of them And sure then one would think that nothing more need be said to engage any sober man to the practice of it But I must now go yet farther For to compleat our Obligation to so necessary a practice Inconsideration is not only to be charged as the cause of all our evils but the corrupter of our good too It spoils our very vertues insomueh that were it possible for the unthinking man to fulfil every Command and not deviate in the least degree from the rules of his duty all would be in vain his Inconsideration alone would ruin him and his Virtues themselves lose by it not only their Praise but their very Nature
on that one most just and reasonable Method never to leave our own Faith till we can be clearly and evidently convinced that we have a better offer'd to us in the stead of it and then we shall either free our selves altogether from the Attacks of our Adversaries who seldom care to meddle with honest and understanding Men or I am sure we shall not run any great Hazzard by their Attempts But above all Thirdly Whilst we thus contend for the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints let us be Followers of their Lives as well as of their Doctrine This is that which must save us when all our Disputes will otherwise stand us in no stead To believe aright will do us but small service if we do not live so too And I am persuaded would we but be prevailed with to do this as we ought it would not only most effectually secure us in the Truth but be the most likely means in the World to draw over others to it And indeed what pity is it that a Chureh which has in all other respects so many admirable Advantages above its Adversaries that it is defective in no other mark of being truly Primitive and even in this is less defective than others should not be blessed with this too Consider I beseech you that we rely upon none of those broken Reeds which others lay so much stress upon to make you happy in another Life though you are not upright and holy in this If there be then any concern for your own or your Church's honour if any value for your Immortal Souls if you desire the Blessing of God now and the benefit of his Promises in the World to come if these Motives which one would think should be of all others the most considerable may be allowed to have any influence at all upon you think then upon these things and fulfil ye our Joy in the practice of that Piety whereunto ye are called Be as Good as ye are Orthodox as free from all Corruption in your Manners as God be thanked you are from Error in your Belief Accomplish that great Work which Heaven seems at last to have begun among us And as we are now apparently more concern'd for our Religion than we have perhaps any of us heretofore been so let us go on in well-doing more and more Let us grow in Grace and then we shall also grow in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ till finally we all come in the Vnity of the Faith and of the Knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect Man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. OF THE Nature and End OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE Lord's Supper A SERMON Preach'd at St. PAVL's COVENT-GARDEN Decemb. 30. 1688. 1 COR. xi 24 This do in Remembrance of Me. THese Words are part of that Solemn Form in which our Blessed Saviour first celebrated the Holy Sacrament of his Body and Blood anâ— establish'd it as a sacred Institution to be continued for ever in his Church in remembrance of that Death and Passion which he was just then about to undergo for it Whether our Apostle recounted the History of this great Institution according to what some of those who were present at the first Celebration of it had delivered it unto him or whether as seems most probable he had received the manner of it by some extraordinary Revelation from our Saviour Christ himself This is plain that what he here reports to them of this matter was no idle Story no vain Account of his own Invention but a true and exact Relation of what the Blessed Jesus then did when in the same night in which he was betray'd he took Bread and when he had given thanks brake it and gave it to his Disciples saying Take Eat this is my Body which is broken for you This do in Remembrance of Me. So that our Text then you see contains a positive Command of our Saviour Christ himself of something which he ordered his Apostles to do with reference to this Holy Sacrament And my business at this time shall be to consider what that was and how far we at this day are to look upon our selves to be concerned in it I shall reduce what I have to offer upon this occasion to these two general Considerations I. Of the false Construction and Application which those of the Church of Rome make of these words Which having done so far as may be necessary to the following Discourse I will then II. Shew what indeed it was that our Blessed Saviour here commanded his Apostles and in them All of us to Do in Remembrance of Him And by that time I have clearly examin'd these Two Points I presume I shall in some measure have laid open the whole Nature and Design of this Holy Sacrament and in that have answer'd the End of these Solemn and Extraordinary Assemblies And first I am to consider I. That false Construction and Application which those of the Church of Rome make of these words It is the Opinion of those of the other Communion That our Saviour Christ here spoke to his Apostles not as the Representatives of the whole Body of the Church but as those whom he was now about to consecrate to the peculiar Office of the Ministry in it And therefore that commanding these To Do This He did at once both command them to continue this Holy Sacrament for ever in his Church and also at the same time invest them with a Power to Consecrate and Take and Distribute it to others as he had done to them To which if we did add their other Notion of this Sacrament viz. that in the Celebration of it there is a true and proper Offering made for the Sins and Satisfactions both of the Dead and the Living we shall then find the full import of our Text according to their sense to be this DO THIS that is Receive the power which I hereby give you of consecrating i. e. of converting these Elements of Bread and Wine into the true and proper Substance of my Body and Blood and having so done Offer them up to my Father as a true and real propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins and Satisfactions for the Punishments and all other the Necessities of all my faithful Disciples whether they be alive or dead whether they be yet on Earth or gone to Purgatory Such is the Account which those of the Church of Rome give us of these words And in this they are so very confident that they not only Anathematize all those who shall say either that Christ in this Command did not institute his Apostles Priests or that he did not Command that they and other Priests should in like manner offer up his Body and Blood but have also made it the very Form of Ordaining Priests at this day in their Church having delivered the Patin and Chalice into
asking all sorts of Blessings of him whether to deliver us from any Evil or to grant us any Good we confess the Sovereign Authority of his Providence over us and declare his Omnipotence who can do whatever he pleases and manifest our trust and dependance upon him In a word By all Creatures doing this in all places and at the same time we set forth the vast capacity of his immense Nature that is able to attend without distraction at once to all the Affairs of the World and can without confusion both hear and answer whatever Requests are made to him But now to suppose that any meer Creature can do this what is it but to confound that infinite distance that above all things ought the most carefully to be kept up in the Minds of Men between God and Us And leave no Perfection in the one so proper to him as not to be communicable to the other And yet however they may think fit to palliate this matter 't is plain he that will pray with any tolerable reason or confidence to the Blessed VIRGIN must suppose all this He must in effect esteem her what the very act of his calling upon her supposes her to be Omniscient Immense Omnipresent and even Omnipotent too It being otherwise a most stupid thing for millions of Men every hour to pray to one who has no power to hear their Prayers to offer up the motions of their Souls to one that cannot search or know their Hearts and ask all manner of Blessings of her who has neither Ability nor Authority to confer any upon them Now 't is upon this ground then that without considering of what kind the Requests are that are made to the Blessed VIRGIN we look upon the very Act it self of Invocation to be an Act indeed one of the most proper Acts of Religious Worship and by consequence such as ought to be paid to God only And though they may pretend that 't is no more to pray to the Holy MARY in Heaven than it would be to desire the Prayers or Assistance of some Friend on Earth yet it is apparent from what I have now been speaking that there is a very vast difference between these two the one supposing no Power or Perfection in our Friend but what may without danger be ascribed to a Creature the other necessarily implying such as are peculiar to God only For to consider this Pretence in a Reflection or two First Does any Man that is well in his Wits discourse with his Friend at a thousand Miles distance from him with that seriousness that those who worship the Blessed VIRGIN pray to Her And yet why is the one esteemed a piece of Piety while the other would be thought meer madness but only that they suppose the Blessed VIRGIN though absent from them nevertheless to be capable of knowing what they do while they think the other is not in a capacity of so doing For as for Gods communicating it to her I presume he is as well able to do it in the one instance as in the other and I think I may say he has as much promised he will do the first as the last that is indeed there is no grounds that he will do it to either Or Secondly Were this a rational thing would yet they themselves endure that a Man should in the House of God and in the midst of his solemn Devotions to him not only desire but in the same breath with which he addresses to God invoke the Assistance of a pious Christian yet living upon Earth Would they think this no more than an act of Brotherly Charity and which one Christian might warrantably use towards another Much less Thirdly Would they permit the Images of a living Christian to be set up in their Churches Candles to be burnt before them and Incense offered to them his Name to be put in the Liturgies of the Church and all the Faithful upon Earth be directed and encouraged every where to pray to Him as a most useful and innocent piece of Piety And with the same opinion and confidence of his hearing their Prayers and answering their desires as they now call upon the Blessed VIRGIN Would they say that this were no more than to ask a private Friend as we have opportunity to pray for us or to desire by Letter the Supplications of our absent Brethren in our behalf And yet much less Fourthly Would they permit this living Christian not only to be thus called upon to pray for his Votaries but to bless them too to keep them in their Lives and to receive them at the hour of Death If indeed these are Instances of Brotherly Charity I shall for my part be content to allow that their Devotion to the Holy MARY is no more But if the very Supposition of such a Power as this be something beyond the natural Abilities of any Creature on Earth with what Conscience can it be said that when they consecrate the Images of the Blessed VIRGIN burn Tapers and Incense before them list themselves under her Protection commit all the care of their Salvation to her call her the Queen of Heaven and Sovereign Lady of Angels and Men put her Name into their Liturgies erect Congregations to her Honour set apart Festivals and Days for her particular Service and then call upon her at the same time in all Parts of the World and this as expecting no small benefit from their Prayers and therefore certainly in a confidence that she though Ten thousand times farther off from us than one Christian on Earth can be from another does nevertheless know what they call upon her for and can and will grant their desires I say with what Conscience can it be pretended that in all this they do but entertain a Brotherly Communion with her and in effect do no more than when a Christian here below desires a Fellow-Christian to pray for Him It remains therefore that to ascribe to the Holy MARY such a Power as is necessary to receive our Prayers and to attend to our Petitions and to search our Hearts and know the motions of our Souls towards her and answer us accordingly is to raise her above the state of a Creature and therefore unlawful for us so to do And it is observable that when the Ancient Fathers first began to make some kind of Addresses to the Holy Martyrs not only the Subject of them was innocent but the Supposition on which they went as to this Point of the Saints or Martyrs hearing them however fanciful yet was such as did not ascribe any undue Perfections to them They call'd upon them not in all places and at all times indifferently but only at their Monuments at the places of their Suffering where their Bodies or Reliques were interr'd and about which they had a conceit that their Souls hovered for some time and therefore being present with them were capable of knowing their desires In process of time