witty Parable forc'd open the Conscience of David when the terrours of God began to take hold of him he immediately ran to the horns of this Altar According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my sins and my transgressions This is the argument which God himself cannot resist See with what zeal and holy Rapture it is pleaded by Daniel in behalf of the Captives of Babylon O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not for thine own sake O! my God for thy City and thy people are call'd by thy Name NOW we may easily guess what stress the Apostle laid upon this Argument like a skilful Orator he reserves his strongest motives for the last Place that by one stroke he might batter down all Objections He had sufficiently reasoned the case in the former Chapters and now he pleads that his Reasonings may not be in vain that they may not resist so much Light and Authority but rather that they ought to give way to their own Convictions and the true designs of Christianity and yield up themselves an entire Victim to the Will of God IT is usual with the Apostle when he recommends those comprehensive Duties that have in them the Soul and strength of Christianity to enforce them by this Argument If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of Love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels of mercies c. But shortly the reasons why the Apostle pitch'd upon this Argument are these I. BECAUSE the contempt of God's mercies is attended with the sharpest and the saddest marks of his displeasure and indignation And this is just in its self if we consider that we have nothing to say on our own behalf when we trample upon his Love and Mercy So argues the Author to the Hebrews How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him And again He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy that hath trodden under foot the blood of the Son of God The contempt of his Love and Mercy manifested in the Gospel is the most inexcusable folly and madness This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light This is the Vinegar and Gall that fill the Souls of the damn'd with self-horror confusion and indignation This is the thought that eternally disquiets the dark Habitations below viz. that once they might have been sav'd that once they had their day and that they refus'd the Light when it shin'd No Tortures so exquisite as the lashes of an inrag'd Conscience The Light that they despis'd whilst they were here looks them broad in the face and makes them roar to all Eternity And these accusations of the Soul against it self the upbraidings and inward whips of the Mind make up the miseries of an intellectual Being 2. THE Apostle made choice of this Argument from the Mercies of God in this place when he summ'd up the whole Christian practice into one Exhortation because his Mercies in the Gospel are his last remedy for our Recovery Upon other occasions the Apostle moves men to their duty by the consideration of his Power So he exhorts the Corinthians Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we persuade Men. But there are other Arguments to move us when those from his Power and Sovereignty are us'd If we sin against his Dominion and Power we fly to his Mercy but when we sin against his Mercy there is not another Attribute in God to which we can fly his Mercy is the last remedy for the recovery of Mankind This is decipher'd excellently in that Parable of the Gospel the Master of the Vinyard when all his former Servants and Messengers had been baffled and abus'd resolves at last to send his beloved Son It may be said he they will reverence him when they see him and if they did not the patience and goodness of God was no longer to struggle with them If we reflect a little on the weight and solemnity of this Preface we may justly infer the consequence of that Exhortation to which it is prefix'd I beseech you by the most sacred Mysteries of our Religion I beseech you by all that is amiable and delightful by the mercies of God that soften the most rugged dispositions and melt the most obdur'd hearts by that great Propitiation brought to light by the Gospel that you would present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service AND this leads me to consider this Exhortation more particularly The Apostle asserted formerly our freedom from the Levitical Sacrifices and lest we should think that by our Christian Liberty we are loos'd from all worship and obedience he informs us here what was the Sacrifice that was chiefly design'd under the Symbols and Figures of the ancient Law and indispensably requir'd under the Oeconomy of the Gospel And tho Interpreters may vary in their Expressions yet all of them must agree that there is no more intended than that the Christians instead of Beasts and bloody Sacrifices would offer up themselves i. e. their Wills Strength and Affections with purity and zeal to the service of God The word in the Original in several good Authors signifies persons That ye present your bodies i. e. Your selves for this under the New Testament is the only acceptable Sacrifice This is the whole of the Christian Religion this is the life and design of the former Ceremonies and this is the Abstract and Compend of all true Worship And because this one truth is of such vast consequence to the Souls of Men and hath in it the Spirit and Quintessence of all practical Devotion I shall endeavour to recommend it and give further light unto it in the following Method 1. I WILL consider the excellency of this Sacrifice abstractly and in it self 2. THE value that God did set upon it when the Levitical Sacrifices were prescribed by the Law and were most in vogue amongst the Jews 3. THAT this Sacrifice was principally intended by all the care caution and ceremony wherewith all other Sacrifices were offered 4. I WILL separately explain the Epithets by which this Sacrifice is recommended with allusion to the old Sacrifices of the Law And from all these particulars we must necessarily conclude that this is the Sacrifice that truly recommends us to God 1. LET us view the excellency of this Sacrifice and total surrender of our selves to his disposal There is nothing else suitable to the Divine Nature it is not Gold nor Frankincense nor the costly Perfumes of Arabia that propitiate the Deity a Soul purified from vice and sin is his peculiar Habitation Nothing quenches the fire
his Laws to slight his Invitation When we add to this the consideration of those things that are provided for us in this Feast we may easily see the folly of slighting it the pardon of our Sins is sealed the peace and tranquillity of our Consciences are confirmed our spiritual strength and fortitude are recruited and we are enabled to grapple with all our Enemies more successfully we are strengthened beyond our frailties to run the Race that is set before us ARE not we by our baptismal Vows already listed under his Standard Are not we confederated with him when we are received into the Christian Church How inconsistent is it with our spiritual Allegiance to reject the offers of his Love and trample under foot his most solemn Commands This is treachery and perfidiousness in the highest degree 2. CONSIDER the circumstances of his Love wherewith this Institution was appointed He lived with his Disciples for a considerable time in the full exercise of Patience Meekness and Humility He gave them an Example that they should follow his steps He train'd them up by his Sermons and by his Miracles in the discipline and knowledg of his Kingdom and Scepter He frequently to their own conviction baffled the contradictions of the Jews and endeavour'd to remove their prejudices by all the Methods that the highest Wisdom and Goodness thought proper for their cure He proved himself to be the true Messias by many infallible Signs and now at last when he had run out the course of his publick Ministry and solemnized the last Passeover and was ready to offer himself a publick Propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of the World he appointed this Sacrament as the highest the last and the most solemn Seal and Pledge of his Love to the Church the Abstract and Memorial of all that he did upon Earth and of all that he taught and of all that he promised in the World to come the conveyance of those great and rich Blessings that are procured by his Death and Passion when we remember I say such a confluence of endearing circumstances how can we refuse our presence and obedience How strong are the Charms of his Love What heighth of Courage what degrees of Constancy were necessary to support him against the shock of so many Affronts and Indignities Who can read the History of his Passion and not see the inconceivable condescensions of God Who can view the progress of that Tragedy and not be astonished when we consider the incomprehensible Love of God that he who was God took upon him the form of a servant with no other design than to accomplish the work of our Redemption and that he drew the Map of his life and sufferings in this ravishing Ordinance that the Church might remember the glorious Adventures of his Love by this Eucharistical Sacrifice how monstrous is the ingratitude if we seem to neglect it IN that Night wherein he was betrayed how Emphatick and how full of Love are these words the fury of his Enemies the rage and malice of the Jews the treachery of one of his Disciples the faintness and weakness of all of them could not so divert his thoughts but that our greatest concerns were next his very heart and lest we should forget such glorious things he abridged the History of all the Gospel in this one plain Rite and Institution His Life and Doctrine and all the proofs of our Religion he sums up in one easie Ceremony so that this Sacrament is the Compend of all Religion the very Holy of Holies and the top of all Christian joy and comfort if we consider such circumstances so engaging in the first Institution of this Sacrament we cannot refuse our attendance if we break not thorough all the bonds of Piety and Humanity and renverse all the Laws of gratitude and good nature 3. WE may easily discern our Obligation to it from the practice of the first Christians and the value put upon it by the whole Church The Apostles and their Successors for the first three hundred years were very frequent in the celebration of this Sacrament it was a part of their daily Worship when the devotion of the Christian Church was vigorous and servent they could not live without the daily commemoration of the Love of Jesus This Sacrament was the most substantial and highest Cordial that he left for the support of the Church until his second coming again therefore the Christians of all Ages looked upon it with so much veneration and regard that as they judged themselves obliged to come unto it so they approached it with the strictest preparations with all the solemnities and care of Fasting Prayer and Humility The universal deluge of Atheism and prophanity that overflows the whole Island in which we live is much to be imputed to the contempt and neglect ot this Sacrament 4. WE are obliged to this Attendance because it is the peculiar Character of Christianity the badge of our Religion and the livery of the Crucified Jesus The Rites of all Religions had something in them to distinguish both the Deity that was worshipped and the Votary from all others The whole System of the Levitical Oeconomy was but a distinction of the Jews from all other Nations and all the Rites of that ancient Law were either opposite to the Zabian Customs or directly tended to preserve them from Idolatry The Pagan Sacrifices every where had some one significant Ceremony or other by which they were distinguish'd from the Worship of other Idols and the Christians by this Mystery are separated from the rest of Mankind who are without the houshold of Faith This Ordinance in the Church is the most solemn of all our Mysteries or rather the concatenation of all of them together it hath no foundation in nor directions from the light of Nature and therefore it derives its dignity and obligation from the pure Institution of our Lord and Saviour Hence it is that when Men are guilty of sins against the Moral Law their Consciences do accuse them and the remembrance of their folly proves uneasie to them but they live in the wilful neglect of this Sacrament for many years and yet they are as quiet and undisturbed in their omissions as if they were the most innocent the reason is because natural Conscience prompts not to it it hath its original immediately from our Saviour's Authority and this consideration alone makes us inexcusable if we neglect it because by it we are distinguished from the rest of mankind it is so peculiar to our Religion that we seem to renounce it unless we shew the highest zeal for it and affection to it Do it said he in remembrance of me There is no Order of Men have any such Institution it is our Characteristick that wherein we triumph that wherewith we are reproach'd by the Pagans that whereby we express our love to our Blessed Saviour and avow our selves to be his Disciples in the face of all danger
desirable event WE are to meet with God in the most comfortable and sublime Ordinance and to dress our Souls in their best Robes and Wedding-garments We are to come to this Feast with pure intentions and to arm our selves with the whole armour of God and against every Limb of the body of Death We are to set the pure Law of God before our Eyes and faithfully to compare our actions with it and do you think that this can be done by a superficial glance or can we renverse so easily what is so deeply rooted in our Nature and frame can we by the slightest attempt overturn the works of Satan When we remember that we are to be judged for every secret thought and every idle word and every evil deed how impartial and accurate ought we to be in this Examination when we compare our lives with the Law of God what a formidable Army of our sins do we at first view perceive Our omissions our careless performance of what we do our injuries towards others our foolish impertinent and uncharitable Censures of many our breach of former Promises and Resolutions the hardness of our Hearts against the various Methods of Gods Goodness Patience and Providence against the light reproofs and directions of our own Consciences and the honour of our most holy Profession now when we have gotten such a sight of our sins the Prayer of the Publican in the Temple becomes us Lord be merciful to me a sinner 2. WHEN you have made an impartial discovery of your Condition judge thy self with all severity for if we judge our selves we shall not be judged of the Lord. We are not to judge our selves blindly and with precipitation but upon a full and clear evidence of our Condition nor is it enough to pass sentence against our selves in general forms to acknowledge that we are sinners but we must confess our particular sins such as are our sins in a special manner either by habitual custom temperament of Body ordinary Society or by any other accident or teâ—â—ation for without this particular and ingenuous confession we are not ashamed of what we have done and consequently not truly penitent Let us therefore neither hide nor extenuate our sins before God to whose Eyes all things are naked and open and whose word divides between the soul and the spirit who knows our thoughts afar off and the very first tendencies of our Soul towards evil Apply the confession of the prodigal Son to thy particular state and say with true contrition and humility I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son THE Grace of God cannot grow to any ripeness and perfection but in the Soul that is truly humble and that sensibly feels it self in the most destitute condition unless our Saviour speedily interpose for our recovery and there is no Method so proper to make us truly humble as to see our selves without disguise naked as in the sight of God When we are stript of our Excuses and artificial coverings by which we endeavour to hide our selves from our Neighbours then we see the vast distance that is between the pure Laws of our Religion and our loose careless and disordered lives God is present with us at all times and his Eyes pierce to the Center of our Spirits Let us therefore go to the bottom of the Sore and examine our actions by that infallible Rule of his Word and then we must condemn our selves in the most serious and afflictive strain of true remorse and contrition and therefore we find that the most eminent Saints have been most accurate and impartial in censuring their own sins and transgressions they were more ingenuous than their most watchful Enemies to aggravate their own follies Thus my heart was griev'd saith the Psalmist and I was pricked in my reins so foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee 3. WE are to approach this Sacrament with strong resolutions at last to be revenged on our sins Let us reason our selves out of our former idleness and sloth if we are truly griev'd for our sins we must break thorough the ordinary Obstacles that formerly kept us in bondage Is there no strength in this Sacrament to break those Iron bars by which we are shut up under the power of our sins Are our bonds so strong that they cannot be shaken off Are our Appetites so violent and unruly that they cannot be resisted Were not others encompassed with the same flesh and infirmities and yet happily made free And shall we miserably groan under the load of our sins even though we feel that they make us hateful to God Nay let us cast our selves under the compassionate Eye of our blessed Lord and Master and beseech him that he would let us feel the power of his Resurrection and break our Captivity that he would let us know that He that is in us is stronger than He that is in the World that his Wisdom and Strength may interpose to help our weakness and folly that He would gird his victorious Sword upon his thigh and eradicate our evil Habits Let God arise and let his Enemies be scattered and fly before his presence Our resolutions must not only be vigorous and fervent but fixt against particular sins to which our inclinations are more violent and forward 4. COME unto the Holy Table with full trust in the mercy of God He will not quench the smoaking flax nor will he break the bruised reed He blows upon the first sparks of Sincerity until they are flam'd into perfect zeal and Devotion The Waters that He gives are a Well of water springing up unto life eternal He will perfect that which he hath begun The goodness of God and the incomprehensible Love of Jesus are immovable Pillars of our Faith and therefore we are to fill our Eyes with a prospect of Mercy He will not deal rigidly with us neither will he upbraid us with our former guiltiness when we are prostrate at his feet when we plead with him by his boundless Compassion and the Abyss of our miseries The Blood of Jesus is the true Atonement and propitiation for the sins of the World So reasons the Author to the Hebrews that the blood of Jesus must be of infinitely greater force than that of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heiser for he offered himself without spot unto God and that through the eternal Spirit and therefore he lives for ever to make intercession for us and if we believe the sufficiency and merit of his Sacrifice we must also be persuaded of the real efficacy of this Sacrament to convey the Merits of Christs blood to every penitent Communicant This may be easily discern'd by its contrary influence on the prophane and impenitent If he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation then certainly it it must convey life strength light
force of Errors to the end of the World When he ascended up on high he led Captivity captive and gave gifts unto men He made the illiterate Gallileans baffle the Infidelity of the Jews confound the Philosophy of the Athenians and expose the Worship of Demons The Donatives that he scattered amongst his followers overcame the little Reasonings and Sophistry of Carnal Wisdom and made both Jew and Gentile stoop to receive the Yoke of the Crucified Messias The Prophecy of Joel was fulfilled and his Spirit powred out on all flesh in such plentiful effusions that it broke down all opposition it carried all before it and defied all obstacles that were invented by human Counsel and though this be meant in its most eminent sense of the Apostolical Age yet the same Spirit supplies the Church in all Ages out of the same fulness But Thirdly IN this Metaphor is implied the strength of its Inclosure The Church is a Society formed and combined by Spiritual Laws and Ligaments for Jerusalem is a City that is compact together Psal 122. Accordingly the Psalmist prays Peace be within thy Walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces The Church is a foreign Colony a Kingdom not of this World fortified with Spiritual Power Laws and Arguments to overawe the Consciences of Men to reclaim the stubborn to establish the Authority of Jesus by the Promises and Threatnings of an Invisible Kingdom for his Kingdom is not of this World it forms no designs against the Temporalities of Princes it gives no disturbance to their Possessions it lives in the profoundest peace and the most absolute tranquillity AND until Ease Luxury Riches and Idleness had debauch'd the Morals and Intellectuals of the Western Church there was no disturbance given to the Powers of the Earth the Church indeed is a Society but a Society whose Laws Maxims and Methods are wholly different from Secular Policy The Nature and Genius of our Religion abstracts Mens Minds from the World and the Laws of it are Pure Heavenly and Spiritual and the natural tendency of them is to alienate our affections from the Earth HAVE you observed any Society of Men under the Name of a Church grasping at Earthly Power and by Secular Intrigues and Contrivances levelling all opposition it is no more acted by the Spirit of Jesus Yet notwithstanding of this Innocence the Church is a Fountain of Gardens a peculiar Inclosure that neither Wolves nor Bears can break through neither Persecutors nor Hereticks can destroy it the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it the Storms may indeed rise very high but Christ is in the Ship and he can reprove the Winds and Storms Psal 129. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel say yet have they not prevailed the Plowers plowed upon my back and made long their furrows WHEN we remember that the whole World lies in wickedness and the Spirit that prevails most among Mankind is opposite to the designs of the Gospel what a Miracle of the Divine Goodness is it that the Hedge of the Church is not quite broke down And sometimes the violent attempts of the Kingdom of Darkness may so far prevail by the permission of God as utterly to deface and ruine particular Churches They have all their Intervals Eclipses and several Periods of Light and Darkness for no particular Church by any Promise Grant or Privilege of our Saviour is secured from a possibility of falling by Error Defection and Heresie but the preservation of the Church is owing wholly to the Divine Arm his Love Care and Tenderness reaches the Church in all her conditions and members He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the Lambs with his Arm and carry them in his Bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young HIS Ambassadors must be such as by their Seriousness Gravity and Innocence may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men we must resolutely encounter the hard Censures and Obloquies of a perverse World and when we have done our utmost to oblige them to entertain the Gospel and us for the Gospels sake we may chance to be treated with all the marks of ignominy contempt and disdain If it be so difficult then to preserve the Church and our own Reputation from the attempts and malice of wicked men I think in Prudence Honour and Conscience we ought to be very kind to the Reputation of one another To bespatter ones Reputation is the greatest wound you can give his Character and it is all one whether you do it by a direct blow or slantingly by cunning and slie insinuations Indeed we can do little by our selves to defend the inclosure of the Church we are but weak and feeble and the wickedness of Men makes us more and more so yet if every one made his Brothers Reputation dear to him as his own we might do very much to vindicate the Innocence to extenuate the Infirmities to remove the reproaches that are Atheistically cast upon Men of our Order and the Church might appear unto our enemies to be in the language of the Bridegroom Cant. 6.4 beautiful as Tirzah and comely as Jerusalem and terrible as an Army with banners THE weakest things knit together make a strong resistance for though we fight not with carnal weapons yet those we make use of are mighty to break and shatter the Kingdom of Darkness and all its retinue THIS Metaphor implyes Fourthly The Propriety of Christ in his Spouse The Church is said in the twelfth Verse to be Fons signatus a Fountain sealed She carries the visible Badge and Livery of her dearest Lord and Redeemer She is the chast Spouse of Jesus Christ hence you find whenever the Jews made defection from the Worship of the true God the Prophets did upbraid them with their going a whoring after their Idols The Church is married unto him in Truth and Righteousness his Mystical Body bought with his Blood Silver and Gold could not redeem her the Love of Christ to the Church is incomprehensible the height the breadth and the depth of it goes beyond our imaginations and much more all our expressions He loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob and Psal 78.68 He chused Mount Zion which he loved he built his Sanctuary like the Earth which he hath established for ever his love to the Church is prima regula amoris Eph. 5.25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it The Church hath but one Husband one Mediator one Sacrifice the Purity Value and Propitiation of which defends her for ever against all the efforts and assaults of Hell We see by what is said that this Metaphor in its true intent most naturally agrees to the Organick Church established in the true Faith and guarded with its true Pastors BUT I go forward to the second Particular that I promised to speak to the Purity of these Waters the Church is a
Discipline and that of the severest kind for a King to be depos'd and sent to a Monastery as Childerick was And the power by which this was done is said by Bellarmine to be acknowledg'd communi catholicorum sententiâ and I think that he understood their Doctrine as well as any other BUT the Genius of this Sect among the Jews will appear 2. IF we consider the Prejudices wherewith they were blinded and which kept them from believing our Saviour to be the Messias Now lest I should seem to make up an account of their prejudices against our Saviour that is purely imaginary I shall confine my Narration only to the New Testament And 1. THE Pharisees valued themselves on the Authority of Moses Chair And this they magnify'd to that height that they impos'd their dictates on all men for infallible Oracles The People they thought should receive their Opinions without scruple or hesitation They only understood the Law and the true meaning of it and if any had been at any time so daring and presumptuous as to question their Skill and Integrity he was presently Excommunicated This was the severest Tyranny over Mens Consciences not to see with those Eyes that God gave them was very hard And yet those very Men that valued themselves on the Authority of Moses Chair declar'd sitting in Council from that very Chair that our Saviour was an Impostor So we have the Church in her Soveraign representatives erring with a witness BUT our blessed Redeemer reasoned men into the belief of his Doctrine It was with an eye to this pretended Infallibility that our Saviour sorbad his Disciples to be called Rabbi Father or Master upon the Earth We cannot think that ever he design'd to take away the distinctions of Order and civil Dependance for there is no institution that establishes the subordination of inferiour degrees upon such sure and lasting Foundations as Ours doth Yet in the place lately cited he reproves the imperious Vanity of them that requir'd a blind and implicite Obedience to their Command that would oblige the People to receive all that they say without Examination or Tryal and if any of his Disciples would set up for a Rabbi or Master in that sense he tells them plainly that it was inconsistent with the weakness and dependance of humane Nature for one was their Master even Christ A SECOND Prejudice against our Saviour and his Doctrine was the Opinion of their own Tradition which they affirmed to have been deriv'd from Moses together with the written Law and these Traditions they multiply'd unto infinite fancies and scrupulosities So that their Religion now became an intolerable burthen to their memories When any ventur'd to transgress their Traditions they persecuted him with spite and indignation S. Paul tells us of himself that when he was a Pharisee he was zealous of the Traditions of the Fathers and that he thought himself obliged to do many things against the name of Jesus WHEN they saw the Disciples of our Saviour transgressing their little rules and observances they rudely quarrel with him and asked Why do thy Disciples transgress the Tradition of the Elders And our Saviour answered why do you also transgress the Commandment of God by your Tradition And with the same severity he again reproves their Superstition For laying aside the Commandment of God ye hold the Tradition of men As if he had said you pretend by your Traditions to explain the Law but your Commentaries make it not only more dark and intricate but entirely overthrow it and instead of solving one difficulty you create a thousand And such Reproofs as these are frequently mixt with our Saviour's Sermons We are not to understand the universal Traditions of the Jewish Church than which there cannot be a better evidence of a matter of Fact but we are here to understand the particular Doctrines that creep'd into the Church in its last and more degenerate periods by which men promoted their private Ambition and impos'd their peculiar Tenents with no other design than to raise their own Reputation upon the ruins of Gods Law and Authority A THIRD Prejudice was their Doctrine of Dispensations And this was indeed one of their most pernicious maxims by which they weakened the strength of the Law upon Mens Consciences Our Saviour took notice of this gross abuse obliquely in the verse before my Text And more directly reproves it in the Gospel of S. Mark Their Doctrine of the Corban was the most unnatural and hellish contrivance that ever was hatched under the pretence of their Vow and Religion to desert their Parents as if the obligations of Nature were to be shaken off and evacuated by the ties and engagements of Religion as if we could not be Religious in an eminent degree unless first we renounc'd humanity and tenderness When Religion undermines its own foundation then it becomes the saddest and most incurable Disease Christianity rectifies the disorders of our Nature and yet some Christians pretend Religion to authorize the most barbarous villanies and have invented little arts and knavish subterfuges to hide their hypocrisie and design under the vizor of Religion 4. A FOURTH Prejudice against the Simplicity of our Saviour's Doctrine and Appearance was the splendor of their outward Worship and Ceremonies They doated on the Temple of Jerusalem and thought that God had confin'd his favour peculiarly to that place So they look upon the Fabrick of it with Transport and Admiration The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord are these And it seems that our Saviour's Disciples looked on the the Temple with more than ordinary fondness when he told them that there should not a stone of it be lest upon another There were three things in this Religion that dazl'd mens eyes and inchanted their affections 1. The outward Pomp and Splendor of it 2. The Severities of some outward observances And 3. Their corrupt Maxims by which they forc'd their Religion contrary to its original purity to comply with their Lusts and all these things made it a Religion wholly opposite to the Christian I MIGHT name their pride and uncharitableness towards all that differ'd from them their superstitious niceness in little things in tithing Mint Annise and Cummin and their mighty Zeal to make Proselytes All which are over and over again reprov'd in the New Testament NOW when they stood upon such unreasonable prejudices and defended their Doctrines by little distinctions and maxims of their own invention They could not but be proof against the Doctrine and Miracles of our blessed Saviour 1. They taught that if men obeyed the Law externally they needed not trouble themselves with the reformation of the heart And with regard to this pernicious Maxim our Saviour tells us in the Text that except our righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven We could not exceed the Pharisees in
positae quoniam suaves miscetis odores And this is prophesied of the Messias that his Garments should smell of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia And from him the Church hath all those excellent Smells mentioned Verse 14. Saffron Calamus and Cinnamon to teach us that though the Gifts of the Spirit are and have all their several excellencies yet they are all useful to the Church whose garments are made of needle work and different colours and therefore it is an unpardonable vanity in the People to make saucy comparisons between the Gifts of Ecclesiasticks for stabit unus quisque sorte sua and the Philosophy of S. Paul to the Corinthians should teach them more modesty If the foot shall say because I am not the Eye I am not of the Body is it therefore not of the Body If we look up to our Superiours for assistance conduct and direction they must look down to us for obedience deference and submission THE third Thing that I promised was the rise of those Waters they come from Mount Libanus by an impetuous force and vigour Nothing can more lively represent the first rise and beginning of those heavenly Oracles The Gospel is the day star from on high and the Doctrine that our Saviour hath revealed is from Heaven We are told by Historians that at the foot of Mount Libanus there arises a pleasant Fountain aquas habens limpidissimas that run down from it through subterraneous passages most impetuously and there burst forth in great plenty and by several Conduits waters all the Gardens of the Plain And this leads us naturally to the Divinity of our Religion but here I stop being afraid that I have transgress'd already the time that was allowed me To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory for ever Amen A SERMON ON ROM xii 1. I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service THE Apostle in the former part of this Epistle asserted the Doctrine of Evangelical Justification against the unbelieving Jews who stuck so tenaciously to the System of Moses's Laws And now he sums up in one pathetic Exhortation the strength and design of the Gospel and of all Religion Christianity was not a Collection of dry and airy Notions calculated to amuse the World but a Discipline the highest and the purest that ever was received amongst men the immediate Revelation of Infinite Wisdom which brought along with it true and everlasting righteousness And therefore they ought not to let their thoughts dwell so much and so long on the glory of their Temple and the variety of their Sacrifices under the Levitical Oeconomy They were now invited to offer unto God more valuable Oblations than any of their former They were to bring themselves to the Altar of God and resign their Will to his Will And this was more agreeable to the nature of true Religion the design of the Gospel and the highest exercise of Reason When we bring unto God only things that are without us we mistake his Nature and despise his Goodness Reason taught us that the best things are to be offered unto God and therefore the Heart and Soul and Mind of Man are the only Sacrifices that are truly valuable And this is the reason why the Apostle addresses to the Christians at Rome with so much zeal and affection I will shortly consider 1. His Preface 2. His Exhortation And 3. The Motive to enforce it And 1. For the Preface By the mercies of God We easily infer from the fervour and solemnity of the Apostles Introduction the weight and importance of his Exhortation i. e. I do beseech you with all the earnest passion and true tenderness that I am capable of I exhort you by the Mercies of God i. e. by what is uppermost in his Nature his boundless Compassions that are in the front of all his glorious Perfections and in the Language of the Psalmist from everlasting to everlasting by all that is great sacred and venerable that which takes up the wonder of Angels the praises of men and the adorations of the Saints in glory that you no longer resist the Light of the Gospel but since you are redeem'd from the pompous drudgery of an external Religion that you would think no Sacrifices worthy of God but such as are attended with your life strength zeal and devotion for this is the true Worship of the New Testament when our Will is united to the Will of God 'T IS easie to observe the holy Violence and Fire of S. Paul's Spirit when he endeavours to plant-true and solid Religion Here he speaks as if his Soul was ready to crack the strings that ty'd it to his Body He is all flame all love all endeavour all charity He wishes himself an Anathema i. e. a publick Sacrifice for the unbelieving Jews if this could recover them from their Infidelity to the acknowledgement of the Truth as it is in Jesus HE made use of this weighty Argument in this place because there is none of greater force If the Angels were to preach to us and gain us to the belief of the Gospel they could not fly higher in their Perswasives than the Mercies of God It is by them that he chuses to proclaim all his Titles of Honour to the World The Lord the Lord God slow to anger and of great goodness So when the Apostle exhorts by the Mercies of God he exhorts by God himself and all those ineffable appearances of his Goodness that are felt by the intelligent World and every moment proclaim'd with wonder and acknowledgement HOW merciful must he be who suffers without present revenge the many horrid Crimes that are daily committed the provocations that fly in the face of Heaven their multitude their variety and their circumstances as if men would pull down the Almighty from his Throne and reverse the foundations of good and evil And yet such is the love of God to mankind that after many unkind denyals and rude affronts he besieges the Consciences of men by the force of his Convictions he makes the Light of his Word to pierce to the bottom of the Soul and powerfully overcome the stubborness of our Will How wisely does he conduct us through the labyrinth of tentations How sweetly does he engage us by the motions of his Spirit How kindly does he receive the Prodigal when as yet he had but some small beginnings of wisdom sobriety and calmness He saw him afar off he ran to him fell upon his neck and kissed him WHEN we remember that the Mercies of God are our surest Refuge and Sanctuary in all our fears straits and difficulties we need say no more to amplifie them This is the strong Hold that we flee to when we are assaulted by fear despair or the terrour of the Law WHEN Nathan the Prophet by a