and therefore St. Paul when he had spoken less warily to the High Priest begs pardon with an acknowledgment of his fault as a transgression of that inhibition before cited Num. 22.28 Thou shalt not revile the Gods I wist not brethren that he was the High Priest for it is written Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy People Act. 23.5 So then if they Both act by one and the same Commission He of the two that hath the Pre-eminence for a Supremacy and Subordination must be admitted else there could be no Government does no more than vindicate to himself his own Royal Prerogative whilst he secures as firm and inviolable to the other his Priestly priviledges and immunities and in this sense most properly and to best purpose is Moses to be unto Aaron instead of God Instead of God yea and that in as many respects as Aaron was to be to him instead of a Mouth the Relation being all along mutual and reciprocal Instead of God to Aaron whether it be before the Israelites or the Egyptians 1. Before the Israelites yea though they be the two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly Num. 16.1 Men of renown famous in the Congregation gathered together in a grand conspiracy to invade the Priesthood Moses must then speak as from God himself and declare who it is that is Holy amongst them whom the Lord hath chosen to come nigh unto himself v. 11. What is Aaron that ye murmur against him Before the Egyptians Pharaoh his servants and his People cap. 7.1 I have set thee as a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy Brother shall be thy Prophet Thou shalt speak what I command as from me to Aaron and He shall speak what Thou shalt suggest as from me to Pharaoh and thus Thou shalt be as God to them Both Mine Oracle to the One to reveal all my mind my Rod and Scourge upon the Other to execute all my wrath though he will not as a man of wisdom should hear the Rod and him that hath appointed it yet thou shalt multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt Jannes and Jambres though they may withstand shall not altogether prevail when they see the duft from under them to crawl up in Vermin on them they shall lay their hands upon their Mouths and abhor themselves in that Dust acknowledge this to be the Finger of God and throughout all they shall confess that the Rod in the hand of Moses was guided by the Arm of the Almighty Thus God hath fenced against a common enemy both King and Priest in a mutual dependance the One with a power sufficient that he may uphold the Other with a sure defence that he may be sustained and the interests of Both these are so interwoven together that wherever the Breach is made the injury is alike damage to Both. It is the same God who hath given commandment concerning Princes that they should not be touched by the hands of violence Touch not mine Anointed as they are Anointed they are Mine they are as my self who hath likewise in the very next words given it in charge whether it be to Prince or People to Magistrate or Peasant concerning those who have a more immediate attendance upon him Do my Prophets no harm As therefore Aaron's Divine Mouth must be opened for not against Moses he must not traduce speak evil of him before the People So Moses's God-like power must be exercised and exerted for not against Aaron he must not suffer him to be exposed to the scorn and reproach of a froward and an untoward generation In order to which Defence that their persons may be Venerable whose office is so sacred the maintenance of whom in honour is so great a security unto Majesty to be sure Moses will be careful that Aaron and his sons have an inheritance allotted to them in the Promised Land and that not apart or distinct by themselves but as a blessing to whole Israel dispersed amidst and throughout all their Tribes This was Moses's last Benediction upon the House of Levi not long before his death Deut. 33.11 Bless Lord his substance and accept the work of his hands smite through the loins of them that rise against him and that hate him that they rise not again It is not to be imagined that Moses will take less care of Aaron and the Levites than did Pharaoh of his Egyptian Priests who in the days of famine had enough their portion of meat assigned to them from Pharaoh's Table insomuch that when all the land of Egypt was bought into the Crown Gen. 47.22 Onely the lands of the Priests were not sold In this sence also is Moses to be to Aaron in the stead of God to secure unto him the Lord 's inheritance since dreadful are like to be the effects of Sacriledge upon that Nation or People amongst whom it is an iniquity though endeavoured to be established by a Law May the King and his Throne be guiltless the Kingdome established unto him in Righteousness for He onely is as God who doth preserve in the hollow of his hand the Churches portion from the violence of such who pant after nothing but the Dust of the Earth upon the Head of the Poor One inference more The words of the Text are spoken Vniversally and at large without the least limitation and restriction which may be an intimation to us That this labour of love here required from one to the other must be reciprocal the Vnion preserved inviolable whatsoever personal provocations may unhappily intervene on either side We do humbly crave pardon whilst we do suppose that which we need not fear since we are assured that Moses was the most true hearted man in all the earth faithfull in all the House of God yet should he refuse to be a God to Aaron with-hold his protection from him so put a veil over his face that he should not in the least behold his countenance and then throw it off again onely to terrifie him with his frowns for all this the Obligation doth not cease on Aaron's side he must still be the Mouth of Moses to the people Again should Aaron shut his own Mouth not speak for Moses when the sons of Belial are against him more out of policy then good honesty keep silence at such a time because it is an evil time for all this Moses must still be unto Aaron instead of God instead of God that is as Supreme and far above him he may visit upon and punish him for his personal miscarriage nevertheless at the same time he is obliged to maintain and defend as Sacred the whole Order Doth Aaron make a calf in the absence of Moses hearken to the voice of an unruly people in their despite of Moses As for this Moses we wot not what is become of him though they knew him to be in the Mount with God and in the mean time does Aaron make the people naked to
you What this Moderation is that so we be not mistaken about it in our selves Your or Our Moderation it is no Indifferent luke-warmness and here I have made a search into the signification of the Word into the Recommendation of the vertue as it doth consist with those other Apostolical Admonitions given to these Philippians throughout the whole Epistle and into the Example proposed to our imitatirn our Blessed Saviour being a pattern as of Meekness so of Integrity thus let our Moderation be known as was his not in a dispensation or relaxation from our Duty but in the personal circumstances and occurrencies of our Lives or Deaths the Lord is at hand and this brings me to the Second Thing proposed how and in what particular Circumstances this grace of Moderation is to be manifested unto others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it be known Though the injunction is that it should be known unto all men yet it is not said at all times And here in the first place we are to be careful that in our Moderation there be no Affection lest it degenerate into flattery and hypocrisie it is indeed to be seen of men not that we but that God himself may have the Glory of it our Moderation is to be exerted just as our Almes are to be dispenced not with a Trumpet sounding before us that men may have our good nature in admiration but our left hand must not know what our right hand doth so shall our Heavenly Father who seeth in secret reward us openly To appear all things unto all men to gain the more is not a vertue for every one to be trusted with it seems fit only for an Apostle to practice who in his whole Ministration is more immediately assisted and directed by the Spirit of God and this practice of his too if we rightly consider it was only in such circumstances wherein the Doctrine of Christianity was like to suffer or be promoted according to the more or less wary Dispensation of it betwixt Mosaical Judaism and Philosophical Gentilism and therefore we find the same Apostle when he with-stood St. Peter to the face because of his Dissimulation thus to vindicate himself throughout his Ministry Gal. 2.18 That what ever mis-apprehensions some might have of him or mis-constructions they did put upon his Practices he did not in the least build again the things which he had destroyed and so make himself a Transgressor But now the Gospel is so far propagated that as soon as we are come into the World our Names are given up to Christ in Baptisme and with our first Milk we may suck in the Principles of Godliness being weaned from our Mothers Papps we are sent unto the Churches Breasts of consolation The Scriptures of God which are able to make us wise unto Salvation hence we may suck the sincere Milk of the Word and grow thereby and whatsoever variety of Perswasions there be now in Religion they do not proceed from our different estate before our receptation of it but from the different interests of Parties so and so affected under its Administration having espoused a quarrel they are too tenacious of it they are unwilling to to fore-go what they have eagerly maintained herein therefore is to be the great expression of our Moderation that we stand fast to the profession of our Faith and hold it peaceably in the Vnity of the Church keeping as the Apostle directs the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace that we have a tender regard to those that are gone aside of some we must have compassion making a just and an equal difference and others we must endeavour to save with fear pulling them out of the fire and yet all the while we must be careful that we keep a strict watch over our selves hating the Garment whech is but spotted with the Flesh St. Judes Epist v. 22.23 Thus must we make it our daily Prayer as the Church directs that God would bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived and for our selves that from all Sedition false Doctrine Herisie Schism and Râ—bellion our good and gracious Lord would deliver us Would we convert a sinner from the errour of his way it is not to be done by going astray with him and bearing him company and so endeavouring our own stedfastness for how do we know but that he may seduce us as well as we hope to regain him but it is a Pious endeavouring to restore such wandring Sinners as have wandred either from God their Father or the Church their Mother in a Spirit of Love and Charity there is no reason that to make sure of Moderation we should let go our own integrity that to shew our love to our Brother we should forget that Charity which we owe unto our selves that in keeping his we should loose our own Peace that in Love to any mens Persons we should court their Vices have their errors and their failings in admiration and so much the worse if it be because of advantage 2 Tim. 1.7 The same God who hath given unto his Servants a Spirit of Love hath given them likewise the Spirit of a sound and of a sober Mind Gal. 6.1 Do we see any that is overtaken with a fault herein consists our Christian Moderation that we consider our selves lest that we also be tempted and out of a Principle of good Nature we must not venture to run out after him but saies the Apostle You who are your selves Spiritual do you restore such a one in the spirit of Meekness in the Parallel to my Text Titus 3.2 In whatsoever station of life God has placed us we must labour to shew all Meekness unto all men 2 Mac. 9.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moderation is a kind of holy Philanthropie by which abstracting some particular respects not so acceptable unto our selves we can prosecute all with whom we have occasion to converse with love as Knowing them to be of the same Make with our selves that they and we are all of us in the Body and yet for all this every one of us must faithfully abide in that Calling wherein he is Called in the Lord watching thereunto with all Diligence and Perseverance After all that has been said though all men have a right to our Moderation the Holy and the Good that they may rejoyce with us the froward and the perverse that they may be won by us our friends that they may go hand in hand with us our enemies that they may be reconciled unto us those who are our Superiours to whom we have submitted our selves in the fear of God our equals with whom we do converse in the love of Christ and our inferiours to whom an example of meekness and sobriety alluring them to the wayes of holiness by our affable and acourteous Behaviour in the strictness of a well-ordered Conversation yet I say though this Grace is so universally so impartially to be
but beating of or speaking to the air Unless that Aaron be the Mouth of Moses what though his face shine the people will but the sooner turn away from him cum Jove Caesar God and the King as to Government have alike prerogatives Thunder from above bespeaks the Deity as terrible thus the Highest doth give forth his Voice Boanerges a son of Thunder here below declares earthly Majesty to be also dreadful But unless Moses put words into the mouth of Aaron stands by him and stands up to him while he speaks stretches out his Rod whilst he lifts up his Voice the Mouth of Aaron without this will be Vox praeterea nihil a Voice indeed but nothing else the noise no sooner heard but no where to be found Whose Mouth is fittest to preserve knowledge and to proclaim Obedience but his who is the Messenger of God and of the King of the Lord of Hosts and of him who like unto God himself is mighty in the battel and whose Arm should be made bare in strength but theirs who are the Anointed of the Lord Anointed in a great measure for this very thing that they should be a Guard and a Protection to all Gods Holy Ones since they are themselves not unfitly called Gods being all of them children of the Most Highest Shall I with all humility and due Reverence speak the words of truth and soberness it is in the Cause of God of the King and also of his Priests As the happiness is great to that People where this Vnion is most religiously observed no other then as the result of the Divine Institution so sad is the misery deplorable is the calamity both to King Priest and People upon the breach of it I need go no further for an instance then the story that is before us Would Moses and Aaron bring the people from Egypt through a wilderness into Canaan This must be their March Regular and solemn Num. 2.3 compared with Num. 3.38 Judah the Princely Tribe must set up his Standard Eastward Moses and Aaron Prince and Priest must keep the charge of the Sanctuary Eastward and hence not improbably the antient Ceremony of worshiping with their faces thither-ward Judah sets up his Standard for the Laity Moses and Aaron theirs for the Clergy and yet the latter to go along with Judah the Prince who was to protect them when settled in the Land of Promise and upon the whole whosoever he was the stranger that came nigh to either of them was to be put to death This was their March unto that Rest which God had prepared for them And yet notwithstanding their Station and Procession thus fixed by the Almighty do Moses and Aaron speak unadvisedly with their lips either one to another one of another or one against another at the waters of Massah and Meribah places that bore their names from those strivings and contentions the anger of the Lord is immediately kindled against them all and it was so inraged that it was by no means to be appeased Moses and Aaron must onely see that Land of Promise into which they are never like to come it shall be their punishment to behold what they never shall injoy in the view of but their foot shall not tread upon the goodly Mountain nor Lebanon and then as for the People their Carcases must fall in thâ— wilderness this is a froward Generation it shall noâ— enter into the Rest of God! When once there be Divisions many are the thoughts many are the searchings of heart I would not be mistaken as an evil-speaker or a fore-boder of evil tidings while I do thus mournfully and with all lowly submission crave leave to make out the Parallel Doth the Civil Magistrate either needlessly contend with or wilfully draw back the secular Arm from the Defence of the Ministry and does he think thus to still the murmurings of the people as the raging of the Sea so is their madness casting forth nothing but mire and dirt foaming out their own shame and is there no way to lay the storm but by mixing the waters with bloud hath the Pilot no means to secure the Ship but by throwing the Prophet into the waters especially such a Prophet as doth not fly from but is stedfastly bent on his Course to deliver and execute the Message of his Master that sent him Again is the Spiritual Mouth either silent in the behalf of or clamourous and obstreperous against doth it either not speak at all as it should in the defence or is it froward malapert and peevish against the Secular Arm do they who should consult the stars of Heaven for direction in the voyage either withhold their advice from or unseasonably quarrel with him that sits Steers-man at the Helm This may be the dreadful consequence of such ill will between Both in Portu naufragium certain ruine and destruction to the Ship and all that are in it yea and that in the Ken of the desired Haven as an aggravation to their misery in the very sight of Land Virtutem videant intabescantque relicta This is the sore calamity upon such lad animosities and dissatisfactions on either hand a strange kind of infatuation upon all marner of counsels and designs be they never so just and honourable they may see what is good and yet it doth escape them a price put into their hand and it falls away from them for want of a pious heart united to each other in Love and Duty and to God the maker of Both in fear and Reverence mutually to be exercised in the using of it And here by the way let it be seriously considered that the first Rejection of Saul from being King over Israel was because he invaded the Priesthood let our new Leviathan suggest what he pleases Hobb's Lev. part 3. chap. 42 pag. 95. 300. that the Civil Magistrate may reserve the exercise of the Ministerial Function to himself yea though there might be some reasonable excuse for it as his Enemies growing Vid Ecc. Ang. Articl 37. and coming on upon him and he was not willing to ingage them till he had made his supplication before the Lord 1 Sam. 13.11 15. But God had commanded the entrary he was not of himself to make a Vertue of that Necessity without an express permission therefore says Samuel Thou hast done foolishly and thy Kingdom shall not continue whereupon God chose to himself a man after his own heart one who to avoid such future presumption should be a Prophet as well as a Prince and therefore the eating of the Shew-bread upon an extream necessity was not in him so notorious a violation of Sacred and Ecclesiastick Order This was that David who called for his Sword which hung behind the Ephod 1 Sam. 21.9 Give it me says he for there is none like that he goes forth with the Prayers and the Blessing of the Priests to battel 1 Sam. 23.9 still I will urge a Testimony from
thither having heard of the signes and wonders only by the hearing of the ear they came and when they saw they both magnified and believed even the Adversary himself though he had malice enough yet he wanted power such durst not make too near approaches to them I cannot but here take notice of the Courage of these Apostles that in no wise they were dismayed or terrified even amidst the concourse of the people they were not affrighted their business was to save not to fear multitudes to convince mightily and with power not to dread the powers of the most or the mightiest of men men whose power consisted onely in their numbers 29. We ought to obey God rather than men The judgment of God upon Ananias and Sapphira might have been imputed as murder to these Apostles might not the people of the Jews here have cryed out as they did formerly against Moses upon the destruction of Corah and his Accomplices for a sin of much the like nature with this neither was the punishment unlike unto it they died not the common death of all men neither were they visited after the visitation of all men Numb 16.41 and all the Congregation murmured saying Ye have killed the People of the Lord Why might it not have been so with this mixt Assembly However the Apostles could expect no other then what did afterward really happen 17. That the High Priest and those that were with him should he filled with indignation Why should they therefore thus expose themselves to danger amidst the multitudes The answer to all is That they knew Jesus on whom they believed and whom they preached and it was with their joy 41. in that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of the Lord Jesus Courage and Resolution are vertues truly Apostolical it is beneath the dignity of a Priest to fear the People some come in humility to receive the Ingrafted word with a spirit of meekness and these are a joy to those that are set over them Some expect Signs and Wonders every day some new thing they are for the inticing words of mans Wisdom and he must work a miracle upon them that would perswade them though they are themselves the greatest Prodigy in that since the word of Salvation is come amongst them in the plainess of its Demonstration they will by no means submit the obedience of their faith to those Truths which in a Visible outward Oeconomy they cannot but profess neither dare take so much confidence to themselves as to deny them and after all these there are another sort who lie at the catch like the Pharisees and the Herodians St. Luke 11.54 Seeking something out of our Saviours Mouth to accuse or mis report him such whose business it is to carp at what they will not understand such who that they may bring an evil report upon the way of Godliness take every little or no occasion to traduce the Dispencers of it But whether they will hear or whether they will forbear the Prophets of the Lord are to come amongst them through good report and through bad report by honour and dishonour are we to approve our selves the Ministers of Christ and of his Gospel in much patience yea with the Apostles here in tumults and in labors as deceivers and yet true as unknown and yet well known and that they might be the better known frequenting those places where the greatest gathering of the people is like to be that so the word preached may have the more universal influence the very Place of their meeting was a Place of general and known concourse and so much the better because it was a part of the Temple see where they are assembled an intimation both of their Fortitude and Devotion even there where the thickest of the thronged multitudes were wont to gather with these we find the Apostles and the Convert Disciples at this Holy Convention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Solomon's Porch which is the Second thing I observed to you The place of their meeting in a place consecrated and separated for the Service of God in Solomons Porch Solomon's Porch The History of which place I shall not here spend to give you those that have opportunity and ability may consult Jos Antiqu. lib. 7. cap. 2. lib. 8. cap. 11. lib. 20. cap. 8. Where we have the description of it at large in all its Dimensions from which we conclude it capacious enough to receive so great an Assembly as we suppose at this time to have been there that it was part of the Temple is evident enough to us all from our Saviours presence in it St. John 10.23 Whilst he was celebrating the Feast of Dedication which by the way was an Apocryphal Feast instituted 1 Mac. 4.59 and our Saviour honoured such a Solemnity with his company Jesus walked in the Temple in Solomons Porch which was also a place of publique worship 2 Cron. 8.12 Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the Altar of the Lord which he had built before the Porch from all which and from the Text I gather as a word in season That our Lord and Blessed Saviour and from his example and precept the Apostles with the Primitive Christians did not usually assemble for the Worship and Service of God in private Houses or in solitary places if so be that any the outmost part of the Temple was allowed them to meet in First Our Saviour's Practice was most exemplary in this Whilst a Child he was the Holy Child Jesus early after his Birth so soon as the days of Purification according to Law were accomplished presented in and by the yearly Devotion of his Mother brought up unto the Temple where he soon exercised and delighted himself in the beauties of holiness The Days for Publick Worship were too soon accomplished for him St. Luc. 2.43 He must stay behind the rest of the Company some time longer and after three days sorrowful search where could they expect to find him though a Child of twelve years age but in the House of God and there about his Fathers business even in the midst of the Doctors hearing them and asking them questions in the midst of the Doctors and hearing them as if the Blessed Child would have been catechised by them and taught the way of God more perfectly this was his humility and yet asking them questions and so putting them to silence this was his authority whilst all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers This was the first onset of our Saviour in his Prophetick office and that in no other place then in the Temple True indeed afterward in the Course of his life he consecrated every place by his presence and therefore wherever he found the Multitudes still he taught them and yet we meet but with two notable instances of such an administration once by the Lake of Gennesareth when he taught the people out of the Ship and the other
for its succession whilst it burns it self at the rays of the Sun is but one single embleme of this if any such instance can be given whilst in the Primitive Persecutions the Piles of Wood were made high and the flames reached up to heaven by the sweet influences of the Sun of Righteousness upon the sacred dust of Martyrdom there was a strange unaccountable prolifick virtue Sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesiae Christianity did receive as it were a new-birth sent forth into the world a numerous off-spring too great to be incountred with in the mean time the slaughtered witnesses for the Faith of Christ did as it were anticipate their own Resurrection living again in the pious conversation of such who taking advantage of their stout behaviour unto Death did embrace the Faith of him who is the Lord of Life And after all this true zeal is not onely upon such extraordinary occasions an incouragement unto others but even in the ordinary Occurrencies of humane life it has many times the like influence upon such as have the least overtures after holiness and piety as the backsliding of many eminent professors from the paths of Truth and holiness has been the sad occasion that others have totally fallen away so the observance of those who have passed through a fiery trial of affliction who daily are acquainted with little else but unkind surmises and hard speeches who are the mark that every one shoots at because they are more righteous then their neighbours they are indeed the lights of the world held forth at noon day exposed to the blast of every foul mouth to the scoff and derision of all that are round about them yet I say closely to observe such persons as these how piously they walk with God how humbly they converse with men not being froward against others onely keeping themselves close up to the rules of their Duty and the strictness of a holy life it cannot but inkindle some good wishes in the worst of those that hate and revile them insomuch that the most Atheistical persons when they are serious will reflect upon themselves and say Oh! That we were in such a mans condition Religion shall never want Proselytes for such mens sakes as these for strange is the influence which a Holy Zeal has upon the Lives of men it being not only bonum jucundum a pleasant good that is contentation and satisfaction to a mans self but comfort and incouragement unto others for in the Second Place Zeal is good Bonum est Honestum it is honest in the sight of all men it is lovely and of good report it is the usual Character that we give of a zealous person Poor man he is concerned for that which he can never help the world will be bad do what he can yet doubtless he himself is a very honest and a well meaning person and truly so he is as he is not over-sollicitous of being counted singular or as the prophane phrase it over-righteous more nice then wise so neither is he in the least censorious of others the faith which he has he keeps it to himself neither will he disturb another mans liberty by his own conscience he is contented with this private satisfaction that he doth not in the least condemn himself in that which he alloweth and since he hath tied himself up to the strict performance of some certain rules of duty he desires to be excused that he cannot dispence with himself he makes himself no Judge of another mans liberty Only you must bear with him if you find him not a little concerned when he cannot have the same liberty which others take in that which is worse and be permitted an undisturbed Piety when they who either have not the leisure or the will to be religious want ordinary civility and will not forbear their taunting reproaches and their ungodly scoffing at the strictness of a well-ordered Conversation when he finds his Devotion nick-named for superstition and the periodical revolution of his Canonical hours to be branded with the title of a Mechanical Sanctity It is not absurd surely but acceptable in the sight of God and commendable before all good men to reckon upon Months Weeks Days and Hours wherein to serve our good more strictly and closely than at other times and to be as well acquainted with these seasons for religious performances to know these stations for a holy Devotion as well as the Sun it self knows his own going down for since acts of Religion must be done at some time or other or in one posture or other so long as we are in the body why not rather in such a posture and at such a time which Holy Church has consecrated and commanded at such a time in which we may hope there are other Christian people putting up the same petitions and so the Devotion being united is the more prevalent I refer to the Canonical hours of prayer every day and yet since all have not leisure and in some cases God will have mercy rather then sacrifice he that is piously and Devoutly zealous as he hath no evil thoughts upon the Omissions of his Brother so he could wish that his Brother would forbear evil speaking and slandering his strict perfomances since surely he walks by a rule the Churches practice at least is his prescription without censuring therefore he blesses God for the opportunities he hath of Dedicating himself unto his service that God hath put into his hand a price and given him a heart to use it I speak this the rather because of late Devotion has been obliquely accused as if it rendred men crabbed and censorious Men of Devotion says one amongst us when they have once formed in themselves a perfect modell of the will of God and have long confirmed their mind by a continual thinking upon it are apt to condemn all others that agree not with them in some particulars This accusation is cunningly and closely laid First as if the model for devotion were of private conception after they have formed to themselves a perfect model of the will of God No such matter it is well known that the Devotion thus struck at is of more universal practice it is the Devotion of such who according to that way which some count superstition and a mechanical Religion worship the God of their Fathers and then they who addict themselves to such a Devotion are apt to condemn those that agree not with them in some particulars no such matter neither it is not upon every little piccadilloe that the stomach â—iseth it is not here or there a particular thing which causeth these eager grudgings but holy Zeal thinks it self concerned when things in their direct consequences all together tend to the exploding of Primitive and of pure Religion when the strictness of all Discipline and Order is become a by-word and a Proverb the reproach of such who watch their opportunity totally to cast off the Yoke who
for as has been our Moderation our Love and Charity one to another so shall be at that dreadful day our Final Doom Ye have not cloathed nor fed nor visited nor Ministred to the necessities of the afflicted therefore Go ye Cursed And this brings me to the Second and last observable that the coming of Christ to judgment as it shall be a General Vniversal and a Final Doom is an argument unto us that our Moderation be known unto all men So that what the Apostle useth in another Place as a Motive to constancy in the Faith is here an incitement to Unity and to Peace in Conversation 2 Thess 2.1 We beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him that you be not soon shaken in your Mind yea and by the same coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by the same collection of the Saints together in one unto him we beseech you Brethren be pitiful be courteous And is it not high time that we should cease from wrath and anger from evil speaking and from evilthinking from backbiting and back-sliding since that our Great and common Salvation is now nearer than when we first believed Rev. 16.15 Behold saies Christ I come blessed is he that washeth and keepeth his Garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame would we put on the garment of praise at that Day let us be clothed with humility now though humility be modest and bashful yet it is Covering and Fence sufficient against everlasting shame and contempt They who do abuse this Christian Grace of Moderation are great pretenders unto Liberty but as for us in the Love of men and in the fear of God let us so speak and so do as those who shall be judged by a Law that so the Law by which we shall be judged may be to us what really it is in it self a Law of Liberty A Law of Liberty when we shall be delivered from our earthly Prisons and without obloquy shall be brought out of those Prisons to Reign in the more glorious Liberty of the Sons of God The Sum Conclusion and Application of all is briefly this Let your Moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand That is the Celebration of his Nativity is now approaching and his Coming unto Judgment is every day hastning let us so commemorate the First that we have all the while a continual Remembrance of the Second our Moderation let it be known be in perfect Charity with all men The Constitutions of our Church oblige us to begin that solemnity with a Sacrament and that is a feast of Love again our Moderation let it be known even in our pleasures and our recreations twelve dayes are allotted us for rejoycing not one of them for chambering or wantonness for riot or excess is not this the Feast which God has chosen to deal our Bread unto the hungry to give gifts unto the poor a portion to six and to seven to have our hearts and our hands open to the needy not to throw away that substance which God has given us by the shaking of our elbows I do confess that we serve no hard Master and times of joy are times of indulgence too we may eat our bread with chearfulness and drink our wine with a merry heart yet let the World see that we can be Moderate let the B. Sacrament which we shall receive upon the first day be a restraint upon us that we run not out to excess in any of the rest Oh! Why should we entertain the holy Child Jesus yet once again in a stable with our filthy lusts and our beastly sins about us This is to celebrate his Birth and at the same time to renew his Death Crucifie the Lord of Life again a fresh and put him to an open shame whatever therefore may be the Ecstatical raptures either of serious Melancholy or profuse Joy let us be careful that they do not degenerate either into Prophaneness or Enthusiasme a Moderation betwixt both will do well that so neither a morose reservedness a grim presciseness on the one hand a debauched licentiousness a drolling rude Atheisme on the other do transport us to do those things which are not convenient in a word while we keep Christmas we are to think upon the Advent just gone before upon the Lent presently to follow after the Feast shall be no sooner over but the Church will call us to Sorrow Mourning and Penance Oh! that we could be sober and watchful that the reckonings betwixt God and our own Souls may be kind and easie the Feast we see is ushered in with the Apprehensions of future judgment let therefore our Celebration of the first Coming of Christ in the time of this Mortal Life in great Humility be no other than our pious and earnest expectation of his second appearance when in the Last Day he shall Come in his glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the Dead that so this may be the result of all our pious Festivals and Festival Solemnities especially this of the Nativity Christ as it were New-borne formed in us and we Regenerate and Born again to him and so this to be unto us the Hope of Glory whilst our fruit is unto Holiness The end of all will be Everlasting Life Thus our Blessed Apostle has backed his advice in the Text with a Promise Let your Moderation be known unto all Men ver 7. And the Peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your Hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus our Lord who is the Prince of our Peace who with the Father of all Mercy and the Holy Ghost the Eternal Comforter Liveth and Reigneth One God even the God of Consolation now and ever To whom be Glory Dominion and Adoration given throughout all Ages in the Church by Christ Jesus Amen Amen FINIS ERRATA PAge 40. diligent p. 48. dele Secondly p. 51. Vpper-Chambers p. 54. Vers Aethiopic p. 69. recover our first Love p. 71 dele destructive c. p. 75. heard ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 82. persecution p. 84. their backs p. 87. caetum exert p. 107. reception of the Gospel p. 108. Orders of Men. p. 118. were there not p. 120. visibly terrible p. 127. Boar out of p. 139. against Providence p. 143. heel ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 160. exclude you or us that p. 162. two such potent p. 166. dele affected p. 169. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 176. dele as p. 180. wish that they would p. 186. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 205. serve our God p. 209. then it is bad p. 211. pretend the impulse ibid. or ruling p. 213. dele 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 216. they left p. 217. received from p. 220 the Multitude p. 227. our thoughts p. 236. dele 2 p. 139. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. Hesych p. 247. reception p. 248. endangering