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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	day_n	lord_n	sabbath_n	4,018	5	9.9916	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61378	Sober singularity, or, An antidote against infection by the example of a multitude being practical meditations on Exod. 23, vers. 2 : wherein is opened the influence of the practise of a multitude, to draw men to sin, the special cases, wherein it concerns us to be most cautious, reasons why we must not follow them, together with the application of the whole : and therein, besides the general improvement of the point, an instance given of nineteen practises of the multitude to be avoided, seven of their grand principles to be rejc̈ted [sic] : sundry particulars concerning peace and unity, and the sanctification of the Lords Day, useful for these times / by R. Stedman ...	Stedman, Rowland, 1630?-1673.	1660 (1660)	Wing S5376; ESTC R38303	146,089	254

God created and made And our Saviour in his sermons when he was upon the earth endeavoured to reduce the people unto the Institutions of God as they were established from the beginning Mat. 19.8 The argument indeed is pressed as to the ordinance of marriage but the reason holds the same in relation unto the Sabbath 2. It was not delivered by way of appendix or additament to another precept but it is in it self one entire precept of the Decalogue One of those ten words which were wrote in tables of stone by the Lord of hosts Deut. 10.4 If the law of the Sabbath be abrogated it will from thence follow that there are but nine commandments whereas the Holy Ghost expresly mentioneth them to be ten Exod. 3● 28. Deut. 10.4 And this precept is written as one of them Exod. 20.8 Deut. 5.12 13 14. When Christ was entring upon his discourse concerning the T●n Commandments in vindicating several of them from the false glosses and interpretations of the Scribes and Pharisees he delivered before hand this doctrine of the perpetuity of the obligatory vertue of the Law Mat. 5.17 18. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil For vertly I say unto you till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled And the Apostle James treating of some of the Ten Commandments bottometh his argument upon this as an undoubted axiome that one of those c●mmandments hath the same perpetual obligation upon us to obedience as another So that the reason is strong for the Sabbath upon the Apostles foundation For he that said honour thy Father and thy Mother said also Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Now if thou obey thy parents yet if thou prophane the Sabbath day thou art become a transgressour of the law Jam. 2.10 11. 3. Let such as plead for the reversing or repealing of the law of the Sabbath now under the Gospel shew us cut of the Gospel where it is repealed which they are in no wise able to perform for though there be made an alteration of the day yet there is not to be found any abrogation of the commandment And therefore it is observable that even in the pub like liturgy this prayer is added at the close of the 4. Commandment as well as of the other Lord have mercy upon us and inclene our hearts to keep this law 2. Be well setled in the grounds of the chang and alteration of the day from the Jewish sabbath to the first day of the week Clear convictions in the judgment of the divine institntion of the Lords day will help to ingage the heart unto the solemn devoting thereof to the Lord. Many considerations might be insisted on to this end 1 The name and title which is attributed unto it of the Holy Ghost The Lords day Rev. 1.10 I was in the Spirit on the Lords day What better reason can be given of that appellation than that it was constituted and ordamed of the Lord in memory of his resurrect on and our redemption compleated thereupon Even as the Sacrament of the Eucharist is called the Lords supper because of the Lord Christs appointment and in remembrance of his passion 2 The appearance of Christ to his disciples after he was risen from the dead several times on the first day of the week Jo. 20.19 26. Why should our Saviour pass by the Jewish sabbaths and make choice of the first day of the week and the Holy Ghost set such an emphatical note * Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week came Jesus c. Jo. 20.19 upon it that it was indeed upon that day but that he intended to intimate that this was the day establshed for Christian-sacred-assemblies 3 The practise of the Apostles and the Church after Christs ascension in observing the Lords day for their coming together to partake of the ordinances of the gospel When they were met together on that day with one accord the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles Act. 2.1 2 3 4. And the disciples assembling on that day is not spoken of as a practise newly taken up but in such a manner as may intimate it was their usual course and custom Act. 20.7 4 The ordination of Paul in the churches of Galatia and Corinth that their collections should be made every first day of the week which plainly 〈…〉 the believers 〈…〉 ●ssem●●ies A●d you know S. Paul professeth he received of the Lord what he delivered to his people and that his established 〈◊〉 were the same in all the churches of Christ 1. Cor. 16.1 2. Mark it I say every first day of the week for so the words are to ●e rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every first day of the week one after another as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every month qu. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in singulis verbis Aristop● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oppidatim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vicatim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viritim Many things might be added for the e●ucidation and vindic●ting of these scripture considerations But I shall chuse rather to open three other texts which are not so commonly dwelt upon to this end wherein yet I have several of eminence both for piety and learning to go before me The first is that of the counsel of our Saviour to his disciples in re●erence to the destruction of Jerusalem and the sore calamities that were to 〈◊〉 the land of Judaea It is in the gospel written by S. Matthew cap. 24.20 But pray ye that yo●r flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day Not in the winter because it would be troublesom to their bodies to be then driven away from their habitations It would expose them to manifold inconveniences Tum ob frigoris rigorem tum ob dierum lucisque brevitatem Not on the sabbath day because it would be matter of grief and perplexity in their spiries to be then forced to shift away for their lives when they should have their hearts ingaged in solemn attendance upon the Lord and communion with him So that 1 Here is full proof of the continuance of a sabbath to be celebrated by believers in the dayes of the gospel That the law of the Sabbath was not to expire and be annulled upon the death of the Messiah b but to be still observed and kept by Christs disciples Those sad times where in our Savi●ur speaks of their flying were to fall out neer upon forty years after his cracifixion and suffering and still there was to be a Sabbath 2 The disciples of Christ unto whom he gave this counsel privately and apart by themselves Mat. 24.3 before this time of their flight kept their assemblies wholly apart from the Jewes and kept the Lords day the first day of the week having altogether cost off the Jewish sabbath

whence we may conclude that these words of our Saviour are meant not of the Jewish but of the Christian sabbath wherein his own people were concerned Indeed sometimes we meet in the Acts of the Apostles with mention made of the seventh day sabbath The Apostles taking the advantage of that day to preach to the Jews in their Synagogues but we never find it mentioned after that meeting at Troas Act. 20.7 So that long before the time of their flight they wholly withdrew from the Jewes and kept their assemblies separated by themselves on the Lords day 3 It was an ordinary thing with our Saviour before his death and passion to instruct his disciples in many divine truths which they did not rightly understand till after his resurrection or ascension When the Holy Ghost was sent to that end to bring his words to their remembrance and to teach them the right meaning of the same See Jo. 2.20 21 22. Jo. 12.16 Luk. 9.44 45. Luk. 24.44 45 46. Act. 11.15 16. This if well observed will take off the force of their objection who plead that Christs words must needs be meant of the Jewish Sabbath because say they his disciples undoubtedly so understood them This I acknowledg as probable that they took his speech as meant of the Jewish when yet our Saviour intended it of the Christian Sabbath It being usual with him to deliver many things unto them which they did not rightly understand till he was risen from the dead Probably this very business of the alteration of the Sabbath was one of the things which he had to say unto them but they could not then bear them Jo. 16.12 And one of those many things touching the kingdom of God which he taught them between his resurrection and ascension Acts 1.3 See the words of Bishop Andrews concerning this text in his Pattern of Catechistical doctrine upon the fourth commandment All ceremonies were ended in Christ but so was not the Sabbath for Mat. 24.20 Christ bids his disciples pray that their visitation be not on the Sabbath day So that there must needs be a Sabbath after Christs death Mr. Fennor in his treatise called the Spiritual mans Directory bringeth this in as a special argument for a Sabbath now in the dayes of the Gospel because as he expresseth it Christ speaking of those dayes when all the ceremonial law was dead and buried sheweth the Sabbath to stand still quoting for it this text Take the concurrent testimony of A. B. Usher Our Saviour Christ willing his followers that should live about 40. years after his ascension to pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath day to the end they might not be hindred in the service of God doth thereby sufficiently declare that he held not this commandment in the account of a ceremony And lastly which may abundantly shew that it is not any novel interpretation Mr. Palmer and Mr. Cawdrey give this paraphrase upon the words As if Christ said unto his disciples the Jews have charged me as a breaker of the Sabbath but whatever disputes and reasonings you have heard betwixt me and them concerning that subject I would not have you to think that I am an enemy to the Sabbath or that I mean to put an end to that commandment For I tell you there shall still remain a Sabbath day to be observed to God for his worship In token whereof I admonish you to pray that your flight be not on that day The Second text I would touch upon is that prophecy of the Psalmist concerning the resurrection of Christ Psal 118.22 23 24. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner This is the Lords doing it is marvellous in our eyes This is the day which the Lord hath made We will rejoyce and be glad in it From which words as I remember I have met with this close and formal argument The day wherein the stone which the builders refused became the head stone of the corner that is the day which in the times of the gospel the Lord hath made i. e. which he hath appointed and set apart solemnly to be observed in religious duties one of which special evangelical duties viz. praise and thanksgiving joy and gladness in the Lord is instanced in But the first day of the week or the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that day wherein the stone which the builders refused became the head stone of the corner Therefore the first day of the week or the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the day which in the times of the Gospel the Lord hath made i. e. which he hath consecrated and set apart for the solemn attendance upon religious duties The major proposition lieth fair and clear in the text And the minor is bottomed upon the Apostle Peters comment upon the text which comment he * Acts 4.10 11. made by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost who speaketh of this Scripture as meant of the day of our Saviours resurrection from the dead I leave therefore the conclusion to be considered Wherein I have learned Dr. Ames his concurrent apprehensions Neque facile rejiciendum est quod ab antiquis quibusdam urgetur pro die Dominicâ ex Psal 118.24 Haec est dies quam fecit Jehova Eo enim loco agitur de resurrectione Christi Christo ipso interprete Mat. 21.41 The last Scripture I will name on this account is that of the Apostle to the Hebrews cap. 4.9 10. There remaineth therefore the keeping of a Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto the people of God for he that is entered into his rest he also hath ceased from his works as God did from his own As if the Apostle had said will you fall off from attendance upon gospel ordinances and question the celebration of the Christian Sabbath that you may return to Judaism again Why let me tell you the Lords-day-sabbath which now remaineth when the other is abolished is of Gods own appointment and institution David prophecied concerning it for this is the day of rest which he spake of in the 95. Psalm And besides it is bottomed on a very equitable foundation For as when God had ended the work of creation which was peculiarly his work he ordained the seventh day Sabbath in commemoration thereof So hath Christ the mediatour finished the work of redemption and is entred into his rest as God entered into his and therefore hath appointed the Christian Sabbath for celebration of the work of mans redemption I must not dwell upon all the particulars that might be insisted for the clearing and vindication of this sense of the words from the manifold exceptions that are likely to be made against it Only let these few things be seriously weighed 1 That the Hebrews unto whom the Apostle writes this Epistle and with whom he dealeth in this place were declining apace from gospel administrations and ready to embrace again

e. Then it will appear what an egregious Dolt he was his folly will be declared before men and Angels 3. Whereas the Earthworm pretends that he will trust God with his Soul know that the Lord will have nothing to do in a way of mercy with such but will leave them to fall and perish by their own counsels But will not God preserve those that trust in him Yea but this is not to trust in the Lord but profanely to tempt him And he will repay such as hate him to their face Then do we place our confidence under his shadow when our dependance is acted in the way of righteousnesse When we give up our selves in integrity to be his servants and keep the way of the Lord Psal 4.5 Psal 37.3 7 34. If persons live in sin and mind earthly things and yet say they lean upon the Lord This very presumption will bring upon them a sore and inevitable destruction Mic. 3.11 12. So much to eradicate and pluck up that fifth Principle out of your hearts 6. The sixth hellish principle espoused and embraced by the multitude concerns the evil of those sins in which they live and with the filth whereof they are wont to defile themselves Their Tenent is this that there is no great hurt in their irregularities and transgressions nor are they such mischievous things as many are pressed to believe What harm is there will they say if a man talk idly and frothily If they now and then revel and tipple in a way of merriment and to pass away their time They hope no body is the worse for it they know indeed they are actions condemned in the word but what hurt is there in them if they tend to no mans loss or detriment They pray God they may never do worse and the like They cannot deny but they are forbidden to adde to the word of the Lord To introduce mens inventions into his worship To set their Posts by his Posts and their thresholds by his threshold But what need men keep such a doe against them being innocent harmlesse things especially if they are appointed for decency and edification However they are confident that if they do no good yet there is no great matter of hurt in them This I might instance in many cases For it is the ordinary plea which sinners produce to justifie much of their impiety Ezek. 16.20 Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter q. d. Surely it appears a small matter in your eyes These are sinful apprehensions which are sedulously to be mortified and subdued For unless your minds are possessed with abhorring thoughts of sin your souls can never be throughly humbled for it nor will be at much pains or expence to escape the pollution But I have spoken abundantly to this in one or two places before Only let me beseech you to put these two interrogatories home upon your consciences Q. 1. Is there no hurt in provoking the Lord of glory to indignation Is not he the life of thy life and the strength of thy heart and the Author and giver of all the mercies which thou enjoyest Cannot he strip thee naked and leave thee desolate in a moment Is not he able to fill thy bones with sorrowes and thy Spirit with anguish and to crush thee in pieces with the least effects of his wrath Did ever man or woman harden themselves against God and prospered And is there no hurt in that which stirreth up his fury against thy Soul Do you provoke him to anger and do not you provoke your selves to the confusion of your own faces Jer. 7.19 Why man Gods wrath is incensed by the smallest of thine abominations See what order he gave in case of the profanation of the Sabbath when the man gathered sticks in the wilderness on that day Num. 15.35 The Lord said unto Moses the man shall be surely put to death all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp See how Jealous he was in the case of his instituted worship When Nadab and Abihu Priests whom the Lord had consecrated offered up incense before him They were ingaged in the service of the true God and in the duties for the main of his own appointment Only they took liberty to make use of strange fire which God had not commanded And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord. Lev. 10.2 Observe how severely he dealt in the case of Uzzah who did but touch the ark when the Oxen shook it probably out of a good intention And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and he smote him because he put his hand to the Ark and there he died before God 1 Chron. 13.10 Lastly mind what dreadful comminations are denounced against the smallest presumptuous sins such as thine are for which thou pleadest as having no hurt in them Num. 15.30 31. But the Soul that doth ought presumptuously whether he be born in the land or a stranger the same reproacheth the Lord and that soul shall be cut off from among his people Because he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath broken his commandment that soul shall utterly be cut off his iniquity shall be upon him Mark it the least presumptuous sin is a reproaching of God and despising his word It reproacheth God as a lyar as if he would not make good his threatnings It reproacheth him as a countenancer of wickedness As unjust and unrighteous in his doings and it exposeth the sinner to be utterly cut off and to die in his sins And is there no hurt in such things Q. 2. What apprehensions are you likely to have of these impieties at the day of accounts Then when conscience is awakened they will appear in their danger and loathsomness Then when punishment is at hand your souls will rue it that ever you medled with them that ever you were so sottish as to follow after lying vanities For the day of Judgment will be a day of conviction as well as of recompence Jude 15. O my beloved lay these things to heart betimes whilst you are yet in the way It is a dreadful thing to be unconvinced of the bitterness of sin till the torments of hell convince you 7. The last principle of the multitude which I shall mention hath an eye upon the electing grace of God Will they say If God hath appointed to save us we shall be saved though we be never so great strangers to the wayes of holiness And if he hath appointed us to wrath we shall perish all our obedience and endeavours will be to no purpose to withstand or alter his counsels Thus the Devil hath taught ungodly men to reason and the Semi-pelagians are his Ushers to instruct them more artificially to manage this wretched principle This is one of the strong holds of Satan whereby he keepes possession of the souls of the unregenerate By thus arguing they remove all hindrances out

hold upon eternal life Why should the work cease whilst I spend my time in trifles I have not an hour to spare that may be passed away in idleness and negligence in doing nothing or what is as good as nothing 2. This was one of the sins of Sodom for which they were destroyed in such a dreadful manner by fire from heaven and upon which account they are set forth as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire namely the spending their time in idleness and vanity without taking care for the right improvement of it And very probably this sin might be a means to carry them into those other horrid abominations for which they are branded to all the succeeding generations For when men take liberty to spend their time in idleness and make no conscience of laying it out to the ends for which they are intrusted with it they will soon be wrought upon to spend it wickedly Through idleness and slothfulness or that which is tantamount vain delights and fooleries sinners are obnoxious and exposed to all Satanica● assaults ready to run upon any of the devils errands Whereas if Christians were exact and conscientious in filling up their time with duty there would be no such room left open for the devils suggestions to enter in at Besides it's putting them under the verg of Gods protection and safe custody Ezek. 16.49 Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom pride fulness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters 3. This is one of the Talents for which you are strictly accountable at the great and notable day of the Lord viz. All the time of your continuance upon the face of the earth You read the kingdom of heaven is compared to a man travelling into a far countrey who called his servants and delivered certain Talents unto them to be imployed according to their several abilities And after a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them Now pray what are those Talents which God will call us to a reckoning for Why as there are talents of grace so there are talents of nature such as strength of body parts and endowments of the mind and the like And amongst these the time which is allotted to us is not the meanest or least considerable How hath that been managed in the Masters service What good have you done answerably to the time you have enjoyed Rev. 2.21 I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not And mark it my beloved If you would come off with comfort at the day of accounts and be found unto praise and glory at the glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ it will not be enough to plead that you spent not your time prophanely or licentiously It will suffice to bring you under a sentence of condemnation if it were spent idly vainly and unprofitably Mat. 25.30 Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth What millions of gold would sinners then give for the least portion of that time to repent in which now they throw away as if it were not to be regarded This is the first thing I would note as to the time of religion when it is minded 2. In respect of the special time that is to be consecrated and appropriated to the more immediate service of God The multitude have been much set upon the observation of the dayes of mans devising and inventing but little concerned in the sanctification of the Lords day If they spend two or three hours in the publike exercises of religion then they think themselves acquitted for the rest of that day they find their own pleasures and follow their recreations and sports they let their tongues loose to vain and worldly discourses if they have any visit to make or merriment to be at this is the day wherein they have best leisure for it And yet as the whore in the Proverbs they wipe their mouths and say We have done no wickedness But ye my friends be not acted with the spirit of the multitude Give unto the Lord that which is due unto him He hath graciously allowed you six dayes for your own imployments wherein you may lawfully labour and do all that you have to do and he hath reserved a seventh day for himself a whole seventh day as he hath granted unto us the six Do not grudg the Lord and your souls this equitable and merciful proportion Be not as the rich man in Nathans parable who had many flocks and herds and yet when the wayfaring man came to him he spared to take of his own flock but took the poor mans lamb that lay in his bosom and dressed it for the man that was come unto him 2 Sam. 12. Thus do the carnal world deal with the God of heaven He hath given to them a whole flock of daies and kept unto himself but one Lamb the Lords day And yet when they have a journey to take or an errand to do some mirth and pleasure to follow or bodily ease to indulge they spare of their own flock and make bold with the Lords But my brethren be not ye like unto them As you would expect a blessing upon your souls and a blessing upon your labours on the six dayes be careful of the spiritual and entire sanctification of the Lords day the Christian Sabbath For blessed is the man that doth this and the son of man that layeth hold on it that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and keepeth his hand from doing any evil Isa 56.2 That you may be careful in the discharge of this great daty and not fall short of the blessedness thereto annexed suffer me to leave upon you a few words by way of advice and counsel 1. Study much the morality of the Law of God concerning the weekly Sabbath That it is a commandment which carries with it a perpetual and everlasting obligation The ceremonial Sabbaths were observan●●s that disappeared upon the death of the Lord our righteousness When the Sun was risen in his glory the shadowes vanished But the weekly Sabbath was appointed to continue in the Church of Christ unto the end Be well setled I say in this great truth For if there be haesitation in your thoughts of the obligation of the commandment you will proportionably waver in your obedience unto the commandment Wavering and unstedfast obedience is the usual product of fluchuating apprehensions An unsetled judgment will usher in unconstant service And therefore be well verst in the morality of the weekly Sabbath 1. It was part of the Law given unto our first parents in the state of innocency when there was no ground for distinction of Jew and Gentile Gen. 2.2 3. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had refted from all his work which

conversations Deal faithfully with their Souls by meekness of reproof and admonition as there is occasion Often provoke and stir them up to follow after righteousness that so they may bear you company in the way to heaven Let me give you the counsel of the Lord to Jeremy in this case Jer. 15.19 Let them return unto thee but return not thou unto them But perhaps you will object and say this is the work of a Minister Yea my brethren and it is incumbent on every particular Christian also what in them is to render the wayes of God lovely and amiable in the sight of others and to endeavour to win them over by all means to an effectual closure with those wayes Prov. 11.30 He that winneth souls is wise Jam. 5.19 20. Brethren if any of you do erre from the truth and one convert him any one this is a work to be minded by every one of you without exception Let him know that he which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins So we are come to the close of the second head of enquiry concerning the influence which the practise of a multitude hath to encline a man or woman to do evil SECT IV. Qu. 3. IN what cases especially doth it concern us to be most cautious and circumspect upon this account that we be not drawn to evil by the practise of a multitude Ans For satisfaction to this enquiry you must well observe and remember that this caution is needful in every case and doth oblige us to be circumspect in every respect to keep a strict eye of jealousy upon our selves at every turn that we be not insnared or drawn aside into sin by following a multitude The counsel is delivered indefinitely without limitation to times persons or cases and is equipollent to an universal prohibition For as where the spirit of God hath not added we must not make additions so where he hath not limited we must not set bounds and limits by a narrowing interpretation Thou shalt not follow a multitude i. e. not any multitude of what sort soever wheresoever they are or in what ages or places soever they live in the doing of evil Nevertheless there are some peculiar cases in which this word of advice doth especially concern us wherein we are more than usually inclined to follow the multitude and therefore ought to be more than ordinarily watchful over our hearts that they do not turn us aside upon this temptation I will only mention six 1. In case of our Ancestors and progenitors that have gone before us When our forefathers have generally taken any corrupt way there is a great addictedness in their posterity to take the same course and there needs a great measure of caution that we be not followers of them What! will some say shall we condemn our forefathers and judg our selves wiser and better then all that have been before us they made no scruple of such and such actions they worshipped God in this or the other manner and shall we be more scrupulous then they were No we will be for the old way and cleave to that religion which our fathers were of This was the argument which the woman of Sychar produced in her discourse with Christ to countenance the schismatical temple on Mount Gerizim Joh. 4.20 Our father 's worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship As if she had said whatever scriptures you may bring or reasons you may press to keep close to the institution of God and to worship him at Jerusalem yet I am sure Our fathers were of another mind They thought the punctilio's of institution and divine appointment were not so stiffly to be adhered unto and why should not we do as our fathers have done And how hot were the Scribes and Pharisees for maintaining and upholding their fathers traditions though some of them were down right contradictions against and others corrupt additions unto the word of the Lord See how they plead and quarrel with Christ and his disciples for their non-conformity therein Mar. 7.5 Then the Pharisees and Scribes asked him why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders but eat bread with unwashen hands q.d. This constitution we received from our fathers the elders of former generations and why should not you be concluded by it and give obedience thereunto If it had been a novel upstart opinion something might be said against it but it hath continued a long time in the Church even since the dayes of our forefathers To set you right in this matter and to discover the vanity and danger of this way of ratiocination Give me leave to put you in mind of these five things 1. It was one end of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ wherein all those are sharers that are saved by him that he might redeem his people from the vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers that he might bring them to embrace the commandments of God and to give up themselves entirely in subjection to the Law of the Lord. So that mark it Sirs Have you an interest in the blood of Jesus Christ would you make it appear that you are reconciled unto God by the sufferings of his Son Why this is one way to prove it By renouncing the vain traditions of your Fathers as far as they are dissentaneous to the word of God and have no footing in the word As Christ redeemed God's peculiar people from the curse of the Law that their persons might be accepted and their iniquities forgiven and as he redeemed them from their bondage unto Satan that their natures might be sanctified and themselves set apart unto communion with God So he redeemed them also from the vain practises of their Fathers that their lives might be ordered according to the Law of the Lord. What can be more perspicuous and evident 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers But with the precious bloud of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot 2. One special reason why the Lord was graciously pleased to give forth the Scriptures and to leave his will upon record in the Scriptures was this that we might not pin our faith upon our fathers sleeves nor think it enough to do as our ancestors have done Sirs If God had intended the traditions of our fathers as a rule of direction for us and that they should have been obligatory upon us on all occasions he would have left us unto them and not have signified his will by writing in the word So that take heed left you frustrate the grace of God in sending the holy Ghost to endite the Scriptures and stirring up the Prophets and holy men of God to

God here Let us not fall out by the way for we are brethren 5. As to all other matters that are more abstruse and difficult and where in there is a great deal of variety in the interpretation of the Scripture even amongst sober Christians themselves In such cases unity and concord must be built upon the foundation of forbearance and mutual tenderness of believers one towards another If in order to peace and union in the Church the judgment of some that are in power be set up as the Standard unto which the consciences of the rest in the minutest affairs are to be reduced if peace and unity I say depend upon these ticklish terms it is likely never to be attained whilst the world endures As soon may you cut all men to the same stature as bring their judgments in all things to the same size But if we would follow after the things that make for peace and unity let us with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbear one another in love Eph. 4.2 3. Shall not Christians forbear where the God of heaven is pleased to forbear Sould not we deal tenderly with such and give them the right hand of fellowship whom God doth tender as the apple of his eye Rom. 14.3 That is an excellent Rubrick for direction in the Saints Liturgy Philip. 3.15 16. Let us therefore as many as are perfect be thus minded And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing So much for the first use of the point by way of information SECT VII 2. For Exhortation IF God hath given us strict charg that we do not comply with a multitude in doing of evil let us then seriously ponder and weigh this lesson in our thoughts and endeavour to practise it in all the particulars of our conversations Take heed lest Satan pravail upon you through this wile and artifice of perswading you to that which is sinful because a multitude embrace it Take the example of Noah for imitation herein Gen. 6.9 Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God Mark it the generation wherein he lived was excessively corrupt and sinful it was egregiously profane and debauched wickedness as a deluge forerunner of the other had overspread the whole face of the earth And yet Noch was upright and kept close to the Lord thereby condemning the world of the ungodly Take the instance of Obadiah who dwelt in Ahabs family a man that sold himself to wickedness in the sight of the Lord that there was none like unto him He lived in dayes of such general Apostacy and Idolatry that Elijah thought there had been none left but himself who had any zeal for Jehovah and had not dealt falsely in his covenant And yet in such place and time Obadiah feared the Lord greatly 1 Kings 18.3 See the carriage of the Christians at Pergamus for incouragement herein They dwelt where the Devil had his seat where he was set upon the throne and had many servants and followers And yet they departed not from God they would not say a confederacy with them in sin They held fast the name of Christ and did not deny the faith though in dayes when persecution raged and reached unto the death Rev. 2.13 Hath God cast your lot in a wicked family amongst carnal relations in times of general atheism corruption and debauchery Labour as Obadiah to fear the Lord greatly do they entice thee to sin Walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path Prov. 1.15 Do they violently and furiously rebel against the Lord and make a scoffe of godliness and oppose the professours of it Do you study to serve him the more eminently and to walk with God as Noah the more closely and strictly Let no man deceive you with vain words Let not their enticements prevail with you let not their presumptions embolden you to fin with them let not their reproaches cause you to desist from your course For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Be not ye therefore partakers with them Eph. 5.6 7. So keep your selves free from any sinful correspondency with the ungodly be they never so many that you may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world Holding forth the word of life Philip. 2.15 16. In managing this use of exhortation I shall speak something to you under these four heads 1. By way of particular exemplification or instance Wherein you should beware that you do not follow the multitude 2. By way of special direction what course you ought to take that ye be not intangled with their example 3. By way of motive or provocative to quicken you to a closure with that course and a diligent observing this counsel 4. By way of Retortion I shall shew you what use you should make of the example multitude seing you must not joyn in combination with them 1. By way of particular exemplification and instance Wherein we should beware that we be not led into sin by the example of the multitude For the better digesting whereof and that the truths I shall deliver may be more easily imprinted upon and firmly reteined in your thoughts and memories I will cast them into five rankes 1. The Ground of religion whereon it is bottomed 2. The matter of religion wherein it is placed 3. The method and order wherein it is prosecuted 4. The time and season when it is minded 5. Sundry particular duties wherein the multitude are prone to miscarry 1. As to the ground of religion whereon it is bottomed The generality of people are wont to take up the principles and mysteries of godliness wholly upon trust They build their faith upon the dictates and opinions of men they believe that Christ is the Saviour and accordingly call themselves his servants they acknowledg such and such ordinances ought to be attended upon and accordingly lend their bodily presence at them and the like But if you enquire into the ground and reason why they believe and embrace this way of religion and worship all they can truly say is because the Minister tells them it is so or their parents bred them up in this way They hold these things for truths for they are points which they have held ever since they can remember they were of this religion from their very childhood and infancy and were brought up in these performances But do you my brethren build your faith upon the infallible word of the Lord and get an insight into the everlasting gospel Search the scriptures daily and diligently and make use of the ministry of men to help you to get knowledg of the scriptures that your