severe Discipline Danger and Persecutions will make them stagger and recoil The Seed that fell upon Stony Ground sprung up faster for a season than that which fell on the Good Ground but when the Sun arose and smote it it presently withered wanting root The Children of Israel went cheerfully and lustily with Moses out of Egypt but when their Food grew scarce and they saw the Host of Pharaoh pursue them they boggled in their Enterprize and in their hearts returned again into Egypt preferring Bondage with Safety and Plenty before Freedom with Hardship and Danger But their Posterity voluntarily follow'd Christ three days without Sustenance and never lookt back to their houses or yet to their beloved City If I forget thee O Jerusalem says the Psalmist let my right Hand forget its Cunning. But these Israelites when they heard Tidings of the Heavenly Jerusalem the Jerusalem above they cast behind them all thoughts of Jerusalem below it appeared to them no better than a second Babylon or house of Bondage As our Lord therefore made others of the People his Scholars he made these of his Family as he taught them he fed these revealed not only the Word but the Power and Glory of God to them To conclude I shall raise from all that I have said but this One acceptable and comfortable Doctrine Whosoever follows Christ faithfully affectionately and constantly in these days will find him as Compassionate in their Wants and Distresses as the Multitude here did For he has the same Bowels and Tenderness now at the Right Hand of God which he had when he conversed with men on Earth he is ascended Intire into the Heavens he did not carry up his Body thither and leave his Affections in the Grave If we therefore seek the Kingdom of Heaven in the first place and its Righteousness we may rest assured of our Lord's Promise That all the Necessaries of this Life shall be added to us that if we perform the Principal he will take care to make good the Accessory What is said of the Productions of Nature That she brings forth nothing but what she provides for is much more true of the Productions or Children of Grace For when the Earth with-holds its Fatness and the Clouds their Dew when the Creatures that should nourish Men starve themselves for want of Nourishment when the Breasts of Nature seem wholly dryed up venit Coelum in partes Heaven it self will come in to succour and take Part with the Faithful and if Sterility abounds Grace on this occasion also will much more abound if the Soil afford no Corn Bread shall be rained from the Sky if the Springs fail the Stony Rock shall send forth Water and Rivers shall run in dry places the Ravens shall feed the Righteous or their little Stock shall encrease as fast as 't is spent the Courses of Nature shall be inverted rather than Christ's Truth fail Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not one Tittle of his Word shall fall to the ground And if any say How comes it then to pass that the Servants of God do suffer Want Nay that commonly they are more destitute and persecuted than other Men I answer to this as our Lord did to his Disciples urging him on a time to eat I have Meat to eat says he which you know not of So the Faithful have Meat to eat which the World knows not of they have Peace Plenty and Prosperity though not seen by every Eye They have the Grace of God which is as a hidden Manna in their Hearts and as a Well of Living Water which suffers them neither to hunger nor thirst And is it not much more Eligible and Glorious to fast with Moses and Elias forty days than to feast even at the Table of Princes To be in the State of Angels who need neither Food nor Raiment than to be clothed and served with all the Sumptuousness and Magnificence of Solomon The Righteous have Content in Poverty which is more than Riches Joy in Bonds which is better than Freedom Satiety in a little which is not always found in Abundance And what is this but to receive Bread from Heaven when the Earth affords none Water from the Rock when the Springs are dryed up To be fed even by a more Wonderful Way than by the Ministry of Ravens Neither is the Favour of God this Way shew'd to the Followers of Christ less than that which he shew'd to his Own Servants of old but much greater for it speaks yet a higher Grace to be content to perish under Hunger Poverty and Bonds than to be snatch'd out of these Evils after a Miraculous Manner Saint Peter rejoiced more when he was scourged for bearing Testimony to Christ than when he was delivered by an Angel from the Death design'd him by Herod And Saint Paul gloried more in his Persecutions and Sufferings than he did even in his Charismata his Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost And thus our Gracious Lord relieves the Necessities of his Servants from the Store-houses of the World or from the Riches of his Grace rescues them out of their Afflictions or makes them delight in them supplies their Wants or sets them above the Wants of other Men takes away their Wants or takes them up to that Place where no Wants are and where all Tears shall be wip'd from their Eyes To which blessed Place God of his infinite Mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ bring us all And To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Worship and Thanksgiving this Day forth and for evermore Amen The Fourteenth Sermon LUKE xvi 9 Make to your selves Friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations THESE Words may be call'd a Lecture of holy Usury they teaching us the highest Advantages that are to be made of Riches beyond what is to be learned from the Books of Eastern Merchants or the Trade to both the Indies from the Mysterious Rules of the antient Publicans or our modern Bankers 1. They teach men by a Divine Alchymy how to convert Earthly Treasure into Heavenly to make Money the ordinary Salary and hire of Sin to be the Price of Salvation and the Purchace of the Holy Ghost without the Danger of Simony 2. Men are instructed by them how to cure the Vanity and Instability of Riches call'd for their inconstant and short Abode mendacium phantasmata praestigiae scenica persona c. a Lye a Dream a Delusion the quick shifting of a Scene or Vizor in the Theatre and notwithstanding that 't is said We can carry nothing out of this World with us we are shew'd which way to confer them to Heaven and to erect Banks in those Eternal Mansions 3. Whereas Folly is ordinarily imputed to Rich men insanus dives stultus dives the Mad man and the Rich the Fool and the Rich being seldom in Scripture out of conjunction
to bring home to it self the dreadful Commination made in my Text against them And first As Israel desired a Change of Government only to remove God further from them so if we may judge of mens minds by their outward actions of the Secrets of their hearts by their following behaviour the passionate desire of many among us to have a King again after the fatal stroke struck this Day was on no better an account than Israel's desire to have a King We had lain a long time under a sad Oppression at home or a sadder Exile abroad ate no Bread for many Years but what came in a manner to us like Manna from the immediate hand of God and the frequent Fasts strict Devotions and holy Lives which could only promise a continuance of such favour from Heaven were as insupportable as the Holiness and Obedience God required of Israel that he might dwell among them And many desired a King not so much to deliver the Nation from Oppression and Confusion as themselves from the Paedagogy of Divine Discipline not so much I say to rescue them from the Tyranny of the Usurper as from the Tyrannies of Religion And such a Surfeit many took no less of holy Duties than of evil days that they have endeavoured since to obliterate all memory of them both as 't was the practice or at least the boast of a prophane Person That whereas others observed the Days of their Deliverance from any great danger with Fasting and Humiliation he always kept such Days with Feasting and Jollity and for this Reason To make his Soul amends for what it had suffered And such has been the deportment of some men since God restored them to their prosperity that they seem to vie by their voluptuous lives with the former miseries they suffered to make their Souls amends for the twenty Years affliction they lay under by a twenty Years or a whole future Lifes Debauchery When God restored us to our forfeited Peace and Prosperity he promised himself he had restored a People sensible of so wonderful a mercy who as he had made them to abound in all secure enjoyments would have abounded in Good Works and Gratitude to him but he has found such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I may say such an unexpected Issue among us as the Prophet Isaiah complains he did in Israel in his Days He lookt for righteousness but behold a cry When God lookt for righteousness that his Glory should have been exalted in this Land more than in any other because he had done more for it than for any other behold I know not what Cry of more than usual infidelity and wickedness What shall I say that we are fallen back again into those Sins which brought on us the calamity of this Day Nay but we have outdone all our old Sins and all that ever went before us we have not only broken God's righteous Laws and Commandments but denyed he ever gave a Law to the World we have not only denyed him by our wicked lives but even in our words to have any Being and as all Ages have been guilty of Adultery Drunkenness and the like 't is the Character of this That it affirms such things are no sins Secondly As Israel put their confidence in Flesh and Bloud believed if they could obtain a King of their own Nation he would be invincible possessed of all the Heroick Qualities they had read of their Judges and as his Character was greater so his Performances would be also greater and this of course as if God had been obliged for his own Glory to see it should be so though they never so little regarded his Glory themselves And have not we put as high a confidence in Flesh and Bloud who have lookt upon our King not only as a defence against our Enemies but even against God himself not only as a Foundation of our Peace and Felicity but of our Rebellion against Heaven Who have said in our hearts We have no need of the burthensom Duties of Religion and the severities of a holy Life now we have a King to provide against our dangers from abroad and to take care for our quiet at home Few considering in order to the Prosperity they desire what are the provocations of the Land how we stand in favour or disfavour with God But enquiring What Alliances we have made abroad What Ships we are able to set out What Money there is in the Exchequer What Supplies the Parliament will give and the like Is not this to provoke God to infatuate our Counsels and to bring our Enterprizes to nought to involve our King in a common destruction with our selves as he did this Day though he were even a Hezekiah or a David Thirdly As Israel was mutinous and rebellious upon the least occasions against their best Governours we come not behind them in this Sin witness the black disloyalty of this Day Historiographers the publick Censurers of Mankind brand every Nation of the Earth with some Vice more peculiar to them than others as to name none one with Drunkenness another with Robbery and Piracy a third with ambition and desire of Sovereignty a fourth with Whoredom and abusing themselves with Mankind c. And we of this Nation among the rest are taxt for stubbornness and proneness to Rebellion noted for a People that delight in Sedition and seditious Persons that are apt to think the most turbulent and factious the best Patriots the greatest Troublers the greatest Lovers of their Country So that as other Princes in regard of the sweet compliance of their Subjects are styled Reges Hominum Kings of Men ours are styled Reges Diabolorum Kings of Devils And 't is observable that what was the Vice of every Nation many hundred Years ago continues to be the same still Time has not altered them nor the Preaching of the Gospel reformed them But though we of this Nation should not care to wipe off the imputation that lies upon us among men nor yet fear the displeasure of God who counts Rebellion as the Sin of Witchcraft i. e. Disobedience to Governours a Degree of Apostasie from himself yet the experience alone of the former Evils which our unquiet Spirits have brought upon us and their direct tendency to bring the like again viz. to bereave us a second time of our Royal Government and to cast us under the subjection of the basest of the People may well make us abhor all seditious thoughts I say for fear lest a second time we become not only the most miserable but the most ridiculous and despicable of all People while we give the World leave to say that we that could not digest a miscarriage in the State are forc'd to digest Oppression and Tyranny that could not pass by an oversight in our Rulers are compell'd to undergo Sequestration and Banishment the Axe and the Halter perhaps a Foreign Yoke To draw to a Conclusion It is a common
cruelty they used unto their other Prisoners they cry'd out They were Citizens of Rome at which the Pyrates pretended to start as awed by that formidable Name and commanded presently Gowns to be brought and put upon their Backs and Shoes on their Feet and then with a seeming lowly observance besought them To walk over the sides of the Ship and be free telling them by way of excuse for their Violation of such Venerable Persons When they met them next in that Attire they should not be ignorant of their Quality and with this derision threw them into the Sea when the unfortunate men refus'd to cast themselves And the Enemies of David were such as God thought fit not only to destroy but also to mock and vex as 't is said Verse the 4 th and 5 th The Lord had them in derision And vext them in his sore displeasure But How and after What manner did he mock and vex them By letting them a long time plot and strengthen themselves make a profuse expence of labour money and bloud by letting them perswade themselves they had prevailed that David was utterly excluded and then after all to shew them the despised and Rejected Son of Jesse set Gloriously on the Throne their Machine of Usurped Government made a Pageant for his Triumph all their endeavours all their glorying serve but for this Occasion of God's glorying over them Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion I have done with the Words which have been twice already eminently fulfilled Once as I have shewed in the Person of David And a Second time in the Exaltation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ into the Kingdom of Heaven after his Resurrection and setting up his Spiritual Throne in the hearts of men So that I may seem to essay an Impious thing to make a Third Application to any Mortal King whatsoever But while I shall not parallel or compare the Sufferings and Exaltation of the Divine and Mystical King but adore his Foot-steps there will be no danger to shew the Tracts and Lineaments that are between the Deliverance and Establishment of David and of our Gracious Sovereign for the awaking our Gratitude and magnifying God's mercies shewed to this Nation this Day And to observe the Method I began with For the same Reasons and Respects that David is called Gods King in my Text our King may pretend to the Title before all the present Kings of the Earth First He was a King of God's particular and singular Advancing and placing on the Throne though not call'd like David from being a poor Shepherd-Boy to Rule a Kingdom but descended of a long and glorious Race of Kings yet recall'd from a forlorn exil'd State and a deposd Condition to hold the Scepter of his Royal Ancestors by a no less Divine Favour So that whatever his Title to the Crown was we may truly say Had he not been God's King he had not been King of this Land Secondly David was not only call'd God's King as we have shew'd for his Eminent Deliverance of him but His Son And whoever considers the many Risques of our Sovereign's Life the Prodigies both of his Dangers and Escapes how God snatcht him out of the Battel led him safe through the midst of his Enemies conceal'd him many days by a Divine Providence after the manner the Ancients feign'd their Heroes were wrapt in a Cloud and then without the assistance of Armies by the same Invisible and Unresistable Hand fixt him in his Throne must confess we have not only reason to celebrate this Day for his coming into the World and his coming to the Crown for the Birth I say of his Person or the Birth of his Royal Dignity but for his being Born God's King and God's Son i. e. The King of his Preservation and the Son of his Promotion Thirdly As David was call'd God's King because he was more pleased with him than with others was the King of his liking as well as of his Preserving and Advancing So the Wonderful Testimonies of God's Love to our Sovereign warrants nay obliges us to believe and revere him as God's King also in this sense as the King of his liking and after his own heart And whom God has approv'd let no man judge whom he has Seal'd let no man dare to Censure no not in his thoughts Princes then for the most part want Goodness when the People want Candour and their defect of Vertue is their Subjects defect of Love and Loyalty But if those were God's Kings Kings of his liking Kings after his own heart that set up the True Worship and discountenanc'd the False that executed Justice and Judgment in the Land then Malice it self must confess our King is God's King David was renown'd for that one Merciful Speech upon his Return to his Kingdom Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel As if it had been a thing to be abominated to shew Severity when God had shew'd him such singular Grace But how many Shimei's how many Railers how many Cursers 't is but a small thing which I have said how many Capital Enemies how many Betrayers how many Covenanters against him and lyers in wait for his Blood did our David pardon upon his Return 'T was an Observation of Old regnabit sanguine multo Ad regnum quisquis venit ab exilio The King that returns after Exile will Reign for the Future in Blood and Revenge But our King contrariwise after his Exile regnabat Sanguine parco Reigns at this day as one Elected to a Kingdom that had a Crown bestow'd on him and not as one that had recover'd his own So that as the Virgins gave David the preheminence to Saul in the Songs of Victory and Triumph saying Saul has slain his thousands and David his Ten thousands We in the Songs of Mercy and Clemency may give our King the preheminence to David and say As David pardon'd one single Detractor our Gracious Sovereign gave life and opportunity of Repentance to thousands of Traitors and Murtherers and was truly in this Gods King and not only a King of his liking but a King that is like him resembling him in one of his Noblest Attributes that of his Mercy Those to whom Princes intrust the care of their Souls ought to be faithful to them and not only speak pleasing things but true to imitate good Surgeons who not always use Oyls and Lenitives but if need be Lancets and Corrosives But then let no man at a distance surmise Evil of his Prince lest while he denies him to be Gods King he sets to his hand to make him no King at all and while he strips him of his Righteousness strips him also of his Royal Dignity I speak not to the Kings Enemies but to his severer Friends if he have any The Sinister Thoughts and Censures of the Subject are often Ominous and Fatal to a Prince whereas their good Opinions are
prays well he preaches well he is ever arraigning Sin and the like but caetera sint paria do all things correspond does his private Practice comport with his publick Demeanour his inward Goodness with his outward Austerity as he is Severe against Sin is he merciful to Sinners as he is assiduous in his Calling is he Obedient to his Governours and faithful to his Prince as he exhorts the People to Church does he not debauch them with Factious Doctrines when they come there as he is not Scandalous in his Conversation so is he not Morose Proud or Covetous In a Word does he conform his Whole Life to the Tenor of the Gospel does he indeed do All things well All things that is in a Moral Sense and according to the Measure of a Sincere Honest Man If he does let him carry away our Euge's and our Sophos our Approbations and Applauses But if he does only two or three of these things and those hypocritically and upon Design to give credit to a Cause and to carry on an Interest the Pharisees made long Prayers that they might devour Widows houses and Herod heard John the Baptist gladly and did many things upon his preaching but continued still to live incestuously with his Brother Philip's Wife and at last gratify'd her Malice with the Baptist's head If a few Good Actions may set such a Colour and Varnish upon mens Lives that they ought to be accounted holy Persons the Scenes in our Theatres may pass for the Glorious Heavens and solid Edifices they represent when they are nothing but patcht Clouts and pasted Papers painted and shewed to an artificial Light Lucian's Image of Jupiter in Gold outwardly of a Majestick Form grasping a Thunder-bolt may be allowed to be the Deity that rules the World though it be nothing within but Dust and Cobwebs Soder and Cramps of Iron which hold the miserable Machine from falling asunder I say if we thus make Saints from Shews and Seemings we may fill the Kalendar with Red Letters but we shall adde but few Names to the Book of Life I shall therefore conclude this last Particular with our Lord's advice John 7. 24. Judge not according to Appearance but judge righteous Judgment And now what Use shall we make in general of the Peoples Testimony and Approbation of our Lord shall we likewise justifie his Actions assert his Divine Mission and say He hath done all things well To praise Christ to speak Honourably of him to vindicate him from the Aspersions of Jews and Gentiles and the like is our bounden Duty but all of us here present are his Disciples and Followers all of us Christianissimi Pretenders to be the Chiefest and most Eminent of his Worshippers and we acknowledge not only that he spake the Truth but that he is the Truth even the Eternal Logos and to take upon us to pass a humane Judgment on him and to censure him as one Man censures another to say He is no Seducer or the like were so far from honouring him that it were to be Irreverent and Insolent towards him and to set our selves above him for the Justifier is Greater than the Justified How then must we celebrate his Eternal Generation and Descent from his Father's Bosom for our Redemption in Magnificats sing his Victory over Death and Hell Yes this we must do but not this only for these are still but Empty Words we must adde Deeds to our Praises Obedience to our Magnificats Duty and Service to our Psalms and Hymns the Praises of a holy Life to the Acknowledgments of a thankful Tongue To praise God only with the Voice is to praise him like the Trumpets of the Sanctuary or the Organs of our Churches Or as the Psalmist calls upon the Sun and Moon Fire and Hail Beasts and feather'd Fowls to praise him which all do in a Figure and after a manner in that they are the Works of his hands and proclaim his Wisdom and Power thus also the Devils and Damned Spirits praise him while their Sufferings and Torments declare his Justice But we are to praise God not only passively occasionally and instrumentally like Inanimate Brute or accursed Creatures but intentionally primarily and affectionately as becomes Rational and Intellectual Beings Obliged and illuminated Persons and Believers And as the Faithful do best evidence their Faith by their Works so they best evidence also their Good Opinion of Christ by their Works viz. by following his Precepts then we give our true Approbation of him when we transcribe his Actions and tread in his Steps 't is the Life of a man that expresses his Thoughts of Christ if that be righteous and conformable to his Gospel he has set to his Seal that he is the Messiah and Son of God that was to come into the World proclaims indeed That he has done All things Well But if his Ways are Wicked and repugnant to his Gospel let him praise him never so industriously never so ambitiously with never so loud Vociferations he does but in Effect say He was an Impostor and deceived the People For as S t Paul says of False Teachers Tit. 1.17 They profess that they know Christ but in Works they deny him being abominable disobedient and to every Good Work reprobate So we may say of these false and counterfeit Extollers of Christ that in Words they Approve him but in their Works they Condemn him being abominable disobedient and to every Good Work reprobate How can a Strumpet praise Chastity Or the Sot that is fill'd with Drink like a Spunge say any thing in the Commendation of Sobriety Vertue is praised of her Followers and the best Verdict we can pass on Christ is to imitate him in all holy Conversation to live after his Example is the highest Encomium we can give him To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Worship and Thanksgiving this Day forth and for evermore Amen The Eleventh Sermon AMOS iii. 2 You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities THIS Expression of God's knowing a Thing or Person is taken in Scripture in several Senses Sometimes it is meant literally and in propriety of Speech of the Knowledge of mere Perception and Discerning as when David says Thou knowest my thoughts long before and S t John God is greater than our hearts and Knoweth all things i. e. perceiveth and discerneth all things Sometimes again it is taken Figuratively not for mere Perceiving or Understanding a thing but for the Owning Approving Favouring Blessing of it or the like because these follow upon God's perceiving a Good thing Thou hast Known my Soul in adversity says the Psalmist i. e. Own'd protected and delivered it Again the Lord Knoweth the way of the Righteous and the way of the Ungodly shall perish Knoweth their way i. e. prospereth blesseth and will not suffer it to miscarry like that of the Ungodly
of Violence But Good God! how great was now the Change all the late harmonious Courtship was turn'd into Harshness and Discord the Blessings into Anathema's or Curses nothing was heard but the Reproaches of Heretick Apostate Accursed Woman nothing but Fulminations Excommunications Interdictions which may be call'd Rome's Spiritual Violence Foreign Princes were stirr'd up against the Queen open Invasions set on foot by Sea and Land secret Conspiracies plotted at home Insurrections Poysonings Assassinations Treasons of all kinds fomented and encouraged which by Divine Providence being also rendred bruta Fulmina idle Thunder that made a Noise and did no further Hurt the Great Enemy of our Church and State and his Complices had recourse In the Third place to Stratagem to carry on their Designs in tenebris with the dark and hellish Contrivance of the Powder-Treason this Day I will not say with the Psalmist They put the Arrow upon the String that they might privily shoot at the Vpright in heart Alas Bows and Arrows are an antiquated and despicable Artillery in these days being so far out-done by the Newer and rarer Invention of Execution and Cruelty Guns that they deserve not to be named for destroying Foundations to be compared with the Still and for a time Silent Battery in the Cave but which when least expected thunders louder than the Heavens and overturns Towns and whole Cities with greater Violence than an Earthquake The Jebusites were but rude and ignorant Engineers in comparison of those who but with a little Change bear their Name the Jesuites these indeed are great Workers in Darkness none ever before them delved so deep to undermine Foundations we may apply to them the words of the Prophet Hosea These Revolters are profound to make Slaughter For the Jesuites did not only Acheronta movere stir Hell to promote their Plot but they dug to Hell to carry it on But their Stratagem I was going to say was blown up but blessed be God I cannot say so but is blown over and many more since to their own great Shame only and Confusion And now if we ask here Why was all this Transport of Rage and Fury against us Why all this restless and unwearied Malice 'T was still for the same Reasons that the Enemies of David were set on fire against him We had dispossest them of their Dominion retrench'd their Power supplanted their Religion derided their Lame and their Blind namely their Images detected their forged Miracles degraded their Mock-Saints their Hypochondriack S t Anthony their Fanatical S t Francis their Bedlam Ignatius their Chimera Giant S t Christopher c. and they could find no peace or rest in their Spirit till they had restored these to their former Credit and Reputation and that by making their Prophaners their Worshippers And by this we may see what would have been our Condition in case our Adversaries could have brought about their Design For as the Jebusites were Idolaters as well as the rest of the Canaanites and the Lame and the Blind with which they braved David and defy'd the Host of Israel were as the most Learned conjecture their Tutelar Gods Telesmatical or Magical Images So our Adversaries however they seek to purge themselves with their Distinctions are gross Idolaters and just such a goodly Change as David should have made if he had left the Eternal God to trust in Stocks and Stones is the Change we should make if our Adversaries could prevail to make us leave our Mountain or Church to fly to theirs of Rome And First In regard that our Mountain is a Clear Mountain enlightned by the bright Beams of the Word of God which darts its Rays into every Corner of it Or stands as I may say like a Mercurius directorius in every Path and points the Right-Way to all that go by bidding them to walk in it But the Mountain of our Adversaries is always wrapt in Fogs and Mists and yet as if it were not Dark enough those that profess to be Guides to it blind the Eyes of all that are to ascend it And as the Guards of Forts and Frontier Castles make those that enter into them first surrender their Weapons so these make their Disciples and Proselytes resign their Reason and lay down their Understanding at the foot of the Mount and go on for ever after in Ignorance and an Implicit Faith And they do wisely in taking this Course for 't is not possible that any with their Reason about them should make any long Progress where they meet so many gross Scandals or Stumbling-Blocks at every step where they see the Scripture not only misinterpreted in some hard places but in the most Easie industriously perverted to Countenance the foulest Errours even Idolatry it self and after they have swallow'd whole so many Contradictions no less to humane Reason than to Divine Writ where they are obliged to believe that the Church which imposes these Monsters cannot Erre nay that God has confirmed them with Miracles shew'd Signs and Wonders more and more glorious to overthrow the Gospel of his Son than he did at first to establish it Signs and Wonders cry'd indeed every market-Market-Day among them like the Fruits of the Earth i. e. the Relation of them but which were never seen by any Eye For as one well observes Whereas our Lord wrought his Miracles to make Believers the Church of Rome requires that men should be Believers before they see any of her Miracles i. e. should be trained up to swallow Lies and Impostures Secondly As our Mountain is a Lightsome and Clear Mountain so 't is also a Safe whereas that of our Adversaries may be likened to the Hills of Robbers which the Psalmist speaks of where nothing is heard of but Depredations the continual Pillaging and spoiling of Travellers men go up to Rome as to a great Fair where Themselves are bought and sold Confessions Pardons Penances Indulgences Dispensations Pilgrimages c. aiming all at the Purse and not at the Good of the Soul and who shall look no further than our English Chronicle will find that the Vniversal Pastor when he exercised his Usurp'd and Tyrannical Power in this Realm was not content to fleece his Sheep only but tore off the very Flesh from their Bones Thirdly Ours is our own Mountain we are in it but our Adversary's is more than a thousand Miles distant and many other Mountains are to be past over before we can come to it and those that with a tame Simplicity delight to pay Homage to the Usurp'd Majesty of that Mount travel many a dangerous and weary League before they can attain the Abuse they seek And sad was the Condition of this Nation when upon every great Controversie to be judged every great Preferment to be collated every great Sin to be absolved men were transferr'd to the See of Rome corpus cum causa themselves as well as their Cause and where if they sped in their Pretences they often
the Swords of those whose Relations he had murthered So let no Man after a Wicked Life hope to find a Place so remote obscure or fortify'd as to protect him from God's Vengeance 'T is said That Kings have long arms and can reach Delinquents at a great Distance but the King of Kings has much longer and if the Offenders against him could take Refuge even in the Centre of the Earth obtain of the Rocks to shelter them or the Mountains to fall upon them the Angels would fetch them from thence to Judgment There are none that shall escape none that shall be dispens'd with from appearing before the Tribunal of God and receiving their Doom at the Last Day Only it is now in our power while we are yet in this Life to make it a happy or unhappy Doom a Doom that adjudges us to Crowns and Scepters or to Chains and Everlasting Torments Repentance and a Holy Life will turn that Day of Terrour into a Day of Rejoicing make the Ominous Portents the dreadful Thunders and other amazing Concomitants of it but as the loud Musick cheerful Acclamations and Solemnities which attend a Triumph or Coronation I say which attend our own Triumph and Coronation as S t Paul assures us 2 Tim. 4 8. I have finisht my Course says he I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them that love his appearance However the Predictions of the Last Day cause Consternation and Distraction of Mind in Wicked Doers to the Righteous they are altogether Gospel or Good Tidings they that keep God's Laws cannot chuse but love and delight in his Appearance Let the Heavens rejoice and the Earth be glad says the Psalmist Let the Field be joyful and all that is therein before the Lord And why all this Joy For he cometh for he cometh to judge the World and the People with Equity And Luke 21.28 says our Lord When these things come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth nigh To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory c. The Eighteenth Sermon 1 PETER iv 8 And above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity covereth the multitude of Sins THE Commandment of Charity if we look to the Birth and Cradle of it is as ancient as Adam for this Natural Law Deal so with others as you would have them deal with you which is the radical and original Precept out of which this Gospel one did immediately issue Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self sprung-up with Nature and is as old as it mutual Love beginning with mutual Society and affection to one another being exercised as soon as there was a Pair in the World to keep it up But the Practice of the Jews in our Saviour's time much thwarted this Precept Sect was against Sect the Pharisee against the Sadducee and the Sadducee against the Pharisee and both against Christ Professions and Offices were made Crimes Publicans the Receivers of Tribute were counted Sinners again Revenge was held as lawful as Punishment Extrajudicial Righting of a man's self as Judicial Censures Do Good to those that do Good to you and Evil to those that do Evil was good Ethicks among them and the Moral Man esteem'd to appear as eminent in practising the last part of this Maxime as the first So that the Precept of Charity was in a manner wholly extinguish'd among them so overwhelmed with the Rubbish of ill Customs and worse Traditions that to clear it and make it shine out again was a Work as hard as to introduce something that never before was Which caus'd our Lord to call this Commandment a New one I give you a New Commandment says he That ye love one another New not as if it then first entred the World but because it was then renew'd to them as things redeem'd from the injury of Age and Oblivion appear fresh and new when they are brought into Use and Fashion again But we may admire that the World has so much agreed in all Times to abrogate this Law brought in at first by General Interest and of so Universal Benefit that we may say with Tully Non aquâ non igne non aëre pluribus locis utimur quà m amicitiâ we stand not more in need of water fire or air in every turn of our Lives than of Friendship or the mutual Offices of Love And if this Law were entertained it would render all other Laws useless it would disannul the Commandments by fulfilling them it would remove heaps of Legal Cautions and Provisions the two Tables would be no more necessary to Men than to Angels private Grudges open Wars Rebellions Factions Schisms would all vanish every Person would be not only more holy in himself but would cause others to be more holy many Sins would be amended by a fair Example many would be extenuated by a candid Interpretation many overcome by a kind and amicable Usage Therefore as the Apostle advises in the foregoing Verses mortifie your Lusts be sober and watch unto Prayer neglect not necessary Duty But above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity shall cover the multitude of Sins In the Words we may observe these four things I. The Habit or Grace that is enjoin'd Love Not that Passion which is born with all Sensitive Creatures and is common to Men and Beasts but that Theological Vertue which is infus'd into Man only 't is not simply Love but Christian and Brotherly Love Have Charity II. The Degree of this Habit the Intenseness of this Divine Quality and that is Fervency it is not enough to have a remiss lukewarm Charity it must burn and glow in us Have fervent Charity III. The Object of this Vertue that which bounds and terminates it and is adequately commensurate to it and that is All Men in general the Object is as large as Humane Nature our Charity is not to be ty'd to Families or Tribes to Sects or Nations or whatever Partitions else Policy or Passion have made use of to distinguish and estrange men from one another but it is to be extended to all not to this or that Man but to Mankind as 't is indefinitely express'd in my Text Among your selves IV. The Inforcement of the Practice of this Quality and that is by the Recommendation of it from its Operation or Effect it covers Sins together with the Extent of that Effect not one or two but many and many Sins For Charity shall cover the Multitude of Sins I begin first with the Habit or Vertue it self contain'd in these Words Have Charity The Charity or Love here enjoined us is not I say that melting Passion that is common to Men and Beasts an affection awaken'd in us by the beholding of outward Beauty the comely