endeavouring the repressing of Sin and propagation of Piety so to look back signifies a withdrawing our Affections and Endeavours from it and a relinquishing this so glorious and commendable an Enterprize And in speaking of this I shall briefly take notice 1st of the Persons and 2dly Of the Temptations inducing to this sinful Retrospection And in the first place as to the Persons I cannot but briefly remark with a melancholy Reflection that not only vast Numbers who are engag'd by the awful Obligations of Baptism have no more sense of their Duty and Interest than if they had been brought up in a Land of Darkness Not only great Multitudes hear the Gospel every day and themselves also read the Holy Scriptures and yet they are to 'em as a Book seal'd they neither feel nor understand their Power and Life But also there are others who have had a sight and sense of their Duty have been under Convictions and taken up Resolutions for Heaven and Eternity and yet all their Purposes like Ephraim's Righteousness have been but as a morning Dew which is presently consum'd with the heat of the next approaching Temptation And this is very sadly to look back after we have set our Hands to the Plough when we have felt the warmings of the Divine Spirit in our Hearts the incubations of the Holy Ghost brooding on our Souls in order to bring forth the Image of God in a state of renewed Holiness when we have made some advances in Piety and have begun in the Spirit yet after all to end in the Flesh this is miserably to look back from our Employment and solemn Engagement But 2dly to carry on my Application You Gentlemen who have promis'd to become the Servants of Jesus Christ not only by the Vow of your Baptism but also by the Rules of those Religious Associations into which you are engag'd to encourage one another to walk as becomes the Gospel and to declare your selves the Opponents to Vice and Ungodliness and to repress Profanation Debauchery and Excess within your sphere and knowledg by endeavouring to give Life and Vigour to those good Laws which our Pious Legislators have establish'd for this End Consider you have put your Hand to the Plough of God for 't is his Cause that you are engag'd in and if upon the account of some little opposition you withdraw your Assistance or stop in your Duty this is the looking back here intimated in the Text. I beg Gentlemen I may not be mistaken as if I was afraid you were weary of that good Work which you have set your Hands unto and were about to relinquish it my Discourse proceeds from another Design namely That by shewing the great Mischief which must attend your forsaking this Cause I might the more effectually recommend it to your Selves and perswade Others to engage in it and encourage your Zeal to all the prudential and vigorous Methods which are needful for its Prosecution But yet since 't is not impossible but some who have set their Hands to this good Work may look back may flag in their Diligence and cool in their Affections I shall briefly take notice of some of the Temptations tending to it and these fall under one or the other of these 3 Heads 1st Fear 2dly Shame 3dly Sloth 1st Fear When a Person that has not first sat down and counted the Cost what it will stand him in to be the Soldier of Jesus Christ and what degree of Valour and holy Resolution it requires to fight in this glorious Cause and to labour in this Work that he must be sincere and impartial not afraid of the Reproaches of the Small or the Frowns of the Great or any diminution of his temporal Interest when such a Person finds that the Cause he has undertook may eclipse his Profit and that there is indeed greater Opposition than he expected then he begins to faint and to chill in his Warmth and to find excuses for his Recession But let such consider that St. John tells us That the Fearful as well as the Vnbelieving shall have their part in the Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21.8 i. e. Such who faint in the spiritual Warfare and have not courage enough to stand up for the Cause of Jesus Christ in opposition to the Conveniencies and Friendships of the World such are unfit for the Kingdom of God And as Solomon observes That the fear of Man bringeth a Snare Prov. 29.25 a Snare on the Conscience and an intangling hindrance to religious Duties so He that ventures upon the displeasure of God rather than Man or whom sordid apprehensions of worldly loss or the breach of carnal Friendship or the browbeatings of the Powerful can beat off from his Work such a Person does hereby render himself unfit for that blessed Sentence of Well done good and faithful Servant enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. For he that cannot venture himself on the Cause of Christ Jesus and whose Faith is too feeble to shore him up from sinking under the fear of Men such a Person is a miserable Bondman to the World how fair soever his pretensions may be to Regeneration and Holiness of Life But Beloved I believe and hope better things of you and things that accompany a zeal of Sincerity and a vigorous prosecution of your glorious Undertaking 2dly Shame is another Temptation to induce Men to look back It has been the chiefest Policy of Satan ever since God has in wonderful Mercy unto his Church been pleas'd to stop the violence of his Rage and Persecution to oppose Religion by Scoffs and Mockings at those that will not still remain his Vassals And our Age and Nation has been so unhappily exercised by this stratagem of Hell that one would be tempted to think that the Prophecy of St. Peter look'd at these Days 2 Pet. 3.3 Knowing this that there shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own Lusts For how has Holiness of Life been ridicul'd and the Power of Godliness and the Life of the the Spirit and a state of Conversion and Regeneration been made the subject of impious Derision and scornful Reproach insomuch that Some have been even asham'd to own themselves so good as they really were for fear that some name of Ignominy and Contempt would be cast upon them And indeed I do not find any Opposition greater than this to balk you in the way of your vertuous procedure But to counterpoise this remember that you are engag'd to own the Cause of a Crucified Jesus of him that was number'd among the Transgressors and who endured the Cross and despised the Shame and if you have not constancy enough to bear a little Reproach for the sake of our great Master and to be contented to undergo the name of Informers and busy Fellows or such who make a noise to get your selves a Name if you cannot patiently endure the Reproaches of the Agents of Hell
A SERMON Preach'd at St. Mary-Le-Bow TO THE SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of Manners June 28. 1697. By JOHN RVSSELL Rector of St. John of Wappin LONDON Printed by J. Darby for R. Mount at the Postern on Tower-hill 1697. TO THE READER HE that will look over the Histories of the most famous Kingdoms and Governments of the World will find that they have been rais'd and carried on to their most exalted Heights altho estrang'd to the Knowledg and Worship of the True God by the Rules and Practices of Moral Vertues And that when the Babylonian the Persian the Grecian and Roman Monarchies fell to decay it was Luxury and Vice that open'd the Door to let in that Ruin which transplanted the Scepter from one Kingdom to another People For as long as they kept to their Antient Vertue which laid the Foundation and also built up the Edifice of their Strength and Grandeur they maintain'd their Power they continu'd their Empire but as soon as they grew loose and vicious when Bribery and Corruption Softness and Flattery seiz'd upon the Court and Debauchery and Fraud and contempt of Religion altho a false one had infected the People they quickly grew ripe for those Judgments which swept them into that Pit of Destruction which their Immoralities had been digging as the Grave of their dying Glory and Greatness And tho I do not affirm that Dominion is founded on Grace yet I assert That all flourishing Kingdoms are established by Vertue And that what People soever depart from that they cut down the Props and remove the Pillars that support their own Strength and Felicity And this is not only historically true in respect of the Ages that are past and gone but actually so in respect of our selves and the very Age and Day in which we live and it 's not only so in respect of the Nature of Vertue which gives Men a noble and elevated Mind carries them thrô the greatest Difficulties and by Justice and Honesty must necessarily cause the Sun of Prosperity to shine upon them And on the other side in respect of the Nature of Vice which enervates and softens those that are its Vassals takes away their Courage brings on Fear and creates those Jars and Jealousies among a People which makes 'em divide and become an easy Prey to the next bold Invader I say Ruin is not only the Consequent of Vice and Debauchery in respect of the thing it self but much more in respect of God whose Justice and Holiness cannot allow that a wicked People should long be happy or flourish in the enjoyment of those Favours which they have forfeited by their Impieties And to render this applicable to our selves it 's too apparent that we are a People fallen into a most wretched and degenerate State extreamly debauch'd both in Principles and Practices And notwithstanding God has gone on in a long course of Mercy towards this Nation in delivering us 1st From Idolatrous Worship I mean that of the Church of Rome when others are still blinded with it 2dly In saving us from Despotick Tyranny and Arbitrary Power which has prey'd upon some of our neighbouring Countries 3dly In rescuing us from our late Fears and Dangers from the sad apprehensions of the breaking in of both I mean Idolatrous Worship and Arbitrary Power when we had little hope of preserving our selves from either Tho we have enjoyed these Favours and have pretended too to be sensible of them yet we have behav'd our selves under these Deliverances and great Enjoyments with great Ingratitude and loud Provocations so that we seem by our Deeds to say with the Jews of old Jer. 7.10 We are delivered to do all these Abominations For where is there any publick sense of our preservation to effect a change of life from Profaneness to Holiness to testify we are grateful to our Deliverer And that we look upon it as the Hand of Heaven that has sav'd us from our Fears Should one enquire after the Returns of Repentance and Reformation in respect of the main Body of our People I am too sensible they cannot be found or perceived amongst us But on the contrary that we are as lewd as vile as vicious as ever and that in some Sins we outstrip the Iniquities of our Fathers in that the Hireling is opprest in his Wages and we sell the Poor for Silver and the Needy for a pair of Shoes we make merchandize one of another and have no farther any regard to the Publick Interest than as it's subservient unto our own Private We have lost that publick Zeal and Affection which every Man ought by Nature to express to the Land of his Nativity When I have read some Sayings of the old Prophets describing the great Degeneracy of the Jewish State in that Age of the World I have been affected with melancholy thoughts that our Condition is but too near a Copy of that foul Pattern But however if by Melancholy and the Cries of the Poor which are very loud and clamorous in all our Streets I am sure at lest in those that I daily walk I may be mistaken yet the scandalous Debaucheries which are too notorious and all are sensible of all I mean that are the Friends of Piety and Vertue give a just cause to fear that notwithstanding we whisper to our selves Peace and Safety some heavy Judgments from the Justice of Heaven are yet approaching And since nothing but Reformation can fit us for Mercy since 't is not our being Protestants that can screen us from the Fire of Destruction if we are reform'd only in our Doctrines but not in our Lives Therefore it has and will be the Eternal Honour and Reward of some among us whose Names are written in the fairest Characters in the Book of Life That God has made them sensible of our Degeneracy and has stirr'd them up to undertake this great and noble Work of checking the predominant Vices in and about this great City Such as profanation of the Lord's Day the execrable Sin of Cursing and Swearing Houses of Lewdness and notorious Uncleanness Drunkenness Whoredom and the like by endeavouring the execution of those good Laws which have piously been enacted for this End and Purpose And this Vndertaking which at first was but like Elijah's Cloud no bigger than a Man's hand has by the Divine Blessing so enlarg'd it self that there are now above twenty Societies in and about this Great City who have dedicated themselves to this Good Work And that it might be made the more manifest to the terror of evil doers it has been resolv'd that Four Sermons a Year viz One on the Monday next ensuing after the four usual Quarter-Days should be preach'd by some Minister of the Church of England to shew and justify the Excellency of this Design and to encourage to a resolution in its execution And being requested to perform this Office and also to make publick what I deliver'd I have now perform'd both tho
the way in which he is walking whither it tends and where 't will end that he 'd not rush into the Gulph of everlasting Destruction thro' folly and incogitancy but consider the Weight of Eternity the Worth of his Soul and the Love of God and the Value of Heaven and the dreadful State of Eternal Vengeance and that he 'd labour earnestly to obtain the one and avoid the other And this is a Duty which we owe to Mankind both as we are of the same Nature and as we are commanded by the Divine Word Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him And so St. Paul Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another daily while it is called To day And in another place let us provoke one another to Love and to good Works And farther We are not only to Perswade our Neighbours and to use all the Methods of Love and Kindness to engage them to their Duty but also since some are so abominably vicious that nothing but the terror and punishment of the Magistrate can restrain them from the open violation of the Law of God therefore it 's the Duty of every Man to detect Such unto the Magistrate that where the Force of Perswasion cannot prevail there the Power of the Sword may restrain And that 't is our Duty thus to discover all such Persons who are the Open and Notorious Opposers of Piety and endeavour to bring upon them legal Inflictions not only appears from the nature of the thing but also from a consideration of that general Duty which lies upon us to labour for the support of the Kingdom of Christ and the suppression and destruction of the Power of Satan And since there are Many so deplorably wicked that the whole Bent and Stream of their Conversation is scandalous and vicious offensive to God destructive to Themselves and pernicious to Others Therefore every Man is bound in Conscience to God and in Honour to Vertue to make such Persons publick Examples by labouring to inflict those Penalties upon them which our good and wholsom Laws have determined 'T is our great happiness that we live under a Government where Iniquity is so far from being established by a Law or so much as left Neutral that 't is not only forbidden but also punished But our Laws are nothing but dead Letters and Justice holds but a wooden Sword without execution for 't is that which is the Life of the Law it self and the Honour of that People which enjoy such wholesom Constitutions And since Magistrates to whom the execution of our Laws are committed cannot do it without information of the Persons and Crimes of Offenders therefore 't is every Man's Duty as he tenders the Honour of God and the Glory of the Gospel the Increase of the Church and the Good of the Weal-Publick and as He would not be a partaker of other Mens Sins in hiding and concealing them to detect such as openly and commonly affront the Majesty of God and the Authority of Man by notorious Vices and those scandalous Impieties which make us stink in the Nostrils of the Almighty and bring down his Plagues and Judgments upon us But this Point having been formerly so well prov'd in this place and on this occasion in former Discourses I shall therefore proceed towards a conclusion of the first head of the Text That Magistrates by their Power Ministers by their Office and every Christian by his Character as such has put his Hand to the Plough of God has given in his Name as a Labourer in the Field of the Church of Christ in order to root out the Weeds of Impiety and to sow and cherish the good Seed of Grace that we may all grow up to Eternal Life But besides all this more particularly God has stirr'd up the Hearts of Some in and about this Great City whose Numbers God of his Mercy increase and whose Zeal God of his Goodness augment who have united themselves in Religious Fraternities for the more effectual carrying on of This Glorious and never to be enough commended Work of giving a check to Vice and reforming if possible the corrupt and depraved Manners of the unhappy Age in which we live And You who are enter'd into this Noble Design whose Hearts God has more especially touch'd with a sense of your Duty You have in a more than ordinary manner put your hand to the Plough And to encourage you in it I shall truly affirm that this Work and the Undertakers of it are the great springing Glory of our Church and a comfortable Testimony that God has not utterly left us off to Judgment This is a Design worthy of Men as we are the Image of God and worthy of Christians as we are the Disciples of Jesus Christ 'T is the Cause of God that you have undertaken in opposition to the Devil and the Cause of Vertue in opposition to Vice and of Religion in opposition to Atheism 'T is an Enterprize that is every way praise-worthy and I may speak it with a sufficient degree of Reverence 'T is worthy of God to own and Men to prosecute and I hope it 's carried on by Means that are agreeable unto the noble End which it designs And certainly no Man can oppose it or become an Enemy unto it that does not first by his own Life render himself obnoxious to it But now my Brethren if after you have thus begun in a Divine Work and have increas'd your Numbers and diffus'd your Design throughout the Parts of this mighty City and you have seen many good Fruits of these your Endeavours In cleansing many Augean Stables of Lust and Filthiness In making many who made no conscience of profaning the Name of God to set a bar before their Lips In repressing the Disorders which are too frequently committed on the Lord's Day And in charity one may hope of bringing several to a sense of their Sin and to a sincere Repentance and to bless the Almighty for this your Undertaking Now if after all this Satan should become so mischievously successful as to stifle your Zeal and to baffle you in your Work by the little Mocks Scoffs and Taunts of those that are his Agents If you faint at the opposition that you must expect to meet with from the Frowns of Some and the Threats of Others If this beat you out of the Field into which you have entred in order to work It would not only be a sad Omen of your own Spiritual Decay but be also a great Discouragement unto Others and would give the greatest blow unto the Cause of Religion by adding the Trophies and Ensigns of Success to the black Triumphs of the Prince of Darkness But this I shall farther insist on in the next part of the Text which is II. To shew what 't is to look back As the putting our Hand to the Plough intends the ingaging our selves in the Cause and Interest of Holiness and
I must acknowledg my performance has been by far too mean to recommend so glorious a Work And having thus given an Account of the Occasion of this Discourse I shall only add That after this Design was begun by Members of the Church of England be it spoken to their greatest commendation and praise many Dissenters did join with them and have been very zealous and vigorous in prosecuting this GREAT END without the least animosity or jarring about the unhappy difference that lies between us May the great and good God in his due time close up our Breaches and make us all sensible that Real Holiness is the only Badg of True Christianity And now Gentlemen I come to address my self to you who are Members of those truly honourable Societies for the Reformation of Manners It 's a particular Instance of Divine Love as well as a Mark of Immortal Honour that the Almighty has conferr'd upon you that he has stirr'd up that noble Zeal in you to endeavour to stop the notorious Profaneness and Wickedness of the Age in which we live It being an Vndertaking so just in its Design so commendable in its End that it carries before it in the plainest Characters That it came down from God and as I hope it 's a chearful Instance notwithstanding our great degeneracy that the Almighty has not abandon'd us as altogether incorrigible to Judgment and Ruin So I pray it may not be the last effort of Divine Admonition trying if we will by these Methods be reclaim'd and render our selves capable of the Favours we desire Or if it be That it may not be rendered fruitless either by a general Contempt cast upon it and so this holy Fire be quench'd by an overflowing general flood of Impiety or else by your growing weary and cooling in your Zeal and fainting in your Work and thereby give occasion to the Children of Wickedness not only to triumph over you but over Religion it self and so open a door to those terrible Judgments to seize upon us which we have too much cause to fear as the consequence of our Sins The design of this Discourse is to prevent the latter and the Justice Honour and Goodness of your Vndertaking having been so well justified by my Reverend Brethren who have gone before me and whose Discourses are made publick I thought I could not insist on a more proper Subject than to recommend the continuance of your Zeal in this so good a Work which you have undertaken And to what has been delivered in the ensuing Pages on this account I shall only add That it had been much better you had never set about this glorious Work if you shall at last fall back and desist from it since nothing can more amate the spirit of Piety or encourage Vice than your declining and sinking from a Cause which you have so openly espous'd and by so many Overt-Acts avow'd I write Gentlemen to you conjunctly and to every particular Member of your Societies severally and therefore am not solicitous if any should take an impious occasion to burlesque the Comparison or ridicule the Application of it taken from so low an imployment as that of the Plow since the plainness and closeness of the Similitude as well as the Authority of Him that gave it cannot displease any that are not Atheists or that contemn not the Wisdom of the Blessed Jesus the Author of it I acknowledg that some do undervalue your Vndertaking by urging the meanness of it in allowing 't is true that it 's a good Work to suppress the abominable sin of Cursing and Swearing of profaning the Lord's Day and Houses of Disorder c. which are too numerous about this City But what 's all this to the rooting out of that spirit of Selfishness which is broken loose among us that Bribery and Corruption that has almost eaten out the Vitals of the Nation and which are the blackest symptoms of approaching Destruction To which I answer I wish there were no occasion for this irregular Objection and I daily pray that the Lord may pour forth a publick Spirit upon us that we may not answer the Character which he gives of the last days That Men shall be lovers of themselves but that such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a generous Love to our dear Countrey may be rais'd up in the Hearts of all in Authority of all that are intrusted with the administration of publick Affairs that every Man may prefer the publick Interest before his own and that all who wear the badg of Power may be Persons answering Jethro's Character Men of Truth hating Covetousness But since it 's allow'd even by the Objectors That it 's a good Work which you are engag'd in altho it does not reach all the Ends that they desire therefore surely 't is your Honour your Interest and Duty to be zealously affected in so good a thing And who knows but that God may be pleas'd seeing you sincere and zealous in his Cause where it lies within the verge of your Power in suppressing Vice to bless us in suppressing by the Acts of his more immediate Providence those Disorders which are so far out of your reach which are so destructive unto our common National Interest I am sure it 's the only way to avert Judgments and obtain Mercies to repress Sin and in doing our duty where we can we may expect Assistance and a Divine Hand to help us in those things where we cannot There are other Objectors who urge That you move in a Sphere that you are not plac'd in and that you stretch your selves to a Line beyond your Measure since you meddle in what concerns publick Officers But I hope the ensuing Discourse may help to convince such that every Man is concern'd in the common cause of Vertue and is listed as a Soldier to fight the Lord's Battels And as to others who oppose you by Scorns and Derision they must be such who by their Lives are contrary to the regular Courses you endeavour to inforce whose Mouths must and I hope shortly will be stopt Since therefore you are engag'd in a field of the greatest Honour in a Cause so beneficial to the Souls of Men hereafter and to their Bodies here May the great God inspirit you with Zeal with Prudence and Industry consonant to your worthy Design This is the Prayer of Gentlemen Your most humble Servant and Welwisher J. Russell Luke ix 62. No Man having put his hand to the Plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God THE Service of Jesus Christ and the Work of Religion is a Business of that Honour and mighty Importance that it deserves our most sedulous and constant Endeavours and commands a most strict adherence to it from all its Professors It requires of all those that engage in it a resolution to persevere and go thrô all its Stages and to hold on to the end of its Journey and to think
viz. Those of Magistrates Ministers and People and shew how far each are more than others obliged and have more immediately set their Hand to the Plough 1. As to Magistrates A state of Government among Men is appointed by the Light of Nature as well as by the Law of God and since those that are Governours ought to be Copies and Patterns for the Governed therefore are Those more especially concern'd in directing others by wholesom Laws and just Sanctions whereby the Honour of God and the present and future Good of Mankind may be supported Magistrates are the Representatives of God and if they will not render themselves altogether unlike the Majesty of Heaven and unfit for and unworthy of the Character they bear they must more especially imitate God in bestowing Favours and Encouragements on the Vertuous and by inflicting Punishments on the Vicious 'T is their more immediate Duty to enact and execute such Laws as may be for the suppressing of Sin and encouraging Holiness And since the highest Magistrate in this our happy form of Government I mean our Sovereign on whose Head the Almighty pour down streams of Mercy is obliged by the solemnity of an Oath to administer Justice in Mercy unto all his People I hope all those that are delegated by him to be his Substitutes are and will be so conscientious in the performance of their Duty that That Justice which we owe to God in obeying his Laws as well as That which we owe to Men in preserving their Right may be truly and impartially executed according to St. Peter's Rule 1 Pet. 2.14 For the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well Since they cannot bear the Sword in vain but it must be drawn forth by them to establish Righteousness or else will be drawn forth on them to strike themselves into eternal Confusion And since God has called Magistrates to such an high degree of Honour that they are his Vice-gerents they therefore by virtue of the acceptation of their Office have put their Hands to this good Work being called to be nursing Fathers of the Church and they bear the Sword of God for this very purpose not to be a terror unto good Works but unto the Evil. And if Any should remain idle and negligent or take up this Office for any sinister Ends to serve themselves rather than the Publick to sit down in sloth rather than to cultivate the field of God's Church such Persons become guilty of a most wretched Sacrilege and have the greatest Cause to fear that their Swords which have not been imploy'd in the Cause of Vertue Justice and Piety shall be turn'd into Darts and level'd against themselves in the day of eternal Wrath and Vengeance All Magistrates therefore whose business it is to put in execution those excellent Laws which are enacted for the propagation of Godliness and correction of Sin Those on the account of their Honour and Office have put their Hands to the Plough of God 2. Another sort of Men who are more especially engag'd to this good Work are Ministers Those I mean who are called to preach the Gospel and to declare the glad tidings of Reconciliation between God and Men by the Man-Christ Jesus And We indeed of all Men are more immediately concern'd since our whole Life ought to be dedicated to this heavenly Work to labour for the Conversion and eternal Salvation of Mens Immortal Souls to shew them the danger and the fatal event of an ill-spent Life and a Conversation imploy'd in the works of Sin The Lord has shewn us our Dignity and Duty by the Prophet Ezekiel ch 33.7 O Son of Man I have set thee a Watchman unto the House of Israel therefore thou shalt hear the word at my Mouth and warn them from me And if we who are called to this Sacred Dignity of hearing the Word at the Mouth of God of having his Oracles committed unto us who are made Ambassadors of Jesus Christ to declare God reconciled to the World on the Terms of the Gospel If we fail of rebuking reproving and exhorting with all Gentleness Meekness and Love if we fall under the Character of idle Shepherds neglecting the Flock thro our want of Zeal in the Cause of Jesus Christ and by ceasing to declare the whole Counsels of God for Mens Salvation we shall find our Account so heavy at the great and general Audit of the World that no Doom will be equal to the Condemnation of such who have thus prevaricated and wretchedly slighted their Office and Business Ezek. 33.8 It 's the greatest Honour we are capable of in being brought nigh to God and intrusted with the Ministration of the Word of Life to be appointed principal Labourers in raising the glorious Building of the Church of Christ to be dignified with the Character of the Legats of Heaven sent in the blessed Errand of inviting Men to become reconciled to God And as the Reward of such shall be infinitely great who shall with Conscience and Zeal discharge this Duty they shall shine as the Stars in the Firmament for ever and ever So the Punishment also of those that neglect this Duty shall be inconceivably great the Blood of Souls shall be required at their hands and the Smoke of their Torments shall ascend up for ever and ever Ministers therefore are another sort of Persons who have peculiarly engag'd themselves to labour in God's Field to carry on the Design and Interest of Holiness who have put their hand to the Plough of God 3dly Not only Magistrates and Ministers but every Private Christian by the Ties of Humanity and the Obligations of Religion is bound to this Work For since the Cause of Religion is the common Cause of every Member of the Church of Christ Since we are obliged by our Baptismal Vow to fight against Sin the World and the Devil and are bound by virtue of our Allegiance to our Redeemer to endeavour to exalt his Kingdom and to increase the number of his Subjects Every Man therefore is concern'd for his Neighbour is obliged for his Brother to do what is possible to pluck him out of the Power of Satan and to bring him into a state of Mercy through obedience to Jesus Christ And since there 's a principle of Love and natural Compassion in all Mankind which is wonderfully improv'd and sanctified by Grace so that every one that comes to consider the worth of his own immortal Soul will have a concern of Charity for the Soul of another Therefore we ought to be and indeed we shall be if we are our selves regenerate solicitous for the Salvation of all Mankind and every Man will become a friendly Monitor unto his Neighbour and will come to him in Prudence in Kindness and Secrecy if he see him negligent in the important Concern of his eternal Welfare and will request him to beware of his heedless Condition that he 'd take some cognizance of
and the Lies and Scandals they will cast at your Doors if you faint at this Trial as Syracides says your Strength is small And if this should induce any Member to look back let him be afraid of being hereby made unfit for the Kingdom of God for remember what our Lord tells us Mark 8.38 Whosoever shall be asham'd of me and of my Words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be asham'd when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels 3dly Sloth may be another inducement to look back For He that applies himself to this good Work with that fitness which it requires ought to be a Person of Industry and Diligence he must dedicate some part of his time for fighting the Lord's Battels against the publick Goliahs of the Armies of Hell he ought to appear personally in the Cause that he has undertook and not think it enough that he has been a Contributor towards the Charge of this glorious Fabrick of Reformation For tho I do not question but that every Penny that 's bestowed on this Account is as true Charity as feeding the Hungry or clothing the Naked and has also in it something of an excellency far beyond it as a Compassion on Mens Immortal Souls does exceed the pity that 's exprest to their Bodies yet I cannot chuse but deliver my Judgment in this matter altho it should happen to be contrary to the Sentiments of some here present That the poorest Member of these Societies who by a personal endeavour labours in this Work who sacrifices his Time and Pains at this Altar his Offering is greater and he casts in more to his Corban than they who of their abundance bestow many Pounds yearly Not that I blame no I commend the One but I highly praise and extol the Other and I do it in order to give all possible Encouragement to a personal zealous and avowed Prosecution of this Heroick Undertaking Lastly To conclude this Point I shall add a word to encourage to an exemplary Holiness of Life And this if You who have undertaken to be the Patrons of Vertue and supporters of Piety shall fail in if you shall sink down from your exalted Post to the Temptations of the World and be taken in the snares of Vice and Dishonesty this will be such a Tergiversation as must not only be satal to your selves but also to your Design and will cast the blackest Cloud on the honest and sincere endeavours of those that are join'd with you It will open a Door to all the foul Reproaches that Hell can invent and the Agents thereof inject upon you which will not only fall with the greatest weight on the Heads of the Guilty but will also affect those that are Innocent It therefore becomes every one that is engag'd in this Holy Work to walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise considering the Eagle Eyes of all your Adversaries await your steps and nothing can give them such an occasion of impious Joy as your stumbling and faultering at the same Stones which you endeavour to remove and this will indeed be the worst sort of looking back which possibly you can commit Be therefore wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves And as glorious Designs must be managed with the highest Prudence in order to secure 'em from the reproaches of their Enemies so let this be attended with a Wisdom and Circumspection agreeable to it such as your Adversaries cannot gainsay or resist And to obtain this be instant in Prayer that That Great God whose Cause you have undertaken would give a particular Blessing in directing every Member so to walk that you may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a perverse and crooked Generation among whom ye shine as Lights in the World and as Patterns of Piety Humility and Meekness and every thing that is praise-worthy III. I come now to the last part of the Text which is to shew the Danger and sad Consequence of such a dreadful Retrospection after we have been engag'd in so good an Employment Which is that such Persons who look back are not fit for the Kingdom of God And having already in my former Discourse given frequent hints of this I shall be very brief on this Topick that I may oppress your Patience no longer In order to which I will not inlarge what is here meant by the Kingdom of God in regard the sense is obvious to every Capacity it signifying the Enjoyment of all that Happiness which Jesus has purchased and is gone into Heaven to prepare for his Church and People And as those who are not fit for the Glories of this Kingdom do not only miss of Happiness but fall into Misery so That shews something more than the loss of Heaven there 's an implication of the Punishment of Hell The loss therefore of Eternal Life and the Condemnation to everlasting Vengeance must strike Terror one very one that considers the worth of his never-dying Soul and what 't is to undergo the Wrath of God for ever and ever But yet this must kindle a greater fire of Torment in the Consciences of Some than of Others for he that never had the Means of Salvation or on whom they never came with Power and Efficacy the Reflections of Such can never be so bitter so sharp and stinging as of Those who have had the clearer discoveries of Divine Light and Love And therefore for such who have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come if They fall away it 's not only impossible to renew them again by Repentance but also to render their Condemnation half so tolerable as of those who had never those participations Consider therefore You who have put your Hands to the Spiritual Plough in order to cultivate both your selves and others if you after both the Vow of your Baptism inward Conviction and outward Profession and a more than ordinary obliging your selves to the Service of Christ Jesus If You look back of all Persons in the World you are most unfit for the glorious Kingdom The Backslider in Heart says Solomon shall be filled with his own Ways Prov. 14.14 i. e. shall reap the fruits of his own Folly But as I hope you have well consider'd the weight of the Work which you have undertook so I trust your Perseverance in it will become a Pattern to succeeding Times and other Places And that your Zeal your Wisdom and Prudence will be still more and more Illustrious and fit you for the love of all good Men here and for greater than ordinary degrees of Glory hereafter And agreeable hereunto this Observation shall shut up my Discourse That as he that looks back is unfit so he that goes on and prosecutes his Work that has an eye of Resolution looking forward on his Duty such a Person is thro' Jesus Christ fit for the Favour and Kingdom of God And your being Such will add to your Crown another day and will advance you above the common Blessing of Heaven and of eternal Life your Zeal and Constancy will be rewarded with a double Portion of everlasting Glory For the God that you serve is not unrighteous to forget your Works and labours of Love but will be a Master of the greatest bounty in liberally requiting all your diligent and faithful Services And that you may All be set down in the number of those that have endured to the End and have finished your Work with Joy and Faithfulness This the Almighty grant by the Assistance of his Holy Spirit thro' Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS