should attempt to re-build it Vse Last From all that hath been said we may lastly conclude That Sinners that are impenitent have little reason to flatter themselves because of their present impunity Let them consider how it will fare with them in the day of Judgment Christ refers to that in the Text. And those who have Eyes to see afar off will look so far as that day So did Paul 2 Cor. 5.11 Wherefore we strive whether present or absent to be accepted for we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ And hereupon he counted it a small thing to be judged of Men or at Man's day looking to the Judgment to come and that great Day of the Lord 1 Cor. 4.5 6. The fal'n Angels are said to be bound in Chains of Darkness reserved to the Judgment of the great Day and so are impenitent Sinners reserved to that day when notwithstanding their present Impunity they shall then fall under Judgment more intolerable than that of Sodom As a Malefactor that is kept in the Gaol under Bolts and Fetters till the Assize hath little reason to rejoyce in his present freedom from the Sentence of the Judge And this is the case of Sinners Because Sentence is not speedily executed their hearts are fully set to do evil Eccles 8.11 And so I make the Conclusion of this Discourse with that which Solomon makes the Conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments c. For God will bring every work to Judgment and every secret thing whether Good or Evil. Quest How the uncharitable and dangerous Contentions that are among Professors of the true Religion may be allayed SERMON III. GALAT. V. 15. But if ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another MY Business from this Scripture is to enquire into the Cause the Danger and the Cure of uncharitable Contentions in the Church of God The Holy Apostle Paul having some few Years before planted a Church in Galatia a region in the upper parts of the lesser Asia there soon crept in a sort of false Teachers who contended that the Mosaical Ceremonies in particular that Circumcision was still to be observed even by the believing Gentiles and that the Christians were not justified before God by Faith but by the Works of the Law Which two Errors when he had fully confuted in the former part of this Epistle he Applies in this Chapter and in the Next 1. By way of Exhortation to stand fast in this their Christian Liberty ver 1. which he backs with divers Arguments 2. By way of Direction to use the same aright not for an occasion to the Flesh ver 13. the Works whereof he afterwards reckons up at large but rather that they should by Love serve one another and abound in all Holiness and Goodness which he inlargeth upon in the rest of this Chapter and in the Next This Text in hand lies within the Verge of this latter Vse where the Apostle using their own Weapon the Law whereof they crack'd so much against themselves he roundly tells them that the whole Law to wit the second Table which also hath an inviolable connexion with the first is fulfilled in loving their Neighbour as themselves and so though they were free from the Law of Ceremonies yet not from the Law of Love and though the Moral Law had now no power to justifie the Sinner nor to condemn the Believer yet still it hath the force of a Rule to guide them in that grand Duty as much as ever before These Words then come in as a Motive to press the Galathians to exercise that Charity which he had affirm'd before to be the summe and scope of the whole Law and it is drawn from the Danger of the contrary temper Plain Commands of God should be sufficient to sway us to our Duty but generally we have need of the most powerful Motives especially when the violent streams of Rage Lust or Revenge do oppose it as in the Case â—efore us But if ye bite and devour one anothir take heed that ye be not câ—â—â—â—med one of another In which Words you may see 1. The Sin specified whereof they were suppos'd to be guilty But if ye bite that is reproach and defame one another some violently maintaining these Jewish Ceremonies and others passionately opposing them and devour one another that is tear and oppress each other by all the mischievous Hostilities ye can for religious Feuds are always sharpest 2. Here is the Danger forewarn'd in Case they proceeded therein take heed that ye be not consumed one of another that is you will certainly destroy one another The Division of the Members must issue in the Dissolution of the Body The Decay of your Love will weaken your Faith both parties will rue it ye will be in danger of total ruine Body and Soul here and hereafter Now if we consider these words only in Hypothesi or in Relation to these Persons in the Text they teach us 1. That there were Contentions in the Church of Galatia So that Vnity is no infallible Mark of a true Church Unity may be out of the Church of Christ and Dissention may be within it 2. That many People were Violent in them For the Apostle would scarce have express'd himself in such terms of biting and devouring unless there had been some outragious Carriage among them toward one another 3. That these Contentions were very dangerous to them all They threatned no less than the overthrow of both the contending Parties the consumption of them all But considering the words of the Text in Thesi or Absolutely which we may safely do seeing the same Causes do still produce or at least dispose unto the same Effects we may collect this Conclusion That Vncharitable Contentions do prepare for utter Destruction And here I shall 1. Clear and open the Terms 2. Amplifie and confirm the Truth And 3. Apply and bring home the Influence of this Point unto our selves I. To understand the Subject of this Proposition to wit Vncharitable Contentions we must distinguish 1. Of the Matter of Contentions and they are either of a Civil or of a Spiritual Nature 1. Of a Civil Nature which concern Men in their Lives Liberties Names or Estates And these are either Private or Publick 1. Private Contentions which are about Meum and Tuum and these are troublesome to those which are in the right and damnable to those that are in the wrong and oftentimes ruinous unto both and therefore are by all good means to be prevented or else by all fair and just means to be managed and all fit opportunities are to be watched not so much to obtain a full Victory as a quiet Conclusion lest the Remedy prove as it doth frequently worse than the Disease 2. Publick Contentions which are usually about the Succession Power or Prerogative of Princes and the Liberties or Properties of Subjects And here
seeing Right and â—â—stice can be but with one of the contending Parties both ought to find it out and to acquiesce therein and to beware lest private Ends preponderate the Publick Good that Princes be not fond of unlimited Power nor Subjects fond of unlimited Liberty 2. Some Contentions are of a Spiritual Nature concerning Religion and matter of Conscience And these are either about things that are Essential and Fundamental therein that is about such Truths as are plainly revealed and necessary to Salvation for these indeed we must contend earnestly but yet charitably with the softest words and hardest Arguments we can even for these things we must not bite and devour one another Such were some of the Points in debate among the Galathians Or else they are about things that are Controversal in Religion that is that are not Essential or Fundamental or that are not plainly appointed of God as matters of Order Ceremony and such other circumstances About which in these latter Ages of the Church there have been in divers places the greatest Contentions Now as it is very culpable to be Circumstantial in Fundamentals so it is very ridiculous to be Fundamental in Circumstantials 2. We must Distinguish of the Manner of these Contentions They are either 1. Charitable when there is Love in the Heart when there is Kindness in the Tongue and Pen when there is a civil and sweet Behaviour in the Carriage of the Parties that differ and these may be called rather Dissentions than Contentions rather differing from one anothers Conceptions than contrary to one anothers Persons Or else they are 2. Vncharitable when rancour is in the Heart reviling in the Tongue or Pen rage at least all manner of rudeness and disobligation in the Carriage when men speak and write so as if they would bite and devour one another And of these the Conclusion is to be understood that they prepare for utter Destraction and this now is the First thing to be opened 2. What Destruction those do prepare for which is the Predicate of the Proposition And the Destruction they threaten is 1. Mutual or Total All that the one opposite Party aims at is to disgrace to run down and to ruine the other but take heed that ye be not consumed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 each by other or that ye perish not one under another Satan the old Apollyon who blows the bellows of Contention designs and endeavours the ruine of both neither of you will have cause to boast in the end 2. The Destruction that these lead unto is Final eternal Destruction so the Word in the Text doth frequently signifie The Wrath of God kindled hereby may inflict it and the Infidelity and Scepticism that results from them may procure it So saith a Great Divine (a) Luther in loc abroad that ye perish not utterly so saith a Great Divine (b) Bp. Hall par in loc at home Take heed lest ye be the Authors of each others endless Confusion And so much for the Explication II. The Amplifying and Confirming of this Point shall be done under these following Propositions 1. That there ever were are and will be Differences amongst God's own People in the matters of Religion 2. That these Differences may and should be managed with Charity 3. That these Contentions are Vncharitable when men bite and devour one another 4. That such Contentions do prepare for Destruction Propos 1. There ever were are and will be Differences among God's own People in the matters of Religion Even amongst the Jews who had such punctual Rules prescrib'd before them yet the School of Hillel went one way and the School of Shammai went another and their Contentions sometimes were sprinkled with the Blood one of another And no sooner was the Gospel planted but the Professors of it fell at variance about matters of Religion Plain in the Controversies about Circumcision for the quieting whereof that famous Council met at Jerusalem Act. 15. The like Differences arose in the Church at Rome about Meats and Dayes the strong Christians despising the weak and the weak censuring the strong Rom. 14. The like Dissention in the Church of Corinth about eating Meats offer'd to Idols 1 Cor. 8. and about the exercise of spiritual Gifts 1 Cor. 14. In the Church of Galatia you may perceive by this Text to what height their Differences did rise that they were in danger to devour one another At Philipi Colosse and Thessalonica matters were much at the same pass Scarce any single Church in the New Testament was clear of Difference in matters of Religion And this whilst the Blood of Our Saviour was warm and divers of the Apostles were yet alive Shortly after what dreadful Combustions were kindled in the Church by Novatus then by Donatus to say nothing of other Hereticks who not holding the Head cannot reasonably be reckon'd in the Body Mystical of Christ his Church The Story is sadly remarkable of Chrysostom and Epiphanius two Bishops that contended so bitterly with one another that Epiphanius in his fury wisht that Chrysostom might never dye a Bishop and Chrysostom in his Passion wisht that Epiphanius might never go home-alive and the History tells us that it fell out to them both accordingly So that no considering man will admire or be offended at a Disease which hath been incident to the true Church of Christ in all ages past Let not the present Church of Rome too much boast of her Vnity for the Case hath been no better there For as there hath been more Schisms among them than in any other Church whatsoever so there have been Collected out of the very Writings of their Eminent Doctors some Hundreds of Differences among themselves in Points of Religion and they are Strangers in the World that are ignorant of the Quarrels between the Thomists and the Scotists between the Dominicans and the Jesuites and many can still remember the fewds between the Jansenists and Molinists all of them within that Communion And it is not only among Christians that these Differences in Religious matters are to be found but the like Dissention is to be met with among Turks and Infidels The Persian Kingdom and divers Others following Haly and the Grand Seignior and his Dominions following Osman the two great Sect-masters in that sorry Religion insomuch as the Persian Turks do execrate the other in their daily Prayers saying Cursed be Ebubeker Omar and Osman and God be favourable to Haly and be well pleased with him Yea it is no better among the very Heathens even the most learned of them to wit the Philosophers of whom One of their Own saith Tunc inter Philosophos conveniet quando inter Horologia Well therefore doth Athanasius answer them when they objected Diversity of Opinions to the Christians in the Primitive times that even they did some of them worship one God and some of them another and could neither agree about the Object nor the Manner of their
the same Law-giver forbids us to bear false witness against our Neighbour that forbids the Worshipping of a graven Image And sometimes men Bite by downright Rayling if not Cursing those that differ from them devising and affixing the most disgraceful Names and Titles concluding them all to be Knaves or Fools that are of a contrary mind both Praying and Drinking to their Confusion Thus Men sharpen their Tongues like a Serpent Adders Poyson is under their lips Psal 140.3 Their throat is an open sepulchre their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness But the wrath of man worketh not the Righteousness of God A bad cause is never made better but a good cause is alwayes made worse by such methods Adeo invisa est mihi discordia sayes Erasmus ut veritas etiam seditiosa displiceat As God's Truth needs not Mans lye so neither doth it need his rancour to uphold or promote it 2. Men Devour one another by Actual Endeavours to injure and hurt one another when their inward rage breaks out into overt Actions and Practices tending to ruine their Brethren And this is done sometimes 1. By fraud which signifies all the cunning devices which Malice can suggest whereby to undermine their credit estate and comfort Such there were of old and yet Professors of a true Religion of whom the Psalmist Psal 10.9 10. He lieth in wait to catch the poor He doth catch the poor when he draweth him into his Net He croucheth and humbleth himself that the poor may fall by his strong ones It is endless to particularize all the arts and sleights of uncharitable men each against other but the end is to devour the Estates Lives Names and Posterity of others And is this to love your Neighbour as your selves or to do as you would be done to nothing less 2. Sometimes this is done by Force When either party can get any humane Law on their side down without mercy go all their Opposites yea sometimes without it and beyond it yea oftentimes you shall see them most zealous for compliance with one or two Laws which fit their humour who live in the continual breach of twenty others All Ages have groan'd under this disease what work did not only the Arians and Circumcellians make of old when they got power into their hands but in latter ages nothing hath been more common than the imploying the secular arm to the utmost by those that could obtain it to promote their purposes But where is that Dove-like innocence and harmlesness this while Columbae non sunt saith Augustine accipitres sunt milvi sunt non laniat columba And he though he was zealous in writing against the Errors of the Donatists yet profest that he had rather be slain by them than occasion their persecution unto Death Propos 4. These uncharitable Contentions do prepare for utter Destruction So saith 1. The Scripture So 2. All History and Experience 3. Undeny Reason confirms it 1. For Scripture see Hos 10.2 Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty There may be different Notions in the head yea there may be different practices one may eat Flesh and another only Herbs and yet the Church may flourish It was a good Motto of a great Scholar Opinionum varietas Opinantium unitas non sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But when the Distemper lodges at the Heart when that 's wounded when that 's divided the Man dies And this is not only meant of mans heart divided and distracted from God but of Mens hearts divided from one another which it should seem was the Case of Israel at that time under the reign of Hoshea And what follows Now shall they be found faulty or as the word will bear and others render it They shall be made desolate This will prepare them for certain and speedy desolation now shall they be made desolate Agreeable to which is our own Saviours words Matth. 12.25 Every Kingdom divided against it self is brought into desolation and every City or House divided against it self shall not stand Where you see 1. One great Cause of the ruine of a Kingdom City or Family which is being divided against it self If the Head and Members be set one against another nay if there be only an inveterate jealousie between them it is often fatal but when the Hearts of a People in a Kingdom City or Family are in a burning Fever one against another and no art or means can qualifie them a dissolution of the Body a desolation of that People is at hand for so it follows every such Kingdom is brought into desolation Where 2. You see the greatness of that ruine that follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall be made desert and desolate which implies and contains all the miseries that do concurr to make a Kingdom a desert It will not only be shaken indangered weakened and decayed but if some speedy and effectual remedy be not applied it is ruined utterly 3. See the Certainty thereof for as our Saviour speaks positively in the beginning of the Verse it is brought into desolation so in the latter end of the verse as peremptorily it shall not stand The undoubted seeds of ruine are in it nothing but an Eradication of them by real amendment can prevent it And lest any place Angle or Isle in the World should think to escape see 4. The universality of this Axiom Every Kingdom every City and every House though the Kingdom be never so well peopled never so well furnisht never so well fortified though the City be never so well built never so well chartered never so well traded though the House be never so well situate never so well guarded never so well adorned yet if the Inhabitants be divided against themselves they will come to desolation But the Text in hand is sufficient to affirm this position Take heed that ye be not consumed one of another which Caution questionless implies manifest danger and the danger is no less than mutual consumption or utter perishing as you heard before Hic enim est dimicationis exitus as Grotius the end of these Contentions if they be not repented and extinguished is Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Ruine 2. Histories and Experience do attest the same For Contentions in general it is evident that the Divisions which were among the Trojans made way for their overthrow by the Greeks the like animosities among the Greeks brought them under the slavery of Philip The Fewds that were among the Assyrians brought in the Persians and the like among the Persians subjected them to the Macedonians and the Contentions among Alexanders Successours rendred them up to be swallowed by the Romans one after another yea the Roman Empire it self near the time when the Western and the Eastern branches of it were hottest in Contention about the Supremacy of their Bishops and about Images behold the Goths and Vandalls destroyed the one and the Saracens and Turks ruined the other The
his Royal Captives who helped to draw his Charlot looking wistly on the Wheel how the part now lowest was presently uppermost so that he considering the mutability of these sublunary things released him from that bondage And however forget not what the Holy Ghost saith Jam. 2.13 He shall have judgment without mercy that sheweth no mercy and mercy rejoyceth against judgment 10. My last Advice is to Pray for the peace of Jerusalem This every one may do and this every one ought to do Psal 122.6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces There are few greater Reasons for our solemn Fasting and Prayer than this If some Plague or War or Drought come upon us we reckon it 's high time to Fast and Pray But alas those are in themselves but Miseries but our Contentions are so our Miseries that they are our sins also Those will but destroy some of our People but Uncharitable Contentions will consume us all But whatever Others do herein let it be every sincere Christian's care to lay holy violence to Heaven upon this Account You have done all that is in your Power to restore Love and Peace and it is in vain try thâ—â— what God can do Abi in cellam dic miserere Deus He can make Men to be of one mind in a House City and Nation He can bow the Hearts of a whole Nation even as the Heart of one man and that in a moment of time He can bring the Wolf and the Lyon and the Lamb to feed together so that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all his holy mountain Isa 65 25. And O that the Prayer of our most Blessed Saviour Joh. 17.21 may yet prevail with God to pour down a spirit of Love and Peace into us all In the mean time let all those that are passive that are upright humble and quiet comfort themselves with Salvian's saying Insectantur nos in nobis Deum Christ is a fellow-sufferer with all that suffer as Christians and their design is against God himself that devour his servants And then pergant nostrae patientiae praecones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beatos nos hoc modo facient dum vellent miseros They that speak and write all manner of evil of you so it be falfely while they endeavour to render you miserable do thereby make you happy True Virtue and Piety shines most in the fire and therefore in Patience possess your Souls if you can possess nothing else And for Others if after all Warnings and Endeavours their Hearts be still fill'd with Rancour and bent upon mischief we must leave them to St. Augustine's Sentence Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat There is a God who tells his Servants wandrings and puts their tears in his bottle and who will execute judgment upon all that have spoken or done hardly toward them and though they may support themselves with their present impunity and prosperity yet the Lord of that servant that began to smite his fellow servants will come in a day he looked not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall cut him asunder Matth. 24.50 And though they may think it a long time to that day they will find there is a longer space after it They that choose the Fire shaâ—â— have their fill of it For to them that are contentious there remains indignation and wrath and Fire that is everlasting But I despair not of so much Remorse in such as have without Prejudice and with Consideration read these Pages but that they will awake and shake off the Inchantment which hath possess'd them and discerning their Sin and our common Danger they will embrace all their faithful Brethren and become sincere lovers of Truth and Peace which effect the God of Love and Peace work in us all by his Holy Spirit for the sake of the Prince of Peace Jesus Christ our Redeemer Amen Amen Quest From what Fear of Death are the Children of God delivered by Christ and by what Means doth He deliver them from it SERMON IV. HEB. II. 15. And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject unto bondage IN this and in the foregoing Verse you have some Account of the design and end of our Lord Jesus Christ in his Incarnation and Passion There were divers weighty Reasons why he assum'd our Nature and therein subjected himself to Death and two of them are told us in this Context 1. That he might destroy the Devil 2. That he might deliver the Elect People of God 1. That he might destroy the Devil who is describ'd to be one that had the power of Death not the supream but a subordinate Power of Death a Power of Death as God's Executioner to inflict it and affright men with it to make it terrible and formidable to them by heightning their guilty Fears and representing to them its dreadful consequents In these and in divers other respects that might be mentioned the Devil is said to have the Power of Death Him as it follows hath Christ destroyed That is disarm'd and disabled Christ hath not destroy'd him as to his being and substance but as to his Power and Authority over the Children and chosen of God And this Christ did by his own Death Through or by death he destroy'd him that had the power of Death viz. The Devil It was upon the Cross that be spoil'd Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it 2. To come to what I intend another End and reason of Christ's Incarnation and Passion was that he might deliver the Elect People of God These he calls the Children in the foregoing Verse not the Children of Men as some expound it but the Children of God Such Children as the Father had given the Son so they are said to be Ver. 13. Behold says Christ I and the Children which thou hast given me such as were predestinated to the adoption of Children as it is phras'd Ephes 1.5 These the Text also describes and tells us in what Condition they were by Nature Through fear of Death they were all their life-time subject to bondage By all their Life time you must understand all that time which they liv'd before they were deliver'd This is the Condition of the Elect of God as they come into the World they are not only subject unto Death but unto the Fear of Death and unto bondage by reason thereof The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is render'd subject signifies they were held fast and manacled as Birds that are taken in a snare or as Malefactors that are going to their Execution The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is rendred bondage signifies a state of servitude or slavery such as men dislike but cannot avoid One calls it a poenal disquietment or perplexity of mind that ariseth from a
eateth up both Truth and Love For such contentions are rather for Victory than Truth Now passion doth nothing well which made one Emperor say over his Alphabet to get the Dominion over his anger Ahasuerus fann'd himself in his Garden Esth 7.7 and he in Plutarch would not smite his Servant because he was angry Passionated persecution makes only Hypocrites become Proselites and in their Breasts also lodge such a revenge as will be satisfied one time or another upon them who have made them offer violence to their Consciences Religion is a free choice upon judgment or 't is not Religion therefore it gets in by perswasion not persecution Yet 't is strangely true they who are so tender of their own Wills that God must not touch them unless by Argument yet laxate themselves to Club Law with their Brethren not content with a moral swasion 2. Loving converse taketh off those prejudices which hinder Mens minds from a true knowledge of others Principles and Practices which at a distance seem horrid and monstrous Opinions and Practices when as a little free converse with them breedeth quite other apprehensions The Papists picture the Protestants as bruits with Tails as Devils with Horns to terrifie the Vulgar but knowing Merchants dare trust them So some Protestants have represented the Puritans as Pestilent and Seditious persons as Mad and having a Devil as the Scribes and Pharisees did John Baptist and Christ but the plain hearted people saw thorough those pious frauds and tricks and were astonished at their Doctrin and Life when they healed Souls and Bodies on the Sabbath day 3. Sincere love and converse breedeth a good opinion of persons who differ from us they can taste humility meekness and kindness better than the more speculative Principles of Religion These get into Mens affections and so bore away into their judgments and cause them to alter their minds Two Heads like two Globes touch but in one point the whole Bodies at a distance but two Hearts touch in plano and fall in with each other in all points Love openeth the Heart and Ear to cooler consideration and second thoughts The Spirit of God directed Elijah 1 Kings 19.12 not in the strong Wind which rent Rocks and Mountains nor in the Earthquake or Fire but in the silent whisper or tranquil voice Vse of Instruction How to carry our selves towards them who are weak in the Faith in these days and doubtless it is a sickly season when there are so many feverish heats among us I will not say what once a Romanist said to me That these are the spuria vitulamina the Bastard frisks of our Reformation in Henry the Eighths days But I rather think the violent endeavours after External Uniformity without the Inward the smothering of the industrious Bees in one Hive was a great cause of their castling into several Swarms Threshing the Corn hath driven it out of the Floor and the grasping so hard the Granes all into the Hands and Power of some hath made them creep out through their Fingers Rigid Impositions and violent Prosecutions and Exactions of Conformity to things extra Scriptural and Divine Institution and without any manifest tendency to Edification have and will make fractions without end As D. W. said Till Men be Infallible and the World Immutable moderation becometh every Man who is in his senses and considereth himself 1. There are some who have all Faith believe incredibly as that Katharina Senensis praying for a new Heart she had her real Heart cut out of her Body and after some days had a new Heart formed by Christ put into her That making a cross on the Body with a Finger driveth the Devil away That a Priest by these words this is my Body transubstantiateth the Bread into the Body of Christ and so he offereth that Sacrifice to deliver Souls out of Prison and then by his Dirges conducteth them to Paradise 2. Others have no Faith at all as that Infallible one who said What vast Wealth hath this Fable of Christ acquired to the Church So when some had Disputed about the Immortality of the Soul most gravely determined in a Verse Et redit in nihilum quod fuit ante nihil That which is nothing must needs come to nothing And I fear there are more Atheists than Papists who seem to believe all on the Stage nothing in their retiring thoughts We are not bound to receive such into our Bosoms or Communion lest we sting our own Breasts out of charity to our Souls we must take heed of receiving such 3. But there are others who seem seriously to believe the Doctrin of the Gospel yet have a weakness in their judgments about little things These we must receive and instruct them Rom. 14.17 That the Kingdom of God is not in Meat or Drink but Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Shew them all kindness pity them pray for them and let them see Col. 2.5 Nothing but your order and the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ 1. Stand fast and fix'd in the good Word of God which is setled for ever in Heaven Psal 119.89 as the Copy of the Divine Nature and Law Stand having your Loins girt about with Truth Ephes 6.14 and having on the Breastplate of Righteousness This is the grand and perfect rule of Faith Worship and Life Keep within these Trenches and you have an assurance of protection I know no other method possible to Peace but in an universal resolution to impose nothing upon others but what Christ himself hath imposed what Scripture commands Matth. 28.20 Teach Men to observe whatever I have commanded you and then I am with you to the end of the World This is a Minister of Christs Commission and he cannot look for Christ to be with him if he go either coâ—trary to beyond or not according to his instructions Let this be first done and then Men may consider whether any thing further be necessary or convenient Let us therefore in the Name of God beg his holy Spirit whom Christ hath promised and that he shall lead us into all Truth John 16.13 He is the only infallible Interpreter of Gods mind He shall take of mine says our Saviour and shew it unto you vers 14. Then read the Scriptures as Christ himself did Luke 4.16 his custom was he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read and when the Book of God was delivered to him he read the 61 of Isaiah a Prophesie of himself and so he closed the Book and gave it to the Minister then he expounded and applied it to the present circumstances That he came to preach to the poor heal the broken hearted give deliverance to the captives open the Eyes of the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised Oh blessed pattern for every Minister of Christ to follow And sing the Psalms or Hymns as we read he also did Matth. 26.30 and the Ancient Christians
to observe and require an account of all their Actions The radical cause of this Hatred is from the Opposition of the sinful polluted Wills of Men to the Holiness of God for that attribute excites his Justice and Power and Wrath to punish Sinners Therefore the Apostle saith They are enemies to God in their minds through wicked works The naked representing of this Impiety that a reasonable Creature should hate the blessed Creator for his most Divine Perfections cannot but strike with Horror O the Sinfulness of Sin 4. Sin is the Contempt and Abuse of his excellent Goodness This Argument is as vast as God's innumerable Mercies whereby he allures and obliges us to Obedience I shall restrain my Discourse of it to three things wherein the Divine Goodness is very Conspicuous and most ungratefully despised by Sinners 1. His Creating Goodness 'T is clear without the lea st shadow of Doubt that nothing can give the first being to it self for this were to be before it was which is a direct Contradiction and 't is evident that God is the sole Author of our Beings Our Parents afforded the gross matter of our compounded Nature but the Variety and Union the Beauty and Usefulness of the several Parts which is so Wonderful that the Body is composed of as many Miracles as Members was the Design of his Wisdom and the Work of his Hands The lively Idea and perfect Exemplar of that regular Fabrick was modell'd in the Divine Mind This affected the Psalmist with Admiration I am fearfully and wonderfully made Psal 139.14 15 16. marvellous are thy works and that my soul knows right well Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them And Job observes Thy hands have made me and fashioned me round about Job 10.8 The Soul our principal Part is of a celestial Original inspired from the father of Spirits The faculties of Understanding and Election are the indelible Characters of our Dignity above the Brutes and make us capable to please and glorifie and enjoy him This first and fundamental Benefit upon which all other Favours and Benefits are the Superstructure was the Effect from an eternal Cause his most free Decree that ordained our Birth in the spaces of time The Fountain was his pure Goodness there was no necessity determining his Will he did not want external declarative Glory being infinitely happy in himself and there could be no superior Power to constrain him And that which renders our Maker's Goodness more free and obliging is the consideration he might have created Millions of Men and left us in our Native Nothing and as I may so speak lost and buried in perpetual Darkness Now what was Gods end in Making us Certainly it was becoming his infinite Understanding that is to communicate of his own Divine Fullness and to be actively glorified by intelligent Creatures Accordingly 't is the solemn Acknowledgement of the Representative Church Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power For thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they were created Who is so void of rational Sentiments Rev. 4.11 as not to acknowledge 't is our indispensable Duty Our reasonable service to offer up our selves an intire living Sacrifice to his glory What is more natural according to the Laws of uncorrupt Natures I might say and of corrupt Nature for the Heathens practised it than that Love should correspond with Love as the one descends in Benefits the other should ascend in Thankfulness As a polish'd Looking-glass of Steel strongly reverberates the Beams of the Sun shining upon it without losing a spark of light thus the understanding Soul should reflect the Affection of Love upon our blessed Maker in Reverence and Praise and Thankfulness Now Sin breaks all those Sacred Bands of Grace and Gratitude that engage us to love and obey God He is the just Lord of all our Faculties Intellectual and Sensitive and the Sinner employs them as Weapons of Unrighteousness against him He preserves us by his powerful gracious Providence which is a renewed Creation every Moment and the Goodness he uses to us the Sinner abuses against him This is the most unworthy shameful and monstrous Ingratitude This makes forgetful and unthankful Men more brutish than the dull Ox and the stupid Ass who serve those that feed them nay sinks them below the insensible part of the Creation that invariably observes the Law and order prescribed by the Creator Astonishing Degeneracy Hear O Heavens give ear O earth I have nourished and brought up Childen and they have rebelled against me was the Complaint of God himself The considerate Review of this will melt us into Tears of Confusion 2. 'T was the unvaluable goodness of God to give his Law to Man for his rule both in respect of the matter of the Law and his end in giving it 1. The matter of the Law this as is forecited from the Apostle is holy just and good It contains all things that are honest and just and pure and lovely and of good report whatsoever are vertuous and praise-worthy In obedience to it the innocence and perfection of the reasonable creature consists This I do but glance upon having been consider'd before 2. The end of giving the Law God was pleas'd upon Mans creation by an illustrious revelation to shew him his duty to write his Law in his Heart that he might not take one step out of the circle of its precepts and immediately sin and perish His gracious design was to keep Man in his love that from the obedience of the reasonable creature the divine goodness might take its rise to reward him This unfeined and excellent goodness the sinner outragiously despises for what greater contempt can be exprest against a written Law than the tearing it in pieces and trampling it underfoot And this constructively the sinner does to the Law of God which contempt extends to the gracious giver of it Rom. 7.10 Thus the Commandment that was ordain'd unto Life by sin was found unto Death 3. Sin is an extreme vilifying of Gods goodness in preferring carnal pleasures to his favour and Communion with him wherein the life the felicity the heaven of the reasonable creature consists God is infinite in all possible perfections all-sufficient to make us compleatly and eternally happy he disdains to have any competitour and requires to be supreme in our esteem and affections the reason of this is so evident by Divine and Natural light that 't is needless to spend many words about it 'T is an observation of St. Austin * Omnes Deos colendos esse sapienti Cur ergo a numero caeterorum ille rejectus est nihil restat ut dicant cur hujus Dei sacra recipere noluerint nisi quia solum se coli voluerit Aug. de Consens Evang. c. 17. That
it were set his Wisdom and Will against Gods Bellum cum Deo suscipit whatever he fancies to himself he undertakes and wages War with God This man sinneth against God as well as against man is a Rebel against the Majesty of Heaven as well as his Prince upon earth refusing the obedience he ows to his Ordinance and Command 3. From the evil and fatal consequence or effect of Rebellion and Resistance of which in the same verse they that resist shall receive unto themselves damnation They commit such a crime as shall most certainly and severely be revenged they had better never have done it for punishment will surely follow it and it may be with a quick and speedy pace either from the hand of the Magistrate to whom the Sword is committed with which he is to animadvert upon all disobedience or by the hand of God who will plead the cause and vindicate the honour of his Lieutenants and Vicegerents so that such Delinquents are never safe but in danger of a Temporal punishment here as Korah and his accomplices experienced and so did that unnatural wretch Absalom or an eternal one in Hell in case hearty repentance do not by an happy interposal prevent it 4. From the end of the Office and the business incumbent upon persons called to it which is singularly good and greatly necessary being designed for and tending to the preventing of vice and promoting of virtue and this is the argument used in my Text for Rulers are not a terrour to good works but to the evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Princes Magistrates they into whose hand the Sceptre is put or the Sword of Justice whether they be Supream or Subordinate whatsoever place they hold in the Political Body These are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a terrour a scare a fright they ought not to be it doth not become them to be It is no part of their Office and place to be And so long as they act conscientiously wisely so long as they observe the rules given them and carry in their several Stations as they should they will not be a terrour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to good works or to them that do them whom they ought to defend by their power and encourage with their smiles but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those which are evil It is the latter part of these words which falls under my present consideration My work is to take a view of Magistrates to discourse about them as they ought to be terrours unto evil works all of them so far as they come to their knowledge and fall under their cognizance The Question which I am desired to speak unto being this Quest What is the duty of Magistrates from the highest to the lowest for the suppressing of prophaneness In the handling hereof I shall observe this method First Enquire what is meant by prophaneness Secondly What is intended by the suppression of prophaneness Thirdly Prove it to be the duty of all Magistrates to imploy their Authority and power for that great and excellent end Fourthly Propound and offer sundry means which they may and should make use of in order thereunto Lastly Shut up our whole discourse with application and the great God assist in the work and bless that which shall be done Amen Our first enquiry then will be what are we to understand by prophaneness In answer whereunto we will consider the word which in Latin is prophanus and as some learned Criticks observe is as much as procul à Fano far from the Temple or holy place far from God that which is far from the mind and will of God that which God doth not approve will have nothing to do with which speaks those that love and practise it a company of persons at a distance from God The word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now saith Aretius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth pure such a purity as is in the stars of Heaven or a serene Sky and the syllable Be doth change the signification and import of the word and accordingly we do well understand by it that which is unclean impure polluted filthy So that prophaneness is uncleanness of which there are two sorts First A Ceremonial uncleanness Thus we read of defiled hands and common meats Of the former Mark 7.2 There came together unto him certain of the Pharisees and Scribes and when they saw some of his Disciples eat Bread with defiled that is to say with unwashen hands they found fault 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with common hands impure ones That was counted by them a profane action which polluted the person that did it and so you read of common meats Acts 10.13 14. Peter saw Heaven opened and a certain Vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet wherein were all manner of four-footed Beasts of the Earth and Wild Beasts and Creeping things and Fouls of the Air and there came a voice to him Rise Peter Kill and Eat but Peter said Not so Lord for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There common is opposed to holy it was a thing not fit for that holy people whom God had called out from the rest of the world made his own peculiar That was common unclean or prophane which was lawful to the Gentiles but prohibited the Jews by the Ceremonial Law as to instance Swines flesh That Law is now abolished with this sort of uncleanness we at present have nothing to do as not being intended in the question Secondly There is a moral uncleanness and that is it here meant That is said to be profane which is impure polluted foul loathsome and defiling and so it may be and as we find in Scripture it is applied both to persons and to things First To persons Thus in Ezek. 21.25 when the Lord by the Prophet spake to Zedekiah it was in this language Thou prophane wicked Prince of Israel His prophaneness did arise from or rather consist in his wickedness for he had grievously polluted himself with Idolatry and Perjury with cursed persecutions and the blood of the Innocents He was both a stranger and enemy to all piety and purity he ingulph'd himself in wickedness and laboured with all his might to draw others of his Subjects both noble and base into the same practices and to Plunge them as deep as himself Esau hath the same brand set upon him Heb. 12.16 Lest there be any fornicator or prophane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his Birth-right A prophane person qui nihil habet sacri who hath in him nothing Sacred nothing of holiness who violates neglects tramples under foot holy things who so pleaseth himself in filthiness as to wallow in it in whom the love of the world is so predominant to pleasures riches and honours he is so addicted that he prefers them before the grace of God and the Kingdom
not only called the Ministers of God but because they are in so great place and set about so good work God hath been pleased to put upon them his own Name as we find in sundry places of Scripture Exod. 22.28 Thou shalt not revile the Gods nor curse the Ruler of thy People Where the latter Expression the Ruler of thy People Is Exegetical and Explanative of the former the Gods and accordingly the Chaldee Translation renders it the Judges So again Psalm 82.1 God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty and judgeth among the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By which some indeed understand the Angels as 1 Sam. 28.13 When the Witch had raised up the Devil a fallen Angel in the shape of Samuel she said to Saul I saw Gods ascending out of the Earth And so Psalm 86.8 Among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord. Though the holy Angels are noble Creatures excellent in Wisdom and mighty in Strength yet among that innumerable company not one can be found like God But others better understand hereby Princes Judges and civil Magistrates And not only David a good man a King called them by this Name but Jehovah himself hath given it them he hath vouchsafed to honour them with this Name Psalm 82.6 I have said Ye are Gods and all of you are the Children of the most High You are my Commissioners you do Locum tenere hold my place with my leave and by my appointment Your Throne is the Throne of God and your Tribunal the Tribunal of God I have given you an inviolable Authority take heed how you use it I have made it your work to do Justice and to distribute Rewards and Punishments see that you do it Now what shall we infer from hence Certainly thus much That Magistrates being Gods Vicegerents they ought to Act like him and according to his will Having their Commission from him they should study it and conform to it bearing his Name they should be expressive of his Nature Being cloathed with his Power they ought to imploy it for his Honour and the promoting of his Interest and against his Enemies of whom Sin is the worst for men are said to be Enemies in their Minds through wicked works Are they Children of the most High And as such admitted to a part of his judiciary Power Then it becomes them to be followers of him as dear Children and as well as they can to imitate him in the discharge of that trust which they have received from him Who is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him the foolish shall not stand in his sight for he hateth all the workers of Iniquity Psalm 5.4 5. But let us pursue this a little further Secondly We have seen what is the place of Magistrates it is very high and honourable but not supreme there is one in Heaven that is higher than they great men in Authority are still as the good Centurion said under Authority Their place is a Vicegerency Now let us but specially let them consider and remember what is the work and business of their place For that they ought to do endeavouring to stand compleat in all the Will of God as Men as Christistians and as Magistrates or Men in Office It will by no means be found enough for men to hold such or such a place in Church or State but it ought to be their desire and endeavour to fill up the place they hold Which if men would seriously think upon there would not be that seeking of and hunting after places as there generally is Places then would rather seek men than men Places And as Persons in Authority and Power do and will and justly may expect and require that honour revenue and salary which doth of right belong to them upon the account of their place The Prince will not part with his Crown Scepter and Throne so long as He can hold them Nor the Lord Mayor with his Sword and Mace no nor the Constable with his Staff which is the badge of his Office So they and all others ought to fill up as I said their places with the performance of that Duty which is inseparably annexed to them A man had a great deal better never have been advanced to a place of trust than to be careless negligent and remiss in it He that so advanced is not a publick good is no better than a common nusance Honos and Onus go together Honour and Burden and He doth not deserve to meddle with the Honour who is not willing to take up the Burden Well these places carry great work along with them and that work must be done Now if the Question be What is that work to the doing whereof Magistrates are by their places obliged I answer To appear for God and to act for God As God is the Author of their Power so his Interest and Honour ought to be the matter of their designs and the end of their Government This that good King Jehoshaphat did full well understand accordingly when he had set Judges in the Land through all the fenced Cities of Judah City by City he spake thus unto them 2 Chron. 19.6 Take heed what ye do for ye rule not for men but for the Lord who is with you in the Judgment An excellent speech it was a charge fit to be given to Judges when to go their Circuits Judges yea and others too as well as they had need be very Cautious and Wary men exceeding prudent and circumspect it concerns them to ponder and weigh actions how they carry what Laws they make how they execute them what Judgments they give and what Sentences they pass But what is the reason hereof Because they Judge not for men but for the Lord and so they rule not for men but the Lord and when they meet in Parliament they should consult not for men but for the Lord. Though indeed they do manage all most prudently for men when they act most faithfully for the Lord. And it is certain it is not Officers own advancement and inrichment not their own Honour and Grandeur at which they should level and direct their Actions none of these is the end of Government or of their being called to any part or share of it but the Honour of God and his Glory as Supreme and the good of men as subordinate And let not that be forgotten which Jehoshaphat added The Lord is with you in the Judgment When you do well and act according to the Law of Righteousness God is with you to own you to justifie you to stand by you to comfort and encourage you to protect and defend you to reward and bless you as Persons that have been faithful And you may be sure He is at all times with you in the Throne and in the Senate and upon the Bench and elsewhere curiously to observe and take notice of that which you do for by
a very considerable power and without doubt they have it not for nothing And as it is given them for good ends so for those ends they ought to imploy it That power is in vain which is not reduced into Act. The Staff which you Constables carry up and down with you is for something more than a bare and empty sign and to tell people what you are and though you do frequently leave your Staff at home yet I pray be sure to carry your eyes and ears along with you to the farthest bounds of your jurisdiction What a great deal of good may be done and what abundance of wickedness may be prevented by one active person And I think I am not mistaken when I reckon upon a curious inquisition as one part of the work of your Office Surely it is not for you to sit still at home till you are alarm'd and called forth by riots and uproars in the Streets or have men come with their complaints rapping at your doors but you should take your walks and make enquiry after evil-doers find out their nests and haunts See what Companies meet in publick houses for entertainment and what they do how they behave themselves when they are together and be sure to dissolve their wicked Clubs and debauched meetings and carry the Persons whom you find so transgressing before those Superiour Magistrates whom you know most hearty and active in their places For verily when there are good and excellent Laws in a Land for the regulating of things and correcting that which is amiss and yet sin grows because of a Male-administration much very much of the guilt will be chargeable upon and lie at the doors of inferiour Officers more than they will be able to answer for Eighthly Let those Officers which are faithful in their places have their due and full encouragement and not be snibb'd and brow-beaten and taken up short and treated with abusive Language and frowns as they have been in the late times when practices of Religion were hated and punished as the worst of Crimes and a Company of wretched Informers that neither had a drachm of honesty nor were worth a Groat were hugg'd and entertain'd with welcom and applause besides their part in the fines which they gaped for as the wages of their unrighteousness Honest vigilant and active Officers who are in the discharge of their duty and proceed no farther than the Law impowers them ought to be commended they that do well deserve to hear well and not be counted or called busy fellows so long as they are imployed about their own business Yea and they ought to be assisted too Where the Constables Staff will not do the work let the Justice of Peace draw his Sword And when they have brought the matter as far as they can let them that have higher power set their hands to it and carry it on further It cannot but be a great discouragement to honest men when they have found out and seized upon Ranting Roaring Debauchees and brought them notwithstanding their Cursing and Storming their heats and huffs before their Superior and then he shall receive them with one Complement and after the speaking a few words of course dismiss them with another Such men as these may be assaulted by a Temptation to grow cold and remiss but I do advise and desire them not to yield to that Temptation for still this may be their comfort that they have not been wanting unto their duty and the other must and shall answer for his neglect possibly to the higher powers below or if not to them yet for certain at last to that God who is higher than the highest and sits in the Throne judging right and from whom every one shall receive according as his work hath been Ninthly An Orthodox and Godly Ministry is a very choice and excellent means for the suppression of prophaneness Surely this ill-favoured Monster though grown up to a gigantick Stature and bigness is most like to fall when it is opposed and set upon by the Magistrate who bears the Sword of Civil power and by the Minister too who bears and draws against it the Sword of the Spirit which hath been by God committed to him and those other weapons with which he is furnished out of the divine armory and which according to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.6 He hath or ought to have in a readiness for the revenging of all disobedience And therefore I heartily wish that as a learned and so much the better by how much the more learned Ministry may be kept up in the Land both in Cities and Countreys and in order to that sufficient liberal provision made for them So such and only such may be imployed in that high and sacred Function as in the Judgment of rational Charity may be looked upon as being indeed the Ministers of Christ And the two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marks or Characters by which such may be known are the preaching of Christ and his Doctrine their living of Christ and according to his Rules and their doing of both these will conduce and contribute very much to this great end This will be singularly promoted by their preaching of Christ not Ceremonies but Christ not imposed forms of prayer but the power of Godliness not only Morality but true Piety not the Cross in Baptism but crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts not bowing to the name of Jesus but to the Authority and Government and Law of Jesus not a white Garment but the linnen of Saints righteousness and holiness I do not at all deny but Civility and Morality are duties very Goodly Pearls necessary and becoming Oh that there were more of them to be found among us It is beyond all question that they who would be Saints must not be beasts I cannot think any fit matter for a visible Church who are Devils incarnate Nor do I deny but that many useful Sayings good Precepts and Rules may be fetched from Heathen Authors Plato Seneca Tully Plutarch c. But we need not borrow Jewels of Egyptians blessed be God nor go down to the Philistines for the sharpening of our Mattocks It is the Gospel of Christ which is the power of God to Salvation There is no need of quoting a Philosopher when we have a Paul What examples can we produce and propound so exact and curious as is that of Christ who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth He spake so as never man spake and he walked so as never man walk'd What arguments can we find more convincing than those of the Scripture which are mighty for casting down the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imaginations Conceits Reasonings of a carnal vain and proud mind What motives more perswasive and alluring than those of the Gospel which are indeed the cords of a man What Thunder-claps can be thought of more terrible or what Terrours more amazing and affrighting than the Terrours of
and one would wonder it should be found among a people but a little before come back to their own Countrey out of a sore and tedious Captivity Yet thus it was But let us see what good Nehemiah that excellent Governour did hereupon and how he bestir'd himself He testified against them in the day whereon they sold Victuals and he contended with the Elders of Judah and said unto them What evil thing is this that ye do and prophane the Sabbath-day Did not your Fathers thus and did not our God bring all this evil upon them And yet ye bring more evil upon Israel by prophaning the Sabbath And after this He shut the Gates and set his Servants to watch and would not suffer the Merchants and Sellers of wares to lodge about the Walls but threatned to lay hold upon them and did not desist nor give over till He had prevented their coming any more upon the Sabbath-day Oh that there were many such Nehemiahs in the World among Christian Nations Shall I gather up what this Scripture affords and shew you what is to be learned from it Briefly thus 1. Trading upon the Sabbath-day is a violation and prophaning of it 2. It is such a prophaning of it as is highly displeasing unto God and will bring down his wrath upon a People that are guilty 3. It is the proper work of the Civil Magistrate not unbecoming the Supream to punish and prevent it 4. In order thereunto He will find it necessary to be very vigilant and active 5. It is not enough to begin well and do something but there must be a going on till there be a thorow Reformation And let not any say such care as this would be Judaizing and the Gospel brings along with it a greater Liberty for though we have a blessed Liberty yet not a sinful one We are delivered from the Ceremonial Law which was an heavy and oppressing yoke but not from the Observation and Obedience to the Moral Law as it is and still it is and to the end of the World it will be a Rule of Life And Gods abounding in his goodness to us whose lines are cast in New Testament-times is a very bad argument for an abating in our care of Sanctifying his Name and his Day Time my beloved hath been when England as well as our Neighbour Nation of Scotland was famous for the sanctifying of the Sabbath and truly for these many years it hath been and to this day it is as infamous for the breaking of it and upon that account and by that means it hath lost much of it's Pristine Glory Do you not see I am sure with grief of Heart I do how vile and wretched Persons set forth their wares to sale upon that Holy Day in our Fields and Streets Do you not see how the Victualling and Alehouses are frequented and filled upon that day Do you not see or at least hear of Plays and Pastimes upon that day As if the Book of Sports were revived and allowed How many among us do make that their Gaming day and their Fuddling day which God hath made his Holy Day What! Oh What is the matter Where doth the fault lie We have something of Law against this blessed be God and what have we no Officers to put the Law that is into Execution I earnestly beseech all those who are concerned as they fear God and as they have any Affection Good will and kindness for the Land of their Nativity that they would put on strength and appear vigorously on this behalf For if you will tolerate the prophanation of the Sabbath you can rationally Promise to your selves no other but a tremendous overflowing of wickedness all the Week after it will be so through the Corruption of man and the most righteous Judgment of God with whom it is far from unusual to punish Sin with Sin Do but read Histories and if you have minded things consult your own Observations and you will find that according to a peoples Holy care or Vile neglect of keeping Holy the Sabbath-day Religion doth flourish or Wickedness abounds and grows rank and rampant among them Having finished the Doctrinal part I proceed to the Application and therein direct my speech to all sorts of Persons among us and oh that it may be acceptable to them and come upon their Souls with Power that so there may be some stop put to these crying Abominations and the wickedness of the Wicked among us may come to an end and they may come over upon this call from God to a temperate sober and Religious Life or if not so yet at least their wickedness may not make such prodigious advances nor rise up to that height as it hath done for so many years to the dishonour and provoking of God the grief of all good men and almost the ruine of the Nation and the pleasing of none but a cursed Company of the Antichristian brood who made it their design and business to introduce Popery at the door of Debauchery Which indeed was the most likely way for when Persons and a People have cast off the fear of God and run cross to the Principles of that Religion which they profess and by leading flagitious lives offered violence to their Consciences they are in a frame ready for the basest impressions and to follow that Devil who shall first tempt them and however it comes to pass through the all-ordering and over-ruling Providence of a wise God who when he pleaseth and as he pleaseth chains the Sea and restrains the lusts of men so that though they go thus far they shall go no farther I shall not at all wonder to see a Practical Atheist become a Doctrinal Papist that so his Religion it 's self may spread his wing over his prophaneness But I come to the Application Vse 1. Let me not by any be counted too bold and going out of my place while I turn me to the great men of the Nation and speak to them as Persons not too high for the Counsels Commands and Exhortations of the Word of God I mean the King as Supream Nobles Gentlemen and all under him to whom any part of the Government in this Nation is committed and these all these from the highest to the lowest I do with all due Humility as knowing my distance from many of them yet with utmost earnestness I do beseech that they would awake unto Righteousness and see to it that they be found faithful in their place and to their trust filling up every one the Province which God hath set them in and trading every one with their Talents whether more or fewer five or two nay let not him that hath but one hide it in a Napkin and bury it in sloth but be abounding in this work of the Lord that through your care and industry Justice may run down among us like a Flood and Judgment like a mighty Water for the washing away that loathsome filth which
repent of their own sins as well as the sins of Unbelievers They must be humbled for their own decays Contentions Worldlyness Barrenness Vanity Pride though less gross then others as well as for the Idolatry and Profaneness of the Irreligious The Reason is that these sins of theirs contribute to the bringing down Judgments and obstructing of Mercies as well as the grosser sins of Unbelievers nay in some sense more because they ought to be Witnesses for God in a degenerate Land Their Examples encourage the grosser Villanies of others they have more Light and Strength to keep themselves pure yea if the number of good Men be considerable in a Land the lot of a Nation is mostly determined by them and Gods regards is much more to them than others If you take the Epistles to the seven Churches to be so particular as most do you may see how God reproves and threatens them though small portions of those States of which they were Members in Civil Respects I think I may say that the Repentance of Believers for their sins must exceed the Repentance of Unbelievers in some proportion to that Life Grace and Aids which they have above those Unbelievers their Humiliation must be deeper and more ingenuous their resolves stronger their return more universal their Prayers more fervent their Reformation more extensive spiritual and vigorous than other men In this its true as a man is so to his strength If their Repentance be no greater than others they may expose a Nation and prove its ruine I might proceed to Gentry and Commonalty to Ministers and People but time prevents me and the same Rules may guide you in these as in the instances before described I shall only add that supposing a part of the Land Persecutors and the other Persecuted for Truths sake these latter must be humbled for the sins of Persecutors and repent of their own sins and that according to the advantage which their Afflictions give for their Humiliation and Amendment While men throw repenting work off of themselves to others as if they could acquit themselves of Gods Challenge are there not also sins among you are you no way guilty The Land is like to suffer and the common condition to be deplorable It 's true if the design of God be to single out any one sort of a Nation to suffer by themselves the impenitents of that sort may not dammage the body of the Nation further than their struggles with or their loss of that part may affect the residue As if God resolve to punish Professors of Religion only their impenitence may affect the whole no further than the distress of such Professors amounts to except as it is an awful omen because Judgment seldom begins at Gods House but it reacheth in woful issues to others afterwards Or if God hath a Controversie with the Gentry of a Land their impenitency may not fatally reach the ordinary people if penitent For if God resolves to punish ravenous domineering Pastors or Persecutors their neglect of Repentance shall not hurt the whole that repents nay it will be their advantage to have them blasted if they remain impenitent as the Kingdoms plagues It 's much more so as to particular Families whether the highest or less influencing the corruption of a Common-wealth But where God designs not a distinct respect in his Judgments the stubbornness of any one sort doth threaten the Nation their not repenting in a way proper to them may plunge the whole into a loss of Mercies Thus I have according to my small light resolved the Case The decision of the Case proved 1. The described Repentance doth ordinarily afford a people National Mercies notwithstanding National Sins In the resolution of the Case there occurred some Reasons and many Scriptures to evidence this so that I shall need to say little more for proof There seems to be an express Rule in this matter Jer. 18.7 8. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation or concerning a Kingdom to pluck it up and to pull down and to destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them The Repentance which God hath accepted so as to prolong the wellfare of Nations was of this sort as you see in Niniveh and other places 2 Chron. 12.7 Should we examine the Repentance of any Land it hath rarely arrived to a greater height A defect of the Repentance injoined in the Covenant of Grace is obvious in that Repentance which hath yet been effectual as to National Mercies This Repentance answers the great methods and ends of Gods general Government as to the Temporal Weale of Nations and provides a Foundation to proceed upon in those methods whereby his Spiritual Kingdom is advanced and the Eternal Welfare of Souls is promoted we may expect God will continue National Mercies to a People who come up to that Repentance which hath preserved other Nations 2 Chro. 7.14 And 30.8 9. Jer. 26.3 13. We have great Encouragement to our Hopes from many Texts 2. Where this Repentance obtains not a People cannot justly expect National Mercies Isa 8.9 Let a Nation seem never so safe its security is vain and all its supports shall be blasted by Impenitency Jer. 15.7 What though a People are related to God I will destroy my people sith they return not from their evil ways May not their priviledges and pledges of Gods Presence secure them No Trust not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these will ye steal murder commit Adultery and swear falsly and say we are delivered to do all these abominations Go to Shiloh and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel and now because you have done all these works and I spake unto you but you heard not I will do unto this house Jer. 7.4 9 10 12 13 14 15. wherein you trust as I have done to Shiloh and I will cast you out of my sight Mock shadows of your Repentance and weak uneffectual Attempts for it and 14.4.7 12. 44.1 10 11. will leave men under disappointments When a People is given up to impenitency and God with-holds a Blessing from the Methods Isa 6.9 10 11. that tend to their Repentance there 's just cause of Fear that Judgments are determined against that Land Hear you indeed but understand not make the heart of the people fat and shut their eyes least they see with their eyes understand with their hearts and convert and be healed How long Lord till the cities be laidwaste God is so positive against a land refusing to return that their Felicity is impossible Wrath came upon Judah for this their trespass 2 Chro. 24.18 19 20. yet he sent Prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord but they would not give ear Thus saith God Why