for it is not of the Nature of my Religion and Kingdom And as I neither assume nor practise any such thing my self that am the great Author Promoter and Example of this Holy Way so have I not only never taught my Disciples to live or act otherwise or given them a Power I refuse to use my Self but expresly forbad them and warn'd them in my Instructions of exercising any the least Revenge Imposition or Coertion towards any This is evident in my Sermon preached upon the Mount where I freely publickly and with much Plainness not only prohibited Revenge but injoyned Love to Enemies making it to be a great Token of true Discipleship to suffer Wrongs and conquer Cruelty by Patience and Forgiveness which is certainly a great Way off Imposition or Compulsion upon other Men. Furthermore when I was strongly bent for Jerusalem sent Messengers before to prepare some entertainment for me and my Company in a Village belonging to the Samaritans and the People refused because they apprehended I was going to Jerusalem though some of my Disciples particularly James and John were provok'd to that Degree that they asked me if I were willing that they should command Fire from Heaven to destroy those Samaritans as Elias in another Case had done I turned about and rebuked them saying Ye know not what Manner of Spirit ye are of for am not come into the World to destroy Mens Lives but by my peaceable Doctrine Example and Life to save them At another time one of my Disciples relating to me some Passages of their Travails told me of a certain Man they saw that cast out Devils in my Name and because he was not of their Company nor followed them said he we forbad him as if they had thereby served and pleased me but I presently testified my Dislike of the Ignorance and Narrowness of their Zeal and to inform them better told them they should not have forbid him for he that is not against us is for us My Drift is not Opinion but Piety they that cast out Devils convert Sinners and turn Men to Righteousness are not against me nor the Nature and Religion of my Kingdom therefore ought to be cherisht rather then forbid That I might sufficiently declare and inculcate my Mind in this Matter I did at another Time and upon a different Occasion preach against all Coertion and Persecution for Matters of Faith and Practice towards God in my Parable of the Sower as my Words manifest which were these The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a Man which sowed good Seed in his Field but while Men slept his Enemy came and sowed Tares among the Wheat and went his Way but when the Blade sprung up and brought forth Fruit there appeared the Tares also so the Servants of the Houshoulder came and said didst thou not sow good Seed in thy Field from whence then hath it Tares he answered an Enemy hath done this the Servants said unto him wilt thou then that we go and gather them up but he said NAY lest while ye gather up the Tares ye root up also the Wheat with them let boâ—h grow together till the Harvest and in the Time of Harvest I will say to the Reapers gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather the Wheat into my Barn And that I might not leave so necessary a Truth misapprehended of my dear Followers or liable to any Mis-constructions my Disciples when together desiring an Explanation I interpreted my words thus He that soweth the good Seed is the Son of Man the Field is the World the good Seed are the Children of the Kingdom but the Tares are the Children of the Wicked One the Enemy that sowed them is the Devil the Harvest is the End of the World and the Reapers are the Angels This Patience this Long Suffering and great Forbearance belong to my Kingdom and the Subjects of it my Doctrine speaks it and my Example confirms it and this can have no possible Agreement with Imposition and Persecution for Conâ—cience 'T is true I once whipt out the Prophaners of my Father's Temple but I never whipt any 〈◊〉 I call'd I cry'd to every one that thirsted to come and freely offer'd my Assistance to the Weary and Heavy Laden but I never impos'd my Help or forced any to receive me for I take not my Kingdom by Violence but by Suffering And that I might sufficiently deter my Followers from any such Thing as I profess my self to be their Lord and Master so have I commanded them to love one another in a more especial Manner But if instead thereof any shall grow proud high-minded and beat or abuse their Fellow-Servants in my Religious Family when I come to take an account of my Houshold he shall be cut asunder and appointed his Portion among the Unbelievers Behold the Recompence I appoint to Imposing Lordly Persons such as count others Infidels and to make them such Believers as themselves will exercise Violence towards them and if they prevail not will call for fire from Heaven to devour them and if Heaven refuse them will fall a Beating and Killing and think it may be they do God good Service but their Lot shall be with Unbelievers forever Nay I have so effectually provided against all Mastery that I expresly charged them not to be many Masters for one was their Master I told them that the greatest amongst them was to be Servant to the rest not to impose upon the rest nay that to be great in my Kingdom they must become as gentle and harmless as little Children and such cannot force and punish in Matters of Religion In fine I strictly commanded them to love one another as I have loved them who am ready to lay down my Life for the Ungodly instead of taking away Godly Men's Lives for Opinions and this is the great Maxim of my holy Religion He that would be my Disciple must not crucifie other Men but take up his Cross and follow me who am meek and lowly and such so enduring shall find Eternal Rest to their Souls this is the Power I use and this is the Power I give How much this agrees with the Language Doctrine and Example of Jesus Christ I shall leave them to consider that read and believe Scripture but some affected to present Church Power and desiring their Ruin that conform not to her Worship and Discipline will object That Christ did give his Church Power to bind and loose and bid any Person agrieved tell the Church I grant it but what binding was that with outward Chains and Fetters in nasty Holes and Dungeons nothing less Or was it that his Church had that true Discerning in her and Power with him that what she bound that is condemned or loosed that is remitted should stand so in God's Sight and Christ's Account But tell the Church and what then observe Christ's
and that is the Voice of God who requires us to Fear him and obey his Righteous Commandments at the Peril of making him our Enemy whom we should make our Common Friend and Protector for upon his Goodness depend our very Natural and Civil Comforts So that it is our Interest To be Good and that is none of the least Arguments for Religion that the Piety and Practice of it is the Peace and Prosperity of Government and consequently that Vice the Enemy of Religion is at the same time the Enemy of Humane Society Who then should be more concern'd for the Preservation of Virtue than Government who in its Abstract and True Sense is not only founded upon Virtue but without the Preservation of Virtue it is impossible to maintain the Best Constitution that can be made And however some particular Men may prosper that are Wicked and several private Good Men Miscarry in the things of this World in which sense things may be said to happen alike to all to the Righteous as to the Wicked yet I dare boldly affirm and challenge any Man to the Truth of the thing that in the many Volumns of the History of the Ages and Kingdoms of the World there is not one Instance to be found where the Hand of God was against a Righteous Nation or where the Hand of God was not against an Unrighteous Nation and where a Just Government perish't or an Unjust Government long prosper'd Kingdoms are rarely as Short lived as Men yet they also have a Time to Die but as Temperance giveth Health to Men so Virtue gives Time to Kingdoms and as Vice brings Men betimes to their Grave so Nations to their Ruin 'T is the Reason given by God himself for the Destruction of those Countries that he gave into the Hands of the Children of Israel They were Full of Uncleanness Adulteries Fornication and other Impieties And though he is Soveraign Lord of the World and may dispose of the Kingdoms therein as pleaseth him for he that gives can take away and he that builds can cast down and Mankind is but a Tenant at Will to receive or surrender at his Lord 's Good Pleasure yet he useth not that Prerogative to Justify his Gift of those Countries to the Jews but at the End of his Prohibition of Unlawful Marriages and Unlawful Lusts he charges them in these words Defile not you your selves in any of these things for in all these the Nations are defiled which I cast out before you And the Land is defiled therefore do I Visit the Iniquity thereof upon it and the Land it self VOMITETH OUT her Inhabitants Ye shall therefore Keep my Statutes and my Judgments and shall not Commit any of these Abominations neither any of your own Nation nor any Stranger that sojourneth among you that the Land Spue not you Out also when ye defile it as it Spued Out the Nations that were before you So Saul's Disobedience was his Destruction and his Sin made Way for David's Title Saul died saith the Sacred Story for his Transgression this made the Philistines Conquerors his own Sins Beat him and Kill'd him Saul died for his Transgression then if he had not sinn'd he had lived he had beaten his Enemies and kept the Kingdom yes the place implies it This then should deter all Men but Kings especially who have so much to lose here and so much to answer for hereafter But what was Saul's Sin It was First not keeping but disobeying the Word of the Lord both as it came by the Mâ—â—th of Samuel God's Prophet and as it spoke the Mind of God to him in his own Conscience for Moses had said before that the word of God was nigh in the Heart and in God's Name commanded the Children of Israel to Obey and Do it In short he refused the Counsel of God and God for his Counsellor For in the Next place he betakes himself to One that had a Familiar Spirit for Advice saith the Story He enquired not of the Lord therefore he Slew him and turned the Kingdom unto David There are too many people troubled with Familiar Spirits it were well if they were less Famiâ—iar with them Had Saul trusted in God he needed not to have been driven to that Straight He that was made King by God's Appointment and endued with a Good Spirit so basely to degenerate as to run to a witch for Counsel To this Darkness and Extremity Iniquity will bring Men. And truly a Wo follows all such persons answerable to that Expression of God by the Prophet Wo unto them that take Counsel and not of me when Saul saith the place was little in his own Eyes God honour'd him he made him Head and King of the Tribes of Israel but when Saul grew Proud God deserted him for his Disobedience destroyed him And what befell the Family of Saul in some After-Ages befell both Kings and People and Worse for their Land was Invaded first by the Aegyptians and then by the Caldeans and Babilonians Their Temple was rifled their Treasures taken and their Kings Princes Nobles Artificers and Mighty Men of Valour yea all save the Poorest of the people were kill'd or carried away Captive by the King of Babilon The Reason rendred is this Because the Kings did that which was Evil in the sight of God and stifned their Necks and hardned their Hearts from turning unto the Lord God of Israel and because the Chief of the Priests and of the People transgressed very much after all the Abominations of the Heathen and when God sent his Messengers to Reprove and Warn them and that out of his Great Compassion they Wickedly Mocked his Messengers Despised his Words and Mis-used his Prophets till his Wrath came upon them I will here End my Instances out of Sacred Story and let us now briefly Consider what the Histories of other places will tell us that we may Observe some Proportion of Agreement in the Providences of God throughout the World The First Empire had Nimrod's Strength and the Wisdom of the Caldeans to establish it and whilst their Prudence and Sobriety lasted they prosper'd No sooner came Voluptuousness then the Empire decayed and was at last by the Base Effeminacies of Sardanapalus in whom that Race ended transfer'd to another Family It was the Policy of an Assyrian King to subdue the Strength of Babylon then under good Discipline not to Invade it with Force but to DEBAUCH it Wherefore he sent in Players Musicians Cooks Harlots c. and by those means introducing Corruption of Manners there was little more to do than to take it Nebuchadnezzar by his Virtue and Industry seen in the Siege of Tyre and in many Great Enterprises recover'd and enlarg'd the Empire and his Discipline those Times consider'd was so Excellent that it was prais'd in Scripture But when he grew Proud and Foolish forgetting that Providence that had shown itself so kind to him he became a
workest Wonders in the Earth whose Power cannot be Control'd in whose Hands are the Souls of Men and the Spirits of all Flesh who canst turn them in a Moment Turn thou the Hearts of King and People unto thee and One unto another Do thou proclaim a FAST FROM SIN throughout these Sinful Kingdoms let Wickedness and Oppression find no place among us Turn away thy Fierce Wrath Wipe away our Reproach and Love us Freely O God for thy dear Son ' s sake THE SECOND PART OF THE Address to Protestants UPON THE Present Conjuncture HAving then finisht the First Part of my Address relating to the Immoralities of the Times and left it with the CIVIL MAGISTRATE as in Conscience I found my self Oblig'd to do whose Peculiar Charge it is and I Earnestly and Humbly desire and pray that it may be his Great Care Effectually to Rebuke them I shall betake my self to the Second Part of this Address that more immediately concerns us as Profest Christians and Protestants But before I begin I desire to premise and can with much Sincerity Declare that I intend not the Reproach of any Person or Party I am weary with seeing so much of it in the World for it gains nothing that is worth keeping but hardens to a Desperateness what 't is our Duty to endeavour to soften But if without Offence I may speak the Truth that which to the best of my Understanding tends to the Present Settlement and Future Felicity of my Poor Country I shall by God's Help deliver my self with that Modesty Plainness and Integrity that becomes a Real Christian and a True English-Man Those Capital Sins and Errors that relate to the ECCLESIASTICAL STATE or Church-Capacity of these Kingdoms and which are so Inconsistant with Christian Religion and purest Protestancy and that above all displease Almighty God are First Making Opinions Articles of Faith at least giving them the Reputation of Faith and making them the Bond of Christian Society Secondly Mistaking the Nature of True Faith and taking that for Faith which is not Gospel-Faith Thirdly Debasing the true Value of Morality under pretence of Higher Things mistaking the very End of Christ's Coming Fourthly Preferring Humane Authority above Reason and Truth Fifthly Propagating Faith by Force and Imposing Religion by Worldly Compulsion These I take to be those Church Evils that have too much infected even these Parts of the reputed Reformed World And though the Roman Church for the most part hath transcended all other Societies in these Errors and may in a sense be said to be the Mother of them She from whom they took Birth by whom they were brought forth and propagated in Christendom yet there hath not been that Integrity to the Nature of Christianity and First Reason of Reformation from Papacy in our own Country as had been and is our Duty to conserve First In that Opinions pass for Faith and are made Articles of Faith and enjoyn'd to be embrac'd as the Bond of Communion That this is so let us take the most impartial View we can and we shall find it to be true both of the National and many other Select Societies That I may be understood in the Signification of the word OPINIONS I explain it thus Opinions are all those Propositions or Conclusions made by Men Doctrines of Faith and Articles of Communion which either are not Expresly laid down in Scripture or not so evidently Deduceable from Scripture as to leave no Reason of Doubt in their Minds of the Truth of them who sincerely and reverently believe the Text or lastly such as have no New or Credible Revelation to avouch them That this is our Case let the several Confessions of Faith published by almost every Party in England be perused and ye will find such Propositions translated into Doctrines of Faith and Articles of Communion as are First not only not Express'd in Scripture but perhaps not Deduceable from Scripture If one Party may be but believ'd against another this will want no Evidence to prove the Point And in the Next place such as are though not Exprest yet it may be Deduceable as to the Matter of them but either carried so high spun so fine or so disguised by Barbarous School-Terms that they are rather a Bone of Contention than a Bond of Concord to Religious Societies Yet this has been the Unhappiness even of this Kingdom after all the Light of Reformation which God hath graciously sent amongst us Men are to be received or rejected for denying or owning of such Propositions Wilt thou be an Episcopalian then Sign the Thirty-Nine Articles Renounce the Covenant and Conform to the Discipline and Jurisdiction of the Church Wilt thou be a Presbyterian Embrace and Keep the Covenant subscribe the Westminster-Confession and Directory and so on to the End of every Society that grounds Communion upon Conformity to such Propositions and Articles What a Stir have we had in England about the poor word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that says it signifies an Higher Office than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall have no part or fellowship with us On t'other hand they that will debase Episcopos to Presbyteros and turn Levellers of Episcopal Dignity shall be Excommunicated silenc'd punish't Is not this Fact can any deny it that love Truth more then a Party The Fire kindled by this Contention hath warm'd the Hands of Violence It had been well if Men had entertain'd Equal Zeal against Impiety and been but half asmuch Enemies to the Sin as they have been against one another If we look a little back we shall find that the Debate of Free-Will Unconditional Reprobation fill'd this Kingdom with Incharitableness and Division In the Arch-Episcopacy of Abbot reputed in himself a Good Man who ever held that Christ died so for all Men that all men might be saved if they would accept the Means and that none were absolutely decreed to Eternal Reprobation waa near akin to Heresie and Excommunicated as an Enemy to the Free Grace of God which it seems lay in being Narrow In the time of Arch-Bishop Land the Tide turns those that hold an Absolute Election and Reprobation without regard had to the Good or Evil Actions of Men and assert that Christ only died for the Elect and not for all must be discountenanc'd displac'd and pointed at as Men out of Fashion though at the same time Conscientious Sober and at worst Mistaken to be pittied rather than prosecuted and informed rather than confounded This Controversie begot the Synod of Dort he that reads the Epistles of that Judicious man J. Hails of Eaton upon the Matter and Conduct of the Assembly will find cause of being sad at Heart too many of them talked of Religion without the Spirit of it Men perhaps Learned in Books but few of the Sticklers gave any great Testimony of their Proficiency in that Science which is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated This Flame kindled
in the Holy Ghost and Christ tells us where it is to be set up The Kingdom of God is within you saith the King himself and where should the King be but in his own Kingdom they are blessed that feel him to Rule and that live under the swaying of his Righteous Scepter for when this Righteous One Rules the Earth the Sons of Men rejoyce So that no Man can truly Confess and rightly Believe Jesus to be the Christ and Son of God that do's not receive him to be his King to rule his Heart Affections For can a Man be said to believe in one that he will not receive but To as many as received Christ of Old gave he Power to become the Sons of God which were born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the will of Man but of God What is this will of God Paul answers the Question The Will of God is your Sanctification for this Christ came into the World So that those that believe and receive Christ he is made to them Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption that is he has saved them from their Sins Guilt and Defilement and sanctified them from their Corruptions they live now by the Grace of God that teaches them to be of a Sober Righteous Godlike Life Ye shall know them by their Fruits saith Christ of the Pharisees so shall Men know them that sincerely believe confess Christ by their sanctified Manners and Blameless Conversations And wo to them that make other Distinctions for God has made no other there will be but Goats and Sheep at the Last Day Holy and Unholy Just and Unjust Therefore let that be our Distinction which ever was and will be God's Distinction for all other Measures are the Effects of the Passions and Presumptions of Men. But because it may be expected that I should fix upon some few General Heads of Christian Doctrine from the Mouth of Christ and his Apostles as requisite to Christian Communion I shall proceed to mention what Christ eminently taught He that reads his Sermon upon the Mount will find in the Entrance how many States and Conditions Christ Blessed The Poor in Spirit The Mourners The Meek They that hunger after Righteousness The Merciful The Pure in Heart and the Peace-makers which indeed Comprehend the whole of Christianity By Mourners we understand true Penitents Men of Unfeigned Repentance which leads them not only to Confess but Forsake their Sins This Godly Sorrow makes Men Poor in Spirit Empty of themselves wanting the Light Life and Power of Jesus to support and sustain them in which as they sted fastly walk the Attonement of the Blood is felt and it cleanseth them from all Unrighteousness which makes them Pure in Heart And in this Condition no Food will serve their Turn but Righteousness after this they Hunger and Thirst more than for the Bread that perisheth They are full of Meekness and Mercy Making Peace and Promoting Concord where-ever they come For being themselves reconciled to God they endeavour to reconcile all Men unto God and one unto another In short let us bring it home to our Consciences and deal faithfully with our selves Do we know this Holy Mourning this Godly Sorrow are we Poor in Spirit not Self-conceited but Humble Meek and Lowly in Heart like him that bid us be so Do we Hunger after the Kingdom of God and Righteousness of it and are our Hearts purified by the Precious Faith of the Son of God Infine Are we Merciful Tender-hearted Lovers of Peace more than lovers of our selves Persecuted rather than Persecutors such as receive Stripes for Christ's sake and not those that beat our Fellow-Servants No Man has true Faith in Christ Jesus that is not acquainted with these Blessed Qualifications This is Christ's Doctrine and to believe in him is to obey it and be like him The great Intendment of this Sermon is to press people to a more Excellent Righteousness than that of the Scribes and Pharisees For saith Jesus to the Multitude Except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no Case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 1. He taught not only that Killing but Anger without a very Just Cause is Unlawful to his Disciples 2. he prefers Concord above Devotion Mercy before Sacrifice He that will not use his Utmost Endeavour to be reconciled to his Brother shall find no place for his Prayers And Every Man is this Brother 3. He not only forbids Adultery which the Law forbids but Lust the Ax of his Doctrine is laid to the Root of the Tree it reaches to the First Seeds of things to the Innermost and most hidden Conceptions of the Mind 4. From Keeping and Performing Legal Vows to not Swearing at all and indeed what Use can there be of any Swearing where Mens Yea is Yea and their Nay Nay 5. He taught Not to resist Evil but to suffer Loss rather than enter into Contention his Divine Wisdom did fore-see how much easier it would be to Overcome the Violent Passions of Men by Patience than Controversie And he that considers the Unruliness of some Mens Dispositions their Heats and Prejudices it will be found that it is not alwayes a Real Injury or Loss but Passion Revenge or Base Interest that sets them to Sutes and Clamours 6. He taught us the Highest Complesance and Charity If any Man compel thee to go a Mile go with him â—wain Be of an Easie and Ready Mind to Do Good and to all Friendly Offices be easily perswaded and in which rather exceed than fall snort 7. He taught as great Liberality and Charity to give to him that asks and from him that would borrow not to turn away in short to be Stewards of our External Substance for the Good of Mankind according to our Respective Abilities 8. He advances the Doctrine of Loving Friends to the Degree of Loving Enemies Ye have heard said Jesus that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and shalt hate thine Enemy but I say unto you Love your Enemies bless them that Curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despightfully use you and persecute you Surely then where no Anger dwells no Revenge can grow and if we must love Enemies there is no Man left to be hated This is the Doctrine of that Jesus that laid down his Life for all and this is the End for which he preached it That sayes he ye may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth Rain on the Just and on the Unjust It is as much as if Christ had said No Man can be like God that does not Love his Enemies and who cannot do good to all Consequently he that does Love Enemies and is ready to Do good unto all he
of Rebellious Servants he that has not the Wedding Garment must be cast out the Branch that brings not forth Fruit will be cut off But those that truly believe in his Name walk in his Light and are taught by his Grace to renounce the Lusts of the Eye the Lusts of the Flesh and Pride of Life the Unjust Profits Pleasures and Pomps of this World and chuse to follow him in his own Holy Way of Regeneration the same is his Brother his Sister and his Mother And whatever Losses they may sustain for his Names sake they have the Promise of an Hundred fold here and the Inheritance of Everlasting Life And I do fervently beseech Almighty God the Giver of all Saving Faith mercifully to Vouchsafe more and more to beget a Serious Enquiry in us What that Eaith is which we have who is the Author of it and what Fruits it hath brought forth that we may not prophane the Name of God by a Vain Profession of it nor abuse our selves unto Eternal Perdition But that we may endeavour by God's Assistance to approve our selves such Believers as sincerely fear God love Righteousness and hate every Eyil Way as becomes the Redeemed of God by the pretious Blood of his Son Since therefore we are not our own but the Lord's who hath bought us with that Great Price let us glorifie him in our Bodies in our Souls and in our Spirits which are his Then shall we be Children of Abraham indeed Heirs of the Promises partakers of that Resurrection and Life that Immortality and Glory which God the Righteous Judge will one Day plentifully distribute to them that abide in this pretious Faith unto the End This naturally brings me to my Third Head and an Unhappiness we have long labour'd under to wit A Debasing of the true Value of MORALITY under pretence of Higher Things mistaking the very End of Christ's Coming By MORALITY I understand Vertuous Living Purity of Manners that Justice Temperance Truth Charity and Blamelesness in Conversation which may well Denominate the Man that lives that Life a MAN JUST in short one that does unto all men as he would have all Men do unto him this is the Moral Man It is Notorious how small an Estimate Two sorts of people have put upon him the Prophane and the Professors the Publican and the Pharisee The First despise him as too Squeamish Nice and Formal they deride his Regularity and make a Jest of his Preciseness And thinking No Man can be good because they are Nought and that all must needs fall by those Temptations they will not resist they construe Sobriety to be a Trick to decoy Mankind and put a Cheat upon the World If they hear any one say Such a Man is a Sober and Just Person They have learned by themselves to call him Knave that he has a Design upon some body by being Just in little things to Cheat in things of more Moment This Man is very Unfashionable among Men of Immoral Principles for his very Looks and Life carry a Reproof with them upon Vitious Men who as if Virtue were their Common Enemy are in Combination against the Lovers and Entertainers of her Because such true Virtuosâ— will neither do the Ill things they would have them nor flatter them in the Ills they do and therefore where Ill Men have the Power Good Men are sure to be made the Common Enemy But the Reproaches that Men of Morality receive at the Hands of Lewd Men are more their Honour than their Suffering But that which is most of all Anxious is that Morality is denyed to be Christianity that Virtue has any Claim to Grace and that those who glory to be called Christians can be so Partial and Cruel as to renounce a meer Just Man their Society and send him preaching among the Heathen for Damnation And pray what 's the Matter Why though this Person be a sober Liver yet he is but a General Believer his Faith is at large 'T is true he believes in God but I hear little of his Faith in Christ Very well Does he not therefore believe in Christ or must he therefore be without the Pale of Salvation Is it possible that a Man can truly believe in God and be damned But as he that believes in Christ believes in God so he that believes in God believes in Christ For he that believes on him that raised up Jesus from the Dead his Faith shall be imputed to him for Righteousness And says Christ himself He that believeth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath Everlasting Life Has he that believes in God no Interest in this Expression But more particular is that place of the Apostle to the Hebrews viz. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Diligent Rewarder of them that seek him Now. if those who so belieâ—e can come to God the Moral Man's Condition is not Dangerous even in the strictest sense of the Word not only such as have a General Faith of Christianity and never adhered to any particular Party a Sense we shall anon consider but even those who never heard the History of Christ nor had a distinct Knowledge of him as we profess him For it seems a most-unreasonable thing that Faith in God and keeping his Commandments should be no Part of the Christian Religion but if a Part it be as upon serious Reflection who dare deny it then those before and since Christ's time who never had the External Law nor History yet have done the things contained in the Law their Consciences not Accusing nor Hearts Condemning but excusing them before God are in some degree concern'd in the Character of a true Christian For Christ himself preach'd and kept his Father's Commandments he came to fulfil and not to destroy the Law and that not only in his own Person but that the Righteousness of the Law might be also fulfilled in us Let us but soberly consider What Christ is and we shall the better know whether Moral Men are to be reckoned Christians What is Christ but Meekness Justice Mercy Patience Charity and Virtue in Perfection can we then deny a Meek Man to be a Christian a Just a Merciful a Patient a Charitable and a Virtuous Man to be like Christ By me Kings reign and Princes decree Justice saith Wisdom yea the Wisdom that is from above see Prov. 8. 15. so may I say here By Christ men are Meek Just Merciful Patient Charitable and Virtuous And Christians ought to be distinguished by their likeness to Christ and not their Notions of Christ by his Holy Qualifications rather than their own Lofty Professions and Invented Formalities What shall we say then of that Extravagancy which those Men are guilty of who upon hearing a sober Man commended that is not of any great Visible Profession will take upon them to cast him off with this Sentence Tush he is
Deceit is irrepairable Again since Mankind is a reasonable Creature and that the more reasonable he is in his Religion the nearer to his own being he comes and to the Wisdom and Truth of his Creator that did so make him a Religion without Reason Imposed by an unaccountable Authority against Reason Sense and Conviction cannot be the Religion of the God of Truth and Reason for it is not to be thought that he requires any thing that carries any violence upon the Nature of his Creature or that gives the Lye to that Reason or Sence which he first endow'd him with In short Either Convince my understanding by the Light of Truth and Power of Reason or bear down my Infidelity with the force of Miracles for not to give me Understanding or Faith and to press a submission that requires both is most unreasonable But if there were no other Augument then this it goes a great way with me that as to such as have their understanding at liberty if they are mistaken there may be hopes of reclaiming by Informing them but where the Understanding and Conscience are enslav'd to Authority and where Men make it a Principal Doctrine to suspect their own Sense and strive against their own Convictions to move only by other mens Breath and fall down to their Conclusions nothing seems to be left for the soundest Arguments clearest Truths to work upon They had almost need to be re Created in order to be converted for who can reasonably endeavour to make him a Christian that is not a Man which he cannot be truly said to be who has no understanding or resolves not to use it but reject it which is yet worse for he that has no understanding has no prejudice against it but he that purposely denys abuses it is so much worse as that he turns Enemy to him that has and uses his understanding He therefore can never be convinced oâ— his Error who is prejudiced against the necessary means of Conviction which is the use of his Understanding without which 't is impossible he should ever be Convinced To Conclude I have reserved till last one Argument which is ad hominem unanswerable by us Protestants and without yielding to which we cannot be consistent with our selves or be thought to do unto others what we would have others do unto us and that is this The Translation of the Scripture was the painful work of our worthy Ancestors This I call their most solemn Appeal to the People against the Pope and Traditions of Rome in the business of their Separation For when the question rose of the divine Authority of this or the other Practice in the Doctrine or Worship of the Roman Church presently they recur'd to the Scriptures and therefore made them speak English that they might witness for them to the people This appeal to the People in defence of their Separation by making them Judges of their proceeding against the Church according to the Testimony of the holy Scriptures puts every man in possession of them Search the Scriptures say the first Protestants Prove all things see if what we say against Pope Church of Rome be not true and in case any difficulty did arise they exhorted all to wait upon God for the divine aid of his Spirit to illuminate their understandings that one should not impose upon the other but commend them to God be Brotherly Patient Long suffering ready to help the Weak inform the Ignorant shew tenderness to the Mistaken and with reason and moderation to gain the Obstinate In short Protestancy is a restoring to every man his just right of Inquiry and Choice and to its honour be it ever spoken there is greater likelihood of finding Truth where all have Liberty to seek after it then where it is denyed to all but a few Grandees and those too as short sighted as their Neighbours But now let us Protestants examine if we have not departed from this Sobriety this Christian Temperance how comes it that we who have been forgiven much have our selves fallen upon our sellow Servants who yet owe us nothing have not we refused them this reasonable choice have we not threatned beaten and imprisoned them Pray Consider have you not made Creeds set Bounds to Faith form'd and regulated a Worship and strictly enjoyn'd all mens obedience by the help of the Civil Power upon pain of great Sufferings which have not been spared to Dissenters though in Common Renouncers and Protestors with you against the Pope Church of Rome for this the Land mourns Heaven is displeas'd and all is out of due course To give us the Scriptures and knock our Fingers for taking them to Translate them that we may read them and punish us for endeavouring to understand and use them as well as we can both with respect to God and our Neighbour 't is very unreasonable upon our Protestant Principles I wish we could see the mischief we draw upon our selves which is worse our cause for the Papist in this case acts according to his Principle but we against our Principle which shews indeed that we have the better Religion but that we also are more condemnable For if we will consider it seriously we shall find it not much more injurious to Scripture Truth and good Conscience that we believe as the Church believes then that we believe as the Church says the Scripture would have us believe For where is the difference since I am not allowed to use my understanding about the Sense of Scripture any more then about the Faith of the Church and if I must not receive any thing for Faith or Worship from Scripture but what is handed to me by the Church or her Clergy I see my self in as ill terms as if I had sat down with the old Doctrine of believing as the Church believes And had the Controversie been only for the Word Scripture without the use and application of it for at this rate that is all that is left us truly the enterprise of our Fathers had been weak and unadvised but because nothing less was intended by them and that the Translation of the Scripture was both the Appeal and Legacy of those Protestant Ancestors for the reasons before mention'd I must conclude we are much degenerated from the simplicity of Primitive Protestancy and need to be admonisht of our Backslidings and I heartily pray to Almighty God that he would quicken us by his present Mercies and Providences to return to our first Love Let the Scripture be free Sober Opinion tolerated Good â—ife cherisht Vice punisht away with Imposition Nick-Names Animosities for the Lord's sake and let Holy Writ be our Common Creed and Pious Living the Test of Christianity that God may please to perfect the good work he has begun and deliver us from all our Enemies I am now come to the last point and that is PROPAGATION of FAITH by FORCE In which I shall with the
themselves upon every little Affront should oppose their Lives to Utmost Peril and not find in their Heart so much as to Rebuke the Indignities daily put upon Heaven is an Ill Proof of Zeal and Religion But as Insensible as such are of their Duty God is not wanting to his own Glory he has forbidden these thihgs let Men disobey at their Peril Ye shall not Swear by my Name falsly saith God neither shalt thou Prophane the Name of thy God I am the LORD Hear O ye Swearers the Judgment of God has denounc'd against you Every One that Sweareth shall be Cut off how Cut off FROM GOD Again The Land is full of Adulteries and because of Swearing the Land Mourneth Behold the Whirl-wind of the Lord shall heavily fall upon the Head of the Wicked To this I shall add a Brief Reflection upon that Pernicious Sin of PROPHANENESS so near a kin to Oaths and Blasphemy Such is the Degeneracy of the Age we are fallen into that Prophaneness does not only go Unpunisht but boldly lays Claim to Wit and fills the Conversation of too many of those that think themselves rais'd above the Genius of the Vulgar He is reputed Formal that will not be Rude to Sacred Things and a Man Insipid of no Sence or Salt who cannot Jeer Devotion And which is strange they make the Bible a sort of Common Place but 't is for Mockery not for Piety The Phrases they use are pick't to Abuse that Holy Book and that Prophaneness is placed to the Account of Wit But truly if Men must Rallie Religion at the Peril of passing else for Fools and Abuse Scripture to purge themselves from the suspition of Reverencing it there is here an Unhappiness in being Conscientious and on the side of this World the Temptation to be Prophane is stronger than the Encouragement to be Virtuous For this is my Soul grieved that Men should use their Wit to Abuse him that gave it them and that though there is more to be said for Religion than there can be said against it both with Respect to its Reasonableness and Usefulness and that the Hazard of being Irreligious is incomparably greater on the part of these Atheistical Scoffers than of Men professing to fear God and believe another World they would yet be so Constant and Obstinate in their loose and lewd Conversation But if the Prophaning of the least thing that was Dedicated to the Worship of God in the Times of the Law was so Hainous a Sin what should we say when men â—tick not to Prophane the Name of God himself and scoff at his Revealed Will so much Greater than either Temple or Altar or any of those Rites belonging unto them And to you all that live in the Practice of these Crying Sins I have at this time insisted upon this I say unto you in the Fear of God REPENT OF THE EVIL OF YOUR DOINGS Bring not down the Judgments of God upon this Land they may be the Affliction of many but they will be your Punishment ye shall pay the Reckoning of their Sufferings in the other World and God will charge you with the Calamity that they shall Endure Remember before it is too late Dreadful Things are denounced against the Wicked Therefore go not on to Gratifie your Hearts Lusts and to forget the Living God for this shall be the End of such Works that God will certainly bring you to Judgment And who may Abide the Day of that Coming and who shall stand when he appears No Flesh can stand in his Presence Consider the Awakening Saying of the Apostle That the Righteous scarcely are saved and if so Where shall the Ungodly where shall the Wretched Sinner appear How shall such be able to hold up their Heads in the Day of his Wrath in the Hour of his Judgment at that Great Time of Reckoning when a Final Account shall be past when all must render an Account of the Deeds they have done and receive the Reward due unto them Therefore while it is to day harden not your Hearts against God and his Law flatter not your selves To be Christians ye must be like Christ and if ye will be Sav'd from Wrath ye must be Redeem'd from Sin Encrease not therefore Guilt upon your Consciences by Rebelling against the Light that shines in them but lay your Impieties to Heart mourn with true Contrition of Soul and yet love Righteousness and hate Iniquity and ye will prevent the Civil Magistrate and probably avert the Indignation of God that hangs over the Nation Having thus ended my Reflections upon the Five great Crying Sins of the Kingdom and my Reproof of the Actors and Promoters of them give me leave to make my Humble and Christian Address to you that are in Authority And in the First place I beseech you to remember that though ye are as Gods on Earth yet ye shall Dye like Men that ye are Encompass'd with like Passions and are subject to Sin Such therefore of you as may be concern'd in any of these Enormities to what-ever Degree of Guilt it be I beg you in the Name of God to search your selves and to be Just to your own Souls O! let the Mercies and Providences of God constrain you to Unfeigned Repentance Turn to the Lord Love Righteousness Hate Oppression and he will turn to you and love you and bless you In the Next place be pleased to consider your Commission and examine the Extent of your Authority ye will find that God and the Government hath impower'd you to punish these Impieties and it is so far from being a Crime that it is your Duty This is not troubling Men for Faith nor perplexing People for Tenderness of Conscience for there can be no Pretence of Conscience to be Drunk to Whore to be Voluptuous to Game to Swear Curse Blaspheme and Prophane no such Matter these are Sins against Nature and against Government as well as against the Written Laws of God They lay the Ax to the Root of Humane Society and are the Common Enemies of Mankind 't was to prevent these Enormities that Government was instituted and shall Government Indulge that which it is Instituted to Destroy this were to render Magistracy Useless and the Bearing of the Sword Vain there would be then no such thing in Government as A Terror to Evil-Doers but every one would do that which he thought Right in his own Eyes God Almighty defend us from this Anarchy There are Three Great Reasons which inforce my Supplication The First is The Preservation of the Government which by such Improvidence and Debauchery is like to be greatly Weakened if not Destroyed The Industry Wealth Health and Authority of the Nation are Deeply concern'd in the Speedy and Exemplary Punishment of these Extravagancies This is the Voice of Interest for the Common Good of the Whole Society Rulers and Ruled But there is an Higher Voice unto which Christian Men ought to have Regard