promises made He saith not Unto seeds as of many but as of one And to thy seed which is Christ. I say till Christ who was the promised Seed and typified by Isaac came the carnal Posterity of Abraham descending from Isaac and Iacob were the Typical Israel and God's peculiar People and visible Church on Earth and all this while God never wholly cast them off but when Christ came then the Promise was established to the spiritual Seed of Abraham those who are the Children of Abraham by Faith in Christ as the Apostle proves in the same place 〈◊〉 7 8 9. and in several other places And this is the Answer which the Apostle gives to that terrible Objection against Christs being the Messias and God's owning the Christian Church for his peculiar and elect People as formerly he did the Iews that then God's Promise to Abraham and his Seed fails His Answer is That the Promise to Abraham and his Seed was meant of Christ and his spiritual Seed those who are the Children of Abraham by Faith in Christ as he proves at large in the 9 10 11 Chapters to the Romans though he gives another answer to this too That though the Promises do no longer belong to Abraham's carnal Seed yet God so far remembers his Covenant with Abraham and his carnal Seed that he has not wholly cast them off but will in time engraft them into his Church again by Faith in Christ For out of Sion shall come the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Iacob But I cannot enlarge on this now To apply this then to the times of the Gospel We certainly learn from God's Care of the Iewish Church that God will always preserve and protect the Christian Church that the true Faith of Christ and his true and sincere Worshippers shall never wholly fail in the World as Christ promises That the gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church for God established an everlasting Covenant with Abraham and his Seed that is with Christ and the Christian Church who are the true spiritual Seed of Abraham to whom the Promises belong and if God so punctually performed his Promise to the carnal Seed of Abraham while they were to be his visible Church that is until Christ came who was the promised Seed we learn by that Example how he will protect defend and support the Christian Church to the end of the World till Christ the promised Seed return again to Judge the World to put an end to all Things and to receive his Church into the Kingdom of his Father To this we owe the Continuance and Preservation of the Christian Church to this Day amidst all the Dangers which have threatned its final Ruin when the Church is tossed on the foaming Billows of this World like the Ship into which Christ and his â—…isciples entred 8. Matth. 23 24 25. â—…hen there arose a great tempest in the â—…a insomuch that the ship was covered â—…ith the waves and Christ was asleep â—…nd his disciples came to him and awoke â—…im saying Lord save us we perish And he saith unto them Why are ye so â—…earful O ye of little faith then he â—…rose and rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm This was a Figure and Emblem of the condition the Church is very often in in this World for most of our Saviour's Miracles had some spiritual significations in them His curing the Halt and Blind and Lame and Deaf represented his Diviner Power in curing the Diseases and Distempers of our Souls in making the Blind to see and the Deaf to hear and the Lame to walk and therefore when he cured the Man that was born blind he turned his Discourse to spiritual Blindness 9. Ioh. 39 40 41. When he had fed that great Multitude with a few Loaves and small Fishes he discourses to them of that Bread that comes down from Heaven and will nourish them unto Eternal Life and which he only could give them 6. Iohn When he discoursed with Martha about raising her Brother Lazarus from the Dead he preaches to her his Divine Power to raise dead Souls as well as dead Bodies into immortal Life 11. Iohn 25 26. When the Disciples at Christ's command had cast their Net into the Sea after having toiled all night and taken nothing and encompassed a great multitude of Fishes he tells them the meaning of it that he would make them Fishers of Men. Thus here Christ's rebuking the Wind and Sea which were ready to swallow up the Ship wherein he and his Disciples were is a Figure of the State of the Church in this World and of his readiness to Protect it How threatning soever the Dangers are Christ is in the Ship and all the Powers of the World how much soever they rage and foam can never swallow up that Ship wherein Christ is unless they can swallow Him up too and though he may seem to be asleep and to take no notice of the Sufferings and Dangers of his Church yet the importunate Prayers and Cries of his Disciples will awake him and then he will arise to their defence and hush the Winds and Seas into a Calm This the Church had frequent exâ—…erience of under the Pagan Persecuâ—…ons which raged with Fire and â—…word and all the witty Arts of Cruâ—…lty when nothing would serve but â—…he final Extirpation of the Name of Christians But how often did Christ â—…ebuke the Wind and Sea and restore profound Peace and Rest to his Church What a glorious Triumph did he give his Church over the last and most terrible Efforts of the Pagan Powers when he raised Constantine into the Throne and made the Empire Christian And this is a very comfortable Consideration to us at this time The Protestant Churches which profess the Pure and Uncorrupt Faith and Worship of Christ as to all the essentials of Faith and Worship have now for many Years groaned under the Antichristian Tyranny and Persecutions and now at last and I hope it may be the last as it is the most terrible Insult of the Antichristian Powers a Great and mighty Prince bends his whole Force to root out the Protestant Name as well as to Usurp upon the Liberties of Europe What he has done in his own Country and where-ever his Power and Influence reached I need not tell you From some of his Subjects he has forced away their Faith others to keep their Faith have lost their Estates their Liberty their Country their Lives What danger we were in at Home we all saw and felt not long since though some Men would now perswade us it was but a Dream but it was a very terrible Dream if it was one and thanks be to God that we are awakened out of it and may we never fall into such frightful Slumbers more or rather let us neither be lulled asleep nor dream awake lest these frightful Dreams prove Realities at last For should that mighty Monarch
had setled the Ark at Ierusalem and made that City the place of God's House and of Religious Worship and the Seat of Justice and Judgment There was the House of God verse 9. that is though the Temple was not yet built if this Psalm was composed by David as the Title of it signifies it was yet there was the Tabernacle and the Ark of God which formerly was in Shiloh and afterwards removed from one place to another till David setled it in Ierusalem Thither all the Tribes of Israel were to resort three times a year to worship God before the Ark of the Testimony 4 ver There was the Imperial Seat where David had built his Throne and Palace and where his Posterity were to dwell and govern Israel and therefore it was the Seat of Justice too as that must be where the Kings Throne and the House of God was placed There are set thrones of judgment the thrones of the house of David 5. ver These were the peculiar Privileges of Ierusalem above any other City in Iury. This was the reason of that peculiar affection and passionate concern which David had himself and exhorts all others to express for Ierusalem that he greatly rejoiced to go thither and to continue there I was glad when they said unto me Let us go into the house of the Lord our feet shall stand within thy gates Ó Ierusalem That he exhorts all people to pray for the peace and prosperity of Ierusalem and promises a Blessing to those who love it as it is in my Text Pray for the peace of Ierusalem they shall prosper that love thee peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces All this was not for the sake of the material Buildings the beauty of the place or the conveniency of its scituation but because it was the Center of Unity Which is builded as a City that is compact together whither the Tribes go up the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord 3. 4. ver Which shews in what respect he commends Ierusalem that it is built as a City which is compact together not with regard to the Uniformity and regular Order and Union of its material Buildings but that it was the Center of a Religious Unity and Order in Worship where all the Tribes of Israel met and united in the same Acts of Worship and Praise to God There was the House of God there were the set Thrones of Judgment So that to Love Ierusalem to Pray for the Peace and Prosperity of it is to love the House the Worship the Name of God to love and pray for the Unity Happiness and Prosperity of the Church for the flourishing State of Religion and the peaceful Opportunities of Worshipping God in his Holy Temple together with the equal and impartial Administration of Justice which is so much for the Publick Good to promote the Temporal and Eternal Happiness of Men that our Love to Mankind but especially our Love to the Brethren as well as our Zeal for God's Glory and Worship requires this of us For my Brethren and Companions sake I will now say Peace be within thee Because of the House of the LORD our GOD I will seek thy good v. 8 9. Thus I have given you a very plain and easy Exposition of this whole Psalm and therein have sufficiently Explained my Text. I have but one thing more to add to make way for my intended Discourse and that is to shew you that this Exhortation does directly and not merely by Accommodation and Analogy concern Us as well as it did the Iews For Ierusalem was but a Type of the Christian Church as the carnal Israel or the carnal Seed and Posterity of Abraham were of true and sincere Christians who are the Children of Abraham by Faith in Christ And therefore St. Paul expresly distinguishes between the earthly Ierusalem and the Ierusalem which descends from above 4. Gal. 25 26. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Ierusalem which now is and is in bondage with her Children but Ierusalem which is above or from above that is the Christian Church is free which is the Mother of us all Which in 12. Heb. 22. he calls Mount Sion the city of the living GOD the heavenly Ierusalem And 3. Rev. 12. it is called The city of GOD the new Ierusalem which cometh down out of heaven from GOD. And 21. Rev. 2. The new Ierusalem coming down out of heaven from GOD prepared as a bride adorned for her husband Which is a Description of the most reformed and purified state of the Christian Church on Earth So that this Exhortation To Pray for the Peace of Ierusalem does most properly belong to Christians because the Christian Church is the true Ierusalem the new the holy Ierusalem descending out of Heaven from GOD v. 10. By this time I suppose you understand the meaning of my Text and how much we are concerned in it and there are two parts observable in the words 1. The Duty to Pray for the Peace of Ierusalem or of the Christian Church Peace be within thy Walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces 2. The Encouragement to this They shall prosper that love thee It is the first of these I shall at present speak to The Duty to Pray for the Peace of Ierusalem wherein I shall consider two things 1. What we must Pray for 2. How necessary Prayer is to obtain these Blessings I. What we must pray for Peace and Prosperity Peace be within thy Walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces Now the Peace of the Church signifies two things 1. The Unity and Agreement of Christians among themselves 2. The Preservation of the Church from external Oppressions and Persecutions 1. The Unity and Agreement of Christians among themselves When they profess the same Faith and join in the same Worship when they love like Brethren and have a tender affection and sympathy for each other as Members of the same Body This all Christians confess to be a great and necessary Duty and pretend to lament the many scandalous Dissentions and Divisions of the Christian Church This I am sure that though Divisions and Dissentions are destructive to all Societies yet there is no Society suffers so much by it as the Christian Church This destroys Love and Charity which is the true Spirit of the Gospel and the Badge and Cognizance of our Profession By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another This turns the Christian Church into a School of wrangling Disputes and makes men more concerned what they believe than how they live this gives great offence to the World representing the Christian Faith as very doubtful and uncertain and Christianity it self as a great Disturber of the Peace of Mankind this overthrows all Government and Discipline in the Church and makes its Censures despised and scorned when the most
is vain and fruitless for there is no Medium to unite in The only way to Peace is to silence all these Disputes as matters which Mankind will never agree about and wherein Religion is no more concerned than the Government of Kingdoms or States and on which the Salvation of our Souls no more depends than the conduct of our Secular Affairs or the preservation of this Mortal Life For the dispute about Decrees Predestination God's Power over our Wills how God and Creatures produce the same Effect what belongs to God and what belongs to the Creature in every Action since in him we live and move concerns every thing else as well as Religion and yet in all other cases men let Philosophers dispute these Points and quietly go about their Business and do what is fit to be done as if there were no Controversy about these matters and I cannot imagine why they should not do so in Religion too Believe what is plainly taught and do what is commanded use the greatest Wisdom and our utmost diligence in doing good and depend upon the succours of the Divine Grace and leave these Disputes to be decided at the day of Judgment and that will decide them all By this means I am sure most of the Disputes among Protestants which have given the greatest Disturbance to the Church would be for ever silenced and Christian Religion would not be clogged nor reproached with such Philosophical Controversies 2ly The Unity of Communion and that consists in our worshipping God together when we resort to the same Church to offer up our united Prayers and Thanksgivings to God and to partake of that holy Supper which is the Sacrament and Symbol of our Union to Christ and to each other and this indeed is true Church-Unity and it is greatly to be lamented that men who profess the same Faith and agree in all the Essentials of Worship should divide Communion and refuse to Pray together and to Feast at the same holy Table of our Lord. We cannot indeed Communicate with the Church of Rome because they have corrupted the very Essentials of Christian Worship Most men do not understand their Prayers and therefore cannot joyn in Prayer with them they worship Images and Pictures which is expresly forbidden by the second Commandment Instead of praying to God in the Name of our only Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ they have joyned other Intercessors with him pray to Saints and Angels and the Virgin Mary to pray for them and help them They worship the Host which we believe to be nothing but Bread and Wine as to the substance and therefore no Object of Worship and turn the Sacramental Feast of Christ's Body and Blood into a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead Such a Worship as this we dare not joyn in because it is Sinful and Idolatrous But the case is quite different among Protestants they pray to the same God in the only Name of the same Lord Jesus Christ put up the same Petitions offer the same Thanksgivings and Praises observe the same Divine Institutions without any essential change and alteration and yet cannot worship God together as if it were an impious thing to put up the same Prayers and to offer the same Praises to God in a pious and grave and well-composed Form of Words which others do it may be not so well and decently in their conceived Prayers as if the Devotion of the Communicant in receiving so inestimable a Blessing as the Sacramental Body and Blood of Christ upon his knees were a prophanation of that Holy Feast as if a white Linnen-Garment which never underwent any Religious Conjurations and is used only as a decent Habit without any opinion of its Virtue or Sanctity were a just reason to drive men out of the Church from the Christian Communion of Prayers and Sacraments These would be surprizing stories to any Christians in the World who had never heard before of such Disputes among us Pray give me leave to speak my mind freely upon this occasion Upon the best and most impartial Inquiries and Observations I can make I do in my Conscience believe the Church of England to be the most Apostolical and best Reformed Church in the World I see no reason from the nature of things to make any material Alterations in her Doctrine or Worship and therefore I confess it has given me very just Resentments to hear our Church charged with such unjust Imputations of Popery Superstition Idolatry Will-worship and what not and to see a blind and furious Zeal ready to raze up the very Foundations of it It has often grieved me to see such a Church as this rent and torn by Schisms which a man of ordinary prudence might easily foresee would give great advantage to the common Enemy of the Protestant Faith This and the care of mens Souls and of their temporal Fortunes too moved several Divines of this Church when the Government thought fit to re-enforce the Laws of Uniformity to examine and answer all the Arguments of our Dissenting Brethren which they performed with that good Temper with that perswasiveness and strength of Argument as will be a Vindication of our Church to future Ages and I wish it may upon second thoughts have yet a better effect upon those who were not then perswaded and this I suppose will not be called Persecution much less can the many kind Offices they did in keeping off Ecclesiastical Censures be called a Persecution And yet after all when it is so apparent that Prejudices are grown as obstinate as they are unreasonable when not the reason of the thing but the weakness of some and the ill designs of others require some compliance and condescension we have reason to hope that the CHURCH of ENGLAND which at the beginning of the Reformation took such prudent are not to offend the Papist by going farther from them than was necessary will whenever it is likely to do good condescend a great deal farther than it is necessary to Reform to meet the Dissenter for while the external Decency Gravity and Solemnity of Worship is secured no wise and good Man will think much to change a changeable Ceremony when it will heal the Breaches and Divisions of the Church and let us all heartily Pray to GOD that there may be this good and peaceable Disposition of Mind in all Conformists and Non-conformists towards a happy Re-union and all considering Men will think it time to lay aside such little Disputes when it is not merely the Church of England nor any particular Sect of Protestants whose Ruin is aimed at but the whole Protestant FAITH 3ly Another kind of Unity is Love and Charity and a mutual forbearance This I confess is a very difficult thing when the Dispute runs so high as to divide Christian Communion for it seems in effect to declare Men to be Heathens and Publicans when we refuse to Worship GOD with them and few Men can
bear this when so dear an Interest is concerned as the Salvation of their Souls And the truth is that Forbearance St. Paul so often mentions was to preserve Men of different attainments and different apprehensions in the Unity of the Church not to countenance their Schisms and Separations But yet since we are fallen into such unhappy Circumstances that a great many Men whom we have reason to hope are in other respects very good Christians and such as our common Saviour will receive with all their Infirmities are involved in a Schism let us still treat them as Christian Brethren pay all that Kindness and Respect to them which is due to the Members of Christ to the Children of the same Father and the Heirs of the same Promises The good Order and Government and the wholesome Laws and Constitutions of a Church must not be presently Sacrificed to the Scruples of every good but it may be ignorant and indiscreet Christian but yet in our Treatment of them we must consider whether we have not reason to think that Christ will own them with all their Faults and if we have reason to believe that Christ will own them we ought also to own them and pay such Kindness to them as is due to all sincere Christians tho under some Mistakes Now I am very confident after all the Heats that have been between the Church of England and Dissenters neither of them will Damn each other upon account of such Differences as are between them no Church of England-man will say that to Pray Extempore to Baptize without the Sign of the Cross to Officiate without a Surplice to Receive the Sacrament Sitting are damning Sins and I believe there are very few if any of our Dissenters that will say That the contrary Practise is Damning and then there may be good Christians on both sides and those who are so ought to love one another as Members of the same Body of CHRIST though divided in their external Communion by some unhappy Differences Schism indeed we do say is a damning Sin but there may be Divisions where there is not always the guilt and formality of Schism and we hope this is the Case of all good Men who separate from the Church through some invincible Prejudices and Prepossessions This shews what great reason we have to love one another notwithstanding such dividing Disputes but if we would practise this true Christian Charity we must take care that these Differences do not grow up into personal Hatreds and Animosities Mens Opinions and Practices may differ and while they dispute fairly they may be Friends still but when Self-love Honour Reputation and Interest is engaged in the Quarrel this makes the Enmity mortal and they must Ruin one another though they both fall together This I am sure is not the Zeal which descends from above which is pure and peaceable gentle and easy to been treated 2. The Peace of the Church signifies its Preservation from the Oppression and Persecution of its Enemies For the Church never wants Enemies though their Power be not always equal and this I presume I need not perswade you to Pray for for you are all sensible what an advantage this is There is none of you would choose Racks and Tortures a Gibbet or a Stake these are grievous things to Flesh and Blood the very thoughts of which make us tremble though immortal Life and the Joys and Pleasures of GOD's Presence are an abundant Recompence for the loss of this present Life and all the Sufferings of this World yet it is a very difficult Tryal even to the best Men who when they see it a coming cannot but Pray with the Importunity of an Agony as our SAVIOUR did Lord let this Cup pass from me Though good Men prefer their future Hopes before all present Things yet their Life their Ease their Liberties their Estates are valuable things too and all Men would be glad to get to Heaven without meeting with such a Storm by the way Especially if it be such a Storm as threatens the very Ruin of the Church and of the true Religion to subvert the Faith of many professed Christians to entail Ignorance Infidelity or monstrous Errors on our Posterity in such a case the love of our Religion of our Country of our Posterity will make us raise our Hearts and our Voices to Heaven in our fervent and passionate Prayers for the peace of Ierusalem And if we do heartily Pray for the peace of Ierusalem methinks we should not Sacrifice our Religion to private Animosities GOD forbid were it in my power and had I never so little kindness for Dissenters that I should ever embrace any Proposals which would Ruin all the Dissenters in England and the Protestant Religion into the bargain and I doubt they are no Protestant Dissenters who would be contented to Ruin the CHURCH of ENGLAND though they introduce Popery and set up the Church of Rome in its stead Thus I have shewn you what that Peace is which we must Pray for and I need not add many words in the second place to shew you how necessary Prayer is to obtain these Blessings for not to insist now on those common Topicks of the necessity of Prayer in general and its Power and Efficacy to obtain our Requests of GOD I shall desire you only to consider that this Peace is such a Blessing as none but GOD can bestow and therefore we ought to pray for it 1. As for Unity and Peace among our selves this Saint Paul expresly prays for 15 Rom. 5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ for it is God that maketh men to be of a mind Whoever considers the unruly passions of men their different capacities and understandings and different interests will not wonder that the best Arguments and the most obliging Arts do not always prevail but God can still our passions enlighten our minds over-rule our interests remove our prejudices and unite and reconcile the most distant persons and not to take notice now of that power he has over our Wills and his immediate applications to our Minds and Spirits he many times effects this by some external and visible Providences The Gaol and the Stake presently reconciled the Differences between those two excellent Bishops and Martyrs RIDLEY and HOOPER who before disputed fiercely about some Ceremonies as we have done and I pray God grant us so much Christian prudence and temper that we may not need such means to reconcile us and we have great reason to hope this since the Divine Providence has in a great measure already removed the Prejudices on both sides and convinc'd us that we are not at such a distance from each other as our Enemies would have us and as it may be we thought
profligate Sinners can shelter themselves in a Schism and palliate or expiate their other Crimes by a factious Zeal and therefore if ever we desire to see Christianity flourish we must Pray heartily for Peace and Unity among Christians But that we may the better understand what we are to Pray for let us briefly enquire wherein the Unity of the Church consists and that is in the Unity of Faith the Unity of Communion and the Unity of Love and Charity 1st Unity of Faith Whereby I do not understand that all Christians must agree in all the Opinions and Speculations of Religion it would be well if it could be so but this can never be while men have such different Understandings and Abilities such different Skill and Opportunities of enquiry but the Unity of Faith is secured by an Agreement in all the Fundamental Articles of Religion though a little varied in some nicer Speculations which are like the different Features in mens Faces which distinguish them from one another but do not alter the Human Shape And this is the difference between the Disputes which divide Papists and Protestants and the Disputes of Protestants among themselves The first subvert the Foundations of Christian Faith and Worship and therefore these Differences can never be Accommodated and Reconciled they will not part with their Errors and we must not embrace them if we love our Souls for as dear a thing as Peace is we must not part with Truth for Peace But now the Disputes among all that are allowed to be Protestants whatever mistakes there may be on any side do not overthrow any necessary Article of the Christian Faith and therefore the Unity of the Faith may be secured amidst all these Disputes Some of these Disputes are only inconvenient Modes of speaking and the difference is only in Words when both Parties really mean the same thing which I believe if all Heat and Passion were laid aside would in a great measure appear to be the true State of that Protestant Controversy about Justification by Faith alone Others are mere Philosophical Disputes in which the Christian Faith is not peculiarly concerned for they have been and are disputed in all Religions such as the Controversy about God's Eternal Decrees and the Power and Efficacy of Nature and Grace which is only a reviving of that old Philosophical Dispute about Necessity and Fate and God's concourse with second Causes to produce their Effects And thus it is in some other Cases Now methinks such Disputes as these which do not properly belong to the Christian Faith should not divide the Christian Church Let men dispute about them as Philosophers but as Christians let it suffice them to believe what Christ and his Apostles have plainly taught us t at is enough to carry us to Heaven and methinks it should be enough to make us agree in the Way thither As to Explain this more particularly but very briefly There is no good Protestant but will confess That we are Justified only by the Merits of CHRIST's Death and Sacrifice as the only Expiation and Atonement for our Sins That no works of Righteousness which we can do can make Satisfaction to God for our Sins nor merit Eternal Life which is the Gift of God That Christ is our only Saviour and that he is the Saviour only of his Body or Church That we are incorporated into the Body of Christ and put into a state of Justification by Faith and the Christian Sacraments That no impenitent unreformed Sinner though he do profess to believe in Christ and be baptized shall be saved by Him and therefore though Repentance and a Holy Life do not merit the Pardon of Sin nor Eternal Rewards yet they are necessarily required in all those who shall be forgiven and saved by Christ. This I say all good Protestants agree in and all this is plainly taught in Scripture and whoever believes this and practises accordingly shall certainly be saved And what need is there then of reducing all this into Artificial Schemes wherein Mens Fancies and Conceits differ What necessity is there of disputing what the Office of Faith or what the Efficacy of Works is in our Justification when we all agree that we are saved only by the Mercy of God and the Merits of Christ through Faith in his Blood and the Exercise of Repentance and a holy Life To understand the reason and order of things conduces much to the beauty and perfection of Christian Knowledge but Men may be saved and the Peace of the Church better secured without such particular Determinations Thus all good Protestants agree that all God's Works are known to him from the foundation of the World That Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world That God knows who are his and always did so That we are predestinated to the adoption of children by Iesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved That we are predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will 1. Ephes. 5 6 11. That when God comes to judge the World he will appear infinitely just and good and merciful That bad men shall have no reason to complain of God and that good men shall have nothing to arrogate to themselves This secures the Glory of God of his Wisdom Goodness Justice Power and Soveraignty and what need is there to enquire any farther into the Divine Decrees than the Scripture has revealed in the particular explication of which when men follow their own Fancies they vastly differ from each other to the great disturbance of the Peace of the Church We are assured by plain Testimonies of Scripture That God desires not the death of a Sinner but rather that he should return and live That our destruction is of our selves That all the good we do is wholly owing to the Grace of God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure That all the evil we do is owing to our selves That every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death This we all agree in and this attributts the glory of all the good we do to God and the shame of all the evil we do to our selves this encourages us to do good in a confident assurance of the Divine Grace and teaches bad men that they must not think to excuse their wickedness by charging it on God And this is all that is necessary for us to know because it is all that is needful to the purposes of Religion and a holy Life But when men frame this into Philosophical Hypotheses they then divide as far from each other as East and West and all the attempts of reconciling them
our selves to be Dissenters I hope are by this time very well Satisfied that the Church of England has no inclination to Popery and we have reason to acknowledge that the Body of Dissenters for some private Intriguers on either side do not deserve our notice nor to be thought on either side have not such an irreconcileable Hatred to the Church of England as to sacrifice her to a Popish Interest and this bids fair for a good Understanding between us and let us pray to God to continue and perfect it 2. As for the Preservation of the Church from the Oppression and Persecution of her Enemies this is God's care too and many times nothing but an All-seeing Vigilant and Omnipotent Providence can secure her Many times their Designs are laid deep and low full of Intriegue and Artifice unknown to all men but themselves as it was in the Gunpowder Treason when our King and Nobles and Senators were designed as a rich Sacrifice to a furious and Antichristian Zeal but when the wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth on him with his teeth the Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming 37. Psal. 12 13. Let us then Pray heartily to God that he would reconcile our Differences and Divisions and restore Peace and Unity to his Church that he would defend us from all the Plots and Machinations of our Enemies that we being delivered from all Persecutions may evermore give thanks unto him in his Holy Church through Iesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Honour Glory and Power now and for ever Amen To his much Esteemed Friends the Church-Wardens and Parishioners of St. LAWRENCE Iewry and St. MARY MAGDALEN Milk-street Gentlemen THough I had no intention to make this Sermon Publick yet I could not with any Modesty deny your Request when you had paid so great a regard to the Counsel given you in it I heartily Congratulate your happy agreement in the Choice of so excellent a Person to succeed the not-to-be-forgotten Dr. CALAMY who I doubt not will deserve all that Honour and Kindness which it is so natural to you to show to your Ministers I here present you with the Sermon as it was Preached excepting some few things at the beginning which were left out in speaking to shorten it as much as I could without injuring the Sense I am sensible the Character falls very short of what our deceased Friend deserved but it is every Word true and I thought had been as inoffensive too as it is true and so I believe it will appear to wise and considering men and others may judge as they please If it will contribute any thing to make both Ministers and People more faithful in the discharge of their several Duties I have what I aimed at both in Preaching and Printing it especially if you please to accept of it as a Testimony of the sincere Respects of GENTLEMEN Your very Humble Servant WILLIAM SHERLOCK SERMON II. Preach'd at the Funeral of the Reverend Benjamin Calamy D. D. and late Minister of St. Lawrence Iewry London Jan. 7. 1685 6 24 Matth. 45 46. Who then is a Faithful and Wise servant whom his Lord hath made Ruler over his Houshold to give them meat in due season Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing IN this and the foregoing Chapter our Saviour acquaints his Disciples with the Signs and Prognosticks of his coming which plainly have a double aspect both upon his coming to destroy Ierusalem and upon his coming to judge the World But the application he makes of it is of universal use Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come v. 42. which is excellent advice in what sense soever we understand the coming of our Lord for the coming of our Lord signifies his coming to take account of us and whether we apply this to the Hour of our Death or to the last Day of Judgment still it concerns us to watch that is to be always diligent and careful in doing our Duty and discharging that Trust which is committed to us that whenever our Lord comes we may give up our Accounts with joy The Words I have now read to you concern the Apostles of Christ and their Successors the Bishops and Pastors of the Church who are as much obliged to this watchfulness as any other sort of Persons because as they have a greater Trust so they have a greater Account to give This we learn from 12 Luke 42 43 ver where our Saviour having given that general advice to all his Disciples to watch for the coming of their Lord St. Peter particularly enquires how far he and the rest of the Apostles were concerned in it Lord speakest thou this parable unto us or even to all ver 41. To which our Saviour answers Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom â—…is Lord shall make Ruler of his Houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Wherein our Saviour does particularly apply that general Advice to his Apostles and their Successors his Servants Stewards and Ministers of the Gospel and indeed those particular expressions which are here used do sufficiently acquaint us to whom this Advice belongs We need not question who is here meant by the Lord which is the peculiar Title of Christ in the New Testament and it is as evident what this Houshold is which is the Church of Christ The House and Temple of the living 1 Cor. 3. 16. 2 Cor. 6 16. God The Houshold of Faith The Houshold of God And Christ is said to be Faithful as a Son or Lord over his 6. Gal. 10. own House whose House are we if we â—…ld fast the confidence and the rejoycing 3. Heb. 5 6. of the hope firm unto the end in distinction from Moses who was Faithful as a Servant The Rulers of the Houshold or the Stewards in St. Luke are the Apostles Bishops Presbyters who are the Governours of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 20. Acts 28. Overseers the Ministers of Christ the Stewards of the Mysteries of God The 1 Cor. 4. 1. Meat which they are to give in Season is the Word of Life which with respect to the different degrees and perfection of Knowledge is compared to Milk and to strong Meat and therefore they are commanded to feed the 1 Cor. 3. 2. 5. Heb. 12. 1 Pet. 2. 2. 〈◊〉 Tim. 4. 2. Flock to preach the Word to be instant in season out of season to reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine This is sufficient to shew you that my Text does principally concern the Bishops and Ministers of the Church who are in an eminent manner the Servants of Christ in the Instruction and Government of his Church which is his House and in speaking to these words
I shall observe this following method I. Consider the Duty of Gospel-Bishops and Pastors which is to Feed and to Govern the Houshold of Christ. II. The Qualifications of Gospel-Ministers which are Faithfulness and Prudence a Faithful and Wise servant III. The great rewards of such men Blessed is that servant I. The Duty of Gospel Ministers whether Bishops or others and that consists of two parts 1. To Feed 2. To Govern the Houshold or Church of Christ. They are appointed Rulers of his Houshold to give them meat in due season 1. To Feed the Flock of Christ. This command Christ gave to Peter 20. Acâ—…s 28. and repeated it three times Simon son of Ionas lovest thou me more than 21. John 15 16 17. these then feed my lambs feed my sheep Now to Feed signifies to instruct men in the Knowledge of Christ for Knowledge is the proper food and nourishment of the Soul by which it grows in Spiritual Wisdom and all Vertue and Goodness and is as necessary to 1 Pet 2. 2. our Spiritual Life as natural food is to the Life of our Bodies This is life 17. John 3. eternal saith our Saviour to know Thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent For this reason our Saviour appointed Stewards and Dispensers of the Mysteries of his Kingdom whose whole business it should be to study the Divine Will themselves and to instruct others For this is a knowledge which must be taught Nature may instruct us in the Being of a God and the differences between good and evil and the plain Rules of Morality but the Mysteries of the Kingdom the whole oeconomy of mans Salvation by Jesus Christ is to be known only by Revelation Christ came down from Heaven to reveal this to us and he instructed his Apostles and his Apostles by their Preaching and Writings instructed the Church and have left us a standing Rule of Faith and Manners but yet it is necessary that there should be some Men peculiarly devoted to the Service of Religion the study of the Scriptures and the Work of the Ministry to instruct and teach those who have neither leisure not opportunities for enquiry nor capacity to learn without a Guide which is the case of the generality of Christians especially since Religion has been clogged with such infinite Disputes and there has been so much art used to make the plainest truths difficult obscure and uncertain to corrupt the Christian Faith and to make it comply with mens sensual Lusts or secular Interests A Guide and Instructor is absolutely necessary when there are so many Turnings and Labyrinths wherein men may lose themselves and their way to Heaven But though there were no Disputes in Religion no difficulty in understanding it though all men were agreed about the way to Heaven though the meanest Christian understood the Mysteries of Christianity as well as the greatest Divine yet there would be constant need of a Spiritual Guide while men are apt to be unmindful of their Duty and careless in the Practice of it The work of an Evangelical Pastor is not meerly to instruct the Ignorant but to exhort to reprove to admonish to watch over the Lives and Manners of Christians to make seasonable Applications to their Consciences to administer Comfort to afflicted Spirits to excite and quicken the slothful and to encourage the fearful and timerous and to assist and direct men in their Spiritual Warfare how to obtain a glorious victory over the World and the Flesh. This is to feed the Flock of Christ and to give them Meat in due season to instruct them in those things of which they are ignorant and to put them in mind of those things which they already know that their Faith may be turned into a principle of life and action and this heavenly Food may be digested into Blood and Spirits to the edifying of the Body of Christ in all Christian Graces and Vertues 2. Another part of the Ministerial Office consists in Acts of Discipline and Government Christ has made these Ministers and Servants Rulers over his houshold No Society can be preserved 5. Eph. 23. 10. John 14. without Order and Government which is as absolutely necessary in the Church as in the State Christ is the Head of the Church the Husband the Shepherd the Lord which are all names of Authority and Power and the Church is his Body his Spouse his Flock his Houshold and Family which are names of Subjection and denote a regular and orderly Society but Christ has now left this World and does not visibly appear among us to direct and govern the Affairs of his Church he is ascended into Heaven where he sits at the right hand of God and exerciseth an invisible Power and Providence for the defence and preservation of his Church on Earth He governs us by his Laws and by his Spirit and by his Ministers for when he 4. Eph. 8 11 12 13. ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers For the Perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. When our Saviour was risen from the dead he tells his Disciples All power is given unto me both in Heaven and in 28. Mat. 18 19 20. Earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World This is their Commission to pâ—…ach the Gospel and to govern his Church which was not meerly a personal Commission to the Apostles but extends to all their Successors as appears from Christ's promise to be with them in the discharge of this Ministerial Authority to the end of the World Thus St. Iohn acquaints us that Christ after his Resurrection appeared to his Apostles when they were met together and said unto them Peace be unto you as my Father hath sent 20. John 21 22 23. me so send I you And as he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained This invested them with Authority but then the actual communication of Power which especially at that time was necessary to the discharge of their Office was reserved for the descent of the Holy Ghost and therefore our Saviour commanded them Not to depart from Ierusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father that is the gift of the Holy Ghost For says
prevail and like an irresistible Torrent bear all before him as some kind Friends to the Liberties of Europe and the Protestant Name and Interest wish and pray he may it requires not a Spirit of Prophecy to foretel what will become of Protestants But our Hope and Trust is in God that the true Christian Faith shall never be rooted out and I am as certainly perswaded that the Protestant Faith and Worship as to the Essentials of it and â—…s opposed to Popery is the true Christian Faith and Worship as I am â—…f the truth and certainty of Christiaâ—…ity it self and when I remember â—…y what little beginnings and weak â—…nd contemptible means GOD spread â—…he true light of the Gospel over great part of the European World when it was covered with the Aegyptian Darkness and oppressed by the Unsupportable Tyranny of Popery notwithstanding all the Follies Divisions and Miscarriages of Protestants I cannot fear that God will cause our Sun to set again and that he will finally remove his Gospel from us and that gives great reason to hope that he will â—…heck the Pride and Ambition and â—…t a stop to the Successes of a Prince who glories in the Extirpation of his â—…rotestant Subjects and at once enâ—…aves both the Bodies and the Souls of Men who challenges as absolute a Dominion over the Faith as over the Estates of his Vassals to fill his Exchequer and Purgatory together This I am sure we ought heartily to â—…eg of God in our most solemn Prayers and Fasts and those who scruple this if they understand themselves must never say the Lord's Prayer more wherein our Saviour has taught us to pray Thy Kingdom come which those who wish success to Persecuting and Antichristian Powers do not and cannot pray II. I observe farther That as God's Covenant with Abraham and his Posterity was sure and stedfast that no provocations could ever tempt him utterly to destroy them so he never inflictted any publick Judgments and Calamities on them but when he was greatly provoked by their Sins This was God's express Covenant with them 26. Levit. That if they walked in his statutes and kept his commandments then he would bestow all Temporal Blessings on them Rain in its season and the encrease of their Land in Corn and Wine and Oyl Peace at home and Victory abroad and his special Presence and Favour I will set my tabernacle amongst you and my soul shall not abhor you and I will walk among you and will be your God and you shall be my people But if they would not hearken unto him and would not do all his Commandments â—…hen he threatens all sorts of Evils â—…hould befal them sickness of Body â—…o fly before their Enemies the unâ—…ruitfulness and barrenness of their Land that they shall be a prey to wild Beasts that the Sword shall devour them and they shall be enslaved to their Enemies and buy their own Bread of them that they should suffer Famine to such extremity as to eat their own Sons and Daughters that he would lay waste their Cities and make their Country desolate and carry them away captive into foreign Countries as you may see at large in that Chapâ—…er This was his Covenant with them and this he punctually observed whenever they did obey him they were a happy and prosperous People their Enemies crouched before them they enjoyed Plenty and Peace â—…nlarged their Borders and made their Neighbours Subjects and Tributariâ—…s â—…o them and though God did not always punish them according to their â—…leserts yet he never did inflict any publick or National Judgments on them but when they were grown very corrupt and wicked in their manners as it were easie to shew from the History of those Times and all the remarkable Judgments God inflicted on them Now I must confess when we apply th is to the Christian Church the case is very different for God has not so expresly covenanted with the Christian Church for external Peace and Prosperity as he did with the Iews they were the carnal Seed and Posterity of Abraham Heirs of an earthly Canaan and external Prosperity but the spiritual Seed of Abraham are Heirs of spiritual and eternal Blessings which were typified by the carnal Promises made to the Iewish Church the Christian Church was founded in the Sufferings of our Lord the Christian Faith was at first propagated by the courage patience and sufferings of the Apostles and the Primitive Martyrs and Confessors The Terms ouâ—… Saviour proposes to us are If any mâ—… will come after me let him deny himsel and take up his Cross and follow me Hâ—… that loveth his life shall lose it but 〈◊〉 that loseth his life for my sake shall find it And therefore the most sincere Believers and most exemplary Christians may suffer very severely in this Worlâ—… and their support and comfort is that â—…hey shall be proportionably rewarded â—…n the next this was the great Objeâ—…ction the Iews made against Christians being the Sons and peculiar People of God that they were hated and persecuted for the Faith of Christ and God suffered them to be so whereas he had promised all Temporal Prosperity to the observance of his Laws and Staâ—…utes and if believing in Christ had been the Will and Commandment of God he would certainly have made good all the Promises of their Law to the Disciples of Jesus An Objection which very much troubled many believing Iews themselves who did not thoroughly understand the difference between the Iewish and Christian Dispensation between the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Christ and therefore is particularly answered by St. Paul 8. Rom. and in the 7. Heb. But this shews that the Faith and Worship of Christ is not always rewarded with external Prosperity and we must not expect it should be and consequently that very severe Sufferings and Persecutions may befal Christians not always for the correction and punishment of their Sins but for the trial of their Faith and Patience to make them conformed to their Suffering Head to prepare them for richer and brighter Crowns to convince and convert their Persecutors and to propagate the Christian Faith in the World Though it is observed by some of the Ancient Fathers and particularly by St. Cyprian That God never sent a general Persecution upon the Christian Church but when their Sins the general declension of Piety and Discipline their Worldly-Mindedness the formality and coldness of their Devotions called for a Scourge Thus it was with the Church while it sojourned as I may so speak in the world as in a strange land had no place of its own no earthly Power and Authority to support it but lived under Pagan Powers was intermixt with them and oppressed by them when they pleased but the case of a Christian Nation where the Power and Authority is Christian seems very different and to come nearer the state of the Iewish Church for God does not use to inflict Publick Judgments and
Calamities upon Nations but for the Punishment of some Publlick and National Sins And therefore a Christian Nation which professes the True Faith and Worship of Christ preserves the Reverence of Religion corrects and suppresses Vice may expect to be blessed with all external Prosperity for righteousness exâ—…alteth a nation it does so in its natural tendency and effects and it does so by the Blessing of God and therefore when God brings any Publick Judgments upon a Nation professing the true faith of Christ we have reason to take notice of God's Anger and Displeasure to enquire what is amiss among us what that accursed thing is which hath provoked God to Jealousy and made him take the Rod into his hand We have then reason to humble our selves before God to deprecate his Anger and Displeasure to turn from all the evil of our ways that hem ay return and be merciful to us But there is one thing worth observing which may be matter of Hope and Comfort to us at this time That God never delivered the Iewish Church into the hands of their Enemies to oppress them never carried them away into captivity excepting the last Destruction of Ierusalem in Punishment of their Sin in Crucifying their Messias but only when they were guilty of Idolatry A Corruption of Manners might bring other Judgments upon them but it was generally and I think always for their Idolatry that God made their Enemies rule over them and carried them captive into a Strange land This we have a summary account of Iudges 2. how that after the Death of Ioshua and those Elders who had seen all that God did for them they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and God deliver'd them into the hand of spoilers who spoiled them v. 11 12 c. For this Sin of Idolatry the Ten Tribes were carried away into a Perpetual Captivity and Iudah carried captive to Babylon which they were threatned with by the Prophets for their Whoredoms that is their Idolatries 2 4 5. ch of Hosea and this is the account the Prophet Ieremy gives of it Like as ye have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land so shall ye serve strangers in a land which is not yours 5. Jer. 19. Now in proportion to God's dealâ—…g with the Iewish Church we have â—…ason to hope That though a Church â—…nd Nation which professes the true â—…aith and Worship of Christ may be â—…everely punished for their other Sins â—…et while they preserve themselves â—…lean from Spiritual Fornication from all Antichristian Idolatries God will not Un-Church them nor deliver them finally up into the Power of Idolatrous Oppressors I am sure we of this Nation ever since the Reformation of Religion among us though God has made us smart severely for our other Sins have yet always found a watchful Providence defending us from all Attempts though contrived with Art and Skill and backed with Power to reduce us again under the Roman Yoke May the same Good Providence still watch over us and defend us and neither suffer our Popish Enemies to rejoice over us nor deluded Protestants to make dangerous and fatal Experiments 3dly When God did think fit to correct his People he always kept the Rod in his own hand and prescribed the Measures and Continuance of their Sufferings This is so plain from all the Promises and Threatnings of the Law and from the Examples of God's Providence towards Israel that there is no need to multiply particular Instances There was no Good not Evil befel Israel but by a particular Providence God inflicted Judgments on them when he saw fit and he removed them again He gave the Commission to Plague and Sword and Famine which they could not exceed In the 26. Levit. we may observe That God proportion'd his Judgments to their Sins When their Sins were grown so Publick and National as to deserve some Publick Judgments yet at first God threatens them with some more light and gentle Punishments but if they continued incorrigible he tells them he had more terrible Judgments in reserve for them which proves That God determines the Kinds Degrees and Continuance of his Judgments When David for his sin in Numbring the People had that hard Choice given him of seven years famine or to flee three months before his enemies or three days pestilence he answers Let me fall now into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of man 〈◊〉 Sam. 24. 14. That is he chose Peâ—…ilence before the Sword for Pestiâ—…ence is God's immediate hand and â—…ho the Sword be God's Judgment too â—…et it is put into the hands of men who gratify their own Lust and Rage and Revenge with it And yet tho God leaves more to man in this than â—…n any other Judgments he does not â—…ut the Sword wholly out of his own hands when he puts it into the hands of men but gives Laws to it as appears from the example of the King of Assyria whom God sent against Ierusalem To take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire in the street Howbeit he meaneth not so neither doth his heart think so but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion what he himself not what the King of Assyria intended to do I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks 10. Isa. 5 6 7 12. Now God has the same tender care of a Christian Nation that he had of Israel He mingles our Cup for us he prescribes what we shall suffer and how long and he corrects as a Father not to destroy but to reform and this is a mighty comfort that whatever men threaten we are in the hands of God who has the Winds and Seas aâ—… his command who giveth Salvation 〈◊〉 Kings who delivereth David his Servaâ—… from the hurtful Sword Psal. 144. 10. The most powerful Oppressors are but the Rod of God's Anger the more fierce and savage Instruments God employs to correct us we may conclude the more angry God is but whatever the Rod is it is God that strikes whâ—… knows when to strike and when to spare We never have any reason to be afraid of men whatever their Power how great soever their Rage and Vengeance be but ought to pray to God as the Prophet does O Lord correct me but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing Jer. 10. 24. O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy sore displeasure have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vexed Psal. 6. 1 2. or as it is in Psal. 56. 1 2 3. Be merciful to me O
God for man would swallow me up he â—…ting daily oppresseth me mine eneâ—…es would daily swallow me up for they 〈◊〉 many that rise up against me O thou most â—…igh What time I am afraid I will â—…ust in Thee in God I will praise his â—…rd in God I have put my trust I will â—…t fear what flesh can do unto me 4thly When God does think fit to â—…rrect his People yet he always reâ—…oves his Judgments upon their sincere â—…epentance This was God's express â—…ovenant with Israel 26. Levit. 40 â—…1 42. If they shall confess their iniquiâ—… and the iniquity of their Fathers with the trespass which they trespassed against me and also that they have walkâ—…d contrary to me and that I also have â—…alked contrary to them and have brought â—…hem into the Land of their Enemies 〈◊〉 then their uncircumcised hearts be humâ—…led and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquities then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob and also my Covenant with Isaac and also my Covenant with Abraham will I remember and I will remember the land Thus in the time of the Judges when God for their sins delivered them into the hands of their Enemies when they cried to God he raised up Saviours for them Nay many times when their Repentance was not very sincere nor lasting yet in great goodness and compassion he spared them When he slew them then they sought him and returned and enquired early after God and they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer nevèrtheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their tongue for their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant but he being full of compassion forgave their iniquities and destroyed them not yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath for he remembred that they were but flesh a wind that passeth away and cometh not again 78. Psalm 34 c. So that how angry soever God be we have a certain way of appeasing his anger Nothing but sin can provoke a merciful God and a compassionate Father to punish He has a great tenderness for all his Creatures He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men and therefore he is more easily appeased than he is provoked judgment is his strange Work but he â—…ights in Acts of Mercy and seems â—…ased with an honourable occasion 〈◊〉 shew mercy without exposing his â—…ws and Government to contempt â—…d therefore Repentance and Reforâ—…tion will always appease him nay â—…metimes we see that the very shews â—…d appearance of a publick and solemn â—…pentance though it be not so sinâ—…re and hearty as it ought to be â—…akes him stay his hand and expect â—…r return And this is a great encouâ—…gement and a Powerful obligation on 〈◊〉 to return to God when he strikes 〈◊〉 humble our selves under his mighty â—…nd for there is no other way to reâ—…ove his Judgments and this will do 〈◊〉 It is a vain thing to trust in Armies â—…d Navies in the Courage and Conâ—…ct of Princes and Generals when â—…ur Sins fight against us when God â—…efuses to go forth with our Armies â—…r no King is saved by the multitude of â—…n host a horse is a vain thing for safeâ—…y neither shall he deliver any by his â—…reat strength but the eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him upon them that â—…ope in his mercies 33. Psal. 16 17 18. Nay the justice and righteousness of our Cause will not always secure 〈◊〉 of Success for those who have a very just Cause may deserve to be punished and then God may justly punish them and deliver them into the hands 〈◊〉 their Enemies God does not always determine what is Right and Wrong by the events of War for he is the Sovereign Judge of the World and may punish a wicked Nation by unjust Oppressors as he often did the Israelites The Profession of the true Religion will not always secure us when ouâ—… Sins cry for Vengeance When the Iews cried The Temple of the Lord 〈◊〉 temple of the Lord the Prophet told them They trusted in lying words for will ye steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsly and burn incense to Baal and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say We are delivered to do all these abominations 7 Jer. 4 10. To glory in the profession of the true Faith or in a vigorous opposition to the Errors and Corruptions of Religion when we are Atheists or Infidels in our Lives may make God punish us but is no reason on our part why he should save us but true and sincere Repenâ—…ance will save us We profess the sinâ—…ere Faith of Christ we fight in a just Cause if it be lawful to defend our â—…elves against the powerful Oppressor â—…f the Protestant that is the true Christian Faith and the Liberties of Europe and we have no reason to fear â—…ny thing but our sins Let us but reâ—…orm our Lives and put away the evil â—…f our doings and our Arms will be as Prosperous as our Cause is Just God will then gird our Princes and soldiers â—…ith strength to the battle will teach â—…heir hands to war and their fingers to â—…ght 5thly Faith and Prayer are more â—…owerful than Arms as it must necesâ—…arily be if God only gives Victory â—…nd Success This we learn from the â—…hole History of the Iews the Apoâ—…le to the Hebrews gives us a particular â—…ccount of the Power of Faith II. Heb. â—…2 33 34. Of Gideon and Barach and Sampson and Ieptha and David who â—…hrough faith subdued kingdoms wrought â—…ighteousness obtained promises stopped â—…he mouths of lions quenched the violence â—…f fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valivaliant in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens Moses his Prayer was more powerful than Ioshua's Arms for when Moses held up his hands Israel prevailed when he let down his hands Amalek prevailed 17. Exo. II. Hezekiah's Prayer overthrew the Assyrian Army when Rabshekah came against Ierusalem and reproached them with their Trust in God We must not indeed expect such miraculous Victories as God gave to Israel but this makes no difference for the Power of Faith and Prayer is the same still and all Victory is God's still who gives Success as well by invisible Means and seeming Accidents as by the most visible interposal of a miraculous Power For God gave Israel miraculous Deliverances not because he could not save them without a miracle but because he would make it visible to all the world That he was their Saviour But still God hears our Prayers and answers them he is still the Saviour and Deliverer of all those who trust in him and hope in his Mercy and therefore the only sure way to conquer our Enemies is to prevail with God by
could things be better ordered for the encouragement of Virtue and Religion Good men whatever their Condition be have the Advantage of the Wicked even as to this present Life they may be easy and enjoy themselves in all Conditions for GOD has provided for their present Support but if bad men be Sufferers they have nothing to support them and though they be prosperous they feel such Disorders of Passions or such guilty Fears as sowre all their other Enjoyments 3. God has so wisely ordered things that we cannot support our selves under Sufferings without making a wise and good use of them for the best Arguments to comfort us under Sufferings will afford us no comfort unless they make us better It is a great comfort that Afflictions are appointed by a wise and good God But he who considers this will naturally enquire into the Reason why God strikes will search and try his way and turn unto the Lord will hear the rod and who it is that hath appointed it That Afflictions are ordered for our good will make us endeavour to reap the Spiritual Benefit of them for that Afflictions are useful is no Comfort at all unless we make a wise use of them unless they bring forth the peaceable Fruits of Righteousness No Man can take Comfort in the Rewards of the next World without bearing his Sufferings well in this for our Sufferings will have no reward unless they make us better unless they purify our Minds and exercise our Faith and Patience and Submission to the Will of God 3dly I observe That it is better to suffer than to sin even with respect to our present ease because Sufferings may be born by an innocent and vertuous Mind but Guilt inflicts an unsupportable wound upon the Spirit and â—…ose Sufferings which the Spirit of a Man can bear are rather to be chosen â—…han what the Spirit of a Man cannot â—…ear Lastly I observe That the Governâ—…ent of our own Passions contributes â—…ore to our Happiness than any exterâ—…al Enjoyments While our Minds are disordered with violent and tumultuâ—…us Passions we can never be Easy and Happy whatever else we enjoy for this gives such a Wound to the Spirits as no external Enjoyments can heal But he who has his Passions under government who knows how to Love and Fear Desire and Hope though he may be a great Sufferer can never be miserable because he can support himself under all other Sufferings What a wrong Course then do the generality of Mankind take to make themselves happy They seek for Happiness without when the Foundation of Happiness must be laid within in the Temper and Disposition of our Minds An easy quiet Mind will weather all the Storms of Fortune but how calm and serene soever the Heavens be there is no peace to the wicked who have nothing but noise and tumult and confusion within To God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost be Honour Glory and Power now and for ever Amen SERMON VII Preach'd at the Funeral of the Reverend Richard Meggot D. D. and late Dean of Winchester December the 10th 1692. at Twickenham I. Phil. 23 24. For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you ST Paul wrote this Epistle to Philippi from Rome where he was in Bonds for the Gospel but though his Body was confined to a Prison his Soul his great Divine Soul was at Liberty to visit the Churches he had planted to advise and counsel and comfort them to encrease their Knowledge and to confirm their Faith to instame their Zeal and to spur them forward to more perfect Attainmens in all Piety and Virtue The Philippians seem greatly concerned least the Progress of â—…e Gospel should be hindred by St. Paul's Imprisonment and lest they and the whole Church should be deprived of the Labours and Ministry of so great an Apostle should this Persecution extend to Life as they had reason to fear it would As for the first St. Paul assures them That his Bonds were for the furtherance of the Gospel for his Imprisonment was taken notice of both in the Court and City which made Men curious to know what that Doctrine was which he preached and for which he suffered Bonds and this published the Gospel more effectually than his Preaching could have done Verse 12 13 c. As for the second he tells them He was no farther concerned either about Life or Death but that Christ might be magnified in his Body If he lived his Life was wholly devoted to the Service of Christ and of his Church if he died it would be for his own great Advantage To me to live is Christ and to die is gain verse 20 21. and this made it a hard choice to him whether he should desire to live or die whether he should get rid of his Bonds and make his Escape out of a troublesome World into the Regions of Ease and Rest to reap the Fruit of his Labours here in the eternal Enjoyment of his Lord whom he had so faithfully served or whether he should live to Encounter with a thousand Difficulties and Deaths in the Service of Christ and of the Souls of Men. What I should chuse I wot not for I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better nevertheless to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you Was there ever such a Dispute as this before That a Man who was as certain to go to Heaven as he was to die who had himself been snatch'd up into the third Heavens and had his Mind possest with strong and vigorous and lively Idea's of the Glories of that place who had seen and heard such things as could not be expressed who saw a Crown a glorious immarcessible Crown prepared for him I say that such a Man should make any question what he should chuse whether immediately to take possession of this Crown and Kingdom or to live longer in this World to suffer Bonds and Imprisonments Hunger and Cold and Stripes and all the ill usage which he had so often met with for no other reason but still to preach the Gospel and to enlarge the Borders of Christ's Church What a Contempt is this not only of the little Pleasures and Satisfactions but even of all the Miseries of Life What a Triumph is this over the World over all the Frowns and Terrours of it What a Triumph is this over Self such a degree of Self-denial as the Gospel it self does not command which is in some sence to deny Heaven to deny all the Joys of Christ's Presence for the sake of doing good For it is to delay to put off Heaven to adjourn his own Happiness that he may live the longer to serve his great Master though with great Difficulties and Labours What Love was this
and what an advantageous exchange then is it for a faithful Minister of Jesus to be removed from Earth to Heaven For let us consider what the State of Christ's Ministers is in this World what it was in St. Paul's days he tells us 2 Cor. 6. 4 10. In all things approving our selves as the Ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fasting by pureness by knowledge by long-suffering by kindnesses by the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the word of truth by the power of God by the Armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left by honour and dishonour by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true as unknown and yet well known as dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed as sorrowful yet always rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things Which describes a most laborious Life a Scene of Wants of Difficulties of Sufferings a perpetual exercise of passive Virtues to reconcile the most appearing Contradictions to live and struggle and contend in this World and to fetch their Comforts and Supports from Heaven This indeed is not always the State of the Christian Church nor of the Ministers of it but yet in the greatest external Prosperity of the Church the Ministers of Religion who discharged their Trust with Diligence and Faithfulness find many difficulties to encounter The care of Mens Souls is it self a mighty Trust and Who is sufficient for these things consider but the Charge St. Paul gives to Timothy 1 Epistle 4. 11 c. Let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by Prophesy by laying on of the hands of the Presbytery Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all take heed to thy self and to thy doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee Here is work enough to employ the whole Man and our utmost care and diligence and prudence work for the Study for the Closet for the Pulpit as the same Apostle exhorts and charges Timothy to preach the word to be instant in season out of season to reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine 2 Tim. 4. 2. But yet though there be Labour and Diligence in this it would be a delightful work were our Labours always blessed with success could we rescue the Souls of Men from the Dominion of their Lusts and from the power of the Devil could we turn them from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto God but we must often expect to labour all night and catch nothing we must contend with the Lusts and Vices of Men must bear their Folly their Frowardness their Reproaches and Censures and Injuries be thought Troublesome Pragmatical and Busy-bodies for our charitable Exhortations and Reproofs and watchfulness over their Souls And when the Church is at ease and rest from without how often is it rent and torn in Pieces with Schisms and Heresies as St. Paul forewarned Timothy The time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves Teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and be turned unto fables 3 4. ver and what infinite Labours and Difficulties does this create to the Ministers of the Gospel to heal the Breaches of the Church to confute Heresies Atheism Infidelity and to be scorned and persecuted for it with a bitter Rage and Zeal That St. Paul might well add But watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the work of an Evangelist make full proof of thy ministry 5 verse We ought not indeed to be discouraged by such difficulties as these because our Reward will be great in Heaven but it will be a happy Day when Our warfare shall be accomplished when we shall cease from our labours and our works shall follow us when we can say with St. Paul I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness 2. Thus to die is their gain Nevertheless it is more needful for the Church that they should abide in the flesh And a great loss it is to the Church when they die I need not use many words about this for the case is plain The Death of every good Man who is very useful to the World in what way soever he be useful is a very great loss for Death puts an end to his doing any more good in this World but as to take care of the Souls of Men is to do the greatest good to Mankind because the Happiness of our Souls is of the greatest concernment to us so to lose a faithful and a prudent Guide must be the greatest loss We indeed of this Church have great reason to bless God that he has sent forth so many able and painful Labourers into his Harvest that it is not the loss of every good Man that can much affect us at ordinary times for there are great numbers of wise and good Men to perpetuate a Succession of able and faithful Guides but a St. Paul is at any time and in any Age of the Church a great loss Nay Men who are much Inferiour to St. Paul but yet fitted with peculiar Abilities to serve the Church at some certain Seasons and in some difficult Circumstances are a very sensible loss at such a time when their service is most needful A Man of Counsel and Conduct who is fit to sit at the Helm and knows how to steer in a Storm is a great loss in times of Difficulty and Trouble when the Church is assaulted on all hands and it is hard to avoid one Mischief or Inconvenience without runinto another A Man of Goodness and Temper who knows how to govern his own Passions and how to soften and manage the Passions of other Men is a very sensible loss when the Passions of Men are broke loose and disturb the Peace of the Church and even threaten the ruine of it A Man of Learning and sound Judgment who can distinguish betwen Truth and Error in all its most artificial and flattering Disguises is a great loss when old Errors are revived and new ones broached when we must dispute over again the very Being of a God the truth of the Scriptures and Articles of the Christian Faith A Man of great Diligence and Industry Courage and Resolution to defend the Truth to oppose Heresies and Schisms to preserve the Unity of the Church and the Integrity of the Christian Faith is a very
of Earthly Rivals yet it fires at great Examples and is ashamed to be out-done by Equals in love to God or Men especially when the Honour of the Church whereof they are Members and the Religion which they profess is concerned It is well known how many pious and charitable Foundations are owing to Popish Superstition they hoped to expiate their Sins and to merit Heaven by their good Works and in this hope and this perswasion they did a very great many We understand better than to think of meriting any thing of God much less of purchasing a liberty of sinning by Acts of Charity but if those great Rewards which are promised to Charity and which we profess to believe will not make us charitable without the Opinion of Merit and Satisfaction Charity is so great and excellent a Vertue and so very useful to Mankind that at least thus far Popery will be thought the better Religion and therefore as the Apostle argues As ye abound in every thing in faith and utterance and knowledge and all diligence and in your love to us see that ye abound in this grace also As we have a more Orthodox Faith a clearer and a distincter Knowledge and a purer Worship than the Church of Rome let us excel in Charity too and convince the World that to renounce Popery is not to renounce good Works SERMON X. Preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor and Court of Aldermen at Guild-hall Chappel on Sunday April 25. 1697. Coloss. II. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the Rudiments of the world and not after Christ. HAD St. Paul lived in our Age it would have required little less than the Courage and Bravery of the Spirit of Martyrdom to have said this And nothing but the Authority of so great an Apostle which though some Men do not much value yet they dare not openly despise can skreen those who venture to say iâ—… after him What some Men call Philosophy and Reason and there is nothing so foolish and absurd which some Men will not call so is the only thing which those Men adore who would either have no God or a God and a Religion of their own making And what Attempts some have made to undermine all Religion and others to corrupt and transform the whole Frame of the Christian Religion upon a Pretence of its contradicting Natural Reason and Philosophy is too well known to need a Proof That thus it was in his days and that thus it was likely to be in future Ages St. Paul was very sensible when he gave this Caution to his Colossians and I 'm sure it is as proper a Caution for us as ever it was for any Age since the writing of this Epistle for this vain Pretence to Reason and Philosophy never more prevailed and never did more mischief to the World It is an endless and fruitless Task to go about to confute all the absurd Hypotheses and wild inconsistent Reasonings wherewith Men abuse themselves and others The Experience of so â—…ny Ages wherein Philosophy was in all 〈◊〉 Glory and the several Sects disputed â—…d wrangled eternally without ending â—…y one Controversie gives no great Enâ—…uragement to hope for much this way 〈◊〉 least it can never be expected that â—…dinary Christians should be better â—…structed and confirm'd in the Faith by â—…hilosophical Disputes The Christian Religion has from â—…e very Beginning been corrupted by 〈◊〉 mixture of Philosophy Thus it was 〈◊〉 the Apostles days and thus it has â—…een more or less in all Ages of the Church to this day and the direction the Apostle gives for the security of the Christian Faith is Not to dispute such Matters but to distinguish between Philosophical Disputes and Matters of Revelation and to reject all the Pretences of Philosophy when it does or seems to contradict the Faith of Christ or would make any corrupt Additions to it Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to make a Prey or to carry away as a Prey that is to seduce them from the Christian Faith or from the Pâ—…rity and Simplicity of it Through Philosophy and vain deceit that is through the vain deceit of Philosophy which cheats Men with a flattering but empty appearance may unsettle weak Minds but cannot lay a sure and solid foundation of Faith may cheat Men out of their Faith but when that is done can give them nothing certain in the room of it For it is but after the traditions of men and after the rudiments of this world Some of these Doctrines may possibly plead Prescription as having been so long received that no Man knows their Original or if they have the Authority of some Great Name yet it is but a Human Authority and they are but the traditions of men and of Men who at best had no better Information than from the visible appearances of Nature and their own imperfect Observations and corrupt or defective Reasonings after the rudiments of this world And is this an Authority to oppose against the Faith of Christ which both wants that Divine Confirmation which he gave to his Doctrines and contradicts them For they are not after Christ neither taught by Christ nor consonant to what he taught These Words might afford great Variety of Discourse but I shall confine my self to what is most Usefull and reduce that into as narrow a compass as I can by shewing I. What great need there is of this Caution To beware lest any man spoil us through Philosophy and vain deceit II. What great reason we have to rejectall these vain Pretences to Philosophy when they are opposed to the Authority of a Divine Revelation I. As for the first of these Whoever considers what an Enemy these vain Pretences to Philosophy have always been to Religion will see need enough for this Caution True Reason and the true Knowledge of Nature which is true Philosophy would certainly direct us to the Acknowledgment and Worship of that Supreme Being who made the World And yet we know that there never was an Athiest without some Pretence to Philosophy and generally such loud noisy Pretences too as make ignorant people think them very notable Philosophers and that tempts some vain empty Persons to affect Atheism that they may be thought Philosophers That this is vain deceit all Men must own who believe there is a God And if it be possible to pretend Philosophy for Atheism it self it is no great wonder if it be made to patronize Infidelity and Heresy But this plainly shews of what dangerous Consequence it is to admit Philosophical Disputes into Religion which if at any time they may do any service to Religion much oftner greatly corrupt it and shake the very Foundations of it of which more anon At present I shall only shew you how the Matter of Fact stands That most of the Disputes in Religion
an Eternal God without knowing how any thing is Eternal These are Disputes in Philosophy and such as none but vain Men will dispute about as being acknowledged above our Compreâ—…ension and therefore no reasonable â—…bjection against our Faith Thus as for the Doctrine of the Incarâ—…ation nothing can be plainer in Scripâ—…ure than that the Son of God was made â—…an That the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us That God was manifest in the flesh And all the Disputes about this Article are purely Philosophical Some men reject it because they cannot understand how God and Man can be united in one Person Others confound the Divine and Humane Nature as Eutyches did or divide the Persons as Nestoriâ—…us did both which indeed destroy the Article of the Incarnation for the Word is not made Flesh unless the same Person who is God is Man too and continues perfect God and perfect Man after this Union But all these Disputes concern the Philosophy of the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ and if we would separate between Faith and Philosophy such Disputes might soon be ended Thus most of the difficulties in the Pelagian and Quinquarticular Controversy are ultimately resolved into mere Philosophical Disputes about Fate and Prescience Liberty and Necessity and God's concourse with Creatures or the Powers of Nature and Grace And would time permit it were easy to shew this in most of the Controversies of Religion That it is not what God has revealed and what he requires us to believe but such nice Philosophical Questions as men raise about these matters which occasion all these Disputes It has often been proposed as a means of Union to silence all Disputes To confine our selves to Scripture-Words and Expressions without determining the signification of them But this would make only an Agreement in Words not a Consent in Opinions not could it secure the Peace of the Church while all men knew that under the same form of Words they had very different and contrary Meanings which would still make them as much Hereticks to each other as if their Words did as expresly contradict each other as their Faith But would men reduce all their Disputes to Scripture and make that the only Rule of their Faith without intermixing any Philosophical Disputes with it this would be an infallible means of Union for it is only this vain pretence to Philosophy which raises all â—…ese Disputes and then tempts men to â—…ervert the Scriptures to justify their â—…hilosophy In all these cases we are concerned to â—…quire what the true sense of the Article 〈◊〉 for this the Scripture teaches and â—…o far our Faith is concerned and these â—…re not only justifiable but necessary Disâ—…utes if the true Faith be necessary And â—…uch were the Disputes of the Cathoâ—…k Fathers with the Sabellian Arian and â—…hotinian Hereticks Whether Father â—…on and Holy Ghost were only three Names or three Appearances or Manifestations of the same one single Person or any other Three but three True Proper Coeternal and Coequal Persons Or whether He who is in Scripture called the Son of God be a Creature though the most Excellent Creature or a Son and God by Nature truly begotten of his Father's Substance Or whether Christ be God Incarnate or a meer Man And their ancient Creeds pretended to no more than to teach what the Catholick Faith was not to expound the Philosophy of the Trinity and Incarnation And thus far we must explain the Faith as to know and to let others know what it is we believe and if to assert the ancient Catholick Faith against old and New Heresies should be called new Explications we cannot help it for we must explain what the Scripture teaches about these Articles and how the Catholick Church always understood them But that which we are to beware of is Not to mix Philosophy with our Faith nor to admit of any meer Philosophical Objections against the Faith nor to attempt any Explications of these Mysteries beyond what the Scriptures and the Faith and Practice of the Catholick Church will justify Indeed the Importunity of Hereticks did very often engage the Catholick Fathers in Philosophical Disputes but this they did not to explain the Christian Mysteries by Philosophy but only to shew that as incomprehensible as these Mysteries are the Philosophy of Hereticks and their Objections against these Articles were very absurd And such Disputes as these may somtimes be absolutely necessary and of great use to shame these vain Pretences to Philosophy while we do not put the Trial of our Faith upon this Issue Secondly Let us now consider what â—…eat reason we have to reject all the â—…in Pretences to Reason and Philosophy â—…en opposed to a Divine Revelation â—…r that is all the Apostle intends in this â—…ution not to discourage the use of â—…eason or the study of Philosophy â—…hich are great Improvements and a â—…lightful Entertainment of Humane â—…inds and with a wise and prudent â—…onduct may be very serviceable to Reâ—…gion too but we must not set up any â—…onclusions in Philosophy against the â—…hristian Faith nor corrupt the Faith â—…ith a mixture of Philosophy nor reâ—…ct any revealed Truths for want of â—…atural Ideas to conceive them by To shorten this Discourse as much as 〈◊〉 can I shall at present only shew you â—…hat reason we have to believe those â—…octrines which are thought the most â—…ysterious and inconceivable notwithâ—…tanding any Objections from natural Reason and Philosophy against them And the account of this must be resolved â—…nto the Nature Use and Authority of Revelation that Revelation as to such matters as are knowable only by Revelation must serve instead of Sense Natural Ideas and Natural Reason that is That we must believe things whiâ—… we do not see things which we haâ—… no Natural Notion or Conception of things which are not evident to Naturâ—… Reason for without this there is littlâ—… use of Faith no Authority of pure Revelation It is true the General Corruption oâ—… Mankind made it very necessary for God to revive the Laws of Nature and to reinforce the observation of them by his own Authority and Command but the proper work of Revelation is to discover such things to us as Nature cannot teach of which we have no Natural Notion nor any Natural Evidence At least thus it may be if God knows more than Natural Reason teaches or can comprehend and thinks it fit to reveal such Supernatural Truths to us when he sees it useful for Mankind Now if God ever does reveal such things to us if we believe upon God's Authority which is the strickt Notion of a Divine Faith we must believe without any Natural Evidence meerly because God has revealed it and then we must believe such things as are not evident to Sense and Reason and then it can be no Objection against Revelation nor against the belief of any such â—…pernatural Truths that we have no Natural Notion nor Natural
the thing and the only Dispute is about Matter of Fact whether God have revealed his Will to Mankind whether there ever were such inspired Men sent by God to instruct the World whether there ever were any true Miracles wrought or any certain Predictions of things to come and when Men are satisfied that such things may be as they certainly may be if there be a God it will dispose them to a more modest and impartial Examination of such Matters and not suffer them to despise Revealed Religion at all adventures For in Matters especially of such vast moment no wise Man will reject and scorn what may be true till he can prove it to be false 2. Since then we must confess that it is possible that God should reveal his Will to Mankind let us consider which is most probable which is most agreeable to those Notions we have of God that he should or should not make such a Revelation of his Will Now if we may judge of this by the general Sense of Mankind there was not a Man in the World in former Ages who believed a God but did believe also some kind of Commerce and Communication between God and Men. This was the Foundation of all their Religious Rites and Ceremonies which every Nation pretended to receive from their Gods This gave Birth to all their Superstious Arts of Divination that they believed their Gods had a perpetual Intercourse with Men and by various Means gave them notice of things to come â—…nd the Stoick in Tully thought That â—…e Acknowledgment of a God did as â—…ecessarily infer Divination as Divinaâ—…on did prove the Being of a God Ego â—…im sic existimo si sint ea genera diviâ—…andi vera de quibus accepimus quoeque coâ—…imus esse Deos vicissimque si Dii sint esse â—…ui divinent Is it possible as I observed before to â—…magine that God should make reasoâ—…able Creatures who are made to know â—…im and to be happy in the Knowledge and Love and Admiration of him and withdraw himself from them without giving them any visible Tokens of his Presence or any other View of his Glory then in the weak and glimmering Reflections of his Works Had Man preserved the Innocence and Purity of his Nature for whether we believe the History of Moses or not if we believe that God made Man we must believe that he made him Holy he had been fit for the Presence and Conversation of God as Angels and Holy and Pure Spirits are and in this State there can be no doubt but God would have shewn himself and his Glory to Man in some Measure and Proportion as he does to the Angels in Heaven as the History of Moses assures us that God did to Adam in Paradise So that Man was made if I may so speak with Reverence for the Conversation of God which pious and devout Souls recover in some measure on Earth and which we all hope perfectly to enjoy in Heaven Sin indeed as necessarily it must has made a greater distance between God and Man but if we must live in the other World and be happy or miserable there as the Deist professes to believe if God still exercises any Care and Providence over Mankind it seems absolutely necessary that he should give some sensible Tokens of his own Being and Presence and instruct them more perfectly in his own Nature and Will then the Light of Nature teaches For how much soever Men may magnifie the Light of Nature it is certain the State of the World was very ignorant and corrupt and Mankind knew little of God beyond a general Perswasion that there was such a Being and therefore worshipped a Multiplicity of Gods and any thing for God and that with such ridiculous and barbarous Rites as were a Reproach to the Naâ—…e both of God and Man And can â—…y Man who believes a Divine Proviâ—…nce think that God takes no care of â—…s own Glory and Worship nor of the â—…uls of Men And it is certain he has â—…ken none if he have not revealed â—…mself and his Will to the World Especially when we consider that in â—…ose dark Times of Paganism the Deâ—…l and Evil Spirits had every where â—…eir Temples and Altars and Priests â—…d Sacrifices frequently appeared to â—…eir Votaries in visible Shapes and inâ—…ituted their own Rites of Worship and â—…ave forth their Oracles and Responses â—…nd by their various Arts of Divinatiâ—…n gave them notice of many Events â—…or though these were Cheats and Imâ—…ostures they were not all the Cheats â—…f Priests but of Evil Spirits who imâ—…osed both upon Priests and People and â—…y these Arts begot in them a great Oâ—…inion of their own Divinity as we must confess unless we will deny the Credit of all Histories And when this by the secret and hidden Counsels of God was the miserable and degenerate State of Mankind can we think that God should leave himself without any other Witness than the Light of Nature should give no Demonstrations of a Power superior to all these vulgar Deities nor give Men any certain Notices of his Will no Rules of Conversation or Worship It is certain in Matter of Fact that all the Reformation which has been made in Mens Faith and Worship and Manners is owing to the Jewish and Christian Religion This put a stop to their absurd Idolatries and restored the Worship of the One Supreme God in the World which is so wonderful a Change as could not have been wrought without some visible and irresistible Proofs of Divinity This is sufficient to shew how unreasonable it is in those Men who believe a God to deny all Revelation For it is certain that God can reveal Himself and his Will to Mankind if he pleases and that the Nature and Providence of God and the State of the World makes it highly reasonable to think he has done it The Design of all which is no more but this to remove Mens Prejudices against the very Notion of a Revealed Religion For were this effectually done they would soon discover the most unquestionable Characters of Divinity in the Gospel of our Saviour I am sure if we do believe a God and another World nothing can be so desirable as a more explicite and perfect Account of â—…he Will of God and the Way to Heaven than meer Nature can give us What Impression this may make upon profess'd Deists I cannot tell they â—…ave so used themselves to laugh at eveâ—…y thing that is serious and to confute â—…he wisest Arguments with bold and profane Jests that little Good can be expected from them But I hope this may caution those who are not yet â—…nfected and make the Name of a Deist â—…n a Christian Nation as contemptible â—…s the Name of an Atheist they are both â—…wing to the same Cause they live much alike they are equal Enemies to Christianity and equally dangerous to any Government where they themselves are not â—…ppermost It is a