magnificence provided it do not degenerate into superstition has this advantage in it that neither God his service nor they who minister about it can so soon be lightly esteemed Psal 110.3 This was Gods promise to his Son after that he had drunk of the brook by the way that he should lift up his head and because his head should be lifted up therefore thy people shall be a willing power in the day of thy power that is in that Day when the word of the Gospel shall be accompanied with power and that as it follows in the next words no other then in the Beauty of holiness so that the Administration of the everlasting Gospel is a Day of Power in it a willing People and all because of the Beauties of holiness the outward solemnities of the sanctuary glorious and magnificent well therefore may the Psalmist go on ver 4. The Lord hath sworn and he will not repent the Administration is thus eternally fixed Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech To be a little more close and particular The People magnified them where observe three things First The Respect which was given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnified Second The Persons by and to whom this praise was given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the People to the Apostles this was the honour of these Saints their Persons to be in esteem amongst the Multitudes Third The Occasion of this Reverence and Respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many signes and wonders wrought amongst the people whither of justice in the judgment inflicted of Mercy in the Diseases cured or of extraordinary Providence in the Gospel propagated because of all these the People Magnified them 1. Consider we the Respect it self which was given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnified The word is used both of that honour which God is pleased to vindicate to himself as also which he doth vouchsafe sometimes to bestow upon his creature again of that Glory which man is to ascribe unto God and of that respect which one man may give unto or have for another God vindicates his honour to himself in that he doth Magnifie his word above all his Name when he doth declare that he will not give his honour to another but that he will be sanctified in all those that draw nigh unto him in all acts of Worship and Divine Service he will have his Praises to be perfected in that they be all directed unto him alone he is the Lord our God to be Magnified and glorified for ever but One Lord and besides him there is no God But Praise and honour are his gift somtimes to his creature be Man what he is God regards him the son of man is visited by him and he exalteth him on every side as it seemeth best to him when and how he pleaseth he bringeth unto great honour raiseth up the poor out of the dust the needy from the dunghill to set him with the Princes even with the Princes of his people 1 Chron. 29.25 It was the Lord who magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel Yet again this is that Glory which we ascribe unto our Maker when we praise him who is higher then the highest give him that honour which he is pleased to require of us even the honour due unto his Name Psa 50.23 Whoso offereth me praise he Magnifieth me This is our Te Deum every morning wherein we praise our God and acknowledge him to be the Lord we worship him who is the Father everlasting day by day we Magnifie him and so we worship his Name ever world without end therefore as day unto day so night unto night also sheweth forth this praise our Oblations being not only renewed every morning but the lifting up of our hands are an evening Sacrifice when with the Blessed Virgin Mary every night we make her Magnificat our own Our Soul to Magnifie the Lord and our Spirit to rejoyce in God our Saviour And yet after all the former acceptions of the word this is that which God commands that one amongst another honour should be given where honour is due Dignities are not to be evil spoken of nor dominions to be despised we must have some in high esteem for their works sake and an Apostle must be Magnified if for no other because he is an Apostle 2 Cor. 10.15 This was that honour which without ambition or offence St. Paul did justly vindicate to himself Having hope that we shall be inlarged by you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnified amongst you according to our Rule abundantly the more abundantly because of that Rule of Righteousness which from us has been delivered to you So then the respect which was here given was the esteem that was raised because of the present service in which they were engaged what is in the Text Magnifying is in the foregoing Chapter ver 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That great Grace which was upon them all whilst the word of God grew and was multiplyed the Apostles were in favour with God and also with men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is Pelusiot That is Their Conversation and their vertue or rather their powerful ministry was as became Apostles and this was part of their reward in that they should see of their travail and be satisfied whilst they should be had in honour of all such who were resolved to follow them as they followed Christ And this honour was double both in heart and voice out of the abundance of their hearts their lips praised them with their tongues they blessed God who had given such power unto men and therefore with their tongues also they blessed and praised those men who came to them in the power and demonstration of the Spirit of God And Was this the receptation of the Gospel in its first Plantation did the word of Salvation run only whilst it was glorified and glorified it was indeed in the hearts and mouthes of all that saw and heard it hearing it they believed with joy joy which was not altogether unspeakable though it was full of glory What shall we say then when amongst those that are called Christians the Word of Life is the derision of those that pass along the streets when the Servants of God are despised for their works sake Nay the very Oracles of God have not escaped whilst they have been made the subject of Drollery This is that which may be for a sad Lamentation in the midst of us whilst wit and ingenuity is debauched into rallery and they are the greatest Virtuosoes have the quickest and ripest parts who can most prophanely make their Religion ridiculous who throw about their Libellous Pasquills and their Satyrical Lampoons not only against the civil and sacred orders of man that are established amongst us but even against Heaven it self thus they do not only Swear by but wickedly they blaspheme the Throne that is on high and him that sitteth thereon as if it
a publick spirit as publick as is their sedition in some sort delivered my own soul and they shall not perish without warning and that repeated with as much vehemency as are their Divisions God in mercy give a Blessing And so may they see yet again how I do set before them fire and water and will they chuse the water alas the waters of Separation are waters of bitterness Massah and Meribah be their name and Marah is their tast they are themselves as it were baptized strife and contention and so noisome loathsome and every way unsavory is their rellish But the Fire is from the Lord in the Sanctuary it is a Refiners fire and a coal from the Altar that so all iniquity may be done away Blessing and a Curse and will they chuse the curse it is Anathema Maranatha A curse untill Christ come against all those who love not the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Communion of his Saints But this the Blessing when the Spirit shall say come and the Bride shall say come and the Church shall say come and every one that has set heart to seek the Lord the Lord God of his Fathers shall also come that so God may translate his Church which is here terribly Militant as an Army with banners in good order and in due aray unto Trophies and Triumphs in that glory which shall be everlasting And so look they once more and behold and chuse they whether they will Life and Death and will they chuse Death Death which shall never have an end the reward of those who do wilfully reject the means and the passage unto Life Oh! that at length they would believe schism and separation to be a damning Sin that they would not place the worship of God in the ways and amidst the sons of perdition I 'le leave a Text or two for them to urge upon themselves and can there be plainer words than these Rom. 13.2 They that resist that power which is the Ordinance of God or which is all one that Power which commands Obedience unto Gods Ordinance shall receive unto themselves Damnation 2 Pet. 3.1 3. False Prophets and false Teachers bring upon themselves swift Destruction whose judgment of a long time lingreth not and their Damnation slumbereth not Epist of St. Jude v. 13. These are wandring stars not keeping within their proper and appointed Orbs in order to a regular and an equal revolution Vnto whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever But after all this Life and Peace to those that seek and keep peace in the fear and love of God and of those that are set over them To conclude Let us be perswaded as we are men and Christians to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace considering that God is terrible in his judgments against the Rebellious and Sacrilegious he is wonderful in his providence for the defence of those that wait and call upon him his wrath is dreadful unto Death his loving kindness is surpassing and in his favour is Life The Assembling together of his Saints is Venerable and Awful God is honoured in the midst whilst due Reverence is paid to those that are round about him considering all these things what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness we should be no longer faithless but believing may we the more and the rather be added to the Church as Believers in the Lord and may this number increase to Multitudes of every age and of every Sex both Men and Women our Churches Prayer shall with little alteration be the close of all We Pray thee O Lord Help thy Servants whom thou hast redâ—emed with thy most Precious Blood Make them to be numbred with thy Saints here in a holy Communion and hereafter in glory everlasting To which God of his infinite Mercy bring us all to whom be ascribed Honour Praise and Adoration to Father Son and Holy Ghost One God and three Persons and that of all Ages in the Church by Christ Jesus world without end Amen Lord Mercifully receive the Prayers of thy Church that all troubles and errors being quenched it may serve thee in quietness and grant us peace in our days Amen A BAD AND A Good Zeal DESCRIBED and LIMITED Gal. 4.17 18. 17. They zealously affect you but not well yea they would exclude you that you might affect them or us 18. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when I am present with you IT was even in our Saviours time the Hypocritical Devotion of the Pharisees and is at this day the Pharisaical Hypocrisie both of the Conclave and the Consistory to compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte and when he is gained they make him two-fold more the child of Hell then themselves so that the last estate of the poor man is worse than his beginning But as for us Woe unto us unless that our Religion do exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees their industry was both commendable and imitable if we could abstract their Labour of Love as they call it from the malice of their intention we may hear them both while they sit in the Chair of Moses but not when their design is to tumble Moses out of his Chair not when they rebell against Moses the Servant of the Lord and vex Aaron the Saint of God their long Prayers were not amiss no though they were in the Markets and the corners of every street when they made their great solemn and pompous Processions that they might be seen of men and so give an example of Devotion unto the World but we must beware of them when we find that upon this pretence they devour Widdows Houses when they commit a rapine upon the portion of the Widdow and of the Fatherless their long Robes were no such hainous crime nor their Phylacteries upon their Garments in which are supposed to have been written in Capital Letters the Ten Commandements of God to put the People in mind of their Duty but this was their fault when they proposed the Law as a Precept of obedience unto others and most shamefully and wickedly broke it in every Precept themselves in a word it is an Evangelical Precept the command of Christ himself with which Holy Church begins and exhorts to her offertory That we let our Light shine before men even the Light of our Profession in the publick attestations of our Religion we may be both burning and shining Lights but we must be careful that there be the oyl of good works to feed the flame lest men rejoyce in our Light only for a season and because they cannot behold a pious and a holy conversation directed by the fear of God therefore they do not glorifie our Father which is in Heaven we are to be watchful then that we try the hot Spirits of zeal that are abroad inthe world whether they be
would be a Proselyte to our Religion come in amongst us would not he say that we are all mad so far from being together with one accord that the variety of our Behaviours is argument too notorious that our minds are not intent upon the same business this is not the Beauty it is the very Deformity of Holiness Once more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were together and because so they were with one accord An outward Visible Conformity is in the very nature of the thing it self causal of internal Vnity Love and Charity is there increased where external Communion is promoted wheresoever there is Order there is Peace whereas Mutinies and Discontents are both the Child and Parent of Confusion Well therefore has the Psalmist compared the comliness and pleasantness of Brotherly Love to the outward administrations and solemnities of the sanctuary Psal 133.1 2. Behold how good and how decent a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity It is like the precious ointment upon the head which ran down upon the beard even Aaron 's beard that went down to the skirts of his clothing it is like the dew of Hermon even as the dew that descended upon the Mountains of Sion where the Lord himself commanded the Blessing even life for evermore Thus Love and Amity Union and Communion amongst Brethren professing the worship and service of One and the same God looking for and hastning to One and the same Hope is not only compared unto but also a due consequence of the sweet Odors upon Aarons head having their delightful refreshing influence upon the whole Assembly this is the Blessing of God out of Sion to those that are the sons of Sion Love and Peace Joy and Good-will for ever more Hence not without good reason was Jerusalem styled as the name imports a City of Peace because the Temple of the God of Peace was there that Temple which was built by Solomon who was a Prince of Peace after that God had given him Rest from all his Enemies round about neither was the noise of Axe or Hammer heard in all the Holy Mountain while it was Building This the Temple at Jerusalem and therefore the City it self is Built and Compact together even a City at Unity in it self for thither the Tribes go up the Tribes of the Lord to the Testimony of Israel to give thanks to the Name of the Lord. Oh! that we would Recall to our Minds our former happiness under a well ordered and a settled Vniformity how did the people of this Land rejoice to go up together to the House of God as Friends how comely were our Solemnities when whole Families met together at Gods Table the servant was thus far as free as his Master not as a Servant but as a Brother and yet when he came home he did his service without grudging not as unto man but as to the Lord in singleness of heart as knowing that he had a Master in Heaven How was the staff of Beauty in those days no other then the staff of Bands and whilst we did in a general unanimous consent serve our God with one heart and with one voice the result of Glory to God in the Highest was Peace on Earth and Good-will amongst men But wo and alas for us ever since we began to quarrel at our Religion to abhor the sacrifices of our God how has every Mans Hand been against his Brother Father against Son and the Son against his Father Maxima debetur servis reverentia a Man's Table has been made his Snare whilst the servants that attended upon him have been the Informers against him his worst Enemies those of his own House nay the Marriage Bed it self as Honorable as it is has not been free from this shame whilst there have been a Generation of men that would not allow St. Pauls Doctrine to be Gospel That the Believing Wife sanctifies the unbelieving husband and the Believing Husband sanctifieth the unbelieving Wife but our of a supercilious designe to pry into the secrets of Families as if they onely knew who were the chosen of God according to the election of Grace even at the Marriage-supper it self they have separated and divided betwixt Man and Wife put those asunder whom God Nature and Christianity had joined together this being the Religion of our later Reformation what Christ fore-told should be a final destruction upon the people of the Jews Two in abed the one taken and the other left Oh! That at length we might recover our first works and how shall we do that hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Repent and do your first works Betake we our selves now at last to that from whence we are fallen to our old honest Principles of Piety and Devotion toward God of Reverence and Obedience toward our Superiours of Love and Charity one toward another Oh! that we would but seriously think upon it nay for the childrens sake that yet are unborn that we would consider it our Fathers before us have left us a glorious Religion and what shall we do for the Generations that are to come shall we leave nothing to Posterity but Schisme and separation disorder and confusion But in the words of Holy Church we direct our Prayers unto our God since there is no help in man nor in the son of man O God we have heard with our ears and our Fathers have told us the noble works that thou didst in their dayes and in the old time before them O Lord Arise help us and deliver us for thy name sake and thy honour 'T is not to be expected that ever God should bless that Nation or people where the only fewds are about his service and till our Vniformity in the strictness of it be more countenanced than it has been restored to its wonted exactness and splendor we must never expect to see an end of those fewds Divisions are alwayes running upon the Multiplication say's our Royal Martyr and there is no settlement but in the point of Vnion Toleration then you may give it a new name and by an Vniversal Character Style it Comprehension but Babel in the original both in name and story is the most proper word to signifie Confusion this cannot be the way to peace because it is not like to be a service to the God of Peace of altogether with one accord The Musick of the Sanctuary is not made up of Discord Vnisons here is the only harmony the sweetest Melody both to Heaven and Earth it is a contradiction in the very terms of it and it is impossible that both parts of it should be true that if there be Divisions and those Tolerated therefore there would be no thoughts no searchings of heart Let us take our measures by this one instance Our Fathers worshiped in this Mountain said the Samaritan to the Jew and the Jew said that at Jerusalem men ought to worship and both these were satisfied in
for as has been our Moderation our Love and Charity one to another so shall be at that dreadful day our Final Doom Ye have not cloathed nor fed nor visited nor Ministred to the necessities of the afflicted therefore Go ye Cursed And this brings me to the Second and last observable that the coming of Christ to judgment as it shall be a General Vniversal and a Final Doom is an argument unto us that our Moderation be known unto all men So that what the Apostle useth in another Place as a Motive to constancy in the Faith is here an incitement to Unity and to Peace in Conversation 2 Thess 2.1 We beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him that you be not soon shaken in your Mind yea and by the same coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by the same collection of the Saints together in one unto him we beseech you Brethren be pitiful be courteous And is it not high time that we should cease from wrath and anger from evil speaking and from evilthinking from backbiting and back-sliding since that our Great and common Salvation is now nearer than when we first believed Rev. 16.15 Behold saies Christ I come blessed is he that washeth and keepeth his Garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame would we put on the garment of praise at that Day let us be clothed with humility now though humility be modest and bashful yet it is Covering and Fence sufficient against everlasting shame and contempt They who do abuse this Christian Grace of Moderation are great pretenders unto Liberty but as for us in the Love of men and in the fear of God let us so speak and so do as those who shall be judged by a Law that so the Law by which we shall be judged may be to us what really it is in it self a Law of Liberty A Law of Liberty when we shall be delivered from our earthly Prisons and without obloquy shall be brought out of those Prisons to Reign in the more glorious Liberty of the Sons of God The Sum Conclusion and Application of all is briefly this Let your Moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand That is the Celebration of his Nativity is now approaching and his Coming unto Judgment is every day hastning let us so commemorate the First that we have all the while a continual Remembrance of the Second our Moderation let it be known be in perfect Charity with all men The Constitutions of our Church oblige us to begin that solemnity with a Sacrament and that is a feast of Love again our Moderation let it be known even in our pleasures and our recreations twelve dayes are allotted us for rejoycing not one of them for chambering or wantonness for riot or excess is not this the Feast which God has chosen to deal our Bread unto the hungry to give gifts unto the poor a portion to six and to seven to have our hearts and our hands open to the needy not to throw away that substance which God has given us by the shaking of our elbows I do confess that we serve no hard Master and times of joy are times of indulgence too we may eat our bread with chearfulness and drink our wine with a merry heart yet let the World see that we can be Moderate let the B. Sacrament which we shall receive upon the first day be a restraint upon us that we run not out to excess in any of the rest Oh! Why should we entertain the holy Child Jesus yet once again in a stable with our filthy lusts and our beastly sins about us This is to celebrate his Birth and at the same time to renew his Death Crucifie the Lord of Life again a fresh and put him to an open shame whatever therefore may be the Ecstatical raptures either of serious Melancholy or profuse Joy let us be careful that they do not degenerate either into Prophaneness or Enthusiasme a Moderation betwixt both will do well that so neither a morose reservedness a grim presciseness on the one hand a debauched licentiousness a drolling rude Atheisme on the other do transport us to do those things which are not convenient in a word while we keep Christmas we are to think upon the Advent just gone before upon the Lent presently to follow after the Feast shall be no sooner over but the Church will call us to Sorrow Mourning and Penance Oh! that we could be sober and watchful that the reckonings betwixt God and our own Souls may be kind and easie the Feast we see is ushered in with the Apprehensions of future judgment let therefore our Celebration of the first Coming of Christ in the time of this Mortal Life in great Humility be no other than our pious and earnest expectation of his second appearance when in the Last Day he shall Come in his glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the Dead that so this may be the result of all our pious Festivals and Festival Solemnities especially this of the Nativity Christ as it were New-borne formed in us and we Regenerate and Born again to him and so this to be unto us the Hope of Glory whilst our fruit is unto Holiness The end of all will be Everlasting Life Thus our Blessed Apostle has backed his advice in the Text with a Promise Let your Moderation be known unto all Men ver 7. And the Peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your Hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus our Lord who is the Prince of our Peace who with the Father of all Mercy and the Holy Ghost the Eternal Comforter Liveth and Reigneth One God even the God of Consolation now and ever To whom be Glory Dominion and Adoration given throughout all Ages in the Church by Christ Jesus Amen Amen FINIS ERRATA PAge 40. diligent p. 48. dele Secondly p. 51. Vpper-Chambers p. 54. Vers Aethiopic p. 69. recover our first Love p. 71 dele destructive c. p. 75. heard ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 82. persecution p. 84. their backs p. 87. caetum exert p. 107. reception of the Gospel p. 108. Orders of Men. p. 118. were there not p. 120. visibly terrible p. 127. Boar out of p. 139. against Providence p. 143. heel ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 160. exclude you or us that p. 162. two such potent p. 166. dele affected p. 169. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 176. dele as p. 180. wish that they would p. 186. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 205. serve our God p. 209. then it is bad p. 211. pretend the impulse ibid. or ruling p. 213. dele 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 216. they left p. 217. received from p. 220 the Multitude p. 227. our thoughts p. 236. dele 2 p. 139. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. Hesych p. 247. reception p. 248. endangering