plant no more shall he watch over us to root out and to destroy he will raise us up out of our ruines to be glorious at home terrible abroad the wonder and the envy of the Nations round about us let but our ways please him while we tread his Courts and our very enemies shall be at peace with us let us publickly and solemnly all of us as one man secure unto God the honour of his Name and this shall preserve us a name honourable in the earth which is the Third thing observable In what was the occasion of this popular applause to wit Signes and wonders causal of a great Veneration and those Miracles and Wonders of Providence in the Propagation of the Gospel and preservation of the Apostles Therefore the people magnified them Observe we in the context the Deliverance of the Apostles from the hands of those who hated them and sought their lives they were cast over night into prison ver 18. and rescued at midnight by an Angel v. 19. early in the morning they were at their work again standing in the Temple and preaching to the people v. 21. upon all this what could the people do less then magnifie rise up as one man in their Defence ver 26. The Captains and Souldiers may apprehend them but in this the Disciples fared better then their Master they did not dare to come out to them with clubs and staves as against thieves though thieves they were in this in that they stole away the hearts of all the people no the reason which could not prevail upon the Jews in behalf of our Saviour took place here the Disciples and Apostles were dayly in the Temple and in the Synagogues where the Jews always resort in secret they said nothing and therefore the Officers bring them to the Council without violence for they feared the People lest they should have been stoned the people counted them as so many Prophets mighty in word and in deed and therefore they magnified them And yet again will not the Angel of the Covenant still contend in the defence of that service in which the seals of the everlasting Covenant are dispensed are not Angels and Arch-Angels all of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liturgical Spirits I hope no offence in the expression though a late carping Cynick has passed some of his ungodly scoffing against it not considering that Angels are assistant to the solemnities of Religion that in publick worship with Angels and Arch-Angels we laud and magnifie the glorious name of God our Saviour and in imimation of Angelical Consorts in Heaven the holy Church Militant upon earth has borrowed her Psalmody that so with the Triumphant there might be but One intire Chorus to praise him who is the Lord of Hosts this onely by the way to vindicate an innocent allusion whoever was the Author of it there was no heed to quarel it Angels so far are Liturgical Spirits as to Minister to those who are Heirs of this great Salvation which amongst true Believers in a holy Community in a visible Oeconmy is dispenced To recount a little with thankfulness the Providence of Almighty God as it was hinted in the former Discourse and cannot too much be celebrated nor too often commemorated were we not as it were cast into prison in that dismal night that dark night of affliction that night of trouble and of sore rebuke did not the Iron enter into our very souls I am sure it was no small addition to our misery in that our Teachers were if not confined yet removed far away into corners the Tabernacle of God at the best was within curtains and our Priests were hid if not in Caves and Dens yet in the remoter parts of the earth of whom the World was not worthy What good Angel was our Deliverer when God restored our Captivity were we not like unto those who Dream at midnight But God be praised our heaviness endured but for a Night though the Night was long joy after all came in the Morning even in the Morning of that Day which the Lord himself made for us to rejoice and be glad in it when with our Prince he restored us our Religion not onely our Judges as at the first but our Priests as well as our Counsellors or rather our Counsellors that were Priests happier we that they were so even as it was in the beginning Methinks at length to reflect upon the whole Series of Divine Providence from first to last in the Defence of this Church of England should make it in the eyes of the very People as it is Beautiful so to them Venerable God has been pleased to allot the Blessing of Joseph as the portion of his sanctuary amongst us and that no other then the Blessing of Persecution and yet the Church over all has been more then Conqueror A little to make out the Parallel Gen. 49.22 Was not our Church as a fruitful bough by a Well and that Well a Well of Life from thence the Waters of Salvation did not the branches of this bough run over the Wall and sad it is to think on it because it did so therefore the Wall it self the Wall of Discipline was to be pulled down all inclosures were laid open that so the Boar out of the Wood the Beasts of the field nay the little Foxes too might be let in to wast devour and root up every thing that was pleasant or desireable in the Churches garden thus the Boar of our Wood made havock he ranged from as far as Rome to snuff up the wind amongst us and make us a desert land the Beasts of the Field devoured even the Beasts of Bashan from Geneva round about the farthest part of our Brittish Isles were they drove in upon us terrae pars est ultima Thule these were they that over ran us and the little foxes also at home the nibling pert Atheists joyned like Foxes together with firebrands in their tails have ran about and burnt the corn in its full ear the seed of the word which was sown amongst us ready for the Harvest to yield a plentiful increase Tell me have not the Archers sorely grieved this fruitful bough have they not shot at it and hated it Oh! when will their anger be mortal in a good sense will it never have an end And yet after all this the Churches bough abode in strength the arms of her hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob from hence is the Shepherd the stone of Israel that stone which though the builders of Babel in their late confusions did reject is once again become the Head of the Corner And ought we not to Magnifie that for which God hath declared so much love and so much care that if it be lawful to believe what he will do by what he has done in the assurance of our Faith we may comfortably hope that he will never leave us nor forsake us And yet
gladness Act. 2.41 The same day the General reception of the word was already past and in the same day the Seal of the Covenant was conferred in that there were added to them as they were an Apostolick Church about three thousand souls and to warrant me this remark upon the Addition here in the Text and those other places we have it expressly Chap. 2.47 The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved from all which this inference is obvious That out of the Church we are not to presume for Salvation or to give it you in as modest terms as may be and those naturally deduced from the Text They that shall be saved with the Lord are first of all supposed to be added by the Lord to the Church Faith though it be the gift of God in the Heart unto Salvation yet he giveth unto every man a certain measure no otherwise than by an Ecclesiastical Dispensation For to make a summary rehersal of that Creed into which we are Baptized this is the compendium of the whole The Creed which with good reason we call the Apostles Creed or at least Apostolical is in our Church-Catechisme distinguished and divided into the Belief of the Father our Creator of the Son our Redemer and of the Holy Ghost the Comforter ruling in all our hearts in order to a thorow Sanctification now in the assurance of this Holy Ghost as he is a Spirit of Prophesie we do believe a Catholick and Apostolick Church in that Church as it is Apostolick and Catholick we must acknowledge a Communion of Saints the result of which Communion in this Church from the Holy Ghost is the forgiveness of our Sins whatsoever is loosed on Earth is loosed also in Heaven whence we do further believe and hope for the Resurrection of our flesh and the Life in the World to come And therefore to the Doctrine of the Trinity the Father Creating the Son Redeeming and the Holy Ghost Purifying as also to those Articles of the Church Administring in a visible holy Communion the Remission of Sins unto all such as look for the Resurrection to eternal Life we in the assurance of our Faith are to say Amen I would at length fain put it to the question what people generally have in their thoughts when they stand up at their Creed and say that they Believe a holy Catholick and Apostolick Church in effect it should be thus much that they do confess there is a Congregation and Corporation of Christian people though dispersed throughout the whole world that this society is united in a holy Communion under Christ the supreme and onely Head that it is assisted moved and directed by the Holy Ghost that it is Matriculated as it were into one holy Congregation and fraternity by Baptisme sustained by the word of Catechising which is milk for babes nourished by the Lords Supper which is meat for stronger men that it is continued by an holy Apostolical Succession by which the Keyes of the Kingdom are faithfully administred whatsoever is bound on earth is ratified in heaven and after all this does the promise of Christ signifie nothing that he will be with his Church so universally and every way holy that so whither he as the Head is gone the Members may follow after every one in his own order Christ the first afterward those that are Christs both before and at his coming And if this be the meaning of the Article as had I time might soon be proved from several Scriptures and our Separatists themselves do not deny but that this Summary Compendium of Faith is both antient and a sound Confession we thank them that at the same time when they thrust it out of our Churches they were pleased to annex it to the close of their Calvinistical Catechism I would demand of them and put it to the Conscience of those who are deluded by them how they can expect salvation in another world when they avoid the communion of the Saints in this and that against their vow in Baptisme against their solemn Profession of Faith I might I perswade my self urge it against their own inward sentiments whenever they do seriously think upon it what this Article of their Creed does mean or else they must be notoriously hypocritical before God against their own reason somthing or other they must believe when they do confess that there is such a thing as a holy Catholick and Apostolick Church and what can they believe to their souls good but that in the Communion of this Church they do expect salvation Let them if they are so fool-hardy excommunicate themselves and so put themselves into the condition of Heathens to be saved without a law and beside the Gospel if God so please to be sure there is great safety in the Christian institution as the Church is a holy society if with our hearts we believe and with our mouths we make confession of that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints to wit that there is a Holy Catholick Church and in that Church a Holy Communion of Saints and the result of both these is the forgiveness of sins and that because of the Churches Catholick Faith that there shall be a Resurrection of the Dead for unless it be so we are still in our sins when both soul and body are to be united together in order to be made partakers of everlasting life undoubtedly we shall be saved I know there are some who quarrel at the Athanasian Creed though they have subscribed to it for these words in it however I am not afraid to cite them to our present purpose whosoever will be saved that is in the unity of the Church before all things he must be careful that he hold the Catholick Faith for the Church is Catholick which faith except he keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly And so I pass to the Second instance of this great Benefit here accruing from the present Dispensation and that is a due qualification internal in the heart but still in order to an outward profession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were Believers in the Lord which were now added to the Churches Communion holding the Faith as from the Apostles at this time it was delivered By Faith here not to spend time in the ordinary Definitions of it we may securely understand the pious and fiducial application of all the circumstances of this outward administration to each mans particular and private concerns whatsoever was publickly dispensed was in the heart of those that were assembled digested in an humble assurance of salvation there-from So that upon this account Schism from a Visible Communion is the result of Infidelity it is an evil heart of Unbelief that departs from God our Father or the Church our Mother in that whosoever he be that separates he cannot or he will not make due and sober reflections upon outward services in order to his own private
convene in the Tents of wickedness and when Christ first appeared in the flesh it was the Character of a Devout and a Religious person St. Luc. 15.37 of Anna the Prophetess a Widdow of 84 years age that she departed not from the Temple but served God with fasting and prayers night and day and does old Simeon wait for the Consolation of Israel to see Christ in the flesh by the Spirit he is led into the Temple there to behold the salvation of his God and so to depart in peace sed nobis non licet esse tam religiosis now it seems all Godliness consists in the most ungodly of separations as if this untoward Age of ours would invert the proverb the farther from the Church the nearer in communion with God! Well! whether they will hear or whether they will forbear and yet he that hath ears let him hear saith the Spirit unto the Churches you see whosoever ye be that do Divide our Saviour's Practice and his Precept the Apostolical Progress and their Institution are against you from the beginning even when they wanted an outward Administration a fixed and a setled Dispensation then it was not thus Jesus Christ our Lord was obedient in all things even in their Apocryphal celebrations to the constitutions of that Church under which he lived The Apostles were men of open hearts and of open lives neither were they ashamed of the Testimony of the Lord Jesus they rejoiced upon all occasions to go up yea though it were but to a Porch of the House of God though the Jewish Dispensation was still there administred yet Type and Antitype together appearing both were for that time glorious we find them all together in one place and all of them there together with one heart Unity and Uniformity was that which gave credit to Christianity from the first Plantation of it They were all with one accord in Solomons Porch which is the Third thing I observed unto you in this holy Convention and that is their Behaviour at their meeting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord When the Queen of Sheba came from far to behold the wisdom of Solomon 1 Reg. 10.5 the Houses that he built to God and for himself the meat of his Table and the sitting of his servants the attendance of his Ministers and their apparrel and his Cup-bearers and after all and above all the rest the Ascent by which he went up unto the House of the Lord which as most interpreters agree was therefore called Solomons Porch after the captivity rebuilt and restored to its former splendor and magnificence as Josephus in the forecited places gives us the account at large I say when she saw all this there was no more spirit in her To consider with our selves how that even in the Apostles times Solomons Porch was a continued Ascent up unto the House of God the Procession though it was solemn and glorious atrium populi grandis Basi lica Vatabl. the Grandeur of it was Princely and thither came the people to serve the Lord and upon the whole that the Apostles were there with the new Convert Disciples to the Christian Faith even multitudes of Believers both men and women though the Tongues which sate upon the Apostles were cloven yet their hearts were not divided they loved and they lived and they witnessed unto Jesus and they served their God together and all as Brethren Methinks now our Spirits should be raised nay our hearts may fail within us in admiration of them and of their primitive uniforme celebrations and in a sad reflection upon our selves to consider that with our Vniformity charity has forsaken us how sadly are we mangled and divided one amongst and one against another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With one accord The word in Scripture seems to intimate not onely an inward sameness of affection a mutual agreement of mind and disposition but also an outward Vniform Behaviour Act. 4.32 The multitudes of those who believed were of one heart and one soul that was their internal affection ver 24. With one accord they lifted up their voice to God that was their external communion Act. 11.46 With one accord in the Temple and in breaking of Bread the result of which concord in Religious performances was peace and amity in their civil conversations they did eat their meat with gladness and in singleness of hearts So that we may hence gather that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text their being together with one accord is sufficiently expressive both of the inward frame of their minds one to another and the outward management of their solemn Assemblies one amongst another even what the Apostle gives in advice Rom 15.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should with one Mind and with one Mouth glorifie God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Divine service being publick says a judicious writer of our own Church hath this advantage in it Mr. Thorndike Rel. Assem pa. 2 3. in as much as the honor which it pleaseth God to accept at our hands becometh his greatness more when in a judgment of charity we have reason to believe that such a worship proceeds from more agreement of mind as the strength of mens Bodies joined to one purpose removeth that which one by one they could not stir so Vnited Devotions the more publick the more numerous the more numerous the more Vnited prevail with God to such an effect as severally they cannot bring to pass This was Gods promise of old that it should be his blessing upon his Church even in Gospel times Zeph. 3.9 I will turn to the people of a pure language or of a pure lip that they may call upon the name of the Lord with one consent 'T is therefore requisite upon the whole that as a demonstration that we are all of one mind and of one soul even in outward service our Behaviour should be one and the same Reverent and Vnity be known unless it be by provoking one another to love in our Vniformity you have seen already that the Apostolical way of serving God was falling down upon the face and worshipping him 1 Cor. 14.25 in those days it was good and wholsome counsel Rom. 12.1 I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God and this too however some may now count it superstition a will-worship and a voluntary humility yet in the Apostles time it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rational a reasonable service To see some at the Church Prayers sitting some lolling and leaning here and there it may be some vouchsafing to stand up few or none upon their knees that posture if any one should think the fittest for Supplicants and Petitioners to the great God of Heaven and Earth Go behave thy self otherwise before thy Prince and see whether he will accept thee should the ignorant or unlearned the stranger that
〈◊〉 or some such word to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to warrant me this or the like Division Of the rest No one or as we Translate it No Man durst joyn hmself to them First Not the new convert Disciples though if any surely they might take the confidence but ver 11. Great fear came upon the whole Church We read in the fore-going Chapter ver 32. That the multitude of those that believed were of one heart and of one soul neither said any of them that ought of the goods which he possessed was his own but they had all things common as many as had possessions of lands sold them and laid down the price of what was sold at the Apostles feet And in the beginning of this Chapter we find some retaining part of the accursed thing of that which was devoted and dedicated unto God ver 4. whilst it was whole it was in the power of him that possessed it and after it was saâ—d still it was intirely in his power but being once Consecrated and separated from common use the property and propriety is then altered God doth vindicate the right of Possession to himself the sin was therefore the greater the more immediate against him in that there were some who gave indeed as others did for companies sake a certain curtailed portion to God and to his Church but not with a willing mind not as cheerful givers keeping back part of the price a wedg of Gold it may be to buy a Babylonish garment and presenting the remainder to the Apostles as the result of the whole sale this is the instance of Sacriledge even in the New Testament Satan thus hiling the hearts of wicked persons that they should lye against the holy Ghost not against Men but against God That therefore the Church be not troubled for this destructive sin of Sacriledge these two must fall a Sacrifice as Joshua of old to Achan and his House Thou hast troubled Israel and God shall trouble thee this day So the Apostles here to Ananias and Sapphira for the same sin since you have done wickedly this your oblation is abhorred both sin and death lye at the door Behold the feet of those who are to carry you forth are without ready for to bury you These two are to be cut off from the land of the living like Corah and his Company they went almost quick into hell Sacriledge whither it be under a legal or under an evangelical Dispensation is an invasion of that which God has claimed to himself for his own inheritance and it is a Sin which shall in no wise go unpunished it brings ruine and desolation wheresoever it is admitted Write such a one childless his name no more to be remembred unless for a terror unto others Corah Dathan and Abiram their wives their sons and their little ones and all that appertained unto them swallowed up alive in the pit Numb 16 33. Father Son and Daughter yea the whole House of Achan Oxen and Asses and Sheep first stoned with stones and then burnt with fire even in the Valley of Achor from this fore judgement thus severely executed upon the sin of Sacriledge this was the onely door of Hope Josh 7.18 Husband and Wife that so there might not be a Generation of Vipers to inherit their parents curse are both at once cut off in the instance before us root and branch in one day ver 10. the young men came in and found her dead and carrying her forth buried her by her husband Alas who can live when God doth thus well might the New Convert Disciples be terrified and affrighted lest that they also should not have been sincere in their Oblations lest that God should not accept the labour of their love by reason of some secret leaven of Hypocrisie that might lurk within them though they had sold their goods yet they might want charity and then they should be nothing worth wherein were they to be accounted of To see how severe an Avenger that God was with whom they had to do was cause enough of terror even to the Church it self every one of them smiting upon their breasts not daring to look up to Heaven standing afar off each one communing with his own heart and saying Lord be merciful unto me yea unto me a sinner we are all of us dead we are all of us sinful men O Lord Purior ex hoc tempore erat Ecclesiae coetus in quem multi dolose irrepserant Calv. From this time every man prepared himself for the publick Assemblies as near as he could according to the preparations of the Sanctuary they set their whole hearts to seek the Lord God of their Fathers with Reverence and with fear the terrors of the Lord in his Judgments did perswade them and do they go up unto the Temple to Solomons Porch to pray and to hear yet with the Penitent Devout Publican they must stand afar off and hence it was that they did return each man to his own house justified Thus when God is pleased to arise in the vindication of his service by his judgments upon the wicked and prophane to declare that he will be sanctified in all those that draw nigh unto him then should they who presume to tread his Courts look unto their feet when they come unto the House of God lest they offer the sacrifice of fools Would David bring up the Ark of God to his own City and to his own House and in the mid-way is Vzzah smitten Perez-Vzzah this Breach upon Vzzah makes David to smite upon his thigh lest that his way also should be found perverse before the Lord and God might find out some secret iniquity in him and so withhold good things from him 1 Chron. 13.22 David was afraid of the Lord that day saying How shall I bring the Ark of God home unto me Surely there is some iniquity or other that I do regard in my heart or it may be the sons of violence are too near about me and therefore at this time God will not not be intreated of he will by no means accept me upon this occasion it 's thought that he did pen the hundred and first Psalm in which he dedicates himself and his House to the service of his God Psal 101. Sing I must yea and so I will both of Mercy and Judgment unto thee O Lord will I sing of judgment because thy ways are terrible of Mercy because all thy paths are Peace first for himself he begins I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way Oh! when wilt thou come unto me why should the Ark of God now be carried aside from me I will walk in my House with a perfect heart Neither was this proposition like Joshua's of old Josh 24.15 Chuse you whom you will serve but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord No like a supreme Magistrate he resolves not to bear the sword in vain he is
yet it must not be to the disparagement of any of the same Order Christ has promised a Prophets reward to such as receive a Prophet not as this or that man so or so qualified but meerly in relation to his Office and his Calling as he comes in the Name of a Prophet Honour should be the result of Love not of a partial affection are they not all alike Ministers of Christ our Common Saviour in order to a Universal Redemption It was an argument of schism and division in the Church of Corinth when some of them were for Paul some for Apollos some for Cephas some for Cephas a Pillar of the Church if not a corner stone who delivered the word with authority and power who proposed his Message as Matter for Faith rather then dispute and though he does admit that a Reason may be given for our Hope yet it must be with Reverence and Fear thus the very Dignity of the Messenger might seem to be credit enough for the Reception of his Message he having the Primacy over the rest it was reason good enough that he should be heard in the first place Cephas by whom you have believed others were for the rare notions the sublime curious speculations of St. Paul such a one as was wrapped into the third heavens every time he spake whose reach was within and beyond the clouds whilst he was manuring his Corinthians who were his Husbandry upon earth Paul planteth and yet a third sort were for the eloquence and Rhetorick of Apollos whose Doctrine distilled as the rain and his Speech was as the dew Apolles watereth and all this while the sweet influences of heaven were not considered God was for gotten who gave the increase what was all this but a signe that their admiration proceeded more from their humour then their Love it was not Spiritual but carnal it was not a rejoycing in order and unity but a breaking into factions and parties against the established community hence were the Divisions and schisms amongst them But would we be with the multitude in that which is good we must go along with them into Solomons Porch and behold them there magnifying the Apostles without the least respect of Persons the Dispensation which at this time was amongst the People was various and yet the commendation was Vniform here was severity from some of the Apostles in the rigorous execution of wrath great utility from others in the curing of diseases and yet vertue in all that they should be all alike equally admired thus they at this time as the servants of the most high God and God in them as the God of Order and Vnion was praised and magnified amongst the multitudes so that their Praises were as solemn as was their meeting as regular as was their solemnity though they were a multitude they were not confused there was no uproar in this gratulatory Magnificat not such as was at Ephesus when the people extolled their great Diana and the most part knew not why they were assembled no the Oracles of God were at this time magnifyed in a vulgar shout the voice of a King of the King of heaven was amongst them and we have good reason to believe that the impetus upon the people was without tumult fince their admiration was the product of their Faith which is the Third thing to be considered in this third part of the Text viz. the Occasion of this awful Reverence and Respect at the begining of the 12th verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signes and wonders were wrought by the hands of the Apostles amongst the People and the People magnified them Signes and Wonders might be necessary at the first plantation of the Gospel that so it might be received as with amazement so with honour also but since an evil and an adulterous generation may seek after a Signe and none shall be given them only they are themselves the greatest prodigy in that they wickedly dispute the truth of that which for fear of humane laws they dare not in some sort or other but profess and yet there are Signes and Wonders continued like these in the Text sufficient to create Reverence and Respect to sacred Persons were they not too much cherished and incouraged amongst us an evil heart of unbelief against all manner of Providence soever and so against God himself however let us urge what was commendable in the People here receiving the Truths of the Gospel in the love and due esteem of those that brought them to the reproach of the Generations that have succeeded who make a mock of holiness and Piety Signes and Wonders causal of honour and admiration to the Apostles and those in the First Place Signes of terror to the wicked because of the judgment which was inflicted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is Pelusiot Whatsoever punishment is inflicted upon offenders especially if it be sudden and dreadful as it humbles those upon whom it is inflicted so it renders them in whose vindication it is exerted the more venerable their persons are to be distinguished from the common sort of men for whose sakes God is pleased to manifest himself so severe in the terrible executions of his wrath Elijah caused fire to come down from heaven as he was a Man of God to destroy two Captains and their two Fifties 2 King 1.13 and this made the next Captain to dread and revere the Prophet to cast his sword and himself at his seet saying O Man of God I pray thee let my life and the life of these fifty thy servants be pretious in thy sight Behold there came fire from heaven and burnt the two former Captains and their fifties therefore let my life now be pretious in thy sight And shall we say where is the Lord God of Elijah now doth he not still take vengeance if not for his servants yet for his Church in fire and that a fire from heaven which the breath of the Lord had kindled Surely if not in fire though the smoke is still in our nostrils yet in as dreadful and as fore calamities I could but that I had before occasion to instance it here again consider how that God has Magnified the Services of his Sanctuary if not in the sight of this people who will not see yet of the nations round about us in the severer expressions of his anger against this one sin of Sacrilege so dreadfully visited for in the Text how has this sin ever since it was conceived brought forth nothing but death Restitution had we but faith to believe it were the onliest and readiest way to settle us upon the right foundations of peace and prosperity one would think to reflect a little backward upon the ruines which this Desolating Sin hath made amongst us within the compass of little more then One hundred years should be enough to affrighten those who have any love to their Countrey if they have but little regard to their Religion that for the
next Generations sake which is to come they would not further promote the establishing of this iniquity by law lest whilst they do gredily catch at the portion of meat which is upon Gods Altar they unawares bring a burning coal along with it not to cleanse their lips but which will burn their nests and kill their young ones destroy their whole Family Whosoever thinks to raise his House upon the Churches ruines let it be in a literal or a metaphorical sense both the Ground is holy and so is the portion likewise that is alloted for the maintenance of the Building lays his Foundation if not upon Sand yet in Fire the Fire from Gods Altar hid as it were in its own Embers at the bottom sometime or other will break out afresh the ruine and destruction will be inevitable a sad Desolation not at all to be withstood Not unlike this were in a great measure the Signes and Wonders in the Text which were causal of a reverent esteem in the people of the administration of Gods service to wit Gods sore displeasure manifested against the sin of Sacrilege and this should have the same effect now were there not a Generation of Vipers amongst us who delight in nothing but in Eating through the Bowels of their Mother-Church who notwithstanding the judgments of God so visibly terribly in the earth will not be perswaded to learn righteousness 2. Signes and Wonders still and those the occasions of a great Veneration being there were Wonders of Mercy to all those who stood in need of healing whilst the People took so great a delight under and found so much benefit in St. Peters shadow they could not but have respect for the substance nay though Multitudes came out of the Cities round about bringing sick folks and those that were vexed with unclean Spirits they were all healed every one Thus from the beginning the fruit of the Tree of life was for the healing of the Nations that so the people might find a place of rest under and at the same time satisfie themselves in admiration of the Branches of it The Gospel of the Kingdom was ordained of God in the hands of Jesus as a Mediator in the Mouths of the Apostles as the Dispencers of it to be for health both unto Body and Soul forgiveness of sin to the one taking away all manner of Distempers from the other and so a perfect salvation unto Both whilst unto those who fear and reverence the word of God which is to be magnified above all his name Christ as the Son of righteousness his Apostles and their Successors as the Stars in his right hand they have their sweeter influences and He Himself ariseth nothing less from all but healing in their wings And although at this day these extraordinary benefits are with-held there being no need of such wonders now to confirm that word of life into which we are no sooner born then baptized and we all of us may or should suck in the sincere milk of the Word with that which we draw from our Mothers brests our parents according to the flesh being as Tutors and Governours to bring us to God our Father to Christ our elder Brother and to the Church our best Mother yet methinks there are some Wonders of Providence like those antient Miracles of Mercy still continued to consider that outward peace plenty and prosperity which God usually gives in as a Temporal advantage to that Nation or people amongst whom his worship is celebrated in the Beauty and Glory of it when the Tribes of Israel go up to the Mountain of God to serve the Lord in that place which out of all the Tribes he has chosen to himself lo in the same City where is the Temple of God do they behold with admiration and count her Towers mark well her Bulwarks and reckon up the Fortresses thereof this the security and strength of the City but then for its glory and splendor see there also Majesty as most excellent there are the seats for judgment and the throne is there established for the House of David But on the contrary whence come wars and tumults intestine broils or hostile invasions are they not most usually directed providentially as to the ultimate end of them in order to the removal of the Candlestick from those who do not value it who care not to rejoice in the Light that is fixed in it hence the Kingdom of God is taken away from those who lightly regard it given to those who will reverence its Dispensation bringing forth the fruits of holiness in Patience and Sobriety Where is the Church of Corinth now or where are the seven Churches of Asia what is become of Antioch where our Religion was first Christened the name of our Lord called upon his followers I might mention the rest to whom St. Paul writes his Epistles how were they once exalted unto heaven in their glorious and great injoyments but now they are almost reduced to their former Gentilisme for surely they did not continue stedfast to the goodness of their God Nay closer yet to make the case our own if the Administration of the Gospel of peace doth not still keep along with it as its concomitant the miraculous gift of healing all manner of diseases and bodily infirmities yet certainly it continues health where it doth not restore it or at least the prophanation of it is that which kindles Gods wrath against us and provokes him to plague us with divers Diseases and sundry kinds of death as our Liturgy in the preparatory exhortation to the Communion most piously observes to consider what ruines have been made by Pestilence Famine and Sword in Christian Common wealths may we not say with the Apostle that for this cause many have been sick many weak and many have fallen asleep so that in some sense it is manifest that the due and right ministration of the Mystery of Godliness has the continuance of this Life as well as the promise of that which is to come would we have our days prolonged in the Land which the Lord our God has given us this is the Commandement and it is the first with a Promise Remember we the performance of it as of children by our holy Church we have been taught That we submit our selves to all our Governors Teachers Spiritual Pastors and Masters that we order our selves lowly and reverently to all our betters in a word which is the sum of all the rest that we magnifie that Religion the due solemnities of which in its wonted beauty is under God who to be sure will take care of his own worship either to vindicate or promote it the only means to make us externally happy if the fence be well set about the Sanctuary this will heal all our other breaches and restore us places to dwell in to be sure provide for us everlasting habitations God will upon this account onely delight in us to build and to