Gospel reputed a righteous Man and shall be accepted as such But now to come to our purpose how is the Law said not to be made for such a one Hath a good Man no Interest in the Law nor may he expect the benefit thereof is not a good Man at all concerned to regard God's Laws or is he not chargeable with Sin if he happen to transgress them doth this favour those wild freaks of Antinomianism that we have heard vented in this loose Age that a Child of God is not concern'd about the drudgery of Duty or obliged to it that it is no great matter whether he regard the Law of God or not He is justified by Faith in Christ and whether he observe the Law or transgress it is no great Matter the one shall no more help on than the other shall prejudice his Salvation But must we understand this Speech of our Apostle to any such purpose or in Patronage of it God forbid This were to abuse the Law indeed and perhaps in a much worse sense than these Hereticks did So that you see it will be needful to give the true sense of this Speech of our Apostle and rescue it from those gross Abuses that have been put upon it and those wild Inferences that have been deduced from it in this Enthusiastick Age. To which purpose I observe first negatively that we must not understand this Saying absolutely or think that it holds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Schools speak as if either 1. A good Man were not at all concerned in the Law or had not right to claim the Benefit of it in any case for it is both his protection from Evil and remedy against it and he may warrantably apply to it for both these ends So that in this sense the reverse to the Text is true the Law is made for the Righteous and not for the Sinner It is made to protect the Innocent and not the Guilty to secure good Men from Wrong and to repair them when they receive it It is a wild freakish Conceit to think the contrary as some ancient Hereticks and a present Spawn of them among us pretend to do as if by a seeming over-strictness in this and some other both Doctrines and Practices they would conceal or compensate for their Looseness and Blasphemy in others There is an extremity I must confess in this as there is usually in most Cases of this Nature and the Apostle seems to tax it in the Christians at Corinth that is to go to Law for every Trifle and to implead Men presently for every little Trespass to take every Advantage in Law that another Man's Ignorance and Simplicity may give us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteous evermuch as Solomon calls it Eccl. 7.16 for many Cases may happen in which it will not become a good Man or is hardly consistent with that Character to be rigorous in Prosecuting another though in strictness the Law may be on his side Lesser Injuries were much better to be born than rigorously to be Prosecuted And our Saviour seems not only to Advise but Command it in that seeming hard Saying S. Mat. 5.19 20. the meaning of which is only this that it were much better and wiser in many Cases to put up lesser and tolerable Injuries than revengefully to Prosecute him that offer'd them and force him to make the utmost reparation But where there are Extremities there is usually a just and vertuous Medium and so there is in this Case and that is the warrantableness of a good Man's expecting the protection of Law in all Cases and pleading the Benefit of it in some For the great fundamental Reason and Intention of Law is that an Innocent Person should be protected from Evil in all Cases and suffer it in none 2. We must not so interpret this Saying as if a good Man were not under the obligation of Law or not in duty bound to regard and obey both the Laws of God and of his Country too as much as any other Man There hath a wild Doctrine indeed been propagated in these looser Ages that a good Man is above Law and manumitted from it is a Freeman in Christ and must not be the Servant of Men. Dominion and Property is founded in Grace and the Saints are to give Laws to others and not to receive Laws from them What Mischief hath been done under the Umbrage of this Doctrine and what barbarous things it hath been pleaded in vindication of those that have either considered some late Passages in this Nation or read the Story of the wild proceedings of the Anabaptists in Germany before are able to tell you And were it not that the Jesuits Morals are well known and their Avowing not only the Innocency but Merit of the most unchristian things that are done for the Interest of their Church it might be thought impossible that Men that wear the Profession of Christianity should so unlearn their good Religion as to commit such things under pretence of it But that this Inference also is far from being warranted by any thing our Apostle means in this Saying is evident For 1. The Divine Laws are the Rule of a good Man's Life and Actions and the Gospel is so far from tasking these or discharging good Men from them that it ties the Obligation to them closer and more strongly And this is spoken so expresly both by our Saviour Mat. 5.17 and our own Apostle too Rom. 3. ult that none can well mistake it 2. And we find the same Apostle as express too as to a good Man's Obligation to the Laws of his King and Country and as long as the five first Verses of the 13th Chapter to the Romans are uncancelled there will be no avoiding of it nor any pretence of Saintship or Clergyship either if you will give me leave to make a Word that can excuse or discharge from it For according to the Doctrine in that place those that think otherwise and act upon those Thoughts may receive to themselves Damnation with a non obstante either to their being Clergymen or Saints 3. No nor 3dly must we so expound this Passage as either to teach or think that a Righteous Man doth not sin or offend God if he do in any thing transgress his Law I confess so far as any Man is Righteous so far he is from transgressing God's Law and in proportion to his failing in any Duty which that Law requires or committing any Evil which it forbids so far he falls short of the Character of a Righteous Man But this being as I said before a State of Imperfection in which saith Solomon there is not a righteous Man that sinneth not some Transgressions of the Law are incident to a Righteous Man but these must not be exempted from being Sins I enter this Remark in opposition to another freakish Opinion that hath been propagated in consequence of the Antinomian Doctrines touched at before
For it is pretended that God sees no Sin in his People and that as there is no Condemnation so there is nothing condemnable in them who are in Christ Jesus but those things which in them that are out of Christ are formally Sins lose their Malignity and are no Sins in them that are in him There was once a Book printed in London Anno 1656. and with the Approbation and Commendation of most of the leading Ministers there especially of the Independant Party in which there is this memorable Passage In case you be at any time by sreason of the weakness of your Faith or strength of your Temptation prevailed with to transgress any of Christ's Commands beware you do not thereupon take occasion to call Christ's Love to you into question but believe firmly that he loves you as dearly as he did before you transgressed For this is a certain Truth as no Good in you or done by you did or can move Christ to love you the more so no Evil in you or done by you can move him to love you the less This Book was called The Marrow of Modern Divinity And it might truly be called of Modern Divinity indeed for I am sure there is nothing of the Primitive Ancient Divinity in it Those good Men those famous Lights of Christ's Church neither knew nor taught any such Doctrines but as they found by sad Experience that none while here were so perfect as not to transgress the Laws of Christ so they were far enough from thinking that those Transgressions were not formal Sins even in the best of Men. And therefore as they taught with St. John 1 John 1.8 that if the best Men said they had no Sins they would deceive themselves and the Truth c. so they taught too that daily confessing of our Sins daily Repentance for them and daily Applications to the Mercies of God and Merits of Christ for the pardon of them was necessary for the most Righteous while they liv'd in this World 2. But how then are we to understand this Passage in our Text Why I think we shall best and most distinctly do this by considering that there are two Parts of the Law or two Things considerable in it the Preceptive if I may so speak i. e. the Thing commanded or forbid and the Sanction i. e. the Punishment threatned to enforce Respect to it 1. There are some that adventute to say and perhaps if well understood safely enough that the first was not given for a Righteous Man Their Reason is because a good Man needs not the Direction of an external Law to shew him his Duty because he is in some Sense a Law to himself as our Apostle speaks Rom. 2.14 he finds it written upon the Table of his own Heart and Mind and needs not say who shall ascend into Heaven c. to fetch him the Knowledge of it from thence as some interpret another Passage in the same Epistle Thus it was saith Ireneus with the good Men that liv'd before Moses they had no written Law nor needed any because they found as I said before the great Lines of Duty written upon their own Minds Now it is in its proportion true of all good Men since and what need they the Pedagogie of a Law to teach them their Duty that understand it well enough if they will attend to the Instruction of their own Minds and Consciences But I will not adventure to lay all the weight of this Saying only upon this Exposition though I confess it hath very good Authority to plead for I do not think this inward Light so very clear in Men but that they may want a clearer Director and Guide in many Cases and I am sure the best Men have gladly accepted and acknowledged the Benefit of the written Law and Revelation of God 2. I would therefore rather think that this Speech of our Apostle respects the Sanction of the Law I mean the Penal part of it i. e. which commands such Duties and forbids such Sins under the Penalty of Sufferings and Punishments in case of neglelecting the one and committing the other And this I think may be said not to be made for a Righteous Man in these two respects 1. That it is not the Impellent of his Duty or not the great Argument that influenceth his Obedience He serves his God and doth his Duty willingly and from a vital Principle within and so needs not the Rod of the Law to whip him to it For what need of a Law saith St. Chrysostom to force them to Duty who do it willingly of their own Accord by the Influences as well as Assistance of God's Spirit and Grace and I find St. Augustin St. Hierome and others quoted to the same purpose And this seems to be favoured by what our Apostle speaks so often of the Gospel Spirit in opposition to the legal calling one the Spirit of Love as 2 Tim. 1.7 and the other of Bondage as Rom. 8.15 one therefore is called the Spirit of a Child which doth his Duty out of filial Respect and Love the other of a Slave who doth what he doth only for Fear I am not of some ranting Enthusiasts Opinion that it is altogether below a Good Man to have either any regard to Reward or Punishment I think Hope and Fear two very useful Passions in Man while he is in this State and that it is not unbecoming Good Men to be influenced in some Measure by them Though I do believe that the more a Man improves in the Divine Life the more he gets from under their Government and the less he needs them and in time arrives to that setled State and that sweet Relish of God and Goodness as to be able with the good Man of old to say Amor meus pondus meum Love is the great Weight that sets my Mind in Motion and the prevailing Argument in all my Duty and Services to my God 2. The Penal part of the Law is not made for a Righteous Man because he is not obnoxious to it nor within the reach of it The Penalty of the Law is to be inflicted upon those only that transgress the Law which a Righteous Man so far as he is righteous doth not and for what he doth amiss God will accept his Repentance as a deletery of his Guilt for the sake of what his Saviour hath done and suffered for him Being made free from Sin he is freed from the Curse due to Sin and so in this Sense as well as some others is not under the Law but under Grace This shall suffice for the Explanation of this Negative part of the Text The Law was not made for a Righteous Man 2. The next is the Positive but for the Lawless and Disobedient i. e. for Sinners in general and for those notorious Sinners in particular which are afterwards mentioned as a just Reflection upon those impure Gnosticks who taking upon them to be the most
refin'd Expounders of the Law were in the mean time the most gross and lewd Transgressors of it To our understanding of this there will need the less to be said after what hath been offer'd upon the former To proceed therefore here in the same Method we did before 1. I observe first Negatively The Law was not made for the Lawless and Disobedient c. either first to indulge them in their Wickedness or 2dly protect them in doing amiss or 3dly secure them from Punishment when they have done so We are by no means to think the Apostle means any such things and it were a gross misunderstanding the Reason and Design of Law to think so The same Apostle tells us That Magistrates are appointed for the Punishment of Evil-doers and the Law is the Instrument by which they punish them And it were as gross a perverting the End of Laws to slacken them in favour of an ill Man as it would be to stretch and tenter them to the Prejudice and Punishment of the Innocent and Good 2. The meaning then positively must be in some such Particulars as these that follow Either first as to the directing part of the Law to shew wicked Men their Duty and to mark out their Sins and perhaps this may be asserted not without good Reason For though the great Lines of Duty and the difference between Good and Evil be drawn pretty clear upon the Minds of all Men and a Sense thereof wrought into the very Contexture of Human Nature so that there is no pulling it out without quite unravelling the whole Yet it may reasonably be presumed that this Sense is much weakned and distorted and this Innate Light greatly obscured in most Wicked Men And I would fain hope that a great part of the Wickedness commited in the World is done out of Ignorance as much or more than Wilfulness I would not willingly think so ill of Human Nature or allow it to be degenerated to such monstrous degrees as that all Men that sin do so of malicious Wickedness as the Psalmist speaks Most Wicked Men I hope do not know when they do amiss at least do not actually consider that they do so So that upon both Reasons the Law may be said to be wisely made for a Wicked Man to supply the Light of his own Mind which he hath obscured and to force him to advert to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that kind Monitor in his own Breast which he by his wicked Arts hath endeavoured to silence and stop the Mouth of However this be it may to be sure be safely asserted that the Law was made for a Wicked Man up-these two Reasons that follow 2. That it might restrain and curb the Evil Propensions of Men and keep them in from breaking out into those Wickednesses that they are so very prone unto This is certainly the chief Design and Aim of Laws not only by their Light to mark out all those Instances of Vice which are so destructive to Men themselves and especially to the Community of which they are Members just as Buoys and Sea-marks are set to give notice to Marriners of Rocks and Shelves that they may take care in time to avoid them but also by their Sanctions and Threatnings of Punishment to fright Men from them For as well as Men love Sin they love not the Suffering for it and as violent and impetuous as their Inclinations are to the one yet they may be checked and awed by the other Fear and Love are two most powerful Passions in Human Nature and until all Wicked Men have quite put off these or surmounted the force of them the Sanctions of Law will have some effect upon them because they cannot allow themselves to transgress and incur those Penalties till they have quite lost all love and respect to themselves or quite extinguished all fear of Suffering And whatever we may see to induce us to believe that hardened Sinners have done both these yet I am apt to believe that they are far from them They do in truth but put a bold Face upon a bad Matter They sin not that they care not for Suffering but that they hope they may escape it They feel some secret Checks and uneasie Bodings of Danger in their own Minds and Consciences but they study Arts to weaken the Power of the one and disargue the Presages of the other and then they venture upon Sin with less regret or controul But certainly while the sense and fear of Suffering is fresh upon their Minds self-love and fear will have some hold upon them and then the threatnings of the Law will have some hold of them too so as in some measure to be a curb and restraint upon them So that Laws are wisely and with great reason made to this purpose and while humane Nature remains in any measure like it self they will not fail of some effect upon Men. And it is owing chiefly to these and God's immediate Interposition with them that the World is not quite over-run with Wickedness and Confusion long before this time 3. But there is a third Reason upon which the Law may be said to be made for a Wicked Man and no doubt but the Apostle had respect to it and that is it is made for his Correction and Punishment This is also one great end of the Law though I think but collateral and consequential for as I think it would be a reflection upon Law to say that it directly intends Punishment and Suffering so I think it as great a Mistake to say that a Man obeys the Law by suffering the Penalty threatned by it as well as by doing the Duty commanded in it Upon which Reason I profess that to me there are some Difficulties in the Doctrine of Active and Passive Obedience as they are commonly received which I can never get over till I can be perswaded to believe that a Man is as obedient a Subject in dying for Treason as in yielding faithful Allegiance to his Prince But I return to what I was saying that though Laws are made to restrain Men from sinning yet they are made too to punish them for sinning and without this all their threatnings of Punishment were to little purpose it would avail but little as to the end of Law to threaten Suffering and Punishment to Offenders if it were not intended to execute what is threatned and as perhaps will be said by and by if sometimes when there is occasion that which was threatned be not actually executed But I will stay no longer upon this Doctrinal part of my Discourse but proceed immediately to the second II. General which is to make it as useful as I can by drawing some Inferences from it which will shew this Discourse not to be wholly impertinent or irrelative to the Reason of this Convention 1. And first I observe from what hath been said what a happiness it is to the World in general and to Nations in
particular to be under Government and Laws There is abundance of Wickedness in the World God knows but if it were not for Laws there would certainly be a great deal more And we that see how hardly Men are restrained from Sin by all the Arts of Government and utmost Severities of Laws may easily tell without the Spirit of Prophecy how impetuous and violent they would be were they not under these at all All the Penalties and Threatnings of Punishment cannot over-awe Men so but that they will venture upon Wickedness what would they do then if they were under no apprehension or fear of them It hath been commonly said that without Government and Laws the Societies of Men would be but so many wild Arabian Herds and the truth is they would be very little better That state of War which the great Factor for Atheism in this Nation makes to be the natural state of Man would be so still where Men would be everlastingly clashing and fighting with one another where Might would be the only Right and where the Stronger would still be preying upon the Weaker where there would be no such thing as Rights and Properties nor any Man sure to enjoy any thing that he had any longer than another should please not to dispossess him of it A Man can hardly think but no Man can fully describe the Misery and Confusion that would be among Men the Fears and Jealousies that would still haunt and disturb them in such a State without all hope or possibility of redress I have often thought that it was not without some show of Reason at least that those Men in the Heathen World of old that had been happily instrumental in reducing Cities and Nations under Government and wise Laws were honour'd after their Death with Divine Worship Men thinking that the good they did to their respective Cities and Nations was so immensely great that no mortal Honours were big enough to be returned for them And upon the same reason did some wise Lawgivers easily perswade the People to believe that they had their Laws from the Gods And the truth is the benefit bespake a God and was worthy of a God and no meaner a return was due for it and all the fault was that it was extravagantly misplaced upon those who were but only Instruments in these Blessings under that great and good God who hath fitted Men for Government and inspired them with Knowledge and Skill to make Laws that were both so useful to support Government and so beneficial to those that were under it To him therefore be the praise of these Blessings always return'd Let those great Men that have been or are Instruments under him in conferring these Blessings have all Honour and Respect fit to be paid to Mortal Beings But let God be adored and praised both in them and for them And that I may bring this Inference something closer to our selves let me observe that if there be a Nation at this Day under Heaven that hath cause to bless Almighty God for this Happiness we in this Kingdom and Nation have more Other Nations are under Government and doubtless have many wise and excellent Laws but he that hath observed the state of those Governments and those that live under them and then reflects upon our own may very well borrow the Verse of the Poet a little changed Felices nimium bona si sua nôrint O happy England if it would but think it self to be so and be ready to think that there was nothing wanting to make this the happiest Government in the World so much as Mens considering and being satisfied that so it is A Government settled in that happy poise that Subjects are as much secured from the power of the Prince as the Prince is so from the Insults of the People under no Laws but what themselves have an Interest in making not liable to any Exactions to which themselves do not consent May God Almighty always continue it and make us duly thankful for it And may all Factious and Seditious Persons that would disturb or overturn it be mark'd for common Plagues and avoided as such May they feel the Penalties of those Laws which themselves despise and of sharper too if they can be made May they by a bleeding Experience find that our Laws which are so much for the protection and benefit of good Men were in truth made for such lawless and disobedient Wretches as themselves There are many excellent deductions that might be made from this Argument but I must not think to have time allowed me for them Therefore I shall only crave patience while I remark only one more And that 's this 2. If the Laws be made for disobedient and wicked Men then I hope it will be thought fit to execute them against such Here is a black List of some notorious Crimes following in the Text and some so unnatural that a Man might think them hardly competent to Men. But there are several others besides them that it may be deserve as severe an Animadversion of the Laws and I would to God I could not say among our selves at this day It is a very melancholick Reflection to observe how strangely Profaneness is come to abound of late in this Nation and to what a monstrous height it is grown so as almost to scorn all Law and bear down all restraint of it It is something strange that in a sober Nation as this hath been accounted a Nation professing Godliness and Christian Religion and this Religion reformed from many gross Errors c. that stick to it yet in many other Nations I say it is something strange that in such a Nation and where there are so many excellent Laws against it too Wickedness should overflow and cause such a dreadful Inundation It were perhaps worthy of an Inquiry what the Causes of this should be And besides the common ones that always operated to this purpose and always will I believe these two will be found to be the most influential One is that wretched Artifice of our Enemies of the Roman Communion and the Method that that blessed Sect of Jesuits have taken to bring us o'er to their Religion by which was by unhinging Mens natural sense of Religion and arguing them into Atheism or a downright Scepticism and questioning the Obligations and Reasons of all Religion yea a studied propagating Sensuality and Loosness of Life and Manners as well as of Belief It may well seem strange that Atheism should be thought a likely way to bring Men to Religion or Loosness in Life a good Method to make them good Catholicks If we consider things only superficially we may very well question the Policy of this But alas we are deceiv'd if we do so Those cunning Sophisters know what they do and are as subtil as the old Serpent in it bring Men to an Atheistical Temper once and then all ways of Religion are alike to them Debauch their Manners
and then if there must be any Religion let it be the easiest that which will allow the greatest latitude to Vice and give hopes of Pardon upon the cheapest terms And let the R. Religion alone for that We have liv'd to see the effect of this Policy in the few Proselites that they gain'd when they played their Game openly among us when it was easie to see what was the most prevailing Argument in most of their Conversions Another Cause doubtless hath been from our own unhappy Differences and Contests about Religion among our selves In the starting and fomenting of which though it be notoriously known that they have had a great hand yet we are so imprudent and unhappy as to persue their Methods against our selves The effect of these is too notorious to need instancing it being natural for Men that see so many Religions to question all or resolve to be of none till all be agreed Especially when they think they are indulg'd or at least can pervert the meaning of an Indulgence to that purpose for let it be marked as well as can be it will be found that as long as Men are indulg'd to be of what Religion they will there will be a great many that will be of none at all It is seen to be thus among us and is plain matter of Fact Men are permitted upon some Conditions to go to what places of Worship they think best but abundance under that umbrage go to none at all which though it be quite beside the Intention of the Law yet it seems little notice is as yet taken of it Now when Religion is at so low an ebb among us it is no wonder if all manner of Profaneness and Wickedness run high and so high as if not timely check'd to be very likely in a little time to overflow all But therefore sure there is more need to give check to it and stemm this Torrent by the strength of Laws Which were they as vigorously executed as they are wisely made would go near to take down the Crests and Conâ—â—dences of wicked Men and cool their courage in Sin Men may Hector and make a noise but Law edg'd and back'd with strict Execution would be too hard for them and whatever Confederacies or Complications in Wickedness there might be the Sword of Justice would as easily dissolve them as that in the hand of Alexander did the Gordian Knot And thus far I dare say we are all agreed but here comes in the great Question how shall we get these Laws executed and on whom doth that Obligation to execute them lye The Supream Authority and Power hath discharg'd it self and gone as far in this as it can both by making us good Laws and awakening them too by repeated Proclamations and Remembrances in Parliament so that He that under God hath been so Instrumental in saving us from one Evil hath shew'd himself willing and desirous too that we might be secured from worse But alas what can a poor Prince do more He may recommend Virtue by his own Example and He may discourage Profaneness by his Frowns but alas few live under the Influence of the one or within the reach of the other He may impart of his Power to others under him and commission them as his Delegates to do Justice but what if these be remiss or neglect to do it It is said that Kings have long Ears and Hands too and it is true because their Authority reacheth far and can punish in the most most distant Places But then it is as true that they but see and hear with other Mens Eyes and Ears and need them to give them Information of Misdeeds as well as their Hands for the Execution of Law against them And if those other Men fail in either of these who I pray is to be blamed It is very well and a Happiness to the whole Nation that at some stated times the Laws are awakened by solemn Executions But alas what doth this signifie whilst they lie dormant all the Year besides What doth the Punishment or Death of a few forlorn Thieves desperate Robbers or some few bloody Murtherers signifie as to giving Check to the Wickedness of a Nation There are other Sins perhaps both as heinous in their Nature and pernicious in their Effects as these either not taken notice of or not punished as Lewdness Whoredom Cursing Swearing Fraud and Knavery Drunkenness and all manner of Debauchery c. that brave even Authority and laugh at Law My Lords the King's Justices can but punish what is brought before them not be thought to know in a strange Country what is done amiss and worthy of Punishment unless it de presented to them and what a little of the Wickedness done among us that is who knows not It must be you Gentlemen that are the Guardians of Law and the Guarrantees of Peace in your Country that must lend your Hand to this Work if ever it be done There cannot many things be done amiss at least in many places but they will come to your Cognizance especially if you would please to be strict in taking account of those Officers that are under you and let them see that you are really in earnest in your Charges to them I hope I need not use Arguments to persuade you to so good a Work it commends it self sufficiently to all sober considering Men It is a Work that would endear you to your God making you in a Sense Saviours of your Country and by the Mercies of God save your own Souls in the great Day of the Lord Jesus If therefore you love and honour your God rescue his Glory and great Name from the bold Profanations of Wicked Men. If you love and pity your Sin-sick Country administer this Physick without which her Disease will soon come to a woful Crisis And if you love your selves discharge worthily this high Trust which your God and your Prince hath honoured you with that you may give up your Account with Joy at that great Day The Laws of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel are I hope faithfully made known and the Terrors of the Lord urged upon Men by those upon whom that Duty is incumbent And if there be any that are either false to their Duty in this or render it ineffectual by their own looseness I thank God I have no milder a Request to make for them than that of our Apostle against these false Teachers related to in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as I do really believe a vicious Clergyman to be one of the worst of Men in himself so I look upon him as the most infectious and pernicious in his Example But I hope there is no need of this Reflection but that we shall approve our selves the Servants of Christ and your Servants for Jesus sake But alas suppose these were never so faithful in their Duty who will believe their Report or be concerned at what they denounce against Sinners Men live by Sense and not by Faith and things that are so distant make little impression upon them They must be present and sensible Punishments that must have effect upon an unbelieving and profane Generation of Men. While Religion stood only by its own strength and the Church had only spiritual Weapons to war with those Weapons were not carnal but mighty through God as our Apostle 2 Cor. 10.4 For God was pleased to ac company those spirtual Censures with present Punishments and to be delivered to Satan was for the destruction of the Flesh without a Figure But when Scepters bowed to the Cross of Christ and Kings became Nursing Fathers to his Church then God expected that the Temporal Sword should do that up-upon obstinate Offenders which he had been pleased to do by the Ministry of Angels in consequence of the Spiritual and so he expects it should do still and therefore it is hoped those that bear the Sword will not bear it in vain It will require some measure of Courage and the Spirit of a sound Mind to do it I confess But what if it do the Work will support it self and yield you that inward satisfaction and that comfort which will bear you out against all the Reproaches and hard Words that can be cast upon you by an evil Generation And would such worthy Persons but suffer themselves to be effectually persuaded to one thing whatever difficulties there might be in this Work with God's Grace it might happily be effected The thing I mean is this Care to free themselves from those Vices which they should punish in others else it is to be feared they will never do it or never with Courage and Success We say when a Clergyman takes heed to himself as well as to his Doctrine he speaks like his great Master with Authority and Power and when a Gentleman doth one he doth the other too Evil Men will reverence and dread such a one but little regard all the Threats or Menaces of one as vicious themselves Here our so much wanted Reformation must begin and when it doth so then it will go on Then may we begin to hope well when we see living Sermons and living Laws when the Lives of those in Authority as much reprove and shame as their Power doth fright and punish the Lawless and Disobedient against whom they let them see and feel too that the Law was made and not against a Righteous Man Now to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God be ascribed Dominion Power and Glory for evermore Amen FINIS