earthly and sensual and do not walk with God in your particular places and callings and then think to make it up by duties of worship Such worship is detestable in his sight and will not be received favourably at your hands God will reckon all such acts of worship but as the dissimulation of hypocrites who pretend to love him but are indeed his enemies Jor. 7.9 10 11. Will ye steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and burn incense unto Baal and walk after other Gods whom ye know not And come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say We are delivered to do all these abominations Is this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes Behold I have seen it saith the Lord. Do you think by religious exercises and acts of devotion to expiate the guilt of your unrighteous dealings and other crying enormities Behold I have seen it saith the Lord i. e. not only with an eye of observation and knowledge but with an eye of indignation and fury I will recompence your wayes upon your heads Brethren let every man wherein he is called therein abide with God 1 Cor. 7.24 Let pure Religion and the fear of the Lord go with you into your fields and accompany you in your markets and abide with you in your shops and be closely impacted and interwoven with all your civil affairs As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 This is the second instance as to the matter of Religion 3. The multitude are accustomed to place their Religion only in external performances and outward acts of piety But they little study to ingage their hearts and spirits in the service of God They give him their bodies and outward demeanour but surely think they our thoughts are free and they heed not to mortifie vile and inordinate affections provided that they break not forth into any overt acts of ungodliness Prov. 21.2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes but the Lord pondereth the hearts q. d. Men commonly neglect the consideration of their hearts they think it enough to mind their outward actions but little regard the workings of their spirits But ye my beloved keep your hearts above all keeping Give unto God your very souls and spirits and see that all that is within you be employed in his service Psal 103.1 2. Let us cleanse our selves from all the filthiness both of the flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 And therefore be much in the study of these three considerations following 1. The greatest number of transgressions whereof sinners are ordinarily guilty are sins of the spirit and the most heinous impieties keep their residence and habitation there As the heart of man is the cursed principle from whence they flow so it is the shop where they are forged These spiritual sins are the most devilish wickednesses as carrying the greatest conformity and resemblance to the deeds of the Prince of darkness And then as I said they are ever the greatest number Prov. 26.25 When he speaketh fair believe him not for there are seven abominations in his heart Seven abominations i. e. a multitude of abominations wickednesses of every kind For one gross act of murder committed there is much hatred and malice which are spiritual murder in the sight of God For one robbery done there is abundance of envy and covetousness For one gross act of fornication or adultery there is much sinful lusting which is adultery in the heart Now where sin hath its principal residence there should a Christian be most vigilant and careful 2. God doth judg and pass sentence upon mens outward actions according as the heart is ingaged in them So much of the spirit as is imployed in duty so much worth and excellency in the duty and so much of the heart as is set upon the commission of a sin so much malignity and sinfulness is therein Jer. 17.10 I the Lord search the heart I try the reins even to give every man according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doings Jer. 30.21 Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord 3. The God whom we serve and with whom in all concernments we have to do is such a being as we call a spiritual being that is incorporeal and invisible And therefore bare external acts of obedience carry no proportion or suitableness to his nature and excellencies That service which is acceptable unto God must have in some measure an answerableness unto the nature and perfections of the God that is served It must be a walking worthy of the Lord Col. 1.10 Now this can never be absolved by meer outward devotion For God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Jo. 4.24 We are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit Phil. 3.3 That 's the third instance as to the matter of religion 4. Most persons limit their religion to a freedom and abstinence from grosser acts of pollution and heinous enormities But they make nothing to swallow down lesser impieties that make no such noise in the ears of the world Provided they be not drunkards and swearers and guilty of such other acts of debauchery they think some lighter offences are inconsiderable What if they take liberty now and then to talk vainly and frothily and wantonly What if they defraud and go beyond their brethren if it be but in a small matter wherein they receive no great damage or detriment Surely think they we need not be so exact and precise as to these things But my brethren do not you write after their copy stand you in awe of the least of Gods commandments Whatsoever is the object of divine displeasure and indignation let it be the object of your hatred and detestation Take the prayer of David for your pattern Psal 119.133 Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me These are the persons whom the Lord hath blessed Who are undefiled in the way that walk in the law of the Lord These also do no iniquity they walk in his wayes Psal 119.1 3. Isa 56.1 2. Besides what I have mentioned in this case in the doctrinal part of this subject let me give you farther these three particulars 1. Lesser sins if they are maintained and allowed and harboured in the heart if they are customarily practised in the life they become upon that account exceeding heinous The greatest sums are made up of unites the vastest mountains are made up of small dust and gravel that will crumble between the fingers Smaller iniquities continued in will bring upon the soul a load of guilt of weight enough to sink it into the pit of destruction Is the matter little wherein thou sinnest and so thy transgressions small as thou imaginest Yet the custom
at the Judgment-seat of Christ and save thee from everlasting burnings Alas they are not able to save themselves For he accepteth not the persons of princes nor regardeth the rich more than the poor for they are all the work of his hands Job 34.19 He shall break in pieces mighty men without number and set others in their stead v. 24 He shall cut off the spirit of princes he is terrible to the kings of the earth Ps 76.12 So that I will shut up this point with that passage of Solomon Prov. 29.26 Many seek the Rulers favour but every mans judgment cometh from the Lord. Men may think it is a point of wisdom and policy to please Rulers and to keep in with them though to the defiling of conscience and robbing the Lord of his glory But in the end it will appear to be gross folly and sottishness For it is upon the God of heaven we have our constant dependance both for this life and eternity And if God adjudge thee to hell for thy sinful compliance who can reverse the sentence or can be able to deliver thee out of his hands That is the second case wherein special caution is required 3. In case of neer relations and kindred and intimate friends and acquaintance Their practise hath a more than ordinary attractive influence This is a snare of the devil wherein many have been taken captive an engine whereby Satan hath drawn abundance to destruction Persons are apt to plead for themselves that they must carry it fairly and courteously towards their relations and friends and hold a familiar correspondency with them so that if their relations be vain themselves must be so too and if they be wicked how should they help it but that they must sometimes partake with them in their wickedness What would you have us to do will they say Would you have us cast off our dearest friends and to separate from our nearest relations This is given as the reason of the wickedness of Jehoram His relations were sinners and he joyned with them He had contracted affinity with a wicked family and so drank of the cup of their abominations 2 Chron. 21.6 He Jehoram walked in the way of the Kings of Israel like as did the house of Ahab for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord. And this was one of the reasons why God did so frequently and severely charge his ancient people that they should not make a league nor joyn themselves in affinity with Idolaters Because he knew it would be a strong incentive to carry them into the like courses and woful experience proved it to be a truth Deut. 7.2 3 4. Thou shalt make no covenant with them nor shew mercy unto thm Neither shalt thou make marriages with them thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son For they will turn away thy son from following me that they may serve other gods so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly As godly relations and acquaintance that follow after holiness may be a means to turn a man unto the Lord or at least a great restraint to with-hold from open profaneness and professed rebellion against the Lord so it is upon the other hand When most of a mans relations and kindred and acquaintance are evil it proveth a strong temptation to lead him unto evil with them and to make him such as they are Now therefore to fortifie your spirits for the vanquishing of this temptation let these following truths sink deep into your hearts 1. That the best love you can manifest and the most signal kindness you can shew to your dear friends and relations is to endeavour to turn them from their sins and so to be a means of promoting their deliverance from the infernal pit of perdition And if you will walk humbly and seriously as in the sight of God and thereby adorn the doctrine of the gospel and put a lustre upon religion to the practical condemnation of their evil deeds who knoweth what effect it may have to their conviction and consequently to their conversion and the salvation of their souls So that here is the question Dost thou love thy relations indeed Hast thou an affectionate desire of the welfare of thy friends Why here is the way to do them the greatest office of love by endeavouring to ingage them in the way that leadeth to eternal life If thou dost comply with them in sin that will but further harden them and help them forward to hell whereas if thou art perfect and upright with the Lord Peradventure thy counsels and example may win them over to the wayes of holiness As the Apostle speaks in the case of conjugal relation 1 Cor. 7.16 What knowest thou O wife whether thou shalt save thine husband Or how knowest thou O man whether thou shalt save thy wife The like may I press upon you as to all kinds of relations How knowest thou but thou mayest be a means to convert thy friends and acquaintance Or how canst thou tell but thou mayest save the souls of thy relations at least of some of them As thy self art a servant of God so thou mayest possibly bring them into the same covenant with the Lord. 2. It is no point of incivility and discourteousness however persons may call it for a man to stop his friends or acquaintance in a course of ungodliness and to pull them as firebrands out of the burning This I adde to obviate the vain objections and to prevent the carnal excuses that sinners commonly insist upon to shift off their duty in this respect Alas will they say would not you have us to be courteous towards them and to deal civily with them Why man it is the greatest incivility imaginable for thee to see thy friend or thy brother or some of thy near relations to be in danger every day of being everlastingly undone and dropping down into hell and for thee to look on and let them perish without speaking a word in order to the prevention and not to make use of any means for their deliverance but rather to hasten their eternal ruine and destruction Put the case that one of your dearest friends or nearest relations were distracted and mad and you should see him take up a sword into his hand that he might fall upon it and destroy himself Would you let him alone and say I am loath to disturb him He is my dear friend and I would not deal uncivily with him Or would not you rather make hast and snatch the weapon away to prevent his killing This is parallel to the case that we are upon For Sirs all impenitent sinners are mad and besides themselves they have lost the right use of their reason Eccl. 9.3 The heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness is in
maketh over himself unto you That you do not walk as others walk a Cor. 6.17 18. Wherefore come out from amongst them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And I will be a father to you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty That is the second argument for demonstration of the doctrine 3. A third reason that may be pressed against following a multitude in evil is taken from the duties that are incumbent on us in relation unto them when they sin against the Lord and do that which is displeasing in his sight There are such duties required at our hands as are not only inconsistent with confederating with them and walking after their example but diametrally opposite and contrary thereunto as light is to darkness I might insist upon many but shall content my self to instance in these four only 1. It is our duty to pity them and mourn over them and to take up a lamentation on their account To make it the grief of our spirits to see the name of God dishonoured and his statutes contemned and the bloud of the Lord jesus despised and poor souls running headlong to destruction This hath been the carriage of the Saints of God in times of corruption and wickedness Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law As David was humbled for his own transgressions so it was an heart-breaking to him to see others transgress And see how the prophet Jeremy was affected with the sin and misery of the disobedient Jer. 13.17 But if not will not hear it my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride and mine eye shall weep sore and run down with tears because the Lords flock is carried away captive Now these compassionate workings and godly sorrow are a frame of spirit at a great distance from complyance with the ungodly And this is one particular that will render us conformable unto our Lord and master As he loved his own unto the end with an insuperable everlasting and unparallell'd love so his bowels were moved with pity and compassion towards his very enemies that set against him because of their folly and the wretched estate into which they had plunged themselves Luk. 19.41 42. And when he was come near he beheld the City and wept over it saying if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Mark the speech of Christ here how it is made up of a kind of abrupt expressions as proceeding from a spirit full of affection and tenderness and seeking as it were to ease it self in a passionate lamentation If thou hadst known q.d. Alas poor Jerusalem thy desolation is approaching because thou hadst not known the things that belong unto thy peace Well had it been for thee if thou hadst but known them Would to God thou hadst been so wise as to have taken them into thy knowledg and consideration that so thy calamities might have been averted and prevented O what a grief is it to my heart that thou bost not known them So that here is our duty if God hath cast our lot amongst many wicked that commit abominations in his sight we should be so far from joyning in a combination with them that it should stir up an holy mourning in our souls to see them trampling upon the word of God and lightly esteeming the rock of our salvation And these are the persons whom in times of publick judgments the Lord is pleased to set a mark upon namely such as do not only cry out of their own sins but are filled with sorrow for the abominations of the multitude See it in Ezekiels vision Ezek. 9.4 And the Lord said unto him Go thorow the midst of the City thorow the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof Set a mark upon them i. e. a mark of special and gracious observation here are the people that are beloved of the Lord unto such as these he will have respect and secondly a mark for sure deliverance and preservation when others fall at their right hand and at their left the evil determined shall not come near unto them as it is v. 6. Come not near any man upon whom is the mark You know the Angel could do nothing as to the overthrowing of Sodom till Lot was secured What was he above other men See 2 Pet. 2.7 8. And he delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For that righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds 2. When others sin it is our duty to reprove them as we have occasion and opportunity and that plainly and faithfully with christian prudence and discretion And this is utterly inconsistent with following their example * Turpe est doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum For thou art altogether inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that judgest them that do evil and doest the same for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self He that would do good by reproving another must be sure to look warily to himself that he be not involved in the same guilt lest his words recoyle into his own face and be retorted unto his own shame and confusion That is an excellent saying of the vulgar latine and the original text will well bear the translation * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 18.17 Justus primus est accusator sui venit amicus ejus investigabit eum A just man before he meddle in the reproof of others will diligently search his own Soul and see to the cleansing and reforming of his wayes So that the duty of reproving the ungodly doth suppose we ought to keep free from the taint of their ungodliness This is the Apostle Paul's way of argumentation Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them 3. Our duty in relation unto sinners is what in us lieth to convert them and win them over to the truth To endeavour that of ignorant they may become verst in the wayes of God and of wicked and sinful they may become serious and holy and of enemies of religion they may be sure friends and assertours of it And this is far from imitation of them For if you comply with them in sin that will harden them exceedingly and make them more bold and venturous and obstinate in their evil wayes They will argue after this sort well may we take this course for such professours of religion joyn with us and such as are accounted godly are men of our confederacy It is charged upon the prophets of Jerusalem that they committed adultery and walked in lies and
in one way And helps to prevent manifold mischiefs and inconveniences which dissension and multiformity are apt to introduce into the Church of Christ For difference in worship is apt to breed distance and alienation in affection and from thence arise animosities and spiritual feuds and perverse disputings So that I have not a word to speak against a Religious uniformity in that which is excellent and so far as it goeth hand in hand with the divine Institutions and appointments of our Lord Jesus Christ and doth not intrench upon his royal prerogative Psal 133.1 Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity O the abundant benefit of the communion of Saints as the contents of the Psalm seem to explain that passage Psal 122.1 2 3 4. I was glad when they said unto me Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates O Jerusalem Jerusalem is builded as a City that is compact together Whither the tribes go up the tribes of the Lord unto the testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. Psal 42.4 When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me for I had gone with the multitude I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude of them that kept holy-day For such united societies and combinations of believers God hath in store a peculiar blessing and is wont to be amongst them with his especial favour and presence For the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob Psal 87.2 And therefore it is mentioned as one of the great evangelical mercies promised to make way for the conveyance of further grace and mercy Jer. 32.39 And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them and of their children after them 3. But when a people unite and joyn together in what is sinful if their uniformity consist in the joynt and unanimous practise of superstition and will-worship or in any thing that is contradictious to the Law and commandment of the Lord In such case it becomes exceeding sinful and detestable and a very great provocation of the wrath of God This kind of uniformity is nothing els but a grand conspiracy against the God of heaven a closely compacted rebellion against the King of Kings Thus the Pharisees and all the Jews did uniformly practise their superstitious washings and other ceremonious observances received by tradition from the Elders There were no Schisms or divisions amongst them about such matters Mark 7.3 But what saith our Saviour in the case See Mat. 15.9 In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men And again v. 13 14. Every plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up Let them alone they be blind leaders of the blind And if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch Such a kind of unity was that of the High Priest and the people in their martyring of Stephen They ran upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord They were all linkt together in the same mind Act. 7.57 And that of the Kings of the earth and Rulers that set themselves and took counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ Psal 2.2 3. And in this case we must say as the Patriarch Jacob Gen. 49.6 O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly mine honour be thou not united I must not do evil to bring about uniformity nor unite with any in that which is sinful 4. Lastly observe under this head That the only way to settle and compass such a kind of uniformity as is enjoyned of the Lord and pleasing unto him is to keep exactly close to the rule of Gods word to take heed of making additions thereunto and not to be wise above what is written Here is the ready way to prevent Schisms and divisions and the breaking a sunder into Sects and parties when we keep up to this one uniform and perfect rule of Worship My brethren If persons be guided by traditton and impose upon mens consciences humane inventions and traditions that 's a most soveraign way to perpetuate Schism to the end of the Chapter If persons will load the spirits of their brethren with their burdensom ceremonies under whatever pretext of decency or uniformity they are pressed If they will force mens consciences to stoop under the weight of their Canons here 's a sure way to cause separations and divisions without remedy But if you would indeed attain to such uniformity as is according to the mind of God To the Law and to the Testimony Isa 8.20 Traditions are multiform and Canons of Counsels are multiform vain customs urged under the specious pretences of order and decency are multiform and therefore will undoubtedly produce variance and strife and multiformity Besides coming into the worship of God without the stamp of divine authority they want a power and energy to settle the conscience there is no firm footing where a Christian may tread in fuch cases without danger or fear of pricking his feet among bryars and thorns But the word of God is uniform and at perfect peace with it self and layes a sure foundation whereon to bottom in all soul-concernments And hereupon must you build all your superstructures in order to the erecting and setting up of uniformity amongst Christians This is very plain from former and latter woful experiences Look into primitive times what a stir was there in the Church about the keeping of Easter What tumults bickerings and heart-burnings both here in Brittain and in many other parts Why Because they had recourse to tradition and rested thereupon and endeavoured to impose one upon another their own private sentiments and practises whereas the Scriptures would quickly have ended the controversie When divisions were risen up in the Church of Corinth particularly in the point of the Lord's Supper what means doth S. Paul make use of that the strife might cease He puts them in remembrance of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and brings them close to the first institution For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you 1 Cor. 11.23 Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learnt and avoid them Keep up Sirs to the doctrines of the old and new Testament and let them be the standard of peace and unity Obj. All sorts of persons are pretenders to Scripture even such as rest and pervert it to their own destruction The vilest hereticks will Father their erroneous doctrines upon the word and profess to deduce them from thence How then is it possible that we should rationally expect unity and concord in the Church by this means seeing the most notorious hereticks will have this pretext they will shelter their
natures They sometimes consider what they have done but never bethink themselves in what spiritual state they are When their consciences are a little awakened and flie in their faces perhaps they consider for that fit what sins they have committed and make resolutions against them But then they proceed no further They consider not at all how to be at peace with God through the bloud of sprinkling nor whether they are in Covenant with God by the Mediator of the Covenant They mind to reform their lives to still the clamours of conscience but few think they must be partakers of regenerating grace Whereas the Law of God is the rule of our natures as well as of our actions It shews us what manner of persons we should be as to habitual principles as well as what we should do in the right ordering our practises You cannot possibly be soved except you be sanctified So that be not like unto the multitude in this respect But examine your selves whether you be in the faith See whether Jesus Christ be formed in you 2 Cor. 13.5 Be earnest with God to create in you a clean heart and to renew within you a right spirit Psal 51.10 First endeavour to get into Christ that you may then bring forth acceptable fruits of righteousness unto God First get your natures sanctified that you may walk in the wayes of new and evangelical obedience Ezek. 18.31 Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye dye O house of Israel Consider in reference hereunto three things 1. That the acceptation of a mans actual righteousness and obediential performances doth depend upon his spiritual estate and the sanctification of his nature First God hath respect to the person and then to the duties practised by that person Gen. 4.4 If you remain in the state of nature without the work of regeneration wrought within you though you may do many things for the matter which God hath required yet all you do will be an abomination unto the Lord. For they that are in the flesh cannot please God Rom. 8.8 If there be corruptions unmortified in the person they will taint and defile the best performances For as our Saviour saith Mat. 12.33 34. Either make the tree good and his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit O generation of vipers how can ye being evil speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh 2. The main enquiry of Jesus Christ in the day of accounts will be into the nature and quality of mens spiritual state and condition And he will examine their wayes and conversations as an evidence of their estate So that here is the great matter to be sought after whether you are converted or unconverted whether you are implanted into Christ or belong to the kingdom of the devil Mat. 25.32 33. Before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats And he shall set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on the left 3. Unless your state be changed and your hearts sanctified and renewed by the holy Ghost you have no interest in the bloud of the Covenant nor can you plead any title to the death of Jesus Christ the Mediator of the Covenant whatsoever reformation be wrought in your lives For it is by the Spirit and faith that persons are united unto Christ and ingraffed into him without which there can be no saving interest in him 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new creature Rom. 8.9 Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his That 's the first instance as to the matter of Religion 2. The generality of people confine their Religion only to spiritual exercises and immediate worship But they mind it not in their secular affairs and civil negotiations and imployments They think that Religion lieth only in hearing the word of God and praying and receiving Sacraments and the like But when they come to their particular callings and places and the businesses of this world there they conclude they may take their liberty as being things of another nature wherein godliness is not concerned Do not you follow their example in so doing But labour to set the Lord alwayes before you Psal 16.8 and to interest the glory of God in all your undertakings Thus in a measure it will be in the day of conversion Zech. 14.20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses Holiness unto the Lord and the pots in the Lords house shall be like the bowls before the altar Yea every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be Holiness unto the Lord of Hosts In that day i. e. When the Spirit is poured out upon the servants of God Chap. 12.9 10. When the people are washed from their guilt in the fountain that is set open for sin and uncleanness Chap. 13.1 Then they will carry themselves in this sort so as to interest Religion in all their concernments To this purpose remember these two or three motives 1. That the word of God in its directive power and influence is very extensive and exceeding broad It reacheth to all the particulars of a mans life and carriage It is not only a rule for guidance in matters of worship but takes in all our affairs in this world within the compass of it Psal 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandment is exceeding broad How broad is it Why It is of as great a latitude on the one hand as the corruption of nature is on the other which you know brings pollution and defilements into all our wayes and affairs It rides a large circuit it is of the same extent with all the workings of a mans heart It is of equal latitude and comprehensiveness as a mans life upon earth When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee 2. Except you interest God in your secular concernments and manage them in obedience to his will and with a due subordination to his glory How can you comfortably expect his gracious presence with you and his blessing upon your affairs Wherever you would have God to go with you by the influence of his grace you must study to walk with God in the exercise of your graces If you would keep under the verge of his merciful promises you must have a conscientious regard to his divine precepts You cannot look that the Lord should succeed and prosper your business in the world to your good unless you manage it in a subserviency to his honour and glory Prov. 3.6 In all thy wayes acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths 3. If you are
least disturbance or cause of distraction 1 Cor. 14.40 4. All manner of irreverent and unseemly actions must be abstained from in such places as any way reflect dishonour or contempt upon the worship of God which is there performing or hath been performed or that may render the place unmeet for religious services afterwards Not as if the building were more holy than others but because it is sinful by any means to cast disgrace upon holy duties wherein our business consisteth in attendance upon the Great King the Lord of hosts whose name is dreadful throughout the earth * See Mr. Jenkins's Farewell Sermon and who is a jealous God even a consuming fire Deut. 4.24 5. Lastly let it be observed That the opinion of the holiness of one place above another is for the most part but a fond conceit that hath obtained amongst the multitude of the most ignorant people the tincture of which conceit hath not improbably continued from the very daies of popery as their addictedness to some other fopperies hath done But it is an opinion exploded and rejected by the Protestant Churches This is conspicuously evident amongst our selves 1. By the general permission of Schoolmasters and Writing Masters to teach in such places 2. By the usual meetings there about all Parish affairs as rating assessments and giving orders for mending high-wayes and the like 3. By the publike order for private dwellings to be erected in several of such places in the great City whereby they are converted to civil uses For as for the papalizing doctrines and superstitious practises of some whereby the vulgar are hardened in their apprehensions being but the off-spring of their own brain it is equitable they be laid at no door but their own These particulars being premised let me lay down and confirm this plain position further than decency and conveniency in attendance upon the worship of God there is no manner of holinesse now in the dayes of the gospel in one place more than another nor hath one place preheminence above another This seems to be covertly intimated by our Saviour Jo. 4.21 23. Where the question was touching the place of worship whether upon mount Gerizâ—m or in Jerusalem Jesus saith unto her woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerâ—salem worship the father * Futurum tempus gratiae novi Testamenti evacuantis utrumque locum imo omnem locum praedicit Per haec duo exclusa loca neque in hoc monâ—e neque Hierosolymis ntelliguntur exclusa omnia alia loca Cajet But the houre cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth As if our Saviour had said the time is shortly at hand the gospel state of the Church when all difference of places as to the worship of God shall cease and the main things to be lookt after therein will be whether the worship of God be spiritually performed and according to his own prescription and institution This is a lesson and Instruction hardly learnt by some who mind formes and ceremonies more than the life and fulstance of godliness and whose interest leads them to oppose such truths And therefore give me leave to hint unto you these four things 1. Thâ—t the very synagogues or places of publike assemblies amongst the Jews had nothing of holiness in them above other places only they were appointed for convenience in the serving of God They were places where their Courts of judicature met as well as their religious exercises were performed On the week daies their civil courts were convened in them and on the sabbath day their religious assemblies Some think that the Synagogues were publike places of meeting as well for civil as sacred affairs Eng. Annot. in Mat. 10.17 As if there should be a meeting of Christians in Guild-hall or in Westminster-hal where at other times the Judges sit And therefore you read of Beating in their Synagogues Act. 22.19 And punishing oft in every Synagogue Acts 26.11 And Christ tells his disciples that they should be brought unto the synagogues and unto magistrates and powers Luke 12.11 And that they should be delivered up to the synagogues and into prisons being brought before Kings and rulers for his names sake Luke 21.12 I any persons shall say that the Jews had two sorts of Synagogues one for religious and the other for civil assemblies their proof is expected Bare unscriptural assertions weigh little in the balance with understanding Christians 2. Whereas some fetch their arguments from the holiness of the Temple and tabernacle of old and apply to places now the passages that are upon record concerning the sanctuary there needs little pains to be taken to shew the weakness and invalidity of such arguments Who knoweth not that they were places designed and set apart by God himself and appointed as Symbols of his presence 2 Kings 23.27 Heb. 8.5 Who knoweth not that they were tipes and shadows of good things to come and therefore to continue till the time of reformation Christ hath put an end to these legal ceremonies He came and tabernacled †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jo. 1.14 amongst us He suffered death in the Temple * Joh. 2.21 22. of his body Who knoweth not that there were special promises of mercy annexed to worshiping in the temple and towards the Temple 1 Kin. 8.33 38 39. 1 King 9.3 Let any of these be shewn concerning places of worship now in the times of the gospel else the arguments run a baculo in angulum The promise of acceptance is made to the ordinances and institutions of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the persons that wait upon the Lord in those institutions without any respect to the place Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Mat. 18.20 Superstition and will-worship humane inventions and observances of our own devising are abominations in the sight of the Lord in what place soever they are practised and religious duties of Gods appointment discharged according to his revealed will are pleasing unto the Lord wheresoever they are performed God is graciously present in the place for his ordinance sake and for his peoples sake and not a whit the more amongst them for the places sake 1 Cor. 1.2 3. To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ And mark that eminent prophecy of gospel times Mal. 1.11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering For my name shall be great among the heathen saith the Lord of hosts q. d. For
e. Then it will appear what an egregious Dolt he was his folly will be declared before men and Angels 3. Whereas the Earthworm pretends that he will trust God with his Soul know that the Lord will have nothing to do in a way of mercy with such but will leave them to fall and perish by their own counsels But will not God preserve those that trust in him Yea but this is not to trust in the Lord but profanely to tempt him And he will repay such as hate him to their face Then do we place our confidence under his shadow when our dependance is acted in the way of righteousnesse When we give up our selves in integrity to be his servants and keep the way of the Lord Psal 4.5 Psal 37.3 7 34. If persons live in sin and mind earthly things and yet say they lean upon the Lord This very presumption will bring upon them a sore and inevitable destruction Mic. 3.11 12. So much to eradicate and pluck up that fifth Principle out of your hearts 6. The sixth hellish principle espoused and embraced by the multitude concerns the evil of those sins in which they live and with the filth whereof they are wont to defile themselves Their Tenent is this that there is no great hurt in their irregularities and transgressions nor are they such mischievous things as many are pressed to believe What harm is there will they say if a man talk idly and frothily If they now and then revel and tipple in a way of merriment and to pass away their time They hope no body is the worse for it they know indeed they are actions condemned in the word but what hurt is there in them if they tend to no mans loss or detriment They pray God they may never do worse and the like They cannot deny but they are forbidden to adde to the word of the Lord To introduce mens inventions into his worship To set their Posts by his Posts and their thresholds by his threshold But what need men keep such a doe against them being innocent harmlesse things especially if they are appointed for decency and edification However they are confident that if they do no good yet there is no great matter of hurt in them This I might instance in many cases For it is the ordinary plea which sinners produce to justifie much of their impiety Ezek. 16.20 Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter q. d. Surely it appears a small matter in your eyes These are sinful apprehensions which are sedulously to be mortified and subdued For unless your minds are possessed with abhorring thoughts of sin your souls can never be throughly humbled for it nor will be at much pains or expence to escape the pollution But I have spoken abundantly to this in one or two places before Only let me beseech you to put these two interrogatories home upon your consciences Q. 1. Is there no hurt in provoking the Lord of glory to indignation Is not he the life of thy life and the strength of thy heart and the Author and giver of all the mercies which thou enjoyest Cannot he strip thee naked and leave thee desolate in a moment Is not he able to fill thy bones with sorrowes and thy Spirit with anguish and to crush thee in pieces with the least effects of his wrath Did ever man or woman harden themselves against God and prospered And is there no hurt in that which stirreth up his fury against thy Soul Do you provoke him to anger and do not you provoke your selves to the confusion of your own faces Jer. 7.19 Why man Gods wrath is incensed by the smallest of thine abominations See what order he gave in case of the profanation of the Sabbath when the man gathered sticks in the wilderness on that day Num. 15.35 The Lord said unto Moses the man shall be surely put to death all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp See how Jealous he was in the case of his instituted worship When Nadab and Abihu Priests whom the Lord had consecrated offered up incense before him They were ingaged in the service of the true God and in the duties for the main of his own appointment Only they took liberty to make use of strange fire which God had not commanded And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord. Lev. 10.2 Observe how severely he dealt in the case of Uzzah who did but touch the ark when the Oxen shook it probably out of a good intention And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and he smote him because he put his hand to the Ark and there he died before God 1 Chron. 13.10 Lastly mind what dreadful comminations are denounced against the smallest presumptuous sins such as thine are for which thou pleadest as having no hurt in them Num. 15.30 31. But the Soul that doth ought presumptuously whether he be born in the land or a stranger the same reproacheth the Lord and that soul shall be cut off from among his people Because he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath broken his commandment that soul shall utterly be cut off his iniquity shall be upon him Mark it the least presumptuous sin is a reproaching of God and despising his word It reproacheth God as a lyar as if he would not make good his threatnings It reproacheth him as a countenancer of wickedness As unjust and unrighteous in his doings and it exposeth the sinner to be utterly cut off and to die in his sins And is there no hurt in such things Q. 2. What apprehensions are you likely to have of these impieties at the day of accounts Then when conscience is awakened they will appear in their danger and loathsomness Then when punishment is at hand your souls will rue it that ever you medled with them that ever you were so sottish as to follow after lying vanities For the day of Judgment will be a day of conviction as well as of recompence Jude 15. O my beloved lay these things to heart betimes whilst you are yet in the way It is a dreadful thing to be unconvinced of the bitterness of sin till the torments of hell convince you 7. The last principle of the multitude which I shall mention hath an eye upon the electing grace of God Will they say If God hath appointed to save us we shall be saved though we be never so great strangers to the wayes of holiness And if he hath appointed us to wrath we shall perish all our obedience and endeavours will be to no purpose to withstand or alter his counsels Thus the Devil hath taught ungodly men to reason and the Semi-pelagians are his Ushers to instruct them more artificially to manage this wretched principle This is one of the strong holds of Satan whereby he keepes possession of the souls of the unregenerate By thus arguing they remove all hindrances out
1. Observe from hence the special providence of God in the preservation and safeguard of his Church and people Though they are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little diminitive flock an handful in comparison of the great numbers of those that serve the Devil and adhere to his interest And though the wicked hate the righteous with a perfect hatred and seek to root them out from being a people that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance Yet they are still kept from desolation and ruine Hic est digitus Dei Certainly this is the finger of God If you should see a poor man wage law against an hundred that are rich and mighty and be able to make his part good against them spending peny for peny and pound for pound you would presently conclude this poor man hath some others to back him all his expences come not out of his own stock else he were no way able to stand it out against them Why Sirs thus it is in reference to Gods peculiar people and children They are but a small number of poor despised ones and yet they are inabled to hold out notwithstanding the multitude of the wicked that plot their downfall Surely there is a mighty one to back them even the Lord of hosts For the wicked walk on every side and the vilest men are exalted Well may the Saints of God speak in the language of the Psalmist Psal 124.1 2 3 4 5 6. If it had not been Jehovah who was on our side now may Israel say If it had not been Jehovah who was on our side when men rose up against us Then they had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us Then the waters had overwhelmed us the stream had gone over our soul Then the proud waters had gone over our soul Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us a prey to their teeth 2. Learn from the wickedness of the multitude what pravity and corruption is resident in your own hearts Lay your hands upon your breasts and say this wickedness which they perpetrate and this vanity which they follow is radically and seminally in my soul and if God had left me to my self I should have been a partner with them in the same abominations For my brethren the vile actions of others are evidences of the vileness of our hearts There is not that horrid wickedness committed in the life of any man but it is seminally in the soul of every man As in water face answereth unto face so doth the heart of man to man Prov. 27.19 How then cometh it to pass that we are not actually guilty of the like abominations Why because the Lord hath restrained and kept you back Deut. 18.14 For these nations which thou shalt possesse hearkned unto observers of times and diviners But as for thee the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do q.d. If God had permitted and left you to the natural inclination and bent of your own spirits you would have been conjurers and witches and charmers and fortune-tellers You would have consulted with them and have been in every respect as notorious and execrable wretches as any others in the world 3. Endeavour from the consideration of the sinfulness of the multitude to keep an holy jealousy and suspition over your souls least you should miscarry in the way to heaven Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.12 If the multitude go down the broad way to Hell and perish through their unbelief Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it Heb. 3.19 compared with Heb. 4.1 4. Lastly if God hath given you good hopes through grace that you are converted and taken near to himself by the bloud of the everlasting covenant take advantage from the perversness and corruption of the multitude to adore the unsearchable riches of the grace of God and to magnifie the abundance of his loving-kindnesses Say as David 2 Sam. 7.18 O Lord who am I and what have I deserved that thou shouldest take me from amongst the multitude of the ungodly and bring me hitherto into a state of fellowship and communion with thy self For as it is Deut. 7.7 8. The Lord did not set his love upon you nor chuse you because you were more in number than any people for ye were the fewest of all people But because the Lord loved you therefore he hath selected you and taken you into covenant with himself Let his name be exalted and the high praises of this God be in your hearts and lips and lives for ever FINIS