so doing though very ill requited for it this is high and noble indeed this is an honour not vouchsafed to the elect Angels who are not capable of suffering this is to be a Christian in truth and eminency and to resemble Christ himself who suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps In the words which I have read you may take notice 1. Of one end of Christ in Suffering and that is that he might leave us an example To say that this was the principal end of his passion to deny his satisfaction as if it were impossible or needless is heretical in a very high degree to deny the Blood of Christ to be the price of our redemption is to deny the Lord that bought us And truly the only propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin being rejected there is no other remaining but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries And yet though Christ bare our sins in his own body on the tree He is not only our Redeemer but our Example He hath bequeathed Blessings never enough to be valued in his Testament he has also left us an incomparable Example The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Example is either taken from excellent Writing-Masters who set a fair Copy for their Scholars to write after or 't is taken from Painters who draw a curious Masterpiece for inferiour Artists their Admiration and Imitation 2. They were remarkable steps that Christ took when he was here in the days of his flesh and among them all he did not take one wrong one He was made of a Woman made under the Law and he did not in the least transgress the Law He came upon this Earth to do his Father's Will Heb. 10.7 Lo I come in the volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy will O God And never did he any thing that was in any degree contrary to it 3. The Steps of Christ are to be followed Good men in Scripture are our patterns whose Faith and Patience we are to follow Heb. 6.12 That ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise The Cloud of witnesses is to be minded and the bright side of it gives a good light unto our feet but there is a dark side of the Cloud which may make us cautious we must take heed of resembling the best of Men in that which is bad in their falls and infirmities Abraham is renowned for his faith yet not to be imitated in the carnal shifts he made for the saving of his life Barnabas was to be blamed for being carried away by Peter's dissimulation But Christ is such an example as to walk according to it and to walk by the strictest rule is all one for our Lord did whatsoever became him and exactly fulfill'd all righteousness 4. Here is a special intimation as appears by the context of a Christian's Duty patiently to bear injuries and to take up the cross Though the Gospel be the gladdest tidings yet Suffering is a word that sounds very harsh to flesh and blood But the Apostle bids us behold Christ in his Sufferings and not think mâ—ch of our afflictions which were but a drop compared with His which were a vast Ocean The Sufferings of Christ the Head were unconceivably greater than those which any of his Members at any time are called to undergo And indeed when he drank the Cup his Father gave him he drank out the Curse and bitterness of it so that it is both bless't and sweetned to the Lambs followers who are to drink after him 5. The Sufferings of Christ and his Example being joyned together in the Text here is a signification that by his Death he has purchased Grace to assist and enable us to follow his example Our Lord knows our natural impotency nay averseness to follow him or so much as to look to him His death is effectual therefore to kill our Sin and to heal our depraved Nature his power rests upon us that we may tread the Path in which he is gone before us I am able to do all things says the Apostle through Christ strengthning me I am desired this Morning to speak of Christ as our Example and to shew how Christians are to follow him This is a Theme that commends it self to you by its excellency usefulness and seasonableness in such an Age wherein there is such a sinful sad and almost universal degenerating from true and real Christianity Glorious Head had'st thou ever on earth a Body more unlike thee than at this day How few manifestly declare themselves the Epistles of Christ written by the Spirit of the living God! Few Professors have his Image who yet bear his superscription In the handling of this Subject I shall 1. Premise some things by way of Caution 2. Shew you in what respects Christ is an Example to be followed 3. Produce some Arguments to perswade you to the imitation of him 4. Close with some Directions how this duty may be done effectually In the first place I am to premise some things by way of Caution 1. Think not as long as you remain in this world to be altogether free from Sin as Christ was He indeed was from his Conception in the Womb to his Ascension far above all visible Heavens altogether immaculate and without blemish Some have fancied spots in the Sun but sure I am in the Sun of righteousness there is none The Sins of all that are saved were laid upon him but no Sin was ever found in him or done by him The Apostle tells us that he was holy harmless and undefiled Heb. 7.26 You are indeed to imitate Christ in Purity but perfect Holiness you cannot attain to while you carry such a body of Death about you and are in such a world as this It may comfort you to consider after the fall of the first Adam and the sad consequences of it how the second Adam stood and conquer'd and kept himself unspotted from the world all the while he conversed in it But as long as you remain on Earth some defilement will cleave to you to admonish you where you are and to make you long for the heavenly Jerusalem More and more holy you may and ought to be but to be compleatly holy is the happiness not of Earth but Heaven 2. Think not that Christ in all his actions is to be imitated There are Royalties belonging to our Lord Jesus which none must invade He alone is Judg and Lawgiver in Zion and that worship is vain which is taught by the Precepts of Men. Christ is all in all he fills all in all Eph. 1.23 When the Fathers of the last Lateran Council told Leo the Tenth That all Power was given to him in Heaven and Earth As it was blasphemous flattery in them to give so it was blasphemous pride and right Antichristian arrogancy in
Him to accept the honour When our Lord was upon Earth there were several acts of Power which he exerted as giving sight to the blind raising the dead and such like which Christians now must not think of doing Elegit Apostolos humiliter natos inhonoratos illiteratâ—â— ut quicquid Magnum essent facerent Ipse in eis esset faceret Aug. de C. D. l. 18. c. 49. I grant that the power of working Miracles was communicated to the Apostles and others but it was Res unius aetatis a thing that lasted little longer than One age These Miracles were necessary when the Gospel was first to be planted in the world but now they are ceased and if there were but a general exactness and exemplariness in Christians lives and practises this might be majus omni miraculo a great deal more than Miracles towards the Gospels Propagation 3. Think not that your obedience can be meritorious as was the obedience of our Lord and Saviour The Apostle tells us that by the obedience of One i. e. the second Adam many are made righteous and to this obedience is owing that abundance of grace which believers receive the gift of righteousness and also reigning in life eternal Rom. 5.17.19 The Merit of our Lord Jesus is so every way sufficient that Believers Merit is as needless as all things consider'd 't is impossible It was very Orthodox Humility in Jacob when he confessed he was less than the least of all mercies And Nehemiah though he speaks again and again of the good deeds he had done was certainly very far from the opinion of Merit As appears Neh. 13.22 Remember me O my God concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy 4. You must not imagine that your greatest sufferings for the sake of righteousness are in the least expiatory of sin as Christ's Sufferings were Christ was deliver'd for our offences and by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 the offering was but one the Sacrifice of himself and it was offer'd but once other Sacrifices are unnecessary 't is unnecessary that this should be again offer'd Our Lord upon the Cross with his last breath cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is finished Joh. 19.30 q. d. All is done all is undergone that was needful for my Churches acceptation with God and the full remission of all their Trespasses Understand that no Sufferings that you can undergo for Christ's sake are satisfactory for your iniquities do not by such a thought offer to derogate from Christ's compleat satisfaction We read of some that came out of great tribulation but did the blood of these Martyrs justifie them no such matter they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb Rev. 7.14 In the second place I am to shew you in what respects Christ is an Example to be followed 1. Christ is to be followed in his great Self-denial It had been a great Stoop in the Son of God if his Deity had been veiled with the Nature of Angels a greater Stoop it would have been to be made Flesh though he had been born of an Empress and had been as glorious a Temporal Monarch as the Jews fancied he would be But this is exceedingly amazing to behold Him that thought it no robbery to be equal with God making himself of no reputation and taking upon him the form of a Servant Phil. 2.7 He did not abhor a poor Virgins Womb nor afterwards to be laid in a Manger And though he was Lord of all yet for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might be rich 2 Cor. 8.9 thus he pleased not himself Rom. 15.3 neither did he seek himself and his own honour but the honour and glory of him that sent him Joh. 7.18 How can he be a follower of Christ who is so utterly unlike him in being selfish Our Lord knew the prevalency of self-love and how opposite 't is to the love of God and care of the Soul therefore he strictly requires Self-denial Luk. 9.23 If any man will come after me let him deny himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seipsum abdicet as Beza translates it Self-abdication is called for a man must have no regard to himself to his own ends and inclinations as they are opposite unto and lead him away from God and from his Duty Oh act as new Creatures and as those that are not your former selves seek not your own things Let nothing be done through vain glory be ever diffident and jealous of your selves Self is the Enemy that is always present and most within us and that has the greatest power to sway us We are not our own we are bought with a price we should glorifie the Lord that has bought us as those that are Debtors not to our selves but of our selves to Him 2. Christ is to be followed in his Patient enduring the worlds hatred and the slights and contradiction of sinners It was the Fathers and the Sons love to the world that brought Christ into it and he came not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Joh. 3.17 Yet what strange kind of usage from the world did he meet with The world was mad upon Sin venturous upon Hell and wrath and with contempt and hatred rejected the only Saviour His Person they are prejudiced against his Doctrine they contradict and his Design they oppose though their Deliverance and Salvation was designed Christians should not think it strange that they meet with hard and unworthy usage from the world Cain did quickly shew his enmity against Abel his Brother because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous 1 Joh. 3.12 If the world hate you says Christ ye know it hated me before it hated you if ye were of the world the world would love his own but because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you Joh. 15.18 19. Now as Christ was unmoved by the worlds Malice either from doing his work or from looking to the joy that was set before him so should Christians also be Conquer the world by contempt of its fury overcome its evil with good and as Christ made intercession for the transgressours that cryed Crucifie him crucifie him so do ye love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that despightfully use you and persecute you Mat. 5.44 3. Christ is to be followed in his resisting and overcoming the Prince of darkness Satan assaulted the first Adam and was too hard for him He was so bold as to set upon the second Adam but was foil'd by the Captain of our Salvation If you read the History of Christ's Temptation Mat. 4. you may perceive that nothing from the tempter fastens upon our Lord Jesus The subtlety of the old Serpent was in vain and
Sword of Justice into the hands of good and faithful men I do not go about to make parties in the Nation God forbid it is contrary to my principles there hath been too much of it in the Nation and in the world and oh that there may be no more Oh that God would in the greatness of his goodness heal all our breaches and compose all our unbrotherly dâ—fferences and grant that we may all serve him in the beauties of holiness with one shoulder and one consent Oh that I might see it done In the mean time I am verily perswaded that among every one of the different parties in the Land who hold the head and are sound in the vitals of Christianity the main Fundamental points of our Religion there are to be found persons fearing God And if I may have leave humbly to speak my thoughts I count it a great pity that any of them should be laid aside as Vessels in which there is no pleasure as persons altogether useless and unfit to be trusted and imployed meerly because they dissent from others of their Brethren in those things which are acknowledged to be indifferent but cannot be by them complyed with lest they should sin against God and wound their own Consciences so long as they are sound in the faith set for the glory of God and for the honour of the King and for the publick good Why Oh! Why may not such men be owned and incouraged and imployed in those things of which they are capable Are they fit for nothing because there is something that they cannot do I know and all men must yield it that there have been and will be as well as are diversity of Judgments and by consequence of practice No man hath his Judgment Faith and Reason at his Command and it is as possible to make all men of a Stature as of a mind But I must and do humbly submit this to our Superiours withal leaving particular persons to their several Sentiments and to walk accordingly to that light which they have received and begging of God the hastning of that day prophesied of in Zech. 14.9 Wherein the Lord shall be King over all the Earth and wherein there shall be one Lord and his name one Vna fides una Deum colendiratio One Faith and one Worship This I take for certain That ungodliness is very unlikely to be suppressed in a Nation when the ungodly and wicked men of that Nation are the men intrusted with and imployed about the supression thereof It is not probable that a Swearing and Cursing Magistrate will punish another for his Oaths or a Drunken Magistrate will inflict the Legal penalty upon another for the like brutishness Or an unclean Officer make another smart for his Whoredom While he is going about it an hundred to one there will be a bitter Reflection the man will find a sting within himself his own Conscience if it be not fear'd or in a profound sleep cannot forbear flying in his face and asking him in his ear this pinching question How canst thou punish that in this person which thou knowest to be thine own practice Rom. 2.22 23. Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery dost thou commit adultery Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge Thou that makest thy boast of the Law through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God Upon this account it was that holy David resolved his eye should be upon the faithful of the Land Psal 101.6 He would express his special favour upon those that were of known integrity that would faithfully mind and perform the duty of their place and be true to their God and to their trust and saith he He that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me viz. in governing the Nation and in seeing to it that good orders be kept And I look upon that as a good saying of one Melior est Respublica tutior c. That Common-wealth or Kingdom is safer and in a much better condition in which there is a bad Prince than that which hath in it bad Magistrates Officers and Ministers of State Sixthly In order to the effectual suppression of prophaneness it cannot but be owned as absolutely necessary to watch diligently and deal severely with the Nurseries of it For as our Lord Jesus who is the King of Sion Saints hath his Schools Nurseries for the instructing training up of persons in sound knowledge true holiness Such are the assemblies and congregrations of his people Isa 2.3 Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways So Satan the Prince of the power of the air the Spirit that worketh in the Children of disobedience hath his Nurseries which he fills with cursed Temptations and his Instruments with Venomous examples in order to the alluring of men to flagitious courses and rendering them expert ready and compleat Artists in sin And do not all men see how our youths are tainted and corrupted there and how many of those that once were hopeful and thought to be plants of righteousness have been there blasted and turned into the degenerate plants of a strange Vine bringing forth the Grapes of Sodom and the Clusters of Gommorrah All that read these lines may easily understand my meaning what houses they are at which I now point And I would ask Are Stews and Brothel-houses fit to be suffered among us I have not at all wonder'd when I have read and heard how many of them are allowed in Rome that Mother of Harlots who holds in her hand a Cup of fornication we must expect the great Whore will not fall out with the little Ones specially when they are profitable to her Bonus odor lucri ex re qualibet In her Nostrils the money smells well come it from whence it will But it is an arrant shame that any of them should be found in a Land of Light in a Nation of Protestants in a City of righteousness in a place where that Religion is profest and established that condemns all such filthy practices And as for Ale-houses and Victualling houses though some of them possibly are useful yea and necessary yet is there need of such multitudes in which so many sit many hours together fuddling and drinking away their money their wits their health and their Souls while their poor Wives sit at home mourning and their Children crying and perhaps all of them wanting and ready to starve I am sure none ought to have Licenses for the keeping such houses who will suffer them to be places of licentiousness and not be careful to observe good hours and orders Seventhly Let all inferiour Officers be very careful and diligent in their places For their places are not dormitories places to idle and sleep in but to watch and work in Church-wardens Constables and others have
Dedication but by a real inward Sanctification at least of unblameable Conversations free from scandal being without offence though not before God yet before men A prophane wicked Minister is a gross Solecism and deserves to be counted a monster and to be driven from among men as Nebuchadnezzar was when brutified Dan. 4.25 But while you do shine with the bright beams of Holiness and walk according to the blessed Rules of the everlasting Gospel which you ought to preach you may boldly and comfortably without any severe gripes within without any reproaches cast upon you from without bend your utmost force against those extravagants who walk contrary to them Therefore my Brethren let us all study the Gospel we preach and live it as well as know it for knowledge will not be saving until it influence Heart and Life and be reduced into practice Let us I say think with our selves and repeat the thought often and often what manner of Persons we ought to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness and then may we lift up our voices like Trumpets and decry all the wickedness we know to be acted Herein will you do singularly good service both to the great God in Heaven and to our King and Magistrates upon Earth and to the whole Land We read that in the fight with Amalek while Israel was in the valley Moses was in the mount with the Rod of God in his hand which he lifted up And when his hands were weary and ready to flag Aaron and Hur were by to sustain and uphold them Aaron was the Priest of the Lord and Hur was a Prince of the Tribe of Judah Let this example teach all their duty and excite and quicken them to the performance of it When the hand of Moses the Supream Magistrate I mean is lifted up with the rod of God against the Sins of the times let both Aaron and Hur Magistrates and Ministers come in chearfully and strenuously to his assistance For it is a thousand pities that the Magistrate should work alone when set about so great and good a work as this Do you back him and afford unto him all the Assistance that you can Vse 3. I shall now in the last place direct my discourse unto those who are placed in a lower Sphere for the present not put into any Office nor clothed with any thing of Magistratical Power and Authority but altogether in a private capacity I would have you to consider what you have to do For there is a Duty incumbent upon every one Though you are not to reach out your hands to works or acts of Office neither in the State nor in the Church yet you are not to lay aside nor neglect any part of that work which belongs to you as members of both And as there is not the least and meanest Person in a Kingdom but may do a great deal of mischief so there is not the meanest but if he have an Heart may do some good Solomon tells us Eccl. 9.14 15. of a little City that had but few men and was besieged by a great King And there was found in it a Poor man who by his Wisdom deliver'd the City And in 2 Sam. 20. When Sheba rose up in Rebellion against David and being pursu'd went to Abel Joab with his Host cast up a bank against it and batter'd the wall but a Woman saved it from ruine Every one may be instrumental for good Since it is then the Duty of Magistrates from the highest to the lowest to act what they can toward the suppression of prophaneness there are these two things unto which I would exhort you who are in private stations First Set an high value and esteem upon every one of those Magistrates whom you know or hear to be herein true to their trust and careful to perform their duty You may be sure of this that they will find discouragement enough opposition from the ranting crew The wicked themselves at whose lusts they strike will hate them with an implacable hatred and curse them and drink to their confusion and with longing desire to be rid of them and do whatever they can in order thereunto I do not wonder to hear of the plottings and combinations both of Atheists and Papists in such a case There is nothing that they hate more than Reformation and Religion nothing they will be more impatient under than a restraint laid upon their lusts Therefore those that are pious and sober that fear God and are friends to the Nation should be exceeding dear over them and prize them at an high rate and love them with their hearts and honour them and willingly pay Tribute and bless God for them We are less than the least of mercies and ought to own them much more greater Mercies A good Servant in a Family is a blessing to it Laban confest it to Jacob Gen. 30.27 I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake How great a Blessing then is a good King upon the Throne a good Lord-Mayor in the Chair good Justices upon the Bench Certainly these are Blessings with all thankfulness to be owned they are mercies among temporal ones of the first Magnitude they do make an happy Nation and an happy People unless that People will be so vile and froward as to stand in the way of their own happiness Those that are Protestants in their Hearts who while they verbally profess that Religion are sincere in that Profession cannot but with delight look upon it as a choice and singular Mercy for our gracious God in a day wherein there were great searchings sinkings of heart to set over us our King and Queen a Protestant King and Queen whose hearts we perswade our selves are set for the Maintenance of the true Reformed Religion and we hope for the pulling down whatsoever is contrary and bids defiance thereunto in its Principles and Precepts Love them for this let them be our dear as well as our dread Sovereigns and let us be sure to be subject to them not only for wrath but likewise for Conscience sake yea and out of choice And let us pray for them and plead for them and strive both together and apart with God for them and bring down upon them from Heaven all the Blessings we can This was done by the Jewish Church Psal 20. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble The name of the God of Jacob defend thee send thee help from the Sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion Remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt offerings Grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfil all thy counsels and hear thee from his Holy Heaven with the saving strength of his right hand Thus they did bless their King in his Exploits and thus let us bless our King in his Yea let the blessing of Joseph come upon him Gen. 49.25 26. Let the Almighty bless him with the blessings of
Zimri and Cosbi God himself took notice of it and imputed it to his zeal and was highly pleased with it and mention'd it twice Numb 25.11 He was zealous for my sake among them And again v. 13. He was zealous for his God His heart did burn within him he was all in a flame and could not with any patience endure to see his God so unworthily dealt with and dishonoured While I am writing of this I am informed of that excellent precept against the prophaning of the Lords day sent out by the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Pilkington our present Lord Mayor which being of a more than ordinary strain I look not upon as a matter of custom but an effect of his zeal and let it be for his honour to succeeding generations and an embalming of his name and let God himself remember it for good to him both in time and to eternity One thing more Lastly Frequently seriously call to mind that account which you are at the last and great day to give of your selves and your power and all your actions to a better greater and higher than any of you even to God himself He will for certain he will call you all to a strict account therefore awe and quicken your Souls with the thoughts of it It is but a little very little time that the youngest and strongest of you have to spend in the World Death will certainly come and summon you hence And when it comes it will not stay for you till you have mended faults and supplied defects possibly it will not allow you time enough to say Lord have mercy upon me And then your places will know you no more and your power will know you no more and your comforts and enjoyments will know you no more You that now sit upon thrones and in Parliament-houses and Courts of Judicature must then stand before the divine Tribunal upon an equal level with the meanest of the people everyone of you give an account of himself to God of his trust power how he did carry himself and manage and improve his power And therefore if you have any kindness for your selves make it appear by your care so to live now so to act and rule as that you may give up a good account with boldness and comfort and hear the Judge say Well done good and faithful Servants you have been faithful in your little you have done your duty and fill'd up your places now enter into the joy of your Lord. I shall conclude this Sermon with that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10 11. We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or evil knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men so to live in the World so to order their Conversations so to trade with those talents of interest and estates of parts and power for the present that then they may be found faultless and presented with exceeding joy Quest. How may we enquire after News not as Athenians but as Christians for the better management of our Prayers and Praises for the Church of God SERMON XVI ACTS 17.21 For all the Athenians and strangers that were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing IN the Text chosen for me to speak of and for you to hear I do observe and would have you also consider we meet with a Concourse of people who pretended to be the Virtuosi of that Age and for ought I do discern may as well deserve the Character as they do in our Age who spend their time in enquiring into useless Novelties If our Learned Men equal the Learning of these Athenians If Students from Foreign parts flock to us to perfect their course of Studies as to Athens If Merchants in equal Numbers but with unequal Riches attend the Custom-houses and fill the Exchanges with us as with them If there were some Travellers who came onely to see and talk who were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strangers there If each sort had business of greater Importance to mind than to spend their time in hearing what others could tell or telling what others would be pleas'd with hearing which was the Folly and Distemper of those Athenians and Strangers the same is the Epidemical Folly and Disease of our Age and of all sorts of the Beaux-Esprits refineder Spirits with us The Cure of this Disease is the design of this Discourse in this Case How may we Enquire after News not as Athenians but as Christians for the better management of our Prayers and Praises for the Church of God He that Enquires to satisfie his Curiosity or his sinful Prejudices or malicious Wishes and to boast and triumph in the Sorrows of the Church of God and He that Enquires not at all nor concerneth himself with these Works of God do both highly offend The one rejoyce in the Destruction of Sion as 't is Obad. 12. v. The other is at Ease in Sion Amos 6.1 and are not grieved at the Affliction of Joseph Amos 6.6 and each do provoke the displeasure of the Lord against themselves Amos pronounceth a Wo against the one Chap. 6.1 and an utter Extirpation is threatned against the other Obad. 18. v. Such careless ones as neither fear the Evil nor hope for the Good of Sion neither pray for its Deliverance nor do praise God for his Salvation to Sion greatly Sin and are likely to be deeply Punished Isa 32.9 10 11 12. That we may Escape both the Case warns us Not to Enquire Athenian-like but to Enquire as becomes Christians and suitably Pray for a Distressed or Praise God for a Delivered Church In stating this unusual Case it will I think be best to draw it out into some previous Propositions which shall make way for the clearer Resolution of it 1. The Casuist doth grant that in some Cases we may Enquire what is the News that is abroad Whosoever asketh Direction how to do an Action is first perswaded of the lawfulness of the thing he would do How shall I come before God implieth that I may yea ought to come before him Mich. 7.6 So here the Casuist is of opinion we may Enquire but is solicitous lest you should with the most enquire amiss and therefore would direct you the best way of doing what is lawful to be done If there were a doubt the Case should be first May it be done not How is it to be done 2. News which spreads abroad in the World is of very different Nature 1. Some Trifling Reports below the gravity and prudence of a Man to receive from a Reporter or to communicate to any Hearer 2. Others of a very particular private personal Concern and among such as are of mean and abject state which as they rise among them so 't is fit they should die
the Blessing Young Solomon's chusing Wisdom Young Obadiah's fearing the Lord Young John's lying in Christ's Bosom Yea Young Children crying Hosannah stilling or shaming at least and baulking God's Enemies and ours Origen's Father Leonides would sometimes uncover his Breast as he lay asleep and solemnly Kiss it blessing God that had given him to be a Father to so Excellent a Child And so shall many of us have warrant to do Upon our Houses Schools and Churches it shall be writ and read of all Jehova Shamma the Lord is there Amen and Amen Quest What Repentance of National Sins doth God require as ever we expect National Mercies SERMON XVIII HOSEA 10.12 Sow to your selves in Righteousness reap in Mercy breaks up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain Righteousness upon you THE Prophet joyneth Counsel with Threatnings Amendment is that he calleth them to as a means to save them That he might induce them to this he represents their aggravated Sins and the dangers to which they were exposed by their Provocations Yet least this Call should still be uneffectual through an opinion that Repentance could avail little to a People so guilty he addeth that if they returned to God their Sins tho' great should not prevent Mercy and the threatned Judgments though near might be diverted By this Text God proclaims not only to particular Persons but to Nations how desireable it is to him to execute his Goodness and his extream backwardness to avenge himself on the most provoking Kingdoms unless they add Impenitency under solemn Warnings unto their Rebellion God seems to address himself to Ephraim to this purpose Thou are a very guilty People yet turn that I may forgive Thou art on the very brink of ruine thy obstinateness is so notorious that it will not consist with the Rules or Credit of my Government to spare thee longer Oh yet be perswaded to render thy self a Subject capable of my kindness I have long pleaded and thou seemest even unperswadable Yet I 'll make one further essay I 'll try thee once more Sow to your selves in Righteousness First The words containeth some of the Essentials of Repentance and suppose the rest Under a Metaphor from Tillage God applyeth himself in the description of this Duty q. d. 1. He that will repent must deal with his indisposed Heart Break up the fallow ground whatever pain or difficulty attends so barren or obstinate a frame of Soul you must strive with your selves pluck up those Weeds strike at the root of your Lusts which render the Fruits of Righteousness impossible This sence of that clause is more evident from those words of another Prophet Break up the fallow ground Jer. 4.3 sow not among Thornes 2. When the Heart is thus prepared we must proceed to proper acts of Reformation Sow to your selves in Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad justitiam Isa 61.3 Let the Rule of Righteousness be observed in your hearts and ways be just to God and Men return to God in sincerity be and do what may argue you to be Trees of Righteousness Do thus to your selves i. e. leave it not to others Or you shall reap the advantage of it your selves if you repent 3. You must also seek the Lord i. e. Worship God and not Idols as hath been your way Follow after him who is departed from you call upon him crave his Grace to help you but be not satisfied with faint and short attempts persist in this work till you find his favour in the blessed effects of it even till he come and rain c. These heads of Repentance this Text affords Secondly This Repentance is urged from variety of Arguments but principally from this That National Mercies would certainly follow this National Repentance Reap at the face of Mercy or immediately 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reap in Mercy It 's promised more strongly then if it had been said Indicatively you shall reap in the Future Tense Being put thus Imperatively the import of it is this you have no more to do but possess your Mercies upon your Repentance Mercy will of it self grow from that Root God hath provided all antecedent Causes he hath ordained the connexion and it lies on him to make a Repenting People happy You may be assured of this for that which was meer Mercy in making the Promise is become an Act of Righteousness by the Promise You may now expect it from God as just in which sense I take that clause till he come and rain Righteousness upon you That which was Mercy in the first part of the Verse is Righteousness in the last part I know it 's true Doctrine to say till God bestow on you holy inclinations and ability to perform but that 's not the most designed Sense He further argues Ezek. 34.26 from the plenty of those Blessings which God would afford on their Repentance Till he come and rain Righteousness The returns of God to a Repenting People are in a fullness of Blessing and there shall be showers of Blessings There 's one Motive more viz. The seasonableness It 's time to seek the Lord. It 's high time and but barely so you cannot say there is no hope though you must repent soon or not at all The consideration of this Paraphrase must lead any one to the case that I am to handle Can any serious Spirit think it vain to ask What is that National Repentance which may give a sinful people hope of Mercy Which is the same with the Case as it is given me What Repentance of National Sins doth God require as ever we may expect National Mercies I have led you to it by this Text that it may not seem a melancholly fancy a mystery not to be handled or a needless inquiry It 's an awful case It 's not put to satisfie your Curiosity but to guide your Fears and Hopes It 's not only to direct your Minds to a right judgment of the matter but to excite your Hearts to that Repentance which may afford us hope in the midst of our dangers and guiltiness It 's the happiness or misery of Nations are concerned in it It 's the only remedy that a sinful Nation can use or turn to God is peremptory Luke 13.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utterly be destroyed except you repent you shall all likewise perish My work is 1. To resolve the case in general 2. To apply the case resolved to our own Nation I shall use this method As to the first 1. Shew you what is supposed in the case as stated 2. Explain the tearms National Sins and Mercies 3. State the Case it self 4. Propose the difficulties that attend the resolution of it 5. Resolve the Case which the forementioned particulars will much conduce to I shall as proof to this resolution of the Case 1. Evidence that the Repentance expressed in the fifth head doth ordinarily afford ground
Reason our Law makes it Death to conceal High Treason so much as four and twenty hours I am sure God's Law requires you to Confess and Forsake your higher Treason against Christs Crown without so much as a Minutes delay And with much more Reason and Equity I thought I had done But I am sensible how little I have done And therefore before I make an end I must try to set two sorts of People a doing more for poor Unconvert young ones Two very concerned ones in the case Two that my Text hath surely somewhat to do with I mean Parents and Ministers Surely Natural and Ecclesiastical Fathers are all bound to joyn me in preaching of this portion of Scripture To you Natural Parents I first Address Beseeching you that you go study what you have to do and do all that you shall know for your Childrens early Conversion I am of the mind that gallant Language ne're did Gods Work And do find it what you call Wild Note rather than set Musick that I can ever move you by VVherefore plainly I tell you we may thank you for Earth's becoming thus unlike Heaven and like to Hell VVe may thank your Negligence and worse for the ruin of more Children than ever Herod slew or the Lyar and Murderer of France himself VVe may thank you that Children be so generally Beasts before they are Young Men and young Devils before they are Old Men. VVe may thank you for vitiating the most numerous the most ductile and the most hopeful part of the VVorld For robbing God of his First Fruits in the VVorld I beseech you by Gods tender Mercies repent of your Cruelties And I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ reform ye straitway and do as aforesaid The Light of Nature that guides you to help your Children to go and to speak and to do what is necessary for this Life guides you also to help them for the Divine Life Nor can you doubt but Gods Ordinance in the old Church for the appearanee of the Male-children before him thrice in the Year was to bring them to an early Acquaintance with himself And there is still both need and obligation to keep the substance of that precept now under the Gospel O let it not be said any longer that your care is more for your Childrens Cloaths than their Souls For shame Sirs for shame let them not be wicked without your pity nor Converted without your pains Think ye daily of both the Advantages and Engagements to do it Your Advantages You do Love your Children best do you not And you are best Beloved by them You are Nearest unto them and have most Authority over them You do know their Capacities and their Tempers VVho can suit them as you Your Engagements Their sore Needs do engage you And so do the sore Evils that however undesignedly you have done them Who brought Adam's Sin upon them and into them but you And who dares say that your own personal Sins have done them no wrong Dying Dr. Harris said He had made his Peace with God A Minister of the Church of England told me he had refused to Baptize some of his Parishioners Children because as he saw they would not afterward breed them up to Christianity And told his Children that his Sins should not hurt them therefore unless they made them their own Can you say so if you were now to dye Well very Nature also engages you Ay and Equity binds you For your Children are God's more than yours and sure it is to him and for him that you should educate his Children Truth also engages you For you promised you would so educate them when you had them Baptized did you not The Fear and Love of God if any be in you do engage you And so doth your own Interest also Yea lastly Shame engages you For 't is a shame is it not To teach Children to honour and serve you and not to honour and serve their God and yours I have bid many Children ask you whether if they were too young to be bound to keep Gods Commands they were not also too young to be bound to keep yours Listen not to the White Devils that will suggest If your Children take not to Religion of themselves without your ado your pains will do but little good Do Horses or Camels tame themselves Do Men tame Beasts of the Wilderness and you not tame the Children of your own Bodies and Families But all in a Word Does God set you a work and promise you Success and you dream it to no purpose to set about it Read you Prov. 22.6 23.13 14. 29.17 15. As for you Church-Fathers may I humbly assume to stir up your Minds but in way of Remembrance You know if the Lambs be lost the Lord of the Flock will with great anger ask Where were the Shepherds all the while What were they doing Nor will our highest feeding of the Sheep compound for the loss of his Lambs And I doubt it will not suffice to say Lord we were the while digging for profound Notions or Disputing Nice Questions or studying polite Sermons for people whose Peace and whose Praise we could not have cheaper Brethren for the Lords Sake let us all do somewhat weekly and set the Parents of our Congregations doing somewhat daily for young people's Souls And let both set to it Hopefully for the Reasons foresaid The Difficulty and Impossibility as to our Endeavours be left but to drive us to Diligence and Dependance on him to whom nothing is Difficult or Impossible The more we do look for success the more it will come Let not Catechising that is praised by all be Unpractised by any And in Preaching let none of us make need where we find none to shoot over young folks heads and use a Language we must needs know they understand not Love of God and of them would make us willing rather to be trampled under Scorners feet for our Faithfulness then to ride over their heads in Figures of Vain-glorious impertinence The which wise Hearers do no more commend than weak Hearers do Understand Neither be it any more grievous to us than it was to St. Austin to have now and then an Ad vos Juvenes To call and tell them Young people this is for you I would be glad to see wanton Wits have less Sawce and weak Souls have more Meat in all our Sermons And to discern that our pains in making Converts did exceed the Papists in making Proselytes For it must be owned 't is an uncolourable Profaneness to Baptize Infancy and not teach Youth or but slightly Because otherwise we shall starve the Nursery and then what becomes of Jesus Christ's Family The good Lord awaken us all And set Ministers Parents Young people themselves all a doing and well doing Our Churches then shall be Beautified and Joyed and Strengthned with abundance of young Meditating Isaac's Young Jacob's seeking