we be his Friends indeed Our Saviour shews us the way Joh. 15.14 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you But this we shall touch again in the next point to which therefore I come and shall but briefly touch it The fourth and last thing observable in the Text is to whom this token of Gods love was given He gave Him that is Abraham as appears in the foregoing verses of the Chapter Abraham as Saint James tells us was called the friend of God Jam. 2.23 two places there be in the Old Testiment where Abraham is called Gods Friend that is 2 Chro. 20.7 and Jsa 41.8 To him was this Covenant of Circumcision given so Gods special gifts are for his special friends The Preacher Eccles. 2.26 divides the world into two sorts of people and then he shews what gifts the Lord doth give to them both God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledg and joy but to the Sinner he giveth travel togather and to heap up c. Wisdom and knowledg in this world and joy with the righteous in the world to come as some expound the words are Gods special gifts and these he giveth not to all but to the men that are good in his sight that is such as he accounts his friends The favorites of an earthly Prince as they do alwaies injoy more of the princes favour so do they alwaies partake more of his bounty and the special tokens of his inward affections are vouchsafed unto them which are denied to others especially to those that rebel against him just so it is with the Almighty and his friends or favorites He give you but an instance or two One is that of our Saviour to his disciples whom he esteemed his friends Mat. 13.11 It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them that is to those that are not his friends it is not given The other is that Prayer of the Psalmist Psa 106.4 Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people he doth acknowledg there that God hath a special savour for some more then for others and out of that favour he doth bestow upon them special gifts health and wealth and riches and honour and the like he doth bestow many times upon those that are not his friends but those things that tend to the happiness of the Soul as wisdom and knowledg and the Mysteries of the kingdom and newness of heart here signified by the Covenant of Circumcision these are Gods special blessings and these ye see are only for his special friends And if we would have them and surely of all things in the world they are most desirable as appears by that prayer of the Psalmist forementioned Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people If I say we would desire to have them we must become his friends be we therefore such as Abraham was and then we shall not miss of them Such as Abraham was why what a one was he why sure in Abraham if we would be like him there are many things that we must take notice of 1. In his carriage towards God 2. In his carriage towards his neighbours 3. In his carriage towards his own family 1. In his carriage towards God we may observe that wheresoever he came he built an Altar such care he had of the Worship and Service of God as Gen. 12.7 8. and 13.18 c. Whatsoever God commanded he was ready to obey though it were never so against flesh and blood when he was called out of his Country from his kindred and from his Fathers house he obeyed and went forth not knowing whether he went Heb. 11.8 when he was commanded to take his Son his only Son Isaac whom he loved and to offer him up for a burnt-offering he went about it without gain-saying shewing thereby both his readiness to obey and also to part with any thing though never so dear unto him for Gods sake he had faith and confidence in God and doubted not of his promises even then when unto human reason there seemed little hope of them as that he should have a Son when he was an hundred years old and his Wife not onely ninety but naturally barren Rom. 4.18 19 20. And that in Isaac his seed should be called and that all Nations should be blessed in him though he had a command to offer him up for a Burnt Offering Heb. 11.17 18 19. 2. In his carriage towards his Neighbour for there ye may see his Justice his Mercy and his Love of Peace His Justice in paying Tythes where they were due Melchisedeck was the Priest of the most High God and Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings gave him the Tenth part of all Heb. 7.1 2. His Mercy in that he prayed to the Almighty God that he would be pleased to spare the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah with the three other Cities of the Plain Gen. 18.23 c. And in that when they were oppressed and carried Captive he armed his Trained Servants and rescued them Gen. 14. And for his Love to Peace when there was like to be a difference between him and Lot he was contented to part with his own right rather than that there should be any strife between them For though he were the elder man and Lots Uncle and though the Land of Canaan was given to him and not to Lot yet he gives Lot his choice and wishes him to go into which part of the Land he pleased that so there might be no danger of contention between them Gen. 13.9 3. In his carriage towards his own Family for though Abraham were a great man so great that the Children of Heth said unto him Thou art a mighty Prince amongst us Gen. 23.5 6. Yet he did not count it a work beneath himself to have care of his Family both Children and Servants and to teach and instruct them in the ways of Piety and Godliness I know him saith the Lord that he will command his Children and houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18.19 These are the things that are eminent in Abraham and in these things if we imitate him as we shall be sure by doing the works of Abraham that we are the Children of Abraham Joh. 8.39 So we may hope God will reckon us his friends and take us into Covenant with him and be our God as he was and is the God of Abraham and that he will bestow upon us the choicest of his blessings and bring us to sit down at length with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven Which God of his mercy grant us through the merits of his Son Amen FINIS A Catalogue of some Sermons c. printed for Henry Brome since the dreadful Fire of London to 1676. A Guide to Eternity by John Bona useful for Families and fit to be given at Funerals Dean W. Lloyd's Sermon before the King about Miracles 6 d. His Sermon at the Funeral of John Lord Bishop of Chester 6 d. His Sermon before the King in Lent 1673. 6 d. The Seasonable Discourse against Popery in quarto 6 d. The Defence of it quarto 6 d. The Difference betwixt the Church and Court of Rome in quarto 6 d. The Papists Apology to the Parliament answered 6 d. Mr. Naylor's Commemoration Sermon for the Honorable Col. Cavendish 6 d. Mr. Sayers Sermon at the Assizes at Reading 6 d. Mr. Tho. Tanner's Sermon to the scattered Members of the Church 6 d. Mr. Stanhop's four Sermons on several Occasions octavo bound 1 s. 6 d. Papal Tyranny as it was exercised over England for some Ages with two Sermons on the fifth of November by Dr. Du Moulin in quarto 1 s. 6 d. His Sermon at the Funeral of Dr. Turner Dean of Canterbury 6 d Bishop Lany's last Sermon preached before the King against Comprehension Principals and Duties of Natural Religion By John Wilkins late Lord Bishop of Chester Mr Farindon's 130 Sermons in Folio in three Vol. Mr. Standish's Sermon preached before the King an White-Hall September 26. 1675.
THE ALMIGHTY His Gracious Token of Love TO HIS Friend Abraham OR A SERMON Preached in the Cathedral Church of BRISTOL January 3. 1674. By RICH. TOWGOOD B.D. now Dean of Bristol and when time was Chaplain in Ordinary to His late Sacred Majesty King CHARLES the First of most blessed and most renowned memory In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Gal. 6.15 LONDON Printed by H.C. for H. Brome at the Gun at the West-end of St. Panls and are to be sold by Humfrey Dixon Bookseller in Wine-street Bristol 1676. To the Right Reverend Father in God GUIDO by Divine Providence Lord Bishop of Bristol Right Reverend Father in God and my much honoured Lord YOur Desire I dare not deny it is unto me instead of a Command but I fear whatsoever it was that your Lordship approved of at the hearing will not seem so approvable at the reading Horace his Verse I may crave leave a little to change and say Soepius instibant animum dimissa per aurem Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus That which may pass current out of a popular Pulpit may not perhaps relish so well out of a publick Press However that which may serve to edifie a hundred may serve also to edifie a thousand And the world I hope may hereby see that our ordinary labours in Bristol which intend to sound no further than the walls of the Church in which they are delivered are not so extremely contemptible that our Hearers had need to keep up to themselves a company of Schismatical Teachers fetch'd from far to supply our defects For I dare assure your Lordship there are many Sermons frequently preached by my Brethren in Bristol which may challenge the light rather than this now presented to your Lordship and yet I reckon this may pass without offence having received the approbation of your Lordships judicious ear and that it hath made bold to prefix before it your Reverend Name I humbly beg and hope you will be pleased as being the occasion of it your self favourably to vouchsafe a pardon to Your Lordships most obliged and most humble Servant Rich. Towgood A SERMON PREACHED In the Cathedral Church of BRISTOL Januar. 3. 1674 5. ACT. vij 8. former part And he gave him the Covenant of Circumcision THESE words are part of a Sermon preached by St. Stephen the Protomartyr before the Sanhedrim or Council at Jerusalem not long after our Saviours Ascension What St. Stephens scope is in this Sermon contained in this Chapter or what he aims at in this particular passage I shall not now stand to inquire I shall at present look upon the Words as bearing full and perfect sence in themselves without any reference to the occasion or coherence further then doth concern the two Relatives or Persons here spoken of He and Him Only that ye may not stumble at the choice of this Text concerning an antiquated Ceremony ye may be pleased to consider that according to the order appointed by the Church the anniversary Commemoration of our Saviours Circumcision is not quite over as doth appear by the Epistle Gospel and Collect for this present Day and therefore a Text concerning Circumcision is not unseasonable Besides from this time we reckon the beginning of the New year and Circumcision was a sign of a New-heart and of newness of Life And lastly the beginning of this moneth is the time wherein friends of the chief account do usually gratifie one another with gifts of kindness and tokens of love And here the Text tells us of a special Gift that the Almighty God vouchsafed unto Abraham his friend for these two are the He and the Him here spoken of as is plain by the Verses foregoing He gave Him that is God gave Abraham the Covenant of Circumcumcision so that though I cannot say here is a New-years Gift yet here is no small token of Gods love to Abraham And concerning this Token of Love to come now to the Words themselves we have four things observable in the Text. 1. What it was 2. Of what worth it was 3. Who gave it 4. To whom it was given Of these by Gods gracious assistance and your Christian patience in their order and first of the first what it was It was the Ordinance of Circumcision God commanded Abraham this service and what kind of service this was and by whom to be observed and at what time to be performed is fully declared by the Holy Ghost himself and cannot better be expressed than in his own Words as we find them Gen. 17. from the tenth to the twelfth This is my Covenant saith the Lord to Abraham which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every manchild among you shall be circumcised And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the Covenant between me and you And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you every manchild in your generations he that is born in the house or bought with mony of any stranger which is not of thy seed This was the service that God commanded him and all his posterity And a hard service it was as appeared in that when the Sechemites were by deceit perswaded by the sons of Jacob to be circumcised their whole City by reason of their soreness after they were circumcised was not able to defend themselves against two men For it came to pass on the third day when they were sore that two of the sons of Jacob Symeon and Levi Dinahs brethren took each man his sword and came upon the City boldly and slew all the Males Gen. 34.25 So likewise it is said of the Children of Israel when they were all circumcised at their entrance into the Land of Canaan because they had not been circumcised by the way That they abode in their places in the Camp till they were whole Josh 5.7 8. But yet more fully doth the hardship of this service appear by that of Zipporah who when she was enforced to circumcise her Son said thus unto Moses her Husband not without bitterness A bloody husband art thou to me and doubled it A bloody husband because of the circumcision Exod. 4.25 26. A hard service it was and yet to be laid upon their Infants when they were but eight days old Surely we may justly take up the words of the Apostle which were uttered by him in another case Heb. 11.40 God hath provided some better thing for us Instead of that hard service for abrogated now it is Gal. 5.2 God hath appointed unto us the Sacrament of Baptism which as for the use is more perspicuous so for the quality is far less painful and yet see the fond tenderness of Parents and the foolish niceness of people now-a-days is such that they can scarce suffer a little cold water to be sprinkled on their Children nay a few drops more than ordinary shall
procure as bitter words against their Minister as Zipporah's were against her Husband But to pass by this here we may take notice that St. Stephen doth call this Ordinance the Covenant of Circumcision and so it is also called in that place forementioned Gen. 17.10 The Lord there thus speaking This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every man-child among you shall be circumcised Circumcision both there and here is called the Covenant when indeed and in truth it was but the Sign of the Covenant The Covenant was this as it is plainly set down Gen. 17.7 The Lord there saying unto Abraham I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee This was the Covenant on the Lords part that he would be a God unto Abraham and his Seed and in the same words was included the Covenant on Abrahams part that Abraham and his Seed should take the Lord to be their God and should worship him serve and obey him as their God This was the Covenant and of this Covenant Circumcision was instituted to be the Sign and so it is plainly declared Gen. 17.11 Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the Covenant between me and you and so the Apostle speaks of it Rom. 4.11 Saying of Abraham He received the Sign of Circumcision i.e. He received Circumcision which was a Sign It is the usual language of the Holy Ghost in Sacramental speeches to give to the sign the name of the thing signified The Jews had two principal Sacraments but more they had less Principals and the truth of this holds in both sorts Their two principal and ordinary Sacraments were Circumcision and the Paschal Lamb. Concerning the former it hath been already shewed yea may see it also concerning the latter If ye look into Exod. 12.11 ye shall find these words concerning the Paschal Lamb Thus ye shall eat it with your loins girded your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand and ye shall eat it in haste it is the Lords Passover The Passover was the Act of the Angel passing over the Houses of the Israelites when he smote all the first-born in the Land of Egypt and yet the Lamb ye see is called by the name of the Passover The like we may say of other of their Sacraments I will instance but in one and that is the Rock out of which when Moses had smitten it with his Rod water came forth for the relief and refreshing of the Israelites in the Wilderness Num. 20.11 And this Rock Saint Paul saith was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 No man will say that Saint Paul meant the Rock was Christ in regard of the substance but only by signification and so Saint Augustine interprets it Petra erat Christus quia significabat Christum Epist 102. ad Euod Neither is this kind of Metonymy and Figure used only in Sacramental Speeches but in those Speeches also wherein there is no Mystery of Religion contained as in the interpretation of Pharaohs Dream Gen. 41. Pharaoh in his Dream saw seven fat-fleshed Kine come out of the River and after them seven other lean-fleshed Kine Verse 2. Joseph in his interpretation thereof doth thus speak unto Pharaoh Verse 26 27. The seven good Kine are seven years and the seven thin Kine are seven years The meaning is the seven Kine of the one sort and the other do signifie seven years the name of the thing signified being attributed to the Sign which ye see is a usual kind of speaking both in the Old and New Testament And this may stop the mouths of the Papists about their Transubstantiation who because our Saviour at the Institution of the Lords Supper taking Bread in his Hand said This is my Body do therefore think that the substance of Bread at the Sacrament must needs be turned into the Substance of our Saviours Body But seeing other Sacramental Speeches are Figuratively understood Why should we conceive that our Saviours Words are not so to be understood also A real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament we acknowledg for the Body and Blood of Christ according to our Church-Catechism are verily and indeed taken and received of the Faithful in the Lords Supper verily and indeed that is really yet not carnally but Sacramentally not Corporally but Spiritually For otherwise how could Believers eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood before his Flesh had any existence or being in the World The Apostle doth tell us that the believing Israelites in the Wilderness did eat the same spiritual meat and drink the same spiritual drink that we do and that is none other but the Body and Blood of Christ and yet Christ was not then incarnate 1 Cor. 10.3 4. Their Manna was the Body of Christ and their water out of the Rock was the Blood of Christ not in substance but in signification they did signifie the Body and Blood of Christ And surely in all reason those Propositions and Sentences of Scripture that are incongruous to reason when they are taken in a proper sence but suitable to reason in a figurative sence in all reason I say they ought to be taken Figuratively And this the Holy Ghost himself doth teach us For when Saint John had seen seven Golden Candlesticks And in the midst of the seven Candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man Rev. 1 12 13. who had also in his right hand seven Stars vers 16. the Lord himself doth expound the meaning thereof ver 20. in these words The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden Candlesticks The seven stars are the Angels that is the Bishops of the seven Churches and the seven Candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven Churches So in these two Propositions The seven Stars are the Angels of the seven Churches and the seven Candlesticks are the seven Churches the Lord saith there is a mystery that is they are not literally but mistically or figuratively to be understood Multitude of such speeches we find in Scripture which cannot possibly be otherwise understood as when Joseph interpreted Pharaohs Butler and his Bakers Dreams The three branches saith he are three days Gen. 40.12 And again vers 18. The three Baskets are three days that is they signifie three days So Isa 5.7 The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of a Isrel that is doth signifie the House of Israel So likewise These bones are the whole House of Israel that is they signifie the house of Israel Ezek. 37.11 Look upon our Saviours parable Mat. 13.37 I will mention but a branch or two of it The field is the world the tears are the Children of the wicked ones the harvest is the end of the world and the reapers are the Angels that
by others both by most and all the holy things of God as if they were of no value The things themselves surely are heavenly blessings but it is the wretchedness of thy heart O man and it is thy misery thou dost not know the worth of them What is the reason the sick man doth abhor all manner of meat yea the choicest dainties that can be provided Is it not because his body is possest with dangerous unwholsom malignant humours which if not removed will inevitably bring death So when thou canst not relish the food of thy Soul what is the reason Is it not because thou art desperately Soul-sick The natural man saith the Apostle and certainly the natural man is desperately Soul-sick he receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 And what will follow hereupon but inevitable destruction The Baptism of John was the Ordinance of God The Pharisees refused to be baptized of him What was the issue They rejected the Councel of God against themselves against themselves that is to their own ruine Luk. 7.30 Shall the Manna be loathed or any of Gods sacred Ordinances sleighted And shall not he be offended Mark how he complains I have written to him the great things of my Law but they were counted as a stringe thing Hos 8.12 Neither will it be sufficient to pretend the meanness either of the things of the Institution or of the Messengers that are imployed about them It is a vain thing to say can a little water on my Body wash away the sin of my Soul Or can a bit of Bread and sip of Wine make me Partaker of Jesus Christ No. It is not these things that do the Work But the Almighty God upon our right use of these things according to his appointment He doth the Work he cleanseth us from our Sins he makes us Partakers of his Son It was not the sounding the of Rams Horns that threw down the Walls of Jericho neither was it the Waters of Jordan that cured Naaman of his Leprosie but the Almighty did both these Works upon the right using and observing what he had appointed The like may be said of the Messengers by whom the Almighty doth send these Gifts Are they mean in your sight Be it so Yet will a man refuse rich precious Treasure because it is brought him in an Earthen Vessel We are Earthen Vessels but Treasure we bring you 2 Cor. 4.7 The Prophet Elijah in the time of Famine Had Bread and Flesh brought to him in the Morning and Bread and Flesh in the Evening the Ravens brought it to him by the Commandement of the Lord 1 King 17.4 6. The Prophet knew very well that the Ravens were unclean Creatures by the Lords own Verdict Levit. 11.15 And yet he had more Wit and Grace then to refuse that which they brought him from the Lord otherwise besides the Lords displeasure he might have perished for want of Food I have but one thing more to add touching this point These Sacred Ordinances which are of such inestimable worth the Lord hath vouchsafed to us in great measure and all the days of our Lives we have injoyed them Let us now bethink our selves of returning somthing unto him The circumstances of New years day are not yet quite over Let us present the Lord with a New years Gift Perhaps you will say and well ye may What shall I return to the Lord for all his benefits Ps 116.12 But is there nothing indeed I remember a saying of Aeschines a poor Disciple of Socrates Many brought to Socrates many rich Gifts poor Aeschines had nothing but he comes to Socrates and saith unto him Nihil dignum te quod dare tibi possim invenio Itaque dono tibi quod unum habeo me ipsum that is I have nothing in the World worthy to be presented to you and therefore I bestow upon you all that I have my very Self In like manner let us give our Selves to God So did they of Macedonia 2 Cor. 8.5 And so doth the Apostle wish us all to do I beseech you brethren saith he by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God Rom. 12.1 and in the next verse he shews how it is to be done Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind So then make you a new heart let us begin to lead new lives and this will be an acceptable Present unto God For that is it that God requires Ezek. 18.31 But the time bids me hasten to the third and fourth things observable in the Text that is by whom and to whom this Gift was given I shall be brief in both He gave Him He that is the God of Glory mentioned in verse 2 He gave and indeed Saint James tells us that Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights Jam. 1.17 There is no mercy no blessing that any man doth injoy but it comes from him What hast thou that thou hast not received 1 Cor. 4.7 Are they natural mercies Why he giveth to all life and breath Act. 17.25 Are they temporal blessings Why Both riches and honour come of thee 1 Chron. 29.12 Are they spiritual blessings If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally Jam. 1.5 Is it eternal happiness it self Why The gist of God is eternal life Rom. 6.23 Is it not strange then and may we not marvel at it that God hath no more Friends Every man saith Solomon is a friend to him that giveth gifts Pro. 19.6 And yet the Almighty God who giveth us all that we injoy may ask the question that Jehu once did Who is on my side who 2 King 9.32 All seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christs as the Apostle complains Phil. 2.21 Every man is for himself for his own profit for his own pleasure for his own will But you perhaps may say who is not Gods Friend For the answer of this I shall but produce a Scripture or two unto you as that in Ps 139.20 Thine enemies take thy name in vain Why then common Swearers and all others that any way abuse the Name of God are not his Friends Again Luke 19.27 Those mine enemies which would not that I should raign over them bring them hither and slay them before me Why then they that will not suffer the Lord to rule them and raign over them are not his Friends I will add but one more and that in Ps 68.21 God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses Why then such as go on still in their trespasses are not his Friends Those and many others may be declared to be such as God doth not take for his Friends And would