void of the power of godliness and embrace the shadow Answ 8 Those that are onely zealous for Gods Cause and Christs when they are in company and among Christians who when they are amongst the ungodly can say as they say do as they do then all their zeal for God will be turned into cursings swearings and blasphemings they are for God whilst they are with Gods for the devils when they are with the devils take them at home there you shall finde them flat dead and cold to all good words or works they never in their Closets found any zeal they never sent up cries or groans to heaven unless it be in the hearing of others in truth these men did never yet send up any cry to heaven but did content themselves with the meer form of godliness Answ 9 Those that are non-proficients in the School of Christ in the matters of Religion they are alwayes at one stay they are the same now that they were ten or twenty years ago Non progedi est regredi The rule is that men ought to grow in grace and the knowledg of God and Christ as much knowledg then as now as much faith zeal for God patience humility then as now nay now less then before for he that is no Progredient must needs be a Retrogredient well may such as these be marching forward to the end of their days but never to enjoy the end of their hopes that will never set one step forward in the wayes of godliness do but ask them of their progress in Religion and they can give you no account 2 Pet. 3.18 but still they hope well they do what they can and more they cannot do Answ 10 Those that have the same lusts and corruptions raigning in them as they had many years ago they have no reformation either in their own persons or their Families Grace doth cast out lust and overcome sin that are no more brought unto conformity to Christ or his Word then before let these profess or think of themselves what they will they are in a false tract they are going the rode way to perdition all the power of their Faith or Religion cannot drive them out Quest 2 Seeing then that by what you have said I may have a form of godliness How then shall I know whether I oppose the power of godliness Answ 1 First such a man cannot indure a strict walking with God he likes not an holy life and godly conversation they are too irksom to him they that will not give the least way unto vain pleasures that will reprove idle words and communications O these men are too strict too severe and precise in their actions they are more nice then wise what needs all this ado to what end such strictness of life why not now and then a little pleasure why not a lust to be fulfilled why not a little pride why not a little idleness why not a little slumber to the eyelids and folding of the hands to sleep this will be their lesson this their plea these reasonings will never out of their mouthes untill they be digested into actions and customes of sinning thus they cannot approve of a strict and close walking with God but will be upbraiding and condemning those that either endeavor it or plead for it they will seek to cloud and extinguish the light of Grace in any who out-shine their form of godliness Answ 2 They like not those men that will be medling with the Scriptures unless they be Ministers it s not for Lay men to study the Scriptures Not that men should leave their Callings and presently turn Ministers who are unfit for such Mysteries Act. 17.11 or to inter-meddle with other mens Callings and yet the Exhortation is to all to search the Scriptures and it was the high commendation of the Bereans that they searched the Scriptures to see whether those things were true that Paul spake yea or no yea though the Scriptures are able to make the man of God perfect throughly furnished to every good work yet these men like it not that any man but Ministers should labor in the Word and the reason is for that a Formalist that opposeth the power of godliness is not able to dispute or argue with those that imploy themselves in the matters of eternal life and are acquainted with the minde of Christ in the Scriptures It was not for nothing that our Saviour said Blessed is he that is not offended with me now whosoever is offended with the searching or exercising the Scriptures Joh. 5.3 he is offended with Christ for they are they that testifie of me saith Christ Answ 3 They affect not pure Ordinances were it in the election of these men they had rather have the Common Prayer Book the Letany the old Service and Preaching then to hear these long breathed duties in Praying and Preaching as they term them which are now used they had rather embrace old Ceremonies then new Truths the old Law of Bondage then the new Liberty of the Gospel they are like the Israelites that longed for the Onions and Garlike of Egypt more then for the Land of Canaan they are so far from standing fast as they will not receive nay hardly hear of the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free Answ 4 These men would have the ordinances of Christ common to all they would have baptisme and the Lords Supper as generally and promiscuously administred as the preaching of the word What say they are not all the congregation holy are they not all members of one and the same body shall any be barred of the Sacraments yea they would have all men partake of the Lords Supper though they eat and drink their own damnation 1 Cor. 11.29 not discerning the Lords body though the prohibition be that with drunkards fornicators covetous persons idolators 1 Cor. 5.11 and railers we should not eat and an express command from Christ himself that we should not cast Pearls before Swine nor holy things unto Dogs Mat. 7.6 which all wicked men are called in Scripture phrase And Paul would know what communion there can be between Christ and Belial light and darkness the temple of God and Idols What part hath a believer with an Infidel 2 Cor. 6.27 yet they that partake of one bread are one body Shall we take the members of Christ and joyn them to an harlot God forbid Wherefore come out from among them and touch no unclean thing saith the Lord Almighty you shall be my sons daughters and I will receive you Here we must remove two objections which lie in the way Object 1 First from that in the 1 Cor. 5.11 that there by eating is not to be understood of the Lords Supper but of common eating and common society with men of the world Object 2 That in the 2 Cor. 6.17 coming out there was not meant from the Communion with Christians but to
come out from Heathens and Infidels Answ 1 This cannot be understood of civil eating with men of the world because the text saith if any man that is called a brother that is a member of the Church or society of these Corinthans c. And this agreeth with that of the Apostle in the 2 Thess 3.6 2 Thess 3.6 We command you brethren in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly and so in the 14. verse verse 14. not to keep company with him if he obey not our Epistle but note him that he may be ashamed yet admonish him as a brother Now if any man shall say then it was eating at their love Feasts or among themselves at their own tables To this I answer That civil eating either among themselves or with Infidels was yet never prohibited Christ and his disciples did commonly eat with Publicans and sinners Christs example and at this you know the Jews were offended that is the Scribes and Pharisees The Apostle tels us that if an Infidel bids thee to a feast thou mayest go yea and thou mayest eat asking no question for conscience sake 1 Cor. 10.27 for the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof so that is cleer that a Saint may eat with an Infidel 1 Cor. 5.11 a believer with an unbeleever yea and have commerce and dealings with men of the world or else they must go out of the world so that of necessity believers and unbelievers must dwell and trade together while they are in this world yea they may buy sell eat drink conmune or do any lawful business as accasion is offered This world is a common Inn for the entertainment as well of denizens as aliens free-born as strangers and they are guests promiscuously accommodated one with the other nothing here doth separate nothing impede their lawful association it is that purchased City whose Franchises and glorious immunities are onely appropriated unto the free denizens the Saints of God that excludes their society neighbor-hood But now put the case that the Apostle had included civil eating Who dares say that eaten Sacramentally had been excluded take but this one Argument If it be unlawful to eat with wicked profane and ungodly persons at our common tables surely it must needs be much more unlawful to eat and partake with such at Christs table and if Christ would have us take heed of being defiled with sinners at our own tables how much more heed would he have his people to take of such company when they come to his table which is holy where he himself is present communicating himself unto his people under the forms of Bread and Wine 1 Cor. 10.21 22. And as the Apostle saith Can you partake of the table of the Lord and the table of devils so you cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of devils can you have communion with Christ and with devils at his Supper what fellowship can there be between light and darkness Will Christ take this well at the hand of any man that professeth an interest in and an union with Christ nay will not this be an interposition betwixt Christ and such a soul and an eclipsing and shadowing of the shinings of grace in a godly soul whereby it may be made in some sort guilty of an unworthy receiving of the body and blood of Christ Quest Again some may say why did Christ then suffer Judas to partake of the Sacrament of his last Supper with himself and his Disciples Luke 20.21 Answ 1 John 13.30 Behold the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table See that of John who testifies that Christ gave a Sop to Judas and after the giving of the Sop Satan entered and immediately he went out Now all men agree that this Sop must be given at the eating of the Passeover If so that he went out immediately then was he absent when Christs Supper was instituted Secondly Christ took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it Mat. 26.27 28. and in the next verse it is said for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Now if Judas had drunk of it then had it been to him but a lying sign of the remission of sins Again Christs blood was really shed for his Saints and not for the world of which Judas was one for if Christ would not pray for the world certainly muchless would he die for the world We will not say but the price of Christs blood was sufficient for the redemption of ten thousand worlds but yet we will say it was onely intended and shed for his Elect ones But if we should grant that Judas did receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper will that any ways prove it lawful that openly wicked prophane and ungodly men may receive it Surely no. Reas 1 For that Judas was an hypocrite and carried his sin closely so that the Disciples could not discover him till at the last Reas 2 He was a member of the Church and not cast out and so had a memberal right unto it yea and by that might claim it as his due he being called into that society by Christ himself So that we cannot nor are not to look into the hearts of men but into their lives and conversations Obj. But grant Judas did receive the Sacrament Christ knew Judas heart and that it was he that should betray him from the beginning and therefore if wicked men ought not to receive it why was it given to him Ans Christ gave the Sacrament ministerially as he was man so you see was his carriage towards him all the time he was with him certainly Christ could have discovered him oft times before had he acted towards Judas as he was God blessed for ever again you know what Paul saith 1 Cor. 11.29 He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh his own damnation not discerning the Lords body Now can any rational man think that Christ would give that holy ordinance unto Judas of which he would not have wicked men to participate if he had dispensed it to him as he was God Those that can ballance their judgments according to the times be they Ministers or people such as have unsettled bottomes and wavering principles it may be too lately instanced in many Ministers in this City who in stead of being propagators of peace which is their proper function were instigators to war proclamators of new engagments against that Army which have been procurators under God of their tranquillity and in such invective maner as if they had been the onely enemies of the Kingdom yea of God of Christ and of the Gospel if Paul were conscious to himself of a wo if he did not Preach the Gospel how many woes may they justly
but wo to them by whom they do come Consider again that saying of the Prophet Micah The Priests teach for hire Micah 3.11 the Prophets divine for money and yet they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us Can men say now more then they said then What to lean on the Lord to rest on the most High to say that the Lord was among them yea and at that very time when they preached for hire and prophesied for money and did all manner of wickedness and is not this thy condition O England they are for thy money for thy tithes for thy fleece they are alwayes crying What will you give what will you give though they have two or three Livings apiece the more they have the more they desire and there is no end of their covetousness and yet they are not ashamed to say The Lord is among us what is this but a meer form of godliness so they may but thrive and eat of the fatlings of the people they care not how the word of grace thrives in their hearts so they may be possessed of temporal means they care not how little the people be possessed of spiritual it is their own private gain they aim at for their preaching and not the inward gain of any soul by their preaching O what a miserable condition are poor souls brought unto that shall pay so dear a price for that which Christ Jesus hath so freely purchased and go without it And yet here I do not intend to muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the corn to binde a consciencious godly powerful Ministry to their performance of their duty of labouring in the Word and Doctrine and free their Hearers that are taught by them from communicating to those that teach them Freely you have received freely give look as well to those to whom the Word is dispensed as to the dispensers of it and that man wil hardly evidence himself to have more then a form of godliness that holds his hand from this There are others that would take it in great scorn if you but question them for their Religion and yet are carried with the stream of the Times they can put on any Religion they will alwayes be of that Religion as the Parson of their Parish for the time being is they will say as he saith they will hang their faith on his lips and do as he doth theirs cannot be properly called Religion but Election they alter and chuse their Religion as they chuse their Parson Christ shall not be their pattern but man they will do as their Forefathers did they will follow the most in the matters of their Religion they love not such fellows that disturbe the Parish wherein they live and trouble their heads with those things that concern the Ministry of the Word no no say they He that made us will save us God is merciful we will keep our own Parish Church play a game at Bowls or go to the Alehouse with our Parson after Evening Prayers yea love our neighbors and live civily with them and pay every man his due lo is not here a very fair account of a form of godliness The Gospel will appear so glorious as that it will be a shame to every man that hath not at least a form of godliness yea it will be a great disparagement to that man that hath no form no shew at all What will that man say shall the Gospel of Grace be so conspicuous and so clearly evidenced in the lives and conversations of such and such men and shall I lead an open profane life No that will lay me open to all detestation and shame though I am not cordially and really godly yet I will profess the life of the righteous Hypocrita cupit videri Justus I will at lest personate their wayes and actions I will be accounted just lest all men contemn me and say there goes an Athiest there goes a wicked wretch there is a man in whose thoughts is neither heaven nor hell God nor devil with such a man have not to do in commerce or trust thus for some oblique and sinister ends doth this man outwardly act the life of godliness and for these reasons doth he place his content and delight in a form of godliness Others there are that think a form of godliness will serve their turn and carry them to heaven well as the best yea they resolve to be merry and wise they will run no hazard they are all for the fair and smooth way let it lead whether it will they hope nay they will be confident that their way though it be Via latissima leadeth to the gates of eternal life They are as well pleased with a form as may be for that it bids as fair for heaven in the sight of men as the power doth and all they do is to be seen of men in stead of doing good works before men that thereby God the Father might be glorified which is in heaven they do their good works that they themselves might be glorified and canonized amongst men Thus they rob God of his Glory and their souls of eternal comfort A meer form exposes not to sufferings when the power doth for a Formalist is approved on of all sides he shall not meet with reproaches and rubs in his way he may go quietly to hell without molestation for I am confident you never heard of any man that ever suffered any thing worth the speaking of who did content himself onely with a form of Religion for it is impossible that a form which is but a shadow a resemblance a meer nothing should undertake or encounter with a fiery triall A form of godliness doth not tie up a man to that austerity and strictness of conversation as the power doth forms give more liberty to the flesh can more easily submit to any injunction and lye under any command without reluctancy of conscience or opposition of spirit when the power can nor will do neither so that they that have onely a form may live easier and have their Religion at a cheaper rate then others being less obnoxious to the times for they shall pass for very quiet honest harmless men when others shall be stigmatized with the reproachful name of common distrubers and factious persons c. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof VVe shall look but this once upon these words Obser 3 That those that deny contemn and abhor the power of godliness do at the same time imbrace the form of it We shall not hear shew you what the Power of Godliness is but shall leave it to its proper place to be handled The consideration both of our former and later Times will evidence and make good this You cannot be ignorant of the Nicknames and Reproaches that have been cast upon the truly godly both Ministers and People Read but the History of the Church and you shall