God created and made And our Saviour in his sermons when he was upon the earth endeavoured to reduce the people unto the Institutions of God as they were established from the beginning Mat. 19.8 The argument indeed is pressed as to the ordinance of marriage but the reason holds the same in relation unto the Sabbath 2. It was not delivered by way of appendix or additament to another precept but it is in it self one entire precept of the Decalogue One of those ten words which were wrote in tables of stone by the Lord of hosts Deut. 10.4 If the law of the Sabbath be abrogated it will from thence follow that there are but nine commandments whereas the Holy Ghost expresly mentioneth them to be ten Exod. 3â— 28. Deut. 10.4 And this precept is written as one of them Exod. 20.8 Deut. 5.12 13 14. When Christ was entring upon his discourse concerning the Tâ—n Commandments in vindicating several of them from the false glosses and interpretations of the Scribes and Pharisees he delivered before hand this doctrine of the perpetuity of the obligatory vertue of the Law Mat. 5.17 18. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil For vertly I say unto you till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled And the Apostle James treating of some of the Ten Commandments bottometh his argument upon this as an undoubted axiome that one of those câ—mmandments hath the same perpetual obligation upon us to obedience as another So that the reason is strong for the Sabbath upon the Apostles foundation For he that said honour thy Father and thy Mother said also Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Now if thou obey thy parents yet if thou prophane the Sabbath day thou art become a transgressour of the law Jam. 2.10 11. 3. Let such as plead for the reversing or repealing of the law of the Sabbath now under the Gospel shew us cut of the Gospel where it is repealed which they are in no wise able to perform for though there be made an alteration of the day yet there is not to be found any abrogation of the commandment And therefore it is observable that even in the pub like liturgy this prayer is added at the close of the 4. Commandment as well as of the other Lord have mercy upon us and inclene our hearts to keep this law 2. Be well setled in the grounds of the chang and alteration of the day from the Jewish sabbath to the first day of the week Clear convictions in the judgment of the divine institntion of the Lords day will help to ingage the heart unto the solemn devoting thereof to the Lord. Many considerations might be insisted on to this end 1 The name and title which is attributed unto it of the Holy Ghost The Lords day Rev. 1.10 I was in the Spirit on the Lords day What better reason can be given of that appellation than that it was constituted and ordamed of the Lord in memory of his resurrect on and our redemption compleated thereupon Even as the Sacrament of the Eucharist is called the Lords supper because of the Lord Christs appointment and in remembrance of his passion 2 The appearance of Christ to his disciples after he was risen from the dead several times on the first day of the week Jo. 20.19 26. Why should our Saviour pass by the Jewish sabbaths and make choice of the first day of the week and the Holy Ghost set such an emphatical note * Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week came Jesus c. Jo. 20.19 upon it that it was indeed upon that day but that he intended to intimate that this was the day establshed for Christian-sacred-assemblies 3 The practise of the Apostles and the Church after Christs ascension in observing the Lords day for their coming together to partake of the ordinances of the gospel When they were met together on that day with one accord the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles Act. 2.1 2 3 4. And the disciples assembling on that day is not spoken of as a practise newly taken up but in such a manner as may intimate it was their usual course and custom Act. 20.7 4 The ordination of Paul in the churches of Galatia and Corinth that their collections should be made every first day of the week which plainly 〈…〉 the believers 〈…〉 â—ssemâ—â—ies Aâ—d you know S. Paul professeth he received of the Lord what he delivered to his people and that his established 〈◊〉 were the same in all the churches of Christ 1. Cor. 16.1 2. Mark it I say every first day of the week for so the words are to â—e rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every first day of the week one after another as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every month qu. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in singulis verbis Aristop◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oppidatim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vicatim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viritim Many things might be added for the eâ—ucidation and vindicâ—ting of these scripture considerations But I shall chuse rather to open three other texts which are not so commonly dwelt upon to this end wherein yet I have several of eminence both for piety and learning to go before me The first is that of the counsel of our Saviour to his disciples in reâ—erence to the destruction of Jerusalem and the sore calamities that were to 〈◊〉 the land of Judaea It is in the gospel written by S. Matthew cap. 24.20 But pray ye that yoâ—r flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day Not in the winter because it would be troublesom to their bodies to be then driven away from their habitations It would expose them to manifold inconveniences Tum ob frigoris rigorem tum ob dierum lucisque brevitatem Not on the sabbath day because it would be matter of grief and perplexity in their spiries to be then forced to shift away for their lives when they should have their hearts ingaged in solemn attendance upon the Lord and communion with him So that 1 Here is full proof of the continuance of a sabbath to be celebrated by believers in the dayes of the gospel That the law of the Sabbath was not to expire and be annulled upon the death of the Messiah b but to be still observed and kept by Christs disciples Those sad times where in our Saviâ—ur speaks of their flying were to fall out neer upon forty years after his cracifixion and suffering and still there was to be a Sabbath 2 The disciples of Christ unto whom he gave this counsel privately and apart by themselves Mat. 24.3 before this time of their flight kept their assemblies wholly apart from the Jewes and kept the Lords day the first day of the week having altogether cost off the Jewish sabbath
the Mosaical pedagogy and probably their deferting the Lords day Sabbath and adhering to the Jewish was one special part of their apostacy The first of these is plain to any understanding Christian that shall throughly study the whole scope and drift of the Epistle And I think we may very probably suppose the truth of the latter also What part of the old administration were they more likely to be zealous of than the Seventh day Sabbath in the observation whereof they had formerly been so excessively and rigorously superstitious Mat. 12.2 Mar. 3.2 And therefore it may seem consonant to the Apostles scope as to set forth the vanishing and disappearing of the legal oblations and sacrifices so to speak as here concerning the abrogation of their Sabbath and substitution of the Lords day in the room of it 2 The Holy Ghost speaketh here of a certain day of rest the celebration of a set determinate day and not of the whole season of the gospei indefinitely And what set determinate day is there that may be fitly assigned as the time of a believers rest but the Lords day See v. 7. Again he limiteth a certain day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saying in David to day after so long a time as it is said to day if ye will hear his voice hardon not your hearts And then it followeth thereupon v. 9. There remaineth therefore the celebration of a Sabbath 3 This determinate day of rest which the Apostle calleth the Sabbath that is to be kept is clearly to be meant of that day wherein the people of Christ meet together in the worship of God and provoke and quicken one another to hear the word of the Lord. For so it plainly appeareth from the 95. Psalm from which portion of Scripture the Apostles argument is taken and upon which his whole discourse of this matter is built See the whole entrance of the Psalm particularly the sixth and seventh verses O come let us worship and bow down Let us kneel before the Lord our maker For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand To day if ye will hear his voice It is of this day and the rest of it which the text I am opening is to bemeant And what day is that in the times of the gospel but the Christian Sabbath There is not to be met with any other day wherein the Saints can be supposed ordinarily to exhort and quicken each other unto the worship of God The other six dayes are appointed for labour 4 A believers personal rest into which he enters by faith was enjoyed by the Saints in the times of the old Testament For they were saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ even as we But the Apostle treateth here out of the words of David of a rest or Sabbath to be celebrated a long time after even in the daies of the New Testament for that Psalm is a prophesy of evangelical dispensations As it is said in David to day after so long a time By the same reason that the Apostle proveth that this day of rest must not be meant of the Jewish Sabbath because that was instituted from the beginning of the world Heb. 4.3 We may prove it is not meant primarily of a believers personal rest by faith because that was enjoyed by the Saints in all ages of the Church before the dayes of David But here he prophecieth of a priviledg that was to be conferred on the people of Christ a long time after 5 The Apostle is to be understood of the celebration of such a Sabbath as is to be kept upon the like ground in reference to the Lord Christs ceasing from his work as the Seventh dayes Sabbath was in relation to Gods ceasing from his work For so it is in v. 10. which I mentioned For he that is entred into his rest that is the Lord Jesus Christ our Redeemer hath ceased from his work as God did from his own And therefore there remaineth a Sabbath for Christians to cefebrate I know the words are usually understood of a Believers ceasing from the works of sin But let it be well considered that the Holy Ghost speaketh of such a ceasing as Gods was when the creation was finished He rested the seventh day and was refreshed he looked on every thing that he made and beheld it was very good entirely good nothing but Good This is justly attributable unto Christs work of redemption but cannot so fitly be applyed unto the Saints When they cease from sin behold it appeareth unto them exceeding evil and bitter and they are filled thereupon with godly shame and self abhorrence Ezek. 36.26 29 31. Besides the Apostle speaketh afterwards of Christs passing into the heavens as relating to somewhat that had been before delivered And unto what can it refer but unto his entring into his rest which includes his passing into the heavens So it followeth v. 14. Seeing then that we have a great high Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fest our profession Mark it is the same person that is said to have passed into the heavens v. 14. that is spoken of as entring into his rest v. 10. For seeing that he is passed into the heavens And he that is entred into his rest is the person that hath ceased from his work as God did from his own And upon this account there remaineth the celebration of a Sabbath unto the people †See Carter on the Covenant with Abraham page 6 7 c. And Cotton on singing of Psalms p. 10 11. From whom I have borrowed much of this matter of God Further yet the Holy Ghost seemeth plainly to distinguish in that 10. v. between the works of redemption which are ascribed to the Son and the works of Creation which are peculiarly attributed to the Father and are therefore called his own works as the Text is to be rendred * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A believer upon his conversion is delivered indeed from the dominion and power of sin but not wholly freed from all remainders of pollution still there is a Law in his members warring against the Law of his mind and leading him often captive to the performance of his works even to manifold sins through infirmity So that it cannot so fully be said of a Christian whilst in the body that he hath ceased from his works But of our Lord Jesus Christ it is exactly verified who upon his rising from the dead came forth as a victor from the conquest which he made and entred into his state of exaltation 6 The Psalmist treating of this day of rest which the Apostle referreth to doth instance in most of the Solemn parts of worship which are to be discharged on the Sabbath 1. Singing of Psalms Psal 95.1 2. 2. Prayer v. 6.3 Hearing the word which implyeth the Preaching of the word v. 7 8. All to be
performed by the united companies of the people of God on that day of rest 7 The Psalmist urgeth to the practise of those duties from the consideration mainly of Gods work of Creation v. 4 5 6 7. Which is the reason given for the institution of a Sabbath To the commemoration whereof the Lords day fitly serveth as being a seventh day as well as to the celebration of the work of Redemption being the Resurrection day the first day of the week 8 The Apostle presseth the Hebrews to the observation of this rest from two special arguments which may seem clearly to relate to the work of the Sabbath 1. Because it would be a special means to prevent Apostasy Heb. 4.11 Lest any man fall And what duty is likely to be more effectual to that end than a conscientious sanctification of the Lords day 2. From the mighty influence and efficacy of the word of God upon mens hearts v. 12. q. d. Be very diligent and heedful to keep this day of rest and to wait upon God in his ordinances and to give attendance upon his word for it is not in vain so to do His word will cleanse your hearts and consciences from dead works for it is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword I might add 3. From the consideration of the omniscience and heart seurching power of God with whom our business lieth in all religious exercises especially See v. 13. But I must forbear Pardon this larg digression or out-leap which yet will not be unuseful if it may but serve to provoke some others of greater abilâ—ties to make a more diligent search into the Scope and drift of this Scripture I will study brevity in that which doth remain 3. To preserve you from infection by the example of the multitude as to the neglect of the Sabbath Be often meditating upon the manifold advantages that will arise from a conscientious sanctification thereof and the blessings entailed thereupon This is the way to attain the most intimate acquaintance with God and to get tasts of the sweetness of the way of holiness There are many persons who complain of a strict course of religion as a tedious and burdensom way Behold what a weariness it is unto their spirits and they never found that sweetness and that spiritual joy and refreshment which believers are wont to speak of Probably the reason may be for want of diligence and faithfulness in sanctification of the Sabbath for thereunto is the promise of divine consolations annexed Finally it hath assurance of the mercies of this life and of that which is to come Be much in studying that pregnant text Isa 58.13 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own wayes nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it This is the second thing to be noted as to the time of religion 3. The generality of people will cry unto God and seem tobe much displeased with their sins only in the time of sickness and adversity when the hand of God is upon them and his rod upon their backs But in the dayes of their health and prosperity they forget the Lord and perhaps entertain not so much as a serious thought of him from one end of the day to the other This the Prophet notes as a common evil Isa 26.10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked yet will he not learn righteousness in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. But let him be reduced into straits and exigencies and bound with fetrers of affliction on the bed of sorrowes then he will at least seemingly lament and mourn and be earnest in seeking unto God For so it followeth v. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them This was the temper of the Israelites of old and the multitude take the like course Psal 78.34 35 36 37. When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and inquired early after God And they remembred that God was their rock and the high God their Redeemer Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and lied unto him with their tongues For their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his covenant My brethren you must not herein follow the track of the multitude Labour as to improve afflictions so to spiritualize all your comforts and to serve the Lord with the best of your strength and abilities Do not put him off with your sick-bed devotions and some flittering promises of obedience when you are in distress but manifest the sincerity of your hearts by dedicating your most prosperous dayes and enjoyments unto his glory That is the sure way to lay up in store a good foundation of support and comfort against the day of trouble Else what cause will there be to suspect that your affliction-eries are but the howling of hypocrites Hos 7.14 How can you with such confidence address your selves to the Lord for succour in the day of tribulation and adversity if you forget him in the time of your prosperity and peace May not you justly fear least he should laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh least he should refuse to answer any of your requests in mercy least he should put you off to the world which you served and to the lusts which you satisfied to fetch your comfort from thence when you are surrounded with sorrows And they would be sure to prove very miserable comforters Instead of asswaging your grief they would increase your anguish and bring further horrour and perplexity into your spirits So he threatned thaâ— sinful people Jer. 2.27 28. They say unto a stock thou art my father and to a stone thou hast brought me forth for they have turned their back unto me and not the face But in the time of their trouble they will say arise and save us But where are thy Gods which thou hast made thee Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble q. d. You would have none of me for your master when the Sun of prosperity shone upon your tabernacles and now you are reduced into straits and extremities I will have nothing to do with you except it be in a way of wrath and judgment My brethren if you be guilty of the like impiety how justly may you fear the same dreadful dismission Often read and study that awakening scripture Deut. 28.45 46 47 48. Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee
danger of living in smaller transgressions p. 144. Inst 5. The Multitude put Religion in observing of places where the worship of God is performed and think the worship is more acceptable when tendered in such places But little study to get into Christ or to make a right use of his intercession p. 146. A position asserted concerning places of worship Confirmed by four considerations p. 150. Head 3. In regard of the Method and order wherein Religion is prosecuted by the Multitude p. 156. A five-fold primacy or priority that Religion must have before all other affaires p. 157. Head 4. In respect of the Time and Season when Religion is minded Four instances given under this head Inst 1. As to Time in general The Multitude even of those that will not spend their time in profaness and debauchery make little conscience of spending their time in vanity and idleness p. 159. Reasons quickning to the redemption of time p. 160. Inst 2. In respect of the special time to be appropriated to the more immediate worship of God The Multitude have been set on the observation of dayes of mans devising but little concerned in the sanctification of the Lords day p. 163. The Morality of the Sabbath p. 165. The chang of the Sabbath and divine Institution of the Lords day p. 167. Three further Texts of Scripture opened for confirmation of the lords-day-Lords-day-Sabbath Mat. 24.20 Psal 118.22 23 24. Heb. 4.9 10. p. 168. Inst 3. The Generality of persons cry unto God only in times of sickness and trouble But forget the Lord in dayes of health and prosperity p. 179. Inst 4. The Multitude neglect the present time and are much addicted to procrastinate in the concernments of eternity p. 181. The present time the most convenient for Repentance p. 182. Head 5. Follow not the Multitude as to particular duties wherein they are apt to miscarry Eight of those duties mentioned p. 184. SECT VIII 2. Directions prescribed for prevention of complyance with the Multitude in sin Dir. 1. Be diligent in studying the scripture and get a clear insight into the will of God therein revealed p. 196. Dir. 2. Labour to be strongly fenced against the importunity of sinners p. 197. Dir. 3. Get that other Spirit which the world cannot receive p. 198. Dir. 4. If you will not be led into sin by the Multitude's practise take heed of entertaining their principles Ibid. Seven corrupt and rotten Principles embraced by the Multitude to be diligently eradicated out of our hearts Princip 1. Concerning the nature of God p. 199. Four scripture principles to be erected in the room of this p. 200. Princip 2. Relating to the quality of Godliness p. 204. Three contrary principles to be setled in the stead of it p. 206. Princip 3. Respecting the benefit arising from the service of God p. 208. Considerations to rectifie mens apprehensions in this respect p. 209. Princip 4. In reference to the way of salvation and the means of coming to the kingdom of Heaven p. 213. Three contrary principles to be fastned in our hearts instead of this p. 215. Princip 5. Touching the accommodations and comforts of this life p. 220. Considerations to prevent the embracing of this Principle p. 221. Princip 6. Concerning the evil of the sins wherein they live p. 223. Two interrogatories to be set home on the Conscience as to this p. 224. Princip 7. The last Principle of the multitude relates to the electing grace of God p. 226. To silence corrupt reasonings in this respect four contrary Principles are to be setled in our spirits p. 227 Dir. 5. If you would not conform to the Multitude in sin hold no familiar correspondency with them p. 232. Dir. 6. Learn the great Gospel Lesson of Self-denyal p. 233. SECT IX 3. By way of Provocative Motives to provoke us to watchfulness that we be not insnared in sin by the Multitudes example Ibid. 4. By way of Retortion Qu. What use are we to make of the sinful practises of the Multitude seeing we must not follow their example Answ Four spiritual Lessons to be learnt from thence p. 234. ERRATA Pag. 42. l. 11. r. revolve p. 52. l. 14. r. his p. 58. l. 12. r. loneliness p. 78. l. 7. r. me p. 89. l. 24. r. are p. 112. l. 1. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 116. l. 19. r. are p. 118. l. 15. r. bringing p. 123. l. 8. r. wrest p. 128. l. 5. r. should p. 130. l. 26. r. of the. p. 150. l. 5. r. excellency p. 188. l. 31. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THere is newly Published an Excellent Treatise Entituled The Saints Mystical Vnion with Christ c. By the same Author Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Golden Bible on London Bridge under the Gate Sober Singularity Exod. 23. The former part of the 2d. vers Thou shalt not follow a Multitude to do evil SECT I. THese latter times have been observed to abound above other ages with sects and parties as to the matters of Religion And if an enquiry be made who have mostly prevailed to draw disciples after them It might not untruly be answered these two Custom and Example The most numerous Sects are those of the Atheists and Worldlings and the greatest Sect-masters in religion are Custom and Example For the generality of people are not wont to consider how they ought to * Quâ itur non quâ eunâ—â—â— walk but they either follow the old course wherein they have been educated and trained up or else conform themselves to the practise of others and do as the rest of their neighbours do And the more universal and extensive an example is the greater commonly is the contagion and the more forcible influence it hath to lead others along with it When the most go before us in any course or practise we are easily wrought into * Praecepta docent exempla trabunt a compliance with them and that without any demurrer or examination of the grounds and principles whereupon such a practise is undertaken And therefore the Lord hath often warned us to take heed of this cheat that we be not snared by the practise of the multitude Though the greatest part of the world should turn aside into any way of ungodliness it will not justifie us in saying A confederacy with them But our work is to keep on in the path of righteousness though never so many others depart from it and to hate the evil of sin though a multitude embrace it Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil Which words have an entire sense in themselves and hold forth a perfect lesson or instruction of themselves and therefore we shall not need to spend time in searching into the relation which they bear unto any precedent passages of this book Only thus much in the general the Text seemeth to come in as a word of direction and advice what course we must take and what circumspection we should use that we
hold upon eternal life Why should the work cease whilst I spend my time in trifles I have not an hour to spare that may be passed away in idleness and negligence in doing nothing or what is as good as nothing 2. This was one of the sins of Sodom for which they were destroyed in such a dreadful manner by fire from heaven and upon which account they are set forth as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire namely the spending their time in idleness and vanity without taking care for the right improvement of it And very probably this sin might be a means to carry them into those other horrid abominations for which they are branded to all the succeeding generations For when men take liberty to spend their time in idleness and make no conscience of laying it out to the ends for which they are intrusted with it they will soon be wrought upon to spend it wickedly Through idleness and slothfulness or that which is tantamount vain delights and fooleries sinners are obnoxious and exposed to all Satanicaâ— assaults ready to run upon any of the devils errands Whereas if Christians were exact and conscientious in filling up their time with duty there would be no such room left open for the devils suggestions to enter in at Besides it's putting them under the verg of Gods protection and safe custody Ezek. 16.49 Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom pride fulness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters 3. This is one of the Talents for which you are strictly accountable at the great and notable day of the Lord viz. All the time of your continuance upon the face of the earth You read the kingdom of heaven is compared to a man travelling into a far countrey who called his servants and delivered certain Talents unto them to be imployed according to their several abilities And after a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them Now pray what are those Talents which God will call us to a reckoning for Why as there are talents of grace so there are talents of nature such as strength of body parts and endowments of the mind and the like And amongst these the time which is allotted to us is not the meanest or least considerable How hath that been managed in the Masters service What good have you done answerably to the time you have enjoyed Rev. 2.21 I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not And mark it my beloved If you would come off with comfort at the day of accounts and be found unto praise and glory at the glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ it will not be enough to plead that you spent not your time prophanely or licentiously It will suffice to bring you under a sentence of condemnation if it were spent idly vainly and unprofitably Mat. 25.30 Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth What millions of gold would sinners then give for the least portion of that time to repent in which now they throw away as if it were not to be regarded This is the first thing I would note as to the time of religion when it is minded 2. In respect of the special time that is to be consecrated and appropriated to the more immediate service of God The multitude have been much set upon the observation of the dayes of mans devising and inventing but little concerned in the sanctification of the Lords day If they spend two or three hours in the publike exercises of religion then they think themselves acquitted for the rest of that day they find their own pleasures and follow their recreations and sports they let their tongues loose to vain and worldly discourses if they have any visit to make or merriment to be at this is the day wherein they have best leisure for it And yet as the whore in the Proverbs they wipe their mouths and say We have done no wickedness But ye my friends be not acted with the spirit of the multitude Give unto the Lord that which is due unto him He hath graciously allowed you six dayes for your own imployments wherein you may lawfully labour and do all that you have to do and he hath reserved a seventh day for himself a whole seventh day as he hath granted unto us the six Do not grudg the Lord and your souls this equitable and merciful proportion Be not as the rich man in Nathans parable who had many flocks and herds and yet when the wayfaring man came to him he spared to take of his own flock but took the poor mans lamb that lay in his bosom and dressed it for the man that was come unto him 2 Sam. 12. Thus do the carnal world deal with the God of heaven He hath given to them a whole flock of daies and kept unto himself but one Lamb the Lords day And yet when they have a journey to take or an errand to do some mirth and pleasure to follow or bodily ease to indulge they spare of their own flock and make bold with the Lords But my brethren be not ye like unto them As you would expect a blessing upon your souls and a blessing upon your labours on the six dayes be careful of the spiritual and entire sanctification of the Lords day the Christian Sabbath For blessed is the man that doth this and the son of man that layeth hold on it that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and keepeth his hand from doing any evil Isa 56.2 That you may be careful in the discharge of this great daty and not fall short of the blessedness thereto annexed suffer me to leave upon you a few words by way of advice and counsel 1. Study much the morality of the Law of God concerning the weekly Sabbath That it is a commandment which carries with it a perpetual and everlasting obligation The ceremonial Sabbaths were observanâ—â—s that disappeared upon the death of the Lord our righteousness When the Sun was risen in his glory the shadowes vanished But the weekly Sabbath was appointed to continue in the Church of Christ unto the end Be well setled I say in this great truth For if there be haesitation in your thoughts of the obligation of the commandment you will proportionably waver in your obedience unto the commandment Wavering and unstedfast obedience is the usual product of fluchuating apprehensions An unsetled judgment will usher in unconstant service And therefore be well verst in the morality of the weekly Sabbath 1. It was part of the Law given unto our first parents in the state of innocency when there was no ground for distinction of Jew and Gentile Gen. 2.2 3. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had refted from all his work which
brethren a person will never be throughly humbled for the sins of his life till he hath learnt to trace them unto his heart and seeth them to be streams issuing out of that sink of filth and folly that is within him Psal 73.21 22. Ezek. 6.9 2 That it may leave full convictions upon our spirits of the absolute necessity of sanctifying and regenerating grace that our natures must be changed and our very spirits within us must be purified in order to fellowship with God and that we may be fitted for his service because the principal seat of pollution is within and all inordinate motions in the practise are but rivulets flowing from that troubled sea whose waters cast up mire and dirt Psal 51.5 6 7 10. 3 That it may prevail upon us to keep a continual eye of suspition and jealousy upon our hearts and to be in a constant posture of watchfulness over them least they should carry us aside For he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool Prov. 28.26 i. e. He is groslly deluded and mistaken in the internal disposition and bent of his own spirit He doth not know what a deceitful and treacherous piece his heart is what very madness and wickedness is bound up within him For did a sinner know that there are seven abominations all sorts and kinds of corruption within him he would never put confidence in his heart but would work out his salvation with fear and trembling least he should miscarry 4 Again this is a point to be throughly studied and considered that we may not hearken to those vain excuses whereby we are apt to cover our sins and to translate the guilt from off our selves There is a proness in sinners to lay the blame of their miscarriages upon any thing rather then upon themselves and they are hardly wrought to an ingenious acknowledgment of their evil doings but they have ever something to plead in their own vindication and to maintain their innocency The woman whom thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eat Gen. 3.12 The serpent beguiled me and I did eat v. 13. I saw the people were scattered from me and that thou camest not within the dayes appointed and that the Philistines gathered themselves together to Michmash c. I forced my self therefore and offered a burnt offering 1 Sam. 13.11 12. We have spared of the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God 1 Sam. 15.15 Such evasions men have to avoid conviction and such pretences they plead to colour over their rebellion and to put a fair gloss upon their iniquities God knows my heart is good will a carnal person say but the Devil owed me a spite and he drove me on to this practise I am necessitated saith another to take this course I am in a mean estate and have a multitude of business on my hands and have no time to spare to mind religion and converse with God But I mean well and my heart is for God Thus they dig deep to hide their wickedness and stand up in defence of the integrity of their hearts whetever their conversations have been Whereas Sirs all evil cometh out of the heart Mat. 12.35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things So that Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God i. e. Let not the children of men charg their sins either directly or consequentially upon the God of heaven Let them not say The Lord made me thus it was my fate and destiny and I could not withstand what he had appointed me to Let them not say that God doth necessitate them to sin Let them not lay the fault upon the condition of life wherein God hath placed them or upon the providences under which he doth exercise them For all sin proceedeth from within out of the heart For God cannot be tempted with sin neither tempteth he any man But every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed Jam. 1.13 14. Suggestions from without can do nothing except there were Lust within to swallow the bait and to give entertainment to the allurements of the world and sollicitations of the devil Concl. 5. Although the internal and inbred corruption and wickedness of the heart of a sinner is the seedplot of evil whence it doth spring up yet outward occasions and provocatives have commonly a great influence to the educing of that corruption into exercise and to the actual production of that which is evil From thence it is that the heart of a man which is full of sin is irritated and emboldened to the commission of sin These are the motives and arguments which Satan doth make use of to instigate and stir up the children of men to acts of wickedness and to incite and incourage them in a way that is not good As now for instance when sinners abuse the patience of God to strengthen their hands in a course of ungodliness It is the heart of the sons of men that is set to do evil and the forbearance and long-suffering of God that is made use of for an incouragement unto the doing of it Eccl. 8.11 When persons defile themselves with sin that they may avoid trouble and persecution it is corruption in the heart that doth lead them unto sin and is the agent in sin and it is ease and safety and the advancement of a carnal interest which helps to draw forth that corruption Gal. 6.12 And herein doth appear the desperate wickedness and malignity of mans heart As it is full of evil and of a cursed forwardness unto evil so it is apt to pervert all sorts of providences thereunto A sinner like a toad will suck poyson out of every thing Or like the salt sea will turn all sorts of water into its own brinish tast As a believer improveth all kinds of dispensations to set him with greatest detestation against sin so doth a carnal heart make use of them as motives and arguments unto sin Now amongst other incouragements unto evil the example of a multitude is wont to be of much prevailing efficacy The practise of the generality should increase detestation but sinners are apt to make use of it to incourage imitation And therefore in the text we have a special warning given that we be not led into sin by seeing a multitude go before us So I descend to the second head of enquiry SECT III. Q. 2. WHat usual influence hath the example of a multitude to incline a man or woman to the doing of evil This prohibition doth suppose there is an inclination to follow them Now the question is whereupon is this inclination grounded or How doth the practise of a multitude put forth its effieacy to incourage a sinner to do evil Ans I answer There is a
consideration of a multitude may carry some stroke with men as to the mitigating or with-holding the punishment deserved yet it is of no validity whatsoever to stave off the execution of the vengeance of God or to abate the severity of his proceedings For he is of infinite power and everlastingly blessed in the enjoyment of himself Indeed men are wont to forbear the executing the rigour of the Law when a multitude offend together or at most they punish but some for an example and terrour to the rest And what is the reason of it Why possibly it may be dangerous to provoke many thousands by the rigour of the law and may force them to run upon desperate courses Perhaps they to whom the administration of justice is committed have not power to bring under the whole body of a rebellion without using lenitives and mildness towards some and ingaging for their security and indemnity Or in some cases the common-wealth would be impaired and a Nation or Kingdom dispenpled if all that have their hand in a rebellion should be cut off together But alas what are these things in reference to the God of heaven Is there any thing too hard for the Lord Is it not as easie for him to cut off many as few Doth he stand in need of your service that he should spare you out of respect to his own advantage Why man All thy service and homage doth not extend unto the Lord. He hath thousand thousands ministring unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand attending upon him He can bring glory to himself in thine utter extirpation and destruction And see what he hath said Psal 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God So that if a whole Kingdom or Countrey nay if many people and Countreys conspire together in sin the Lord will not spare them but will bind them in bundles together and cast them into the furnace of fire So in that dreadful parable of the boiling pot Ezek. 24.6 Wo to the bloody City to the pot whose scum is therein and whose scum is not not gone out of it bring it out piece by piece let no lot fall upon it It is as much as if God had said They are universally corrupted and I will destroy them all I will not have compassion on any one of them It is spoken in allusion to the practise of Commanders in war when Souldiers mutiny they do not wont to cut off a whole legion or regiment but only some are made exemplary and to that end they used to câ—st lots who should die and which of them should be spared and the like lottery was used when captives were taken for the saving of some and putting others to the sword Well but saith the Lord of Hosts I will deal with these rebels after another rate I will utterly consume them without exemption of any There shall no lot fall upon them And study well that Scripture which is peculiarly designed to overthrow this ground of presumption Prov. 11.21 Though hand joyn in hand the wicked shall not be unpunished i. e. Though sinners strengthen themselves by mutual counsels and combinations and joyn together in parties for the doing of evil yet it shall not stand them in stead The God of heaven will break in upon them in his fury and sweep them away with the besom of destraction He will pull them out piece-meal one after another and there shall none of them escape And if you do not see this alwayes executed visibly in signal outward judgments yet you must remember there are spiritual plagues poured out upon the wicked here which are the forest of judgments and that the wicked are reserved unto the day of destruction and shall be brought forth to the day of wraths 2. The examples of the judgments of God that are upon record in the word may abundantly suffice to shew the vanity of this kind of reasoning When the greatest numbers have conspired to reject his word and to trample upon his glory what hath been the manner of his dealing with them Why He hath come down in the heighth of indignation against them and set them forth as Paradeigmes or publike examples of his justice that others might be induced to take warning Look into the wilderness when the people did joyn themselves to Baal Peor and did eat the sacrifices of the dead Psal 106.28 i. e. when they did partake of the worship that was tendered to Idols which are but dead Gods which never had any reality of being and forsook Jehovah who is the living and true God when they were sharers with Idolaters in their offerings or by the sacrifices of the dead you may understand the funeral banquets which amongst Idolatrous Nations were used by way of solemn parentation to the dead You will find that this idolatry was a spreading corruption multitudes were defiled with it And were they delivered because of their multitude Why consult the History Num. 25. The plague brake in amongst them and there dyed in one day three and twenty thousand and afterwards a thousand more And this instance of severity is recorded for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come 1 Cor. 10.8 11. Let us look a little higher into the case of Sodom and Gomorrha Admah and Zeboim the inhabitants of which Cities were a great company and they were in confederacy together in sin both old and young all the people from every quarter And were they spared because they were many See Gen. 19.24 25. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven And he overthrew those Cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the Cities and that which grew upon the ground In the old world there was a numerous multitude and all flesh had corrupted their way and filled the earth with violence And were they exempted from punishment upon the account of their numbers Indeed the Lord spared them for a time and his long-suffering waited expecting their repentance but at length he brought the flood upon the world of the ungodly The fallen angels were a very comprehensive body of glorious creatures and yet when they kept not their first estate but left their own habitationp God hath reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day But you will say what are these examples unto us We hope the Lord will not be so severe now in the days of the Gospel Mark therefore how the Apostle Peter doth argue from this Topick 2 Pet. 2.4 5 6 9. If God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them down into hell c. and spared not the old world c. and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow making them an ensample to those that after should live ungodly The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to
be ashamed to look Jesus Christ in the face whose laws they despised and preferred the pleasing and regarding the multitude before him For you know that is one of the differences which God will put between his own servants and evil doers hereafter Dan. 12.2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt 3. All sin whatsoever is shameful in its own nature and tendency as considered in it self and however it is committed though no eye of the world take cognizance of it Is it not a shameful thing for a rational creature to be in subjection to base and sensual lusts and pleasures For a man to degenerate into a condition viler than the beasts that perish For a person to be so besotted as to sell his soul for a trifle Is it not a shameful thing for a knowing creature to rebel against his creatour upon whom he hath his constant dependance and by whom he wholly subsist Why Sirs if ever God intend you mercy he will cause you to bear your shame and to loath your selves upon the account of your iniquities He will open your eyes and cause you to see that the shamefulness of sin doth not only lye in the opinions of men but in its own nature and tendency Ezek. 20.43 And there you shall remember your wayes and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled and ye shall loath your selves in your own sight for all the evils that ye have committed And see the language of true converts Jer. 3.25 We lie down in our shame and our confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the Lord our God we and our fathers from our youth even unto this day and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God Thus I have dispatched the fourth incouragement to sin taken from the practise of the multitude 5. Persons are easily prevailed with to follow a multitude in their sins Lest they should be reproached and reviled for dissenting from them lest they should bespatter them and cast dirt upon them if they withdraw from their fellowship My brethren if a man will not joyn with the multitude in the work of their hands he shall be sure to suffer under the lash of their tongue If he will not do evil with them they will be sure to speak evil of him They will brand him for a factious troublesom and seditious person one that is over much wedded to his own way and proud and high conceited of himself They will be apt to mark him as the troubler of Israel and the pest and plague of the land wherein he dwelleth 1 Pet. 4.4 Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you Mind it if you separate from them in your conversation they will do what in them lyeth to blast your reputation And to avoid this reproach people are easily perswaded to close with them For it is an hard thing to suffer taunts and revilings for the sake of Christ because of that monstrous pride that is in mens hearts They have high thoughts of themselves and therefore cannot endure that others should vilifie and debase them There are many who can rather suffer loss in their estates and some pains to be inflicted on their bodies than reproach should be cast upon their names Hence they are called cruel mockings because they pierce deep into the soul and lye heavy upon the spirit Heb. 11.36 And the heart of David was even broken with them Psal 69.20 Reproach hath broken my heart and I am full of heaviness This had almost turned aside the Prophet Jeremie from the course of obedience had he not been kept by an almighty power and followed with the effectual operation of the spirit of God Jer. 20.7 8 9 10. I am in derision daily every one mocketh me For since I spake I cryed violence and spoil because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me and a derision daily Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay To fence you against the prevalency of this powerful temptation there are five things worthy to be seriously weighed 1. Are you likely to be reproached for the sake of Christ and because you will not say a confederacy with the multitude in sin Why this is none other than he hath particularly warned you of that you should expect and look for if you will be faithful unto him and stedfast in his covenant This is one of the termes and articles upon which salvation by Christ is propounded and offered unto sinners that you be willing to be made a reproach for his sake and to be accounted as the scum of the world and the offscouring of all things If you are Israelites indeed disciples of Christ in reality this will undoubtedly come upon you You will be reckoned as the worst and vilest of men especially at some seasons when religion is discountenanced So that this is part of the cost you must reckon to be at if you will be wise builders in the matters of eternity This is one of the incumbrances that is entayled upon godliness and the favour of the most High and if you will enjoy his favour you must have it with all the incumbrances that attend it Mat. 10.21 You shall be hated of all men for my names sake And v. 25. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his houshold q. d. You must expect to be accounted as very monsters of men nay as very devils if you will be upright with the Lord. So that you have no cause to complain of religion or the wayes of holiness when you find your selves reproached for them because it is no more than you were told of before you entred into that estate As when we fell a commodity in the market that hath some defect and imperfection and we deal openly and plainly with the buyer giving him information of it and yet he will have it If afterwards he come and complain of it we are ready to say Did not I tell you what it was Have I done you any wrong Were not you acquainted with it before hand So may the Lord say unto such as profess his name for a while and at length boggle at his precepts when they find themselves reproached Friends I have done you no wrong Did not I warn you of it before hand that it would surely come thus to pass If you were not resolved to go through good report and evil report why did you list your selves amongst the number of my followers when as I took you into my service upon no other terms and covenants And pray mark it Sirs Christ
compliance with the multitude in their wickedness Shalt thou be thereby freed from persecutions without But what if God send trouble and horrour upon the conscience within That will be an heavier and a more insupportable burden than all external calamities whatsoever It is not the favour and friendship of all the men in the world that can minister support and comfort against the clamours of an evil conscience when it is throughly a wakened by the spirit of God Prov. 18.14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear 3. When God doth suffer his people to fall into persecutions for their righteousness sake He doth not leave them alone but hath promised himself to be graciously present with them He will minister strength to inable them to bear their burdens and will dart comfort into their souls that shall sweeten the most bitter cup of tribulation He will restrain the rage and fury of their oppressours that they shall not lay upon them more than is conducible unto their spiritual good For although God doth sometimes let his children fall into the hands of the ungodly yet he never delivereth them over to the will of the ungodly At length he will make a way for them to escape and cause all their sufferings to work together for their good and give them an ample recompence that shall make a plentiful amends for whatever cost they have been at in his service Isa 43.1 2. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee For I am the Lord thy God the holy one of Israel thy Saviour And are the consolations of God small unto you Is it a light thing to be under the promise of his special presence and providence Wo be to sinners when trouble comes from the hand of God and there is no ministration of support from the gracious assistance of God What will they then do in the day of tribulation But the Lord will not leave his own people comfortless but will come himself and minister unto them This made the Apostle Paul that he could rejoyce in his sufferings 2 Cor. 12.10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake for when I am weak then am I strong i. e. when I am at the lowest ebb of outward enjoyments then is the Lord pleased to communicate the greatest spiritual vigour and consolation unto my heart When my body is at the lowest and my outward man at the weakest then is my soul filled with special refreshments from above God doth make up the oppressions of my outward man by imparting grace unto and lifting up the light of his countenance upon my inward man so that I have no cause to complain This shall suffice to be spoken unto the sixth way how this temptation worketh 7. And lastly There is a secret inclination in mens spirits to follow the example of a multitude in sin Because it is a pleasant thing to walk with company and in competition therewith the wayes of holiness and the fear of the Lord seem to be sad melancholly and tedious wayes It is a kind of irksome and unpleasant thing for a man to go alone in any course but to walk with company is delightsome and suitable to a mans heart and spirit Now therefore to avoid the loneliness of the service of God people are ready to comply with the multitude of the ungodly As the Israelites argued the case with Samuel in respect of a King 1 Sam. 8.5 20. We will be like all the nations and that our King may judge us So are sinners apt to plead themselves into wickedness We cannot endure to be solitary and in a path by our selves but let us doe as others doe You have a particular caution from S. Paul to take heed of this reasoning 1 Thes 5.6 Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and beasober intimating that there is a great proness in mens spirits to do as others do and to travel in that road where they may have much company with them Now to shew you the folly and weakness of this kind of argumentation I will only subjoyn these two considerations 1. That a sound believer that liveth by faith in Christ and in the exercise of repentance and purifieth himself as Christ is pure hath the infinitely blessed God for the man of his counsel and to bear him fellowship in his way And is not he Sirs the best companion in the world that can give you the best help and succour upon every occasion and bring the greatest and most heart-warming joy and gladness into the soul As the glory of God is a believers ultimate end at which he aimeth and as the spirit of God is his principal guide by whom he is conducted and as the word of the Lord is the high-way wherein he travels So the Lord of hosts himself is his constant companion 'T is said of Enoch He walked with God three hundred years Gen. 5.22 And Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God Gen. 6.9 And my brethren can that be a tedious and melancholy way where the God of consolations is ever at hand he that dwelleth in the souls of his children that he may revive their spirits The truth is most mens hearts are carnal and sensual and they cannot tast the sweetness of communion with God or else they would not complain for want of society and fellowship The Apostle speaks of it as the highest priviledg under the sun and that in a way of gloriation and boasting 1 Jo. 1.3 4. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ And these things write we unto you that your joy may be ful q. d. Here is the well-spring of joy here is a sovereign antidote against sadness and disconsolatness of spirit this will cause you to abound in joy above the joy of harvest above what will arise from the increase of corn and wine and oyle if you will have your vessels filled come unto these waters secure your interest in this blessed fellowship 2. If you would have the society of men your fellow creatures to go along with you Why the wisest course to be taken for the attainment of that is not to comply with the wicked but to labour what in you lieth to turn them from their wickedness So that be much in prayer for them that God would open their eyes and shew them the way of truth that he would sanctifie their hearts and turn them unto the truth Set a good example before them that they may be won over by the loveliness of your
conversations Deal faithfully with their Souls by meekness of reproof and admonition as there is occasion Often provoke and stir them up to follow after righteousness that so they may bear you company in the way to heaven Let me give you the counsel of the Lord to Jeremy in this case Jer. 15.19 Let them return unto thee but return not thou unto them But perhaps you will object and say this is the work of a Minister Yea my brethren and it is incumbent on every particular Christian also what in them is to render the wayes of God lovely and amiable in the sight of others and to endeavour to win them over by all means to an effectual closure with those wayes Prov. 11.30 He that winneth souls is wise Jam. 5.19 20. Brethren if any of you do erre from the truth and one convert him any one this is a work to be minded by every one of you without exception Let him know that he which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins So we are come to the close of the second head of enquiry concerning the influence which the practise of a multitude hath to encline a man or woman to do evil SECT IV. Qu. 3. IN what cases especially doth it concern us to be most cautious and circumspect upon this account that we be not drawn to evil by the practise of a multitude Ans For satisfaction to this enquiry you must well observe and remember that this caution is needful in every case and doth oblige us to be circumspect in every respect to keep a strict eye of jealousy upon our selves at every turn that we be not insnared or drawn aside into sin by following a multitude The counsel is delivered indefinitely without limitation to times persons or cases and is equipollent to an universal prohibition For as where the spirit of God hath not added we must not make additions so where he hath not limited we must not set bounds and limits by a narrowing interpretation Thou shalt not follow a multitude i. e. not any multitude of what sort soever wheresoever they are or in what ages or places soever they live in the doing of evil Nevertheless there are some peculiar cases in which this word of advice doth especially concern us wherein we are more than usually inclined to follow the multitude and therefore ought to be more than ordinarily watchful over our hearts that they do not turn us aside upon this temptation I will only mention six 1. In case of our Ancestors and progenitors that have gone before us When our forefathers have generally taken any corrupt way there is a great addictedness in their posterity to take the same course and there needs a great measure of caution that we be not followers of them What! will some say shall we condemn our forefathers and judg our selves wiser and better then all that have been before us they made no scruple of such and such actions they worshipped God in this or the other manner and shall we be more scrupulous then they were No we will be for the old way and cleave to that religion which our fathers were of This was the argument which the woman of Sychar produced in her discourse with Christ to countenance the schismatical temple on Mount Gerizim Joh. 4.20 Our father 's worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship As if she had said whatever scriptures you may bring or reasons you may press to keep close to the institution of God and to worship him at Jerusalem yet I am sure Our fathers were of another mind They thought the punctilio's of institution and divine appointment were not so stiffly to be adhered unto and why should not we do as our fathers have done And how hot were the Scribes and Pharisees for maintaining and upholding their fathers traditions though some of them were down right contradictions against and others corrupt additions unto the word of the Lord See how they plead and quarrel with Christ and his disciples for their non-conformity therein Mar. 7.5 Then the Pharisees and Scribes asked him why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders but eat bread with unwashen hands q.d. This constitution we received from our fathers the elders of former generations and why should not you be concluded by it and give obedience thereunto If it had been a novel upstart opinion something might be said against it but it hath continued a long time in the Church even since the dayes of our forefathers To set you right in this matter and to discover the vanity and danger of this way of ratiocination Give me leave to put you in mind of these five things 1. It was one end of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ wherein all those are sharers that are saved by him that he might redeem his people from the vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers that he might bring them to embrace the commandments of God and to give up themselves entirely in subjection to the Law of the Lord. So that mark it Sirs Have you an interest in the blood of Jesus Christ would you make it appear that you are reconciled unto God by the sufferings of his Son Why this is one way to prove it By renouncing the vain traditions of your Fathers as far as they are dissentaneous to the word of God and have no footing in the word As Christ redeemed God's peculiar people from the curse of the Law that their persons might be accepted and their iniquities forgiven and as he redeemed them from their bondage unto Satan that their natures might be sanctified and themselves set apart unto communion with God So he redeemed them also from the vain practises of their Fathers that their lives might be ordered according to the Law of the Lord. What can be more perspicuous and evident 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers But with the precious bloud of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot 2. One special reason why the Lord was graciously pleased to give forth the Scriptures and to leave his will upon record in the Scriptures was this that we might not pin our faith upon our fathers sleeves nor think it enough to do as our ancestors have done Sirs If God had intended the traditions of our fathers as a rule of direction for us and that they should have been obligatory upon us on all occasions he would have left us unto them and not have signified his will by writing in the word So that take heed left you frustrate the grace of God in sending the holy Ghost to endite the Scriptures and stirring up the Prophets and holy men of God to
profaning the Sabbath-day God is wont to spare a rebellious people till the measure of their iniquities are filled up and then he sweeps them away with the besom of destruction Gen. 15.16 But you will say when is iniquity like to come to its full Why when one generation goeth on after another to slight the Majesty of the Lord and to trample upon his word Then God will visit upon such a people their own sins and their fathers also He will visit their iniquity to the third and fourth generation Mat. 23.31 32. Ye are the children of them which killed the Prophets Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers And Isa 65.6 7. Behold it is written before me I will not keep silence But will recompense even recompense into their bosom your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together saith the Lord which have burnt incense upon the mountains and blasphemed me upon the hills therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom So that I may fitly conclude this point with the instruction of the Prophet Zechariah Chap. 1.4 Be ye not as your fathers unto whom the former Prophets have cryed saying Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Turn ye now from your evil wayes and from your evil doings but they did not hear nor hearken unto me saith the Lord. That 's the first case wherein it concerns us to use abundant circumspection 2. In case of great men and mighty men that are set over us When Magistrates and Rulers turn aside unto vanities the people are ready to comply with them And carnal reason is at hand to prompt arguments for it because this is the way to be countenanced and respected by Governours Here lieth the plain road to preferment And herein sinners think they have something to say for themselves to justifie their compliance Must we not obey authority and shall we not submit our selves to them that are set over us Have not they souls to save as well as we and if they do thus and thus why should we be so precise to scruple at it So that my Brethren there needs special caution to keep our selves pure in this case Prov. 29.12 If a Ruler hearken unto lies all his servants are wicked i. e. They will be sure to suit their carriage in a comportment with his corrupt humour they will seek to ingratiate themselves by being like unto him The mistakes and miscarriages of private men are like a pocket-watch that goeth false that deceives but one or two But the sins of Princes and great men are like the ill-going of a Town-clock that deceives all the neighbourhood Therefore it is said of Jeroboam that he did not only sin himself but he made Israel to sin also 1 King 15.34 How did he make them to sin Well he might force them to suffer but he could not compel them to sin many would not be made to sin by him whose hearts were upright with Jehovah but rather left their possessions and all that they had in Israel The meaning then is this Jeroboam and his Princes and Counsellors led them the way and the people were soon wrought upon to conform to their example Hos 5.11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked after the commandment i. e. after the commandment of Jeroboam and his Counsellors whereby the worship of Dan and Bethel was established and set up See how the people plead from the practise of their Princes and their forefathers together Jer. 44.16 17. As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth to burn incense unto the Queen of heaven and to pour out drink-offerings unto her as we have done we and our Fathers our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem q. d. What doth this man tell us so much of the word of the Lord Have any of the Rulers observed such precepts If they have worshipped the queen of heaven why may not we do so likewise Some Interpreters think the Text hath a special eye upon this Thou shalt not follow a multitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 magnates the mighty so they render it And the word may well take in both interpretations To quicken you therefore to caution in this respect consider 1. That God is the chief governour of the world who hath an absolute dominion and supremacy over all people and nations and the greatest princes and men in highest places upon earth are but his deputies and substitutes and under Officers they are but our fellow-servants in relation to the most-High So that in the first place we must have regard to the voice of the Lord and respect the examples of great men no further than they are correspondent to his good pleasure and will Let me clear it up to you by a familiar instance If a King command me upon a certain day to appear at such a Town and a Justice of peace require me at the same time to be at another place far distant from it whom must I herein obey You will all conclude that undoubtedly I must obey the King because he is the Supreme and the Justice is but his Substitute and so the commands of the King do supersede the others injunctions Why Sirs This is the very case God is a great King the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and Magistrates and Rulers have their authority by deputation from him they are his delegates and act under him So that first I must give obedience to the word of the Lord who is the Sovereign For the Kingdom is the Lords and he is the Governour the supreme Governour the alone absolute and unaccountable Governour among the Nations Psal 22.28 All others are accountable for the exercise of their power unto God This is a point so clear that the Apostles durst appeal to their very judges and adversaries concerning it Act. 4.19 Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye 2. Though Rulers and great men may give thee countenance and preferment upon the earth yet they cannot save thee from the wrath of an incensed God So that do not provoke God to anger to pleasure the mightiest man in the world for he cannot uphold thee in the day of the Lords indignation When persons would employ us in any dangerous service we are wont to say Will you bear me out and stand by me and see that I shall sustain no damage by it Pray think of it Sirs To sin against the Lord is very dangerous service and when thou art venturing upon it to humour and comply with great men consider whether they are able to bear thee out in it and can maintain thy cause when the Lord ariseth to execute vengeance whether they can keep thee from being called unto an account
likewise a sobriety moderation and inoffensiveness in all particulars The kingdom of God is not meat and drink it doth not consist in contests and disputes and animosities about such trivial things but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Rom. 14.17 18. 3. But lastly There is a sober singularity when men keep themselves free from the real corruptions of the times wherein they live and of the places and persons where their lot is cast and with whom they converse When they will not wallow in the filth and mire of the world nor defile themselves with the abominations and defilements of the wicked though in matters warrantable and not dissonant to Gods word they do as the rest of men do In this respect all sincere Christians must be singular they must not follow a multitude to do evil When others are lukewarm in the service of God they must be fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.11 Whilst others place their worship in shadows and ceremonies and a a pompous outside of devotion they must worship God in spirit and in truth Joh. 4.24 And glorifie him both with their bodies and with their spirits which are Gods 1 Cor. 6.20 When others drink and card and dice and are vain and wanton they must study to live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 To walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering wantonness not in strife and envying But putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and not making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Rom. 13.13 14. When others walk carelessly they must be precise and circumspect Eph. 5.15 You must not be afraid of being exactly conscientious in Gods way or of bearing an awful respect to all even the least of his commandments for fear of being singular or so accounted For that is the way which he hath chalked out for you Thou shalt not follow a multitude to sin So much for the second Inference 3. If we must not follow a multitude to do evil Then from hence we may draw this Conclusion as an undeniable truth That unity and unanimity and uniformity wherein persons joyn together with one consent and without any divisions amongst them is not in all cases to be commended and approved but only where they are exercised and as far as they are imployed in the doing of good For if people commit evil in the sight of the Lord I must not sin with them for uniformities sake These very expressions of unity and uniformity have made a great deal of bustle in the world and they are engines whereby poor ignorant souls are commonly deluded and imposed upon Will you break asunder the unity that ought to be amongst Christians You ought to do thus or thus were it but for uniformities sake Such fallacious argumentations are usually pressed to deceive the hearts of the simple Whereas Sirs uniformity or a general and unanimous agreement is not a matter commendable in all cases whatsoever without limitation or restriction but only so far as the persons at unity are ingaged in following that which is good If they be doing of evil there must be no union or conjunction with them We read of as great unity and uniformity as is lightly imagined amongst a people that set themselves in open rebellion against the most-High and for which very thing the Lord threatned to bring them to utter desolation Jer. 44.15 16 17. Then all the men which knew that their wives had burnt incense unto other gods and all the women that stood by a great multitude even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt in Pathros answered Jeremiah saying As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth to burn incense unto the Queen of heaven and to pour out drink-offerings to her as we have done we and our fathers our kings and our princes in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem Mark it Here was a great measure of unity and a full consent and harmony in their resolutions and practises But see the dreadful doom wherewith they are sentenced v. 25 26 27. There is no society of men but are subject to corruptions and may be guilty of imposing some things to be believed and practised which are corrupt and sinful And it is utterly impossible to prove that Christianity obligeth a man to communicate or comply with that which is corrupt and abominable In such cases the whole stress of a controversie lieth in the proof of the lawfulness and warrantableness of the matter enjoyned and practised or else an argument from uniformity is of no validity and will signifie nothing at all with judicious persons For we must not joyn with the greatest number to do evil A little to open this matter more distinctly and to clear it up more fully to your apprehensions let these four things be observed 1. That unity and uniformity an unanimous consent and agreement are of the number of those things which borrow their goodness or evil that are commendable or to be condemned from the nature and quality of the subject unto which they are annexed Just as it is in case of forwardness and activity of spirit If men are vigorous and active in carrying on a mischievous design in bring forth the fruits of unrighteousness as some men commit wickedness with both hands earnestly There activity of spirit is odious in the sight of God But if men be diligent and industrious about that which is good then is their industry worthy of praise and honour The like may be said in case of unanimity and general agreement As Astronomers speak of the Planet Mercury that he hath little distinct influence of his own but is malignant or auspicious according to the nature of the other Planets with which he is in conjunction So doth unity and uniformity accomodate themselves to the subject matter about which they are exercised Uniformity Sirs will not justifie a sinful action But it is the holiness of the action must commend the uniformity And therefore it is not a bare unity which the holy Ghost presseth upon Believers But unity of the spirit when persons with one consent hold the doctrines taught by the spirit and are uniform in their subjection to the dictates of the spirit and in following the guidance of the holy Ghost Eph. 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace 2. If this unity and uniformity be fixed upon and conversant about that which is holy and honest it renders that holiness exceeding amiable and lovely It puts a lustre and beauty upon mens fear and worship of the Lord when they serve him with one heart and
God here Let us not fall out by the way for we are brethren 5. As to all other matters that are more abstruse and difficult and where in there is a great deal of variety in the interpretation of the Scripture even amongst sober Christians themselves In such cases unity and concord must be built upon the foundation of forbearance and mutual tenderness of believers one towards another If in order to peace and union in the Church the judgment of some that are in power be set up as the Standard unto which the consciences of the rest in the minutest affairs are to be reduced if peace and unity I say depend upon these ticklish terms it is likely never to be attained whilst the world endures As soon may you cut all men to the same stature as bring their judgments in all things to the same size But if we would follow after the things that make for peace and unity let us with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbear one another in love Eph. 4.2 3. Shall not Christians forbear where the God of heaven is pleased to forbear Sould not we deal tenderly with such and give them the right hand of fellowship whom God doth tender as the apple of his eye Rom. 14.3 That is an excellent Rubrick for direction in the Saints Liturgy Philip. 3.15 16. Let us therefore as many as are perfect be thus minded And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing So much for the first use of the point by way of information SECT VII 2. For Exhortation IF God hath given us strict charg that we do not comply with a multitude in doing of evil let us then seriously ponder and weigh this lesson in our thoughts and endeavour to practise it in all the particulars of our conversations Take heed lest Satan pravail upon you through this wile and artifice of perswading you to that which is sinful because a multitude embrace it Take the example of Noah for imitation herein Gen. 6.9 Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God Mark it the generation wherein he lived was excessively corrupt and sinful it was egregiously profane and debauched wickedness as a deluge forerunner of the other had overspread the whole face of the earth And yet Noch was upright and kept close to the Lord thereby condemning the world of the ungodly Take the instance of Obadiah who dwelt in Ahabs family a man that sold himself to wickedness in the sight of the Lord that there was none like unto him He lived in dayes of such general Apostacy and Idolatry that Elijah thought there had been none left but himself who had any zeal for Jehovah and had not dealt falsely in his covenant And yet in such place and time Obadiah feared the Lord greatly 1 Kings 18.3 See the carriage of the Christians at Pergamus for incouragement herein They dwelt where the Devil had his seat where he was set upon the throne and had many servants and followers And yet they departed not from God they would not say a confederacy with them in sin They held fast the name of Christ and did not deny the faith though in dayes when persecution raged and reached unto the death Rev. 2.13 Hath God cast your lot in a wicked family amongst carnal relations in times of general atheism corruption and debauchery Labour as Obadiah to fear the Lord greatly do they entice thee to sin Walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path Prov. 1.15 Do they violently and furiously rebel against the Lord and make a scoffe of godliness and oppose the professours of it Do you study to serve him the more eminently and to walk with God as Noah the more closely and strictly Let no man deceive you with vain words Let not their enticements prevail with you let not their presumptions embolden you to fin with them let not their reproaches cause you to desist from your course For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Be not ye therefore partakers with them Eph. 5.6 7. So keep your selves free from any sinful correspondency with the ungodly be they never so many that you may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world Holding forth the word of life Philip. 2.15 16. In managing this use of exhortation I shall speak something to you under these four heads 1. By way of particular exemplification or instance Wherein you should beware that you do not follow the multitude 2. By way of special direction what course you ought to take that ye be not intangled with their example 3. By way of motive or provocative to quicken you to a closure with that course and a diligent observing this counsel 4. By way of Retortion I shall shew you what use you should make of the example multitude seing you must not joyn in combination with them 1. By way of particular exemplification and instance Wherein we should beware that we be not led into sin by the example of the multitude For the better digesting whereof and that the truths I shall deliver may be more easily imprinted upon and firmly reteined in your thoughts and memories I will cast them into five rankes 1. The Ground of religion whereon it is bottomed 2. The matter of religion wherein it is placed 3. The method and order wherein it is prosecuted 4. The time and season when it is minded 5. Sundry particular duties wherein the multitude are prone to miscarry 1. As to the ground of religion whereon it is bottomed The generality of people are wont to take up the principles and mysteries of godliness wholly upon trust They build their faith upon the dictates and opinions of men they believe that Christ is the Saviour and accordingly call themselves his servants they acknowledg such and such ordinances ought to be attended upon and accordingly lend their bodily presence at them and the like But if you enquire into the ground and reason why they believe and embrace this way of religion and worship all they can truly say is because the Minister tells them it is so or their parents bred them up in this way They hold these things for truths for they are points which they have held ever since they can remember they were of this religion from their very childhood and infancy and were brought up in these performances But do you my brethren build your faith upon the infallible word of the Lord and get an insight into the everlasting gospel Search the scriptures daily and diligently and make use of the ministry of men to help you to get knowledg of the scriptures that your
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
whence we may conclude that these words of our Saviour are meant not of the Jewish but of the Christian sabbath wherein his own people were concerned Indeed sometimes we meet in the Acts of the Apostles with mention made of the seventh day sabbath The Apostles taking the advantage of that day to preach to the Jews in their Synagogues but we never find it mentioned after that meeting at Troas Act. 20.7 So that long before the time of their flight they wholly withdrew from the Jewes and kept their assemblies separated by themselves on the Lords day 3 It was an ordinary thing with our Saviour before his death and passion to instruct his disciples in many divine truths which they did not rightly understand till after his resurrection or ascension When the Holy Ghost was sent to that end to bring his words to their remembrance and to teach them the right meaning of the same See Jo. 2.20 21 22. Jo. 12.16 Luk. 9.44 45. Luk. 24.44 45 46. Act. 11.15 16. This if well observed will take off the force of their objection who plead that Christs words must needs be meant of the Jewish Sabbath because say they his disciples undoubtedly so understood them This I acknowledg as probable that they took his speech as meant of the Jewish when yet our Saviour intended it of the Christian Sabbath It being usual with him to deliver many things unto them which they did not rightly understand till he was risen from the dead Probably this very business of the alteration of the Sabbath was one of the things which he had to say unto them but they could not then bear them Jo. 16.12 And one of those many things touching the kingdom of God which he taught them between his resurrection and ascension Acts 1.3 See the words of Bishop Andrews concerning this text in his Pattern of Catechistical doctrine upon the fourth commandment All ceremonies were ended in Christ but so was not the Sabbath for Mat. 24.20 Christ bids his disciples pray that their visitation be not on the Sabbath day So that there must needs be a Sabbath after Christs death Mr. Fennor in his treatise called the Spiritual mans Directory bringeth this in as a special argument for a Sabbath now in the dayes of the Gospel because as he expresseth it Christ speaking of those dayes when all the ceremonial law was dead and buried sheweth the Sabbath to stand still quoting for it this text Take the concurrent testimony of A. B. Usher Our Saviour Christ willing his followers that should live about 40. years after his ascension to pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath day to the end they might not be hindred in the service of God doth thereby sufficiently declare that he held not this commandment in the account of a ceremony And lastly which may abundantly shew that it is not any novel interpretation Mr. Palmer and Mr. Cawdrey give this paraphrase upon the words As if Christ said unto his disciples the Jews have charged me as a breaker of the Sabbath but whatever disputes and reasonings you have heard betwixt me and them concerning that subject I would not have you to think that I am an enemy to the Sabbath or that I mean to put an end to that commandment For I tell you there shall still remain a Sabbath day to be observed to God for his worship In token whereof I admonish you to pray that your flight be not on that day The Second text I would touch upon is that prophecy of the Psalmist concerning the resurrection of Christ Psal 118.22 23 24. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner This is the Lords doing it is marvellous in our eyes This is the day which the Lord hath made We will rejoyce and be glad in it From which words as I remember I have met with this close and formal argument The day wherein the stone which the builders refused became the head stone of the corner that is the day which in the times of the gospel the Lord hath made i. e. which he hath appointed and set apart solemnly to be observed in religious duties one of which special evangelical duties viz. praise and thanksgiving joy and gladness in the Lord is instanced in But the first day of the week or the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that day wherein the stone which the builders refused became the head stone of the corner Therefore the first day of the week or the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the day which in the times of the Gospel the Lord hath made i. e. which he hath consecrated and set apart for the solemn attendance upon religious duties The major proposition lieth fair and clear in the text And the minor is bottomed upon the Apostle Peters comment upon the text which comment he * Acts 4.10 11. made by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost who speaketh of this Scripture as meant of the day of our Saviours resurrection from the dead I leave therefore the conclusion to be considered Wherein I have learned Dr. Ames his concurrent apprehensions Neque facile rejiciendum est quod ab antiquis quibusdam urgetur pro die Dominicâ ex Psal 118.24 Haec est dies quam fecit Jehova Eo enim loco agitur de resurrectione Christi Christo ipso interprete Mat. 21.41 The last Scripture I will name on this account is that of the Apostle to the Hebrews cap. 4.9 10. There remaineth therefore the keeping of a Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto the people of God for he that is entered into his rest he also hath ceased from his works as God did from his own As if the Apostle had said will you fall off from attendance upon gospel ordinances and question the celebration of the Christian Sabbath that you may return to Judaism again Why let me tell you the Lords-day-sabbath which now remaineth when the other is abolished is of Gods own appointment and institution David prophecied concerning it for this is the day of rest which he spake of in the 95. Psalm And besides it is bottomed on a very equitable foundation For as when God had ended the work of creation which was peculiarly his work he ordained the seventh day Sabbath in commemoration thereof So hath Christ the mediatour finished the work of redemption and is entred into his rest as God entered into his and therefore hath appointed the Christian Sabbath for celebration of the work of mans redemption I must not dwell upon all the particulars that might be insisted for the clearing and vindication of this sense of the words from the manifold exceptions that are likely to be made against it Only let these few things be seriously weighed 1 That the Hebrews unto whom the Apostle writes this Epistle and with whom he dealeth in this place were declining apace from gospel administrations and ready to embrace again
and overtake thee till thou be destroyed because thou hearkenedst not to the voice of the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder and upon thy seed for ever Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things Mark it Sirs if you do not labour to be holy in the time of your health and prosperity there is a curse from the Lord of hosts gone forth against you and who knows the power of his anger what a dreadful thing is it to be a man or woman accursed of God But we hope may the sinner say this curse doth contain no great matter of evil some curses indeed of the law are terrible but others are less to be feared Why but O vain man thou ar◠under all the curses mentioned in the Law of Jehovah Well but these curses may remain unaccomplished and we hope God will not be so severe as his word Nay but they shall certainly be fulfilled and come to pass All these curses shall come upon thee If thou flie from them they shall pursue thee And if thou think to hasten thine escape it shall not avail for they shall overtake thee And least thou shouldest expect to get from under them they shall lye upon thee and that perpetually till thou be destroyed If you will not fear the Lord in the enjoyment of all things therefore v. 48. Thou shalt serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck untill he have destroyed thee That 's the third thing to be observed as to the time of religion 4. The multitude neglect the present time and are much addicted to procrastinate as to the concernments of eternity Most that call themselves Christians will acknowledg a necessity of believing and repenting and minding the wayes of holiness in order to the kingdom of heaven But they say in their hearts these are matters to be thought upon hereafter for the present we may take our fill of carnal pleasures and worldly vanities and follow our worldl delights provided that we repent and make our peace with God before we dye At least we may give our selves liberty for a little longer to satisfie our fleshly desires and hereafter we will be serious in the working out our salvation Time enough to think of that for the future before we depart hence Ezek. 12.27 Son of man behold they of the house of Israel say the vision that he seeth is for many dayes to come and he prophecieth of the times that are far off Take heed that you be not herein conformed to the multitude Do not defer your repentance and turning to the Lord a moment upon any pretence of finding a more convenient season For the time present is in every respect the most convenient season 1. 'T is the only certain season you cannot promise your selves another hours continuance upon the earth How many unexpected providences are the children of men subject to that may take us away in an instant So that man knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them How many hidden diseases may lie lurking in the body and inclinations unto diseases apoplexies impostumations and the like which may break forth as in the twinkling of an eye and carry the sinner irrecoverably to his long home And then where is the promise of his repenting hereafter Go to now ye that say to morrow or the next day when this business is over or the other season is come we will return to the Lord and be reconciled to him Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow For what is your life It is even as a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4.14 The time to come is Gods to dispose of and he hath allotted only the present to make sure of our salvation 2. The present time is the season which alone hath the promise of acceptation Acquaint now thy self with God and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee Job 22.21 Behold now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 If you put off the Lord till hereafter and quench the present motions of his spirit how justly may that come upon you which is spoken of by the prophet Zechariah cap. 7.13 Therefore it is come to pass that as he cried and they would not hear so they cried and I would not hear saith the Lord of hosts 3. The time present is the fittest season in order to prevention of the farther hardening your hearts The longer you lie in the state of sin the more seared and secure will your consciences grow and be more difficultly wrought upon to any cordial complyance with the right wayes of the Lord. To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3.7 4. The present season is the most convenient because though you should through the longsuffering of the Lord live to repent hereafter yet late repentance is seldom true and evangelical Thou mayest perhaps be filled with some legal sorrow for sin and repent as Judas repented and yet perish for ever And it is to be feared that this is the case of the multitude For my part I know not one passage of scripture whereupon a sinner that liveth under the means of grace and being convinced of the necessity of repentance shall break through those convictions and put it off till hereafter can bottom the least comfortable hopes that his future repentance will be sincere and saving But there are many places from which he may have just cause to fear the contrary Qualis vita finis ità Commonly as wicked men live so they die and perish without any saving change upon their hearts and their death-bed repentings prove but hypocritical and rotten Job 27.8 9. For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him i. e. It will not be such a cry as God will have any gracious regard unto Prov. 5.22 23. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden in the cords of his sins But he may repent when he cometh to die and then all his sins will be forgiven I tell you saith the Holy Ghost it will be otherwise So it followeth v. 23. He shall die without instruction and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray q. d. The promise of his future repentance his death-bed repentance will come to nothing Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth
every one of them distinctly I am King of France I am King of France thereby intimating that by that one flourishing Kingdom of France he was able to out boast the other in the multitude of his dominions So may a believer by the enjoyment of one God be able to outboast the worldling in all that he possesseth Hath he abundance of riches But I may a sincere Christian say have the eternal God for my portion who is the giver of all things from whom every good and perfect gift doth proceed Hath the worldling the favour of great men of Kings and Emperours But I have the friendship of God who is the supreme King and all Princes and potentates upon earth are but his vassals and subjects Is he advanced to honour and great dignity Well but I am a son or daughter of the living God which is far higher preferment than the mightiest men can confer on their favourites All that the worldling possesseth is but for a small pittance of time but a believer hath interest in eternal mansions in a crown and kingdome that cannot be shaken And is the way to this kingdome an unprofitable way Mind what the Psalmist saith in this respect Psal 84.10 11. For a day in thy Courts is better then a thousand I would chuse rather to sit at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness For the Lord God is a Sun and a shield The Lord will give grace and glory No good thing will he withold from them that walk uprightly 2. The profit and advantage of godliness is principally spiritual profit whereas the hearts of the unregenerate are earthly sensual and carnal and therefore it is that they are not able to discern the sweetness and excellency of religion Not as if there were no such thing to be perceived but their spirits are indisposed and altogether uncapable of the right perception thereof For to a through discerning of any excellency whatsoever there must be always a proportion betwixt the excellency discerned and the power or faculty by which it is discerned To make it clear by a familiar illustration If I discourse with an Husbandman of some profitable way of manuring of land or concerning the best method of ordering grain and tillage he will easily discern the import of such discourse and the benefit of such experiments as are commended to him in that behalf But if you should read to him the most admirable lecture in Geometry Opticks Metaphysicks or the like He will not apprehend the usefulness of it Why Because there is a suitableness in his understanding for the reception of the one and not of the other Thus it is in this case If a man would discern spiritual excellencies he must have a spiritual eye If he would tast sweetness in the service of God he must have a spiritual palate But now the unregenerate are carnal and earthly Their spirits lye grovelling upon the earth and their minds are linked and fastened to things below 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned If a blind man do not perceive the beauty and loveliness of the Sun It is not from any defect in that glorious body but through the defect of his sight So if the wicked do not see the profit of godliness it is not through any defect in religion But because themselves are blind and cannot see afar off 2 Pet. 1.9 3. The great reason why persons go empty away from the service of God and so bring up an evil report upon godliness as if it were an unprofitable work is because their hearts are not upright in the sight of the Lord but they deal falsly in his covenant They do their work by halfes and in a slight and superficial way and so fall short of their expectations in the performance of it Isa 58.3 Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not Wherefore have we afflicted our Souls and thou takest no knowledg Mark the answer that is returned to these groundless complaints Behold in the day of your fast you find pleasure and exact all your labours Behold you fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness Is it such a fast that I have chosen q. d. If you did not play the Hypocrites in the obedience you tender you should never have cause to complain of my unreadiness to reward you If you were faithful in the observation of my statutes I would in no case fail the expectation of your souls But ye brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick Thus you brought an offering Should I accept of this at your hand saith the Lord Mal. 1.13 My brethren the emolument and advantage of religion is entailed upon the power of godliness No wonder that they find it not who have only the form For bodily exercise profiteth little But godliness reall and substantial godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 And therefore the Lord appeals to the very consciences of his people whether ever they could say that they had sought him in vain when they did seek him in sincerity Mic. 2.7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob Is the spirit of the Lord straitned Are these his doings Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly That is the third principle of the multitude to be rooted up out of your spirits 4. The fourth Principle of the multitude which you must utterly reject if you will not be led aside by their errour into sin hath reference to the way of salvation and the means of coming to the kingdom of heaven That a person need not take so much pains nor make so much adoe in order to the attainment of eternal life as commonly Ministers press men unto But a man may be saved well enough without preciseness and circumspection over his wayes They cannot but acknowledg but that the Holy Ghost in the scriptures exhorteth men to be vigilant and watchful in every thing to be circumspect and not to come neer to an evil matter To contend earnestly for the faith and to strive to enter in at the strait gate And indeed will they say these things are not amiss in Ministers that have nothing else to mind but to inveigh against sin and to study the word of the Lord But they cannot believe they are of absolute necessity to salvation but that a man may do well enough though he now and then indulge himself to satisfie his lusts They will never be perswaded that God will damn all that come not up to these rigid terms Thus they harden their hearts against the fear of the Lord and set open a door unto licentiousness Deut. 29.19 I shall have peace though I walk
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