reproachfull Epithites of Trimmers Gadders and Changlings as the Product of discontented Spirits that did not know when they were well or at leastwise would not And then in Chap. 6. he follows his Charge and Reproves them 1. For a stubborn Refusal to walk in the Antient ways of the Church 2. For Revolting from them by a perpetual Backsliding Ver. 28. 3. For being no better than Reprobate Silver And in Chap. 18 He calls upon them to Return from the Evil of their own new Ways to walk in the Antient and true ways of God from which they were without any just Cause ungratfully and unkindly departed But instead of hearkning to him they gave him this resolute Answer at ver 12 There is no Hope but we will walk after our own Devices and we will every one do the Imaginations of his own Heart To which dreadful Answer of theirs the Prophet makes this lamentable Reply ver 13. Therefore thus saith the Lord Ask ye now amongst the Heathen who hath heard such things the Virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing And again at ver 15. he pronounceth a dreadful Sentence against them in the Name of the Lord in this Form of Words Because my People have forgotten me and have burnt Incense to Vanity and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the Antient Paths to walk in Paths in a way not cast up I must confess I have had great searching of Heart what the meaning of the Peoples words might be in the first Part of their Answer viz. There is no Hope Certainly it could not be There is no Hope of Salvation For the close of their Answer imports the contrary for they said We will walk after our own Devices and we will every one do the Imaginations of his own Heart It seems by this Answer that they did intend to serve God some way or other but it must be in such a way as pleased them and in no other way did they intend to walk So that I understand by these Words of theirs There is no hope they mean that the Prophet had no hope of Reclaiming them from following their own ways that he might as well hold his Peace and say nothing as to persuade them to return from their new Practice that they had taken up to Repair to the Antient ways of God and so eager and to earnest and so intent and resolute were they to make good their seditious Words that they were making ready to run a way from him and get out of the hearing of him and this is clear if we consider the words of the Prophet in Chap. 2. 25. His Words There are these Wiâ—h hold thy Foot from being unshod and thy Throat from thirst but thou saidst there is no Hope no for I have loved Strangers and after them will I go They were putting off their Shooes to run in their Vamps with more speed and hast to get out of his sight and hearing and such a thirsty desire had they after strange Novelties that they could not stay so long with the Prophet as to give him the hearing of what it was that he had further to say to them For he would willingly have Reasoned with them butthey were in such hast that they would not stay to hear the sound of his Trumpet sound a retreat to them to return to the good old way that they had cast behind their Backs and at last by their frequent refusing to hear him and the snapishanswer that they gave him He calls Heaven and Earth to bear Witness against them in such Words as these Be astonished O ye Heavens at this And be horribly affraid Chap. 2 12. And then with bitter Sighs calls to the Earth O! Earth Earth Earth Hear the Words of the Lord. Chap. 22. 19. and elsewhere Chap. 6. 17 18 19 20. Where after he hath spoken these Words I set Watchmen over you saying Hearken to the sound of the Trumpet But they said We will not hearken He then proceeds in his Appeal to his former Evidence Therefore here ye Nations and know O Congregation what is amongst them Hear O Earth behold I will bring Evil upon this People even the Fruit of their thoughts because they have not hearkned unto my Word but Rejected it To what purpose cometh there to me Incense from Sheba and the sweet Cane from a far Country Your Offerings are not acceptable nor your Sacrifices sweet unto me From whence you may observe if ye will that the true God accepts of no kind of Service done to him that hath not the stamp of his antient High way upon it Enquire of all the Prophets and you will not find one of them that doth not sharply reprove and inveigh against all sorts of Scismaticks that have forsaken the plain High-wayes of Salvation to follow the Dictates of their own Hearts and devise to themselves new ways of Worshipping God and that every one of them did put the Trumpet to his Mouth and sound a Retreat to them to return to the High-way of Salvation wherein God had formerly led them I Confess we are under a Cloud of God's Anger and the Rod of his displeasure is upon us especially in our Divisions about Sacred things for if Unity Peace and Concord in a Kingdom owning Christ for our Lord and Saviour be one of the choice Blessings that we can wish for under Heaven then certainly by the rule of Contraries Divisions Discords and Dissentions are one of the greatest Plagues and Curses that can possibly â—all upon such a Kingdom and People upon Earth If Divisions bring Desolations to a well setled Common-wealth so will Divisions in the Church at last bring ruine and desolation to Religion and make us worse than the Heathen For a People so divided are in the High way to all sorts of Miseries as Christ hath assured and experience taught us If any one beneath Christ had asserted such a thing I might have mistrusted his Prediction but when the only begotten Son of God who is truth it self and therefore can not possibly lie for he is his Fathers true and faithful Witness of all things past present and to come And was not this the Voice of the Eternal Father from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him And is not this his saying A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand but is brought to desolation that is puts the Kingdom where such Divisions are into the direct way of Desolation and Destruction Now I say that since the Son of God hath spoken the Word I dare not give him the lie by thinking that a Nation divided in it self can possibly stand in a state of security Therefore did he give this Advice and Charge to his Disciples to have Salt in themselves and to be at Peace one with another Certainly it was the same thing that the Prophet Jenemiah aimed at in that Word of Advice which with grief of
Jure Divino we know our Duty to God without your Lordly teaching of us Hence it was that Moses told them ver 28. Hereby shall ye know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these Works for I have not done them of my own Mind 2. The second Article contains a Plea for their own Holiness to Justifie the Innocency of their Enterprize and to let all Israel know that their Proceedings were from Religious Principles that Religion is the Center of all that they go about to compass seeing all the Congregation are Holy they will not allow one prophane Person to be amongst them If we were a wicked and prophane People ye might have some colour 3. In the third Article they take God to witness thâ—t â—heir Intents were Just and Honest that they thought nor meant any Harm nor Evil to any one and avouch God to be the Primum Mobile of their Intents and Purposes as if they had said Be it known unto you Moses and Aaron and let all Israel take notice that what we do proceeds not from our selves we are moved of God to do it and that it is a Revelation of the Mind and Will of God the Lord is amongst us 4. The fourth Article contains a seemingly Rational Argument for the Confirmation of the former three Wherefore then mark that word Wherefore then lift ye up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord Are not we the Congregation and People of the Lord Are not we the only holy People of an holy God Have not we the presence of the Almighty God amongst us What Reason have you then to lift up your selves above us Can ye teach us better than the Lord who is in us for so one Latin Translation reads the Text Omnis multitudo Sunctorum est et in ipsis est Dominus the People are all Holy and the Lord is in them Why do ye then go about to prescribe us a way or tye us up to a Form of Worshiping God This was the substance of their Charge against their faithful Rulers Their Prolocutors were Corah a self-wil'd Levite and Dathan and Abiram two unstable Reubenites accompany'd with the Aid and Assistance of 250 Chieftains the boldest and and most confident that they could pick or chuse in the Warlike Camp of Israel Now who could presently think or immagin that under these Words we are all Holy and the Lord is amongst us there should lie so great a Sin as to provoke a Gracious and Merciful God to destroy miraculously those very People whom not many Years before he had miraculously deliver'd from Opression and Slavery Who would have thought that this outside clean Cup and Platter had been inwardly filled with Ravening and Wickedness That those white Painted Sepulchres had been full of dead Mens Bones and Rottenness Who would have imagined that these Mens Principles would have digged so many Graves for the Israelites Carcases as afterwards they did That such Confusions and Disorders would have followed the Heels of these Men professing extraordinary Holyness and Righteousness Our work then at this time will be to get the true and real Knowledge of these Mens Sin that knowing it we may the more resolvedly derest and abhor it and thence shun and avoid them And this way we must go to work even to enquire of the Oracles of God what they were in a three-fold respect 1. What they were in their Generation and Tribe 2. In their Qualifications or Parts 3. In their Estimation or Credit and that 1. With God 2. With the People 1. For their Generation or Tribe we read that they were of the two Tribes of Reuben and Levi as the first ver of the chap. plainly shews in these words Now Corah the Son of Izhar the Son of Kohah the Son of Levi and Dathan and Abiram the Sons of Eliab and On the Son of Peleth Sons of Reuben took Men. Of which two Tribes these two things are Recorded that they were Unstable and Self-will'd and by no worse a Man than their own Father And this upon his Death-bed too two infamous Blots in both their Escutcheons the Records are written in Gen. 49. the Blot upon Reubens Escutcheon at ver 3. Reuben thou art my First-born my Might and the beginning of my Strength the excellency of Dignity and the excellency of Power Unstable as Water a foul Blot in a fair Escutcheon The Blot in Levi's Escutcheon at ver 5 6. Simeon and Levi are Brethren Instruments of Cruelty are in their Habitations O my Soul come not thou into their Secret unto their Assembly mine Honor be not thou united For in their Anger they Slew a Man and in their Self-will they digged down a Wall In their Self-will there is the Blot in Levi's Escutcheon Now if we joyn the Blots in both their Escutcheons together and compare them with these Mens Words and Actions in my Text we may safely conclude the truth of that Proverb Naturae sequitur Semina quisque suae And take this for a Maxim in Divinity That Instability of Heart to walk with God in his antient ways and Self-will'dness of Spirit to prefer a private Error in Judgment before the publick Peace and welfare of the Church Is the grand Anvil upon which the Devil hath forged all his Machination of Heresy and Scisme to the Continual disturbance of the Church in all Ages of the World 2. In the next place we will consider them in their Qualifications and Endowments and this to 1. Negatively 2. Possitively 1. Negatively they were not the Ignorant sort altho Thousands of those were seduced by their Leaders nor yet of the lowest basest and meanest among them altho Thousands of these were ready to Aid and Assist them in their Enterprize nor were they openly Prophane or Debauch'd Persons altho' such had there been any such in Israel would easily have become Sticklers to these Mens Principles 2. But Possitively for their Qualifications they were Men of excellent Gifts and Parts for there were many Levites amongst them and many of good Rank and Quality Reubenites of the Tribe of Jacobs First-born and without all Peradventure Stout Men of their Hands too if need required And this is clear from what is Recorded in ver 2. And they i.e. Corah and his Confederates rose up before Moses with certain of the Children of Israel Two Hundred and Fifty Princes of the Assembly famous in the Congregation Men of Renown The Fame of these Men spread far and near throughout all Israel sparkling in the Firmament of the Church like blazing Stars talkt of in every Tent especially of these Two Tribes Thus did their Renown ring in the Ears of unsteadfast and backsliding Israel Famous and Renowned they were for what Not for any open or vissible Sin or Wickedness for the Iniquity of these Men was a Misterious Riddle to many honest Hearted Israelites Latet anguis in Herba The green Herbs of their admirable Knowledge and seeming Holiness did so
flourish and spread it self in the sight of all the Redeemed Tribes of Israel that they could not see nor perceive the Serpent at the Root Israel was Gods chosen People above all Nations upon the face of the Earth and these Men the choisest of all Israel Psal 78. 31. Having now considered them in their Generations and Qualifications it remains that we consider them in their Estimation in what Esteem they were both with God and the People And 1. That they were once in high Esteem with God Moses himself acknowledgeth it in ver 8 9. And Moses said unto Corah Hear I pray you ye Sons of Levi Seemeth it a small thing to you that the God of Israel hath separated you from all Israel to bring you near to himself to do the Service of the Tabernacle and to stand before the Congregation to Minister unto them And that they werein great Credit and Esteem with the People we have their own words for it in ver 41. But on the Morrow all the Congregation of Israel Murmured against Moses and against Aaron Saying ye have Killed the People of the Lord. How strong were the delusions of these Men When notwithstanding the visible and unheard of Judgments which the Lord Plagued them with In causing the Earth to open her Mouth and swallow up some of them and Fire from Heaven to consume the rest Yet on the Morrow whilest these things were fresh in their sight and memory they could tell Moses and Aaroâ— with murmuring Words that they were guilty of Murder in the the Death of these Men Ye have Killed the People of the Lord. Ye have not only lifted up you selves and made your selves Lords over Gods Heritage but Treacherously and Cruely Murdered the Saints and People of God Thus did they by way of Recrimination charge the Meekest and Faithfullest Man upon the face of the Earth with the Guilt of the greatest Wickedness that could possibly be Committed And doubtless had they had an Armed Power answerable to their Envious and Arrogant Hearts they would have Erected a Sanedrim of their own and Arraigned him as Guilty of the Death of all the Israelites that dyed for their Wickedness in the Wilderness since the Day that they came up out of the Land of Egypt till then Just so the worst of Hellish Villanes except Judas and Julian the Apostates Araigned the best of Kings Jesus Christ excepted King Charles the First I mean as Guilty of all that Blood that had been shed in the three Kingdoms of England Ireland and Scotland in the time of those unnatural and Bloody Wars continued for so many dreadful Years of that Pious Prince's Raign And here I could willingly make a Digression from my matter in hand by saying That I could wish that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes Fountains of Tears that I might Weep Day and Night not only for the Sins of mine own unstable Heart but for the ensuing Miseries which without speedy and unfeigned Repentance will certainly fall upon the Church of God in these Kingdoms the Lord hath shak'd his Rod at us for several Years past nor hath he yet laid it aside for the noise of it is still in our Ears and we seem to take little or no notice of it as if we did either stop our Ears at it and so refuse to hear it or by a careless slighting of it make a puff at it or were wholly void of Sence and Reason not to understand the meaning of it like those whom the Prophet Isaiah exclaim'd against chap. 1. ver 3. The Ox knoweth his owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my People doth not consider I must confess it is very sad to think that when God condescends to speak to poor Mortal Creatures in so many different ways as he hath done to the People of these Kingdoms and so few of us understand his meaning in any of them That we should be so destitute of Evangelical Wisdom that we should neither Hear nor See nor Tast nor Feel God in the various Dispensations of his Providences but continue in a senceless stupid dull frame of Spirit as if we resolved to walk contrary to his Providences be they what they will But least a larger Digression should divert your Thoughts from the Subject I am discoursing of I will immediately return to them where I left them and shew you more of their Sin and Wickedness for so strangly and so strongly were these Israelites ensnared and bound with the Cords and Chains of this spiritual Delusion and so cheated by the seeming Holyness of these eminent and famous Men that they adventur'd to Canonize them for Saints after they were dead altho' they died Impenitent Rebels And a probable Reason why they had such an esteem for them after they were dead was either because the Two Hundred and Fifty Men Confederates with Corah Justified their doings to the Face of Moses in the Tabernacle of the Lord and in the presence of God and died with Censors in their Hands and Incense burning thereon Or else it was because they intended to play over again the same Game that their Brethren had lost and so prove a second Brood of Religious Rebels That this is more then probable the words in ver 42. do plainly demonstrate for do but mark the Words And it came to pass when the Congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaroâ— that they looked toward the Tabereacle of the Congregation and behold the Cloud covered it and the Glory of the Lord appeared Hence it is very evident that these Chips of the old Block were resolved to revive the good old Cause of their deceased Friends and had not the Lord again Graciously preserved his Church this last Seditious Commotion might have been worie than the former For Corah and his Company did but charge Moses and Aaron with the Sin of self-promotion But these Off-spring of theirs charge them with the shedding of Innocent Blood even the Blood of the People of the Lord and so might pretend that God had put into their Hand the Sword of Vengeance for Innocent Blood These things being well weighed and considered without doubt this was the Root and Rise of their Sin The high conceit which they had of their own Knowledge and Holyness together with the Applause and Estimation which they had with the People had so lifted them up with Pride that they thought themselves so full of Knowledge and so Holy and in both so perfect that their Consciences would not suffer them to live any longer in obedience to a written Law that is to such a Law or to such Rules and Orders as should be delivered to them by any other hand then their own And this is clear if we consider the time of their publick discovering of it and we shall find that it was immediately upon Moses's pressing them to a strickt Observation of an harmless Ceremony for Decency and Order to
the Lord hath rejected them 2. The second that mentions it is the Apostle St. Paul Romans 1. 28. God gave them over to a Reprobate Mind the Reason for it he gives in the former part of the ver in these words And even as they did not like to retain God in their Knowledge So God gave them over to a Reprobate mind The next place is likewise a Testimony of the same Author 2. Cor. 13. 5 Examin your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates Now that many of this Church to whom he thus writes were Revolâ—ing from the Truth which they had formerly embraced and Scismatically going off from the Body of the Church of which by an outward Profession they had for a long time been Members its evident from several passages in both his Epistles to them 1. He calls them the Church of God at Corinth 1. Cor. 1. 2. 2. Thanks God for them that they were enriched with all Vtterance and Knowledge and that they came behind in no Gift 1. 1. 4 7. 3. Persuades them to unity of Judgment and avoiding of Divisions yea beseeches them in these Words 1. Cor. 1. 10. I Beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that is in the Name of our Anointed Saviour that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no Divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same Judgment 4. Checks them for entertaining several Errors as the eating of Meat offered to Idols contrary to the Apostolical Decree at Jerusalem which he brought from thence in his own Person and delivered to them with his own Hands Chap. 8. 5. Reproves them for Praying in the Church with their Heads cover'd Chap. 11. 6. For Prophaning the Lords Supper by their undecent carriage at the Communion thereof Chap. II. 7. Sharply Rebukes them for denying the Resurrection of the Dead Chap. 15. All which Errors being directly contrary to their former Faith and Profession of the Gospel which they received and embraced at his first Preaching of the Gospel to them he earnestly exhorts them to a serious Examination of their present and former State and so to make a speedy return to their first love of the Truth from which they were now falling into a State of Reprobation The fourth place where the word Reprobate is mentioned is in Pauls second Epistle to Timothy 3. 8. 13 14 As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the Truth Men of corrupt minds Reprobate concerning the Faith But evil Men and Saducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them These Men whom he here calls Reprobates must needs have Relation to them whom he names in the first Chap. of his two Epistles to Timothy the first Bishop of the Church of Ephesus In the 1 Tim. 1. 20. He names Hymeneus and Alexander whom he there saith he had delivered up to Satan for making a Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience ver 19. Now I am apt to think that this Hymeneus whom he mentions here is the same whom he mentions in his second Epistle Chap 2. ver 17. And their word will eat as doth a Canker of whom are Hymeneus and Philerus Who concerning the Truth have erred saying That the Resurrection is past already and overthrow the Faith of some That is throw them into a State of Reprobation Two others he names in 2 Tim. 1. 15. This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia are turned away from me that is are turned Reprobates and have forsaken their first love to the Truth of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes Hold fast the form of sound Words which thou hast heard of me ver 13. And I am apt to believe that the former mentioned Alexander is the same he bids Timothy beware of 2 Tim. 4. 14 15. Alexander the Copper-smith did me much evil the Lord Reward him according to his Works Of whom be thou aware also for he hath greatly withstood our Words There can be no greater Enemies to the Truth then those that once profest it and at last revolt from it I am further apt to think that this Alexander is the same that took Pauls part in the uproare at Ephesus against the Priests of Diana's Temple Acts 19. 33. And they drew Alexander out of the Multitude the Jews putting him forward And Alexander beckoned with his hand and would have made his defence unto the People But when they knew that he was a Jew all with one Voice about the space of two Hours cryed out Great is Diana of the Ephesians But whither it where the same or some other of that name he made himself a Reprobate to his Faith and Profession of the Gospel And thus much briefly to the fifth Reason to prove it dangerous and unsafe for Christians to Congregate themselves with any such People tho' never so full of Knowledge and seeming Holyness that do deny Conformity to such Laws and Ordinances which God hath given to them by the Hands of faithful Governours 2. I am come now to the second thing considered in the Explication and therein to shew you what some of the Preposterous and unlucky Dispositions of these Mens Spirits were under such spetious Pretences and first It did manifestly appear that they were of a proud Spirit Pride had overcome their Wits as we usually say of an haughty Person they were proud of their exâ—raordinary Gifts and parts by which they had gotten a Name amongst the discontented Israelites and a seditâ—oâ—s party amongst them I mean among that party of them that were so for many of them stood fast to God and his Servant Moses in observing the Rules of that Religion which contained a prescript Form of Laws and Ordinances cemented with harmless and inoffensive Ceremonies as ye have already heard and which they themselves once promised to observe and keep But now their spiritual Pride was such and their Minds so estranged from that their Promise and Profession that they dare tell him to his Face That he took too much upon him to lift up himself above them This one Fly of spiritual Pride had utterly mar'd their whole Box of Sacred Ointment manifest in their former Submission and Obedience and engaged the Lord to oppose them Had not spiritual Pride been the Root of their Sin the Lord had not set himself against them for the humble and poor in Spirit are his joy and Delight but the proud and haughty in Spirit are the Objects of his hatred and contempt The Princely Psalmist affirms it Psal 138. 6. Though the Lord be high yet hath he respect unto the lowly but the proud he knoweth afar off And another Scripture saith God resisteth the
not content him to chide them within Doors the shame of their Fault had been lesser in a private Rebuke but the Scandal of it required open Reproof From these seven Considerations I have Collected these Observations 1. That God is the God of Order Rule and Government their Repining was publick and where the Sin is not affraid of the Light God loves not the Reproof should be smothered 2. That it is a greater Sin than Men are aware of to speak against the Rule and Order of Government either in Church or State 3. That in the end God will severely punish all such Dispisers of such Rule Order and Government There are two Evangelical Witnesses to these three Points Peter and Jude both of them Apostles to Christ Peters Testimony is Recorded in his first Epistle 2 Chap. 13 14. Ver. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supreme Or unto Governours as unto them that are sent of him for the Punishment of Evil Doers and for the praise of them that do well And to this he adds 2. Epistle 2. to assure us that Such there are and have been as do speak Evil of Government and shall not go unpunished Ver. 9 10. The Lord knows how to deliver the Godly out of Temptation and to reserve the Vnjust unto the Day of Judgment to be Punished But chiefly them that walk after the Flesh and dispise Government Presumptious are they Self-will'd they are not afraid to speak Evil of Dignities The Apostle Jude Harps on the same String and particularizeth these Men in my Text at ver 11. Wo unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the Error of Balaam for Reward and Perish in the gain-saying of Corah And then at ver 19. gives a Mark how to know them saying These are they which separate tbemselves sensual not having the Spirit tho' they said they had 3. They were of a self confident Spirit they were confident in themselves that God would own them in their design For when Moses Summoned them to Appear before the Lord to answer to their Seditious Words they accepted the Challenge and undertook to dispute it before the Lord in a Religious Duty too manifest in ver 19 17 18 19. in these Words And Moses said unto Corah be thou and all thy Company before the Lord thou and they and Aaron to Morrow And take every Man his Censer and put Incense thereon and bring ye before the Lord every Man his Censer two Hundred and Fifty Censers thou also and Aaron each one his Censer And they took every Man his Censer and put Fire in them and laid Incense thereon and stood in the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation with Moses and Aaron Cheek by Jole with them And Corah gathered all the Congregation against them either by some Solemn League and Covenant or some Engagement or other unto the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Glory of the Lord appeared There never was such a Challenge made in the Church of God upon Earth before or since never such apparent Confidence in a Seditious Party to accept of and answer it known or heard of altho' some People of our times have shreudly immitated them Nor did ever such a Stickler appear in a Quarrel for God himself appeared on Moses and Aarons side and at his first enterance on the Stage which was the Tabernacle he gave the Spectators a glimps of his Glory and made bare his Arm and uttered with his Lips these dreadful Words ver 21. Separate your selves from among this Congregation that I may consume them in a Moment As if God had said Moses and Aaron stand ye by and let me alone to deal with these Seditious Rebels they will be to hard for you let me lift up my Hand against them the Quarrel is mine as well as yours For I have whet my glittering Sword and my Hand shall take hold on Vengeance and I will abate their Pride asswage their Envy discover their Design and overthrow their Devices That all the Earth may know that I hate and abhor all Pretences to Religion that are acted and done in Disobedience and Rebellion to my Commands and contrary to the Rule and Order of Government that I have Established in my Church And at the first Blow he made at Corah and his Two Hundred and Fifty Confidents he struck their Censers out of their Hands and with a flash of Fire Consumed them to Ashes As if the Lord had said What have you to do to handle Censers to meddle with Publick Matters of Religion seeing ye do it in Spite and Contempt of the Government Established by Law for Strife and Debate and in Disobedience and Rebellion against the Governours that I have set over you For in very deed Envy at the Established Government in the Church was the seed Plot of Corah's Sin and Dathan and Abirams Conspiracy And therefore it was high time for God to put to his helping Hand to Vindicate Moses and Aaron for they were but God's Servants employed by him to lead them in the right way to Happiness and to Govern them therein by a Sacred Platform of good and wholsome Laws and Ordinances As it is written Psal 77. 20. Thou leadest thy People like a Flock by the Hand of Moses and Aaron i. e. Magistracy and Ministry 'T is true Christ Jesus is the Supream Governour and Lord of all things in Heaven and in Earth but he doth not Govern in either place by his own and immediate Power But by Angels and Men Deligated by him to bear Rule for him over their fellow Creatures and from them expects an Account of their Steward-ship in such their places of Trust The Sacred Text is my Voucher for this Assertion Prov. 8 15 16. By me Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice By me Princes Rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth And elsewhere in Psal 78. 70 71 72. He chose David also his Servant and took him from the Sheep-fold From following the Ews great with Young he brought him to feed Jacob his People and Israel his Inheritance So he fed them according to the Integrity of his Heart and guided them by the skilfulness of his Hands Our Church Translation of the Psalms reads it thus So he fed them with a Faithful and a true Heart and Ruled them Prudently with all his Power This of the Psalmist is an Extract of that Message which God sent by the Prophet Nathan to King David 2 Sam. 7 8 9. Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my Servant David Thus saith the Lord of Hosts I took thee from the Sheep-fould from following the Sheep to be Ruler over my People Israel And I was with thee whither soever thou wentest and have cut off all thine Enemies out of thy sight and have made thee a great name like unto the name of the great Men
is a wife Man and endued with Knowledge among you Let him shew out of a good Conversation his Works with Meekness of Wisdom But if ye have bitter Envying and Strife in your Hearts glory not and lie not against the truth This Wisdom descendeth not from above but is Earthly sensual Devilish For where Envying and Strife is there is Confusion and every evil work But the Wisdom that is from above is first Pure then Peaceable then gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without Partiality or wrangling and the Fruit of Righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace Do ye not know that the Church of God is built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets whereof Christ Jesus the anointed Saviour was the corner stone And do ye not know that all of them have from time to time declaimed against all sorts of false Doctrin Heresie and Scism and declared for Unity Peace and Concord amongst all that proâ—ess the Christian Religion If ye have forgotten these things be not angry with me if I bring to your Remembrance the Testimonies of some of the Prophets who have given their suffrage to this Assertion The first is that of the Prophent Isaiah Chap. 35. 8. And an High-way shall be there and it shall be called the way of Holiness Now thus much I am bold to say in Vindication of the Publick Service of our Churâ—h that it is not only Formally an High-Way but really a Way of true Holiness and Righteousnuss if we can but frame our Lives and Conversations thereunto and obediently answer God in the things we pray for without which no one can walk in the Light of God's Countenance upon Earth nor ever see his Face in the Kingdom of Heaven The next is the Prophet Jeremiah chap. 31. 9. I will cause them to walk by the Rivers of water in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble And then at ver 21. he explains his meaning in this ver saying Set thee up Marks make the high heaps set thine Heart toward the High-Way even the way which thou wentest turn again O Virgin of Israel It seems by these Words of this Prophet that the People did formerly walk in the common High-way of Salvation but now they had forsaken it and drawn away many after them and caused them to stumble into their ways from the antient Paths to walk in Paths in a way not cast up i. e. to make a Profession of such a Religion which had neither Fence nor Bounds nor Form nor Method and so at last to make their Land desolate chap. 18. ver 15 16. I could instance the Testimonies of several other Prophets but two such Witnesses as these two Prophets were and such great Sufferers as they were for witnessing against the Scism that was raised against the Church of God in the time of their Prophecying may be sufficient to convince any unbiast Person that the increase and continuance of Scism in a Kingdom are sure Harbingers to the Ruin and Deâ—truction of it They that will not believe this will not believe Moses and the Prophets and they that will not believe them neither will they believe tho' one should arise from the Dead with the Flames of Hell-Fire about him But haply some one or other may ask this Question what is the Foundation of Scism or whence doth it arise Why truly the question is worth asking and the Answer if I rightly apprehend it may do some good to the Church of God for the time to come however under Correction I will give my Judgment upon it and if it can plainly appear that I am mistaken in my Judgment I shall ingeniously confess that I am a Man and not God and therefore may err The Question is whence Scism ariseth I Answer Scism ariseth from hence when a Man of Knowledge and deep Understanding in the Mystery of Godliness which he had attained unto by his constant attendance on the the publickâ— Ministry of the Word and Service of the Church at length begins to grow weary of serving God in the Highway of Salvation and to think in himself that he knows as much or more than his own Minister can teach him and that he can make better and longer Prayers than the common Prayers of the Church are he is not at rest till he hath found out a creeping hole of â—islike at something or other tho' it be but some harmâ—ess Ceremony and so having once disgusted it he resolves to dissert the Communion of the Church and then is at a Stand in himself what to do or what Society of Men to associate with just like a Man that hath variety of Business with divers Men in several Places and not yet resolv'd whither to go first takes his Staff in his Hand and at the door sets it as upright as possibly he can and that way that his Staff falls that way he steers his Course So likewise do those knowing Men that for little or no cause forsake the publiqué Assemblies of our Church set up the Staff of Conscience and towards what Society of Men it falls thither they trudge Such a Similitude as this doth that smart Prophet Hosea Uâ—e when he reprov'd the humersom and Headstrong Tribe of Ephraim and the unstable Tribe of Juda for their easie Compliance with new-fáshion'd Altars and making a new Covenant and for taking new Measures of Divine Worship and justling out that which was before established bâ— the Law of God Now this similitude of the Prophet is written in the 4th Chapter of his Prophesie Ver. 12 13. My People ask council of their stocks i. e. their stock of knowledge and their staff declareth unto them for the spirit of whoredoms that is of Spiritual Whoredoms hath caused them to err and they have gone a whoring from under their God They sacrifice upon the tops of the Mountains and burn Incense upon the Hills under Oaks and Poplars and Elms. Thus Scism sprung up like Hemlock amongst the Backsliding Israelites and thus it sprang up amongst the English Deus dabit his quoque finem The Lord in Mercy put an end to our Divisions for they are very many great and very destructive for A Kingdom divided cannot stand well A Parliament divided cannot make Laws well A Church divided cannot pray well A Clergy divided cannot all preach well A University divided cannot study well An Army divided cannot fight well A Fleet of Ships divided cannot sail well A Chamber of Aldermen divided cannot Rule well A House divided cannot thrive well A Man divided in himself doth seldom think well and A Vestry divided will never do well either to Church or Poor So that by all these Experiments it is too evident that where Strise and Divisions are there will be certainly Confusion and every evil work will follow But where Unity Peace and Concord are there are the choicest of God's Blessings attending yea there God
using Set and Prescribed Forms there is no doubt but that wholsome words being known and fitted to Men's Vnderstandâ—ngs are soonest received into their Hearts and aptest to excite and carry along with them judicious and fervent Affections Nor do I see any reason why Christians should be weary of a well-composed Liturgy as I hold this to be more then of all other things wherein the Constancy abates nothing of the Excellency and Usefulness I could never see any reason why any Christian should abhor or be forbidden to use the same Forms of Prayer since he prays to the same God believes in the same Saviour professeth the same Truths reads the same Scriptures hath the same Duties upon him and feels the same daily wants for the most part both inward and outward which are common to the whole Church Sure we may as well before-hand know what we pray as to whom we pray and in what words as to what sense when we desire the same things what hinders we may not use the same words Our Appetite and Digestion too may be good when we use as when we pray for our daily Bread Some Men I hear are so impatient not to use in all their dâ—votions their own Invention and Gifts that they not only disuse as too many but wholly cast away and contemn the Lord's Prayer whose great guilt is that it is the warrant and original pattern of all set Liturgies in the Christian Church I ever thought that the proud Ostentation of Men's Abilities for Invention and the vain affectations of variety for Expressions or in Publick Prayer or in any sacred Administrations merits a greater brand of Sin than that which they call Coldness and Barrenness nor are Men in those novelties less subject to formal and superficial tempers as to their hearts than in the constant Forms where not the words but Men's Hearts are to blame I make no doubt but a Man may be very formal in the most extemporary variety and very fervently devout in the most wonted Expressions Nor is God more a God of Variety than of Constancy Nor are constant Forms of Prayers more likely to flat and hinder the Spirit of Prayer and Devotion than un-premeditated and confused variety to distract and lose it Wherein Men must be strangely impudent and flatterers of themselves not to have an infinite shame of what they so do and say in things of so sacred a nature before God and the Church after so ridiculous and indeed profane a manner Nor can it be expected but that in duties of frequent performance as Sacramental Administrations and the like which are still the same Ministers must either come to use their own Forms constantly which are not like to be so sound or comprehensive of the nature of the duty as Forms of Publick Composure or else they must every time affect new Expressions when the Subject is the same which can hardly be presumed in any Man's greatest Suffitiencies not to want many times much of that compleatness oâ—der and gravity becoming those duties which by this means are exposed at every Celebration to every Minister's private Infirmities Indispositions Errors Disorders and Defects both for Judgment and Expression A serious sense of which inconvenience in the Church unavoidably following every Man 's several manner of officiating no doubt first occasioned the Wisdom and Piety of the antient Churches to remedy thâ—se mischiefs by the use of constant Liturgies of Publick Composure The want of which I believe this Church will sufficiently feel when the unhappy Fruits of many Men's ungoverned Ignorance and confident defects shall be discovered in more Errors Schism Disorders and uncharitable Distractions in Religion which are already but too many the more is the pity However if violence must needs bring in and abett those Innovations that Men may not seem to have nothing to do which Law Reason and Religion forbids at least to be so obtruded as wholly to justle out the Publick Liturgy Yet nothing can excuse that most unjust and partial severity of those Men who either lately had subscribed to used and maintained the Service-Book or refused to â—se it cryed out of the rigour of Laws and Bishops which suffered them not to use the Liberty of their Conscience in not using it That these Men I say should so suddenly change the Liturgy into a Directory as if the Spirit needed help for invention tho' not for Expressions or as if matter prescribed did not as much stint and obstruct the Spirit as if it were cloathed in and confined to fit words So slight and easie is that Legerdemain which will serve to delude the Vulgar That further they should use such severity as not to suffer without Penalty any to use the Common-Prayer-Book publickly altho` their Consciences bind them to it as a duty of Piety to God and Obedience to the Laws Thus I see no Men are prone to be greater Tyrants and more rigorous exacters upon others to conform to their illegal novelties than such whose pride was formerly least disposed to the obedience of lawful Constitutions and whose licentious humours most pretended Conscientious Liberties which freedom with much regret they now allow to Me and My Chaplains when they may have leave to serve Me whose Abilities even in their extemporary way comes not short of the others but their modesty and learning far exceeds the most of them But this matter is of so popular a nature as some Men knew it would not bear learned and sober Debates lest being convinced by the evidence of Reason as well as by Laws they should have been driven either to sin more against their knowledge by taking away the Lìturgy or to displease some Faction of the People by continuing the use of it Though I believe they have offended more considerable Men not only for their numbers and Estates but for their weighty and judicious piety than those are whose weakness or giddiness they sought to gratifie by taking it away One of the greatest faults some Men found with the Common-Prayer-Book I believe was this That it taught them to pray so oft for Me to which Petitions they had not Loyalty enough to say Amen nor yet Charity enough to forbear Reproaches and even Cursings of Me in their own Forms instead of praying for Me. I wish their Repentance may be their only punishment that seeing the mischiefs which the difuse of Publick Liturgies hath already produced they may restore that Credit Use and Reverence to them which by the antient Châ—rches were given to Set Forms of sound and wholsom words The Memory of the Just is Blessed Who when a King on Earth no King beside That liv'd more just That more unjustly dy'd FINIS