the Word of God by the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 4.12 That it is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit joynts and marrow may very properly represent the power which she has upon the souls of men all which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laid open and naked before her When St. Paul had established Order in the Church of Corinth he prophesieth of the converting and convincing power that it would have upon the Conscience 1 Cor. 14.24 He is convinced of all he is judged of all and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest c. At least it has a convincing power and he that is the most debauched upon the face of the earth is forced to shut his eyes as not able to behold the lustre and beauty of true Religion Thus have we taken a short view of the Nature of Religion it will now be time to review it in the special influence it has upon the persons mentioned in the Text God the King and the People First then Kings are God's Representatives upon Earth they bear his Image in a peculiar manner The worst and most wicked of them declare his severity in the punishments which they inflict upon offenders with a liberal hand their Crowns and Scepters show the absolute Dominion and Rule which he exerciseth over all the Thrones which they sit upon his Glory and Majesty their vast attendance Officers and Servitors signifie an innumerable company of Angels which as winged Messingers attend the first notice of his Will But alas this representation of God is but imperfect we see indeed part of his Glory but no part of his Beauty rather his back parts than his face Men care not much to see Jehovah cloathed in the Robes of his strength and power in the Altitudes of his Majesty and Greatness the sight of him in this manner seems terrible like his appearance upon Mount Sinai when he gave forth his Law in lightning and thunder But the beauties of God's face which render him most acceptable to the sons and daughters of Adam are conveyed to us only by a Religious Prince where Justice and Mercy Greatness and Goodness Glory and Grace are so sweetly commixed and attempered that both Original and Copy Substance and Shadow God and the King are honoured and adored by all Such a Prince as this St. Cyprian calls Animatam Dei imaginem the Picture of God drawn out to the life and though there were no other reason yet upon this account he must be conjunctissimus Deo For as it is but just and equal that God should love himself first and best because there can be no object so perfect as himself so is it but rational to believe that next to himself he will love those best who come nearest his Image and represent him most amiable to the World Nor is it improbable that this is one choice reason why David is called a Man after God's own heart viz. because he did not only as a Prophet declare the Glory and Excellency of the divine Majesty but as a King in his Religious and Holy Conversation publish the same Secondly Princes are Sacred Persons uncti Domini the Lord 's anointed the worst as well as the best as well Nero as David as well Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin as Solomon for there is no power saith the Apostle but of God he is the Fountain and Original of all But Religious Kings are Sacro-sancti as they have devoted themselves to the Honour of their great Lord and Master This maketh the Almighty so careful and tender of their welfare that not the weight of a finger must lye upon them without a curse saying Touch not mine anointed And it seems by the custom of Heathens to be a principle in Nature for it was usual with them to make Virtuous and Renowned Princes the companions of the Gods Referre eos in numerum Deorum to reckon them amongst the Gods Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet The Greeks and especially their Poets had as Phantastical opinions of their Hero's and Demons they phancied their departure out of this world to be a Translation only for presently you find them amongst the Gods of near relation to Jupiter Jove Satus Jove Ortus Homer abounds in such instances The Church of Rome though she has no great respect for Emperors and Kings yet the homage which old Rome paid to their Princes she offers to her Saints whom though she denieth to Deifie yet at least she Divifies and too liberally gives them Divine Worship By all these instances you may see as in a glass how wonderfully Religion does exalt a person especially a Prince in the love of the Almighty placing him under the direct beams of his Power and Goodness Thirdly Religious Princes are ex naturâ Dei partakers of the divine Nature I said ye are Gods I confess all Princes are so virtute officii but Religious Princes ex naturâ rei as they are in an extraordinary manner spirited and furnished by God for Government their Souls usually are larger by far than other mens their hearts are deeper Saul the first King of Israel is sent to the School of the Prophets and there taught to prophecy before he wears the Crown or sways the Scepter His Successor David was also a Prophet indued with a noble and divine Spirit The Wise man tells us Prov. 25.3 That the hearts of Kings are unsearchable not to be fathom'd Moses was possess'd of this glorious Spirit it had been otherwise impossible to have govern'd that stubborn and unruly people which at last tired our his patience and it is worthy observation when God was pleased to ease him of some part of the burthen Numb 11.17 he spake thus to him I will come down and talk with thee and will take off the Spirit which is upon thee and will put it upon them and they shall be as the burthen of the people with thee In all these respects Religious and Holy Princes as Menander observes are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Images of God and therefore they must be nigh unto him and he unto them Secondly As true Religion does unite God and the King so also the King and the People First As it maketh the heart of a Prince truly noble and generous for there is no School that can so excellently improve a Prince as true Religion no Precepts so refined to furnish him with Wisdom for all parts of Government no policy so true and successful no learning does so exactly and precisely declare the duties of the one to the other as the Word of God so that what Prince soever he be that takes pleasure to govern according to those Rules must needs be magnified in the eyes of his Subjects These are the men that best deserve the names of Patres Patriae to be reverenced honoured and esteemed of all What a
Atheism Thus this beautiful Virgin is every minute in danger to be destroyed by the beasts of Ephesus the latter sort and defloured by the former tho pretended Lovers who by their abominable Separations have torn into pieces the seamless garment which Christ had beautified her with and have put upon her a Coat of divers colours and patches representing rather the spots and changes of the Moon than the lustre and beauty of the Sun she is become a stone of stumbling a rock of offence scarcely known so miserably disfigured that she is like that Stone which Pliny calls Achates tot variis inumbratus coloribus ut unum lapidem esse minimè credamus But thanks be to God that in this night of confusion some of us know what we Worship and what our Worship is and to satisfie men of unbiassed principles I need go no farther than the Text to fetch a true Description of both for it must necessarily follow from the nature of the promise and threatning that the Worship we offer is to the living God who made Heaven and Earth according to the Precepts of his revealed Will. This is our solemn and publick Sacrifice so defined by St. Austin in his Civitas Dei and thus it is distinguished from the private Devotions of a Religious Soul which tho it be very acceptable to the great God yet falls far short of that acceptance which the union of hearts and voices in publick Assemblies findeth with him He hath always loved the gates of Zion better than the dwelling-places of Jerusalem the reason of which the holy Prophet giveth Psal 122.4 Because thither went up the Tribes the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord. When a multitude speak the same thing and conspire together to offer up their Sacrifices to the Lord then does the Glory of the Lord appear then does he manifest his gracious Presence as he did his Glory in the days of Solomon 2 Chron. 5.13 14. It came to pass when the Trumpets and Singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord and when they lift up their voice with the Cymbals and Trumpets and Instruments of Musick and praised the Lord saying For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever that then the house was filled with a cloud even the house of the Lord so that the Priests could not stand to minister by reason of the Cloud for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God The want of this sweet harmony and consent of Souls in the Worship of God is the reason why our Church mourns at this day her visible Members speak not the same things but divers and contrary one to another Babel is found in Bethel confusion in the house of God as if we would force that to be the true and genuine meaning of our Saviour when he brought the Everlasting Gospel into the World I come not to send Peace but a Sword How unlike are we to those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who came up thither to Worship and tho of divers Nations and Languages yet wâ—â—e they of the same Religion from whence undoubtedly they were called Jews We tho we use no other but our Mother-tongue in the Service of God yet have we more Religions than they were Nations Can any good come out of this Galilee Is it likely that a fire should be quenched with Oyl or a healing plaister be made of Corrosives Let us fear rather lest a Church divided against it self should not stand Rome rides faster and gets more ground upon the speckled horse of our own divisions than upon the prancing Genet of her own worship she cunningly does her work and sits still whilst we by our Separations are perfecting her designs in our own ruines and lest any should wonder why so magisterially I seem to obtrude my own Sentiments upon the World let him but impartially consider how the old Axiom is again revived in Rome divide impera and then let him tell me whether the reason of our present impotency and weakness and of their hopes and expectations does not proceed principally from those cursed and sinful Divisions amongst Protestants My humble Address therefore to this Right Honourable and Noble Assembly is That in your respective places as Judges as Magistrates as Nobles as Gentlemen you would glorifie your God save if possible your Country from that destruction which as a dark Cloud hangs over her head that you would imbellish and perfume your names to all generations by honouring Religion by vindicating her innocent beauty from the vile assaults and bruitish rapes of prophane and dissolute men Assert the solemnity of our Worship by your publick constant and reverential attendance against all Detractors who set up Altar against Altar Church against Church and make it the greatest part of their Religion to defame ours Defend the purity and simplicity of it from the superstitious and corrupt mixtures of the Church of Rome by a generous and rational observance of decency and order in the Worship of God Religion takes no pleasure either in a nasty slovenly behaviour or delight in a Pharisaical gaudery Our Ceremonies are few in number easily told as easily understood not like those of the other Church a load insupportable scarcely inferior to the Bondage of the Jewish State Again Let me beseech you to show your Zeal for it in the Presence of Atheists Let not Hell tho it be broken loose in our days make you ashamed of your Crucified Saviour and his Royal Laws It argueth a poor sneaking ingentile spirit when men shall be hectored out of their Religion by a company of Sots that have no God but their Belly and understand no other pleasure but what Bruits do find Hand ulla Numina expavescunt Coelitum Ventri offerent Deos ignorant caeteros as Euripides expresseth them These are the Antichrists which endeavour publickly and privately the ruine of our Religion a Jewel too precious to be lost if you please to consider the second particular the healing and cementing nature of it It 's the Balsome of the Creation the Pandora of all excellent Virtues which undoubtedly will heal all wounds in Church and State may they be applied But that which does not a little advance the Excellency of it is that the perfection which she challengeth as her own does not proceed meerly from the abstracted blessing of the great God but in part from the curious composure of that Spirit which God has endued her with which her very Name as St. Austin and Propertius testifie does sufficiently demonstrate this being that which fasteneth the Soul and Conscience to God and Goodness The Greeks translate it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those that joyned themselves as Proselytes to the Jewish Church were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes waiters for the Kingdom of God longing for the Revelation of the Messias
We may judge of the force that Religion has by the combining nature of Superstition and Will-worship which as Lactantius observes is but verae Religionis unitatrix it makes men all of one mind and judgment Pignoratos reddit animos it causeth them to pawn their Souls and Affections and Estates also one to another Herod and Pilate though desperate enemies before were then made friends when Christ was to be crucified Old Rome will dye to the last man pro aris focis new Rome is at this day as zealous for her new-coined Devotions and will unite all the World over against those whom they are pleased to Damn for Hereticks The Jews stand as stifly to the Traditions of their Forefathers the Rabbins and Doctors of their Church as the Turks to the Precepts of their Alcoran or we to the Old and New Testaments Now if the name of Religion though it be false carrieth with it such Magical force and power to how much more may true Religion pretend He that reads the History of the Ten Persecutions when the native and simple beauty of Religion ravished the Souls of those blessed Martyrs will easily believe that she is strong and mighty as well as amiable and lovely The pacifick argument which Abraham urgeth to Lot when there was discord between their herds-men was this That they were of the same Religion Gen. 13.8 Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee between my herds men and thy herds-men for we be brethren Hoc est Fide Religione and the more cogent was his request because the Canaanite and the Perizite men that were strangers to God and Religion dwelt then in the Land No sooner had the influence of it touch'd the Souls of the Three thousand Acts 2.44 but they were together and had all things common I confess when Religion began to grow into Faction then sprang up Divisions a parting of Minds and Souls as well as of Purses and Estates then was the Common of Christianity turn'd into inclosures when one cries out I am of Paul another I am of Apollos a third I am for Caephas and a fourth I am for Christ that is neither for Ministers nor Ordinances but only for Jesus and his Spirit But who dar'st impute this to Religion when St. Paul tells you it proceeds from the flesh 1 Cor. 3.4 For while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo are ye not carnal But the glory of true Religion will be more apparent If you observe 1. That she is a most perfect piece of Beauty and therefore of her own nature attractive for love to its proper object is strong and never at rest till it does transire in amatum the drawing out of those lines of Perfection upon her was not trusted to the pencil of Apelles or the curious finger of any Mortal but the unerring hand of God himself nor was there any Copy or Exemplar to draw by but himself he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Original of her Perfection in her shineth forth his Wisdom Goodness Mercy Patience Justice Purity and all other communicable Virtues to the Sons of Adam All other Beauties in respect of this are but tenebrae What you see in the vaulted Heavens which made the holy Prophet admire the beauty of Sun Moon and Stars what you see upon Earth in the Spring when nature has put on her rich embroidery whatever can be said of or for Riches Honours Pleasures Preferments in the World are nothing in comparison of her loveliness If that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which St. Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 14. the exact and comely disposition of the Worship of God could be found in our Assemblies where all persons with one consent should offer up their Spiritual Sacrifices to Almighty God Angels would rejoyce and delight to joyn with us and make up the Chorus of sweet-fingers in Israel Papists would no longer have occasion to say that we are Fracti corde ore The sober part of Dissenters that have truely tender Consciences would no longer keep at a distance you would then see the Antepast of Eternity when Religion shall ascend the Meridian of her Glory where there shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same sound and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all sweetly together singing Hallelujahs to their King That which spoileth the beauty of our Service now is want of Order as the most exact piece of Beauty may be ill drawn or the best Dish of meat spoil'd with ill cooking Those Factions and Divisions which are amongst us the slovenly and nasty carriage of many that come to our Assemblies and of them also which wait upon the Altar represent Religion deformed made up of disproportion so that St. Paul's Infidel if he should come amongst us cannot say the Lord is with us of a truth Secondly True Religion is most rational answering the Philosophy of Man's Nature and the Ends of Discourse I know some Mysteries of our Religion are supra rationem that a Virgin should bring forth a Son that the same should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the dead should rise again c. but none of these are contra rationem If you take Religion in a large sense as she comprehendeth all Virtues nothing can be more reasonable than her demands To fear God to love our neighbour to be humble and meek to honour our parents to pray for our enemies What can be more reasonable God has now taken away the rigor and severity of the Law and given us a yoke to bear which is more easie and the burthen more light And if I come nearer the Text you 'l find it to be the purest reason that God should have the fattest of the flock for his portion the most ingenuous and holy observance in his Worship the most exact order and decency in our approaches to him which St. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.1 Now if Religion be thus rational in all her demands it must also be of a knitting and cementing quality Reason being the substratum of all Societies of all Converse between man and man And if we add to this the sweetness of her Nature exactly answering the Conversation of our Blessed Saviour when upon Earth his Love Affability Candor Humility nothing certainly can better attract and draw the Souls of reasonable men than Religion The Professors of it I confess are sometimes morose and cynical not at all inviting in their behaviour but the fault of them cannot be imputed to our Religion which though it does correct yet does it not utterly remove the frowardness of our Nature Thirdly It is delicate and spiritual so attenuate that it can penetrate the Soul ravish the Thoughts and command the Conscience with a holy and sweet Violence Good and bad Angels as they are Spirits have a power to suggest good or bad thoughts Of this refined substance is true Religion and the Character given of