belief may not rest upon the bare opinions of men but upon the mouth of the Lord. That you may be able to say not only I acknowledg these doctrines to be divine and practise this and the other duty because men have perswaded me But because I find them contained in the Law of the Lord and that they are agreeable to his mind and will and that herein by the ministry I have been instructed in that which God himself hath revealed and prescribed who is a God of truth and faithfulness upon whose living word I bottome my trust and confidence Thus did the noble Beraeans and therefore many of them were converted and savingly wrought upon They did not take matters upon trust no not from Paul and Silas but they would see whether they taught them faithfully what they received from above And mark the note of excellency or asterisk that is set by the Holy Ghost upon their heads and the blessed issue of their enquiry Acts 17.11 12. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so Therefore many of them believed Do not think it enough to receive information of truth but examine whether they are indeed of heavenly extraction Search the Scriptures Jo. 5.39 They are appointed of God to be the sure doctrinal foundation whereupon our faith is to be bottomed Eph. 2.20 Ye are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone That I may awaken you to heedfulness in this regard let me beseech you to study throughly these three following considerations 1. If your faith be not bottomed upon a divine testimony even upon the word of the Lord it can amount no higher than an humane faith It cannot be a divine faith which receives mattes wholly upon trust from the dictates of men For Sirs the nature of faith is not diversified by the quality of the principles and truths that are believed but by the grounds whereupon and the reasons why they are believed Then is it an humane faith when built upon humane testimony and then is it divine faith when the testimony is divine whereupon credence is given Else a man may receive spiritual and supernatural truths divine doctrines by a meer common faith an humane faith when he taketh them wholly upon trust from the credit of men If you would see the difference betwixt these two that text is full by way of illustration Jo. 4.39 40 41 42. And many of the Samaritans of that City believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did And many moe believed because of his own word And said unto the woman Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world See also 1 Thes 2.13 2. If you do not search into the word and bottome your belief thereon you can never be stedfast and setled in the wayes of the Lord nor in any of the truths of religion You will be still in a wavering inconstant condition and in danger to be turned aside from the faith And the reason is apparent because the dictates of men are variable and inconstant One man may press upon you this as a point to be believed and another may possibly instruct you in the contrary as a truth Nay the same persons at different seasons may vent doctrines of a different nature To be laid in the ballance they are altogether lighter than vanity And therefore if you build your faith upon their opinions you must of necessity be left at great uncertainties But the word of the Lord is fixt and permanent alwayes consonant and agreeable unto it self There you may rest as upon a rock that can never be moved For every word of God is pure Prov. 30.5 The words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times Psal 12.6 Men are subject to mistakes and errours but the word of the Lord will never deceive you that cannot be mistaken 3. Unless you try doctrines by the rule of the scriptures and bottom your faith upon the word of the Lord you do not give glory to God in believing Unless you take it upon his word and receive it as proceeding out of his mouth you do not give unto God the honour of believing the truth If you receive the matters of religion only upon the dictates of men you rob God of his glory and give it unto them For this is a special part of our worship of God and one of the peculiar prerogatives which he doth challeng unto himself that we give up our judgments absolutely unto his guidance and yield perfect credence unto his word Jo. 4.20.21 Our father 's worshipped in this mountain and ye say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship Jesus saith unto her Woman believe me c. q. d. You are apt to pin your faith upon the sleeves of your fathers whereas this is one of the glorious Royaltie * Magnus Dei cultus fides Magna in Deum blasphemia incredulitas which appertain unto me who am the Christ to have the absolute command of your faith you must try the doctrines and practises of your fathers and all the opinions of men are to be estimated according to their consonancy unto my word As in performance of duty we should be careful to give unto God the glory of his Sovereign authority which is when we do the work of the Lord because it is commanded to be done by him So in our assent to the truths of the Gospel we should give unto God the glory of his truth and faithfulness which is when we believe what is spoken of the Lord because we know the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it It is said of Abraham Rom. 4.20 He staggered not at the promise through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God Why Sirs this is the way to give glory to God when we set to our seals to the doctrines of godliness because they proceed from the God of heaven believing the things which are written by the Prophets and Apostles those faithful Amanuenses of the Spirit of God who spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost 2. Take heed of being corrupted by the example of the multitude in respect of the matter and substance of Religion wherein it is placed and whereunto they confine it For commonly people are wont to be too narrow and short upon this account Q. Wherein do the multitude for the most part place their Religion Ans I shall instance only in sive things 1. The generality of people place the whole of their Religion In the reforming and ordering their lives and actions But they seldom or never think of the necessity of sanctifying their
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
for the right ordering our conversations in his presence it concerns us to take heed that at no time whatsoever we follow a Multitude to do evil p. 6. SECT II. Qu. 1. What are we to understand by the doing of evil Answer In five Conclusions Concl. 1. This caution against the doing of evil is to be taken in the greatest latitude and comprehensiveness as it sets against all degrees and kinds of sin p. 8. Concl. 2. The doing of evil is nothing else but a breaking the Law of God or walking contrary to the dictates of his revealed will p. 9. Concl. 3. The Commission of sin is called the doing of evil because of the malignity and destructiveness of sin and the evil consequents that attend thereupon Opened in five particulars p. 10. Concl. 4. All the evils perpetrated in the life of a sinner proceed from within out of the native pravity and corruption of the heart p. 14. Concl. 5. Although the internal and inbred corruption of the Soul is the seed-plot of evil whence it doth spring up yet outward occasions end provocatives have a great influence to educe that corruption into exercise and to the actual production of evil p. 17. SECT III. Quest 2. What usual influence hath the example of a Multitude to incline a person to the doing of evil Ans It hath a seven-fold influence to that purpose Infl. 1. The Example of a Multitude doth minister an Argument to the sinner for the justifying of sin Opened in three propositions p. 19. Three Particulars insisted on to deaden this influence p. 24. Infl. 2. The Example of a Multitude is commonly a powerful inducement to the Commission of sin by contributing to the extenuation of the evil of sin p. 37. Three Considerations to abate the force of this influence p. 29. Infl. 3. By the practise of a Multitude men are drawn to sin by taking incouragement from thence to expect impunity in their sins p. 33. The vanity of these expectations discovered p. 35. Infl. 4. Sinners are induced to follow the example of a Multitude in the commission of evil because that is a ready fence against the shame that would otherwise arise from the evil committed p. 40. Three things to enervate the strength of this influence p. 42. Infl. 5. Persons are easily prevailed with to follow a Multitude in their sins least they should be reproached and reviled for dissenting from them p. 45. To fence against the prevalency of this temptation five things to be weighed p. 46. Infl. 6. Sinners are soon perswaded to comply with a Multitude in sin least they should be persecuted and opposed by them p. 52. To abate the efficacy of this influence three special Truths to be minded p. 55. Infl. 7. There is a secret inclination in mens spirits to conform to the Multitude because it is a pleasant thing to walk with company and in competition therewith the wayes of holiness seem to be sad melancholick and tedious wayes p. 58. The folly and weakness of this Argumentation discovered p. 59. SECT IV. Qu. 3. In what cases especially doth it concern us to be most cautious and circumspect that we be not led into sin by the practise of a Multitude Ans In six special Cases 1. In case of our Auncestours and Fore-fathers that have gone before us p. 62. Five lessons to set us right in this matter p. 63. 6. In case of Great men and Rulers that are set over us p. 69. Arguments quickning to circumspection in this respect p. 71. 2. In case of neer Relations and kindred intimate friends and acquaintance p. 73. To fortifie our spirits for vanquishing this temptation four points to be observed p. 75. 4. In case of Professours of Religion p. 80. Preservatives against infection on this account p. 82. 5. In case of men of excellent parts knowledg and learning p. 85. Preventives against falling by this seduction p. 86. 6. In case of the Inhabitants of the places where we dwell and the persons amongst whom much of our business lieth in matters of the world p. 90. A special Antidote against their seducement p 92. SECT V. Qu. 4. What Arguments may be produced and pressed on our hearts against compliance with a Multitude in sin Arg. 1. From the spiritual state and condition wherein the Multitude are the way wherein they travel and the place whether they are going p. 96. Arg. 2. From the concernment that lieth on us to prove our own spritual state that we are the peculiar people of God p. 97. This Argument opened in three gradual Propositions p. 98. Arg. 3. From the duties incumbent on us in relation to the Multitude when they sin wholly inconsistent with complyance with them p. 102. Four duties of this nature mentioned Ibid. Arg. 4. From the danger that will arise by following the example of the Multitude p. 107. SECT VI. Inferences drawn from the Doctrine Inf. 1. The servants of Christ must of necessity be indued with a Spirit of courage and fortitude p. 109. Inf. 2. The People of God must be men of singularity p. 111. A threefold singularity explained p. 112. Inf. 3. Unity Unanimity and Uniformity are not in all cases to be commended But only where they are exercised and as far as they are exercised in doing of Good p. 116. This Inference opened in 4. distinct Propositions p. 118. A Grand Objection against the fourth proposition Answered under five heads p. 123. SECT VII Exhortation Let us seriously weigh and ponder this lesson in our thoughts and indeavour to practise it in the particulars of our conversations p. 128. This Exhortation managed four wayes 1. By way of Exemplification and Instance under five General Heads Head 1. As to the Ground of Religion whereon it is bottomed The Generality of people take up the Principles and Mysteries of Religion upon trust But do you search the Scriptures and build your faith upon the infallible word of the Lord. p. 131. This point pressed by three considerations p. 133. Head 2. In respect of the Matter and Substance of Religion wherein it is placed and whereunto the Multitude confine it This Point inlarged upon in five Instances Inst 1. The Multitude place the whole of their religion in the reformation of their lives But seldom or never think of the necessity of having their state changed or their nature sanctified p. 136 Three considerations in reference to this p. 137. Inst 2. The Multitude confine their Religion to acts of immediate worship but mind it not in their secular affairs p. 138. Motives to holiness in our civil concernments p. 139. Inst 3. The Generality are accustomed to place their Religion only in external performances but little study to ingage their hearts and spirits in the service of God p. 141. Provocatives to spiritualness in Holy duties p. 142. Inst 4. Most people limit Religion to an abstinence and freedom from gross pollutions but make no conscience of lesser impieties p. 143. The
in iniquity yet you must not be led by their example This was the doctrine in which Isaiah was instructed with a mighty hand intimating that it is a difficult point to be learnt and a matter of great concernment If we will be the servants of God in truth we must learn this Lesson Isa 8.11 12. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people saying say ye not a confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid q. d. Though the whole people combine together to do wickedness cast not in thy lot amongst them keep thy self far from their combination Dare not to tread in their steps nor joyn in their association be they never so numerous a company keep thy self free from their confederacy and fear the Name of the Lord. For the handling of this Point as a Preservative against infection by the practise of the multitude I shall lightly pass over four Heads of enquiry in the doctrinal part of our discourse and then close up all with a practical improvement of the whole 1. What are we to understand by the doing of evil which is the matter to be avoided 2. What usual influence hath the practise of a multitude to incline a man or woman to the doing of evil 3. In what cases especially doth it concern us to be most cautious upon this account that we be not drawn to evil by the example of a multitude 4. What are the principal reasons that may be produced for the confirmation of this point and pressed upon our hearts to preserve us from seduction by the example of a multitude SECT II. QU. 1. To begin with the first of these What are we to understand by the doing of evil which is the matter to be avoided Thon shalt not do evil Ans In answer to this enquiry I shall speak very briefly as being a matter that needs not any large explication All that I have to deliver under this Head shall be gathered into five plain Conclusions Concl. 1. This caution that is laid down here against the doing of evil for the extent of it how far it reacheth may be well taken in the greatest latitude and comprehensiveness of the expression as it sets against all sorts and kinds and qualities of sin whatsoever Whether they are greater or lesser sins of omission or commission against the first table of the Law or the second Whether they are sinful contrivances of the mind or inordinate passions working in the heart and spirit whether it be rotten communication that proceedeth out of the mouth or any manner of disorderliness in the outward behaviour and carriage A mans actions or doings in a restrained sense are sometimes contradistinguished and opposed to his words and thoughts and affections Col. 3.17 In word or deed Jam. 2.12 So speak ye and so do But in this place you may take it without any limitation or restriction for it is delivered indefinitely and without exception It may possibly have a special reference to the sin of bearing false witness as some think which is mentioned immediately before the Text or to the sin of wresting judgment according to the apprehensions of others being the sin which is condemned in the words following the Text But it ought not to be confined to either As where the holy Ghost hath not distinguished we must not distinguish so where the Spirit of God hath not set restrictions and limits we must not restrain Besides The original word is in the plural Thou shalt not follow a multitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad mala to evils i. e. not to any sort of evil So that the meaning may be this Thou shalt not joyn with a multitude in their plots and contrivances against the wayes of God Thou shalt not talk vainly and frothily or in any wicked manner as they speak You must not act in any thing after the pattern and similitude of their sinful actions But in every thing keep your selves pure and unspotted from the taint of their abominations Concl. 2. This doing of evil for the nature of it wherein it consists is a breaking of the Law of God or walking contrary to the dictates of his revealed will which he hath given as the rule for the guidance of our steps It is the neglecting of any thing which God hath injoyned to be performed or the doing of that which he hath forbidden to be done Herein lies the ratio formalis or the nature of sin that it is a want of conformity to the Law of God or a transgression of it 1 Joh. 3.4 So that if you would examine your selves in order to repentance what evils you have done you must compare your actions with the Law of God and bring your lives and conversations unto the word of the Lord Psal 119.59 I thought on my wayes and turned my feet to thy testimonies So in relation to the time to come if you would be directed for the avoiding of evil you must be well verst in the Law of God and get a through insight into the word of God Psal 119.9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way By taking heed thereto according to thy word Sin is sometimes called A going astray and a turning aside Isa 53.6 All we like sheep have gone astray Psal 14.3 They are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy The word of the Lord is compared to the way wherein a Believer is to travel that he may arrive at the land of promise Now the doing of evil is nothing but a declension from that path or a stepping aside out of the way Deut. 5.32 You shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God commandeth you you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left Concl. 3. For the reason of the name and appellation The committing of sin or breaking the Law of God is called the doing of evil because of the destructiveness and malignity that is in sin and the sad and fearful consequences that attend thereupon It is the most poysonous and venemous thing in the world the most mischievous thing under the Sun It is the great evil the most signal evil Sinners may have low thoughts and slight apprehensions of it They are apt to ask when they are charged with some kinds of ungodliness What hurt is there in them But in the conclusion they will be found to be the principal evils When God doth awaken the conscience or begin to take the work of judgment into his hands sinners shall be forced to acknowledge it to be so Jer. 44.4 Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate And v. 7. Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls Neh. 13.17 What evil thing is this that ye do profane the Sabbath day Men imagine it is for their ease and pleasure and sometimes for their
as we And have not they as good knowledg of the mind of God as we have If it were so bad to tipple and lye in the alehouse now and then do you think so many judicious men would practise it If it were a sinful thing to game and revel and the like would not others leave it If such a worship were corrupt can you imagine that so many knowing men would not abhorre it shall we think our selves to be wiser then the most These are the reasonings of mens spirits whereby they strive to defend their crooked wayes As Eliphas speaks to Job cap. 15.7 8 9. Art thou the first man that was born Or wast thou made before the hills Hast thou heard the secret of God and dost thou restrain wisdom to thy self What knowest thou that we know not what understandest thou which is not in us So are sinners apt to argue the case when they are reproved for any indirect practise Do you think your self wiser than the most They make no scruple at such things and have they not as much knowledg as we Shall we be so arrogant as to restrain wisdom to our selves Surely it is not to be condemned or otherwise so many would not approve of it and follow it For mind it Sirs as a most certain rule that as the custom and the commoness of the practise of sin doth usually take away the sense and conscience of sin in them that commit it so it many times takes away the opinion of sin in them that observe it Surely think they if there were any harm in it people would not so readily and universally close with it It was the very argument they brought against our Lord Jesus Christ and the religion of his followers because it was generally opposed Act. 28.22 As concerning this sect we know it is every where spoken against Now for the deadning of this influence I shall intreat you to observe and lay to heart these three things 1. That this is double wickedness in the sight of God and so may justly expose us to a greater measure of his indignation for a person not only to live in the practise of sin but to defend and justifie those practises For a man first to break the law of God and then to plead against the law and as much as in him lieth to enervate and invalidate the obligatory power of it This is one of the greatest contempts that can be offered against the Lord of glory And it is far from the temper of a true believer A child of God may fall through temptation into sin but he will not plead the cause of sin He will stand up in defence of the word of God against himself and take confusion of face unto himself But when a wicked man doth indeavour to maintain his wickedness that is an high affront unto the Sovereign Lord and Law-giver It is in effect to set his mouth against the heavens as it is expressed Psal 73.8 9. I remember an heathen Philosopher being asked his opinion what they deserved who committed murder or adultery in their drunkeness and then excused it because they were in drink His answer was that such should be twice punished first for the fact committed and again for their drunkenness So may I say of sinners of this sort God may justly execute upon them the fierceness of his anger and make them tast the sorest of his displeasure He may destroy them with a double destruction first for the evils which they commit and again for the justifying of those evils You have a particular woe denounced on this account Isa 5.20 Wo unto them that say concerning evil it is good and of good it is evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter 2. For a person thus to plead in defence of his sin it is to put himself at the greatest distance from repentance and conversion and consequentially from the pardoning grace and favour of God annexed thereunto The reason is apparent because conviction is the first step that leads to conversion It is impossible a sinner should be humbled for or turned from his ungodliness till he be convinced of it As long as he stands up in justification of his corruptions he will never loath and abhor himself for them And therefore when the Lord cometh in a way of saving mercy to a soul and takes him into a covenant with himself he doth take them off from pleading in their own justification any further that they may lye down in their shame Ezek. 16.62 63. And I will establish my covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. That thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord God Mark it before time their mouthes were opened and they had something to speak in their own behalf all the world almost went on in such a way and why might not we as well as others and the like But when the spirit works effectually and bringeth them into the bond of the covenant you shall not hear a word more of these corrupt reasonings Now they see their vileness and that they have nothing farther to plead but they lay their hands upon their mouth 3. The rectitude or irregularity of any course or action is not to be measured and judged from the carriage of the greatest number of men but by the word of the living God It is the scripture which is the standard both for the trying of doctrines whether they are sound or corrupt and for the weighing of actions whether they are sinful or warrantable * Non eo animentur quia multi sunt sed hoc ipso mag is reprimantur quia non pauci sunt Nihil ad extenuationem delicti numerus impudens valere consuevit Cypr. Epist 26. Indeed the practises of the generality are so far from justifying any proceedings whatsoever that we have cause to suspect them on that very account Because it is such an ordinary thing for them to combine together in the service of the devil Jer. 5.11 12. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me saith the Lord. They have belied the Lord and said it is not he neither shall evil come upon us neither shall we see sword nor famine Jer. 6.13 From the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsly Mark it it was not here and there a single person but the whole body of the people collectively and unanimously were corrupted men of all ranks and conditions So that for the trying of the particulars of your conversation you must not pass sentence according to the general practise but have recourse to the Law and the testimony Psal
couldest thou lay down thy life for his sake and part with all that thou hast at his call who wilt disobey him for a trisle as it is in thine account If you go to a neighbour or friend to lend you a small sum of money or to do you a lesser kindness and he will not do it you will presently conclude He would never be at any great expence to do you good nor trust you with a matter of any considerable value So may the Lord say in this case This is an hypocritical wretch who thus complieth with the multitude to sin against me in a small matter Surely he will never stick close to me in times of danger and difficulty when he must exercise any greater measure of self-denial You know the words of our Saviour unto Peter Mat. 26.40 He comeâ—h unto the disciples and findeth them asleep and saith unto Peter What could ye not watch with me one hour What may be the reason that he doth expostulate the case with Peter more particularly than with the rest Why you shall find in 35. v. Peter had promised that although he should die with Christ yet he would not deny him and and therefore he said unto Peter What could ye not watch with me one hour q. d. How couldest thou die for me If thou faulter in the smallest how wouldest thou be able to grapple with greater hardships So should you reason the case with your own spirits If I will be a Christian indeed I must be ready to forsake all that I have at his command and to follow him through tribulations and distresses whithersoever he leadeth me And how shall I be able to do it if I stick with him for a trifle Besides as was intimated before It is a monstrous and intolerable slighting and undervaluing the autherity of God and that eternal blessedness to be enjoyed in his presence to venture the loss of it for matter of little weight and moment This is instead of counting all things to be but dross and dung in comparison of the favour of God to esteem dross and dung above the light of his countenance Jer. 2.11 12 13. Hath a Nation changed their gods which yet are no gods But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit Be astonished O ye heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water q. d If they had exchanged me for something of worth and value the contempt had not been so great but they cast me off for that which is of no worth The weaner and the slighter is the object wherewith you close in contradiction unto Gods precepts the greater is your contempt of his Majesty and the lighter esteem you have of his loving-kindness So much for the second influence which the practise of the multitude hath to draw persons to sin viz. By contributing to the extenuation and lessening the evil of sin 3. By the practise of the multitude men are usually drawn into sin By being from thence encouraged to expect impunity in their sins and to be free from the judgments that are deserved thereby Surely think they the Lord will spare us for we are a great number he will not execute his wrath upon so many Take it thus Sirs That passion which God doth make especial use of as a preservative against sin it is the passion of fear and dread of his judgments and that both as to the righteous and the wicked the just and unjust This made Laban the Idolater that he durst not meddle with Jacob nor speak a word to his hurt because the dread of the wrath of God was upon him Gen. 31.24 29. And this restrained the Heathen that they durst not disturb Jehoshaphat in his reformation The fear of God was upon all the Kingdoms of those Countries when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel 2 Chron. 20.29 And what made Job so strict and precise in his carriage that he made a Covenant with his eyes that he might not so much as think upon a maid that he did not despise the cause of his man-servant or his maid-servant when they contended with him See what account he giveth of it himself Job 31.1 2 3. Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity And again v. 23. For destruction from God was a terrour to me and by reason of his highness I could not endure So that when sinners have gotten but some competent measure of presumptuous hopes that they shall be free from divine vengeance notwithstanding their transgressions this will let loose the reins of restraint and open the current to all profaness and licentiousness Psal 10.13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God He hath said in his heart Thou wilt not require it And so much is plainly intimated in the Apostles question to the impenitent Rom. 2.3 And thinkest thou this O man that judgest them which do such things and doest the same that thou shalt escape the judgment of God q. d. Certainly these are thy vain imaginations and the secret workings of thy spirit For did the ungodly believe and consider that they shall be everlastingly damned for sin It would cause their hearts to tremble in the very apprehensions of lying under the guilt of it If they were in expectation of the judgments of God as the certain consequent of their impieties they would hasten to make their peace with him and nothing should hinder them from returning to him by repentance But the truth is they hope to escape and to have peace though they walk in the imaginations of their evil hearts Now the example of a multitude doth confirm these hopes and strengthen them mightily in such expectations For they are apt to conceive that however the Lord may proceed in severity against some particular persons yet he will not destroy a multitude when they are joyned together See how sinners argue themselves into a Fools-confidence from this very consideration Ezek. 33.24 Son of man they that inhabit those wasts of the land of Israel speak saying Abraham was one and he inherited the land But we are many the land is given us for an inheritance Mark it They make no question but God would deal favourably with them because they were many The Lord had threatened them by his Prophets with utter desolation and ruine because of their abominations and that the land wherein they dwelt should spue them out Yea but say they we cannot believe it God gave this land to Abraham who was but one and behold we are many and therefore undoubtedly he will have mercy upon us To discover a little the weakness and folly of this argumentation let me beseech you to give heedful attendance to these three particulars 1. Although the
reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished q. d. He is the same God as holy and just as ever and hateth iniquity with as perfect an hatred and will repay them that hate him to their face 3. The conjunction of many together in any evil way is so far from procuring freedom from punishment that is a shrewd argument of unavoidable wrath and destruction hanging over the heads of such persons This very thing will accelerate and hasten the ruine and desolation and cause it to come with the greater speed undoubtedness and severity when sin begins to grow ripe by spreading it self amongst a multitude So that it is a gross and palpable delusion to imagine that God will forbear to punish because a multitude sin for however he may deal with single persons yet he will never suffer an united company to escape Jer. 8.10 13. Therefore will I give their wives to others and their fields to them that shall inherit them for every one from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness from the Prophet even unto the Priest every one dealeth falsely Isa 2.8 9. Their land also is full of idols they worship the work of their own hands that which their own fingers have made And the mean man boweth down and the great man humbleth himself therefore forgive them not That is the third way how the practise of a multitude doth incourage men to sin by causing them to hope for impunity in their sins 4. Sinners are induced to follow the example of a multitude in the commission of evil Because that is a ready fence against the shame that would otherwise arise from the evil committed People think it no shame to do what is commonly done though it be never so vile They never blush to walk in a sinful course wherein they have the generality to lead them the way Let me open it thus unto you my brethren The reason why many abstain from the actual perpetration of some wickednesses to which they are much inclined it is not for conscience towards God or out of any respect they have to his commandments But shame of the world doth restrain them and keep them within compass The world would cry out of them if they did such an evil it would tend to their reproach and disgrace and ignominy in the face of all that dwell round about them they should not be able to look their neighbours in the face And therefore it is that in secret they can take liberty to give those corruptions vent which are kept under and smothered in open view They will not stick to do those things in the closet and in the private chambers which they are very loath should come upon the publique stage of the world You read of such persons who in the eyes of men carried matters smooth and fair and possibly with a seeming austerity and gravity when it was a shame to speak of those things which were done of them in secret Eph. 5.12 So that if the shame of the world were removed if that obstacle were but taken out of the way then they could run on freely to all excess of riot and make no bones in swallowing such impieties as now they boggle at We find it of the men of Laish that they dwelt careless and secure for there was no Magistrate to put them to shame in any thing Judg. 18.7 Now the commonness of a sin doth usually take from the shamefulness of it Indeed it is alwayes a shameful thing in it self but the seeing of multitudes commit it doth notably help to harden mens faces and to steel their fore-heads that they are not sensible of it Men are ashamed to go on singly and personally in any way of ungodliness when they are no whit ashamed to be led by the company of others and to do as the rest of their society doth You read in Jer. 6.13 of a general deluge of corruption and naughtiness that had overflowed the whole land and mark what followeth v. 15. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush To enervate the strength of this fourth influence it hath let us often resolve in our most serious and deliberate contemplations these three following truths 1. That it is a sure token of abundant desperate atheism lodging in the heart and that mightily prevaileth over the heart when a sinner is kept from pollutions meerly from the shame of the world and is not afraid of them in the presence of God Why man dost thou believe that there is a God in heaven that beholdeth all the dwellers upon earth whose eyes are upon all the wayes of man and who pondereth all his goings And art thou not ashamed to commit abominations in his sight Should not the regard of the most high have a greater efficacy upon thy spirit to keep thee from sin than all the cryes of the children of men The truth of it is thou art an atheist and dost not believe there is a God or else thou castest the thoughts of him behind thy back Psal 10. v. 4 5. And if thou forgettest the Lord or denyest his being never expect that God should in mercy be mindful of thee Well mayest thou fear lest he should come upon thee in some dreadful and terrible judgments in order to the confutation of thy atheistical heart Psal 50.22 Consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver 2. Although an impenitent sinner may escape the shame of the world here yet he shall not be able to escape everlasting shame and contempt hereafter when he is brought before the tribunal seat of our Lord Jesus Christ How will he then be ashamed of his foolishness and madness in regarding the cries of men more than the word of God How will he be then filled with confusion to bethink himself that he was so sottish and vile as to serve the devil the Prince of darkness rather than to be obedient to the voice of the Lord of glory With what vexation and torment will it then fill a mans spirit to remember that he was offered salvation amongst the little flock of Jesus Christ but he chose rather to go to hell with the multitude A reflexion upon this will cover the sinners face with blackness and make him ready to tear out his very bowels with indignation O will he think what phrensy did possess me that I should act after this manner What a wretch was I thus to neglect my soul What a blind ignorant unadvised course did I take to go with the multitude in the broad way of destruction Then shall the wicked be covered with shame and their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten as the expression is Jer. 20.11 When the Saints of God shall lift up their heads with boldness and confidence then shall all the ungodly hang down their heads as a bulrush and
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
the ground and himself in it as he was endeavouring to quench the fire He that could not burn in the cause of God was burnt under the just judgments of God The like may befal you in the case of reproach and revilings If you cannot bear them in the way of righteousness the Lord may deliver you over into the hands of the devil and to be led by your own hearts into some desperately wicked courses that you may suffer reproach as the devils Martyrs and such reproach as may stick by you for ever And this is none other than what God hath threatened upon such as despise commandments * See this expressly denounced against Zedekiah He was afraid of being mockt if he kept the word of the Lord and by his disobedience he should be made a Taunt and a by-word So that the evil he feared came upon him Jer. 38.19 20 21 22 23. that he will make them a reproach either by the execution of temporal or spiritual judgments Ezek. 5.14 15. Moreover I will make thee waste and a reproach among the Nations that are round about thee in the sight of all that pass by Jer. 23.40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten See also Jer. 29.18 19. So much for the fifth way how this temptation prevaileth 6. Sinners are soon perswaded to go down the stream with a multitude in sin Because otherwise they should be persecuted and opposed by them They are willing to live at ease and quiet and to sleep in a whole skin as we are wont to express it and therefore they dare not contradict the generality lest they should be set against by them and be reduced into sufferings under their hatred and malice Thus it wrought with those false teachers mentioned Gal. 6.12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh they constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ Mark it The most of the Jews were eagerly set upon the retaining of circumcision and other ceremonies of the Mosaical paedagogy and they were apt to be violently bent against any that went about the abrogation of them Now these false teachers knew well enough that all such types were abolished by the death of Christ but they durst not own it still they preached up circumcision and forced it upon the practise of the converts at Galatia against the light and convictions of their own consciences What was the reason of it Why they knew that if they stiffly adhaered to the simplicity of the Gospel and waved the Mosaical ceremonies which most of the Jews were zealous for they should be persecuted by them And this was the only reason that induced them to comply with the multitude My brethren you have many that would willingly be the disciples of Christ and his followers as long as they may do it with safety without endangering their estates or lifes or their liberties by it But when they come to take up the Cross there they faulter As the rottenness and unsoundness the hypocrisie and unbelief of the heart is the fountain whence apostacy proceeds so the dayes of tribulation and distress are the time of discrimination when Apostates are wont to discover themselves They can well be contented to make a profession of godliness and to perform some of the external duties but they are not able to go through persecutions And therefore they keep all things fair with the multitude and walk in wayes of compliance with them lest if they followed truth and holiness too close at the heels it should strike out their teeth lest if they withdrew from the multitude they should be hated and persecuted by them For pray Sirs what 's the reason why the world hates and sets against the people of God Why It is for this very thing because they walk in a way by themselves and will not do as the rest of their neighbours do they separate themselves from the generality in their practise and walk more strictly and precisely and dare not allow themselves in such licentious courses wherein others live and so their lives are a practical condemnation of the others and as a corrosive to their consciences Joh. 15.19 If ye were of the world the world would love his own But because you are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you Mark it If believers were of confederacy with the wicked if they could drink and revel and be vain and wanton as others are and did not take a different course by themselves they should be cherished and beloved as well as others but therefore they are hated and persecuted because they are a select company and have a peculiar way by themselves And to escape this hatred and persecution people are apt to joyn with the world and to walk according to their pattern and practise To abate the edge and take off the efficacy of this influence let me counsel you to be frequent in the meditation upon these three spiritual truths 1. That the everlasting wrath of God which is reserved as the portion of the wicked hereafter is an evil infinitely beyond all the tribulations and persecutions that can come upon the godly here So that if thou canst not bear some sharp afflictions for a time How wilt thou be able to lye under torments for ever If thou darest not walk in the wayes of holiness for fear of some trouble persecution from men How wilt thou stand under the wrath of God when he will glorifie his power in the destruction of his adversaries Why Sirs one of these will unavoidably befal you either you must live godly in Christ Jesus and then you will suffer persecution or else you must go down with the multitude into perdition either you must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of heaven or everlastingly be sent into hell torments And can you dwell with everlasting burnings Are you able to stand before the devouring fire Lay these in the ballance together and see which is to be chosen Should not a man willingly undergo the greatest hardships upon earth rather than fal into the damnation of Hell See how pathetically our Saviour presseth this very point Mark 9. 43 44. If thy hand offend thee cut it off that is mortifie and keep under the most beloved corruption deny thy self in the dearest enjoyments thou hast willingly suffer and undergo the greatest troubles and the sorest distresses It is better for thee to enter into life maimed then having two hands to go into hell into the fire that shall never be quenched where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched 2. That even the inward peace and consolation of the spirit that is to be had in the ways of holiness is abundantly to be preferred before that outward quiet and safety which sinners promise themselves by
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
be the pen-men thereof that we might have a certain rule from which we must not recede For as the Apostle argueth in the case of justification If righteousness came by the moral Law then there was no need of the death of Christ the same will hold good in case of the rule of life If the traditions of our fathers were a sufficient guide then there was no need of the Scriptures And therefore you shall find that the Lord gave forth his statutes and testimonies as to supply the deficiency of the light of nature so to call men off from cleaving to the corruptions of their fathers Psal 78.5 6 7 8. For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children That the generation to come might know them even the children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their children That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments And might not be as their Fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation 3. Whereas people are apt to plead for the Religion of their forefathers and to be in love with it because of its antiquity that being the old way to which therefore they will adhaere You must observe That it is not every old way without limitation or exception that is to be approved but the old way of holiness and the fear of the Lord which ought to be regulated by the word of the Lord and which becometh vain and sinful when it is taught according to the traditions of men Jer. 6.16 Thus saith the Lord stand ye in the wayes and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls Mark Sirs It is not every old way that will bring spiritual peace and lead you to everlasting rest but the good old way For most damnable corruptions may plead prescription of time and in some sort their antiquity There is the old way of sin and wickedness which leads directly to the chambers of death Job 22.15 16 17. Host thou not marked the old way which wicked men have trodden which were cut down out of time whose foundation was overflown with a flood Which said unto God Depart from us and what can the Almighty do for them There is the old way of ignorance and atheism and error and superstition and profaneness There is the old way of Popery with its palpable blindness blood-thirstiness and idolatry And indeed Sirs if you will hold to this principle To be of the Religion of your forefathers you must return to the vomit of Popery with all its abominations you must wallow in the mire of all their filthiness and blasphemies or else you must become Heathens and Infidels For as Joshua speaketh unto the Israelites Jos 24.2 Your father 's dwelt on the other side of the flood of old time even Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor and they served other gods The like may I say to you in this case Your fathers of old time were Idolaters they were drencht in the polluted waters of Popish darkness Idolatry and Superstition within the compass of two hundred years they worshipped God in a language they understood not they gave heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Daemons they gave adoration to Saints and Angels nay they worshipped bread and wine and dumb pictures and images Or if you will go some hundreds of years higher into old times then your fathers were downright Heathens without the knowledge of Christ or of God in Christ that worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator Which then is the good old way that we may walk therein Why It is the Scripture-way the high-way of holiness which God delivered unto his people in the writings of Moses and the Prophets those ancient records of the Church which are of greater antiquity than any profane Heathen writings whatsoever For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 The good old way is the way of the Saints in the primitive ages of the Church wherein they travailed towards the kingdom of heaven the way of Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and other the servants of the most-High And therefore when Peter calls them to the old times it was to the times of Abraham the father of the faithful 1 Pet. 3.5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham The good old way Sirs is the way of righteousness innocence and integrity obedience to the Law of the Lord and subjection to his will which can plead its antiquity beyond that of sin which is but a novel invention of the devil in comparison and proceedeth from the vain imagination of mans heart Eccl. 7.29 God made man upright but they have sought out many inventions 4. Are you resolved to be of the Religion of your fathers and to walk in their wayes whatever they have been Why Remember this was the very weapon with which the unbelieving Jews fought against the Gospel It was the very argument which they pressed against Christ and his disciples and the way to heaven which he preached So that if you had lived in the dayes of Christ you would have persecuted him as the Jews did and would have opposed the Apostles and sought to have rooted up the doctrines of life and salvation How was Paul principled when he was a persecutor Why he was zealous against any thing that opposed the traditions of his fathers And that blind zeal made him mad against the Church Gal. 1.14 Phil. 3.6 Act. 26.11 What had they to object against Stephen for which he was stoned Why the principal article of his charge was this that he had preached against their customs Act. 6.14 5. This doth mightily enhance and aggravate the sinfulness of a sin and tends to ripen the sinners for destruction when iniquity doth descend from one generation to another and persons continue to walk in those evil courses wherein their fathers have walked For we should take warning from them not to commit the like abominations Their evil actions should be our admonitions to keep free from the pollutions wherewith they were defiled As hereditary diseases which come in a blood and by descent from parents to their children are the most dangerous diseases so hereditary sins and transgressions are the most destructive Mark how Nehemiah pleads against Sabbath-breaking on this account Neh. 13.17 18. What evil thing is this that ye do and profane the Sabbath day Did not your fathers thus and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this City yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by
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
were the fathers or Ring-leaders of their Sect. But Sirs all sincere Christians are of one society and have but one master even Christ His sheep hear his voice and follow him for they know his voice But a stranger they will not follow but will flee from him for they know not the voice of strangers Joh. 10.4 5. So much for the fourth case that requireth such abundant circumspection that we be not insnared by the example of the multitude 5. The fifth is In case of men of excellent parts and learning and knowledge above others When many of that rank such as are accounted wise understanding judicious persons shall act sanfully and turn aside into crooked wayes then the common sort of people think they may warrantably tread in the same path when they have men of renown for knowledge to go before them Surely will they argue If there were any hurt in such things so many learned Doctors would not approve of them Shall we be so highly conceited of our selves as to think we are wiser than such great Scholars and Teachers of the word of God Herein seemeth to lie the force of the argument that was brought against the officers who durst not lay hands upon Christ because they took him for a Prophet for that never man spake like him Jo. 7.47 48 49. Then answered them the Pharisees are ye also deceived Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him But this people that knoweth not the law are cursed As if they had said do but observe Christs followers and you shall find that generally they are but a company of poor ignorant and illiterate people you have hardly one learned man amongst them that owneth him Do you think that if he were indeed the Messiah the Pharisees would oppose him who are men well skilled in the Law Would not the Rulers close with him will you be so proud and arrogant as to prefer your judgment before theirs To quicken you a little to be cautious in this respect there are four things worthy to be considered in this behalf 1. That the promises for discovering the will and mind of the Lord in reference to matters of everlasting concernment are not made to men of great parts and learning but to such as serve the Lord in simplicity and integrity of heart When a person is truly desirous to fear the name of God and maketh it his study and principal design to commend his conscience in his sight such a one though he be but of meaner parts and accomplishments is in a greater likelihood to be clearly instructed in the things concerning the kingdom of heaven * Nisi fidelium operum usus praecesserit doctrinae cognitio non apprehendetur Hil. in Ps 118. then the greatest scholars that are strangers to the sanctifying grace of the spirit Psal 25.12 What man is he that feareth the Lord Him he will teach in the way that he shall chuse And v. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his covenant Mark it Sirs it is not much learning in the head but godly sincerity and the fear of the Lord in the heart that doth entitle us to these promises of divine teaching So that this is a poor argument of the goodness or justifiableness of any way because many great scholars and wise men walk in it Besides the Holy Ghost is express in this point that most wise men after the slesh are strangers unto the power of godliness and enemies to the way of salvation 1 Cor. 1.26 27. For you see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty Some there are of all sorts that are gathered into the kingdom of Christ for it is not the condition or state of life but the constitution or frame of the heart which is the hindrance unto salvation But there are not many of this sort namely of them that are learned and wise after the flesh The greatest number of such are usually adversaries to the truth See the words of our Saviour in his thanksgiving unto God Mat. 11.25 At that time Jesus answered and said I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes 2. Are they men of wisdom and understanding whose examples are pleaded in opposition to the commands of Jesus Christ But how shall it be known whether they are wise indeed All is not gold we say that makes a glittering shew so All is not true wisdom that carrieth the face of it and hath that name and title given to it They alone are truly wise who keep exactly close to the word of God and that dare not venture to do what is displeasing in his sight Whatsoever hath a tendency to carry a man in opposition to the word or to cause him to reject the law of the Lord of hosts is but the appearance and shew of wisdom it is indeed the greatest madness and folly There are two places of divine writ for the confirmation of this point worthy to be wrote on the tables of mens hearts as in letters of Gold and as with the pen of a Diamond that they may never be obliterated The first is that Deut. 4.5 6. Behold I have taught you statutes and judgments even as the Lord my God commanded me that ye should do so in the Land whither ye go to possesse it Keep therefore and do them for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations which shall hear all these statutes and say Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people By contempt of the word of Christ we provoke to indignation the God of infinite power against whom never man hardened himself and prospered And is it not perfect madness to ingage him to be our adversary It is a point of the highest wisdom to keep in with the most high and to get an interest in his favour Obedience to the statutes of God hath the promise of a blessing annexed to it and the contrary is attended with a curse that will secretly insinuate it self into all a mans enjoyments and eat out the comfort of them It is by the word of Christ you must be judged hereafter and sentenced to receive your everlasting portion And therefore it must needs be an act of the highest wisdom not to despise the word nor to set up the dictates of men above the word The other text you have Jer. 8.9 The wise men are ashamed they are dismayed and taken Lo they have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisdom is in them 3. God doth many times leave many learned and wise men unto
themselves to fall into errours and corruptions to this very purpose that others may be tried by them whether they will follow their opinion and judgment or stick fast to Gods testimonies Dan. 11.35 And some of them of understanding shall fall to try by them We read it to trie them But the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad probandum per illos to prove others by their example They shall therefore be suffered to fall into many sins and corruptions for of that sort of falling it may well be understood that it may be seen who will cleave unto the word of God rather than to the opinions of learned men 4. Whereas they were wont to be charged as proud arrogant and self-conceited persons that will not in all things subscribe to the judgments of learned men but scruple such things as many understanding judicious persons make no bones of You must remember as to this that it is rather an act of the greatest pride and arrogancy in the most learned men to set up their dictates in opposition to the commands of Jesus Christ All that are truly humble will stoop to his precepts and subject themselves to his guidance and governance 1 Tim. 6.3 4. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholsom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness He is proud knowing nothing Neh. 9.29 Thou testifiedst against them that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law yet they dealt proudly and hearkned not unto thy commandments Mark it here are the proud and arrogant persons that think themselves wiser than God and will not submit to his instructions and counsels This is pride indeed and monstrous self-conceitedness And therefore let me close this head with the advice of Solomon Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding In all thy wayes acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths 6. The last case I shall mention wherein especial care is to be taken lest we be insnared by the example of the multitude is in case of the Inhabitants of the places where we live and amongst whom we dwell and that I may comprize them together in case of the persons with whom much of our business lieth in matters of the world and with whom we often converse in our secular negotiations and affairs I joyn them together because there is a neer cognation and similitude betwixt them and the temptation works in both upon the same ground and motive People are willing to doe as their neighbours do and to take the same course as their ordinary companions take and men of the same rank and outward condition with them Will the tradesman be apt to plead other men of my profession commonly sit and tipple at the alehouse and tavern and they say they cannot make a good bargain without it or they should lose their custom except they humour their enstomers in their lusts And why may not I do the same Others say they cannot live if they should speak the truth in their markets and not take the liberty to dissemble or lye as to the price of their commodities and why should I be more strict than they Will the gentleman argue other men of my rank and estate spend their time in hawking and hunting and carding and gaming and revelling they never think of a calling or how to be serviceable to God in their generations and why may not I take the same liberty Most in the town and parish neglect studying the word and never pray in their families nor instruct their children and servants and what reason is there that we should be more precise than all the neighbour hood besides As persons love to be in the common fashion as to their garb and habit So in respect of their moral actions and behaviour So much is clearly implyed in the words of Joshua cap. 24.15 If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom you will serve either the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the floud or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell He knew that men are inclined to be of the same religion with the people of the place where they dwell and to conform to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood that are round about them And therefore the Lord doth warn his people to take heed of the sins of the Canaanites when they should come to dwell in the land of Canaan Deut. 6.10 11 14. And it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers c. Then beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage And v. 14. Ye shall not go after other gods of the gods of the people which are round about you q. d. You have heard already of their abominations and perhaps think you abhor them but the danger will be when you come into their land and to have your habitations amongst them then you will be apt to do after their customes Now to fence you against the prevalence of this temptation let me beseech you to lay to heart this one particular That by casting our lot amongst evil neighbours and in the midst of a wicked people God doth trie us whether our hearts are sound in his statutes or not and whether we will deal faithfully or falsly in his covenant And will not you be careful to be found upright when you are upon the trial If a master should leave a sum of money scattered up and down in a room as if it were neglected and the servant knoweth that it is but purposely to trie his honesty and that his master hath told it exactly and knoweth if any be missing only he taketh this way to trie his truth and fidelity Would not the servant be very careful and wary in such a case when he knoweth he stands upon his trial Why man thus it is in this matter Is thine habitation fixed amongst workers of iniquity Doth much of thy business lye with those that are profane and ungodly Why now thou standest upon thy trial and God doth order it to be so to this very end that he may trie thy truth and fidelity and the honesty of thy heart whether thou wilt follow his word or their examples That 's a notable text to this purpose Judg. 3.1 4. Now these are the Nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them And v. 4. And they were to prove Israel by them to know whether they would hearken to the commandments of the Lord which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses God could have drove out all the idolatrous Nations together and have utterly rooted them up at first before the face of his people But he left some to be dispersed amongst them To what
maketh over himself unto you That you do not walk as others walk a Cor. 6.17 18. Wherefore come out from amongst them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And I will be a father to you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty That is the second argument for demonstration of the doctrine 3. A third reason that may be pressed against following a multitude in evil is taken from the duties that are incumbent on us in relation unto them when they sin against the Lord and do that which is displeasing in his sight There are such duties required at our hands as are not only inconsistent with confederating with them and walking after their example but diametrally opposite and contrary thereunto as light is to darkness I might insist upon many but shall content my self to instance in these four only 1. It is our duty to pity them and mourn over them and to take up a lamentation on their account To make it the grief of our spirits to see the name of God dishonoured and his statutes contemned and the bloud of the Lord jesus despised and poor souls running headlong to destruction This hath been the carriage of the Saints of God in times of corruption and wickedness Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law As David was humbled for his own transgressions so it was an heart-breaking to him to see others transgress And see how the prophet Jeremy was affected with the sin and misery of the disobedient Jer. 13.17 But if not will not hear it my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride and mine eye shall weep sore and run down with tears because the Lords flock is carried away captive Now these compassionate workings and godly sorrow are a frame of spirit at a great distance from complyance with the ungodly And this is one particular that will render us conformable unto our Lord and master As he loved his own unto the end with an insuperable everlasting and unparallell'd love so his bowels were moved with pity and compassion towards his very enemies that set against him because of their folly and the wretched estate into which they had plunged themselves Luk. 19.41 42. And when he was come near he beheld the City and wept over it saying if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Mark the speech of Christ here how it is made up of a kind of abrupt expressions as proceeding from a spirit full of affection and tenderness and seeking as it were to ease it self in a passionate lamentation If thou hadst known q.d. Alas poor Jerusalem thy desolation is approaching because thou hadst not known the things that belong unto thy peace Well had it been for thee if thou hadst but known them Would to God thou hadst been so wise as to have taken them into thy knowledg and consideration that so thy calamities might have been averted and prevented O what a grief is it to my heart that thou bost not known them So that here is our duty if God hath cast our lot amongst many wicked that commit abominations in his sight we should be so far from joyning in a combination with them that it should stir up an holy mourning in our souls to see them trampling upon the word of God and lightly esteeming the rock of our salvation And these are the persons whom in times of publick judgments the Lord is pleased to set a mark upon namely such as do not only cry out of their own sins but are filled with sorrow for the abominations of the multitude See it in Ezekiels vision Ezek. 9.4 And the Lord said unto him Go thorow the midst of the City thorow the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof Set a mark upon them i. e. a mark of special and gracious observation here are the people that are beloved of the Lord unto such as these he will have respect and secondly a mark for sure deliverance and preservation when others fall at their right hand and at their left the evil determined shall not come near unto them as it is v. 6. Come not near any man upon whom is the mark You know the Angel could do nothing as to the overthrowing of Sodom till Lot was secured What was he above other men See 2 Pet. 2.7 8. And he delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For that righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds 2. When others sin it is our duty to reprove them as we have occasion and opportunity and that plainly and faithfully with christian prudence and discretion And this is utterly inconsistent with following their example * Turpe est doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum For thou art altogether inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that judgest them that do evil and doest the same for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self He that would do good by reproving another must be sure to look warily to himself that he be not involved in the same guilt lest his words recoyle into his own face and be retorted unto his own shame and confusion That is an excellent saying of the vulgar latine and the original text will well bear the translation * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 18.17 Justus primus est accusator sui venit amicus ejus investigabit eum A just man before he meddle in the reproof of others will diligently search his own Soul and see to the cleansing and reforming of his wayes So that the duty of reproving the ungodly doth suppose we ought to keep free from the taint of their ungodliness This is the Apostle Paul's way of argumentation Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them 3. Our duty in relation unto sinners is what in us lieth to convert them and win them over to the truth To endeavour that of ignorant they may become verst in the wayes of God and of wicked and sinful they may become serious and holy and of enemies of religion they may be sure friends and assertours of it And this is far from imitation of them For if you comply with them in sin that will harden them exceedingly and make them more bold and venturous and obstinate in their evil wayes They will argue after this sort well may we take this course for such professours of religion joyn with us and such as are accounted godly are men of our confederacy It is charged upon the prophets of Jerusalem that they committed adultery and walked in lies and
be a good measure of resolvedness in the spirit to stand fast against the enticements and provocations of some particular sinners much more when a Christian is to walk in a contrariety to the most and hath a multitude to contest and encounter with Ezra 10.4 Be of good courage and do it Josh 1.7 Only be thou strong and very couragious that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee That 's the first deduction from the point 2. If a believer must not act after the pattern of the multitude then hence I gather that such as will approve themselves unto God and not deal falsly and unfaithfully in the covenant of God they must be men of singularity As they must walk regularly so they must walk singularly in a way by themselves in respect to abstinence from sin in regard of purity of heart and holiness of life and conversation They are not permitted a compliance with the greatest number of men in any indirect course As in respect to the grace of conversion and sanctification though the servants of God are in the world yet they are not of the world but gathered and cull'd and chosen out of it Jo. 15.19 Jo. 17.16 So must it be in relation to their practise also though they abide in the world yet they must not be conformed unto the world but keep themselves unspotted from the pollutions of it This is pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father Jam. 1.27 Some there are that plead against holiness and for the countenancing of their corruptions What would you have us to be singular Must we be more precise than others and take a course by our selves Why Sirs If you will be Christians in good earnest and follow the Lord fully it is the very thing which God requires and expects at your hands that you be men of singularity For the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself Ps 4.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 segregavit divisit signo aliquo excellenti separavit He hath put a remarkeable difference betwixt his own people and others in respect of his blessings upon them and therefore may justly expect that they should be singular in their carriage and demeanour towards him I would not be mistaken in this point and therefore must take liberty to distinguish of a threefold singularity There is a 1. Fantastical Singularity 2. Affected Singularity 3. Sober Singularity 1. There is a Fantastical singularity in respect of opinion When persons have odde crotchets and fancies of their own wherein they differ from serious and sober Christians in all ages and in the maintaining of which opinions they sometimes excessively pride themselves as if they had gotten some higher attainments than the rest This is an evil to which professours of godliness amongst us have been hugely addicted in these latter dayes When they have gotten some uncouth notion or expression by the end they espouse its interest and think they are some body more than ordinary in the matters of religion When they have entertained a peculiar fancy of their own contrary to the sentiments of all sober-minded believers hereof they will boast as of an higher degree of perfection This sort of singularity commonly proceeds from a mixture of pride and ignorance When persons have high conceits of themselves and in the mean time have little clear and distinct knowledg of the principles of godliness possibly they have some loose and broken insight into divine truths but do not understand the misteries of religion in their combination as they are connected and knit together In such case they are exceeding apt to run into these by-waies of their own The Apostle seemeth to reduce it unto these two heads viz. ignorance and self conceitedness 1 Tim. 6.3 4. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness He is proud knowing nothing but doting about questions and strifes of words c. In reference hereunto the faith of believers is the common faith Tit. 1.4 Which was once delivered unto the Saints Jude 3. Upon this account we should labour to be of one judgment That with one mind and one mouth we may glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 15.5 6. We should be very cautious of espousing any singular notion without clear warrant from the word and consulting the apprehensions of godly ministers and serious Christians And for prevention of this singularity let every man study his own weakness and think soberly of himself least instead of Juno he embrace a cloud least in the place of a more spiritual and refined truth he fall into some dangerous and soul-destructive errour And the rather ought we in this case to give the more earnest heed because when weak Christians are inconsiderately caught in this snare it is a difficult thing to be delivered out of it They think it concerns them in point of honour and as they tender their reputation to justifie and maintain the notions which they have avowedly held and professed And this is a strong temptation to a setled continuance therein And therefore I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith Rom. 12.3 2. There is an affected singularity as to a mans outward garb and ornaments of the body as to civil salutations and courteous demeanour and the like When persons make it a part of their Religion to abstain from that decency of habit or gesture or civility of expression which is commonly used and delight in this regard to act in a mode by themselves And on the other hand when others place Religion in using such habits and gestures and the like fooleries which God hath not required This is that which renders Religion contemptible and ridiculous in the eyes of carnal people and makes them think it is nothing but a kind of niceness as to such toyes and trifles So the Pharisees of old neglected the power of godliness judgment mercy and faith and kept a great ado about washing of pots and cups and making broad their phylacteries and many other things which they had received to hold They left the commandments of God to follow the devices and imaginations of their own hearts Mar. 7.4 Col. 2.20 21 23. These things may have a shew of wisdom in will-worship at least in the fancies of some they appear to have it Here is a fair pretence of greater strictness than the rest whereas true wisdom consists in fearing the Lord and doing his commandments Psal 111.10 That wherein the Saints of God differ from the rest of men is in the hidden man of the heart in the unblameableness and holiness of the life from whence will flow
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
in one way And helps to prevent manifold mischiefs and inconveniences which dissension and multiformity are apt to introduce into the Church of Christ For difference in worship is apt to breed distance and alienation in affection and from thence arise animosities and spiritual feuds and perverse disputings So that I have not a word to speak against a Religious uniformity in that which is excellent and so far as it goeth hand in hand with the divine Institutions and appointments of our Lord Jesus Christ and doth not intrench upon his royal prerogative Psal 133.1 Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity O the abundant benefit of the communion of Saints as the contents of the Psalm seem to explain that passage Psal 122.1 2 3 4. I was glad when they said unto me Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates O Jerusalem Jerusalem is builded as a City that is compact together Whither the tribes go up the tribes of the Lord unto the testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. Psal 42.4 When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me for I had gone with the multitude I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude of them that kept holy-day For such united societies and combinations of believers God hath in store a peculiar blessing and is wont to be amongst them with his especial favour and presence For the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob Psal 87.2 And therefore it is mentioned as one of the great evangelical mercies promised to make way for the conveyance of further grace and mercy Jer. 32.39 And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them and of their children after them 3. But when a people unite and joyn together in what is sinful if their uniformity consist in the joynt and unanimous practise of superstition and will-worship or in any thing that is contradictious to the Law and commandment of the Lord In such case it becomes exceeding sinful and detestable and a very great provocation of the wrath of God This kind of uniformity is nothing els but a grand conspiracy against the God of heaven a closely compacted rebellion against the King of Kings Thus the Pharisees and all the Jews did uniformly practise their superstitious washings and other ceremonious observances received by tradition from the Elders There were no Schisms or divisions amongst them about such matters Mark 7.3 But what saith our Saviour in the case See Mat. 15.9 In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men And again v. 13 14. Every plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up Let them alone they be blind leaders of the blind And if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch Such a kind of unity was that of the High Priest and the people in their martyring of Stephen They ran upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord They were all linkt together in the same mind Act. 7.57 And that of the Kings of the earth and Rulers that set themselves and took counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ Psal 2.2 3. And in this case we must say as the Patriarch Jacob Gen. 49.6 O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly mine honour be thou not united I must not do evil to bring about uniformity nor unite with any in that which is sinful 4. Lastly observe under this head That the only way to settle and compass such a kind of uniformity as is enjoyned of the Lord and pleasing unto him is to keep exactly close to the rule of Gods word to take heed of making additions thereunto and not to be wise above what is written Here is the ready way to prevent Schisms and divisions and the breaking a sunder into Sects and parties when we keep up to this one uniform and perfect rule of Worship My brethren If persons be guided by traditton and impose upon mens consciences humane inventions and traditions that 's a most soveraign way to perpetuate Schism to the end of the Chapter If persons will load the spirits of their brethren with their burdensom ceremonies under whatever pretext of decency or uniformity they are pressed If they will force mens consciences to stoop under the weight of their Canons here 's a sure way to cause separations and divisions without remedy But if you would indeed attain to such uniformity as is according to the mind of God To the Law and to the Testimony Isa 8.20 Traditions are multiform and Canons of Counsels are multiform vain customs urged under the specious pretences of order and decency are multiform and therefore will undoubtedly produce variance and strife and multiformity Besides coming into the worship of God without the stamp of divine authority they want a power and energy to settle the conscience there is no firm footing where a Christian may tread in fuch cases without danger or fear of pricking his feet among bryars and thorns But the word of God is uniform and at perfect peace with it self and layes a sure foundation whereon to bottom in all soul-concernments And hereupon must you build all your superstructures in order to the erecting and setting up of uniformity amongst Christians This is very plain from former and latter woful experiences Look into primitive times what a stir was there in the Church about the keeping of Easter What tumults bickerings and heart-burnings both here in Brittain and in many other parts Why Because they had recourse to tradition and rested thereupon and endeavoured to impose one upon another their own private sentiments and practises whereas the Scriptures would quickly have ended the controversie When divisions were risen up in the Church of Corinth particularly in the point of the Lord's Supper what means doth S. Paul make use of that the strife might cease He puts them in remembrance of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and brings them close to the first institution For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you 1 Cor. 11.23 Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learnt and avoid them Keep up Sirs to the doctrines of the old and new Testament and let them be the standard of peace and unity Obj. All sorts of persons are pretenders to Scripture even such as rest and pervert it to their own destruction The vilest hereticks will Father their erroneous doctrines upon the word and profess to deduce them from thence How then is it possible that we should rationally expect unity and concord in the Church by this means seeing the most notorious hereticks will have this pretext they will shelter their
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
earthly and sensual and do not walk with God in your particular places and callings and then think to make it up by duties of worship Such worship is detestable in his sight and will not be received favourably at your hands God will reckon all such acts of worship but as the dissimulation of hypocrites who pretend to love him but are indeed his enemies Jor. 7.9 10 11. Will ye steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and burn incense unto Baal and walk after other Gods whom ye know not And come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say We are delivered to do all these abominations Is this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes Behold I have seen it saith the Lord. Do you think by religious exercises and acts of devotion to expiate the guilt of your unrighteous dealings and other crying enormities Behold I have seen it saith the Lord i. e. not only with an eye of observation and knowledge but with an eye of indignation and fury I will recompence your wayes upon your heads Brethren let every man wherein he is called therein abide with God 1 Cor. 7.24 Let pure Religion and the fear of the Lord go with you into your fields and accompany you in your markets and abide with you in your shops and be closely impacted and interwoven with all your civil affairs As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 This is the second instance as to the matter of Religion 3. The multitude are accustomed to place their Religion only in external performances and outward acts of piety But they little study to ingage their hearts and spirits in the service of God They give him their bodies and outward demeanour but surely think they our thoughts are free and they heed not to mortifie vile and inordinate affections provided that they break not forth into any overt acts of ungodliness Prov. 21.2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes but the Lord pondereth the hearts q. d. Men commonly neglect the consideration of their hearts they think it enough to mind their outward actions but little regard the workings of their spirits But ye my beloved keep your hearts above all keeping Give unto God your very souls and spirits and see that all that is within you be employed in his service Psal 103.1 2. Let us cleanse our selves from all the filthiness both of the flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 And therefore be much in the study of these three considerations following 1. The greatest number of transgressions whereof sinners are ordinarily guilty are sins of the spirit and the most heinous impieties keep their residence and habitation there As the heart of man is the cursed principle from whence they flow so it is the shop where they are forged These spiritual sins are the most devilish wickednesses as carrying the greatest conformity and resemblance to the deeds of the Prince of darkness And then as I said they are ever the greatest number Prov. 26.25 When he speaketh fair believe him not for there are seven abominations in his heart Seven abominations i. e. a multitude of abominations wickednesses of every kind For one gross act of murder committed there is much hatred and malice which are spiritual murder in the sight of God For one robbery done there is abundance of envy and covetousness For one gross act of fornication or adultery there is much sinful lusting which is adultery in the heart Now where sin hath its principal residence there should a Christian be most vigilant and careful 2. God doth judg and pass sentence upon mens outward actions according as the heart is ingaged in them So much of the spirit as is imployed in duty so much worth and excellency in the duty and so much of the heart as is set upon the commission of a sin so much malignity and sinfulness is therein Jer. 17.10 I the Lord search the heart I try the reins even to give every man according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doings Jer. 30.21 Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord 3. The God whom we serve and with whom in all concernments we have to do is such a being as we call a spiritual being that is incorporeal and invisible And therefore bare external acts of obedience carry no proportion or suitableness to his nature and excellencies That service which is acceptable unto God must have in some measure an answerableness unto the nature and perfections of the God that is served It must be a walking worthy of the Lord Col. 1.10 Now this can never be absolved by meer outward devotion For God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Jo. 4.24 We are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit Phil. 3.3 That 's the third instance as to the matter of religion 4. Most persons limit their religion to a freedom and abstinence from grosser acts of pollution and heinous enormities But they make nothing to swallow down lesser impieties that make no such noise in the ears of the world Provided they be not drunkards and swearers and guilty of such other acts of debauchery they think some lighter offences are inconsiderable What if they take liberty now and then to talk vainly and frothily and wantonly What if they defraud and go beyond their brethren if it be but in a small matter wherein they receive no great damage or detriment Surely think they we need not be so exact and precise as to these things But my brethren do not you write after their copy stand you in awe of the least of Gods commandments Whatsoever is the object of divine displeasure and indignation let it be the object of your hatred and detestation Take the prayer of David for your pattern Psal 119.133 Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me These are the persons whom the Lord hath blessed Who are undefiled in the way that walk in the law of the Lord These also do no iniquity they walk in his wayes Psal 119.1 3. Isa 56.1 2. Besides what I have mentioned in this case in the doctrinal part of this subject let me give you farther these three particulars 1. Lesser sins if they are maintained and allowed and harboured in the heart if they are customarily practised in the life they become upon that account exceeding heinous The greatest sums are made up of unites the vastest mountains are made up of small dust and gravel that will crumble between the fingers Smaller iniquities continued in will bring upon the soul a load of guilt of weight enough to sink it into the pit of destruction Is the matter little wherein thou sinnest and so thy transgressions small as thou imaginest Yet the custom
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
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
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
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
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
his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy Mark it suddenly i. e. in a spiritual sense before he is prepared to give up his accounts with comfort So all impenitent sinners dye suddenly though not ever taken away by signal outward judgments Mat. 24.48 49 50 51. But and if that wicked servant shall say in his heart My Lord delayeth his coming And shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken If he shall incourage himself in sin and delay his repentance upon hopes that he hath time enough to make his peace with God hereafter The Lord of that servant shall come in a day that he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not ware of And shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth So much for the fourth general head wherein we must be cautious that we follow not the example of the multitude namely the timeing of religion when it is prosecuted 5. Lastly I shall instance in some particular duties wherein the multitude are prone to miscarry that I may not be over-tedious and burdensome I will only name these eight 6. Most persons think is enough if they take a little care of their words and external demeanour but seldom or never mind the regulation of their thoughts They may rove and wander whether they please They may be working towards vanity and folly They may be customarily employed in sins of any sort and men charg not themselves with guilt upon that account Contemplative wickedness is as nothing in their esteem It is an ordinary saying amongst them that thought is free Or at best if their spirits rise up in any kind of detestation against horrid blasphemous murderous thoughts and the like yet they suppose themselves no way concerned in mortifying vain thoughts and keeping their spirits free from fruitless foolish and disorderly imaginations Do you then my brethren keep sentinel upon your hearts as to these matters Let not sinful thoughts not so much as vain thoughts lodg within you Jer. 4.14 See to it that the imaginative powers of your souls be rightly principled and employed about that which is honest and good For remember they are the first inlet to the suggestions of the devil so that if you are careless and negligent in your watch there you minister advantage to the Prince of darkness to be tampering with you And if the serpent get in his head he will quickly wriggle in his whole body If the way be set open for entrance into your thoughts the passage is obvious from thence unto your hearts and affections A Christian is much known by the working of his imaginations Therefore when the Lord sets forth the malignity and wickedness of the old world this is the particular mainly insisted on Every imagination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil and that continually Gen. 6.5 And when David made an humble appeal unto God concerning his integrity he specially mentioned the workings of his thoughts Psal 139.23 24. Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me unto the way everlasting One of the first steps to a sound and sincere conversion is the rectifying of the Soul in this respect and rooting up those false notions and conceits which are by nature rivited in the thoughts of sinners As long as there be extenuating thoughts of the evil of sin the heart will never be in bitterness for it False apprehensions of the nature of God will make men slight and formal and corrupt in their obedience unto God Flattering thoughts of a mans spiritual estate will keep him from pressing after deliverance Unbelieving thoughts of the word of the Lord will put a bar in the way of an awful regard unto the word Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the man of iniquity his thoughts and let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will multiply to pardon 2. The generality are wont to be defective in looking to their words If they abstain from rotten filthy and profane communication they hope it may suffice however they are addicted to talk idly and frothily and to multiply words without bounds There are few that live as if they did believe our Saviour when he telleth us That of every word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof at the day of judgment Mat. 12.36 Let not your practise herein be according to the multitude but follow the example of David in being earnest in prayer unto God to set a watch before your mouth and to keep the door of your lips Psal 141.3 Why is a watch set before the gates of a City and to what end do keepers stand before the doors of mens houses To apprehend suspitious passengers and to examine such as are going in whence they come and whither they go and what their errand and business is How much guilt might be prevented if you would but observe this course to let no words pass without apprehending and calling them to an account Whence came you From love or hatred or flattery which is the worst sort of hatred Come you from grace or corruption What errand go you about Is it for good or evil Be not hasty to blatter out speech without due premeditation and advise The tongue is the hearts interpeter and therefore should first take counsel of the heart Shun not only wicked talk but tatling also and talkativeness * The sin of talkativeness is noted by the Holy Ghost as an evil to which women are mostly inclined and therefore they ought to give the more earnest heed against it 1 Tim. 5.12 13. Let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath Jam. 1.19 For in the multitude of words and many dreams there are also divers vanities but fear thou God Eccl. 5.7 Think it not enough to speak truly unless withall you speak seasonably and profitably A Christian is not bound alwayes to speak of grace but let your speech be alway with grace sensoned with salt that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man Col. 4.6 3. The greatest number of persons even of those that will not be so vile as to raise a scandal and be the first broachers of an evil report yet if such a matter come to their cognisance being raised by others they are too apt to receive it with both their ears greedily And sometimes their hearts are ready to leap within them with a secret joy and gladness when they hear others bespattered and defamed And the reason is because men think it redounds to their own commendation if they are free from the sins wherewith others are charged But do not follow their example herein We say in the case of robbery the receiver is as bad
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
in the imagination of mine heart to adde drunkeness to thirst As if the sinner should have said as carnal people in our dayes are wont to doe Do you think Heaven was appointed only for a company of Puritans that make more Scruples than they need Why may not a man take his fill of pleasures upon earth and yet come to the kingdom of heaven as well as others surely God never intended to tye us up in such narrow bounds as these Strait-lac't Preachers would perswade us Come let us fill our selves with strong drink and take our freedom whilst we may and yet our souls shall do as well as theirs If you would see the farther workings of this cursed and Hellish principle consult Psal 10.3 Isa 28.14 15. And Jer. 5.12.13 My beloved if you will keep your selves unspotted from the world great care must be taken that you give not the least reception or entertainment unto these devilish dictates For if once such libertine thoughts do but enter into your heads they will quickly fall down as a mighty Torrent upon your hearts and carry you headlong to all excess of riot As the first point of wisdom is to pitch upon the right end So the next is to take care of electing and closing with the sure and proper means for compassing that end If you fancy to your selves an easy way to salvation you do thereby tempt the tempter to lead you in the broad way to destruction Your spirits are thereby as a City without gates or walls open to all the inroades of that wicked one and of wicked men that are his instruments And therefore to Antidote your souls against this Poysonous principle let these three contrary principles sink deep within you 1. That the Holy Ghost is expresse concerning it that the way of salvation is a narrow and difficult way and that there are but few of those that sit under the teachings of the word of God that will arrive with safety at the kingdom of heaven Mark it I say these are truths which are frequently inculcated and very clearly asserted They are not dark notions and conclusions that are pretended to be drawn by far-fetcht consequences from the scripture but they are delivered so plainly that there is no way left for evading the force of them Mat. 7.13 14. Enter ye in at the straitgate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat Because strait is the gate or how strait is the gate amd narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Not only the way of holiness in the utmost extent of it is a difficult way but the way that leadeth unto life such holiness as is of absolute necessity to conduct a sinner to salvation And they are but an handful in comparison that walk in it But this may be meant will the carnal professour say in relation to Heathens and Infidels and gross Idolaters that worship a false God and never had the knowledg of a Mediatour We are Christians and members of the Church and hear the word of the Lord. Se therefore what our Saviour saith in another place Mat. 22.14 For many are called but few are chosen When are sinners externally called by a common vocation but when the word of God sounds in their eares inviting them to repentance and the Spirit of God deals by his motions with their hearts admonishing and perswading them to come unto Christ that they may be saved And few of this sort attain to eternal life Look into the old world and there were but eight persons saved from the deluge whereof there was one at least an hypocrite and the rest of the world were swept away not only with the besom of temporal destruction but into the pit of eternal perdition Consider the state of Sodom and there could not be found ten righteous persons in that populous City But least you should say that these were professed Atheists and Infidels and so the case not parallel with such as are called the people of God Let us therefore make inspection into the body of Israel when Elias made intercession to the Lord against them who thought that only himself had been left alone faithful unto Jehovah And pray what was the answer of God unto him See Rom. 11.4 I have reserved to my self seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal Mark it but seven thousand in the whole kingdom of Israel that consisted of ten of the Tribes We read of eleven hundred and threescore thousand mighty men of valour at one time in the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin besides the souldiers that kept the garisons Now if you should reckon proportionably concerning the ten tribes and make but a reasonable computation of the rest of the people men and women What were seven thousand in respect of the whole What an inconsiderable pittance scarcely one of a thousand However the case is plain there are but few in comparison that hear the word of the Lord that will come to the state of blessedness in the enjoyment of the Lord. And to bring this matter to an head if the way to Heaven were easy how comes it to pass that such multitudes perish If men might be saved at a cheap rate without strictness and diligence whence is it that the greatest number fall short of salvation If the careless and sensual are in the way to heaven who are the multitude in the visible Church that Christ tells us shall be sent into the chains of darkness Do not you tremble when you meet with such passages in the Bible I am afraid Sirs you dare not seriously study and meditate upon such scripture-truths least they should make your hearts to ake and awaken you out of your golden dreams 2. Though there are degrees of grace and different measures of holiness in the Saints and servants of God and many persons that are saved never attained to that stature and pitch of godliness in this life at which some have arrived Yet there are such things of absolute and indispensable necessity to salvation and to evidence that you are partakers of saving grace in the smallest degree that will sufficiently manifest that Heaven is not to be got without much pains and diligence in the pursuance of it Mat. 11.12 The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force There is no geting into that City except you storm it unless you vehemently strive to lay hold upon it Lazy wishings and wouldings will never bring you thither Lukewarmness and slothfulness will certainly fall short of it The bare external and superficial performance of some duties whilst in other things you take liberty to indulg the flesh will undoubtedly leave you still in the state of Damnation what ever fond conceits you may have of the contrary Let us lightly pass over the mention of some particulars
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
if not all my labour and industry will be unsuccesful No but he will buy and sell and trade and traffique he will look carefully to his shop and live frugally and look well to his business For saith he as the blessing of God maketh rich so it is the diligent hand which he hath appointed as the means conducing thereunto And pray mind it Sirs is it an equitable thing thus to plead in the case of eternal salvation when as you will not be so sottish in the case of worldly accommodations Methinks if sinners had a mind to make experiments they should begin with their bodies and temporal estate rather than with their Souls which are of value infinitely beyond them Let me speak unto you in allusion to the words of the Apostle James cap. 5.7 8. Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it The like argument may I use in this particular of Gods decrees Do not reason your selves inso slothfulness and impieties from the fore-appointment of God Behold the Husbandman will not be so senseless as to reason in that sort He will not say if God hath decreed I shall have a good crop and a plentiful harvest it shall be so though I sleep and be careless though I neither plow nor sow And if he hath decreed otherwise all my travel is in vain No but he will plow all day to sow he will open and break the clods of the ground Doth not he manure the soile and make plain the face of the earth And â—ast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their season For his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him He knoweth that drowsiness will clothe a man with rags And that if he would attain the end he must give diligence in the use of the means Be ye diligent also in working out your salvation and that with fear and trembling 4. As we must endeavour to walk by the rule of the gospel so we must carry on the business of eternity in the order and method of the gospel And this is the order not firstly to enquire into the counsels of God whether you be elected or not but in the first place to be earnest with God for the grace of conversion and to press after purity of heart and holiness of conversation that from thence you may be able to prove your election 2 Pet. 1.10 Give diligence to make your calling and election sure Mark it first your calling or conversion unto God and your election thereby Else you begin at the wrong end Thus I have largely insisted on the fourth Direction If you would not be led aside by the multitude's practise Take heed that you entertain not their principles Dir. 5. If you will not conform to the practise of the multitude make them not the men of your society and fellowship Hold no familiar correspondency with them But make the people of God the men of your counsel If you familiarly converse with infected persons you will be sure to catch the plague of them If you have intimacy with them you will learn their wayes and bring a snare to your souls Prov. 22.24 25. You have many professours think they have writ of exemption from contracting defilement by the society of the ungodly And therefore they make no bones of familiar correspondency with sinners Only they are resolved not to comply with them in any thing sinful but will hold fast their integrity Alas Christians this is but to cheat and cozen your own souls Can a man carry fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burnt Can he intimately converse with the ungodly and not receive a tincture at least of their spirits Be assured of this if you do not some way or other defile your selves but deal truly and faithfully with the Lord they will either leave their ungodliness or quickly be weary of and loath your society The resolution of David is an excellent pattern Psal 119.115 Depart from me ye evil doers for I will keep the commandments of my God As if he had said I shall be sure to deal falsly in the covenant of my God and not keep his commandments unless I break off society with evil doers And v. 63. I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy statutes Dir. 6. Lastly if you would not be infected by the multitude learn the great gospel lesson of self-denial Self-seeking will expose you to be caught in every snare Luk. 9.23 Thus I have done with the second head by way of direction SECT IX 3. TO provoke and stir you up to be watchful over your selves that you do not follow the multitudes example I shall only put you in mind of three moving considerations Mot. 1. If you be led by the example of the generality and walk in their steps It will be a sure evidence that you are still the children of the Devil and under his government For this is one of the properties of such as are dead in sins and trespasses and are acted by the prince of the power of the aire being children of disobedience That they walk according to the course of the world Eph. 2.1 2. Mot. 2. If you live no otherwise than the multitude live you will fall short of many that fall short of heaven Sundry hypocrites have out-gone you This the unjustified Pharisee could boast of that he was not as other men Luke 18.11 And if your righteousness be less than that of the Scribes and Pharisees who are excluded from the kingdom of Heaven how will you be able to escape the damnation of Hell Mot. 3. This argument from the multitude is commonly of no validity in respect of outward evils and why should it prevail as to spiritual evils which are the sorest and whereby all outward judgments are pulled down upon our heads The covetous worldling will not cast away his riches though all his neighbours are poor and indigent But he labours to outstrip them in worldly goods Take a man that hath his health when all about him are sick impotent or diseased and he will not destroy his health because he would be like unto others Why then should you murder your souls because others walk in the path of destruction should we not be more stiffe and resolute in laying up treasures in heaven than earth-wormes are to get honour and profits in the earth They seek after but a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible 1 Cor. 9.25 4. Let me subjoyn a few things by way of Retortion and so shut up this discourse Q1 What use ought we to make of the practise of the multitude in doing evil seeing we must not follow them nor conform to their example Answ There is a fourfold special use to be made of their example when a multitude combine in a course of sin