concerning the good thing which he ought to do in order unto life If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments now this we must take into our thoughts that there are Evangelical Commandments as well as legal there is a Command to believe as well as to obey And that is the great command of the Gospel The great work of God which we must do if we would see Gods Salvation to believe in him whom he hath sent into the World to give Salvation to all that obey him Before the Fall it was to do of our selves by our own strength since the Fall it is to begin with Faith which worketh by love and which is the fulfilling the whole Law Under that of the Commandments of God are contained all the Duties of Religious Worship whether natural or instituted as well as those of righteousness toward men And when we read in the Gospel that men are called to Faith and Repentance in order unto Salvation that is not to exclude moral Obedience but to shew us what course we are to take to be put into a way of Salvation viz. to study and put in practice Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ that thereby being reconciled unto God by the merit of his Son we may be enabled to work out our Salvation in the performance of all such duties of holy Obedience as God in his Word requires of us See then if there be any Duty of Gods Worship which we wilfully omit or any duty of Righteousness which we presumptuously transgress and we shall find it impossible to see God Salvation for he that in this manner breaketh any one command of God it guilty of the breach of all as the Apostle James speaketh Jam. 2.10 though he keepeth the whole Law in all other points The Apostle Paul in Gal. 6.15 16 verses tells us of the new Creature If any man be in Christ he is a new creature in the next verse he shows us the rule of the new creature As many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy upon the Israel of God What is that Rule The rule of the Gospel which requires them that believe to be careful to maintain good works And in Gal. 5.6 t is said Neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision availes any thing to salvation but Faith which worketh by love and love is the fulfilling the whole Law An able Divine and worthy Minister of the Gospel in England Mr. Edward Reyner of Lincoln not long since wrote a Book which he stileth Precepts for Christian Practice or the Rule of the New Creature wherein he hath reduced the duty of Christianity unto ten heads which he therein largely insists upon and at the last closeth with a discourse about the government of the thoughts and affections Solomon sums up all in one general Rule Pro. 4.23 Above all keepings keep the heart for out of it are the issues of life the heart is the primum mobile in the little world of man the great wheel in that active Engine of our nature the fountain out of which flows the stream that drives the Mill of all our motions the root out of which springs the fruits of our whole life the well governing of that will keep our whole conversation aright both our thoughts and our words our affections and actions Naturallists tell us there are two great veins that arise out of the heart the one called Vena porta the other Vena cava which carry forth out of the heart the spirits that quicken all the whole body so spiritually the heart purified by Faith by those two great issues of Religion and Righteousness maintains the whole frame of obedience in the new-creature teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world They that so do are infallibly in the way of Salvation 3. With Resolution and Holy Courage continue in the pursuit of all those means to the end and we shall surely be made to see Gods Salvation we shall tast the first fruits of it here and come to the full fruition of it at last It is true many times in the experience of real and sincere Christians that though they may through Grace sometimes will yet they know not how to perform If we be sound sincere in our endeavours our Saviour Christ will put the best construction upon our wayes He is the best Judge of sincerity for he tells us at least speaks for all his genuine and true Disciples that the Spirit is willing though the Flesh be weak Who would not do all they can for so good a Master that they may be accepted of him at the last We should do well to wind up our hearts to the highest pitch of Resolution which in this state of imperfection we are capable of Let every one say for himself in his own particular Whatever become of others as Joshua said of old I and my Family will serve the Lord. And then we may with comfort conclude in the Words of the Psalmist That whatever troubles befall us in the way that yet at the end we shall be made to see the Salvation of God FINIS Soli Deo Gloria A FUNERAL MEDITATION From those Words of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 3.1 2 3 verses Occasioned by the Interrment of Major DANIEL DENISON On September 22. 1682. THe Words of the Text are added as a reason of the Words foregoing Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils For behold the Lord the Lord of Hosts doth take away c. The time which they seem to refer unto was under the Reign of Ahaz King of Judah when the state of that Kingdom was low and broken by forreign Invasions as well as intestine troubles for we read 2 Chron. 28.6 8. that in his dayes Pekah the Son of Remaliah slew an 120000. in one day all valiant men besides near double that number which were carried Captive both Sons and Daughters neither do any other times appear so calumitous since the Death of Jeroboam to which these words could so fitly be applied when God was taking away from Jerusalem and Judah the whole staffe of bread and the whole stay of water c. when he would give children to be their Princes and Babes should rule over them i. e. when he would withdraw all means one and another whereby as with a staff mans life is susteined and a state supported by the removing of the first each mans life was in danger by the latter being the prime persons for Martial Civil or Ecclesiastical affairs and not only the chief Ornaments but the very Pillars and Props of the body politick both of Church and State when these are removed the ruin of both must needs ensue as of an house when the principal Studs are pull'd away that bear it up so it befel the Temple of the Philistines when Samson pull'd down the Pillars that did
And it is Gods salvation which his People seek for and therefore David often stiles God his Salvation and his Deliverance 2. A Salvation which God will give For in the Hebrew it is I will cause him to see the salvation of God which is to note the effectualness of this promise though it may seem never so improbable and almost impossible yet God will make them that order their way aright to see his salvation at such a time 3. It is also more emphatically expressed in the third person Such a one shall be made to see the salvation of God It was a time of great extremity in Samaria in Jehoram's time Death as well as Dearth was come upon them There is a word of Salvation comes from the Lord by the mouth of the Prophet which speaks of great plenty that should be forthwith in Samaria God made it good but the unbelieving Lord though he saw it with his eyes yet he never felt the good of Salvation because he did not order his way aright to give Glory to the God of Israel by believing the word which he spake by his Prophet Junius renders the word See by enjoying for so the sence of seeing which is the most noble active of all the senses is frequently put for feeling enjoying obtaining as it is in Jer. 17.6 where the unbelieving wretches that trust in an arm of Flesh whose hearts depart away from God are said to be cursed and shall be left like the Heath in the Desart that shall not see when God cometh If we observe the conduct of Providence in the former as well as in the present age we shall find the people of God often reduced to those streights that none but the Almighty could grant them Salvation from The words thus opened do very naturally and of themselves run into this proposition or point of Doctrine Doct. A right ordered Conversation is the direct and necessary way for any people or person to obtain Gods Salvation The best improvement of this Doctrine will be 1. By shewing wherein consists a well ordered Conversation 2. By laying open the salvation which such shall see 3. Confirming this truth by such instances and reasons as may be found in our experience 4. By answering such objections as look another way 5. By making such Application as the nature of the truth requires 1. For the first of these there are sundry things necessary to a well ordered Conversation 1. A good beginning or a sound principle within He that doth not begin well will never end well if he will never alter his course For he that sets out in a wrong way the longer he continues therein is gone further from the desired end if Gods Salvation be that which was aimed at then at his first entrance thereinto For so Christ tells the Pharisees that their proselytes are twofold more the Children of Hell than they were before They must not set out in the Flesh that ever intend or hope to end in the Spirit A good Tree is absolutely needful to good fruit and so is a good heart unto a good life If the Fountain be not clean it will never send forth good Water in its Streams for as James tells us The same Fountain can never send forth sweet water and bitter The heart must be changed before the words and works will be found pure and perfect for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks the hands work and the feet walks the Index in a Clock points to those figures without that the wheels within move unto The heart is the primum mobile in this little World that carries all the other Orbs of the thoughts affections senses and Organs along with it Since the Fall the frame of every mans heart is bent to evil only to evil and that continuully and therefore the whole frame of nature must be changed and turned about before any motion can be made toward this salvation of God There must be a gracious disposition or inclination of the Will whereby it comes to be determined to well-doing before any hope of Salvation will be brought about For as Ames saith well It is the heart or will that is the proper seat and subject of virtue Because Voluntas nec a se nec a ratione sufficienter determinata est ad bonum ergo opus habet sua propra dispositione ad recte agendum i. e. the Will is neither of it self nor by by the force of reason sufficiently determined unto good therefore it stands in need of a proper disposition of its own to incline it to well-doing Take any of the children of men of the most towardly natural disposition let him be advantaged by the most likely way of education both by precepts of vertue and good examples leading thereunto Lay before him as many Arguments Reasons as may be of force to convince the most obstinate mind and obdurate heart so as he shall be forced to acknowledge that the precept is holy just and good the way directly tending unto life yet till the heart be changed and over-poured by a work of supernatural grace the life will alwayes be found barren of any good fruit void of holiness and sincere obedience yea many times none are found more vitious in their lives than such as have had the best advantage for piety by their education None ever proved worse Children than those who have had the best of men for their Parents till their hearts were changed by the power of divine Grace if ever they attained thereunto Of which Ishmael and Esau Simeon and Levi Hophni and Phinehas Ammon and Absolom in the families of Abram Isaac Jacob Eli David Jonathan the Son of Gershom Judg. 18.30 the Grand-child of Moses the Ring-leader of Idolatry among the Tribes of Israel the like may be said of Joash under the tuition of Jehojeda Amongst the Heathens Nero the Emperour of Rome was bred up under Seneca the best of Heathen Philesophers yet of all the Heathen Rulers none ever proved more prodigiously wicked Thus as Paul speaks 1 Cor. 15.47 48. The first man is of the earth earthy the second man is of the Lord from Heaven As is the earthy such are they also that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly Till there be a change wrought in the heart that doth imprint the image of the heavenly Adam upon the Soul there will be nothing but an earthly Conversation until we become born again from Heaven it will never be said truly that our Conversation is in Heaven This seems to be the reason why the Scripture lays so much weight upon the uprightness and obedience of the heart My Son give me thy heart And above all keepings keep the heart for out of it are the issues of life that is the great wheel that carries all other powers and faculties along with it And if the heart be not changed by the infusing a new disposition though
Faith else it may justly be returned upon us in any of our duties of Religious Worship as God saith to the wicked What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee And therefore we shall find it alwayes prescribed by God and practised by his People in any time of distress and danger when they needed Gods Salvation to sanctifie a Fast and call a solemn Assembly to make their peace with God by Repentance of sins that were past and by entring into a new engagement by renewing their Covenant for their good abearing for the time to come 2. The right ordering our Conversation as to what is future consists in new obedience Attending on the duties of Religion and Righteousness To frame their doings so as to turn to their God from whom afore time they have fallen by their iniquity yet now they must come up to a resolution to do so no more The wrath of God which is revealed from Heaven is against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men and therefore the way to enjoy the Salvation of God and avoid the wrath which is to come requires us in the first place to live godly in the present World of which there are two Branches 1. A religious observance of all the duties of Gods Worship God expects to be worshipped after a due manner by all those that desire to see his Salvation That God who is the Creator of the ends of the Earth alwayes required homage from the Inhabitants thereof and those Families are destined to his Curse and Vengeance that live in the neglect thereof as the Prophet Jeremy speaks Chap. 10.25 Pour out thy fury upon the Heathen and upon the Families that call not on thy Name Such therefore as restrain Prayer and call not on the Name of the Lord are so far from seeing his Salvation that they may justly fear they shall feel his Indignation Abraham was called the Friend of God for whose sake he reproved Kings giving them in special charge not to work him any harm where ever he came to sojourn The first thing you hear of him is his building an Altar and calling on the Name of the Lord as may be seen in the first part of his Pilgrimage Gen. 12.7 8. 13.4 18. Nor was Abram the first who was noted for this Religious care of Gods Worship For we read that Noah as soon as ever he came out of the Ark built an Altar and offered Sacrifices thereon out of those few clean Beasts that were left alive after the great Deluge Probably he might conceive that it was in great part for the neglect thereof that a Deluge of Water was brought upon the World For ever since the dayes of Seth when first there were found People enough to make publick Assemblies they began to call upon the Name of the Lord and so continued till the degenerate Off-spring of the succeeding Generation had through their great Impiety in a manner wholy laid aside In like manner was it observed as most commendable in David that as soon as ever he was settled in his Kingdom the first publick design he takes in hand is the bringing home the Ark of God to the Tent which he had prepared for it at Jerusalem as well knowing that his establishing the Worship of God would be the directest means to establish the Kingdom in his possession for the work of God had been sadly neglected or but slightly managed ever since Saul was called to the Kingdom Jeroboam that had so large a promise for settling of the Kingdom in his prosperity yet lays the Foundation of his and their ruin in his Idolatry and false Worship which proved in like manner a fatal stumbling block in the way of all the succeeding Kings though in many things else never so hopeful and commendable in themselves It was the neglect of the Worship of God that lost Jehu and his Family the Kingdom and which at last cost the ten Tribes their Countrey For how zealous soever Jehu was in abolishing the Worship of Baal he was as remiss as the rest in setting up the Worship of the Lord. For t is said He took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord it must in a special manner be understood as to the Idolatry of the golden Calves for in other things he was careful very exactly to fulfil that will of the Lord as in punishing the house of Ahab as the Lord had commanded him Thus was it foretold by the Prophet Joel That whosoever called on the Name of the Lord should be saved What was it that ruined the Gospel Church but Idolatry and false Worship The suffering of false Worship as to â—he Object and will-worship as to the manner of their Devotion hath alwayes proved fatal to Christian Families and Churches This was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Mr. Mede calls it in the Church of Rome Then if you would your selves or desire that yours should see the salvation of God look to maintain and carry on the Worship of God in your Assemblies Families and in your own hearts and closets The Worship of God was ordered aright in David's and Solomon's time and in the first part of Rehoboam's Reign And so long things went well but when Reheboam and his People forsook the Law of the Lord God forsook them and left them in the hand of their Enemies nor did any of the following Kings ever see the Salvation of God longer than they were careful to maintain and carry on the true Worship of God as may be seen in the History of Asa Jehosaphat Hezechiah and Josiah Kings of Judah For by the Idolatry and false Worship of the other Kings their Kingdoms became low and broken till at last they were broken to pieces were carried Captive to Babylon and were never restored to the honour of a Kingdom afterward 2. The second part of our Religious care must be to maintain Purity and Holiness in heart and life that the Holy God not only be Worshipped but that he be worshipped in an holy manner Reverend and Holy is his Name and he will be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him else he will sanctifie himself upon them and they shall by that means be far from seeing the Salvation of God as was the case of them that offered strange fire upon Gods Altar Thus the Prophet Haggai tells them and convinces them out of the Law that the impurity of their hearts and lives rendred all they did as to the external part of Gods Worship unclean For where the mind and conscience is defiled and unclean all the service that such perform must needs be defiled thereby It is the lifting up of clean hands that must obtain Gods Salvation he threatens to hide his eyes from beholding those hands that are defiled with blood or any other wickedness for which-out sincerity in our worship and
us is able to remove the greatest Mountain of opposition or difficulty that stands in the way of Faith Therefore seeing God hath promised that such shall see his Salvation they may believe it The Church may sing her triumphant Song in all her troubles We have a strong City Salvation will God appoint for Walls and Bulwarks mountains of Brass and Gates of Iron are not so strong as the promise of God In confidence of them The Church of God though in her self but as a poor despised Virgin yet will deride and laugh unto scorn the great and mighty Army of the Assyrians that come up like the swelling of Jordan yet such is the interest of Faith in the promises of God that it can see the salvation of God through all those dark Clouds of Adversity Of a truth Lord said Hezekiah the Kings of Assyria have laid wast all the Nations and their Countries his Faith was almost at a stand his heart was ready to recoyl but the Word of the Lord sent by Isaiah reinforces his confidence and makes him acquiess in that promise of the Lord that the Kings of Assyria should not come into the City nor shoot an Arrow there but that he should be blasted by the breath of the Almighty as indeed it came to pass so as their eyes that waited on the Lord might behold the King in his beauty and see his Jerusalem a quiet habitation True Believers after deliverance from that dangerous assault should see Hezekiah flourish again in power and glory who was a figure of Christ in his heavenly Glory beautifying the meek of the Earth with his eternal Salvation 4. The People of the Lord do believe all this therefore their hearts are not dismayed Therefore have they found in their hearts to pray with the Psalmist Turn us again O God of our Salvation and we shall be saved which is redoubled again in that Psalm in token of their assured expectation thereof Moses believed it at a time of utmost hazard when they were hemmed in with deadly dangers on every side and falling within the very gates of Destruction stand still and see the Salvation of God and they that believed did see Gods Salvation as t is added that day the Lord saved Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians Exod. 14.30 Mordecai believed it with respect to Gods power and faithfulness and not to Esthers interest in the King of Persia who knows but thou mayest be raised to the Kingdom for this very end but if thou refusest Salvation shall come some other way Daniel and his Companions believed it when they were cast into the fiery Furnace and thrown into the Lions Den. Those Examples of seeing Gods Salvation were written for our instruction in these ends of the World that we also believing might speak the same thing and give glory to God 5. God hath saved his People and made them see his Salvation wee have a cloud of witnesses brought to our view in that little Book of Chronicles as one calls it in the eleventh Chapter of the Hebrews Our Fathers trusted in thee and were delivered They looked unto God from the ends of the Earth and were saved Their eyes were enlightned with the joy of Gods Salvation Israel indeed may say if it had not been the Lord who was on our side we had been swallowed up when their wrath was kindled against us the streams had overwhelmed us the proud Waters had gone over our Soul As was said of some of those worthy Confessors that afterwards laid the Foundation of our New-England Churches when they were driven out of England by the prevailing power of the Hierarchy and made to Fly into the Netherlands they met with such a dreadful stormy passage that the Vessel was even over-raked with the Waves when their mouthes were fill'd with salt-water as they were exercising themselves with fervent Prayer some of them used these words Yet O Lord thou canst save and so he did above and beyond all hope the Sea-men crying out we sink we perish we are going down to the brow of the pit where our heads shall be wrapped about with the weeds yet God made them see his Salvation Look into the History of the Church in all Ages Writings Antient and modern How many wayes hath God made use of to save his People in all their distresses the snare was broken and their soul was made to escape If they have met with sorrow it lasted but a night the joy of Salvation hath risen upon them in the morning The forest of Antichristian Persecutions was or is to last but three dayes and an half Athanasius said of the Arrian Tempest in his time Nubecula hoec cito per transibit The storm may be sharp yet it will be but short If Christ be in the Ship all that are embarqued shall be saved The Ship of Christs Church may be tossed yet it shall be preserved the Angel of the Covenant assures us so that every soul that entred shall be saved In those bloody Marian dayes she that sate at the Helm of the Nation stretched forth her hands with Herod to vex certain of the Church three or four hundred were burned alive and more were imprisoned but it would not do those iron Gates and Barrs were broken open The Snare is broken and we are escaped The chief Instruments of that persecution as well as the Authors thereof to the vexation of their hearts saw that the more they endeavoured to suppress the Protestant Religion the more it increased The blood of the Martyrs proved the seed of the Church which made some of them pine away with rage and madness to see their Endeavours frustrated and that the Word of God was not bound though here and there some of the Ministers thereof were under restraint but that it did more and more prevail God hath many times by unexpected wayes prevented the mischief intended against his People and brought destruction upon their Enemies and made his People see his Salvation It is reported that once a Chancellor of Bohemia having procured a Diploma from the Emperour at Vienna to persecute the Protestants in that Kingdom as he was passing the Bridge over Danubius it brake under him so as himself was drowned but his Box of Writings could never be found again though his dead body was afterwards taken up The Protestants in Germany standing couragiously for the Truth of the Protestant Religion saw the great Emperour Charles the V. driven out of Germany by a small handful of men under Mauritius Duke of Saxony In Queen Mary's time a busie Persecutor that was bound for Ireland out of hatred against the Protestant Religion was befooled by his Host at West-Chester and carried over the Knave of Clubs to the Deputy there instead of his Commission the which he could not get renewed till the Reign of the persecuting Queen was at an end and another advanced that favoured the truth VSe Of Examination This may put the