delegate Employment in some great Mutation of States and many Probabilities have been observ'd by wise Personages says the Excellent Bishop ††Great Exemplar pag. 100. Taylor perswading that the Grandeur of the Roman Empire was in the Degrees of Increment and Decrement permitted to the Power and Managing of the Devil that the Greatness of that Government being in all Appearance full of Advantage to Satan's Kingdom and employ'd for the Disimprovement of the weak Beginnings and improbable Increase of Christianity might give Lustre and Demonstration to it that it came from God since the great Permissions of Power made to the Devil and acted with all Art and Malice in Defiance of the Religion could produce no other effect upon it but that it made it grow greater and the Greatness was made more miraculous since the Devil when his Chain was off fain would but could not suppress it But perhaps it may be here objected That tho' we must confess that before the Mysterious Incarnation of the Son of God the Devil had such vast Dominions in the World that he seem'd actually to have possess'd what God promis'd to his Son even the Heathen for his Inheritance and the uttermost Parts of the Earth for his Possession yet since the Triumphant Ascension of our Blessed Saviour we cannot suppose without Contradiction to Sacred Writ that he now retains any at all since both * Joh. 12.31 Christ himself assures us that he hath cast him out and St. †Pet. 2.4 Peter expresly declares that they are cast down to Hell and deliver'd into Chains of Darkness to be reserv'd unto Judgment To this we answer Those bright Sons of the Morning which grew vertiginous through the Sublimity of Happiness and are most deservedly charg'd with Folly for leaving their own Habitations are indeed bound over to Eternal Pains and lie at present in a dark miserable and wretched Condition Where-ever they be they carry Hell in their Breasts and read in their Consciences the large Characters of Divine Vengeance consigning them over to Everlasting Woe and Misery But Yet we must needs acknowledge that 't is abundantly evident both from * Mat. 8.20 Mat 5.7 Luk. 8.31 Scripture and Reason That their present Punishment how dolorous and bitter soever will be much heightned and increas'd after the Great Day of Accounts so that tho' I will not deny but that as the School-men and other Divines of Latter â—iâ—es would have it many of these infernal Bands may be so closely committed to Prison that they are never permitted to make Excursions into the Earth yet on the other side we may dare to affirm that the All-wise God does often suffer great Troops and vast Multitudes of them to come abroad into this World either for the Trial of the Good or for the Punishment of the Bad or to be to us what the Remnant of the cursed Nations was to the sinful Israelites even Pricks in our Eyes and Thorns in our Sides And if we impartially consider neither this Text of St. Peter nor the parallel one of St. Jude do any thing evacuate or enervate this Assertion For if they must needs be understood to prove such an actual condemning of the Devil to Chains at present that he shall not come forth till hal'd to Judgment if I say the Sence of the Words must needs be this we cannot allow them by any means to be true For even when these Epistles where written which is suppos'd to have been a little before the Destruction of the Jews his Dominions were large and his Empire extensive He did not only work powerfully in the Children of Disobedience who were taken Captive by him at his Will but had also began to Lord it over God's own Heritage He was daily sowing Tares among the Wheat and endeavouring to choak the good Seed and to render it fruitless Like an hungry Lion he roar'd after the Prey and began to glut his Jaws with the Blood of the slain and upon this account the Apostle in my Text warns the Christians to watch and to be always upon their Guard against so potent and vigilant an Adversary Though therefore the victorious Saviour of the World hath utterly divested these Evil Spirits of their Power and made his Conquests over them publickly discernible to all Men by throwing them out of their Temples gagging and silencing them in their Oracles and so dragging as it were Principalities and all the Powers of Darkness shackled and unarm'd at the Wheels of his triumphant Chariot Though I say since the towring Roman Eagle which for many Ages had spread its all-conquering Wings over the trembling World submitted her self and gave place to the humble Sign of the Cross the Sound of the Gospel is gone out into all Lands and its Words unto the Ends of the World so that the Kingdoms of the World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and almost all Nations do him Service yet Certain it is that the Devil is not yet totally banished out of this World For in the 23d Chap. of the Revelations and the 3d Ver. we have an account of a closer Imprisonment of Satan and so of his Regiments of Evil Spirits that shall be before the Worlds End than is yet for sthe present and 't is also manifest from the * Sozom. Hist l. 5. c. 19. p. 627. History of Primitive Times that after the Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ he was still permitted to be in the World For even in the Times of Julian the Apostate we find his Oracle yet standing and 't was the constant Custom of the Church in the first Ages to excommunicate or as S. Paul phraseth it to deliver enormous and incorrigible Sinners to Satan as to a Lictor or Executioner who was wont to sift and shake them terribly and by inflicting Diseases and Torments upon the Body forc'd them to fly for Refuge to the Arms of their offended Father Now therefore we must indeed acknowledge with the †Rev. 12.9 10 Inhabitants of Heaven that Salvation and Strength and the Kingdom of our God and the Power of his Christ is come unto us for the great Dragon is cast out that old Serpent call'd the Devil and Satan which deceiv'd the whole World He is cast out of his Strong-holds and his Angels can no longer exercise their Tyranny in the Earth But yet he still sitteth lurking in the thievish Corners of the World and privily in his lurking Dens does he plot against the Innocent his Eyes are wholly set against the Saints Though his Hands are tied and he is bound to his Good-behaviour yet as an Explorator or Searcher for faults he goes up and down to and fro in the Earth I know there are some who will be ready to object That this Relaxation of Evil-Spirits from their dark houses of Sorrow can by no means consist with the Wisdom of God For since his Justice condemn'd them to unspeakable and Eternal Torments
Death This last Enemy has at present an absolute and entire Domination over us our Beauty Honour and Glory mouldering and consuming all away in his insatiable Dwellings But yet he who hath the Keys of Hell and of Death hath promis'd to unlock the Doors of these loathsome Prisons and to let the Prisoners go forth into a state of Liberty and Glory He turneth Man to Destruction but his Almighty Voice will one day call through all the Receptacles of Nature Come again ye Children of Men. By him lastly who liveth and was dead and is alive for evermore shall those that sleep in the Dust of the Earth be awak'd and sing Death is swallowed up in Victory Which Consideration alone as it is full of Comfort and Joy and Triumph to every faithful Christian so is it likewise sufficient to curb the Arrogance and Haughtiness of that Apostate Spirit Who therefore says an ingenious * Br. Rel. Med. pag. 87. Author of our own chiefly frequents Coemeteries Charnel-Houses and Churches because they are the Dormitories of the Dead where like an insolent Champion he beholds with Pride the Spoils and Trophies of his Victory over Adam And thus I have discharg'd my first General Head which was to shew the Greatness of the Salvation wrought for us by Christ I now proceed to my Second which is very briefly to lay before you our Inexcusableness and the intolerable Aggravations of our Guilt and Punishment if we neglect it How shall we escape c. 1. Then we shall be utterly inexcusable and intolerably aggravate our Guilt and Punishment if we neglect this great Salvation which Christ hath wrought for us because we shall be entirely destitute of the mollifying Circumstances and Considerations of Ignorance Whilst Men had little or no Understanding but walk'd on still in Darkness 't was no wonder that the Foundations of the Moral as well as of the Intellectual World were out of course Their broken Notices of another State and beggarly Conceptions of its Delights and Entertainments induc'd them rather to let loose the Reins to their Intemperance than to correct and retrench the Luxuriancy of their Vices A more delicious Canaan the Fields and Groves of Elysium and a Mahometan Paradise naturally lead Men to an unbounded Gratification of their sensual Appetites as to that which is the End and Perfection of their Beings their ultimate Portion in the Regions of Eternity So that a truly moral Man with such Perswasions about him would be an Object equally strange and surprizing as Fewel or dry Stubble that will not take fire in the midst of a burning firy Furnace But now with Christians is the Case quite otherwise We know for certain both the Existence and Nature of the other State That for pure and holy Souls who are entirely cleans'd from the Stains and Pollutions of corrupted Nature and rais'd to the Possession of their Primitive Brightness remains a most glorious and undefil'd Inheritance Entertainments most agreeable to their enlarged Faculties exalted and divine Joys for evermore That for impure and sensual Souls on the contrary who fight under the Banner of the World and the Flesh forsaking God that made them and lightly esteeming the Rock of their Salvation is prepar'd a Worm that will never die and a Fire that will ne'er be quench'd We know I say that Refin'd and Purified Souls will be receiv'd into serene undisturbed Mansions of everlasting Happiness the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem where with all the shining and innumerable Companies of Holy Angels they shall for ever behold and praise the unfolded Beauties of their God and Saviour That on the other hand there are sad uncomfortable Regions of Darkness and Misery where Fire and Brimstone Storms and Tempests will be the lamentable and everlasting Portion of the Ungodly Fire and Brimstone to possess inflame and torment their Bodies and the Storms and Tempests of an enraged Conscience impetuously to hurry their awak'ned Souls through all the unhappy Stages of that woful Eternity If we then dare to commit Wickedness who have received this clear Knowledge of its sad Effects and Consequences that it cuts off all our hopes of the Glories of Heaven and irrevocably condemns us to the unconceivable Agonies and Amazements of Hell we put our selves beyond all possibility of Excuse and as our Saviour himself assures us unmeasurably enhanse the Severities of our Condemnation This is the Condemnation * Joh. 3.19 says he with an Emphasis i. e. the highest the greatest the most intolerable Condemnation that when Light is come into the World Men love Darkness rather than Light In a word God may vouchsafe to wink at the times of Ignorance and graciously overlook the unhappy Miscarriages of the unenlightned World He may be favourable to the Servant that knows not his Will and therefore does unwittingly things worthy of Stripes But Christians who know their Lord's Will and yet prepare not themselves nor do accordingly will have nothing to plead or pretend for their Disobedience and therefore will most certainly be beaten with many Stripes 2. We shall be utterly inexcusable and intolerably aggravate our Guilt and Punishment if we neglect this great Salvation which Christ has wrought for us because we thereby become guilty of the vilest Ingratitude We know the infinite Obligations to Duty and Gratitude which our Heavenly Father has laid upon us all the Stratagems of his Goodness the astonishing Miracles of Divine Mercy and Condescension That he whom the Virgins the untainted Beings above adore and love meekly drew a veil over his Essential Glories and cloath'd himself with Flesh for the Society of Mankind That the Eternal Independent All-sufficient One stoop'd down for our sakes to the lowest Estate of Uneasiness and Need and the Lord and Governour of all the Kingdoms of the Earth vouchsaf'd to dwell among us though he scarce found a place where to lay his Head That the King of Glory was contented not only to be despis'd and rejected of Men to become a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief but also to suffer his most precious Life to be most cruelly and ignominiously taken from among Men that be might entitle us again to Happiness and Glory Nay we have seen the only begotten Son of the Living God oppress'd and groaning under a heavier load of Misery than all this almost sinking under the insupportable Burthen of his Father's Wrath and in the Anguish and Bitterness of 〈◊〉 Soul most lamentably complaining tâ— his Father too whom he had never offeâ—â—ed had for the Foulness and Blackneâ—â— our Iniquities hid his Face from him 〈◊〉 more we are sensible that we our seâ— have been the Betrayers and Murtherers of the Lord of Life that he has frequently bled afresh and been crucify'd again 〈◊〉 our new Sins that our repeated Impieties have wounded his sacred Side and the 〈◊〉 rows of our Ingratitude pierc'd him to 〈◊〉 very Heart How notwithstanding 〈◊〉 this he
may also fall short of that Period by the Interposition of a Cloud He carries within himself the Causes of a necessary and speedy Dissolution and is also liable to ten thousand Accidents without that may hasten his Ruin Nay though by the good Providence of God he happily escapes all these and arrives to his utmost Period that natural Term which is set him by the Temperament of the First Qualities yet what an airy fleting and fantastick Appearance is he Our Life is but a Vapour says St. James which appears and dances up and down a few Minutes over the places that gave it Birth and then vanisheth and sinks back into its primitive Night and Darkness The Day wears away apace our Sun hastens to go down the Shadows every Moment encrease and the Hours of Darkness come on that long Night of Silence and Solitude wherein no Man can work It is appointed for all men once to die says the * Heb. 9.27 Apostle and then for ever to cease from labouring and improving their State for immediately follows Judgment which consigns them either with Lazarus to the Refreshments and Consolations of Abraham's Bosom or to the dismal Dwellings of Dives in everlasting Burnings †Phaedon c. 45. p. 178. in Dialog select Edit Cantab Plato indeed and from him the Romanists at this day talk much of an intermediate State where Satisfaction may be made for some Miscarriages of our Lives here But in all the Word of God there is not so much as one place that countenanceth this Opinion 'T is not the Doctrine of God but the Invention of Men the weak and beggarly Element of this World not the Revelation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ He only commands us to be therefore prepar'd continually for our Last Hour because we then enter upon a state eternal and immutable that private particular Sentence which passeth upon the Soul at her Departure from the Body being to be openly renew'd and confirm'd upon the whole Man at the General Day of Judgment How ought then this Consideration to alarm all the dormant Powers and Faculties of our Souls and to wind them up to the highest pitch of Action in this momentous Affair How careful I say should we be by a prudent Management and Husbandry of these fleting Moments to secure to our selves a happy Portion in the Regions of Eternity If we mispend these Days of Probation you see there remain no more If we neglect these present Opportunities we are lost for ever And what a dismal Reflection think ye will this be in the other World when we shall remember that Mercy was frequently offer'd us and that we as frequently rejected it and that for the little imperfect Services of a few Days our Maker graciously offer'd to place a Crown of Eternal Glory upon our Heads Alas This is the chief Ingredient of that bitter Cup which afflicts and torments the Damn'd for ever and ever This that dismal Thought which raiseth the Storms and Tempests in the Kingdom of Darkness below Once they might have been sav'd once they had their Day and they refus'd the Light when it shin'd Their God was gracious and merciful to them but they were cruel to themselves He offer'd them Mercy but they would never accept it He call'd them to Life but they obstinately chose Death No Tortures so exquisite as such Reflections No Lashes so severe as the Upbraidings of such an enraged Conscience These I say are the Snakes that twist about their Heads and sting and hiss and make them roar to all Eternity From which miserable State God in Mercy preserve us all through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus the Beloved To whom c. MATTH xi 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest BUT am I call'd indeed may the ravish'd Soul say Call'd too to Ease and Refreshment and Peace though my Sins and Impieties are so many Does the Holy One of Israel regard so vile a Creature and will He who is the God of all Purity vouchsafe to receive into his Arms so impure a Wretch Yes for 't is the Voice of my Beloved that spake He stands not as formerly behind the Wall nor looks in at the Window shewing himself only through the Lattess but has open'd the Door and is come in and speaks and says to me Rise up my Love my Fair one and come away Draw me then O my Beloved and we will run after thee Receive me though the Sun has look'd upon me though I am black and coarse as the Tents of Kedar I am bow'd down and ready to sink under the weight of my Sins I have no might against this great multitude of Transgressions that is set in Array against me nor know I what to do only my longing my languishing Eyes are still upon thee and I will patiently hearken what the Lord God will farther say unto me who so graciously speaks to Sinners that like his Saints they turn and come unto him Come unto me says he all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest In which Words are four things observable I. A gracious Invitation Come II. The Person to whom the Invitation is made Vnto me that is unto Christ III. The Persons invited All Penitent Sinners in general All ye that labour and are heavy laden All ye that sigh and groan and are bow'd down and ready to sink under the grievous Burden of your Sins IV. The Benefit of accepting this Invitation I will give you Rest. 1. We have in the Text a gracious Invitation Come God spake once and twice also have I heard the same that Mercy belongeth unto God For this is the Voice of him who is the Wisdom of the Father that Wisdom which by the Mouth of his Prophet * Chap. 55. ver 1. Isaiah called in the same manner to the Sons of Men inviting them to come freely and partake of his Divine Refreshments Ho every one that thirsteth says he come to the waters and he that hath no money come buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price The Angels indeed that sinn'd are fall'n into the gloomy and lamentable State of utter Desperation There is no Mercy in store for these self-deluded inexcusable Apostates of the Upper World but because they foolishly exalted themselves against the Lord whom they could not but know to be the Author and Fountain of all Happiness and Glory they are entirely dismantled of their primitive Robes of Light and cast down from their Heavenly Mansions into this Lower Orb where in miserable and darker Habitations they are reserv'd as condemn'd Malefactors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says ‖ 2 Ep. 2.4 S. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says †Ver. 6. St. Jude for everlasting Chains of the Blackness of Darkness at the Judgment of the Great Day when they shall be brought forth as out of
DISCOURSES Upon several Divine Subjects BY THO. GREGORY M. A. Late of Wadham College in OXFORD And now Lecturer of Fulham near London LONDON Printed for R. Sare at Greys-Inn-Gate in Holbourn MDCXCVI TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND Right Reverend Father in God HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON DEAN of the CHAPEL And one of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council My most Honour'd Lord and Patron THE great Blessings which I enjoy under the happy Influence of your Lordship's Favour oblige me with all due Humility to lay these Discourses at your Lordship's Feet not as though I can be so vainly arrogant as to imagine they any ways deserve your Perusal or Acceptance but purely as an Acknowledgment of your Lordship's Goodness and an hearty tho' poor Expression of my unfeigned Gratitude Most of them have been compil'd since your Lordship vouchsaf'd to receive me under your Wings and therefore it may be expected that they approve themselves in some measure worthy of so noble a Patronage This I confess I have ambitiously endeavour'd effectually to accomplish But if I fall short of so Great an Enterprise I humbly hope for Pardon from your Lordship's Candour which the World has so long and so deservedly admir'd I am My most Honoured Lord Your Lordship 's Most Humble most Grateful most Dutiful Servant T. G. TO THE READER 'T IS the indispensable Duty of every Faithful Christian to obviate as far as he is able the growing Distempers of the Age he lives in This I have with the greatest Sincerity tho' not with the greatest Abilities attempted in the following Discourses which are design'd to preserve thee through God's Blessing from those dangerous Rocks so many poor Souls unhappily split upon viz. Schism Scepticism Worldly-Mindedness Heresie False Notions of God and of his Holy Covenant and Despair If my Endeavours prove successful in any of these Points I unfeignedly beseech thee to give God the Glory and Me thy Prayers Farewel The principal ERRATA of the Press are thus to be Corrected PAge 41. Line 18. for where read were p. 49. l. 18. f. time r. times p. 53. l. 6. f. who had traduc'd r. who traduc'd p. 69. l. 6. f. thought r. thoughts ibid. l. 9. f. of the lust r. of lust ib. l. 11. f. tempers r. tempests p. 74. l. 27. f. false-glossing r. false-glozing p. 76. l. 17. f. irradations r. irradiations p. 78. l. 20. f. momentary r. momentany p. 82. l. 25. f. Elapses r. illapses p 96. l. 5. f. is urged r. is he urged p. 102. l. 17. f. as r. of p. 106. l. 17. f. entred his Soul r. entred into his Soul p. 110. l. 23. f. to r. and. p. 136. l. 1. f. these r. those p. 140. l. 8. f. a Being taken up r. a Being wholly taken up ib. l. 26. f. Blessedness r. Blessed p. 152. l. 11. f. momentary r. momentany p. 115. l. 7. f. places r. place p. 156. l. 18. f. fleting r. flitting p. 161. l. 24. f. divest r. devest p. 164. l. 16 17. f. declares Sinners r. declares to Sinners p. 165. l. 18. f. waits their r. waits for their p. 166. l. 28. f. appears r. appear p. 168. l. 8. dele too p. 179. l. 26. f. Symbals r. Symbols p. 187. l. 21. f. the World r. this World p. 188. l. 10. f. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. l. 26. f. divested r. devested p. 194. Marg. f. M. Osyr r. M. Tyr. p. 208. l. 8. f. farther is r. farther he is p. 211. l. 24. f. the heavenly r. thy heavenly ib. l. 11. f. He Redeem'd thee too r. He Redeem'd thee Redeem'd thee too p. 222. l. 4. f. Countries r. Counties p. 239. l. 15. f. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 KINGS xviii 21. How long halt ye between two Opinions If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him THese Words are a just Expostulation of a Prophet of the Lord with the rebellious and stiff-necked Sons of Jacob and Joseph God had so fully reveal'd himself unto them and so plainly chalk'd out the way which they should walk in that 't was absolutely impossible they should be either ignorant of the one or mistaken in the other without willful Perverseness and the most studied Prevarication He made himself known even by his name Jehovah to their Fathers in Egypt and assur'd them by many miraculous or Supernatural Acts of Vengeance upon the Heads of their Enemies that He who is the Author of Nature the Controller of Second Causes and the Soveraign Commander of all the World vouchsaf'd in a most peculiar manner to become their God He brought them out of that Land of their Captivity that House of their Bondage with a mighty hand and stretched-out Arm marching himself at the Head of their Armies in a Pillar of Cloud by Day and a Pillar of Fire by Night He afterwards most solemnly proclaim'd himself to them before the glorious Battalions of attending Angels upon Mount Sinai even entring into a Covenant with his People and as their Lord and King giving them Ordinances Laws and Statutes for the Regulation and Government of their Publick and Private Concerns their Lives and Polity In short He made Israel alone of all the Nations of the Earth his First-born array'd him with the Excellency of Dignity and the Excellency of Power caus'd all his Brethren to bow down before him and his name to be a Blessing and a Praise in all the Earth And yet so perverse and untoward was the Disposition of this People so monstrously disingenuous and ungrateful their Returns that they never seriously considered what he had done the wonderful Mercies he daily shew'd to them but always turn'd their Backs and fell away like their Forefathers starting aside like a broken Bow Tho' the Sons of Levi throughout all their Tribes instructed them continually in the Law of the Lord and Prophets were sent in every Generation to continue them in the Knowledge and Service of their God nay tho' God to prevent their seeking after lying Divinations was pleas'd in a most extraordinary manner to reside himself amongst them and to be always ready by his Urim and Thummim to answer and direct them in all momentous Emergencies yet they perpetually affronted him to his very Face and provok'd him to Jealousie by their shameless Backslidings They forsook God their Saviour and lightly esteem'd the Rock of their Salvation not only rejecting him from being their King when he reign'd with the tender Mercies and Indulgencies of a Father but also diminishing him even in his Godhead by setting up other Lords besides him to Rule over them No sooner did the Government * 1 Kings 12.30 introduce or †2 Kings 12.3 Ch. 18.4 tolerate the Superstitions of strange Worship but they display'd at large the Levity and Baseness of their Temper either causlesly falling off from the God of their Fathers and devoting themselves wholly
to the Abominations of their Neighbours or sacrilegiously dividing between Him and Them between the Lame and the Blind and the Almighty God The Temple of the Lord shall not be shut up nor broken down if the Houses of Idols may also stand open and be frequented nor the Priests of the Living God be molested in their Office provided the same Liberty be allow'd to the Worshippers of Daemons In a word They 'll be contented to Worship sometimes before the Ark of the Lord if at others they may as religiously bow themselves in the House of Rimmon and devoutly sing Praises to the God of Heaven may they joyn likewise in the Adorations and Services of Baal This lukewarm indifferent trimming Behaviour this desultory faithless ungodly Temper being justly reprov'd and condemn'd by the Prophets was so far from returning to a due stability in the ways of Godliness that it ran out into the violent outrageous Extreams of Bigotry and Superstition not contenting it self any longer with the Schismatical Erection of Altars against Altars but under the specious Colours of ancient Sophistry the plausible Pretences of a more excellent way of Worship proceeding even to throw down all the Altars of God in the Land to revile persecute and slaughter his Servants and to advance and cherish the Authors of Schism the Incendiaries of Church and State and the Patriots of their Irreligion the Prophets of Baal only As tho' to serve God in his own way was an unreasonable Imposition upon the Liberty of Conscience and the Patriarchs and Prophets were all Idiots and Mad-men because they and their Families would serve the Lord. This revolting light unstable People the Prophet Elijah I say expostulates with in the Text plainly affirming that 't is altogether inconsistent with the Nature of true Piety to halt between two Opinions or as Grotius explains it to alternate and vary in the Objects of their Devotion sometimes Worshipping God and sometimes Baal it being their indispensible Duty once for all to satisfie themselves throughly which of these two is God and then for ever to renounce the one and to fix and centre in the Service of the other How long says he halt ye between two Opinions If the Lord be God follow him But if Baal then follow him How seasonably we may with this Expostulation in our Mouth address our selves to the Present Age I need not inform you Every Man that looks carefully about him and seriously considers the present Posture of Affairs sees 't is absolutely necessary The Life and Spirit of Religion seem to be banish'd out of our Streets and nothing but Scepticism and Incredulity Superstition and Profaneness Hypocrisie and Dissimulation to dwell in our Land To promote their own Ends or the Interest of a Party Men profess themselves Sons of the Establish'd Church frequent her Assemblies conform to her Injunctions and appear zealous and devout in her holy Offices But all this while they do but flatter her with their Mouth and dissemble with her in their Tongue for their Heart is so far from being whole with her that they detest her Constitution repine at her Establishment and constantly strike in with her deadly Enemies endeavouring by all means possible to supplant and overthrow her They talk perpetually of the Loveliness of Friendship and wish that our Jerusalem might at length be at Peace and Unity within her self and yet at the same time they think it no Sin to frequent unlawful Assemblies tho' they thereby widen her Breaches strengthen the Hands of her Enemies confirm their Prejudices and become the Abetters and Promoters of an execrable Schism In a word They are exactly of the same Temper and Complexion with the upbraided People in the Text standing ready as the Tide of their Interest turns to revolt from God to his Rival from Truth to Falshood from Union to Schism from the Church to a Conventicle Now this indifferent Temper they ordinarily stile Moderation which is a Vertue truly excellent and laudable in it self but the least understood by these Men of any in the Circle That only obliges Men to manage their Disputes and to assert their Principles of whose Truth they are fully perswaded with Temper but This allows them to have no Principles at all or at least to act as if they had none and consequently is so far from answering its Character that 't is a very indecent and unreasonable thing odious and abominable in the Sight of God and Good Men most impious in its Nature and pernicious in its Consequences Which will evidently appear from these three Considerations I. That it plainly demonstrates that Men are acted by no fix'd and steddy Principles but are of vagrant and loose Minds unresolv'd in their Judgments unsetled in the Faith and in truth of very little or no Religion at all II. That it exposeth every particular Person to all the various and phantastick Spirits of Error and Delusion And III. The whole Community to Ruin and Destruction 1. This indifferent Temper is both impious in its Nature and also pernicious in its Consequences because it plainly demonstrates that Men are acted by no fix'd and steddy Principles but are of vagrant and loose Minds unresolv'd in their Judgments unsetled in the Faith and in truth of very little or no Religion at all Origen tells Celsus that such is the Nature and Excellency of Christianity that it utterly stript and devested Mankind of all their hereditary and most prevailing Immoralities the Scythian thereby becoming mild and courteous the Persian chast and continent the Roman humble and condescending and the Greek veracious and modest But had the Greek together with the Profession of Christianity still retain'd his Vanity and Falsness the Roman his Pride and Haughtiness the Persian his Softness and Incontinence and the Scythian his Fierceness and Inhumanity Had I say these Nations thus divided between the Christian Vertues and their Pagan Vices Christ and their Idols God and their Lusts the Father had never glory'd in their Accession to the Church but most deservedly excluded them from the Denomination of true Believers For how can he sincerely Believe God to be the Best of Beings who will not Love and Serve him with his whole Heart or Christ to be his only Saviour who shares his Affections between Him and Belial How can he believe Christianity to be a truly divine and heavenly Instituti-who affects it with Lukewarmness Indifferency or Moderation or how can he contend earnestly for the Faith once deliver'd to the Saints who still fluctuates and wavers between two Opinions The Indifferency of his Temper abundantly betrays the Incredulity of his Heart and having no settled Principles he is in danger like a Ship without Ballast to be over-set with every Wind of Delusion and Imposture The Second Thing to be considered 2. This indifferent Temper is both impious in its Nature and also pernicious in its Consequences because it exposeth every particular Person to all the
have any Man's Learning or Piety in such Veneration as to receive all he says for an Oracle for an infallible Rule of your Faith and Manners but that you always remember that you have a great Master in Heaven who has given you a sure and certain Rule to walk by and who expects your Obedience without any Reserve This Caution was given by our Lord himself to his Disciples Mat. 23. and it truly favours of the excellent Wisdom and Providence of its Author For the Proselites of the Pharisees were possest with such a Perswasion of the great Sanctity and unparallell'd Learning of their Masters that they entirely resign'd themselves up to their Conduct and Guidance becoming thereby both in Notion and Practice twofold more the Children of Hell than themselves and those famous Contests between the Thomists and Scotists and other Disputants in the Church of Rome are wholly to be ascrib'd to the over-weening Opinion which they all pertinaciously retain for their own Patriarchs Nay the First Sin that crept into the World came this way for I conceive with a great and learned * Joseph Mede Book 1. Disc xl Author of our own that 't was the too great Opinion which the Woman entertain'd of the Wisdom of the Serpent that induc'd her first to listen to and then to comply with his Suggestions and I doubt not but that the Apostate Spirits themselves might still have kept their Heavenly Habitations had not their deluded Fancies doubled the Glory of that Son of the Morning Lucifer In short †Vid. Hen. Dodwell Ep. 2. Sect. 5. Steph. Penton Appar Spec. ad Theol. par 1. cap. 6. 'T is the superstitious Reverence and unaccountable Honour which the Schoolmen pay to Authority that betrays them into many unhappy Errors as well in their Theological as Philosophical Speculations Honour Men then only as Men. Whatever their Natural or Acquir'd Excellencies may be they are all subject to Error Try all their Doctrines therefore whether they be of God and believe nothing tho' enforced with the greatest Human Authority unless upon due Examination you find it consonant to Scripture and Reason And so I come to the 2. Thing advisable which is That you would try all Things and not take up your Religion upon Trust upon the Authority and Recommendation of your Natural Civil or Spiritual Fathers but that you would let it be what it ought to be a Rational Service the Result of your own mature impartial and well-weigh'd Considerations And what in this I say unto you I would say more particularly to our Dissenting Brethren They are equally guilty with the Romanists in this Point depending too securely upon the Authority and acquiescing in the Reports and Representations of their Leaders I would therefore I say most earnestly intreat them as they will answer it at the Dreadful Day of Judgment when every Man must stand or fall by his own Conscience to judge for themselves and fairly and ingenuously severely and impartially to weigh and consider the Doctrine and Discipline the Principles and Order of our Establish'd Church Could we thus far prevail I am verily parsuaded that those Heats and Passions which now so tumultuously boil in some Mens Bowels against her would all evaporate and expire and we should soon walk together into the House of God as Friends Which I therefore believe because 't is well known that many of her Adversaries have been perfectly reconcil'd to her upon lesser Motives only by venturing to consult their own Senses and calmly and sedately to look into her Devotions The Church did then to their unbiass'd Judgments most clearly unfold her ravishing Beauty and Brightness and their wondring Eyes saw and confess'd her Parts and comely Proportions She appear'd fair as Tirzah comely as Jerusalem and quite contrary to their Expectations terrible to Enthusiasm and Popery too as an Army with Banners I would therefore I say again most earnestly intreat these Persons to lay aside their Prejudices and with their own Eyes seriously to look into and examine her Constitution If she injoyns any thing that 's inconsistent with any Law of Reason any Law or Rule of the Gospel any Article of our Faith any part of Christian Worship or the Practice of the Universal Church in the First and Purest Ages Reason would that we should bear with their Separation But if her Doctrine be truly consonant to the Word of God If her Discipline serves directly to the Beating down the Strong-holds of Sin and to the Promotion of Piety and a Good Life If her Devotions are substantially pious and prudent serious and comprehensive significant and intelligible and Every way most wisely and divinely compos'd If her Ceremonies are not only few in Number but likewise decent grave significant and edifying in their Nature and Use In a word If she does all things according to the Apostolical Injunction Decently and in order after the Primitive Patterns according to the best measures of Human Wisdom If I say she does all this and all this 't will be demonstratively evident to every impartial Enquirer that she does then I cannot but affirm that their Separation from us in point of Conscience is altogether unwarrantable impious schismatical But because they are taught to be deaf to our Apologies and with an unmanly blind implicit Faith to believe us Apostates to Popery and Innovation I would I say most earnestly beseech them to use their own Senses and to read to think and to judge at last for themselves That they would not pass Sentence upon us before they know us nor judge of the Doctrine or Discipline of our Church by the Prejudices of their Education or the disingenuous illaudable Reports of their Partial Leaders but wholly and entirely by the word of God the sure infallible Rule of the Holy-Scriptures A Method which in the next place I likewise most heartily advise you to 3. Then Read the Scriptures This is the Duty of Every Christian requir'd and injoyn'd by the Saviour of our Souls the Lord Christ Jesus Search the Scriptures says * Joh. 5.39 he for in them ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testifie of me And indeed 't was by these that our Lord himself repell'd the impudent Assaults and crafty Insinuations of the Devil that his Apostles both planted and water'd his Church and that the pious Fathers and Councils baffled the Heresies and put to Silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. Let as many of us therefore as can distinguish between Good and Evil Young Men and Maidens Old Men and even Children be conversant in these Writings They are that Rule which if duly attended to will not suffer us to err being not like the Oracles of Daemons wrapt up in intricate obscure ambiguous Expressions but plain and easie to the meanest Understanding Plain and Easie I say in all things necessary to Salvation the Credenda as well as the Agenda of our Religion the things
which demand our Faith as well as those that call for our Practice in many places displaying themselves in such Capital Letters that he who runs may read them There are indeed in these Writings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some obscure Places and hard to be understood But these I conceive are not necessary to be understood For if they were our Heavenly Father had undoubtedly so deliver'd them that by his Blessing upon our honest Labour and Study we should at length certainly clearly and distinctly understand them But since as I humbly conceive they are not so deliver'd but after all our Pains and Industry lie securely envelop'd with their own Darkness we may safely conclude from the Goodness of our Maker that they are not necessary to be understood Nay I verily believe that such is the nature of some of these Places especially of some in St. John's Revelations that 't is prodigious Impertinence and unpardonable Vanity to determine peremptorily upon them They seem to be Prophecies which belong not to us but to our Children Not to the Present but Future Ages of the Church when they will all clear up and apparently unfold themselves in their utmost Completion Then at last will the Clouds all vanish and disappear and these places shine forth with untainted Lustre and Brightness Then will the Church behold with Joy and Transport the manifold Wisdom of God which for wise and great Ends is hid from these Ages and Generations and which therefore 't is no ways necessary we should understand Let others then if they dare venture curiously pry into these Recondite Points Let them continually rack and torture their Brains in the fruitless search after these hidden Mysteries till their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowledge falsly so call'd so swell add puff them up that they either wrest them to their own Perdition over-looking the plain self-evident places and by unwarrantable contradictory expositions of the obscure bringing in damnable Heresies and Corruptions into the Church or of all which this present Age is abundant proof they cause their own Heads to grow vertiginous and irrecoverably fall into the lamentable state of Delirancy and Madness But let us be sober and wise unto Salvation not impertinently prying into things beyond our reach but studying the things which make for Peace and things whereby we may edifie one another Let us meditate in the Law of the Lord not to gratifie our Curiosity but to meliorate our Lives not to encourage and patronize Divisions and Schism but to preserve Union and Concord in the Church of God Not to be litigious noisy and impertinent but holy and unblameable in all manner of Conversation The fourth and last thing to be advis'd 4. Study to live well or in all the Accidents and Emergencies of your Lives to keep a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Man This is the best and surest way to preserve your selves pure from all manner of Contagion For I can never entertain such unworthy Thoughts of my Blessed Maker as to think he will suffer an ingenuous Soul who makes it her Business sincerely to search after Truth and diligently to walk in the old Paths ever to die in any Damnable Error And if I am not unpardonably mistaken the Sacred Oracles do abundantly confirm me in this Persuasion Great peace says the * Psal 119. ver 105. Psalmist have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them and †Ver. 130. again When thy word goeth forth it giveth light and understanding unto the simple and ‖ Ver. 104. again Thro' thy Commandments I get understanding therefore I hate all evil ways And our ** Joh. 7.17 Lord himself If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God And as I am persuaded that 't is absolutely impossible for a devout well-meaning sincere and pious Soul ever to die in any damnable Error so on the other hand I conceive it almost as impossible for a Man who has cast off all Care of his Conscience to keep his Faith long pure and undefil'd †2 Tim. 1.19 20. St. Paul tells us of Hymeneus and Alexander that having put away their Conscience they miserably made Shipwrack of their Faith And 't is observable of the Learned Jews that when about three or fourscore Years before the Nativity of Christ they began to relax their Discipline and to dissolve into the loose and wanton Customs of their neighbouring Orientals they immediately betook themselves likewise to transform their Faith resolving the Commandments of God into their own Inventions and making his Word of none effect through their upstart Traditions You see they first defil'd their Conscience and then their Faith May then the God of all Grace who hath call'd us unto his Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus keep us stedfast in the Faith once deliver'd to the Saints and to that End stablish strengthen settle us in every good Word and Work To Him he Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen Amen 1 PET. Ch. v. Ver. 8. Your Adversary the Devil as a Roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour WHether that ancient Opinion of the Heathens de invidiâ Daemonis had its Rise only from those grand Cheats and Delusions which the more inquisitive and searching Heads amongst them observ'd to be impos'd upon the World not only in their more common and ordinary ways of divination but likewise by the most celebrated Oracles themselves as * De Myst Aegypt Jamblichus argues or rather as the Learned †Orig. of Temp. Eo Casaubon contends borrow'd its Original from the History of the Fall of Man which the several Nations are suppos'd to have receiv'd by Tradition from the Sons of Noah and Plato more particularly from some Learned Jews in Egypt I shall not take upon me to determine My present Scope and Design being only to shew 1. That in the Confession of All as well Heathens as Christians there are a sort of wicked and malignant Daemons which are Enemies to mankind Express'd in these Words of my Text The Devil your Adversary 2. That these wicked and malignant Daemons are permitted to wander up and down in the Earth Express'd in these Words The Devil your Adversary walketh about 3. To lay open with what indefatigaable Pains and various Stratagems they seek to ruine Men and with what Cruelty they treat them when they are deliver'd up into their hands Express'd and imply'd in these words As a roaring Lyon he walketh about seeking whom he may devour 4. Though they have Malice enough to destroy us all yet that they cannot do us the least Mischief unless God permits them Express'd in these Words Seeking whom he may devour or may be permited to devour 1. In the Confession of All as well Heathens as Christians there are a sort of wicked and malignant Daemons which are Enemies to mankind Should we take the Wings of the
Glorified Spirits to behold admire and praise his excellent Greatness and when our enlarged Souls shall fly away to the same blissful Mansions and be admitted to the Comprehensions of an intuitive Beatitude they shall with equal Satisfaction contemplate his Divine Beauty and as skilfully tune their Harps to his Praises as they Let us therefore in the mean time lay our Hand upon our Mouth and with all due Prostration both of Body and Mind adore this great Mystery of Goodness this astonishing Miracle of the Divine Mercy and Condescention which though above the adequate Comprehension of our Reason is put beyond all possibility of Distrust being most amply confirm'd to us by the concurrent and infallible Testimony of God Angels and Men. At his Baptism and Transfiguration you know he was proclaim'd by a Voice from Heaven to be the Beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleas'd And again when he bringeth in his First-begotten into the World he commands that this Exinanition of himself this Obscuration of his Essential Glory under the Veil of Humane Flesh may not diminish one Ray from the Honour of his Divine Majesty but that all the Potentates in Heaven and Earth fall down and worship him Worship him †Psal 97.7 says he all ye Gods all ye Angels and Thrones in Heaven all ye Kings and Judges of the Earth The holy Angels with their usual Chearfulness obey'd the Royal Orders They humbly ador'd the holy Child Jesus and stood ready through all the Periods of his Life to Serve and Worship him St. Peter though he saw him not so clearly as these Blessed Spirits generously confess'd that he was Christ the Son of the Living God and he receiv'd this Confirmation from the Mouth of our Lord himself That Flesh and Blood had not reveal'd it unto him but his Father only which is in Heaven Nay to the everlasting Shame and Confusion of the unbelieving Sons of Men the Devils themselves have ever subscrib'd to this Article They knew and confess'd him here on Earth and still believe and tremble The over-aw'd and trembling ‖ Vid. Suidam in August Oracle plainly confess'd to the Roman Emperour at his Birth that though he appear'd under all the disadvantageous Circumstances of Humanity and Weakness He was the Soveraign Lord and King of the blest Beings above * Luke 8.28 which was afterwards confirm'd by a whole Legion of unclean Spirits when in the Man possess'd they joyntly lifted up their Voices to him with a Jesus thou Son of God Most High But to what purpose I say was all this or why all this Noise and Ostentation had he not been the Son of God in another and more excellent manner than were any of the Sons of Men who either liv'd with him or that went before him had there not been something in it extraordinary that entitled him to so sublime and divine a Privilege Angels Kings and Prophets I confess are frequently call'd the Sons of God They have a larger Participation of his Power or a Communication of more special Grace than is indulg'd and granted to his other Children but yet their Honour and Dignity fall infinitely short of that of Jesus the Son of God For to which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this Day have I begotten thee Or who is he amongst all those exalted Sons of the Most High whom the Father advanc'd to sit at his own Right-hand till his Enemies are made his Footstool David you know was a King and yet he calls him Lord and John the Baptist though he was more than a Prophet was never by Angels Men or Devils acknowledg'd to be properly the Son of God no these are the high Prerogatives of our Lord Christ Jesus to him alone belong the most glorious and supereminent Titles of his own Son his only Son his only Begotten and the Heir of all things So that in all things I say he has the Preheminence But the Scriptures if possible speak plainer yet They not only instruct by natural and necessary Illations and Consequences but also to prevent all Cavils and Disputes are careful in many places to assert this Truth as clearly and as expresly as Words can speak * Joh. 20.28 29. St. Thomas believes and confesseth to him that he is his Lord and God and those who should afterwards inherit the same Faith are pronounced Blessed The Beloved †Joh. 1.1 Disciple is positive that the Word was God and in the Close of his first Epistle speaking of Jesus to shew against an Objection which he rightly foresaw would be afterwards urg'd against the Christians that they might safely worship him without any Fear or Danger of that Idolatry which the Heathens were guilty of in worshipping their Daemons This says he is not Deus factus a made God a God by Office not by Nature but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the True God The Learn'd * 1 Cor. 15.87 1 Tim. 3.16 Rom. 9.5 Apostle adds that this Second Man is the Lord from heaven and God manifested in the Flesh and again most blasphemously if not truly this being that particular Eulogy which is due only to Jehovah the one Supreme Eternal God of Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God over all Blessed for Ever and Ever Nay not to mention the many Repetitions of this most glorious Doxology to him in other places of Scripture This is that good Confession our Lord himself made before his Judge He had all along to the Rage and Amazement of his Enemies held his peace shewing by his Silence that he despis'd all their Accusations as certain and apparent Calumnies But no sooner is urg'd to determine this Point but he opens his Mouth and decides the matter I adjure thee by the living God * Mat. 26.63 64. says the High-Priest that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God Jesus after their modest way of Affirmation saith unto him Thou hast said Or as St. Mark more positively Jesus said I am 'T is certain the High-Priest understood him not in that Vulgar Sense wherein Great and Righteous Persons Kings and Prophets are call'd the Sons of God but that he affirm'd himself to be so in the Literal Proper and Natural Signification of the words For otherwise he could not upon the account of this Confession have charg'd him with Blasphemy nor consequently the Council have voted him to be guilty of Death Thus too in the Fifth of St. John he tells the Jews plainly that God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own Father making himself thereby as they rightly concluded to be Equal with God And in another Conference with them in the Tenth of that Evangelist He not only owns himself to be the Christ and the Son of God in the most proper sence but adds farther that He and his Father are One One not in Will only but in Essence Glory Honour and Power I am sure the Jews understood him
all Duty and Obedience a Charter only of Libertinism and Licentiousness Provided a Man be orthodox in his Notions and sound in his Faith 't is no matter how he lives like an Angel or like a Devil so apt are Men to abjure their Reason in complement to their Senses and rather than forsake their darling Vices to shelter them under the Patronage even of the immaculate Jesus But if we look upon Christianity as our Great Master himself is pleas'd to hold the Perspective as he is all Fair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 50.2 the Perfection of Beauty and the Holy One of Israel so would his Institution appear to be a most fair and amiable Copy of his Eternal Beauty and Holiness It commands us not to rest in a fruitless barren and dead Faith but to evidence its Life and Reality by our Works That we walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith we are called turning from these Idols of our own Brains these vain fantastick Ideas of our carnal Imaginations to serve truly and painfully the Living God That we trifle not away our precious hours in Idleness and Impertinence but work out our Salvation with all that Care and Solicitude a matter of such moment requires even with Fear and Trembling It endeavour◠by all the endearing Methods of everlasting Love and Kindness to allure and charm us into the Practice of all Vertues beseeching us even by the Mercies of God all those ineffable Appearances of Goodness which take up the Wonder the Praises and the Adorations of the Sons of God in Glory that we think no Sacrifices worthy of our Maker but such as are offer'd in the purest Fires the most ardent and brightest Flames of Seraphick Love That the Redeem'd of the Lord declare not his Glory in such feeble Sounds and Voices as are the faint Echoes of a distant Valley but that they clap their hands together with Joy and Chearfulness and sing Praises to him lustily and with a good Courage That our Souls with all their Powers and Faculties magnifie and set forth the admirable Greatness of the Lord and our Minds also or Spirits rejoyce with Joy unspeakable in God their Saviour In a word That we do not the Work of the Lord negligently nor be remiss and slothful in the great Business of our Souls but always fervent in Spirit vigorously industrious to improve all those Talents all those golden Opportunities God intrusts us with to our greatest Advantage with our utmost Diligence serving the Lord. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might The Reasonableness of which Exhortation I shall briefly represent to you from these following Considerations I. From the Nature of God II. From the Nature of our own Souls III. From the transcendent and inestimable Value of the Rewards that attend us And IV. From the exceeding Brevity or Shortness of the time we are allow'd to work in 1. From the Nature of God Was God indeed such a one as the Epicureans fansi'd him to be a Being taken up with the Fruition and Contemplation of his own Blessedness and that would never vouchsafe to respect the humble Addresses and Supplications of his most faithful Servants we should have no great reason to wonder at that Coldness and Indifferency that lukewarm and careless Behaviour which appears so visibly in our Religious Performances Nay I could willingly conclude with the Wise * Senec. de Benef. lib. 4. cap. 4. Heathen that nothing but pure Madness could induce Mankind to bestow any Worship at all upon such a Being who as though he was deaf as Baal and helpless as Dagon after all their Wrestlings and Importunities would neither hear them nor help them But alas we have no such Pretence or Subterfuge for our Impiety The God whom we serve is indeed that Blessedness and Eternal Being that rests upon his own Center without the Assistance of any External Object enjoying infinite Delight and Complacency from the solitary Contemplation of his own Essential Perfections He dwells in the high and lofty Place encircled with such transcendent Rays of Light that the brightest Seraphim veil their Faces and at an awful distance adore his inaccessible Glory Yet do Mercy and Goodness so essentially sit enthron'd with his glorious Majesty that even he who thus inhabits Eternity humbleth himself to behold the things that are done both in Heaven and Earth The Lord looketh down from Heaven says the * Psal 33.13 Psalmist and beholds all the Children of Men from the habitation of his Dwelling he considereth all them that dwell upon the Earth And the Philosophick Orator without the help of Revelation Sit persuasum civibus says he and so on i. e. Let all the Citizens assuredly know that God takes particular notice what manner of Persons we are with what Mind and Devotion we perform the Acts of our Religious Worship and that he will deal with every man according to his Works He is not a petty Prince 1 King 20.13 28. as the Syrians profanely imagin'd whose Knowledge and Soveraignty are confin'd only to a particular Province but the Lord most High is terrible he is a great King over all the Earth Not only the shining Inhabitants of the Courts above the innumerable and invincible Legions of Glorious Angels but the inferiour Troops likewise of natural Causes serve under his Banner and duly execute his Commands He maketh the Spirits or Winds his Messengers and the flaming Fires his Agents or Ministers The Clouds at his Command drop Fatness upon the Hills and Mountains and the Valleys likewise by his Blessing stand in their Season so thick with Corn that they laugh and sing Yea the most casual and seemingly fortuitous Actions are order'd by his Wisdom and the Sun sees nothing in all his Course so little and inconsiderable but what falls under his Care and Providence He feeds the young Ravens that call upon him and the Lions roaring after their prey do seek and receive their Meat from God By him do the Rose in Sharon and the Lily of the Valleys on play their fragrant Beauties and the airy Choiristers securely sit upon the Boughs and sing not one of them falling to the ground without our heavenly Father Yea the very Hairs of our Head says our Lord are all numbred In short no Space no Place exludes his Presence He penetrates into the Center of our Spirits enters the secret Chambers the closest Recesses and Retirements of our Hearts yea and discovers all our most secret Thoughts and Imaginations long before we our selves do even before they are He is about our Paths and about our Beds and spies out all our ways Now then considering the Nature of God how ought our Souls think ye to be employ'd in his Worship and Service Is this God whose Majesty fills Heaven and Earth to be approach'd with flat and tepid Devotions Is he fond of trifling impertinent Ceremonies or to be pleas'd with Lip-Devotion and complemental Addresses
Certainly no. The Lame and the Blind says the Prophet such impotent Mal. 1.8 imperfect Services if offer'd to an Earthly Governour would most assuredly be rejected much less then can they be grateful â—o him who is the Fountain of all Dominion and Soveraignty the Lord of Lords and King of Kings who reigns to all the Ends of the Earth The matchless Excellency of his Nature as many Learned Pagans have observ'd calls for our best and noblest Performances neither will he accept of any thing less than the Cream the Flower and Strength of our Reason We must nor pretend to honour him with our Lips when our Hearts are far from him but always approach him with the deepest Awe Reverence and Admiration love and desire him as an exact and learned †Mr. Norris in his Reas and Rel. pag. 39. Author speaks with the full Bent and Spring of our Souls and fix and concenter upon him all our Passions and Affections The Armies of Heaven the glorious Troops of Angels serve him thus Their Wings know no weariness from continual Flying their Voices are never hoarse through loud and constant Allelujahs but with unconceivable Alacrity and Joy they sing and fly and do his Will to all Eternity 'T is true our present Incumbrances are many our Wings are clipp'd and we cannot run so nimbly as these bright Favourites of Heaven yet such is the Nature of our Souls that even in this unhappy state of Degeneracy they may arrive to many degrees of their Bâ—…ness and Alacrity 'T is impossible 〈◊〉 we should love and praise our Maker 〈◊〉 these Spirits do who with open Face behold his unfolded and essential Gloâ—… yet may our Spirits if they are not wanâ—ing to themselves regain in a great measure their heavenly Nature and Activity They need not be so oppress'd with the weight of the Body not so confin'd to these Walls of Clay but that they may frequently â—o abroad recover upon the Wing mount into a purer Air far above the â—ttractions and Enchantments of Sense and converse freely with God And so I come to my Second Consideration which is to represent to you the Reasonableness of the Exhortation contain'd in the Text from the Nature of our own Souls 2. Sad indeed and deplorable are the Decays of our Primitive Beauty and lamentable the Ruins of our Original Frame God made Man upright his whole Constitution was beautiful and harmonious and his Soul drawn as it were by the central Force of her native Seat mov'd naturally towards Heaven But if we view him in his present Condition Quantum mutatus ab illo est how is this glorious Creature changed Clouds and Darkness if I may so speak are continually round about him Confusion and Disorder are the Habitation of his Seat His Understanding is dark and cloudy his Will crooked and perverse and he is become a strange Contradiction to himself being not able to do the things that he would Wars and Tumults intestine Broils and Commotions ruffle and discompose him and there is a Law in his Members impetuously fighting against and frequently bringing into Captivity the Law of the Mind But though the Soul is thus shamefully fallen from her Primitive State of Excellency and Perfection yet how glorious is she still in comparison of all the Creatures that are round about her The glimmering Remains of her original Beauty the very Twilight of her native Lustre and Brightness appears so wonderful and dazling that she is still but a few degrees below the Angels of God How swift are her Motions how nimble her Thoughts how brisk and active her Operations and Reflections The swiftest Morning-Ray passeth not so soon from East to West as she flies through all the Airy Regions into the highest Heavens and thence again descends through all the Ethereal Plains to contemplate in their various Mansions the Workmanship of her Maker How exalted are her Aspirations how boundless her Desires how vastly large and comprehensive her Capacities She weighs all the Excellencies of Nature in a Balance and finds them wanting her Appetites and Inclinations being no more to be satisfied with any Created Good than an hungry Stomach with wise Sayings or excellent Diagrams But now has God enrich'd our Minds with these noble Powers to prosecute the Delights or Interests of this World and to bestow some fashionable and perfunctory Attendance only on his Service and Obedience No these vast capacious Spirits that can take in and lodge so many Truths together without Confusion or Disorder that are so restless and indefatigable in their Search after Happiness and can no where acquiesce or terminate their Desires upon any Created Good are design'd for the highest and most exalted Entertainments Not for these disproportionate Objects of Sense the faeculent Pleasures of the Body which the contracted Faculties of Brutes are able even in their utmost Intention to comprehend but for Joys truly Angelical and Divine for Communion and Fellowship with God himself by Prayers and Praises here and for the most intimate Fruition of his Beatifick and Essential Glories in Heaven hereafter How unworthily then do we behave our selves towards them when we decoy them down into earthly Enjoyments How do we cramp and streighten their Faculties contract and lessen their aspiring Strength and Vivacity Their natural Motion you see is towards Heaven and they grasp at nothing less than Glory and Honour and Immortality Let us not then confine them to the Earth when they are ready to take Wing and fly towards Heaven Let us not enslave them to poor and beggarly Objects when their Capacities dispose them for the Fruition of the Best Being the Life of Angels When through the Assistances of Religion they are advanc'd to their true Elevation they 'll immediately ascend above the Magnetism of secular Entertainments They will then be possest with such lively and ravishing Apprehensions of the Divine Beauty as will oblige them for his sake utterly to discard and renounce all their other Loves Though there be threescore Queens and fourscore Concubines and Virgins without number yet their Love their Undefil'd will be but one In a word They 'll collect and concenter all the scatter'd Rays of their Affections into this one Point delight and solace themselves only in the Lord their God and sing and give Praise to him with Fervour and Alacrity as the Angels do who joyfully wait his Call and stand with Wings stretch'd out ready to fly when he commands 3. I am to represent to you the Reasonableness of the Exhortation contain'd in the Text from the Consideration of the transcendent and inestimable Value of the Rewards that attend us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are engag'd says the Philosopher in a great Conflict a Divine Enterprize 't is for a Kingdom and for Liberty for the Liberty even of the Sons of God and for the Kingdom of Heaven As we were not redeem'd by corruptible things such as Gold Silver or precious Stones
a Prison before the Tribunal of Christ and hear the just Sentence of Eternal Death more solemnly pronounc'd against them before the General Assembly of the Saints and Angels This I say is the deplorable and undone Condition of the Apostate Angels Their Fall is irrecoverable their Sin irremissible and the Decree that is gone out against them irreversible But Man tho' a Being of a much lower Class and an Apostate too finds Favour and Mercy at the hands of his God He vouchsafes him the liberty of Second Thoughts and if we will but be obedient and hearken promiseth an entire Renovation of his Corrupted Nature by the abundant and powerful Communications of his most Holy Spirit Nay so desirous is he of this happy Change that he long prostitutes his Patience as I shall instantly shew more at large to Mens wanton Humours in Expectation of it is contented to lay aside his amazing Glories and seems to divest and strip himself of all his Attributes save that of Mercy His All-seeing Eye graciously overlooks our manifold Sins and Wickednesses and as tho' he saw them not continues to shine upon us with its reviving Brightness His Justice gives way to his Forbearance and Long-suffering and when it takes place 't is so temper'd and qualify'd that in the midst of Judgment he always remembers Mercy Mercy is his Favourite his darling Excellence that lovely and amiable Attribute which is over all his Works and in which we are sure his Soul takes most Delight and Complacency 'T was by this Name he in the Presence and Assembly of his invincible Holy Ones upon Mount Sinai most solemnly proclaim'd himself to his Servant Moses The Lord Exod. 34.6 says he the Lord God merciful and gracious Nay tho' he is the God of all Truth and therefore can no more deceive than be deceived yet as though it had been a small thing thus to have proclaim'd himself before Men and Angels he has likewise in a gracious and wonderful Condescension to the Infirmities of his Creatures and that the broken and contrite Spirit might have the surest Word of Promise that could possibly be given it vouchsaf'd even to interpose his Oath and as solemnly to swear the same thing As I live saith the Lord God Ezek. 33.11 I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel What tender what compassionate Strains are these 'T is as if he had said Since there is no Being so great as my self by my self I have sworn that as sure as I am God that eternal and faithful Being with whom is no Variableness or Shadow of Turning I desire not the Death of any Sinner but had rather ten thousand times over that you would all from the least to the greatest hear my Voice in this Accepted Time this day of Salvation and repent and be sav'd For now do I freely offer you my Grace which I most passionately beseech and intreat you to accept and to return and live Turn ye then turn ye unto me for why will ye die Why will ye weary me out with your continued Provocations Why will ye constrain me by your unworthy and most wretched Abuses of my Grace your insufferable Grievings of my Spirit at length to depart from you and to leave you to die in your Sins Is Eternal Death so desirable a thing Is Heaven and my Glory so despicable and vile Why then let me ask you again since you have my free Grace to enable you to Return nay since 't is far easier for you to be saved than to be damned why why will ye die O house of Israel Thus does our Heavenly Father by the most solemn Protestations demonstrate his Everlasting Love and Kindness to Mankind And how exactly do all his Dispensations correspond with these his gracious Declarations With what Patience I say and Forbearance does he deal even with the greatest of Sinners How affectionately intreat them to fly into the Harbour and to secure themselves by a timely Reformation from the Wrath which is to come Such various Ways and Methods does he contrive to bring them to Repentance so earnestly beg and sollicite them to accept in time the Terms of Salvation that one would think 't was his own not their Interest that Men should be sav'd He always like a generous Enemy declares Sinners his just Anger and Displeasure and excites them before it be too late to prepare to Meet him and with Weapons which will most certainly prevail viz. Prayers and Tears to disarm his Justice Thus when within the small compass of about two thousand years his gracious and marvellous Works of Creation and Providence were so far from being prais'd and had in Honour that all Flesh had degenerated from this great End of its Creation and most shamefully corrupted its way upon the Earth tho' he was griev'd to speak after the manner of Men at the very Heart and it repented him that he had made Man yet he could not immediately withdraw his Hand and let him fall into Ruine but mercifully prolong'd the day of Vengeance and gave his sinful Creatures time and space for Repentance He resolv'd indeed that the Spirits which he had made should not Eternally remain in their Bodies as Slaves and Vassals to those Instruments of Unrighteousness but that if Men repented not he would open the Windows of Heaven and break up the Fountains of the great Deep and bring in a Flood upon them that should sweep them all away But before he can do this Noah a Preacher of Righteousness must daily assure them of their Danger and he waits their Repentance a hundred and twenty Years Thus too tho' the Sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were very grievous and cryed loud and the Cry of them ascended up into the Ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth yet could not they prevail with him to let loose his Thunder to overwhelm them with a swift and deserv'd Destruction but on the contrary to prevent if possible their Ruine he by his good Providence so order'd and dispos'd things that Lot a holy and pious Person living amongst them should first lay before them their prodigious Impieties and warn them to prevent the heavy Judgments due to them by a speedy Repentance And when notwithstanding all this they sinned yet more and forc'd his Holy Spirit to forsake them utterly by their intolerable Fornications yet would not his Goodness then give him leave to execute upon them the Fierceness of his Indignation but still stay'd his hand and engag'd him to be gracious As though 't was possible for him to be deceiv'd it induc'd him to make a further Enquiry to go down and see whether they had indeed done altogether according to the Cry of it which was come unto him Nay tho' their Sins and Provocations were so many and so great yet so much
8.5 Apostle observes that are called Gods yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many Celestial and Soveraign Gods according to the ‖ Vid. Jamblich de Myst Aegypt sect 5. c. 17. M. Osyr sub finem dissertationis primae Platonists who never interest themselves in the Affairs of Mankind and Many subordinate and inferiour Lords or Daemons whose Office as you have heard is to be Agents and Mediator between the Gods and Men Yet shall no Man spoil me through this absurd Philosophy and vain Deceit which is only after the Tradition of Men after the weak and beggarly Rudiments of the World and not after Christ For to us Christians says the same * 1 Cor. 8.6 and 1 Tim. 2.5 Apostle there is but one soveraign God the Lord of Heaven and Earth and but one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus This Himself confirms in that Dialogue between Him and the Angels recorded by the Prophet Who is this say they in Rapture and Amazement that cometh from Edom Isa 63. with died garments from Bozrah This that is glorious in his Apparel travelling in the Greatness of his Strength I that speak in Righteousness answers our Lord Mighty to save But wherefore they humbly ask again art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat I have trodden the wine-press alone says our Lord and of the People there was none with me I alone am mighty to save and besides me there is no Saviour Good luck then have thou with thine Honour O Lord Ride on because of the Word of Truth of Meekness and of Righteousness and thy Right-Hand shall teach thee terrible things Terrible things indeed for the Kings Enemies who would have other Lords besides Thee to rule over them But gracious and comfortable things for thy Servants the Sheep of thy Pasture who know thy Voice and therefore come to thee who alone canst give Ease to our Troubled Spirits being that Lamb of God which takest away the Sins of the whole World And so I come to the third thing observable in the Text viz. the Persons invited who are All Penitent Sinners in general All ye that labour and are heavy laden All ye that sigh and groan and are bow'd down and ready to sink under the grievous burthen of your sins 3. There is no Person no Time no Rank or Quality whatsoever that is excepted God would have all Men come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be sav'd says the * 1 Tim. 2.4 Apostle there 's the Universality of the Persons And the Time the †Ezek. 18.27 Prophet tells us is as universal 't is not now and then only but whensoever a wicked man turneth away from the wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive Accordingly we find God in the 1st of Isa calling to all Sinners in general without any Distinction of Circumstances Ages or Conditions to come and be reconcil'd to him Wash ye make ye clean says he put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well and then tho' neither the Out-goings of the Morning nor of the Evening have prais'd me but from the Height of your Youth to the Declensions of Old Age you have been taken and led Captive by your Sins at their will I will do them all away Tho' they be as Scarlet they shall be white like Snow tho' they be red like Crimson they shall be as wool And again in the third of Jeremiah he with Infinite Tenderness and Affection courts his People to come to him tho' they had most frequently revolted and infinitely offended his Divine Majesty They say if a Man put away his Wife and she be joyn'd to another Man she shall not return to her former Husband any more But thou hast played the harlot with many Lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord. Thus Absolute and Universal are the Promises and Invitations God makes to Sinners Thus solemnly and pathetically does he declare as you saw more at large in my First General Head his Good-will towards them that he desires not the death of any of them all but had rather they would every one of them from the Least to the Greatest turn from their evil ways and Live And yet we meet with some Persons in the World whose Ears are entirely stopped against this gracious and ravishing Voice of the Heavenly Charmer The Suggestions of Satan or the Unhappiness of an ill Constitution of Body or the unwarrantable Assertions of some ill-natur'd surly and melancholy Pseudo-Prophets or possibly all these three together have plung'd their tender Spirits in the profoundest Depth of Amazement and Despair They think they have committed a Sin unto Death the Sin against the Holy Ghost and therefore that Salvation belongs not to them but that tho' at present in different Mansions they are reserv'd as well as the Devils for Everlasting Chains of Darkness at the Judgment of the Great Day The Case of these Persons is sad and lamentable and such as calls for our Prayers our Sorrow and our utmost Assistance And indeed for their Sakes I first made Choice of my Text tho' the second thing observable in it hath hitherto interrupted my Prosecution of this Matter Have Patience therefore now I pray whilst for the Ease of such afflicted Souls and to prevent through God's Blessing such dangerous Mistakes in others I insist upon this Point Now the Sin against the Holy Ghost is generally thought to be irremissible and our Saviour's Words seem to assert as much All manner of Sin and Blasphemy * Matt. 12.31 32. says he shall be forgiven unto Men but Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto Men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the son of Man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world neither in the world to come And again in †Chap. 3. v. 28 29. St. Mark Verily I say unto you All Sins shall be forgiven unto the Sons of Men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but is obnoxious to the Sentence of Eternal Damnation And yet S. Chrysostom among the Ancients and ‖ In Matt. 12. Maldonat ‖ In Matt. 12. Grotius ‖ In Matt. 12. Hammond and * Great Exampl pag. 201. Taylor amongst the Moderns are so charitable as to think that this Expression shall not be forgiven is to be Understood with a Qualification Impossibility in Scripture sometimes denoting no more than an extream Difficulty Thus our Lord expressly * Mark 10. declares that 't is easier for a camel to go through the Eye of a Needle which is absolutely impossible than for a rich Man to enter
into the Kingdom of God Yet he means not by this Assertion utterly to exclude all Rich Men from the Hopes of Heaven but only signifies to us that 't is a very hard and difficult matter for them that trust in Riches saying to Gold Thou art our Hope and to the fine Gold Thou art our Confidence ever to undertake the severer Discipline of the Gospel here and consequently to be made Partakers of his Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven hereafter How hard is it says he to his astonish'd Disciples for them that trust in Riches to enter into the Kingdom of God In like manner say these Learned Men when he positively asserts that all Sins and Blasphemies whatsoever shall be forgiven unto Men but that the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven he means not that 't is absolutely impossible it should ever be forgiven but only that it shall not be forgiven so easily but more hardly and with greater Difficulty than any other Sin or Blasphemy whatsoever Non utiquè quod remitti non possit as the fore-cited Jesuit not that it cannot he forgiven at all but because they who commit it nullam peccati sui excusationem habent are utterly destitute of all Apologies and Excuses and therefore are more unpardonable than other Men. I confess I can determine nothing in this matter whether this Sin be irremissible or not I can only answer with the humble Prophet Lord thou knowest God's gracious dealing indeed with David after his Adultery and Murther with Peter after his Denial of his Master with Paul after his persecuting the Church and with a thousand other Sinners of the same Magnitude obligeth me to believe that there is no Sin or Blasphemy whatsoever which is irremissible in respect of God and that therefore if the Sin against the Holy Ghost be indeed irremissible 't is only because it utterly excludes those who commit it from Repentance But tho I dare not be positive as to the Consequences of this Sin yet what is a greater matter of Comfort to despairing Souls I may venture to affirm that as to the Nature of it 't is such as cannot be committed by any Christian If you ask me what 't is I briefly answer That 't is a Total Apostasie and Final Falling away from Christ and his Gospel I say a Total Apostasie and Final Falling away And yet not every Total Apostasie and Final Falling away neither For 't is possible a poor ignorant Soul may be so decluded as to Apostatize from Christianity to Mahometism or some other Imposture and yet still believe Christ to have been a very good Man But this is such a Total Apostasie such a Final Falling away from Christ and his Gospel as is attended with the greatest Virulency Rancour Spight and Malice against both as can be imagin'd When a Man not only utterly renounceth the known Truth but also doth hate and abhor Christ and his Word doth revile and spit upon him doth with the Scribes and Pharisees crucifie and mock him and is so far from acknowledging him to be the Son of God or indeed so much as a good Man who did all his Miracles by the Power and Assistance of the Holy Spirit that he most maliciously and despitefully after full Conviction of his Conscience to the contrary pronounceth him the greatest of Cheats a most grand Impostor the Eldest Son of the Devil who acted only by Commission from Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils This I take to be plain from our Saviour's own Words when he mention'd this Sin There was brought unto him says the Evangelist one possess'd with a Devil blind and dumb Matt. 12. compar'd with Mark 3. and he heal'd him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw The People amaz'd at this great Miracle gave Glory to him confessing him to be in very deed the promis'd Messiah the Son of David But the Scribes and Pharisees mov'd with envy tho' they knew the Miracle to be the Effect only of the Spirit of God yet to lessen his Reputation among the People declar'd against their own Consciences that 't was not by any Divine Authority but purely by Vertue of a black Confederacy with the Infernal Powers that he did these things This Fellow say they with unparallell'd Rancour and Disdain doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils Upon this says our Lord All Sins shall be forgiven unto the Sons of Men and Blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation And then is added the Reason of this Assertion which plainly shews what the Sin against the Holy Ghost is in these words because they said He hath an unclean Spirit Now then My Brother do'st thou believe and confess That our Lord Jesus Christ is in very deed the Eternal Son of the Living God That when he was here upon Earth he acted only by Commission from his Father and that the Mighty Works which did shew forth themselves in him were done by the Vertue and Power of his own most Holy Spirit If thou dost then be of good cheer that hast not yet and as long as thou continuest in this Faith thou canst not commit this Sin against the Holy Ghost Nothing now but thy Impenitence can separate between thee and thy God Thou hast his own word for 't All sins and blaspemies whatsoever shall he forgiven unto the Sons of Men tho' perhaps this Sin against the Holy Ghost which thou hast not committed shall never be forgiven Break off thy sins then by Repentance and they shall all be forgiven thee Depart out of Babylon and come to Christ and thou shalt be refresh'd and find Rest unto thy Soul And so I come to the Last Thing observable in my Text viz. the Benefit of accepting our Lord's Invitation I will give you Rest 4. What joyful Tidings are these What Ease is here to wounded Consciences what Comfort to Despairing Sinners * Cant. 2. v. 11 12. Lo the Winter that dismal time wherein Ignorance Error and Superstition like Floods in the Winter-season overflow'd the earth is past and the Rain those cloudy uncomfortable days wherein we could see and enjoy but little of him is over and gone All the tokens of a new World appear and invite us to come and partake of heavenly joys and pleasures The Flowers appear on the Earth All manner of Blessings spring up in abundance now the Sun of Righteousness is risen upon us The time of the singing of Birds is come and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land The heavenly Host sing for Joy and excite all Mankind to praise their Saviour with joyful Lips Is then thy Soul full of Sorrow and Heaviness and drooping under the Apprehensions of thine approaching Judgment Does thy Conscience tell thee That Hell is thy Portion and thine Inheritance in the
Barbarity of Superstition and Idolatry of Mischief and Immanity could have impos'd upon us must unless the Almighty hand of God would have wrought a Miracle for their Rescue and Deliverance have been endured by our Posterity throughout all Generations so that this Church I say which is now the Perfection of Beauty and the Joy of the wholy Earth had unhappily became the very Scorn and Derision of her Enemies and their Song all the day long But Blessed be God our Soul is escap'd as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler the Snare is broken the Design blasted the Plot unravelled and we thereby most wonderfully delivered Which brings me to my Second Particular which is to shew that it will likewise appear that of all the Deliverances God in past Ages vouchsaf'd his Church none ever amounted to the Wonder of this Day and consequently that this Day of all others may most properly be said to be made by the Lord if we consider the Strangeness and Unexpectedness of our Deliverance 2. Many and glorious I confess have been the Deliverances which God in past Ages has vouchsaf'd his Church He has often deseated the Designs infatuated the Counsels and brought to nought the Devices even of her most powerful Enemies upholding her when just sinking by the hand of his Providence But yet when I seriously reflect upon the dismal Circumstances of this Day 's Design how secret the Conspiracy how little Prospect of a discovery and how ready the Execution I am forc'd to acknowledge that This of all others was the Lord 's own doing and that 't is altogether marvellous in our eyes The Church of God indeed in the Persian Monarchs time was destin'd to Ruine and the black Decree seal'd with the King 's own Signet But then you know the Design was divulg'd and the Day of Slaughter deferr'd so that the Jews had time to contrive means for their Preservation which accordingly we find they did and turn'd the fatal Stroke upon the Heads of their Enemies The Primitive Christians likewise were often persecuted and devoted to Death But then they always with the Prophet foresaw the Cloud that threatned them The Emperours were Heathens and so they could expect no better Usage from them and consequently had warning to provide for themselves But now the case of our Church was quite different at this time Her Security was her greatest Danger and her implicit Faith like to have ended in her Ruine No Storm threatned from abroad neither did any Cloud seem to gather over our Heads at home but our Air was as serene and quiet as free from Storms and Tempests as the superlunary Regions The Mercy of our peaceful Solomon like the Sun-beams did as we shall see more at large by and by so plentifully diffuse its kind Heat and Warmth to all sorts of Men that 't was generally thought he had melted the obdurate and inflexible Hearts of his most virulent enemies into reciprocal Tenderness Loyalty and Obedience But alas the Event most truly Demonstrated that some of his best Subjects did not more frequently than justly tell him that he was merciful even to a Fault and kind tho' it were to his own and the Kingdoms Danger For when by these Means we were too easily perswaded that our Enemies were reconcil'd to us and become our Friends so that we should never see the Sons of the Giants returning to defie our Israel any more and upon this account not only intoxicated our selves with present pleasure but entertain'd our thoughts likewise with the fair delightful Prospect of our future Felicity Even then I say when we thought our selves most secure was the Enemy within our Walls and the fatal Sword hanging over our Heads The Snares of Death encompass'd us about and our Souls were even hard at Deaths door Strangers sought after our Life and we knew it not yea they had caught us in their Nets yet we perceived it not There was indeed in the Kingdom a confus'd Notion and obscure Knowledge of some great thing that was suddenly to be done But then as King * K. Jame's Works pag. 291. James assures us 't was only amongst the Papists who likewise for secrecies sake were not to be intrusted with the Particulars But that the King and Parliament were to be destroy'd and that by the quick dispatch of Gun-Powder That the Enemy had so long sate brooding upon this wicked Design that the direful Off-spring was almost come to the birth This was a thing of that nature that no Protestant either fear'd or so much as suspected it 'T was lock'd up only in the Breasts of the Conspirators who likewise for the greater Concealment had bound themselves by an Oath of Secrecy yea under the seal of the Holy Sacrament not to reveal it directly not indirectly to any without common Consent So that as to all external Helps our Case was as desperate as possibly it could be and we were even like Sheep bound ready for the Slaughter Now then did our own Strength or Policy bring Salvation to us or our own Right-arm obtain us this Victory Did the wisdom of the Kings Counsellours the Care of his Magistrates the Subsidies of his Friends the Fidelity of his Servants or the Courage of his Soldiers work for him this Deliverance No. We only stood still and saw the Salvation of God Tho' our hands were tied God fought from Heaven for us the Stars in their courses fought against our Enemies When the Harvest was come and they were just putting in the Sickle he turn'd the Edge against themselves and cut them down in their Wickedness He so infatuated their Counsels and turn'd their deepest Policy like Achitophel's into so great Foolishness that when they might securely have let in the Floods upon us they turn'd the Stream directly against themselves so that the Waters went over their own Soul Had they but gone on with the same Privacy they began and not suffered the direful Project to wander beyond the Limits of their own Breasts it had undoubtedly been crown'd with wish'd-for Success But as tho' the mighty Secret was too big to be long confin'd within so narrow a Compass and like a boisterous Vapour shut up within a cloud strugled and was restless 'till it tore its way through of their own accord when no Man either desir'd or compell'd them they disclosed their own Wickedness for by a Letter from one of them to the Lord Mounteagle which yet was wrapt up in Terms as dark and aenigmatical as the Aegyptian Hieroglyphicks was the whole Matter most happily discovered and this horrid Design which had long been contriving and was now just brought to a head in a moment most miraculously blasted and confounded Thus did He alone who stilleth the raging of the Sea curbing the Insolence of its proud Waves only with Reins of sand stem likewise the impetuous Torrent of our Enemies Fury and set it its Bounds which it could not pass Thus did
are hardly enough to entertain him Now then my disconsolate Brother who would not rather thus cause Joy to the Blessed Choires above by a sincere and hearty Repentance than by a Sullen unwarrantable Despair please the profess'd Enemies of God and Man the Spirits of Darkness Who I say would not rather by a timely Repentance be the occasion of a Jubilation and Festival both in Heaven and Earth than by causing Grief in both delight the sullen and destructive Powers of the Kingdom of Darkness A Jubilation I say in Heaven and Earth too For see thy Mother the Church is highly concern'd for thee she mourns and laments thy unhappy State and daily offers up Prayers and Tears for thy Recovery She longs to see thee come boldly into her Courts there with all her faithful Sons and Daughters to worship the God of our Joy and Gladness and to sing merrily and to make a chearful noise unto the God of Jacob. Let then the Prayers and Tears of thy afflicted Mother let the Hearty Concern and passionate Wishes of the kind Spirits above let the most gracious and tender Promises of Pardon which Truth it self has made thee work thee out of this groundless this unaccountable State of Despondency Thou must not thou can'st not surely after all this despair Thy Saviour tells thee thou art not thine own but His. He made thee at first when thou wast nothing and when thou wast lost and worse than nothing He Redeem'd thee too with his own blood and most solemnly swears he would not have thee perish Wilt thou not then believe Him who hath done so many and great things for thee Wilt thou not believe Him who could even bleed and die for thee If any Man of known Integrity had given thee his word thou wouldst not Scruple to believe him How then can'st thou thus affront thy God who cannot lye by thy Infidelity when he not only says but also swears he would have thee live O! do not do not thus evacuate all the gracious Methods the Heavenly Father is pleas'd to use for thy Recovery Do not thus foolishly exclude thy self from Happiness when God does not exclude thee Alas Thy God is Omnipotent and can most easily perform all his Promises and therefore he needs not deceive thee He is good and gracious and therefore he will not deceive thee With him is no Variableness or shadow of Turning but he is the same yesterday to day and for ever and therefore he cannot deceive thee Obey then his gracious Call come to him throw thy self into his Arms prostrate thy self with all due Humility at his feet offer to him thy broken and contrite Spirit beg him to accept thee who never yet refus'd any and he will most gladly receive thee Tho' thou art never so heavy-laden he will give thee Rest He will ease thee of thy burthen he will pardon thy sins he will quiet thy Conscience here and give thee everlasting Rest and Happiness hereafter Which God of his infinite Mercy Grant unto us all through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus the Belov'd To whom c. A DISCOURSE Upon the Fifth of November PSAL. cxviii Ver. 24. This is the Day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it THIS Psalm is suppos'd to have been compil'd by the Royal Psalmist when after a long Series of Troubles and Persecutions he was at last both safely plac'd upon the Throne of Israel and Judah and had also subdued the proud Lords of the Philistines together with their Allies and Confederates * 2 Sam. 5. who in hopes to have crush'd him before he grew too powerful had rally'd their Forces and invaded the Land He had long grappled with the indefatigable Malice of his envious blood-thirsty Master long encountered the fierce Oppositions of Enemies abroad but especially of Adversaries at home some of which as he complains Psalm 64. were Men of such sneaking slavish mercenary Souls of such beggarly disingenuous unmanly Spirits that not daring to appear in the Gallantry of open Enemies they betook themselves to the little Arts of skulking Revenge endeavoring by all the sinister methods of clancular hatred by a long train of secret Calumnies and Reproaches to blow up his reputation and at one Blast to deprive him both of Life and Crown But now at length had the good hand of Providence put a joyful period to all these Troubles and Afflictions and made him glad with the Joy of his Countenance His haughty Neighbours humbly pay him Homage and he tramples upon the Necks of his Domestick Adversaries The Greatness of his Dangers endear him to the People who from his so many miraculous Escapes conclude him the Peculiar Favourite of Heaven and therefore receive him with the hearty and joyous Reiterations of Acclamations and Hosanna's Wherefore in a due sense of these great blessings he is not contented to offer only his own Sacrifice of Praise but likewise in the beginning of this Psalm excites all the people with their Doxologies and Allelujahs to assist and joyn with him in these his grateful acknowledgments O give thanks unto the Lord says he for he is gracious because his mercy endureth for ever Let all the Tribes of Israel let the Priests and Levites yea let All them that fear the Lord confess that he is gracious and that his mercy endureth for ever You need not recount the Wonders he shew'd for your Forefathers in the Land of Egypt nor recall to your Memories how after a Succession of Mracles for forty years in the Wilderness he at last with a mighty Hand and stretch'd-out Arm drove out the Nations before them and gave them this pleasant Land for an Inheritance Look only upon me and you will see a most lively Instance of his Mercy and Goodness For when mine Enemies swarm'd about me like Bees and as one Man conspir'd with all their Might and Cunning to throw me down from the Throne to which I was advanc'd when I was invaded by vast Multitudes from abroad and undermin'd by the secret Treacheries and Machinations of more dangerous Adversaries at home even then when there seem'd no possible way for my Escape was the Lord my Helper and is become my Strength and my Song and my mighty Salvation So that the Stone which these unskilful Builders would have rejected as unfit to be used is you see become the head-stone in the Corner whilst notwithstanding all the Attempts of mine Enemies to the contrary I sit this day safely on my Fathers Seat Now then it ever present your selves joyful before the Lord the King and come with me into his Courts in the voice of Thanksgiving for This of all others is the Day which the Lord himself hath made we will therefore rejoyce and be glad in it Thus you have in short the occasion of these Words which I shall no longer insist upon as they respect the circumstances of David but consider them wholly as they reflect
Lustre upon the Solemnization of this present Day A Day which if any may most properly be said to be made by the Lord since it bears the liveliest Characters and Impresses of his Power and knowledge of his Wisdom and Goodness and of all those other glorious Attributes whereby we are assur'd that he governs the World For trace the Histories of ancient Times turn over all Authors both Sacred and Prophane and the Day of our Spiritual Redemption excepted produce me a Day like This so memorable in its Circumstances so glorious in its Issue and so unparallel'd in its Consummation Of all those Deliverances God in past Ages vouchsaf'd his Church methinks none ever amounted to the Wonder of this Day when I consider 1. The black and dismal nature of the Design which was this Day fram'd against us And 2. The Strangeness and Unexpectedness of our Deliverance from it 1. I say It will appear that of all those Deliverances God in past Ages vouchsaf'd his Church none ever amounted to the Wonder of this Day and consequently that this Day of all others may most properly be said to be made by the Lord if we consider the black and dismal nature of the Design which was this Day fram'd against us As the Heavens rejoyc'd and the Earth was glad to see the glory of the Lord in the uncorrupted Light of the Gospel after a long Night of Ignorance and Superstition arise in Brightness upon us so those restless Spirits who always bore Evil-will to our Zion as though they had received a second Downfall in their undiscerned Habitations vented themselves in nothing but Lamentations and Mournings and Woe They saw the unparallell'd Beauty of her Countenance which tho' long mask'd and clouded with the Veil of Widowhood did now at length break forth in such Splendour and Brightness that the Gentiles were coming to her Light and Kings to rejoyce in the Brightness of her Rising That therefore in this holy Mountain there was no Den for such Beasts of Prey but that they must either forego their beloved Dainties and peaceably lie down in the Pastures with the Lamb or for their own Security betake themselves to harder seeding in the barren Recesses of the Wilderness Wherefore impatient both of Restraint and Exile they incontinently breathed out our Destruction and to support and underprop their sinking Interest at sundry Times and in divers Manners endeavour'd to overturn the Foundations of our Felicity sometimes with the factious Son of Sheba they blow'd the Trumpet of Rebellion disclaim'd their Right in David and endeavoured by good Words and fair Speeches to perswade others also that they likewise had no Inheritance in the King Sometimes on the contrary by the terrible Assaults of Anathema's Curses and Excommunications they laboured to scare and fright us into a Compliance But when they found that notwithstanding all their Craft and Subtlety their Designs were still defeated and unravell'd and all their most cunningly contriv'd Enterprises dwindled into continual Disappointments that their ravenous woolfish Nature tho' never so close cover'd with Sheeps-cloathing was always discovered and that none therefore dar'd to come in to their Standard nor tho' led on by the Infallible Hero himself to enter the Field against the Lords Anointed so that neither their Armado's from Spain nor false Witnesses from St. Omers nor all those dreadful Thunderings and Lightnings from Rome could prevail any thing at all but that the Virgin the Daughter of Zion despis'd them and laugh'd them to scorn the Daughter of Jerusalem still shook her head at them as Men even encouraged by Disappointments and emboldned by Repulses they start anew and rather than be for ever frustrated are contented to devest themselves utterly of their Humanity and to embark into so barbarous so savage a Design as will make the ears of all Posterity to tingle Many Waters cannot quench their burning Rage neither can the Floods how deep soever drown their Fury but they resolve to tear in pieces the more excellent Prey and one way or other to take their Pastime in Rivers of Royal Blood Flectere fi nequeunt Superos Since Heaven and Earth Angels and Men are against them they descend into the Regions of Darkness and Obscurity as if they design'd to ask Counsel of the Powers of Darkness And indeed whoever accurately contemplates the nature of this cursed Design must needs acknowledge it to bear all the marks of a hellish diabolical Off-spring For where but in the dismal Regions of everlasting Malice and Cruelty could be hatch'd so barbarous so villainous a Conspiracy A Conspiracy so black and detestable so hideous in its Circumstances so fatal in its Consequences that 't is hardly possible to imagine that it could have been invented by Man unless what the Jews of old thought of their Daemoniacks they had really been converted into the Nature and Substance of fierce implacable destructive Daemons A Conspiracy which if it had taken effect would have utterly extinguish'd the Light of our Israel and overspread the Nation again with thick Darkness of Ignorance and Superstition which would have murdered the Lord 's Anointed and accomplish'd the savage Tyrants most execrable Wish at one Blow cutting off the Head even of three Kingdoms nay in a moment in the twinkling of an eye have entirely destroy'd both Root and Branch King and Parliment Prince and People Peers and Prelates Lords and Commons A Conspiracy that would have involv'd us all in Blood exposed our Wives and Children to the merciless Fury of our Enemies and enslav'd our Lives and Fortunes Souls and Bodies to the imperious and domineering Lords of monopolizing Rome Lastly A Conspiracy it was whose teeming Womb was ready to bring forth the ghastly Issue of Blood and Fire and pillars of smoak which would either have rendered our beautiful Cities a Wilderness or which is worse an Habitation of Dragons and made Jerusalem a Desolation Alas These unrighteous and cruel Men did not design only to shake off the Leaves or to lop off the Branches of this fruitful Vine but entirely to pluck her up by the Roots * Ps 137.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lay her wast and down with her even to the ground was all the Cry So that not only our Land would have mourn'd for the Loss of her Gracious Soveraign our Cities of their wise and prudent Governours our Countries of their vigilant and powerful Guardians which alone would have rendred us the Wonder and Astonishment of Men and Angels but which is yet worse if any thing can be worse our pure and undefil'd Religion had also been lost in the general Devastation Those insatiable flames which had devour'd her noble Patrons would likewise unmercifully have prey'd upon her drooping Vitals till they had rarisy'd her Substance into a mere empty Shadow and chang'd the Spirituality of her Worship into external cumbersome impertinent Ceremonies In short Whatever the very Quintessence and Elixir of all villainy and