utmost that they understood if so be that there were no Treason to discolour it and they that did inflict all this appear but Christian Dioclesians and stand at that sad Day in the train of the Persecutions on the same hand O then those Fires which these Boutefeus called for and kindled shall blaze out into everlasting burnings And now it may seem strange that they who most of all pretend the Spirit of Christ are yet of the most distant temper in the World from that of Gospel always endeavouring to do that which our Saviour here checks his Disciples for proposing and did threaten Peter for attempting There are among our selves that seem to live by Inspiration that look and speak as in the frame of the Gospel as if every motion were impulse from Heaven and yet as if Christ had fulfilled his promise to them without Metaphor baptized them with the Holy Ghost and fire onely that they might kindle fire and the unction of the Spirit did but add Oyl to those flames as if the cloven Tongues of fire in which the Spirit did descend were made to be the Emblems of Division and to call for fire these mens life their garb their very piety is faction they pray rebel and murder and all by the Spirit 'T is true indeed they plead now what we seem to say that they should not be persecuted for not being satisfied in their Conscience so they mince their breaking of the Laws for which they suffer But do these know themselves what manner of Spirit they are of or are we bound not to remember when they had the Power how they persecuted all that would not do at once against their King their Conscience and the Law And we do thus far know what Spirit they are of and if they have not yet repented of all that then it is plain if they can get an opportunity they will do it again nay they must by their Spirit think themselves obliged to do it But these are not all those that above all the World pretend to the Infallible assistance of the Spirit our Church is bold in her Offices of this day to say do turn Religion into Rebellion she said it more severely heretofore and the attempts of this day warrant the saying when not like our Disciples that would call for fire from Heaven on the Village that rejected Christ these will raise up fire from Hell to consume their own Prince and his Progeny the whole line of Royalty the Church and Nation also in their Representative and all this onely for refusing him that calls himself Christ's Vicar There are I must confess among them that renounce the practice and say 't was the device onely of some few desperate male-contents wicked Catholiques and design'd by the Devil And they will allow their Father Garnett to have had no other guilt but that he did not discover it having received it in Confession And this gives me occasion to propose a story to your patience and conjectures Not long before the time of this Attempt a Priest of the Society of Jesus in a Book he publish'd does propose this case of Conscience Whether a Priest may make use of what he hath learn'd in Confession to avert great impendent mischiefs to the Government as for Example One confesses that himself or some other had laid Gunpowder and other things under such an House and if they be not taken thence the House will be burnt the Prince must perish all that pass throughout the City will be either certainly destroy'd or in great peril and resolves it thus 'T is the most probable and safe Opinion and the more suitable to Religion and to that reverence which is due to the Sacrament of Confession that it is not lawful to make use of this his knowledg to that end That his Holiness Clement the 8. had just before by a Bull sent to the Superiours of the Regulars commanded most studiously to beware they make not use of any thing which they come to know by Confession to the benefit of the secular Government He adds that in cases of Confession the Priest must not reveal though death be threatned to him but may say he knows it not nor ever heard it quia reverà non scit nec audivit ut homo seu pars reipub Yea he may swear all this if he but mentally reserve so as to tell you 'T is Del Rio in 6th Book of his Mag. dis 1. Cap. Sec. 2. It seems 't is safer to break all the Obligations to Allegiance and to truth his duty and his Oaths the Princes and Gods bonds than the Seal of Confession But I did not mention this to let you see the kindness these men have to Princes and their Government I shall avoid producing any the Opinions of particular persons howsoever horrid in my arguments this day but I onely ask whether it be not very probable this instance was the thing to be attempted on this day Whether the resolution was not publish'd the Pope's Bull if not made yet produc'd at least to caution any Priest that should receive it in Confession and should be so honest as to abhor the Fact yet from betraying it and hindring the Execution of it If it were the case this was not then any rash attempt of some few desperate malecontents but a long contrivance and of many heads and its taking its effect was the great care of their Church Well they are even with us yet and lay as horrid Projects to the charge of Protestants Among our other Controversies this is one whether are the worse Subjects bloody sayings are produc'd from Authors on both sides yea there is the Image of both Churches Babel and Jerusalem drawn by a Catholique Pen and then you may be sure all Babel's divisions and confusions make the draught of ours and are said to be the issue of the Protestant Doctrines Whereas such things are countenanc'd by some particular Authors of their Church were never own'd by any publique Act or Doctrine of a general Council to which they provoke us I must confess our Calendar can shew a thirtieth of January as well as a fifth of November There are indeed that say the Romanists hatch'd that days guilt and challenge any man to call them to account for saying so But whether so or not which Churches Doctrines such things are more suited to I will now put to trial that we may know what Spirit each is of And I will try it by the publique Acts and most establish'd Doctrines of the Churches and here undertake to shew the Church of England most expresly does declare against all practices against the Prince for the cause of Religion But the Romish in those acts wherein she hath most reason to expect infallibility of Spirit also in the publique Acts of the Church representative in General Councils does abett the doing them not onely for Religion but for the cause of Holy
in He becomes something without a body and above the Earth who for a preparative must be taken up to Paradise and call'd from all commerce and all intelligence with his own body Saint Paul was call'd from Heaven to preach the Gospel but he was call'd to Heaven to qualifie him for this higher separation to an Apostle and Church-Governour And now you see your calling Holy Fathers And to pass by such obvious unconcerning observations as at first sight follow that those who are not qualified are not call'd I shall only take notice hence of the counter-part of this call the charge God takes upon him when he calls to this charge and that is he owns and will protect whom himself calls 'T was that he promised to the Founder and God of your Order I the Lord have call'd thee and I will hold thine hand and I will keep thee Isai. 42. 6. And when he said of Cyrus I have call'd him he said also be shall make his way prosperous Isai. 48. 15. And so he shall be the way what it will for thus he said to Jacob I have called thee when thou goest through the Water I am with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee Isai. 43. 1 2. There was Experience of all this in one of the chief Princes of your Order when the Apostles were scarce safe within their Ship they were so toss'd with waves and fears yet if our Lord will call him Peter is confident he shall be safe even in the Sea Lord if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the Water saith he and the Lord did but call him and he went down and walked on the water safely As if the swelling billows did only lift themselves to meet his steps and raise him up from sinking And when his own doubts which alone could were neer drowning him and he but call'd the Lord immediately he stretched out his hand and caught him He answers his call if we answer ours if we obey when he says come then will he come and save when we call to him And so Peter receiv'd no hurt but a rebuke O thou of little faith why didst thou doubt couldst thou imagin I would not sustein thee in the doing what I bid thee do In answering my call But why seek we experience of so old a date There is a more encouraging miracle in these late calls themselves Had God sustein'd the Order in its Offices and dignities amidst those waves that rack'd the Church of late it had been prodigy of undeserved Compassion to our Nation But whenas all was sunk to bid the Sea give up what it had swallowed and consumed this is more than to catch a sinking Peter or to save a falling Church The work of Resurrection is emphatically call'd the working of God's mighty power and does out-sound that of his ordinary conservation And truly 't was almost as easie to imagination how the scattered Atomes of mens dust should order themselves and reunite and close into one flesh as that the parcels of our Discipline and Service that were lost in such a wild confusion and the Offices buried in the rubbish of the demolisht Churches should rise again in so much order and beauty Stantia non poterant tect a probare Deum This calling of the Spirit is like that when the Spirit moved upon the face of the abyss and call'd all things out of their no-seeds there or like the call of the last Trump Thus by the miraculous mercies of these calls God hath provided for our hopes and warranted our faith of his protections yet he hath also sent us more security hath given us a Constantine if his own be not a greater Name and more deserving of the Church for which it is well known to some he did contrive and order when he could neither plot nor hope for his own Kingdom and did with passion labour a succession in your Order when he did not know how to lay designs for the Succession of himself or any of his Fathers house to his own Crown and Dignity Nor is the secular arm all your security God himself hath set yet more guards about his consecrated ones he hath severe things for the violaters of them Moses the meekest man upon the Earth that in his life was never angry but once at the rebellious seems very passionate in calling Vengeance on those that stir against these holy Offices Smite through the loins of all that rise against them and of them that hate them that they rise not again The loins we know are the nest of posterity so that strike through the loins is stab the succession destroy at once all the posterity of them that would cut off this Tribe and hinder its Succession Nor was this Legal Spirit Gospel is as severe Those in Saint Jude that despise these Governours that do as Corah and his Complices did who gathered themselves against Moses and Aaron and said You take too much upon you ye Sons of Levi since all the Congregation is holy every one of them and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift you up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord words these that we are well acquainted with and which it seems St. Jude looks on as sins under the Gospel these perish in the gainsaying of Core whom God would not prepare for punishment by death but he and his accomplices went quick into it He would not let them stay to dye but the Lord made a new thing to shew his detestation of this sin and the Earth swallow'd it in the Commission and all that were alli'd and appertain'd to them that had an hand in it And truly they may well expect strange recompences who do attempt so strange a Sacrilege as to pull stars out of Christ's own right hand From whence we have his word that no man shall be able to pluck any but if they shine thence on their Orbs below and convert many to righteousness their light shall blaze out into glory and they shall ever dwell at his right hand To which right hand He that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus that great Shepherd and Bishop of the Sheep and set him there He also bring you our Pastors and us your flock with you and set us with his sheep on his right hand To whom with the same Jesus and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all blessing honour glory and power from henceforth for ever Amen A SERMON PREACHED AT HAMPTON-COURT ON The Twenty Ninth of May 1662. Being the Anniversary of His Sacred Majesties Most happy Return BY RICHARD ALLESTRY D. D. and Chaplain to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed by John Playford in the Year 1683. TO THE Right Honourable EDWARD Earl of CLARENDEN Lord high Chancellour of England and Chancellour of the University of Oxford My LORD TO vouch your Lordships commands for the publishing this Discourse I might
FORTY SERMONS WHEREOF Twenty one are now first publish'd The greatest part preach'd before THE KING AND ON SOLEMN OCCASIONS By RICHARD ALLESTREE D. D. Kings Professor in the Chair of Divinity in the Vniversity of OXFORD Provost of ETON and Chaplain to his MAJESTY To these is prefixt an account of the Author's Life Printed at the THEATER in Oxford and in London for R. Scott G. Wells T. Sawbridge R. Bentley M.DC.LXXXIV THE PREFACE IN all endeavors of persuasion the credit of the Speaker being of as great moment as the inherent truth and evidence of what is spoke it will be reasonable that there should go along with this large collection of Sermons some account of the Person who was the Author of them for if it be made out that they came from one of integrity and knowledge who neither would deceive others nor was likely to be deceiv'd himself one who practic'd what he taught and preacht to his own soul what he deliver'd to his Auditory his discourses must carry with them a proportionable weight and value That this narrative may be the more satisfactory by being entire and particular it shall take the Author from his infancy and bring him to his grave without the vain additions of flattery and ostentation which he abhorr'd while alive and therefore needs not being dead He was the Son of Robert Allestree a Gentleman of an ancient family in Darbyshire who being decai'd in his fortune by the profuseness of his Predecessors retain'd unto Sr. Richard Newport afterward created Lord Newport Baron of high Arcol in the quality of his Steward and being married settled himself at Uppington near the Wreken in Shropshire where Richard Allestree the person of whom we write was born in March An. 1619. He being grown up to be capable of institution was sent to a neighbouring country free Schole and from thence to another somewhat more celebrated at Coventree where he remain'd till he became fit for the Vniversity In the year 1636 he was brought to Oxford by his Father and plac'd a Commoner in Christ-Church having for his Tutor Mr. Richard Busby who since is Dr. Busby the eminent Master of Westminster Schole and Prebend of that Church Six moneths after his settlement in the Vniversity Dr. Samuel Fell the Dean observing his parts and industry made him Student of the College which title he really answer'd by great and happy application to study wherein he made remarkable emprovements as a testimony and encouragement of which so soon as he had taken the degree of Batchelor of Arts he was chose Moderator in Philosophy and had the emploiment renew'd year by year till the disturbances of the Kingdom interrupted the studies and repose of the Vniversity putting them into Arms. His Majesty in the year 1641 being by tumults driven from London and issuing out his Commission of Aray into the several parts of the Nation did also direct it to the Vniversity of Oxford where it found an active and a ready obedience as by the generality of the members of that place so particularly by Mr. Allestree who engag'd in the service and continued in it till Sr. John Biron afterwards the Lord Biron who was sent with a party of horse to support and countenance the Scholars in arms there withdrew from thence He after a short stay was call'd off to join with Prince Rupert and by the assistance of the loial Gentlemen of Worcestershire was receiv'd into that City where he was prest by the Rebels forces but the Prince came up seasonably to reinforce him and thereupon follow'd the sharp fight in Poyick field near the aforesaid City the unexpected success of which gave great consternation to the Rebels who being Masters of the Mony Forts and Magazeens of the Kingdom hop'd to have carried all without a stroke As many of the Scholars as could furnish themselves for a suddain march went along with Sr. John Biron from Oxford the others among whom was Mr. Allestree staied behind and return'd to their Gowns and Studies Soon after this the Lord Say with a party of the Rebels forces drew into Oxford and plunder'd the Colleges of such plate as had not bin before sent to his Majesty making enquiry after those who had bin forward to promote the King's service on which occasion and also a particular accident that then happen'd Mr. Allestree was call'd in question The occasion was this at Christ-Church some of the Rebels attemted to break into the Treasury and after a daies labor forced a passage into it but met with nothing except a single groat and a halter in the bottom of a large iron chest enrag'd with that disappointment they went to the Deanery where having ransackt what they thought fit they put it altogether in a chamber lockt it up and retir'd to their quarters intending the next morning to return and dispose of their prize But when they came they found themselves defeated and every thing remov'd to their hand Vpon examination it was discover'd that Mr. Allestree had a key of the Lodgings the Dean and his family being withdrawn and that Mr. Allestree's key had bin made use of in this enterprize hereupon he was seiz'd and notwithstanding all the defence he could make had bin severely handled but that the Earl of Essex call'd away the forces on the suddain and so redeem'd him from their fury In October following the King having strengthned himself at Shrewsbury with the supplies that came from the North and Wales and the Loial Gentlemen of other parts of the Nation began his march towards London and was met by the army of the Rebels commanded by the Earl of Essex in Keinton field in Warwickshire where both armies engag'd at this battail Mr. Allestree was present after which understanding that the King design'd immediatly to march to Oxford and make his Court at the accustomed place the Deanery at Christ-Church which was in part left to his care in the absence of the Dean hasting thither he was taken Prisoner by a party from Broughton house which was garrison'd by the Lord Say for the Parliament His confinement here was very short the Garrison surrendring it self to the King's forces who summon'd it in their passage The war being now form'd and the King being return'd from the fight at Brainford having made Oxford his head quarter Mr. Allestree settled himself again to his study and in the next Spring took his degree of Master of Arts after which he was in great hazard of his life being seiz'd by the pestilential disease which rag'd in the Garrison and which was fatal to very many eminent men of all emploiments and conditions and fell more severely upon him by reason of a relapse which doubled the calamity and danger Having recover'd a little strength he was engag'd to employ it in military service the exigence of his Majesties affairs calling for the aid of all his Loial Subjects and in particular the Scholars and accordingly a Regiment of
iniquities The sweats of soul under the sense of the burden of sin the labors of mortifying the flesh and crucifying the affections of putting the body of sin to death will justify this sense The new Birth also hath its pangs and the Child of God as he is not engendred by weak purposes faint resolutions so neither is he brought forth in a sigh or wish of mercy there is a labor in it In this expression you may see the nature of repentance the dawnings and first flashes of that Catholic Duty 't is not that easy thing to change my mind onely and begin to believe That that is not the best course I have hitherto trod in the way of Sinners not the safest and most pleasant path tho few of us will believe that neither is it that easy wish I would I had not don this act for when the pleasure 's gon and dead the memory of it is so unsatisfying if not loathsom that a man can hardly not wish it Nor yet is it that easy desire of mercy that saying Lord Lord. The Penitent they are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here they are such as even faint under a sense of the horror of their sins whose hearts are broken and wounded with that heavy galling weight of them If I should gather up the racks and tortures the Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum that self whip in the dark rooms and recesses of our thoughts conscience dealing with us by the discipline of mad men as knowing the sinner is not onely Solomons fool and Davids man without understanding but even St Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mad-man the tacita sudant praecordia culpa which a Heathen can reckon up to us And add to these the Scripture expressions the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pains of travel the labor of a woman in child-birth the agony of the Cross and the pangs of death the word repentance would bear them all and they would let us see that the Penitent is truly one that labors under a very heavy burden and so is invited here by our Savior Come Thirdly those that labor and are heavy laden may signify such as groan under a burden of afflictions and look upon them not as chastisements onely but inflictions and are even wearied and affrighted by them Thus those judgments which God did by his Prophets threaten to the Nations are in those Prophets called the burden of those Nations and the cross and calamities are often called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the labor in the Text 1 Tim. 4. 10. and generally all the troubles and difficulties of this life Rev. 14. 13. of which death is there made the rescue And I need make no application of this interpretation the words labor and heavy laden do in these daies sufficiently apply themselves I shall onely tell you that the whole sense of those words sum'd up make thus much Those that are heavy burdened with sins and the punishment of those sins afflictions and groan under the sense of both of them laboring earnestly to be rid and be delivered from both these are bid to come to Christ which is the invitation and what it means I am secondly to shew Come unto me And first in general the word used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Come is not onely a word of exhortation but of great encouragement also in the doing so often used Come and let us kill him and then the inheritance shall be ours and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Come ye unto the wedding And indeed such is needful to the persons here spoken to the laboring heavy laden for them to take a journey if there be not the encouragement of some great advantage it will not sound like an invitation but an infliction and therefore our Savior besides the rest he promises used animating words even in the very call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore the whole invitation come unto me tho it be used in the Gospel and may very well signify come to me as to a Teacher and Instructer so Nicodemus is said to come to Christ and they are said to come to the light as that which was to reveal yea and that place in Isaiah 55. 3. whither our Savior do's much reflect when he useth this expression seems to import but so Encline your ear and come unto me hear c. yea and may so signify in this place the words going before being all things are given me of my father and no man knoweth the father but the son and he to whom the son will reveal him it then follows come to me as if he should say therefore if you desire to be instructed in the way to life come to me and tho you do labor under the load of many sins yet I will shew you a way how you shall find ease and rest and that way follows in the next verse take my yoke upon you and learn of me and ye shall be sure to find rest this is very natural yet because to give you rest is more than to shew you a way to it and so may seem a promise and a reward very apportioned to the duty rest to coming therefore it is most probable that come doth not onely signify come to me to learn your duty but that the come should be it self a duty and so I shall consider it and the expression come to me does in the Gospel signify a twofold duty 1. It signifies to obey and serve Thus very often most expresly in the Epistle to the Hebrews to come to God is to serve and worship him c. 11. 6. For he that cometh to God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him and c. 7. 25. He is able to save them that come to God by him that serve God as he commandeth and enableth c. 10. 1. The sacrifices which they offered year by year could not make the comers thereunto perfect could not perfectly cleanse them that served God by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 22d verse there Let us come with a true heart worship him with unfeigned piety and obedience And the sense will be fully clear from the expressions that relate to it Seek the Lord draw near to him and then come to him To seek him is to enter upon such a course of life by which his favor is to be obtain'd and what it is you will see Isaiah 55. where when he had bid them come to him that they may do that he bids them seek him v. 6 7. Seek the Lord while he may be found let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let them return unto the Lord. Deut. 4. 29 30. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all thine heart and with all thy soul if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient
see him as he is add this Every man that hath this hope purifieth himself as he is pure doth righteousness in the words following and so is righteous even as he is righteous But that we may know what King David means by beholding Gods face in Righteousness we must know that first by Righteousness is meant uprightness and sincerity of a religious holy virtuous life and as for the beholding of Gods face we may take notice that altho God saith he spoke to Moses face to face yet he tells the same Moses that he cannot see his face and live Exod. 33. 11 10. so that Davids beholding of his face is not seeing him as he did hope to do when he did awake up after Gods likeness but 1. As for God to lift up the light of his countenance Psalm 4. 6. and to make his face to shine upon a man Psalm 31. 16. is to be favorable to him and to hide Psalm 30. 7. or turn away his face 2 Chron. 30. 9. is to withdraw his favor and to be displeased so also to seek his face 1 Chron. 16. 11. is to endeavor to obtain his kindness and accordingly to see or behold his face is to be in his favor to be in a state of enjoying it But besides this also 2. As those that are said to behold the face of Kings are those that minister about them do them service of the nearest admission and that stand in their presence and are ready still to execute whatever they command So 2 King 25. 19. and he took five men of those that saw the King's face of those that serv'd him in ordinary and so very often Ester 1. 14. c. And as secondly the Angels that are ministring Spirits sent forth by God to minister perpetually are said to see the face of God always Matt. 18. 10. so when David says of God thou settest me before thy face Psalm 41. 12. the Jews expound set me that he might serve minister unto him for that is to stand before the face of one 1 Kings 1. 2 4. and c. 10. 8. and c. 17. 1. c. as he had said dost appoint me for thy service and by consequence to see his face or to behold his presence is to wait upon him in all duty and obedience to his commands whom they attend accordingly to walk before him or walk with him in his presence is to serve him constantly with all uprightness Gen. 17. 1. and to please him Heb. 11. 5. cum Gen. 5. 24. But particularly in the acts of Worship and Religion his House the place that 's dedicated to his Worship being call'd his Court his presence Psalm 95. 2. and 100. 2 4. because he sate upon and spoke from the Mercy-seat Exod. 25. 22. Numb 7. 89. and the Ark is therefore his presence and his face those that serve there are said to minister before him in his presence those that come there to appear before him Psalm 42. 2. those that pray to seek his face 2 Chron. 7. 14. and to intreat the face of the Lord 1 Kings 13. 6. and our King David did desire one thing of the Lord which says he I will require even that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord Psalm 27. 4. So that to behold God's face in righteousness here does signify all this I will serve thee truly faithfully attend thy commands and wait upon thee in a constant diligent performance of my duty live as always in thy presence holily and righteously especially in attendance on thy Worship when I come to seek thy face to put my self before thee in thy presence and so doing I make no doubt but that thou wilt lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and I shall behold thy face to shine upon thy servant And indeed that this is the means and that there is no other way to arrive at this state is not difficult to prove for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness saith the same David Psalm 11. 7. his countenance will behold the thing that is just whereas without this no man shall see the Lord and thereupon the Prophet Micah after strict inquiry in the peoples name what they were to do that they might find God's face look pleasingly upon them and see his favorable countenance wherewithall shall I come before the Lord and how myself before the most High God Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams If his favor be to be bought tho at the greatest price 't will be abvisable to give it and the dearest purchase would be a reasonable one Or shall I give ten thousand rivers of oyl thereby to make his face to shine and look upon me with a chearfull countenance This sure were to be don Or farther yet shall I give my first-born for my transgression or the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul Time was indeed when men would do that offer up their tender infants in the fire to Moloch to preserve themselves from those sins of the other Tophet as if the burnt child were to expiate the foul heats that begat it I know not whether men believe now such transgressions can deserve so severe atonements that a sin of theirs is valuable at the life of their own first-born tho they take upon them to profess the faith that they were valued at the life of the first-born of God however there our Prophet shapes this answer to that question wherewithall shall I come before the Lord He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And truly if we come before the Lord to behold his presence in the duties of Religion we must see his face in Righteousness otherwise he will either turn away his Face or else our praiers will but call his frowns upon us and indanger us to perish at the rebuke of his countenance The Prophet Isaiah speaking as from God to that vainglorious nation of the Jews saith c. 1. v. 12 c. When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts Bring no more vain oblations incense is an abomination to me it is iniquity even your solemn meetings Sabboths and your appointed feasts my soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many praiers I will not hear Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment right the oppressed c. And surely if men do not put away the evil of their doings from them when they come before his face how lowd
our own doings and our sins pull down calamities or mischiefs on us so far somtimes as to scare us with the landshape of their after expectations having thrown us on the brink of destruction laid us at the gates of the grave at the very mouth of Hell where if God had left us we had bin sealed up determin'd to the irreversible retributions of our iniquities but he interpos'd to snatch us thence and set us further off so to enlarge our time to be accepted in and to lengthen the day of salvation to us I challenge every man's experience to attest this there is no man but his heart heart witness to it and to this too how when we have thrown our selves upon temtation he is pleas'd to blunt or turn aside the edge of it how often have we put our selves into those circumstances wherein thousands have miscarried as to all considerations both of this world and the other And inevitably we had don so but that he was pleased to temper the malignity of the occurrences and divert the mischief merely that he might preserve us for his opportunities It is for this he watches over us as he tells Jeremy 31. 28. when as God knows we are so far from importuning him to do it that we think not of him nor of our selves do not so much as ask his cares indeed neglect affront them yea deny them yet he spares us for these blessed purposes and is long-suffering to uâ—-wards not willing that any should perish 2 Pet. 3. 9. Spares us that if possible he may find softer seasons wherein we may be more pliant take impression more easily therefore also he provides oft such a state of things as may be more effectual more prevailing with us as if indeed he waited for the time of our good pleasure when himself should be acceptable to us and his motions receiv'd by us Yea and that they may be so with these external methods there are also inward excitations and assistances afforded us That he may both find and make these congruous seasons he is either trying or solliciting and importuning frequently our very hearts Behold I stand at the door and knock saith he Rev. 3. 20. if any man bear and open I will come in to him 'T is he it seems that waits to be admitted and waits long too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have stood knocking and am there still doing so Your hearts however barr'd against me by your contumacy otherwise I that have the key of David and that open'd Lydia's heart could not be kept out but altho it be so yet I do not pass by or stand at them unconcern'd expecting whether you will open and admit me but I knock importunately and unwearied by disquieting men in their Lethargick state of inconsideration and insensibility by exciting apprehension to reflect upon their duty and their practice that is so distant from it and the danger of that I attemt to rouse their Conscience if so be when that is waked and troubled and affrighted it may possibly prevail with them to be content to let a Savior in Nor is he satisfied with standing still so and expecting for God is that very Father in the Parable who when the Prodigal had wasted among riotous men and harlots all his portion all the obligations of his Father's kindness but at last made sensible by the extremity of want and hunger and not able to find any sustenance elsewhere then resolves on returning and acknowledging his fault when he was yet a great way off saw him and had compassion on him did not stay his coming but ran out to meet him and fell on his neck to kiss him yea fell lower in his kindness than the Son in his humiliation and acknowledgments accepted him to all the dearness that relation enhanc'd by the recovery of what was lost and hopeless could pretend to He is that Shepherd who went out to seek that lost sheep that ran from him and that thought not of returning who sought till be found it and when it was wearied so with wilful stragling that it could not come back carried it on his shoulders rejoicing And now judge I pray between God and the Sinner whether he have not Salvation offer'd him and whether there be not a time wherein he may be certainly accepted if he come to God when in fum of that which hath bin said 't is plain to preach the Gospel to us Sinners is to proclaim this acceptable year of the Lord it is to tender us Salvation purchased for us and confirm'd to us by the bloud of the Son of God which Son of his God was incarnate crucified raised and exalted to be Lord of Heaven and Earth to work it out and to bestow it on us and to direct us in attaining it he keeps a standing Embassy of men commissionated to advise premonish and sollicite to encourage to it represent the dangers if we follow other our own counsels and he suffers us to run our selves into some of them that the tast may make us sensible and however we pass him by scornfully and make no applications to his Providence but despise his cares of us yet he delivers us to give us more time that we may not perish yea diverts temtations when we seek them or defeats the mischief of them when we throw our selves upon them and himself invites beseeches temts us finds or else makes congruous seasons and contrives such circumstances as may press in fine importunes knocks and calls on us and runs out to meet us follows us seeks till he finds us carries us home to him And what could have him don more to the Sinner that he hath not don And what we thus have seen him doing for particular persons that he does much more unweariedly for Nations in whose undisturb'd tranquillity and good righteous Government the Godliness and honesty as well as wealth and quiet of particular men St Paul saith is concern'd since in careless and loose Governments and disturb'd and broken ones men equally grow vitious dishonest and ungodly and in too great calms as well as tempests are apt to make shipwrack both of Faith and of good Conscience Therefore God expresseth his concern for Nations in most passionate words He rejoiceth over them to do them good with his whole heart and with his whole soul Jer. 32. 41. and when the importunity of crying National enormities and that are so far from being punish'd they are not discountenanc'd enforce him that he can forbear no longer to endeavor by some chastning to reduce them yet in all their affliction he is afflicted Isaiah 63. 9. and tho he correct them yet he suffers having all the bowels of a tender Parent to them and cries out in most lamenting wishes O that my people would have hearkned unto me for if Israel bad walk'd in my ways I should soon have subdued their enimies and turned my hand against their adversaries Psalm 81. 13 14. And
more absolutely than in others but in all these there are promises and promises were made to be believ'd and every faithful Christian that trusts to them does know whom he hath believ'd But yet it cannot be denied since God hath threatned Ezek. 14. 13 14 c. When a Land sinneth against him by transgressing grievously then he will stretch out his hand against it and if he say sword go thro the Land and pour out fury upon it in bloud and break the staff of bread thereof he swears tho Noah Daniel and Job were in it they should but deliver their own souls then if we chance to see wickedness overspread a Nation vice and profaness grown so universal and habitual that 't is almost natural when impunity hath made it safe and upon that account familiar and then familiar practice made it necessary yea and great examples made it honorable and by this all virtue is made mean and contemtible and insolently domineer'd over or derided petulantly when a people looks so like the thing God threaten'd so 't is hard to apply the promises of safety to it or with confidence rely upon God for its preservation And yet there is the resolution of a case so like this in the Prophet Micah c. 7. as is able to revive a dying hope and give it vigor and security Wo is me for I am as when they have gathered the summer-fruits as the grape-gleanings of the Vintage there is no cluster to eat the good man is perished out of the Land and there is none upright among men they all lie in wait for bloud they hunt every every man his brother with a net That they may do evil with both hands the Prince asketh and the Judg asketh for a reward and the great man uttereth his mischievous desire so they wrap it up The best of them is as a briar the most upright sharper than a thorn-hedg and then he adds the day of visitation cometh now shall be their perplexity but he recollects himself and says Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will hear me Rejoice not against me O mine Enimy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me So that when we cannot hope well of the Commonwealth yet we may hope in God still And I pray you tell me whether way looks quieter and safer hath more comfortable expectations to confederate make factions lay plots dark somtimes illegal and unjust contrivances and sow the seeds of trouble and dissention and think with these to carry all their own away not enduring to submit to Providence or be contented with God's dispensations but will help him as if he had need of such arts or instruments and could not govern except his commands were broke when 't is certain such contrivances if they do not thwart his counsels which if they comport not with he laughs at and defeats yet they do his commands and then he will punish them however he may let them give a while some trouble And then whether is this better or to do our duty faithfully and trust God when we are assur'd if one sparrow two of which are worth yet but one farthing fall not to the ground without our Heavenly Father a Church and State shall not fall without him But yet 't is certain Governments are somtimes broken or else fall in pieces and while the fury of the sword does ravage all the innocent as well as guilty suffer the same miseries and the same carnage does devour the righteous with the wicked yea Religion hath bin swept away too by the inundation and whole Churches have bin quite un-Christian'd and no doubt there was all reason in the world for this Yet tho I will not take upon me to mark out the lines by which God moves either in his ways of mercy or of judgment nor to give the reasons of them yet when plenty hath brought in all sorts of luxury and dissoluteness and as it must needs that corrupts all loosens all the bonds by which Societies and Government consist the very bonds of common right and justice those that either mens propriety or their security and lives depend on and besots men so as that they take no other rule or measure of their interests than as things serve the ends and satisfactions of luxurious appetites and if Religion also while 't is trampled on despised and scofft down by such sensual persons that have no Religion and so not having countenance being injur'd and cut short by others does decay or else if willing to comply and save it self it grow it self debaucht in some measure learn by formalities to serve worldly purposes yea possibly learns to adopt principles and consecrate some practices which are enimies to the very nature of Religion wound destroy Christianity and dishonor the God of it if every thing does thus seem to provoke and call for present ruin and God stir himself up as he did in the Prophet Shall I not visit for these things shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this yet in such a Nation if there be enough remaining of those that can stand in the gap and maintain the breach against him as once Moses alone did he will turn away his indignation so as not to stir up his whole wrath and altho he leave them not altogether unpunisht he will not destroy them utterly Now he knows what the numbers are of faithful Christians such as wrestle day and night with him and do not let him rest If the hairs of our heads be all numbred sure the knees are that cleave to the ground in humble adorations and petitions to him Yea and so they are for when Elijah brought his charge in against Israel whose condition lookt so desperate that he thought there was no servant of God but himself I even I onely am left 1 Kings 19. 10. God tells him v. 18. he had seven thousand knees in it that had never bowed to Baal and when those three Noah Daniel and Job are not able seven thousand men yet may prevail Indeed if once Religion grow so low be so defiled that 't is not worth preserving with all those corruptions that get into it when not onely the Professors of it are deprav'd but its very constitution in its vitals in the doctrines both of faith and manners vitiated and it is hard to shew where God did ever overthrow a Church and a Religion wholly where it was not so and then it was not he that did destroy it it destroy'd it self If also in a state Judgment be turned into Wormwood and you find oppression for Justice and for Righteousness behold a crying in a word if a Church and State sink by such proportions as Sodom and the rest of the Cities of the Plain when in all Pentapolis there was not ten Righteous for whose sake five great
not our age in any wise to dissemble whereby many young persons might think that Eleazar were now gon to a strange Religion and so they thro my hypocrisy and desire to live a little time should be deceived by me 'T is said the Prince of Conde gave this answer to King Charles the IX of France who told him he must make his option either of going to Mass or death or to perpetual prison for the first by God's help he would never chuse it in the other he submitted to his pleasure but that God would certainly dispose of them as it seem'd good to him On the other side we have an instance Chilon one of the wise men of Greece who whatsoever his last aim was here his end was to live justly and according to right reason who upon his death-bed told his friends it was not then a time for him to flatter deceive himself his thoughts did not suggest unto him any thing he had don in his whole life that troubled him but one that when he with two others was to sit in judgement on a man that was his great friend who had broke the Law so heinously that it was necessary to condemn him looking out for some means that might save his virtue and his friend too he resolv'd on this that since the suffrages were given so that none could know what sentence any one Judg in particular pronounc'd he perswaded his Companions to absolve him and himself condemn'd him thinking thus he salv'd his duty both as Judg and Friend but when he came to die he thought 't was wicked and perfidious to draw others in to do that which he held not just for him to do he was not true to his own end but was diverted by the calls of friendship to serve other and in that he found his Wisdom fail'd him and his Conscience condemn'd him So that we have seen the Rule exemplified in all kinds Now by this Rule we may make experiment both of the truth of what our Savior here pronounces and mens wisdom also of what kind it is what the aim is whether of this World or of the other and which of the pursuers are the truer to their end and so wiser There is scarce any one profession dignity or place of power nor indeed condition or state of life but is adapted so that it may serve ends either of the Child of this World or the Child of Light and contribute either to the advantages of this life or of that which is to come To take a view of one or two of them the man that gets into authority and place may have for his end to serve God and his Country if he intend it for an opportunity truly and indifferently to administer justice to the punishment of wickedness and vice and to the maintenance of God's true Religion and virtue by such Sons of restraint as the Scripture calls them vice may be discountenanc'd goodness cherish'd till judgement run down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream and the Nation be taught to live in peace and honesty or he may intend to serve himself to gratify his pride or his ambition by getting into place and power that so he may be over others and his person more regarded and his will observ'd and himself be more uncontrolable in his words and actions may be vices or to gratify his covetous desires if in the perquisites of his place he find an opportunity for bribes a power to sell justice or what 's worse impunity of wickedness an office where men may buy off their duties yea their crimes and punishments at least a place of doing something like this as they find occasion Now whereas Authority finds good men often modest in the use of it as to its true ends of Religion and Justice power will scarce give them countenance and courage for its executions 't is uneasy or they are sollicited or aw'd and they look off at least they seldom put themselves upon it as upon the prosecution of a thing they mainly aim at or they seldom persevere so on the other side in order to the other ends men struggle for them buy the opportunities of selling give bribes that they may have power to receive them use all arts to compass offices to serve their worldly end with This is more notorious if the Office be Ecclesiastical the true end of whose Ministry is to gather Christ's Sheep that yet go astray to carry on the Salvation of those Souls which God hath purchas'd with his own bloud to preserve his Children from Eternal Hell to be applying to the wounds and the distempers of the body of Christ to prepare his Spouse for the marriage of the Lamb to be Dispensers and Stewards of his means of Grace and Glory in fine Fellow-workers with him to the Everlasting blessedness of those that are committed to their charge and who is sufficient for and does not tremble at these things to all which yet they do solemnly in express words dedicate themselves and their faithful endeavors and are consecrated to it by the Holy Spirit Or the end of this Ministry may be to advance themselves to reap the profits to receive the fleece enjoy the honors no great care appearing of those other dreadful obligations or concern that looks proportionable to them and if men will purchase this charge too as some say we may be sure they do not buy the duty or those fearful obligations and much less the Holy Spirit or his graces but 't is somwhat else they bargain for which they break thro oaths to come at some other end they aim at 2. As for states of life I must be endless should I enter into them to name but that which God himself did institute and first before all others which he made to be the complement of the felicities of Paradise to be mutual support in every state of life give all the comforts of society with innocence to preserve from vice in the most dangerous and fatal instances and so assist in the recovery of lost Paradise to fill earth so as by their good education it might people Heaven and repair its loss of faln Angels But some also may intend no more by it than dowry or to serve the needs or interests of families and to raise them for as for other satisfactions they intend to make them to themselves much otherwise and design not this at all a bar to any do not look upon it as God meant it for a remedy because they would not be preserv'd from the transgression onely they purpose to have such posterity it may be as the Law will suffer to inherit what their vices leave and their arts can secure from Creditors Yet truly since men learnt to disbelieve or not regard their own immortality and then learn not to care for living after they are gon hence in a good name it is not strange if they esteem not living
another occasion for God's remitting him not from his conscience which might alleviate the faults but by his being by the horror of his sins a greater instance of God's wonderful grace in forgiving v. 16. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe in him to life everlasting God dealt most mercifully with me call'd me from heaven whilst I was persecuting him to be a prime object of his patience and longanimity and in order of time the first that was so miraculously call'd that so the wickedest of the Gentiles may in me have an example of hope of mercy if they shall come in to Christ. And will it now be fit my Brethren with this of S. Paul who notwithstanding such true pleas of conscience is forc'd to seek out for such motives of forgiveness and plead hard ignorance and unbelief and yet confess himself the cheif of sinners with this I say to parallel some actions of our daies that under the pretence of conscience which too hath no Law as that of S. Paul had tho then outdated will justify forbidden actions even against repentance men will not ask forgiveness where they can pretend conscience I could instance in a strange particular of one of my remembrance and my knowledg of the person and the story sufficiently notorious who because the Papists believing that to be Christ which indeed is bread worship it therefore thought in his conscience all kneeling at the Sacrament Idolatry and to that error adding the command Deut. 13. 6 7 8 9. cut off his brother's and his mother's head yea and when condemn'd to death by sentence of Law for the action would not be beaten from his hold but on the strength of that mistaken place went as boldly with that bloud on his hand and his soul to face the judgment seat as he could have don had he bin wash'd in Christ's own bloud and of this resolute fury the Zealots of our neighbor country of Scotland have made many recent instances in their reviv'd Ravilliacs See the sad issue of an erring conscience an action whose horror feinds would startle at such a perswasion do's make meritorious and yet God knows that erring consciences have brought the Parent of a Nation a thing of much direr guilt to the same state and yet that conscience must be admitted an excuse when God knows jealousies and suspicions have bin all the ground and all the rule for their determinations of conscience and yet on that stock alone they could misjudge and censure speak evil of and revile the actions of just Governors and do that which I dare not say When against all Laws both of God and man all ties sacred and civil obligations of oaths and duties that it may be impossible to plead ignorance men yet will act under the banner of such a thin conscience that never could produce any Law of God for its direction or its quiet and yet think themselves secure When a confident perswasion of heart God knows how taken up shall quite annual that command of Christ of taking up the Cross and change that state which he calls blessed suffering for righteousness sake if there were such a thing change it into so great a curse as men will rather embowel themselves in their brother's hearts involve a Nation in bloud and misery in guilt and ruin than not throw off the Cross from off their shoulders And now 't is to no purpose to observe that when perjury and sacriledg and breach of almost every Commandment in the Decalogue shall not only become tolerable but be the only character of a godly side by vertue of a thing call'd conscience surely S. Paul was a weak man that when he had don some such things out of a good and pure conscience yet calls himself the chief of sinners In like manner in the Church new religious fancies are bold to take upon them the holy face of conscience and then to quicken men into schisms and all uncharitable separations and factions withdrawing them from the obedience of them that have the spiritual rule over them not at all submitting themselves to them who by Gods appointment watch over their souls but rather flying in their faces at once with open disobedience loud reproches bitter censures and severe condemnations Others by having had mens persons in admiration and consequently their opinions suffer'd their models to be stampt upon their conscience and then that must justify Ecclesiastical parricides destroying their own fathers that begot them to the Church and at once cutting off the whole line of those progenitors that can derive their race from Christ a fairer stem and pedigree than most can shew But alas my Brethren if we shall grant that these opinions really possess their souls and that in the uprightness of their heart they did pursue them that neither interest nor faction nor having bin disoblig'd or having suffer'd hath pufft up a passion into conscience but that 't is all sincerity yet we have seen that cannot bear us out in such commissions 't is but an erring conscience still that animates a man into any breach of duty and if there be no other Law to warrant actions the conscience is so far from being able to justify them that while it errs it but entangles a man in the necessity of sinning leads him into such Labyrinths of guilt that whatever he do's he offends on one side if he do what his erring conscience dictates to him he sins against God's Law on the other side if he forbear he sins against God's Vicegerent his own conscience there is the guilt of his deed here is the guilt of his heart which do's oblige a man to follow that which it is sin to follow and which makes him he must and ought to do that which he must not nor ought to do And sure my Brethren the only application to such a conscience is to advise the laying it aside to rectify the error Good counsel that indeed but the hardest to be taken in the world for that a man may rectify he must know himself in an error and if he know that then he hath not an erring conscience this when it is strongly so doth not so much as doubt of his opinion and while he do's not doubt what temtation hath he so much as to set upon the rectifying I shall but name some means The first will be Praier for Divine illumination S. James has directed this if any man lacks wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not c. 1. 5. and our Savior has promis'd that he will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. whose office we know is to lead us into all truth John 16. 13. The second means will be not to be wanting to our selves not to shut our eies against or resist the truth Acts 28. 27.
all this he cry out who is sufficient for these things sure they are not sufficient who in those little intervals which their trades and necessities afford them fall into fits and frenâ—ies of Religion have a sharp Paroxysme of irregular convuls'd Divinity as if they were its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possest with their Theology 'till their weariness and not knowing what to say do exorcise them But not to speak only to the wild fancies of this Age the Scripture says of the men of these callings they are taken from among Men and ordain'd for Men in things pertaining to God And such discriminations are evinc'd by all the expressions of a Church in Scripture 'T is call'd the body of Christ Now the parts of a body as where they are so separate that they divide from one another they do not make a body but are an Execution so where they are not separate in a diversity of Organs for several faculties and operations it may be a dead Element as similar bodies are but cannoâ— be that body which St. Paul describes 1 Cor. 12 Which is not one Member but many ver 14. And if they were all one member where were the body v. 19. and indeed all that Chapter is inspired for this Argument In Christ's Church 't is as impossible that every one can be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Overseer as that every part in the body can be an Eye And the whole frame of Man may be nothing else but a Tongue as well as every Christian may be a Preacher And if it might where indeed were the hearing as St. Paul does ask The Church is also call'd a building and Gods house Now it is true that every Christian is by St. Peter call'd a lively stone and all of them built up a Spiritual house an holy Priest-hood 1 Pet. 2. 5. and they all are a Royal Priest-hood an holy Nation a peculiar separate people vers 9. Yet all this is no more of privilege than is affirmed in the very same words of the Jewish Nation Exod. 19. 6. Where yet God had his separated Levites Priests and High-priests too But sure 't is manifest enough that in this building as in others stones have their separate places and distinct every one can not bear up the Corner or be a pillar and foundation-stone much less can every one place it self in the Ephod assume to be one of the Urim and the Thummim-stones and there break out in Oracles and give Responses and every rubbish stone set it self in the Mitre and shine in the head ornaments as if it were one of the precious stones of Sion In fine to speak now out of Metaphor not only the transactions of the Text which is a precedent for men to commission such and such but also all Scripture rules direct a Choice and where there is Election there is also dereliction and both evince a separation And if all the Nations in the World have had their distinct Officers for Religion and as it were to signalize the separateness of their function in many Nations they did live apart from Men The Priests had their adyâ—a as well as the Deities dark solitary Groves were made choice of not so much for the God as for his Officers retirement so that every appearance of him also was a Vision and the Priest was reveal'd as well as the Oracle and all this at the first to make a kind of sacred Pomp for the solemnity of awfulness though afterwards it often prov'd but opportunity for foul performances And if to this uniform practice of the World Gods attestation be set who order'd it in his own Government nor that as a Levitical or Jewish administration but it was practised amongst his own from the beginning and when dominions were but greater families there were still distinct persons for the imployments of Religion that was the office and the privilege of the first-born Esau was call'd profane for sellâ—ng that birth-right of his And the word in the Text here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate is the same which God does word the sanctifying the first-born for him with Exod. 13. 2. 'T were easie to deduce all this out of all ancient Jewish Records And when the practice ever since hath been the same in Christ's Religion after all this sure nothing else but absolute defection of the Notions of Mankind and blotting out all the impressions of Vniversal Nature and Vniversal Religion or else an absolute Command from Heaven could alter this Establishment from which command we are so far that 't is the Holy Ghost himself that said expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate Now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Separateness in Function does infer upon us a separateness in Life and Conversation and they who are thus set apart from the World must keep themselves unspotted from the World To separate and Consecrate are but two words for the same thing Separate three Cities is the Command in Deut. 19. 2. and they sanctified three Josh. 20. 7. Our Offices assume them both and all are holy Orders Now separate and pure are both so primitive and so essential notions of holy that truly I cannot determin which of them is original and which secondary Our Consecration does challenge both and as we will be separate in our calling so we must be separate in our lives not conforming our selves to the World for I have chosen you out of the World saith Christ. A torrent licence of an Age must not carry us along an Universal Custom of the World must be no precedent and can be no excuse for us to do what is irregular We are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate and that the World does such things is no more a plea for us to do so than that because the World is Common ground therefore the Church is so too fit to be put to all the uses of the field or of worse places Were it a reasonable argument because I see that the whole Country 's till'd why should I not break up the holy places and plow the Temple Why so we are enclos'd for God and separated for the uses of Religion and to preserve our selves pure for them Our Saviour says that the Community of Christians is a City upon an hill and then sure the consecrated Persons are the Temple of that City the separate places of it and then as they are most in sight the Church is ordinarily the most visible building so truly he that sees one of them it should be as if he saw an open Church where there is nothing else but holy duty as if his life were Liturgy publick Service and Worship of God Hath your zeal never rose at least your indignation at the profane fury of this Age which never made a stop in violation of things sacred when to its heap of other Sacrileges it added most contemptuous defilements of God's hoâ—â—â—s making the place that
indulg'd license makes them too big and heady to be brought under discipline And is 't not so with us Among many of those that stay within the Church I know not whether I do well to say so when of these I mean there is little other Evidence of their doing so but this that they will swear and drink of the Churches side blessed Sons of a demolished Church who think to raise their Mother a Temple by throwing stones at her by reason of the late overthrow of Government and discipline and the consequent licences Vice hath been so nurst up not only by an universal barefac'd uncorrected practice but by principles of liberty that can dispute down all Ecclesiastical restraints and have set up the Religion of License that now sin is grown so outragious as to be too strong for discipline nay rather than it should be set up 't is to be feared they would endeavour to reverse all in the Church and enterprise as much in their vices quarrel as others have done for mistaken Religion And indeed to what purpose were the Censures whose first and medicinal effect is shame amongst men where 't is in very many instances the only shameful thing not to be vitious where men stand candidates for the reputation of glorious sinners take to themselves sins they have not committed that are not theirs and usurp Vice sins and damnations hypocrites What work is here for discipline But this state wants not precedents the censures of the Church were not only lay'd aside in the Vastations of the Arian heresie and persecution when the weapons of the Churches warfare were too weak to make defence against all their cruelties and impieties and before that in Diocletian's days against the Lapsi But we find also that Saint Paul is forc'd to break out only in a passionate wish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would they were even cut off that trouble you cut off by excommunication he means Gal. 5. 12. When he saw the ill humours were too spreading and too tough also Sedition and Sehisme wide and obstinate so that neither his authority could reach nor his methods cure but were more likely to exasperate them Then he does excommunicate them only in desire And again 2 Cor. 10. 6. And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfill'd It becomes therefore every one that hath good Will for Sion to labour to fulfill his own obedience that so the Church may be empower'd to use Christ's Method for reforming of the rest And thet that will not do so must know they shall not only answer for their sins but for refusing to be sav'd from them that they resist all medicine as men resolv'd that nothing shall be done towards their Cure as men that rather choose to perish and prefer destruction And for the seasons and degrees of putting this work into Execution Wisdom must be implor'd from that Spirit of Wisdom that calls unto this work The last Part Whereunto I have called them The Nature of the calling of the Holy Ghost is a Subject that would bear a full discourse But waving those pretensions which Necessity and inward incitation do make to be the Calls of the Holy Ghost I shall positively set down that the call of God and of the Holy Ghost to any Work or Office for I enquire not of his calling to a privilege or state of favour is his giving abilities and gifts qualifying for that Work or Office The call immediate when the gifts were so but mediate and ordinary when the abilities are given in his blessing on our ordinary labours 'T is so in every sort of things Exod. 31. 2. See I have call'd Bezaleel and I have fill'd him with the Spirit of God in Wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of Workmanship to devise cunning works and to work in all manner of Workmanship and behold I have given him Aholiab and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put Wisdom that they may make all that I have commanded thee And he repeats the same again Chap. 35. 30. adding that he hath put in his heart that he may teach both he and Aholiab so that giving this skill to work and teach is nam'd Gods calling So in another case the Lord does say of Cyrus I have call'd him Esay 48. 15. which he explains in the 49. I have holden him by my right hand to subdue Nations before him to loose the loyns of Kings I have girded him So when Isaiah saith the Lord hath call'd me from the Womb or rather says that of our Saviour Isa. 49. 1. he tells you how ver 5. he form'd me and prepared me from the Womb to be his servant to bring Jacob to him And throughout the New Testament as his Call to a privilege is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his grace in allowing such a state of favour so his calls to a Work are his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his gifts enabling for it The Gifts of these Apostles by which they were enabled for their Office and which made up their call are set down Those of Barnabas in the fore-cited 11 Act. He was a good man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and Paul's call was a little Extraordinary If we look into times we shall find reason to believe those Revelations in 2 Cor. 12. were given to Paul a little before this consecration of him in the Text. That Epistle was writ saith Baronius in the second year of Nero and this separation was in the second of Claudius as may be gathered also in some measure from the famine mention'd in the 28th verse of the 11th chap. betwixt these two were fourteen years now saith Saint Paul when he wrote that he had his revelation somewhat above 14. years before a little therefore before this solemnity Here was a call indeed call'd up to the third heaven to receive instructions for his Office and for ought he did know call'd out of his own body too that he might be the fitter for it whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God knows v. 2. and that again v. 3. They whom Gods Spirit qualifies for Consecration to separate to these diviner Offices may be stil'd Angels well when they are call'd from all regards or notices of any body that belongs to them their gifts and graces set them above the consideration of flesh In the entertainment of these qualifications the Soul is swallowed up so that it cannot take cognizance whether it have a body of its own and is not sensible of that deer partner of it self it is so onely sensible of this Employment 'T is not for an Apostle or for his Successor to think of things below with much complacency When these have all their uses all their glories on they but make pomp to dress the body which an Apostle does not design for nor knows whether he be concern'd at all