the firm assurance of a supernatural power and help to subdue the corruptions of our natures grounded upon the promise of God gives those that really believe the Gospel such faith and hope and strength and courage which gives them victory over the world and their own inordinate lusts and appetites From all which instances it appears how many singular helps and motives the Gospel gives us in order to a holy life which the light of nature cannot give and consequently that it is most necessary to believe the Gospel over and above all the Principles which the light of nature can discover 3. Add hereunto in the third place That as this is necessary for the perfect knowledge of our Duties and the helps and motives thereunto so likewise for our support and comfort under all the tryals fears and troubles that assault us in the present world whether those arise from 1. Outward evils or 2. From inward guilt and fear of punishment 1. And for the former Man says Job is born for trouble as the sparks fly upward that is to say The state of man is naturally troublesome in this world So many are the afflictions and tryals which fall upon us in this life so many the dangers or disappointments so many losses and calamities in our names or persons or estates or in the persons related to us which four and imbitter the present world that there is nothing can support us and make our lives easie to us but the firm assurance and expectation of a blessed and glorious immortality which as I have clearly shewed before was never found among the Heathen never clearly known by the light of nature Could they then so enjoy themselves in all the confusions in all the calamities of this world they who had no assured hope of immortality as we may do that have that hope or as the Primitive Christians did We are troubled says the Apostle on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed 2 Cor. 4.8 9 Not destroyed no we do not faint we do not languish under our troubles so he adds at the 16. verse and would you know how they were supported how sustained under all their tryals persecutions that appears from the first words of the following Chapter We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a buildin with God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens And this it was this certain knowledge this which the light of nature wants which gave support and comfort to them under all their sufferings and afflictions 2. Add hereunto in the second place that the light of nature can never give men that assurance of the grace and favour of God towards them and the remission of their sins which the Gospel most expresly gives and therefore never so support us under the fears and sense of guilt as the declarations of the Gospel The Gospel assures us that God sent his beloved Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 John 4.10 The Gospel assures us that the Son of God appear'd in the presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 that he interceeds a Priest for us The Gospel tells us that he will continue so to do so to intercede for ever and that his intercession for us is most prevalent for our Salvation that he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Heb. 7.25 And that he is not able only but also willing so to do as being a merciful and faithful High Priest Heb. 2.17 upon which account we are exhorted to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 4.16 And are not these express declarations of the mighty efficacy of Christs Sacrifice to make atonement for our sins and of his intercession for us to commend us to the favour of God infinitely great supports to us under our fears of guilt and punishment or could the very light of nature give such assurance of Gods mercy to mankind as Gods express promise gives The light of nature could never give us that assurance It did indeed convince men of their sin and guilt and of the danger of Gods displeasure thence arising and therefore laboured to atone and to remove divine displeasure by many Sacrifices and Oblations yea by the blood of humane Sacrifices but still alas left the Offerers under great confusions and uncertainties whereas God hath clearly and expresly declared himself reconciled to us by the spotless Sacrifice of his Son Having thus shewed the absolute necessity of believing what the Gospel reveals over and above what the light of nature can discover Let us hence observe the sin and danger of those persons who pretend indeed to believe in God but not in him whom God hath sent to be the Redeemer of the World 1. They reject the Lord of life and glory whom God hath made the very judge of the quick and dead to whom he hath given all Authority in Heaven and Earth They reject the head of that body to which alone Salvation is promised for there is no name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved but that of Christ Acts 4.12 And he that believeth not on the Son full not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him John 3.36 2. Nor can it reasonably be pretended that the light of nature affords the same helps and motives to make men righteous good and holy which the very Gospel itself affords There is nothing falser nothing vainer than that pretence as I have already clearly shewed Nor do those men who do pretend to believe in God but yet refuse to believe in Christ refuse this upon other reasons but only because the Laws of Christ are too severe and holy for them they will not do what he commands and therefore will not believe the Gospel nor would they pretend to obey the very light of nature save only because by these means they gain a liberty of doing as little as they please for if you reprove them for any sin their answer is that it is not so by the light of nature They make that light to be what they please and then do what they please also pretending the light of nature allows it But let all those who would not ruin their precious Souls who do in deed and good earnest desire eternal life and happiness fully and faithfully believe the Gospel believe in him who hath thereby brought life and immortality to light who hath offered himself as a spotless Sacrifice to make expiation of their sins who as he is now in Gods presence making intercession for his body so will appear to the World again at the last day and reward men according to their works Let us all stedfastly believe in him the only begotten Son of
which we partake in that Sacrament 1 Con. 10.17 We are all partakers of that one bread and that the Cup of which we drink and thus believing we do not give Divine worship unto the Elements in the Sacrament But they in absolute contradiction both unto Scripture and unto Reason and unto four of their five Senses believe that after Consecration there is no bread but the natural flesh of Christ's body no wine but his very natural blood Upon which account they pay a Divine worship to them worship that which is not God that which is really bread and wine To all these things I might now add the Superstition of their Devotions their Prayers for delivering departed Souls out of that place they call Purgatory a place that is of their own making for gaining Wealth unto their Church Their Pilgrimages to the Tombs of Saints an infinite Mass of Rites and Ceremonies for which things they have no precept in the Scripture no example either there or in the primitive Ages of Christianity Rites which obscure and burden Religion with a numberless heap of Superstitions contrary to the very nature to the simplicity of Christianity From matter of Worship pass we on to matter of common life and action 1. As it relates to moral Duty 2. And also unto Civil Society 1. And for the former our Church declares that true repentance is absolutely necessary to gain the remission and pardon of sin We also affirm that reformation is the best and most essential part of true repentance We do not pretend to any power to give Absolution to any person who doth not practise such repentance that is to say who doth not truly reform himself in life and action in case life be continued to him or in real purpose and resolution in an effectual change of heart We make no pretence to an Authority of giving Indulgences and Remissions or of admitting any Penances and Commutations for the Expiation of the sin where the sin is still continued in Whereas they of the Church of Rome give Absolution to Attrition that is to the meer fear of Hell and these two things namely Attrition and Absolution they judge sufficient to Salvation They admit of Penances and Commutations for the Expiation of mens sins and by these means teach their Followers to hope for remission of the punishment although they retain the sin it self And lest the Penance should seem burthensom and too severe they can give Indulgence for that too to them that will be at the cost to buy it By all which means they make the Precepts of the Gospel the Laws of Christ of no effect make it needless to obey them unless a man have a mind unto it and to do more than what is needful 2. For Civil Society 't is well known how many there are in the Church of Rome who do affirm that it is not needful to discharge a promise to a Heretick and all are Hereticks in their account who make profession of Christianity and do not communicate with their Church We know there was safe conduct promised to John Hus and Jerom of Prague to the Council of Conslance and how that promise was performed The promise was broken and the men burnt and so indeed they justified their Doctrine by their practice They exempt the Clergy from the Authority of secular Power till they be surrendred thereunto by their Superiors in the Church and they surrender them when they please and when they please they do not Upon which account many Villanies many Murders have been committed in the State to the infinite scandal of Religion It was complained in the sixth year of King Henry the Second that there have been above an hundred man slaughters committed by the then Clergy since the beginning of his Reign But that which is of the vilest consequence in this point is that they affirm that the Popes of Rome have power to depose Kings and Princes and that pursuant to this Doctrine they have excommunicated and deposed lawful Princes in several places and given their Kingdoms and Dominions to other persons that there are infinite numbers of Authors who defend and justifie this Doctrine that these are countenanced by a Council that is to say the fourth Lateran which they themselves call a General Council For it is there expresly said that in case a Prince does not purge his Country from heretical pravity in the space of a year after admonition so to do by the Metropolitan and his Comprovincials then this be signified to the Pope that he may deprive him of all Authority terram ejus exponat Catholicis occupandam expose his Country to be possessed and seized by Catholicks In direct pursuance of which Doctrine private persons have stab'd Princes and have been commended and applauded by the Pope himself for so doing For so it was in the case of Henry the Third of France These are the Doctrines of the Church of Rome relating unto Civil Society what ours are I need not say We owne our selves obliged to do good to all men and that although we have not obliged our selves thereto by any particular promise to them much more discharg'd our faith to all We owne the King to be supreme in his own dominions and that there is no power in any to depose him And to conclude we owne the truth of S. Peter's words and that in the very fullest sense Honour or as the margent reads it esteem all men love the Brotherhood fear God honour the King 1 Pet. 2.17 We owne all to be oblig'd to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or to Governours as sent by him for the punishment of evil doers I have here given you an account of some of the most material differences between us and the Church of Rome in point of faith and worship and manners and should now perswade you to stand fast in all these things as they are taught in this Church not suffering your selves to be abased by vain Sophistry of deceivers If they ask you where our Church was before Luther ask you again where theirs was before the fourth Laterane Council nay before that of Trent it self For sure it is there was never any Church before those Councils that did in all things teach and practise as the Church of Rome at this present time Tell them our Church that is a Church wherein the same faith and worship the same obedience to Gods commands were taught and required which are now taught and required in ours were many ages before theirs Such a Church there was assoon as there was a Christian Church such a Church planted by Christ himself such a Church propagated by his Apostles such a Church for several hundred years for several ages after that Afterwards there arose a time of darkness upon the face of the Christian world in that darkness many errours crept into the Church many corruptions in worship
this end that it be a hope of the very happiness God hath promised unless it expect that happiness upon those terms and no other whereupon 't is promised in tha Gospel and those are faith working by love those are as God himself declares to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in the world Whence that of the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 12. vers 14. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. he that hopes for happiness without these terms cannot by virtue of that hope be any way moved to practise these so far is such a hope as that from moving men unto their duties that it gives them the very greatest encouragement to live in the perfect neglect of them What need they to deny themselves and their vicious appetite and desires What need they to offer any violence to their sinful lusts and inclinations Why should they part with a right hand why should they pluck out a right eye forego the pleasure lose the profit of any lust if they can hope for eternal Glory in the fruition of their lusts and reconcile the hopes of Heaven with all the desires of flesh and blood and soft indulgence to those desires From whence I conclude that that hope which purges the hearts and lives of men must be a hope of that happiness that God hath promised upon those terms and those only whereupon 't is promised in the Gospel 3. And yet further we must observe that it is only a firm assurance of arriving at that eternal happinefs upon the performance of those terms that shall enable us to perform them Conjecture is too weak a thing to overcome those strong temptations that dare men into sin and folly No man will deny himself what he feels to gratifie his sensual appetites at the present upon meer guess of what may possibly be hereafter Strong desires are not subdued by weak hopes Men will not deny their present ease their present pleasures their present joys though never so contrary to the Gospel upon meer probabilities and peradventures they will be sure of something future before they part with what they have they will be sure of something better before they forsake what they feel or apprehend to be good and useful at the present And it was want of this assurance in the Philosophy of former days that made its Precepts and Institutions so ineffectual in the World and so Lactantius then observed Omnia ibi conjecturis aguntur ideo nemo paret quia nemo vult in incertum laborare Philosophy affords but meer conjecture in the point of suture life and happiness and therefore no man observes its precepts because no man will labour at all adventures From whence I conclude that that hope which shall effectually perswade with men to obey the Precepts of our Lord to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit must be a firm and strong assurance of gaining the happiness God hath promised upon the terms that he requires sincere obedience to his Precepts 4. But now because it is impossible for flesh and blood in this degenerate state of man and in the midst of these temptations which daily assault him in this state sincerely to obey those Precepts without the assistance of Gods Spirit there is yet a further qualification that is required in that hope which shall enable us so to do which is that it wholly grounds it self upon the promise of Gods grace and moves a man to apply to God for the assistance and help thereof in the purifying of his heart and life Nature will never raise it self to a supernatural state of life or to a supernatural end Man is of the earth earthy and in no capacity so to elevate his own thoughts so to advance his own desires as to prepare and fit himself for that happiness which lies in likeness to God himself in perfect purity and incorruption without the assistance of Gods grace And therefore that hope must of necessity be successless must fail to cleanse and purge our hearts to purifie us as God is pure which shall not be so far instructed as to teach us to apply to God for the assistance of his Spirit in a work above the power of Nature But now to recollect the summ of what I have said upon this point that hope which fixes on that happiness which God hath promised in the Gospel consisting in purity and immortality which is a hope of this happiness upon those terms and those only whereupon it is there promised to us which is a firm and full assurance of that happiness upon the performance of those terms which grounds it self upon the assistance of Gods Spirit in that performance and therefore moves to apply to God by fervent prayer for the attaining of that assistance which is never denied when so desired that is the hope the Apostle intends in these words that is the hope that purifies us as God is pure Which leads me to the second general 2. Where I am to shew the several ways whereby it hath these effects upon us and these I refer to two particulars 1. This hope moves and excites to strong endeavours in order unto this end namely the purifying of our selves 2. It is of such a nature as cannot but render those endeavours truly effectual unto that end 1. It moves to strong endeavours in order unto this great design which is the purifying of our selves from all our inordinate lusts and passions and the reason is because it hath firmly fixed the soul upon future glory and immortality as its only happiness and perfection the only thing that is fit or worthy to be made the end and design of life and also fixt and setled this as a most sure and certain truth that the purifying of a mans heart and life according to the Laws of Christ is the only and certain way of attaining to that bliss and happiness God hath made us all of such a nature that we cannot forbear to love our selves nor can that creature forbear to desire his own happiness that cannot forbear to love himself nor can the desires of that enjoyment wherein a man hath placed his happiness cease to urge and press endeavours in order to the attainment of it Suppose we then that a man believe that true happiness lies in the purity and immortality that God hath promised in his Kingdom suppose he believe that a holy life is the only means to attain this happiness suppose these things fixed and setled upon his heart by the operation of Gods Spirit can we imagine but that the hope of such an end should most effectually excite and move him to purifie himself as God is pure Will he not be content to resist his sinful lusts and appetites subdue his inordinate inclinations in consideration of such a happiness Will he not be content to deny himself all the unlawful joys
not cut off by Gods hand but pardoned upon his deep repentance But this pardon was not the Act of the Law it self but the dispensation of the Law-giver And so indeed were these promises wherein the Prophets proclaimed pardon where the Law expresly death as when they promised remission and pardon to Idolaters themselves if they would repent For such was the rigour of the Law that whensoever it threatned death it did not dispense with the guilty person no not upon repentance it self not upon amendment and reformation This is the meaning of the Apostle when he saith that the Law worketh wrath Rom. 4.15 when he stiled it the ministration of condemnation 2. Cor. 3.9 This is the reason why having opposed it to the Gospel as the letter unto the Spirit he further adds that the letter killeth but that the spirit giveth life vers 6. of the same Chapter this is the reason why Christ is said to have come in the flesh to deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2.15 For as the Law threatned death to very numerous kinds of sin so it admitted no expiation no sacrifice no repentance unto life where it expresly threatned death and here was the rigour of the Law Now the Gospel on the other hand although it threaten Eternal Death to obstinate and impenitent sinners yet it allows and accepts repentance as a condition of remission in all degrees and kinds of sin wherein the Law did not allow it as to the punishment it threatned And this is the thing which S. Paul suggests Act. 13.38 Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man that is through Christ is preached unto you forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all those things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses There were numerous sins from which the Law did not absolve the offending person The Law did never absolve or justifie where a man had wittingly committed a sin to which that Law threatned excision but left him without any promise of pardon to the Soveraignty of the Law-maker Whereas the Gospel in express words admits repentance and reformation as a condition of forgiveness in all those kinds and degrees of sin no sin so hainous in its nature none so aggravated by repetition none so heightned by long continuance whereunto the Gospel doth not expresly promise pardon upon the sinners return to God Here is that grace that pardons the sensual and impure upon their amendment and reformation here is that grace that pardons the violent and injurious upon repentance and restitution Here is that mercy that forgives the impious and profane if peradventure they shall reform and return to God by true repentance A grace so great and undeserved that it is seldom mentioned in Scripture without expressions of admiration A grace so signal and so eminent that when the Apostle had described it in the fifth Chapter to the Romans he found it needful to spend the sixth in caution against the abuse of it Not that the liberty of the Gospel either in this or the former instance is really such in its own nature as that it gives any reasonable grounds for men to indulge themselves in sin but that they being bribed by their own lusts take encouragement to do this where none is given that is to use the Apostles words use the liberty given in the Gospel for an occasion to the flesh 2. And so I pass to the second part the caution which the Apostle gives against the abuse of that liberty which is allowed us in the Gospel Now as this consists in two instances liberty from the numerous Rites and from the rigour of the penal Sanction of Moses his Law so was there something of abuse of both these parts of Christian liberty in the primitive Ages of Christianity 1. For first as to the former instances some there were who being acquainted with their liberty from the Rites and Injunctions of the Law earlier than many others were used the liberty of their consciences to ensnare the consciences of other men scorned and censured them as weak and ignorant and by their censures and examples engaged them in the neglect of some Laws relating to certain days and meats before they understood their liberty or had due time to understand it And this abuse of Christain liberty is censured in S. Pauls writings both to the Romans and Corinthians 2. Others observing that S. Paul denied the necessity nay in some cases forbad the use of the works of the Law that is of the Rites before mentioned in order unto Justification took liberty as S. James suggests Jam. 3 to absolve themselves from the works and graces of the Gospel from justice mercy and humility from love and patience and veracity from the engagements and obligations not only of the Laws of Christ but even of natural Religion it self An errour which to this very day so infects the Divinity of many persons that it is no wonder to see their Followers ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth 2. But to pass on to the second instance The relaxation of that rigour which was in the penal Sanction of the Law seems to have been no less abused than liberty from its numerous Rites For it should seem that some persons observing that the Gospel promised pardon where the Law of Moses had denied it and judging that the grace of God was highly magnified by that pardon took leave to indulge themselves in sin under pretence of magnifying Gods grace Which is the errour St. Paul censures Rom. 6.12 What shall me say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid God offers no pardon but to the penitent the design of his grace in offering pardon to the penitent is to invite men to repentance and therefore to use that grace as an encouragement to impenitence is to use it just against it self contrary to its own design as well as against a mans own advantage How much of this unthankful folly may yet remain in the Christian world I am not able to determine but sure I am that there is something like unto it in very general use amongst us which is the delay of reformation grounded upon the promise of pardon to every man that forsakes his sins although he have long continued in them a great abuse of the grace of God God promises pardon to prevent despair these abuse that promise to presumption God admits repentance after sin to encourage us to forsake our sins these abuse his grace in that instance to encourge them to continue in them which is to contemn the goodness of God and despise the mercy they should adore And so S. Paul himself suggests Rom. 4.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Add
instances wherein they exercised their hypocrisie 2. The second was that they confined all their Religion to outward actions but all this while neglected the purifying of their hearts S. Paul reporting what he was while he continued to be a Pharisee expresly tells us that he was blameless as to the righteousness in the law Touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless Phil. 3.6 His meaning is that he avoided the outward actions expresly forbidden in the Law that he observed and performed them which were expresly then commanded according to the interpretation which the Pharisees put upon the Law more than this he could not mean he could not possibly believe himself to have been punctually clear and spotless in the inward affections of his foul but only in point of outward action But being so he declares himself to have been blameless touching the righteousness in the Law while he continued to be a Pharisee which plainly shews they thought the Law required no more than a conformity to its Precepts in outward action and behaviour And thus doth Kimchi expound those words Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me that is saith he if I only think or design iniquity but do not accomplish the design if I only think or wish the evil but do not act it in overt action God will not impute it as fin to me a gloss just contrary to the Text not an explication of the words but an express contradiction to them 'T is true indeed the Law did say Thou shalt not covet but did not expresly threaten punishment to them that coveted if they did not act the ill imagined Whereupon these Pharisees judged it a counsel rather than a precept in gratification to their lusts and judged themselves exactly righteous when they performed the overt actions the Law required and avoided them forbidden in it Such is the nature of hypocrisie and such was that of the Scribes and Pharisees 3. As they placed their righteousness wholly and solely in outward actions and the omissions of such actions so they performed those actions with abundance of outward pomp and shew that they might be seen and praised of men They gave alms but sounded a trumpet both in the Synagogues and in the streets at the giving of it Mat. 6.2 They prayed much but they loved to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets and this that they might be seen of men Mat. 6.5 They fasted also twice a-week Luk. 18.12 but they put on a soure countenance disfigured their faces that they might appear unto men to fast Mat. 6.16 And this as our Lord expresly tells us Mat. 23.5 they did all their works to be seen of men Which is the nature of hypocrisie and a certain signification of it 4. They were far more nice far more scrupulous in lesser things than they were in things of greater moment far more punctual in the observance of their own precepts and institutions than those that were of Gods appointment and far more diligent in the observance of Gods appointments in ritual matters and constitutions than in the very Laws of nature and things of indispensable goodness These are the things our Saviour often objects to them and more especially Matt. 23. the 23d and following verses Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye pay tythe of mint and anise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith those ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone Ye blind guides which strain at a Gnat and swallow a camel which make such scruple in lesser things and none at all in things of moment And yet again in the following words Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but within they are full of extortion and excess to wash the cup before they drunk to cleanse the platter before they ate was an institution of their own and this they very duly observed to purge the heart from all extortion and impurity was a Law enjoined by God himself but of this they made no account at all 5. As they much abounded in institutions of their own so some of these were so extravagant that they were contrary to the very Laws of God and nature What Law more sacred and indispensable what more natural and more agreeable to humanity than that which requires us to honour our Parents to relieve and assist them in their wants which is both a part and a signification of that honour yet such was the blindness of the Pharisees that they licensed a man to make a vow to deny relief unto his Father and pronounc'd the vow to be obliging so our Lord Mark 7.10 11. Moses said honour thy Father and Mother and who so curseth Father or Mother let him dye the death but ye say if a man shall say to his Father or Mother it is Corban that is to say a gift by whatsoever thou mayest be profited by me he shall be free and ye suffer him no more to do ought for his Father or his Mother making the word of God of none effect through your traditions inventing a vow flatly contrary to Gods Law and making the former oblige and bind to the destruction of the latter Thus did they use a pretence of Piety towards God to absolve and quit them from their very duty to their Parents used Religion against Religion and made the very pretence of it a ground to neglect and contradict it 6. They prescribed to others what they themselves would not practise their precepts were stricter than their lives to others they were extreamly severe but kind and gentle to themselves whence that reflection of our Lord Matt. 23.34 Do not after their works for they say and do not for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on mens shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers an evident instance of Hypocrisie of prevarication and deceit for if the duty though hard and difficult was yet necessary unto others why was it not so to them likewise and if it was not so to them as it should seem they judg'd it was not why was it then so to others why did they then impose it on them why reprove the neglect of it why upbraid the mote or atome which they espied in their neighbours eye while they suffered a beam to blind their own But to proceed to the last instance of the hypocrisie of the Pharisees this lay in the flaming zeal they had to make Proselytes to their Party to make Disciples to their Sect while they made them worse and not the better nay greatly worse by so doing And this is the thing objected to them by our Lord Matth. 23.15 Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte and when
his affections and corrects exorbitant heat and passion and powerfully moves and inclines the Soul to sobriety patience and humility So is the third disease of the mind its vanity in useless speculations together with the effects hereof perfectly cured by sound judgment in things excellent and worthy knowledge 2. Add hereunto in the second place that the same judgment is a constant guide and faithful monitor to all our duties in every instance of life and action 1. A guide it is that points out the way to life eternal through all the varieties and uncertainties that perplex the minds and pervert the practices of them that want it a guide it is that doth not stoop to groundless dictates that is not frighted with bold Anathema's nor yet misled by soft perswasions by fair pretences or shews of Piety no mans confidence shall amuse it no mans zeal impose upon it If it be said loe here is Christ here an unerring way to life If it be said on the other hand no he is not there but here there is nothing but imposture under the name of infallibility nothing but Vanity and Superstition under a mask of external piety But here is the spirit of Jesus Christ here is his Doctrine truly preached here are his ordinances pure and entire without humane mixtures and inventions he that hath clear and stable judgment in the things the Apostle stiles excellent knows what to believe and what to practice in the midst of all this noise and clamour He is not put upon demurrs first to doubt and then to put off and delay his duty till interest passion or example till the hopes or fears of the present world prejudice and beguile his judgment much less by a mistaken zeal to pursue a crime instead of a duty and think he is doing God service when he is violating Gods Laws breaking the peace of a Church or State or censuring those whom he ought to honour Such is the singular help we have from the approbation of things excellent from stable judgment in all these things It is a constant guide unto us to shew us what our duties are in every instance of life and action 2. Nor is it only a ready guide but a faithful monitor to these duties for judgment inform'd by practical truth is one and the same thing with conscience and conscience is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conscience is a domestick God conscience is Gods vicegerent in us which both declares our duties to us and powerfully presses us to obedience No man offends it but wounds himself no man follows it but finds content in so doing whence that practice of St Paul recorded in his own words Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men And certainly did we take a survey of all the several considerations that recommend our duties to us and then so six these considerations in our thoughts as to turn them into a stable judgment this would so confirm and strengthen us in the choice and practice of what is good as that neither the hopes nor fears the charms nor dreads of the present World should move us to a wilful sin Let a man consider that his duties are made to be so by the Laws of God who having made us out of nothing hath made himself our Sovereign Lord by so doing and being so hath all Authority to command us Let him consider that these Laws are good and excellent in themselves as highly tending to the welfare both of Societies and single persons Let him consider with what variety of application God recommends our duties to us how he exhorts invites and intreats how he expostulates and reasons with us how he upbraids and chides our folly in many places of the Scripture Let him consider what he hath done and what he hath promised to do hereafter that he may perswade us to obedience that he hath given his Son to die for us to redeem us both from sin and punishment and promised his grace to assist obedience and eternal happiness to reward it And having considered all these things and digested the consideration of them into a firm and setled judgment can we imagine that such a judgment shall not perswade a free choice and ready practice of every thing thus recommended to him Especially if he shall further consider what are the principles within himself and what the temptations also without that urge him to reject his duty and what unhappy and sad effects attend the wilful rejection of it The principles within that corrupt our choice and practice too are as St John himself hath told us 1 John 2.16 the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life sensuality covetousness and ambition infatuations as well as sins and torments as well as infatuations especially in their effects and issues in the cares and Envyings and Animosities which they kindle upon the minds of men The temptations that move these vain desires are bodily pleasures secular riches and the esteem of vain men for none but such can value a proud ambitious person These are the things even these which are not satisfactions to the mind of the meanest man in the World these which bring regrets and pangs cares and anxieties death and misery along with them that tempt us to forsake our duties These are the things that offer themselves in recompence for the loss of innocence the loss of holiness and true righteousness the very Image of God himself These are the things that offer themselves in recompence for the loss of peace of Conscience of Gods favour and the care of his good providence over us Nay these are the things that present themselves in exchange for our immortal Souls the loss whereof cannot be made up by gaining the whole world it self for what shall it profit a man saith our Saviour if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul Mark 8.36 37. So then let a man take an exact survey of all that recommends his duty and of all that moves him to forsake it and then compare them both together and the comparison will be thus On one hand there is the law of God who hath all Authority to command him on the other his own extravagant passions urging him to forsake that Law on one hand behold all the vertues all the graces of Christianity that is to say all the perfections of humane nature on the other all its sins and follies all its degeneracies and decays on one hand there are stable joys peace of Conscience peace with God and assurance of his grace and favour on the ther muddy and fleeting pleasures mixt with abundance of regrets on the one hand clear and setled hopes of future life and immortality on the other want of these hopes nay the fears and dreads of eternal misery Now when a man makes
and exposes him to the scorn of others And so do they so far at least as they are able expose the Majesty of God himself that abuse the words of the Holy Scriptures to entertain themselves or others 3. There is yet another sin behind which I could willingly have omitted if I could have tolerably satisfied my self that it doth not carry a more than ordinary mark upon it of an irreverence towards God though not so great as the two former and that 's habitual and constant swearing and that without all provocation in common and ordinary conversation just contrary to that Law of Christ Matt. 5.34 I say unto you swear not at all that is in ordinary communication for so it follows v. 37. But let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil Cometh of evil so doth every Overt act of sin every such act flows from some sinful lust within for when lust hath conceiv'd it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death But it should seem this sin of swearing in cool blood and that in ordinary conversation proceeds from some extraordinary evil And what that is will very easily be understood if we consider that this sin hath no foundation in those appetites that God hath planted in mans nature either to preserve himself or to propagate and to continue his kind as all indulgence to the body all kinds of sensuality have for this sin of common swearing hath no foundation in hunger or thirst or bodily pleasure or in the desire of wealth or ease nay I may add of power and greatness It is a sin without a temptation from without nor doth it arise from any of those very inward appetites that God hath planted in our natures from whence it appears that it hath its rise from an unnatural kind of vanity join'd with a very high irreverence towards God who hath given an express Law against it and that it is in its own nature a bold ostentation of that irreverence for it is a calling God to witness in every trivial and slight affair where a man would not dare to call a Prince or a serious person to give his testimony I do confess that some persons may have been habituated to this vice before they well understood themselves or the nature of the vice it self But why do they use no care to leave it why do they not study to reform it when they do or may understand better What will he do in compliance either with Gods command or with his own eternal happiness who will not labour to quit a vice which is so expresly forbid by Christ and to which he hath no greater temptation than he hath to prophane and idle swearing How can he hope to overcome the lusts and vices of Sensuality which are nothing else but the abuse of natural desires and inclinations and are by them suggested to him and often excited by strong temptations from without how can he hope to deny himself in point of wealth and power and honour or to embrace death or bonds rather than forfeit his integrity which is most necessary to be done who will not forsake a groundless sin a sin without any natural appetite to suggest and without a temptation to excite it A small degree of fear and reverence to God Almighty would easily overcome this sin which is an evident demonstration that it flows from great irreverence to him 4. But to proceed to the last general namely the several considerations which may produce a singular reverence towards God both in it self and its effects and restrain us from all contradictions to it 1. Let us first consider the Spirit and quickness of the style wherein God demands our fear and honour wherein he requires our reverence to him If I be a Father where is mine honour and if I be a Master where is my fear which Language carries this sense in it Do not you your selves require a singular love and fear from your relations namely from your children and servants under the name of the same relations whereupon I require the like from you and what is more generally receive what you require For a son saith he honoureth his Father and a servant his Master And had he not reason then to add If then I be a Father where is mine honour and if I be a Master where is my fear 2. Now therefore secondly let us consider how great a guilt we must contract if we should deny that to God to the Father of the whole Creation and the Sovereign master of all the World which every Father every Master demands from his Children and his Servants under the name of the same Relations though the obligations thence arising be infinitely greater as they stand between God and men than between men among themselves And yet notwithstanding all this what Father is there amongst men who will endure neglect and insolence and disobedience in his Son who will not reject and disinherit and utterly cast him of for it if he do not repent and humble himself and return to the practice of his duty Where is the Master that patiently bears not only the neglect of service but wilful injury in his Servant Where is the Master that bears this without the greatest indignation against his servant for so doing and that doth not judge his guilt so great as to deserve the severest punishment And therefore judge what guilt it is which every man draws upon himself by a wilful irreverence and disobedience to the great Father and Lord of all 3. And although it be very true indeed that they who bear the greatest load of guilt upon them may not at present find themselves grieved and oppressed by the sense of it yet ought it seriously to be considered that God can in a single moment such is his Sovereignty over the very spirit of man awake that guilt into fear and dread in the greatest Spirits in the World awake it by an invisible dart a secret arrow of his indignation shot immediately into the heart And some such things he did in David as plainly appears from his own words Psal 38.1 2. and following verses O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure for thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presses me sore There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin I am troubled and bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long Thus was a Prince and a man of War who never feared the face of an Enemy who had encountred and slain a Giant in a single combate who had killed two of the fiercest kinds of savage beasts a Lyon and a Bear with a naked arm 1 Sam. 17.36 Thus was he dash'd and broken all to pieces by the sense of his guilt and Gods displeasure a wakened by the hand of God 4.
by adding higher rules of holiness for as he established the New Covenant upon better promises than those the Old was built upon so he gave sublimer and higher precepts than those that were given in the Old If the Law and the Prophets forbad murder murder committed by the hand our Saviour stifled it in the heart for he hath forbiden causeless anger I say unto you whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment Matt. 5.22 If Moses condemned adultery in the body our Lord condemns the very impurity of the mind and styles it the adultery of the heart ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old thou shalt not commit adultery but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart v. 27 28. If the Law of Moses allowed divorce upon small disgusts and animosities our blessed Lord doth not allow it save only in the case of Adultery which is the peculiar and proper breach of matrimonial obligation v. 32. of the same Chapter If the Law allowed a retaliation of evil for evil an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth our Lord hath forbidden us to resist evil v. 39. that is to say to revenge it for not to resist the evil done us is to give place to the wrath of our Enemy and this is the same as not to avenge it and so we learn from St Paul's words Rom. 12.19 Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. If the Law and the Prophets forbad perjury our Lord hath forbidden all swearing in our common and ordinary conversation let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil v. 37. If the Law allowed to hate an Enemy that is to say any person of the seven Nations whom God had devoted to destruction our blessed Lord hath commanded us to love our Enemies I say unto you love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you v. 44. of the same Chapter Thus hath he fulfilled the moral Law by filling up several vacuities that Moses was forced to leave in it in condescension unto the Jews and to the hardness of their hearts and by adding higher rules of holiness than the Law or the Prophets had delivered 2. Now to proceed in the second place to the ceremonial part of the Law this did our Lord fulfil likewise and that also two several ways 1. By personal obedience to it and all the rights therein enjoyned whereunto he freely became subject He was circumcised the eighth day according as that Law enjoyned he was redeemed by a certain price being a Son and a First-born he observed the feasts prescribed in the Law yea and that of the dedication also although but of humane institution as appears in the history of the Gospel he did and permitted to be done in and upon his own Person whatsoever it was that Law required whence he is said to have been made of a woman made under the Law that is to say subject to all its Rites and Ceremonies Gal. 4.4 2. But secondly there is another way wherein our Lord fulfilled the ritual part of the Law which was by accomplishing all those things and introduceing all those graces which were typically figured and shadowed in it That had a shadow of good things to come and not the very Image of the things that is to say not the things themselves Heb. 10.1 and so is the word effigies taken by no worse an Author than Tully himself nos solidam et expressan effigiem virtutis nullam tenemus but Christ introduced the very things which were foreshadowed in that Law His Priesthood was antitype to that of Aaron his Sacrifice to the Sacrifices of the Law his entrance into heaven it self to appear in the presence of God for us to the High Priests entrance into the Holy of Holies on the solemn day of expiation the expiation made by his Sacrifice to that which was made by those of the Law the spiritual purity of the Gospel to the legal washings and purification and abstinences from things then impure the eternal rest that he hath prepared for the people of God to the Jewish Sabbaths and new moons all which things were only shadows of things to come and so the Apostle himself assures us Col. 2.16 17. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ that is to say Christ introduced the things themselves which were but shadowed in the Law by typical figures and similitudes which is likewise the meaning of these words John 1.17 The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ he brought in the very life and substance of what was but pictured in the Law and thus he fulfilled the ritual part of Moses his Law as well as personal obedience to it 3. Now for the judicial part of the Law whereby the Jewish State was governed I need not say how our Lord fulfilled it by submitting himself both to the Roman and Jewish Magistrate He was contented to pay tribute he suffered himself to be apprehended by the Officers sent to this purpose he suffered himself to be tried and sentenced and yielded himself to the Execution of the sentence unjustly passed upon him and though he could not owne the guilt yet did he quietly receive the punishment for he was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so opened he not his mouth Isa 53.7 But the way whereby he did more especially fulfil the judicial Law of Moses was by introducing the royal Law of universal love and kindness which if observed would more effectually attain the end of humane Laws than all the wisdom force or power which can accompany and attend them The end of all political Laws is only the safety and the prosperity of the Common-wealth that men may live in mutual peace that every man may possess and enjoy his life and estate and reputation and whatsoever belongs unto him without the trouble of fraud or violence from other persons all which ends would more sucessfully be attained by the Law of universal love peculiarly setled by our Lord than by the wisest of humane Laws and the strictest execution of them those can but bind the outward man they cannot change the hearts of men those can but tie the hands of violence and muzzle the mouth of the wild beast they cannot alter and mend his nature nor make him further abstain from injury than the fear of punishment and revenge may put a restraint
and awe upon him whereas the mutual love and kindness that Christ hath commanded amongst men and also recommended to us by the highest and most effectual motives would not only restrain the outward actions of fraud and injury and oppression but kill the very lust within wither the very root of biterness and render every man easie and helpful to his neighbour instead of being injurious to him and this is suggested by St Paul Rom. 13.8 9.10 He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law For this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self love worketh no ill to his Neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law Love throughly accomplishes all those ends which were indeed designed by the Law whence it is said That the Law is not made for a righteous man a man animated and inspired by a living Law of love within but for the lawless and disobedient 1 Tim. 1.9 And thus hath our Lord fulfilled the judicial Law of Moses as well as the moral and ceremonial by the most efficacious ways and methods of setling such a Law within us as would most effectually work and propagate the great design of the Law of Moses which was added as the Apostle speaks because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made Having thus cleared both the parts of the words before us it now remains that we reflect upon what hath been said and draw some Observations from it First And first of all since our Lord came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets hence we learn That Christianity that the righteousness and holiness of the Gospel was the thing that God had in his eye the thing that he purposed and intended and that lay at the bottom of his counsels in the whole Mosaical Dispensation as well in all the external Rites as the other parts of Moses's Law God never had any delight or pleasure in the flesh or blood of Bulls and Goats or any Sacrifices of the Law he was never pleased with ritual washings or expiations as things excellent in themselves nor did he institute these Rites for any complacence he took in them but partly as the Ancients observe to typifie things that were to come namely the mysteries of the Gospel and partly to retain the Jews accustomed to such like Rites in Egypt in the worship and service of himself the only true and living God lest being denied their former Rites in the worship of the true God they should have used them unto Idols and to have continued in that apostasie whereinto themselves and the world were fallen at the delivery of the Law Had there been no such Reasons as these for the Rites enjoined in Moses's Law they had never been instituted or commanded nor had God any respect for them any regard to the most zealous performance of them when divided from the essential parts the great Fundamentals of Religion judgment and mercy and the love of God Hence those words of the Prophet Jeremy chap. 6.20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba and the sweet Cane from a far Country Your burnt offerings are not acceptable nor your Sacrifices sweet unto me And those of Isaiah chap. 1.11 12. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats Adde hereunto those excellent words of the Prophet Micah chap. 6. verf. 6 7 8. Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord and how my self before the 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 or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oil shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul No 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 These were the things which he accepted nay these were the things which he designed in the very Ceremonies of the Law and in all its symbolical Types and Figures And these are the things which Christ our Lord came to propagate and promote in all he did and suffered for us So constant hath God been to himself and to the advancement of real goodness amongst men in all the Ages of the World before and under and after the Law He still designed the same thing he had still the same end in his eye namely that we should love him with all our hearts and love our Neighbour as our selves on these as our Saviour himself tells us hanged all the Law and the Prophets And the end for which our Lord himself came into the World was more effectually to promote what the Law of Moses had designed and so the Apostle himself assures us Rom. 8.3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Secondly What then remains in the last place but that since our Lord came into the World not to destroy but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets since he â—ath fulfilled them by introducing that Religion which God always had in his eye in all the Shadows of the Law a Religion suitable unto reason a Religion that perfects humane nature a Religion free and disentangled from the load of Mosaical Rites and Ceremonies a Religion aiming at nothing more than hearty love to God and our Neighbour and peace and happiness both in this and the other world what now remains but that we freely embrace and practise a Religion thus recommended to us neither reproaching it by our lusts by foul and sensual inclinations nor yet abusing and obscuring it by vain and useless superstitions It is a reasonable and manly service that God is pleased to require from us it is the cure of all our maladies it is medicine unto all our distempers it is health and soundness to all our powers It is not sacrifice and oblations it is not circumcision nor uncircumcision it is not what is hard and burthensom but what is useful and good for us 't is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost So that had we no other demonstration of the infinite love of God to us this were sufficient proof of it that he hath made our Religion our happiness Foâ— in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor
is God serious in his Commands or is he not Is he in earnest or doth he only amuse us with them If he be not serious if he not in good earnest with us in the Laws which he hath prescribed unto us where is his wisdom where his Majesty where the perfection of his nature Doth infinite wisdom trifle with us doth he give us Laws without design that we should obey them or accept of us without obedience If he be serious and in earnest then hath he given us his holy Laws with real purpose and design that we should yield obedience to them nor can he chuse but be displeased when we wilfully violate or neglect them nor yet be reconciled unto us while he is so displeased with us while we continue in disobedience Now therefore for men to flatter themselves with hope of the favour and grace of God hope of the pardon of their sins while they continue in those sins is nothing less by good consequence than to imagine that God hath given us his holy Laws without intending they should oblige us that his wisdom doth but trifle with us which is an evident contradiction both to his Laws and wisdom also Those are no Laws that do not oblige nor is that wisdom which is not serious Secondly Add hereunto in the second place That a presumption on Gods favour in men continuing in their sins is flatly contrary to all those pressing exhortations whereby we find our selves invited nay vehemently pressed unto obedience in numerous places of the Scriptures such as that Prov. 1.22 23. How long will ye simple ones love simplicity and the scorner delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge Turn ye at my reproof Such is that Ezek. 18.31 32. Cast away from you all your transgressions and make you a new heart and a new spirit Such is that Deut. 5.29 O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep my Commandments always that it might be well with them Such is that used by St Paul 2 Cor. 5.20 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray yon in Christs stead be ye reconciled unto God Now what shall we say to these and many such exhortations wherein the Writers of the holy Scriptures wherein God himself by them exhorts invites and mightily perswades unto repentance and reformation unto obedience to Gods Laws Do not we see that they are most earnest most serious applications to us and can we imagine he would apply himself unto us with so much vehemence of address so much strength and importunity if he could be pleased and satisfied with us if he would pardon and accept us without reformation of wilful sins sins we cherish and indulge Is all this importunity used to press and perswade a needless thing a thing which is not absolutely necessary to recommend us to God's favour to obtain grace and acceptance with him Let no man have such thoughts of God as to believe him so importunate in pressing obedience to his Laws had he not decreed to remit and pardon no mans sins and to accept of no mans person who lives in disobedience to them The words I have before cited plainly shew he hath so decreed For when he hath said O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep my Commandments always that it might be well with them He clearly speaks his own Decree namely that it shall be well with no man who doth not fear him and keep his Precepts 3. But then thirdly What shall we say to the great promise of the Gospel namely that of pardon of sin and life eternal Is not this made to those only that believe and sincerely obey the Gospel is it made to the wicked and disobedient is it made to the cruel and unjust is it made to the sensual and impure is it made to any but those only who study obedience to our Lord and to the Laws by him prescribed Read and observe the whole Gospel turn it over leaf by leaf from the beginning unto the end and see if you find any one passage promising pardon and remission promising grace and favour with God to the impenitent and disobedient and is it not then a great presumption for the impenitent and disobedient to promise that to themselves which the Gospel hath no where promised to them And yet again what is the reason why God hath promised eternal life to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and immortality Rom. 2.7 What is the reason why he hath promised remission of sins upon repentance Luke 24.47 but that the assured expectation of these so great rewards and mercies might most effectually stir us up to the performance of our Duties and that we may clearly understand that there is no ground to hope the one without performance of the other Surely this is the reason of it and yet it were no reason at all if the reward might be expected without the performance of the Duty Now therefore although we could imagine that God was not in earnest with us in the Laws and Precepts of the Gospel nor in the pressing exhortations which are annexed unto its Precepts which yet would be an infinite folly yet the express and clear promise of pardon of sins and life eternal upon faith and obedience to the Gospel evidently shews how real and serious God is with us when he requires obedience from us He would never have added so great a motive as the promise of glory and immortality to perswade obedience to his Laws had it not been his real design that we should yield obedience to him or forfeit his grace and favour to us 4. But to pass on to the fourth Particular there is nothing so flatly so expresly contradicted by a presumption of Gods favour in men continuing in their sins as the threats and menaces of the Gospel For what is the thing these threats denounce Nothing less than the wrath of God nothing less than eternal misery as the sure effect of that wrath and who are the persons upon whom that wrath and this misery is denounced are they not the impenitent and disobedient are they not those who live in habitual disobedience to the holy Precepts of the Gospel Hear the Apostle speak in the Case Rom. 2.8 9. Vnto them who are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile And then that no disobedient person may deceive himself as judging himself exempt or quit from the common doom of the disobedient he further adds at the 11. verse There is no respect of persons with God He judges of all men as they are nor doth admit of any excuse of wilful sin
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New England Psalms Twelves An Apology for a Treatise of Humane Reason Written by M. Clifford Esq Twelves The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuits Seminary Priests Recusants the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance explained by divers Judgments and Resolutions of the Judges with other Observations thereupon by William Cawley Esq Fol. Bishop Sanderson's Sermons Fowlis his History of Romish Conspiracies Treasons and Usurpations Fol. Markham's Perfect Horseman Octavo Dr Parker's Demonstration of the Divine Authority of the Law of Nature and the Christian Religion Quarto Dr Sherlock's Practical Discourse of Religious Assemblies Octavo A Defence of Dr Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation Octavo The History of the House of Estée the Family of the Dutchess of York Octavo Dalton's Office and Authority of Sheriffs Fol. Keeble's Collection of Statutes Fol. 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