our selves and others The greatest Service we can do God unto whom we are under innumerable of the vastest and infinite Engagements It is the greatest Service we can do our selves for it secures and fixes all our true valuable Interest all our Interests in time all our vaster spiritual and everlasting Interests it neglects none takes care of all of them for Godliness i. e. being on God's side is profitable for all things having the Promise of this Life and that which is to come It is the greatest Service we can do others and this we should be extreamly solicitous for for others for our King and dear Native Country Bad Men especially the worst of them such as niether regard God nor Man such as break God's Laws and the King 's without any Modesty are a publick Pest and Plague Should we not in opposition to them be publick Blessings and Benefits and how can we be so better or worse than by this nay how can we be so at all but by being on God's side nay we must be the contrary if not on God's side and the more active we are on God's side the greater publick Benefits we shall be 4. Application Information 1. Learn hence who are on God's side and who not It is but going over the Particulars under the first General and you may know this but you may do this I must not stay to do it 2. How dreadful an Evil it is not to be on God's side 1. How sinful how unmeasurably unconceivably sinful 2. How desperately hazardous and dangerous 3. How easy it is to judge and determine what side every Man should be on in this case Examination I might apply it this way too if I had time but I beseech you do it for I must do but very little this way All the Men and Women in the World all the Individuals of Mankind are on the one side or other in this matter on God's side or the Devil 's on Christ's the great Saviour of Souls or on Satan's the great Apollyon the Destroyer of Souls These two divide the whole World all fight under the Banner and are in the Service of the great Captain of our Salvation or else under the Banner and in the Service of the Prince of the Power of the Air. There are no Neuters at all in this War May be thou never considered it yet Soul what side thou art on only hast perhaps taken it for granted thou art on God's side although thou never made thy Peace with God nor turned from Sin to God if so thou may'st reckon on it thou art for all thy Confidence on the wrong side You may examine what side you are on by the Particulars under the first General in the Doctrinal part Did you ever see the Evil of Sin see your Enmity and Contriety against God and your dreadful sinful miserable lost undone Condition thereby seeing your selves guilty of and condemned by the holy Law of God the Covenant of Works If thou never did thou art certainly yet in thy Sins and on Satan's side Well if you have seen and felt and been affected with Sin and Wrath what have you done what way what course have you taken Have you gone to the Law to your own Righteousness Repentance Duties expecting Pardon and Salvation for these Why then thou art still in thy Sins under the Curse Gal. 3. 10. or have you from a sight a spiritual Conviction of the Evil of Sin Dreadfulness of Wrath Insufficiency of thy own Righteousness and Impossibility of the Laws saving thee seen thy Help all thy help in the Grace of God in the Mercies tender Mercies Multitudes of the tender Mercies of God in the Christ of God in his Righteousness his Sacrifice his purchased procured Salvation Hast thou seen these held forth in the Covenant so as thou hast fled for Refuge here So as thou hast found Peace Safety Strength against Sin and all in these so as thou hatest Sin and lovest God and makest it thy business to adore Free Grace live upon and improve a full Christ so as thou ownest God this God this gracious reconciled God in Christ to be thy God and worshippest him accordingly and so of the rest of the six things mentioned If thou hast experienced these things and dost endeavour in the Strength of Christ to approve thy self to God in all these things I dare say thou art on God's side But you must put things close and home to your Consciences and have a care of deceiving your selves in Matters of such vast Importance But I must proceed to 3d and last Use Exhortation 1. To those that are not on God's side 2. To those that are on God's side 1. To those that are not on God's side 1st To those openly profane 2dly To those that are not on God's side though not openly profane 3dly To all not on God's side 1st To those openly profane and wicked such as live continually in the open Violation of God's Laws and the Laws of the Land that fear neither God nor Man but in spite of and opposition to both profane God's holy Name by dreadful hellish Oaths and Curses that belch forth their Enmity against their great Maker and their fellow Creatures too by these whose Hearts are full of a cursed Contrariety to God and Man as appears by these dreadful fruits of both whose Mouths are full of Cursing and Bitterness because there is no Fear of God before their Eyes who profanely neglect God's holy Worship attending the publick Service of God no where at all on God's Holy Day neither in the Assemblies of one sort or another that call upon God's Name but make God's Blessed Day a Day of Rest indeed but not of holy Rest but of sinful sensual slothful Rest or rather a Day in which more especially they devote themselves to the Service of Ceres Bacchus Venus and the Devil doing the Drudgery that he through their own Lust imploys them in that instead of assembling themselves with the People of God to worship him in pouring out their Hearts unto him in Prayers in praising him with raised Hearts as well as Voices in hearing his Word assemble themselves on this Day with the Workers of Iniquity and the Congregation of Evil-doers that are openly the Enemies of God and Goodness such as walk in the Counsel of the Vngodly stand in the way of Sinners and sit in the Scorners Seat revelling it on God's Day and abusing themselves more horribly on that day than any other by excessive Drinking Such as drink away their Senses their Reason their Estate their Labour of all the past Week on this Day their Bread the Bread of their Families of their Wives and Children their Time their Health drinking their Bodies first into Distempers and then before half their days be run out into the Grave and which is worse still that drink away Heaven and drink their Souls into Hell Such as assemble themselves by troops in Harlots
A SERMON Preach'd to the SOCIETY FOR Reformation of Manners IN NOTTINGHAM February 16 1698 9. Publish'd at their Request By JOHN RYTHER Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed by Sam. Bridge for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside 1699. Mr. JOHN RYTHER's SERMON FOR Reformation of Manners To the Society for Reformation of Manners in Nottingham Gentlemen AT Your Desire this Sermon was Preached and as you know at your Desire it was Printed or else it had lain buried in Dust and Obscurity with many others Seeing it is Printed at your Request it concerns you not me to be accountable to the World for it I can only say I endeavoured Faithfulness and Plainness if it may be of any use to you or your Design in that I shall rejoice You have my Heart and shall not want my poor Prayers May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus make you such all of you as you should be that endeavour the Reformation of others and make you very successful as well as sincere in your Attempts to Reform this Place and may we and our Posterity in this Town have cause to bless God that ever you begun this Work amongst us So prays Your Faithful Friend and Servant John Ryther April 21 1699. To the READER I Know there are a great many Sermons out upon this Occasion and that there is this one more is not at all in pursuance of my Inclination and Choice for it would have pleased me much more if it had never gone farther as to Publication than the Pulpit for I am very far from thinking that I am capable of adding any thing to what has been said upon this Subject or so much as equalling what has been so but if thou say Why did I suffer it to come out I might have hinder'd it I answer it is true but I can give this Reason for the bare suffering it to come abroad hereby my Testimony for God against the Profaneness of the Day is more publick and that I confess it not displeasing to me and I think carries some weight in it for I judg a Man should not suffer that which is in his Power to hinder without being able to give at least one good Reason for it Seeing it is come out I heartily pray God it may be blest to the confirming and incouraging those on God's side and to the awakening those that are not in order to their being brought over from their Tents of Sin Satan and the World to those of God Christ Holiness Heaven Reader It concerns thee infinitely whoever thou art to be on God's side It is certain thou art or art not If not thou art in a very miserable Condition and if thou look not about thee thou wilt soon be irremediably eternally miserable Consider seriously weigh diligently what is here said and it may not be altogether unuseful to thee through the Blessing of God if thou art on God's side I almost think there is nothing here that will be offensive to thee And if there be any thing that proves advantageous to thee give God the God of all Grace the Glory and let me have thy Prayers That thou mayst be on God's side now and act very faithfully on it and so be found on it at Death and the eternal Judgment is the Prayer of thy Soul-Friend John Ryther A SERMON Preached to the Society for Reformation of Manners in Nottingham EXOD. 32. 26. Then Moses stood in the Gate of the Camp and said Who is on the Lord's side Let him come unto me And all the Sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him THE Words in this Verse that I intend to speak to are these Who is on the Lord's side Let him come unto me The occasion of these Words was this Moses who had the Charge and Conduct of the People of Israel in their way from Egypt to Canaan was with God in Mount Sinai and staying there forty Days to understand the Mind of God and make it known unto them they in this time of his Absence from them revolt unto Idolatry turning from God unto Idols making themselves Golden Calves and worshipping them as you may see ver 1-6 Hereupon Moses the Man of God as he is called by the Holy Ghost Deut. 33. 1. coming down from the Mount and seeing what was done was filled with a Holy Zeal for God and Indignation against this their horrid Sin against him and Provocation of him and that he might as became his Place punish it and thereby for the future deter others from so horrible an Impiety he utters these Words I have not time to be particular in taking notice of the Context only let me mind you of this that there is something in these Words extraordinary and so not imitable but there is enough that is ordinary and so imitable by us and so come directly to the Words In which you have these two Doctrinal Truths 1. That in a Day of publick Defection from God it is the Magistrates Duty especially the Supream to appear openly for God and to ingage their People on God's side against the Wickedness of the Day calling upon them and using all Methods in order thereunto This was the case here with the People of Israel there was a publick and in a manner almost an universal Apostacy from God to Idols And Moses the Supream Magistrate of this People for he was King in Jeshurun Deut. 33. 5. was because of this filled with Zeal for the Honour of God and Indignation against this abominable Wickedness they were guilty of and with such an holy Temper as has been now named appears as in the Text openly for God uttering these Words declaring his doing so and calling upon others to do so too in their Places as he did in his But this brings me to the Second for the First I wave 2. That in the Day of publick Defection from God when Magistrates call upon a People to appear for God It is then the Duty of all Persons upon the Call of their Magistrates to be on God's side to come over to him Who is on the Lord's side Let him come unto me Moses as supream Magistrate of this People calls upon them all that were unconcerned in the Impiety or not so deeply concerned as the rest to appear for God against those Rebels that were deepest in the Guilt and thereupon we see the Levites did so who were either many of them not at all concerned in this Sin or however less concerned and for their answering this Call in the Text they are commended Deut. 33. 9. speaking of Levi i. e. his Posterity ver 8. he says of them ver 9. Who said unto his Father and to his Mother I have not seen him neither did he acknowledg his Brethren nor knew his own Children for they have observed thy Word and kept thy Covenant So that this is the Truth I intend to speak unto That in a Day of publick
God's side and is in its place necessary to our Salvation It is required of every one in the first Commandment Exod. 20. 3. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me Therefore our blessed Lord says Luke 9. 26. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my Words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall come in his own Glory and in his Father's and of his Holy Angels And agreeably hereunto the Apostle Paul says Rom. 10. 10. As with the Heart Man believeth as in the first Particular unto Righteousness i e. unto Justification by the Righteousness of Christ so with the Mouth Confession is made unto Salvation If we are on God's side according to the first Particular we must own we are so according to this This is in it 3. Being on God's side carries this in it That such as are in Covenant with God and own God as God and their God be filled with a very deep Sense of his Dishonour by the Sins of the Day If we are God's we are as reconciled to him so renewed by his Spirit according to his Image and so are like him in the communicable Perfections of his Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then we must have the same Interest with God the same Friends and the same Enemies Now Sin all Sin being contrary to him being against his Honour as being against his Nature and Attributes as being against his Laws Government and Revealed Will especially when Sin that is so in a day of publick Defection grows high and becomes impudent and audacious having no Bounds knowing no Limits but overspreading all like an Inundation like a Deluge In this case I say there are none on God's side but from the Fear they have of him and the Love they bear in their Hearts to his Blessed Name they must they cannot but be deeply sensibly filled and affected with a Sense of God's Dishonour As ingenious Children must needs be grieved when their Parents are reproached and dutiful Subjects when their Governours whom they know to be just and good are so Thus the Good have been always affected in their several Generations Psal 119. 136. Rivers of Waters i. e. Tears in great abundance it is an hyperbolical Expression run down mine Eyes Why what was the Matter Was he under some great Affliction some great Misfortune as the World calls it Nay the Reason follows Because they keep not thy Law That was the Cause of all his Tears and of all that inward Sorrow that was the Spring that fed them Thus Jeremiah ch 9. 1. is another Instance of this O that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears that I might weep Day and Night for the Slain of the Daughter of my People That it was their Sin that most of all affected him See ver 2 3 c. And the Godly in that doleful Day I mean that Day of Sin ended in sacking Hierusalem by the Caldeans burning the Temple Desolation of the Land and 70 Years Captivity in Babylon mourned and sighed for the Abominations that were the Cause of all these Miseries Ezek. 9. 4. These Instances are a few of those many the Book of God abounds with of this Nature 4. Keeping our selves faithful to God and our Covenant-Engagements to him and particularly faithful to him by keeping our selves pure and at a distance from the Sins of the Day As from all Sin as much as may be walking before God in Holiness and Righteousness without Fear i. e. servile Fear in all the Duties required both in the first and second Table in Holiness respecting the first in Righteousness respecting the second Luke 1. 74 75. Allowing our selves in no known Sin nor in the neglect of any known Duty desiring to know every Sin as Men that go to Sea desire to know Rocks and Sands that they may stear wide of them and desiring to know every Duty to comply with the Mind of God therein approving our selves to the Searcher of Hearts in abstaining from the one and a hearty Discharge of the other and keeping our selves with a great deal of Care Vigilance and Circumspection for we can't be too careful herein from the Sins of the Day wherein we live by which God is most dishonoured and by reason of the universal Spreading and Contagion of which we our selves are most indangered This is to be on God's side in an evil Day How else are we can we be on God's side except we save our selves from the Sins of the untoward Generation wherein we live Acts 2. 40. So the Apostle Peter exhorted his Hearers then to be on God's side So Noah in his Day was on God's side Gen. 6. 9. 7. 1. Thee have I seen righteous before me in this Generation i. e. such as was so dreadfully wicked that they were all except Noah and his Family destroyed by a Deluge sent from God on purpose for that very end 5. We are on God's side when we bear our Testimony against the Sins of the Day for God I say for God not only by owning him and his Worship and his revealed Will in the Holy Scriptures the only Rule of Faith Worship and Practice in which all those Sins are forbidden condemned and threatned and their contrary Graces Vertues and Duties commanded and recommended with illustrious shining Examples of them and advantaged by great and glorious Promises made to the Subjects and sincere Observers of them But further upon all occasions where the Laws of God are violated yea condemned and Men are so horribly impudent as to justify their Evils pleading for Profaneness and Immoralities and running down Piety and Goodness as a weak foolish thing when it is thus not to keep silent but to open the Mouth for God and plead for him and his Laws and Government and Ways and the Necessity and Excellency of Godliness and Goodness Tho it is true sometimes to do so tho it be done with never so much Unpassionateness and Prudence may make some Men rage the more to such a formidable height is Wickedness gotten Now if a Man were sure of this I think one should leave such Company rather than occasion such Wickedness but it is certain that oftentimes yea I think always where there is a Probability that any Good may be done there it 's the Duty of all that are God's to speak for God and against such Wickedness whereby Religion is indeavour'd to be hooted out of the World as unworthy of reasonable Creatures whereas indeed its the greatest Ornament and Perfection of humane Nature And if such as are God's do not speak in this case they are guilty of Cowardliness and Treachery and do not behave themselves as those that are God's but as though they were on the other side I am sure to have nothing to say in this case is not in this thing to be on God's side nay in this thing it is to be against hm and this is dreadful
and bearing our Testimony for God against the Sins of the day and doing all we can against them This is a Duty that contains all this But more particularly 1. It is the most reasonable thing in the whole World there is all the Reason in the World for it and none not the least not the least colour or shadow of any against it Are we Men reasonable Creatures why then let our Hearts eccho back again to this Call of God 2. It is necessary Most highly necessAry if the Honour of God be so if it be necessary for us in our Stations in the World to honour God nay without this we must necessarily dishonour God If the Interest of our Souls be necessary this is so for without this we are in a state of Sin and Condemnation and by being on God's side we get into a state of Salvation and so secure their Spiritual and Eternal Interests and by carrying our selves on God's side as becomes us we walk continually in the way to Glory and Blessedness and that will be the happy End of such a Walk This is necessary if the Good and Welfare of our Native Country be so for by the abounding of Sin if there be no care taken to restrain it or prevent it Wrath will break out among us and fall down upon us This is necessary if the Good of others be necessary the Good of their Souls of their Bodies of their Families for all these are expos'd indanger'd and ruin'd by Profaneness and Immoralities And should we not do what is thus necessary Nothing is necessary as this is 3. Just and righteous The most righteous God would never else call us to it The Word of Righteousness as God's sacred Word is called would never else put us upon it Is it not most righteous that we do what we can and Lord how little is that for the great God to maintain the Honour of his Laws and Government and to bring those to publick Punishment that milder Methods will not prevail with there is not the least appearance of Unrighteousness in it neither as to God nor Man but it is altogether just nay the contrary is unjust highly unjust 4. Most honourable It is honourable to serve Princes and great Men certainly its more honourable to serve the great and blessed God and the Lord Jesus Christ the Prince of the Kings of the Earth and this is to serve him 5. Most safe And all would be on the safe side and all should in this matter which is not only safe but reasonable and necessary and just and righteous and honourable too But these things I am forc'd to leave with you to inlarge upon in your own Thoughts 3. If we consider what we are called from it will appear we are under the strongest Ingagements to it if we consider the Greatness of the Sin of not being on God's side This appears from the Greatness of the Duty if the Duty be so great as you have heard being not any one single Duty but containing all Duties in it without which no Duty can be performed and which if faithfully performed all Duties are Evangelically sincerely performed how great must the Sin be that is a Neglect of it that is contrary to it It must be not only a very great Sin but all Sin that which contains the Poyson Venom and Sinfulness of all Sin in it for if the Duty be the most reasonable necessary righteous honourable safe thing in the World what must this Sin be but the most unreasonable unnecessary unrighteous dishonourable vile dangerous thing in the whole World It is indeed to deny God that made us to disown our Dependance on him our Engagements to him It is to own God's Enemies to be engaged actually in Rebellion against him It is Crimen loesa Majestatis Divina High-Treason against the Crown and Dignity of the King eternal immortal invisible the only wise God to whom Honour and Glory from all Creatures for ever and ever is due and it will be found to be so one day when God will deal with all them that were not on his side in a way of Judgment It is true it is not usual for Enemies to deal with one another in a judicial way but God will deal with his Enemies so because they are rightfully his Subjects for he is our Maker Lawgiver and King and such have made a most unnecessary unreasonable wicked Defection from him having gone over to his Enemies and therefore God will judge and condemn such as Traitors and Rebels as Princes do such Subjects that owed Allegiance to them and rebelled against them This is that you are called from that Sin that Hell you are called from with what speed should you fly from it except you would be on God's Enemies side at Death at the Day of the Lord the everlasting Judgment This is the first Reason 2. The next Reason is this If we are not on God's side as the Guilt of all our own Sins will be charged upon us so the Guilt of other Mens Sins will be so too and their Ruine also will lie at our door If we are not on God's side we are on Satan's side on the Wicked's side and all the Evil we do that others are acquainted with strengthens them in their Wickedness and all the Sin that is committed by others through our Example Persuasions Instigations or Encouragements any ways either by Word or Actions will lie upon us Yea if we do not prevent all the Sin we can the Guilt of all those Sins committed that we might have prevented will lie upon us will be imputed to us and have not poor Sinners Guilt enough and much too much of their own but they must be concerned in other Mens Guilt too Will it not be sad enough at the Day of the Lord for Men to have their own unrepented of unpardoned Sins to answer for but they must have the Sins of others of many very many even so many as they have encouraged to Sin hardned in Sin and so help'd to damn for Sin to answer for too O the Wrath such will lie under for ever 3. The third and last Reason is this This is the greatest Good the best Service we are capable of and therefore surely it concerns us to be on God's side We should not only be good but do Good and not only do Good but do all the Good we can setting our selves no Bounds no Limits at all therein We should endeavour as much as is possible to be every one of us a publick Good not only to be and do Good in our Families in our more private Stations and Capacities but in all Capacities in the Churches whereof we are Members in the Neighbourhoods and Towns where we live yea in the Nation in which we were born and where we enjoy so many of Heaven's Blessings yea in the World which we are Inhabitants and Citizens of This is the greatest Service we can do God
that we can be in unto others can rise higher no nor so high it 's not possible for all the Force all the Efficacy that is or can be in any Obligations we are in unto others they have all these from those Obligations that first of all we and all Creatures are under to the glorious God Our Ingagements are the greatest if we consider 1. Who it is that calls us hereunto 2. What we are called unto 3. What we are called from 1. Who it is that calls us Not a Man not an Angel not a Creature tho of the highest Rank altho in that case it would be our Wisdom as well as our Duty to hearken to whatsoever this should call us unto according to the Mind of God and to give it its utmost Consideration But it is God the great and blessed God who has all Perfection in him who is all Perfection The great Lord of Lords and King of Kings the supreme Universal Ruler of the World Who 1. Made us and all Creatures Who made us what we are Creatures yea when it was in his Power not to have made us at all yea when it was in his Power if he would make us and put us into being to have made us any other Creatures than what we are yet their he made us reasonable Creatures so that all we are we are from him and all we have we have from him Is it not the most reasonable thing in the World that the God that made us should be own'd of us served by us Does it not shine in its own Light and carry Conviction in it to the Consideration of all Men that we should be for that God on the side of that God that we derive all from Should we not be against his Enemies and use our Reason Parts Abilities Endowments and Gifts of whatsoever kind which we have all from his Bounty and Goodness against his Enemies and for his Glory and Honour Certainly it is the most equitable thing in the World they should be used for him and a most dreadful Wickedness to use them against him Dan. 5. 23. 2. Preserve us He calls us who hath preserved us all our days who hath wrought for us innumerable seen and unseen Deliverances though he could have destroyed us when he would and we by our continually sinning against him have provoked him so to do Who hath provided for us all along and does so still so that as we have lived upon his Bounty we do so still we have been all our days and are still maintain'd at his Expence our Lives and Breath and all things are in his hands he hath lengthened them out hitherto when the Lives of many others have been cut short It is this God that calls us and are not these Ingagements to be on his side Dare we act against this God Dare we herd our selves amongst his Enemies 3. Are we his Covenant ones Then he hath redeemed us then he sent his Son Jesus Christ to assume our Nature on purpose to save us by redeeming us Soul and Body to himself by shedding his precious attoning meritorious Blood for us and in pursuance of this redeeming Love has laid hold of us by his blessed Spirit and called us into a Covenant-Relation unto himself and given us not only Pardon and Salvation upon our Faith and Repentance but Christ and Faith and Repentance themselves that we might be pardoned and saved and be brought into a Covenant-Nearness unto and Oneness with himself and so be on his side Should not a Sense of his amazing Love and astonishing Grace in these things constantly ingage us to himself against Sin against what is offensive and dishonourable to him Should not this Love constrain us sweetly delightfully to act for him against all Evil 4. It is God that calls us who is our rightful Owner Lord and Judge who has the highest Authority over us and the most unquestionable Titles to us all manner of ways and he hath interposed his Authority and hath commanded us this thing made it our Duty by his holy Law and he is the great Judge of the Living and Dead and he will call us to an account one day and enter into Judgment with us and if we be found then among his Enemies Woe thousands and eternal Woes unto us 5. The God we have given up our selves unto have devoted our selves unto we were devoted unto him in our Baptism and since we have devoted our selves unto him at our Conversion when we laid hold on the Covenant and entred into Covenant with him at first and we have renewed our Engagements unto him so often as we have been at the Table of the Lord Which Ordinance is a solemn Faedoral Rite and Transaction of God's own Appointment wherein he seals his Promises and Engagements thereby through Christ the Mediator to be our God the God of our Salvation and wherein we seal our Engagements unto God and accepting afresh God to be our God we make a Surrender and Deed of Gift of our selves Soul and Body to be the Lord's And are not the Vows of God upon us and are not these most solemn and awful things and do we not engage thereby to be on God's side to have the same Interest with God that his Honour should be only that we aim at that his Friends should be ours his Enemies ours his Law our Rule to walk by in and through a Mediator 2. Our Engagements will appear to be the greatest if we consider what it is we are called unto as well as who calls It is to be on God's side it is that which our Hearts with the greatest Readiness and Alacrity should engage in and comply with A Duty the highest greatest Duty and what a blessed thing is Duty to be found sincere and hearty in it I am sure it is a very blessed thing to them whose Hearts are right with God and stedfast in his Covenant I am sure such would be found in the Duties of the Covenant and they would improve the Grace the Mediator and the Promises of the Covenant for this very end that their Hearts may be more stedfast and unmoveable and abundant in the Work of the Lord in the Duties of the Covenant I say it 's a Duty that is as much yea more a Privilege than a Duty in which our Interest all our Interests are as much concerned as the Honour of God a great Duty that contains all Duties in it without which we can perform no Duty and which if we are faithful in we perform all i. e. so as graciously to be owned of God This will appear if we go over the things that have been mentioned i. e. Covenanting with God owning of God as God and our God being touched yea filled with a deep Sense of the Dishonour of God by the Prophaness and Sins of the day and keeping our selves faithful to our Covenant-Engagements to God by keeping our selves pure from the Sins of the day
you and will defend you and protect you and believe me Brethren one God this one God I say is enough against all the posse Inferni all the Devils in Hell and their Agents on Earth Well God is on your side then go on You may say as he Psal 118. 6. The Lord is on my side I will not fear what can Man do unto me 4. As you have a good Cause a good Call a good Patron you shall have a good a great Reward a glorious massy Reward if your Hearts are right with God you shall not lose your Reward God does not need you but he takes it kindly from you that you are on his side and he will once testify this and you shall find it placed to your account in the Day of the Lord if not before If a Cup of cold Water given to a Disciple of Christ shall not lose its reward Mat. 10. 42. to be sure this Service for his Name shall not Therefore go on 5. For your Incouragement still you have good Company all the Great that are good on your side and all the Good too You have God as was mentioned just now God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost the Uncreated Great on your side and you have the Created Great the great and glorious Angels assisting of you in your sincere Indeavours and doing you many great tho unseen good Offices of defending of you under God in all your Difficulties and Dangers and approving of you and pleased with you in all your Designs and Labours and you have the Spirits of the Just made perfect all the holy happy heavenly Society are on your side all these are great and good above and you have all the Great and Good below too on your side You have the King and Parliament your Governors on your side and you have all the Good of all Denominations all that know and love and fear God on your side you have their Approbation Judgment Prayers and hearty Wishes and for the Bad and the Great that are bad they are not so considerable in this matter being against God as either to be regarded or feared Then by Faith behold the blessed God and his holy Angels and all the heavenly Company from the Battlements of Glory looking on and applauding your Indeavours and let this incourage you notwithstanding Difficulties and hereupon be you filled with the utmost Vigour in all your Enterprizes and Attempts Thus you see what abundant Incouragement you have for you have a good Cause the best Cause the Cause of your God your King your Country you have a good Call as well as a good Cause and you have a great Almighty Patron as well as a good Cause and good Call and you have as a good Cause Call Patron you have good Company all the great that are good and all the Good and as you have a good Cause Call Patron Company you shall have a good a great a vast Reward an exceeding eternal Weight of Glory Then surely you may well go on as you have been exhorted to do 3dly And lastly to you of the Society Carry in all things towards God and Man as becomes those that are ingaged in such a Design and united in a Society for such an End Carry so as all that see you and know you may have reason to believe you are filled with the Fear of God with an awful Reverence of his Name and glorious Perfections and blessed Word and Laws and Government Be filled with a deep sense of his Dishonour by the abounding Sins of the day keep your selves very faithful to God in being pure from the Sins of the day wherein you live not only from the Sins of the Profane but the Professors of the day many of whom God knows take a strange liberty in many things very unbecoming their Profession and very dishonourable to it but do not you do so be neither afraid nor ashamed to bear your Testimony for God where you have a Call to it and do all that ever in you lies singly socially against the Sins of the day to stem and if it might be to turn the Torrent of Profaneness into that of Holiness and carry so towards all Men as becomes you being altogether just and true in your Dealings in your Words and Works further let your Carriage towards all Men be filled with all that Love Goodness Tenderness Humility Meekness that Readiness to do them all good Offices and In-offensiveness in Words and Actions that becomes such as profess to do nothing to others but only what is for their Good Be sure you carry thus to Men. I am afraid it may not be possible for you to carry so considering your Circumstances as to avoid Reproach and Censure for Men value their Lusts above their Souls nay they do not value them above their very Lives and therefore they will rage at that and them that stand between them and their beloved Sins but however be you blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom shine ye as lights in the World Phil. 2. 15. That all Men may have Reason however to believe that you have no design but their Good in your Indeavours that the Laws may be executed upon flagitious incorrigible Transgressors yea so as that themselves whose lot it may be to be punished by them may have no cause to believe any other but their Good not Hurt is pursued therein for those that indeavour the Reformation of others should themselves be great Instances of Reformation and Purity I am sure they should be so See you be so as ever you would be any ways at all useful in what you have undertaken as you would do any Good as you would not do Hurt I must tell you with all Faithfulness and Freedom it is a shameful vile accursed thing I would use harder words if I had them for the thing will bear it for those that take upon them to be Reformers of others to be unreformed themselves If any of the Society for Reforming others be as ill as those they pretend to reform what a Shame Reproach and Mischief will it be unto you and how prejudicial to your Design If any are of a Society for Reformation of others and are unreformed themselves can they with any Modesty indeavour the Reformation of others that are guilty themselves Can those indeavour a Drunkard's Reformation by his Punishment according to Law that are drunk sometimes themselves Can those be concerned in executing the Laws upon profane Swearers that swear profanely themselves and curse and rail How can any see that others be punished for profaning the Lord's Day when themselves make no Conscience of it See then to your Hearts to your Lives to your Words to your Actions to your Families that there be all Purity and Reformation within you without you and round about you See you be altogether such as that
you according to Reason and the Word of God may very well be concerned in such an Undertaking as the indeavouring to reform others so that if Men speak Evil of you it may be falsly You and I had a thousand times better that twenty evil things should be spoken falsly of us than that one the least of them should be true Look to your Motives Ends and Aims in this matter that what you do be out of sincere Regards to the Honour of God out of Love to Him and Goodness out of a tender Regard to the Good of others and out of a hearty Respect to the Welfare of the Land and Place where you live Let the Love of Christ constrain you the Honour of God move you always Have a care that you cover not Prejudice and Ill-will against any by pretending these things for if you do tho Men know it not the God that knows all things sees and will be displeased with and punish such Wickedness I would have given you some Directions but must but name a very few Direct 1. Would you carry in this Matter as you should improve the Lord Jesus Christ If you are on God's side savingly you are in him then your business is to live upon him and as for the Whole of the Life of God so for the Acceptance of your Persons and Services in this thing and for the Pardon of all your Sins accompanying these your Indeavours and for your Asistance Verily you need all these in this matter and you need Jesus Christ for all these in this matter Rely then on his Righteousness and Blood for acceptance and upon that Treasure that Fulness of Strength that is in him for Ability to go through all your Difficulties and Protection in all your Dangers There is all in Christ by Faith have recourse to him and draw it out of him into your Hearts Direct 2. Be filled with the Spirit of God if you are Christ's you have the Spirit of God Rom. 8. 9. be filled with his Light that Uuction from the holy One that teaches all things 1 John 2. 20. you can see nothing without his Light See you have his blessed Presence with you and Influences abiding on your Souls that you may be filled with the Fruits of the Spirit particularly Love to God and Man Zeal for the Honour of God and a holy delightful Activity in Well-doing and if you would be filled with the Spirit live by Faith on Christ who purchased him is possessed of him and gives him out in his Gifts Graces Comforts to all his and grieve not the Spirit by indulging any Sin for he is a Spirit of Purity and sow to the Spirit I say be filled more and more with the Spirit of God and then you will be taught and help'd of God to carry as becomes you Direct 3. Pray mightily constantly abundantly Be very prayerful for your selves for others for your Society all the Societies every where where they are for the Design you are concerned in Pray for the Spirit of God that he would afford you Light and Strength and Ability for Success in your Indeavours that he would shine upon them and make them effectual for the Restraint of Sin yea Conversion from Sin that he would make Punishments effectual for these Ends for he can do it Secondly To all others on God's side tho not of the Society that yet with them are on his side that are so by Profession for the Lord's sake see you be all of you so savingly as I said before to the Society so I would say to you all Be on God's side in all the Particulars that have been set before you as contained therein or else to what purpose but dismal will it be to be on God's side by Profession now and to be indeed against God's on Satan's and to be found on his side at the Eternal Judgment 1. Then act vigorously on God's side against your Sins those Enemies of yours your Lusts that war against your Souls against Satan and this present evil World Fight constantly faithfully successfully against all remaining Corruption and Pravity in you Have and keep on and manage very skilfully the whole Armour of God the Helmet of Salvation Breast-plate of Righteousness Shield of Faith and Guide of Truth Sword of the Spirit Thus armed with Armour of Light of Proof keep and gain ground against all your spiritual Enemies that ye may be able to stand against the Wiles of the Devil Remembring you have need to do thus all is little enough if you consider with whom you contend and for what both which you have Eph. 6. 12. With whom Not Flesh and Blood i. e. not only but with Principalities and Powers the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against wicked Spirits These are Enemies not to be contemned I 'll assure you but vigorously opposed for they are vastly numerous malicious subtle indefatigable invisible and therefore the more dangerous because they are with you some or other of them where-ever you are what ever you are about waiting watching for Advantages against you and such they are as will be sure to improve them to your utmost Prejudice And for what for the super-coelestial things vastest greatest Glories This is exprest in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render in high places but many Expositors both antient and modern make the words significant of what we contend for and the words favour this Sense and I take it to be the Mind of the Holy Ghost The words of Oecumenius one of the Antients upon these words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Combate with these Enemies is not about inconsiderable things but for heavenly things all the Glories of the State above Let these things the Enemies you contend with and the heavenly Glory you contend for not at all discourage only animate you and make you strong in the Lord and the Power of his Might for you have a blessed glorious Head that has overcome all these Enemies for you They are conquered ones and he has purchased this Glory for you and keeps it for you being possessed of it as your Head and he stands by you to incourage assist supply you in your Combate and verily this is glorious Incouragement for greater is he that is in you than be that is in the World 1 John 4. 4. Behold your glorious Head by Faith the Captain of your Salvation who is the way of your Duty not neglect of it will make you more than Conquerors and renew and maintain your spiritual Warfare with the utmost Activity 2. Do all you can that ever you can to help the Society and promote and further the Ends of it all cannot be of it but be you all Friends to it you may all be so be you so helpful to it all that in you lies 1st Let Magistrates do all they can in their place by a ready chearful faithful Execution of the Laws drawing forth the Sword