Tables and bleed a little over poor Sufferers not as accusing Laws of Government but personal darkness and short sightedness Infirmity and Iniquity especially as the meritorious cause whose Intellects and Consciences may seem to be formed under an inauspicious Star not Mercurial enough to be born before the Wind but of a genius too set and Saturnine which exposes to the censure of being morose obstinate Melancholists c. But let 's see whether any place be left for Pity and Commiseration It is acknowledged just and reasonable that all publick Constitutions should be garded with strong impregnable Sanctions that the honour of the Publick Magistrate which must necessarily and in Conscience be upheld and is as highly concerned in his Laws as any thing may not be at the mercy of every wanton Head or waspish Heart 'T is the general and acknowledged sence of all Nations and has been of all Ages and I think of all Persons that Religion must and ought to be established by Law So is the Protestant Profession with us and our Neighbours And there is not a People upon Earth nor ever was but would have Religious Concerns kept sacred and inviolable Travel through the Protestant World alone and you shall experimentally find that the Church of no Nation no not of New England it self will endure that its Constitution should be disgrac'd its Fellowship disown'd its Worship disavow'd its Ministry disannul'd its Discipline contemn'd its Government condemn'd but will entertain all affronts of this Nature with a severe Indignation No wonder therefore that the like obtains amongst our selves and even those that are most sharp upon the Church of England in that very thing give a Testimony how patient a reception any thing must have that shall depreciate their own particular Models and therefore may in Justice grant liberty to every Mother to be fondest of her own Children For my part I profess ingenuously I like something in all Faces but all in none yet will not spit in any If Men will so far forget their Reason and Religion not to say common Sense as to speak evil of Rulers though unjust Jude 8. Acts 23.5 Despise Dominion Blaspheme Glories or Dignities I will not justifie them but the Law that condemns them Yet there is a Chancery to moderate the rigours which otherwise may be just and reasonable in some cases and this will with a sweet and decorous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and temper distinguish of Persons and Causes No Man is all Devil no Party all God The Heaven of Heavens only is all Sun The void spaces in the Firmament are larger than those fill'd with Stars Even those that out of a larger Sphere or Church form to themselves a little Epicycle have dark as well as bright matter in it The Sun it self hath spots We therefore must make a difference betwixt the Religious and their mimical Apes the Persons that are in good earnest in their way and such as do but act a part and personate those they are not Men that have throughly imbibed the tincture and others that are but lightly smutted with it 1. Then it shall not be dissembled but bewailed that amongst the Dissenters there are some Venal Souls that upon base Principles and for sinister Ends fall in here as being disgusted by or having a peck against some conformable Man or hoping for a plentiful Trade or bountiful Contributions or to piece again a crack'd Reputation c. Others owe their intromission to the Principles of their Education or customary Converse with others particular Employment amongst such the persuasions of Company c. Some astonish'd by the seeming imminency of Death or awak'd by some dreadful Calamity bring hither an akeing Conscience to be stroak'd with a gentle Hand into a secure but fallacious Peace and conjure down those Terrors which a a form of Godliness is able to deal with Some lastly in the simplicity of their Hearts having tender and scrupulous Consciences finding more of strictness and savour than where 't was their lot to converse before are pleas'd with the agreeableness thereof to their Spirit and Temper though they understand little of the way and might as well have been led by the Heart to the Church as to a Conventicle had it been their hap to have met with the like relish in their Entertainments and Company These are the most innocent of this rank For some of the rest are ordinarily the Hectors of the several Parties from whom all the Libels and Raileries except such as common Enemies forge in their Names have their Origin Better Men have better Work they are not taught the manners of the Court of Heaven who dare bring an Accusation or Judgment of Blasphemy against the Devil himself Jude 9. much less they who do it against Christian Churches and States But 2. There are also a number of serious sober Persons who have no greater design than to be truly good and promote the interest of real Christianity in the main substantials of Faith and Good Life who by their Modesty Gravity Harmlessness Honesty Simplicity Self-denial Loyalty Humility c. do sufficiently distinguish themselves from the other to the Eye of any prudent impartial Observer yet cannot in the use of such means as yet are administred receive satisfaction in the matters of difference therefore are exposed to the severities of Law These I am concern'd that a Court of equity should make relief for 1. They entertain a high Veneration for the Holy Scriptures as a lively Portraicture and Representation of that Eternal Truth and Goodness which is the Nature of God and the Schools make the Hypostasis of the Second and Third Persons in the ever blessed Trinity This with them is the Book of Books which they do not read as other Writings with a liberty to assent and consent as they please but with a full resignation of mind and will to its infallible Dictates intirely to subjugate all to its Doctrines Counsels Mandates as the most perfect indefective guide of Thoughts Words and Actions in the matters of Salvation and to receive from it a sentence of Life and Death This Word of God is their daily Companion Meditation Desire Joy Delight their all From these Divine Oracles they derive all their Sentiments by them regulate all their Worship in them seek their Comfort to them as an Instrument ascribe their Spiritual Life with them arm themselves against all their Spiritual Enemies and adverse Occurrents and for them are ready to sacrifice their Liberties Wealth Ease Honour yea their very Lives 2. From this reverence to the Bible and diligent frequent converses with it arises that awful feeling terrifying sence they have of the exceeding sinfulness of Sin as Paul Rom. 7.13 For being brought to the Scriptures with a mind to yield up all the Powers of their Souls to the Mind and Will of God therein revealed the Holy Ghost effectually sets home the Truths and Laws and Threatnings and Promises
he would out-brave and out-face even his Maker in his Accusations of the Brethren c. Whatever his Methods Eph. 6.11 or Wiles Devises 2 Cor. 2.11 Snares 1. Tim. 3.7 2 Tim. 2.26 Depths Rev. 2.24 Whatever his Stratagems Policies are to delude defile disquiet or destroy thee however cunningly craftily managed Yet still is he not too wise for God who well knows how to defeat all his Designments and amongst infinite other has this one Method to lead thee to Comfort even when thine Adversary hath out-witted and got the better of thee and is leading thee into Temptation Trouble and Torment viz. to bring thee thorow the narrow way of Repentance to a New Life of Grace Peace Joy and Consolation present and eternal This he doth oftentimes with Man Job 33.28 29. Read from the 14th to the 31st Job 28 28. Vnto Man he said behold the fear of the Lord true Religiousness that is Wisdom and to depart from evil true Repentance that is Vnderstanding He knows how to rule the raging of that Sea of Sorrow Terror and Anguish wherewith the Devil attempts to overwhelm thee and shipwrack all thy Hopes and Happiness and so turns the Storm into a Calm of Godly sorrow that Satans Creature yields and gives place to the Creation of God and the Grief which God exhales does issue in the fruit of the Lips Peace of the same extraction Is 57.19 and thus is Satan over-reach'd and baffled in his most subtle Contrivances and his Machinations to ruine our Comfort become means for its Establishment But if his own immediate Actings be seconded with the Agency of his Instruments that all the Politicks on Earth combine with those of Hell to overturn our security and rest Yet are they never the nearer their Purpose of subverting the Counsels of Heaven for the solace of our troubled Hearts but rather promote them whilst they drive us nearer God as our everlasting Refuge and Sanctuary in whom we may be sure to find a Fulness of Joy and Compensation Is all the Carnal Wisdom on Earth set on the rack to devise the Ruine of True Religion and Thee in the Profession and Practice of it Are wicked Men thy particular Foes in a Confederacy against thee contriving thy Destruction in Spirituals and Temporals Yet where-ever they deal wisely proudly cruelly He is above them Art thou thy self are all Men else at a loss in their Thoughts either how Religion should be secured in whole or in part when at any time its Enemies conspire against it or how Jacob should arise when he is very small or how thy Personal Interest should be safeguarded or how thy Health restored or Death prevented or Deliverance be wrought under some grievous Calamity or any Mercy obtain'd for Soul or Body thy self thy Friends or the Church and Nation Be not solicitous the All-comprehending Wisdom of Heaven can never be at a Loss this unsearchable understanding has all Possibilities present in view and cannot but chuse the best for Himself for Thee for All and it seldom begins of its Work till all be at their Wits end when every thing else fails and the Wisdom of Men has given up all for gone Divine Wisdom resumes the Work and glorifies its self in bringing it to Perfection In short all the Artifices of Earth and Hell cannot invent or reduce into Circumstances so deplorable and desperate as to over-match the Contrivance of Infinite Wisdom for our Comfort under and after them its Provisions are truly Catholick extending to all possible Cases Conditions Seasons Places and Persons whereof the Holy Scriptures are a full Evidence as a legible Declaration of the Unfathomable Wisdom of God Here are the Rivers whose Streams make glad the City of God Psal 46.4 Oh the Adoreable Plenitude of the written Word of God which comprehends the whole Counsel of God for our Illumination Effectual Calling Sanctification Justification Comfort and Eternal Salvation There is nothing devised by the Infinite Understanding of God for the Ease and Quiet of troubled Hearts but which is contained in the Bible a Transcript whereof upon the Heart creates a Life of Joy Peace and Rest God's Wisdom speaks Peace to us in no other Language than that of the Word 'T is indeed visible in his Works of Creation and Providence which are under its Conduct and bear its lively Characters but these scarce intelligible without the Sacred Writings Here only is all perspicuous and plain that 's needful either to purifie or pacify the Conscience What a World of Consolatory Matter is couched in this one Psalm will appear anon What then is there in the whole Book of God Judge of the Immense Ocean by this Little Rivulet Admire and Reverence that incomparable Abstract of the Wisdom of Heaven in these Lively Oracles and hence derive all thy Consolations § 2. This Wisdom is not alone nor in this Case a Self-mover but goes upon the Errand and Designs of Infinite Gooodness An Attribute brim-full of Solace Joy and Rest as our Psalmist found Ver. 18. especially and every where Ver. 12 13 14 15 17.19 21. Indeed every Request in the Psalm supposes it and every Assertion refers to it even his Complaints are Addresses to it and all his Expectations are from it 't is the good Blood that runs in every Vein not a Verse but points at it Now as Wisdom chuses the Method and Means of applying Comfort and pitches upon such as are most accommodate in particular So Goodness administers the Matter in general Every thing that creates the light of Gladness and Consolation in a dark benighted troubled soul is a spark a beam of Goodness The Goodness of God lies in Two Things Love and Holiness Did I call them Two They are both but only Love Love in us is Holiness as a Conformity to the whole Law of God Holiness in God is nothing but Love to himself as the alone perfect Law and Standard of all Incomprehensible Excellency and Glory But to consider them as distinct Love is that illustrious greatest Light amongst the Divine Perfections the benign Rays whereof are plenteously reflected through the Sun of Righteousness upon wretched and miserable Man God is Love 1 Joh. 4.16 and Love in its Perfection is God that Love which God is is God and diffuses its sweet Influences upon us in wonderful variety Not that it is other than Unity indivisible invariable in it self but that it meets with several respects and produces divers effects in us We are Sinners the guilt it pardons the filth it purges the power of Sin it subdues We are miserable through sin Love lays it to heart that 's Mercy Is afflicted in our Afflictions there 's Compassion has yerning Bowels towards us which is Pity bears much at our hands and this is Patience suspends the Punishment due to our sin either for an Indefinite time therefore called Forbearance or a great while whence 't is stiled Long-suffering or exempts us wholly under the
Mortification living in a never-ceasing Combate with Satan and this present inticeing World as affraid of breathing in the Devils Air or walking upon his Ground or within his Pale with a Religious wariness observing every step least it should be upon a Snare or into a Precipice as became a Man after God's own Heart whose whole course of Life was designedly a walk with God Would not a Man of this Constitution with a singular Providence and Caution eschew all appearances or occasions of or Temptations to Evil of every kind both Spiritual and Carnal since both alike are visible to that God who hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Eye every where to direct his Vengaence ver 9 10. Psal 10.14 Would nor this complexion of Soul oblige his utmost endeavours and diligence circumspectly to keep his Heart and engage the assistance and care of Almighty Grace to be his security against whatever might entangle or defile it I do not question but that with the highest solicitude and Conscience he attended the just and watchful Government of his Actions under the command of these Perceptions he entertain'd of the invisible Eye ver 9. and of his most secret imperceptible Thoughts upon the Sensations he retain d of God's intuition and censure of all humane Cogitations ver 10 11. Which may be thus rendred He that teacheth Adam Knowledge the LORD knowing the thoughts of Adam because they are Abel Vanity The Septuagint translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not participially but verbally and Adam Abel appellatively and so they ought and Adam plurally Abel not in the Abstract but Concrete thus The LORD knoweth the Thoughts of Men that they are vain which the Apostle follows in all but the version of Adam which with him is the Wise 1 Cor. 3.20 The Lord knoweth the Thoughts or Reasonings as 't is rendred Luk. 9.46 of the Wise who of all Men have the greatest skill and cunning to hide their Thoughts and the highest abilities to solidate improve direct and govern their reasoning and thinking Powers that if any Mens their Cogitations and Discourses one would think might be above the brand of the Text. The reason of this change I cannot determine 't is satisfactory that it was made by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost who best knew his own meaning But shall I offer a Conjecture The Appellative Adam points to the first Man from whom the denomination is drawn And before his fall no doubt Adam was possest of a degree of Wisdom paramount to all his Posterity Solomon not excepted and this Name was impos'd upon him when he flourish'd in the glory of that excellent Spirit I do not question but that even in his collapsed Nature a degree thereof was preserv'd superiour to all in his Successors unto whom 't is derived very much rebated partly though corruption partly through feminine imbecility For the difference of natural abilities in Man and Man or Man and Woman arises not from the spiritual part all Souls being equal in Nature Faculties and Power But the defect of Vital Flame or Natural Heat and Spirits causing an indisposition of Organs in their first Formation with a coolness and torpidness in the Animal Spirits the Souls Vehicle and immediate Instrument in its Operations ad extra is the true Origin of all those Imperfections visible in the Intellectuals both of that cooler Sex and the other and all may be encreased by the Immorality and Intemperance of Parents or other accidental Causes Diseases Passions External Occurrents c. Now may not St. Paul in translating Adam the wise allude or have some respect to the incomparable Wisdom of that source of Humane Nature However it was most accommodate to the tenour of his Discourse there and not aliene from the scope of Place here For undoubtedly those he calls Brutish and Fools ver 8. and Proud ver 2. had no humble apprehensions of their own Abilities but did imagin that in their Oppressions they dealt wisely as the Aegyptians Exod. 1.10 Atheists Deists Persecutors generally conceiting themselves the wisest of Men and the profoundest of Politicians but the rest of the World only a knot of Addle Eggs. Yet the Holy Ghost who best knows and never can be out in his Judgment of Men both here and other where even in this Book calls them by their proper Names as Psal 14. and 53. Folly Atheism Persecution are both in Scripture and Nature individual inseparable Companions and no marvel For if a Man can be such a Fool as to turn God out of the World and Being in his Thoughts no wonder if he be such a Barbarian as to turn Men who are most God-like out of the World with his Hands and again if a Man can be so bestially Savage as to embrew his Hands in the Blood of Innocents 't is his Interest to be so foolish as to believe there is no Providence and God I therefore again demand whether it be possible for a Man living under the dominion of these most rational Notions of God and the folly brutishness and madness of working Iniquity to contradict all the Principles of Sense Reason and Religion in so high a degree as to invoive himself in the same Condemnation Could a Man sensible of Divine observance of and animadversion upon vain Thoughts indulge such in his own Mind and if not vain sure much less vile and wicked Will a Man confidently believing and asserting the all-intelligent Nature of God here represented under the Metaphor of Hearing dare to permit his Tongue to take an unbecoming Parrhesy or liberty of bolting out any thing Shall that Mouth spit froth or filth in the Face of Heaven which professes that 't is all Ear and Eye Lastly How can he who is so thorowly perswaded of God's inspection with an avenging Eye as to account those brutish and Fools that disbelieve it Be so impudently daring and flagitious as like that Blasphemous Dicer in Fincelius with impious and accursed Hands to throw his Dagger against Heaven and stick it in the Heart of God Oh Hellishness Oh Horror I mean be wicked in his Works which is Deicide or God-killing Indeed a Man i. e. one endowed with intelligent and reasoning Powers who can proportion his Sensations to the nature of things much more a Christian Man that borrows his Light and Eyes too in a more especial manner from Heaven must needs behold more uglyness and odiousness in Sin than any thing imaginable For we do not take our measures of Privatives from themselves meerly but that positive Being and Goodness to which they are opposed and the excellency of the Subject wherein they are seated Blindness therefore in Man the most noble Creature endowed with Sense is a greater evil than in a Brute especially since Man is capable of using sight to more worthy and eximious purposes Sin is a privation of Holyness which is the only mean to bring Man to the possession of infinite Goodness Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no
Railings Revilings Censures Uncharitableness Cursings Excommunicatings Fines Imprisonments Murderings Massacrings for things extrinsecal and foreign to their holy Profession recommended in the Mosaical Prophetical Evangelical and Apostolical Writings As if God had not delivered Precepts enough to guide Men to Heaven ever Party must have new of its own to torture Mens Consciences doubting that there are not Sins enough to damn Men unless we by our whimsies make large additions to the sum discovering thereby how much we are affraid that those who otherwise would securely tread in the Paths of Life and gain the Crown of Glory should not stumble and fall upon our new created Blocks and thereby precipitate themselves into Hell For what else is the meaning of our unwritten Traditions unwritten Canons unwritten Offices unwritten Orders and an hundred more by the by 's Tricks and Snares and Trains and Traps made to help the Devil more certainly to catch enough Is not the Holy Word of God the Scripture in its Rules and Laws too oft too much too foully-transgress'd but the Mouth of Hell must be gagg'd and rack'd wider with new devices that it may be capacious enough to receive the numberless numbers that we resolve to send thither by man-made Sins as if it were in despite of God And least our self-devised Engins should fail of effecting this and a poor quivering trembling Conscience that looks asquint at them should chance to preserve its Innocence and Allegiance to God and its present Light and Sentiments by sliping out of or breaking through the Snare and refusing to wound it self to eternal Death with the Ponyard we put into its hands we must jog and thrust home and drive on its slow and cautious pendulous Arm by the violence of such severe indispensible Sanctions so strictly look'd after so rigorously executed and all under a bold pretence of Divine Warrant that if Men have any thing of Nature Sense and Commiseration to their own Flesh their dearest Yoke-fellows their pretty tender innocent Babes they must be cruelly enforc'd to determine to be damn'd for them or kill their Hearts by dying before their Eyes under as many Agonies as ingenious Malice can invent and this perhaps a thousand times over beside the bequeathing them to the same or more miserable Fortune and all this is doing God good Service As if the Lord that bought Mens Souls to ease them Matth. 11.29 30. had done it only to sell them again to the most bloody butchering Fiends to torment them And God who with so much severity prohibits Cruelty Murder Bloodshed by his Laws had laid in an exception and given Commission for this to as many as can so divest all sense and bowels of Humanity and Christianity as to judge none to be Men and Christians but themselves and invest so much of Wolf Tyger Dragon as to do the utmost to make all others Proselytes of the Gates of Heil like themselves when in the mean time Men with the greatest impunity may violate the noblest Ordinations of Heaven or upon Prosecuon buy off or commute the Penance for a little Trash and Dirt. Oh dear Lord Jesus how long how long shall such a Spirit Triumph and ride in Scarlet How long shall they tear in pieces thy People and Heritage under the Beasts Skins wherewith they have cloathed them Oh blessed Spouse of Christ How long must thou be affronted with the violence of such beastly Ruffians that under a disguise pretend to be thy-very self that they may the more securely ravish and destroy thee The Wolf in the Lambs skin unsuspectedly to devour it A Beast with Horns like a Lamb but a Voice like a Dragon Rev. 13.11 Well Christ's Servants are not Wolves Thorns and Thistles Matth. 7.15 16. Profitable to none hurtful to all publick Curses But Sheep Vines Fig-trees their Temper their Behaviour their Fruit altogether good meek gentle sweet refreshing reviving pleasing generally useful publick Blessings like their Master every way desirable grateful all being better for them none worse in Goods good Name Body or Soul their Designs their Principles their Temper and Spirit their Behaviour and Purpose and Practice being the general benefit of Mankind and the Church of God especially that wherein their Lines are fallen They think it they represent it they indeavour further to make and preserve it a goodly Heritage If it hold the Head if it uphold the main if its established Doctrine be truly Christian if its design be true goodness if its Worship in the substance be Divine They bless God for it they cover its Blemishes they bear with its Infirmities they further its Ends they endeavour to inlarge it to adorn it with real Beauties to vindicate it from Reproaches to promote its Unity Prosperity Peace Purity Felicity lament its Miseries Breaches Corruptions Defects Deformities but expose it but defame it they dare not they will not This is a truly Catholick Spirit proceeding in all its actings upon truly Catholick Principles This and this only when the risk of Partiality Censoriousness Self-idolizing Faction Fury Barbarousness Madness Devilism is run will stand upon a secure basis and yeild a Man the blessed Fruits of Comfort Joy Peace and Contentation But I must come out of the Clouds and be plain Therefore shall first direct what ought to be owned by a Publick Spirit next what Principles will enable a Man to own what he ought 1. Common Humanity engages to be well wishers to that general Nature which is diffused through all the Species and love that in any Man which I honour in my self All the Butcheries and Barbarities on Earth issue from Mens degeneracy from Humanity into a ferine or diabolical Nature But since I am a Man nothing humane shall be foreign to my Cognisance to my Compassion to my Ear to my Conscience When the Vices of Persons give a check to my Bowels the vertue of the Nature shall retrieve their yearning motions and when I can see nothing in Men to engage I will endeavour to imitate the best of Paterns in taking Arguments from my self I will not so much regard their Conditions as their Capacities and that in all their Possibilities If this Nature be personally joined to God why should not I be joined to it in Affection Shall I tread that Man in the dirt who may shine as a Star in the Firmament of Glory Shall a Companion of Angels and God himself be worse dealt with than a Devil May Heaven receive him and shall not my Heart Is God so unkind to me as to give me an Example of brutishness to my own Nature I must not be worse to him than I would have him to me were our circumstances changed the measures I meet to him shall I receive of God 2. Christianity next both renders a man more meet and lays upon me a further bond to desire endeavour and effect his good The honour of the Name the power of the Thing The famed Mr. Fox could never deny
sake consider again and again how light a matter a Mode or Ceremony is how heavy a matter Sin is and let not Dust and Vanity be balanc'd with Mens Salvation Say not Contempt of Publick Order is not a light thing tho' these be Oh condemn not the Innocent with the Guilty Let those who contemn manifestly and contumaciously suffer but certainly 't is not Contempt in all but a reverend Fear of contemning the publick Orders of Heaven which all Men confess no Man can order the Violation of It seems clear to many that to do things required is forbidden by God they are mistaken Grant it yet they think not Their Consciences seem to be resolv'd tho' it be in an Error unknown to them Therefore to them 't is as clear that no force can be put upon them no command of man over-rule them where they judge God has obliged them They read they hear they pray they study and consider all things on all hands as they are able yet cannot change their minds tho' it be highly their external Interest so to do And shall no humanity be extended to such modest humble loyal patient teachable Dissenters that are ready to engage in all Bonds to live peaceably in all Oaths to be true Subjects to subscribe according to the Act to the Articles of Religion abating one or two Non-Essentials and therefore are of the same common Faith to the Ten Commands and therefore agree to lead the same godly Life Are there no Commiserations for such as these Oh come Lord Jesus come quickly diffuse abroad that excellent Spirit of Love Unity and Christianity which will engage every one of us to judge that our proper Good is more in the Publique than Our Selves that the common Interest of Religion is infinitely more our Concern than any of our little Bones of Contention that we may not be cracking Nuts pursuing after Butterflies smiting our Fellow-servants eating and drinking with the Drunken when the Heavens begin to crack about our ears and all is ready to be wrapt up in a common Ruine Well Shall we be Christians or shall we not Must that which will be our Glory and Crown above rule our Hearts and Practices now Let us be Persons of great and generous Minds disdaining to debase the Nobleness of those Natures which are capable of enjoying an Immense God to such a degree of Childishness as to be infinitely concern'd about the miserable things which little Souls continually scramble for is it a piece of substantial goodness and honesty Does it conduce to promote and establish a real Deiformity or Similitude to God Will it actually tend to subdue mens Passions and Pride and Worldliness and Sensuality May we by and through it elevate our Minds to that Heavenly Constitution as to be mete for Converses with a Pure and Holy God Does it subjugate the Will of Man to his Maker render him acceptable to Heaven profitable to Earth in the Great Ends of Godliness Righteousness Sobriety Did God institute it for these Purposes With all my Soul am I for it I 'll hug it in my Bosome lay it next my heart honour it with my best endeavours to advance it in my self and the world But if it be only a Trick a Device a Policy to be Grand and Gaudy and Terrible and Triumphant and Imperious to salve a Sore to make maintain please a Party to countenance keep up an Interest or suppress oppress depress real Religiousness under some disguising Pretences Away with it 't is unbecoming the Christian Spirit it savours not nor of true Magnitude of Mind This Man is for Prelacy the other against it one applauds the National Constitution comprehending all Congregations as united under the Ecclesiastical Government of Bishops and the Civil Government of one Political Head the King another allows it not yet professes and is ready to give all desired Security for Allegiance That Man pleads for and uses a Liturgy or Set Form in Divine Offices this would modifie all himself There some think for further Decency and Order Ceremonies must accompany or follow Divine Institutions here are a Company tooth and nail against them This Point of Doctrine must be express'd in such and such Terms the other is untenable except in such a Sense and Dress and every Head in things of this nature has a different Crotchet Well Are the main Substantials of Christianity retain'd Irreligion Idolatry renounc'd the necessity of Government maintain'd the Deity worshipped in and through the only Mediator Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit with his Gifts and Graces in order to a New Life acknowledged In fumm the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament in their plain and most obvious sense receiv'd submitted to as the perfect Rule of Eaith and Manners Holiness and Vertue practised and promoted Here fix What d' ye tell us of Unwritten Unscriptural Phrases and Forms and Modes and Orders and Rites and Circumstances and Phylacteries and Fringes and Laces and Fancies and Fooleries and Phrenzies To Bedlam with the Mad-men that cannot be satisfied and pleas'd with the Noble and Incomparable Ordinations of infinite Wisdom and Goodness but must prescribe to their Maker and out-do boundless Perfection Why like the Aegyptian Apes do we tear in pieces one anothers Ornaments nay one another for Nuts and Trifles Are we not agreed in the main Essentials of Christianity Being therefore of the same Catholick Body Why must this Mans Head be struck off because he hath a Feather in his Cap and the others because he has none That Man be begg'd for a Fool because by paying free Rent he owns a Mesn Lord Another branded for a Knave for desiring to be a Mesn Lord himself or depend immediately upon the King Some sent to the Hospital because they need and would have Crutches others to Bridewel who will have none Are not the one Men as well as the other and should not common Nature ingenerate a common Sense Must it still be Homo homini Lanius Lupus Are not both Christians And shall it be Christianus Christiano Daemon That Man 's a Heretick Devil I 'll sear and tear him with my burning Pincers says St. Dunstan This is a Schismatick Dog I 'll have his Ears says another St. Some-body Thou art a cold Formalist and Hell must warm and fire thee says another St. No-body And a thousand to one the Heretick the Sehismatick and Formalist is the better Man and Christian Oh Babylon Babylon where art thou not Really we may with the Philosopher light our Candle at noon day among Christians to seek for Christianity Let it then pass uncontroulable that a Man can never be publick spirited except upon Principles truly Catholick nor will any other Spirit or Principles administer sound true and solid Comfort and Peace As the contracted shrivling confining narrow Temper begets all the Confusions Broils Branglings and Blood-sheds in the world so it leaves nothing at home in conclusion but dire ingrateful Reflections and an
to this here ver 18. and so also in many things is the whole Psalm 'T is Psalm 73.2 But as for me my Feet were almost gone my Steps had well-nigh slipt For I was envious at the Foolish c. This seems a plain indication both of the nature of the slip that 't was moral a slip into Sin and also of the kind of the Sin into which he was ready to slip or did slip either Envy or some effect thereof To Interpret it of slipping into Suffering appears very incongruous the whole scope repudiates it For suppose he thought himself in danger of Death as we shall see our Psalmist was and intended in this Metaphor to declare it thus I had almost slipt into Destruction For I was envious c. This sounds harshly to rational Ears the reason of the coherence must be far fetch'd and suppose our sense ere the illation will hold as thus That Envy is a Sin and Sin exposes to Destruction but this plainly supposes that the first slip must be into Sin as we Interpret Why then go we about the Bush The Original Word where it is not translated slip doth oft submit to a sence through the force of the matter 't is apply'd to which imports some thing of Sin as Psal 82.5 All the Foundations of the Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are out of course Nod slip are moved out of their due moral course of Righteousness in which they ought to move Ps 55.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They slip move cast Iniquity upon me that is they lay it to my charge which without Iniquity they could not do to the Innocent I confess there 's nothing in the Context to enforce this moral sence so neither is there any thing to urge the other It lies indifferent to both Therefore 't is but rational to apply that sence to it which other places necessitate For why must a new sence be impos'd upon an old Phrase here only when there 's nothing to constrain it Let it therefore imply 't is fear of falling into Sin his sence of a Temptation to it as Psal 73.2 That very Sin there insinuated seems to be in the Psalmist's Eye Help failed him on Earth ver 16 17. Iniquity was triumphant ver 20 21. and Innocency trampled on this touch'd him to the Quick and was the ground of his Plea ver 20. He therefore seems to be inclin'd to envy that Prosperity wherein they flourish'd whilst himself was in a condition full of trouble fear and hazzard and yet being aware of the Temptation he flies to God Oh! my Foot slips I am like to be born down with the violence of the suggestion help Lord and sustain me that I may not sin against thee and my own Soul The Temptation had in sinuated it self into his Thoughts but had not obtain'd the consent of his Will that rises against it and calls in the aid of Heaven and God is merciful to him so as to relieve him To this Head therefore may I refer all the disconsolate Thoughts that arise in the Hearts of God's Servants through the suggestions of Satan Whether ordinary Temptations or those extraordinary sudden Injections which strike a dread and horrour into the Mind and are so far from ravishing its consent that it rises in Indignation Enmity and Abhorrence against them and would give Worlds to be freed from them As Atheistical Blasphemous Execratory c. thoughts of God Christ the Holy Spirit the Scriptures Providence c. These though in the matter of them they be more abundantly enormous than common Temptations yet have proportionably a greater check from the Will which in a more violent Antipathy sets it self against them and therefore though they be more our Trouble are less our Sin than such as with more freedom are entertain'd into our Minds For if it were a sin to have evil suggested outwardly or from a Devil without us in the gross way of Temptation whilst our Hearts abominate it the sinless Lamb of God would not have been free so neither when invisibly and inwardly since even external Proposals cannot be understood and known without inward Thoughts and 't is all one whether the Thoughts be excited mediately from something without or more immediately from something within whether the Tempter raise the Storm by a Witch or his one immediate Empire over the Clouds Vapours Exhalations and Winds whether he bring it in at the Cinque-ports of Sense external or impress it upon the internal working upon the Fancy and Invention with the aid of Memory For that by Gods Permission he can move matter is unquestionable therefore congest our animal Spirits into such Forms and Representations by an immediate impulse as they are apt to receive from the Objects of outward Sense which he has the advantage of doing more effectually upon inspection of our natural Temper and Complexion and therefore Inclination that cannot be concealed and hid from his insinuating intellect and critical Observation Whence Melancholick Constitutions are most haunted with these black Spirits and Temptations Hither also is to be reduc'd Horror of Conscience either antecedent or subsequent to sinful Practices or the Temptations to them the former whereof is so commendable in all the latter confounding For if Conscience startle and be struck with Amazement and Astonishment upon the temptation to some horrid Crimes as it will sometimes even in the profligately Wicked which is an evidence that they are not wholly given up by God it may be still capable of being touch'd with lesser with all which may issue in true Conversion through the Grace Concurrence and Blessing of Almighty God or in further degrees of tenderness and reluctance to Sin in those that are already Converted as a fruit of that gracious Promise of taking away the Heart of Stone and giving an Heart of Flesh Ezek. 11.19 and 36.26 The Psalmist's here was a dread of this Nature and although this Psalm give us no intimation of any horror in his mind at present consequent to evil Actions yet part of the scope of the Psalm is to excite it in others whose Crimes he lays open and aggravates as they deserve The Conscience of his own Innocency now did antidote such troubles in himself but his impleading his Enemies for the foulest Injustice and Babarousness has a tendency to rouze their sleepy Consciences into such an awakening sense and feeling as might make them Terrors to themselves as himself was afterwards upon his two foul Commissions Psal 51. Neither are those fears and dreads of Satan and Spiritual Enemies which sometimes rack and cruciate the Minds of Men altogether to be forgotten He that is amazed at and implores Divine Mercy against the Temptation cannot easily be reconciled to the Tempter in whom with his Angels there is a combination of every thing that can render Adversaries formidable What numerous Legions in which not one single Enemy but is brim full of rancor and rage against us indow'd with
Name of Sparing-Mercy or deals moderately with us in Gentleness and Tenderness We want many good things especially Himself Benevolence will our Good Bounty and Kindness impart All to Us Graciousness does All freely Oh Astonishingly Rich and Glorious Well-spring of Everlasting Consolation There 's no Exigence befals Man either thro' emptiness or misery that is destitute of a Perfection in Infinite Love to make a peculiar and accommodate Relief and Supply Divine Goodness bears such a singular respect to our indigent Nature that notwithstanding its individual Singleness and Oneness it does as it were parcel out it self into a multiplicity of sweet refreshing Cordials in Condescension to our Infirmity that in it we may have a particular Satisfaction for every distinct Appetite a proper Remedy for every single Malady There 's no Case in which we can need or desire Comfort but there is a Revelation of some comfortable Perfection in God which speaks directly to it and administers a succour and support to us no less than Infinite that is incomprehensibly more extensive and Intensive than our Circumstances can be necessitous or dolorous Indeed nothing comforts but Love nothing more disquiets than sense of Enmity Hatred Anger Displeasure The more we are concern'd in any the more pleasing is Respect from them and an unloving Deportment more grievous We are not much affected with the love of Strangers but rejoyce in the Good-will of our Neighbours our Friends our Relations expecting it should bear proportion to our Interest in them and theirs in us else it pleases not We must have more Love from those in our Vicinity than from Aliens from intimate Acquaintance than either from our Flesh and Blood than all or it troubles us But the due measure nay if it be an excess of affection is most taking we are most at ease under it Again as the Relation so the Quality of Persons must vary the degree of Love or we are not at rest The regard of a mean Man does not so much delight us as of the Great that of Bad Men is not so sweet as that of the Good Further those we expect most good from most refresh us with their Love where we lay out no hopes from those such is the Selfishness of our Nature we are not solicitous to gain any Love So we are most earnestly desirous of the Affections of those whose Anger can and is likely and engaged to do us the greatest Hurt whom we therefore have reason most to fear if we can win their hearts 't is a wonderful Contentation Now God the nearest greatest most potent Neighbour Friend or Enemy is not only Loving but Love its self in the abstract not limited in kind or degree but unmeasurable infinite Love such on the contrary is his Wrath also Of all other his Love is most capable and engaged too to do us the greatest Good if we be capable of it His Hatred and Anger like to do us the greatest harm if we do not betake our selves to the refuge and security of his Love But he who is essential unconfincable Graciousness does with a natural Affection regard us as the Work of his hands in Creation with a Paternal Conjugal Respect embrace us as his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good Works if forsaking all other we cleave unto him with full purpose of heart in a sincere Child-like Spouse-like Affection being again begotten by his Word and Spirit to a lively Hope and so in Marriage-Covenant with him This then is a Comfort as large as its Subject Divine Love a satisfaction as boundless as the Deity for it infinitely pleases even God himself Infinite though he be therefore is sufficient sure to administer a Content to us sweet and great beyond all Expression all Cogitation The Holy Men of God which the Scripture propounds for our Examples alway took Sanctuary here in the assaults of their most grievous Troubles and Temptations Jer. 31.12 They shall slow together to the goodness of the Lord c. And their Soul shall be as a watered Garden and they shall not sorrow any more at all 13. I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoyce from their sorrow 14. And I will satiate the soul of the Priests with fatness and my People shall be satisfied with my Goodness saith the Lord. Psal 119.76 Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness be for my Comfort c. And indeed let the storms rage and the sea roar and beat as high as it can there will for ever be sure Anchor-hold for a good Soul upon the Rock of Ages Fix there and thou canst never shipwrack nay if thou canst but weakly and waveringly with a trembling heart and hand hold this Love be not discouraged for with a strong unconquerable hand it holds thee Joh. 10.28 29. All other Divine Perfections minister to his Love which has already bestowed the greatest Gifts Himself as an overflowing Jordan of enriching Goodness His Only-begotten Son Joh. 3.16 The choicest Blessing and the surest Pledge of all other Rom. 8.32 Nay thy self to thy self freed from the bondage of Sin and Satan Though I be in no desireable Circumstances as to other things yet if I be mine own Man and enjoy a just Liberty of Body and Mind in no slavery of Spirit and Condition I can sing over my other Misfortunes especially when I can read my own Felicity in the Misery of others through a Thraldom which I escape Indeed my Commiserations impress some part of their Calamity upon my Soul but 't is countervail'd and over-top'd by the Comfort of mine own Indemnity But there can be no liberty under the Dominion of Sin nor any true Self-enjoyment till I enjoy God and my self in him in whom I have my best and sweetest Being Motion and Life And though I enjoy my Civil and Moral Freedom which is no little Comfort yet Vassalage to the Prince of Darkness is an Affliction more grievous than the other can be solacing When a Good Man is satisfied from of with himself Prov. 14.14 't is only as far as the Goodness of God dwells in him and he in it For if I possess not God I have nothing with a Blessing therefore not with Comfort I have no Right to comfortable Thoughts contenting Enjoyments no not to my self and in my self For what am I that is good what am I not that is evil without God and what satisfaction can I receive in that which is evil as I my self and every thing in me will unavoidably be if not antidoted and animated by the Goodness of God Men are not more miserable in a Deprival of all the Content of their Lives than in the Dereliction of God God gave me my self as a Loan of Love what I am I owe to Him but by my sin I have lost both my self and Him If now by a new Charter He restore to me a better Right to Himself and to my self in His Son Jesus
unutterable Agonies and Woes of Hell and the horrible Tempest of Divine Vengeance and indignation in everlasting Burnings which will be tormenting above all that any understanding but that of God can comprehend the bitter Weepings Wailings and Gnashings of Teeth without Ease Release Mitigation Relief or End this intolerable after-clap of Sin is even to the remembrance and fore-thought almost as Cruciating as it self to the sense and feeling will be confounding God's Writing down all our Miscarriages in his Book out of which all the Power and Policy in the World can never expunge them his setting even our secret Sins in the light of his Countenance which makes them infinitely more visible than the Sun in the Firmament is a consideration that sticks and stabs us to the Heart and Murders all our Comforts at once and buries us in Horror Yet now if there can be any good token found that this Hand-writing is blotted out If a Man can be assured that Iniquity and Transgression shall by God be remembred no more this is the most reviving transporting Solace in the World But how can I have a Testimony that God hath thus privileged me How shall I know that he will forgive and forget my wickedness if he do not tell me Who can search into the bottom of his Counsels and know his purposes and practice in Heaven if himself do not reveal them And there are but two ways of revealing any secret thing viz. by words and by works Words spoken and written Deeds in Signs The Holy Scriptures reveal God's general Will to pardon some yet do they not name but only describe the Persons giving their true and lively Moral Character setting down at full such Qualifications as may be to any Man a clear Evidence who is and who is not made happy in this forensecal Mercy of Justification If an Angel from Heaven should address himself to thee with this Comfortable Message That thy Iniquities are pardoned If a Bath-kol a voice in Thunder should name thee and say Be of good Comfort thy Sins are forgiven thee thou could'st not be secure that this was not an Illusion to abuse thee into Presumption if thy inward sense did not report those tokens on which the Word of God does suspend thy Pardon But if thou canst but produce these all the Angels and Voices from Heaven imaginable though as particular and clear as possible telling thee thou art unjustified must be acknowledged accursed Deceptions because they Preach another Doctrine than Christ has done in the Gospel Gal. 1.8 Well then that thou may'st find a good token for good thou need'st not ascend into Heaven to search the Archives or court Rolls of the upper Bench there nor turn over the Book of Life in a curious tracing out thy particular name but having duly informed thy mind what are the signs of a Pardoned State look within thy Soul and Conscience and diligently enquire and examine without Partiality and a biass selfward whether the present State Constitution and Frame of thy heart be that in reality which is enrolled in the promises of the Book of God the Scripture which tender to thee Conditionally the forgiveness of Sin produce but those Conditions let it but appear upon sound Evidence that will satisfie thy self and the World and thy Judge that having truly repented of thy Sin thou livest under the Dominion of Faith and a good Conscience and Justice it self is obliged to Faithfulness for the granting thee Indemnity and Remission and the sense thereof in thy own Soul For if a Man can truly say that he hath repented and stands to what he has done in stedfast Resolutions never to return to folly his Reflections upon former Sins will not be torturing though they may be grieving because he hath the promise of Mercy and Pardon Isa 55.7 Acts 3.19 which Justice it self is obliged to perform For Conditional Promises in themselves are Dispensations of free love which was not obliged by any necessity or Congruousness to offer such Blessings upon such terms yet once made and the Conditions observed the Donation of the Mercy becomes the interest of strict Justice and Righteousness But although the New Covenant admit of Repentance which that of Works could not yet this Condescention is only through a Mediator Jesus Christ If therefore to thy Penitence thou do not superadd Faith in him neither will those after Thoughts be sound nor introductive of Peace because without Christ our Righteousness and Peace objective and causal without us Jer. 23.6 1 Cor. 1.30 Mic. 5.5 Eph. 2.14 there can be no Pardon and Peace formal within us Rom. 8.1 and without Faith no Justification no Christ Rom. 5.1 Joh. 3.18 36. Yet both these must be evinced to be sincere and sound and thereby be themselves justifiable and justified which nothing can do but the exercise of a Good Conscience Acts 24.16 This alone is to us the surest Evidence that our Repentance and Faith are unfeigned and that we deceive not our own Souls Indeed the basis of all true bliss and solace is a good Conscience in Justice and Innocency toward Man Inoffensiveness and Piety toward God Moderation and Sobriety in my self the contrary to these and Comfort are incompatible 'T is but a colloguing with my Conscience to my utter Confusion to tender it Peace if it be not pure Jam. 3.17 No Man can be groundedly quiet in Mind if filthy in Heart and Life If thou be a Devil thou must carry thy Hell about thee visibly or under disguise in its self or its Causes Thou hast no just Right to the sweets of Religion if a stranger to its Power A Mans first Designs for Joy are or ought to be laid in Self-survey and Reflection If he can find nothing of God within he can take comfort in nothing of God without but by an unjust Usurpation and Sacrilege All the goodness of God signifies nothing to an ill Man But a Good Conscience or heart is a continual Feast Prov. 15.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that finds all right at home who has no rebuke nor cause thereof from the Domestick Comptroller and Comforter in his Bosom is happy Now there can be no goodness in Conscience but only from God and as far as in Conjunction with God God in thy Conscience makes it good for he is all Goodness and there neither is nor can be any except in and from him And all the goodness which is in thy Conscience from him is first from his Faithfulness acting under his Love in the Covenant wherein he promises to give a new heart of Flesh Ezek. 36 26 27. Jer. 31.33 and Write his Laws in it by his Spirit of Promise which he engages shall cause us to walk in his Statutes c. Next and under Faithfulness all the goodness in thy Conscience is from Justice For the Right that Fidelity gives to Mercy Justice is obliged to maintain God must perform his Word because he cannot