pacifie the Consciences of sinners any more than the Blood of Bulls and Goats could do it under the Law yea any more than the Lustrations and Expiations of Sin amongst the Heathen could effect it Wherefore they have at length formed a more stated and specious Image of it to serve all the turns of convinced Sinners and this is a Purgatory after this Life that is a subterraneous place and various means where and whereby the Souls of men are purged from all their Sins and made meet for Heaven when the Lord Christ thinks meet to send for them or the Pope judges it fit to send them to him Hereunto let them pretend what they please the People under their conduct do trust a thousand times more for the purging of their Sins than unto the Blood of Christ But it is only a cursed Image of the vertue of it set up to draw off the minds of poor sinners from seeking an interest in a participation of the efficacy of that blood for that end which is to be obtained by faith alone Rom. 3.25 Only they have placed this Image behind the curtain of mortality that the cheat of it might not be discovered none who find themselves deceived by it can come back to complain or warn others to take care of themselves and it was in an especial manner suited unto their delusion who lived in pleasures or in the pursuit of unjust gain without exercise of afflictions in this world From these two sorts of persons by this Engine they raised a revenue unto themselves beyond that of Kings or Princes for all the endowments of their Religious houses and Societies were but commutations for the abatement of the fire of this Purgatory But whereas in its self it was a rotten Post that could not stand or subsist they were forced to prop it with many other imaginations for unto this end to secure work for this Purgatory they joyned the distinction of Sin into mortal and venial not as unto their end with respect unto Faith and Repentance not as unto the Degrees of sin with respect unto the aggravations but as unto the nature of them some of them being such namely those that are Venial as were capable of a purging expiation after this life though men die without any repentance of them And when this was done they have cast almost all the sins that can be named under this order And hereon this Image is become an Engine to disappoint the whole Doctrine of the Gospel and to precipitate secure sinners into eternal Ruin And to strengthen this deceiving security they have added another invention of a certain storehouse of Ecclesiastical merits the keys whereof are committed to the Pope to make application of them as he sees good unto the ease and relief of them that are in this Purgatory For whereas many of their Church and Communion have as they say done more good works then were needful for their salvation which they have received upon a due ballance of Commutative Justice the Surplusage is committed to the Pope to commute with it for the punishment of their sins who are sent into purgatory to suffer for them then which they could have found out no engine more powerful to evacuate the efficacy of the blood of Christ both as offered and as sprinkled and therewith the Doctrine of the Gospel concerning faith and repentance Moreover to give it farther countenance as one-lie must be thatched with another or it will quickly rain through they have fancied a separation to be made between guilt and punishment so as that when the guilt is fully remitted and pardoned yet there may punishment remain on the account of sin For this is the case of them in Purgatory their sins are pardoned so as that the Guilt of them shall not bind them over to eternal damnation though the wages of sin is death yet they must be variously punished for the sins that are forgiven But as this is contradictory in it self it being utterly impossible there should be any punishment properly so called but where there is guilt as the cause of it so it is highly injurious both to the Grace of God and blood of Christ in procuring and giving out such a lame pardon of sins as should leave room for punishment next to that which is eternal These are some of the rotten Props which they have fixed on the minds of persons credulous and superstitious terrified with guilt and darkness to support this tottering deformed Image set up in the room of the efficacy of the blood of Christ to purge the souls and consciences of Believers from sin But that whereby it is principally established and set up is the darkness ignorance guilt fear terrour of conscience accompanied with a love of sin that the most among them are subject and obnoxious unto being disquieted perplexed and tormented with these things and utterly ignorant of the true and only way of their removal and deliverance from them they greedily embrace this sorry provision for their present ease and relief being accommodated unto the utmost that humane or Diabolical craft can extend unto to abate their fear ease their torments and to give security unto their superstitious minds And hereby it is become to be the life and soul of their Religion diffusing it self into all the parts and concerns of it more trusted unto then either God or Christ or the Gospel Spiritual light and experience with the consequents of them in peace with God will safeguard the minds of Believers from bowing down to this horrid image though the acknowledgments of its divinity should be imposed on them with craft and force otherwise it will not be done for without this there will a strong inclination and disposition arising from a mixture of superstitious fear and love of sin possess the minds of men to close with this pretended relief and satisfaction The foundation of our preservation herein lies in Spiritual light or an ability of mind from supernatural illumination to discern the Beauty Glory and efficacy of the purging of our sins by the blood of Christ when the glory of the wisdom and grace of God of the love and grace of Christ of the power of the Holy Ghost herein is made manifest unto us we shall despise all the paintings of this invention Dagon will fall before the Ark and all these things do gloriously shine forth and manifest themselves unto believers in this misterious way of purging all our sins by the blood of Christ Herein will ensue an experience of the efficacy of this heavenly truth in our own souls There is no man whose heart and ways are cleansed by the blood of Christ through the effectual application of it by the Holy Spirit in the ordinance of the Gospel but he hath or may have a refreshing experience of it in his own soul and by the power which is communicated therewith he is stirred up unto all that exercise of Faith and all those duties
home That that man makes himself a ridicule that leaves his own house on fire and runs to quench his Neighbours and quitting his own Family infected with the Plague hastens to the cure of his Neighbour 2. We find this good Eli as old as he was could be tart and sharp enough to another to godly mourning praying Hannah when he thought only she had been drunk before the Lord upon but the bare suspicion of a sin How long wilt thou be drunken put away thy wine from thee 1 Sam. 1.13 14. 'T is true his reproof arose from misprision but that misprision sprang from zeal 3. But what now In the Case before us you cannot but expect to find him screw'd up to a note beyond Ela inflam'd ad Octo the zeal the fire the furnace heated seven times more than usually the burning zeal of his Gods House must needs consume him For satisfaction read 1 Sam. 2.22 to 26. Now Eli was very old and heard All that his Sons did unto all Israel and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the Congregation and he said unto them To shame To Torment To hell with them To the Worm that dies not To the fire that never shall be quenched Was this his Sentence No no. But to amazement Hear what he says 4. He said unto them Why do ye such things for I hear of your Evil dealings by all this People ver 24. Nay my Sons for it is no good report that I hear ye make the Lords People to trangress 25. If one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for Him See here Indulgence to a prodigy to the notorious Crimes of his Wicked Sons 1. How soon do we find the case alter'd to Hannah he spake as an Holy Priest a just Judge to these as a fond indulgent Father If corrupt nature be allow'd to speak in Judgement and to make difference not of Crimes but Criminals not of Sins but Offenders the Scales will not be Equal 2. Had these wretches but a little slack'd their duty or heedlesly omitted some rites of the Sacrifices this Censure had not been so unbecoming 3. But to punish the thefts rapines sacriledges Adulteryes of his Sons with a meer Why do you so was no other than to shave that head that deserved the Ax. As it is with Ill humours A weak dose doth but irritate and anger them not purge them out so it fares with habituated Sins and so it did here ver 25. They hearkned not to the voice of their Father An easie reproof doth but encourage wickedness and makes it think it self so slight as that Censure imports Nay a vehement reproof if no more to a capital Evil is at most but like a smart Shower to a ripe Field which only layes that Corn which is worthy of a Sickle It is a breach of Justice not to proportion the Punishment to the Offence to Whip a man for murther to punish the purse only for incest to burn Treason in the hand to award the Stocks to Burglary to lay on the Verge where the Ax or Gibbet are deserv'd is to patronize Evil instead of avenging it Thus we have seen the Childrens Wickedness and the Fathers Indulgence But is there not a Melius inquirendum in the case Yes yes From a fond and partial Bar to a strict and impartial Tribunal 3. God himself and the greatest party concern'd and the most injured interposes Poor Eli could not have devised or studied a more compendious and effectual Way to have plagued himself his House his Posterity than by this his sinful kindness to his Childrens Sins What variety of judgments doth he now hear of 1. From the Messenger of God! 1 Sam. 2.27 to the end Because he had now doated in his old age there should not be an old man left of his house for ever because it vexed him not enough to see his Sons Enemies to God he shall see his own Enemies in the habitation of the Lord ver 32. Because himself forbore to take vengeance of his Sons and esteem'd their lives above the Glory of his God and Master therefore God himself will take the Sword into his own hand and kill them both in one day ver 34. chap. 4.11 Because he abus'd his Authority and conniv'd at Sin and honour'd his Sons before God therefore his house shall be stript of his honour and it should be translated to another ver 30.32.35 Because he suffer'd his Sons to please their wanton appetites in taking meat from off Gods Trencher therefore those which remain of his house shall come to his Successors and beg a piece of Silver to buy a morsel of Bread ver 36. Because he was fond and partial to his Sons God will execute all this and more on him and them severely and impartially 1 Sam. 3.11 to 15. 2. Observe I beseech you observe indulgent Citizens we do not read of any Sin that Eli was charg'd with but with that which is Epidemical I fear among you and lookt upon as a peccadillo and if a Sin at most but venial What were these dreadful menaces against Eli but Premonitions to us these murthering Canons to Him but our Warning-pieces God sayes yea God Swears that he will judge Elies house and that with beggery with death with desolation And that the wickedness of his house should not be purged with Sacrifices or Offerings for ever 1 Sam. 3.11 to 15. Do not your Ears tingle at the mention of these things do you not wonder that the Neck and Heart both of Poor Eli were broken at the report of them 4. We have heard the Sentence and notwithstanding Elies Repentance and the Saving of his Soul yet for the necessary Vindication of Gods Honour Holiness Justice here below see the dreadful Execution 1. The Philistines and Israel join in Battelâ— Israel is smitten and fled There fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen and the Ark of God taken 1. Sam. 4.10 11. 2. The two Caitiffs that had liv'd before to bring Gods Ark into contempt and had now liv'd to carry it into captivity both slain by the Philistines 3. Eli now ninety eight years old at the news of this falls backward from his Seat and breaks his Neck 4. To make the Tragedy compleat the Wife of that cursed Phinchas as not minding Father Husband Self Child with her last breath pants out a doleful Epitaph on the captive Ark and stamps it on her Childs forehead Call it Ichabod for the Ark of God is taken 1 Sam. 4.21 Before we proceed let 's cast our Eye back and but glance on the Sin that was the grand cause of this strages 1 Sam. 2.29 Because he honoureth his Sons above me for the iniquity which he knoweth because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not 1 Sam. 3.13 Hinc illae Lachrymae O Cruel Indulgence The Jury hath sat upon
the world affords fewer Temptations to Apostacy than either of the extreams As 1. Poverty Suppose a person truly godly in a poor and low condition in the world and thence by consequence having a necessary dependance upon others for his livelihood if now Providence so ordereth it that those persons on whom he thus depends prove Enemies to God and the power and life of Religion O that there were no reason for such suppositions what Temptations are those poor ones under to abate their zeal for God and first to conceal their profession and possibly afterwards to deny and disown those ways which Conscience tells them are the ways of God and this in complyance with their Masters fearing else the loss of their favour and worldly advantages enjoyed from them I must say such poor ones if I do not alter my course expect no more relief and then my work will be gone I shall have no more credit and so I had e'en as good shut up my shop and shut up my mouth too nay I may fear not only a suspension of what kindness I have received but of a friend he will become my Enemy and then how easily may I and mine be crushed Oh my friends How cogent such Arguments have been of late with many to do things contrary to their Judgments and to go against the plain Dictates of their own Consciences to decline their Professions and so to make work for repentance may easily be imagined but not readily sufficiently be lamented 2. Let us consider the other extream Riches and one would think at first blush that these should be a mighty Bulwork and a strong preservative against Apostacy but constant experience teacheth the contrary Wealth and Honour have been a mighty snare even to the people of God themselves in an hour of Temptation it is a great self my beloved that great men are call'd sometime to deny for the sake of Christ and his Gospel and oh how hard is this to be done how apt are such to study distinctions to evade their duty and palliate their sin when the performance of the one and forbearance of the other may hazard the loss of a great Estate but now a middle Condition in the World does not so violently drive men upon those rocks and quicksands upon which both the poor and the rich are liable so often to make shipwrack of faith and a good Conscience and thus have I given you a brief resolution of the case to be discuss'd this day and having spoken what my time would allow me in the doctrinal part it remains that I should make a little Application VSE The 1. Use shall be by way of caution you have heard a middle worldly Condition is most desireable and this upon several rational considerations have a care that this be not applyed by any of you so as to be a rule as to your spiritual state and condition in the World you know there are two sorts of riches there are earthly riches such as the Holy Ghost calls this Worlds Goods 1 Joh. 3.17 And there are heavenly riches such as will be of use in the other World Luke 12.21 a being rich towards God Now my Brethren though a middle Estate as to the World and as to worldly Accommodations be most desireable yet you are miserably mistaken if you think a middle Condition as to spiritual things to be so I confess the Language of many mens Lives nay of the Lives of Professors speaks to this purpose I know few if any that live as if they were afraid they should be too rich but alass how many live as if they were afraid they should be too godly afraid of being righteous over much of being too zealous for God Oh Sirs have a care of this lay your hands upon your hearts inquire into the temper of your Souls about this matter may be some of you even in this Sense would not be so miserably poor but you would willingly have a little Grace a little Godliness if it were only to give you some hopes that you should not go to Hell when you die and hence are very inquisitive and industrious to find out some marks and signs and what may be the Discoveries of the least degree of saving Grace whilst in the mean time they are not as may be feared so industrious how to increase their Grace and how to be adding to their spiritual stock according to that Counsel given us 2 Pet. 1.5 giving all diligence add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledg c. are you not afraid you may have too much Grace and be too holy do you not sometimes blame and at least shew a dislike against those who outstrip you and think they are more nice than wise and too exact and curious in their conversation and that a more lax and indifferent Carriage would be better and that moderation and a middle way would be more commendable oh have a care of this Lukewarmeness a being neither cold nor hot Rev. 3.15 16. remember he that thinks he hath Grace enough it is much to be feared he hath none at all be you copying out the Example of the Holy Apostle Phil. 3.13 14. if you say what is this to my Subject in hand I answer 't is no matter so it may prove an advantage to thy Soul But now then to make some more pertinent use of what you have heard I shall direct my application to three sorts of persons or to persons with respect to that threefold condition in the World that my Text mentions and that my Discourse have pointed at all along viz. the poor the rich and those of you that are in a middle Estate between both and this by way of counsel and advice to you all 1. One Word to the poor 2. Two Words to the rich 3. Three Words to you that are in a middle Condition betwixt both 1. One Word to the poor and this shall be a counselling comforting incouraging Word I will not now enquire how Poverty came upon you whether it be the Gift of God I mean whether it came more immediately from the hand of divine Providence or whether it be the effect and result of your own Lusts of your profuseness and prodigality of your sloth and idleness of your gluttony and drunkenness I 'le not enquire this at present but leave it to your selves to consider only take it for granted that poor very poor you are and may be upon this account despicable in the eyes of others and miserable in your own Now my friends that which I have to say to you in short is this be perswaded that the greatest misery of your present condition is not as possibly some of you may be apt to imagine that this your condition is pinching hard and puffs heavy upon your fleshly part and that by reason of your Poverty you are the Objects of scorn and derision in the World but indeed the greatness of your