understood one of the worst of the flock and consequently by a Male one of the best of the flock otheewise the opposition would be neither ful nor just 3ly The very corrupt thing here offered in all probability was a Male for this Deceiver as he had stronger so he had feebler Cattle sick and lame c. and questionless among these he had many Males one of which in all likelyhood he offered unto God which Offering of his though a Male was nevertheless a corrupt thing All which being put together do fully satisfie me that it it is an ecliptick expression a Male for the best Male in the Flock even as in Isa 1.18 Wool for the whitest wool 2. By his seeming piety and that in two things A Votary Sacrificer 1. A Votary He voweth either voluntarily by an act arising from the freedom of his own will or else occasionally moved thereunto either to obtain some good as Jeptah to subdue the Amonites Judg 11.30 And Jacob to return home in peace Gen 28.20 Or to remove some evill as Jonah in the belly of the Whale to be delivered from that living grave Jonah 2.9 2ly A sacrificer and sacrificeth not immediatly by himself but by the hands of the Priest But what this makes way for the third part of the description where we shall find this deceiver set forth 3ly By his real impurity for after all this ado he sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing We may see all along the Chapter what the Prophet means by this corrupt thing even ◠vile and a base oblation some of his worser and rascal Cattle blind or lame or sick or diseased A corrupt thing possibly corrupted with worms putrified with sores ready to rot as it went on the ground with such a carren Carkasse instead of a lovely Lamb would this deceiver put off God Wherefore what is his Reward my Text tels you he is accursed that is He incurs Gods bitter Odium and renders himself most hateful and abominable God casts upon him an evil eye and will ere long plague him unto the very pit of Hell except he repent For cursed is the deceiver who hath in his Flock a Male c. The words being thus briefly resolved and explained me thinks I see a spations plain of matter lying before me and in it various and several paths for the Passenger to travel in but I am afraid to loose my self as to tire your patience wherefore I have determined to keep only the great Road and to insist upon the main truth of the words Take it in this following conclusion It is a thing most detestable in the eyes of God Doct not to sacrifice unto him the very choice and best of the Flock That we may carry on the Doctrine more smoothly a scruple or two is to be removed out of the way As Why do I so tacitely passe over this deceivers vow 1. Because I have work enough besides Ans and more than sufficient for my glasse 2. Because I see no great inconvenience if we look upon this deceivers vow by way of parenthesis For 1. The sence is undisturbed though that sentence be removed as thus Cursed be the deceiver who hath in his flock a Male and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing 2ly Not the lest of any such thing is hinted at as vowing in the preceding part of the Chapter upon which I conceive my Text hath a great dependency 3ly Whether they vowed or not they were bound to sacrifice and without a vow that person would be accursed who offered not the Male of his flock though this deceiver much more because of a double obligation not from the Law only but from his own vow also this in answer to the first 2. At quid nostrâ interest What have we to do with sacrifice and Offerings were they not everlastingly abolished by the coming of Him who was the body and substance of all these shadows and resemblances In some sence I confesse it Ans Yet cum bono Deo vestrâ patitientiâ with the help of God and your good patience who before-hand I humbly bespeak I hope to make it manifest that this Doctrine equally concerneth the piety of Christians in our dayes as the policie of the Jews in antient times To this purpose I must intreat you to go a little more out of the Flesh into the Spirit and then yee shall see that even by the coming of Christ We are made an holy and a Royal Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 1 Pet 2.5 And we read of several sacrifices thus to be offered as of praise and thanksgiving By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name Heb 13.15 Again of Almes deeds and good works To do good and communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased ver 16. But I may not delay in particulars but come to one general sacrifice comprehensive of the rest with all the spiritual seed of Aaron even all appertaining to Christ are everlastingly to offer unto God and this we find called and christened by Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your reasonable service Rom 12.1 The whole Verse runs thus I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service In which words Paul gives the Romans a compendious and yet a most compleat use of the fore-going Epistle As if he had said since yee have heard of the great priviledges of the Ghospell how God hath given you Christ and all things Gratitudinis ergò give up your selves again unto God and be devoted unto his fear and this by way of sacrifice I beseech you to present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to set before as the sacrifices of the old men exhibited in the Temple presented or set before the Lord at the Altar Your bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an usuall grecisme for the whole man or person the Hebrews expressed it by souls Act 7.14 There went down into Egypt threescore and fifteen souls that is persons but the Greeks many times by bodies as we in our mother-tongue are wont to say such an one is a very good body that is a very good Man o◠Woman thus Bodies must be taken viz by a synecdoche for the whole man yea I am bold to say chiefly for the soul with all its nobler faculties and powers otherwise how could they be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a living sacrifice for the body without the spirit is dead Yet I conceive he rather maketh use of the word body for the greater concinnity of the 〈◊〉 because he bespeaks a sacrifice now it is evident that the bodies only of the beasts could be sacrificed and not their souls which did then immediatly Tenues vanescere in auras vanish away into nothing So that the summe of
in evil wayes They have appetitum caninum and swallow down Hel at a bit as if they were afraid others should get the lest share of it besides themselves As I have seen an hungry Dogg swallow a bone without chowing for feare his fellow should come to touch it Oh how mad and how violent are wicked men in the prosecution of their Lusts shal not their excessive wickedness provoak us to exceed in goodness do we not serve a better Master are we not about a better work do we not expect a better reward when Job provided a sacrifice for the World 't was the Male of his flock and when we provide a sacrifice for our God shal it not be the Male of our flock God put us not off with Saints or Angels though he had store and choice but one better then all the only lovely Lamb in the Fold for brightness and perfection even his own dear Sonn He spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all Rom 8.32 what therefore shal we render unto the Lord gratitude wil answer I have nothing good enough but the best which I have sha◠forever be at his service Which that we may do let us observe these following rules Let all our services be ordered according to the rule of the Word Meanes we may not presume to know above what is revealed To the Law to the testimonies we may expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans 12.1 by 1 Pet 2.2 where we have the same epethite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is there translated the milk of the Word and not reasonable Milk and then our sacrifice wil be the service of the Word viz according to the word of God Here we must stick otherwise we shal strangely vanish away in our own foolish imaginations and set up graven images which we all know is abominable in the eyes of God that service is peformed in the best manner which God saith is the best for God is sole Judg in this matter and not our foolish and fond opinions we may see groves and Idols a world of vanity and wil-worship in the world among all Sects and perswasions But while they take freedom to abound in their own sence doing what is right in their own eyes let us only do what is right in the eyes of God 2 Let all our sacrifices be offered upon the golden Altar Jesus Christ It is the Altar that sacrificeth the gift Mat 23.19 yea and inricheth it too and only makes it of worth and value Christ is Gods beloved Son in whom he is wel pleased and for his sake wil not quarrel with us or our Offering though we do not attaine unto the perfection of the Sanctuary yea the spots of our sacrifices are easily covered by his spotless righteousness so that God himself wil say here is an Offering according to my mind Where ever Christ is there God is fully satisfied for his eye is so taken with this lovely object that he cannot look off to see else-where what is done amiss 3. Time also and its opportunity is much to be observed for helping on this work especially there let us put our selves upon service when the good fit is upon us I intend soberly and seriosly when the spirit of grace moveth more sensibly upon the face of our souls warming and melting our affections and unkindling gracious desires in us and there are such golden seasons now strike while the iron is hot now to reading praying thanksgiving c for now thy hands wil drop with myrh and thy fingers with sweet smelling myrh O how holy are such breathings how seraphical such expressions how wil thy soul mount upward how near wil it come unto God! and thou whether in the body thou canst not tel or out of the body thou canst not tel 4. Keep a sacred reserve of the strength of thy Spirit and the best of thy affections for God and for his service and let them not consume and blaze out among the lying vanities of this world if we do not use the world as if we need it not we shal serve God as if we served him not There was a time when Solomon gave unto the Lord the Male of his Flock but when afterward he suffered his heart to be taken with si ver and gold with Wine and Women with Men-fingers and Women-fingers with Orchards and gardens and Vineards with Apes and Peacocks and all other the vainer delights of the Sons of men Solomon was another Man and now presently instead of a Male he offered unto the Lord a Corrupt thing The Lord said unto Moses Exod 30 34. take unto thee sweet spices and thou shalt make it a perfume a confection after the Art of the Apothecary tempered together pure and holy and as for the perfume which thou shalt make you shal not make unto your selves according to the composition thereof Whosoever shal make like unto that to smel thereto shall even be cut off from his people This was a sweet only to be smelled in the Sanctuary and not else-where upon paine of death so I conceive there are several aims and high breathings in our affections which are only for God but to spend them upon our selves would be the greatest sacriledg and moreover puts us upon an in possibility of performing the duty I have alwayes observed people high and hot in their pastimes and pleasure as low and as cold in their prayers and performances They who suffer themselves to admire Romances and Play-books and seldome seen to affect Sermons and Gods-Book but they hear and read with a certain kind of loathing and fastidiousness The reason is this the purer strength of their spirit is spent upon vanity and therefore feeble and weak in the things of solidity A tree running out in foolish excrescences the fruit is rare and little and that too of the basest sort In your common Limbecks the purer spirits being drawn out and gone nothing is left behind but a Caput mortuum fleam and dreggs Therefore we must be careful to keep in our spirits to moderate our Joyes and to check our desires and not to suffer our selves to love any thing beneath God with an excessive love midling affections are enough for these things as for those high breathings of soul let them wholly be sacrificed unto the Lord. Stop up the floud-gates that the pools may be ful when yee go unto God and now open all and let them flow as fast as they can the faster the better I love such a thing with all my heart a common saying but once a grave Christian replied not lesse piously than truly why for shame all thy heart for this trifle and that and for every vanity all thy heart must be for God else thou wilt have for God no heart at all To conclude Thou hast in thy flock a Male but if that be meat for thine own palate if that be consumed at thine own Table then when thou comest to offer thou wilt most certainly sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt thing Gloria in exelsis AMEN POSTSCRIPT I Have under two or three Heads put in a little more filling which for fear of tediousness I thought good silently to passe over in the Pulpit B A.
Pauls exhortation is this Offer up your whole selves bodies and souls unto God in the way of sacrifice But now lest they should question what he meant he comes in with reasonable service that is serve God in your bodies and souls and so sacrifice your selves unto him Reasonable some questioning about this epithete some say spiritual service opposing this sacrifice of Christians to that of the Jews which was meerly flesh Others say reasonable that is rational as opposing it to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bruit beasts offered in sacrifice However it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which on all hands it is agreed to be servitus religionis viz worship homage service and those several duties we daily perform unto God So that at length to make an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to inferr our worship homage devotions in a word all Christian duties which daily we perform unto God is our Christian sacrifice And this is that sacrifice which must be the choice and prime of our Flock unlesse we would be accursed As under those carnal rites and administrations it was a thing hateful unto the Lord to bring a Sacrifice unto him of the refuse and worser Cattle and not of the fairest and best of the Flock so in the dayes of the Ghospel when more spiritual sacrifices are required it is equally abominable if these Sacrifices of our services be not performed in the best way which is within the compass of our power and utmost abilities Our next work will be therefore to shew what it is to bring the Male of our Flock and why it must needs be abominable if we do it not The first wil be explication the next confirmation and so way will be made for Application What is it to bring the Male of our Flock Explication Vt suprà to serve God in the best manner with our whole hearts Ans and souls Doubtless the Male of our Flock is our heart Prov 23.26 My son give me thine heart the rest is little worth and without that nothing worth But here I take heart for all the nobler powers and faculties of the inner man which are constantly to be brought forth and faithfully to be made use of in all our religious services and performances But more particularly to serve God in the best manner is to serve him with our best understanding with our best wil and our best affections for if our homage be not served up with one and all of these it wil be no better than a corrupt thing If not with our best understanding then the Lamb for Sacrifice wil be blind if not with our best wil the Lamb wil grow wild and run away if not with our best affections it wil be faint and sick heartless and wortheless But 1. With our best understanding we must beat our brains and muster up our wits to find out God and to have a clear apprehension in heavenly things especially those heights and depths those bredths and lengths of Gods free grace and Christs rich love to Man-kind and with a reference to perform all duties Be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Eph 5.27 In malice be yee Children but in understanding be yee men â— Cor 14.19 This is that which makes the man and discriminates him from bruit Creatures But oh what cloudy muddy brainsloâ— with what an easiness of handknowledg do most men content themselves People generally are of the Colliars faith believing as the Church beleives and the Church believes as they believe but what themselves or the Church believes they know not Whereas it is our bounden duty to be able to render a reason of our faith from point to point and to know the ground we go upon tam in agendis quam credendis both in things we believe and in things we practise 1 Pet 3.15 I know the common answer and evasion viz T is for you Schollars who are book-learned and have nothing else to do but alas we are so taken up with other occasions that it cannot be expected from us But I answer this sive wil not hold water and therefore deceive not your selves t is not only for Schollars but for your Citizens and were I in my own Auditory I woâ—ld say t is for you Countrymen and wherever I were I would indifferently presse it upon all who desire to serve God acceptably here and see God comfortably hereafter God taketh no pleasure in fools Eccles 5.8 And Christ will come with flaming vengeance to those who do not know God as to those who do not obey him to the ignorant as to the rebellious and disobedient 1 Thes 1.8 Think not your Callings can plead you guiltlesse for no Calling which is of God can in sound reason be thought to put a man upon a necessity of sinning and serving the Devil but if they unavoidably keep you in perpetual ignorance then are yee brought under such an hellish necessity Our Saviour saith Mark 9.49 Every Sacrifice must be salted with salt salt we know is a word of wisedom as in the verse have salt in your selves that is be knowing and intelligent The sacrifices of all our services must be seasoned with divine sapience and knowledg else the whole lump of our devotions wil be a corrupt thing as a tainted peece of flesh unsalted and ful of worms Wherefore Paul was resolved to sing with the spirit and sing with his understanding also to pray with the spirit and to pray with the understanding also 1 Cor 14.15 and well he might for it is the understanding which makes the praying words of a Penitent to differ from the prating words of a Parrat Here I might complain for never more darknes then in these dayes of light but I intreat hear read and pray make diligent search excogitate and often in your minds revolve the things of Heaven untill yee attaine the best understanding 2. With our best will I deem that the best will which is violently bent to the will of God and resolutely set to do that work When we come into the Command as a ship under full sail to the Harbor Could we suppose a chain of iron or steel lying crosse the kennel t would teare it in pieces as a twine thread and yet rush violently forward in her intended course The Apostle possibly hints at such a thing 2 Cor 8.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If there be in you a willing mind it is accepted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est omni studio aliquid conari to do a thing with a willing mind is to do it with all earnestnes of desire and indeavour The wil with its first and second power which for lack of better terms I shal make bold to call vellability and volition is very subtil and misterious I had almost said inscrutable hence all those endlesse endlesse controversies between the Arminians and their nervus and stout opponents Oh happy is that high understanding and deep
way unmanly are they managed and transacted Let no man say what need so many words for I need them and ten times more and all too little to set forth the wretchednes and unwor thines of our daily Sacrifice of our common and customary devotions Oh how little good is to be found in the best of our services Bonum est quod sui plenum est Good is that which is ful of it self as gold that nobler mettle is ful of it self and therfore the heaviest of all mettles But alas how unempty are our devotions of themselves viz pious and holy affections and desires even like a puff in ones hand you may squeeze them to nothing or like the Lamb in the verse preeding my Text so light and macilent that the blast of ones mouth would have blown it off the Altar God saith My Son give me thine heart and we give him the lip and the knee the eye and the ear but our hearts are far from him Matth 15.8 That which should be the work of the spirit is commonly no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer bodily labour Let us look upon two o◠three particulars wherein the great stream of our Religion flows viz reading praying and hearing How often is reading the labour of the eyes Yee have set your selves a task to read good Books and so many Chapters in the Bible every day by the way no good Books should take us off from reading the Scripture in the pure and simple Text yea I would hate the loveliness of that Book though lovely only for the piety of the matter and sublimity of the stile which should in my affections stand corrival with the Word and bewitch my mind more with love and admiration than those sacred Oracles in their own phrase and expression But for our reading the visive Organ is only altered and affected and this is the greatest part of that service The words in the Book say Jesus Faith Repentance and the like just while we look upon them imprint their image upon our eyes but make little or no impression upon the understanding and the lest alteration upon the wil or affections so that after we have read over the Bible again and again our understanding is as unfruitful our affections as carnal as if we had never read a word in our lives So for our prayers we say our prayers but not pray our prayers Our tongues are vocal but our hearts are silent They fulfil their task and run their round as an horse in a Mill by a continual custom they will go from petition to petition until the words be said and the prayers be done But in the interim the soul lay dorment and fast asleep and in all these words uttered not a voice nor put up any request at the throne of Grace If God know what we have prayed for t is many times more then we know our selves so little of our mind and spirit went along with the duty Then for hearing the sound of the Ministers voice strikes upon the ear and finds a passage into the head but as we say proverbeally in at one ear and out at another because our spirits do not way-lay these heavenly truths and surprize them in their passage The rich Traveller would passe on nay stand saith the Theef I must have your Treasure so those rich Treasures of all Heavenly wisdome wil suddenly glide away unlesse greedy desires like a Theef presently lay hold and carry them into the secrets of the heart there to rifle and rausake them but here we are men too too honest for our own good Truth often passeth by and yet we never come to finger the lest of her Treasure Generally this is the best account of a Sermon there was a great Audience he was a rare man he had a strong and a clear voice was very zealous and pressed things home But what here they are utterly to seek Even as Ahimaaz 2 Sam 18.29 that came from the Battle of Absalon parting and puffing what is the News saith David I saw a great tumult but I know not what it was so as you would think they are much taken and heard great matters but what They know not what only they have heard they have read and they have prayed they satisfie themselves that the work is done though never so unworthily But my Brethren these things ought not so to be Therefore For the future let us be more careful in this matter Exhort let us make Conscience not only to sacrifice but also to offer the Male of the Flock not only to serve God but in the best way and manner I have prepared for the house of my God with all my might saith David 1 Cron 29.2 It was for God and his House therefore he did with all his might so what-ever we intend for God should be to the utmost of our powers A true Isralite in antieut times was able to witnesse at the Altar I have brought the best Lamb in my flock and a better I could not find So good Christians should do service to God in that manner as that they may justifie themselves and say I could not have done it better Grace should imitate nature which stil puts forth her strongest abilities A stone fals downward as fast as it can and faster it cannot fal fire flies up as fast as it can and faster it cannot flye So we in all our services to God should be pious and devout as we can This rule with some proportion is heedfully to be observed not only in our services immediatly holy such as were even now mentioned reading praying c. but also in those which are holy by a mediem remotely holy and one removal from God such are the services of our secular imployments in our ordinary vocations and Callings Here commonly the next thing is man but it is ultimately resolved into God As for examples sake an Apprentice or servant serveth in the next place his Master but in serving his Master he doth finally service unto God who gave the Command Again a Magistrate who is the greatest Minister of the people his service in the next place is unto them in protecting them from evil and consulting for their good and welfare but yet in the last and chief place it is unto God who requires as much at his hands In such services as these which are remotely holy we must yet be careful to offer the Male of our Flock See for servants Col. 3.23 Servants obey your Masters not with eye service but in singleness of heart and whatsoeuer yee do do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men for yee serve the Lord Christ How so I serve Peter and Paul I but in serving them you obey a command and so serve a greater Master See for Magistrates Rom 12.8 Let him that ruleth do it with diligence not only rule but do it faithfully and with the greatest care In the one concerning servants