compleating Head stone also That we may with Shoutings cry Grace Grace unto it Zech 4.7.9 And shou'd it not raise our hopes higher to behold a portion of the same Spirit resting upon our Publick Councils Are not those Excellent Laws against some instances of Vice that have been lately Enacted both in England and this Kingdom And that Pious Zealous Address of those Noble Senators in England the fruit thereof Surely 't is matter of great Incouragement and ground of hope that our Legislative Powers have thus own'd and succoured the languishing Cause of Religion Yea several of those that are in Subordinate Authority seem anointed with the same Spirit Among whom the Magistraâ—â— of this City and some persons of Worth in the Commission for the Peace near it deserve a most Honourable Remembrance both for their active Zeal in punishing Offenders and their prudent care to cover Informers from Violence and Rage And is not this Sacred Anointing upon the head of our Body Politick descended to the Skirts of our Garments even to many Private persons whose Spirits God has stirred up to put their hand to this Work with Zeal Alacrity Courage and Self-denial It looks as tho' God had some Merciful Design on foot when he has done such a new thing in the Earth that private persons have formed themselves into distinct Societies that their Endeavours may be both more Regular and Successful in executing our Wholsom Laws And the Design seems so much the more to be of God that there is such a sweet harmony and accord among persons of different Perswasions in promoting the common Interest of Religion And that I may mention no more It looks like a Token for Good That so many of the Rising Generation seem to have in their hearts some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel That the Lord is pleased to rejoyce in our Young Men that his Providence has so wonderfully secured any of them from the infection of evil Examples and preserved them from the Vanities and Vices to which that Age is commonly addicted So that instead of Sensual Intertainments they associate for the Exercises of Religious Worship and to provoke one another to Love and to Good Works Oh my Brethren what an happy change may we see in the Face of our Affairs What a turn has God given to the Spirits and Inclinations of many It would be a denying to give unto God the Glory due to his Name to ascribe so great an Effect to a lower Cause I conclude therefore that there are some Effusions of the Spirit from on high among us And Oh what encouragement shou'd you derive from hence to go on with undaunted Fortitude and Zeal May I not apply to you the words of the Prophet Haggai 2.4 Yet now be strong oh Zerubbabel c. Be strong all ye people of the Land saith the Lord and work for I am with you saith the Lord of Hosts This Consideration should be your great Relief against the difficulty of the Work you find it proposed for this end by the Holy Ghost Zech. 4.6 Not by Might nor by Power but by my Spirit saith the Lord and then it follows Who art thou O great Mountain before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a Plain Assistances from the Holy Spirit should raise our Hearts and Hopes above all discouragement It must be confest there are Mountainous Difficulties in the Way but what are they before the Spirit of God How soon can Omnipotency smooth and level them Our Disease is indeed so inveterate it has spread so far and prevailed so long that our Case would be desparate in any other Hand But if that great Physitian undertake the Cure of our sick Souls and State the work will prosper in his Hand This Consideration should also help you against the paucity of the Numbers that are yet Ingaged in this Work it is yet but in its Infancy and Beginning If we do not sin away our own Mercies this heavenly Dew will descend more plenteously and difuse its self more generally so that this small Cloud shall cover the whole Heavens The work is in his Hand who can of Stones raise up Children unto Abraham Let us not therefore despise the day of small things but persist in this way of known duty and refer the Issue to the Soveraign will of God Tho' the Body of the People should not yet be Reformed yet a small number of Zealous Pious Persons may be set in the Balance against all the rest and may prevail to obtain a longer space of Repentance for them and in order thereto your Example may provoke others to an Holy Emulation yea it has done so already The happy Design was at first but in a few hands all of them Members of the Establisht Church This Honour God has put upon them and it should be far from being matter of Envy to Protestant Dissenters who I hope will bless God for it and be ready to acknowledge it to their just praise upon all occasions But is not Jacob's Staff already become Two Bands in this City And does not the same design happily succeed in some other parts of this Kingdom and we hope will in a little time prevail in many more May we not see God going forth with us and shall our Successes dishearten us Shall we faint with grounds of hope about us on every side Oh remember you serve a good Master you are Engaged in a most Honourable Work You have promises concerning effectual help and if a Season for an eminent effusion of the Holy Spirit be at hand Mercy will further shew its pleasing Face to us on every Hand Glory will adorn our Lands and great will be the day of Jezreel But whatever be the Issue tho' Israel should not now be gathered tho' these attempts for Reformation should be fruitless which God forbid yet if your Hearts be sincere in this Work the Lord will not be Unrighteous to forget your Zeal and that Labour of Love which you have shewn and shall further shew to his Name in this matter FINIS
is to such an eminent Dispensation that my Text refers and from thence the Prophet dates the beginnings of happy Times How far we may think our selves concerned in this matter I shall inquire in the Application I proceed therefore to the Second General Secondly What Influence has this Effusion of the Holy Spirit upon an effectual thorough Reformation You may take some account thereof in Two particulars First 'T is by an Effusion of the Holy Spirit that those Instruments whom God is pleased to employ in this Work are prepared for it and ingaged in it This great Event is not brought about by an immediate display of absolute power but the Wisdom of God is pleas'd to use sutable and congruous means and he finds 'em not fitted to his hand but by pouring out his Spirit upon them he makes them so The Concurrence of the Civil Magistrate is ordinarily necessary for producing a general Reformation If they be unqualifyed for their place and negligent in their work if they Incourage prophaness by their practice such neglects and dangerous Examples are likely to have a fatal influence upon their people Experience has taught us how from such a poluted Fountain Irreligion and Vice will soon spread through a Land As often as there were Idolatrous Kings in Judah the people generally complied with their Apostacy and how rarely are great men truly good 'T is but seldom that serious Piety is the ornament of the purple Robe tho' it shines with a most amiable lustre when it is found there When therefore a people are blessed with Wise and Religious Magistrates When that exalted Clay is moulded into the Divine Image we may well account them the productions of Divine Power and Grace They are anointed with the holy Spirit 'T is he alone that can speak effectually to the Hearts of Princes and make them zealous in the matters of their God 'T is by Wisdom from above that they come to discern it their true Interest to promote practical Godliness that the Throne may be established in Righteousness rather than to study their security by methods of carnal policy as tho' they hop'd to gain the worse which is commonly the greatest part by an unrestrained Indulgence of their Lusts 'T is he alone that can influence Subordinate Magistrates so as to possess them with a sense of their Duty and dispose them to a zealous attendance on it that they may attain the end for which they bear the Sword of Civil Magistracy in becoming a terror to evil doers Again the Concurrence of the Ministry is ordinarily requisite in order to a National Reformation 'T is they that are to lift up their voice like a Trumpet and shew the House of Judah and Israel their Sins If they know not the Lord and stand not in his Counsel If they be remise in their work or under the Influence of carnal sensual affections in their lives they will disserve Religion more by their Practice than they can promote it by their Doctrine under such unhappy circumstances from the Prophet and Priest prophaness goes out thro' the Land They must be burning and shining Lights themselves who wou'd be instrumental to kindle the flames of Piety and Zeal in others Now it must be by the effusion of the holy Spirit that the sons of Levi are purified 'T is he that cloths his Priests with Righteousness 'T is a plentiful Anointing they receive from him that makes their faces shine that puts a lustre on their Ministrations that gives them an Authority in the Consciences of their People and so qualifies them for success in their Work I might add that persons of some Eminency and Interest among the People must ordinarily help in this Work to be exemplary to others to call for Justice and to strengthen the hands of Magistrates and Ministers So that 't is manifest so many persons of different Characters Interests and Stations must be imploy'd in this Work that it requires more than Human Wisdom and Power to engage and unite them in it 'T is therefore the Work of that Powerful Spirit who has immediate access to the heart and an omnipotent dominion over it who can form the same inclinations in a multitude at once and cause a Nation to be born in a day and when he is pleased to give forth his Effectual Command his word goeth very swiftly Secondly 'T is by the effusion of the holy Spirit that the Endeavours which these prepared Instruments use do become most effectual I acknowledge That by the vigorous execution of Wholsom Laws and the concurrent influence of a Faithful Minestry open and scandalous Profaness may be in a good measure suppressed and even this is an invaluable Mercy worth all our care and pains and it must be ascrib'd to the holy Spirit as appears by the former Head But the Work will not be carried far nor last long without som◠internal operations o◠the 〈…〉 outward means can have but little success The dispensation of the Word will be but a Dead Letter if it be not the ministration of the Spirit Human Laws and Penalties may put men upon seeking greater seeresy as a shelter for their sins but it is the holy Spirit awakening mens consciences and sanctifying their hearts that must effectually Reform them Other Remedies do but cover the Disease this cures it External applications do but set up a Dique against the Stream the Sanctifying operations of the Spirit dry up the Fountain and tho' there are but few truly sanctified yet many may be so convinced and see such an awful efficacy in the Considerations which an enlightned conscience represents as may be more effectual restraints than external severities For eternal Rewards and Punishments are confessedly of the highest and most awful importance to those that indeed believe them and therefore our hopes and fears that are conversant about them are the most powerful springs of action I say not this to discourage your Pious attempts of exposing Scandalous Sinners to the punishment the Law assigns For this is highly our duty and indeed necessary to the most of such offenders who are so hardened and stupified by their lusts that they scarce resent any punishment but what they feel Yet we should not satisfy our selves with this but raise our thoughts and desires higher even to those victorious operations of the Blessed Spirit by which Sin may be mortified as well as restrained I proceed now to the application of this Truth to the present occasion And there are some things I wou'd deduce from hence both for your Direction about your work and for your Incouragement in it First By way of Direction Wou'd you manage your laudable Attempts against Prophaness with happy success Contribute thou your utmost towards obtaining this Invaluable Blessing even a fresh effusion of the holy Spirit If he withold or withdraw his help the Work will lie languishing on your hands and even your own Zeal that at present seems inflam'd will
enough to make you Arraign your selves as unprofitable Servants and the defects of your best works are such as need Pardoning mercy and the attoning Blood of Christ Fourthly Uncharitable breaches and distances in affection from one another 'T is a remarkable connexion you have in Ephes 4.30 31. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God c. and then it follows Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be you kind to one another The holy Spirit is a Spirit of Unity peace and love Dividing Spirits banish him I am afraid we have been faulty on all sides in censures envy variance wrath c. May such unhappy Flames expire and never be kindled more For my Brethren Are we not one Body as to Principles of Truth and the great Interests of Practical Godliness Yea Are we not of one Communion as to the Essentials of Worship And tho' there is some Variety in the External Forms of Administration and in Government yet why shou'd the lesser things wherein we differ be more effectual to divide out hearts than the greater wherein we agree are to unite us Oh let us shew that we have received Anointings from the Spirit of love by our cordial undissembled affection to one another Let us banish envy and narrow Designs for the Interests of a Party to the prejudice of the Common Good Let us cherish noble generous Principles of Mutual Forbearance and Condescension Let us cover any untender less obliging Passages that may occur with the Mantle of Love and silently offer up little provocations to new Heats as a Sacrifice to Peace as considering our own Infirmities and accounting it the Glory of the Christian Religion That it can unite our hearts tho' our minds be not of the same size And if we thus live in Love we may hope that the God of Love and Peace will be with us And now let me inforce these Directions upon you by putting you in mind of that complication of Circumstances that make it both an inviting and a pressing opportunity for Reforming Work And First The great Mercies we have received oblige us to prepare a Thank-Offering for our God The Light of Nature sufficiently dictates this Duty and will leave us unexcusable if we neglect â—t How do Benefits when they are great and many and all from â—n unobliged hand Engage and even command our hearts Who can forbear to love and honour a great and generous Benefactor For such a good Man that lives for the good of others â—hat is a common Blessing some would even dare to dye Rom. â— 7 And is â—â—y so much our Benefactor as the blessed God Is not his daiâ—â— Providence an unexhausted spring of inumerable Favours â—as he not made us Wonders of Mercy in our own eyes and to â—e astonishment of Europe of late Years And surely the Beâ—â—â—â— are not the less because the Giver of them is the 〈…〉 Should not undeserved Blessings from the hand of God make at least as deep an impression upon our hearts as they would do from our Fellow-creatures They owe us some service God none We can make some compensation unto them none unto God But surely all the Laws of Gratitude bind us to express as far as we are able a thankful temper towards him Now would you prepare him an Offering You cannot find any more acceptable than this When the Psalmist's ingenuous heart was inquisitive Psal 116 12.14 What shall I render to the Lord This is one great Instance he fixes on I will pay thee all my vows i. e. The Vows I made about Reformation and better Obedience Not that God is a gainer by our services or as tho' our righteousness did profit him but his Infinite Goodness is such that he has made our Duty and Interest one and is best pleased with us when we are kindest to our selves Secondly We have now leisure for Reforming Work while our Lands have rest from War Has God restored Peace that we should indulge our selves in sloth God forbid that we should so abuse his Signal Favours Should we not rather Argue that now we are in safety from our Enemies we will more Resolvedly pursue his even our own and other Mens Sins David was not permitted to build the House of God because he had many Wars That Honour was reserved to crown the Peace of Solomon's Reign Thus National Reformation is a Signal Duty when we are in publick danger and under the Sword oâ— War but it is a great difficulty to attend that service amids the Distractions and Confusions of that Estate But we shall be left without all excuse if when God gives us leisure from other Work we shou'd neglect his Thirdly Our Lands are now brought under a new state oâ— Probation and Trial before the Lord. The devouring Sworâ— is sheath'd that Controversy seems at present ended Not that we deserved it but because an Indulgent God will not alway contend But now we are constituted in critical circumstances we are now on our Good behaviour If therefore we carâ—â— well under our present Mercies we may hope they are but thâ— Introduction to greater and that God will treat us as the Fâ—vourites of his Providence But if under the Shades of Peace we indulge our selves Pride Luxury Lust Irreligion and so repeat our former provocations what may we yet expect but that he will plead against us with Fury poured out And his Armory is not yet empty The Instruments of Death are still within our sight and how easily can a provoked God take them into his hand again and make us sick yea utterly destroy us in smiting us Let such Considerations excite your utmost diligence to procure the pouring forth of the Spirit no other Expedient will be long effectual for our help But I proceed Secondly To add some things for your Encouragement in this Work And the great Encouragement I would offer is this That there are hopeful Indications that we are under the beginnings of such a blessed Dispensation that God is pouring forth the Spirit from on high upon us May we not hope that some of this Sacred Oyl is poured on our Soveraigu's Head the fruit whereof appears in his Zealous Resolves effectually to discourage Prophaness and Immorality and in his late Excellent Proclamation to that purpose With what Transports of Joy should we hear such a Reviving Voice from the Throne And may we not expect that the Work will not stop here but that our King in his Wisdom will scatter the Wicked and bring the Wheel over them Prov. 20.26 That his Reign shall become yet more Glorious by a Triumph over the Vices of our Degenerate Lands and those Infernal Powers that propagate and uphold them May we not hope that it is the word of the Lord to our Royal Zorobabel That as his hand has laid the foundation of our Deliverance so his hand shall lay on this